False Gods | The Prime Archives #3 ✓

thirty-one

A single tear slid down his face. He wiped it away with the sleeve of his jacket. Sniffling, he continued down the ventilation shaft.

Since then he had been so consumed by rage and his quest for revenge. Revenge against Chase and the others. Revenge against Atlas. Revenge against anyone who had ever wronged him.

But hearing Chase apologize now... He wasn't so sure if revenge was what he wanted.

In fact, he knew it wasn't. Deep down he knew all along.

What he wanted was a family.

He glanced at Xiomara, who was shuffling alongside Emily. The two of them were laughing and joking at Andre who was struggling through the narrow vent.

He smiled.

Maybe he still had a chance at having one.

"I accept your apology," Oscar finally said.

"You do?"

He nodded. "But I don't forgive you. I don't forgive any of you." He paused. "Not yet."

"I can deal with that," Chase conceded. "If we make it out of this alive, I'll try my best to make it up to you."

"I'm gonna hold you to that, Sentinel."

"You know me, Fuego. I'm a man of my word."

Oscar faltered. Hearing his old codename caused a spark of nostalgia to course down his spine. Shaking his head, he closed his fist. The fire in his hand extinguished. He pointed at the metal grate just a few inches away from his face.

"We're here," he whispered to the rest of the group.

"Game faces, everyone," Chase said. "It's go-time."

#

Oscar was wrong. The basement was, in fact, not empty. It was the exact opposite.

As he and the others helped each other crawl out the square-shaped hole in the wall, he squinted at something down the hall. He stiffened once he realized what was going on. With his eyes wide, he faced Chase.

"I thought you said no one was gonna be down here?" he hissed.

Chase shrugged. "I don't know what to tell you."

Sighing, he turned back around. Luckily for them, the battalion of Atlas agents and Primes at the end of the long corridor hadn't yet spotted them. Their attentions were focused on the elevator, which housed a few familiar faces and a few new ones.

Oscar rubbed his eyes as he gawked at the scene.

Stella, along with Kai, Danai, and two others all dressed in dark blue prison jumpsuits, were staging a last stand inside the elevator. About a dozen Atlas agents had their rifles trained on the five of them. Angus, Lucky, Theo, and some guy Oscar had never seen before were with them as well.

"What the hell is going on over there?" Emily asked as she retrieved her bow from her shoulder.

"No clue," Chase said. He scratched the top of his head, his brow scrunched together.

"Well, there goes the plan," Victor grumbled. He removed his katana from its sheath. "What now, Sentinel?"

The blond looked at the rest of his team for a moment. He then looked back to where Stella and the others were. A battle was about to erupt. It didn't take a genius to figure that out.

Oscar didn't come to The Acropolis to help the Exiles fight. He came to burn the place down. But with so many of his enemies in one place, he couldn't help but wonder if this would be his best opportunity to exact his revenge against Atlas.