False Gods | The Prime Archives #3 ✓

thirty-one

Chase's plan to get inside The Acropolis worked like a charm. Honestly, Oscar had expected multiple things to go wrong. A sealed-off entrance. A stray guard on patrol they hadn't accounted for. Perhaps getting spotted on one of the various CCTV cameras around the facility.

Fortunately for them, none of those things happened. After they navigated through the waterfall masking The Acropolis from the outside world, they found their way into the facility's complex vent system and began their journey inside.

Oscar led the way with Chase beside him, their shoulders rubbing as they shimmed through the narrow vents. They were just big enough for them to fit two people in at once. Well, most of them at least. Andre headed the back, as he was far too wide to move with another person next to him.

"Do you know where we're going?" Oscar whispered as he crawled forward. He had been forced to move with the help of one hand as the other was holding up a small plume of fire serving as a flashlight.

"Yeah," Chase replied. He pointed at the end of the metal tunnel. "Exit point is right ahead. If the maps we have are right, we should be emptied into the basement level. We can work our way up once we're inside."

He nodded. Solid enough plan. The basement wouldn't be overly populated with people anyways. It never was. The odd custodian and newbie guard struggling to get a grip on The Acropolis' layout were the only ones who frequented the basement.

It was the perfect place for them to being their infiltration.

As the group continued crawling through the vents, the metal squeaking and groaning every time someone shuffled forward, Chase glanced at Oscar over his shoulder. He arched an eyebrow at the blond.

"What?"

"It's just..." He chuckled. "You were the last person I thought I'd see out here. Especially in these circumstances."

"Yeah, well, right back at you, buddy."

The pair had pulled away from the rest of the group a bit. Chase took their slight separation to talk, much to Oscar's dismay.

"You know..." He scratched the back of his neck and cleared his throat. Oscar tensed. "I never got to apologize."

"Save it." He rolled his eyes. "I didn't need it then and I definitely don't need it now."

Without seeing Chase's face, he could tell he was frowning.

"Just...let me finish, alright?"

Oscar rolled his eyes and gestured for him to get his apology over with. He didn't want to hear it, but Chase obviously needed to make himself feel better about the situation.

"We should've been there for you that night," Chase told him. "All of us. We should've realized you were only helping Ghost because you had to. You were family and that's not how we should've treated one of our own."

Oscar said nothing. He just continued crawling with his flame bobbing above his palm. He felt something bubbling in the base of his throat, but he forced it down. His mind went back to the night his uncle and sister were killed.

He had just told the team he was the mole in the group. He was at fault for Holly's death. He was the reason why President Crane and the rogue Primes won in the end. It was all on him. If they had ever been a family, then that was the moment he got disowned. They wanted nothing to do with him after that. Had he been in their shoes, he would've done the same.

When he saw that fire swallowing the apartment building his uncle and sister lived in, he needed them. He needed them more than ever. But there weren't there. No one was there except for the overwhelming feeling of dread and loneliness that threatened to crush him to pieces.