With a final, agonized groan of tortured metal, the Titan blast plug shifted. Renji threw his entire body against the giant wheel, and with a shudder that vibrated through the floor, it began to turn. A sliver of utter blackness, colder and more ancient than the bunker itself, appeared as the seal broke.
He pushed the massive plug open just enough to slip through, entering the escape tunnel. The air was stale, untouched for over fifty years. The tunnel was a narrow, crudely bored tube, just wide enough for one person, sloping gently upwards into the mountain's core.
*"The plug is open,"* he reported, his voice strained. *"I'm in the tunnel. Now, I have to get to you."* He looked back at the schematics he'd photographed with his mask's optics. The tunnel ran parallel to the main facility, but there were no direct connections. They had been sealed off during the renovation.
"There's a service conduit," Kuro's voice came back, accompanied by a schematic he projected onto Renji's HUD. "It connects this level to the control room's maintenance access. But it was filled with concrete during the last retrofit. It's a solid wall."
*"Not for long,"* Renji replied. He began moving back into the bunker, his steps purposeful. He knew exactly where to go. He made his way to an old, forgotten munitions locker he'd spotted earlier. The Soviets had been paranoid. They had left behind more than just a bunker.
He returned to the designated point in the corridor, a blank concrete wall that, according to Kuro's map, stood between him and his family. He began placing shaped charges, his movements economical and precise. He was no longer just a soldier. He was a miner, preparing to blast his way through the final barrier.
Back in the control room, Kuro and Hikari heard a new sound, faint at first, but growing clearer. Not the rhythmic pounding of the drill from below, but a sharp, distinct tapping from one of the walls. It was Renji, placing the charges. He was close.
"Move to the far side of the room. Brace yourselves," Kuro ordered, pulling Hikari behind a bank of sturdy consoles.
A moment of silence.
Then, Renji's voice, calm and clear over the comm. *"Fire in the hole."*
The explosion was contained but immense, a deafening roar that filled the corridor and blew a ragged, smoking hole in the concrete wall. Through the dust and debris, a figure emerged, silhouetted by the single beam of his weapon-light. It was Renji, covered in gray dust but whole.
He was there. The Syndicate was one again.
"The drill is less than an hour from the core," Kuro reported, wasting no time on reunion. "We need to go. Now."
Renji nodded, his eyes meeting Hikari's in the dim light, a silent acknowledgment of their survival. He turned and looked towards the dark, waiting maw of the escape tunnel. "Follow me," he said. "Let's walk out of our own grave."