The arcade smelled like dust, burnt wires, and forgotten joy.
Dominic sat on a broken racing-game cabinet while Virginia tightened the bandage around his leg. The machine flickered to life behind him, pixelated cars looping endlessly in a race no one would ever finish.
"Hold still," Virginia said.
"I am still," Dominic replied.
She pulled harder.
"I meant emotionally."
He winced. "That hurts worse than the bullet."
She smirked despite herself.
For the first time in months, the tension between them wasn't about lies—it was about survival.
A PLAN FOR WAR
Virginia stepped back and inspected her work. "You won't outrun anyone like this."
"I won't have to," Dominic said. "We'll think faster."
She crossed her arms. "Thinking didn't stop Vito from putting kill orders on us."
"No," Dominic agreed. "But leverage will."
He pulled out a small encrypted drive from his pocket.
Virginia's eyes narrowed. "You had that this whole time?"
"I was saving it."
"For what? Retirement?"
"For proof."
The drive contained years of data—illegal transactions, blackmail recordings, hidden bank routes.
"Not enough to take him down," Virginia said.
"But enough to scare him," Dominic replied. "And scare makes people sloppy."
Virginia nodded slowly. "Then we need more."
"Like the AI card."
She smiled. "Exactly."
THE AI CARD — ORIGIN
Virginia leaned against a pinball machine, memories surfacing.
"I saw it once," she said. "Before Shenzhen."
Dominic looked up. "You never told me."
She shrugged. "Didn't trust anyone. Still don't."
Fair.
"It's not just software," she continued. "It adapts. Learns. Predicts behavior. It doesn't just access banks—it anticipates resistance."
Dominic frowned. "That's not finance. That's control."
Virginia met his gaze. "That's Vito."
VITO MOVES AGAIN
Across the city, Vito Genovese sat in a dimly lit room, surrounded by monitors. His smile had faded, replaced by focus.
"They escaped," an enforcer reported.
Vito nodded. "Good."
"Shall we increase pressure?"
Vito tapped the desk.
"No," he said. "We change tactics."
He activated another file.
PROJECT MIRROR.
"Release their past," Vito said calmly. "Burn every bridge they have."
THE STREETS TURN HOSTILE
By dawn, Hong Kong had changed.
Safe houses were compromised.
Contacts went silent.
A news screen in the arcade suddenly flickered to life.
BREAKING NEWS: Police search for armed suspects connected to multiple explosions.
Dominic recognized the edited footage.
"That's us," he said.
Virginia groaned. "I hate when I trend."
COMEDY IN CHAOS
They scavenged supplies from an abandoned convenience store.
Dominic grabbed energy bars.
Virginia grabbed ammo.
"You eat like a civilian," she said.
"You shoot like you enjoy it too much," he shot back.
She grinned. "Jealous?"
They shared a laugh—short, sharp, necessary.
FIRST COUNTERSTRIKE
That night, they hit one of Vito's data hubs.
Dominic hacked while Virginia guarded the door, casually taking out guards.
"You're enjoying this," he muttered.
"Teamwork looks good on us," she replied, reloading.
They extracted files labeled:
AI TRANSFER — BANK CORE
Dominic's eyes widened. "He's moving it."
"When?" Virginia asked.
"Three days."
She cracked her knuckles. "Then we crash the party."
MOMENT OF QUIET
Back at the arcade, exhaustion set in.
Virginia sat beside Dominic.
"If we survive this," she said, "we start over."
He smiled. "Somewhere quiet?"
She nodded. "No AI. No mafia. No lies."
He reached for her hand.
She didn't pull away.
VITO'S FINAL MOVE (FOR NOW)
Vito watched their successful hack replay.
Instead of anger, he laughed.
"Perfect," he said.
He turned to a massive sealed case.
Inside, the AI card pulsed faintly.
"Let's see," Vito whispered, "which of you the future prefers."