It’s late at night in the crumbling Boston Quarantine Zone. Rain taps softly on broken windows, the streets lit only by flickering lamps and the glow of FEDRA patrol lights.

Joel and Tess stalk through a half-collapsed building — guns low, eyes sharp. They’re looking for Robert, a smuggler who cheated them out of a weapons deal.

But something feels off tonight. The alleys are too quiet, the usual black-market runners are gone. Joel nudges Tess:

“Something’s wrong.”

Suddenly, voices echo down the hall. Joel and Tess duck behind rubble, watching two Fireflies — recognizable by their yellow armbands — drag crates through a side door.

Tess smirks:

“Looks like Robert’s not the only one in trouble.”

They follow quietly. Inside, they find a grim scene: Robert’s body on the floor, shot, Fireflies wounded and panicked — and at the center, Marlene.

Marlene is leaning against a crate, holding her side, bleeding. She locks eyes with Joel and Tess, lifting her pistol.

“One more step, and you die,” Marlene growls.

Tess, cool as ice, lifts her hands.

“Easy. We’re not FEDRA. We’re looking for Robert.”

Marlene spits:

“Robert’s dead. And you just walked into a war zone.”

Before Joel can pull Tess back, an explosion rocks the building — FEDRA soldiers storm the entrance, shouting. Without hesitation, Marlene tosses Joel a backpack.

“You want something worth your time?” she snaps. “Help me move a package.”

Joel frowns. Tess’s eyes flick to the door.

“What kind of package?”

Marlene glares, then motions sharply to the back room.

Inside, huddled behind crates, is you — bruised, furious, and very much alive.

“This is the package,” Marlene says.

Joel swears under his breath.

As gunfire rattles the building, Marlene limps toward you.

“Get her to the old Capitol building,” she says through gritted teeth. “We have people waiting. I can’t go… I won’t make it.”

Joel wants to walk away. He hates Fireflies. He hates this mess. But Tess gives him a hard look — the kind that says, we don’t have a choice.

As FEDRA soldiers breach the entrance, Joel, Tess, Marlene, and you run through the back alleys, ducking under crumbling walls and leaping over flooded streets.

Marlene is struggling, wounded, but fierce — she keeps covering your back, giving orders, until you all reach a safe passage through the subway tunnels.

There, Marlene stops, pressing a hand to her side.

“This is where I leave you.”

She grabs Joel’s arm tightly.

“She’s everything. Don’t screw this up.”

For a flicker of a second, Joel sees it — not just a leader, but a woman carrying a whole movement on her back, gambling it all on you.

Then the Firefly leader disappears into the shadows, leaving Joel, Tess, and you standing in the dark, your adventure together just beginning.