Rain pelted the rooftop as the team crouched behind ventilation units and rusting metal pipes. The Helix Dynamics fortress loomed before them—an armored compound of concrete, steel, and secrets. Searchlights swept across the rooftop intermittently, casting harsh beams through the dark storm.
Grimm peeked over the ledge, studying the patrol routes. "Two guards by the helipad. Another on the tower with an MG nest. Drones overhead—four, maybe five."
"Got 'em," Tanya said, already lining up the shot through her scope. "On your call."
Reyes tapped away on a portable device patched into the surveillance node they'd tapped on the approach. "If I can disrupt the drone grid for twenty seconds, you'll have a small window to breach the side entrance. But after that, they'll reboot and be on us like hornets."
"Twenty seconds is enough," Grimm muttered.
Bull adjusted the weighty breaching charge on his back. "Just say the word, boss. I've been itchin' to knock some Helix teeth out."
Grimm nodded. "Reyes, hit the grid in five. Tanya, take out the MG nest on my mark. Bull, stay tight—door's our ticket inside."
Reyes counted down under his breath. "Three... two... one... breach."
With a soft ping, the drones overhead suddenly jerked mid-flight, their navigation flickering. The guards looked up in confusion—exactly the moment Tanya squeezed the trigger. The sniper round pierced the gunner's helmet clean, and he slumped behind the mounted machine gun.
Grimm and Bull rushed forward, crossing the exposed rooftop as fast as trained muscle could take them. Bullets began to fly—one of the side guards had caught the movement.
Too late.
Bull slammed the breaching charge into the side access panel and ducked as the small detonation blasted the reinforced door off its hinges. Smoke and sparks danced in the narrow hall beyond.
"Inside!" Grimm shouted. Tanya slid in behind them, reloading smoothly.
They plunged into the compound's interior—tight corridors, flashing red lights, and blaring alarms. The security system had woken up, and so had the entire Helix garrison.
"Multiple tangos inbound!" Reyes called out from the rear, watching on his portable map. "Stairwell east and two squads from the basement armory. We're sandwiched."
"Then we punch through," Grimm growled. "We don't stop until we find Kessler."
They moved like wolves—tight, disciplined, lethal. Bull's LMG roared in short bursts, ripping through the first wave of guards. Tanya dropped enemies before they could shout warnings. Reyes hung back, hacking terminals and disabling turrets as fast as he could tap.
Grimm led them through the maze, each twist and turn narrowing the battlefield. Helix didn't expect this level of resistance—and they sure didn't expect Mercer to be alive.
At the base of a fortified elevator shaft, Reyes brought them to a halt. "This leads to the command floor. But the security override is biometric. Kessler only."
Grimm didn't hesitate. He knelt beside the corpse of a Helix officer, ripped off a severed glove, and dragged the hand to the scanner. "Try this."
The scanner flickered red, then green. A beep. The elevator doors slid open.
"Not Kessler," Reyes muttered, "but high enough."
The ride up was tense. Nobody spoke. The sound of the gears grinding upward was the only soundtrack to their thoughts.
Grimm's mind played a loop of every mission gone wrong, every teammate left behind. This wasn't just about revenge anymore. Kessler had built something monstrous—something that would live on without him if it wasn't rooted out entirely.
The elevator jolted to a stop.
The doors opened into silence.
Kessler's command floor was empty—no guards, no alarms. Just white walls, LED panels, and a single corridor leading to an open vault-like office. Grimm motioned the team forward.
"Kessler's gone," Tanya whispered.
"No," Grimm said. "He's here."
They stepped into the office.
The screens lined the wall, each showing cities across the globe. Surveillance feeds, military satellites, private networks—all converging into one war room.
And at the center stood a man in a sharp suit, hands folded behind his back, gazing out a reinforced glass window overlooking the city.
Director Adrian Kessler.
He turned slowly, calm as ever. "Captain Mercer. You made it."
Bull raised his weapon, but Grimm lifted a hand. "Don't."
Kessler smiled faintly. "You've disabled my network, shattered my predictive systems, and put a dent in the future. But this? This is just the beginning."
Grimm stepped forward, his voice low and deliberate. "This ends now."
"Does it?" Kessler asked. "Do you really think killing me stops any of this? You don't understand the system anymore. It's alive, Mercer. It's already adapting."
"I understand enough," Grimm said. "You engineered wars. You turned people into targets based on algorithms. You ghosted your own men to protect a theory. You buried the truth."
Kessler's eyes narrowed, something steel-hard beneath the surface. "The world needs order. It doesn't matter who delivers it."
Reyes interrupted, eyes wide at the feeds. "Guys… I think he's triggering a purge. He's wiping every server—every file tied to Phantom."
Grimm rushed to the console, slamming a fist into the override panel. "Reyes, stop the burn. We need that data."
Kessler calmly walked toward a glass case, lifted a pistol inside. "You won't stop it. Not in time."
Tanya raised her rifle. "Try anything, I drop you."
But Kessler didn't aim at them. Instead, he pointed the gun at the console and fired three times. Sparks flew. The panel died with a hiss of smoke.
Reyes slammed the terminal. "It's gone! He scrubbed the entire program!"
"Then we take him alive," Grimm growled.
Bull stepped forward and struck Kessler with the butt of his rifle, knocking the pistol away. "Gladly."
They cuffed him, hard and fast.
As the alarms finally stopped and silence settled over the command floor, Grimm stared down at Kessler—the man who built an invisible empire and was now reduced to just another prisoner.
"Game's over," Grimm said.
Kessler looked up, still smiling faintly.
"For now."