The jungle was alive humid, breathing, hostile.
Devon's crew stood on the edge of the Amazonian drop zone, their prototype gear already coated with a thin sheen of sweat and grit. Ahead, buried beneath layers of trees and rock, lay the ruins of Site-47, a black-site research facility that had been wiped from global records nearly ten years ago.
Inside was the prize: the Nyx Particle a nano-virus designed to consume matter, replicate, and evolve.
Devon studied the 3D layout projected from his wrist console. "Satellite windows are clean for seventy-four minutes. Entry point's a collapsed shaft forty meters east of the old perimeter. No power readings. But that doesn't mean it's empty."
Lacy chambered her silenced rifle. "I'll lead point. We move in trios. Logan, you cover the rear."
"Copy," Logan said, adjusting his ballistic vest and rotating his shoulder-mounted drone launcher.
Raven tapped away at a holographic terminal, eyes scanning for thermal readings. "No heat signatures inside the lab yet. But five kilometres west, a private chopper just landed. Heat shielding. Eteon."
Devon's jaw tightened.
"They know we're here."
Inside Site-47
The descent was brutal. Rappelling down steel-bent shafts, manoeuvring around collapsed corridors and rusted servers, the crew advanced with military precision. Each step deeper peeled back more layers of the forgotten facility: shattered cryo-pods, husks of humanoid drones, skeletal remains of scientists.
Raven located the vault chamber with a retinal override. Bio-lock's decayed, but my patch should
A pulse.
The vault hissed open.
Inside hovered a crystalline containment sphere, swirling with black mist alive, writhing. The Nyx Particle.
"Got it," Rayen whispered, sealing the core into the nanite stasis briefcase. "Ten minutes tops before the case degrades. We have to move."
But Devon froze.
"Wait."
Lacy looked back. "What is it?"
He heard it first. The faint clicks in the distance. Then the hum of particle blades warming up.
"Eteon operatives inbound. Move!" Devon ordered.
The Jungle Turns Red
The facility shook as explosions ruptured its upper decks. Devon's crew sprinted through a forgotten access tunnel just as plasma bolts lit the corridor behind them.
Logan turned and dropped two of the attackers with his under barrel grenade launcher. "They brought Shades!" he yelled. "These aren't soldiers they're augmented!"
The Eteon operatives moved like ghosts, cloaked in adaptive camo, moving through trees like wraiths. One leaped down and tackled Rayen, slamming him into the dirt.
Devon moved like lightning.
A flip, a silenced shot direct to the helmet's weak point.
The Shade collapsed, twitching.
"Everyone fall back to the extraction path!" Devon yelled. "Lacy, drive's yours!"
They reached the clearing where their exfil vehicle waited an armored jungle-runner war rig, blending tank and speed demon.
Lacy took the wheel. Devon slammed the case into the rear vault. "GO!"
The jungle erupted as Shades burst from treetops, launching RPGs.
Boom.
The rig took a hit tires blew, sparks flew but it kept moving.
Devon mounted the roof turret. Logan manned the side launcher. They laid hell behind them.
"Raven's bleeding out!" Lacy shouted.
"Stabilize her!" Devon roared, "We're not losing anyone today!"
Another rocket struck flipping the rig sideways into a riverbed.
Water surged.
Flames licked the chassis.
Devon pulled Rayen from the wreck, chest heaving. Lacy had a dislocated shoulder. Logan dragged the vault briefcase out, coughing.
And then silence.
No more footsteps.
No more Shades.
"Extraction drone ETA: 4 minutes," Raven rasped, barely conscious.
Devon stared up at the smoke-filled jungle canopy. "Close enough."
Safehouse – 48 Hours Later
Bandaged. Bruised. Breathing.
Devon stood over the secured Nyx containment chamber. It was now stored in a sub-zero vault deep beneath their new base.
Mission Complete.Reward Dispensed.+$100,000,000+Prototype Vehicles: Quantum Drift Z9, Helix Interceptor Mk2+AI Core SKYNET: UNLOCKED [Bound to Host: Devon Shaw]Integration Pending…
Devon's system pinged again.
New Threats Detected. New Factions Mobilizing. World-Level Risk Elevated.
He turned to his team. "We survived Eteon. We survived the jungle. But this is just the beginning."
Lacy leaned against the vault wall, nodding. "They'll be back."
Logan loaded his rifle. "Let 'em come."
Devon smirked. "Next time, we bring the storm."