Location: Tavara – Atlas Command Bunker
Victor Kane stood before a massive steel vault door deep beneath Atlas HQ. Behind it lay the classified war room for Operation Nightfall—a contingency plan designed years ago, in case the world ever needed Atlas to operate fully off-grid. That day had come.
As the biometric scanner blinked green and the door hissed open, Nora followed Victor inside, flanked by Damien, Zuri, and Echo.
The room was sleek and spartan. No windows. No connections to external networks. Only a ring of encrypted terminals, holographic maps, and racks of high-powered weapons and tech.
Victor activated the central console. A three-dimensional map of the world blinked to life, lighting up with red danger zones—locations connected to Project Hades.
Zuri spoke first, voice tight. "Eight locations, six nations. Whoever restarted Hades had access to Dominion's core blueprints."
Damien narrowed his eyes. "This isn't just survival. This is revenge. They want to show the world that cutting off the Dominion's head wasn't enough."
Victor turned to the group. "We strike all eight at once. No press. No oversight. No hesitation."
Nora raised a brow. "Simultaneous global ops? Even Atlas hasn't done that before."
Victor's voice dropped. "That's why it'll work."
---
Location: Black Sea – Atlas Submarine, 36 Hours Later
Nora led Unit 4 on a mission to intercept a bio-weapon shipment headed toward Eastern Europe. The seas raged, but their submarine glided below like a ghost, undetected.
"Enemy vessel sighted," came the hushed voice of Lieutenant Aria. "Cloaked freighter, retrofitted with stealth gear."
Nora ordered silent boarding. Within minutes, her team surged onto the ship like shadows, disabling guards with tranquilizers and zip lines.
Below deck, the truth horrified them—caged subjects, failed experiments from Dominion's old labs. Some were barely human anymore.
Nora clenched her jaw. "They're trying to replicate what they lost."
Echo's voice buzzed through the comm. "Atlas needs those samples for countermeasures."
"We'll take what we can," she replied, "and torch the rest."
Minutes later, the ship burned, black smoke curling toward the clouds as the team extracted with files, vials, and rescued innocents.
---
Location: Cairo, Egypt – Underground Data Vault
Meanwhile, Damien and Elros stormed an ancient crypt converted into a data bunker. Dominion remnants had hidden their archives beneath old ruins.
Booby traps lined the walls—laser tripwires, collapsing chambers, and chemical failsafes.
Damien was ruthless, focused. Each obstacle neutralized in seconds. His fury was controlled but unmistakable.
When they reached the inner chamber, a single message played on a flickering screen.
"Kane cannot stop what has already begun."
Elros growled. "This wasn't a hideout. It was bait."
Damien crushed the tablet. "Let them think we're chasing ghosts. They'll see what we become when cornered."
---
Location: Tavara – Atlas Command Bunker, 72 Hours Later
All units reported in. Success. Seven out of eight targets neutralized.
The eighth? Vanished.
Zuri frowned at her console. "It's as if the last facility never existed."
Victor paced. "It does. They're hiding it in plain sight."
A beat of silence.
Then Nora's voice: "Tavara."
Everyone stared.
Victor's eyes narrowed. "Then we burn them from within."