The city was no longer quiet.
Sirens screamed in the distance like mechanical wolves, echoing across rain-slicked rooftops and through the jagged mouths of abandoned buildings. Smoke curled from hidden corners, mixing with the fog that rolled down the alleyways like a living thing. The world felt like it was collapsing from the inside out — slow, controlled, orchestrated.
Exactly how Felix had planned it.
Ryan stood in the dim interior of an abandoned broadcasting station, staring at the flickering holomap projected across the shattered wall. Red pulses blinked across the city grid, highlighting zones marked for detonation, chemical release, or occupation.
Felix wasn't just experimenting anymore.
He was preparing to take the city.
"Operation Overlord," Ryan muttered under his breath, hands clenched behind his back. "It's not just a prototype launch. He's turning the entire metro sector into a testing ground."
Maria leaned against the nearby wall, cradling her injured arm, her eyes locked on the map. "It's a goddamn purge," she whispered. "Test the drug's effectiveness in a real environment. Live human subjects. Controlled chaos."
"Slums, immigrant zones, black-market neighborhoods," Ryan added grimly. "All places where people vanish and no one reports it."
Maria's voice turned cold. "He's betting on the world not caring who gets slaughtered."
Ryan didn't respond, but the silence between them said enough. They both knew Felix wouldn't stop until he had perfected a serum that could create the perfect soldier — emotionless, obedient, and enhanced beyond human capability.
And Kai had been the first real success.
Now, Felix wanted an army.
Suddenly, the rusted metal door groaned behind them. Trixie entered, soaked from the rain and dragging a bloodied young tech operative by the collar. She shoved him toward Ryan.
"Caught him trying to wipe data off an external terminal," she said. "He's one of Felix's."
Ryan knelt, grabbing the boy by the shirt. "What were you erasing?"
"I don't know what you're talking about—"
Ryan slammed him against the wall. "Don't lie to me. Your boss is about to bomb half the city, and if you help him, your blood will be on the first slab."
The tech whimpered. "It's all automated. Timers are locked into the system. Felix controls it remotely through a black node — satellite encrypted. No way to stop it unless you're at the source."
Ryan let go of him and turned to Maria. "We have to go deeper. We need Felix's location. We need to hit the nerve center."
Maria walked forward and looked the tech boy dead in the eyes. "And you're going to help us find it. Or you'll be the first test subject of your master's little experiment."
The boy blanched.
Behind them, Kai was pacing silently near the window, eyes distant, pupils narrowed to slits. Rainwater dripped from his hair, his breathing shallow but composed.
"There's another way," he said suddenly, his voice distant. "He's been in my head since the injection. His commands. His threats. His voice in the background."
Ryan turned sharply. "You can hear him?"
"Not anymore," Kai said. "But I remember the patterns. The numbers. The way his voice echoes when he's in his control chamber."
"You're saying you can track him."
Kai looked up, and for the first time in hours, Ryan saw a flicker of something like the old boy — the scared kid hiding under the anger.
"I can try," Kai said quietly.
Maria moved forward and touched Ryan's shoulder. "He shouldn't have to do this alone."
"I know," Ryan said.
But the truth was, they didn't have a choice.
An hour later, they stood in the subterranean core of the metro — beneath the rusted bones of the city's oldest train station. The walls were pulsing with artificial heat, old servers buzzing like insects from another world.
Ryan, Kai, and Maria were surrounded by the ghost glow of monitors and surveillance feeds. A stolen signal had led them here — coordinates embedded in a code only Kai could unscramble. The room was empty, but fresh footprints marked the floor.
"He was here," Kai said, his voice flat. "But he's gone now."
Ryan stepped over to the central console. Dozens of encrypted logs scrolled across the screen. All labeled with one symbol: a black wolf head.
Maria tapped into the nearest panel, eyes scanning the code. "Ryan... look at this."
She pulled up the files — one after another, grotesque footage: subjects injected with the serum, some screaming, some tearing themselves apart. Others became still. Controlled. Silent. Obedient.
"Subject 47," Maria whispered, tears forming in her eyes. "They were children."
Ryan's face was hard stone. "He's not building an army. He's building a goddamn hive."
Then the screen changed.
Felix's face appeared — a live feed. Calm, smiling, flawless as always in his tailored suit.
"Hello, Ryan. I assume by now you've seen my playground."
Ryan leaned in, fury in his eyes. "We're going to burn it to the ground."
Felix chuckled. "Oh, I'm counting on it. But you see, the real test isn't about the city. It's about him."
The camera zoomed in on Kai, as if Felix were looking through his eyes.
"I knew you'd try to protect him," Felix continued. "But the serum doesn't just enhance. It connects. I've been watching through him for days. Everything he sees, I see. Every thought, every doubt — mine to feed on."
Kai fell back, gasping. "Get it out of my head!"
Maria rushed to him, holding his trembling shoulders.
Felix's voice dropped to a whisper. "Let's see what happens when the wolf turns on the pack."
The screen went black.
Then all hell broke loose.
The lights shattered overhead. Gas hissed through the vents. Somewhere in the tunnel behind them, an explosion ripped through the station, shaking the ground like thunder.
Trixie's voice cracked through the earpiece. "They're here! Armed — thirty, maybe forty men — coming fast!"
Ryan grabbed Kai and Maria, pulling them toward the side hatch. "Move!"
Smoke filled the chamber as gunfire erupted in the tunnel behind them. Ryan led them into a narrow vent shaft as bullets pinged against metal. The heat was suffocating, the sound deafening.
As they crawled, Maria pressed her forehead against Ryan's back for a brief second. "If we make it out of this—"
"When," Ryan said. "When we make it out."
She smiled weakly. "Remind me to yell at you for dragging me into this."
His reply was grim. "You dragged me in first."
They dropped into a maintenance room — lungs burning, ears ringing. For a moment, everything was still.
Then Kai stood, trembling but steady.
"I can still feel him," he said. "But it's fading. The connection. If we hit the core node — we can break the link. End his control."
Ryan looked at the others. Tired. Hurt. But not broken.
This wasn't about vengeance anymore. It wasn't about survival.
This was war.
And in war, there was no turning back.