Karan cracked the encryption in 48 hours.
What they found inside changed everything.
Rudra sat with the team in Anvi's apartment, laptop open, scrolling through files that shouldn't exist.
Operation Kaleidoscope - Psychological manipulation of political candidates.
Project Chimera - Genetic screening for enhanced cognitive traits.
The Kup Games - Advanced survival testing protocol.
Rudra stopped on that last one.
"The Kup Games," he read aloud. "What the hell is that?"
He opened the file. Inside were documents. Videos. Detailed protocols.
And photos. Dozens of them. Students in what looked like abandoned buildings. Forests. Urban environments.
All being hunted.
"Oh god," Anvi whispered, reading over his shoulder. "It's a game. They literally turned survival training into a game."
Rudra clicked on a video file. The screen showed night vision footage. A student—maybe sixteen—running through a forest. Terrified. Exhausted.
Behind him, figures in tactical gear. Pursuing. Not to capture.
To hunt.
The video ended with the student collapsing. The hunters surrounding him.
Text overlay: "Subject terminated. Insufficient resilience score."
Bhairav looked away. "They're killing kids."
"Not kids," Maya said grimly. "Failures. Anyone who doesn't meet their standards."
Rudra kept scrolling. More videos. More terminations. But also successes.
Students who survived. Who adapted. Who became what Nexus wanted.
And at the bottom of the file, a leaderboard.
KUP GAMES LEADERBOARD - PHASE 7
1. Subject A-09 (RAVEN) - 98/100 2. Subject K-14 (PHANTOM) - 96/100 3. Subject M-22 (GHOST) - 94/100
Twenty names. All code-named. All scored.
"They're ranking them," Anvi said. "Like it's a competition."
"It is a competition," Maya said. "I was part of one. In Bangalore. They called it 'The Crucible.' Same concept. Survival of the fittest. Literally."
Rudra felt sick. But he kept reading. Because buried in these files was ammunition. Evidence that could destroy Nexus.
Then he found something else.
A participant roster. Names of students who'd gone through The Kup Games.
And one name made his blood freeze.
Subject R-23: Rudra [LAST NAME REDACTED]
Status: ACTIVE OBSERVATION
Phase: 4 COMPLETE (KUPAM FIELD PROGRAM)
Notes: High resilience. Strategic thinking. Excellent candidate for Phase 5. Recommend continuation.
He wasn't just a victim.
He was a participant.
Without even knowing it.
"Rudra?" Anvi's voice was concerned. "What is it?"
He showed her the screen.
Her eyes widened. "They were planning to put you through Phase 5."
"They still are," Rudra said quietly. "Look at the status. Active observation. They're watching me. Right now."
The room went cold.
"We need to sweep for bugs," Maya said immediately, standing. "Cameras. Listening devices. Everything."
She pulled out a small device from her bag—some kind of RF detector—and began scanning the apartment.
Within minutes, she found three.
A microphone in the smoke detector. A camera in the air vent. Another camera disguised as a phone charger.
All broadcasting to unknown receivers.
"How long have these been here?" Bhairav demanded.
"Could be days. Could be weeks," Maya said, crushing each device methodically. "They've been listening to everything."
Rudra's mind raced. Every conversation. Every plan. Every strategy session.
Nexus knew it all.
"We need to relocate," Anvi said. "Right now. This place is compromised."
"Everywhere is compromised," Rudra said. "If they're watching me, they're watching all of us. We can't just run."
"So what do we do?" Bhairav asked.
Rudra thought for a moment. Then smiled. Cold. Calculated.
"We use it."
"Use what?" Maya asked.
"Their surveillance. They want to watch us? Fine. We give them a show. We feed them false information. Make them think we're planning one thing while we do another."
Anvi caught on. "Misdirection."
"Exactly. We set up a decoy operation. Something big. Loud. Obvious. They'll focus all their resources on stopping it."
"While we do what?" Maya asked.
"While we hit them where they're not looking."
Karan's text appeared on Rudra's phone: I'm listening. What do you need from me?
RUDRA: Can you create fake communications? Make it look like we're planning to leak files to major news outlets?
KARAN: Easily. When do you want the leak to happen?
RUDRA: Make it look like we're planning it for next Friday. Give them time to prepare. To mobilize.
KARAN: And what are we really doing?
RUDRA: Something they'll never see coming.
Rudra turned to the team. "Maya, you said Cell Seven has a safe house in Delhi. Do you know where?"
"Yeah. Rohini sector. Why?"
"Because while they're busy stopping our fake leak, we're going to raid their safe house. Steal their files. Their equipment. Everything they have."
Bhairav's eyes widened. "That's insane."
"That's effective," Rudra corrected. "They're expecting us to play defense. Hide. Run. We're going on offense."
Maya grinned. "I like it. But we'll need a team. More than just us four."
"Then we recruit," Anvi said. "We have seventeen survivors on our list. Time to see who's ready to fight."
Building the Team
Over the next week, they reached out.
Not everyone said yes. Some survivors were too traumatized. Too scared. Too broken.
But some? Some were ready.
Priya - 22, survivor from a Mumbai program. Expertise: tech and hacking.
Arjun - 19, survivor from Pune. Expertise: combat and tactical planning.
Zara - 20, survivor from Kolkata. Expertise: infiltration and disguise.
Three recruits. Plus the core four. Seven people total.
Not an army. But enough.
They trained in secret. Abandoned warehouses. Empty fields. Learning from Maya's operational experience. From Karan's strategic guidance.
Hand-to-hand combat. Surveillance. Counter-surveillance. Extraction protocols.
They weren't soldiers. But they were becoming something close.
And all the while, they fed false information through compromised channels. Making Nexus believe they were planning a massive data leak.
Karan monitored Nexus communications. Watched them mobilize. Assign resources. Prepare countermeasures.
Everything was going according to plan.
Until it wasn't.
The Warning
Five days before the planned raid, Rudra's phone rang. Unknown number.
He answered cautiously. "Hello?"
A voice. Distorted. Electronic. "Hello, Rudra. We need to talk."
"Who is this?"
"Someone who's been watching you. Closely."
Rudra's blood ran cold. "Nexus?"
"Nexus is just a name. We're so much more than that." The voice paused. "You've been busy. Building your little resistance. Planning your little raid."
They knew.
Of course they knew.
"We've been impressed, actually," the voice continued. "Your misdirection strategy. Your recruitment. Very clever. Very... us."
"What do you want?" Rudra demanded.
"To make you an offer."
"I'm not interested."
"You haven't heard it yet."
Rudra said nothing.
"Join us," the voice said. "For real this time. Not as a subject. As an operative. You have exactly what we need. Strategic thinking. Leadership. Resilience. You'd be valuable."
"After everything you've done? After all the people you've killed?"
"We made them stronger. The ones who survived. Like you."
"And the ones who didn't?"
"Collateral damage. Necessary for progress."
Rudra felt rage building. But he kept his voice calm. "No."
"We're offering you power, Rudra. Resources. Purpose. A chance to change the world."
"By torturing teenagers?"
"By creating a better generation. One that can't be broken. Can't be controlled. Can't be stopped."
"That's not strength. That's psychopathy."
The voice laughed. "Maybe. But it's also the future. You can be part of it. Or you can be crushed by it."
"I'll take my chances."
"Unfortunate. Because we really did hope you'd choose wisely."
The line went dead.
Rudra immediately called an emergency meeting.
Within an hour, the team was assembled. In a new location. Swept for bugs.
"They know," Rudra said without preamble. "They know about the raid. About everything."
"How?" Priya asked.
"I don't know. But they called me. Directly. Made an offer. When I refused, they threatened us."
Maya swore. "The raid's off then. We need to abort."
"No," Rudra said. "We accelerate."
"What?" Bhairav looked shocked.
"They expect us to abort. To run. To hide. So we do the opposite. We move up the timeline. Hit them tonight. Before they can fully prepare."
"That's suicide," Arjun said.
"That's our only advantage," Rudra countered. "Surprise. They think we'll back down. We won't."
Anvi studied him. "You're sure about this?"
Rudra met her eyes. "No. But I'm sure about doing nothing. And that leads to failure."
Silence.
Then Maya stood. "I'm in."
One by one, the others joined her.
Anvi. Bhairav. Priya. Arjun. Zara.
All standing. All committed.
"Tonight then," Rudra said. "We raid Nexus. And we show them what survivors can do."
Karan's message appeared on every device in the room: I'll provide overwatch. Real-time intel. But you're on your own once you're inside.
RUDRA: Understood. Get ready, everyone. This is what we've been training for.
As they prepared weapons, equipment, and courage, Rudra felt something shift.
They weren't victims anymore.
They were hunters.
And tonight, the Kup Games were about to be played by a whole new set of rules.