They made it to Delhi in four hours.
Rudra drove like a demon. Maya navigated. Arjun prepared weapons.
When they reached the warehouse district, dawn was breaking. Pink sky. Quiet streets.
Too quiet.
"Anvi, status?" Rudra called.
No response.
"Anvi!"
Static. Then: "—holding. Casualties. Bhairav is—" The transmission cut out.
"We're going in," Rudra decided.
They approached tactically. Using cover. Expecting ambush.
The warehouse looked damaged. Windows broken. Door hanging off hinges.
And outside: bodies. Nexus operatives. Taken down. Eliminated.
"They fought hard," Maya observed.
Inside was a warzone. Overturned furniture. Bullet holes. Blood.
But also: their team. Alive. Wounded but fighting.
Anvi behind makeshift barricade. Bhairav applying pressure to a leg wound. Priya coordinating over radio. Zara and others holding positions.
And in the center: Sierra-4. Tied up. Unconscious.
"What happened?" Rudra demanded.
"She unlocked the doors at midnight," Anvi explained quickly. "Let in a strike team. But we were ready. Karan warned us thirty seconds before. Just enough time to prepare."
"Casualties?"
"Two wounded. None dead. But they'll keep coming. This was just the first wave."
"Where are the survivors we were protecting?"
"Moved. Scattered. Different locations. We couldn't hold them all here once we knew Sierra-4 was compromised."
Smart. Adaptive.
"And her?" Rudra gestured to Sierra-4.
"Bhairav knocked her out. We kept her alive. Thought she might be useful."
"She will be," Rudra said coldly. "Wake her up."
They threw water on Sierra-4. She sputtered. Opened her eyes.
Saw Rudra. Showed no fear.
"You knew it was a trap," she said. "You came anyway."
"Because that's what leaders do. Protect their people. Even when it's dangerous."
"Noble. Stupid. But noble."
"Why?" Anvi demanded. "Why betray us? You said your sister—"
"My sister is fine. Never was in danger. That was a story. A hook." Sierra-4 shrugged. "I'm a Nexus operative. Through and through. This is what I do."
"You pretended to defect."
"I didn't pretend. I genuinely showed you real information. Just... incomplete information. Enough to be useful. Enough to gain trust. Not enough to actually damage Nexus."
"Colonel Mehta?" Rudra asked.
"Real Directorate member. Real office. But ready for your arrival. Everything you found in his files? Carefully curated. To show you exactly what we wanted you to see."
"Which is?"
"That APEX is unstoppable. That you're too late. That resistance is futile."
"Is it?" Maya asked. "Unstoppable?"
Sierra-4 smiled. "Check your watch."
Rudra looked. 6:47 AM.
APEX execution time: 7:00 AM.
Thirteen minutes.
"What happens at 7?" Rudra demanded.
"Simultaneous operations. Across the country. Extraction teams deployed to every survivor location we have. We take them. Process them. Neutralize them."
"Neutralize means kill," Anvi said.
"Neutralize means eliminate the threat. However necessary."
"There are three hundred people," Bhairav said. "You can't coordinate strikes on three hundred locations simultaneously."
"You're right. We can't. But we can hit the concentrations. The forty-three survivors you've been protecting? The locations Karan thinks are secret? We know about all of them."
The revelation hit like ice.
"How?" Priya asked.
"Because Karan's security isn't perfect. Because some of your survivors aren't as loyal as you think. Because Nexus has been doing this for thirty years. We're good at it."
"Then we warn them," Rudra said. "Right now. Evacuate everyone."
"You have thirteen minutes. And they're scattered across Delhi. Across the country. You can't save them all. You can barely save yourselves."
She was right. The math was impossible.
But Rudra didn't do impossible math.
He did adaptive strategy.
"Karan," he said. "Remember what you said about the kill switch? That it wasn't technically possible?"
"Yes. Neural conditioning doesn't work that way."
"But extraction teams do. Physical teams. Moving to physical locations. Which means—"
"Which means they need coordination," Karan caught on. "Command and control. A central hub directing operations."
"Find it," Rudra ordered. "Find the hub. We can't stop forty-three simultaneous operations. But we can stop the coordination making them possible."
"On it. Searching for... got it. Command center. Industrial district. They're broadcasting encrypted orders to extraction teams."
"Can you disrupt it?"
"Not remotely. They're using dedicated, isolated systems. But if you can get physical access—"
"We can shut it down," Rudra finished. "How far?"
"Twelve minutes drive."
Rudra checked his watch. 6:49 AM.
Eleven minutes to APEX.
Twelve minutes drive.
Impossible.
"Let's go," he said.
"You're leaving us?" Anvi asked.
"You hold here. Protect this location. I take a strike team to the command center. We shut it down. Stop APEX at the source."
"Who goes with you?"
"Maya. Arjun. That's it. Small team. Fast."
"That's suicide," Bhairav said.
"No," Rudra corrected. "That's the only option."
He looked at his team. His friends. His family.
"If this doesn't work. If we fail. I want you to know—"
"Save it," Anvi interrupted. "You're not failing. You're Rudra. You survived Kupam. Project Rekha. Everything Nexus threw at you. You don't fail."
He almost smiled. "Hold the warehouse."
"Always."
They ran to the vehicle. Maya driving this time. Rudra navigating. Arjun preparing equipment.
6:51 AM. Ten minutes.
They tore through Delhi streets. Empty. Early morning. No traffic.
Small blessings.
"What's the plan when we get there?" Maya asked.
"We go in. Find the command center. Shut it down."
"That's not a plan. That's a suicide mission with good intentions."
"Do you have a better idea?"
Maya thought. Then: "Actually, yes. We don't go in. We bring it down."
"Explain."
"Command centers need power. Lots of it. Communications. Computers. They'll have generators. Backup systems. But those systems have vulnerabilities. We hit the power. Kill the generators. The whole operation goes dark."
"They'll have physical guards. Security."
"Then we go loud. Explosives. Chaos. We're not sneaking anymore. We're destroying."
It was aggressive. Dangerous.
Also their only shot.
"Arjun, do we have explosives?" Rudra asked.
"C4. Enough to take down a building."
"Then we take down a building."
6:54 AM. Seven minutes.
They reached the industrial district. Found the location. A warehouse. Unmarked. Anonymous.
But power cables ran into it. Thick. Heavy-duty.
And outside: guards. Eight visible. Probably more inside.
"No time for subtle," Rudra said. "Maya, drive through the front gate."
"What?"
"Drive. Through. The. Gate."
She grinned. Accelerated.
Impact. The gate tore away. Alarms blaring.
They skidded to a stop inside the compound.
Guards reacting. Drawing weapons.
"Go!" Rudra shouted.
They burst from the vehicle. Moving fast. Arjun laying suppressing fire.
Rudra and Maya ran for the generator shed. Visible on the side of the building.
Locked. Reinforced.
"C4," Rudra ordered.
Arjun tossed the pack. Rudra placed charges. Armed them.
"Thirty seconds!" he called. "Fall back!"
They ran. Behind cover.
The explosion was massive. Fire. Shrapnel. Destruction.
The generator shed obliterated.
And inside the warehouse: lights flickering. Going dark.
"Did it work?" Maya asked.
"Checking," Karan said. "Command signals... disrupted. Encrypted communications... dropping. Extraction teams... losing coordination."
"Is it enough?" Rudra demanded.
"It's enough to cause chaos. Teams on the ground won't know what to do. Some might abort. Some might proceed anyway. But unified operation? That's broken."
6:58 AM. Three minutes.
"We need to hold this position," Rudra decided. "Keep the power down. Don't let them repair it."
"They're coming," Arjun warned.
Operatives poured from the warehouse. Armed. Organized. Angry.
The final battle had begun.
And Rudra was ready.