Zurich – 0400 Hours1 Day Until SIGMA Activation
The blacked-out Osprey hovered just outside Helix airspace, engines barely audible above the whipping alpine winds. Inside, the team prepped in silence—each click of a magazine, each check of a suppressor, thick with urgency.
Wraith turned from her console, masked and focused. "Signal spoof is live. We have exactly 22 minutes before Helix security identifies the breach."
Grimm nodded. "No second chances."
Tanya checked her scope. "Once we're inside, I'll peel off to cover the upper corridors. Wraith and I will jam the interior comms."
"Bull and I head for Kessler," Grimm said. "We get that kill switch, pull the plug, and burn the whole damn place behind us."
The rear ramp opened with a hiss.
Below them, the entrance to a geothermal maintenance shaft lay hidden in the crags—unguarded, unassuming. Their only shot.
"Time starts now," Wraith warned.
They jumped.
Helix Dynamics HQ – Utility Tunnel 7B
The shaft was narrow and suffocating, steam venting in erratic bursts as the team moved in single file. Condensation clung to their gear. Every step echoed faintly through the steel infrastructure.
Reyes' voice buzzed in Grimm's earpiece. "You've got motion sensors ahead—three meters. Spoofing them now."
The sensors flickered as the team passed, invisible to the watching eyes of Helix's AI.
Wraith paused at a hatch and keyed in a code. The lock disengaged.
"Welcome to Level Minus-Two," she whispered.
The door creaked open.
SIGMA Core Perimeter
Level -2 was a brutalist nightmare—steel walls, red emergency lighting, and automated drones parked in charging bays. The team split at a junction: Tanya and Wraith veered right, disappearing into shadows, while Grimm and Bull crept left toward the heart of the machine.
As they advanced, they passed one of the SIGMA control monitors. Its screen pulsed.
THREAT DETECTED.ANALYZING PATTERNS...MERCER.
Grimm's heart sank.
"They know."
Reyes shouted through the comm: "Spoof failing! You've got ten minutes before the whole system flags you!"
"Copy," Grimm said. "We're moving."
Main Server Hall – SIGMA Core
The server room loomed like a cathedral of machines—aisles of pulsating towers reaching up into the gloom. At the far end, a raised control platform gleamed.
Kessler stood at its center.
Unshaken. Waiting.
"So predictable," he said calmly as the team emerged.
Grimm raised his rifle. "Step away from the console."
Kessler didn't flinch. "You're too late. SIGMA is beyond you now. You destroy this copy, a dozen backups go live. The future cannot be stopped."
Bull moved to flank—but something hit him like a truck.
A blur of motion. A shadow stepped from the wall.
Commander Vance.
Cybernetic arm glinting, face set in a sneer.
"You want the key?" he growled. "Come and take it."
The Fight
Grimm opened fire. Kessler ducked behind the terminal as bullets tore past.
Bull swung at Vance, who caught the punch mid-air and twisted, slamming him into a pillar. Sparks flew.
Grimm dove behind a server rack, trading shots with incoming guards. "Reyes, status!"
"Four minutes! Then the spoof collapses!"
Tanya's voice cut in: "Holding off reinforcements on Level -1. Don't wait for backup!"
Bull roared, body slamming Vance into a wall. The enforcer retaliated with a blade from his wrist, slashing across Bull's side.
Grimm launched forward, tackling Vance from behind, both men crashing to the ground in a tangle of fists and blood.
Kessler used the chaos to reengage SIGMA.
ACTIVATION SEQUENCE – 3%
Wraith's voice crackled in. "He's starting the protocol!"
Grimm grabbed his pistol and fired—straight into Vance's cybernetic eye. The man screamed and collapsed.
Breathing hard, Grimm turned his weapon on Kessler.
"One last chance. Shut it down."
Kessler didn't hesitate.
"No."
Grimm fired once.
The bullet pierced Kessler's chest. He slumped, bleeding across the console.
Grimm stepped forward and scanned Kessler's dying retina into the system.
EXECUTIVE ID CONFIRMEDSIGMA SHUTDOWN INITIATED...TERMINATION CODE REQUIRED
He looked at Wraith, who linked in remotely, typing fast.
"Uploading kill command... now!"
The room shuddered.
SIGMA CORE: OFFLINEALL PROCESSES TERMINATED
The screen went black.
Extraction
Sirens howled.
Reyes: "You triggered a failsafe! Drones are flooding the tower!"
Grimm dragged Bull to his feet. "Fall back! Rendezvous at the cliffside!"
Through fire, bullets, and alarms, the team ran.
They reached the surface with seconds to spare.
The Osprey returned, its ramp open.
They boarded amid smoke and gunfire, the city of Zurich burning behind them as SIGMA's shadow was snuffed out.
Epilogue – Temporary Safehouse, Southern Italy
Hours later, the team sat in silence. Grimm watched the sunrise with tired eyes.
"It's over," Tanya said quietly.
Grimm shook his head. "For now."
Wraith stepped in. "SIGMA is gone. But Helix still exists. Others will come."
Grimm stood.
"Then we keep moving. We find the next threat. We stay off the grid."
Reyes' voice came over the comm: "You guys are officially the world's most wanted. Congrats."
Bull grinned, arm bandaged. "Let 'em come."
Grimm stared at the horizon.
"One war down. Ninety-nine to go."