The warehouse stood silent on the outskirts of Jaipur — a skeleton of rusted steel and forgotten purpose. Rainwater dripped steadily from the leaking roof, collecting into shallow puddles that mirrored the flickering light of old halogen lamps.
Inside, Nick Verma leaned against a concrete pillar, cigarette smoke curling around his face.
His expression was calm, detached — the calm of someone who had already accepted the chaos to come.
Around him, his men moved with disciplined efficiency.
Weapons were checked. Communication lines recalibrated. Blueprints spread across metal tables, edges dampened by humidity.
> "We move at dawn," Nick said quietly. "No delays. Every phase must align. If even one piece falters… we vanish."
Raghav, his second-in-command, nodded. He was a broad man, with a soldier's posture and eyes that carried quiet loyalty.
> "The plan's solid, boss. The girl — Lucy — she's clever. But tonight drained her. She'll take time to recover."
Nick smirked faintly.
> "That's what I'm counting on."
---
He walked toward the large city map pinned against the far wall — Jaipur, marked in red pins and faint blue circles. Every dot represented a target: data centers, agency safehouses, school zones, power relays.
It wasn't about money.
It wasn't even about revenge.
It was about control.
Nick's finger traced a circle around one point — Central Jaipur High.
> "They think it's over. They think last night was the fight."
He turned to Raghav, voice low but sharp.
"It was the rehearsal."
---
Across the city, the atmosphere inside the Agency's command center was equally tense.
Lucy stood in front of a wall of screens, her wet hair tied loosely, her eyes rimmed red from exhaustion. Siya sat beside her, typing furiously, tracking every signal they could still detect.
> "They've gone quiet," Siya said. "No chatter, no signals. It's like they disappeared."
Lucy's fingers tightened around the edge of the console. "No. Nick doesn't vanish — he waits. He's regrouping."
The monitors flickered — one of them briefly flashing an encrypted message intercepted from the dark web.
Lucy leaned closer.
"HELIX REACTIVATION – 03:00 HOURS."
Her blood ran cold.
> "He's not just gathering men," she said softly. "He's rebuilding the entire network."
---
Back in the warehouse, Nick stood before a table lined with encrypted drives.
One by one, his men slotted them into laptops, transferring fragments of stolen data — agency records, mission reports, old experiments.
> "HELIX wasn't destroyed," Raghav muttered, almost in awe.
"No," Nick replied. "It was buried. I'm just unearthing the truth they tried to erase."
He paused, exhaling slowly, his gaze distant.
> "Sid died for that truth. And she —" his tone hardened — "she'll finally see what she's protecting."
---
Meanwhile, Lucy's mind raced through possibilities. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Sid's face — smiling faintly, whispering "Trust your instinct."
Her instinct screamed that something massive was building.
> "Siya," she said suddenly, "trace any power spikes in Sector 7 — that's near the industrial zone."
> "Already did," Siya replied, frowning. "Nothing abnormal, except… wait."
Her eyes widened.
"There's a warehouse there. No ID tags. No permits. But… it's drawing power at four times normal capacity."
Lucy's pulse quickened.
> "That's him."
---
In the warehouse, Nick stood before a dimly lit window, watching the city.
He didn't need to see her to know she was still fighting.
He wanted her to.
> "Let them prepare," he murmured, his reflection staring back at him — cold, resolute.
"When the storm hits, no one escapes. Not her. Not the Agency. Not anyone who built this lie."
Thunder rolled outside, vibrating through the old steel beams.
The rain picked up again, and with it, the faint hum of machinery as HELIX powered back online — an invisible heartbeat in the city's veins.
And somewhere miles away, Lucy whispered the same words Nick had —
> "The storm's coming."
Neither of them knew that when dawn broke over Jaipur, it would bring not relief — but reckoning.
---