The silence inside the abandoned factory was heavier than the iron of its walls.
It was not merely the absence of sound — it was a silence charged like a cloud before it breaks.
"Who is this man?" ZARYOUH growled like a wounded lion.
"He's one of MOHITO's classmates from the department…" MIZIANI answered with a trembling voice.
"He seems to have followed us!" ZAKI added anxiously.
"There is no escape!" ZARYOUH drew his knives and lunged toward ODEL.
Suddenly, MIZIANI and ZAKI stood before him like human shields.
"What are you doing?!" ZARYOUH shouted angrily.
"We cannot allow you to kill an innocent… he has committed no crime," MIZIANI spoke with the voice of reason he had become used to playing.
"He's right," ZAKI confirmed.
The others couldn't say anything, watching the tree of them
ODEL was sitting on the floor, trying to take in the scene: the screens, the weapons, ZARYOUH advancing on him like judge and executioner.
At last, he understood: these were not ordinary students.
"Is it over for me?" he whispered inside.
But the very curiosity that had dragged him into this abyss gave him the strength to stand.
"Are you members of the local gangs?" he asked in a quavering voice.
"Calm down, everyone!" Reason's voice rose finally.
SHOUTNA stepped forward like a wise shadow.
"Sometimes curiosity drives us to discover truths we were not ready for — truths that can alter the course of our lives forever."
SHOUTNA fell silent for a moment, then turned to ODEL and continued.
"But that doesn't mean curiosity is a crime…
It is the flame that has lit humanity's path through the ages.
We cannot punish a man for his curiosity."
His voice was calm but resolute.
ZARYOUH stepped back a pace, his knives still clutched in trembling hands.
"What will we do now?" TAHARA asked, bewildered.
SHOUTNA walked toward ODEL with measured steps.
"I'm sorry… but I can't let you leave now."
A swift strike to ODEL's neck…
and he lost consciousness.
"TAHARA, put him in the storeroom," SHOUTNA ordered.
"We have something more important to deal with," SHOUTNA said, looking at the screens.
"We will follow the plan we agreed upon."
ADEL interrupted, panic creeping into his voice: "They've started moving."
"Where are they heading?" SHOUTNA asked.
"To the road leading to the eastern forest," ADEL replied.
SHOUTNA paused in silence, thinking.
"Alright, everyone — time to catch them," SHOUTNA said.
The five moved toward the car parked behind the factory.
SHOUTNA with his rifle LAXIS;
ZARYOUH smiling with battle-thrill, knives in hand;
AYOUB and TAHARA are exchanging smiles.
And MEZIANI is silent, thinking about the burden of combat.
They climbed in and sped off.
"They stopped in the eastern forest," ADEL reported over the radio.
Doubt began to creep into ADEL, whispering to him, What is the meaning of this?
SHOUTNA continued driving toward the fight without words — the decision had been made long ago, and there was no time for retreat once the battle ignited.
*********
In the eastern forest, where trees cradle slivers of sunlight like untold secrets, darkness breathed quietly.
The wind carried the whispers of fallen leaves as if warning of an approaching danger.
"We're in the eastern forest," SHOUTNA stated.
"Deploy the reconnaissance drones!" ADEL ordered.
SIGMA and BETA merged with the dark.
A terrifying silence…
"I've found them!" ADEL told them.
"At coordinates 40.7128° N, 74.0060° W…"
"What are they doing?" SHOUTNA asked.
"They're… just sitting on a rock in the middle!" ADEL stammered.
"Alright — everyone takes your positions," SHOUTNA commanded the three.
"Power boost: 35 out of 50."
SHOUTNA climbed a tree like a concealed shadow, and MIZIANI gripped his spear as if reciting a war verse.
"LAXIS, activate." SHOUTNA's whisper — his last before catastrophe.
At that moment, AYOUB, TAHARA and ZARYOUH had surrounded the clearing with BOW and AXE, waiting for SHOUTNA's signal to strike.
BUT Just as SHOUTNA was about to issue the order, suddenly…
BOW turned toward SHOUTNA and smiled.
A smile of death
A figure appeared behind SHOUTNA and levelled a rifle at his head.
"Throw down your weapon."
ADEL, watching from the factory through BETA and ALPHA, shouted:
"Everyone — it's a trap!"
But before his warning could reach them, the place was filled with soldiers pointing their guns at the three.
"Throw your weapons down!" A man in a white suit and a Joker-like mask advanced toward the trio, his weapon aimed at SHOUTNA and MEZIANI behind him, surrounded by soldiers.
The trio paid no heed to the Joker's words; their eyes did not waver from the decision they had made — to fight until the very end.
Their eyes told a story — that death was nothing more than a guest they awaited with hearts that knew no fear
But SHOUTNA stopped them
"Do what he says," SHOUTNA raised his hands.
Then they dropped their weapons.
"You have caused the Organisation a lot of trouble," the JOKER-speaker said with exultation.
"009 [BOW], 010 [AXE] — time to leave," the JOKER continued.
"This is truly boring," AXE grumbled.
Suddenly, black trucks surrounded the clearing and swallowed the Shadows one by one.
Back at the factory, the others watched the catastrophe on their screens.
"We have to go now!" MESNAS shouted.
"Even if we go, we won't arrive in time!" ZAKI replied in despair.
"Track them!" MESNAS turned to ADEL.
"Their trucks use jamming devices… I couldn't trace them!" ADEL answered, shaking in shock.
"MOHITO! … we must contact MOHITO!" ADEL tried desperately.
But the radio gave no reply… silence was the only answer.
"What's happening?" MESNAS demanded.
"The Hounds' and the team radios aren't working," ADEL said, stunned.
"This can't be," ZAKI said, the features of despair beginning to show on his face.
"Has the Organisation captured them?" ZAKI stammered.
"Are we… the only survivors?" The question hung in the air.
Suddenly — the factory door burst open!
Two figures stood in the entrance…
"You two…!" ADEL cried, astonished.
*******
An Hour Before the Catastrophe — in TZARIA
SOLIMON checked his phone in silence, while OBASO watched MOHITO and BELL exchanging words by a blazing fire.
"I've always wondered… how did you all meet?" OBASO directed the question to SOLIMON.
"I'm the last to have joined the team, and everyone avoids talking about the past… as if a ghost haunts them.
And because I'm grateful — for being given a warm place after the cold cells of the Organisation — I never pushed.
But now… I really want to know. What happened in the mission to rescue me? What is the event you fear remembering? Especially MOHITO… whose expression changes whenever you point to that day."
SOLIMON was silent for a moment, then looked with eyes carrying the pain of memory.
"You're right… You deserve to know the truth.
Everything began with—"
A ringing phone cut through the conversation.
BELL answered: "What's up, CLAY?"
"It's a trap! Leave the place now! The Organisation is storming us!" CLAY's voice screamed through the line.
BELL stood suddenly; his face drained of colour.
"What do you mean?"
"Run now …!" The line broke with gunshots.
"What happened?" SOLIMON and OBASO rushed forward.
"We must leave immediately," BELL screamed.
As everyone tried to comprehend the call, the sound of a helicopter approached the building.
MOHITO stepped out to see the sky fill with guided rockets aimed at them.
"Get down!" MOHITO shouted.
But it was too late…
The factory became a ball of fire…
And the helicopter vanished into the horizon, leaving behind utter destruction and unanswered questions.
*********