Chapter 105: Aftermath and New 

The quiet hum of the helicopter filled the air as they flew away from Voss's island. Dominic stared out the window at the dark ocean below, the weight of what had just happened still sinking in. They had taken down the world's most dangerous man, but something didn't feel right.

Alyssa was seated next to him, reviewing the files they'd recovered from Voss's compound. Her expression was tense, her brows furrowed in concentration.

"What is it?" Dominic asked, breaking the silence.

She glanced up, her eyes dark. "Voss wasn't lying. He had contingency plans dozens of them. Even with him dead, his network is still intact."

Dominic let out a slow breath. "So, we're not done yet."

"No," she replied softly. "Not even close."

Marcus and Laura, seated across from them, exchanged glances. They had been quiet ever since the mission ended, the weight of everything they had fought for pressing heavily on them. They had all lost friends, allies, and parts of themselves to this mission. And now, the victory felt hollow.

Eleanor's voice crackled over the comms. "We've secured the files from the bunker, but there's something you need to see. Voss was funding secret research something way off the books."

Alyssa raised an eyebrow. "More than just weapons and destabilization?"

"It's… hard to explain. You'll need to see it for yourselves," Eleanor said cryptically.

Back at the safe house, the team gathered around Eleanor's terminal. She pulled up a series of files, displaying a collection of encrypted documents and surveillance footage. The images were grainy but clear enough to see.

"This footage was taken from one of Voss's hidden labs," Eleanor explained. "It looks like he was working on something called 'Project Phoenix.' Genetic manipulation, bioweapon research, but the details are fuzzy."

"What the hell was he planning?" Marcus asked, leaning closer to the screen.

"From what I can gather, he was trying to create something or someone that could survive anything. Immune to disease, resistant to aging, even enhanced physical abilities," Eleanor said, her voice edged with disbelief.

Alyssa scrolled through the data. "This is way beyond anything we've seen from him before. He wasn't just building a network. He was preparing for something far bigger."

Dominic stared at the screen, a knot forming in his stomach. "If this research gets into the wrong hands…"

"It could change everything," Laura finished for him.

They all stood in silence for a moment, the gravity of what they were seeing hitting them all at once. Voss had been planning for something bigger than any of them had realized. And even though he was gone, the ripple effects of his work were only just beginning.

"We need to destroy this," Marcus said firmly. "Every trace of it."

Eleanor nodded. "I'm already scrubbing the data. But there's one problem, some of this research has already been sold."

"Sold?" Alyssa's voice was sharp. "To who?"

"That's the thing," Eleanor replied, her fingers flying across the keyboard. "The buyer's identity is encrypted. It could be anyone. But they paid a fortune for it. Whoever it is, they know exactly what they're getting."

Dominic clenched his fists. "We need to find them. If this research gets out…"

"We'll never be able to stop it," Alyssa said, finishing his thought.

Over the next few weeks, the team split up, each working from different locations to track down leads. Voss's network was vast, and although they had crippled a significant portion of it, many of his allies were still out there shadowy figures with their own agendas.

Marcus and Laura were sent to Europe to follow up on leads involving arms dealers and corporate backers who had been working with Voss. Their mission was to dismantle the remaining pieces of his empire, taking down anyone still loyal to him.

Alyssa, meanwhile, dove deeper into the encrypted files from Voss's research, trying to trace the sale of Project Phoenix. Whoever had purchased the research had covered their tracks well, but Alyssa was relentless. She knew that if they didn't find this buyer soon, the consequences could be catastrophic.

Dominic stayed behind at the safe house, coordinating with Eleanor as they pieced together the fragments of Voss's network. Every new piece of information painted a darker picture—Voss had been more than just a criminal mastermind. He had been a visionary, albeit a twisted one. And now, his vision was still unfolding, even after his death.

One night, while reviewing the latest intel, Eleanor suddenly froze, her eyes wide as she stared at the screen.

"Dominic, you need to see this," she said, her voice shaking.

He walked over, looking at the screen. It was a live feed from a secure facility one they hadn't seen before. The image showed a man, strapped to a table, his body covered in strange, glowing patterns.

"What the hell is that?" Dominic asked, his voice low.

"That's Voss," Eleanor whispered.

Dominic's blood ran cold. "That's impossible. We killed him."

Eleanor shook her head slowly. "Not exactly. This is one of Voss's labs his real labs. He was experimenting on himself."

Dominic stared at the screen in disbelief. The man on the table—it was Voss, or at least, something that resembled him. His body was twisted, altered in ways that defied explanation. Whatever Voss had been working on, he had used it on himself.

"Project Phoenix," Eleanor said, her voice barely audible. "He wasn't just building a new world order. He was trying to become something… more."

Dominic's mind raced. If Voss had succeeded in whatever experiment he had been conducting, then killing him once wouldn't have been enough. He could still be out there, alive, planning his next move.

"We need to shut this down," Dominic said, his voice hard. "Right now."

Eleanor nodded, already pulling up the lab's coordinates. "I'm sending the location to the team. But Dominic… if Voss really did manage to cheat death, we're going to need more than just bullets to stop him this time."

Dominic stared at the screen, his jaw clenched. "Then we find out what he did—and we end this for good."

As the team prepared to launch their final assault on Voss's secret lab, one thing was clear: the game had changed. Voss had always been a step ahead, but now they were no longer just fighting a man they were facing something far more dangerous.

And this time, failure wasn't an option.