#16 : THE GATE OF FIRE

Agnidwar Perimeter — 01:43 HRS

The night felt heavier than usual.

The kind of heavy that made your bones twitch before the fight even began.

Rudra stood still, shoulders relaxed, eyes locked on the sealed steel doors of Agnidwar.

Beside him, Vijay adjusted the crowbar slung over his back—now reinforced with titanium plates Rudra welded himself.

From inside the comms, Meena's voice crackled.

"Infrared confirms eight guards at the entry sector. Three sentries on the scaffolds. All armed. Internal gates locked."

Danny's voice came next, from the van hidden two blocks out.

"Extraction ready. I've got eyes on the perimeter and escape routes ready. You give the word, I come in hot."

I exhaled once.

"Breach."

---

Agnidwar – Outer Gate

Vijay went first.

No hesitation.

He slammed the crowbar against the gate like it insulted his sister's memory. Metal screamed.

Two guards rushed out. He took them both down in under five seconds—one with a throat jab, the other with a violent elbow to the jaw.

Then Rudra moved.

God help anyone in his way.

One step. Two.

BOOM.

The steel door didn't open—it caved inward.

Guards fired.

Rudra didn't flinch.

He caught one bullet on his forearm plate. Spun. Drove his boot into a man's ribcage. Bones snapped like twigs under an avalanche.

Then he picked up a fallen rifle.

Didn't shoot.

Just bent it in half.

"I fought wars with less resistance," he muttered.

Vijay grinned through blood. "You're enjoying this."

"No."

He caught a charging Serpent by the throat.

"I'm remembering."

---

FLASHBACK — YEARS AGO

Sand. Smoke. Screams.

Rudra in an army uniform. Rifle empty. Surrounded. His squad—wiped out.

He looked up to the sky as a chopper flew past… ignoring his flare.

Orders, they said.

No reinforcements.

No witnesses.

Just silence from the higher-ups.

Just betrayal.

---

Present – Agnidwar Hallways

Rudra swung a Serpent soldier into another like a human wrecking ball.

Vijay disarmed a knife wielder, reversed the blade, and sliced clean through two more.

They were a storm.

Ruthless.

Precise.

Vijay had changed since Raaka.

He was faster. Focused. He didn't just fight with pain now.

He fought with purpose.

Rudra noticed.

"You're holding back."

Vijay wiped blood from his cheek. "Saving the real rage for later."

"Good," Rudra said, kicking down the next gate.

"Because later's here."

---

Deeper into Agnidwar – Corridor E

More Serpents. Heavily armored. Combat trained.

No match.

Rudra used a broken pipe like a staff, crushing limbs with military rhythm. Vijay followed, agile and feral, moving like a ghost with teeth.

Blood splattered the walls. Warning alarms started wailing. Meena's voice came in.

"Security systems are activating. Raaka's signature just pinged three doors ahead."

"Showtime," Vijay growled.

---

Agnidwar – Central Floor – Moments Later

Raaka stood waiting.

Eyes still bruised from his last encounter with Vijay.

This time, he smiled.

"I was hoping it would be you."

Rudra didn't stop walking.

Raaka stepped back.

"You're outnumbered—"

Rudra dropped a Serpent's body at his feet.

"Count again."

Then, chaos.

Raaka's elite guards opened fire. Vijay ducked, rolled, countered with brutal kicks and crowbar strikes.

Rudra went straight for Raaka.

They clashed.

Raaka was fast.

Rudra was unmovable.

Raaka slashed with twin blades. Rudra caught one bare-handed, twisted Raaka's wrist until it cracked.

"You should've stayed in the shadows," Rudra said.

Raaka snarled. "You should've died in yours."

They fought like monsters made of fury and loss. Neither yielding.

And behind them?

Vijay was painting the walls red.

---

Meanwhile — Hallway 3B

Yash and I split up.

Two different directions. Two possible control rooms.

His footsteps vanished down the west wing.

Mine echoed through the east.

The walls were smoother here.

Less industrial. More ceremonial.

Torches flickered. Not electrical. Real fire.

Symbols of the sun and the serpent.

This wasn't a lab.

This was sacred to them.

The deeper I went, the colder the air grew.

And then—

Silence.

Not quiet.

Silence.

Like the air had stopped breathing.

And in that silence—

She stood.

White shawl over her head.

Barefoot.

Still.

Her hands behind her back.

She didn't speak.

Didn't need to.

My pulse already told me what my memory didn't.

It was her.

---

TO BE CONTINUED