Teutoburg Forest, Germany
03:47 AM
The forest was no longer quiet.
The ground itself had become a battlefield.
German searchlights pierced through the trees.
SS soldiers dug trenches around the Phoenix facility.
Anti-aircraft guns rotated toward the sky.
Armored half-tracks lined the roads.
Somewhere in the darkness, thousands of men were converging toward a single point.
Because now everyone knew.
Phoenix existed.
And whoever controlled it… could control the future.
1. Raed's Last Briefing
Raed, Nadia, and Sokolov crouched inside an abandoned hunter's cabin overlooking the facility.
He spread a map across a wooden table.
Three arrows pointed toward the complex.
"Situation changed," Raed said.
"Worse?" Nadia asked.
Raed nodded.
"Much worse."
He pointed toward the eastern sector.
"SS divisions."
Then south.
"Soviet Spetsnaz units."
Then west.
"Rogue Wehrmacht officers."
Sokolov frowned.
"The Wehrmacht too?"
Raed nodded.
"Hitler is dead. The Reich is splitting into factions."
He pointed toward the center.
"The only thing they all agree on…"
His finger stopped.
"…is that Phoenix must belong to them."
Nadia crossed her arms.
"How many soldiers?"
"Probably around eight thousand in total."
Sokolov cursed.
"And we're three people."
Raed smiled faintly.
"That's why we're not here to fight an army."
He pulled a small metallic device from his bag.
Sokolov stared.
"What is that?"
Raed answered.
"The emergency overload key we stole from Vienna."
Nadia's eyes widened.
"You kept it?"
"I was waiting for the right moment."
He looked at both of them.
"If we insert this into the reactor chamber…"
He paused.
"…Phoenix dies forever."
2. Himmler's Arrival
Several kilometers away…
A convoy emerged from the darkness.
Black armored Mercedes vehicles.
SS escorts.
Motorcycles.
Radio trucks.
The convoy stopped.
Heinrich Himmler stepped out.
Everyone immediately stood straighter.
Brandt approached him.
"Reichsführer."
Himmler looked toward the facility.
"Status."
Brandt answered proudly.
"Phase two stabilization at seventy-four percent."
"Excellent."
Brandt hesitated.
"There is a problem."
Himmler narrowed his eyes.
"Raed al-Masri is nearby."
Silence.
Then Himmler smiled.
"Good."
Brandt blinked.
"Good?"
"Yes."
Himmler folded his hands behind his back.
"Stop chasing him."
Brandt looked confused.
"Sir?"
"Let him come."
Brandt suddenly understood.
"…He's the bait."
Himmler nodded.
"He always goes where the suffering is."
His smile widened.
"And tonight… suffering awaits him."
3. Moscow Makes Its Move
At exactly 04:21 AM…
The first Soviet artillery shell landed.
BOOOOM.
The entire forest shook.
Another shell.
Then another.
Then hundreds.
Trees exploded apart.
German anti-aircraft batteries fired back.
Searchlights swept the skies.
Soldiers screamed orders.
And then…
The Soviet offensive began.
Thousands of Red Army troops stormed through the eastern sector.
Tanks rolled over trenches.
Machine guns roared.
Flamethrowers ignited the darkness.
Chaos swallowed the forest.
Sokolov stared.
"My God…"
Raed immediately stood up.
"This is it."
Nadia grabbed her rifle.
"Now?"
Raed nodded.
"Now."
4. Operation Iron Thunder
The trio descended toward the facility.
Bullets whizzed overhead.
German soldiers were too busy fighting Soviets to notice them.
That was the opportunity.
Raed led.
Nadia covered.
Sokolov watched their rear.
They slipped into a maintenance tunnel.
Inside…
Everything was shaking.
Red emergency lights flashed.
Scientists ran in panic.
Officers screamed.
A young technician grabbed Raed.
"Please! They said the reactor is unstable!"
Raed froze.
"Unstable how?"
The man pointed toward the lower levels.
"It keeps producing surges! Nobody knows why!"
Raed exchanged looks with Nadia.
Time was running out.
Fast.
5. The Heart of Phoenix
Level -8.
The reactor chamber.
It was enormous.
Hundreds of cables.
Dozens of generators.
A gigantic cylindrical machine dominated the center.
Blue electrical arcs danced around its surface.
This…
This was Phoenix.
Not a monster.
Not a god.
A machine.
A horrifying machine.
One built to manipulate massive amounts of energy.
Brandt emerged from the shadows.
"Welcome, Raed."
SS soldiers surrounded them.
Nadia raised her rifle.
Sokolov raised his pistol.
Raed didn't.
He stared at Brandt.
"All of this… for what?"
Brandt smiled.
"For peace."
Raed laughed once.
"Thirty thousand nuclear warheads and this machine?"
Brandt nodded.
"Yes."
"You call that peace?"
Brandt stepped closer.
"Mutual terror."
He pointed upward.
"Do you know why humanity keeps fighting?"
Raed remained silent.
"Because war is affordable."
Brandt spread his arms.
"Phoenix changes that."
He pointed at the reactor.
"This machine will create a world so terrifying that no one will dare start another war."
Raed shook his head.
"No."
Brandt frowned.
Raed answered quietly.
"It'll create a world so terrified… nobody will know how to live anymore."
Silence.
Then Brandt sighed.
"That's disappointing."
He raised his hand.
"Kill them."
6. The Battle
Everything exploded at once.
Nadia opened fire.
Sokolov tackled one soldier.
Raed sprinted toward the reactor.
Bullets ricocheted everywhere.
Sirens screamed.
One by one, the lights failed.
Soviet shells continued pounding the facility from outside.
The entire structure trembled.
Raed reached the console.
He inserted the overload key.
ACCESS ACCEPTED.
Brandt's eyes widened.
"NO!"
Raed began typing.
10%
20%
30%
Emergency alarms intensified.
VOICE:
REACTOR OVERLOAD INITIATED.
Brandt charged toward him.
Raed turned.
And for the first time…
The two men fought directly.
Punches.
Elbows.
Knees.
Neither was a superhuman.
Just two exhausted men carrying entire ideologies on their shoulders.
Brandt slammed Raed against a railing.
Raed punched him back.
Brandt grabbed his throat.
Raed drove a screwdriver into Brandt's shoulder.
He screamed.
The machine continued counting.
55%
70%
85%
Brandt stared at him with fury.
"You're condemning the future!"
Raed answered through heavy breathing.
"No…"
He shoved him backward.
"…I'm giving humanity another chance."
7. Sacrifice
Suddenly…
Sokolov yelled.
"RAED!"
An artillery shell punched through the ceiling.
Debris collapsed.
Nadia barely jumped away.
Sokolov wasn't fast enough.
Thousands of kilograms of concrete buried him instantly.
Nadia screamed.
"SOKOLOV!"
Silence.
Gone.
Just like that.
Raed froze.
For half a second.
But there was no time.
95%
96%
97%
Brandt stood again.
Bleeding.
Broken.
Laughing.
"You're too late…"
Raed frowned.
"What?"
Brandt smiled.
"Phoenix already transmitted its data."
Raed's heart sank.
"Where?"
Brandt smiled wider.
"Everywhere."
8. The New War Begins
Outside…
Berlin received encrypted files.
Moscow received encrypted files.
Tokyo received encrypted files.
Washington received encrypted files.
Phoenix had escaped.
Not physically.
Digitally.
Its blueprints were now loose in the world.
The arms race had officially begun.
And humanity would never be the same again.
Inside the collapsing facility…
Raed grabbed Nadia.
"RUN!"
The reactor reached 100%.
And Teutoburg Forest disappeared inside a white inferno.