Axel was standing in front of a projector, the whole wall behind him showing the map of the area where Nat was.

The red dot hadn't moved the last hour, and unless someone had found out the tracker, they had Nat's location. They believed and hoped that the traitor wouldn't leave her out of his side.

While Axel was explaining the final details of the plan, Alba was scanning the area one more time.

Old building, hasn't been used in ages, no one lives or works in a five-kilometer radius. The ancient blueprints show underground rooms and storages. Perfect. And they won't see us coming.

"Alright, everyone." Axel clapped his hands and got everyone's attention. "This might be our last chance to stop them from using the chip in civilians. Watch out for our own Assistant Agent X. We don't know her condition, but we must get her alive. Be careful. Agent 23 has explained what the chip can do."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

An agent cleared his throat. "Sir, what's our tactic?"

"Shoot to kill."

Alba put her hair in a ponytail and made sure that her guns and knives were secure in her belt. She would follow Axel and the rest of the team. Putting a few drops of the medicine on her eye and taking a painkiller, she looked at the mirror. Her nose was in a terrible state, she had a scar on her eyebrow, and her eye was still red.

At least, that's all they can see.

She wondered if she was pushing her body too much, but she wanted to be there when everything was over. She wanted to make sure that Nat was okay.

Checking the time, she rushed to her assigned car. "Sorry," she mumbled and hopped to the backseat.

"We have eyes on the area," Agent 16-E's voice said in their earpiece.

The drive lasted half an hour, the building was out of the city. It used to be a vodka factory until the company went bankrupt ten years ago.

A few bodyguards were checking the perimeter, and two guards stood in front of the entrance. Alba blocked their devices.

"No one hears them," she informed Axel. She typed once again. "And now, no one will see us."

She stopped the cameras from recording the surroundings and put a fake video in a loop so that no one would suspect what was happening outside.

Following the plan, the agents took down the bodyguards without alerting the guards. Susan and another agent pretended to work for Neva and neared the guards, Susan holding a suitcase.

"Neva told us to come here if he hadn't communicated with for more than a week."

Alba watched through Susan's secret camera on her suit as the guards were looking between them when one of them opened his communication device.

"I need confirmation for these two," he said, but it was too late.

Using this opportunity, Susan hit with the suitcase the guard that was talking while the other agent disarmed the second guard.

"Your turn, Chief."

Axel and his team rushed into the building, Alba close behind them, making sure that no device would create a problem.

Susan and her team headed to the upper floors while Axel and Alba went after the red dot.

A few people in white coats were walking in the corridors when the agents attacked and immobilized them.

Alba saw rooms with closed doors, rooms with glassy walls where cages with animals were, rooms with strange machines and tied people on chairs. And then, she saw the last room. The red dot was shining in there. She opened the door, the gun in her right hand, the tablet in the other. A man was sitting in front of a monitor, hundreds of buttons and little lights around him.

Without giving him a chance to react, she shot him in the back. Making sure that no one was there, she faced with terror the red dot. Her face was full of blood, her body looked broken, and her eyes stared lifelessly in front of her.

"No," Alba muttered.

Watching through the glass that separated the room that Alba was in and the room that Nat was in, Alba saw the tall guy ordering Nat around. A woman was tied in a chair, helpless, screaming in terror and begging in mercy as Nat, following her handler's orders, took a knife and stood behind the woman.

The tall guy, the controlling device on his head, gave the order, "Slice her neck."

And that's what Nat did.

How the hell do I get in?

"Axel, I need you here," she said as she tried to find a way to enter the room. She shot the glass, threw a chair, and banged it with her hands, but not even a crack was made. She tried to use the monitor and shut everything down.

"You are too late," the tall guy said, speaking to her for the first time.

"What?"

He pointed to a screen she hadn't noticed. Behind the man, a world map was in blue. But a few lines were connecting the lab with other countries.

"No matter what you do, it's over."

They were faster. The chips are almost at their destination, she thought, as she realized that the enemy was a step ahead.

"A new vaccine initiative is starting around the world, and who would imagine that these vaccines hide a surprise?"

"PROTEA is all over the place, your partners are dead, and I know that your days are over. Then, who is going to use your valuable project?" She hadn't stopped searching for a way to enter the room, but now, she was also looking for a way to stop the systems.

"I send you details over those airplanes and possible destinations. Send agents and stop the vaccination teams," she said as Agent 16-E was hearing the entire conversation through the earpiece.

"What is-"

"Took you long enough," Alba said as Axel entered the room. "I can't break the glass," she explained.

"Can't you do your magic?"

She rolled her eyes. "No, and we have more pressing matters. Look."

He followed her finger to the world map, as one by one, the countries turned orange.

Let's hope that means the vaccines are there and not that the vaccination has started.

Axel examined the glass. "Stay behind."

"Why?"

He reached out for his belt, where a single grenade was tied in place.

"That could make the whole building collapse."

"Do you think we have more time?"

Nat had killed two more people, and the blade was now dangerously close to her neck.

"If we die, I'm gonna kill you," she warned him.

The tall guy wasn't looking at them; his focus was on the screen.

Axel ran to Alba, trying to escape the room, as he released the grenade and threw it on the glass. "Everyone cover yourselves," he screamed in the microphone.

She thought that the building would collapse, but they both knew that they had to stop Nat and capture him.

While the building was shaking and a deafening sound hit her ears, all Alba saw, was Axel putting his body above hers as if he could protect her from the collapse.

A minute passed, and she knew she was still alive.

Feeling Axel's slow breath near her ear, she felt how scared he was. "We are alive," she whispered.

He looked into her eyes. "Yes." They stood up, the building still in place, but the mirror had disappeared.

They entered the room, seeing nothing but the people Nat had killed. "Behind you," Alba managed to say before Nat jumped on Axel and tried to kill him.

Looking around, she searched for the tall guy. He was sitting in the opposite corner, a gun in his hand.

"Put the gun down and raise your hands."

"Well done, Agent 23. You almost stopped us."

Alba raised an eyebrow. "Almost?"

"My only regret is that I won't be there."

For what?

Axel groaned behind her as he tried to stop Nat without hurting her.

"Stop the nonsense and tell me how to stop that without wasting resources."

"I'm sure that PROTEA will stop a few transfers, and I believe you'll find a way to stop the rest of them on time." He smiled.

Someone fell to the ground, muttering in pain, but she couldn't focus on the voice.

This must be the end, right? We won.

"Goodbye, Agent 23. Take care of your friend." He raised the gun and shot.

Her eyes grew wide in surprise as the bullet flew to his skull, and a stain of blood covered the wall behind his shuttered head.

Hearing a thump, she turned around. Axel's nose was bleeding, and Nat was on the floor, not moving.

Alba opened her mouth.

"She's alive," he reassured her.

She nodded and remembered one detail. Resisting the urge to throw up, she neared the dead guy. Trying to avoid seeing the mix of blood, brain cells, and human tissues, she removed the device and broke it with her foot.

"We won," Axel said.

"It doesn't feel like a win," she whispered.

"I know."

"Now what?"

Wiping with his sleeve the blood that reached his lips, he said, "Now we go home and bury our dead."