Everything looked normal in the base except for the busy Great Room that was full of agents of all specialties. Agent 16-E and her team, Assistant Agent X and some other people, whose names Alba ignored, were there. Everyone had something to do, but they were mostly waiting.

Alba was handling the satellite, tracking the enemy and their movements. Neva and Azarov were in an old, wooden house in the mountains in the midst of trees and dangerous slopes.

"Five more kilometers until point A," she said.

Agent 19 and the cute guy from the electronics team, Agent 465, were working on blocking the enemy's signal.

"Four kilometers," Alba announced.

"Sir, there are two cars in point A and another two in point B. We spotted ten and twelve people respectively," Assistant Agent X said.

"You heard her, team. Remember that we want to arrest them, not kill them. The chip is somewhere out there, and we might not find it without them."

"Yes, sir," many agents said at the same time through their earpiece.

"Three kilometers."

The cars stopped, and most of the agents continued on foot, spreading around point A and point B. They were armed with different weapons and knives, though their clothing wasn't too heavy in order to facilitate their movements at the uneven, rocky place.

Agent 40-S was heading to point B with eight more agents. He was walking carefully, trying to avoid the piles of fallen leaves and broken branches.

He raised his right hand, and his team stopped at once.

"I'm here," he whispered.

"I'm blocking their signal," Agent 19 said.

"On my count," the Chief said and the Great Room fell quiet. "One, two, three, go!"

The PROTEA agent's attacked at the same time at the two spots. Soon the speaker of the Great Room roared with gunshots, shouts, anguished voices and thumps from the fallen bodies.

Alba had adjusted her microphone and only Axel could hear her. The others were taking orders and advice from other people.

"Nine o'clock," she said before an enemy raised his gun.

Axel turned to his left and shot first. "Thanks."

"Someone's trying to go to the house, run to two o'clock," she warned him, and he started running.

Many different screens were zooming in different agents, but from the huge screen on the wall of the room, you could see that PROTEA was winning so far.

"There's movement in the house!"

"Point A is clear," the Chief announced.

"They heard us! Someone's trying to-"

The agent didn't finish his sentence as a piercing sound put an end to his words.

"Continue as planned," the Chief ordered.

A few agents stayed behind to detain those who didn't die and make sure that no one could use their cars. The rest of the team ran to the house, where the third group was already fighting in the back side.

Axel and Rob were leading. The first one kicked the door, the hinges went loose, and the door opened.

An agent was hit beside Axel, and he ran to cover himself behind a couch. A second later, Rob landed himself near Axel. They were facing the open front door, while the bullets tried to pierce the couch. A few agents were still outside either trying to get inside or running to help the third team.

"Sir, Neva and Azarov aren't on this floor. I'm going upstairs."

"You know what to do," the Chief said and ordered three agents to follow him.

Axel started climbing the stairs as the rest of the agents covered him and his group.

"We are PROTEA agents. Show yourselves!" He wasn't pointing to anywhere specific as he was faced with three rooms. Two of the doors were closed while the third was semi-open.

Instead of an answer, bullets flew from the opposite room.

"Three people inside and one dead," Alba informed him after checking with the satellite.

That's odd. Why would they kill one of their own? Unless he wasn't one of them.

The three agents continued shooting at the room, not letting the enemy attack, while Axel walked toward there, his back on the wall, careful to stay out of the shooting range.

He nodded to his team, they stopped and covered themselves as he was hiding in the corner next to the door's room.

The semi-open door shrieked, and a gun appeared.

None of the PROTEA agents moved. The gunshots from the first floor had almost stopped, and the main sound was the wooden floor creaking under their footsteps.

The man with the gun kicked lightly the door with his boot, and his arm appeared. Axel was waiting for the right moment, and when the enemy revealed himself, the skilled agent attacked him. Axel tried to take away the enemy's gun, but his opponent was a good fighter.

The other agents were unable to help because there was a chance they would hit one of their own people. The man was trying to manage a good grip around his gun, and, in that specific moment, Axel seized the opportunity and his enemy's vulnerability and hit him with his elbow between the eyes. The enemy let the gun fall and tried to protect his face, but it was too late.

Axel kicked him and threw him to the wall. The man hit his head and fell unconscious.

Making a signal to his team, they moved to the open door, their guns ready to shoot.

"Surrender!" he shouted.

Entering the room, one of the enemies threw himself on him, and they fell on the ground fighting. An agent aimed her gun at the third man while the other two checked the body on the ground and confirmed that he was dead.

Axel was struggling to beat his enemy. The blonde man had hit him to the eye, making Axel's vision blurry. Unable to do anything else and trying not to cause a fatal hit, Axel grabbed his knife from his belt and pierced his opponent's abdomen. The man made a sound and stopped fighting back. The brown-haired agent twisted the knife before removing it.

"I don't think we have met, Azarov," he said while standing up.

"I know you. You believed that you could beat my partner last year." The man had dark, black hair and a pair of shrewd, grey eyes.

"Leave us." He put his knife to his belt while the agents took the fallen man out of the room.

Azarov was sitting in an imposing, gold bergère, his hands resting on the padded elbow rests.

"Tell me where your labs are located."

"You can't understand." Azarov laughed.

"Understand what?" Axel furrowed his eyebrows.

"It doesn't matter because it's over. The final phase has started, and nothing else will matter."

Axel took a few steps, his hand touching his gun that rested in its holster.

"It's over, Azarov. My people have arrested Neva, and you are here with me. One of you will talk. I'll make sure of it."

"Do what you want, Agent."

The young man wanted to punch Azarov's face and destroy that peaceful smile on his face.

"Arrest him, Agent 40-S," a voice said from the earpiece.

"Get up and don't make any sudden movements, or I'll shoot you." Axel took the gun and aimed at Azarov.

He stood up slowly, almost amused.

"It's a shame I won't be able to see your face when you realize-"

"Stop talking!" The Chief appeared under the doorstep. His arm was sloppily bandaged. "Finish your job, Agent 40-S!" He took another step into the room, waiting.

The gun was looking at Azarov's chest.

"Put your hands up, and don't do anything stupid." Azarov was three meters away from Axel. "Start walking!" His fingers were hugging the gun, tempted to pull the trigger.

"You have no idea what's coming." Azarov smirked, put his hand behind his back, and the gun fired.

The bullet flew fast, pierced his skin and entered his heart.

The Great Room fell silent while Azarov was falling dead on the wooden floor.