The snow-covered hills outside Zurich gleamed under the moonlight as Nam and Alina arrived at the edge of a forgotten estate, hidden behind pine trees and old wartime fences. This was no ordinary meeting point — this was where legends of the shadow world were summoned.
Inside the reinforced cellar, a dozen candles flickered against stone walls, casting long shadows over the faces of those gathered. Each person in the room was a ghost — off-grid, untraceable, deadly. Former spies, ex-hackers, a disavowed general, and a monk who once decoded enemy plans using ancient logic.
Nam stepped forward, the stolen Black Veil drive in his hand.
"They're about to rewrite the human mind," he said. "Not with bullets. With frequency, silence, and lies."
A grizzled woman in her sixties leaned in. "Then we write louder."
One of the hackers tapped his holotablet. "I've already cracked into one of the control nodes. If we hijack three more, we can send a signal loop to expose their network globally."
"But we'll only get one shot," Alina added. "After that, they'll bury us all."
The monk spoke for the first time. "Then we must become the storm, not the leaf."
Midnight – The Swiss Alps
Elsewhere, Kaas stood in a chamber of mirrors, surrounded by projections of global leaders — some real, some AI constructs. A digital chorus sang praises of obedience and peace.
But Kaas frowned.
"The rogue agent… Ford. He's not just resisting. He's uniting them."
A synthetic voice replied, "Do you wish to initiate Contingency Omega?"
Kaas turned, cold and deliberate. "No. Not yet. Let him gather his pieces. I want to crush them all at once."
Back in the mountains, Nam looked at the team. Each had nothing left to lose, and everything to fight for. As dawn approached, they made their vow:
To end the Black Veil.
Or vanish trying.