The forest exploded. Gunfire roared from every angle, a wall of lead screaming through smoke and flame.The earth convulsed as grenades detonated, bark splintering into deadly shards, fire belching outward in waves that lit the night like a second sun.Fowler didn’t think. He moved.He threw himself across the mud, body a shield, arms wrapping around Selene just as the first storm of bullets tore through the oak behind her.Bark and stone erupted, showering them both. His back took the impact of fragments meant for her, ripping into already torn flesh. His jaw clenched against a scream, the taste of blood spilling over his teeth.Above him, tracer fire crisscrossed the clearing, a lattice of death. Vivienne, wounded but feral, fired wildly at anything that moved, her laughter ragged and broken.The scarred man barked commands, his pistol snapping precise shots even as chaos consumed his squad.And through it all, the silver visored figure advanced step by step, untouched, the storm be

The mask came free with a hiss of releasing seals. Fowler’s breath locked in his chest. The fire roared louder, the screams of battle dimmed, and for a moment the world seemed to collapse into silence.The face revealed was one he knew. One carved into memory so deep that time, war, and betrayal could never erode it.Commander Elias Reddington. His brother.Fowler’s vision blurred, not from blood loss this time, but from the sheer impossibility of what he was seeing. Elias. The man who had died.The man whose coffin Fowler had carried draped in the flag. The brother who had walked into fire and never come back.But here he stood. Alive. Whole. And smiling beneath the shadow of firelight. “You…” Fowler’s voice cracked like stone under pressure. “This… this isn’t real.”Elias’s smile widened, though his eyes were colder than Fowler remembered hard, sharp, nothing of the warmth that once lived there. “It’s real, brother. All of it. I was never in that coffin.Never beneath that soil. I’v

Selene’s scream tore through the smoke. She could hardly breathe. Every gasp was like glass ripping her lungs, but the sight before her burned hotter than pain.Fowler, crumpled in the mud, Elias crouched over him, the dagger still buried in her husband’s side. Blood poured like black ink down his uniform, soaking into the earth that already stank of fire and death.Her heart, weak as it was, felt like it would tear itself apart.“No…” The word rasped from her throat, raw, broken. She tried to rise, but her legs betrayed her. The scarred man caught her under the arms, pulling her back, his own blood dripping from his shoulder wound.“Stay still damn it, you’ll bleed out faster if you move!” His voice was rough, but his eyes grim, calculating were fixed on the brothers.Vivienne, wild-eyed, staggered closer, pistol in hand. Her gaze locked on Fowler, and for once the fury in her face cracked. A softness bled through, twisted with rage and heartbreak. “No… not him. Not like this.”The w

The clearing fell silent. The flames crackled. Rain hissed on embers. The soldiers, the scarred man, even Vivienne all froze as the gleam of that small, steel device caught the firelight.A detonator. In Elias’s bloodied hand, it looked almost insignificant. But the madness in his eyes made it heavier than any weapon on the field. His thumb hovered above the switch, the barest twitch away from oblivion.Selene’s body seized with cold terror. Her bloodied fingers clawed at the earth, as though she could crawl fast enough to tear the thing from his hand. “No no, please!”Fowler’s grip on his brother’s throat tightened, the dagger still pressed to skin. His whole body shook, caught between rage and horror. “What have you done?”Elias’s lips curled, blood dripping from split skin. “You thought you were fighting for her. For love. For redemption.” His laugh was hoarse, raw, edged with insanity. “But this has always been about war, brother. And in war… you win nothing if you can’t burn it

The ground split open. A violent tremor ripped through the clearing, hurling soldiers from their feet and shattering the burning oak.Flames scattered into the rain, sparks bursting like dying stars. The mud buckled and cracked, swallowing blood and bodies alike.Selene screamed as the scarred man threw himself over her, shielding her frail body from the falling debris. Vivienne tumbled into the muck, her pistol flying from her grip.Fowler, already weakened by blood loss, was flung onto his side, the breath torn from his lungs.And then the earth erupted. Explosions detonated in a chain, roaring through the forest like thunder. Fire ripped upward, twisting trees into flaming spears.Shrapnel whistled through the air. The world became a storm of fire and smoke, drowning screams in its fury.Fowler’s ears rang. His body ached with every impact as chunks of dirt and stone rained down around him. His eyes stung with ash, but he forced them open, searching desperately through the chaos.S