Year: 2212 | Location: Undisclosed Soviet Recon Bunker – Siberian Edge
Snow scratched against steel walls.Inside a hidden Soviet bunker, several generals stood around a massive digital screen—blurry satellite feed playing over and over.
The feed showed fire.It showed smoke.It showed one man standing alone in the middle of a battlefield that looked like hell.
"Pause it," said a cold voice.
The footage stopped.
There he was—Shoonya. One arm bleeding, half his armor torn off. But his posture? Straight. Solid. Like he won, even after losing everything.
A Soviet officer lit a cigar. "That's your ghost?"
The Marshal didn't answer. He just stared at the screen.
Meanwhile...
Shoonya sat in a burnt-out railway tunnel, patching his shoulder with leftover thread. No anesthetic. No help. Just silence.
His comm crackled. "They're watching us."
"Let them," Shoonya muttered. "They'll learn something."
Inside the Soviet Recon Room
"He turned a suicide mission into a mass grave," one general muttered.
Another one leaned in. "We need to understand how he thinks."
"He doesn't think," the Marshal replied. "He calculates."
One junior tech looked nervous. "Sir... if he becomes global—if he starts turning on allies—"
"He won't," the Marshal interrupted.
But he wasn't sure.
Flashback: Two Days Ago
A Soviet stealth drone had been flying low over the Kashmir line. Unarmed. Unseen.
Shoonya spotted it in under two minutes.
He didn't shoot it.He stared right at it. Raised his hand.And showed one middle finger.
Then he turned his back.
"Disrespectful," one Russian agent said.
"Or fearless," another corrected.
Back to the Present
The Marshal looked up from the screen. "We may need him. If America moves south, or if China gets desperate... he's the only one who can turn a border into a coffin."
"But what if he turns it on us?"
No answer.
Later that night – Akhand Bharat HQ, Underground Sector 9
Shoonya walked into the war room, still bleeding, eyes dead.
A general tried to speak. Shoonya cut him off.
"You sent us in with 3,000 men and no exit plan."
"We didn't expect—"
"You didn't plan. I did."
He dropped a blood-soaked map on the table. "Next time you question my methods, send someone else."
Nobody said a word.
Somewhere in Siberia – Soviet Side
The Marshal poured a drink.
"Keep eyes on him," he said. "Not drones. Not satellites. Real eyes."
"And if he turns rogue?"
The Marshal didn't answer right away.
Then finally:"Then we burn him before he burns the world."
Shoonya's barracks
He sat alone. No medals. No pictures. No voice in his head telling him he did well.
Only one thought:
"Trust no one."
He wasn't afraid of enemies.
He was starting to watch his allies.
Because in a war this deep, betrayal always came from behind.