Osanai and Lucas both screamed from pain—but there wasn't a single scratch on their bodies.
This was Aryan's plan. He'd stockpiled experimental drugs, each with different abilities.
Before entering, Aryan and Ritul injected both mafias with a compound that forced them to relive their deepest fears—dreams indistinguishable from reality.
For Osanai it was the terror of his will breaking under torture. For Lucas it was facing death at Ritul's hands.
Lucas thrashed, screaming through clenched teeth.
"I DON'T KNOW WHERE HE IS!!"
Sweat poured down his face as he gasped.
"He... called me. Said he'd crafted a plan—to conquer this entire planet."
A flicker of memory. His voice dropped to a wheeze.
"Gave me tasks..."
Aryan leaned closer.
"What tasks?"
Lucas shuddered, still feeling phantom blood soak his sleeve:
"Told me 'Your father had connections—use them. Build an army. Hook the youth on drugs and lust...'"He choked."...Also spread it across the nations different mafias met different and sent supplies to each other to get the work done. We're all working for Leo now."
Aryan's voice turned to ice.
"How many tasks did you finish? How many mafias are allied? What's the endgame?"
"This... was my fourth."
Lucas's eyes rolled wildly.
"Before—South America. Recruited the whole continent's gangs. Then Mexico's cartels... Norway's syndicates..."
Aryan grabbed Lucas's collar, shaking him.
"WHAT THEN?"
Lucas gasped through imagined agony.
"We succeeded... in all those countries... Swear I know nothing else—PLEASE forgive me!"
Aryan released him, thoughts racing.
Hmm... bigger than we thought. Other mafia bosses connected too? More players hidden...
He said Norway worked—that low-crime country. Means governments are in this...
He sat bolt upright, blood draining from his face.
"Then we're fucked. Totally fucked."
Aryan spun back to Lucas.
"Governments involved?"
Lucas nodded weakly and screamed due to fear again.
"AGHHH—!"
Aryan roared over him.
"KEEP QUIET!!"
He dragged Lucas out, SMASHED the glass on his skull for real this time. The coward
—unconscious. Drug effect broken.
Aryan stared at the bleeding body, ice in his veins.
"Leo's playing god-tier chess...
Thank God they left one crack open. Our only way in."
A flashback hit him—Afghanistan.
Back then, they'd fought blind, unaware of Leo's global web.
Then Abhishek died. Died due to a bullet pierced his stomach.
They'd stayed that night. Prepped the escape.
Couldn't storm Talib'ul-Haqq's stronghold recklessly—not without a plan.
Aryan remembered the villagers' reports: massive helicopters and armored cars swarming Talib'ul-Haqq's base. Their intel later confirmed it—mafias from six nations, even terrorist leaders, gathered there.
He turned to Ritul, slouched in a chair gaming on his phone.
"Rishu, tie this bastard up. Throw him in the RS Q8."
Ritul didn't look up: "Plan work? What'd he say?"
Aryan relayed Lucas's confession.
Ritul's phone clattered to the floor, eyes wide.
"Holy fuck!"
Aryan's voice turned to ice.
"Do it. Now."
He re-entered the interrogation room. Osanai sat trembling, staring at his uninjured leg—still hallucinating blood. Aryan perched on the table, legs folded casually.
"Lucas sang. Now one question: Where. Is. Leo?"
Antarctica - Same Time
Evening bled across the ice. Most of Leo's crew slept; a few hurled snowballs in the twilight.
Deep in the cave, Leo's mining machine screamed as he carved through permafrost. Jake shouted over the roar.
"Sir, how'd you know anything was here? Governments would've turned this place into a lab!"
Leo killed the engine. Wiped sweat with a grease-stained sleeve.
"Two paths to make this planet better, Jake. First—our current war. Second—"He kicked the ice beneath them. "—what's buried here. My grandfather told me about a man... a kind destroyer. Said his power came from a civilization older than dinosaurs."
Jake stepped closer, skeptical.
"You're betting everything on a bedtime story?"
Leo's eyes flashed.
"Not a story. When my family died, I found Grandpa dying. He whispered. 'Closet... book... take it.' Everyone who touched it felt the truth about that man. That kind man? He walked this earth before the first dinosaur breathed."
Jake opened his mouth, but Leo cut him off.
"I know the odds. But our other plan's working—dead mafias piling up. Osanai and Lucas are meeting right now. Let me dig now"
Osanai screamed, veins bulging.
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO LUCAS?!!"
Aryan's roar shook the walls.
"SHUT THE FUCK UP!!"
Osanai panted, sweat dripping onto the floor. Aryan leaned in, voice like frozen steel:
"47.7384°N, 7.4246°E... Monaco."
A cruel grin split his face.
"Funny how scared you are. I know their address."
Osanai's hands clasped together.
"Please... please... Leave them... Leave my family alone—"
Aryan in the same cold tone.
"They think you're a car dealer."
"DON'T TELL THEM!"
Osanai shrieked, hallucinating Aryan smashing a chair over his head.
"PLEASE!"
Gasping, he tried reason.
"Kid, you don't understand... Walk away now, they'll spare your family too—"
Aryan's eyes flicked to the ceiling. One deep breath. Then.
"I don't care. I've watched people die over nothing. Judged. Tortured. So I made a decision I'll save whoever I can. I helped in India then in Afghanistan then in Russia and in many other countries....."
Aryan remembers pushing a button.
"Killed my own family for world peace..... I hope they are proud of me."
He looks down for a second in grief and spoke again.
"All this for two things..... A world where everyone lives happily and the other.... So that everyone remembers me for ages..... For a Great Death !"