Two Weeks Later – Istanbul, Turkey.
A silent dinner.
Twelve men. Twelve cities. Twelve silent wars.
This was The Round — an old-world syndicate of global crime lords, tech oligarchs, and legal ghosts.
And tonight?
There was one empty chair at the head of the table.
A chair none of them had dared to fill for over a decade.
The man seated closest to it — Alejandro Marrón, Spain's arms gatekeeper — tapped his glass.
"So... the ghost boy burned Buchi."
"And now the streets whisper a new name."
He leaned back.
"You all know what happens next."
A woman in red — Kyra Ong, data queen of Southeast Asia — nodded.
"We test him."
"Or we bury him."
Lagos – Framework Blacksite HQ.
Dave stood in front of a whiteboard with no writing.
Just a symbol.
A circle broken by a crack — the new mark of his emerging network: NoCrowns.
Not a gang.
Not a movement.
An invisible system of balance and intel.
Tessa crossed her arms.
"So you're really going to lead the streets like a whisper?"
Dave nodded once.
"No throne. No face. No ego."
"We control the game by staying out of it."
Thin Ice entered, holding a tablet.
"Then you should know this."
He swiped, revealing footage of a warehouse in Prague — torched. Four agents dead.
"Round's moving. Testing your reach."
Dave's expression didn't change.
"Then we pull their thread."
"Let them think I'm reacting."
"While I reload."
Istanbul – The Round's Next Move.
Marrón spoke again.
"Let's start with something small."
"Collapse his African support."
Kyra smirked.
"And if he doesn't fall?"
Another man, face half-burned — General Voss of Berlin — answered:
"Then he joins us."
"And if he refuses…"
"We make sure his ghost stays buried this time."
Midnight – Inside a Moving Van in Accra.
RUIN stood over three men tied to chairs.
These were the Round's feelers — sent to probe Framework's vulnerabilities.
He didn't speak.
He didn't have to.
The van stopped.
He dragged one out.
No one ever saw the others again.
Dave's Apartment – 3:07 a.m.
Tessa sat on the balcony.
Dave walked out, sipping tea like it wasn't war season.
She looked at him.
"You know what you're building, right?"
"A network that controls everything... by pretending it doesn't exist."
Dave smirked faintly.
"Exactly."
"And when they finally see the hand moving behind the curtain..."
"It'll be too late."
Accra – Makola Market, 11:42 a.m.
Crowds moved. Hawkers shouted. Everything felt normal.
Until Thin Ice walked past a fruit stall.
He paused. Looked left.
Then right.
He'd been in Framework long enough to know when the rhythm of the street broke — like a note held just too long in a song.
That's when he saw him.
Tall. Clean suit. Too clean. Eyes wrong.
Thin Ice turned.
Too late.
Boom.
A flash — no sound at first.
Then screams.
Blood sprayed across orange umbrellas and stacked tomatoes.
Thin Ice hit the floor, bleeding.
But not dead.
He was wearing Dave's gift — a prototype smart-fabric vest laced with kinetic pulse deflection.
"Still hurts like hell," he groaned.
"But I'm breathing."
Same Time – Lagos.
Dave watched the market attack from four angles at once.
His eyes didn't move.
His voice didn't rise.
"Pull the blackout."
Framework nodes across Accra, Istanbul, Singapore, Berlin, and Cape Town lit up.
And then, one by one…
They shut off.
Banking systems.Cell networks.Crypto wallets.Smart traffic grids.
Each of the five cities tied to the Round's operations went dark.
Only one message replaced every screen:
REIGN: "You wanted the storm. Here I am."
Inside a Round Hideout – Berlin.
General Voss slammed his fist on the table.
"He's a myth. Not a god."
Kyra Ong replied coolly.
"Myths survive because people need them."
"Gods fall when they get jealous."
Marrón lit a cigar with shaking fingers.
"So what's next?"
Silence.
Then Voss leaned forward.
"We strike his core."
"Tessa."
Accra – Framework Med Wing, Nightfall.
Thin Ice was stable, but sleeping.
Dave sat at his bedside, eyes heavy but sharp.
Tessa entered, holding a flash drive.
"Intercepted intel."
"The Round wants to take me off the board."
Dave took it.
"They won't touch you."
"Not unless they want to feel what Buchi felt."
She touched his hand.
"You're not the same anymore."
Dave looked out the window, toward the skyline.
"I can't be."
"You don't win a silent war by whispering."
Later That Night – Encrypted Broadcast to The Round.
Dave's face appeared in static on a hidden line.
Only four words.
Cold. Precise. Unmistakable.
"Next move is mine."
Unknown Location – Underground Cell.
Flickering lights. A bloodied chair. One camera.
A man sat there, head low. Hands bound.
He looked older, maybe mid-50s. Quiet.
Until a voice pierced the silence:
"You ever think your son would become this powerful?"
The man lifted his head. Bruised. One eye swollen.
"I don't think about him."
The interrogator chuckled.
"That's a lie."
"Everyone knows Dave Reign. But no one knew he had a father still alive."
A pause.
"Until we dug through the ashes of Ajegunle."
Meanwhile – Accra, Framework HQ.
Tessa slammed the file onto the table.
"You lied to me."
Dave didn't flinch.
He closed the door.
"What did you find?"
She tapped the folder.
Inside: surveillance photos from over a year ago.
An old man. Hospital visits. Quiet protection detail — all paid for in untraceable crypto.
"You've been keeping your father alive all this time."
"Why hide it?"
Dave finally spoke.
"Because I swore I'd never speak to him again."
"Because the last thing he said before vanishing was… you'll never be anything but street dust."
Tessa stared at him, conflicted.
"And now?"
"Now he's leverage," Dave said coldly.
"And the Round just pulled the wrong thread."
Inside The Round's War Room – Istanbul.
Kyra Ong stood over the live feed.
Voss smoked in the shadows.
Marrón grinned.
"He'll come for him."
"He's too strategic to show weakness. But this... this is blood."
Kyra nodded.
"And blood changes everything."
"Let's see what kind of king Dave Reign really is."
Framework Blackroom – Nightfall.
Dave activated Protocol Echo.
The screen blinked red.
Then a digital map unfolded — dozens of hidden caches, aliases, blacksite contacts.
This wasn't a war plan.
It was an endgame blueprint.
Tessa read the top line.
"Protocol Echo: 'In the event that Reign is emotionally compromised, activate full war doctrine.'"
She looked at Dave.
"Are you compromised?"
Dave's voice was a razor:
"No."
"I'm focused."
"They wanted to test how far I'd go to protect what's mine."
"Now they'll learn how far I'll go to destroy what's theirs."
Unknown Location – Underground Interrogation Facility (Somewhere in Morocco).
The corridor smelled like copper and sweat.
Dave moved in silence.
No guards left.
RUIN had cleared the path.
Ahead — a steel door. Behind it, the man who made him... and tried to break him.
His father.
Inside the room.
The man was seated. Wrists bruised. Dried blood under one eye.
He looked up slowly.
For a moment — silence.
Then:
"David."
Dave didn't blink.
"I didn't come for closure."
"I came for answers."
His father laughed, weakly.
"You think these men just found me?"
"You think I was taken?"
Dave narrowed his eyes.
"...What do you mean?"
The man leaned forward.
"I let them find me."
"Because I knew they were coming for you."
"Because I wanted to see what you've become."
FLASHBACK – 14 Years Ago.
Dave's father in a suit. Tighter streets. Darker rooms.
Speaking with Buchi.
Smiling.
"He's smart," he had said.
"But too soft."
"If he's going to survive the gutter, let it raise him. Not me."
"Let pain build him. I'll build the future around him."
Present.
Dave's fists clenched.
"You left us in a cage."
"You let mom die thinking you were already buried."
His father's voice softened — but not from guilt.
"That was the cost."
"You think your rise was accidental?"
"I cleared the board for you long ago."
"You were always meant to rule, David. But not as a street king."
"As a ghost... in a global system we started years before you even knew your name."
Dave's voice was ice.
"You were part of the Round."
"You knew what they were. What they'd become."
"And you still let them use you."
The old man nodded.
"I had to make you sharp."
"I had to break you — before the world tried."
Dave turned his back.
RUIN stood by the door.
"What now?" RUIN asked.
Dave didn't answer immediately.
He looked back once.
"If you ever speak my name again... you die."
He walked out.
Left the door open.
Let him live — as punishment.
Later – Framework Safehouse, Casablanca.
Tessa listened as Dave explained everything.
She didn't speak at first.
Then she touched his hand gently.
"You always thought your pain was random."
"But they engineered it."
Dave nodded slowly.
"Then I'll engineer their collapse."
That Night – A Message Sent to The Round.
Video of Dave's father.
Unharmed. Staring into the camera.
Then Dave's voice over it:
"You trained the ghost."
"Now pray he doesn't come for you in daylight."