After walking for hundreds of meters through dry trees and the suffocating silence of the dawn, the group stopped. One of Lee Brow's subordinates—the man from the luxurious car—knelt before a nearly invisible metal plate on the ground. Without a word, he pulled a hook hidden beneath the soil and lifted a heavy camouflaged door.
It was not a common door. It was an underground entrance.
Without hesitation, Lee Brow went down first, his expensive shoes echoing on the metal staircase. One by one, they all followed—including Janckal and his three companions: Block Sock, Tru Fant, and Dray Kee, still with weary expressions, as if fighting against a kind of inner weakness. They only obeyed without question because, at that moment, Janckal was in better condition. He was the strongest that particular night, not by brute power, but by mental control. That was enough.
The last to descend was the head of security. He stopped at the entrance, looked around, then down, hesitant.
"Sir… do you think this is safe?"
Down below, already wrapped in shadows and pale threads of light that lit up as the sensors detected movement, Lee Brow slightly turned his face and answered with icy calm:
"Shut up. I know exactly what I am doing."
The metallic hatch closed automatically, sealing them underground.
From outside, no one would ever suspect.
Down there, there was an experimental center. A buried factory. A hidden womb of forbidden technologies.
As they walked through the corridor that hummed with concealed circuits, Lee Brow began to speak, as if conducting an exclusive tour:
"Gentlemen, I am Lee Brow, heir to the largest technological group in this country. Robotics, exoskeletons, weaponry, neural control. The technological elite of combat. And you… intrigue me."
Janckal frowned.
"You talk too much..."
But Lee Brow continued:
"You destroyed an armored vehicle as if it were paper. In minutes. And your physical form… the transformation… what kind of engineering is this? Are you biomechanical hybrids? Remotely controlled? What is the origin of your intelligence?"
Block Sock blinked, confused. Dray Kee slowly shook his head. Tru Fant only scratched the side of his face, silent. None of them understood. Nor should they.
But Janckal… he did not like questions.
"What is a robot?" he growled, staring at Lee Brow with amber eyes and needle-thin pupils.
Lee Brow stopped walking. His expression fractured into a mixture of perplexity and something else… unease.
He inhaled deeply… and smelled it.
A strong scent. Organic. Strange. A damp stench of wet animal mixed with living flesh and something rotten.
That was not synthetic. That was… raw life.
"You… are not robots?" he whispered, astonished.
Janckal clenched his fists and repeated more harshly:
"What is… a robot?"
Lee Brow took two slow steps back. It was not fear. It was fascination. A dangerous fascination, like a child about to open a box he should not.
"This changes everything…"
He stretched his arm, inviting them with a cold, elegant gesture:
"Follow me. I want to show you something."
They were led to a deeper wing, where automatic doors opened to reveal a large hall with a metallic floor, armored columns, and testing platforms. A digital sign glowed red above the entrance: "Testing Area - Level 3."
In the center of the room, several square, gray robots, with clumsy limbs and LED eyes, stood still, awaiting activation.
Lee Brow extended his hand, theatrical:
"Gentlemen… what do you think of this?"
Janckal looked, bored. Block Sock gave a mocking laugh. Tru Fant made a strange noise, something between a grunt and a cough. Dray Kee only snorted. Janckal, with disdain:
"I think… nothing. Just piled-up cans."
Lee Brow pressed a button on the control panel. One of the robots moved, hesitant, and soon began to walk, swinging its arms erratically. In a poorly calculated impulse, it accidentally punched the wall, cracking part of the concrete with surprising strength.
The bodyguards widened their eyes.
But Janckal…
Janckal growled, lunged forward, and before the robot could retreat, delivered such a brutal punch that the machine's metal chest exploded. The robot shattered in seconds. The blow continued and sank the wall more than 20 centimeters deep, scattering sparks and iron fragments.
Silence.
Lee Brow opened a small, tense smile. His eyes gleamed. His hands trembled slightly.
"Incredible…" he murmured.
"You are… perfect."
But in that gleam in his eyes, Janckal saw something.
It was not admiration. It was greed. And madness.
The kind of madness that builds kingdoms upon living flesh and forbidden experiments.
And he knew: that man…
That Lee Brow… was even more dangerous than he seemed.
Dark Alliance
Janckal's heavy breathing filled the dense air of the "Testing Area."
Under Lee Brow's attentive eyes, something changed.
Janckal was no longer just a powerful aberration—his form had refined. He was now a hybrid of man and beast, a being that exuded savagery and menace, but also… control.
His skin, once rough and bestial, seemed smoother under the artificial light. His muscles were strong like braided steel, but there were human lines beneath the wildness. With thick clothing, perhaps he could pass unnoticed through the streets.
Yes, a tall, strange man… but not impossible to ignore.
His eyes, however, betrayed his origin.
They burned with impatience. Hunger. Rage. Survival.
Beside him, the three companions—Block Sock, Tru Fant, and Dray Kee—could not keep up.
They were restless, snorting like bound bulls, but their strength…
It was exhausted. The complete transformation, like Janckal's, was still beyond them.
They breathed heavily, their eyes red, their bodies staggering.
Janckal stepped forward.
He approached Lee Brow, eye to eye, the strong, wild smell now blending with the ozone of the machines.
"Exactly what can you do… if we decide to tear you apart completely?" he growled, low.
Lee Brow did not step back.
Though fear pinched his nerves, he had a soul trained to deal with the impossible.
His gaze firm, his voice unwavering:
"Are you sure that's what you want?"
Janckal hesitated.
His breath panted, sweat ran down his forehead, and his body ached.
There was pain, hunger, despair—but also ambition.
He did not seek to destroy… he wanted to win. To live. To ascend.
"I need… to survive. I need to conquer…"
"If you want to be my ally… then help me."
Lee Brow raised an eyebrow. His mind already boiled with possibilities, risks, profits, and glory.
"You want me to trust someone who threatens to tear me in half?"
"No…" said Janckal, in a weak voice. "I want… to help you. But first… I need help."
And then…
Like a collapsing building, Janckal fell.
Heavily, his body struck the ground.
Block Sock, Tru Fant, and Dray Kee followed him, collapsing like stones in an avalanche.
The guards rushed, weapons drawn.
But Lee Brow's voice cut through the panic like a whip:
"DO NOT SHOOT!"
His eyes now gleamed with something different: fascination.
"Call the medical team! Take these four to the special wing. Now!"
Chaos. Discreet alarms. Elevators descending swiftly.
The bodies of the four were hurriedly carried, connected to wires, probes, monitors, and capsules. Each one placed in a reinforced observation chamber.
Now alone, Lee Brow walked to the glass wall of the special wing.
His eyes fixed on Janckal and his "brothers."
Whatever they were… they were not of this world.
But… perhaps they were exactly what this world needed.
He placed his hand on the wall.
A faint tremor ran through his arm, as if living energy were drawing near.
Something great was being born there.
And he was at the center of it.
The smile appeared slowly.
It was crooked, almost childish. But it carried a dark weight.
He laughed.
Low. Alone.
Ashamed of the sound.
Because there was no one else around him anymore.
Only him… and power.