Chapter 5 My Return

• Three years later.....
• A man in a worn out black hoodie stepped off the Arrivals platform at New Delton Central Airport, duffle bag slung low on one shoulder with a Cargo jeans, No jewelry, but a burnt-out sneakers.
• He looked like nothing. When Kael had returned he didn’t take a car or didn't bother to take a cab. Instead, he walked to the subway like every other face in the crowd, tapped a single-ride ticket, and boarded a southbound train into the East.
• [QUEST: Re-enter prior trauma zone (New Delton) under no visible power.]
• [Duration: Until you have acquired 80% of New Dalton industries]
• In three years, Kael Darion went from a body in an alley to the Sovereign Program’s most feared operative 'codenamed Refract'
• His kill ledger crossed 600 verified targets. He led 19 covert campaigns across five continents. He dismantled a Russian biochemical cell with zero survivors and cracked an off-books arms cartel linked to a member of the Global Defense Council.
• But that’s not what made him powerful. He studied every contract.
• Invested every credit. Leveraged every mission contact into a private system of shadow banks, ghost shell companies, and confidential holdings.
• By the time he reached Sovereign Command Rank 1, even his former colonel Drekkar was briefing under him.
• Incoming Call: COLONEL DREKKAR
• Kael answered with a voice command, not even blinking as the subway rumbled beneath him.
• “Colonel.”
• Drekkar's voice was gruff, a bit nervous. “You didn’t tell me you were back in U.S. Sector. Command just lit up when your tracker pinged the civilian grid.”
• “It’s a personal visit.”
• “You’re authorized for full staff. If you want—”
• “No staff. No noise,” Kael said flatly. “I’m on leave.”
• A pause. “...Understood, sir.”
• “Send me updates on Sector 9 and proxy fallout in Damascus. I’ll review them tomorrow.”
• “Yes, Commander.”
• Kael ended the call as he exhaled. He could’ve called a Gulfstream. Could’ve rerouted a private helijet from Tier-3 Sovereign clearance.
• Instead, he pulled a paper ticket from his coat pocket and slid it into the train terminal. A single-use Southbound, just like any broke man returning to a city that forgot him.
• The train doors hissed open. Kael stepped inside, surrounded by coughing laborers, students on worn backpacks, and two junkies asleep in the corner. No one noticed him and for now…That was the point.
• *********
• Kael stepped out of the station onto the cracked sidewalk, traffic road past under dying static billboards.
• He pulled up his HUD to check local access channels.
• Instead of transit options or a temporary Sovereign rental, the System dropped a glowing waypoint:
• [OBJECTIVE: LODGING ALLOCATION]
• [Lodge at East District Motel…Price is $37.00 per night]
• Kael frowned. “What the hell is this?”
• He blinked the interface to refresh as it had the same result.
• “You want me to sleep in a roach motel?”
• Kael’s jaw tightened. His voice dropped under his breath.
• “I command operatives across three continents. I dismantled a biochemical armory in Czechoslovakia. And now you're sending me to a broken bed and water-stained ceiling?"
• He stopped on the sidewalk, scanning the System window, waiting for it to change.
• It didn’t. “This is beneath me.”
• Kael laughed, then he sighed. Shouldered his duffle. Stepped toward the street.
• “Fine,” he muttered. “Let’s revisit hell.”
• The walls were yellowed from years of smoke. The clerk didn’t look up and just slid him a cracked plastic keycard.
• “Room 3B. Don’t use the faucet for more than ten seconds. Hot water’s busted.”
• Kael nodded once. Didn’t speak.. Didn’t flinch. The room smelled like mildew and dying insulation. There were two flickering lights. One socket buzzed when he plugged in his charger.
• Kael sat on the edge of the thin mattress, breathing slowly. The duffle sat beside him, unopened.
• Kael Darion could’ve stayed anywhere. He had clearance to occupy international safehouses, access to Sovereign black towers with biometric walls and climate-sealed barracks. His personal estate portfolio included villas in Alhambra Sector and an oceanfront fortress in Tokara.
• But the System sent him to Room 3B of a mold-rotted, flickering-light, no-security East District motel where the shower spat rust and the receptionist smoked indoors.
• Why? Because power isn’t proven in luxury.
• It’s proven in proximity to who you were before power and how you act when forced to sleep where your ghost still lives.
• By embedding Kael at the very bottom of civilian living conditions, the System was measuring environmental behavioral retention testing whether the man who’d clawed his way through corpses and contracts could return to filth and remain still.
• **********
• The ceiling fan creaked overhead. Kael sat cross-legged on the stained carpet, an open laptop on his lap, screen filled with regional commercial real estate listings.
• He scrolled, eyes scanning asset tags like a sniper sighting targets.
• [SYSTEM QUEST –Objective: Acquire Control of Bruckner & Weiss HQ Tower]
• Target Method: Indirect Asset Takeover via Valor Property Group
• Required Stake: 60% Minimum
• Timeframe: 12 Hours
• Kael opened his eyes slowly, reading the golden text in the air.
• “You want me to own the building?”
• He scoffed under his breath, almost laughing not out of humor, but disbelief.
• “Three years ago they beat me behind it. Fired me inside it.
• Now you want me to buy it?”
• There was no answer, just the pulsing objective node in his vision.
• Kael exhaled. The scoff faded. His voice hardened.
• “...Alright.”
• “Let’s bury them in the foundation.”
• He grabbed the laptop from his duffel bag, booted up a private net terminal, and dove into the city's zoning grid. His fingers moved fast.Within minutes, he found it.
• 'Valor Property Group – Restructuring | Stakeholders Liquidating Quietly'
• Included under subleased assets:
• 161 Kershaw Avenue....Bruckner & Weiss HQ Tower.
• Kael's jaw set. “They don’t even own the floor they walk on.”
• He scanned ownership blocks, located five stakeholders, cross-referenced private sale brokers, and called the largest one directly through a Sovereign-masked line.
• Kael sat cross-legged on the stained motel mattress, laptop open, and his old burner phone pressed to his ear.
• Ring… Ring…
• The line picked up with a tired, annoyed grunt.
• "Wexley here. Make it quick."
• Kael’s voice was low, measured. “Mr. Wexley. I’m calling regarding your equity in Valor Property Group.”
• “Who the hell is this?”
• “Let’s just say someone interested in an asset that isn’t publicly listed, yet still vulnerable.”
• “Then you’ve wasted your time. That holding isn’t on the market.”
• Kael smirked faintly. Expected.
• “Of course it isn’t. Because you still believe it’ll bounce back. You haven’t run the latest occupancy report, have you?”
• Wexley chuckled. “I know what I own.”
• “Then you know your stake’s been devalued 19% over the past two quarters. And that the building's primary tenant is one rental cycle away from liquidation. I’ve seen the breach notices.”
• Then Wexley said, cautiously “So what? I can wait this out.”
• Kael leaned forward, elbows on knees. “You could. But can you afford to? That villa in Corsica you used as collateral for the Valor shares… is now under tax review. And your third ex-wife filed a resubmission on the alimony terms two weeks ago. You lose the shares, you lose the house. You lose the house, you lose your offshore buffer.”
• Wexley’s voice dropped, “Who the hell are you?”
• Kael finally answered, slow and precise.
• “Kael Darion.”
• Kael had spent years inside war zones, corporations, and backrooms learning one truth: control doesn’t come from secrets. It comes from knowing what people are trying to hide.
• So when he spoke of the Corsican villa? He’d already reviewed its property tax suspension and he saw the case of his ex wife too.
• Meanwhile, on the other end of the line, Wexley’s assistant scrambled behind the scenes, typing the name into encrypted finance tools, dark-investment scans, anything.
• Seconds later, the name Kael Darion lit up across their second monitor.
• No public image....No registered media footprint.
• Only financials: Tier-1 Sovereign-Cleared Investor ID
• Estimated Liquid Assets: $7.2 Billion
• Holding Accounts: 42+ Across 6 Nations
• Defense-Linked Transfers: Active
• Private Asset Groups: Black-level Protected
• Darnell’s throat went dry. “Christ…” He straightened his back, suddenly sweating.
• “Mr. Darion—uh… I wasn’t aware Valor Group was… on your radar.”
• “You, uh… you said you were interested in acquiring it?”
• “Still am.”
• “The problem is—my position isn’t up for sale. Not right now.”
• Kael tilted his head, “Then let’s make it worth your while. I’ll offer you 3x your stake’s current market valuation liquid. No holding periods. No questions. You cash out, restructure, and keep your Corsican view.”
• Wexley hesitated. The number was… difficult to ignore.
• “Three times... That’s generous.”
• Kael continued, “You have two choices: wait and hope Valor stabilizes under failing management—or accept an exit plan while someone like me absorbs the liability and you walk away with a win.”
• “I’ll have to talk to the—”
• “No. You own your block personally. You don’t need approval. You just need a bank account ready.”
• “Sir..Forty-eight hours.”
• “You have twelve.”
• “That’s impossible.”
• “Not for a man who values his villa.”
• Click. Kael ended the call. At exactly 3:54 A.M., his burner phone rang again, It was Wexley.
• Kael answered on the second ring.“Darion.”
• There was no hesitation on the other end now. No groggy voice.
• Only crisp urgency. “Mr. Darion. I… took the liberty of verifying your offer. And I’ve spoken to the other private blockholders.”
• Kael didn’t respond. Just let the silence work. “I told them you were preparing to move. That you had capital and intent. That this would be a clean exit opportunity for all of us.”
• Kael leaned back slightly, letting the weight of the moment settle.
• “And they agreed?”
• “They did. Every one of them. I’ve collected their proxies. We’re ready to sign the package deal by the first market window. If the transfer hits before 6:30 AM, the board won’t have time to react. You’ll clear 62.1% in one sweep.”
• Still, Kael said nothing. Wexley filled the space.
• “We’re sending through the holding agreements now. Consolidated through a neutral Swiss shelf. If you wire the aggregate, I’ll deliver signatures before the hour is up.”
• Kael finally spoke,
• “Do that.”
• “Yes, of cou3rse.”
• *****
• Twenty minutes later, Kael had made the wire transfer.
• [TRANSFER COMPLETE – $182,000,000.00 USD]
• Net Worth: $98,947,100,000 USD
• Liquid Holdings: $7.2B
• Black Net Holdings: $14.5B