Location: Backroom Bunker, East District, 3:12 a.m.
A single bulb flickered above the map-strewn table. Shadows stretched across the bunker walls like ghosts of the fallen.
David Reign sat at the head of the war table, hoodie drawn, fingers steepled under his chin. His eyes were colder now — not tired, not sad. Just... sharpened. Like a blade that had been honed by blood, betrayal, and fire.
Jamzy leaned against the metal doorway, a rifle slung across his chest.
"Intel's solid. The warehouse they're using is real. Shipment hits at dawn."
"Weapons?" Dave asked, not looking up.
"M16s. Grenades. Shit that could level this whole district."
"And guards?"
"Ten minimum. All ex-military. Round's not playing around."
Tessa stepped out from the shadows, a tablet in hand. She'd barely slept, hair tied back in a messy bun, eyes ringed with quiet rage.
"I ran background on the logistics company. They're laundering for a councilman — one of the names we pulled from that drive."
She paused. "Dave... the councilman's tied to Razor. They're pulling strings from the top now."
Dave finally looked up. His voice was a whisper, but it cut deep.
"Then we're not just burning warehouses."
"We're burning names."
Location: Fort Avenue – Rooftop of Old Water Tower
The night air bit cold against their skin, but they didn't flinch.
Dave, Jamzy, Tessa, and two new allies — Lagos-born twins known on the street as Karma and Vexx — peered down at the fortified warehouse through long-range scopes.
Karma was silent, methodical, eyes fixed through the scope. Vexx was twitchy, humming softly, knife spinning between his fingers.
"Looks quiet," Karma said.
"Too quiet," Dave replied. "They want us to think it's unguarded. They're setting a trap."
Jamzy cracked his neck. "Then we walk into the trap — and spring it first."
Location: Inside the Warehouse – 4:44 a.m.
The plan was simple. In and out. No noise — unless necessary.
But the moment Dave's boots touched the floor of the warehouse, he knew.
"It's a setup."
Red lights flared. A loud clang! echoed as the gates slammed shut behind them.
From the catwalk above, a voice rang out, calm and venom-laced.
"You're brave, Dave. I'll give you that."
"But even kings bleed."
Razor.
Gunfire erupted.
Dave rolled behind a container as bullets tore through the metal.
Jamzy returned fire, yelling, "Fuck! This whole place is rigged!"
Tessa ducked into cover, dragging Vexx behind a forklift.
Karma was already on the move — silent, fast, lethal.
The battle was brutal.
Explosions rocked the concrete. Dave moved like smoke and flame — precise, efficient, merciless.
He wasn't fighting to survive.
He was fighting to make a point.
To Razor. To the Round. To the world.
"You don't come for the throne unless you're ready to die on the steps."
Finally, Razor dropped from the catwalk, bloodied but laughing.
He walked toward Dave, holding a blade slick with fresh red.
"You killed my boys. Took my blocks. And you think that makes you king?"
Dave's eyes narrowed.
"I didn't take anything."
"I built it. And you're just another ghost I had to step over."
Razor lunged.
Dave didn't dodge.
He caught the blade, twisted Razor's wrist, and drove his own knife straight into Razor's gut.
Twice.
Then once more — just to be sure.
"Kings don't ask for respect," Dave whispered.
"They take it."
Location: Burned Warehouse – Sunrise
The place was in ruins. Smoke curling into the sky. The flames painting the streets orange and gold.
Tessa stood beside Dave as the wind carried ash through the air.
"You crossed a line tonight," she said softly.
Dave nodded. "Good."
"It means they'll see me now."
"For what I really am."
Location: Mainland General Hospital – Emergency Ward
Time: 8:12 a.m.
Blood. Panic. Screams.
Four men — Round soldiers — were dragged into the ER, bleeding from gunshots, blast wounds, and knife slashes. One had a chunk of ear missing. Another kept mumbling Dave's name over and over, like a curse or a prayer.
"Who did this?" one officer barked.
A barely conscious soldier groaned:
"Reign… He came for Razor… Burned it all…"
Location: Ikeja Government Complex – Councilman Madu's Office
The room was sleek. AC humming. Leather chairs untouched. A massive screen showing silent CCTV loops of the city's burning underbelly.
Councilman Madu stood at the window, watching smoke from Dockside curl into the skyline. He lit a cigar with trembling fingers.
Behind him, his fixer — dressed in full black, sunglasses on indoors — scrolled through a tablet.
"Razor's dead," the fixer said. "It's confirmed. Reign made a show of it."
Madu didn't speak. Just stared at the smoke.
"Sir?"
He turned slowly.
"Then it's time to cut the leash."
"Reign is no longer a pawn. He's becoming a fucking lion."
Location: Rooftop of Old Cinema – Mushin District
Dave sat alone on the ledge, hoodie flapping in the wind. He could see the fires from here, far off, like beacons of war. His hands were still stained — dry blood around his knuckles, Razor's voice still echoing in his ears.
Jamzy climbed up behind him, tossing a half-smoked joint onto the roof.
"So that's it then. Razor's gone. You own the street."
"I own nothing," Dave muttered.
"Feels like we won, though."
Dave looked over his shoulder. Eyes cold. Quiet.
"Victory always feels like that… until the bodies start piling up."
Location: Inside the Safehouse War Room
Tessa was in full command mode.
"Councilman Madu's the next problem. He owns half the police units in this zone. He'll come for you hard."
Dave entered, wiping his hands with a rag.
"Then we strike first."
"We expose his name. His shell companies. His bribes."
"If we're going to war with suits now, then we play like suits."
Tessa nodded, her tone sharp.
"Then we'll need more than bullets. We need files. Dirt."
"We need someone inside."
Location: CrowneTech Data Vault – Victoria Island
Time: 2:22 p.m.
Dave and Karma slipped into the server farm disguised as electricians. They moved fast, quiet — in and out in 9 minutes.
What they left with wasn't cash.
It was power.
Emails. Contracts. Voice notes. Videos. Proof.
Madu wasn't just dirty — he was diseased.
Bribes from cartels. Ties to the Round. Even murders ordered quietly from his clean office.
Location: Safehouse – That Night
The team huddled around a projector screen.
The evidence played. Audio clips. Bank logs. Videos.
Even Jamzy — who laughed at death and didn't trust anything digital — looked shaken.
Tessa's voice was a whisper:
"If we leak this, Madu goes down."
Dave stared at the footage of Madu shaking hands with Razor.
Then smiled coldly.
"Don't leak it."
"Blackmail him."
Location: Private Lounge – Top Floor, Diamond Crest Hotel, Victoria Island
Time: 9:37 p.m.
Soft jazz played in the background. Gold light bathed the plush velvet chairs. Everything in the room whispered expensive, quiet, deadly.
Councilman Madu sat alone at a round table, his cigar untouched this time. His guards — three of them — stood by the door, uneasy.
The elevator dinged.
Two people stepped out.
Dave Reign in black, calm and sharp like a storm held in a bottle.
Tessa beside him, business cold in her eyes. No smile. No makeup. Just focus.
Madu stood halfway.
"You've grown bold, boy."
"Not bold," Dave said, pulling out a chair. "Prepared."
He placed a small flash drive on the table and spun it once.
"This is the kind of thing that ruins legacies."
Madu stared at it, jaw tight.
"You came here to threaten me?"
Dave leaned in. Voice cold. Soft. Calculated.
"No. I came to offer you a way out… with your bones still intact."
Tessa slid a folder across the table. Inside — printouts of bank transfers, emails, call logs.
"Here's how it works," she said. "You pull your officers out of the East and South Districts. You keep your hands off our streets. You pretend we don't exist."
"In return… this doesn't make headlines."
Madu's face twitched. "You're blackmailing a government official."
Dave stood slowly.
"No, Madu. I'm offering you mercy. You're welcome."
Location: Outside the Hotel – Moments Later
Dave lit a cigarette, the red tip glowing in the dark.
Tessa looked over. "You think he'll fold?"
Dave didn't answer at first.
Then:
"He just realized he's been playing checkers while we're playing chess."
Location: The Round's Eastside Bunker – Unknown Time
Dark. Damp. A single lamp swayed from the ceiling, casting jagged shadows on the blood-slick floor.
A man was strapped to a chair. His face swollen, one eye shut. He was one of Razor's old lieutenants.
Before him stood a new face — clean suit, snake eyes. No tattoos. No chains.
He spoke in a smooth, clipped accent. Foreign. Dangerous.
"Reign has made a mistake."
"He thinks power is earned in blood and street fear."
He leaned in.
"But real power... is inherited. Silent. Patient."
He stood. Turned. Walked into the darkness.
Location: Dave's Safehouse – War Room
Tessa stared at her laptop. "Madu's police just pulled out from Mushin. No more heat. For now."
Jamzy kicked back, grinning. "Goddamn, boss. You just choked a lion into playing dead."
Dave didn't smile. He stared at the map — zones, names, routes — like a general in the trenches.
"We've pushed the system once."
"Now let's see how many cracks it really has."
Location: Unknown. Time: ???
A figure sat in a dark leather chair, watching a screen. Dave's face paused on it.
He swirled a drink.
"He thinks he's building an empire."
"He has no idea what empires really cost."
Location: Bassey's Bar – Surulere, Lagos
Time: 11:13 p.m.
The ceiling fan spun lazily, pushing heat around instead of killing it. Cigarette smoke hung thick. Laughter, whispers, coughs — the usual blend of cheap beer and bad intentions.
At a back table, three middle-level Round operators nursed drinks and tried to keep their voices down. They were whispering one name. Over and over.
Reign.
"He killed Razor, man. That's confirmed."
"He didn't just kill him. He made him disappear — no body, no trace."
"You think it's true? That he's working with ghosts from the mainland?"
The third man didn't speak. He just stared at the entrance. Because standing there… was a silhouette they hadn't seen in over a year.
Razor's younger brother.
And he wasn't smiling.
Location: Abandoned Rooftop – Lekki District
Tessa sat beside Dave, both of them watching the skyline in silence.
"You're not sleeping," she said softly.
"Too much to lose."
He took a slow drag from his cigarette, blowing smoke into the wind.
"When we were kids, I used to think the world was run by strong men."
"But it's not. It's run by quiet men. Cowards. Behind desks. In suits. Whispering into phones."
Tessa nodded. "You're starting to sound like them."
He glanced sideways. "Maybe. Or maybe I'm just evolving."
She looked at him then — really looked. The eyes that once held fire now held ice. Still burning, but buried under layers of control. Ruthlessness. Strategy.
"When do we stop?" she asked.
Dave chuckled, bitter. "When the game's over."
"Or when I'm in the dirt."
Location: Port Harcourt – Unmarked Office, Midnight
A high-backed chair turned slowly. A man in a French suit — older, lighter-skinned, with rings on every finger — picked up a burner phone.
"So… Reign finally killed Razor?"
"Good. Then he's ready."
The voice on the other end crackled. "Should we make contact?"
"Not yet. Let him feel the weight of what he's taken."
"If he survives it, we offer him the world."
"If he doesn't… well…"
The man smiled faintly.
"Plenty others out there hungry for the throne."
Location: Reign's Safehouse – Surveillance Room
Karma pulled Dave aside. Her face was hard. Serious.
"Something's off. I tailed a Round runner through Ikorodu. He wasn't moving product. He was meeting someone. Military type. Not local."
"You think Madu brought in foreigners?"
"I think there's something bigger than Madu now."
Dave tapped the desk slowly, mind racing.
"We forced too many hands at once. Somebody's stacking the board against us."
He turned to Tessa. "Pull all external feeds. Jamzy — tighten up the crew. No leaks."
"It's not about war anymore."
"It's about survival."
Location: Dark Room, Unknown Location
A wall lined with monitors.
Each screen showing a different camera feed: safehouse, Dave's drop spots, his crew, even the damn rooftop he smoked on.
A hand reached forward. Pressed "Pause" on Dave's face.
"He's clever," a woman's voice said, accented, calm.
"But clever boys die fast."