DANNY POV
I woke up groggily, a dull ache throbbing at the back of my head. The last thing I remembered was Colleen handing me a cup of herbal tea.
My vision swam for a moment before the familiar shapes of her dojo came into focus, and I realized I was tied to a chair, which was in turn tied to a pillar.
"You are not going out until you tell me everything," a voice said, and I looked up to see Ryan standing over me, his arms crossed, a look of unyielding frustration on his face.
"Dude, seriously?" I asked, testing the ropes. They were tight, but not impossible to get out of. He, on the other hand, looked like he was about to explode.
"Oh, I am very serious," he said, his voice clipped and devoid of humor.
"Because your mess has gotten me stuck here, delaying my family reunion. And then you go missing for days without telling me anything. So you better spill everything, or I am going to keep you here until you do. You've got no choice, buddy."
I sighed, defeated.
There was no point in resisting. I told him everything—about meeting Harold, his story of being held captive by the Hand, and my "brilliant" plan to fight them alone to get his help with the company.
I expected at least some admiration for my heroics, but with every word, Ryan's expression grew more incredulous.
When I finished, he just stared at me for a long, silent moment. "Are you f*ckin' stupid? What did your parents teach you?"
I bristled. "My dad taught me martial arts," I retorted.
"I cannot believe you," Ryan continued, shaking his head in disbelief. "Even 10-year-olds know they can't believe a stranger's word, and you just took his story at face value."
"Well, the Hand did heal him," I argued, "and what he told me about them checks out with what I know." Though a part of me knew he was right, my pride wouldn't let me admit I'd been so gullible.
"There are so many loopholes in his story that if I was in your place, I would have killed him right there if he told me the same story," Ryan said, his voice a low, dangerous growl.
"Like what?" I asked, genuinely confused.
"Like he was on the same plane whose crash killed your father, a trained martial artist, but he survived," Ryan said, his tone filled with cold, irrefutable logic. "I'd rather believe he killed your father for wealth. And his proclaimed death and the fact he works with the Hand? Please. He is most likely using you to weaken or erase them to get rid of being entangled with them. They were probably involved in your father's case too."
"That can't be," I said, a wave of denial washing over me. Harold was a long-time friend of my dad.
"The plane you were on crashed, dude, and planes don't crash for no reason," Ryan said, his tone softening slightly, as if he knew he had hit me where it hurt. "So from now on, I will do the planning, and you will be delegated the role you are best for."
"Which is?" I asked, my mind reeling. The plane crash… how had he survived it when my own father hadn't?
"The mindless thug," Ryan said with a slight smirk. I couldn't even be mad. The insult was deserved. After hearing his input, I realized how incredibly stupid I had been acting.
.
.
RYAN POV
As the sun set over the city, casting long shadows across the skyscrapers, I looked at Danny, who was staring at his new phone, and smirked. Now that I had him convinced, it was time to put my plan into action.
My plan was to use the media, the same media that had built a narrative around the Rand family's tragedy, to expose Harold Meachum.
The next day, as soon as the press conference announcing Danny's return concluded, I went to work. I used a fake identity to release the evidence of Harold being alive to a few of the city's most prominent news outlets.
The tabloids went wild. The headlines screamed of a miraculous return from the dead and a possible link to the Rand family's tragedy. It was a perfect start.
After that, I used the money from selling the story to release rumors of Harold's involvement with criminal gangs. His proclaimed death worked in our favor as he was soon arrested.
With the Meachum family neutralized, we shifted our focus to The Hand.
--------------------------------------------------
As we dug deeper, we discovered that Colleen was a member of The Hand. The whole situation was a mess, and she tried to convince us that her faction of The Hand was the good guys.
I looked at her, then at Danny, and a tired sigh escaped my lips.
"So you mean you do the same training and share the same hideouts with a criminal gang, and your boss is one of the highest leaders of the gang and quite respected at that," I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm. "But you're the good guys. Sure, I believe you, lady. Good luck convincing yourself—and the police if they come after you."
Colleen's face hardened, but she didn't argue. She knew my logic was sound. I couldn't trust her, and neither should Danny.
But of course, Danny, the hero of this story, chose to believe her. They went on to have their own little adventure, a redemption arc for Colleen, and together, they took out her boss.
There was also a guy who tried to steal Danny's power, but I quickly knocked him out with a baseball bat before he could do anything. My patience for their drama was wearing thin, and I in no mood for another story arc, much more eager to get back to my life.
It took nearly a year to wipe out all traces of The Hand in the city. I couldn't risk having them on my trail when I finally went home.
After cleaning up this whole mess, I left for India on June 2, 2018.
Danny, of course, got Colleen as his girlfriend, just as I had predicted. The lucky guy always got the girl in the end. As for me, it was time to go home.