**"Access granted."**
He bypassed the standard files—agent rosters, financial reports, mission logs. He was hunting for the reason this drive had warranted an Alpha-level flag. He found it buried in a partitioned, triple-encrypted folder labeled simply: "Contingencies."
Inside were two files that made him pause.
The first was titled "Project Chimera." It was heavily fragmented, but the pieces he could assemble spoke of advanced bio-weaponry and genetic augmentation. It was far beyond the scope of a simple assassination agency.
It was the second file that made his blood run cold. It was a complete psychological and operational profile of W.A.O.'s top internal enforcer. An assassin known only as "The Warden." The file was updated daily. The Warden was meticulous, obsessive, and, according to the latest psychiatric evaluation, fixated on the "dishonorable departure" of a single agent: Kyro-3755. The report detailed The Warden's personal vow to "correct the anomaly" and "restore order" by bringing Renji back into the fold. Dead or alive.
Kuro's jaw tightened. This wasn't a random courier run. This was a message. W.A.O. hadn't forgotten them. And they were sending their most relentless monster to hunt them down.
The Warden believed in order. The World Assassination Organization was not merely a business; it was an ecosystem, with predators and prey, rules and consequences. For fifty years, he had been its apex predator. He was a man who existed only in files and rumors, a living weapon forged in the Cold War and sharpened by decades of sanctioned murder.
His real name was lost to time. His face was a bland mask of wrinkles and quiet disappointment in a world that had grown soft. He saw Kyro's departure not as a retirement, but as a heresy. Kyro was, in his eyes, the finest weapon the organization had ever produced. For that weapon to simply walk away was a violation of the natural order. It was a loose thread that, if pulled, could unravel everything.
In his spartan office deep within a W.A.O. black site, The Warden reviewed the report from Zurich. Four elite guards neutralized in seconds. The courier left alive, a sign of contemptuous confidence. It was Renji's signature, alright. Arrogant. Precise. Flawless.
A subordinate entered the room. "Sir, Command has authorized your request. You have full operational authority to retrieve subject Kyro-3755."
The Warden nodded slowly, his eyes fixed on a grainy satellite image of a quiet apartment building in Bern. "Retrieval is a secondary objective," he said, his voice like gravel. "The primary objective is to remind him that no one leaves the family. You do not get to just walk away." He looked at the file on his screen, a collection of Kyro's known habits, preferences, and connections. It was thin. The man was a ghost. But even ghosts have attachments.
"Find his weakness," The Warden ordered. "Find the one thing he cares about more than his mission. And then, take it from him."