💔 The Contract Groom
Rain mixed with blood across the ground.
Gunfire had slowed.
The screams had nearly stopped.
But the battlefield outside the shattered house had become even more terrifying.
Because chaos no longer had sides.
The transformed operatives were turning on everyone.
Even each other.
The unstable neuro-serum had begun destroying their minds completely.
One operative slammed another against a vehicle with animal-like aggression.
Another stood trembling violently beneath the rain, clutching his own head while screaming in pain.
Dark veins spread further across their skin.
Eyes twitching unnaturally.
The experiment was collapsing.
And for the first time that night—
Professor Veer Malhotra looked afraid.
The operative gripping his throat tightened his hold harder.
Rainwater streamed down both their faces as the creature stared at Veer with burning hatred.
"…Monster…" he growled again.
Veer struggled briefly.
Not from weakness.
From shock.
Because this shouldn't happen.
The serum removed emotional resistance.
Destroyed individuality.
But somehow—
this man remembered.
Ravan reacted instantly.
He fired once.
Perfect shot.
The operative's head snapped backward before collapsing lifelessly into the mud.
Professor Veer staggered backward coughing heavily.
His guards rushed around him immediately.
Weapons raised.
But the old man barely noticed them.
His eyes remained locked on the dead operative.
Impossible.
Then slowly—
his gaze lifted toward Aryan.
And suddenly—
he understood.
The problem wasn't the serum.
The problem was proximity.
Aryan's presence itself was destabilizing them.
Not physically.
Mentally.
The transformed operatives were reacting differently around him.
Breaking patterns.
Recovering fragments of emotion.
Professor Veer's breathing slowed dangerously.
"…Fascinating," he whispered.
Nandu immediately grabbed one wounded guard and pulled him behind cover while firing another controlled shot into an attacking operative.
"We're losing the perimeter!" one Tiger soldier shouted.
Another operative charged directly through gunfire, tackling a guard brutally against the vehicle.
Bones cracked.
Blood mixed with rain.
Sasmita fired twice rapidly.
One attacker dropped.
But her attention kept returning toward Aryan.
Or rather—
toward what he was becoming.
He stood in the center of chaos almost unnaturally calm now.
Eyes tracking movement instantly.
Mind calculating everything.
Another operative attacked from behind—
Aryan reacted before the man fully moved.
He twisted sideways, disarmed the attacker smoothly, and snapped his neck with terrifying efficiency.
No hesitation.
No wasted movement.
Sasmita's heartbeat slowed.
That wasn't normal combat instinct anymore.
That was conditioning.
Ravan saw it too.
And his expression darkened instantly.
"Aryan!"
This time his voice carried urgency.
But Aryan barely reacted.
Because his brain was moving too fast now.
Patterns.
Threat angles.
Movement prediction.
Everything around him slowed.
Another memory surfaced violently.
A laboratory instructor speaking coldly—
"When emotional suppression activates, subject response time increases dramatically."
Then applause.
His fists tightened instantly.
They had trained him to become this.
Professor Veer stepped forward slowly despite the battlefield.
Rain dripping from his silver hair.
Eyes filled with obsession.
"You feel it, don't you?" he asked softly.
Aryan's gaze snapped toward him instantly.
Cold.
Dangerous.
"The clarity."
Gunfire echoed again nearby.
But Veer continued speaking calmly as if chaos itself no longer mattered.
"Your mind was never designed for ordinary life."
"Shut up," Sasmita snapped.
Veer ignored her completely.
"Aryan processes fear differently."
A faint smile returned.
"He adapts during conflict."
Another operative suddenly rushed Veer himself blindly.
But before anyone moved—
Aryan fired instantly.
Headshot.
Perfect accuracy.
The body collapsed at Veer's feet.
Professor Veer smiled slowly.
Almost proudly.
"See?"
Ravan stepped between them sharply.
"That's enough."
For the first time—
Veer's expression hardened slightly.
"You kept him hidden too long."
"I kept him human."
Those words hit harder than expected.
Veer looked toward Ravan with disappointment.
"You wasted his potential."
"No," Ravan replied coldly.
"I protected him from becoming you."
Silence spread briefly across the battlefield.
Then—
unexpectedly—
Aryan spoke quietly.
"How many children died?"
Nobody answered immediately.
The rain grew heavier.
Professor Veer's face remained unreadable.
"How many?" Aryan repeated.
This time—
Veer answered calmly.
"Thirty-two failed subjects."
Sasmita's eyes widened instantly.
Even Nandu looked disturbed.
But Veer continued without guilt.
"And one success."
His eyes locked proudly onto Aryan again.
Rage exploded silently inside Aryan's chest.
Thirty-two children.
Children treated like experiments.
Discarded when they failed.
Another memory slammed violently into him.
A little boy crying inside a nearby room.
Then silence the next day.
Gone.
His breathing became uneven.
Professor Veer noticed immediately.
And smiled again.
"Pain sharpens intelligence."
That sentence destroyed the last restraint remaining inside Aryan.
He moved instantly.
Fast enough that even trained guards reacted late.
He crossed the rain-soaked ground violently and slammed Professor Veer against the vehicle hard enough to dent metal.
The Circle guards raised weapons instantly.
Tiger soldiers reacted too.
But nobody fired.
Because Aryan's gun was already pressed directly against Veer's forehead.
The storm itself seemed silent now.
Veer stared into Aryan's eyes without fear.
Only fascination.
"You finally understand what you are," he whispered.
Aryan's finger tightened slowly against the trigger.
"No."
His voice became cold.
Deadly calm.
"I understand what you turned me into."
And for the first time—
Professor Veer Malhotra realized his greatest creation might also become the man who destroys everything he built.