Toretto's Garage – Night
The garage was quieter than usual, the hum of machinery and idle chatter replaced by an unsettling silence. Adrian Kade stood near the back, his mind racing. Tonight, something felt off. The air was heavy, thick with the promise of conflict. He had no idea that the ghosts of his past were closing in, ready to remind him of the person he used to be — a mercenary, an assassin, a man who had lived his life in shadows.
The tension in the air was palpable as Dom, Mia, and the rest of the crew went about their usual tasks, unaware that their world was about to be shattered.
Adrian had just started to relax, his thoughts drifting to Mia when the door slammed open. Pierce, the FBI agent who had been tailing Adrian, strode in with a hardened expression. He wasn't alone this time. A group of heavily armed men followed him, their eyes scanning the garage like hunters looking for prey.
"Adrian Kade," Pierce called out, his voice sharp. "We need to talk. Now."
Adrian's face remained unreadable, his body tense as he met Pierce's gaze. "What do you want, agent?" he asked, his voice cold, eyes narrowing.
Pierce smirked, taking a step closer. "What I want is to uncover the truth. You've been hiding too much from us — from everyone. You're not just a mechanic, are you? You're someone else. Someone dangerous."
The men behind Pierce shifted, positioning themselves around Adrian, clearly ready to make their move. But Adrian didn't flinch. The old instincts kicked in, and within seconds, he was already calculating his next move, the same way he had done countless times in the past. Lucifer had never hesitated when it came to taking action. Ghost never feared confrontation.
But tonight, Adrian was different. He was no longer a mercenary. He wasn't the Assassin King. He was Adrian Kade, and he'd come too far to let his past destroy the family he was slowly becoming a part of.
"Not tonight," Adrian muttered under his breath.
Flashback – The Mercenary King
In another lifetime, Adrian had been Lucifer. The Mercenary King. The world had known him as a shadow, a whisper of death that moved through the world with deadly efficiency. His reputation was unmatched. Mercenaries had feared him, governments had tried to bribe him, and wars had been fought in his name. But what did it matter? For all the riches, the power, the respect — it all meant nothing in the end. Betrayal had shattered it all.
He had been used, discarded, left for dead by the very people who had once called him their ally. The betrayal had been the final straw, and Lucifer had died that day, reborn as Ghost, the Assassin King. Adrian's hands had become stained with the blood of those who had tried to erase him. But as the years passed, he became tired of the endless cycle. And when the world's deadliest assassins came to him for advice, he had nothing to offer. The Assassin King had died, too. Devil, the hacker, had emerged to hide him, but even Devil couldn't erase his name from the annals of history.
And now, here he was, standing in front of the family he had come to care for, trying to outrun the legacy of the past he couldn't escape.
Toretto's Garage – Present
Mia stepped forward, her protective instincts kicking in. "Adrian, you don't have to do this," she said, her voice soft but firm. "We don't need to fight. Let's just talk."
But Pierce wasn't listening. "Talk? After everything you've done? After all the lives you've taken?" he scoffed, looking at Adrian You're a threat to national security, Kade. And I'm going to make sure the world knows who you really are."
The tension in the garage was suffocating. Everyone could sense the danger, the quiet anticipation before a storm. But Adrian remained calm, his eyes steady. This wasn't a fight he wanted. But it was one he would have to finish.
Adrian's fingers twitched, a subtle movement that only Dom noticed. He saw it — the way Adrian's stance shifted, the way he seemed to tune out the world around him. Dom knew it now. Adrian was no ordinary man. He was something else. Something far more dangerous than anyone had realized.
"Stay back, Mia," Adrian whispered, barely loud enough for her to hear.
Before Mia could respond, the FBI agents lunged. But Adrian was faster.
In the blink of an eye, he was on them. His body moving like liquid, fluid and deadly, every move an expression of the skills he had honed over a lifetime. Lucifer's speed, Ghost's precision — it all flowed through him as he took down each of Pierce's men one by one. It was like watching a dance of destruction, each motion calculated, each strike perfect.
The agents didn't stand a chance.
Dom and Mia watched in stunned silence as Adrian disarmed the last man.
"Is that the same guy who fixed cars for us?" Dom asked quietly, not sure whether to be impressed or terrified.
Mia blinked, her mouth open in shock. "I… I don't understand. What just happened?"
Adrian stood over the last man, breathing heavily, his eyes scanning the unconscious bodies around him. He wasn't even sweating.
"Tell your superiors," Adrian said coldly, his voice laced with authority, "I'm not the man they think I am. But they're not ready to deal with who I used to be."
He turned to face Mia, his expression softening. "I didn't want to bring this here. I didn't want you to see this side of me. But I'm not the man I was before, Mia. Not anymore."
Mia swallowed hard, processing everything she had just seen. She had no idea how much Adrian was hiding from her, from all of them. But one thing was clear now: Adrian wasn't just some mechanic. He was a force to be reckoned with, and the ghosts of his past were never too far behind.
Later That Night – Mia and Adrian
After the agents were taken care of and the garage was cleared, Mia found Adrian sitting on the hood of a car, staring out at the city. The night was quiet, but it felt like the calm before the next storm.
She approached him cautiously. "You could have killed them, you know. Why didn't you?"
Adrian turned to look at her, his gaze dark. "Killing them would have been too easy. They were just pawns. The real enemy's still out there."
Mia sat next to him, her voice softer this time. "I don't understand, Adrian. Why did you come here? Why did you help us?"
Adrian's eyes softened for a moment. "I came here because I wanted a chance to live a different life. A life that wasn't filled with bloodshed. But my past… it doesn't let me forget who I was."
Mia reached out, her hand gently brushing against his. "You don't have to carry it alone anymore. We're here for you."
For the first time, Adrian allowed himself to smile. It was a small, fleeting smile, but it was a start. A crack in the armor he had so carefully built around himself.
"I don't know if I can ever be just Adrian Kade," he said quietly. "But for you, Mia… I'll try."
To Be Continued...