A dark corridor.

One hanging light.

And under the light? A man sitting on a wooden chair with his head hung low.

Sounds of unfamiliar footsteps echoed through the tunnel as the newcomer walked towards the only place where any form of life could be seen among the ghosts in the darkness, waiting to engulf anyone who wasn't clinging to oxygen.

The man lifted his head up and saw the phantom of the person that he had only heard about - his boss. It could only be him. "I....sir....I-" He couldn't get the words out. If it were up to him, he would be kneeling on the ground to show his respect. But his kneecaps were broken and his hands were tied behind his back, his face all swollen from the punches he had been taking all morning.

"Have you got it?" The deep silky voice asked him, lingering beyond the circle of light.

"I have," replied the man through bulged cracked lips. "I didn't say one thing, sir. Not one...." It hurt to speak but he had to convey it.

Loyalty before blood. That was their code.

The young man wearing a black leather jacket crouched to the floor, revealing his face for the first time to the bleeding man, who eyed his thigh through the pain. "Is it...." asked the boss, receiving a slow nod in return. He pulled a knife out from the strap around his waist, twirling it in one hand, wondering if all this would be worth it in the end. 

He looked up at one of his men and gave him a reassuring smile because that was all he could do. "Thank you for your loyalty." He knew what he would have to do, and seeing one of his people in front of him in a state of being almost broken, he wondered what he was fighting for. He wanted to help the man out but there was only way they would win. 

One way that they could keep everyone safe.

And with those five words that anyone working for the Cardena gang would have bled to hear, the young man held the hilt of the dagger tightly as he flung it into the grieving man's thigh to retrieve the chip that would hold the key to the empire.

The empire of mafias.