James woke up with a shout as his hoarse voice echoed through the large room. His breathing was erratic, eyes were teary, body was sweaty. Just like he was used to... It was not a new scene for him, still everything felt anew once again.

He frantically started touching everywhere his body to know who he was & after confirming his identity, he took a breath of relief.

James was Leon once again. That meant he was back in the real, world not inside the dream world anymore. But seriously, that nightmare was too real. It was as if all the things he had done throughout the years were now asking him to pay their prices.

He was not someone who had annihilated a country or killed a million innocent people, but was guilty in his own right. He had buried those memories of his actions so deep in his mind that he had forgotten about those & their consequences, but this dream of a nightmare pulled everything out from the deepest part & threw it onto his face.

Was this empire going to pay the price for his actions? Were those innocent people going to witness the consequences?

No, they won't. It was all his doings & he was going to fix it at any cost. He had dwelled enough on things that didn't matter and now was the time to pick the pace & let the world know how to do things right.

***

James was sitting on the floor writing something on a paper. After the recent loss of men during his visit to Nortion, he had vowed himself to create something that would minimize the causality to none cause assassination attempts would keep happening no matter how he tried to stop it.

So the best way was to protect themselves from any type of attacks. And what could protect them?

The answer was a handgun used by police back in his world. It was light, easy to use, & efficient. Ironically, the guy who appeared in his nightmare gave him the idea.

James knew how devastating guns could be if used by wrong people. These things were like a double-edge sword. It's too easy to kill someone with the gun & also far too easy to get killed by the same gun. So he had to do anything in his capabilities to hide it from outside eyes.

He had plans to make a particular gun named Luger P08 used by German army in both WW1 & WW2 era. The Luger had a reputation for toughness and accuracy, which James needed the most.

He knew it was a far too advanced gun to be made at this time & age and if he tried to change it to suit this world, then the whole thing won't work out.

There were no talented engineers here who could take his blue print & give him a final product. He had to do everything by hand & this damn empire didn't even have a modern screwdriver or spring.

James had to create many things before the actual Luger would see the light, but now he had some other business to attend to.

***

Inside a cold & dark room, which was mostly illuminated by candles, sat a tall bearded man in a chair tied up from head to toe. It had been 5 days since the whole failed assassination plan transpired where all his friends died, but he survived.

He was cursing his fate as to why he was alive now. The torture he was going to experience now would be something far worse than death. There were many soldiers who came with various equipment & placed it in the room for the one and only thing.

And that was pure pain. They were going to get answers from him, no matter the cost.

Soon the door to his dark chamber & over 5 men entered the room with a stoic expression on their faces. They stood surrounding him & finally the captain arrived. His left arm was us wrapped in bandages & was limping. Still, he had a smile which could scare the shit out any living men in the empire.

"So you woke up huh?" asked Hansh, pulling the stool & sitting before the man.

"Yeah, can't sleep all day, right?" said the tall man with a smile rivaling the captain's. Yes, he was afraid of the pain, but it wasn't something new for him. He chose the mercenary job knowing all the risks & this torture was one of the many variables he had already accounted.

"Good for you, mate. Cause we are gonna talk all night after this. I bet you will like it."

"Bring me the hammer." shouted Hansh in an indifferent tone & the soldier followed. He knew this moron would not give up his secrets easily, so he was going to make him talk like he was taught to do.

The soldier came back with a table which had many objects, but Hansh only needed the hammer.

"So which one?" asked the captain, pointing towards the table where 3-4 hammers were placed in descending order.

"Come on man, I am not a fan of this, so why won't we skip things & get to the good part?"

"Yeah, man. Me too. So let's get to the good part." said Hansh, grabbing the smallest hammer.

"So...."

"So... Why don't you tell me who told you to do all this? Just one question & one answer."

"Yeah, so... it was your mom who told me to do this. Happy now."

"Yeah mate." replied the captain hammering the assailant's pinky finger, followed by a scream.

The tall man kept screaming but soon controlled his loudness & looked at the captain with a fierce look in his eyes.

"Why you looking me like that? You asked for this & this is the good part, mate. I bet you will like It even more."

Hansh dropped the hammer on the ground & picked the biggest one on the table. Then once again, another ear-piercing scream was heard, but this time with more noise than before.