Leandro Drake

Ever have that feeling that things were all an inch from hitting the fan?

That's what Cane was currently experiencing. After their escape from the elevator and escorting the two girls two their respective cells, he had made his way back to his office only to be rudely stopped by multiple armed guards, holding rifles to his head, and telling him that the warden wanted to see him

Obviously, he had complied… and the ha found the wardens office to be emptier than a failed kidnapper's basement

Sitting on one of the chairs and waiting for someone to arrive he had a sinking feeling; he knew the warden couldn't do jack shit to him without risking his own life for upsetting the main candidate for the position of the Barlow family as unlike the rest of the facility's staff and workers he was aware of his family history

But this feeling was different from the usual intuition, less harsh than the instinct that he followed when his life was on the line, yet also more suffocating than a simple hunch or awareness of things to come.

Adjusting himself in his seat as an unusual sign of worry he slowed his breathing and began to listen to his surroundings, for five minutes all he could hear was the footsteps and erratic conversations of the two guards outside the room before he perceived another newer and heavier set of steps getting closer. Unlike those of the guards or even the warden, these sounded far calmer and more confident and soon he heard the sound of the door opening

Keeping his gaze forward and looking towards the empty desk of the warden he paid the person no mind and instead began adjusting his power to slowly cover the new guest as he did so he felt a hand land on his shoulder and looked towards it

Calloused and muscular, the hands of a man who had spent much of his life toiling away, not in a field or factory but a battlefield. following his way up he perceived the man standing over him, a giant. Even leaning over to touch his shoulder the man stood taller than the average man, built like a siege weapon as hard skin covered by ropes of muscle and veins covered his showing arms

Dress ed similar to him but more casual and informal, with the sleeves of his expensive-looking shirt, rolled up to the elbows and the first few buttons were undone, on his arm sat a tattoo, golden as his eyes and hair In the shape of a lion with a mane of swords

Leandro Drake, the 1st born son of the Drake Head and judging by the joyous grin on his face fresh from succession

"Good to see you, my Friend!" the man bellowed jovially, despite e the glare Cane was sending him "I haven't seen you in what… Two years?"

"it's been two months Lean" Cane responded tiredly, having seen all of his friend's antics by this point "or did the amount of alcohol you drank blot out the memory," he asked putting fake mockery in his voice remembering how Leandro had literally drunk half the party, Cane and himself under the table in his own way of saying Goodluck

Afterall two months ago was the day Cane had gained employment at the Catacombs and Leandro had said goodbye as hard as he could

"No, I still remember that night… or at least half of it!" he chuckled loudly and gained a wistful expression on his face "Oh the fun we had! Did I really destroy a chandelier?"

"Reduced to atoms" Cane sighed, grumpily answering him, remembering how Leandro had destroyed nearly an entire room when he had tried to use his power to open an entire cask of extremely strong vodka only to crush it and set fire to the entire room when said liquor caught fire

As Leandro's power was a body that was ridiculously strong durable, he was completely fine and Cane had found him sleeping drunk in a charred room, holding the chandelier in his arms like a teddy bear and crushing it

"HaHa good times!!" the golden giant laughed; Cane couldn't help smiling as the man's good humor was infectious even at the worst of times. After the laughter died down Leandro gained a somewhat serious expression and took a firmer tone "So… I became the head"

"Yeah…"

The originally light aura of the room dropped and became a sad darker shade, What Would normally be a cause for celebration among friends was instead dark news

See of the four families only the Drakes were seen as lesser, originally the four families were equal and tied closely but a couple of decades ago the Family had done something stupid.

Being the military force of the ivory syndicate, they attempted a takeover… and failed miserably, when faced with the immense wealth of the Barlow family, the political connections and sway of the August family, and the De Maggio family who were established literally for this kind of situation they were crushed

And as a punishment, they were reduced to little more than the muscle, disposable and more paid help than equals

But of course, it didn't stop there, they also changed the succession tradition, originally the way for a member of the Drake family to become head he had to be unanimously considered the strongest of the family by literally fighting every single other competitor that existed at the time, in one-on-one combat… of which there were dozens. Who were all-powerful and needed to beat every single one of their rivals through either surrender or incapacitation?

they made a single change, instead of beating your competitors all one on one and to knockout or surrender they made it into a deadly free-for-all where brothers, uncles, sisters, and mothers were forced to slaughter each other

this massive loss of key members kept them weaker than the other families and made sure the next head was decided quickly and efficiently

just as Leandro had

"Let's get a drink" Cane sighed "the war of succession is now in full swing"