The Retrieval of the Mustang
Inside a fortified smuggling compound owned by Abram Tarasov, a storm had begun to gather. Tension hung heavy in the air, the walls of the warehouse echoing with paranoia. Abram, still reeling from the brutal deaths of his nephew Iosef and brother Viggo, found himself confronted by the man responsible—John Wick. The Mustang, John’s stolen Boss 429, had been stashed within this compound, guarded by Abram’s armed men.
The compound fell swiftly. Each corridor was painted with urgency and death as Wick cut through the guards with clinical precision. Bloodshed marked his passage, the silence after the violence ringing louder than the gunfire that preceded it. Abram, spared only by John’s mercy and a reluctant offer of peace, watched the destruction unfold helplessly.
Having recovered his vehicle, John returned to his quiet home. The car, battered and broken, was sent to Aurelio for repairs. John, bruised and emotionally worn, attempted once more to retreat into isolation, yearning for the life he shared with Helen.
The Blood Oath is Called
That night, peace was shattered by an unexpected visit. Santino D’Antonio, a powerful figure in the Camorra syndicate, arrived with a reminder of an unresolved debt. Years earlier, Santino had enabled John’s freedom from the assassin’s life by assisting with an “impossible task.” In return, John had sworn a blood oath, sealed with a marker—a medallion representing a binding agreement of service.
John’s refusal to honor the marker triggered violent consequences. Moments after Santino’s departure, a grenade launcher reduced John’s home to rubble. Flames consumed what little remained of Helen’s memory. Surviving the attack, John turned to the one place bound by rules stronger than blood—the Continental Hotel in New York.
There, Winston, the hotel’s manager, reminded him of two unbreakable laws: no business on Continental grounds and absolute adherence to the marker system. With no alternative and his life hanging in balance, John reluctantly accepted the task—he would be required to assassinate Gianna D’Antonio, Santino’s sister, and a newly seated member of the High Table.
The Coronation in Rome
Rome greeted John with dusk-lit streets and ancient stone corridors. Gianna’s coronation was underway, a lavish event shrouded in pageantry and quiet danger. As John moved through the party’s opulence, he reached Gianna’s private chambers. Realizing her fate had been sealed by her own brother, Gianna chose to die on her own terms. Slitting her wrists in the bath, she welcomed death, though John still delivered the final blow with a bullet to the head—an act of mercy and obligation.
As John departed the premises, he was met by Cassian, Gianna’s loyal bodyguard. Their brutal confrontation spilled into the city’s catacombs, where John discovered he had been betrayed. Santino, seeking to erase all traces of the assassination, had ordered Ares—his mute enforcer—and a squad of assassins to eliminate him.
John fought through the darkness, killing wave after wave of attackers before once again encountering Cassian. Their duel raged across Roman streets and into the neutral safety of the local Continental. There, halted by the rules, they paused. John explained his forced compliance with the marker. Cassian, while empathetic, vowed to avenge Gianna, promising John a swift death when their paths crossed again.
Betrayal and Survival
Safe passage was granted by Julius, Rome’s Continental manager. John returned to New York, but peace was nowhere to be found. Santino, now in possession of Gianna’s seat at the High Table, opened a global contract on John’s life for $7 million, claiming revenge for his sister.
Assassins from every corner of the city emerged. John, wounded but unrelenting, fought his way through ambush after ambush. Among the chaos, Winston paid a visit to Santino to affirm the marker had been honored. Santino’s betrayal was clear, but technically legitimate.
A confrontation soon erupted within the New York subway system. Cassian found John once more. In the claustrophobic tunnels, they exchanged blows until Cassian was stabbed and left with a blade lodged in his aorta—alive but mortally wounded. John, bleeding and spent, vanished into the underground.
The Bowery King’s Gamble
Sanctuary was found in the underbelly of the city. The Bowery King, a crime lord shrouded in myth and informants, offered John temporary shelter. Fascinated by John’s crusade against the High Table, the Bowery King offered a modest gift: a Kimber M1911 and seven bullets—each symbolic of the bounty on his head. Directions were also provided—Santino was hosting a gala at a museum.
John infiltrated the museum, weaving between exhibits and shadows. Bullets flew as he eliminated Santino’s guards one by one. Ares fell after a fierce confrontation. But Santino, ever the strategist, escaped to the one place John was forbidden to conduct business—the Continental.
Within the lounge, beneath the watchful gaze of Winston, Santino taunted John. Confident in his sanctuary, he believed himself untouchable. John, however, had passed the threshold of restraint. He pulled the trigger. Santino’s lifeless body fell, the Continental’s rules shattered.
Ex-Communicado
By morning, consequences had caught up. Winston met with John in Central Park, calm but stern. The price of killing on Continental grounds was absolute: excommunication. All services, privileges, and protections of the underworld would be revoked.
Winston, bound by the High Table, could do little. Yet loyalty lingered beneath duty. He granted John a one-hour grace period before the contract became active. In a final gesture, he handed John a new marker.
As the countdown began, the park’s calm was shattered by the silent trill of phones across the city. One by one, strangers looked toward John. No longer a man with a past, he had become a target—a legend in flight.
John did not wait. He ran, shadows on his heels, the hourglass draining grain by grain. A war had begun, and John Wick stood at the center of it.