Kye lowered the gun pointed at the drivers face.

"Who exactly do you work for?"

The man scrunched his face up before answering.

"Santel Group."

Kye knew the name. They were direct competetors to God's Wisdom and had a few smaller industrial compaines under them. Their main services were realated to construction supplies and industrial hardware. Kye wasn't privy to what the God's Wisdom company was doing so Kye didn't know what they were after.

"Okay so, why exactly did you target me? What were you hoping to get out of this?"

"We were hoping that your trip would be about the manufacture of a new industrial device. We received some tip offs from contacts that you were looking for the Iron Chains gang here. We all know that they have factories that could be set up for a cheap manufacturing project."

Kye sighed.

"And so, the first moment you got, you decided to take action huh. You didn't think that waiting would be the better strategy to figure out if I was worth your time?"

"Usually with corporate stuff like this, acting slow means missing the best opportunities."

"Alright, well, i'm not here for any of that but I am here for the Iron Chains. I'm going to sell them some very cheap iron in exchange for weapons and ammunition. I take it this doesn't matter to you, right?"

The man nodded.

"Then, we seem to be at something of an impasse huh. You attacked me for industry secrets that I don't have, and i'm on my way to do some shady stuff that I don't really want anyone to find out about." Kye gave a large smile. "So how about we both give each other something the other one wants."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I may not have any industrial blueprints on me, but I do have some other blueprints. You guys clearly have some kind of intelliegence network right? Well, I need some information on the Fulgoth Kingdom's representative for the academic council."

The two men looked at one another for a few seconds before turning back to Kye.

"What kind of blueprints?"

"Well, i'm not too gifted in this area but they're called a 'neutral shield generator' so I assume it's some kind of military tech?"

Their eyes lit up, like that had hit the jackpot at a slot machine after just putting one dollar in on a whim.

"Here's the deal, I give you half of the coded blueprints now, you go get the info I want and you get the second half. Without both halves, any attempt to hack or recover them will cause an irreversible data wipe of both halves. This is the only copy currently as it hasn't even gone into the prototyping stage, I was trying to find out if it was even builidable before that."

The man stuck his hand out.

"Deal."

Kye smiled and unwrapped his arm from around the womans neck and handed her back the knife before shaking the mans hand. The woman spoke up as Kye was going through a small metalic case in his jacket, looking for the blueprint chip for the shield generator.

"You're not worried i'm going to stab you again?"

Kye laughed before showing her the wound she had caused had already clotted over and was closing up.

"Lady, i'm not scared of any of you, let alone what you do. The only reason you're all still alive is because I have some use for you. Keep that in mind and take me to The Boiler Room, i'll give you the chip once we're there."

The woman shuddered a little bit as Kye's voice grew colder. The men in the front just stayed silent and the car took off again. They remained silent for the 20 minutes it took for them to reach the old entertainment district. Kye got out of the car and walked up to the front passenger door and threw the blueprint chip to the driver.

"Feel free to leave me here and go back to what you were doing before. Make sure that info is ready for me before five days go by. Fail to deliver and i'll be back for my chip."

Kye walked away from the car with a large smile on his face. Truthfully, the shield generator was one of his own designs and he had already tested it. He found it to be far too costly to produce and sell as a product but for a few units in a gang, it could be quite useful. All of his blueprints existed in physical form back at Hephaestus' house so he wasn't too concerned if he lost the chip to them. Feeling good about the swindle, Kye walked down the sparcely populated streets of the entertainment district. Kye made his way to The Boiler Room which was tucked away in a small alleyway. The door was wrought iron and there was a gruff looking bouncer at the front. Kye was only 14 but he was broad-shouldered and 176cm tall. The bouncer looked him up and down before nodding his head and holding the door open for Kye. Kye gave a small nod and walked into a dingy and smokey lounge bar. Kye walked up to the bar and sat on a rough wooden bar stool. The bartender lazily gazed at Kye before walking over.

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"What'll it be mate?"

"Whiskey on the rocks."

"Rightio."

As Kye was waiting for his drink, a rather beautiful woman saddles up next to him. She was wearing a short one piece dress that showed off a lot of her ample chest.

"You look a little young to be in here kid, you sure you walked into the right place?"

Kye needed information on how to get in contact with a local gang to get him in touch with Slate, and a bar fly like her was perfect for such information. Kye had been taught by Thanatos shortly after his 14th birthday on how to seduce women. Thanatos and Ares stressed that this was an important part of being a man while Hephaestus seemed to think that such knowledge was useless. Ares said that was why Hephaestus was still single and received a smack in the head from her hammer for the remark. Kye decided to put on some moves to see if he could get what he wanted out of her. Kye gave her a boyish smirk.

"Yeah, I know i'm in the right place, after all, you're here right?"

She giggled and leant forward as if to show off her cleavage. Kye didn't look and kept his gaze focused on her brown irises. She smiled and leant back, placing her head on her arm on the bar.

"You're pretty interesting. I wonder what you're here for."

"Just a drink and some company."

As Kye was talking, the bartender placed the drink in front of Kye. Kye took out a bank card and gave it to the bartender.

"A tab for me and the beautiful lady please barkeep. The whiskey is a fine drink but I think the company tonight will be even better."

Kye winked at the lady and she giggled again. Kye held up his glass to the lady and they clinked their drinks together before taking sips from the glasses.

"I didn't catch your name."

"Kye. Yours?"

"Lizzie."

"Well Lizzie, you're certainly a very pretty woman. Is it not dangerous to go out to a place like this every night for someone like you?"

"Well, only when I don't have a big strong man around me. Luckily, my boyfriend is a pretty big deal around here."

"Well, I guess thats not much of a surpirse you'd have one considering. But then, i've got to ask you, why are you here?"

She put on a small smile and hung onto Kye's arm.

"While he's great for getting me things I like, he's always busy with his work and i'm left here unsatisfied. How cruel right!?"

Kye was feeling more and more sorry for the poor schmuck who was dating her but kept it to himself.

"Unbelievable. If I was your boyfriend, I would work constantly to make sure you had everything you wanted. I can't believe he would neglect you like that."

She pushed Kye's elbow into her chest and rested her head on his shoulder. She brought her lips up to Kye's ear.

"You look like you know how to treat a woman right. How about we have a few more drinks and then head somewhere a bit more... private?"

Kye wanted to vomit blood.

"That sounds perfect."

He sculled the rest of his drink and slammed the glass down.

"More drinks barkeep!"

The bartender nodded and went to get another whiskey for Kye and a vodka pre-mix for Lizzie. They drank several more drinks while making basic small talk, with Kye mentioning that he was here on business and was staying in the inner city, constantly dropping hints to his wealth as to keep her interested. Eventually Lizzie hooked his arm and dragged him away from the bar and up the stairs at the far end of the bar. They entered into a small room that had a bed and little else. Lizzie brought her lips to Kye's and pushed him back onto the bed. They made out like this for a few minutes before Lizzie started to unzip the back of her dress. Just before she could drop her bra, a man burst into the room, almost kicking the door off it's hinges.

"WHO THE FUCK'RE YOU HUH? WHAT ARE YOU DOIN' WITH MY GIRLFRIEND?!"

Kye pushed Lizzie off him and stood up, rebuttoning his shirt.

"Fucking hell dude, it's about time you showed up, I thought I was actually going to have to have sex with her."

The man who had worked himself up into a rage calmed down slightly.

"WHAT THE HELL'RE YOU TALKIN' 'BOUT?"

Kye put a finger over his lips.

"Inside voice man, i'm right fucking here."

Kye finished putting his clothes back on before looking at the guy. He was a few centimetres taller than Kye and his muscles were more defined. He had a stubbly jaw and bloodshot brown eyes.

"Right, now that i'm decent, lets talk."

The man had lost all his anger and was now just wary of Kye.

"What do you want?"

"I heard from your girlfriend that you're somewhat influential in this area. I need to get in contact with someone and this seemed to be the quickest way to get your attention. Apologies for the misunderstanding."

Lizzie was in shock.

"I didn't do anything babe I swear!"

The man pointed at her.

"You shut up! We're done!" He looked back at Kye. "And you, you want to do business?"

Kye nodded.

"Then follow me."

Lizzie was screaming bloody murder as the two men walked out of the room and down the hallway. There was a small office at the end of it which the man opened with a key and gestured for Kye to enter. Kye stepped into the black carpeted office. The room had a very dark colour scheme, with the only colours being the upholstory on the couch and large desk chair. Kye took a seat on the couch and the man sat at the chair behind the desk.

"Can't say I much appreciate the method, but i've gotta respect ya for takin' the initiative to meet me. Names Brooker by the way."

"Kye. I do apologise about all that. Some girl you got involved with."

The two men shook hands as they introduced themselves.

"Yeah, she's been a massive pain in the ass but the sex was good and I thought she was loyal." Booker just shrugged his shoulders before leaning in slightly. "Now, what was it that you needed from me?"

"I need to get into contact with Slate."