“Do it.”

We used the wall as cover, as the thunderous noise of the directional charge did its job and blew open the door to the meeting. The doors were blasted inward, into the room, and we got ready to charge inside right after it.

Thorne took out a grenade and threw it into the room. A second later, a bright light flashed out, accompanied by a low buzzing sound.

The four of us immediately rushed in with our fingers at the ready, on the trigger. I spotted several figures rolling around on the ground. Before we could aim our guns at them, a gigantic figure suddenly charged us from the corner of my eye.

It slammed into the guard beside me, propelling him a full two meters in the air before he slammed into the ground. He lunged at me next, with his maroon cyberarms extended, ready to grab hold of me.

Just as I managed to point my gun toward him, a blurry figure rammed into my attacker with his outstretched arm and brought him to the ground. Taking advantage of the opportunity presented to me, I aimed down and pulled the trigger.

+20 EXP

“Thanks, Thorne. Let’s get these guys restrained right away.”

We slapped the bracelet restraining device onto the Rust Scrappers executives who were struggling to get up, tying their limbs together.

We got exactly six of them as our captives, as the seventh one was dead.

There is some irony in how the guy who we had knocked out several days ago almost knocked me out today…

“How is he?” I asked Thorne, who was tending to the guard who got sent flying.

“Fractured bones and damaged organs. He’ll recover within a week if he gets to the nano-doc soon.”

I nodded, “Bring him outside ASAP and get him to a doctor.” I commanded the other guard.

Not long after he brought the injured away, another security team showed up. Together, we secured our prisoners and carried them out once we sedated them.

As we made our way out of the casino, I witnessed the carnage we had brought to the place. The music was still playing, with the terminal slot machines still making their characteristic noises, but I spotted bodies here and there sprawled about.

There may have been over forty of them, but they stood no chance when twenty of us caught them off guard.

“Rollo, we found the casino’s captives and secured them. What do you want to do with them?” Claire’s voice rang out from the comms.

“Just leave them outside and let the police deal with it. It’s all they’re good for, anyway.”

I don’t think I’ve seen a single cop in this world do anything useful. They always showed up after the incidents. Except maybe those guys in Lion City, but I don’t want to be reminded of them…

With our objective complete, we quickly evacuated from the area around the spa and returned to our office.

We might need to have some prison cells built the next time we renovate.

Once I got cleaned up in my room, I went to one of the makeshift interrogation rooms we had put together.

“Are they willing to talk?” I asked the guard on duty.

“Yes, sir. We made each of them tell us the location of their leader separately and got the same reply. Here is the address.”

“I see, thank you.”

I quickly relayed the information to the rest of the gang through our company comms. We weren’t going to give the Rust Scrappers any respite. We’ll bring down their leadership before morning, so they’ll be in no position to retaliate. It was the best method since they were too large a gang to completely eradicate.

We quickly mobilized and boarded a Vanguard with Thorne.

“I want to do this one quietly, so have everyone else on standby around the target location.”

“Fine, but I’m coming with you,” Thorne replied.

I nodded, as he wasn’t going to have it any other way. I enjoyed Elevate City’s night view instead, as we made our way to the address we got. It was one of the megabuildings in the Neon District, which meant it was currently the liveliest time of the day throughout this district.

Neon signs soon filled my view, with the streets filled with partygoers.

We arrived inside one of the megabuilding’s parking garage and only me and Thorne exited the vehicle.

I had an idea of how I wanted to dismantle their leadership to cause chaos within their ranks.

Rich people or those with power always preferred to live in the penthouse for some reason. I was thankful they chose a megabuilding though, as it made it really easy to get a connection into their systems.

With Leo and Lana’s help, breached the stairwell’s security. The elevators were being watched at all times, and it only went up to the floor below our targets. He also had a small army stationed on the floor right below his residence.

We took the elevators up to just a few floors below before we entered the stairwell. Once we got to the top, we could spot someone through the thin glass panel on the door, standing guard on the other side.

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*Can you get this door open?* I texted our cy-sec specialists.

Within a few seconds, the door clicked and popped slightly open.

“What the?” The guard stepped forward and pulled the door back shut as he stared at it in confusion.

A moment later, it popped open again.

“He—”

He turned around, so I took the opportunity to grab him before he could yell and alert anyone. I swiftly passed the door and plunged my dagger into him in one fluid motion.

+10 EXP

We dragged his body back to the stairwell and left it there before we closed the door behind us.

The layout of this floor was just like any other one in a megabuilding, where dozens of units were jam-packed together. The main difference, though, was how all the units faced the outside while they replaced the inner part of the building with a spacious courtyard. Inside that courtyard was where the stairs that led up to the penthouse lay.

Although there were a few lookouts, they weren’t really paying attention, as their eyes glowed and gave away the fact their attention was elsewhere. We found an inconspicuous corner to hide without the assistance of active camouflage and waited.

It took half an hour before I heard someone approach, and was stopped by a lookout.

“Carm? What do you want? The boss is sleeping right now.”

“It’s urgent! Bison’s place got hit while they had their meeting. All the executives are gone. Someone’s attacking us.”

“Calm down, let me call in first,” The lookout said before his eyes took on a glow once more. “Okay, the boss will see you. Follow me.”

Sharing a look with Thorne, we once again activated our active camouflage and tailed the duo.

We made our way up the laminate stairs that were made to look as close to authentic wood as possible. The wealthy in this world were all crazed about using wood where they could to show off and gain prestige. I, on the other hand, only cared for the practicality of the material.

Once we made our way up, they stood outside a door that seemed more like a bank safe for a few moments before it opened. The sound of a giant metal door opening was not pleasant for the ears at all.

Hurray for auditory implants.

A muscular man stood on the other side of the door with a displeased expression.

“Tell me the details now. I’ll have the entire organization look into this attack!”

“Sir, all we know is that…”

While they had their talk, Thorne and I invited ourselves into the residence.

“Enough, I will take care of it from here. You may leave,” The muscular man declared.

Once the vault-like door closed, we followed him into his house. He made his way across the living room and into his home office.

As soon as he sat down by his terminal, we acted.

I drew my Suri while Thorne materialized behind with his wrist blades pointed at the back of the Rust Scrappers leader. A second after Thorne, I turned off my Shade while I pointed my gun from the other side, sandwiching the man between us.

“Hey there, thank you for inviting us to your wonderful home. Do you think you can do us a favor?”

The man alternated glances between us, and I could hear the gears spinning in his head.

“Don’t even think about it. We have this room jammed. You won’t be able to contact anyone. Don’t Move. Thorne, plug in,” Following my instructions, Thorne connected a cable from his terminal to the neural port in the gang leader’s wrist and his terminal.

With Leo having gained access to his internal systems, we could rest assured that he was truly isolated.

“...What do you people want? You’re not going to get away with this if you do anything to me, you know?”

“Don’t worry. We simply want you to invite all your lieutenants to your wonderful home here, right now.”

“Why in the—”

Thorne grasped his shoulder with his free arm. “We’re not asking. Do it. Now. And no funny business. We have this entire area under watch.”

The Rust Scrappers leader glared at Thorne and breathed out heavily through his nose. “Fine. Have it your way, then.”

He proceeded to log into his terminal, which was connected to their gang’s internal network, and sent out the summons. We monitored him in real time to ensure he didn’t slip any unneeded information into his messages.

He could still send something encoded out, but we had this place surrounded and he knew that. He may be a gangster, however, he was smart enough to become the boss, so he should know that would only get him killed.

We were silent as we waited because Thorne and I chose to only communicate amongst ourselves through text.

It didn’t even take twenty minutes before our first arrival came. Our observers didn’t note anything unusual, so we proceeded with caution.

At the terminal, we could see the feed just outside the bunker door. The previous lookout together with a middle-aged woman.

“Go on, let them in.”

The muscular gang leader hesitated for a moment, but complied when Thorne pressed his blade into his neck.

The woman proceeded alone into the house and I went into my active camouflage. I stood off to the corner and waited. Before long, her footsteps grew closer and closer until she knocked on the door.

“Richard, I’m here. Can I come in?”

“...Yes, the door is unlocked.”

The woman only took two steps into the room before she froze as she processed the scene before her.

“What in the—”

I immediately grabbed her from behind and subdued her.

I injected the drug to knock her out and left her in the corner of the room as we prepared for our next arrival.

“...What do you people want?” The gang leader repeated.

“You can shut up and find out or be disposed of now. Your choice.”

“...”

In total, it only took an hour before every Rust Scrappers lieutenant arrived at their leader’s beckons. It was really helpful that they all deferred to their leader so much.

“Before we proceed, I wanted to ask you one more thing,” I faced the gang leader, Richard, after ensuring all his lieutenants were properly secured.

As if having sensed his fate, panic was clear to see from his face. “I’ll answer anything. Just let me go. I promise I’ll forget about this, like a bad dream.”

“I wanted to ask if you knew about your people’s attack on my corporation.”

“Please, just promise me you’ll let me go. I’ll help you find out every single person in the gang that has wronged you.”

“Answer the question.”

“No, no. I don’t even have any idea who you are.”

Well, he got unlucky since his subordinates provoked us, but he had it coming with all the misdeeds he sanctioned and profited from.

“I see. You should’ve known this day would come with all the victims you produce every day. Just from the records on your terminal, we found in this short period, do you even know how many lives you have ruined?”

“I didn’t mean—”

I gave Thorne a nod, and he injected the same drug we used on the rest of his men to knock him out.

I took some time going over the house for any other terminals to extract all the information from. Once I was done, I regrouped with Thorne in the study where the entire Rust Scrappers leadership was held.

“Did you set everything?”

Thorne nodded, and we proceeded to make our exit.

As soon as we exited the courtyard, I activated the device, and the penthouse went up in flames.