Ashly couldn’t believe what had just transpired.

"Gyahh!"

"Arhhg!"

Screams rang out in the crowd as she stood dazed with some blood that splattered on her body...

A second ago, she was just pleasing the middle-aged man by the side when, the next second, his chest exploded as he was thrown back by the force of the impact.

Not more than 2 seconds later, before Brigan could even scream, he too was shot to death on his back as he fell forward.

Ashley also started to scream in panic as the others started to scream in panic while inside. A thought passed by her mind…‘Shit... Someone got the target before me.’

----------------------------------------

“A major operation?"

On the way back from assassinating someone, An emergency meeting was called by the gang. Axis immediately drove back to their base.

"Yes, evidently the scale of the operation will be quite big."

Troy said as he leaned on a vehicle.

"You think we’d be part of it? Although we don't have as good a record as the others, I say we've got a lot of potential. Did you get any news from your brother?"

Razed added from the side. Axis, sitting on the hood of the vehicle, responded.

"You know I don't ask my brother much; besides, this seems like a sudden gathering. They probably haven't fully sorted out the details."

Still, Axis was curious as he glanced around; more than a hundred members were already gathered. Some weren't able to come because they were on missions.

The last emergency meeting that was called was two years ago; at that time, he was still a bit green and hadn't passed Cohren’s torturous training yet.

He wanted to send a message his brother, but he knew they were going to fill in the details not long later, so he resisted the impulse.

As if answering him... Nikola Croan, with Jackie and his brother on each side, appeared...

Instantly, everyone queried down as silence pervaded the area.

Nikola Croan nodded and said, "I called you all in because we will be doing a major operation, one that would earn us a large amount of money once the jobs is complete."

Hearing what their boss said, everyone erupted in excited mumblings.

"Hehe"

"Finally some great action…"

Raze cracked his fist while Troy smiled; excitement faltered his eyes.

Axis narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms.

"We don't have much time and only a four-day preparation. I made a list on mission roles and objectives for the majority of you here based on your capabilities; if you have any issues with it, say it. Some of you might have to work now, while some will still need to prepare in three days. I’ve compiled the mission objectives and roles. I'm sending it now."

Another commotion occurred when they heard that not everyone would be part of the operation, Just as Axis was worried he wouldn't be part of it.

He saw a file was sent to him, and he sighed in relief. He definitely could not miss such a big mission; besides, he probably wouldn't be on the front lines of the mission anyways.

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

He opened the file and saw his name.

[Axis smith

Mission: You are to coordinate with the Cobalts gang crew, be part of the support group of netrunners as its protector. Other objectives: Provide fire support if necessary, and coordinate with the Cobalts crew.

Further details will be revealed at the mission location.

Mission location: Half-city Block 16

]

Axis was stunned reading the mission description, more specifically the description where he had to cooperate with some of the Cobalt members as well as the mission location.

Axis turned his head towards Nikola Croan, who promptly opened his mouth.

"That is right, we will be working together with Cobalt for these operations, and it will be on half-city."

"Woah!"

"Can they be trusted?"

"Shit..."

"Half city? Well fuck.."

An exclamation of surprise rang out in the area. It suppressed the commotion of people not being chosen for the job.

Axis was also surprised; putting aside the Cobalt, just the mission location alone says a lot about the difficulty of the mission.

Half-City isn't another city but part of Neodurn, separated by a river. It was in the southern part of the city. What's special about it is that it's full of lawless people; small gangs, clans, and cartels basically rule the place. It wasn't a very big district and only consisted of 17 blocks.

If the territory the crimson fang owns can be considered at least acceptable and humane, half-city is where degeneracy was the norm and rules were nothing.

It was mainly because neither the NOPs nor the big corporations care about the place; from their perspective, it was better to gather up all the scoundrels in one place than let them scatter around everywhere, because of that security to leave and enter half the city is pretty strict.

"The scale of the operation will be huge and bigger than what a single group can do, so we will be cooperating with them. I'm sure you already read the files. Here's a brief summary: The cobalts and our gang discovered a black tech from more than a century ago being smuggled by one of the ruling clans of block 16. The Farad Clan, and when they were looking for a buyer in the inner city, one of our guys and cobalts discovered it and traced it back to them. Now, this maybe is a century old tech, but it is still worth a lot of money. Once we succeed, everyone will get a hefty compensation.

Now the plan can be divided into three steps.

Scout the locations and plan for transport.

Get the tech.

and drove it out of half the city.

For further detail, you will have to find out yourself based on your roles, and Jackie here will coordinate with everyone."

After saying that, Nikola turned around, leaving Jackie and Yuri behind. Jackie was soon bombarded with questions, while Axis saw his brother coming towards him.

“Hey, you got selected?"

"Hell yeah.. Im on the transport team, one that supports the team as they get the tech out of the city, You?"

"As a support netrunner, it seems my role will be different from David and Lan. What about you, Ax? Are you on the frontline?"

"No, this time, I'll be protecting you”

Raze and Troy started discussing the operation with excitement. Axis was also a bit excited; with how dangerous the mission was, he was bound to earn a large amount of exp. At the same time, he was worried if he was up to par.

"Excited?"

Yuri appeared by them and crossed his arms while having a smirk.

"Of course! Hahaha, going on such a battlefield!"

“Hehe, by the way, do we have any idea what the tech is?"

"It's classified for now. Well, to be honest, we're not completely sure either. All we know is that it's worth a ton."

Yuri talked to Raze and Troy, While Axis asked something.

"So how are we going to operate with cobalt exactly?"

Yuri turned to him, and he flashed a strange smile. "During these few days, Cobalt and us will be in constant contact with each other; during the final night before D-Day comes, we will have a large planning meeting, though because it is half-city, we don't know what we will encounter, so we will be mostly improvising."

Yuri shrugged and said something strange to Axis: "So get familiar with who you'll be working with and protecting."

"Familiar? With those guys’ attitudes, the way we can get familiar with each other is by beating each other up."

Axis shook his head. He was familiar with how the Cobalts run, especially since, unlike in Crimson fang, where newbies are trained like soldiers, in Cobalts, as long as you have the guts and are useful, you're in.

Just as he was about to say something more, He saw Raze and Troy's expressions turn weird, and then they gave him a strange smile the same as his brother.

"What?"

Raza chuckled with a knowing smile and said... "Hehe, well, it looks like you'll be facing a passion you once had."

"Hehe"

"Haha"

Both Troy and His brother chuckled at Raze's words.

"What are you?" The second those words left his mouth, Axis then remembered something and instinctively said, " Oh.. fuck"