“Aj, Thorn” The bulky guard greeted them as they left the Porsche. Not only was he a massive human specimen, but he had his fair share of implants, some didn’t seem of the legal kind. The eye implant especially seemed odd, with the iris being matt black as opposed to the MetEx’s standard blue. Probably Leo’s work.

“Otto,” Ajax nodded to greet. “Everyone already in?”

Otto shook his head. “One more”

Entering the lively casino, Ajax and Thorn made their way to the back, greeting a few of the bodyguards along the way, mainly comprised of huge cyborgs. Reaching the back of the casino, one of the guards led them through a large red door, opening up to a massive room filled with people. Looking around, they spotted a few familiar faces. Namely, Seiji smoking a cigarette, indoors, and Drago relaxing on one of the many sofas, surrounding by his men, and Isla.

“Isla” Thorn said with a shriek. They had…a little history, to say the least. And that was the least.

“Aye” Ajax observed the girl for a moment. She was rather beautiful, not to the standard of people like Alice, but very attractive nevertheless. Whilst she might look a little innocent, she’s far from it. When it came to body count, she far trumped Ajax, perhaps even Drago himself, and he was an immoral, ethicless bastard. “Let’s go see Seiji”

Thorn remained unmoved.

“Stop ogling and come” Ajax teased.

“Kill yourself” Thorn rolled up his middle-finger.

Making their way over to the smoke-addict, shameless smoke, not a bad name, Seiji turned his attention to the two suited-up youths. Removing Cancer Sticks’n’Giggles from his mouth, the silver tendrils of smoke drifting up before dissipating swiftly, he waved at the duo.

Seiji had a reputation for performing some of the most insane stunts in Cyx, so he was normally avoided, yet today, he was not alone as he rested on their private bar. No, he was stood next to a tallish woman with short brown hair and green eyes.

“AJ, Thorn” he said with an odd enthusiasm, “Allow me to introduce you to-”

“Julia” the woman said with a shy smile. “We’re dating. Nice to meet you”

Ajax chuckled at Seiji’s expression of misery as his thunder was stolen. Inside, he was pretty shocked someone had chose to date his insane little friend. Not that Seiji had never dated before, but he’d never maintained anything due to his reckless attitude. However, if she’s in the organisation, she must already know how damned psychopathic this man was.

“Nice to meet you, Julia” Thorn moved forward to shake her hand with a smile, “Since when do you have game, Seij?” Thorn asked in a low voice, yet Julia could easily hear and began to blush a little. Honestly, it was rather cute.

“When have I not?” Seiji asked with confidence as he put a hand around Julia, causing her to redden up once again. “What about you and the dear little miss Isla”

Seiji smiled as Thorn’s expression grew incredibly sour. On the other hand, Ajax chuckled at the ‘little miss’, considering she was twenty-five, making her older than all four of these misfits.

“Seiji” Thorn said in a dangerous tone, “Watch it”

Seiji only chuckled.

“Ah, sorry, sorry” he said with a wicked smile as he feigned fear, “Please don’t hurt m-”

“Ack!” he spat out all the air in his lungs as Thorn’s fist struck his abdomen with as much force as Thorn could muster, which wasn’t too much to be honest, but it was enough to wind the man.

“I mean, you can’t really go around complaining” Ajax sound, nonchalant. “You called it off, not her”

“She’s the one who wasn’t feeling it!” Thorn argued.

“Did she ever say that?”

For a moment, Thorn hesitated before answering. “No, but-”

“But you’re way too paranoid” Ajax interjected, “Just kiss and make up”

“Like you can say anything” he blurted out, “What about you and Alice, huh? Get off your high horse and take your own advice”

Ajax glared at his friend, murder in his gaze, yet he didn’t do anything. Hearing Thorn’s words, Seiji shook his head. There was a time, back when Ajax first decided to quit drinking, when he told Seiji how much he loved the girl, what he planned in the future, how he would marrier, how they’d bare children. He knew the rogue was still in-love with Alice, and he hated himself for choosing Cyx over her, even though he would do it again. It was difficult to explain. He wanted to drop everything to be with her, but at the same time, he didn’t. Cyx had been his family when he lost his biological one. He couldn’t turn his back on them so easily.

“Alright, everybody relax” Seiji attempted to calm things down, “He’s here”

Suddenly, the duo turned around, looking at the shining red door to witness a large cyborg enter the room, causing it to grow deathly silent; Herl. Not only was he massive, but he was painted in implants. Every implant on his body was top-tier, either made by the Cyx’s Dr. Leovard, or stolen from MetEx. The giant was damned near two meters tall with fourty inch arm implants with long black hair that made him look a little retro. Wherever his eyes went, shivers followed. This man could make your life or take it on a whim; he was the proud leader of the Cyx, and he ruled through fear.

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With Otto entering last, closing the door behind him after signalling a few guard over to stand at the door, Herl began his speech.

“As I informed you all on the phone, Morti is dead” Herl stated it all matter-a-factly, no compassion in his voice. “His house was attacked though a bombing. Unfortunately, we couldn’t uncover anything from the remains”

Hearing all this, even though they’d already got the jist on the phone, everyone in the room seemed to tense up. It seemed they wouldn’t be able to confirm who the attacker was.

“More body parts were found at the scene, however we couldn’t confirm to whom they belonged” the giant sighed, “On the matter of the MetEx raid, it will continue”

Everyone seemed shocked, yet Ajax most of all. Continue the raid? They’d just been attacked? Sure, Ajax was the one who did it, so MetEx were likely still oblivious, but Herl didn’t know any of that. He guessed they might continue with the raid, yet he assumed it would be postponed, which Herl’s expression didn’t suggest at all; he wanted to raid tomorrow.

“Due to Morti’s sudden demise, we’ve been met with a difficult decision. However, we must continue if we wish to prevail against that damned corporation. Rhae will take over Morti’s position on the raid. Thorn will help against MetEx’s security, as we planned before. Ajax will break into the control room with Rhae, take out any obstacles, and get the data. Martin will transport in and out”

As each name was dropped, the owner nodded to Herl’s words like they were orders of a king. In fairness, Herl was kind of the king of Cyx. He ordered people around, made all the plans, ordered the meetings, and he didn’t get much action himself unless it was required. Not that he was weak in any way; if Herl joined the action, it meant war.

Once Giant was finished with his speech, he left. No Q&A for the Giant; just straight orders. After Herl’s hasty exit, a goddess graced the group with a dignified look in her eyes. As Ajax looked her down, admiring a figure for a moment, just erm…getting a grasp of her character, yes, yes, he was trying to get some hints into who she was mhm.

“Rhae” she gracefully lifted up her hand, greeting Ajax.

“AJ” he replied, a little shook by how elegant she seemed. That was rare in Cyx. Most of them were crooks, the rest were strugglers, turning to crime as it was the only way to survive.

“Thorn”

“Seiji”

“Hi…Julia” she gave a little wave.

Once introductions were over, she got straight to the point.

“Can I speak with you two in a less…public place?” she asked Ajax and Thorn. Responding with a nod, she led them out of the Cyx’s lounge, up to the second floor of the casino, into a VIP lounge, just like the others that were scattered around the place. Inside, there was a large table, plenty of chairs, cards strung out across the table and a glass of wine at the end of the table, where Rhae took her seat. It seemed she’d been here even before the meeting, perhaps being involved with this branch of Cyx as well; the legitimate part, paid for with blood money.

“So, we’re discussing MetEx?” Ajax asked, knowing the answer of course, just starting the conversation.

“Yes. Before I start, I just want to give you two my condolences about Morti. I know what it’s like to lose a friend” she smiled warmly at them.

‘A friend?’ he held back a laugh, ‘More like a fucking traitor. A snake that bites you right when your guard is down. Fuck, there was a time when I thought I’d invite him to my wedding. But if they can betray you once, they’ll do it again. That’s why you have to make it so they can’t’ he thought back to Morti’s corpse beneath his feet, and the moment when Morti pulled the trigger on him, back on his first run. Still, a part of him felt sorrow over Morti’s death; a part of him he wished to discard.

“I hope you don’t think I’m trying to replace your friend. It’s just that this raid cannot be delayed, we risk MetEx discovering our plans and striking back. We can’t afford a war right now” she said. If you ignored her words, focusing only on her voice and posture, you’d never guess she was a crook; more like an angel. She seemed so innocent talking about war.

“No, we understand. In fact, completing this raid now would be for Morti. He would hate for us to delay over his death, I know. He was…” he used all his willpower to force the words out, “a loyal man”

“I see,” she said.

“Yeah” Thorn agreed, “We have to focus on the task at hand, then we can mourn him. We’ll complete this mission in his honour”

‘What honour?’ Ajax almost spat.

“Alright,” she begun “So, Thorn will be controlling MetEx’s security measures, to give us some time, correct?”

He nodded.

“And AJ and I will infiltrate with Martin, move to the control room, rendezvous with Martin and that’s that?” she asked, making sure she had the plan right. It was a rather simple plan for gaining data which could damned well change the tide of the brewing war.

“That’s that” Ajax nodded, “Now, I don’t want to be rude, but you don’t seem to have any implants, and you don’t exactly look like a great fighter. What role do you play?”

He was blunt, but his curiosity was taking over his mind. The giant didn’t do things on a whim, and despite how he looked, he wasn’t a meathead; he was smart. For that reason, Ajax couldn’t get behind putting Rhae in place of Morti, since she didn’t look to have ever been in a fight in her life. No scars on her perfect pale skin; no dark tales beneath her bewitching eyes; nothing. If anything, she seemed more sheltered than Alice.

“You don’t want to be rude, but you do so anyways?” her tone seemed to change drastically, yet it was still calm, just…dangerous. “And I could say the same about you, Ajax. You don’t seem to have a single implant either, so who are you to judge? Herl thinks I’m a good fit for the spot. Perhaps you don’t believe in his decision?”

So she had a nasty side. Honestly, though he would never say it aloud, he kinda digged it. She threatened outright, in the most passive aggressive way. Don’t believe in Herl’s decision? Tell that to Herl and he’ll cut off your legs. For some reason, that threat improved his opinion of her. It seemed he was a masochist.

“Hey, hey. We trust in his decision” Thorn hastily said.

“Yeah, he clearly trusts you to do your part. Let’s just hope you do, wouldn’t want another replacement”

His words seemed to catch the two of them off guard. Though, neither recognised it as a threat, which is how Ajax really meant it. If need be; If she betrayed him, she would die.

“Y-Yes, we wouldn’t want that” she replied after a few moments of hesitation. It was less fear of what he said and more the fact he even said it. Not only did that suggest she would die, but it suggested he saw replacing people as commonplace, uncaring about Morti’s death. Of course, perhaps that was overthinking, but the words could easily be read that way. And she that’s exactly how she seemed to read it.

“Alright, so I’ll be in their security, blocking their alarms and such until their people manage to kick me off the server. AJ has the flash drive I programmed to grab all the data, then overload the servers straight after. We get the data, we corrupt theirs. Chances are, they have a back-up, but they’ll have to get rid of the virus first”

Ajax nodded, “Then me and you, my dear Rhae, will be running full speed ahead to Martin’s location. Chances are, we’ll end up with security on our asses, but there shouldn’t be any cybers arriving until we’re well gone, if everything goes to plan” he explained.

“If everything goes to plan” she reiterated, “What if it doesn’t?”

“Shouldn’t you know that, princess?” he asked rhetorically, “We die”