I know why no authorities will storm in here.

First, no one knows. Second, no one needs to. Third, connections. Not only clans and noble houses pay for security. Given the traffic of goods, one could assume the gang pays enough to keep the police off their backs. Of course, the clan could set them up, but I suspect either it would be hushed up, or they'd be warned, and the gang would clear out of here long before anyone came to arrest them.

Besides, as Malu said, this isn't the clan's territory. To force their way in here would mean to start a war, which is costly and noisy. The desire to snatch the drugs for free and some other nuances probably withhold the clan from simply handing these guys over to the police. So, it's logical to simply deprive the gang of their income, pretty significantly at that. As Malu put it then, not to destroy, but to put them in their place, to teach them a lesson.

As Alex described, almost every door in the corridor was open. You could peek into the worn, not-very-comfortable rooms and see the local soldiers. Some of them stood and smoked right in the passage. Some were armed, some were not. The radio was playing somewhere, and some rooms smelled of food.

When it all starts, we won't have to wait long for their backup.

We got to the end of the corridor, where on the left was an iron door with two guards. Both had automatic rifles slung over their shoulders. They were protecting the goods from mischievous children, I guess.

"We're here to buy goods," Malu said calmly. His voice did not betray any nervousness.

One of the guards nodded and opened the door, letting us in. When the last of us entered, both of them followed.

It was just another room, like all the others, only empty. The only difference was its layout – there was no toilet, all partitions reminding of it were demolished, and only brick stripes on the walls and protruding pipes were left. There was only a massive safe, a table, and gun cabinets. Plus, various boxes containing who knows what.

Several automatic rifles were displayed on the table, some of which I saw for the first time. But one of the guns immediately caught my eye.

A 'nail gun,' as it was colloquially called, an electromagnetic mass accelerator, to be scientific, or simply a railgun. I couldn't even imagine where the gangsters got such a device from. It could be compared to an anti-tank installation or MANPADS, and a regular street gang shouldn't have such weapons. It's not that it's very rare; it's just expensive. At least, that's what they write on the internet.

And theoretically, it should be very hard to get, as this version, shooting special needles, penetrated everything: from walls to light-armored military vehicles. It fired relatively quickly, very accurately, and very painfully.

And now it's in the hands of a regular street gang in my city. Life beyond my world is a fascinating thing.

"Quite a few of you here..." grinned some skinny guy in glasses, who looked like a drug-addicted librarian and was so tattooed that there was no untouched spot on him. "What brings you here?"

"We need to stock up," Malu shrugged.

"That much?" He glanced at the bag.

"Well, we're very hungry," our leader smiled in response.

Apparently, the junkie-librarian appreciated the joke, as he laughed, wiping tears from under his glasses.

"Hungry... yeah, the youth are definitely hungry nowadays."

"Can't disagree with that. But, before we begin, can we try a little? To evaluate it?"

"You don't trust the quality of our product?" The man's smile remained, but his voice gained an edge to it. Why was everyone so aggressive? It seemed like the word 'friendliness' was missing from their vocabulary.

"And even I get a refusal?" Syringa leaned forward, unexpectedly giving a sweet smile. In an instant, she transformed into an adorable girl with a scar over her right eye, which only added to her charm. Her voice also changed, not as brash as usual, but youthful, full of life, of a young and spirited girl, which, essentially, she was. It was unclear why she didn't always act like this.

She deserved congratulations - she had managed to charm the junkie-librarian, because he smiled back quite amiably.

"Young ladies shouldn't get involved with such things."

"Young ladies get bored," she playfully responded, slightly shifting to accentuate her figure. "A little mood lift to be more open and cheerful."

"Well... I can't deny a young lady, unlike the guys," he glanced at Malu with a smirk and headed towards the safe.

Just a little longer... Soon, the main part of our performance would begin. All this circus was necessary to increase our chances of getting out of here at all, because what I had seen in the corridor definitely wasn't encouraging. Too many people, and most likely, they controlled not just this floor but the other ones, too. And there might be someone in the adjacent buildings. Most likely, there was.

When the seller had already opened the safe and reached inside, my little show began.

Starting to make retching noises and slightly leaning over, I reached for my face, as if trying to cover my mouth with my hand, but instead, I shoved two fingers down my throat. Considering the fact that I had eaten beforehand and my stomach was full, all its contents gushed out in a torrent onto the floor. I overdid it a bit because after the first volley came a second, and I physically couldn't stop myself.

I brazenly vomited all over the drug den's floor.

And Syringa let out a very shrill scream:

"Ew!" I'm sure she didn't even have to pretend.

"Ew!" Malu loudly echoed, also very sincerely, avoiding me.

"Ew!" I think they conspired. Now, the junkie-librarian swore, jumping towards me. "Damn you, fatass! You've vomited all over, you fucking fat jerk! Are you out of your mind!?"

And I continued to vomit, but by that point, everything had already subsided, and an enormous puddle of noodles, rice, carrots, and everything else that I had eaten adorned the floor.

"Damn it! Guys, get this pig out of the room! Hand this fuck a mop, so he can clean up this mess right now, or I'll blow the brains out of him!" The junkie-librarian was yelling so loudly that he completely forgot about Syringa, who was sneaking up on him with an innocent face.

And at the moment when the two guards reached out for me, I jerked towards one of them with all my weight, almost slipping on my own vomit. I crashed into the guy and literally embedded him into the wall, making him groan. I pressed him down with all my might, so much so that he had no chance to use his automatic rifle. Malu seemed to be doing the same, judging by the sounds.

And Syringa...

For a moment, I even lost the ability to speak, as well as forgetting where I was.

They say there are things you're better off never seeing. And if you're unlucky enough to catch a glimpse of them, to see them just once, you'll never be able to unsee them. Once you see another world, you'll keep seeing it everywhere.

That's how it was with crime - I started noticing things I hadn't paid attention to before: the people, the cars, whether it was a clan's spot or a regular shop, who the people were standing at the corner and what the guys were digging around in the trunk for. I started seeing things I hadn't noticed before.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

And now I was witnessing something completely different, happening in another reality, on another level of my understanding.

Syringa slid in a swift motion towards the seller guy, and with one swipe of her paw, she literally slit his throat. A fountain of blood gushed out, like from a fire hydrant, flooding the floor and mixing with the pool of vomit. Her claws... they were something else... huge, like those of a beast, grown in a couple of seconds. Before the junkie-librarian could even fall, she pulled a gun from behind his back and rushed towards the first guard.

She pressed the gun to his temple, shot. Thick red-grey splatters with tiny white pieces flew out from the other side.

Barely had I come to my senses when she was already rushing towards me, and Malu, having let go of the corpse, started to bolt the door. In a few seconds, another shot had already sounded right below me. The man's body slowly slid down the wall, and Malu shouted:

"Locked! Now, hurry! We have seven minutes to get out of here!"

And I stood there, my mouth agape in shock, dumbly alternating my stare between Syringa and the corpse, which had a small hole in one temple and a huge one in the other.

She was different.

More accurately, she wasn't even human, more like a cross between a human and an animal.

Her pupils were like a cat's, elongated, just a line from one edge of the iris to the other. Under her hair, you could see her raised ears. They probably hide there all the time.

Come to think of it... I've never seen her wear a hairstyle that would reveal the place where human ears grow. And her face - it does look very predatory, alien, different from human.

I would have kept standing there, staring at her, if it weren't for Malu, who rushed over, turned me towards him, and slapped me so hard that he busted my lip. The pain shot through my entire brain, instantly bringing me back to reality. Restoring my ability to perceive my surroundings, I felt the taste of blood and vomit in my mouth; the air around me was filled with the smell of cigarettes.

"Glare at her later, fatso!" He barked and rushed to the table. "Help me gather the guns while we have time! Syringa, take care of the safe!"

"Yes!" She briskly emptied the fakes from the bag and began scoping into it whole white blocks of cocaine, some cans, bags, money, and other stuff.

Meanwhile, Malu dove into the boxes. He opened one, then another, and a third...

Someone started pounding on the door.

"Guys, what's happening in there?! Guys?!"

Malu paid no attention, and soon, I couldn't hear their shouting either, completely zoning out. We were pulling out guns and stuffing the most expensive ones into bags, which we hid along with the prop money. The rest we put on the table.

"Oh, explosives! Damn!" He pulled out a block, presumably plastique, and flipped it in his hand. "We're swiping this."

I stood and swiftly sorted through the smaller boxes filled with various weapons. Finding pistols, mostly Glocks, I pulled one out and tucked it into my belt, then discarded the box - we didn't need them. Another container had a whole set of flashbangs; at least, that's what was written on them. Then regular grenades, those ribbed ones, more pistols... Who were they planning to fight?

"Syringa?!" Malu raised his voice, shoving the railgun into a bag.

"Almost done!" She shouted, scooping the safe's contents just straight down.

"I'm, too, almost..." I began but swallowed the rest of the sentence in an instant.

At that very moment, the wall by the door shuddered. I spun around at the sound of cracking bricks, catching sight of the plaster falling off, hitting the floor, and breaking apart. Even the very surface we were standing on vibrated. But the most disturbing was the sound coming from the door, which literally shuddered and hummed.

We involuntarily froze and glanced at it. Dust clouds rose from the wall like steam. And following that came another hit, causing the wall to judder again noticeably. Then another hit, and another, as if it was being broken from the other side.

No, not broken, but rammed.

I involuntarily glanced at Malu.

"Listen, are there any impulse fighters here?"

"Why are you asking me? Ask them!" He nodded at the door, which shuddered for the umpteenth time. And as it seemed to me, it shifted slightly towards us. But it didn't bend or twist. It felt like it was simply being knocked out of the frame to avoid breaking the wall.

Another hit. And then one more, the wall pitifully shuddered each time, shedding plaster and dust. The doorframe groaned pitifully. It seemed to me that a little more, and the door would simply be knocked out. If nothing was done.

And what can you do when there's only a small window and you have a whole box of grenades?

"Gather everything faster," I said, pulling two regular and a flashbang grenade from the box.

"Hey, what are you doing?! Box, damn it, don't you dare!" Malu tried to stop me.

"And you suggest we wait until they break in here?" I inquired.

It was a strange feeling. On the one hand, my heart was pounding inside me like crazy, throbbing in my temples, and my hands were slightly trembling from the adrenaline rush. I was so scared that my stomach was tied in a knot, and it seemed to me that I'd pass out any moment now.

On the other hand, my mind was surprisingly clear. Like during an exam, when you know exactly what to do, or at least have an idea. It's just you and a problem that needs to be solved. No matter how nervous you are, that thought remains clear under any circumstances.

"Fuck, Box, put down those damn grenades!"

"And what should we do then? They'll bust the door down, and we've got nowhere to hide," I shrugged. "What should we do?"

Malu stared at me until the door was hit again. Bits of brick and plaster were already flying, and the metal doorframe gave in, loosening from the wall.

"Motherfuckers, we're screwed!" he cursed, jumped to me, and snatched the grenades. "You go first, throw yours in, and close immediately. Then, open again on my command. Ready?!"

I just nodded.

He paused, waiting for something. Something...

The door shook again, and the crack of brick was clearly heard. At this very moment, he shouted:

"GO!"

Without a word, I pulled the pin, opened the small window, threw the grenade out of it, closed it again, and waited for the bang. At this point, Malu was already pulling the pins from both his grenades. The levers flew out like corks, and there was a pop from each. And when a sharp bang sounded from the other side, like a party popper, he shouted again:

"GO!"

I wondered what if I would shout back at him, "No!" and keep the window closed when both levers are already gone...

But this silly thought disappeared as quickly as it appeared when both grenades flew in the open window. Malu grabbed me by the collar, tripped me, and we both fell to the floor, almost landing into my vomit. The moment we hit the surface, the explosion roared.

The force was such that the floor did not vibrate beneath us - it trembled. Small brick pieces on it jumped up in place along with the dirt. The wall seemed to have been hit with a sledgehammer; it cracked, showering us with plaster and dust. Cracks spread in different directions on it.

Honestly, I even felt dazed a bit, like those hit by frying pans in cartoons.

But Malu didn't even pause; he sprang up, rushed to the table, grabbed two automatic rifles, threw one to Syringa and the other one to me.

"Here, take it, might come in handy!"

The rifle almost broke my face from such a throw, and I barely managed to catch it. But Syringa caught hers quite easily and skillfully. Malu ran to the cabinet he had been ransacking earlier and pulled out a drum-fed automatic. He cocked it.

"Fuck, Box, damn it, stop sleeping, time to kill some assholes!" he shouted, pulling out two grenades. "Come on, fatso! Unbolt the door, shit's about to get real!"

He was so excited that it started to scare me. But without a word of protest, I opened the door, allowing him to get out of here. Otherwise, he would have started throwing them right here, it seemed to me. Malu immediately pulled the pin, threw the grenade down the hallway, and closed the door. Another explosion boomed, hitting my head, after which he jumped out again, kicked open the opposite wooden door, and threw the grenade in there. He dashed back to us.

Shots rang out almost immediately after him, a whole haphazard volley from several barrels. The sound of bullets hitting the wall was somewhat muffled but very memorable. Then another explosion roared.

"Go! Go!"

Malu jumped to the doorway and, without peeking, began firing into the corridor - he simply stuck out his gun, as they show in movies, and started spraying everyone with lead.

The noise was insane, and I still couldn't fully come to my senses. Only a slap from Syringa brought me back, making me see stars.

"Bags in hands and asses out!" she yelled.

By then, Malu had emptied his clip and tossed aside his gun.

"Machine gun!"

And without a word, Syringa handed him a machine gun seemingly out of nowhere. Malu snatched it and immediately peeked out, now showering everything he saw with a rain of bullets again. No doubts, no hesitations or fear - he simply did what was needed to prevent our bad situation from becoming horrific.

I couldn't hear myself; I couldn't hear anything at all except the incessant noise. I even stopped hearing Syringa, who was shouting something. Only the shots from the damn automatic, as if someone had put headphones on me, turned up the volume and forced me to listen to a jackhammer. Casings scattered before me, like someone had intentionally dumped them there. And even though Malu was only firing in long bursts, that didn't help my ears at all.

But I knew what to do, even without the screams. I picked up two bags loaded with stuff and moved towards the corridor. I peeked into the passage and heard Malu's shout.

"Syringa! Cover me!"

I don't know how she heard him, but she dashed past me and quickly darted into the next room, carrying several guns. She peeked out and started shooting more precisely at everything alive.

Although there was nothing alive in the corridor, at least in sight. Several torn bodies, with limbs blown off or their insides spilled out. Plus, a couple of corpses mangled either by shrapnel or bullets.

I almost threw up again when I saw the torn bodies. I turned away, biting my lip until it bled, and dashed to the left towards the balcony door. Luckily, it had already been blown out by an explosion, so there was no need to open anything. I tossed both bags in there and rushed back.

At that moment, Malu ran out of bullets, and it unexpectedly became much quieter, even despite Syringa's shooting. He tossed the machine gun and dashed into the room almost simultaneously with me. He grabbed another gun from the cabinet, hung it around his neck, and picked up the remaining two bags.

"Box!" He kept shouting as if he'd gone deaf. "Cover me alongside Syringa. Then I'll cover your retreat! And leave them a gift!"

And without waiting for a response, he dashed to the door. All I had left to do was pick up the gun and show my worth.