'Malakor, you treacherous son of a bitch,' Xavier realized instantly. The CEO had hired a second, completely reckless hit squad to ensure the assassination, entirely uncaring that the mutineers held the vault keys in their heads.
"Rin! Protect the traitors!" Xavier yelled over the panic.
Rin abandoned his stealth approach and lunged over a velvet couch. He kicked the plasma grenade mid-air, sending it detonating harmlessly against a reinforced pillar.
Xavier drew his sidearm to engage the ceiling assassins, but before he could even line up a shot, the entire eastern wall of the ballroom violently blew inward.
The reinforced glass shattered under a barrage of heavy missiles. The howling wind of the upper atmosphere rushed in, knocking elegant guests off their feet. Six heavily modified hover-bikes crashed through the opening, ridden by masked radicals waving crude kinetic rifles.
