[The Fight Erupts]
The glass shatters in a storm of shards. Black-armored assassins drop from the skylights, weapons spitting electric bursts that turn velvet couches into burning husks.
Soy yanks Needle down, couch flipping into cover with a grunt. Seer'ah's plasma blade ignites with a vicious hiss — she moves like lightning, carving two assassins apart in a single blur. Sparks and metal rain across the room.
Kruu slams the weapons cart over, turning it into a makeshift shield wall. Bullets and plasma hammer it, rattling the steel like a drum.
Zyn leans out, letting his SMG spit — but the rounds bounce harmlessly off assassin armor.
Soy (to Needle, commanding, voice cutting through the chaos):
"Stay low. Move when I fucking say."
A grenade clinks across the marble floor. The pin still spinning.
Seer'ah twists, blade flashing — slices it midair. The thing detonates half-formed, a white flash that blinds the room.
Mafia thugs panic. Guns bark wild, some hitting assassins, others tearing holes in their own men. No alliances left. Just blood in every direction.
---
[The First Push]
Through the haze, an assassin charges — Eclipse Lance in hand, crackling with raw energy. He thrusts. The beam overloads, punching through a velvet wall like paper and exploding outside in the street.
Zyn (snarling, frustrated):
"Fucking hell… can't punch through that armor!"
Soy's eyes narrow. He jerks his chin at Kruu.
Kruu cracks open a crate, finds a Pulse Fang rifle, grins wicked.
Kruu:
"Try this instead."
He tosses it. Zyn catches, spins, fires — three bursts. Plasma drills straight through an assassin's chestplate, carving him open like cooked meat. The body slams to the floor, smoking.
Zyn (grinning under his breath):
"Yeah… that's more like it."
---
[Outside Reinforcements]
Over comms, James' lazy voice cuts in, dripping with sarcasm:
James: "Finally! Took you long enough to kick off. I've been staring at heads for ten minutes."
A crack — his sniper round splits the air. An assassin drops from a chandelier, head bursting like a watermelon.
Soy (into comms, curt):
"James, keep their snipers off us. We don't need surprises."
Outside, Rav and Tichala hit the flanking guards.
Tichala's shotgun roars, tearing cybernetic arms clean off bodies, sparks and gore spraying the walls. Rav slams flash charges into the floor, blinding a squad of assassins trying to breach the windows.
Rav (over comm, gritting):
"Outer ring's heating up! Gravhounds circling in!"
The night trembles. The cruiser engines scream overhead. Eira dives low — Skycruiser cannons unleash a wall of fire into the street, Gravhounds scattering under the barrage.
Soy (relieved, commanding):
"Good timing. Keep them pinned, Eira!"
---
[Close Combat Chaos]
Inside, the assassins adapt. They ditch their rifles, rushing forward with cybernetic claws sharp enough to gut steel.
Two slam into Kruu's barricade. The cart buckles. Kruu meets one head-on, grappling like a beast. He jams a charge into its chest, roars, and shoves. Boom. The explosion showers blood and iron across the marble.
The second assassin tackles Soy, claws swiping for his throat. Soy catches the blow mid-strike — muscles straining, veins standing out. He could end it instantly, but he holds back. His body shifts, fast and precise.
Soy slams a roundhouse kick, shin cracking against the assassin's jaw. Before it can recover, he spins — transitions fluid into a Brazilian kick , heel smashing into its temple.
The assassin staggers. Soy grips it by the armor plate, jerks it forward, and slams it headfirst into Seer'ah's waiting plasma blade. The thing screeches before splitting in two.
Soy (snarling through clenched teeth, dragging Needle):
"I said MOVE!"
Needle stumbles after him, barely keeping up.
Seer'ah dances through three more attackers, blade whirling like a storm. Her style is surgical — not a wasted movement, each strike burning through armor, flesh, then snapping to the next target.
Kruu, panting, hurls a broken chair leg like a javelin. It spears into an assassin's visor, buying Zyn a clean shot to finish the job.
---
[The Push Toward the Corridor]
The team fights in rhythm now — chaos turning into brutal harmony.
James' sniper cracks again from above — another assassin drops. Rav's flashbombs thunder in the outer hall, slowing reinforcements. Tichala shoves through smoke with his shotgun, body-slamming anyone dumb enough to stay standing.
But more shadows drop from the skylight. Black-armor, relentless.
Soy drags Needle hard, shoving him into a side corridor. His fists are bloodied, knuckles raw, but his eyes burn like steel.
Soy (low, furious, to the team):
"This ends fast. We burn through, or we don't walk out."
Seer'ah plants herself at his side, blade raised.
Kruu reloads with a savage grin.
Zyn spits, chambering another round.
And Needle — still bleeding, still broken — finally pulls a stolen knife from his belt, whispering under his breath:
"Then let's burn."
One step, then another — and suddenly Needle's legs failed. He dropped like a cut wire, hitting the ground hard, blood splattering across the tiles.
Soy drops to one knee, slipping an arm under Needle's shoulders, lifting him like dead weight but holding him close. Blood smears across Soy's chestplate as he growls through clenched teeth:
"I've got you, brother. Not this time… you're not falling here."
The assassins surge again.
The war inside the Mafia's palace has just begun..
---
[The Mafia Turns]
Amid it all, Raags doesn't move. He sips his drink, calm, his cyber-arm guards crushing assassins barehanded. Behind him, men drag the keystone crates through reinforced doors.
Raags (Mafia Boss, calm):
"Let the dogs eat each other. We already won."
The doors slam shut behind him. The keystones are gone.
Soy sees it, fury in his eyes — but he doesn't chase.
Soy (low, to himself):
"Not here… not yet."
---
[The Turning Point]
Juno bursts in from the flank, covering fire screaming from her dual pistols. She's blazing, fury on her face.
Juno (shouting):
"Soy! Get Needle out, we'll hold!"
An assassin lunges at her — Tichala smashes it sideways with his shotgun butt, blasting it apart at point blank.
Tichala (grinning):
"Never leave a lady hanging."
James' sniper keeps cracking from above, dropping assassins before they can regroup. Rav throws a smoke charge, cutting vision in half the hall.
Seer'ah (blade raised, voice steady):
"This is our exit. Push through."
---
[The Escape]
Soy shoulders a smaller crate — not a keystone, but dangerous. Kruu slaps a charge on the mafia's golden crest.
They push for the exit. An assassin on a Ghost Reaver jet-bike bursts in, cutting the air with its blade. Soy ducks — Seer'ah leaps, carving the rider clean in half. The bike crashes into liquor shelves, fire lighting the hall.
Kruu's charge blows — chandelier and crest come down, burying the stronghold in fire and smoke.
Outside, Ironback walkers stomp closer, Gravhounds circling.
Soy (into comm):
"Eira, now!"
The Skycruiser swoops in low. Doors open. The team piles in — Soy hauling Needle, Juno and Tichala covering the rear.
Zyn fires the Pulse Fang one last time, dropping a Gravhound before diving aboard.
Eira (cockpit, shouting):
"Hold on!"
The Skycruiser rockets upward, lasers glancing off its hull. Rain swallows them as they vanish into the night.
---
[Aftermath – Aboard the Cruiser]
Needle slumps against the bench, bloodied but alive. His voice is a rasp.
Needle:
"They… won't forgive this…"
Soy sits opposite, eyes locked on the crate he stole. It hums faintly — dangerous, priceless.
Soy (cold, low):
"Good. I'm done running."
Seer'ah wipes her blade clean, staring into the storm.
Seer'ah:
"Then we burn them first."
---
[Meanwhile – Mafia Stronghold]
Raags steps through smoke, flanked by cyber-arm guards. He surveys the destruction calmly.
Behind him, the armored vault glows faintly with the light of keystones.
Raags (Mafia Boss, whispering):
"Gods in chains… and now they're mine."
---
End of Chapter 14 : Brothers in arms
They saved their comrade.
They stole a weapon.
But left Raags with the keystones.
They paid their debt.
And lit the fuse of a greater war.