Chapter 65: Entrapment

Chapter 65: Entrapment

“Get ready, they’re breaking into the container,” Thorne’s voice rang out through our comms.

I surveyed our surroundings and found all our allies and enemies, highlighted through the shipping containers stacked in our way.

“Remember, try to capture them,” I added.

A series of affirmatives came back in response, and I could even see a few of them saluting through the walls.

As we inched toward them, our targets were busy cutting away with some sort of plasma torch. It took less than ten seconds before they got through the lock of the shipping container.

I watched one of them slowly pull open the container, only to find the door swing open much faster than he had expected. The door violently smashed into him, knocking him off the second floor of shipping containers, onto the ground.

Not sure if that was lethal or not...

The rest of the saboteurs all had their eyes glued to their friend when he fell. When they turned back to the container in unison, they found a tower shield charging toward them.

Gunshots rang out...or not, as they used silenced weapons, but the impact of the bullets bouncing off Flo’s shield echoed throughout the night.

A neon-colored grenade gently lobbed into the air and went off right above the thieves. A glue-like substance scattered all around, with some getting into the eyes of our enemies.

Flo reached her closest foe and shield bashed one to the ground, and smashed another with her shotgun as if it were a bat.

A few smarter ones tried to target where the grenade had come from, inside the container, but they abruptly collapsed onto the ground. Through the outline, I could tell it was Liz, by her feminine figure.

The saboteurs realized things were going really badly for them and tried to scatter. Their attempt led them straight toward us. It wasn’t even fair, as the majority of us made use of active camouflage, ambushing them as they were on the run.

By the time I finished crushing the legs of the intruder that came my way with my cyberarms, everyone was already restraining our captives. I pulled out the bracelet devices and cuffed my prisoner’s limbs.

“Rollo, we got them all accounted for,” Thorne walked and informed me.

“Did you check in with Max to see if there were any others?”

“Yes, they had two trucks with their drivers outside. Max already got them.”

“Good work. We knew we couldn’t capture them all alive. This was pretty good results already.”

“No, he got them alive.”

Well, that was unexpected...How does one do that with a sniper rifle?

“Okay, awesome. Now let’s get out of here before someone notices.”

We repurposed one of the rooms in the office as a temporary prison while we interrogated them. It seemed they were all disciplined, with no one having said anything since we captured them last night.

“Any luck?”

“Not from the prisoners,” Thorne replied.

“Does that mean we found something elsewhere?”

“Well, aside from their obvious gang affiliation with the Rust Scrapper, based on their tattoos, Leo looked into their terminals.”

He placed down a terminal and zoomed in on a picture for me to see.

“They received orders through physically written paper, but some dumbass took a picture of it. We can confirm from this that someone is indeed targeting us specifically.”

“Is it the Rust Scrapper themselves? Maybe they found out we were responsible for taking out their doctor and his men from a while back.”

“That is our main theory, or it could be someone else hiring them as muscle.”

“Let me guess. We don’t have anything else to go on?”

“...Right.”

“I guess we’ll have to put the feelers out for the Rust Scrappers, then. Have people look into their hangouts, but don’t be too aggressive and alert them. We aren’t even sure if it’s them.”

I have always known that gang is no good. But still, I should know better than anyone that not everyone in the gang is inherently bad. Not when I was a member of a similar infamous gang back in my old world...

“Sounds like we got the right place, then?”

“Only one way to find out.”

We gave our implants some time to rest before we entered after another guest, with the help of our active camouflage. The attendants at the spa brought the guest toward the back, where a set of stairs led into the basement.

The moment the basement doors opened, bright lights filled our eyes. If mine weren’t cybernetics, I would probably be squinting.

The entire place was grandly decorated with maroon wallpaper that had black patterns on it. The floor was all carpeted in snake-like patterns in tan-gold. What immediately drew our attention, though, was the security checkpoint.

Having seen the same thing, Thorne swiftly sent me a text.

*You sure you want to keep going? They have a lot of security down here. I can spot half a dozen mounted turrets from here alone.*

*Yes, we’ll keep going. Follow closely.*

The new guest walked by the checkpoint, and the entire hallway suddenly flashed red lights.

“Sir, our sensors have flagged you. Please come along for further inspection.”

The man complied with frustration clear on his face.

*Are You sure we can get by their sensors undetected?*

*Not sure, so I’d rather not test it. We just have to follow their guards in.*

We waited until the man returned after being checked and tailed the guard escorting him closely.

Just as we thought we had safely passed through, another light flashed out.

“What did the system flag him for? We just checked him in the room,” The guard shouted out.

“It just says a lot of metal was detected. Does he have a lot of internal chrome or something?”

“No, we’ve scanned him thoroughly.”

“Then it’s probably just an error with all your equipment. Just go on through.”

Well, that sure got my heart pumping.

They soon led the guest through a double door, where a spacious floor entered our view. It was sprawling with lights and noise from the neatly placed terminals that appeared to be slot machines. In the back were tables for various card games, creating a scene that was a smaller replica of what I’d seen in Firebird’s casinos.

As the man went off to gamble, we headed to the washroom where we let our Shades rest.

“This place is a lot bigger than I thought,” Thorne whispered.

“Yeah, let’s hurry up and find the manager’s office or something.”

After our break, we resumed our search and scanned for the most important-looking place. I spotted a tinted window on the floor above that looked over the casino from the center.

There was conveniently a set of stairs right below that place, and we swiftly made our way up.

What stopped us next was the bane of our existence: a closed door.

*What now? We break that door down and I assume the entire place will go off like a kicked hornet’s nest.*

*We wait...*

*Our Shades won’t keep up for too long, though.*

Just as I was halfway compiling my reply, the door opened, and a woman walked out. She bowed back towards the occupant of the room.

“Good evening, sir. I will see you tomorrow.”

We quickly slipped in before I redid my text and sent it.

*There, it worked.*