Netherwalker remained in his office, unfazed by whatever chaos that was unfurling outside. His assistant was beside himself, knees trembling as he fixed his glasses.
"S-sir, shouldn't we get to somewhere safer?"
Netherwalker shrugged, throwing a dart onto the wall opposite him.
"No, we wait for them to come in. If they come in."
His assistant let out a small wail.
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Impatient enough as he was, Naib forced himself to look through every office. Eli felt his heart hammering through his coat. The thought of having to see Netherwalker eventually in one of those offices scared him, but it made him feel thrilled. Probably because he can have the revenge he desires. For now, he had to focus, and try to come up with a plan if they do encounter the Abyss leader. He tried to think, to not get distracted by the possibilities of outcomes.
"I can tell you're thinking hard, Clark."
'Huh?"
"You've tripped over something three times in a single minute."
"...Your abilities never fail to startle me."
"As a mercenary should."
"Either way, you weren't wrong. I was thinking too hard maybe."
Naib shrugged.
"A little advice from a former soldier, don't plan. Well, it works for me anyway. If you're on the front lines, there isn't really anything you can predict anymore. Just cut and slash your way through life."
Eli glanced at him, but said no more.
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"We should almost be finished by now, right?"
Joseph spoke to Bi'An through the headphones. Bi'An scanned the area for any more people running out.
"Seems to be lesser, but I cannot guarantee."
He scanned again, trying to find Wu'Jiu. He spotted the fedora without needing to squint. The other male was crouched behind a wall, watching from a small slit to see if there was anyone coming his way. The entire street would most definitely reek of blood, sweat and smoke when he went down later. But he wondered how the tunnels would be like.
Andrej was still focused on getting the people down below. Empty cartridges lay all around him as he fired round after round. The joy of victory would compensate for the pain of having to spend money on buying more rounds for the Arctic Warfare later on. For now ....
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Netherwalker got up from his seat and looked to his still trembling assistant.
"Send them out."
His assistant was more than happy to comply to that.
Outside, on the far edges of the city, helicopters ascended into the air, blades slicing the air as their pilots directed them to where the tunnels were. Inside the tunnels, Eli felt that something was off. He wanted to send Aesop a text, tell him to be careful, to tell him to stay safe.
To check if he was alive.
They walked into what seems to be a hallway. A black throne stood in the centre, where Eli assumed the Netherwalker sat and gave his orders, but there didn't seem to be anyone inside, not even a little security.
"Look, they got so scared by the explosion they didn't even want to stay for their boss."
He walked around the throne area, stopping and examining certain areas. Eli watched the doorway, gripping his gun so tightly his knuckles were already whitening. Naib bent down, squinting at the throne, running his hand across the cold surface. He got up again, this time looking around the corners of the room before smirking.
"Naib is something-"
"So they aren't that dumb."
"... A trap?"
"Exactly."
"What do we do?"
"Leave."
Eli turned to look at the mercenary. He made no move to go to the door.
"Aren't you gonna come too?"
"Me? Nah, I'm staying, Eli."
"What why?! Being all by yourself could be dangerous, and you could end up getting killed and we wouldn't-"
"Hey hey hey. I wanna do this myself, okay?"
He moved to Eli, staring intently into his eyes. The mercenary was already fixed on this, and nothing Eli said would change his mind.
"I was never there on that day to even help, and while everyone was dying I was being a fool. So please, please let me do this. I want to prove my worth in the Mafia."
Determination and something that seemed like...Desperation flared in his eyes. As much as Eli wanted to protest, to say that he didn't need to prove his worth, he could only nod and swallow thickly. He could feel the scar from the bullet throbbing in sync with his blind eye. Unconsciously, he reached up to touch his eye. Naib noticed and chuckled.
"They say old scars still hurt when the body remembers the cause of it."
Eli looked at him.
The audacity of this man to laugh at this sort of time...
"Go help Aesop, don't worry about me. I'll be out within two hours, I promise. Now go, shoo shoo."
Eli sighed and turned to the door. He wanted to say something more, but Naib already turned his back to the door, gun held by his side. With that, he left, careful to check around him. Inside, Naib huffed and looked around him.
"Am I supposed to find you by myself or will you show yourself to me?"
Floorboards around him lifted, men revealed themselves, each armed to the tooth. Freddy Riley was in the midst of them, seemingly hiding behind them rather than showing himself. A coward as usual.
"Well then, look who finally crawled out of his hole? A filthy sewer rat."
Naib would've spat at his feet if he wasn't fantasizing about how he would twist Freddy's neck. He readied himself, settling into that familiar combat stance.
"Game on, Riley."
The men lunged for the mercenary, who only chuckled as his grip around the gun tightened.
