Man… I’m never cheaping out like that again… Damien thought as he cracked his stiff neck and back. He’d slept horribly the night before; the mattress at the cheap hotel might as well have been bedrock, and on more than one occasion he’d heard drunks hollering deep into the night on the streets below his room. He’d considered swapping hotels half way through his crappy sleep, but laziness got the better of him and he was now paying the price.

Once the woman ahead of him received her food, Damien stepped forward to take her place and called out his order to the street vendor. The counter then lit up with a request for payment, and when he tapped his wrist on it, the funds in the corner of his eye dropped by thirty.

And now I'm overpaying for a damn hotdog…

He brushed off the exorbitant price, telling himself that it was worth the convenience. After all, he was in a hurry, and Zero’s office was only a few blocks away.

A minute later, the vendor handed him the overpriced hotdog and he made off towards the matte-black building, having no time to sit down and eat. He was pleasantly surprised by the size of the meal; it would do a decent job of acting as a late lunch.

As he took bites while walking through the financial district, he contemplated the time he’d spent yesterday with Kat at the mega-mansion. They’d left immediately after she came out of the meeting room, and Damien still didn’t know what kind of information she took, or the reason for it. Despite the poking and prodding he’d done during their drive back to the city center, she refused to reveal anything, much to his irritation.

She’s definitely up to something… but what could it be?

When he arrived at the spacious lobby he found Kat waiting by the elevators at the back of the room. She’d reverted back to her usual all-black wardrobe consisting of a light jacket and pants, along with two pistols at her sides.

She greeted him with an upward nod. “Took you long enough.”

Damien checked the digital clock in the corner of his vision. It was 5:27 p.m. “I’m right on time aren’t I? Are we supposed to arrive early for these job briefings?”

“Not really. I just showed up beforehand to snoop around.”

“Did you find anything?”

“Nope. If you wanna go upstairs you need an access key or permission from someone who has one. Can’t even enter the capsule unless we show up as a group of three like we promised.”

“And where’s our third?”

She nodded toward the entrance. “Speak of the devil.”

Damien turned to see Marcus enter the lobby with a giant smile on his face. The big guy strolled toward them with a gloating stride, and he rubbed his meaty palms together in anticipation as he approached the duo.

“What’s got you frolicking like that?” Kat said. “You forget we’re meeting with an Inkeye?”

“I had a very productive two days with Big G,” Marcus said, the smile on his face widening even further. “We fucked up three separate shipments; we’re talking tens of thousands of funds. That should offset all the progress they’ve made on the southern end of the bay.”

Kat raised an eyebrow at him. “Wow. Impressive stuff for such a small group.”

“All in two day’s work. But that’s not the only reason for the pep in my step. This’ll be our first official job as a three-man crew.” Marcus placed a hand on Damien’s shoulder. “You excited, newbie?”

Damien shrugged. “I’ve gone a day and a half without using my sword, so yeah, I’m ready for some action.”

“That’s the spirit.” Marcus said with a chuckle. “Now let’s see what that damn Inkeye has for us.”

The three of them took the elevator up to the fiftieth floor where Zero’s beautiful blond assistant had been waiting. Once again, she escorted them to the right of the capsule and down to the final metal door of Zero’s office. Damien got the impression that her only duty was to ensure that they wouldn’t wander off and do some snooping the way that Kat had wanted.

When they entered through the metal hatch, Damien was greeted with a different sight than he'd expected to see. The office was blacked out, the closed window blinds preventing any sunlight from penetrating through; and the only source of light was the bright blue hologram projection sitting atop the lone desk in the room. It was similar to Valerie’s setup, only this time a bald man stood on the other side.

There were no chairs either this time, so the trio each took a standing position around the blue projection as Zero gave a succinct welcome before getting straight into the task at hand

“Let me start by saying that this operation will be the first of multiple strikes against TrillTech,” Zero said in his hypnotically deep and dense voice. “As stated before, our goal is to gather information on their illegal activities. Over the last few months I have built an intelligence network within their ranks, but it has reached its limits. The time for covert methods has run its course, and we must now resort to force.”

“And that’s why we’re here, huh?” Kat said. “So what are the details of this first strike?”

“You will be securing a prototype of a new generation cyberware that is still early in development. The item itself isn’t important; what’s important is the meta-data stored within. By analyzing that data I will know where to strike next to get the information that we seek.”

“So it’s another break and enter job?” Damien asked.

“Not quite.” Zero said, the blue tint of the hologram glistening off the metal strips running up and down his face. “We must first learn which of their research facilities is relevant to our cause. Instead of a direct attack, we will merely be stealing the prototype while it is in transit.”

Zero waved his hand over the table and the projection began to morph just as it had done under Valerie’s gestures. The hologram eventually settled on a large building somewhere within the city. “This is the TrillTech headquarters. They will have armed guards pick up the prototype in the underground parking and transport it to one of their research facilities. My network tells me that they will also be sending two fake envoys to other facilities in an attempt to confuse and deter any attempt to pilfer the prototype. This is standard practice when transporting high priority items.”

“So they have one group carrying the real prototype and two dummy groups carrying fakes,” Marcus said. “Do you know which one will be the real one?”

“My network was not able to determine that. What they have learned, however, is which routes all three groups will take. In addition, we have hacked the location tracker on the vehicles that will be used for transportation, so we can observe their location in real tim-”

“What about the enemy forces?” Kat interrupted. “Any chance of ex-military?”

“Of that I am unsure. Regardless of their defenses, you must neutralize them before you can secure the item.”

Kat crossed her arms and a scowl grew on her face. “Easier said than done against ex-military…”

“So we’ll have to split up then,” Damien said. “Since we don’t know which group is carrying the real prototype, we’ll have to cover all three routes.”

“That’s right,” Zero said, turning to face Damien. Thankfully, the darkness in the room kept the demonic black eyes hidden as he spoke. “I’ve identified an ideal location to intercept each of the routes. You will each hold your position there until the enemy arrives. Overcome their forces and bring back all the prototypes to me.”

“And then what?” Kat said.

“Once we strike with this coordinated attack, we’ll be announcing our intentions as well as the existence of an intelligence network within their ranks. They will bolster their defenses, so our next strike will come within days. Time is of the essence so we must move quickly.”

Damien lifted his gaze from the hologram projection up to the Inkeye. “When do we start?”

“Right now.”