As she sat in her office, taking a break from work, Charmaine sighed in a tired tone, massaging her shoulders as she leisurely gazed at the view of fallout town through her window.

She started thinking about Kaden's situation. The young man had spoken big words that any other broker in her place would consider boasting or even the ravings of a lunatic if they were less inclined to be polite.

Still, the young man didn't come off as someone who would speak such words carelessly, without some confidence in his ability. And she had no choice but to succumb to the hunch nagging at the back of her mind that there was some truth in Kaden's words.

It was the same hunch she relied on during the few times she found herself uncertain about what to do, and it rarely failed her.

So she made preparations to capitalize and take advantage of the vacancy that Kaden's action would leave in northern parts of the Fallout town.

However, she was a professional. And despite her hunch screaming at her to trust Kaden's words, she would still play it carefully and wouldn't risk the loss of reputation by providing such unreliable information to her clients just in case the young man failed.

So sent many of her subordinates to observe the battle outside Kaden's compound as soon she heard words of the gangs' coalition making a move. And she kept many others remained here, prepared to start making calls and selling the information to her best clients at a moment's notice.

A sudden knock on the door forced Charmaine out of her thought-induced daze, and she turned to look at the door with a frown. "Didn't I already say not to bother me while I'm taking my break?" She asked in a calm tone.

"It's about the situation you asked us to observe, ma'am," replied a male's voice in an equally calm tone from behind the door, pausing and waiting for Charmaine's instructions.

"Come in," Charmaine said with a frown, confused at what news this subordinate of hers could bring so soon since the battle only started thirty minutes ago.

"The situation has come to a conclusion, ma'am," said a burly man wearing a black business suit and a pair of sunglasses, causing Charmine's frown to become more pronounced.

'Did I overestimate the young man?' Charmaine thought as she froze for a second, assuming that the battle ended in Kaden's loss, and rightly so.

The gangsters outnumbered Kaden's group at least eight to one, and they even brought one most infamous brutes in Fallout town, Bernard the crusher, along with them.

"It ended with the Kaden Solomon personally killing Bernard the crusher in front of everyone and ordering his group to attack the gangsters," the man explained upon noticing Charmaine's bewildered look.

"It only took about fifteen minutes for Mr. Solomon's group to kill most of the gangsters, capturing their leaders," he added in a calm tone, though he failed to hide how impressed he was with the battle's outcome.

If it were anyone else saying these words to her, at this timing, then Charmaine would have merely scoffed and called someone to escort that person out of her office. But this man was one of her oldest and most trusted subordinates, so she could only take his words seriously.

"Prepare to escort me to Mr. Solomon's compound and instruct our people to start making calls," Chamine said in a calm tone as she stood up while gesturing for the man to take his leave.

"Yes, ma'am!" The man saluted as he turned around and began walking towards the door.

...

Kaden smiled as Vilhelm dragged Marcus, forcing him to his knees as the latter stared at me with vacant eyes.

"You... you weren't this strong when you fought my subordinates..." Marcus slowly said as he raised his head to look at Kaden. "Bernard should have been more than strong enough to crush you like a bug," he added, his expression turning hostile.

"And yet here you are...," Kaden replied, trailing at the end of his sentence. "Kneeling in front of me again and waiting for me to decide your fate," he added with a smirk.

"You tricked me, your bastard!" Marcus said with an outraged expression as he tried to lunge at Kaden, getting a kick on the back from Vilhelm for his effort, forcing him back to his knees.

"This guy's wit sure is dim," Vilhelm said with a grunt as he leaned his foot on Marcus' back to keep him down. "Took his sweet time realizing that," he said, spat to the side.

"He is, isn't he?" Kaden replied with a smile, earning a shrug from the humanoid bear as I turned to look at Marcus. "You know, if you were the least bit important, then I would have taken my time with you," he said in a scornful tone.

"Reveal my grand scheme and all that, just to see the look in your eyes when you realize how outclassed you were from the second we met," Kaden said, materializing a gun in his hand.

"But unfortunately, you're not worth the waste of time," Kaden concluded as he aimed the gun right at Marcus' forehead.

"You bastard! I'll Kill-" And that was all Marcus could say before collapsing on the ground with a bloody hole in his forehead, leaking blood as Kaden bulled the trigger with an indifferent expression.

"Was that really necessary?" Vilhelm asked with his eyebrow raised in bemusement. "You could have just put a bullet in his head without all of this nonsense," he added with a grunt, delivering a light kick to Marcus' corpse to make sure he was dead.

"Not really, but what can I say?" Kaden replied with a shrug of his shoulder as the gun in his hand disappeared. "I'm a very petty person, and he said some hurtful things to me a while ago," he added in a joking tone, causing Vilhelm to shake his head and sigh in exasperation.

"What about the other gang bosses?" Vilhelm asked while pointing towards five men and women kneeling not far away from here, with Briar watching over them as she seemed to take joy in taunting the poor bastards.

"Under better circumstances..." Kaden replied with a sigh as he watched Briar make faces while mocking Tony. "I would get these guys under our control and let them take care of the northern parts for us..." he added while shaking his head.

"But we're understaffed to keep them in check right now," Kaden concluded with a shrug.

"Oh, so what do you plan to do with them, then?" Vilhelm asked with a raised eyebrow, lightly chuckling as Briar slapped the back of Tony's head.

"They'll be nothing but trouble if you let them go," Vilhelm added as he took out a cigarette and began fishing through his pockets for a lighter. "Do you want me to disappear them or something?" he asked as he lighted his cigarette and let out a puff of smoke.

"Needless killing would be bad for business," Kaden replied, shaking his head. "Besides, these guys can still be of use to us," he added with a devious smirk.

"Oh, how so?" Vilhelm asked as they started walking towards the captive gang bosses.

"Despite being small fries themselves, they probably did the dirty work of some big names on more than one occasion," Kaden said in an intentionally loud voice as he stopped in front of the gang bosses.

"Their heads are probably so filled with dirty little secrets, I almost want to crack them open to take a look," he added with a cold smile as he looked down on Tony, making the latter pale as Briar chuckled while waving her hand in greeting.

"Oh! if we're going crack their heads open, can I be the one to do it?" Briar said in an excited tone. "And can I start with the blonde one? Pretty please!" she said, delivering another smack to the back of tony's head.

"I'm afraid we'll have to give this pleasure to someone else," Kaden replied with a chuckle, shaking his head. "We're not ready to mess with the big guys here," he added in a careless tone, causing Briar to whine in disappointment.

"But I do know of someone who's more than eager to give it a try," Kaden remarked while waving his hand to the side. "And speaking of the devil..." he concluded as he turned around to look at a hover car-shaped aircraft landing not far away from the compound.

The aircraft slowly began descending towards the ground and floated inches in the air as steam came out of the side, and part of the side opened, extending a small, metallic staircase.

A man in a black business suit wearing a pair of shades walked out of the aircraft and began carefully scanning the surroundings with his eyes, only giving a gesture for the person he's escorting to come out when he was sure there would be no danger.