– We've been waiting for way too long, Edgar. – Yinsak scolds the man that walks through the door.

It was evening as the group of seven finally got together as they planned two days ago. In a rented room, sitting in a round table with the city's map on it, Yinsak, Russ, Katrina, Saikyo, Ware, Giovanni, and finally Edgar were ready to discuss what Yinsak planned for them.

– This better be good. – Giovanni says while checking his sides, where small volumes revealed what could be guns. Katrina nods.

– First and foremost, the only reason why you guys agreed so quickly is obvious. Everyone in this room has some sort of grudge with my family. I'm not sure who has what.

– They're the ones who sent me to kill you – Katrina says. – , which lead to that.

– Right. – Yinsak says, a smirk appearing on his face.

– And also you'll pay me, so there's that. – She finishes, causing Russ to sigh while addressing Yinsak.

– You weren't joking when you said she only comes if there's cash on the table.

– In any case. – Saikyo says, a bit annoyed. – Those dirty monkeys sent some bodyguards to deal with me after I taught one of their relatives a lesson on how to not bump into people while walking.

– Coming from someone like you, nothing new there. – Giovanni comically says, chuckling to himself.

– What did you say?! – Saikyo suddenly shouts while standing from his chair. The teen-looking man immediately draws one of his pistols towards him.

– Listen, bud. The only reason why I'm here is that those bastards brought a massive headache to me.

– What was it? – Russ asks, curious.

– As if I would tell you. – While still pointing his gun, he then addresses Saikyo. – Move and you die where you're standing.

– Try me. – The man dangerously calmly says, his muscles tense and ready to leap at any moment.

– You'll have all the time to fight when we get where we're going to. – Yinsak says, not moving from where he was sitting. – And you can kill yourselves once this ends.

Regardless, neither men give up their stand. That is until Edgar slams his hand against the table so hard even Katrina recoils a bit with the loud sound. His eyes, although still half-closed somewhat, were fierce.

– I didn't come here to see two manchildren fight. If you don't stop this, I'll stop it for you.

Reluctantly, both men go back to their seats. Edgar gestures for Ware, who tilts his head slightly.

– Yes, I have something against them, I think. I mainly came because it would be fun.

– So that's that. – Yinsak says while cracking his neck with a head twist. – Now, onto the plan.

Russ takes his laptop from somewhere and places it on the table. In it, the same screen the duo showed to everyone: the white silhouette of a man in a blue background with various information regarding what it is, including a description that reads: "Project C-9".

– Like you saw before, here we have what they are planning and almost accomplishing. I don't know where it is, much less what it's capable of, but I'm not taking any chances. The plan is simple: invade their home and force my old man into spilling the beans.

– And what if he isn't there? – Katrina asks, skeptical.

– He is, trust me.

– So you dragged us all to here just for that lame plan? – Katrina asks, a bit annoyed.

– No, I dragged you here so we could have a place to go from and prepare ourselves.

– So, that's about it? – Saikyo asks. Russ looks to Yinsak, who notices the look and raises an eyebrow.

– What?

– We have an eighth coming with us. – He then shouts. – Come in!

Right after, Baxter Astarosa walks inside the room with a lollipop in his mouth.

– Did you miss me? – He comically asks Yinsak with a smirk.

– The more people the better. – Yinsak states. – You'll do a great job as cannon fodder.

– As blunt as ever...

The newcomer takes an empty seat next to Russ, who quickly explains to him what they'll do. Yinsak then speaks.

– We'll leave in twenty minutes, so take your time to prepare yourselves. Once we do leave, we'll meet here. – He points to where they were going to on the map: his family's house. – Any questions?

– Various, actually. – Saikyo says. – But one in particular: why do you need all of us for something so stupidly simple?

– If you don't know how dangerous the Astarosas can be, you're as dumb as I thought. – Giovanni mocks him, laughing to himself. – You'll see why when we invade their home.

Saikyo doesn't take the insult lightly but decides to spend his time doing warm-ups. Katrina spends hers sharpening her blades. Giovanni polishes his guns with a rag, which looks off considering his pre-teen appearance. Ware talks to himself, oddly. Baxter enjoys some sweet snacks. Yinsak and Edgar decide to compete in an arm-wrestling contest, which ends in a perfect 3-3 draw. Russ messes with his laptop.

Once the twenty minutes time limit ends, Yinsak stands up and cracks his neck twice with two twists. Saikyo cracks his knuckles instead while grinning as he speaks.

– It's payback time.

Each of them leaves their own way: Katrina leaps across the rooftops and trees nearby, Giovanni takes a ride with the chauffeur he brought while Ware drives his own sports car, and for a change, Yinsak decides to sprint his way there with Edgar as a warm-up. Baxter and Saikyo accompany Russ in his pick-up truck.

Once a safe distance from where they planned to go, half of them widens their eyes with the sight before them. A giant three-story-tall black mansion with dark blue details all over it had an even bigger yard with some decorative trees in it. Its golden front gate held behind it a fountain made of white marble. The short green grass covered almost all the floor, some parts with marble slabs to indicate the path where you should walk through.

Those who came in vehicles drop them somewhere not too far from where they were. Yinsak and Edgar were the firsts to arrive despite the fact they raced their way to here. Astarosa had a small sweatdrop on his forehead but no more than that.

– As I said, you're growing old. – Edgar mocks him. – Five years earlier and I would have lost.

– Lucky bastard. – Yinsak pats nonexistent dust from his shoulder before getting everyone's attention. – From here, we'll be trespassing. My old man is too stubborn for that, but they'll be in their rights to call for reinforcements, which they will at some point. While you bunch deal with whatever they throw, I'll go for what's important.

– So you just called us to serve as a distraction? – Saikyo asks, offended.

– Pretty much that. – Yinsak now faces his old house with some resentment in his eyes. Luckily, no one notices it as he quickly dismisses the feeling with a slight smirk.

– Let's jump over the wall? – Katrina asks.

– Sure.

Because such a task was simple for almost everyone present, no one wastes time in sneaking their way to the mansion's walls. Well, almost everyone. Russ, not being anywhere near their level, stays in his pick-up truck while reading something to the sound of lofi. Giovanni wasn't any more athletic than he was. Not because of his childish appearance (since under his clothes, his muscles were quite developed) but rather because of his lack of proper training and exercising.

Due to this, by the time he reaches the front gate, everyone else had already jumped over it. Yinsak foresaw this so he asked Edgar to bend the bars just enough for him to cross it, which he did. Once in, he manages to catch up to the rest of the group, which was quite busy with a roadblock.

– Something isn't right here. – Yinsak states as eight armed guards with agent-like attires stay in front of him and everyone else. One for each of the intruders.

– Why don't you just body them? – Saikyo asks while struggling not to do what he just suggested.

– Their guns are just glorified tasers. – Giovanni says. – I have my guards to use them instead of real ones.

– That's the problem. They don't use that.

– And does that matter? – Saikyo now twitches his arm with excitement. One of the guards sees this as a threat and fires his pistol-like taser against him. From inside it, a thick electric bullet flies past everyone and hits Saikyo right in the chest, forcing him to take a step back.

He then roars with rage and completely ignores the shock, immediately dashing forward with both arms ready to strangle the shooter. Desperate, said man tries to fire another bullet but is too slow to do so. Saikyo falls over him, punches him a couple of times, and then raises him high above his head, tossing him against two other guards, causing them to fall.

Seeing the scene unfold before them, two other guards shoot their bullets against Saikyo, who grunts with even more rage. Before they have time to fire again, Giovanni, who was now wielding a pistol with a silencer, shoots one of them in the head while Katrina throws a knife towards the other. Both men fall dead on the floor.

Not wanting anyone else to die for no good reason, Edgar immediately knocks all of them out with karate chops aimed at their necks. No one but Yinsak and Baxter saw him move and the latter only saw him as a blur due to how fast it happened.

– I wouldn't do that again if I were you two. – He quickly scolds the two killers.

– What?! – Saikyo looks around him once the pain diminishes enough for him to not bother himself with it. His face was contorted into a snarl, his teeth exposed as he breathed through them. – I didn't ASK FOR HELP!!

– And who said I did this for you? – Edgar says without really looking at him.

The commotion draws the attention of other similar guards, who appears from seemingly nowhere and everywhere at the same time. This time, there were dozens of them, all with similar weapons as the previous group.

– Ok, something is definitely off. – Yinsak bluntly says. – No one here would ever hire this many guards for no good reason.

– It's almost as if they knew we were coming. – Ware, who had a weird look to his face, says. It was like he was struggling to raise something off the ground.

– Good. – Saikyo says, excited. – This will keep me busy!

Almost as if waiting for the cue, all guards march towards them in small groups, their guns aimed and ready to fire.

What follows is a beatdown. What they didn't have in quality, the guards had in quantity. There were enough of them to tire all members of the group, except for Yinsak, who didn't waste time in sprinting towards the inside of the mansion. Edgar decided to follow him, believing his allies would be enough to deal with the threat.

Realizing killing them would only bring him more headaches, Giovanni contents himself with firing at their legs to immobilize them. Katrina uses a false blade to knock them out. Saikyo brute forces his way through most of them while roaring like a maniac. Ware, who wasn't really acting like himself, goes for precise strikes, hitting organs and joints, rendering his enemies useless. Baxter uses, mainly, high kicks to knock the guards down with relative ease.

Still, they were only five and their opponents were many. By the end of it, all guards were down but everyone, especially Saikyo, had bruises and even some open injuries all over their bodies. The latter took way too many shots and was now twitching uncontrollably.

– Next time Yinsak comes asking us to help him with something, I'll think twice about it. – Giovanny says to himself. Ware, who was now acting like himself again, nods with a hum.

– Jhin had a lot of fun but I'm so tired I could... – He doesn't finish his sentence, instead, slowly sitting down and sleeping right there and then. Katrina looks at him with a weirded look.

– Who's Jhin, anyway? Thinking about it, he was speaking to himself earlier, wasn't he? I think I heard that name a few times.

– Really? – Baxter asks while looking around, probably for something to eat. – Interesting... Bipolar disorder, perhaps?

– Who knows. – Giovanni says, uninterested, as he looks towards the mansion. – So, our job here is over?

Again, almost as if waiting for the cue, two women wearing similar red clothes appear from inside the main building through the front doors. They slowly approach the intruders with a blunt smile.

– You must be the intruders Dad talked about. – One of them says. Her voice has an interesting charm to it.

– But since you're already here, we can't just let you go. – The other one says with the same charm. – And since such is the case, please, follow us.

Not waiting for an answer, the girls turn away and walk back to inside the mansion. This time, the front doors remain open.

– Should we go? – Baxter asks. Giovanni nods while already walking.

– Those two are Dexter's daughters. Nasty little girls. Not who I was expecting to see, but dealing with them should teach that pathetic excuse for a man a lesson for messing with my affairs.

Katrina silently follows them, Saikyo, who calmed down enough to not randomly shout at nothing, right behind her.

Baxter kicks Ware, who wakes up and proceeds to follow them. Inside, the mansion was just as impressive as from outside. The walls were black with dark blue details scattered all over the place, some hints of white here and there. A big, detailed green carpet was on the floor. Various entrances revealed corridors to anywhere.

A big staircase was in the middle of the room. In front of it, the Astarosa sisters who just introduced themselves to the group were standing with the same blunt smiles. One of them speaks.

– I hope you're ready for the consequences of irritating our father.

Right after that, from higher up, the sound of a door being slammed shut could be heard. Following it, heavy steps.

The Astarosa's mansion was three stories tall. On the last floor, inside a fancy room filled with black, blue, and purple, Yinsak and Edgar were facing a man sitting in a stuffed chair drinking what seemed like wine with a smirk. Said man had a fully grown white beard with extra detail given to its mustache, similar medium white hair, green eyes, and a crimson suit.

He was smiling deeply as he said. – Welcome back home.