“You’re joking, right? Seven days to take down an entire corp?” Kat said, raising an eyebrow. It was rare to hear genuine disbelief in her voice.

For a moment, Zero didn’t respond, the silence indicating that he was serious. “If you don’t believe it can be done, you are free to leave. There are no shortage of crews available for hire.”

“No, no, hold on,” Marcus said. “It’s just hard to believe, is all. Something like that would take months of planning. Can’t blame us for the hesitation.”

“That is none of my concern. As I just stated, seven days from today, TrillTech will cease to exist. All of their senior executives will be eliminated in the attack, and the rubble that remains will not be sufficient to rebuild the organization.” Zero’s words lingered in the air, as if taking their time to settle in.

Damien decided that he’d be the one to break the silence. “And how do you plan on doing that? They aren’t exactly a small corporation that’ll round up those senior executives for you.”

“I can not give the details yet,” Zero said. “I first need to know that you are willing to take on this challenge.”

The three pirates looked at each other briefly, but words didn’t need to be exchanged. Each of them had a reason for wanting to take down TrillTech, and they quickly understand that no one would miss out on such an opportunity.

“I take that to mean that you are in agreement,” Zero said. “Allow me to explain the plan.” He walked across the room and sat at his desk, his every motion stiff as a soldier. Just like the man himself, his office was no-nonsense and to-the-point, the minimalist arrangement designed with military efficiency. Even the few flowers that were laid out—real or fake, Damien couldn’t tell—looked like they’d marched into placed and followed orders to remain in position.

Zero waved his arm in front of his torso, prompting the lights in the room to turn off, and a 3D hologram to project on top of the desk. The blue hologram showed a top-down view of Neopolis before quickly zooming into an area located on the north side of the city. It finally settled on a collection of 4 interconnected buildings, with the largest one positioned in the center of the triangle formed by the other 3.

“This is the TrillTech headquarters,” Zero said. “In exactly seven days, industry dignitaries as well as insiders and officials will gather here for the announcement of a new product line. At 10:00 p.m., the senior executives are scheduled to display prototypes of these new products. By 9:00 p.m., they will be dead.”

His words once again hung in the air, as if they were the ramblings of a crazy person. He really intended to kill all these people in their own headquarters, and get away with it?

“Your mission,” Zero continued, “will be to get my packages into each of these 5 buildings.”

“What are these packages?” Damien asked.

“Tracking devices. They will be pivotal to the plan. Combined with other measures, they will allow us to track the movements of the higher ranking employees, making their elimination easier. It is absolutely vital that every single one of them is killed in the ensuing assault.”

“So all we gotta do is get these tracking devices of yours into the buildings? That’s it?” Marcus asked.

“Yes. I have made arrangements for every other part of the operation.”

“And once we do that,” Marcus continued, “everyone else involved in this whole thing will finish things off? Does that include those shady-looking guys who were just in here before us?”

“Yes. This operation requires a large number of personnel. You are not needed for the elimination phase.”

Marcus scrunched his face. “Doesn’t sound like a lot of fun. You saw what we did during our last assault on the research facility. You can’t give us a bigger role to play?”

“You have indeed demonstrated your skills. But rest assured, all the other factors will be taken care of-”

“Yeah, we proved our skills in combat,” Marcus said, cutting off the Inkeye. “Sneaking in some tracking devices is slightly beneath our skill level.”

“You will do what I say,” Zero said harshly, his deep voice coming out strained. “There is no aspect of this operation that will be easy. If you believe that this job is beneath you, you may leave right now.”

This wasn’t looking good to Damien. He was still banking on retrieving information about his lost memories and the S.S. Core from the people involved in TrillTech’s secret research. If the ones who were responsible would be in attendance and subsequently killed, he’d have nothing or no one left to pursue. He couldn’t let those people die until he got what he needed. But Zero seemed so convinced that this would all happen. Even compared to their previous meetings, the Inkeye’s voice sounded more driven and determined, almost on the verge of fanatical. This must’ve been the sole thing on his mind.

“Hold on,” Damien said, raising his hand. “You said yourself that the Archangel files didn’t contain all the info on their secret experiments, right? Shouldn’t we prioritize getting the remaining information before eliminating them completely?”

“The Archangel files were sufficient for my purposes. I have no need to pursue the details of their secret research any further.”

“But Dame’s right. If we kill them all, we’ll lose any chance of retrieving any additional data,” Marcus said, putting it together.

Zero responded plainly and coldly. “That is not my concern.”

Damien gritted his teeth, but he failed to hold his tongue. “Well it is my concern.”

“That’s right,” Kat added. “We know you’re serious about bringing down TrillTech. I’m sure you’ve had this planned out for a long time now, and it’ll be difficult to bring that to a stop. And if those assholes responsible for that research are gonna be killed, then we wanna take part in it. But we gotta get those remaining files first.”

“The operation will not be stopped or delayed under any circumstances,” Zero said. “If you wish to pursue that matter further, you will have to it on your own before the 9:00 p.m. deadline.”

That definitely wasn’t what Damien wanted to hear. He was already running low on options, and the one person who could’ve possibly helped him reach his goal was not only indifferent to his cause, they were now actively working to kill off his chances of getting what he wanted. He couldn’t let that happen, and he rushed to think of ways to work around this. There was no way to convince Zero to lay off the plan, the man was beyond driven in his pursuit. But even if the date of the assault was set in stone, he might still reach a compromise.

“I won’t budge on this,” Damien said. “We’ll still play our role in this operation of yours, but I need to get to the people responsible for their secret research before they die. I’ll do whatever you need me to do, I’ll even forgo my pay. Just tell me what else you know about that about those biolabs.”

Zero’s all-black eyes fell on Damien, studying him. As always, there was no emotion or life behind the gaze. “Very well. I can confirm that the CEO, Mr. Haroka, personally oversaw all their secret research activities. He was the seed that sprouted those ideas. It’s likely that the executive team was also compliant.”

“How do you know this?” Kat asked.

“I can not say.”

That was fine with Damien. He didn’t care how this information was obtained, as long as it was true and it could help him in his pursuits. Now was the time to push for more. “Since the Archangel files only contained partial records of the operations, they must be storing the remaining records somewhere else. Do you have any clue where they could be?”

“I do not know for certain where they are,” Zero said. “But I believe that any additional files would be of even higher security classification. After our previous assault, I can not see Mr. Haroka storing sensitive files in any outside physical location.”

Finally, a spark of hope.

“So an internal location. Maybe their HQ?” Damien continued.

“Even that wouldn’t be safe,” Marcus said. “Maybe they deleted them.”

Kat shook her head. “No, they’d be too valuable. The researchers need to track the progress of all their work. The question is, where would someone hide something so valuable yet so incriminating when they know others are actively trying to steal it?”

The room stood still as everyone seemed to ponder that question for a moment. Damien felt like he was the least qualified person to provide an answer, but an idea quickly popped up in the recesses of his mind. It was fed by his brief bounty hunting experiences, specifically with his encounter with Ivan, The Butcher.

“His neural network…,” Damien finally said, the words coming out before he could really process the thought. “That’s the only way to guarantee that no one could steal them.”

Zero turned to face Damien, as if surprised. Though there was no emotion on the Inkeye’s face, Damien sensed that he’d caught Zero off guard.

“Damn. I guess that would be the smart thing to do,” Marcus said. “But why wouldn’t he have kept the Archangel files stored there in the first place?”

“Those files were huge,” Kat said. “There’s limitations to what one can store in their neural network, but it’s a great place to keep the most important stuff safe. Assuming you can keep anyone from physically threatening you, that is.”

Damien stared into Zero’s black eyes. “When you say that TrillTech will be eliminated, that also includes the CEO, Haroka, right?

“Naturally.”

“We need time to get to him first,” Damien said. “If we can get within touching distance, I can rip whatever files he has from his neural network.”

Kat scoffed. “That’s easy to say. After our last assault, all the higher ups will be heavily guarded at all times. Still, this whole operation might be our best opportunity to get close.”

“If you seek an opportunity to catch Mr. Haroka, I must inform you that there will come a moment in the operation where their defenses will be significantly weakened,” Zero said.

Damien jumped at the opportunity. “How will they be weakened?”

“I can not say. Telling you the details now may jeopardize the operation..”

Kat snorted. “More of this cryptic bullshit.”

Zero turned to her, his iron gaze piercing through her. She matched it, however. Unlike Marcus or Damien, she wasn’t fazed at all by his inhuman eyes.

“Like we said, we want TrillTech gone, too,” Marcus said, his tone clearly trying to diffuse the situation. “At least the ones in charge of those experiments. But this might be our best and only shot, so we gotta get to this Horaka guy. I’ll also forgo my pay if you can help us make that happen.”

“Same goes for me,” Kat added.

That caught Damien off guard. Learning more about the biolabs was mostly his own goal. Since this operation was far larger than the previous one, the pay was likely to be even higher. They didn’t have to give that up just to help him reach his goal.

“Very well,” Zero said. “In exchange for your payment, I will grant you two pieces of information that may prove useful. First, TrillTech will have their own internal security on the premises, but they will also hire external security from various firms for this event as an additional safety measure. Second, if you decide to pursue this matter, I recommend that you complete your objective in a timely manner. You do not want to be near them when the clock strikes 9:00 p.m. on the day of the operation.”

“That’s fine,” Damien said, hoping to squeeze out just a little more. “Is there any way you can help us get in during the event?”

“None of my agents, internal or external, will be inside the TrillTech premises during that time, so I can not provide any assistance.” With a swipe of the hand, the hologram dispersed, and the lights turned back on. “That is as far as this discussion will go. Seeing as you have all forgone your payment, I deem it necessary to say one final thing. If you fail to uphold your end of the deal, the consequences will be swift and thorough.” His voice was cold as he spoke, the aggression within barely being held back. He clearly wouldn’t tolerate anyone messing with his plan.

“Yeah, yeah,” Kat said dismissively. “We’re professionals, we don’t need threats to hold up our end of the deal. And like we said earlier, we wanna play a role in bringing them down, no matter how small.”

“In that case, you should understand how important your mission is. I will provide additional details about the packages soon. For now, you are dismissed.”

Damien stood still for a moment as the meeting concluded, a nagging feeling surfacing within. It was an inkling that something was amiss, but he couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was. All he knew was that there was a light somewhere at the end of the tunnel, but thanks to Zero, reaching that light had just gotten a lot more complicated.