OLD-WORLD EXTRA

51  Factions Sometime Before Emir's Abduction

[Lyra, you can control any augmented suit that has access to my neural network, right?] He asked, walking towards the slums.

[I can make it happen, but there's a distance limitation. The further away the suit is, the harder it'll be for me to maintain a connection. And I can only control one suit at a time with my current computing resources.]

[Do you plan to have me control Max?] She asked.

[You guessed right, I can't trust a stranger's information, and I can safely assume they caught the gang and me snooping around. So, I can use myself as bait to gain easy access to their hideout. We don't know what they want with me, but it must be something big, and they won't kill me until they get it.]

[But you'll get tortured.]

[I would say don't worry about me, but I don't think that you're capable of doing that, besides, if it's pain, I can handle it one way or another, and by the way, do you think that they're related to the Order?]

[Definitely not, an amateurish gang like that would smear our name to oblivion. All I can tell you is that the Order is an organization solely comprised of AIs and, well… Hunters like you. Their group probably belongs to the Liberation Army, which is basically an anti-UEF faction.]

[Why would they go against the UEF though? Is it greed?]

'It wasn't even properly explained in the novel, it was all so vague, like the most of it.' He thought.

[You guessed right, although we have yet to learn if they have a bigger goal in mind, their true aim per se. What we are certain of however, is that they are a group of high-ranking hunters working in tandem with old-world countries that lost their seat in the UEF and companies wanting a bigger piece of the pie.]

[Remind me. What other factions are there?]

[As you know, the sectors under the UEF are cut off from access to all other parts of the world, but there exists one faction to combat that, they call themselves The Gateway Alliance. They work with the UEF secretly, and only deal with the Elite.]

[On the other hand, there is a religious fanatic group known as the Templar, who believe that the war was a form of divine punishment inflicted upon humans. They have allied themselves with the Liberation Army to fight against the UEF.]

[So, we have the Big Eight factions above ground and the Big Three factions below, all vying for a piece of the pie, yet the UEF still maintains a tight leash on them… Not bad.]

[Let's delve into the plan now. You'll take control of my backup augmented suit and trail me. Locate their hideout and wait for my signal. I need to gather as much information as possible.]

[Understood.]

[Silently infiltrate the building after receiving the signal, eliminate any opposition, and avoid detection by their sensors.]

[No need to worry, Max's body is now cold and won't register on heat sensors, and I can jam their information terminals to disrupt their connection.]

'It would be great if that was viable for me, unfortunately. It would disrupt all signals, not just my enemies.' He mused.

[Plan sounds good?]

[Good.]

[Let's get on with it then.]

…

…

…

Present time

Emir sighed and stood up.

"Very well... I was hoping we could be civil about this, but if you insist on playing hardball, I can play that game too."

"You don't have much of a choice, you know," he said, smiling coldly.

"You're strapped to a torture chair, and I can make this as painful as I want. So, unless you want to spend the rest of your short life in agony, I suggest you start talking."

She continued to glare at him, but Emir saw a flicker of fear in her eyes.

He could tell she was weighing her options, trying to decide whether to give him the information or not.

Raven took a deep breath and spoke.

"I'll tell you what I know. But you have to promise to let me go once I do."

"..."

"..."

"Ahahahaha!" Emir's laughter erupted from deep within him, a chilling sound that reverberated through the air.

It started as a low, menacing chuckle, building in intensity until it burst forth in a manic crescendo.

His laughter had an unsettling quality—a mixture of amusement and derangement.

But as the echoes of his laughter faded, he gradually regained his composure.

His breaths slowed, and a questioning look crossed his face.

He fixed his gaze on Raven, his eyes narrowing with curiosity.

"Wait..." he said, his voice laced with skepticism, remnants of his laughter lingering.

"Are you serious?"

He shook his head, "Do you really think I'm that stupid?"

He stepped closer and continued, "No, no, my dear, no. Unfortunately, you won't be leaving here alive. However, if you cooperate, I can make it quick and relatively painless."

"It would be quite dissatisfying for me though, but as much as I would love to torture you, a man's word is his creed, his bond, so you don't have much to worry about if you talk, that is."

Raven closed her eyes and took another deep breath.

"Fine. What do you want to know?"

Emir leaned back and crossed his arms.

"Start with the organization. Who are they? What do they want with the relics?"

18:37

She hesitated for a moment before speaking.

"I don't know much about the organization itself. I was just a hired hand for this group. But I do know that they're after the relics for their supposed old-world knowledge. They believe that they can use them to gain power and wealth beyond their wildest dreams."

He nodded.

"And where are they based in this sector? Where can I find them?"

"I don't know."

"They keep their locations secret, even from their own members, and since this group isn't even an official group within their ranks, I have nothing else to tell you."

'I didn't expect much, but she is more useless than I thought she would be.'

[The control room is on the third floor.]

[Coming!]

Emir propped up his AR, aiming it at her head.

"Any last words, dear?"

Raven stared at him defiantly, refusing to give him the satisfaction of seeing her beg for her life.

But he could still see the fear in her eyes, and he knew she was thinking of anything she could say to save herself.

Finally, she spoke.

"You're no better than we are. Killing me won't benefit you in any way."

He grinned with chilling malice, the corners of his mouth stretching unnaturally wide, giving off an eerie, almost inhuman look that would make anyone shiver in fear.

"Keeping you alive may come back to bite me in the long run, or maybe not. Either way, it brings me joy, and sometimes that's enough."

Just as those words left his mouth he pulled the trigger, and the sound of the gunshots echoed throughout the room.

Her body slumped forward, and he stood there for a moment, savoring the feeling of power that came with taking a life.

But then he shook himself out of it.

He had a job to do, and wasting time savoring his revenge was not going to help him accomplish it.

He left the room and made his way to the control room on the third floor.

Entering the room he sat down at one of the terminals.

Lyra had finished scanning the building, and it looked like there were relics hidden away in the control room.

The real prize, however, was the list of names and addresses she had found on Black Widow's personal terminal connected to the control room.

It looked like there were at least a dozen more connections that this group has scattered all over the sector.

[Show me a list of all their important connections only.]

A hologram of a screen appeared before his eyes.

{Rattlers Group.}

{Steel Rats Gang, slums.}

{Solo Unknown Hunter.}

'The Rattlers group might be involved too, huh? Good, I was planning to get rid of them sooner or later. As for the hunter, I can safely guess that he was the one who ratted me out, I can't find him, so I'll have to wait until we cross paths again.'

[Send detailed information to my terminal.]

The terminal beeped in response to his command and displayed a list of names and addresses.

He scrolled through the list, taking note of the various locations and individuals.

Some were high-ranking members of their respective groups, while others were low-level thugs who had been coerced into working for them.

It looked like this group had quite the network of connections.

He leaned back in his chair, deep in thought.

'Going after each individual one by one was not a feasible option, not when there are so many of them.'

'I just needed to end their main base of operation, the heart of their gang.'

'If I could take that down, the rest of it would crumble...'

'For now, let's get all my newly acquired money.' Emir redirected his thoughts.

[Did we get all that they have?]

[Yes, I scanned the entire building, the vault to your right contains all the relics that the Night Raiders have.]

Emir proceeded to walk over to the vault, making sure to keep an eye out for any potential traps or alarms.

But Lyra had done a thorough job of scanning, and there was no indication of any security measures in place.

In front of him stood the vault, looming over him, towering 1.5 times his own height.

It looked impenetrable—definitely not something that a gang of this level would have.

It also had a number keypad protruding out of it from the front.

[What's the passcode?]

[867530901, I got it from her terminal.]

Emir entered the code that Lyra had provided, and the vault door slid open with a hiss.

Creation is hard, cheer me up! I need a lot more cheering up.

GoldenStache