By the time the sun rose, Alex had collected close to fifty million Pokédollars from his assassination spree.
He could have continued, but the remaining targets in Saffron City were worth less than a million each, and he was not familiar enough with other cities to maintain the same level of efficiency. Not to mention, he no longer needed that much money now that he had a comfortable bank account. Lastly, he and his Pokémon were exhausted after running around for over 24 hours, moving from one target to the next.
Now, all he had to do was submit the evidence of the killings and collect his payment.
To do so, he had to visit a broker, someone who would collect the evidence and forward it to the requester. The requester would then send the money to the broker, who would take a small cut and deposit the funds into an Underworld bank account, ready to be transferred wherever necessary.
Nyx had a collection of dummy accounts she could use to scrub the trail, so there was no risk of exposure, unless his enemies somehow had access to both League and Underworld banking systems.
Alex made his way to a morgue where the broker would receive the evidence. It was a rather convenient location.
He entered through the back, fully geared and helmeted, and was met by an older man who gestured to a gurney with an empty body bag on top.
"I'm going to need more body bags," Alex said, his voice garbled by the distortion of Dark-type energy and his helmet.
"How many?" the old man asked.
"25."
The old man raised a brow, then motioned toward a room next door. Inside, Alex found over fifty body storage units lined along the wall.
"We should have enough space. Wait for me to open them before you take them out," the man instructed.
He was clearly no stranger to handling the Underworld's corpses.
One by one, the old man opened a unit, and one by one, Alex placed a body inside. By the end, he had emptied his storage bag, though it would definitely need a deep clean later.
"Is there anything else?" the old man asked.
"Video evidence."
The man nodded and returned to the previous room and to a nearby computer. Alex uploaded the files he had collected, each kill captured clearly, with no ambiguity.
"How long will this take?" Alex asked.
"No more than an hour. Clients usually want updates fast."
True enough, an hour later, the broker handed Alex a black bank card.
"That's all of it. An impressive amount, I must admit. Have a good day," the old man said, already turning his attention elsewhere.
There had been no trouble collecting the money.
Not only had he delivered every corpse, save for one particularly nasty case, but he also provided gruesome footage, likely more than enough to satisfy or even frighten those who had issued the contracts.
Alex had made sure to include not just the kills, but the aftermath and cleanup, sending a clear message. He had no intention of chasing down payments the hard way.
With his business done, Alex stepped outside, found a secluded alleyway, and teleported out of the city with Arcanine, heading back to the farm.
The aftermath of Alex's assassination spree was immediate. Local Underworld operatives were thrown into disarray as they investigated the sudden completion of 26 assassination contracts in a single day. It was the Underworld's equivalent of a mass killing, with 26 victims scattered across the city.
Those in charge scrambled to uncover the identity of the assassin, but all evidence pointed toward the human supremacist faction. Several of the bodies showed signs of bullet wounds, and discarded energy crystal bullets were found at multiple scenes.
By now, guns had become a well-known weapon within the Underworld. Early models had been dismissed as inadequate, but the newer lines produced by Argent Solutions were being reconsidered. These updated firearms had significantly improved killing power.
People began running the numbers and realized that guns were ultimately more cost- and time-effective than Pokémon trainers.
An Elite-level trainer was still more powerful than a squad of gunners, but training one took over a decade and cost no less than a hundred million Pokédollars. Worse yet, there was always the risk of insubordination once trainers became arrogant from the power they wielded.
Gunners, on the other hand, were as cheap as the laborers they regularly paid in scraps. Equip them with firearms costing a fraction of what it took to raise an Elite trainer, and you could field an army almost instantly.
Sure, they were useless against Elite and Champion-ranked trainers, but even a swarm of Beedrill can overwhelm a Charizard with sheer numbers.
In this way, the human supremacist faction gained momentum. As their technology advanced, so did their influence. They still had a long way to go before reaching the League's level of authority, but they were getting there, step by step.
In a high rise building in Celadon City, Ace received intelligence about the assassination spree in Saffron City. It was an unusual event, one that triggered flags in his information network. By evening, the relevant report landed on his desk.
"This seems familiar," he muttered. "Ah, yes. Alex Wattson, bounty hunter turned assassin. Curious."
Ace had been keeping tabs on Alex ever since he dismantled Monica's human trafficking ring. He had even lent a discreet hand back in Viridian City, purely as a courtesy.
With that, Ace immediately recognized the spree as Alex's work. Alex was known for his liberal use of firearms while somehow maintaining good standing with the League. The victims were all linked to the Underworld, so the League had no reason to interfere or care.
Ace's continued interest in Alex stemmed from a simple reason. He wanted Alex as an unofficial operative, someone to handle his Underworld problems without implicating him directly. So far, things were going extremely well.
Alex had already eliminated three human supremacist bosses across Kanto, significantly stalling their operations and giving Ace the breathing room he needed to outmaneuver his rising competition.
"Dealing with Gravik has been tiresome," Ace mused. "Perhaps I could arrange a meeting between them."
He considered it briefly but ultimately dismissed the idea.
"No, Alex is still too young. I will give him a few more years before pulling him in."
And so, for the time being, Alex avoided having to cross paths with Gravik Drayne, the head of Team Dominion's Kanto branch.
Back at the farm, Alex dropped off the bank card and the storage devices he had taken from Victor the pedophile. Nyx, upon receiving them, praised him for a job well done.
"Twenty-six in one night, boss? That's like a record. The darknet has been scrambling to find you since those contracts went through."
"Keep tabs on the situation. I want to know if they manage to figure out my identity. Can you dig through these and see if we can profit from them? There should be plenty of incriminating evidence that could net us more bounties," Alex said, stroking her hair affectionately.
"Hmkay," she murmured, swooning at his touch. "You might want to lay low for a while though. Plenty of people want a piece of you for one reason or another. Just in case."
"Just keep watching the situation. I'm sure I can handle the fallout. At worst, I'll be labeled the Elite trainer with money problems. I'm taking a nap for the rest of the day. Wake me if you find anything. The data on those drives is sensitive. You might want to brace yourself."
"Sure thing."
Alex slept peacefully through the day and woke up in the afternoon. He made his way back to Nyx, who was still going through the data from the pedophile.
"What did you find?" he asked as he entered her room, only to see her visibly fuming.
"Nothing useful. Just porn, porn, and more porn," Nyx grumbled.
"That's fine. Take your time. How's the situation with the darknet?"
"They're attributing the string of assassinations to the human supremacist faction. That group is claiming your work as their own and using it to promote gun use."
"On the one hand, I've kept my identity hidden. On the other, I've given those psychopaths more propaganda. I feel conflicted."
"At least you got paid, and the League doesn't have any evidence to go after you."
"I suppose."
"What do you plan to do now?" Nyx asked.
"Try and hunt down more pedophiles while building up the team. I've kept up their training regimens, and Vera has been handling their diet, but I haven't been focusing on them lately. It's about time I get back to being a proper trainer and put the bounty hunting on hold."
"You know, you could always try being a real trainer. I found some interesting missions on the board."
"Oh? Do tell."
"There are nests that need exterminating at your level, populations that need thinning, and capture requests."
"Population thinning sounds tedious. Capture requests are a waste of time. But nests? Get me info on those. That sounds interesting."
"Sure thing."
After dinner, Alex headed to his room to sleep but found someone had already beaten him to it. That usually only happened when one of the girls wanted sex, sometimes more than one. He didn't mind—it meant his needs were being met.
Only this time, it was someone he hadn't expected.
"Can I get in on this action?" she asked with a sly smile.
Alex shrugged and obliged.
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R-18 content containing Alex's wild night is available on Patreon.