The lights from the towering skyscraper's windows cast a cold, metallic glow across the dark city streets below. The building, once a symbol of corporate success, had now become the fortress of Xin.
The whispers of his growing empire had long reached the ears of the CIA, but it was the latest intelligence from the NSA that finally pinpointed his exact location.
Xin had retreated into the heart of this fortress; a high-rise in the center of the city, and on this fateful night, the CIA was determined to bring him down, no matter the cost.
Inside the building, Colonel Mark stood at the helm of a team of elite operatives, each handpicked for their ability to handle the most volatile of situations.
But tonight, there was a sense of uncertainty in the air. For Mark, this mission was more than just a job. It was something extremely personal.
Revenge.
He had been tracking Xin's rise for years non-stop, leaving other serious cases and using every piece of information that seemed to lead to this moment so that he could take out the worst type of revenge on Xin for raping his wife before he strangled her using the strap of his deceased dog, Ronald.
The memory of his smiling wife appeared in his mind, which made him grip his weapon even more tightly.
His eyes narrowed, and he calmed his turbulent heart as the elevator doors opened on the sixth floor, where Xin was rumored to be holed up.
'It's time.'
The OPs team slowly sent a search team to investigate the building, where members were arrested from the first and second floors, while a massive shootout had occurred on the rest of the floors, a testimony to a last struggle.
BOOM!
An explosion occurred on the floor above, as if confirming his words.
The traitor, an insider from the criminal underworld, led the team through a maze of sterile hallways toward the large conference room at the center of the floor.
The team had decided to ambush the building the moment the GPS chip was destroyed off their insider: Mr. Garcia, a criminal head who was arrested but released under the terms of pretending to purchase weapons from Xin.
The moment he had died, they realized there was a 0% chance he had died for something as little as offending a powerful figure.
It was most likely he was killed due to his cover being blown.
Because of this, it was now or never. Move now, or weep in your room for the rest of your life and regret every single decision you've made until now.
Inside, the higher-ups of Xin's operations had gathered. The two guys who were sleeping immediately awoke after the third explosion with startled expressions.
"WAAAH!"
Santiago woke up startled as he jumped out of his chair like a cat that was jump-scared, reaching up to his handgun that was in his holster, and whipped it out, aiming at the person across his table.
However, upon seeing everything normal, he sighed in relief.
"AAAAAAGHH!"
Usually composed, Mikhail awoke from dreamland at the sudden scream.
He was even more agitated when he saw a handgun pointing at his skull, as if licking its lips at the moment it would shoot a projectile and defile his brain.
He quickly pointed his handgun toward his arch-enemy.
Well, not precisely his arch-enemy, but maybe his rival?
Santiago, who had just recovered from the shock, jumped in fright once more before exploding in anger.
"You white pale Russian monkey, what the fuck do you think you're doing, you little shit?!"
In response, Mikhail stood up with a gaze filled with wrath as he sneered and pointed with the muzzle in his hand, threatening.
"Shut the fuck up, you dark animal that looks like a rotten tomato, and tell me why the hell you think pointing a gun at me is a good idea?"
Santiago clicked his tongue and was about to start cussing once more, but was interrupted by a sudden burst of laughter.
"Bwahahahahha! Ahahahaha!"
Ekidna, who was watching, held her stomach and clenched it as she started laughing so hard, tears appeared at the corners of her eyes.
The scene was so funny, especially those lady-like screams from Santiago and the thick, man-like scream from Mikhail.
It was incredibly funny, considering how Mikhail was on the thin and skinny side, while Santiago was much more muscular.
Almost as if the roles were reversed! Hahaha...
'Oh my God! I swear, lil bro knows how to crack me up so bad! No wonder he asked me to put their seats opposite of each other. It's as if he knew what was going to happen... but how?'
Ekidna stole a glance at her 'lil brother' before she gave up on figuring out how his brain worked.
'Heh... no matter. I wonder if we should evacuate or not. But it seems lil bro has something in mind. Maybe he'll do something interesting again.'
'I need to tell big sis about him. It's been so fun today.'
The two perpetrators stood dumfounded at the burst of laughter before their faces went emotionless, but a hint of red was visible on both of their necks.
Their cold images were ruined by one situation!
Where was their dignity? Their honor?
In the dumps!
How shameful can one get?
They quietly sat down in their seats before Santiago was about to ask a question with a confident, yet quite low voice. He took a glance around before turning to Dietrich, who was scrolling on his phone, ignoring all the chaos outside the room along with the flipped and destroyed vases, chairs, tables, and even lamps in the room.
Blackout.
"So... what exactly happened?"
In response to his question, Dietrich raised his cold and analyzing eyes, in which he averted his eyes, displaying his discomfort.
Dietrich:
'Heh.'
He adjusted the bridge of his golden-framed glasses using his middle finger like the four-eyes he is, with a smirk upon his face, before he clicked on his phone that was on full volume.
"WAAAAH!"
The video went on in a loop as Santiago's scream repeated 1... 2... 3... 4... the video kept playing on and Santiago shouted.
"Ok, ok, stop! It's my fault, sorry!"
By this time, Santiago had averted his gaze and plugged his ears to not hear the feminine-like scream.
Seeing his reaction, Mikhail smirked in satisfaction before he glimpsed Dietrich's smug and arrogant smile looking toward him, with the edge of his mouth slightly raised.
'I feel cold all of a sudden. As a gentleman, I feel shit.'
Cold sweat accumulated on his back.
"AAAAAAAAGH!"
A thick, man-like scream resounded in the building, and Mikhail, in embarrassment, tried to cover his ears with his hands, only to hit his hand on the table and yelp out in pain.
As a result, his elbow hit the corner of the table, and he lost balance, falling with the chair back and shrieking in the process.
With satisfaction, Dietrich didn't forget to click record. It was worthy of using as blackmail material in the future, so he was quite happy.
Laughing even harder, Ekidna was slamming the table with her fists in response to the situation. It wasn't every day you saw criminal lords screaming and shrieking in embarrassment.
Ekidna slowly calmed down and looked toward Dietrich, who nodded his head in serious response, losing all hints of playfulness as if telling her to proceed.
She cleared her throat before she spoke with her thighs crossed, exposing her white fleshy skin underneath.
"So lil bro, if you don't mind, care to tell us what is happening outside? And why did you stop us from leaving?"
Her tone was serious, hinting at the severity of the situation, as she and Dietrich awaited Xin's response.
Of course, both Nikola and Mikhail still had hateful glares at each other, but even so, their confusion had reached its peak, as they had been asleep the whole time. It's a wonder how they managed to doze off without waking up.
Xin, who had his eyes closed for the past 15 minutes, slowly opened them, revealing the abyss-like depth that could suck in any human being with their mystical, yet horrifying properties.
"Give me your phone."
Although his neutral order was given to particularly no one, Ekidna immediately understood it was toward her and frowned in response, but didn't retaliate.
She unlocked her phone pin that consisted of 25 digits and slid it across the table to him.
The boy fiddled with the phone a bit before he opened the recent calls and found a particular number.
He clicked on it and double checked the number before pressing call.
BRIIING!
He didn't have to wait long before the call was picked up.
"Hello! Whassup Ekidna? How's the meeting going? Should older sis pick you u-"
"Ah, hello Quetzalpetlatl."
"...."
The phone went silent for a moment.
"Huh.... so it's you. What do you need?" The tone of the woman on the other side of the phone immediately became cold and emotionless as she spoke to Xin as if he had murdered her whole family.
Who knew? Maybe he did one day.
"I have some interesting information if you would like."
The woman's frost like voice echoed from the other side of the phone. "I will give you 5 seconds to tell me, or I will come and kill you myself."