"Why the fuck did you use a grenade launcher in your own headquarters?" Susan complained as she looked at the devastation.
"Why not? They were all grouped up nicely." Jessie retorted.
"What about your own people, though?"
"Meh, the only people over there were the damn bastards who decided to invade our base. Now let's see who we're dealing with." Jessie said as she walked over towards the corpses of the invaders, which were still intact.
"Seriously?" Adam asked as he entered through the main entrance door, looking at Jessie in disbelief.
"What?" Jessie replied while smirking before she bent down and removed the dark hood that one of the invaders was wearing.
Before them all appeared a bald man who had the tattoo of a skull wearing a rose above one ear.
"The Skull Roses," Joe said in surprise as Jessie continued to check the other invaders and found tattoos of skulls and roses on different parts of their bodies.
[Handsome3horns (Vinox 2): Aren't the skull roses those whose nightclub the streamer was just at?]
[Prestigious3horns (Vinox 2): Yeah, I believe so.]
"This can't be a coincidence." Adam missed.
"You leave to disrupt the drug deal between that dickhead and the skull roses, and they just happen to come and attack the eighty sixers HQ and with such a small force," Stacey said.
"Stacey's right, the attacking force was too small for it to be an attempt to wipe us out; they must have been after something else when they came here," Joe added.
"Well, we can't ask them now; someone blew them all up," Susan said while looking pointedly at Jessie.
"Hey, it's not like I killed them all," Jessie replied defensively.
"Regardless, there's no way we can find out what they were after now."
"Not necessarily," Adam said as he bent down next to one of the dead bodies before grabbing a wrist containing a uniband and bringing it level with his own.
[[Accessing Uniband]]
[[Access granted]]
[[Scanning files]]
[[Scan complete.]]
[[Message received from Boss Skull: Go capture the girl. I'm sending an image off; she's currently at Becky's brothel. Image Attached]]
As Adam opened the image, a photo of Stacey appeared for them all to see.
[Noobkiller9000 (Earth): Oh shit, they were after the streamer's girlfriend.]
[Leonthemoneygiver (Earth):Don't let Beczontop hear you say that.]
[Noobkiller9000 (Earth): Meh, she's not here, besides, she's just jealous she can't get 'on top' of the streamer.]
[Puntanghunter69 (Earth): My man.]
"Seems they were after you," Adam said as he looked at Stacey.
"Me?" Stacey said in surprise before asking, "Why?"
"I could take a guess." Adam replied with a dark look in his eyes as the realisation brought back a painful memory before he said, "I bet that dickhead Max hired them to kidnap you after he saw us together earlier."
[1000yearsofdeath (Earth): Saw you together doing what streamer? Kekeke.]
[AlamoMatador4thewin (Earth): It's really good. Beczontop isn't here. Could you imagine the aneurysm she would be having?
[Justiceistruth: (Earth): I know it's such a shame.]
"Doesn't matter where you go in the universe, rich fuckers will always think they should get things their way," Adam said angrily.
"So what do we do about this?" Susan asked.
"You do nothing, you leave this to me," Adam said as he turned and started walking towards the exit.
"Adam," Stacey said as she began to follow him, but stopped when he said in a cold tone she hadn't heard before.
"You stay here, what I'm about to do you can't have any part in if you ever want to return to this planet again."
"What?" Stacey asked in surprise as the others all showed confused looks as Adam left Becky's.
[Handsome3horns (Vinox 2): The streamers pissed, I think shits about to get real.]
[NewManagment (Strathorp 6): What do you think he's going to do that could get someone banned from a planet?]
After he left, Adam climbed onto his hoverbike before heading for Spector as he said, "End stream."
[[Affirmative]]
[[Mission complete]]
[[Ending stream]]
"Does the data we stole from tower security state the home address for Max Parks and his family?"
[[Affirmative]]
"Good, are you able to hack into the Skull Roses data?"
[[Negative, while some information is easily hackable wirelessly, it contains nothing about their criminal activities.]]
"So I need to hack into one of their systems directly, fine. I was planning to pay the nightclub another visit. But this time, it won't be the stealthy approach."
As Adam arrived at Spector, the cargo bay ramp lowered automatically for him to ride the hoverbike up into it and park it before getting off and heading for the armoury.
"I'm going up against a whole gang far more advanced than what I saw back on Earth. I'm going to need something bigger than my blaster," Adam said as he walked.
"Affirmative, prepare for tactical upgrade," Spector responded through her intercom.
As Adam walked into the armoury, a compartment opened showing a black and grey weapon that was similar in shape and size to the P90 Adam had seen in a famous TV series about a team travelling through a wormhole to explore other planets.
"The Midnight automatic blaster, effective firing range of twelve hundred meters with a firing rate of eleven hundred shots per minute. Its firing modes include semi-automatic, automatic and three-round burst."
"Next is the Night Stalker plasma scattergun," Spector said as another compartment opened to showcase a silver and black weapon that looked similar in shape to a shotgun and that had a pump handle on the bottom; however, near the grip and trigger was a slot to insert the energy cell.
"While it can fire up to seven to eight hundred meters, for maximum effect, it's best to use within fifteen to twenty. Firing rate is around sixty shots per minute."
"Also, since it's an energy weapon, it doesn't need priming before each shot; however, doing so will increase the energy output each shot releases while also draining the energy cell faster"
"Nice, now how about something explosive?" Adam said with a dark smile.
đź’«đź’«đź’«
"This is amazing? I've never seen so many people in one place." Tephe said with excitement as she walked down one of the streets of the Terran Capital with Diva Rowena and Lord Malacross while Tessa Kirkmeld and Becky were acting as chaperones.
"Just make sure you don't run off, you brat." Lord Malacross, who was a short man with what Adam would call a devil tail and horns, said.
"It's a shame Diva Lorelie couldn't accompany us," Tephe said.
"She had to practice for her performance later tonight; she was hinting at some sort of surprise." Diva Rowena said with a smile.
Terrans and aliens alike kept pointing at them while some more courageous ones approached Rowena, asking for autographs and photos with her, to which she happily obliged.
"You sure are popular, Diva Rowena," Tephe said with a giggle.
"It comes with the position of being the most famous and beautiful model," Rowena replied with her signature smirk.
"Someone's got a high opinion of themselves," Becky replied with a chuckle.
"I'm just stating the obvious, if Tephe hadn't hidden her horns and wings like Malacross advised, she would no doubt be getting swarmed with people also."
"Then why don't you hide your wings so that you can enjoy yourself more?" Tessa asked.
"What can I say, I like the attention. Though the constant marriage proposals can get a bit annoying."
"Must be tiresome, I'm glad I don't have to put up with it," Tessa commented.
"I bet your namesake Princess Tessa does, though," Rowena replied as she gave Tessa a quick side glance that the other didn't notice since she was looking away.
"Apparently not, being the Terran princess, no non-Terran wants to marry her because of our reputation, and she has already made it clear that she will not waste her time on any marriage proposals those of high Terran society send," Tessa replied.
"Smart girl, though I expect that might change a bit after this event, especially now it's confirmed that Tephe is here," Rowena replied.
"Oh, what's that?" Tephe asked as she pointed towards a nearby stall.
"It's a local sweet they only sell during celebrations, it's really good, I will get us some," Becky said as she led them towards a stall.
Rowena waved goodbye to some fans before moving next to Malacross and asking in a low voice, "So does she know?"
"Yeah, it seems Tephe left her a note or something."
"Oh, it's going to be interesting when she turns up as well. I can't wait to see everyone's faces."
"Haha, I know, I wonder how she will treat the imperial family?"
"I don't think it will be too bad, after all, dragons are prideful, but they don't pay much attention to gossip."
"True, I wonder if she will try to drag Tephe away as soon as she arrives? If so, they might get into an argument and start fighting."
"True, two dragons fighting in the middle of a celebration is the last thing we want."
"Strange, I would have thought you would have enjoyed the entertainment."
"I'm looking forward to Lorelie's performance and this surprise she has planned. I wonder what it could be."
"She didn't tell you?"
"Nope."