"You're related to him? Are you freaking kidding me? The guy we nabbed ain't Asian!"
As Riku approached, one of the bandits immediately started yelling, his gun practically pressed against Riku's forehead.
His outburst instantly put V and Jack Welles on edge, both ready to spring into action at a moment's notice.
"Hey, buddy, chill out. Of course I'm not related to him. His family hired me to pay the ransom and get him out," Riku said smoothly, his mind racing. They'd overlooked this detail at first, but no biggie—he could roll with it.
"Fine, where's the money?!" the bandit demanded, his cybernetic eye glinting crazily in the dim night.
"You gotta let me see him first. I need to confirm he's still alive," Riku replied, his expression one of mock helplessness. Blending in like this probably wasn't gonna work, so he'd settle for verifying the target was still breathing.
"Go to hell! Quit stalling and hand over the cash!" The bandit wasn't having it, jabbing the gun harder against Riku's forehead, making a weird clanging sound.
"Alright, I'll transfer it," Riku said with a smile. The three bandits visibly perked up at his words.
Before they could say anything else, the horned kaijū in front of them flickered with a wave of color and vanished on the spot.
"Optical camouflage!" the bandits shouted, instantly recognizing it. It wasn't exactly rare tech—street punks like them knew it well.
Riku extended his right hand, the armor on his fingers retracting to reveal raw, skinless flesh. Razor-sharp claws shot out in an instant.
Splurch!
Before the bandit holding the gun to Riku's head could fire, a claw pierced straight through his throat.
Naturally, this exposed Riku's position. Even with the optical camouflage still active, the other two bandits could make out his blurry silhouette.
Pop! Pop!
Two muffled shots rang out in the night, courtesy of silenced firearms. The remaining bandits dropped, letting out weak groans as they hit the ground.
"Told you this plan was shaky. Should've just stormed in," V said, strolling over with an Ajax rifle in hand. Even at smuggler's prices, it had cost her a hefty 12,000 eddies.
Militech's Ajax wasn't flashy, but it was reliable and easy to use—no months of training or high-end combat cyberware required. It wasn't top-tier, but it was leagues better than the junk street punks carried. V had gritted her teeth and bought one.
"No clue if we've been spotted. Riku moved too fast to deal with any cameras," Jack Welles said, stepping out of the car with his twin gold kāne pistols, one in each hand. The guy clearly had skills.
"A high-level nettoran would've been nice. You shoot out a camera, and anyone paying attention will still notice," Riku quipped, already missing Sasha. Back when she was around, they'd waltzed into Biotech's HQ like it was nothing.
"Less talk, more rescuing," V snapped.
The trio rushed into the factory. Their scuffle hadn't been too loud—if the bandits weren't glued to their monitors, they might not have noticed.
"Drop your weapons, or I'll waste him!"
So much for that. The bandits had been watching the cameras like hawks, knowing a ransom drop was coming. Five of them charged out of the rundown factory, one dragging a middle-aged white guy—their rescue target.
The man's eyes were wide with terror, tears and snot streaming down his face as the bandit yanked him forward as a shield. His suit screamed corporate dog, despite the grime and the suspicious wet patch at his crotch. His mouth was taped shut.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The response was gunfire. V and Jack Welles didn't hesitate, completely ignoring the bandit's threats. Drop their weapons? What a joke—surrender and die?
V and Jack weren't idiots. Between the hostage dying or everyone dying, they'd sacrifice the hostage without blinking.
Their decisiveness caught the bandits off guard. Three went down instantly, leaving one lucky survivor and the guy using the hostage as a shield.
"What the hell?! Aren't these guys here to save him?!" the two remaining bandits cursed, backing up in a panic. They were clearly thrown off.
They weren't the only ones. The hostage was just as confused, probably wondering if these were really his rescuers.
V and Jack kept firing, pinning the bandits down and keeping them from shooting back, covering Riku as he charged forward.
Riku was hauling shinigami-style, but the distance between him and the bandits was still too great. Saving the hostage was down to luck—he definitely wasn't faster than a bullet.
"Shadow Wolf," Riku muttered, summoning his yōkai. His shadow shot forward, morphing into a wolf that sprinted across the ground.
The factory lot was barely lit, the night cloaking everything in darkness. Shadow Wolf's dash was nearly invisible in the gloom.
Plus, the two bandits were too focused on the horned oni barreling toward them to notice. Anyone would freak out with a guy like that rushing their face—Riku was their top threat.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Bullets slammed into Riku, only to ricochet off his subdermal armor, some even shattering on impact. The bandits' guns were just standard kinetic weapons, no match for his cyberware. A high-powered electromagnetic rifle might've posed a threat—subdermal armor wasn't invincible, just like a bulletproof vest didn't make you bulletproof against everything.
"Dammit! This guy's got subdermal armor!" one bandit yelled, his voice dripping with fear. He knew they'd messed with the wrong crew.
Bang!
Before he could say more, a bullet punched through his skull—V's work. Her mobile shooting skills were no joke.
"Son of a—!" the last bandit roared, realizing he was screwed. Escape wasn't an option, so he decided to go down swinging.
Click!
His finger was on the trigger. He'd figured out these guys wanted the hostage alive—why else would they avoid shooting him? If he was going down, he'd take the hostage with him. Sure, using the guy as a shield might buy him a few seconds, but he wasn't about to let these punks win.
Bang!
A shot rang out. The suited man felt a jolt, collapsing to the ground with another wet patch at his crotch—but he wasn't dead.
"Arghhh!"
The bandit screamed, tackled to the ground by Shadow Wolf. His shot went wide, and the wolf's claws raked him for good measure.
Grr!
Shadow Wolf let out a low growl, sinking its black, razor-sharp fangs into the bandit's neck. Blood quickly stained them red.
Riku froze, stunned. A surge of kekkai—blood Ki—flowed back into his body, straight from Shadow Wolf as it tore into the bandit's neck.