Chapter 53 The First Strike

Chapter 53 The First Strike
"Boss, get your head down!" Oswin yelled.

The warehouse doors were gone. A wave of white light hit the walls. It felt like someone was trying to pull my soul out through my teeth.

"Cedric, now!" I shouted.

A bright blue square opened in the middle of the air. It looked like a floating piece of paper, but it was bigger. Oswin and Cedric stepped through it together.

"Portal Memo delivered," Cedric said. He was sweating. He looked at his tablet. "That took half our remaining data. We're thin, Cyprian. Really thin."

"Doesn't matter," I said. "Look at Oswin."

Oswin wasn't flickering anymore. He looked solid. He looked heavy. He looked like he was made of iron and bad intentions.

"What is this?" Garrick yelled. He backed away, waving his brass magnet. "Who are you people? This building is Syndicate property!"

"It was," Oswin said. He stepped forward. His boots made a loud sound on the concrete. "Now it's under review."

"Kill him!" Garrick screamed. The guards in leather coats raised their guns. They weren't normal guns. They glowed with a sick green light.

"Oswin, the Audit," I said. Oswin didn't move fast. He just looked at the guards. A blue light flashed in his eyes.

\[Skill Activated: Security Audit\]

\[Target: Syndicate Enforcers\]

\[Effect: Stripping Intent\]

"My gun!" One of the guards yelled. "It's... it's stuck!"

"It's not stuck," Oswin said. He walked right up to the barrel of the nearest weapon. "It just doesn't want to work for you anymore. You don't have the right permissions."

The guard pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. The gun didn't click. It didn't jam. It was as useless as a child's prop

"It feels like a rock," the guard whispered. He dropped the weapon. "That's because that's all it is now," Oswin said. He grabbed the guard by the throat. He didn't use a ghost power. He used his fist.

The guard flew backward, crashing into a stack of crates. "Next," Oswin said. "Use the magnets!" Garrick shouted. He was shaking now. "Rip him apart!"

The three men with the brass devices stepped forward. They turned the dials to the max. The white light became a roar.

"Cedric, status!" I yelled. "The magnets are drawing from the harbor grid!" Cedric shouted. "I'm trying to cut the line, but they have a physical lock!"

"Jarek!" I called out. "The hammer!" 

Jarek dropped from the ceiling. He hit the ground like a bomb. The violet hammer in his hand was glowing so bright it hurt to look at.

"I got the big one," Jarek growled. He swung the sledge. He didn't hit the guards. He hit the floor. 

A wave of violet energy rolled across the warehouse. When it hit the magnets, they just turned into grey dust.

"My equipment!" Garrick wailed. "That cost millions of credits!"

"Write it off as a loss," Oswin said. He grabbed Garrick by his expensive gold-trimmed coat.

"Let me go!" Garrick kicked and punched, but his hands just bounced off Oswin’s chest. "Do you know who I am? The Syndicate will hang you from the piers! They'll burn your souls for fuel!"

"You talk a lot for a guy who's about to be unemployed," Oswin said. He looked at me. "Boss? What do we do with the manager?"

I walked over. My form was still a bit light, but I was solid enough to stand in front of him. "You like branding people, Garrick?" I asked. "It's the law!" Garrick spat. "Unregistered spirits are waste. We recycle waste."

"Not anymore," I said. "Cedric, do we have enough for a Re-Branding?"

"It's going to be tight," Cedric said. "But the system says we can claim his contract. He’s technically a representative of a bankrupt philosophy."

"Do it," I said. "Wait!" Garrick’s eyes went wide. "What are you doing? Stay away from me!"

I reached out and touched the gold seal on Garrick’s neck. It was cold. It felt like a leech. "This is a bad debt," I said. "And I'm the one who collects."

\[System Notification: Overwriting Ownership Seal...\]

\[Source: Gilt Syndicate\]

\[New Owner: Fenwick Group\]

"No!" Garrick screamed. He fell to his knees. The gold mark on his skin began to boil. The bright metal turned dull, then black. Then, a sharp blue light started to eat through the darkness.

"It burns!" Garrick shrieked. He clawed at his neck, but he couldn't stop it.

The other guards saw it and ran. They didn't even look back. They scrambled over the rubble and into the fog. "Let them go," I said. "They’ll tell the others what happened."

"Boss, look," Jarek said. He pointed at Garrick.

Garrick slumped on the floor. He wasn't screaming anymore. He was staring at the ground, his eyes vacant. 

On his neck, the gold was gone. In its place was a sharp, glowing blue logo. The Fenwick 'F' burned bright against his skin.

"Is he ours now?" Oswin asked. He leaned down and poked Garrick’s shoulder. "He's an asset," I said. "A very loud, very scared asset."

"I can work with that," Oswin said. He grinned. "Cyprian," Cedric said. He was looking at his tablet. His face was pale. "What is it?" I asked.

"The Syndicate just noticed," Cedric said. "The entire harbor grid is lighting up. They’re sending a 'Liquidation Team' to this coordinate."

"How long?" I asked. "Three minutes," Cedric said. "Maybe less." I looked at the blue logo on Garrick's neck. It started to blink.

\[System Warning: Hostile Merger Inbound.\]

"Oswin, Jarek, get the crates," I said. "We're moving the office again."

"To where?" Jarek asked. "There's nowhere to hide in this harbor."

"We're not hiding," I said. "We're going to the center of the market." Suddenly, the floor beneath us began to glow red. A deep, heavy sound echoed from the walls, like a heart beating underground.

"What's that?" Oswin asked, pulling his gun. I looked at the system prompt. My heart skipped a beat.

The blue logo on Garrick's neck began to scream in a high, digital pitch that made the windows shatter.