Bang!
A bullet pierced the head of a skinny old man who was scowling at the intruders who had entered his small gang’s hangout.
“You killed our boss!” shouted a low-level grunt.
Several shouts of, “Yah, why’d you do that!” came from the other grunts.
“Either you join us or you can join your boss,” said Cowhard. He had chosen to target this group as one of the first gangs to take over because of how weak their leader was.
With several weapons being pointed at the dozen or so gang members, they had little choice in the matter and followed several of the other armed gang members of the [Righteous Front]. This was the new name Cowhard had chosen for the gang after discarding their old name.
Cowhard stayed behind and started rummaging through the dead man’s belongings, taking anything valuable.
He took out a portable scanner from his coat pocket and tapped in a large number before he tried scanning the dead man’s cloud chip.
[Payment denied! The citizen has died. All credits have been transferred to Mother and Father.]
Cowhard snorted in derision and said, “They sure act quickly when it has to do with credits. Anything else and it is like trying to pull teeth.”
He pocketed what valuables he could before exiting the building where one of his officers, Knakad an old friend, was standing.
“A decent haul this time?” asked Knakad.
“Make sure you check each of their records. If there are any troublemakers just get rid of them now. I don’t want those people calling me because someone did something stupid.”
“Everything will be taken care of. Before our next target later today!” said Knakad.
“Any word on the families taking action? We’ve been making quite the racket these last few days.”
“Last I heard they were still at loggerheads unable to make a decision.”
***
[Gams Gambling Den] was lively as ever with the sounds of the holographic machines chiming and beeping along with the chatter and laughter of several hundreds of gamblers that were in the building even though it was the middle of the day when everyone should be working.
The place was run by a medium-sized gang and the profits allowed them to put their toes into several other side hobbies, one of which was stockpiling small arms, but mainly they dealt with ammunition as it was easy to transport, hide, and was always in demand.
Bam!
The entrance door was kicked open and a young man stumbled in as he was pushed forward, everyone’s gaze was drawn to him for a few moments wondering what the hell he was doing.
He looked around the large gambling room trying to find someone but did not see them.
“Where is Gams?” asked the young man.
“None of your business,” said one of the security guards as he walked over to the young man.
“I demand that you bring me to Gams or have him come out here!”
The security guard with a lightning quick reaction popped out a hidden gun from inside his metal arm and shot the young man in the head before he could react.
Before the body hit the floor, several gunshots rang out from the doorway and pierced the bodies of the gathered security guards.
A small round ball the size of an apple was tossed through the door and hit the ground rolling further into the room where it stopped next to a table that was filled with gamblers playing a holographic card game.
Everyone at the table looked down at the ball that had four blinking lights, which went down to 3 lights, 2, 1, and then blank.
BOOM!
A large explosion tore through the center of the building leaving a large hole in the ground where the table and gamblers used to be.
Several pained cries from those wounded and those frightened from the explosion drowned out the usual sounds of the gambling den.
“Damn! That’s more powerful than I was expecting,” said Cowhard as he peered into the building looking at the results.
“We have to hurry! The police will not be able to ignore such a loud explosion,” said Knakad.
“The least those guys could do for us is pay them off or tell them not to nose around. Bunch of cheapskates only giving us weapons and telling us to figure everything else out,” grumbled Cowhard.
“WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?” roared the middle-aged Gam, as he rushed out from a basement office with a group of several henchmen.
“Gam, we have come to demand that you join the [Righteous Front] or die!” shouted Cowhard.
“To hell with you! Shoot them!” ordered Gam.
Bullets began flying through the air aimed at the entrance of the building causing many of the gamblers to try to flee but there was no exit! They could only try to lie flat on the ground or dive behind one of the gambling machines.
“If you give up now, you can still become an officer!” shouted Cowhard, as he hugged the sturdy metal wall next to the entrance.
The bullets continued to fly out of the gambling den and into the wall of the building across the small alleyway.
“Alright we’ll do it the hard way!” said Cowhard, after not receiving any reply.
Two more round balls were pulled from a metal crate. A small button on top of the balls was pushed down starting 6 blinking lights before they were thrown randomly into the building.
Everyone near the door pulled back and covered their ears.
BOOM! BOOM!
The ground shook with great force as the two metal balls exploded.
The shooting from inside had stopped, so Cowhard motioned for one of the new grunts to look inside and see the results of the explosions since he did not dare look himself.
Gathering his courage, the grunt peaked his head out before skittishly pulling back immediately.
“Well?” asked Knakad.
“Uhh…”, the grunt sheepishly shrugged and once again took a quick look, this time staying out in the open for a whole 1 second before pulling back.
He turned to Knakad and said, “Looks clear.”
“Then you can head in first,” said Cowhard pointing to the door.
The grunt hesitated but jumped into the room and looked around ready to duck, but surprisingly nothing was paying attention to him or cared that he had entered.
Cowhard peered into the room and through the smoke saw the dismembered bodies of Gam and his henchmen.
“These grenades really are great,” said Knakad.
“They saved us from having to be stuck in a pointless firefight,” said Cowhard.
The two walked into the building with over 30 other grunts.
“This building now belongs to the [Righteous Front!] All of you who worked for or were a member under Gam are now part of the RF. If you do not want to join us, let me know now and I can help you leave,” said Cowhard.
One of the workers raised his hand and Knakad nodded. The man’s life was ended with a bullet allowing him to leave.
“You lot hurry up and gather the ammunition from the underground storage!” shouted Cowhard at the loitering grunts that had entered the building with him.
“Hurry up! We need to get out of here before things get hairy with the police!” shouted Knakad urging the grunts to start running towards the open door of the underground office.
***
On the roof of a hundred-story building, Knakad was with a grunt who was holding a sniper rifle. The grunt was peering through the scope at a cafe far below them. The cafe’s walls were nothing but para-glass allowing the most light in as well for a better view outside.
“Was the information given to us correct? Is that him?” asked Knakad.
“I think so. But he is with some woman. Last I heard he is not married and has no mistress…” said the sniper.
“Don’t worry about her. If that is indeed our target then this is the best time to take him down before his underlings can do anything to stop it. With his men added to the RF we will be even closer to the number needed to start our main missions!”
“So you want me to shoot him right now?”
“Of course! Otherwise, why would we be here!”
The sniper pulled the large rifle back into his shoulder where it locked into his parasteel shoulder, steadying it even more while also connecting his bionic eye to the large gun’s targeting system.
With a few large breaths, he calmed his breathing and… pulled the trigger.
BANG!
The faint sound of shattering glass could be heard even from this height.
“Oops,” said the sniper.
“What?”
“That female sure was unlucky. She chose the wrong time to stand up. If she had stayed sitting the bullet would have passed over her shoulder… but…”
“Did you miss the target?”
“Of course not! I just got an extra kill for you is all.”
