La Soleil, one of the most prestigious restaurants in Neo-Vatra, specializes in refined cuisine from the far lands of Lumeria. The guests it serves belong to the upper class of society—highly educated individuals with manners and the right etiquette. That was the image it cultivated, but reality was far from the truth.
The restaurant was owned by a gang. A criminal organization. Though it's frequented only by the high-ranking member, it always felt like it was only a matter of time before problems would befall the place, and that's what happened only recently.
A visit from the Dagger's boss always came with a great deal of stress, far surpassing that of arrogant young elites with short tempers and superiority complexes. The staff had to have a great deal of mental fortitude to serve them, but so long as they did their job right, nothing bad would happen.
That was the expectation. That was what it should have been. Unfortunately, that was not how things turned out that night. Out of nowhere, one of the servers was killed, and none other than the gang boss.
Things were brought under control right after. Since the room was soundproof, no one heard the gunshot. As for the staff who knew the victim didn't make it out of the room, their silence would be bought, ensuring the story wouldn't get out. Money wasn't enough to erase a man's death, of course, but with the added threat of angering one of the most dangerous men in the city, no one would dare to utter a word about what happened.
"You went too far this time, Kent. Did you really have to kill the poor bastard?"
The room where the crime took place was undergoing a thorough cleaning, so the Daggers were moved to a different one. No one was in the mood to eat anything after what happened, so the only thing on the tablecloth was a bottle of whiskey and a few glass cups.
Downing his drink in one swig, Jaguar slammed the glass down. The table was sturdy enough to withstand the strike, but the glass shattered on impact, leaving him with a fistful of shards, which he then crushed into smaller ones. Raising his gaze, he pierced the man sitting across the table with a sharp glare.
"That's the last thing I wanted to hear from you, Henry." He said. "If you weren't so late, it wouldn't have come to this."
"Hey now, you know I couldn't help it." Said the hairy giant. "And you would've killed the guy even if I was there."
Jaguar had no reply for that. The snort he let had a metallic ring to it, same for his voice. He grabbed the whiskey bottle and brought it to his jagged mouth. The honey brown liquid spilled out and into the gash, and in just a few seconds, all of it was gone.
"Fuck…" He cursed after a burp. "Fuck fuck fuck fuck FUCK!"
"Maybe you should hold back on the booze."
Something hit the wall and shattered into a hundred pieces. Despite the enraged display, the hairy giant remained perfectly calm.
"You really are in a bad mood, huh?"
A hand snapped in his direction, and with a click, it turned into a gun barrel.
"Calm down, I'm just kidding."
"You think this is the time to be kidding?"
"It sure is not." The giant replied, holding his hands up defensively. "Well, let's sit down for now. You want to hear what I found, right?"
Like a beast catching the sound of a twig snapping, Jaguar turned his sharp eyes to the giant. He had already received the report informing him that the search ended in failure. There were no signs of the Diver who had infiltrated the restaurant's network and system. That was the whole reason behind his foul mood, so hearing that there was more to it, Jaguar didn't know whether to feel relieved or angry.
As he sat down and waited, the giant gave him a toothy grin.
For a moment there, Jaguar's brows twisted with confusion, then they hot up as his eyes turned into saucers.
"Yup. It's him." The giant nodded.
Confusion returned to Jaguar's face, and just like before, surprise replaced it an instant later.
"Are you saying… he was here?"
"Left just a few minutes ago." Henry laughed.
"YOU LET HIM LEAVE!!?"
The gang leader snapped once more, and this time, the table didn't manage to hold.
"This is why I told you to hold back on the booze," the giant sighed.
"Why did you let him go!?"
"Calm down. I wasn't so sure it was him. He didn't have the thing on the back of his head, you know?"
"The MLP? Did he remove it?"
"He wouldn't be alive if that's what he did." The giant said. "I'm guessing he got himself a lid. And a good one at that."
Not everyone enjoyed the attention that comes with having exposed bionics, and that created a demand for items that could help hide them from others. Still, it wasn't that difficult to see through those solutions, which made it all the more confusing that someone like Henry would fail to notice.
"Are you sure it's him?" Jaguar asked.
"It's him, alright," Henry replied. "And I'm pretty sure he's the one behind what happened."
With nothing to break in front of him, the gang leader could only sit still and clinch his fist. His anger was growing by the second, but its source had already changed from the incident he had caused earlier. Thɪs chapter is updated by novᴇlfire.net
With how much he fooled around, the kids he had couldn't count to both fingers and toes. Only one of them stood out, however, but just as he began to recognize his potential, the bastard ran away and never came back.
"Kent." The giant's gruff voice severed his line of thought. "I'm gonna say it now, in case you haven't realized yet." He paused, and when his boss didn't offer a reply, he went ahead and said it. "Your kid might be working for whoever is behind that mess with Black Skull."