"A grudge, huh?" Rose said. "Must have been something big for him to try to shoot you in the face."

"Not really," Dante said. "I barely knew the guy."

"I gotta admit, beating nine people looks awesome and all, but…" Finn furrowed his brows. "Did you have to do it like that?"

[Show off.]

All eyes turned to the yellow bag resting beside the boy, which contracted before popping four panels out from different parts of its body. Swaying slightly, it balanced itself on one side, and a pixelated face appeared on the upper half, directing what seemed to be a half-lidded gaze toward Dante.

[He clearly didn't like me beating his ass, so he took it out on those idiots.]

Dante's eye twitched.

"The fuck did you say?"

[You heard me.]

Last he checked, Dante was sure he had been the one who kicked the bot's shiny behind. Because of that, he didn't understand why he was talking smack.

"Um… Finn…" Rose was pointing at the yellow capsule, eyes wide open. "What is… that?"

"Oh, um…"

The boy looked between her and his alloy friend, but the latter beat him to it.

[Hey, gorgeous! The name is Jake! Nice to meet you!]

"Jake?"

Seeing the bot wave at her with a smiley face only added to Rose's confusion. As Finn scrambled to explain, his face flushed, Dante could only facepalm himself.

"Leave it." He said. "We didn't come here for this nonsense."

"R-right." Said Rose.

She still seemed distracted, her eyes darting to the yellow bot, making Dante wish he had told Finn to leave him outside.

"How about you start by telling us what the situation is?"

Though he had been receiving updates regularly, he wanted to summarize everything before they went on to discuss what they were going to do next. Rose took a moment to gather her thoughts and regain her bearings. Her expression grew more serious as she began her report.

"In the past couple of weeks, the Daggers started making some big moves."

Though the two gangs had been locked in a conflict for years, Black Skull had always been the aggressor. They were the rising stars trying to expand their influence. The Daggers, on the other hand, were already established by the time the conflict had started. They fought to protect their territory and retaliated whenever the enemy pushed their luck.

Little had changed about the dynamic for a long while, at least until recently.

"From what I've heard, Black Skull had a number of their Sergeants assassinated. The Daggers didn't try to hide it, so there is no doubt that it's their doing."

"Sergeants, huh?" Dante said. "You mean assholes like that Jeremy guy, right?"

"Indeed." Rose nodded, her gaze wandering down to the glass in her hands. "So far, I haven't heard about any of the Lieutenants falling."

"What about the lower ranks?"

"They have been fighting some skirmishes here and there, but the death count is mounting quickly."

"I see…"

The room went silent as the adults seemed to take the time to think. Feeling left out, Finn tried to jump in with the first thing that came to his mind.

"That's… good, right? I mean, it's exactly the result we were aiming for."

"Yeah, but it's going a little too fast," Dante said.

The plan was to take out members from both gangs and make it appear like each other's doing. So far, they have only done it once, so it was a little surprising to hear things had already escalated to this point.

"So the Daggers are done playing around, huh?" Dante said.

"That seems to be the case." Rose drank some of the honey brown from her glass. "I called it assassination earlier, but it wasn't exactly the silent kind."

"What?"

"There are rumors about the Daggers bringing a new weapon. No one seems to have any photos, but apparently, it's what allowed them to carve their way to their targets."

"And no one has photos of this weapon?" Dante frowned.

"No one lived to tell the tale." Rose smiled. "Very convenient, don't you think?"

"Yup."

"A new weapon… Could it be…"

Finn was only muttering to himself, but the other two snapped their heads in his direction. Startled by their reaction, he suddenly found his tongue tied. He did understated the silent question they were asking, though, so he already had the answer prepared by the time he was able to talk.

"You know how I've been spying on them for a while now, right? Well…"

The boy told them about the whispers he heard from the Daggers he had been keeping an eye on. Apparently, the higher-ups of the gang have been investing in something from Orvakia, and they recently got their hands on it.

"I tried to track where they stored it, but…"

"No luck, huh?" Said Dante. "Guess that's to be expected."

Rose held her chin in thought.

"It's not a new implant, right?" She asked.

"No…" Finn thought for a moment, then shook his head. "Not from what I have heard."

Dante unconsciously reached for the back of his head, touching the port board of his MLP. His new implants came from Orvakia as well. The county has stepped up its game in the technological field, and with the Radmir Union having shifted its attention to Genomes and genetic enhancement, Urvakia didn't take long to step into the top spot.

"Don't tell me they smuggled a tank into the city or something," Dante said.

"Why not ask Viktor?" Said Rose. "He went abroad only recently, right?"

"Yeah, I was just about to text him."

Though he didn't know their true extent, Dante was sure his fixer had a wide web of connections in the cold northern country— that much was clear from the way he brought over a secret Overmind implant as if it were just some souvenir. It felt like he would know if a Urvakian-made weapon made its way to this side of the border, and from the looks of it, Dante was right on the spot.

[Viktor: It's probably a Black Shield power suit.]