CHAPTER 425: LIGHT SABER.

Thursday, 7th of February 2099

20:00

A small caravan pulled up into a corner at a back alley deep in Yellowstar street. Such spots were hidden well between the multi-story buildings. they didn’t have any security cams, and was outside government surveillance systems, which made an important place for any groups looking to do things that fell outside the boundaries of the law.

Yellowstar fell under the influence of the Los Aros gang, which meant those spot were reserved for its members to use. This one in particular was special, and to access it, one needed permission from the boss himself. Rose wasn’t a member of the gang, but she had ties with them, and enough good will with the boss to grant her a favor.

Lu got off the first car and checked their surroundings. His neck wasn’t in the best condition thanks to having to look up all the time. Ben Let him to it and went to open a nearby garage marked with chain like graffiti. Inside, he went about removing some old, dust covered crates and some barrels. Bruno came to help so they were done in no time.

Under all the junk was an old basement door. Standing before it, Rose stared at it in silence for a moment before taking out a small key. That key removed the single lock holding two slabs of metal in one place, and after the men in the group pulled each one to the side, what lies underneath was revealed.

A flight of stairs that lead to the depths of the earth.

"Alright, let’s get moving."

On Bruno’s signal, the rest of the crew began unloading the vans in the back. The first few pushed the motorcycles they used to reach the place down the stairs, disappearing into the darkness below. Others followed, carrying several large bags and boxes.

Once the luggage was delivered, Rose and the rest climbed down themselves. The stairs led to an underground tunnel that is part of Neo-Vatra’s sewer network. Low Aros had maintained the ones under their territory, making use of them for several purposes.

Since he had been the one who suggested infiltrating through the sewers, Dante had already mapped the tunnels leading to it from Yellowstar. The entrance they were using was one of the best access points available to them.

Once the equipment was loaded, the crew got on the bikes and rode to their destination. Though they had no traffic to worry about, their speed wasn’t that significant. It took them a whole forty minutes to reach the spot where they would dig their entrance.

"This is it." Dante said, pointing a flashlight at the ceiling of the tunnel. There, a red X was prayed.

"I know we already discussed this, but..." Bruno pressed his mouth into a line.

Ben, the only one who insisted on wearing a helmet underground, took it off and ran the fingers of his right hand through his curly black hair.

"You better not have been joking when you said you could get through it."

Dante held his gaze for a moment, then turned to Rose’s bike. Taking the bag fixed to its back, he placed it at Ben’s feet then motioned for him to open it. Being the tallest among them, it was clear that he was going to be the one digging the entrance, so Ben expected to find his tools in that bag. What he had in mind was a little different, however.

"This is... an arm?" Ben asked.

The think was exactly that: an arm. A robotic one, with a bulky forearm and fingers, partially covered in metallic plating with several components exposed. Several wires connected the elbow area with the small box still in the back.

"More like a glove." Dante said. "Or maybe a gauntlet? Just put it on. And don’t forget to link it with your NIM."

The gangster did as he was told. The mechanical glove adjusted itself to fit around his arm. Once every part was in its place, he opened and closed his palm several times before clenching his fist. At that moment, a part of the forearm snapped back and something shot out, startling him and the others. They soon came to realize that what came out wasn’t a projectile.

The tunnel was suddenly illuminated by the light cast by a long blue triangle extending from the gauntlet.

"Is that... a light saber?" Lu asked.

"Something like that," Dante replied. "Go ahead. Try it."

Still awe-struck by the insanity of the tool he was wearing, Ben took a few moments before realizing what he had been told to do. Looking up at the red cross above him, he slowly raised his arm and brought the energy blade toward the ceiling. He didn’t feel any resistance at first, so it took him a second to notice that the tip of the blade had already sunk into the concrete.

"Whoa..."

"This is insane..."

The energy blade cut through everything like it was made from butter. The rest of the crew gathered around to get a closer look, taking turns to hold the slabs of stone that detached from the hole Ben was digging.

Dante hung in the back and watched them work. Rose settled beside him, and after a moment of silence she turned to him with a question.

"So... that thing isn’t meant for digging tunnelt, is it?"

"Pretty obvious," Dante replied.

"Are you going to tell me where you got it?"

"I ha Finn lend it to me. It’s still a work in progress, though."

"I see..." Rose turned her gaze back to the others, but a moment later, she whipped her head in Dante’s direction once more. "Did you say Finn?"

"Yeah? What about it?"

"N-nothing..."

When she gave it another thought, Rose realized that this was not the first time she had seen an insane piece of tech related to the boy.

It took no more than thirty minutes to open a path up to the surface. After installing ladder steps into the smooth shaft, the twelve members of the crew went about moving their equipment before climbing up.

The hole led them to a dark storage room that didn’t seem like it had been touched for. According to the 3D model they all received, it was located on the first basement floor of the mansion’s west wing.

The mood among the crew changed drastically as soon as they stepped inside it. There were no comments, no remarks. Each one simply grabbed the bags and crates they brought along and began putting on their equipment. In just a few minutes, they all transformed.

Once, they looked like a rough bunch, but then the parts slid into place, the mechanisms locked, and the plating adjusted. Once everything was connected into a single shell, each of them picked a weapon, becoming a squad of heavily equipped soldiers, each donning an identical power suit.