When Max placed the box down, he did so with a slight bounce in his feet, the motion natural and controlled. Moving the goods had been a decent warm-up for him, enough to loosen his body and get his blood flowing. He rolled his shoulders once, feeling ready, and as he moved around the corner of the warehouse, he wasn’t disappointed in the slightest.
Two cars had pulled up just outside.
Ten men stepped out, most of them dressed in black, their movements confident, practiced. A few of them carried baseball bats loosely in their hands, resting them against their shoulders like they had done this countless times before. They didn’t look rushed, and they didn’t look nervous. To them, this was routine.
The workers noticed immediately.
They stiffened, several of them instinctively stepping back, hands tightening around whatever they were holding. Some of their faces drained of color the moment they recognized the men.
"Kid, what are you doing!" one of the workers shouted, panic clear in his voice. "These guys are dangerous, they mean business!"
He swallowed hard before continuing.
"Trust me, the last guy who tried to stop them got his arm broken. That’s why no one turned up today. I thought maybe they stopped hitting this place, or the police finally caught them, but... looks like we were wrong."
Max turned his head slightly, looking back at the workers.
"Hey," he said calmly. "Did you forget something? I’m security. I was hired because we knew these guys were coming. So don’t worry. I’ll deal with them."
The workers exchanged looks. They knew Max was security, sure, but he was only one person. Even the other security personnel had given up days ago, refusing to stay anywhere near the storage center. When the attacks started getting worse, everyone else had pulled out.
They had been left to fend for themselves.
"This isn’t one of your fake wrestling matches, kid!" one of the men shouted desperately.
The men in black didn’t wait any longer.
They charged.
The moment they moved, Max turned around. He sidestepped smoothly and drove his foot straight into the center of the first man’s stomach. The impact was brutal. The man’s body folded instantly before being launched backward, skidding across the floor until he slammed into a stack of crates.
Before Max’s foot even fully settled, he spun on his heel. With the back of his foot, he smashed it into the side of another man’s head. The crack echoed through the warehouse as the man collapsed to the ground without even getting a chance to react.
"Since you guys are willing to use weapons," Max said calmly, "then I have to assume you aren’t ordinary people."
His eyes hardened.
"So I can be a bit rough on you."
The rest rushed him at the same time.
Max kicked upward, knocking one of the bats into the air, catching it effortlessly as it came down. He lifted it above his head just in time to block a heavy swing, the impact rattling through the wood. Another punch came toward his stomach. Max tensed, taking it directly, barely moving. He grabbed the bat and twisted to the side, dragging both the weapon and its owner off balance before flinging the man into one of his allies.
Max stepped forward and slammed his head forward, cracking it straight into another man’s face. There was a sharp snap as the man’s nose broke, blood spraying as he fell backward screaming.
Max didn’t stop.
He took two deep swings with the bat. The first struck one man hard on the side of his chin. The sound was sickening, his jaw visibly dislocating as he crumpled to the ground. The second swing came low. Max bent down and punched another man straight into the pit of his stomach, all the air leaving his lungs in an instant.
Before the man could even collapse, Max grabbed him by the arms and hurled him toward the others, sending them all crashing into each other in a tangled heap.
This wasn’t new to Max.
He had dealt with situations like this multiple times before. These weren’t the top of the top. They were hired muscle. Bullies who relied on numbers and fear. Against someone prepared, they fell apart quickly.
The workers could only stare.
They watched in disbelief as Max dismantled them one by one. It didn’t take long before all ten of the attackers were rolling on the floor, groaning, clutching broken limbs and bruised bodies.
"It’s going to be more trouble to keep these guys here and question them," Max thought. Besides, he already knew who had sent them.
Max looked down at them.
"So," he said, his voice firm, "you’re going to get up and leave this place. And don’t even think about coming back. I’m going to be here for a while."
The message was clear.
Slowly, painfully, the men began to crawl back toward their vehicles. Some had to help each other. Others could barely stand. But eventually, they piled into the cars and drove off without another word.
The warehouse fell silent.
The workers stood there, stunned.
"...Hey," one of them muttered, "maybe wrestling is real."
"Right. Right," another replied, nodding slowly.
Rumors spread quickly after that. Word traveled through the staff that the shop had hired a real wrestler to defend the deliveries. By the end of the day, Max had already started becoming a small legend among the employees.
The news eventually reached Karen.
She learned everything that had happened, from Wolf’s actions to Max’s fight at the warehouse. At first, she was shocked. She hadn’t expected things to escalate so quickly, or for the response to be so... effective. But as she listened, her shock turned into relief, then excitement.
"They actually managed to change something," Karen said, almost laughing in disbelief. "They really did change it! Those guys are worth every penny. Now we just need to see how this affects the rest of the days."
As the shop prepared to close, the group began to leave. There was still a chance of another attack at night, and because of that, Max offered Karen nighttime security as well. It would be less expensive. He essentially gave her a half-price discount, but that was for ten regular members of the Billion Bloodline group.
Meanwhile, the others were getting some rest, preparing for the next day.
"It looks like everyone did a good job," Wolf said. "But we need to be careful tomorrow. More than likely, there’s going to be a big reaction from the Gilt Rats. So be prepared."