The streets outside the Fortis building were a chaotic sea of hostility. Men continuously poured out of the seemingly endless convoy of black armored cars. Some of them stepped onto the asphalt heavily armed with lethal weapons, assault rifles, shotguns, and spiked bats, while others relied purely on their imposing physical bulk and martial prowess. It was a terrifying, heavily coordinated mixture of two distinct underworld cultures.
The disciplined, ruthless enforcers from the Black Hounds stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the cunning, technologically backed thugs from the Gilt Rats. Yet, despite their overwhelming numbers, they didn’t charge the fortified gates straight away. The thousands of gang members formed a perimeter, holding their ground because they were strictly waiting for the main heavy hitters to step onto the battlefield.
The heavy doors of a luxury, bulletproof SUV swung open. Darius, the imposing leader of the Black Hounds, as well as his top lieutenant, Jett, both stepped out of the vehicle with wide, bloodthirsty smiles plastered across their faces.
"I’ve been waiting on this specific raid for a long, long time," Jett said, cracking his neck as he looked up at the towering Fortis headquarters. He let out a dark chuckle. "Ah, it feels like I was just at this place yesterday, fighting for my life. Too many times did these upstart Bloodline guys manage to miraculously survive encountering us. But their luck has officially run out. It’s mathematically impossible for us to be done over with an army like this."
Just as Darius was about to say something in agreement, a loud, mechanical hum drew his attention. Looking over towards the center of the convoy, he could see the other high-ranking members finally stepping out of their own heavily armored vehicles.
Ramon had arrived.
Strikingly, the Syndicate leader had stepped out onto the war-torn street wearing a pristine, white laboratory coat over his clothes. It was a bizarre, almost insulting sight in the middle of a gang war, making it look as if he had never stopped working or doing high-level research, even after fleeing the facility.
But if one looked closely beneath the fluttering white fabric, they would have instantly noticed the terrifying piece of hardware that was firmly locked around his body. The custom combat exoskeleton.
It wasn’t just a pair of enhanced gauntlets anymore. Thick, hydraulic-lined metal plating was seamlessly wrapped around his legs and bolted to his heavy boots. The mechanical framework crawled up his thighs, integrated heavily into his arms, and formed a thick, impenetrable carapace underneath his lab coat across his chest. The spinal support column extended all the way up the back of his neck, locking firmly into the base of his skull to interface with his nervous system. He looked like a cyborg warlord.
Then, there were the others that had stepped out of the transport vans along with him. There were eight of them in total, and surprisingly, each of them was also dressed in matching white lab coats.
Not all of the standard combat members of the Gilt Rats had been given this prestigious attire, but these specific individuals were different. The ones who had been gifted the other partial exoskeleton parts to use were all core, trusted members of the elite research and development team from within the Gilt Rats’ hidden labs.
There were a few highly calculated reasons for Ramon deploying them on the front lines. First and foremost, because these researchers had physically built and calibrated the suits, they intimately knew how to use the complex equipment better than any common street thug ever could. They understood the torque limits, the hydraulic pressure ratios, and the power management systems, meaning they could effortlessly draw out its maximum destructive power.
Secondly, a live combat scenario allowed them to further use this bloody raid as a brutal field test to gather data and instantly enhance the power of the equipment for future mass production.
And finally, just because they were labeled as ’research workers’ didn’t mean they were weak, defenseless nerds. They were high-ranking members of the Gilt Rats, not a regular corporate organization, for a very good reason. Although they might have done some horrific scientific misdeeds in the past that forced them down this dark criminal line, they had also learned exactly how to violently protect themselves in the underworld, making it out on top compared to others who relied solely on muscle.
"So, the mad scientist actually managed to do it in the end," Darius commented, his eyes narrowing as he analyzed the flashing lights on the mechanical suits. "It looks like they successfully completed eight pairs of partial exoskeleton enhancements, and one absolute full-body set for Ramon himself."
"Right," Jett said, a competitive glint in his eye as he looked at the high-tech strike team. "With the raw strength those suits put out, it will be exactly like we got nine clones of me fighting by their side today. And then, of course, there’s still us."
Jett looked past the army, staring confidently at the heavy, reinforced outer wall, the thick steel security gate, and the tall, monolithic building waiting somewhat in the distance behind it.
Then, there was one more figure that had quietly stepped out from the shadows of a rear vehicle. He was dressed in a battered black leather jacket and ripped black jeans, and completely covering his face was a terrifying, hyper-realistic skull mask.
He looked like a violent enforcer straight out of some type of psychotic biker gang, but the high-ranking members knew exactly who he was. It was Skull.
He possessed an aura of pure, silent death. He was the one person standing in this army that even managed to give a hardened killer like Darius the sudden shivers.
"Sir, the main gate is incredibly tough!" one of the front-line grunts yelled, jogging nervously toward Ramon. "We can eventually break through it with cutting torches and explosives, but it’s going to take us a while to breach!"
The grunt looked anxiously towards a specialized tech team that was stood by the side, ready with a bunch of heavy laptops and decryption devices that were usually utilized for hacking into electronic security systems like this.
However, with the Fortis group having been an elite private security team in the past, it wasn’t as if they had old, outdated tech protecting their headquarters. Their firewalls were military-grade, which was exactly why it would take the hackers far too much precious time to bypass the locks.
"No, stand down. There’s absolutely no need for that," Ramon commanded, his voice artificially amplified by a small speaker on his collar.
Ramon stepped to the absolute front of the army, turning around to face his ten thousand men. He raised his mechanical arms, the servos whining loudly.
"Everyone, listen to me!" Ramon shouted. "After we completely slaughter the Fortis group today and forcefully take everything they own for ourselves, this... this is the type of god-like power that every single one of you will be capable of wielding!"
Turning around to face a , heavily armored SUV parked directly behind him, Ramon bent his knees slightly. He reached down, his hydraulic fingers gripping tightly onto the reinforced steel undercarriage of the vehicle.
With a deafening mechanical hiss , the vehicle violently tilted on its side. Ramon adjusted his footing, the metal plates on his boots locking into the asphalt. Then, pulling on the chassis and repositioning his center of gravity, he effortlessly lifted the multi-ton SUV completely off the ground and hoisted it high over his head.
The entire army of ten thousand men went dead silent. Everyone was watching him in absolute awe and sheer disbelief.
Of course, most of the Gilt Rat members knew conceptually what their boss had been secretly working on in the labs. But this was the very first time they were witnessing the true, unadulterated physical power of the completed exoskeleton in live use.
When the exoskeleton had previously just been enhanced gauntlets on the arms, it was certainly impressive. But because this masterwork version was running seamlessly through the entire suit, every single mechanical piece was supporting each other like an artificial skeleton inside a human body. The immense weight of the SUV was distributed perfectly down through his mechanical spine and directly into the concrete below, completely bypassing his fragile human muscles.
Turning around smoothly with the vehicle hoisted above him like a toy, Ramon locked his eyes onto the heavy steel security gate. With a feral roar, he launched the SUV straight towards it.
With the full, terrifying force of a missile strike, the heavy vehicle crashed violently into the reinforced wall. The sheer kinetic impact shattered the concrete pillars, completely breaking apart the heavy steel gate from its hinges. The crumpled remains of the SUV went skidding violently across the front courtyard of the Fortis building in a shower of sparks and broken glass.
The dust settled, revealing a , gaping hole in the impenetrable defenses.
Ramon lowered his hydraulic arms and smirked. "The doors are now open."