The terrifying force and speed of the multi-ton car moving through the air had forced it to violently crash through the heavy reinforced walls of the Fortis compound. The steel gate shattered and the concrete pillars broke apart under the sheer kinetic impact. However, the defensive outer wall itself was incredibly sturdy, absorbing the brunt of the shock and allowing the crumpled chassis of the SUV to only briefly skid across the front of the courtyard before grinding to a violent halt.
The fact that the sprawling courtyard at the front of the building was mostly made of thick, manicured grass and decorative stonework also helped arrest its momentum, preventing it from crashing directly into the lobby doors.
Thankfully, no one had been hit by the flying vehicle, as Max had strictly ordered that no one was to be standing right by the vulnerable entrance of the doors when the initial breach occurred. It was a calculated retreat.
So, other than just spectacularly destroying the main gate and creating a cloud of dust, the theatrical display hadn’t physically affected the Billion Bloodline group in any way. But psychologically, it had certainly done something to the enemy army waiting outside.
Seeing Ramon effortlessly show such a , god-like display of raw mechanical power had exponentially increased their morale.
The ten thousand thugs already had the comfort of overwhelming numbers and the backing of each other’s roaring voices. But seeing their Syndicate leader standing tall, looking completely invincible, and showing a terrifying feat of strength that absolutely no regular human could ever be capable of... it ignited something dark and frenzied within them. They felt unstoppable.
"Get them! Tear them apart!" the front-line men shouted, their voices merging into a deafening, unified roar as they raised their weapons and ran forward en masse.
The blood-curdling voices of ten thousand people truly did shake the very foundations of the neighborhood, and the sheer volume of the battle cry definitely sent a chill down the spines of the Billion Bloodline group waiting inside. This was especially true since not all of Max’s people were stationed outside in the courtyard; the bulk of their three thousand defenders were strategically layered inside the building.
Meanwhile, the voices of nearly all of their enemies had been aggressively concentrated together at the breach point. It sounded like an avalanche of human violence.
Still, despite the terrifying roar and the sea of charging bodies, the Bloodline group stood their ground in the courtyard. They didn’t flinch. They simply stayed in their perfectly arranged formations and waited patiently in the shadows.
They saw the , disorganized group of people rushing through the broken gate with absolute, blind confidence. The strength in their voices was palpable, and they came pouring in through the choke point exactly like a mindless, swarming colony of angry ants.
As the first wave of Gilt Rats and Black Hounds entered the courtyard, a group of them immediately broke off and went sprinting ahead to violently engage with the visible Bloodline fighters holding the front line.
The Billion Bloodline group didn’t back down. Some of the heavier fighters roared back and charged forward to meet them head-on, jumping into the fray and brutally superman-punching the lead attackers right in the face, shattering noses and dropping them instantly.
Others came from the flanks and violently tackled the charging thugs to the grass. But right as the brutal melee began, that’s when something incredibly interesting and highly coordinated had occurred.
While the second wave of attackers continued to blindly run forward through the broken gate to support their vanguard, there was suddenly a sharp, rhythmic popping sound. Pop. Pop. Pop. It was a series of small, sharp cracking sounds that constantly went off in rapid succession over the din of the battle.
As the popping echoed, small, wired projectiles were accurately hitting the exposed backs of the charging attackers. Instantly, their whole bodies were violently electrifying. Gang members seized up, dropping their weapons as thousands of volts coursed through their muscles, causing them to spasm and fall heavily onto the grass on the spot.
For those lucky few that weren’t instantly incapacitated by the electrical current, the sudden shock and confusion in their ranks gave a opening for the Billion Bloodline group’s front line to ruthlessly attack and crush them while they were distracted.
"What the heck is happening?!" the surviving Gilt Rat members yelled in panic as they frantically turned around to look behind them.
That’s when they could see the trap. Perfectly lined up and hiding right up against the inner side of the destroyed outer wall, areas the charging horde had completely sprinted past without checking their corners, were dozens more members of the Bloodline group. And they all had high-grade, military-issue stun guns tightly gripped in their hands, which they had just simultaneously fired into the backs of the charging mob.
Those hidden defenders that hadn’t managed to hit a target with their tasers didn’t hesitate. That’s when they smoothly decided to drop the spent weapons, draw their batons, and charge directly into the fray. They were now viciously joining the fight from behind the enemy lines, effectively trapping the vanguard in a pincer movement.
They whacked the disoriented attackers violently at the back of their heads and knees. Within seconds, the entire first wave of the invading group was brutally pinned to the grass, groaning in pain. The attackers were faring significantly worse than they ever thought possible, even with their ly inflated morale.
The tactical situation they had just been thrown into wasn’t like any standard street brawl they had ever been in before. This was organized warfare.
"What the f*ck are you guys doing?! This is so slimy! Using ranged weapons in a turf war?!" one of the downed Black Hound lieutenants screamed, spitting blood into the grass as a boot pressed into his spine.
What the thugs didn’t realize was that most of the disciplined fighters who had just used the tactical stun guns were actually veteran operators from the original Fortis private security team.
These seasoned professionals didn’t abide by this fake, honorable morale of "unwritten underworld street rules." To them, this wasn’t a gang fight; someone was actively attacking their fortified headquarters with lethal intent, and they simply needed to efficiently deal with the threat using maximum prejudice and tactical advantage.
Still, looking at the sea of bodies still waiting outside the walls, the Gilt Rats and Black Hounds didn’t worry too much about losing their vanguard because they still possessed an absolutely overwhelming amount of people in reserve.
Trying to rush in and help the others who were being slaughtered in the courtyard, hundreds more members rushed aggressively into the breach. A few of the fastest runners passed through the broken gates cleanly. But right after they crossed the threshold, two heavily muscled Bloodline men hiding behind the ruined pillars suddenly pulled hard, and a large, thick piece of industrial industrial rope was instantly raised knee-high across the entire gap.
It was pulled taut at the exact, perfect microsecond, acting as a brutal tripwire. It caused the entire sprinting front row of people to violently catch their shins, stumble forward, and fall face-first onto the hard concrete of the driveway.
They had been moving far too fast, entirely too excited and filled with blinding adrenaline as they rushed straight ahead into the meat grinder.
Right after the front row went falling hard, the sheer momentum of the thousands of men charging from behind meant they couldn’t stop in time. They blindly tripped and fell heavily on top of their own downed comrades. The entry space was incredibly narrow because Ramon had only broken down the central doors, leaving the army with very little physical space to swarm inside without bottlenecking themselves.
Within seconds, a , chaotic pile-up of cursing, struggling bodies choked the entire entrance.
However, this specific tactical trick with the trip-rope would logically only work exactly once. It had all been meticulously planned to work together at the absolute perfect time to maximize disruption.
If the rope trap was used at the very beginning of the siege before the vanguard was inside, it would only trip up so many men before the horde simply realized it was there and managed to just climb over it or shove past their own people. The defenders intentionally had to let a specific number of people fully into the courtyard first. This allowed the hidden Fortis team to successfully attack the vanguard from behind with the stun guns without being immediately overwhelmed by the second wave.
And confidently knowing the rope trick was in the works to temporarily block the main reinforcements from pouring in, the front-line Bloodline fighters could safely go ahead and ruthlessly deal with the trapped vanguard from behind without fear of being swarmed.
Using all of these layered, highly coordinated tactical traps, the Billion Bloodline group had excelled in already significantly thinning the attackers’ numbers and breaking their initial momentum before a single casualty was suffered on their side.
Standing safely outside the pile-up, watching the absolute chaos unfold at the gates, the Black Hound leaders narrowed their eyes.
"Hey... this highly coordinated way of fighting..." Jett said, his cocky smile finally faltering as he watched his men get electrocuted and tripped. He looked over at Darius, unease creeping into his voice.
"Yeah..." Darius muttered, his jaw clenching tight as he recognized the tactical signature. "I have a very, very bad feeling about this setup."
Unbeknownst to the charging horde, there was one more vital person hiding in the group of Bloodline group that was currently proving to be an absolute, game-changing asset to their survival. She had been the one to issue the secure walkie-talkies to the squad captains, ensuring they could communicate with ease on encrypted channels to perfectly time everything from the taser volleys to the rope traps.
While actively looking through a second, highly advanced set of security cameras right at the very top floor, in the luxurious corner office where the Chairman of the Fortis group would usually be, Max wasn’t the one sitting comfortably in the leather seat. It was someone else entirely orchestrating the defense.
"Well, since I’m on the payroll now, I should start showing them I’m actually worth something, right?" Vivian said with a sharp, calculating smile.
The brilliant ex-strategist of the Black Hounds leaned forward, her fingers flying across the tactical monitors, ready to dismantle her former gang piece by piece.