OLD-WORLD EXTRA

48  Satisfaction [Understood.]

As soon as she started moving, a small hologram of her current situation was present in front of Emir, showing him her location from a third-person point of view.

"We are a small group belonging to an underworld faction. I don't know much about our leaders, not that I could tell you anyways, but just know that the faction members secretly infiltrated many seats of the UEF government, their industries, and sectors."

As he spoke, Emir watched Lyra control Max in his Chrono-Sense augmented suit, silently killing their hideout guards one after the other, with maximum efficiency, offering them no chance to retaliate.

"We're not significant enough to have a name in the faction you see, but we call ourselves Night Raiders. You already know what our friend Max told you, and it's a shame that you killed him. He was a good man,"

"Anyways, that's already more than enough information for someone who's about to meet their end. Are you content now? Tell me what you know before I lose my patience."

'I need to stall for more time.' Emir thought as he watched Lyra sneak into the building, unsurprisingly not getting detected by the heat and information gathering sensors plastered all around the hideout.

"I will, there is nothing left for me to lose anyway, but before that, I need to know, did Max tell you about me?" Emir asked, acting oblivious to the evident truth.

"Of course, we always deployed him as bait to catch anyone tracking us. People would usually spare him, moved by his sob story, but you're not like them."

The man looked at Emir up and down, his eyes full of curiosity.

"You are different." He continued.

"He was truly scared of you. He was known for his acting, but even the best actor in the world wouldn't show a face of true fear like that when dead."

"But enough about that, stop asking questions and answer me." He said, his tone starting to get impatient.

"Alright, alright, .....it was something I found in sector 2-A, I found an injection needle filled with weird liquid, I got it checked with the local hospital, and it was discovered to be a stolen Nano-bots injection, and since I found it, it was injected into me for free, only after deciding it was safe, of course."

"Since that day, I've noticed the connection to the old world that you mentioned, although I have no idea what it is, or what I can do with it."

Eyeing Emir suspiciously, he asked, "You're not lying to me, are you?"

"No, I want this to end with me, you could get a lie detector if you wanted to, I have no problem in prolonging my death, you know."

"Good man, but there is no need for that, so tell me, where did you find it?" He asked, his voice failing to suppress his happiness at the news.

"I've found it in..." Emir said, only to pause for a long moment.

"SAY IT!" The man screamed, desperation creeping into his voice.

"Your grave," he replied with a dark, twisted smile.

In a sudden outburst of impatience, he reached for his assault rifle, but before he could even lift it, his head exploded into a shower of gore as bullets whizzed through him.

The man beside him jumped in surprise and attempted to grab his own gun, but he was swiftly taken down by two bullets to the body.

The echoes of gunfire faded, and the pinging sound of bullets hitting the ground filled the silence.

Slowly, Emir lifted his head to see the walking-dead body of Max, holding a shoddy rifle in his dead hands.

[All dead, Lyra?]

[All dead.] She confirmed.

[Good, let's proceed with the second part of the plan.]

She freed Emir from his restraints, and he struggled to stand up due to his weakened state.

He swallowed some pills to alleviate the pain and waited for a while until they healed his body to a functioning state.

Now that he was able to move, he made his way over to one of the men who had tortured him for the past three days.

"Hey there, still alive?" He inquired, nudging the man's almost lifeless body with his foot.

"Please, just kill me," he responded, his voice defeated.

Emir chuckled, madness apparent in his eyes.

"Oh, Hahaha, don't worry, don't worry, I'll kill you. But it's up to you—do you want it to be slow or quick?"

"...."

"You're stealing my silent treatment now? How original. Did you not have enough fun torturing me?"

Emir kicked him where the bullet hit.

"I'll tell you everything I know, please." He responded, appearing too weak to handle the pain he was so used to inflicting on others.

"Well, stolen tricks are just stolen tricks. Did your boss tell anyone about me?" Emir asked.

"N-no, Sir. Only the Night Raiders knew. He didn't want anyone else to take our chance," he answered, stuttering through the pain.

"Good to know. Now let's end this... Goodbye, friend."

Lyra, still controlling Max, shot him straight in the head, splattering his brain.

[Do they have equipment better than mine?] Emir asked, looking away from the bloodied corpses.

[No, some weapons are decent, but aside from that, nothing is better, all are equal or worse, but you can collect all their gear and sell it in the black market, it would net you some profit.]

[That's the plan girl, by the way, do you know where they stored my gear?]

[Follow me,] she said as her hologram appeared and walked in front of Emir.

While that happened, Max's body kept piling up Night Raider's equipment into a corner of the room.

Following her into a room neighboring the one he was just in, Emir spotted a mother lode of weapons.

'Jackpot!' He thought in glee.

But ignoring that for a moment, he walked up to a weapons rack, where he pulled out his guns and augmented suit.

After changing into his suit and strapping on his AR and rail gun, Emir began helping with gathering the weapons scattered around the room.

But on his way to the corner of the torture room, he suddenly heard the sound of gunfire echoing right behind him.