Cyberpunk: Ultimate Cyborg System-Chapter 474: Nothing Personal.

Two days have passed since Jim made his report. Nine more had disappeared since then, and dozens more quit after hearing the story.

Once again, Finka, Kindjal, and Jaguar found themselves in the club room with the broken TV. They were just done hearing another report, so the tension was rising through the sky. What needs to be said had been said when all of this started, and all that was left was for the gang's boss to make up his mind.

The Daggers were a big gang, so it goes without saying that the NVPD and BEO had people constantly watching them. It was simply impossible for them not to learn of what's happening when people are disappearing, so it's more than likely that they had their eyes on the situation.

The Genomes were the only ones who could deal with someone like Ghost, so collaborating with the BEO should have been the obvious choice. Despite knowing that, Jaguar was still being stubborn, and his subordinates were getting tired of it.

Two more days passed, and another nine vanished. Among them, one seemed to cause the most chaos.

"The hell do you mean he's gone!!?"

Two semi-trucks were parked in an open space hidden behind a number of tall buildings, most of which belonged to the Daggers. The place was a valuable blind spot in the city's surveillance system, and most of the time, every entrance leading to it was heavily guarded.

Not only that, but the security had been increased in the last couple of weeks, partly because the semi-trucks had been moved there, and partly because Jaguar was staying in a nearby club most of the time. Despite all of that, they still lost the kid.

"The suit!" Jaguar growled. "Did he finish unlocking the second suit!!?"

"That… doesn't seem to be the case, sir…"

The silence that followed was cut by a sharp grinding noise, its source being the infamous metal jaws of the gang's boss.

"Something isn't right," Kindjal said, pouring cold water on the anger boiling inside Jaguar. When they turned to him with questioning looks, he gestured to something on the ground. "This isn't the same as the other cases."

All around them, corpses littered the ground. Those were the guards tasked with keeping an eye on the kid as he continued his Dive into the Black Shield suits. All of them had one thing in common: a single hole right between the eyebrows. The clean entrance and exit wounds and the seared skin around it showed were enough proof that whoever is responsible for the massacre didn't use a normal gun.

"Who gives a shit?" It wasn't long before Jaguar's rage boiled once more.

"All I'm saying is that your brat wasn't taken by that portal cunt." Kindjal sighed. "We should look around. We might catch whoever took him."

That was nothing more than wishful thinking, and everyone knew it. Still, Jaguar gave the order to look for his runaway son. The very idea of him escaping for the second time added to the rage burning through the gang boss. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

"I'm not waiting till we find the little shit." He said, turning to his green-haired subordinate. "You finish the rest."

"Don't get your hopes up."

Though the data showed that only one gate remained active in the suit's security system, Kindjal wasn't too sure about his chances. He had tried diving into it before, but he failed every time, only ever breaking through the first gate. Still, with only one gate left, and with the brat having weakened the defensive AIs, there was a small chance an average Diver could make it through.

Another two days passed. The Daggers kept bleeding members, and it only got worse once it got around that no one disappeared from those who quit. As if that wasn't bad enough, rival gangs took note and started causing trouble. For once, Black Skull wasn't among them. They had enough trouble as is, so trying to pick a fight just when the Daggers left them alone didn't sound like a good idea.

Another two days passed. The Daggers shrank to their original size. Not only were they losing members, but they were losing assets, too. Shards, cars, property deeds—everything seemed to be vanishing into the air.

The NVPD was looking into the matter, too. With no loyalty left in them, former members were starting to speak. Because of that, the authorities kept a much closer eye on the gang than usual, making it difficult to do business.

Even after all of that, people were still vanishing. That went on for a few more days, and when the tenth came and passed, something finally changed.

A familiar face was seen in the area, and seeing it after so long, life seemed to return to those left behind. When he got the news, Jaguar seemed to regain some vitality, too. If that man was back, then things were about to change. It didn't take him long to arrive at the silent club. Looking back, it should have been obvious that something was off when no one cheered for that man's return. Jaguar learned the reason when he went to welcome him, only to catch a glimpse of crimson hair following closely behind.

"Henry…"

"Hey, Kent. Log time no see."

A tall man built like a grizzly bear and dressed as one stood in front of Jaguar, grinning as if he hadn't been missing for weeks. Though he was standing right there, he was still refusing to answer the texts sent to him.

"How about we sit down first? We have a lot to discuss." The hairy giant said, and they found a room where they could sit down and actually talk.

As if the signs weren't already clear enough, the one who took the couch facing Jaguar wasn't his giant friend, but the red-haired guy who came after him. Henry went and stood behind him. As they stared at each other from across the room, the red-haired youth seemed to be the very picture of calm, while Jaguar felt like he was on the verge of snapping.

"I heard the rumors." The youth said. "Seems like you aren't doing that well these days."

Jaguar didn't answer, his eyes trying to bore a hole into the youth who turned to the hairy giant behind him. If it's a staring contest he wanted, then that's exactly what he got. Eventually, Jaguar grew tired of the charade and turned to his old friend.

"What are you doing over there, Henry?"

It was obvious what he was trying to ask, and though he got the meaning in its entirety, Henry still refused to address the obvious. With the red-haired brat around, they couldn't even communicate over text. Their only choice was to exchange a few looks and hope that the other person got the idea.

"We came here to discuss what happened a while back." Said the red-haired brat. "I hear you were the one who ordered my capture."

Guessing that he wouldn't be getting any answers from his friend, Jaguar returned his gaze to the by sitting opposite him.

"So?" He growled.

"Just wanted to say thank you." Shrugging, the red-haired youth went on. "I really needed a wake-up call back then. You could say I got a little cocky. That car crash and the torture that followed helped put things into perspective, and it gave me the push I needed to move things forward."

As he spoke, the youth raised his right hand and looked at the alloy plating covering it. Jaguar had seen the videos, so he knew those bionic arms weren't anything to scoff at. Something about them seemed different, however.

"You came all this way just to say that?" Said Jaguar.

"No, we came here to get this over with." The redhead replied. "I'll be getting busy after this, so…"

"Kent," After remaining silent all this time, Henry finally spoke. "You have failed the Daggers. You keep losing people, and your territory is shrinking. Your rivals are roaming around unchecked, and the police are looking into you. You've got no way to turn this around. Step down and let the rest of us handle it."

Looking up from the youth, Jaguar stared at his old friend for some time, then brought his brow together, anger quickly twisting the side of his face that hadn't been covered in metal.

"You're betraying me, Henry!?"

"Nothing personal, old friend." Henry's expression didn't change. "You just don't make the cut anymore."

BANG!

The room suddenly exploded with movement. Jaguar's right leg shot up, kicking the coffee table and everything on it. Something shot through the wall to the right, flying straight toward Jaguar's outstretched hand. Henry leapt back, his coat ripping as his bionics unfurled.

The number of people in the room doubled as several cloaked figures appeared out of nowhere, and in the middle of it all, the red-haired youth remained seated, his arms resting on the back of the coach as if none of what was happening concerned him.

As an obsidian gauntlet formed around Jaguar's right arm, he whipped it at the red-haired youth and spread his palm open. White light flooded the room in an instant.