New York City, America
October 25, 2075
Rain was pouring and black clouds filled the sky blocking out the moon and the stars.
Towering buildings emitting bright lights that set the city alight even with the gloomy weather. Cars filling the streets as people filled the sidewalks while flying vehicles roamed in mid-air. Billboards flashing different news and announcements.
[Nexus introduces Nexus Mk-II]
[Lunar Eclipse at Midnight]
[ Dylan Ford reveals why he retired UFC after winning the Lightweight Title]
...
In a store on the streets of New York, the TVs on display were replaying a weather broadcast which was aired several hours ago.
"Cumulonimbus clouds are gathering all throughout New York City tonight. Meteorologists say that a thunderstorm is going to happen. There is an 80% chance of rainfall. Thus, it is best to stay indoors and wait for the storm to pass..."
...
After settling the deal for the project of Nexus Mk-II, Dylan with his two secretaries went back to New York City where the headquarters of Omega's branch in America is, Omega Tower.
Omega Tower was now the name of the 100 storey-building which is in the middle of the city. After the plot of land was bought for exuberant price, the buildings were destroyed and remodeled into the present tower. The tower is owned by Dylan Ford, CEO of Omega.
On the topmost floor of the building, Dylan finished all of his meetings and signed tens of due paper before packing his things. Stretching his neck, he said "Finally, done for the day."
Dylan looked at the vintage silver watch on his wrist that should cost approximately seventy thousand dollars. He checked the time which was 11: 30 , "It's already past 11."
He grabbed his phone and looked confused after seeing no notifications. He pondered, "Strange, Rose has not called me nor texted me. Usually, she would call to ask if I'm home already..."
The unease he was feeling kept growing and he became more anxious as he waited. His intuition is telling him that something is up and he never doubted his intuition for it saved his life countless times already.
To confirm his intuition, Dylan clicked on Rose's number and called but no one answered. He dialed it three more times but to no avail.
*Ring... Ring.... Ring...*
"Is she asleep already? Was she that tired after shooting that movie?"
"Stil no answer... But she would always message me before going to bed. Even if she was tired, she would send a voicemail..."
He then returned his attention to his desk. With a press of a button, a holographic screen appeared, he clicked 'Emergency Call' and called, "Alice, to reverify Rose's activities and flight schedule. I need details in 3, no, 2 minutes."
Dylan hung up and quickly retrieved his suitcase. Before leaving, he called another number using 'Emergency Call' and hung up, "Jared, contact the 'Black Suits' that were tracking Rose and Roses' private bodyguards, update me within 1 minute."
The duo were stunned at first but quickly realized what was happening, 'The Lady Boss might be in danger!'
The man pressed his hands on the biomatrix pad near the well-furnished closet near his desk. The closet opened and revealed a brown leather coat which Dylan swiftly grabbed.
Dylan dashed to the executive elevator and pressed the parking lot at the 100th floor. He pressed the button with the label [Contact Tech Admin Office] and a holographic flat mic appeared above the button. He said through the mic , "Prepare the emergency exit now."
In two minutes, the number on top of the buttons decreased from 108 to 100. The door of the elevator quickly opened and a pleasant voice said, "You have arrived at your destination."
He saw a text message from Alice saying, [Sir, according to Mrs. Ford's itinerary, she should have arrived at your house by 10. But, for some reason, she disappeared in the bathroom of the arrival area in the airport according to her manager. I'm looking into the surveillance of the airport as we speak.]
Another text from Jared popped up, [Sir, I finished asking all the bodyguards, the Lady Boss has not arrived in your house according to the fact that her private bodyguards lost her on the airport after Misses Ford went to the bathroom. The 'Black Suits' reported that a suspicious group of white masked individuals were in the Arrival Area several minutes before her arrival.]
"Damn it! Just what the fuck is happening?" Dylan cursed. Despite his impatience he messaged [ Masked individuals? Jared, find out whether they have animals inscribed onto their masks.]
The anxiety in Dylan started welling. He prayed silently, 'Rose, please be safe.'
When he reached the parking lot, he quickly ran out of the elevator and ran towards the nearest vehicle available. But, there was a black silhouette beside that car.
Dylan's fear was now turning out to be true when he saw a mask on the face of that person. Someone was really plotting something! Suddenly...
*Bang*
Before the gunshot was fired, Dylan had already evaded the bullet's trajectory by sidestepping.
"Oho!" The gunner mused before he fired another round of shots aiming at Dylan once again.
*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*
Dylan ducked as he lowered his body and rolled cleanly to his right for him to dodge the gunshots. He quickly stood up and bolted to the nearest car to him.
The gunner wore a black winter coat and a scarf with a brown fedora. He also had a yellow mask with a snake drawn on it. His hands were in his pockets and quietly stood there.
When Dylan moved, the head of the gunner turned to his direction. A hoarse voice was heard with a chilling tone, "Why are you in such a hurry?"
Dylan immediately knew that this was an organized operation when he saw another person standing beside the car which was nearest to him.
"He really is a fighter. He has some moves. Hehe." This man wore the same get-up and almost had the same build as the gunner but he was half a head shorter. His mask was also yellow like the gunner but had a hyena, instead of a snake. A gun was also resting on his right hand.
'These masks... Are they...?' Dylan abruptly stopped running and questioned, "Who sent you?"
"Someone who wants to kill you and we are the ones they sent. My code name is Yellow Cobra." The gunner introduced.
"Of course, I know that you were sent to kill me. That's why I asked who it was. You're an idiot after all. Hm... with only two of you? You must be underestimating me." Dylan nonchalantly said as he touched his silver watch and pressed the handle of his briefcase.
"Tsk, why you!" The two were insulted and swiftly aimed their guns at Dylan. But as soon as they did they froze because they were also being marked with firearms.
Dylan's silver watch seemed to have transformed into a miniature rocket launcher with a tiny rocket aimed at Yellow Cobra while his briefcase seemed to have revealed a mini-rifle from its side and was also aimed at the person with the hyena on his mask.
"I have dealt with countless assassination attempts like this. What's new?" Dylan looked at them with a calm smile.
"Do you really think a toy like that can kill me?" Yellow cobra coldly laughed when he saw the tiny rocket launcher opposite to him. He reached for his reserved gun as he spoke.
"Oh, so you're doubting the quality of my company's products? We can't have that now, can we? So why don't we test it out for real" Dylan smiled just the same.
*Tchk* *Tchk*
*Bang* *Bang*
With a flick of his hand, he aimed at the guns they were holding and fired. The guns were blown away from their hands and destroyed.
"Grr... Damn it!" Yellow Cobra wanted to refute but he knew that Omega Tech has already become the world's foremost company when it came to technology and engineering.
"With your standards... you are just wasting time. You can't kill me." Dylan warned.
"Don't try to have any ideas of escaping." He continued slowly as his watch and briefcase reloaded.
"I'll fucking kill you!" Yellow Cobra roared with bloodshot eyes. He really wished that he could kill Dylan right now.
"How arrogant. Although we were confident that we could kill you instantly, the client still hired others to make sure you never get out of here alive. We were skeptical at first but it looks like he was right." Yellow Hyena gritted his teeth.
At the end of his sentence, several more men appeared and surrounded Dylan all of a sudden. Each one of these men were trained hitmen with professional skills. They exuded different auras of killing, some were savage, some were cold, some were refined and some were just indifferent to life.
Without giving Dylan a chance to react, two projectiles were fired at Dylan.
One of the newcomers launched an arrow which punctured Dylan's briefcase. The force caused Dylan to let go of his briefcase and the resultant force caused it to be embedded on the wall behind him.
Another one threw a ball which was thrown towards Dylan's watch. The ball seemed to morph into a four legged spider as it latched onto his watch and discharged an electrical shock which both fried the circuit of the launcher watch and the ball. It also inadvertently hurt Dylan's left wrist.
"An arrow from a complex bow with a force enhancing quiver? A circuit frying mini-bot?" Dylan mumbled as he retreated several steps backwards.
"Don't move." The two marksmen warned which Dylan silently acknowledged by halting his retreat. Now, he was only a few meters away from his briefcase.
"Not so high and mighty now, are we?" Yellow Cobra sneered.
"Don't be so happy, we've been had, after all." Yellow Hyena said.
"Tsk!"
"I can't believe that they hired 12 of us to do this. Hahaha, he looks really weak. Even more so, that you two got bested by this sissy. Bahaha!" A huge guy with a rhino mask which was 7 foot tall mocked Dylan.
"Oh, just shut up. Focus, will you? We still have a job to do, idiot." A skinny man with a crane on his mask wearing chinese style robes said with his hands at his back.
"What did you say, you little shit?!"
"Don't cause trouble right now. I don't care what you guys do. But you should wait after this mission. Then, you can kill yourselves for all I care." The man behind them who had a tiger on his mask shrugged. He had long hair draping down his shoulders and he wore a fur coat from the carcass of a tiger and gave off a wild air.
"Tsk... Yes, boss..." The two did not refute what the blond man said and stayed silent.
All of them were wearing masks with yellow colored animals on them like the first two.
"So you two failed?" The blond man asked.
" Yes..." The two reluctantly admitted.
However, instead of scolding them, he smiled and looked at Dylan, " Interesting. Everyone, standby for a moment. Since the first attack did not work, we will need to fulfill the second term of the contract."
Dylan knew that they were assassins of the underworld from Diablo's Beast Ranking where all assassins and hitmen were listed and given a title. He cursed 'Even Diablo's goons are part of this plot and they were willing to send this many just to kill me, huh?'
'But, why are they... this weak?'
"The person behind this must be someone really powerful. To think they could let you enter my company without sounding an alarm and that they could hire people from King Diablo's Masked Beast Rankers." Dylan remained calm as he further scanned the group.
The hitmen were shocked that this guy would actually know about them. Yellow Tiger stepped forwards and answered, "It seems the title of Greatest Businessman isn't just for show. Indeed, they are. Knowing who they are might even shock you."
"As expected, your connections in the underworld are equally as amazing as you would know about us. We are indeed part of the army of one of the Three Underworld Kings, King Diablo."
"Boss, are you sure we should admit it just like that?" Yellow Crane asked.
"It's fine. We were asked to kill him anyway." The boss replied casually
'Maybe I can get some information from the so-called 'boss'.' Dylan thought. He proceeded with what he had in mind and asked, " It seems you're confident in killing me."
"Of course." The boss replied confidently.
"Is that so? However, since you are here to kill me, shouldn't you have killed me as soon as you saw me like how those two shot me with their guns?"
"Well, we now have to fulfill a 'request' for the client but it seems like it would be hard to do so."
"Request?" Dylan raised one brow. 'Then, that means they need me alive for something...'
"Indeed"
"Then, can I ask you one question?"
"I know you are trying to pry for information, Dylan Ford. You are taking advantage of the fact that we still have kept you alive due to the 'request' , right?" The blond man cunningly smiled.
Dylan did not respond to him and asked right away, "Are you related to the white masked man that kidnapped my wife."
The other side did not answer for a while as he rubbed his chin.
From this, Dylan sighed as his calm expression disappeared, "It seems there are only two possibilities."
"Oh, I have not even said a thing. Do tell."
" From the way you talk and behave, you have a rather straightforward personality and do what you want to do. So you keeping silent just means you don't know a thing. Now, it's either you were kept in the dark about this by your employer or the other group is just a completely separate group." Dylan shook his head.
'He could ascertain someone's personality that quickly?!' The blond man was shocked with Dylan's assessment. They only met yet he was able to accurately judge his personality?!
Then, he continued, "Either way, I am just wasting my time here with all of you."
"HAHAHAHA!!" His response was only met with laughter.
"He actually thinks that he can stand a chance against us! Hahaha!"
"This is hilarious! Hahaha!"
"Sorry to burst your bubbles but you won't be going anywhere! Hahaha!"
"It's underwhelming that your client only sent you to kill me. Only yellow-ranked beasts? To kill someone like me, you should at least hire ten purple-rank or a black-ranker." Dylan calmly stated with cold indifference and annoyed impatience.
"What?!" Every single one of the beast rankers were angered by his words. His words were an insult to their pride. .
Only yellow-ranked beasts?
Rage!
The name that they carried proudly, the name they worked so hard to attain, tha name they swore with their lives to protect was sullied in the mouth of an 'ignorant' rich man!
The huge guy raged, "This little shit, actually dares to mock us!! Yellow-ranked beasts are above the white-rankers! This ranking is composed of thousands of assassins!! Yet you dare say 'only yellow ranked'. Purple-rankers could only be mobilized by the King, which is the same as the illustrious Black-rankers!"
"Don't flaunt your 'status' in front of me because you will regret it if I become truly pissed. I want to stop this farce. I'll pay you double or triple what your employer gave you. Now, all of you get out of my sight. I still have things to do." Dylan's voice was authoritative and impatient as though he was facing nothing but ants.
Even as he was facing these group assassins that seemed to be more dangerous than a terrorist group, he did not pay any heed to them as his worries and anxieties towards Rose increased as each second passed by.
"Tch, you're saying yellow rankers are unequal to your status of 'Greatest Businessman'?! What a farce! You are not even fit to carry our shoes!" Yellow Cobra flared.
Another hitman with a lean stature and short hair stepped up. With a fox mask, he was known as Yellow Fox. He glanced at Dylan in disdain, " Did you honestly think that money could save you right now?! You are seriously mocking us!!"
"Insolent! How dare you sully the name of King Diablo's vassals. I, Yellow Rhino, is going to crush you on behalf of all the rankers!!" Yellow Rhino roared. With his volatile temper, how could he endure such humiliation.
The blonde guy's eyes narrowed as he looked at Dylan, 'He even knows about the blank rankers? But anything pertaining to the blank ranks are classified information and only those at the very top of the Underworld knows who they are... Just who is he?'
"Just don't kill him yet. We still need to fulfill the 'request'." Yellow Tiger ordered. As he set aside his thoughts, 'I must be just overthinking. There's no way he's part of the upper echelons!!'
"I know, boss." Yellow Rhino nodded and smiled sinisterly when his actions were acknowledged.
"Hey, you arrogant prick, you were a fighter, right? Then, let's see you block this!" He started charging at Dylan with his big body.
"HAHAHA, run for your life, son of a bitch!" Yellow Rhino wildly laughed. His gigantic arms flexed and his large hand formed a fist which made veins appear and throb like they were alive. He exuded the vibe of a rhinoceros in a rampage.
Despite this, Dylan still has not made any actions to evade the fist. His inaction was thought to be from the fright of death by the rankers. They sneered and chuckled in contempt as they anticipated his body being blown away.
"Tch, coward."
"What a pussy."
"I guess this all a rich man could amount to."
They were wondering why they were all sent to hunt down this 'coward'. They felt as if one of them was more than enough to deal with him. But since they already gained half of the generous payment from their client, they were just waiting for this matter to end.
Everything seemed to be concluding no matter how they saw it. They just need to fulfill "one more request". If there was something that seemed to be out of place, it was that Dylan's face was far too calm.
When Yellow Rhino was just two meters away from Dylan, he noticed that Dylan was suddenly lowering his center of gravity as his right foot moved backwards and his body faced to the right. He raised his left arm forwards as his arms relaxed and put his right hand that formed a fist close to his chest. It was as if he was initiating a battle stance.
"Heh, pathetic." Yellow Rhino smirked. When he extended his large fist forwards and aimed at Dylan's chest, his fist exploded through like a cannonball blastwing towards its target.
"Kneel to this daddy-"
But before he could finish his sentence, his eyes were met with cold blooded killing intent that made him shudder. As he hesitated, he heard a calm yet inexplicably annoyed, "Quit wasting my time."
At the same moment, Dylan moved his body along with left foot forwards and delivered a swift and flawless right hook to the chin. His hook made Yellow Rhino's head twist to the right and shook his whole brain that made him momentarily lose consciousness and his balance.
In the next instant, Dylan relaxed his fist as it reached under Yellow Rhino's right shoulder. As he formed a claw in his hand, he flicked his wrist and grabbed Yellow Rhino's triceps. His body turned with his back facing the unconscious brute and his right foot followed as it tripped his foe's right foot.
Putting Yellow Rhino's arm to his shoulder and borrowing the momentum of the charge, he performed an astonishing throw on a person almost twice as large as his size!
*Bang!!*
"WHAAT?!" The rankers were dumbstruck as they looked at the unbelievable scene in front of them!
Yellow Rhino was someone who was over 2 meters tall and around one hundred and thirty kilograms in weight...
But he was actually thrown by someone who was around 6 foot tall and half his weight?!
Dylan slowly turned around and said icily, "Get out of my way. All of you are too weak. I need to find my wife!"