Volume 1 Chapter 5; Inside Job

[Cade's POV]

"So the tournament hosted by Ray Tech is a week away from now, and we need to prepare until then," Kai mutters, five people standing around the table in the warehouse, including me.

Twins with black hair and blue eyes stand by the same table, one boy and a girl, both of them wearing white jackets with black stripes running down their arms. The next is a girl with orange hair and brown eyes; she has freckles and is wearing nothing but a tank top and cargo pants.

Then there's Kai, who points out the plan to us all as we listen.

"So the first thing we need is a picture of the interior; that's Cade's job, in a week from now they'll hold a tour of the place that's your chance." He looks over at me, and I nod. "at the same time, we need the cybernetics, Emma, Ethan; that's your turf."

"What about me?" The lady with the orange hair asks, one hand on her hip as she leans forward, placing the other on the desk.

"You and I, Chloe, are going to adjust the cybernetics so we don't get any trace back to us."

"You can count on us!" The twins say in unison, looking at each other in a one-armed hug around the shoulder, both grinning from ear to ear.

With a concerned look, I lean in slightly, whispering in Kai's ear as I look at the twins. "Are you sure you should be sending a couple of teenagers into a place like that?"

"They're fine," he mutters, sighing to himself as he leans off the table, his hands going back into his pockets. "They may be just sixteen, but they can hold their own just fine; they are more competent than you realize."

And with that last line, he walks away from the group, leaving me with even more questions than answers, my arms too sliding into the pockets of my jacket.

"Hey kid," Chloe calls out to me, her hand motioning for me to get closer.

"What do you want?" I mutter, slightly ticked off at the fact she called me a kid when she didn't look much older herself, probably in her mid-twenties.

"I want to try something," she mutters, her hand to her face as she thinks, looking at me. "And I think you'd be a perfect test subject."

"This thing's itchy," I mutter under my breath as I come face to face with Ray Tech's headquarters, the building towering over me, blocking out the sun as I adjust my newly acquired neon green glasses and get inside.

The place is huge, with floors stacked upon floors and the whole place painted in a futuristic white, black, and blue pallet. Tech as far as the eye can see, there is a showcase in the middle, with the main attraction being the newly made Drifter gear and two stairs on both sides leading to the top, which has doors guarded.

"Hey, you!" Someone shouted at me, turning to see who it was. I see a guy with brown hair and a white streak running down the middle, his skin tanned and his clothing a white suit, the sleeve button, and the collar both black. "Are you here for the tour? You're late."

"Y-yeah, I am, sorry," I mutter, going along with his assumption, my hands in my pockets as I look him in the eye, with him doing the same.

"Walk up the stairs and go straight down the hall; you'll find the others," he mutters, walking past me to exit the building himself, soon leaving me alone.

I do as he said, running up the stairs and walking down the hall, its long, narrow path filled with white, my boots brushing against the soft carpet, until I finally stop, the glasses I'm wearing blinking red at a certain door, a door that was unattended with the word "Do not enter!" on its steel surface.

I contemplate not entering and am about to walk past it and ignore it all, but my mind goes back to something Chloe said to me back at the warehouse.

"Those glasses are used to track high-grade tech," she informed me, showing it to me in the palm of her hand, a confused look on my face as I sat on a surgery bed. "Though it doesn't seem to work with anyone who has cyberware; it would always go off prematurely, but you don't have any, do you?"

"Well, no." I mutter, not the proudest of that statement, "I could never afford one."

"Well, that settles it!" She grins. "We're going to have to do some implants, though; think of it as software to ruin it, okay?"

"Wait, I never agreed to that!"

I shudder, thinking back on it, before reaching out to the door and pushing it open to reveal what's on the other side.

[Ethan's POV, (Underground club)]

My sister and I waited in a room, her feet up on the table as I sat more reserved, looking around on the inside. The place seemed pretty cramped, with the sounds of pixels filling the ambiance from the commotion on the outside.

The place reeks of alcohol, smoke, and sweat. The occasional whiff of blood from their last job here and the screams of people outside would flood my ears every time someone won big, hit the jackpot on a big game, or landed a high score and won a bet.

Leopard-patterned blinds and carpet decorated the room, with a red couch on the other side of the table and a man standing next to us with a gun in case we tried anything. The money on the table was clear to see.

"So, uh, I like your shirt," I said awkwardly, trying to start a conversation with the man, but he just blew it off, ignoring my compliment.

"Alright then," A man with black hair and green eyes entered the room through the blinds; he was a slightly muscular guy, his face slim, and his jawline sharp. His actions were nonchalant and careless, plopping down on the red couch before us.

"Let's get down to business, shall we?" He grins, looking at us with a challenging smile.

"Yeah, let's," Both my sister and I uttered at once, with a different tone to our voices, hers more playful than mine.