Chapter 87: My Friends Need Help!

Chapter 87: My Friends Need Help!

On my way down the secure elevator, I kept getting these intensely skeptical looks from Benz. The poor guy looked like he honestly could not believe I had just stepped straight out of his billionaire boss's private penthouse apartment. Deciding to have a little fun and completely mess with his head, I turned toward the mirror pane, adjusting my collar as I asked, "You keep looking at me funny, do I have lipstick on my face?"

I smoothly pulled my smartphone out of my jacket, switching the screen directly into selfie mode to scan my own jawline, acting like I was desperately hunting for a rogue trace of her makeup.

Benz quickly raised his hands in defense, a nervous laugh escaping his throat. "No, Mr Tang, I was just surprised Miss Long had such a close male friend."

I stopped clowning around, putting the phone back into my pocket as I met his gaze with absolute sincerity. "Not to worry, I am only messing with you. Your boss Victoria and I are only teacher and student. At most we are good friends, so don't start any rumors she would not like. But she is a kind woman."

The elevator came to a smooth halt on the ground level, and Benz held the heavy door open for me, offering a sly wink as I stepped past him. "Don't worry Mr Tang, I saw nothing, till next time."

I glanced back just as the metallic doors began to slide closed, catching him smiling like a guy who had just stumbled onto a piece of juicy gossip. I could only shake my head in pure frustration. What the hell is it with people? Why is it that when you tell the absolute truth, nobody ever believes you?

"Young Master, over here."

I spun around at the sound of the familiar voice, spotting Mei standing across the concrete parking garage. She was waving her hand from the side of her white Civic, dressed fully in her maid outfit as she reached out to hold the front passenger door open for me. I walked over with a warm smile, sliding into the seat. "Hi Mei, did you wait long?"

Mei smoothly hopped into the driver's side, adjusting her skirt before resting her hands on the steering wheel. "Not too long, just an hour, fufu."

I rolled my eyes at her incredibly cheeky nature, buckling my seatbelt as I leaned back against the headrest. Before she could even twist the ignition key, a sharp, piercing ringtone cut through the quiet cabin. I checked the screen, immediately tapping the glass to answer. "Sup Jimbo?"

An absolute wall of chaotic background noise and muffled shouting flooded through the speaker, followed quickly by James's strained, hurried whisper.

[Hey, are you near the Star High Indoor Mall?]

"I am leaving the Life Statistics Building," I replied, my system instincts immediately putting me on alert as I tracked the panic in his voice. "What is up bro?"

[So I am here with Ashley and Akeno and I want to get them some rings or jewelry and I thought you are better at choosing that stuff, soooo. Well I told them I am here to get a new laptop and am with them at the Floppy-Tech store looking, so can you help a brother out?]

I let out a quiet breath, checking the dashboard clock. "Sure it is only 8 pm so I can stop by. I will be there in 5 minutes or so."

[You're a lifesaver man, oh shit I gotta go Akeno just saw someone she knows, oh and its teacher Smith, Okay I am out.]

A sharp click echoed through the line, followed by the steady drone of a disconnected call. Mei offered a soft, knowing smile, smoothly shifting the Civic into drive and steering the car directly toward the main exit ramp leading to the shopping district. "So your friend sounds overwhelmed, and he asked for your help, fufu."

I shrugged my shoulders, a relaxed grin hitting my face as I watched the streetlights blur past. "My friend needs help!"

The ride took less than five minutes, but the exact second we pulled into the massive parking lot of the Star High Mall, we noticed a massive abnormality.

Dozens of terrified shoppers were actively fleeing from the glass mall exits in a frantic stampede, running like a catastrophic fire had just broken out inside the building. I frowned heavily at the chaotic sight, pointing toward a secluded parking spot near the employee entrance. "Mei, pull in right there. Let me see what's up."

The metallic cracks of rapid gunfire rattled through the air the exact second Mei turned off the engine, the unmistakable sound of multiple weapons echoing loudly through the mall's wide-open entrance doors. The heavy acoustic resonance of the structure made it impossible to determine the exact number of active shooters from our position. I reached down to call James, but my screen lit up with a frantic text notification before I could even dial.

[James Tong: Gunmen have raided the jewelry store and my group is hiding behind a counter. I think there are 8 criminals, don't come man, sorry.]

I deliberately kept my fingers away from the keyboard, refusing to send a reply. There is absolutely nothing worse in classic horror or action movies than a character hiding for their life while their phone suddenly goes off, alerting the bad guys to their exact location. Instead, I flipped open my laptop, my fingers moving in a frantic blur across the keys as I used my master-tier Computer Use capability to completely breach the mall's secure server network.

I traced the internal video feeds, mapping out the tactical landscape before turning the screen toward Mei to show her the live feed.

She leaned over the console, her expression turning dead serious as she scanned the floor plan. "Rick, if you're going in, your gear is in the back. I can come with you and help?"

I shook my head, already unbuckling my seatbelt and reaching back to pull the rear seats down to access the trunk compartment. "As much as I would like you at my side Mei, I don't want to expose your ability too much in public view. Plus I need you to watch my 6 with the laptop. Really I will be fine Mei."

Thankfully, Mei had thought far ahead, having already packed my heavy tactical vest, my specialized long-coat, and the exact high-caliber hardware I was going to need for a situation like this. I crawled into the back space, pulling out the massive components of the Barrett M107 .50 Caliber Rifle, assembling the heavy anti-material weapon with practiced precision.

Mei leaned over the seats, her hands working fast to secure my communication headset and pull the tight tactical armor straps across my chest. Once the vest was locked, she helped me slide into my long-coat, gently smacking the front plate to ensure a snug fit. "Just know, if you die, so do I," she warned me, her eyes locking onto mine with absolute, unshakeable intensity. "So no hero shit or I will be your partner in hell till you move on."

I hefted the massive thirty-five-pound rifle easily in my right arm, using my free hand to gently pat her cute face. "Don't worry, I am immortal, I won't die," I told her softly, pulling a pair of snug latex gloves onto my hands. "Watch my back Mei."

I grabbed my manual lock-pick set from the gear bag, slipping out of the passenger door and keeping low as I bolted toward the secluded employee door. In the far distance, the high-pitched wail of police sirens began to echo through the city streets, signaling that law enforcement was finally on the way.

I dropped to one knee by the employee entrance, working my tools into the keyway. My Thief capability made quick work of the security tumbler, the lock clicking open in a matter of seconds as Mei's steady voice cracked through my earpiece.

[ When the criminals lost their feed into the mall security cameras they got nervous and put two of their men in the outside walkway to watch for intruders. They are the ones shooting at random civilians to make them run.]

I slipped into the dim corridor, closing the door silently behind me as I scanned the upper structure. Pushing through a set of double doors, I looked up toward the third level, immediately spotting the two specific gunmen Mei was tracking. They were stationed right at the entrance of the primary jewelry store; one was pacing inside the threshold, while the other was leaning heavily over the railing, searching the lower mall floors for any sign of movement.

[ I am sending you the main camera for the floor of the shop on your smartwatch and I see there are about 20 shoppers and employees huddled together behind the counters. For now they are not targeting the hostages. SWAT and the police have arrived, so work quickly before you get tied down on 2 fronts.]

I checked my wrist, confirming the hostage layout on the screen before rushing toward the employee stairwell. My mind flashed to the digital trace I had encountered while breaching the network; another hacker had already been inside the system, forcing me to forcefully kick them off the server to secure my own command line. Curiously, they hadn't tried to block or hinder my takeover attempt at all, which meant they were likely connected to the same mysterious organization that had sent me Mei Xia in the first place.

I reached the top flight, slipping out onto the highest concourse. "Okay Mei, I am in position, so cut the power to the mall," I whispered into my mic, pausing at the edge of the corridor. "My eyes are already closed."

[ Affirmative.]

I had climbed all the way to the fourth level to secure a completely unobstructed line of sight. Keeping my eyelids tightly shut to preserve my night vision, I stepped up to a heavy display table, pushing it flush against the high railing to act as a stable shooting platform before setting up the massive Barrett M107.

A sharp click echoed through the vast structure, followed instantly by the heavy, deep groan of the main transformers shutting down. The entire mall plunged into absolute, pitch-black darkness, a sudden wave of panic and muffled screams erupting from the shoppers still hiding inside the surrounding retail stores. I slowly opened my eyes, my pupils already perfectly adjusted to the dark as I leaned down against the stock, looking straight through my high-end night scope.

At a distance of barely a hundred feet, the target looked like he was standing right in front of me. My specialized armor-piercing rounds were completely devastating, guaranteed to instantly vaporize anything they touched at this range.

[ Remember I can't see except through your body camera, and the police are startled by the power-cut so work fast so I can turn it back on.]

Through the green glow of the lens, I watched the second guard slowly step forward, moving to join his buddy by the railing. I aligned the crosshairs perfectly with his center chest, knowing that even a near-miss from a .50 caliber round would tear his body apart. My finger compressed the trigger.

The earth-shattering roar of the rifle tore through the cavernous mall, the single blast generating a massive, rolling echo that sounded like a dozen rapid shots firing all at once. Without waiting to watch the first target's body literally explode under the kinetic impact, I smoothly pivoted the heavy barrel toward the closest guard.

The man was already spinning around in pure terror, trying to duck behind the low concrete walkway wall to shield himself from sniper fire.

Unfortunately for him, he had no idea what kind of hardware he was dealing with. This was an anti-material weapon designed to punch straight through armored vehicles.

Another deafening blast rocked the concourse, the high-caliber round smashing directly through the solid structure where the man was cowering, leaving a jagged, fist-sized hole in the concrete. I didn't even need to verify the hit; there was absolutely no way he survived that impact.

My mind instantly recalled the exact positions where the main group of gunmen had been standing before the lights went out. Utilizing my hardwired Master-level Firearms proficiency, I rapidly emptied the remaining eight shells in a brutal, lightning-fast magazine dump, letting the heavy recoil rock my shoulder as I peppered the storefront.

The air grew thick with the smell of cordite as the final casing clattered against the tile floor. I quickly lifted the massive rifle, sliding it deep underneath a pile of nearby display debris and overturned mall chairs to ensure no passing patrol would spot it. Moving in a seamless blur, I scrambled over the edge of the fourth-floor railing, dangling over the drop as I spoke into my mic, "Power on Mei, and damage report?"

The electrical grid hummed back to life, the bright lights instantly flooding the concourse. The second the power snapped back on, I released my grip on the upper ledge, dropping through the open air before using my Master Acrobatics and Cat Burglar capabilities to perfectly catch the third-floor railing, swinging my body over the barrier and dropping low to the floor to stay completely out of sight.

[ The two guards outside are dead, one dead inside and the other is missing his right arm and shoulder section, he will die, so four men remain. No hostages killed, yet.]

Keeping my back pressed firmly against the low walkway wall, I began to rapidly advance toward the shattered entrance of the jewelry store. I pulled out my smartphone with my free hand, pulling up the live internal security feed to scan the remaining hostiles.

"Mei can you retrieve the Barrett and the ten spent casings while I go in," I instructed quietly, checking the camera angles as I reached the edge of the doorway. "I don't want the police to find it."

[ Fine, but you will owe me an outing to risk it. The police are starting to move in.]

"Sure, sure, whatever you want, just do not get caught or hurt," I whispered back rapidly into the microphone, keeping my posture perfectly flat against the cold concrete tiling. "The gun is less important than your safety. I am going silent, I am here..."

Inside the shattered storefront of the luxury jewelry shop, Kim, Akeno, Ashley, and James were huddled tightly together alongside the remaining terrified shoppers and employees. Further back in the office, the muffled, mechanical sounds of the remaining gunmen drilling violently into the main secure vault echoed through the space.

Kim kept her head low, her sharp eyes noticing that Ashley was remaining remarkably calm, focused entirely on keeping James anchored to the floor rather than pressing for a dangerous escape. Even in this chaotic mess, she could tell this quiet blonde girl possessed a real fighter's instinct.

Right next to her, James was acting purely on instinct, wrapping his arms protectively around a weeping Akeno to make sure she stayed safe from any stray ricochets.

Kim offered a bitter, fleeting smile to herself, thinking about the absolute irony of her situation. In the end, no one was protecting her the way all women secretly dreamed of. She was just a twenty-seven-year-old woman with absolutely no prospects on the horizon, other than a stable university teaching job and a few good friends.

The only reason she had even stepped foot inside this damn mall tonight was to pick up her high-end laptop, which had been undergoing a hardware upgrade for better performance. Sure, she was a certified programming wizard in front of a keyboard, but she was a total klutz when it came to physical assembly, and putting together fine computer components always ended badly for her. All of those pesky little circuit boards looked exactly the same to her anyway.

While she held her knees tight to her chest, desperately pondering how she and her friends had managed to stumble straight into a tactical nightmare just to browse for jewelry, the entire electrical grid of the mall suddenly died.

[Crap boss the power went out!]

[Shit boss I can't see?!]

[Hey Doug can you see anything outside?]

The leader of the crew let out a venomous curse, his voice dripping with pure annoyance at how incredibly dense his remaining men were.

[Retards, use the light on your phones, fuck your dumb,] the boss barked from the darkness, his flashlight beam slicing through the haze. [The police must be here and cut the power now get the vault open so we can use that tunnel to escape.]

[I got the vault open—!]

The man's triumphant shout was instantly vaporized by a succession of earth-shattering cracks.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

The deafening roar of the heavy rifle fire rattled right through the floorboards, forcing every single hostage to lay completely flat against the ground in sheer, paralyzing fear of being torn apart. Only the first two of the ten rapid shots actually sounded like targeted sniper rounds, while the final eight structural blasts sounded like an absolute rain of death meant to flatten everything inside the building.

Crash! Blast! Crunch! Ding! Smash!

On top of the sudden, agonizing screams of the wounded robbers moaning in pain and absolute despair, the chaotic sounds of heavy metal shelves, glass display tables, windows, and solid walls crumbling into dust proved this was an elite military weapon. Kim's heart hammered against her ribs, wondering if the SWAT team was actively launching a counter-assault to save them.

[AAAAAWW! MY ARM, IT HURTS, SNIFF SNIFF!]

[Fuck get down its the police,] the leader bellowed, his voice straining under the pressure. [How did they get here so fucking fast and shut him up! Hurry empty the vault now we are leaving before they fire again!]

Click! Hum!

Without a single second of warning, the mall's primary power grid hummed back to life, the sudden shift blinding every single person in the room as their eyes scrambled from complete darkness right back into the piercing fluorescent light.

[Fuck, they got four of us!]

The boss's now recognizable voice barked out a series of frantic, panicked orders. [Fox and Dog, go get two body shields, and Ox carry the loot for our head Boss. I will lead us to the tunnels.]

Before the hostages could even scatter, two heavily armed men wearing crude animal face masks marched directly toward the huddling group. The criminal wearing the Dog mask locked his eyes straight onto Kim, and she could immediately tell from the predatory tilt of his head that his eyes looked incredibly happy to pick out a fresh, juicy piece of meat to exploit. There was absolutely no way this was going to end well for her; she was looking at death or something far worse.

His weapon pointed straight at her face, while the criminal in the Fox mask aimed his rifle directly at Ashley's head. The Dog mask growled, [If you two blond ladies resist, you die, now both of you get up!]

"Fuck off dicks! You can't take her!"

James, seeing Ashley getting aggressively singled out as a tactical shield, scrambled to his feet to throw himself between them.

Bang!

A sharp handgun crack echoed, and Jim instantly fell backward onto the hard tile floor, bleeding heavily and groaning in absolute agony from a direct bullet wound to his upper leg. The Fox mask sneered down at his writhing form. "Don't worry I will take really good care of her for you hero. Now come with me or I will kill your man!"

Ashley's striking pink eyes remained remarkably calm, tracking the man's movements with an icy chill before she stepped straight into his left arm. He yanked her away from the group, leaving Akeno to desperately press her hands over Jim's bleeding leg wound while crying hysterically.

The Dog mask reached down, violently grabbing Kim by the shoulder and hoisting her against his chest. [Fuck to find a Hot-American girl, how fucking lucky am I?] he chuckled darkly, his hot breath hitting her ear. [Well I will show you later why I wear the dog mask, he-he, doggy bones and styles baby, now move or I open your pretty skull!]

The two women were aggressively forced forward, their bodies turned facing outward to clearly signal to any outside snipers that they were being utilized as human shields. Both Kim and Ashley completely ignored the intrusive, lustful hands gripping their frames, recognizing that the tactical situation was far too critical to flinch.

The leader of the crew, wearing a heavy Hippo mask, gestured sharply toward the large canvas bag of stolen goods carted by Ox. [Down the next shop's employee exit,] the Hippo leader ordered, steering the remaining hostage carriers. [The stairs there lead to our escape tunnel!]

Bang!

The Hippo boss casually pointed his sidearm down at their heavily wounded, screaming buddy who was missing his entire right arm, ending his suffering with a brutal, cold-blooded shot to the center heart.

As the group of six exited into the main corridor, a scene of pure, gory devastation became visible across the walkway.

One criminal, his shredded animal mask completely soaked in crimson, lay motionless on the floor with a massive, hollow chunk of his chest entirely gone.

Another crook was crumpled awkwardly against the concrete wall, a jagged, baseball-sized cavity through the solid structure behind him proving he had lost his entire head and upper neck area to a high-caliber sniper round fired straight through the solid wall.

The third body lay face down in a massive, widening pool of blood, dressed in a heavy black long-coat. Ashley's pink eyes opened slightly in amazement, her sharp intellect instantly registering what this specific attire meant.

Bang! Bang!

The Hippo boss didn't take any chances, casually pumping two heavy rounds straight into the back of the motionless long-coat to ensure the man died on the spot. The body didn't even twitch under the impact. "Hurry, I hear police coming in the lower levels so move stupid and stop fondling her, fucking idiot!"

The Dog mask had just aggressively wrapped his fingers around Kim's large C-cup chest to inspect his prize when the scolding hit him. "Damn Hippo you can shoot and I can't squeeze? Fuck off I hate your rules, fine I am going damn!"

Kim's heart sank entirely into her stomach, a suffocating wave of despair washing over her as she realized not a single good outcome was waiting for her at the end of this hallway.

At this exact moment, getting shot by a stray bullet felt like the absolute best choice she could possibly make.

Her final, fleeting thoughts drifted back toward her family waiting for her back in the UK States, and then toward her best friends, Akeno and Hana.

She thought of poor James, who had desperately attempted to save his girlfriend at the cost of his own safety, and then her mind flashed straight to James's street-smart friend, Rick. She felt a twinge of regret realizing she wouldn't even survive long enough to watch his upcoming arena fight.

She braced her posture, fully prepared to launch a desperate struggle to force them to kill her rather than allow herself to become a criminal's plaything. Then, the world completely flipped upside down.

I knew the exact second I reached the corridor that if I went into that narrow space guns blazing, the innocent civilians inside would be the very first ones to get hurt. I absolutely did not want to see another bloody, catastrophic sight like the one that had taken my father away from me, so I chose to play possum, relying completely on my hardwired Acting capability to mask my vitals.

I quickly smeared a handful of fresh blood from the nearby mess all over my long-coat and face. To guarantee protection for my skull against any cautionary execution shots, I deliberately wedged my head underneath the heavy, dead leg of the first gunman, slipping my reinforced tactical medical kit right over my crown to absorb any incoming kinetic impact. It was an incredibly dangerous gamble, but it was the single best tactical way to let them close the distance. I knew for a fact I was going to get heavily scolded by Mei later tonight, though.

Bang!

As I lay there perfectly motionless, the sharp echo of a handgun fire rattled out from inside the shop, followed immediately by the agonizing groan of my friend James going down.

My heart leaped violently in my chest, my muscles tightening with a sudden surge of adrenaline, but the steady, painful sound of his voice proved he hadn't died outright. I forced my breathing to remain non-existent, knowing I could patch his wound with my Medicine capability the second I cleared the threat.

The heavy, hurried footsteps began to echo right out of the shattered entrance, and my hardwired senses confirmed exactly six distinct sets of boots approaching my position. Two of those belonged to the hostiles utilizing the girls as body shields. This was the real, definitive trial that would either make or break me.

Bang! Bang!

The sudden, brutal impact slammed straight into my upper left back, right near the location of my heart. Fuck, that hurt like an absolute bitch. Thank God the dead gunman's leg had provided a slight angle and my tactical armor vest successfully caught the brunt of the bullets, but holy fuck, the localized bruising was pure agony. My jaw clenched in silence, vowing to dismantle this bastard no matter what.

"Hurry, I hear police coming in the lower levels so move stupid and stop fondling her, fucking idiot!"

"Damn Hippo you can shoot and I can't squeeze? Fuck off I hate your rules, fine I am going damn!"

The second the jabbering men stepped past my position, their backs completely exposed, I utilized my hardwired Stealth capability to seamlessly rise from the blood-slicked tile floor without making a single fraction of sound. Pushing through the pain in my shoulder, I ghosted up directly behind their rear guard.

The criminal named Ox, who was heavily carting the massive bag of stolen goods, suddenly caught my silhouette in his peripheral vision and began to spin his head around in pure shock.

Chop! Thud!

I delivered a devastating, high-velocity hand chop straight into the lateral side of his neck, completely disrupting his carotid artery and knocking his body instantly unconscious before he could even utter a syllable. He crumpled to the floor like a sack of bricks. In the same fluid motion, my hands reached down to my belt, pulling out and extending my twin telescopic batons with two sharp, mechanical metallic rings.

Chink! Chink!

Whoosh—Smack! Whoosh—Smack!

Trusting completely in Ashley's high-level combat capability to manage her own spacing, I unleashed a blur of movement, aiming my reinforced steel batons directly at the outstretched hands of both the Hippo leader and the Dog mask. The heavy strikes landed with bone-shattering force, instantly disarming their weapons and sending their firearms clattering across the tile floor.

My mind flashed back to the early days when I had first awakened my system, recalling how I had intentionally wrapped my combat sticks in high-traction, specialized grip tape. With my latex covered palms currently covered in slick, fresh blood from the floor, keeping a secure hold on my hardware would have been an absolute nightmare without that specific modification. See? I am smart. Well, never mind that now.

Kim stood completely frozen in absolute terror, her green eyes wide as she stared at my emotionless expression and blood-covered form. Given her professional medical experience as a qualified nurse, her brain had fully registered the man on the floor as a corpse. The second her mind recognized my face as the very last person she had been thinking about, her cognitive functions completely stalled out.

Neither I nor Ashley had the luxury to just stand there and marvel at the shock, so we moved in perfect, synchronized harmony.

Ashley didn't let my tactical entry go to waste for a single second. The instant my baton stripped the Hippo's weapon, she lunged forward, using her own raw martial skills to violently grab and disarm the Fox mask holding her captive. She twisted his wrist back, wrenching the sidearm straight out of his grip before shoving the cold steel barrel directly into the center of his animal mask.

Bang!

Ashley had a perfectly clean, unobstructed line of sight, allowing her to safely pull the trigger without any risk to the surrounding hostages. If I had tried to rely on my high-tier Gun-Fu capability inside this incredibly cramped bottleneck, the heavy ballistics could have easily ricocheted, and either Kim or Ashley could have gotten severely hurt in the crossfire.

Instead, I chose to stick with my close-quarters hardware and simply began to deliver a cold, completely emotionless execution.

Whoosh—Smack! Whoosh—Smack!

The reinforced steel batons swung through the air in a fluid blur, striking both the Dog mask and the Hippo leader with absolute, pinpoint accuracy directly across their temples. The Dog mask instantly lost all consciousness, his fingers completely slipping off Kim's frame as his limp body crashed heavily onto the blood-slicked tile floor. Without pausing to watch him drop, I immediately shifted my weight and turned my full attention to the kneeling Hippo boss.

Whoosh—Smack! Whoosh—Smack!

Over and over again, the heavy metal batons came down with a dull, rhythmic thud, accurately caving in the structure of his animal mask until a pair of trembling arms suddenly reached around my torso, grabbing me tightly from behind. My system instincts registered the exact weight and soft touch, immediately confirming it was Kim, so I actively suppressed my combat reflexes and chose not to launch a counter-attack against her. I lowered the batons, breathing steadily as I asked, "Are you alright Kim?"

Kim Smith's wide green eyes told me everything I needed to know about her current chaotic mental state, her voice shaking violently as she tightened her grip around my long-coat. "I am safe, so help me save your friend!"

I looked over my shoulder, noting that Ashley had already moved in to safely restrain the unconscious Dog mask on the floor without any issue.

Trusting her to hold the perimeter, I casually tossed my blood-stained batons onto the tile floor; they were compromised anyway, and I could easily procure a brand-new set after this mess was sorted out.

I turned on my heel, running back to fetch my tactical medical kit from the floor before rushing straight through the shattered entrance of the jewelry shop with Kim following closely at my heels.

"Kim unzip my pack next to Jim and then carefully pull off the latex gloves for me so I can sanitize my hands," I commanded sharply, dropping to my knees right on the hard floor next to Jim and a frantic Akeno.

I quickly pulled my hands out of the blood-smeared latex, thoroughly scrubbing my skin with a sterile wipe before sliding a fresh, clean pair of medical gloves over my fingers. Pushing the heavy tactical kit closer, I reached inside to grab a pair of heavy-duty clothing scissors, handing them directly over to the girl kneeling opposite me.

"Akeno, remove the pants from the GSW and I will look."

Akeno, relying completely on her professional real-world experience as an elite ER nurse, didn't flinch for a single second. She immediately did her job flawlessly, cutting away the thick denim fabric to expose the trauma site before looking up at me. "It's a through and through, so the bullet is out. I held most of the blood-loss I could."

I nodded, assessing the torn muscle tissue. Pushing my Advanced Medicine capability to its absolute limit, I reached for the high-concentration sterilizing liquids, preparing myself to perform an incredibly painful chemical cleaning on the open channel. I looked down at my buddy, meeting his glassy, pain-filled stare with a flat, unyielding look.

"James, I have bad news brother... You're going to live," I told him, my voice entirely devoid of panic. "Ashley is perfectly fine and she does not want to hear you cry like a bitch so bite down on this clean cloth, don't have time to baby you so suck it up, here I go."

Before the words could even register in his brain, I poured the harsh sterilizing fluid straight into the entry wound, expertly packing and cleansing the internal trauma channel to prevent immediate infection. As for the closing stitches, I worked with blinding speed, executing a fast, rugged field job on the flesh, knowing full well the surgeons at the hospital would just cut my thread open and redo the entire layout later anyway.

By the time I was tying off the final surgical knot, a heavily armed tactical police unit had successfully breached the front doors of the mall. The arriving officers possessed just enough basic brains to not immediately arrest a guy covered in blood while he was actively patching a critical gunshot wound victim. They knew for a fact that if something catastrophic happened to a high-ranking Tang family member because they chose to interrupt a medical procedure, their entire careers would be completely gone by morning.

Over by the display counters, Kim was calmly explaining the entire sequence of events to a waiting lieutenant, ensuring the authorities understood exactly who the hostiles were.

The very moment I finished wrapping Jim's emergency pressure bandages, a team of high-speed paramedics rushed into the store with a mobile gurney to quickly take him away. Naturally, Akeno refused to leave his side, climbing right into the ambulance alongside the crew while rapidly detailing the precise medical steps I had just taken to stabilize Jim's leg.

I stood up, wiping the remaining dust from my long-coat as I looked across the crowded shopping corridor. Standing right outside the shattered jewelry storefront was Detective Steve Woo, a relaxed, knowing smile plastered across his face as he watched me through the glass.

I tapped my earpiece, routing the line directly out to the parking garage. "I will be late coming home tonight," I stated quietly to Mei. "I think Steve Woo is going to arrest me, so call Nick Soto."