
Over time, I made new connections—many acquaintances who would occasionally toss me some side work. Perhaps after a while, I could have even organized my own business and pulled off larger operations than the ones we had. But when one side becomes too strong, others begin to form alliances, seek out weak spots, and find people willing to sell their friends for money.

During one of the night missions, Renord did not return at the appointed time, and we suspected something was wrong. According to our regulations, we were supposed to return to base; however, I didn't want to abandon my friend. Hilar and Grade supported me, while Basil urged us not to risk it and to act in accordance with the rule. But I didn't listen to him; he often panicked and never took risks, even in gambling games. Leaving him outside, we penetrated the warehouse of a competing organization where Renord had gone shortly before. The shorty easily hacked the security system, and we advanced calmly through enemy territory. Perhaps too calmly, but at that moment I didn't give it any importance, thinking only of my missing friend. Upon reaching the security room, we saw Renord's body. At that same moment, a group of armed men rushed out from adjacent rooms and opened fire on us. Although Hilar was short, his reaction time proved to be poor, and thus one of the first bullets hit him in the head; even his helmet didn't save him. Grade and I managed to find cover and began firing back, but the numerical advantage was with the enemy, and our ammunition was not infinite. We decided to take a risk and began retreating toward the exit, but the big guy was wounded in the leg and could go no further. Grade wished me luck and stayed behind to cover my retreat. It was painful to leave him, but I had to find everything out and return to headquarters. Right at the exit, my path was blocked by a girl in black; she held two small daggers in her hands. Before I knew it, she lunged at me. For a moment, it seemed that I wouldn't emerge victorious from this fight and would be killed by some crazy broad. That is actually how it would have ended—she was far too skilled in close combat—but during the deciding blow, our eyes met and for literally a second she hesitated, which gave me a chance to break free from her grip, throw her over my shoulder, and put a bullet in her forehead. Hurriedly searching the corpse, I found Renord's medallion in one of the pockets. He considered it lucky, saying that it brought him good fortune. Apparently, sometimes luck is not enough, and today was exactly such a case. Taking the medallion, I found Basil and told him everything, after which we headed straight to our main building to meet Modger.

Upon arriving at the main office, a surprise awaited us, and it turned out to be even worse than the previous one. The building was in terrible condition; parts of the walls were simply missing, some rooms featured small craters, bullet holes, destroyed furniture, and torn-off doors. Bodies of the slain lay across the entire perimeter, among whom were not only our people but also members of enemy gangs. The building was shrouded in silence, but we still tried not to make unnecessary noise and carefully made our way through the corridors, hoping to find survivors. Entering Modger's office, we found only the bodies of his guards. Perhaps he managed to survive and escape, or perhaps he was taken prisoner. This was unknown to us, but we were obligated to find out everything. After replenishing ammunition and gathering necessary items, we said goodbye to our home and set out on our journey. But then Basil suddenly heard a sound from the next room, and I decided to check it. It turned out that someone of ours had managed to survive, and that lucky person was Jerod, one of the boss's bodyguards. He told us a lot, including the fact that Modger's second deputy was to blame for everything, aided by several other people. This traitor was aware of all our operations and had warned his masters of our visit in advance, while also planning the attack on our headquarters. We knew the name of this Tyrian rat, and we decided to kill him, no matter what it cost us. Jerod shared our desire and therefore gladly joined us. For the next few months, we wandered through the city and gathered all the necessary information. My connections, which I had managed to establish with specific people while working for Modger, helped us in this. After half a year, we managed to reach the traitor and took revenge on the scum. However, we were never able to determine the fate of our leader, but most likely he perished. Deciding that staying in Vaironia was dangerous for us—and there was no longer any point anyway—we set out to travel the world. Here and there, we took on various jobs, earning decent money, although we didn't always complete the assignments. Sometimes we conducted trade deals or helped other people conduct them. Eventually, the road led us to Nevermore, where we were given a chance to work for one large organization.

Laurent
Nationality: Katarian
Religion: Nox
Microchip: 1256
Stats:
Strength - 8
Agility - 7
Speed - 10
Intelligence - 5
Willpower - 8
Perception - 10
Perks:
— Charm (persuasion).
— Enchanting beauty.
Skills:
Ranged Combat. Accuracy +30, evasion (ranged) +30.
— Pistol. Accuracy +30%, AP -1.
— Rapid Fire (activatable skill). Accuracy is halved, evasion is tripled.
Military Training. Evasion +30, health +100.
— Sprint. Movement speed +10.
Trade. -30% cost of items in shops.
Swindler. Bonus to agility stats out of combat (to everything except aggressive actions).
Gambler. The character gains the ability to reroll a failed result.
Inventory:
Pistol, light armor, knife, money, Renord's medallion (chosen by luck).

Basil
Nationality: Free People's Republic
Religion: Amrita
Microchip: 1256
Stats:
Strength - 5
Agility - 7
Speed - 12
Intelligence - 10
Willpower - 8
Perception - 7
Perks:
— Intuition
— Lazy: -1 strength, -1 agility, -1 intelligence, -1 willpower, -1 perception, higher chance of survival.
Skills:
Ranged Combat. Accuracy +30, evasion (ranged) +30.
— Pistol. Accuracy +30%, AP -1.
Medicine. +3 intelligence.
— First Aid (restores 25% of lost health, wound disinfection, etc.).
Engineer. Knowledge of technology and ability to repair it, +3 intelligence.
Drone control.
Inventory:
Pistol, engineering tools (+necessary items for drone management), first aid kit, money, and special lightweight armor with small compartments created by Basil for himself.

Jerod
Nationality: Vaironia
Religion: Gyurdir
Microchip: 1256
Stats:
Strength - 12
Agility - 9
Speed - 10
Intelligence - 3
Willpower - 8
Perception - 9
Perks:
— Stubborn: +3 will, immunity to immobilizing actions
— Hardy: high resistance to diseases, faster recovery, +number of implants, resistance x2
Skills:
Ranged Combat. Accuracy +30, evasion (ranged) +30.
— Shotgun. Damage +50%.
— Ability to use heavy weaponry (grenade launchers, machine guns, etc.).
Melee Combat. Accuracy +50, +5 movement speed, +5 initiative, +20 evasion (melee).
— Character performs two attacks instead of one.
Military Training. Evasion +30, health +100.
— Allows the use of heavy armor.
— Allows the use of stimulants without harm to health, doubled effectiveness.
Inventory:
Shotgun, reinforced light armor, iron club (something like a modified bat), money, stimulants, headset.