July 27th 3039 A.D

Slums, Outer Ring,

Kudan

The slums of the Outer Ring, a perpetual shame for every domed city. These cesspools of the lowest of the low were so ugly, most cities pretended they did not exist. Aside from the most basic amenities, these regions were largely left to fend for themselves. Chaos inevitably spread among a people for whom rage and fear were the only emotions they had left. Without a reliable law enforcement system, crime exploded, claiming dozens of innocent lives daily.

The authorities in the inner city turned a blind eye to cries of the desperate, all too pleased to let the riff-raff cull themselves. Ironically, the ones who finally brought a semblance of order to the madness were the children of those who cried for help, most of whom had turned to a life of crime to survive in a world that had offered only death and suffering to them. These individuals formed alliances, eventually growing into large gangs whose hands even reached the inner cities.

The formation of these influential gangs finally caught the attention of those big suits in the cities. They began to realize that the riff-raff outside could actually have some uses besides being complete wastes of space. After all, although these men were literally rich enough to have the world at their feet, they always wanted more.

They could never have enough power and money, so they turned their gazes to the slums. With the help of these gangs, they could carry out underground transactions as well as smuggle in contrabands for their high profile parties. These gangs also regularly churned out desperate people willing to do anything for credits, even venturing into highly dangerous areas to retrieve or excavate highly precious jewels.

All in all, these gangs turned out to be worthwhile investments, thus they rewarded the gangs for their services. Parts of the slums which these gangs ruled over were renovated, not too much, but enough to make those in other districts incredibly jealous. Some gangs even had large establishments like night clubs and massage parlors which hedonistic young masters from the inner cities frequented when they wished to avoid the public eye.

Unlike the inner cities, there was no such thing as freedom of the press in the slums. If a reporter was caught taking pictures of a gang's client, it would truly be fortunate for the reporter's body to be found the following day.

Dee explained all these and more as she led the Dayle, Raines, and Arthur into District 3D-40, a rather opulent district compared to the slums they were coming from. The difference was obvious too. The streets were wider, the roads neater, with pretty neon lights on establishments attracting passersby.

Even though the sun hung bright overhead, Dee still had to elbow her way past several drunkards and hecklers. It seemed she had built up quite the reputation in these streets, as even though she received many catcalls, no one actually dared block her path outright.

"This district's controlled by Vega's gang, The Mambas," Dee explained as she came to a stop in front of a building called 'Escape' judging by the massive neon signs. Two men stood by the entrance, massive seven-foot builds large enough to block the entire doorway. Both these men had definitely undergone cyber enhancements, one of them even sporting a complete robotic arm. Despite being faced with these intimidating presences, there were no visible signs of worry on the young woman's face. "Here to see Vega. He in?"

Rather than answer her question, the guard on the left jerked his chin at the trio behind her. "The peanuts?"

"They're with me," Dee explained. "Vega's expecting us."

The guard glanced at the Fireteam. He could tell they were professionals from the way they carried themselves. His gaze paused on the Radi, whose lips were curled in a snarky grin. Although he felt like bashing that asshole's face in, he too was a professional. He stepped aside, not forgetting to drop a warning as they passed, "Don't try anything funny. You'll be dead before you can defrag anything."

Dayle's brow rose. "Defrag?"

"Newbies huh." The guard, much more secure in this knowledge, did not bother answering the Augur.

Dayle shrugged. What the hell, he could always get the information out of Dee later. No need to create a fuss over nothing. So, to the relief of his teammates, he tucked his hands in his jacket pockets and obediently followed Dee through the doors into what eventually revealed itself to be a nightclub.

The first things he noticed upon entering were the staircases, one leading up, and the other heading down. Whoever designed this place had a funny sense of style. The walls by the descending stairs had hellish, devil imagery spray-painted onto it with glow in the dark paint, evidently to evoke a sense of dropping into the abyss. The walls by the rising steps, however, had a beautiful, light creamy glossy finish. The walls reflected soft lights hanging overhead, exuding a sense of warmth and peace.

Dayle had already begun heading towards the abyss when Dee called out, pointing to the warm, fuzzy stairway. The young man tsked. He would have to return here later at night. Just to see what kinda freaky shit future people got into in the abyss. He spun on his heels and followed Dee up the stairs.

One guard later, Dayle smiled as he admired the blue themed club room at the top. Evidently, this section was truly designed for the rich and powerful, with more emphasis placed on providing more corners and booths for the young masters to sit and be served than space for dancing. Strange, translucent columns with bubbles swimming within water adorned the halls, adding to its atmosphere of being submerged in a relaxing ocean.

A tall Puerto-Rican brunette wiping the counter top of a bar at the east end looked up as they entered. Dark gray eyes followed the party, nodding noncommittally at Dayle who flashed a grin as they walked. Many people passed by this bar on a daily basis. Not many returned.

"Usual spot?" Dee called.

"Yeah," the lady answered.

"Thanks, Jen."

Jen nodded, disappearing beneath the counter to check on the number of bottles present.

Dee led the trio through the club to the extreme end, where they came across a large conclave blocked off from view by a curved screen that mimicked a small waterfall. Another suited guard nodded at Dee then tapped twice on the screen.

A section of the screen slid off to the side to reveal a private conclave with large sofas surrounding a circular table. At the other end was a desk, at which sat the man they had been looking for, with four stunningly beautiful women standing behind him. Dayle secretly rose a brow when he noticed these women all had different shades of long, brown hair. Hmm, seemed Vega here had a type.

Veg, looking smart in a nice, black jacket that hugged his massive muscular frame, looked up from the notepad in his hand as Dee and the others entered. He raised a hand, signaling them to wait. He then handed the notepad to one of the ladies to his right and whispered something in her ear. The lady nodded, clutching the notepad to her chest as she took brisk steps out of the conclave.

With that matter squared off, Vega could finally turn his attention to his guests. He looked up at the clock hanging on the wall. It was funny how even in this digital age, the charm of a hanging, analog clock still hadn't gone away. "Cutting it close, are we? I was beginning to think you wouldn't make it."

"I always keep my appointments," Dayle said with a chuckle. "More importantly, what happened to your hair? Kinda liked it."

"You noticed huh?" Vega laughed, running his hands over his hair that had been reduced to a crew-cut and dyed black since the last time they met. Eyes holding a menacing light, he said, "Had a feeling some bastard was calling me Orange behind my back."

"Wow," Dayle softly exclaimed, "Whoever does that must have some massive balls."

Vega snorted as he reclined in his chair. "Or a very tiny brain."

Dee rolled her eyes as sparks erupted between the two men. "You guys measure your flaccid cocks some other time. Vega, you got a job for them or not?"

Vega's gaze turned to the young engineer. If he was offended by her remarks, he certainly didn't show it. Instead, his lips rose to a smile as his attention returned to the Radi and his teammates. Jerking his chin at Raines, he questioned, "Who're your friends?"

"Nina Raines."

"Arthur Yount."

After they introduced themselves, the lady to Vega's left inputted something on a notepad she held. Seconds later, she whispered something in Vega's ear.

"You guys check out," Vega said with a nod. "That's good. On to business then. What's your current level?"

Dayle folded his arms, a sickeningly confident smile on his face as he said, "We're all level ten."

Vega instantly frowned. "Level ten?" He turned to the lady to his right.

"Indeed. Their last save indicates they're all at level ten," she confirmed.

Vega's frown deepened. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the desk as he regarded the trio. "What did you do?"

Dayle shrugged. "Hunted some bugs. What does it matter?"

Vega's eyes narrowed. "You three wouldn't happen to know anything about Hasuni would you?"

"Hasuni?" Dayle's eyes held only innocent confusion. "What's that? Some type of RAD?"

Vega's brow furrowed. Augurs were a tricky bunch. Violence was not a viable threat against people who were not scared of death. What's more, he was certain they must have gotten rid of any valuables in their inventory before arriving. Without even the threat of losing items, there was nothing to hold over them. If only he'd known how wrong his guess was at the time, things might have gone differently.

"Okay, let's cut the bullshit," Vega said, having thought through his options. "If we're to work together, we're going to need a basic level of trust."

"I'm standing here, aren't I?" Dayle pointed out with a light shrug. "I think my sincerity and is obvious. You, on the other hand, eeeeh, haven't shown anything to let me think I can trust you."

Vega thought about it. "You're right. I should do something to show I'm investing in you guys. Okay." He ran his gaze over the three of them. "You shouldn't have had time to visit ARDI yet. Each of you pick one skill. No matter the cost, I'll pay for it. You can pay me back in installments."

Dayle's brow rose. "Is this one of those loan shark things where the interest never stops rising?"

"I wouldn't do that when I'm trying to show my sincerity," Vega said. "You think I got to this level with my muscles alone? Sometimes, you gotta know a good investment when you come across one. So, like I said: Pick any skills you like, I'll pay for them."

"Sure about that?" Raines confirmed. "No matter the cost?"

Vega's brows twitched, suddenly having a bad premonition. Still, he gritted his teeth as he pictured the massive amount of profit to come in the future. "Yeah. I'm a man of my word."

"Okay then," Raines said with a grin. "I'll go with Invisibility."

Dayle fought to suppress his laughter as he watched the hulking man's complexion momentarily turn green like he was about to throw up. It was just for an instant, and probably only Dayle noticed it, but it was enough to reveal Vega probably never expected there would be someone so shameless.

Raines, pretending not to understand what was going on, simply said, "Is that too much?"

Is that too much!? What do you think!? That's half a million credits you know!? Vega screamed profanities in his mind, but his exterior complexion returned to its cool façade. There was a reason he had gotten this far in the underworld. He might get yelled at by his boss later, but as a man, he could not go back on his words. "No. It's not too much. That's a fine choice." He turned to Arthur, almost dreading the answer as he asked, "What about you? What will you take?"

"Singularity," Arthur replied, with a sheepish smile.

Vega let out a sigh of relief. Thank goodness. Only sixty thousand credits. That was quite reasonable. He then turned to the man he dreaded most. He already knew that of everyone in this room, Dayle was most likely the most shameless of all. "And you? Have an eye on any particular cores you might want?"

Dayle shook his head. "Already have a couple of skills. How about you let Dee pick one?"

"Huh!?" Dee exclaimed, caught completely off-guard. "Why're you bringing me into this!?"

"You're part of the team," Dayle shrugged. "Figured you might want some skills if you ever want to go out into the field." He turned to Vega. "So, how about it?"

Vega, instead, was focused on the first half of his earlier reply. "Where'd you get your skills?"

"Ate a queen wasp's core," Dayle replied with a shrug. "About Dee?"

"Sure, sure, we'll get Dee whatever she wants," Vega confirmed with a distracted wave of his hand. "More importantly, tell me about this Queen Wasp. I've never heard of anyone eating a core raw and coming out alive, let alone getting a skill out of it."

"Well, it's a long story and my legs are starting to kill me," Dayle said with a smile. Moments later, he and his team sat in some rather comfy chairs as he began to recount their trip to Hasuni to Vega.

As the tale came to a close, Vega rubbed his forehead, feeling a headache coming on. "So you were directly responsible for the chaos in Hasuni."

Dayle still feigned complete innocence. "Hey, I ain't the one who set the charges."

Vega rolled his eyes. Dealing with this Augur left his brain in a complete mess. "This data you recovered, do you have it with you?"

Arthur nodded. "Yes, I do." He had already uploaded a copy to the Virtual Drive's storage space for their supervisor Hailey Watson to decrypt so he didn't care what happened to the one in his gauntlet. "It's encrypted though."

Vega glanced at Dee. "Hey, wasn't your old man a genius with electronics? He teach you anything about computers and hacking?"

"Yeah, he did," Dee confirmed with a curt nod. "Haven't had a decryption related job in a long time though. Might take some time."

"Good, then you'll be in charge of finding out what the hell's on that data," Vega said. "I could have my guys do it, but chances are someone leaks. And I don't like leaks."

"Got it."

Vega grinned. "Good. So, before I get to the matter of your first job, let's talk about the most important thing. Those guns you found. Do you have any samples on you?"

Rather than answer, Dayle tapped his gauntlet, grinning as an assault rifle, a rocket launcher, and a laser cannon appeared on the table. Arthur mimicked his actions. A shotgun, grenade launcher, and several pistols appeared on the table. It was too bad about the DMK. They could have gotten some really nice prices for it.

Vega picked up the weapons and examined them. Power, output, all of that was secondary. The important thing was that these weapons were untraceable. They had absolutely no connection to the Continental Firearms Association. This meant a level one scrub from the slums could use these weapons, since the level restrictions were not in place.

It was funny really. Even though the CFA turned a blind eye to illegally manufactured firearms, they went batshit crazy if any one did not have the level restriction placed on them. Entire gangs had been wiped out just because they had been caught making illegal weapons without the level restriction.

However, these weapons were not made by anyone. They belonged to some red bastards no one knew about. Vega imagined, if he could get steady supplies of these weapons, he could become a big time dealer, no longer confined to the slums and backroom deals. Of course, he did not dare bring the business into the cities. The all-seeing eye of the CFA would grind him to dust in no time flat. Still, there were plenty of criminal organizations out in the wastelands eager for weapons to even the playing field against the Augurs and Augmented adventurers.

There was a market already. Now he just had to produce the goods.

With a large smile, Vega regarded the trio across from him. See? This was what he meant by he knew a good investment opportunity when he saw one. "How many do you have stored outside?"

"Twenty-three assault rifles, twelve sniper-rifles, eight rocket launchers, fourteen laser cannons forty pistols and one flame thrower," Arthur reported, leaving out all the cold weapons as they had agreed to keep those ones to themselves. Especially since there were no regulations on them. They had also given some sniper rifles and pistols to Raines since those were her preferred choice of weapons.

Dayle knew the importance of not getting into the eyes of the guys in suits at the top of the world. Hence, why they only kept one assault rifle and pistol per person and decided to sell off the rest. You never know who was watching. If they kept entering cities with different illegal weaponry, it would only take a minute for a nosy person to put two and two together and figure out what was going on.

On the other hand, if they were always seen with the exact same weapons, the Immigration Officers wouldn't care too much. He knew the prices would hence go down since, in this scenario, he was the eager party to get rid of these weapons.

Across from him, Vega was having similar thoughts, but unlike what Dayle expected, Vega said, "I will give you two million credits for the entire arsenal regardless of fire output. What do you think?"

Dayle, who had been prepared to haggle for a better price actually hesitated. He had expected that knowing the predicament they were in, Vega would reduce the price. Instead, he had doubled Dayle's expectations. Now, the young man was not sure if this was as a result of Vega's goodwill, or if the merchandise were really that valuable.

Vega, as if understanding the young man's unease said, "I offer you this price for one reason alone. I want to be your exclusive fence for such items in the future."

Dayle chuckled awkwardly. "Hey, it's not every day we get to blow up a city or find a base to rob. I'm not sure when next we'll get such a windfall."

"Leave that to me," Vega said with a wave of his hand. "It doesn't have to be these red bastards you hit. Nexus has some pretty sweet equipment too. There are plenty of folks who'll be stoked to get their hands on some Nexus gear. I know some of their shipping routes. Will point them out when I think you're strong enough."

"Okay then," Dayle agreed. Indeed it was better to make a deal with a gang member looking to go up the ranks. Both sides still had growth on their mind so they wouldn't screw each other over petty things. Factions and Big-Time crooks, on the other hand, had way too many top experts to give two shits about up and coming little guys. All things considered, with the sincerity Vega had shown, there was no reason to go refuse. "We have ourselves a deal."

"Good," Vega prompted with a pleased grin. "Joy, give the man his money."

The lady to his right, Joy, frowned as she looked at the notice her notepad. "Unfortunately, Mr. Butcher has not opened an account with any bank. Should I pay him in cash?"

"You haven't opened an account yet?" Vega asked, incredulous. That was the basics of the basics! At Dayle's shrug, Vega shook his head. "An Augur using cash is too suspicious. Open an underground account for his team. Use my name for the referral."

Joy glanced at the trio. "Will that be joint or separate accounts?"

"Joint."

"Joint."

"Separate."

Raines and Arthur glared at the odd man out. They had both opted for joint accounts for only one reason.

"If you think we're gonna let you waste money on impressing girls, you've got another thing coming," Raines snorted, tone filled with disdain.

Arthur nodded. "You have no sense of propriety. We cannot let you have access to money unsupervised."

"See what I deal with?" Dayle complained with a loud groan. Flashing a sweet smile at Joy, he said, "Joy, honey, you know, you look absolutely stunning in that dress. What do you suggest we do? I prefer the opinion of experts."

Joy smiled. Even though she knew it was mere flattery, who didn't like to be told they looked good? No one. That's who. "Most successful Fireteams have a joint account for the Fireteam and separate accounts for personal usage. You can set up a system where a percentage of any credits you earn is sent to the Fireteam joint account. That way, you can spend on yourself as well as ensure there are enough credits for real business."

"Pretty and smart," Dayle complimented, eyes blazing. "The perfect combination. You might be an asshole Vega, but I gotta admit, you've got good taste." Ignoring the collective cringes on his teammate's faces, he announced, "We'll do as you said. I like your idea."

Joy nodded as she tapped something on her notepad. Dayle, Raines, and Arthur got prompts soon after, asking for permission to join some bank. With a tap of their gauntlets, they trio was registered into Bulwark Trust, a bank which did not officially exist anywhere. Their eyes widened, as immediately after the registration prompt, they received a notification of having received two million credits in the FireRain account.

"Please remember, although you can easily make transactions anywhere with this account, it is advisable to have an active account with a normal bank," Joy advised. "You might have deals with factions or high-level personnel later. It would raise flags if you use this account for those kinds of transactions in the event of an investigation."

"Thanks for the advice," Raines acknowledged. "We'll make sure we do that once we leave." She then proceeded to reveal the coordinates of the hidden stash, information which was attentively put down by Joy. "That concludes the transaction then. On to the next one. What's our first job?"

"Your first job," Vega said, eyes turning grim. "I need you to assassinate someone."

Dayle and Arthur reflexively turned to Raines. She was the de-facto leader when it came to assassination jobs. "Who, when and where," Raines asked.

Vega shook his head. "It's not that simple." Eyes narrowing, he inquired, "How much do you know about the Crucible?"

"It is a virtual reality simulator where people go to fight each other," Arthur said. "It is effective both for ranking and training the Augmented."

"Yeah, you're right," Vega said. "What if I told you there's another crucible not revealed to the public? Only, we don't use Virtual Reality. In this crucible, people have to fight with their real flesh and blood for various prizes."

Raines nodded. "A survival match. I understand. The person you want us to assassinate is participating? You don't think someone will kill them by chance?"

Vega shook his head. "No. He's far too protected to get killed by chance. I'll need you to ensure he dies. When he's dead, retrieve the chip stored in his gauntlet."

"Wait, Residents and Augurs in the same competition?" Dayle prompted. "Hardly seems fair."

"Don't think all Residents are the same," Vega said. "The truly rich can afford the procedure to implant the same nano-transmitters you have in your brain. If you want to thoroughly kill them, you have to destroy the last RV station they saved at before you kill them."

"What happens if the same is done to us then?" Arthur inquired.

"I don't know the exact science behind it, but you guys are safe. Generally, if your RV gets destroyed, you are revived in the last city you visited," Vega revealed. "Residents, on the other hand, have to spend absurd amounts of credits for extra lives. Each time a Resident dies, he pays through his nose to be resurrected. If the RV is then destroyed or he runs out of lives, he dies forever. This is why most rich guys have their own personal RVs in hidden locations."

"Okay," Dayle said, massaging his head as he processed all this information. "How do we kill this guy then if he can just revive?"

"Oh, this guy is too basic to be able to afford that," Vega said with a wave of his hand. "The only reason he's participating is to be able to pass on the chip on himself to some rich young master. He plans to quit immediately the transaction is completed."

"I see," Dayle nodded. "So, it's an assassination and retrieval mission."

"Exactly," Vega nodded. "The competition's restricted to those below level fifteen so you should be fine. Think you can handle it?"

Dayle looked to Raines and Arthur. At their affirmative nods, he turned to Vega and said, hand outstretched, "Consider it done."

Vega grinned as he grabbed the young agent's hand in a vice grip. "Good to be working with you..."

*******************

A/N: Hey y'all! Hope you guys are enjoying United Front. It's nice writing such free speaking characters. Most of my protagonists are usually the silent, internal monologue type, so it's a new experience writing a story with so much focus on dialogue. Hope it's good. It is my hope that as a result of writing a novel with three main characters rather than one, I can improve my interpersonal dialogue writing. Make them less exposition, and more actual banter between real people.

So far, it's been a bit of both since it's still the start of the book, and there's a ton of stuff to disseminate with the new system and all, but I really wanna just start writing some fun, witty dialogue reminiscent of good Edgar Wright movie.

P.S: WHo enjoyed BABY DRIVER! 

That movie was heaven for a music lover like me. the soundtrack, and how it syncs with the scenes was just movie magic at its finest.

Picture of the Day 

This. Dude! This F***ing Dude! 

I don't know how, I don't know when, I don't know why, but He is Definitely entering this story at some point!

Catch y'all in the next chapter.