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You consider the implications of her having to explain why everyone else is dead with no call for back up, "Who did you tell that you'd be calling for back up?"

She gestures, "I only told the guys that were in the car with me. I had a little more seniority, so they took my word for it."

Okay, good. That helps clear up the main issues that may arise from everyone else dying but her. She made it out just barely, and the others were valiantly sacrificed in the process to make sure the job got done. Now you just have to figure out where to go from there.

A good point. You don't know how much of the money he would keep in the vault but it would be a good target. Even if you don't end up looting it, destroying it entirely could prove useful for dwindling down his allies.

You finish up your food and look back at Eiko, "Why don't we try making our way up to the upper floor where the vault is or maybe just the third and blow it up? If that doesn't kill him, it'll flush his ass out and get rid of a good chunk of the gang."

Eiko tenses, brows furrowing, "I don't.. I don't want to kill EVERYONE if we don't have to," she pauses then adds quickly, "But I mean, I'll still do it if it means killing Julien."

"Aren't you in this to kill Julien and destroy the gang?"

She stares at you then shakes her head, arms tensing around the cuffs like she wants to talk with her hands, "I'm in this to kill him. I've just. I've been in this gang for almost a year, not all of them are that bad. I wouldn't call them all close friends, but they're still people. I'd rather not do anything unnecessary, just what I need to do."

You almost laugh, thinking back to how indifferent she was before, "What about the guys I murked? They don't matter?"

"That's different. You already killed them and I can't do anything about that anymore." She shrugs, "Besides, I didn't like those guys that much anyway."

"So, you don't want to kill the gang but you want to get rid of their leader. Unless you're going to succeed him, you're going to be the next target in whatever power vacuum you create."

Eiko mutters, "I... maybe could lead them. But I mean," she seems to be talking more to herself, "It would be better to destroy the gang in function. You don't have to kill everyone to do that. If you get rid of the leader and whatever funds are keeping it operating, well, naturally people are going to disband."

You know it won't be that perfect of an ending. You massage the bridge of your nose, "So, you're on board with blowing up the base with no one inside of it? How is that going to work?"

Her fangs flash at you, "I don't know okay! Let's come up with something else!"

This is why you never work with other people. You'll push it to plan D for now.

"Alright. In that case, we'll need more intel. If the first floor and the garage are crawling with people and they're the main entrypoints, we'll either have to smooth talk our way inside, I sneak in, or we get in through the upper floors."

Eiko thinks, "The building is emptiest around 1-2PM, that's when everyone leaves to make their rounds across the city. Bare minimum guards and all the important personnel are upstairs."

Looks like waiting until tomorrow may be the best choice. Eiko doesn't seem to be in a rush, seeing as she had an entire 5 year revenge plan going for her. But let's deal with her phoning base first so that can get settled.



You gesture for her to turn around. For the sake of being quick and not spending 5 minutes lock-picking the cuffs or trying all the keys, you take your knife and use the PLASMA CUT function to split the chain. She stays still, but her hands twitch at the heat, breathing deeper.

"Phone them in and let them know you succeeded."

Eiko rubs her wrists and goes to pick up her flipphone off the car floor. She takes a deep breath, "Here goes."

They answer on the first ring. Eiko's ears lower and you already have a feeling that a lecture's being told over the phone.

She takes a deep breath, her tone surprisingly smooth, "Mission success. The pack's gone, except me." A pause. Her gaze turns to you, "Target's jacket was acquired but arms could not be retrieved. The, um, magic holding them won't respond."

Eiko winces and moves the phone away from her ear, and you can hear a staticy voice almost boom from the phone, "I don't care what you do, DON'T come back empty handed. The boss needs something off that fucking guy's corpse after all the trouble. Anything valuable you can pry off! Fucking anything!"

To her credit, her voice stays even, "Alright, loud and clear."

"Good. Your dues for the month will be waived." They hang up.

"Well, they sounded like a peach."

Eiko rubs her ear and smacks her flipphone shut, "That was Maggie, they handle the lower packs."

You nod, "What was that she said about dues? I thought only the people you guys bully give those."

"I'm still on probation, new recruits have to pay 3000C every month for 18 months. Doesn't matter how you get the money, just that you show you can. After that, you get promoted to a Loan Wolf, and you can start taking dues for yourself."

HUHH?? Is this how Julien affords everything you sell?? This sounds more like a scam than a gang. Do people really fall for these things willingly?

"What the fuck? 18 months? You've been paying them that much for almost a year? Is that all they make you do?"

Eiko stares at you blankly, "You can get your dues waived if you do enough grunt tasks. Rough people up, help collect interest, clean up, that kind of thing. I haven't been paying them the entire time. When I got officially inducted, they stranded me out 30 miles from the city with only the clothes on my back and I had to smell my way back to base."

Are you the only normal person around? Hm. But if that's all it takes, you could try to get your way into the base by saying you'll pay in. And skip out on the induction of course.

"Okay... But I'm not giving you any of my stuff. Not unless you pay for it. I already gave you my jacket for free to help your cover story."

"Did you not hear them? How am I supposed to get back to base and get any plan in motion if you don't give me something to show for it?"

You both end up arguing for a few minutes about the next course of action. You want to kill this guy, sure, but you'll ALWAYS value your arms more. You've bled and ran just to acquire some of these items and like hell will you give them away for FREE.



Eiko eventually concedes, "FINE, you can stay at my apartment for the night for free OR I pay you 200C for the cheapest thing you can give me. That's all I have to spare."

At most, you'd be willing to give her 2 PLASMA CARTRIDGES or 2 PLASMA GRENADES for a measly 200C. But, being able to stay at her place would cover your need for shelter for the rest of the night. You'd also be willing to give a little extra. Maybe an ADRENALINE SHOT. But these items would presumably be going into the gang's hands.

Here are the current possible plans:

>A)Infiltrate: You give Eiko the items she needs to come back and report the mission complete. You enter with her as either a guest that needs money or a new recruit that will pay. She could demand to hand the items over to him personally so you can both get to him directly. You both kill him from there and loot the vault. However, you'll have to safely make it out afterwards since your AW will not be done recharging by then.

>B)Sneak: You give Eiko the items she needs to come back and report the mission complete. She does something to cause a distraction (maybe detonate a grenade) while you sneak in from the back of the first floor entryway OR you scale up to an upper floor and enter that way. You find and kill Julien yourself and possibly loot the vault. However, you'll still have to find a way to escape without alerting anyone to what you have done. The crab may prove useful if you find the keys.

>C)Wait & Gather: You give Eiko the items she needs to come back and report the mission complete. While she's inside, you scope the outer area for alternate entrypoints then return to her apartment. While she's reporting, she can gather more info about the upper floors and peek the 4th floor. Tomorrow, you both sneak in while there are less guards around and head to Julien to kill him and loot the vault before making a swift escape. However, Eiko won't know which people will be on the guard schedule or inside the base.

>D)Annihilate: You give Eiko the items she needs to come back and report the mission complete. You follow either plan A or B. Without telling her, you plant explosives on all the floors you pass. If things go south, you'll jump out the nearest window and detonate everything. You'll wait it out, then see who survives, or if there's anything left of the vault.

>C. Wait & Gather