After the meeting at Location 15, Ollie sat on the desk chair of Dr. Gray's study, a converted Victorian library where screens lined the shelves instead of books. Multiple displays showed surveillance footage from Vancouver warehouses.

  "Play it again," Ollie leaned forward in his leather chair.

  Lily stared at the screen, fully leaning into the table. She hadn't spoken much since they arrived, but her eyes darted from one detail to another on the screen.

  Dr. Gray tapped the laptop, and the footage replayed. Four figures appeared at the warehouse's south entrance. Three carried what looked like AK-47s. The fourth held the popular staff sold at his bazaar from the premium collection. All four moved close to the wall, not making any sound. The first in the line signalled to a stop.

  "Stop there," Ollie said, and the video immediately paused where the fourth figure was in full view. "Staff on that one is from my bazaar. Batch 3 based on the 3 scratches at the top. Whoever is distributing to second hand market is in the inside."

  "Their formation and movement also look professional," Lily said. "The hand signals give it away, and they all stopped immediately before the signal finished."

  She was right. The group moved with too much precision. Not mundane military. More like an Aurian squad executing a covert operation inside a rift where one single slip up could cause a team wipe.

  Lily slid Dr. Gray's laptop towards her and skipped one second of the video. The fourth figure had pulled out a smartphone. Suddenly, the audio went to complete silence.

  "Air stabilization ether-tech." Ollie said. "Those were only sold to VIPs."

  "Any clues on who it is?" Dr. Gray asked.

  "Probably. Have to look later. Only made 50 of those things," Ollie said.

  Lily tapped the space bar, continuing the video. "They know the patrol routes too. See how they time their movements?"

  The group navigated through the warehouse. As the group turned left, they stopped just mid-corridor with another hand signal. Immediately, two drones moved through the patrol route in front of them. Then, the group continued its route. No hesitation. There were no wrong turns and each turn took them directly to the weapons vault that contained prototypes and newly modified dust samples.

  "Smells like an inside job through and through," Ollie said. "But who? The plans for these facilities are locked in cold storage, locked up in USB sticks in my office."

  "That's not what I would ask. I'd ask if those are actually criminals," Lily said.

  "What do you mean?" Dr. Gray asked.

  "Look at their outfits. Common clothing, hoodie, baggy pants. But the equipment? Top ether-tech. And they don't move like common gang members," Lily answered.

  Ollie stood, pacing the room. "Maybe an Aur family? But those families don't like trouble. Unless…"

  "We can figure that out later. We need to move fast," Lily said. "Raids start in three days."

  "I have a plan." Ollie stopped pacing. "Dr. Gray, you keep Jonathan and Marc busy. Feed them progress reports on your research. Give them something to focus on besides me. Make it sound like a new profit revenue generator."

  Dr. Gray nodded. "I can increase the potency in our latest batch. Stronger boost gives more assurance during rift raids."

  "Lily, your people in Vancouver. Can they clean house?"

  She pulled out her phone. "Already on it."

  "Leave some breadcrumbs leading elsewhere. Can your witches do that?" Ollie looked at her intently.

  "No problemo," Lily said.

  "Good. I'll handle Ontario personally. As for Montreal and Quebec City…" Ollie's smile turned sharp. "We cut them loose. Let the UK find what they're looking for there. Feed the wolves to stop them from knocking on our door."

  "The Quebec guys won't like that," Lily shrugged.

  "They knew the risks. Besides, better them than us," Ollie grinned.

  "What about the research?" Dr. Gray asked. "We can't stop now. We're close to a breakthrough on the crystallization process."

  "The research continues," Ollie said. "Cutting loose ends won't delay the progress. As long as they don't get an actual scent trail, we'll be fine."

  Lily's phone dinged. She read the message, then nodded at Ollie. "My team's moving. House cleaning will be done by dawn."

  "Good." Ollie caught her eye. "Make sure they're thorough. We can't risk anyone catching on your tail." Ollie said.

  Lily crossed her arms. "You think they'll trace it back to the Blue Witches?"

  "I think we can't take chances. Not with the UK and Jiuling breathing down our necks. We're not talking about some small time gang now. The big boys are barrelling down our territory." Ollie sighed and dropped back down into the chair.

  Dr. Gray switched to another camera feed. "There's no way these are amateurs."

  "But they're not UK or Jiuling," Ollie said. "This is someone new. I got my hunches, but not sure yet. Need to look up who got that air stabilization device."

  The footage showed the team accessing the vault. One guarded the exit. One holding up a sack, and the two others packed up specific items while clearly disregarding mass produced versions of the ether-tech. They knew exactly what they wanted, not even second guessing what they put in the bag.

  "Dr. Gray," Ollie said. "How fast can you escalate your research? Make it noisy enough to draw attention?"

  "Give me twelve hours. I'll have results that'll make Jonathan forget all about these warehouses."

  "Do it. Lily, once Vancouver's clean-"

  "I know. Keep my people ready. Watch for any sign that says we've been compromised."

  "One more thing," Ollie said. "Whoever these people are, they'll hit again. We need to figure out their pattern and be ready."

  "Ready how?" Lily asked.

  Ollie's eyes narrowed at fourth man in the video. "To find out who they really are. And make them regret stealing from me."

  A notification popped down at the top of the projected screen. "Jonathan wants an update on the latest batch. I should go."

  Lily's phone buzzed again. She checked it and said, "My team's in position. Operation vinegar and bleach commencing in 30 mins."

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  "I'll head to Oshawa now. Should be about less than 30 minutes from here." Ollie stood up and walked to the library's only entrance and exit.

  Ollie leaned against a concrete wall outside of the warehouse, finishing the last of a cherry lollipop. The candy clicked against his teeth as he loosened his tie with his free hand. His custom artificed M1 rifle rested against his shoulder.

  His hand moved into his inner jacket's pocket and put on the glasses. The world changed from colour to shades of gray and red. Looking at the warehouse showed 16 heat signatures moving through the building, one missing.

  The guards' body temperatures ran hotter than normal humans. All Awakened, all hired muscle, all having criminal backgrounds, all hired by himself.

  He pulled the lollipop stick from his mouth and flicked it aside. It dropped to the dirt, creating a rustle in the nearby brush.

  Time to work.

  Ollie reached into his pocket and pulled out a smartphone. One tap activated the air stabilization field, creating a bubble of perfect silence around the whole warehouse. His footsteps completely silent. Only his heartbeat and breathing could be heard transmitted to his ears through flesh.

  The first guard never saw him coming. Ollie's rifle bucked once, the round fired from around the corner. A blue trace curved around a stack of crates, finding the target's temple. The guard dropped without a sound, their heat signature remained but quickly filtered away from the HUD.

  One down. Fifteen to go.

  He pulled the red marble from his pocket, tossing it upwards, willing it to find the 17th person that was supposed to be in the warehouse. It fell, spinning mid air before dropping in the direction deeper into the warehouse. Looks like 17 was still alive.

  Ollie entered the warehouse. Shipping containers, crates, and multiple tables littered unorganized everywhere. That's what it would look like to anyone who didn't have the set of facility designs. Everything was done on purpose to put infiltrators at a disadvantage.

  Two more red shades in human figures moved in at the standard patrol pattern designed for the facility. Their M1s glowed red hot, modified long guns all courtesy of his own bazaar.

  One buck of his rifle shot a blue trace through the middle of crates, passing through the first's temple and into the other's throat. Their bodies hit the floor, confirmed only by the thermal overlay.

  Three down. Getting sloppy with the patrol, boys.

  Four more heat signatures converged at his position. This time, these four moved in low while surveying the area.

  Ollie dropped onto one knee, sighting down his M1. One squeeze of the trigger took out the leftmost guard. The second one jumped and ducked behind a shipping container. The third and fourth scattered to opposite sides. Two more flicks of the trigger and two shots homed in on the targets running away from each other. He angled his shot at the ceiling. The round went straight upwards, cleared the container, then snapped down, driving through the target's skull.

  Seven down. Right on schedule.

  A group of five heat signatures appeared at the catwalks, moving fast towards his direction. Ollie saw the first one giving hand signals to the rest of them.

  He flicked the marble up again, watching it roll. Still pointing deeper into the warehouse, but slightly changed. The boss was moving.

  Ollie touched his glasses, cycling through view modes. The thermal overlay showed structural weak points in the catwalk.

  One good shot...

  His rifle bucked once. The round struck a support beam, and half the catwalk collapsed. Three guards fell, their heat signatures flaring bright before going dark. The other two managed to grab the railing, but they made easy targets hanging there.

  Twelve down. Four left.

  The remaining guards took cover below catwalks, clustered together into one unit. Harder to hit using the same shooting high technique. They were all in front of what would be the main office of the warehouse.

  How loyal.

  Ollie moved. The marble had pointed him this way for a reason, but definitely not where 17 was.

  Movement caught his eyes. One of the guards broke cover. Sprinted for a side door. Amateur mistake. One flash and a blue tracer caught him between the shoulder blades.

  The last three signatures held their position. They'd backed themselves into a corner, using filing cabinets and desks as cover. They peeked out their weapons and fired wildly out into the open at Ollie's general direction.

  Ollie took cover immediately behind the shipping container beside him. If he hadn't seen them raising their guns, he wouldn't have heard the gunfire that came at him.

  His eyes looked to their position as he ignored the gunfire passing by him. One load-bearing wall eaten up by their modified long guns. Bullets tore through the concrete like paper. One shot at its weak point could make it all crumble down.

  He squeezed the trigger four times in quick single fire succession. The first round struck the wall, causing it to collapse onto their cover. All three bailed immediately, and the remaining three bullets still in the air pounced at each of their throats, dropping all three simultaneously.

  Flicking the marble up once more, he watched it roll across the floor. It stopped, pointing towards a hidden trapdoor behind the collapsed wall. He put his hand into his pocket and disabled the air stabilization.

  "Time to have a chat with the boss."

  Jumping down into the trapdoor, Ollie landed slowly in a maintenance tunnel. He followed where the red marble told him to, taking rights and lefts through the maze. The target was still moving until it climbed back up from the service tunnel.

  Ollie reached that dead end in just a couple of minutes. He clicked his tongue as he turned his head up. Climbing the rusted manhole ladder would ruin his suit.

  Using telekinesis, his feet levitated off the ground, pointing the rifle upwards. When he arrived at the top, he saw an empty warehouse except for the small office room at the side.

  Marble flicked up once more. It dropped immediately, pointing to the small office. Ollie walked up to the office, rifle still up. The door slid open as soon as he reached it.

  An empty room, except a desk and a chair. The windows were boarded up, but barely. A man sat on the chair, hands folded on the desk.

  "You broke our arrangement!" the boss yelled. "We had a deal, Glory. Protection money comes in, your tech stays clean. Simple."

  Ollie kept his rifle steady. "Times change, bossman. Someone's been hitting my warehouses. Using my tech. Ring any bells?"

  "That's your problem." The boss's hands clenched at the armrests. "We paid. We kept quiet. Now you come in here, kill my people!"

  "Your people were sloppy." Ollie smiled, eyes not so. "Left traces. Drew attention. The UK's sniffing around. Jiuling too. I need answers and my finger feels itchy."

  "You need to back off." The boss stood, face reddening. "You think you can just do this? What about the aftermath? What then?"

  "I think someone's moving product through my territory." Ollie ignored him. "Someone with training. Resources. Making me look bad in front of some very important people. And I don't like that, bossman."

  The boss laughed, a harsh throaty laugh. "You're scared. The great Oliver Glory, running scared from the shadows of those above him."

  "Information," Ollie said coldly. "That's all I need. Who's moving the gear? Who's training them?"

  "I don't know anything." The boss said. "Use a memory syringe if you don't believe me. Pull it right out of my head."

  Ollie's eyebrows rose. "Those run half a million each. Bit steep for a fishing expedition."

  "Then we're done here." The boss gritted his teeth. "You broke faith first, Glory. Don't expect-"

  "I'll give you another chance, bossman. What can you do for me?" Ollie interrupted. "I've got raids coming. UK breathing down my neck from the east. The Chinese pointing their knives at my west. I need something concrete. Give me something, bossman."

  "Maybe... Look. I don't know how you can believe me without pulling out that memory yourself… but there might be something about the Silver-"

  The glass behind the boss exploded inward. Red mist filled the air as the boss slumped forward no longer with a head. Ollie dove behind a desk as another shot punched through his shoulder, spinning him around.

  Blood painted the blacks and whites of his suit. His glasses showed the shooter's heat signature already retreating, moving fast across rooftops. Professional, quick and clean.

  The killer could've shot him, but didn't. He pressed a hand against the wound.

  The last bit of what bossman said confirmed it. A family. It had to be. Only they had the resources, the training, the reach. But moving against them without proof would start a war he couldn't afford, literally. Not with the UK and Jiuling circling like sharks.

  Ollie sucked on his teeth. The word "Silver" wasn't helpful either. Multiple families around the world had the word "Silver" somewhere in their family name like it was some sort of lucky word.

  His phone rang, a notification sent by "Carl."

  [Jonathan: Some injured kid outside of the red hollows just popped out. Might be someone you know. Check it out sometime.]

  No time to look at it. He needed to clean the whole warehouse. He turned off the silencing field and unlocked his phone.

  He quickly sent a text to a contact named "Jeff".

  [Ollie: Clean up the lollipop by the bushes at the front]

  The sound of multiple vans entered the warehouse gates.