The Pit lay heavy with silence, a weight that seemed more tangible than the gravity Kaelen was manipulating. Thirty gang members, beaten, bloodied, or simply terrified, looked up at the balcony. At the foot of the stairs, Drax, the Viper Boss who had ruled this sector for five years, groaned in pain, clutching his shattered ribs.
Kaelen leaned against the velvet railing, an air of bored indifference about him. "The Red Vipers are dissolved," he declared. His voice wasn't loud, but it resonated throughout the room. "From now on, this is... under new management."
Drax spat blood, gasping, "You can't do this! The Syndicate... they'll skin you alive. I pay them 20%!"
Kaelen cocked his head, a smirk playing on his lips. "20%? That seems inefficient."
His eyes landed on Zeph. "Zeph, the ledger."
Zeph blinked, still standing on the dance floor with a half-drained bottle of expensive vodka he'd swiped during the fight. "Uh, right," he muttered.
"Interface connection established," the AI announced. "Hacking local network... Access granted. Financial records downloaded."
Zeph's eyes flashed blue. "Hold up. Drax is skimming off the top. He's pulling in fifty grand a month but cooking the books to look like he's making ten."
A ripple of murmurs ran through the gang members. They had been paid pennies while their boss hoarded millions.
Kaelen's smile was cold, predatory. "See?" he addressed the crowd. "He lied to you. He stole from you. And he lost to two men in under three minutes."
Kaelen descended the stairs. The crowd parted before him. He stopped before Drax. "I don't need liars," he stated, raising his boot and bringing it down.
CRACK.
Drax screamed as his leg snapped. The sound echoed off the metal walls. Zeph winced, looking away.
"Get him out of here," Kaelen ordered two of the nearest gang members. "Dump him in the gutter. If he comes back, kill him."
The gang members complied without hesitation. Loyalty, it seemed, was flexible when gravity was crushing your lungs.
Kaelen turned to the remaining twenty-eight men and women. "You have two choices," he said. "Walk out that door and never come back. Or stay, swear loyalty to me, and get paid double what Drax gave you."
"Calculated cost," the AI noted in Zeph's ear. "Payroll increase: 100%. Projected loyalty increase: 400%. Smart move."
One by one, the gang members knelt. "We're with you, Boss," a woman with a cybernetic eye declared.
"Good," Kaelen said, an air of expectation about him. He turned to Zeph. "Come on. Office."
The office was opulent, with leather sofas, a wall of monitors, and a fridge-sized safe.
Zeph collapsed onto the sofa. "That was... intense. Was breaking his leg necessary, Kae?"
Kaelen poured himself a drink from Drax's private bar. "He needed to be broken. Weakness invites challenge. Cruelty invites obedience."
"You sound like a movie villain," Zeph said, rubbing his temples. "Since when do you know about ruling gangs?"
"I read," Kaelen replied casually. "And I observe. People want security and money. I provided both."
He tossed a heavy keycard onto the desk. "Open the safe."
Zeph approached the safe. "Electronic lock detected. Brute force algorithm running... 3... 2... 1..." The safe swung open.
Zeph whistled. "Jackpot. There's... two hundred thousand credits here."
Kaelen didn't look at the money. Instead, he focused on the monitors displaying camera feeds of the entire district. "We have eyes," he murmured. "We have soldiers. We have money."
"And a five million credit bounty on our heads," Zeph reminded him, pocketing some chips. "This small gang isn't going to stop a Hunter Guild."
"No," Kaelen agreed, his gaze fixing on Zeph. "But you can."
"Me?"
"Your AI," Kaelen said. "It can hack the bounty network, can't it? Erase our faces? Change the data?"
Zeph paused. "It's risky, Kae," he warned. "If I hack the Global Net, they might trace the signal back to my brain. Then we won't just have bounty hunters after us. We'll have the military."
Kaelen placed his hands on Zeph's shoulders. His grip was heavy. "Do it," he demanded.
"But it could bring the army down on us!"
"I trust you," Kaelen said, although his eyes were anything but trusting. "You're the genius. Make it happen. Or we lose everything we just gained."
Zeph looked at the monitors, at the money, and at his best friend who was becoming more of a stranger every hour. "Fine," he sighed, sitting down at the desk and closing his eyes. "But if my brain melts, I'm haunting you."
As Zeph dove into the digital sea, Kaelen turned back to the rain-soaked city outside, a glass of whiskey in hand. "Haunt me all you want," he murmured to the glass. "As long as you obey."