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"Jinx, lend me two grenades. I need 'em for the welcoming party."
Chen held out his hand. Jinx pouted, but she begrudgingly handed over two of her custom Flame Chompers!. She narrowed her eyes at him, looking like she was debating whether to pull the trigger or not. "You're bringing them back, right? Unused?"
"I'll bring back the pins," Chen deadpanned.
He didn't have time for her logic. He hoisted his heavy streetlamp onto his shoulder and kicked his hoverboard into gear. The board hummed, trailing a faint neon-green wake as he swaggered toward the factory's main gate. He wasn't exactly being subtle; he wanted every eye in the place on him.
A burly guard with a shaved head spotted him first. "Who goes there? Get lost, kid! This isn't a playground."
Chen landed five meters away, planting the streetlamp into the grime with a heavy thud. He slowly raised his head, a smirk playing on his lips. "I'm just here to deliver some gifts."
The guards didn't buy the "gift" routine. They drew their scimitars, the metal glinting under the alchemical streetlights. "Last warning, brat."
"Fine, have it your way," Chen sighed. He snatched the grenades from his belt, hooked his thumbs through the pins, and flicked them open. With the practiced aim of a quarterback, he hurled them right into the center of the squad.
"No—"
BOOM!
The explosion turned the gatehouse into a cloud of shrapnel and purple smoke. Jinx's tech didn't miss. Several guards were thrown back like ragdolls. Inside the factory, the sound acted like a starter pistol for chaos.
"Enemy attack! That sounded like a Hex-charge!" "Is it a Chem-Baron coup? Quickly, get Silco on the line!" "Sevika is already on-site! Find her!"
The factory descended into a disorganized mob of panicked thugs. High above, the air-raid sirens began to wail, a mournful buzzing that filled the Zaunite sky.
The Weapon Master
Not far away, in a quiet, dimly lit tavern, Silco sat before a small fish tank. He held a miniature fishing rod, watching the water. His good eye narrowed as the sirens echoed in the distance.
"The fish here haven't reacted yet," Silco whispered, "but the ones at the foundry have definitely taken the bait."
He tossed the rod aside, a cold smirk touching his scarred face. "Sevika, let's go see which of my dear Chem-Barons finally worked up the courage to bite the hook."
Back at the gates, a dozen reinforcements poured out of the factory. They saw their fallen comrades and the single boy standing there with a streetlamp.
"Today, I'm Jax!" Chen roared, his voice dripping with Silver-rank arrogance. "I'm looking for a challenge! Who wants to be the first of the ten?"
"Are we really being mocked by a child?" one thug growled. "Kill him!"
They swarmed him. These weren't just street punks; they were Silco's veterans, men who lived by the knife. They didn't care about honor. They just wanted to turn Chen into a pincushion.
Chen raised his streetlamp and began to spin it in a blurring overhead arc.
"MISS! MISS! MISS!"
The HUD elements flickered above his head. No matter how hard they swung their clubs or lunged with their knives, they hit nothing but the air. Chen didn't just stand there; he threw a few quick punches to keep his Grasp of the Undying charging.
As the two seconds of Counter Strike reached their limit, Chen quoted the Weapon Master's classic line: "Hmph! Imagine if I had a real weapon!"
He slammed the lamp down in a powerful 360-degree spin. Because he'd dodged nearly a dozen attacks, the counter-attack damage was capped at 100% bonus. A massive shockwave of physical damage hammered into the circle of thugs, stunning them all instantly.
"Distraction complete," Chen muttered. He hopped onto his board and shot into the factory entrance, leaving nothing but a green streak for the dazed thugs to look at.
The Heist Begins
While Chen played the loud-mouthed bait, Jinx was skipping through the back of the foundry. She was in her element, humming a manic little tune while she planted charges on the chemical vats.
"She's a little delinquent, always firing her gun, she is... the strongest~" A guard spotted her and charged. Jinx didn't even stop her song. She flicked her wrist, her handgun barking once.
BANG.
The guard slumped. Another guard saw the cold efficiency of the shot and turned to run. Jinx laughed, her braids swaying. "I'll give you until three!"
The guard pushed his legs to the limit, thinking he had a chance.
"Three!" Jinx shouted, skipping one and two entirely.
BANG.
He fell before he'd taken three steps.
Ekko, meanwhile, was the only one actually being a "Firelight." He moved like a shadow, knocking out sentries with silent precision and hiding the bodies. He reached the prison level, pulling out his lockpicks to free the doomed captives.
Outside, Silco's car pulled up. He looked at his broken guards and the dazed thugs. "Report."
"He threw a grenade," the bald guard wheezed. "One kid. He fought ten of us and... we couldn't touch him. He's inside."
Silco's eyes turned murderous. He didn't believe in magic boys, but he believed in results. He turned to Sevika. "Release the Shimmer Warriors."
Sevika hesitated. "But they're still in the 'unstable' phase. We haven't tested the armor seals."
"Consider this the beta test," Silco said. "Go in. Kill them all."
Sevika nodded. She entered the control room and slammed her hand onto a large purple button. Deep in the prison blocks, next to where Ekko was picking a lock, the purple liquid in the glass incubation vats began to drain.
The armored suits hissed, their internal systems hummed to life, and the first Shimmer Warrior opened its glowing eyes.
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