Chapter 71

First, they snuck into the place where the police team had stored the vehicles that had been involved in the accident and found two inconspicuous bullet craters on the metal of the car seat, where Al's parents would have been. They also found the same thing on the armor plating that separated the driver's seat from the back of the car.

There was no way this bullet hole was made from conventional ammunition, it had to have been some sort of energy bullet that had been fired from a beam sniper rifle. Conventional ammunition would not have the power necessary to penetrate the armor plating, the human body, and still have enough kinetic energy to leave a scorch mark on the seat.

The fact that the vehicle had been severely burned and its severe temperatures had camouflaged the area of the scorch mark. It would have been impossible to see without proper investigation. 

This led Ajax to believe that Al's parents had been killed before the car accident happened and their car was controlled from a remote location, using the car accident to fake their deaths and cover up the assassination.

Ajax and Erica quickly snapped some pictures of the vehicles and the evidence before they snuck back out and made their way to the home of a former executive of Qianling Heavy Industries. Once they had arrived, they managed to get inside.

Once inside he "questioned" the executive, learning that on the day of the accident, people from the Ashlin Group had contacted them. They were willing to pay a high price to poach people, also being responsible for the subsequent breach of contract. In addition, if they could extract core data from Qianling Heavy Industries, the price they would be willing to pay then would be even higher.

Ajax also got an important piece of information. He learned that Leonard, the head of the Ashlin Group on Bedrichi, was going to be holding an annual meeting at their headquarters in the central business district in about 3 days' time, which was exactly on the day of the Ankang Festival.

The main purpose of this meeting was to welcome newcomers and to celebrate the current achievements of the Ashlin Group. All executives on Bedrichi had been invited to participate and had already confirmed that they would be attending.

Based on all the evidence collected, Ajax had come to the conclusion that this had all been orchestrated by Leonard. Before leaving the ex-executive's house, Ajax looked the man in the eyes and told him: "You know, I had a friend once.... real good man. He, unfortunately, lost his life to a traitor whom he had trusted because they were family. My point is, there's nothing I hate more than traitors."

Ajax finished his monologue and pulled out a knife, ordering Erica to hold the man still he pulled the man's tongue out and cut it off. 

"With your tongue, you said things that caused the death of my friend's parents."

He then gagged the man and gouged out the executive's eyes.

"Your eyes bore witness to your actions, yet you did nothing to stop it."

He then stabbed the man in the heart, slowly sinking his knife in as he said "Your heart, corrupted, putrid, filled with greed, led to the deaths of my friend's parents." 

Erica let go of the man as his body started to convulse before slowly coming to a rest. Erica then stood next to Ajax who quipped "When you get to hell, tell them the Reaper sent ya." He had grown to like the nickname he had been given when he was at the border. It was ominous, sure edgy too, but it struck fear. It let the enemy know that no matter what they tried, their end was already predetermined.

Ajax washed his hands, he had been careful not to get any blood on his clothes, and then he and Erica made their way out of the house. When before leaving, Ajax carved into the wall "The Reaper has punished the traitor." He then stabbed the bloody knife into the wall and left it there.

It was already nighttime when Ajax and Erica arrived at the headquarters of Qianling Heavy Industries. Although there weren't many people around, Ajax decided to pull down his hat and put on a steampunk mask that covered from his nose to his chin, making onlookers think that he was one of the many punk kids. Erica did the same as Ajax and they made their way into the building and to Al's office.

When Al saw the pictures Ajax and Erica had taken, he lost his mind, and his vision was fogged with a desire for vengeance against Leonard. He wanted to rush over to the headquarters of the Ashlin Group and kill Leonard himself, but Ajax managed to calm him down and told him that hatred cannot be avenged by impulsiveness and anger.

If Leonard was able to orchestrate an "accident" for Al's parents, then it shouldn't be too hard for an unfortunate "accident" to befall him as well. Al asked Ajax for advice on what he should do, his eyes were red filled with pain and righteous fury. Ajax didn't say anything and just pulled Al into a hug as Al let out a scream of pain and frustration.

After a little while, Ajax got them all into an SUV and drove back to the construction site. They had already spent more than enough time in the urban landscape of the city and he feared he would be recognized. You never know, all it takes is someone to think you look like the man whose face was plastered with a "WANTED" sign all across the city and having nothing to defend himself with, he would either die or be captured.

Lily had also been driven back from the apartment she and the bodyguards were staying at, putting her studies aside when she learned of the fate of Al's parents. Although she was just a kid, she had grown up in the border and knew all too well what it was like to lose both of your parents and be too helpless to do anything about it.

After comforting Al for a while, everyone's eyes settled on Ajax. They were all ok with creating chaos, but Ajax was their leader and he was the one that ultimately decided what their next move would be.

"Even when we were at the border that fucker Leonard was pulling his puppet strings from the dark and being quite the annoying twat. He's quite the puppeteer, but that's all there is to him. Things will be different for him this time around. Now we are bounding new and old grudges together and bringing down the axe on his neck." Ajax felt the scars on his face and his brows furrowed as he remembered everything he lost because of Leonard.

Bomen's death was still fresh on his mind, and whether or not Leonard was directly related to it did not matter to him because, to Ajax, it was all Leonard's fault. The only reason the Hell's League ever attacked was because of Leonard. The only reason a mech team from the guard was at the border was because of Leonard. The only reason the Hell's League had the supplies to continue fighting after receiving incredible blows was because of Leonard's funding. IT WAS ALL LEONARD'S FAULT!

Ajax had tried to obtain information on Leonard's whereabouts but his schedule was too erratic and he never stuck to it. It was impossible to predict where Leonard would be. But things would be different now since Ajax had obtained information from one of the ex-execs about where Leonard would be in 3 days.

"Tell him." Erica, who was leaning against the wall, with her arms folded across her chest, said to Ajax.

"Tell me what?" Al asked.

"We were able to get ahold of information that they will be holding their annual meeting in 3 days. A bunch of execs from the Ashlin Group will be coming together and Leonard will definitely be there since he is the host. We should take advantage of this meeting and kill Leonard and the execs, we can take revenge and deal a good blow to the Ashlin Group all in one."

Ajax took out his Vox and opened one of the apps. It projected a map of the business district and highlighted the headquarters building for the Bedrich branch of the Ashlin Group: "Alright, here are some things we should know. This building is located in the central area of the business district which means that mechs are not allowed to enter the area and that it is close to the planetary guard's building."

"Only 5 kilometers away to be precise. Once we act we will only have a few minutes, 5 maximum before the guard arrives. It doesn't matter if we sneak in or go guns blazing, the risk is astronomical." Erica gave some additional information as she circled the position of the guard's building.

"Correct, so we have to make the perfect plan and plan our escape routes and rendezvous points," Ajax said as he scratched the bottom of his chin.

"We can always go back to the border. Hit and then run back home. We should have enough time to leave the city," Erica said as she popped a mint into her mouth.

"No, I'm afraid that wouldn't work. If we succeed or if we fail, this will be plastered all over the news. The border will be the first place they go and it's not big enough to protect us. I'm afraid that if we go to the border the Vanguard of Outcasts will be eradicated if they seem to be trying to protect us." Ajax shook his head, disagreeing with Erica's proposition.

It would be almost impossible to escape halfway across the plant to the border after attacking the Ashlin Group. Everyone would be on them once they got a description of the attackers. Erica was left contemplating whether they would have anywhere to go after their attack. Even the only viable place, the border, was out of the picture.

Lily didn't say anything either, well she didn't really have much to add to this, she only knew how to fight but not how to strategize. She was a child, after all, so she just stared at the projected map.

Al, who had been in a trance for and whose face kept on contorting from time to time as anger kept trying to break free, looked down at the floor, his arms crossed. After a while, he raised his head and bit his lip, his eyes still red, but dry with no tears inside. "Ajax, if you kill that fucker for me.... then I will arrange something for you all to be able to leave this planet and start a new life."

All eyes were immediately trained on Al and after a few seconds, Ajax responded: "We are friends, and after these past couple of months it's almost as if we were brothers. There's no need for you to ask me for help with an incentive at hand. We'll definitely kill him for you... for your parents. Leaving the planet seems to be a better option, but that still leaves us in the same predicament, what are we going to do on another planet?" If Aajx had wanted to just live on another planet, then he would've had left with Alana 2 months ago when she asked him to.

"No Ajax, I'm not talking about going to another planet." Al shook his head, "We can buy ourselves a fine spaceship, maybe a frigate, or a corvette, hell we can maybe even buy ourselves a cruiser or a battleship, hire some people and join the Interstellar Mercenary Association, and become mercenaries. You would be our Captain, there would be nowhere we can't go. No restrictions, no ties to a planet, just us and the stars."

"The Interstellar Mercenary Association..... and me a Captain..." Ajax muttered to himself. He had always dreamed of becoming a licensed mech pilot when he was a kid, hell, he even wanted to be a pilot of some fighter in a battle, shooting across the boundless stars. But he had never thought about becoming the Captain of a full ship, nor did he think that he ever consider joining the Interstellar Mercenary Association.

He had spent all his life being a realist and working, always being too busy trying to survive to entertain childhood dreams. They were impossible to achieve for him anyway. The most common second-hand spaceship would be priced in the range of 3 to 5 billion eddies. Not to mention accessories and other resources needed to keep one fully operational. That was an amount of money that someone like him wouldn't be able to accumulate in 10 lifetimes. The Interstellar Mercenary Association also required you to have a spaceship to be able to join, otherwise, your application wouldn't even be glanced at.

"Wait, you... you don't want to stay on this planet anymore? What about the things your parents built.... their company...." Erica stood up straight after hearing Al's proposition, brushing the hair that was covering her eyes.

"It's fucking useless, not like I was business material to begin with." Al took out a small silver jug ​​and took a sip of whiskey before muttering "I'm nothing but a drunkard." But then his bloodshot eyes regained some light and a hint of malice flashed across them, "But I'll get some revenge and closure for my parents. Those who killed them sold out the business to the competitors will see hell!"

"Huh..." Ajax was able to get a clear picture of things. The reason why Al doesn't want to wander around other planets is because he has no purpose to live on and build back what has been destroyed, just a desire to kill. If you have your own spaceship, then you can do as you please without the need to settle down.

Plus being a mercenary was also a good choice. Though their hands may not be clean, the LEOs wouldn't act against them, especially considering how they use the help of mercenaries from time to time.

What they used to do on the border was quite similar to what mercenaries did, with the distinction of one being on the ground and on the lower end of things while the other was in outer space and on the higher end of things.