Chapter 53 - Kay

It was now the evening after the meeting between the Sanctuary's top brass, and Ivar sat in a fast-moving car with three women. Another two cars were behind them, making for a total of twelve people going on this mission.

Nova, Alita and Molly all stayed behind to train their abilities.

Ivar was dressed in a strange, thin, sort of latex-looking armour. According to Nova, this was the best they had access to in terms of stretchy armour and was initially made for people with bionic leg or chest modifications that could alter their height.

It wasn't particularly tough armour, and whether or not it would hold up when Ivar transformed was still unsure, but Ivar figured it was better to try, even if he felt uncomfortable in this gear.

A sheath was attached to the armour, which held the katana Ivar had taken from Andra. If any of the women on this mission were surprised at the choice to only carry a melee weapon, they didn't show it.

This was the first time Ivar had sat in a car, and he found it a novel experience but not particularly interesting. After all, while he may not have sat in a car specifically, he had moved at even higher speeds when being carried by his parents back on Máni.

Behind him in the backseat were two somewhat plain-looking women whose names he had already forgotten, and next to him behind the wheel sat a captain-ranked mission leader by the name of Kay.

It was made clear to Kay, however, despite her grumbling, that she was only really in charge of the others, while Ivar was more like an independent contractor who would act in whatever way he deemed best for completing the mission.

She had long, purple hair, some kind of metallic attachment on her head, which likely had an unknown purpose, fair skin and blue, somewhat bloodshot eyes.

Although Ivar would have preferred her without the metallic band, overall, he thought she looked good, with solid assets across the board.

Unfortunately, Kay herself had mostly been looking at him with suspicious gazes. Although he also detected some lust underneath that.

But that wasn't anything too weird; ever since he had been introduced to Sanctuary, suspicion and hostility were essentially all he got, apart from a few who instead seemed to look at him with lust and desire, which suited him much better. He made sure to remember their faces for later.

They were currently speeding along the deteriorated roads of the slums, carefully avoiding the many bums and other street trash that littered these roads. Occasionally, they got shot at, but the cars were pretty sturdy and would need a heavier assault before they stopped.

Regardless, it certainly was indicative of life in these slums, and Ivar almost felt bad for these people. 

Not that he had the inclination to help these people, but perhaps once he had more power in this city, he might do some things to help out since he considered the material wealth of this world to be pretty pointless anyway.

Their destination was a Nakhimov warehouse with an attached research lab, which had been built in the slums to reduce government oversight without having to go so far as to be placed somewhere in the no-man's land outside the city.

Besides, the slums had enough volunteers for less than ethical experiments in exchange for minor monetary rewards. Or sometimes, just for straight-up drugs.

Sanctuary had had their eyes on this place for a while now, as the Nakhimov Corp focussed on various smaller electronic devices, just like Sanctuary.

However, Sanctuary did not have access to the level of hacker needed to breach this place's security, not to mention that the guards were numerous and well-equipped.

Luckily, with Ivar's presence, they now had both a powerful hacker in Selene and extra muscle in Ivar. 

Of course, so far, no one in Sanctuary besides Alita and Nova had seen Ivar's fighting prowess, let alone Selene's hacking abilities, but since Nova had vouched for him, they had no other choice but to trust him.

It did help that they knew Ivar had an invested interest in this mission.

After all, Ivar wanted Nakhimov Corps bionic lenses, which were not yet available to the public but were already known to have been used by the military, and this research lab should have a pair of them.

These bionic lenses were the next best thing to actual eye implants and were intended to be used by those who didn't want to replace their eyes with machinery but still wanted the functionality of eye implants.

Since Ivar's eyes were the only part of his body that would change very little during any transformation, they were also the only part that would always stay in physical contact with any device, thus allowing Selene constant access to the Cybernet.

Combined with the mods Selene intended for Sabine to add to the lenses, they would also provide many other benefits for Selene and Ivar.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by Kay, "So what's your deal, huh?"

Ivar smiled, "My deal?"

Kay nodded, "Yeah, your deal! I doubt the boss, or most others for that matter, actually believe you allied with us to get those lenses or your apparent relationship with Alita. 

After all, if what the boss said about your fight abilities is true, you could have your pick of gangs to join, any of which would have plenty of hot babes and the required crew to pull off this heist.

So why us?"

Ivar chuckled, "Not a believer in true love, huh?"

Kay snorted, "Hmpf, maybe I would have been more convinced if your eyes weren't constantly scanning any female you meet to see if you want to fuck them. Or the fact that Alita seems to be constantly trying to convince others to jump into bed with you.

I don't know what you did to that girl, but clearly, you've got her completely under your thumb, and why the boss tolerates that is anyone's guess."

Ivar grinned, "You're pretty perceptive, I see."

Kay shrugged, not taking her eyes off the road, "It's a gift. Now, gonna answer my question, or what?"

Now it was Ivar's turn to shrug, "Would you believe it is just a coincidence? I needed to find a group to ally with, and I happened to run into the opportunity to save Alita, giving me the introduction to exactly one such group. Nothing else to it."

Kay chuckled, "So it could have been any group; we were just the lucky ones?"

Ivar grinned; he kind of liked this Kay person, "You could say that."

Kay raised an eyebrow, "And I suppose the building full of women you now have access to had nothing to do with your decision?"

Ivar laughed, "Well, not exactly, but I won't deny the benefits. So, are you interested in finding out why Alita is so eager to please me?"

Kay smiled lustfully. Clearly, she was one of the women who wanted Ivar to break their dry spell. She said, "Maybe. Let's see how this mission goes, and then perhaps we'll see who ends up eager to please who."

Meanwhile, in the backseat, one of the two women there was scowling at Ivar while the other was blushing in embarrassment.

Ivar chuckled, absolutely confident in making this Kay addicted to him in just one good, long fuck since her status window pegged her as a regular human with average stats.

A few minutes later, the three cars stopped in a mostly abandoned alley, and they all got out.

Kay assigned three of the women to guard the cars and ensure they were ready for a quick getaway when she started leading the rest of the way towards the facility they intended to rob.

Apparently, Kay had been chosen to lead this mission because she was also the one who had been assigned to gather as much intelligence as possible on this place.

After running through alleys for a few minutes and climbing up to a roof, they now had a clear view of their target.

It looked like a massive complex surrounded by a wall, the largest building of which looked like a three-story rectangle, which was likely to be the warehouse.

The rest of the complex consisted of several separate buildings connected through suspended walkways.

The hardest part of gaining entry to this complex, was that the wall was entirely uninterrupted except for a single small guard station, which was only barely big enough to let a single person pass at a time.

This entryway was intended for the test subjects they gathered from the slums but was not particularly suited for the entry of Ivar and his team since it was heavily guarded, easily defensible, and quickly closed up.

So, instead, the team intended to enter the same way that supplies were brought in and out of the place, by air.