Longshot

"Hehey! Pango, you made it!" Derek, a man with features sculpted to resemble an Ox greets, grabbing Pangolin's hand and shaking it vigorously. "How's the wife? Business been good?"

Pangolin, the towering yet thin man casually nods before readjusting his suit, "We can talk once I have a seat and a drink." he states, almost commandingly.

"Oh right! Come on, we got the VIP booth set up." he says, leading the map through the warehouse, past the large fenced-in area where the fighters would soon be, and to a raised cat-walk that'd been fitted with good quality seats which overlooked everything.

Pangolin drops into a chair and lights up a cigar, finally focusing on his companion, "My wife is none of your concern, business is normal, and I'm fine..." he ignores Derek's forced smile, "How are things on your end?"

"Filled out the entire warehouse and only needed to let Maelstrom keep a watch on things, aside from the usual 'protection tax'. You wanna know what fights we've got?"

Pangolin shakes his head, "Surprise me." he states before pausing, "Oh, and if anyone comes looking for me, deal with them. I've had an increase in people inquiring of things they shouldn't know."

"Got it," he gestures at the heavily armed and armoured Animal gangers nearby, "You need anything let these boys know, might not be all that bright but they can get most things done. Ain't that right?" he throws at them.

"Aye boss."

Relaxing, Pangolin lets out a sigh as people stream onto the premises. Some people stepped in from nearby bars, some were already fucked up on drugs, and some simply just wanted to watch the carnage.

An event like this wasn't like your usual fight club, instead, people could decide the stakes of their match... Til knockout, til forfeit, or to death. The latter option was only really allowed to people with grudges, adrenaline junkies, or psychopaths who got off on hurting people. Regardless, it made good entertainment, something Pangolin could actually enjoy.

Once the warehouse was chock-full of people, the events began. Some newbie boxer against an already established vet. The only reason they'd been put against one another is that the newbie had some Gorilla Fists, which apparently gave him a chance.

Pangolin personally thought otherwise, and so put a large bet against the newbie. Unsurprisingly, Cyberware or not, the vet kicked the crap out of his opponent. Dodging, ducking and weaving past the stiff attacks. That was the problem with relying solely on Cyberware and Chipware, if you didn't train and make your fighting style your own you become horribly predictable.

"Thoughts?" he asks one of the nearby Animals, "I hope Derek isn't thinking of recruiting that kid. He's not worth the chrome on his back."

"Eh, he said he'd consider it based on his performance, I think? Not anymore though." the other man shrugs.

The next fighters were more entertaining, experienced and less reliant on technology. Pangolin sips his drink and enjoys another cigar as the announcer shouts the next match... A deathmatch apparently, between an Animal and some Valentino, the latter having apparently slept with his opponent's fiance, which isn't surprising.

"Place a bet on-"

*Pew!*

*Splatter!*

Pangolin's head abruptly explodes, sending blood, bone, and grey matter splashing over the roaring crowd who just cheered in response as if someone important hadn't just died. Maelstrom and the Animals all burst into furious action, but no one could find the cause, even after searching most people in the building... It was only the morning later that they discovered the bullet hole in a nearby window near the roof...

--------------------

"What a letdown, making it so easy for me..."

Ori backs up from the edge of the building and cocks the sniper rifle, then tosses his cig away after confirming the death of his target. He wasn't in a rush to leave, as the chances of anyone looking up at the very top of the H10 Megabuilding were stupidly low, after all, almost no one could make the shot he just did.

Headshotting someone through a tiny window more than a thousand feet away wasn't easy no matter how much chrome you had. He'd come a long way from his roots... From being unable to fire a pistol to this.

The only real regret he had was the fact he couldn't harvest the guy's corpse... Or could he? Hm.

With that in mind, he packs up his shit and leaves, beginning to scope out the place in his car. The chaos he'd caused with the assassination had the Animals booking it outta Maelstrom turf, with Pangolin's corpse dumped into the back of a pickup truck.

It wasn't difficult to follow it, cut the back of the truck in half, and then drive away with the corpse. Once in safety, he plunges the Injector into the guy's body and harvests everything... Which as it turns out, isn't much he didn't already have.

The exceptions were his 'Wolvers' a surprise considering he'd been told the guy had Rippers, the nail-claw-things Sasha had. Wolvers took inspiration from that old comic book X-People or something, three very large blades protruding from the wrist, like a less advanced and more durable Mantis Blade.

They didn't really fit with his current configuration since they'd weaken his arms if he had them installed. Not to mention the fact his Monowire implants worked fine for now.

The other Cyberware was something he'd been contemplating buying outright since none of his 'harvests' had acquired it yet... A Militech standard issue Kerenzikov, an implant that drastically increased reaction times under duress.

Usually, it'd be situational augment due to the risk of burning out the user's nervous system, but for Ori that didn't really apply. It was almost laughable how easy it was for the nanites to overclock the Cyberware and turn it into a makeshift Sandevistan. While the effect wasn't quite as pronounced as the official device, he'd probably be able to properly see David now.