Night.
The silver-grey Ford Mustang once again drove on the streets of Brooklyn.
It was still Bucky and Maria Hill.
But this time, they weren't wearing black combat suits like before.
Instead, both were in fashionable casual wear, meticulously dressed, clearly out for a night of fun.
And they truly went to a nightclub, hand in hand, like a couple out looking for entertainment. Not to mention, the man was handsome and the woman beautiful, like a wolf and a tiger… Cough, in short, their appearance was quite eye-catching.
Fortunately, once inside the nightclub, with the raucous music and constantly flashing colorful lights, you couldn't tell who was who unless you looked closely.
They went to the dance floor for a while, ordered two drinks, and sat down in a relatively secluded booth.
Hill had been jumping around for a bit, her face slightly flushed, adding an allure to her cold and beautiful features.
Bucky, however, had no mind to appreciate it. Instead, his gaze was fixed on a private aisle guarded by two muscular men not far away.
Just now, a tall, thin man with a goatee, dressed rather unfashionably but trendy, followed by a short, stout man and another chubby, bearded man—two subordinates—accompanied a tall, lean man with a buzz cut. They passed the muscular security guards and entered the aisle.
"Cooperate with me later. I need a distraction to divert attention."
Bucky leaned close to Hill, as if flirting, and whispered into her ear.
"Hehehe..." Hill seemed very happy listening, a smile on her face, but what she said was: "Remember what we agreed upon."
"I know. No extreme measures, especially no killing, no causing chaos, no collateral damage, and no harming innocent people."
"As long as you do as you say, I will fully cooperate with you."
"Of course." Bucky drained the vodka in his glass, gestured to Hill, but didn't go to the bar for a refill. Instead, he vanished into the crowd in a flash.
Again!
Hill, who had sat down to rest but felt even hotter instead of cooler, saw Bucky disappear like a ghost in a flash. She found it quite magical.
If she had this stealth skill, and then went on secret missions…
Well, she still somewhat wanted to be a female 007, not just the assistant to 007… Tsk, how could this guy compare to James Bond? Although his looks and demeanor were acceptable, he actually wanted her, a future super-agent, to be his sidekick. Just thinking about it made her annoyed.
Fortunately, Bucky's figure reappeared quickly, already not far from the two muscular security guards, with his back to them.
Seeing this, Hill pulled a lighter from her bag, lit her glass of vodka, splashed a little onto the floor near the neighboring seat, and then covered the mouth of the glass with her hand, extinguishing the pale blue fire.
"Hey, be careful! Fire!"
Hill shrieked and quickly backed away.
"Oh my! Oh my God! Fire!"
"Put out the fire!"
The chair in the neighboring seat caught fire, quickly causing a commotion.
But soon, a waiter brought a fire extinguisher and put out the fire.
It was a false alarm. Such a small matter couldn't scare away the men and women seeking pleasure in the nightclub, and the atmosphere quickly returned to normal.
However, no one noticed that at the exact moment the two muscular men guarding the special aisle were distracted,
The electronic password lock on the door behind them beeped, automatically unlocking. Bucky, like a nimble cat, agilely darted, silently appearing behind the two, and in an instant, opened the door and slipped inside.
With a beep, the electronic lock closed, as if nothing had happened.
Closing the door, it also isolated the loud music and noisy human voices outside.
Bucky quickly moved along the wall, stealthily heading in the direction the few individuals he had Target Locked with his prosthetic eye had moved twenty seconds ago.
However, he stopped when he saw a camera.
He used Target Lock on the camera, then hacked into it, and then, with a flash, hid in the storage room.
His prosthetic eye switched to the image captured by the camera, then continuously switched between the several cameras around the Target Locked area.
Outside a door, he saw the short, stout man and the fat, bearded follower from before.
Their secrecy awareness was quite strong, which meant that the tall, thin man that Kevin was meeting was not an ordinary person.
Who could it be?
Bucky wanted to go and see, but this time there was no one to distract the two doorkeepers.
And this wasn't a stealth game where "no living person sees me, so it's perfect stealth."
However...
Bucky's cyberpunk system was as powerful as ever, as punk as ever. By connecting his prosthetic eye to the camera, he could control the camera and use the functions of his prosthetic eye.
He used Target Lock to lock onto the two followers, thereby also locking onto their "companions," which were Kevin and the man, and then locking onto the electronic devices on their bodies.
And both of them happened to have mobile phones on them.
Kevin, who was talking to the man, didn't know that the small screen on his brick-like phone in his pocket suddenly lit up for a moment, and then the microphone was taken over.
"Billy, my brother, business has been great recently. I need more goods."
Bucky's bionic ear received this sound from the connected phone microphone.
So the man's name was Billy.
"Our goods are the most sought after. Everyone needs more goods, but good things are never cheap and are the hardest to come by, so Kevin, you understand."
"Billy, my brother, you haven't even provided the quantity we agreed upon. I just want you to fulfill the agreement."
Kevin's voice sank as soon as he heard Billy's boastful excuse.
"It was just a verbal agreement, and besides, we didn't make it final back then. We said things could change at any time, and this time I'm here to tell you, things have changed."
"Billy, I'm very disappointed with what you're doing. I'll be very unhappy. You say your goods are in demand? But do you believe that with one word from me, your goods will immediately become unsellable? In Brooklyn, no one dares to sell your goods without my permission!"
"Is that so? Are you sure? Just one word from you? So, as long as you don't speak up, it's fine?"
"…Are you threatening me!?"
"How could I be? I just want to say, how can I make you not speak up?"
Next, it was a battle of wits and words between the two.
But Bucky could tell that their harsh words were just necessary formalities. Both seemed to need each other. Cooperation was a win-win: Billy had the goods, and Kevin controlled the market. Neither wanted to fall out for now.
But it seemed, that Billy's tone… Bucky vaguely felt that this Billy was not an easy person to deal with, like a ruthless individual.
It must be said, after listening to their conversation, Bucky became even more interested in this Billy.
Because Kevin was a local big shot. If Kevin was gone, there would still be James, or Russell, and he was just a middleman.
The root cause still lay with Billy, who controlled the source of the goods.
So, should he change his target again, from dealing with Kevin to dealing with Billy?
ADVANCE CHAPTER AVAILABLE IN PATREON
patreon.com/Achilles_Stein
patreon.com/Achilles_Stein