Kasumi Yamaguchi, known as ‘Cobra’ in the shadowed ers of the slums, watched with an impassive gaze as the small crew of hired men worked tirelessly in the makeshift b. The old warehouse had once been used as ste for some mid-tier gang, but was now home to something new: a small-scale chemical refinery, dedicated to produg Shiver.

  Along one wall were rows upon rows of metallic vats arifuges, taining all sorts of chemicals, powders, and redients o produce the drug. A stant, droning hum filled the room as the maes bored away, mixing and separating the pounds into usable products. A bank of puters lihe opposite wall, stantly monit the progress of the various processes, ensuring that the equipment funed properly and the output met the specifications.

  The only light in the room came from the overhead fixtures and the illuminated dials and dispys of the maery. The glow of the neon signs outside filtered in through cracks in the boarded-up windows, creating eerie, dang shadows in the darkened interior.

  The men, mostly tras from beyond the Metropolis and the slums, toiled in the gloomy ditions without pint. They wore safety masks and goggles as they hahe various chemicals, w with practiced efficy, overseen by the hulking form of Vaughn. Occasionally, a plume of colorful smoke would escape one of the vats, filling the room with acrid, unpleasant odors.

  If that happened, one of the workers would promptly shut off the mae and dispose of the inated material, while the rest tinued with their tasks.

  In the middle of the room stood a table where the pleted Shiver serum was refined and packaged for distribution. A single chemist monitored the process, double-cheg the puter readings and occasionally adjusting the settings on the maes to achieve the desired results. Beside him, a veyor belt carried finished syringes out of the vat of freshly processed fluid, depositing them into a bin, before sending the batch through.

  Every now and then, the chemist would retrieve a syringe, i it to make sure it was satisfactory, a aside. Once a suffit quantity had accumuted, he would hand the batch off to a courier, who would then deliver the product to the Neon Vipers.

  As for Kasumi, she remained hidden in the shadows, her presenown only to those directly involved with the produ. She wore a mask and hoodie, obsg her identity from the others.

  It was better for her to maintain a degree of separation from the Mad Chemist and his operation. After all, the man’s business practices were infamous, and she wanted nothing to do with his reputation. While he might be the oh the brains behind the operation, she was the oh the brawn—the muscle to back it up.

  If there was ohing Kasumi excelled at, it was keeping her promises. She had agreed to help the Mad Chemist in exge for resources and a cut of the profits, and she inteo honor her word. As far as she was ed, their partnership urely transaal—nothing more, nothing less. And if he broke their deal, she would find him and kill him without hesitation.

  Well, finding him would be the main issue. She khat his ir was somewhere iropolis, but since her exile, she hadn't dared to re-ehe city.

  Still, he did e to the slums to che the project, but those visits were infrequent and sporadic. Whenever she saw him, he kept his distance, apanied by a pair of burly bodyguards draped in thick trenchcoats.

  For now, the two seemed to be cooperating well, which pleased her. After all, she had no i in stirring up unnecessary flict. At the end of the day, she valued stability over anything else, especially with her gang being in shambles from Axion's interference.

  As she observed, Vaughn approached her, a respectful salute. "The produ's going smoothly," he remarked, his eyes surveying the se.

  Kasumi’s lips curled into a thin smile. "Seems like it," she replied, her voice tinged with a hint of disdain. "Hired hands from outside the slums...desperate enough to not ask questions."

  Vaughn nodded, leaning against a nearby table. "Doesn't it strike you as a little strahat the Mad Chemist trusts them? Even with our supervision, there's still a ce that they'd cut a few ers or mix the wrong chemicals to skim the excess."

  Kasumi stared at the rows of maes and workers, a cold sneer on her lips. "There's a reason why he chooses these people for the job," she murmured. "The quality of the product isn't iion. These men are disposable, easily repceable. They're not ected to any gangs or fas within the slums, so even if they were to betray him or escape, they wouldn't have ao run."

  "That's awfully risky, though," Vaughn remarked, raising an eyebrow. "It's not like we've got an endless supply of mooks like this, ya know? Sooner or ter, they'll be gone, and he'll o recruit more people again, maybe even from within the slums this time."

  Kasumi cocked her head to one side, shrugging slightly. "So what? He's probably got tacts in the underworld, and he always bring in fresh meat from elsewhere. Besides, I know a few of them are from the metropolis, or at least from other cities."

  "You mean like him?" Vaughured towards a balding man who stood hunched over the table, measuring liquids and adding them into a vat. He appeared to be in his te 40s or early 50s, and his eyes were sunken and dark, giving his features a haggard appearance.

  Kasumi raised her , narrowing her eyes in distaste as she gazed at the man. "Yes," she answered, her tone being brusque. "I think that one's a deadbeat chemist who lost everything iropolis. Probably got scouted or bckmailed into the job."

  "Poor sap," Vaughn ented with a chuckle.

  Kasumi crossed her arms over her chest, her fiapping idly on her elbow. "We're all screwed in our own ways," she muttered. "And as long as he does his job and keeps quiet, he gets paid, so he has nothing to pin about. pared to the usual rabble we have to deal with, these guys are preferable."

  Vaughn shrugged casually. "True that. Still, 't shake the feeling that something's off. I just don't see why he's making and distributing a drug like that here of all pces. It ain't to get even more rich, that's for sure. We're practically selling 'em as cheap as abis."

  Kasumi tilted her head and smiled wryly. "Who cares? It's his moo waste. Besides, it's none of our business what his motivations are. He pays us to do the dirty work, and that's what we do. Simple as that. Ohe product is in circution, a our payment, that's when we move on."

  "Heh. Fine by me." Vaughn stuffed his hands into the pockets of his coat, rog bad forth on his heels. "Boss, about that girl, the Super. Axion. The bounty still hasn't been cimed yet. I heard a lot of gangs are still out on the hunt but no one's caught her. Even those age Collective nutjobs couldn't do jack shit. Seems like the girl's a damn slippery one."

  "Tch," she scoffed. "Yeah, figures. No surprise there."

  She lifted her eyes to the ceiling and sighed loudly. Her mind raced, searg for the best way to respond. She didn't want to admit that the girl's power and skills impressed her, nor that her defeat by the Super's hands stung more than a little. After all, she prided herself on her unmatched agility and speed.

  Well, unmatched by human standards anyway.

  But Metas just had to exist. Those freaks were something else entirely. The differeween a regur human and a Metahuman was like paring a housecat to a Bengal tiger—and that wasn't even taking into at whatever power they had.

  Kasumi clicked her tongue and pushed herself off the wall with one foot. Her boots thumped as they hit the ground, the sound reverberating throughout the chamber.

  She paced bad forth along the perimeter of the room, running a hand through her jet bck hair as she pted Vaughn's statement. Truthfully, she did want to take aab at the Super girl, but she wasn't vihat the Neon Vipers could succeed, not in their current dition.

  Besides, Axion had humiliated her once already, and she didn't want to risk a repeat. If they ever crossed paths again, she wao ensure victory—total and utter domination. She wahe Super's defeat to be so absolute and decisive that no doubt would remain.

  "Whatever the Doc has in mind for her, I want no part of it. I'll let her enjoy her freedom for now. She's not worth wasting any more effort on." Kasumi paused briefly, gng in Vaughn's dire. "At least, nht now."

  Vaughn's eyebrows rose slightly, but he nodded his uanding. "Ah, I see. Well, it's your call. Personally, I'd love to take a crack at that bitch again, but I get where you're ing from. Just saying, once she's taken care of, we'll be sitting pretty nice for a while." He fshed a toothy grin, nudging Kasumi's arm. "Right? Getting back to our roots. That's all we want, ain't it?"

  Kasumi frowned. "Sure, but I'd rather avoid getting into the crosshairs of gangs while we rebuild the gang. Aurf war's the st thing we here's nothing wrong with being smart about this. There's no rush, Vaughn. We'll get there eventually."

  The grin on Vaughn's face faltered. "Ah, alright, sure," he ceded, though his tone indicated that he was still displeased. "Not my fault I've been bored tely. At least we finally mao oust the Neon Knights, and the angs haven't tried anythi. I kinda miss the a, ya know?"

  Their versation was interrupted as one of Kasumi’s men burst into the room, his breath ragged and his face pale. "Cobra! Boss! There’s trouble. A gang’s been snooping around the premises. Looks like they’re g the joint."

  Kasumi gred at Vaughn, her mouth twisting in a fierce scowl. "You just had to jinx us, didn't you?"

  His shoulders sagged, his face a mixture of exasperation and annoyance. "Oi, it ain't my fault the angs suddenly started ag ballsier, but yeah, sorry, boss."

  She g her underling. "What gang is it?"

  "The Echo Syndicate, ma'am."

  Kasumi hissed betweeeeth, her fists g tight.

  The Echo Syndicate—one of the four majangs within the slums.

  It was unavoidable that she'd eventually butt heads with them again, but she had hoped to keep things civil until the distribution of Shiver had cluded.

  They were the biggest distributors s in the slums—particurly heroin ah—so naturally, their is intersected with the Neon Vipers. Normally, they coexisted in a tenuous peaeither actively antagonizing each other uhe other infringed upoerritory or made a bold move to expand their operations.

  The problem was that Shiver had the potential to seriously damage their drug trade, so they weren't likely to sit idle and do nothing.

  Kasumi shook her head slowly, the movement causing the loose strands of hair beh her hood to sway gently. "Do they know that we're here?"

  "We're not sure. Probably not. Otherwise, they wouldn't have sent a small group."

  She brushed past him, striding swiftly towards the exit. "I'll deal with them myself. Vaughn, you hahings here. Make sure the produ tinues uninterrupted, and that no ohe bright idea of esg with the knowledge of our operation. If that happens, shoot them dead. You leave the corpses out for the Pallbearers."

  Kasumi pulled her mask over her fad adjusted the fit of the hoodie over her head, tugging it into pce.

  The echo of Vaughn's booming ughter followed her as she marched out the door, "Leave it to me, Cobra. Have fun!"

  Kasumi's shadow cut a slender path through the dim alleyways that bordered the facility. She ghosted around the edge of the building, her footsteps muffled by the detritus of the slums. She kept low to the ground, her head and shoulders barely visible over the top of a pile of debris. The rain drummed on the rusted sheet metal roof above her as she crouched in the shadows.

  Through a gap iacked trash, she spotted the gang of Echo Syndicate thugs. Thirteen of them stood huddled together in the murky, wet street. Pipe pistols and rifles glinted dully in their hands, while others brandished knives and hatchets. Their faces were hidden under heavy scarves, and the ponchos they wore cealed the shape of their bodies, making it difficult to gauge how heavily armed they might be.

  They murmured amongst themselves in hushed whispers, their voices almost drowned out by the rain, but Kasumi could catch a few words here and there.

  "What the hell you think they're up to?"

  "Must be somethin' valuable in there."

  "Think we should just go in guns bzing?"

  "Nah, the boss said to report back. We e back with muys and smoke 'em all."

  "I dunno, man, they could be pag."

  "Fet it, let's get outta here. We're treading on cracked gss."

  Kasumi smirked to herself as she listened. What fools. They clearly had no idea they'd already been discovered.

  As Kasumi rose to her feet, a faiallic click echoed in the silence. She flexed her fingers, causing the intricate work of cables and wires embedded in her gloves to shimmer faintly in the darkness.

  Her boots thudded heavily against the crete as she spriowards the Echo Syndicate thugs. With a sharp jerk of her wrists, the nanowire dispenser hissed as the fiments shot out, unspooling rapidly.

  The first thug barely had time tister the threat before the wires ed around his neck.

  Kasumi gave a vicious yank, and the man's head tumbled from his shoulders. Blood gushed from the stump, spurting across the cracked pavement in a crimson spray as the lifeless body crumpled to the ground.

  "Fuck! It's Cobra! She's here!" someone screamed in arm.

  Gunfire erupted from the group of gang members, the rounds ricocheting off the walls around Kasumi. She rolled out of the way as several bullets whistled past, spttering against the brickwork behind her. She leapt into the air, nding behind one of the thugs. Her knee smashed into the man's skull, sending him flying.

  He smmed into the ground with a siing ch, and Kasumi followed with a swift stomp to the throat. Bone ched and squelched beh her heel, and the thug let out a brief gurgle before falling silent.

  Without slowing down, Kasumi whirled around, the nanowires snapping and popping as she spun them into a shield. The bullets bounced off the web of fiments, creating a shower of sparks and pulverized lead.

  She ducked and weaved through the hail of gunfire, closing the distaween her and the closest thug.

  He swung a k her, but Kasumi leaned back, avoiding the ssh, and flicked her wrist, sending her wires coiling around the man's arms. With a savage twist, she yahe limbs off, leaving the man shrieking and writhing in the alley.

  Ahug charged at her with a hatchet, but she sidestepped his attad struck him in the jaw with the heel of her boot. He staggered, and she kicked him in the groin, sending him to his knees. Before he could react, she whipped the wires around his ned sliced his head off.

  As the body toppled, Kasumi advanced, using the dead man as a human shield. Bullets thudded into the corpse, and Kasumi vaulted over the body, using the nanowires to propel herself into the air.

  She nded on the shoulders of a thug, ing her legs around his head and flipping him to the ground. A thin bde flicked out of the toe of her boot, and she stabbed down, driving the tip into the back of the man's neck. He twitched and shuddered, a garbled cry of pain esg his lips, before he y still.

  More sh out as the remaining thugs fired wildly. She twisted and turned, defleg the bullets as she waded into the fray. Her hands moved with precision, her fiwitg as she trolled the movements of her wires. The fiments fshed through the air, slig and slig.

  Limbs, guts, and blood sprayed everywhere.

  Bodies dropped to the ground, staining the grimy pavement red. In seds, the st of the thugs fell. The only survivor, a man dressed in a yellow poncho, dropped to his knees, holding his hands up in surrender.

  "Please, please, please, spare me, Cobra." The man trembled and whimpered, his face a mask of pure terror. His eyes darted around the age surrounding him. "I'm begging you. I've got kids, a family. Please don't kill me. I'll do anything!"

  Kasumi surveyed the bloody aftermath of the skirmish, watg the bodies twitd squirm in their death throes. The coppery st of spilled blood lingered in the air.

  The nanowires buzzed quietly as they retracted batloves' housing units, and Kasumi's fingers rexed. She inhaled deeply through her nose, sav the adrenaline rushing through her veins, before turnitention back to the frightehug.

  As the rain soaked into her clothes and ran down her skin, she sauntered over to him.

  The thug tio babble. He stammered and blubbered ily, tears streaming from his eyes.

  Kasumi stopped in front of him, looming over his kneeling form. She grasped his fa her hand, tilting his head to the side. Her thumb brushed his cheek, smearing the drops of water across his pale flesh.

  "Why should I?" she asked, her voice low and icy. She pulled his ear closer to her lips, speaking with deliberate slowness. "Tell me why I shouldn't gut you like a fish."

  He choked out a sob. "I 't, I 't...please don't." He swallowed hard, a shudder passing through his body as he gasped for breath. "I'll do anything...I swear, I'll do whatever you want, just please, I'll do anything. I'll do anything."

  Kasumi remained silent for a long moment. Then she released her grip and stepped back. She pced her hands on her hips, regarding him with a cold gre. Her lips curved into a smirk beh her mask.

  "Anything, eh?" she said. "Alright, listen closely. Go back to your boss and tell him that Axion killed your friends as a warning."

  The thug nodded vigorously, clutg his hands together. "Yeah, yeah, Axion killed them."

  She suddenly reached out and grabbed a fistful of his hair, pulling him close. She leaned in, her eyes narrowed, her lips curled ba a snarl. "If I find out didn't pass the message on—and I will find out—I'll find your family and torture them in front of you before cutting your dick off and f you to eat it. Got it?"

  He winced, squeezing his eyes shut. "G-got it! I uand! I'll do it!"

  "Good." Kasumi released her grasp on his scalp, sending the man sprawling backwards onto the muddy ground. "Now scram. I better not see you again."

  The thug scrambled away on his hands and knees, slipping in the mud before hauling himself upright and darting out of sight.

  After a brief pause, she turned around and headed back towards the facility. She didn't o follow him; he would do exactly what she ordered him to do. Fear ehat.

  The name of Axion had been thrown into the ring, and Kasumi fully inteo use that to her advantage. With any luck, that would scare away angs and fas for now.

  The Super's notoriety and influence could be useful after all.

  Zanafar