Three days later, the bright flashing lights of the New York Stock Exchange illuminated the cold morning rain. Wall Street opened for trading with a loud and chaotic buzz that echoed between the big stone buildings. The massive electronic signs outside the exchange blinked rapidly under the gray sky, showing the new numbers for the morning. People were running across the wet pavement, their faces tight with a massive sense of shock. "Look at the main boards!" a young trader shouted to his partner as they rushed through the heavy revolving doors. "The whole system is melting down today!" The headline on every single financial monitor across the district read in bold letters: "Senator Raymond Vance Indicted For High Treason; Hargrove Industries Declares Total Bankruptcy." The shocking news text crawled continuously across the bottom of the television screens, sending a massive shockwave through every b

That evening, the cold rain came down hard on the old brick buildings of TriBeCa. Serena Hargrove walked slowly through the dark alleyway, her body shaking from the wet wind. Her expensive high heels were completely ruined, coated in thick mud and black water from the street. She walked like a sad ghost, far away from the bright party rooms she used to rule. "It is so cold out here," she whispered to herself, her teeth clicking together as she pushed past a stack of wet trash bins. "I have lost everything," she sobbed, her breath coming in short, painful gasps. "My home, my name, my whole life is completely gone." She kept her head down, her wet hair sticking to her pale cheeks as the rain washed her dark makeup away. The dark alley felt like a big cage, trapping her in her own private nightmare. "Ethan did this to me," she muttered with pure, raw hatred. "He took my throne and t

Inside the high-tech secure Apex tactical command center, the air was tight with a big heavy feeling. Ethan Cole walked to the big light-table display in the middle of the room.He took out the wet paper sheet he had stolen from Lady Veronique Chen in the old dark factory. He spread the recovered paper manifest out flat across the glowing bright glass table."Look at this very old writing right here," Ethan said, his voice very low and completely serious. "This is what they were trying to steal from my hand.""The ink is still good after all these years," Vincent Cross said, leaning over the table to see the paper. "It has lots of numbers on it.""Those are not just normal numbers, Vincent," David Park called out from his computer chair. "Those are secret shipping codes.""Let me put these codes into my machine right away," David added, his fingers getting ready to type on the keyboard. "We need to know what they mean."The old document detailed a long series of secret cargo shipments

A thick cloud of white dust and broken concrete debris filled the long, narrow corridor. The massive mechanical exoskeleton armor of Iron Fang was pinned tightly beneath the heavy, crushed steel wreckage of the giant cooling unit.The heavy machine parts groaned and creaked loudly against the floor, trapping the big commander in a very tight spot. He could not move his arms or legs at all as the red sparks flashed around him."You really think a big block of metal can stop the vanguard of the True Founders?" Iron Fang coughed out brutally, his mechanical voice synthesizer sounding broken and static."It did not stop you, it completely crushed you," Vincent Cross called out from the side doorway, his rifle still level and ready."The boss has you box-trapped like a common rat on this layout," Vincent added, his boots making a sharp crunch on the broken plaster pieces."This is not a victory!" Iron Fang roared back, his metal gloves scratching at the concrete. "The baseline power of Eur

The next morning, the grand glass headquarters of Zurich International Bank stood high under a heavy sky. Big flakes of snow fell thick and fast around the entire building, covering the ground in white.Elite security personnel dressed in full winter combat gear walked tightly around every single entrance gate lane. They carried heavy automatic rifles and kept their eyes scanning the wide, frozen streets for any threats."The perimeter is totally packed with guards, boss," Vincent Cross spoke quietly over the secure radio channel. "They have lookouts on every single corner.""It does not change our path, Vincent," Ethan Cole replied flatly, his voice perfectly steady. "Keep our personal bodyguards right by the main vehicle lane.""We are tracking the lobby now," David Park called out from the remote terminal screen. "The system is quiet, but they are waiting for your boots.""Let them wait," Ethan murmured softly, his face remaining hard like stone. "The board is ready for the final m