New friends

The meeting with the scorpion had begun. Although not in the best possible way.

"Wow, stop right there, fierce. I can help you dethrone my brother from his position, but killing him is another matter. Despite everything I've done to him, he's never taken away my freedom to do what I want." Mai said.

"I'm interested in making Yu Asu disappear forever. I can give up killing him if you help me. You can leave him in a cell to rot for the rest of his life." Said the young boy sharply.

I'll have to pretend I don't want to kill him if I want to get her help.

"I see. You've finally realized how corrupt my brother is and how rotten he is. Overthrowing him won't be easy. What exactly did you have in mind?" The black sheep asked.

"A direct blow to his public image. We'll expose everything he's been doing to this city and he'll be tried for it."

I want to attack the building directly and turn it into rubble to build his tombstone.

"Mmmm. That might work. But listen, we can't dethrone my brother through intelligence. We'll have to do it by force and blackmail."

Just what I wanted.

The young boy had enough time to reflect on everything his master told him. Promising himself to abandon revenge, he opened up another path for him. The path of justice. However, this path was closed again when he listened to the audio files sent to him by the duchess. Reopening that path would be much more complicated than he imagined.

"I'm in."

Mai, the leader of the scorpions, smiled after a completely serious talk. Her personality took a turn.

"Perfect little wolf, can I call you that? I think it fits you perfectly. That face you have is terrifying, you look like you're going to bite my neck at any moment!" She said as she reached over and placed her hands on Ano's chest.

"I'm not for jokes, Mai." He said as he looked coldly at Mai.

"KYAAAAAAAA!!! I love that cold stare of yours, Ano! It's just like my brother's, but unlike his, yours hides something very warm." She told him as she caressed his cheek.

The young boy pulled Mai’s hand away from his face. "Yeah, yeah. Call me whatever you want; I don't care. Let's just get going."

"Great!!! Follow me on your badass motorcycle, little wolf!!!!! I have to introduce you to my team."

Mai got into her car, and set a course to her secret base while Ano followed her on his motorcycle.

****

Mai and Ano arrived in district A. Life there was similar to that of district C. However, the people who lived there did not wear old and tattered clothes. They did not wear expensive or luxurious clothes either. However, they were colorful clothes that followed the current fashion and the body modifications were of better quality. There was also a leap in quality in the general condition of the buildings and food.

The streets were different, the quality of the neon lights was higher, and the chromatic variety was overwhelming. These blended perfectly with the holograms that were everywhere. The large number of clothing stores, electronics, restaurants, clubs... blended better than anywhere else. Despite being a poor social stratum, that district had the liveliest and most social streets in the area.

After checking that no one was following them and going around several times, they stopped in the middle of the suburbs of district A. The building blended perfectly into the city. There was no sign of suspicious activity nearby. In fact, the young boy was unable to detect suspicious activity inside the building with his PDA analyzer. Be that as it may, the person in charge of concealment was on the same level as he was.

They entered the building and went to the basement. After moving some furniture aside, Mai entered through what was a false wall. A hologram masterfully covered the hole through which the woman entered.

"Come on, Wolf, follow me." Said the woman as she bent down to walk through the hologram.

The young boy followed the woman and stepped through the hologram, being careful not to hit his head. After walking down a short metal hallway filled with wave disruptors and wires, they came to a large door, which was opened by a voice command.

"Siren is the enemy of the navigants."

The door opened with a large metallic clang. The multiple latches that closed it opened in unison.

*CLACK*

"We change the password every day. We're good, aren't we? Huhuhu." She smiled superiorly.

They stepped through the door and a great light hit them in the face from inside.

"Family I have arrived! I bring you the new recruit I have been telling you about! His name is Mi Ano. He is the inventor I tried to recruit two years ago, but he had a dream and couldn't join."

The young boy gestured disapprovingly at what Mai said.

"And I still have it. But your brother is in the way and I can't do it alone."

"Wow, so we're just a tool for you." Said one of the members in the room.

Ano stared coldly and deeply at the one who said those words as he glared back at him in an equally cold and aggressive manner.

"Come on guys, we are here to defeat the same enemy, so behave!!!! And I say it for you too, Wolf!!!" Scolded the leader of the gang. "Ano, let me introduce you to your new family."

The leader began introducing the members one by one while also showing her little secret base.

"That's Coyote you were looking at. That's not his name, but they are our code names, so we won't be discovered. He's the one who filled your position when you refused to join. He creates devices to help us in our missions."

The young boy and the coyote looked at each other again. They didn't need to say anything. Their gazes collided again, like two icebergs falling at the same time against the ground. Coyote's appearance reminded him of his late master. They had the same build, height, and clothing. He resembled master Akira in all but personality.

"That big guy over there is called Gunner. It's not a nickname, it's his real name. As you may know, Gunner refers to all those who took part in [The Division War]. As there are so many like him, there is no need to hide his identity. He is in charge of our weapons arsenal and personal security."

"Nice to meet you Wolf." Said the muscular giant tenderly.

"Yes. Likewise." Replied Ano unconsciously at the sight of such a monster.

Gunner was a 56-year old ex-military man who participated in the war that devastated the world. His body was practically made of metal except for several sections of his arms and legs that were composed of thick, defined muscles. Thanks to all the implants and modifications his body had, his appearance was that of a 20-year old. He wore a white tank top along with jeans and sported a great, classy mustache.

"That dwarf is Kaboom. She named herself. She's the one who makes all our explosive devices."

"KABOOOOMMM!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" Shouted the sadistic little member.

She was about 150 centimeters tall and weighed 45 kilograms. She was wearing a red one-piece children's dress with floral prints. Her hair had a strange gray color due to all the smoke and ash she generated when creating her explosives. Because she lost her original teeth due to a cavity explosion, her teeth were replaced by sharp fang-like implants. She also wore strange green and yellow cross-shaped contact lenses that served as magnifying glasses.

"How old is she? Isn't she too young to be doing this?"

"Don't let her looks fool you. She's 20 years old. So have more respect for your superiors, little wolf." Mai said.

The scorpion leader pointed to the dark corner of the room.

"That's Chameleon over there. He's our computer security expert, and he's also the one in charge of hacking and attacking computer services. In short, he's the hacker."

Chameleon said nothing. He was a 20-year-old who spent 23 hours a day logged into his Cyber Hut. The most characteristic things about him were his multicolored dreadlocks, which earned him his nickname, and the sounds coming from his Cyber Hut. They were the typical noises these devices made when they were about to explode due to all the neural activity they received from users. It was a potential hacking bomb.

"Last but not least, this is Ryuko-chan. It's not a nickname, it's her actual name. She is my childhood friend and the first member of our gang. She's in charge of our social media. She announces our upcoming manifestations. We already have over 1 million followers. Amazing right!?"

Ryuko blushed and looked away shyly. "N-ni-niiiice to meet you..." She said in a trembling voice.

Mai's childhood friend was introverted, although on social media she was the complete opposite. In person, she was shy, with big glasses and a modest, unremarkable sense of fashion. On the cyberspaces... you'd better not meet her on the cyberspaces.

"So what's your plan to take down Asu?"

"Regarding that... we don't have a definite plan yet." Mai replied, embarrassed. "But now that you're here, we'll be able to do more things in the next few years."

"Years? No. I need it to be next week."

"Oh right, right, next week... WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTTTT???? ARE YOU CRAZY?"

"Leader, don't yell, please." Gunner said as he held up a rocket launcher.

"Ah sure sure sure, sorry Gunner-san. Have you gone crazy or what, Ano! We can't dethrone my brother in 1 week."

"I see. So you're just a bunch of amateur activists."

Mai stood up in a chair and, with all of her energies, started to give a speech.

"We are the shadow protectors of Neo Shibuya! We fight against the evil that plagues our beloved city day after day! Our ultimate goal is to make this world one filled with happiness!!!" Mai said.

After hearing those words, the young boy was lost in thought as he remembered what his friend Hana said.

"We are The Northern Stars gang!!! We protect people from crooks!!!"

"Let's make a world full of happiness, Ano-kun!!!"

The coyote's voice brought the young inventor back to reality.

"If we had better resources, we could conquer the world in 1 week." The coyote responded sharply.

"Are you saying that with better technology you could conquer this city in a week?" replied the wolf.

"And in less." replied the coyote.

"Good. Then tomorrow I'll come and get you. Pack up everything you have here. You're moving with me to a place full of Asu's state-of-the-art technology."

Ano walked out of the basement, crossed the hologram, and exited the building. He had gotten a seemingly competent group, except for their leader. It was time to get his new base settled in to welcome his new helpers.

****

The following night, Ano met with the gang at their usual base in district A. They were ready to make the move as he proposed. After getting into their cars, they followed the young boy riding his motorcycle. After making sure no one had followed them, they arrived at their destination.

"This whole building belongs to me. I bought it a few months ago. I've been using it secretly to develop various technologies. By the way, that black Asu van of yours will attract a lot of attention. You'd better hide it."

"Wolfy, you think we're rookies?" Said the scorpion.

The group went inside and closed the door.

"I used to live here when I was little. I wanted to turn this into a shelter for people still living on the streets. I had to pay a high price to the previous owner, so I had to postpone the project. Plus I had to take care of a few things before that."

"Um. Not bad. The wave security system is similar to ours, so there won't be any problems." Said the coyote.

"WOOF!!!"

Ulf was inside the young inventor's warehouse. Unlike last week, the dog was in perfect physical shape. Having been fed for a week restored her energies and healed her wounds.

"Wolf!!! You have a dog with you?" The leader said angrily. "How irresponsible of you not to tell us that you had a cutie like this in your base."

The leader scolded the young wolf as she happily hugged that fluffy dog. Kaboom and Gunner also came over to pet Ulf.

"Tell me, what's his name?"

Ano pulled out his PDA to scan the dog's condition.

*Dewormed*

*No known diseases*

*Optimal nutrition levels*

*Mental attitude: affectionate*

"Her name is Ulf."

"WHAAAAATT?? I don't believe it!!! She has the same name I gave you!!!! In fact, her look reminds me of yours."

The dog that until then had a happy and friendly face put on a serious and cutting face. She was imitating the young inventor.

"SHUT UP!!! Stop laughing at me!!!" Damn it... I didn't knew that Ulf meant wolf.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!" Laughed the leader.

"KABOOM KABOOM KABOOM!!!"

"Come on Wolf, don't get mad; the leader treats us all like that." Said Gunner.

Wolf turned around and made his way to one of the rooms in his warehouse/base.

"Follow me, Coyote."

The wolf and coyote left together as the others began to organize their operations center once again.

****

Together, Wolf and Coyote reached the back of the building. Ano opened the door that was in front of them, and a nostalgic feeling invaded the young boy.

"Yuck! What is this place? Is this where you throw all your garbage or what? Wait a minute! This is full of good quality stuff!"

Coyote entered Ano's old room and started collecting materials to build more security features for the base. Ano watched him from the doorway, remembering the time he lived in that room.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!!" Ano's replacement exclaimed. "This is an authentic M.O.M… I've never seen one so well preserved! All the ones left are replicas... It's the first automaton ever created..."

"DON'T TOUCH IT!!!" Wolf shouted from the doorway. "It's a memento of a dear relative of mine... it's all I have left of him."

Ano was not telling the whole truth. However, that robot was the first automaton he built with Akira when he was much younger.

"Sure, dude. I know what you mean." Coyote grabbed the pendant he was wearing. "This pendant is the first wave disruptor I created with my dad. It doesn't work very well; it only has a range of a couple of meters, but it's something valuable to me. Just like your M.O.M."

"So, you can use everything in here to develop devices in the next room. Everything but that M.O.M."

"Sure, no problem."

Both wildlife predators left the room and returned with the group to continue settling their new base, from where they would plan the big heist that would change their lives forever.