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The bounty had been public for twelve hours.
That was the problem.
On the main display inside the base, the listing pulsed in cold white text.
TARGET: RICHARD
Status: Open
Reward: 200,000,000
Classification: FFA — First Claim Wins
Free-for-all.
Blaze leaned against the table, arms crossed.
Ghoul stood near the back wall, silent as usual.
Siara paced.
Zane sat in a chair he clearly regretted choosing.
Richard looked mildly offended.
"Two hundred million?" he muttered. "I'm worth more than that."
"Shut up," Siara snapped.
Corpse hadn't spoken yet.
The room waited for him to.
He finally tapped the screen.
A name appeared.
ORBIT
Alias: The Gambler
Profession: Bounty Hunter / Assassin
Status: Contract Accepted — 04:17 A.M.
Blaze's jaw tightened.
Ghoul didn't blink.
Zane looked between them.
"…What?"
Corpse zoomed the projection.
"Orbit does not compete within the standard output bracket of bounty hunters."
Richard tilted his head. "Translation?"
"He outscales them," Corpse said calmly.
Silence.
Corpse switched the footage.
Buildings compressing inward.
Steel beams folding like paper.
Opponents collapsing without visible contact.
"Gravitational manipulation," Corpse explained.
"Localized. Directional. Area-wide."
Zane swallowed. "He controls weight?"
Ghoul answered quietly. "He controls force."
The image shifted again.
A weapon.
Short handle.
Dense reinforced head.
Heavy. Brutal.
GAMBIT.
"Gambit stores gravitational density," Corpse said.
"When Orbit increases gravity in an area, excess force is absorbed into the hammer head."
Siara's voice was steady. "And when he swings?"
"It discharges."
Blaze exhaled slowly.
"The more he pressures us… the stronger that thing gets."
"Yes."
Richard stared at the image.
"So we're charging his weapon by existing."
"Correct."
That was when the lights flickered.
Just once.
Then the air changed.
Subtle at first.
Heavier.
Blaze looked up.
"He's here."
The ceiling groaned.
Metal bending inward.
Not exploding.
Compressing.
Then—
BOOM.
The roof imploded downward in a violent burst of concrete and twisted steel.
Dust exploded through the room.
And through the falling debris—
He dropped.
Boots hit the cracked floor with a deep gravitational thud.
The pressure spiked instantly.
Everyone staggered.
Orbit straightened slowly.
Tall. Armored. Calm.
Gambit rested on his shoulder like it weighed nothing.
He looked directly at Corpse.
"Hi, Corps."
His voice was almost friendly.
Then he vanished forward.
Gravity detonated.
CRASH.
Gambit slammed into the ground.
The entire room cratered.
Shockwaves tore through the base structure.
Zane hit the wall hard.
The air felt like it weighed a thousand pounds.
He couldn't breathe right.
"THIS IS NOT OKAY," he shouted.
Orbit lifted Gambit again.
The hammer head pulsed faintly.
Stored force.
Richard barely dodged the second swing.
The floor where he had stood imploded inward.
Zane scrambled backward, panic rising fast.
"Luna!"
She was pinned near a broken support beam, trying to stand under the crushing pressure.
Zane crawled toward her against the weight.
"I— I really picked the worst time for this," he gasped.
Orbit took another step.
Gravity increased.
Everyone dropped to a knee.
Zane grabbed Luna's hand.
"If we die right now," he blurted, voice shaking, "I need you to know I like you. Like— actually like you. Not mission like. Not teammate like. I like you."
The pressure trembled the walls.
Luna stared at him.
"…Zane."
"I know this is bad timing," he said rapidly, "but there's a literal gravity war hammer psychopath here and I might not survive and I didn't want to—"
The pressure suddenly shifted.
Blaze slammed into Orbit from the side in a burst of fire, disrupting the gravity field.
"FOCUS!" Blaze roared.
The weight lessened slightly.
Orbit skidded back one step.
One.
He smiled faintly.
"Still coordinated. Good."
Gambit hummed.
He swung downward again.
The hammer never touched Blaze—
—but the gravitational discharge blasted him across the room.
Richard finally moved seriously.
Energy surged around him.
Ghoul vanished into shadow.
Corpse watched Orbit carefully.
Orbit rolled his shoulder once.
Evaluating.
Calculating.
He looked at Richard.
"Two hundred million," he said calmly.
"Worth the gamble."
And he raised Gambit again—
This time heavier than before.
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