Mal Hammer was in a terrible mood. A very terrible mood. He'd lost three factories in just two months. Even by the Emperor, that was completely insane.
The Hammer Gang's boss walked along the pedestrian road above an abandoned mine. It was deserted, and the once-prosperous mining complex had long since emptied out.
It had once been one of Victoria Planet's main sources of uranium.
Back then, the Underhive hadn't been called the Underhive. It had simply been part of Victoria Hive, a monument to the planet's development and prosperity.
But centuries passed, and when the resources here were exhausted, this once-celebrated mine was abandoned and forgotten, just like the Underhive.
Of course, Mal wasn't here to reminisce. No one in the Imperium these days cared about such sentimental things.
He was here to keep an appointment. A strange "date."
Mal Hammer followed the winding road, once used by the mine's heavy transport trucks.
Centuries later, traces of those trucks still remained on the road.
But none of these ancient relics could compare to the beauty waiting at the end.
Behind an observation platform at the end of the road, Silver Snake stood silently, leaning on the railing as she looked down into the immense pit that descended in tiers.
"Miss Silver Snake, you didn't pick a very good place for a date. You should've come to my bar instead."
Mal grinned, his mohawk bobbing as he lumbered over to Silver Snake. He rested the sturdy mechanical arm that replaced his right one on the railing.
"I'm confident my liquor is just as good as yours. You'd want a couple of drinks, and then we could talk," Mal said with a smile.
Silver Snake chuckled softly, then took two steps back. "Sorry to interrupt your fun. She's here on a date with me."
The voice made Mal turn around in surprise. Then he saw the man he'd hated so much lately that his teeth were practically grinding.
"You!" Mal swore, raising his mechanical arm. Its palm sprang open, and a Lasgun slid out, aimed at the man's head.
The bastard only smiled calmly. He casually opened his coat, revealing an empty holster beneath it.
Mal wasn't going to believe that. Either the man had armed men waiting nearby, or he was a weapon himself, like the rich people in the Upper Hive with their bionic limbs.
So Mal kept his wrist raised, still aiming at Vito. The veins stood out on his face, just like when Ragnar got riled up by one of Lancelot's jokes.
"Miss Silver Snake arranged this meeting at my request. I didn't come here to start a shootout, Mr. Mal."
"Bullshit! I had no idea I was meeting you, you bastard! If I'd known, I would've brought a Meltagun and melted your ass!"
Vito smiled, then strolled over to Mal and leaned on the railing beside him, seemingly unconcerned by the gun almost pressed against his head.
Vito took a bottle from inside his coat, drank from it, then offered it to Mal.
"Go on. It's not poisoned. I'm not planning to kill you. Yet."
Mal stared at the bottle in silence. He didn't take it, keeping his murderous gaze fixed on the idiot who'd cost him so much.
Silver Snake sighed helplessly and stepped forward to snatch the bottle. Unlike when she drank at the bar, she didn't remove the strange respirator covering her face.
At least, she only did that for the briefest moment when she drank. Here, Silver Snake lifted one corner of her mask, took a sip, then covered her face again at once.
Like an Astra Militarum soldier crouching in a trench under clouds of Nurgle Daemon toxins, sneaking a drink to break the tedium.
Vito watched Silver Snake pass the bottle to Mal. He took it with his other hand and met her gray-green eyes. With a sigh, he took a drink.
Mal switched off his weapon. The dangerous mechanical arm folded back into the shape of a hand.
"For Silver Snake's sake, Vito Constantine, I'll give you a chance to talk. But you'd better say something interesting before I run out of patience."
Mal walked up to Vito. He stood a head taller than him. "And I don't have much patience to begin with. It runs out fast."
Vito smiled. "Then I'll get straight to the big news: I'll help you deal with the Crimson Essence threat."
Mal froze, staring at him uncertainly. "Have you been taking drugs?"
"Crimson Essence? No. And that stuff doesn't work on me."
Vito shrugged slightly. "You heard me, Mal Hammer. I'll help you take care of Mosley and destroy the Crimson Essence processing plant on Victoria, just as you'd expect."
"Why? I don't trust you."
Vito grinned teasingly, folding his arms as he looked at Mal. "Mosley has become a threat to me—or rather, he's in the way of my rise. Henry is, too. I plan to take them both out."
"And the Crimson Essence factory isn't under my control. Guess where it'll be rebuilt after it blows up?"
"The three factories you took from me."
"No. The Hammer Factory."
Before Vito had even finished speaking, Mal's veins bulged. He grabbed Vito by the throat, his powerful mechanical arm clamping around it.
"I'll kill you right here! You stole my Sentinel, and now you want to steal my most important factory, too?! By the Emperor, I'll kill you!"
"Easy, Mal. Easy." Vito patted his arm. "The lady's right here. Don't rush into killing anyone."
Mal glanced at Silver Snake, who stood off to the side with an indifferent look, her hands on her hips.
Vito stood up and straightened his rumpled collar. "Taking the Hammer Factory is the start of the plan. It's one step toward getting rid of Mosley, and the starting point for what comes next."
Mal folded his arms. His mechanical arm clanked against his chest. "Then you'd better give me a reason—a good one—to let you live."
Vito smiled, keeping one hand behind his back. "Let me lay it all out. In three days, your outlying factories will come under a series of attacks. But the real objective is to spark a riot at the Hammer Factory. Mosley will incite and lead your workers who've been taking Crimson Essence and listening to his preaching. Meanwhile, my people will attack from the outside with Sentinels. We'll take the factory in a pincer move."
"As for Mosley, he'll be alone inside the factory. Or rather, he'll be alone because I've already provoked him. My friend will be eager to prove himself, so he'll send everyone under his command out, trying to seize as much of the factory as he can before I get there."
"But he won't go with them, because he has another task. I told him to open an abandoned underground tunnel gate. I imagine he planned to taunt me there and brag that he'd already taken most of the factory while I'd only just arrived."
Vito gave a mocking smile. "His arrogance and vanity will lead him right into a trap, and I'll fire the first shot of the hunt there."
Mal fell silent, studying the man in front of him. After a moment, he shrugged. "You still haven't told me, Vito Constantine, why I should let you take my factory—especially after you've already told me what you're planning."
"First, losing the factory is unavoidable. Even without me, the Devout Society will eventually take it. I'm giving you a chance to get all the important equipment, supplies, and personnel out, so you can avoid the losses."
"Second, I need an opportunity. You see, the factory's already in chaos. A few days ago, someone leaked secrets to Silver Snake, and our unfriendly friends seized a Crimson Essence ship. What if that same spy inside the factory passed Mosley's whereabouts and information to Silver Snake again, and it eventually reached Mal Hammer?"
Vito grinned teasingly at the man before him. "That would be awful. After the battle, we'd sadly discover that the Mosley brothers had disappeared."
Vito shook his head with feigned sorrow, then turned to look down into the great pit. "And the site would be covered with mangled remains, or bodies burned to ash, from the fighting inside the factory and the heavy weapons we'd just acquired for the battle outside. So we'd have no choice but to believe the Mosley brothers had tragically perished."
A sly smile crept across his lips. He turned back to Mal. "Several of the preachers around Mosley would disappear with them. And we've already decided at a meeting that we won't use Crimson Essence to manipulate or convert people without the preachers. That would force the Hammer Gang's campaign against Crimson Essence to come to a halt."
"Even worse, the Mosley brothers seem to know where the Crimson Essence factory is. So, in his fury, Mal Hammer tortured and interrogated them. Somehow, he forced the Mosley brothers to reveal the location of the Crimson Essence processing plant, then destroyed it."
Mal listened quietly, with what seemed like endless patience. Vito smiled and walked up to him. "And in the end, the Crimson Essence factory would need to be rebuilt. They'd choose the only suitable site available: the Hammer Factory, the biggest one still standing. And its manager, well, with the Mosley brothers tragically gone, that would be..."
"You," Mal said. Vito smiled and gave a slight nod.
"Why should I believe you'll make a deal with me? You're saying you'll kill Henry at some point, become the Devout Society's boss in the Underhive, then make peace with me and draw a border. Why should I believe you won't take advantage of me?"
Vito clapped his hands, looking delighted. "You're a smart man, Mr. Mal. You're right to ask."
As he spoke, Vito nodded to Silver Snake. She pulled a voice recorder from somewhere at her waist.
The beautiful barmaid handed it to Mal, who took it with an expression of utter shock.
He stared at Vito in bewilderment. Vito still wore that same smile. Mal looked down at the recorder. "You've handed me a powerful weapon, Vito—a piece of evidence that could get you killed. Why aren't you worried I'll give it to Henry?"
"Because I'm the only one willing to work with you, Mr. Mal. So, what will you choose?" Vito said with a smile.
Mal stared at the recorder in silence for a moment, then tucked it into his coat and turned to leave.
Only after he'd walked a good distance away did he call back loudly, "I'll do my part. Now go do yours, Vito Constantine!"
Silver Snake watched Mal go with her hands on her hips, amused. Then she glanced at Vito. "That date went pretty well."
"You took a big gamble, Vito."
He smiled, slipped an arm around Silver Snake's waist, and looked into her eyes. "Fortunately, I've never lost a bet. There's another date, if you're interested?"
"Where?" Silver Snake surprised him by not pulling away. Instead, she let out a long breath and asked.
"How about the Hammer Factory?"
Silver Snake smiled and shrugged slightly. "That's a pretty unusual date spot. Mm, sure."
"Excellent. But someone else will be coming with us this time. Don't look at me like that, and don't get jealous. It's not a woman. In fact, I don't even know if he still counts as human."
Vito raised his arm. The communicator on his wrist lit up. "Omega, I need you to come down here. Keep a low profile."
"Understood," came the sultry, electronic reply from the other end.
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