His heart was pumping as the van was now pulling in to the Totentanz.
Other Maelstromers were already outside shooting shit up or fucking around.
And the smell of blood and corpses was already attacking his senses.
But this was usual for the Totentanz.
It was the center of Maelstrom, and has been around before even Brick was in charge.
It used to be the main spot for experiments and Rituals but that was eventually moved more toward the docks.
The issue now was pissing off royce or becoming a interest of royce.
Rich was both.
He hated royce but also saw the benefits to having him.
The issue is that Royce thought the same of Rich.
As they walked into the building it was especially gross more now then ever.
Piss, shit, blood, and vomit on the floor.
Crushed up burned out cigs scattered all over the place.
Crazy graphiti and imagery on the walls.
Broken glass, a few corpses here and there.
Place was a fucking disaster.
And it's state was one of the reasons he didn't like coming to the Totentanz.
This was normal, for higher ups in Maelstrom.
Dum Dum let Rich lead the way because he wanted Royce to see him first before he saw Dum Dum.
Loyal as ever.
Rich clicked for the elevator but didn't have to wait as the doors opened and they both entered.
"Nothings changed"
"Of course It hasn't"
Not much of a conversation between the the two friends.
As they knew that the only talking that would matter was only moments away.
The elevator door opened and waiting on the other side was nobody else but Royces left hand man.
Kurt Valley, or as he was known to most.
MeatGrinder...
A name well known for being the guy sent to make people disappear just for the body to be nothing but mince meat left overs on the side of the street.
Started as a Serial Killer, converted to an Enforcer.
Story is well known and had respect even among rival gangs.
Kurt simply looked over Rich and nodded.
Which was his way of saying "move along"
But Dum Dum stuck around for a moment.
Tapped Kurt on the shoulder whispered in his ear.
Kurt nodded again and took the elevator down.
Dum Dum waved an arm as a sign to move foward.
He did so and Dum Dum followed once more.
Up ahead guarding the doors to the dance floor was Royces Underman.
Lars Gardner the man known to never miss.
Which earned him to title.
LongShot...
Served in the military at one point, Deserted, found his own way back home, and found himself in NC as Maelstrom.
Didn't fit in with 6th Street and so joined Maelstrom to kill'em.
"Oh shit, finally the moment I've been waiting for a long time"
"Embrace it while you can"
"Oh I will, don't worry about me"
"That doesn't mean piss on my corpse immediately"
"Who Cares, I can do what I want and you can't do shit when your sprawed out in pieces" said Lars as he stepped aside and the doors opened to the dance floor.
Royce was on the second floor and saw Rich immediately.
As he walked across the crowded dance floor which was on the thread of breaking down into a full on brawl any second now.
Luckily for him, nobody besides major key players noticed him as he got out of the crowd and made his way up to where royce was.
And when he made it up the stairs he was noticed and that up waiting with royce were 2 more of his personal lackies.
Elijah Blackwell, known to most as "Gearhead" for his massive drug abuse that allows him to go further and be able to do tasks that were Suicide Jobs.
Great asset, is probably what Royce thought when he recruited the kid, what Rich saw was a kid that was working himself to an early grave and to him it was a shame.
On the other side of royce was a man he had only seen a hand full of times before he officially left the Totentanz and began shop in All Foods.
Gregory pincer or as the streets knew him "ShortStop".
Got the name for killing people's with very big goals or dreams.
Mostly EdgeRunners from the Afterlife or any Merc with a big dream.
A real P.O.S.
He stood before the man he had gotten to know as the current show runner of Maelstrom.
Simon Randell, aka Royce.
The man who took control from the once dominat leader Brick and was responsible for the assassinations and and disappearances for alot of big shots in high standing corps.
From Arasoka to its enemy Militech to providers of both Zetatech and Biotechnica.
And the one company above them all, Petrochem.
Oh yeah, Royce was a dirty motherfucker.
But he was also a cheap bastard as well and is always trying to get something out of someone so he could walk away with less stress on his back.
And the entire world on the poor bastards he black mails.
Part of Rich wanted to say it was ingenious, but at the same time, that's the same exact shit he would do if in power.
BANG
A shot went off, and Rich fell to the ground as blood poured out of him profusely.
The pain was tremendous as his left leg was completely blasted off.
As he was then dragged from the second floor down to the first as waiting for him was the man that experiment on him from time to time.
Bjorn.
He was then dumped into a cooler with wires attached him as they closed the door on him and let it rip.
And his neurons were being fried and he was quickly going dark losing into the insanity that was Cyberpsychosis.
He realized that all of this was because of himself.
All of this.
Was on him.
And that's was the last thing he thought of before his consciousness faded.
With black and red taking over.