My Infinite Investment System

The butcher beast lowered its cleaver-shaped skull, and every route in Ryan’s vision turned red.

One line struck Nia’s center grip, another crossed Mika’s damaged ribs, while the fastest ended inside his chest.

"Cart east, three meters," he said, stepping off the route, "shield on the floor, rim toward it."

Neither woman argued, which frightened Mika more than the monster as Ryan’s voice carried distance, direction, nothing else.

’Four arms, left pair shorter, weight forward,’ he thought, tracking the red lines as the creature gathered itself, ’first charge reaches us in two seconds.’

He planted both feet outside the nearest route and said, "Brace."

Nia kicked the cart sideways, planted one boot against its axle, then angled the tower shield from floor to shoulder with both hands on the intact rim.

The butcher beast crossed twenty meters so quickly its white body seemed to jump between positions.

It struck the outer plate, and metal screamed across the warehouse as the cart rolled backward until its wheels folded beneath her weight.

The shield core split another finger-width, but she remained standing.

He tracked the widening crack and said, "One impact left."

The bulwark checked the red crack and answered, "Then use it."

Mika’s current gathered around both hands, brighter near the repaired wrist and unstable beneath her left ribs.

The striker spread her hands without releasing the charge and said, "Tell me where."

He watched the beast pull its right arms beneath its body while the longer pair scraped for traction.

Gold paths showed movement, but the heart remained hidden behind three overlapping plates of cartilage.

He followed the overlapping plates and said, "No target yet."

The striker’s teeth appeared as she said, "It is the size of a delivery truck."

His eyes stayed on the moving routes as he repeated, "No target."

The creature tore one bent shelf from the floor and threw it.

He threw one arm toward the floor and shouted, "Down."

Mika dropped beneath the spinning steel while Nia dragged the shield flat over both of them, refusing the lethal center grip.

The shelf struck the wall and burst open thirty cartons of packing powder.

White dust erased half the warehouse.

Ryan could no longer see the beast, but Spark Sense drew its attack routes through the cloud.

’Distance nine meters, charge angle low, left tendon loaded,’ he thought, hearing its joints scrape, ’there.’

He pointed through the powder and said, "Nia, rim at warehouse west, take it diagonally."

The bulwark moved before the explanation existed, planting the lower corner against a floor seam.

He shifted the same hand toward the loaded tendon and ordered, "Mika, burn the gold line when it touches the shield."

Pink current climbed the striker’s forearm as the beast emerged from the powder and hit at an angle.

Its skull slid across the shield face instead of striking the core, but one hooked arm reached around the rim toward Nia’s back.

He saw the killing route and moved inside it.

He caught the bulwark’s jacket at the shoulder, pulled once, and traded places with her before the hooked limb arrived.

The claw crossed his suit and opened three hot lines along his upper arm, pulling a sound from Mika that contained no camera polish or language.

Her lightning followed the gold route into the creature’s loaded tendon.

The air cracked pink.

Burned meat and ozone filled the aisle as the left leg folded beneath the monster.

Nia drove the shield rim into the bent joint, pinning it against concrete.

The striker kept both charged hands aimed at the creature and demanded, "Target?"

He pressed one hand over his bleeding sleeve and watched the beast twist.

The heart route appeared for less than a second, buried behind the base of its right arms.

He tracked the heart route as it vanished and said, "Not open."

She pointed one charged finger toward his sleeve and said, "You are bleeding."

He kept his eyes on the monster and answered, "Not relevant."

Her eyes cut toward him as the uncontrolled flare around her ribs doubled, and she said, "Say that again when I am not busy."

The creature threw its weight against the trapped leg, tearing cooked tendon to free itself.

The bulwark’s boots slid through powder while the tower shield gave a deep internal click, and she said, "I cannot hold another charge."

He found a fluorescent inspection stick clipped beside the words **combat authority: none** on his analyst kit.

’Good thing bureaucracy has never met the inside of a gate,’ he thought, rolling the inspection stick between his fingers.

He yanked the cap off and stepped toward the beast.

She caught the back of his jacket and asked, "What are you doing?"

He tested her grip once and answered, "Opening the target."

Her fingers tightened in the fabric as she asked, "With stationery?"

He escaped her grip without looking back and walked toward the butcher beast as four red routes spread beneath its raised skull.

Three predicted retreat, while the fourth assumed its prey would continue forward.

Fear erased his humor and turned every part of him toward that final route.

’Five meters, right arm first, skull follows, heart turns after the miss,’ he thought, matching his steps to the route, ’keep walking.’

The nearest claw cut down.

He shifted one foot left, felt displaced air strike his cheek, then passed beneath the joint before the beast could recover.

Mika’s voice broke against the warehouse walls as she screamed, "Ryan!"

The monster twisted to follow him, opening its plated chest.

He slammed the inspection stick against the soft hollow beneath its right arms, left a violent orange mark over the heart, and shouted, "Now."

Nia released the pinned leg and threw her entire weight into the shield rim to rotate the beast toward warehouse east, then Mika fired.

Pink lightning entered through the orange mark, crossed the exposed heart, and burst from the creature’s back in a spray of black fluid.

The butcher beast stopped with one claw suspended above his head, then collapsed beside him hard enough to lift powder from the floor in a white ring.

Nobody moved until the gate display changed from crimson to gold.

**Predator eliminated | Contract clear | Property enforcement paused for seventy-two hours**

The emergency shutter opened at 23:58.

Noise arrived all at once, containment cages rattling, the clerk shouting through the gate, Mika coughing in the powder, Nia lowering herself beside the broken shield.

He looked at the blood on his sleeve and tried to recover the joke that usually came after survival, but nothing arrived.

’Two minutes before midnight,’ he thought, ’my mother is going to kill me for ruining this suit.’

His hand began shaking around the inspection stick, so he hid it behind his thigh before Mika crossed the aisle, caught his wrist, and brought it back into view.

Her eyes moved over the blood, his silent mouth, then the orange marker still trapped between his fingers.

She held his trembling hand between them and said, "You stepped under that thing."

He checked the cut instead of her expression and answered, "It needed to turn."

Her grip tightened as she repeated, "You stepped under it."

Nia stood behind them, lifted the ruined shield flat onto the cart, and pushed the cages toward the exit without interrupting.

The privacy was deliberate, and he watched the bulwark leave before saying, "We cleared before midnight."

Mika tightened her hand around his wrist and said, "Stop hiding in the mission."

He finally met her eyes.

Her phone remained zipped inside her jacket, and fear had removed every public expression as she asked, "Why are you pretending the equipment office never happened?"