Underground is a broad term for the criminal world, but one organization stood above the rest and claimed it as its name, a platform for villains, anti-heroes, and alike.

  Two days had passed since the twins met in West Berlin.

  "Are your contacts ready?" Olivia asked, fixing her mask.

  "They are on their way," Leonhard said before helping Olivia with her attire, "Tie or bowtie?"

  "Can I just not wear it?"

  "Appearances might seem trivial among criminals, but they hold considerable power." Leonhard grabbed a long, black tie from a briefcase on the hotel bed. "Tie it is."

  Soon, the twins finished wearing their clothes. Leonhard wore a jet-black suit with light armor under it, a white rabbit mask on the face, and a wig to hide his hair.

  Olivia's attire was the opposite. She wore an ivory suit with a black bunny mask but no wigs.

  No body part was exposed. The twins even used accessories to cover their hands and neck.

  "How do I look?" Olivia said, posing before a mirror.

  "You look good. Had you put some muscle while I was away?"

  "Nah," her stature suddenly grew smaller. "I just wondered how I would look like it. But the suit is too tight that way."

  "Your choice. But let's hurry. Our friends just arrived." Leonhard said, faint blue light coming from his mask's eye sockets.

  Twins exited the hotel room and moved to the underground parking.

  "You sure we are alright with moving around in this attire?"

  Leonhard nodded. "I already disabled all security cameras, locked doors, and shut the elevator. Also, we go down through the elevator space."

  "Good." Olivia stretched her arm and forced open the elevator fire door.

  She leaped down, using the tentacles she summoned to grab the sides of the elevator space and stop right before her destination.

  Leonhard followed from behind, climbing down the maintenance ladder.

  They exited the space on the bottom floor, and two hulking men greeted them.

  "Please, follow us."

  They did as asked and entered a black sedan with excessively tinted windows.

  When the twins sat, one of the men approached them with eye bands and ear mufflers.

  "Sorry for the inconvenience, but it's the procedure."

  "We are aware." Twins said unanimously.

  The vehicle looked normal from the outside, but twins knew it was heavily modified with lead lining, armored doors, passenger seats separated from the driver seat through a wall, a soundproof interior, an AC that always worked in low temperatures, a strong perfume to mask all smells, and constant white noise.

  "They work hard to keep their location a secret. It's admirable." Leonhard thought.

  After a while, the vehicle stopped. The driver removed their mufflers and eye bands.

  "Thank you for your cooperation. And welcome to underground."

  Twins exited the vehicle and looked at the landscape before them, a giant area with everything you can imagine before you. Large tents filled with goods, hordes of shady people walking the streets, and even an artificial sky made out of high-resolution panels to keep people's sanity.

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  "Stolen military goods, super soldiers for hire, clones of extinct animals, and much more." Olivia took the first step forward.

  Leonhard followed her. "They also sell organs, do human trafficking, and drugs of any kind. You are welcome, as long as you are not here to stir trouble or a member of a Crimson Cult."

  "Yeah, even evil has standards."

  "You need them to keep a place like this organized."

  Twins moved towards the entrance.

  A machine approached them. It had a weird body with multiple legs and a nonhumanoid structure.

  The creature's eye left its socket and flew around the twins.

  A cone-shaped red laser from the mechanical eye's retina swept through the twins, turning green at the end.

  "Clear." It said, its eye glowing green.

  "Weird," Olivia whispered to Leonhard as they passed the checkpoint.

  "My design." Leonhard proudly exclaimed.

  "Still weird."

  They took the stairs down, and they were finally in.

  It was like any other convention, excluding the illegal activities.

  They passed before several stands. One stand was for a separatist group trying to find funds, another for a PMC recruiting mercenaries, and the other for selling stolen combat drugs.

  "Wait, aren't those the paintings stolen from the Louvre last year." Olivia pointed towards a stand.

  "No, they are fake. The real ones sold a month ago. Come, we have no business on these parts." Leonhard hastened his steps.

  Olivia caught up to him after a moment.

  After passing through the first area, they moved to a gate separating a zone from the main convention.

  A dozen armed grunts and two mercenaries with high fame in the underground guarded it.

  "Only members with three stars or above from here." Olivia read the sign put before the checkpoint. "How many stars do we have anyway?"

  "None." Leonhard approached the checkpoint. Mercenaries and grunts moved from their way.

  "White Rabbit, Black Rabbit. We greet Moon-ranked members."

  "Moon-ranked, is that high?" Olivia asked, inspecting the surroundings.

  Leonhard nodded. "I know you are not interested in this side of business, but remember, we entered the stage by taking down Blue-Water Cartel."

  He thought about the past events for a moment. They were just ten when they achieved that feat. After tracking their leaders, Leonhard managed to create a fake message and gather the majority of the high-ranking leaders in one position.

  He turned to his sister. "And she finished the job."

  "Well, you did most of the job, but they were a Moon-Ranking member and one of the higher-tiered ones."

  "So, they gave us moon tier from let go."

  Leonhard shook his head. "Not exactly. We started at five stars—just below the first moon level—but I managed to raise our rank to moon level since then."

  "Cool. It is good to know we are also secret crime lords. Should act more hardboiled?"

  "Ah, please cut it." Leonhard stopped before a large tent, unguarded and occupying a considerable space. "I am going to borrow some money." He pulled out a folded paper from his pocket. "Meanwhile, can you visit these friends and ask them to pay their debts to us?"

  Olivia grabbed the paper. "Consider it done, but just to be sure. I can't just beat people and force them to pay, right? I need to challenge them officially, right?"

  Leonhard nodded. "I am happy you remember the rules. I thought you found this kinda thing boring."

  "Eh." Olivia put the paper away. "It is boring here, but the arena you brought me to fight three years ago was fun. I might even go to renew my champion status."

  Leonhard chuckled. "Long as you finish your job, sister, I will be pleased to watch you turn the whole place upside down again."

  "Then see you later. Call me when you finish." Olivia turned into mist and glided away.

  "She looked far too excited. I pray for the fools that will challenge her."

  Leonhard entered the tent. No lights, nothing inside.

  "Thank you for accepting my invitation." A woman's voice echoed from everywhere and anywhere.

  Leonhard bowed forward. "It's my pleasure you accepted me, Master of the Underground."

  "How could I deny such an opportunity? Especially when he made such a mistake?"

  A single light opened and shined over a briefcase filled with money over a wooden desk.

  "Take it, it's a gift."

  Leonhard approached the table and quickly counted the money. "There are almost ten million global credits here."

  "An investment."

  Leonhard closed the briefcase and grabbed it. "I am flattered, but I will need more."

  The woman took some time to think before another briefcase appeared before Leonhard.

  It contained a check for a hundred million credits. "You have a great credit score, not to mention how useful you are to the underground. I can trust you with this much."

  Leonhard grabbed the check. "I assume general rules apply. 20% interest if paid in a year or increases with every passing one."

  "Right. But I can make it a better payment plan if you have anything to offer in exchange."

  Leonhard turned around. "You are nice, far too nice. I will play by the rules everyone plays."

  "Then it's agreed."

  Leonhard closed his eyes, and when he opened it, he was outside. The tent was long gone.

  "Now, where is she."

  Just as Leonhard asked the question as if the universe was waiting for this, a loud announcement echoed across the convention.

  ["For knowledge of all our members. The old champion challenged the current champion. We are holding the title match! I repeat we are holding a title match!"]