Thug and Idol: 10X Rewards Second Identity System

The gunshots attracted attention even from those people who weren't watching Tristan until now.

They looked at him, then to where he had been aiming until a moment earlier. Gasps and whispers of confusion spread from a person to person.

"The copter…"

"Why is it moving like that?"

"Holy Mother of God… Is it going to crash?"

Through the lenses of the binoculars, Tristan saw that his shots had bent several tail rotor blades.

More importantly, he must've hit something in the rotor mechanism itself. Instead of rotating smoothly, the blades now were making several spins, only to stop with a sudden jerk, spin again, stop…

Like a stuck record.

The helicopter's pilot was pressing and jerking the controls with agitated movements, but it didn't seem to help much.

"Motherfucker! What a shot!" James screeched from the shotgun seat of his designated truck. "A copter explosion, like in a movie! Oh, hell yeah!"

Cheers from other gangsters echoed the statement.

[Ding!]

[You have impressed and awed 38 people of average, moderate and high skill and status. Reward: your PP increased by 1500!]

Tristan grinned together with the rest of the people, too.

"I hate to be the party pooper, but that helicopter won't fall," Damien said, approaching him. "The main rotor still works, so it will just land somewhere it can reach. But it won't follow us, that's for sure."

Tristan nodded, pulling himself together.

"Right. Now nothing stops us from hitting the road. Let's move out!"

***

An hour later.

The aftermath of the operation was still going on. The wounded and the dead were being taken care of, and everything was inspected, counted and noted down.

But before that, Tristan had gathered his allies in his place again.

Tonight, the tension between these people was considerably lower. Tristan didn't bring any of his people with him, but that was just because they were badly wounded and needed rest.

He was going to tell Derek that they skipped town, and he, Tristan, had no idea why. The agency will have to drop the line of pursuit, especially since its CEO knew what kind of lions that could irritate.

Martinez was also badly wounded and needed rest, but he was still here, despite Tristan's hesitance. Bullet had gone through him earlier so it didn't need to be pulled out. Now his wound was bandaged and almost not bleeding, and the man ate some painkillers.

Now he was trying to make a face of someone not pained at all and failing. Others respectfully gave him his space on the couch.

"We need to talk about what happened, and what will happen," Tristan said.

"What happened? It was a shitshow." Victor spat out. "Now the cops are gonna be on a manhunt for months!"

"Yes, that was a huge blow. I bet they were expecting to meet a couple dozen people at most, bag them up quickly and proudly present them to the public," Vargas replied with a frown. "How did they find us then in the first place? It was a full-sized raid! Sea Devil, you said the place was secure!"

"It was! They must've tracked someone. Weren't Hayes and Martinez in hot water with the police? I bet the cops tracked them."

Tristan cut him down with a glare.

"They didn't. We were extremely careful on our way there." Tristan would've felt any direct observation. "And there could've been no trackers in his vehicle, because the vehicle was borrowed from you in the first place. As you said yourself, you weren't on the police radar."

"It must've been Whitman. Who else?" Martinez pressed out. "The snake. Dumb snake with a long tail."

'I think his painkillers interfere with his brain function. But he isn't wrong.'

"Mr. Vargas will try to dig into this later," Tristan said pointedly, "but it's not the most important thing. You have been dealt a blow, and now you need to recover. And be quiet while the police look for you."

"No shit," James muttered.

"I will share my resources for this, but only after I leave Los Angeles. Which will happen tomorrow. I will send one of my men here to act as a mediator."

Definitely Tomas. A strong man to keep that pile of wolves a part of the same pack. He won't be doing any administrative work himself.

"But," Tristan said heavily, "although it didn't go as smoothly as we all imagined it… We did it. Whitman is tied up in a secure place, not bleeding to death. Within days, our alliance will make a major step up. Within months, Los Angeles will be ours. All of it. The cops will just have to deal with it."

The infliction in Tristan's voice made that speech more than words. It turned it into a vision, one that people could almost touch. James closed his eyes and reached out with a shaking hand.

"And you all fought together to reach it. Spilled blood together. You might think whatever you want about yourself, but you are brothers now. We all are brothers."

Tristan closed his eyes for a moment, too, feeling a wave of bitter memories.

"Family is a bond that's stronger than anything. You can reject it, but it won't disappear. It's just a fact, same as that sky is blue and things thrown up always fall back down. No matter what, we will be brothers, so—act the part."

When he opened his eyes again, there was a solemn atmosphere in the room. The gangsters looked at each other with old distrust, but a new perspective.

[Ding!]

[You have gained some trust from 3 people of high status and skill. Reward: your PP increased by 1500!]

Tristan forced himself not to wince. Today, the 'ding' sound felt especially annoying.

'Those damned notifications, always ruining moments… Alright, points are good.'

"Brothers, huh?" Damien drawled, breaking the strange silence. "Yeah, I know how that can turn out. Alright, fellas, you heard the big man—we are going to play nice for now. No shooting each other on the streets, or cops will come and put us all behind the bars, anyway."

"Fuck you," Victor said back.

Vargas chuckled. Damien chuckled too, then began laughing in earnest. James echoed him, same as Tristan, and even Victor began smirking wider and wider.

'Maybe they will be even better than brothers. Maybe they will actually be friends.'