Zayden stepped over the remains without looking back.
As he reached the main entrance, he raised a hand.
The metal lock bent inward under the force of his gravity control.
With a loud crack, the locking mechanism collapsed, and the heavy door slowly swung open.
He walked inside.
The warehouse hidden between the cargo containers was much larger than it looked from the outside.
Several gang members were sitting around tables, counting cash, cleaning weapons, and talking to each other.
A few of them looked up when they heard the door open.
"Who's there?"
Another man frowned when he recognized Zayden.
"Wait... isn't that the kid?"
"He actually came back."
Zayden kept walking forward at a steady pace.
He had already made up his mind before coming here.
The original owner of this body had been beaten nearly to death by these people, and they had planned to kill him if he ever returned.
He wasn't here to negotiate.
One of the gang members reached for a gun.
Before he could raise it, the weapon was pulled straight down by an invisible force.
The gun hit the floor with a loud bang.
The man tried to lift it again, but it felt as though it weighed several tons.
"What the—?"
The others quickly stood up.
Some reached for weapons while others backed away.
Zayden calmly looked around the room.
"I came here to end this."
He slowly raised his hand.
Invisible waves of gravity spread across the warehouse, pinning everyone in place.
No one could move more than a few inches.
Some struggled.
Others shouted in panic.
Zayden continued walking deeper into the hideout, determined to wipe out the gang that had ruined the original owner's life.
With a single thought, he increased the gravity throughout the warehouse.
The pressure became overwhelming.
One by one, the gang members were crushed before they had a chance to fight back.
The entire operation lasted only a few minutes.
After making sure no one was left, Zayden searched the hideout.
He collected several bags filled with cash along with a few valuables that had clearly been obtained illegally.
When he finally walked back outside, the container base behind him had fallen completely silent.
He stopped for a moment and looked back.
His eyes glowed with a faint purple light.
He raised one hand.
The gravity around the entire container complex increased dramatically.
Loud cracks echoed through the area as the stacked cargo containers buckled under the immense force.
Steel twisted and folded in on itself.
Within seconds, the gang's hidden base had been compressed into a mass of flattened metal, leaving almost no sign that a criminal hideout had ever existed there.
Without looking back again, Zayden picked up the bags of cash, valuables and quietly walked away.
After reaching another cargo container, Zayden ripped the lock off with ease.
Inside was a brand-new Lamborghini Gallardo SE.
He smiled.
"What a beautiful car."
He walked over and placed his hand on the hood.
The next moment, his body transformed into Upgrade.
His black and white body merged with the Lamborghini.
Green circuit-like lines spread across the entire vehicle as Upgrade began modifying it from the inside out.
He didn't stop there.
His body extended into the nearby cargo containers where several other stolen cars had been hidden.
One after another, the vehicles were dismantled.
Their engines, electronics, armor, and every useful piece of technology were absorbed and used to improve the Lamborghini.
Several advanced components from the gang's stolen equipment were also integrated into it.
Nearly an hour later, Upgrade separated from the vehicle.
His body returned to its human form.
From the outside, the Lamborghini looked almost identical to before.
However, everything beneath its body had changed.
The engine was far beyond modern technology.
The chassis was reinforced with materials far stronger than steel.
The onboard computer was decades ahead of its time.
It was a machine that simply should not exist in the year 2005.
"...I don't regret choosing Upgrade anymore," Zayden muttered with a smile.
He got into the driver's seat.
The dashboard lit up on its own.
At his command, the car's wheels folded inward as hidden thrusters extended from beneath the chassis, while from the outside it looked like the car suddenly vanished as Zayden have also created the camouflage tech on it.
The Lamborghini smoothly shifted into flight mode.
A second later, it silently lifted off the ground and flew away from the old wharf.
About twenty minutes later, police cars surrounded the area.
Officers stepped out and stared at the scene in disbelief.
Some cargo containers had been crushed into flattened sheets of steel.
Others had been torn apart from the inside.
Several containers were filled with dismantled cars stripped of every valuable component.
Near the center of the area, officers found large amounts of blood and other signs of a violent battle inside what had once been the gang's hideout.
Detective George Stacy slowly looked around the destroyed wharf.
"...Just what happened here?" he murmured.
Detective George Stacy took a slow look around the ruined wharf before turning to the officers behind him.
"Search the entire area," he ordered. "See if there are any security cameras nearby."
One of the officers nodded.
"Yes, Detective."
George pointed toward a row of shipping containers near the entrance.
"Check those containers. If there's a control room or any computers connected to surveillance cameras, I want every hard drive and recording collected."
"We're on it."
Several officers split up and began searching the area.
Some examined the destroyed containers while others looked for any signs of survivors.
George walked toward a large pool of blood and crouched down.
He studied it for a few moments without saying anything.
"There isn't much sign of a gunfight," he said quietly. "Most of the damage doesn't match normal weapons."
He stood up and looked across the wharf once more.
Twisted steel, flattened cargo containers, and wrecked vehicles stretched as far as he could see.
It looked less like the aftermath of a gang war and more like the scene of a natural disaster.
"What are we dealing with here?" George muttered.
A bad feeling settled in his stomach.
Whoever had done this had wiped out an entire gang in a matter of minutes and possessed strength far beyond anything he had ever seen.
For the first time in his career, George wasn't sure where to begin.