Apocalypse Trade Monopoly
Chapter 95: : Three’s a Crowd

Chapter 95: : Three’s a Crowd

The spy didn’t say a word for the next half hour.

Lucas didn’t push him. He walked like it was any other day—bag slung over one shoulder, blade at his hip, steps lazy but deliberate. Every few paces, he’d glance back to make sure the cord was still tight, the spy still being dragged.

Ava walked ahead, system pinging every thirty seconds, scanning for heat signatures, motion shifts, energy trails. Nothing. Just empty blocks of rotting concrete and fractured memory.

"You know," Lucas said casually, eyes still forward, "this is quite the civil walk."

The spy said nothing.

Ava didn’t even turn.

Lucas kept going. "You could make it easier, you know. Say you’re defecting. Tell us half truth, play the poor-scout with a sick mom card. I’d almost believe it." He paused. "Almost."

Ava’s system flickered—then pinged.

[MUTANT ENERGY – LOW-LEVEL – NON-HOSTILE DIRECTIONAL SHIFT – 4 O’CLOCK]

She raised a hand slightly. Lucas stopped without question.

The spy didn’t.

Lucas yanked the cord.

The man stumbled, hit the dirt.

Lucas didn’t wait—he was already in front of him, crouched low.

"What did I say?" His voice was calm. Too calm. "You run, you get reminded who’s holding the leash."

The spy scowled.

"I didn’t run."

"No, but you wanted to. And I’m in the mood to reward honesty." He looked over at Ava. "What’s the scan?"

"Mutant drift. Nothing coming for us yet."

Lucas stood again, brushing dirt from his knees with slow, deliberate motions—like he wasn’t in a hurry, like they had all the time in the world.

Then he turned to the spy and smiled.

Not charming. Not warm.

Sharp.

"Let’s get some secrets."

The spy tensed.

Lucas crouched again, elbows resting loosely on his knees, just close enough to make the guy uncomfortable.

"You’ve been quiet. Disciplined. That’s good. But you’re not ghost-trained. And your team didn’t teach you how to mask your pulse spike." He tapped the cord gently. "Little tip: don’t think about your handler when I talk. It lights you up like a flare."

The spy’s mouth stayed shut, but Ava could see it now—tight jaw, micro-shifts in posture. Defensive. Not loyal. Afraid.

Lucas tilted his head.

"So let’s make this simple." His eyes narrowed. "You’re here to confirm where we’re going."

Silence.

Lucas leaned in closer.

"Which means you don’t know what’s at Bai Manor. And you’re not here to stop us. Just to watch."

Still no reply.

Lucas smirked and stood, dusting off his hands.

"That narrows it down. You’re not Northhold. You’re not West Command. You’re local. Probably working under Zhao or someone clawing for his favor."

The spy’s eye twitched—just barely.

Lucas saw it. Filed it. Owned it.

"He’s getting sloppy," Lucas said aloud to Ava. "If Zhao’s sending ghosts without extraction plans, he’s either desperate... or arrogant."

Ava stared at the spy, voice flat.

"You’re not making it six more days if you keep quiet."

Lucas turned back with another grin.

"But if you talk?" He stepped aside, gesturing to the road ahead. "Well. I’ve been known to trade generously for useful intel."

He looked the spy up and down once.

"You’ve got the look of someone who wants to survive. Start acting like it."

And with that, he turned his back, giving the cord a tug.

"Come on, boy. I’m in the mood for revelations."

Lucas tugged the cord again—not hard, but with enough force to make the spy stumble forward, landing awkwardly on one knee.

He didn’t bother helping him up.

"Here’s the problem with silence," Lucas said, his tone still light, almost lazy, but his eyes had gone cold. "It’s cute for about an hour. After that? It becomes expensive."

He stopped walking and motioned Ava with two fingers to flank the side.

"Beauty, pull up your system. Let’s make this interesting."

Ava frowned but followed the command. A flick of her fingers synced it to Lucas’s vitals and external bio-sensors.

[MONOPOLY SYNC – INTERROGATION MODE DETECTED]

[TARGET: UNREGISTERED MILITARY OPERATIVE]

[STRESS INDEX: 38% AND RISING]

The numbers began to climb as Lucas slowly pulled off his glove and knelt beside the spy, his bare hand brushing across the man’s shoulder.

"You know what my system is really good at?" Lucas said, voice soft now, like he was sharing a secret. "It doesn’t just tell me what something’s worth. It tells me how to break it."

The spy flinched.

Lucas’s hand tightened on his shoulder—not hard. Not yet.

"Pain is a good solution when time is short and patience is expensive. And I’m tired of walking in circles."

Ava watched from a few feet away, arms crossed. Her system tracked micro-tremors in the spy’s hands, shallow breath rate, rising cortisol markers.

[PAIN RESPONSE: 22% – NERVE REACTION THRESHOLD BREACHED]

Lucas leaned in close, voice barely above a whisper.

"I know how many bones I can press before one cracks. You feel that spot I’m holding right now? That’s a tendon that’s going to scream before it tears."

The spy jerked, but Lucas didn’t let go.

"So here’s the real deal: you talk, I stop. You don’t?" His fingers pressed just slightly harder. "Well. You’ll still talk. Eventually. Everyone does."

[STRESS INDEX: 71% – VOCAL BREAK IMMINENT]

The spy finally snapped, voice rough and breathless.

The spy finally snapped, voice rough and breathless.

"Zhao. Sector 12. He’s watching for movement between the Bai network and South Chain. I’m just here to tag you if you made a move."

Lucas let go, straightened, and gave a satisfied hum.

"There it is."

The words barely left his mouth when a soft ping echoed in his ear—low, discreet, coded.

His system flickered.

[PRIVATE INCOMING – ENCRYPTED SOURCE: LAWYER]

[SUBJECT: CLAUSE ALERT – MARRIAGE BINDING / SYNC TRIGGER]

Lucas tapped the side of his temple, letting the message open on a thin display only he could see.

Ava noticed his slight shift in posture.

"What?"

Lucas didn’t answer immediately. His eyes scanned the screen, jaw tightening slightly, then he gave a slow, amused exhale—equal parts impressed and annoyed.

"Well," he muttered, half to himself, "if we still had newspapers, this’d be front page."

Ava blinked.

"What did you just read?"

Lucas turned to her, golden eyes gleaming.

"My lawyer just sent me a warning. Quiet channel. Apparently..." he took a step closer, voice dipping into that familiar too-smooth drawl, "the government just implemented the official sync protocol for mutants. They’re pairing off like it’s a spring festival, and it’s now legally tied to the Shifter mating system."

Ava stared.

"They’re what?"

Lucas held up a finger.

"Wait, it gets better. Our sync? Triggered a clause in my contract. Thanks to a few small details... like me publicly calling you my partner."

Ava’s eyes narrowed.

Lucas grinned.

"This is why I plan."

He pulled up the legal notification for her to see—highlighted neatly.

Clause 6: Failure to notify market regulators of active sync will result in penalty—temporary suspension of market privileges (24 hours).

Clause 9: If sync stability reaches 75%+, and the synced party is presented as ’partner’ in formal negotiations, system-binding marriage protocol is assumed.

Ava blinked once.

"You used me as a shield for a penalty?"

"Soft penalty," Lucas corrected, all charm. "If I hadn’t declared you my partner when I did, the sync would’ve forced a hard bind without protections in place. Best case, I’d be locked out of all accounts for resisiting. Worst case?" He tapped his chest once. "System failure. Dead."

A beat.

Ava crossed her arms.

"And when were you planning to tell me?"

Lucas smiled. "Now seemed like a good time."

She threw a rock at him.

He caught it. Again. Barely.

Still smiling.

Then wind shifted—subtle, but wrong.

Lucas froze mid-step. His fingers twitched once, hovering near his blade, eyes scanning the debris-littered road ahead. He sniffed once—then cursed under his breath.

"Ava." His voice was too calm. Too exact. "Hide."

Ava didn’t argue. Her system flared with warning a split second later.

[THREAT DETECTED – LEVEL 7 BEAST]

[WARNING: NOT HUMAN-DERIVED. COMBAT RISK: SEVERE]

She darted toward a crumbled storefront, vanishing behind rusted metal and shattered glass.

The spy, still bound by the cord, looked up in confusion—until Lucas turned to him, eyes cold and unblinking.

"Congratulations," he said, grabbing the man by the collar and yanking him forward. "You just got promoted to decoy."

"Wait—"

Lucas didn’t wait.

He shoved the man out into the open.

The air changed in an instant.

A blur of movement.

A low, guttural snarl that echoed across the ruins.

Then the beast landed.

It was massive—eight feet tall even on all fours, its skin armored like molten obsidian, too many limbs, a jaw that split horizontally as it clamped down on the spy mid-scream.

Crunch.

Gone.

No second chances.

Ava’s system pinged.

[THREAT LEVEL ADJUSTED: BEAST ENGAGED]

Lucas didn’t move.

Not until the beast turned its head—blood dripping from its teeth, eyes glimmering with unnatural heat.

Then he exhaled.

"You’re expensive," he muttered, sliding his blade free. "Let’s make this quick."

He stepped forward just as the beast lunged.

Too slow.

Lucas vanished low under the swipe, planted his foot, and drove the blade up through the soft gap under the creature’s plated chest.

It shrieked—cut off as the steel split its core.

[ENERGY CORE RUPTURED – INSTANT NEURAL DEATH]

The beast collapsed with a thunderous thud, shaking dust from the skeletal buildings around them.

Lucas stood over it, breathing steady, blade dripping.

Ava stepped out from cover, eyes wide.

"You... that was fast."

"Faster than talking him into it," Lucas muttered, wiping the blade on the beast’s hide. "He was going to slow us down anyway."

Ava raised an eyebrow.

Lucas shrugged.

"I believe in cutting losses. Efficiently."

Then he crouched to pry the core loose—still warm, still humming with value.

And just like that, the world was quiet again.