Apocalypse Trade Monopoly
Chapter 98: : Red Tape & Thorns

Chapter 98: : Red Tape & Thorns

The wind bit at their faces as the motorbike cut through the fractured landscape—dead intersections, broken buildings flanking both sides. Ava kept the throttle steady, her system pinging a faint checkpoint marker ahead.

[NOTICE: TEMPORARY BLOCKADE – MILITARY SCAN ACTIVE]

[AFFILIATION: WEST CHAIN FORWARD UNIT]

She braked instinctively, slowing the bike as the road narrowed. Up ahead, sandbags, portable drones, and a line of armored personnel stood guard beneath a half-crumbled overpass.

And in the center of it all—Elira.

She stood with her coat fluttering in the breeze, sharp blonde hair tucked behind one ear, expression neutral in that lethal socialite way. The kind of beautiful that was exotic with high cheekbones.

Lucas groaned behind Ava the moment he saw her.

"And here we go."

Ava eased the bike to a stop. Before she could speak, Elira stepped forward, heels crunching on gravel. Her tone was sweet enough to rot metal.

"Fancy seeing you here, Lucas."

He slid off the bike with exaggerated effort, stretching his arms like they hadn’t just run into trouble.

"Elira. You’re looking sharp. Still playing at checkpoint queen?"

Her eyes flicked to Ava—scanning, calculating, then dismissing a little too fast.

"New accessory?"

Ava said nothing, but Lucas raised a brow.

"This is Ava Zhang. My partner."

Elira blinked. "Your what?"

Lucas didn’t miss a beat. He pulled a folded data slip from inside his coat, holding it out to one of the West soldiers nearby.

"Under the newly issued Mutant Pairing Directive, paragraph twelve, subsection four—registered pairs in transition between sectors are to be allowed passage if at least one document confirms status." He gave a lazy smile. "Which this does. Fully signed and sealed. The rest is in processing."

Elira snatched the slip from the soldier’s hand, reading it with a twist of her mouth.

"You didn’t file in person."

"True," Lucas said easily, "but my butler’s handling the registration from bunker 12. We’ll be official in twenty-four hours. Until then..." He gestured toward Ava. "This is my partner. And we are traveling under regulation."

A pause.

Elira’s eyes narrowed just slightly.

"How convenient for you."

Lucas gave a polite smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

"I believe in embracing policy when it works in my favor."

Ava could see the gears turning behind Elira’s expression. She wasn’t angry—not exactly. Just boxed in, and she hated being boxed in.

"You’re lucky it’s me out here," she said finally, handing the slip back with two fingers. "Anyone else might’ve pulled you for a full scan."

Lucas took it back, slipping it into his coat.

"Good thing fate sends me friends with power."

Elira smiled thinly.

"Watch your back, Lucas."

"Always."

They walked the bike forward as the guards stepped aside, tension crackling like static between Elira and Ava.

Once they passed through, Ava glanced at him.

"That went well."

Lucas exhaled, running a hand through his windblown hair.

"In Elira terms? That was a hug and a fruit basket." He glanced back over his shoulder toward the checkpoint. "And since we’re here..."

Ava narrowed her eyes.

"Don’t."

"We should do a trade." He said it like it was the most obvious idea in the world. "Elira never travels without her twin brother. Elias should be nearby—probably holed up in a truck somewhere, avoiding the theatrics."

Ava blinked. "She has a twin?"

"Fraternal. But eerily in sync. She’s the dagger, he’s the handshake." Lucas gave a half-grin, already angling toward the right side of the road. "Elias and I have done good business in the past. Quiet deals. Clean splits. Unlike his sister, he doesn’t need a spotlight—just numbers."

"And you trust him?"

Lucas gave a one-shoulder shrug, eyes scanning the checkpoint edges.

"I trust that he likes making a profit. And he likes me because I make him a lot of it."

Then he paused mid-step.

His gaze narrowed slightly, flicking toward a matte grey transport truck parked just off the barricade. Tinted windows. Engine running low. Civilian shell, military-grade tires.

Lucas’s grin returned like clockwork.

"Found him."

Ava followed his line of sight.

"That’s your guy?"

"Same truck since the old border runs. Elias likes to keep a low profile, but he’s a creature of habit." Lucas was already moving.

He headed straight for the passenger side, and raised a hand to knocked once—three short raps, followed by a pause, then two quick taps. A rhythm they’d used for years.

No answer. No movement.

Then the passenger window hummed and rolled down halfway.

Inside, leaning back in the driver’s seat with a tablet balanced on one knee and a faint smirk already forming—Elias.

Same dark hair as Elira, but looser. Unstyled. Glasses reflecting data feeds. Sleeves rolled up, fingers stained faintly with ink and machine grease.

"Lucas," Elias drawled, not bothering to hide the amusement in his voice. "Did you bring trouble or business?"

Lucas leaned one arm casually on the open window frame, eyes gleaming.

"Both. But let’s focus on the business." He tapped the side of the truck lightly with his knuckle. "I’m buying intel. Selling fuel cells."

Elias raised an eyebrow, interested now.

"Standard cores?"

"Modified," Lucas replied smoothly. "Reinforced casings, recalibrated flow rates. Clean charge cycles with a longer curve. The last batch nearly sold itself. But..." He grinned. "I’m also introducing an upgraded line soon. Not on the open circuit yet."

Elias sat up a little straighter, his expression sharpening.

"You’re pushing a new product line mid-cycle?"

Lucas shrugged, a little too casual.

"Why not? Market’s stale. Everyone’s recycling old tech, and half the buyers are desperate for edge, especially the ones outside the official channels." He tilted his head. "I can let you preview it. For a price."

Elias’s eyes flicked past Lucas to Ava, then back again.

"You always bring your partner to deals now?" Elias asked, brow raised just slightly.

Lucas didn’t flinch. He leaned in a little, voice quieter but honest in a way Ava hadn’t quite heard from him in front of others.

"Yeah. I like her a lot."

Ava blinked but didn’t say anything. Instead, she reached into her pack, pulled out a fuel cell wrapped in a pressure-stabilized sleeve, and handed it cleanly through the open window to Elias.

He took it without hesitation, flipping it in his palm once before his tablet began scanning the surface.

"Refined interface node... you weren’t kidding," Elias muttered. "This could run mid-tier tech for a week, easy."

Lucas straightened.

"Told you. Clean, quiet, better than the crap floating through Black Grid these days. But I’m not just here to sell. I need intel."

"Of course you do," Elias said, setting the fuel cell on the console beside him. "Topic?"

"West Chain. New sync laws. I want what your sister won’t say out loud."

Elias huffed a breath and sat back in his seat, arms crossed.

"People are being loud about systems now. It’s different. Before, everyone kept their mouth shut, afraid they’d get tagged or controlled. Now?" He tapped the glass lightly. "Having a system gets you a seat before the Shifters even sniff the door. You show up synced, you’re already halfway into policy rooms. Shifters are second in the food chain now—aggressive, but too unstable. Can’t network like we can."

Lucas nodded slightly, processing.

Elias let out a dry laugh.

"Honestly? I thought I was just unlucky being a mutant. Got the genetics, no system. No boost. Just paperwork and rejection."

He looked down at his hands, then back up.

"Too bad I still don’t have a system. Could’ve used the leverage."

Lucas’s expression didn’t shift much, but there was something under it. Something quiet. He tilted his head slightly.

"There’s a rumor," Lucas said, his voice dropping a notch. "But it’s expensive."

Elias leaned forward, tablet forgotten now. The playfulness was gone from his face, replaced by something sharper—interested, and maybe just a little hungry.

"What kind of expensive?"

Lucas met his gaze evenly.

"Not the kind you pay with credits."

Elias didn’t blink.

"Five favors. No limits. And a clean base identity—one that pings above board with both North and South Chains. I heard you burned Angel’s registry last quarter."

Lucas’s mouth twitched into a small smile.

"You really keep up with my bad behavior."

"I make a living off it."

Lucas glanced at Ava, then back at Elias, voice quieting like he was letting him in on something fragile.

"Extreme stress."

Elias raised a brow.

"That’s the trigger?"

Lucas nodded.

"Every dormant case I’ve traced—mutants with no system? They awakened under near-death conditions. Collapse-level adrenaline. Cellular override. Basically, your body breaks the locks when it thinks you’re not walking out."

"And you’re saying if I want in..."

"You risk your life." Lucas didn’t sugarcoat it. "Not fake risk. Not controlled environments. You dive in, you bleed, and maybe something wakes up. Or maybe you just die ugly."

Elias exhaled slowly, tapping a finger against the doorframe.

Lucas added, voice like a final nail:

"And if it does work... it’s going to hurt. A lot."

Elias stared at him for a long second.

Then—quietly:

"Good. I’m tired of watching from the bench."

Elias leaned back, expression shifting—not arrogant, not reckless. Just ready.

Then his gaze flicked toward Ava, curious now, eyes narrowing behind his glasses.

"If you’re willing to talk about it—your awakening," he said carefully, "I’ll trade you a personal favor. Not tied to Lucas. Just you and me."

Ava hesitated, glancing at Lucas for half a second

Before she nodded.

"Yeah. I’ll talk."

Elias leaned in slightly, giving her the space to speak but his attention locked on her every word.

"It was simple," Ava said, her voice even. "I got sick. Real sick. Couldn’t eat. Couldn’t sleep. Everything ached. For days I thought I wasn’t going to make it. Body just... shutting down." She paused. "Then I got better. I didn’t even realize it was a system waking up. I thought I was just lucky."

"And when did you notice?" Elias asked, tone lower now.

"After I went back to work. Everything hit at once—and the interface just... appeared."

Elias absorbed that, expression sharpening with something like understanding.

Ava continued.

"It was six days of hell." Her voice dropped slightly. "Then six days of fury. Like my body remembered what pain was supposed to do—and turned it into function."

Lucas glanced sideways at her, quiet now.

Elias tapped that into memory, eyes distant.

"Six and six," he muttered. "It’s a pattern."

"You asked," Ava said simply, crossing her arms. "Now you know."

Elias met her gaze, respectful now.

"And I owe you one."

Lucas smirked.

"Careful. She’s good at collecting."

Ava didn’t smile.

"I don’t take favors I won’t use."

Elias studied her for a second longer, then gave a quiet laugh under his breath—low and surprised, like he didn’t expect to respect her as fast as he did.