Four years and eight months ago....
Ray's official first mission as a Queensman started in Mexico - an extraction op for a Queenswomen team pinned down by cartel gunfire after executing a group of high - value SAS defectors.
Ray called it.....'boring'
There was no challenge, no chaos, no true test of his dark - stained and cracked soul. Just in, out, and done. A glorified taxi ride with blood on the windshield.
But, this time, his second.....it was different.
Queen Charlotte Victoria III had briefed him personally. Manila, a known hub of drug and sex trafficking.
The Matriarch's one of top lieutenants was hiding there under layers of bribed officials, fake identities, and child corpses buried in mass graves.
His name was Lucian Vega. Former honest politician of England, turned and corrupted by the Matriach's undeniable and strong influence.
Ray was linked with three Queenswomen for the mission....
Karma, a woman with a calm grace, her tall, willowy frame wrapped in a sleek, jet - black tactical suit. Her long, obsidian hair was tied into a sharp braid that reached her lower back, and a scar sliced diagonally across her left brow - a souvenir from her brutal and and dark past in Hong Kong's underworld. Her dark but piercing eyes, unreadable and cold, gave her an almost ghostly aura, as if she'd already seen too many lives fade away.
Dragoness, in contrast, radiated power. Shorter but more muscular, she had broad shoulders and a stance that spoke of dominance. Her hair was dyed crimson and styled into a messy undercut, revealing a dragon tattoo coiled around the side of her neck and Chinese symbols that signified and gave respect to her small village in China. Her dark brown eyes shimmered with danger and confidence. Her movements were blunt and aggressive - unlike Karma's precision, Dragoness fought like a warhammer, and she enjoyed it.
And there, Izanami....the Queenswoman that was the center of envy and jealous because of her cat-like, purely feminine, alluring, and bewitching beauty. Combined with a body of goddess warrior, muscly and all fit.
Tondo district, located in Manila City, Phillippines
August 8th, 2021
10:15 PM 29° Celcius/84.2° Fahrenheit
The air in Manila was hot, heavy, and unforgiving. Even in the dead of the night,the scent of diesel, salt, and rot clung to the streets like an unshakeable memory. A steady drizzel tapped against the corrugated rooftops of the city's decaying outskirts. The road were silent - eerily so. As if the world itself knew something violent was coming.
Ray adjusted the strap of his rifle, stepping out from the unmarked black van. He was calm, unreadable. Eyes dark and cold. There was no need for a pep talk. No need for a pre-mission jitters. The Queenswomen already knew what to do. He just followed.
The insertion was clean. They came in through shipping crates packed with false-bottoms and weapons, smuggled by allied smugglers who knew better than to ask questions. Cause they were getting paid.
Rain danced over their gear as they moved through the alleyways, shadows in formation.
"Check your corners. Entry in ten." Izanami said.
Ray nodded silently.
Karma cracked her knuckles. "Hope this one squeals."
Dragoness chuckled. "Hope the boy can keep up."
Ray didn't respond. He didn't to.
Minutes later, they have arrived at the lieutenant's compound. Hidden and well - guarded.
"We're here. Eyes open." Izanami announced, checking her daggers and silencer.
Ray nodded. "Always are."
Dragoness scoffed. "Still got blood in your eyes, new boy?"
"Better than piss." He said, looked at her with that emotionless stare of his.
"Feisty." Karma smirked.
But there was no time for banter. Vega's safehouse was in front of them, guarded by low - level thugs and dirty ex-military. The Queenswomen moved like poetry in motion - lethal, coordinated, flawless. Ray followed, silent as the grave, his mind already drifiting into war-mode.
They breached the compound...
Two guards at the front gate, executed.
One sniper on the roof, silenced.
Four inside the main floor, finished.
They finished the compound within ten minutes. They stabbed, shot, crushed their way through. Their movements brutal but elegant. No wasted energy, no second thoughts.
Blood stained the concrete..
Screams echoed once...
And then were silenced.
The moment they reached the basement - he felf it. The rot, the stench of something old, corrupt and predatory.
And then there he was...Lucien Vega.
Unarmed, grinning. His teeth gold, his fingers trembling, not from fear, but from excitement.
"Well, well..." He purred.
"The Queen sent her lapdog..." Then he noticed Ray.
"What's this? A boy among wolves?" He teased, still grinning.
Ray stepped forward, but Dragoness grabbed his shoulder.
"Alive. Queen's order. We bag him, not burn him." She reminded him.
Ray sighed. He couldn't do nothing. It was a damn order.
But....
Ray then suddenly punched Vega in an instant.
'Ka-pow!'
Vega was slumped to the ground, still grinning at all.
"Goddammit, greenie...." Izanami reacted in surprise, didn't expect the punch from Ray, even Karma.
"Damn, he's fast." Karma smirked.
"I like this one." Dragoness chuckled, arms crossed.
Izanama heaved a heavy sigh. "Let's get this done."
Instead of cursing Ray for punching him, Vega just laughed like a maniac on the ground.
Then, they tied him. Zip tied, gagged, and bleeding from his broken nose, Vega still smiled. He looked at Ray like a predator looking at another predator in a mirror.