My Infinite Investment System

Chapter 23: Repossession II

"The boss dies before anyone discusses ownership," Ryan said while levelling his spear between the plated jaws and six armed collectors, "every camera stays active, the exit opens now, and anyone attacking through my formation joins the incident."

Rather than open the route, the repo leader pulled his squad behind its controls.

Seven-B remained between six collectors and a drainage beast built to crush everything the tunnel could hold.

"We will recover intact equipment after the dungeon resolves the resistance problem," the repo leader said while he kept his collection staff across the retreat line.

"Your camera recorded that choice," Ryan replied as he turned his body camera toward the controls.

Nia widened her shield across both recruits while the creature tore free of the chamber.

Four plated legs emerged beneath a low dragging body, plus a throat core protected whenever its jaws closed.

Mika moved to its blind side without spending her Step.

Controlled current struck the rear hinge before the first charge could carry through Seven-B’s center.

"Archer, watch her exit, melee holds my shield edge," Nia said as she turned the impact into the wall, "Ryan gets the mouth after it commits."

The formation held while the repo leader drove his staff through the archer’s firing lane.

The boss recovered behind the interference and turned its jaws toward Nia.

Ryan caught the staff on his spear while the reinforced pressure fed the value already accrued through the fight.

[Accrued Return: 31 -> 44]

[Risk Transfer Liability: 46]

"Continued obstruction increases collection costs," the leader said as he forced the crossed weapons toward Ryan’s injured side.

"Invoice the boss," Ryan replied with his ribs behind the shaft.

"That is not a recognised billing party," the leader said, leaning harder into the crossed weapons.

"Then unseal the route and I will find you one," Ryan said.

The leader used the route controls to narrow Seven-B’s escape lane.

He left only enough space for collectors to withdraw if the creature broke Nia’s shield.

His squad understood the arrangement and stopped contesting the boss directly, so reinforcement remained for whichever injured hunters survived the charge.

Ryan angled his body camera toward the controls and recorded the selective release beside every safety claim printed across their authorisation.

The creature charged before the collector could answer, forcing Nia backward across the wet stone.

Nia moved two steps backward while the melee recruit abandoned a clean strike to keep her injured side covered.

One collector tried pulling her away by the leased shoulder plate, giving the archer a legal target with no safe angle past her teammate.

"Lane is dirty," the archer called, dropping her aim without being told, "taking the cable instead."

"Copy," the melee recruit answered, releasing the collector she had already lined up.

The archer lowered the bow before firing through the crowded formation.

She caught the collector’s cable around one limb, then anchored it to the drainage rail rather than firing through the formation.

The melee recruit saw the restraint and released her own target.

Both hooks struck the boss plate while she trusted the evidence to handle the collector behind her.

That choice cost an easy retaliation, though it restored enough formation width for Nia to recover the step taken by the charge.

Their choice held both recruits in position long enough for Mika to crack the rear hinge.

The boss twisted its protected throat toward Ryan after the rear hinge broke.

Before he could take the opening, the repo leader struck.

Risk Transfer caught the staff beneath Ryan’s ribs and charged its delayed fracture into a balance that tightened his left hand.

[Immediate Trauma Deferred: 31 Units]

[Deferred Liability: 46 -> 77]

[Early Collection Effect: Left-Grip Reduction 18%]

Ryan kept the spear extended with his right hand while his left became an unreliable guide.

Surprise reached the collector who had landed two D-rank hits without putting him down.

"Your skill is temporary," the man said, reading the weakness in Ryan’s grip, "mine has a recovery feed."

"Then we both have a deadline," Ryan replied, moving his weight onto the hand that still worked.

Combat Valuation followed the collection staff into a cable running beneath his sleeve.

A compact recovery tool converted stored power into reinforcement after every committed swing.

[Target Dependency Identified]

[Recovery Feed Cycle: 4.2 Seconds]

[Failure Point: Wrist Coupling]

Another crawler pack entered through the prematurely opened chamber, adding bodies behind the boss while the repo squad continued guarding the exit.

"They are still using us as the clear team," Mika said over comms as she shifted toward the chamber, "I can spend Step on the core or their route control, not both."

"Take the core when Nia turns it," Ryan warned while he kept his right hand on the spear, "the exit belongs to me."

Ryan established Opening Position across the sealed route before the next staff swing.

Its center rested on the recovery tool rather than the leader carrying it.

The next staff swing crossed that line, adding nineteen stored units before his reduced grip started losing the bind.

[Opening Position Established]

[Accrued Return: 44 -> 63]

He reinvested forty into point acceleration, spending the gain before Risk Transfer could take more of his hand.

[Reinvest: Point Acceleration]

[Accrued Return: 63 -> 23]

[Duration: 11 Seconds]

The spear point left beneath the staff and reached the wrist coupling during its recovery cycle.

It punched through the tool before reinforcement returned to the staff.

Stored energy discharged across the leader’s collection armour and opened his hand while the broken staff struck the floor without D-rank pressure behind it.

Ryan drove him against the route controls and pinned the authorisation packet through its empty margin.

The papers fixed to the wall beside his shoulder under the route key.

"Your equipment has entered a high-risk environment," Ryan said with the route key in hand, "continued use may increase replacement liability."

"That is our language," the leader said from the wall, breathing hard around it.

"It reads better from this side," Ryan agreed, keeping the key.

The remaining collectors looked from their leader to six active cameras.

They lowered their weapons without volunteering another interpretation for the active cameras.

Behind Ryan, Nia caught the boss’s third charge with both recruits supporting her line.

The archer braced her upper shield while the melee recruit hooked the front plate downward.

The movement exposed the throat for less than one second.

Mika spent Lightning Step through the opening and drove both conductive batons into the core housing with one controlled burst.

[Emergency Step Budget: 1 -> 0]

[Boss Core Exposure: 62%]

[Accrued Return: 23 -> 51]

The core survived her strike but lost its outer plate.

Unstable mana opened behind the seam she had created near the throat.

Ryan released every stored field unit into one ordinary thrust, converting accumulated position plus pressure without pretending his injured hand could produce force it no longer held.

[Field Return Liquidated: 51]

[Accrued Return: 51 -> 0]

Gold crossed the black spear as its point entered Mika’s exposed seam.

The boss core broke, dropping the plated body between Seven-B and the collectors who expected both enemies to weaken each other.

The crawler pack lost coordination with the boss and stalled in the corridor.

With Nia keeping the disarmed collectors behind her shield, the recruits finished the remaining threats before the corridor could fill again.

[Dungeon Clear Verified]

[Hostile Repossession Reversed]

[Qualified Members Protected: 2]

[Return Credits Awarded: 240]

[Return Credit Balance: 0 -> 240]

Nobody claimed the repo equipment after the fight had ended.

Ryan placed every weapon plus recovery tool under recorded incident preservation, then named each item for registry custody before he unlocked the route for medics plus witnesses.

The archer read each serial into the evidence log while her partner photographed cable positions.

The founding recruits understood restraint could protect them better than revenge.

Nia required the collectors to confirm each sealed item on camera.

Their leader acknowledged that Seven-B preserved his equipment after Ryan broke the weapon, defeated the boss, and reversed the repossession.

Risk Transfer began collecting its deferred account as soon as outside air reached Ryan.

The delayed impact returned across his ribs, followed by fever plus enough motor loss to pull the spear from his hand before Nia caught it.

[Repayment Window Active]

[Deferred Liability: 77 -> 38]

[Outstanding Liability: 38]

Registry medics lowered Ryan onto a transport frame while every collector remained for questioning.

Their authorisations were seized beside the recovery vendor’s billing packet.

Nia opened that packet during evidence inventory, then stopped at invoices issued by three shell core clinics under the same procurement route, each invoice carrying a different name but the identical transfer code used by the club’s former guild.

"Ryan," Nia said, holding the packet completely still, "three clinics, three names, one transfer code."

Ryan recognised the vendor number before the pain allowed him to sit up.

Back at the club, the captured authorisation went onto the planning wall beside his stolen medical-procurement audit.

The numbers matched recovery funds his former guild had buried before firing him.