Chapter 378: Planning The Attack against the Golden Nugget: Who is Coming?

Finally, it was the day we were supposed to take the Golden Nugget Hotel, along the State Marina too. That part mattered almost as much as the hotel itself. The marina was packed with boats, and getting our hands on those would be a massive gain on its own. But more than that, the whole area sat in the right place. Too right to ignore. The Golden Nugget and the marina were both close to the Abscon Inlet, and that stretch of water was basically the gap separating Atlantic City and the Boardwalk from Callighan’s side, with Brigantine farther out.

If we took that ground, we’d be taking back the whole of Atlantic City in any way that mattered.

Of course, holding it would be another story. We’d need guards there day and night. Men posted at the hotel, others at the marina, people ready in case Callighan tried to claw his way back in. Still, it was worth it. More than worth it. It would stop his men from drifting too close to us whenever they felt like it.

It would cut off the easiest route they had into our side.

Sure, they could still reach Atlantic City if they really wanted to. The world wasn’t that simple. But they’d have to go the long way around, waste time, waste fuel, waste energy, and in a fight like this, that kind of inconvenience started mattering a lot.

That had always been Marlon’s plan.

The problem was, until now, he hadn’t had the room to make it happen. Too many losses. Too many dead. Too much time spent being forced to play defense while Callighan kept pressing wherever he could. But after I showed up and offered to help, something shifted in him. Maybe not because of me alone, but I think I helped push him over that line between thinking about doing it and finally deciding to move.

As for me, I had my own reasons too.

Yeah, I wanted the hotel secured. I wanted the marina. I wanted Callighan pushed back.

But that wasn’t all.

Zakthar was very likely still in the Golden Nugget somehow. Maybe hiding there. Maybe working from there. Maybe just using it as a nest for whatever insane thing he was building. Either way, I needed to get to him.

And beyond even that, taking the hotel would make something else easier.

Brigantine.

Once the time came to get Mei, Keith, Emily, and Tommy out of there, having control over the hotel and the marina would give me a much cleaner approach by boat. That mattered. More than anyone around me probably realized.

So yeah, this day mattered.

Or, more exactly, this night.

Marlon had called everyone to gather at the Boardwalk at midnight, which meant the real move would happen after that, past the point where one day ended and the next one started. Still, in my head, it was all the same thing. The day of the attack. The day things finally started moving.

And if we pulled it off, if we drove Callighan’s men out and took the Golden Nugget for ourselves, then I’d finally have a real path forward. A way to get Emily and Mei back without stumbling blind into it.

Once I had them back, then I could focus properly.

Then I could stand with Marlon and put everything into taking down Callighan.

And Gaspar too.

Especially Gaspar.

That thought stayed with me through most of the afternoon.

After helping out a bit around the Boardwalk, I left and headed to the Whitesun Hotel to meet up with my own group. We needed to talk before night fell. Nothing too grand, nothing pretending we could plan every detail of a fight like this, but enough that we all knew where we stood before we stepped into something bloody.

For that, we used my room on the sixth floor.

When I got there, pretty much everyone was already gathered.

Sydney, Rachel, Christopher, Cindy, Rebecca, Daisy.

And I had even called Ivy.

Seeing her again felt strange in a way I couldn’t fully place. Not bad. Just strange. It felt like a long time had passed since the last time I’d really looked at her, even if in truth it hadn’t been that long. The world had a way of stretching days into something bigger. She seemed fine, at least from what I could tell. Still aloof as ever, still carrying that detached way of standing there with her hands tucked into the pockets of her white lab coat like nothing around her ever fully managed to reach her.

Even like that, I was glad she came.

I wanted to make her understand, she was involved and she was part of our group. I regretted I didn’t do much for Mei, maybe why she felt outcast but I wasn’t going to do that mistake again and toward Ivy who seemed even more away from us.

The room felt crowded with everyone in it.

Everybody knew this wasn’t some random talk. The air had that tight feeling people got when they were waiting for the dangerous part to become real.

So I got straight to it.

"It’ll be me, Sydney, Rachel, Christopher, and Cindy going there," I said, repeating the plan again so nobody could pretend they’d heard it wrong.

I looked at each of them while I said it.

Rebecca and Daisy weren’t going obviously.

They couldn’t come into a fight like this. Not really. Daisy wasn’t built for that kind of direct combat, and Rebecca, even if she had learned how to shoot and had improved more than most people would in the same amount of time, was still too inexperienced for something this messy. A raid on the Golden Nugget wasn’t target practice. It wasn’t some clean shooting line where she could freeze and still be okay. If she came, somebody else would end up covering for her at the worst possible second.

And that could get people killed.

She understood that.

I could tell she did.

That didn’t make her any less frustrated.

Rebecca stood near the window with her arms folded so tightly it looked like she was trying to hold herself in place by force. Her face had that look she got when she knew something was true and hated it anyway. What made it worse was Rachel going too. Her sister. Her big sister. If Rachel stayed behind as well, Rebecca probably would’ve swallowed it easier. But that wasn’t the case, and now she had to stand there and accept that Rachel was heading into something dangerous while she stayed put.

Daisy looked uneasy too, though quieter about it. That was more her way. She didn’t push back as openly, but the worry was there all the same, written clearly enough in her face whenever her eyes drifted toward the people who were going.

"This isn’t going to be clean," I said. "You all know that already, but I’m saying it again anyway. Once we start, there’s no pretending we can control every part of it. We go in, we push hard, and we take the hotel before Callighan’s men can lock it down or maybe reinforcements arrive at time."

"Don’t worry about it, Ryan. We’ll take it down fast before they even understand what’s happening to them," Sydney said first, dropping onto the bed with a smug little grin like she was already halfway through the raid in her head and had decided we won.

Cindy let out a breath and shook her head. "You’re overconfident as always."

"Confidence is exactly what we need before a night raid," Sydney shot back, leaning on one hand like this was all obvious.

Christopher gave her a stern look. "Confidence, sure. But you’re arrogant, and that gets people killed."

Sydney clicked her tongue. "Hello? I’ve got a powerful Symbiote ability inside me. Bullets don’t exactly work on me."

Rachel winced at that. "I really don’t think it works that way."

Rebecca rolled her eyes from near the wall. "A bullet in the head kills you whether you’re a freak or not."

Cindy smirked at that and folded her arms. "You hear that, Sydney?"

Sydney only shrugged, shameless. "I’m Flashwoman. No bullet’s catching me anyway."

I cut in before the whole thing kept spiraling into the same argument in a different shape.

"You don’t have an unlimited amount of Symbiote energy," I said, looking at Sydney first, then at Cindy and Rachel too. "None of us do. Your stamina drops, your output drops, and then you’re just another target. So use it carefully."

Sydney looked like she wanted to protest, but she let me continue.

I turned toward Cindy. "Especially you. Your radar drains you too much. Don’t push it more than you need to. Stay close to Christopher."

Cindy gave me a small smile, calmer than Sydney by a mile. "I know. Don’t worry. I’ve gotten better at it."

That was true. She had. Still not enough for me to stop worrying, but enough that I nodded instead of pushing harder.

Then I looked at Rachel.

"And you most of all, Rachel," I said. "Your ability matters too much to waste. Don’t overdo it."

Rachel’s power was the kind you built a whole survival plan around. She could raise barriers strong enough to stop bullets, stop impact, stop panic from turning into bodies on the floor. In a fight like the one we were heading toward, that kind of protection could decide the whole thing.

She nodded once, serious as ever. "I know."

I let out a slow breath and looked around at all of them again.

"We’ll go over the final details tonight with Marlon and his people. But for now, all of us need to stay sharp. It’s only the five of us going in from our side, and once we start, danger’s going to be everywhere." I paused there, my hands curling tighter for a second. "I’m not going to lie and say everything will go fine. It might not. People could die. I just..."

The words stalled out on me.

Not because I didn’t know what I meant, but because saying it too plainly made it feel closer. More real. And it already felt real enough.

Christopher stepped up and patted my shoulder.

"Come on, man," he said. "We’re not kids."

That nearly made me laugh, considering half the room looked young enough to be underestimated by anyone older than thirty.

But he kept going, steady and easy in the way he had when he wanted to stop people from getting buried under their own thoughts.

"We all agreed to this," he said. "We know what’s ahead, and we’re still going. That’s the whole point." Then he gave me a quick grin. "We’ve got to get Mei back, right?"

That loosened something in me.

"Yeah," I said, and this time I managed a smile back.

"And Ryan’s first girlfriend too," Sydney added from the bed, way too pleased with herself.

I turned toward her. "What girlfriend?"

Rebecca blinked. "Wait. What?"

Daisy looked just as confused.

"Isn’t Emily just his classmate?" Rebecca asked, staring at me now.

"Yeah," I said dryly. "A classmate."

Sydney lifted a brow. "A classmate Ryan had a massive crush on."

Both Rebecca and Daisy looked at me again, this time more directly, both of them waiting for an answer.

I could’ve denied it.

Wouldn’t have worked.

So I just exhaled and told the truth. "Yeah. I liked her. And she was with me when the outbreak started." I shrugged once, though the motion felt heavier than it should have. "So yeah, I care about her. That’s part of why I want to get her out of that mess."

Rebecca’s face shifted a little at that, less confused now, more understanding.

Daisy just blinked and gave the smallest nod like the whole thing had suddenly clicked into place for her.

Rachel clapped her hands once, firm enough to pull the room back on track before Sydney started enjoying herself too much.

"We’ll get them back," she said. "But later. Tonight comes first."

That got everyone’s attention again.

"So for now," she went on, "eat properly, get your head clear, and rest while you still can. We’ll need all of that more than nervous pacing." Then she gave us all a small smile. "And it’ll go well. I believe that."

Sydney leaned back on her palms and tilted her head. "You hear the big sister?" She said, looking toward Rebecca and Daisy. "Time for you two to babysit Kunta and let the grown-ups handle the dirty work."

Rebecca groaned instantly. "Fuck off, Sydney."

Then she pushed away from the wall and walked out before Sydney could make it worse.

Daisy lingered a second longer, clearly not thrilled by any of it but too polite to throw anything back properly.

"Um... good luck," she said, voice small and rushed.

Then she slipped out after Rebecca.

Christopher watched the door close behind them and shook his head. "The number of people who hate Sydney grows every day. That’s almost impressive."

Sydney pressed a hand to her chest and fluttered her lashes with fake modesty. "Stop. You’re making me blush."

"You’re not capable of shame, let alone blushing," Cindy muttered.

That got a quiet laugh out of me.

Anyway.

I turned toward Ivy.

She had stayed silent the whole time, standing a little apart from the others with her hands in the pockets of that white lab coat of hers.

"Ivy," I said. "Anything to add?"

The room quieted again.

Everyone looked at her.

Ivy lifted her eyes toward me.

For a second, her face gave nothing away. Then she said, in that calm voice of hers, "I’m coming too."

I stared at her.

"What?"

"I’m coming too," she repeated.

For a moment I honestly thought I’d misheard her the first time.

"Wait, Ivy..." I started.

But before I could finish, someone else appeared in the doorway.

Lucy.

She stepped into the room without hesitation.

"I’m coming too," she said.