"Your mission," PK reminded her.
Joan snapped out of her brief moment of distraction. The mention of King had briefly entranced her, but she wasn't here for King. She was here for the mission.
Flushing out her memories of King, she charged towards Mad Dog, who pushed aside Black Dog to face her head-on.
Joan threw her first punch to Mad Dog, who easily leaned back to dodge. In response, Mad Dog's right fist approached Joan's cheek, and she ducked below his arm's trajectory.
As she stood back up, she kicked his leg and put some distance between them. She had sensed another presence approaching her from behind.
As she turned to look, Joan saw Jackal's fist coming to her face. She jumped back, her arms raised to her face in a defensive stance.
"Quick, aren't ya?" Jackal grinned.
She sensed another presence from behind her and assumed it was most likely Mad Dog. She spun to catch his roundhouse kick and firmly grasped his ankle. With his balance now thrown off, Joan raised her leg and aimed a front kick to his face.
Joan's foot connected with Mad Dog's arms, defensively raised to shield his face. The force of her kick made his torso bend back, but his leg was still caught in Joan's hand. With no way to regain his balance, he fell, his head slamming against the concrete pavement.
Bam!
Joan released his foot.
"Ugh," Mad Dog groaned while clutching his head in pain. His vision blurred, and an incoming headache rattled his skull. Pain and blood rushed his head, and he was left completely defenseless.
With Mad Dog done, Joan rushed past him to reach Navier, who was now standing up, furiously wiping at his tears. Gripping his wrist, she pulled him toward the school gate, ignoring Jackal's furious footsteps behind her.
Even though Joan's speed was unfathomable, she was currently being dragged down by Navier, who refused to run properly. She pushed through the crowd of students, ignoring Navier's gasps and the surprised yelps of students.
"Navier, come on! Can't you run a little faster?" Joan growled.
"I'm sorry, Rem," Navier wheezed out. "I can't… run… any faster." With great effort, he managed to finish his sentence, but his lungs were set aflame from the lack of oxygen. The flame spread to his legs, and under the gruesome pain, he could hardly lift move.
As Joan checked behind them, she saw Jackal and Black Dog rushing toward them. She assumed Mad Dog was still on the ground with his throbbing head. Jackal, who was surprisingly fast, was quickly approaching, and his footsteps became louder and louder.
Students who were leaving at the same time parted, making way for the infamous crew of hounds. However, while the crowd behind Joan parted to make way for Jackal, the crowd in front of her stubbornly refused to budge.
Cursing, Joan swept Navier off his feet, carrying him bridal style in her arms.
"What the?" Navier yelped.
"Move out of the way!" Joan shrieked, forcing her way through the crowd. Navier's swinging feet smacked students, and she used him as her shield to push through the crowd. She ignored the girls she pushed down and the boys who cursed at her. She trodded on feet and kicked strangers who refused to move.
But while Joan was fighting her way to the school gate, Jackal and Black Dog were rapidly approaching from behind her.
The school gate was so close yet so far, and Joan felt the pain of having food right in front of her but being unable to eat.
Frustrated, she decided to get a little more forceful with this stubborn crowd. Growling, she forced her way through at a near sprint. She knocked over short girls and chopped down boys, unforgivingly trampling over their legs.
After mowing down a sea of students, Joan finally escaped the gates of hell with Navier in her arms. The crowd had thinned, and she took a left, sprinting down the open streets.
[Mini-Mission 3 Complete]
[Reward: 50 Dollars Transferred to Bank]
Joan grinned.
Meanwhile, Jackal and Black Dog had lost track of her behind the sea of students.
"Fuck!" Jackal openly growled, making nearby students whimper and scuttle away in terror. Jackal and Black Dog weren't people they wanted to mess with. "How did she get so fucking far while carrying that brat?"
Black Dog caught up to Jackal, panting, "Shit, she's faster than I thought she'd be."
"Just who is Rem Oaks?" Jackal frowned. "I've never heard of her until today."
"Mad Dog thinks she's related to King," Black Dog noted. "But I've never heard of King training girls before. He'd never lay his hands on a chick."
Suddenly, Mad Dog appeared behind them, stumbling as he recovered from the impact to his head. "That's King's style, alright. You can't tell me otherwise." As he rubbed the back of his head, he cursed, "Shit! She might've given me a concussion."
"We need to talk to King," Jackal said. "That girl—she's gonna throw off the district hierarchy. M High School might be switching gangs."
***
"Thales King! Passage four!"
Thales snapped awake, consciousness returning to his groggy mind. Disoriented, he stood up, blinking his eyes to get rid of the sleep.
He picked up his workbook, squinting at the English words on the page. "Uhh. The… quack brown facts jumpy over the laze dog."
The teacher frowned, correcting his sentence. "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. Sit back down."
Obediently, Thales sat back down. He was tired and desperately wanted the last class of the day to be over. Suddenly, his phone buzzed in his pocket.
He peeked at the screen under the desk. It was a message from Mad Dog.
"King, do you know a girl named Rem Oaks?"
Slyly, Thales looked up at the board while discreetly tapping under his desk. "No, why?"
In their school district, Thales King, more commonly known as 'King', was the 'Jack' of his high school, J High School. Anyone who stood at the top of the school hierarchy was known as the Jack of the high school.
In the district, each high school had a ring leader whom fellow delinquents in the school looked up to. Local interschool gangs primarily made up of high school students sought after these leaders. The more school leaders a gang had, the more influential the gang was in the school district.
Some were merely clubs of sorts, gatherings for people who loved to fight. And some dabbled in illegal drug and arms trafficking. The business was a violent one but reaped great benefits for those at the top.
Each school's Jack was typically sought after by the four major gangs: the Dragons, Immortals, White Snakes, and Eagles. At the end of the day, only one gang was considered 'the most powerful', and for the past few years, the Immortals reigned over the school district.
When a Jack joined a gang, members of their high school typically followed suit. However, when a Jack was defeated, which rarely happened, control of the high school and its many delinquents were up for grabs.
Both M High School and J High School were associating with the White Snakes, one of the few gangs that didn't dabble in illegal activities.
"She fights like you," Mad Dog said. "And she's crazy strong. I can't handle her even with Black Dog and Jackal. She's already beaten up our junior guys. The White Snakes may lose M High School."
King's blood rang cold. The White Snakes losing control of M High School? M High School housed some pretty decent fighters. If a new Jack were to show up, people would likely switch gangs to avoid being targeted.
M High School would belong to another gang if this mystery girl belonged to another gang, which King assumed she did because he had never heard of her.
Even so, a girl ruling a high school was unheard of. Little to no girls involved themselves in gangs.
"Find more guys to help you out. If she beats y'all, everyone at M High School is gonna hop gangs," Thales King texted, nodding at the teacher's words, feigning attention.
"Ok."
Thales shoved his phone back into his pocket, brooding over who Rem could be. Did he know her? Had they gone to the same gym? But as he sifted through his memories, Rem Oaks was a name that never popped up.
Just who was the girl causing an uproar in M High School?