Joan's hands hovered just as she was about to knock on apartment 321. She gnawed at her lip and knitted her brows in worry. She shifted her weight from foot to foot, hesitant to set down her pride.
"What are you doing? Just knock," PK said.
"Hush, it's harder than it seems."
PK shook its head. "It's your fault if you lose the 1000 dollars."
At the mention of money, Joan bit her lower lip and solidified her resolve. After mustering up her courage, she rapped on the door three times.
Joan impatiently tapped her foot, waiting for the handle of the door to turn. After a few seconds, the handle turned and the door pulled back to reveal a middle-aged woman. Dark, heavy bags sagged beneath her eyes, and her graying hair was messily pulled back into a low bun.
"Hello," Joan nodded. "Is Isaac home?"
Using PK's access to government servers, she was able to find Isaac's address along with Viktor, Turner, and Pablo's.
The woman rubbed her dreary eyes. "Oh, yes." She turned around and called, "Isaac, your friend is here!"
Moments later, Isaac appeared at the doorway, and his mother retreated into the apartment. His dark hair was skewed in all directions, and he looked like he'd pulled a late night of streaming.
Nevertheless, after receiving Joan's help, his face's stress lines had disappeared, and he looked noticeably livelier.
"Rem!" Isaac grinned when he saw her. As always, her eyes were cold and hard.
"I need your help." Not to Isaac's surprise, she cut straight to the point. "Mad Dog kidnapped Navier."
"Huh?" The grin on Isaac's face turned into a confused expression.
Joan pulled out the letter she had received from her cargo pants' waistband and handed it to Isaac.
Isaac, who saw the letter appear from her pants, blushed madly as he received the message with both of his hands. Trembling, he gently opened the letter.
His beet red face alerted Joan, who frowned. "Are you sick?" She leaned forward, placing her palm on Isaac's forehead.
Her face was mere inches from Isaac's face, and he turned even redder than he was before. He quickly swatted away her hand, cleared his throat, and blurted, "I'm fine."
Nervously, Isaac read the letter, and as his eyes flickered over the words on the page, his frown deepened.
"If you say so." Joan shrugged her shoulders. "Anyway." Joan tapped on the letter. "When I went there, Mad Dog had an electron gun."
"An electron gun? You went there by yourself? That's dangerous!" Isaac yelled.
Joan's eyes widened to the size of saucers as she hastily covered Isaac's mouth with her hands. "What are you doing?" she hissed. "Do you want the whole world to know?"
Isaac resolutely shook his head, and Joan removed her hands from his mouth.
"Do you know how he could've gotten one?"
Isaac rubbed his chin, deep in thought. "The Eagles…" he mumbled.
"The Eagles?" Joan questioned.
"They're the only gang of the four that closely resembles a real gang. You know, drugs, weapons, and the like," Isaac said.
"And they have access to electron guns?"
"Well, it's more likely that they smuggled it in from a neighboring country."
Joan nodded. Quelm, a major arms producer, neighbored them. Plover was located near the border separating them and Quelm, which meant that it wouldn't be challenging to smuggle arms over the border.
These high school gangs were more dangerous than Joan had made them out to be.
"Even if they smuggled the gun across the border, why would they give it to Mad Dog? He's not in their gang, and he definitely can't pay 70k for one," Joan asked. "They must've made a deal."
"Joan," PK said. "The more time you spent chatting, the more likely Navier will be injured. For every injury, I'll be deducting 100 dollars."
Joan scowled. "Isaac, I can't beat him alone," she forced out.
As he stared into her eyes, Isaac understood what she was asking for. He grimly nodded and pulled his cell phone out. He held it up to his ear and said, "Meet at XXX."
***
"Viktor," Joan whispered.
Viktor, who had his back turned to her, whipped around. He tapped on Turner and Pablo's shoulder and rushed over.
"What exactly is going on?" Viktor asked.
They hadn't expected to receive a frantic call from Joan using Isaac's phone on a Saturday afternoon.
Joan slipped the letter out of her waistband once more and handed it to Viktor.
Viktor's cheeks reddened as he took the letter from her hands and read it. His eyes flickered across the page, and he angrily gritted his teeth.
"Mad Dog did this? That bastard," he growled. "He doesn't know when to stop."
Isaac shook his head. "He's always been crazy."
Isaac had called up 15 Immortals to help Joan. Currently, they were crouched by the side of the abandoned factory in the overgrown grass.
The blades swayed in the wind and tickled Joan's skin, who annoyedly swatted them away every few seconds.
Joan peered in through one of the factory's windows. Sure enough, Navier was still unconscious in his seat. Mad Dog, Jackal, Black Dog, and the boys they had assembled paced around him. They seemed to be discussing something, but Joan failed to hear their words.
She shook her head and crouched back down in defeat.
"Do you have a plan?" Isaac asked.
No, she had no idea what to do.
"Yes," Joan said. As she recalled where Mad Dog and Jackal were inside the building, she tried to think of something—anything. "Here's what we're going to do."
***
"She'll come back," Black Dog assured Mad Dog, who was nervously pacing back and forth.
"What if she brings the police?" Mad Dog chewed at his nails and frowned.
Jackal shook his head. "We'll drag her down with us. Who says she's innocent?"
Mad Dog breathed out a sigh of relief and nodded. "Good idea." He glanced at the unconscious Navier. His limp body set aflame a fit of wild anger in Mad Dog.
Furiously, Mad Dog sent his fist into Navier's face.
As his fist pummeled Navier's mask, Navier's head snapped backward as blood gushed out of his nose. The bright red trickled down his chin and dripped down, staining his clothes.
"Fuck, this is all your fault," Mad Dog growled as he wiped his bloodied fist on Mad Dog's grey shirt.
Suddenly, a bang still startled Mad Dog, and he whipped his head around to pinpoint the source. The factory's doors had been slammed open, and two figures stared in at the group.
Mad Dog's heart rate accelerated. "Who are you?" he asked.