Through his swollen eyes and blurred vision, Black Dog was still able to make out Jackal's flamboyant movements. The light that glinted off the metallic objects in Jackal's hand twisted Black Dog's intestines uncomfortably.
The glint of light reflecting off of Jackal's gun chilled Black Dog.
Black Dog followed the gun's aim, and his gaze settled onto Navier's peaceful face. Navier's features were relaxed, free from tension and stress lines. He was utterly oblivious to the gun being pointed his way.
Using the last bit of energy in his body, Black Dog lunged forward. Although his legs trembled dramatically, he still swept the legs of Navier's chair off the ground. His fingers latched around the chair's wooden legs, and he lifted the leg off the ground.
The chair teetered on its last leg before falling backward. The sound of wood and bone colliding against the ground echoed throughout the open space.
Bang!
Jackal fired a round, which sped past where Navier's head had once been. Instead, it collided with the pillar behind him with a painful ring.
A growl of annoyance erupted from Jackal's throat as he sent Black Dog a hostile glance. "What the hell, man?"
Black Dog weakly shook his head. In his heart, he had known his friends had gone too far. And he cared too much about them to let them become murderers.
He vehemently refused to believe that Mad Dog and Jackal were vermin who deserved to be confined to a 50 square-foot cell.
That action had drawn out the remaining energy in Black Dog's body. Exhaustion weighed him down from above as he pressed his cheek into the freezing floor. His lashes fluttered shut, and he let himself slip into unconsciousness.
Despite his friend's disapproval, Jackal pulled the pistol's hammer and focused his aim on Navier once more.
But before his finger could press the trigger, Joan flew into him. The two collapsed to the floor in a rolling heap.
Joan gripped the cold barrel and pointed it up at the ceiling as she wrestled with Jackal on the ground.
"What are you doing? Do you want to become a murderer because your shallow ego can't take the slightest abuse?" Joan growled as she yanked the gun out of his hand.
Annoyed, Jackal reached for the gun again, and his hand latched onto the trigger.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
He fired off multiple rounds, but all bounced uselessly off the ceiling.
"What would you know?" Jackal growled. "Stop getting involved in our business, and go back to the strip clubs or whatever wretched hole you crawled out of."
Joan shook her head, knowing that Jackal wouldn't give her the answers she desired. And if he wouldn't, she'd prefer he didn't talk.
She promptly shut him up with a knock to the head. His body went limp, and the grip around the gun loosened. Joan wrestled the weapon from his loose fingers and flung the weapon across the room.
The metal clanged against the floor and skid into a faraway corner. The two conscious White Snakes who had followed Mad Dog here shuddered when they realized their leaders were unconscious.
Under Joan's blistering gaze, their muscles tensed as their brains screamed at them to run. They trembled and promptly ran out of the factory. No one bothered to try and catch them.
Joan breathed a sigh of relief as she stepped over the unconscious White Snakes and to Navier.
His glasses were cracked and hung loosely off his face. Blood swelled his right eye to a saucer's size, and clotted blood oozed out of his nose.
Joan bent down and yanked off the ropes that bound him to the chair. Gently, she picked up his limp body bridal style and nodded, signaling it was their time to leave.
Pablo, who had occupied the other two White Snakes before the ran away, picked up Viktor with trembling legs. His face was beaten purple and blue. Meanwhile, Turner's face remained relatively untouched.
Joan raised her eyebrows as she took note of his trembling hands. Was this one of the 'strongest boys' in the ground? Joan could hardly believe it.
[Mini-Mission 5 Completed]
At the reminder, Joan grinned, revealing a neat row of teeth behind her pink lips.
Isaac turned to look at her and froze at the scenery. Her gentle smile was a complete contrast to her ordinarily cold and stern demeanor.
[-100 Dollars]
[-100 Dollars]
[-100 Dollars]
[-100 Dollars]
[-100 Dollars]
With each notification, the corners of Joan's lips continued to fall, eventually evolving into a dissatisfied frown.
[Reward: 500 Dollars Transferred to Bank.]
Her reward was halved!
"There are five visible injuries," PK shook its head.
A hideous expression overcame Joan's features, but PK scoffed.
"You look ugly," it snorted.
As Joan's expression descended into darkness, Isaac tensed up. Her fierce eyes could rip someone apart, and her iron grip on Navier's body looked like it'd leave bruises.
Just what was she so furious about?
Isaac averted his eyes. No, he'd prefer not to know. He followed the other Immortals out of the factory before Rem could have the chance to vent her anger out on him. After seeing her fight, the mere thought of her anger nearly stopped Isaac's heart.
He had to pray to God he didn't end up on her wrong side.
Joan's footsteps echoed behind him.
Isaac shivered, feeling as though a beast was hunting him down.
As Joan left the abandoned factory, she took one last look inside the five bodies splayed across the floor. Her gaze lingered over Black Dog's figure for a second before she slammed the door shut with her foot.
It echoed coldly throughout the silent factory.
***
Joan sat behind a table of the Internet cafe inside Boom Arcade. Unlike the slouched internet junkies beside her, her posture was upright and stern. She looked as if she was in the military instead of an Internet cafe.
Her mouse hovered over a thread on the school district forums.
For hours now, she had been sifting through the thousands of threads, looking for the gangs' slightest bit of information.
They weren't low-key, that was for sure. Flamboyance was second to nature to all gang members, regardless of which gang they pledged their loyalty to.
Lately, Mad Dog, Black Dog, and Jackal's withdrawal as the Jacks of M High School became widely known. However, a new Jack had yet to be realized. Hence, M High School was up in the air as for which gang the students belonged to.
A message from PK startled Joan.
[Mini-Mission 6]
Another mission? Joan sighed, "Give me a break."
[Unite the four gangs into a non-violent student union.]
[Reward: 2500 Dollars]
"Huh?" Joan read over the words several times to make sure she was reading it right. "What the hell is this? It has nothing to do with Navier."
PK crawled across her keyboard as it said, "At the end of the day, you are a government employee. I, as an extension of the government, have deemed the student gangs a threat to the harmonious student environment at schools. Therefore, this is your mission."
Flabbergasted, Joan swatted PK, but her hand passed through its mouse-like form as usual. Just how was she supposed to unit the four gangs? She was one person against four gangs filled with hundreds of high school students.
Joan groaned and rubbed her temples, unsure of where to even start with her next mission.