At his words, Joan's eyes sharpened.
"It looks like they came to you," PK noted. "How fortunate."
"Well, doesn't that make everything easier," Joan smirked.
Right when Damien thought he'd been freed from the Black Lion's jaws, Joan picked him up by his collar. She slammed her forehead against his and asking, "Where's your leader?"
Damien smirked through the throbbing pain in his forehead. "Why should I tell you?" Despite the pain and fear, his dark-green eyes held an impish glint.
Joan wrapped a cold hand around Damien's neck. He shivered at her frigid touch, and like everything else about her, it was ice cold.
"Where is he?" Joan repeated.
"Fuck, like I'd tell you," Damien spat.
"So you still have enough energy to talk back, huh? Let's see how long you can last then." Joan's domineering glare sent chills running down Damien's back.
Her grip constricted around his throat, like a viper suffocating their prey to death. She squeezed the sides of his neck, restricting blood circulation to Damien's brain.
Damien's world took on a light-headed spin, and his vision was dangerously blurred. His face turned a tomato red that now showed through his black mask.
"Where?" Joan insisted.
"Why do you want to know so bad?" Damien wheezed out. He was genuinely curious as to why the Black Tiger was interested in him.
He meekly grappled at the hand around his throat and collar. But no matter how much he clawed at her, her grip never loosened. Instead, her grasp around his neck continued to contract by the second. Damien was worried he'd pass out before he could answer her questions.
Joan stared indifferently at Damien. Damien stared back at her.
Damien couldn't shake the feeling that he was talking to a brick wall. She was so emotionless that it was impossible to get a read on her.
"I have business with him," Joan said.
The only inclination of any emotion Damien could perceive from Joan was from her eyes. The bloodlust freezing over her irises made Damien bite his tongue to surprise the shiver that threatened to wreck his body.
"He's-He's… Amarya knows where he is. She was well-acquainted with him," Damien fibbed. The lie slipped right out of his mouth. Cold sweat dripped down his forehead as he wondered whether she'd caught on.
Fortunately for him, it didn't seem like she had.
Although suspicious, Joan released her vice grip on his neck. Was Amarya once part of the Eagles? No matter how hard she thought about it, she couldn't imagine that innocent girl involved with such a violent group of people.
Damien took advantage of Joan's daze and utilized the situation to turn on his heel and run.
"Aren't you going to go after him?" PK asked.
Joan watched his retreating figure. "No, class is going to start soon." She spun on her heel and returned to the school building.
PK stared at her, baffled. "Huh? Since when did you care? Hey! Don't ignore me!"
PK scurried after Joan's figure, relentlessly questioning her decisions. But Joan didn't respond to any of his persisting questions. Instead, she silently returned to class, brooding over the boy's words.
He'd repeatedly brought up Amarya, and Joan couldn't tell whether he was lying about her involvement with the Eagles or not.
By the time she slammed open the sliding door, Amarya had returned to her classroom, and Navier, Viktor, Pablo, and Turner had returned to their respective seats. The bell had already run, and Joan was running late to class.
The teacher sent her a dirty glare.
"Ms. Oaks, you're late. Care to explain why?"
"No, thank you," Joan promptly replied, ignoring the teacher's horrified expression.
"Ms. Oaks, please check your attitude!" The teacher said. Her snake-like eyes glared ferociously at Joan. But when Joan returned a glare equally as ferocious as her own, the teacher had no choice but to turn away.
Navier sent Joan a confused look when she entered the room.
"Rem, Rem, Rem! Where'd you go? You were gone for so long. Is everything all right?" he whisper-yelled.
"Bathroom," Joan answered promptly as she settled herself into her chair.
Navier looked at her suspiciously but accepted her answer nonetheless.
His eyes lit up as he suddenly remember he had something to tell her. "Rem, want to go to the arcade? Amarya is coming, too!" he said excitedly.
Joan narrowed her eyes. Amarya… she still didn't know how to feel about the girl. But at the very least, Joan knew that she didn't want her hanging around Navier.
She feared that Amarya, who was possibly involved with the Eagles, would poorly influence Navier.
Despite her unease, Joan replied, "Sure," with a soft nod.
***
Meanwhile, Damien had quickly returned to Williams High School and was no squatting behind the school talking to Luka, his right-hand man.
Damien held a cigarette between his thumb and forefinger. With a trembling hand, he raised the stick of tobacco to his mouth and inhaled.
He relished in the feeling of the smoke filling his lungs. He breathed out, allowing a cloud of smoke to bloom before him. He stared at the expanding cloud, entranced.
Damien shook his head, missing the days where Amarya used to smoke with him. Her small figure used to squat beside him.
Her innocent face was entirely ruined by the stick of death she inhaled.
Damien uselessly shook her face from his memory.
"Luka, I ran into the Black Lion."
Luka, whose cigarette was brushing against his lips, pulled away the cigarette to ask, "Was she hot?" He had an impish grin on his face and was most definitely up to no good. "Think we can reel her in?"
"Hell, no. She's got a stick up her ass all the time." Damien spitefully shook his head.
"C'mon man, hot or not. The Black Lion would be useful."
"We have enough manpower."
"More never hurt," Luka insisted. "And who knows? Maybe Amarya can fix her up."
Damien's face soured at the mention of his ex-girlfriend. "Amarya's not coming back."
Luka sarcastically laughed. "Very funny, Damien."
Damien puffed out another mouthful of smoke. "I'm serious."
Luka's face fell as he saw Damien's gloomy face. "What, why? Why would she-"
"I don't know," Damien interjected. "I went to visit her at M High School, but I ran into the fucking Black Lion instead." Damien ran a hand, threw his brown hair, tousling it in all directions. With his tousled hair and enticing green eyes, he was the epitome of bad boys every girl dreamed of. "What a shitty day."
"Doesn't she like to play Mortal Strike?" Luka suddenly asked.
"What are you talking about?"
"You need to be at an arcade to play the game. Why don't you check out the arcade near M High School?"
Damien's eyes lit up in realization, and a crazed grin spread across his face. The light reflected off his sharpened canines in the dark, casting a nightmarish shadow over his features. "Good idea."