Max's car sped down the streets of Riftmoor, swerving in and out of traffic like a madman. He quickly reached a relatively large building and pulled into it's underground, private parking lot. Inside was only a handful of expensive cars that were spread out.
Once inside, he slammed on his breaks launching everyone inside forward.
"Max?! What the hell is wrong with you?!" Cliff yelled when his seatbelt nearly choked him out.
Max didn't say a word and he stepped out of the car; Leo quickly followed after him when he saw his face.
"Max, calm down!" Leo urged.
Max ignored him and went to his trunk. He popped it open and immediately clocked the person inside in the face. Then he promptly pulled out Freddie who was bleeding from the nose now. Max held him by his shirt's collar and dragged him further into the building.
Seeing this Leo quickly grabbed Faust and, along with Cliff, they followed after him. They reached an elevator that would take them further into the building. They all got inside, and Max had his hand tightly secured on Freddie's shoulder as Freddie knelt on the ground.
Max clicked a button and they quickly started ascending higher into the building. They reached a floor, and the elevator doors open, revealing a dark and empty space. It seemed like this part of the building was under construction.
"Grab a chair Mathias." Max said without looking.
"I'm a little preoccupied with carrying someone."
"Then Cliff, go grab two chairs." Max said, again, without looking.
Cliff sighed slightly but searched for some chairs. Eventually he found two and brought them over. He placed them down and Max practically threw Freddie into one.
"The other one is for your friend."
With that, Leo placed Faust onto the chair. He seemed to be in a bit of a shock and his eyes were exceedingly tired.
"Get some rest." Leo told Faust, his arm on patting Faust's shoulder. Faust just slightly nodded and closed his eyes.
Max stared at Freddie who had his mouth shut. Max walked away for a moment and came back to tie him to the chair with some rope. The entire time he was being tied up, Freddie didn't utter a word. After he was tied up, Max left once more.
In the time he was gone, Faust had fallen asleep. Leo and Cliff both waited around without knowing what was about to happen. But they of course had a very clear idea.
A few moments later and Max came back carrying a sledgehammer. Freddie's eyes widened and both Leo and Cliff made slightly disturbed faces. Freddie looked over to the two with pleading eyes, but they ignored him.
Without a single word being uttered, Max lifted the sledgehammer and brought it down on Freddie's left knee. It shattered instantly and Freddie's entire body clenched in pain.
"AH! What the fuck is wrong with you?! Aren't you supposed to ask a question first?!"
"Be quiet."
Max quickly raised the hammer and repeated the action, except this time he dropped it on Freddie's right knee.
"You son of a bitch! I'll fucking kill you, Max!" Freddie shouted as he writhed in the chair, his eyes tearing up.
"Who told you to rob the café?" Max leaned in towards Freddie.
"Fucking nobody! We did that shit just because!" Freddie spit in Max's face.
Max nonchalantly wiped it off and walked behind Freddie. He leaned down and took off the golden rings on Freddie's hands. Max then walked back to his front as he put the rings on.
They didn't fit his hands that well, but Max didn't care. Max made a fist with all the rings on one hand and struck Freddie's face. Instantly it started bleeding in multiple places though small cuts, his skin rapidly became purple.
"Were you involved with that fucking doll?"
"Go to hell…" Freddie muttered, his voice raspy.
Max took a step back and looked at Cliff. "Do you know why that man is here?"
Freddie was silent.
"It's so that he can put you back together when I break you."
"That's a little grim, isn't it Max?" A man said as the elevator doors opened. Roderick, the leader of the Wolves stepped out and started walking towards the group.
He sighed slightly and said, "Look, Fredrick, you tell him the truth, and I'll let you go with just the broken legs. If you don't, well, you've seen mafia movies before."
Freddie looked towards the ground for a bit as he debated the consequences of his decision. Eventually he looked up and spoke, his voice shuddered slightly as he did so, "Look, I didn't blow up your fucking store or whatever. Alright? Me and Tony only robbed it. We got paid by the Eagles to do it."
Leo frowned and was trying to connect the dots between Avery Jr, the Eagles, and the Dolls. His eyes narrowed slightly as he came to an understanding. The dolls are either angels or human sorcerers, and they are the one's backing the Eagles. But Leo kept his mouth shut on the manner.
"So, who blew up the store? Who were those doll people?"
"How tha' fuck should I know?"
"…" Silence descended upon the room.
"If I may cut this meeting a little short. Max, I need you to do something. It's also nice to see you again Mathias, you can help him to." Roderick was the one who broke the silence first. "I'll get someone to take you out Freddie. Cliff, you can head home."
Cliff immediately turned and left, as he got into the elevator Leo heard him mutter, "Thank the gods…"
"How have you been Mathias?" Roderick said with his hands clasped behind his back. He was an older man who seemed average in every way. Maybe, in that sense, he was fairly unique.
"Mmm." Leo grunted slightly in response.
"I'll of course pay you to help Max."
"It's fine, I'll help him anyway."
"Alight, suit yourself. You and Max need to head to Schloss Adler. If you remember Mathias, it's the Eagle's nightclub and offices."
"Yes, yes, I know."
"Well, I need you and Max to escort a messenger to Montague. Of course, I don't expect things to go smoothly."
"With all of this shit going on in the city with the Eagles, you want to send Max?"
"He's reliable."
"Is that something a father would say?"
"I see you still dislike me, Mathias."
"No shit, dickhead."
"Hmmm. Anyway, you're reliable too." Despite the harsh language directed towards him, Roderick's expression didn't change, nor did he do anything to Leo.
The conversation continued on and Max and Leo were given a fresh set of clothes. Then someone finally arrived from the elevator. It was a large individual and they walked through the group and stood before Freddie.
"Sir, this guy?"
"Yes." Roderick replied.
The man took out a knife and cut through Freddie's binds. Then he slung Freddie over his shoulder and left the room through the elevator.
On the way down the two were completely silent.
Through the lobby, the two were completely silent.
Stepping outside, the two were completely silent.
It wasn't until they reached an alley with a car idling, that the man spoke up. "Hey, whatever your name is, it's time to go to the hospital."
Seeing the car, Freddie was relieved for the first time in hours. His heart ached a little less for a moment. But it was just for a moment.
The man set Freddie on the wet concrete and got into the car. He quickly stepped on the ignition and ran over Freddie's feet.
As Freddie wallowed in pain, the man stopped the car and spoke cruelly, "Now crawl. That's your reward." With that, the man drove away in the car leaving Freddie alone.
Freddie after a few minutes, finally started crawling out of the alley until he saw a few figures standing at its entrance in suits.
They walked towards Freddie before coming to a stop.
"What the hell could you guys possibly want from me now?!" Freddie cried out.
A slightly bloody and very pissed off John Doe ignored his pleas and grabbed Freddie by his hair and started dragging him away.
Max and Leo sat alone in the muscle car as he drove it through the city at a slow pace. It was around noon now and they were heading towards a nightclub at the opposite side of the city. The nightclub goes by the name Schloss Adler, and it was the base of the Eagles operations.
Everybody knows it's a crime syndicate, but the city is corrupt on every level, so it doesn't matter. The chances of them being raided it slim to none.
Currently the two were heading over to bring someone to talk with their leader Montague. If all went well, all they'd have to do is enter the nightclub where Montague usually stays on the upper floor of. Its also possible he'd be in his office at the top of the building, but either way they were expected so they should get free passage.
"Hey." Max suddenly spoke.
"Yeah?"
"Sorry about losing my cool back there."
"It's fine, I don't care." Leo shrugged indifferently.
"No, I mean it. I'm sorry, I got caught up in the moment, and I went a bit off the rails."
"I've seen worse, you're fine, really."
"Hmm. Alright… Well, since it's gonna be a bit until we get there, mind finishing what happened yesterday."
"Finish? I think you're underestimating what happened yesterday. That's not something that's gonna be finished in a single car ride." Leo chuckled a bit.
"Well, either way, just tell me. I'm interested."
"Alright, if you insist. Where'd I leave off at?"
"You got to yesterday and were watching the scientist and accountant before going to your old house."
"Okay, well…"
Not much was found out that morning and afternoon about the scientist and accountant. Both left for work early, they both didn't do anything out of the ordinary as far as Leo and his squad could tell. In the midafternoon, the accountant did step outside for a brief smoke break, but that didn't last for long.
Not that long after, the group decided to follow Leo to his old home to get some gear. It was pretty far away so they hailed a taxi, and all bundled up together. Andrew, Faust, and Luke all sat in the back; Faust sat in the middle because he was the smallest of the three.
"You know, it makes me wonder why they didn't get us a car." Faust said with annoyed eyes.
"You saw the stuff they gave us right, if they couldn't even get you anything useful, how would they get a car for us?" Luke replied with his eyes closed, letting them rest a bit.
"That's true, but I still wonder why they could barely get anything." Andrew said.
The group was fairly ambiguous since the taxi driver was right next to them, but he wouldn't have cared either way.
"It's just a test." Leo, who was next to the driver said. "This city is so corrupt they could've given us everything we needed. But since we're in an advanced placement test, they're restraining us a bit."
"…Yeah, that makes sense. This city does suck." Faust mumbled a bit.
A while later, the taxi came to a stop and Andrew paid the fare. The group looked around and noticed a couple of large buildings and a little shop.
"So, you lived around here?" Luke asked.
"We'll have to walk a bit, but I wanted to try out this café." It wasn't Max's café, but the coffee shop that John tackled Leo outside of a year ago. "But I guess it closed down."
It was now a record store from the looks of it, so the group continued walking for a bit. The roads got more and more worn as they walked and the buildings sparser and more disheveled. At one point Andrew tripped in a pothole and scrapped his hands on the concrete.
Due to the rain the pothole was also filled his water, so his shoe was now soaking wet as well.
Eventually, the four made it to a large but dingey warehouse. The three looked at each other and Leo, but Leo was walking in the front, so he didn't notice. They hesitated to say something but decided to remain silent in the end.
Leo opened the one of the doors to the inside and walked in. Inside there wasn't a single soul visible. The already decrepit shacks that were made by Leo's neighbors were all falling apart slowly, torn down by time.
Andrew, Faust, and Luke remained deadly silent. Leo stopped moving and looked at the makeshift houses now in shambles. Since his back was turned to them, the three others didn't get a clear look at his face.
A few moments later Leo started walking along a path that he seemed familiar with, easily walking along the uneven floors. The others lagged behind a bit, especially Andrew who was trying not to repeat the pothole incident.
They all made it to a side room built into the warehouse. The others quickly recognized it to be a locker room. They all made their way inside and they quickly noticed the room seemed a bit ransacked.
There were paintings like from their dorm, but they were all slightly torn, and all carelessly thrown into a corner. There were books all over the floor, opened to random pages, with torn pages littering the ground as well.
Leo didn't seem to be too disturbed by the sight and he climbed onto a locker. Much like a year ago, he lifted one of the more pristine tiles and pulled something out. It was a backpack filled with stuff.
Leo took it down and hopped off of the locker.
"Sooo… This is where you used to live." Andrew asked hesitantly.
"Yep." Leo said without looking at him, instead he was inspecting the bag, seeing if it was moldy or anything.
The room went silent, and Leo unzipped the bag. He pulled out a two large soft-shell zipper cases. Both had some tape on them with a single word on each, one said 'locks,' the other, 'safes.' He reached further in and pulled out a stun baton, a hammer, a knife, and a bag of zip ties. Reaching in, even further, he pulled out a black jacket, black heavy-duty gloves, and a black cloth facemask. On the backpack itself, was a crowbar that had seen plenty of use based on the scratched paint.
Leo started inspecting everything in detail, making sure the tools weren't rusting. For the most part everything seemed fine, so Leo packed everything back up.
Andrew, Faust, and Luke all stood staring at Leo in shock and confusion. Since Leo didn't say anything about it, neither did they. As Leo was trying on the jacket, they all realized they were a little afraid of Leo.
Leo frowned slightly as the jacket didn't fit as well as it used to, so he decided that before leaving for the scientist, he'd grab a new jacket from a thrift store.
After Leo put back his things and put on the backpack, the group started leaving. They reached the exit and Leo took one last look at his old home before quickly turning to leave.
As they left, Andrew hesitantly asked Leo, "So, if you don't mind me asking, what'd you use to do."
"Take a guess." Leo said plainly.
"A robber?"
"Hmm… Not quite. I broke into places owned by people I don't like."
"To do what?" Faust asked with a worried expression.
"Annoy them."
The group descended to silence as they walked to find a taxi. Around an hour later they were waiting around the security booth waiting for night to fall. Leo was already wearing his getup, but his mask was pulled down.
As they waited around, Andrew asked, "So, how are we going to do this?"
Leo responded promptly, "Well, the dip over there. It'd be hard to see anything there, and the scientist didn't seem bothered to really check it when pulling out. I thought we'd place, like, a cinder block or something in front of the car to make him stop. I think one of you should gag the guard once the scientist passed through the gate if he wakes up. Then I quickly pop his trunk and hop in."
"Well, what about the rest of us? What're we going to do while you're in the trunk."
"These phone thingy's have GPS stuff, right?"
"Yes…?" Luke answered, hesitating a bit.
"Well, I can send that to you guys, right?"
"Uh-huh…" Luke answered hesitantly once more.
"What, why are you talking like that." Leo asked.
In the month that they'd known Leo, whenever he had to use his phone, he was always confused about what to do. They felt like he was a grandparent or something.
"Well, do you know how to find that stuff and send it?"
"How hard can it be?"
"You, of all people, should know how hard it can be." Luke said with an incredulous face.
Andrew shook his head slightly with a sigh and walked over to Leo, giving him step-by-step instructions. Leo concentrated way more than was necessary, to a frightening degree, to learn the steps needed. Andrew asked Leo to repeat them, and Leo quickly failed.
"How?!" Leo shouted, his face contorting as if betrayed by his phone.
Andrew sighed, "You have to go here, not there." He navigated through different apps as Leo's face grew frustrated.
Leo, after nearly fifteen minutes of trying, finally sent Luke his location. Leo cheered a little, but Andrew still sighed as Leo had somehow managed to message the wrong person. He was instead supposed to message Andrew.
"Mathias. Wrong person." Andrew said with a sigh, instantly deflating Leo's happiness.
After a few more minutes, Leo finally got it down and could do it reliably.
"Wow, new record, it only took half an hour to teach Mathias how to do something on his phone." Luke said sarcastically.
Leo slightly reached towards the stun baton tied to his waist. Luke instantly backed up a bit and put his arms up in surrender.
"Humpf." Leo huffed and looked away.
Luke watched him with a flabbergasted expression.
"Sorry to interrupt, but how is this important." Max said, taking his eyes of the road for a moment.
"You'll see." Leo responded before continuing.
Eventually, the scientist finally walked out of the building. Leo lifted his mask and the others quickly got to work. Leo loitered around the security booth while Andrew climbed on top of it. He was in charge of knocking out or gagging the guard if they woke up. That was, because like yesterday, the guard was currently asleep on the job.
Luke was the one who was going to block the car from leaving the parking lot quickly. Rather than blocking the path with a cinder block, he decided to use his body as he couldn't bother find anything big enough.
And Faust got the easiest job, lookout. There wasn't much to be said about it, since he didn't have any way to discreetly alert his squad mates, he was there when he needed to alert everyone, all at once.
The scientist quickly got into his car with an annoyed expression and left his parking spot immediately. He drove over to the exit to find the guard asleep again. He, of course, missed the three men hiding from him.
The scientist hopped out of his car and walked to the booth, pressing a button, opening the gate. They then got back into the car, not noticing Andrew drop down and enter the security booth. He stood behind the guard primed to silence him, nonlethally of course.
The scientist then started driving forward when Luke appeared out of nowhere when going down the dip. Unable to stop his car in time, he hit Luke who rolled on the ground. The scientist rapidly got out of his car and checked on Luke who mumbled something and stood up, his body creaking all the way.
The security guard leaned forward slightly, and his eyes opened a bit. When he saw the outside world through his hazy eyes, he ignored it and went back to sleep.
The scientist made sure Luke was alright but also asked if they needed to swap insurance details or anything. The scientist's car wasn't damaged so he hoped that Luke was a little too dazed to realize that he could sue. Unfortunately, the scientist failed to realize there were worse things than getting sued in this situation.
Luke started wobbling away and the scientist hesitantly hopped into his car and drove away.
Andrew, Faust, and Luke all met up after words and were slightly confused.
"Did he do it? I didn't see him…" Faust muttered.
"I didn't see him either." Andrew answered.
"I was too busy getting hit by a car." Luke said with tired eyes.
"You were the one too lazy to find something to put in front of it." Andrew replied with an annoyed face, to which Luke shrugged in response.
Andrew had been too busy watching the guard, Faust was too busy watching the building and surrounding area, and Luke was, of course, too busy being an idiot. So, they all failed to notice Leo pop open the trunk ever so slightly after picking the lock and hopping inside.
So, Leo rested once more in the back of a car. He felt weird having help breaking into a place.
With that, Leo waited patiently and silently as his body was assaulted by bumps, as he and the scientist made their way to the destination, wherever that may be.