The masked man had just arrived at the marked address. It's a rundown foundry which they turned into a den of thieves. Two unidentified men approach him cautiously.
"I'm the one sent by your boss" he identified himself.
The two men gave him a pass and led him inside the foundry. There, he found the boss and the rest of his crew waiting for him, but no sign of Ophelia. They were all covered in bruises trying to handle her by themselves
"Where's the girl you asked me to handle?"
"She's in the back with my men, along with the payment. Be careful around her, she's slippery as hell"
"Take that money for yourselves. Handing me Ophelia is payment enough for me. In fact, I just got a cut for sending a detective in the ICU"
The boss was surprised. Never in his life did he encounter a torturer who wouldn't accept a dollar as payment. What's more, he is relieved to learn he wouldn't have to spend anymore on the man. However, that wasn't all. Judging from what he last said, he immediately deduced that he also took care of a detective. A certain Erin Duvall to be exact
"If you insist. We'll take our leave, Mr." said the boss, feeling indebted to him
"Call me Varna" he reintroduced himself.
As the criminals take their leave in a getaway van, Varna enters the room and finds Ophelia tied up to a chair, giving him a furious look. Ophelia looked at him with an angry expression. Who was this man, and what did he want with her? For now, she remained calm and stoic, not intimidated at all by his presence.
Varna remembered something the boss said that made him wary of her
She's slippery as hell
He approached her back, trying to double check her restraints. From there, he finds something that explains why the boss made that warning: She was clutching a small knife to undo her bonds.
"What are you going to do with that knife?"
Fortunately for him, he ain't a man without a plan. He confiscated the knife and added handcuffs for extra measure. Ophelia grunted in anger as her knife was confiscated. She demanded to be released at once!
Dismissing her demands, he thoroughly checked her to see if there's anything sharp that she could use to undo herself. He found cutters within the boots she's wearing.
"I can imagine how well you have anticipated being tied up. However, you never thought that someone as cautious as me could find out your plan"
He settled both the knife and the cutter on the table. Then he grabbed a picture of her and Erin and showed it to her
"Are you familiar with this girl?" He asked
Ophelia observed the picture and nodded, she saw no reason to lie… yet.
Unfortunately for her, that was her mistake. Varna had no more questions to ask. He had confirmed it himself. Ophelia Davenport was the one who tipped Erin about the hideout that day.
"See, I was just about to take a rest today and turn this job down until your name came out. I didn't expect little Jules to have a doting sister. Speaking of which, have you come to check up on her?"
Ophelia suddenly felt shivers. She heard from Erin that she found Jules unconscious in a warehouse. She gave Varna a destructive look. She and her sister had a complex relationship… but she did not want to see Jules get hurt!
She grunted angrily and demanded that he release Jules at once.
Varna understood what her muffled ramblings meant.
"I mean, she knows how to fight but she can't keep up with me. I really love that helpless look in her eyes before I left her lying on the floor." He taunted her further
"And that detective friend of yours...you'll just have to see for yourself"
He immediately took out the laptop from his bag and switched it to breaking news. The headline said that a detective was in a serious condition after suffering two broken legs and a wound caused by a nail gun
Ophelia was shocked. This guy had taken Jules out and sent Erin to the ICU.
Just how had he managed to accomplish such feats… clearly he was even more skilled than she thought.
"Soon enough, you'll find yourself sharing the same room with Erin"
Varna then lifts Ophelia by her necktie and delivers a jab through her eyes. Because she was wearing a pair of eyeglasses, a bit of shattered glass entered through her eye, causing it to bleed.
Ophelia let out a deafening yell, muffled only by her gag. Her eye started bleeding heavily and she nearly passed out from the pain.
As she lay on the floor, she quickly realized that her eyesight was severely damaged… likely permanently! With her eyes barely open, she can't see what he is about to do to her next.
"I'm going to let your sister know what it feels to be in despair"
Varna grabbed the knife he confiscated from her earlier and lifted her right leg up. Taking off her shoes and socks, he slashes her leg, starting from the Achilles tendon up to her calf.
Ophelia screamed again. Her pain became unbearable and she did something she had never done before in her life… she begged.
"Phlmmsse, Sthpp!!" (Please, stop!!)
Satisfied by her muffled pleas, he stopped whatever he is doing. He then lifted her up again and, for the first time, he took off his sunglasses. Staring at each other eye to eye, it was only then that Ophelia realized what kind of monster Varna is
"You better pray you'll never see that face of mine ever again"
After delivering that cheesy one-liner of his, he jammed the knife straight at her abdomen. He pleas fell on deaf ears, she grunted again as she was stabbed. Blood trickled out of her mouth and she was close to passing out…
"Phlmmsse… Dmnt…" (Please… don't…)
Meanwhile...
A few hours after Erin was admitted to the hospital, Jules Davenport was walking towards her car. She was feeling drained from the string of events happening right now
First, her friend Rebecca was tortured into revealing her identity. Then she was kidnapped by a guy with a deep-seated grudge against her. To top it all off, her friend Erin was tortured to near death by the same guy. Worried that he might target any of her friends again, she tried calling her sister for help, but to no avail.
She knows how tough Ophelia is. However, given what the guy is capable of, she can't help but wonder; what if the guy went after her sister already.
Just before she could reach for the door, another car tries to ram into her. Jules rolled away, dodging it at the very last second before it crashed into hers.
She stood up, dusting off her injuries, and inspected the car. Surprisingly, the driver's side was empty. However, when she opened up the trunk, her suspicions unfortunately came true.
She finds her sister Ophelia. She was tied up, tape gagged, her right eye bleeding. Her right leg has also been bleeding heavily. A knife was sticking from her abdomen, secured by her hands that was forcibly taped to it.
"Who did this to you?" she asked as she ripped the tape off her mouth.
Breathing heavily, she could only mutter 'Varna' before passing out to blood loss
Jules immediately called an ambulance and made sure Ophelia was transported to the hospital. Meanwhile, Varna looked on from a distance as she desperately called for help.
"By the time you figured everything out, another close friend of yours is going to end up like her" He muttered to himself
Jules immediately spotted Varna from a distance. She wasted no time grabbing Erin's gun from her bag. However, by the time a bus passes through, he disappears into thin air
She suspected Varna was not finished yet. There was a pattern forming, he was going after everyone close to her…
But who would be next...