During lunch time, Eli and Maki were coming up with some strategies to get any clues for the cases. So far, they have not received any emails from the families of the victims or the people who might potentially be eyewitnesses.
Eli suggested that the two women should personally pay them a visit and try to convince them from there onwards. However, Maki disagreed with it, saying that will only agitate them, and make them all the more want to get away from the duo.
Maki proposed that they should look around the crime scenes and see if they could find anything there. Eli countered her plan, saying that it wouldn't be helpful because the police had already seized everything related to the case there.
In Maki's defense, there could be some things the police might not have found, and maybe if the two of them paid close attention to the surroundings, they might find something no one else could.
Eli agreed with that and decided to carry that idea out instead. As they were planning on when and how to do it, someone knocked on the door. She went to open the door and saw Umi standing outside.
"Umi?" Eli was surprised, "Uhh...what are you doing here?"
"I wanna...talk to you for a while." Umi replied. Eli nodded her head and allowed her in. Eli offered her friend a cup of green tea and told her to sit on the sofa.
"So, why did you come here today?" Eli questioned, "You rarely come to my house. It is really kind of surprising for you to be here."
Umi looked at Eli. She kept quiet for a few seconds before speaking up, "I've been thinking about this for a while now. As you know me, I like seeking justice too, especially for the victims and their families. Seeing the lives of innocent people being taken away makes my heart ache, and I wanted to help them and prevent deaths from happening, thus I joined the police force."
Maki frowned and was about to say that the police really sucked when Eli stopped her.
"For a while, it worked." Umi continued, "I was able to help people and save them. It felt so great. However, it still didn't work out that well. These seven cases this week are a very great example. The police couldn't even find the murderers involved, and the families were so dejected because of the unsolved deaths of their loved ones. I have never felt so devastated and helpless in my life. I could catch thieves and kidnappers, but not murderers. If a police officer can't help people and apprehend the bad guys, then what is a police officer?"
"Umi..." Eli looked at the ocean-haired woman worriedly.
"I don't want to feel this helpless anymore." Umi stated, "I want to be able to help people again. I have known you for ages, Eli. I know if you set your sights onto a goal, you'll never back down from it. You always managed to complete it with flying colors too, so..."
"Wait, does this mean that..."
"Yeah, I'll join you in your justice-fighting thingy." Umi declared. Eli's eyes immediately sparkled as she ran to hug her friend.
"Thank you for putting your trust in me." Eli said, "I promise I won't let you down, Umi!" Maki just looked at them in confusion. She didn't know what exactly was going on.
"Right, I forgot to introduce the two of you to each other." Eli said, "Umi, this is Maki. She is...was an air stewardess and she has crazy good fighting skills. She's really into saving people too."
"Hey." Maki waved her hand.
"Maki, this is Umi, my friend since high school." Eli turned to the red-haired woman, "As you knew, she is a policewoman. She loves to help people too, which is why I think she's a perfect fit for our team."
"Hello." Umi waved shyly, "Hope we get along well." Eli then explained to her about what they were discussing earlier, and asked if she had any suggestion.
"Not sure about suggestions, but I can tell you something." Umi replied, "I heard from my higher-up that a robbery is happening at seven tonight in Tusas Bank. He also said a woman who might be involved in all the cases would be there."
"For real?" Eli questioned, "If that's true, that would be a big lead for us! We would be able to get some clues from her and then we can slowly work our way up. At the same time, we can stop the robbery from happening. That's killing two birds with one stone!"
"Ahem." Maki cleared her throat, "Sorry to burst your bubble. I know you are excited and all, but we can't go to the bank in our normal clothes, right? The thing here is that we need to be secretive. I'm pretty sure whatever we are about to do is against the law. We can't afford to get noticed, especially by the police."
Eli scratched her chin as she tried to think of a good outfit they all could wear. She thought of what heroes would always wear. Suits. However, the trio can't be the ones who stand out the most there. She decided to go to the clothing shop to make up her mind.
A few minutes later, she returned with a bag of clothes. Maki and Umi were pretty curious about what she had bought. They slowly walked to her and stared at the bag.
"I know you're eager to know what's in this, and I promise you it's gonna be so cool!" Eli said with excitement as she opened the bag. The other two women went from their mouths open in awe to them frowning and being confused.
"You see, I've been gaining inspiration from all those cool action movies." Eli explained, "The protagonists always wear superhero outfits or black suits like it's the cool color. So, I got you women some black shirts, black jeans, and of course black ski masks. Can't have those missing in order for us to be secretive."
She took out all the clothes and a smaller plastic bag, "Oh, also, I bought black beanies too. Having a beanie would make us all look the same despite our different hair colors. About the name, I imagine that we'd call ourselves...The Justice Warriors." Eli folded her arms and grinned. Umi facepalmed herself while Maki gave an unamused look.
"Are you for real?" Umi questioned in an unsure tone.
"We'll be unnoticeable, trust me." Eli replied, "We'll set off at 6. We'll wear these there too, so be prepared." She then walked off to the toilet. Umi and Maki looked at each other before shaking their heads.
Five hours later, the trio arrived at a food court that was a few meters away from Tusas Bank. They had their outfits on except for their ski masks because they were drinking their cups of coffee.
"You sure wearing ski masks is a good idea?" Maki asked, "I don't think it's going to go down well at all. People might mistake us for robbers."
"Well, that's the thing, Maki." Eli replied, "We will definitely look like the robbers. That way, no one will know that it's the three of us. I get that the police will be here too, but since we're dressed like the criminals, they'll just think it's them. This is a foolproof plan."
"If you say so." Maki finished her drink and proceeded to put her mask on. The other two women did the same, and the trio decided to go to the bank.
Once they reached there, they were surprised to see a car and a gang of men waiting outside. Those men weren't wearing any ski masks or black outfits. They were just wearing plain clothes. Umi and Maki glared at Eli, who shrugged her shoulders.
"We'll try to find the woman that Umi's higher-up mentioned." Eli whispered to the other two members, "If we need to, we fight them."
"They are all dressed like normal civilians, god damn it!" Maki groaned, "Instead, we look like the ones who are going to rob the bank!"
"We don't even have a weapon at all!" Umi retorted, "How are we gonna charge in there and try to stop them? We will die!"
"We'll figure it out as we go." Eli said, "Me and Maki will bring down the robbers to stop the robbery. You can try to help us find the woman. She should be nearby here somewhere."
"But..." Just as Umi was about to talk back, the people started barging into the bank. The ones with guns aimed it at the bank-tellers, who were scared stiff, and told them to stuff the money into the bags. The others placed a few devices around the place before joining the gunmen.
"No buts, ifs, or whatever reason you wanna come up with." Eli uttered, "Just do what you need to do, while me and Maki do what we need to do." She then pulled Maki into the bank. Umi sighed and started looking around for clues to find the woman. She was certainly shocked that the robbery was happening one hour before the original timing.
Eli and Maki went into the bank and immediately, two men went to them. They looked at the duo before frowning at them.
"You wore the wrong thing here today." One of the men said to them, "We're supposed to be in plain clothes today, not in robber attire. Did you forget?"
"Also, you got some big bumps on the front." The second man said, "Are you trying to look like a woman?"
"No. I am a woman." Eli then kneed his crotch and booted his stomach, making him stumble back and fall down. Maki, seeing that her friend had already started fighting, punched the other man in the face and slammed his head on the pillar beside her.
A few other men charged towards the two women. They got into their fighting stance and looked at each other before nodding their heads. They were feeling fired up, ready to kick ass and bring these baddies down.
Maki clenched her fists and started throwing punches at the robbers who were going against her. It did work for a few minutes, before she felt pain in her knuckles a while later. The faces of these people were hard as hell, and she knew she couldn't continue on fighting like this.
She looked to her left, where Eli was swiftly taking down the enemies. One moment, she was twisting someone's arm. The next moment, she was kicking another man on the chest while holding his wrist, making him fall flat on their face. As one of the robbers took out a penknife and tried to assault her, she jumped up and booted him on the neck. He immediately got knocked out as his body landed on the floor with a loud thud.
Maki stared at Eli with awe. The latter's fighting skills looked so cool and professional. Furthermore, the fact that she had a slim figure and a pretty face made it more astonishing for Maki. She wished she could be like Eli.
She got snapped back to reality when one of the men kicked her stomach, and she fell back onto an empty bucket and broom. She slowly got back up and was about to strike back when the pain in her knuckles came back.
Knowing that she couldn't continue to fight with her fists, she looked around her surroundings carefully to search for anything that could help her. She saw the broom and picked it up. She taunted the robbers by signaling them with her fingers to come forward. The men looked at one another in silence, as if they were expecting each other to step forward.
Finally, one of them ran forward and tried to punch her, but she forcefully poked his stomach, then his chest, and then in his left eye. While the guy was groaning in pain, Maki gave a cheeky smile and whacked his head with the handle. He dropped on the floor and whined in pain. She looked at the broom and was surprised and satisfied it could help her.
The other robbers were cautious, slow but steady steps towards her, all feeling fearful of what she might do with her weapon. She swung the broom around, twirling it with her fingers right in front of her. With a determined grin, she signified to the robbers that she was prepared to fight and was not fearful of them.
Umi was outside the bank, looking for the car that the woman involved in the many cases was in. She saw a lot of cars outside the front of the bank. As if that didn't make her job hard enough, all of them had a woman in it.
She calmed down and thought about all the possibilities. Since Alex, the man who admitted to his crimes and the bank robbery, was killed a few days ago, the robbery would definitely take place at an earlier time, which was proven to be true.
The other fact was that if the police knew about this incident, the car that the woman was in would definitely be in a discreet place no one would expect it to be. With those two clues in mind, she narrowed the search to the side and back of the bank. She checked the left and right side, but to no avail as there weren't even any cars parked there. That meant that she only had the back of the bank left to check.
In a car, a ruby-haired woman, who had her hair tied in a ponytail, was carefully observing the robbery. She looked closely and saw Eli and Maki fighting the robbers in the bank through the windows of the bank.
The driver took out a lighter and lit a cigarette. He then smoked and blew out smoke from his mouth before tapping the cigarette. He threw it on the floor and leaned against the driver seat.
"Menemis." The woman called out for someone. The driver turned back and looked at her.
"What is it, Ma'am?" He questioned.
"Do you know those two?" She pointed to Eli and Maki, "The two people wearing ski masks. Did Boss hire them?"
"I...don't think so, Ma'am." Menemis replied, "Boss has told me to approach five people including Alex. Today they're all on break, so they have no reason to be here."
"So these two are not ours, eh? Then who the hell are..." She stopped talking when she caught a glimpse of the rear mirror, and she saw Umi slowly approaching the car. She strained her eyes to get a closer look at the police officer.
"What's wrong, Ma'am?" Menemis asked curiously. The woman looked at him. She knew exactly what she should task him to do.
Umi saw a car at the back of the bank, and it was the only car. This might be it, she thought. This might be the car which the woman might be in. She tiptoed quietly and slowly towards the vehicle.
As she got closer, she saw a female figure in it. Woman in the car? check. At a discreet place? Check. As she was thinking if that was really the person she was looking for, the car suddenly drove away. Umi tried to chase it, but got pushed to the floor by Menemis, who was behind her.
As she tried to get up, he kicked her stomach with his boots. She groaned in pain as she grabbed her stomach. He then took out a pistol and aimed it at her head.
"You're a sneaky lil bitch." He sneered, "You think you can try to stop us. That's impossible, and you can dream of that in Hell." He was about to reload his gun when someone shot him from the back. He fell down onto the floor beside her, whimpering in agony as he clutched his chest, which had a shotgun bullet in it. A man in sunglasses walked towards him and aimed the shotgun at his face.
"You...son..." Menemis huffed, "...of...a..."
"Shut up, you incorrigible bastard." The man instantly shot his head and both his eyes, killing him on the spot. He then aimed the gun at Umi, who was scared stiff. He glared at her with his menacing eyes.
"No, you got it all wrong, mister!" Umi shook her head, "Me and my other two friends are here to stop a robbery. And..."
He stared questionably at her outfit, to which she sighed, "I know this makes me look very suspicious, but I swear to you I'm not the bad guy. If you'd look in the bank, my other two friends are in the same outfit. The robbers are in plain outfits. You gotta believe me, mister."
The man stared at her for a while before putting his gun down, "Lead me to the real robbers. If I found out that you lied to me, you won't get to see the light of the day again. You understand?"
Umi nodded her head in fear.