The next afternoon, Eli, Maki, and Umi met Jeff in his basement, where they told him about the second robbery and their encounter with Regis.
"Regis?" He scratched his head in confusion, "Who the hell on Earth is that dude?"
"Beats me." Maki shrugged her shoulders, "He invited us to his office to run away from the cops, and then he told us about how he was brutally tortured by the crime syndicate."
"He also told us to stop going against the crime syndicate, or not they'll kill us." Eli added on, "That is absolute bullshit."
"He does have a point though." Jeff replied, "They're a big bunch. We're just four people. We are definitely outnumbered. However, I believe nothing is impossible. Think of the crime syndicate as a venomous snake. It may be poisonous to the touch, and a bite can be fatal, but as long as we hit its weak point, the snake will die."
He then went to his laptop and showed them the location of the third robbery, which was a bank in Numazu. He would be following them as he wanted to lend a hand to stop this robbery. It was slated to happen later in the evening, so they have to prepare now.
"Why would the crime syndicate want to hold their robberies all in the evening?" Umi questioned, "And they're all back to back. Are they trying to plan something?"
"Who knows?" Jeff shrugged his shoulders, "All we need to do is to stop them before any other stupid shit happens. Now, let's get preparin', or not we won't be on time to prevent the robbery." As he was about to walk out of the room, Eli called out for him.
"Hey, you know, since we're going to work together as a team, I was wondering if we could do a little bit of...bonding. You know, get to know one another. We're not a formal group, and it'll be awkward if all we talk about is the crime syndicate, right?" Jeff nodded his head and went back to sit down on a chair.
"So, I'm just really curious: why do you want to stop the crime syndicate?" Eli queried, "We all have our reasons. For us, we wanted to seek justice for the lives lost and protect people, making sure they are safe and sound. What about you?"
"There was a time where I was an orphan." Jeff explained, "My biological parents didn't have the money to raise me up, so they just dumped me into the orphanage. A man named Mr Brocker decided to adopt me. He raised me well and treated me like his own son. I was really grateful for that, and I looked up to him as a respectable father figure. A few months back, he was working on bringing down this crime syndicate with Esther. He, like you women, didn't want more innocent lives to be lost when numerous have already been taken away. Working as a humanitarian worker before this, he knew how it felt like losing family members and living without them. For me, I wanted to help him, so I quit my police job after an unfortunate incident..."
"You were in the police force before?" Umi questioned, "I didn't hear of you before."
"I was, but I won't go into detail about it." He replied, "Mentioning that inspector's name boils my blood. Anyways, I left the police and joined my caretaker in stopping this crime syndicate. Just a few weeks ago, he passed away due to cancer, so now I'm in charge of it."
He then smirked, "I'm pretty glad I got to do this, actually. Not because I'm justice-driven. It's because I got to help the person who took care of me for life. I finally could do something for him, after all he's done for me. Even if I were to die one day doing this, I'd die a proud man."
"Aww." Eli smiled at him, "Didn't know there is a side of you that isn't negative all the time."
"Tch, what'chu look at me as?" Jeff sighed as he went to his laptop and displayed a digital map on the screen. Red dots started to appear on some parts.
"Back to the point, these red dots here are the places where the crime activities take place currently." He pointed at the dots, "Mr Brocker went around Japan and pinpointed all of these here. No headquarters here, sadly. This map is shared with Esther. It is to help the both of them identify the places so that they could stop it. The robberies are excluded because they are surprise events and they happen only once in a while. Usually, Mr Brocker would stop the robberies and Esther stops the others. Now that Mr Brocker's gone, I took over his job."
He then clapped his hands, "Alright, we're done with chit-chatting for today. As much as I would love to talk more, we need to prepare for the robbery right now. Chop chop." He then walked out of the room. The trio cracked their knuckles and took the guns they needed.
In the evening, Jeff drove them to the bank in Numazu. He turned to them and reminded them to reload their guns and to stay safe. The three women nodded their heads and held their pistols in their hands while he took a BR18 from the passenger seat.
Once the team members were ready, they barged into the bank, and were greeted by a flock of armed robbers. They either have guns or knives. One robber was stationed at each of the five bank-teller stations, while the rest were just standing meters away, some aiming their guns at the four vigilantes.
"Holy sh..." Before Jeff could even finish his sentence, the robbers started firing away. They quickly ducked and ran to the nearest pillars before hiding behind them.
Jeff peeked out and took aim at some of the robbers down on their hands and legs. Eli and Maki assisted him by shooting the ones with guns. Umi looked around to see if anything could help them. She saw a fire extinguisher and immediately thought of an idea.
She dashed to the fire extinguisher and took out the safety pin. She then aimed the extinguisher at the robbers and used her strength to squeeze the handle. Immediately, lots of carbon dioxide came out. Not only did it blur the robbers' visions, the gas made it harder for them to breathe and most of them have let go of their weapons.
Eli was the first one to rush out, using this opportunity to jump-kick one of the robbers on the chest. He staggered back, and the ones behind him all fell along like dominos. Maki ran to a robber and did a roundhouse kick on him. Jeff reloaded his gun and gunned down the robbers threatening the bank-tellers before shooting the others.
As the carbon dioxide slowly went away, the robbers started attacking again, though now most of them have their guns or knives on the floor. A robber aimed an assault rifle on Eli's head. She saw it and booted a weaponless robber towards the shooter. In the end, the unarmed man got killed.
As the armed robber was about to fire again, he realized the magazine was empty. He threw it away and charged towards her, planning to stab her with the rifle. Eli managed to grip the front of it and pulled it forward before poking his eyes. As he was groaning in pain, she pulled the rifle to her back and pushed her hands forward before letting go. The robber, who was grabbing onto the rifle for dear life, flipped mid-air before landing on the floor on his back with a loud thud. She then took the rifle and smacked him on the face with the handle before throwing it away.
Maki caught a glimpse of a robber rushing towards her with a knife. She dodged his attack and kneed him on the stomach numerous times. As he was about to strike again, she kicked his right leg to the left, making him slip down onto the floor. She then took a pistol on the floor that was dropped earlier and shot his hands and legs.
Umi ran up to one of the robbers at lightning speed and punched him on the face in a flash, before even giving him time to react. Just then, three robbers were approaching her, all ready to bring her down. Umi darted her eyes around and found lots of knives scattered on the floor. She quickly picked them up.
She locked her aim on their shoulders, legs, and crotches. She then started throwing the knives at a relatively fast pace, almost like a machine gun. Immediately, the robbers started collapsing onto the floor, groaning in pain. A robber tried to stab her from the back with a knife, but she managed to react fast and rolled away.
As he was about to attack her again, she kicked his right arm, making him drop the knife. She then slapped him on the eyes really hard, before kicking him away.
Meanwhile, a Cadillac Escalade stopped outside the bank. Ruby Kurosawa, from the first robbery, got out of the car and took her phone out before calling someone.
"I'm here." She said.
"Do what the Boss had told you to do." Venus was on the other side of the line, "Do it now." Ruby then ended the call and took out a rocket launcher and pointed it towards the trio.
Jeff was shooting the robbers until his rifle ran out of bullets. He sighed and wanted to check if his car had more bullets. He needed to make a fast dash to his vehicle and back to the bank. He turned behind and saw Ruby holding a rocket launcher while calling someone.
He took up an empty bullet shell and threw it at Umi. When she looked at him, confused as to why he did that, he told her to look to her left. Umi's eyes were wide open in shock as she saw the rocket launcher. She knows she and her friends have to get away from that monstrosity before it kills them.
"Eli! Maki!" She shouted. The two of them turned to Umi, and she pointed at the rocket launcher. Just as Ruby pulled the trigger, Eli and Maki swiftly made a dive to their right as a rocket went past them behind their backs, just a few meters away from them. Once it hit one of the pillars, it exploded, destroying half the bank and killing all the robbers there and then.
Ruby then dropped the launcher and took out a pistol. At the same time, a dark brown-haired woman came out from the Escalade with a katana.
Jeff got up and brushed the debris from the bank off him. He went to the three women and helped them up. Fortunately, they weren't injured, and only suffered minor cuts.
"Are you still able to fight?" Jeff asked them with concern.
"Yeah, we can." Maki replied, "Who the hell are those two women out there? I know one of 'em is Ruby, but the other one..."
"Dia Kurosawa, Ruby's older sister." Jeff answered, "I probably forgot to tell you about her, but she's also hired by the crime syndicate. She's a professional, vicious, unforgiving swordswoman. She has one weakness though."
"Weakness?" Umi looked at him.
"She cannot lie, from what I've heard through the news and her relatives." He replied, "She tried fabricating a story one time when the police interrogated her after she was arrested for voluntarily causing hurt to a citizen. However, the police didn't believe her because her narrative didn't make sense at all, thus she was fined. Anyways, I won't let them go today. I need information from them so that I can take down the crime syndicate."
"So you just forgot about us, huh?" Eli asked with a deadpan expression, "We became nobodies, yeah?"
"Let me rephrase it." He cleared his throat, "WE will get information from the Kurosawa sisters so that WE can take down the crime syndicate."
"Much better." Eli commented. Just then, Ruby and Dia stepped into the bank and glared at the four of them.
"You must be the assholes that stopped the last two robberies." Dia smirked, "You do really have some balls to mess with a crime syndicate, don't you?"
"We couldn't let this country, much less this city, be ruined by a bunch of bastards, can we?" Eli crossed her arms, "Not to mention some lives were lost thanks to your doing."
"You people are such busybodies, thinking you're oh-so-heroic by 'saving' the city' and stopping us." Ruby shook her head in disappointment, "You think you can go up against an unstoppable force. So naive. It's okay, though. After this, you won't need to be worried anymore. You'll be in Hell after this. Me and my sister will get rid of you pests."
"Such big talk coming from a woman who is the tiniest in this room." Jeff joked, "Maybe don't speak to us like a menacing person while you're looking up to us. It's like you're secretly admiring us."
"You son of a bitch!" Dia growled, "How dare you say those words to my lovely sister! Take them back or I'll slice you into half!"
"Oh, butthurt?" Jeff smirked, "Well, guess what? I won't, and you ain't doin' anything. Besides, it's not nice to insult my mother. At least she didn't raise me up to be a slave to those unlawful insurgents."
"You sure are brave enough to insult me! You've crossed the line!" Dia was about to attack him, but Umi booted her on the stomach, making her stumble back. Maki and Eli went for Ruby while Jeff quickly ran towards his car.
Umi took up some knives and threw them at Dia, but the latter managed to block every one of them with her katana. She charged forward at the ocean haired woman and slashed Umi's right arm. It started bleeding. In retaliation, Umi kicked her on the face.
Dia stumbled onto the ground, but she didn't waste any second getting back up. She kept trying her luck at slicing Umi, but Umi just kept moving back until she tripped over a dead robber's body and fell onto the floor. Dia held her katana up high and was about to thrust the blade on Umi's face when Jeff shouted across the room.
"Hey! You dark-haired plebeian!" He was standing at the entrance, holding his rifle, "Come at me if you dare, you prick!"
"You finally came back after running away like a scaredy cat." Dia brandished her weapon, "I'll show you what I do to incorrigible scoundrels like you." She then started running towards him. He aimed his rifle at her and started firing, but she shielded herself with her katana, and none of the bullets ever hit her.
As he was about to shoot more, he realized he ran out of bullets. He cursed under his breath and thought to himself that he should've brought more magazines. Dia caught up to him and pushed him to the ground. She held him down by his throat and gripped it tightly with her left hand as he gasped for air.
"You actually tried shooting me, you dumbass." She laughed, "You didn't think I'd survive all that, right? I'll murder you today for your uncouth mouth. I'll make sure you never walk out of this place alive if it's the last thing I have to do!"
Umi looked at the two of them and facepalmed herself. She was disappointed Jeff didn't know how to fight. He just stood there and let Dia try to kill him. Despite that, she took up a gun, willing to save Jeff. She ran forward towards them and shot Dia's leg. As soon as Dia turned back, Umi jump-kicked her at her hips. She plummeted down to the ground and let go of Jeff.
Dia spitted on the floor before getting back up. She, again, tried stabbing Umi's face, but the latter moved her head away, enough for the blade to go right past the side of her face but not touch it.
Seeing that Dia was now open to attacks, Umi elbowed her nose, making it hard for her to breathe. Umi also sent a kick to her eyes, blinding Dia temporarily and making her dizzy. Using this chance, Umi wrapped her own arms around Dia's and forcefully pushed Dia against the glass windows of the bank thrice, trying to make Dia drop her katana while slamming her face against the windows. It started forming crack lines upon the third hit.
After blinking her eyes a few times, Dia was in control of her vision again. She pushed Umi away and glared at her. Dia stretched her arms, stretched her arms, and cracked her knuckles before going for Umi again.
Umi saw Jeff's weapon and snatched it away from him, "I'm sorry. I need it." She told him.
"Don't go stealing my rifle like that!" Jeff retorted.
Umi shielded herself with her two hands holding the rifle as Dia's blade went against it. The both of them exerted force on their weapons, hoping to take down one another.