In the afternoon, Eli, Maki, and Umi reported to the nightclub, where they saw Esther waiting for them at the entrance. He had told them to come at this timing instead of the nighttime or the morning as people who were wasted or about to be would be there during those timings. He wanted to prevent as many innocent deaths as possible.
He noticed that a padlock was fastened to the door, which meant that the nightclub was closed. Esther took out a hammer from his bag and repeatedly hit the padlock until it broke. Once the four vigilantes entered the nightclub, they were met with three floors and many rooms.
"Looks more like a mansion than a goddamn nightclub." Maki commented, "Are you sure we're even in the right place? How does this even look like a nightclub?"
"Well, Regis has a lot of money." Esther commented, "We will never understand how billionaires think. They call this weird-looking interior a masterpiece in design and architecture and act like it's high-class."
"This place is so big." Umi remarked, "We definitely need to split up so that we can find Anthony as fast as possible before Regis does."
"You got a point, Umi." Eli added on, "I'll take the top floor. Umi, you take the second floor. Maki, you'll stay on this floor and check things out. Is everyone okay with that?" The other two girls nodded their heads in response.
"Oh right, Esther, what do you want to do?" She turned to him, "Do you want to stay here and watch out for intruders, or follow one of us?"
"The latter seems to be a better choice." He replied, "As much as we need to fend the crime syndicate men off from getting in, there might already be a few of them here, also searching for Anthony. We can't let them get to him first." With that, the three women set out in their different paths, with Esther following Eli.
Eli went into a private room on the third floor and scanned her surroundings. Her eyes darted around the room, making sure she didn't miss anything. Unlike the other rooms she had been to, this one had a small table with an ashtray and a few used cigarettes on it. Despite that, there was nothing out of the ordinary.
As she was about to go into another room, she heard Esther calling out for her. She went to him, who showed her a room with a slightly opened door that has a sign on it stating 'Authorized personnel only'.
"This is an interesting find." Esther said, "A restricted room. This might be Anthony's office. It looked like someone else opened the door, though.
"Then we better be prepared to take whoever's in that room down." She uttered, holding her gun up. On the count of three, Esther kicked the door open. They pointed their pistols towards their front as they slowly stepped into the room. They looked around to see if there was any man waiting to ambush them, but they couldn't find any. Instead, all they saw was a painting in front of them.
"So what? It's a secret room with just a painting in it?" Eli raised her eyebrows, "What kind of room is this? This doesn't even look like an office. You know what? You're right, Esther. We will never understand how rich people think."
"I'm sure this prized painting here isn't for decoration purposes or admiration." Esther commented, "Think about it. In this day and age, why would you put a fancy painting in a random room like this for no reason? This room is located a distance away from the private rooms, which indicates that the person who placed it here did not intend for others to see it, much less discover it. Besides, the crime syndicate men wouldn't restrict this place just so that only they can admire this, would they?" Eli's eyes widened in surprise upon hearing that. What he said actually made some sense.
"What do you suggest we do with this?" She questioned.
"First, we should examine this painting." He took a closer look at it, "We need to interpret the meaning of its contents, because it's the crime syndicate. They'll surely take their mechanisms up a notch to hide their unlawful deeds. Take this woman sitting on the swing for example. She's facing towards the left, so that means there must be something in the left side of this room. The moon in the background might also tell us that the thing we need to search for might only appear at night or when there's no light. We gotta find a way to make this room dark…"
Eli ignored what he was saying and looked around the room once more. She believed the painting might just be a distraction in case wary people were suspicious about it if they were to ever find this room. However, there was absolutely nothing in this room except that damned painting and empty white walls. She checked for any tripwire or traps, but there weren't any.
She refused to give up. There must be a reason why this room was inaccessible to the public. Hence, she started thinking deeper of what she could do in this room. The only things she could interact with were the door knob and the lock button on it. She decided to try her luck and experiment with those two things.
She tried turning the door knob, but nothing happened. She pressed the lock button on the door knob, and suddenly, a part of the wall on the left opened up, leading to a hallway. Esther, who was still inspecting the painting, stopped dead in his tracks. He and Eli stared at the hallway in shock. They did not expect it. There was a brief period of silence.
"O….kay." Esther gave an astounded look before turning to the blonde woman, "That was new. What did you do, Eli?"
"I just pressed the lock button."
"Wow, I didn't expect it to be this easy." He snickered, "And to think I was scrutinizing the painting this whole time when it didn't have a particular meaning."
"Well, at least we found something new." She said, "Let's go in there and see where it leads us." Esther agreed, and they both walked into the hallway. A masked man came out of the toilet opposite the room and whipped his phone out to call someone.
On the first floor, Maki was slowly walking around, watching out for enemies who might attack her at any moment. She had combed through the three private rooms located on the same storey, but she didn't find anyone, so she came to the dance floor to check if Anthony was around here.
As she was searching for Anthony's office, she heard the sound of heels clicking other than hers. She quickly took her pistol out, turned herself around swiftly, and pointed the gun to her front, only to realize it was Umi, who raised her hands in the air.
"Relax, it's me." The ocean-haired girl said, gradually putting her hands down.
"You scared the hell out of me for a moment." Maki kept her gun back in her pocket, "Aren't you at the second level, though? What are you doing here?"
"There seemed to be no one upstairs, so I thought I'd come down, in case you ever need help." Just as she finished speaking, they both heard a sound of someone knocking the counter. It was faint, but they managed to make out where it came from.
"Whoever you are, show yourself." Maki voiced out. Three masked men stood up from behind the counter. A few others, who were hiding behind the decks, couches, and walls, came out of their hiding spots. They surrounded the two girls in a circle, preventing them from running. Maki and Umi then heard someone laughing. They turned around and saw Jordan sauntering in.
"Well done, ladies." He clapped his hands, "You have very sharp hearing. That's really admirable."
"Jordan?" Maki was surprised, "You work for the crime syndicate?"
"Well, just recently, dear." He replied with a smug smile, "I couldn't refuse a hundred and twenty million to heal Grace and bring her out, can I? Venus is right. That Esther man did follow Eli into the secret room."
"Don't you know you're helping these scumbags tearing this city apart?" Umi retorted, "They are the enemy, not us. They'll get rid of you once they're done using you for their evil plans. Once that happens, all our lives will be endangered. We'll all die eventually. Think about Grace, if not for yourself."
"The cheek of you to mention her name." He crossed his arms, "If she had not healed you back to life, she wouldn't have to suffer every day. In fact, without her help, you wouldn't be here lecturing me. You'd be sipping tea with your dead friend in Heaven."
"Don't drag Jeff into this, you heartless douchebag." Maki growled.
"Look, I'm grateful that she saved me." Umi continued, "I'm forever indebted to her, which is why I'm looking out for her. Venus really isn't the one you should be siding with. She will ultimately bring harm to you and her…"
"Enough with your bullshit, woman." He interrupted her, "I can't say no to Grace's recovery. When I'm given such a big sum by someone who wants to help me, the least I could do is…repay the kindness back. Men, beat them up. Make sure they never leave this place." With that, the men started striking Maki and Umi.
Maki clenched her fists and punched a man's face, making him fall back. Another man tried kicking her, but she grabbed his leg and kicked his crotch before pushing him away. A third man charged forward at her, swinging the knife. She dodged it as he was about to slash her face. A few other men rushed towards her, seeking to stab her with their knives.
Maki picked up a table and guarded herself from the stabbing. When all the blades were thrusted into the table, she pushed it forward, making the men stumble back. She then swung the table across, the handles of the knives hitting their faces with force. They fell down to the floor, groaning in pain.
Umi took up a chair from nearby and slapped the men who were trying to attack her with it. In the midst of the fight, a man stabbed the chair as Umi bent her stomach inwards. He proceeded to ram her backwards towards the counter. She did her best to stop herself from moving back, but he was too strong for her. She immediately let go of the chair and spun to her right. The top rail of the chair soon hit the counter, and the man knocked himself on the neck against the apron of the chair.
Umi hopped behind the counter and took an empty glass. As the man threw the chair away and was about to assault her, she smacked the glass on his head, making his head bleed. She took a bottle of whiskey from the shelves behind her, unscrewed the cap off, and splashed the drink at him. After that, she aimed it at his head and threw it. He fell unconscious as his body plummeted to the ground.
As she saw more men approaching her, she snatched more bottles of whiskey and wine, as well as cans of beer. She poured all the drinks out at their faces before hurling the bottles and cans at them. Slowly but surely, the men went down one by one.
As the two girls were fending off the attackers, Jordan took out a revolver. He loaded some bullets into the cylinder before pushing it into the barrel. He held the gun up and directed the tip at Maki's head.
"You're a rude, arrogant, annoying bitch." He thought to himself, "I didn't do anything to you, yet you were an asshole to me. Now, it's payback time. Don't blame me for killing you, because you deserve it."
Maki jabbed a masked man on the stomach and thighs with one of the knives she took from the table she used earlier before kicking him away. Another man made a lunge for her chest with his left fist whilst one more tried to stab her from the back. She swiftly whirled to her left and pushed the knife-wielding man to the front, making him stab the unarmed man. She then took her knife and impaled his hamstrings with it. He yelled in agony as he kneeled down. Finally, she kicked the side of his head, knocking him out on the spot.
Out of the blue, a masked man behind her rammed into her, causing her to fly a few meters forward before falling down onto the ground on her back with a loud thud. She grumbled as she slowly got up and saw that he was taking out a handgun. He reloaded his gun and started shooting at Maki. She kept sidestepping and rolling to the sides to evade the bullets, hoping not to get hit by them.
Jordan felt it was the right time to strike her now as she was busy dealing with the man she wouldn't notice Jordan at all. He was about to shoot her, but his revolver jammed. He repeatedly pulled the trigger, but nothing came out. He cursed under his breath before trying to fix his weapon.
Back at the dance floor, the man was still trying to gun down Maki, who had been steering herself clear of his shots. She took a chair that was within her reach and threw it at him. He got distracted by it for a while as he tried to avoid getting hit by it. That was when she knew how to get close to him.
She ran to a nearby table and kicked it down so that she could shield herself from the bullets for the time being. She then took the four chairs around the table and flung them at him one by one. As he was busy defending himself from the chairs, she sprinted at full speed towards him. She attempted to knee his wrist so that he could forcibly let go of the gun, but he reacted quickly and fisted Maki on the face. She felt dizzy for a few seconds, but she quickly snapped herself out of it.
Before he could fire another shot at her, she firmly grasped his right wrist with her two hands, trying to push the gun away from her. He, in retaliation, used his left hand to pull back his right wrist in order to shoot her. Both of them were struggling with each other, but he was on the winning side.
Maki had to think of something at once, or else she would get wounded by him, or in the worst case scenario, die. He was so powerful though, so she can't use strength. She managed to hatch up an idea as the tip of the handgun was reaching her face.
Just as his finger was about to press the trigger, she let go of his wrists and ducked. He lost control of his hands right away as there now was no force exerted against his own, and a loud gunshot could be heard.
Maki turned around and was stunned by the bullet going through Jordan's neck, instantly killing him as blood spewed out from his throat rapidly. The revolver and his lifeless body dropped down to the ground.
Umi was showering a masked man with a full bottle of whiskey. As he tried to attack her, she grabbed some of his hair and slammed his head on the counter a few times. She took the empty bottle and smashed it on his head. Once he was out cold, she released her grip on him, and he fell onto the floor like a rag doll. The moment she looked up, she saw the man pointing his handgun at her.
"Maki, watch out!" Umi screamed, which brought Maki back to reality. Maki swerved her body to the left as Umi threw a red wine bottle at the man's head. It broke into shards, hurting him as his forehead bled.
Umi signalled Maki to do the final move, and the latter understood. She darted forward and did a roundhouse kick on his chest. He flew back and hit his own back against the wall, causing him to go unconscious.
"Finally!" Maki huffed and puffed as she slumped onto a chair, "We're done with the men here! Holy shit, that was a lot of hard work."
"I'm still shocked that Jordan's dead." Umi sat on a stool, "I can't believe he got killed just like that. It feels…weird."
"Well, it wasn't like he was somebody important." Maki replied, "He worked for the crime syndicate. Assholes like him deserve to get punished. Anyways, let's take a rest here for a while before we go to the secret room. Eli and Esther might need our help there."
"The secret room? And how do you know they're in there?"
"Jordan told us about it. He also said Venus predicted they had gone in there, which meant…"
"Anthony's office must be nearby. But aren't we too late, if Venus was able to anticipate this?"
"Let's not think too much for now and try our best to salvage the situation and save Anthony. Hopefully, he's still breathing."
Meanwhile, Eli and Esther were still walking in the hallway. It wasn't a very long passage, but it sure was still quite a distance. Eli wondered why the crime syndicate even made such a lengthy hallway.
"It's either one of the two possibilities." Esther explained, "Number one, they're hiding something from everyone. A secret of theirs that could ruin them if exposed to anyone else. Number two, this might be the way to Anthony's office. After all, the crime syndicate is known for doing dirty, underhand deeds, so they need a secret place to cover it up."
"Both reasons could be plausible." Eli stroked her chin. Shortly afterwards, they reached the end of the hallway, where they chanced upon a lift. When they entered it, they only saw two buttons: 'L' and 'B'.
"I'm guessing that stands for Lobby and Basement." She uttered, "The level we're on is the lobby, so we just need to go down to the basement." She then pressed the 'B' button.
He nodded his head in response, "Sounds like a plan." With that, the lift started going down.
Little did they know, that would be the least of Eli's worries. The nightmare has yet to begin.