ARSENAL (ONGOING)

PT. 14. EQUALS.

U9 and Venus were walking through a busy street, chatting with each other and being all casual. They were out for a stroll, since today has been rather quiet for both of them, so far.
"I swear, it's been quiet lately.. It's kind of boring." Venus said, stretching his arms and yawning a little. U9 looked a little tired himself too, even though he didn't really show it.
"Yeah, it's getting kinda repetitive, i agree.." U9 said. "but, I like it that way. At least it's peaceful."
"True, but it's also boring!" He whined. "Can we at least rob something?"
U9 looked at him. "No, we aren't doing that in daylight. You are not that dumb, are you?"
"Hey." Kento said behind them.
"Hm?" They turned their heads around, seeing Kento walking towards them.
"oh— hey, Kento. What are you doing here?" U9 asked.
"I have a message from Blacksoul. He wants to meet both of you." He replied, stopping in front of the two.
"Huh.. let's get going, 9." Venus said.
"Alright, let's go." U9 started walking, Venus and Kento following behind. "How far is this meeting point?" he asked.
"It's a few blocks from here. Just keep walking." Kento said, still walking. Soon, they were at the location of the meeting, where Blacksoul was already there, waiting for U9 and Venus.

"You're here." Blacksoul said to U9 and Venus, acknowledging their presence.
"You said you wanted to meet?" Venus responded.
"Yes.. I have something to discuss." He replied. U9 and Venus both looked at him, waiting to see what he needed to say.
"You know we have a ton of connections, right?" he said before pulling out 2 police documents.
"I got these from one of our sources. It's about Jinto. and guess what i found out?" He said.
U9 and Venus looked at each other before looking at the documents Blacksoul was holding.
"What did you find?" U9 asked, curiously.
"It says he died a few years ago. He fabricated his own death for some reason, and i wanna find out why. Since he has so many debts to other mafia bosses, maybe he tried to eacape those by "dying"." He said.

U9 looked at the documents and took them from Blacksoul.
"You and Venus go to the location he 'died' at, and investigate." Blacksoul instructed.
U9 and Venus looked at each other, before nodding when Blacksoul told them what he wanted them to do.
"Alright, we'll do it." U9 said.
"what are.. we supposed to investigate, tho..?" Venus asked, crossing his arms.
Blacksoul thought for a second.
"Anything that looks valuable, or anything that you think might be associated with Jinto." he said, explaining further.
"If he did that to get rid of someone he was afraid of, we can use that someone against him." He elaborated even more.
U9 and Venus listened carefully, trying to remember anything Blacksoul said.
"In short, he faked his own death to make someone he was afraid of think he was dead, so he would leave him alone. We need to FIND THAT PERSON, and put him on our side, so we can conquer Jinto and his Gang." Blacksoul recapped.

"Okay.. what's the spot..?" Venus asked.
"It's in an expensive abandoned Villa in some isolated hill in Cherlimin. You can follow the address, I marked the way for you on it." Blacksoul said, handing over the papers to Venus.
"It was Jinto's former hideout. They had a shootout with the other person's gang, and he pretended to be dead to be left alone. So that's where he 'died'."
U9 and Venus looked at each other again, before nodding.
"We'll be on our way now, then." U9 said, turning
around.

Somewhere else.

As Asumi ran, he was slightly injured and tired. After running a few blocks, he reached the door of the base, and quickly walked inside, panting.
"I'm back!" he yelled through the building, walking all across the base, hoping someone was there.
Mai was on the couch, trying on some new jackets.
"How'd it go?" She asked without looking at him.
"It.. went alright. Could've been better." He responded.
"Are you hurt?" She asked again, now turning around.
"I got hit a few times, nothing too bad though." He replied.
"Where is Jinto?"
"He's on the roof, doing something. You should probably let him know you're here though." She said,
"And sit down, you're all panting like a dog."
"Right.." He sat on the couch, catching his breath after a very tiring day.
"I'm gonna... go check on Jinto." He said in between breaths, getting up from the couch after a few minutes.
"Don't fall down the stairs.." Mai said jokingly. Asumi responded with a mockingly fake chuckle before walking up the stairs and heading for the roof.

As Asumi arrived at the door leading to the roof, he opened it and stepped outside. Jinto was there, leaning against the railing looking outside.
"Oh, It's you." He said, turning his head and looking at Asumi when he heard the door open. "How did it go?" He asked.
"I-i got hit a few times.." he replied truthfully, before Jinto slowly got off the railings, then slowly walking a few feet closer to Asumi.
"Uh.. t-three times."
Asumi said in a scared voice, looking down at the floor.
"...For each time you got hit, you will lose a finger." Jinto grabbed his arm aggressively, slamming it onto the railings.

"J-jinto... I-i'm sorry!.." he whimpered, panicking and afraid of losing more than one finger.
"You have brung shame to this Gang. You clearly do not belong here. Suffer." Jinto slowly put the dagger closer to Asumi's fingers, before Mai sighed from behind.
"Hey, Hey now... C'mon, how else is he supposed to jerk off his tiny worm?.." Mai mocked, but obviously her request was out of concern for Asumi.

Jinto sighed in annoyance, taking the dagger off Asumi's hand.
"You are lucky she's here, otherwise you'd lose all of your fingers by now." He said in a cold tone, throwing him to the floor aggressively and leaving to the lower floor of the base, leaving the two alone.
Asumi let out a sigh of relief, still on the floor and in slight pain from being thrown.
Mai walked over and helped him up.
"You good..? He's always in a bad mood.."
"i'm.. alright.. thanks.." He muttered, looking to the side.
"Just.. why is he always that aggressive..? I'm trying my best... It's not fair." He gritted his teeth.

"He's just like that. He's rough and aggressive, especially when he's mad." She said. "Don't worry, he's still gonna let you keep your job. He's just not happy with you right now, so give him some space. It'll all be fine in a few days, I promise."
As she said she promises, Asumi sighed and rubbed his tired eyes.
"I hope you're right... He keeps beating me lately..."
Mai felt slightly sympathetic for him, he's been trying his hardest, and Jinto treats him like garbage.
"I swear he's always in a bad mood these days. I don't know what's wrong with him lately, He's been extra aggressive. I'll try talking to him and try to make him go easy on you, okay?"
She said.
"...Thanks.." He muttered, just that single word.
"You want me to... stay here for a bit..? maybe bring a couple snacks.." She asked, pulling out a cigarette.

"Sure." He responded, sitting down close to the wall.
Mai put the cigarette in her mouth and lit it, as they both sat there.