“What will I get for it?”
Peter cocked his head. “I won’t beat you up in front of all these people.”
Scratching her chin, she pretended to consider her options, then shrugged and stepped inside the office. “Sounds fair.”
She took a seat next to Rooney, moving his laptop to the table.
“Careful,” the young hacker grumbled. “This laptop costs more than what we’d get if we sold you for organs.”
“Indeed. They’re damaged goods, ain’t they?”
He smirked.
Pain turned to find Peter staring at her, shoulders tense. She blinked a few times.
“The Devil’s Whores,” he reminded her.
“Right. The reason why they haven’t responded to your message is they’ve been abducted.” She watched with satisfaction as everyone’s eyes widened.
Peter, on the other hand, squinted in doubt. “All of them?”
“Almost.”
“And you know this because?”
“I found their base.”
The room erupted into surprised chatter, and Peter raised his hand, cutting it off.
“No one’s ever found their base. Not here, not in any other city they’ve been to.” He shifted in his seat and moved some papers on the table, as if to occupy his hands while his brain processed her words.
“Well, yes. But that was before me.” She popped another gummy in her mouth with a smug smile. “Gummy bear?”
Peter’s eyes darkened. “Tell me more. When did it happen?”
“Just yesterday, relax. I would’ve told you anyway. It’s a big, old warehouse in Red Hook, and I think I missed the attack by mere minutes. There’s only one of them left. He’s in a cell in the basement.”
“What did you do to him?”
“He’s fine. Just won’t be able to walk for a while. After he led me to their building, I needed to poke around there, and I couldn’t let him go. So it was either attacking him or following him God knows where for God knows how long, probably missing the chance to take a look at the place.”
“Ah…” Peter breathed. “I see. One of them got careless because of the attack, and that’s why you were able to track him down. Makes sense.” He nodded, making her snort. “You got two minutes to tell us what you found there.”
Her lips pressed into a thin line at his lack of appreciation for her help, but in the end, she let it drop.
“Fine. You may not believe how I found the place, but believe this: It was the strangest thing I’ve ever seen. And I’ve seen my share of freaky shit.”
She looked around the table and cracked a dark smile as all eyes fell on her.
* * *
It was past midnight when she crouched behind a low, square industrial construction, her eyes locked on the man she was following.
He was waiting for something or maybe just unsure if he should go inside the big building he was watching. The man stood as tall as Ryan and as broad as Marco, and if Pain was right about his origin, it would take something truly disastrous to make this one worry.
She remained motionless, breathing without a sound, as the Beast took out a cell phone and called someone. No one picked up on the other end, obviously, because after a minute he tucked the phone into his coat with a disappointed sigh. He stepped forward—and disappeared out of sight.
Pain cursed and approached the spot, finding an open manhole. She couldn’t just go in and risk running into him in a narrow space. But the tunnel had to lead to the building, so she rose into the air, hoping to find a way to see what the man was doing inside it.
Her forehead prickled from the frigid wind as she flew. She rounded a corner and paused near the top floor, spotting a window at the third-floor level with one plank missing.
The narrow opening revealed a big room. A single light bulb in its center illuminated two rows of empty beds and a long table in between them that looked like it had been abandoned in the middle of a meal. The Beast walked into the pool of light, his dark eyebrows knitted. He looked around slowly, picked up something from the table, dropped it back down with a grimace, and headed back to the exit with big strides.
Pain’s heart pounded. She had to find out what happened there, and she had to find the others. And the decision had to be made now, before he took off.
In her overwhelmed state, she sensed him almost too late.
She ducked, whipping around to face the man who had somehow noticed her and sneaked behind her back. His fist missed her head by mere inches. She drew her foot up for a kick, but his other hand was already flying to her face, palm open.
It hit her just as she flared the shield, and she tumbled through the air, her vision blurring. The Beast followed her, and she knew he would go for a kill. But she needed him alive.
All she could do was run.
The world stopped spinning as she leveled off her flight and darted back to the closely packed buildings, hoping the chase would give her a moment to come up with a plan. She had always been the fastest among her friends, but it didn’t seem to matter this time. The Beast suddenly appeared from around a corner, and she yelped, dashing upward.
His big hand clasped her ankle. The next part was a blur of pain and confusion.
He pulled her down with enough force to leave her breathless, and his other fist slammed into her solar plexus. She tumbled to the ground, skidding to a stop in a pool of mud, gasping for breath. The Beast grabbed her jacket, lifting her off the ground and
