Driving through the city, Raven tells Andrew to get an exit to a deserted avenue. He starts to get concerned about where they were going since that way would lead to an abandoned community of homeless people. He tries to deflect his mind out of those thoughts by starting a conversation with the detective.
"So, this man, who helped Collins get into that bus, lives around here?" Andrew asked.
"Yeah... I told you that 5 minutes ago..." Raven says, with a suspicion tone on her voice. She knew that Andrew was a little uncomfortable with that route.
The commander has been through crazy missions, but that was one he wasn't understanding. His short black hair was already gray on the sides. His face always had a neutral expression. His physical wasn't that muscular for a high ranking military man, and he had no facial hair. On his left hand, a golden ring on his finger, depicting his marital status. His clothes, always social style, wearing pants, shoes, a shirt, and sometimes a suit, but always with a holster beneath it all. Andrew parks the car in a dark alley and gets out of it, along with Raven. The detective leads the commander through narrow streets in that particularly dangerous neighborhood.
"Raven...?" Andrew says, calling the brave detective by her name for the first name.
"What is it, commander? Don't tell me you're scared." Raven replies.
"Of course not. It's just kind of stupid coming here like this." He says.
"What do you mean?" Raven asks while they keep walking through dark alleys.
"Even though we are skilled law enforcers, we are only two. I've just seen dozens of junkies with guns bigger than their bodies staring at us with an unpleasant face." Andrew replies.
"Relax... They all know me." She says, with no worries at all.
"They know you...? All of them...?" the commander asks, confused.
"Yeah... Look..." Raven says and immediately whistles loudly. The people who were stealthily observing suddenly started to show themselves completely and go directly toward the detective. There were tons of homeless people coming out of the shadows in that abandoned community. Covered with dirt and a putrified smell, they all seemed to have a different type of deformation on their bodies. As they all approached Raven, one of the hands she kept behind her back started coming forward, in a repeated action of caressing some of the children's on their heads. Andrew was simply astounded with what he was just witnessing.
"What in the world is this...?" the commander's eyes semmed like they would pop out of his head. He couldn't understand at all what was happening. It looked like Raven was some sort of "Mother Teresa."
"Pull yourself together, commander. These are just poor homeless people. They couldn't harm an ant..."
"Well, that's because guns don't scare ants, but they do frighten humans."
"Just follow me. We're almost there."
The two of them continue walking until they get to an improvised big old tent, with a faded gray tone and a lot of stains on it. Weird noises seem to come out of it, but as they approach, it becomes clear that some of them are just like moans, and as the tent looks like it's moving a little, it's safe to assume that the people inside are having a little fun. One of the kids go inside the tent to call whoever was in there, and that leaves Andrew speechless. Why would a child go inside that place when it was clear of what was happening? And why would anyone let a child go in there? The kid leaves the tent right after, and all the noise and movement cease at all. A teenage girl, approximately 16 years old, also leaves the tent, and then, right after, a man on his 60s.
"Raven! What 'surprise'! What 'I can' make for you?" the old man says, not knowing much about English grammar.
"Your intel. It worked." she replies.
"So you 'bring' me 'reward'?"
"Yeah, there you go." Raven says while throwing the bag of cocaine that Andrew had brought her earlier.
"That is 'good' thing!" The old man gets happy with it.
"Hang on! What are you doing?" Andrew asks Raven angrily.
"Not now..." she says, in a lower voice.
"Yes, now! You just gave a load of drugs to an old creep who was obviously having sex with that minor! What the hell, Venus?" he asks, undignified.
"She 'are' my daughter! I have 'take' care of my children!" the old man replies.
"Your daughter?!?! That's it! Let's get out of here now. And bring this pervert with you!"
"Sorry, Lester! My colleague here is a little upset with some personal things. Please, enjoy your product and keep doing a good job! You are a very good person!" Raven stops Andrew from arresting the addicted homeless, speaking very slow so he can understand everything she says. "Let's go, Commander." She tells him, with an angry tone on her voice.
The two start to walk back to their car in silence. Andrew was outraged with what just happened, but as they kept walking, the commander started to understand that maybe a fight there wouldn't have been the best idea. Then, he finally breaks his silence.
"What just happened?"
"Have you ever heard of 'keep you friends close and your enemies closer'?" She replies
"Yes."
"Well, keep your friends high, and your CIs higher." Raven says.
"I see..." He replies, with a sad tone, but unable to do anything since the young detective was the superior on that operation.
"Look... I know you're a 'boy scout' and always play by the book, and this is not something you would've signed for. But you gotta face it. Try to understand that we're gonna deal with things here the hardest way. That old creep might be an incestuous junkie son of a bitch, but he led us to a bigger fish in the ocean." She says, trying to be at least a little sympathetic with him. "I know that you think that the ends don't justify the means, but let's work first on this big thing. Then, we'll go after the little ones, alright?"
"Fine, Venus... I don't agree with this, but I can't just simply put our main mission aside here." He replies, trying to get his mind out of the awful incestuous homeless community he'd just seen. "So, we just came here to pay your debt with that creep?"
"Of course not. I bugged that package, it's already being transmitted and recorded by Rivers. That old man doesn't fool me, he's a fucking double-crosser." She says as they keep walking towards their car and she calls their tech expert.
"You knew he would betray you." Andrew affirms.
"Of course, darling. I'm always one step ahead, remember that." She says, as he took that as a suspicious commentary.
"Okay... well, at least I'm glad you didn't use that cocaine I brought you." He says.
"I've never said I would use it, commander, I just said I needed it..." She replies.
While Andrew started to drive them back home, Raven finished her talk with Rivers, telling him to stay aware for something out of the ordinary in the audio transmitter on the bag of cocaine. After about 15 minutes, they arrive back to the central. Rivers starts to talk about the progress of the mission.
"Hey, guys. So, nothing weird on the bug you told me to keep an ear on. Right now, it's just making some weird noises of moans, and I think I know what it is..." Rivers says, bothered with it a little bit.
"It's exactly what you think..." Andrew replies, disappointed as well.
"But the good news is that I've found our golden girl. This is Brandi Spaccia, she joined the army when she was 18 and people started to pay attention on her skills. At the age of 21, she was already a CIA agent. As you know, their system is absurdly protected, so I couldn't get any info about her position there, but I'm sure she is one of their top agents on the field." The "tech mage" says.
"Well, do you have anything else about her?" Andrew asks, as Raven stays silent looking at her.
"Not much" Rivers replied. "Apparently she is a very smart person, but she has an issue with-"
"... Anger management?" Raven interrupts.
"Yeah..." He answered, surprised. "How did you-"
"I've had this suspicion for a while." She replies.
"Alright 'Ms. Body Language Expert", we get it, you're good at this." The commander replied, tired of Venus' bragging about her own skills.
"Shut up, Andrew. This has nothing to do with body language." Raven replied back, a little angry about his condescending tone. "The thing is..." she gets closer to the monitor that was showing two pictures of the CIA agent side by side: one screenshot of when Collins encountered her, and one picture from her CIA files. "I've seen this face a few times... She will blow up our mission."
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"What the fuck are you talking about?" Andrew asked, confused with what she'd just said.
"It's hard to explain, but I feel that she won't have the guts to watch those tortures." She replied.
"Well, that doesn't matter since we're gonna break in before they happen." He says.
"What...? That wasn't the plan..." Rivers says, confused."
"Of course it was! Venus told me that while I was driving her to that creepy neighborhood" Andrew replies.
"Well... She told me and Collins that we would wait until the first torture session finishes. Then, Collins would go there again for a second time, and then, we would bust in" Rivers says.
"What?!?! Are you fucking crazy, Venus?! You were planning to let innocent people get killed for the sake of the mission?!" The commander asked, completely outraged.
"We need proofs, commander." Raven replied, calmly.
"Fuck the proofs!" He screamed.
"No, Andrew, fuck YOU!" She replied. "I've tried my best to make you understand that this is a disgustingly nasty job, but you keep insisting on playing it by the book! Don't you get it? There is NO book here! There are no rules, neither dignity! We've been assigned to this because we are capable of taking it all without whining! So, quit the fucking attitude and just do as I say." she gets very close to the commander and says: "I am the boss here, do you copy?"
Andrew stood there, absolutely angry with not only Raven's decisions and her crazy plan, but also the way she talked to him. He'd never had anyone younger than him trying to give orders like it was coming from his parents. But, deep down, he knew she was right. Before he could say anything, Rivers interrupted their "staring contest".
"Guys..." The tech expert says, as Raven and Andrew look at him at the same time. "The torture... It has begun."
"Oh shit..." Raven says.
After 5 seconds of realization, the detective grabbed some keys from one of the drawers of an iron cabinet. She quickly started to run, as Andrew and Rivers looked at each other absolutely confused, and then started to follow Raven. She leaves the central by the main door, and goes straight to the back of the shed, and opens a hidden garage there. Inside, there was a school bus with faded paint and a lot of rust. She gets in the bus, and so do Andrew and Rivers. Raven puts the keys she'd just gotten in the ignition, and violently steps on the accelerator, throwing Andrew and Rivers to the chairs behind the driver, leaving them on the floor
"What the fuck? What are you doing?" Andrew desperately screams.
"We're going to that red room, right now." Raven answers.
"How?! We don't know where that is!" The commander asks.
"Remember what I said about the magnet in those glasses? It also works as a compass, and there's a tiny tracking on it." She explains, and then yells to their tech expert: "Rivers! Trace the route right now on your phone!"
"Right away, boss!" Rivers answers.
As Raven drives the bus recklessly to the location where Collins got in the other bus, Rivers pulls a route to the torturing place from where she is. Raven, once again, steps on the accelerator and drives at 80 miles per hour. Of course, that got the attention of a couple of police cars, and the sirens started to soar. As Raven keeps the speed, even when turning the bus left or right, she pulls out the gun out of her waist and shoots the front glass two times, cracking it all. She proceeds to kick the glass a few times, and it comes out of the vehicle. With no front window, she aims her gun to a mini-truck in front of her with a load of manure, perfectly shooting the mechanism holding the dung in, and then quickly turning the bus to a street on her left. As she managed to escape, the police cars were all trapped in the huge load of manure scattered all over the street.
"Oh my God! I'm working with a psychopath!" Andrew says, baffled with what just happened.
"Correction: you're working FOR a psychopath!" Raven replies.
"You think this is funny?!"
"Oh, yeah!" She replies, with a big smile on her face.
Meanwhile, Collins and all the other guests were already sitting down in what looked like a movie theater. After a few minutes, the "purge" was about to begin. The lights start to get dimmer. What appeared to be a monitor in front of the guests reveals to be a glass panel where the torturer would start massacring a poor man in his 20s, lying down blindfolded and tied to a gurney. Suddenly, a really big and strong man appears, wearing a beige tank top and some jeans, both of them with a lot of blood stains. His face was covered by a classic Guy Fawkes mask, but as he turned around, you could see that he was bald. The sounds of the room couldn't be heard by the guests, as the device to allow it was deactived as the torturer started to prepare himself, but you could clearly see the victim crying and screaming for help. Inside the torturing room, the disguised man screams "silence", as the victim instantly shuts up. The torturer takes the blanket out of an iron table and reveals a lot of tools and knives, alongside a phonograph. The victim stood quiet, afraid of his fate, and also confused by that machine. The torturer grabs a vinyl out of its paper case, which depicts a Louis Prima record. He puts the vinyl on the phonograph, and it starts playing "Enjoy Yourself". That jazz tune started to scare the victim even more, who started to sweat even more and shake nervously. The torturer prepares his equipment, as the sounds inside now can be heard by guests. The man grabs some pliers and goes directly to the victim. As the record plays "how long can you travel when you're six feet underground?", the torturer uses his pliers to cut the victim's fingers, one by one.
Back to the "bus trip", Raven is getting close to the location, passing through a forest isolated from the city. Andrew and Rivers were still on the floor, behind the driver's seat, unable to get out of there because of Raven's reckless and furious driving.
"Everyone! To the floor!" She screams.
"We never even managed to get up!" Andrew answers, a little angry with all that situation.
The brave and crazy detective busts into the hideout, breaking the iron gates of the place and going directly to the main entrance. The two security guards get their guns and start shooting at the bus, but Raven didn't take off her foot out of the accelerator, ready to crash into both of them.
Back to the "main attraction", the torturer starts stabbing the victim in his legs with a sharp kitchen knife. Watching from her seats, Collins kept on a straight face, but she was disgusted on the inside. Unlike her, the disguised agent beside her was already showing an angry expression on her face and clenching her fists. Collins puts her hand on her arm, and as the agent looks at her, Collins shakes her head, signalizing that the agent should control herself. The agent was astounded as she understood that Laura knew about her identity just by that subtle gesture.
Meanwhile, Raven orders Andrew and Rivers to jump out of the bus through the main door while it was still moving. Andrew, obviously, asks the detective if she's crazy, but Rivers was aware of the plan and pushes him out of the bus. Raven thanks Rivers, and he jumps out of the vehicle as well. The detective puts a brick that was under her seat on the accelerator pedal and also jumps out of the bus as the guards jump out of the way, and it hits the main entrance perfectly. The impact shakes the underground of the Red Room, and the torturer, who was slowly cutting the victim's throat with a machete, trips and accidentally cuts his whole head. The lights go off.
"It's show time!" Collins says.
"What do you mean?" The disguised agent asks.
"I'll tell you, just help me get into that 'cleaning room' I've seen next to the dorms." She replies.
The girls take advantage of the distraction and run to the room where Collins needs to go, and when entering it, they find a lot of guns in there, as Collins says "I knew it". Meanwhile, the guards outside the building get up, dizzy, and confused. But before they can do anything, Raven and Andrew appear out of the smoke caused by the crash and shoot both of them. Raven gives a gun to Rivers so he can protect the door if anyone comes to "crash the party". Raven and Andrew go downstairs and immediately face a lot of guards. Cornered by the enemy fire, they try to take cover behind some pillars. But, Collins and the CIA agent, Brandi, appear behind the guards with heavy guns and shoot them all. The two disguised women join Raven and Andrew, as the detective tells them that she called the SWAT team before leaving the central, so they're probably almost arriving. They decide to explore the facility and try to find anything else that can tip them where other Red Rooms could be.
As Collins, Brandi, and Andrew run toward the torture room, Raven pretends she is behind them but stops in the middle of the way. She finds a hidden door with no handknob and shoots a locking mechanism, instantly unlocking the door. She knew that this hidden door was there and where it would lead. As she gets in, she closes the door behind her and finds herself in a room with a lot of monitors and computers, and only one man sitting in a chair, with his back turned to her direction. She loads and points her gun to the man, who instantly lifts his hands in a sign of surrendering.
"Hello, Henry... And do not turn around." She says.
"Do I know you?" The man asks.
"Does the name 'White Viper' ring a bell?" She answers.
"... Raven?" He asks, disbelieved.
"Where's Schooler?" Raven immediately asks.
"How are you still alive? I mean, it's been so long, and I didn't-"
"I said..." She interrupts, shoots the chair next to his, and reloads the gun. "... Where is Schooler?" She asks once again, this time with a pause between every word.
"I don't know..."
"Bullshit!"
"If I tell you, he will kill me!"
"And what do you think I'll do to you?" She asks while getting closer to him.
"You've got a point..." He answers.
"Look... Just tell me where he is. I promise I will let you go. I'll help you escape the SWAT team that's coming." She lowers her tone in an attempt to sound sympathetic.
"Why would I believe you?"
"You know me. When I say something, I always do it. Remember?"
The man thinks for a while and says: "I do... I remember it clearly... I really don't know where he is... But, I know someone who might know his location". He gives in and decides to help Raven.
"Talk to me."
"It's Helena. She lives in Danvers, in the woods. Next to Hathorne Hill." He finally opens his mouth and spills the beans.
"Danvers... The old Salem Village?"
"Correct..."
"And why the hell this 'Helena' would know anything about him?"
"Because her name is Helena Schooler... She's his mother."
"Alright... good job, Henry. See? It wasn't that hard."
"Yeah... It's just a bit terrifying not being able to turn around and knowing all the things you've-"
Raven shoots the man in his head before he can finish the sentence. His head hits the computer in front of him, and the blood starts to spill everywhere. Andrew, Brandi, and Collins hear the shooting sound and immediately start to run and search for it. When finding the control room, they question Raven.
"What happened?" Andrew asks.
"His left waist, he was gonna reach for his gun." Raven answers, as Brandi searches and actually finds the gun.
"The bullet came from the back of his head." Andrew says.
"So...?" Raven asks.
"So, how could you know he was going for his gun if he had his back turned to you?" The commander asks back.
"Do you really want to waste everybody's time for a simulation of how you can see someone's hand clearly moving to a place where a thug would obviously keep a gun?" Raven asks Andrew, pointing the "obvious" in her argument.
"No... I just feel frustrated by this dude's death. I mean, judging by the fact that he was alone in this big 'control room', I'm pretty sure he was the boss here and could lead us to other Red Rooms..." Andrew replies, giving up on his suspicions.
"Yeah, I feel the same." Raven says while lowering her head in an attempt to express frustration. "Let's go, guys. The forensics will take it from here." She says as the team leaves the place along with the CIA agent, and the SWAT actually leads the forensic experts to the room.
The team leaves the underground base, where Rivers was waiting for them, and the SWAT team was taking into custody all the citizens who paid for the torture. Andrew and Brandi begin to daydream but not in a good way. They start to process everything that happened that day. And as Collins and Rivers were already used to Raven's insane routine, Andrew and Agent Spaccia were dazed by that series of events involving that Red Room. Raven breaks the uncomfortable silence.
"Agent Spaccia-" She says but is interrupted by the agent.
"You all can just call me Brandi... I'm not that proud of my nickname." The agent answers.
"Okay... Brandi, you can't go back to the CIA, you know too much about our operation... You'll have to stay with us." Raven says, not too happy about another addition on her team, but also not too upset, since a CIA former agent could contribute with a lot of information.
"What do you mean? I can't just leave the CIA." Brandi replies.
"Yes, you can. I've already written a letter to send them. I know who's your superior, he won't deny my request."
"What?! You can't just do this! Look, even though I liked your operation and your goal, I can't just change like this."
"You have no choice, Brandi. Face it." Raven says, with authority.
"Who do you think you are to just dictate everything around here?" Brandi asks, getting very close to Raven.
"I'm Detective Raven Venus." She answers and winks her left eye.