II. A Helping Hand

Hawks got off his bed, waiting to hear another scream.

A moments passed and the curling scream was heard, again.

"That's coming from the servant's headquarters," Hawks opened a white door next to his bed, which revealed a narrow hallway, "Let's go."

Hawks and Ivory sped down the narrow hallway and down a white staircase to the basement, stopping as they witnessed a massive screaming match with Harley and her maid. Ivory noticed that the other maids stayed in the kitchen; Lucky and the others stood near the kitchen, watching the fight.

Harley's maid was speaking to Harley calmly, but the mellow tone made Harley angrier. Eventually, the maid's voice had risen, and the maid seemed to be screaming. The argument was untranslatable as the argument was in Spanish. Harley struck her maid's cheek, and the young woman flew into the wall and fell onto the floor. Red and Spike scoffed but said nothing as the maid slowly stood; Harley kicked the lady down, and the maid started screaming.

"Harley, Harley!"

Lily pushed past Red and Spike but Blue held her back.

"Lily, you know the rules; don't get involved."

"Boss, the maid did nothing wrong!"

"Who are you to determine that?" Blue sneered. "Get behind me or else."

Lily sighed and stood behind the men.

Ivory knew not to get involved; the other maids' widened eyes said all. Ivory wondered what had happened, but she always considered Harley to be violent. Everything probably ticked the older woman off.

"Let's go," Hawks gently grabbed Ivory's arm and led her upstairs; the screaming was still heard. "I wonder what she did to piss Harley off?"

"Harley seems short-tempered to me," Ivory said.

Hawks shook his head. "Harley's pretty easy going."

"I see," Ivory said.

"You're not the first to think that. Harley's maid must have been sneaking around; that's all I can come up with."

"Ivory," a familiar voice said.

Ivory turned to see Harley with crossed arms.

Ivory and Hawks sent each other the same, apprehensive look. They wondered if Harley overheard their conversation.

Harley handed Ivory a flash drive, "You were a hacker; do me a favor and try to unlock my maid's flash drive."

"Sure," Ivory said, "When's the deadline?"

"As soon as possible," Harley said, pushing past the two younger members.

Ivory stared at the pink flash drive, wondering why Harley demanded such a task.

Someone took the flash drive from Ivory's fingers, and she turned to see Rover. "Let's go, Ivory," he smiled at Hawks, "Do you want to come?"

"No, Hawks, go to your room," Blue scowled.

Hawks nodded and disappeared.

Ivory followed Harley, Rover, and Blue to the computer lab, where Ivory hijacked the flash drive. The flash drive had five files with passcodes that were difficult to bypass, but Ivory could encode the folders.

"Nice job, Ivory," Blue said with crossed arms.

"Thank you, boss," she said as Blue gently moved her away from the computer.

The files were slowly loading. Then, Rover's eyes widened as he stared into the computer. Harley sneered as Blue rolled his eyes. Rover then moved closer and began typing away. The three were silent as Ivory stood to the side, wondering what the files held. Ivory tried peeking, but Blue sent her a dirty look. Ivory stood in place, wondering what was wrong. Rover shut down the computer and ejected the drive, telling Harley that she was right in acting the way she did.

"I can't believe that little shit," Harley snarled.

Ivory gulped, curious to what Harley's maid had done.

"Well, now you know that my opinions of her were always correct," Blue said carelessly.

Harley shrugged.

"Why would you hire Harley's maid if you don't like her?"

The three looked toward Ivory.

"I didn't hire her; the members choose their maids," Blue explained.

"I see," Ivory began to think, wondering when she would have that luxury.

"You aren't allowed to have one," Blue said.

Ivory frowned. "I know that I clean, but if I were to become a hacker again, would I have one?"

Blue laughed. "No."

Ivory narrowed her eyes, wondering why Blue treated her differently. Ivory and Rover sent each other quiet glances, while Harley seemed amused.

"Harley, I'll have Red deal with your maid," Blue turned to Ivory, "Since Harley has no maid, you'll help her find a new one. Harley," Blue turned to Harley, "I'll have Hawks' maid pitch in until Ivory helps you find a new one."

"Thank you, Boss."

"Wait, how am I helping Harley find a maid?"

"We'll scout one. It'll be easy," Harley said as Rover handed Blue the small device.

"Tomorrow, you and Ivory will find a new maid; Rover, follow me."

Rover seemed nervous but quietly followed Blue. Harley ignored Ivory and disappeared; Ivory stood in all alone, and peeked at the computer, but saw nothing. The computer was turned off.

Ivory groaned, "I always miss the good stuff."

Hawks' head appeared by the door, "Hey, what was in the flash drive?"

"I don't know; I wasn't allowed to look."

Hawks' eyes widened. "Oh, it must be bad."

"I don't understand."

"Rover, Harley, and Blue are older, so it was probably something that they could handle, but you can't."

"Oh, adult stuff," Ivory nodded. "It's probably better that way."

The two walked down the hallway.

"Apparently, my maid must take over Linda's duties," Hawks said.

Linda ... Ivory guessed that's what Harley's maid's name was.

"I have to help Harley find a new maid," Ivory said, "Please, pray for me."

Hawks laughed. "Harley's not that bad."

Ivory begged to differ but stayed silent.

The two made their way into the living room, talking and laughing with Lucky. Ivory couldn't stop thinking about helping Harley tomorrow find a new maid, nor could she quit wondering what the flash drive held and how Harley had known that her maid had it. Ivory decided that wondering wouldn't help her and joined the two young men in Lucky's room and watched them play a video game.

Ivory kept staring at the vent, feeling odd but figured that she was paranoid. Ivory eventually ignored her gut feeling, watched Hawks win the game, and laughed as the two men started to wrestle. A dim light lit inside the vent, but the beam went unnoticed as the three were goofing around. Eventually, the light faded as a faint bang echoed through the vent.