CH9: RIN THE EAVESDROPPER

 Before Max left his apartment, he made sure to wear a black jacket and a black cap so that no one could recognize him easily. His red hair alone made him stand out like a sore thumb. As he was walking to the junkyard, he realized that the same thing the two gangsters were doing in his house was the same thing others were doing in different houses. " Damn, I gotta make sure to get rid of this in time." Max ran all the way to the junkyard, making it in a nick of time. He threw the briefcase in the furnace and headed to the warehouse district. It was about twenty minutes if one was running, so he had to get his cardio on. Max used the opportunity to test out his fire walk skill and see what it was capable of doing to his body.

[Fire walk activated.]

 Like a blur of light, Max was off to the warehouse district. His feet felt like they weren't touching the ground anymore and his body seemed to cope with his new speed. Since it was his first time doing this, he would occasionally trip and fall but he eventually got the hang of it. After four minutes of dashing and falling, Max arrived at the warehouse district, the last place he ever wanted to be. 

 As its name sounded, the warehouse district was part of Raid town dedicated to warehouse buildings for storage, stock building for businesses, and vehicle stores for owners who lost the purpose of their old vehicles. On both sides of the street were long rows of warehouses varying in size. Some were large while others were small. Some were new while others were damaged beyond repair. " Ok, I got here. Now what?" Max asked himself.

" Wow, I didn't think you would make it." A soft but chilling voice from the shadows spoke. Max quickly looked around to see where the sound was coming from but there was no one.

" Show yourself. How'd you know my secret." A girl who was slightly shorter than Max walked out from one of the alleys between two warehouses. She had clear skin like Miss Xin but she wasn't this type of girly girl that wore pink. Like Max, she was wearing a black jacket, white shirt, black damaged jeans, and black heavy boots with a shirt tied around her waist and a black beanie on with a little bit of her hair sticking out. She had slim, pretty eyes, and beautiful short, curly hair that was similar to Max's but hers was black with blue tips and Max's was red with yellow tips.

" Hey, Max. Glad to see you."

" Rin? You're the one who wrote the note. How did you sneak it into my bag?"

" When you were getting your ass kicked by CJ." She teased. " Follow me. I've got something to show you."

" Wait, how do I know this is not a trap?" Max asked.

" If I wanted to trap you, I'd have told the gangsters you were the one who stole the briefcase." Rin proceeded to lead Max to a warehouse that was a good distance away from the Four Armed Gang warehouse. The warehouse was dark and musty with a cold aura around it. Rin turned on the lights, showing a nearly empty warehouse. In the furthest corner, a makeshift room with a small bed, string lights hanging over the bed, and a suitcase by the bed were pitched. On the other corner of the warehouse was a makeshift kitchen with cooking pans and pots a small gas stove and one chair.

" Welcome to my home. You like it?" She asked. Max was saddened by the conditions his classmate was living in. He nearly broke into tears but pinched himself and said to himself, 'Don't be such a wuss man.'

" I thought you lived with your parents Rin," Max said.

" My mom died two years ago and my dad was the shotgun guy killed by Pharaoh." She said with a plastic smile on her face.

" I'm so sorry Rin. i...."

" You what? Wished you could help. My dad was killed two days ago. The landlord kicked me out with the little things I had. No one cares Max. As long as you don't have money, they will not care." She said. There was a long silence that made Max feel a little awkward.

" Well, there is a way that you could help me. What you said with your friends, starting a gang and whatnot. I want in. I want to get revenge on those bastards who killed my dad."

" I feel you Rin. My dad was killed by three gang members when I was six. We used to live around Raid City before he was murdered because he refused to pay protection to some small-time gang."

" Well, now we both have our motives. We're both getting revenge for our dad's, Max. I want to start as soon as possible. Let's get started." Max and Rin stayed in the warehouse a little while and talked more about their gang and what was needed. Turn out that Rin knew a lot about gangs, perhaps more than what Sue had researched about.

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Meanwhile, back in the Four Armed Gang warehouse, a meeting was being held by Xin and Pharaoh. The reason for the meeting was concerning the briefcase that was just stolen two days ago.

" Any reports on the package," Xin asked. No one answered or even said a word. Pharaoh cracked his knuckles and everyone started giving their excuses on how they failed to find it. A few brave idiots made fake copies of the briefcase hoping to win favor with Xin, only to have their heads crushed by Pharaoh. Xin was so close to loosing her temper but then, two men in blue dirty overalls came walking through the door. With them, they had the briefcase, although it was a little banged up.

Xin jumped up from her chair and asked, " Where did you find this?"

" We found it at the junkyard that we work from. Someone dressed in black just dropped it in the furnace and left in a hurry."

" How did he look like? Did you manage to see anything distinct about him?"

" No ma'am. We didn't."

" Whatever, leave. You've earned my thanks." Xin ordered.

" Don't we get a reward?"

 Xin glared at both men and said, " You get to keep your lives, now leave before your heads get crushed by my mutant friend." The two men ran out of the warehouse as fast as they could, fearing that the woman could change her mind.

" What do we do now boss?" Pharaoh asked. Xin didn't reply immediately. She opened the briefcase hoping the thief didn't take what was inside. To her surprise, there was nothing in the case, only the soft foam the real package was placed on. Xin didn't know what the briefcase had but she knew it was very valuable to Lidong and she didn't want to stick around to find out what he would do to the town looking for whatever was in the case.