An eerie silence filled the car.
Lucy was behind the wheel, while Arthur sat in the passenger seat, idly spinning the Revolver in his hands.
Its barrel was unusually thick—almost clumsy in design—but the balance was perfect, making it surprisingly easy to aim.
The sealed cabin shut out the rain completely. Sheets of rain streamed down the windshield, the wipers sweeping them aside only for more to follow.
Even so, visibility was limited, and Lucy drove cautiously.
With the rain's roar as cover, the silence inside didn't feel so awkward.
Arthur was known for his sharp tongue, but he was no talker.
The drive took longer than expected. Northside Industrial District and Little China were both in Watson, but the distance between them wasn't great.
Maybe that was just the curse of industrial zones—remote, desolate, sprawling. And this one was abandoned on top of it.
Even through the storm, the building ahead finally came into view.
Blurred by rain, the towering cylindrical structure, its top lost from sight, looked like a stone tower from a fantasy world.
"This is it. An abandoned magnetic steel mill..."
Lucy narrowed her eyes, leaning forward to scan the empty roadway.
The downpour had nearly erased all traces. Rainwater pooled on the ground, carrying trash and dust in small whirlpools into the roadside drains.
"David went in through the central blast furnace. After that, I connected to the steel mill's internal network.
But in the end... I was fooled by an advanced bio-signal simulation, and it led me to send David straight into a trap."
Her explanation was short and to the point. Lucy pulled an umbrella from a box, pushed open the door, and stepped out.
Her haggardness had lifted. Dirt still smudged her face, but the lifelessness was gone.
Arthur opened his umbrella and followed, catching up to her slender figure after only a few steps.
"How's it looking... find anything?"
His hoarse voice cut through the rain. Lucy turned, her face grim, and shook her head.
"Then let's head inside..."
Arthur didn't need to check the ground himself—he trusted she'd see more than he would.
With that, he took the lead and walked into the mill.
Like every abandoned plant in the Northside Industrial District, this place was full of half-finished remnants of work.
The road was incomplete, gaps filled with tufts of grass now beaten flat by the rain.
Not far from the main gate, the massive furnace doors hung open.
The entryway stretched nearly ten meters high—clearly built for heavy machinery.
"Let's go around the back..."
Lucy called after him. When Arthur stopped, she explained:
"That's the service entrance. We can circle to the rear and use the monitoring workshop's equipment to get in."
Arthur followed the direction of her finger. That empty space must have been behind the central blast furnace.
"You lead."
He shrugged, giving the floor to her.
Behind the cylindrical main structure, a rectangular annex clung to its side.
It rose only halfway up the main building.
"There should be an elevator here...
Let me check."
Her eyes glowed briefly with streams of data. Within seconds, she lifted her head toward the upper floors.
"There's no power here at all..."
Her voice hardened, the realization sinking in.
"This whole mission—even this so-called Maelstrom gang hideout—it's a scam."
Arthur frowned.
The whole thing stank. For the sake of an obscure merc, a company was willing to spend this much?
Sure, a Fixer wasn't completely trustworthy—but their fragile reputation was their lifeline.
If one was willing to burn their own name, the payoff had to be massive.
When David came last night, the dim light probably made him miss plenty of details.
Their boots crunched on exposed concrete. Every corner of the building was choked with dust and piles of construction debris.
There wasn't a single sign anyone had lived here.
Lucy, holding her folded umbrella at her side, kept her pace hurried, head down, until she stopped on one floor.
"This is it..."
Muttering, she suddenly turned toward a narrow corridor.
A short flight of fewer than ten steps led downward, the hall barely wide enough for three people side by side.
"This really does look like a place to keep prisoners."
Arthur had already pieced together the gist of the job—they were here to pull someone out.
Lucy didn't answer, instead cautiously stepping inside.
Arthur didn't need to go further—the stench of blood hit him at the threshold.
Mixed with the damp smell of rain, it was a scent impossible to mistake.
The absence of rot meant it had all happened recently.
Lucy gripped the doorframe, staring blankly at the scene, her breath quickening.
After only a glance, she pulled her eyes away.
"That... equipment... it's already been cleared.
David must've escaped from here... but something still went wrong."
She turned, scanning the room with a dazed expression.
Arthur frowned at her but offered no comfort.
He could feel the bleakness radiating from her.
In her eyes, David's situation clearly wasn't good.
Arthur stepped past her and looked into the room.
Even he, hardened by countless brutal sights, drew in a sharp breath.
The entire place was a wreck, walls and ceiling nearly soaked red.
It was as if a pit had been carved into a mound of severed limbs, leaving the center hollowed out.
And in that center, lying still in a pool of blood, was a charred circular grenade.
...