Mandy Roe: Search for the Truth

"If it isn't real enough, then give it up, don't lock it down."
-(No) Faith in Fate

Mandy Roe had always been a normal student.
She lived with her best friend and went to school every day.
There were no particularities in her life. She knew that as much. But students always liked her for her cheery disposition and the way she stood up for people.
But after a traumatizing encounter with one student she thought she'd helped, her life changed forever.
After putting up a fight, she was backed to a corner and was very nearly killed by the sociopath.
Until, for some reason, Thanos Venge showed up.
Thanos Venge was a very common name in Eastbrick, Colorado.
A hooded vigilante with particular methods that answered to vengeance quests.
She thought it was a bunch of bullshit.
Who makes people pay to be protected?
But... He arrived anyways for her. As if he knew she'd be there. That he knew who she was.
There were no payments or requests. He just arrived and up and saved her.
The only two words he told her was. "Be Safe." before running off into the dark hallways of their school.
The police arrived later to question her that night.
"He saved me..." Was all she could say.
Her best friend, Reese Morrison came to pick her up. She cried in his arms because she thought he was hurt, But he was safe.
"Thanos Venge came to the school and saved me, Reese." Reese responded only with silence, choosing only to continue comforting her.
The next morning, she went into more detail on Thanos with Reese at the breakfast table.
She could tell that Reese could tell she had a new obsession.
"Look, the guy's like Aiden Pearce from Watch_Dogs as far as I can tell." He said.
"But haven't you ever wondered who this guy is?" She didn't sense it, but Reese went a little rigid.
"I guess... Haven't we all? Why the sudden interest?"
She sets her spoon down. "Like I told you a million times. The guy saved my ass. He didn't even charge me."
"Don't you think maybe he was just feeling a bit charitable?" He replied.
"Oh come on  Reese, after what happened, I want to find out everything I can about this guy. If possible, who he is."
He scoffed. "You're starting to sound like Jeanette Mars."
She rolled her eyes. "Oh what do you know."
Again, he went rigid. He did seem like he knew something far more than Mandy could fathom. But she couldn't tell.
"You're oddly pessimistic about this and it's weird! Come on, can't you use that talent you have where you suddenly have dirt on people? Can't you find out who this guy is?"
"The guy's a hacking genius, Mandy. So  I pry a little more than someone should when I notice things and I know my way around a computer. Doesn't mean I could possibly outsmart this guy and have his information on my lap."
She sighed. "Fine. But you're washing the dishes." She got up as quick as possible and dumped her plate on the sink before Reese could protest.

It was a Saturday and on Saturdays, she and Reese would occasionally visit their friend, Terrence, who was shot into a coma by his own father.
But today, after what just happened, she asked Reese if he could go alone. He agreed and left for Eastbrick Medical at noon.
When he's gone, she called the only other person she knew could help her try and make sense of things.
Jeanette Mars.
Jeanette was the first person who Thanos publicly saved. Before that, she'd already started her own investigation on Thanos Venge after he got a drug dealer related to her Uncle's case convicted, surfacing new information for the said case.
She'd been trying to find Thanos to thank him, but after being saved, she knew that wasn't enough.
Mandy sat on a bench at the park.
Jeanette arrived, wearing a pink trench coat and a scarf, her long hair slightly hidden by a beanie. Mandy had to admit, she was extremely trendy.
"Thanks for meeting me here." She said to Jeanette.
"Not a problem." She sat next to her. "So what's up? We don't exactly hang out. Why do you suddenly want to talk to me?"
Mandy pulled out her phone. She didn't tell Reese this, but she had taken a photo of Thanos sprinting to his exit. She had always been really crafty with cameras. Thanos had been hit by a brief flash of light from a window and she had the chance to take it.
"Wait, this is at school. Who is this? Why were you at school in the middle of the night?"
Mandy sighed. "You're probably going to hear about it in the news or at school on Monday. But that's Thanos Venge. He saved me last night from Quentin Meeks."
Jeanette shot right up. "That was you?! Of course I know about it, but they hid the name out to protect the student from being harassed! That's what the police does."
"Okay calm down." She said. Jeanette relaxed.
"The reason why I called you here was because I know you're the first person who got so close to finding out who Thanos is. He saved you and for some reason you refused to take his offer to find out who he is. You've been trying to find out who this guy is for almost a year now. I want your help."
"My help?"
"Yes. I want you to help me find out Thanos Venge is."

-Author's Notes-
Hey Guys! I know what you're thinking. WHAT?! Another expansion on Thanos Venge?! We've already got enough as it is!! Hehehe. Well this is sort of an experiment. Just give it a chance.
Thanos Venge, Over and Out.

Thanos Venge: A Dance with Danger

"So take a look at me now."
-Dakota(Stereophonics)
~V~
-Eastbrick Police Department-
Detective Brackett enjoyed reading about the cases Thanos Venge made.

From what he knew, Thanos took quests to exact vengeance upon people who deserve it.

He's heard a lot of good things from cops and citizens alike.

Yet there were still some people who don't trust him. Vigilantism wasn't exactly smiled upon in the law.

His partner, Feal Ross believed this man was not to be trusted.
"Burning the midnight oil, Jer?"
Brackett sipped his coffee and gave Feal a thumbs up.
Feal, though seemingly unkind, is a good person at heart. As Brackett believes at least.
The man gave him his trust after all.
Co-Workers have told him how hard it is to earn it.
From what he's read from Feal's file, it wasn't hard to believe.
Orphaned at the age of 14 with his younger sister, killed his foster father for self defense when the man tried to rape his sister.
He had a small circle, and he believed that the law would win.
Which is why he finds it hard to believe in someone like Thanos Venge. Granted, his work is mostly in the revenge field, he's wiped at least 13 percent of the crime rate going on within Eastbrick area and 3 percent within the nearby states in America.
"What's your story, Thanos Venge..."

~V~
"I'm sorry. You're going to go what?"
After the grizzly encounter with a Drug Syndicate where he very nearly lost his own life, Reese had become fearful and wanted to learn how to defend himself without the constant aid of his connections or skilled fighters.
Just having a Stun Gun wasn't enough. He had to learn how to use it. Or any weapon, for that matter. Or he'd be killed.
And he had to start...
"I'm going to buy a weapon or two. Self defense."
Mandy, who was cooking pancakes, gave him a skeptical look. He had always just freely borrowed her Stun Gun when he'd go out late at night.
She was fine with it. As far as she knew, Reese just liked going out a lot.
A little too much, now that she thought about it.
She had long told herself that she trusted Reese. But now she was getting a little suspicious.
Was he doing drugs? Was he in hot water to need weapons for self defense? He had no known enemies after all. Then again, Reese had so many secrets, she probably couldn't count them. His eerie ability to make information come out of nowhere and the way he never seems to run out of money has also crossed her mind.
"You know you can tell me anything, right? Why the sudden interest in weapons."
Reese had been afraid of the days when Mandy would start asking questions. He had once sat an entire night in his room to ask himself whatever he'd say if ever Mandy got suspicious.
"I uh..." Reese stuttered a little. He had never anticipated that he'd want to buy his own weapons before since he had always worked by planning. So the question was a little difficult. Then he quickly thought of something. He rubbed his head, as if he were embarrassed.
"I almost dropped your Stun Gun in a manhole." Mandy turned the stove off and placed the pancakes in two plates.
Mandy believed him. She didn't want to think there was something wrong. In fact, she was sort of glad. Her Stun Gun, Raichu as she named it, was a gift from her Older Brother. He was a thousand miles away from her and on her birthday, her overprotective brother gave her the Stun Gun.
If she lost it, she'd be devastated.
"Well.. I'm glad you were honest." Was he? She didn't mean it, but there was a sort of tone in her voice that said otherwise. And Reese felt bad about it.
He couldn't tell his best friend that he hacked into people's personal information for a living, nor could he tell her that he performs espionage and cruel punishments on people who don't deserve where they are.
He sighed and poured himself some coffee. It was Saturday and Mandy had convinced him to visit Terrence on some Saturdays after experiencing dark dreams and abrupt awakenings.
To her credit, it was kind of working. The days he'd find himself waking up in sweat was lessening.
But it still didn't change the fact that Terrence was in a coma and Terrence's father was on the loose.
He had promised Terrence long ago that he'd find him justice and he wasn't making any progress.
"So after visiting Terrence, you're going to go buy some weapons, right?"
Reese nodded.
"Good. You can buy me milk on the way home. I just used the last of it on the Pancakes"
Reese groaned and smacked his head on the table. That's what he gets for bringing home extra maple syrup from his last job.

~V~
Terrence looked the same. Maybe a little thinner.
Reese always wondered how the people in the hospital could feed unconscious people. But he didn't dare ask. He felt that the truth would scare him. He'd learned long ago that the medical field was where true horror comes from after his older sister who worked as a nurse, Michelle Morrison, brought him to work.
Thanos took out his notebook and read to Terrence whenever Mandy would go out with Mrs. Sanders to buy lunch or whatever.. His way of talking to him.
"I met E.R. a few months ago. It was so surprising." He flipped through the boring stuff and found himself telling him about his fight with a Drug Syndicate.
"I thought I'd die, you know." And he went on, telling him his decision to learn to fight.
"I always said I was going to find your dad. After that night, I just realized how dangerous life is... I could die if I faced him now with just Mandy's Stun Gun... I sound so stupid."
The door opens and the new nurse, Elise, entered with a set of medical tools Reese could bother to know, but chooses not to because his sister's done a bang up job on slipping every medical term she knows into Reese's head.
"He's going to be okay." She says
"You're always so optimistic, Elise."
She sets her tray down and smiles. "In a world full of death and destruction, sometimes the simplicity of believing everything will be alright is all we need to keep going."
Mandy returned with food and they ate lunch, Mandy went home first and Reese went off to Aragons at Lance's recommendation.
The man arrived just seconds before Thanos could enter the shop.
"Oh good. Thank God I caught up to you."
"Lance. I just got here. What's up? You didn't have to come weapon shopping with me."
The man put his hands in his pockets. "You're an 18 year old entering a weapons shop. Even if you are Thanos Venge, you're going to look suspicious buying weapons." He had a point.
They entered and immediately, Thanos picked up a Stun Gun that had about 5 million volts in power. It was labelled with the brand Stun Guns R Us. Aragons must import some of their weapons.
He then gathered cans of Tear Gas and Mace and put the weapons in a basket.
He found himself staring at a Taser. The one that shot probes. He took that too.
"For a renowned Hacker Vigilante, You're very basic." Lance said.
"Shut up. I can leak your private life into the internet if I wanted to. I'm not a fighter."
Lance stretched his arms. "You're going to have to learn unless you want what happened last time to happen again."
The shopkeep was curious as to why Reese was buying weapons this many.
He kept mum when the kid approached with Lance Garro. When he bagged the weapons, the shopkeep's curiosity intensified and he finally asked the boy
"What do you need all those weapons for?"
"I'm a paranoid person." He handed the shopkeep, Russ as read in the name tag, the money in total.
Russ took out a card and gave it to Reese. Lessons in Self Defense.
"If you ever want to get some lessons."
Before Reese could leave, his eyes lingered to a gun. A very familiar gun.
It was a Taurus 9mm. The same gun that Terrence's father used.
"Do you keep records of who buys stuff here?" It was something he couldn't disclose, but Russ felt it was necessary. Plus, it looked like Lance was sure to shake the shopkeep down if he didn't tell them anything.
"Dated?" he ask.
"October 8, 2013."
Russ read through a record and found one Taurus 9mm purchased.
"I can only give you the number though."
Russ gave Thanos the number and he walked off.
It was a long shot that this would be Terrence's father. But it was all he had. He wanted to believe.
Elise's words circled his head.
In a world full of death and destruction, sometimes the simplicity of believing everything will be alright is all we need to keep going
The two exit the building. Lance offered to take Thanos home.
"What are you going to do with that number?" Lance asked. "What was all that about?"
Thanos hesitated. "I don't just do this vigilante stuff for people Lance.  Even I have my reasons."
He pulled out his phone and opened up an app. He dialed the number and waited.
In good fortune, he hit the jackpot. The phone was owned by Terrence's father.
He traced in, though had trouble because he guessed the phone was off.
"Lance, don't bring me home. Can you bring me to where this is?" They followed the directions his phone gave them and arrived at a brick wall just behind the Starbucks a block away.
An Iphone 4 with a prepaid sim. He was lucky he had an IPod Touch that used the same chargers this kind of phone had.
"Give me your secrets..."
Lance asked him back to the car. But they passed by the way to Thanos' apartment.
"Hey, where are you taking me?" He asked the former Sniper for the Black Ops.
"You'll see when you get there."
"But I've got to finish this-"
He looked at Thanos. "I'm forever grateful for what you did for me and my sister Thanos, but I've done you a lot of favors lately, I think you should see this one out for me."
Thanos sighed and waited for Lance to bring him to wherever they were going.
They arrived at an alley.
"Woah, are you going to kill me?"
"No stupid. Get out of the car."
He followed Lance to a door at the end of the alley. Inside was a air conditioned shooting range.
"What the-" Before Thanos could continue, Lance pulled him into an aisle.
"Here." Lance thrust something cold into Thanos' palm.
A gun.
"Lance. This is a gun."
"Well duh, captain obvious."
"Dude, I can't use this. Its-"
"I'm worried about your safety. You live a dangerous life for an 18 year old. If you get into another one of those situations, I don't think a stun gun or a can of mace can stop someone with a machete or a revolver. And I'm not going to be around all the time to save your ass."
Thanos stared at the pistol. It was small in frame and had a weird 4 barrel design.
This was a COP .357 Derringer.



Thanos knew guns. He'd studied them whenever he was bored. But never did he think about using one. The only time he used one, it was out of sheer luck.
"You're going to have to learn to protect yourself. You can't expect every plan you make to work."
He stared at the gun. Images float in his head.
That insane look the drug lord had in his eyes before he could try and kill Thanos.
Terrence's father pointing the Taurus 9mm at them.
The gunshot that put his friend into a coma.
Suddenly, it wasn't so hard to hold the gun up. "Fine."

~T~

Lance very firmly made Thanos recall his latest scuffle that he nearly lost hadn't he miraculously picked a gun up and beat the proper gun maintenance rules into him. The right way to hold it. And if that wasn't enough, he taught him some self defense unarmed. He demanded Thanos to come every Friday afternoon after school for an hour.
And before he left, he gave him one more thing. A black special ops Combat Knife.
"It kept me alive in most of my missions. Keep it safe."
He never imagined having to walk home with something so lethal.
Thanos stopped by a convenient store to buy milk before returning home.

~T~
Monday morning was calm.
There was a plate of bacon waiting for Reese. Mandy was putting on nail polish before she ate.
"Where were you yesterday?"
Reese froze in his seat. Mandy was never concerned with where he'd go. But it did occur to him that his actions would eventually catch up with her. He had to think fast.
"Uh..." He stammered. " I was at Mercer's place."
He waited. He waited for Mandy to say 'Doing What?'
But she didn't say anything, only continue to paint her nails. She wasn't cautious yet, he thought.
"Again, you can tell me anything, okay?"
Perhaps she thought he was doing drugs. "Yeah. Thanks Mandy."
He couldn't tell her that he was at a hacker friend's place. cracking the phone he had found the day before and charged.
When it opened, there weren't a lot of things. The messages were mostly from phone bills. Nothing else. Any personal messages were deleted.
But the call log only had one number.
The background check that he did identified the owner of the number as Warner Lowell.
He was a domestic wife beater but the wife refuses to tell the police.
He worked at the local Vinyl store.
"T. What are you going to do next?" asked Paul, his hacker friend.
"I intend to collect." and he began planning.

~T~
Nothing entered Reese's head today.
Only that he was closing in to Grant Sanders. He was going to nail him to the wall soon and Terrence will be avenged.
So it took Mandy some time to snap Reese out of his stupor to get him to notice some of the members of the basketball team harassing one of the kids by the lockers.
Mandy hated bullying.
And she knew the basketball kids. They were usually nice. Why they would do this is beyond her.
"Well, Reese? Let's go!"
"Y-Yeah." He followed her to the scene and watched as Mandy get in between.
"Okay guys, leave him alone."
"Aw come on Mandy. He started it."
The kid, Quentin Meeks was a quiet kid who didn't really talk too much. He didn't seem like the type to initiate.
But Reese knew. Back before Mandy arrived in Eastbrick High, the basketball team were a much more aggressive bunch. He and Terrence watched them toss Quentin into a trash can and harass them for 2 years straight. It was usually three of them, though they've grown out of it.
"Well stop it, okay?"
The basketball team walked briskly away and Mandy turned to comfort Quentin.
"Are you okay?"
He pushed her out of the way. "I didn't need your help!"
"What was his problem?" Reese asked. Mandy could only shrug.

~T~
Today was the day. He was going to get some answers.
Mandy stayed in school for a while longer to finish up a project. Thanos took this chance to get ready to face Warner.
Stun Gun, Mace, Knife... Check. Then there was the gun.
He hid it in his locked drawer, but the way his missions were going these days, he felt the need to bring the gun along. Besides, if the man didn't say anything, he was going to be forced to use violence.
His phone beeped. A new request.
From Quentin Meeks.

A girl, Mandy Roe, got in my way today. She ruined everything.
Please take retribution. Please kill her.
-Quentin Meeks

This kind of threat to his friends made him shiver. He knew exactly what happened and he didn't have time for this nonsense.

My background search reveals she did nothing wrong to you. To ask me to take a life simply because she did something you didn't like is an immature way to resolve your problems. Please seek psychiatric help.
-Thanos.

He didn't reply.
That made him nervous, but it might mean he gave up.
He sighed and stared at the gun again.
"Only if I need to..."

~T~
The local Vinyl store was a musty old place.
No one usually bought here and instead went to the cool music store at the mall. How was this guy paying the rent?
Thanos pulled up his hood and approached the counter.
"Yes?" The man reeked of alcohol. This was Warner Lowell. The only man that had any clue where Grant Sanders would be.
Thanos activated the voice changer hidden in his scarf. "Tell me, Warner..."
The man looked alarmed.
"...Where's Grant?" The man stood still for a few seconds and turned around.
"Who?"
"You're not fooling-" Warner swung around again, a fire poker in his hand.
Thanos ducked as the man struck. He hit the magazine stand.
Thanos pulled out his mace and shot the man with the spray. He brought his arms up to protect his eyes from the spray.
He then threw the poker at Thanos. "Oof!"
Warner made a break for the backdoor.
Thanos immediately followed.
The room was a recording studio.
"RAGH!!!" Warner came up from behind Thanos and struck him with a baseball bat. Thanos braced himself with what little time he had to react and skid to the floor when the bat made contact with his arms that shielded his head.
The burly man began raising the bat overhead, ready to strike at Thanos. Thanos swept his leg and Warner falls.
He took out his stun gun and zapped the man. The bat flew out of his hand.
Warner jabbed his foot on Thanos' face and he gets up.
He was a persistent one.
Warner reached for the harpoon hung above a set of records. He was set to keep kill Thanos if it meant keeping mum about Grant's location.
But Thanos wasn't going to let that happen.
Before the man could even take the blade out of the rack, the records set below the harpoon burst into shards.
Thanos aimed the Derringer at Warner. "Don't... Even think about it."
The man dropped the harpoon and raised his hands above his head.
"Please... I don't-" He didn't even finish. The taser probes stuck to his gut and electrocuted him unconscious.
Thanos, with the Taser on his other hand, sheathed his pistol. "Good Night."
He dragged the man into the soundproof recording room.
This was finally it.

~M~

Mandy set down her bag on the table and took out her things to work on her homework.
Just as she retracted her notebook from her bag, a letter falls out with it.

Meet me in school at 8 P.M.
I have your friend, Reese, and I’m going to break
his neck if you don’t come.
Come alone, and don’t call the cops.

The letter contained a picture of Reese's favorite necklace. It had drips of blood.
Mandy hesitated. This could be a prank, she thought.
Reese wouldn’t go down like that.
She picked up her phone and dialed Reese’s number.
“Come on… Pick up. Pick up.”

~T~
Meanwhile…
“Where is he?!” Thanos had his current victim tied on a leash and crushed under a TV.

"I don't know what you're talking about! I-I'm innocent-"

"Don't give me that bullshit! No one's innocent, least of all, you." Then, Reese's phone rang. It was Mandy. Thanos had been called by her at different times during his missions. And at those times, he'd ignore it and she'd just call back later. Most likely for dinner questions. But the call kept going, but he still didn't answer. On her third call, he had disconnected her and put his phone on airplane mode. Thanos didn't have a lot of time. He had to interrogate this one. He had been the one person that Terrence's dad called after he dumped a body off a cliff. 

He couldn't lose the chance to find a new lead to the man who had shot his best friend into a coma.

"I know Grant Sanders called you after he murdered that girl! I saw his phone! You were his last call after he tried to hide the phone behind a brick! An innocent kid, his own son, is in a coma because of him. Now tell me where he is or I will jam this record piece on that hand you beat your wife with and stick my stun gun up your mouth!! You have 5 seconds!" He still sticks the stun gun he had recently bought on the man's mouth anyways.

"1...2...."

~M~

Mandy was distressed. Reese wasn't answering his phone. It was normal, she knew. But when someone makes a threatening letter and your friend doesn't answer, you get really worried.

"The Morrison house." She dialed Reese's parent's house.

"Hello?" Reese's older sister, Michelle, answered the phone.

"Mich! Hey! It's Mandy. I'm just calling to ask if Reese is there. He hasn't come back yet."

Mandy crossed her fingers that he was there and that she didn't have to lie to his nice, older sister.

"He didn't come to visit." There was a change in her tone that was obviously concerned.

Mandy faked opening a door and greeting a fake Reese, all so Reese's family wouldn't be concerned. Reese had made her swear on her life that she must never, under no circumstance, tell his family any bad news about him because they might all come from New York to try and find out what happened. Only if he dies, he said.

"Ohhh. Reese's home! He just went Christmas shopping!"

Michelle sighed in relief and said goodbye on the phone.

"Whoever this guy is has my friend."

She buried her face in her hands to contemplate what to do.  She was in complete duress.

Then, she turned her head to her dressing table. Her Stun Gun, Mr. Raichu, and her Mace Pepper Spray, Mr. Koffing, stood side by side around her clutter of makeup.

"He said to come alone, not unarmed." She grabbed her coat, tucking her weapons away in her coat pockets, even a Boxcutter she chanced upon, and started out the door, ready to save her friend.

~M~

Mandy came to school, just as the letter had asked of her.
It was dark. It wasn’t really her thing to just sneak into school unnoticed.
If whoever had sent that mail was around, they had made a great effort to evade security before they locked up.

"There you are." A chill went down Mandy's spine.

"You."

It was Quentin Meeks. The odd boy she had saved just a while ago from the basketball team.

"Where's Reese?!" She demanded. Her hands already clutched on the boxcutter in her left pocket.

"Where do you think?" He shows the necklace, the blood still there.

"What did you do to him?!"

"He's not here, dumbass." He said. "He just dropped this at class."

"Then why'd you call me here?!" She shouts. As she did, he produces a wide knife from his sleeve.

"To kill you."  He says in a sinister voice with an equally sinister smile.

"But... Why?"

He pinches the bridge of his nose and looks at her in the eye. "You were in the way." He takes out three safety pins.

"I was going to kill those guys. 6 years of torment. They may have stopped but those years destroyed me, and I could've ended them with this untraceable poison. But no. You jumped in and made them back off.  Now they're gonna keep terrorizing me since I initiated yesterday. And all of my poison was only until that afternoon. Do you know how much I saved up for those? Now I have nothing." He tosses the formerly poison pins to the ground, then looked at Mandy.
"I can at least get my revenge on you." And he started for her. She turned and ran. He was faster.
He slammed her to a classroom door and pointed his knife on the tip of her chin.

"Now then..." Mandy thrashed about and took out the Boxcutter.

"Get off me! GET OFF ME!"

She stabbed the Boxcutter on his right thigh. He let out a bloodcurdling scream and let go of her. She ran as quickly as possible to the opposite hall, immediately seeing how quick he had locked the doors.

"You shived me!" He shouted and it echoed throughout the floor.

Mandy didn't care and immediately attempted to hide in her locker, but ditched that thought, knowing he'd probably guess that. So instead, she hid inside the locker next hers. Her friend, Kelly Sean's. She had vacated the locker and gave the code to Mandy for her personal use. 

"I know you're out there Mandy! I'm going to kill you!" He said in an creepily cheerful way.

He stopped and checked the supply closet.

Nothing.

Then, he had an odd sense to check the lockers.

"Come out! If you do, I'll try to make this as quick as possible." He began walking to Mandy's locker, took out a piece of paper that probably held Mandy's code. She thanked the darkness that it impeded his work.

Though 'Oh my God' and 'Oh Shit' was the only thing she thought, she suddenly remembered about the emergency phone she stocked on Reese's locker. She could probably make him turn around for a split second and she could fight back.

As he finished entering the code, Mandy dialed her emergency phone's number in the hopes that it had battery.

And it rang. The Hanging Tree ringtone echoed the area.

Quentin laughed and approached Reese's locker. "Gotcha" he said

"Right back at ya." Mandy whispered, and she burst out of the locker, crouching, and jammed her stun gun at his leg. He fell rather quickly and she zapped him by the heart.

When he was face-up, she sprayed her mace at his eyes and ran away as fast as possible to the second floor.

"Thank you Veronica Mars the Movie"

She muttered

"Get back here you bitch!" He shouted.

Fat chance. Mandy thought to herself

~T~
Warner, despite his reputation as a wife beater, was a sob story. He didn't take pain to kindly despite constantly inflicting it.
After being scraped by broken records and being tazed on his cheeks, he was ready to talk.
Though he didn't have a lot to offer. It was a start. Grant called him only to confirm the girl, his colleague, was dead. Grant was just supposed to relay an ok to their boss.

Now on the location:

Grant was somewhere in Eastbrick because the guys that made him kill that girl was established here. But he wouldn't tell Thanos who he and Grant was working for. He told him to just kill him.
Instead, Thanos called the police.
Detective Brackett answered. "Eastbrick P.D. How may I help you?"
"I have evidence of Warner Lowell beating his wife. I've compiled it in a file. He's being held in his shop."
"Who is this?" He asked.
"I think you know, Detective." Thanos turned off the burner phone and tossed it in the trash.
As the sirens echoed the outside, he began his escape.
He took his phone out of Airplane mode and readied to call Mandy.
But there were 3 messages from her.

>Reese, Please answer the phone. Some creep said he has you hostage. I don't believe him.
>Come on, please. Answer your phone.
>If you have my friend's phone, I'm going to school right now. Please. Don't hurt him.
"Oh shit." Reese ran faster than he ever ran before.

~M~
Mandy hid in the second floor Boys bathroom. She thought Quentin would make the mistake of checking the girl's bathroom first.
She was petite so she hid under the sink cabinets.
But it surprised her to find him checking the boys bathroom first.
All that entered her brain was Shit shit shit shit shit.
But she was relieved to find him peeing.
He approached the sink. "Damn... That bitch really did a number..."

And he left.

She took 4 seconds before deciding to get out.

"Damn. I forgot to call 911."

Just as she was about to take out her phone, one of the bathroom stalls open.

"You can forget about it"

She gasps as Quentin tackles her. The phone skids out of her reach. 

"You know, you do kinda look hot." He snatched her up by the hair. It was painful. 

She tried jamming her stun gun at him, to which he responds by slamming his head on hers.

"Nope, nope, nooo. Heh heh.." The stun gun also flies out of her hand.

"Say, are you a virgin?"

With her free hand, she resorted to scratching his face. He didn't like it.

He punches her and she skids right next to the stun gun.

As he approaches, she swings the stun gun at his gut. Though he takes damage, he slaps it out of her hand and places her in a chokehold.

"How does it feel to know no one will save you? Your little saving the weak act wont save you after all. Any last words?"

"How about go fuck yourself?"

Quentin could only turn around before hearing the gunshot and feeling the impact the bullet from the Derringer Thanos shot him with enter his sides.

Mandy gasped for breath and coughed.

Thanos led her out into the hall and gave her her phone. "Call 911."

"You're... Thanos Venge."

"Be Safe." And he ran off.

~T~

"He saved me." Mandy said to Detective Brackett.

"Who?"

"Thanos Venge..."

Twice in one day...

Detective Brackett certainly wanted to find out more abot Thanos now.

"Mandy!" Reese Morrison, the girl's friend, the detective thought.

"Are you okay?" He looked like an ordinary kid... Though how did he get there so fast?

No. The Detective felt he was just being paranoid.

Thanos Venge... He was a crafty one.