A while before the shooting,
All the executives were still gathered around the boss when they began to hear the sound of gunshots ringing out from a lower level.
It continued for a while with no sign of stopping, accompanied by a lot of shouting.
It caught the boss's addressed Yumel.
'Go and quell whatever it is that is going on down there.'
'But my lord, I cannot leave your side,' she protests.
'I said go,' he repeats, his voice firmer this time.
'Yes, my lord,' she states as she leaves to do what she has been told.
Seeing her opportunity, Catherina speaks up.
'Boss, can I leave as well? I have a bad feeling about something.'
The boss waves his hand, permitting her, and she runs off.
On her way, she passes by people in black robes walking around the ship, but she ignores them and keeps on her way, too worried about Quin to bother with them.
Catherina gets back to her room and sees that the door has been busted open.
They better not have laid a finger on Quin, she thinks to herself.
Entering the room, she sees the pink-haired woman with Rod and breathes a sigh of relief. Then she looks around the room and notices that Quin isn't present.
'Where is Quin?' she asks the pink-haired woman, her voice beginning to rise.
'I don't know. He wasn't here when I got here,' she explains.
In fury, Catherina walks up to the pink-haired girl and angrily holds her face.
'You had one job, Beth. One job.'
She frustratedly pushes her across the room.
On the floor, Bethany can't help but mutter out a small, 'I'm sorry.' in acceptance of her failure.
Catherina then turns her anger towards Rod.
'Where did he go? You were watching him, weren't you?' she presses.
Rod doesn't answer, not wanting to lie to Catherina, and Catherina can sense that she isn't saying something.
Catherina picks Rod up by the collar and brings her face to face with her.
'I asked you where he is. Don't you dare lie to me, you brat.'
Folding under the pressure, Rod finally reveals it.
'He was looking for the boats. He went out of the window.'
'The boats?' Catherina questions before tossing Rod aside and running to the window to see if he was still out there.
He wasn't.
'Is he trying to escape?'
She walks over to her wardrobe and brings out the trousers she kept her keys inside. She checks the pockets and finds them empty, then throws the trousers away in anger.
Turning to Rod, she questions her.
'Did you tell him where I kept them?'
Rod hesitates a bit before answering.
'No.'
Technically, she didn't.
Catherina clenches her hands in fury.
'I won't let him escape,' she states as she exits her room.
Back where the boss is,
The sound of heels can be heard confidently walking into the room.
A red-haired woman with heavy eyeliner walks in.
Behind her are three hooded men.
Her red hair has two braids from the sides connecting at the back. She is wearing a red shirt with a large standing collar underneath a black monkey jacket. Her trousers are also black and leather, the kind that spread out the lower they get. They stop just short of her heels, revealing the tips of her red-painted toes. The heels and soles of the shoes have iron on their ends.
She has a belt and a choker that both have a circle with a blue line dashed across them horizontally.
Over everything, she is wearing a blazer-like coat that she hasn't buttoned shut. It is a black coat with blue patterns running from top to bottom. Around the center, they warp, forming a black-hole-like pattern.
The three men behind her are wearing black hooded coats with similar patterns on their backs.
She speaks.
'Long time no see, Eugene.'
The boss, Eugene, gets up from his seat to face her.
'What are you doing on my ship, Stella?'
A long, tense silence stretches between the both of them as they stare each other down.
Stella breaks the silence.
'I came here because of our negotiation. We have been lenient with you long enough.'
She looks around spotting the disarray, 'Not a good time I see.'
She walks over to the scattered items from the collection and picks up the book with the title Book of the End. 'Never the less you are out of time.'
'But EooRen is gracious.'
She holds the book close to her chest.
'So I will give you one last chance.'
Back with Anna's group, who are still fleeing,
They arrive at the side of the ship, and the boats are now visible from where they are. Relief washes over them as they believe they are finally out of there.
BANG!
Their joy is cut short when a gunshot rings out in the air, striking one of the people escaping with them in the back.
The person sent by Yumel has arrived and begun shooting down the people escaping with Anna.
'Run!' Sid screams out as bullets whistle by her.
They increase their already fast running speed.
Finally, they stand above where the boats are parked. Anna doesn't know what to do, so she just stands there, looking for a way down.
Sid, on the other hand, doesn't waste any time before jumping off the ship onto the yellow boat parked below.
She looks back up at Anna and starts signalling for her to come as well.
Zane, seeing this, jumps as well, and Anna, being the last of their group, has to swallow her fear and jump too.
Seeing what the leaders of the chase did, four other escapees jump, following their lead. But one of the four jumps onto the wrong boat, a grey boat beside them.
One escapee is too late to jump and gets shot.
'Damn, Quin isn't here yet,' Sid complains after noticing that he is nowhere in the cockpit.
Anna begins to worry for his safety, and as Sid goes out to look for him, she sees the shooter pointing a gun at her.
'Too late, little birdy,' the woman says, her finger on the trigger, ready to fire.
BANG!
Right then, a shot rings out.
The woman looks from Sid to her belly. Her clothes begin to pool red, and she falls over into the water.
Standing behind her is Quin with the gun he stole from Catherina, which he has used to shoot the woman.
He wears a heavy expression on his face.
'QUIN!!' Sid shouts out joyously, breaking him out of his daze. 'Jump on! Jump on!'
Hearing Quin, Anna comes out of the cockpit to see him just as he lands and gives him a big hug.
'Quin, I was so worried. I thought you weren't going to make it out.'
Quin hugs her back.
'I am fine, and I'm glad to see you are good too.'
Sid cuts off their reunion.
'Did you bring the key?'
Quin searches his left pocket and finds nothing, and right as Sid's heart is about to leap out of her chest, he reaches into his right pocket and pulls it out.
'Yes, I did,' he assures.
Sid looks at Quin's hand and sees there is only one key.
'What? No, no, no. Did you bring another key?'
'No,' Quin explains. 'This was the only one there. What's wrong with it?'
'There were meant to be two,' she elaborates. 'One to start the boat, and one to unlock the chains.'
She states, pointing at the chains binding the boat.
Quin looks in shock as he begins to realize how much his slip-up might cost them.
'Should I go back?' He asks in worry
'No!' Anna refutes.
Then Zane's voice comes in from behind them.
'Let me handle this.'
He takes the gun from Quin's hands, aims it at the padlock, and shoots. The first shot doesn't break the padlock, but after shooting it three more times, it breaks.
'That's perfect,' Sid states as she takes the key to go start up the engine.
Everything is looking up for them until a voice echoes out from on top of the ship.
'I won't let you get away, Quin!'
They look up to see Catherina yelling as she jumps onto the boat.
She grabs one of the escapees on the boat and holds him at gunpoint as a hostage.
'You belong to me, Quin. I will never let you get away.'