Vivian had her notebook open on the table in her bedroom.
Brittany was sitting beside her, carefully going through the pages.
Several minutes had already passed in silence. The only sounds were the turning of pages and, every now and then, the scratching of a pen against paper.
Spread across the table were newspaper clippings, several printed pages, and the notebook where Vivian had been gathering all the information.
Brittany picked up one of the pages and read it again.
—Did you really find all of this in the library?
Vivian nodded.
—Most of it. Some things were in old newspapers. Others I found in local archives.
—And nobody asked you why you were looking into such strange cases?
Vivian shook her head.
—No. I just said it was for a school project.
Brittany put the page back on the table.
—Good excuse.
Vivian smiled slightly.
—It worked.
They returned their attention to the notes.
After a few seconds, Vivian pointed to an entry.
—Here.
Brittany leaned closer.
—Tairon's warehouse.
Vivian moved her finger to the next line.
—Then the forest fire.
She turned the page.
—Then what happened to Ana.
And finally, she pointed to another entry.
—And then us.
Brittany nodded slowly.
—He always shows up after the violence has already started.
Vivian looked at her.
—Never before.
—Exactly.
Brittany picked up the pen.
—And then what?
Vivian answered without hesitation.
—He disappears.
Brittany frowned.
—That's what bothers me the most.
—Why?
—Because we can't figure out what he wants.
Vivian remained silent.
Brittany continued.
—If he were a normal person, it would be easier to understand him. Money, power, revenge… something.
She pointed at the notes.
—But he shows up, kills the people who are attacking someone, and simply leaves.
Vivian turned to the next page.
—And he always leaves something behind.
—What?
—A mark.
Brittany looked at the notes.
—Or a balloon.
—Or that laughter.
The two of them fell silent.
The room suddenly seemed a little smaller.
Brittany crossed her arms.
—The strange thing is that he never stays.
Vivian rested her elbow on the table.
—Exactly.
—He appears, ends everything, and disappears.
Vivian stared at one of the photographs.
—That's what I don't understand.
Brittany looked up.
—Which part?
—If he wanted fame or fear, he would stay.
Vivian pointed at the cases.
—If he wanted everyone to know who he was, he could leave messages. He could talk to the witnesses. He could make people see him.
Brittany nodded.
—But he doesn't.
—And if he wanted to steal something or get something from the victims, he would have done that too.
Vivian paused.
—But he doesn't do that either.
Brittany thought for a few seconds.
—Then…
She looked at the pages again.
—What is he looking for?
Vivian slowly shook her head.
—I don't know.
Brittany remained thoughtful.
After a few seconds, she spoke.
—He seems more like… a hunter.
Vivian looked up.
—A hunter?
—Yeah.
Brittany pointed at the different entries.
—As if he's looking for something specific.
Vivian frowned slightly.
—Something?
—Or someone.
The two of them looked at each other.
The idea felt uncomfortably accurate.
Vivian picked up the pen.
She slowly wrote in the margin of the notebook:
He doesn't save just to save. He's hunting something.
Brittany stared at the sentence.
—That sounds worse.
Vivian put the pen down.
—I know.
—Because then it means the people he saves might not be the real reason he's there.
Vivian looked up.
—They could simply be part of the path.
Brittany nodded slowly.
—Exactly.
For several seconds, neither of them spoke.
Finally, Brittany let out a sigh.
—This is getting bigger than I thought.
Vivian rested both hands on the table.
—I know.
—When you started investigating, I thought we'd find two or three strange things.
Brittany looked at the pages.
—I didn't expect us to end up with an entire folder.
Vivian gave a small smile.
—Neither did I.
Brittany picked up another sheet.
—So what do we do now?
Vivian took a few seconds to answer.
—Keep looking.
—We're already doing that.
—Then do it better.
Brittany smiled slightly.
—That sounded very professional.
Vivian let out a small laugh.
—I'm serious.
—So am I.
The smile slowly disappeared.
Brittany placed the sheet back on the table.
—Sooner or later, we're going to have to talk to Ana and Madeleine.
Vivian nodded.
—Yeah.
—They saw things too.
—Especially Ana.
Brittany looked at her.
—Exactly.
Vivian partially closed the notebook.
—But not yet.
—Why?
—Because first I want to organize what we already have.
Vivian pointed at the papers.
—I don't want to go to them and say we found a dozen cases without even knowing what we're looking for.
Brittany thought for a few seconds.
Then she nodded.
—Makes sense.
Vivian carefully closed the notebook.
—First, us.
Brittany corrected her.
—Us.
Vivian smiled.
—Us.
Brittany stood up slightly from the couch to stretch her arms.
—All right.
She looked at the notebook.
—Little by little.
Vivian nodded.
—Little by little.
---
Meanwhile, in his room…
Ryan was sitting in front of his computer, checking the Nexum dashboard.
The new ranking feature had already been active for a couple of days.
Ryan opened the statistics.
This time, there was movement.
Several projects had paid to appear in the featured rankings.
There weren't many.
But they were real.
Ryan checked each one.
Some had received more views.
Others had gotten new proposals.
User comments were also starting to appear.
Ryan opened one.
> "I got more proposals after paying for the ranking."
He read the next one.
> "You can really notice the difference in visibility."
And then another.
> "It's still small, but it works."
Ryan leaned back slightly in his chair.
A smile appeared on his face.
—Good…
It wasn't a fortune.
It wasn't even close.
But it was proof.
People were willing to pay for visibility.
And that meant the model could work.
Ryan picked up his notebook and wrote:
Ranking works.
Below it, he added:
Scale carefully.
And finally:
Attract bigger projects.
He stared at the last sentence.
That was the next problem.
Nexum needed more important projects.
More clients.
More activity.
More money.
But none of that could appear out of nowhere.
Ryan closed the notebook.
—Everything in its time.
He saved the data and turned off the screen.
There was still a lot to do.
---
Later, at night…
Ryan teleported to a nearby rooftop to clear his mind.
The night air was cool.
The city stretched out before him, illuminated by the lights of the streets and the windows of the houses.
Ryan remained still for a few seconds.
He had spent too many hours in front of the computer.
He needed to clear his head.
He took a deep breath.
Then he saw them.
Two figures were walking together along the sidewalk.
Ryan narrowed his eyes.
Vivian.
Brittany.
The two of them walked slowly as they talked.
From the way they moved, it seemed like the conversation was important.
Ryan watched them from the rooftop.
He couldn't hear what they were saying from that distance.
For a moment, he felt tempted to get closer.
He could do it easily.
He could appear near them.
He could listen.
He could even find out what they were talking about without them noticing.
But Ryan remained still.
Then he slowly shook his head.
—Not yet.
He had no reason to interfere.
Nexum was still far from where he wanted to take it.
And there were other things he needed to take care of before getting involved with them again.
Ryan looked at the two girls once more.
Something told him that their conversation wasn't casual.
But he decided not to find out.
For now.
Ryan took a step backward.
Darkness began to surround him.
And a second later, he disappeared.
Vivian and Brittany continued walking down the street, unaware that for a few moments…
the Clown had been watching them from above.
They also didn't know that their investigation had just begun crossing paths with his once again.