[WP] In a school for assassins and mercenaries, you're a beloved lunch lady. You ruefully realize that you're the only person nearly everyone trusts. Then you get framed for placing hemlock in an administrator's meal. The school board rushes to fire you, throwing the academy into turmoil.
*****
The only question I kept asking myself was: 'what happened, and why these two?' They were the best of the best among their peers after all. There was no reason I could think of that they could be targets, and worse still, there was no way I could understand that they were in danger of getting wiped out by a student killer on the loose that had probably taken the lives of Caprice, Eunice, Inosuke, and the Security Team.
Or, which amongst those were the handwork of the ally, or allies, of this enemy within the ICT unit? These were questions we hoped that Caprice and Viper had somehow managed to answer while they were doing whatever it is that they were doing that put them in this situation.
We were soon joined by Rachel Chase, the head of the Toxicology Unit. The students were going to have to be versatile and well-knowledged in the aspect and use of poisons, toxins, and venoms, so it was her field and her job to do so. She also ran the laboratory tests for the hemlock just the previous day.
Amanda handed her the canister. "You know what to do Rachel."
"The fact that you still trust many of us is surprising, Amanda. But then again, I don't think anything can surprise me much after seeing all that's happened within the past, what, 13 to 14 hours? The question is, will Spyder survive this onslaught?"
Amanda smirked. "I've always known you for asking the most piercing, hard-hitting questions, but then again, I guess that's just for someone as inclined to the sciences as you are. We're on ut, by the way, in answer to your question. Spyder will see the end of these bozos and not the other way around."
Rachel smiled and began to walk off in the direction of the laboratory. "I'll take your word for it."
Amanda stopped. "Rachel, you know how things are with the lights and stuff. Once they go off you're basically a target, you know that, right?"
"Yeah, but I'm not worried. It doesn't have many of those fortifications your office has anyway, but it's technically the most dangerous room to break into or try to do any of that sh!t in. I think I'll be fine anyway, so worry about Spyder instead," she said, not stopping for a moment.
Well, on matters of technicality, she was right anyway. 60% of the things in Rachel's domain could kill a man in less than five minutes, Amanda once told me. She was obsessed with finding a new chemical or biological agent that could kill within seconds and leave no trace, and she'd managed to create a few that were used by some of the best mercenaries in the world.
This innovation brought her a lot of money, so much that she didn't really need the job at Spyder. But she was a teacher before she decided to venture into the 'dark arts', so it was only right for her to return to her first love and educate the new generation on how to use these agents.
As soon as we entered the office and sat down, Amanda's screen came on. It was a live camera feed from Rachel, and she gave us a thumbs up before continuing with her work.
"When did she install that?" I asked.
"No idea," Amanda answered as we sat Viper down and offered him a coke. He looked completely out of it, and kept glancing between the three of us from time to time as if to say 'wait, all this is real?'
"Take your time, Viper," I said, patting his back. "We need to know exactly what you two have been involved in, and what happened, to understand what's going on and to help you. Caprice won't be forgotten-"
"I spent so much time telling her not to meddle in these things instead of watching her back and reading the signs. Maybe she wouldn't have-"
"Don't blame yourself for any of this, Viper. Caprice knew the risks she was taking," Nina said. "Her last words to us showed us that she was very much prepared for this, and that she knew the consequences of her investigation. So please can you tell us what's going on?"
"Inosuke Kubo spotted it first, and knew something was wrong. We were also lucky enough to spot the proceedings, mainly because during our hiking exercise, Caprice and I had reached the mountain peak and so, had the privilege of standing and looking at the seaside, precisely in the direction where the Fenderson shipment that had brought foodstuff two weeks ago was leaving.
"A few minutes after you had gone," he said, pointing at me, the shipment turned around and returned to the shore, and two people walked out to meet it. We couldn't see who they where from that distance, but I could note the distinct badge of the ICT unit on it. Whatever reason they came fr=or, an exchange occurred between the two groups and then they left."
Nina, Amanda and I were frozne in shock. So this had managed to happen right under our noses?
"Inosuke spotted it too, and managed to spot us, so he called us aside and told us that he thought a student in the sophomore class was one of those two, since they were the only ones free at the time. He had a better view than us, but he still couldn't identify those two. He said he was going to stick to the ICT unit and have us sniff out the student while he tried to understand what was going on."
Nina suddenly remembered something and checked the timetable, "The sophomore class wasthe class Inosuke had thought right before my period when the cansuter was discovered by me. To think that his culprit was right before hi-"
The lights went off again, and shivers went down our spines as we remembered Rachel. But then, a thought came to my mind. What made us think we were safe, with this stranger in our midst who might have just been Caprice's killer?
*****
To Be Continued.
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