Chapter 2: A Plan Plays Out

Authors note: Well, this is the second chapter in my story. I hope you think this one is a lot more structured and are still enjoying it. I recommend you go back and read through the last story "Tales of X High School" and complete it with this one,

Also, thanks for the reviews on the last chapter. Domitile wrote a whole essay ^^, thanks for that. I have decided to update twice a week, on Wednesday and Saturday, Saturday is not definite, but a chapter will always be released on Wednesday.

Merry Christmas, as this chapter is for a present to you all.

[X]

The safety patrol headquarters was looking more and more like a ghost town every day. Through fear and, as Fillmore thought, recruitment, the numbers of them was dropping dramatically. He, Ingrid and Joseph on the other hand were working around the clock to find out what was really going on. Truth be told, respect for the safety patrol was at an all time low, and no one was feeling this more than Vallejo.

The school paper was tearing him apart. Headlines such as: "Safety patrol in shambles" and "Worst Commissioner of all time fails against Gang". Folsom was constantly on him back, threatening him. Fillmore knew Vallejo, something else must be going on to get him this stressed, but he didn't push.

Fillmore and Ingrid were sitting side by side looking through the files of some of the members who were suspected. All they had managed to find out so far was that only the leader knew all of the members and all of the meetings occurred with masks on, in different locations every time. They were warned; about one hundred people attended each meeting and the safety patrol would easily be destroyed if they tried to intervene, the student members would fight or run.

"What are we going to do then, Fillmore?" Ingrid asked. She was starting to feel the cold of the approaching winter and it annoyed her.

"Not sure," he said, standing and heading for the coffee machine. It had been ordered a while back and had just arrived. He was, however, surprised that Folsom had let them have it. "We have a safety net at the moment, as we keep catching petty criminals and smaller gangs."

"I suspect that those kinds of people are joining as well," she said, leaning her head on her hands.

"Danny," Joseph shouted from the computer next to them. "Stop playing on games, for God's sake, get your work done."

"Huh?" Danny said, spinning round on his chair. As usual, it slipped and he fell to the floor. He moaned and rubbed his back. "Sorry guys," he said, "but what am I doing again?""

"Useless," Karen laughed. She was working on a chemical at the front of the room. "You're supposed to be processing the photos you took at the last scene."

"Oh yeah," he said, picking up his chair and closing the game down.

Recently, there had been a large vandalising attack on two bathrooms in the school: one boy and one girl. "The vandalising incident," Fillmore reminded him. There had been one message written on both. It read: "We are going to get you, safety patrol" in red ink. This one message was written again and again and again, all over the bathroom.

"We can't really be sure that was the blood riot gang," Joseph said.

Ingrid nodded. She looked over to Karen, who was busy working. "Did you find any fingerprints?"

Karen looked up and smiled. "Just one," she said. "Funnily enough, I found it just as you asked."

Fillmore drank some of his drink. "I don't think it was the blood riot gang," Fillmore said.

"Why?" Ingrid asked. Ingrid had been the one to find it first; she had just gone in after a lesson, ahead of everyone else.

"The Blood Riot gang haven't got this far by being careless," Fillmore explained. "They're organised, they wouldn't leave a fingerprint, not even one. I am pretty sure they were wearing gloves and maybe hair nets or covers, because Karen couldn't find a hair either."

Ingrid nodded, thinking about the scene. "I don't think we can say for sure. However, we know there are some smart kids in that group, maybe there is another message hidden in the crime scene, something to do with the ink, an anagram?"

Fillmore, who had got a drink for Ingrid, lay it down on the table beside her. "Danny, have you finished processing yet?" he asked, moving over behind him.

"Just about," he said. "I'll print them out. Why, have you found something?"

Fillmore shook his head. "I'm so pissed off with Edward," Joseph said, turning away from his computer. "Why did he have to turn out to be one of them?"

"We don't know he's one of them, Joseph," Fillmore reminded him.

"Besides, there is no evidence," Ingrid concurred.

"There wouldn't be," Joseph said, maintaining his point. "Do you really think someone like Edward would leave a trail, make a mistake?" Joseph shook his head. "The lack of evidence points to him, if you ask me. Maybe a high up member."

"Maybe," Karen said. "We already know there are high up members."

"True," Fillmore said, sitting back down. He only knew of four members in the organisation and not even their real names. "The One," Fillmore said. "He's the leader."

"Yeah," Joseph said. "Then there is The Clown."

"I worried about Edward for a while. I haven't seen him for ages, maybe The Clown got to him," Ingrid explained. "You saw how he was about that bat."

"Edward can handle himself, Ingrid," Fillmore said. "The other two I know of," Fillmore continued, only Ingrid knew about this as he had only found out today, from people talking about it in class. "There is Xavier and Frevier."

"How did you find that out?" Danny asked.

"I heard it from some students behind me in math," he replied.

"Did you take them in?" Joseph asked. "They could be members."

Fillmore shook his head. "There is no way that they are members, they wouldn't be stupid enough to mention facts. From what I can gather, The One rules the Riot Gang with an iron fist. It doesn't surprise me, that's how they have gone on for so long."

"It took us so long to find out the name of that gang, but now everyone knows," Karen said, putting away the items she had been using. "It's like they are mocking us."

"Probably," Fillmore said, taking a sip from his coffee and nodding. "They probably know what we are doing now, they have eyes everywhere."

The safety patrol office door opened and Andy walked in. "Hello everyone," he said.

"Hi Andy," Joseph said, inviting him over. Andy and Joseph were probably best friends now as they spent a lot off time together.

"So, is there any news?" he asked, looking around.

"Well," Ingrid mused aloud. "We think that there could be a message in the vandalism, they have acted like that before."

"Sneaky bastards," Andy exclaimed. He had a foul mouth, usually, and this was one of the tamest insults he had. "Had Danny printed the image out?"

"I'm just about to," Danny said, standing and heading to he printer.

Just as he stood, there was a strange sound: every computer in the room was beeping. "Is anyone doing that?" Fillmore asked. He looked down on his computer. There was a message. It read: "Nice try". After Fillmore had read it, the very second, his computer beeped again and shut off. He swore and looked up, every computer in the headquarters were also off.

Fillmore could hear Joseph grind his teeth. "You think it was them, again?" he growled, standing.

Before Ingrid could reply, the office door opened again. However, this time it was the inner office, the commissioner office. Vallejo, who had lost quite a lot of weight recently, stormed in. "Have your computers gone off?" he asked with a look of clear disgust and anger in his brown eyes.

"Yep," Danny said. "But I managed to get the photo out of the printer."

"Hold it Danny," Ingrid said, frowning. "The computers went off just as you printed, right?"

"Yeah," Danny replied. "So?"

"So," she continued, "They were trying to stop that, hence writing "Nice Try" on Fillmore's computer. We've got to be onto something now."

"So you don't think it's a message any more?" Fillmore asked and Ingrid shook her head.

"That's all very good, Third," Vallejo said. "But with these computers down there is nothing we can do about it. Folsom got me now," he sighed, sitting down on the nearest chair.

Fillmore got him a hot chocolate from the machine. "Thanks Fillmore," Vallejo said. Vallejo had a sip and stood, as if it powered him. "Danny, go up to the computer geeks office and get a few of them to come down. Be quick!" he instructed.

Danny nodded and left the room.

"I can't believe it," Andy growled. "They got us again."

[X]

"What is it, Francine?" Frank asked. The two of them were in the corridor, hastily pushing through the crowd. Frank was on his way to the safety patrol office.

"Frank, listen to me," she said, getting in front of him. "The Blood Riot gang, they attacked me yesterday."

"You what?" he growled.

Francine rubbed some of the make up off her face. Frank had noticed how much she was wearing, but he assumed that she was meeting a boy after school. When she had finished, there was a clear, black bruise on her cheek.

Frank, with wide eyes, shook his head. "We've got to get the safety patrol, maybe there is evidence on it," Frank said. "We'll get them, Francine."

"That's not it, Frank," she said, getting irritated now. "They have a message for you. They want you to go to sub basement three, I think, after school," she stopped, taking a breath. "They told me if you used your phone at all, or visited the safety patrol or even went to the bathroom, they would get me and you on the way home."

Frank ran his hand through his hair. "Fucks sake," he muttered.

"They are at the cameras Frank," Francine explained. "They said they are watching us every minute of the day, so they are watching us right now."

Frank sighed. "Please Frank," Francine pleaded. "Don't go with them, they'll hurt you!"

"There's nothing I can do, Francine" Frank explained, as if he was talking to a naughty three year old. "If they're watching now, they'll know if I don't go. They already know where we live!"

Francine, who now had a tear in her eye, looked at him pleadingly. "You're going to go, then?"

"I don't have a choice," Frank said. Frank held out his hand. "Give me your phone," he demanded.

"Why?" she asked, taking a step back.

"It only takes you to make one mistake, to text your friend by accident, and it's all over," he explained. "Give me your phone," he demanded, again.

Francine, reluctantly, handed over her phone. "Now listen to me," Frank said. "You need to spend the rest of the day with teachers, make an excuse, do homework, make sure you can't be a target. Get with a group of friends to go home and do not go to the bathroom, no matter what."

"Ok, Frank," she said, rubbing the tears out of her eyes. "Be careful, Frank."

Frank nodded and headed off in the opposite direction.

[X]

Danny walked up to the computer lab alone, listening to his music player. He was glad that he was alone for a change. He loved being in the safety patrol, but a break wouldn't do him any harm. As he turned the final corner to the lab he suddenly noticed that he was completely alone. He had a free period now, but most of the school were in class.

As he looked around the corner he saw them, two masked figures. "Oh shit," he whispered.

"What's wrong, buddy?" A voice behind him asked, it was quite deep and cruel and Danny recognised it.

Danny turned and saw a familiar face. The Clown was standing over him, leaning over him menacingly. "Get him, boys," The Clown said. Danny couldn't believe how fast the attack had been ordered. Like in the movies, he expected a long talk first. He was such an idiot.

The Clown walked away down the hall and the two students walked toward him, cracking their knuckles. Danny stepped back, slowly, and looked behind him. He considered running, but there was a third member waiting for him. The two in front closed in, one raised his fist.

Danny, reacting instinctively, dodged the attack and brought his own hand up into the boy on the left. The next few seconds were a blur, but after them, there were three, distinct thumps as three bodies hit the floor, unconscious. Danny smiled, he had never used his karate before, but he couldn't stop shaking all over.

He pulled his phone out of his pockets. "Fillmore, I'm by the lab," he explained, through breaths. "Get here now, we have some suspects."

End of Chapter 2

Make sure you alert, because next Wednesday the plot continues with "Chapter 3: Seizing Control".