Anime princess4- I'm glad you like it! Yeah, it's a bit more realistic than
the tv series, and I like it that way. ^_^ Give the fic a bit of a darker
edge, no?
Blackheart Syaoran- I dunno, dissections never bothered me that much, but I know a lot of people who don't like them. Anyway, I'll be sure to check out your fic!
Soph- **blushes** Thank-you. ^_^
Cyberlink42- ^_^
________
Ingrid paced slowly down the hallway, careful to not bump into any of the other students trying to make their way to their lockers. She wasn't sick anymore, but her head was still feeling a little fuzzy. What she need was some aspirin -- that would take care of that problem.
And it needed to be taken care of. She had tuned out her teachers more than once today; her concentration seemed to be suffering. Urg, she hated being sick! She took her vitamins and ate healthy food (for the most part, and she kept fit. But the moment one bug managed to invade her immune system, she was down for the count, so to speak. She suddenly became susceptible to everything, and usually managed to catch everything too.
But then, she was feeling better today. Maybe she would get lucky for once, and not have to put up with being accosted by every disease known to mankind.
Now for that aspirin.
Ingrid finally made it to her locker, and dropped her bag carelessly onto the floor while she swiveled the dial on the lock. Pulling a bottle of aspirin off the top shelf, she quickly pocketed it and closed the door. She knew school policy on drugs as well as the next student. The last thing she needed right now was to be caught with a bottle of aspirin; her day was aggravated enough already.
Marching off to the bathroom, Ingrid no longer bothered taking her time in the hall. She wanted her headache gone and she wanted it gone NOW.
'Mr. Klein!'
Ingrid froze.
'Yes, Mr. Peabody?' a brown-haired boy answered. He had just come out of a room to her right.
'I want extra marshmallows in my hot chocolate this time! Make sure you get it right this time!' a voice bellowed from somewhere in the room.
'Yes, Mr. Peabody,' he answered, then shut the door behind him. Ingrid saw him roll his eyes. She recognized him as the same boy from the library that morning. Klein, Freddie Klein.
She would have followed him, but the sign on the door held more interest. He was only going to get Mr. Peabody a drink anyway. No, the sign on the door seemed to carry some weight in Ingrid's cloudy mind. It read 'Student Council'.
She opened the door slowly and poked her head inside, making sure she was the only one around. There were a few other doors branching off of the room she saw: all of them lead into other offices. They were all labeled with the names of their inhabitants: the one nearest her had 'MR PEABODY' stenciled across it. And in front of it a desk with its own label, 'Assistant to Mr. Peabody: Freddie Klein'.
She entered the room and shut the door. So Mr. Klein worked for Student Council, did he? What a convenient position for tampering with official documents...
And Peabody? Where had she heard that name before? Oh yes. It took her a minute to remember, but it came back: Fillmore had been talking about him yesterday. She guessed it was his way of keeping things from getting a little too awkward. After all, he had been in her own kitchen making her something to eat because she was sick. Awkward. But he hadn't wanted to give her the wrong impression, make her think he was trying to be friends with her. Cornelius Fillmore wasn't the kind of guy who tried to make friends with anybody.
No. He talked business the whole time, only cracked a few jokes; but all of them were related back to 'business' anyway. He had mentioned Peabody, though. There was something about the budget, and the vending machines. He had heard Peabody and some other guy arguing over the vending machines in the budget. That was it. Because the vending machines weren't supposed to be there.
'Well,' Ingrid thought, eyeing the desk, 'if anyone was so perfectly situated to tamper with the budget, it's Freddie Klein.'
'Can I help you?' a voice asked from behind her. Ingrid turned, to find said Mr. Klein giving her a suspicious look. He recognized her; she was sure from the look in his eyes.
'Yes, I--'
'Is that you Klein?' Peabody said, barging out of his office. 'Took you long enough.' He snatched his hot chocolate out of Freddie's hand, then turned on Ingrid. Looking at him, she couldn't help but agree with Fillmore -- his mother dressed him like a sofa.
'Is there something you need?' he snapped, then checked himself. 'My assistant will take care of you,' he motioned to Freddie.
'Actually, I was just browsing through the exchange program brochures. There doesn't seem to be anything good on offer, but then, any school would be better than this dump, wouldn't it?' Ingrid said casually as she slipped out into the hallway and closed the door behind her.
Ugh. What kind of a lame cover was that? But she'd convinced Peabody, at least. The guy had had steam coming out of his ears. She really needed to clear up the mess inside her head, though. Aspirin!
Ingrid once again made her way towards the girls washroom, but thoughts about the case were distracting her. Why did they want vending machines put back into the budget? And what did all of this have to do with a kid who was into science? It didn't make sense. Then again, maybe it did, and she just couldn't make heads or tails of it because her head was so screwed up.
Ingrid deposited her bag on the floor of the girls washroom and pulled the bottle of aspirin. She went over the ingredients in her head, working from photographic memory. 'Heh, that Simon Langley kid has probably made aspirin before,' she thought as she downed a pill.
Suddenly an image came to mind. It was from the day she'd bumped into Fillmore in the hallway. He'd been coming out of a storage room, and inside were boxes stamped with the brand name of a water company.
There were no vending machines in the cafeteria that held water, so... The water must be destined for the new vending machines! That was the next place to look, then.
She tucked the aspirin back into her pocket. The room she'd seen Fillmore come out of wasn't too far from the washroom she was in. Of course, though, the door was locked. No problem for Ingrid, she had picked her fair share of locks, and this door would be no different from the rest when she was finished with it: open.
Inside the boxes all sat neatly stacked, except for one, which sitting on an angle with its top opened. She approached it and pulled out a bottle. Plain, clear water. Her heart fell. She's been hoping that these bottles would offer some sort of explanation for what was going on. But... The seal was broken! What then? What was in these bottles? Ingrid twisted off the lid and took a whiff of the liquid inside, then scrunched up her nose. What was this stuff?
Unless... Organic chemistry... Oh God...
'I knew she'd be here,' a voice said from behind her as the door creaked open. There stood Freddie Klein, flanked by 3 other burly looking students, all staring at her with malicious grins.
________
Fillmore made his way back to the science labs, taking the same route he had yesterday through the crowded hallways. If Simon Langley only took off Tuesday afternoons, then it stood to reason that he'd be there today.
He'd been avoiding Vallejo all morning -- the Junior Commissioner would've blown his to if he'd found out Fillmore was still trying to track down the science kid. He'd promised to drop it if it came to nothing, and so far it had come to nothing...
But after his little conversation with Ingrid yesterday, Fillmore didn't want to let it go. At least to prove her wrong, if nothing else. Her cool know-it-all demeanor grated against him a bit; he always felt like she was putting him in his place. The fact that she had him running around doing errands for her smacked of power-tripping.
But at least she was still human, as he'd had proof of yesterday. The Invincible Ingrid Third, grouchy and sick, miserable and actually willing to put up with the degradation of having Officer Cornelius Fillmore make her breakfast -- or close enough to it, anyway. They'd actually almost had a normal conversation. Almost.
During their meal together she'd had this look of bitter irony in her eyes; amused bitter irony, but bitter irony nonetheless. It made him a little uneasy, no matter how cool he was acting. So he'd stuck to business, a topic both of them could get through without being too personal, making things awkward. He'd done most of the talking, though. She just sat there and listened while she ate her omelet. He'd told her everything about his track down of Simon Langley, even the boring details from Peabody's office. Completely irrelevant, but something to fill the silence.
Fillmore knocked on the door to the science labs. She was so sure that Simon Langley had a part in whatever it was that was going on in X. He'd give her one more chance.
'Yes?' a small boy with red hair answered the door.
'Officer Cornelius Fillmore, X Middle School Safety Patrol,' he said, flashing his badge. 'I'm looking for a Simon Langley.'
'That's me,' the boy answered, opening the door a little wider. He spoke very softly, like a nervous little kid.
'I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions.'
'Okay,' he stepped aside and let Fillmore into the lab. 'What do you need to ask me about?'
Snap. What did he need to ask him about? He couldn't come right out and ask this kid if he was Stingray or something, it would completely blow up in his face. Ideas, ideas... Make the guy comfortable...
'I'm here to ask a few questions about the motions you've put into Student Council,' Fillmore said sternly.
'Oh,' was all Simon said, though he seemed to brighten a little. 'You know, when I was in elementary school, our class had a pet frog, named Hermit. Hermit the Frog. We used to take turns, bringing him home to take care of him. I love that frog like he was my own. Then one day, he was taken home and not brought back. When the gruesome details came out...' Simon shuddered. 'One of my classmate's older brothers had taken him to school. Middle School. Turns out that day they were doing frog dissections...' he broke off, leaving the rest to imagination.
'I'm sorry, Simon. It hard when a pet dies,' Fillmore paused, letting Simon recover a bit. 'Do you mind if I ask you those questions now?'
'No, go ahead.'
Fillmore latched onto a recollection of a case Anza was investigating and went with it. 'You remember a few months ago, when 5 of the frogs from the biology lab suddenly disappeared?'
Simon's brow was wrinkled with nervousness. 'Yes,' he whispered, not looking at Fillmore. 'They already questioned me about that.'
'Officer!' a voice called from the back of the room. Fillmore turned around to see the same brown-haired guy who'd answered the door yesterday. 'Are you here about the report we filed?'
'Uh, no. What report?'
The guy crossed his arms, looking very disgruntled, as another boy emerged from the store room behind him. 'Someone's been pilfering our chemical stores! We keep a record of how much is used and for what, and according to those records there are quantities of some chemicals unaccounted for! This is serious!'
'I'm sure there'll be an officer over to talk to you about it soon,' Fillmore said, hearing Simon cough behind him. 'But in the meanwhile, I'll go check on the status of the report you filed.'
'Thank-you!' the boy exclaimed, throwing his arms up in the air. His tone was sarcastic, though.
Fillmore spun around and faced Simon again. 'I'll be back to talk to you later.'
'Yes Officer.'
As Fillmore made his way back to HQ, he pondered Simon behavior. There was definitely something eating this guy up inside. Maybe Third had been right, then. In any case, he'd be taking a closer look at Simon's activities, for sure.
In any case, his stomach was demanding food. Fillmore sat down at his desk and pulled a sandwich from one of the drawers as Anza wandered over to him. 'You just got back from the science labs, right?'
Fillmore eyed him. 'How'd you know?'
Anza smiled. 'Vallejo's been off his rocker all morning because of you and Simon Langley. He knows how stubborn you are, you don't just drop leads like that,' he snapped his fingers.
Fillmore grinned back. 'So what do you want to know?'
'There was a report filed this morning about some missing chemicals. Did the Chemistry Club mention anything about it to you?'
'Yeah, I told them we'd have someone over to talk to them soon.'
'If that's all, I guess I better head over and conduct a proper questioning.'
'I wasn't there to question them, Anza, I was--'
'Yeah, yeah, I know. Simon Langley. See ya, Fillmore.'
Fillmore watched Anza out of the room, then glanced at the clock. It was almost time for him to meet Third. He gathered up the rest of his lunch and headed over to their designated meeting spot. She'd probably be happy to hear that Simon Langley was definitely a suspicious character, but she'd act like she'd known he was all along.
Then again, she seemed so sure of herself, she probably had known all along. Fillmore shook his head.
One hour later, he sat slumped on the front steps. Third seemed to be running a bit late. Fillmore smiled bitterly. Guess he'd been stood up. Should've seen that coming. But at the same time, it didn't sit right with him. She didn't seem like the kind of person who would set up a meeting with him and then miss it without a good reason.
He started to make his way back up the steps, thinking over why Ingrid would do a no-show, when Augie came walking out of the school, looking anxiously over his shoulder. He didn't even notice Fillmore until he'd practically walked right into him.
'Augie,' Fillmore called out. The smaller boy looked up, afraid, then calmed down when he saw who it was.
'Oh, hey Ocifer.'
'Listen, have you seen Third? I was supposed to meet her here an hour ago, but she never showed.
Augie paled visibly. 'What were you meeting her about?'
Fillmore gave Augie a skeptical eye, then said, 'She was helping me out with a case.'
Augie looked down at his shoes. 'They said if they found her snooping around again...' he said more to himself than to Fillmore.
'Who?' Fillmore asked, trying to grasp the situation.
Augie looked back up, a grim expression on his face. He pointed to his black eye, 'The guys who did this.'
________
Next Chapter: Ingrid's missing! Will Fillmore be able to find her in time? Will he be able to crack the case before it's too late? That's a lot of pressure on Fillmore ^^;... But time is running out for Ingrid and X Middle School.
Blackheart Syaoran- I dunno, dissections never bothered me that much, but I know a lot of people who don't like them. Anyway, I'll be sure to check out your fic!
Soph- **blushes** Thank-you. ^_^
Cyberlink42- ^_^
________
Ingrid paced slowly down the hallway, careful to not bump into any of the other students trying to make their way to their lockers. She wasn't sick anymore, but her head was still feeling a little fuzzy. What she need was some aspirin -- that would take care of that problem.
And it needed to be taken care of. She had tuned out her teachers more than once today; her concentration seemed to be suffering. Urg, she hated being sick! She took her vitamins and ate healthy food (for the most part, and she kept fit. But the moment one bug managed to invade her immune system, she was down for the count, so to speak. She suddenly became susceptible to everything, and usually managed to catch everything too.
But then, she was feeling better today. Maybe she would get lucky for once, and not have to put up with being accosted by every disease known to mankind.
Now for that aspirin.
Ingrid finally made it to her locker, and dropped her bag carelessly onto the floor while she swiveled the dial on the lock. Pulling a bottle of aspirin off the top shelf, she quickly pocketed it and closed the door. She knew school policy on drugs as well as the next student. The last thing she needed right now was to be caught with a bottle of aspirin; her day was aggravated enough already.
Marching off to the bathroom, Ingrid no longer bothered taking her time in the hall. She wanted her headache gone and she wanted it gone NOW.
'Mr. Klein!'
Ingrid froze.
'Yes, Mr. Peabody?' a brown-haired boy answered. He had just come out of a room to her right.
'I want extra marshmallows in my hot chocolate this time! Make sure you get it right this time!' a voice bellowed from somewhere in the room.
'Yes, Mr. Peabody,' he answered, then shut the door behind him. Ingrid saw him roll his eyes. She recognized him as the same boy from the library that morning. Klein, Freddie Klein.
She would have followed him, but the sign on the door held more interest. He was only going to get Mr. Peabody a drink anyway. No, the sign on the door seemed to carry some weight in Ingrid's cloudy mind. It read 'Student Council'.
She opened the door slowly and poked her head inside, making sure she was the only one around. There were a few other doors branching off of the room she saw: all of them lead into other offices. They were all labeled with the names of their inhabitants: the one nearest her had 'MR PEABODY' stenciled across it. And in front of it a desk with its own label, 'Assistant to Mr. Peabody: Freddie Klein'.
She entered the room and shut the door. So Mr. Klein worked for Student Council, did he? What a convenient position for tampering with official documents...
And Peabody? Where had she heard that name before? Oh yes. It took her a minute to remember, but it came back: Fillmore had been talking about him yesterday. She guessed it was his way of keeping things from getting a little too awkward. After all, he had been in her own kitchen making her something to eat because she was sick. Awkward. But he hadn't wanted to give her the wrong impression, make her think he was trying to be friends with her. Cornelius Fillmore wasn't the kind of guy who tried to make friends with anybody.
No. He talked business the whole time, only cracked a few jokes; but all of them were related back to 'business' anyway. He had mentioned Peabody, though. There was something about the budget, and the vending machines. He had heard Peabody and some other guy arguing over the vending machines in the budget. That was it. Because the vending machines weren't supposed to be there.
'Well,' Ingrid thought, eyeing the desk, 'if anyone was so perfectly situated to tamper with the budget, it's Freddie Klein.'
'Can I help you?' a voice asked from behind her. Ingrid turned, to find said Mr. Klein giving her a suspicious look. He recognized her; she was sure from the look in his eyes.
'Yes, I--'
'Is that you Klein?' Peabody said, barging out of his office. 'Took you long enough.' He snatched his hot chocolate out of Freddie's hand, then turned on Ingrid. Looking at him, she couldn't help but agree with Fillmore -- his mother dressed him like a sofa.
'Is there something you need?' he snapped, then checked himself. 'My assistant will take care of you,' he motioned to Freddie.
'Actually, I was just browsing through the exchange program brochures. There doesn't seem to be anything good on offer, but then, any school would be better than this dump, wouldn't it?' Ingrid said casually as she slipped out into the hallway and closed the door behind her.
Ugh. What kind of a lame cover was that? But she'd convinced Peabody, at least. The guy had had steam coming out of his ears. She really needed to clear up the mess inside her head, though. Aspirin!
Ingrid once again made her way towards the girls washroom, but thoughts about the case were distracting her. Why did they want vending machines put back into the budget? And what did all of this have to do with a kid who was into science? It didn't make sense. Then again, maybe it did, and she just couldn't make heads or tails of it because her head was so screwed up.
Ingrid deposited her bag on the floor of the girls washroom and pulled the bottle of aspirin. She went over the ingredients in her head, working from photographic memory. 'Heh, that Simon Langley kid has probably made aspirin before,' she thought as she downed a pill.
Suddenly an image came to mind. It was from the day she'd bumped into Fillmore in the hallway. He'd been coming out of a storage room, and inside were boxes stamped with the brand name of a water company.
There were no vending machines in the cafeteria that held water, so... The water must be destined for the new vending machines! That was the next place to look, then.
She tucked the aspirin back into her pocket. The room she'd seen Fillmore come out of wasn't too far from the washroom she was in. Of course, though, the door was locked. No problem for Ingrid, she had picked her fair share of locks, and this door would be no different from the rest when she was finished with it: open.
Inside the boxes all sat neatly stacked, except for one, which sitting on an angle with its top opened. She approached it and pulled out a bottle. Plain, clear water. Her heart fell. She's been hoping that these bottles would offer some sort of explanation for what was going on. But... The seal was broken! What then? What was in these bottles? Ingrid twisted off the lid and took a whiff of the liquid inside, then scrunched up her nose. What was this stuff?
Unless... Organic chemistry... Oh God...
'I knew she'd be here,' a voice said from behind her as the door creaked open. There stood Freddie Klein, flanked by 3 other burly looking students, all staring at her with malicious grins.
________
Fillmore made his way back to the science labs, taking the same route he had yesterday through the crowded hallways. If Simon Langley only took off Tuesday afternoons, then it stood to reason that he'd be there today.
He'd been avoiding Vallejo all morning -- the Junior Commissioner would've blown his to if he'd found out Fillmore was still trying to track down the science kid. He'd promised to drop it if it came to nothing, and so far it had come to nothing...
But after his little conversation with Ingrid yesterday, Fillmore didn't want to let it go. At least to prove her wrong, if nothing else. Her cool know-it-all demeanor grated against him a bit; he always felt like she was putting him in his place. The fact that she had him running around doing errands for her smacked of power-tripping.
But at least she was still human, as he'd had proof of yesterday. The Invincible Ingrid Third, grouchy and sick, miserable and actually willing to put up with the degradation of having Officer Cornelius Fillmore make her breakfast -- or close enough to it, anyway. They'd actually almost had a normal conversation. Almost.
During their meal together she'd had this look of bitter irony in her eyes; amused bitter irony, but bitter irony nonetheless. It made him a little uneasy, no matter how cool he was acting. So he'd stuck to business, a topic both of them could get through without being too personal, making things awkward. He'd done most of the talking, though. She just sat there and listened while she ate her omelet. He'd told her everything about his track down of Simon Langley, even the boring details from Peabody's office. Completely irrelevant, but something to fill the silence.
Fillmore knocked on the door to the science labs. She was so sure that Simon Langley had a part in whatever it was that was going on in X. He'd give her one more chance.
'Yes?' a small boy with red hair answered the door.
'Officer Cornelius Fillmore, X Middle School Safety Patrol,' he said, flashing his badge. 'I'm looking for a Simon Langley.'
'That's me,' the boy answered, opening the door a little wider. He spoke very softly, like a nervous little kid.
'I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions.'
'Okay,' he stepped aside and let Fillmore into the lab. 'What do you need to ask me about?'
Snap. What did he need to ask him about? He couldn't come right out and ask this kid if he was Stingray or something, it would completely blow up in his face. Ideas, ideas... Make the guy comfortable...
'I'm here to ask a few questions about the motions you've put into Student Council,' Fillmore said sternly.
'Oh,' was all Simon said, though he seemed to brighten a little. 'You know, when I was in elementary school, our class had a pet frog, named Hermit. Hermit the Frog. We used to take turns, bringing him home to take care of him. I love that frog like he was my own. Then one day, he was taken home and not brought back. When the gruesome details came out...' Simon shuddered. 'One of my classmate's older brothers had taken him to school. Middle School. Turns out that day they were doing frog dissections...' he broke off, leaving the rest to imagination.
'I'm sorry, Simon. It hard when a pet dies,' Fillmore paused, letting Simon recover a bit. 'Do you mind if I ask you those questions now?'
'No, go ahead.'
Fillmore latched onto a recollection of a case Anza was investigating and went with it. 'You remember a few months ago, when 5 of the frogs from the biology lab suddenly disappeared?'
Simon's brow was wrinkled with nervousness. 'Yes,' he whispered, not looking at Fillmore. 'They already questioned me about that.'
'Officer!' a voice called from the back of the room. Fillmore turned around to see the same brown-haired guy who'd answered the door yesterday. 'Are you here about the report we filed?'
'Uh, no. What report?'
The guy crossed his arms, looking very disgruntled, as another boy emerged from the store room behind him. 'Someone's been pilfering our chemical stores! We keep a record of how much is used and for what, and according to those records there are quantities of some chemicals unaccounted for! This is serious!'
'I'm sure there'll be an officer over to talk to you about it soon,' Fillmore said, hearing Simon cough behind him. 'But in the meanwhile, I'll go check on the status of the report you filed.'
'Thank-you!' the boy exclaimed, throwing his arms up in the air. His tone was sarcastic, though.
Fillmore spun around and faced Simon again. 'I'll be back to talk to you later.'
'Yes Officer.'
As Fillmore made his way back to HQ, he pondered Simon behavior. There was definitely something eating this guy up inside. Maybe Third had been right, then. In any case, he'd be taking a closer look at Simon's activities, for sure.
In any case, his stomach was demanding food. Fillmore sat down at his desk and pulled a sandwich from one of the drawers as Anza wandered over to him. 'You just got back from the science labs, right?'
Fillmore eyed him. 'How'd you know?'
Anza smiled. 'Vallejo's been off his rocker all morning because of you and Simon Langley. He knows how stubborn you are, you don't just drop leads like that,' he snapped his fingers.
Fillmore grinned back. 'So what do you want to know?'
'There was a report filed this morning about some missing chemicals. Did the Chemistry Club mention anything about it to you?'
'Yeah, I told them we'd have someone over to talk to them soon.'
'If that's all, I guess I better head over and conduct a proper questioning.'
'I wasn't there to question them, Anza, I was--'
'Yeah, yeah, I know. Simon Langley. See ya, Fillmore.'
Fillmore watched Anza out of the room, then glanced at the clock. It was almost time for him to meet Third. He gathered up the rest of his lunch and headed over to their designated meeting spot. She'd probably be happy to hear that Simon Langley was definitely a suspicious character, but she'd act like she'd known he was all along.
Then again, she seemed so sure of herself, she probably had known all along. Fillmore shook his head.
One hour later, he sat slumped on the front steps. Third seemed to be running a bit late. Fillmore smiled bitterly. Guess he'd been stood up. Should've seen that coming. But at the same time, it didn't sit right with him. She didn't seem like the kind of person who would set up a meeting with him and then miss it without a good reason.
He started to make his way back up the steps, thinking over why Ingrid would do a no-show, when Augie came walking out of the school, looking anxiously over his shoulder. He didn't even notice Fillmore until he'd practically walked right into him.
'Augie,' Fillmore called out. The smaller boy looked up, afraid, then calmed down when he saw who it was.
'Oh, hey Ocifer.'
'Listen, have you seen Third? I was supposed to meet her here an hour ago, but she never showed.
Augie paled visibly. 'What were you meeting her about?'
Fillmore gave Augie a skeptical eye, then said, 'She was helping me out with a case.'
Augie looked down at his shoes. 'They said if they found her snooping around again...' he said more to himself than to Fillmore.
'Who?' Fillmore asked, trying to grasp the situation.
Augie looked back up, a grim expression on his face. He pointed to his black eye, 'The guys who did this.'
________
Next Chapter: Ingrid's missing! Will Fillmore be able to find her in time? Will he be able to crack the case before it's too late? That's a lot of pressure on Fillmore ^^;... But time is running out for Ingrid and X Middle School.