Ruins Raiders

Chapter Twenty-Four, Night School

By Relm

While Zelgadis drove Lina was on her cell calling her various contacts to put the plan into motion. Her brother was already on his way to the school with all the last minute things needed to set up the trap. The only person that Lina hadn't called about the upcoming plans was Headmaster Gaberieve himself.

"Are you going to call your Headmaster and let him know the plans?" Zelgadis wondered as he made a quick inquiring sideways glance to the redhead sitting next to him. He himself had already called his own Headmaster before they left to let them know the plans were on their way. Since the trap was happening at Lina's school there was no way it could happen without Headmaster Gaberieve knowing of it.

Lina inwardly groaned. "Do I have to?"

"You know the answer to that question. He might get a little pissed if he comes in tomorrow and finds me there." Zelgadis chided.

"You're assuming that the thieves won't try and steal the fake tonight." Lina huffed with an almost snobbish voice.

"Listen here you're going to tell him because I'm not going to be the one to explain why I'm at your school when your Headmaster comes bursting in the room." Zelgadis insisted.

"Aw... Is Zelly afraid of the big bad Headmaster?" Lina teased him in a baby talk sort of a voice. She would have ruffled his hair too had he not been driving.

"Of course I am! Do you think I want to get killed? So call your boss now!"

Lina frowned. "He's not going to be happy with me calling him at his home..." She grumbled while dialling Headmaster Gaberieve.

"What is it Inverse?" Headmaster Gaberieve answered his phone very gruffly not even bothering with the courteous standard phone greetings. But then again Lina was calling him at his home so he probably wasn't pleased about the call no matter who it was calling.

"Hello Headmaster... I'm calling to let you know I'm on my way to the school to set a trap for the thieves."

"You're supposed to be hiding from them! Why the hell would you want to catch them for? You should be working on eye, not playing cops and robbers!" Headmaster Gaberieve almost yelled into the phone.

"From my research it seems the only way to get the third eye fixed is to use the second eye to do it." Lina explained slowly and carefully. It was always a good idea to air on the side of caution when it comes to the Headmaster.

"Oh... So you're going to try and steal back the eye to fix our eye? Isn't that dangerous? They are trying to kill you for crying out loud!"

"If everything goes the way we plan it they won't even see me."

"We...? What are these plans? Who are you working with? It's him isn't it? Answer me this time! If you hang up on me I'll fire your ass!"

"...yes..." Lina answered very weakly. Her voice was so soft that it was almost impossible to hear her.

"YOU'RE WORKING WITH PROFESSOR GREYWARS?" Had Lina not brought her phone away from her ear and waited just a moment later then she would have gone deaf for sure.

"Listen... Someone stole their eye, and we need it to fix ours. Working together is the only real way to deal with out problems. You think I can do this all by myself? People are trying to kill me for crying out loud!"

"I suppose it can't be helped. Fine you can work with him but as long as he's not going with you to the school. The last thing I need is one of their spies snooping around our school."

"...he's driving..." Again Lina's voice was very meek.

"WHAT? SO IT WAS HIM YOU WERE STAYING WITH!"

"Yes it was. I was safest with him because he's the last person someone would expect me to stay with."

"You're dating him." Headmaster Gaberieve stated rather than asked.

"For the last and final time, I AM NOT DATING PROFESSOR GREYWARS!" Lina screamed into her cell phone.

Zelgadis winced from the volume of Lina's voice and the words she chose to scream. 'It's like I'm a disease or something.' He thought miserably.

"Fine. But you're not letting him out of your sight the whole time he's there. I do not want to hear about him walking off somewhere by himself."

"Don't worry he's going to be with me the whole time." Lina assured him.

"This better work or I'm firing you for sure." Headmaster didn't even say bye as he hung up. He just slammed the phone down just as rudely as he had answered it.

"Assuming I don't get killed first..." Lina muttered to herself as she closed her phone.

"So is everything okay?" Zelgadis asked once Lina had closed her phone.

"Oh just peachy." Lina snapped sarcastically. "I just have one more call to make." She dialled a number she very rarely ever called.

"Hello?" A very happy-go-lucky female voice answered the phone.

"Hey, Milly, it's Lina. Have I got news for you..."

...

"So your receptionist is a gossip?" Zelgadis wondered as the pair pulled into the North Rixx University parking lot. Lina had just gotten off the phone with Milly which wasn't an easy feat. Milly did like to gab.

"Huge gossip! Which is why we try not tell her anything."

"So is telling her enough to leak the information for the trap?"

"Probably. But I've got Gavin spreading the 'news' on the net just in case." Lina assured Zelgadis as the two got out of the car.

"It's about time you got here!" A shivering female voice exclaimed.

Lina and Zelgadis both looked to their left to find Amelia standing trying to rub some warmth into her arms. It seemed that the youngest Sailune daughter failed to put on a jacket.

"Amelia what are you doing here?" Zelgadis wondered.

"When you called Daddy earlier he thought it would be a good idea if there was someone else from our school there just in case."

"And he picked you?" Lina narrowed her eyes at Amelia n disbelief.

"Why is that so hard to believe?" Amelia huffed defensively.

"Because Amelia," Zelgadis interjected, "you are his youngest daughter. I highly doubt your father is willing to send you to do something that could be potentially dangerous."

"Well he trusts me the most." Amelia justified crossing her arms.

"Amelia..." Zelgadis shot her a stern look.

"He doesn't know I'm here." Amelia admitted. "But you should have someone with you."

Lina let out a tired sigh. She knew they wouldn't be able to get rid of Headmaster Sailune's youngest daughter. Amelia was going to have to come with them. However this was going to make for an uncomfortably situation for Lina's younger brother. "Fine let's go."

"Are you sure?" Zelgadis prompted Lina to make sure she wasn't making a snap decision.

"I'm in trouble already it's not like it could be any worse."

The security guards at the front door looked at Lina with curious alarm. "Professor Inverse? Why are you here so late?"

"I'm just attending to some work that can only be done at night." Lina explained cryptically.

"But Professor Inverse... we have strict orders not to let anyone from East Rixx University on campus." The other guard piped up nervously.

"It's fine they are with me. If you need to confirm this then you can call Headmaster Gaberieve at home. However he's not in a good mood right now." Lina suggested looking very confident.

The guards considered what Lina said to them and they paled at the thought.

"Make sure to call is there is any problems." One of the two guards opened the door for Lina, Zelgadis and Amelia to go through.

"Will do. Thank you." Lina gave them a nod before going into the university.

Inside the halls of North Rixx University things were quiet and calm. The only sounds were the light footsteps of Lina, Amelia and Zelgadis. But in the quietness of the halls the footsteps may as well been booming crashes bouncing off the walls. It did little to abate the mutual tension and uneasiness of the trio.

As Lina led the people from East Rixx to their intended destination she couldn't help but look at Amelia from time to time. Thoughts of her little brother filled her head each time worried about what he will say.

That first and only time Lina had met Amelia when Gavin was dating her Amelia didn't look quite the same as she did now. Sure she was still the same height and had the same hair but back then Amelia wore glasses. Lina had to wonder if this was because Amelia had needed them or if she had been trying to disguise her appearance from Lina. Whatever the reason Lina desperately wanted to interrogate his brother's ex. "My assistant should be waiting inside." Lina announced as they got the room. When Lina went to knock on the door she did so in a somewhat strange rhythm. As she instructed to her brother on the phone Gavin or Sylphiel wasn't going to let anyone in unless they knocked a certain way.

Sylphiel was the opened the door and she did so with a gasp. "Miss Lina you brought Professor Greywars here?" Sylphiel exclaimed with a hushed voice.

"Don't worry Headmaster Gaberieve knows." Lina assured her assistant while going past her into the room.

Inside the 'vault' room was Gavin hard at work rigging the cameras and tracking devices. "It's about time you got here." Gavin chided without even looking up from his work.

"Well the safe house isn't exactly close to the university." Lina snapped back.

Amelia stood in the room staring in shock. When she had heard of the plans she had no idea Gavin would be there. She felt her chest tighten and heart beat faster as she stared at him. Breaking things off was something she never wanted to do. But how could she continue to date him when she knew he was the younger brother of Lina Inverse? Professor Inverse was from North Rixx, there was no way her father would allow it. Amelia of course had no idea Gavin was an Inverse when she met him. Had she, she would have stayed away.

Maybe on a subconscious level Gavin was aware someone was staring at him because he felt the need to look behind him at that moment. He couldn't have been more surprised to see who it was looking at him. "Amelia?" Gavin called out in confusion. His face reflected the hurt Amelia had caused him even though he desperately sought to hide it.

Hearing Gavin call out her name and seeing the pain on his face made Amelia's heart ache. How she wanted to jump into his arms and shower him with kisses. She wanted to tell him she was sorry and that she loved him dearly. But alas Amelia couldn't. In this emotional tug-a-war her head won over her heart. "Hello Gavin." She greeted him in a somewhat of a neutral tone.

Lina gritted her teeth as she thought of some choice words to describe the raven haired blue eyed girl at the moment. She really had expected Amelia to apologize to Gavin and beg him to take her back. Of course Lina could see the remorse of Amelia's face so it made it more confusing to why Amelia did nothing. "For the record I didn't invite her along." Lina announced.

"Who is she?" Sylphiel wondered noting the tension in the room.

"That's Amelia Will Tesla Sailune. She would be Headmaster Philonel Sailune of East Rixx's younger daughter and my little brother's ex-girlfriend." Lina explained in a none too impressed voice.

The confusion on Gavin's face multiplied. "You were from East Rixx?" Gavin looked to Amelia for answers. "Is that why you dated me? Were you using me to get information to pass onto your father about my sister and North Rixx?"

"No!" Amelia almost yelled out. "Gavin I wasn't using you! Honestly I swear!"

Lina waved up her hand getting between the former love birds. "I want answers as much as the next person but we're on a tight schedule people. So let's get things set up first!"

Gavin obliged and went back to work ignoring everyone.

"Sylphiel let's see the fake you made." Lina held out her hand.

Sylphiel handed Lina the box she was using to hide the eye.

Lina examined the fake very closely noting each detail Sylphiel had made. If you put the fake between the real first and second eyes you wouldn't find it hard to believe that the fake wasn't a real one. It was very convincing. However as Lina looked at it she realized Sylphiel made it exactly the way Lina had drawn it. She had thought her drawing had been pretty good but looking at the fake she could tell right away that she had made some mistakes with the drawing she sent Sylphiel. "It looks exactly the way I drew it."

"I did my best to make it as close as I could." Sylphiel assured Lina.

"Except going on my drawing alone probably made it inaccurate. But unless Gourry is the spy I doubt the thieves are going to know any better. Good work Sylphiel."

Sylphiel smiled and let out a sigh of relief. She had been worried that the fake wouldn't be good enough. Ordinarily for a job such as this Sylphiel would have taken more time then she was given. Sylphiel was a bit of perfectionist.

With the fake deemed a success Lina took the others into the hidden room within the room where they could view what was going on. The room Lina had chosen for the trap was set up like a typical interrogation room in a police station. It was a simple room with one wall having a large two way mirror covering almost the whole thing. Lina had her brother set up a safe in the middle of the room sitting on a pedestal.

"Why do you have an interrogation room in your school?" Zelgadis wondered in confusion.

"Oh don't act like you don't have one at yours too." Lina exclaimed while rolling her eyes.

Zelgadis figured that the room was for the students studying criminology. Or at least that's what he hoped it was for.