A couple of days passed since we met the General that was apparently in charge of everything. He hadn't visited our Command Center since then, though neither did Snow-Cap. We hadn't heard anything about how long he'd be suspended, but I had a feeling it was going to be a while.

Especially after he told us it wasn't the first time he'd gotten in trouble for not exactly following the rules.

The day after the we'd met General Eagle, I'd gone in after school to talk to the twins about what had happened. What I teleported into, though, wasn't exactly what I was expecting to see. Middy was typing away at his console, while Techno was practically draping himself over his green-themed brother's shoulders. The way I came in, I could only see the backs of their heads. I walked over to them, trying to see what it was that had them so interested.

"What are you guys working on?" I asked.

"Oh, nothing much," Middy answered. "Just working on forging some records."

"Oh, okay." I said.

Wait, what was that?!

"We're forging documents," Techno said. "y'know, like the General said."

Whoawhoawhoa, hold on! "That's not what he said!"

"Sure it is," Middy said, turning in his chair toward me. Techno got off of him so his brother could spin around. "Remember, it's supposed to be on record that we got rid of the cameras and the footage they recorded."

"So," Techno said, moving over to his own station, "we're following orders. We're putting it on record that the cameras and footage are gone."

Middy gave me a flat stare. "Of course, this means that this won't work if you tell anybody about this. So you won't, right?"

"Uh..."

"Look, Iris," Techno said, "we really could use your help on this. You might be wrong about this whole thing. Cecelia Berkana may not actually be involved in the Maverick attacks."

"Did you really just say that after what happened a few weeks ago?"

Techno shrugged. "Benefit of the doubt?"

"Anyway," Middy interrupted, "Tango was kinda onto something by planting those cameras. We might be able to prove one way or another whether or not she actually is part of this whole thing. If she is, we can turn probably figure out a way to turn her into the police and let them handle the investigation from there. If she isn't, well, then at least you'll have one less reason to hate her."

I shook my head at that.

"Yeah, like that's going to matter."

Which was why, the next day, I found myself at the dojo. Class was over for the day, but a lot of times people will stick around and get a little extra practice in. Some of them would work on forms, others did a little strength or cardio training. A couple of the higher belt students would even do a little sparring, often times just for fun.

Not today, though. Today, the dojo was quiet. Not because people had gone home. I mean, sure, a couple had, but for a good chunk of the class stayed after today. No, the reason why everyone was quiet was because one of the senior black belts was practicing her kata.

We all watched as she moved through the form. This black belt was one of the ones everyone in the dojo looked up to when class was running. Her name was Vertigo. Nothing else, just Vertigo, and her design was cool. She was designed as a blue serpent with green stripes all along her body. Unlike most other snake-like Reploids, she had arms and legs to make her more human-like. Someone once asked her what she was modeled after, exactly, and her answer was kinda funny.

"I'm a 'cobrasaur'," she'd said, with a smile,"and before you say anything, I know that's not a thing. My designer was pretty creative."

Her every movement was fluid. She moved with a grace that you wouldn't see out of most other snake-like Reploids. Sure, snake Reploids carried themselves like they were constantly slithering everywhere, but Vertigo was a whole new story. It was like she was always dancing. Even the smallest movement was done like she'd practiced it her entire life. It made every punch, every kick, even her blocks seem beautifully done.

Which made the moments when she flared her hood stand out even more than they already would. The times during the kata, whenever we were supposed to let out a strong shout, her hood would flare. It made her look extremely scary whenever she did. That alone was enough to make me never want to fight her in anything other than a friendly sparring match.

As she finished her form, she stood in the center of the room. I wasn't sure if she knew she had an audience. I know that whenever I do my kata, pretty much everything around me gets phased out. The only thing that matters to me the moment. Every offensive and defensive maneuver is done as if someone is actually coming at me.

While we were all applauding her, though, I only had two things going through my mind: how tired I was, and what the "master" thing Archon mentioned was about. It was a weird thing to say. Far as I could tell, Archon was acting on her own. I couldn't remember her saying anything about working for anyone while she was blowing building up, so why would she talk about a "master?"

Also, what was she trying to do, anyway? It just seemed like she was destroying the area for the heck of it. Didn't seem like she was trying to target anything specifically. No, it was more like she was trying to do as much as she possibly could. Maybe she was trying to cause a panic? That made more sense. It was more like she was wanting to do more damage in a wider area than going after one point.

It would've made more sense if the area hadn't already been evacuated by the time I got there.

Which raised another question: how did the area get cleared so quickly? Neo Arcadia is a huge city. Millions of people live here. Any section of the city was pretty well populated at any time. There was no way for that many people to disappear in the few seconds it took for me to get from the base to the site.

I could feel myself frowning. There was too much going on at one time. All that with Archon, the fact that she had some kind of tie to Berkana Industries, the weapons deal we saw her involved in? There were too many things that didn't make sense. Why would any of it be happening?

Then, I felt a swat on my head. I heard a quick yelp come from someone in the room. Pretty sure it wasn't me.

No way was it me, in fact.

I looked up to see Sensei looking down at me. In the back of my mind, I could hear myself saying something to him I wouldn't dare say to his face, because I like him.

Don't look down on me like that.

He chuckled. "I don't really have much of a choice, do I? I'm standing, you're sitting."

Oh, come on, brain! Just once!

"Come with me," he said, walking toward his office. I didn't have anything better to do at the time, so I followed behind. The way he said it, I didn't think I had anything to worry about. We went into his office, and we in the chairs. He leaned forward onto his desk, looking at me like he was worried about something.

"Is everything okay, Iris?"

"Yeah," I answered, probably a little too quickly, "everything's fine. Why? What's wrong?"

"That's kind of what I was hoping to find out. You've been one of the sharpest, most attentive students in the class. Hardy a day went by that I didn't have to worry about whether or not you were going to learn a new move or practice your forms. Especially after the accident."

I winced at that. I didn't even have to look at him to know I did. I could feel it.

"I can't help but notice that you've been pretty distracted recently. Until now, it hasn't affected your ability, but I can't really help but be concerned that whatever it is that's occupying your head is too big of a problem.

"I'm going to be honest with you, Iris. If whatever is going on is this much of a distraction now, I'm going to suggest that you step away until you can get the issue resolved."

Wait, what?!

"No, that's not gonna be a problem at all. It's just something that's been bugging me for a while. I didn't think it was that big of a problem. I'm not going to let it affect my performance here."

"It already has, Iris," he said, sighing a little, "I've seen you hesitate a couple of times while the class is practicing techniques. Those little hesitations can lead to someone getting hurt if you're not careful. I may be teaching you as students to defend yourselves, but karate is still a dangerous activity that you need to be able to completely focus on. What's going to happen if this thing bugs you at the wrong time, and you forget to stop a kick toward someone's head? Or you get careless and injure yourself? These are the things that I, as this dojo's owner, have to think about. Not just for insurance purposes, either. I care about each and every single person that steps through that door, and I don't want to see anyone getting hurt because of something that could've been prevented. You understand?"

"It's not like that, Sensei," I said. I tried to fight back some tears, "I just have a lot of things going on right now. I can't just walk away from this. Karate is really the only way I can get away from things, even for a little while. It's helped me work through a lot, even after the accident, like you said. It's one of, like, the only things I have right now that I can use as an escape.

"So please, don't kick me out."

Another sigh.

"Iris, I'm not kicking you out. I'm making a suggestion. Like I said, I'm not just worried about you, but everyone else here. I'll tell you what, though. I'm going to trust you to be able to keep your mind focused on the task at hand. If I feel like it's still going to be a problem, I'll have a discussion with your parents to figure out what to do next. That's all I'm asking of you, okay? Make sure you're focused on what's important. Okay?"

I nodded., wiping a tear away from my eye. In the back of my mind, I couldn't blame him. He was right. I was letting this whole thing with Berkana bother me too much. I just need to settle down and get through whatever it was that I was working on at the time.

And with any hope, not give Sensei a reason to call Mom and Dad about it. I didn't want to have another conversation like that one again.

Once I'd gotten changed and started walking out, I could feel a vibration in my pants pocket. I pulled out my phone to see the text message I'd just gotten.

Report to the Command Center ASAP. Prepare for mission briefing.

Huh. Okay. I closed the messenger app and started making a call. I had no idea what was going on, but I knew I needed to ask Mom to get the Trans Server ready.

Whatever was going on, I needed to be ready and focused. Berkana may or may not have been involved in the Maverick attacks happening, but she herself was going to have to wait.


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