Starbound: War Within

Chapter 4

I had left the cafeteria in a quick pace, my group of friends following behind me. I took out my phone, and powered on the screen to the home screen, pushing the application for Sail. After a few moments, she appeared.

"Hello mister Binari. How may I help you?" She asked.

"No time for pleasantries Sail. Call Beatriz, put her on speaker." I said in a serious tone, not even looking at my cell phone.

"Something happen I assume?" Sail asked. I looked down at her as we continued walking.

"It appears so. I'll fill you both in on the situation, call Beatriz." I said. She frowned.

"No time for fun then. Calling now." Sail said, followed by a ringing tone from my phone.

"I almost can't believe you're going to help me. You're very nice, and very… focused." She said, looking at me and noticing my facial expression.

"As I said Ruby, you're our friend and we look out for each other, regardless if you're part of our group or not. That's what Protectors of this academy should be doing." I said, keeping my brows down and smiling.

"Hell yeah man, we got the crew on the case." Elijah said enthusiastically. I nodded, knowing how right he was.

The ringing stopped from my cell phone, and Sail spoke first.

"Hello Beatriz. You are speaking to everyone within the group other than Yuki." She said, notifying Beatriz who was here.

"Hmm, John doesn't usually have you contact any of us personally. Is there something I can help you with?" She asked.

We stopped at the elevator and I hit the button to call it.

"Our new friend has been accused of stealing materials from the chemistry lab sometime this morning. She says there's no evidence to clear her name before she gets expelled, but I'm not so sure." I said.

The elevator doors opened and we filed in. Once everyone was inside, I hit the floor button that had the chemistry lab on it.

"I see. Well that can't be a coincidence." Beatriz said. I raised a brow.

"What do you mean coincidence?" I asked.

"Do you remember how I mentioned I couldn't stay long? I learned not too long ago something was also stolen from one of the tailor course rooms today, a few sheets of fabric." She said.

I looked at Ruby, and she glanced at me with a worried expression. I nodded.

"Alright Beat, thanks for the info. Did you know about this Ruby?" I asked her.

"No, I only know about the materials from the chemistry lab, I swear." She said. I nodded in reply.

Just then, bells rang out, signifying all classes were ending for the next half hour until the next sessions.

"Got it. Alright everyone, give me a sec to think about this." I said.

I returned my gaze to the doors, rubbing my head. I had to really think about this as it was 3 in the afternoon and the last courses of the day end in an hour and a half.

"Ok, here's what we'll do." I spoke aloud, turning to face my friends, all focusing their attention on me.

"Me and Ruby will go to the chem lab to get answers." I said. Elijah chuckled.

"Elijah and Zengi, go to the security offices, get access to the security camera footage, or have someone in authority look over it where the lab hall is. We don't need to be getting anyone here in trouble while doing this." I said, giving them both a stern look.

"You got it bro. Man you could be the captain of your own ship the way you throwing out orders getting shit done." He said with a smile, putting out his fist. I bumped my fist with his.

"Maybe. Bright Heart, I want you to meet up with Beatriz, see if there's anything else that was missed and can learn." I said.

"Eager. You can count on me." She said. I nodded.

"What about floran?" Crimson asked.

"You'll go back to your dorm and take care of Hugs. Food or sleep, whatever they need. Once that is done, meet up with us at the chemistry lab. I haven't forgotten anything outside of our group yet." I said.

Crimson smiled with a nod, quickly pulling me into a hug. I returned with a hug myself, patting her on the back. The elevator had stopped moving as we parted the embrace and I got back into my serious demeanor, looking at the group.

"Alright everyone, let's get this situation figured out and save her enrollment." I said with a commanding voice.

Elijah lifted a fist in the air while everyone else just nodded. Beatriz hung up right after.

I exited the elevator with Ruby following close to my side, heading to the left down the hall. Luckily, I knew how to get to where we were going as I've been here awhile back when I met Crimson, and the walk was short.

"You sure raise morale in a pinch mister Binari. Better hurry before the day is over." Sail said from my cell phone.

"Yeah." I said simply with a nod.

No sooner do I say that, students began filling the halls. I put my phone back in my pocket and continued walking with Ruby, chatter ringing out around us.

As we got closer to our destination, I took notice of where the wall mounted cameras were and where they were facing. I pointed to the last one in a finger gun fashion gesture, showing Ruby.

We entered and the room was empty of people save for the same apex from a few years ago with the lab coat. He was once again sitting at his desk going through papers looking bored. As we entered, he turned to face us and his bored demeanor was replaced with anger.

"How dare you set foot in here again. Have you no shame stealing from the academy?" He said in a raised tone.

Ruby lowered her head, averting her gaze from the apex. I stepped in front of Ruby, and he shifted his attention to me.

"Before you start accusing anyone of anything sir, how about you give me details on this whole situation?" I asked. He looked less angry, but still quite upset.

"One of my students? Are you involved with this thief?" He said. I shook my head, and was a bit irritated.

"Yes, I was one of your students for a year, three years ago. I graduated today, and am a Protector now. I am investigating the matter of the stolen materials to get this resolved. I have questions and need your co-operation to find out what happened." I said. He raised a brow, skeptical of what I said.

"If you want my co-operation, I am going to need yours first. Where is your Matter Manipulator?" He asked, wanting proof.

I rolled my eyes, and took my bag off, opening it up and pulling out my Matter Manipulator for him to see. He eased up on his facial expression, and nodded. I tucked my Manipulator back into my bag.

"Now, who are you?" He asked.

"My name is John Binari. I have questions that need to be answered and time is very short." I said. The apex teacher looked visibly shocked.

"Binari? John Binari? Uh… yes, of course, whatever you need to know, I'll be happy to assist with your investigation." He said, now more forthcoming I hoped.

"I need to know what was stolen, first of all." I stated. He leaned back in his chair, resting his arms on the armrests.

"Several jars of healing water, opium, and replicants of what is called rosemary here on earth, didn't have the actual herbs. Along with these are sand oxides and some class C narcotics. It wasn't just a little bit of everything, almost all of these specific materials are gone, nothing else was taken. I had to cancel today's classes because of this." He said. I nodded.

"Sounds like the ingredients of pain killers and morphine, used in medical practice." I said. The apex nodded, looking at Ruby who was still behind me.

"This isn't looking good for her, and we just started. There must be more." I thought.

"Tell me everything that happened from the moment you got here to when you discovered the missing items." I said. He leaned forward.

"I unlocked the doors at around 7 this morning, like I usually do. I came in, and everything was here. The cupboards were filled, tables were clear; everything was as it should have been." He said. I nodded, crossing my arms.

"I left shortly after to grab some coffee and copy some files from the staff lounge, which was quite a distance away, but the coffee maker was not working, so I had to go to the cafeteria for my coffee." He continued.

"Once I had made my coffee, I returned to the staff lounge for my papers which finished copying, and returned to this chemistry lab. When I got back it was a bit after 8. I stayed in here until 9, when the first course starts. When I had gotten up to get things ready, that's when I noticed the materials missing." He said. I nodded, crossing my arms and arriving to the final question.

"And what proof do you have that makes you believe she is the culprit?" I asked, the lab overseer sighing in return.

"The security offices called and notified me that she was the only one seen leaving from here." He stated. I frowned, not liking this one bit.

"No way. Bullshit. There has to be more to this." I thought.

I looked to the cabinets, which were closed, and turned my attention back onto the apex teacher.

"I see. I'm going to look inside your cabinets over there, see if there's anything else that may have been missed." I said.

"She can wait outside. I don't want her in here." He said in irritation.

I turned to Ruby who began to turn around to leave. I put a hand on her shoulder stopping her, and she looked at me with sorrow.

"I'll be out in a minute. Wait for me outside please." I said softly. She lowered her head, turned around and exited without a word.

I walked over to the cabinets, opening several of them. I began inspecting the contents, noticing there was much empty space where objects could be stored.

True to what the apex said, there was almost none of the type of materials that were taken out, save for some cupboards that appeared to be full which did have one or two jars of rosemary replicants and some type of red sand. I looked over at the apex teacher.

"These cabinets here that are missing things, are these where you generally keep what was stolen?" I asked. He raised a brow, and got out of his chair.

"Indeed I do. I like to keep things organized when possible." He said, stopping next to me to look at the cupboards.

"You said when possible? Do you have problems with having materials put away where you want?" I inquired. He nodded, shifting his attention onto me.

"That can be an issue sometimes. It doesn't happen frequently, however it does still happen. The carelessness of youth still slips through despite my warnings of being careful." He said with slight annoyance in his voice. I placed a hand on my chin.

"Interesting. So someone knew what they were looking for and where it was supposed to be, and the only reason there is even anything left is because they were not put back in the proper place." I thought mentally. I didn't need to tell this guy, he's already convinced she is guilty.

"I see. Thank you for the answering my questions, you have been very helpful. Have a good day sir." I said, and turned to exit the room.

"I don't see why you are doing this. The security offices saw the footage, and she's the only one that could have stolen all of it. It's already over." He assured me as I reached the door. I scoffed as I pushed the door open.

"You're wrong, Ruby couldn't steal a soda if she paid for it with money, so she didn't steal from this room. Good day." I said walking straight out, not even bothering to look back. Ruby and Crimson were waiting for me outside, having heard what I said.

"Hello girls, I have-" I stopped speaking abruptly when I noticed my phone was vibrating in my pocket.

I took it out, and saw Elijah was calling. I slid a finger across the screen, answering then putting it on speaker.

"Hey bud, you have me, Ruby and Crimson here." I said.

"Hey broski, uh you got to come here, these people won't give us anything on the cameras and what they saw." He said.

"You are not authorized to be handling sensitive equipment, and calling for help will not change that. Please leave." A male voice in the background said. I groaned.

"Damn it. We'll be right there, but I have some info to share with everyone first. Sail, call and add Beatriz to this call. Let's walk and talk." I said, heading down the hallways with Crimson and Ruby following along.

"Understood mister Binari." Sail said, the ringing tone of my phone starting.

We heard nothing for a few seconds, and then she picked up.

"Hello John." Beatriz said simply.

"Hello Beat. Everyone listen up, I have maybe good news, and definitely bad news." I said, taking a deep breath, and slowly exhaled.

"What we were told is the security footage allegedly saw Ruby entering and exiting the chem lab, being the only one." I said. Crimson looked shocked, and Ruby looked ashamed.

"Ruby, did you enter that room?" I asked. She didn't look from the floor.

"Yes…" She said softly.

"Why?" I asked simply to get to the point.

"I was told by the head medical nurse in the infirmary to go get a jar of healing water and leave a sticky note explaining it all. That is the only thing I grabbed." She said. I wanted to know more.

"Was everything still there when you retrieved it?" I asked. She nodded.

"Yes, the shelves in the cabinets were full. There was nothing missing." She said. I nodded.

"What was taken is only certain materials used in making painkillers and morphine, all medical related. Something else was taken as well that wasn't quite medical related, and that's different sands of oxide types. Compounds used in metallurgy, or as Elijah and Crimson remember, an iron skin potion. I know he remembers since it blew up in his face." I said, continuing.

"What's more is I'm calling bullshit on the whole video recording rumor deal, I don't believe it until I see it myself." I said, shifting my gaze to Ruby, who looked at me in shock.

"Not all of the same type of materials were taken. There were cabinets that had several empty spaces, and the other cabinets that were full had one or two materials of what was stolen still in there. Whoever stole from the chem lab knew what they were looking for and where, but didn't account to student laziness which is why there is barely anything left." I said, nodding at Ruby who was still looking at me with shock.

We stopped at the elevator lift we had used before and I called the elevator.

"I don't know if this is connected to the cloth from the tailor room being stolen as well, but I do know there's no way Ruby did this. As I told the teacher in there, she couldn't have stolen anything in there and gotten away with it. Something else is going on here, and we're getting to the bottom of this. That's all I got for now." I said as the elevator doors opened.

"Getting in the elevator now with the girls. Call the group again if anyone learns anything new." I said, hanging up on the call and placing my phone back in my pocket.

Once Crimson and Ruby had stepped in I hit the button for the floor that had most of the administrative facilities and crossed my arms. I have only been there twice, but I had hoped I wouldn't have to come here myself again if I could help it.

"Well done mister Binari, you're showing real initiative. You still want that cookie?" She said from my pocket. I shook my head.

"Now isn't the time Sail, we still need to clear Rubys' name." I said, disregarding the sarcastic comment.

The only sound now was of the elevator moving, and because of how this situation has evolved, I decided to try and make it more bearable.

"The whole situation is less than ideal, but we will get to the bottom of this Ruby. We know more than when we started and we certainly know more than these dumbass rumors. We will do our best until we have the full picture." I said, trying to reassure her.

"Thank you John. Thank you. Nobody else would even lift a finger to help me, and here you are being so… great." She said. I turned to face her, and our gazes met.

Ruby was trying her best to smile, but wasn't having much luck with it. I lifted an arm and put a hand on her shoulder, patting her.

"We need to look out for each other Ruby. We're all friends here." I said, trying to smile myself and pulling my arm back to my side. She nodded.

"Yes, you're right. Thank you again, John. It's great you're taking charge of all this so well. I don't even know what to do about any of this or what to think." She said. I returned my attention to the elevator doors.

"Someone has to do it, certainly isn't going to be some of the staff. I'm just doing what I think is right." I said. Crimson then gave me a surprise hug.

"John isss good leader, very sssmart. Can figure out problemsss." She said. I wrapped an arm around her and hugged back.

"We'll see. There's still parts of this that we need to figure out. Our only current lead is the security office, so we need to see what we can learn from there if anything." I said.

Crimson and I parted from the embrace, and continued waiting for the elevator to stop. It took slightly longer for the elevator to stop than it usually would as the administrative wings were more separated from the rest of the academy.

We walked out, and we immediately noticed there was fancier décor and architecture than most of the academy we had seen so far. The floors were marble tile, the walls had swirls and designs carved in, there were round half pillars in the walls, planters on the floors, banners on the walls, and other such expensive looking scenery.

There were people with fancy jumpsuits similar to what the Grand Protector would wear walking the halls, only they looked more like a security uniform.

We walked down the hallway to our right, making a few turns down other halls to the left and right to continue going the same direction we were going.

After a couple minutes we arrived at the security offices. The door looked like a sliding door made of glass, and beside it were windows sitting on carved wooden walls. I turned to the girls.

"Let me handle most of the talking. If they speak to you Ruby, I will speak on your behalf." I said. She nodded in response.

I took another deep breath and exhaled, putting on the most serious facial expression I could. I approached the door and hit the wall console beside it to open it. It slid to the side and we walked in, noticing the fancy interior. Just like the hallways, even the entrance was breathtaking.

The ground was a soft blue carpet, with the Terrene Protectorate emblazoned on the floor with a yellow color. There were sconces on the walls, more banners and planters in here, and a wide wooden desk with glass dividers on the top.

Zengi and Elijah were in front of the desk arguing with a hylotl male in one of the similar police looking jumpsuits that were seen out in the halls.

"-to leave if you have no business here." The hylotl said.

"The hell we don't man! We need answers and the answers are on that footage." Elijah said. The hylotl got up, slamming their hands on a lower part of the desk we couldn't see.

"Repeatedly asking for access to restricted equipment and sensitive data will not be tolerated. Go back to your dorm, go to your classes, I don't care, but go elsewhere please. This type of pestering and loitering is not becoming of ANYONE attending this academy." The hylotl said, not changing their tone but clearly has had enough. I shook my head, deciding to intervene.

"We are investigating the matter of the stolen materials from the chemistry lab on floor 23." I said a bit loudly, stepping forward.

The hylotl, Zengi and Elijah turned their attention to me. Zengi and Elijah were glad to see me, but this security guard was about to have a more terrible day than Ruby was having. Elijah and Zengi walked towards me, and we all pounded fists.

"Finally showed up huh? Give him hell John." He said, walking to the side to stand with Zengi.

"Only if he deserves it." I thought.

I approached the front desk about to speak, but the guard beat me to it.

"As I have told your friends here, accessing any of our data is off limits to students. You need to cease this foolishness and leave, or I will have you walked out of here." He said, glaring at me.

"We're not students, we're Protectors." I said simply. He looked skeptical, but I knew how to prove it.

I took my bag off and pulled out my Matter Manipulator, placing it on the desk for him to see, not taking my eyes off him. He looked surprised, but not as surprised as I thought he would be.

"Well, even though you are a Protector now, this behavior is still not acceptable." He said, still denying us access.

"Ok, he deserves it." I said mentally.

I pulled out my cell phone, and placed it next to my Manipulator. The hylotl raised a brow in confusion.

"Sail, put me through to the administrative offices." I said. He looked a lot more surprised now, not knowing what is in store for him.

"Understood mister Binari." Sail said from my cell phone, the hylotl looking a bit worried now.

My cell phone rang, all the while I did not take my gaze off of the guard. He looked to be sweating bullets now. In a few moments the ringing stopped, and I had gotten a hold of someone.

"Hello, you have reached the administrative office of the Terrene Protectorate on Earth. My name is Alexis Taylor, and I'll be taking your call. How may I help you today?" A female voice spoke.

"Hello Alexis, I need to speak to Leda Portia immediately. It's a matter of urgency." I said. The hylotl sat down, resting his arm on the attached arm rests. There was a small pause of silence.

"May I ask who is speaking?" She asked.

"John Binari, son of Kent Binari. I'm calling from the security offices near you." I said, glaring at the hylotl as hard as I could. He froze immediately.

"Oh! Yes, yes of course! I'll transfer you immediately." She said quickly. I sighed.

"Thank you. Have a good day." I said. The hylotl just stared at me dumbfounded.

My phone began ringing again, and was shortly answered.

"Hello mister Binari, what a pleasant surprise to hear from you." Leda said.

"Hello Miss Portia. I wish it was as pleasant for me as it is for you, but there is a matter of urgency which needs to be dealt with. Two, in fact. I hope I'm not disturbing you much?" I said.

"Nonsense, I'm just filling out forms and paperwork, I can let it be for a bit. Now, what are these urgent matters you are speaking of?" She asked. I crossed my arms, finally shifting my eyes off the guard to my cell phone.

"Well, first is the matter of the stolen materials from the chemistry lab. My friend Ruby here has been accused of stealing medical ingredients and other reagents from there, but I'm positive she had nothing to do with it. I was looking to view the footage for myself to try and get some answers, but this guard here won't help us." I explained. There was an audible sigh from Leda.

"Mister Binari, the footage is unfortunately quite clear. This girl, Ruby, was the only one seen on the camera entering and leaving." She said, sorrow in her voice.

"If everything that has been stolen was returned, she would not be expelled but would suffer a huge mark on her personal record. She has denied having any affiliation with this theft, so expulsion from this academy is the only punishment and option I can offer." She said. I shook my head.

"Leda, she literally can't even steal a canned soda from a vending machine by paying for it, and yet she is accused of stealing anyways. I am investigating this because not only is she my friend, something doesn't add up. If there is a chance that she is innocent, no matter how unlikely, I am taking it because I believe it's the right damn thing to do." I said, slamming a fist on the top of the desk.

There were a few moments of silence, then Leda finally broke it.

"Before I let you continue this investigation further, have you been told why Ruby went into the chemistry lab?" Leda asked.

"Yes, she was delivering a jar of healing water to the infirmary. She left a note behind." I said.

"That is what she claims, however no note was found in the lab. The location which she directed us to where she placed the note was also the same shelves the chemistry lab materials were missing from." Leda said.

"There has to be something to convince Leda. Just need to find it." I thought mentally.

"Ruby, were you physically carrying the sticky note when you left the infirmary?" I asked. The guard decided to finally speak up.

"I'm sorry, but I fail to see what that-"

"Ruby, please answer the question." I said, cutting off the hylotl guard.

There was a few seconds of silence, then she mumbled something too low to hear.

"Can you repeat that?" I asked.

"Yes, I left the infirmary holding the note in my hand." She said.

"Good. Now to go all in." I said mentally.

I dreaded asking my next question, as I'm grasping the final straws, and will either continue this investigation, or seal Ruby to being expelled and banned from the Protectorate.

"On the security footage, was Ruby holding the note in her hand?" I asked.

Neither the security guard or Leda spoke at first, and the guard shrugged.

"I don't actually recall, dearie." Leda said. I shook my head.

"UGH! Double or nothing." I thought mentally.

"I'd like that footage watched again. Ruby said she was carrying that note, and it wasn't found, so either she is telling the truth and there's something that is being overlooked, or you are… right." I said, clenching my fists.

"Very well mister Binari, I will look over the footage. One minute please." Leda said.

"Now the waiting game." I said mentally

With how close I am to both failing and possibly succeeding, I felt just like this desk guard did when he found out who I was, really on edge. After a few minutes, Leda spoke up again.

"I have watched the recordings again." She said with a small pause of silence.

"…and?" I asked, anxious and afraid of what the answer would be.

"You are right mister Binari, she did indeed have the note in her hands." She said, as I let out an exhale of breath I didn't even know I was holding.

"Holy FUCKING shit. WOOOOOO!" I said mentally, knowing I made a dangerous bet.

Loud bells rang at this moment, signifying the last of today's class sessions are now starting, and we had an hour left to clear her name. Maybe.

"Mister Binari, you stated you are looking into this?" She asked.

"Yes, I've been investigating with my friends, and have found out a few things." I stated.

"Wonderful. Tell us what you have learned so far." She said.

I looked over to my group of friends, and all of them save for Crimsons' smile, had looks of absolute shock. I looked at Ruby and gave a thumbs up with a nod. I returned my gaze to my cell phone.

"Regarding what was stolen, only the same items were removed from the shelves of the cabinets that generally would have these organized and stored in them, nothing else was touched. The items are mainly materials for pain killers and morphine. There was also some sand oxide which is used for metallurgy, or more known by some of us, ironskin potions, that was taken." I said.

"One of the cabinets which was completely stocked still had a couple of the same types of items which were stolen. Ruby here says everything was still there when she placed the note inside the cabinet. From this, I can gather whoever stole everything knew where everything would be, and when they could steal it." I said.

"For that… chemistry lab overseer, he left shortly after 7, returning a bit after 8, perhaps 40 minutes time difference, not leaving once he returned. For Ruby arriving then leaving, and whoever stole all the items, there's a time window between there, I don't know what it is yet." I said.

"And finally, while maybe coincidence, there was a small theft in one of the tailor classes. Only a few sheets of fabric were stolen. This is all I know, I have told you everything." I said finally.

There was a long pause of silence, and it seemed like I would have to speak up myself, until Leda finally spoke.

"Excellent work John Binari. Yes, you may have a look at the recordings. However, this must be resolved today, as I will have no choice but to give out the punishment. Hopefully you can find the answers in time. " She said. I exhaled all possible air I had in my lungs.

"Thank you Miss Portia, I understand." I said, finally able to smile.

"You are welcome John. As I said earlier, your father would be proud if he could see you now, and you continue to do so even now." She said.

"If there is any further help I can provide with your investigation, please call upon me. Have a pleasant rest of the day, dearies." She said, hanging up.

I grabbed my Manipulator off the desk and stuck it back into my bag, then grabbed my phone and stuck it in my jacket pocket. I turned my attention to my friends.

"We're almost there everyone, just a little farther. Elijah, come with me, I need an extra set of eyes. Crimson, call Beatriz, ask her and Bright Heart to come up here to the security office. We'll be done as fast as we can." I said. I was about to turn back to the desk, but was stopped by rubies voice.

"John." She called out. I turned to face her.

"Thank you for fighting so hard for me. I'm… so grateful." She said, tearing up in joy.

"I told you, I'm going to get the bottom of this. That's what friends are for." I said, shooting her a smile.

Finally, I turned my attention back the hylotl guard.

"Show us the video recordings, please." I said.

He looked around and groaned in annoyance, then got up after a few seconds. We followed him through a hallway into a large open room with open cubicles and computers at them with a few guards sitting at them, a few walking around.

There was a few corkboards on the walls with flyers that I couldn't make out, a room with glass windows that looked like a briefing room, and another room with windows that looked like a break room that also had a couple guards in there.

Passing by cubicles, he led us through a door to a dimly lit room with several large wide consoles with camera feeds on them, all connected to a computer setup similar to what is in my dorm with a table and several standing servers. The computer screens were powered on, and had a few basic application shortcuts on the desktop.

There was a red avian guard sitting at the desk monitoring some camera feeds resting his head on one of head hands, and a mug of I guess coffee in the other hand. As we entered, he glanced over.

"These Protectors need to access our security footage in an investigation they are conducting. Leda Portia has granted permission on this, so show them how to work these then take a break Malotl, you look tired." The hylotl guard said, walking out to return to the front desk.

Malotl got up from the chair and pointed to the standing consoles with current security feeds being displayed.

"This is where you can see the current feed for the cameras and the different floors. You can use that screen there to see individual floors, whole floors, or single cameras." He explained, pointing at the computer monitors.

"We appreciate your co-operation Malotl." I said. He turned and waved us off.

"If anything happens in here, it's your neck." He warned. I shook my head.

I was about to take my bag off but Elijah spoke up.

"Goddamn bruh, you handled that shit like a boss!" He said with excitement.

"He must have been holding that in from the front." I thought mentally.

"I was grasping for anything I could to get a little farther. Truth be told, it was all stressful and too many risks on small details. One wrong factor could have shut us down immediately." I said, taking a deep breath.

I took my bag off, and dug around inside for a wire to plug into one of the servers here. After looking for a few seconds, I pulled a small cord out, and plugged it into my cell phone, setting it down on the table with the computer screens. I sat down on the chair, and handed Elijah the other end of my cell cord.

"Hey Elijah, plug this into one of the servers there in the back." I said, pointing to them.

"You got it bro." He replied, ducking and maneuvering around wires and cords behind the table.

After few seconds, he spoke up.

"Alright, it's in man." He said from behind a bunch of standing servers.

I cracked my knuckles, ready to finally look at the video footage.

"Time to work you two. Sail, pull up the video footage of Ruby heading to and from the chemistry lab." I said.

"Of course. One moment please." She said.

A few seconds later, a window opened with several different cameras showing different locations.

"Here is the recorded footage for the cameras Ruby passed." She said. I nodded.

Me and Elijah watched the camera footage, from Ruby leaving the infirmary with that note, heading down a couple flights of stairs which I hardly ever see or use, and arriving at the chemistry lab then entering. Not even a half minute later she walks back out without the note which is replaced with a jar of healing water, and returns the same way she came, heading back up the stairs, and entering the infirmary.

I leaned back, thinking of flaws that we obviously seen.

"Those didn't tell us hardly anything we haven't already figured out. For starters, she wasn't in there long enough to even steal anything. If she did steal anything, her bag isn't big enough to hold everything." I said and sighed, unsure where to even start. Elijah patted my shoulder.

"We'll figure this out man. Between you and me we got this holmes." He said confidently.

"Sail, what are the timestamps when she leaves and returns to the infirmary?" I asked.

"Time stamps are marked at 7:33 and 7:40." She informed us.

"Show us the recordings of... uh, that chem lab overseer. Shit, I never even learned his name." I face palmed.

"What exactly are you looking for?" She asked

"Same thing with Ruby, when he leaves and returns. I also want the time stamps." I said.

"I understand. One moment please." She said.

A few seconds later, another window popped up, and it had different camera feeds on it. The chem overseer exited the chemistry lab carrying a folder that appeared empty, and headed to the elevator. I shook my head.

"Sail, speed up the playback time by two." I said.

The footage then had the chem lab overseer quickly enter the elevator. After a few seconds he sped through into the staff lounge. After a few minutes, he sped out through the lounge door towards the elevator again and entered, disappearing from view. He re-appeared on the floor with the cafeteria, speeding through the halls and entering the cafeteria. He entered into the staff only area, and came out with a foam cup a few minutes later.

I put my hands over my eyes and groaned, this shit was boring.

When I looked back to the video footage, he had returned to the staff lounge. A couple minutes later, he came out with the empty folder now stuffed with papers. He entered the elevator, and reappeared on the floor with the chemistry lab, returning to the room.

"Get me the time stamps for them leaving the chem lab, entering and exiting the staff lounge, and the cafeteria. I want them in order." I said. Sail appeared on the computer screen beside the window.

"This seems a bit too meticulous mister Binari, but you're leading this investigation." She said, shrugging.

"He leaves the chemistry lab at 7:25, and arrives at the staff lounge at 7:28. He leaves the staff lounge the first time at 7:39 and arrives at the cafeteria at 7:44. He leaves the cafeteria at 7:47 and returns to the staff lounge at 8:02. He leaves the staff lounge a second time and returns to the chemistry lab at 8:06." She said, finishing.

I nodded like I understood what she said, and that I know what I'm doing. I don't.

"Well we can rule him out as a suspect, maybe." I said, putting a hand on my forehead.

"There's something here, we're just not seeing it. I don't know what it could be. Ugh… fuuuck." I said in irritation, leaning forward in the chair.

"What if the person couldn't be seen?" Elijah suggested. I leaned back in the chair to look at him and I shrugged.

"It's an interesting theory, but cloaking devices won't actually work Elijah. I tried, light refracting devices are too small to generate enough power to enable a person to be cloaked." I said, shooting down his idea and resting my wrist on my head.

"But, it's probably likely given the circumstances." I said.

"Wait, don't tell me you're giving up?" He asked. I looked at him with a deadpan expression.

"I'm not giving up, I'm just saying I'm out of ideas. I keep running the same scenarios we're dealt with in my head, and it keeps playing out the same. It's not the chem lab overseer for reasons being he is part of the staff, and he didn't carry anything out other than an almost empty folder. Ruby was not in there long enough to steal anything and what she did take out of there you can clearly see her holding, and where she is going." I leaned forward, resting a hand on a clenched fist.

Minutes went by as I kept thinking how it was possible someone we couldn't see was able to steal all the materials, and then it hit me like a small spark of hope.

"Your theory may be correct Elijah." I said, looking at him. He raised his brows in confusion. I quickly stood up from the chair.

"We run the scenarios with the people we can see who had nothing to do with the theft, and that's all we're going to get. However…" I said, trailing off and pointing to Elijah.

"We also know we are looking for someone we can't see, or didn't see. So first we eliminate how we can't see them, and we may be that much closer to finding them." I said. He smiled and patted my shoulder.

"See, knew you still had another trick up your sleeve bruh." He said. I nodded and turned back to the computer screens.

"We'll see. Sail, show me footage of the hall for the chem lab, time stamps being between when ruby left the chemistry lab and when the chem overseer returned to the room." I said, unsure where this was going.

"While it is fun to watch you struggle, it is so much better to see you doing so knowing the gravity of the situation gets heavier by the minute. Here you go." She said, with a window of two video feeds popping up. I rolled my eyes at her.

"Play the recording, and set the playback speed to one point twenty five." I said.

Me and Elijah began watching the hall cameras footage. A minute later the feed appeared to flicker. It wouldn't of caught my attention normally, but both camera feeds flickered at the same time. That's not normal and that's the first sign of anything.

"Wait, go back." I said, leaning closer to the monitors.

"Rewind a minute, play it back in normal speed." I said, as the timestamp on the footage went backwards quickly.

"What? Did you see something?" Elijah asked.

"I don't know." I replied, still unsure if it was anything.

After about a minute, both feeds flickered again, more clearly now that it was normal speed.

"There. Rewind ten seconds and play again." I said, testing what I saw, and sure enough both camera feeds flickered at the same time again.

I leaned back in the chair, and internally celebrated a victory.

"What was it? What did you see?" He asked. I pointed to the screen.

"The camera feeds flickered. It wouldn't be something to point out normally, however these two did it at the same exact time." I explained.

"Does that help us?" He asked as confused as I was becoming.

"Maybe. It's the only other thing we have seen that is… irregular." I stated. I paused for a few moments to think.

"Sail, pull up all the recorded footage on that floor, use the same timestamp same as before with Ruby and the chem overseer." I said feeling confident, sure I was on to something.

"You might be wasting your time at this point, but suit yourself." She said.

After about twenty seconds, a window popped up with several camera feeds, all on the same floor of different hallways and directions.

"Set playback speed to one point twenty five." I said.

After we watched the screens for about a minute or so, I noticed someone with a black hoodie entering a restroom on one of the camera recordings. I focus on this camera, and after a few seconds, all the screens flickered the same way.

"Whoa, I saw that." Elijah exclaimed.

"This camera here has someone entering a restroom right before the screens flicker." I said, pointing at one of the small screens in the window.

"Well, I didn't see that." Elijah replied.

"Sail, rewind a few seconds before that person enters, and slow playback to point five." I said.

The video footage quickly went backwards, then played at the set slow speed. The unknown figure came into view, but we couldn't see their face which was covered by their hood. He was carrying a backpack, and a duffle bag that appeared empty. I rubbed my chin, knowing the best and only lead we now have is a guy who carries two bags.

"Sail, fast forward to when this person exits the restrooms there." I said, once again grasping for something, anything.

The videos screens flickered again, and the unknown person shortly walked out, their face partially visible and their duffle bag now full. It looked like an avian as they had a beak pointing out from under their hood. My eyes widened, as I figured out what happened.

"Sail, rewind a minute." I said.

The videos footage played on as we waited for something, then the videos screens flickered again and the unknown avian walked out again. I exhaled a breath of air, nodding my head and looking to Elijah, who looked at me back.

"There's our invisible thief, Elijah." I said. He looked back to the screen in amazement.

"Holy shit… John. You did it!" He said in excitement. I shook my head.

"We're not done yet. There's some more to complete the whole picture." I said. He looked at me in shock.

"But he's right there dude! You can see he has a bag that is suddenly filled!" He said, gesturing to the screen with arms.

"Yes but we don't know who he is yet and there is one more thing we need to check first." I said.

"Sail, move the current camera recordings over to the side, and open another window for recordings. This time, show all camera footage for the floor with the tailors course room that was also stolen from." I said.

"What are we looking for now? Do you even know?" She asked in annoyance. I sat back down in the chair.

"This… invisible man. Scan the recorded cameras footage see if he shows up. Search the entire day." I said, leaning back.

"This will take awhile, but if that is what you want." She said.

We waited for several minutes in silence, and Sail finally spoke up.

"He has been spotted mister Binari, just as you may have suspected." She said. I leaned forward to get a better look at the computer screens.

"Play the recordings, starting a minute before this invisible man appears." I said.

A window appeared showing camera feeds of a different floor, showing almost empty hallways devoid of people. There was a table on one of the camera feeds in a square area with a group of protectorates sitting there, but nobody we were here for.

After a minute of waiting, the same unknown avian wearing the black hoodie enters another restroom, and shortly after all the camera screens flicker again. I nodded, feeling very accomplished with having worked with little co-operation from the staff, and figuring out something that even they missed right under their noses.

"We got you now asshole." I said out loud, focusing solely where the unknown avian disappeared to.

"Hey John, check that out. They're frozen." Elijah said, pointing at the table of Protectorate students on the screen.

And indeed they were not moving. I would not have noticed this if he hadn't somehow pointed it out, much like me and the flickering screens. I found out more info thanks to Elijah, and as much as I wanted to celebrate our findings, it was time for action.

I leaned back and took a deep breath, something I really needed to do since I got up to this damned floor.

"Well that proves your invisible theory. Elijah, go get everyone, we have what we need." I said.

"Wooo! Hell yessss! Lets fucking gooooo!" He shouted, running out of the room back towards the front of the security offices.

Sail, who was still on the desktop screen, looked at me with a warm grin for once.

"Hey, I share his enthusiasm with how far we got with this ridiculous problem, but we're not quite done yet." I said. She nodded in understanding.

"It would be normal if you did, no one else could have made it as far as you did, John Binari. Well done." She said. I smiled at her praise.

I waited in the chair, and a minute later my friends and the security guard came walking in. I rotated around to face them, all eager to hear all the breakthroughs we have made.

"After going through several cameras recorded footage, quite a lot of them unhelpful, we have found the culprit, and have learned how they were able to go unnoticed with stealing from the chemistry lab." I said, pressing my fingers together. I took a deep breath and stood up.

"This unknown avian, whoever they may be, made themselves invisible by freezing the camera feed, therefore able to go undetected by cameras. An invisible man." I said, now probably sounding crazy.

I gestured to the computer screens on the desk with a hand, everyone focusing their attention on it.

"On the first screen is a window with all the camera feeds of the floor with the chemistry room which was stolen from. Watch what happens. Sail, start playback, ten seconds before our unknown shows up." I said.

I stared at the group to watch how they would react, and shortly they looked to be confused. One by one they turned their gazes to me.

"Sail, fast forward and start playback, ten seconds before they leave." I said, observing the reactions of the group again.

Shortly afterwards, they were all shocked in amazement or other similar feelings.

"There's more, if you didn't catch it. This avian, whoever they are, was carrying an empty duffle bag when they entered this restroom here, and when they walked out, was stuffed full of something. Over a fifteen to twenty minute period, that's just enough time to go back and forth to steal the contents of the cabinets." I said, giving a pause for everyone's amazement.

"Now screen two here has a window with all the camera feeds of the floor with the tailor course room that was also stolen from. Here is where the camera feed freezing is a lot more noticeable. Sail, start playback, ten seconds before the unknown avian shows up." I said.

Everyone shifts their eyes to watch the second screen, and just like before all the camera feeds flicker after our unknown person walks into the restrooms.

"Our culprit once again enters a restroom, the camera screens flicker at the same time, and everything freezes. If you look at the students at the table, you will see them immobile." I said, gesturing to the small square of the camera footage.

I turned to the group, and everyone was at a loss of words.

"There's still a few more things we don't know, but we learned things nobody knew or found, and we now have enough to clear Rubys' name." I said.

"Anyone want to comment before I continue?" I asked. The guard decided to speak up

"How in the bloody seas did you find all this out?" He asked, still shocked. I sighed in irritation.

"That's a bit of explanation. Just like at the entrance, I didn't fully know what I was doing, I was taking any and all blind shots to get closer to our goal." I said, beginning my explanation.

"We started with reviewing the footage of Ruby leaving the infirmary, going to the chem lab, leaving from there, and returning to the infirmary. We then reviewed the footage of the chem lab overseer leaving and returning. For both of these, we checked the time stamps, and concluded neither of them had any opportunity or plausible explanation to being tied to the theft." I said.

"Ruby was only in the chemistry lab for a half minute, not enough time to steal several cabinets worth of materials, nor her bag having the space to hold anything. The chem lab overseer had a bare folder when he left the room, and when he returned, stayed in there until the materials were found missing." I explained.

"So I kept running the scenarios with what we had, constantly coming up with the same results. We only ever saw the same two people, who could not have done it. Then Elijah suggested something that had escaped my thought as a possibility, then it made sense to me." I said, looking at him.

"Maybe the thief was invisible. Whoever we were looking for had to have entered that room, but we could not see them. We had to figure out how they were invisible, so we re-watched the empty hallway after Ruby had left the chem lab. We figured it had to be after Ruby left, since she said everything was still there. Lo and behold, I noticed the screens flickering at the same time." I said, taking a deep breath.

"If they both did it at different times, I might not have noticed and this investigation would have been screwed. We were out of ideas to follow anyways." I said, shaking my head.

"We pulled up the camera footage for the cameras on the same floor, checking to see if the others flickered too, and they did. Along with this we noticed our unknown culprit there appear, shortly afterwards the flickering had occurred. Checking ahead in the footage, they left after the flickering, now with a full bag. The Cameras got enough of their face that we can tell they are an avian, but beyond that it's not clear." I continued.

"I wasn't satisfied we had enough evidence, so I went with a gut feeling with the other theft we heard about. I had Sail here scan the footage of the cameras for the entire day on that floor to see if he appeared, and he did. We checked for flickering, and it occurred in the same pattern as before. Between the flickers, we noticed the group sitting at the table was frozen, confirming the theory on how our thief became invisible." I said.

"The reason they were undetected is they were not directly in the cameras that would be focused on when they were working. Had we not been desperate and looking at every little thing and following theories, they would have been a real invisible man." I said.

The guard along with my friends all looked amazed with the exception of Crimson, who still retained a smile.

"Ssso sssmart." She said. I shrugged in response.

"Perhaps, but as I said there's still some to this we don't know." I said, continuing again.

"We know what was taken, but we don't know why or where everything is. We know how this unknown avian was invisible, but we don't know what they did to freeze the cameras. We don't know who this is, only seeing what they were wearing. We also don't know how they coordinated the thefts." I stated.

I reached over to the standing server and pulled my phone cord out, with Sail disappearing from the computer monitors. I pulled the other end out of my phone, tucked my cell back into my pocket, and shoved the cord into my bag. I slung my bag back onto my back and faced the group.

"We're close, but we're not done yet. There's only one person who knows everything, and we're bringing them in to finish this. They need to answer for what they have done." I said, walking to the group to leave.

Everyone cheered in victory, stepping aside and letting me through first. I exited and everyone followed me out, stopping outside of the security archive room. From the noise my friends were making, all the guards were now focused on us. I looked at the hylotl security guard from the front as my friends finished cheering.

"We appreciate you helping with this investigation sir. Tell Leda Portia everything we have learned, and do what you can to identify that thief." I said. He smiled at me.

"My name is Shun Raku, and you have been an immense help in exposing the true thief. With everything your group has brought to light, I will do everything I can to see them brought to justice." He said.

I looked at Ruby, seeing she had the most gleeful look I've seen her make through this whole ordeal. I turned back to Shun and nodded, with him tipping his hat.

"They thought they could get away with this, but that asshole has another thing coming." I said with seriousness.

I turned and began walking to the entrance with the group. They followed behind me, matching my fast pace.

"Hell yeah, we're takin this fool down!" Elijah exclaimed.

I didn't reply as I had nothing to say. We saved Ruby from being expelled, but I had almost no idea on where to go from here, there's almost no other leads.

As we got to the entrance again I stopped my fast pace in the center of the room, everyone stopping with me. I felt they needed something good before I tell them I was practically out of ideas. I turned to face everyone, and they were all looking at me waiting for me to say something.

"I know you all think highly of me believing I played a major part in this, but the truth of the matter is you all helped. This was a team effort, and without the work of all of you, we would not have possibly gotten this far." I said, everyone grinning at me.

"I think we should follow up on this unknown thief and retrace our steps to the beginning. I have more questions for the chem lab overseer about this avian, but beyond that I'm out of ideas unless anyone else has anything." I stated, crossing my arms.

I had hoped there was something else we could be looking into, but after a few moments of silence everyone had shaken their heads. I sighed with a nod, thinking we'd come out empty handed if we returned to the chem lab since we had already been there.

We exited the security offices finally with the group following behind me in a quick pace. I took out my phone to check the time, and it was 4:24 in the afternoon. I returned my phone to my pocket, increasing my walking speed with my friends following suit.

"What is it dude? Why we going faster now?" Elijah asked behind me.

"We have six minutes before the last of today's courses are over. We need to find this guy, or he'll use the crowds to get away." I explained. Beatriz spoke up.

"While I can agree that would be cause for haste, I doubt the thief has many places to hide." She said.

"He has gone this long without being caught and is highly coordinated. We don't know what else this guy knows or can do. If there's a time to hide, he will find it and the crowds are good time to do it." I explained.

"You sound so sure mister Binari. Better hope your luck doesn't run out. " Sail said from my pocket.

We arrived at the elevators and I quickly slammed a fist on the button to call the elevator. I stared at the elevator doors, focused solely on getting to the chem lab. I was so focused I didn't know how deathly quiet it was.

"John?" Crimson called. I turned around and she had a look of concern.

"Are you ok?" She asked.

I shifted my gaze between my friends, noticing they all had the same look. I was hesitant to answer, but I had to say something.

"No. I'm trying to hold it together but it's getting difficult. Knowing our window of possible opportunity is shrinking to getting closer to finding the thief is stressing me out. There has been too many blind guesses today and I'm making another one right now." I said.

The elevator dinged, and I turned around entering it to stand by the buttons for the floors. When the last of our group entered I immediately hit the floor for the chem lab.

I looked over to the right wall of the elevator, seeing the dent still there by my younger more angry self. I returned my gaze to the doors, taking a deep breath with someone patting me on my back.

"You got this bro, we'll follow you to the end of this." Elijah said, trying to reassure me.

"Yesss, you are a sssmart leader John." Crimson added.

"Quite right, we are all in this together." Beatriz said.

"If anyone can do this, it's definitely you John." Ruby said.

I smiled, and felt significantly better at my friends trying to boost my morale and not the other way around.

"Thanks everyone, I really need all the encouragement I can get." I said.

The elevator stopped, and the doors slowly opened. We walked out and started heading towards the chem lab at the quick pace we had been going.

As we got to the doors I checked the time on my phone again being 4:27 in the afternoon. I returned my phone to my pocket, and took a deep breath before entering.

As we entered, I noticed there were a few students around the chemistry lab tables chatting who stopped talking to focus their attention on us. One by one all of them were now looking at us. The lab overseer was now looking at us.

"I see you and that thief have returned, mister Binari. Something I can help 'you' with?" He asked. I nodded.

"Before you continue accusing her, you must know that we have found evidence proving she is not the thief that even the Grand Protector herself has missed." I said, surprising him.

"Please save any questions for what I'm about to say, it will not make sense at first so I will say it as fast as I can as time is short." I said.

"We saw who took the materials, but we didn't actually see them. The avian who did this was wearing a black hoodie, their face was blocked by their hood from the cameras, however their beak was visible which is how we know it was another avian. They somehow froze the cameras to allow themselves to steal unnoticed after Ruby had left." I explained quickly.

"The only way I can think that they knew where the materials were is they are or were taking this course. We need to know if any avian student that has been taking your classes fit the profile of having knowledge in the medical field, or showing signs of electronic or computing interest." I said finally.

"I do have a student that fits that description, yes. His name is Tequatl." He said nodding.

"Are you absolutely sure?" I asked, wanting a bit more info to be sure. Before he could answer, Ruby spoke first.

"He's right." She said behind me.

I turned around shifting my attention onto her.

"You know who that is?" I asked, and she nodded.

"I do, I dated him for a year. I broke up with him around a year ago." She said.

I nodded, and returned my focus onto the lab overseer.

"Thank you for giving us a name. We're going to catch him and find out where the missing items are sir. Have a good day." I said, turning to leave.

"Hold on John." He called out. I stopped to listen.

"I want to thank you for your hard work. I'm sorry for accusing your friend there, I was only following what evidence was passed along." He said.

"Apology accepted but don't thank me yet, we're not quite done. We still need to find him." I said.

I turned and gave a quick wave behind me, quickly leaving with my friends. After we exited, I pulled out my phone.

"Sail, call the administration office." I said.

"Understood." She replied.

My phone began ringing, and we all waited in silence. Suddenly the bells rang out signifying all classes were now over. We were out of time and needed to find Tequatl now.

"Hello, you have reached the-"

"Yes hello, John Binari speaking. I need to speak to Leda Portia immediately regarding the investigation of floor 23." I said quickly.

"Yes sir. One moment please." The female voice said.

The sound of ringing resumed as the students from inside the chemistry lab exited, glancing at us as they passed by. A few seconds later Leda had answered.

"Hello mister Binari. Is there something I can help you with?" She asked.

"Miss Portia, the thief's name is Tequatl. We need to know where his last course is before he escapes." I said with a pleading tone.

"Of course John, give me one moment to pull his records." She said.

We waited in silence, hearing the sounds of paper shuffling from my phone. I started tapping a foot in impatience, knowing every second waiting is a second Tequatl could be using to get away.

"Here we are. Tequatl is not scheduled for a course right now, however they have been spending their time with physical training in our gymnasium fitness rooms." She said.

"Thank you miss Portia, we'll head there immediately to apprehend him." I said.

"You are welcome John, and thank you for your diligent work. You do this old Protector proud." She said. I hung up my phone and stuck it in my pocket.

"Elijah, I want you to go back to the security offices and keep an eye on the cameras feeds, give us a call if you see him trying to escape" I said in a commanding tone.

"You got it bro." He said, turning and sprinting down the hall leaving me with the rest of the group.

"Alright, let's double time it everyone. We can get there using the other elevator this way." I said, sprinting down the opposite direction Elijah went with my friends.

We sprinted past students down the hall, moving out of the way as we got closer. We quickly arrived at the elevator as it opened, and students walked out as we entered. Once my friends were in, I hit the floor button with the physical training sections on it.

We waited for the elevator to stop, taking a running stance ready for the doors to open. I did, anyways.

The doors opened, and I quickly exited to the left followed by the group. We continued running, passing a large rectangular room with chairs and sectioned glass windows, arriving at an automatic door after a minute.

I had kept running and ran straight into the door, stopping me completely. I recoiled from the slight pain as the door opened.

"Ugh. Dumbass door." I said with a groan.

"You should be more careful of vertical surfaces, mister Binari." Sail said from my pocket.

"Not the time for it Sail." I said.

After that small scene, we entered the door into a large gymnasium area. There were a few students on a balcony of bleachers, and some on the gym court playing basketball. We ran on the outside of the gym court, heading to another automatic door on the far right from where we had entered.

I stopped to allow it to open as I didn't want to face plant again, and it opened to a large fitness center type of room. It had treadmills, rowing machines, kettlebells, stationary bikes, smith machines, racks with dumbbells and barbells, essentially everything anyone could need for a workout.

There were a few people in here using the before mentioned contents of the room, along with the same three students from the cafeteria that told us of the theft sitting at some benches. I quickly approached them with my friends, and they turned to look at us.

"Seriously? You're still hanging out with that lying thief?" The brown haired human asked.

"She's not a thief or a liar, we know who stole everything and it's not her." I stated, the group raising their brows at us.

"We are looking for Tequatl, the real thief. Do you know where he is?" I asked.

"Pssh, man she's really gotten into your head if you believe that crap. She's trying to deflect blame just because they dated. Obviously she's still not over him." The blonde human said. I was about to speak until Ruby interjected.

"For your information, I broke up with him, not the other way around. Not that it's any of your business." She said in irritation. The group scoffed at her.

"Sure it's not. Aren't you supposed to be expelled by now?" The brown haired human retorted as they laughed.

"That's it, I've had enough." I said angrily, approaching them and stopping a few feet away.

"Listen you punks, we have already found proof Tequatl is the one who stole the missing items from that chem lab. You are wasting my precious time and I don't appreciate that. Tell me where he is now." I demanded, glaring at the brown haired human.

The apex who had yet to speak got up crossing his arms, and I shifted my attention to him.

"And why should we? What authority do you think you have?" He asked.

"I have been given authority from Leda Portia, the current Grand Protector. Now you can either cooperate with apprehending him for his crimes or you can share his punishment when we do catch him. The punishment is more than simply being expelled and sent to a penal colony." I said in a threatening tone.

They looked visibly frightened now, believing I was telling the truth.

"We'll tell you whatever you want to know." The blonde human said.

"Where is Tequatl?" I asked again.

"He was here earlier and left after he got a call. He said he had something important to do but was heading back to his dorm first." He replied.

"When?" I asked quickly.

"I think it was eight minutes before the bell rang?" He said, sounding unsure.

"Are you positive?" I asked. The apex spoke up.

"We are certain that is when he left." He said.

I quickly pulled my phone out to check the time and saw it was 4:37 in the afternoon. That meant he was ahead of us by fifteen minutes.

"Fuck." I said mentally, as Sail began to speak.

"With the time Tequatl has, you might want to refrain from running into any more-"

"Not now Sail!" I said with aggravation.

I returned my attention to the trio, putting my phone back into my pocket.

"Thank you for your cooperation, you're free to go. Have a good day." I said as nicely as I could.

I turned and sprinted towards the direction we came from, my friends following right behind. We paused our running at the automatic doors to avoid colliding with them, and had finally exited the gymnasium.

"Ruby, you know where his dorm is?" I asked, not stopping our sprint.

"I do, yes." She replied.

"Alright, when we get to the-" I stopped talking from feeling my phone vibrate.

I took it out and saw it was Elijah. Smiling internally hoping he could lead us to where Tequatl was I swiped my finger to answer.

"Hey man, did you find the thief?" I asked.

"Hello John Binari. Yes, we have found the culprit." A voice replied that did not belong to Elijah.

"Who is this? Where is Elijah?" I demanded.

"This is Malotl. Your friend is being detained." He said.

I stopped dead in my tracks, now worried as something felt wrong. I put my phone on speaker so the group could hear everything.

"What do you mean detained? What's going on?" I asked. The group stopped with me to listen.

"What's going on is you told your friend to destroy video evidence and was caught attempting this. You already know this being the apparent ringleader of your little group having staged this whole thing." He said.

I froze in horror, my chest beginning to beat fast realizing things had gotten impossibly worse somehow despite everything we did to uncover the truth. My friends looked at me with shock while I stared blankly ahead at nothing.

"You and the rest of your group will be brought in and questioned. Your Matter Manipulators will be confiscated, and your positions as Protectors stripped from you." He said.

"No! You have it wrong! It wasss bird meat in black!" Crimson protested.

"Your punishments, including your friend Ruby who was to be expelled, are now shared and more severe. You will all be banned from this academy and spend several years behind bars." He said.

"No! Guard can't do thiss! John, sssay sssomething!" Crimson pleaded, turning to me.

"Malotl there's been some huge misunderstanding, we had nothing to do with this." I said.

"There is no misunderstanding, mister Binari. You know, you had a lot of us fooled, but this elaborate ruse of yours has gone on long enough. Now please, for your and everyone else's sake, come in quietly. Don't make this hard for us." He said, hanging up.

The situation has reached an absolute low, starting from Ruby being framed, and ending up to all of us being framed. I didn't have any answers, no comprehensible thoughts, no logical reason why this happened. I had nothing except the obvious question running through everyone's minds.

"What. The fuck?!" I said out loud.

"Well I can see that this isn't the time for me to be here. Best of luck, mister Binari. Terminating connection." Sail said from my phone.

I furrowed my brows and gritted my teeth in anger.

"We need to stop Tequatl now." I stated.

We continued running for the elevators and I quickly hit the button to call it.

"Hey stop!" A voice called out from our left.

We looked to our left and it was three security guards quickly approaching. I turned my attention to the door again, hitting the button to call it repeatedly in desperation. After a couple seconds it had opened.

"Ruby hit the button!" I said loudly as we all quickly entered.

She had hit a button and the doors had closed as the guards got to the doors, almost catching us. I placed a hand on the doors, leaning on it. My chest was beating, and one of my friends were panting. Things were more dire that they have ever been.

"I just don't… I don't understand! How the heck could this have happened?!" I asked to no one.

"We followed the clues, we showed the proof, we know Tequatl is behind the theft!" I continued, raising my voice.

I placed a hand on my head, taking a deep breath in trying to calm myself down, barely working.

"This whole situation is fucked. All the security staff is probably looking for us now and if we don't catch Tequatl, we're screwed." I said, stating the facts.

I know it wasn't the most encouraging thing to say, but I didn't know what else to say. We had to find him, or find out where Tequatl had gone from his dorm. If we don't, everything is over.

The elevator had stopped, and the doors shortly opened.

"Ruby, lead us to his dorm quickly." I said.

She ran out to the left heading down the hall as we followed behind. We rushed past students in the hall and after about a half minute we took another turn to the left, heading down another hall with more students. We passed several doors with consoles next to them in the same fashion our dorms were.

As we were running, a red avian quickly walked out of the dorms ahead of us. He was dressed in a black suit with red shirt looking down at a cell phone they were carrying, and a familiar duffle bag that appeared to be full around their side. The avian had turned to us hearing our footsteps.

"There, that's him!" Ruby said, pointing at him.

Tequatl quickly turned and ran in the opposite direction. We gave chase, and I quickly gained more distance than my friends, passing by students that had moved out of the way to avoid getting hit. As it seemed I'd catch him in a few seconds, four security guards came around a corner, noticing us.

"Help, they're trying to kill me!" Tequatl yelled.

Tequatl rushed past them and the guards were now heading in our direction. Time seemed to slow down as my chest pounded, thinking this was it and it was over. Zengi then charges past me right into two of them knocking them to the ground, the rest of my friends tackling other two guards stumbling them.

"Sstop bird meat! Go now!" Zengi said.

I ran past my friends and the guards, saddened I had to go alone.

"I'm sorry everyone!" I yelled back.

I wanted to help them, but there was nothing I could do. If I stopped to help them Tequatl would get away, and more guards would just show up to apprehend us.

I continued my pursuit of Tequatl down the hall that had reached some stairs and quickly stepped down them. After a few seconds I reached the same stairs and rushed down after him. After a couple of floors he continued running down a hall with me slowly gaining on him. As we ran, he shoved aside students aside in the hall.

"Everyone move out of the way!" I shouted down the hall catching everyone's attention.

I reached where the students who had fallen were, and jumped over them to not reduce my speed. Tequatl had made another turn and I had lost sight of him for a few seconds. I got to the turn, and he had stopped at an automatic door at the end of a hall, letting it open before continuing to run.

He disappeared from my sight again as the door closed. I arrived at the door and stopped too, not wanting a repeat of earlier. The door opened, and it led to a bridge similar to the one to the ceremony hall leading to a small park area.

Tequatl turned to the left diagonally, heading to a bench table with some students eating at it. As I reached the end of the bridge Tequatl grabbed a couple of soda cans off the table and threw them in my direction.

I dodged to the side narrowly avoiding getting directly hit, and a second one came towards me hitting me in my chest. I recoiled for a second and then continued running after Tequatl.

"You fucking punk!" I shouted at him.

Following behind he headed to a small garden spot with a female floran digging with a small trowel and a cart with potted plants of different sizes sitting on top of it.

As I approached he started grabbing small pots and tossing them at me as quickly as he could. I managed to dodge everything he was tossing at me as he wasn't focusing completely on trying to hit me.

"Sstop! Floranss prettiesss!" The floran cried out.

The floran girl grabbed one of Tequatls arms with both hands as he tried running, holding him in place. He punched her in the side of the face causing her to let go and continued running away from me.

After running again for a few more seconds he dashed for another bench table with a student sitting at it using a laptop. He shoved them over and grabbed the laptop, throwing it directly at me with all his force.

It was moving so fast I had no time to get out of the way. I attempted to catch it since it was hitting me anyways and I barely did, stopping me for a few seconds almost dropping it onto the ground.

Tequatl continued running away and I approached the student who the laptop belonged to, quickly setting it down with a soft thud.

"Here you go cant stop sorry!" I said quickly, resuming the chase

Tequatl had reached a pair of students standing at a few foldable tables with a chemistry set, glass beakers, flasks with corks in them, and a couple of books. He shoved them aside and grabbed several of the flasks holding them in an arm, turning to face me and prepared to throw with his free hand.

"Wait stop!" One of the students pleaded.

Tequatl had thrown one of the flasks at me, and I dodged out of the way followed by a loud explosion, the sound of dirt debris hitting the ground and a few chunks passing by me. I quickly looked back and there was a small crater where the flask had apparantly landed.

I returned my attention to Tequatl, who was now getting ready to throw another flask. I backed up, knowing if I got hit in the explosion it would be fatal. I focused on dodging the flasks, knowing once he runs out of them he would lose the upper hand.

He moved closer, throwing another one not directly at me this time but near the ground where I was standing, resulting in another explosion. He threw another flask, then another right after before the first one had detonated. I had stumbled slightly from the multiple explosions almost getting hit.

My chest was pounding and I was pushing myself to go faster than I should have been going and it was tiring me out. Tequatl must have seen this as he grabbed two flasks in his hand and threw them in my direction at the same time. I dodged the explosions again losing my footing and almost fell down.

He threw one more flask directly in front of me on the ground and the explosion knocked me to the ground onto my back. My chest was beating hard and I had started panting for air.

As I was about to get back up I had noticed Tequatl had thrown another flask. Time slowed down and I looked on in horror as it headed directly for me.

My life had begun flashing before my eyes and I thought this was the end for me, but suddenly a wall of metal appeared in front of me followed by a muffled explosion.

From the side of the wall was a blue wavy stream protruding from a Matter Manipulator, wielded by one of the students that were at standing at the nearby table. This person was a hylotl girl, and a Protector since they had a Manipulator.

I took this opportunity to get up and walk out from behind the wall, and Tequatl growled in annoyance. He turned his attention to the hylotl that had saved me from being blown up and got ready to throw his last flask at her.

I reacted by running towards her and tackling them to the ground as an explosion impacted somewhere past us. After a few seconds I got up and turned to see where Tequatl was, and saw he was headed towards the other end of the small park towards a bridge.

I quickly shifted my attention to who had saved my life and grabbed her hand, pulling her up.

"I appreciate you saving my life but I can't stay see you!" I said quickly.

I turned to resume the chase but the other student who was a human in a lab called out.

"Hey John hold on a moment, we have something to help." He said.

"What is it he's getting away!" I said loudly.

"A brew to increase your speed temporarily. You might need it." He said, rushing to the table.

I came over and he held out a flask of a green liquid.

"Drink this and catch him. Consider us even." He said.

I nodded and quickly drank the mixture, tasting similar to an energy drink, and then tasting similar to sour medicine.

I gagged as I drank the last bit, then the taste left and I felt refreshed. I looked ahead and saw Tequatl had just entered the automatic door across the other bridge across the park, heading towards a section of the academy for engineering, robotics and metalwork.

I looked to the human who nodded, and handed him the empty flask taking off running at a now increased speed, much faster than I had before. After a few seconds I had arrived at the bridge on the other end of the park and sped across it arriving at the automatic door, which looked more durable than most I've seen.

Passing through the door, the atmosphere and walls were a much darker, more concrete and stone look being a hallway for warehouses or foundries. Up ahead Tequatl had just disappeared from view, taking a left around a corner.

I continued running after him and made the same turn, seeing him take a right turn now around a corner followed by the echo of something being hit. I rounded the corner and saw large swinging doors pushed away from me.

I shoved open the doors and found myself in a large smeltery and workshop room, instantly feeling the hot room temperature across my face. There were worktables, smelting forges, grindstones, table saws, assorted handtools and metal pieces scattered across all the standing tables, and other equipment in here.

Focusing my attention onto Tequatl, he had grabbed some objects off to his side and turned to face me still heading away from me. He tossed an assortment of hammers, large metal plates and metal ingots at me in an attempt to hit me.

He succeeded finally when he took a hammer in each hand and threw them sideways towards me, one narrowly hitting me and the other colliding with one of my arms. I reeled in pain for a few seconds, and he gained some distance heading towards a cargo elevator.

The elevator wasn't on this floor and he hit a button repeatedly in desperation to call it. I had resumed chasing Tequatl as he turned and saw me quickly approaching. He frantically looked around for another exit and started running to my left, heading to a gated stairwell.

I leapt over a few tables heading off to my left, landing in an aisle and resuming my chase with direct view of him. Tequatl was pulling the gate trying to get it open but was chained shut fortunately, allowing me to finally catch up to him.

He quit pulling at the gate and returned his hands to his sides having given up on running, with me stopping a few feet behind him. We were both panting for air.

"End of the line Tequatl, there's nowhere else to run. Hand over the items you stole and turn yourself in." I said triumphantly.

He sighed and slowly turned to me, looking at me with a bored expression.

"You really are a bothersome human, 'John Binari'. Couldn't just leave well enough alone. You think you've won, but you are mistaken. I cannot afford to let you have the supplies, he needs them." He said, monologuing.

Tequatl opened up the duffle bag and took out a flask with a yellow liquid and a syringe with orange liquid. I recognized the flask containing the liquid being an ironskin potion, but I didn't know what was in that syringe.

"He won't mind a few missing after I tell him who I killed to get them." He continued.

He pulled the cork out of the flask and quickly downed it, throwing it against the ground and jabbing the syringe into his arm injecting himself with the unknown liquid throwing the empty syringe as well.

"What the hell did you just pump into yourself? Who the hell are you talking about?" I demanded. Tequatl replied with a scoff.

"It has the properties of strength enhancing similar to when florans go berserk. You should know having fought against someone under its' effect." He explained.

He zipped up the duffle bag and tossed it on the ground to his side, taking off his suit jacket afterwards. I did the same setting my own bag down, and pulling my jacket off, tossing it on my bag. He put his fists up and I got in a fighting stance as well, turning sideways instead clenching my fists.

"I have a schedule to keep and I'm not letting you get in the way. I'll be sure to give Anton Veruleas your regards." He said, shocking me.

Suddenly a lot more made sense, why Anton seemed to possess great physical strength and resistance to pain every time I fought him. Anton was using physical enhancers, and Tequatl just used the same things as him. He may be much smaller than Anton being barely shorter than me, but it would be like fighting that bastard apex.

Tequatl approached quickly making the first strikes, throwing jabs at my face. I stopped most of his blows with my hands, some hitting me in the face hard. I returned with a couple kicks to his side and punches to his face, having barely registered pain.

We traded blows like this for a minute, then he shifted his strikes to hooking me in the side of the face and jabs to the stomach. I had started focusing on not getting hit and getting quick hits in when I had openings.

Fatigue was beginning to set in for me, I was panting for air in this hot environment and I had taken many of his punches now bleeding a bit out of my mouth. He had not let up, starting to feel exhausted himself as he was panting for air as well.

He was swinging desperately now trying to get hits in, not putting in effort to be accurate. I made several quick punches to his face narrowly keeping from getting hit myself and ended with a quick uppercut to his beak.

He stumbled back holding his face in pain, glaring at me. I approached him quickly and went for a fast punch to his forehead but he caught it just before I made contact, stopping me. He reacted with head butting me and I stumbled back as well, holding my head in pain.

When I had refocused on Tequatl he was in the air having jumped off the ground, quickly giving me a hard dropkick to my chest knocking me off my feet and onto my back. I hit the ground knocking air out of me. I was coughing and gasping for air while my body was screaming in agony.

I slowly got back up and Tequatl side hooked me in the face, continuing by grabbing me and flipping me onto one of the nearby tables. I groaned and coughed some more as Tequatl reached for a sledge on a nearby table.

He lifted it over him then swung it downward, bringing the weight towards me. I quickly rotated my laying position, narrowly having my head caved in as it slammed against the table. He raised the sledge again, once again bringing it towards me.

I rolled as it slammed down on the table, and I gave a quick shove with my feet to Tequatl, pushing him away and stumbling him as he struggled to stay on his feet. I took this opportunity to get back on my feet and catch some breath.

I refocused my attention to Tequatl, and saw he was preparing to throw the sledge at me sideways, holding the end of the grip with both hands. He threw it towards me, and I pushed myself back to the floor as the sledge flew over me.

I got up as Tequatl made a slow pace over to me showing signs of exhaustion. I took this opportunity to throw a couple of punches, causing him to stumble back. I approached him delivering a high kick to his beak with my left leg, and followed up with a kick from my right leg.

He grabbed my leg stopping me, and swung me around over some tables landing against a workbench hard, knocking some tools and metal scraps off the top of it some hitting me on the head. I groaned, spitting out blood and sat there panting for air, unable to move.

Shortly I heard something clang against the stone ground where Tequatl had throw me from, and a constant scraping sound had started. The sound continued heading towards the elevator which was to my right down the aisle.

Tequatl appeared in view, holding a cheaply made iron sword letting it drag against the ground. I looked on in fear and disbelief that he was still standing.

"Are… you… fucking… kidding me?!" I said between breaths as loudly and coherently as I could.

He continued getting closer as I slowly shuffled away from him, my hands colliding with the fallen objects.

"You fight hard John, like you're… ha… like you're fighting for something noble. Ung! You're a lie. You are the… huh… villain here. It's… hah… all your fault. Now lay down like the… fuh… fucking disgrace you are." He said as exhausted as I was.

He gripped the iron sword with both of his hands now as ready to strike me with it as he could be. He brought it down towards me diagonally to my left, with me moving the opposite direction to barely avoid being hit.

I shuffled backwards some more, Tequatl lifting his sword to strike again. I felt my hand brush over something hard, looking at it I saw it was a large wrench. Tequatl swung the sword towards me and I blocked the strike with a clank to my wrench.

Tequatl brought the sword directly over him, preparing to put in all the force he could in his strike.
I held up my wrench ready to block it, and he swung down his sword, clashing with my wrench.

He slowly lifted his sword again readying to strike again, giving me opportunity to hit his knee with my wrench. He fell to a kneel, grunting in pain and striking the ground to my left.

I followed with grabbing the wrench with both hands and swinging the wrench against his arm wielding the sword, then bringing it back against his head. He yelped in pain letting go of the sword. I moved both of my feet to his upper chest and gave him a hard push, finally knocking him onto his back.

I slowly got up and stood over Tequatl, panting hard for air. He was holding his head with both of us hands, incapable of fighting back.

I swung my wrench sideways hitting his knee and dislocating it.

"AHHHH!" He yelled in pain.

I slowly raised my wrench and swung it at him hitting his offhand shoulder, taking a small pause. I raised it again and swung down hitting his chest. I raised it once more hitting him in the other side of his head. I had raised my wrench one more time to hit him until he spoke up.

"Wait! S-stop! Please!" He said, holding up has hands in fear.

"D-don't kill me! Y-you can t-take the bag. Please! I didn't h-have a choice!" He pleaded.

I glared at him with hatred. I was pissed, exhausted, and he had already tried to kill me several times in the last hour. He put me and my friends in peril of seeing bars for several years, he framed the people I care about, running away like a coward from all of it. I was losing control of my thoughts, and I almost didn't care at this point.

"You had a choice, and you chose the consequences." I said with an emotionless tone.

I raised my wrench higher, Tequatl looking at me with terror.

"N-no! Please!" He said, shielding his face with his arms.

I swung my hand down with as much force as I had, Tequatl turning away behind his arms to brace for the impact. It never came as the sound of my wrench being thrown hit the ground rang out.

Tequatl looked at me in pain and shock, thinking I was going to kill him. I would have if I had completely submitted to my anger, but part of me still rationalized despite everything he put me through.

"The consequences lead to you getting what you deserve." I said.

I slowly walked past him to the duffle bag and picked it up, carrying it over to a nearby table to inspect the contents. Looking inside the bag one of the sheets of fabric were on the top covering the contents used as a cushion.

Underneath it were several syringes of orange and red liquids, jars of healing water and oxide sands, some jars of flora, and flasks of iron skin mixture sitting on the other sheet of fabric. Everything that had gone missing either made into something or still in their original container.

I knew enough about the supplies to deduce the red syringes had healing properties, so I took one and stuck in one of my arms, injecting myself with it. After a few seconds my pain had started to subside until it was mostly gone after about a minute. I sighed in relief, no longer in immense physical pain but still feeling exhausted.

I looked at Tequatl, who just stared back in defeat and still quite in pain. I shook my head and started picking him up, putting my arms underneath his back and knees. He let out groans of pain as I carried him over to a table, setting him down.

I walked back over to the duffle bag closing it, then grabbed it and walked down the aisle past Tequatl.

"Hey! W-where are you going? You can't leave me like this!" He said loudly.

I ignored him, walking a small distance from him setting the bag down on a table so he could not reach it, and continued walking. I began scanning the large workshop foundry room for something to bind his hands with, seeing ingots on conveyor belts, small work stations with assorted tools and other crap.

It seemed I wouldn't find what I was looking for, then finally finding a break in the aisles surrounded by large metal frames for mechs.

I approached this open area with a large rectangular table. On it was metal pipes of various sizes, blowtorches, a couple of welding mask, large square plates for mechs, assorted bolts, and finally finding electrical components. I had found a spool of copper wire I was going to use as a makeshift hand binding and a wire stripping tool.

I grabbed both of them quickly returning to Tequatl. He was wimpering in pain, some tears falling from his eyes. I shook my head, putting an arm under his back pushing him to a sitting up position.

"Put your arms behind your back." I said.

"You already have everything that was taken, what are you doing?!" He asked with a raised voice.

"Making sure you can't try anything. When I'm sure your hands are bound enough, then you'll get your damn injuries taken care of." I explained.

He quickly complied with my demand, wanting to be relieved of pain. I started wrapping the wire around his wrist, making sure enough wire had gone around before cutting it with the tool I grabbed.

Once I cut the wire from the spool, I unwrapped some of the ends from his wrist and pulled, tightening it as much as I could. Once I did that I twisted the ends, pulling his arms apart to see how strong it was, and it held perfectly.

Satisfied he wasn't going anywhere, I walked back over to the duffle bag grabbing it and carrying it over to Tequatl. I set the bag down on the joined tables he was sitting on and pulled out a red stim, lifting it and forcefully stabbed it into his leg.

"Ahhh! You fucking PISSANT!" He screamed in pain.

I injected the stim into his leg, then pulled it out setting the empty syringe in the duffle bag. I grabbed his leg, and set his knee back in place with another scream of pain from him. I grabbed my jacket, putting inside my own bag and slinging it onto my back, then wrapped the duffle bag strap over the side of my neck.

I turned my attention to the cargo elevator Tequatl called earlier, finally arriving. The gated door opened and out stepped Malotl from the security archives room.

"There, you'll feel a little better soon. Now get up and start walking." I said.

Tequatl slowly got down from the table to a standing position, and I started pushing him towards the guard.

"He has already confessed to stealing the materials from the chem lab which are in this bag, and multiple people have already witnessed him attempt murder of another protectorate after they saved me from being blown up. I told you this was a huge misunderstanding, and the only one you need to be apprehending is this coward." I said, shoving Tequatl to the guard.

He stumbled for a second, stopping in front of the guard and looking at each other. He turned Tequatl around focusing both of their gazes on me.

"If that is truly the case, then this certainly has been a big mistake. I assure you the situation will now be taken care of." He said with a grin, putting a hand on one of his hips.

"That's the truth. My friends are being framed by him, and we would all appreciate this being cleared up." I said.

"That is not quite what I meant, mister Binari." He said, pulling his handgun from his holster and aiming it at me. My eyes widened.

"Wuh… what?" I asked, putting my hands up.

"I meant the situation of you getting in the way. We ARE leaving with those items." He said.

I looked between Malotl and Tequatl, shocked and utterly confused not understanding what the hell was fully going on. Then I had started making a small connection. They were both matching red avians and then it finally hit me harder than the earlier explosions would have.

"You two are siblings, aren't you?" I asked.

Malotl lowered his gun slightly and chuckled.

"Not as ignorant as I originally thought. A real shame though, you still weren't smart enough to figure this out until it was too late." He said, raising his gun.

"He left some cutters on the table where that copper coil is. Grab it and cut me free." Tequatl said, stepping aside.

"Step back." Malotl ordered.

I complied and walked backwards a few feet, letting him grab the wire strippers. There was nothing I could do, he was watching my every move keeping his pistol trained on me. I was at his mercy.

He grabbed the cutters, and walked back to Tequatl cutting him free. He rubbed his wrists and focused his attention on me.

"Thank you brother. Now this has all been eventful, but as I mentioned before I have a schedule to keep. Throw me the bag." He demanded.

I begrudgingly tossed the bag, landing right in front of them. Tequatl picked it up and hung the duffle bag strap around his neck. He then turned to his brother and took the handgun from him, Tequatl now holding the gun.

"We thank you for knowing your place. Unfortunately, we can't let you follow." He said, shooting two rounds at me.

"AHHHHH! UNNG! FUUUCK!" I screamed in pain.

The bullets hit my right leg and I fell to my back, now gripping where I had been shot. I was flailing from the pain, blood pouring out of the bullet holes and leaking from under my hands. Tequatl walked over to me, looking down with a bored expression.

"I told you John, you were mistaken in thinking you had won. What you said about getting what I deserve? Well, we both get what we deserve now. I'll make sure your friends share the same fate as you." He said, raising the gun to my head.

Time slowed down as I looked down the barrel, resigning myself to die. They had stacked everything against me, I had nobody coming to help, and my friends will not see the light of day again.

Suddenly, something fast flew from the air hitting Tequatl in the head and stumbling him as he shot his pistol, missing his kill shot. He gripped his head and the brothers looked to where the flying object had come from.

I took this opportunity to quickly reach for anything on the table next to me, grabbing a claw hammer.
Tequatl refocused his attention on me, turning to shoot me.

I desperately swung for him, hitting his wrist and knocking the pistol out of his hand as he missed a shot again. I followed up by swinging again, hitting him in the shoulder of the same arm. Tequatl had backed away, and I got up to my feet as quick as I could with my wounded leg.

Malotl took out a baton and approached me ready to start attacking, then the same flying object came and hit him in the head from the direction it flew to. I didn't focus on the flying object, and instead chose to swing my hammer into his side, following up with a second hit.

He had gripped where I had hit him, and I walked forward with great effort to jab him in his throat causing him to gasp and choke for air. I quickly moved my left hand behind his head, and forced him to collide with the edge of the table.

Malotl had slumped to the ground, and his brother took notice of this. Tequatl turned, starting to make a run for the cargo elevator. I grabbed a stun gun off of Malotl, then aimed it at his retreating brother and fired.

The thief had gotten hit with the electrical current, shaking and falling to his knees, then onto his front side. He was finally incapacitated with his brother. I dropped the stun gun and hammer letting them fall out of my grip, feeling the last of my energy slowly fading away.

Somewhere behind me the loud bang of the foundry workshop doors opened, followed by rapid footsteps. I fell backwards hitting the ground with a thud losing the last of my energy. The immense pain in my leg had not subsided, and I was feeling light headed.

I laid on the ground, my vision slowly fading, the sounds of someone calling my name being tuned out. I stared at the ceiling, which had steel beams and lights hanging down, not noticing much else.

A floating object came over to me, and I recognized it as the drone from my dorm room. Had it not bashed the brothers in the head, I probably wouldn't still be here.

My name had been called out again, still tuned out but much louder. My eyes were getting heavier by the second, the footsteps becoming louder, and the sound of a pair of erratic sounding steps out of sync getting closer.

"John!" A female voice yelled.

A figure came into view standing over me, quickly kneeling down and holding my head up as more figures moved past me. I opened my eyes a bit and saw the face of Crimson, who had started crying.

"John!" She screamed.

"Crim… son?" I said weakly.

"It'sss ok! It'ss going to be ok! Friendsss here, guardsss on ssside now!" She said, trying to make me feel safe.

My other friends had came into view, standing near me giving Crimson room.

"I tried, everyone. I tried… so hard. But I'm tired now. So very… tired…" I said as best I could.

"Mister Binari appears to be bleeding and losing conciousness. He needs immediate medical attention or he will die." Sails' voice rang from the drone.

"Get a gurney from the infirmary over here! Hurry!" A male voice yelled near me.

Crimson looked visibly worried, her tears beginning to hit my face.

"No… no no no! Human can't die! Friendss need you! Jusst hold on! Friendsss heal you, make you better!" She continued, sobbing onto my face.

I slowly reached a hand to her face, getting her attention. I caressed her face as she continued crying.

"Hey... Crimson?" I said weakly.

"Yess John?" She asked, putting all her focus on me.

"You look… beautiful… with that… flower…" I said.

"You're always… beaut…" I trailed off.

My eyes became very heavy, my neck had started going limp. My hand had started pulling away from Crimsons face, the last of my energy disappearing.

"John! Jussst-… longer, pleassse! Help iss-…you! John! …nn!" Her voice blurred out, and I had lost consciousness.