Chapter Seven
The unease of the atmosphere lasted for about five minutes. Wishing the server will be back up again, they waited… and waited. Soon, this awkwardness was getting really tight.
"Um, I don't think the server is going to be back up," Bubbles was the one who broke the silence.
The young man who was next to her just rolled his eyes. He knew Bubbles hated quiet atmospheres and would always be the first to talk.
"I guess it is up to them," Professor Borraw answered. Then, he turned over to the other screen that was reflecting the ship. "Bright, can you reach them?"
Bright, from the other side, began to sit up straight and checked to see if she could reach them. "The machine is not working. There is a limit to the altitude."
"Alright," Professor Borraw said and walked up to the front of the lecture hall. "Everyone, the mission is canceled for right now. You all can leave to eat."
In a moment, all the students who were seated started to get up and left the room. The students were quick to leave, and soon the entire room was left with two seniors and two professors.
"Bubbles, I just received new information for you," Professor Eugene spoke as he turned to face her while looking at his watch. "Professor Utonium was given a task from Principal Mayor. Bling is a new S student, it is very important for him to learn everything. This generation needs him, and I am afraid the principal wants this to be done in a fast and timely manner."
Bubbles looked at Professor Eugene not knowing what she was supposed to do.
The professor continued to say, "Bubbles, you and Blossom will lecture about the CES system to Bling and Believe."
At this, Boomer folded his arms. "Why does she get to lecture them?"
Professor Eugene shook his head, but he assumed he could understand why the principal picked them both. "Blossom is aware of the CES system more… and Bubbles is Blossom's partner."
"I want to go see," Boomer suggested in a demanding way.
"Okay, the lecture will be held in an hour," Professor Eugene said.
Bubbles and Boomer nodded and walked out of the room. When they were in the hallway, Bubbles finally asked, "Why are you against me teaching them the CES system?"
"Because I don't trust you," Boomer answered right away. "Your Blood in Strain is number 114, I just don't understand."
"Well, you can finally understand it once I talk about it with them," Bubbles answered as she smiled.
An hour later, Professor Utonium was greeted by his two students along with two seniors and an alumni.
Believe looked at them awkwardly, wondering why the three of them were even here. Bling just walked inside the room casually. Sometimes Believe wondered how, at a time like this, Bling can still be completely relaxed and not wonder the same amount she is wondering.
"Hello, I will be going to a meeting now, so I will leave the lecture to the three of you," Professor Utonium announced with a smile.
When all of the humans were inside the room, Bling and Believe sat next to each other facing the projection. Only Believe wondered what today's lecture was going to be.
The one alumni with long auburn hair walked over to the door and closed it tight. She traveled back to the middle of the projection and began with an introduction. "CES system stands for Comparative Enhancement Standard System."
"That's a long name," Bling interrupted.
Blossom ignored his comment and continued to speak, "The CES system is a numbered list that keeps track of all powers and abilities. Currently, there are 120 and up found, but most of the numbers representing a specific power or ability are unknown. There are five major sections of the CES system: Normal, Intermediate, Dangerous, Vicious, and Deadly. The normal section is numbered 1 to 50; intermediate 51 to 85; dangerous 86 to 100; vicious 101 to 120; and finally deadly is known to be 121 and up."
A brief second has passed and Bubbles added in some clarity, in case they might be confused, "Ahem… the numbering does not indicate the rank and or capability of each power. Some are numbered based on discovery and also how many levels the ability has."
Blossom pressed the spacebar to show them a screen that highlighted the colors used to color code the system. Green as normal, blue as intermediate, slightly purple as dangerous, orange as vicious, and red as deadly. Afterwards, Blossom continued to speak again, "Currently, at Enigia College, we have restricted information regarding who possess Vicious level powers. In the system, within Robin, only three persons who are in the Vicious level that got disclosed were, namely, Bubbles, Brick, and Principal Mayor. Numbered 114 Blood in Strain, Number 115 Crimson Flames, and Number 117 Ameliorate Reverse. Deadly powers are prohibited at the college, and we know that there are users who have deadly powers out there."
Soon, the two new students looked at Bubbles who was just standing there and returning a surprised look. Bubbles never expected them to stare at her, it was almost seemed as if she did something wrong.
Blossom pressed the spacebar and continued with the lecture, "Vicious and deadly powers should always remain undisclosed at all times but exceptions to Bubbles, Brick, and the principal. Let's take a look at the dangerous level. Even though the CES system labeled these powers 86 to 100, there are only a few recognized in the system in those ranges given by Robin."
The redhead motioned Bubbles to take part in the next discussion. The blonde female student nodded and explained the first power that came up, 86. "Number 86, Body of Water. Blossom and I possess this skill. This power only has three levels. Both of us have mastered all three levels. I am sure both of you understand what the power actually does, which is the involvement of water in three situations, hence the three levels: controlling water in the surroundings, in the global world, and from a person's source of liquid."
At this point, Believe gulped and, in some sense, wished she could learn something like this. When she looked at Bling, he showed no expression. Ugh, always, she thought in her mind.
The blonde female student resumed talking by pressing on the next slide. "Numbered 87, Zircon Ice. In our school system, the only user is Blossom. This skill requires you to master four levels, and they have been all mastered by Blossom. The levels consist of controlling ice in cold weather and any condition. The third level is manipulation with the passing of -100 degrees Celcius to be able to control ice up to 1000 kg. The last level is a hard one, you need to withstand absolute zero in order to carry ice of over 1000 kg and also turn particles from other objects to ice."
Suddenly, Bling sat up straight and remembered the time when Blossom showed her creation of ice in front of him on the first day of school. He remembered she pulled out ice out of nowhere and turned the particles into ice and then turning back to particles. This all made sense as to why she could do that, and it was because she mastered the final level of Zircon Ice.
"Absolute zero is super cold," Believe commented.
"Not just that, there is another power that requires you to withstand heat to master a skill. I think the heat goes up to even more than 1000 degrees Celsius," Boomer finally explained something.
"Isn't that Crimson Flames?" Bubbles asked Boomer.
"I think," Boomer said," Again, we only know who possess the skill, but not sure of the requirement to pass it really."
Ultimately, Believe raised her hand. Bubbles motioned Believe to talk. "Do you guys know anything about the powers Blaine possess? Because for an S student, he should have one, right?"
Bubbles smiled and looked at Blossom. The only person who can explain this was probably Blossom. Though, nobody really knew the actual answer. Classification for S blood does not usually mean the power needs to be very high.
"Well, if you look at Bling," Blossom used the golden boy as an example to explain, "Does he have any powers at the moment? Not yet, but we all know he has one. Even he does not know what he possesses. I am pretty sure it will range from intermediate to dangerous. Vicious is a special occasion and it is extremely rare to see someone who, especially, does not have a background for training skills to possess vicious and deadly powers. For example, Bubbles and Boomer come from somewhere that are likely to have had trained them to acquire a power, and with this background, the user can acquire a power within the dangerous and vicious level. Since Bling does not come from somewhere like this, he cannot attain something that high unless he learned of it when he was young.
"In Blaine's situation, we have no idea where he comes from, and his powers are forbidden to others except to Professor Heloza and Brick. That is why we will never know anything about Blaine and Brick, aside from the disclosed information about Crimson Flames."
"This is serious," that was all Believe could say from understanding something.
In the meantime, Bling was still mesmerized about the fact that Blossom used him as an example.
"The next one," Bubbles decided it was better to move on. "Number 88, Amalgamate in Mercury. This one is special and was founded later even though it has two levels. This skill was founded by Enigia College, and the professor who created this skill was Professor Borraw. He does not possess this skill but his two students do: Bunny and Bright. The skill was created for both of them to use and it can be used when both of the users are present. You cannot use it when the other person is not here. Unfortunately, we are not sure how it is acquired, but we do know it is a combination of mercury and another substance."
"Isn't mercury dangerous?" Believe asked another question.
"Yes," Bubbles answered.
Then why the heck? Believe was going to ask this question but she decided not to. Knowing that Amalgamate in Mercury is part of the dangerous section, this must have been the answer.
The blonde female student decided it was Boomer's turn to explain since she had been the second person to explain so many things to the freshmen.
Boomer rolled his eyes and knew Bubbles was doing this on purpose because the next two powers were unknown. "Alright, we will skip 89 and 90. We do not have any information for 89, it might be that this is an unknown power in the world and or its discovery was not significant. However, number 90 is one of the special powers that has been undisclosed. We are not sure why it was undisclosed, but we assumed it is super dangerous."
"Wow, I wonder what it is then if it is not considered vicious," Believe commented for the second time.
Again, Bling never spoke a word.
"Number 91 is possessed by Princess Morbucks, Adjudgment. This skill is the second version of Conviction whose number is 51. There are several powers that require you to master one skill to proceed to the next one. Conviction is not dangerous and to use it, you simply lock a target and define it. For example, I have locked someone as a target, and whatever word I say next will be granted. And it has to be only one solid word. Usually, Princess would just go and say "conviction" as her word as it is so much easier. Once you locked and defined, the target will receive his attack and punishment. It can depend on how much you want your target to receive.
"For Adjudgment, it gets serious. You still lock your target, but your punishment for him is on a different level. The target either receives death, paralysis, and or coma."
Before Boomer could continue, Bling got the urge to ask. "Death? Shouldn't that be vicious or deadly? You can easily make someone die like that."
"The CES system does not have a clear statement on Adjudgment for it to be considered vicious or even deadly. This skill can be easily acquired and not a lot of work is put up to acquire it. Consider Zircon Ice, you need to master the fourth level by withstanding absolute zero, but you would have died already in that state of temperature. But if you were to master Adjudgment, you don't need that training since, in the end, all you do is define."
"That kind of makes sense…" Bling said and shivered.
"Also," Boomer added, "Think of Adjudgment as someone of a higher power testing whether you are worthy, and if you are a sinner, he will give you punishment. In this case, Adjudgment works just like that but all you do is lock and define to receive the same punishment."
"Wow, getting somewhat religious now?" Believe pointed.
"I'm not religious," Boomer stated as a matter of fact. "In the end, when you go to college, you can pick to go attend a class to learn about religion."
"Right," Believe said as she rolled her eyes.
In a minute or so, Boomer pressed on the spacebar only to realize what was the next skill on the list. He looked at Bubbles who was eager to learn about it. "Seriously, Bubbles?"
"I am serious, I never know anything about your power," Bubbles motioned.
Boomer sighed and began to explain, "Number 92, Ultimate Annulment, also known as Ultimate End Seal… I possess this one. I don't want to really talk about it since it has something to do with my organization."
"Aw," Bubbles exaggerated, "I thought I was able to learn it now."
"It is not easy," he said and then added more, "But just like Conviction and Adjudgment, this power has two parts as well. Number 52, Consummate, also known as End Seal, and Ultimate Annulment. You seal your target and give them punishment. Number 92 is ultimately sealing your target or anything, and it will be forever sealed and forbidden to the rest of the world. That is all I can say."
"That's not even fair," Bubbles complained.
"How is sealing even done?" Bling asked.
Boomer felt there was a sweat coming down his head. "I can't tell you."
"Ugh, just when I thought about telling you Blood in Strain…" the blonde female student said in a sarcastic way.
Boomer looked at her in the eye and knew she was just lying. There was no way she was going to expose a lot of information about her powers to him. If he was not here, he would not have needed to explain his powers at all.
"Number 93 to 97 is unknown," Boomer continued. "However, 98 is possessed by Blossom, Snow Sycophancy. This is not an addition to Zircon Ice, but a sister power. You will be able to control snow and it has four levels. I don't know how you can master it, so it would be better if she tell you guys."
Blossom rolled her eyes and just sighed, this time shaking her head. "Actually, I am done talking for today, I don't want to explain too much for now."
"Okay, so she's not going to tell you guys about it," Bubbles said.
However, Blossom asked if Bubbles would like to talk about Blood in Strain. Bubbles nodded and finally agreed to talk just a little bit about it.
"Number 114 is in the vicious section. This is considered vicious because it is not ethical to be able to control blood and the flow of it. But in order to train for level one of this power, you need to master another level one skill, which is Wisdom of Healing, number 84, an intermediate power. If you want to master a vicious power, there will be prerequisites that you might think to be unfit to master it. How is Wisdom of Healing a prerequisite? I wouldn't have tried to master Blood in Strain at all if it was not for healing. I can disclose information to you guys that I work with healing and that is my specialty, so I only use blood in the art of healing. Therefore, I only use it when it is necessary."
"Really, huh?" Boomer stared at the blonde female student. He knows that Bubbles might use it for something else too. In the morning, he even instructed her to use it and she had to because Bunny was in the risk of losing her life, presumably. Bubbles declined to use it, although she was then left with no choice but to use it.
"Yes, really," Bubbles shot back at him.
"Sure," the young man responded, not believing it but going with the flow.
"I would like to know," Believe began, "Speed Escape…"
Bubbles was surprised and answered, "Unfortunately, it is under the normal section. It does not pose a threat to the user or anyone else; therefore, it is a safe power, number 45."
Believe was not relieved or anything. She would like it if she could possess an intermediate or dangerous power. But knowing that many of those powers needed to be mastered in so many conditions, there are so many reasons she cannot even do them if she had one already.
"Don't worry, that doesn't mean you are not good," Bubbles tried to make the situation better. "It is never a good thing if your power was dangerous and up. Most people use their powers to create evil and havoc, just like Mephitic Circle and the transparent organization."
At this, Blossom got up to forward the conversation onto the enemy organization. "You brought up something interesting. For Mephitic Circle, we do not know what kinds of people are in it. You saw earlier from the mission with Team LIE and Team AND, those people all follow under a certain leader. The founder is at the top of the hierarchy, then there are leaders who are next, and the third class would be the members of each team, like the ones you guys saw in the morning. The last class would be members just claiming to be part of the organization, such as the ones from your first mission.
"With the transparent organization, this one is a lot trickier. Because Mephitic Circle is known to cause havoc, we would know they exposed the information. They will not deny it is their doing. However, the transparent organization lives under that scope. Since Mephitic Circle is popular and everyone is trying to defeat it, the transparent organization has an easy advantage that leaves us thinking it was the doing of the Mephitic Circle."
"For a second, you were so dull, but when it got into this topic, you are serious," Bling cut off what Blossom was about to explain.
The redhead, again, ignored his comment and resumed speaking, "Alas, we still do not know the name of the transparent organization. Though, we did discover the hierarchy of the organization. Oddly, there is no founder. There are teams and each leader would be considered the founder. These teams are very secretive and intelligent. Everyone who is a member has some sort of advantage and possesses at least some powers from dangerous to vicious or even deadly. You will never know their tactics and how they perform their missions. We do not know what each serves for and their purpose, but we do know that it has something to do with experimenting evil."
"Who in the world would people become volunteers for experimenting and also become bad guys?" Bling finally got the urge to ask. How come there are people who just wants to be tools and be the bad guys?
"Well," Bubbles spoke even though she had no idea about the answer. "I am a bad guy too… because well…"
"You are not a bad guy," Believe stated, "You are a good bad guy."
Everyone in the room dropped dead silence.
Then, it was the redhead who started to break the silence this time to continue explaining. "The teams in the transparent organization do not work for each other. Members of any team can kill members of the same team and of different teams. They may be in the same team, but they rarely work with each other. If they want to eliminate a group member, they can do so. All of this is the purpose of experimenting."
"That is horrible!" Believe could not believe that people can even do that. The lives of each team member as experiments… Bling was right, why would anyone volunteer or join that organization for that? Despite being transparent, this was worse than Mephitic Circle. Even though Mephitic Circle uses members to sacrifice and do evil, both organization are clearly evil in all sense.
"That's it for today's lecture," Blossom finally said while taking a glimpse of her watch. Before anyone could say anything, she left without saying.
Bubbles and Boomer just stood there shocked. However, it was always like that for Bubbles. She was her partner for years, and she knew Blossom was a dull person and wants to get out of the room as quickly as possible. Blossom would always think that she needed to focus on more important things.
"Uhhh," Bubbles tried to make the situation better again. "Ignore her… she's always like that… but I hope you guys learned something about the CES system and the two organizations."
"Yeah, but I still don't know the meaning behind the CES system and why I even need to know them," Bling said.
Boomer patted on Bling's left shoulder as he walked out of the room, "You just need to know about it. Once you see people who possess dangerous and up powers, you will know their classification and how dangerous they are. You might think you saw Bubbles using Blood in Strain, but do you know what is behind that power? It will kill you… you saw the caster paralyzed because her blood flow went the opposite direction. If you encounter this yourself, you should be aware of the power and the number so you know the ways to approach it and survive from it."
"That's right," Bubbles agreed. "What if someone comes up to you and used flames? What if he used the fifth level of flames? First level? You will never know. But when you see that he used flames, you will know where it is placed in the CES system. At that point, you would also know whether you are worthy of fighting against a flame user. If not, well, good luck."
Believe nodded as a sign of understanding.
"You said only one person knew how to control flames, right?" Bling asked.
"Yes, his name is Brick," Bubbles answered.
"I have never seen him," Bling said.
Believe remembered the other day she was talking to Butch, and Brick came into the scene. Even though they have never talked to each other before, Believe did see him. He was what everyone described: long red hair similar to Blossom and crimson red eyes. When people see him, some get scared or some felt the atmosphere turning dark.
"You want to see him?" Boomer asked.
"I mean, I want to see if he can use flames," Bling responded while scratching his head.
"You are offending him," Boomer stated, "He has mastered all five levels when he was as young as 10 years old. If you say that to him, he will flare his flames at you and kill you."
Bling suddenly got scared. He was just joking! "How do you know he learned all of that when he was young?"
"You have Infodog and Robin," Boomer simply answered.
"So it tells you when someone acquired a skill?"
"Definitely," Bubbles said as she nodded, "Each level of power will be attained in the information system. My final age for mastering the final level of Blood in Strain was 15."
Deep down at 5000 depth, hours of the dark crept in longness, illuminating the dead silence of a universe with no lighting of stars in the distance. A different world, yet similar in that there was only darkness, but nothing warm seemed to exist. A place so deep was like a mirror of Hell, a place where no one, perhaps not a single soul, could have the right mindset to reach back up to the surface.
"I have found it, The Sleeping Surrexerunt!" before the freckled boy caught up to the members of the Mephitic Circle, he heard one say.
He quickly rushed towards the direction of the voice, but all he could see was darkness and the feeling of unease fill the temperature. If they get the rose before he does, his mission would be a total failure. Not only would he fail, but all members of both teams will also receive a failure. What would Princess say to him now? This would be the first mission they both failed, and Princess hated having a record that could single every perfection of completion that have sought successful.
Mitch, known as the freckled boy, had a reputation for making fake identifications. His powers were not influential or well-known. In a sense, he did not possess one. Although he was good at one thing, that was simply ending something after everyone had taken a turn to defeat that something. He was always the one who had to bring it to a complete end. That was partly all of what he could do aside from creating the fake stuff.
Sometimes he wondered why Princess would find herself attached to him, let alone possess feelings for him, given that he could do just this little. On the other hand, Princess possessed a power from the Dangerous section and was paired up with a partner who basically could not endure a power, who was he kidding? How could he be someone of interest?
Not only that, Mitch was a poor human back in his hometown. Compared to Princess, she was extremely rich than he was and almost everyone else in the entire school. He was just like the other students: Bubbles, Boomer, Bunny, Bright, and more, who came from somewhere… They came to the college for free because of something unique.
Now… he was on the verge of thought to quit. He could not even do something simple like catching the enemies. He even could not sense who was behind or before or next to him. At times like this, he was useless and a nobody.
"We have found it, let us go back up to the surface!" Mitch heard one say.
Before he could swim towards that direction of the voice, the rose has brighten. Everyone can now see each other. Mitch was surprised there were five people appearing now. Earlier he forgot how many people he was supposed to be chasing. He had been chasing for hours and he was glad he could keep up with where they were going even if it was a dark atmosphere.
If he could do that in the darkness, he should been able to track where the voice was.
"The rose is lighting, what is it trying to do?"
"I have heard a rumor about it," another began to speak. "If someone touches it, the rose will test if that person is worthy of acquiring it and returning it to the surface."
The moment he explained the rumor, the rose seemed to have laughed. Mitch thought he was seeing things but it did not look like it. The rose may not be physically laughing, but its flickering was constant... lightening and darkening every second. The rose, at the same time, released particles out and seemed to have taken a liking of the person's hand. In the next second, the particles have surrounded the hand. Suddenly, the person holding on the rose started to scream and badly wanted to get rid of the rose. Sadly, he failed to succeed in getting rid of the rose.
It was unfortunate, as the particles have claimed the hand and ate it like it was nothing. This meant that the rose have indeed awaken and will take lives of others if they cannot pass its test.
All the others who have not touched the rose yet backed away from the one holding on it.
"What are we going to do with the rose now? We have to get it up there!" one said with a shivering voice.
"I don't know…" another frightened enemy said.
Mitch, at this instant, was engulfed in the feelings of fear as well. He was afraid of the rose's power to eat his hand. He had not expected the rose to be this evil. It would have been better if the rose never woke up and kept on sleeping. But the rose was not under a spell of eternal sleep, it was bound to wake up by itself due to its strong sensation of outside forces and the mere touch of someone.
"Doesn't matter now," a serious one declared, "We will just have to use him. He's going to have to keep it held on while we go back up the surface."
This shocked Mitch. They were serious. They were nothing but cowards for life, wanting to keep themselves safe and alive all the while leaving one member in despair. They did not show any signs of sympathy, and since there was already one person holding the rose, they might as well just leave the hold to him and let him die while they still had a chance to go back up the surface. Mitch wanted to stop them, but in order to stop them, he had to be the one to acquire the rose!
"Let's go before that student takes us," the serious one quickly said as he grabbed on one of the person's shirt to swim to the surface.
Mitch reacted very quickly and swam after them.
"Hey, the student is following us again!"
"Ugh," the serious guy said, "Hold on, we are going to speed up!" After he finished talking, he pressed a button from his jacket. Soon everyone from Mephitic Circle sped up double the time, making Mitch way behind.
"Hey, it is eating not only the hand now, it is eating the arms!" one said from behind.
"Ugh," the serious one said again. "Hold on tight, we will get to the surface quick!"
Just as he said, they got to the surface very quickly. They did not need ten minutes, thirty minutes, or even an hour. It only took them about one minute thanks to the functionality of their uniforms. Mephitic Circle was prepared for everything, even the whole thing about the ship and knowing what the plans were for Enigia College.
The saying about the enemy being in the dark and the good guys being in the light, it was more than true. Mephitic Circle's plans, nobody even knows about it. Despite that, they still release information out to the world, which was part of their plan. This founder, he was something. A mastermind of all evil.
But wait, there were more. The founder was not just the only one, he and some person from the transparent organization were two different masterminds. They have never been acquainted with each other, so who was better? Nobody knew.
In the open eye of the office room, there sat an old man looking out the window. He was only expecting great news, the only reason he was living was due to experience and by following orders for his founder. He worshipped his founder a lot, if not he was given the chance to live again. If anything, he would do everything instructed from the founder. But, people have limits. He actually wanted to do something once instead of obeying some godly figure.
"Sir, they have found the rose!" a rushed looking undercover busboy from the hotel called out as he entered the office room.
The old man turned his gaze at the door and badmouthed something, "Great, those wretched rats are back for good old nothing. Hand me the rose and have them be fed to the real rats."
The busboy felt his spine shiver, not knowing if what he heard was correct. Feed the "people" with rats? He could not even hold five dishes the right way, how could he possibly be able to feed rats to people? He was about to say he could not do the job but remembered the rules.
If you are told to do something and you cannot complete it, you will also get killed by the same method along with the others.
Mephitic Circle was so scary to the point of making this rule. However, they were no different from the transparent organization. Killing each other with no reason was a lot worse than having only rules to obey from.
Ten minutes later, the rose was finally sitting on top of the desk. It was beautifully and silently sleeping like the Sleeping Beauty. Gorgeous as it seems, the true nature of this rose was wicked. It could eat anyone and control anyone. If it finds the most successful person, it will definitely be an inferior.
"Good," the man spoke as he stared at the beautiful rose in front of him. He was thinking of something, thinking of how to deal with the rest of the plan. Enigia College has not left the Maldives yet, and they will not leave until everything was settled. Of course, the man was not going to let them continue intervening Mephitic Circle's plans.
The First phase has just begun, not ended. He was enjoying it to bits, for he wants to see many deaths coming out of Enigia College. Yes, he could underestimate his enemies, but he overestimates his own subordinates.
"Enigia College…" he spoke out loud, "We will hide for a while, we will let you be on the light for just a little bit. First phase, huh? Prepare for the real First phase."
Back at the small ship, Bright was waiting like a sleepyhead. She had nothing to do, all she could do was wait for the others to finish. There were barely anything to eat and the ship was out in the open for people to see. Who knows how many people have walked past the deck and the port?
"So we just have to wait for Mitch to come back up now," Princess's voice could be heard as she walked up from the bottom of the ship.
Beside her was Bunny with three other enemies. Bunny threw the three at the ground and went to go change her outfit. Princess turned to see Bright sitting down checking on the controls. "Sorry, I left without saying."
"It's alright, I could understand," she simply responded.
Bunny walked out with her arms stretched in the air. She was in her usual outfit now. After fighting for so long, she wanted to at least sit. She took one last glimpse of the three people she had just thrown on the ground. "So what are we going to do with these people?"
"Hold them captive, of course," Princess said.
"Well, if at least the bodies could actually speak for themselves," Bunny pointed out. "One is no doubt dead, but the other two, I am not too sure about it. You used Conviction against him, who knows what damage will do to him."
Princess sighed and walked over to kick the leader. Waiting for a response, Princess could see he was deeply in his sleep. "He's dead."
Suddenly, the screen from the college popped up in front of Bright. It was the face of Bubbles.
"Finally!" Bubbles said and motioned the professors to come to her side.
"Princess? Why are you guys up at the ship?" Professor Eugene asked. They had expected the scene to be somewhere else after the blackout. But now when the server was back up, Princess and Bunny's screens were on the ship.
"When we got to the point," Princess began to explain, "The rose was nowhere to be found. We searched everywhere until the leader told us it was no use to find them. He told us that the others have gotten the rose to the surface when they activated a button from their uniforms."
"So we decided to go back up to the surface to find Mitch, making the enemies lead us the way," Bunny continued. "But we didn't get to find Mitch because apparently the three of them were dead, at least I think they were pretending."
"Nope, they are really dead," Princess confirmed. "I didn't use harsh punishment on him. Probably because they were in the ocean for a long time."
"No," Bubbles disagreed. "It is apparent that their deaths were not fake and were the cause of suicide from consuming poison given from the leader. Self-sacrifice, heh. They do not want to expose the information of where the rest are at, so they needed to kill themselves before we figure it out. We were almost a step ahead, but was taken a step back. Now we are still at level zero, we don't know anything about the location of Mephitic Circle's members in the Maldives. We also cannot guarantee that Mitch caught the rose, the mission would be left on hiatus for a while, if not a failure."
Princess almost collapsed. She has never in her life failed a mission once!
"Then I guess we will put the mission on hiatus until Mephitic Circle has its next move," Bunny said.
"Alright, then that's settled," Professor Eugene said as he was a little depressed by the results. "Wait for Mitch to come back before you all come back to the hotel."
"Will do," Bunny answered.
Holding onto a bunch of papers, Professor Utonium could not keep track of them as they kept falling off. Walking towards his lecture room, he could see the door gradually going farther than him. Imaginations, no door would ever walk away from someone as it was supposed to be a nonliving object.
"Hey Professor Utonium!" a female student of his greeted as she walked next to him. "Let me hold them for you!"
"Oh thank you, Believe!" the professor said and handed some to her.
"So much for that," behind Believe spoke a golden boy. Bling was also making his way towards the two.
"Good gosh, you don't get to do anything!" Believe complained.
"Just be a good girl, will you?" Bling shot back as he made his way to Believe, now facing each other.
Believe gasped at his sudden speech. How in the world? She did not need him to tell her to be a good girl. This was straight out from his mouth, he never even thought about what to say before he does! He even said it in front of Professor Utonium, that was even the worst!
"Students, do not pick a fight," the professor said. "Also, Principal Mayor sent me an update here in the United States. It is a small mission. However, we are unaware if this was the Mephitic Circle's orders or another organization."
"If it's the transparent organization, then we could get to learn about them!" Believe was eager and hyped.
"Actually," Professor Utonium started to say, "I'm sorry to tell you, but if it's the transparent organization, we would only hand it over to Team TAB and ARM."
"Why?" Believe was a little disappointed right now.
"I believe that Blossom or Bubbles have told you both that the transparent organization is a little hard to deal with. You do not know the people from that organization, it is even secretive than the Mephitic Circle. How we got to know about them was on a mission with two teams. Two students were slaughtered by the transparent organization while the other team was only able to rush over to find some information about it. That was the first appearance of the organization, but rumors had it that they were established before the Mephitic Circle. At the time, Mephitic Circle was still an organization testing on something until the founder decided to bring evil to the world."
"I'm guessing the other team was Team TAB?" Believe asked.
"Yes," Professor Utonium said as he nodded. "However, Professor Heloza was the one directing both teams. Professor Keane was sick at that time, so Professor Heloza took over Team TAB while instructing his very own team to search on it. Therefore, he was in charge of three teams when the transparent organization first appeared."
"But why would ARM be involved?" Bling finally questioned.
"Mike was needed, while Boomer also knows how to handle secretive teams," the professor explained.
A big pause.
"Okay, let's hurry on with the mission we got," the professor said. "Even though it is small, we might bump into some trouble. I have heard that the mission at the Maldives will be going on a long hiatus."
"That really sucks," Bling said as he opened the doorknob to the lecture room. Professor and Believe walked in quietly. Believe set down the papers while waiting for the professor to finish piling them.
When he was done, he told the students to sit down to listen.
"These past few days, there is a Joker roaming around our city of Enstor District," Professor Utonium began to explain the mission. "His height is reported to be 165 cm, similarly the same height as Bling. The Joker has a mask of a clown. He has appeared many time on camera, but showed no sign of any serious activity. This morning, the Joker was reported to have caused children to go missing."
Believe was a little worried about what the mission was. Upon hearing that there was a person dressed up as a clown makes her even unprepared. She was always eager to do a mission, but never thought about anything that could scare her off.
She looked to see Bling's reaction. When she saw him so relaxed, she felt a little relieved. If Bling was not scared, then she would perform better.
"The children was found dead as well," Professor Utonium added.
Believe dropped her pencil. The pencil rolled down the table like time was ticking. She glared at the pencil and heard a Joker's laugh. He was laughing so hard that Believe could imagine his wicked face. Her heart kept pounding and pounding, and her heartbeat increased by a tenfold of exaggeration.
"Believe?" the professor called her.
When she gave no response, Bling and Professor started to feel worried.
"Believe?"
"Hahaha!" the Joker laughed and laughed, which made Believe crumble.
The Joker appeared everywhere on her mind. She tried to let go of this strange imagination, but he was still there. The next moment, she could see the children crying for help and getting killed by the Joker.
"Believe?" Bling yelled so loud he wished she could hear him.
Finally, she could see Bling right in front of her face.
"What happened to you all of a sudden? You scared Professor Utonium off!" Bling said.
"Ah… no-nothing…" she said.
Bling could see that she was not. If she did not want to share it out, he was not going to pressure her. One day she will have to tell him, he could feel it. And he could tell it had to do with the current mission.
"Okay," the professor said and continued on with the mission, "Let's get to the real job. The Joker is predicted to appear again in the next evening, so that would be tomorrow. Catch him before he gets to his next child on the list."
"Believe, you are going to investigate the whereabouts of the children. Find the hideout and if there are still children, please bring them back to the college for custody until the parents are contacted. Bling, you will be disguised as the Joker and find the child named Dory."
"Oh, so I am going to pretend to be him and capture the child before he gets to, huh?" Bling sounded very interested.
But Believe was not. She was afraid to go into the hideout, but she had to act like she was not scared at all. No big deal of the sort.
"Well, I want you to go to Dory twenty minutes before he does, he usually captures the children at 5:20."
"How did you guys find out about this?" Believe asked, her voice so frail.
"We had a student go investigate the scenery," Professor Utonium answered. "The skill is good up to seven days, so it was easier for her to find out about the exact time."
Believe could not believe it, even another female student could do this alone! Blossom for goodness sake! Obviously, dull was her personality. She could easily walk inside a crime scene and investigate the time and action! Blossom could go alone and do all the work and not feel the slightest scared!
"Hm, this is getting somewhere," Bling said, "I am ready for this mission."
Believe turned to face him. What? Oh gosh, even he feels excited? Why do I feel so… what is the right word for this? Don't tell me it's one of those feelings, those trying to beat me up feelings...? Right, in the end, I am just someone who can't even stand for herself… She thought to herself.
"Alright, meet me tomorrow morning to report," the professor announced and walked both students out of the lecture room.
When the three of them were in the hallway, Professor Utonium told Bling to look at the mask and the outfit of the Joker from a screenshot taken from the street cameras. Believe could see the bright smile from Bling, he was sure excited about dressing up like a clown.
"Oh I know who can make the same exact outfit!" Bling said as he zoomed in on the outfit of the Joker.
Believe was behind the both of them, and she was feeling very sick about the upcoming mission. Even though it was going to be a small mission, she was not ready for it. How could children go missing and dead children be a small mission?
The door flung opened as the golden boy jumped right into his own club room. Bling threw the tablet down on the couch and instructed the two followers Reid and Nick to do an order.
"Guys, I need you to make me a mask and an outfit," Bling ordered.
"Oh, what's the reference?" Nick asked.
"It's on the tablet," Bling pointed at the tablet that was sitting on the couch at the moment. "I need you guys to make the same exact design to the point the real Joker doesn't know… but it should have some differences between the both so I could tell on my own."
Nick grabbed the tablet to look at the outfit. When he kept scrolling on the tablet, he spoke up, "Wow, who is this guy? Some kind of criminal?"
"He does look like one, doesn't he?" Bling asked.
Reid nodded. "For some mission, I assume?"
"That's right," the golden boy responded. "And I need you both to really work hard on this."
Nick threw the tablet back on the couch and said, "Of course boss, we will get it done as soon as possible. You need it by tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow morning would be best," Bling said, "But if you can't, be sure to hand it in by 3."
Nick and Reid nodded, showing that they understood.
"Peace out guys!" Bling said as he waved goodbye to the two followers of his club. The next moment he walked out of the club room and went back to the dormitory.
Despite being weak and possessed no power, Bling was ready to be disguised as the fake Joker. He would go and act out as him and pretend to capture the little girl. At the same time ruining the Joker's plan and following along with it.
Even though he was ready, his partner was not. He could not grasp her mind, for he was still unsure about Believe's personality and nature. He will get to learn more about her eventually, just that she was so good at hiding.
Hiding. But she cannot hide herself from that imaginary guy, Butch that was.
"Do you want to proceed?" the AI manager asked, repeating the same exact words for two minutes.
The man was a little annoyed by the computerized person. "Robin, I told you to stop behaving like this, you will only get in the way."
But Robin would not listen, it was not because she did not want to, it was because she was only a creation after all. She wanted to learn but she was limited.
The man sighed and went to reach for the press. He was going to shut down Robin from processing newly acquired information only to realize someone from behind already shot at Robin's motherboard with a sharp arrow.
The man's eyes became wide and with the sight of Robin broken, he was flustered.
"Who's there?" the man turned to his back. All he could see was the darkness like he was supposed to see all the time in this conference room. "I hate when people just sneak up like this!"
But there was no sound.
The man looked back at Robin and was even angrier now, "You need to get fixed."
Before he went to touch Robin's broken wound, he could see that a flame was starting inside the motherboard. The arrow had flames planted right on the sharp. And when hit, it would definitely ignite.
"Dammit!" the young man yelled and went to grab some books from the desk. He threw the books on the floor like a madman and pushed off everything he could to get his madness away. "Anyone dare to intervene! I will sell you off like no hell you have seen before!"
"...Do you… want… to proceed?" the AI asked again.
"No," he responded with frustration.
Then, someone walked into the conference room by switching the lights on.
"Oh, what happened to Robin?" asked the voice of an older man. The old man that just walked in was identified as Principal Mayor.
The young man could see the light on, and now he was back to his original state. "She got injured, I will fix her."
"Thank you," the Principal said as he smiled.
Saved by the light, the man forgot what just happened.