Infiltration
"And you're positive your plan will succeed?"
"Oh yes, sir. There's no doubt. Once the boy's mind is empty of his individuality, my team and I can in a sense... reprogram him to serve the two of you without question." Drewer explained, advocating for his chosen course of action as he spoke to Slade, informing him about the progress he was making with Chazz.
"Good." Slade nodded, holding his office phone to his ear using his shoulder as he typed away on his computer, working on some actual projects he had begun before he and Jagger created their plan to kidnap Chazz from the Academy. "And if you can't, then what?"
"Well in that event, we've developed a sort of back up plan." Drewer informed. "You see, once I learned about your brother's abilities, I took the liberty of beginning production on a machine capable of extracting the boy's duel energy, a force some speculate resides within most if not all living things. And the scans we took before revealed that young Chazz's body is host to quite a surplus of this energy. If I can extract enough of that energy, I believe it may be possible to engineer a device that can recreate a sort of synthesized version of his ability. However, there's no guarantee such a thing would be feasible."
"I see." Slade replied, nodding as well as he continued his own work. "Well get on with it then. And inform me as soon as you've finished. Regardless of what outcome you achieve."
"Yes, of course." Drewer replied, prepared to do whatever it would take to please the elder Princeton brothers.
Taking the phone from his ear, Slade placed it back on its receiver, effectively hanging up the phone as he continued his work. The Princeton brothers weren't exactly known for being nice people, but allowing a slightly deranged scientist to erase and ultimately reprogram their little brother's mind to serve them without question was reaching an entirely new low. Lower than even abusing him for nearly his entire life already was.
Continuing his work, Slade glanced over at the security footage on the monitors decorating the left side of his office wall adjacent the desk, focusing on the footage from the lab containing his youngest brother. Chazz laid in the upper center of the room, shackled to the table he'd been stuck too for a while now. His eyes were closed, and breath looked slow and regular. Chazz had never looked so weak and helpless than he did in that moment, trapped and hooked up to a myriad of different scientific devices like he himself was an experiment.
"I've gotta hand it to Dr. Drewer." he thought, smirking as the man placed a device on the boy's head while he readied the boy to be drained of his memories and individually. "The man is brilliant. Though I must say, mine and Jagger's more... simple approach to controlling Chazz worked just fine before. Of course, the slacker still wasn't very compliant."
"Slade."
Looking away from the security footage, Slade watched as Jagger entered the office, his eyes serious and stoic as both brothers usually were.
"What is it?" Slade asked, raising an eyebrow as his brother approached him.
"I've just been informed that a group of Duel Academy students and their professor have entered the city." Jagger informed, narrowing his eyes as he turned his gaze to Chazz on the security feed. "No doubt they're here to try and reclaim Chazz."
"No need to worry about that." Slade dismissed, returning to his work. "Even if they came here, they wouldn't reach him in time."
"Yes, but if they did-"
"-They won't." Slade asserted, narrowing his eyes as he continued to work. "A simple group of school children is too weak to wrest Chazz from our grasp. And even if they can somehow manage it, I'll deal with them myself. They won't be able to save Chazz. He's ours now." Glancing back at the footage, Slade smirked slightly once more as he took in the sight before returning to his work for the final time.
"And he always will be."
"Everyone, be quick and quiet!" Jaden commanded as the group rounded the corner, finally coming upon the Princeton family headquarters. "We can't let them catch us!"
"The air duct is on the east side, right Bastion?" Alexis asked, taking note of how honestly massive the dark and imposing building was. Also how many security guards and cameras had to be around the place. She already knew it, but rescuing Chazz certainly wasn't going to be easy…
"That's right." Bastion nodded, quickly leading them across the street at a far enough distance that they wouldn't look suspicious to any guards that could be stationed by the entrance. Fortunately for them, there was a decently sized crowd walking the sidewalk, allowing them ample cover to sneak around to the east side of the building without much difficulty. "There's the air duct, now we just have to get it open."
"Leave it to me, soldier." Hassleberry said proudly, flexing his muscles for a moment before he approached the vent. The others stood by and watched as he pried at the vent cover, slowly and painstakingly tearing the cover from its place, tossing it aside before he turned back to the others, a triumphant look on his face. "Everybody in! We've got no time to lose!"
"You're right." Alexis nodded, taking a step closer before hoisting herself up into the decently sized ventilation shaft with only a slight bit of difficulty from the height. "It's not too small in here, we should all be able to fit easily." she called to the others, maneuvering her body around so she could face them. "Come on, hurry it up!"
"One problem with that, Lexi." Atticus interrupted, glancing down at the aqua haired boy standing beside Jaden before looking back to his little sister. "That vent's a bit too high up for Sy here to reach."
"Hey!" Syrus protested, shooting an adorable pouty face at the older brunette. Though he knew full well how small he was, it normally didn't really bother him when people pointed it out. But that was just embarrassing.
"Not a problem." Jaden concluded, taking Syrus over to the wall. "Good to go, Lex?"
Nodding back to Jaden, Alexis extended her arms, ready to help the small boy get into the duct.
"For what...?" Syrus asked, not really paying attention to the female student so much as he was looking back at Jaden in confusion before that confusion turned into surprise.
Jaden bent down slightly, placing his hands under the boy's arms before hoisting him up towards Alexis's outstretched arms as she took hold of the small boy, pulling him into the vent with her.
"See?" Jaden said, smiling as he extended a thumbs up to Alexis after she successfully got Syrus into the ventilation shaft alongside her. "No problem at all. You good, Sy? Sorry to catch you off guard like that, pal."
"Uh yeah. Fine, Jay." Syrus nodded, indeed surprised by Jaden's action. Of course, he had realized he was too small to get into the vent on his own, but he certainly wasn't expecting Jaden to just pick him up and hand him to Alexis. She didn't really seem to either. The vent wasn't that much higher than he could reach. Really, if Alexis had just reached down, she probably could have pulled him up herself, which is most likely what she thought, too. It's not like Sy was that heavy or anything, and Lex was stronger than she looked. But of course, Syrus was willing to let it go so long as nobody made a big deal about it.
"Come on, Sy, let's give the others room to get in." Alexis suggested, grabbing Syrus's tiny arm as she crawled back further into the duct, taking him with her so that the others had room to enter alongside them.
"Going up!" Jaden declared, placing his hands on the edge of the shaft and taking a slight hop as he pulled his body upwards and into the vent, followed by Bastion and Hassleberry, leaving Atticus and Crowler still outside the building.
"Go on, Atticus." Crowler said, gesturing to the vent as the others waited for the two remaining members of the group to follow. "I'll follow behind. Besides, I'm the largest and I'd hate to slow you down."
Atticus nodded to the professor, knowing full well that Crowler wouldn't allow him to object even if he wanted to. Besides, now was hardly the time to start arguing anyways, not when they were so close to finding Chazz and rescuing him from the sick bastards he unfortunately had to call his brothers.
As far as Atticus was concerned they had no right to that title. Not after what they'd done to him over the years. Older brothers were supposed to love and protect their younger siblings, not abuse them and treat them like objects rather than people. And as an older brother himself, Atticus took personal offense to every horrendous act the elder Princeton's had done, just about making it his personal mission to put an end to them. By the time he was done with them, Slade and Jagger would never be able to harm Chazz again.
"If you say so." Atticus replied, hoisting himself up into the air vent before stopping to wait for Dr. Crowler, who swiftly followed suit, bringing the vent cover along with him and sliding it back into place before he slowly maneuvered his body around to move forward with his students.
"Okay, we're all in." Hassleberry observed, silently taking a head count as he looked over the group now situated in the ventilation shaft while they readied to make their way to finding their friend.
"Now, how far is the lab, Bastion?" Alexis questioned, her hand still wrapped around Syrus's small arm as she had kept pulling him farther in as the others had entered the duct, making sure there was enough room for them all to fit even though the vents were actually not that small as far as width was concerned. It was more the height that could prove a challenge for their taller members, namely the good doctor himself.
"Well, using the ventilation, it shouldn't be too far per say." Bastion explained, taking out his notebook as he pulled up a map of the vent system. "A few twists and turns, but otherwise it's a fairly straightforward path. But we must be quiet and cautious. We can't let anyone find out we're in here or we could very well put Chazz at even greater risk. As well as ourselves."
"No worries, Bastion." Jaden said, shaking his head at the resident genius among them. "We've got this. Chazz will be out of here and safe back at the Academy in no time!"
"Yeah. And his brothers will pay for all of this." Atticus added, completely stuck on the concept of making Chazz's brothers pay no matter what he had to do to make it so.
The others nodded in agreement, also wanting to deliver unto Slade and Jagger their own forms of punishment of divine reckoning proportions, though not nearly as much as the eldest student. They couldn't possibly understand how angry he was, being neither older brothers like he was, or as close friends with Chazz as Atticus had become. In fact, the only other siblings in the group were both the younger ones of their respective families. But still, as Chazz's friends, they understood Atticus's determination to rescue and protect him After all, he'd been through enough already without this whole ordeal going down.
"Move out, soldiers!" Hassleberry commanded, motioning for the group to move forward with Alexis leading the way as she was currently at the head of the line having entered the air duct before anyone else.
Letting go of Syrus, Lex nodded before crawling forwards in the only direction they could go, being careful of her short skirt, cursing under her breath at herself for making herself go first without considering that little detail.
"We're on our way, Chazz." Jaden thought, keeping an eye on the friends in front of him while he crawled forwards next to Syrus, feeling the instinctive urge to protect him from any potential threat as he always had, despite highly doubting that they would run into danger inside the ventilation shaft. But nonetheless, protecting Syrus had always taken high priority for the Slifer, who refused to allow his closest and dearest friend to come to any harm. Just like he realized Atticus had to be feeling in that moment about Chazz.
"Just hang in there, man... we're almost there..."
"P-Please stop!" Chazz cried, held down on the hospital bed by a nurse as the other nurse restrained him, ordered by the two elder Princeton's not to let the boy get away. They knew full well that Chazz would try and escape if he could. The boy knew by now that when he was brought there it meant that he was only being healed so the elder brothers could just hurt him more if they wanted to. "L-Let me go…!"
"Sorry, kiddo." The nurse restraining him said, her dark red hair falling into her face as she looked over at the young boy. He was only about fourteen at the time and would be headed to Duel Academy the next school year. "But you know the orders. You're not to leave this room."
"That's right." The other nurse nodded, her blonde ponytail bouncing with the motion of her head. "If you got out, the bosses wouldn't be very happy. That would only make things worse for you."
The red headed nurse nodded in agreement, tightly pulling at the soft restraints she had secured around the young boy's wrists, attaching them to the sides of the bed while he wiggled and struggled weakly, the wounds inflicted on him left him in a state of consuming pain. It was always like this. If the two eldest thought he had stepped too far out of line, they would hurt Chazz until he couldn't take anymore. And after the boy was broken enough the, two would take him to their private doctor to be treated and healed, only for Chazz to inevitably end up beaten again. And every time, he was sent to the hospital for them to fix him up, and the cycle continued on over and over again.
"Y-You can't do this to me!" Chazz protested, struggling in his bonds, thought he thought back on the other occasional times he had been trapped like this even in the hospital.
"Kiddo, we can do whatever we want to you." The ginger replied, nodding to the blonde nurse as she headed towards the cabinets to gather medications and bandages to help care for the boy's injuries. They were still nurses, after all. "Anything but hurt you, that is. But don't worry, we have no reason to do that. It's our job to take care of you, after all."
"Just relax, okay?" The blonde nurse kindly soothed, lifting his shirt to uncover the new wounds present on his pale, fragile body with one hand, and a damp cloth in the other. "I'm going to clean you up, but this might sting a little."
Having warned the boy of the impending discomfort, the nurse placed the cloth on his first open wound, the antiseptic cleaning fluid dampening the cloth soaking into his body, sending a burning, tingling sensation up and down the young boy's body. Hissing at the sting, Chazz flinched and squirmed in discomfort as the blonde nurse dabbed the antiseptic cloth over his fresh wounds, and even a few sensitive older ones that hadn't yet completely healed. Screwing his eyes shut, Chazz pushed himself through the discomfort, trying his best not to pull at his wrists too hard so he wouldn't rub his wrists raw and cause more problems for himself.
"You're doing good." the blonde soothed, shifting him slightly so she could reach the cuts on his back while the ginger began preparing his stomach and chest to be bandaged up.
He hated being here. He had always hated hospitals, but he hated his brothers' the most. Being there always meant his brothers wanted him patched up so they could beat him more without permanently damaging him. Being in that place was far from a mercy. In it's own way, it was a curse, a punishment in and of itself.
"There's no escape from this, is there…?" Chazz thought, whimpering pitifully as the nurses patched up and cleaned his wounds. "Just let me go…"
Chazz's eyes opened quickly, but he immediately realized something was different about where he was. The space was dark and cloudy, and his body felt light and limp. Concerned about his physical state, Chazz tried to move his arm. Blinking in surprise, he realized that his limbs were not only free, but they didn't hurt. None of his body hurt. And he was back in his own clothes again.
"What the hell…?" He asked himself quietly, looking around at the dark empty space around him, Chazz shivered as he lifted himself right side up from the lying down position he was in before.
"Damn, it's cold..." Chazz observed, wrapping his coat tighter around his thin frame, watching as he saw the thin puffs of his breath exiting his mouth while he breathed slowly in and out, shivering all the while. "W-Where the hell a-am I…?"
Looking around the dark space, Chazz saw just that.
Darkness.
All around him with no light in sight, the feeling of isolation closing in on him was enough to send him into a panic attack all on its own, but Chazz pushed himself through it as much as he could. It hurt his heart to be in this place. It was as if every feeling of sadness, fear, and anxiety he ever felt was here and was closing in on him, suffocating him with overwhelming feeling. His heart pounded in his chest, and Chazz felt his breathing begin to hitch. This place was a prison if he'd ever seen one alright. Suddenly, a light shone through the darkness in an almost blinding fashion. Covering his eyes with his arm, Chazz turned slightly away from the light. Slowly uncovering his eyes as the light died down, his eyes widened at what he saw.
"T-That's me!" He shouted in surprise, feasting his eyes on the image of himself back at Duel Academy, brandishing his Obelisk Blue coat as he dueled against Jaden. "That's... when I dueled against Jaden for the first time...?"
Taking a step closer, he observed the imaged, reaching his hand out to touch the memory. Placing his hand on the bright image, his pale, dainty hand phased through it, sending him stumbling forwards through the rippling and hazy lights.
"Wha-"
Turning back, Chazz's eyes widened as the memory shattered before his eyes like broken glass before more and more familiar images appeared around him. But the one that had shattered...
"What was I just... looking at...?" Chazz whispered to himself, looking down at the hand that had touched the now shattered light. "Oh shit..."
He had already realized something wasn't right the moment he found himself in this space, that much was obvious enough. But now he had an idea as to just what that something was.
"That's right, I remember now..." He observed, looking around at the familiar scenes around him, his eyes fixating on the most recent one. What he saw was himself, shackled to a table, hooked up to a bunch of different devices with a scientist doctor guy standing over him. "That Dr. Drewer guy said they were going to erase my mind, so that thing that shattered just now…"
It was then the realization hit him.
"Oh fuck!"
Quickly looking back at the memories surrounding him, one by one they began to shatter. His eyes already wide, Chazz noticed a tingling in his hand, looking back down his eyes widened further and a gasp escaped from him as he beheld the sight. His body was starting to glow, but his hand had begun to almost disintegrate into particles of light.
"What's going on!?" He shouted, his heart pounding in his chest as he watched his memories disappear one by one, and his body slowly disappeared. Moving to grab at his disintegrating hand, Chazz was suddenly held back by an oppressive force. Looking back to his arm, he gasped as a mass of darkness wrapped itself around his arm, holding tightly to it before the rest of his limbs were assaulted in the same manner.
"Hey! Let me go!" Chazz called out, struggling against the darkness taking hold of him. Craning his neck up as far as he could as the dark mass crawled its way around his neck, trying to reach his mouth to quiet him.
"W-What the fuck's going on!?" he thought, struggling as much as he could in a vain attempt to free himself. "If I'm stuck in my own head or wherever the hell this is... w-why is this happening to me!?" Widening his eyes he realized what was happening to him. "I-If they're erasing my memories then... oh dammit! Dammit, they're erasing me!"
"Atticus!" He called out into the darkness, his eyes screwed shut as he tried his best to shake off the dark entity overtaking his slowly disappearing body. Tears fell from Chazz's eyes as the fear consumed him, mustering up every ounce of strength he could find within himself to call out one more time before the shadowy mass stopped him from speaking. "HELP ME! PLEA-"
The end of his cry cut off as the shadowy mass wrapped itself tightly over Chazz's mouth, restricting his cries and all but silencing his voice. Tears fell from the boy's eyes like a waterfall as he struggled against the darkness, dropping down to his knees when the darkness proved too strong to break through.
"Atticus, where are you? Help me, please!"
"We're almost there." Bastion informed, glancing back down at his map to give Alexis the proper directions as she was still at the head of the line. "Just one more right."
"Finally…" Syrus whined, his knees hurt from crawling around for what felt like hours. He doubted he was the only one, either. Thinking about it for a second longer, he worried about Hassleberry. He was unreasonably strong, inhumanly strong Syrus thought sometimes. But crawling around and all this nonsense like this had to have been absolutely killing his injured leg by now.
"Let's hurry." Jaden suggested. Looking back at his friends behind him, he could see how uncomfortable all of the much taller and broader people in the group were being cramped inside the ducts. Especially Dr. Crowler, who's rather large stature made it difficult for him to move quickly in the small space to which he was confined. "Chazz needs us now. And besides, I think it's about time we get Crowler somewhere with, uh... y'know... more accommodating height."
"I-I'm alright, my boy." Crowler protested, crawling behind his students at a slightly slower pace, indeed extremely uncomfortable after what felt like forever stuck in the small space. True, the width of the vents wasn't an issue as they had enough room to shift about easily or even turn around, but the height was another story. The very low height had kept Crowler uncomfortably hunched down as his tall body couldn't quite comfortably exist in the space. But he was doing his best to endure it so as not to slow the group down. "Don't worry about me."
"Hang in there, doc." Atticus said, turning his head as well to the professor behind him, his gentle glint beginning to return to eyes as he continued onwards. "We're almost there."
"What's the plan when we get there, Bastion?" Hassleberry asked as they approached their destination. "How are we gonna find Chazz in this place?"
"Well, naturally we'll conduct a thorough search of the building." Bastion stated, putting his notebook away as Alexis stopped, pulling out the vent cover they needed gone to go down into the corridors of the laboratory.
"Kuri kuri!"
Turning his head to the side, Jaden smiled as he saw the spirit of his little furry friend appear beside him, a look of determination on his adorable furry face.
"Winged Kuriboh?" Jaden asked, smiling at what his partner had said. "You wanna help us look?"
"Spirits again?" Alexis asked, waiting for the good word before descending into the laboratory compound below them.
"Kuri!"
"Thanks, buddy." Jaden smiled, watching as the little fuzzball floated down into the laboratory and began his own search for the raven haired teen before nodding to Alexis. "Go ahead, Lex."
Nodding back at Jaden, Alexis carefully lowered herself down the hole, holding on to the edge for a moment before letting go and landing safely on the ground below her feet. Looking around to make sure no one was around, she cupped her hands around her mouth and called quietly back up to her friends.
"The coast is clear." She informed, motioning for the rest of the group to descend from the ducts. "Come on down."
"Okay, Alexis." Syrus answered, nodding at the girl below them. Looking back at the others, he already saw an idea forming in Jaden's eyes. "Jaden, don't worry, I can do this on my own."
"I'm not worried. And who said you couldn't?" The brunette questioned, getting in position to exit the vent himself, situating himself by the edge of the hole.
"You've got that look in your eye, Jay. I'm not completely helpless, you know." Syrus sighed, honestly tired of the way Jaden treated him like a little kid sometimes in these situations. Sure, he knew the brunette was just trying to protect him, and he appreciated it, but sometimes it got really frustrating.
"Get a move on, sarge!" Hassleberry commanded, honestly starting to go a little stir crazy trapped in the ventilation system for so long. Not to mention the ache he was starting to feel in his leg. "We don't have time to waste!"
"Oh! Sorry." Jaden said, taking one last look at Syrus before he began lowering himself down. "Y'know, I never said you were. But look, just be careful, Sy, okay?"
"Yeah. Sure, Jay." Syrus sighed quietly to himself as Jaden joined Alexis down on the actual ground, looking up at the shaft waiting for the others to come down and for Winged Kuriboh to return from his search of the facility.
Taking caution, Syrus lowered himself down also. Knowing full well the boy wasn't very physically apt, Hassleberry grabbed hold of the his hands. Of course, the word he would use to describe him would be wuss, but now wasn't really the time. Holding the boy up as he got in position to properly drop down, Syrus nodded at the younger student, giving him the go ahead to let go.
"I've gotcha, Sy!" Jaden declared, holding his arms out as the smaller boy dropped down, catching him safely in his arms before placing him down on his feet. Smiling at the little boy, Jaden watched contently as the rest of his friends descended carefully from the ventilation shaft, Syrus pouting adorably to himself as they did so.
"Your turn, Crowler." Alexis called up to the doctor inching his way to the edge of the duct. "Be careful."
"Don't worry about me, Alexis." Crowler said, poking his head over the edge of the hole so the kids could see him as he made sure they had all descended safely. "I'll be just fi- AH!"
Forgetting about gravity for a moment, Crowler leaned forwards into the hole, causing him to tumble out of the vent, falling down onto the floor in a heap of glory and pink frills. Quickly gathering around the professor, the students all reached out their hands to help the professor up.
"You okay?" Hassleberry asked, looking down at the fallen teacher as he collected and repositioned himself in a sitting position within the circle of students.
"Y-Yes, I'm alright." Crowler answered, nodding at his students before taking Bastion's hand. Pulling himself back up to his feet before brushing off his coat, tidying himself up from the embarrassing tumble he had just taken.
"Kuri kuri!"
Jaden turned from his group at the sound of his partner's little voice, his eyes widening thusly as the little furball practically flew right into his face.
"Did you find Chazz?" Jaden asked urgently, his heart pounding in his chest from the anticipation building up inside of him. The little Kuriboh floated up and down signaling a nod as he turned back around, more than prepared to lead his master to the imprisoned teen. Turning quickly back to the others, Jaden's eyes were serious and focused, motioning for them to follow him. "Hurry, guys! Follow me!"
"Jaden, wait!" Syrus called after his best friend, taking off after the brunette as he himself had practically started sprinting down the corridor.
Following Syrus and Jaden's lead, the others swiftly followed suit, taking off down the hall hastily catching up to the two ahead of them.
"W-Where are you going, Jaden?" Alexis panted as she ran, though she had an idea why he had taken off the way he did, she also felt like it may be a good idea to ask just in case she was wrong.
"To get to Chazz!" Jaden answered back, turning his head to the blonde girl for a moment before rounding the corner to the left of them. Running for a few minutes more, Winged Kuriboh stopped in front of a single white door in the center of the wall, looking back at Jaden in urgency.
"Kuri!"
"He's in there?" Jaden asked, his voice lowered to a more hushed tone so that anyone inside hopefully wouldn't be able to hear him speaking just outside. Kuriboh signaled his nod again, his eyes turning sad.
"Kuri.."
"That's not good.."
"What? What's not good?" Atticus asked, his own tone adopting the urgency Winged Kuriboh had had up until that point in time. His own sense of anticipation skyrocketing as they stood there in the empty hall. "Chazz is in there, isn't he?"
"According to Kuriboh." Jaden nodded back to the elder brunette, his eyes turning from focused and determined to straight up concerned. "And from what my little buddy told me, he's not doing so good..."
"Oh no..." Alexis gasped quietly, her own eyes filled with sadness as she thought about their friend in such a state that Jaden was suggesting he could be in. If anything seriously happened to Chazz, she didn't think she would know what to do about it. And Atticus would be so upset…
"Well then, what are we standing out here for!?" Hassleberry asked, slightly louder than the others just like in all honesty he always was. Clenching his fist in anger as he worried about their endangered friend just beyond the closed door. "Let's get in there and bust 'im out!"
"I agree, but caution must advised before we-"
"-Oh can it, Bastion!" Hassleberry retorted, interrupting the elder Ra in a frustrated and slightly hushed shout. "There's no time!"
"Hassleberry's right." Atticus asserted, taking a step towards the door, reaching past Jaden and grasping his delicate hand around the silver colored handle, securing his grasp around the cold metal. "Sorry, but we don't have time to stand around talking."
Turning the handle swiftly in a downward motion, the click of the door sounded through the primarily silent corridor. Taking a quick moment to compose himself and a deep breath inwards, Atticus swiftly swung the door open, revealing the room concealed behind the white barrier.
"Chazz!" He shouted, his eyes widening exponentially as he looked inside, his gorgeous milk chocolate eyes fixating on the unconscious boy shackled to the table before them, surrounded by scientists and doctors, and stained with blood. Realizing what he had just done, Atticus quickly clasped his hand over his mouth, his heart beginning to pound as the man appearing to be the boss turned his way, an angry yet surprised look plastered to his face as the rest of the students and Crowler poked their way into the room, horrified by what they saw.
"This is bad…"
