Welcome backkk! I'm so glad you guys liked the first chapter and am so thankful you took to the reviews to say so. I've missed this fanfic community so bad :3 As always, if you have any suggestions, prompts, ideas, or GUESSES as to where this story is going, feel free to review or DM me! It's my fave part of posting these fics lol.

Fair warning, it's a fairly short chapter. But if I combined this with the next one, it would be TOO long IMO. so don't worry, I make up for it later xD

But, I will leave you in suspense no longer. Without further ado: chapter two!

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CRACKS IN HER ARMOR

CHAPTER TWO: WILD THEORIES

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Friday morning, 8:18 A.M.

"All right, quiet down, people," Vallejo called from the front of the room, effectively blanketing the Safety Patrol Headquarters in silence. "We've got an update on the Science Fair case, so listen up."

Ingrid nodded at the commissioner as he stepped aside, giving her and her partner the room. "As you can see," she began, gesturing to the many pictures hanging on the white board behind her, "we've come up with multiple possible suspects for each victim. We've connected each one through past relationships, altercations, or on camera lingering near their projects. With how many we have, we believe that some of the suspects, if not all, may be working as a team."

Beside her, Fillmore chimed in. "Half of these guys don't have any disciplinary history, so we don't have enough background information to rule anyof them out conclusively. We're gonna need your help narrowing the suspect pool down."

O'Farrell raised his hand. "How do you know it was a team?"

"At first, it was just a theory," Ingrid answered. "But as of this morning, Tehama's forensics report confirmed that every project was uniquely tampered with."

The budding forensics expert smirked at the girl-genius, flipping her hair over her shoulder with a wink. "You're welcome." Ingrid bowed her head in response.

Fillmore continued. "Considering how many projects were targeted, and that no one person could be directly connected to any one sabotage, it's the only conclusion we could draw. One person can't be in four places at once."

"For example," Ingrid pointed at the two middle pictures in the bottom row. "We know that Eden Sharp and Nathan Bridges are a couple based on their social media profiles. These two share three classes with—" She followed the red line with her finger up to a picture in the second row, "—Maverick Mathers, whose dry ice experiment was sabotaged first to provide the perfect cover for all the other projects to be ruined. Eden wasn't at the Fair, but Nathan was seen by witnesses hovering around Ezra Shatner's popcorn machine slash… robot…" Her eyebrows furrowed as she tried to find the right words. She looked to her partner for help. "…thing?"

Fillmore shrugged, then carried on. "We know Marvin Hurst was skipped over for Aero-Club President, which he claims Candace Brightley, whose self-piloting drone chased people from the auditorium, 'stole' out from under him. He avoided her the entire Fair, but the cameras put him near Oliver Reagan's beetle farms right before the fog took over."

Vallejo tapped his chin. "So, you think a bunch of kids linked up and conspired to take down each other's enemies?"

Ingrid and Fillmore nodded in unison. "Exactly," Fillmore said.

Anza whistled, leaning back in his chair and crossing his hands behind his head. "That's pretty clever."

"Very," Ingrid said. "So clever, we can't pinpoint exactly who banded together, who the ringleader is, or even how they all cross paths."

O'Farrell's raised his hand once more. "I know Maverick from photography class. He's a big ladies' man. I heard him bragging a few weeks ago about standing Eden up at the arcade."

"That is exactly what we're looking for," Ingrid praised as Fillmore grabbed a marker and jotted it down beneath his name and picture. "Anything that connects any of them and could give us motive and opportunity."

Vallejo clapped his hands and stepped forward. "Start digging, people. Principal Appleton and the Student Council are chomping at the bit to get this resolved. Let's give 'em what they want."

Friday morning, 10:16 A.M.

The conference room had cleared, leaving Fillmore, Ingrid, Anza, and Vallejo alone to pour over the information the squad gathered. Eight pictures remained on the board: four victims, four perpetrators.

Ingrid tapped her chin with her marker, eyes fixed on the board as she rambled off what they discovered. "So, we now know that Maverick did in fact stand up Eden last month. There are other rumors as to what unfolded after, but nothing we can confirm. According to the ever-reliant rumor mill, Candace did screw Marvin over to get her new position by tarnishing his reputation. Nathan used to be friends with Oliver who took credit for one of Nathan's projects, and Sorin was suspended from school when Ezra copied one of his midterm papers. It ruined his perfect record and his internship due to his alleged 'moral clause violation'."

Fillmore leaned against the table behind her, pointing at each corresponding picture as he spoke. "So, considering all their backgrounds and extra curriculars, we think Sorin is the one who turned Maverick's experiment into a super-powered fogger. Nathan overloaded Ezra's robot with a computer virus to start the popcorn avalanche. Marvin knocked over Oliver's exotic beetle farm, and Eden must've hacked into Candace's drone. She wasn't seen atthe fair, so Karen and O'Farrell are checking the surrounding areas to try and find her."

"Sounds like a lotta speculation to me," Anza said, leaning back in his swivel chair and kicking his feet up on the table. "Not to play the devil's advocate here, but we don't actually have proof yet."

"He's got a point, guys," Vallejo agreed, scratching the top of his head. "We've got no idea how these four could've come into contact, or who put them into contact with each other."

"Fear not, Fearless Leader," Fillmore reassured Vallejo, who scowled at him. "Once we bring 'em all in, they'll rat on each other. It'll be a piece of cake."

Anza scoffed. "You sound pretty confident for a guy who has nothing but a big head to back up his wild theory."

Fillmore nudged Ingrid in the arm. "Technically, it's her big-headed wild theory."

She shrugged. "I stand by it," she replied, not taking her eyes off the board. "But they're right, Fillmore. We need proof or a confession. And I think—" She tapped Eden's picture before turning to face the group. "—she's our best shot. She's been hurt and humiliated by this Maverick guy. We bring her in, hail him as our poor, innocent victim, and she won't be able to hold back."

Vallejo nodded his approval. "Do it."

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ooooooh how do yall think it's gonna go?! is Eden gonna crack? or does our favorite duo have their work cut out for them? hmmmmm…

rock on, y'all. (and Merry Christmas/Happy New Year if I don't update before then!)

ellameno