HAPPY NEW YEARRR! I hope everyone had a fun night of semi-responsible celebration xD me personally, once midnight hit, I took a sip of champagne and went to bed. #lame lol.

I hope you're enjoying Cracks in Her Armor so far! shit is about to go DOWNNN…

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CRACKS IN HER ARMOR

CHAPTER THREE: THE REAL VICTIM

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Friday morning, 11:28 A.M.

Exasperated, Fillmore fell against the back of his chair. "I don't have all day, Sharp. Either you can rot in ISS for the rest of the semester, or you can tell me everything." He crossed his arms across his chest. "Like why on Earth you'd sabotage a bunch of innocent kids' projects."

The girl at the table scoffed, rolled her olive green eyes, and crossed her arms over her chest. "I wouldn't call them 'innocent'," she muttered, glaring at the wall opposite the officer.

He angled an ear towards her. "Sorry, what was that? I couldn't hear you underneath the obvious grudge you're holding."

"So, I don't feel bad a few pricks got what they deserved," Eden said and threw her hands up, the gothic bangles jangling against her wrists as she did so. "Big deal! How does that make me a suspect? I wasn't even there."

Fillmore wagged his finger at her. "Now, that's your first lie." He stood up and circled the room, pushing his sleeves up to his elbows. "We've got you on camera in the computer lab at the exact time Candace Brightley's drone started swan-diving innocent bystanders."

Eden's pierced nostrils flared. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize using a school computer for homework after hourswas a crime."

"It's not," he agreed, stopping behind her before adding, "but using school property to hack and sabotage other student's work is."

She scoffed, shaking her head at the two-way mirror. "You can't prove anything."

Making eye contact with her in the two-way mirror, he leaned over her shoulder, and growled in her ear, "Wanna bet?" Eden gulped as he leaned in closer. "We've got one of the best computer gurus in the school going through the keystroke orders right now. So, if there's any chance he'll find a trace of you on the computer in question, now's the time to come clean."

She shrugged, pulling her artificial black hair over her shoulder. "There's nothing to come clean about," she insisted, twirling a strand with a ringed finger.

"That's your second lie." Fillmore sauntered out from behind her and to the interrogation room door, falling against it with a soft thump.

"I'm not lying," she growled through gritted teeth and glared over at him.

"Then prove it." He shoved his hands in his jacket pockets, then crossed one leg over the other. "If you really are innocent, that should be easy."

But, after a moment of silence, Eden huffed and averted her gaze to the window on her right. "I don't have to talk to you."

"You're right," Fillmore agreed as someone knocked on the door at his back, "you don't. But you know what they say: the first rat gets the cheese." She raised one of her pierced brows at his riddle as he pushed off the door and cracked it open to reveal his partner. "What is it?"

"You can wrap it up in here," Ingrid said, her tone hushed, but loud enough for Eden to catch. Ingrid dragged a polished finger underneath her eye. "Bridges is singing like a canary." Eden's eyes widened like saucers.

"Good, 'cause she's not giving me anything, and I'm starving," Fillmore replied, patting his empty stomach for emphasis. "What's for lunch?"

"Rumor has it, Vallejo ordered pizza. Fellini's."

Fillmore grinned. "Nice."

"You dragged Nathan in here?" Eden blurted, sitting up straighter in her seat.

"Yeah," Ingrid answered and Fillmore opened the door wider for her to enter. She held up a stack of student files and added, "so's the rest of your little crew. It won't be long until their stories match up and you're going down for conspiracy, malicious misconduct, and project tampering." She slapped the files down on the table with a flourish as the door shut with a slam. Eden jumped at the abrupt sounds. Ingrid sat down in the vacant chair across from her and crossed her legs. "Not to mention the very impressive hack job. Takes skill to hijack a sophisticated remote device like that."

Eden's eyes darted between the three files in front of her until her eyes landed on that of her boyfriend's on top – Nathan Bridges. His boyish picture smiled up at her and she bit her lip. "Nathan had nothing to do with this."

"So he says," Ingrid replied. "He's pinning it all on you."

Eden shook her head, her heavily-lined eyes squeezing shut. "No, no he wouldn't."

"He would. And he is."

The girl opened her eyes and glared at the officer in front of her. "You're a liar."

Ingrid shrugged. "Believe what you want. Doesn't change the truth."

"You don't know the truth," Eden seethed.

"Then enlighten us," Fillmore interjected, leaning on the table next to his partner, who kept her electric green eyes on the troubled girl in front of them. "Tell us your side. 'Cause from where we're standing, it looks like you and your boyfriend teamed up to target a bunch of innocent kids—"

Eden burst into a fit of incredulous laughter. "Oh, believe me, they are far from innocent," she interrupted, jaw trembling and rubbing her hands against her thighs.

Ingrid tilted her head at the girl's sudden change in demeanor. "How so?"

Eden sucked in the side of her cheek and shook her head, staring back out the window. "Like you'd do anything about it," she spat before sneering at Ingrid with glassy eyes. "Like you'd even care."

Ingrid's heart sank as their eyes met. That was genuine hurt on her face. She mentally flipped through the contents of Eden's records: she'd been a star student three months ago. Straight A's, a star in the computer science department, perfect attendance. The alt/emo look, the slipping grades and attendance… all that was relatively new.

And indicative of something going horribly wrong in her life. Having gone through a similar spiral long before moving to X, Ingrid got the sinking feeling that there was a lot more to Eden's story than she originally anticipated. "Try me," she countered, softening her voice to reassure the girl it was safe to open up.

But Eden shook her head at the officer, her leg bouncing repeatedly underneath the table. She bit her lip to maintain her silence.

Fillmore tapped Ingrid on the shoulder. "We're wasting our time, Third," he scooped up the files and pulled Ingrid's chair out for her as she stood up. "We've got real victims to take care of."

A tear fell from Eden's eye and trailed down her pale cheek. "You wouldn't know a real victim if she was standing right in front of you."

"Oh, you think you're the victim here?"

She shoved the table and stood up, shouting, "You're goddamn right I am!" in his face. Fillmore stood his ground, nose-to-nose with the trembling teen. Ingrid watched the drama unfold with an inquisitive grimace. The tears flowed freely down the girl's face, and despite the outburst of aggression, the vein popping out of her forehead told Ingrid that Eden was struggling to hold it all in.

That she'd been struggling for a long time.

Ingrid stepped around the jostled table and approached Eden carefully, stopping just close enough to hear the girl choking back a sob. "Tell us, Eden," Ingrid implored gently, pulling her chair close to her and motioning for her to sit.

Eden finally broke Fillmore's gaze, which had softened significantly. They'd expected their subtle jabs about "innocence" would prompt an arrogant, I-did-it-and-I'm-proud-of-it response, not… this. If she was the real victim here… it sickened him to think about.

Eden wiped the tears from her cheeks with the back of her shaking hand. Lips trembling, she gulped and did as Ingrid asked. She collapsed into the chair and held her face in her hands, sobs wracking her small frame.

The partners shared a dismal glance as the girl broke down between them. That one glance was all it took for them to come to the same conclusion: Maverick did more than stand her up. Fillmore handed Ingrid the files and crouched in front of Eden, placing a comforting hand on her knee.

"What did Maverick do to you, Eden?"

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dun dun dunnnnn what did he do?! :O any guesses?

hopefully I'll have an update for you guys soon. stay safe out there everyone!

yours truly,

ellameno