Rodrigo tried to carry on with his day, but it was hard to even enjoy an inch without getting pestered by so many concerned students.
"Rodrigo, what are we going to do?" A kid asked him as he walked by.
"General Secretary, what's your strategy on trying to combat these rising attacks?" Another kid, part of the school's newspaper, asked him.
"Rodrigo, there's been another attack!" A kid exclaimed.
Rodrigo was at his wits end. He had no answers to any of the kids questions and concerns. And yet, the situation dictated that he at least try to reassure them, but that would do little good. The attacks have suddenly increased, targeting any kid, include any higher grader, unlucky enough to cross path with this group that now appears to be growing in numbers. Rodrigo still had no information, but the one thing that give off that their numbers grew was due to yesterday's attacks; they happened at different sections of the school, at the same time! Both victims claimed there were a swarm of them, and not just few individuals.
Rodrigo had asked Arnold and Sid to find out more information about them, but they again came up empty. They even tried to investigate by interviewing kids outside of school, but still nothing. His only hope now was Big Gino.
If there is anyone that can do it, it's him. Rodrigo thought to himself.
Rodrigo then became swarmed by many students gathering around him, frantically asking him what is to be done with these attacks, so much so that he was no longer able to walk.
"Citizens!" He cried out to them and held his hands up, getting their attention. "I know you are all eager to know who is behind these attacks and why they are doing this. I cannot yet answer the first part, but I can definitely answer the 'why'. They are trying to bring down our Revolution and everything we built over the last few weeks! Now I know what you may be thinking; it must be Wolfgang and his followers. But until we know for sure, we cannot arrest them and stand them accused. Our Constitution does not allow that. All people must be considered innocent until proven guilty."
"I know you are all scared." He continued. "You have every right to be, and that's okay. But what is not okay for you to let these cowards get the best of you. It's what they want. Do not give in to fear and panic. Stick together. Don't walk home or come to school alone. And remember to report any suspicious activities."
"I promise to everyone here," He continued, "that I will do everything in my power to stop them and bring them to justice! I will not stop until I flush these cowards out – because that's what they are – and hold them accountable for what they did. I will ensure that they will be expelled from this school, forever!"
Although the speech was rather short, it was enough to give the listeners some sense of hope and calmed them down a bit. Rodrigo used that to his advantage to quickly make his way out of there. He had nothing else to offer them, other than his words. For now, that did the trick. Just then, his cell vibrated. Eagerly, he grabbed it and viewed it.
Gino: Meet me at my office after school. Don't be late.
Although the message was vague, Rodrigo felt a strong sense of relief. By now, he knew Big Gino well enough to know that he wouldn't bother asking him to see him if he didn't have something. Hopeful, he felt out a sigh of relief and even cracked open a smile.
"Finally." He said to himself. "Once we know who is behind this, we can put an end to this."
Later that same day…
Rodrigo left the school building and quickly made his way to Gino's office. He knocked on the door, only for it to open almost instantly. Rodrigo entered and saw Gino playing pool.
"Come in." Gino said without looking up at him and took a shot at a ball.
Rodrigo obliged and went in.
"What did you find?" He asked the mob-kid.
Gino said nothing and just took another shot on the pool table. He then put this stick down and walked toward his desk.
"I got what you need." He calmly said to him as he grabbed a piece of paper and gave it to Rodrigo.
Rodrigo took the paper and read it.
"So it is Wolfgang." He said, not looking surprised. "Figures."
"That's not all." Gino then said. "Looks like you've got your work cut out for you. Word on the street is that he isn't just recruiting higher graders, but the lower graders as well."
"What? How?" Rodrigo asked, now surprised.
"Not sure." Gino just said. "You'll have to ask'em if you ever capture one."
"Do you have any names?" Rodrigo asked.
"Not at the moment." Gino said. He then walked toward Rodrigo and once again, put his arm around his shoulder.
"Listen Rodrigo," He said. "You and me here, we've got a good thing going here. And I like you. But this little counter insurgency is starting to become a bit worrisome for me. Bad for business, you know. I need to know if whether you have what it takes to ensure this thing gets under control."
Rodrigo got the message. Although not admitting, Gino was growing nervous at Wolfgang's attempt to overthrow his new patron and like any true businessman, would not hesitate to switch sides if it was beneficial to him.
"What do you suggest I do?" Rodrigo asked him.
Gino, appreciative of Rodrigo asking for his advice, let out a small smile.
"Well," He said as he took his arm off of him. "since the whole point of your little revolution is to protect people, it would seem that the smart thing to do is to meet him and negotiate."
"Negotiate?" A surprised Rodrigo asked.
"Yeah." Gino said. "Find out what he wants and come to an agreement. You know, a compromise. End the bloodshed. You know as well as I know that Wolfgang will stop at nothing to get what he wants and has no issues trespassing boundaries, even those within the law. You however have your hands tied by them, which makes you less...shall we say, flexible to move? You know what I mean?"
Rodrigo was not at all prepared to meet up with Wolfgang, let alone even attempt to negotiate, at least not without a fight. He knew just how popular his reforms have been, and so was confident that the majority of the kids would support him. It was only a minority. However, that alone presented a problem. As a minority and being outnumbered, Wolfgang would be fighting tooth and nail. Hence, Gino did have a good point. If he refused to even try to end this peacefully, it would lead to more causalities on both sides. Was he prepared to do that?
"Alright." Rodrigo agreed. "I'll meet him. I'm assuming you know where I can find him?"
"I do." Gino replied with a smile.
Later that same day...at night…
Rodrigo soon came to a dark alleyway. Only one small light hanging on the side of the building provided any kind of lighting to such a dark abyss. Thankfully, he was accompanied by Arnold, Sid and Gerald as an added layer of protection. While Arnold and Gerald looked on rather calmly, Sid was shivering in absolute fear. Letting his paranoia get the better of him, he saw every dark shadow as a trap set up by Wolfgang, just ready to pounce on them at a moment's notice to do God knows what to them.
"M-M-Maybe we get out of here." Sid stuttered in fright. "Perhaps we got here late and he went home."
"No, Sid." Rodrigo firmly said. "He's here and we're going to see what he wants."
Sid took a big gulp before then following the trio closely behind.
After a few more steps and turns, they came across another alleyway that was even more darker. It gave all the pre-teens a shiver down their spine, but they pressed on.
"That's far enough." A voice was then suddenly heard. A mature yet demanding voice that was heard in front of them, but at a distance. The four of them obeyed and stopped, but became prepared for any nasty surprises.
"Show yourself Wolfgang!" Rodrigo demanded as he then took out his flashlight to see where he was. He was nowhere to be found.
Just then, they heard someone jump from up the lower metal fire emergency exit onto the ground. Rodrigo swung his flashlight toward the noise and right there, was Wolfgang, standing tall in his usual intimidating nature.
Normally Wolfgang would greet his victims with a malicious smirk, but this time, he just almost snarled at the four pre-teens that have been responsible for his ouster. He was specially eyeing Rodrigo with an knife-like stare. Rodrigo, Arnold and Gerald just started back at him with their own defiant face. Sid on the other hand took another gulp and shivered in fear.
Once Wolfgang was in full view, Rodrigo swung his flashlight around to see if there were any others.
"Don't worry." Wolfgang then spoke, noticing Rodrigo looking around. "There aren't any others here. I'm all alone and helpless." He taunted him with an evil smirk.
"Alone, maybe." Gerald then spoke. "Helpless, I doubt it."
"That's quite a risk you are taking; coming here on your own." Rodrigo commented.
"Perhaps." Wolfgang responded. "But I wouldn't want you to take a look at any of my followers. That's only for me to know."
"What do you want, Wolfgang?" Arnold then asked, getting right down to business.
"Simple." Wolfgang responded. "For things to go back to the way they were."
"Fat chance." Rodrigo definitely said to him. "In case you haven't noticed, things are far better without you at the helm."
"Younger graders don't get to live in fear of being harassed and they certainly don't get to be like you." Gerald then added.
"Really?" Wolfgang asked, not looking at all moved, or worried by what they were saying.
"Yes." Arnold then stepped forward. "Everyone's a lot happier now and helping each other instead of fighting each other for resources. We all get to pitch in and contribute. Everyone's doing their part."
"So good luck in trying to recruit people to your side!" Sid then suddenly uttered, surprising his friends and getting his Wolfgang's attention who said nothing back and glared at him.
Sid, intimated by Wolfgang's star, coward behind Rodrigo.
"Are they?" He rhetorically asked him with a smirk,
The four looked a bit surprised at Wolfgang's smirk.
"I think you are overestimating people's ambition and self-serving nature." Wolfgang said as he stepped a bit closer to them.
"Even those younger graders are not immune to being selfish and wanting to satisfy their desire."
"What desire?" Rodrigo asked.
"Power, respect." Wolfgang answered.
"You don't know what you are talking about." Arnold then spoke. "They are just kids. They don't know anything about the trappings of power and ambition."
"I beg to differ." Was all Wolfgang said as he crossed his arms.
"In any regard," Rodrigo interjected. "We are not going to give up what we worked so hard to build. Do you really think everyone, including the seventh and eighth graders are just going to give up and got back to infighting and becoming powerful at the expense of others?"
"Yes." Wolfgang just bluntly responded.
"Wolfgang," Arnold then spoke, "what you are asking can't be done. We came here in the hopes of a satisfactory compromise. We are willing to negotiate, so long as you also meet us in the middle."
"I'm sorry, you misunderstood." Wolfgang said. "I didn't come here to negotiate. I came here to threaten you; either you peacefully give up your power and revert back to the way things were, or I will unleash a wave of destruction and violence that that stupid school has never witnessed before!" He angrily bellowed.
Wolfgang's threatening declaration spooked the four pre-teens and by the looks of it, he wasn't joking. However, before Arnold or Gerald could say anything,
"If that's the way you want it," Rodrigo then angrily exclaimed. "Then so be it. There will be no peace, only WAR! There will be no compromise to our revolution and to our principles!"
Wolfgang said nothing and just slowly let out an evil smirk.
"I was hoping you would say that." He said to him. "So be it; war and terror will be the order of the day. I hope you brought the heavy cavalry, because you are going to need it."
With nothing else to say, the four were about to make their way out of the dark alleyway when Wolfgang suddenly spoke,
"By the way," he said as he with a confident looked at his fingers, "I moved to a new school. I start tomorrow. Good luck trying to capture me."
That surprised everyone, but before either of them could say anything, Wolfgang turned around and quickly made his way out of the alleyway in the opposite direction, eventually disappearing.
The four pre-teens also quickly made their way out.
"Okay, so can you please tell me what happened back there?" Gerald then asked Rodrigo.
"What do you mean?" Rodrigo asked.
"You know," Gerald responded, "that whole declaration of war thing you said."
"Oh that." He said. "It had to be said. To be honest, I didn't want to come here to negotiate. I wanted to get him to surrender in his futile attempt to restore the old school order. So him refusing to fall in line and adapt is just fine with me."
I've made up my mind. He thought to himself.
"Rodrigo, I don't think you really thought this through." Arnold said to him. "Wolfgang is not someone to be underestimated and his threat was not an empty one. I think he really meant what he said. He's going to get a lot of people hurt."
"Not to mention that we have no way of combating his undercover operations." Gerald added.
Rodrigo said nothing and just continued to walk. His friends looked at each other, looking confusing about his silence. They waited for a bit to see if he would say something, but when it became clear that he wasn't,
"Rodrigo, what are you going to do?" Sid finally asked again.
Coincidentally, they had just gotten out of the alleyways and were almost back on the main street when Sid asked him. As soon as they made it out,
"There's only one way to do this." Rodrigo spoke. "I don't like it, but it has to be done."
"What is it?" Arnold asked.
The next day…
Lunch had started and all the kids were making their way toward the lunchroom area. Rodrigo entered the room, followed by his entire entourage close behind. He went toward the middle of the room, grabbed a chair and put it in front of him.
"Is everybody here?" Rodrigo asked his entourage.
"Just about." Gerald replied as he pointed to the door behind him, indicating that students were still making their way inside.
"Close enough." Rodrigo said as he then stood up on top of the chair and addressed the whole room.
"Citizens!" He shouted as hard as he could and raised his hand up, trying to get everyone's attention.
It worked, everyone turned around and when they saw Rodrigo up on the chair, they became silent with many of them approaching him.
Arnold looked on quietly, but internally he was worried about what was going to happen. After their meeting with Wolfgang he, Gerald, Sid and Rodrigo headed back to Arnold's house to discuss their next move. That was when Rodrigo announced his plan and to say it shocked Arnold was an understatement. Nevertheless, he listened attentively to Rodrigo explain his reasons for it. He wasn't convinced and advised to search for other options.
"Hear me out!" Rodrigo called out to everyone and gestured to everyone to come closer.
"I have found out who has been behind the recent attacks against us." He began. "It is none other than Wolfgang himself!"
There was grumbling and some angry remarks against Wolfgang, but none were really surprised by the news. Rodrigo continued.
"Last night I went with Arnold, Gerald and Sid to meet up with him to talk and to get him to stop these senseless attacks. I had hopes he would listen to reason and get him to see what we are building here. But alas, nothing came of it, only that he promised further attacks against us. He promised he will unleash a wave of destruction and violence that our school has never witnessed before."
That got everybody's attention and some began to express worry and concern.
"He has no desire to make peace with us, nor is he going to give up in his pursuit to get things back to the way they were. This is a person who is bent on crushing our Revolution and everything we are building!"
"He wants us to go back to how things were before." He continued. "Can you believe it? He wants us to go back to hating and fighting each other. This kid cares nothing but to be on top and he will do everything in his power to get there."
"To make matters worse," Rodrigo continued, "It has come to our attention that some of us are flocking to his banner, and it is not just the higher graders. He is also somehow recruiting the younger graders well. I don't know why, nor do I know who they are, but suffice it to say we have traitors among us!"
This was shocking to most and the news only served to increase their worry and anxiety. Many began to look at each other with suspicious stares, wondering if whether they knew someone who turned their cloak.
"Where is Wolfgang?" A angry kid asked.
"Let's bring him here and show that we will not be pushed around!" Another exclaimed.
"Wolfgang no longer goes to this school." Rodrigo responded. "He told me today he will be starting in his new school. This morning I confirmed with the school administration; he no longer goes here, so he is out of our reach."
"So what should we do now?" One kid then asked.
"How do we find these traitors?" Another asked.
"I have two proposals." Rodrigo continued. "The first is that I recommend we greatly expand the position of the Hall Monitor. They will act as a sort of police force that will not only enforce hallway rules, but also protect our school from further terrorist attacks and conduct investigation should one were to ever happen. They will patrol all sections of our school and ensure everyone here remains safe."
Everyone than began to either think about it or talk among themselves.
Rodrigo said nothing and just waited for his peers to think this through and see if there would be any opposition. He looked around and saw that, despite some facial concerns, no one really stood up against the motion.
"Is everyone okay with this proposal?" Rodrigo asked. "Do we vote now or wait a few days?"
"Let's vote now!" A kid exclaimed, which was followed by many nods.
"Very well." Rodrigo said. "All in favour of expanding the Hall Monitor position into a school police force, raise your hand."
Many students raised their hands in support. Some didn't, but it was a clear overwhelming majority.
"The motion passes." Rodrigo said. "We will begin recruitment and training today. Everyone is welcome to sign up to this new force, now called the P.S. 118 Internal Security Force or ISF."
"Wait a minute!" A kid then suddenly exclaimed. "How do we know this new force won't get to be just like Wolfgang and start harassing us?"
"Good question." Rodrigo said. "To ensure this new force remains disciplined and actually serves the school, it will be under the authority of the Interior Minister, Arnold Shortman.
That was actually quite a relief for many, even for the kid who raised the issue. Everyone in the school knew that with Arnold at the head of this new force, there was no way it could ever become corrupt or be misled.
"Any other questions or issues?" Rodrigo then asked everyone, to which no one said anything.
"This now brings me to my second, and hardest proposal." He continued, this time with a more serious tone.
"Raising a police force will only get us so far." Rodrigo went on. "Wolfgang's cronies are hiding amongst us. We don't know who they are or when they are planning to strike next. We don't even know how many there are. We can start to investigate within the bounds of the law, that will take a very long time and it will leave many of us vulnerable to another attack. I don't know about you, but I'm not going to wait for Wolfgang to increase his attacks. Our only hope to catch them and to put an end to this as quickly as possible is to start conducting a series of aggressive investigations in this school. This is why I am recommending that we temporarily – key word, temporarily – suspend Articles VI, IX, X, XII of our Constitution."
"What?!" A shocked student exclaimed.
"You gotta be kidding me!" A disappointed student said.
"But we worked so hard to get here!" Another kid angrily exclaimed.
"Why don't you cuff me now?" Another kid remarked.
Arnold shared many of his peers' sentiment. This was the part he was against and debated with Rodrigo a good chunk of the night, even when Gerald and Sid ended up falling asleep. His argument against it was that this was exactly what Wolfgang was trying to get him to do and he was falling for it. Rodrigo argued that while that was a valid point, they were dealing with an invisible enemy that was rapidly infiltrating their school and unless they did something drastic now, it would only make the situation worse and much harder to root them out. Any other time, he would have preferred for the ISF to conduct an investigation under the Constitution, but that meant risking in allowing the insurrection to spread. As Arnold previously advised him, he was taking Wolfgang's threat seriously.
In the end, Rodrigo managed to convinced Arnold after assuring him that this was only temporary, and that he would be in charge of the ISF force.
Everyone started chatting and/or expressed their disapproval of this second proposal, so much so that the whole lunchroom was starting to get rather noisy. Rodrigo, along with this entourage raised their hand to inform their peers to be quiet. After some initial waiting, they became silent.
"I am not taking it upon myself to suspend these Articles." Rodrigo spoke. "I do not have the authority. That is why I am coming to all of you for your approval on this. The authority lies with you and whatever you decide, I as General Secretary shall obey. However, you need to understand that we are dealing with an invisible enemy. Wolfgang's cronies are hiding among us and we have little experience in conducting a proper investigation, let alone with a counter insurgency. And I really do not want anyone here to start going vigilante and start hunting them down on their own. That is too dangerous and I see that having the most harm for everyone. This can only be done consistently and rigorously, but with speed. That is why I am vouching for the ISF to be given the necessary flexibility to be able to properly conduct its investigation."
Everyone saw the logic behind it, but remained largely skeptical. None seemed eager to either step up against it, nor for it.
"As I said," Rodrigo reminded them. "This will only be temporary. Once we flush out this counter-insurgency and be done with Wolfgang, we can return to our new lives. Everyone here not only has a right to that, but has a duty to ensure that we see things through in these dark times, together."
Again, no one step up in support. This time Rodrigo waited a bit. It took a while but eventually, one by one, everyone began to raise their hand in support of the second motion. Some were still against it and didn't raise their hand, but it soon became clear that it was another clear majority.
"Thank you." Rodrigo said with a sigh of relief. "Thank you for trusting me to lead you during this dark peril. I will do my outmost get us out of this mess. That is all."
And with that, Rodrigo stepped down, indicating that the meeting was now over. Everyone then slowly began to depart and headed back toward their tables to eat, hoping they made the right decision.
"You now have the resources." Rodrigo said to Arnold. "Get Phoebe to help you in listing as many people as possible and to begin training them."
"Got it." Arnold acknowledged and went to get Phoebe to start.
Rodrigo then faced Sid.
"Sid, I need you to find out which school Wolfgang is now attending to warn that school about him. See if there is any school that has any knowledge in doing counter-insurgency operations."
"Right, Rodrigo." Sid acknowledged with a salute before departing.
"Hmm hm hmm hmm hmm." Gerald said. "This is sure quite a predicament we are in. Sure you know what you are doing?"
"No." Rodrigo admitted. "But it's our only hope to ending this before it spreads."
Arnold and Phoebe wasted no time and got to work immediately. They quickly set up a table for them to sign people up for the new P.S. 118 Internal Security Force. No sooner had they set it up when they were met by a group of students who were ready to volunteer. The recruits came from all grades and backgrounds and both pre-teens happily accepted them. Arnold wrote down their full names and grades while Phoebe distributed them uniforms, maps of the school and a manual on how to properly conduct themselves when roaming the hallway. The manual was only about how to be a hall monitor, it was all they had at the moment. By the time lunch ended, they had managed to quickly enlist enough students to properly patrol the whole school.
Both pre-teens then worked the rest of the day figuring out the ISF's schedule and places they would patrol. The new force would become active the next day, so they didn't have much time. Luckily, they managed to list a rough schedule for that week and quickly distributed to the new recruits before the end of the day.
The next day…
All the kids began to arrive to school as usual. The only difference was that they were met by the new ISF who began their duty as soon as they arrived. They were under strict orders to keep a close eye on students passing by and to patrol every last room, closet, milk and cranny to ensure there were no sudden attacks. But above all, they were instructed to not touch or bother any of the students unless they caught them in the act of beating someone up.
Rodrigo arrived at school with his friends to see the ISF already there. He greeted some of them before making his way inside.
"Is everything set?" He asked Arnold.
"Yup." Arnold answered him. "The new ISF is out and about, looking for any suspicious activity. They have been told to only apprehend those that are caught in the act of harming someone."
"Good." Rodrigo said. "Now we just need to talk to Sid."
"Morning guys." Sid then appeared and greeted everyone.
"Hey Sid." Rodrigo greeted him back. "Did you get any info on Wolfgang?"
"Yup." Sid remarked. "He's attending P.S. 120 now."
"P.S. 120?" Gerald then spoke. "Isn't that a very traditional school?"
"Oh yeah." Sid confirmed. "They've never been happy with what we're doing here. They're all about maintaining the 'school order'.
"Hm." Was all Rodrigo said. "This could spell trouble."
"I agree." Sid said. "It's gonna be hard trying to get any info about his activities. He's practically untouchable."
"Him, perhaps." Rodrigo said. "But not his followers. We've got a security force now that will protect everyone and our values. Anytime his cronies attempt anything, we will be ready."
"What about outside of school property?" Gerald asked. "What do we do if Wolfgang tries to attack us before or after school starts?"
"Hm, good point." Rodrigo said.
"We've got that covered." Arnold then spoke. "Phoebe and I worked out a schedule where the ISF will always be present in the major streets that lead to our school. We just need to convince everyone to stay on the main road and not to go through the alleyways."
"Thanks Arnold." Rodrigo said, feeling a bit relieved.
Despite the initial skepticism and worry of Rodrigo's decision to suspend some Articles of their Constitution, life continued pretty normally. The ISF proved their value in not only deterring Wolfgang's forces, but also in keeping their promise to serve the school. They not only enforced the hallway rules, but kept an eye out for any suspicious activities. Although they did not confront anyone, they were ordered to take notes of students whom they felt were acting suspicious. Some ISF members did question a few students, but nothing came of it.
Organizations and clubs were still allowed to be held without issue, with the only exception that a few ISF members stayed behind after school to patrol the hallways. Some of them, being members, were present in some of the club meetings.
As the days went by, it began to look like the decision to found the ISF was bearing fruit.
"A whole week went by without an incident." A pleased Rodrigo said to Arnold. "The ISF must be doing a good job if it hasn't found any attacks."
"It certainly looks like it." Arnold agreed. "We found a few suspicious activities, but upon further investigation, they are nothing to be concerned about."
"Good." Rodrigo said.
"Should we then reinstate those suspended Articles?" Arnold asked.
"Not yet." Rodrigo responded. "But soon. Let's give it one more week and if nothing else happens, we can lift the suspensions."
Two days later…
It was now lunch and everyone was in the lunchroom either munching on their meals or whatever the school served that day that can be called a 'meal', or were busy chatting away. Rodrigo was among those who was present, happily talking with his friends.
Just then, a ISF agent came rushing into the lunchroom and frankly looked around. Once she caught sight of Rodrigo, she quickly made her way through the room.
"Rodrigo?" the ISF agent called out to him and tapped on his shoulder.
"Yes?" Rodrigo asked when he heard him.
The ISF agent then bent down and whispered something in his ear. Whatever it was, it stunted Rodrigo so much that he leaped up from his chair.
"You did?!" He exclaimed to the agent, to which she just nodded.
"What's up, Rodrigo?" Arnold asked.
"Arnold, Gerald, Sid." Rodrigo then addressed them with a serious tone. "Come with me, quickly."
All four then got up from their chairs and quickly followed the agent who quickly made her way out of the lunchroom.
"Where did you catch him?" Rodrigo asked ISF agent.
"Just at the entrance, sir." The agent responded. "He was with three other kids, but we only manged to get him. The rest got away."
"Did you get a good look at them?" Rodrigo asked.
"No. They were all wearing masks." The agent responded.
"What's going on, Rodrigo?" Arnold asked.
"They caught one of Wolfgang's followers." Rodrigo responded as all five of them rapidly continued through the hallway. "He is in our custody. We need to question him, quick."
That only spurred everyone to run down the hallway even faster. Eventually, they made it to the janitor's closet.
"He's in here." The agent said. "Two other agents are with him."
All of them looked around first to make sure the coast was clear. There was no one in that hallway. They then opened the door and went inside. As they did so, they could see a bright light illuminating a good chunk of the room. Two agents were standing on the side and right in the middle was the suspect.
"Him?" A stunted Arnold asked.
"Wha-He's just a kid!" Gerald exclaimed. "I mean like a kid kid."
"Let me go!" The small child angrily demanded, not looking at all scared as he tried to get up but was tied to the chair. The two agents beside him grabbed him and forced him to sit down.
"We had to tie him up." One of them said to Rodrigo. "He wouldn't come with us quietly."
"What exactly happened?" Rodrigo asked the agents.
"Well, the three of us were going down our usual route," The female ISF agent explained, "when we suddenly heard a commotion close to the entrance. We went to investigate and that's when we saw him along with three other kids in masks cornering a sixth grader. They grabbed him and were about to beat him before we intervened from behind. We startled them and they immediately broke up and scattered."
"We only managed to get him." One of the other agent then interjected. "We tried to question him, but he refuses to talk."
Rodrigo listened to them, but then drew his attention back to their suspect.
"How old are you?" Rodrigo asked him.
"Old enough to beat you!" The boy exclaimed. "Do what you want, I ain't talking!"
"We're not going to hurt you." Arnold then approached him. "We just want to talk." He calmly said to him. "Why were you going to beat up that sixth grader?"
"Who said I was going to beat anyone up?" The kid responded, trying to sound tough.
"Them." Gerald said as he pointed to the three agents in the room.
Everyone else in the room just stared the kid and waited. The kid at first remained silent, but the constant serious stares he was getting from everyone was intimidating him. After a while,
"So what if I was?" The kid finally confessed. "I had to do it!"
"Why?" Arnold asked.
"Because he was getting in my way!" The kid exclaimed. "He was a threat, so I had to deal with it before he made things worse."
"How was he a threat?" Arnold asked.
Rodrigo remained silent and just listened.
"Because I'm better than him, that's why!" The kid exclaimed. "How can I reach my full potential when people like him are always standing in my way, when I have to waste my time helping people like him! If he can't do things himself, then he is useless and worth my time!"
"Is that what Wolfgang told you?" Arnold asked with a disapproving stare. "Looking after yourself at the expense of others?"
"It's what he represents." The kid responded. "It's something none of you are able to grasp. We don't get ahead in life by being nice. We need to show in-initia-initia-"
"Initiative?" Arnold asked.
"Yeah, that word." The kid responded. "we need to show that we mean business and taking things for ourselves shows that only the strong and powerful can make it in this world. If a few people get left behind, that's their problem."
"Wow, this kid is definitely brainwashed." Gerald remarked.
By this point, Rodrigo had enough and approached the kid.
"Tell us who your friends are." He said to him.
"Ha! Fat Chance." The kid responded with a smirk. "You have nothing to threaten me with. You will eventually have to let me go."
That revelation shocked Rodrigo, but he refrained from showing it in his face. He wasn't the only one shocked. Arnold, Gerald and Sid were also shocked at the same revelation and stayed silent, not knowing what to say to counter him.
"You're right, we can't keep you here forever." Rodrigo then spoke. "But we can keep you here for the rest of the day."
"what?!" The kid then shockingly exclaimed. "What about my lunch. I-I didn't yet eat."
Rodrigo then faced one of the agents.
"Escort him to his locker so he can get his lunch and escort him back here to eat. Then find an ISF agent who goes to his class to keep an eye out on him."
"Yes sir." The agent acknowledged.
Rodrigo then turned around and headed out. He was soon followed by Arnold, Gerald and Sid. As soon as the door closed in front of them,
"Grr, darn it!" Rodrigo softly, but angrily growled as he stumped his foot.
"I can't believe I didn't think about what to do if we ever caught one of Wolfgang's cronies!"
"Man, that slipped most of our heads." Gerald sheepishly also admitted, to which both Arnold and Sid nodded.
"What do we do now?" Sid asked. "We can't just cut him loose."
"We can't just hold him forever." Arnold then countered.
"Gather the rest of the Cabinet." Rodrigo then instructed them. "We are meeting today after school to discuss this."
Everyone nodded and then headed back to the lunchroom.
Later that day, after school…
As soon as school ended, the whole cabinet gathered in a classroom, closed the door and began debating on what to do. Rodrigo, Arnold, Gerald, Sid, Phoebe and even Stinky and others showed up.
"Looks, we can't just hold them hostage against their will." Arnold debated.
"And what do you want us to do? Set them free, knowing full well they are going to coordinate with others to hurt us?" Sid countered.
"It's better than the alternative." Gerald said.
"which is?" Stinky asked?
"Getting the kid's parents or the cops involved. Then we are really done for." Gerald answered. "The last thing we need is to get the adults involved. This is kids problem, so we should keep it that way."
The debate over this issue couldn't have come at a better time. From lunch until the end of school, Rodrigo and Arnold received three additional reports of the ISF arresting three more kids who were involved in a plot to carry out more attacks. None of the arrested kids talked and Rodrigo had to reluctantly order their release.
"No arguments there." Sid agreed. "But, we still can't just let them loose."
"What if we get some of our agents to escort them?" Phoebe then interjected. "Just so they can keep an eye on them and ensure they don't try to pull anything?"
"Hm, that could work." Gerald said as he rubbed his chin.
"Except, they could lure our agents into an ambush!" Sid then said. "That's a horrible idea, Phoebe! We'll be putting our agents at risk."
"Well I don't hear you come up with a solution." Gerald then intervened with serious tone, not liking Sid's attitude toward his girlfriend.
While his cabinet argued and debated, Rodrigo remained absolutely quiet throughout, listening but also being deep in thought. Even before the meeting, he had been pondering on what to do about this. While he listened to various arguments, he was also hard at work on coming up with something.
Then, a thought appeared in his mind. He pondered about it for a bit and then expanded on it. As he debated with himself over its logic, he began to see it as a solution, one that would prevent these kids from causing any more trouble while not alerting their parents for the school administration. Yes, it could work and they could get away with it!
Rodrigo then, right in the middle of the debate, uttered one word that would impact every single kid and have everlasting repercussions throughout both P.S. 118 and the entire school district of Hillwood.
"Camps!" He spoke with higher volume than usual, causing everyone in the room to almost immediately go silent and look at him.
"What did you say, Rodrigo?" Arnold asked.
"Did you say camps?" Gerald asked.
Rodrigo just nodded.
"Like summer camp?" Gerald clarified.
"Sort of." Replied Rodrigo. "I just thought of it now. What if we tell the parents that their kids joined a camp program? That way, we can continue holding them somewhere safe, where they won't cause a problem?"
"Pff! Rodrigo, that's a lame idea!" Gerald dismissed it. "How are we supposed to convince their parents that their kids joined a camp program?"
"We forge school documents." Rodrigo replied. "We create fake papers about a camp program the school is organizing and we get the kids to convince their parents to sign off on those papers so they can join. By signing those documents, they are basically allowing us to hold their kids for a certain period of time."
The room went completely silent. With the severity of his plan now being made clear, everyone stared at Rodrigo with a look of both shock and concern in their face.
"Are you being serious, Rodrigo?" Arnold asked.
"Yes." Rodrigo replied with a determined tone.
"You want us to forge school documents for a bunch of trouble making kids, just so we can hold them and get them to not cause any trouble?" Gerald asked.
"Yes." Rodrigo replied.
"Rodrigo!" A shocked Arnold exclaimed. "This is – I mean – this is crazy!"
"We will be in so much trouble if we get caught." Stinky then spoke.
"Yes" Said Rodrigo. "IF, we get caught, which we won't. We'll have to be careful not to arouse suspicion and only create papers when we need to."
"But what if we get caught?" Phoebe asked.
"You guys can all blame me. I'll take full responsibility for it." Rodrigo replied.
"Rodrigo, this is absolutely crazy!" Gerald exclaimed. "This isn't boldness, it's just plain crazy. You will be putting everyone here on getting expelled, or worse!"
"Didn't you hear?" Rodrigo said. "I said you can all pin it on me. I'll take the fall. You can tell them I put you all up to this and none of you had any choice. Tell them I blackmailed you or something."
"Rodrigo, even if we are willing to let you take the fall," Arnold then spoke, "What makes you think the rest of us will come out of this unscathed? No, this isn't the way to go. There has to be another way."
"There isn't!" Rodrigo angrily yelled as he slammed his fist on the table, startling everyone in the room. "You guy have been here for over 20 minutes and none of you, other than Phoebe, came up with better idea. But even Phoebe's idea has too many holes. We cannot designate every agent to follow every one of Wolfgang followers. It'll stretch us thin and who knows how many of them are joining his ranks."
"Okay, suppose we agree with your plan," Sid then spoke. "Which I agree with Arnold; it's crazy, where are we going to hold these kids and for how long?"
"Here, in this school." Rodrigo replied. "And we will hold them for as long as it takes."
"Here? And how are supposed to feed them?" Gerald asked.
"We get the food from the lunch department." Rodrigo replied. "And there are showers and bathrooms here, so no need to worry about hygiene."
"And what are we supposed to do to keep them busy?" Sid asked. "After all, boredom can make kids go crazy."
"Hmm, good point." Rodrigo admitted and thought about it for a second. "We can...put...them to work!"
"Work?" Arnold asked.
"Yeah." Rodrigo continued. "We get them to work around the school. You know, cleaning the fields, taking out the trash, dusting the erasers, etc. Get them to do something useful and it'll get them to see the benefit of doing something for their community rather than their own selfish selves."
Everyone went silent for a bit and thought about that last thing Rodrigo said.
"I still don't like it." Arnold spoke again. "This plan is too dangerous. You said we will hold one to these kids for as long as it takes. How long will that be?"
"It'll only be temporary." Rodrigo assured him. "Once we deal with this uprising and make these kids see the error of their ways, we will release them. This is also a better way to utilize our resources more efficiently. We will only require a few ISF agents to look after them, while the rest can patrol the rest of the school and streets. Plus these kids will contribute to our Revolution."
"Yes, against their will." Arnold pointed out.
"None at all. They chose to side with Wolfgang." Rodrigo pointed out. "It was their choice, their decision that got them to where they will be."
"I'm with Arnold on this." Gerald then said. "I don't like this plan at all. I'm all for helping others, but this is taking too much of a risk for my comfort."
"Very well." Rodrigo said as he began packing up. "I'm giving you both until tomorrow morning to come up with a better plan. If you do manage to come up with something, I'm all ears. But if not, we will be implementing my plan tomorrow. Fair?"
"But-" Arnold was about to protest.
"Good." Rodrigo interrupted him and began to head out.
With the meeting apparently adjourned, everyone else began to pack up and leave. Arnold and Gerald also left, but both were apprehensive about all of this. There were seeing a lot of red flags, but they were not in an ideal position to just get up and leave.
"Well Arnold," Gerald said to him as they were heading out. "I guess we will be putting an all nighter."
"Yeah, looks like it." Arnold admitted.
"I would be interested in helping the both of you." Phoebe then said from behind.
"Thanks babe." Gerald said with a smile, happy to see that his girlfriend had his back.
"Thanks Phoebe." Arnold thanked her.
The three of them then quickly headed to Arnold's home as soon as possible to come up with something. Although they weren't entirely sure, something was telling Arnold that the fate of every kids' lives, even their Revolution depended on it.