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Being labeled a Maverick was an inconvenience. It was awfully nice that they provided them with a weapon ahead of time. A bit of a reverse calling card, if you will. Perhaps that was what made it ironic in seeing this was the same knife Massimo had used on Vile. Or, they likely had a lot of the things so they used it to mark the next Maverick. Regardless, it was their time, apparently, and that made it mildly annoying.

They let out a bemused snort in thinking over how there wasn't anyone they particularly hated. Vile really was the only obvious danger. And those who were still kicking were getting along pretty well, even with them.

"I'll just tag whoever I find…"

The only problem with that was the still early hour. Who would be up and out of their room by now? They didn't know, so they simply went for a walk.

Their patience paid off once they entered the pool. There, leisurely floating on her back, was Pallette. A smile was on her grin as she floated. She was likely off in her own world and didn't notice them at first. That could easily be remedied with one question.

"It's a bit early for a swim, don't you think?"

Palette moved her head a bit to see who had entered, then smiled as she laid back down again.

"Yeah, maybe," she giggled, "But I had so much fun at the pool party yesterday, I think I unlocked my inner fish!"

They smiled at her joke, to humor her, while their mind considered how to proceed. With her in the water, there were quite a few options. Most, if not all, were a lot less of a mess than using a knife out in the open.

"Would you like to join me?" Palette then sweetly asked.

They mulled the question over for a moment before giving a callous shrug.

"Why not?" they agreed. "I need to change though, do you mind?"

"Not at all!"

Another staged smile, and off they went to the changing rooms. While there, they noticed a pair of artificial gills- ones that covered both mouth and nose. That would be good to have. On a shelf beside them were light weights, meant to be used for pool exercises. Testing the heft for a bit, then lifting their foot up to measure how large they were, the Maverick let out a small laugh. Never let it be said that they didn't let an opportunity pass on by.

"What are those?" Palette asked as they came back out. They smirked a bit at how observant she was while also having no idea what was about to happen.

"Artificial gills." came the simple answer. "They help you stay underwater longer than simply holding your breath. Found them while idling around at the party."

"Oh!" Palette exclaimed- even her eyes lit up at the idea. "Do you have a second set? They sound like fun."

"Unfortunately not." they sighed, along with a click of their tongue. "But we can play a little game with them."

"Really? What?"

"I'll tell you once I get in."

"Okay!"

What a silly, naive girl. Some blondes were able to piece things together rather quickly- this one apparently could not when it mattered most.

"Our game is real simple." the Maverick told Pallette after swimming over to her. "We see who is able to hold their breath underwater for longest. You in?"

"I feel like you'll be cheating," Pallette teased, "But I'll do my best!"

"Excellent." the Maverick nodded. "On my count."

Pallette returned the nod with determination. The Maverick gave her a snide grin as they put on their artificial gills.

Pallette never realized she was in danger until it was too late. While under the water, the Maverick maneuvered themselves below her- helped by the small exercise weights they had hidden in their water shoes.

Without warning, they tugged at her ankle- the sudden, sharp movement toward caused Pallette to let out an underwater scream. As she tried to use her hands to cover her mouth, the Maverick used the time to switch from pulling her ankle to her hair. Palette let out another silent scream from the force the Maverick used to continue to pull her further down the pool's depths.

Her struggling made it a bit hard to reach the pool's drain. By the time the Maverick was able to bring her hair close to it, enough to tie several locs into the drain itself, Palette's body was desperately struggling to find oxygen. The Maverick made sure she wouldn't leave with her hair now entangled before resurfacing.

Getting out of the pool, the Maverick gave their limbs a little shake to get some of the excess water off.

"Guess that means you win." they mused after removing their artificial gills.

"What have you done?!"

The Maverick looked up, and saw Cinnamon there. So she also took morning swims? Well… This is no good. Surely a Maverick wouldn't leave a witness, would they?

"Well, you know what they say," the Maverick simply shrugged, "If you want to make an omelette, you have to crack a few eggs. And it sure is a good morning to kill some chicks, you know?"

It took Cinnamon less time to realize the danger she was in than it had for Pallette. Which was the exact reason why they didn't give her the time to respond, or even scream, before killing her as well. The additional mess it took to hide most of the blood was exhausting. The only easy part was dumping her body into the pool as well. All in all, being Maverick had made for a rather boring morning. Next time they'd just head back to bed.

. . .

Aero almost had to stand on her tip-toes to look over X's shoulder.

"A little more pepper," she told him.

"Nooooo!" Axl whined. "Too much pepper is going to ruin it! Use garlic salt instead."

This proclamation earned him a confused, disgusted, and potentially worried glance from Aero, Zero, and X.

"Garlic salt?" X wondered first. He kept his spatula moving so the partially cooked eggs wouldn't burn.

"To give the eggs some spice, clearly."

"That's what pepper is for, Axl." Aero told him- her tone reaching a condescending correction.

"Besides," Zero decided, "If you could mix anything else into the eggs, it would be fresh fruit. Like apples."

" Apples ?" Aero repeated in absolute repulse. "I knew you were crude, but I had some faith you wouldn't be straight barbaric."

"How would you even cook that without making the eggs even soggier?" Axl wondered.

"Carefully." X replied without thinking.

Aero and Axl gave each other the same look, and immediately burst into laughter. Zero tried to pretend he didn't find it funny too, but the small quirks at the end of his lips spoke for themselves.

"I'm surrounded by the Four Stooges." Dynamo teasingly huffed- even giving a small shake of his head. Unlike the others, who hovered over X as he cooked, Dynamo was leaning against a counter with a coffee cup in hand.

X turned around to look at Dynamo. He picked up the skillet from the stove and gestured it toward Dynamo's way.

"You wanna help?" X offered.

"Oh, no, no ." Dynamo smirked. "Just wanted to get some early morning entertainment while I enjoy my cup of joe."

Zero face darkened. "We are not your entertainment."

"Look," Dynamo said as he started to walk out to the dining hall, "All I'm saying is that if there was a sitcom starring you four, I'd buy your merch."

Finally leaving the kitchen, Dynamo's laugh echoed for several moments after.

"You know," Axl mused with a click of his tongue. "He and Spider are kinda made for each other."

With nothing nice to say, no one bothered to disagree.

Breakfast commenced for the five of them after X finished the omelettes. Their plates were all but clear when it became apparent that no one else was going to show up. Zero seemed the most agitated about this.

"Getting stood up by an early morning date there, Zero?" Dynamo snickered. Zero snarled at him.

"Iris promised to meet us for breakfast," the man in red grumbled. "She's never been late before."

"Maybe she just got busy this morning?" Axl offered. "Alia's kinda late too- which is also weird for her."

"Pfft. Those girls." Dynamo laughed. He reclined in his seat, adjusting enough to throw his feet on the table. "Every morning they get later and later with their morning prep." He then flashed a glare at Aero. "Which reminds me- why do you always avoid them, Aero? You're not that ambiguous. Are you hiding something? Because if you were , I'm sure none of them would even care if you did happen to have a di-"

"Hey!" X shouted, slamming his hands onto the table and standing, before Dynamo could finish. At the same time, Axl demanded, "You can't talk to her like that!" while also slamming a fist on the table.

Dynamo cocked an eyebrow. "Touchy this morning, are we? It was just a joke."

"A tasteless one." Zero growled. His arms were folded, and his eyes refused to look at Dynamo. "I think it's time for you to leave now."

"Or apologize!" Axl added.

"Or both." X also said.

Aero had nothing to say for herself. She kept looking at the boys in an expression that didn't know if it should be appreciative or defensive.

While Dynamo knew they couldn't avoid the subject forever, but still understood that he wasn't anyone's friend right now, he started to stand up. He opened his mouth, prepared to announce his departure, but did not have the opportunity to do so. A loud siren went off across the building. With it came a sickeningly familiar message no one had expected.

"A Maverick has killed. I repeat, a Maverick has killed. Please review the body at your pleasure at the gym's pool, then report to the auditorium for further instructions."

The five in the cafeteria froze.

"The gym's pool?" Zero mumbled. "Someone was killed at the…?"

"Shit." Aero cursed before quickly getting up from the table. She didn't wait for anyone else to react as she bolted out of the room.

"H-hey!" Axl called after her. "Wait for us!"

Aero did not even pretend to stop.

. . .

As small as Aero was, X found it shockingly hard to keep up with her. Even Zero -arguably the most fit of the five- couldn't quite keep in step. It made the race even more anxious. All the adrenaline leading up to reaching the pool popped like a bubble when X saw what had happened.

Alia, Iris, Layer, Spider, and Marino were already at the pool. They were the group who had triggered the Maverick warning, no doubt. Marino seemed to be arguing with Spider over something, but nothing that truly felt out of the ordinary. It was when X looked at the pool itself that his heart jolted to his throat.

Palette was floating body upwards in the water. Her eyes and mouth wide open, with her arms and legs barely breaking the surface of the water. Even the top of her head kept dipping far enough to cover her lifeless eyes. Not far from her was Cinnamon. Unlike Pallette, Cinnamon was floating on the surface face down. Only the thinnest trail of diluted blood hung near her. To anyone that wanted to cling to hope, they would have tried to rationalize that she was just playing dead in the water. But everyone there knew the truth. The bodies still looked recently deceased, due in part to a lack of bloating or even the fact that they were floating at all, as if the girls were still alive.

"WHICH ONE OF YOU DID THIS?" someone screeched. X snapped his head up to see Marino coming toward them. He almost didn't recognize her for a moment. Her face held nothing but fury. Even her eyes looked red, likely due to holding back her tears.

"Marino, calm down!" Alia quickly said as she tried to keep up with the rage filled woman. Iris was not far behind her. "They just got here. They don't know what's going on either!"

Marino stopped, just short of strangling distance from X, to glare at Alia.

"Cinnamon and Pallette are dead!" Marino shouted. "One of you bastards did it, and when I find out who, I'll kill them myself!"

"Maybe it was a mistake?" Iris offered. "You don't know why-"

"There was no reason to kill them!" Marino continued to shout. Iris immediately flinched. Luckily for her Alia made herself the barrier between the two women.

"Marino, calm down." Alia once more instructed. "You're allowed to mourn, but you can't attack the others."

"Not without proof." Layer suggested. The sharp glare Alia then gave her made Layer flinched. She apologized with a meek, "Sorry."

"Kinda funny how we went from the first victim being the most arguably dangerous of us, to the two least dangerous. Bit too easy of a target." Dynamo smirked.

Marino snapped her head to face him. "Say that again. To my face ." she growled.

X had to look away. With his attention no longer focused on Marino's angered bereavement, he very quickly realized that Zero had gone over to the pool's edge. Curious, X joined him.

"What are you looking at?" X asked Zero.

His peer didn't really respond at first. Instead, Zero pointed to the bottom of the pool.

"You see that?" he asked.

X curiously looked at Zero before looking at the pool. Trying to trace where Zero was pointing, X brought his attention to the pool's drain. Floating like seaweed were long strands of pale yellow hair with the occasional pink streak.

"Pallette's hair was tied to the drain?" X wondered out loud.

"Not only that." Zero told him. "Look again, and closer."

X gave a small nod before looking back at the pool floor. It took a hot minute for him to find it. There, some distance away from the drain, was a knife. Something about its shape seemed familiar, but X couldn't quite place from where.

"A knife?"

Zero gave a solemn nod. "The same knife that Massimo used to kill Vile."

"What does it mean?"

"Not sure yet." Zero decided. He stood up before adding, "However, I have a feeling we'll find out sooner rather than later."