Apprehending the Faculty (Part 1)

Apprehending the Faculty

Task Force Leader David: Alright. Let's get into the weeds on this. The fire drill gives us our window. It gets the civilian students moving towards our exfiltration teams. But it also means our apprehension teams will be moving through a building full of panicked kids. How do we surgically remove Circle, Bloomie, and Thavel without causing a stampede or getting our own people caught in the crossfire?

MTF Division Director Gamma-Seven: That's my primary concern, sir. My teams are trained for CQC, but not in a live school environment. A stray non-lethal round, a mis-timed flashbang ... it could go sideways fast. We need to isolate the targets.

Director Ash: And we need to do it without them realizing it's a targeted attack. Their behavior is predicated on punishing "failure." If they perceive the evacuation itself as a failure of school order, they might lash out at any student within reach.

Lead Agent Rosie Weber: Then we don't present it as a failure. We present it as a procedural necessity. But the core issue remains: how do we apprehend three distinct, highly dangerous hostiles in separate locations, all at the same time?

Intelligence Lead Tori Aliva: Their psychological profiles are our best weapon. We need to exploit their individual compulsions.

Supervisor Vance: So, a tailored approach for each? I like it. Let's start with the math teacher. Miss Circle. What's her trigger?

Intelligence Lead Tori Aliva: Precision. Order. Absolute correctness. Engel's testimony was clear. She reacts violently to "incorrect calculations" and "imbalance."

Task Force Leader David: So we create an imbalance. While the fire drill is happening, a secondary team creates a localized ... mess. Something she can't ignore.

MTF Division Director Gamma-Seven: You want my guys to ... what? Go in there and start knocking over desks? She'll see that as a direct provocation. She'll engage immediately.

Director Ash: No, not your teams. We use a drone. A small, quiet drone. It enters her classroom during the evacuation and does something simple. It knocks over a single stack of perfectly graded papers. It creates a small, infuriating pocket of chaos in her perfectly ordered world.

Lead Agent Rosie Weber: I see. While she's obsessively trying to re-stack the papers, to restore her perfect order ...

MTF Division Director Gamma-Seven: My apprehension team moves in from behind. She's distracted, her focus is narrow. It could work. It's a clean, psychological trap.

Task Force Leader David: I approve. It's elegant. What about the science teacher? Bloomie. She's the quiet one. The observer.

Supervisor Vance: Grace's file said she values "purity." A visual distraction might not work if she's focused.

Intelligence Lead Tori Aliva: But she's observant. She notices things. So we give her something to notice that isn't us. An auditory lure.

Director Ash: Like what? A loud noise? That'll just put her on high alert.

Intelligence Lead Tori Aliva: No. A specific noise. Something that suggests ...

contamination. A dripping sound. A high-frequency, irregular beep from a piece of lab equipment. Something that sounds wrong.

Task Force Leader David: So while she's trying to find the source of the "impure" sound, trying to fix her perfect, sterile lab ...

MTF Division Director Gamma-Seven: My second team hits her. Another clean entry. I like it. It plays to her personality.

Lead Agent Rosie Weber: That leaves Thavel. The language teacher. Engel said she gets "furious." She's the loud one.

Supervisor Vance: Her anger is her weakness. We don't need a subtle distraction for her. We need a direct one.

Director Ash: We send in an agent disguised as a student. Someone who deliberately and repeatedly fails to follow her evacuation instructions.

MTF Division Director Gamma-Seven: You want to put one of my people in a room with her, unarmed, and tell them to be annoying? That's a hell of a risk.

Lead Agent Rosie Weber: But it's a controlled risk. She'll focus all her rage on the "failing" student. She won't be looking at the door. She won't be paying attention to anything else.

Task Force Leader David: It's a classic matador's trick. The agent is the cape. She charges the cape ...

MTF Division Director Gamma-Seven: And my third team comes in from the side and plays the bull. Okay. It's risky, but it's a solid tactical plan. It isolates all three targets using their own psychological flaws.

Director Anya Petrova: It's the most surgical approach we have. It minimizes the risk to the evacuating students and maximizes our chances of a successful, simultaneous apprehension.

Supervisor Vance: It requires perfect timing.

Intelligence Lead Tori Aliva: And flawless performances from our operatives.

Director Ash: It's the best plan we've got. Let's start assigning the teams.

MTF Division Director Gamma-Seven: Alright, if we're going with the tailored psy-ops approach, I need to assign the right teams. For the Circle target, the drone op ... I'll assign Rhodes' squad. They're good at quiet insertion and have the best tech specialist.

Task Force Leader David: Just make sure the drone is quiet. The last thing we need is for her to notice a buzzing sound and get spooked before the team is in place.

Intelligence Lead Tori Aliva: The drone we've designated is a new-gen stealth model. It has a zero-decibel acoustic signature. She won't hear a thing.

MTF Division Director Gamma-Seven: For Bloomie, the auditory lure ... Carter's squad. Bulldog is patient. He knows how to wait for an opening. For Thavel ... the matador trick ... that's going to be Khan's team. She's the best we have at de-escalation and improvisation. Her agent will need to be convincing.

Director Anya Petrova: They will be. I'll have our top behavioral analyst brief the agent personally. They need to understand Thavel's specific psychological triggers for rage. We want her focused, not homicidal.

Lead Agent Rosie Weber: Good. That covers the faculty. Now, the two most dangerous variables on the board: Oliver and Alice.

Supervisor Vance: Oliver is the priority. Alice is contained within her domain, for now. Oliver is mobile, and his abilities are ... undefined. We have no idea what the upper limit of his power is.

Director Ash: Exactly. He can theoretically create any weapon, any obstacle, any entity he can imagine. He's not just a hostile; he's a potential army of one.

Task Force Leader David: So we hit him first. Hard and fast. During the chaos of the fire drill, before he even realizes what's happening.

MTF Division Director Gamma-Seven: My apprehension teams will be on him the second the alarm sounds. We'll use containment foam. It's the fastest, most effective way to immobilize a reality bender without giving them time to think.

Lead Agent Rosie Weber: It's a solid plan, but it assumes we can find him. He's a student. He'll be in a classroom, surrounded by other children.

Task Force Leader David: We have his schedule. We know which class he'll be in. We can breach that specific room.

Director Anya Petrova: Through a wall, perhaps? A non-standard entry point? Avoid the door. He'll be expecting that.

MTF Division Director Gamma-Seven: We can do that. A controlled explosive breach on the opposite wall. It'll disorient him. Give us the second we need to deploy the foam.

Supervisor Vance: And Alice? What's the protocol for her? We can't just leave her in there.

Lead Agent Rosie Weber: No. But we also can't engage her directly while we're trying to evacuate two hundred children. It's too risky.

Director Ash: We establish a hard perimeter around her domain. Lambda-5 will deploy their portable reality anchors, creating a containment bubble around the entire second-floor hallway.

Task Force Leader David: So we trap her. We put her in a box while we clean up the rest of the school.

Lead Agent Rosie Weber: Precisely. Once the students are evacuated and the other hostiles are contained, we can focus all our resources on her. A dedicated, surgical, and overwhelming assault.

Director Anya Petrova: It's the only logical sequence of operations. Isolate and contain the minor threats first, then focus on the queen.

MTF Division Director Gamma-7: I like it. Clean. Efficient. My teams will be ready.

Lead Agent Rosie Weber: Alright, the teachers are a manageable, predictable threat if we play our cards right. But that leaves Oliver and Alice. The wildcards. David, what's your initial thought on a simultaneous apprehension?

Task Force Leader David: It's ... tricky. I mean, we hit them both at once, we split our forces. We focus on one, the other might react. Alice is tied to her domain, but Oliver ... that kid can go anywhere. And he can make anything.

Director Ash: The primary threat is his pencil. We have no confirmed limits on his manifestation ability. He could draw a wall, a weapon, another entity ... the possibilities are a tactical nightmare.

Supervisor Vance: So, the priority has to be disabling his ability to draw. The containment foam is our best bet for that. Quick, total immobilization.

MTF Division Director Gamma-7: I can have my best CQC team on him, but like the Director said, he'll be in a classroom. We go in hard with foam, we risk hitting other students. It's ... messy.

Task Force Leader David: What if we don't go in hard? What if we use the fire drill? While everyone's evacuating, we have a two-man lota-ten team, disguised as ... I don't know ... school counselors, intercept him in the hallway.

Director Anya Petrova: A soft approach? With a reality bender? David, that's a huge risk. If he senses a threat ...

Task Force Leader David: But that's the thing! Two quiet "counselors" asking him to step aside for a "quick chat" isn't a threat. It's just an annoyance. While he's distracted, telling them to get lost, a hidden Gamma-7 team hits him from a cross-corridor. Fast, clean, and out of sight of the other evacuating students.

Intelligence Lead Tori Aliva: It's a decent psychological feint. It uses his own arrogance against him. He wouldn't perceive two unarmed personnel as a genuine threat.

Lead Agent Rosie Weber: And while that's happening, we have Lambda-5 creating a hard containment bubble around Alice's domain. We use the fire drill to trap her, while we use it to extract him.

Director Ash: We could use the SRAs to essentially ... seal her hallway off from the rest of the school. She might not even notice until it's too late.

Supervisor Vance: It's a solid pincer movement. One team on extraction and apprehension, one team on hard containment. It neutralizes both primary threats at the same time.

The conversation shifts, the larger plan solidifying as they turn their attention to the secondary targets.

MTF Division Director Gamma-7: Okay, that handles the big guns. But what about Oliver's little fan club? Zip and Edward. We can't just leave them in the mix.

Task Force Leader David: Right. Grace's testimony confirmed they're his primary followers. They're a potential complication. A liability.

Director Anya Petrova: They are. But let's be clear, they are also children. Scared kids who are in way over their heads, from the sound of it. A full MTF takedown seems ... disproportionate. It would certainly traumatize the other students who witness it.

Intelligence Lead Tori Aliva: Intel from Grace confirms they are primarily influenced by Oliver. Without him, their threat level is negligible. The primary risk is simply them getting in the way, or tipping Oliver off before we can make our move.

Supervisor Vance: So we just need to get them off the board before the main event. Isolate them from Oliver quietly.

MTF Division Director Gamma-7: How? They stick to him like glue. You can't just ask them to wander off.

Lead Agent Rosie Weber: We use the civilian staff.

A brief, confused silence falls over the command team.

Director Ash: Explain, Rosie.

Lead Agent Rosie Weber: During the chaos of the fire drill, the non-anomalous staff will be focused on herding their students. We have Anya and Kofia on the inside. They can subtly identify a trusted teacher in the confusion and direct them to "deputize" Zip and Edward.

Task Force Leader David: Deputize?

Lead Agent Rosie Weber: Yes. Have a teacher tell them, "Edward, Zip, I need your help! You two are the fastest runners, I need you to go to the gymnasium and make sure the emergency exit is clear!" Something like that. Give them a task. A responsibility.

Supervisor Vance: You want to give the bullies a job to do?

Lead Agent Rosie Weber: It plays to their egos. Makes them feel important. And it neatly separates them from Oliver at the critical moment. While they're running off to be "heroes" on a pointless errand, your teams are free to move on Oliver without any interference.

Intelligence Lead Tori Aliva: It's a brilliant piece of social engineering. It removes the complication without using any force.

MTF Division Director Gamma-7: And once they're at the gym?

Lead Agent Rosie Weber: A secondary Iota-ten team will be waiting there, disguised as more school staff, to take them quietly into custody. No fuss, no panic. We just tell them they need to come answer a few questions.

Director Anya Petrova: I like it. It's clean. It's quiet. And it treats them like what they are: misguided kids, not hardened hostiles.

Task Force Leader David: It's a hell of a plan. Let's start drafting the specific assignments.

Director Ash: Agreed. The psychological approach is our strongest asset here. A heavy-handed approach with those two could turn them into martyrs in Oliver's eyes, or worse, trigger a panic.

Supervisor Vance: And we need them compliant for the debriefing. I mean, they're our best source of intel on Oliver's day-to-day behavior, his state of mind. We can't get that if they're terrified.

MTF Division Director Gamma-Seven: So the lota-ten team at the gym ... what's their protocol? Just ... sit them down and give them a juice box?

Lead Agent Rosie Weber: Essentially, yes. They'll be met by operatives who will say something like, "Good work, you two. You did great. We need you to come with us now, the Principal wants a report on the exit status." Keep it in their world. Make them feel like they succeeded.

Task Force Leader David: We treat them with a degree of respect for the "job" they just did. It disarms them completely. By the time they realize they're in custody, they'll be in a secure debriefing room at the camp.

Director Anya Petrova: And their testimony will be crucial. We need to understand the full scope of Oliver's influence. Is it just charisma, or something ... more?

Intelligence Lead Tori Aliva: We have no indication that Zip or Edward possess anomalous abilities themselves. They appear to be classic followers drawn to a charismatic, powerful figure. Treating them as such is the correct psychological approach. They're scared, and they're looking for a new authority figure to follow. We can be that figure.

Dr. Lee: (His voice cuts in from the Medical CP.) And once they are in custody, I want them brought directly to my psychological triage unit. Not the holding cells. We need to assess their mental state immediately. We need to know if they're just followers, or if they've been psychologically compromised by their proximity to Oliver.

Task Force Leader David: Agreed, Doctor. They are witnesses first, accomplices second.

(The conversation naturally shifts to the most delicate asset they have, the small, sad boy who has become the unwilling heart of their intelligence-gathering operation.)

Lead Agent Rosie Weber: Which brings us to Engel.

Director Anya Petrova: He's our most important civilian asset. But he's also the most fragile. He's seen too much. His psychological state is a primary concern.

Dr. Lee: I concur, Director. The level of trauma he's already endured ... it's significant. A standard, chaotic evacuation could be incredibly damaging for him.

Task Force Leader David: So what's the plan? We can't just leave him in there. But we can't have him caught in the crossfire when we move on the hostiles.

Supervisor Vance: Anya and Kofia. Their connection to him is our single greatest advantage.

Director Ash: Agreed. He trusts them. He sees them as protectors.

MTF Division Director Gamma-Seven: So we send them in to get him? A dedicated two-person extraction team?

Lead Agent Rosie Weber: Precisely. During the fire drill, while the other teachers are evacuating their classes and our teams are moving into position, Anya and Kofia's sole objective will be to locate Engel's classroom.

Director Anya Petrova: They will enter the classroom, under their janitorial cover, and personally escort him and his friend, Bubbles, out of the building.

Task Force Leader David: A personal escort. I like it. It keeps him calm. It keeps him contained.

Supervisor Vance: It makes him feel safe. Which is paramount. If he panics, he could disrupt the entire evacuation flow.

Intelligence Lead Tori Aliva: Their established rapport is the key. He won't question them. He'll just ... go. It's a clean, quiet, and psychologically sound extraction method.

Dr. Lee: Make sure they're brought directly to the Medical CP. I want a full psych team ready for him the second he's clear of the building.

MTF Division Director Gamma-Seven: What about the other students in his class?

Lead Agent Rosie Weber: The civilian staff member in that room will handle the rest of the class. Anya and Kofia's focus is singular: Engel and Bubbles. They are a package deal.

Director Ash: It's the best way to ensure the asset's stability and safety.

Task Force Leader David: It's the right thing to do. He's helped us. We owe him that much.

Director Anya Petrova: Then it's settled. The fire drill is a go. The psy-ops for the teachers are a go. The feint for Zip and Edward is a go. And the personal extraction for Engel is a go.

Task Force Leader David: So, that's the framework. It's ... a lot of moving parts. A lot of things that have to go exactly right.

Lead Agent Rosie Weber: High-risk operations always are. Let's refine the most delicate component: the asset extraction. Engel.

Dr. Lee: (His voice cuts in from the Medical CP.) I can't stress this enough. His psychological state is our primary concern. The extraction must be as non-traumatic as possible. He's already witnessed more than any child should.

Director Anya Petrova: Which is why Anya and Kofia are the only choice for the primary contact team. He trusts them. He sees them as janitors, as friendly faces.

MTF Division Director Gamma-Seven: So they just walk into his classroom during the fire drill chaos and say, "Come with us"? What about the teacher in that room? What about the other students?

Supervisor Vance: The teacher will be focused on the evacuation procedure. Anya and Kofia's janitorial cover gives them a plausible reason to be in the hallway, even to enter a classroom briefly. "Checking for stragglers," "ensuring the room is clear." It's a perfect excuse.

Director Ash: And the other students will be panicked. Their focus will be on the alarm, on the teacher's instructions. They won't pay attention to two janitors quietly speaking to one of their classmates.

Task Force Leader David: So Anya and Kofia pull him and his friend, Bubbles, aside. Then what? They just walk them out the front door?

Lead Agent Rosie Weber: No. That's too public. They'll need a designated, quiet exfiltration route. Baker, what's the layout of that wing?

Logistics Officer Baker: (He brings up a new schematic on the holographic display.) Engel's last known classroom is here, in the east wing, first floor. There's a service corridor just behind it that leads directly to a rear exit. Exit C.

MTF Division Director Gamma-Seven: My teams can secure that exit point in the first thirty seconds of the alarm. We can have a transport vehicle waiting right there.

Dr. Lee: It must be an unmarked vehicle. Something that looks civilian. No armored trucks. We can't afford to heighten his anxiety. A simple van.

Intelligence Lead Tori Aliva: And the operatives meeting them at the van should not be in full tactical gear. Plainclothes. They should look like school counselors or concerned parents.

Director Anya Petrova: I agree. The transition from the school to our custody must be as seamless and non-threatening as possible. Kofia and Anya will be the bridge.

Task Force Leader David: So the final plan is: Alarm sounds. Anya and Kofia proceed to Engel's classroom. They use their cover to isolate him and Bubbles and escort them down the service corridor to Exit C. A plainclothes team meets them there with an unmarked van.

Lead Agent Rosie Weber: And they are brought directly to the Medical Command Post for immediate psychological triage. No stops. No delays.

Supervisor Vance: It's a clean plan. It minimizes his exposure to the main chaos of the evacuation. It leverages the trust our agents have built. It works.

Director Ash: It's the most humane option we have.

Dr. Lee: I approve. Just ... tell your agents to be gentle with him.

The holographic command staff takes a collective, metaphorical breath. The primary plan, a complex ballet of psychological manipulation and surgical extraction, is set. But in their line of work, Plan A is never enough. The silence is broken by the gruff, pragmatic voice of the MTF Division Director Gamma-Seven.

MTF Division Director Gamma-Seven: It's a good plan. It's smart. It's clean. But it's also got about a hundred different ways it can go to hell before we even get to the first classroom.

Task Force Leader David: He's right. We're basing this entire operation on a series of psychological assumptions. What's our Plan B? What happens when the fire drill goes sideways?

Lead Agent Rosie Weber: A valid and necessary question. Let's start with the most likely failure point: the anomalous faculty. What if they don't react by herding students? What if they react with immediate, lethal force?

Director Ash: Their behavior during the dismissal suggests a preference for order. But the fire alarm is a different stimulus. It's a sign of disorder. It could trigger their 'punishment' protocols on a mass scale.

Supervisor Vance: If that happens, our psy-ops teams are compromised before they even get in the door. Our 'failing student' ploy for Thavel becomes a suicide mission.

MTF Division Director Gamma-Seven: And my teams at the exits are suddenly faced with hostiles mixed in with evacuating children. It's a nightmare scenario. A complete turkey shoot.

Director Anya Petrova: So, if any of the three primary faculty targets initiate hostile action against the student body during the evacuation, what is our immediate response?

Task Force Leader David: We go loud. The moment a hostile makes a move on a civilian, the stealth component is scrubbed. All teams breach.

MTF Division Director Gamma-Seven: All teams? Sir, my guys will be in soft gear, disguised as first responders. They're not equipped for a direct assault against something like Miss Circle.

Task Force Leader David: That's where the real Plan B comes in. We're not talking about your teams, Captain. We're talking about Nu-Seven.

Lead Agent Rosie Weber: "Hammer Down."

Director Ash: So, the contingency is a full-scale, no-holds-barred assault? We abandon all subtlety?

Task Force Leader David: If they start killing kids in the hallways, yes. Absolutely. At that point, our only objective is to neutralize the threat as fast and as hard as possible.

Supervisor Vance: Nu-Seven will be deployed at the campus. Their deployment time to the school itself is ... what? Four minutes?

Logistics Officer Baker: Four minutes and twenty seconds, sir, assuming clear routes.

MTF Division Director Gamma-Seven: A lot of kids can die in four minutes and twenty seconds.

Director Anya Petrova: Which is why Lambda-Five would also need to be deployed concurrently.

Lead Agent Rosie Weber: Explain, Director.

Director Anya Petrova: If the teachers go rogue, it's a sign that the entire anomalous ecosystem is destabilizing. We have to assume that will provoke a reaction from Alice. We can't have Nu-Seven going in to fight the teachers while Alice decides to emerge from her domain at their back.

Director Ash: So, Plan B is a two-pronged, simultaneous assault. Nu-Seven breaches the main school building to engage and apprehend Circle, Bloomie, and Thavel. At the same time, Lambda-Five performs a hard breach on the second floor and establishes a full-power reality anchor right on top of Alice's door.

Supervisor Vance: We put her in a box while we send the hammer after the others.

Task Force Leader David: It's the only way. It's brutal, it's loud, and there will be casualties. But it's a decisive response to a catastrophic failure of the primary plan.

Intelligence Lead Tori Aliva: The risk of exposure would be absolute. The town, the world ... they'd see it all.

Lead Agent Rosie Weber: At that point, Intelligence Lead, the Veil is a secondary concern. The primary concern is preventing a massacre.

MTF Division Director Gamma-Seven: And what's our role in this? The guys at the doors?

Task Force Leader David: You become the last line of defense. You hold the evacuation points. You protect the children who make it out. You do not engage the primary hostiles unless absolutely necessary. You are the shepherds. Nu-Seven and Lambda-Five are the wolves.

Dr. Lee: And my medical teams would need to be prepared for ... significant trauma. Both physical and psychological.

Director Anya Petrova: We're all agreed, then. Plan A is the fire drill. Surgical, quiet, psychological. But the second a single child is lethally targeted by a hostile faculty member ...

Task Force Leader David: We burn the school to the ground. Metaphorically speaking.

Director Ash: Let's hope it doesn't come to that.

Lead Agent Rosie Weber: Hope is not a strategy. Preparation is. Now, let's start assigning the specific breach points for Nu-Seven.

The Archives: Dust and Delirium

Kofia sat on the floor, leaning against a towering metal shelf, a box of old financial ledgers in his lap. Anya was a few aisles over, her quiet, methodical rustling the only sound in the oppressive silence. A huge, silent yawn escaped Kofia, his thin form slumping slightly.

Kofia: His voice is a low, tired mumble. Okay. I think I've officially hit a wall. My eyes are starting to cross. Are these numbers, or just ... angry little squiggles?

Anya: Her voice drifts back, equally weary but still sharp. They're numbers, Kofia. Probably. Just try to keep your focus. We still have three more sections to clear.

Kofia: I am trying. I'm trying so hard. But this dust ... I swear, I've inhaled so much of it, I think I'm part mummy now. I could probably fall asleep for a thousand years right here on this pile of PTA meeting minutes from nineteen eighty-five.

Anya: Don't. The paper mites in this place look big enough to carry you away. And then I'd have to file the incident report, and that's just too much paperwork.

Kofia: A weak chuckle. See? You're thinking about paperwork. That's a sure sign of exhaustion. You're just as tired as I am.

Anya: (A soft sigh rustles through the stacks.) I'm not tired. I'm ... operating at a reduced energy capacity to maximize long-term operational efficiency.

Kofia: Right. 'Reduced energy capacity.' Is that the official Foundation term for 'dead on your feet'? I've been 'operating at a reduced energy capacity' since we found that first binder.

Anya: It's been a long night.

Kofia: It's been the longest night of my entire career. And we haven't even gotten to the part with the monsters yet.

Anya: Technically, we're surrounded by the ghosts of their victims. So, we're already at the monster part.

Kofia: You know, that's ... that's not helping, Anya. Not helping at all.

Anya: Just trying to keep you alert.

Kofia: Well, it's working. I'm now alert and terrified. It's a great combination. How much longer you think we'll be in here?

Anya: Until we find something that connects all these ... bones. Or until the sun comes up. Whichever happens first.

Kofia: I'm betting on the sun. This place is a black hole for useful information.

Anya: We just have to keep digging.

Kofia: I know, I know. It's just ... my brain is starting to feel like that grape jelly on the floor.

(Anya looks up from the files, her expression unreadable in the dim, dusty light. She sees the genuine exhaustion on Kofia's face and lets out a quiet, tired sigh of her own.)

Anya: I know. My brain feels like it's been put through a paper shredder. But we have to keep going.

Kofia: Keep going where? Anya, we've been through every box in this section. We found the binder, the drawings, the creepy diary ... but that's it. The rest of this stuff is just ... sad, boring history.

Anya: It's a dead end.

Kofia: It's a whole library of dead ends. I think ... I think we're done up here. We need to call this in. The Lead needs to know what we found, and what we didn't find.

Anya: You're right. Let's make the call. The signal is weak this deep in the building. We might need to move closer to the window.

Kofia: Right. Let's not make our report sound like it's coming from the bottom of a well.

(They move to the grimy window at the far end of the archives. Kofia activates his comms, his voice a low, professional whisper.)

Kofia: CP1, this is Iota-ten Kofia. Do you read? Over.

Intelligence Lead Tori Aliva: (Her voice crackles through, laced with static but clear.) We read you, Kofia. Your signal is intermittent. Report your status.

Kofia: Sir, we've completed a full sweep of the third-floor archives. It's ... a mixed bag.

Intelligence Lead Tori Aliva: Explain.

Kofia: We found some significant intel, sir. One binder, specifically. It's ... it's a record of former students and staff who didn't just quit or transfer. It's a long history of disappearances, going back decades.

Anya: (She leans closer to Kofia's comm.) Anya confirming, sir. The files contain non-standard terminology suggesting a cover-up. We also found evidence of a previous ... janitor marked missing ... who was stationed here, but has no reason or detailed explanation to it.

Intelligence Lead Tori Aliva: I see. Understood. That is ... a critical piece of intelligence. What about the rest of the archives? Did you find the "stories" Demi warned you about?

Kofia: Negative, ma'am. The rest is just junk. It's mundane. Decades of budgets, plumbing schematics, attendance records ... nothing. It feels like this one binder was all that was left to find. Everything else has either been scrubbed or was never here to begin with.

Anya: Our assessment is that this is the extent of the relevant physical files in this location.

Intelligence Lead Tori Aliva: (A thoughtful pause on the other end.) I understand. You've done good work. That binder is our single most important piece of evidence. Your primary objective is now complete. We need that intel back here for analysis.

Kofia: What are your orders, ma'am?

Intelligence Lead Tori Aliva: Your new directive is to secure that binder and any of the other relevant files you've found. Bag them.

Kofia: Uh, bag them, sir? We're ... you know, janitors. We're a bit light on forensic kits. I've got a half-eaten protein bar and some lint in my pocket.

Anya: We have a standard-issue evidence pouch in the cart's concealed compartment, sir. We can use that.

Intelligence Lead Tori Aliva: Good. Use it. Secure the evidence and exfiltrate the archives. I want you to return to the main command post immediately. We need to analyze those files before the ten o'clock AM operation.

Kofia: Return to the command post? ma'am, that means walking back through this whole ... murder palace. At night.

Intelligence Lead Tori Aliva: I'm aware of the risk, Kofia. But that intel is too valuable to leave unsecured inside the hot zone. So be careful.

Anya: What about our cover, ma'am?

Intelligence Lead Tori Aliva: Your cover is maintained for now. You are two janitors who have finished your deep clean and are heading out for the night. It's plausible.

Kofia: Is it? I feel like the monsters here probably don't care about union-mandated work hours.

Intelligence Lead Tori Aliva: That's the other part of this. You are to proceed with extreme caution. We still have no confirmed data on the nocturnal patterns of Circle, Bloomie, or Thavel. We have no idea whose territory you'll be crossing on your way out, or if they're active.

Anya: So we're moving blind.

Intelligence Lead Tori Aliva: You're moving with every bit of intel we have. But yes, there are unknowns. So you stay quiet. You stick to the shadows. You assume every corner is a threat. We don't know who or what is lurking around those hallways.

Kofia: Right. Assume everything wants to kill us. Got it. That's ... pretty much been our default setting since we got here.

Anya: Understood, sir. Secure the package and return to CP1. Caution is advised. We're on our way.

Kofia: Copy that. We'll be as quiet as a couple of ... very terrified mice.

(The main holographic display in Command Post one glowed with a three-dimensional, color-coded schematic of Maple High. Around it, the assembled command staff stood or sat in a state of coiled, grim-faced readiness. The air was thick with the hum of electronics and the heavier weight of the final, irreversible decisions being made.)