Project Cypher

* V2 (CH 33) - Chapter 56 - Harvest Ball Ⅵ

Watching through private surveillance feeds, female student Tanya aka 56 had chosen to remain in the dorms rather than attend the ballroom. Tanya reaches for a private burner phone next to her on the bed, that had not been affected by the shutdown of services. The phone begins to ring and a certain male voice answers, "What do you want, dog?"

56 cheerfully says, "The Vorpal's have betrayed us, the school is under attack." Before the figure can ask for details, 56 hangs up the phone with a great deal of satisfaction and a wide grin on her face, before dialing another number.

This time around a sultry female voice answers, "Yes?"

"Your men are toast," 56 cheerfully stated.

"What?! Who is this?" Clarise hissed in vexation.

56 doesn't answer and as the furious woman screams at her to answer. "How dare mere food ignore me! You shall perish!" Clarise shrieked before tossing the phone in anger. In fury, Clarise grabs a slave and beings to painfully devour the slave, while the buck yet lived. Screams of terror and pain fill the air until the line disconnects.

56 has a slightly nauseated look in her eyes, but even so, she is still unable to keep herself from grinning/ 56 returns to watching the surveillance on her laptop screen only glancing away to grab the occasional handful of popcorn, before returning to the ongoing shows.

*

Elsewhere, Adolf dials his grandfather and impatiently waits for the line to cease to ring. Finally, an old man's creaky voice answers, "Yes?"

"The school is under attack, we've been betrayed," Adolf flatly stated.

Master Ferguson chokes and shouts, "Since When?!"

"I don't know, one of the dogs just got the word out," Adolf replied.

Master Ferguson hangs up the phone on his grandson to Adolf's vast chagrin and rushes towards the Esper Council Official Chambers. The council had yet to start as council members were still arriving when the hobbling out of breath figure of Master Ferguson slams the door open. The council member stares with surprise as Master Ferguson tries to speak, despite being breathless, "The-, school-, is under-, ATTACK!"

The astonished council members begin to cry, "How?" "Do we have confirmation of the event?" "Since when?" "The status of the school?" And much more such question. Unable to hear over the roar of the crowd, Master Ferguson slams his cane on the table.

A hush descends over the council members as Master Ferguson huffs, "Soren, immediately depart with an A class crew immediately, we wait for news upon your arrival."

Soren nods and runs out of the council room as Master Ferguson collapses into a chair. The council members all reach out and privately contact their private intelligence forces to confirm the event. The minutes tick slowly by as they wait in anxious silence. Finally, a short response arrives from Soren telepathically, "The campus is under attack, we are returning fire. Please, standby until further notice."

The council members all rise up in a loud clamor until Master Ferguson slams his can on the table again for silence. Master Ferguson says, "With the council's permission I would like to speak." Embarrassed and mollified the council members take their seat as Master Ferguson continues, "Now is not the time to be fighting. We must cleave together in our time of need and find those responsible for this attack! Without a doubt, we are going to have mass casualties on our hands and maybe even student deaths. We must be prepared to face those dreadful circumstances, but more importantly, the hard questions that will be asked."

The council nods their heads in agreement as an old woman in robes, Mai croaks, "Yes, Master Ferguson is right. We must be prepared to explain how such an event transpired under our watch and hold those that are responsible and accountable for the attack. What say, you, chairman?"

The council members turn to gaze at the middle-aged chairman, Balik. "We wait, for now, we first must confirm the identity of the attackers, before we take our next step. But before then, I want a second team ready to depart as soon as we have word the status of the school. Lady Ishnavi and Sir Lancelot, please be ready to depart with the second team at a moment's notice."

Lady Ishnavi bows in reply as Sir Lancelot, a handsome older man rises to his feet and says, "It will be an honor, chairman." Helping Lady Ishnavi to her feet, Sir Lancelot leads the way out the doors. The doors close firmly behind them as the council returns their gaze to the chairman.

"Secondly, I am hesitant to say this, we must be prepared to hold someone accountable for the attack. Can we afford to scare the masses with the truth or do we find a scapegoat?" Balik asked. The council glances at each other in full understanding of the statement. Someone would have to hang for this, after all, the masses would be baying for blood.

Don Giovanni leans back in his seat in a rather refined manner as usual. "Then let us agree on a compromise. If it is a human group we will announce the truth, but if the party responsible is a bio-evolutionary group, then we must hold someone else accountable, the question is who is a credible fault man. We can't just have any willy-nilly scapegoat but someone the public will believe is a despicable villain. I am sure all of the council can agree with me on this point," Don Giovanni plainly stated.

The room is full of head nods in agreement at the accurate statement. "Then who are we to leave out to hang?" Finally interjected a younger council member.

The council is silent until a beauty with cherry pink lips, Niko says, "Why not Principal Conrad? He is, after all, the party directly responsible for protecting the children. Who better than him to take the blame? Besides he's ruffled too many feathers to not have made enemies of every party there is. He would be a perfect candidate, but more importantly, now we can elect to fill the position with one of our own to fill that vacancy at the academy."

The room is full of soft murmurings until a glance from Master Ferguson silences them like a teachers' glare in a classroom full of unruly children. The murmurs die down enough for Niko to cheerfully say, "So is the council in unanimous agreement?"

"Aye," The council declared in unanimous and with that single word, the fate of Principal Conrad is sealed shut. After that, the council spoke in hushed voices waiting and dreading the arrival of the first batch of reports.