[6/7] Something Awesome [1.3 - Redwatch] [Slot Open - Accepting Entries]

"These chemicals have gotta pack a punch if the students caught up in that Chemical Mafia thing were drinking them down, right? I mean, they couldn't have just all gotten sick. That's not vigilante justice, that's a suicide pact." In Melinda's mind, that can only mean one thing: Spider Man-style superpowers.

Or hideous mutations. Either one works.

She flinches at the sudden reappearance of Mr. Beedle. "Oh, uh, yeah, we were just talking about some rumors flying around the school," she says as calmly as possible. "Nothing major."

Lawrence narrows his eyes again. However, the fact that they were clearly not talking about magic really calms him down.

"Ms. Greenhill lying doesn't really do you any favours. I'm a teacher, if there are problems within the school it is my duty to help. Besides, you um... weren't very quiet, I've heard enough already. This is about the attacks right? I take it Mr. Ashton's asked you two as well."

He sighs.

"So I guess it really is bad then... I wasn't around when the accident happened, and admit I don't know much about it besides the basic chemical information that was released."

"Hell, I don't know about nausea and such. Uh, sure. Some kids have come in. I don't actually know how much is too much, and I don't have a baseline to compare to." Oren shrugs. "This is actually my first nursing job. At uh, a school, I mean. Lots of germs on the faucets, maybe. Well listen, I got a school bully to check for hairline fractures and some investigation to do, so I'm offski. I'll, uh." He looks at Larry out of the corner of his eye. His eyebrow raises and his nose twitches a little. "Donovan, I'll be in touch about the, um, the thing."

He starts to head out to the nurse's office by way of the courtyard. "Oh, uh, and it's -Ford. Ashford. See y'all around."

Melinda grins sheepishly. Oops. She really should learn to control her volume.

...Some other time.

At least they have another potential ally, since Mr. Beedle doesn't seem too keen on reporting them or anything.

"Thanks again," she says to Oren. It's easy to forget that he has a job to do too, instead of sticking around to help them investigate. Again, maybe some other time.

Lawrence raises an eyebrow in confusion as Oren hurries out.

"Mr. Zikkit, are you and Oren - I mean, are you and Mr. Ashton investigating into this thing? Why now? Why not leave it to the police?"

Lawrence had no interest in reporting the students or nurse and potentially having people look into his own practices, but he would rather be in the know if for some reason whatever the impromptu investigation team was looking into was dangerous.

Donovan smiles at Oren. "Sure thing Mr. Ashford. And sorry about the name thing. I'm a bit tired, I suppose."

With the nurse gone, Donovan turns his attention to the English teacher. "Mr. Beedle, you mean the kidnappings?" He taps his chin thoughtfully. "I prefer 'gathering information'. And I've been looking at this for quite a while now. As for the police..." He trails off, glancing at the computer. "Yeah. I'm not doing any harm. I'm sure they're doing their best to figure out what's going on."

"Well I trust you there Donovan... wait why was there hesitation there? Are they... not?"

Lawrence pauses before continuing, but decides he's far enough in already.

"Wh-what kind of information are you talking about?"

Donovan glances around for perhaps the hundredth time. You can never be too sure when you deal with things like these. He learned that a while ago. "I'm talking about information of all kind. But the specific kind we're talking about now is the kind concerning the disappearances I'm sure you're aware of. And let's just say I've found a little something that... changes my view on their involvement in this case."

"What? What'd you find?" Melinda leans way over Donovan's shoulder, trying to read the screen for herself in her usual over-the-top manner. "Are they in with the Chemical Mafia or something?"

Donovan turns his head and points to the black bars on the report. "You see these? These are all the names of the students who disappeared. They've been boxed out. Removed. Mind you, these are non-biased police reports here. Something's going on with the cops. They're trying to erase any mention of these kids that they have."

SILVER HILLS POLICE DEPT.
Missing Persons Case A-44: ████████

████████, a student at Silver Hills High School, went missing in November 2012. ████████ was an exceptional student, a remarkable athlete and scientist. ████████ is confirmed to have connections to the Potato Cult, a group of mages and maligned fighters known for having been the perpetrators of the deaths of the members of the Anti-Late FedEx Deliveries Movement. She escaped the Chemical Mafia during the incident by way of high-power explosives, and ████████ has been on the run ever since. Rumored to have died during the ████████████████████████, although reports of her sighting have been dated to April 2013.

Certainly an interesting profile. Read the next one?

"Exhibit A." Donovan gestures at the monitor. "This girl's name is boxed out. One thing that I'm not quite sure about is this." He points at the larger box. "It seems some sort of event happened. It was probably linked to this 'Potato Cult' and 'Anti-Late FedEx Deliveries Movement'. I'll have to look into that." He scribbles a note into the notebook on his lap and clicks over to the next report.

"Whoa, whoa, hold on. Go back." Melinda reads the profile one more time, just to be sure. She points to a specific spot on the screen. "A group of mages?"

The hell is that supposed to mean?

Donovan does a double take. He was skimming, reading around the boxes. He clicks back really quick and reads the whole thing over again. "I... have no idea. I don't understand actually. You'd think magic was fake."

"Maybe they were psychics?" Melinda says, crossing her arms. She knows most of the usual "psychics" you see around are total frauds, but she has always been sort of interested in astrology, so the idea is still intriguing.

Meanwhile, in the middle of the school halls, Arthur roams around with his hand on his chin and expressing much curiosity about recent happenings, at least, expressing as much as an emotionless suit of armor possibly can.

He decides do some investigation of his own, the whole missing students rumor is interesting enough to put aside his righteous justice for now. But rather than go around asking teachers and students alike, he decides to head straight to the source and talk directly to the mayor of this hamlet, or a principle that they've decided to call themselves, odd for the mayor to do so but he won't question it.

Without any further delay, he turns around and starts running towards the principle's office. When (and if) he does finally approach the entrance, he approaches the door and rather than do the sensible thing, kicks the door open shouting at the top of his voice. "Where is the mayor?! Your king requests your help!"

SILVER HILLS POLICE DEPT.
Missing Persons Case A-45: ████████

████████, a student at Silver Hills High School, went missing in November 2012. ████████ was often regarded as short-fused and unpredictable, having all kinds of tools at various locations for use whenever necessary. When he was trapped in the Chemical Mafia's snare, he managed to escape from the room - a feat that is rumored to have sparked the final massacre. ████████ returned and cleaned up the rest of the Chemical Mafia, only to die in the process. His body went missing following an explosion at the morgue - and rumors of ████████'s continued survival persists. At the memorial for the victims in the courtyard at Silver Hills High, his name was etched out as his final state is unknown.

Read the next one?

(Can I just say that I have no idea what I'm doing)

King Arthur pounds loudly on the door. Inside, the person sitting at the desk - the principal of Silver Hills - groans loudly. Looking at the knight through the door's glass pane, he motions to his secretary. She gladly unlocks the door and let's the knight in shining armor in.

"Yes, Arthur?"

Otto grabs as many frogs as he can on the way, and decides to hit up and/or raid the nurse's office for anything useful while he's got the go-ahead to be in here.

He also uses the hydrocortisol on Frog #2 (and any other frogs which joined him) because no point keeping the little guy hanging.

FROGS SAVED: 2/15

"Exhibit B." Donovan skims through the second document. It's a lot simpler than the first. Just a normal kid. Aside from the morgue explosion part. No mages, or weird cults, or mail delivery services. He waits a few moments, letting Melinda read it, and then clicks over to the next one.

"Pffffft"

Lawrence rolls his eyes.

"Magic isn't real. Rest of it is interesting though. What else is there?"

Meanwhile he tries to recall any mentions of a Potato Cult from his mage circles.

SILVER HILLS POLICE DEPT.
Missing Persons Case A-46: ████████

████████ was a former student at Silver Hills - he went missing over the summer of 2012. Said to have an unusual fascination with the occult and emergent magical powers, ████████ found allegiance to the ████████ and was a participant in the Anti-Late FedEx Deliveries Movement. Rumored to be one of four survivors (sans the Potato Cult), stories tell of lunar trips and visits to run-down villages mysteriously flooded with soup. The descriptions of ████████ closely match that of a dissident found at the Orwellian Institution of Science and Happiness' Moonpark, who is recorded of saying that he would "get revenge on those spudfucking bastards" and "ride a giant fucking hydra out of the sunset and fuck them all up once and for all". Survival reports are unconfirmed.

...Read the next one?

Melinda holds up a hand to stop Donovan from moving on, so she can reread the bio a couple more times. "This one mentions magic too. There's gotta be more to this than meets the eye." Although most people would probably stare at the screen for a moment, confused, and then dismiss the strange profile as the writings of a lunatic, Melinda can't keep a smile from creeping onto her face. They've stumbled across something big, something she intends to unravel ASAP.