Compromised

Inside of the gloomy meeting room, the prosperity council was once more united. Each member solemnly sat around the table in their respective spots. The dim lighting did not conceal the old man's action as he checked his wristwatch, however.

"It seems it is time to begin. We are all here on time." Aldan, said old man, got up from his seat and said. The latter half of his words were directed towards the young Vidor.

"On request of Calean, our first matter will be taken over by him. Please pay attention" Aldan said and sat back down. At which point, Calean stood up from his seat.

He was still dressed in his luxurious red suit and his clean appearance was there for all to see. He cleared his throat and began…

"Good evening. Thank you, Aldan for acceding to my request." With a clear and eloquent voice, Calean began.

"First is the matter regarding Professor Requiem. It is also why we are meeting here once more. Ahem, the Professor has been found and is believed to have been eliminated in the search process" Calean reported while observing the expressions of the other nine members.

A hand shot up into the air. Calean was going to ignore him so the person spoke up.

"I don't understand why that is a crucial matter" It was Vidor who was irked by the fact he had to attend another meeting. He made sure to show this irritation in his tone as he spoke.

Calean only shot him a glance that insinuated he was getting there as he continued to speak.

"There are signs of mutation. The genetic code found on the blood suggests a Wraith aberration." Calean said before turning on a projection. He had the remote handy beforehand.

The presentation showed an alleyway and a large black pool of blood. It also had pictures of bullet casings and with some notes added on.

"The aberration was eliminated by pursuers. The body can't be found as the pursuers left no trails" Calean was a little exasperated by this.

The slums area should and usually would have cameras but these cameras would be taken down by thugs soon after installation.

Any attempts to punish the residents would be for naught as the event would simply happen again and again. They eventually had to give up entirely and instead allow underground organizations to form as a means to manage the areas.

Hidden cameras were hard to install as well since the residents would usually rat out government officials or find them. And even if they weren't found then there would still be blind spots.

"The main reason can be found on the Professor's own report papers. The genetic solution he drank was unfinished and did not go through the necessary trials. The real problem is the existence of those reports." Calean did not care about whether the Professor lived or died. The issue was the report he had made and all of the members present suddenly understood. Not notes, report.

"Who was he reporting to?" Asked Drew, a 36-year-old member of the reformation party.

"That is still under investigation but we suspect that the culprits are the ones responsible for the assault on the soldier company." Calean responded.

"On what basis?" Asked the stern and quiet planetal party member, Sylvester.

"The Professor had left some actual notes. Chronicles he called them…" Calean said somewhat embarrassed. The man he appointed was writing a journal full of his nonsensical aspirations.

Luckily it at least provided some help during their investigation.

The presentation moved on to the next page which had a picture of one of the diary entries.

[ The (EXPUNGED) refuse to (REDACTED). (EXPUNGED), I was reached out by members of a secret organization. To think it came from the government. I was very thankful however as they seemed to understand the value of my research.]

Some of the information was removed for the disquisitive party's own convenience but anyone with an analytical mind could fill in the blanks.

"This was one of his first entries. He was fairly hostile towards the government as a whole so I got some members of my party to make it presentable. Ignoring that however and we are faced with a much more pressing matter." Calean was obviously talking about a secret organization that had infiltrated the government.

"I suspect that the main reason as to why the Professor was able to do all of this behind the scenes was due to the compromised government members. Moving on…" Calean switched to the next slide.

[The organization provided me with some monster parts. A wraith along with an Ocean Drifter. Their powers serve similar functions but the methods are different, the wraith…]

The Professor went on to explain the characteristic differences between a Wraith and an Ocean Drifter but that part wasn't important and was therefore glossed over.

"Unless those parts were smuggled in they had to have come from previous hunts. We tried to use this to trace the compromised members but…" Calean turned the slide again.

There was an image of some documents. It was supposed to have detailed information on monster parts and who they were designated to but the ones for the corresponding monsters had no names whatsoever.

"The administrator was already fired and is being deeply interrogated but up to this point, he has yet to speak. It even seems as if he didn't take part in this. We sifted through more files and found similar documents." Calean's slide switched again. It had the names of different mutants.

"Psyche Fiend…" Judith, a respected ma'am muttered. The reason was that she was familiar with this mutant.

"That's right. We suspect that an irradiate or Incorporate governmental member hypnotized the administrative official to submit the reports without any names. We can't trace it." Calean explained following on Judith's mutter.

"This… This deeply rooted…" Aldan mumbled in surprise.

"I hope you can all now understand the cause of this emergency meeting. Our government is at stake." Calean's words were likely a jab at the unrestrained Vidor. Regardless, other members who were initially skeptical could now also see the severity.

"Any suggestions?" Calean asked them.

The meeting room was silent as they all pondered on the matter. It wasn't easy.

"We should focus on identifying this organization." Somebody spoke. The other member soon started to pitch other ideas or ways to go about already pitched ideas.

The silent room became lively but the atmosphere was still solemn. There was a serious breach.