Chapter 7: Friend or Foe

•National Science Academy, 1st Ward•

Ana

The cool morning breeze blew against Ana's face as she stared at the coin in her hand. The coin somehow found itself on her bedside table that morning.

It was one of the coded messages from RAQCI. The edges of the coin were engraved with a series of dots and dashes.

.-. . .--. --- .-. -

"Report" the code in Morse read. Ana clicked the head engraved on the coin and instantly it recorded her message. "None so far" she recited and threw the coin in the fountain in front of the annex building.

'It's been 2 days! What did they expect?' she thought to herself.

Ana contemplated whether or not to report her most unusual encounter last night with the blonde-haired pervert. After a quick background check, she found out he was indeed the son of the owner of Spes Law Firm, the biggest law firm in the sanctuary.

After their brief encounter, the man just shot up from his chair, bid her farewell and jumped off her balcony, barely hanging on to a branch on a nearby tree. He was weird – in more ways than one. But Ana thought he wouldn't pose a threat.

She sighed and entered the annex building.

Unlike the magnificent main building, the annex was an old building with cracked walls, creaking floorboards, and leaking ceilings. It looked like a run-down house from the 2000s.

Not even a single robot graced the walls and unlike the other classrooms with the top technologies, their classroom had only a few chairs and a single blackboard. Ana liked it. It gave her a vintage feel that was somehow comforting.

She scanned the room and saw her target sitting by the window at the back of the classroom. Without a second thought, she pranced towards him and sat on the seat beside him. "Hi!"

Valerian looked up from the book he was reading and gave her his signature 'Don't talk to me expression' complete with furrowed brows and a look of disgust. 'It can't be helped. I have to get closer to him if I want to get information,' She thought.

"Move."

"But there aren't any seats left" An obvious lie.

"Well, clearly you're visually impaired." He deadpanned returning to his book. 'peculiar, no one ever reads paper books these days. Each one of them costs a fortune.'

"What are you reading?" She asked out of pure curiosity.

"None of your business."

"Really? What a unique title!" She exclaimed with sarcasm.

"Fuck, Do you always have to be this loud?" He seethed

"Do you always have to be this mean?" She retorted. "I mean, you have this whole 'don't talk to me aura' all the time."

"Glad you noticed."

"Pretty obvious" she replied.

"And yet you still talk to me." He growled

"And what's with that expression?! Is furrowed brows and glaring eyes a default for you? I'm just trying to be friends"

"I. DON'T. WANT. TO BE. FRIENDS." he enunciated each word with so much hatred it almost made Ana feel chills. Almost.

"Why not?"

"You're annoying, you're loud, you don't seem to understand the word no, you clearly have no sense for personal space,-" He stopped when he noticed her staring at him.

"Why do you have that disgusting expression?"

"That's the longest sentence you've said!"

Valerian rolled her eyes in defeat. "You're hopeless"

"Thank you!"

"I. HATE. PEOPLE. LIKE. YOU." He growled.

He gave her one final glare before slamming his hands on the table and walking out of the classroom just as the teacher entered.

'Well, that was rude.' Ana thought.

But during their conversation and during the short time she had been observing him she had noticed quite a few things.

1. He preferred to be alone. He didn't seem to have any friends or acquaintances. Judging from their interaction earlier, he wasn't interested in making any friends either.

This means Plan A: "Befriend the target" has unfortunately gone down the drain.

2. He was irritable, glaring and cursing at every little thing.

He would often run his hand across his hair, pinch his nose bridge, and roll up his sleeves as a gesture of annoyance. Whenever he did, his whole demeanor would change.

3. And possibly the most dangerous trait a target could have. He was observant. He managed to destroy all 5 different hidden cameras and recording devices she planted in his room like he was used to it.

It was as if Valerian could sense her presence even as she was using her state-of-the-art full-body camouflage. (A feat not a normal person could do)

Then again, perhaps he wasn't a normal person. Genetic modification was a common practice in the Sanctuary and with the amount of resources and influence his father holds it's no surprise if he underwent some as well.

The question was, how much genetic modification he underwent.

"Ok, listen up brats. Tap the attendance feature on your tables for attendance." The teacher announced with a tired yawn.

A boy raised his hand. " We don't have that here sir"

The teacher scratched his head in annoyance. "Ughhh I have to take attendance manually too?"

"Ok so, I've been told the new freshmen will be participating in a field trip next week. Call time will be in front of the main gate tomorrow at 7 sharp. Those late will be left behind!" He said in an annoyed tone, as if he was forced to be here.

He eyed us suspiciously, as if we were deliquents who were just begging to break the rules. "I'm not bluffing. You will be left behind" he added

"Hi!" A familiar voice snapped her out of thoughts.

The blonde briskly walked towards her table and sat at the chair beside her.

"Mr. Riese! Late on your first day?" the teacher snapped at him. He was old, perhaps in his 50s, and clearly irritable. It was clear he didn't want to be here.

"I'm sorry, I got lost and-"

"I. DON'T. WANT. EXCUSES. See to it that this doesn't happen again" He declared in a booming voice that reverberated along the classroom.

"What a disappointment, he's so different from his siblings" He whispered and continued with the class attendance, calling name after name.

"Listen, about Emily Stuart-" Ambrose started but Ana cut him off before he could continue.

"It's called confidential information for a reason. You're not supposed to announce everything you-" She scolded him.

"Shhh listen..." Ambrose clicked a button on his watch and a hologram appeared with notes. "Mr. Eliot Cane. 53 years old. He's been a teacher in the academy for the last 32 years. He's known to be verbally abusive and-" He started

"Where are you going with this?" She asked annoyed.

"He used to be a biotechnology teacher but then there was an incident where he was caught verbally abusing his students, he got reported which and got in trouble with the disciplinary committee and now he's stuck teaching us." He finished

Ambrose looked at her expectantly, "Do you know who filed the report?" Ana shook her head.

"Emily Stuart!" He beamed

"You're saying he's a suspect?" Ambrose nodded.

"Don't you see? He was mad so he killed her! The perfect motive!" He beamed.

"She's dead?" Ana gasped.

"I think so...maybe..." Ambrose muttered. She looked at his face to see if there was any hint of lies but there was none. How did he expect to solve a case if he was like this? 'I thought detectives solved cases using logic and clues' she thought.

"That's circumstantial evidence. You can't just assume things to fit your theory." She scolded.

"Valerian Vanguardia" Mr. Cane called from the background. A series of whispered chatter instantly filled the classroom.

"The prime minister's son?" someone said

"That child prodigy is in our class?" another whispered

"I heard he scored last on the entrance exam"

"Apparently he got 0 points"

Mr. Cane slammed his hands on the table, effectively silencing the whispers

"Absent on the first day?" He clicked his tongue and marked his class record while muttering things about nepotism.

"Well, there's an interesting character." Ambrose chuckled.

"You know him?" Ana asked, referring to Valerian.

"I used to see him in a lot of political meetings, state affairs, and diplomatic stuff when we were kids. He was hailed as the genius of the century! He was practically perfect at everything!" That much she knew. Ana had studied Valerian's files thoroughly before hand. As a child, he engineered inventions, designed trains and machines, and published medical research papers.

"But something happened a year ago that made him disappear from the public eye" Ambrose explained.

Ana's ears perked up. This wasn't in the files. Perhaps Ambrose was useful for something after all.

"It's not known to the public but for some reason, he had a falling out with his father and cut ties with him."

"Why?" She asked.

"Not sure. But it apparently has something to do with their disagreement about research or something."

'Interesting' Ana thought. Maybe she should investigate the research more. It could prove to be useful information for RACQI.

"What was the research about?" She asked

"Something about developing a neurotropic virus to enhance he nervous system or something"

" A Neurotropic Virus," Ana mumbled.