“Sorry I had to cancel your classes but I had to call this meeting the moment I got back.”
Principal Victor looked at the room of teachers sitting around the large oval table.
“So tell me what happened.”
His assistant was the first to respond by handing out a stack of paper before she began to speak.
“At approximately 0400 hours a team of twenty one intruders breached the Academy by tunneling.”
Victor took up the report and glanced through it while raising an eyebrow.
“You mean to tell me they drilled through a meter and a half worth of concrete and no one heard a thing?”
Victor’s expression grew more serious as he looked over at the teacher dressed in a ninja like suit.
“Care to explain, Billy. Afterall, the school’s security is your affair.
Shouldn’t your shadows have been on guard against something like this?”
Billy gulped feeling a bit nervous before he spoke.
“... I didn’t want to worry the Board last meeting but…”
Billy felt dejected having to continue after all, all this was considered a failure on his part.
“After the back to back attacks on the students last time my shadows lost fifteen men. So we had to stretch the little manpower we had left.
This ofcourse led to a few holes in our defenses.”
“So we were sitting ducks here all along and you didn’t think it was fair to warn us?!”
Okeeve was the one to cut him short. This gross withdrawal of information was something that he couldn’t stand for. In the world of assassination information was everything.
How could the head of security himself leave holes in the school’s defenses while the school was in the middle of a war against some unknown foe. This was tantamount to sabotage.
Victor raised a finger indicating for Okeeve to control himself. Okeeve who was fuming with anger saw the look of indignation on Gabriels face and shuttered in fear.
Okeeve took a deep breath before crossing his arms in protest and taking back his seat.
“How far down are you in terms of manpower?”
“... I… I am down fifty men.”
Billy lowered his head feeling slightly embarrassed. The other teachers at the table looked at him in complete disbelief.
Up until now they had taken the ghost killers lightly since the death toll for the student’s was so small.
It had to be noted that having nine dead student’s per year was a very low number, hence the teachers didn’t take them as much of a threat.
The teachers at the academy were all veterans in the field and understood that some losses were simply that, losses.
But to think they had been making light of an organization that had killed fifty fully trained assassins. Even worse was how hard they had been on Billy.
Up until now they had blamed him for the death of their students not realizing he had lost almost three times the amount.
Billy, seeing the eyes of pity surrounding him, shot up and bowed his head in shame.
“I am sorry for my neglect.”
“You think a few words will brin-”
Okeeve was the one readying to counter his apology but a hand on his shoulder made him stop mid sentence.
“I think we should consider every one here before we speak.”
The teacher that touched Okeeve was Grand Master Sherr. He had to interject before Okeeve ruined the sincere apology of a fellow colleague. The moment he saw the look of grief and remorse on Billy’s face he understood.
Those fifty men that he had lost were like his own children. This was the apology of a grieving man. A man who had already lost a big chunk of his family. The rage and regret he felt was now his own burden to bear.
The Principal was the one to interrupt the squabble.
“You lot are missing the point.”
Victor massaged his forehead not understanding why it was so hard for them to connect the dots.
“How did they know where and when to attack?”
When they heard the principal’s question it was like a bolt of thunder hit them all at the same time.
It had to be noted that only the most senior of teachers knew that the principal was out hunting down the roots of the ghost killers. But that much was relatively easy to guesstimate.
Afterall so long as one of their bases were being attacked by him then the school was defenseless.
The issue with this line of reasoning dismissed the hours of drilling it took to breach the school’s wall. This meant that the intruders knew the moment the principal left and had already planned to attack.
To add insult to injury they knew where in the school to attack. They ‘conveniently’ breached one of the few points without any shadows. The odds of that randomly happening was the same as seeing a pig fly.
The teachers looked around suspiciously at each other realizing what this meant.
They had long since heard the rumors swirling around the school but they all dismissed it. They had worked with each other for years and would never consider any of them traitors.
But the logic behind what was happening now was hard to dismiss.
Principal Victor let out a sigh, he realized that with an entire room of expert assassins it was rather difficult to spot a liar just by their expressions.
“You are all dismissed.”
Victor didn’t wish to press the matter. Afterall, what was the point when a traitor among the lot would bring his plans to naught.
All he could do was work with those who had proven their loyalty so far. Only those who he was sure about could be trusted.
“Michael… I need you to stay back.”
Victor touched the arm of his brother to stop him from leaving with the rest of the teachers.
Of all the teachers the only ones he was completely certain of was Michael since they were brothers. Grand Master Sherr since he had proven his loyalty in this incident and of course Miss Debeers since they had deep prior history.
“Sorry I had to cancel your classes but I had to call this meeting the moment I got back.”
Principal Victor looked at the room of teachers sitting around the large oval table.
“So tell me what happened.”
His assistant was the first to respond by handing out a stack of paper before she began to speak.
“At approximately 0400 hours a team of twenty one intruders breached the Academy by tunneling.”
Victor took up the report and glanced through it while raising an eyebrow.
“You mean to tell me they drilled through a meter and a half worth of concrete and no one heard a thing?”
Victor’s expression grew more serious as he looked over at the teacher dressed in a ninja like suit.
“Care to explain, Billy. Afterall, the school’s security is your affair.
Shouldn’t your shadows have been on guard against something like this?”
Billy gulped feeling a bit nervous before he spoke.
“... I didn’t want to worry the Board last meeting but…”
Billy felt dejected having to continue after all, all this was considered a failure on his part.
“After the back to back attacks on the students last time my shadows lost fifteen men. So we had to stretch the little manpower we had left.
This ofcourse led to a few holes in our defenses.”
“So we were sitting ducks here all along and you didn’t think it was fair to warn us?!”
Okeeve was the one to cut him short. This gross withdrawal of information was something that he couldn’t stand for. In the world of assassination information was everything.
How could the head of security himself leave holes in the school’s defenses while the school was in the middle of a war against some unknown foe. This was tantamount to sabotage.
Victor raised a finger indicating for Okeeve to control himself. Okeeve who was fuming with anger saw the look of indignation on Gabriels face and shuttered in fear.
Okeeve took a deep breath before crossing his arms in protest and taking back his seat.
“How far down are you in terms of manpower?”
“... I… I am down fifty men.”
Billy lowered his head feeling slightly embarrassed. The other teachers at the table looked at him in complete disbelief.
Up until now they had taken the ghost killers lightly since the death toll for the student’s was so small.
It had to be noted that having nine dead student’s per year was a very low number, hence the teachers didn’t take them as much of a threat.
The teachers at the academy were all veterans in the field and understood that some losses were simply that, losses.
But to think they had been making light of an organization that had killed fifty fully trained assassins. Even worse was how hard they had been on Billy.
Up until now they had blamed him for the death of their students not realizing he had lost almost three times the amount.
Billy, seeing the eyes of pity surrounding him, shot up and bowed his head in shame.
“I am sorry for my neglect.”
“You think a few words will brin-”
Okeeve was the one readying to counter his apology but a hand on his shoulder made him stop mid sentence.
“I think we should consider every one here before we speak.”
The teacher that touched Okeeve was Grand Master Sherr. He had to interject before Okeeve ruined the sincere apology of a fellow colleague. The moment he saw the look of grief and remorse on Billy’s face he understood.
Those fifty men that he had lost were like his own children. This was the apology of a grieving man. A man who had already lost a big chunk of his family. The rage and regret he felt was now his own burden to bear.
The Principal was the one to interrupt the squabble.
“You lot are missing the point.”
Victor massaged his forehead not understanding why it was so hard for them to connect the dots.
“How did they know where and when to attack?”
When they heard the principal’s question it was like a bolt of thunder hit them all at the same time.
It had to be noted that only the most senior of teachers knew that the principal was out hunting down the roots of the ghost killers. But that much was relatively easy to guesstimate.
Afterall so long as one of their bases were being attacked by him then the school was defenseless.
The issue with this line of reasoning dismissed the hours of drilling it took to breach the school’s wall. This meant that the intruders knew the moment the principal left and had already planned to attack.
To add insult to injury they knew where in the school to attack. They ‘conveniently’ breached one of the few points without any shadows. The odds of that randomly happening was the same as seeing a pig fly.
The teachers looked around suspiciously at each other realizing what this meant.
They had long since heard the rumors swirling around the school but they all dismissed it. They had worked with each other for years and would never consider any of them traitors.
But the logic behind what was happening now was hard to dismiss.
Principal Victor let out a sigh, he realized that with an entire room of expert assassins it was rather difficult to spot a liar just by their expressions.
“You are all dismissed.”
Victor didn’t wish to press the matter. Afterall, what was the point when a traitor among the lot would bring his plans to naught.
All he could do was work with those who had proven their loyalty so far. Only those who he was sure about could be trusted.
“Michael… I need you to stay back.”
Victor touched the arm of his brother to stop him from leaving with the rest of the teachers.
Of all the teachers the only ones he was completely certain of was Michael since they were brothers. Grand Master Sherr since he had proven his loyalty in this incident and of course Miss Debeers since they had deep prior history.
