After Blake briefly deliberated whether he should try to use the vents to listen in, an idea which he quickly dropped due to the noise it would create, the young Altered Hunter decided to go with his original idea. He looked outside to make sure there were no students out there, but since the teachers’ lounge, as well as the printer room, were facing away from the main road he wouldn’t have to worry about people mistaking his actions for a suicide attempt, shouting out towards him, creating a scene that would reveal his location.
Blake opened the window and dropped down to the window sill. He held on with his fingers, making use of his strong grip strength.
‘This reminds me of my early childhood training… I still don’t have any idea in what circumstance this would help deal with an Altered, but it’s definitely proving handy right about now.’ Blake thought as he started to move along the edge slowly, with his legs hanging.
He then could see that there was a gap between the window sill he was on, and the one that Gary was patiently in. There was no trouble on Blake’s face as he swung his body from side to side, and at the right moment let go of the edge. Reaching out, he quickly grabbed onto it, and held on tightly. His strong fingers that had calluses on top of calluses had done him well and were holding out.
Now that he was in the right place, all he needed to do was listen to what they were saying. The problem was, even from his current position he had trouble making out the words clearly, so the only thing he could do was lift one hand up slowly, reaching for the window from the outside. He had to be careful, after all they were on the third floor. Nevertheless, the young Altered Hunter didn’t hesitate, as he managed to hold himself with one hand and quickly pushed the window ever so slightly open, allowing him to finally hear everything that was going on.
‘Billy? That’s that murderer on the news! According to Dad, he’s most likely one of the Altered we fought in the park and it obviously wasn’t the one I fought. Did they find something linking him to Gary? …Come to think of it, I guess I never did ask him, but the two of them… they were fighting yet both of them were the same type of Altered.
From what I know only the Kings and big corporations should have a hold on specific types of Altered DNA… Damn it, why didn’t I think of it before? Gary and Billy have to know each other somehow. I should have…’ Now that Blake thought of it, it made him also wonder why he had refrained from asking Gary anything about how he had become an Altered.
After all, it was pretty clear that he wasn’t some rich kid, nor did the green haired teenager seem special enough for someone to sponsor him. So what exactly had stopped him from learning more about that side of Gary? If it was only ‘to protect the Altered Hunters’ would he really be hanging down the side of the school wall?
——
“Two Altered killers? Are you serious? They didn’t report anything like that on the news.” Gary went back to his nervous self after Sadie made it crystal clear that she was suspecting him by pointing at the high schooler.
“You see, on the night of the full moon we actually had a little run in with Billy Bruntin in his Altered form, and we were able to get some traces of his blood from our fight. According to the guys in the lab it coincided with traces we found in the cases of the Bruntin family, the high school student, and the university student, yet there were a few other deaths that had no traces of him. However, all those other cases had another common denominator.” Sadie continued to explain.
The White Rose agent had more photos on her, which she placed out on the table. The first one was what was left of three men at the construction site. From there she showed a picture of Barry out in the alleyway and later in the hospital before she presented Gary with a few more photos.
Looking at them all, Gary was unable to recognise the others, and he was very happy to see that at least there were no scenes of the karaoke place. It seemed that they weren’t following his trail, just a trail of murders.
“At each of these scenes the same blood was found. Now after watching your little performance yesterday, we have reason to believe that just like Billy you’re actually an unregistered Altered. However, fortunately that’s really easy to clear up, all you have to do is agree to a voluntary blood test.” Sadie smiled, as if she had caught her suspect right where she wanted him.
‘What do I do? I can’t give them my blood! I have no idea if I will be recognised as an Altered or not, but if they take my blood, then they will be able to link me to Barry, the construction site, as well as the karaoke club! If they’ll lock me up, then Amy will be all alone!’ Gary started to look around to make sure there was nobody else in the room.
‘I’ve already killed before…if I use Full Transformation now while they’re still off guard… maybe it will be enough to get rid of them, and then…maybe no one will know…but…but…can I kill…again? I have to… it’s for my family!’
At the same time, Blake who was still hanging down the window sill had heard everything and was wondering what to do himself. In the end, he came to the conclusion that there was absolutely nothing he could do. He had already done more than enough by not revealing Gary’s secret and if the other had failed to hide his tracks that was on him.
At that moment, the door slid open, and a bleach blond haired teenager confidently walked in.
“Sorry, but if you’re looking for a teacher, try somewhere else. This room is currently in use.” Frank lectured the newcomer, assuming that he had merely entered by mistake.
“Oh I know, I’m here for him.” Kai claimed.
Seeing his upperclassman at this moment gave Gary hope. He was especially thankful that it would save him from having to take a suicidal gamble by fighting against two White Rose agents.
“I heard what you did.” Kai confidently spoke as if he was telling the police off. “Gary, you don’t have to say anything, you know that, right? I guess you agreed to talk just so that these guys would leave you alone.
“It’s not called a VOLUNTARY blood test for nothing! They can’t force you to take a blood test, for that they would need a warrant from a judge. My guess is, they don’t even have anything that puts you as the suspect, which was why they came here and asked you to ‘volunteer’ your blood over to them. I bet a judge would never grant their request with what little they have.”
Kai walked over to where Gary was and stayed by his side, assuming a position as if he was his legal guardian. He then looked at the photos on the table. He hadn’t heard the whole conversation, merely just the tail end of it.
“What the hell are these photos? Are you trying to traumatise my buddy here? Has White Rose stooped so low that they’re trying to create a scapegoat to pin all the blame on? Tell me, what grounds do you even have to ask him for a blood test?”
The two looked a bit startled but they soon regained their exposure, as Sadie started to laugh.
“You really think you’re so clever, don’t you? I didn’t know that they were teaching Law here at Westbridge, but I have met enough male Karens like you before who thought they knew everything.” Sadie stated.
“You’re right, we aren’t able to force him into a blood test without a warrant from a judge. However, as members of White Rose we enjoy certain privileges. According to section 5 of the Altered Investigation Force Act, ‘Agents are permitted to enforce a test in cases they have sufficient reason to believe someone to be an unregistered Altered’. We have a special test to verify whether your friend here is a normal human or not.”
When Gary looked at Kai by his side, it was the first time he saw the other with a worried look on his face.