Inspector Grim had just been informed about the capture of Phantom Thief Rose. Now he was being escorted through the complex to see the prisoner. He found it hard to believe that they had captured Phantom Thief Rose with only a handful of men and a boy but it seemed to have happened. Still, if the boy had been an Esper on the Student Council like the officer had said then it might have been possible.
“Here it is.” Said the security officer who was leading him. Inspector Grim had been irritated when he had arrived here and been ordered around by mere security officers. Since those and the Student Counsel was the closest the University District had to a police force there was no helping it, but what sort of place didn’t have a respectable police force.
Grim opened the door and stepped inside the room. There was a moment of silence before he said, “And how is this anything like capturing the Phantom Thief Rose?” The security officer looked at him in confusion before looking into the room himself. The room was empty except for the hand cuffs which were dangling on the pipe that they had been attached to. Phantom Thief Rose was missing.
“I can’t believe you left a Phantom Thief alone in a room.” Grim began shouting at the security officer, “What do you think a Phantom Thief does for a living? Wash windows? She could probably pick the lock with a toothpick. And how the hell did you let her escape this room? Were you sleeping or something.” Grim know that the officer could plainly see what he was talking about. Other then the door he had come in through there were no other exits to the room. No windows, no other doors, no ventilation ducts, nothing.
“Quickly, search the room. Just to be safe we need to make sure she isn’t hiding in the room and waiting to make her escape while we are distracted.” The officers who had been so reluctant to follow his orders before were now nodding and beginning to search the room. Once it was clear that Rose wasn’t hiding anywhere in the room Grim sent some of them off to go alert the Student Counsel about the escape.
The only thing that had been found in the room that was unusual was a single piece of paper with Rose’s scrawling hand writing on it. “Sorry Grimmy, but today is important so I am going to cheat. Try not to be angry with me.” Inspector Grim just balled it up and shoved it in his pocket when he had read it. He hated it when she called him Grimmy. It sounded silly.
Searching for Phantom Thief Rose was probably pointless but he send several more of the security officers off anyway. There was no reason to left Rose with a reason to relaxed. Grim had managed to gather quiet a crowd of security officers at this point. Without leadership from the student counsel he had managed to gain control of them rather easily. He knew what he was doing and people like this know to follow orders from people like him. Maybe these security officers weren’t so bad after all.
Professor Gray held the Euclidian Key gingerly. It was quite literally the key that would answer many questions. All of the data recording information had be correctly set up. It was a pity that it would need to be activated in the University District but the Ark Tunnel Reactor was the only source of power large enough to produce the necessary amount of power. When if activated it would provide new information. The research that had been done on Lynn was useful but without the scale and power of this experiment there was a limit to how much could be learned.
If the calculations he had received from Prometheus were complete then the Euclidian Key would temporarily unravel local space. Watching that would reveal who knew how much. Things like warp travel would no longer be impossible after observing such and occurrence. Such a colossal discovery would dwarf even the loss of life that was necessary for this experiment. Everybody in the reactor would die and probably a large section of the University District too, but it was all for the greater good. Professor Gray hesitated, he had always thought the greater good was what mattered, if he was willing to give his own life for that then why not other people’s lives.
Svenn was there next to him, “Best not to dwell on what is right and what is wrong. It is too late to now, you have already done too much. All of those feeling are temporal, they will leave eventually. Once records, knowledge left will last. Those are the things we must strive the discover and protect. People die, placed decay, only knowledge has the ability to last forever.”
Gray slipped the Key into his coat pocket, “Yes, of course Svenn. You are right. I can’t let my emotions trick me into letting go of the greater good.” Gray then looked up at the young man. “How is everything going. I recently complete all of my preparations. If everything is going well then I am going to begin bringing the reactor up to the correct power level. That might take a few hours but it will be done at least an hour before the announced theft time.”
“All the preparations are ready but I do have something to report. Apparently the Student Counsel member that was sent to capture Lynn and Emiray came back with a captured Phantom Thief. You were busy with preparations so I was going to inform you later. However the Phantom Thief managed to escape our custody and is now hiding somewhere in the building.” Said Svenn.
“What? How did she escape? Shouldn’t she have been guarded, she is a Phantom Thief after all.”
“It should have been sufficient. There room was guarded from the outside and there were no other exits from the room. None of the guards outside of the room noticed her escape but somehow she managed it.”
“You should be able to track her down, correct?” Asked Professor Gray.
“Yes, but that would require diverting my attention from the teleportation detection field that I am helping form. If I did that then Lynn would be able to sneak in without our knowledge. Since I can only assume she is able to sense the field because of the letter that was delivered I must also assume that she will notice if the field fails and will take advantage of that. Without me coordinating the efforts of our three teleporters they would be unable to maintain the field.”
Gray nodded, “I suppose that even if she is a Phantom Thief that there is only so much that she is able to accomplish. Increase the guard in the reactor room just to make certain that she doesn’t get inside. I’ll head over there with you to make sure she doesn’t make an early attempt at on the Euclidian Key.”
“Also,” said Svenn, “That Inspector, Grim I think he name was, used the escape to take command of many of our security officers. It may become an issue. Should I make sure he is sent away?”
Gray shook his head, “No, let him do what he can with them. He is experienced with dealing with Phantom Thief Rose and should make sure she doesn’t bother us anymore. Give him a squad to control and make sure that the others are placed either under your control or the Student Counsel.”
“What is Enforcer Wade decided to break the commands of the student counsel and oppose us. He has an independent streak in him and had a chance to speak with Rose during the helicopter flight here. He may begin to look into what we are doing and then try to stop us.”
“If he does then I will expect you to deal with him. Your level is higher then him so that shouldn’t be an issue.”
“Yes, he is only a level 6. I should be able to handle him as long as he doesn’t join forces with Lynn. My current network had enough Espers in it that he should be quickly dealt with if necessary. Although again I wouldn’t be able to keep up the teleportation detection field if that happened.”
“I understand, don’t oppose him unless absolutely necessary.” Gray stood up and began moving toward the door, making sure to shut his computer behind him “Come on then. We should get to the reactor room and begin the increase in power. If you see Wade then tell him it is in preparation if Lynn decides to attack early.
Enforcer Wade looked at the phone he was holding in his hand. He had just gotten off the phone with the Student Counsel 2nd Vice President. The things he had been told by the Phantom Thief Rose during the helicopter flight had been bothering him. He knew he couldn’t trust the words of a Thief but he had decided to give a call to the Vice President just to check things out. The call however had made him even more worried.
He had been told directly by the Vice President that there was no point in asking questions like that and that he should just follow the orders that he had been given. Wade didn’t like following orders just because he had been ordered to do so. It really cut at his nerves when that happened.
He didn’t yet know what is was but something was definitely fishy about this entire situation. A level 8 Esper had gone rouge and only he had been sent to deal with the problem. With a level 8 Esper only another equally powerful Esper should be able to handle it. Normally one of the Vice Presidents or the President himself would make a person appearance to deal with it, possible even multiple of them.
Instead it was just him, no not just him. He knew there were other Espers here as well, although he didn’t know how many or how powerful they were. That man, Svenn, was almost certainly an Esper and probably quite strong. A level 5 maybe. Nothing that Wade wasn’t capable of handling, although now knowing what Svenn’s power was could mean trouble if Wade was surprised.
A security guard was approaching him. “Enforcer Wade, I have bad news. The Phantom Thief Rose managed to escape from under tight guard and we have yet to recapture her.”
Wade ground his teeth. Things were going from bad to worse. Lynn could start making a move at any moment and now the Phantom Thief had escaped. “Tell me everything that happened?” Said Wade in impatience.
The security guard explained the situation, both Rose’s escape and how Inspector Grim was beginning to take charge of the search for Rose. Wade nodded as he listened. The looked up at the officer, if he remembered right this officer should be trustworthy. “I need you to do something for me. I want you to go report directly to Svenn and help him however you can. However I want you to keep an eye on him. If he does anything strange come and report directly to me about it.”
The guard nodded but asked, “Do you not trust Svenn, do you think he is in league with the Phantom Thief?”
“Not exactly but something is wrong about this entire operation. Something strange is happening and I don’t like the smell of it. The way things are currently looking the University Security force and the Student Counsel is going to take the brunt of whatever is going to happen. I want to make sure that doesn’t happen. Now remember, take care and report anything strange to me.”
The officer nodded and began heading off. Wade didn’t waste any time and began heading toward the security station for the Reactor. If there was a place where they could be caused the most damage it would be there.