The Luce Nera medics worked efficiently, loading the injured students onto stretchers.
Milo sat alone near the carrier and a medic tried to check her for injuries, but she didn't respond seem to respond or even notice.
Kenna was getting her arm bandaged, still talking despite the blood loss. "I'm fine, really. It's just a scratch. Well, more like a gash. Okay, maybe I need stitches."
Brick was unconscious but stable and jonas sat beside him with one hand on his shoulder.
Willy had his head wrapped and Wheeler perched protectively on his lap, a lot smaller now and quieter than usual.
Josephine refused treatment until everyone else had been seen to, despite her dislocated shoulder and obvious exhaustion.
Suzie was coordinating with the medics and documenting everything because if she stopped working she might have to process what had just happened.
Tamara sat up against a wall only this time she had a lollipop In her mouth.
One dead, five injured and another traumatized beyond immediate recovery.
The field assessment had become one to forget.
Huey stood apart from the others near the edge of the warehouse ruins.
Hailee approached him, her elegance in sharp contrast to the rubble around.
"Hermione contacted me the moment she lost communication with Riva," she said quietly. "And I mobilized immediately."
"You guys got here pretty fast." Said Huey.
"Clearly not fast enough." Her eyes swept the carnage. "Huey..... Someone died."
"I know."
"Do you?" Her voice had an edge now.
"Marco DiMarco was eighteen years old. She had a twin sister who's never going to be the same. This isn't some abstract case you solved."
Huey met her gaze. "I know who she was. I also know that without intervention, all those students would be dead right now."
Hailee's expression softened slightly. She sighed. "You're right. I'm sorry. I just...." She looked at the students being loaded onto the carrier. "I hate this part of the job."
"We foiled Riva's plan," Huey said, changing the subject. "But she's dead, so we can't question her."
"What happened?"
"I didn't account for her betraying Montez."
Huey begun explaining how the swap had worked perfectly.
"Hermione used her crest to dull Riva's senses under the guise of having a smoke while she took the real key and replaced it with the fake."
He paused.
"But apparently Riva had her own scheme running. She switched out the key, not knowing it was already a fake and hid it in her collar. She was planning to double-cross Montez from the start."
"For what purpose?"
"No idea. Selling it to a higher bidder? Using it as leverage with Arcanum? We'll never know now." Huey's jaw tightened. "When Montez discovered the fake, he happened to find the other one on her. They fought, he won and she died."
"Whatever it was Riva wanted to accomplish doesn't matter anymore."
Hailee was quiet for a moment, one hand on her chin and the other over her cleavage while processing. "How did you even get Riva assigned as your supervisor in the first place?"
Huey allowed himself a small smile. "Remember the Echo that spawned in the dorms and Calvin capturing it?"
"You released it?"
"I did. Then it got captured, taken to the labs for study and I used it."
"Used it how?"
"Echoes are made of energy. Specifically, the kind of energy that can interface with electronic systems if you know what you're doing." His eyes glowed faintly blue as he stuck his finger and it sparked slightly.
"I had it infiltrate the university database and reassign field assessment supervisors. Made sure Riva got our legion."
Hailee stared at him. "You hacked the university system using a Variant."
"Technically, Jazz hacked it."
"And Giacomo?"
"You asked me to create an opportunity to test if Riva was the mole. The Nexus Key was perfect bait. I had Jazz send Giacomo a memo suggesting that advanced student evaluations would require comprehensive data access. When Riva heard about it, she approached him herself."
"She took the bait?"
"She took the bait and insisted that she needed the key for Omega-potential assessments. Giacomo couldn't refuse once she dropped named dropped the head of the Arcanum."
Hailee shook her head slowly. "You orchestrated this entire thing. The Echo, the database hack, baiting Giacomo and planting the fake key."
"Everything except Riva's betrayal. That was her own greed."
"And it got her killed."
"It got Marco killed," Hailee corrected quietly.
"Riva made her choice. Unfortunately Marco DiMarco was just in the wrong place."
They stood in silence for a moment.
Then Hailee placed a hand on his shoulder. "You did good work today, little brother. You helped expose a corrupt Arcanum agent and prevented a larger disaster. You should be proud."
She paused after that, her expression softening .
"Huey, I won't lie that I'm not completely fine with how you do things."
Hailee squeezed his shoulder once, then released it. "But it's the path you've chosen to take. I'll make sure your involvement in this is kept to a minimum. As far as anyone knows, Riva was killed during an unexpected ambush and Luce Nera responded to the emergency."
"Thanks."
"You earned it. About the favor we agreed on..."
Huey had been waiting for this. "Change of plans, I need you to investigate someone."
"Who?"
"Marcus Chen."
Hailee's expression shifted slightly. "Why does that name sound familiar?"
"I don't know. But Montez knew it. He said I reminded him of an Achusoi he met named Marcus Chen. Said he was dead."
"You think it's somehow connected to father's case?"
"Maybe. Or maybe it's connected to me and what ever youre not telling me about the massacre that happened right months ago."
Huey's blue eyes met her green ones.
"Either way, I need to know who Marcus Chen was."
"I'll look into it."
"Discreetly."
"Always." She checked her comm. "I need to get back to the students. You coming?"
"In a minute."
Hailee nodded and walked toward the carrier.
Huey stood alone in the ruins and stared at the sky.
"Marcus Chen, why does that name sound so....."
His hand went to the golden cross necklace at his throat.
Three hundred kilometers away, Montez entered a room bathed in red light
A figure sat in the darkness, only the faint glow of a screen illuminating their features.
"Q," Montez said, placing the Nexus Key on the desk. "As requested."
"Finally." The figure reached for it, and accessed it's data
The info loaded on the screen, then..... "What is this?"
Montez leaned forward. "What do you mean?"
"This is a podcast about some stupid squirrel's eating habits."
"No, no I'm sure that's suppose the real Nexus key."
Q's voice was cold. "This is worthless."
"Riva must have"
"You already told me Riva tried to trick you. You said you caught her and took the real key from her collar."
Montez's stomach dropped. "I did, the data should be there"
"Did you even bother checking the data on the so called real key."
Q stood, and even in the shadows, their presence was oppressive.
"We needed that key, Montez. It contained information critical to our operations.
"I can get it back....."
"The streets will be crawling with Topplers out on the look for you."
Montez's mind went over every step.
The fight with Riva, recovering the other key from her collar.
Everything had been in order.
Unless...
That one Achusoi student with the unsettling blue eyes.
The one who'd started everything by claiming Riva was planning to betray him.
"The Achusoi," Montez said quietly.
"What?"
"There was a Crestless student. He's the one who told me about Riva's betrayal. He knew things he shouldn't have known."
"His name?"
"Cross. Huegen Cross."
Q was silent for a long moment.
Then, "Interesting."
"You know him?"
"I know of his family. The Cross bloodline." Q turned back to the screens. "If a Crestless Cross outsmarted you Montez, then the problem seems to be skill issue rather than anything else."
"What do you want me to do?"
"Nothing. For now." Q's fingers moved across the keyboard, pulling up files. "We'll need to revise our approach. But the boy's interference is noted."
"And Riva?"
"A loose end we've now severed." Said Q looking up at Montez "And I promise we'll be doing that alot."
Q pulled up another screen, showing surveillance footage from the rift site.
Frozen on the image was Huey's face and his blue eyes staring directly at the camera.
"Keep an eye on this one," Q said. "Anyone clever enough to manipulate both you and Riva is clever enough to be a problem."
"Understood."
Montez left with a frown on his face. The Achusoi had made him look like a fool.
That was unacceptable.
In the darkness, Q stared at Huey's frozen image.
"Who are you really, Huegen Cross?"
"Young master Quantico, you skipped your dinner again, you know you need your strength."
Johnny's voice cut through the brooding.
"Johnny boy, I told you not to interrupt me when I'm scheming. I will eat my dinner went I want to!!!!"