It laughable how easily an underdressed, soft-spoken girl can get anything she asks for. I entertained an eager white knight for a while in his dorm, attention never straying from the window.
The sworn swords were abuzz, but there was no telling what they were up to. Enlisted men kept eerily quiet. Nobody was harassed, no room-by-room checks executed. As a claimant to the General's mantle in the east, he was well within his right to turn this whole place upside-down looking for a hired gun. Campus security would love to get in on that action, too. Perhaps, even the government at large.
Maybe they were reinforcing the exits? And then the other shoe would drop. I needed to get out of here. Sitting right under their noses was fun, but unproductive.
I clumsily put my gentleman caller to sleep. Killing a loose end would be preferable, but I didn't feel like making an even bigger mess. They already knew how I looked, and thus far, the prideful brat seemed to keep the debacle as an in-house matter. Littering my trail with corpses would be counterproductive.
I could hide in the other maintenance shafts, but he'd expect that. Pretender to a throne could requisition the deep scanning tools. The machinery was even here, as no expense was spared to root out the invasive organisms from the concrete of this elite establishment. Some lucky hopefuls even got to study it once in a blue moon.
I may be overthinking it.
Since they were looking for a girl, it was beyond easy to throw off the pursuit. I had a male fall-back identity available. After all, nobody was after an actual, well-prepared killer. The fabled Assassin Order was more myth than reality. It would not be anyone's first assumption. Not after that massive flop I left smeared all over the dorm's wall. That stunk of a wild – and a deeply unfortunate – improvisation.
I stole some of the willing fool's clothes. Moved the implants from the cheeks to sit under the jawbone. Procedure was simple, but not pleasant. I had to cut the inside of my mouth with rusty scissors I'd found under the bed. Manoeuvring the grafts and making sure they stayed in the correct positions took longer than I wanted. All thanks to the ham-fisted, number-than-usual fingers.
I'd be swallowing blood for the foreseeable future, but the shape of my face was thinner and acceptably masculine now. I'll also have to be mindful of my expressions that would reinforce a sharp-featured impression, but maintaining some kind of front was a second nature to me.
I sorely missed the hair cream. The little, long critters would seal this transformation. I'll find it somewhere. Later. It was not an obscure item, even if illegal. Some vain bastard was bound to have it.
In the meantime, I lopped off the curls from my unconscious landlord and glued them around the hem of a cap. This would mask the chrome dome until I figure out something more permanent.
Erased all evidence I was ever here and stepped outside with a bag over my shoulder, pretending to be on my way to a lecture. Didn't take much, even if my situation necessitated a grand theft. This was less likely to end up in a report on someone's desk. I tried to avoid the cameras, but glass spies likely had caught the sight of me here regardless.
I wasn't worried. Having too much of data was a bane, too. Awful lot of screen time if one didn't know where to start looking.
"Hey, what's this?"
"Look there."
"No way!"
Noise forewarned me about a crowd outside. People gawked at an arena of sorts. The perimeter was marked off by the blackly dressed soldiers, whilst their fully armoured brethren flung battle axes at each other in the centre. The impotent campus security uneasily traipsed around.
I wanted to bolt, but that would catch unduly attention. Everyone stopped to gape. They thought it's some sort of spontaneous event, or at least free entertainment – right until the crowd got christened with a splash of red water. It was a little too fierce of a display. The onlookers realised they have been observing a match to the death.
"This shouldn't be happening," they whispered. "Not here."
Disembodied voices were correct. I was just as confused. The lordlings weren't the absolute rulers yet. They were firmly under someone's foot, somewhere in the middle of hierarchy at this point of their lives. Even on the school grounds, there had to be an officer of a higher standing. Perhaps he was Kalantan, too, or maybe he just choked on the morning coffee and decided to die rather than deal with this.
"Why don't they do this outside?"
It was a valid question. There was no need for this. Not when the gate was visible.
This government – an alliance of five distinct domains – hinged on promises, and an absolute safety in this school was one of those. Was this young despot crazy enough to scrap the order his own family was deeply invested in maintaining?
I had suspicion the four – now three – subjects of this roundabout execution were the guards I passed by. Amidst the swings of weapons meant to split skulls of gigantic fauna, I dared to peer up at this lunatic lord. Figure at the window ignored the battling completely. His head swung from side to side, scanning the crowd. He wasn't looking at me directly, but I bit down hard to stop my teeth for clattering anyway.
The seasoned warriors were well-matched. Nobody surrendered. More and more lifeblood got shed, but that only fuelled the fervour. These fighters had undoubtedly been handpicked to guard the hope of the future of humankind. Each one of them.
"They said at the start: one would be forgiven," the gossipers chatted on.
I'd have never guessed a single misstep would get these men so callously disposed of.
"For what?"
"Beats me, you go there and ask."
"Fuck off. What the hell though, this isn't normal. Is it on Kalanta?"
"Dunno, don't see a lot of people from there. They sure look like it is…"
"We should, like… tell somebody."
"Somebody did and security probably plans to choke the tattletales out later. Look at them."
The local police force was not even allowed proper weapons here. They were meant to herd around the toothless civilians.
"No, I mean, outside?"
I really wanted to go away and hide, but paradoxically being in plain sight was the furthest I could be from danger. Only the handful of gored kids have left, and I had no doubt they'd be looked into. This riveting spectacle was a multifaceted tool. Causing terror and subsequent submission was but one side to that coin. This was also a warning, if not an elaborate plot in its own.
"What do you think happened?"
"They musta fucked up something fierce."
"No shit."
But it wasn't that bad!
Perhaps I was being too self-centred. The longer I stood here, the less sure I got. The successor of the noble name could be much younger than his heavy voice implied. Little twit might be simply releasing frustrations. The nobleman did just have a rude interruption of his morning routine.
Whispers of shocked civilians were disrupted when the final head unceremoniously rolled away. There was no bellow or roar of triumph. Survivor fell to his knees. Whether out of relief, regret or injuries – was not yet clear.
Enlisted men began shifting away in a mesmerizingly smooth manner, finally opening a way for the campus security. They seemed unwilling to take part.
A spokesman decreed everyone to hear, "Private Deniso, you've slain three of your brothers-in-arms, and for that crime you are to submit to the judgement of public safety bureau."
"Yes, sir."
This was a hilarious, outrageous deviation from the truth. And yet, an ideal way for the lordling to shirk all responsibility.
If I wasn't at risk myself, I'd have relished in the reality-bending powers the select few possessed. Bloodcurdling, sure – but therefore even more effective. And this came from but a brat! He will undoubtedly grow up to be a fierce dictator. Not someone whose lands I'd ever want to venture into, but that family's brutal practises were unarguably efficient.
I, too, will become prominent like that.