Chapter 188: Forces At Work Part 1

That same night as many events were unfolding, another situation began to arise, right within Gotham.

Rose had been investigating any students who posed a potential threat to the foundation of the academy and thus far her case had lead her to doing extensive background checks and history.

However her current case was a rather odd one. It had her lead her back to the Ark academies themselves, or to be more precise it's outer areas.

She stood atop a building not too far away from the Ark Academies's dormitories with a type of binocular in hand.

"Let's see what we have here." She muttered as she brought the device to her one functional eye and looked through it.

It was then that she saw a close up of the many lit windows of the student dorms. However given the fact that Arias had built the Ark Academies to be incredibly secure, she could see nothing clearly.

'What a pain in the ass, maybe I should just ask the boss to-' Quickly lowering the binocular in irritation, she was about to think of alternatives when all of a sudden, something caught her eye.

"Well, well, guess it won't be such a boring night." A smile flashed across her face as she saw a dark sedan driving along the road near the wall.

That on its own wasn't strange but the car's speed did arouse a sense of suspicion within her. Her gut feeling would soon prove right as the car screeched to stop and the two front doors swung open.

Seeing this, she raised her binocular again and looked through it to see who was coming out, and found it to be two older looking men, with very strange appearances.

That alone didn't cause her to act and she continued to watch as they both looked up, clearly towards the dormitory building on the other side of the wall.

'Are they staking the place out?' Rose thought, having seen no gear, she quickly assumed that these two were just some wannabe meta-traffickers who wanted to kidnap a child. Stupid yes, but not impossible.

Her suspicion though was quickly shattered when one of the two men jumped off the ground and onto the wall, clinging to it like a sort of lizard.

'What the fuck? How come the sensors didn't pick them up?' Rose questioned oddly, having deep knowledge of the security that surrounded the Ark Academies.

Among the measures were sensors that could detect the use of meta-human abilities nearby, which would in turn alert the on campus security force.

But here, right in front of her eyes, an unknown man was about to break into the academy. Their security had been compromised. She knew it wasn't impossible to break through, but didn't expect to do it so easily.

'Dammit.' With this new variable, Rose couldn't decide the outcome herself. So she quickly lowered her binocular and reached for her satellite phone, still keeping an eye on the vehicle and the lone man standing beside it now.

Within a view seconds, her phone connected.

[ Yes?] Arias's impatient voice resonated from it, he too was in the midst of dealing with the problem that had risen mere hours ago.

Rose didn't mind the tone and just reported her findings. "…and if I don't act now, it's more than likely they'll manage to snag what they came for."

Hearing the description of the situation, Arias remembered encountering such an odd pair before but he couldn't be sure, so he asked. [ Which child are you currently investigating?]

"Rachel Roth, everything about her was off. Forged birth records, no family tree, more than 10 years of unregistered information, it's like she didn't exist until not too long ago. I was planning to stake out her room when this happened." Rose quickly explained, shedding light on Arias's suspicions.

[ So there is a connection, I see. Alright then, for now, I need you to let them accomplish their goal, then observe and track the vehicle. You're free to employ the use of on campus security forces, so ensure you don't lose them. We need to know just what is at play here.] Arias instructed, clearly and simply.

"Rodger that. And if the kid is in danger?" Rose inquired, seeking clarity for in case things went south.

[ As long as it's not fatal, allow it.]

"Copy that." Click~

With that final confirmation, Rose received her new orders and acting accordingly, immediately putting away her binocular and pulling over a duffel bag nearby.

'And people call me heartless.' She scoffed upon thinking of Arias's demeanor, but she had no qualms against.

A job was a job to her. And without wasting time, she unzipped the bag where numerous dissembled pieces of a rifle could be seen.

Keeping an eye on the vehicle, she began assembling it.

…

At the same time, in the opposite building, floor 66 of the girls section, Raven was making her way to the last room on that floor, room 66.

Her expression lacked joy and she looked devoid of any form of care as she nonchalantly walked into her room and let her bag drop off her shoulders.

The room carried a dark blue aesthetic, with many odd pieces of art and decor of a somewhat gothic nature.

She immediately walked over to what was supposed to be a study table turned altar of sorts and lit the candles on its sides.

She repeated this for all the candles in the room until finally stopping at the center of the room, where she just sat down cross legged and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath and falling into mediation.

'Control your emotions, control your emotions.' She whispered to herself inwardly, until her whispers became but a distant echo.

A small near ethereal glow now surrounded her figure as her body began to slightly hover above the ground.

Unbeknownst to her, at that same moment, a gloomy figure lurked right outside her window. The figure who had once been a man had slowly lost more and more of his features until he now resembled an otherworldly existence.

He or rather it, now had a dark crimson skin and the body that resembled an imp in demonic mythology. It soon stretched its claws to the window, and it's hand seemed to phase through it.

It's entire body soon silently slipped into the building, moving past the dark curtains and finally seeing Ravens figure, absorbed into meditation.

Upon seeing her, it raised an oddly shaped stone of sorts and slowly approached from behind. Once close it held the stone tightly its grip and caused a bright surge of red energy to erupt, striking at Raven's back.

"Ahh!!" Raven's body jolted up as she screamed in pain and confusion, feeling her whole body go numb before she collapsed to the ground.

Panic rose in her heart and before she could question anything, she saw the impish feet approach her head, along with a daunting voice.

"Kekeke, your father awaits you."