Days have past and it appears that everything went back to normal. Kitty went back to her label the after their mission to avoid any suspicions towards her, the explosion that they heard that night was confirmed to be from the Academy making half of it unusable which made some of the students go into home schooling/online learning and lastly, everyone agreed that it'll only be Zythandra and Calcipher to do missions outside the mansion. If they need help, the Professor will always be available.
"Hey, have you heard about the recent news?" Glass asked Reaper. It's the weekend and they haven't decided what to do yet so they are spending their time in the living area like the other Anomalies.
"What about it?" Reaper responded.
"It is said that the military caught another Anomaly earlier this week. I really wonder what happens to them after they caught. They're not publicly interviewed, their 'arrests' always end up to be violent and the military always claims that they're dangerous. To put it generally, we are dangerous." Glass explained.
"Can't argue with that. We can never deny that we are a threat." Beast butted in as he was sitting at the other side of the sofa.
"Can you spread your negativity elsewhere, man? I'm trying to be sentimental here and you're ruining it." Glass said in frustration.
"It is what it is." Beast responded.
"Anyway, I heard that they caught someone who can manipulate smoke." Reaper commented. "That's interesting."
"I think that was one of the few who were captured in Grand Britain. The Anomalies of the ones caught here in Noble Asia weren't disclosed yet." Glass corrected him. "But, I agree that the Anomaly's pretty neat."
"Hey, dudes! How's it going? Aren't the girls here yet?" Surge greeted them as he came in to the living area.
"Hey, guys! You're awfully quite today. Something happened?" Medusa asked as she and Pandora entered the living area as well.
"Hey, ladies! We're probably gloomy because we haven't seen you yet but now we're terrific!" Surge exclaimed.
"Hold your horses, Surge. I'm not in the mood with your busted charms." Medusa clapped back at Surge. Surge visibly toned down but got his spirits back up immediately.
"Have you guys heard?" Surge excitedly asked the group. "Kitty's label announced her next concert. Too bad we won't be able to attend again."
"Really? That's great!" Glass cheerfully said. "It's fine if we can't attend any of her personally. She understands. Also, we can watch live via the broadcast."
"Yeah, that's fair enough." Surge responded.
During the groups conversation Swift ran in the living area randomly announcing that Zythandra and Calcipher were asked by the Professor to see him in his office. Even though Glass, Pandora, Surge, Medusa and Reaper tried their best to hide their expressions, they eventually became obviously alerted. They knew that they were told to keep themselves out of anything dangerous but they couldn't help it.
"Guys, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Glass asked. Signaling that they need to know what's about to happen in the Professor's office.
"I don't." Beast responded. Although sounding uninterested, he feels that they're up to something uncalled for. "Whatever it is you're all thinking, stop it. Stop it before it becomes a drag."
"I know what we're about to do shouldn't be done but we're all part of it from the beginning. We can't just be cut off out of nowhere." Pandora said earnestly.
"I'm liking this attitude of yours, Pandora." Glass cheered her on.
"P, are you sure? I mean, I'm so down with whatever it is you're about to do as long as you're sure." Medusa commented worriedly.
"I am sure. Let's go. We need to go somewhere quite." Pandora said and the group left living area and went somewhere inside the mansion that's near the Professor's office but quite. They went to an unused storage room.
"Why am I dragged here with you all? Can I just relax in peace?" Beast was surprised as he was tagged along with the group.
"Less talking, more listening. Just go with the flow, man" Surge insisted as he was the one who grabbed him from where he was originally sitting.
"I told Surge to get you to come with us. I think you should be aware of what's happening." Pandora added.
"Yeah, man. You're one of the pioneers here so you should know everything that's happening." Glass said.
"Pioneers you say? Okay, fine. I understand if the pioneers who you are referring to are me, you, Pandora, Medusa, Surge and Kitty since we were the first ones to be in the Professor's care but, why Reaper?" Beast asked. "I mean he was the last one to live here together with Sprite." He added.
"Good question." Glass responded. "Maybe he's as old than us making him equally mature. I actually am not sure." He explained doubtfully then chuckled.
"Can we not get to the specifics? Reaper is a good guy like everyone else. Why can't we have him here right? Besides, he was already involved in the previous mission so we can't just bench him on this." Medusa strongly vouched for Reaper.
"I 100% agree with whatever stand Medusa has. She has my support all the way until the end of the earth." Surge agreed with Medusa not so subtly.
"Surge, we get your point. But it's a little too much." Medusa responded as she chuckled of his absurdity.
"Whatever. Do what you want." Beast commented.
"I really appreciate it, guys." Reaper thanked the group.
Pandora suddenly signaled everyone to shut up as she noticed that the Professor and their mentors are now talking about something important. Initially, they were talking about the updates of their studies and the Anomaly exercises but eventually the topic about the Coven finally surfaced. Pandora quickly linked her mind to the people in the office and to the people in the storage room so she can easily relay everything that's being talked about.
"Mentors, I received another ominous from the person who calls herself as Eve and the message is not so subtle." The Professor announced with a blank expression on his face.
"Should we let the kids hear this too, Professor. They already watched the first one. Why not let them watch this one?" Calcipher asked.
"Let's just watch it, Cal. We might see the answer to that question after we watched the video." Zythandra responded. The nodded in agreement then the Professor finally played the video.
"Hello again, Professor and friends. It's me, Eve." The familiar silhouette in the clip said. "I'll cut to the chase. I figured that you already met some of my Homunculi. Aren't they great?" She asked.
Aside from the Professor, everyone was surprised with what Eve asked. No one knows what that actually means. No one knows who or what this Eve person refers to as Homunculi. Everyone was confused as they signaled each other if anyone understands anything but obviously no one is familiar or at least a vague idea what that is. However, based on the Professor's reaction, he might know a thing or two about it.
"Let me guess,. You don't any idea what an Homunculus is, do you?" Eve said then laughed menacingly. "I'll let your Professor give you a general knowledge what that is. Professor, feel free to pause the video while you explain it."
The Professor did pause the video to take his time on explaining what a Homunculus is. He took his time to decide how he will inform them what it is but he eventually did. He explained that a Homunculus is a product of an Anomaly fused to body of a compatible non-Anomaly host. It turned out that the mentors are also aware that the Professor is over 3 centuries old and his errands throughout the years.
As per the Professor, no one has ever successfully detached an Anomaly to its original host to a non-Anomaly's body even if they seemed to be compatible since it only resorted to death by both. This practice was known in the field of research during the warring era to elevate the Anomaly force to another level but it was an utter failure at the time so it was ultimately scrapped. The Professor doesn't know if he'll feel excited about this breakthrough or he'll be terrified because it's obviously developed in the wrong hands. Who knows what they'll do it.
"Wait. If I'm getting this right, the Professor is saying that a Homunculus is a product of science and not actually born with an Anomaly just like us?" Glass asked.
"That's what I heard too." Medusa responded.
"This is melting my brain!" Surge complained.
"I knew this will be a drag sooner or later. I didn't expect it to be sooner." Beast muttered to himself.
"I think I know who are the Homunculi this Eve person talking about." Reaper said as he realized something.
"I think I do too. She's talking about Saoirse and her brother, right? Quintin is the name if I'm not mistaken."
"Yes, it's them. So that means, they are not born Anomalies but made to one." Reaper responded in disbelief.
"Wait, they're Anomalies too? I mean Homunculi?" Beast exclaimed in shock.
"Haven't we told you that yet? Yes, they are." Pandora confirmed. The group then went back to the Professor's and the mentors' conversation.
"To put it simply, Homunculi are alternative Anomalies. Not born, but made." Calcipher commented. Being a fellow scientist/researcher like the Professor, he understood the general idea.
"Well, that's unexpected." Zythandra said as she was slightly taken aback about what she just learned.
"It actually is unexpected. The research about Homunculi was only possible in theory at the time we were studying about it but we eventually scrapped as we deemed it to be too unattainable. However, it appears to be someone was successfully animated one. In this case, a number of them."
"Yeah, that bothered me as well. I know you already realized that this Eve person is talking about the ones we encountered at the military event a few days back but she said that they're just a few of them. Meaning, there are others." Zythandra pointed out.
"This is so bad. What should we do?" Calcipher wearily asked.
"Before we formulate our next action, I'll let you finish the video first." The Professor said.
As the video continues, Eve confirmed that the Homunculi she's referring to are Saoirse and Quintin which were not their real names either as she confirmed. She refers them as Jinx (Saoirse) and Void (Quintin). Based on what they witnessed in the military event and what Eve briefly explained their Anomalous Perks are very dangerous and it appears that the both of them has full control of them.
• Jinx = Anomalous Perk: Voodoo
• Void = Anomalous Perk: Shadow Ghouls
"I knew it! I knew those people are up to no good since I first saw them" Beast exclaimed. "I didn't buy the cheerful persona of that Saoirse woman or Jinx, whatever they call her, back at the Academy."
"I didn't notice at all. I really thought that Saoirse is the typical cheerful classmate but it turned out that she's not. On the other hand, Quintin was really good looking sick that time we saw him." Reaper recalled their encounters.
"For me, I didn't think ill of her back in the Academy as I didn't sense any malice from her or she's just good at hiding it that time but it's a different story for Quintin. I knew he has something sinister on his mind as soon as we introduced to each other but I didn't dig deeper as I assumed it's caused by his made up sickness." Pandora added.
"Oh no! I think I shared a lot already." Eve said acting to sound worried but it's obvious that she's faking it. "I'm just messing with you all. You know what? Just to be fair, since I do play fair if you're wondering, I give you a few more information so this game can be played in utmost excitement." She continued. "You know I already have all the profiles of everyone living under your care, right Professor? Let's call them our players. So, to make it an even playing field, I'll tell you the players on our side. Isn't that exciting?" She cheerfully added then laughed maniacally.
"Is this woman mad?" Zythandra growled as she becomes furious.
"This is a game for her? That's so messed up!" Calcipher shares the same thoughts as his colleague.
"On second thought!" Eve paused as she seemed to realize something. "I changed my mind. It'll ruin the surprise. That is still you live to see all of them." She said and laughed maniacally once again. "Let the game proceed, Professor Montgomery. Let the game proceed." She added then the video abruptly ended.
The entire office and the storage room where Pandora and the rest are crumped in were enveloped in silence as no one knows what to feel after everything that they've heard. Even the Professor couldn't express his thoughts in way that would still sound comforting as he always does in situations like this. The mentors were also tongue-tied. Pandora suddenly cut everyone's link to each other's mind then stormed off the storage room. Medusa then instinctively followed her out.
"Hey, where are you going? Aren't we going to address whatever it is that we heard?" Surge asked but he's obviously unclear of what to do or to say at that moment.
"Man, read the room. She's clearly upset about it. We can maybe talk about this later." Glass said then fetched Surge as they both leave the storage room. Beast quietly leaves as well.
Reaper was left alone in the storage room drowning in his thoughts. He couldn't believe everything that he learned. What seemed to be good friends turned out to be alternative Anomalies who wish them harm. Also, it's not just the two of them because it was confirmed that there's more of them out there. Although he doesn't to think about it but he couldn't help but imagine what will happen if all of Eve's Homunculi attack the mansion at once. He's sure that it'll become a bloodbath.
In the meantime, a conversation was finally raised in the office where the Professor and the mentors are still dumbfounded. An argument was raised once again about having the Anomalies living in the mansion are involved in this or not. One mentor supports this idea since they'll be needing manpower to this obvious provocation but the other refuses as their safety should be prioritized. Taking the enemies head on will be feeding everyone to their demise.
"Professor?" The mentors turned to the Professor for his insights.
"I know I opposed the kids to be involved in any Anomaly-related tasks but I'm bending that rule for now." The Professor claimed. "Times are changing. We all must change alongside it."
"We respect your stand about this matter, Professor." Zythandra commented.
"Please tell us what to do next, Professor." Calcipher requested.
"We will be slightly reforming our current curriculum. I'll be the one to teach how to actually control their Anomalies and help them improve." The Professor announced.
"I agree to that, Professor. Currently all we are teaching them about their Anomaly is its practical use but not actually control them." Zythandra said.
"I'm down with that too. Teaching those kids to use their Anomalies even though we're not Anomalies ourselves seemed kind of weird." Calcipher added.
"I hear your sentiments, mentors. But, I really appreciate your teachings despite our shortcomings. You may now focus on lectures and the combat training. I'll handle the Anomaly training." The Professor said confidently.
"I feel the sudden confidence to fight." Calcipher cheerfully said.
"I know what you mean but keep in mind that we're not training those kids to attack. We are training them to defend themselves and each other." Zythandra pointed out.
"Sorry, my bad. But, of course, that's our goal. No doubt about it." Calcipher responded. Their meeting adjourned shortly after.
During the day, the shock wasn't hid very well by those who heard Eve's message. Medusa and Pandora were aimlessly cleaning around as they help the others. Same goes with Glass and Surge, who were the ones who were tasked to tend the garden. The shock was also obvious in Beast and Reaper as they were cleaning the windows. After everyone is done with their chores and took a break, the Professor and the mentors instructed everyone to huddle up in the training room.
"Ladies and gentlemen, good job in helping us with the chores today as you always do." The Professor said as he welcomed everyone in.
"Kindly, follow the proper sitting arrangement. The Professor has something to say." Zythandra announced.
"Do what she says, boys and girls." Calcipher added.
"I won't take up a lot of your time. I'll cut to the chase." The Professor said. Reaper and the others already have an idea what this is all about. "I'll be overseeing your Anomaly training from now on." He announced which surprised everyone. Most were filled with excitement but Reaper and the others were confused as they were expecting a different thing.
"Wow! That's so exciting, Professor. We'll surely look forward to it." One Anomaly exclaimed.
"When will start teaching us, Professor?" Another asked.
"We'll take on this new curriculum as soon as possible." The Professor confirmed. "But, I really appreciate your mentors as they taught you the practical uses of your Anomalies and their combat potentials. We just thought that you're all ready to take on a different challenge." He added.
"You're all thinking what I'm thinking, right?" Pandora said as she suddenly made a link to the others who are with her in the storage room. As she have Glass, Surge and herself as her primary link as the two are closest to her.
"Yeah, I figured as much." Medusa confirmed.
"Wait. I don't follow. What am I missing?" Surge asked.
"Are you serious? They're practically preparing us for war at this point." Glass responded.
"Cool. We'll finally be included in some more action!" Surge exclaimed but not through his thoughts. He said it out loud making everyone else in the training room look at him including the Professor and their mentors.
"What an idiot." Beast muttered to himself.
"Are you busted in the head? We're just talking through Pandora's link. Shut your mouth." Glass scolded Surge.
"Sorry. I just got excited." Surge responded then Pandora instinctively cut their connections.
"I commend your enthusiasm, Surge. I hope that attitude can influence your colleagues." The Professor said as he looked at everyone who was tapping their conversation earlier that day.
The group went slightly panicked but they still tried their best to hide it. But, the Professor called them out one by one to ask if they have any concerns. Pandora, Glass, Beast, Medusa and Reaper don't have any choice but to stand up and to step forward. The Professor also called in Surge right after. The group was convinced that the Professor and their mentors got a wind of what they did earlier.
"You doesn't seem to be 100% in favor of this minor reform. Can we hear any of your feedbacks?" The Professor asked. "Your thoughts are important because except for Reaper, we can tell that you're our Pioneers." He added.
"I told you everyone sees us as the Pioneers." Glass whispered to Beast.
"Shut up, man. This is not a good time." Beast responded.
"Beast, any insights?" The Professor called out.
"Crap!" Beast he whispered under his breath. "I'm 100% supporting the idea, Professor. Being thought to use our Anomalies from non-Anomalies is not that productive in my opinion. Though there are results but they're not that compelling." He said in his usual monotone voice.
"We share the same thought, Beast. No hard feelings here." Calcipher said.
"Same here." Zythandra added.
"That's nice to hear. I assume that your colleagues share the same thoughts?" The Professor asked then looked at the others. Pandora, Medusa, Glass, Surge and Reaper just nodded in agreement. "Great! Because, I'll be assigning you now as our very own Student Council members." He announced then the training room was filled with cheers by other Anomalies.
"What in the world is happening here? P, do you have any idea what this is?" Medusa whispered to her friend as she tries to make fake smiles for the crowd.
"I don't have even the slightest of ideas." Pandora responded then the guys turned to her for answers as well.
"This is so different from we initially expected. What are we going to do?" Reaper asked in anguish.
"I knew this will be a drag sooner or later. I want to resign from this already." Beast commented.
"Whatever the Professor and the mentors are up to, please let me be the Student Council President." Glass said to the group.
"What? Have you done mad? You actually want to go with it?" Beast sarcastically said.
"I want to be the Vice President." Surge pitched in.
"No way! If P, doesn't want to be the President, I want her to be the Vice President." Medusa argued.
"Guys, we're putting ourselves away from our primary issues here." Reaper said.
"Now, I know you're elated about your delegation that you huddled up right away but you should probably do that later and give a little speech to your classmates." The Professor said while Calcipher is trying his best not to laugh out loud. On the other hand, Zythandra doesn't have any expression on her face as usual.
Since this are all so sudden specially the speech that the Professor asked for them to do, the group doesn't any other choice at the time but to go with Glass' proposal earlier. They pushed Glass forward for Presidency as long as he'll be the only one doing a speech. Even though Surge still wants to be the Vice President, Beast and Reaper stopped him from stepping forward then Medusa placed Pandora next to Glass making her the Vice President. Surge, Beast, Reaper and Medusa just stood beside them. Glass handled himself well with the speech later on even if it's impromptu.
"Let's give a round of applause to our Student Council!" The Professor said then it appears that he leading the group for a huge group hug but he quietly instructed them to see him in his office after this assembly.
As soon as the assembly ended, the Anomalies were instructed to go back to whatever their doing aside from the Student Council members. The Professor led the way alongside the mentors and the Student Council members as they all head toward the office. Everyone was filled with various emotions. It's as if that one wrong move can make this stored feelings burst. They all finally arrived at the office.
"Please, sit." The Professor said and the rest surely followed.
"Professor, I know there's more to whatever it is than you all told us earlier. Please tell us. The suspense is killing." Glass said.
"You're right. There's more to it than all of that." The Professor confirmed. He then instructed the mentors to play a certain video. It appears to be the same video they played earlier when they the three of them were the only ones in the office.
"Wait." Pandora said right after she made a link to everyone's thoughts. "We apologize, Professor. We already know what the contents of that specific video are." She announced which made the rest of them surprised.
"All of you?" Zythandra asked.
"Yes." Pandora answered softly.
"Wow! I mean how?" Calcipher asked as well.
"P, that was supposed to be a secret. We're so going to get punished." Medusa said.
"We're going to die today. Goodbye cruel world." Surge exaggerated.
"I anticipated you're going to do it." The Professor said. Instead getting upset of what they did, he actually sounded proud.
"You did?" Zythandra asked.
"I certainly did." The Professor confirmed.
"Wow! I mean how?" Calcipher asked as well.
"If you already knew what we'll do, why not show us the video altogether instead leaving us out?" Beast asked.
"Good question. But, I have a simple answer for that. I thought that you're not ready yet especially after what happened to the military event. We're fortunate that time that we avoided the worst." The Professor explained. "As I said, even though I had doubts, you will still do whatever it is you deem the right thing to do so I anticipated for you guys to do what you did. I don't know exactly how you did it but I'm certain that Pandora's Anomaly were utilized in that scheme of yours."
"That's right, Professor. You really do know us very well." Surge complimented the Professor.
"Why thank you. But having that said, I need to keep a closer eye on all of you. That's why your mentors and I came up with you being the Student Council members. We can't let your impulsiveness cause you or your colleagues' lives.. You must be guided." The Professor said in a serious tone. "You might think that you're all powerful but you're not. You only got lucky last time because you outnumbered the enemy but didn't actually got out from that situation totally unscathed." He added.
"I agree with the Professor. We actually figured that the more we restrict you to not do something, the more you are willing to risk all odds to do it." Zythandra said.
"Yeah. What they said." Calcipher added.
"Let's all have the agreement that we will share to you all the information we know and we will be gathering about the Coven or that Eve person as long as you're not doing anything independently or anything reckless." The Professor proposed and the others agreed with no hesitation. "One more thing, as the Student Council, I expect you to keep the peace to your fellow classmates and do not tell what we're dealing with in the outside world. We don't want them to panic."
"Agreed." Everyone said.
"Professor is it true that we're practically making ourselves an army against Eve and her Homunculi." Glass asked.
"I don't want to refer to us as an army. After all, I don't intend for us to fight an all-out war. I just want you guys to be able to defend yourselves and the others." The Professor confirmed.
"But it's inevitable that we'll be facing them anytime soon, right?" Beast asked.
"That's right so we must be prepared." The Professor said.
"I'm so ready for action! Don't worry, girls, I won't let anything bad happen to you." Surge said but this cheesiness of him triggered Medusa somehow so she suddenly covered his mouth to shut him up.
"Based on the videos that we discovered from this Eve person, isn't it possible that they already know our location and they're just waiting for the right time to strike. If that's the case, should we be moving to a different home?" Medusa asked as she continued to cover up Surges' mouth.
"That's a good thought, Medusa. However, those videos were not directly sent to us. Your mentor Calcipher was the one to discover them from the radio waves running across our Nation so it's highly unlikely for them to know where we are exactly. If they do, they could've attacked a long time ago." The Professor explained.
"That's right." Calcipher confirmed. "These radio waves seemed to be specifically engraved in the Nation's various stream lines so I decided to downlink them, decode them then convert them. The results were those videos." He added.
"That's so dope!" Surge exclaimed.
"So for the time being, we can safely say that they don't know where our exact location is." Zythadra said.
After their closing remarks they have decided to adjourn the meeting and go back to whatever it is that they were doing. The mentors were the first ones to leave the office as they were still doing some important paperwork. The newly appointed Student Council members followed with Reaper walking behind everyone else. As soon as everyone finally left the room, Reaper quietly closed the door leaving him and the Professor inside. It appears that Reaper is carrying a huge burden that needs to be taken care of.
"Professor?" Reaper called for the Professor's attention.
"Yes? Did you forget something?" The Professor responded.
"I just need a few advice. As you said before, don't hesitate to ask for help if I need one, right?"
"Precisely. Come on. Sit down. Let's talk it out."
"I'm struggling to process all of these, Professor. I have so many questions messing my mind right now. Like, why am I part of the Student Council? I'm not one of the Pioneers as you call Pandora and the others. What's going to happen about our search for Sprite's mother? Will that be suspended for the time being due to increasing danger from the enemies? Have you heard about my parents? I don't even know if they're still alive. Should I just accept that I won't see them again? These are all making me mad and I think I'm going to explode anytime soon."
"I could only imagine your take about all of these. Let's address your concerns slowly. But first, remember that everything we do here prioritizes everyone's safety."
"I understand."
"For you being part of the Student Council, I believe you remember the fact that you're one of the primary targets of our enemy as she declared it from the previous video. So, I decided to align you with the others to closely monitor you. Also, I see that you resonate with them well. I trust that you can keep each other safe especially you're other classmates. I see your potential in leading as well so I want that to be developed."
"I guess."
"Unfortunately, we will minimize the efforts of our search for Sprite's missing mother due to our current situation. I'll assign the search solely to your mentors once they have free schedules. We never know when the enemies will strike."
"I see."
"Lastly, I'm afraid we still don't have a wind about your parents. There's only one intel we gathered aside from them is the one you've told us before that they are scientists/researchers as well. We found their last assigned lab and your mentors and I made a few calls but they don't have any records of them being associated with them so we went back to square one. However, I assure you that we still doing our best to locate them. Also, don't lose hope with your parents. You'll meet them soon."