All of Team 57 were in Rikka's suite. Rikka and David were there as well, and they congregated in the living room.
"As you all know by now there's been a body found on the ship," Levi declared.
I had no idea, Ace thought. Maybe Levi was right, that I should try harder.
"Everyone is on lockdown inside their rooms until the intruder is found," he continued. "Our job is to find him before anyone else is hurt."
David looked them all up and down, not believing that they could handle the job.
"Rikka stays with me," he announced. "For once their threat is being followed through, so we need to make sure she stays safe." Rikka nodded quickly, no longer boisterous and exuberant but terrified for her life.
"You're all going out in groups of two," Levi declared. "We search the ship as quickly as possible. Don't hesitate or else you'll be dead."
They were all nervous. All of them had the idea in their head that their first mission would be easy, especially since Levi knew the person they got the job from. Nothing in life is ever truly easy if it were worth doing, and on that day they would learn this lesson the hard way.
They all split into groups of two, and Levi showed the places on the map they would all patrol to find the killer. Levi and John would be splitting up, checking suites for the assailant.
Ace went with Fenton, who once they were completely alone, did not hesitate to drill Ace with questions.
I better just get straight to the point, or else he'll try to stop me from reading him, Fenton thought. "
So," sighed Fenton . "You, uh. You and Levi? You guys are uh, were you guys like uh…" Fenton couldn't find the right words.
The very idea that the two people who had been bickering consistently for the past four years could get along, or even remotely be attracted to one another, baffled him.
Ace looked at him, already knowing that he knew, and immediately he started thinking of fruits. Fenton couldn't learn anything now, as images of oranges, peaches, and various nectarines flooded his mind.
"Stop that," Fenton hissed.
"Get out," Ace barked.
"There's nothing to hide," Fenton shouted.
"Don't shout," Ace whispered. "He'll leave if he hears us!"
They were now quiet, moving through the halls, remembering that there was actual danger, but Fenton was still preoccupied with knowing. He needed to know everything, about everybody, then got angry or upset when it was distressing or obscene.
He then didn't trust others, and had to keep reading their minds. It was a horrible positive feedback loop, further obscuring his mind, making him distrustful of even those closest to him.
The further they walked down the halls, the stranger it smelled.
"What is that," Fenton asked.
"It smells...familiar," Ace mumbled. "No idea what it is."
They followed the smell and turned right onto a corner. They found bodies. They were all crumpled to the ground, flattened as if they were pancakes. One of them was stuck on the ceiling, pierced through the chandelier, mouth agape, blood pouring onto the floor as he hung from it.
They stared in shock, taking in the scene around them.
The chandelier fell to the ground, and glass went everywhere. Blood splattered on the walls and the man's body made a loud crack as it hit the carpet. His head split wide open and more blood spilled forth onto the ground, soaking into the carpet. Fenton and Ace simply watched, silently, as it all happened, learning the source of the strange smell.
"We need to go back," Fenton whispered. "Now."
"We should just go around it," Ace mumbled. "We have to stop him, right?"
Fenton nodded, but he was trying to avert his gaze to the ground. "I… I don't want to," Fenton admitted. "I don't want to do this." Ace took him by the arm and they turned around, to get through the hallway by going through another route.
"If you don't want to do this, why did you sign up," Ace asked.
"I only joined for the free college," Fenton shouted. "I don't want to die!"
Fenton shivered. He was genuinely cold, after what he had seen, the sudden shock to his body making him salivate and his heart race.
"I don't want to die either," Ace agreed. "But we'll all be dead if we don't find him."
"What are we supposed to do," Fenton asked. "Levi didn't bring any guns because he thought it would be too much." Y
eah, that was stupid, Ace thought. But we would have thought it would be stupid if nothing happened as well.
They turned another corner, but this time, they saw all the doors to the suites were opened.
"Oh no," Ace whispered. "No, no, no." They went through the first couple of suites and no one was inside. "Did they run away," Ace asked. "Maybe they heard the noises from the hallway over there."
"That makes no sense. They're safer inside than outside the rooms."
"Where did they go," Ace asked.
He tried not to panic as they continued to search through the rooms, calling out, but no one could be found. "Maybe they took the emergency escape ships," Fenton suggested.
"That makes sense, but wouldn't they have just done that earlier, instead of hiding inside?" They looked down the hallway both ways, not knowing where to go or what to do next. "Let's just find them first," Ace decided.
Images of the bodies on the floor started to return to him and he tried to push them back out, but they were agressive, cascading continously, the smell still lingering in his nose.
The more I move the more I won't have to think about it, Ace told himself. Just don't think about it.
In the next hallway over, they saw a long trail of blood. It went to the hallway down the right, and it looked as if someone had been dragged. "We should call the others," Fenton mumbled. "This is a lot." They called the others on their radios, but no one answered. They tried different channels, but again, no one answered.
"It's probably just broken," Ace whispered.
"No it's not," Fenton barked. "They are dead! We're all going to-"
"No we're not," Ace snapped. "Just stay calm. Let's find the others first."
Fenton looked like he had eaten something foul. His mouth was stuck in a permanent pout, and he glared at Ace, hating that he was braver in this moment than himself.
They made their way down the hallway, with its singular long streak of blood, hoping that it would lead them to more people. Instead it just led to more questions.
The singular trail was now two trails of blood that went down both halls, and they looked down both, seeing nothing. "We can split up and meet back up here," Ace said.
"No," Fenton shouted. "This is clearly a trap!"
"It's not a trap," Ace argued. "If it was, why didn't they get us earlier with all those bodies." Fenton said nothing, still not believing that splitting was a good idea.
"Just use the phone if something happens," Ace hissed. "I'll come to you immediately."
"Fine," Fenton grunted. "This just makes no sense is all. How could one body split into two?"
"What if it was never one body," Ace asked.
"You're a genius," Fenton whispered. "There isn't one person doing this. It must be more than one. This happened way too fast."
" I know I am," Ace said smugly. "You all just never recognized my talent."
Hold on there Jethro, Fenton thought. Don't make any rash conclusions.
"Let's split up and come back here then", Ace insisted. "We have abilities, they most likely don't. We can handle it."
Fenton wasn't sure. He leered at Ace, trusting him less lately as the distance between them continued to grow. Does he just want me to not read him, and he's trying to avoid me, Fenton wondered.
That wasn't true, but Fenton was still fixated on getting answers than staying alive.
They split up, Ace to the left, Fenton to the right.