Since they bumped three teams out of the competition right away Darren's team were given the first spot in the overall tournament, and since then Darren had been catching students whispering about him when he passed by. "What's the deal? every time I walk by people start whispering to each other" he asked Anya, "Do you really have to ask?" she responded, "You went full on serial killer on those two teams and you didn't think people would talk?" He turned towards Ito who laughed "Apparently they are calling you The Wraith, or Reaper of Genetech now." Darren sighed, "I just thought putting some fear into them would make future teams think twice about carelessly assaulting our headquarters." "Well it worked, since our round every team that has gone into the preliminaries have been bring some kind of night vision optic" Anya stated.
Since their game Darren had been received way better by Dmitri, however Andre had treated him worse, he'd also felt like someone was following him, he'd feel like he's being stared at but no one was ever there when he turned around. "I heard you've earned yourself a new nickname" Aleksi laughed, Darren sighed "It's not that funny" "So who is to be the Wraith's next victim" Jeanne joked, "That's enough! focus on your training" Mr. Kozlov said glaring at Darren. Ito was helping Darren out with automatic weapons, despite his pinpoint accuracy with a rifle he didn't have the best aim with the kick of the rapid fire submachine guns. "Why are we still using these outdated weapons?" Anya asked, "The caliber is low and they haven't seen actual use in combat since the twenty one hundreds." "So the princess expects the school to supply its students with high powered laser cannons? or maybe the electrically charged rifles that can shoot a round through a few steel walls stacked together?" Mr. Kozlov said mockingly. "Anya, if we used modern weaponry the school would be spending a fortune replacing the equipment, as it is the ACM has to re-fabricate the training facility after our matches" Darren said. "That's why in typical training the virtual environment is used and the ACM constructs or de-constructs areas as its fed information by the system" he finished. "You were supposed to be the smart one" Mr. Kozlov mocked, Anya gave him a sour look before going back to her training, "Well either way the Academy is run by my father, he could easily afford the ammunition and repairs if it came down to it" she said.
Darren's skills with hacking had been coming along slowly, he had gotten to the point where he could manage basic door security, Mr. Semenov had taken a personal interest in him and had been spending a lot of the class personally coaching him on the stuff he struggled with. "No Darren, the easiest way to acquire a password is to search the registry for words that have been used on a recurring basis" Dmitri said. "Some buildings technical staff are smart enough to clean the registries after use, but when it comes to hacking laziness can be counted on" he finished, "So what do I do if the staff at a company isn't lazy though?" Darren asked. "When operatives are going after large companies they use software to try and log passwords, when that doesn't work they use bots with masked IP's or changing IP's to repeatedly feed potential passwords till they get in" Dmitri responded. "Another way is to find out the schedule of someone with access and replace their communicator with a cloned one, then you can track their movements, conversations, and day to day schedule."
"Ugh...so much information to take in" Darren complained, "Why has Mr. Semenov been glued to me lately, I'm not the only one struggling with the hacking aspect of espionage," "You're the perfect assassin that's why" Anya said. "The way you are now you'll always need a partner when taking out threats but if you were able to hack as an expert as well..." she continued to explain "Assassinations still happen?" Darren asked dumbfounded. "Of course they do, what do you think happens to corporate turncoats, these high end companies can't have their secrets being leaked to foreign interests" Anya replied. Despite being pre-occupied with classes and the tournament the five of them still had their student council duties to attend to and at the moment there was an issue at Genetech Academy.
"Now on to business, remember the last time we went to Siniy Mall?" Anya asked, "Ouis it was fun till the end when those hooligans showed up" Jeanne replied, "That was unsettling" Ito agreed. "Yes well at the time I thought they were after me for ransom since we showed up in my Dad's private transport, but lately first year students from our school have been going missing in the area" Anya said gravely. "That can't be a coincidence" Darren thought out loud, "You know when we were in the food court I coulda swore I saw that second year Feliks leaving" he said, "Second year?" Aleksi asked. "Yes, he kind of creeped me out when me and Darren saw him a while back" Ito said, "Ive seen him talking with first year girls quite often" Darren said, "He is that fellow that likes to wear black he has green eyes non?" Jeanne asked. "Feliks isn't a student here" Aleksi said turning pale, "How do you know?" Anya asked, "He was my older brother before I abandoned my family" Aleksi admitted, "He somehow snuck in the other day to ask me to assist with some business the family had planned." "The family....that sounds like they're part of the mafia" Darren laughed, Aleksi simply gave him a serious look, "They're not directly connected to the Russian Mafia, but they do have ties to them" he said. "Most families accepted to this academy are of elite status" Anya explained, "they're all from top families who are in positions of power in either Genetech are any number of other important companies." "Ransom then...?" Ito asked, "No, none of the families of the missing girls have been given any ransom demands yet, I'm thinking its something worse" Anya said somberly. "Trafficking" Aleksi said a grim expression on his face, "I warned Feliks to take off when he came to me fearing he was after something to that end." They left the conversation there for the time being knowing that things would be getting fairly difficult down the road, they'd have to go to the faculty with this information. However everything at Genetech Academy came back to the students so it was almost a guarantee the second or third years would be getting a new exam mission in the near future.
Darren and Ito were lost in thought as they walked back to the Dorms that evening when the ever smug Feliks approached them, next to him was none other then Jon as well, "Good evening Ms. Ito" Feliks said in what he thought was a charming tone. Jon scowled at Darren, but hadn't said anything, "Its funny, the student council was just having a discussion about you" Darren said leveling a glare in Feliks' direction. "How scary" he replied feigning fear, "I believe you've had dealings with my new friend here" he said casually motioning to Jon, "He said he has business with you so I came to walk Ito the rest of the way to the dorm building." "If we're to talk it will be after Ito is safely seen to her room" Darren shot back at him letting him know his little scheme wouldn't be working here. Feliks expression suddenly changed "You'll give me the girl or I'll have you killed right here" Feliks spat in Darren's direction, "Give it a try see how well it goes for you" Darren replied "You could ask your thugs what happens to people who get in my way" he finished. Jon suddenly lunged at Darren while Feliks reached for a weapon, before Feliks hand got anywhere near it though Ito pushed a taser into his side. Darren dodged out of the way and tripped up Jon with a swift kick to the back of his knee, he side glanced to see if Ito was okay, she was currently in the process of driving repeated kicks into the side of Feliks' head. Darren drove his foot into the center of Jon's chest knocking the wind out of him and pulled out the pistol the faculty had given to him and took aim. "If you try something like this again I will kill you" he said coldly, Jon sneered at him and Darren pulled the trigger putting a whole in the ground inches from Jon's neck, "Don't think I won't do it scumbag." Ito walked over after rendering Feliks unconscious and took Darren by the arm "He's not worth it" she said in a small voice, "Let's just go already."