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Part Eleven

Inside the disciplinary office, Fred was seated at the head of the large table but there were a few added guest.

“When you said you wanted to meet me, I did not think you would invite others.”

Nick said as he took his seat at the end of the table.

Fred slid a black and white card down to Nick’s end of the table. Nick stopped the card with his hand and glanced it over.

It was an ID card, with his information on it.

“What is this?”

Nick asked.

He knew it was an ID card, but why was it given to him?

“I’m not going to beat around the bush, you’ve heard of that ‘Secret’ society that is on campus. Not like it is a big secret, you have been invited to join.”

Fred honestly told Nick.

Nick inspected the ID card, there was nothing strange about it. He set it down on the table and locked his fingers together.

“Why would I join? Is there any benefits?”

Cassandra who was standing by Fred opened her mouth, but Fred put his hand up letting her know not to say anything.

“Nick you skills as an EXO user are clearly far above that of your peers, there is no doubting that. However, do you think you’ll be able to progress if you only train on campus? From watching you, I believe I understand what you want. The Special Forces right?”

Fred asked.

“Yes.”

“Then you should not ask any questions and just accept the ID card.”

Fred responded.

Nick looked over the students that were in the room. All of them were not from the disciplinary committee, he saw a few golden badges, signifying they were from the student council.

Nick looked over at a beautiful young lady. He recalled that he met her at the entrance of the school gates.

She saw him glance in her direction and gave him a smile.

“I am only going to help you achieve your goal Nick, not send you down the wrong path. We all want the same thing as you, but we are taking a shortcut.”

Fred said as he glanced over at Iliana.

Iliana nodded her head as she received his gesture.

“I had a feeling we’d see each other again Nick. As Fred has said, we all have the same goal in mind. We operate under Director Campbell as an independent unit tasked to protect district four. From various ranks of mutated beast to foreign invaders, and a few other jobs.”

“Independent unit?”

Iliana gave a slight nod.

“We call ourselves ‘Shadow’, we do the same jobs as the special forces but on a much smaller scale. This unit was created to do the task they couldn’t do without being suspicious. It is also a form of training to prepare us, every academy has a unit like ‘Shadow’ that takes care of a district.”

Iliana explained to Nick.

“This unit just so happens to be made up of a mixture of Disciplinary Committee students and the Student Council members. No one would suspect you to have other activities going on when you are so busy during the day.”

Nick commented.

Nick thought about it for a second, this would only bring him closer to his goal. If it let him reach his goal faster, then so be it.

“Alright.”

A few members seated at the table let out a cold breath of air.

“Honestly, I thought it would take a little more than that. You all seemed so suspicious when I joined.”

One of the members spoke up.

The doors to the Disciplinary Committee opened up.

Nick turned his head and spotted a middle-aged woman with long black hair tied in the back. She was dressed in a black and red striped uniform, with a rapier at her side.

Her black eyes swept over the table and stopped when they saw Nick.

She walked over to him and leaned over a little.

Nick could not help but look at her chest before he looked into her eyes.

“Like what you saw?”

She asked him in a cold tone.

“A little too big for my taste, but yeah they are nice.”

Nick responded to her.

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She grinned.

“You sure are his kid. Except for your hair, yours is much nicer than his. However, stare at my chest again and you’ll find yourself without eyesight.”

She leaned back up and stood straight.

“Fred, he’ll be assigned to squad four.”

Darren who clicked his tongue, causing the woman to shoot a glare in his direction.

“Got something to say?”

Seeing as how Darren did not utter a word, she took it as a no.

“Dir. Campbell, what brings you here in person?”

Iliana asked curiously.

Dir. Campbell was in charge of ‘Shadow’ and all of the missions they accepted. She strived to achieve perfection but failed short.

As a director, she has proved herself to her country and superiors, but she did not want to walk down this path. Talking to generals, officers, the president, and other high ranking officials was not something she wanted to do. She would rather be sent into the field like her comrades.

Usually, she never leaves the office for anything unless they were off of work.

“It is a nice change of scenery. I wanted to see the new recruit in person since I've heard some things about him. You are all dismissed, except you Nick.”

All of the students were confused, especially some of the Disciplinary Committee members. This is where they worked, how could she just throw them out?

She was in charge of them, so they made haste and left the room.

It was weird for her to suddenly dismiss them without any reason. It was even rare for her to show her face in public. None of them questioned her but they gave her a strange glance before they left.

Multiple questions popped into their head.

Once the room was cleared out, Dir. Campbell sat on the table.

“I’m curious Nick Wilson, I've read over your files but I want to hear it from you. Are you able to use ‘Manifest’?”

She questioned him as she analyzed his face.

She had her eyes on Nick for a while now, even before he came to this academy. She might not have been able to get her hands on him if he attended another school, but she was in luck. As Nick came here and was placed in district four which was under her watch.

Nick studied her black eyes.

“He may be my father, but that does not mean I inherited his ability. You should know that not every child has the same EXO as their parents.”

Nick’s father who barely came into his life was the cause of this. Nick’s father’s family had strong genes compared to ordinary families. This could be due to the ability called ‘Manifest’ that they all have, but he was not too sure about it.

Almost every child that was born in that family had the EXO ability called ‘Manifest’. It could be considered rare but how powerful it truly was depended on the person using it.

Nick only saw one other person use it, and when they did someone died.

Dir. Campbell laughed.

“Who are you trying to fool, we both know that the guardian families genes are quite strong. The chances of you not having ‘Manifest’ is less than ten percent. There is no need to hide it, as I already know you are able to. I just wanted to know how you would react.”

Dir. Campbell saw the confused look in Nick’s eyes. It was understandable as the people who knew about his ability were limited. He himself has probably only told one or two people. He never saw her, so how could she know about his ability.

Dir. Campbell decided to clear things up for him.

“Furuta-sensei or my little sister, your teacher informed me. Don’t worry about the last names, we have different mothers.”

Nick seemed to relax himself.

“What do you want?”

He questioned her.

There was no reason for her to bring ‘Manifest’ up unless she wanted something.

“I’m just curious about the strongest EXO ability. You should know, a person that awakens two EXO abilities has a greater chance to overflow than a person who awakens one EXO ability. What does not change is the amount of essence they hold in their body. You, however, have what, three times the average amount a person your age should have?”

“What does that have to do with anything? If you are just going to ask me questions, then I see no point of me staying here.”

“Fine, let’s talk about something else. Like the role, you will play in the upcoming events.”

“The freshman competition?”

Dir. Campbell nodded her head at Nick’s question.

“That's right, so far only a few people have been keeping tabs on you. Currently, there are more individuals who they believe will be outstanding.”

Nick gave her a light smile.

“I was already planning on taking the crown. With people as skilled as Arthur around, I don’t have much to worry about.”

“Arthur? Oh, that guy. I was not worried about him, he uses his mother's name to make himself look better. Sad for him, being thrown out of the Wells family before he was even born.”

Dir. Campbell commented as she recalled who Arthur was.

“Wells family?”

Nick laughed a bit.

“No wonder he looks down on others. They are one of the ten families. You said he was thrown out before he was born? Why was that?”

Dir. Campbell shook her head.

What the Wells did was their own personal business, she had no right to talk about it with others. She already said too much mentioning that he was thrown out of the family.

“We are not here to get sidetracked, Nick. While they may pay attention to him, there are two more individuals that came into the school. I want you to monitor them if you know what I mean.”

Nick was still thinking about Arthur's circumstances when Dir. Campbell told him to monitor those two people. Nick wanted to know what really happened in the Wells family for him to get thrown out.

“What is so special about these two?”

Hearing Nick say that, Dir. Campbell could not help but have a grin on her face.

“One, they are keeping a low profile. They act normal but they are not. Alex Brown for one. His uncle is a member of Frost and his brother was a member until recently.”

“With two members of the family already being members, you believe that he is also a member. Why let him onto the campus then? I do not get the way that you people think.”

Nick told her.

How could an academy allow terrorist to enter their school grounds? That was just calling for a disaster.

“When they are within your palm they are easier to monitor.”

Dir. Campbell responded to him.

“Have you noticed anything strange that is happening on campus?”

She asked him.

Nick thought about it, then he remembered something.

“Now that I think about it, when I go for my nightly run there is this person that wearing sweats and a long sleeve shirt. I’ve seen them a few times but I did not think about it much until now.”

“Nick, what does that have to do with this?”

“I did not finish. I usually get back to the dorm close to midnight, and I've spotted them coming out around the same time. That would not be strange, but I've smelt ‘Crow’ on them.”

“Really?”

Nick nodded.

“That is strange. Crow is concentrated essence that is in a liquid form mixed with other chemicals. It can be used for a few things. Why haven’t you brought this up?”

“Honestly, I was not bothered by it. Finding out what others are up to is not in my current job description and it does not benefit me in any way.”

Dir. Campbell rolled her eyes at his response.

“And who is the other one?”

Nick asked her.

“James Alexander.”

Nick raised his eyebrow, he knew that guy.