Steepling her fingers Professor Yamato looked across the table at Katherine with her slate grey eyes. There was no concern for her wellbeing to be found in her gaze. Nor was there any malice. The professor looked at her with the same neutral expression she had seen on her face when grading tests.

‘Miss Yamashita, I appreciate that you have had a trying day so far. However, there are certain procedures that must be followed up on after an incident such as this. With that in mind would you care to explain to me, in your own words, what occurred today and the reason why it happened’.

Again, the professor’s words sounded like a request, but her tone made it clear that it was a command.

‘Y-yes’

She yelped in an undignified manner. Katherine took a breath to steady her nerves and loosened the vice like grip of her hands on the arm rests of the chair she was on. She hadn’t realised she had been doing that until she registered the pain in her fingertips from how tightly they were digging in. Whatever was going to happen would happen. Katherine didn’t think that anything she said would change the professors mind at this point, so all she could do was attempt to be as calm and professional as possible. If she was lucky the professor might be willing to settle for docking some credits from her classes and a temporary suspension.

‘Yes, Professor Yamato. At approximately twelve o’clock today I was entering the district of Redmond in the Seattle metroplex, also known as “the barrens”, I was accosted by an armed group of ganger – I mean gang members who eventually chased me down and captured me’.

It wasn’t easy to talk about the traumatic experience, it had only happened a few hours earlier. But Katherine tried to envision it as having happened to someone else, like it was a film or novel and she was only recounting it to someone else.

‘In the process of capturing me they removed and destroyed my commlink and the equipment given to me with the tracing technology and inbuilt panic button installed in them. This left me… unable to call for assistance or alert anyone… Immediately prior to my capture I contacted…’.

Katherine faltered. How much was she willing to tell the professor? What could she reveal about her relationship with Pedro? What could she call him?

‘– I made contact with a… an asset I developed during my time in Redmond’.

Referring to Pedro as an “asset” left a dirty taste in her mouth and felt disrespectful towards him. But the less the professor or anyone else in U-Dub knew about Pedro and Kenda the better it would be for everyone. She was protecting them just as much as she was protecting herself Katherine told herself.

‘I was rendered unconscious and transported to a location controlled by the gang. When I awoke, I was fully restrained and had a mage-hood over my head preventing me from making use of my magical abilities’.

Her fingers were digging into the armrests of the chair again as she thought about being trapped in that room. Not knowing where she was or what was going to happen to her. No. Katherine filled her lungs with a deep breath of clean, filtered air and forced herself to disassociate herself from what happened. She wasn’t trapped in that room anymore, she was far away, unbound and safe. No bindings or hood on her. The gangers all dead and no threat to anyone now.

‘After an… undetermined amount of time I heard a disturbance from outside of where I was being held. Shortly afterwards I was rescu–recovered by the… assets I had called upon earlier. As we were leaving, we encountered the shadowrunner team that the university had called on to recover and escort me back here to campus. I willingly left with the team and now sit before you’.

From the way Katherine had presented the day’s events she had done nothing wrong and had done the best she could have in a bad situation. It wasn’t likely that the professor would fully accept her explanation, Katherine knew that there were holes in her story that could be easily torn apart, but it was the best she could do in such circumstances. If she was lucky the university might be happy to just consider the day’s events resolved and move one.

‘Hmm, I see. And do you have any idea what caused this turn of events to take place?’.

Luck was not on her side. But Katherine Yamashita had no intention of being made a scapegoat.

‘Yes! The fact that the ganger – the gang members knew what route I was taking to enter Redmond, combined with the fact that they were aware of the tracking equipment on my person suggests that they had pre-existing knowledge of me. That they had specialist equipment such as a mage-hood on hand as well supports this supposition. More importantly, as I never disclosed to anyone in the barre – I mean Redmond, that I had such tracking equipment, and that it was sufficiently advanced enough to go undetected would seem to indicate that someone from the university informed them about me!’.

This was it, her best shot for walking away with some semblance of a future at the university left intact. If Katherine could convince the professor that she had enough circumstantial evidence to put the university in a bad light, then they might be willing to overlook her own indiscretions to preserve their own reputation. It wasn’t much, but it was the only hand she had to play in this game.

‘I was kidnapped but left relatively unharmed and kept secure. That would suggest that I was captured for a specific purpose, perhaps for ransom or as a hostage. If someone in the faculty was involved in such a criminal act, then I imagine that it would bring a great deal of shame to the institution that is the University of Washington along with causing significant damage to its reputation…’

A smirk formed in the corner of Katherine’s mouth despite everything that had happened to her. In this moment she felt the thrill of being in a position of power and after feeling so impotent during her capture she felt drunk off the sensation.

‘Of course, as the university provided a team to eventually recover me, and I am unharmed I would be willing to accept what happened and move on from it. As I hope the university would as well’.

Looking across the table Katherine had expected to see some reaction from Professor Yamato. Fear, shock, frustration, anger, offence, something from her. The professor remained impassive though, her face as cold and hard as marble. It annoyed her to not be taken seriously, but more than that she felt intimidated despite herself. There was something about Professor Yamato’s demeanour that made Katherine feel like a lamb before a tiger.

The professor stared at her from across the table. She didn’t say anything. Didn’t move a muscle. No hint of emotion on her face. Katherine’s mouth felt dry, and she realised that she had been holding her breath. She realised it in a faint gasp at which point the professor chose to speak.

‘I see. Not an unreasonable assumption to make based off the evidence you have before you. But I must highlight a question that I suspect you must be aware anyone whom you present your case before will bring up. What were you doing in the Redmond barrens Miss Yamashita?’.

‘I-I was conducting research for – ‘.

‘That project concluded several months ago now, and your work was noted as the best produced by it. But there was no reason for you to continue your excursions to the Redmond barrens anymore now, was there?’.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

‘If you bothered to do any basic research on me you’d realise that my thesis is based off of my studies in Redmond. I was going back there for additional material!’.

‘Ah yes, your thesis’.

With a slight gesticulation of the professors hand the dark marble table burst into light, catching Katherine off guard and making her flinch. She quickly regretted the show of weakness as she realised that what she had thought was a table of black marble was in fact an advanced display device. The regret swiftly turned to shock as she saw that the table now showed pages of text, her thesis. That alone wasn’t something to be concerned with, she had already handed in some parts of it for assessment and advice, but what was being shown on the table was the completed document. She had kept that secured on a data storage device which she kept hidden away in a safe in her bedroom when she wasn’t working on it. There wasn’t even a copy of it on her commlink.

‘I understand that you are still in the editing process of it, but I admit that your work shows merit. Although I personally believe your choice of language is rather overly romantic and flowery’.

‘I-I, t-that… You have no right to access this! I – This is my personal property, I never handed it over to the University! H-how did you get this?!’.

Katherine picked up a hint of an expression from the professor in response to her panicked questioning. The tiniest of twitches at the corner of her mouth, a slight lean forward, a gleam in her eyes. She was enjoying this, her discomfort, her confusion. And more than that Katherine got the impression that this wasn’t the first time the professor had been in such a position. She was too natural, too much at ease with everything, not just with the environment or the situation but with her own responses as well. She didn’t know what was happening, but she sensed that it was all according to Professor Yamato’s will.

‘I have my methods and the authority to use them as I see fit, as I did in this case. I judged it necessary to assess how your work was progressing. As I said it shows merit, but a closer examination of it reveals the core reason for why today’s events occurred the way that they did’.

‘And… what is the real reason then?’.

She was resigned to the fact that Professor Yamato was in control of whatever was proceeding, all she could do was see where she took her and hope that she would be walking away intact afterwards.

‘The reason is, that you allowed yourself to become compromised emotionally, overly invested in the lives of the people with which you were interacting with. Had you recognised that and pulled back from your excursions into the Redmond barrens today would have gone very differently for you’.

‘I, I needed to keep going there. I needed to keep accumulating more data for my thesis, to find more variables to explore. I wasn’t playing around out there I was doing work. You can see it here!’.

The table flashed once more and the pages of her thesis disappeared, replaced with a series of candid photos of Kay in Redmond. Her and Kenda hanging out at the Tarnished Gold, her and Pedro trying out graffiti art for the first time, her helping treat a person’s burns after a ganger threw a Molotov in a crowed street, Pedro trying to teach her how to fire a gun, Pedro successfully teaching her how to throw a stun bolt, her first kiss with him. The pictures went on and on each one further destroying the lie she had told the professor.

‘I, I can explain…’.

‘There is no need to. Your activities in the Redmond barrens have been well documented. The tracers you were equipped with were only one precaution that was taken to ensure your wellbeing. The team of shadowrunners being kept on retainer was another. You have also been under regular surveillance each time you entered Redmond; it is rather impressive the camera quality on modern drones now, isn’t it? Almost as impressive as how small and innocuous they can seem, or how far away they can be when taking recordings’.

At that, the still images began to move showing scenes playing out and leaving no room for any deceptions. Katherine slumped into her seat, totally outmanoeuvred by the professor. There was no way she would be able to talk her way out of punishment. Expulsion was more than likely now; the university could even feasibly accuse her of abusing resources gained under false pretences and file criminal charges against her.

‘I will not deny that you have found some interesting information and proven yourself to be a competent researcher through your excursions. But. The time for them was long past before today. You chose to continue going back there and interacting with the contacts you made, putting yourself at risk and neglecting your studies at the university’.

‘A-my grades haven’t been slipping! And you just said that my thesis was promising!’.

‘Yes, you have managed to maintain your grades despite your continued trips to the Redmond barrens. But this is a learning institute, you are expected to show growth and improvement during your time here, not stagnancy. And although your thesis does look promising it is not good enough to justify the lengths you have undertaken to develop it. Were you more professional, it would no doubt be a superior piece of work’.

Everything was falling apart. Her life in Redmond was over, her academic future was teetering on ruin, and when MCT discovered how she had squandered her chance at the university she would be lucky if she could get a job cleaning toilets in the megacorporation that she was born into.

Then a thought crossed Katherine’s mind. A flash of realisation that brought only more questions. She looked Professor Yamato in the eye, the old woman inscrutable as she was commanding.

‘Wait… If you had me under surveillance the entire time I was in Redmond then, then you would have saw me getting kidnapped. You could have had your drones follow me! You could have rescued me before the gangers even got me to their hideout! W-why, why did you leave me to them? Why did the ‘runner team you hired to get me take so long in finding me?’.

Katherine wasn’t being accusatory in her tone, she was genuinely confused about what had happened. Why would the shadowrunners not be told her location if they were meant to recover her? She could understand it if there were some failures to communicate between them and the university, but from what she’d seen of Professor Yamato she doubted such a thing could have happened under her watch. And if the university hadn’t cared about recovering her then why hire the ‘runners at all. Kay was missing some key information, but she couldn’t think of what it could be.

Professor Yamato smiled at her. It was the first time since she had entered the room that she had made any clear expression without any attempt at hiding it. She smiled at Katherine in the manner she had seen the professor smile when a student in one of her lectures asked a particularly insightful question.

‘Yes, I imagine that it is rather puzzling behaviour from your perspective. But it was necessary for what I sought to achieve. You see I am an educator, but over the years I have found that the greatest learning method is first-hand experience that I am often unable to provide. That was one of the reasons that I proposed the initial project that led you to the Redmond barrens. And when I recognised the signs of your over investment in the barrens, I judged it appropriate to take measures to ensure that you realised your error’.

‘Y-you let them kidnap me? To teach me a lesson?’.

Disbelief dripped from Katherine’s voice. How could anyone do that to a person, let alone a teacher to their student. It was insane, psychotic behaviour.

‘No Miss Yamashita, I did not let the Nitro Mizuchi kidnap you. I arranged for them to kidnap you’.

The professor said it matter of flatly, no gloating or browbeating. She spoke as she did when giving a lecture in psychology when telling her that she was the one who had orchestrated the most terrifying experience of her life. Katherine couldn’t find it in herself to even be angry so overcome with shock as she was.

Who was the woman before her?

Delivering an intimidating assessment was one thing, but what Professor Yamato was confessing to amounted to multiple crimes. If she was being honest then she would be just as likely to be punished by the University of Washington as she was. And if she was telling the truth then how on earth was she able to hire a barrens street gang to do her dirty work?

She took a furtive glance towards the door several meters behind her. If she made a break for it she could run away before the professor could react. After that… she wasn’t sure what she would do. But it was becoming increasingly clear that Professor Yamato was a dangerous person who could destroy Katherine easily if she wanted to; being alone with her anymore was not something she wanted.

‘By all means leave. The door is unlocked. If you want to go you are free to. And you can prepare to deal with the disciplinary committee that will be assembled to determine the punishment appropriate for your actions’.

Katherine was about to open her mouth and protest. Argue that the professor was guilty of at least as much if not worse than she was. But she remained mute. If the professor had done all she claimed and was willing to freely reveal it to Katherine, then she undoubtedly had covered her tracks well enough to not fear investigation. Professor Yamato seemed to pick up on this and gave another subtle smile as she carried on.

‘Or, you can stay here longer, come to understand the reasoning behind my actions, and perhaps hear out a proposal I have for you’.