Blood Bonds

Part 26 - Weeding Out the Liar

Cyanic greeted them in the main lobby as the trainees flooded back into the school. "Was there another attack?"

"Yes," Nutmeg replied grimly. She shot Whisper an apologetic smile. "I need to have a quick chat with the two in my office, then we can go find Eclipse."

Scarlet watched the Head Mistress leave with narrowed eyes before looking up as her sister approached her.

"Scarlie, were you in your office this morning?" The cyan hedgehog asked.

She gave her an odd look. "No, why?"

Cyanic leaned and whispered something into Scarlet's ear, and the dark hedgehog replied with a defiant, "Good."

"What's good?" Mighty inquired, wondering why the two sisters were suddenly casting suspicious glances after their Head Mistress.

"Let's... go to the library and check on Val and Batty." Cyanic suggested, suddenly tense as she brushed off the armadillo's question.

The darker of the two girls locked eyes with Sonic and Mighty, and an unspoken message passed between them. The blue blur nodded and gestured for Whisper to tag along.

The two Head Counselors they were looking for were lounged around the librarian's desk, both their focuses on the screen of Valorie's laptop. They both looked up when the doors of the library opened, and Batanna opened her mouth to greet them, before Cyanic cut her off.

"Who is the evil poptarts' ally?"

Sonic, Mighty, and Whisper all exchanged confused glances.

"Cockroaches." The two they were interrogating responded in unison without batting an eye.

"That just leaves Nutmeg..." Scarlet muttered under her breath.

"I'm sorry, but what's going on?" Whisper quietly spoke up, too bewildered to feel shy anymore.

Cyanic took charge. "We've got an imposter in the school. Val, can you call a lock-down? Batanna, stay with Val until it's done, then meet us at the Head Mistress' office."

The girls saluted them as the group briskly left the library.

"You mean... Mimic? He's here?" The wolf's soft voice trembled slightly.

"It seems so." The cyan hedgehog leading their group answered.

"Cy, you asked earlier if I was in my office this morning?" Her sister flanked her, looking imploringly at her fellow counselor. "Might I ask why?"

"Because someone who looked and talked exactly like you was in there, rummaging through your desk. Then that person was talking to Mr. Slick, seconds later, who seemed to be panicking about something."

"Why on earth would they be rooting around my office? Unless..." Scarlet patted her pockets, then nearly tripped.

"Woah, are you okay?" Sonic and the rest of the group paused as she began looking over herself frantically.

She looked up, wide-eyed, at her sister. "Cyanic, the emerald's gone."

"What do you mean gone-? He must've...! Pick up the pace, guys!"

They sprinted down the hall to the branch of the school housing the offices, even as Mighty asked what emerald they were talking about. They slid to a halt outside the door, and Cyanic politely knocked. There was no response. She yanked out a key chain and stuck the bright pink key into the lock, unlocking the door and swinging it open. The room was dark and empty.

"Oh, Chaos Blast it!" She cursed, then flipped on the lights and went inside.

"What are you doing? He could be making his escape!" Whisper exclaimed. Her trepidation only alarmed the others, but Cyanic shook her head.

"Nutty has access to the security cameras." The cyan hedgehog sat at the seat before the squirrel's computer and rested her hands on the keyboard, before spotting a little grey device with a white symbol marked on its center stuck in the machine. "...Check it out, it's a N.I.T.E.-standard flash drive."

"Yes, there's an overwhelming amount of evidence that he was here." Mighty commented. "So maybe hurry up and check the cameras?"

The hedgehog complied, her job far easier as the PC was already on and unlocked, and she pulled up the recordings of minutes prior to their entrance. They saw the pink squirrel split from the group, and head down the hall to her office. At the locked door, she met up with the two trainees, Juke and Mephiles, but instead of going in, they continued to head down the hall.

"Are they going to the janitor' closet?" Scarlet inquired. "There's nothing else there."

"There's no camera down that hallway." Cyanic muttered. "Maybe if we hurry, we can catch up."

They headed out of the office as a loud alarm began to blare.

"This school is on lockdown," a cool, feminine voice sounded on the loudspeakers. "Please remain in your current classroom until further notice. Keep all doors locked, and remember, please remain calm."

The alarm abruptly quieted, but it remained ongoing in the background as the two Head Counselors who triggered it caught up with the group.

"He's headed down to the janitor's closet." Cyanic instructed them. "Let's go!"

The group took at most three steps before the ground abruptly shook and an enormous crash could be heard in the distance.

"What the heck was that?" Valorie exclaimed as they ran down the hall.

"Beats me, but it sounded like it came from the library!" Scarlet called over her shoulder as she rocket-skated ahead of the group. "You and Batty should go check it out, though!"

"Aw, but we just got here," the fox groaned, then slowed and ran the opposite way. "Come on, Batanna! The library!"

Whisper grimaced as the Dark Arms swept around her, enjoying the excitement of a race. "I have a really bad feeling about this...!"