Spy School Extrasensory Perception

Chapter 12: ______

Couldn't think of a name for the chapter. :/

     Upon hearing this news, Axel left the zoom meeting and vanished. I thought this was a rather undignified exit, and he must've too because he came back only a couple seconds later to say that he needed to go for a variety of reasons.

     With Axel gone, I realized just how bizarre my predicament with him actually is. I am afraid of him, with his psionic abilities and his sometimes disturbing, sometimes charming mannerisms, yet we have also become what I would consider great friends. It made me question whether Axel was a criminal at all, but maybe that was what he wanted, and he was manipulating me.

     After Axel left, I made my way back to the classroom, only for the bell to ring the moment after I sat down. I quickly scribbled down all the answers to the quiz and gave them to Old Man Crocus, who looked at me with a skeptical look on his face. Luckily, he didn't say anything.

     Instead of walking my way to my next class, I decided to meet up with Catherine, who was posing as the P.E. coach for the school. I walked into the gymnasium as confidently and as casually as I could in order to avoid any suspicion, and scanned the room, trying to find Catherine.

    "Ben! What are you doing here?" Catherine said from behind me. It seemed to me that the entire Hale family greatly enjoyed sneaking up behind people. Although I imagine that if I had their ability, I would take great pleasure in it as well.

    "I need to tell you something important. I dont have much time so I'll make this as concise as possible, but SPYDER or whatever organisation is behind all this are watching the cameras. Try to get close to whoever watches the cameras because they have the most direct involvement in this case. Aside from Ethan, of course, but I don't think we'll be able to extract any information from him."

    Catherine simply nodded in response. I could tell she had more questions, but she was smart enough to figure out that it would take too long to explain. Satisfied, I left the gymnasium and made my way to my next class that had an even worse teacher than Old Man Crocus, which I didn't believe to be possible.

     Regardless of the quality of the teachers, I made it to the end of the day. At that point, I had warned everyone of the cameras, and of Ethan. Once we all got back to the house, I explained the situation to everyone, trying not to leave out any details (except for the fact that I was communicating with Axel). They all seemed impressed by my deduction . . . except for Ewan.

    "We should continue as planned," Ewan announced in an assertive sort of way that made people more inclined to listen to him. "This could end up being a wild goose chase. At least we know for a fact that Ethan is part of the crime."

     Jawa nodded. "Sounds logical," he agreed. Mike, on the other hand, had a few words to say.

     "Listen, Ethan's a cynical guy. We know this because we met him. Do you really think that he'd sneak out of school, knowing that the cameras will spot him?" Mike said. "I think that Ethan's actions proved that the entire school is in on the crimes, or at the very least the security guard to monitors the camera footage."

     "But if they monitor the camera footage, they would have recognized us," Ewan said in response.

     "That's assuming this is SPYDER," I replied, "which I don't think it is. SPYDER is notorious for their cleverness and deception. We wouldn't have gone this long without some random lead popping up that ends in an ambush. And granted, maybe that is what this is, but I'm willing to take that risk. Besides, this mission was flawed from its very inception. If SPYDER can recognize us, why are we willingly going into a public space where their lead operative is?"

     "Because we were willing to take a risk!"

     "An idiotic one," Chip commented.

     Ewan glared at him. He wasn't particularly fond of Chip. When he turned back to me, he said, "I know you think you're so smart, but you know nothing about how real operations work. We need to get close to Ethan. That was our orders. And good spies follow orders. Understood?"

    "Catherine is the leader of this mission. She makes the orders, not you, or Samuel, or anyone else," I declared, my voice rising. "I don't care if you pulled some strings to make this mission as flawed as it is! I don't care that Ethan is your brother! THE ONLY THING THAT IS IMPORTANT IS STOPPING THE MURDERS!"

     The silence that ensued was deafening. My own voice rang in my ears as everyone else looked between me and Ewan in shock. Ewan's glare was replaced by one full of grief and sadness. He took a few steps back, and fell into a sofa chair.

    More silence. Then Ewan spoke.

    "Ethan . . . is a good person. He wouldn't kill anyone - he just . . . he wouldn't, okay? He's my brother. And even if - even if he did," Ewan sobbed, "then I want to change things. . . make him realize that he isn't alone."

    Ewan looked at Catherine, expecting her to say something, but she, like everyone else in the room, remained quiet. So he instead composed himself, and started talking. "If people are watching the cameras, and Ethan knows about the cameras, then all we have to do is turn them off. Once we do that, he might tell the truth, if he is as innocent as I . . . believe him to be."

    "How would we do that?" Catherine asked.

     For the first time today, Ewan smiled, albeit a weak one. "We put my skills to the test."

A/N 

Just out of curiosity, what do you predict will happen with Axel and Ben? Who do you think is behind all this? Answer in the comments (I'm genuinely interested to hear your thoughts). I'd also appreciate feedback as well if you have any. 

Regardless, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

P.S. I might change the title in the future