Chapter 26
Leon walked down the hall of the dormitories toward his room. He had left the cafeteria quickly without eating anything.
That part of the compound was specifically for people's rooms. There was many floors full of different types of rooms. From single rooms to large family rooms, this place had it all.
Leon was walking and thinking about the man from the cafeteria. He couldn't believe that that person was working for the Hunters.
'Does this mean everyone I have ever met is working with the Hunters?'
Leon stopped in his tracks.
'Dear Lord. What if that's true??' Leon became frantic. His breathing increased and he started to hyperventilate.
'Calm down!' He told himself. He leaned against a wall and slowed his breathing.
He was about to continue his route to his room but froze when he saw the man from the cafeteria again.
He was walking down the dorm hall in the opposite direction.
Leon started to follow him. He slowly made his way down the hall, taking the same way as the man, though several doors down. Leon made sure not to make much noise, just as Anya had taught him.
The man stopped in front of a room and Leon saw him insert a keycard and enter.
'This is his room...' He came close to it. 'Room 1256.'
Leon couldn't help the thought that popped into his head next.
He was going to break into that man's room.
Why you ask?
'There might be some important information in there about Dark Magic...' Leon thought. 'Besides, he was the only person that I have ever seen dress that nicely in the whole compound! He must hold a high position...'
Leon made sure to stay out of sight just in case the man came out again.
'He is not the Lieutenant Commander of this compound. I met her, Esmerelda, just a week ago, before Anya's last mission.' Leon thought. 'Could he be another Lieutenant Commander? Or higher up? Or perhaps there is another reason why he's here?'
Leon's head was starting to hurt.
'I should go to my room. My head is hurting from all this thinking.'
He walked quietly (and quickly) away from the man's room. Leon broke out into a sprint once he was far enough away, bumping into a lot of people.
He made it to his room and stopped to catch his breath.
'If I'm to break into his room, first it is imperative that he doesn't know I am here. If he knows before I break in, I could become suspect number 1 when he tries to figure out who did. Next, I must find a way into his room. When will I go? How will I break in? And once I do, what then?'
Leon groaned.
'Shit. This might be harder than expected.'
He shook his head. He would figure out what to do later. For now, all he wanted was a nice shower and some tea.
He sighed and opened the door to his room. He went in, closing it behind him and sank to the floor with his back to the door. He was more tired than he thought.
"Tired?"
"Yeah, I am-" Leon hadn't expected anyone to be in his room, so when he heard the voice he jumped in surprise. "Anya-!" He spoke again, but stopped short when he saw his girlfriend lying in his bed with nothing but a thin sheet covering her. He knew his face had gone red because all he felt was heat.
"You just noticed? I thought I had taught you to be more aware of your surroundings." She chuckled softly.
Leon bit his lip, speechless. He knew Anya was expecting him to 'take her' tonight but he thought he had a few hours to prepare himself first. He definitely wasn't expecting her to show up in his room waiting for him naked at 4pm.
"Well? Aren't you going to come here?" Anya said seductively. Leon almost went too, but he saw the look in her eyes and stopped.
Yes, she was looking at him lustfully, but there was something behind the initial look in her eyes.
That was what made Leon stop. It was a reminder to him that slapped him in the face with reality.
She wasn't the same Anya.
She was just Anya's body, with her voice, her idiosyncrasies...
But it wasn't really her.
It was just the Dark Magic talking for her.
She wasn't the same girl.
He wasn't going to sleep with this Anya.
He wanted to be with the real Anya. He wanted the real Anya back.
He was going to save her.
"Leo, am I going to have to come to you?"
"Anya." Leon spoke seriously. He got up and faced the door. "I will not sleep with you now." Even though he wasn't facing her, he knew her face had shock on it. "One day, for sure. But not now. Please try to understand."
With that, he left. He walked down the hall for a while. Then he realized, he had nowhere to go.
'Maybe I should go to the library? I should do something useful...' He nodded his head and went towards the library.
On his way there he spotted the man from the cafeteria leaving his room from afar. Leon stopped, hiding from the man.
He looked like he was going somewhere important because he had a load of documents in his hands. He walked briskly away towards the left, leaving Leon, on the right, really wanting to break in now.
'Why not? I know for a fact that there are no cameras in the dorms and no one else is around. This is too perfect.'
Leon decided. He walked quietly towards room 1256. He looked around one last time then turned to the door.
He took one look and notice a huge flaw in his plan.
He didn't have the keycard.
'Shit!' He thought. 'I didn't even process that! How could I be so stupid? I can't just open the door without-'
Leon facepalmed.
He didn't need a keycard. He had Magic.
Sharon taught him that if he wanted something badly enough, as long as it wasn't forbidden, his Magic could take care of it.
Leon put his hand on the door and closed his eyes.
'Okay. Concentrate. I want the door to open. Open.' He focused his Magic on the thought of opening the door. His palm emitted a green light and he heard a soft click.
He pushed the door open and jumped inside, closing it quickly. He sighed in relief.
'I did it!' Leon started to happy dance but stopped when he realized he was dancing in a room he had broken into.
'God, I'm a criminal.' Leon looked around the room. It was similar to his except much larger, with a bed in the corner, a washroom, and a desk with a laptop and papers. Leon went to the desk.
Shuffling the papers around was useless after a few minutes of not finding anything that would help him. Leon turned to the laptop and saw that there was a small USB stick in it. Leon thought it looked familiar. He moved the mousepad and found that the computer was in sleep mode.
'It's on?' Leon thought as he saw that the screen turned on to show open files. Leon noticed that one of the files was a video. Leon furrowed his brow.
He opened the menu for the USB and saw hundreds of files on the drive. 'Why are there so many files on this USB?'
Leon felt a nudging feeling about the USB. 'Where have I seen it before?' He moved the mouse and clicked on the video. He hit play.
He froze.
The video.
It was security camera footage.
It was showing the moments before and after Cam's death.
He rewound the video and saw the red headed woman appear out of nowhere and shoot these black tentacles towards Anya. Wondering what they were, he turned up the volume of the video.
"D-dark... Magic..." Billy had said on his knees. Although he had his mask on, Leon could tell he looked sick. Leon wondered why. He kept watching as the black tentacles engulfed Anya. He looked away when Anya lifted up her gun. He had walked in at this point. He knew what had happened. He stopped the video before the shot by pressing the escape button.
This USB was the same one Cam had brought with him that day. The one he wanted to use to download the Hunters files on. Leon didn't hesitate to take the USB. He held it in his hand knowing that Cam died trying to get this information. He looked at the laptop wanting to turn it off and stopped. There was a background picture...
'No way!' Leon thought. He was looking at a picture of the man and a woman Leon assumed was his wife and two boys. Twin boys.
There was a caption that read over the picture. 'One Big Family'.
The boys were a young Milo and Cam.
This man was their father, Ryuu Hiroyuki. The CEO of Hiroyuki Tech.
The same company Leon's mother worked for. Leon had known him through her.
Leon looked at the papers on the desk again, this time closely. They were all about how HTech improved the Hunters technologically.
'The Hunters... HTech was making tech for the Hunters! That's why my mother was involved with HTech! She was probably the main consultant or something.'
Leon couldn't believe it. Not only was Ryuu working for the Hunters, but he was Milo and Cam's father! 'Not to mention, both of them were good friends of Anya! And the fact that my father Transported us to where Anya lived was just mad!'
Leon's head started spinning. There were way too many coincidences for him to keep up with.
'No! I'll think of that later! For now... For now, I should find a way to send this to the others!' Leon thought. Without really thinking of the consequences, he grabbed the laptop and left the room.
He walked swiftly towards the east wing.
That part of the compound was rarely entered. The east wing was where the Master stayed if he ever came to visit. But that wasn't happening soon. Leon had the place all to himself.
He saw two doors as he entered the wing. Leon frowned. Which one should he enter?
Although Leon would never admit it, he decide to choose by 'eenie-meenie-miney-moe.'
'There! I'll go there first.'
He went to the one on the left. It was dusty, and dirty. Leon stepped forward and his foot slipped. He landed hard on his rear.
He found that papers were covering the entirety of the floor. He glanced at one of them uninterested and threw it back onto the messy floor.
'Just for that, I'll go to the other room!' Leon said, his rear hurting.
He went into the other dark room on the right. He felt his way around until he found a light switch. He flipped it on and made sure the door was locked. He looked around a very dusty looking bedroom. All the furniture was covered in white cloths and the curtains were all closed. He put the laptop on the large bed far from the door and started to mess around with it. He found that it was connected remotely with a tablet called '123cam'.
'That must belong to Cam! I should test to see if I can reach anyone through it.' He was about to press 'connect' but heard people enter the door. Clearly he had not locked it properly.
Leon quickly looked up to see two Hunters walk in and stare at him.
"Hey Trainee! What are you doing here?" One asked. Leon recognized the two from seeing them with Anya occasionally. She, as the Lieutenant was responsible for training some underlings.
Leon panicked. He was desperate for a good explanation. He couldn't think of anything.
"Yo! We're Scouts! We are superior to you so answer the question!" The other said.
"Well if you must know, I'm watching pornography." He blurted. The two gave him a shocked look. He wanted to facepalm. "I would watch it in my room, but I can't. Too many people come in and out of there. I needed a private place for-" He made a gesture with his hand moving it up and down in a jerking off fashion.
"Oh." Both Scouts said. They both kind of nodded and left the room, a little disgusted.
"Fucking-" Leon groaned. He can't believe that just happened. He shook his head. "Let's just try and forget that, okay?" He said aloud.
Leon clicked the 'connect' button and waited for the connection to load. When it did, he started to speak into the laptop, knowing that this model of the HTLapBook had a microphone installed.
"Hello, can anyone hear me?"