Fuck, this was hard to write. Clarification that for this climax, I actually scribbled on a full A4 paper to plan everything out, and when I write, I still make changes to the plan, so it ended up very different from my original idea, but hey, it's part of the charm.
ALSO, YES I HAVE BEEN GONE FOR MONTHS AND I HAVE NOTHING TO SAY FOR MYSELF, JUST THAT THIS ONE WAS HARD TO WRITE.
LOVE Y'ALL. AND SORRY.
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For the remaining three hours since after they received the news, the whole Student Council was a mass hurricane with one human or two constantly running around the room whilst freaking out themselves and everyone else, a few calmer humans who were relatively dying inside, one cocky bastard who was enjoying the show, and the rest literally trying to keep their shit together and failed miserably. Charles, being one of the calmer ones but dying inside, was slumped on his chair, unable to fathom any input from his surroundings as his mind thought up a thousand and one possibilities on how the day could be worse and how he could counter each and every one of them.
Of course, at the current moment, no one can do anything about the plane intersecting with a godforsaken (literally) missile that was hijacked by a psychopath, but what disturbed him more about this fact was how Dr. Micah had sent them a message not half an hour ago, using a walkie talkie that miraculously still worked, that the twins had started playing Uno. The doctor explicitly clarified to them that the twins did, as the matter of fact, know about the intersection, but neither reacted to it. "Shao Long made me tell you that he's stacking the deck, so he's winning, Charles. Whatever game you play, I wouldn't place my bet, so good game."
In all of everyone's horror, the hospital had been in a calm state since morning, with no one freaking out, a heavy contrast to what was currently happening at the academy.
"Do you think that maybe they had that under control?" Charles mumbled to himself, unable to muster enough energy to think of what kind of demon Shao Jun might have summoned to alter the course of a whole plane, but maybe they simply inherited strong genes from their father. So maybe demon summoning was part of Xi Shen Ko's skill set as well, and Charles instantly cut that thought out as soon as it appeared because if Xi Shen Ko could summon demons, they might as well die already. Like, what else could they do, summon the forces of angels?
"I wouldn't be that surprised." Alex answered his unrequited question, sighing as he fastened the buttons of his coat. "I'm going to the telecom room to see if there's any damage. Supposedly if there's no problem, I'd still be able to relay a message to students."
Right. Today was still very much a school day, and undoubtedly, some students would already be freaking out about the Internet and communication problems, they could practically hear their screams from the Student Council meeting room. Naturally in order to calm these young nobles, Alex would be gone first.
"I'll come with you." Felix raised a hand, skittering to Alex's side.
"No, you're coming with me and Livio." Gion immediately stood up, grabbing Livio with him. "To the airport. We need to clear the citizens and staffs in case Satan decided to bomb the place."
"Que??" Felix stumbled on his steps. "Wait, why do we have to go??"
"That may be danegrous..." Godfreg, who was invisible in the background, helplessly tried to interject, which Evan clearly didn't listen, because the moment he said this, Evan was already stepping up.
"We can't trust guards now, and you are all well protected. Communication is useless at this point and our walkie talkies are not connected to the airport. We can only depend on you guys then."
"But Evan..." Godfreg internally sobbed.
In addition to Felix's strength, Gion's overbearing presence could most definitely lead everyone out of the airport without Karens getting in the way, irresponsible parents, lost children etcetera. They'll be able to create order in the building and evacuate them without casualties, so there really was no problem in that. Plus, both Gion and Felix have bodyguards, well-trained ones.
"Xi Shen Ko may not attack the airport though." Charles spoke mindlessly, still in his own realm. "Considering part of his plan involves attacking the hospital. Two terrorist attacks on one island on the same day, he isn't that stupid. If we create a ruckus there, it'll freak the citizens out even more. Instead, he may have planted a snitch to silently fuck everything."
"How is it that you're so dead inside and was still able to reason like drinking water, eh?" Albert poked him on his side. "If you can laze around like that, why don't you go to the airport to find that snitch, cunning as you are."
"The airport is on the opposite way to the hospital, so I'm not going." Charles reluctantly fixed his posture, rubbing the bridge of his nose as he said this. "Anyway, Gion, you're going to be off grid when you're at the airport. How confident are you in dealing with that? We wouldn't be able to send you any information and that way, you wouldn't know what the fuck is happening at all."
"You speak as if I haven't mastered the art of adaptability. Whatever chaos ensues in the airport will be resolved immediately, I'll make sure of it."
"Okay, Mr. Vice President~" Charles resisted the urge to roll his eyes as the three (Felix, Gion and Livio) prepared to do their field work. Alex had already gone to the telecom room in a hurry, leaving the rest of them still freaking out but with less people, so it didn't look that much of a massacre anymore.
Nova, who was still on the computer with Shintarou called them out, lifting the tablet (the one Shintarou customized for mapping) for others to see, "Umm, guys, will you look at this?"
"What?" They all gathered around the tablet, on which the screen showed the pathways the plane and missile will intersect. The point of meet were marked blaringly red, as if a warning. The tracker of the plane was actually placed on the box containing the heart, so even though they didn't have any communication, this signal wasn't going to be disrupted by anything.
However, when they saw the pathways, they squinted, head slightly tilting in confusion. Clearly just a few moments ago, the plane and the missile was going to crash, but maybe because they hadn't checked the tablet at all times, they wouldn't know why the frickity frack would the plane be so close to Momosu airport now, completely passing the mark on the pathway like, twenty minutes ago. The missile had almost reached the mark, but the plane was already past that point.
"It....The plane. The plane went faster??" Leon gasped dramatically. "How would they know to do that? They wouldn't have carelessly increased speed without order!"
"Hey, I clearly told them to create a new code to communicate, just who dared to breach that code??" Ciel didn't really know whether to be mad for his plans deviating, or happy that the deviation had successfully saved the plane and by proxy, the heart as well. "Who could it possibly be...."
"Shao Long and Shao Jun was calm about it...." Charles pondered to himself, his heart immensely calming down with the news. Shao Long was even winning in Uno. And pretty much cheating his own brother tch tch tch. "They knew. They probably knew that the plane was going to speed up. They couldn't have been the one to tell the pilots, so maybe.....maybe it's the Chinese families....?"
"That Zhen Yangyang girl." Nova suddenly straightened his back. "She's a detective, isn't she?"
"What, you're expecting her to go undercover on a plane? She's barely Albert's height, how could she even pass for a stewardess." Ciel cringed whilst poking at Albert's head as if to prove his point, earning him a slap from the English prince.
"Boy, you have no idea what she's capable of." Nova shivered. "Moving on, the airplane will arrive in an hour. If what Charles said about the snitch earlier is correct, then if I were you, I'd change the records. Currently, only we know when the plane will arrive, not even the airport or anyone else in the world."
If the snitch managed to get their hands on when the plane will be landing, the specific code number of the plane, etcetera, they could only imagine what sort of hell Xi Shen Ko was going to do with the information.
"So maybe tell that Italian prince to do that. Has he already lef—"
Evan darted to the window of the meeting room, slamming it open with no regard for damage (because he can and will pay for it back) before he finally was able to spot Gion's figure at the foyer, just below them.
Charles watched as Evan shouted at them, telling them what to do and such as he internally sighed. So far, every single one of their actions were sloppy, and the only reason they haven't died yet was either because of pure luck or......well, pure, pure luck. As far as he was concerned, they made up quite a number, and approximately five or more of them had a plan of their own, he himself included, and if his calculations were correct, none of their plans bear any similarities. Not even that shady guy Anubis — Charles glanced at the said guy, only to be greeted by the sight of a devious smirk that was directed to no one in particular — scratch that, Anubis probably already thought of a million ways on how he should kill Xi Shen Ko.
Wait....
The longer Charles stared at Anubis, the more he felt like a victor, for God knows what reason. Seeing the guy, chuckling maniacally to himself with black auras emitting from his general figure, Charles felt like even if he didn't trust Anubis, he would still be able to reach his expectations on fighting against Xi Shen Ko. Briefly, Charles remembered that one time Anubis decided to kidnap the princesses, and finding himself in some sort of revelation.
Stacking the deck. Micah's voice suddenly rang in his ears, from when he told them about Shao Long and Shao Jun's situation. Shao Long was stacking the deck against Shao Jun, and made sure that Charles knew this. To begin with, there was no need for Shao Long to tell him that he was winning, because Shao Jun very rarely won against Shao Long in any card games.
Stacking the deck, however, meant to cheat in the game. However, when cheating in a war, similar to this, it couldn't be called a cheat anymore. It's a deception.
Charles blinked.
Wow. So that's what reading The Arts Of War does to him. Charles almost felt bad for his parents to have a child as cunning as he is, but truth be told, they should probably feel grateful as well. Who fucking knew he and Shao Long would interact with each other in hints like this, and Charles, Charles actually understood what Shao Long was implying, it's almost hilarious.
Fine then. Charles huffed to himself. Shao Long has already started his plan, so he would follow suit with his.
"Skkrt. Skkrt." The speaker in the meeting room sounded, indicating that Alex had already gotten to the telecom room, and was able to run the intercom. Thank goodness for that, Charles breathed out a sigh of relief. "Attention to all students of Momosu Academy, I repeat, attention to all students of Momosu Academy. I'm sure all of you are confused about the current connection problems suffered throughout the island. Please remain calm as the Student Council manages this issue. We will try to fix the error as soon as possible. Class resumes as usual. I repeat, students are expected to be in respective classes as usual while the Student Council handles the communication issue. Thank you."
A/N: Typical school vibe lol.
"By the way, Charles, just in case you're going to the hospital," Nova prodded at him with a judgmental look. "Which you will, most likely, it would be better for you to tell us the plane in advance, as in why the hell we should hack the satellite. You know, just so we don't accidentally mess up. And that what you have in mind is actually doable enough for the two of us to prepare."
Charles looked at the various computers Nova had on standby just for the reason of hacking, and questioned himself whether or not he should tell. Accompanied by the curious looks all around him though, Charles knew that he wasn't getting out of this. The other day, he had already hinted to them about what he was going to do with it, but of course, only Anubis was able to share the same brain cells as his.
"Once I give you the signal, direct everyone's devices to mine. Similar to how cameras on live TV shows, direct everyone's device, forcefully, everyone who's trying to use the internet, to my phone, and try to last it for as long as you can. That's all there is to it."
Tapping on his chin, Nova calculated the risks and possibility percentages of the task Charles gave him to be successful, given that the whole process of signal-giving wasn't interrupted or trapped or scammed or whatever. "It is doable, but because it's linking everyone's devices, it's a two-way signal that you want. Since it's like that, the most I can give you is three....four minutes? Will that be enough?"
Charles's smile grew wider. "The longer the better." he stated before getting up. The academy coat he had hung on the chair's backrest was snatched and draped over his shoulders. "Hey, Principal Evan. You got any more of that walkie talkie?"
"Wait, you're going to the hospital now?" Evan finally turned from the window from when he had shouted to Gion. "Like, right now when no one knows one speck of your whole plan?"
"There was never a plan, only chunks of backups and possibilities." Charles growled, picking up his phone and stuffing the rest of his deemed necessary items into his bag. "Only idiots construct a detailed plan, all according to chronological manner as if everything would go exactly the way they want it. See here, everything is a contingency plan, all we did was piece the chucks to adapt to whatever the fuck Xi Shen Ko sent us with."
"Nice try, kid, but your so-called contingency plans will not work if it's all in your head."
No it won't, because there's no way Charles was going to let everything out. He was barely certain that anything would work, no matter how cunning, how meticulously he planned those out. Those ideas were never in any way valid, only prepared for the worst case scenario, Evan should already know this. Should know that from the beginning, more than half of his plan consisted of him trusting that they all could carry this out on their own without needing his help.
"Do you really need my plan so much, Principal Evan?" Charles smirked as he buttoned up his coat. "The moment I leave the Academy, they're going to follow your instructions. I may have laid everything out for you to use. The question is whether or not you need to use it, or if you can even use it."
"What does that even mean?" Albert stood up, grabbing his sleeves. "What about everything you've set up until now?"
'You'll figure it out.' Charles wanted to say, but he really couldn't. Because there was no plan, no certain play that would be acted out, no definite event that will happen. So in the end, Charles grabbed the hand on his sleeve, pulling it away. "I'll definitely tell you what to do. I'll have a walkie talkie, remember?"
Evan groaned, lightly pinching his temples. One hand reached out for his drawer to fetch a walkie talkie, similar to the one he had on himself. "This one works. Micah will be at the hospital, he has one so try to contact him about the situation the least you could, in case someone decided to hack into your conversation."
"Oh, who said I was going to the hospital?" Charles grinned at their horror-stricken faces. With a laugh, Charles strode over to the door, leaving the rest of them gawking over his words. "Y'all just downright assume I'm going to my baby Shao Long because you thought I miss him so much. Get your facts right, people, I do miss him like fucking hell, but if I'm going to have a thriller date with him in a terrorized hospital, I might as well prepare him a gift. I'm so romantic, aren't I?"
"Wait, where are you going?!" For some unknown reason Evan would not like to know, the walkie talkie that was initially in his hand was now with Charles, while the brat waved it up in the air, grinning like a schoolgirl with a crush.
"Don't worry, I won't die that easily!"
"Charles!"
Silence met the room, leaving every person in it still in their places, staring at the door in which Charles showed himself out, unblinking. A sigh escaped their lips in partial unison as in their hearts, they wondered if this situation would bear any similarities on World War II, because fuck was it chaotic.
"You." Evan pointed to Anubis, who had just gotten out of his torture paradise. "Are you gonna stay here or...."
"Oh, I have already planned things out for myself. When the blondie returns from the police station, I'm simply going to pick him up on the streets and to the hospital so we both can kick Satan's ass. "
"Police station?" Evan narrowed his eyes. "Charles is going to the police station?"
"Why, of course! Don't you know? Most of the guards in the hospital and in the airport belong to the police station, no? Or at least, their main base is there." Anubis propped his chin on his knuckles. "Isn't that obvious enough."
It really isn't. That was what everyone's face told, causing Anubis to let out a heavy sigh.
"Fine, fine, I'll explain it in baby words." Anubis leaned against his chair, crossing his arms over, and this was probably the most serious position he had resorted to since h first came over. "Remember that Shao Long said he was stacking the deck against Shao Jun, he made sure we all heard it, didn't he?"
When they nodded, Anubis continued. "Stacking the deck means to cheat, and Shao Long only ever read The Art of War when it comes to strategy. I know because I've watched him. And in summarized terms of Sun Tzu, deception in war is mainly based off on two things. Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak. There are more details on deception, but these two are the mains, and this is what Shao Long have in mind.
So in order to appear weak when we are strong, and appear strong when you are weak, it's definitely related to the guards' numbers, weapons, communication, everything. Charles is going to go there to prepare that. Easy."
"....So he'll talk to the chief of the police?" Godfreg frowned.
"Why else did he pack his student's card and wear his uniform, Sir?' Anubis laughed. "He didn't need to do that if he wanted to go to the hospital."