“We’re setting them up to fail, Fantom. We’re putting our very lives on the line because you’re too impressed with this one person to realize the dangers,” said Izumi Satoshi, better known as Shogun. “And when I say our, I mean all of us. Staff. Student. Anyone else that happens to be tied to Specter. You know that I have a good sense for these things. If there’s any time that you’re going to trust me, you should make it now. Because I know what I’m talking about.”
“Yes, I’m aware that you aren’t happy about my appointments-”
“Appointment. Not plural. I think you’re a smart leader. I respect most of your decisions. But this one, this is one that I can’t live with. Not when we’re putting the students… The next generation of our kind, at risk like this. You’re not just fucking around with a team of your own, you’re fucking around with our future and you’re giving the Commission a chance to take us out in one blow-”
The man in the skeleton mask turned away from the window overlooking the academy, staring into Izumi’s eyes through the goggles of the mask. “You’re not forced to stay. If you disagree so much with Ruby being appointed to a staff position, you can leave and run your own operation. I also believe that your arguments against Ruby are completely unfounded-”
Izumi placed her hands on her hips in disagreement. “Bullshit. She does humanitarian work in Syria and then joins X Unit suddenly, and now they aren’t a team anymore? Who do you think is responsible for humanitarian work in war torn countries? She worked for the UN and the first time she joined a hero team, they end up disbanding because of pressure. You think those are just coincidences?”
“The vetting process has been completed and we’re confident in her loyalty,” stated Fantom, before starting to walk away. “I don’t want to hear anything more about this, and I don’t want it spreading to the other staff. Infighting is the quickest path to death, always remember that. I don’t want the staff hearing this, don’t want the students hearing it, it stays between us. Or we’ll have some problems.”
“You’re making a big mistake but fine, let’s let time prove me right. I just hope everyone isn’t dead when that happens.”
The large tugboat arrived at Hadley Island under the cover of night, with the stars visible in the sky and the campus only lit as much as need required, with small lamps and lanterns keeping the essential pathways visible. Just visible, not brightly lit. The goal was to avoid the island looking inhabited from the air, and that was the same reason they were arriving in the middle of the night, or more accurately, at about one in the morning. Some of the students would be below deck. Others would be near the front, watching as they inched closer and closer and rocked back and forth with the slow movements of the waves.
Trinity Mathieu had been alone when they arrived, standing on the right side of the ship and leaning on the railing, looking down at the waters as if she was deep in thought. She kept an observant eye on the others. Many of them were more nervous, more scared than she was. But this wasn’t scary to her. It was just another move, just like she had went from Grodno to Paris, and then from Paris to Belgrade to Bucharest. She’d already traveled more ground than some people traveled in their life, and this place was safer than the others she had went when she was on the run. At least, that was what they told her.
The boat docked at a harbor area and a man with an AK-74 rifle on his back stepped out of the wheelhouse and climbed down to the deck, gesturing for everyone to climb to dry land and follow him down the piers. “We’ve arrived at the destination. Follow me to the main square, and avoid straying off from the path for now. There will be time to explore the area after you’ve checked in and gotten your things placed in your rooms,” the man informed them. Trinity just shrugged and slung her bag around her shoulder again, silently following the man but staying behind the others. She didn’t feel like talking to anyone right now.
In the main square, all of the students would find a pair of the instructors standing in front of the largest meeting hall, which looked newly constructed unlike a few of the buildings on the island that looked renovated rather than newly made. The area was hardly lit properly, but everything that needed to be visible was visible. And the two instructors represented the two halves of the school. Daniel LaFlame was the head instructor of the heroes, and Izumi Satoshi was the head instructor of the villains. Before either instructor said anything, someone would walk amongst all of the students and hand each one a small slip of paper, that would tell them whether they were a hero or a villain.