Ace woke up in the morning to good news, and while carrying out his exercise routine, Alfred informed him of what he had found. "Good morning sir, I found a few things on this boy you call Rache. Before anything, however, I would like to warn you, these were extremely well-hidden, I do not expect anyone else to find out, I had to work in tandem with Bong and his group, using our connections and skills to get access to the files. Once we did, we were working on them for three hours. They used all they had, and so did I. Someone did not want anyone to find the files, and the way they were hidden makes it seem as if this someone is either a pro, or someone that can hire one.""Ok, I will be careful."
"To begin with, the boy"s full name is Randy Horn, Rache is a fake."
"I a.s.sumed so, since nothing showed up when I researched his name."
"Now, here comes the freaky stuff, the boy was kicked out of four different schools. The reasons are murky, but they get worse and worse. First time, he pretty much led a public lynching against one of the kids. Second time he led a teacher to quit her job, and she was put on the suicide watchlist not long after, luckily, it seems that she had not attempted anything after being away from him. The third time is the same, but the teacher attempted suicide, but the fourth, is were it gets bad. Of course, nothing had been confirmed, however, as soon as we found out, we hacked into the messages of various students and teachers of each school, and the common consensus is that he was the ringleader."
"So, what happened the fourth time."
"This was the hardest one to find, in fact, we only came across it due to luck, as there was a reference in one of the student"s messages, that was sent, later on, saying that he had a friend that went to a school, and that Randy had caused another atrocity. From there, we found the friend, and the rest was easier. He is not a good person Ace, he was in the fourth school for a week, and at the end of the week, his best "friend", a perfect A student, that was looking at an easy sports scholarship, brought a gun to school, and gunned down a third of the cla.s.s, before then killing himself."
"Sh*t."
"Exactly, this is a problem, he always seems to focus on the more gifted students in the cla.s.s, he is one year older than you, but due to all the school changes, he was kept behind. Nevertheless, he is clearly not stupid, I would wager in fact that he is a genius psychopath."
"Probability?"
"60%, he is still young after all."
"Ok, prepare to draft a public letter, the best way to deal with a cover-up is to expose it, also, send this info to both the Abyss Group and the Merchant a.s.sociation beforehand, tell them that this info will soon be exposed, and to get ready for what is to come."
"I understand."
"I want you to leak it during P.E. cla.s.s today, everyone will be grouped up together, and teachers will find out before students do, which will give them time to act. If the teachers try to hide it, leak it every ten minutes. You have access to the backend I installed right?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good, let"s raise h.e.l.l."
"Always, sir, always."
***********************
Ace went to school as always, and met up with the others at the entrance, "Why did you call us Ace?", Sophie asked.
"I have some info, during P.E today, get away from Rache, if he comes towards you, go towards a teacher, just trust me, ok?"
They looked at each other, wondering if he was crazy, "No, I am not crazy, just trust me, sh*t is going down today.", his serious stare seemed to bring them to reality, and they each nodded in turn, agreeing to remain safe and away from "Rache".
"Ok, that is sorted now, I will just have to wait now."
He went to his homeroom, and as he expected, Rache was sitting in his usual corner of the room, and people were staring at him, having heard what happened yesterday in cla.s.s. He just sat down calmly in a spare chair, and took out his Noxia, engaging in his usual activity. However, he kept his senses trailed on Rache, and as he expected, he was fuming at the lack of response from Ace, probably expecting a debate in front of everyone else.
The other students were also surprised, expecting Ace to put Rache in his place. "Just wait a few more hours my friends, then, I will step on the c.o.c.kroach.", Ace thought, while going over what his plan was for today.
************************
P.E began as it usually did, they all got changed and went out to the usual field, where the teachers separated them into groups. Ace, as usual, just went off on his own, thinking about what to do today. He spotted the climbing wall, and so decided to choose a few boulders to go through today as a warmup.
He was in the middle of one, when he heard some steps behind him, he ignored them completely, and focused on his own thing, once he finished, he jumped down, landing softly on the mat. He spotted Rache through the corner of his eye, but he just ignored him completely, knowing that it was what would hurt him the most.
He walked down a path, until he arrived at the gym, where a few boxing bags and so on could be found. He went before one, and began hitting it, breathing into the rhythm of his punches and kicks. It was a relaxing exercise that allowed him to both focus on his posture, and zone out on everything else. He kept at it for 10 minutes, and then he noticed that Rache, who had followed him from the climbing wall, was about to burst with anger, his quivering lip, and clenched jaw doing him a clear disservice of hiding any emotion he was feeling. Ace was playing him to the tune of his own music, and Rache was not liking it.
"HEY! ACE! You saw me! I know you did! FACE ME!", he burst out in anger, marching towards Ace, intent on a confrontation. The students in the gym looked at them, expecting to see a good show.
Then, things got dangerous, a raging Rache, picked up one of the metal bars where weights would usually be set, and marched towards Ace, who was just calmly hitting the bag.
"What the h.e.l.l is he doing? He was meant to be smart and manipulative, is he planning to do this in front of everyone? This is outside of expectations, but it should be fine, considering the number of witnesses around, and the events of the last few days.
Rache walked faster and as he got close to Ace, he swung straight for the back of the neck.
Then, Ace moved.
He ducked under the bar, and from the ducking position, used the momentum in his legs and his explosive strength to rise up and deliver a side kick to the chin of Rache, which dropped him to the floor. To the expectation of Ace, he got back up, Rache had probably been in a mult.i.tude of fights, so he was probably not as weak as the sickly facade he showed would cause someone to imply.
He lunged forward like a zombie. He looked possessed, bloodshot eyes, and in that moment, Ace noticed two things, one, the extremely long nails that Rache had, almost like short claws, and two, the numerous scars in the wrists that were usually hidden underneath a long-sleeved shirt or blazer, that had been exposed by the position of his arms.
Ace observed the lunge as if in slow motion, he stepped into it, and delivered a palm strike in the solar plexus along with a grab of the arm and a flip, which sent Rach over him and into the floor.
To his surprise, however, Rache reacted in time and managed to scratch his neck, even if he did not draw blood, since Ace moved back.
By this point, Ace could hear heavy footsteps coming, "Probably a teacher, it should have been leaked already, so I can act fully."
Ace now dashed forward himself, and kicked Rache in the face, then stomped on one of his hands, reducing it to a pulp. Rache wailed in pain, the first time he had made a sound since the fight had begun.
He was about to lunge at Ace again, but then, two strong hands gripped him on the shoulders, and Ace knew it was over.