A week had gone past since the incident. Classes ran as usual, as Winter really started to kick in. Every first year in Zahl Academy felt off- not because of the constant lectures. The image of one of them getting brutally beaten up sunk into their minds.
Lye had called in a meeting with the Primes, asking if Kyle could help Heet supervise the first years. Heet recognized him as the guy who Lye slightly disliked.
She was bummed that Decey couldn't make it to the meeting, and everyone else seemed to know what had happened to him.
"He'll be back in less than a month." Lye reassured them.
"That's longer than your punishment, Kyle! I wonder what this kid did.." Quera chuckled.
"Uh huh. That's totally not the 1000th time someone's brought that up. Real funny." Kyle rolled his eyes.
Andrew sat in his chair, wearing the same hooded jacket he always used to wear, spinning his pen constantly.
If his job is to look conspicuous, he's succeeding with flying colors.
He sorta looks like....
Nah, I'm super sleep deprived.... Heet thought to herself.
Ralph Crey stood up and raised his hand. Lye nodded.
"We're seeing reports of that substance again, Headmaster.
Seems like the supplier could be a first year." He spoke with a bravado that even Heet couldn't help but resist.
"I can concur.
Tried them- they suck ass but gives you a good kicker once you wake up."
Andrew finally spoke, and Heet tilted her head in confusion, whether to laugh or to be concerned.
Everyone in the room giggled, except Lye, who stared daggers at Andrew.
"Sadly, we don't require your expertise, Andrew." He blatantly said, as he placed his hands on the table. He turned towards Kyle and Heet.
"Shut them down. We don't need this kind of bullshit to happen within our academy. We've bigger problems to deal with than some of our students becoming junkies." He asserted.
Kyle extended hand to Heet.
"Alrighty partner. Let's do this." He smiled.
Heet shook his hand, ready for her first real job as a Prime. All she had been doing was sulking and stopping corridor fights and studying.
"This meeting is adjourned. " Lye stood up, followed by a marching of footsteps.
He stopped Heet at her tracks as she was about to leave.
"I need you to stay back for a bit.
Kyle you can go on ahead- Ralph will give you what he knows so far."
Kyle gave him a thumbs-up as he wrapped his arm around Ralph and waddled out of the room together.
Lye closed the door and signaled Heet to sit down opposite to him.
"There's no way only a first year is doing this. There's obviously a third party- inside Zahl or outside- I don't know. So this will take you a good while."
"So that's why you've me paired up with Kyle."
"He's pretty good. Not as good as your talented ass, but he's got more experience than even Ralph when it comes to these jobs."
"Yeah, I'm sure these things are very common." She lazily added, distressed by something gnawing at her mind.
Lye noticed that the scribbles inside her mind were still there. He smiled, knowing what it implied.
"Living in the present must feel good, right?"
Heet flinched.
"Wh-what.?"
"Don't think I don't know what you've been doing to yourself, Heet."
Heet stood up, completely flustered.
"I don't want to continue this topic.." She spoke in a low voice, staring at her feet.
"Whatever happened with your brother, I suggest you leave it in the past." Lye said as he stood up too, facing Heet head level.
"If you do know what happened, you wouldn't be saying that." She scoffed.
She stormed out of the room, almost bumping into Ralph and Kyle talking to each other.
"Oh.. sorry.." She apologized.
"What do you mean?? You need to hear this crap too." Kyle laughed.
Ralph gave Kyle a well rehearsed handshake, which Kyle almost fumbled with, as he made his way out.
"You two close, huh?" She tried her hardest to stifle her laugh.
"Yeah, we're both 4th years so..." Kyle let that drift as he signaled Heet it'd be better if they walked and talked.
"Okie so tell me about yourself. Just be casual- there's no sense of superiority here. We're both equals working on this case." He continued.
"You start. I'm afraid there isn't much going on in my life worth quoting."
Kyle sighed.
"Fine...
Well I'm Kyle Berk. Son of the Mercenary Family."
She stopped at her tracks.
"What comes from the question....?" She muttered.
Kyle answered as if it was like reciting the alphabets.
"The intent of the one who aske-
HOLY SHIT. HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT?"
"Don't even worry about it." She playfully said, glad they had something apart from self introductions to talk about.
Kyle put both hands on his head, as if he discovered something.
"Y-You're her daughter...."
"Yeah-"
Kyle wore a huge smile. He knew how close his family was to the hidden information broker, and how much the Berk Family owed the legend herself- Lana Treaf.
"That's so cool! Don't you have a brother too? I think I met him once.. He's a second year, from what I remember- a really snappy kid, in my opinion."
Heet ignored the comment about her brother.
"I bet Lye knew what he was doing, pairing the two of us together."
"This is a generational duo. Let's beat this drug ring, Heet Treaf!"
>>
That afternoon over lunch, Kyle and Heet ate together, going over the details they knew.
"Alrighty. Here's what we have....
The sightings of Reale, the drug, started around the first semester of Zahl this year. What it does is it gives you euphoria for several minutes, only after knocking you out cold for a solid 12+ hours. Real unproductive, am I right?"
Heet nodded, her mouth stuffed with a burger.
"We've several leads- dorm rooms that were leaked by mules that we caught red-handed. Luckily for you, they're all first years. So either the shit's coming from them, or they're an extra layer of moving the product."
"Give me the numbers. We'll do this 'round 6:00- that's when everyone cools down. A simple knock on the door maneuver should be good enough. I'll handle the rest."
Kyle was amused.
"What's your function, by the way?"
"You'll see." She said as she chomped down on her food.
"What about yours?" Her voice came out muffled.
"You'll see." He playfully exclaimed.
Heet shrugged, saying touché without actually saying it.
"Quera said something about you getting expelled too, right? What's that about?"
Kyle chuckled, the memories of those days flashing in his eyes.
"Believe it or not, it's pretty similar to what your boyfriend did."
"Really? Who's the lucky girl?"
"It wasn't like that. Our family had a small dispute with this rival family- purely a business dispute. I thought if I landed the first attack on them, by beating up the Family Head's son, I could make my dad proud. Turns out that it was a poker bet that he lost. I misunderstood everything, and the Headmaster expelled me for a week or two."
Heet was about to pass out from holding in her laugh. Kyle hung his head.
"Go ahead. Don't die on the job. Jeez..."
"So, you're telling me, you beat up the Lerc Family's direct descendent???"
"Of course you knew about this incident." Kyle breathed, slightly embarrassed.
"The 'legend herself' told me all about it."
"Did she teach you how to be a smart-ass too?"
"She didn't have to. I'm just built like that."
"Let's see how good you are once we bust this drug ring."
>
6:00 PM
First Year's Dorm Room ( Male )
The two of them stood in front of a door numbered '102'. They both turned their heads towards each other, and nodded.
"And the bass keeps runnin'...."
Kyle kicked the door open with his orange man bun flailing all over the place, while Heet simply stood there, rolling her eyes.
"Put your hands up, losers."
Two students stood in the middle of the room- almost naked.
"I-
Continue...."
Kyle said as he closed his eyes and pawed at the air for the door knob.
Once he slammed the door shut, he fell on the ground, trying to not register what his eyes were telling him.
Heet stood there, shell shocked, from the morbid scene they'd witnessed.
"Put your hands up, losers...?
That went well." She said, looking down on the 4th year Prime, cringing his heart out.
"Out of sight, out of mind..." Kyle stated, still attempting to recover.
"Story of my life," She said, as she propped Kyle up.
"Ready for the next door?"
"You take it."
"I'm a girl. I can't do that-"
"Fine....."
>
Door no.106
Kyle gently knocked on the door this time. A voice came from behind the door.
"Look man, Whatever you're selling, I ain't buyi-"
"Watchu mean by that? " Kyle nonchalantly leaned against the pillar next to the door frame.
"Can I look now...? " Heet asked, covering her eyes.
"Coast is clear. " Kyle threw out obscure hand signals that could only be interpreted by himself.
Heet pushed him aside and barged inside the dorm room, while Kyle escorted the roommates outside, questioning them.
After a while, Heet came out holding a plastic cover. Something that resembled a cupcake, with something silver embedded inside.
"Girl Scout cupcakes. Real slick. " Heet swayed her way towards Kyle, handing him the bag.
"I'm allergic to chocolate. " He squeaked, as he held the bag with his finger tips.
"How the fuck-"
The two roommates tried to make a run for it, but they were unable to move for some reason.
"You sunnova- What did you do to me? ! " The guy with the bean bag exclaimed, as he and his buddy were standing still.
"So that's what your Function does. " Heet raised her eyebrows, impressed.
Kyle smiled.
"That's the least of it, junior. " He replied playfully.
"Now you two are going to start talking, or else Heet right here is going to beat your ass till you look like a deflated balloon. " Kyle crossed his arms, tilting his head towards Heet.
She stared into the poor soul's eyes, balling up her fists.
The two roommates looked at each other, sweating buckets knowing they can't escape.
"Nice intimidation, Berk. "
"Nice job finding the bag, Treaf. "
>>
They swept through several floors, finding out information Ralph and Lye would kill for.
From the guys at 106, they learnt that they were planning mass selling cupcakes, and that they were told to do so.
The people who told them wore masks, but left out a fatal clue- their masks had a certain symbol embroidered on them.
Door no. 509
"Your mama gave you eyes right...?
THEN FUCKING USE THEM AND TELL ME WHAT YOU SAW ON THE MASK.... "
Kyle had the guy against the wall, grabbing him by the shoulder. He was frantically flailing his hands, trying to understand what was going on.
Heet kicked the back of Kyle's knee, as he and the suspect fell on the ground.
"I had him, Heet! The fuck happened? " He shouted, as he tried to fix his bun.
"He's blind, you half chromosomed idiot." Heet shouted back, pointing to the braille script on every door in the room.
"Ah... "
After a few more busting up doors, they got the Information they needed, just not in the way they wanted.
"An eight... That could be anything... " Kyle and Heet were walking down the corridor of the ground floor.
Heet chugged water, trying to wake herself up. It was 11:00PM, way too late for her. By now, Kate should've been..
'Oh... '
>
"Heyy, Heet. Wanna try out my new sweater??"
"Yeah sure.
.
.
Hey what's the 6 mean?"
"Oh I just number my stuff. This is my 6th time knitting a sweater so... "
"Well, it looks really good. "
>
"Kyle. I have a lead. "
Kyle crumbled up an empty piece of paper in response to that.
"Then let's go get this son of a gun..."
"Nope. That's not what I meant..."
>>
Heet's Dorm Room
11:15 PM
"Hey.. " Kate opened the door, yawning.
"Kate we need to know who you sold your masks to. "
Kate noticed Kyle in the back, and smirked.
"This isn't your boyfriend....
Oh my god...
You naughty gi-"
"Kate for God's sake just tell me. " Heet groaned.
"Ugh.. I wouldn't know.
I think it was this one guy who always used to loiter outside classes.
You know, the guy who always wore that ugly mustache"
Heet understood immediately,
Kyle turned to Heet.
"You know who that is? "
"Unfortunately, yes.. "