Brisingr entered the command room to find a bunch of kids there. Maneuvering her way through them, Brisingr found herself next to Luna.

“What’s with them?” she nodded towards the kids.

Luna, truly married to her work, didn’t look up as she answered, “Commander’s running out of ideas so she’s asking them for some. It’s quite pitiful, really.”

Brisingr whistled. That was quite pitiful. However, Commander was constrained by political orders and her mind was already influenced by them. These kids’ minds weren’t. . .hopefully.

“Does anybody have an idea? Anything? No matter how stupid it sounds?” Commander said. One girl who looked around the age of 7 raised her hand.

“Yes! You with the pigtails.” Commander said.

“Um, how about the heroes?” All around her, the kids burst out in laughter and she flushed. Brisingr frowned. It was unseemly of these kids to mock their comrade.

“You’re new to Neverstien, aren’t you? From a different department?” Commander checked. The girl shyly nodded her head. “Well, that makes sense. Hey, stop laughing, she’s new here! If you don’t, you’ll find yourself stringed upside down outside of the ship!”

Instantly, all the kids stopped laughing and Commander focused her attention onto the little girl. “In Neverstien, we don’t view them as heroes but rather government workers. They’re held in the same esteem as police officers and not revered as heroes like in other places. In fact, the word hero is usually used as mocking by other people. I suppose the only ‘hero’ people respect is FullForce.”

The girl’s face was gradually becoming more horrified as Commander continued. “W-what? Why?”

“The Arias here are much stronger than they are outside of Neverstien. The ‘heroes’ can’t do much because they use circuits, and the Arias are creatures made of magic. That means the only people who can combat them effectively is us who also uses magic, not that people know.”

The girl had her entire belief ripped away from her. “S-so we have to be the heroes?” she asked, voice wobbling.

Commander clapped her on the shoulder reassuringly. “Don’t worry, these people will be your friends and help you. If they don’t, remind them of the Potty Incident.” Commander whispered and all the kids blanched. “Everybody in Neverstien thinks this way, so you’ll soon start to think the same. Just try not to mention the word heroes to civilians, alright?”

The girl shakily nodded. “O-okay! You know, you’re not as bad as people say you are!”

Brisingr groaned. Don’t say that to her! Commander froze and leaned in, her face becoming more menacing. “Really? Who said that?” Next to her, a group of boys were becoming rapidly pale.

Several minutes, some unconscious boys, and 50 suggestions later, Brisingr watched the group exit the control room. Brisingr approached Commander.

“I’m surprised you did that. It’s a shockingly kind thing of you to do, considering they’re probably scared and have no idea what’s happening. Most leaders would leave the kids in the dark.”

“The kids here aren’t like the kids in the city. All of them have encountered Arias before, have suffered through an event that could possibly be traumatic, and come out alive. I’m not going to ditch them into a hospital in case their brain cracks or put them on the news to be goggled at.” Commander snapped.

“I get it, I get it. What’s the news so far? How are we doing on the situation?” Brisingr asked. Judging from the haggard look Commander was bearing, not good.

“I just want to rest, have some candy, and send some people to capture that killer. Unfortunately, he’s on the Academy, which is neutral ground. Remind me why it’s neutral?”

“The government was worried you would try to recruit them,” one of the command crew stated.

“That’s ridiculous! I never ‘recruit’ them! They come to me or you guys choose them!” Commander shrieked.

“We get it. So I’m taking from your little tantrum here that you haven’t received permission from the Board?” Brisingr confirmed.

Commander rolled her eyes and bit into a lollipop. “They’re saying it’s no threat and that we’ll be the bigger problem. If this was in the middle of a battle, I could do whatever I wanted and nobody could stop me.” she grumped.

“I’ve heard they’ve finally figured it out,” Brisingr said.

“Yeah, can’t believe it took them so long. However, there’s been some complications.” Before she could tell Brisingr what the complications were, the doors slid open and Thor and Eons through.

Brisingr broke off the conversation and headed over to Thor. She let her lean on her and grabbed her shoulder. While to some people, it would appear she was slinging an arm around her, Brisingr was in reality making sure Thor wouldn’t fall.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

Thor giggled. “I’m fine. Just because I got hurt doesn’t mean that I’m crippled.” She said that but Brisingr couldn’t help but notice that her arm was shaking ever so slightly.

“My my, Brisingr. Have you been going out and killing some Arias? Why haven’t you invited me?” Eons asked, eyeing the rips and tears in Brisingr’s uniform.

Thor pouted. “Are you saying treating for me is bad?”

“As interesting as this flirting is, we need answers! We can’t access the Academy with our uniforms because of the orders of our stupid government. If the killer made one more move, we would have the leeway to engage but he’s too smart for that.” Commander broke down the situation for Thor and Eons.

“There’s also been another interference. Reina Romane has just spiked.” Luna informed them.

There was a collective intake of breath. Brisingr was shellshocked. Reina was spiking? That was bad. Worse than bad. “What’s the reason?” she asked.

“I’ve accessed the cams and saw her friends breaking into her dorm,” Luna said. Commander tapped her seat rest thoughtfully.

“That’s weird. That shouldn’t be enough to set her off. I should know, I tried.”

“They discovered her parent’s necklace,” Luna added. Everybody froze. The necklace? That would definitely explain the emotions. Brisingr clenched her hands into fists.

“Accident or on purpose?” Commander asked.

“It was by accident. Angel discovered it.” Luna said.

“This is bad,” Thor said. “If Reina loses it. . .” She trailed off. Nobody needed her to say what would happen. They all knew.

Cynthia licked her lips. “So we need to hassle the Board to infiltrate the Academy, stop the killer, and make sure Reina doesn’t blow everything up? I take the Board!”

“If course you do, you sadistic girl.” Commander smiled. “Welp, maybe our combined annoyance would be enough to make the Board members croak and die. Who knows, maybe the replacements would be more understanding!”

“That’s terrifying.” Brisingr deadpanned. Commander and Eons? She pitied the poor soul.

“What can I do?” Thor asked, taking a step forward and almost collapsing. Brisingr hurriedly caught her and gently began heading back to the hospital.

“You can rest. The technology used to heal you took a lot of energy from your body.” Thor grumbled and complained how she wasn’t useless but Brisingr’s mind was on somebody else.

A girl, who had a knack for shooting and knew the underworld better than anybody else. She would know more about the killer. “Hey, Commander? I have somebody to bring here.”