It was late when Clive returned to the dorms

Clive opened the door “hey whe-“

He closed the door promptly before taking a breath he had forgotten that his roommate was a complete clown.

Clive braced himself and opened the door again “ whatever you have to say or ask, save it for tomorrow, I’m tired”

Sirius seemed to get the message Clive found the empty bed and flopped down. His body still hurt like hell and he still felt on edge, the occasional shake and tremor from his hands wasn’t helping either probably another side effect of entering that state

sleep came quickly, he was out like a light as soon as his head hit the pillow.

The dream Clive dreamt was different ominous the house was burning as usual, but his father wasn’t there. More importantly it reeked of blood, the smell emanating from the door was that of a slaughterhouse, whatever was on the other side it wasn’t good.

Not only that the door was closed “Not even the inside of my head is safe, interesting, just who or what are you.”

Clive narrowed his eyes looked up and caught a faint glimpse of something but was ejected from the dream before he could get a better look.

Whatever was responsible for the fire was actively interfering with him, it meant he was on the right track.

“Sirrus get up” Clive gave his roommate a nudge

“10 more minutes mom”

Clive got to work brewing coffee in the kitchenette by the door.

“Too bad I’m not your mom, we have classes, so get up” if there was one thing Clive learned about pushy people it was fine to be demanding with them, most relationships with a person like that were bound to be give and take. So it was fine to be a bit of an asshole

Smelling the coffee Sirrus got up with a groan “but, I said 10 more minutes”

“first class is at the range c’mon”

Sirrus groggily lurched around his room and threw on his holster, and grabbed a few boxes of ammo

“what are you packing I got a nine”

“ forty-five, 1911’s have their own charm” Clive spoke as he fished out a box

“got muffs”

Clive shook his head “haven’t had the time to pick any up”

“the school’s suck you can borrow my spare.”

15 minutes later they were at the range.

“hey wait what time is it” Clive spoke as he racked the slide

“6:30 why”

“the class isn’t until eight”

“all the more reason to get the extra practice”

It took around 20 minutes for the two to walk to the range and get settled in

“Why are you here, everyone who ends up here has a reason.”

“Tsk” Clive clicked his tongue in irritation and ended up shooting wild “straight to those questions, would it kill you to ease it in”

“no, hard questions are the most fun, c’mon spill all your dirty little secrets”

The click of a hammer on empty chamber punctuated his irritation

“if you must know my dad died” with a quick flick of the wrist the magazine shot out of the pistol

“Murder”

The Shlicking sound of a pistol slide could be heard

“maybe”

“what do you mean maybe?”

“Lots of things that don’t add up, and…” something was watching him but Clive wasn’t interested in people thinking he was even more paranoid than he already was so he deflected “oh, dammit, casing just jumped in my shirt”

A clacking sound could be heard as Clive threw an empty shell casing on the table

“Just know that getting involved with me is a bad Idea until I figure this out”

“why do you think that”

“you ever hear of an entire house spontaneously combusting?”

Their conversation muted of the steady clicking sounds of rounds being loaded into magazines

“Combustion, not explosion?” Sirrus asked.

“They said it was a gas leak but no way in hell that was a gas leak, especially since there aren’t any gas lines in or running under our home.”

“Pretty sloppy for a cover up”

“I doubt you could even call it that, it was more like they wouldn’t even bother explaining, probably just a half assed guess by someone who just wanted to go home for the night”

“well investigators like that keep us in the job I guess” The tempo of shots started to pick up in the other booth.

“so that’s my story what about you” Clive waved his gun nonchalantly

“Missing sister”

“You try hiring someone.”

“You know what they say about wanting something done right, everyone I hired came back with nothing, my parents didn’t seem to care either”

“I take it she was the black sheep of the family”

“how about this I help you, you help me” Clive couldn’t tell if he was trying to direct the conversation elsewhere or was it a genuine offer

“why spring that on someone you just met” Clive probed

“Everyone else thinks I’m a clown, they don’t think I’ll graduate” Sirrus spoke with a downtrodden tone.

He did have a clownish sort of spoiled rich kid thing going for him. Probably why those detectives took the down payment and ran.

“I can help you but… on one condition, I don’t intend on getting anyone involved in my issues.”

“why, you think I’ll screw up” the tone shifted to a defensive, it was abundantly clear he had a chip on his shoulder

“It gives me a bad feeling, a sense that whatever this is it isn’t going to end well for anyone involved” Clive remembered the dream from before and shuddered.

“Oh but you’ll be fine, won’t you mr lone wolf” Sirius said in a mocking tone

“I doubt it” Clive replied with a flat, unamused tone. Clive knew how absurd he sounded, after all this was based on nothing more than a “feeling” backed by a few pieces of weak evidence.

Perhaps he should have been mad, with his nerves strung out like a wire he should have been. But instead he just felt cold and apathetic.

“Too bad it takes more than a feeling of dread to scare me off” his voice was back to his lighthearted and flippant tone practically blowing Clive off

It was clear that his roommate wasn’t taking him seriously “Fine, do what you want” If he wanted to get involved it would be his problem.

“I think I will” Sirrus replied with a matter-of-fact tone from the other side of the divider.

“What was your sisters name”

“Lily, Lilly Axen”

After an hour of silence punctuated by the sounds of gunfire and firearm operation. The class started.

Clive and Sirrus didn’t speak to one another for the rest of the day.

The classes that day consisted of Pistol shooting, knife fighting, lockpicking and judo for the morning. The afternoon classes were investigation, substance Identification (which mostly dealt with identifying and detecting some of the more common poisons, explosives, and accelerants), Cold reading, and finally a class called layman’s forensics.

Nothing taught was an exact science, no one could be an expert in any field they just needed enough to determine what kind of lab they needed to call.

Clive returned to the dorms to find Sirrus polishing a bolt action rifle “I have a marksmanship elective tonight”

“Won’t it be dark”

“Classes for the elective are random, we’re supposed to be able to shoot in any conditions. Sometimes we get a call when its raining or windy and the class is held on the spot.”

“sounds rough”

“its worth it, what’s your combat elective”

Clive remembered that the school required all students to take a combat elective regardless of their field of study, outside of detective work the school functioned like a private military and police academy. The school offered Training for private military contractors, detectives, and intelligence officers.

Combat electives consisted of marksmanship, that covered all manner of precision rifles, CQB that focused on fighting in tight spaces and urban environments, and finally support that focused on battlefield medicine, breaching, treating poison, and disarming explosives and booby traps.

All combat electives were given training in pistols.

“CQB, so I take judo and knife fighting instead.”

“They give you anything good yet”

“no were supposed to qualify for flashbangs later in the semester according to the syllabus, no real explosives though, not that we need them really.”

“Ill be heading out then” Sirrus said. Packing up his things, he left Clive alone with his thoughts.

After he left Clive looked over the contract that the man from Clinic had given him. Aside from the typical trappings of long term contracts there were some clauses of note.

Clause 33-a. Clinic is not liable for any damages the participant experiences. However, clinic is responsible for ensuring the physical wellbeing of the participant and is obligated to provide medical care whenever needed.

Clause 33-b. Clinic is not obligated to pay fees for any care receive outside of their facilities.

Clause 47-a. Participant is to be bound by an NDA (non-disclosure agreement) under penalty of imprisonment, death, and or seizure of assets WE WILL FIND YOU.

Clause 52-a. Participant agrees to undergo Procedure Alpha

Clause 52-b. the participant is not entitled to information (not stated in the contract) regarding the procedure before sighing.

Disclaimer: procedure Alpha has been known to shorten the natural lifespan of participants by an estimate of 30 years.

Clause 92: Clinic will fulfill 1 request to the best of its ability.

“It feels Like I’m sighing my Life away, but… I think Its worth it”

In the dorm room the sound of a pen scratching paper could be heard faintly, then the man sitting at the desk looked up staring out at something unknowable before speaking in a resigned tone of voice.

“your move”