Season 1, Episode 3 - The Ring Dings XX - "The Denouement, Part 1"

Audrey woke slowly, rubbing her eyes as she sat up in bed.

Huh, I could’ve sworn I felt a presence sleeping on me last night. But Reed’s not here.

Audrey threw the covers off of her and slid out of bed, ready to take the day by storm.

She then noticed Reed, already dressed in her school uniform - somewhat tattered and ragged from the night before - sitting on a stool at the kitchen counter. Reed's head leaned all the way back so her face looked right up at the ceiling. Her eyes were closed though, and she snored loudly, fast asleep.

Audrey grinned.

I’ve always wanted to do this.

Sneaking by, stepping lightly, Audrey grabbed a pan and metal spoon from her dish rack.

I can’t wait to see the look on her face!

Audrey moved her hands to slam the pot and pan together-

Quick as a flash, Reed’s hand grabbed one of Audrey’s wrists. Audrey’s other hand stopped moving out of fear.

Reed’s eyes were still closed and her face continued to face upwards.

“Don’t even do that again.”

Audrey nodded meekly.

Reed let go and Audrey set down her instruments of war. Sighing, Reed rolled her head around to crack her neck, then reluctantly opened her eyes.

“Another day,” she muttered.

Audrey’s eyes contained spiral stars of excitement. “Reed! We get to walk to school together!”

“We always do.”

“But not from my apartment!”

“We literally did that last month on Isaac’s first day in the Technical Corps.”

“Then we’ve never had an October walk!”

“....ehhhhhhhhh.”

“Make breakfast while I’m in the shower, okay?” Audrey asked.

Before Reed could say no, Audrey dashed away, far too awake for 6:00 AM.

Reed looked back up at the ceiling.

“....ehhhhhhhhh.”

With nothing better to do – well, she could list at least five things better to do, but whatever – Reed slid off the stool.

She ambled over to the refrigerator and opened the door, gazing inside.

What the hell? Almond milk? Aren’t almonds nuts?

Reed sighed.

How the hell do you even make breakfast?

Audrey came out of the shower, wrapped in a towel. “Hope you made something good-”

A bowl of cereal greeted Audrey from the kitchen counter. Reed sat in her stool, eating a bowl of her own.

“Wow, Reed, you actually made me breakfast!” Audrey exclaimed, her eyes shining.

“Well, I mean, I was hungry too. Don’t get the wrong idea.”

“It’s great, you got cereal and milk in there! Just for me!” Audrey smiled. “I’ll be honest, I don’t know how to make anything for breakfast either.”

“You think I don’t know how to make anything for breakfast?”

Audrey kept smiling.

“Alright, fine, you’re right,” Reed admitted, shooing her away. “Let’s just learn something tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?”

“Well...don’t get the wrong idea, but it’s not like I’m taking my half of the rushers to school. I’ll have to stop by after school to pick them, and since I’m already here...”

Audrey raised her arms and cheered. “Sleepover!”

“Yeah, yeah...”

Reed suddenly fell out of her seat in surprise as Audrey starting taking off her towel.

“What the HELL are you doing?” Reed questioned from the ground. “I knew you were coming on to me last night, I knew it.”

“What? I’m just getting changed.”

“I’m sitting right here. Eating my breakfast. What, you think I want a show while eating my goddamn honey nut cereal?”

“I got stuff on underneath the towel, you know. And the bathroom’s all steamy, I don’t want to change in there. And we’re both girls!”

“Thank you for confirming it for me.”

Reed rolled her eyes and sat on the stool facing the opposite direction while Audrey got changed.

“Hmm, this is odd,” Audrey noted as she brushed the last of her hair.

“What’s odd?” Reed asked, laying on the couch, rejecting Audrey’s offer of the brush.

“I time it every morning so I can jump on Isaac when he leaves. It’s funny, I was actually sensing him with the Rddhi all along when I did it, and I never even noticed! Isn’t life grand like that?”

“Life’s something, alright.”

“But he’s not here. Isaac always leaves at 6:36 AM. He says it’s the best possible time to leave for the station because it accounts for back-jumping and the slow-pace we walk when we get caught up in inane conversations.”

“Inane? A conversation including me can never be inane. The flossing conspiracy is a very important conversation topic.”

Audrey slung her backpack over her shoulders. “I can’t even sense him at all in his home.”

“You know, being able to sense your neighbors could have troubling implications,” Reed wondered aloud.

Audrey pulled her off the couch; Reed just slid to the floor. Another pull from Audrey brought Reed to her feet.

“Let’s just skip,” Reed suggested.

“Skipping school? I love school!”

“....ehhhhhhhhh.”

Reed put on her backpack.

“I guess he’s not coming,” Audrey realized. “Reed, go out first to make sure.”

“Alright, alright...”

Reed stepped outside, hissing mentally when the bright sunlight hit her face. She walked over toward the railing-

Audrey jumped on her back. “Reed!” she exclaimed.

Reed sighed.

“You see, usually I do this with Isaac, but this time, I did it with you! That’s why I said Reed there instead of Isaac.”

“That’s fantastic. I bet I caught you better than Isaac does.”

“You’d make a great Isaac.”

Reed lowered her (already normally low) voice. “I love New England and protecting people. I’m such a hero.”

The two girls laughed.

“Do me next! Do me next!” Audrey cheered, still on Reed’s back.

Reed made her voice higher. “I love the inherent duality of man and nature and explaining easily understandable jokes!”

Audrey laughed louder. “That’s fantastic! Let me do you next!”

“Don’t-”

“Ooh, I’m Reed, I’m not gonna talk about my emotions, I’m gonna look out the window to watch planes go by.” Audrey’s voice returned to normal. “Why, Reed? So you can fly away from your feelings? You can keep them bottled up, but they will come out Reed, sometimes in the most unexpected-”

Reed dropped Audrey off her back.

The day after the raid. Esther Adzinoki meekly entered the Chairman’s office, closing the door behind her. Not really one for humor, she did at least find the red carpet walk up to Mr. Stockham’s desk sort of ironic. Because she kept to herself and did not really announce her presence, Esther often picked up on the idle conversations between the various students, soldiers, scientists, businessmen, and politicians that could be found at the Academy. She was glad people let their guard down around her because sometimes the information they carelessly shared would be useful to Mr. Stockham; she smiled for a moment, remembering the way Mr. Stockham would talk about how proud he was after every visit with information.

One piece of information she kept to herself involved the red carpet. A lot of Mr. Stockham’s visitors said they felt small during that long walk from the door to the desk, the sun or moon shining brightly behind Mr. Stockham through the windows. Esther felt happy that people were in awe of Mr. Stockham; he was the smartest, kindest man she knew, after all. But the ironic part involved herself; his office was the only place she felt full-sized. When she was with him, she never felt shy or anxious or wanted to hide in a corner to get away. She could be herself with Mr. Stockham.

“Ah, Esther,” Mr. Stockham jovially greeted as Esther arrived at his desk. “Allow me,” he said, rising from his seat. He brought over a spare chair and set it down in front of the desk.

“Thank you,” Esther replied softly, taking her seat.

Mr. Stockham sat back down in his. “Do you have the After-Action Report?”

Esther nodded down at the stack of papers in her hands. “Right here.”

“Good.” Mr. Stockham snuffed out his cigar; Esther would never complain and would deny it if asked, but the Chairman knew she disliked the smell of smoke. “What’s it say?”

“Um, overall, the Hayman Operation was a decisive success, but there are many areas in which we could approve upon.”

Esther flipped through a few of the hundred of papers in the report. “First and foremost is the escape of the unknown Rddhi user hereby designated as the Alchemist due to his Rddhi ability, which, based on the testimony of Isaac Spallacio and Alfie Coonan, can transmute materials and reshape them. While the full extent of his powers is uncertain, he can apparently change wood into metal and dirt into concrete. We believe he used his ability to escape the raid and as of now, remains at large.”

“Unfortunate,” Mr. Stockham commented, tenting his fingers in front of him.

“Though it can’t be proved for certain, we believe the Alchemist killed Private James Fargo during his escape. Based on the interrogation of captured prisoners, the only smuggler who escaped was the Alchemist. We attempted to discover his true name by interrogation, but even when examined by a truth-detecting user, none of the prisoners would reveal his name. They claim...a fate worse than death would await them if they revealed his identity, even when we assured them they would remain under our full protection while in custody.”

Mr. Stockham mulled it over. “If his power level is that strong, I wouldn’t put it past him to break into prisoner and silence witnesses. And being transmuted alive is indeed a fate worse than death. After this meeting, inform the Military Police they should double the number of guards protecting the prisoners.”

“I’ll get on it right away,” Esther said, feeling something warm in her heart. Another task he trusts me with. No matter how mundane or how regular, Mr. Stockham giving her a task to do made Esther feel happy.

Esther flipped through more pages. “Another Rddhi-related issue was our ability to detect users. While Isaac and Alfie could locate the user Harriet Jones within the store, neither they nor Clayton Wesley and Hanai Hanaki were able to detect the Alchemist, the other Rddhi user Roman Julian, nor the two...unexpected Rddhi users either. To rectify this, I suggest bringing along members of the Rddhi Detection Network on the next mission.”

Stockham nodded. “That seems obvious in hindsight, but hindsight is 20/20, as they say.”

Esther continued. “Another issue involved our conventional forces. There were inadequacies involving the command of Clayton and Hanai. They apparently sent two privates out to solve a dispute over whether to wash rice or not.”

“Well, there’s always time to wash,” Stockham murmured.

“Of course,” Esther said in complete agreement. “Though it can’t be confirmed, we believe the Alchemist might have had a more difficult time escaping if the Army encirclement was fully complete. However, in the chaos of battle, some of the soldiers entered the store and the alley-ways around it rather than maintain the line. Coupled with the absence of the two rice-gatherers, there were multiple holes in the line which the Alchemist used to escape. We believe that's not entirely on Clayton and Hanai, however. The gaps in the line could also be explained by the inexperience of soldiers who had never fought a battle before.”

“How does Clayton and Hanai feel?”

Esther remembered the way Hanai, when she interviewed him for the report, unexpectedly hugged her and cried into her chest while lamenting his own failure of command. He then grabbed her shoulders and vowed to the world that he would never commit a dereliction of duty again.

“Hanai is...most remorseful about it.”

In contrast, Clayton didn’t seem too cut up about it...but he did look out the window the whole time when Esther gathered his testimony.

“My conclusion is that Clayton also feels regretful about it, but is doing his best not to show it.”

“Well, they sound like young men, alright,” Mr. Stockham said, almost cheerfully. For a brief moment, Esther wondered why he didn’t seem too concerned about this particular death, but then he remembered his darker moods. Those late nights, when Esther made him tea to ease his headaches, and he spoke solemnly of the friends lost in the First American War. He’s already experienced too much of death. Esther felt sorry for him and decided she would bring him some tea later that day.

“And how did Kelb perform?” Stockham asked.

Another shuffle of papers. “Captain Jacob Kelb performed well, both in his field command of the Second Shock Squadron and in his temporary command as overall operational leader. The only area of improvement is his slight delay in arriving at the operation site; he told me he had never ordered someone into a life-or-death situation before, and that uneasiness made him hesitate. He vowed to me he won’t let it happen again.”

“It sounds like he won’t,” Stockham said. “You already sent my written congratulations to Kelb, but I’ll personally thank him tomorrow morning. As for Clayton and Hanai, I’ll sit them down in my office and explain the situation to them.”

Esther nodded. This is why Mr. Stockham is a good father. He doesn’t see situations in terms of black-and-white. He won’t simply punish them; he’ll remind them of the errors they committed and how best to improve upon them.

“Anything else?” Stockham asked.

Esther didn’t really want to talk about this, but she had a duty to the Chairman to report it.

“Um...yes, one more item. We found a basement connection between Hayman and Bay Mart, suggesting that Bay Mart also served the smuggling operations. Upon further investigation, we found that Bay Mart only had one official employee on its roster, a Roman Julian. After some analysis, we found that he was a former student of Cambridge University High School who came to Elizabeth Pond with under a false identity. While Cambridge records indicate he was on leave due to an unfortunate accident involving several classmates, we believe Cambridge planted him here as a spy. Furthermore, we investigated and found that the Bay Mart was owned by a Stefano Gravel, who is also now in our custody. Apparently, Bay Mart’s purpose was to be an extra method of laundering money, as well as a...training ground for Roman.”

“Training ground?”

“According to Gravel’s testimony, which aligns with Isaac and Alfie’s testimony, the Alchemist enjoys the cultivation of men. He apparently saw Roman’s personal weaknesses as an opportunity to improve his life, and brought him into his smuggling circle. The Alchemist set up Roman at the Bay Mart, his own store, to teach him diligence and accounting. Considering Stefano’s monitoring from Hayman, it was a relatively low-stakes opportunity to give Roman the tools to be a better man. Instead...instead...”

“Are you alright, Esther?”

Esther collected herself. Those poor girls. “In a closet in the Bay Mart basement, we found severed appendages and body parts belonging to multiple women. Roman Julian...was the Mystic Killer.”

Stockham’s face remained neutral. “So the Alchemist employs serial killers,” he surmised. “He’s a dangerous opponent. Was Roman apprehended?”

“...not exactly. It seems that the Alchemist is strong enough to shield the presence of Rddhi users, including himself and Roman. Based on our analysis, it seems as though he only left the one user - Harriet - unexposed, as if to invite us to bring our own users. Isaac and Alfie reported he was very interested in their progression and ideology.”

“He’s a recruiter, eh? Make a note of that for my upcoming meeting with the Ministry of Public Information.”

Esther knew that Public Information equated government propaganda in this case, but she knew Mr. Stockham would steer them in the right direction when it came to the Alchemist’s recruitment efforts.

“Is he recruiting just for smuggling...or for something more?” Stockham asked.

“Um, based on Isaac and Alfie’s testimony, the Alchemist’s long-term goals involve the cultivation of New England itself, obstinately as its leader.”

Stockham’s eyes looked dark as he went deep in thought.

“That won’t do. That won’t do at all.”

Esther was the only person in the world privy to Stockham’s long-term plan. She agreed with him; the Alchemist’s interference would not do at all.

Stockham sighed and relaxed himself. “So, what happened to Roman?”

Esther enjoyed this part even less.

“He was...killed, after a long personal duel. Based on the direction of damage, we surmised there were two users who attacked him. Neither of them were Isaac nor Alfie.”

Are you really going to do this, Esther? Are you really going to betray her?

They were like family but...Mr. Stockham was her father.

“Based on discarded Rddhi-infused vines and other plants in the Bay Mart, we suspect one of the users was...Audrey Adzinoki. Due to their personal closeness and her previous flaunting of the law, we suspect that the other user was Hibiscus Reed.”

Stockham smiled. “What a pair. I’ll be honest with you, I’m glad those are the names. I’m very interested to see what those girls do in the future.”

“Um...they broke the city-wide curfew and used their Rddhi powers for combat outside of school grounds...”

“Ah, don’t worry about it. I’ll handle that in a fair manner. After all, I appreciate the fact they defeated a user and lived to tell the tale.”

Stockham rose from his desk. “I have a meeting with Dunn Industrial at the Top of the World restaurant in forty-five minutes. Leave the After-Action Report with me and look over these administration forms for me while I’m gone, okay? I’ll be back in time for my 3 o’clock meetings.”

Esther nodded, both out of duty and warmth.

Mr. Stockham put on a coat. “Take care, Esther. And remember...I’m always proud of you.”

“Thank you, Mr. Stockham.”

As soon as he left, Esther let out all her feelings of trust and caring and pride and warmth and love into a long, satisfied sigh.