It happened very quickly, as though it was a blur, most people wouldn't have picked it up, but Zach did. Xavier speedily and forcefully moved Leila's arm from his face, as though in a flash and twisted her arm slightly, his face breaking into a cruel smile, but his heart pounding hoping against hope that it wasn't what he thought it was

"Is this the way you ask me out to the Royal Ball?" Xavier Johnston replied coldly, he stared carefully at Leila, looking for an ounce of realization. Leila blinked blankly, as though lost in thought, before turning around, realizing what she had done, but the whole cafeteria was silent, staring at them

"Wh-what? Oh...b-b-ball? Er..no..." Leila said, embarrassment seeping across her face. From nowhere, Leila felt another more gentle hand, clutch onto Xavier's "This isn't how you get asked to the ball buddy..." Leila felt a rush of gratitude towards the voice, which she recognized so well, she turned to see the joking face of Zach,

"Let go of my hand..." Xavier said sneering at Zach while still staring at Leila

"Let go of her's"

"She's the one who came here...in case you missed that..." Xavier said his words menacing

"I....no........sorry......I was ...a bit impulsive........."

Xavier raised his eyebrow, a scratching chair noise came from the left, Nico had kicked the chair out "Well now that you are here, why don't you join us Ms Adams?" Leila turned around looking embarrassed,

"You know what.....that's an excellent idea......Let's join them......dare I say you must be tiered of the beggars table...?" Zach said, smiling. Feeling as though she had no choice, Leila sat down awkwardly, while Xavier still clung onto her hand.

"You should know, I've never allowed just anyone to touch my face......what do you think you were doing?" Xavier said haughtily

"Er..you're face?......no-nothing...sorry...." Leila responded awkwardly while her feeling her face going red.

"Just so you know Leila has rejected Me and Nico's proposal to go to the ball together...." Taylor said to the table, while digging into his food. Xavier stared at her expressionless, while Zach winked "Good choice, I wouldn't go with them either..." Leila smiled at him, somehow in the tense situation she still felt safe with him.

"I...think I should go.." Leila said feebly while getting up, just as she felt a strong arm push her down

"Stay...................you can leave when we are all done." came the commanding voice of Xavier. Dislike for him poured into every inch of her.

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"What you will see in the best C40s is that they are not trained to argue, or to look for reason. No, that would be the job of let's say...other stakeholders such as intelligence agencies, Criminal prevention so on and so forth. C40s are specifically trained to deal with enemies. And it is their job to put the enemy down. Do you get me?" Princess had the class in pin drop silence.

He smiled to himself; he had to admit he was good at his job. He had one job, and that was to make sure that he held the attention of his class. "So it's an....... army?" James asked from the far corner of the class

"Yes and no....... Look with a typical army you would have a lot of rules and protocols to observe. And we already know you specifically aren't good at following rules, I mean that's why you are here isn't it? While an army has to observe these limitations.......C40 don't.........that makes them both more so dangerous....and free from a traditional army. Oh don't get me wrong we do have protocols......but WE make them? You get me?" Princess looked at his class, some looked at his in amazement while others looked puzzled.

"Okay look........take me for example......which army in the world would I be able to live my authentic self?" Princess said with a swoosh of his hips.

"But I got selected because I am very good at what I do..............but a traditional army...I probably wouldn't stand a chance.... And look at some of you.....the same would apply, if you had to go through let's say a fitness test, or a psychometric evaluation, how many of you would be given an opportunity to be here? Probably less than 1 percent of you.......so use this chance ......this....this opportunity you have been given.......it's your second chance..." Princess finished dramatically.

"We are soon reaching the end of our induction phase class, now....do you have any questions...?" Princess asked, a small hand crept up in the front row, it was the Brasilian kid,

"Yes Eduardo......"

"Can you tell us a little bit about Cut Throat?"

Princess rolled his eyes, it seemed his boss was getting more and more popular by the day, even with the newbies. He briefly wondered how Rodger felt about that, considering he was in actual fact the top C40 of the adult league.

He sighed heavily "What about him...?"

"Well.....why is he called Cut Throat for instance..."

Princess pondered on his answer for a brief moment wondering how best to give a straightforward answer to a complicated question,

"Well there are 2 answers to that question really...." Princess responded while walking around the classroom ".... firstly....if you see no one in the C40 uses their real names, obviously my real name isn't Princess...although let's face it, it should have been...haha" Princess laughed at his own joke ,but none of the class responded, ahem, clearing his throat awkwardly

"-So what I mean to say is of course Cut Throat is just a code name.......you will eventually be able to use one, once you make it through the training phase...and secondly........well I suppose......and this I actually will take a guess, because I don't know for sure as I haven't actually ever asked him........but if you notice, about 95 percent of his throat consists of severe scarring ...its mostly covered with tattoos if you see, maybe that's why he choose that pseudonym to pay homage to a very terrible incident...?" Princess's voice wondered off as though lost in deep thought. The voice of the next question jolted him

"And what was that terrible incident.."

"Well....that my dear class, we will discuss on another day another time........thank you for coming to my class.......please read through and conclude the homework tasks given to you........i expect you all to hand in before the deadline...."

Princess's class groaned.

*************************************************************************

Zach had been nervous all day at school, and hearing the way she talked about the Royal Ball didn't give him much hope, but for once in his life, he really wanted to do something very normal like go to a high school ball with her.

He checked through his phone she was sitting at the base of her bed, watching TV. There was a peace and contentment with him knowing that Leila was safe at his house. The day she had disappeared his mind had painted a thousand different scenario's , Skinner had to literally lock him in his own basement to stop him from going on a solo rescue mission. He made his way through his wing, and walked while still looking through the CCTV camera. He felt nervous as he reached her door. He knocked hard, 2 rapid knocks.

"Whose there?" Leila's soft worried voice sounded

"You're prince charming of course..." Zach joked nervously, there was a noise of a lock sound releasing, and she opened the door. Dressed in an oversize t-shirt and simple black shorties, she looked so lovely. Was it him imaging things or did her pretty brown eyes beam when she looked up to him...? He was being distracted by her. "Hiya Zach..." she said affectionately "Whatsup...?"

"I wanted to ask you something...."

"Sure..?" she looked at him curiously

"Go with me to the Royal Ball..." Zach said in a matter of fact voice, he stared at her to make sure he wouldn't miss any of her reactions, she stared at him suspiciously, her eyes narrowing "err..Is this a joke...?" she asked unsure of herself

"You will always think I'm joking..."

"Are you...?"

"Nope ..." he smiled his best boyish smile "So what's your answer...?"

"Can you come down here...?"

"What?"

"Can you bend a little..." she asked

"Bend....how....?"

She made a cute face which he had never seen her do before "aww come on just bend your knees a little bit Zach....."

He bent his knees awkwardly; his eyes grew wide in shock as he felt her soft body crash into his as she hugged him putting her arms around his broad shoulders "Okay........I'll go with you....and Zach...? ...thanks for everything......" she said affectionately. If she didn't stop acting like she cared about him soon......she would surely put him under her spell.

******************************************************************

Leila woke up suddenly feeling someone in her bed. Her heart froze with recognition, she saw an obscene face indecently close to her.......he was sneering at her, "Howdy beautiful.........dare I say, I've been looking soooo forward to this interrogation session..." she heard a quick beep beep looking down the man had a small 2 way receiver in his hand , "We're about to isolate the CCTV cable...." Someone on the other side said

"Affirmative...........I'm about to move the target to the extraction point..." the man said.......she recognized him as the man Cut Throat called as Rodger, and before she knew it, she had a black pillow case put on her, and she felt the man lift her from the bed..