A week went by and Decha's head was still clouded by the tainted memory of Chai. He was so distracted that he didn't care much that Rory continued her routine every single day. Seriously, she wouldn't leave him alone. She'd always wait for him by the main entrance of the school and follow him to class or the dining hall.

Although irritated by her actions, it wasn't too hard to deal with. She kept quiet when he wanted and stayed behind him. The majority of their time together was spent by Rory with her head dug close to her tablet. She studied her heart out.

"I've got to figure out what that memory was," Decha mumbled and massaged his temple. "When was it? About 4 years ago?" He moaned.

He racked his brain for what he saw but couldn't figure it out. Deep despair came to him when the emotion attached to the memory replayed. "Stupid, head." Decha smacked himself. "Think."

But he couldn't. Decha gave up and arrived at the entrance of Grandell. He realized he had to switch on his undercover act. When he stepped up onto a stair, he noticed that Rory wasn't around.

"Where the heck is she?" Decha muttered to himself and glanced both ways. He eyed the large clock on the building. He wasn't late for class. He arrived at his usual time. Why wasn't she standing in her usual spot? Why did he care? "I don't care." He swore to himself.

He waited about two minutes before deciding that she was probably late or absent. He needed to get to class, not to study, but to at least be there so Professor Mass wouldn't complain to Director Chen.

However, when he took one more step, he heard soft coughing and some soft voices. He paused and turned his head to the right to pay closer attention to the noise.

"I can't stand you! You're all the same! You pretend to be the victim, and make it as if we are the bad guys!" Decha heard a familiar voice. What was the redhead's name? Decha couldn't remember, but he knew the voice belonged to her.

Decha turned and sauntered around the building. He was a bit surprised to find Rory there, along with the redheaded student and her friends.

"Say something! Darn it!" The redhead girl screamed in Rory's face. "Why are you here? Go back to your home if you can't take it!"

"Haley, calm down. We don't want to hurt her."

"No, I'm tired of her. She walks around like she's some princess. Someone ought to teach her about her place."

"I don't carry myself the way you think," Rory mumbled. "I'm only here to study. If you're bothered by it, that's your problem."

"Did you hear what the skank said?" Haley sneered and glanced at her friends. Then she shoved Rory to the wall and began smacking her. Rory held her arms in front of her face to block the blows. She didn't want to go back home with another scar. Her father would notice and force her to quit school. "Fight me!" Haley's fist hit Rory's ear and scraped it. Small droplets of blood began to stream down the side of Rory's face.

Rory hunched over to block the hits and tried her best to hold in her tears. She needed to find a way to escape and fast. Her heart was pounding heavily, and she could feel herself growing sick. Her Head was spinning.

Haley stopped hitting Rory and glanced at her backpack. "Give it to me. Let's teach her a lesson she'll never forget.

"What?" Haley's friend number one frowned. "Haley, I thought you just wanted to scare her off a bit."

"Give me my bag!" Haley hissed and glanced at Rory. "We don't need lowlifes like you coming to Grandell to disgrace the rest of us Students who practically pay for your scholarship." Haley snatched the bag out of her friend's hand. She flipped it open and dug inside it frantically before pulling out a small red can. It was pepper spray.

"Haley! Don't! We'll get expelled!" Friend number 1 reached for her but Haley popped the lid off and grabbed a fist full of Rory's hair.

"Let's see how well you'll study when you can't see!" Haley shook the can, ignoring Rory's grunts and calls for relief. Rory tried her best to pull away, but she didn't want to put too much strain on herself or her medical condition would start acting up.

Decha continued to watch, debating whether he should intervene or not. If there was one thing the General Elite program taught him, it was to mind his own business. However, Decha wasn't the type to follow the rules all the time.

"Forget it. That's her problem." Decha continued up the stairs but stopped when a memory from 2 years ago flashed in his mind. A younger Decha was walking on night patrol at his Sector B station, and he saw a small little boy across the street crying. An older child had ripped a piece of fruit out of the toddler's hands.

"Avon?" Decha mumbled and grabbed his head.

The memory continued to show various scenes of the blind boy being pushed and kicked around. When the Image in Decha's mind faded, his head began to pound. Decha grumbled and turned around. He sauntered over to Haley and her posse and snatched the can of pepper spray out of her hands.

"What are you—!?"

"Leave." Decha spat at her.

"Who are you to tell me what I to do?" Haley scoffed. "All you do is sleep in class. This is none of your business." Haley reached over to shove him aside, but Decha grabbed her fist and twisted her around before she could realize it.

Then he pressed Haley against the wall. All her things dropped to the ground. Decha knew it was illegal to use the tactics he learned while on the Outside on Astellian citizens, but the red-headed girl was leaving him no choice. "I will not tell you again. Leave."

"Alright! Let me go!" Haley mumbled. Decha released her, and she turned around to glare at him. Her Friends gasped when they saw her face.

"Your lip!" Friend 1 pointed.

Haley reached up to Touch her mouth and growled. "You cut me!"

"Don't even try it." Decha snapped. "The wall cut you. And the wall will do a lot more harm if you don't get out of my sight in the next 5 seconds."

"He can't be serious! You can't hurt a woman!"

"5..." Decha raised his fingers and began counting down. "4... 1–" Decha skipped several numbers and all of them scrambled away toward the entrance before he could do anything. When they were gone completely, Decha turned around to look at Rory. She was still crouched over, but instead of looking up to acknowledge him, she had her face buried in her backpack.

"People like you make me sick. If someone is trying to hurt you, defend yourself. Just fight back. It's not that hard." Decha scolded her. "Get up, already."

Rory didn't respond. She was too busy looking for her medication. But she was trying to do it in a way that he wouldn't see. Rory finally found the pills and opened the container before shoving 2 in her mouth, out of Decha's sight. Decha thought she was crying and reached down to touch her.

Before he could graze his fingers across her skin, Rory stood up immediately and ran away. She ran in the direction of the Dean's office. Rory needed to get to the nurse immediately. Her medication wouldn't kick in quickly enough for her condition to settle.

The action surprised Decha. He noticed that a small plastic card slipped out of her bag as she rushed off. Decha picked it up and looked at where Rory had gone. "Wait! You dropped..." Decha eyed the plastic card curiously and flipped it over. It was her identification card. "This?"

Decha read the details on the card and balled his fist when he read the last line. She was from Sector B. After studying the card, he realized why the students were attacking her. Rory was a Bracketer.

This was going to make his job a lot easier. He knew that students from the Brackets attended Grandell, but he also knew it would be difficult to identify them. Now, one has stumbled her way into his sight. All Decha needed to do now was some serious investigating. He needed to find out more about her background, and get more information from the Bracket suspect they caught the other day.

~~~

Decha tapped his fingers impatiently as he waited for the large monitor to finish loading up information about the identification card he scanned. The computer went through many files before finally opening a separate window with Rory's data. An image of her popped up along with several bodies of text.

Decha used his finger to drag the screen and skimmed through the passages. All the information about her seemed generic. Although he gained new knowledge of her life as a student, he knew he wanted to dig deeper. The file never acknowledged anything about her life in the Brackets.

That was oddly suspicious to him. He noticed that there was a blank space about her medical records. But right at the bottom of the file in small print, there was a hyperlink. He tapped on it and it opened another window, but seconds later the monitor flashed to another screen with 'ACCESS DENIED' written across it.

"What?" Decha mumbled and sat up closer to the screen. He placed his wrist over the scanner to override the command. He was a high-rank general. So it shouldn't have been an issue for him to gain secret information about the people of the Brackets. The computer denied his attempt to get to her medical records. "Why won't it let me in?" Decha grumbled and ran a hand through his hair.

He opened the keyboard and began typing a password, but upon hitting enter the computer denied him again. Decha was growing more frustrated. Why was the system denying him the right to investigate? Decha slammed his fist on the desk and let out a hard sigh.

"What are you doing in my Office?" Director Chen, his father, sauntered in with a strong grimace. "Shouldn't you be getting ready for night patrol at the border? Where's Amir?"

"Do you mind telling me why I can't access certain files in the Agency's system?" Decha spun around in the chair and folded his arms.

"Get out of my chair, boy." Theodore tapped Decha's shoulder aggressively, gesturing for him to move. Decha hesitated but did so. "The laws have changed since you left for the Outside. You can't just gain access without asking me first. What are you trying to do?"

"I need some information about a woman—"

"A woman?" Theodore Chen glanced up at Decha as he sat down, and coughed. He wasn't expecting Decha to be so honest about his intentions. "Why are you searching for information about a woman? I know you have issues carrying yourself with social norms, but I didn't think it was this bad."

"What?" Decha snapped. What the heck was he talking about? "Issues to carry myself with social norms?"

"If you're interested in someone Decha, this is not the way to get to know them. You have to talk to them. The Agency's resources shouldn't be wasted on trivial matters."

"Director, get your mind out of the gutter for a second and come to reality. The woman I'm trying to dig info on is a Bracketer." Decha seethed.

"A Bracketer?" Theodore hissed. "You're interested in a Bracket woman?"

"No! Would you stop assuming? This has to do with Grandell!"

"Oh." Chen's eyes widened. "Oh!"

"Her name is Rory Clarke and she's one of the few Bracketer valedictorians who was offered a scholarship to Grandell. From her files, she's already been studying there for some time. However, I think this is her first time appearing in class."

"Grandell has enforced an in-person class policy on all students. That may be why."

"Even so, I have an odd feeling that she may be connected to the bombings."

"How so?"

"She keeps following me around."

"She follows you around? Why?" Theodore placed a finger under his chin.

"I think it may be a new scheme. She gets teased by the other students, and at times, I've had to step in whenever things have gotten out of hand. But I'm starting to think she's using that as an excuse because she recognizes me." Decha concluded. "I need to have access to anything about her life in the Brackets. I need to see who she's connected with."

"I see. As good as a suspicion this is, unfortunately, I can't just hand over her personal information so easily."

"Didn't you just say that the Director has access to certain files? Aren't you the director of this place?"

"I am, but I told you, the laws have changed. If you want information about her, you're gonna have to go to city hall in the Brackets and get it. You'll have to request to speak with Sector B's overseer. I could put in a request through the council to arrange a meeting, but you'll need to have your suspicions organized to be heard."

"Are you, serious?" Decha groaned.

"Unfortunately, yes. I'm very serious. There's been too much hostility on Sector B's side. They don't want Astellians to be able to have access to all of their information. They want to be looked at as a separate nation."

"I'll go there myself and—"

"No, you won't. You're going to take things slow and handle this the right way. This isn't the Outside. We don't force others like we're in a war. Be more civilized Decha." Theodore began typing on his computer. "For now, I say we investigate more on the man we brought into custody. He's more prone to giving us a lead about Grandell's bomb threats than the woman you suspect. And if that doesn't work, have Amir listen to the conversations this girl has. Use her to your advantage."

"Do you think I'm some sort of social reject?"

"I don't. But I can't deny that everyone who works for the Agency fears you. You have more pins than my number of fingers. And that brain of yours is something else."

Decha didn't know whether to take it as an insult or a compliment. He knew he was very intelligent and knew of his capabilities. But he didn't view himself as some supernatural superior. Hearing his father talk to him like he was incapable of operating normally around other people didn't make him feel any better. "Give me access to question the suspect."

"You already have access. Just go to our holding cells and question him. Bring Amir with you. And if you gain any other leads, report to me first." Theodore nodded.

~~~

"Explain why we have to come here?" Amir hissed as he and Decha approached a closed-off area of the agency.

"Have they already interrogated the man who set off the bomb?" Decha asked. He knew Amir would be more aware of the Agency's doings.

"Somewhat, yeah. But he won't speak. He keeps on demanding a lawyer."

"I'll make him talk." Decha pressed his lips together. Both men walked through sliding doors and stopped in front of a cell. Decha looked at the man with dark skin and black straight hair with contempt. "Have you been able to identify him?"

"Decha, it's not lawful for us to be here." Amir glanced over his shoulder. He worried that the director would come in and demote him for entering an unauthorized area.

"Since when do you ever care about rules?" Decha snapped. Amir wasn't the type to usually follow along with government protocol.

"It's just... I worked hard for the position I'm in—"

"Stop being a coward. Identify him." Decha pressed the button on the keypad next to the cell bars. They shifted, making an opening for the prisoner. Amir was still tapping away on the keypad. He stopped when his fingerprint was rejected.

"To get into the file, I need access."

"Step aside." Decha placed his thumb on the scanner. It made a beep sound, and a holographic screen appeared above it with the prisoner's details. "A fake identity. I should've known."

"He's a Bracketer for sure," Amir grumbled. Just saying the word put a foul taste in Amir's mouth.

"No..." Decha shook his head. "He's Austellian. The Bracket ID is false."

"How can you tell?"

"The seal is on the wrong side," Decha observed.

"Holy Crap. You're right." Amir's eyes widened. How come he didn't notice it before? Decha was truly a genius.

When the bars of the cell fully opened, the two generals stepped inside. The man was still asleep. Decha pulled a stool over and placed it in front of the prisoner. Instead of nudging the man gently, Decha kicked the man's feet, and he collapsed onto the bench.

The prisoner woke up and quickly scanned his environment. When he saw Decha staring back at him with those void eyes, he almost had a heart attack.

"Rise and Shine," Decha smirked. His eyes shifted to a sinister glare. "You've got some explaining to do."

~~~