Chapter 127 - 126 - Report

"This is...a lot to take in," Remarked Director Silva with a grimace. 

It was about an hour later, and about half an hour ago, Director Silva showed up herself, along with one of the Aces I hadn't met yet. I didn't get to talk to them or anything though, since the director sent them to go to the hospital with the victims, while she and I returned to HQ to discuss what I'd found. 

Which worked out great for me, since I was still in disguise and wanted to minimize interactions with others as much as possible, even if I don't know them. Anyway, after the director and I returned to her office, I gave her the account of what had happened... 

"The criminals in the South Quadrant are out of control, I know you've been avoiding sending in a large group of X-Warriors in order to avoid causing a commotion...but I think we're beyond that now, the fact that people are literally moving out of the quadrant is a good indicator of that. You need to send in large numbers and have them kill or capture the criminals and put an end to this," I surmised, giving her my opinion. 

"It's not that simple, Kilzachs. We've been under immense pressure and dissatisfied criticism from the general public for months now, we have to handle things more delicately and-," She began to argue. 

"Come on, director, you know as well as I do that that's bullshit...had we snuffed this problem out as soon as it arose, none of this would have happened...there were corpses of children down there, how do you think the general public would react if they found that out?" I pointed out coldly. 

"I-...you're right. Though I have to admit, I wouldn't have thought you'd care about this all that much," She responded wryly. 

Actually...I don't care. Sure, I was pretty shocked and taken aback at the sight of those bodies, but beyond that, I wasn't affected all that much emotionally speaking. 

It's more that I'm frustrated at the inefficiency of allowing an enemy to stir up chaos like this for well over a month, completely unchecked...if the Sanctuary falls, I'll probably die too, and with the current instability in the South Quadrant, we've got a glaring weakness. But I can't say all that, so I'll act like I care about the victims more than I actually do... 

"Well...I suppose you have a point there. It's just...seeing those mutilated, rotting bodies kinda triggered me...there was no reason to torture them, that Wight only did so because, by his own admission...he was 'bored'. It's been nearly six weeks since the Wights attacked, and in that time, he'd been doing whatever he wanted with ease, and your approach of sending a single person to investigate at a time played right into his hands...who knows what kind of information he has about us now?" I pointed out with a sigh. 

After discussing my findings a bit further, I sent her all the footage I recorded and began to leave, when she stopped me with a query. 

"Wait, before you go, there's something I'd like your opinion on...after we clean up the South Quadrant and restore a sense of normalcy to it, we'll need to figure out a way to maintain that peace...any suggestions?" She asked me. 

Hm, good point, it certainly doesn't hurt to think long-term, so long as you don't get too ahead of yourself... 

"Let me think...oh, how about a police force?" I suggested, after mulling over. 

"Oh?" She responded with a look of intrigue. 

"Yeah, think about it...the Sanctuary has never needed police since I-Watches can be used to keep track of everything that someone does, as well as track them...so any crime committed can be solved almost immediately. But if it's organized crime, that's a different story...the criminals in the South Quadrant have stopped wearing their I-Watches at all, to keep from being tracked. So establish a police force, train the applicants to use X-Weapons, make sure that there's no chance of corruption, and there, that should do it," I concluded with a shrug. 

"You make it sound so simple...well, it's not going to get done overnight, and we probably shouldn't even be thinking about it until we first solve all the incidents in the South Quadrant and apprehend everyone that's responsible. Still, it's certainly an option worth considering," She replied with a nod of approval, "Thank you, Kilzachs, you've given me a lot to think about...oh, and as promised, I'll see to it that you get the rest of the week off from classes."

Sweet. That's all I really wanted from this... 

... 

... 

About three days later, while I was busy enjoying my week off from classes, I rejoiced as, finally, I dropped down from the number one trending topic on social media. The topic that replaced me? 

An operation carried out in the South Quadrant...specifically, over a hundred X-Warriors sweeping the place, either culling or capturing the criminals that were running wild. And I was currently watching Director Silva give a press conference, and right as the questions about the operation began to ramp up into sensitive territory, she changed the subject. 

Clever, she must have planned this...she was announcing the implementation of a new project, specifically a Sanctuary-wide police force that anyone could apply for, regardless of whether or not they're Prodigies or just regular Paragons. The only ones who weren't allowed to apply were those that were already X-Warriors. 

I'd asked her to leave my name out of it, since I didn't want anyone to know of my involvement. I don't care about getting credit or whatever. There's more than enough attention on me as it is, I'd rather it not get any worse than it already is. 

As for the state of the South Quadrant, all the neglected areas following the Wights' attack were being rebuilt and cleaned up, and some of the people who'd moved out recently were moving back in, now that the danger was gone. 

On that note, they'd captured over five hundred criminals across two days, they did so by arresting anyone that wasn't wearing an I-Watch...though the criminals weren't that hard to find, since a lot of them attacked without a thought as soon as they spotted the X-Warriors. 

Director Silva was avoiding answering any questions regarding the victims that resulted from the period of unrest in the South Quadrant, though that seems pointless to me...a lot of people must have lost their loved ones over the last six weeks or so, not to mention the survivors I found along with Sofia. 

How's she gonna stop them from talking? Non-disclosure agreements? Would that even work? I mean, if I'd gone through something like that, I think I would be pretty damn pissed off if people tried to cover it up and try to get me to keep quiet about it. But that's me, and I know that I'm not exactly a normal person, at least not in the way my mind works.

Anyway, as I watched the press conference on my laptop, my I-Watch buzzed...someone's calling me, let's see-...huh? It's Director Silva...

"Uh, hello?" I remarked uncertainly, as I answered the call. 

"Hey, Kilzachs. Are you busy right now?" She inquired in reply. 

"Well, no, not really, I guess...but, uh, aren't you supposed to be in a live conference right now? A conference that I'm literally watching with my own eyes as we speak," I responded in bemusement.

"Oh, well, you see...after your outburst during the interview at the X-Warrior Championship wrap-up, the broadcasters now air 'live' footage about ten minutes after being recorded, so that just in case something unexpected happens, they'll have enough time to respond and cut the feed if necessary. A lot of parents complained after your interview, since you used that, uh...very colorful language," She chuckled in amusement. 

"Right, my bad...though if I went through that again, I'm not sure that I'd do things any differently," I admitted sheepishly. 

"Uh-huh...well, I appreciate your honesty, I suppose."

"So, uh...why'd you call me?" I asked curiously. 

"Oh, that's right, I almost forgot...would you mind going to the hospital for a bit?" She responded. 

"What? Why?" I inquired uncertainly. 

"Uh...what's with the averse tone?" She asked in surprise. 

"I don't like hospitals. Because they smell like death, they're always crowded and they're creepy. Also because they remind me of my mom," I replied with an exasperated sigh. 

Oh, might've said a bit too much. 

"Your mother? I know that you had a terrible relationship with your father, but I didn't know that it was the same with your mother as well."

"No, not that's quite accurate...I don't hate her, definitely not as much as I hated him. It's more that thinking about her irritates me...she basically treated me like a stranger for the most part, that's all. But she didn't actually mistreat me or anything, so it's not like I have a grudge against her or whatever," I explained, before changing the subject, "Anyway, getting back to the matter at hand...why do you want me to go to the hospital?" 

"It's not my request actually...Sofia requested it. She's recovering now and I gave her a report of what you did, and she wants to thank you," Replied the Director. 

"Yeah, no. Tell her that a thank you text or something will be more than enough, I don't need her gratitude," I refused immediately. 

"Well, sure, I don't mind telling her that, but...don't you think it'd benefit you to have more allies among the X-Warriors?" She pointed out in response, before continuing, "She's a pretty well-respected K-Rank, after all. She's also close to your age, she's only been an X-Warrior for a little over a year and a half. And because of her swift rise, she's been on the receiving end of spite from some X-Warriors, just like you have...though, well, not to the extent that you have, admittedly."

Hm...she does have a point, I suppose, it's far from ideal to have the majority of X-Warriors be against me. Swaying one person isn't going to make that much of a difference, but...I have to start somewhere, I guess. I just hope I don't regret this... 

"Alright, fine...I'll go." 

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