Chapter 192 - Two Meetings, Same Subject
Chapter 192 – Two Meetings, Same Subject
The next week, around six days from the day Daniel disappeared, the situation started stirring up in the academy, especially in TMV internals. Some suggested searching for him, some suggested that the police was looking for him, while the others were unsure of what they should do in the future.
Del and Mira weren't in the unsure or the people that had the initiative to do anything about Daniel. Joshua wasn't exactly in there either. He was currently in the hospital, treating soldiers from last Saturday attack.
The ruckus in the middle of Sneggor was caused by a bomb exploding in a soldier's barrack, not because of the kidnapping. In fact, the kidnapping wasn't on the priority list of law enforcement somewhat, which made almost everyone furious.
"Del, what should we do now?" One of his juniors asked him.
"Well…" She looked at Mira, then Mira looked at him back. Del nodded, "We'll wait. There's nothing traceable in Daniel's room as per the report of the law reinforcement for the moment."
"To add what Del has said, this process is better to be left to the law enforcement. They don't need more lone wolves than there have already been in here. For now, let's continue our day."
That didn't really quiet them down, in fact, it made the meeting way louder than it should have been, and Del felt a little bit smug knowing that the sinners were actually among them all. Mira was probably feeling the same way, too, considering how she thought and how she acted.
She also suggested that they shouldn't do anything until they got further reports from the law reinforcement in the surrounding region. She suggested that they shouldn't act harshly just because a person went missing.
"To reiterate, I don't want more kidnapped person in TMV. One is enough, we don't need another one, do you understand?" Mira said to the other people in TMV. They nodded with few whispers here and there, probably from those who didn't agree with Mira.
It was reasonable. It always seemed that Mira and Del were the guardians of TMV in that branch. If someone got kidnapped, they would call either of them. Usually, they were returned safely just before the security division noticed that one of them went missing.
It kept the TMV records clean for the most part. They were one of the organizations in the academy with the lowest accident rating, only comparable to the security division or the student council due to how the structure of the organization worked.
"So, about the current empty position, will you fill it, Mira?" The junior asked again.
"About that. Well, I have a better replacement for that. I vouch for Del Moore in this one. I feel that I'm not comfortable with holding the position of the leader of this academy TMV. Del will fill that position nicely," Mira said.
Again, it caused another ruckus, in particular, with other 12th grade members of the TMV. It was true that Del held more support than Mira, but again, Mira was the co-leader just before Del entered the academy, so there was that. Those who preferred the status quo wanted Mira to be the leader, and those who supported Del wanted to change the current status quo.
As far as Del knew, there wasn't even any clash of power in TMV, at least, until now. Mira wasn't exactly in a position where he was above Del, at least, in his eyes, simply because Mira was a contractor contracted by Del to do whatever he needed her to do.
Even if it meant that Mira would be nothing more than a puppet in the hand of the puppeteer. It was clear, but no one else besides Del's inner circle would know about that. Yeah, even behind an organization as honest as TMV, there was still a conflict of interest.
"But Mira, Daniel trusted you, why should Del become the leader of TMV in this academy? This is simply a little bit against our regular conduct, don't you think?" One of the senior members of the TMV said.
"Correction, Daniel trusted him too. So, is there any other reasons beside of that?" Mira asked.
That member went quiet now. Still, it didn't mean the ruckus stopped at all. In fact, it was a little bit bigger than before. Hmm, one thing or another, this should result in some unbalance of power for the TMV. Would Del want that? Not really, but he had no choice.
It was between taking power and telling the security division to mind their own business or just leaving Anna alone to fight the horde of security division. Yeah, it seemed that everyone in the security division was pointing their finger at Del without exception.
Just because you had a far advanced armament, it didn't really mean that you were responsible for anything whatsoever. It's just how it worked in the first place. Those who were jealous would do anything to make you the boogeyman.
"Alright, be quiet, anyone who is against Del, please raise your hand," Mira said.
Six people raised their hands, and that probably was it. The rest just followed along. Well, it was set then. Del would be the leader of TMV of the academy. Albeit with some people not agreeing, but that was expected.
"Then it's set, Del would be the leader of TMV, at least, until Daniel returned," Mira said.
Mira clapped her hands. One student followed, then the rest of them followed. It was decided Del was the leader of the TMV. The transfer of power would be rather something, but well, it could be done.
Not that Del wanted to take advantage of Daniel's disappearance, but it was the right thing to do for now. And with him and the volunteer, it might be a good idea to establish some trust between him and the security division.
With that problem being solved, Del wondered how Anna was doing during this afternoon meeting with the security division.
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"Rinse and repeat, ad nauseam." Anna muttered, without anyone hearing during the meeting.
It was guessable what the meeting was. Of course, it was about the recent kidnappings. Both Anna and Del got the blame for it while Mira was home free. Well, it was mainly because they didn't know Mira was involved with two of them.
Lenz kept putting the blame on Anna for what happened to Daniel, but Anna demanded evidence for her involvement. And it went back on how the operation was very delicate, and nobody would be able to pull that off but them.
Anna retaliated that it could be the separatist movement in the city. They were also skillful enough to pull a kidnapping like that night, and they weren't that stupid not to be able to pull off a stunt like this.
After that, Lenz would retaliate on why would they kidnap both of them when it was clear that neither of them was rich enough for a ransom. Yeah, their parents wouldn't be able to pay for the ransom whatsoever.
Considering how Ilbistirum worked in the middle of a war, it wouldn't be possible to pay for the ransom due to how much money poured into the war efforts. Besides, the SF would usually be able to find any kidnapped person. Then, Lenz pointed their his hand at Anna again.
"You'd never give up, wouldn't you?" Anna challenged him.
"To go after the truth? No, I don't think I will."
"The point is, I am not involved, nor wish to be involved in this. Unless you can give me a concrete evidence, this discussion is over. Keep this up, and I'd report to the school comittee about this mistreatment and misconduct," Anna bluffed.
"Go ahead, would they even be listening to you?" Lenz challanged her.
"Oh, believe me, they will."
Or more like, they would listen to the intelligence agencies. Yup, that's right, those guys would fear the real power of political and military espionage if the situation is not dying down when the time comes. That was not the outcome that neither Del and Anna wanted, it would require lots of ground work and blood.
And if one of the security divisions got murdered, there would be the tendency that their efficiency died down. To be entirely honest, the security division worked on the basis that the people in there were invincible. It was weird, but it worked.
The doctrine was to keep the security division confident enough to do their job so the other students didn't have to face the dangers. Sinister, but practical to a certain extent. As far as Anna knew, Mira and Del would be way better than the whole security division combined.
They needed evidence to go against the accusation, and they needed it fast. Or, they needed something to distract Lenz away from the internal affairs between them all. The last thing that they wanted was everything to turn bloody.. Lenz could be chopped into mince meat as far as Anna was concerned if this thing isn't solved.