How in two worlds was this happening?! The Academy had never had a breach before!
…Well, technically, the Skinwalker had infiltrated the archives to get some population maps. But no one knew about that except her and a few government agents.
This was something entirely new. Noble didn't even know that they had an alert for that. What was going on?!
[AVAILABLE PERSONNEL REPORT TO DORMITORY 3.]
Noble gave up her pretense of a walk and took to the air, flying over the final building and landing at the entrance of the dorm in question.
Tamar's dorm.
Noble spread her emotional sense through the building. She furrowed her brow.
The halls were clear of people, and the only signs of life were the worried girls who must have been told to remain in their rooms. The rest of the building was quiet—peaceful even.
She saw no imminent threat.
A grey-haired woman with mirth-filled purple eyes came around the corner, her ever-present smile on her face.
"What's the problem?" Teacher Lovia asked with a giggle.
Noble had gotten used to the petite lady's Flaw long ago. Lovia was deadly serious with her question.
"I don't sense anything wrong." Noble continued both her emotional scan and the use of her second sight.
Looking at the alert again, the professor selected the contact information at the end. A single ring came before a man answered.
"Mori here."
Noble remembered the chief security officer from the detail sent to watch her room after that fateful run-in with her biggest fan. The man was exceptionally tall, and his piercing silver eyes could sense ill intention from the moment he saw someone. At the time, Fort had picked him personally for the assignment to watch his wife.
"Mori. It's Professor Noble. I'm at the Dorm…"
Mori's voice became more animated. "Did you find it?! I have a detail of Awakened on the way. They are a minute out, but they will be there to assist you!"
Noble's pulse quickened.
"Find what? What am I looking for?"
The security agent paused. "I..I am not sure. Something or someone has breached the building without proper access. We have had multiple sensors tripped and one of our preventative traps was sprung, but I cannot get anything on our cameras. My Aspect isn't sensing any malintent either. The building is locked down tight. I need eyes on the ground."
"Nothing in my special sight is showing anything amiss. Which corner of the complex had the most recent issue?"
Noble could hear a few clicks as Mori's silver eyes focused on something offscreen. He frowned.
"Something just triggered in the Northwest corner. Second hall by room twenty-seven."
"Got it. Teacher Lovia and I are going in. Grant us access when we reach the door." Noble put away the communicator and summoned her Zenith. She motioned to Lovia. "Northwest corner. Room twenty-seven."
"Ha, ok!" Lovia's pale purple eyes narrowed with determination. A jade trident appeared in her hand.
Thankfully, the grey-haired Awakened took the lead, so Noble was able to focus on every piece of information coming into her senses.
"What are we looking for?" Lovia whispered as they came around the corner of the building.
"Mori wasn't sure. Something is in the building that shouldn't be." Noble wasn't sure what else to say.
Lovia nodded. She held up her fist as they drew close and then drew out her communicator. The pad on the door registered her and unlocked. The two women pushed through the entrance, their heads turning constantly.
The door locked tightly behind them, sealing them and everyone else inside. Noble paid little attention to the heavy click as she searched for danger.
The hall was empty.
A voice was droning over the loudspeaker in the hall on repeat.
"Please remain in your room until further instruction."
'So much for the element of surprise.'
Noble wasn't sure how to feel about that development. On the one hand, if it were a Nightmare Creature, they would have ignored the voice, while the students would have been alerted to the danger. On the other hand, if the threat was human, well, now they knew that they had been spotted.
'So why am I not getting a panicked emotional signature? Only a psychopath would remain calm when they knew they were discovered.'
Noble got a sinking feeling, but she pushed it aside. They needed to figure this out quickly.
Coming to the hall that held room twenty-seven, the two ladies could hear a low hum. An invisible field blocked their path. The Spelltech had been meant to hold the intruder in place, yet the trap was empty. It had been slipped.
The building was still in lockdown, though, which meant the suspect was still in the hallways somewhere. That was, unless the interloper could walk through walls…or floors or ceilings.
'That would not be good…'
The protective array flickered and disarmed. Mori must have seen their approach and acted accordingly.
Noble used her second sight to check both the room on the right and the left of the tripped trap.
Both rooms were empty. Noble checked the door knobs of each and experimentally nudged the alloy doors. While she could push through, her gut told her that the intruder hadn't.
Lovia smiled. "If they are in this hall, we will find them even if they are invisible. You may want to hold your breath, though. It's a bit unpleasant, ha!"
The grey-haired Awakened giggled even as smoke began to pour from her skin. It filled the hall.
"Don't worry. This one isn't poison. It's just a bit sticky."
Noble immediately figured out what she meant. When it touched her skin, the wisps felt like strings of a spider's web. If it had gotten in her lungs, well…
'At least I don't need to breathe much.'
As a Saint, Noble could hold her breath almost indefinitely by mundane standards. Noble summoned her helmet to shield her eyes from the sticky haze.
Together, the ladies listened for anything that might be suffering from the fog. Seconds passed as they slowly cleared each section of the hall. Finally, they reached the other end and the reinforced alloy wall there.
The ladies paused.
Something let out a wheeze.
"Come out." Noble strained to find the source of the sound. Her eyes trailed upward.
Her blood ran cold. The smoke had covered the top corner of the wall, looking more like a cocoon than gas.
Something was inside.
Lovia saw it too. She prepared to impale it with her trident, but Noble touched her arm.
'On my mark,' Noble mouthed as she pointed at the spot and then the floor.
While she couldn't sense the creature covered in the sticky smoke, she could still move it.
Noble used her visual cues to latch onto the smoke. Then she made it heavy, pulling it and the intruder from the ceiling.
The sticky mass fell from the corner and plopped on the floor in a coughing, miserable heap.
The smoke cleared, revealing a single figure struggling and failing to stand.
Noble and Lovia aimed their weapons at the sticky situation.
"Don't move."
Contrary to the instructions, the figure turned and looked up at the women with two terrified eyes.
"You! What are you doing here? How did you…"
That was when Noble realized what had happened. The professor was no longer concerned.
She was angry.