Assassin in a Classroom

Gelato. Just a simple frozen treat. That's all Eevi wanted today. With an average humidity above 70% for the last week, she was already kicking herself and cursing her decision to rehome in Tampa without even a week having passed in her time there yet. Her search for the Italian delicacy of gelato had been fraught with whatever was affecting the world as a whole, but it didn't concern her much at all. What concerned her was the loss of her chosen comfort food of the day and the events that surrounded it.

In the chaos of the day, navigating the panicking city filled with heroes and rescue services working overtime to protect it from the creatures attacking, Eevi had found the store recommended on her phone and still listed as open despite the conditions. How considerate of the owners. Entering the store, Eevi found the cowering, unluckily-scheduled staff hiding in the back, believing a monster had entered. To their confusion, they instead found a young woman asking for service. Placing an order for an entire pint of honey-vanilla gelato and Swedish Fish-flavored shaved ice to accompany it, Eevi quickly made her way out of the store to return home. That's when it happened.

Almost losing her grip on both tubs after nearly being run into by a group of fleeing pedestrians, Eevi wished the moss-covered creature that ran after them luck for such rudeness. She turned to walk the other way down the street with her treats, but then she heard it. Crying. The two people that ran by her were carrying a small child, a daughter. No older than seven by her reckoning. Choosing to stand and defend his family, the man turned around and swung at his pursuer. Too agile for such an untrained man, the beast swatted the man aside into a nearby car and charged the woman holding the child.

"It's not my problem."

One step.

The monster tackled the woman down onto the sidewalk, her daughter being sent rolling out of her arms into the street by the impact. From under its moss-covered head, a boney face emerged from the mass, tangled with moss and vines. It opened its mouth, revealing rows of rotting teeth ready to feast.

Two steps.

"It's not my problem."

Extending her arms to her child, the mother called out for her to run. Crying and refusing to leave, the child began to run towards her instead. Seeing the approaching prey, the creature raised its head.

Three steps.

"It's not my problem!"

Standing once again but badly injured from the impact on the car and from the beast, the father charged from behind. How familiar. Why was it familiar? Why did she care? Why did she have to care?

She had stopped. A sigh escaped from her mouth. Words echoed in her memories. "I see their souls, Ms. Kincaid..."

"God damnit."

"... And yours isn't very dark."

Dropping her recently purchased frozen goods, Eevi formed a pistol shape with her fingers and turned. "Click." Pointing her fingers at the center of the creature's back, she aimed with one eye and fired. "Bang."

Black viscera showered the woman as the creature assailing her had its chest explode from behind just as it was about to pounce from her to her child. Shielding herself as its deceased form crumpled on top of her, the family reunited in this apparent miracle. The father rolled the body from the mother. Their child, uncaring about the mess on her mother, threw herself onto her mother, crying tears of joy at her survival. The family held each other close on the street and cried. They looked at Eevi and smiled. They were grateful.

She was confused. Standing there with her mouth open and dumbfounded, Eevi took a step back at their looks of appreciation. Her foot kicked one of the tubs she had dropped as she took this step. Both lids had popped off after being dropped, and now dirt, rubble, and grime of the city streets had already decorated the exposed wet surfaces, effectively ruining her goal. Staring at the tubs then back at the family SHE HAD SAVED, a shudder of fear escaped her mouth. The man looked her in the eyes and uttered something to her. "Thank you."

Recoiling at his words, Eevi's composure broke. "I-I'm sorry." Turning from the three, she ran for her apartment.

She made it home rather quickly after that. Running inside and slamming the door, Eevi crumpled against her door and cradled her legs to her chest. 'Sorry.' 'Sorry'? 'SORRY'!?! What was that? How could she be that weak? Slamming her fist into the wall, a metallic clang echoed off the floor from her right next to the table by the door. It was a key? Copper or brass maybe. She had no idea where it came from.

Attached to the key was a piece of paper, held in place by a strip of lavender-colored fabric tying it to the key through a hole punched in it. Reaching out and grabbing the key, Eevi looked at the paper. Written on the fine paper in purple ink was two simple words, "Use Me". "Use me for what?" Turning the note over and over, examining the key with it for some obvious clue she could be missing, she saw nothing else. Not entirely true actually, she had noticed something about the key itself. It looked familiar. Searching her pockets and pulling out the key she had recently used to enter the apartment, she found her suspicions correct. They were the same shape.

Curiosity taking her, and being used as a welcome distraction, Eevi stood up and exited her apartment again. Once in the hallway and with the door fully closed again, Eevi looked over this new key before cautiously putting it into the keyhole. To her surprise, the lock turned with a click when she turned the key! Exactly like what her one-of-a-kind, supposedly unique, apartment key only should have been capable of. "Well, I'll have to make a complaint to the management company about this one." Hesitantly, Eevi reached out and twisted the doorknob.

As soon as the seal of the door in its frame was broken when she pushed it open even slightly, a purple glow formed in the outline of the doorframe. Bracing her hand on the door and biting her cheeks, Eevi took a deep breath. "Alright Alice, down we go." And she pushed the door open only to find herself in a void occupied only by mist, fog, and the vapor of her own breath in this cool space she now found herself in.

Savoring the cold for a second, having finally been freed of the heat of Florida, Eevi tried to observe anything in her surroundings. It was empty. Nothing was around her except the door she came through standing there in this void and the stone at her feet. Curious, yet cautious, she walked into this vast space around her. Was it hell? Did her body completely fail over her betrayal of her own ideals and beliefs in saving that family and now this empty, chill void would be her eternity? She would find out or someone would tell her. Her hands still had their tattoos and bore the empty space of the round she fired to save lives earlier. This was a good sign to her at least in favor of being alive.

The brisk air she walked through was familiar in the way of an old memory to her. Condensation nipped at her body, which was more lightly dressed for the heat, and she felt the fog filling her lungs with each breath she drew. The stone at her feet gave solid taps with each fall of her feet, her faint reflection showing in its wet, smooth, grey surface. Before long, however, the sounds of her shoes on stone changed to that on wood. After around seven minutes of walking, she began to make out more than just what tricks her mind had been playing on her senses.

Smooth, polished wood was now at her feet. Well-maintained and varnished wood at that. Turning back around to see what became of the stone she had walked over, she found herself instead staring at a finely decorated wall behind her, lights adorning the walls and windows showing only more mist beyond their panes. Returning to her original direction, she found herself standing now in a parlor of sorts decorated with a few chairs, couches, end tables, a coffee table, and even a fireplace along a wall perpendicular to her. Above the fine, dark-wood mantle of the fireplace was an emblem or crest she did not recognize.

Figuring herself to be in a waiting room of sorts, Eevi sat and waited to see what happened next. Putting her feet up on the coffee table and settling in, she wondered aloud,  "If I was invited here, then hopefully they already know I'm waiting here for them now." Twirling the mystery key in her hands, she smiled at this strange day.  "Rude to keep a lady waiting otherwise."

The Graymoon Institute was quiet. Approximately one third of the usual students had been escorted to their home to be with their families in the wake of the sky going dark. Monsters had been erupting in droves everywhere, and parents that couldn’t get to safety were spirited away here. The student areas had been rearranged slightly to accommodate the sudden influx of additional people, and everyone not willing to stand guard was advised to stay indoors.

The headmaster of this sanctuary was not one of those people.

Jack Hawthorne tirelessly walked through the halls, down the paths and through the hidden passages of his beloved school, as a bloodhound looking for prey. For days now, he barely allowed himself the luxury of rest or letting his guard down as he prowled in search of any ghoul, wraith, draugr or zombie that dared to pollute Graymoon. And so far, he only had to dispose of a handful of vaguely corporeal ghosts that came off of the shore. He assumed they were from a wrecked ship, but nothing had made its presence known since.

Jack took a shortcut through one of the many, many hidden sublevels of the school, which looped around into a non-Euclidean one-way door to the Landing Gate.

Without a sound, he appeared through the fog, far behind the newest arrival.

[color:42ca=6644ff]”Stay where you are,” he said, loudly. [color:42ca=6644ff]”Turn around, slowly, and identify yourself. What are you doing in my institute”

Eevi almost jumped from her seat hearing a voice come from where the was no one before. Complying with the voice's demands she stood from her spot on the chair, put her hands up in a display of non-hostility, and tuned around slowly/ She half expected not to see anyone there but was pleasantly surprised to see to the contrary. A middle-aged man stood far behind where she had been sat. Long black hair framing his head rested at his neck on accompanying dark clothing that looked better suited for the weather then her own wardrobe at the moment. And his eyes, they were strikingly purple. Almost seeming to glow in the light of the room they drew Eevi's curiosity, but not enough to question it openly. She wasn't one to question people with strange or unique eyes for certain.

Giving her best benign smile, she closed her eyes and cocked her head at the man. "Eevi would be my name friend. I'd offer you a hand but I've found people this week to be want for trust and a tad skittish with strangers so I'll keep my hands raised if its all the same to you?" Still holding the key by its bow, she would let it spin around her pinky finger to display it to her new acquaintance . "This got me here. Unless you also have a similar key that wound you up here same as I then I'd imagine you know more about what I do as to why I am here." Pushing her hand with the key forward for a better view, she extended her pinky finger towards him as to give him the offer of taking it.

"It was in my room when I got home from running errands." With a shrug of her shoulders she relaxed her arms slightly while still presenting her palms towards him. "If you're the new apartment manager you really should have sent emails about the new keys, certainly about letting yourselves in to deliver them. Rude I must say. Not enough to make me upset, but enough to make me worry about people being able to enter my living space freely." She was being coy and playing at being inconvenienced of course of course. New housing companies were more likely to be vampires in this strange new week then whatever this was. She just had to test how amiable her would be with her "playing".

Jack listened to her explanation, keeping a close eye on her the whole time. That key she showed him was, in fact, exactly the answer he had been expecting, so he didn’t press much further. The hard edge to his voice softened, as he came closer.

”If you have that key,” He began. ”Then you are exactly the person it was meant to reach. I arranged for that. It brought you here because I have been reaching out as of late, ensuring that more people are able to take up refuge in this place, during this time.” The weapon in his hands faded from sight, and he moved them both behind his back.

”I am Jack Hawthorne, the headmaster of Graymoon Institute. That is where you have found yourself right now, this is a place of safety for the Empowered. Metahuman, those with an inclination towards magic, and anyone in between, is welcome to come here to this secret space. And lately, we have needed to search for others due to the ancient lord who has risen the dead across the world,” he explained.

”Leaving the key where no one other than you would find it was the best way to maximize your chances of finding your way here, while ensuring I was not away in the event another spirit emerged to attack someone.”

A school for empowered people? Neat. While Eevi had never heard of this "Graymoon Institue", she figured there was a reason for that. He called it a secret space after all and she hadn't seen any ads for a new school for people with special "gifts" like her own. The fog alone told her that he took great effort to protect this location, and by proxy its students. She had to admire that at least.

With his weapon away, Eevi felt comfortable and secure enough to lower her own hands finally. The man evidently named Jack Hawthorne explained to her the purpose of her odd key and that he was indeed the one to send it out to find her. She wasn't sure how direct his involvement was in the key reaching her directly but there would be time for that question.

Once he finished explaining why she was here, she spoke up. "I appreciate the offer for a sanctuary, certainly with my line of work. But this is a school, a place for children. Why exactly am I here?" With any immediate and apparent threats gone with Jack's more relaxed demeanor, she sat back down and motioned for him to join her.  "It's not exactly like I need the protection after all. Most of what's been happening in the rest of the world has left me alone and what creatures that have entertained the notion of disturbing my pleasant days have learned the errors of that decision." One of her eyebrows were raised at him, a physical highlight she was using to help emphasize her curiosity.

She wouldn't complain about somewhere she truly did not have to worry about the rest of the world in, but some offers could be too good to be true. Most were in fact. This man seemed amicable enough but Eevi was not a people person and she would need to discover what her new hosts intentions would be for her.

"I am not the only one who maintains the safety of this place," He explained. [color:b764=6644ff]"Others, like yourself and I are, shall we say, capable. We watch the world for those we might be safely reach out to, to provide shelter to. If you are one of the people who received a key, then that means someone who I trust has decided to extend an offer to join us. " There were many teachers and protectors at the Institute, some of which were responsible for recruitment and connections with the few people aware of the Institute's existence.

[color:b764=6644ff]"Due to the current state of things, families have been brought here to be with their loved ones in secret, where most of the dead do not roam. So you are not alone in being a new arrival. We offer protection and a place of rest, should you wish to take it." With that being said, Jack turned and walked past Eevi, hands folded behind him. Tall, heavy doors opened up as he got close, and walked out of the Landing Gate and onto a brick path that led to the school grounds.

[color:b764=6644ff]"Come, walk with me."

"So you want me to be staff?" The very idea was bewildering to Eevi. There was a long laundry list of words, most of which unkind, to describe Eevi, but an educator was not one of them. Her confusion clear on her face, she stood to follow Jack. There had to be more to this? Certainly even if he wasn't the exact one to send her the key, he had to have given them strict vetting for who exactly was desired. An assassin could not have fit through those gaps?

Circling around to his right shoulder, she asked for the details. "Soooo you want me to teach? I have plenty of experience but I am not sure that it's age-appropriate content for sharing with youths. Now I appreciate the offer but I need YOU to understand who this offer has been made too?"

She looked back as the doors of the entryway she sat in closed behind them. "That seemingly infinite expanse of mist back there has to provide better security for you charges then I could as well I would wager." She found some humor at the oddity of this situation at least. She had always wanted to really enlighten children using her own 'unique' view on life. Maybe she could entertain the position if that truly was why she was here. Miss Väinölä had a nice ring to it.

As they walked, they passed down a brick pathway two dozen feet wide, lit by the occasional street lamp just bright enough not to be irritating to those with sensitive eyes. The air was cool here, clear as a forest and far from civilization. Jack seemed at ease even with a stranger on the grounds.

”There are more than teachers here,” he said. ”Among us, we have protectors, researches, those who see to it tang the keys find their way to where they must. And of course, some of us are responsible for ensuring the secret is indeed a secret. Without giving too many details away, we know who you are, to some extent. And in knowing that, we still chose to make this offer.”

There was nothing about his body language that implied Jack was even remotely threatened by Eevi’s background as an assassin, let alone the way he described her. Off in the far distance, the occasional light could be seen behind windows of buildings that looked to be days away by foot travel.

”It is my understanding that you are resourceful, and have a talent for finding people. You have the right to decline, but you will be offered the same protection and sanctuary as anyone else who calls Graymoon home.”

"So you'll find an "appropriate" place for me amongst all this then I take it?" Her smile betrayed the coy nature of her question. Walking alongside the Headmaster, she appreciated the institutes exterior for what she could see. Carefully lain, sturdy stones which welcomed, some with an encroaching and verdant moss, made up the path they walked and all the structures she could see. The chill that bit her was not an unkind one, and rather welcome for her preferences in fact, and gave her a hint of where in the world she was at from its familiar frost. Even in its cold embrace their path found time to hold life alongside their route.

The emerald and pastoral plant life looked well maintained and healthy, each plant tipped with some extent of frost or moisture but alive and thriving under the care of the institute. Eevi had to give this place props for that at least. It certainly the nicest place she'd been too all month. This ambience was only improved and accentuated by the far off lights of the rest of the grounds bringing some illumination to this beautiful property.

And if what he said was true, then Jack knew enough about who she was and was in fact fine with her being there amongst such tranquility. She found his over growing more and more appealing by the moment. "Fine, what's the catch then? Yes if I take the job I'll have to match all of the expectations and requirements for the position but there has to be more to it. So what is it then? None of my other job whilst I am here or something similar to that then?"

She stopped following Jack at this moment. Appreciating some lavender which had grown healthy and large, she took the entire spike off the top of the flower into her hands and examined it. It was mainly a distraction for her while the anticipation of what Jack would say grew more inside of her. Cocking her head back at him, she smiled. "I at least hope I'll be provided for as well as the grounds here are."

"The catch," He said, turning towards Eevi. "Is that this place remains a secret."

Jack let those words hang in the air for a moment. "The outside world is steadily becoming less hostile to us Empowered individuals. There are other places that seek to provide safety and education, but they do not always come from places of good will. Several of them work closely with governments to catalogue and "regulate" the Empowered." He did not seem very fond of the idea as he said it. "In America, for example, public schools are opting to use devices similar to metal detectors. Walking through them is enough for one's metahuman genetics to be announced to anyone nearby. And while that may be an effective way to identify an Empowered hiding in plain sight, I would never send a child to such a place for that very reason."

He kept walking, beckoning Eevi to follow. They approached the doors of the main building, which opened on their own. Two vast double doors no less than thirty foot tall, leading to a large area with maps, offices and hallways spilling outwards from its central location. "Many people with some extraordinary gift do not wish for that gift to be public knowledge, and the governments of the world are depriving the younger generations of the ability to make that choice. I built Greymoon Institute to break that convention before it is set in stone, to create a place of safety where the whims of bureaucracy have no sway. You will be provided for, offered protection, and will enjoy all the privileges anyone else here enjoys. But that will come with the expectation that you will be discreet about our existence."

"Oh, well if it's secrecy you need then you can trust me for that at least. The amount of times I have heard the words 'clandestine' 'confidential' or 'covert' is enough to drive me insane with the repetition." Carelessly, she threw the lavender into the growth in front of her and joined Jack once again to follow wherever he was leading her to. He was sympathetic, compassionate even, maybe kind as well about the situation people with the Meta Gene. Personally, empowered peoples had given Eevi no small amount of headaches and stress over the last year so she couldn't find much sympathy for their plights. But children however, she could at least agree with him on that.

"It would put a lot of targets out there to have machines like that announcing to everyone that their classmates are different like that and even, potentially, dangerous to be around. No child should have a to deal with that just because of circumstances they have no control of." It would be isolating. Terribly so. Eevi could at least understand that feeling.

When they arrived at what appeared to be the primary building on the school grounds Eevi couldn't help but feel awe at the sight. "Wow. Not accommodating anyone that tall with these doors are we? I would certainly like to see the giant if so." She couldn't help but chuckle at the question as she followed him into the building. She couldn't help but to appreciate the "scholarly order" to the room she found herself in. Maps guiding staff and students across the property with other papers and documents spotting their surfaces for various activities and groups at the school immediately drew her eye. She listened more to him while looking over the schools map as well as she could.

If he needed her to be discreet and nothing more, then that was entirely amenable for her. "Maybe in another world you're a businessman Jack. Fine then, if you need my secrecy then you have. I'm sold. Where do I sign the doted line?" She tilted her head to the side to accentuate the question and smiled at him. "Or is it more of an old-school ceremonial knife and blood writ agreement for staff here?"

”No, that will not be necessary. Your word is enough,”  He said, plainly. It was a lot of trust to be putting in this woman, especially after they only just met, but if Eevi was really intent on selling them out, then Jack would know about it. He didn’t need to hold some sort of collateral over Eevi’s head to keep her quiet.

Either she would keep herself quiet, or she wouldn’t have anywhere to hide no matter where she went in all of reality, from the most secure castles to the most distant realms that mankind has ever spoke of. She would not be safe, because Jack had been to all of those places and can return to them with a few steps in any direction. ”If you did betray us, we would know… As for now, I’ll ask that you refrain from being seen by any students, as they are all tense enough that they would attack you on sight. We can arrange a room for you once the sun returns. But for now, feel free to familiarize yourself with things .”

"If my word is all you need then my word is what you have." Smiling, she offered her hand to Jack. "So what do I call you boss?" With the formalities out of the way she made a loop in the room they found themselves in and looked around. Hallways, stairs leading to hallways, modest yet richly decorated, old but in an authentique and appreciable way. But a maze to her for as much as she could try to memorize it. Certainly if the building was magical then that could potentially leave her turned around in whole new way.

Could she do it though? Fit in and be personable and appropriate with what she expected you be children to young adults? And then there was the whole other matter of coworkers. Eevi had never had coworkers before. Yes she had had help with her jobs before or been hired to work the same job as someone else. But this was different. Needing a walk-and-talk with her now employer to clear these doubtful thoughts , Eevi motioned outwards with both arms.

"Please, do show me around. I'll need to familiarize myself with this place after all." She had no care where they went. If like most schools then it was all a large loop connecting certain sections together so she imagined there'd be a way to maximize the sight. "Even if you're just bringing me to a temporary room until a more permanent one is arranged as you said I'd imagine there's enough you could show me along the way." Offering her hand, she cocked her head to the side. "Please do, show a lady around."

What followed was an extensive tour of Graymoon, and all it had to offer. Jack took Eevi down a seemingly endless stone hallways, corridors that one could swear didn’t actually lead to anywhere else, and hidden rooms that one would never find without an escort.

”Due to the intended purpose of Graymoon, I built the grounds with a mind for escape and solitude. To that end, you will find an effectively endless number of shortcuts to anywhere you might need to be,” He explained, as he took Eevi through an open-air hallway overlooking a courtyard. ”Some of them are an open secret to all students, and are actively walked by them on a regular basis. Others are a secret to only those on staff, and a scare few are only known to me personally. Should we need to evacuate, or hide our students away from an intruder, these paths will suffice in securing their safety while a threat is countered. A newcomer such as yourself, or a trespasser will not have this knowledge, which is our primary advantage in such a situation.”

To demonstrate, they came to the end of the walkway. There were chairs and couches strewn about up there, in the cozy area where one could watch birds fly by and take in the sun… When it was present. Jack touched a shadowy hand to the stony wall, and it slid away to the sight of a long tunnel leading into a void. Eevi was led through the dark tunnel. And after no more than ten seconds of walking, they stood within a library on the ground floor, which was a few minutes away on foot from their last location. Looking behind them, there was absolutely no doorway or entrance from which they walked out of. It was a one way trip.

”This library has been extensively filled with books from every corner of the known universe. From metahuman studies on Earth to the deepest secrets of the arcane, otherwise unknown to anyone outside distant realities.” The library was huge, built like a gothic cathedral with eight floors above them. Most of the building was dark, and carried surprisingly little echo.

But most noticeably, it was empty right now. No one was studying in case a zombie crawled in through a window.

Jack kept walking, and turned to walk down an isle of bookshelves towards a back wall without slowing down for a second. He stopped abruptly, pulled on a book, and the entire shelf pivoted ninety degrees. On the other side was a courtyard nowhere near the library. There was a stone fountain draped in moss, flowing down into a basin adorned with water lilies that one could sit at during the warmer days.

”A short walk from here will take you towards the training area. It is not unheard of for a young metahuman to struggle with their abilities. It is built to withstand the force of an apocalypse, no differently than everything else here at Graymoon. Antimatter explosions, necromantic hallows, godlike physical strength- If you can fathom it, the training area will survive.”

They stopped, and Jack put a hand out in front of him. A swirling disc of black fog appeared before the two of them. He beckoned Eevi to follow him. On the other side was the headmaster’s office. Dark oak bookshelves, a long and sleek desk, leather chairs for others to sit in… It evoked a sense of dignity, fitting for a man who took himself seriously. The dark room was lit by hanging lamps of purple flame, just bright enough that one could see perfectly, but dark enough that one had to wonder if there was something else in there with them.

Jack walked behind the desk, reached into a drawer and pulled out a gray envelope. It was unmarked, and held shut by a small metal pin. He handed it to Eevi. ”I anticipated you would accept my offer. Further information about schedules, ways to contact others, and a proper map of the grounds are in here. That door behind you leads to the main building. For now, you are free to explore as you wish. Once the sun rises again, we can introduce you to your new coworkers.”

After Eevi took the envelope, he sat down in a tall, black chair. A wizened smile crossed his face as he looked at her.

”Welcome to Graymoon.”