บท 21: Both Problems Solving Themselves
'Master Ace, there seems to be a misunderstanding,' Dame Wasp pointed out, reading the conversation of the Steal Song Society.
Due to miscommunication or a lack of proper information, the Steal Song Society mistakenly believed that the CIB was casing the neighborhood because Gloria had unknowingly targeted a student related to a senior officer within the CIB. The misunderstanding led them to believe this to be the reason why Gloria was killed and also why the CIB was waiting for them in the neighborhood.
Dame Wasp and Ace had no idea why CIB was here today of all days, but they knew that CIB did not kill Gloria as they killed her.
'Agreed,' Ace nodded and added, 'For, now the Steal Song Society is off our back. But we need to uncover why the CIB is truly here. So that I can stay out of their way.'
'Yes, master. I think we should start with your school. Because it seems to be the origin of this misunderstanding,' Dame Wasp speculated based on the information they had with them.
Though the Steal Song Society had misunderstood the situation, there was some truth to it. First, Gloria was indeed killed for illegally recruiting a student from the high school she was recently attending. Second, the CIB was here cause one of their senior official's relatives studied at the same school. As Dame Wasp highlighted, Ace's high school was a big part of this misunderstanding.
'My mother was a member of the school's parent-teacher association (PTA) when my sister attended the school with me. They have a chat group, and she should still be a part of it. Will that be of help?' Ace asked.
'I could use it as a doorway to infect the phones of all the teachers in the chat group and then use them to infect the phones of the other teachers or even the school principal until we get the information we are seeking,' Dame Wasp informed confidently.
'You can do that?' Ace asked Dame Wasp in astonishment.
'Yes, Master Ace. No offense, but your Earth is seriously lacking in technological advancement compared to the one in my memories,' Dame Wasp commented, her voice betraying a sense of nostalgic superiority.
'Can you do the same thing with the Steal Song society chat group?' Ace asked in anticipation.
'No, their smartphones have better security than regular ones. Remotely, I can't do anything to their devices without getting caught. Not to forget their mysterious curse abilities. Without direct access to Gloria's phone, I couldn't have created the backdoor into their chat group to peek at their conversation,' Dame Wasp elaborated, highlighting the potential risks involved in infiltrating the Steal Song Society members' devices.
Dame Wasp could force her way into Steal Song Society members' devices. However, she feared they might possess curse abilities, enabling them to retaliate or track attackers remotely. She was confident about the technological aspect of this Earth but not the supernatural side of it.
'Do you need me to get my mom's phone, or did you already access her phone?' Ace asked Dame Wasp, knowing her cybernetic body was akin to a micro-supercomputer, and remotely hacking a few smartphones posed no challenge for her.
'Master Ace, you know me the best. I am already on your class teacher's phone. Wait for it and… I am on your principal's phone,' Dame Wasp announced enthusiastically, seeming to attempt a speedrun challenge since hacking regular smartphones posed no difficulty for her.
'Good. Did you find anything on there regarding CIB?' Ace asked eagerly, hoping they found some answers on the principal's phone.
'Yes. It seems your principal has a secret life as the husband of a curse master. Ava Martin, the principal's daughter, is the student the Steal Song Society's CIB contacts spoke of. Ava's mother, a.k.a the principal's wife, is the senior official of the CIB they spoke of,' Dame Wasp revealed going through the principal's smartphone.
'Ava Martin, is the principal's daughter? Who could have guessed that the redhead delinquent is the principal's daughter? No wonder she only got suspended for two days for smoking the pages from the library books during detention,' Ace was astonished to learn his classmate's true identity. But keeping the issue in mind, he asked, 'So why is the CIB casing the neighborhood?'
'It seems to have all started last night when the night guard went to check the school rooftop. He spotted an occult array drawn using blood, and he shared the pics with the principal as vandalism of school property. The principal, identifying it as a curse core initiation array, shared the pics with his wife in concern. By early morning, the school and the neighborhood were crawling with CIB. Trying to find the person who drew the array,' Dame Wasp informed Ace after snooping around the principal's phone.
'Curse core initiation array on the school rooftop— It must be the one Gloria used to awaken me as Curse master. How could she be so careless as to forget to erase the evidence of her crime?' Ace commented, figuring out why the CIB was casing the neighborhood.
The initiation array on the school rooftop likely led the CIB to suspect that a curse master was illegally recruiting high school students as Curse Masters and then murdering them for their innate curse tools. This explains why they were casing the neighborhood early in the morning and how they ended up chasing Bane1, who had arrived to find Gloria's killer.
Since Bane1 did not choose to cooperate and ran, they must have concluded he was the culprit and used mountain lions to track him down and to keep residents out of the streets while they conducted their manhunt.
'Master, in Gloria's defense, how can she know that a seemingly average school principal would identify the curse core initiation array and know to contact CIB,' Dame Wasp pointed out that Gloria was out of luck yesterday.
Even if Dame Wasp and Ace didn't kill Gloria, the CIB would be searching for her now. But since she had mastered 'Curse Shroud Art,' she would have fared better than Bane1. Thus, she would have likely come after Ace to finish what she started. Therefore, killing Gloria last night was the most prudent decision on Ace's part.
'Is this just an unlikely coincidence, or am I simply lucky?' Ace wondered in disbelief, finally piecing it all together.
The Steal Song Society mistakenly believed that the student Gloria recruited was part of CIB and had given on that end. So, unless something unexpected happens, Ace does not have to worry about them coming for him.
The CIB was monitoring Bane1, waiting for him to stupidly lead them to his associates or for his associates to come to rescue him. So, as long as Ace stayed low and out of their way, he did not have to worry about anything on their end.
'As long as I hide in my home concealing my curse energy, my problems will solve themselves,' Ace muttered, then instructed Dame Wasp, 'Rose, keep monitoring the chat group. If something changes, inform me using the status screen. Meanwhile, I will check on my parents.'
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