Snippet #1741261

Late. Late. Late. Late. Late.

Was there another way to put it? Ah, yes – tardy, but that was beside the point. Honestly, Liesel couldn’t believe the nerve of those four. She had thought that after the past several months they would realize the importance of their task, the dangers of Itex… but no. They didn’t, and in truth, she knew that she was partially to blame for that. Sending them after every false lead, talking about Itex without hide nor hair of them since the day they attacked Torrings… she sighed and tucked a cigarette into her mouth, reaching into her pocket…

… she needed a lighter.

With a frustrated groan, the older woman took to glowering at her watch instead – no, not because of the time, but because of the function she had tried to add to it. It was thick and not at all that classy. In fact, it looked like a digital clock that had been tinkered with a bit too much, and that was exactly what it was. It was heavy on her wrist, but that was to be expected – Liesel didn’t waste precious materials on prototypes. Besides, the circuitry inside the thing was delicate… and inside the face of the blinking screen was the slightest sliver of the Grace Stone.

It was a prototype. It didn’t work at all, but it had been her attempt to develop a Grace Stone and Mask detector, but it was a miserable result. It was nothing more than a dysfunctional alarm clock with the way it kept bleeping at the worst of times. Liesel searched in her pockets for a mini screwdriver, finally deciding to do something productive instead of just seething at the little brats when something caught her eye. Looking up, she saw a boyish figure walk past the greenhouse… now, who exactly would be at school at this hour besides the Masked?

Liesel didn’t know, but she decided that she might as well find out. She was anxious – the information she’d received from her sources hadn’t been good, and the Masked were taking their sweet time. It would be troublesome to have some unknowing kid wandering about the premises when they had to get moving quick. The school guards? Pfft, she could handle them easy. It was the students and teachers that were the real problem, so she swiftly made her way out of the greenhouse.

“Hey, kid,” she called, taking long strides and quickly catching up to the boy. She didn’t recognize him, but he was obviously a student. “Stop right there. What are you doing here?” she demanded, rounding so that she stood in front of him. She crossed her arms, observing the boy – he clearly didn’t seem to be in the most pleasant of moods. That wasn’t her problem. However, when she opened her mouth to speak again, a loud noise rang from the watch upon her wrist. All thoughts fled from her as the meaning of the sound meandered into her mind.

Was it a glitch? No, of course it was a glitch. It had been failing miserably all this time. She hadn’t done anything to alter it, and she knew from the start that the current technology and mechanics she put into the thing had been crude and unsophisticated. There was no way it was working… it was just another ill-timed beep… the dysfunctional alarm clocl….. but what if…?

“Okay, seeing as you’re at school, pop quiz,” Liesel said quietly, staring down at the boy. “What do you know about mysteriously appearing masks?”