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"Mmm. I don't really feel right speculating about it, with the body just hanging there and everyone gawking," Jordan said, putting the slightest bit of emphasis on the last part of the sentence. "I'm going to get out of the way here; someone will be coming to get him down pretty soon."

He gave Deryk and Ofelia a sharp look. If this isn't a suicide, it's probably not safe to talk about it openly. He hoped they would catch what he hadn't said from what he had. "See you guys later," he said, and headed back towards the bunker.

Jerry was slow to follow the rest, going over the information on his phone with a serious expression. Weapons conversion... He didn't like the idea of having to snoop and interact with the damn creatures.

They aren't all bad you know.

Present company excluded.

Leave it to the Death Hunters for now. By the time he had glanced up, people were milling from the room.

The sight he found those remaining looking at made him stop in his tracks, his face pale, his expression distant.

A rope around the neck. A limp body.

Who was that old man? Did it matter?

Would it take him that long to get the courage? Or just the right amount of insanity?

The idea that it wasn't what it looked like didn't cross his mind, and he hadn't overheard Jordan's brief hypothesis.

He didn't move, locked in place as his mind ran away from him.

This was..strange. Caelius wasn't reprimanding the disruptive behaviors. He was just sitting there on his phone..doing...nothing. This wasn't like the Caelius they knew at all; even during their trial he had been very proactive in stirring up s**t. What was he waiting for? Was there some kind of trap set up in this room? It'd been a year since their trial was he performing some kind of anniversary prank? It could be anything at this point. What the ********. Even when he finally spoke to them there was something odd about the pace of it. Caelius meetings were quick, sharp..to the point. You went in, you got your verbal lashings and the typical 'you all suck and I hate each and every one of you and none of you can do anything right' lecture, got the vaguest ******** information on what you needed to do and you were dismissed. That was Caelius. She did check her phone, actually surprised by actually thorough information. But Caelius still wasn't acting his usual self.

What the hell was he about to do to them? Were they about to die?

..He didn't dismiss them. Was he done with them? She didn't feel right getting up and leaving unless he actually gave a clear dismissal. Something about this wasn't sitting right with her. Candace looked down at her phone again. Weapons Conversion Project. She actually knew a bit about this from that mission at the Haunted House! She'd seen it in action! She'd even playfully offered that dog girl..

...Heh.

A slow grin formed on Candace's face. The dog girl. She seemed easy enough to manipulate into being a willing candidate for this. It would just take time and effort...maybe if she got help.

The buzz made her look up from her phone and watch Caelius intently, suspicion clear as day on her face.

Oh my god he smiled. Her eyes widened with fear. Someone was about to die. Caelius never ******** smiled.

"..then I am sure I have several trainees more than willing to testify my presence at Room 201B." Wait... "..this does not magically discount senior members of the Council." Candace looked down at her phone again. They were in room 201B. He was being..not subtle about this.

This b*****d was using them as a ******** alibi. But for what?

They were dismissed, and Candace was quick to leave. She didn't want to stick around, she didn't want to--

"Oh my god." She gasped, covering her mouth and staring up at the body hanging from the chandelier. She glanced around, listening to the murmurs of conversation around her. A senior council member. What the ******** was Caelius...that b*****d. She'd be damned if she was just going to be someone's ******** alibi. Frowning, Candace looked down at her phone again. No, no. She had more entertaining thoughts to concern herself with; she had a puppy to find. Candace wasn't sure how, but she would do whatever it took.

((Exit))

Madison had done her very best not to flinch back when Caelius had given her and the other Death intermediate trainees that sharp look... but that meant she had no flinch-protection left when she exited the room and saw the body.

The body.

Kouki, who had been shifting uncertainly in her mind, worried about the destruction of the inert weapons, even fell silent at the wave of shock that snapped through Madison's thoughts. Oh, she'd seen plenty of dead bodies before, but none that had killed themselves like this (as she assumed). And who was that, anyway? Older people were kind of uncommon. Most didn't live all that long.

Madison shook her head, as if to forcibly fling the image out of her mind, and hurried away, unsure what to think but knowing that she didn't want to spend one more minute hanging under a dead man's feet.

((Exit~

SHUT UP EIGHT))