It was a frustrating ordeal having to track someone on the sly. It was not a skill that the corrupt had ever tried before and he had no doubts that there was a lot he could improve upon, but it was something he could at least do without pesky morals making an appearance. At the beginning though, he just hadn’t realized what challenges were in store. Not to mention how boring it became when a very strict pattern was followed.

Staring at the paper that was his report to Captain Faustite, Heliodor began to outline each step he took in his approach of watching Jack/Sinope. Learning the campus grounds had been his first step. He needed to know all entrance and exits, paths, buildings, rooms, and recreational areas that existed at Romano’s. Knowing that not a soul would recognize him, Heliodor had taken full advantage of his new persona of Aelius. Posing as a student was easy enough and slipping in and out of areas posed little problems, and if he encountered an issue, all it took was a discreet powering up at Heliodor and he was able to avoid any major confrontations.

Though, he wanted to be careful. If Jack had been powered up as Sinope at the same time surely signatures would be felt.

But it was as Aelius Drayson, known on the campus as Theodore Barnes (Theo for short) that he did his work. Establishing his persona had been easy enough, a transfer student from another private school. None of the other students questioned, and ‘Theo’ quickly became known amongst his classmates as a class skipper, which had been done purposefully. The intent was to make it appear as if he didn’t care about anything and it had the bonus feature of avoiding any teachers he wanted to not make contact with. Next was just following Jack around for a few days to get his general schedule, and like most Romano students, Jack’s schedule was very strict.

06:00 - wake up & begin chores (rotated among students weekly)
07:00 - breakfast
07:30 - drill practice
08:00 - classes
11:00 - mandatory chores
12:00 - lunch
13:00 - classes
17:00 - study hall or chores
18:00 - dinner
19:00 - free time
22:00 - lights out

It was the free time that Aelius had found to be the most useful bits, but even then he was disheartened by the lack of time the DMS spent by himself.

Free time, for Jack, had been spent practicing some sort of fight form. Helio wasn’t well versed in each form yet and really wasn’t sure if he’d ever get to the point of being able to pinpoint them by appearance alone, but Jack certainly had an affinity for his chosen art. Every evening he’d slip out to practice during his free time choosing an area near a recreational course or, sometimes, he’d squirrel himself away within the tree line perimeter of the campus.

The teen didn’t even take advantage of his free weekends to leave the campus. Instead, Jack opted for studying and practicing. To tell the truth, once Aelius caught onto the schedule, it became a bore to follow. Like clockwork, Jack went through each day.

There were only a few times that the boy seemed to completely disappear and it was those moments that Aelius could only assume Jack was out as Sinope. There was no strict pattern for it though. At least, not that Aelius could find. But, to prove himself right he purposefully spent a few nights patroling near enough to the campus to sense a signature if it flared up. It was the signature of someone powering up then ‘disappearing’ that ticked the corrupt off that it was Sinope.

‘Likely using a mirror on campus.’ He jotted down in black ink under his bullet-pointed synopsis of his stakeout.

‘In conclusion, there is no real time Jack, otherwise known as the DMS Sinope’ is typically alone. He keeps himself well sequestered within the campus grounds except for rare occasions that excursions into the forest occur (Which are not in any sort of pattern that I could see.)’

Sitting back in his chair, Heliodor looked at the report written out in stark black ink in writing that was a slanted cursive. He had a moment he wondered if it would be legible for the Captain and contemplated re-writing it before opting not to. Faustite had seen his writing enough at this point and surely knew what to expect.

The report was as detailed as Helio could go without the report hitting the point of ridiculousness. Plus, he was to physically report to the half-youma Captain as well. Any questions would surely be asked and he could clear up what he could.

“Knowing Faustite, he’ll find something to critique me on no matter what, anyway.” He murmured to himself as he placed pen upon table, the sound of the metal pen hitting wood was like a gavel marking the end of a court case. It was oddly satisfying to look at that report.

It was a job he had done himself to the best of his ability. His first real assignment. Having a purpose, something to do besides studying, training, practicing and quota gathering was what he had been missing in his life, he realized. Not that any of those weren’t purposes, but having an actual assignment felt more important. It was motivating. That all of this work he’d been doing the past half of a year was going to be put to real use.

Now, the real question was, would Faustite see his work as useful or would it all be thrown back at him as if it was nothing but mere garbage? A childish attempt?

And Heliodor wasn’t sure why, but it mattered. It mattered beyond what he assumed would be the norm for Captain and Subordinate, even if the Captain had a knack for beating the corrupt down.

“Well, no better time than the present.” He muttered as he stood from his chair communicator in hand to let Faustite know he was ready to make his report when the Captain was willing to see him.