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Andi Jaimess watched her now former student, Kleff Brand, walk past the school gates, and her smile quickly turned to a grimace. A message from the principal, huh? What does that conniving old bastard want now? It was definitely an annoyance, but she wasn’t going to let it ruin her good mood. These past two days were some of the best she’d had as a teacher. It was probably wrong of her to enjoy them so much since her coworkers were suffering, but she just couldn’t help it.

It all came down to respect. She’d received more respect in the past two days than her entire career. Since there were very few other teachers, the substitutes all looked to her for leadership. The students also respected her guidance a lot more. She’d also received far more heartfelt goodbyes than she would have if every other teacher had been around. Andi had honestly never gotten along with her coworkers, and they rarely seemed to respect her, so this had been a blissful change of pace.

Even the Fiends hadn’t treated her rudely, acting like she was any other peer. Originally, she had assumed that the principal had called them here to torment her, but they’d done a good job on keeping the school held together. Andi had her doubts that the school would be able to function, suggesting that they should call it off until everyone was well, but she’d been proven wrong. Now, she’d experienced her best two days as a teacher as a result. Things worked out far better than she could have dreamed.

Unfortunately, she had to deal with whatever this message was from the principal. A few of the staff would be returning tomorrow, so she didn’t see what couldn’t wait until then. Perhaps he did just want to check in, and then she could get back to her happiness after a quick phone call. When she got to the principal’s office, she rummaged around his desk, assuming that’s where the note would be. The only thing she found, though, was a note that said ‘Turn Around’.

Andi whipped her head back towards the direction of the door, and found another former student, Xard Randex, standing in front of it. She jumped at his sudden appearance, wondering how long he’d been there since she didn’t hear him come into the room. He was also pointing at her, which she found rather creepy. Maybe this was supposed to be some horror prank to give her a good scare. “Umm, hello Xard,” Andi greeted him hesitantly. “Can I help you with something, and why are you pointing at me?”

“Oh, this?” Xard seemed confused for a moment as he looked at his finger. “My power basically makes this into a gun. I’m pointing a gun at you.” Andi panicked for a moment when she heard that, but took a deep breath to calm herself. She didn’t have time to be scared, and needed to prepare herself for what she assumed was coming. “We know you’re responsible,” Xard continued. “It’d be best if you give yourself up quietly. I really don’t want to get rough with you, Ms. Jaimess.”

Those were the words she’d been expecting. Since she knew it was coming, it gave her time to get her hands in the right places. The moment Xard finished speaking, there was a tink as a canister hit the floor. Andi quickly slid her other hand into her blouse, and then up to her mouth. She’d been counting the seconds since she’d pulled the pin on the canister. It had a fuse time of 5 seconds, so she had to rush, but managed to get her mask on in time.

Her gas mask was small and thin, covering just her mouth and nose, unlike regular commercial ones that covered the entire face. The gas in the canister was her own formula, so she knew for certain it wouldn’t harm her eyes or anything else. She just needed to block those specific parts from being affected. The filter was also extremely heavy, since the gas was so potent. Anyone exposed to it didn’t even need to breathe it. Just having their airways come into contact with it would be enough.

The gas was a high-intensity tranquilizer that would knock even a giant monster out for hours, so she had no doubts that it would at least buy her some time with a Fiend. Sorry Xard, you were a good, albeit slightly problematic, student, so I apologize for the massive headache you’ll have when you wake up. Now that the truth is out there, I can’t afford to get caught. Maybe now everyone will finally understand what I’m capable of.

Andi reflexively flinched when her mental timer reached zero, but nothing happened. She glanced down at the floor, to find a small, fluffy creature cramming the canister into its mouth and swallowing it whole. Now, it was time to panic. Xard was blocking the door, so she had to look for another way to escape. The window! She thought as she whirled her head around, but another Fiend appeared right in front of her. Every time she looked in a new direction, someone else appeared, until she was entirely surrounded.

“Oh Frandine, did you really think you could escape us so easily?” A chill slid down her spine as those words were whispered into her ears, and arms wrapped around her neck from behind. What she was really afraid of, though, was that name.

“How, how the hell do you know that name?!” Andi whimpered.

“We know everything about you, Frandine,” Phon told her as she let go and slid up onto the principal’s desk. “Go ahead and give her the rundown, Feyj.”

A Fiend that Andi didn’t recognize stepped forward, cleared his throat, then began a long monologue. “Andi Jaimess, born Frandine Jaimess, was raised in a rural setting far beneath the poverty line. She had a youth full of hardship, often getting in trouble for petty robbery and pickpocketing. When she was 15, she was arrested for selling drugs. She was interrogated heavily about where she’d obtained them, but she never gave up her source, claiming she’d made them herself.”

“Let off with a warning, it was at this point she decided to reform and earn a better life. To everyone’s surprise, she managed to graduate highschool, something exceedingly rare for someone in her position. When she turned 18, she cut off all ties with her family and her past, legally changing her name to Andi Jaimess.”

“From there, she aimed to become a chemical engineer. However, due to her social status, she couldn’t afford to attend any college that offered it as a course of study. She didn’t let this stop her, though, and managed to stitch together the requirements from 9 different colleges. Some were local community colleges, and others were proper colleges she was able to briefly attend due to earned scholarships. After many years of hardship, she managed to not only earn her degree, but a doctorate as well.”

“Unfortunately for Dr. Andi Jaimess, all of her effort amounted to nothing. No one would hire her. They took one look at her criminal record and the schools she attended, assuming that her degrees must be either a forgery or grievous error. The field she wanted to work in was all but closed off to her. Thus, she fell back to her contingency plan of becoming a teacher. However, this led to hardship as well, since no college would hire her due to the same background, and most highschools rejected her due to overqualification.”

“Eventually, she was hired here. However, there were no openings available in any course relating to science. The only opening available was Art History, which Andi Jaimess accepted reluctantly. It didn’t take her long to resent the course and everything it entailed. In several private conversations she’d claim it to be a ‘useless waste of time that anyone could teach. Just give them a textbook and tell them to spout random art trivia to students that don’t care enough to listen.’”

“It was not long before Andi Jaimess became a disgruntled employee. She hated the course she taught, and resented the students who picked to study it since they saw it as an easy elective where they could goof off. Her coworkers heavily affected her frustrations, constantly teasing her about her background and how she ended up in a dead-end job even though she’d tried so hard. Eventually, Andi Jaimess reached her breaking point.”

“Based on the timeline, this likely happened right around her first incident with the Fiends For Hire. Either she was fed up from having to deal with them, or took their free-spirited recklessness to heart. Regardless, after that incident she began delving back into chemical research. She developed a virus that could be spread as an airborne pathogen. The virus hides from the immune system by latching onto blood cells, making it essentially impossible for the body to resist it.”

“Three days ago, Andi Jaimess unleashed the virus on her coworkers during their end-of-the-year party. The release was contained, using four canisters that directionally targeted their room only, preventing anyone else from being subjected. The pathogen was both odorless and invisible, making it undetectable to anyone affected. The version of the virus used was heavily diluted from its original form, resulting in a sickness of only a few days, varying based on each individual’s constitution. In its original form, the virus is much more severe, and lasts for around a month, but isn’t lethal.”

“That ends my summation,” Feyj concluded. “Please feel free to correct any errors, as much of it was based on conjecture.”

“No… that was all accurate,” Andi defeatedly admitted with her head slumped forward. Everything he’d said was true, to a point of painful recreation. She could easily guess how they found all of it out. Phon Drazah hadn’t been a teacher, so she must have spent the past two days investigating. She’d most likely visited the party venue, and it sounded like her apartment had been searched as well. Conversations and search history had probably been taken straight from her phone records too.

While Andi had never seen Feyj before, she’d heard tales of him from the students: a Fiend with an ability to rapidly process information. With that kind of power and their investigation, putting all the pieces together wouldn’t have been hard. This had been their real reason for coming, to catch her. Acting as teachers had just been a cover for their job, even if they’d done it surprisingly well. Obviously, the one behind it was the principal. Andi always knew that the bastard was cunning. He probably had her pegged as the culprit from the start.

“I’m going to put these on you now, Ms. Jaimess.” Andi looked up to see Xard holding a pair of handcuffs. She didn’t resist as he put them on her, and then he sat her down on the nearby couch. Only now did the reality of her situation really set in. She was going to be arrested for this, and this time there’d be no warning. Her life was over. All the struggling she’d been through was pointless. While she hated this job, it still had the potential of leading to a better life. Now though, any chance at a good future was gone.

“Dammit...” Andi’s body started to shake as tears streamed down her face. “Dammit! All I wanted was to get back at them a little! I just wanted a few days of peace and quiet without them ridiculing me. Was that so wrong?! I just wanted… I wanted to prove that I wasn’t just some poor country loser and show them just how powerful the skills they mocked actually were. I am one of the best chemists in the world, capable of creating formulas that could revolutionize our society, but no one ever saw that. They only saw Frandine Jaimess, a girl with a shady past and a useless degree.”

Andi was completely defeated now. She was hunched over, soaking her legs in her falling tears. It took her a moment to notice the arm wrapped around her shoulders, and looked to see Phon Drazah sitting next to her. “I don’t know if this will be adding insult to injury, but why don’t you go ahead and tell her about the secret thing we found Feyj. I want to see how she’ll feel when she finds out someone was looking out for her all along. Make it a good expression for me, Frandine.”

A few seconds passed as Andi wracked her brain, trying to figure out what Phon Drazah was possibly talking about, but she came up with nothing. “I suppose you mean the new class,” Feyj mentioned. “The principal spent the past year petitioning the Board of Education to allow for a new type of classes to be taught. These would be ones that would count as college credits for the students, giving the more gifted among them a head start and a chance to save money.”

“The Board initially rejected the request, stating that the schools weren’t qualified to teach something that would give credit. However, the principal pestered them time and time again, saying he had an asset that would prove them wrong. Eventually, they gave in, allowing him a trial class next year, hinging it all on who the teacher would be. The first class was going to be for chemistry, to be taught by Dr. Andi Jaimess.”

“Yup, that’s right!” Phon affirmed once Feyj was done. “Seems that sweet old principal worked super hard just so that you could have your very own class. To think the entire thing was based on how much he respected your credentials and you as a teacher. It seems he was planning on surprising you with this at the year-end party, but sadly you weren’t in attendance. You were off at some fictional wedding instead. It’s quite a shame, heartbreaking honestly, that you went and betrayed someone who worked tirelessly for your sake. Oh, and if you want proof, here it is.”

Phon Drazah slapped down a stack of papers into Andi’s lap: the proposal for the class from the principal. Andi only had to read a few lines to confirm that it was genuine. Her mind couldn’t even process this, the idea that someone was doing so much for her, when everyone else in her life had always looked down on her. “Oh, and if you’re wondering why we haven’t taken you to the police yet,” Phon added. “It’s because the principal wants to escort you there himself. He’s on his way here now.”

Andi sat silently for the next few minutes, waiting for her fate as she stared at the door. The Fiends seemed to ignore her for the most part, sharing stories of their exploits over the past two days. She tuned out most of them initially, but couldn’t help listening in on a few. “So Drim, how’d your classes go?” Phon Drazah asked him. “Do you think they helped with public speaking at all? I figured a small group like that would be a good place to start.”

“Uhh, I guess it helped some,” Drim Drazah relented. “I was so nervous at first, but I was a bit more relaxed at the end.”

“Could have fooled me,” Phon disputed. “I checked in now and then, and your face was scaring students the entire time. It definitely tightens up and gets more frightening when you’re nervous. As long as you felt better on the inside, though, that’s what matters.”

“Oh, so that’s what was doing it…” Drim sighed in relief. “I thought they were scared of me because of all the other reasons.”

“Well, we can never rule that out, can we?” Phon laughed.

Several more conversations like that happened between the group, to the point that Andi found them slightly comforting. It eventually became a decent distraction, allowing her to finally stop crying. Her heart felt like it stopped, though, when the door suddenly opened. It pained her to look at him, but she knew she had to face the principal head on, to show him the same respect that he’d shown her. She didn’t find the angry or upset face she was expecting, but instead she found a gentle smile accompanied by a pair of very sad eyes.

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