Chapter 75: Tuition Blade

Tessa yanked the stubborn zipper of her canvas satchel across the table, struggling to close the bag over three thick academy reference manuals.

Her hands shook slightly as she packed borrowed laboratory clearance keys beneath an oversized wool sweater, trying to hide her intended departure.

"You should wait until nightfall," Luna advised softly from the clinic doorway, resting her hands against the frame while watching the determined student.

"The academy library holds the only complete chemical indexes for synthetic respiratory toxins," Tessa answered, refusing to meet the exhausted healer’s concerned gaze.

"I will not sit in this basement while our neighbors suffocate in the streets," she added, checking the strap of her satchel with stubborn resolve.

Leo stepped out from the adjacent hallway, placing his hand over the strap before she could shoulder the burden of her academic books.

"You are not going back to District Seven alone," he said, keeping his voice quiet so the sleeping patients in the next room would not wake.

"I am not a prisoner in my own city," she retorted, pulling the strap from his grasp with an irritated frown.

"District Seven is swarming with corporate security after the raid on the council tower," he reminded her, holding his ground near the doorway.

"Then having my brother beside me will make sure I come back alive," she answered, her voice softening into a tense compromise.

"You already cleared that desk in certified funds," she whispered, looking down at her scuffed shoes. "I will not let them take the education we paid for."

"I paid the arrears so you would never have to carry a weapon," he replied, adjusting his collar to conceal his scabbard.

"Then let me use the mind you bought me time to use," she urged, slinging the canvas strap over her shoulder with quiet determination.

Toby hurried through the corridor with an empty crate of medicine ampoules, nodding toward them before disappearing into the rear storage room.

Rhodes adjusted the intake manifold on his portable synthesis array, his single good hand tightening the valve as the machine hummed quietly.

"Take a secondary comm transmitter," Rhodes advised, tossing a small signal beacon across the counter. "District Seven monitors all unregistered frequencies."

"Keep the channel open if you hit trouble," Rhodes added, leaning against the counter as the synthesis machine hummed. "Richter has old contacts in that sector."

From the adjacent office, Bekka’s muffled voice echoed through the partition wall as she argued with Hero Association officials over their defensive stand.

"We have sixty hours left before the orbital flagship carries out its threat," Leo noted, watching the distant shadow hovering over the canal.

"Then one hour in the library archives will not cost us the war," Tessa replied, pushing open the side exit door.

They boarded the morning transit rail to District Seven, standing near the rear carriage doors while dockworkers whispered among themselves in the corners.

The corporate passenger carriage hummed smoothly along the elevated rails, leaving behind the scarred alleys of District Nine for the manicured avenues above.

Armed security drones scanned the passenger cars at every junction, but Bekka’s liaison transit pass allowed them to clear the outer checkpoints without delay.

Tessa opened her research ledger on her lap, pointing toward a series of complex molecular formulas she had copied from the clinic monitors.

"The Vorn respiratory binder relies on synthetic ether polymers," she explained in a low whisper. "If I can find the polymer registry, Rhodes can synthesize a permanent counter-agent."

The academy gates stood wide open beneath the morning sun, their polished barriers scanning student tokens while surveillance drones hovered in the courtyard.

Two senior proctors watched the arriving student crowds from an upper balcony, their scanners recording the biometric signatures of every person passing through the gates.

"Keep your head down and stay close to the hedge line," Leo instructed quietly, guiding his sister past the automated scanning pylons.

Students in crisp blazers walked in tidy groups along the paved paths, insulated from the life-or-death struggle taking place in the lower docks.

Julian leaned against a decorative stone planter along the main walkway, dressed in a spotless academy blazer with a smug grin across his face.

"I heard rumors that the Ghost had taken an interest in our scholarship department," Julian sneered, stepping into their path with deliberate arrogance.

"Step aside, Julian," Tessa warned, clutching her satchel against her ribs while two private security guards closed in behind his shoulders.

"Hand over those research ledgers," Julian commanded, gesturing toward two hired enforcers who drew stun batons from beneath their student coats.

"You are trespassing on private academic grounds," Julian added with a cold smirk. "Your scholarship was revoked the moment you associated with slum insurgents."

"I already settled that account in certified funds," Leo said, stepping between his sister and the advancing guards. "You have no authority here."

Leo refused to unleash his dark aura in the crowded public quadrangle, choosing to rely on bare-knuckle warehouse brutality instead of signature void arts.

He deflected the first baton strike with a swift palm parry, driving a vicious liver punch into the guard’s ribs to drop him instantly.

A second guard swung toward Tessa’s throat, but Leo closed the distance with a low sweep, smashing the man’s knees into the paving stones.

"You think you can hide behind dock trash forever?" Julian snarled, backing away as his hired thugs collapsed onto the courtyard walkway.

Julian ignited a burst of flame ether from his cuff, directing the scorching heat toward Tessa’s face to force her brother into the open.

He threw his shoulder across the blast, taking the searing flame against his compression coat as the fabric scorched and dissolved in smoke.

An enforcer drew a garrote wire behind Tessa, forcing Leo to execute a short shadow-step that brought his fist crashing through the man’s jaw.

The pin-camera pinned to Julian’s blazer flashed as it captured the unmistakable void-step, recording the exact spatial frequency of the elusive vigilante.

A bystander named Nia Pell took a stray blow from a swinging baton, collapsing against the planter with a pained groan as students fled.

"I have your step on record, Ghost!" Julian laughed through bloody teeth, sprinting toward the administration colonnade before the guards could recover.

Bekka landed on the quad with a rush of wind, her scorched gauntlets hissing as campus alarms began wailing across the grounds.

"Julian has the footage," Leo said, helping Tessa to her feet while campus security converged on the walkway with weapons drawn.

"We need to move now," Bekka urged, flashing her liaison token to hold the guards back while they retreated toward the street.

"They are already locking down the main transit gates," Tessa warned, clutching her bruised arm as they hurried through the outer archway.

The campus automated defenses hummed to life along the perimeter walls, aiming tracking sensors toward the fleeing trio as sirens wailed in the distance.

Students backed away in terrified whispers along the colonnade, watching the dark-coated vigilante escort his sister away from the shattered walkway.

They never reached the platform, a dark glider-shadow crossing the academy roofline, signaling that the hunt was already in the air.

The mechanical hum of twin turbines echoed over the quadrangle, drowning out the campus sirens as the airborne assassin initiated his descent.

Bekka checked her communicator with a tight scowl, confirming that the local rail grid was already switching to emergency lockdown protocols.