Chapter 1901: Trouble
"Bring him in!" the president’s voice came from the room, and the door opened wider, letting Ning in.
Ning walked into the massive office with a few cabinets around the room and a large desk to the side, before a large window that covered nearly the entire eastern wall.
President Morstell sat behind the ornate desk, a rather haggard look on her face.
The room, which should’ve been massive normally, seemed small at the moment, as many other people aside from the president herself were in there.
Ning looked to the side and saw both Frostveil and Godhood sitting next to each other on a couch, holding some tablets. They looked up just as Ning walked in.
The murmur around the room was buzzing loudly even as Ning walked into the center, wondering what the fuss was all about. The president tried to speak up, only to stop as the noise was still loud.
"QUIET!" she shouted just once, and the room went silent. "Everyone who doesn’t need to be in this room to do your job, leave."
A few people nodded and left immediately.
Finally, the room looked way less congested and was a lot quieter as well.
The president turned toward Ning once again. "Thank you for coming," she said. Her expression was grim. "We have a big problem."
Ning nodded as he walked over to a chair and sat down. "How can I be of help?" he asked.
The president took a moment to think before sighing.
"Last night, there was a theft at the research facility," the president said. "A lot of our research has been stolen or destroyed by some unknown individual. We have brought you in to help with that."
Ning froze in shock as if hit with a flashbang. He blinked a few times before responding to the absurd information.
"You let the serums get stolen?" he asked in an exasperated tone. "How the hell did you let something so dangerous get stolen?"
How could the president have left something so significant with so little security that it could get stolen outright?
Maybe he had been mistaken about the president. Maybe she wasn’t the right fit for this after all.
"Calm down, friend," Godhood spoke in his usual ethereal voice. "Listen to the whole thing first."
Ning paused and nodded, turning back to the president as he waited for further explanation.
"The theft happened sometime last night, within the hours of 1 and 5."
"Such a long span?" Ning asked, surprised. "You didn’t realize it sooner?"
She shook her head. "We only noticed the theft around 5, when a worker entered and found everything missing. As soon as we learned that, we called over everyone that could be of help to us, including these two."
She gestured to Frostveil and Godhood.
"We’ve been here for hours, trying to figure out what happened," Frostveil said.
"Did you not have cameras in there? What about the video footage?" Ning asked.
"It was tampered with. All cameras inside the room where the serums were kept were destroyed. We have no clear images of the intruder."
Ning narrowed his eyes.
"Were there no guards?"
The president sighed. "There were many in and around the hallway that led to the research room, but no one saw anything."
"So someone slipped through without being seen," Ning said. "Considering how fortified the place was, is it safe to assume that it’s someone with powers? It has to be one of the heroes in the tour yesterday, right?"
The president was about to answer when Ning quickly cut her off. "No, that’s not possible. You should have had the facility’s suppression fields active. No one with powers should have been able to get in."
President Morstell’s eyes narrowed. "Precisely what we considered when we talked about it. But Frostveil brought up an interesting topic."
"Hmm?" Ning turned. "What topic?"
"Forgath," Frostveil said. "He could use his powers despite the suppression."
Ning’s eyes narrowed. "You think this has something to do with Forgath’s group?"
Frostveil nodded. "Whoever did this had to be someone who could use their powers within a suppression field. And I only know him as the one person who can do that. You mentioned that he was part of a group, right? He wasn’t working alone."
"That he was not," Ning said. "I was mistaken to assume it was just the heroes from yesterday who knew about it. Maybe someone used them as a decoy."
His face suddenly fell as he considered the other possibility.
"Or... one of the heroes was already working for them to begin with."
The room went cold.
Ning’s mind immediately went to the Numbers, wondering which one of them it had to be that had come.
Number Five and Seven were dead. So was it Six? Maybe Four. Five had said something about Six being impulsive. This didn’t seem like a job he would do.
"Do you have any suspects?" Ning asked the group.
"We’ve gone through the list of people who visited the facility within the last 30 days and listed them out based on whether they have the power to sneak past the guards without being caught. So far, we have a few names, and we’re going through their alibis. We should have a more concrete list soon."
"I see," Ning said. "If you don’t mind me asking, then, why was I called?"
"Well..." the president hesitated. "We were sure now that we were dealing with someone who could use their powers in the suppression, and we knew you were used to fighting them as well. So we decided it would be better to have you join us. You’re strong enough yourself."
"And I’m assuming you’ve already gone through my alibi?" Ning asked.
"No need. A giant bat like you would be seen on the cameras," she said.
"And what if that was not my only power?" Ning asked.
The president paused. "What do you mean?"
Ning shrugged. "These people can somehow get their abilities working inside a suppression field. How difficult could it be to lie to the Extra-Ability Analyzer? What if they’re hiding their powers?"
The president’s face fell.
