~Atlas~

I tapped my foot against the classroom floor, leaning against a desk as I waited. Dyako and Isla had a lot of guts to be calling me here instead of coming to find me, but I let it slide.

They were the best duo in the school to ask if you needed something on someone. I needed this information enough to deal with them, naturally I'd punish them for being disrespectful but that wasn't going to get me anywhere nor help me get what I want.

Basic information, friend group, family, blackmail. You name it, they find it.

They could always find it all, and then it was only a matter of how fast they got it to you. My dominance as King definitely gave me the upper hand when it came to waiting time, they knew not to take a long time or there would be consequences to deal with.

I looked up as Dyako and Isla walked into the classroom, both averting their eyes to the ground.

               "H-Hi Atlas, sorry to k-keep you waiting." Isla stuttered, gripping her notebook nervously. I almost smiled, one of the best things about being King was the effect of my presence, everyone feared me and it made life so much easier, knowing I could always get anything I want.

               "What was keeping you?" I asked sharply, noting Dyako's shaking hands.

               "I-I, um, we had to deal with s-some personal business." He spoke quickly, walking to sit down in the seat next to me, "b-but that's all done with now. We both f-found everything w-we could on Q-Quinley. Isla, do you want to start?" She nodded and dropped her notebook on the table.

Their confidence grew and leaked from them the minute they started spewing information, I could tell they were proud of what they'd managed to find, this was promising, maybe I'd find what I need.

I mean after all, the work of an invisible girl and a human who can control electronics with a thought would be thorough and foolproof, they'd be able to find anything there is.

               "I observed her for the entire day and watched her exit and enter different classes." Isla flipped open the notebook, which detailed her schedule and who she got into fights with throughout the day. "As you can see, she has quite an interesting combination." I frowned looking at the page Isla showed me, leaning in to get a better read.

               "She's in all AP classes, yet somehow got into fights with two different students throughout that day?" Isla nodded at my question, although it was rhetorical and flipped to another page. It showed every person that she got into a physical fight and a graphic description of the fight and the person who she fought with.

               "Judging by her losing streak, my observatory skills, and the fact that everyone who won against her was no higher than D-Tier, I would say that she's not instigating anything but not exactly calming things down either," I remembered the conversation I saw her have with that boy in the hall with a frown, she wasn't starting fights but why wasn't she avoiding them, she was doing no help for herself.

Resorting to name-calling is a childish and immature move, and a result of knowing that you can't win.

The confidence to dare say something of that accord to a superior, albeit barely one, where had it come from?

More importantly if she had the guts to say something like that, then why didn't she use her ability to back it up?

This girl held one too many mysteries and I'm now determined to find out what she's hiding. It seems this is going to be deeper than I originally expected.

               "Alright, anything else?" I asked carefully. Isla nodded again, flipping further into her notebook, her eyes quickly reading each page until she finds what she wants.

               "Now, here's where things get strange. As you can see here," Isla pointed to a section under the heading of 'Ability,' "in the entire day I followed her, in all her fights, the morning or afternoon, she hasn't activated her ability." I crossed my arms; I already knew this but hearing it confirmed made me confused. Why won't this girl use her ability?

               "Why is this a problem?" Isla coughed into her hand before looking up to answer.

               "I'm not sure you know of this, but all those under the C-Tier range have an average of nine to fourteen ability activation's per day. When someone doesn't activate their ability, it usually means one thing. It's far too weak to do anything at all." Isla says and I nod to indicate I'm listening, Isla's brow furrows as she continues, "so why would someone with a weak ability have the confidence of seven like her to not back down after being challenged?"

I had to agree with Isla it made no sense, Quinley never provoked fights but she did herself no help but shutting them down, if she's too weak to use her ability she would never have the confidence she does.

I sucked in a quick breath, rattled at the amount of information she was able to retrieve in such a short amount of time. It had only confirmed what I'd already gathered from watching Quinley for a few moments, it was helpful anyway though.

               "Thank you for your help; you may go now." I sighed, waving my hand dismissively. Isla shut her notebook quickly and cleared up her stuff, she nodded respectfully and walked out of the classroom, leaving her sophomore friend Dyako behind. He sat down and opened his laptop, activating his ability.

He clicked a few buttons, and all of a sudden, a picture of Quinley and information besides her appeared.

               "The digital information I was able to find on her after several web scans were the bare minimum. She has no social media, no telephone or computer outside of the school computer, and almost no digital footprint." He pointed to a section under the heading 'Family.' I narrowed my eyes at the question mark. "I managed to breach the school's private recordings of all students, only to find something unusual."

He turned the computer towards him again, and when he turned it back, a school report was on the screen. However, it was almost completely empty, unlike any other student in the entire school.

               "What? How is that possible?" I asked. Dyako shook his head, now looking up at me.

               "I'm not sure. The school is very touchy about having every bit of information possible on their students. Students are not allowed to attend unless all information requirements are met. It's the only school in the entire city which has the amount of information on students that it has. It just doesn't seem possible that they would let this random girl slide." I glared worriedly at her picture and eventually sighed.

               "Quinley is a bit of a rare name, which is why I didn't give you her last name, is she the only Quinley in the school?" Dyako nodded and I frowned more, staring at her picture as if it would give something away.

               "I did say that she barely had a digital footprint because I managed to find something about her." He swiped left in the air, and the screen did likewise. A website with a massive firewall message showed up on the screen.

               "I managed to find her birthplace of Silverstone, but when I dove deeper, the website malfunctioned and shot a firewall at me. I couldn't get past it, so it seems that it's a dead end." He says shaking his head slightly as he looks back at Quinley's information as if he can't believe she exists. Silverstone was very far away from here, almost on the other side of the country. It was also great academically, so that wasn't an excuse.

What was the purpose of moving all the way over here to a school that was only slightly above the schools in Silverstone?

I uncrossed my arms and closed his computer, Dyako standing up quickly as though he was relieved to be finished.

                "I have one more question, Dyako," I said, handing him his laptop, "from the information Isla gave and my own experience, this type of person would be one that any D-Tier would try to fight or shut up. Two fights a day, even if that is a decently large number, seems small for her type. Does nobody instigate anything with her? I've noticed that people pick battles with her but if she's such an easy target why is she not fighting more people daily?"

Dyako sighed and shouldered his bag. "It's not that nobody instigates anything with her, it's just that she's notorious for not being someone fun to fight against." I gestured for him to elaborate, "You may already be aware of this, but typically D-Tiers are the most agitated throughout the day. They want to fight everyone they can because they can easily step on those smaller than them. E-Tiers are defenseless and usually comply, or put up a pitiful fight that D-Tiers get a kick out of destroying. Quinley's a special case in the sense that she doesn't submit whenever she gets challenged, but not once has she ever used her ability or fought back. Combine that with the fact that she's almost always in class, and now she's almost impossible to find, and even if you do, it's kind of pointless because she won't fight you."

               "What do any of the Royals do about this?" I asked, shocked. I'd never heard of someone who wouldn't fight back. If she isn't searching for trouble how does she always manage to find it? And most of all who is she and why won't she use her ability?

               "Think about it. The Royals have been taught to defend the weak from the strong that are taking it too far, so when they see little innocent Quinley just minding her business and then all of a sudden a 'C' or 'D' tier attacks, they think 'Oh! This is exactly the kind of unfair fight that I'm supposed to break up'. She kind of cheats the system in that way." I gritted my teeth as he finished and he mistook my frustration,

               "Oh! I'm sorry, I've been talking a lot. I don't mean to take up any more of your time." I let him scurry away as I rubbed my temples angrily.

She kind of cheats the system.

She hasn't activated her ability.

The information I was able to find on her was the bare minimum.

Resorting to name-calling is a childish and immature move, and a result of knowing that you can't win.

Quinley Weston,

Who the hell are you?

~Unknown Point Of View~

I stared at the screen, watching the growing frustration with pleasure.

After years of work, everything was falling into place.

               "Ace! I have a message from the Queen of Spades!" The messenger boy ran in, panting. I turned sharply, wondering if I should punish him for daring to interrupt me. I let it go. I was in far too good of a mood for this weakling to ruin my day.

               "What is it?" I asked. He smiled and waved the paper in the air,

               "Her first Jack is on the way."