The Earth After Rebirth

"So even though there was an inside man, my grandfather was the one who got his hands on the information you couldn\'t?" Kiro almost rolled his eyes.

A little bit of respect he had for them crumbled. They had all the money, all the resources but they played it safe, while his grandfather got reckless getting himself killed in the process. This didn\'t sit right with him.

"It\'s very unpleasant to admit but yes." The dean admitted to their failures.

"Then, aren\'t you guys a bit of a joke?" Nikolai chimed in, he couldn\'t believe their nerve of asking them for information they weren\'t trusted with.

Information they would no doubt have gotten if they had pushed a little bit harder and didn\'t play so safe.

They all looked defeated with that question, they couldn\'t exactly refute it. It was true, they had failed where Eldric had succeeded.

"We initially didn\'t want to show ourselves to you but your sudden trip made me think about the possibilities of what you could be planning and that\'s why I had James go with you, truly sorry to have done so without your knowledge." The dean seemed sincere enough.

Kiro thought back to the information, his grandfather did mention some rich people that worked with him. His biggest for him now, was why he didn\'t trust the information with them instead of burdening his grandson. He sighed, not understanding a thing the man was trying to accomplish.

Hiro looked to Isla\'s father, "if you\'re part of the sanctum why didn\'t you do anything about the underground ring?" He was surprisingly calm but the accusatory tone in his voice couldn\'t be hidden.

"Gilbert Blakeson and I don\'t see eye to eye, he doesn\'t trust me, I don\'t trust him, we\'re always at odds. The underground ring was a Blakeson thing not a sanctum one, so naturally I had no idea about its whereabouts." He said taking a seat next to the dean.

They simultaneously shook their heads, when they entered the underground ring there were so many spectators. He couldn\'t turn one of them to be on their side and reveal the location.

With this, Kiro was understanding little by little why he didn\'t leave the information with them. It wasn\'t that he didn\'t trust them, he just didn\'t trust that they would take the necessary risks.

"No matter how I look at it, you guys are cowards." Kiro concluded.

"You dare? What do you know—"

"A whole lot apparently. Nothing can be achieved at the comfort of your thrones. We are just kids, we have families, we are risking not just our lives but their lives aswell doing this." Hiro came to his friends aid.

"That\'s right. I have to fight my own dad, how do you think that feels?" Ishaan had been quiet for a while but he asked something very valid that left all the adults unable to answer.

The dean leaned back on his chair, stroking his white beard and pondering their grievances. Of course he knew they were right, they\'d been fighting for decades and hadn\'t gotten anywhere but these kids had this information for probably less than a year and they had achieved more than they could.

"Yes, it\'s quite hard. You\'re right of course, we\'ve been fighting in our comfort zones. I always thought more is less, its clear now that to make real change something big should happen."

"Yeah you\'ve done great, we\'re eternally grateful."

"Tsk. Don\'t speak like we were doing this for you specifically, we just don\'t like how the society operates." Felix said looking to the side, trying to hide his annoyed expression.

"I told you they were too matured for their own good." James sighed, they were definitely losing this one.

"Yes you did. About the information—"

"I\'m sorry dean Whitmore, but I\'d like to respect my grandfather\'s wishes. I won\'t divulge what was in the file and it\'ll be useless to hassle the other guys, I\'m the only one who knows." Kiro said with finality.

"That\'s fair, how about this though, in your next expedition include us too. I\'m sure James was a great help to you lot." The dean understood, he didn\'t want to push them away further so he suggested something that could work.

They looked at each other intently, none of them seemed to be against the suggestion. Without James there, they weren\'t sure they could\'ve gotten out with just scratches on them.

Their unspoken agreement, the ability to read each other proved just how much closer they had grown. It was a pleasant feeling for all of them.

"We think that\'s fair." Kiro answered.

"You won\'t discuss it with your friends?" James asked confused.

"We already did." Felix answered. "And before you ask, yes we did, just now."

James wanted to prod further but the dean stopped his train of thought. He was still very much immature, just like them.

"If you don\'t mind me asking, how did Eldric do it, how did he leave something untraceable behind?" The dean was genuinely curious, no ulterior motives.

Kiro thought for a moment, "it was in this," he pulled out the necklace his grandfather gave it to him. "It was a USB drive, but the old version, so we had to build an old computer to access the data."

He looked at them unsure. If they could already build computers, he wondered what the academy had to offer for them. He reckoned nothing.

"If you can do that, why are you still in school?" James blurted out. Chapter Explore:

"Our families would kill us otherwise." Kiro and Hiro said almost at the same time.

This earned them another laugh from the dean, he was truly a carefree old man. Any other teacher would\'ve scolded them and lectured them on the importance of school.

"What\'s the next step?" Jesús asked. "In your plans I mean."

"Taking the mine!" They proclaimed in unison.