The Codebreaker
It had been a week since Jessie's death, it was now Wednesday and Halloween was a few weeks away. The police reports were starting to come out. It was the last class of the day, coding class. Kiwi was finishing up the lesson when the bell finally rang. Sophie had come into the classroom holding her cell phone in her hands.
"Kiwi the reports came out! And they're not good" Kiwi used one of the computers to pull up the police report. Finley had walked in with her backpack. N sat in the back finishing up the homework. Kiwi read the report.
Jessie George was a lovable student at Copper College. She was found on October 17th, at approximately 2:56 pm, on the grounds outside the main building cut up into 18 pieces, cuts on her arm presume that this incident was suicide. Our thoughts and prayers are with the George family. And that this has nothing to do with the Drone Ripper. Please stay tuned for more reports.
Kiwi banged her fist against the table.
"That's bullshit! Jessie didn't kill herself. There's no fricken way" Sophie nodded, and Finley bit her lip.
"What's going on?" N asked as he walked over. Kiwi showed him the police report and he frowned.
"Yeah, this sounds suspicious but also terrifying!" N laughed nervously.
"N's right, this is suspicious. And I think the Drone Ripper is back" Kiwi stated. "There has to be more to this report than what they're telling us. And I have an idea"
Sophie gasped slightly.
"Kiwi, you're not going to do what I think you're going to do are you?"
"What is she going to do?" N questioned looking between Kiwi and Sophie. Kiwi had a big grin on her face.
"I'm gonna hack into the police reports!"
"Kiwi that's a bad idea!" Sophie looked at her friend.
"I know it is, but how else are we going to figure out what exactly is going on?" Kiwi grabbed her laptop from her bag and opened it beginning to do her thing.
Kiwi leaned forward, eyes narrowing in concentration. The coding room is silent except for the occasional click-clacks of Kiwi typing.
"Alright let's see what the police are hiding"
On the laptop screen, lines of green code scroll rapidly. Kiwi's fingers pause as she navigates through a series of firewalls. She remained undetected, thankfully.
The screen showed different reports, on Jessie's death, and the Drone Ripper. A secret report showed 7 deaths that were ruled suicide but strangely enough, weren't.
"Got it!" Kiwi pumped her fists in the air as she began to download the needed data. The group cheered and then began to go through the data.
The actual report on Jessie's death read as follows:
Jessie George was found at Copper College. Cut into 18 pieces total. The Drone ripper has outdone himself this time. We believe that there's a sick motive behind this death. Jessie's core was found missing, and some of the oil also went missing. Is this sick bastard collecting cores and oil for some sick purpose? This is similar to the Hadenfield murders. Will need to follow up with the Hadenfield police. End report.
"I knew it, the Drone Ripper is behind this!" Kiwi gasped. N looked nervous.
"Remind me about the Drone Ripper again?"
"The Drone Ripper is someone who has been murdering drones, in the most cruel ways. Stringing them up like angels, or artworks, cutting them into small-sized pieces, and stealing their cores and oil. Some think it may be human or a drone, but no one really knows" Kiwi explained.
"Oh, that's really unsettling actually" N laughed nervously.
"Yeah, and there have been 17 other drone murders in 3 months," Kiwi said as she went through the reports.
N looked over her shoulder, pointing to an article labeled J. Summers.
"Read that one"
Kiwi nodded slightly and began to read the article out loud.
"Janice Summers, June 22nd, at exactly 8:45 am. Was found in her family home strung up with wire and zip ties. Her core ripped out and oil drained from her body. She was home alone with the family dog Georgie. She was found by her mother, Elaine Summers two hours later"
"I knew her" N stated quietly.
"How'd you know her N?" Kiwi asked turning around to look at him.
"Because she was our next-door neighbor when we lived in Hadenfield for a short period. Tessa was on the scene when it happened. She was so scared for, J, V's, and mine's safety that she sent us here to Copper College hopefully to get away from all the murder and death. But apparently, it just follows" N explained, Kiwi nodded.
"I'm sorry N"
"Oh no it's alright, nothing we can do about it"
"No, but what we can do is explore and continue to investigate" Finley crossed her arms.
"You mean Scooby doo this shit?" Kiwi asked.
"Exactly Kiki" N's tail wagged behind him.
"Can we maybe include V? She's pretty cool honestly,we talked at Thad's party last week"
"Sure I guess?" Kiwi shrugged not having a problem with it. Sophie crossed her arms frowning slightly, she was a little jealous.
Kiwi shut her laptop down and started writing in a notebook.
"So the first thing we need to come up with is clues" Kiwi stated.
"Well, what about that strange cloaked figure you saw?" Sophie asked.
"There's one clue," Kiwi wrote it down.
"We also know that the Drone Ripper takes oil and cores," Kiwi wrote that down too.
"Mmm oil" N salivated. Kiwi snapped her fingers in front of N.
"Focus N"
"Sorry"
"You're a weird murder drone" Sophie stated out loud.
"I know! J and V tell me that all the time" N smiled. Kiwi went back to researching.
"Hey check this out, it's an article on Miss. Higgins who claimed she saw the Drone Ripper"
"Wait Crazy Miss. Higgins who teaches journalism?" Finley questioned.
"Yeah, that exact one" Kiwi nodded.
"Well I think we found our first lead"