Amanita: Poison Shot

Chapter 67: The Black Masks - or Trad Trash

"Daphne! Thank God I've got you!" Agape exclaimed with an overwhelming kind of kindness and worry that Saturday afternoon, right after lunch, when I was entering her office.

She had stood up from her seat and come to me in a hurry. I was still standing under the threshold when she hugged me tightly. Her long, blond hair was on my face, tickling my nose.

"How are you? You OK?!"

"Yes, I'm OK. I thought you'd be mad at me," I confessed.

"Mad? Why?" she asked, letting me go and staring at me, thunderstruck.

"Well, your message sounded serious, and there was no emoji, so..."

"Oh, sorry about that! I was kinda busy dealing with the consequences of having those trad trash kids around here."

"Trad trash kids?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"A term I've made up," she replied with a smug smile. "Short for 'traditional human trash'. The vandals who have been terrorising Thalis these last few nights. They call themselves the 'Black Masks', but I think that trad trash fits them better."

Her defiance was full of joy. I couldn't wait to know why.

"What happened last night?"

"That's exactly the reason why I've summoned you here today. Let's start from the beginning, shall we?"

She gestured for me to have a seat. She had prepared a chair for me next to her stool. When both of us had taken our seats, she went on seriously thus:

"Last night, Sigi arrived late after the match, but it didn't matter 'cos we had everything under control. He told me that your father had wanted a word with him, and then he had brought you home on my bike, the one I lend him and the one you fixed. I'm not mad about any of that. I would've preferred that your father didn't know about him, but I guess he's seen you together, chatting at the Sports Palace, right?"

"Yeah, sort of." Sigi might've cleverly hidden the kiss scene from her. I wondered whether Momo or any of the other girls might've told her anything about it. I decided to come clean just in case. "Well, he kissed me in public during the match. That's the reason why Sigi had drawn my father's attention. I hope you're not..."

"Bloody hell! Damn you, Sigi!" she exclaimed with mild anger.

"Don't be mad at him. The kids were pushing us to kiss to bring good luck to the team. Apparently, it worked."

She burst out laughing.

"OK, this time I'm gonna let it slide." If she had also known that Sigi had kissed me after the game in the privacy of my home's hall, she would've been definitely mad then. I zipped my lips. "Now, to more pressing matters: the Black Masks."

Yes, I was curious to know more about them and whether those scumbags worked for the clone police.

"Sigi arrived late, as I was saying. The Black Masks were here already, threatening to burn down Amanita once more. They failed and got captured. I have to admit that Gabi was key. He couldn't stop bragging about it – actually, he hasn't stopped bragging yet. Anyway, we tied them up, blindfolded them, brought them to the rebels' home basement, tortured them, and made them spill the beans, just as you had suggested."

"I didn't mention anything about torturing them!" I exclaimed feeling indignant.

"Yeah, that was us. Sorry, not sorry," she commented with mild sarcasm. "You have to understand that I can't show mercy to those bastards. They have betrayed our kind, traditional humans."