In for a good talking to

[Alaine Kensington]

Shortly after the commotion in the computer lab, Professor Kensington dragged Rena Thompson and Michelle Wilcox bodily into the office by their arms, with Less Than Beta East Tundra behind them.

"These three were making havoc in the computer room. I found these ladies leaving the room trying to get out, and had to get them back in to hear that Wilcox shot East Tundra in the foot, who apparently tried to assault her out of self defence. Thompson was nearby walking off, even if she heard the shot." She explained how Ada Turing apparently built a supercomputer which developed an AI, with some interference from Aurora Robinson, and the commotion that had happened after the three others had come in.

"My first inclination was to immediately expel Wilcox for shooting a fellow student, but I neither have I the authority nor has any apparentlasting harm been done. I recommend hearing them out and giving at least Wilcox a severe detention." She released the two students from her grasp, and ushered Less into the room as well. "If need be, I'll call the other two in to corroborate it."

[Less Than Beta East Tundra]

The adrenaline rush having worn off, Less Than Beta was not doing well. Shifting so often in such a short amount of time had brought him to the point of exhaustion, and his new scar was loudly expressing its dislike of him walking on it. His bad leg was shaking as he walked over to stand in front of the headmistress and lean down with his ears back in submission. Really, by now he just wanted to lie down and sleep.

[Michelle Wilcox]

Michelle was irritated by professor Kensington's refusal to believe her alibi. She hoped that she could cement her story by reminding the headmistress of Less' fight on the bus.

[Portia Bianca Rosalind Cutty]

Headmistress Cutty's computer was, for now, turned off. The ethernet connection had been unplugged, and the power cable removed as well.

She looked at Rena, Michelle, and Less Than Beta intently as she listened to Professor Kensington.

After a moment, she looked at Michelle. "Now, Lieutenant Wilcox," she began, "Is there any reason you had a gun on your person in the first place? Professor von Reinhardt's Marksmanship classes do not take place inside, as I recall."

[Michelle Wilcox]

"It's Navy issue" replied Michelle, "Less than Beta has teeth, Verin can throw fireballs, and Aurora can build god knows what. Is me having an assault rifle really that different?"

[Portia Bianca Rosalind Cutty]

"Contrary to what you might think, yes, it is; local law actually does prohibit the carrying of assault rifles. Besides that, outside of the appropriate classes, this academy itself has many rules against using deadly force against other students or members of faculty. Saint Dymphna's is trying to be a place for nurturing its students, and if you don't feel safe around some of the other students, you should take the issue to one of us, instead of arming yourself to the teeth."

She looked over at Less.

"Lieutnenant Wilcox, what would you have done if you had shot Mr. East Tundra in the head or neck, or if it had been fatal? Would you have been prepared to accept the consequences of killing another student?"

[Michelle Wilcox]

"If I hadn't shot him he would probably have killed Rena," replied Michelle, "And when he attacked me Aurora almost got me killed. It's not the first time he's done this either."

[Less Than Beta East Tundra]

Less Than Beta snorted in disagreement and tried to shift. Everyone watching might notice that the air around him shimmered for a second, but that the large wolf standing in the center of the shimmer stayed a wolf. If it were possible for a wolf to look surprised, this one certainly would.

He shook his head from side to side and narrowed his eyes at Michelle once he realized shifting wasn't going to happen.

[Michelle Wilcox]

Michelle was surprised Less wasn't trying to defend himself by now. However, she wasn't going to complain. She continued, saying, "Did that one teacher tell you about the time he attacked Verin on the bus? I don't know what demons are made of but it looked like Less was going to tear out Verin's throat. That's what would have happened to Rena if I hadn't stopped him."

[Alaine Kensington]

"I hardly believe that East Tundra would attack you, Wilcox. And honestly, sometimes even I would like to- well, nevermind that. But right now, I see that East Tundra needs to be examined and put to bed for rest. I am not entirely familiar with werewolf physiology, but I think the shifting might have overtaxed him. I'll look at the foot you shot and bring him to the dorms. After that, I'll return here with Miss Turing and Miss Robinson to confirm this. I do believe Miss Robison said that East Tundra did not attack you until you shot him." Alaine proceeded to kneel down at Less' side, which looked a bit strange to see her over 2.20 m tall figure bending down to hardly his height, and examined his foot. The scar tissue looked painful, but aside from that it looked like it would heal cleanly. After examining him she carefully coached him out of the room and towards the dorms.

"I'll be back in a few minutes, Madam."

[Michelle Wilcox]

"But he attacked Rena!" blurted Michelle. She was starting to panic as her story unraveled.

[Rena Thompson]

Rena felt it would be a good idea to step in hereIt would be better for both of them, probably, if Michelle didn't break here. She wanted her to be quiet right now, but doubted that Michellewas really paying attention to her right now. She stood up straight, recovering after being dragged along by the professor, and took a step forward. "Headmistress, if I may..." she said, remaining collected. The trick was to appear perfectly calm to your superiors.

[Michelle Wilcox]

Fortunately, upon hearing Rena's calm tone, Michelle realized that she was slipping and let Rena talk.

[Lawrence Galontauré-Jones]

The door opens and Lawrence rolls in, followed (presumably) by Ada, Aurora, and Tzu Mei. He remains silent as the first group is still in meeting.

[Tzu Mei]

Tzu Mei, however, did not remain silent. With a glance at the students already there he said, "Headmistress, I doubt that you have not heard of the gunshot earlier. May I have a report on the situation? Has there been an attack?" Both of his weapons were still in the open.

[Portia Bianca Rosalind Cutty]

She looked over towards the new arrivals. "Michelle Wilcox shot Less Than Beta East Tundra in the computer lab over some sort of altercation. She claims it was in self defense," Cutty said. "Miss Turing, Miss Robinson, what would you both say happened?" She motioned for one of the girls to speak.

[Ada Turing]

"No, I wouldn't call it self-defense," Ada said. "Rena, in the most haughty way imaginable, tried to get me to hand over the AI, thinking I was responsible. I was explaining precisely why I was unable to meet her request when Less entered, in wolf-shape. He was rather angry at something, but it wasn't Rena. Shortly thereafter, Michelle entered. Rena continued to arrogantly act as if she was in charge of the situation, until Less returned to human form and gave her a solid lecture on exactly what authority she did not have.

"At this point, Michelle snapped. She pointed her gun at Less and ordered him to his knees. Less asked her to stand down - 'drop your aggression' were his exact words, if I recall correctly. He did not lunge at her, he did not act aggressively, unless smiling counts. And then she shot him. Self-defense? Not on your life or mine."

[Aurora Lumina Robinson]

"Yeah!" Aurora was very eloquent.

[Portia Bianca Rosalind Cutty]

She nodded, and then looked over towards Rena and Michelle. "Under normal circumstances," she started, "I would bring up the security footage from the computer lab to try and determine what actually happened."

"Unfortunately, the security cameras run off of the school network, which, as I've found out, is having problems." Cutty cast a glance at the disconnected ethernet cable. "That said, I cannot overlook the shooting of another student. We are all extremely lucky that it was not fatal or as serious as it might have been. Lieutenant Wilcox, for the moment, until the footage from the security cameras can be recovered, if it is possible, you are forbidden to handle any armaments on campus grounds, for a class or otherwise. Additionally, I will be removing you from the running for student council. "

Cutty looked over all of the students assembled. "Beyond that, all of you will be having weekly detentions for the rest of this semester, and will not be allowed off of school grounds without approval from me. This is due to the fact of the way this situation escalated, as well as the hopefully temporary.... disruption of the school's network. I'm sure you'll be able to put your detention time to good use, between community service to the school and the town, and whatever the professor in charge of each detention decides."

"Do you have anything to say for yourselves?"

[Ada Turing]

Ada was less than happy with the meted out punishment, but guessed that Headmistress Cutty probably did not understand the technical details involved. She tried to be reconciliatory.

"First," Ada said, "I would point out that the network was functioning normally from three this afternoon, when I assembled the supercomputer, until four this afternoon, when events beyond my control started the AI process on my system. You or Professor Galontaure-Jones are welcome to check my logs to that effect - while they do not show the origin event that started the AI, they most definitely show that I did not. I regret deeply the strain on the network, and infinitely more that Less got shot, but I am not responsible for either event.

"Second, I would be happy to shut the system down immediately, and will give whatever aid is requested in analyzing the failures of network, security cameras, and otherwise. I have done nothing wrong, and have nothing to gain by hiding the truth."

[Aurora Lumina Robinson]

"But we didn't do anything wrong!" Aurora wasn't particularly clear on who 'we' was.

[Portia Bianca Rosalind Cutty]

"Miss Turing, I believe you are misunderstanding the main reason for this assigned punishment. That said, I'm sure Professor Galontauré-Jones will appreciate your offer. "

[Ada Turing]

"Yes ma'am," Ada said, admitting defeat.

This was going to be problematic, at best - Prof. Galontaure-Jones had flat-out refused to listen to her earlier, and she estimated her chances of getting another chance to use the lab as a supercomputer at somewhere between slim and nonexistant. She hoped that Tumult had guessed what was going on, and retreated to Ada's desktop, as she didn't want to spend any more time than she absolutely had to before shutting the system down, or let Prof. Galontaure-Jones see any more of her system than was possible. Hopefully the inference engine, which was still running when she'd left the lab, would have come up with at least some usable results.

[Alaine Kensington]

Kensington watched the group from the rear, having followed them from the computer lab.

[Rena Thompson]

Great. The civilians always liked the big bad military cliche. "Here's the events, as they occured." Rena said. "No "my" version. These students invented artificial intelligence. I deemed this as a matter of government interest. I was trying to make it safe when Less Than Beta entered. Then Michelle entered. Situation escalated, ending when the lieutenant shot Less. Aurora disassembled Michelle's gun. That is when I left to seek some way of shutting this thing down, where I was ordered to return to the lab by professor Kensington."

With the debriefing out of the way, Rena continued. "Now, for how I saw it... Civilians were uncooperative at best and downright obstructive at worst. Although Less than Beta did not make the first move, and I can't fully condone the Lieutenant's actions, he was somewhat hostile and to say he was unarmed would not be taking into full account his... abilitiesi/i]. I believe it is possible that Michelle is jumpy considering recent events. In short, no one person is to blame here."

"I don't enjoy taking charge. I don't consider myself very good at it. But I saw this as an urgent situation." She turned to Ada. "I'm sorry that you saw me as arrogant. I was just taking authority."

[Alaine Kensington]

"You seem to be misunderstanding, Miss Thompson. You have no such authority, and your attempt to contact the govrnment is out of line. You are a student here, not a military personnel, and any problem on campus is to stay on campus. I told you back in the lab that I did not like the way you spoke to me, as if you were adressing a superior officer. You need to learn how to behave in a normal, social environment. That is probably why you were sent here in the first place. In this place, you are a... civilian yourself. If you can't seem to take note of that, I will gladly request another detention for you under my guidance."
Kensington's face was sour. What was it with these girls thinking that this was some kind of military academy? How had they not adapted even in the slightest by now?

[Lawrence Galontauré-Jones]

"As Miss Turing was the one who created the system and thus this new life form, I would welcome her input," Professor Galontauré-Jones said. "She can aid me in studying the AI as part of her detention. There would be additional rules placed on her if this were to be the case, of course, but that can be arranged later."

[Aurora Lumina Robinson]

"I wanna come!" Aurora didn't want to be left out of anything that came with Tumult. She was her friend.

[Ada Turing]

Ada bit her tongue rather than protest, once again, that the system and Tumult were two entirely different things. She had her notes, she had her (woefully incomplete) logs, and once they returned to the lab, she would demonstrate that fact beyond a shadow of a doubt. If Prof. Galontaure-Jones continued to disregard her points, she'd have to ask to have her detentions under Prof. Kensington instead.

[Michelle Wilcox]

"As long as Rena and I can be court-martialed," argued Michelle, "we can't ignore threats to national security, such as a rogue A.I. And like Rena said, Less than Beta is armed with his powers and has used them to attack Verin." Professor Kensington didn't seem to understand that nothing the school could do would be worse than dismissal, imprisonment, or execution. Or how badly Michelle wanted the opportunity to boost her career.