Underground

Lewis and the seniors did as I have told them. They wouldn't intend to flaunt my words remembering what I did to them.

They did so well that the school got a hang of the things happening even before they reported themselves. If Lewis decides to report Alex now, then he will most likely not be believed.

The school found it weird that the students came out and reveal themselves. Just like that!. The bruises on Lewis had raised suspicions but they wouldn't dare to reveal the person behind it.

The students that have been robbed off their food items got their items back and Alex's situation was solved that way. The situation was a lot easier to handle than I thought.

The next day was the day we were meant to meet Master Leao. I didn't bother to look for more students to take the number to 7. The lesser the better.

I had passed information across to all the members the previous day. It was something easy as we are all in the martial arts class. I most times have Jane by my side, Alex has been sticking around me in recent times too.

I have found Alex to be a quiet person. He stays 3 rooms away from my room. Alex likes to be alone and only talks when necessary. It is like he is suffering from one daunting trauma and behaves like he has a huge borden on his shoulders, though he is not one to cause trouble. So it is fine for him to be around me.

We were on our way to meet Master Leao at the martial arts hall. Alex and I. It was late in the evening. Classes were over for the day and students were just playing around, doing their own stuff.

Rio was already in the hall waiting when we got there. He stood up and bowed slightly when I entered the hall saying "welcome boss."

I saw the look of bewilderment on Alex's face. It was surprising to me, talk more of someone else. I was glad Master Leao wasn't there to witness that.

There were no signs of Jane and Katie and we just sat there quietly while we wait for the girls. The door to the martial arts hall opened soon after and the girls stepped in.

"I thought we were supposed to meet Master Leao here" Katie questioned.

We've been in the martial arts hall for over half an hour now but no signs of Master Leao yet. I also was beginning to think maybe he wouldn't show up.

"He will be here very soon. Please be patient, Katie" I tried to calm her down.

After another ten minutes, Katie was beginning to pace about threatening to leave that she has things to do. It wasn't surprising to me since Katie most times is always impatient to get things done and over with.

Katie was about to leave when Master Leao stepped in. He walked over to his mattress and sat on it panting like he's been running a relay.

"I'm sorry I kept you kids waiting. It's my wife. She won't let me leave the house because it's late. She thought I was going to see another woman. I could not tell her I was coming to see you guys too, she wouldn't have believed me either. You know she's the talkative type too. I had to lure her into the room and said I was going to use the toilet. So I ran down here without stopping."

"Ashhhhh...Darn it. See the way I'm breathing. This body is growing old" Master Leao said as he tried to catch his breath.

"We are sorry about that sir" Jane said covering her mouth trying to hold in her laughter.

"You are here now sir, can we get this started?" Katie asked, still angry.

Master Leao got up from his mattress, and dust his hands together before cleaning and dusting them off his clothes. The old man stretched, kicked his legs, and threw a few punches before sitting back down.

"I want to assume Mase has filled you all in on the essence of everything that we are going to be doing here. I will try as much as possible to make y'all improve in leaps and bounds before the excursion. It is left for you to put your seriousness into this."

"I assume you know what your task on this excursion will be. There won't be any guard there to help you guys in case there's trouble so you have to protect your matesall by yourselves," Master Leao said.

"I have a question," Jane said and Master Leao asked her to go ahead.

"If we face any danger during the excursion, let's say some people just attacked the students from nowhere, these people would most likely be armed, how do you expect us to fight back without arms?" Jane asked.

I had the same doubt when Master Leao explained things to me initially. It's not logical to face the armed unarmed. So I asked and he explained to me that we'll gain access to weapons that will aid us to fight against those that may attack us.

Master Leao explained to Jane and others what he told me that day. He pointed to the door of that store room which contains a lot of weapons of different kinds and said he'll grant us access to the weapons in the storeroom.

"Can't we just skip the excursion as a whole since we know there's a chance of us getting attacked?" Rio asked.

Thinking about it too, we can just skip the excursion and continue our normal school activities. Since we know there could be danger, we can just incite the student to stage a protest against the excursion and it'll be canceled.

"You are not the first set that will be sent on an excursion. Students have been going on excursions every year but the school wouldn't admit this year is different. Silverland is suffering from attacks all over. From within and outside. There's a high risk that you will be attacked on the excursion. Don't think about telling the school, because it will change nothing and it'll most probably cause more trouble for you on the excursion." Master Leao clarified.

"You guys are here for training. Let's start. We won't be training in this hall. Follow me" Master Leao said.

He stood up and walked to the far end of the hall, calling on us to follow him. He flicked on a torch and kept moving.

When he got to the far end of the hall, he stopped and handed the torch over to me. Where he stood, in front of him was a round cover, it is iron but has the same color as the floor. It is hard yet not hard to find out.

Master Leao asked me to point the torch at one side of the iron cover. He placed his hand on it and it showed a column of four boxes and on it was the word 'PASSCODE.'

Master Leao input some numbers into the boxes and the cover opened. When the cover opened, I saw stairs that goes straight down. It was very dark in there and I couldn't even see beyond a few meters with the torch in my hands.

"Come on," Master Leao said as he stepped in.

He had collected the torch from me before going a step down into the vault. We hesitated at first out of caution but when Jane entered and took a step down, we assumed there was no danger and followed.

After we all have entered, Master Leao turned back and shut the cover. It was pitch dark in there.