THE INVESTIGATION TASK

G's APARTMENT

12:18AM…

G had just finished praying in his living room when he heard his phone ringing in his bedroom. He got from his prayer position and heads to his room to pick up the call, the caller ID was written as 'Private Number' and upon seeing this, G knew exactly who was on the line, he picks up the phone and answers the call.

"Hello? Reno how far." he said.

"Dabo, I have some interesting news for you." the man (Reno) answered.

"oh really, what's going on?"G asked.

"these equations you sent me, are you sure this is the work of a secondary school teacher? Because they are FAR too advanced for someone teaching redox reaction." Reno said.

"oh really? What is it for?" G asked curiously.

"your boy was partly right, these are equations for an experiment to make a different version of Nucranium not the Nucron cell." Reno stated.

"what's the difference?"G asked.

"let me say this in a way you will understand. I gave this to the men in our lab and they said, the equations are written for and experiment to manipulate the Nucron cell, but they will work on Nucranium itself… the Nucron cell is the product of what happens to a person who's biology and or physiology is compatible with Nucranium, that's why not everyone has super powers. But even though they're compatible, the science isn't the same. Experiments on the Nucron cell can only be done with the inclusion of human DNA and general biology, while experiments on Nucranium itself has a more flexible base which is why it's used in other fields like bio-engineering." Reno explained.

"ok… that's interesting. So what exactly is this guy trying to do?" G asked.

"from this one page, we can't say for sure… but if he's conducting experiments, for all we know he may not even know what he's doing, but we can't rule it out. I have a bad feeling about this Dabo, you need to look into this guy a little more. Find more pages like this, maybe we can find something." Reno said.

"why can't you do something about it? Send some of your men and raid his class or something." G said.

"you know I can't do that, this is too little information to authorize an operation like that, especially now with all this antidote stuff going around. It's too risky." Reno answered.

"well I obviously can't do it." G stated.

"what about those your boys, they way you talk about them maybe…" Reno said.

"NO! I won't put them in that position." G said angrily.

"oh really, what makes you think they aren't conducting their own investigation?" Reno asked condescendingly.

"they wouldn't, I told them to wait until I look into it first. They wouldn't disobey me… they never have." G said.

"I'm not saying they would now, but if you keep them waiting or ask them to drop it, BELIEVE me they will defy you." Reno declared.

"enough Reno, let me worry about that, I'll get back to you on this, but for now, what about the other thing I told you to look into?" G asked.

"oh yeah… well the truth is, we can't really tell what's wrong, the antidote is engineered perfectly and its supposed to work on everybody. Right now, I really can't tell you what happened." Reno answered.

"it did work, that's the thing, but for only a few hours... how can you tell me that nothings wrong!" G yelled.

"Relax Dabo, it's probably from the distributors. You know Naija, everybody is trying to make extra money, they could have been given counterfeit, and they can't be blamed for that." Reno replied.

"Hmm…" G grunted.

"ok fine, calm down. I'll keep digging but until then, I'll need more info on this chemistry teacher, anything you can find including past records, we'll use anything we can get." Reno stated.

"ok then… I'll talk to you later." G said as he hung up. 

He then sent a message to Sadiq saying "training tomorrow is cancelled some business came up, see you guys on Wednesday.". He then sat on his bed and started contemplating what he was told, looking for a way out. 

TUESDAY 7:15AM…

Sadiq, on his way to his meeting spot with the others, was still worried about Zainab's dilemma as she hasn't replied any of his texts the previous night, and he also had Mr.Bolaji on his mind. As he walked he decided to look for more information regarding Mr.Bolaji's work and also talk to Zainab first thing. He finally arrived at their meeting point where the others were waiting for him.

"how far guys?" he greeted as he shook their hands one by one.

"Mr.Z!" Ahmad teased.

"abeg oh, miss me with that nonsense." Sadiq warned.

"ah! Mr.Z wetin happen? Didn't Madam give you breakfast today?" Umar asked playfully as he laughed.

"you guys should leave him oh. The madam can change it for us wallahi." Nasir warned sarcastically as they all burst into laughter.

"mtchewww!" Sadiq hissed.

"that reminds me, you never told us what powers your madam has Sado." Ahmad said.

"that's true fa, I was always curious to know what she could do… can do." Umar added.

"toh… from what she explained to me, I'll call it dream manipulation." Sadiq answered.

"... so… she can lucid dream?" Nasir queried.

"no, not just her dream… she can control other peoples dreams too. She can keep them in the dream state and take total control of your mind and dream." Sadiq explained.

"yo!… that's actually crazy." Umar said.

"yeah, she said she never learned how to control it. She told me one of the first few times it happened, she was enjoying it and completely lost track of time and slept a long time. Her sister started to wake her up but it didn't work. The crazy thing is that she could hear and feel everything going on in her own body, but she just couldn't wake up. The sister had to pour water on her before she could come out of it." Sadiq continued.

"kai! that's mad." Ahmad said.

"yeah." Sadiq answered.

"y'know this begs the question." Nasir said as he looked at Ahmad.

"what?" Ahmad asked.

"should we tell her? Let her know she's not alone." Sadiq answered.

"bro… I dunno guy…" Ahmad replied.

"I think we should, we've known her for a long time. We all know we can trust her." Umar said.

"yeah that's facts. And she has helped us a lot before." Sadiq added.

"guy calm down. Zainab is my guy and I want to help her too… hmm…let's talk to G first before we move on this." Ahmad said.

"agreed." Nasir replied.

"yeah I support that." Umar said.

"... what do you mean… we won't meet G until tomorrow! And who knows what he'll say by then!" Sadiq shouted angrily.

"Sado calm down now, let's wait to talk to G first." Nasir said.

"abeg get out!" Sadiq yelled abrasively.

"yo, Sado relax. Think this through, have you thought about what will happen if we tell her and then let him know afterwards? What happens when he comes back with important info and us telling her sabotages all of it?" Ahmad questioned.

"what will happen! Look if you guys don't what to help just say so." Sadiq said angrily.

"bro chill, stop thinking with your heart and think with your brain." Umar said as he grabbed him by the collar.

"no wait, let him go Umar." Ahmad said. Umar let Sadiq go of his grip.

"Sado calm down abeg, we know you like this girl, but you can't make any major decision based on emotion… look Zainab is our friend too and we want to help her. But we need to know that it's the right move first… cool?" Ahmad explained as Sadiq stared at him angrily. Slowly the anger faded away as Sadiq understood what Ahmad was saying, he then took a deep breath and said…

"fine, lets talk to G first." 

"cool bro. Don't worry, she'll be fine." Ahmad said as he put arm around Sadiq.

"yeah." Sadiq agreed.

"hold on, what were you plotting while you were walking here." Umar asked.

"what?" Sadiq questioned.

"yeah, I saw you making that face you make when you have a plan. TALK." Umar commanded.

"oh yeah, I saw that too." Nasir said.

"Talk." Ahmad commanded as he put Sadiq in a headlock.

"ok fine I'll talk!" Sadiq said and Ahmad released him.

"I was thinking of looking for more stuff on Mr.Bolaji today while they have that meeting." Sadiq stated.

"... will you guys help me?" he asked. The others looked at each other and then simultaneously said…

"Oya now." as they continued to walk and eventually found transport to go to school.

Excellence Secondary College.

10:00am…

It's break time, a teacher just walked out of the class and everyone is up and about. The boys look at each other, Sadiq nods, signaling its time to take action on their plan, they all stood up simultaneously and headed towards the door. Just before Umar could step out, a tall dark guy came up to him.

"how far Umar." he in a greeted and deep but happy tone.

"Baezan, what's up." Umar replied trying to hide his worried expression.

"I get the material oh, make we go release stress small for…" Baezan explained before Umar interrupted him by putting his hand to his mouth in panic. Umar then dragged him into the class so the others don't hear the conversation.

"guy, why would you come here and just start saying that to me in public." Umar said angrily.

"(laughs) bro calm down now, I just say make I come give you update. From the way your talking sef, I know you need to release stress. Come make we go that our area." Baezan answered.

"are you high?" Umar asked in concern.

"no ooo, I just took before entering school and small before I walked up here…(laughs)" Baezan answered.

"...it's here with you?" Umar asked. Baezan then brought out a small transparent nylon bag of cocaine. Umar got extremely nervous upon seeing this and then started looking around hoping no one was watching. He then took the nylon, tore a hole in the bottom and took a big sniff.

"ok…(coughs)… thanks… I go… I go meet you later (coughs)." Umar said as he cleaned the residue off his nose.

"(laughs hysterically) oya now… later." Baezan said as he walked out of the class.

Umar took a moment to compose himself, he then picked up a bottle of water from his bag, drank it and then poured some on his face. He then took a deep breath and afterwards went to catch up to Sadiq and the others.

Sadiq, Ahmad and Nasir were standing together just outside the science lab, where Mr.Bolaji was. They watched closely as he went about the lab, moving things around and then writing things on his notebook. Seconds later the principal walks up the stairs, the boys greet her as normal and she acknowledges them, she then walks into the lab and calls Mr.Bolaji for a meeting with her and the Director of the school along with some other teachers. Mr.Bolaji obliges, puts his things away and then follows the principal to the Directors office. The two walk down the stairs just as Umar arrives, he greets them nervously and they acknowledge him without any suspicion, then walks upstairs to meet the others. As he walks up to them they look at him weirdly.

"what happened to you?" Ahmad asked.

"nothing… I just wanted to wash my face." Umar answered.

"just like that?" Nasir asked condescendingly.

"(irritated) YES… just like that." he answered.

"oya now, let's check the place, they're going for a meeting so we have some time before he comes back." Sadiq said.

"ok, Sadiq you know what to look for so you go in with Nasir, Umar stand by the door and don't let any student in. I'll stand here and watch out and let you know if he's coming back." Ahmad directed. They all nodded in agreement and walked to where they were supposed to be.

Sadiq went straight to Mr.Bolaji's table to find the notebook he had been writing in with Nasir's help. After opening a few drawers Sadiq finally found the notebook in the last drawer with a fake bottom, he immediately held it up and opened it to find more information. As he flipped through pages full of equations, he finally came to the page of equation he found last time.

"that's it right?" Nasir asked.

"yeah, now we can see what this guy is really doing… bring out your phone and start snapping it, I can't interprete this under pressure." Sadiq said as he turned to the other page and Nasir brings out his phone.

Meanwhile outside Ahmad had encountered an unwelcome visitor.

"AHMADU BELLO my guy!!! Bala shouted from down the stairs.

"ugh… fuck this bastard." Ahmad growled.

"ehn, repeat what you said." Bala commanded as he ran up the stairs to meet Ahmad.

"i didn't hear you well, say it again if them born you well." Bala shouted as he and Ahmad stood face to face. Umar upon hearing this looked their way but refrained from intervening.

"I said FUCK… THIS… BASTARD!" Ahmad said. Bala then grew a maniacle grin on his face, his eyes began to flicker with flashes of lightning but Ahmad remained undeterred and only smiled back at him. Umar then rushed in and came between them before anything could happen.

"today you have you're bodygaurd. Well I didn't think you would remain retarded forever, but I never thought you would lose your balls Ahmad." Bala said as he stared down Umar.

"Bala just be going, as much as I want to see him beat the hell out of you, this isn't the time for it. LEAVE." Umar warned. 

"you must be mistaken. Cause last time I checked, I was the one who beat the hell out of him." Bala stated as he turned to the lab and noticed Nasir and Sadiq.

"ahn ahn, the whole squad is here? What are you guys up to?" Bala queried.

"none of your business." Ahmad said.

"i swear it's my business… wetin una de do for Mr.Bolaji table?" Bala queried as he pushed passed Umar and went into the lab. Sadiq and Nasir quickly hid the notebook and phone before Bala could come in.

"what are you doing?" Bala shouted as he came into the lab.

"like he said, none of your business!" Nasir replied as he walked forward.

"you were looking for something just now, I heard the drawer closing." Bala said.

"Bala free us abeg, we were just chilling." Ahmad said angrily as he walked in. Bala then walked towards the table trying to see what Sadiq and Nasir were doing. Sadiq had the notebook in his hand and held it behind him, when Bala walked towards he moved to the side, not knowing he stood right infront of a bucket of water. As Bala was looking Ahmad got fed up and grabbed his arm and began to drag him away from the table. Bala pushed him back and they got into a shoving match. This caused them to bump into Sadiq, which made him let go of the notebook making it fall into the bucket of water behind him. 

Sadiq turned back in horror as he watched the book splash into and completely soak in water, everyone froze in place with scared expressions on their faces. Nasir snapped out of it and rushed to pick the notebook out of the water. As he brought it out, water gushed out from the notebook, he flicked it repeatedly, after which he opened the notebook to survey the damage. 

"... how bad is it?" Sadiq asked trembling.

"(flips through pages) it's… it's mostly ok… most of it is still visible." Nasir answered.

"that doesn't change the fact that its soaking wet!" Umar shouted.

"toh what do you want us to do? Should just leave and put it back where it was?" Sadiq panicked.

"no! You know that guy, he doesn't let things go. He saw us standing outside when he walked out, we'll be his prime suspects." Nasir said.

"then what the hell do we do?" Umar shouted.

"this ba…" Ahmad said as he turned to Bala but he had already snuck away.

"BASTARD!" he exclaimed.

"hold on…let…let me try something… hold the book up." Sadiq said.

"what do you want to do." Nasir asked as he held up the notebook.

"just wait let me focus." Sadiq commanded. He stood ready and took a deep breath, he then gestured his hand towards the notebook and slowly started pulling back his hand. As he did that, the water started coming off the notebook.

The others stood amazed at what Sadiq was doing, this is the first time he had used his powers with this much precision. As the water left the notebook, Sadiq continued to strain himself, his arm muscles twisting as he moved, he couldn't keep it up. Sadiq dropped his hand and with it the water from the notebook splashed on the ground.

"bro that was fresh… nice one." Umar commended.

"yeah, when did you learn that?" Ahmad asked.

"haba, I've spilled water on a lot of things. I just didn't know if it would work on a book." Sadiq answered.

"yeah, well it shows, cause it didn't work!" Nasir said still holding the book. The book was still moist and part of the cover and pages were starting to turn brown and showing signs of falling apart.

"shit… you're going to have to try this again Sado." Ahmad said.

(School bell rings)

"... ugh, we have to take it." Ahmad said.

"are you mad? Why the hell would we do that?" Umar queried.

"we don't have a choice! Very soon, students will start coming in to have their class and we need time to fix this." Ahmad said.

"look, we're going to be his suspects regardless, so atleast lets get what we came for. We can't let Mr.Bolaji see this notebook like this. Only God knows what he's cookin" Ahmad explained. The others looked at each other, contemplating Ahmad's idea. After a few seconds the all agreed, Sadiq wrapped the notebook with a rag and they all walked swiftly out of the lab.

2:41pm…

Its closing time, everyone is packing up their things and leaving. Ahmad, Sadiq, Nasir and Umar are walking to the gate, gisting about what happened earlier and how to move forward. As they walk, Sadiq spots Zainab and Christina just about to walk outside the gate, with a determined expression he runs after them hoping to find out why Zainab had been avoiding him.

"Zainab!" he called out. Zainab and Christina turn back to see who had called her. Upon seeing Sadiq, Zainab became nervous and moved closer to Christina.

"Zainab…how far? I've been trying to talk to you." Sadiq said as he caught up to them.

"did I do something wrong… whatever it is I'm sorry." he continued.

"..." Zainab stood their nervous and refusing to look at Sadiq.

"Sadiq it's ok, she's just not feeling well today… umm… we'll see you later." Christina said in a calm voice as she held Zainab and walked away with her from Sadiq.

"oh… umm… ok… emm… sorry." he murmured, feeling defeated as he watched them walk away. At the same time the others caught up to him.

"(puts his hand on Sadiq's shoulder) don't worry bro, just give her time. She'll talk when she's ready." Nasir said calmly.

"hmm." Sadiq grunted as he walked with the others.

"speaking of talking when you're ready, has anyone seen Mr.Bolaji?" Ahmad asked.

"I don't think he has come out of that meeting with the Director." Nasir answered.

"huh… looks like we won't be there for the meltdown when his book isn't there." Umar said.

"omo, this isn't funny ooo, this can go very badly for us." Nasir said.

"yeah, we need to move fast, cause this guy isn't going to sit back and allow somebody to steal his work just like that." Ahmad stated.

"we're lucky tomorrow is a public holiday. Gives us more time to fix this." Umar said.

"yeah. We can also hear what G has to say about this… you think he will vex?" Sadiq said.

"for finding more info… no but for fucking up like this… YES!" Umar said.

"he go say make we do plank for like 1 hour." he added.

"haew… well, no turning back now. Abeg make we go chop." Ahmad said as they all proceeded to Mama Ayo's cantine.

In school Mr.Bolaji finally returned from his meeting and started packing his things to go home. As he packed, he saw that the bottom drawer of his desk was slightly opened, as he reached to check in another teacher came in.

"Ben… lets go now, these people are waiting for us." the teacher said. Mr.Bolaji immediately closed the drawer as he heard the other guys voice, he then grunted and said "ok I'm coming." as he picked up his bag and followed the teacher outside.

MR.BOLAJI'S HOUSE.

8:45PM…

Mr.Bolaji was sitting in his living room, drinking beer and watching football as his usual routine. Outside, a man had climbed the fence and landed silently into the compound, he wore black clothing with a mask covering his mouth and nose. The man snuck behind Mr.Bolaji's car, he then looked around for an entry point and also surveying the compound for anything that would help or deture him from his mission. The intruder walked to the front window and peeped in to see what was going on inside. At this moment, Mr.Bolaji got up and went to the kitchen to get another beer, his phone then started ringing and when he picked it up and saw the name on the phone he answered hurriedly.

"he… hello… hello sir." Mr.Bolaji stammered nervously.

"Mr. Ben Bolaji, good evening." The caller greeted.

"yes sir good evening sir." Mr.Bolaji greeted back.

"how are we fairing with my experiment?" The caller asked.

"yes sir, I'm still working and I believe I am close to something big, sir." Mr.Bolaji answered.

"how close and how big?" The caller asked.

"sir… I … I'm not completely sure, I have to reach a certain extent of research before I can determine that." Mr.Bolaji said.

"Mr.Bolaji you're theory on the Nucron cell having the potential to be altered is quite fascinating and given the proper resources could be groundbreaking and more importantly very lucrative… but you must understand that my resources shouldn't be taken as 'endless' and therefore there is a time frame we all must adhere to." The Caller explained.

"yes sir… I understand." Mr.Bolaji replied.

"yes, so that means you need to step up or step aside because you have been at this for six months and all you have done is waste my money… I would have brought you down here, but we both know you can't work in a lab with other humans due to your 'mental instability' and superiority complex, so I hereby notify you that you have 3 months to produce something tangible from this experiment of yours, or you WILL pay me back every kobo I wasted on you… one way or the other!" the caller warned. 

"sir please! This is a very important experiment… you cannot produce the worlds greatest breakthrough in under a year. The perfect human cannot come to be in just 3 months." Mr.Bolaji stated.

"you talk as if you know what a perfect human is… nothing is perfect Ben, the sooner you come to terms with that the better." The caller said.

"the perfect human CAN exist. Free of disease, pain and injury and free of the useless emotions that plague our judgement, every second of every day… I can make this a reality sir, if you just trust me." Mr.Bolaji pleaded.

"... hmm… you are an odd man, and I am curious to see how far you can drag this… do what you must, but you will have something in 3 months, or you can kiss it goodbye… I look forward to our next call." the caller said.

"yes I understand… thank you doctor." Mr.Bolaji said as the caller hung up the phone.

"you'll see… you will ALL SEE!!! I WILL create the perfect human… and I have just the… strategy, for it." Mr.Bolaji exclaimed to himself with a menacing look on his face.

 As he spoke to himself, the man outside had been recording the whole thing and as the conversation finished, he put his recorder away and left the compound undetected. As the man climbed the fence and landed outside he brought out his phone and dialed a number.

 "(Takes off his mask) Reno, I just sent you some pictures and a recording, I think that should be all the evidence you need." G said 

 "ok, nice work… I'll run this with my people and get back to you." Reno answered.

 "ok." G said as he left the area.