Power doesn't fear truth. It fears silence breaking at the wrong time. And nothing breaks silence like applause.
Scene: Assembly Hall – 10:06 a.m.
The Academy held a press debrief.
They called it a "Transparency Session."
The screens displayed smiling anchors, a Zodiac PR rep, and a written statement:
"Capricorn has voluntarily stepped down to cooperate with internal investigations. His integrity and service are appreciated."
No one said the word corruption.
No one used the word consequences.
But no one missed the implication.
And when the announcement ended, the applause began.
Rook didn't clap.
He sat halfway up the auditorium seating, arms folded, eyes scanning every single person who did.
Not all applause was honest.
But all of it meant something.
He tracked hands. Faces. Smiles.Some looked confused. Others were smirking.
But a handful clapped like they'd been waiting for this moment for years.
Those were the names he started collecting.
Not enemies.
Allies.
Scene: Side Hallway – 10:37 a.m.
Aya caught up with him after the debrief.
"You saw it, right?" she asked.
"The girl in row five?"
"No. The smile."
Rook nodded. "Too clean."
"Too trained," Aya muttered. "She looked at three cameras before clapping."
Rook said nothing.
He didn't have to.
Because he'd seen her, too.
Fifth row, left side, near the press drones.
Ava.
And she wasn't sitting with staff this time.
She was in a student seat.
Wearing the academy insignia.
Smiling just enough to be seen.Just long enough to be noticed.
Applauding.
Scene: Rook's Terminal – Later That Night
The footage looped.
Rook enhanced it frame by frame.
Ava's clap was precise.
Not hesitant. Not mechanical.
Calculated.
Worse: she locked eyes with the drone cam for exactly 1.8 seconds. Long enough to trigger facial recognition.
She wanted to be indexed.
She wanted to be seen.
He rewound.
Paused.
There.
In that smile.
Mockery.
Not of Capricorn.
Of him.
Aya paced behind him, silent, waiting for a response.
He didn't offer one.
Just pulled up a blank list titled:
"Observed Witnesses – Priority Class A"
Then added Ava's name to the top.
Scene: Rooftop Garden – 2:13 a.m.
Tessa sat cross-legged near the center planter, arms tucked into her jacket.
She'd come to breathe. To think.
But her eyes kept drifting toward the empty training field below.
She imagined Rook there. Late again. Quiet again.
He hadn't spoken to her since Capricorn fell.
But she'd watched his face in the crowd.
Emotionless.
And still…
Something in her gut whispered that he was behind it.
She didn't want to believe it.
But she didn't not believe it.
And that was the worst part.
Then, from behind the hedge…
A voice.
"You clap because it's polite. Or because you're told to.But when you clap without knowing why?"
Tessa turned.
Ava stepped out of the shadow.
Still smiling.
"That's when you're most dangerous."