"High Calibre Rifle Shots." Locke quoted, throwing a photo of bullet holes at Cassie from across the table. "Several dead." He continued, throwing down another photo, this time of the thug Cassie had shot through the neck. "[i]Precision shots.[/i]" He finalised with, throwing the rest of the photos along with the entire police report, shots of the criminal she'd hit through the temple spilling out, and one of the now hand-less man peeking out from the bottom of the file. "You imbecile. Through the temple? In the neck? [i]Shooting a man's hand off?[/i] I sent you there to protect your sister, not write your goddamn name on the walls."

Cassie said nothing. Locke was angry, and he would ignore whatever justification she gave him. With Locke, you just took it, or he had you killed. Or if you were unlucky, both. "The men who attacked the school were Harbour Kings. The same Harbour Kings [i]I am looking to do business with.[/i] It is not a guarded secret that I hire a sniper. How do you think the Kings will react to me now that my hitman has killed several of their men and shut down a venture attempt?" Cassie didn't answer. Locke didn't want her to. "Worse than that, your sister managed to reveal her nature to her date. It's unfortunate, but we can't have him spilling secrets and the riff-raff coming down on us to seize her." He paused, and let Cassie's eyes widen. She opened her mouth to protest, but he held up a single finger and silenced her, nearly smirking. "It's already done. Unfortunate car accident. For the safety of your sister, of course." He turned, walking toward the window.

"However, we are lucky in that your sister was not the only fool to show their hand that night." He looked out onto Kilbride. His own backyard. They were high up in a penthouse apartment renovated to be a personal office, all requested and paid for by Locke. It had the best view in the city, and that was probably why Locke wanted it. A high seat to lord over his domain from. "Several other students proved themselves to have natures like yours and your sisters. And as you very well know..." he turned, walking back toward the desk and leaning over it, holding himself up on his arm, fingers splayed on the desk, "I am very interested in people of your nature." He straightened up. "However, I don't imagine these ones to be as easily recruited as you. No easy...levers." He smiled, the corners of his mouth turning up in a sickly manner, and raised an eyebrow. He was baiting Cassie, but she refused to bite. She'd heard worse. "I have men looking into it, but I suspect they will prove unsuccessful. This is where you will step in. To make up for your...transgression, I want you to eliminate those who revealed themselves at the shooting." He gestured vaguely, and the guards - little more than gorillas in tight-fitting suits - moved around the desk and motioned for Cassie to stand up, pulling her chair out as she did so, and began to escort her out. "Who they are and how you do so is your business. Do not fail me again." Locke said as she left, and then she was out the door, and it clicked locked behind her.

---

Cassie turned her hands over and under themselves as she walked back to her apartment. Immediately after the shooting she'd ran home and discarded her disguise and stowed her rifle, changing into regular clothes again and heading over to Jo's apartment. She'd comforted at best she could, or tried to, and then left Jo alone with the boy she'd taken to the dance, at Jo's surreptitious urging. Cassie smiled slightly and hugged her sister tightly, feeling uneasy in a matronly manner but supressing the urge to forbif this-and-that. It'd only make this-and-that more likely. Jo was strong, and smart, and Cassie trusted her. She went home, and tried to sleep. It didn't last long, and she'd spent the rest of that night in disguise again but without her rifle, just wandering buildings and rooftops and trying to practise her powers. She felt fuzzy at times of trying but couldn't bring on the clarity of her true Focus. Her mind was too frazzled and her emotions too frayed, still raw from the threat Jo had faced. She sat on the edge of a building that stood across from one of Locke's casinos, dangling her feet over the edge, and stayed this until sunrise, the light cresting over the horizon.

Cassie had made a note to keep her eyes open and her ears close to the ground during the week the school was shut, but had seen little so far. It was only Tuesday, but there was no peep from the weekend, and she suspected that any metas who had flexed their n'th muscles at the shooting would probably avoid flaunting their natures again, at least for the time being. Her only real lead was the boy who'd tipped his cap to her, but he was masked, and the same shape and height as nearly every other boy at the school. She'd considered breaking in while it was shut and stealing some records, but she'd have no idea which ones were the ones she needed. It would be a pointless act, and bring attention where it wasn't wanted. And frankly, she didn't feel like forcing the school through any other suspicious incidents after Friday night.
That said, it was the metas at the school that ultimately stopped the shooters in the first place, with a bit of help here and there from Cassie and her rifle. Maybe they'd gotten a taste for it. Maybe they'd be wandering rooftops like her.

Didn't hurt to wait and see.