9. "boastful"

"You guys better have a heck of a good explanation for this," Jared tapped his foot against the floor loudly, enough that it would make the entire room echo to its beating. It was so firm and so bold that it drew my focus in more than I wanted it to -- I wondered if it was effecting people in other rooms or in the nearby area, or if they could hear us in here, locked up and at loss of our freedom, but that was besides the point for now. Being the one closest to him, and for the content of what we found out, where I would rather be, the loudness hit me differently, even if we were supposedly on the same team.

A piece of me was afraid of him.

"We should? Really, Jared? A moment ago you were the one saying that this vaccine isn't proven to be accurate. You were a pretty hardcore believer in that. Now that you look innocent, you're taking that as your breakaway?" Jayvee didn't stand for anything he decided to throw at her. Evidently annoyed, and with no intention to hide it, she massaged her temples. "From where I'm looking you two just got hella lucky."

Nova sighed dramatically, her back up against the wall as she slid into a sitting position on the floor. "You know what I love?" She questioned, pausing until the attention settled in. "I love how there's six of us in this group and we have two film majors, but not one person who took criminology that could figure out or know even slightly if this tragedy has three unsubs, because I doubt that."

"Had," Jewee interrupted.

"What?"

"Not have. Had. One is dead. We're five."

"Of all people I didn't expect that you would--," her jaw dropped, expressing the reaction of the rest of us, but his words left even Nova nearly speechless, or at least to the point she couldn't finish her sentence, which was rare. She always knew how to respond to what people said, with her wit, yet not this time. Jayvee looked infuriated too, but no one has ever gotten angry with Jewee at least heavily, and she couldn't manage to, despite being her. Nova decided the best thing to do was transition out of it. "I'm going to pretend you didn't say that."

"Did you say unsub? Heck, did you take criminology?" I asked, helping all of us really, to let the topic go. Maybe it should be something we should care more about with as strange as it made us feel, but none of us were willing to tackle it right now. Helping her change the subject just felt like the easiest. Not necessarily the right thing to do, but the easiest.

"What's an unsub? Is that a real word in the dictionar--,"

She intervened before I could finish. "I took it for half a year and gave up to study some coding crap, so no not for long enough to know anything more than what you would know from watching movies, but Colby, it's unidentified subject. For someone who kinda looks like Spencer Reid, you're kinda dumb."

"You took criminology? So you're an actual master at crime. You know the head of an antagonist better than any of us, so you're exposing yourself as the bad guy the more we speak, and if it matters he does not look like Spencer Reid. Spencer Reid looks like he's about thirteen, and Colby looks older than all of us," Jared entered the conversation on a more casual note before I could think to answer Nova.

"Dimwit. For half a year if you didn't get that. And I can't believe I have to say this but first of all, you're legit jealous. I talked down to him before but that was because I was angry. Colby is older than each of us because he went to college late, but he doesn't even look like it -- that is excluding me though because I'm the prodigy and younger than all of you in case you forgot," she flipped her hair jokingly, which was honestly astonishing, because the girl isn't afraid to boast without shame. She's done it countless times before. "Second of all, I'd bet money you only watched season one of Criminal Minds. The man goes from cute to sexy in fifteen seasons, my friend. Majority of the time, he can be both. He's too much for this world."

Jared scoffed. "I'm not jealous and I've watched more than you'd think. You're the young one. What could you know about a show that came out in 2005? What were you? Two months old?" He retaliated as if it were the most important thing in the world to answer to with appropriate defense, but Nova ignored him, physically turning to look somewhere else, which just so happened to be toward me.

"From cute to sexy? If I look like him can I say thank you?" I chimed in under a chuckle since I already had her eyes.

"No. You look like him, but you aren't him. Leave Spencer Reid and our lord and savior Matthew Gray Gubler alone."

"Guys, seriously?" Jayvee facepalmed for each of our sake, but she grabbed Nova specifically by each of her shoulders. "Do you actually know anything about criminology that would present as proof that we're innocent, since you brought it up? It sucks to say this, but you should know better than any of us because I've never touched any sort of criminal justice course and I can't say I'd ever want to. I don't want to be educated on the sins in this world. If you have something useful to say, please say it, by all means. If you're going to chit-chat about your life as a fan-girl for a guy that's too old for you and who you'll never meet, shut up. How do any of you have it in you to talk nonsense right now?"

"She probably only knows what Criminal Minds taught her. She wouldn't remember anything from the actual course unless Gubler taught it himself. She took the class for the show and then realized it's not her forte mid-way," Jared popped in again. Jayvee turned red out of her irritation.

"To both of you sincerely, that hurts, because you're right," Nova crumpled the cloth in front of her chest, of course, bringing back her drama queen side when we needed it the least. Jayvee scowled at her, and like a knife to the throat, Nova was suddenly convinced it would be best to give the woman what she wanted. "Okay, jeez. I'll stop messing around. I was just trying to lighten the mood."

"This isn't the time to lighten the mood! We don't need jokes. We need answers. How many times do I have to say that my boyfriend got shot? Where are you people's heads? Say something useful, Nova."

The young one nodded, the first time 'thinking deeply' ever painted her face in a good while. "Do you actually want to hear what I think?"

"Yes. After this damage of a conversation you've started, please stay something worth God giving me ears. Otherwise, I'll pray to go deaf."

"Okay, fine. I'll explain my perspective then. Don't expect it to be right. I'm a beginner," and like Jesus telling the seas to hush, everyone did shut up, exactly how Jayvee had wanted. Nova was serious about presenting her side well too, which made the leader among us less feisty. "Personally, I think that a crime scene like this involves a team of two. Not three, as our black blood is saying -- it'd be too pushy-pully and someone would just get in the way. Two is the most it could be also. It could very possibly be one person."

Jewee raised his hand as if we were back in grade school, but he put it down again when he noticed what he did, and spoke on as if it never happened. "Why?" He asked.

"Look at what we do know, okay? The murder was obviously premeditated by someone skillful -- this person planned this out well. We can reasonably assume that this someone was aware what side effects the vaccine would have, and also set up a temporary power outage which gave them the leeway they needed to carry out the crime. They know this place good enough to fulfill their plan, but at the same time, they didn't take the 'risk' of meeting the victim, Ryan, alone. They just forced it to be done in a secret manner and made the perfect time themselves rather than wait for it to come."

"One person could pull that off if they really wanted to," Jayvee pointed out. "They planned out the crime, set everything up, and then went for it."

"I didn't say I disagree with that. Again, I'm not a profiler. I'm an aspiring web developer," she replied. "The reason why I say that it could be two people is because it is also possible that the work being done is too much for one person. I think this is a duo of people who do the bare minimum, even when it comes to murder. Instead of doing this in a way that gives them the danger of being caught, they wiped the factor of sight out altogether by appealing to the inabilities of a human being. It might sound like they're doing the max if you think too hard about it, but for their situation, it was probably the bare minimum according to their strengths.

"My assumption is the submissive person on the team was the actual person behind the trigger. Maybe they were moved by personal gain that the dominant offered them or maybe they were trying to prove a point to the dominant that would only make sense to them, but I don't think they were experienced in killing. The crime scene is a little too messy for that, and that's why the lights and the vaccines had to be included in their plan in the first place. I'd assume that this person is a nice person in day to day life, but more on the shy side than the outgoing. If he or she is going to murder someone they can't think about anything else out of nerves, so they'd need the aid of person two.

"The dominant person on the team was the one who planned the whole thing out. He or she is a bit more social in public settings. This person is more experienced and analytical. For some reason, they have made the submissive believe that they owe them something, so they had certainty that that person would not back out of their plan as long as it was set up as needed. They were the one behind the timing of the lights, -- which if you haven't noticed, are movement-powered lights, meaning they'd only turn off if we left the room or if it was altered -- and probably planned that out beforehand, but because we were in so much shock then, they could've set up a way to control in this room, or wherever in the building and destroyed it."

"Dang, Nova. I think you know too much. Is there something you're not telling us? Or was this your confession? Who was your partner?" Jared talked out of disbelief. A pin could fall and we'd all turn our heads. What she gave us was a lot to process, that we almost had to laugh to act like we kept up.

"Brat," she giggled. "I told you, I just read too many books and watch too many shows, and you guys just gave me a circumstance where I can put it to use."

"Then who is it? Who fits that description, Nova?" Jayvee jumped in. I think she was purposely trying to keep the conversation serious. Her inner demon would be unleashed if we started to kid around again.

And even so, Jared decided to push it. "The unidentified subject is a white male between the ages of 35 and 45--," he mocked a voice that wasn't his own. Only Nova burst out in full-on laughter. Everyone else turned to look at me -- the only white male between 35 and 45.

"Really?" I stared at him as if I was done with his shenanigans. On the inside, I found it pretty funny too, and soon enough it showed through a slight smile I couldn't hold back.

"What? That's usually the culprit ninety percent of the time!" He backed himself up.

Jayvee rolled her eyes. "Are we talking about the show again?"

"Sorry Madam," Nova apologized. "As for your question, if we're going along with my theory of two and applying it to the five of us, I think you and I could both fit the dominant criteria, and Jared, but Colby and Jewee hit submissive criteria. Looking at that, who would you think could work together as a dominant-submissive team? Whose close or has a good bond?"

"Well--," Jayvee paused. She thought about it, but she couldn't say.

"Whatever. Either way, you convinced me that it can't be the work of three people as the black blood is claiming, so I'll trust you. The vaccine screwed up," Jared said, making up for where Jayvee couldn't find words, but he didn't really need to. Not when the glass in the center of the wooden door was met with an ear-piecing bang, and on the other side, were who we had called for.

"Bohol Island Police, we're coming in."