Jake was silent for a moment.

"No, no, not you guys." Jake said, darting his tongue out.

"I can tell you are who you appear to be, so that's not the issue at all." he told them.

"I'm referring to Cecil. You told me to let him in without issue, but unless Sharp tells me that, himself, I cannot guarantee that, for the reasons I mentioned earlier." he clarified.

With that, he pressed the button on the comm system he had, and asked for Sharp to come down to the area.

"...Cecil?" Ash asked Ashley.

"......." Jake was silent as they went through the door.

"Guess she's really distracted..." he muttered.

"Probably justifiably so, though." he added.

As the three of them walked, they ran into Hal, on his way to see Jake.

"Ah, hello again." he greeted Ashley.

"Ash, Lady Sherwood." he then greeted Ash and Sydney.

"Are you here to help us carry out our plan of attack?" he asked them.

"Go ahead." Hal responded.

"I'm on my way to see Jake." he told her.

"Seems he needs clearance for something." he went on.

"Regardless, agent King is already in my office as well. So he's waiting with agent Gardner." he continued.

"...I'll tell Aedan separately." he then said further.

"I don't want her in a confined room with Sierra JUST yet..." he admitted quietly.

"...when he comes." Ash responded.

"Right." he said.

"That explains so much, yet nothing, at the same time." he commented.

"I assume you mean Cecil." he went on.

"But WHO is Cecil? WHY are we talking about him, and how is he important to this plan?" he asked further.

"Is he involved with this witch trial resurgence?"

Ash was stunned to the point of being frozen for a moment.

"....ah..." he stammered.

"The anger and rage will come shortly enough." he said. "I know that." he went on.

"But right now... I'm... stunned." he admitted.

"I'm absolutely gobsmacked that Vanessa even considered doing the horizontal monster mash with that weedy, brown-nosing, scrawny, spinless turd." he then said.

".............." Ash was silent again, and then sighed.

"I... I see." he said.

"Well, then." he went on, cracking his knuckles.

"Looks like we'll be visiting some karmic retribution on him." he commented.

"....how long have you know about Cedric?" he then asked Ashley.

"We'll need to be prepared to try and contain it." Ash replied.

"Or... well, Sydney, you might be able to use your portals to guide it somewhere where it can't do any harm." he then told Sydney.

"...though it'll be hard to essentially herd gas..." he mumbled further.

"Regardless, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it." he sighed.

"Guess all there is now is to wait and see what the plan is in its entirety, down to the details."

Sure enough, he wasn't. He returned about 30 seconds later, and closed the door behind him.

"All right." he said.

"Jake's in on this." he told the group.

"He'll let Cecil/Cedric in with little hassle." he assured them. "And he'll let him know where the cafeteria is." he went on.

"Now... let's discuss." he then said.

"Does anyone have any of their own ideas?" he asked.

"I'll have Sierra easy to see, with Zeke and Ty sitting in other places." Hal responded.

"The rest of you can hide behind the serving area." he continued.

"Once he's in the cafeteria, I'll make sure the exits are locked." he went on.

"That's when you'll all make your move." he said further.

"...and I'll make sure Aedan CAN and WILL follow this plan." he then assured them.

"I don't want her jumping the gun and attacking him right away." he growled.

"Normally I wouldn't want her involved in this at all." Hal said.

"...but... after what she's been put through... I think she deserves to have a LITTLE revenge..." he admitted.

"Against the PROPER person." he quickly clarified.

"I will tell her that he is responsible for Azazel's death, and it is SOLELY his responsibility." he continued.

"Sierra, I will make sure she does not go after you. At ALL." he then promised the banshee.