Chapter 5: The Robot Factory

You all get into the van. Thankfully it's pretty large so despite Mia's unnatural height, you're not too cramped in there. Mia does throw Mikael a curious glance when he makes a point to sit next to her but doesn't comment on it.
"We are going to my family's cabin," she explains in response to your questions. "It's on Munsö, near the north end of the island. But I don't think he's in the cabin."
As she's talking, she's unfolding a map she found in the van's glove compartment and pointing out the location of the cabin on it to you. It'll take you a while to drive there and you'll have to take the ferry as well.
"My father used to tell me stories of how he never felt at home anywhere except in those old Loop tunnels. And that even after the Flood, he went down there sometimes. Apparently, there's an old robot factory down in the tunnels, somewhere near the cabin. If he's going to choose any place to try and... you know, I think that's it." She takes a deep breath. "We need to be fast. Let's hope he hasn't destroyed the vials yet. And that we get there not too long after him."

The drive goes surprisingly well. The checkpoints Krafta has set up don't even force you to stop anymore, only to slow down so they can look inside your vehicle and make sure Järnek isn't there. Apparently, finding infected students just isn't a priority anymore right now.
After a pretty long and tense drive, you arrive at the Järnek family cabin. It's pitch black outside with only the headlights of the van lighting up the place. The house is dark as well. Next to it, there's a large black car parked that you recognize and Mia identifies as Järnek's.

In the light of your headlights, you see a whole bunch of fresh footsteps in the snow around the house but it's difficult to make out any pattern or direction in them without getting out of the car. The front door to the cabin is open.

Sabine quickly hops out of the van and begins looking at the foot patterns in the snow, with her mini-maglight. "Where is this robot factory, Mia? You said he probably wouldn't be in the cabin." She asks, as her every word sends plumes of her cold breath into the air before her face.

Stina waits for the others to get off the van, while searching somewhere to leave the vehicle so it is not in plain sight.
She scans around to see if there are any outbuildings behind which to park it, or neighbouring houses, or even a thick copse of trees.

Mikael gets out of the van once they come to a stop and rubs at his eyes, realizing how tired his body is. "I think we should check the cabin for anything that might help, then these tracks might lead the way for where the Rektor went."

she asks Mia "Any idea why your father would go into the cabin first, and then exit again?" She points at Mikael at the cabin. "Do you think if you went in there you could tell if your father took something from it? Keys... or something..."

Henry stands apart for now as the others go through the scene. Disaster would strike if they had been followed unknowingly, or perhaps if Mia had meant for them to be followed.

Henry watches back the way they came, shielding himself as much as possible from the cold. A thousand eyes could be watching him from just beyond the trees. It was always unsettling, being out among nature. But now there was the unnatural to worry about.

Sabine sets off on a quick jog toward the cabin to look for anything that may give them a better idea of what has transpired and to keep warm. She enters through the open front door and looks around.

Stina follows Sabine's example and starts to look for where the tracks might lead.

Sabine follows the tracks out behind the house and into the woods. The further she follows them, the more she gets the impression that Järnek must have been carrying something very large and probably pretty heavy that occasionally slid along the ground, smearing the tracks he left behind.
Still, she manages to track the footsteps to a large metal covering in the ground. It's open and as she peeks inside, it seems to lead into a large, dark tunnel. She gets some flashbacks to the bunker where she and her friends encountered the machine fetus half a year ago. Though, thankfully, there is no pained moaning in these tunnels, as far as she can tell.

Stina, meanwhile, goes through the cabin. Mia sticks with her, looking around and trying to see what her father was doing in here. Together, they enter a small, cramped storage room. There is a large rubber boat in the storage, making the tiny space feel even smaller. Stina also finds a couple of industrial flashlights in here.

"That's strange," Mia remarks as you're regarding the storage room. "There should be two rubber boats in here. There were always two."

"Then, I have a feeling we should take the remaining boat and the flashlights." Sabine responds to Mia's revelation. She grabs the boat and struggles to pull it clear of the cramped space and get it out of the cabin. Hopefully with Mia's assistance.

Following the path of the others, she finds them looking down into an open metal hatch. Sabine is relieved that this one is not filled with the agonizing sounds of a machine fetus.

Mikael follows the footsteps up to the point where he finds the large metal cover. He pauses and listens before returning to the others. Seeing them with the rubber boat, he speaks up, "Rektor Järnek took the other boat I think, brought it with him into some sort of tunnel. It looked like he was dragging something heavy with him, then his tracks end."

She looks down into the passage under the metal covering. "Well, I don't like it... but if that's where he's gone..." she starts climbing down into the tunnel, helping the others to lower the rubber boat.

She turns on her flashlight and shines it around the passage.

She tugs and manoeuvres to try fit the rubber thing in the crammed underground space.
"This thing's heavy... Left a bit... no, MY left! "

It's dark and smells old and rotten down here. As Stina climbs down the old ladder and shines her flashlight around, you all find that the tunnel is flooded. You can't tell how deep the water is but seeing as you can't see the ground, it can't be too shallow. That's probably why Järnek took a boat from the cabin as well.

The others lower down the large boat while Stina tries to hold on from below and guide it down on the water. It's not too heavy but it's really large and unwieldy, so that turns out to not be a very easy task, but working together, you manage to heft it down and put it down on the water without Stina falling off her uneasy handhold and into the water herself. From there, it's not too difficult for you all to climb into the boat one after the other.

Once you're all settled in the boat, you look around. It's dark and wet down here. The water shifts occasionally as if there are creatures lurking under the surface. Sitting still and looking around, you see moving lights far away in one direction, along with the echoing sound of an engine rumbling. In the other direction, you don't see anything but you think you hear very faint sounds of music coming from that direction.

"Ooh, this is creepy, isn’t it?" Henry whispers to the others.

"But I guess we know which way to go. The missing flashlights from above must be that way…" the boy says pointing to the light in the distance.

"Mia? Is that music familiar? Is it something your father would listen to?" she asks, finding the sound of music at odds with this weird underground environment.

I read somewhere that some people choose to play their favourite music while committing suicide... she thinks shivering, without voicing the thought to Mia.

Mia strains her ears and tries to listen to the music. "I'm not sure," she says. "With the echoing and that sound from over there..." She gestures towards the engine sounds. "...I cant really make it out." After another moment, she gives up and shrugs, a nervous frown on her lips. "It could be."

Sabine listens intently to the sounds of both the motor and the music. "I choose music." She announces. "Although, that's obvious for me. Music is almost always my answer. It has gotten me through many difficult times and I am guessing our missing Rektor is evoking some past feelings and emotions with this tune as well."

Mikael cocks his head a shrugs, "Two votes for music, then. I'm guessing Järnek and the boat are down where the light is. He might have left something behind that shows his hand."

"Let's go where the music is. We'll take a quick look, and if Järnek is not there, we can check out the light. How's that?

"Alright," Mia agrees. "Maybe if we're closer, I can better make out if that's the kind of stuff my dad listens to." She seems eager to get going somewhere so she reaches out and pushes you off away from the ladder you used to come in here. She then moves to the very back of the boat and uses her creepily elongated arms to start paddling you forward. It's going very slowly, somewhat faster if some of the others help out.

The water is freezing cold and you're more than glad that you found this boat. As you slowly move towards the music, you get the feeling that the engine noises and lights behind you are coming towards you, gaining on you.

Henry has the sudden thought that the lights are another crew looking down here for the very same reason. But how could that be? Still, the thought doesn’t leave his head as whatever it is draws closer!

"Lets move! Everyone!" he begins to paddle the boat along too, taking frequent breaks to give his hand time to stop stinging.

Stina puts her back into it and helps paddling, cursing, as she'd be a lot more comfortable with an engine to propel them.
"Go go go! That's not Järnek ! his rubber boat had no engine, right?"

Sabine joins in helping propel the boat forward, paying little heed to chill of the freezing water on her hands and forearms. "Come on everyone." She encourages them in a low voice. "Mia needs us to do this to try and save her father. We need this to save everyone from the Ugliness or worse. I wasn't there to save my parents when they needed me...when they were gunned down. I'll be damned if I am going to let this happen without a fight."

Mikael quickly begins to paddle with the others. "Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit," he says quietly. "Yeah, no way are we gonna go out like this, on this stupid boat."

Together as a group, you paddle quickly through the tunnels towards the music, waiting at all of the many intersections for a moment to make sure you're using the right tunnel. You're not faster than a motorboat but you do manage to stay ahead of the ever-approaching lights long enough for them to apparently take a wrong turn at some point. With their engine sounds, they probably can't hear the music and guess wrong at some point. It won't but you forever, but you'll have a bit more time now.

Still, you don't slow down. Eventually, you're close enough to properly make out the music. Sabine identifies it first as a collection of ABBA's Greatest Hits. When she points that out to Mia, Mia nods eagerly. "Yes, my dad listens to them all the time. That's definitely him!"

You paddle even faster and after a short while, the tunnel opens up into what is definitely the old robot factory Mia mentioned. Your hands are numb from the icy cold of the water by now.
The ceilings are high, and rusting robots in various state of assembly hang suspended from hooks. Old, rusted and long abandoned assembly lines stand half-submerged in the deep water.
The room is lit by candles sitting on top an elevated platform in the middle of the room. Their light shines across the water and catches in something glittering on the floor of the room, deep under the water. It looks like lots and lots of diamonds. Anchored to the platform in the middle of the room is a rubber boat identical to the one you're on, except that it has two paddles lying on top of it. And sitting in the middle of that platform, a bottle of whiskey in one hand and a gun in the other, is Rektor Sven Järnek. His back is to you and he hasn't noticed you yet as his body is swaying lightly side to side in rhythm with The Winner Takes it All playing from the cheap cassette player next to him.

Whoa... she thinks, looking at the display of technology in the robot factory. Even in its abandoned, flooded state, it is quite impressive.

When she spots the Rektor on the platform, she holds her breath. Mia was telling the truth... she thinks. She looks at the others alarmed, then her eyes scan the room in search of signs of the Phase 3 vials.

She also looks if there could be any obvious way of slowing down their pursuers, anything to block the entrance to this place.

There are no doors to this room so short of collapsing the tunnel, there's no way to stop anyone from pursuing.

There is a small plastic case lying on the elevated platform, to Järnek's right. It's about the right size to hold a couple of vials the size of the Phase 2 vial that Jonas showed them. Or it could just be a large pack of cigarettes.

It would be almost impossible to pull off, but Henry considers for a moment the possibility to sneaking up on the man and wrestling the weapon from him first of all.

He nudges some of the others on the boat, soundlessly. He then mimes the action he would intend to happen, before throwing his hands up in a questioning gesture.

She tries to understand Henry, then shakes her head, "Let Mia talk to him..." she whispers, making sure Mia hears.

Sabine puts a cold finger up to her lips in a gesture of quietness, as they have not yet reached the platform. She nods to Henry's soundless attempt to convey attempting to sneak in closer before the Rektor spots them.

Mikael nods in silent agreement. Mia might stand the best chance to talk the Rektor out of doing anything too rash. Lacking any formal weapon, Mikael puts his hand on the portable strobe light, ready to pull it if needed. In this light, he hopes that a strobe effect could be at least enough to temporarily daze someone if necessary.

Henry pushes the boat forward, closer and closer to the final showdown with the father, and whoever came after them. He sat hunched, like a wild animal, waiting to pounce, if things took a sudden and violent turn.

Stina gets near Mia, touching her gently on the arm (her shoulder being too high up) to support her.

She looks straight at the Rektor, nodding with conviction. "I believe in Mia. Do you?.. You can help her fix this. It is not too late, Rektor. Please..."

As the group is pleading with Järnek, Henry slowly pushes the boat closer and closer so that if the principal is not convinced by them, maybe they'll still be able to intervene anyway.
Järnek does not seem to notice your continuing approach.

Mikael steps forward so as to stand next to Mia and Stina. "Rektor Järnek," he says, pleading, "We need to find a way to reverse the Ugliness. Too many kids have been hurt by this already. We can still keep Phase 3 out of Krafta's hands, but we need your help to make this happen." His eyes narrow, "That woman, the one you said got too close, that you killed? Her daughter is out there right now, trying to keep these kids safe. Please, make it up to her, make it up to the kids. We all need you. So long as they are marked by the Ugliness, Krafta will never stop hunting them - we need to reverse it, not just keep it from getting worse."

Järnek hesitates, his eyes darting from Mia, to Mikael, back to Mia. He looks down at his gun and, after taking a deep breath, puts it down on the platform he's sitting on. "You really think you can cure the students?", he asks Mia.

She immediately nods. "I know I can," she replies, maybe acting a bit more confident than she's actually feeling. "Or rather, we can. I found your formulas and your attempts to find a cure. You were really close. I figured out what you were missing." When the boat is close enough to the platform for that, Mia jumps over and wraps her arms around her father, who, compared to her creepily elongated body, looks almost comically small. "Please don't leave me, dad!"

He hugs her back and nods. "I'll do what I can to help. To solve this disaster that I caused." More to himself than anyone else, he mutters: "Even if Elisabeth won't be happy when she finds out." He lets out a shaky breath and removes himself from Mia's hug. He picks up the small case and says: "This is Phase 3. I haven't managed to destroy it yet, which apparently is a good thing."

"We should get out of here," Mia says. "Before..."

But she doesn't have the time to finish this sentence before you all hear the engine sound again, much, much closer than before. The people on the motorboat, almost certainly Krafta agents, will be here any moment now.

"Get on our boat!", Mia orders her father, as she herself grabs the paddles from his boat to bring them onto yours. "We have to get out of here!"

You quickly grab the gun and cassette player and climb back into the boat. With the narrow and twisting tunnels of the Loop that you're in, the motorboat can't go at full speed and has to stop from time to time so it's not approaching as quickly as it could on open water but it's definitely getting closer. If you want to get out of here and not fall into Krafta's hands - along with the Phase 3 vials - you need to hurry now!

Despite the adrenaline, the tension and the engine noise getting nearer and nearer, Stina tries to stay focused on the tunnel branches, trying to keep a mental map of their direction. "Left here!! Should take us further away!"

Mikael slips into a leading roll, helping where he can, but principally encouraging the others. "C'mon, we gotta move. Those Krafta bastards are gonna be all over us in no time. Sabine, Henry, one of you start rowing your heart out! Stina, keep an eye out for any good side passages - these canals must lead somewhere, like the fuel lines in a car, but if we can lose them through careful maneuvering, all the better. Someone, be ready to turn the radio on and toss it to the side, loud and clear, just before we diverge from a path, preferably when there are three or more branches!"

Mikael himself gets out his strobe light and prepares to flip it on and temporarily blind their pursuers in the event they nearly catch up - any advantage they can get at this point might win them the day. He is adamant he will show his value, that he is more than a criminal, that there is honor to his family name...despite what his father did to land in jail.

He continues to encourage the others as they make their way along the water. "Rektor, Mia, keep an eye out for any other trouble. Yes, alright! You guys are awesome, I think we're losing them!"

Mikael shakes his head. He feels the muscles in his throat clench as he cheers his companions on, but at the same time hears the motor of the boat behind them, ever present, ever closer. "C'mon guys, we gotta go faster!"

The strain of keeping her concentration in this tense predicament starts to take its toll. This was not an easy day - avoiding Krafta checkpoints, finding Louise, the trip to the Black Hole... then hijacking vans, sneaking in the school. And now this! A dangerous chase underground?!?
She feels Exhausted, and will definitely need three days of solid sleep, if she comes out in one piece.

Continuing to push herself to her limits, Sabine paddles the boat furiously, listening to Mikael's prompts and for the sounds of their pursuers. The cold and exertion are beginning to take their toll on the young rocker though, as she feels the burn of the exhaustion coming on.

Henry paddles along with the others, reminding them as they go to remain quiet and paddle as one, so as not to splash frantically and give away their location.

He takes a few seconds to show them how to reduce their noise as they scoop their hands through the water, and counts them into a rhythmic paddle!

Stina clenches her teeth.
You gotta do this. Stay focused. Don't let your guard down... don't do like that night, driving straight. You had seen Anna's cat. You waited for it to take action. Well, it didn't. You were passive... Not now, you gotta stay in control, now. Others are counting on you.

"Try to get in that side tunnel, guys!! Right there, slightly left!"

Henry begins to feel his body start to give out as they proceed with their getaway. The sneaking around, the boat ride and visit to the Ugly encampment, the break in, and now this. He paddles, but feels his body protest with every stroke.

Stina sees that, despite the frantic paddling and steering, their raft is going to miss the turn.
In a desperate move, she hangs on to the raft ropes and raises her legs, preparing to push with all her might against the opposite tunnel wall in the hope of steering the raft those last ten or so centimeters it needs.

She double kicks hard, feeling a sharp pain in her ankle. She winces in pain.

As he's calling out orders, Mikael suddenly becomes inundated with everything that's happened over the last day. He realizes its been nearly 24 hours since he slept, and the last half day has been filled with sneaking around, boat rides, and all manner of physical activity. He felt like he'd been at a rave all night, jumping around for hours, music blasting his ear drums. "Guys, we gotta go!" he says sharply, in one final effort of encouragement.

All of you are running on high adrenaline as you paddle forward through the tunnels. Mikael leads you on while Stina tries to keep a mental blueprint of the underground maze of the Loop in her head. You take turn after turn, always closely followed by the ever closer sound of the engine.

At one point, the other boat actually catches up to you and you see a group of three Krafta agents closing in on you when Mikael pulls out his strobe and blinds them just as Stina throws the radio down one tunnel and Sabine and Henry quickly and quietly move the boat down another. The radio only floats and plays for a moment before it is fried by the water and dies down but that moment is enough to put the blinded Krafta agents down the wrong path, buying you enough time to get some distance back.

Once the engine sound seems far enough away, you find a hatch and manage to climb out, pushing the boat down the tunnel to misdirect your pursuers and closing down the hatch behind you again before you are seen.

Breathing heavily, exhausted, frightened and injured, you find yourselves back out in the snow. You're pretty sure the Krafta agents have gotten a good look of all of your faces down there. Which might come back to bite you. But for now, you're safe.

It takes you a while to figure out where exactly you are but since Stina kept mental track of where you went, you soon find your way back to Järnek's cabin where your two cars are still standing.

"We need to get to the school," Mia says. "We can use the labs there to make the cure." She looks at her dad. "We can figure out everything else once we know we can help all those who have contracted the Ugliness."

Järnek nods. "If Krafta realizes that the experiment is a failure - that we reversed it and that there are no more Phase 3 vials - they'll probably give up on it and just do damage control, denying any involvement," he says. "But until then, we're still in danger."

- - -

Split up between the two cars, you make your way back to the lab at school. Krafta still has roadblocks in place but you manage to avoid them and safely manage to get back to Stenhamra. Once there, Järnek and Mia immediately get to work while you stand watch. The two Järneks use up all of the Phase 3 vials to create a fairly large amount of what they say should reverse the effects of the Ugliness.

"I'll pass some of this on to Louise," Mia promises. "So she can start on curing the people at the Black Hole. As for the students who are still at school, I'll take care of them tomorrow. Once all of them are better, Krafta will release the ones they've been holding and we can help them as well!"

It all sounds very optimistic but Mia seems convinced that it might really work.

By this point, it's already closer to the morning than to midnight and especially after that latest escape, none of you feel really able to stay on your feet anymore, so you decide to head home and into your beds.

- - -

You reconvene the next day at school, having barely slept and feeling sore and exhausted. The rumor mill at school is going wild. Word has spread that a cure for the Ugliness has been found but no details on how or by whom or any more information on how it started.
Järnek is not at school today, with him just being sick as the official story. But Krafta agents are hanging all around the school, seemingly keeping their eyes open for him.
You haven't had a chance to talk to Mia yet but you've seen her around and she already looks a good bit shorter again than she did the last night, even if she's still towering far above the heads of the other students.

After the first break of the day, assembly is called and Fru Lindberg, in Järnek's place, is leading the vote on Lucy of the Year. With every candidate except Julia and Mia still gone from the school and Mia having withdrawn from the election, the vote is more of a formality than anything else but it's still taking place. And it's giving the four of you an opportunity to meet up again and discuss where to go from here. What should be done about Järnek? Should you share the truth about the Ugliness or better keep it to yourselves?

Henry rubs his shoulder deep. The pains of yesterday still carried through to today, unfortunately unresolved after a night of deep sleep. He was very much in a just-need-to-make-it-through-today kind of mood. When he meets the others, he tries to play it cool.

Massaging his muscles, and yawning deep, he gives them knowing eyes.

"Long time, no see. Good night last night?" a wry smile on his face.

Stina found a crutch at home, from that time her Mom had foot surgery. She told at home that she fell on the stairs at their friends'.

She drags herself out of bed.with a titanic effort, and gets to school late, despite a lift from her Mum.

She hobbles on the crutch next to Henry, unable to load any weight on her foot.

"Morning... I'm more dead than alive... But at least we're not in Krafta's hands"

It had taken most of the reminder of the night to get the chill out of her bones, after the prolonged exposure to the cold, the cold air, and the freezing waters down in the old tunnels. Sabine has lingered by the fireplace, plied with hot beverages, warm blankets, and body heat from her very concerned girlfriend, for several hours before she could find the energy to crawl into bed. Sleep has finally come. It was a short rest, but a satisfied one on a personal level.

Though, morning had arrived way too early and if not motivated by Kajsa and the need to know whether the cure was working for those unfortunates who had contracted the Ugliness, the young rocker teen would still be in bed even now.

Sabine enters the assembly hall with Kajsa at her side. The hood of her hoodie is pull up around her face and her green eyes are completely masked behind a pair of dark shades. A thick winter coat is pulled over the hoodie and her steps are slower than usual.

Sitting down amongst the others of the nocturnal investigating crew, Sabine gives a slight waving gesture and a single word in greeting, "Morning..."

Mikael got home in the early hours only to find, yet again, his house quiet and empty, the same boxes strewn about the living area, half the furniture gone. He sighs, too exhausted to be annoyed, and trudges upstairs to his bed, where he falls face-down into his pillow, still clothed, and falls almost immediately to sleep.

--------------------

Too few hours later, for his taste, Mikael joins Henry and Stina and sits on the bleacher. "Hey," he says, his eyes glancing over the crutch Stina had next to her, "I don't know about you guys, I feel like absolute shit. I could sleep the rest of the week straight, I think." He leans forward with his arms crossed over his knees and face down to block out the light.

Moments later, Sabine arrives and greets them. "Morning," he responds. He lifts a cautious eye up to the side and offers a weak smile, "How you doin' buddy?"

"Physically, I feel like shit , Mikael." Sabine replies to his concern. "But I'm holding it together and the aches and exhaustion will pass, after I get a bit more sleep tonight. Emotionally, I feel pretty happy at what we all accomplished last night. How about you?"

"Yeah," he says, "All of that. We some good things, helped a lot of people I think...I hope." He lifts his head and scans those assembled for any sign of the kids from the Black Hole. "I hope their okay," he says, "Kristina, Jonas, and the others."

"You think we should look for Mia and her father? See if they need help with anything?" she asks.

"I...I don't know," Mikael says quietly. "It's like what happened to Mark all over again. I don't like the idea of any of them getting away with this, I can't stand it." Mikael sits now upright, he looks angry, but takes a deep breath. "I don't know if this is place to talk about it," he relents, "But we need to talk about it." Now in a quieter voice, he asks the other, "We have proof this time though, don't we - the documents? The photo of Järnek with the other two? We have to be able to use that somehow. Hell, the guy was gonna off himself, maybe we can talk him into confessing? "

"We definitely need to have a meet with Fröken Tannebaum and share what we discovered. Show her the photo we found and Rektor Järnek's admission of guilt regarding her mother." Sabine adds her weight to Kajsa's words of concern. "She would have a better chance of getting the authorities to track down these Prophets and see them to justice than we. She has her mother's research to back her up. I wish there was some way Krafta could be held responsible too."

"Yes... Louise must know," she nods in agreement. "Did anyone get her phone number? Or is it another trip to her tower due, after school. Mind you, the Krafta goons at checkpoints will be even happier to catch us than they were yesterday..." she thinks out loud.

"Theres always the boat…" KCC Henry couldn’t quite recall if he had set the boat back properly. He was sure he must have.

"We could use it again, to cross the river away from the patrols!"

He looks at the crutches…

"Might be better to leave it a while. It’ll be tough to make our way there on crutches!"

She follows Henry's gaze to her crutches. "Yeah. I kind of overdid it, in those tunnels... I'm not exactly a sprinter, with these."

She thinks for a moment. "We know where Louise lives, and her surname. We should check the phonebook."

You decide that this case is more likely to be brought to proper justice if you let Louise handle it. She's been working on exposing the prophets for many years. Plus, she is an adult, who will be more trusted by the police than you would.
So you wait through the day until school finally lets out in the afternoon, at which point you call Louise. She immediately agrees to come to Stenhamra to meet you and before the day is over, you are all sitting together in the backroom of Hål i Öronmask and you tell her everything you found out, from the nature of the Ugliness to Järnek's involvement to his confession about killing Louise's mother when she was threatening to expose them.

Louise takes the information well, noting down what she can. She appears very grim and focused and she promises that she'll continue to build the case, using the information you uncovered, including the names and photos of the prophets, before then making sure they'll all be arrested as soon as the case is watertight.

---

After this day, normalcy very slowly returns to Stenhamra and to your school. The physical ailments of those affected by the Ugliness take weeks to fully return to normal, so on Saint Lucy's Day, many students are still hiding in baggy clothes and hoodies. The celebration is very solemn compared to previous years.

Järnek doesn't return to work for the rest of the year. He's not hiding, as you see him around town from time to time, but he doesn't appear willing to return to the school. He also hasn't turned himself in to the police but Mia tells you that he has been in contact with Louise, giving her information about the prophets and telling her everything about what they did in the '80s.

Jonas stays away from school for the rest of the year as well. As you check up on him, you find that he is back to normal as well but he seems to be having trouble readjusting to things how they were. His mother tells you that he will be coming back to school in the new year.

Krafta's presence slowly diminishes again in Stenhamra. Their agents stay around the school for a while to observe the symptoms of the Ugliness disappearing but with their experiment failed, they seem to be cutting their losses.
Occasionally, one of you notices a black van parked near your house or by your place of work but you are not approached by any Krafta agents. So far.

---

Rumors of your involvement in the curing of the Ugliness spread quickly and soon, you find yourselves quite a bit more popular than you were, especially among the elite of the student body who made up a large part of the infected group.
You might not be the coolest kids in school, but you kind of are heroes.

The End