Taal - Institute Operative - The day after Michael, Master Carson and others went to celebrate.

Taal is at his desk in the Institute Building, this OutWolder department has been understaffed for years. What would have been a good place to quietly retire turns out to give me more work to do. These OutWolders, they have Powers that boggle the mind, especially if they already had Powers from their homeworld.

After the disaster that was the Adventurer Exam and this “Michael” Alien getting away it’s possible he could get away permanently, especially if he is smart and moves to another city or live in the outskirts, where only a handful of Institute operatives patrol. The sheer amount of information that could be gleaned would be astronomical!

Thinking back I remember my early days, my fascination with OutWolders, researching the archives, getting assigned for interviewing suspected OutWolders and my getting old, all the way up to yesterday, I remember the face of the Alien who got away, the events of the day playing out, the operatives in play, faces, locations… Wait a minute, did he?

Taal pulls a memory crystal from his small desk, activates it and thinks back to that day, that time when Michael was leaving the Society building. There were five Institute Operatives in the area close by, and yes. From my point of view I can see them…

My gods, he knew! That Alien is smart, he didn’t realise it but he had looked directly or in the direction of each of the Operatives but one, who was about 40 metres from his position but in plain view down the road. It must be a Power of some kind, is it able to detect if someone is tracking him, but it may be that it has a range of less than 40 metres! Now I wonder what the specifics for that Power is? A smile is growing on my face, something good to tell Sir.

I begin planning for Operatives to test this Power when Vonway walks into my office, this guy is just some trainee I need to look after. “What do you want Vonway, I’m kinda busy at the moment.”

“That's just it sir, I thought I saw something but… you know when that OutWolder was in that

fancy restaurant celebrating?”

“Yes, so?”

“Well after the hunt was called off I went to the library for my studies and I could have sworn that it was the same guy in the library. In one of those rooms you can hire.”

Confused and frowning I reply, “The same? How sure are you?”

“Very sure sir, it was a crazy resemblance.”

“Hmm”, this could be bad, we might have another Muahaix Aiwatito on our hands, that’s one of our big fears and there is no way that we could contain that if he’s at a high enough rank with that Power, if it even works on our ranking scale. Dam.

“Vonway, take a photo of the OutWolder and show it to the librarian there. They should be able to confirm it and give us copies of any details. Also look up what information he’s looking up at the library.”

“Yes Sir, i'll get right on it.” replies Vonway as he turns to leave. Just before he’s out the door I get an idea, “Vonway, how close did you get?”

“Sir?”, “To the OutWolder, how close?”

Thinking for a moment he replies “About this distance sir, 3, 4 metres.”. Well that’s interesting, “And he didn’t react at all?”

“No sir, but I will say that at some point he got really angry. Started yelling in the room, throwing note books, talking to himself, could almost hear it even with the soundproofing. The librarian had to come up and scold him.”

“Interesting, thanks Vonway. You’ve been a big help.”, “Why thank you sir” he replies all smiles, gods I remember when I was his age… This is interesting, so not only does it have a range limit but it seems to only activate when, what? He’s actively under investigation? Let’s put myself in his shoes I think as I close my eyes.

If its a Power it could come from three sources,

One: It's from his planet.

Two: A Gifted Power.

Three: A Creation Power.

I have personally never heard of a Power like this one before but that does not tell me much, but instinct is telling me it’s not Option One. Option Three is also out, we don’t know how long he’s been on Land but I doubt it’s possible to create that many Powers without help, assuming he’s from a world that doesn't have Powers but that has occurred in the past…

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

It’s got to be a Gifted Power, and it would make some kind of sense I suppose, only Knowledge would know the inner workings of another's mind and so it stands to reason why Vonway wasn’t flagged by this Power but we were. We were hunting him, Vonway was not.

Is that it? A Power to detect if someone is going after or hunting him? gods help us if it was a Rule of Three Question or a Gifted Power Ability, if that's the case he could have many different Powers, more than what we could consider…

Filling a crystal with mana I speak into it “Sir, I have an update on the OutWolder situation, we may have a lead on how to detain him.”

“Give me all the details” replies the disembodied voice.

The next day during the evening I get a response from a concerned citizen from the Society, the OutWolder and his friend, a Lockness Nessgray, had taken and completed a mission on clearing the sewers of Coblousceene but where they say they found and disposed of nests are all across the city. Four Coblousceene nests in four different parts of the sewer. I don’t care how fast you are, those sewers are a maze. Maybe a detection Ability or Power?

He must be a Muahaix Aiwatito, think about it. Someone who can create duplicates of himself could create teams to find and clear out other nests. Which means he must have some kind of Power or Powers which he can use to defeat an entire nest.

And not only that, the amount of Coblousceene reported was less than what was found by the cleanup team who put in their report, but the listing was marked closed and completed. A discrepancy in numbers of reported to recovered is normally investigated but with this guy it was allowed. Which means he must have some Power that disposes or removes the bodies. There are definitely Powers like those.

Well maybe, it might be he said he has Powers that can do that as he may have told Master Carson and is just lying on the report. That’s not too uncommon.

Also what's not too uncommon is that Adventurers would take jobs day after day, it's possible that this pair will do the same. If that's the case then this could be an opportunity for us. I call in Vonway again via crystal, the confirmation from the Library was invaluable so lets give him some more to do.

“Sir, you called for me?” he asks as he opens the door to this tiny, cramped office Ugh. “Yes Vonway, I want you to go to the Society, get me a list of all job listings ranked Hasmagne rank and below.”

“Yes sir, i'll be right back.”

I call Sir again as Vonway leaves, “Sir, I have a plan for recon.”, “Yes?” asks the deep voice.

“It is likely that this OutWolder will take on a job tomorrow. I would request that we have members of the institute take jobs ranked Hasmagne rank or below. I am also under the belief that he may be able to detect Operatives who are actively hunting him. As such they must be told to not think about hunting or capturing him.”

“Interesting, I will call off the men we have following him now.”

“I would recommend that we keep to a 40 metre radius from him, I believe that is the limit of this Power.”

“I see, very well. Feel free to use my name to get things done. I will sort out his capture personally with Capitan Lincastle”, “Understood” I reply surprised and with raised eyebrows. Sir must really want this OutWolder detained to get Lincastle in this, he’s not too bad but is very Institute aligned, in my opinion too aligned.

Over the next few hours I reach out to as many of our members as we can, trying to get most of them assigned to jobs. I would go out for jobs as well if not for my job to coordinate this and plan.

The next morning I awake from my desk, I slept here to plan as long as I can, but now I am sorted, all the Hasmagne Rank jobs and below have at least one Operative working on them, now I just have to wait and see.

I press and fill a crystal with mana and contact downstairs, “Alaline, can you send some breakfast up here please.”

“Sir! You didn’t go home last night?!”, “No, I was up all night with something. Use the Institute day funds, get something for yourself as well, I know you normally skip breakfast.”

“Oh, thank you Sir, I’ll be right back.”, “Thanks Alaline”. She’s one of our newer trainees, only joined a few months ago. As I sit and wait for news to come in I hear a buzz from my communication crystal. Pressing it I hear one of our Operatives,

“Hello Sir Taal, It is Millerney Creik, Operative 116523. I have located the OutWolder and”

“You idiot! You are not supposed to think about capturing, detaining or tracking him, think about something else!”

“Um, yes sir. What do I do now?”

“Ugh, Millerney just shut up and do your job like I told you. If you run across him, play nice and when you are definitely alone and far away from the OutWolder then you call me. Understand!” I yell angrily after sounding oh so calm. These idiots would be the death of me, thankfully he’s using speechless communication.

Disconnecting, I stand up and move over to my unopened window covered in curtains, opening them and blinking into the sunlight. I wait for good news from Millerney and hope that that idiot does not stuff it up. As I wait I see most of the city below me, thousands of people who we protect from the madness that is OutWolders. Sometimes we get it wrong but most of the time we get it right, that Detection Pen means we got it right.

I wait for a few more minutes before Alaline returns with a small box of grilled fish, a typical breakfast in this area of the world, they love their fish and wood here.

“Sir, where is everyone?”, “Out on a mission, we found an OutWolder in the city, we’ll be detaining them soon enough. If you’ll excuse me I need to make a call.”

“Oh wow, um, yes sir.” replies Alaline, closing the door after placing the boxed breakfast on the desk. Sitting down and activating the communication crystal again I make one final call. “Sir, I have confirmation. The OutWolder and his friend Lockness Nessgray are currently on a mission and are leaving from the north gate.”

“Understood Taal, you have done a good job, I will take it from here. Your work these last few days has been greatly appreciated.”, “Yes sir, thank you sir, i’ll let you go now.”.

It’s out of my hands now, finally time to eat and get a proper amount of sleep.