The road leading up to the Guard HQ and surrounding it is starting to draw a crowd, lots of people standing around, Trax, Elves, Humans and even a few Intelligent and Greater Beasts that look and are dressed like they are extras in the Narnia movie, fitted leathers and cloths.
The Guard HQ is a large building, about the same size as the Adventurer Society building and again covered in a large amount of opal carvings on grey walls lit up by the yellow of the floating lights of the festival that’s on at the moment. Speaking of, I even see some people selling food to the people watching, think this is part of the festival do ya?
The doorway is a large metal door with no handle or hinges but does have a hand print image in the middle of the door, as one of the guards splits off of our group and walks toward the door ahead of us he places his hand on the print and the door slides to the left, with what looks like other doors behind the front door also opening in sequence, other doors open and slide right, up and down and are all covered in a large amount of opal carvings in geometric patterns.
We are walked into the Guard HQ, the walls are thick, make that thiccc. Easily a metre thick with the width and inside wall also covered in opal carvings. Inside there is a long corridor room, some seats in the middle and a long short wall that must act like a desk on either side with closed doors behind them, no pictures or windows, also devoid of people except for us of course.
The lighting is not that friendly festival yellow but a white light, this has been the best place I’ve seen that has replicated the inside of a modern office so far. We walk down toward the end of the corridor and go through another set of palm print multi doors, the room behind them are filled with offices, desks and Guards, there is a staircase of metal next to the door that leads up to a second story, its all open so the middle of the second story is open to the bottom. At the back of the room and past the desks is a large set of red Crystals projecting holograms of the streets, maps, city gates and more.
But I don’t get to have a good look as I am led into a side room, the only way to tell it is a room is due to the door set into the grey opal carved walls. A guard opens yet another palm print multi door and I am directed in. The only things in the rectangular room are a small grey metal table with a grey metal chair on the opposite side of the room which after moving around the table I sit in.
The guards who entered the room I am in leave, leaving me with only Capitan Lincastle standing opposite me behind the table and with his back to the door. My arms still bound by the anti-magic straight jacket, I look up leaning my head back almost like I’m looking down on him from my seat. “So, you gonna leave me here till the end of time or what?”
“We will be back, how about you sit here and think about it.” Lincastle turns to leave me but I interrupt, loud enough to be heard by whoever's outside. I hope anyway.
“One word mate, Lawyer.”
Turning back around, Lincastle looks at me in the eye, without blinking and replies in an uncaring voice, “OutWolders are Aliens, you do not get a lawyer.”
I respond with a raised eyebrow and lean forward, “I am an Adventurer though, won’t that make a difference?”
His only response is hesitated silence as he turns around and walks back through the doorway, with a buzz of Powered equipment the doors slide back into place in sequence. The only illumination from the single white light from a crystal in the middle of the ceiling above the desk. I lean back a little further before slumping forward, breathing out. Well, this did not go to plan then.
Ok, I need to think of a new plan like right damn now so calm down a little will ya. I tell myself as I close my eyes and lean my head back to rest of the back of the chair.
So, unless Lock gets delayed or something then Master Carson gets contacted and once I do not return then Resurgence will head to the Society to find me which should lead them to Carson. Bunch of Kage so might be able to get a message inside to me.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Interface is still active and I can access it silently with my mind but it's still glitchy. Speaking of Powers, is my Protection of Mind and Body still active? I could be spreading a bunch of germs to these people who have no defence against them. And vice versa I suppose.
Reaching out with my mind I try to access the window that shows my Powers but when I try to pull it up, a new window appears to only glitch more and more, yeap that's not working. Looks like I’m stuck with what I had open at the time, Voice Chat with Koda, Wotjek and Lock who got kicked. Maybe because I have a better connection with Kage instead of Lock.
As both of them are still in my shadow and my legs can reach under the desk I can have them move into another's shadow. I send a mental message via Chat to the both of them.
“Koda, Wotjek. On my signal head into an interrogators shadow, collect recon on what, if any evidence against me they have and what the general vibe is with our investigators. I refuse to believe that everyone is corrupted by the Institute. Whatever you do tho, try to avoid any high ranked or Powerful people. We haven’t really tested it but there is no way to tell how well your stealth works against either people or Powered items.”
Silent acknowledgement from both Koda and Wotjek follow, you guys are just not much for talking are you. I really need to read that report from Number 2 about them.
I sit there in silence, the only sound in the room is my breathing and the occasional squeak from my boots as I wiggle my feet a little on the floor. I didn’t even realise they did that. I don’t have a way to track time at all, it feels like ages because I only have my mind which is overthinking things at maximum speed. You know the feeling, like it's late at night and you stay up thinking about things for what feels like all night but in reality only five minutes have passed.
As I sit there I shake my head to clear my thoughts a bit.
Hi God, me again. Yea uh quick question here mate, how in the… how do I get out of here. Give me some ideas will ya?
After that quick break I go back to overthinking my situation, then thinking about similar situations in media, books, movies, TV shows and the like. I know I have good people on the outside, and the vibe I get from Carson is that he’s not one to take something like this lying down… So I need to delay, not give them anything.
Agh, but in saying that if I say nothing then I might speed up their plans, nonsense. Let’s give them nonsense. A smile pulls at my cheeks, I’ll give those Institute everything about Earth, yet nothing at the same time.
I spend the next 20 minutes (or what feels like 20 minutes) in the memory palace, grabbing things to the forefront of my mind, ready for use. Some Ideas already in place thanks to Number 5 with more ideas starting to form, and I percolate on others. I’ll give you a cup once their ready.
The door suddenly starts to open, the buzzing of Powered equipment opens the doors and two people walk through. A tall female elf wearing a guard uniform but without the armour. Long brown hair tied into a braid and an older, shorter, older Trax wearing what has been described to me as an Institute uniform.
A grey uniform, nondescript, straight lines and no collar but something like a collar hugs the neck. They stand a bit behind the table for a moment before two chairs rise up from the floor and stop at different heights, as they take their seats they are sitting at the same eye level with each other. The Elf speaks as she places a red quartz crystal on the metal desk and a file in a brown folder on the table, opening it.
“OutWolder, Michael Hayes. Crossing detected on the 17th of Triloth in the year 3407, the Array was unable to detect where you had arrived, you were again detected a year and a half later entering through the South gate pretending to be a medical student with a Dr Rath.”
“You then signed up to the Adventurer Society that same day and then completed your exams the next morning, completing them and travelling in a group with Master Carson to the “Waves of Oghqoa.” restaurant of which you had an early lunch. The day after that you were reported to have completed a nest hunt in the sewers which you completed and again earlier today travelled to Basswood Chain for a scouting mission.”
Pausing she turns to the Trax, placing her elbow on the table and resting her head on her hand. “I hate it when they do that with missions, a “scouting mission” is really just a fetch quest. Rates are cheaper and everything.”
Turning back toward me she looks at me in the eyes, “I have a lot of other information we have here on you. So you should know it is a bad idea to lie to us.” She says tapping the crystal with her knuckles.