Chương 19: 186. On the Trail

"All right, just be normal." Alex waved as Scout walked out of the room and down the stairs. He waited another ten minutes before doing the same, his magical disguise already in place as he reactivated his wards and locked the door. Once outside, he looked around and knew he needed to get to the other side of the city before the group made it through the checkpoint line. He looked up and made his decision.

Activating his movement skill, Alex leapt to the sequence of buildings that he'd begun to use to travel while On Call. The only difference was that he didn't have his phone this time, so if someone were to stop him for using skills in the safe zone, he'd have little to no excuse. The next twenty minutes were spent carefully making his way from one rooftop to the next, keeping an eye out for any of the Hunters that acted as patrols, blue armbands shown proudly.

While the travel was tense and more exhausting than normal, it was uneventful. In the ten days he'd been responding to calls, he'd only run into a handful of other people on the roofs, and most of them bailed as soon as they saw him. His haste to arrive at the checkpoint before the group came through left him winded and regretting his four-way split. Maybe I should dismiss Mage. At least then I'd be a bit more prepared if this all goes south.

Scanning the cityscape while he thought, he hoped to find a decent vantage.

"You've got time. Probably another half hour," Warrior's thoughts were calming. Taking his time, Alex resumed his scouting and repositioned more than once around the tall buildings. In the end, he realized he didn't need to have things perfect right now. The most important thing is not to get caught. This group seems to be coming through regularly. If I find a bad spot this time, I'll just bail out early and do more scouting beforehand on the next attempt.

It was reassuring to realize that it was more important to get things right, stay calm, and play it safe, rather than try to get it perfect on this first try. His thoughts were naturally drawn back to his mana-battery experiment, and he snorted at the irony. Moving with more deliberation, Alex spent time searching for a decent spot. In the end, he found one that fit his new outlook on the situation. He sat on the roof of a small bagel shop, nestled between two larger buildings.

The one to the north cut off his line of sight to the checkpoint entrance, but gave him a great view of the following forty yards. As long as the group didn't enter and take an immediate turn, they would cross his path. Being stationary afforded him a certain amount of protection, in that he was less likely to draw the group's attention.

Additionally, there was a narrow alley leading away from the spot that he'd taken the time to walk down, and finding an easy escape route made him feel significantly better about the uncertainty of the entire situation. Once settled in place, all that was left to do was to wait. It was unfortunate that waiting was the worst part. He sat on the small lip of cement that ringed the rooftop, his back resting against a large piece of machinery on the roof, likely part of the ventilation system.

It created a great shield for most of his body, allowing him a narrow port of vision between the box and an adjacent pipe. Time passed, and the longer he waited, the more certain he was that his plan had failed. They must have turned once they came in. It's taking them too long. A bit more time passed, and he began to feel a bit paranoid. Did they sense me somehow? He glanced over his shoulder at the alley. Was it possible for his own escape route to turn into an ambush site? Should I bail out now?

Do I take a different exit plan, just in case? What if— All doubt and questioning cut off abruptly as the group of adventurers entered his window of vision. The group and those they escorted kept largely to themselves, but their armor and weapons made those they walked near give them space. From his vantage point, it looked like a sea of people parting before the group, like a wake to a boat. Alex pulsed the scanning feature of his eye, surprised to find that all four of the team members were unable to be scanned.

They were likely wearing items to prevent scans and analyze skills. While frustrating, it only lent credence to his theory. People with items or skills like that shouldn't be let through the checkpoint without being easily stopped. His thoughts were interrupted as he came to a different conclusion. What if they were with the HA?

He saw a scenario, unlikely as it might be, where the group worked as some sort of black ops group for the Hunters and were able to pass through because the checkpoint was expecting them to come through. Turning the idea over, he realized it wasn't any less likely than the group having nefarious purposes and the checkpoint leadership being in on the deal. Not just that, but multiple checkpoint leaders would have to be in on the plan.

Suddenly, the idea that he was simply probing and worrying about a group of powerful, fully sanctioned awakened, seemed much more likely. Alex shook his head. He had a hunch he was right, and checking in on the group wouldn't hurt anyone. Doubt did nothing but try to shake his conviction. The thought made the corners of his mouth turn up. Carefully, he adjusted his positioning and focused on one of the group's members who leaked the most mana.

He applied his mental pressure to the block that prevented his scan, and with a bit of his Will applied, he was able to press through whatever item was blocking him. He had prepared himself to shove against the wall, but the reality was that he just pushed it aside almost as if he were opening a door.

Angela O'Brien - Level 34 <Combatant I> Class: Suppressor (Journeyman) Primary Stat: Willpower: 160 Secondary Stat: Agility: 46 Tertiary Stats: Mana: 30 Constitution: 22 Intellect: 17 Most Used Abilities: Memory Fog (Journeyman) False Authority (Journeyman) Nervous Tell (Novice) Social Network (Novice) Dampen (Novice) Break (Novice) Predator's Gaze (Novice) His eyebrows rose as he absorbed the information.

"Fuck me," he whispered. Her Willpower wasn't insignificant, especially with only having broken into D Rank; he knew the stat gain from her journeyman class would likely see it increase rapidly. The skills drew more attention than the stats. For her class to be called Suppressor, and the most used abilities to have such names, led his mind down a dark path. The group had their backs to his position now, and she was on the right side of the group.

Similar to Rylan's reaction that he'd seen so long ago, she seemed to receive some sort of feedback from his brute forcing past her item, as she paused. Stopping mid-stride as he group continued to take several steps before noticing her halt. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. They exchanged some words, with two of the men shrugging and waving her on before turning to continue in their original direction.

Angela looked around at the people in the crowd as if someone had spit on her, but after a long moment, she picked up her pace to catch up to the group. Alex let out his breath and thought about the next steps. Her class and skills alone weren't very damning, but they made him curious enough to find out more. He glanced once at the group before making his decision as they moved out of his window of sight. Crouching as he moved to the alleyway exit, he worked to reposition himself.

He'd been through most of the city in the last week and a half, but unfortunately, since the calls never brought him to that zone, he was less familiar with it than the others. Opting for a better vantage and to stay out of sight, he risked the rooftops once again, making easy work of locating the group in the crowd due to mana signatures and quality gear.

Angela's level was the highest he'd seen since arriving in Philadelphia, and he had a sneaking suspicion that she wasn't the strongest in the group, based on their interaction. He followed them for several blocks. The group kept their heads scanning, and they moved with a purpose. As the crowds began to thin in their area, he worried they would soon reach their destination and he'd miss his chance.

Aware that forcing his scan through their items, while easy, would alert them to prying eyes, he knew he'd need to act fast. Worried that they would get spooked from his prodding, Alex picked the two he assumed to be the most important and scanned them both back-to-back. Rather than absorbing the information from the first man as he scanned him, he ignored the status window that appeared in his vision and focused on immediately pushing through the item of the second man.

Before he could even shift his eye's ability to the third and final member, the three of them exploded into movement. It startled those around them as they activated movement skills and all went in different directions. One to the left, one to the right, and one to their rear. He realized they must be spreading out to find who was prodding at their statuses, all three of them scanning their surroundings intensely.

Angela stayed with the three people they were escorting, who didn't seem to react to the bursts of movement. He had a decision to make. Do I bail now with the information I've got and try to follow them again in a few days? He knew he could take the safe route, avoiding the risk of being found by those who were now searching. But it was when he saw the three people in front of Angela that he decided to continue following them despite the risk.

The slight clouds of mana around their heads, and the clues he'd been able to glimpse from her status, made him think they were under her influence. Careful to dip further out of sight, he descended the building roofs before walking through the alley toward the main street. While the trio had been searching the ground, Alex was sure that at least one of them would have an inclination to look up. Since he was the only person up there, he knew it would be suspicious.

He did his best to blend in with the crowd as he merged with the flow of foot traffic. Weaving his way forward, doing his best to seem like he simply had somewhere to be, rather than like he was desperately trying to catch up with his targets. To further blend in, he focused intensely on thinning his mana out to the point that if any of the team did look in his direction. The lack of mana and the fact that they would get nothing back if they scanned him would make it look like he was unawakened.

With the increased risk, he dismissed Mage's body and recalled his mental stats. The influx of power was welcome, and the warmth and energy flowing through his body boosted his confidence along with his stats. His muscles swelled to fill out his shirt, and his steps became lighter, completely changing his presence in the span of time it took to cover half a city block. It was difficult to find Angela in the crowd once again, but the giveaway in the end was the odd clouds of mana that escorts' heads had.

He followed behind them, making sure no one else was approaching him, before studying them closer. At this distance, he could see their movements and expressions much more easily than from his vantage on the roof. His jaw tightened as he got a clearer picture of the situation. The escorts' faces were all slack and devoid of emotion, and their movements were in sync, shuffling forward at the exact same pace, regardless of the people they bumped into every few yards.

Once he felt a rhythm to the travel, he let himself get distracted by the windows that still hovered to the side of his vision. Each of them had a readout from the men he'd seen walking with Angela. Both of them were physical fighters, leaning heavily into Strength, Agility, and Constitution. He ignored their stats and focused on their classes and skill set.

Byron Powell - Level 35 <Blooded Brawler> Class: Fighter (Journeyman) Most Used Abilities: Combo (Journeyman) Jab (Journeyman) Slam (Journeyman) Dirty Fighting (Novice) Submission Hold (Novice) Trophy Strike (Novice) James Glover - Level 46 <Arena Contestant XI> Class: Gladiator (Journeyman) Most Used Abilities: Exploit Weakness (Journeyman) Spear Trust (Journeyman) Front Kick (Journeyman) Crowd Pleaser (Novice) Intimidating Presence (Novice) False Mercy (Novice) Both readouts surprised Alex.

He dismissed the windows while tailing Angela, thinking through the implications he'd seen. Both men were fighters, and their levels and skills indicated they were not only good at it but had extensive practice doing so against other humans. Most surprising was James's level. To have someone show up in this random group who was only eleven levels lower than he was, after all the time he'd spent in Rifts and grinding monsters over the last few months, was truly staggering.

Even many of the soldiers who had been in his rotation didn't leave the full eight months in the Shadow Rift at the same level as James Glover. It was troubling, and Alex felt his curiosity spike along with his excitement. He examined his own reaction for a split second, wondering if he should feel more ashamed at the fact that he almost wished that one of the two men would stumble upon him. He pushed the thought aside, looking around at the passing faces and busy street.

It's not likely that only one of them would find me. Fighting both could be difficult, not to mention if the rest of the group showed up. He kept his head down and made sure that he was devoting special attention to the mana thinning technique with his increased reserves. After another ten minutes of following Angela, all three men returned. They exchanged quick words, and Alex was alarmed as all three men placed a hand on one of the escort's shoulders.

They turned and walked into the crowd in different directions, Angela trailing behind James. Confusion was replaced by reluctant admiration as he realized what they were doing. With the group split, he had to choose who to follow, and there wasn't much he could do about it unless he was willing to recall Warrior as well and create two new fractured bodies. By then, the groups may be far enough away from him that he should have just followed one of the three.

Shaking his head, he kept following Angela and James, feeling that they were his best bet. Alex continued to follow Angela, James, and their escort through Zone 4 and into Zone 5, the two other pairs never reconvened with them, likely having gone elsewhere. It was in Zone 5 that Alex found the group's destination, and he wondered if this was where they'd planned to come all along or if they'd altered course because of his prodding. The deeper they went into Zone 5, the thinner the crowds became.

Construction and half-finished renovations were beginning to transform the busy warehouse district just outside of the main city into an extended section of the Safe Zone. He had been close to calling the entire thing off as the groups thinned and it became increasingly difficult to justify his presence there. It would be painfully obvious that he was tailing them if everyone cleared out, leaving only himself and the trio he followed.

At present, Alex sat in an abandoned building nearby, staring intently at one of the many warehouse buildings on the block. The group had disappeared more than an hour before, when they'd turned the corner and walked quickly to the three men who hung around the entrance. Angela had flashed something at them and exchanged a few words before stepping forward to unlock the padlock chaining the door to the metal anchor embedded in the brick wall. It had only taken him a few moments to make up his mind on his next step.

Before taking anything to the director, the only person he currently trusted within the HA, Alex needed to confirm what they were doing with the escorts. He worried these people were being forced into labor, and he harbored no illusions about Angela's abilities or the effects they created on the minds of those surrounded by the mana clouds.

There was a decent chance that even with the circumstantial evidence he had about being drawn away from Zone 4 and Zone 5 CPs so regularly and the group's odd composition and strange classes, the director would listen to him. But he knew the reason he was there to begin with was that the HA was short-staffed, and he had a skill set that they were struggling to fill in this expanding area.

It was most likely that until there was very firm confirmation of what the small group was doing, he'd be asked to investigate it himself. Best-case scenario, the director would believe him immediately and send some sort of Internal Affairs to investigate this branch of the HA, weeding out the corruption and making it significantly easier to find this group. Though all of that felt extremely unlikely. So, he watched.

While he waited, he thought through the possibility that these were the same people he'd come here to help find. The director said people were disappearing within the Safe Zone, but these people are bringing people from outside. I doubt it's the same group. I agree, but it doesn't change the fact that these people are shady as hell and should likely be reported. Especially if they've corrupted some of the Hunters. The second mind he had recalled from Mage spoke with him as Alex turned the problem over again.

Yeah, fair enough. Question now is, do we stay here and hope to catch some movement when they leave? Or bail and tail them again when they come back in through the city? Either or. My vote is to stay and watch for a while, maybe get some more information without risking ourselves. We're not stealthy like Olivia. Trying to tail them again could end badly, especially if they're on edge. Alex nodded at Mage's—his own logic. He looked around his concealed position.

The partially boarded-up window he was watching from offered him a decent amount of protection from prying eyes, while giving him a great view of the building they'd entered. Pulling a chair and blanket from his bracer, he adjusted to something more comfortable and settled in for several hours of patient waiting and watching.