Disappearances at Nox Town

Not long after the outbreak announcement was made, Cynthia calls Haneul and Aaron. “Nice morning so far - isn’t it? Are there any more surprises? ” asks Aaron. Cynthia clears here throat then says, “Indeed, you have more coming Aaron.” She takes a brief pause. They both stay focused, waiting for her to continue. 

It appears that there are reports of people disappearing in Nox Town. The local police is still investigating but so far they suspect it may be due to Outsiders. The reason being is that portals have started to appear briefly in some areas; these portals are usually viewed as a sign that Outsiders are coming. However, Haneul and Aaron seem skeptical about the situation. “These disappearances sound more like the work of a human-or a group. I do not recall Outsiders being these sneaky-unless if there is a new type.” Claims Aaron as he sat with his arms folded, trying to process the situation.

“For more information you will have to directly contact the Nox Town police. I suggest you head there earlier than your planned patrol date-given the urgency of the situation.” Cynthia said in her usual monotone, then closes the call.

Aaron laid back on his chair and sighed. Haneul still seemed unsatisfied. He says to her, “She can be quiet difficult to deal with sometimes…but I suppose she must be busy at the moment.”

“It’s not Cynthia’s attitude that is bothering me at the moment. Anyways, let’s have a call with them and see. If it is urgent, we will head out in the afternoon.” Aaron nods in agreement. He arranges for a call with the Nox Town police Chief.

While they were waiting for a response, Aaron looks at Haneul; who seemed more tense than usual. She was sitting upright- at the edge of her seat, arms folded, a foot tapping against the floor. “What’s wrong?” He asks. She remains silent. “Is it because it might be your first big mission as a Captain, leading a group with rookies?” She stopped tapping her foot, then slowly turned to face Aaron. For a moment it looked like she wanted to tell him something but decided to kept it to herself.

The chief police officer responds to their call. They inform him of what they’ve been told and ask for further clarification on the situation. “Ah yes, erm-“ he seemed a bit distracted as he was looking through the files. Eventually he seemed to have found what he was looking for. While he was looking at the report he said, “During the last three months, we have had cases of people disappearing. In total six have disappeared- that we know of anyways. Two have showed up so far but there seems to be something odd about them.”

“What do you mean by something odd?” Asks Haneul. She noticed that he seemed distracted-looking around the room and taking pauses while talking to them-almost as if he didn’t find this call to be important.

After a short pause he continues, “Well, some odd stuff. The two seem to not only have lost their memory but also some of their body parts.” Haneul and Aaron exchanged confused looks. Then Aaron says, “This sounds like the work of a human - as bad as it sounds. We have not encountered Outsiders so far that were capable of something like this. Yet anyways…”

“What happened to the other four-how long were they missing for?” Asks Haneul

“We are still trying to locate them…” the Chief was tapping his fingers against the table and looking to the side; as if trying to remember, he continued, “Some had been missing for months now. The most recent one occurred 4 days ago.”

“What about the portals that you had also reported to us? When did they start appearing?”

“Not too sure when exactly- but I believe we started noticing them since a few days ago. Hence why we reported them to you all. We figured it might be related.”

“They also might be completely separate- but anyways, it still our responsibility to investigate those.” Says Aaron

Haneul nods and says, “Looks like we will be coming very soon-“ she was interrupted by the sound of a door opening from the Chiefs side, someone suddenly came to him and reports in a panicked mode, “Chief! The squad we sent had vanished from the tracker.”

“Have we tried searching for them? Maybe their devices suddenly stopped working-“

“Yes we have sent someone, we even checked the road cameras. They vanished sir!”

“My-what a coincidence. I am on a call with the Rangers-“ he looks at the screen and asks, “Do you think you can come as soon as possible?”

“Sure- we will head out in a few minutes.” says Haneul hesitantly.

After the call ended, Aaron asks Haneul, “Have you noticed that he did not seem worried nor surprised? Or was it just me?” Haneul nods slowly; she appeared to be lost in thought.