This Thing A Quiet Madness Made

Chapter 44

2:00AM

Heroes soon spread over the city as news of the situation was released to every agency in the country. The Commission, now fully void of any strategic advantage or insider knowledge over their escaped fugitive, instead had to resort to a less precise plan: manpower. They sent out hundreds of heroes, big and small, from top-ranking names to those hardly recognizable, the police force and the Hero Commission brought in each and every body they could spare, sending them out into the cities. They were to keep an eye out for both the Manager and Unknown, be it in the streets, in the outskirts, in the forests, or in the city's abandoned blocks. With eyes in every corner of the sleeping city, the Commission hoped to be able to flush them out, or at the very least, force them into hiding long enough to wear them down. They used every resource they had to box them in, from search teams to roadblocks to alerting policemen nationwide, but all these had very limited merit considering the sheer scope of the area they had to cover. They kept all information surrounding the operation from the public, lest it cause mass panic and further add to their growing list of problems; however, that also meant it would be infinitely more difficult to find their targets once the sun rose and civilians flooded the streets. They were in a race against daylight: to find their targets before their targets found each other.

"Even with our numbers, our chances aren't good. There's no way to know if they're even still in the city. Without knowing where to look, we can only rely on luck. We've called in reinforcements from around the country to assist us, but our focus should be on figuring out where the Manager would go. Our priority is still to capture him," the police chief stated, staring up at the half dozen faces on the large screen before him.

"Unknown wouldn't have taken off blindly; it's likely she somehow figured out the Manager's location. She must have remembered or realized something we didn't," the head of the Hero Commission reasoned, her staticky voice reverberating throughout the room.

"If that's the case, we need to take a deeper look at her history. If we find one of them, we'll find both of them," another man spoke.

"We can revisit the statements she's given before, but there's likely not much in there that can help us. If whatever realization she had to spur this on was recent, she may not have mentioned anything about it to anyone before. We're in an impossible position- there's no way to just guess where they could be."

"That's not necessarily true. Based on statements from the UA students, Unknown has inadvertently slipped vital information before. They may be our best lead at this point."

"But we've interviewed them extensively before, what more could they possibly know? I believe we're better off spending our time focused on the Manager, understanding how he thinks; getting into his head is the best way to pinpoint where he would go at a time like this."

"And how exactly do you propose we do that? He hardly spoke during his time in Tartarus, not to mention we still have yet to find any information about his true identity. As hopeless as it sounds, the reality is we don't know anything about him. We at least have something to work with in Unknown."

"This is no time to argue amongst ourselves, all of you. We can divide our resources to pursue both options; our chances are better that way regardless. I'll send word to the rest of the Commission, and you should inform your people as well, chief. We need as many pairs of eyes on this as possible."

"Of course, ma'am. I'll have my men start reviewing the old case files, and we'll begin questioning the students as well."

"And what of the student that disappeared? What will we do about him?"

"From what we know, we can safely determine he took off of his own accord. It's not ideal, but he likely won't be much of a hindrance to us; we simply don't have time to be concerned with him at this point. I'll inform the heroes to keep an eye out for the boy, but our priorities still lie in finding Unknown and the Manager. We have a long night ahead of us, everyone, so let's get started on fixing this damn mess."