The System

The day Earth stood still.

Kal heard synchronized dings from multiple system screens. "No one's around?" He asks.

"Want more people involved in your little illegal pep project?" Aurelia XXX

"Wanted only you since the start." Kal closed his eyes, confident in Aurelia. He knew she could handle the entire office on her own. "Why do you even have those idiots around is beyond me."

"I am getting too old for this..." Aurelia yawns. "Girl has to retire someday." Her screen pinpoints a Scout's location. "Also... you are tiring." She whispers.

"What?"

"Don't forget your tracker this time," Aurelia yells into the receiver.

"Ah! Don't yell into my ear."

"Then stop being such a dumbass." She whispers again.

"What...? Wait, I heard that."

"Can't believe you've let them put a tracker on you," Aurelia speaks quickly before Kal can snap back at her.

"Don't play naïve. That's general protocol, you know that."

Aurelia ignores Kal and continues with her taunt. "Being tracked like a dog. Daag h tu Void-folk ke naam pe." <{Hindi taunt for:-You are a disgrace in the name of Void-Folk.}<.

"Watashi o fui o tsuitakereba, genchi no gengo o tsukatte kudasai," Kal replies. >{Japanese for:- Go to local languages if you want to catch me off-guard.}<

"Also, there's no point in riling me up... I am going to tame him once I get out."

"Tame?"

"I meant slay."

"That's even worse!"

One banter after another, Aurelia and Kal kept switching languages and accents as they schooled each other and retrieved Kal's tracker from the bank of Swizz. With the [Oblivion walk] skill on full display, the public kept staring at and away from Kal, without knowing why or what they should be staring at. This went on until Kal meant yet another interesting human.

This human not only had the audacity to smudge Kal's favorite jacket but also swallowed the tracker whole. To be honest, Kal didn't care in the least about the tracker. For the jacket, he would remember and hunt this human down after his restrictions were lifted.

Kal stares deeply, hoping to never forget his face, while the human stares right back at him.

"What are you looking at, punk?" Aurelia gets rattled up. "Wait... He is still staring." She realizes.

"We both are looking at the same scene, Aurelia," Kal says.

"No... He is staring right at us. I mean you." She corrects herself.

"Tell me something I don't see. I am going to remember his face and..."

"He is still staring at you."

"So what?"

"He shouldn't be! Our skill. I mean your skill. The Oblivion Walk is still active. Is it active?"

Kal finally realizes Aurelia's dilemma. For the first time, Kal meets the human's eyes.

"Stop spiking your presence," Aurelia warns Kal. "He might sense you and run away."

"The kid!"

"No! The scout. Leave him for now. The scout is around the corner."

Kal's gut screamed not to let this human go. In a split decision, Kal chooses to meet the scout first, vanishing from within the crowd. For a second, the people around Kal were astonished, but when the crowd behind them bumped into them, they forgot why they were staring at a black space and were led back to their lives...