After viewing the intelligence chief's email, the director's already dark expression grew even darker.
Inessa's team completely annihilated?
Unlike ordinary internet users, when the director watched the restaurant footage, he wasn't impressed by Richard's appearance or fighting style. Instead, he concluded that Inessa and her team had fallen into a carefully orchestrated trap set by Crimson Manor.
Though only Richard and Sabretooth appeared in the footage, the director immediately suspected Crimson Manor's involvement.
The absence of other Crimson Manor mutants was irrelevant.
What mattered was that Richard, a Crimson Manor member, had killed Inessa and her team.
After watching the videos with a stone-cold expression, the director immediately lifted the phone on his desk and dialed the intelligence division's internal extension.
"Contact the websites and have these videos taken off. Now. Immediately!"
His tone brooked no argument.
Though they held equivalent departmental rank, the operations director clearly outranked the intelligence chief in both authority and status.
Hearing the director's command, the intelligence chief promptly replied, "Understood. I'll arrange for website contacts right away."
After ending that call, the director dialed a second internal number.
"Notify Groups One and Two to report to the conference room immediately."
Without waiting for acknowledgment, he hung up, rose from his desk, and strode toward the conference room.
Minutes later, over a dozen mutant agents from the Operations Department sat flanking a long conference table, silently observing their director at the head position.
Under their collective gaze, the imposing director announced gravely:
"Inessa and her team are dead, killed by Richard Wesley."
With that, he instructed his assistant to play the downloaded viral videos.
Though brief—less than a minute in total—the footage left the assembled agents visibly troubled.
As departmental colleagues, they intimately understood Inessa and her team's capabilities.
Slater and Bourne's deaths, while regrettable, weren't particularly shocking.
Their abilities—typical Super Strength, Enhanced Durability, and Accelerated Healing—were relatively common.
But Inessa, with her Repulsion, Blinkstep, and Mental Charm powers, ranked among their top field operatives. Her swift defeat by a supposedly newly awakened mutant deeply unsettled them.
Despite her sometimes difficult personality, Inessa's combat effectiveness ranked within the department's top five.
Yet Richard had dispatched her as easily as an ordinary human.
This reality proved difficult for the assembled agents to accept.
If Inessa couldn't withstand Richard's assault, their own prospects against him seemed even bleaker.
"Is there an intelligence error? Based on his performance, Richard Wesley hardly appears to be a newly awakened mutant," observed Belt, Group Two's leader.
"Richard Wesley hadn't awakened any powers. His father confirmed this himself. I doubt his father could deceive our intelligence division's interrogators," countered Aiden, Group One's leader, before the director could respond.
Though departmental colleagues, Aiden and Belt maintained a frosty relationship.
Beyond the inherent competitive dynamic between Groups One and Two, their mutant abilities created natural opposition.
Aiden wielded fire, while Belt commanded cold and ice.
One flame, one frost.
Though elemental powers didn't necessarily define personality, their opposing abilities made friction between them inevitable.
"Intelligence reports cannot be questioned," the director interjected. "Richard Wesley must have awakened his powers within the past few days."
"The footage clearly shows his ability to summon an extraordinary blade, teleport, and project energy waves."
"Most significantly, he defeated Inessa with minimal effort!"
"I now have reason to classify him as a Level Four mutant and am issuing a Class A warrant for his apprehension!"
Class A warrant?
The announcement visibly startled Aiden and the others. Though not the highest-level designation for mutant fugitives, Class A warrants typically targeted only notorious and extraordinarily dangerous individuals.
To Aiden and his colleagues, using a Class A warrant for Richard seemed excessive.
Agent casualties, while unfortunate, weren't unprecedented in the Department's history. Generally, Class B warrants proved sufficient in such cases.
Only when a subject demonstrated power far beyond ordinary mutants or committed especially heinous crimes did the Department issue Class A warrants.
After all, it represented the second-highest classification, exceeded only by Class S.
To date, the Department had issued only one Class S warrant—for Magneto himself.
Ignoring his agents' surprise, the director continued:
"To prevent further agent casualties, Groups One and Two will operate together."
"Your targets include Richard Wesley, Victor "Sabretooth" Creed, the woman accompanying Creed, and any remaining Crimson Manor members."
"Capture them all."
"If you encounter resistance, terminate with extreme prejudice."
"I want every unregistered mutant to understand that opposing the Department of Mutant Affairs carries fatal consequences."
The director stood, his cold gaze sweeping across the assembled agents.
"Yes, sir!" Aiden, Belt, and the others responded promptly.
Outside Los Angeles, an unremarkable RV campground hosted few visitors.
The suburbs contained dozens of such facilities.
Though familiar with many popular campgrounds from the original Richard's memories, Richard deliberately selected an obscure location with minimal occupancy.
He remained unaware that his confrontation with Inessa had been recorded and uploaded, that he'd become an internet sensation, or that he now carried a Class A warrant.
After parking his RV in a secluded corner, he quietly left the campground and entered the nearby forest.
Confirming his solitude, he summoned the Masamune from his system space.
"Octaslash Proficiency +1"
"Octaslash Proficiency +1"
"Octaslash Proficiency +1"
Without hesitation, he began practicing Octaslash.
Before long, he had depleted his mana reserves.
[Skill: Octaslash (Level 1, 36/100)]
After checking his current proficiency, he turned his attention to the Repulsion power he'd plundered from Inessa.
[Repulsion: Beta-level power, the power to repel or redirect any form of matter or energy—solids, liquids, gases, and even pure energy.]
Like his Plunder ability, the system provided only a brief description of Repulsion.
Though minimalist, it sufficiently conveyed the power's nature.
Based on Inessa's demonstration, when deflecting the Masamune in the restaurant, she'd directly repelled the physical blade.
The shockwave she'd released outside had involved compressing air, then violently repelling it to create concussive force.
As for why she'd failed to deflect his Octaslash, Richard theorized it involved the mana channeled through the technique.
Though Repulsion could theoretically deflect "any object," its Beta-level classification implied upper limits.
If an attack exceeded Repulsion's threshold—like mana-enhanced Octaslash—it could either penetrate the defense entirely or strike before being fully repelled.
Functionally, Repulsion represented an excellent power.
Unfortunately, as a Beta-level ability, its ceiling remained relatively low without fusion with similar abilities.
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