"Y-y-ye-yes, sir. I-I will m-memorize them as soon as possible. I-I am s-so s-sorry for my i-ignorance. A-a most formal expression of apology."
The Devil just breathed. "It's fine, Bron. I'll explain them to you. A code yellow means the convict has been missing for less than a minute.
An orange means one minute to five minutes. A red is five minutes to thirty minutes, and black is thirty minutes to an hour." The times seemed low, but time ran faster in the Underworld than it did in the Overworld, so it really was completely reasonable to, within what was only a single 'minute', detect that a convict has breached, put together a recapture team, send them out, and catch it.
For the Underworld denizens, it would've felt like closer to ten minutes. The Devil just hoped Temporus hadn't been missing for over five minutes. Red alerts – and especially black ones – were so much paperwork to deal with.
"W-well, sir, I already knew those… I was just, j-just wondering i-if there were any other codes?"
The Devil frowned. "What do you mean, Mite?"
"U-um, like, like, a-are there any codes th-that go further than black?"
The Devil stood from his desk, looking down at the pest. "Mite. What are you trying to say."
The Ember Mite trembled, staring down at the floor. "U-um, h-how would I tell you that, th-that, th, that, um, T-Temporus has been unaccounted for, for, um, th-th-th-three days?"
The Devil face paled as he froze in place, standing with his eyes wide. Once the moment of shock ended, he immediately snapped back down into his chair, fumbling for a Communication Crystal.
He haphazardly pushed Mana into it, activating its effect and waiting impatiently for the person on the other end to answer.
"U-um…" The Ember Mite shuffled in place, reminding the Devil it was there.
"Get out!" He shouted, having completely lost his composure. "Put together a recapture team or something. Fucking kill yourself, for all I care. Just… get out of my sight!"
The communication crystal chimed as the Ember Mite scurried out of the room. "Expression of greeting," a hard female voice came from it. "You did not schedule this call. May I ask why–"
"Emergency alert!" Normally the Devil would never dream of speaking to a direct superior without first greeting her formally and with her full name – let alone interrupting her – but the current situation was certainly out of the ordinary. "Temporus has escaped to the Overworld! It has been missing for three days!"
"What?! Why did you not inform me of this earlier?" He could hear the rage in her voice.
"Formal expression of apology. I was only just now informed."
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"Xhag'duul you incompetent fucking– okay. You need to come directly to my office. Now."
"Of course."
The communication ended, and for a moment, the Devil could do nothing but stare at the crystal. But eventually, he got up from his seat and started pacing around his tiny office. "Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!" He slammed his fist into the wall, cracking the stone and sending a shiver through the whole complex. A stack of papers fell over.
He rubbed his fingers across his head and took a deep breath. "Okay, okay. Let's go." With that, he exited the office, heading into the main complex he was located in. The room was large and filled with Ember Mites, Lesser Gargoyles, and other office workers quietly doing their jobs.
Only, none of them actually were doing their jobs now; all of them were staring at the Devil . They'd all heard the yelling and punching of the wall, so they knew something bad had just happened.
"S-sir," one of the Gargoyles spoke up, its deep, crunchy voice splitting the silence, "would you like–"
"Shut the fuck up," he interrupted it without looking over, "and get the teleporter ready."
The Devil knocked on his superior's door. About a minute passed with no response, but he waited patiently. Eventually, a voice came out.
"Enter."
He opened the door, stepping in while looking pointedly downward, as was etiquette. "An expression of most formal greeting, Superior Quinmorada'qualticularoohdodonmi'asmomonomomonminmi'oohdoohdimyuumyuuquanquimi'jinndarrqyuqyakwuquoquanki'miminanmujardinmani'quokinwukanquokokanki." Business was urgent, but now that the Devil's superior was at least informed about the emergency, the Devil could show a bit more refinement. At the very least, being polite could temper her anger.
"Expression of greeting. I will call you Xhag'duul."
"Formal expression of gratitude, Superior Quinmorada'qualticularoohdodonmi'asmomonomomonminmi'oohdoohdimyuumyuuquanquimi'jinndarrqyuqyakwuquoquanki'miminanmujardinmani'quokinwukanquokokanki."
"This is an urgent meeting. I appreciate your formality, but for the time being, you may call me Superior, without the name." She took a breath. "Now, you said Temporus has been in the Overworld for three days? Oh, you may raise your head, too."
The Devil raised his head and gazed at his superior. She was a Devil, like him, and wearing the same plain black clothes. Her office looked near-identical to his, with the rough stone walls and slightly-too-small floor space – or, at least, it would look near-identical to an outsider.
Any Demon worth its fire would be able to recognize that this office belonged to someone of much higher stature than the Devil. It was larger. It was 2.8 percent larger, to be exact – 0.1 percent for each stacking position of power she had above him, as was the standard way of delineating office size.
"Yes, Superior," the Devil said. "Temporus has been missing for three days."
"Okay. A simple recapture team will not work in this instance. In three days, it could have gone almost anywhere in the territory it escaped to.
I'll contact the upper brass and ask for a Diviner squad so we can first locate its general area, and then afterward, once we find it, you can send in a recapture team. Ideally, we can just send in a small squad of soldiers, have them grab Temporus, and then come back with the Overworld denizens none the wiser.
We do not want to harm our relations with them by letting them find out we're sending military into their realm. They're already incredibly cautious, and war could break out if we aren't careful."
"Of course, Superior."
She hummed. "...That said, circumstances may be that we'd need to send in more than a small squad. Temporus could be captured or it could have somehow ended up in a densely populated area, around powerful Humans. In that case… I'll speak with some of the other departments and try to set up preparations. We'll hope it doesn't come to that."
"Yes, Superior. Formal expression of gratitude, Superior."
"And, of course, there is also the possibility that Temporus has… perished." Her face darkened. "In that case, you are to report directly to me.
It shouldn't be likely – Temporus's powers make it uniquely… survivable – but there is always the possibility. Do try to encourage the Diviners that will be assigned to you to work as accurately and quickly as possible. I will authorize a 5% decrease in the daily quota of your sector so that you may focus more on that."
The Devil was shocked at the huge leniency given to him with the decrease in daily quota; It was obvious that his superior wanted Temporus captured quickly. "A most formal expression of gratitude, Superior. Your kindness will not be wasted. I will have Temporus located as quickly as possible."
"Yes. I hope you will."