Extraordinary Regularity

Logan turned his head towards Matthew, his annoyance slowly growing into genuine anger.
"Must be an empty life."
He tried to brush it off like it was nonsense, but at the very least he couldn't deny that what Matthew said bothered him for reasons he couldn't explain.
"Logan. That's my name. If you're gonna talk down to me, you might as well do it properly."
He got out of his booth and stood up, turning to face Matthew so that he could look him directly in the eyes.

"What, so the white knight thinks he's got me all figured out, huh? I'll admit that I can get bored easily but that's just what it's like to be the best. When you're not struggling to survive, you've got a lot more time on your hands so you have to find ways to keep yourself busy. It's only natural and it certainly doesn't mean that my life is as "empty" as you think it is."

His eyes narrowed to match Matthew's gaze.
"I'll give you one thing, though. I can do whatever I want. That's the great thing about having strength and if it means that I have to work a little harder to keep myself entertained, I'm okay with that. It's just how the world works. The strong get everything they want while the weak struggle just to get by. Kids aren't exempt from that rule, I can tell you that from personal experience. But like I said...it's none of my business if you want to drag yourself down by trying to play the hero for people who can't fend for themselves. For all I know, since I have no idea how your powers work either, you might just be keeping good company."

Although his words had a sarcastic edge to them, he spoke them with a great deal of sincerity. It wasn't just dry, empty cynicism, he honestly believed what he was saying to be the truth. At times, he had a slight tone of contempt as well, showing that he truly thought of those he considered weak to be beneath him.

 

Matthew tilted his head as a car went past.
“It's your life. Your path takes you down chaos and whimsy. But that doesn't mean others have to do the same.”
He turned to look back into the restaurant, his eyes flickering over the cat-girl and things only he could see.
“Being strong doesn't mean belittling those less powerful than yourself for living a different way. Can you honestly tell me there was never a time in your life where you were weak, and frightened and scared and helpless? Choosing to help those who cannot help themselves isn't tying myself down, it's doing what I want.”
His gaze moved sideways to Logan's. “Besides, has it ever occurred to you that maybe choosing not to be strong can be strength in itself? You're pretty powerful, but if you ask me? Take no offence to this, but the life you're living is no life. Doing whatever you want whenever you want is a nice fantasy but it must get stale, being a slave to your instincts.”

He looked back into the darkness of the restaurant, and whatever he saw made a smile appear on his face – a tired, weary smile, but a smile nonetheless. “The power of choice. Mastery over that is true strength if you ask me, and those who have been denied that choice are weak as a result. That girl has been denied her choice.”
He was silent for a moment.
“And I think you were denied your choice too...”

 

Kitty was still scared, Especially after what Logan did to the table. She got up and hid behind Matthew. She felt safe near him. It was true, She had no choice. She had to live on the streets. Kitty peeked around Matthew, and stared Logan down.

 

Logan kept his emotions in check while Matthew was talking, but it still showed in his expression that he was suppressing a great deal of anger. By the time he finished speaking, Logan's clenched fists were ever so slightly shaking with rage. He even started to lose control of his powers for a brief second, causing the entire building to tremble as if they were feeling the aftershock of an earthquake. But he soon calmed down, releasing the tension in his hands and turning his downcast gaze back up to Matthew.
"You want to hear something funny? I think I might actually hate you. I don't say that very often, you know. Most people just annoy me, but you...you seem to have some kind of gift for pissing me off."

He turned to the exit, still keeping his eyes on Matthew.
"Make no mistake, you and I are going to settle this properly. Not here, not today, but it will happen. Then we'll see if you can back up all of that talking you did just now."
He walked towards the exit, stopping right in front of it for a moment. Instead of just opening the door, he delivered a strong kick to it and his power sent it flying off of its hinges and high into the air, landing with a loud thud some distance away.
"I'll be back in a minute. I need to get some air."

He walked outside as the rain was pouring down, made his way to a nearby wall and leaned against it, slumping down slightly as his empty gaze stared blankly into the sky. He should have been getting soaked, but his power repelled every last raindrop that tried to land on him.
"What an idiot. It must be nice to be so idealistic..."
He muttered to himself as he tried to clear his mind.

 

Matthew sighed.
"Kids, do me a favor and put that door and table back." The door lifted from the ground and flew back to its hinges, the metal scrunching back to fit its old confines while the table Logan had "moved" underwent a similar process. "Good work." He turned to the restaurant as a whole and clapped his hands. "Right, pack your stuff up kids. We're getting back on the move again." Sure enough, Logan's miniature earthquake had woken quite a few concerned neighbors, and lights were coming on and heading their way. Matthew took Kitty's hand, and after checking all the kids were assembled, he left through the back door with Kitty in tow.

The back exit was into a dark alleyway, but morning light wasn't too far off. Logan's silhouette was clearly visible slumped against a wall, looking vacant and lost. When he'd blasted away that table, he'd seemed a fearsome man - here he just seemed beaten and crushed without a blow. Matthew couldn't find anything in his heart but concern and pity.
He pulled up his umbrella he'd left by the back door and gave it to Kitty, making sure she wouldn't get wet. Not wanting to leave the man sitting forlornly out here, even if he'd done nothing but insult and degrade, Matthew led Kitty past Logan to the mouth of the alleyway and waited there for Logan to get up.
"You're not getting wet, but you can still get pneumonia." Matthew looked out at the street, now almost deserted bar the occasional early-riser or late-nighter. "Granted, you seem like you can look after yourself well enough, but you get the idea. Just concerned for you, that's all."

 

Kitty gripped Matthews hand harder. "Uhm... T-thank you, for sticking up for me." She held the umbrella in her other hand, Listening to the sound of the rain against it. "No one has ever really done that before..." She bowed slightly, then looked back at Logan. "B-but I'm sure he didn't mean any of that, He looks likes he has been through a lot..." Kitty shook her head. "Anyways... I'm Kitty, Kitty Miles. Thank you again for before."

 

As Logan came out of his reverie, he was still in a foul mood but he had at least calmed down quite a bit after being alone with his thoughts for a while, however brief that time might have been. He gave Kitty an annoyed look.
"...Don't start with me. The only thing I've "been through" today is running into you two."

He stood up straight, took a few steps away from the restaurant and directed his gaze to Matthew.
"So even after all that, you're still worried about me? I don't know if I should be flattered or sick to my stomach."
He casually walked up to the mouth of the alleyway where they were standing.
"Don't waste your time worrying about me, I'm coming with you. I thought that much was obvious by now. How am I supposed to beat any sense into you if I can't even find you?"

He briefly glanced upwards, seeing that the rain was starting to come down pretty hard.
"Come on, let's get going. I've probably got about as much of a chance of catching pneumonia as you do of drowning, but this weather is starting to become a hassle."
While still facing forward, his eyes turned sideways towards Matthew.
"I guess you're the de facto leader of this little group of ours since I can't be bothered and Kitty...yeah. So, lead on, mon capitan."

 

Matthew smiled at Kitty. "No problem. And don't worry - you're not going to need to worry about being homeless again. I've got a place, an apartment just out -"
He stopped, as though something had occurred to him, and he turned back to face into the alleyway.
"Billy!" he shouted. "The file! I left it on the security desk, go get it!"
A few seconds passed, then a folder floated out of the darkness and under Matthew's arm. "Thanks," Matthew said in relief. "What with everything, I completely forgot!" He led the way into the rain. "We're getting close, kids," he said firmly. "I promise we're getting close." He squeezed Kitty's hand, checking she wasn't wet and peered back at Logan, making sure he was still alright.

About five minutes later, they arrived back at an apartment that seemed completely normal. Upon entry, it became clear Matthew was a man with an agenda - three of the four walls, even one in the kitchen, were covered in pictures. The wall they'd just entered through was barely visible under various police reports, yellowed and worn, and what looked like old security footage and newspaper cuttings. All of them concerned a place called Happenstance Orphanage, and various images of the place showed it as a charred, old ruin. The date on each piece of information varied as to the month and day, but they all shared the same year - 1982.
The wall to the left was full of letters and printouts of emails, ranging from complete crackpots to the Pope. They were all addressing the topic of ghosts, and exorcisms.
The wall in the kitchen was a vivid collage of various places, such as Aztec temples, ancient ruins covered with symbols, the great pyramids of Egypt, and even images of the War of Independence. Taking pride at the center was a chemical formula with a word scrawled in red across the top - "Redvitaelin".

The last wall, next to the window, was completely bare - except for a single table, with papers stacked neatly atop it. Matthew's first act was to walk over there and place the file under his arm onto that table with such deliberate poise that it was clear that table was more important than everything else in the room combined.

He turned to Kitty and Logan, taking Kitty's umbrella and placing it on his coat rack.
"Sit down," he gestured to the sofa. "You want anything to eat, drink? We got beer in the fridge, and plenty of snacks and stuff. TV's hooked up to every network, laptop's got free internet." As he spoke, every light flickered on without him even moving towards a switch.
"Me casa su casa, as the saying goes. Just... do me a favor and let me know before you turn anything OFF." That said, he moved over to the table by the window and, picking the file up, started reading it intensely. "Just say if you need anything or got any questions about this whole setup." He waved a hand to indicate the room around him, his nose buried in the file.

 

Name: Eldrich The DragonSlayer
Age: 436
Powers: Berserker Physiology, Weapon Creation
Bio: Also a Revenant.

In a dark cave, buried deep underground lay a well preserved body, how he ended up in America was beyond anyone. He was buried in a stone coffin. A team of excavators uncovered him, regardless of preservation, there was some damage to his skin, and muscle sometimes bone was visible, but rebuilding the tissue was easy, the excavators were all eager and even happy to find a corpse it was a rare find.

One of the excavators was ambitious however one night around they were sitting around and he said. "Imagine if we could bring this corpse back to life, the secrets he could uncover, just the possibilities. I mean yeah he has been here for a while but, I'm sure he'd be happy."

So by his words his men put faith in him, and one night they gathered around and started to bring Eldrich back to life. "Revenant unbound by men, come to life and begin anew." Was the last words chanted when suddenly... Eldrich awoken but not in a kind manor. One of the excavators was bending over the coffin. A massive sword In height and width sprung forward like it was a short sword. The sword was as big as Eldrich with much more thrusting power than imaginable.

Eldrich stood up with blood covering his body and jumped from his coffin slamming down cutting 3 other excavators in half, their mangled corpses spurted a crimson fountain. And the excavator that brought him to life was hiding behind rock, but Eldrich heard his heavy breathing and fear. He swiped through the rock and body of the last one cutting both a stone pillar and person in half.

Everything in the tomb was covered in blood, as Eldrich walked his way from the tomb he let out a tremendous roar and dragged his sword across the ground making his way out. He was in a berserk state making him impossible to contain.

Once he reached the exit with no enemies he slowly calmed down. He noticed he was still draped in most of his armor from over 400 years ago. It was surprisingly unrusted but he would still need new armor and chain mail. He put his visor down to his helmet and walked out of the cave walking over 150 miles he was introduced to modern society, he was confused and uncertain of anything as he walked he saw new faces, new clothing, buildings, cars, and cell phones, people talking in the air, he wanted to draw his sword but crippled by fear he kept walking around. He was hoping someone would notice him and come up to him for conversation but for now he was confused.

 

The rain pattered against his mask as he walked along the alley he always took home. One of the benefits of having to wear a mask in public was that your face was never exposed to the elements. Another was that people didn't bother you unless they were particularly stupid...
A man jumped out in front of him, holding a knife it a shaky hand
"Give me all your money!" his assailant demanded.
He gave an exasperated sigh. "Why?"
The mugger brow furrowed. "Be-because I have a knife pointed at you!"
"You're holding it wrong."
The mugger, to his credit, managed to look even more bewildered. "What? No I'm not!"
"Yes you are. Firstly, your arm is shaking like a leaf. Secondly, you're holding it in front of you, with you legs shoulder distance apart. I could push you over will no effort at all. Or I could push your knife into you instead."
The mugger went pale. "You...could do that?"
"Easily. Now, if you'd excuse me, I have a home to get to." He then began to walk onwards, passed his would be attacker.
"You're not leav..." the mugger began to say, turning to stab him. He was cut short however, by a perfectly executed Judo throw into a nearby dumpster.
"Have a pleasant evening." He remarked, before continuing his journey home.
The idiots really do come out at night, he thought to himself, as the mugger lay groaning in pain, nestled within some pretty foul smelling rubbish.

 

Kitty stepped into the apartment and bowed. "Thank you, Mister Matthew." She then moved over to the couch and sat down. She looked at Logan but quickly looked away, not wanting to make him angry again. She then looked around at the walls of the apartment. "Uhm... Mister Matthew, if you don't mind me asking, What is all of this?"

 

It didn't take very long for Logan to make himself quite comfortable in Matthew's apartment. After Kitty sat down on the couch, Logan sat down right next to her and briefly glanced at her as he grabbed the TV remote.
"First dibs on the TV, hope you don't mind."
Before anyone could object, he started flipping through the various channels.
"So yeah, like she said. What's with all the papers and pictures and stuff? It looks like something out of a bad detective show. You should really think about investing in a filing cabinet."

He took a closer look at them and started to notice a pattern.
"Something about an orphanage...? Please tell me this isn't part of some crazy conspiracy theory where the government wants to put chips in our brains or whatever."
Almost immediately, he started to regret following Matthew here instead of going back to his own apartment.


On a bright, sunny day in a local park, a young boy was playing baseball with his father while his mother watched them, smiling. Nobody could deny that it was a perfectly picturesque moment with a wonderful-looking family. The father, wearing a baseball glove with ball in hand, gave his son a confident smile.
"Alright, Gabe, I'm gonna throw this one dead-center so I want you to hit it as hard as you can! You've got this, show me what you can do!"

The young boy held his bat tightly, shifted his feet outwards slightly and smiled back at his dad.
"Okay! I'm ready!"
His dad threw the ball, but when he did, something unexpected happened. The boy was suddenly surrounded by a burning red aura-- literally a manifestation of his aura-- and true to his word, he was more than ready to hit the oncoming ball. And hit it he did, in fact, he hit it so hard that it flew way out of the park and into the city outside.

The dad just smiled and chuckled slightly.
"I think you might've done a little TOO much, slugger."
The mother sighed, though there was still a slight smile on her face.
"Honestly, dear. You're the one who told him to hit it as hard as he could when you know he can't control his powers yet! I could've told you this was going to happen."

They both had a nice laugh about it, but the boy still looked slightly embarrassed.
"Sorry, Dad. Sorry, Mom."
The dad waved dismissively.
"It's fine, like Mom said, it's kinda my fault anyhow. I'll go grab it, be back in a sec!"
But before he could go, the boy spoke up excitedly.
"No, that's okay, I'll go get it! I can do it real quick, just wait and see!"
Without waiting for an answer, he quickly ran off in the direction the ball as if he were an Olympic athlete. His mother tried to call out to him, but he moved so fast it was already too late.

"Wait! You shouldn't go running off on your own like that!"
The dad couldn't help laughing a little as his son ran off.
"He always was the adventurous type. Don't worry, he won't go too far, he knows better."
The mother had a warm smile on her face.
"You're right. He might be a handful sometimes, but he's such a good boy. He is Mommy's little angel, after all."

The boy was at the edge of the park, looking around for the ball.
"Oh, man. It might not be here. And I don't wanna go too far out, Mom and Dad wouldn't like that..."
Just then, he saw a large man in armor with a large sword walking past. He instantly forgot about the baseball as his eyes lit up in excitement. While other people seemed to be avoiding him, he quickly ran up to the knightly-looking man to say hello.
"Hey, mister! Whoa...that's some really cool armor you've got on! Are you a cosplayer? That sword is AMAZING! Is it real? Is it really real?! Oh, that'd be so cool!"
While firing off his quick barrage of questions, he moved all around the knight, looking closely at every last part of his equipment, all while looking about as excited as any 11-year-old kid in the world could possibly be.

 

Eldrich was perplexed and entertained by the child's behavior, he was speaking in terms he had no idea about, none the less fhe child never went fleeing, he must not have noticed the blood soaking his armor. His barrage of questions and excitemental brought Eldrich back to his own sons excitement when he came home ironclad and finished with battle. Eldrich kneeled down to the boys height and bowed his head. It seemed he forgot to sheathed his sword and blood was still running down it.

"I do not understand why someone would wear fake armor or wield a fake sword, child. What if a troubling time comes in the kingdom, more importantly, what is this... cosplayer you speak of? Are they evil people, Must I slay them? More importantly, where am I, and what is this place?"

Eldrich stayed kneeling so the boy could continue to inspect him in awe. He wouldn't outright say it but he liked the boy, appreciating a knight was always something Eldrich loved. Hopefully the child could explain things to Eldrich because he had no clue what was going on in this world anymore.

 

Matthew looked up and his face was a mixture between irritation and wistfulness.
“Ok... I can see why you'd think that. But, it's more accurate and complex. Let me explain.”

Suddenly, the TV started freaking out. Static waves rippled across the screen, obliterating any images, and the voices of young children could be heard giggling and whispering
“Story time... Daddy's telling stories...” the speakers crackled, and the lights started flickering wildly. Things all across the apartment started beeping on and off, and even the couch moved alarmingly.
“Kids, enough,” Matthew said firmly and everything fell silent, though the TV remained a blur of static – though if Kitty looked hard enough she thought she could see faces looking back at her out of the nothingness.

Matthew pointed to the first wall, the one containing all the data relating to the orphanage.

“Thirty-eight years ago, in 1982, Happenstance Orphanage burned to the ground overnight. It happened so suddenly and so quickly that there wasn't enough time to evacuate all the children inside. Some managed to escape, but there was a room near the back, the one where new arrivals slept, that was too far into the building for the firemen to reach. Fifteen children died in the blaze.”
He went silent, his eyes on the glitchy TV. “The whole thing was written off as a freaky accident, a gas main igniting due to poor maintenance. The bodies of the dead kids were burned to ashes. The only evidence that something wasn't right was a single eyewitness who told police she'd seen someone dressed in a pig outfit running away from the scene. They didn't believe her – she was a known alcoholic – and thus they didn't bat an eyelid when a few days later what seemed to be a combination of a bad smoking habit and heavy alcohol fumes turned her house into a raging inferno, killing her too.”

Matthew sat on the arm of the couch next to Kitty, his eyes staring at something no-one could see. “Years passed. The incident was forgotten. It became a grotesque town attraction, a place to visit on a field trip. Like I did.”

He looked up at the ceiling. “I was barely fourteen. I thought it would be a boring old place with nothing to do -”
“But Daddy found us!” a voice cried from the TV.
“Yes,” Matthew said kindly. “I found you. I found all of them,” he said, looking back at Logan and Kitty. “Fifteen... ghosts. Lost, scared and confused, begging for someone to come take them away from the fires they could see. I thought I'd gone mad, but as it turns out I'm actually a medium. And no, I don't mean my body type,” he chuckled. “I mean that I can see things, supernatural things, things other people can't. Some animals have the same ability, cats for example.” His gaze flitted over Kitty for a second.
“But ghosts aren't normal. They're made. And that is where this comes in.” He turned, pointing to the wall in the kitchen covered with historical images and the chemical formula.

“In the 13th century, the ancient Aztec empires were very fond of sacrifices – they slew thousands of young men and women, even children, on their stone altars with holy daggers and knives, to honour their gods and to grant them victory in battles. But there was no glory in an old sacrifice, which struck some people as odd. After all, the position of the old wise sage would have been a worthy vessel to send to the gods... and then when people looked into that, they discovered another thing.”
He smiled, as if revealing a great secret.
“In the whole of recorded history, there is not a single Aztec king, priest, prince, or general, that has ever died of old age. Battle, sickness and dishonour claimed them, but up until their dying day – despite some being recorded as living for over sixty years – they were described as having the physical conditions of athletes. They didn't age. And now, we know why.”
Matthew jabbed his finger at the formula, dead centre of the wall just above the toaster.

“Redvitaelin. It's a chemical with supernatural properties, and it naturally can be found on certain shrubbery in the deserts of Mexico, where the Aztec peoples originated. If redvitaelin is mixed with the life fluids – meaning blood – of an individual on a select location or weapon, and then said weapon is used to kill someone, then a strange process occurs.”
Matthew gestured towards the TV. “Those killed are barred from the afterlife, and are forced to remain on earth as ghosts until their killers are slain themselves. Their killers meanwhile absorb the latent life-force of those they've killed, meaning they get the rest of the lives of their victims added on to their current lifespan. The last recorded instance of redvitaelin being used historically was the Holocaust in WW2, when Adolf Hitler applied it to the gas chambers in order to make himself the immortal leader of the Third Reich for what would have been roughly nearly one hundred million years. From there, the substance apparently fell out of use after all records of its properties were destroyed and the vegetation used to grow it was systematically purged – though it appears a few seeds still survived.”

His fingers slid to the third wall.

“After I finished school, college, all that, staying in contact with the kids the whole time – they kinda adopted me, kinda -”
“He's our daddy!” the TV speakers cheered, and Matthew flushed with embarrassment.
“Ok, ok... after I'd got my education finished up, I realized that I couldn't just walk away and leave the kids trapped for who knows how long – maybe forever! So I got them all out of that place and they've been travelling with me ever since. But, and here's the interesting part, one of them remembered getting up in the middle of the night to go to the toilet and seeing someone carrying something carrying what I believe to be gasoline down to the cellar the last night he was... alive.”

He turned to the TV. “Freddy. Tell them what you saw.”
The TV crackled, and then a child's voice came out – a young boy's, stumbling over his words and sounding nervous.

“I – I got out of bed, because I'd had a drink of water and I needed to pee. I didn't know where the toilet was, so I – I walked down the hall, and I saw – saw a man with a big red container, and there was something splashing around inside, and it smelled really weird. He told me to go back to bed, and I said I needed to pee, and the man said it was just down the hall to the right, so I went to pee and then when I came back he was gone. So I went to bed and then... everything got really hot. We were all hot. We couldn't breathe and then – and then we didn't need to breathe.”

There was a long, long silence.
Matthew coughed, and awkwardly continued his narrative.

“I realized these kids had been murdered. So I started asking around, asking questions to anyone that might have known anything, as to what could turn children into ghosts. Eventually, I found my answer.” He pointed to a letter from the Pope, a large document taking up the centre of the left wall.
“The Vatican, not surprisingly, keep tabs on this sort of thing. After his alerting me to redvitaelin's existence, and letting me know that the surefire way to detect its presence even after decades of its use is salt, I headed back to the orphanage and poured salt on the now rusted and useless destroyed gas main – and voila. A purple mist, showing that these innocent defenseless children had been slaughtered like cattle for their life force.” His voice had become very low and very dangerous and angry, and the TV flickered off for a second as Matthew visibly calmed himself down.
“Which then leads to that,” he said darkly, gesturing towards the end wall. “I did some digging, and found out the man on duty the night of the fire – who also worked part time at a children's entertainment establishment, dressed as Poinky the Pig. A man who skipped town the day after the fire's incident, and a man who – if the dirt I've gathered on him is correct – has since burned down a nursery with thirty children in it and a school with fifty more.”
He walked over to the desk and slammed his finger down on the file he'd taken from the restaurant's employee data safe.

“His name is Jacob Babylon. At the moment he's running on enough stolen life force to let him survive for millennia. But I'm going to find him and I'm going to make him pay for what he has done. To these kids and to all the other children he's killed, the families he's ruined, and the nightmare he's caused.”

He looked out of the window for a few moments. “And I'm close. Today was his last day of employment at that place, and this file indicates he was looking to go into child entertainment again somewhere nearby. The kids and I have tracked him from Denver, to Alabama, to Ohio and finally here. The microsecond I find him...” His fists clenched. “I will give these children peace. One way or the other.”

 

Kitty's ears folded downward, She watched Matthew clench his fists and tremble with rage. You can tell he was upset. She got up and went over to him, Grabbing his hand. "I know... We just met, but I'll help you." She looked around the room, faintly seeing the young ghostly children. "These kids deserve peace." She looked back at Matthew. "I'm with you, One hundred percent." Her grip on his hand grew tighter.

 

Logan sat patiently and listened to Matthew's explanation. His arrogant demeanor became much more melancholy than usual and his sarcastic attitude was nowhere to be seen. Although he had little faith left in humanity to begin with, these atrocities still shook him and he began to feel anger rising up from within. But he kept himself in line and looked up at Matthew.
"Alright, I get the point. Don't start thinking that this changes anything between us, but...that can wait."
He clenched his fists tightly.
"He needs to pay for what he's done...someone like that who goes around killing little kids just to prolong his own miserable life doesn't deserve to have his life at all."
He looked down and slammed his right fist on the couch. Fortunately, it didn't have any of his power behind it.
"It's so easy for him to take human lives...that's just disgusting. Killing should never be that easy for anyone. But he's treating cold-blooded murder like it's some kind of game to him and all those kids are just his disposable pawns..."

He looked back up at Matthew, a cold fury showing in his eyes.
"We have to find him. We have to stop him. You said you're close to catching up with him, right?"
His eyes narrowed slightly.
"How close? How do we find out exactly which part of the city he's in?"


The young boy was practically giddy at this point and he didn't even try to hide how excited he was. His face lit up like a light bulb and his innocent eyes sparkled with wonder. Without any kind of proof or explanation whatsoever, his childlike faith made him instantly believe that this man really was a medieval knight.
"Whooooaaaa, you really ARE a knight, aren't you?! This is so cool, it's like something out of a storybook!"
He was hopping up and down with excitement, but he suddenly stopped himself and took a second to think about how to answer the knight's questions.

"Okay, um...first of all, you're in America. Oh, do you know were that is? Uh...well, if you start off in Spain and go all the way west, you'll end up in America! And, uh...oh yeah, cosplayers aren't bad people so don't slay them! They, uh...okay, so, you know how everyone dresses up in cool costumes on Halloween? Well, that's kinda like what cosplayers do, but they don't just do it on Halloween. So they're not bad or anything, they just like playing dress-up! That's why they have stuff like fake armor and swords and stuff."

He nodded to himself, feeling that he'd answered all of the knight's questions pretty well. Then he started hopping up and down again, somehow looking even more excited than before. He didn't even wait for an answer before throwing out more questions.
"Okay, my turn, my turn! That blood on your sword...is that from a dragon? Did you slay an evil dragon and save the princess?! Hey, that sword you've got is pretty big. It's gotta be some really cool ancient sword like...Excalibur!"
He suddenly stopped in his tracks and let out a big gasp.
"Wait, is it really Excalbur? Are you one of the Knights of the Round Table? Are you King Arthur?! Oh, that'd be SO AWESOME!"
He looked deeply into the knight's eyes, his expression filled to the brim with childlike wonder.

 

"Thank you," Matthew said softly to Kitty.
"Thank you," fifteen spectral voices chorused from the TV.
He turned to Logan and what could only be described as the purest irritation was on his face. "Not a clue. There are plenty of entertainment venues for kids dotted all over the city, but he could be in any one of them - and I don't dare ask around for fear of spooking him out of the area."

He looked at the TV. “Fortunately,” he smiled, “there are – advantages to being a ghost, right kids?” The TV freaked out, lights flashing across its screen as laughing could be heard from inside.
“Yes, Daddy! It's so funny in this stuff! Haha – it tickles!” A myriad of voices, some boys, some girls, all laughing and cheering. If it wasn't for the fact that they were coming out in a slightly echoing crackle from the TV speakers, the effect would have been heart-warming instead of spine-tingling.

“They can interact with anything without a life-force – side-effect of the redvitaelin. Everything that's ever been haunted? We have that to thank.” He indicated the TV. “These darlings get inside a computer, they could hack the Pentagon in a minute or two. Unfortunately, doing so kinda fries the hardware, and so as a result we need a BIG computer. And I know where we can get one.” He looked out of the window.
High up, a black looming shape against the sky, was a tower, and emblazoned down the side was the word “Penton”.
“We're going to need to sneak inside and “borrow” a computer, from Penton Enterprises.”
There was the noise one makes when they shiver magnified by fifteen emanating from the TV.
“That place... scares us... Dad...”
“I know it does,” Matthew said and you could hear the heartbreak in his voice from having to hurt them, “but it's the only way we can track him down. And I can't do it without you all. Please?”

There was a silence. Then, “As long as we're with you, we'll be fine, Daddy... we know you'll protect us!”
Matthew smiled reassuringly then turned to the others. "You don't have to get involved if you don't want to."

 

Eldrich looked at the child as if he was stupid, Literally stupid, see Eldrich never seen a map let alone thought there was a way to pass through the bodies of water. But he would never be rude to a child he would just consider the possibility he was wrong.

"America?! What is this place?! How would I sail west to get here, the world is flat, and even then there is no lands to the west! CHILD, Are you lying to me?!" Eldrich caught himself, and calmed down. He pulled his sword in front of him just now noticing there was blood. He also noticed it was fresh, it was recent. "The blood looks to be recent, which means it couldn't have been a dragon, Child. Tell me, what is this event you call... Halloween? And why do people dress up for it?" He paused. "And I am not King Arthur you may call me Eldrich the Dragon Slayer. The one, The only. I've slayed many dragon in my time, and there will be plenty more to taste my blade. And I've never once saved a princess in my life, nor protected my kingdom from danger, I just hunted dragons for sport and so in turn I got praise from the court. I never asked for coin but they paid handsomely."

Eldrich picked his sword up from examining distance and slowly sheathed it. Though his curiousity was peaking he didn't wish to ask the boy his name, or where his parents were, the boys excitement was nice to see, so he let the child have his fun. It's really a boys dream come true to see a knight, not in shining armor. But in seasoned, tarnished, shabby armor, with a sword big enough to crush someone and sharp enough to cut them in half. Or at least that is how it was 400 years ago.

 

Logan gave Matthew quite the deadpan look. Then he replied in a voice practically dripping with sarcasm.
"Oh, no. You want us to do something morally ambiguous AND illegal? This isn't what I signed up for. Where's the nearest exit? I never asked for this."
He let out a noise that was somewhere between a groan and a sigh.
"You're doing that thing again, White Knight. Of course I'm gonna help you out with whatever half-baked plan you've cooked up. If I help you, your plan has a much better chance of actually working. If it works, we get to catch this guy. Once we deal with him, you and I can take care of unfinished business. So really, everybody wins."

He then looked over to Kitty.
"How about you, Fluffy? You gonna wuss out when things get a little tough or did you mean what you said when you told him you're "in one hundred percent?" If you want, you could always chill out here at the apartment while the big boys take care of all the scary stuff."
Although he spoke in such a condescending way, deep down he actually wanted to see Kitty rise up to the occasion. If anything, it would mean that there's a least a sliver of hope for her, he thought.


The young boy looked sad and a little scared when Eldrich was yelling at him. He twiddled his fingers nervously until Eldrich calmed down again. He was also a little disappointed, maybe even heartbroken, to hear the Eldrich wasn't King Arthur, never saved a princess and never protected his kingdom from danger. Especially those last two, since he thought those were things that every knight did. But he didn't lose his optimism for long; he thought for a moment about the latest round of questions so that he could go back to asking his own questions and prove that Eldrich was the heroic figure that he imagined him to be.

"Okay, so...Halloween is a holiday that we celebrate every year here in, uh--"
He caught himself, remembering how Eldrich reacted to his explanation earlier.
"We, uh, we just celebrate it around here. I don't know why we do, but it's a whole lot of fun!"
His eyes lit up again, thinking about the trick-or-treating he did every year with his parents.
"It always comes on the last day of October. When it gets late at night, all of the kids in the neighborhood go knocking on everyone's door and when they open the door, you say "trick or treat!" Then they give you candy because it's Halloween. And, well...I guess we all just dress up because it's fun! It's like a big costume party, and there's so many cool costumes to pick from like superheroes or wizards or animals or even knights!"
He thought to himself for a moment.
"Well...that's pretty much all I know about Halloween. Okay, my turn!"

He looked at Eldrich with expectation.
"So, you said you're Eldrich the Dragon Slayer, right? That's super cool! Oh, wow, I just realized that I never told you my name!"
He chuckled, feeling quite embarrassed.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude, I just kinda forgot. I'm Gabriel! Gabriel Silverlight!"

Name: Gabriel Silverlight
Gender: Male
Powers: ???, Aura Manipulation
http://powerlisting.wikia.com/wiki/Aura_Manipulation
Age: 11
Appearance: Fair complexion with medium-length blonde hair and golden eyes. Usually wears brightly colored t-shirts and shorts.

"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Eldrich. I'm not a knight or a dragon slayer or anything great like that, but I'd like to be when I get older."
He paused for a second.
"Uh...I guess that wasn't really a question, was it? Okay, I got it! So, there's not really that many dragons around here, but have you ever thought about doing something else like fighting crime? Oh, you could be like a superhero! I can totally picture it now. Some bad guys would be trying to kidnap a pretty princess and you'd stand in their way and say something like "Stop right there, you knaves! For I am Eldrich the Dragon Slayer!" What do you think of that, Mr. Eldrich?"
He looked up at Eldrich, his eyes shining as brightly as ever. It didn't even occur to him that there aren't that many princesses in the modern age, not like it mattered to him at this point.

 

Kitty looked at Logan with a determined look. "Of course I meant it!" Her tail swayed back and forth rapidly, indicating that she was upset. "I'm not just some defenseless little girl! I'm capable!" She sighed and calmed herself down a bit. "I'm not gonna just run away and hide. These kids need help, So I'm not backing down."