Hallowed Kaline (1) (MANUSCRIPT)

Issue # 6 Like Father, Like Daughter Pt. 1

            After the two days it took us to get back to Ostfolk from Ehrenburg, a new face would be at Titanium-Corps to greet us. Max found himself in the coliseum of his combat-school, munching down a turkey sandwich. I got a nice bath, managed to wipe all that blood off me too. I'll never forget how Kismet tried to help us. That faerie was a... good one. But my resolve won't be shaken. I won't suddenly like all faeries. She was an... exception.
          "Welcome back to school, kids." Father Agnus seemed to float over to Kyle, Max, Tony, and Natalie as he held a mug of coffee. 
          "Hey there." Kyle saluted, his blonde bangs parted to the right side of his forehead.
          Just then, the white columns of the coliseum had begun to reflect the mirror image of another man with a white lab coat walking towards Father Agnus.
           Max looked, still munching on his sandwich. "Oh. Who's that?"
          "Manners, please." Kyle looked away from Maximus, clicking his tongue. "I'd rather you didn't speak with a mouth full of meat. I'm sure Meloncrop wouldn't approve of that."
         "Oh! Sorry." Max blushed quickly just then, swallowing his food fast.
        The strange man with the white coat moved his neck about and straightened his jaw. "Good morning, gentlemen. My name is Doctor Carwell. I'm-"
        "Dad!" Natalie sped over after touching Tony's afro a bunch.
        "Why does she touch your afro so much?" Kyle tilted his head and glared.
        "Because I'm not man enough to tell her that it bothers me just a little bit. I don't know man. I kinda like the feeling of girls runnin' their hands through my hair." Tony raised his eyebrows quickly. "It just feels... controlling. Emasculating. But I love the attention." 
         "I see. Just so you know, there's no chance in hell you have with Natalie."
         "I know, I know."
          "Then why not tell her that it bothers you? It isn't gonna go beyond that, I assure you."
          "Well, for that exact reason. It isn't gonna go beyond that but I'll take what I can get."
           "I see. So you're desperate."
          "Hey," Max glared at Kyle. "leave Tony alone."
          "Ah, you're right. I shouldn't be pickin' on him since he isn't a newbie. He sure acts like one though." Kyle looked away from Max.
         "I'd tell you to pick on me, but to be honest, I'm still kinda gushing over the other day when you called me your 'friend'." Maximus giggled. "I guess that's a little silly of me, huh?"
          Kyle shook his head just then, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Nonsense. My kind of friendship is one to be earned, and you earned it. From the first day I saw you, I thought you had potential. And you haven't proved me wrong. We only had, like what, a week of training before we went up against Sister Suzanna like we did? And in just that short amount of a time, you managed to wield that katana like you had been using it all your life."
        Max gave a thumbs-up. "Thank you."
         "Anyway. Doctor Carwell is Natalie's dad, if you couldn't tell." Kyle turned to a man with short black hair and white gloves.
         "Morning, son." The white-gloved man, his daughter still hugging close to his right side, turned to Maximus. "Who might you be?"
          "That's Max Kaline, dad. He's a new student." Natalie twirled the bottom of her hair's length as she spoke. 
           I never thought I'd see a Kaline again. The square-jawed man nodded, his eyes squinting, then popping back to their normal height. "I see. Afternoon, Mr. Kaline. As you can see from my daughter's excitement, we don't hang out much. I'm a busy scientist at this school."

           "Scientist?" Max smiled, his eyes widening ever so slightly as his ruby bangs fell over his eye. "That's cool." He pushed his red hair out from his eye.
           "I'd say so. I mess with testing out the weapons. You know. Your cobalt katana there." Dr. Carwell lowered his head to Max's belt.
           Maximus quickly hovered his hand over his weapon. "Right. Apparently I'm pretty good with this, too. Not to- Not to brag or anything."
         "I see. You've already gone on your first mission, I take it? From what I've heard from Headmaster Agnus, anyway. Nonetheless, I do have a reason for coming here today." Natalie's father turned to the school's principal, his smile fading.  
          "Why turn you to me, Dean? Ah, I see. Well, I would actually like it if you explained that reason instead of having me explain it, doctor." Father Agnus, his dark robes blowing slightly, stood stationary.
           "Very well." Dr. Carwell patted Natalie's shoulder. "Because I've spent so many years studying up on the different weapons we can use in order to fight the malicious faeries of the world, I've been met with a plateau. A rut, if you will. You see, studying up on the many different ways we can use all sorts of minerals to make crazy kinds of weapons to fight evil fey has bored me. It's come to my attention, as well as to the attention of my other colleagues who work with me in this job, that our next course of action is to study the faeries themselves. This school, Titanium-Corps, was only recently built. Agnus here thought of it. From there, all sorts of construction went forward." Natalie's dad cleared his throat. "You see, we've only further been studying weapons to use against malicious faeries for a few years. As faeries are not your usual enemy, we've invested in making unusual weapons. But now, it's come to our attention in the research facility that making zany tools of destruction can only go but so far."
          "Sure, sure." Kyle rubbed the back of his head, feeling his thick blonde hair go up and down. "That all makes sense." 
          "What we need to do is actually learn more of the intricate details regarding the malicious faeries. We've classified a lot of them, but it's not enough. However, weapon-intensive scientists like myself don't get to have that liberty of studying the fey. Therefore-"
           "You keep saying 'malicious faeries'... but all faeries are malicious!" Max barked at Dr. Carwell, his throat tightening. "I don't care for any of them. They're all dead to me." 
           Dr. Carwell blinked. "Ah, yikes." 
           "Maximus D. Kaline, your hate for all faeries was troubling, but now it's just plain rude. For interrupting one of the lead scientists at this academy, I'm going to see to it that you receive double the homework from your classes." Father Agnus glared at the burgundy-haired Kaline.
           Dr. Carwell shook his head and put his hand out to Father Agnus. "No, it isn't worth it. I'm not going to be a 'lead scientist' here anymore."
          "What?" Kyle softly tilted his head back, his gaze growing.
          "What? Dad?" Natalie backed away from her father just then, her mouth agape in shock. "What do you mean?" she glared.
           Dr. Carwell took off his white gloves and shoved them into the confines of his pants' pocket. "That was sort of the big announcement for today. It's what I wanted to tell you all. From now on, I revoke my title as doctor of weapons. I want to learn on how to become a... hunter."     

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