Hallowed Kaline (1) (MANUSCRIPT)

Issue # 7 Like Father, Like Daughter Pt. 2

                Max stepped back and lowered his head. "I'm sorry, Father Agnus. And I apologize, first and foremost, to you... Dr. Carwell."
             "Your one-dimensional and hateful 'goal' is starting to get the best of you around strangers, I see." The headmaster tapped his fingernails against his wand. "Fine. No overdose of homework from your studies then- I'll respect Carwell's wishes."
          Natalie pushed her two forefingers together. "Dad, I don't mean to sound selfish, but-"
        "But you fear how I'm gonna put bread on the table since I'm not a scientist anymore, is that it?" Dr. Carwell rotated his shoulders a tad. "Well," he closed his eyes for a moment then. "you don't have to worry. I'll still be getting paid the – Well, I should be speaking quietly about this now – I'll still be getting paid the same salary as before. I know, it might sound a little unfair. I'm essentially a paid 'hunter-in-training'. I'm going to be making more than students who are better than me. It's a special privilege from Agnus, so I ask that you keep this quiet."
           "Sure. As quietly as I can keep it for a girl whose dad is going to explicitly start being a hunter. Does- Does this mean that you're going to join up with us on our team with Ms. Meloncrop?" Natalie looked down at her white shoes. "Because that'd be really cool-"  
           "Not exactly. I'll be on my own for the time being. A solo hunter, I guess. A hunter-scientist, if you would have it. Because I'm not going to just be killing fey for the fun of it. I'll be gathering as much information on them as I possibly can. Sound good? That way, I'll be able to make better weapons for you guys." Natalie's dad smiled and hugged her close. "It's gonna be alright, Nat. I promise."
             Everyone watched, starting to slowly clap their hands.
            "Cute." Kyle chortled.
            "Aw, dad, this is kinda embarrassing." Natalie blushed, pulling away from her father's tall grip with hesitation.
            "Right, right. Sorry. Sometimes, it's easy to forget that you aren't a little girl anymore." Dr. Carwell blushed as well.
            "I'm pretty sure I'd be just as embarrassed if I was a little girl still, unfortunately." Natalie looked up at her dad.
           "Ha. Same though." Max was still quietly clapping at the cute scene between father and daughter.
          "Speaking of- Maximus. May I speak with you in private for a moment?" The wand-wielding headmaster spun on his heel at one of the students.
            "Oh. Um. Sure." Max pointed to himself for a second, then walked off.
           "Listen," Agnus put his wand into his pocket as he got Max many number of feet away from everybody. "this hatred you have for all faeries- It makes for unyielding resolve in battle, hm? But if you let it consume you, you'll let your friends down. You'll become too impulsive and hyper-vigilant in battle to the point where you won't be able to save anyone. Therefore, I'm going to ask you a pretty intrusive question. If you don't mind, of course, I have an inquiry for you."
            Max slumped his shoulders. "Go ahead, I guess." I can only imagine what he's gonna ask.
             "Trying to give you homework in making you accountable for your angry actions might be good in one sense, but it isn't really getting to the bottom of it. Why, Max? Why do you claim to hate all types of faeries? Whatever happened, why put the blame on all of them? We, here at Titanium-Corps, only fight the malicious ones and I'd appreciate it if you stuck to that. I don't want you killing off any peaceful ones, okay? There's a bunch of good ones out there that help make this world go round. So, I'm sorry to have asked such a personal question, but I'm going to have to request that you trust me. What happened, Max?"
           Maximus bit his bottom lip, tearing his gaze away from Headmaster Agnus and onto the tiled floor of the nearby hallway which they stood in. "It w- w- was just one of them. Only one." Max put a hand to his burgundy bangs as they covered up his suddenly teary eyes. "I was hiding in the cupboard of our kitchen at the time. M- M- My parents were screaming. I- I- I barely remember th- th- them. But that faerie said that he could c- c- control other faeries. So I've- I've-"
        "If this is too hard for you, we can always stop." Headmaster Agnus put a hand to Max's shoulder as he held a cup of coffee in his other hand.
         "No! I'll finish. I promise. Just let me... finish." Max choked on his tears some more.
         Father Agnus nodded. What a stubborn one. "Alright. If you feel comfortable. Remember, I want you to trust me, so I'm not going to push you into confessing to anything you may find to be too shameful."
          Max looked up to his headmaster. "Like I said, that monster said that he could control other faeries! So I've – As I was trying to say – Lived on in fear ever since. In fear of all of them- Of the possibility that, well intending or not, they'll succumb like robots to some sort of higher order a- a- a- and-"
          Putting a finger to his chin, Agnus's eyes darted around the hallway. "You survived an encounter with a faerie that could control other faeries? Hm. Impressive. And I didn't know you were hiding there – I mean – I think that that's very intriguing, Max. Ha. Ha. But... Maximus, a faerie that can control other faeries is on the highest scale of our classification system for the bad fey. To influence or control the minds of their own kind is the kind of power that a tribunal faerie has."
          "A tribunal faerie? T- T- T- Tribunal f- f- faeries are the strongest, then? The strongest."
         "Of the 'evil' bunch, yes. Max, did you get his name? We've been on the search specifically for tribunal faeries for a while now. Perhaps it's too much of a load for you to take in all at once – I've already troubled you with bringing up painful memories – but if we can kill all the tribunal faeries that are out there... then all the other bad fey will dissipate into being neutral creatures. You see, all of the evil faeries in the world answer to a specific master. There are three tribunal faeries total in this world."
          Max hiccupped just then, his hair quickly falling back to the sides of his face from his eyes. "Sister Suzanna said- That's right! She said that her master wouldn't like it that she died!"
          "Yes. You see... there are a small number of tribunals." Father Agnus patted Max's shoulder. "Nonetheless, each of them is very hard to kill. The end game at Titanium-Corps is to create hunters who are strong enough to be at equals with a tribunal faerie."
            "Equals? Not stronger?"
           "Well, if an entire group of hunters fights just one tribunal, then that'll be more than enough, won't it?" Father Agnus blinked then smirked, sipping from his coffee.
          "Hey, Max." Dr. Carwell came speed-walking towards the young Kaline.
           "Yeah?" Max quickly turned his head.
           "You wanna practice sparring some time? In the arena, we can challenge each other whenever we like."
            Max put a finger to his mouth and rolled his eyes. "Uh. Sure. We can do that sometime."
           "Max," Father Agnus quickly put a hand on Max's shoulder as the young Kaline started walking away. "you forgot to answer my question before. Did you get the name of that tribunal faerie you came across when you were a kid?"
           Max froze, goosebumps appearing on his neck. Slightly clenching his teeth, Maximus began to breathe rapidly. "H- He said h- h- his name was... Malechor."
          Agnus stepped back. "That's- Max. Listen carefully. Currently, Malechor has been the most active tribunal in our area. I've already sent a few of the best hunters to go out and fine him... but they ended up proving to be casualties. Currently, there's been a group of renegade faeries wreaking havoc at an amusement park under the control of this Malechor. Do you think you and your classmates could go and- Go and see to it that the amusement park brings actual amusement once more, instead of the danger which it currently gives?"
           Max traced his gaze from Agnus's face, to his shoes, to the floor, and then up to Agnus's face once more before sighing. "Y- Yes, headmaster. W- What if Malechor shows up?"
        "Well," Agnus bit at his thumbnail. "you'll be a group of six. The four of you under Ms. Meloncrop's class are going to be heading there after dinner tonight and I'm going to send two of some of my other best hunters. Their goal is to be the bodyguards of you four. If Malechor does indeed show up, they are to distract him as you four make a getaway."
         Max rocked his head back. "You'd throw away two of your best hunters as mere distraction pawns for the four of us? Why?"
         Agnus pinched the bridge of his nose. "You- I see great potential in you four. Perhaps it is inhumane of me to make this kind of plan then, but I trust that all will go well."
          Max nodded. "Very well, Father Agnus. I trust you, too."
         Dr. Carwell smiled as bright as a fluorescent light, Natalie standing near him. "So, Max- I was actually thinking we could spar today if you didn't mind." 
          "Oh. Sure. When did you have in mind?"
         "Dad is real eager to see your fighting skills. He knows you defeated Ms. Meloncrop by just pushing her into a wall." Natalie grinned.
          "No kidding. I wanna see that for myself." Dr. Carwell chuckled, catching a mechanical sword which was thrown to him just then.
          "What's that?" Max's eyes widened.
         "Max, for practice duels in the coliseum, each opponent must wield a mechanical sword. It is on rent-restriction, which means once the duel is over the swords will gravitate back to me. Understood? Now, enjoy your sparring with an adult." Father Agnus tossed Max another sword, the youthful Kaline catching it quickly.
           "Got it. Well, let's have at it!" Max widened his eyes as he chased Dr. Carwell further into the arena away from Tony, Kyle, and Natalie.
          "Alright! I haven't felt this young in forever!" Dr. Carwell shouted up to the ceiling of the coliseum then raced at Max with his mechanical sword.
         "Got you." Max confidently blocked Dr. Carwell's initial hit, then parried him.
         "Whoa!" Dr. Carwell fell back. "Hm. Impressive, young man. Hard to believe you picked that up in a week. Most people here have to work at least two weeks to master parrying."
          Max waved Dr. Carwell down and laughed. "Please, please. You're too kind!"
           "On guard!" Dr. Carwell hacked at Max's feet.
            "Whoa!" Max lunged back, gained some distance, and fell forward with his hand scraping against the arena's floor.
           "Just as how my daughter screams people off the stage sometimes, my compliments catch people off guard. Like daughter, like dad. We both use vocal tactics to get an edge up on our opponents."
           Max nodded, taking big gulps of air. "I see. Well, you certainly have my heart racing now."
            "Do I?" Dr. Carwell suddenly put his sword down, the mechanical hilt of it shortening into the sword so it quickly looked like a staff. "Well," Natalie's dad crossed his arms. "I guess my job here is done."
        "What?" Maximus furrowed his brow.
       "I just wanted to test out my skills and strengths so far. What, you actually thought I wanted a real duel with a teenager? Ha. I'm not that low."
       Max's eyes lowered. "Gee, thanks."
      Dr. Carwell shook his head. "I don't mean to slight you. I genuinely don't want to 'give my all' against Agnus's students. I'll take little practices like this one every now and again. Oh, and Max?"
     "Hm?" Max's face softened up, his eyes raising to their normal level.
    "Be sure to take good care of my daughter, will you? She's my honey-bunch. You're her teammate now, and I wish you all the best."
    Knocking his head slightly to the side, Max chuckled. "Will do, Dr. Carwell. Will do. She's a good friend." 

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