Maddox returned to his classroom, where he was able to keep an eye once more on his phone and, with some relief, was able to see nothing had occurred in the time he was, in his opinion, held captive by that lady. More and more of his classmates were taken by Katherine and came back, but within a shorter time frame. Soon enough, everyone had gone through the interview with Miss Katherine and were looking forward to the prospect of being able to go back home earlier than the rest of the school. The amount of time left was about an hour before school ended, so in reality it was more like a school day where Maddox's classmates played on their phones or watched the movie that their teacher put on to have something different for people to do instead.
"Alright, everyone, thank you for your help in answering these questions, as they may hold some answers to what happened to that poor child," Katherine says after everyone pays attention to her again.
"Now, as promised, you all may go home early today, and I suspect most of you have contacted your parents about going home early, so I will see you back here tomorrow," The teacher says before dismissing the class early.
Miss Katherine stays behind in the classroom as the teacher asks if she can stay behind after everyone leaves. Knowing how the guy is single at his age, he was probably going to ask her out, and that would get shot down before the words leave his mouth, considering how a woman of her looks is well... more refined for a middle school teacher.
Maddox returns home early, where he sits in his room and surfs the web looking for anything that could help him, but as always, the result is fruitless. So, having nothing else, Maddox leaves for the first time in a while to help his neighborhood friends, as he felt that obsessing over whatever he had stumbled upon was not helping him. So the best thing he could need right now is time to relax and step away from his problems by looking at something else instead.
The people in the neighborhood looked happy to see him again, helping out with the odd jobs, but Maddox could see that the smiles they showed him were nothing but covers over their concern for him. It touched him to know that these people cared for him, but he knew they would not be able to do anything against what he was up against since he didn't even know what to do. All he could do was try his best to wait. Someone was following Maddox from somewhere.
He could feel the person's gaze fall on him from somewhere, but he could not tell, and the most obvious of locations would be behind him or somewhere up high, to view someone more easily. A bit paranoid that it might be one of those blurred-out men, or worse, the invisible man, but as he thought about it logically, he felt that he was just being too paranoid, as he had made sure to stay hidden when snooping that day. Thinking it over calmed him down, leading him to try not to look like an easy target by ensuring he was staying near people or, at the very least, within eye contact.
Meanwhile, two people were looking at him, not far from Maddox. One was in a black Honda Civic with dark-tinted windows, a bit down the road. It was parked a way down the street, where Maddox was helping people on. The second person was on the roof across the street from where Maddox was helping, looking at him from above. Both were male, dressed in suits, with average looks, and communicating via radios in their ears.
"Eight, how's your line of sight on the kid?" The one on the roof asks as they glance at the car.
"Fine, twelve, I can see him outside the building," Eight responds from in the car while reaching out to grab a bag of chips to snack on within the glove box.
"Jesus Christ, this is boring," Eight complains as they look again at Maddox from above.
"Tell me about it... Why do we have to watch over some stupid brat anyway?" Twelve asks while munching on some chips.
"Hell if I know, all I know is that we are pulled from hunting and told to keep tabs on this kid, which is a whole lot more boring than fighting the depraved and fallen," Eight remarks while he removes his sword from his scabbard and examines it in the glistening sunlight.
Both of them carry weapons, which are some medieval era short swords, for this mission, as they have no idea what kind of threats they may encounter, so it is better to be safe than sorry and get an idea of what kind of threat they may face. This type of mission is typically dangerous, but when they discovered they would be watching some kid, all fears and thoughts about trouble disappeared. Still, they brought the bare minimum needed for a two-person recon team as they thought they had nothing to worry about. Oh, how wrong they were...
Maddox finishes up with a majority of the jobs he would typically do before leaving to go back home where he still felt he was being followed so instead of the normal straight shot that he takes he instead goes on to take a longer and more complex route filled with twists and turns where he hoped to throw off whoever it was that was trailing him. After quite a while, Maddox was able to shake them off and went straight back home, as shaking off the tailer cost an extra 30 minutes to his usual route, so he got back home a bit later than usual.
The Honda Civic parks across the street from Maddox's house since, after his supposed successful attempt at shaking them off, Eight and Twelve decided to take this a bit more seriously since the kid sensed them, which was impossible for a regular person. So hiding allowed them to follow Maddox back home from a fair distance away, and getting into the area where he lived was not that hard, as all they had to do was slide some cash to the guard there to let them in. The two of them park across the street from the house and look at the normal house in front of them.
"Hmm... well, what now?" Eight asks.
"I dunno, I think we should call the boss to get orders on what to do next." Twelve answers as he reaches for his phone.
"Oh~ Hello boys, do you know how to handle those swords of yours~" A seductive tone rings out in the car's back seat.
It was a blonde-haired woman wearing an expensive white dress that was not covering anything in regards to her figure, especially her breasts, which spilled out from it. She looked at the two men who had followed her tiny hellspawn home with her now violet eyes staring at them, which sent shivers down the spines of Twelve and Eight. They immediately reach for some daggers next to them and begin to circulate the essence within them to combat this creature, but before they can, Maddox's mother blows a kiss.
Violet particle effects appeared from the woman's lips, forming a heart shape in mid-air. Then, the men were struck lightly on the face before they could mobilize their essence to defend themselves.
"Augh!" They let out as their minds scramble, and their consciousness fades into nothingness.
As both men fall unconscious, Maddox's mother smiles creepily at the bodies before looking at her home, thinking about why these men had entered her territory by following her son. Still, that could wait for now, as she had some toys to entertain her for at least a few minutes. Maddox and his family had plenty of well-seasoned 'steak' for dinner that night.