"Vannesa! Sheathe your blade!" Katherine shouts out seeing that she may take Maddox's life
Being the son of one of the more terrifying infected out there was indeed shocking but still, Katherine knew that she needed Maddox alive so that he could answer some questions if at all possible. A small part of Katherine did sympathize with Vannesa since like many who were in the coalition tended to have a painful past of seeing their family members and friends be killed or suffer a worse fate at the hands of the infected. There were a few who had not experienced that dark side of the job as they were some of the high-class members of society who joined for various reasons which was the group Katherine was a part of but she did know the pain of those who lost someone.
"I understand your pain Vanessa but still we need him and we would never turn our blades upon another not infected" Katherine puts forward which leads to Vanessa who was still glaring at Maddox to simply sheathe her blade before taking her spot once more in the corner of the room but still not taking her eyes off Maddox
"Forgive her actions just now Maddox but she has a tendency to act without thinking which has led to a few problems sometimes" Katherine states as she glances at Vanessa in the corner
"It is... understandable if what I had experienced was a general thing that happens around the county then I don't blame her. I am sorry for whoever you lost miss" Maddox says while bowing his head slightly in an apologetic tone
"Don't address me monster" Was her only reply
"So Maddox what exactly happened to you?" Katherine asks, seeing that Vanessa might go ahead and behead Maddox if he says more that might irk her
Hearing the question Maddox answers to the best of his knowledge of the events that occurred but only does not mention the parts about being called an abomination and the other things associated with him being able to critically wounding the creature and stabbed by it in the neck with downplaying it as much as possible and attributing it to his mother killing the creature which was indeed true. Another he did not mention was the barrier situation in the room and his mother helping him out in getting through it which sounded weird as she made it seem like she had not done anything to the barrier but to him instead which sounded ridiculous to him.
Once Maddox was done recounting his story it had taken about two hours to recount his story and all the while Katherine had been taking note, unlike Vanessa who at first was keeping an eye on Maddox fell asleep on the floor. Seeing this happen while recounting his story lead to Maddox looking to Katherine but seeing her not do anything viewed this as something that happened quite often. Now with his recounting over Katherine simply closes her notepad and takes out a small stack of papers which she hands to Maddox.
"This here is a copy of the will of your parents in which the event that they die to see who would be getting something from them," Katherine states as Maddox begins to look through it
"None of it goes to me..." Maddox says expecting this but still one question lingers in his mind "Both of my parents are dead?"
"No, not really but in the eyes of the United States legal system all your family members are dead, and as there are no other beneficiaries that can be found normally it would all go to the state but... if you help us with something then I can guarantee that all your parent's assets will become yours" Katherine simply asks Maddox leading him to think about what to do now
He could accept Katherine's deal or... he could become a one-armed homeless kid at the age of thirteen while his mother held his sisters and would eventually come to find him one day. So Maddox having no other option that would help him the best Maddox choose to accept Katherine's proposal but first asked what it was she wanted him to do for her.
"All I want you to do is simply hold these stones in your hand Maddox and regardless of what happens I promise to uphold the end of my deal," Katherine says as she takes out seemingly normal rocks that are about the size of his palms that only have the characteristics of one being pure white and the other pure black
Taking hold of them in his only hand Maddox does not feel anything and nothing happens after a minute either causing Katherine to slightly frown seeing that nothing happens to make Maddox think that she was expecting something to happen when Maddox held them. Maddox looks at the rocks a bit closely and just like with Katherine and Vanessa there seemed to be a golden aura around the white rock, but it was so small that it would not be seen unless someone were to look closely. The black rock had no aura around it making Maddox confused about what it's used and thinking that it may just be a regular stone that she picked up on a whim.
Seeing that nothing happened Katherine reluctantly took back the two stones and put them away once more before looking at Maddox for a moment before just sighing and taking out another stack of papers that seemed to be larger than the previous ones.
"This here is the paperwork that is needed to be signed to claim your parent's belongings as a type of distant relative who was stated as a beneficiary on the will" She explains
"Won't I be able to use this stuff until I turn 18 though?" Maddox asks clearly remembering something like that in both the legal system and his parents will
"Yes, however, most of the items in your parent's will is related to your parent's businesses which the current employees can handle in place until you come of age, as for any of your parent's debt you will be protected from that as well until you also become a legal adult. As for any of their property, you will still own it and not have to your about any of the bills as they will be handled by your parent's companies as well"
"Can I choose to sell some of the properties listed?" Maddox asks to see that there are four other properties in the united states and at least 12 other houses in other major countries
"Of course since once you sign then they will belong all to you so what you wish to do with them will be up to you," Katherine states while Maddox tries to think about what to do now
After a few more hours of the paperwork, Maddox was now the owner of the majority of his parent's possessions, and until he turned 18 than he could not do anything with most of their belongings. Now than it was also revealed that while his father is not dead Katherine said that he was taken away by her associates to deal with him as they saw fit. Maddox did not care about that but the one thing that came as a bit of a shock was that apparently, he was in a coma for almost half a year making it so that he was now 14 since it had been a few months before his birthday. With Katherine's visit being wrapped up she prepared to leave since there was nothing she could do further since Maddox did not have any qualifications to join the program.
"Um... Miss Katherine, you never said who you worked for specifically, and considering everything could you please tell me" Maddox tries asking to get some information
"..." Katherine who was about to get up and leave stopped to look at Maddox since he asked something that she was unsure if she should answer
She felt bad for him since he had experienced something worse than most people who joined as his worldview had crumbled and he was now crippled with only one arm at his age would only make things increasingly difficult for him in the future. So going a bit against protocol Katherine goes ahead and narrates to Maddox what it was that was going on and gives him a general idea of the fight between the coalition and those who were infected.
Her explanation of things took a while but from what Maddox gleaned from her explanation it was that infected individuals appeared randomly in society and throughout the Millenium, they grew more and more frequent by showing up throughout history as monsters and demons of old who brought destruction and sorrow to those around them. Hearing this Maddox was mildly surprised but was a bit stumped about what Katherine was saying since of course they were infected but their origins seemed to be a mystery as well as the origins of good stories revolving around these creatures, but Maddox was sure that what Katherine was saying was already a lot of information for a normal person that would not usually be shared with him. Still, the interesting part was the introduction of the organization that Katherine worked for.
It was created in the early 1860s around the time around the civil war to fight against the first of the infected around the country. As a result of the majority of those infected having a tighter grasp on early American politics, it was easy for them to create laws and live their lives as they wished without having to worry about consequences from anyone. Then when the coalition was formed and attacked the infected at the time they were caught off guard. So that was how the situation world went with infected and the coalition fighting it out for the past hundred years in the hopes of saving the world which was a tall order but still was something that they had to try and accomplish.
Countless fights had ensued between them up until today where infected hide within modern society through various means with most people now living toady with no idea that these creatures truly exist and are not just myths of old. With her story done being told Maddox looks at Katherine in a new light as he now knew what both she and Vanessa, who was still asleep in the corner, had done and could only imagine what kind of sacrifices they had done to fight against these infected as they are called.
"Thank you..." That is what Maddox could say to them since he felt it right to do so
"..." Katherine was touched by that statement since no one knew of their deeds so no genuine thanks were given to them
"Miss Katherine is there any chance I could join your organization at all to help," Maddox asks still wanting to help fight these things since they had taken so much from him already that normal life was no longer possible
"Unfortunately no you cannot join us regardless of your injury you do not possess what we do to fight against these creatures"
Shot down so quickly stung, but Maddox felt that he could fight those things since he felt something different about him after everything that happened which lead to him having this new vision which lead to Maddox now seeing these auras around people and some things. Now that he was told about the origins of an infected being some form of energy and the origin of the coalitions fighters having another more powerful one lead Maddox found that what he was seeing was those two energies which were a bit unsettling since he knew about the situation with his doctor since he was showing the infected energy.
"Miss Katherine... how do you all get stronger than?" Maddox asks trying to see if he can get some idea as to how they get stronger so he could try to copy it
"Kid listen if you want to try and use the techniques that you cannot even use then here try this" Vanessa says out of nowhere startling him since he thought she was still asleep
Still, her offering up their work stuff made it seem like she was giving away the crappy stuff or that this stuff was super hard to use and train. Still, Maddox would accept whatever it was that they would hand to him. It was a pdf file on her phone that was a manual for using the energy in one's body to create orbs that would be used to improve yourself but one orb would lead to 10 seconds of power and the quality would be reliant on your talent.
"That's it?" Maddox asks since this seems way too easy than it sounds
"It may look easy but it is not true since the strongest man in the coalition only has about 100 of these orbs created" Katherine buts in before Vanessa could say anything
"What about the strongest woman?" Maddox asks wondering about the difference between the two strongest people in the world with essence
"Well... no one knows but it is believed that she has about 1,000 orbs created..." Vanessa states causing Maddox's mind to stop working for a moment due to the difference in the quantity.