After Vanessa emailed Maddox two pdf's about the basics of creating an orb within oneself both of them left the hospital and reported back to the coalition their findings with the interview with Maddox since they gleaned a few important pieces of information from him. His being the son of the infamous Siren was a bit of a shock but learning more about the situation led to the higher-ups labeling Maddox as not a threat and would only check in on him occasionally to make sure that he did not turn either.
A few more weeks pass by as Maddox was recovering a bit from his coma since not using his legs and body for half a year lead to them becoming stiff which would be easily fixed with light exercises and walking. Another thing that happened was the media caught wind of him waking up from his coma which lead to his room occasionally being visited by news reporters wanting to ask him questions since the official statement was that his house had a burst gas pipe that lead to an explosion blowing up the inside of the house and killing everyone inside with him being the only survivor but unfortunately being thrown into a coma.
Maddox would occasionally answer some questions in regards to what he was going to do now that he had survived the ordeal and what he planned to do moving forward. Eventually, he was discharged from the hospital which was met with more media attention with people trying to ask him more useless questions about where he was going and some rumors about some dealings his parents had done in the past. Still, Maddox did not answer anything as he simply entered a car that his mother fashion company had sent for him to take him back home.
Arriving back home Maddox got out of the car and took a look at the home and was a bit surprised by what he saw since the cars of the infected when they came to his home were parked neatly in the front driveway. Curious about what else was here Maddox wanted to check it out but turned to the driver who was a nice young intern who drove Maddox back home.
"Would you like anything to drink before going back?" Maddox asks since the guy had taken about an hour in LA traffic to get him back home while he had to go back that way soon
"No thank you, Mr. Maddox I will be fine," The driver says
Just nodding Maddox walks up to his porch and takes out his home key as the car drives away. Maddox just stands in the doorway as he just stares at the door and thinks of everything that had happened from that fateful day to when he fought against those infected. It honestly was hard for Maddox as after all, he was just a young teenager and he did not ask to be a part of this world of horrors. Slowly inserting the key into the door and entering the house he flicks on the light switch he walks in a little to his home.
"Surprise!" People cheer out scaring Maddox a little as he looks up to only see the people from the neighborhood now in his living room
Streamers were all around the room with signs saying welcome home hung along with the ceiling having some multi-colored balloons floating around as the people of the neighborhood now we're standing in Maddox's living room with joyous smiles on their faces at seeing him. This of course a surprise party but the question was who orchestrated this entire thing since only the media knew about his release and that was only an hour ago.
"Welcome back home Maddox I decided to help cheer you up," Katherine says coming out of the crowd which now made a bit of sense to him since of course, she would know about it
Seeing this after everything that happened Maddox was lost for words as Katherine brought Maddox out into the living room where the warm smiles and genuine care that everyone felt towards him was too much for Maddox to handle. Tears for the first time in years fell from Maddox's eyes as he was overwhelmed with so much love that he started to act his age for once and cried to his heart content with happy tears falling from his eyes as he felt true love from these people surrounding him. The smiles of the people around him did not falter as they understood what Maddox was going through was unbearable for most at the thought of losing one's family at such a young age was very hard which is why these people came here to act as a pillar for him to lean on.
The neighborhood friends that Maddox had made stayed until the evening before they left leaving only Maddox and Katherine afterward with the leftover food and items that would last Maddox a while so food and drink would not be a problem. Still, Maddox had a good time which was what he needed as he felt like shit after the whole ordeal with his family. Had he been weak-willed he might have truly taken his own life just to avoid having to deal with these things but Maddox was not that type of person because if he were things would not have developed to the way they were now. All he could do now is get stronger to one day save his sisters if possible and to fight against these monsters that preyed on humanity.
"Katherine..." Maddox calls out as he is putting away the last of some lasagna from the family who owned an Italian restaurant
Katherine who was cleaning up the living room of some of the party items by throwing them into a large trash bag in her hands stops when she hears her name being called out.
"I want to fight those things... however since you said I cannot then I want to help another way," Maddox says as he turns around to face her
"What is it you have in mind?" Katherine asks a bit intrigued about what it was that he wanted to do instead
"I want your group to use the houses in the foreign countries as bases since they already have security systems in place they will be of some use," Maddox states as he starts grabbing some trash with only one hand and placing it in Katherine's trash bag as she held it open for him
"Are you sure you want to do that? They are yours now"
"Yes however I don't see myself using them at all so I want them to be put to good use and your group can do that. I checked the properties locations and a few of them are a bit isolated so those can be used as training grounds for you all"
"Yes but the costs of tha-"
"I will shoulder the costs of the general bills and such but everything else will be up to you all to provide and I do expect a small rental fee so that way I can get something from it," Maddox cuts into Katherine
"Still though that... it would be wrong to do that since you are not getting much out of such a deal," Katherine asks quite confused at why Maddox would do this when others in the coalition act only in their best interests most of the time
"I don't care about what I gain... I only want to see that all those bastards die a painful death before going to hell"
"..." Katherine does not say anything seeing that revenge is Maddox's ultimate goal in the matter which she had seen plenty of times before that person met their end or suffered a worse fate
"Thank you Miss Katherine for everything you have done for me and the people of the world," Maddox says as he bows showing his appreciation for what she has done
"Um- Ah- You don't need to be so sincere Maddox I have not done much compared to others in the coalition but thank you regardless," Katherine says flustered at Maddox's act
"Well then... still thank you for helping in any way"
Katherine is embarrassed at what Maddox is saying since normally such praises are not given often by people in her job since everyone does relatively the same job and no one outside their work could relate to them so hearing praises for the first time from Maddox had a strange effect on her body.
'First test a success' Maddox thinks to himself as he continues to clean up the trash
During the past few weeks in the hospital, Maddox had not just been sitting on his ass twiddling his thumbs, he had been trying to see what else he could do besides see one's inclination towards essence and miasma. One thing he found was that he could lace his words with some sort of power and excite someone just by his words alone with it having a varying effect on the words he used and the gender of the person. The most affected by his words were women while men took a bit more finesse to get them affected.
He practiced on his nurse whenever she came inside his room to make sure that he was doing alright and as a result, he was able to have an easy time getting home-cooked meals personally made by her rather than the crappy hospital food. It was nice to have that ability but it would not be useful for what he wanted to do since it had no use in fighting. He had wanted to see how difficult it would be to affect someone with essence but it was not that difficult it seemed since he was able to make Katherine act out in this way so easily with but a few words.
Another thing he found out which was a bit more valuable to him was determining when someone was going to turn into an infected which was what happened to his doctor one day. The guy one day was leaking his black aura everywhere and then the next day his aura was gone, that prompted Maddox to follow the doctor around the hospital when he suddenly rushed to the bathroom in the middle of the night with Maddox and found the poor guy spasming on the floor as his skin began to peel and flake off as he was starting to grow. Maddox stepped in quite literally as he curb-stomped the guy to death as he was not taking any chances in him not going in for the kill like some sort of crappy movie.
After that Maddox of course had to get rid of the body which was again a bit easier to do since the hospital he was in also had a cremation furnace in the basement which he got into easily with the doctor's badge and removed the evidence of the security footage from a tablet that some random guest left in the lobby. It became it of an incident since the doctor disappeared but it seemed that this particular doctor was not well-liked as he was known to be a pervert and as a result had a few pending lawsuits and cases against him for a variety of reasons which fell due to lack of evidence.
Once everything was put away Maddox walked Katherine to the door and gave her a set of keys which went to one of the cars in the driveway as he saw that she was about to order an Uber for herself which at such a late hour was going to be tough and unsafe.
"Here take it as thanks for helping me with everything..." Maddox says placing the keys in her hand
"Um... thank you," Katherine says as she soon drives off in her new black Acura RDX with Maddox waving goodbye with a smile plastered on his face
Maddox's smile fades as he enters his house and locks it up before entering his room where he immediately goes to his email folder and after navigating some emails from news stations and media outlets to have personal interviews with him lead him to the email Vanessa sent him before she left his hospital when she was there. Sure enough, it was some simple instructions that stated that anyone in the coalition had created an orb of their energy which could be used for a variety of things from making a plastic knife into a sword to launching long-range attacks against an infected with the impact of a high caliber bullet.
This intrigued Maddox but what he wanted to do was to see if he could even do this since it specifically stated that someone needed essence to make an orb and once they created one then they could fight an infected toe to toe. So Maddox sat down in the middle of his room and after reviewing what he had read closes his eyes and crosses his legs together just like elementary students are taught and begins to focus on himself.
It was dark from Maddox could see as he concentrated on himself he saw nothing at first until he noticed a glimpse of something that lead to him seeing a stream of energy flowing like a river within his sight that lead off into the darkness. Seeing it Maddox instinctively moves to the river and with his hand touches it.
"Augh!" Maddox feels indescribable pain as his hand feels as if it had been burned off which looking down it was literally smoking with skin falling off
Barely keeping his eyes open through the pain black energy appears from nowhere and wraps itself around Maddox's hand and soon the pain diminishes allowing him to see that instead of one river of energy inside his body there were two with one being golden and the other being the blackness that surrounds Maddox in its entirety.
"What... the hell"