[Francis' POV]
When Francis opened the door to the interrogation room, the angel-creature, who had given him permission to call him Alex or kid, looked up towards the door, saw his girlfriend and smiled such a heavenly smile at her that it made even Francis' heart skip a beat. He watched as the girl ran inside, straight into his outstretched arms, and hugged him as if they hadn't seen each other in months.
"Thank God! You're ok," she hiccuped silently as tears streamed down her cheeks and held his face in her hands as she said: "Don't you scare me like that ever again!"
Alex chuckled and kissed her softly.
"I think I owe my life to you," Francis heard Alex tell her softly. "I don't know what would have become of me if you hadn't been there."
Their interaction looked so genuine, that Francis felt himself choke up involuntarily. The sound of a camera shutter next to him drew his attention. Next to him, a girl had taken his picture and was now redirecting the camera to the loving couple inside of the interrogation room, snapping away happily.
"Yes, they really haven't seen each other in a long time," she said as she kept on snapping picture after picture. "He'd collapsed in the middle of school, before he vanished completely. She's been worried for weeks. And now we all know why."
"I see," Francis said as he looked back at the couple momentarily. "And who are you? If you don't mind me asking?"
"Me? I'm Lindsey Swan, his personal PR agent. Nice to meet you," she said as she finally looked up from her camera, an amused grin playing on her lips, and reached out a hand for him to shake.
"A PR agent, huh?" Francis said as he shook her hand. "I didn't realise he needed one."
"Oh, but of course he does! High trees catch a lot of wind, you know?" she said, but whispered in a conspiratorial way when he gave her a questioning look. "He's the genius behind the recent success at Bright inc."
Looks, power and money? Was this kid pulling his leg?
"That's quite enough, Lindsey. Please refrain from blowing the officer's mind. He's been experiencing enough of a rollercoaster as it is," Alex's voice drew both their attention to him. The huge amount of authority in the kid's voice scared Francis senseless. Every cell in his system was constantly on high alert in his presence. As if he was born to obey Alex his each and every word. So when he said, "Come inside so we can start discussing the problem at hand." there was not a fibre in his body that thought of resisting.
They all took a seat at the small table. Luckily there were four chairs.
"So, when were you going to tell me you've been earning money at my expense?" was the first thing the kid said to his PR agent once they were all seated. Francis sputtered in surprise. What did he mean, earn money at his expense? Wasn't she his PR agent? Didn't he pay her?
"Ah, so you finally realised," Lindsey the PR agent said sheepishly. "I figured somebody as rich as you wouldn't care about the little pinprick I earn with this."
"You call a minimum of 130 euros per month a pinprick?" Alex asked, clearly not amused, as he looked Lindsey straight in the eyes. She quickly looked away, ducking her head. "But you're right. I don't care about the money. What I do care about, though, is the large amount of attention you've been drawing towards me. I think it's safe to say that the situation outside wouldn't have escalated as badly as it has now if you hadn't?"
Lindsey looked at him flabbergasted.
"Alex-?" his girlfriend started to say, but was interrupted by Lindsey herself.
"Is that why you asked me in here?" she asked incredulously, close to tears. "To blame me?"
"No, Lindsey. That's not it," he said with a sigh as he shook his head. "Actually, it's quite the opposite. I need you to make this all go away. The less people that know I'm half angel, the better."
Francis made large eyes in surprise. Half what? A quick glance at the girls besides him let him know that they hadn't known either.
"Wait, half ANGEL?!" Lindsey asked incredulously.
"Yes, on my mother's side. Apparently, its an alien species of humanoid creatures," Alex explained calmly.
"So Alex is an alien," Francis thought to himself. Was that how he got his powers? But only half right? That must mean that there was a human parent walking around somewhere out there.
In rear-thought, that was probably why Francis hadn't realised earlier that Alex couldn't exactly be considered "human". And if that information got out to the press, this kid's "normal" life would be over. Francis suddenly felt profoundly touched that Alex trusted him enough with this information to not wipe his memory.
"I'm listening," Lindsey said as the conversation continued around him.
"Well, honestly, I don't know much about photography myself, but do you think you could make these pictures look like an amateur picture of a photoshoot?" Alex asked as he slid a few papers with said amateur pictures on them to Lindsey. She sucked in a breath.
"That would be extremely difficult," she said. "The problem with these pictures isn't the one who took them, but the subject itself. For a picture to be this overexposed, you'd need a source of light with the intensity of a surgeon lamp or the direct light of the sun. Which you were in that moment. I know because I've tried taking a few pictures myself, not to mention that it was painful to look at with the naked eye."
"So you're saying that if I would have been less bright, it would have been possible?" Alex said as he adjusted his own brightness in the pictures and watched how they became more clear. "But if I do that, all of the pictures will become more clear. I'm not sure that I like that effect."
He thought for a moment as he reset the brightness in the picture to what it originally was.
"Wait," Alex suddenly said. "You could see me, right? You didn't see me as a bright spot that passed by, right?"
Francis watched as both girls nodded slowly, uncertain of what the boy was getting at.
"Well, then. Problem solved, isn't it?" he said with a satisfied grin. The girls still looked at Alex rather clueless. Francis was glad that it looked like they weren't able to follow either. It made him feel less stupid. "This was a publicity stunt that has gotten out of hand. Bright inc. has developed a new type of digital camera. A camera that has an exposure as wide as the human eye."
Lindsey gasped in an excited way.
"Please tell me this camera you're talking about is not only a ruse to divert the attention of the crowd outside?" she asked, sounding hopeful. Alex smiled at her as if she was a child asking for a lollipop. A lollipop he was about to give her too, if he'd caught this kid's drift.
What happened next blew Francis' mind completely. The kid held out his empty hands in front of him, and out of nowhere, a blue spark appeared, grew like a bubble until it popped and out of the popped bubble appeared a brand new photo camera, complete with carry bag and everything. Francis didn't know much about cameras, but the thing looked freaking pricey!
The Lindsey girl squealed in excitement.
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" she chanted as she hugged the camera to her chest closely and happily danced around the room. Francis was surprised to see Otto laugh softly too. He'd expected her to be jealous, since her boyfriend had given another woman a priceless gift. But she wasn't, not in the slightest.
"Wait!" Lindsey suddenly stopped jumping. "You said publicity stunt. Does that mean I get to take your pictures at an official photoshoot?!"
"I can't believe I'm about to say this," he said, clearly feeling VERY reluctant. "But yes, I'm afraid it means exactly that."
She was positively dancing now. Even Francis couldn't stifle a laugh this time.
"Be careful what you wish for," Otto laughed. "He's terribly camera shy."
"Oh! I'm not afraid of that at all. Because you will be there to push his buttons," Lindsey said confidently.
"I will be?" Otto asked at the same time Alex touched her hand, drawing her attention towards him, and gave her a pleading look. She chuckle. "Of course I will be."
"Good luck with that," Francis said to Alex as he patted him on the shoulder. He was finally feeling a little more comfortable around the boy. The kid didn't act the way he'd expected a power hungry creature to act, so that was a relief. And seeing him interact with his friends made him look so normal.
"Yeah, thanks," he mumbled, but then frowned. "No wait, what are you wishing me luck for? Those are my words! You're the one who's going to tell that crowd outside that this was all one big misunderstanding. And if I'm not mistaken, there are even some news reporters out there. So you can tell your wife and kids you'll be appearing on the seven o'clock news."
"Huh?!" Francis shouted, suddenly terrified.
"Don't worry," Alex chuckled. "If you want me to, I can make last minute adaptations to your appearance, so you'll definitely look your best."
Francis felt as if Alex had betrayed his earlier thoughts. He took it all back! This kid was terrifying!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[Francis's POV]
Francis was standing on a little platform with a little preaching desk in front of him, his appearance in police-uniform had never been more immaculate. Beyond the little preaching desk stood a crowd which counted over a hundred heads and a large television camera was pointed straight at his face.
Normally, he would be sweating buckets, internally dying because of the many eyes staring at him, but he wasn't feeling it at all. The kid must have magicked him some confidence. Confidence he most definitely needed to avert this crisis successfully.
"Ahum," Francis scraped his throat in front of the microphone on top of the little preaching desk, making the sound echo over the crowd and instantly the hustle and bustle died down. Everyone wanted to know what he was going to say.
"My name is Francis Ward, and I will be the spokesperson representing this police office," he said in a business voice so serious that he almost was surprised that it was his own voice. "Earlier today, we arrested a teenage boy, named Alex Black on grounds of scaring fellow citizens on a large scale and causing a panic. We have finished interrogating this boy and the situation has been clarified; This was a publicity stunt for Bright inc. that has gotten out of hand."
Francis paused and looked over the crowd to let his words sink in.
"It has been brought to my attention that a lot of you people have gathered here to see -and I quote- the Angel on Earth. But there is no such thing."
He paused again as a general murmur floated over the crowd.
"Now, does anyone have questions?" Francis asked and watched as a few hands raised above the heads of the crowd. "Yes, the reporter with blue microphone next to the camera. What is your question?"
"You say you've taken Alex Black into custody. He's the new and upcoming genius behind the recent succes of Bright inc., right? You said that this was a publicity stunt gotten out of hand. Does this mean they will be releasing a new product?"
"Yes, I believe it does," Francis said and a grin involuntarily appeared on his face at the mention of the kid. "Please don't ask me what those products are. They tried to explain it to me, but it went straight over my head. The kid truly is quite brilliant. Something with a camera and bright light… You'll have to wait until the actual release date to know the details."
A new, more excited murmur washed over the crowd.
"Can we see Alex himself?" someone in the crowd shouted a question.
"Not right now, as he still needs to fill in the necessary paperwork. But I'm sure you'll be able to make an appointment with him through his PR agent," Francis concluded as he pointed over in Lindsey's direction. "That will be all, thank you for your attention."