—Cole POV—
Setting Lily down with the other girls after a few minutes, I told them all that we could leave the apartment building shortly. Genuinely excited to have a proper birthday celebration for the first time in her life, Lily jumped around with joy. Looking at the other children who were doing their best to hide their jealousy, I patted a few of them on the head with a smile.
"Hey now, it would not be a real birthday celebration if if was just Lily and me. All of you have to come along with us to celebrate with us.", I remarked with a chuckle, "To start with, I will have to take all of you to buy proper clothing so you can be comfortable. Once you are all dressed in new clothing, we can go out to a nice restaurant for meal then enjoy some soft serve ice cream. At the end of the party, we can go to a toy store and buy everyone some toys. I do not see any around here so I know you all need them."
Overwhelmed with the itinerary that I was suggesting, all of the children began excitedly talking with one another. Hearing them ask one another what toys they would get or what ice cream they would eat, everyone was in high spirits except Lily. Asking her if something was wrong, she asked me if it was really okay for everyone to come.
"My mother told me that money is hard to come by…are you sure you are okay spending it on us?", Lily asked me, "Are you sure you will have enough to feed your family?"
"Haha, that may be true for a lot of people but money is not a problem for me.", I assured her, "Do not worry about anything today, it is your special day to enjoy however you want. If you do not want to do what I suggested, we will do whatever you want."
"I…I would like to do what you said then…", Lily meekly told me, "If that is okay…"
"Of course it is, nothing would make me happier than to see all of you smiling as you should be.", I advised her, "Now then, to start things off I think you should be able to witness today with your own two eyes. How about I fix them for you?"
Asking me how I could do that, I told her I had powers the likes of which she had never seen. Telling her to close her eyes tightly, I covered them with my left hand and used Bio Pulse to heal her injury. Once the scar was gone and my hand was removed, all of her friends gasped in disbelief. Touching her face to make sure I had not covered it up with magic, one of the girls finally spoke up.
"Lily, your scars are gone!?", one of the elder girls told her, "He really did heal you!!"
"Go ahead and open them.", I told her, "It may take a moment for your eyes to adjust, but you will be able to see normally again."
Nervously opening her eyes, she squinted for a moment as the light was very bright. Quickly adjusting to the brightness of the sunlit sky outside, Lily looked around at all of us with a shocked expression. Pointing to each of her friends and calling them by name, everyone nodded their heads with smiles. Realizing that the mental images she had of everyone was ridiculously good, I wondered what sort of ability she had developed to do that.
"Thank you so much for letting me see my sister and friends!", Lily thanked me with a polite bow, "What is your name sir?"
"Haha, you do not have to be so polite with me. My name is Cole Bolt, it is a pleasure to meet you Lily.", I answered with a smile, "So who is ready to do some clothes shopping?"
"We are!!", all of the girls shouted waking all the babies from their sleep.
Quickly getting them cleaned up, in a fresh diaper and clothing, and safely tucked into cribs in my Pocket Dimension, the children stood their watching me work. Asking me where the hole I made in the area went to, I explained that it went to a very safe place that no one could hurt them. Placing the children that could not walk in there as well, all of them got settled in with snacks and toys while we headed out.
"Is that some sort of ability you got from the Gastrea?", Lily asked as she watched the portal close.
"No, I do not have the Gastrea Virus as all of you do. I have something called a Conduit Gene which grants me many powers, and in addition to that I have the ability to use something called Magic which you consider to be a fairy tale.", I answered her as we left the apartment as a group, "Between the two of them, there is almost nothing I cannot do."
"Magic as in what the Tooth Fairy and Santa use?", one of the younger girls inquired of me, "That is so cool!!"
"Sort of like that.", I replied with a grin, "All of us get our magic from the same place so you could say we are similar."
Once we were outside the apartments, I used magic to clean all of the girls up. Placing Lily on my shoulders, as she was the birthday girl, I leviated the other children with Telekinesis before starting to move. Covering ground a lot faster than they would have been able to, the children laughed giggled as they felt the wind blow through the air. Running across the river without slowing down, the girls looked back at the icy launchpads I was leaving behind me.
"Is that magic?", Lily inquired.
"Oh no, that is my Conduit power. I can control Lightning, Ice, Napalm, Smoke, Light, and several other things at will.", I explained as we reached the other side, "There is a lot of cool things I can do with them just like you. One day all of you will learn to control the power you have, and could use it to help others like you."
"Like a Superhero?", one of the youngest asked.
"Just like a Superhero.", I replied as we reached the city limits.
Setting the girls down to minimize the attention we would draw, I got us onto a subway line and headed toward the Shopping District. Once we were there, we went through several different Clothing Stores looking for outfits. Giving them full reign to try on whatever they liked, I kept the riff-raff away by glaring at them. Unsurprisingly no matter how much they hated Cursed Children, when push came to shove, they would rather do nothing than get into a fight with someone over it.
Picking several outfits each, I paid for everything in cash and thanked the Store Owners for letting them try things on. Stowing the extra outfits away in my Pocket Dimension, we ended up at the Toy Store next as it was on our way to where the restaurants were. Taking the kids out of the Pocket Dimension this time so they could pick out their toys, the clerks at the Store were none to happy with our presence there.
"Get those filthy mongrels out of here!", one of the women spat in disgust.
"Do not speak to the children that way woman. I am footing the bill so shut the hell up.", I rebuked her, "Your customer service is a appalling, I will be giving you a one star review online."
Picking up the phone and dialing the police in front of us, the girls asked me if we needed to go. Shaking my head at them I told them to pick out whatever toys they wanted, and that we would pay them for each item. Nodding their heads with nervous expression, it was apparent they were used to this kind of treatment and usually fled in fear. Once everyone had selected their toys, we walked up to the counter just as the police arrived.
Watching me place the toys on the counter to purchase the toys, the officers asked what the problem was. Pointing to the children and I, the clerk told them that she did not want us in the Store as we were lowering the value of things here.
"I think what you meant to say was your nasty attitude is lowering the prices here.", I jabbed, "We are paying customers that want to buy these toys, scan them so I can pay then we will leave."
"I am refusing you service, now take those abominations and leave-"
Grabbing her by the collar, I dragged her over the counter and stared into her eyes.
"My patience is wearing thin with you. Scan the items before I bash your head through the counter. If you think the cops are going to stop me from sending you to the hospital, you are dead wrong.", I threatened her, "I have been trying to be civil with you, but you will not act like a mature adult."
"Sir, please let her go!", the officers said drawing their guns.
"Stay out of this!", I commanded them as I pinned them to the ground with magnetism.
Using their armor plating and pistols to hold them down, I looked at the clerk again and told her to start ringing us out. Seeing that the officers were unable to move at the moment, she promptly agreed to my orders and started scanning the toys. Handing the children what they picked out, I again paid for everything in cash before releasing the officer.
"Do not ever let me hear you belittle or berate these children again. They are more human than you are, do not act like they are different because of their eye color.", I spat, "I honestly wonder how the hell a bitch like you managed to survive all this time when so many good people ended up dead. Maybe this world should really be destroyed because it looks too far gone to save."
Looking at the police, both officers quickly fled the scene not wanting a repeat of what just happened. Leaving the store after that, I took the girls to a nice buffet where they could eat all the food they wanted. Tipping the owner handsomely for a private room, the children deserved to eat in peace without being berated by other customers.
—3rd Person POV—
"Yes sir, there is a strange man walking around the Shopping District with a group of Cursed Children.", one of the two officers reported to their commander, "I do not know how he did it, but he pinned both of us to the ground without touching us."
"He hurt anyone?", their commander asked.
"The man threatened to beat the clerk up if she did not ring out their order. Admittedly he did pay for everything, but he had to strong arm her to do it.", the officer responded, "Sir, I have seen a lot of crap on this job…that guy terrifies me! He did not flinch when we pointed our firearms at him, and it really seemed like he would have killed the clerk if she did not comply."
"Follow him discreetly and report back anything suspicious.", the commander said, "I will send a few Security Agents to back you up in case something happens. Do not engage him if possible, we do not need another bloodbath in the Shopping District again. One of the Veteran Security Officers went nuts last month over there, and we caught hell for not catching it before he snapped."
Acknowledging their orders, the two men maintained a close eye on the buffet that they had gone into. While they were sitting outside watching, their commanding officer took their report to his superior for review. With several recent attempts on the Governor's life, the commander had serious concerned that the man they met might be after her life as well.