Chapter 81 - Saving Matthew

Since Masaru is already has gotten a lead which is Matthew Freeman he went back to the farmhouse when the alarm went off to start pretending he was in his room, "Steve!!! STEVE!!!!" Masaru sighed walking down the stairs feeling like he could really beat up this old woman if it was not for the fact he had to keep his identity a secret for a little while longer, when he arrived at the kitchen he saw Jessy wearing her apron cooking early dinner which was quite strange as this never happened before but he did not take it to mind since he was focusing on the tracker he placed on Matthew.

From the looks of it Matthew's tracker was not discovered and he went back to a location Masaru could more or less guess was quite near Lesser Malling so he probably went back to Mrs Deverill's farm. "Steve, we will be having early dinner tonight as I am not really feeling that well and would like to sleep early" Masaru who heard this could point out several holes in her own words but he kept quiet nodding the moment she looked at him, tonight's dinner was stew made with vegetables and beef which was surprisingly fresh and it would have tasted great! If Masaru did not taste a mixture of ingredients which he was quite well aware of that would cause people to become drowsy before falling asleep.

'What the hell are they planning?' Masaru decided to play the part of showing signs of him sway a bit and his eyes feeling heavy, "Oh my, Steve if your tired you should go to bed" Masaru simply nodded walking like someone who was on the verge of becoming drunk, the reason he made his act this way was the fact the amount of those ingredients was actually supposed to knock him right out if he was human but he already swallowed by the time he realized this and did not fall asleep then and there, so he and no choice but to mellow it to drunk walking. Masaru collapsed on his bed keeping his eyes closed but his other senses were keeping guard.

"Is he asleep?" Jessy asked Matoto who went up to check, he was quite crude with his manner of checking as he even kicked Masaru to make sure he was really sleeping so after checking he went back down "Yes, I even kicked him and he did not wake up" Jessy pointed her finger at Matoto feeling furious "You should learn to use your head! What if you kicked that boy hard enough and he woke up!? I already had a hard time gathering all those medicines!" Matoto simply snorted, "Hmpf! That kid deserves it, acting all high and haughty that he can do farm work better than us" The two of them argued a bit more before they went together with the rest riding on an old Jeep, it was only when Masaru was certain they were gone that he opened his eyes.

The first thing he did was write a report about today's events including Matthew Freeman and sent it off to Edward Pendragon who was his contact point, Masaru could sense it. Matthew Freeman was on the move once again and this time he was heading towards the Abandoned Power Plant where Jessy and her men went to as well. "I will have to discard this identity" Masaru spoke as he took off his second-hand clothes and got himself dressed in a black shirt with a black hooded jacket over it, black leather pants and black combat boots, he called out his sacred gear to enhance his senses and reflexive sensitivity for incase.

[AH, fresh air! Iya! Don't bite grandpa, yeah yeah I will pet you now]

"Who are you talking with?"

[The little tiger cub why?]

"Boy or Girl?"

Drago felt confused, just what is Masaru trying to figure out here but he simply shoved it to the back of his mind, [Girl why?] "Because I need to make a call to FBI" [Fuck off!!] Masaru chuckled feeling a bit less nervous before he teleported himself into the woods near the abandoned power plant, first he used magic to erase traces of him including his footsteps as he ventured deeper into the woods. He could see lights coming off from the direction of the power plant so there was definitely movements there because ever since Jessy and her farmhands reached this place he could no longer sense their life force, he came across wired fences about two metres high surrounding the entire area around the abandoned Power plant.

However what he saw in front of him further off near the power plant was a large bonfire, he saw a woman chanting something quite strange as he never heard of this language before and even his devil innate language skill was not picking it up. But soon hounds with flesh and blood came out of the fire, black fur covering their blood colour skins and bloodshot eyes. When Masaru saw them sniffing he immediately isolated himself with space magic to prevent those hounds from sniffing, but the hounds picked something else up as Masaru finally became aware of Matthew Freeman that somehow managed to get past the fence was now being chased by the hounds.

Masaru did not get involved as he was sure Mrs Deverill would not allow Matthew to die, but what he did not realize was that Mrs Deverill did not know that it was Matthew and she was indeed trying to kill him for real. While Matthew as running Masaru was looking at the Power Plant, since he did not want to give away his identity just yet he began wondering why they gather at this place every night, according to the books this Power Plant was called Omega One, it has not been used for more than 20 years.

Not to mention the moment the lights of the power plant all were activated he spotted men carrying boxes and materials into the power station, from some of the things he saw it appears these people intend to restart the nuclear plant? 'What if Raven Gate is the Nuclear Plant itself? But I can't make a move yet as I Need to understand how this boy got himself caught in all of this... Otherwise, if I stop it here someone else will restart it and we will not know why or how...' Masaru decided to wait it out to understand how they planned all of this so when he stops them he will pull out the roots as well.

Masaru suddenly sensed Matthew got himself in some sort of bog as he could feel the life force his tracker is keeping tabs off was starting to fade, so he gave up on the people and ran over in the direction to save the boy maybe he could get some straight answers. By the time he arrived he saw a young man had already pulled Matthew out of the bog so Masaru enhanced his speed by operating his Ki within his body sprinting towards the Hounds that followed Matthew killing the both of them with a kick, a simple kick in their head causing the head to explode but there was no blood or flesh simply a headless dog turning into dust.

"Who are you?" Richard Cole was convinced that things were simply maddening, too many things were happening ever since he met the boy Matthew Freeman whom he could not believe but now... He saved a boy from a bog because of a strange feeling he gotten, strange hideous hounds that turned to dust and a man saving them all of the sudden. "We have to get out of here, take the boy to the car... We must leave now before more of those things come" Masaru looked around, Richard was scared of this event so he helped Matthew into his car back seat while Masaru sits in the front passenger seat, they went together to Richard's home in the York.

Richard was currently renting a flat in the York, Matthew was still shaken after tonight's event so the three of them first gotten themselves washed, ate take out food before Matthew began to explain his events once again, this time Richard now believes in Matthew's story because he remembers Omega One not to mention about the sections of the story he couldn't get out of his head. They spoke a bit more about the events before Richard went to call a man by the name Michael Marsh who was involved in the construction of the Power plant.

>/<

The next morning Masaru woke up when he heard Richard speaking with Matthew, "I was wondering when you'd get up," Richard said. "Did you sleep OK?" Matthew who got dressed in different clothes nodded, "Yes, thanks. Where did you get the clothes?" Richard checked that the clothes were at least the right size "There's a shop down the road. I had to guess your size."

"Steve, I am making breakfast you want your eggs hard or soft?" Masaru smirked thinking something different "Make them hard please" Matthew shook his head "I don't mind either is fine" Richard checked the saucepan, "They've been in twenty minutes. I have a feeling they'll be hard." They sat down at the table and ate together. "So what happens now?" Matthew asked. "Well like you and me, we both have to tread carefully from now on since we are both missing, Mrs Deverill will be looking for you and Jessy will be looking for me, because the both of us are LEAF project boys we will definitely have trouble dealing with authorities if they report us but...." Richard looked at Masaru waiting for him to continue, "I doubt we will be hearing from the Authorities as they need you, I am not sure if you noticed but almost every villager in Yorkshire has your information to even your clothes sizes" Richard felt a bit repulsed 'Fuck, are they perverts?'

"So we only need to be careful towards the people living in Lesser Malling and Greater Malling in general, so we have to be on the lookout" The two of them nodded, "Allow me to say this to you two boys but as soon as we've found out what's going on, it's goodbye. No offence but there's

the only room in this place for one. And I am not a Nanny" Masaru nodded while Matthew felt nonchalant about it "That's fine by me."

Richard took out a notebook, "Anyway, I've been busy. While you were asleep, I made a few calls. The first one was to Sir Michael Marsh." Masaru rubbed his chin, "That scientist of the nuclear plant huh" Richard nodded "He's agreed to see us at half-past eleven. After that, we're going to Manchester." Matthew felt confused about the Manchester trip, "Why?" Richard looked at Matthew wondering how he has forgotten something he told him back at the Gazette "When you came to the newspaper office you told me about a book you'd found in the library. Written by someone called Elizabeth Ashwood. She's quite well known. This will probably grab you, Matt. She writes about black magic and witchcraft … that sort of stuff. We've got a file on her at the Gazette and I managed to get hold of one of our researchers. She gave me an address for her. No phone number, unfortunately. But we can drive over and see what she has to say."

Masaru naturally knew of this Susan Ashwood, 'Isn't that the woman I saved back in the Vatican... THat damn blind madwoman is still going on fighting demons?' Masaru shook his head as the trip forward from them was planned ahead, so after finishing their breakfast the three of them immediately set off to meet Michael Marsh.

>/<

Michael Marsh, appear to look like every grandpa who loves kids but Masaru could see this man had similar eyes that of Azazel although he felt strangely repulsed by it as well. He was into his seventies. He was formally dressed in a dark suit with a white shirt and blue silk tie. His shoes were highly polished and his fingernails manicured. His hair had long ago turned silver but it was thick and well-groomed. He was sitting with his legs crossed, one hand resting on his knee, listening to what his visitors had to say.

Strangely Masaru was keeping his silence as he allowed Richard to be the one talking since both he and Matthew were kids so them leading the conversation will appear strange for a start. The three of them were in a first-floor lounge room, Richard was telling the story Matthew told him about Omega and the things that were happening there although he left out the parts of why Matthew was there or how he and Masaru were from Lesser Malling.

In reality, Masaru had no need to be here but since he was interested in the location of the power plant if it is the Raven's Gate he could at least start moving a bit earlier once he knows what he wants to know. "You say that there were electric lights at the power station," Michael felt quite conflicted as he knows better than anyone that the power plant was abandoned and even marked forbidden to enter, to begin with so he continued his question. "And the boy heard a humming sound?" Richard nodded, "Yes, sir."

Michael asked another question, "He saw a lorry. Unloading some sort of box?" Once again Richard affirmed this, and Michael leaned backwards as if he could already guess these people probably seen something else or it was simply them seeking trouble. "And what conclusion have you drawn from all this, Mr Cole?" Richard checked his notes "Matt couldn't see very much in the darkness, Sir Michael. But he said that the people carrying the box were wearing strange, bulky clothes. I wondered if they might have been radiation suits."

Michael smiled, "You think that somebody is trying to start up Omega One?" Richard affirmed again but Michael shook his head, "An impossibility, I'm afraid." Michael started to give them three a lecture about the workings of Nuclear power and physics lessons, the first subject was in regards to a nuclear bomb how it contained devastating power that can destroy cities especially the energy released in the explosion, that energy which comes from splitting the atom.

After teaching them how the power plant works he began to explain the means how Uranium was being transported strangely Matthew said the boxes Michael mentioned was similar to how he just explained but Michael simply shook it off saying Uranium was something not easily to get since it is so radioactive it could kill a human if you hold it with your bȧrė hands which is why it needs a large airtight sealed container. There was a lot of other non-important information Michael mentioned how Omega One was an experimental station to study reactors in action and to ensure their safety, how he was involved in all of this.

It was at this moment Masaru felt this discussion was quite strange, he was not sure if Richard and Matthew was realizing it, but the discussion which should have been about people being at the Nuclear plant has turned into a discussion about the power plant workings instead. 'This man is suspicious' There is no other way, he was certain if he was involved or he was a contact person for them to make use of since he was involved in this project.

The strange thing was when the subject turned back to where people were trying to restart it, Michael rejected it saying how difficult it was to get uranium especially from how countries monitor it, and how he visited the power plant 20 years back and it was empty inside. Everything he used to deny Masaru could agree that it was reasonable, but there was one question he did not dare ask 'What if he is involved, the very man who knows all this...' Masaru kept his silence as he did not want to alarm the people working with him so he will mention it.

Seeing that they were getting nowhere Richard apologized and left together with Matthew and Masaru, it was only when they were gone in the car Masaru spoke, "That man is suspicious" Richard wonder why this boy would suspect a old man but Masaru continued, "Everything he said was reasonable, but didn't you realize how he shifted the subject to a lesson to disturb your thinking process? When a lesson start whether children or ȧduŀts their reaction turn to begin students to listen and learn, if this is used perfectly one can disturb people's thought processes" Masaru looked out the window, "When you brought the topic back to what we wanted to know if he denied everything by using the information which he just taught you disrupting your ability to digest what he taught you causing you to not ask the most important question of them all..." Richard looked at him, "What would that be?" Masaru smiled "What if he was the one who helped Deverill get the Uranium, he knows everything including the law, has contact with the people who work on those kinds of stations... I won't be surprised if he was involved"

Richard felt his spine grow cold at the realization that he as a reporter really screwed up, that was indeed the million-dollar question. Masaru continued, "The other reason is any sane and responsible person will investigate such reports immediately even if it is a rouse, we are talking about a Nuclear Power Plant, it's not like there is not terrorist around the world and an exploding Nuclear Plant is no joke... The fact that old man refused everything and not even showing signs of investigating, labelling it all like a picnic is simply suspicious... beyond suspicious"

(AN: If you are confused about what Masaru meant, what he was meaning Michael used his classroom lesson to first disrupt and change the subject into teaching them, and when they came back to the subject he used his "lessons" to prevent them from asking, 'What if they had someone like you helping them?' kind of question... It's a scary technique smart people use to dodge the bullet)