chapter five:

Caelum took extra hours at the shop. He would start working on weekends ― he could blame it on decathlon practice, now. The extra hours would help with these extra expenses and hopefully, help ease up on his stress. The long hours he spent doing manual labour usually helped. If Peter was able to tell something was wrong with him, he wondered who else could as well?

Caelum needed a break, but knew the dangers of doing so. He needed to work, at least until the winter break, which wasn’t for another six weeks. Then, he could take a breath before plunging back into school life and the extra expenses with the new semester.

Friday easily rolled around. Caelum arranged for someone to take his shift at work again ― he would owe Austin a few favours after all this. He hoped his ‘favours’ weren’t anything like Principal Davis’ ― he enjoyed the presence of coworker.

Caelum mentally prepared himself for an afternoon with his father. For once, luck seemed to be on his side, because neither Principal Davis nor Peter approached him at all that day. He expected his father to pick him up after school.

What he didn’t expect was for Mrs. Keeley to approach him during lunch. “Caelum, your father is here for an early dismissal,” Caelum rose an eyebrow. He was finishing half of his homework ― he didn’t have the funds to pay for lunch meals. He either brought his own ― which was rarely because his supposed scholarship provided free lunch ― or didn’t eat all.

“Thank you, Mrs. Keeley,” Caelum replied, grabbing his things and following him out of the lunchroom. He noticed Peter watching him as he stood and left the room.

His father was in front of the office and grinned broadly at him as he walked down the hall. “Ready?” He asked, and Caelum pulled on his backpack.

“Yes, sir,” Caelum replied, and the two began to leave.

Caelum and his father caught the train into Brooklyn. Caelum was curious as to where they were going, but didn’t say much. He finally had his answer when his father caught a taxi and gave the driver the address of the place where he worked.

Caelum rose an eyebrow, “We’re going to Kaxton Industries?” Caelum asked, a bit confused.

“Yes,” his father replied. “I want to give you a glimpse of what is very possible for you to have if you work hard.” Ah, so this had been a ‘legacy’ kind of thing.

Caelum sat straight and waited for the car to pull up to the building’s entrance. Caelum and his father exited the taxi, after paying the man. Caelum followed his father as he walked up to the entrance of the building. He suspected that with his father’s obviously low ranking in the building, he wouldn’t be able to see much outside the lobby ― maybe the main floor, but nothing more than that, he was sure.

His father led him inside and passed a few security guards, flashing his badge at them for access. They didn’t pay any attention to Caelum, and he rose an eyebrow.

When they entered the floor, he noticed how particularly crowded it had been, and several people his age were standing around beside older, similar looking people. Was it a kind of unofficial ‘Take Your Kids to Work Day’?

Caelum’s father pressed ever forward until they were unable to move anymore. He looked around irritated. Caelum noticed that of his father ― he always thought of himself better than any other person around him. He had his own ‘air of importance’ and wanted things to go his way or no way at all.

“Justice!” A voice called over the voices of the heavy crowd. Both Caelum and his father turned to see a younger asian man grinning at him, and beside him was a younger boy who looked exactly like the man. “It’s good to see you! This must be Algol?” Caelum winced at the name, but put out his name for the man to shake.

“Caelum,” he corrected politely, but the man didn’t seem to notice.

“Your father has told me much about you! Fixing on being valedictorian at Midtown High, eh?” He chuckled, giving a firm pat on his hand with his free hand. “Calvin Lee, at your service, and this is Avery.” He motioned to who had to be his son, who moved behind his father, obviously shy and reluctant.

Caelum didn’t quite know about being valedictorian, but he didn’t want to disappoint his father. “Yes, sir,” he replied, and Calvin grinned.

“When do you think it’ll be starting, Calvin?” His father asked, and Caelum kept listening, but still looked around, examining the hall.

“In a few, I hope. I know they’re fixing up the last few parts on the exhibition hall,” Calvin nudged Caelum’s arm, and he turned his attention back. “We’ll be the first to see it, you know.”

“First to see what, if you don’t mind my asking?” Caelum asked, watching the two men curiously.

Calvin turned to his father, a little surprised, “You didn’t tell him?”

“It was supposed to be a surprise,” Justice replied. “Go on, you can say.”

“Well, we’ve been working on a project, something to bring more eyes to the company,” Calvin explained. “Something for families and bring more attention to us.” Caelum nodded, interesting.

Then, he heard a noise go over the group, before someone started to speak. “Good afternoon family and friends,” an unfamiliar yet exuberant voice greeted from above.

Caelum turned to the top of a staircase, where a man was standing very neat black suit with a cane in his right hand. He looked old, maybe in his late sixties, and behind him was a man, much younger and dressed in clean suit navy blue suit and a interesting hat on is head, which could’ve been a fedora, but Caelum wasn’t quite sure.

“Thank you for joining us on this momentous occasion," he said. "For your hard work, you have been granted with the opportunity to see the grand-opening of the new addition to Kaxton Industries!” A round of clapping thundered around Caelum and he lightly joined as to not be the odd man out.

“This is all because of our collective hard work,” the man continued. “We would like to thank our sponsors who have helped us create this, including Falk Corporations, Rand, and Oscorp Industries, along with the collective help of all of you.” Another round of applause, and Caelum again joined, still eager to see what exactly he was going to see the ‘grand opening’ of. “And, without further ado, I, Alexander Kaxton, would like to introduce the opening of the Kaxton Industries Scientific Outreach Division!”

A set of double doors opened and Caelum turned, along with everyone else. He was greeted with bright lights and music all around. White and blue confetti began to fall from the ceiling somewhere, and music began to sound through loudspeakers.

The rush of the crowd pushed Caelum forward, forcing him to move. He walked forward as people began to chatter excitedly, eager to see the new exhibit.

Caelum was greeted by bright lights and large tubes. Children darted from side to side, laughing and talking loudly. Around them, were different tubes of what looked like experiments recreated for display in the cases.

Most were minerals, showing different rocks under certain chemicals that people like his father developed. Some were exhibits or live feeds of animals in a substance that was certainly not water, but wasn’t exactly decaying their bodies. By the pictures, it looked like an alternative to. . . water? Caelum knew, from prior research, that Kaxton Industries ― along with several others ― were trying to recreate the material of Captain America’s shield. Had Kaxton Industries done it? What was the faux-water for?

Caelum was interested, wanting to look at the displays, taking in all the information, but his father had other ideas. He pulled Caelum away, down a hallway that branched off. Caelum obeyed following his father closely. He was stopped by two burly looking men. “This area is restricted,” they explained gruffly, their voices cold and stern. This, obviously, wasn’t exactly their first rodeo.

His father flashed his badge, but they still didn't move. “I have access to this area,” he said.

“This area is off-limits for today,” they replied, as if one.

His father looked annoyed, “This is ridiculous!” He snapped. Caelum felt a bit of embarrassment twist inside him. He didn’t have time for this ― if his father invited him to explore the new exhibit, then shouldn’t they do just that?

“Sir―”

“Now you know,” his father pointed a finger in their faces. Caelum cringed, of course his father would do this, of all days. He turned around, looking at the other exhibits while his father talked. The crowd had begun to thin as they walked through the building.

Caelum watched the left over children and adults running around, laughing their grubby fingers touching the rather delicate displays of different chemicals on minerals and animals. They were loud ― it was quite invigorating. Caelum wanted more than anything to get this over with and not stand beside his father as he argued over petty, simple matters because he thought himself better than most ― if not all.

Caelum heard a familiar voice, “Avery? Avery!” It was Calvin from earlier. Had Avery gotten separated? It wouldn’t be a surprise in this kind of crowd.

Caelum instinctively began to scan the crowd, looking for the supposed lost boy. After a bit of searching he found the boy, staring up at display that was a fish swimming in a unfamiliar substance of many colours. Caelum couldn’t help but watch it as well. He saw, on the screen below a person holding a rock, and the fish, after being subjected to the substance, began to follow it mindlessly. They tried the same with a rodent, and the same result happened. Caelum watched, intrigued by the artificial mind control.

“I’ll tell Mr. Kaxton himself of this!” His father snapped at the men, still racing for no apparent reason.

Caelum rolled his eyes, and noticed a group of boys running down the path, straight for Avery, still entranced by the shiny substance.

It was as if Caelum predicted the events before they came to fruition. Caelum ran quickly, pushing Avery out of the path while the one of the boys, laughing and talking loudly to his friend, ran face first into the display.

The display moved, crashing down loudly over Caelum before he could get up. The chemical doused his head, dripping down the sides of his face. It was heavy and cold, like someone froze whipped cream and spilled it over his head. It smelt like burned metal.

Caelum kept his eyes shut, and mouth closed, but he felt his eyes sting, a bit of it already getting in them. His body burned and his back and neck stung. He heard shouting and the cries of men and women around him.

It felt like hours and he felt the chemical begin to burn, as if someone was pouring acid into his skin. He writhed, his mouth opening, but his clamped his hands over it, an unyielding cry escaping. His body began to shake, and he vaguely heard shouting over all the chaos.

He turned, his back arching, the bare skin slicing on glass. He looked to the ground beside him, his eyes growing in and out of focus. The last thing he saw was the fish in the tank flopping aimlessly before going still, and Caelum mimicked it, his eyes closing.