A/N: I'm so sorry for making any of you wait, this is way, WAY past my set deadline. I just have gotten pretty busy, and I also had a rather annoying bout of writer's block. Thankfully, it's gone now. You can expect things to start happening very soon!

As always, I want to thank all of you for continuing to read and I hope I can continue to entertain you. Thanks for all of your support! I really appreciate it!

Chapter 12: Motion

"Just look at this thing!"

"It's simply amazing."

"I like the way it looks!"

"It's pretty big, isn't it?"

A swarm of young boys were clogging up the hallway one afternoon staring at a marvelous new toy an upperclassman had brought to show them. They all chittered excitedly, each taking the item in their hands to gawk at it a little bit.

It was then that Laurent walked up to the group, intent on getting around them and back to his room. However, as he began listening to their excited babbling, he became curious as to what they were looking at. He peeked over one of their shoulders in an attempt to see what was so interesting, but he couldn't see anything at all.

"What do you have there?" Laurent asked as he struggled to see what everyone was so excited about.

One of the boys turned and smiled at him, "Oh, hello, Laurent," he said, nodding at the new arrival, "Have you seen this thing yet? It's one of those cellular telephones."

"One of those what?"

"You know, a portable telephone… they're really new," the boy said, "They're expensive, too…"

One of the boys passed Laurent the item in question. It was a big, blocky plastic contraption that seemed to have a likeness to a telephone… somewhat. Laurent was immediately intrigued. He began looking it over with the same sort of curiosity the other boys had.

"It's not as good as a normal telephone," the upperclassman said with a sigh.

"They're downright impossible to get, though!" one boy exclaimed, "How did you get your hands on one?"

"He attends this school, idiot," another boy remarked snidely, "His parents have a lot of money to spend."

"…but for one of those things…!"

"…Yes, spending money on school is one thing, but spending so much on one of these things…"

"I'd have to admit, the price seems rather high for an ugly plastic thing like that."

"You all just don't understand! This is the future!" one boy piped up, "I'd like to work on something like this when I get older."

"I hope it improves, it certainly isn't that spectacular to me right now," one boy said boredly.

"Why are even here if you don't want to be, Simon?" another cried out angrily.

Laurent continued to turn the telephone in his hands until another boy snatched it away to get another look.

"Be careful with it!" the upperclassman snapped, "You all know how expensive it is!"

As the others continued their babbling about the new piece of technology, Laurent slipped through the crowd and to the other side. He looked back at them for a few seconds before moving on.

"Did you see that cellular telephone?" Matthew asked, spinning around in his chair to face Laurent as he entered the room. Laurent gave a nod.

"Yeah, they're all saying that it'll spark the future, or something like that," Laurent said, settling down in front of his desk and picking up a piece of candy, "It's not as interesting as a computer, though."

"Yeah..." Matthew said, "Just think about it, though… people would be able to make phone calls whenever they wanted. That sounds nice, doesn't it? We won't even need phone booths anymore; people will just carry their own telephones wherever they go."

"That could be a problem," Laurent said thoughtfully, already finished with his first piece of candy and moving on to a second.

"Why is that?" Matthew asked, cocking his head.

"Well… with all the phone booths gone…" Laurent said in the same thoughtful tone, fiddling with the cellophane wrapper, "…where will Clark Kent change when the time comes?"

Matthew blinked. Then, he laughed, "You had me going for a second," Matthew said with a smirk, "That was a terrible joke."

"I'm being completely serious," Laurent said, though the effect was ruined because he couldn't help but smile. "Though…" he continued, "I can't see everyone carrying around those things. They're huge."

"Maybe people could carry them around to also use as weapons… you know, if someone tried to rob them," Matthew said with a grin.

"I don't think it's heavy enough for that," Laurent said.

"Probably would scare them away, though… if it was dark, someone might mistake it for a brick or something," Matthew said.

"Maybe…"

The room was silent for a few seconds, save for the crinkling of cellophane as Laurent took yet another candy from the box. He really couldn't stop eating sugar once he had started… at least until he got a stomachache. Even when that happened, though, he'd start eating it again once the sick feeling went away.

…perhaps this was what it was like to be addicted to something.

"Hmm…" Matthew hummed, breaking the silence. His countenance suddenly looked thoughtful, "speaking of robbers, did you hear about all of the attacks in town?" he asked.

"Attacks?" Laurent asked, turning around to face Matthew, eyes wide with curiosity.

"Yeah, I heard it from Tom. He said that there have been at least five people who got robbed in the streets just last week."

"Wow… just in town?" Laurent asked, blinking, "Have they caught him yet?"

"No, that's the strange thing. They're not even sure where to begin looking, because no one has seen his face. You would think that they would have by now, considering that there have been so many people…" Matthew said, "It's a little scary, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Laurent agreed. His eyes gained a far-off look and he cupped his face in his hand, "Did Tom say anything about there being any suspects at all?"

Matthew shook his head.

"Hmm…"

"Tom didn't say anything more than what I already told you," Matthew said with a shrug, "I hope that they find him soon, though."

"So do I," Laurent said.

They were silent for a few seconds.

"I bet those people would have liked one of those big cellular telephones to swing around, wouldn't they?" Matthew asked with a grin.

"They're still too light," reminded Laurent.

"Hmm? The attacks?" Tom asked.

Laurent nodded.

The two of them were sitting next to each other at lunch. Since they had a common acquaintance in Matthew, they both ended up at the same table. That day, Matthew had finished his lunch early and had left the two of them to talk.

Laurent didn't know Thomas Harrington very well; what he did know was mostly just what Matthew had told him. All he really knew was that Tom was known most for his proficiency in math, but he didn't much care for the subject. Above all else, he preferred English. What he was doing in that particular school was something of a mystery. Perhaps it had something to do with the prestige that Wammy Institute carried.

"Well, I don't know much about them, really… it's just been on the news," Tom replied, picking up his sandwich.

"I see…" Laurent said a little disappointedly.

"Why do you want to know about them, anyway?" Tom asked.

"Well," Laurent said, "Don't you think it's interesting? Five attacks in one week and no one has seen his face? Isn't that a little weird?"

"The man always attacked at night, it was just probably too dark to see him," Tom said with a shrug.

"That's all?"

"Well, I already said I don't know very much about what's happened…" Tom said with a shrug, biting into his sandwich.

"Hmm…" Laurent hummed thoughtfully, "Do you know anyone who would?"

Tom shrugged and swallowed, "I don't think anyone really cares as long as they're not the ones getting robbed," he said.

Laurent sat back in his seat in thought, poking absently at the food on his tray with his fork, "The town's not very big, though… is it?" he asked.

"Not really," Tom replied, "I've been there a couple of times… there's really not much to it."

"Well, then… do you think the robber could be someone everyone knows?" Laurent asked, continuing to play with his food.

"What do you mean?"

"Well… it's a small town; everyone probably knows one another, right?"

"Hmm… they might…" Tom said with a shrug, "I don't know very much about towns, I live in a city."

Laurent nodded absently, then continued to think, "Don't you think you would be able to recognize a person you know in the dark?"

"If they talked to me, I guess…" Tom took another bite of his sandwich and chewed thoughtfully. He then swallowed and said, "I guess I could probably tell who they are from their outline, too… and how they walk…"

"Since no one recognized him, then no one probably knew the robber, right?" Laurent asked.

"I don't know… maybe. They might not all know each other, though," Tom said.

"That's true…"

"Even if they did, if he was a new person, they'd probably know who he was, too…" Tom continued, "If they all knew each other, they would probably know when someone new came around, and they would recognize him because of that, wouldn't you think?"

"I was thinking about that," Laurent mumbled, his fork tracing nonsense shapes in the food on his tray.

Tom shrugged again, "Well, whatever happens, I don't really think any of this really matters…" he said, finishing up his sandwich and picking up his tray, "They'll eventually catch the robber. These sorts of things don't ever take too long." He then walked away, leaving Laurent alone at the table with his thoughts.

He didn't want to just leave it at that, though. This, for some odd reason, was very interesting to him. Who was this man? Was he someone the townspeople knew? Was he someone that just moved in? Was he someone with no connection at all to the town?

Laurent wanted to find out for himself.