"We never got your name. I'm Basil and this is my brother Matt." Basil introduced. The stranger gave him a steely gaze.
"Rease." He said like they should have already known that. There was a sudden burst of little kid laughter. A kid about five or six came running up to them laughing. One thing was for sure: he wasn't in his grade.
"Ha ha! Stupid got hurt!" He laughed like it was the funniest thing ever.
"Hey Rease how did you get hurt anyway?" Basil questioned. Rease turned his head to the side like he wasn't worth looking at.
"That kid got upset and opened his box and a lighting bull charged at me."
"Wait are you saying that this kid is the Lighting Guardian?!" Basil said totally shocked.
"Wish I wasn't. But his ring is legit and he opened up the box." He answered sounding disgusted.
"What's his name anyway?" Matt asked
"You're in the presence of the coolest person ever! Miles! Bow down to me!" The kid put his hands on his hips and tilted his head up in proud manor.
"JB you don't seem emotionally able to deal with this right now. Why don't you go sit down and we'll work with the Elucidator." Katherine suggested. JB looked down at the Elucidator in his hand taking his time to answer.
"Alright, fine." He handed the Elucidator to Katherine then shrugged off to the back wall. The moment he was out of ear shot Katherine immediately asked the Elucidator if there was a place they could send him so he could morn in peace. NO.
"Why not?" Johan asked. The screen changed. THERE IS NO PLACE THAT WOULDN'T CAUSE HIM MORE EMOTIONAL DISTRESS.
"What about sending him home?" Chip tried. HE IS NOT READY TO TELL HIS WIFE THAT HE LOST THEIR SONS.
"So what? We just let him sit here?" Johan looked up at Katherine and Chip.
"What if we found Matt? Would that make him feel better?" Katherine asked the Elucidator. MOST LIKELY. That was a good sign. There was still a chance to get JB back to at least to half of what he was before. Johan glanced at the broken time traveler.
JB buried his head deeper in his palms. How did this happen? How was it was such an average morning turned into this? He still see Basil and Matt head off to school like every other day. Just a week ago his biggest concern as parent was his kids didn't forget anything when they went to school. Now one was dead and the other was who-knows-where! He was helpless to help Basil and now he can't even help himself or anyone. The more he tried to push his feelings to the side the harder they came back. JB wanted to punch himself. How was he going to explain this to Brook? She loved them maybe more than he did and that was a big maybe! Hearing this would absolutely crush her! I'm a failure as a husband and a Dad! I'm the worst parent ever! At least there was a chance Matt was still alive. But he could be anywhere in any time. And with history's violent nature there is no guarantee about anything. He squeezed his eyes even tighter titling his head even lower so his fingers grabbed his bangs.
"This has to be the most frustrating device ever invented! How do JB and other time travelers constantly use these?!" Katherine sighed infuriated. They had been asking the Elucidator questions about Matt and the boss and once about Gary and Hodge. As usual it wouldn't give them a straight answer.
"They probably had training." Johan answered her getting a death glare.
"Maybe we should get JB's help. He's better at working this thing than we are." Chip suggested. Johan looked back at JB. He was the perfect example of the definition depress.
"No. Let's give him more time." Johan grabbed the Elucidator out of Katherine's hand.
Basil fell on his back, his skin stinging. Rease wasn't kidding that Miles was the Lighting Guardian. When he suggested that move to someplace safer Matt started complaining that he didn't want to go. Rease picked him up to force him to go Miles got upset and started trashing about. His ring ignited and Miles slammed his fist as his box. The ring went in the hole and a light green lighting came charging out. A bull appeared out of the flash. Lighting flashed across its body.
"Not again!" Rease flinched. Miles didn't seem to notice this and continued trashing about.
"Put me down Stupid!" Miles shouted. The bull switched back into the lighting form but instead of going back into the box it charged at all them. The lighting strike hit everyone including Miles. He could hear Miles moan on Rease's chest. The lighting streaked back towards the box and it close with a gentle thud.
"Well that hurt!" Matt groaned next to him. If Mom stressed out him hitting his head he wonder how she would react with him getting hit by lighting. Basil moaned in agreement. He closed his eyes for a second just to catch a breath but when he heard the sound of a boxing opening he jerked his eyes open to see if Miles was messing with his box again. But the sound actually came from Rease's red box. Basil was surprised to see inside was a small house size cat. It was white faint yellow patches on his head and thighs. Red flames shot out its ears. Its eyes were all crimson red.
"What are you doing out of your box?" Rease asked the cat. But it just yawned and curled up on his face. When he tried moving it, it hissed and clawed his face till it was back curled up. Basil laid his head back down and closed his eyes.