Following Alfred's ragtag team of wannabe vigilantes was far too easy. Despite the large number of the group not one of them realised they had a tail. Matthew could see how easy it would be to fit some kills between while following. But for now, this was strictly reconnaissance but killing someone in an area the group had already passed through... it would be all too easy to get away with it happening right under their noses.

Once he had a feel for how the vigilante group operated he'd start killing again, but he also had to factor in that there were more eyes on the street than ever before. Police were still on every corner, but Matthew found them easy enough to slip by without detection. No doubt they were just trying to find out more about the marked murders and it was only a matter of time before they made the right connection.

One thing Matthew quickly noticed about the group was the mood teetered between being serious and having fun, often lingering on the latter. Maybe it was part of their bar-hopping or clubbing disguise, but it often felt like he was stalking a bunch of young adults just hanging out without anything suspicious going on. With the way they were all loudly talking and laughing about irrelevant topics, anyone would overlook them and assume nothing.

However, it didn't take long for Matthew to become aware of a festering feeling inside him as he was reminded of a righteous grudge. He didn't know how he blocked it out until now but like with a lot of hurtful things he always somehow forgot about them until they were right in his face and everything came back at once. This was the first time in years that Matthew had seen Gilbert in person and every time he said something in that grating voice of his to his friends and everyone laughed Matthew felt a pang of angst and fidgeted with his blade. Even at this distance, he was too close to that asshole.

If it was only Gilbert on the street... A vicious Matthew would have him join his friend Francis. But for now, he'd just have to settle on imaging the lecture he'd give as blood bathed the streets and freed himself from the turmoil he was once subject to.

He powered through the lingering foul feeling and found himself getting swept up the in friend's vibe that left Matthew feeling conflicted, feeling both included and like he was missing out. This was what normal people his age did and yet it was an alien experience for him. But as he was eavesdropping he couldn't help but find amusement in their conversation... And the situations they found themselves in.

One night the group almost had a heart attack when at 2 something in the morning a police cruiser flashed its lights at them and crossed onto the opposite side of the road to illegally pull over beside them.

"Let me do the talking," Gilbert said with complete confidence as he stepped up. His ego was just that big. "My awesome bro's a cop so there's no way we're getting in trouble- oh scheisse."

Matthew had crouched in an alley behind them and inched forward to see the scene. It was Ludwig, hardly looking impressed. Probably his default expression. Matthew felt a sense of amusement at Gilbert's misfortunate situation and couldn't wait to see where it led.

Antonio started laughing and failed to stifle it, which made Gilbert turn around and glare at Antonio with clearly mock offence because it seemed Gilbert could see the humour in it too. As usual, he wasn't taking anything seriously.

"Hey, Ludwig! How's the detective investigation stuff going?" Alfred held back a giggle, which seemed to make it harder for Gilbert and Antonio to hold back their amusement. Ivan just stood there like he was just itching to keep going yet doing everyone a favour by staying patient and not walking off without them.

"What are you doing?" Ludwig's question was a loaded one, full of scepticism but no one was taking it seriously.

"We're going clubbing," Alfred said dismissively. "Y'know, I would've thought that clubs would've been shut down cus... y'know. But since they're open that must mean it's safe, right? So we're all going clubbing to celebrate!"

Ludwig's face ever so slightly changed at hearing that very incorrect statement, but the group was completely oblivious to it.

"Yeah bro, I thought I told you!" Gilbert added and the blatant gaslighting irked Matthew. "You must've been so busy you forgot."

"Yeah, you definitely told him," Antonio backed him up and Matthew was annoyed that Antonio went along with it. Gilbert was an asshole for sure and how his friends let it happen was beyond him, especially since Antonio could be nice.

Ludwig groaned and rubbed at his face.

"Sorry bro, next time I'll write it down or something so you don't have to stress," Gilbert leaned into the window to pat his brother's hair, which made Ludwig scowl. A fair reaction to having Gilbert push into one's personal space.

"You don't smell like you've been drinking."

Alfred and Antonio made eye contact behind Gilbert's back with an amused face that said 'oh shit' because none of them had actually been drinking. They promptly changed their posture and became slightly unbalanced so it looked like they were at least tipsy.

"I'm being responsible!" Definitely not something Gilbert was defined by. "Someone's got to look after them. Are you proud Luddy?"

"Yes, I'm proud," Ludwig's voice was monotone but Gilbert still took it in stride. "I'm going home now so please be quiet when you come back-"

"Of course we will!" Antonio's voice was louder than necessary as he stepped forward and 'crashed' into Gilbert. "You won't even know we left!"

Ludwig's tired and unimpressed eyes fell onto Gilbert, who just grabbed Antonio with a chuckle.

"Yeah yeah, I'll make sure he shuts up. Can't do an awesome job if you haven't had an awesome sleep."

"I've been managing," Ludwig said in resignation. "Just stay together as a group. Don't let anyone wander off and be aware of your surroundings."

"Okay, you got it," Gilbert said. "Is that an order chief?"

"I mean it," Ludwig was serious but there was some concern in his voice. "Okay, well, enjoy your night."

The group waved as Ludwig drove off and as soon as the vehicle was out of sight the laughter that everyone was trying to hold in could no longer be contained.

"That was close call, you must plan to be better next time," Ivan asserted.

"Good idea! Next time we'll have to drink!" Gilbert seemed too excited by the stupid idea and to Matthew's surprise, so did Antonio. Matthew would've expected he had some reservations about it but fortunately for him, he didn't seem to be traumatised by liquor. What having friends to drink with did to a guy...

"Hell yeah! But only enough to be tipsy because if we're drunk then we'll probably be targets," Alfred responded. "I'll bring some drinks next time, alright?"

"Drinking would be bad idea, could impair already impaired sensibilities."

"So you're saying you're a lightweight?" Alfred challenged.

"Compared to you, anyone is lightweight."

"Oh har har, you never miss an opportunity to exploit that joke." Alfred rolled his eyes. "I actually think you weigh more than me! How about next time we have a meeting we check? Gilbert, you have scales at your place, right?"

"How about we get back to our own awesome patrol you stop wasting time," Gilbert snapped, definitely not amused by Ivan. It brought Matthew a little sense of ironic happiness that Gilbert was being exposed to company he couldn't tolerate. Hopefully, Ivan knew this and continued to harass Gilbert.

The group was tense for some time but then recovered back to the light joking before it came to break up for the night. Alfred went home and Matthew snuck in once he was sure his brother was in bed. Matthew slipped through his window into his room and removed the precautionary pillows he stuffed under his blankets before going to sleep.

More often than not, it was only Alfred and Ivan on the streets. Matthew could tell what Alfred's game plan for the night was just by what clothes he chose to wear when he went out the door with a goodbye. If it was something severely inappropriate for vigilante-ing then it was a clubbing night. But if it was something discreet and bland, it was a solo night.

Matthew would wait a couple moments before slipping out behind him and following from a safe distance. It didn't take long for Matthew to work out their pattern.

The two would periodically check in with each other via text as they covered areas far from each other. Their MO was much more subtle than when in a group. Much more quiet and alert, posing as if they were just walking to get from point A to point B. Alfred almost seemed paranoid, whether that was because he'd been caught vigilante-ing before and didn't have an excuse now, or because he was hoping to face the killer and doing his best to stay alert, Matthew couldn't tell.

But what he could tell was that Alfred had his gun on him. His brother was always reaching his hand behind his back with every suspicious glance down a dark alley... it was easy to assume what he was thinking. Good to know.

Regardless, both twins were avoiding the police and Matthew was surprised at how well Alfred managed to be overlooked. Just another citizen stupidly walking at night, with no ulterior motives and no baseball bat. Just a gun (that Alfred might not be allowed to have on him, but what would Matthew know?), hidden out of sight.

It didn't take much stalking at all for Matthew to come up with plans. If he shadowed Alfred on nights he was alone, any nearby area or previous area he'd been through would be ideal to strike. Matthew could get away with a kill before Alfred could even arrive. He might never arrive if he didn't know to look, if Matthew took his victims quickly before they could scream then the body might sit there for a long time before being discovered.

Though he'd only kill ahead of Alfred's route if he wanted his brother to discover the body. Matthew would have to consider how that would impact daylight life, after all. He was still a little sore at his brother and if Matthew wanted to prove he wasn't caught up by the snag that was Alfred, he might have to leave a body and hurt his brother.

But maybe for now he'd refrain from having Alfred personally find more bodies. Daylight life and all. Besides, he knew his brother would take it personally when he learnt about the uptick in murders with markings... it was only a matter of time before everyone learnt and that would be enough.

Matthew continued to follow his brother. By following Alfred, Matthew wouldn't even have to worry about Ivan, completely oblivious and too far away to do anything. But it did irk him that everything seemed to revolve around Alfred and this time he didn't even know it!

Because it was so easy he didn't have to wait long to implement his adjusted scheme into his routine, it gave him more opportunities to kill. So whenever Alfred went solo out Matthew was silently trailing behind him from a distance with his eyes peeled and steadily continued to kill a handful every night.

And on the 'clubbing nights'? Either Matthew got his fill of amusement or took the night off to catch up on sleep.

See? It didn't take him long to adapt at all. Nothing could hold him back and he wouldn't be challenged.

A couple of weeks had passed since Alfred started roaming the streets, again. It was night and Matthew was making dinner, as usual, with the TV on in the background and still no mention of his accomplishments.

Alfred was getting changed into his 'clubbing' attire as he said a minute or so ago after asking Matthew how long dinner would be. Matthew could only assume that was the reason Alfred decided to put his phone on speaker when it rang.

That and complacency, right? Matthew didn't know why Alfred didn't even try to hide anything from Matthew. Was it because Matthew would be 'nice' and not do anything to get in his way? Was it because he didn't see Matthew as a threat? Or did he just forget that Matthew was there? With the ability to hear and digest information?

Would Alfred say it's because he trusts Matthew? Or was there just no thought in it at all, only focused on what came next? Progressing. It was likely that, surely.

The phone conversation was muffled from being so far away and Matthew stepped away from cooking dinner to eavesdrop better.

"-have a meeting tonight instead of going out if it's that much of a big deal," Alfred sounded taken aback with an edge of distress.

"Fuck yeah, we'll need to have a meeting tonight because I don't know if we should keep going out! No that's not awesome - we need to keep going but everyone needs to know."

Intriguingly, Gilbert sounded like a wreck, and Matthew scrambled to interpret what could've happened. Did it have something to do with Antonio, maybe? Matthew was at a loss here and didn't know what to expect.

"Gilbert, fucking what? Know what? We have to keep going out! Just tell me what it is!" Alfred sounded desperately worried.

"Fuck- hold on Alfred, it's so not awesome that I'm panicking like this. If I talk too loud then Lud will hear and I'll be in deep shit but seriously, this is seriously bad. The Trail Killer fucker never stopped and apparently he's gotten more cocky because there's been more murders last week than ever before and Ludwig said the cops know it's that Trail Killer fucker but they don't want everyone to panic because apparently this guy is carving markings into the bodies because he's rubbing it in the police's faces that they haven't caught this fucker yet and Lud thinks it's only gonna get worse!"

Gilbert's breathing was very audible. Matthew wasn't breathing at all.

"What the fuck?" Alfred said after a moment, his voice simmering with restraint.

"Alfred, we have to do something," Gilbert snarled. "I know Ludwig's stressing about it and he's an officer so that means it's bad! He says that fucker is gloating by marking people and he's just gonna keep doing it-"

The police knew... how long did they know...?

"What the fuck?!" Alfred repeated with force. "No. Gilbert. That's so fucked up! You're telling me that this asshole's been killing people all this time? I mean still! Even will all those cops out there-? That didn't scare him off?! I thought we finally had a break and that asshole was just waiting- but you're saying that the police knew but didn't tell anyone?!"

"Apparently the police purposely told the media nothing!" Gilbert sounded equally as angry. "Ludwig wouldn't say why! There's no way he's happy about it!"

Oh, Oh, so that's why Matthew hadn't heard a single thing about the Trail Killer. He was shocked and offended by this revelation and felt so fucking stupid he hadn't even considered it.

This whole time-!

"What the fuck?!" Alfred was nearly yelling. "Isn't it the police's job to keep everyone safe?! How can anyone stay safe if they don't fucking know that the Killer is still out there and still killing! Why the fuck would the police stay quiet about it!? Shouldn't Ludwig be doing something to do- I don't know, something!?"

The police were hiding that information from the public. And... they knew it was the Trail Killer all along. Matthew was looking forward to making top headlines but the police kept the media in the dark. They knew it was the Trail Killer and they had already verified it! There was no doubt or any reason to wait.

Why won't they give him credit?

"I don't know. Ludwig wouldn't say! I know my little bro is trying everything he can so don't blame him-!"

"They're all fucking assholes! Everyone, the public needs to know! They can't do this! What if more people die because no one was warned that this bastard is killing more and more people!?"

If that was the case (which it was), Matthew should be thanking the police but thankful wasn't the emotion that was bubbling up inside.

"Whoever's keeping it a secret is the asshole!" Gilbert snapped. "This probably sucks for Ludwig too!"

"Oh, so that makes Ludwig's boss the asshole? If that's the case then that makes him a big one! But if Ludwig still knew about it then that means all the cops know and they're just happy to go along with it! They're supposed to protect- ugh! You need to talk to him and tell him everyone needs to know!"

"I did! You think I didn't find this plan so fucking un-awesome?! He just said not to worry about and he said it was all under control-"

"Bullshit!" Alfred scoffed. "He's just saying that cus it's his job!"

"He's trying! He probably doesn't think it's awesome either-!"

"Fuck! So is it just us that knows?" Abrupt panicked laughter came from Alfred. "Us and the police?"

Matthew could tell from Alfred's voice he knew the answer yet was pleading against reality that it wasn't true... Alfred's friend group were the only people in the city besides the secretive law enforcement that knew that the Trail Killer was a bigger threat than they gave credit for.

Matthew could feel his face turning into something ugly.

The powers to be wanted to ignore him and deny his existence. It made him really really angry and he hated being ignored. Matthew's thoughts were turbulent as he landed on a solution. He would have to let them know, make them know. He would have to go above and beyond and do something undeniable. Something that would be impossible to keep quiet. Something that everyone would notice and the police would never have a chance to keep quiet about.

He just didn't know what or how he was going to pull it off. But that's never stopped him before.