Luc carefully opened the door and pointed a toaster at the strange woman. “I’m sorry, I’m not buying strawberries, please leave else you will get toasted!”

  The woman chuckled, causing Luc to let his guard down fora bit. “My name is Charlotte Lambert, I’m her to discuss something with you.”

  “Lambert? Sure… and I’m the queen, I won’t be scammed!”

  Luc tried to close the door but a foot blocked it from closing.

  “I’m not lying! I can prove it!”

  “Even if you could prove it, I bought the backpack fair and square! I’m not returning it!” Luc said as he tried to remove the foot from between the door and close it.

  “Huh? What are you talking about?!”

  Luc managed to remove the foot, closed the door and locked it.

  “Phew, what a dangerous world, scammers everywhere.”

  The doorbell rang again but Luc knew better to open the door.

  “Why cant people just leave me alone…”

  No emails from Genie had come in and Luc bandaged the injuries he tried to ignore and took some painkillers.

  The excitement of his new gadget had made him forget that he had been zapped by his aunt earlier today.

  Luc glared from a window and saw that the woman was still in front of his door. She was making a call however.

  “What does she want… I’m not buying any of her scam stories or products…”

  Luc felt like a prisoner in his one home now. He had no plans to go out but that certainly wasnt possible now. It was also late but it just made him quite uncomfortable.

  He grabbed a small box, refilled it and pulled out a phone and called the local authorities. “Yeah, there is a strange woman in front of my door that won’t leave, she tried to convince me she was from the Lambert family. Oh, you will send someone to check it out?! Great!”

  Luc gave his address and observed through a gap in his curtains.

  20 minutes passed and a black and white car pulled up. 2 uniformed men stepped out, startling the woman who fled and got chased by the men in uniforms.

  “Hehe, take that! Ouch, this zap wound hurts…”

  The next morning started noisy as the doorbell woke Luc.

  “Ugh, Genie better have a great excuse for waking me this early in the weekend…” Luc said as he rubbed his eyes and walked toward the door, half asleep.

  “Genie, you ass..”

  Luc woke up instantly as he laid eyes on the brunette of the day prior and tried to slam the door.

  “Wait! Look!” She said as she held up a strange emblem.

  “The Lambert family will kill you if they find out that you stole it from them…”

  “They won’t, they gave it to me as i’m a member. Can you… please not call the police on me again…” The woman said as she made a face toward Luc aho had pulled out his phone.

  “Ugh, fine…”

  “So I wanted to talk about that horned man that appeared in my street which you…”

  Luc looked around, pulled the woman inside and closed the door. “What? You saw that?! Don’t speak so loud! Maybe more are watching!”

  Luc ran to his couch and put his new backpack on his back. “Alright!”

  “You’re a strange one… my name is Charlotte Lambert and I live in the street you got attacked in by that… thing. I wanted to talk about it as I suspect that they are responsible for the disappearance of the son of my grandfather’s advisor.”

  “Eh? What does that have to do with me?”

  Charlotte looked around and sat down. “I don’t know what that was but you survived an encounter with it, surely you know more.”

  “And why should I tell this to a scammer?” Luc said as he crossed his arms.

  Charlotte sighed. “How can I prove that I’m not a scammer?”

  “Thats a good question. Hmm, show me the Lambert ability they are so proud of.”

  Charlotte closed her eyes and lowered her head. “I…my ability isn’t as useful as the rest of my family…”

  Luc knew the feeling but he couldn't be swayed by this common scamming tactic.

  “I still want to see it.”

  “Very well, do you have any appliances…. I will use this toaster.” She said as she lifted the toaster from the table and held the power cord causing the toaster to turn on.

  “I see, you can turn on toasters, quite a useless ability…”

  “Noo! I can power any device or object requiring energy but… I don’t produce electricity so it’s not very useful outside of that…”

  “Why not? They create objects and appliances and you power them.”

  “I need to touch them and I have limited uses per day…The Lamberts are only limited by the raw materials they have on hand…”

  “Ah… I wouldnt say its useless but… not as strong I suppose…” Silence fell and Luc realised that this doesn't necessarily prove that Charlotte wasn’t a scammer. “I still think that you're a scammer but I will at least hear you out.”

  “Ugh, how stubborn but… a week ago, the son of the corporation's head advisor disappeared which was about the same time I first saw a horned man like that. They always disappeared from the corner of my eyes but I was sure of their existence after 2 appearances within 3 days and then one night when I took an evening stroll, I saw one, the one that was attacking you!”

  “Uhh, I only started seeing them like 3 days ago and got attacked the same day. All I know is that they don’t fall inside ‘ability user’ or ‘magic user’ as it was neither 1 ability nor fire, water, lightning, wind or earth so maybe an alien? He did step out of a portal.”

  “I see, so they’re not from here… interesting. But that makes things worse than I thought.”

  “Aha, well not my problem as long as they tay away from me.” Luc said while inspecting this suspicious woman.

  “How could you say that? We all will be affected if they’re trying to invade.”

  “Ah, I didn’t think about that…”

  An awkward silence fell. Luc thought that everything will be fine while Charlotte thought that this would become a problem.

  “Anyway, that’s all you came for?”

  “Oh right! How did you defeat him?”

  “I ehhm threw something at his head and knocked him out!”

  “But he got up after that and walked through some strange purple disk. Then there was that incident on the news of something happening in this street, as if 2 boxed fridges crushed something…” Charlotte said as she stared at the folded boxes in Luc’s living room. “Actually… how rude of me. I didn’t ask for your name.”

  “Luc.”

  “Just Luc?”

  “Short for Lucius.”

  “No, I mean don’t you have a last name?”

  “My last name isn't important, I'd rather not talk about it actually…”

  “I see…” Now it was Charlotte who inspected Luc. “Hey.. are you injured?”

  “Oh this? I fell down the stairs.”

  Charlotte’s eyes went through the room and walked into the corridor to find no trace of any stairs. “Tell me about these stairs, then?”

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  “That’s not your business, so about those horned men…”

  “So you got injured by fighting that horned man, I got it. I can’t stand by and see how someone is injured! I will bring you to one of my family’s healers!”

  “Hold up there! I won’t fall for this scam! I know what’s going on here! You want to sell my organs!” Luc said as he pointed accusingly.

  “What?! Why would I want to sell your organs…”

  “For money of course!” Luc said as he folded his arms and winced.

  “Did you forget the part where I introduced myself as being from the Lambert family?”

  Charlotte pulled a device out of her pocket, pointed it at Luc, which shot out a bubble and trapped him.

  “This is illegal! I will call the police!” Luc said as he banged on the bubble.

  Charlotte pressed another button to make the bubble soundproof and opaque. She had it hover behind her as she returned home. Nobody knew what the strange floating sphere behind her was and certainly not that a person was inside. It was the perfect item for moving uncooperative individuals.

  Charlotte’s call finished before she reached her residence, opened the door and went inside.

  2 healers arrived 10 minutes later and Luc got let out of the sphere.

  “You know that this is kidnapping, right? But thank you for healing me." Luc looked around at Charlotte's large but relatively normal residence. “Shouldn't you live in a fancy mansion or something? At least if you really are a Lambert!"

  “And invite burglars and trouble? Only fools display their wealth carelessly." Charlotte said as she nodded at the healers who left after accepting a strange device from her.

  "Uh I see, and how is living in this fancy neighborhood and showing off your expensive trash doing such?” Luc said as he looked out of the window to see where the healers were going.

  "You have a point about this neighborhood but what do you mean with expensive trash?”

  "I think I came past this house, you threw away a box of a Roomba, some fancy ceiling fan and an enormous fridge. Did you just move here?”

  "How… yes… is that what you meant with expensive trash?"

  "More or less.” Luc said as he walked around and encountered the Roomba. “People's trash says a lot about them, what they discard and how they treat those they don't need…”

  Luc sighed and turned toward Charlotte. “I need to return home, thank you for healing me. I…I don't have to pay you back with physical labor, right?”

  "Oh no! This is on me and… mind chatting a bit? I'm curious about what you mean with ‘how they treat those they don't need' as I feel you weren't talking about trash anymore.”

  “I was talking about trash, humans can be trashed too." Luc walked towards the front door which got remotely locked. “This is imprisonment…”

  " Come on, let's chat! I haven't chatted with a real person in a long time!”

  “A ‘real person', what the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Luc said as he returned to the spacious living room, evaded the Roomba and sat on a chair. He made sure he was as far removed from Charlotte as possible.

  “Well most people I talk to are executives or other important people to the Lambert corporation. Mostly meetings, business talks but also people either sucking up to me or looking down on me. Then yhere is the last group, my direct family who just expexts things from me. You fall in none of those categories.”

  "You're wrong though, I expect you to not harvest my organs and let me go…”

  Charlotte chuckled and unlocked the front door with a press of a button. “You can leave whenever you want but could you at least do me a favor and chat for a bit?"

  “You must have no friends…" Luc weighed his options but he hadn't anything better to do.

  Besides having control over her house with what looked like remote and automatic functions, her ability was unlikely to be a threat to him. As long as he would be careful, none of his organs would end up on the black market.

  “Do you want something to drink?"

  “Absolutely not!"

  Luc could use a drink but accepting one would be step 1 of getting drugged.

  “Oh, okay. Now about that trash comment. I feel like I'm being discarded because my ability isn't very useful to the Lambert family. Its why I moved to this place, to get a break from all the glares and gossip."

  Luc wanted to comment on how it was similar to his situation but stayed quiet because he believed nobody cared.

  " And why are you telling me this?”

  Charlotte rubbed her hands in a self soothing manner and Luc picked up that whatever she was thinking about was upsetting her.

  "I want to prove that I can be useful regardless of my ability, which is why I need to solve the case of the disapearance if Malcolm.”

  “Who?"

  “That's the name of the advisor's son that had disappeared. Those horned men might have killed him and I need your help to deal with them!”

  Charlotte gave Luc a hopeful look, making him think this was some manipulation tactic as it was difficult for him to refuse.

  "I see so that's what this is all about. You're not a scammer or a kidnapper, you're just a fool. Don't put too much importance on others' expectations for you. Few things are infinite and other's expectations are one of them, they will keep increasing the bar until it becomes unrealistic, you inevitably fail and everything comes crashing down.”

  Charlotte fell silent as she didn't expect this response and Luc realized he didn't give an answer.

  "But if it's for a bit, we could find out what those horned men are about…”

  Charlotte's face lit up as she nodded happily while Luc wondered if he agreed because of curiosity, because Charlotte was a bit similar to him or her pretty face. Probably all of the above.

  “Well then, let me reintroduce myself! I'm Charlotte Lambert and my ability is to power anything that has an energy requirement with 14 uses per day.” She said as she made a polite princess bow.

  “Uh, is that really necessary?"

  “We will be working together now, don't you want to know who you're working with and what they can do?"

  “I feel that I fell into a trap…you might be a scammer afterall…”

  Luc got up and gathered his manners. "My name is Luc, the trash collector.”

  "That's not your last name or ability is it? Are you without an ability?”

  "That is correct.”

  Charlotte squinted her eyes and Luc felt that she wasn't buying it. "Very well, I'm sure I will find out when you trust me more.”

  Luc sighed inwardly as Charlotte turned the Roomba off and opened a fancy laptop, one Luc also had.

  “This is what I gathered about the horned men."

  Charlotte proudly presented a screen with only 2 lines of text.

  “Uhm did you show the incorrect screen? It's a bit empty."

  “That's correct, this is why I need your help!”

  "I see. Well I only know the abilitiea of the one I encoutered. I'm not sure if they were individual abilities or specific to the horned men.

  Charlotte started typing and nodded her head. " Uhu, continue.”

  "So he could move by making portals that looked like purple energy disks. He shot out purple hands that crushed anything they grabbed and disappeared after. They look intimidating but were easily countered by throwing something at it. Then there was the charged attack that created a black and purple energy ball. I don't know what it does as I didn't feel like finding out. He couldn't speak English but I could still understand him as if someone translated his words in my head and that's about everything I know.”

  Charlotte kept typing and had already filled a whole page to Luc's surprise and he tried to steal a glance as he was curious how all that had resulted into a page full.

  “Very informative. Did he display any attacks of a different color? Did he understand you if you spoke to him? Did he behave within the norms a human would or did he behave completely differently? Did you notice other limits in his abilities? Did you defeat him because he got worn out or because you got a lucky shot?”

  Luc blinked several times to process these questions. Dealing with unknown situations might be familiar to her as a Lambert was his conclusion as this wasn't anything close to what he had expected.

  “The only color variation was mixing black into that energy ball attack. I didn't say much back to him so it was unclear if he understood me as they were also simple in nature. The simplicity of them doesn't indicate that he can understand us, just that he can understand the basics and uhh, what were the other questions?”

  " Did he behave like a human? Did he display limits within his ability? Did you exhaust him and beat him because of that or was he in top shape and you got lucky?”

  " Hey I worked hard for that win! But he appeared to be gravely injured and had run out of portal uses when I defeated him. He did show anger but I don't think that's enough to call it human behavior.”

  “I see, thank you." Charlotte kept typing, closed the laptop and turned toward Luc. “So how did you get him crushed between 2 fridges?"

  What were Luc's options? He could lie but it was likely to get called out or seen through.

  “This stays between you and me, right?"

  “I can understand that someone might feel uncomfortable sharing their ability or wants to keep it hidden, yes. Your secret will be safe with me."

  “Very well, do you have an empty box or bottle?"

  Charlotte gave him a confused look but led him toward the kitchen and opened the enormous fridge. She grabbed a bottle of juice, drank from it till it was empty and handed it toward Luc.

  “Right, I forgot that most people throw away what's empty."

  Luc accepted the bottle and refilled it. “I can do this with empty bottles, cans, containers, boxes and wrappings.”

  " What happens if you use it on something that has its contents?”

  "It will still work but…" Luc looked at the filled bottle in his hands. “This bottle would explode as it probably can't hold twice this amount of juice…anything else would get destroyed as it tries to take up the space of what's already there.”

  "Why do you keep it a secret? Its a very useful ability!” Charlotte said as she started eating some grapes.

  “I keep it a secret exactly because its a useful ability. How do you think people would react if they know that I can refill their trash and get them multiple fancy fridges that they could sell?”

  "Hmm, it's not exactly an ability that creates money but it comes quite close, I see the issues that could arise, yes. Thank you for sharing. So… you lured the horned man between empty boxes and…” Charlotte squeezed a grape, crushing it, causing the innards to leak over her fingers, which she licked clean.

  “I didn't lick the gore but you could say he got crushed like a grape, yes."

  “Interesting, and creative. Maybe I should try and get creative with my ability too but without anything to power, my ability…” Charlotte paused, smiled and grabbed Luc's hands. "That's it! You can refill appliances and I can power them! A new invincible team has been born!" She said with a dreamy face.

  “Uhm, that sounds cool, yes but how is a working fridge going to be useful in fighting the horned men?"

  Silence descended upon the kitchen and Charlotte's dreamy face turned into despair. “You're right! This changes nothing…”

  Charlotte started stress eating grapes with one hand while she got out a tablet and typed with another.

  "Uhm, are you okay?"

  Charlotte didn't respond and kept typing while stress eating grapes.

  Luc seized the moment as this was the perfect moment to escape. His trust in Charlotte had increased but he still thought that she was a weirdo. He needed to go home and think about this a bit more.

  Luc opened the door and closed it softly to get met with a strange sight. It was noon on a Saturday but nobody was outside.

  “What the…”

  A red energy disk appeared in the middle of the street and a horned man stepped out.

  " Oh come on… I just want to go home… Is this street cursed or something?"

  Luc reached his hand toward his backpack. The backpack he wasn't wearing, even worse, he was in his sleepwear as Charlotte had abducted him just after he got out of bed.

  “Fuck!"