To one who spent much of their life hiding from persecution in closed off rooms, words on paper were like water in the desert. Any box could be a prison, but any prison could be escaped when one could open up a book and take themselves far, far away. So he loved books. He adored them. Within them lie flights of fancy, moral quandaries, deep personal thoughts, and conclusions drawn by those who themselves stood upon the shoulders of giants.

Because he adored books, he also found that he adored the library. Much like how he gave away the fruits of his learned labor for free, so did this hallowed place. It didn't matter your walk of life, race, color or creed, all one needed here was a library card.

His was worn upon his head like a hat. Because, indeed, anything could be a hat when you had antennae to hold it down.

Musings aside, he was here for a reason. The case of a young Mr.Fisher had left him a bit flummoxed. He, and another case, had both experienced a sort of strange... Dialing back of their ages. He'd first postulated an alternate universe being involved, or perhaps time travel, but the young man and woman both had congruent memories with this own reality. De-aging seemed more likely, as unlikely as it seemed.

He thought it might have something to do with a sort of mutation, and thus he were here looking for books on the matter. He'd found two in short order, one on the psychology of mutations, one covering odd occurrences, including age affecting instances. The last he'd been looking for was about the Biology of mutations. Odd, the computer system said it was here...

The giant cockroach sighed, and handed his books to his little middle arms, which fidgeted with them as he took a look around. Perhaps someone had misplaced it?

When you were in a seven-year-old body, doing anything without adult supervision could be a bit of a challenge.

The taxi from the mansion to the library was the first hurdle. Evelyn made the phone call to arrange a pick-up, and then had to talk her way through a lengthy discussion about leaving on her own without an adult. The taxi driver didn't want to get in trouble for some type of child abduction, but her own extensive knowledge and ability to speak beyond her age limit had silenced most arguments. Given she also had the forethought to arrange for a booster seat to prevent being denied transportation (despite how embarrassing it was to use), she finally won over and made the trip. Paying the fare with cash helped too.

Once at the library, she deposited the seat up front, and had to accomplish her next mission: ensure usage of her library card. There was some, discrepancy, with her age. In the end, she managed to convince staff the card was an older sisters and was given permission to use it. A few well placed sympathy moves let her go upstairs and research to her fancy. With that out of the way, she was set, and a broad building of knowledge was open to her.

Evelyn planned to make the most of things. The first few texts she gathered were obscure, things she would never find at the mansion. Some research on mutations, including a more broad biology text. She also collected general science texts on electricity, and cell growth and decay. These were all stacked neatly beside her.

The table was a bit high, so with a disgruntled sigh, she had even brought the booster seat upstairs to sit in. The things she did for knowledge! But she would never sit on a book despite how much easier it might have been. That was some type of madness she did not approve of.

[Approaching figure. Unusual footsteps. Rustling. Caution.]

Evelyn looked up, curios what could make the echoes behave this way. Her book was open to a general segment on age related mutations she had been distracted by, and she found herself face to face with, well, actually she wasn't entirely certain what it was. He? She? They? It? What pronoun did one use for a semi-insect like individual?

"Can I help you find anything?" Evelyn asked, making her presence known. She wasn't staff here, but in general, offering assistance broke the ice. Her silver eyes scanned to the book he was holding, to his face, and the echoes struggled to read behavior due to the usual nature of his body. Was he looking for something? He had a book already. She knew that much.

To be honest, he hadn't noticed the little girl until he was rather close to her. His mind fixated on a stack of books that looked like it might contain the one he was looking for! Too lost in his thoughts and investigations, he only stopped a moment before she spoke up when a little chitter in his shell came from a small bug informing him he wasn't alone.

The little voice chimed in, and the giant bug looked up from the stack of books to her. "Well, hello little girl, are you-"

Eyes caught the details of a booster seat pulled up to the library table. Interesting. She was reading the stack of books he was looking at. Fascinating. His antennae twitched with a silent glee as he looked back down to her.

"You most certainly are not lost, are you?" What had she said? Oh, yes! She'd offered help. "I do believe I have found what I am looking for, though I must say... I think we may share the same interests!" He stood to his full height, and then bowed slightly, lifting the library card from his head and tipping it to her like a hat before neatly placing it back on.

"I am Greg Sampson, pleasure to meet you."

Things of note. He wore a long overcoat, perhaps to obscure his body a bit while walking down the street? There were small cockroaches hiding about his person, and a couple more in the room as well; they'd arrived with him. One in particular was keeping its distance, and while he checked on the others periodically with short glances, he didn't seem to be aware of the final one.

[Distraction, preoccupation. Absentminded.] Well, the echoes were getting more clues the longer they shared the room. They also seemed to note other...noises. She glanced around more than once but couldn't figure out what it was exactly she was hearing. Was that movement? Were there other things here? Or...She blinked, looking at the guy as he lifted the card like a hat and set it back down. Weird. She was gifted for seven, but she was also, frankly, still a small girl and bugs were gross. Even intelligent ones such as this.

"I'm Evelyn," she answered, then picked up the book and showed it to him. "Biology of mutations? It's a rather broad subject matter. Although some of it is relevant to what I was looking for." She offered it to him, the page on age related mutations still open.

"You can take borrow it if you want. I only need to look at it once to remember it." She picked up the next textbook and started flipping page by page, taking a hard look at each for a moment before turning to the next one, like taking mental snapshots for herself. It would be harder to remember the content without actually reading it, but she didn't want to devote too much time to information she wasn't sure she would use quite yet. This way, she would at least have the information buried in her head, and would just need to go back later for more dd

"A pleasure to meet you, Evelyn!" The little girl showed him the book, but honestly, at this point his attention was completely on her. The way she carried herself was clearly not typical for one her age. She had an air of intelligence about her that he simply could not ignore.

Remember? We collect the interesting ones. She spoke further, and he shook himself from his concentration on her.

"Ah, yes, the-uh- universe I came from did not have a wealth of public knowledge on mutant biology. Such information was mainly held by private government institutions..." He took the book, staring down at it for a moment before looking back up. Her behavior was a bit peculiar. You might think she was taking pictures of the pages for how she seemed to open one, stare at it's entirety for a moment, and then move to the next.

He had to know more, especially after he realized what her stopping point in this book seemed to be.

"You were also interested in Age based mutations?" His head tilted to the side a bit, his antennae tweaking to keep the library card on his head.

[Curious, interested. Attention drawn away from book.] The echoes were catching up now and Evelyn registered some of the behavioral cues Greg was displaying. With a slight blink she looked up again, trying not to be distracted by the card on his head.

”I am less interested in the age based mutations, more the concept of a mutation that could cause de-aging. I seem to have found myself back as a Seven year old, and while I do appreciate the extra time I have to learn things and grow intellectually, there are some downsides to being less than four feet tall.” she admitted.

Evelyn had never heard of a universe that had private government institutions. Actually, her understandings of other universes was lacking in general. The echoes would have once considered such statements faulty, but she had seen things that defied science more than once in recent years.

”I guess it doesn’t matter much, even if this could be undone, I don’t think I would take the chance. Rather, I want to make a calculated course to acquire the most useful facts for my future self. Basic science, mathematics, it’s all just foundation for now.”

His mandibles clacked quietly in excitement as he heard her talk.

Serendipity.

She was here for the same reason. "It seems that some sort of fate brought me here, if you believe in it. I'm not sure if I do, but recent events have somewhat changed my disposition." He took off his hat, setting it on the table as he pulled up a chair and sat. "I, too, am researching this phenomena. I am a psychologist by trade, and two of my recent patients have suffered from such an experience."

He paused, and looked her over once more, nodding. "This is more wide spread than I initially thought." His antennae on the left side twitched a few times in a sort of rhythmic pattern, jerking, and then pausing, jerking a few times, pausing. He didn't seem to notice.

"Perhaps we should pool resources and experience? Even being Seven years of age, you seem to have quite the mind on your shoulders." He placed his books down. He also reached into his shell, producing a small notepad and a pen.

Together he opened up the mutant abnormalities book, and the book she had offered. "What have you found thus far, if I may ask?"

Evelyn looked at the man. He didn't seem like he had been deaged, but then he continued and it made sense. He had met others like her who had been deaged. While he didn't have the same experience, he was trying to study it. Evelyn relaxed more. She was comfortable with science, and research. For her, the pursuit of knowledge was logical and positive.

"I don't mind pooling research, but I'm afraid my own findings are probably less involved than yours. While a few of my friends seem upset by the changes, I have actually enjoyed myself. Having a new start means the chance to learn faster, and technology now is much more accessible than when I was a child the first time."

While she lacked memories to compare, she could see signs that what she knew was true. Electronic readers, online data, all of that was accelerating her advancement. Then, there were the playbacks. She was making good use of those.

Greg, er, Mr. Sampson? She wasn't sure how to refer to him... asked what she had found. Evelyn considered, then tentatively held up a hand.

"I have a faster way of showing you, if you don't mind?" When he didn't seem to move away, she touched one of his arms. The feed to her playbacks took over, and she let her memory go back to what she had read. Information flashed past: memories of her own deaging, waking up in her apartment, passed out on a couch, a syringe clasped in her hand. Then she let her memory go to the police station: a single screen with open case information on de-aged mutants. She let Roach hear what she had been told by others: no one had changed back yet, others had experienced similar episodes of waking up with no memories, in places their adult bodies had been.

The echoes were there, picking out pieces, plucking details they deemed important. [Injection, syringe. Inhalation. Multiple methods. Ability to escape, lack of captivity. Chaos, uncertainty. No motive of drug and release?]

When she felt she had shared what she knew, she removed her hand, blinking to clear the memories. For both of them, each situation would feel real, as if they had been there. The details of the syringe were clear, the feeling of glass as vivid as the pen Greg was holding. The screen at the police station would be just as sharp, although the details had not told her much. The biggest question was why: who would do this and then just let them all go.

Hmm. Interesting. To be able to do it all again. How many people would kill for the chance to start over from the beginning? This young lady seemed to be of the mind that this was all for the better for her. Who was he to argue. "Fair enough. I cannot say I would jump at the chance for such a change myself." He had worked very hard to become the well adjusted person he was today; if anything what he'd learned from this universe was how monstrous he could have been if things had gone just a little differently.

Now now, let's not judge. He turned to her once more, climbing from his thoughts as she mentioned she had a faster way of showing him. He didn't pull back as she touched him.

A torrent of information rushed through his mind. It was... Well, it was exhilarating, but a little frightening at the same time. He came back to notice he'd let go of the pen in his hand, and it had rolled across the table. "Goodness... That's an incredible talent you have there, young lady." He paused, his mind digesting what he'd seen for a few beats until his antennae perked up.

"That syringe! Yes! We have a lead, my dear!" He jumped up in excitement, dancing a bit in place before turning to her once more. "Where is that implement of injection? I know a mutant who can use that to find out more about it! Perhaps where it came from!"

The syringe? Evelyn has dismissed that as being useless based on lack of fingerprints. She still had it, of course, safe at home. She knew someone might hope to study any residue to consider a cure, but had not been ready to give it to the wrong person. What use was it turning it over to an X-man who really had no leads so far? Was her one little clue going to bring down this phenomena? In her mind, it wasn’t, so why bother?

Greg, however, was not an X-men. He was a highly intelligent creature who had a friend.

”I could get it for you. I kept it at my apartment for safety. Could you really use it to trace its origins?” she was both interested, and a little hesitant.

”While I am an eager student and would enjoy solving this mystery, I also hope you realize my hesitancy harbors no ill-will. I...I like who I am, now. And the person they tell me I was feels like someone I am happier letting go of. Even if a cure comes, I want to continue growing at my own pace now. I hope you understand,” she tried to explain. It was almost an appeal. She would help, but she also wanted to be left to do things the way she was not. It was a struggle being young, but going back felt like a worse punishment in the end.

He perked up even more when she said she still had the needle. He nodded exuberantly as she asked whether or not he really could trace the needle. "I believe we could. And I mean that. We, this is as much your mystery as any others. If you'd like, we could find the young man together!" He spoke of Ty Fisher, of course, the boy that could see the history of objects he touched.

He nodded slowly as she revealed her hesitation. "My dear, I think that can only be your choice. None other can, or should make it for you, and I would not presume to myself. We do not know if this change is permanent, but should it be, and a cure were found, I promise not to force it upon you." He stood slowly, closing the books before him, and placing a hand on the back of his chair as he walked around it to face her once more.

"Well, young lady, what say you to the idea of solving a mystery with me?"

Evelyn listened as the man agreed with the terms of the exchange. She could help solve the mystery, and other mutants could benefit from the answers. Then, if this could be reversed, he would not force her return to her adult life. That was all she really wanted in the end.

Putting her own books aside, she nodded. "My apartment isn't too far away from here. If I get it, where would I meet you at?"

There was nothing forbidding about exchanging crime evidence with a cockroach mutant, was there? Evelyn must be missing that gene that suggested any of this was a bad idea.

This was absolutely a terrific idea! All of this would go perfectly! He was so excited! Why was he excited? Yes, it sort of made him feel like back in the day. Supporting the team as they tried their best to save people in a world that didn't want them. In a way, he'd given up on ever feeling that rush one felt when a crime was solved, or a group of refugees was rescued; he'd traded it for the more incremental joy of offering his services to anyone who needed help for free.

This. This was more than that."We are destined for the Sanctuary. Are you familiar with it? I could head there now, and await your arrival with the syringe."

He turned to the exit, pausing as he spotted a small bug scurrying out of the top corner of the exit. He froze for a moment, and then continued. "I look forward to working with you, young Evelyn!" He said before making his way out quickly.

Continued: No Horror