Water Fountain

Chapter 28 - The Roots of Risk

Life was not the way it used to be for Toby and Nickelous. As a matter of fact, it was the most shocking and horrible part of their lives yet. They were stuck in an ever tightening spiral, and it seemed that there was no way to get out of it. What was worse for Toby and Nickelous was that every new discovery only led them further into this inescapable spiral. The tightening of the spiral left Toby confused and stressed in the home of Bloodshot.

After Toby received a threatening phone call, he sat on the couch and was left frozen, only being interrupted by Gus's savage snarling at him.

"Would you please just shut up?" Toby asked Gus.

Gus started to scream at him. "YOU DID THIS TO ME, MY LIFE HAS BEEN RUINED!"

Toby tried to ignore him, but he kept screaming at him, each time louder than the last.

"YOU DID THIS TO ME, MY LIFE HAS BEEN RUINED!" Gus screamed again.

"YOU KNOW WHAT, YOU ARE THE MOST INSUFFERABLE LITTLE BRAT THAT I HAVE EVER MET! ALL YOU EVER DO IS BITCH ABOUT HOW YOUR LIFE SUCKS! WELL GUESS WHAT GUS BLUE, IF YOU KEEP ON BITCHING, YOU WILL LIVE A LIFE OF PURE DEPRESSION UNTIL YOU END UP PUTTING A BULLET IN YOUR OWN HEAD!" Toby replied.

Gus stopped screaming, but only for a moment. When he started screaming again, Toby couldn't handle it. He wanted to do the favor for Gus fifteen years earlier, but he resisted long enough to go into another room. In the room was the note from Nickelous's father. Darin Fischer.

He picked up the note and began to read it.

"Dear Nickelous,

I know that we have had our ups and downs over the years. But I want you to know that I still love you. The thing is that I want to tell you the truth of what happened. The bad things that I had to do to protect what was left of our family. You see I was an exceptional soldier during Operation Desert Storm, which meant that I was very good at shooting a firearm. I saw the potential in your capabilities earlier today. The problem was that a secret organization that was called the NOS wanted my capabilities to take down certain people. They wanted me to become an assassin for them. They broke me until I submitted. For the next 10 years, until 2014, I killed many of their threats. After that, I spent much of my time at the bunker, where I compiled evidence against them. I gave you the coordinates of the bunker yesterday, where nobody else could find it. The point is that I got a call on your 12th birthday on November 7th. It was a request for me to kill one of the NOS students, Thomas Clark. They told me that I was going to meet the contractor tonight. But I will stand against these contractors and say no. And since I am going to save his life, say hi to Thomas Clark for me."

Toby dropped the note and stood still. He was shocked about Darin, a revealed worker for the NOS. Toby now knew where Nickelous was going, to the bunker on his own. Toby had to help out. He called Nickelous, and Nickelous picked up within a couple of minutes.

"Hello?" said a tired Nickelous.

"I read the note from your father. I need to help you uncover the secrets of the NOS," Toby said.

"No, this is a mission I need to do on my own. Everything that I once knew about my father might be a lie. Everything goddamnit!" Nickelous exclaimed

Toby was frustrated. He had multiple reasons for helping Nickelous. One of them was for stopping the NOS permanently.

"Is there any way that I could help?" Toby said reluctantly.

"There is one thing I want you to do. Meet me at the outskirts of Firo. Near my house."

"What are we going to do?" Toby asked.

"We are going to raid their base of operations, and use Harry and Aaliyah as our hostages. Then we get the anarchists to raid the place and kill them all!" Nickelous exclaimed.