Journey Into The Aftermath |✔

Chapter twenty: Bridge of Lies

Nick slowly woke up to the soothing sound of the running water in a steam shower off in the background. After a couple moments of holding his eyes shut without moving, in hopes of drifting back off, he realized that his body has been on the edge of it's seat for far too long to lose vigilance now. In fact, he and Adrian probably only got a couple hours of sleep total, though for their own reasons. Adrian, because sleep deprivation was long apart of his training and Nick, of course, because of a string of multiple near death experiences one after the other.

Being a spy meant secrets, that much was obvious, but the hardest part about them isn't just to hold them, but to hide them from the ones he's care about. Nick had gotten used to it a long time ago when he had to run from everyone and everything he knew at around the age of ten. To his young self, being a spy was the coolest thing possibly imaginable, with guns and action like you see on the movies. He had to soon realize that it was absolutely nothing of the sort. But recent events are starting to prove otherwise.

Nick sat there in the bed and thought about how he used to push files and be part of the brains behind Nexus. Like Eric, Joana, and Lance, Nick also had a IQ well over one hundred and eighty and each were strategically placed in that team to create something beyond anyone's wildest dreams. Anyone could imagine having infinite electricity, but the possibilities are mindbogglingly endless if powering every machine in the world was as easy as a flick of a switch. Sure, the Hoover Dam was producing the same kind of thing, but if this pulls off, every bulb in the world could stay on till the end of time. The work they were doing was nothing less than astounding.

And it was only another secret to add to the pile, right along side corporate espionage and many, many others.

Nick could hear the shower door sliding open in the bathroom and the wet footsteps of someone walking out. Adrian appeared in the bedroom with a towel wrapped around his waist that barely hung below his knees. He was an agile, but tall man.

Since Adrian was one of Melinda's personal body guards, he wasn't shocked to see that he was that a ripped body builder. He went for his clothes and headed back into the bathroom. "Morning." he croaked.

Nick tensed at the dark delivery of the supposed greeting. "You're not still mad at me, are you?"

Adrian's voice was muffled by the bathroom door in between them. "Just because you have to keep your secrets and can't tell anyone doesn't mean I can't be upset about it."

Nick slid out of bed to the front of the small hallway that lead to the bathroom about five feet away. "Buddy, you can't be doing this too me right now, you know I need you."

Adrian finished putting on his military bottoms after accidentally putting on backwards because of being mentally preoccupied. "Well guess what? I'm saving your ass and I'm still in the dark," he complained. "I refuse to be some clueless vessel that carries you safely ashore."

Nick walked up to the face of the door as he spoke. "You're nothing like that!" Nick tried to come up with a convincing story and hated every second of it. A part of the truth proved easier. "You're my only true friend in this world even after ten years."

Right behind the bathroom door, Adrian stood getting the last of his military-issued, flexi-polymer, long sleeve shirt on. "And what—he pulled the shirt over his stomach and straightened it out—good does that do me?"

They both stood about three inches from each other, almost the exact width of the bathroom door. Nick nearly felt like crying. "Ok, so what is that supposed to mean?"