Nico

NICO SAT BY THE HARBOR, and watched the river current. He has wondered what he could possibly contribute to help his siblings save their parents and the world. Somehow, they have taken upon the responsibility of saving the world from being mind controlled. He felt useless, he thought he never did anything to help this mission of theirs. He had so many doubts. Plus he didn't have promising qualities like his siblings.

He was not good with his hands like Nis. He was not strong and fast like Niche. And heck,h was not as tenacious and a good cook as Nica. He may have been a detective, but he felt like he was the weakest link of their group.

"My life sucks." he murmured.

His continuous moping made him remember the time when he was ordered to investigate about the death of Victor Waters. Now that he knew Nica killed the guy, he felt as helpless as ever.

There was a sudden creak in the floorboards, he turned and saw Nica. "Hey, dinner's on the table."

"I'll be there." Nica was gonna leave. "Hey Nica?"

"Hmm?"

"If this didn't happen. If we continued living our secret lives, and I continued investigating Victor Waters' death. Let's just say it leads me to you. Would you fight me?" the question hung in the air. He noticed Nica got flustered. Though, she regained her composure almost immediately.

"Depends. The question is, will you fight me, little brother?"

"I don't know. I feel like I still lack martial arts training. And I feel very useless right now. Not being able to do stuff to help you guys."

"Hmm. If it ever comes to that, I won't hold back. You know me better than anyone. And I know you. You know the extent of my anger. You know when I'm serious and when I'm not. And besides, you're not useless Nico. You're the detective here. Your job need wits and body. Don't underestimate yourself." she went closer. "You're smarter than me, or Nis, or Niche. Dude, being a detective is harder than being an assassin, a spy or an inventor. Now stop moping around and let's eat. We'll depart for Brooklyn tomorrow." Nico couldn't help but smile. Well, that reassured him.

*****

The second Nico's head hit his pillow, he immediately passed out. What he didn't count on was his dream. It was just plain terrifying. In his dream, he was in a burning room. He saw blood on the floor and the walls. He scanned his surroundings and saw his parents on the floor, motionless and covered in blood. His eyes darted even further to the room he was in and saw three familiar figures; his siblings.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Niche was consumed by the fire and she was screaming. Nis was dangling in the ceiling, blood trickling from a wound in his chest. And lastly Nica, she was on the ground, unmoving and her body was full of gunshot wounds. The flames went its way to him and that was when he woke up.

He was back in a familiar room. His room in the lake house. He looked at the digital clock on his bedside table.

2:30 A.M.

He only slept for five hours. He didn't sleep a wink after that. He kept thinking about his dream. Was it a bad omen? Does it mean we'll die? These questions flooded his mind, keeping him awake. By the morning, he saw his siblings readying their weapons. His eyes caught Nica's figure. He remembered her image in his dream, it was just so disgusting. He felt his stomach churn and he immediately went to the bathroom, lurching the contents of his stomach, which wasn't much.

"You okay Nico?" he heard Nica ask. She tapped his back, to soothe him.

"I'm fine. Just had a bad night." he answered.

He stood up and gave her a smile, then he went outside and started preparing his own weapons. A few minutes later, he saw Nica bring sandwiches.

"Anybody hungry?"

"Ah. Food!" Niche was the first one to attack Nica's sandwich.

Nica had always been a good cook. Nico always wondered where she got that ability. None of them can cook that good. Even their own mother couldn't prepare a proper food without looking at an instruction. Nica on the other hand, was a natural cook.

The four of them ate every bit of the sandwiches. It was not good to waste food.

"We'll leave in two minutes." Niche announced.

They nodded. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. They grabbed their weapons; Niche a Gloc 47, Nis his own deadly invention, Nica her bow and arrow, and him a Gloc 47 like Niche's (his service pistol). Niche moved towards the door while the three of them pointed their weapons on the door. When she opened it, he kept a firm grip on his gun.

"Warrens?" a muscular voice asked the minute Niche opened the door.

"Who are you?" she asked, her gun hiding behind the door.

"I'm the Director of the CIA. I heard about what happened to Carmen." he answered.

Nico noticed Niche looking at them. They had an eye-to-eye conversation, then they came to a decision.

"Come in, Director." Niche said and opened the door. Their weapons still drawn.

"Who are they?" Nica asked,  dhe pointed her arrow at the other two figures on the door.

"These are Agents Six and Seven. They're your mother's comrades. You can trust them."

"Six and Seven?" Nis piped out.

"It's not that we trust you either, Director."

*****

They kept their weapons as the 'visitors' talked with them. They decided the 'guests' had to at least know what was going on, so they told them everything. From the attack, to the video call, the bargain and about the Astil Codex. Though, they didn't spill about Nica as an assassin of Libero. Nico couldn't help but notice Nica tense up every time Director Orebil spoke. Does she know him?

"So you're going to Brooklyn today?" Agent Six asked. She was a woman in her middle twenties, with red hair, vibrant green eyes and light brown skin.

"Kids, Libero is dangerous. And you re going to their turf with just the four of you?" Agent Seven said. He was a guy with blonde hair, blue eyes and tan skin. He seemed to be in his late twenties.

Nico would've believed those were their real features. Unfortunately, he had been a detective for three years that he knew when a person was pretending or not. He knew that the agents in front of them were not what they really looked like, and as to why they hid their real looks, there must've been a reason.

"We have to save our parents. We don't need your help by the way. And uh, we gotta go." Niche stood up.

Nico, Nica and Nis also stood up and followed Niche, the four left the CIA agents behind.