ch. 8 Recuperating

Lying helpless in his hospital bed, Nick looked up at the familiar middle aged white woman who was dressed in all black suite.

"Aunt-urgh, Deputy Director Holly, I am all right. Inspector Willie was the one who was injured." In this new world his aunt wasn't a defense lawyer, but instead the Deputy Director of the N.I.A., making her Nick's boss.

"I know that, the doctor is taking care of him, I'm not here for that." N.I.A. Deputy Director Mrs. Hollis had a pair of steely blue eyes, staring directly at Nick.

"Agent Nick, do you know how much trouble you have caused?" Holly said with an angry tone.

Holly was always much harsher on Nick than any of the other agent, she refused to let people believe Nick got to where he was because of Nepotism and made it clear that wasn't the cause any chance she got.

Nick grimaced at the her sentence "Trouble? I just saved the lives of fifty seven people, alongside the key witness that will testify against Edward Kim! If anything I deserve a medal"

"A medal?! Now's not the time to joke." Holly sneered slightly, "I am here to ask you if you threatened to kill a multi-millionaire rapper with a snake? You always were a violent brat even as a child."

"Of course not." Nick said nonchalantly, his poker reinforced by the calm demeanor of the snake he absorbed.

"Just ask any of the witnesses on the plane about it and they'll tell you the truth." Despite lying, Chiba's heart rate was completely normal and his eyes didn't dilate thanks to the snake he had absorbed.

Through testing, Nick found that he can toggle the mental affects of the creatures he absorbed on and off, some animal bring positive mental affects like the snake and other bring negative affects like the human. When he toggle the human that he had absorbed, he suddenly found himself becoming more violent and had yelled at a nurse for stepping in front of his TV.

Learning from this, Nick decided to leave these mental affects toggle off and only use them when he needed thrm, atleast for now. Nick knew that he would eventually switch out these creatures for stronger one eventually, so he can't rely on mental affect of weaker creatures that will be quickly replaced.

"You better be right about that because as soon as he got off the plane, that man accused you of assault and immediately called his lawyer." Holly said angrily

"The news site are going wild with this story, talking about how a white N.I.A agent abused an African American rapper rights during a time of crisis!"

'Haha! Whether it's this world or my past, America will be America.' Despite the captivating story of having saved an entire plane infested with snake, the News still latches onto the possible racism instead. Nick found the situation somewhat comforting, knowing that these world's are still somewhat the same.

"He's just using this situation to try to revive his dead career, he's not going to actually sue. Even If he does accuse me of anything, there is quite literally no evidence against me!" The confidence in his voice did relaxed the Deputy Director somewhat.

Nick quickly changed the subject, "How is the witness now? Is Willie is all right? Edward King, have we arrested him yet?"

Holly's eyes twitched slightly, and said calmly, "Now these things have nothing to do with you. Your main task now is to heal your injuries here and reflect on your mistakes you made while on duty. Also, you are not allowed to leave the ward without my approval."

Nick frowned, glancing at the police standing at the door of the ward, and suddenly asked: "Am I being accused of something, or do I need protection from someone?"

"No we're just being cautious" Deputy Director Holly was obviously hiding something from Nick, so he decided to fish for some answers.

Nick frowned, "Let me take a wild guess, Edward Kim escaped arrest? Probably because of the same Mole that leaked the fact that we switched planes!" Saying this, Nick intently looked at her face. Behind her stoney face, Nick was able to pick up a very slight change in expression before going back to stoic.

Holly sighed and said in a low voice: "As you've assumed, there is a mole within the force that Told Edward about switching planes. That very same Mole, told Edward Kim that the plane landed safely and that his plan failed."

With a cheeky smile "And you suspect that I'm the mole? Is that why I'm under lockdown" Nick said jokingly. He knew that he wasn't a suspect, he just liked to tease his Aunt.

"If we doubted you, you'd be in cuffs by now." Holly said in a huff. "Based on your performance on the plane and after some internal investigations, you and inspector Willie are the only agents that we know for a fact are not the moles."

Nick rubbed his temples and said: "So you are worried that I will be attacked, and you want me stay in the hospital under protection?"

"Regardless of this matter, it's safer here than your home." Holly patted Nick on the shoulder and forced smiled. "To make sure that if they do re-appear, well catch them."

"Huh? Why do i get the feelings that you are using me as bait?" Nick said incredulously.

Hearing this, Holly bit her lips, turned around and walked away, waving her hands dismissively "Your too paranoid. Just sit tight and recuperate."

Nick sighed and laid down weakly, looking up at the white ceiling above him with a vacant expression. 'Whether it's the mole, or Edward Kim, I'm being used as bait to draw them out. I doubt this is Holly idea, unless this worlds Holly wants to kill me. Nah shes always been a tsundere towards me, acting like I'm a nuisance but always taking care of me.'

This ending was different from the movie. The big bad villain Edward King ran away, Willie was seriously injured and hospitalized, and now Nick was under 24/7 protection.

It's no wonder that Holly is nervous, the Kim family is one of the main underground gangs in Los Angeles. If Kim really wants to retaliate, it will indeed cause him lot of trouble.

Faced with such a situation, Nick could only sigh as he looked down at his tattoo and remembered something.

'Aunt Holly is always a stickler about appearance and she didn't say anything about this thing, meaning that she can't see it!'