The Numbers That Brought Our Fates Together 311 She Needs You.

He ran out into the street, and his feet carried him by themselves, he did not look around, did not think about the security cameras. Just stopping through two streets next to his car, the guy realized that all this time he was in sight.

He left his cap and gla.s.ses in Ashley's laboratory, and demonstrated himself to the cameras in all his glory.

"d.a.m.n," Nick quickly got into the car and slammed the door, being noticed by MarcNet's tracking system could be quite a problem. He took a phone from his pocket and made a request for Alice to clean the cameras in the nearby area.

Even in this matter he relied on Ashley's inventions. His life, starting from the alarm clock and ending with the voice a.s.sistant, was connected with everything that the girl did.

His clothes, with built-in chips to block scanning, adapted kitchen utensils, even a shower elegantly customized to his preferences - the girl put her hand to everything in his life.

Each time, with a shudder, he imagined her next idea, in which he acted as the main subject, but only now he deeply thought about how much Ashley had done for him.

And what about him? Who was he? What were his merits? A donor of unique blood, and nothing more?

He had special talents, but he could not use them. In terms of academic performance, Nick also did not star at college, which surprised Armand very much and he often said that "Nick's genes have gone somewhere else."

It is not surprising that such a bright and brilliant girl like Ashley preferred somebody else.

Armand was an adult, experienced, restrained, able to control his emotions. At least in front of her. Oh yes, he was also extremely clean and punctual up to a d.a.m.n second. d.a.m.n German punctuality.

But no matter how Nick tried to justify Armand's superiority in some issues with national stereotypes, deep down he knew that it had nothing to do with it.

Just in comparison with this grown man, Nick looked like the most ordinary slacker.

The young man pressed the gas b.u.t.ton and the car accelerated its course, further and further away from the main city boundaries. The relatively developed landscape gave way to dilapidated buildings and the desert, which was once a green zone.

Nick slowed down and stopped at the curb. All these thoughts only strengthened his sense of hopelessness. He would like to go wherever his eyes look, but he was not free even in making such a simple dcision.

The borders between the cities had strict controls, squeezing through which was another task. They were lucky that their place of residence was a large area with many abandoned buildings, where one could easily get lost.

The young man laid his head on the steering wheel and sighed doomedly. A little less than an hour pa.s.sed after what had happened, and he already regretted that he overreacted. Once again, his emotions took over, he had to stay there, listen to Ashley. Maybe then in his soul would be a subtle hope that he understood everything wrong. But their look, that scene in the laboratory, confirmed the opposite.

Armand and Ashley were his only family, but he could not observe their relations.h.i.+p. Maybe he should have left? But where would he go and what would he do there? His entire social circle was tied to them.

Although Nick could have asked North to work for him and get things going on the black market. With his abilities, it will be even convenient.

Or he can concentrate well and teleport away from here. To Bali, for example. Well, or to Alaska. Anyway, he has never travelled anywhere, and no one would recognize him there. At the same time, he could see what was happening in those places, they had lived in complete information isolation all these years, so that even Ashley's sophisticated systems could not break through this blockade.

Who knows, maybe somewhere there, everything is already fine and people live as before, and only they were stuck in this strange world, as in some kind of experiment, and just someone was watching them and laughing at their naive attempts to save the world.

Well, this, too, could not be far from the truth, given the total surveillance of snoops of Marc Technologies.

The more Nick imagined this, the more he realized that no matter how much he ran, his heart would be striving back to her.

The yellow-red sun crossed the zenith and began to sink closer to the horizon, Nick got out of the car and looked around. He was the only living soul within a radius of five kilometers, even feral dogs did not wander into such a distance. Apparently, his doctor Manisha's warning about a possible flash was right.

The young man pulled a small box from his jacket pocket and opened it. An elegant gold pendant shone brightly in the sun, bewitching with its attractive look.

It doesn't matter what Ashley thinks of him. He will give her this pendant and once again confesses his feelings. If she refuses him, then let it be eye to eye, so that there will be no regrets.

Nick smiled and prepared to sit back in the car, as a sharp tremor swept over his body. He grabbed the door with both hands, but the trembling gave way to piercing pain, as if every cell in his body was ready to explode.

His breathing became abrupt, he slowly crawled down the car and sat on the asphalt. Crazy fear seized his mind, in his head only one thought was sounding like an alarm bell - Ashley. Something was wrong with her, he did not know what exactly, but an inner voice shouted that he should be next to her as soon as possible.

The young man concentrated, took a deep breath and disappeared into the air. Moving into the narrow alley behind the library building, where no one would have noticed him, Nick leaned on the wall and tried to turn off his feelings. The pain became less, but the feeling of anxiety did not disappear.

Going around the building, he went inside and noticed that something had changed. The books, which were previously on their shelves in a perfect order, were scattered all over the floor, here and there. Nick strained his ears, but heard nothing suspicious.

The young man quickly walked to the main door, entered the pa.s.sword and opened it. His body backed in shock, Nick stumbled and fell.

The picture in front of his eyes resembled the final scene from a horror movie. On the floor and in different corners of the hall lay immobilized people in strange poses, someone with open eyes, someone with a bloodied face.

Nick almost threw up, the smell of the room twisted his stomach, he held his nose in order not to take a breath. The young man got up from the floor and walked on with wobbly legs.

Near the entrance, he noticed a familiar face among the bodies lying on the floor. Nick squatted down and checked his pulse. Mitch.e.l.l's body was still warm, but he was no longer breathing.

Nick heard a beating heartbeat in his ears. Jumping up the steps, he ran two levels lower, to where Ashley's lab was. He could immediately teleport to the right place, but he was afraid of what could be waiting for him there.

The room was quiet, only the old clock on the wall snapped its hands. Nick stepped forward and saw a man. He sat leaning against the wall, a b.l.o.o.d.y hand covering the wound on his abdomen area, his eyes were closed, his face was relaxed.

"Armand!" The young man ran to his mentor and checked him, Armand's breathing was heavy and abrupt. He barely opened his eyes and looked at Nick.

"What happened?! Where is Ashley?!"

"Marcus's people took her," the man croaked and grimaced in pain.

It was too unexpected. But why? That man hadn't showed up for fifteen years, the last time Nick saw him during the great flash.

"Did they say anything? Common, get up, we have to go for her," Nick pulled Armand's hand, but the man said nothing.

His face was pale, his lips turned blue. Nick noticed that the s.h.i.+rt on Armand's chest was saturated with blood even more.

"Wh-what's going on? Armand? Why aren't they healing?! Old man, why are you..," Nick's voice gradually died down, he looked at the man with frightened eyes.

"Sorry, I won't be able to keep an eye on you anymore."

"Why do you say so... What about Ashley?! She needs you!"

"You are mistaken. She needs... you," Armand whispered, raised his hand and ruffled Nick's already disheveled hair, "I'm proud of you," the man said and closed his eyes.

His hand slipped off Nick's head and fell to the floor. The young man stared at his friend's motionless body, not believing his eyes.

"Armand... Armand !! Do not joke with me like that! It's not funny!" Nick began to shake the man, hoping that he just fell asleep soundly, "You are immortal! Wake up now!"

"Start beating! I command you, start beating!" He was. .h.i.tting Armand in the chest with all his might, but the man's heart made no sound. He screamed and cursed at the wounds so that they would heal, but his friend's breath never returned.

"Please, I will give you Ashley, I will get up early in the morning, I will never be late again... Please..." But Armand remained silent to all his pleas.

A few minutes later, Nick fell silent. He took off a jacket from his shoulders and laid it on the floor. Then he lifted Armand up and carefully put him on his jacket, "Old man, it's harmful to lie on the cold floor at your age," Nick said in a hoa.r.s.e voice, straightened Armand's s.h.i.+rt and fastened the b.u.t.tons,

"Disheveled hair doesn't suit you much. That's much better," Nick smiled, straightened the man's light hair with his fingers and got up from the floor.

Wiping his nose and eyes with his palms, he looked around and saw the robot lying in the corner.

One of its arms was twisted, its gaze was directed to the ceiling.

Nick went up to the robot and set her against the wall, after which he straightened her hand, "Ashley will be upset if you meet her like that, Nancy."

The robot turned its head and gazed steadily at Nick. For a moment it seemed to him that in the eyes of this creature he saw a piece of the living soul.

Nancy opened her mouth and let out an indistinct wheeze.

"What?" Nick asked.

The robot grabbed the young man by the T-s.h.i.+rt and pulled to her as his face approached her, Nancy whispered,

"Behind you. "

The young man jumped to the side as soon as something sharp pierced his neck.

He turned around, but managed to see only the blurry silhouette of a man, before his eyes grew dark and Nick fell dead on the floor.

The man scanned the guy's condition, pressed a b.u.t.ton on his helmet and said, "The target is captured. Mission completed."