The first-floor lobby was relatively empty except for a bleary-eyed group or two shuffling around the "living room". The morning rays of the sun bathed the dingy floors and faux marble counter of the reception desk. Nick stood hunched near the coffee bar with his hands stowed into the front of his dull grey hoodie. The woman brunette woman behind the desk, maybe in her mid-twenties, kept sending odd looks his way. Nick tried to act as casual as he could manage, but he was too nervous to sit down. He pretended to look over the selection of drinks at the small counter to give himself something else to focus on. He'd just then noticed that most of them had been bubbling and trembling in their containers. The large aluminum carafe spewed steam and glowed like the coil of an electric oven. Nick took that as a sign to maybe get some fresh air. He shouldered his back, gave the receptionist an uncomfortable smile and briskly walked to the exit. It felt like he was trying to casually get through an airport checkpoint with volatile materials.<br/><br/>Just as he pushed through the revolving door, he ran into what seemed like a human boulder in a black suit. He knocked the air out of his own lungs and stumbled backward, but the man he'd nearly assaulted didn't even budge. He had to be at least six-and-a-half feet tall, bald with black shades obscuring his eyes. From the rest of his face, he could tell he was giving him a cold, unemotional look. For just a flash of a moment, Nick thought that maybe Hitman was inspired by real life events and someone had sent Agent 47 to kill him, but that couldn't be possible. You have to be important to be assassinated.<br/><br/>"Mr. Do?" the man spoke in a deep unemotive tone<br/><br/>"uh yeah? You the from the TV show people?" he responded uncertainly, messing with the strap of his bag as it slid from his shoulder.<br/><br/>"Follow me," the man said before turning around and taking several rigid steps toward a polished glossy black car. He opened the passenger side door before standing at attention his hands behind his back. Nick walked to the door and looked at the man for a moment before saluting and sitting into the seat. The corners of the man's mouth seemed to tug downward at the gesture.<br/>"Funny." The man said before slamming the door and walking around to the driver's seat. Something told Nick he didn't find it that funny.<br/><br/>The ride was long, and silent for the most part. Nick sat flipping through messages on the phone, trying his best to avoid being seen. Those moments when he was bold enough to look at the man told him he didn't notice much except for the road ahead. The man suddenly spoke and caused Nick to jump in his seat and drop the phone.<br/><br/>"There are drinks in the compartment if you want any," as if he didn't trust the man, Nick opened the compartment to check. A collection of water bottles and cans of soda and juice neatly lined the door. Nick let out a chuckle before grabbing a bottle of water and gulping half of it down immediately. Nick swore he saw the man raise an eyebrow.<br/><br/>"So, Mr. Do..."<br/><br/>"Nice rhyme," Nick responded, the man didn't budge, "Call me Nick,"<br/><br/>"So, Nick"<br/><br/>"Sounds better doesn't it?" Nick added quickly.<br/><br/>"We were provided information about the individuals we were to collect,"<br/><br/>"Collect?" Nick snickered "We trading cards or something?"<br/><br/>"You attended UCLA for a short period but began undergraduate research in your first semester am I correct?"<br/><br/>"Uh, yeah... that's really what you wanna ask about?"<br/><br/>The man was silent for a while before he began again "I have a sister that was in graduate school for forensic science there...."  he didn't have to continue to understand what he meant. Nick stared down at his half empty bottle and watched the small droplets condense and form a cloudy ring around the lip.<br/><br/>"you uhh, how's she doing?" Nick tried to sound as calm and unassuming as he could manage, the man gave him nothing.<br/><br/>"She's fine, the department was transferred shortly after the incident. I wouldn't be assigned to you if I had some vendetta, so don't panic." the man's cold tone wasn't reassuring. Nick fidgeted in his seat for a bit before clearing his throat several times. Before he could speak, hitman cut him off.<br/><br/>"I was sent to show you the human consequences of your actions. I may be fine, she may be fine, but you've had an impact on the life of someone you've never met because you didn't know how to control yourself,"<br/><br/>Nick wanted to protest. How he thought that was unfair. How could this guy even know what it was like to.... to be a risk just because you were having a bad day? Should he just be happy all the time every damn day, was that it? Was he supposed to go up to the mountains for five years and train to master his emotions and become an enlightened master of the Kelvin system? He had classes to go to, exams to study for, regimented schedules and meeting to keep up with. He wanted to throw his bottle of hot water at him and tell him what an asshole move it was to assume he knew anything about him. But in the back of his mind, he knew the man was right. Nick had tried to act like he was normal all his life, and it hadn't just screwed him over. He had to accept who he was... a time bomb. He had to do better...<br/><br/>His hands shook as he watched the once bubbling water form cold creeping crystals against the plastic of the bottle. The car stopped and the man got up from his seat, he walked quickly to the passenger side door and opened it. Nick had been so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't notice that they moved until the man spoke again.<br/><br/>"We've arrived a bit earlier than scheduled, the others should arrive shortly," he said this rehearsedly, as if he could manage to be more distant than he'd been before. Nick got up out of his seat and looked up at the building that towered over the front- parking lot? Was this a studio or a telemarketing office? Nick looked up at it for a moment before the door of the car was slammed behind him. He jolted and turned to look at the man, but he'd already made his way back to the driver's seat. Another identical car sat in the parking lot a few feet away, and another equally uncertain looking person stood on the pavement. He glanced over her way, but she looked too occupied to notice him.<br/><br/>Was she another person like him? He tried to find any indication of being.... different but nothing stuck out as out of the ordinary about this girl. He guessed he didn't look exceptionally special either, come to think of it. He thought maybe for a moment, he'd be standing here in agony until he noticed something. Were those embers? Wisps of smoke and flecks of debris were dancing and catching in the light above her. It was subtle but definitely not natural. Nick's heart beat hard in his chest and he tried desperately to collect himself. He looked for something he could do to show off his own abilities. The water bottle! He quickly melted the ice and poured the half-full bottle of water in his mouth. The feeling of boiling water should have scalded his mouth but all he felt was the rolling bubbles and growing pressure in his mouth. He leaned against the car and tilted his head back a bit to let the steam billow out of him like smoke from a vape pen. Instead, he overestimated how much steam expanded and just spat out a cloud of quickly dissipating mist followed by a stream of steamy coughs and wheezes.<br/><br/>"smooth," the suited man said through the car window.