Snippet #1628105

“I control mankind’s greatest asset, Nik can blow shit up, Psycho is key to my plan and even Two-Face back there can come in useful! But you’re useless. You may as well be powerless.” As much as Nikolas didn't really like anyone there (except Cyrus and Katie), he still didn't like the way Taser was talking about Rei. Rei was... An interesting case. Nikolas wasn't sure whether he could trust him or not, but knew the Fang always tried his best to help others. Well, help Cyrus and anyone else on his side. So maybe Rei wasn't that trustworthy. Nikolas liked to think he was. Sort of. “This isn’t a pedestal, it’s a hierarchy. And you’re on the bottom.” Well now. That was a good way of putting it. Not a very nice way, certainly, but still well done. Nikolas felt a sudden burst of nausea and nearly threw up. I need to get out of here, he thought. He wasn't paying attention until he heard his name again. "Nik, I want to get out of here as much as you. Now, I’m going to be ‘kind’, I think it’s called, and give you a choice. Stay on my side, get healed up, and leave, or end up like your treacherous ‘sister’ over there.” And promptly stopped listening again.

Taser? Kind? Those two words seemed alien, used in the same sentence. But it made sense, sadly enough. Nikolas wasn't an idiot. If he tried to keep going, he'd end up dying from blood loss. And even if he did get patched up, the chances were that he'd be killed from infection, from a piece of metal they hadn't seen in the first place. Meanwhile, if Taser was telling the truth, then they could get out. And he knew his father would be more then willing to shell over enough cash to get Nikolas healed up again (their previous relationship becoming unimportant, considering recent events). So, getting out of here or being left to die? It was an easy choice, Nikolas knew. He couldn't help but look over at Katie one more time before looked back at Taser.

"Fine. I'll join yah," Nikolas said. He slowly sat down, hand over his chest. It wasn't bleeding anymore, but it still hurt like hell. "And yeah, less explosions for me. For now," Nikolas added as he felt another jab of pain. This was ridiculous. His power seemed to be the only one that could injure its user just as much as anyone else. Sure, he had gotten lucky so far (and been extremely careful), but now... There was a sense of irony, since he had used his powers against the last Thorn (besides him). He supposed that he could become all thoughtful after he got out of Timeless.