"Uhm Dr Baron?"
The scientist thought he heard something coming from the door, and in fact, there was one of his subordinate peeking his head through the door.
"What?"
"You didn't show up to the meeting an-" The branch leader didn't even let him finish. Instead he got up and sprinted out the door. He was late to the debrief meeting, by almost ten minutes.
He went down the elevator and again, ran. When he got to the meeting room, he was met by the receptionist's disapproving gaze. "Ten minutes late." She said as she shaked her head. "Go in." Dr Baron thanked her and walked in.
"Oh dear Sir William! We didn't know if we should expect you today."
He hated that nickname but he kept his cool. His boss seemed visibly disappointed in William's tardiness, and he deserved it.
"Sorry sir, I was-" He was cut off by his boss' hand gesture, signalling him to stop talking.
"Don't worry it's all good, we have more pressing matters to think about. It recently came to our attention that there seems to be a leak, and not just in the British government. Every government in the world is currently having information leaked, all very slowly. These leaks would have never been found, but luckily we decided to do a random check of our data with another country. We found some irregularities, and after we checked with other countries, it's been found that someone has tempered with databases globally."
Whilst his boss, Mr Wheeler, was focused on delivering these news to him, William wasn't paying attention. He was thinking back to when he thought he saw his computer move by itself.
He interrupted his boss before he spoke again, and warned him and the others that were also attending the meeting what happened a couple of hours earlier and that the security of this branch might have already been compromised.
"Go quickly to our cyber security department and tell them of what you saw. They'll know what to do."
William nodded and ran to the cyber security team before the hacker or group of hackers did too much.
Unbeknownst to him, Niles got what he wanted and removed every trace of him tampering with this branch.
***
Arthur left the physics and astronomy building. It was now 3pm, he was done for the day. Nothing worthwhile happened today, people just seemed more interested in him because of what happened in Egypt. When he was by himself, he called Niles.
Arthur wasn't sure if it was a good idea to follow a strange man into a nightclub at nighttime, but he already agreed to his deal, and Arthur was a man of his word.
He saw Alexia approach him with a smile; "What are you going to do now?"
"I don't know. Probably going to get ready to go to a nightclub." He blurted without thinking.
Alexia looked at him in horror and disgust. Neither of them were the type to go to nightclubs or even drink. Arthur started panicking, and before he could even think about what to say in his defence, she stormed off.
He decided to explain to her what happened later, of course without trying to mention Niles, but now he was worried that she would tell his parents about what just happened. He just had to pray that Alexia wouldn't just snitch on him, despite knowing that she's a telltale.
'Watch what I do to Niles.'
***
It was late in the evening and Arthur was sat in his room, ready for the night ahead. He didn't know what to expect, either Niles wanted them to bond, or more likely it was something to do with powers. Regardless he was going to go, it was now 8:30pm.
"I'm going out with my friend! Bye!" He announced to his family before leaving his house.
"Be safe!" Someone shouted from upstairs.
After 30 minutes of walking in his new, seemingly omni-enduring body, he got to the location that Niles sent him. It was exactly 9pm.
"There you are. Let's go in." Someone said from behind him. Niles approached the bouncers and after telling his name, they let him and Arthur in despite there being a long line outside. From what Arthur could see from the outside, the club was both loud and vibrant with strobe lights. He knew he wouldn't enjoy his time here.
They walked through a dark corridor and at the end of it was a check room where they could leave their coats. Neither of them had a coat on though so they just walked past it, they weren't bothered by the cold. Now they were in the club.
As to Arthur's expectations, this place was not the place for him. People were dancing, drinking, flirting and everything else that he frowned upon. He followed Niles to the counter where he ordered 2 glasses of water. Why did he pick this place if he was just going to get water? They were waiting in silence, or both of them were silent, the ambient was everything but silent. A couple of seconds later someone bumped into him.
"Sorry mate, my bad." The hooded stranger said to him.
"Don't worry about it. It's all good." Arthur said, waving him off. When he turned back, facing the bartender, he saw Niles smiling at him. Before he could ask why he was in a good mood, the bartender served them both.
"Sorry can you pay for now?" Niles asked Arthur. He agreed and put his hand in his pocket to get his wallet. His heart plummeted. He started to panic.
He couldn't find his wallet in his pocket. He couldn't find his phone either. He turned to Niles to tell him he couldn't find his wallet nor his phone, but he wasn't there. He looked around him, but he wasn't there. He told the bartender to put the waters on his tab, and that he'll pay it off at the end of the night. His only option now was to wait for Niles and hope that he didn't call him here just to ditch the bill on him for two glasses of water.
***
In an alley outside the nightclub was a man who was counting the spoils he got from his nightly runs of stealing from people. He was one of these enhanced humans who were using their gifts for crime. The blonde man he last bumped with had a bunch of cards but no cash, and a very new phone.
As he was trying to to see if he could try to disable the phone so that it doesn't get tracked down, a voice from behind him stopped him.
"That's not yours, mate." The thief swiftly looked back and saw a tall, dark man smiling at him. He tried to get a grip on the strange man and choke him out, but instead of that, the thief flew towards a wall.
"I need that phone and wallet thank you. And remember to return what you stole."
The dark man took what he swiped from that blondie in the club. The thief had no chance to get the items from him and he probably could not even get away from him.
"Why would I!?" A hoarse voice reverberated through the alleyway.
Instead of reacting, the man in front of him smiled even bigger and handed him a business card. "Because I'm not interested in thieves who rob with no valid reason. Get rid of your kleptomania and give me a call."
Then he disappeared. He did not just walk away, no, he disappeared in thin air. The thief looked at the business card that the ghost gave to him, and read; "Niles."
***
"You dropped these near the entrance, good thing that the bouncer kept them safe." Niles said right next to Arthur.
"Oh thank you! I was panicking over here, but when the hell did you get here?"
"Now."
"Ok, and now do you mind telling me why we're here?"
"Just to get to know each other of course!" Niles exclaimed with a wide smile.