Nick chose to ignore his comment and crossed his arms. Lior was the grumpy type, and Leo would mention more than once that he was a pain to work with, so he was more or less prepared for whatever attitude the Hinvese man threw at him. Nick recalled what Leo had said about his powers and wracked his brain to find a way to steer the conversation in that direction. Should he really just ask outright? “You’re Lior, right? Leo’s subordinate.”

At the mention of the absent man’s name Lior’s face scrunched up in agitation, but he sighed, tilting his head to the side and feigning indifference. “Something like that- what are you asking for, beansprout?”

Beansprout?! Nick huffed at him- Lior was maybe an inch taller at best! “I remember you- from the night in the shack. Leo’s told me a bit about you-”

“Then you’ll know I have no reason to stand here and make idle conversation.” Lior spun around and began to walk away. “I don’t have the same time to waste that Leo does- some commanding officer he is, slacking off all the time. Whatever it is you wanna talk about, forget it.”

So Lior at least had the intuition to know what Nick wanted. “Can I at least ask why you were around here?”

Lior stopped and hesitated before looking back, raising an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“Leo’s team doesn’t patrol this side of town- that includes you. There’s no reason you should be down here, right?” Nick took a few steps forward, picking up the bag he’d dropped. “And you’re not with your other squad mates- so if you’re not doing the work you were assigned, sounds like you’re out here wasting time.”

Lior spun around fully and glared at him- he should be threatening to Nick, at least he was trying to be, but at this point Nick only saw a smug, ill-mannered brat. “That’s none of your business- but if you must know, I was feeding my own curiosity.”

Nick was already a little suspicious of Lior’s disdain of Leo, but to be directly disobeying his orders to be on the same side of town that Nick was on- “Your curiosity? Me?”

Lior pursed his lips, his eyes darting between Nick and the space behind him as if he was fighting the urge to turn around and leave. “Yes. I’m sure he’s already told you that he’s not on field duty today- since you seem to know everything.”

“He did, yeah.” Nick was partially relieved to know that Leo was most likely just knee deep in papers and files. “Did he ask you anything?”

“He tried.” Lior admitted, crossing his arms in defiance. “So I wanted to get a look at you myself to see just what he meant.”

‘Tried’- so Lior wasn’t privy to share any knowledge he had with Leo. “Well, did you find the information you were looking for?”

Lior hesitated, staring at Nick with an expression that couldn’t be pinpointed, then turned around and continued his stride away from the redhead. “More or less. Enough for me to make my own hypothesis.”

“Care to share with the class?” Nick raised his agitated voice so it’d carry to the man walking away from him, but Lior neglected to acknowledge him and Nick clicked his tongue. “Asshole.” He pulled his phone back out, seeing a missed text from Leo.

“I won't be able to call you right away.” The text read. “My dig into the archives was interrupted- things might be a little worse than we thought. I promise I’ll get into contact with you as soon as I can.”

Nick furrowed his brow at his phone. Worse than they thought, what did that mean? His core, or the overall situation? Nick began to wonder what interest Lior would have in him to follow him around town and watch him. Another text came in and Nick opened it.

“Jack’s informed me that Lior isn’t with them at the moment, I think my questions might have tipped him off to do his own investigating, but if you see him, don’t talk to him. I know Nero’s assigned him to watch me- he may be assigned to you as well.”

Nick sighed and shoved his phone into his pocket, continuing his walk home. So Leo suspected that Nero had assigned Lior to watch him, trail him- the leader of Nightingale wanted an eye on him? Between the timing and his father’s grievance with the organization, Leo might not be far off on the “much worse than they thought” statement.

Nick arrived home and, once he’d closed the door, leaned back on it and closed his eyes- lost in thought about the new situation he was in. Footsteps called him back and he opened his eyes, looking around to see two suitcases placed neatly in the foyer and he frowned. As he walked up the stairs he listened for the distant voice of his parents, hushed chatter from their bedroom calling his attention. 

His parents noticed him immediately- his mother smiled sweetly as she always would and Jon sighed. “You’re home!” his mother beamed, coming up quickly to wrap her arms around him. “You didn’t last long today, did Ms. Scavo send you home?”

“Yeah- what are the suitcases for?” Nick was quick to direct the conversation towards their endeavors, looking at his dad. “Are you going somewhere?”

“Yeah.” Jon replied, picking up the final suitcase and scooching past his son. Nick watched him and turned to Anna, whose hands were in front of her as she looked nervously to the side, finally looking back to Nick with a tilt of her head.

“Nia, your grandfather is sick and needs us in Drand for a little bit.” She took quick notice of the perplexed and worried expression on Nick’s face and stammered to reassure him. “He’s fine! He’ll be fine, I mean- he just picked something up from Aranduil on one of his trips- but while he’s down, he needs me there to take care of things for him. You know your father, wherever I go, he goes.”

“There’s no one else that can do it?” Nick questioned- this really wasn’t a good time. “I really needed to talk to you and dad about something- are you leaving soon?”

“Yes, the train will leave in about an hour, so we have to get moving.” Anna scooched past her son and he followed as she continued their conversation. “I promise I planned to call you on our way out. Without your Grandmother there, it’s just me and your uncle Setah- and he’s far too busy with the blacksmith business, he wouldn’t be able to leave all that work to Dahlia. I do have to do my civic duties sometimes.” She stopped at the bottom of the stairs as they watched Jon take the last suitcase out to the cab that Nick had sworn hadn’t been there moments ago. “We won't be gone too long! Whatever you need to talk to us about can wait- once we’re back we’re all ears!”

Nick sighed and stared down at his mother who sighed in return, giving him a pout. “Don’t look at me like that, Baia- everything will be fine! Stay safe while we’re gone, take care of your siblings.” Anna glanced back at Jon as she spoke, her voice a little louder for emphasis. “And no boys over, you know the rules! Especially Leo!” She looked back to her son and grinned, patting his arm. “Go ahead and have him over- just be safe, use protec-”

“Mom!” Nick was quick to interrupt her and Anna laughed, covering her mouth one hand, waving with the other.

“I’m sorry, Nia! Just be safe- call us if you need anything- remember to use the cell phone in my bedroom if you do, alright?”

“Right.” Nick sighed as he watched his mother with furrowed brows as she entered the cab, his dad giving him a nod before climbing into the seat beside her. As they drove away, the tension in Nick’s shoulders began to worsen, his jaw clenched- if the situation with Nightingale was escalating, the two people with the most information were now out of his reach. Instead of dwelling on it any longer he pushed his hands into his cheeks- as if it were a mental reset for him- and he walked back inside to close the door behind him. His sister must have been at Lana’s, and his brother was still at work- it was most likely up to him to let them know what was going on.

With everything going on, the thought was already exhausting.