~ 3 days later ~
"Ahem..." Nick coughed vigorously, leaning on the door of the ward, looking at the two people inside with a smirk.
Willie and Julie separated after hearing Nick's cough.
"Sorry, should I come back later?"
"Yes you should!"
Willie stared, his face turning red for the first time in front of Nick.
The charming flight attendant Julie stood up and smiled dryly: "It just so happens that I should be going now, I shall see you tomorrow." After finishing speaking, she nodded at Nick and left quickly.
"Okay, don't look at her, she's gone now." Nick deliberately stepped into Willie's line of sight and laughed, "The doctor told me that you only just woke up, so I decided to go an check up on my partners, but it looks like I was worrying for nothing...Wipe that drool off of your face."
Willy subconsciously reached out and wiped the corners of his mouth, and then immediately realized that it was dry and that he had been fooled, staring at Nick viciously: "You bastard."
"Unexpectedly, Inspector Willie, who has been single for his entire life, finally found his soulmate during a a life-threatening accident." Nick walked to the bedside, unceremoniously picked up a peeled apple, and took a bite, 'I don't have the heart to tell him about the suspension bridge affect, you can't use logic on emotions'
"Let that go, Julie peeled that for me. I want to eat it myself." Willie snatched the apple from Nick's hand and said in an angry voice,
Nick sat on the side of the bed nonchalantly, frowning, "Listening to the doctor, your condition is not good, what's the matter?"
"It's nothing major, that damned snake just bit the nerve in my foot. I'm afraid I won't be able to do much more field work in the future." Willie sighed sadly, but he forced a smile on his face. "Thankfully the plane landed quick enough and I got the antidote in time, or else they'd have amputated my leg. Thank you Nick"
Nick patted Willie on the shoulder and comforted: "You'd have done the same, but you can use this as an opportunity to be promoted to supervisor, and become middle management instead of a pencil pusher, hell, maybe you and Holly can become partner."
Listening to Nick's words that almost didn't want a face, Willie rolled his eyes helplessly: "Why are you suddenly so interested in my career future?"
"If you can rise through the ranks, then I got a strong backing that I can lean on in tight situations." Nick smiled, and suddenly lowered his voice, "The truth is, I want to become an independent agent."
Willie frowned and looked suspiciously at Nick, "Are you crazy? An independent agent is just one step above being a private detective. Do you know what would happen to an agent who makes a mistake while being independent."
Nick smiled bitterly. He didn't know how being an independent Agent worked, but he had to do it.
[2 Days Ago]
Whilst laying down on the hospital bed, Nick turned on the old box TV and started channel surfing. Nick saw a lot of unfamiliar TV shows, the premises were about the same as his past life with aliens, ghosts and monsters, but he found them all kinda of boring. While changing the channel for a couple of minutes, Nick came to a stop
"It's the one year anniversary of the death of the multi-millionaire, Thomas Wayne. The alley that the tragedy happened, has been officially rename 'Crime alley' since the incident that took place there. The man who com-" With shaking hands, Nick turned the channel.
"Tony Stark is facing another controversy, as his Missile have once again been found in the hands of the radical terrorists in the middle east, name the aj-" Faced with another shock, Nick was about to turn the channel before stopping himself. Choosing to turn the TV off instead, Nick sat in silence at what he saw, and what it means.
'What The Fuck! I'm in the DC and marvel universe! Not on that, but the snakes on plane situation must suggest that other movies and fictional situation are going on in this world!' Nick felt his stomach drop as he realized just how dangerous this world is.
'I can't stay in Los Angeles! If I'm cursed to constantly attacked danger, I need to stay away from Holly and her family.....'
Whether it was his past life of this one, Holly was his only family member and he swore he wouldn't let any harm come to her.
Coming towards this realization, Nick's new goal was formed in his mind. Absorb five incredibly powerful creatures and become strong enough that no random alien or monster could harm him or his loved one
So with a goal in mind, Nick immediately started by learn more about his system and the world around him.
He learned that the the system doesn't just randomly hand out stories or have daily quest that can give a steady stream of Experience Points and Shop Points. The system needs to actively scan and search for details relating to a story, then the system would give out a location, and only when Nick makes contact with people or things related to the story, is it finally recognized by the System.
Nick is under the jurisdiction of the Los Angeles branch, and the cases that he works on will be assigned by his higher ups, so the chances of activating a System story will be a lot harder and time consuming, and time wasn't something that Nick had.
It's only 2005, Tony is still just a weapons dealer, and the Batman is still learning the hundreds of martial artist and has not yet returned to Gotham, meaning that in just a few year, Nicks gonna have to atleast be able to fight beings with superpowers.
In order to gain that strength, Nick had no other choice but to complete as many stories as possible through the system, and in order to do that, he'll need to travel the world freely. Nick can only leave the Los Angeles branch and become an independent agent under the main headquarters or just quit all together.
Of course, there is no way he could explain these reasons to Willy. "No way man, being an independent agent is safe."
Willie was taken aback, the expression on his face changed "Safe!? You'll be in more danger without a partner, not only that, but its a severe pay decrease. Independent Agents are basically N.I.A. backed Private investigators, and it is almost impossible to be promoted further. Your basically crippling your career, for what, Freedom!" Despite being so harsh, Willie didn't want Nick to ruin his life over nonsense.
"Who cares about money, when I could be forcefully assigned to investigate a gang with a noobie partner and get killed. Those independent agents, although their salary is low and promotion is difficult, they can pick safe cases and hardly encounter any dangerous cases." Although Nick was saying this, he knew that safety would be impossible with the system stories leading him.
"That maybe true, but independent agents spend most of their life on the move, rarely staying in one place. Not only do they work hard, but they don't have time for family and friends"
"So what? Apart from Aunt Holly's family, I have no other relatives, and don't have a loved one. I'm as free as a bird."
Willie sighed "Then have you already told Holly?"
"I called her last night, and then she called me a bloody idiot and hung up. That's why I came to you. I hope you can help me persuade her."
Looking at right leg, Willie let out a sigh "I will try my best." Despite it being against Willies wishes, Willie had to repay Nick.
Nick nodded, seeing that Willie was not in the mood to talk, he got up and returned to the ward where he was staying.
Nick's background in this world was similar to his original one; His father was from Ireland, who had came to study in the United States before meeting his mother. It wasn't long after that since they got married and had children, but then the Tragedy happen, leaving Nick to be raised by his mother's sister Holly. She treated him like her own son, so he and Holly's family were very close.
It was because Nick looked up to her so much that he joined the N.I.A. in the first place, despite not liking it . It was because of this closeness that Nick was confident that with him begging, coupled with Willy's persuasion, Holly will eventually relent to his request.
[1 week later]
"Agent Nick, in view of your brave performance on Flight 121, the bureau has given you a bonus of 50,000 dollars after taxes, and we've promoted you to the rank of special agent." Standing infront of his colleagues, Nick was getting jealous looks from his fellow N.I.A. Agent, as Holly congratulated him, clearly displeased.
"Thank you ma'am!" After saying this, his colleagues did there mandatory clapping before leaving, not wanting to see Nick's smug face.
Whispering to Holly "Holly, what is a special agent?"
Holly's cold face was especially frigid, "I am in charge of a newly established branch agency within the bureau, the Agents within the branch that will be name special agent. On paper, Special agents are just independent agents have have proven themselves to be more skilled, but this isn't the actual case " Looking at the nephew that she grew like a son, Holly bit her lips.
Looking around the room to make sure no one's was eavesdropping, she whispered "Special agents are
Tasked with investigating cases deemed 'Abnormal' "
"Abnormal?" Nick's face shifted from multiple emotions, starting from confused, to understanding, to stoic within a second.
"This past year, the number of cases that can't be explained through common means have drastically increased. You will not be task with solving these case! You will merely investigate abnormal cases and if your find something unexplainable, call me and leave immediately!" Holly face was harden, like she wanted to tell Nick something, but couldn't.
"So to summarize, I'll be independently looking for my own case but they have to be considered 'Abnormam? And all I have to do is to verify if they are 'Abnormal'? This all sounds very vague for a government agency." Despite saying this, Nick had a feeling what this was about.
With the rise of supernatural events that are being set up in this world, the government would have be blind to not take notice of them.
They have to respond to these supernatural events but they can't possibly investigate every case that is possibly supernatural or else they'd pull themselves too thin, so that's where the new 'Special agents' Agency branch comes in.
They are going to use seasoned agents to verify if a case is supernatural or not to save their resources. Realizing this, something Nick had once read surfaced in his mind. He remembered reading about world war 2. During the long marches, they would send forward lone scouts to sweep for mines until *Boom*.
That way they would only lose one man while understanding that there were mines in the vicinity, saving the entire platoon from an explosive death.
"If it was up to me, I'd have never let you become a special agent, but because that partner of yours went behind my back, you've already been assigned without my say so." There was a glare of anger in Holly's eyes, not her usual fake anger, but a genuine anger at Nick becoming a special Agent
"Just promise that you'll leave immediately if you run into any trouble!" A hint of distress appeared in Holly's icy exterior.
"I promise!" Nick's heart felt heavy knowing he just lied to his Aunt, but he refused to let her be powerless to the godlike being that will inevitable appear in the future, so he will get powerful enough to contend with them!