No Ordinary Nerd

Chapter 8

A few weeks later, Donnie had come clean to his friends about pretty much everything, telling some like Tony, Skye, and Jeff individually and telling others like Alex, Zach, and Sherri in a group. All-in-all, he was happy with how all his friends took the new information. No one seemed to take it in a negative way, and they all were willing to keep his secret safe by using his cover name, Clay Jensen, whenever anyone else is around.

As Donnie walked down the sidewalk with all his friends, he got this uneasy feeling - almost like he was being watched or followed. He didn't like the feeling, because he didn't want to risk Hydra getting ahold of him and activating the mind control they somehow put him under - the whole memory of somehow being mind controlled foggy to him. "You ok, Donnie?" Sherri whispered to him, noticing how nervous he suddenly appeared to be. "Yeah. Yeah I'm fine." Donnie said, clearing his mind of any bad thoughts as he glanced around before looking straight ahead again. "You sure?" Hannah asked gently as she subconsciously grabbed his hand and gave it a comforting squeez. Donnie quickly glanced down at their hands and returned the comforting gesture, making Hannah blush as she realized that they were holding hands. "Can we just...maybe go hang out somewhere else?" Donnie asked skeptically. All his friends nodded in agreement. "I'm sorry, it's just...I don't know. I feel like someone keeps following or watching me." Donnie confessed.

After trying to decide on something to do, everyone had agreed to stop at Rosie's Diner for some food before heading back to Donnie's house.

"Ok, what can I get everyone?" I nice, young -possibly in her early 30's - waitress asked as she held a small notepad and pen at the ready. After everyone placed their food and drink orders, the waitress flashed a small, polite smile before heading back into the kitchen area to prepare the food. As everyone sat and talked, Donnie took notice of two guys, both wearing business suits, sitting in a corner booth by the window. Getting a bad feeling about them, Donnie subtly kept his eye on them while just listening to the conversation going on around him. "You ok?" A voice suddenly whispered, pulling Donnie's attention from the two suspicious men. "What? Oh, yeah. Sorry." Donnie replied as he quickly turned towards his friends as they were now looking at him. "Do you know them?" Jeff asked, having noticed Donnie watching the two men sitting in the corner. "No, but I just get this bad feeling about them." Donnie said in a whisper. "Don't worry, I'm sure it's nothing." Sherri said, staying positive like she usually is. "I don't know. Maybe Donnie's on to something. I mean, they aren't talking or anything, and they keep looking towards this end of the diner and no where else." Justin said quietly, agreeing with Donnie's bad feeling. Before anyone else could say anything, Donnie felt his phone vibrate in the front right pocket of his dark blue jeans. As he pulled his phone out, he noticed it was a group text, including Mr. and Mrs. Baker and his parents, all warning him and mentioning something about Hydra planning something. Sighing to himself, Donnie placed his phone back into his pocket, not bothering to reply to any of the text messages. "What was that about?" Tony asked curiously. "Let's just say I think my suspicions are right about possibly being watched or followed." Donnie whispered.

After everyone finished their food, and the guys finally agreed on how to pay the bill, everyone got up and made their way towards the door to leave. Being the last to exit the door, Donnie took notice of the sound of two chairs being moved and footsteps following. "You guys go ahead. I'll only be a minute and I'll catch up." Donnie told his friends. Getting the hint, Justin, Jeff, Tony, Zach, and Alex lead the hesitant-to-leave girls away. Slowing his pace, Donnie started sluggishly walking in the opposite direction as his friends by the tables set up outside.

"Mr. Gill. We don't want to hurt you." The black man stated, holding his hands up in a surrendering gesture while his partner, a white man, aimed his gun at Donnie. "Stand down agent. Holster your weapon." He instructed his partner. When his partner lowered his weapon, the black man slowly walked forward, still holding his hands up. "Mr. Gill...we just want to talk, if you would just hear me out." He said as he slowly sat down at the table Donnie was in front of, sitting at the opposite end so he was still facing him. As he sat down, the man lowered his hands to rest on the table's surface. "No." Donnie said, keeping a stone-cold face as he menacingly leaned down, placing his own hands on the table, making a decent layer of ice start to quickly cover the table and everything on it, including the Hydra agent's hands. "I can't." Donnie finished after the agent became fully frozen, but not in a full block of ice. Slowly and threateningly looking up towards the other agent, Donnie quickly threw both arms out in front of him, making the agent panic as he turned and ran away. Going back to the frozen agent, Donnie felt around the man's jacket. As he felt around in one of the suit's pockets, he pulled out the man's phone which had some ice covering the screen. Looking through the phone, he came across a message reading "Deliver asset to Meribel Del Mar." "Meribel Del Mar." Donnie said to himself. As he stared down at the phone. With this new information in mind, and with the phone still in hand, Donnie quickly left the surprisingly uncrowded scene, remembering what he told his friends before the confrontation. Keeping the location in mind, Donnie ran to catch up with his friends, starting to form a plan in the back of his mind as he went.