Somnia (Dream Corp.)

PART TWO / CHAPTER FIVE

The sun had just set, marking another day of no progress.

Adrien leaned on the window with one forearm. The glass was stretching over the whole northwest wall, and he had a clear, almost bird-eye, view of the entire central city. The building had once been filled with offices, and the top half was indeed intended as such, but, once the city had been evacuated, most of the building had been raided by looters who enjoyed calling themselves pirates. Nowadays, these rooms were mostly used as bedrooms, and, one of two reasons Adrien had chosen it, one of the floors bellow had a gym and still running showers. Cold water or not, it was better than nothing. The other reason he chose to remain so close to the Dream Corp was that it was the tallest building in the city, and it sat in the centre of the city with windows as large as this one providing a good view of all the sides of the city. He particularly liked to look out for the two main entrances, on the east and the west.

The agents hadn't scouted in almost a week, and he knew they would be stopping by any day.

He stepped away from the window. The room was an enormous one, and, by the still rich colour of the wood on the walls, he could tell that it had been very elegantly furnished. There wasn't much left inside now, besides a place for him to sleep, a few racks on the other end where his clothes were hanging, and a spent leather chair pressed against the window. When they had first come here, after scouting every inch of this place, everything had been trashed. Most walls had been vandalised, most desks cut broken or overturned, paintings unscrewed from the walls, lamp shades stolen leaving naked bulbs, rugs and tiles ripped from the floors. It had been tarnished and left smelling disgusting. But they had made a home out of it. Everyone had chosen a room on that floor and cleaned it up themselves. Over time, they had cleared a reception room, a bathroom, and all the way downstairs to the showers. Over time, they started calling this home. So far, the agents hadn't climbed all the 60 floors up, but they never gave them reason to. After dark was lights out and away from the windows, so they usually bundled up in the reception room, which was away from windows, with a few candles to light their faces.

It was getting dark soon and Adrien wanted to use the little time he had to head for the showers. He went to his bed, which was just a sofa and a coffee table pushed together with two sleeping bags spread on them, and he fished out a ragged note book hidden between the cushions. He scribbled the number of the day, and noticed that it had been six days, two days more than the usual, since the agents had scouted. He hid he notebook back, walked to the rack for a clean shirt, and went out of the room.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Adrien heard his voice being called through the empty echoing hall. He turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. At the door stood Artemis, looking alarmed.

"Someone's coming!" she spoke breathless.

"What?"

"Brandt spotted her a few minutes ago. She's headed this way." she glanced down his body. Adrien knew she was used to seeing his uncovered body, but her slight blush still satisfied him.

"Her?" Adrien reached for his towel that hung on the shower stall next to him and wrapped it around his waist. "Why didn't someone call for me?"

Artemis gave him a knowing look.

"Alright, fine." he said dismissively. "You go back up and tell the twins to move on the entrance and wait there. Tell them to hide but not to let anyone in if they attempt. And tell Brandt to keep his eye on her."

She nodded.

"And keep this quiet. I don't want anyone freaking out." He added.

"What are you going to do?"