Ever the soldier, Nate let the boss offer his explanation of why Eli wasn't as bad as he thought. He even adopted a pose that betrayed his military roots. Arms behind his back, legs apart, head high. It was how he always stood when being addressed by his superiors back in the day but he caught himself doing it and quickly crossed his arms over his chest instead. It was hard to break years of conditioning, even now.

Nate was well aware of the so called pardon Eli had been given for his actions at aperture but that didn't change the way people looked at him. The majority of people were still afraid of him. Raven was proof of that. And Eli seemed to revel in the killings. He bragged about them. That made Nate uncomfortable. A voice at the back of Nate's mind called him a hypocrite. [i]'How many people have we killed?'[/i] asked the voice. [i]'That's not the same thing'[/i] Nate told himself [i]'Those were bad people and our government ordered us to kill them.'[/i] Nate could almost hear an internal laugh as though some part of him found that funny. [i]'Right'[/i] said the voice in his head [i]'Because the American government is infallible.'[/i]

As Eli started detailing just how he had killed the police officers, Nate found that he no longer cared. He had annoyed himself and was now lost in his own thoughts. He had killed a bunch of people in his short years but had justified it by the fact that he was following orders. The sound seemed to fade around him as he ran through his list of kills in his head, mentally justifying each of them. Something still bothered him though. Some spot in the back of his mind that he couldn't quite see.

Nate's eyes had narrowed in thought but suddenly widened again as he heard a [b]'ding!'[/b] from the elevator, indicating that they had arrived at their destination. He quickly forced a smile in the hopes that neither Cedric nor Eli had noticed his internal conflict. He stepped to the side and swung an arm out, indicating for them to go first. He then followed after them into the infirmary.

What happened next forced all thoughts of self doubt from his mind. Olivia poking him in the chest and accusing him of stealing her cat was hilarious to him. Man he had to get his hands on whatever she was on. When she turned her attention to Eli, proclaiming that he was hot before seemingly falling asleep on his chest, Nate could only sigh and with a smile he said to Eli "Beer goggles".

[@Letter Bee]
[@AcerRo]
[@NarcissisticPotato]