Adrenaline

⌊Chapter 2⌉

The inventor stared blankly at a loose picture in the yellow folder lying on the counter, covered in parts and supplies. Mechanics galore. Anything from armour and weapons to basic things like modified watches and glasses. He got so used to his whole life being this lab until he found this picture again. There was a bittersweet feeling in finding it again - a lost memory, hidden behind the new things in life that were so much worse than it used to be.

His eyes still held the same wonder that they did in the picture. That wonder was more dull now, but it still existed. And to him, that was what mattered. The picture was taken about 31 years ago. 19... that age seemed so far away now. Something that used to feel old, but he could only dream of seeing again. His wild, dark brown hair contrasted to his now mostly white, and he had a smile on his face that he hadn't truly felt since then. Standing next to him was a girl, around his age. She had sparkling green eyes and beautiful, light brown, wavy hair. Her skin was like soft caramel, and he could almost remember how she used to smell of cherry blossom - she had never used another perfume other than that, and sometimes the scent would return to him when he least expected.

Just like how he hadn't expected to find this picture today. It was long forgotten - the happiness felt when the picture was taken, the gorgeous overview of the green land outstretched far beyond them, overlooked by the mountaintop they stood at. Adelmir had nothing on that place that the man so longed to return to - even if he knew that, if he did go back, he would find nothing but desolate wasteland.

With a sigh, he set the picture beside the folder, rubbing his temples under his glasses and shifting his weight entirely to his arm on the counter. He still held the same initial appearance he had before, except now he had a good handful of additional scars that he had gotten throughout those 31 years. The bags under his eyes, the goatee which moved along his jawline, the disheveled but still somewhat organised demeanor of himself - something he could have never imagined at 19.

Silence flooded the room as he tried to pull himself together. Now was not the time for him to become melancholy over something so far behind him. Something he ought to be long over, but still wasn't. Truthfully, he doubted he ever would be. Even past mid-life, he believed this. Though he had long learned to accept it. After all, when there wasn't much to think about or many opportunities in such a forgotten, forsaken city, it was hard to think of the good things he once had. Anything good shriveled up to something bad. He hated that. But he couldn't change it.

Attempting to return to the assembling of mechanical 'power punch' gloves, in which he had become distracted by because of that picture, he took the page he had been looking for in the file and laid it on the counter space in front of him, beside the gloves, straightening his posture and slowly forcing himself to focus once more on something he would have rather thought about. Of course, though, he had no control over the intrusive thoughts puncturing his mind, wishing and wishing that he could go back to those days. Maybe things would have turned out differently. Maybe he could have given a better life to that kid. That poor kid who had always deserved so much better than what he got.

Without warning, the inventor's thoughts were interrupted by the metal door flinging open. He blinked, turning to look behind him at the door, just to see exactly who he was hoping for - drenched. He quickly moved the picture back into its file, approaching the other, who was covered in blood and water. He caught him by the sleeve before he could leave the main foyer without saying anything.

"Rich," he spoke, his voice steady and stern as it had always been. It hadn't changed much over the years. However, it still had concern behind it all. "What in the- what happened to you? It sure took you a while to 'take a walk around the block.' And you'll track water through the place - take off the jacket at least. Everything you see is pretty expensive, you know."