#unsupervised derek dumas

[something-in-blue]

The Rot Sets in part 3

After the concert and small reunion of the three former sidekicks, the plans for following day were set.

With Lil Biggie's concert going off without a hitch, Eike has decided to invite Sawyer and Amir out to dinner to celebrate the success of the concert.

Eike's true intention however, was to enlist the help of his two friends to investigate the new drug on the streets of Vera city; Dozer.

He informs of all he knows of the drug, that its main purpose to activate the latent meta genes in humans and grant them superpowers. If it is used by someone who already has powers it greatly amplifies it.

It's highly addictive and if left unchecked, the rise of new superpowerd individuals will a global threat.

Eike spins a story about how his work as a mayor is already taking too much of his time and his already existing duties as Catalyst suffers because of it. And now with Dozer on the streets he could use the help.

Of course, Sawyer is immediately on board with but Amir is hesitant. He has to continue his tour soon and can't really take detours, Sawyer tries to convince Amir that this is more important but Eike assures him he understands and simply asks to keep an eye out for anything and let him know if he encountered Dozer outside of Vera city.

After that the conversation moved towards more positive things. Amir is eagerly talking about his next performance, Sawyer talks about their latest travels and Eike chimes in with fun stories and fond memories.

The conversation eventually heads towards the whereabouts of Ghoslting and Multidude.

Sawyer says Lilith started a youtube channel and is an active content creator, but Derek seemingly dropped off the face of the earth. Eike assures them that Derek is definitely working on something, he is not the type to sit idly. In fact, he bets he's working to trying to find out to the Omega Responders. Besides, it's not like he'll get a job. This is Derek we're talking about.

Amir and Sawyer smile at each other, Eike intended to add some humor in the mood. It's clear Sawyer is taking the separation of the sidekicks a lot harder than they're letting on.

A few more laughs and jokes and the three were ready to call it a night. Amir has to get up early in the morning for his next tour and Eike cited he had a meeting early in the morning as well. He asked Sawyer to stop by around lunch time to discuss the Dozer situation and bade farewell and safe travels to Amir.

As he was getting ready to fly back to Vera city Sawyer offered to teleport them there and before they go home. Eike thought of rejecting the offer, knowing Sawyer only has two long distance charges per day and didn't want them to waste it on him but quickly figured out a compromise.

Eike offered to let Sawyer stay in his penthouse if they teleport them so they won't waste their teleportation charges in case he needed them.

Sawyer happily agreed but remarked they didn't bring any clothing since they weren't expecting a sleepover and Eike assured them they'll find something their size.

He totally did not fantasize Sawyer in one of his oversized shirts.

One swosh away and the pair were in one of Vera City's numoerous parks. Since Sawyer never visited the penthouse they could not teleport to it but Eike instructed them to teleport to a park closer to it. Then, the pair begin walking towards the penthouse.

It is late at night, the moon shine in the sky above and a serene silence falls on the park.

The silence is broken up by their footsteps as they continue their walk side by side. Saywer takes in the clean air and the smell of plants, and notice a few more couples going about in the park despite how late it is.

Sawyer remarks that the park is surprisingly peaceful this time of night. Eike says it is thanks to combined efforts of Quintessence and the people working in tandom to make the city a safer and better environment and the people feel safe enough to be out at this time of night.

He says that this is what he works to protect, this sense of safety and unity the people of Vera have.

Sawyer says they hope the entire world could be a better place like this, Eike tells them to not give up hope and it took a lot for Vera city to get where it is now. In future, he hopes mankind would come together and the world better than Vera city, but for now all he can do is lay down the foundation and hopefully those who would come after will continue his work.

Sawyer looks at them strangely, as if Eike won't around for long. Eike assures him he's fine but he's self aware enough to know he can't accomplish his goal in a single lifetime, Sawyer jokes since when they became self aware and Eike jokes back since the first time he had Amir's cooking.

They both laugh it off until they reach the penthouse. Sawyer asks if it belonged to Quintessence but Eike denies it, says he bought with his own money. He made a few investments and his paycheck as a mayor afforded him the money to buy it, and before Sawyer says anything about it being frivolous he motions to them to take a look at the balcony.

Aside from how breathtaking the view is, it provides an excellent viewpoint on the city and the building is conveniently in the center of the city. Allowing him to move quickly to any location and keep and eye out on the city. tactical watch point, if they will.

Sawyer is impressed with Eike's reasoning and says the wonderful view is a bonus.

The elementalist returns with a set of sleepware, having gone to retrieve it while Sawyer was admiring the view on the balcony.

Sawyer questions if he really found something his size and Eike jokes they're about to find out and hands it to them.

He ignores the look Sawyer gave him when he handed him the set, how his hands touched and lingered on theirs a moment too long, how Sawyers eye's sparkled under the faint light of the moon

He felt his cheeks heat up before he quickly turned away and told Sawyer to follow him to the guest room. Sawyer conflicted gaze didn't leave Eike as he moved away and followed him towards the guest room.

do they want to do this again? After what happened in their last relationship, are they ready for another one? Do they actually have feelings for him or is it just loneliness?

Once in guest room, Eike bade them good night and left and closed the door behind him.

He lingers for a few moments before going to his own room, he puts a hand on his heart and tells to be still. Now is not the time love, no matter how he desires it.

Tomorrow, he will take Sawyer to investigate the drug and hopefully take out of the hands of so called "vigilantes" before the Thaumaturge attack. Especially from someone the Man in Red warned him of, his first friend and childhood friend, Blair Turner.

The Man in Red tells him of what they become, Shimmer, one of the Adversary's strongest enforcers. Their views on superpowers and the addictive nature of Dozer made them an easily manipulated individual by the Adversary. The nature of powers they've got made them incredibly dangerous to deal with and the addiction made them very unstable. Blair is unfortunately, a threat that must be taken out of the equation. Along the other top enforcer of the Adversary.

Non other than his formal teammate, Nora Sblaza, formally known as Cutlass, currently known as Vorpal.

She is also a victim of the Adversary's manipulations and unlike Blair, there is a small chance to save her from herself. Eike has to play his cards right and he can potentially turn her to his side, and as much he hates it, if she refuses to betray the Adversary, well, she always wanted to see her family again and he'll grant her that wish.

The meeting tomorrow morning is about increasing the disaster relief budget. The Thaumaturge attack could happen any day now and Eike wants to make sure the city can survive it with minimal casualties. Though he must to be careful to not let this particular knowledge slip in case someone tries to dig some dirt 0n him, like Red Harry for example.

The Man in Red tells Eike that he killed the man in his timeline because he has no regard for anything other than his next big scoop. He exposed several superheroes identities and put their loved ones in danger and ending some of their careers.

In fact, when the Man in Red killed him he was recorded by his partner and exposed to public. He warns Eike to be very discreet if he want him gone.

The Red Harry of Eike's timeline is very much the same. Eike thinks he might be useful, give the man a scoop so big he won't pay attention to anything else, better yet, use him to spread misinformation about his enemies so they won't get in the way.

He changes to his own sleepware and sighs. Right now he needs sleep more than anything because tomorrow is a big day, and with Amir and Lilith out of picture it's only him and Sawyer. Derek remains unaccounted for but Eike is absolutely certain one of his Dudes is in Vera city, keeping an eye on him. Derek is a smart man, and he will definitely find a way to connect Eike to Propaganda's disappearance if he is not careful.

There are too many moving part for his liking.

As soon as his head hits the pillow he feels his body relax, clearly he was more exhausted than he thought.

Tomorrow is a big day, then again, so is every day in his life.