Chapter 14: Superhuman!
"Hey! I had the cowboy, how were the muscleheads?" Janece asked as she greeted her older brother waving from her entrance separated by the chasm in the center. "Stronger than I initially judged, that's all there was to them though, letdowns." Tal answered her question as he stretched from his entrance. Tal and Janece heard Derek declare something and immediately ran and parkours through the chasm to follow it to where he sounded, Tal climbed the ladder, Janece flipped and skipped some up the way. The worried brother and sister saw their youngest handling his own against the man Tal found it fair to assume was the boss of the goons they battled and attempted to question. The third eldest Presence sibling immediately ran to Derek's aid, who was pretty injured but she decided to search her roomy bag for something to help him after carrying him down the ladder they climbed up. "Where's Dustin?" Janece asked after noticing he was gone. Proxtere pushed Lowelle away with a bit of his wind, not in favor of admitting to himself the kid who wouldn't react to his words was making him nervous. "Practically untouchable by fists?!" Proxtere asked as Tal had run to Lowelle's side and the two were preparing to rush down their windy adversary. As the pair of brothers sprinted to close the distance, Proxtere flew away to the opposite part where they couldn't reach. "Couple of volunteers to help me discover the full extent of this coat!" Proxtere yelled as he brought winds so strong to the cave the remaining Presence siblings forcefully to the walls, he could only keep it up for five minutes before the winds ceased and he fell to the floor. Proxtere swiftly realized his assailants were still alive and well enough to make it to their feet, although with slight struggle. "Not enough will or resolution." Proxtere soon recognized himself as the sole reason why they weren't dead. As he began to take steps closer to the pair of brothers, Dustin came floating out of the more miniature chasm in their cave room on a translucent bubble.
"This is for defaming the I.A.S!" Dustin declared as he held onto the bottom of his Diaphanous bubble with the arm of his gauntlet and soared swiftly Proxtere's way. Proxtere attempted blasts of wind unaware it was impossible to knock him, however, he made sure he couldn't miss the windy villain before he performed a prafuso from the bubble and entrapped his target within. "This is the perfect opportunity to discuss and dig to the root." Said Dustin as he and Derek sat atop of a tree in the forest outside of the cave awaiting for the police to arrive. "I— Huh?" The hero wasn't sure how to respond. "You're tired and exhausted, remember this advice though, you can't redeem your father's name, pursue Justice in his absence or show a world you insist you need the approval of… if you're a pile of ashes in a pot from your recklessness and impatience. You can see tonight as successful, count tomorrow as grueling. This is only the beginning though, we're not done with you yet." Dustin finished as he stared at Derek but the hero couldn't maintain eye contact with him. "Tomorrow's gonna be scarier than when Fur coat had his foot on your chest." Tal yelled out from below them. "I got this, Tal, get ready to meet with the chief and our reward." Dustin insisted as Tal annoyed his older Brother more. Dustin leapt from the top of the tree. Dustin's phone began vibrating out of the blue, he pulled it out but saw who was calling but didn't feel like speaking to anyone and let it ring until it stopped, only to sit on the tree and watch the Presence siblings discuss something with the police. The phone vibrated once more after he received a notification from his friends in their group chat.
"Anyone want to go see the supreme elder wrights movie tomorrow?" Derek read from Liam which gave him a gentle smile. "I'm more down for that than anyone who ever donated to a virtual streamer." Derek read from Arlo which made him chuckle. "That's as down as it goes, It goes deeper, knowing from experience." Derek read sent from Rex and by this point, he was invested in their conversation while waiting on Dustin. "Derek's online and lurking!" The hero was exposed by Liam after getting tagged over and over feeling his phone vibrate. The other began making his phone vibrate over and over as they followed Liam's lead on tagging him. Derek felt like a clown, he had face palmed after realizing thanks to his buddy that he left his status on automatic. "Present, here, stop goons!" Derek replied in the private group chat when they finally made him feel annoyed enough to respond. Derek felt more annoyed when he realized he could have turned the notifications off on his phone and didn't have to respond until he got home. "You've been offline for weeks and haven't come to school, then suddenly online, everything alright with ya?!" Liam complained in the messages. Derek read the message but didn't know what to reply and instead he turned off his phone to enjoy the smell of petrichor and the dropping beautiful view of the falling sun.