Slime-Cycle (Humble Beginnings)

9. Goodnight Mister President

The cold night air filled Karl's lungs. He hated winter, it's just too cold. He was walking to the nearest hero access pod, which happened to be a little less than a block away.

He finished his patrol, and only now was he allowed to return to hero tower. He honestly hated it. The fact that dream could come out and in whenever he wanted, but karl had a set timeline. It just wasnt fair! So what if dreams famous, rewind has his own fanbase too!

But either way, he had requested to return early after that whole 798 incident. They still said no, even though his civilian identity was found. Apparently "dream was handling it".

Rewind was walking down the sidewalk of a pretty empty street when he passed an alleyway.

"Psst!"

Karl stopped. He looked into the alley, he didnt see anyone for a second.

"Aye, mamacita! Cmon, you know me!" From behind a dumpster stood a man in a beanie. He had two small golden wings in place of his ears, and two larger ones on his back. He had sharp pointed teeth and he wore a blue jacket with white stripes. Karl knew him as quackity.

Karl recognized him instantly, becoming slightly more cautious. Karl spoke in a hushed whisper. "What are you doing here!!"

Quackity cackled, "I wanted to say hi!" He stepped away from the dumpster. "What's so wrong about that?"

Karl anxiously glanced around before stepping into the alley and grabbing quackitys arms gently. "Whats wrong about it is that no one knows about you! If someone sees us together itll be all over the news! My career might be ruined!"

Quackity stood there in Karl's grasp with a smug look on his face,"pfft, trust me! No one will see me!" His smug grin grew, "anyways, if you dont wanna be seen we could always head back to my place."

Karl looked at him with disappointment, disbelieve, and, a hint of joy. He sighed, letting go of quackity and stepping back. "Look, I helped you once, ok? That wasnt an invitation to follow me around." He glared at quackity.

The winged man grinned, "sure it was. Not like you get all flustered everytime you see me." He teased.

Karl gasped, "I do not!"

Quackity gave a flirty smile, "yeah? You're red as a tomatoe baby. You know you love me."

Karl looked genuinely offended at that. Taking a step toward quackity, he pushed at him with a pointed finger. "I do not 'love you'! I am a professional hero and I will not be getting into a relationship with some hobo I helped on the street!!"

Quackity stood there wide eyed, only inches away from Karl's face. "Ok, ok. No need to get defensive!" He reached up one of his hands, which seemed to have a golden glove covering it. He grabbed Karl's hand, slowly bringing it away from himself. "I.. did have something I wanted to ask about."

Karl's expression calmed down, he seemed cautious. He took a slow step back. "ok, what is it." He dead panned toward quackity.

"Well," quackity loosened his stance. "I saw a clip on Twitter. You were chasing some guy down the street, and," he paused, "I wanted to ask if you know where he is."

Karl stared at him. "If I knew where they were I'd be arresting them right now, not talking to you." He gave an accusing look to quackity, "why do you ask anyways, you know them or something?"

Quackity stammered an answer, "eh- well... no. I've,.." he paused. "No. I dont know them. I just thought they looked interesting, that's all." He calmly replied.

Wierd. Karl did not trust that answer. but he didnt exactly feel like pushing for one, so he let it be.

Rewind sighed, "ok, well if that's all I really do have to go." He turned toward the road and began to walk away.