Third-Wheeling (Eddie Bloomberg)

Participants: Mia Dearden / Eddie Bloomberg
Open/Closed: Closed
Location(s): St Roch, docklands
Time of Day: Evening
Weather: Seemingly endless rain, occasional thunderstorms.
Summary: To ensure they aren't third (and fourth) wheels on Jason and Raven's surveillance date, Mia and Eddie monitor the CCTV from the Outsider's mobile headquarters.

Heavy rain drummed against the roof of the re-purposed shipping container, the sound echoing around its sparse interior. Occasionally, the rumble of thunder caused the screens in front of her to flicker, the storm no doubt interfering with electronic hubs and internet signals throughout the city. An open pizza box sat close to her right elbow, half-eaten slices of some meat feast littered about the greasy cardboard. Her chin rested heavily on an open palm, eyes lidded as she idly tapped at one of many keyboards, flicking through various CCTV feeds, none of which bore activity of note, while a poorly dubbed samurai film played in the bottom right hand corner of the central screen.

Apparently, the criminal element in St. Roch weren’t overly keen on operating in one of the worst downpours of the century and it had made for another boring evening of surveillance.

Leaning back in her chair, Mia Dearden rubbed her eyes and yawned. The Outsiders had arrived in St Roch three nights ago, chasing a lead. One of Todd’s informants had suggested a smuggling ring was passing through the area, so the group had mobilised quickly, shifting their base of operations – a gadget filled shipping container – to the local docklands. It’d be a long journey, and the weather had turned just as they’d arrived. They’d spent two days trapped in what amounted to a steel cell, in a seemingly never-ending storm – with no sign of the thugs they’d chased cross-country.

It was no surprise that cabin fever had set in.

Jason and Raven had exited the container some hours before, headed for parts of the city unknown. Physical surveillance, the Red Hood had said, though Mia maintained they just needed some alone time. It’s why she’d offered to stay and monitor the city’s CCTV, and suggested Bloomberg give them some space too – prevent him third-wheeling. They’d not argued. Reaching for one of many pizza slices, she dipped the crust in an open, half-full pot of garlic sauce, and ate. Then, without looking round, she shouted over her shoulder. “Tag, you’re it.” Her shift was done – it was time for Kid Devil to take over.

It had been Eddie's first mission with the Outsider's since Jason offered him a spot on the crew. Getting himself all worked up and hyped to be back on a team and to have a purpose again, Eddie's mind had been racing with possibilities as to what the group would be doing. Infiltrating some corrupt government organization? Beating up an army of ninja assassins? Taking down some powerful Meta-human? Monitoring a raining dock from inside a shipping container!?

Wait.

What was that last one?

Really? Their first mission was to hang around in a small and cramped shipping container in St. Roch and just watch the docks? And for what? Just some thugs? For two days!?

Eddie had almost exhausted himself of possible questions to ask, and probably exhausted the Outsiders with the exact questions he had been asking. For two days. It was probably part of the reason Jay and Raven wanted to get out of the container. Eddie had a bit of a pain in letting Jason out of his sight though, but Mia assured him it was best to give the two some time together outside of the group. Eddie, though he knew he wasn't at fault by any means, felt some guilt for Jason's death years ago. The two were basically best friends, and when Jason stopped replying to him, he never questioned what happened and just figured he didn't care about him. By the time he had found out Jason had died, Jason was already back alive and Eddie hadn't been there for him at any point. He wanted to make up for that, and he didn't want to let Jason out of his sight. Even if the devilish teen knew Jason would be safe and need his space, Effie wouldn't help but feel a wanting to keep an eye on his best friend.

While the whole group were relatively quiet individuals, Eddie was not. The young man would often ramble even if no one was listening, but as Jason and Raven left, Mia took over the monitoring. He figured this would be one of the instances where silence would be better. Given only two sets of eyes would be on the screens, any distraction probably wouldn't be good. So, despite the last two days being a clear indication that Eddie rarely was quiet, he had stayed relatively silent. He had spent this time reading a very small book had could easily conceal; a book about the occult. While he may have been working with Raven now, Eddie had things he needed to figure out. He still wasn't sure what parts of what Neron had told him were true, he was interested in if he could free himself from any apparent contract he might have gotten himself into.

Mia's words rung through his ears and he quickly hid the book away. "Are ya sure? I think you have like another two hours to go" With a small groan of defeat, Eddie got himself to his feet and stretched out, cracking his back as he did so. "So if we do find something, do we call and ruin their date, or just take care of things ourselves? None of that stuff was really discussed before the goths left our little treehouse"