Adam left the junk shop and headed back to The Delta, planning to rent his room again, when he got there though there was a small line of people standing in front of the concierge desk. It took more than a few minutes before it was finally his turn at the desk.
"Hi, I was wondering if I could rent the same room I stayed in earlier today?" Adam asked politely.
"I'm sorry sir, the hotel is booked today, I apologize for the inconvenience."
"Wait? All the rooms?" Adam asked, shocked.
"Yes, currently every room is booked at this time. I apologize." She said with a light bow to Adam. Adam was shocked, realistically he knew this was a possibility but he had assumed he would still be able to rent a room, after all he had only been gone a chunk of the day not an entire day. Though the reason he didn't book a room was because if he didn't make it back today he didn't want to pay 100 caps for something he wasn't using. This was quite unfortunate.
"That's okay, thank you for your time." Adam said, a bit dejected as he started to walk away. He needed to find another place to stay, which now meant wandering around until he found it. If only Derek was around that'd be very helpful, but he did not even know where he lived and the city was huge so the chances of running into him were minuscule.
Or that would be the case if Adam didn't see Derek running as fast as he could right past him as he was exploring Midway for a place to stay. Adam was caught off guard by the sudden appearance of the very boy he needed but as he was opening his mouth to call out to him he was pushed aside by two men wearing rags who were chasing after Derek.
Adam had no idea what was going on, what Derek did to be chased by two grown men, but it was clear it was bad news for the kid, and unlike last time these guys were not in black suits, so Adam had no qualms intervening. So after a moment Adam began to run too.
The chase was short as Derek ran into the slums area of the first floor dodging and weaving between the tiny buildings made of scrap materials far more shoddily than the other buildings near the entrance. Many of these buildings were outright missing walls, some only had sheets to cover walls and much of the material used had holes in it. The people over here also looked far more ragged as well, worn out, and destitute. Clearly these people were not living well. But this was not on Adam's mind at the moment, saving Derek was.
Adam was notably faster than the two men and Derek as well, but he did not know this place nearly as well as the three of them so he struggled to keep up despite his superior speed and stamina. Still, eventually, after the short chase he caught up to the men as they cornered Derek in a small alley created by a few close together buildings.
"Alright kid, enough running, hand over your money." One of the men said as he walked menacingly closer to Derek.
"Never! I earned it! Get the fuck away from me or I'll tear your limbs off!" Derek said, baring his teeth as he held a defensive stance against the wall, acting like a trapped rat, looking ready to lash out.
"No need for that kid." the other one said as he pulled out a switchblade. "I ain't going to ask twice." He said with a menacing tone as he slowly advanced. Adam had heard enough and stepped forward, grabbing the wrist of the guy holding the switchblade firmly.
"I think you two have had enough trouble for one day don't you?" Adam said to them, with a stone cold tone and expression, he was in no mood to fuck around.
"What? Who the fuck are you?!" The other one said as the one who had the knife struggled in Adam's grasp. Damn, for street thugs these guys were weak. They did look scrawny but this was honestly pathetic… maybe Adam was just strong? It stroked his ego to think that way instead of assuming they were weak.
"Let him go!" The free one said as he stepped forward and tried to punch Adam. However Adam saw it coming, let his friend go and slugged the man in the stomach hard enough to cause him to double over in pain. The one with the knife, now seeing his friend doubled over in pain, hesitated. He looked like he was ready to try to stab Adam but lost his nerve when he saw his friend get hit. Adam, however, didn't hesitate, and hit the guy full force in the jaw, sending him sprawling out on the ground.
Adam stepped over the body of the guy he just punched as he walked over towards Derek.
"You alright?" He asked.
"Y-yeah… I'm fine…" Derek said, still too hopped up on adrenaline to fully come down from his anger and fear yet, though he looked at Adam with a mix of awe and suspicion. Adam motioned with his head towards the exit of the alley.
"Come on, let's get out of here." Adam then turned to begin walking towards the exit of the alley. A moment later Derek followed too, leaving the two thugs in the alley in pain from the hits. Honestly, even Adam was shocked at how well he handled them, one punch each was enough to deal with them, that impressed even him.
Derek followed quietly for a few moments before he mumbled out a thanks, it was just loud enough that Adam could hear it.
"You are welcome." He smiled. "Now what was that about? What got those guys chasing after you?" Derek once more remained silent for a few moments before speaking.
"I won a bet today… earned some nice caps. Those guys saw me win and wanted to take it from me." He said as he squeezed the caps pouch at his hip. "Bastards like that are all over the southeastern end. Usually I can give them a slip, but today they nearly caught me." He said with some disgust.
"Are you going to be okay now? Are they going to try to take revenge on you or something?" Derek shook his head.
"No, they are just opportunists, they will likely leave me alone. It's fine now, I just need to either spend the caps soon or find a way to hide them." Adam nodded slowly, at a loss for suggestions he could give.
"By the way…" Derek began as he looked at Adam. "Why are you wearing a backpack on your chest?" He asked with a head tilt. Adam looked down and saw that he was still wearing the, now empty, backpack on his chest like Derek had said. He chuckled a little.
"Uh… inventory management." He grinned. "Actually, if you have a moment I could use your services again."
"Oh?" Derek seemed to perk up a bit. "What can I do for you?"
"Well I just got back from a run and I went back to The Delta to book a room but by the time I got there they were booked. So now I need to find a new place to stay. Got any ideas?"
"Oh yeah! Sure!" Derek smiled. "I can help you with that!" He said happily. "The Delta was the best price for what you were asking for, but if you still have the same requirements then I know a place that, for a bit more, can still give you everything you want!"
"That sounds perfect, lead the way."
Derek led Adam back towards the food court, and then through it, once they had gone through the food court they were walking down another hallway towards a different terminal building. It looked pretty similar to everything else he had seen in Midway so far, but Derek stopped them in front of a wooden lattice door.
"I think you will one." He smiled.