Flash Fire by T.J. Klune

15

Monday sucked.

Mondays usually did, but this was worse.

Nick thought they’d prepared for it, thought they’d covered all their bases, but the moment he stepped into Centennial High on that cold morning—Seth at his side, Gibby and Jazz ahead of them—Nick knew immediately they’d made a mistake.

“Oh no,” he whispered as people turned to stare at them as they walked down the hall toward their lockers.

“He’s here!” one person whispered furiously.

“Talk to him!”

“Find out what he knows!”

“A million dollars, a million dollars! My dad said that if we get that, we can finally go on vacation somewhere that doesn’t involve a giant ball of yarn.”

“Nick! Hey, Nick!”

“Nick, over here!”

“Nick! Just the guy I was looking for. Hey, man. How are you? Good weekend?”

Nick glared at the hand on his arm. The douchebro removed it slowly but didn’t step back. People began to crowd around them, following them down the hall as they called Nick’s name, trying to get his attention.

“Back off,” Gibby snarled. “Don’t make me sic Jazz on you.”

“I’m dangerous,” Jazz said sweetly. “I’ll make you bleed, though I won’t be happy about it. Do you know how hard it is to get blood out of cashmere?”

But they wouldn’t be deterred.

For the first time in his life, Nick was relieved to see the rheumy gaze of Mr. Hanson, his trig teacher who thought Nick should constantly be in detention for having ideas. Hanson glared at the kids behind them. “You have classes to get to,” he said, the warning in his voice clear. “I suggest you move before we have a problem.”

“I’m Pyro Storm,” Seth said.

The students who hadn’t scattered all turned slowly to stare at him as Nick did the same, eyes bulging. Jazz’s jaw dropped, and Gibby sighed as if she couldn’t be bothered to deal with the idiocy of teenage boys.

Hanson snorted. “Gray, next time you tell a joke, try something that’s funny—or even remotely believable. Otherwise, it’s just sad.” He shook his head and turned on his heels, marching down the hall toward his classroom as the warning bell rang around them, the other students whispering as they left.

Nick whirled on Seth. “What the hell, dude? We’re blurting out your secret identity now? Maybe warn me next time. Like, I can totally back you up on it and stuff. I wasn’t ready.”

Seth sighed. “Sure, Nick. I’ll remember that for next time.”

“Come on,” Jazz said. “Let’s get through the day. If that’s the worst of it, we’ll be all right.”

It wasn’t the worst of it.

All day, people came up to Nick, some of them asking outright who Pyro Storm was, others trying to act like they were Nick’s friend. Normally, Nick would’ve been extremely on board with all this attention, but when it came in the middle of class while he was pretending to pay attention? Yeah, that wasn’t the best. Case in point: the girl at the desk next to his leaned over and whispered rather aggressively that she’d rock his world if he wanted, trailing a bright pink fingernail down his arm, biting her lip seductively.

“No thanks,” Nick said. “I’m super gay, so.”

She blinked. “Are you sure?”

“Yep. Like, full-on queer and junk.”

“Oh,” she said. “My brother’s gay too, and apparently people think he’s really hot—which, gross, but yay for you! I’ll give you his phone number, and he’ll—”

“We’re in the middle of a test,” Nick hissed at her. He looked around the class, finding that everyone was listening in, even if they were trying to hide it. Including the teacher. “Stop interrupting my learning by offering me your brother!”

“Ignore her,” a boy whisper-shouted from two desks over. “I know three gay people, and they’re my best friends. I could get them to help you, since you’re just coming out.” He looked earnest when he added, “Which is, like, so brave of you. I mean, no homo, but congrats.”

Nick threw up his hands. “I’ve been out for years! I have a boyfriend.”

The boy shrugged. “Good for you. It Gets Better or whatever. Anyway, my friends would love you, and they’re all really gay. Their names are Gabby, Jizz and …” He frowned. “Oh!” he said as he brightened. “Serf. No, wait. That’s an agricultural laborer bound under the feudal system to work on his lord’s estate.”

“That’s exactly right,” the teacher said. “I’m glad what I’m teaching you is sinking in. How wonderful to see young minds expanding with knowledge.”

“Oh my god,” Nick muttered. “It’s Gibby and Jazz and Seth, and they’re my best friends, not yours. In fact, who are you? I’ve never even seen you before! And Seth isn’t gay. He’s bisexual, so take your hetero nonsense somewhere else, because I won’t allow my boyfriend’s sexuality to be erased.”

“Okay, that’s enough,” the teacher said. “Get back to your tests, everyone. Leave Nick alone and let him focus.”

“Thank you,” Nick said loudly.

Satisfied, Nick turned back to his test.

Only to be interrupted a minute later by the teacher passing by his desk, sliding a folded piece of paper underneath the test sheet. He waited until she left before he opened it.

You’re doing great work! If you need to talk about anything, please don’t hesitate to come to me. My door is always open. Being a teenager can be hard, but I’m hip and cool and willing to talk about anything you need. Some examples: boys, relationships, academic futures, identities of superheroes, parental struggles, drug prevention, Pyro Storm, peer pressure, self-confidence issues, Extraordinaries’ real names and addresses, and I make a mean quiche if you should ever need the recipe!

Nick raised his head slowly to stare at the teacher.

She brought her finger to her lips and winked at him.

“I hate everything,” Nick grumbled, slumping low in his seat.

By the time the lunch bell rang, the following had occurred:

• Nick had been asked to prom by nine different people: five boys (all straight) and three girls (all straight), and the lady who worked in the front office, who told him everyone would think he was the coolest for bringing an adult to prom, to which Nick replied she really didn’t understand what it meant to be the coolest.

• Three teachers—two of which Nick didn’t have a class with—pulled him into their rooms, all of them telling Nick he shouldn’t have to carry the burden on his own, and that they were willing to listen to whatever he needed to get off his chest. One of the teachers, an older woman with perfect teeth that had to be fake, turned a chair around and sat down on it, hands dangling down the back, saying, “Man, teenagers, right? It’s hard out there for a pimp. Let’s chill, my dude. Say, I got a question for you, since you’re here. What is up with all these Extraordinaries, am I right, my man? My guy? Bro? Bro, where are you going? Bro, you don’t need to leave, I’m not—the door opens the other way. No, you have to pull, not—Nick. Seriously. Stop screaming and just pull the door open.”

• Seventeen different students—including the guy who moved to Nova City from Venezuela named Santiago, who had the most erotic jawline ever given to mankind—invited Nick to house parties. And birthday parties. A bar mitzvah. A quinceañera. An orgy, though Nick might have misheard that one. One enterprising girl even told Nick that she’d always wanted a gay best friend to take shopping, since all gays had the best tastes in clothes. He might have given her the benefit of the doubt had she not been glaring at his clothes, which consisted of his beat-up Chucks, frayed jeans, and a green hoodie missing the string around the neck. He then proceeded to explain to her how problematic her views on queer men were, and that he did not exist to feed into her terrible stereotypes. She nodded solemnly and said, “Thank you for educating me. I’m taking the time to listen and reflect on my biases to become a better person. So, shopping, or …?”

By the time Nick collapsed onto a seat at the lunch table, he was convinced humanity was a mistake and that getting sent to a boarding school in Switzerland might not be a bad thing, even if he, like Jazz, had no idea where Switzerland was.

“That awful, huh?” Gibby asked, patting him on the top of the head.

“Everything is terrible,” Nick mumbled. “I know now what it feels like to be used, and honestly? Not as big a fan as I thought I’d be.”

“You thought it’d be a good thing to be used?” Jazz asked.

Nick lifted his head. “If it meant being popular, sure, but at what cost, Jazz? At what cost?”

“Popularity is overrated,” Jazz said, opening her Tupperware, which was filled with beef cutlets over a bed of bone-marrow pasta. “Popularity in high school doesn’t matter in the real world. People are fickle. What’s important today won’t be important tomorrow.”

“Where’s Seth?” He looked around, trying to find the familiar mop of curls.

“He was talking to a teacher when I saw him before lunch,” Gibby said. “Didn’t look like it was going well.”

Nick blinked. “What? Why? He’s almost as smart as you are.”

“I dunno. I was going to wait for him, but he waved me off. He’ll be here when—there he is.”

Seth pushed his way through the crowd, scowling at everyone who bumped into him. He practically threw his backpack on the table as he sat down next to Nick. “What in the hell?” he growled. “I just spent ten minutes talking to Sewell, who told me that I needed to be a good boyfriend to Nick and listen to everything he says, and if he happens to talk about Pyro Storm, to let her know so she can—and I quote—‘Make sure you two are safe and making good decisions, and if that leads to a financial windfall, remember how much I’m helping you because teachers are vastly underpaid.’”

“Money makes everyone stupid,” Nick muttered.

Seth looked around to make sure no one was listening in. He dropped his voice and said, “It’s getting worse. I got a notification on the app last night. Someone reported an incident in progress, and I—”

They all jerked their heads toward him. “What?” Nick asked. “What happened to lying low?”

Seth winced, pulling on the polka dot cravat hanging limply around his neck. “I was going to ignore it. I thought I could. But—” He shook his head tiredly. “I don’t know. I was careful, but when I got to the scene, no one was in trouble. Three people were waiting for me. I overheard them talking about how when I showed up, they were going to use fire extinguishers to subdue me.”

Nick gaped at him. “They what?”

Seth sighed. “Burke has turned this into a manhunt, and he won’t stop until he gets what he wants.”

“Maybe it’s time for Pyro Storm to take a break,” Jazz said. “Not permanently, but at least until this all goes away.”

“What if it doesn’t?” Gibby asked. “Is he not supposed to be Pyro Storm again?”

“It might not be such a bad thing,” Jazz countered. “Last I checked, Seth wasn’t even sure he wanted to be Pyro Storm anymore. Has that changed?”

“I don’t know,” Seth admitted. “This certainly isn’t making things easier.” He took off his glasses, pinching the bridge of his nose. “And I don’t know if I could do it, not all the way. The first time a real call comes in, and I, what, pretend I didn’t see it?”

“You can’t save everyone,” Gibby said, sounding troubled. “You’re already stretched thin enough as it is.”

“What else is new?” Seth asked. “That’s how it’s been for years.”

“And look where it’s gotten you,” Jazz said. “I know you don’t do this for the accolades or the press, but Seth, you really need to think of yourself here.”

“Which is why I asked Miss Conduct and TK to help us,” Seth reminded her. “We can’t do this on our own.”

An idea struck Nick. It wasn’t anything grand, but at least it’d be a start. He reached into his pocket, meaning to get out his phone, only to remember that it had been crushed by TK in an alley. His life was so weird. “Gibby, can I see your phone?”

She didn’t question him, just slid her phone across the table. He snorted at the picture of her and Jazz she’d saved as the background before opening the app he was looking for and logging himself in. “How about this? I delete the official Pyro Storm Twitter account, and I don’t send the email I wrote to the creators who I wanted to make the art for the merch.” He looked down at the phone again. “Well, crap.”

“What?” Jazz asked through a mouthful of Wagyu.

“We’re up to three hundred thousand Twitter followers,” Nick said, “and there’s a new hashtag trending worldwide.” He squinted at the phone. “Hashtag #PyroStormMillion. Hold on, the mentions are through the—holy shit, we’ve been verified? Goddammit, Jack! There are freaking Nazis on your platform, and you’re busy verifying Extraordinaries? Okay, you know what? That’s pretty cool. I’ve never been verified for anything, and this might be the validation we—No. No. I will not let this go to my head.” He looked up at the others. “Right? I shouldn’t let this go to my head?”

“Right,” Gibby said slowly.

“Right,” Nick said. “I’ll … okay, I really was going to delete this, but we’ve now been retweeted by two former presidents, one of whom quote-tweeted me and said, Who is this fire guy and how can I meet him? Twitter, work your magic!”

“Which president?” Jazz asked.

“The bad one,” Nick said with a frown. “I feel gross.”

“Don’t delete it,” Seth said as he pulled away. “Not yet. Too many things are up in the air. I don’t want any of us making decisions right now. We’ll figure it out. I don’t need this turning into—Nick, did you just respond to the president?”

“Damn right, I did,” Nick growled. “I told him you’d never meet with him, since he’s a war criminal. Oh no. What if the Secret Service is going to come to my house now? Dad will make me mop the floors, and I hate mopping.”

Gibby snapped in his face. “Focus, Nicky.”

“Right,” Nick said, shaking his head. “The Secret Service won’t care if our floors are dirty. What was I thinking?”

“That’s not what I—you know what? Let’s go with that.”

“We need to talk about other things,” Jazz said. “Take our minds off all of this. Agreed?”

“Agreed,” they all said as Nick slid Gibby’s phone back to her.

“Good,” Jazz said. “Prom. We all have our outfits, and I’ve made reservations at Austers for dinner.”

“Austers?” Nick asked. “Isn’t that the place that charges twenty bucks for a glass of water and is impossible to get a reservation for?”

“It is,” Jazz said. “Daddy knows the owners, so they bumped a diplomat and gave us their table. It might create an international incident, but Daddy said Ireland will get over it.”

“Great,” Gibby said. “Because all we need is Ireland getting mad at us now too.”

Jazz ignored her, focusing on Nick. “You’ll be at my house by noon on Saturday. You need to learn how to dance, and I’m going to teach you. Topics that will not be discussed: Extraordinaries, fire, telekinesis, smoke, ice, Simon Burke, or parents who kept lifelong secrets that are now out in the open. Are we clear?”

“Crystal,” Nick said. “Also, why do I have to go and not Seth?”

“Because I already know how to dance,” Seth said.

That was news to Nick. “Like, what kind of dancing?” He grinned as he waggled his eyebrows.

Seth rolled his eyes. “I’m not stripping for you.” He paused, considering. “Well, not yet.”

Nick’s eyes bulged as his brain misfired. “Must … witness … this … now.”

And to his amazement, Seth stood from the table and held out his hand for Nick, who hesitated only for a moment before taking what was offered. Seth pulled him up. They stood chest to chest. Nick allowed Seth to position his hands, one going to Seth’s waist, the other on his shoulder. “Jazz, if you please.”

“On it,” Jazz said, and a moment later, Elvis Presley began to croon about wise men saying that only fools rush in.

But Nick barely heard the King as Seth began to sway them both slowly. It was awkward, but that was to be expected. He stepped on Seth’s feet, blushing furiously as he apologized. Seth smiled at him and said, “It’s okay, Nicky. Move with me.”

And though Nick knew people were watching them, he only had eyes for Seth. Nick was stiff, unsure, but the longer it went on, the more he relaxed. He laughed when Seth sent him out for a spin, their hands twisting but never letting go. Seth pulled him back with a snap, their faces inches apart. Everything melted away around them, and for a moment, Nick could imagine they were two normal boys, dancing, dancing, dancing.

Three words.

Three little words on the tip of his tongue.

The song ended. Nick startled when exactly four people clapped, the rest of them staring with varying degrees of feigned interest.

“That was so great,” one of the people clapping said as Nick took a step back from Seth. “Queer people are valid members of our society and should be allowed to dance in a cafeteria, just like everyone else.”

Touched, Nick said, “Thank you. That’s very—”

“You’re so welcome. And if you’re feeling generous about my allyship, I’d be happy to listen to you if you want to tell me who Pyro Storm is. Hurray for gays!”

“Gays! Gays! Gays!” someone else shouted. “Now help us get paid!”

“That didn’t even rhyme,” Nick snarled as Seth tried to hold him back. “You dumb shits, how dare you interrupt a beautiful moment between two people who are privately dancing in public! I’ll make you pay! I’ll make you all pay!”

And as I’m sure you can agree,” the principal said to Dad, “we can’t have Nick making threats like that. It isn’t a good look.”

Nick glared at him but wisely kept his mouth shut.

Dad, on the other hand, was having no part in it. “I see. And yet he’s told me he’s been accosted by not only other students but members of the faculty as well.”

The principal winced. “I don’t know if I would characterize it as accosted—”

Dad leaned forward. “How would you characterize it, then, when teachers are soliciting private information from my son for their own financial gain?”

“I—”

“It’s funny how you think I was finished,” Dad said coldly, and Nick felt a surge of affection for him. Their current situation be damned, Nick would never doubt for a moment his father would go to bat for him when it really mattered. “I don’t know what kind of school you’re running here, but when my child’s learning is disrupted by both students and faculty, then you can bet I’m going to have a big problem with it. So unless the next words out of your mouth are a detailed plan to ensure this doesn’t happen again, I don’t want to hear it.”

The principal held up his hands as if to placate Dad. “I hear you, Mr. Bell. Nicholas, I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure you don’t see any further interruptions on school grounds.”

“You do that,” Nick snapped. “All I want to do is learn and be successful and go on to become a baker-slash-private-investigator who bakes scones and fights—”

Dad coughed pointedly.

“Right,” Nick said. “No fighting. Just scones. All those delicious scones.”

Dad laughed but did an admirable job at covering it up. “I expect you’ll let your staff know that any discussion with Nick that doesn’t pertain to school or homework will not be tolerated. Good day. Nick, let’s go.”

“But—”

“He said good day,” Nick snapped over his shoulder as he followed his dad from the office. The last he saw of the principal was the man sitting stunned behind his desk, face pale, eyes wide.

Nick’s plan to go upstairs as soon as he got home was thwarted by an unexpected guest waiting for them on the porch of their house.

“What’s he doing here?” Nick said, glaring at the figure waving at them. “Traitor. You, too, since this is obviously an ambush.”

Dad turned off the car and looked at his son. “He probably wants to make sure you’re all right. I didn’t explain much when I left the precinct, just that the school called about you. I didn’t know he was going to be waiting for us.”

“That’s what phones are for. Speaking of, we need to get me a new one.”

“Next weekend,” Dad promised. “And notice how I didn’t ask what really happened to your phone.”

“I told you it was stolen on the train by a man who—”

“—who looked like a serial killer disguised as Santa Claus, I know. It was very descriptive. I expected no less.”

“Good,” Nick said. “Now that that’s out of the way, you should tell Cap to leave. I don’t want to talk to him.”

“Get out of the car,” Dad said.

Nick did, though he complained loudly. He slammed the door behind him, stalking up the walkway to their house. Cap’s mustache twitched as Nick got closer.

“Hey, Nicky,” Cap said. “All good?”

“Sure,” Nick said brightly. “Everything is fine! You know how it is. Prom’s coming up, my boyfriend is amazing, I have to start thinking about college soon, and what else? What … else? Oh! That’s right! Your new boss, Simon Burke, put a bounty on Pyro Storm’s head, and now everyone is after me because of it. How are you?”

“Oh boy,” Cap said.

“Nicky, no,” Dad said.

“Nicky, yes,” Nick said savagely, fumbling with his keys. He managed to fit the key into the lock before throwing the door open, causing it to bounce off the wall. He dropped his backpack on the floor near the door before heading toward the kitchen.

“Come on in, Cap,” he heard Dad say from the front entrance.

“I don’t know if I should,” Cap said. “He’s scary when he wants to be.”

“Damn right I am!” Nick bellowed as he slapped together a cheese-and-ketchup sandwich, pretending it was the blood of his enemies. He had quite a few now for a sixteen-year-old. While not ideal, it certainly added to the mystique of him being a brooding hero with a dangerous sneer that disguised his bruised heart of gold.

“Get in there,” Dad said.

When Nick turned around, sandwich in hand, Dad and Cap were standing in the entryway, watching him.

Nick bit into his sandwich without looking away from Cap, chewing obnoxiously. Cap took off his service hat, holding it in front of him. “Nick.”

“Cap,” he said through a mouthful of ketchup cheese. “How are you? Betrayed anyone else lately?”

“Can’t say that I have,” Cap said easily as he sat at the table, service hat sitting in front of him. “Mary isn’t fond of me betraying anyone, much less her favorite kid. She says hi, by the way. Wants you both over for dinner soon. We’ll order takeout, I promise.”

“You can tell her I said hi back, but also make sure she knows I’m not very happy with you.”

Cap snorted. “I’ll do that, Nicky.” He sobered, glancing at Dad before looking back at Nick. “Sit down, the both of you. It’s time we had a conversation.”

Nick thought about telling him to piss off, but Dad jerked his head toward the table and Nick did as he was told. He made sure the chair scraped along the floor loudly to show he wasn’t happy. He sat down, crossing his arms as Dad pulled out the chair next to his.

Once they were both seated, Cap sat back in his chair, stroking his mustache. “Your dad said you saw that press conference. Thought I might come over and explain so you didn’t get the wrong idea. Seems like I’m a bit too late.”

“Way too late,” Nick agreed. “Why the hell were you standing with Burke?”

“Nick,” Dad warned. “Watch the tone.”

Nick rolled his eyes. “It’s not as if Cap was with someone whose son tried to kill me and my friends, who you went to in order to make sure I—”

“—got on the proper medication for your ADHD,” Dad said quickly. It was only then that Nick remembered that Cap wasn’t in the know about him—or, it seemed, Pyro Storm. Nick’s view of his father raised a notch or two.

Cap blinked. “Burke? He’s not a doctor. What does he have to do with Nick’s meds?”

“Burke Pharmaceuticals makes all sorts of things, don’t they, father of mine?” Nick asked innocently. “But yes, it was just for my ADHD meds. Whatever else could he have gone to Burke for?”

Cap looked between them, brow furrowed. He had questions, but Nick saw the moment he let it go. “Right. For your ADHD meds. How’s that going?”

“Great!” Nick said, ketchup on his chin. “I still have it, so.”

Cap stared at Nick for a long moment. He finally nodded and said, “I’m not working with him.”

“Oh, really? Because that press conference suggested otherwise.”

“Nick,” Dad said. “Let him talk. You need to hear this. I did, too, and it answered some of the questions I had.”

“Good for you,” Nick said. He winced as guilt burned in his chest. “Sorry. I’m being a dick.”

“A little,” Cap said, “but I get it. Can I trust you to keep this to yourself? And I mean that, Nick. No one outside of this room can know what I’m about to tell you.”

It was as if Cap knew exactly how to play this. Nick was a sucker for cloak-and-dagger shit, but he needed to play it cool. Make it look like he wasn’t interested, even though he was practically bouncing. “Sure. Whatevs, man. Ain’t no thang.” There. Better.

Cap’s mustache twitched as if he were fighting a smile. “I’m investigating Burke.”

Nick choked on the last bit of sandwich, coughing roughly. Dad started to rise, looking alarmed, but Nick waved him off. He managed not to die, swallowing until the piece sank like lead in his stomach. “For what?” he croaked out.

“Many things,” Cap said seriously. “It’s complicated, but I’ll try to keep it simple. In a few weeks, Burke is going to announce his plans to run for mayor. If that happens, he’ll own the police outright, and there are members of the force who feel threatened by the emergence of Extraordinaries, so they’re looking forward to seeing someone in charge who has a plan to document and track them.” He looked exhausted and far older than his sixty-plus years suggested. “There’s a wave of anti-Extraordinary propaganda rising through the force. I’ve done my best to stymie it, but it’s getting bigger than even I can control. It’s not helping that certain individuals think the police are being unfairly targeted and attacked for simply trying to do their jobs, which is crap. Our job isn’t to pick and choose who to protect—or, at least, that’s the way it should be. I’m not so sure about that anymore. I don’t know what that means, or what role I’ve played to allow it to happen. I thought—” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “I thought my officers would see right through the noise to what’s really going on. I was wrong. Very, very wrong, and I have to reconcile that with the reality of the situation. There’s … excitement from some at the idea of Burke taking control.”

Nick stared stupidly at him, trying to understand. “What? Why?”

“Because they feel that he’s the only one who can bring the NCPD back in control of Nova City,” Cap said bitterly. He glanced at Dad, who remained stoic. “I was … well … not threatened, but it was made abundantly clear that if I didn’t fall in line, I might not be in my position for much longer.”

“They want to fire you?” Nick demanded. “How is that not a threat?”

Cap shrugged. “Or force me to resign. And it’s not just about me either. There’s … talk about shutting down the Extraordinaries Division. Or overhauling it to make it something else entirely.”

Stunned, Nick choked out, “Like what?” He looked at his father. “You didn’t tell me about this.”

“I didn’t want you to worry,” Dad said. “And for now, it’s all talk.” He spread his hands out on the table, fingers flexed. “But talk can turn to action. I don’t know what they have planned, but I doubt it’s anything good.”

Nick slumped in his chair, mind racing as he put his chin in his hands. “What the hell.”

“I know,” Cap said, reaching over and squeezing his elbow. “It’s a lot, Nicky. And though I want to tell you not to worry because your dad and I can take care of ourselves, I know that’s not fair to you. The reason I’m telling you about any of this is because I don’t want there to be any secrets between us, especially since Burke isn’t playing around. This Save Our Children initiative is horseshit. He’s trying to make a comprehensive list of Extraordinaries in Nova City, and I don’t know for what, but I plan on finding out while I still can. I had no idea about the bounty he was going to put on Pyro Storm.” Cap looked at Dad again and then took a deep breath. “You can tell Seth that while I may not understand how he can do what he does, I’m going to do my best to watch out for him.”

The air was sucked out of the kitchen. Nick’s skin thrummed painfully as he stood, chair scraping along the floor. Panicking, he glanced at Dad, who looked as shocked as Nick felt. He tried to breathe through it, tried to maintain control, but it was a losing battle. His breath whistled in his throat as he bent over, wrapping his arms around his waist.

“Shit,” Cap muttered. “I didn’t mean to spring it on you like that.” But then Dad was there, cupping Nick’s face, telling him to breathe, just breathe, kid. You got this. In. Hold, one, two, three. Out. Hold, one, two, three. Again. Again. Again.

By the time Nick came back to himself, he felt cold and clammy, sweat trickling down the back of his neck. Dad asked if he was all right, and Nick nodded. Dad whirled around, his hands in fists at his sides, shielding Nick behind him. It was ridiculous, of course. This was Cap, of all people. Cap wouldn’t—he couldn’t—

“We have no idea what you’re talking about,” Dad said flatly.

Cap sighed. “Yes. You do. I haven’t told anyone, not even Mary. And I won’t. You have my word on that. Stand down, Aaron. We’re just having a conversation. No need to get all riled up.”

“No need?” Nick blurted, standing on his tiptoes to look at Cap over Dad’s shoulder. “You can’t come here and say something like that and not expect a reaction. It’s like you don’t even know me!”

“But I do,” Cap said. “I know you both very well. And if we’re laying all our cards on the table, I’ll admit that for a time, I thought Nick was Pyro Storm.” He held up his hand as both Nick and Dad started to sputter. “It made sense, at least at first. Nick kept showing up wherever Pyro Storm had been. He knew more than he should have for someone claiming not to be involved. And don’t even get me started on the whole Shadow Star fiasco. I thought Nick’s—uh, obsession was an act to throw people off the trail.”

“Yeah,” Nick muttered. “That would have made me so much cooler, but alas, I sucked instead. Not one of my better moves. And I wasn’t obsessed. I was merely guided by hormones that ended up betraying me spectacularly.”

“You’re not the first person to have a crush on someone awful,” Cap said seriously. “There was this girl who I’d have done anything for when I was younger, even after I found out she was a part of a gang that robbed retirement communities and zoos.”

Nick and Dad gaped at him.

Cap shrugged. “We all do stupid things when we’re young. Hell, we do stupid things no matter how old we get.” He shot a pointed look at Dad. “It’s part of being human. Thankfully, like Nick, I realized that a life of crime wasn’t exactly something I was looking for. Then I met Mary, and she put me on the straight and narrow, and here we are.”

“You might have skipped over a detail or two,” Nick said faintly as Dad began to relax.

“Just a few,” Cap said. “But my point remains. I thought Nick was Pyro Storm. I didn’t think he was evil, no matter how the news and Shadow Star tried to spin it. Then the bridge happened, and Pyro Storm and Nick were standing side by side, and I knew I’d been wrong.” He grinned at Nick. “That kiss kind of put all of that to rest.”

“But that doesn’t explain how you got to Seth,” Dad pointed out, slumping back into his chair. Nick stood behind him, hands resting on Dad’s shoulders.

Cap rolled his eyes. “It wasn’t that hard. The fact that no one else has picked up on it is ridiculous. No offense, but it’s pretty obvious.”

“It is?” Nick asked.

“It is,” Cap agreed. “Nick, you’re not exactly … subtle. And I don’t mean that in a bad way; it’s part of your charm. While you were kissing Pyro Storm, you were apparently also kissing Seth, and I sat down and had a hard think. The Nick I knew wouldn’t do something as mean as two-timing the boy he’s been in love with for years—”

“Years?” Nick gasped. “I haven’t even said … okay. We’ll come back to that part because what? You’re telling me that you thought I’m such a good person that the only way for this to make any sense was for Pyro Storm and Seth to be the same person?”

Cap nodded.

“Well,” Nick said, “that settles it. I’m pretty much the greatest queer ever to exist. Thank you, Cap.”

“Uh, yeah,” Cap said, eyes darting from side to side. “That’s exactly what I meant.” He shook his head. “From there, I looked back on all that had happened. Wherever Pyro Storm went, Nick was sure to follow. He wasn’t always there, but more often than not, the road from Pyro Storm always led back to our Nick here. I told myself that you’d all tell me when you were ready, especially after I figured out that Aaron was in on it. Which was why I had no problem helping him create the Extraordinaries Division. If it meant keeping you and Pyro Storm safe, then I didn’t see who it could harm. I may not understand what people like Seth can do, but I like to think I know Seth, at least a little bit. Nothing about him screams ‘criminal.’ I doubt that boy has ever done anything illegal in his life.”

“Well,” Nick said. “That’s probably not true.”

Cap stared at him as Dad groaned.

“Uh,” Nick said. “Ignore that part. Go back to talking about how amazing you think I am and stuff.”

“Right,” Cap said slowly. “Then Burke reared his head again with all this Save Our Children bullshit, and I remembered how Aaron had gotten an anonymous tip about what was going on in the basement of Burke Tower. We found nothing, of course, but that didn’t mean something hadn’t been there. Burke thinks he’s smart, and he is. But he also tends to underestimate those he sees as being beneath him. Do you think Owen told him about Seth? A last little screw you as he was sent off to whatever hospital he’s in?”

Nick said, “Owen hates his dad even more than we do. He turned Owen into a bulldog, just to protect himself and his work.”

“Be that as it may,” Cap said, “the thing about dogs is that they love with their whole hearts, even when they’re abused. Doesn’t mean they won’t bite back when pushed, but there is loyalty in fear. All it would take is Owen opening his mouth, and Burke would know who to target. And that’s what I think this is all about. What Burke’s doing. His plan.”

Nick blinked. “What are you talking about?”

Cap shrugged. “Revenge, pure and simple. You took from him, Nick. You and Pyro Storm. Whatever he was doing, you both got in his way. And what’s worse, you exposed his son for what he truly was. Burke may be powerful, and he may be out of his damn mind, but I think he loves his son, regardless of what he did to him. You took that away from him. Even before the bounty, he was trying to flush Pyro Storm out. I bet what may be my last paycheck that he hoped someone would call his hotline with information on Pyro Storm, or at least point him in the right direction. And if he could gather intel on other potential Extraordinaries in the meantime, then he’d be all the better for it. But I don’t think he got what he wanted from it, which is why he announced the bounty on Pyro Storm.”

“But—but that’s so stupid.”

“What?” Cap asked, startled. Even Dad tilted his head back to look at Nick, brow furrowed.

Nick began to pace. “It can’t be that simple. We exposed Owen, but Burke came out of that whole debacle relatively unscathed. Yeah, people wondered how he couldn’t have seen what Owen was, but Burke spun the story right. He painted himself as a victim of his troubled son’s out-of-control powers, and everyone believed him. If he was that pissed off, why run the risk of letting people see who he really is? Especially with Smoke and Ice standing at his side.”

“Money talks, kid,” Dad said. “It’s not fair, but there it is. So long as he can throw money at whatever problem he has, people tend to not ask questions.”

“Except for us,” Cap said. “Because I have many, many questions for Burke, but I don’t have enough information yet to ask the right ones.”

“You sure about this, Cap?” Dad asked. “You don’t want to be in Burke’s crosshairs. If he even gets a hint that you’re working against him …”

“I’m already in his crosshairs,” Cap said. “And it wouldn’t be the first time someone in power was coming after me. I became a cop because I thought I could make a difference in the way justice was served, help reform how police operate. And while I like to think I’ve helped make a difference, it’s spinning out of my control. There are too many cops who think they are the be-all and end-all when it comes to the law. Give a man a gun and a badge, and he believes he’s the most powerful person in the world. That’s not the way it should be, but unfortunately, that’s the way it is.” He looked at his hands.

“Then what are we supposed to do?” Nick asked helplessly.

“What we can,” Cap said. “Burke may be powerful, and he may have more money than most folks will see in a hundred lifetimes, but that doesn’t mean he gets to do whatever he wants. We have to draw the line somewhere.”

Nick closed his eyes as he stopped behind Dad’s chair. “Except it’s not just about revenge. At least—not against Pyro Storm for what he did to stop Owen.”

“Nick?” Dad asked.

Nick opened his eyes and smiled weakly down at Dad. “We have to tell him. He has to know if he’s going up against Burke.”

Dad paled. “No. Nick, no.”

“It’s not only about Owen,” Nick whispered. “It’s about us. You. Me.” He looked away. “He … I think he loved her. More than you know. And I think he allowed his feelings to fester until they were rotten. He acted like it didn’t matter, acted like it didn’t hurt him, but what if it did? She was her own person and she made her own decisions, but what if he felt like you took her away from him?”

“Aaron?” Cap asked. “What’s he talking about?”

Dad ignored him, eyes on Nick. “If we do this, we can’t ever take it back.”

“I know,” Nick said. “But this is Cap. Him coming here and telling us what he did puts a target on his back, and he needs to know everything. We have to stand together because we’re struggling apart.”

Dad hung his head, hands curling into fists on the table. “I’m scared.”

“I am too,” Nick said gently.

“I just want you to be safe,” Dad said in a choked voice. “I want you to be happy and free and not worry about any of this.”

“I know. And you did what you thought was right,” Nick said. “Whether or not it was is something else entirely, but I don’t blame you for that. I’m mad because you tried to take away part of me that you had no right to. I’m mad because you lied to me. But I can never be mad that you tried to protect me. No one knows what it was like for us when Before became After. We’re a team, and no one can stop us.”

Dad wiped his eyes. “Team, huh?”

“Damn right we are. And if Burke thinks he can use that against us, then he’s making his biggest mistake yet.”

Dad stood, holding his arms open. “C’mere, kid.”

Nick went. Of course he did. Dad hugged him tightly, Nick’s face buried in his chest.

After a time, Dad pulled away, studying Nick’s face. “If you’re sure.”

Nick nodded. “If it helps Cap figure out what Burke is up to while there’s still time, then it helps us. And it’s better he hears it from us. You know I’m right. It was never just about Owen, or even Seth. It was about Mom and you and him.” He took a deep breath. “And me.”

Dad hesitated before nodding slowly. He turned back toward Cap, but he wasn’t going to do this alone. Nick was with him until the end. That’s what Bell men did.

Cap arched an eyebrow at the pair of them. “Why do I have a feeling I’m not going to like what you’re about to say?”

Nick laughed hysterically. “Cap, you have no idea. So—you were right, I’m not Pyro Storm, but I am an Extraordinary. Telekinetic, though my powers don’t always work when I want them to unless I’m jumping off the roof of a building.”

Dad stiffened and turned his head slowly to Nick. “You did what?”

Nick shrugged. “Oh, yeah. Sorry. But don’t worry. I floated. Hooray!”

Dad’s eyes bulged.

Cap sat forward, hands folded in front of him, his knuckles bloodless. “Perhaps you should start at the beginning.”

And so they did.

By the time they finished, the sky outside had begun to darken. Nick had let his dad do most of the talking, only jumping in to provide color commentary that he knew was appreciated, even if Cap and Dad didn’t say as much. In fact, Cap barely spoke at all, allowing the Bells to tell their story. When Nick got to the part about falling off the bridge, the metal struts floating above him, Cap made a wounded noise as if gut-punched, low and breathy. He closed his eyes as Nick filled him in on being pseudo-kidnapped by Burke. And though he was itching to tell them everything, Nick didn’t say a word about Miss Conduct or TK. If he could keep them away from this mess, all the better. They didn’t deserve to have this crap piled on top of them, especially since they wouldn’t have been involved, had it not been for Nick. If he could keep them safe, then it was a small price to pay.

Thankfully, Cap looked too dazed to even question it. Nick almost felt bad, but then he remembered Cap had tried to enact a plan without telling them, leading them to believe he’d switched sides and joined Burke.

Nick and Dad fell silent, waiting for Cap’s reaction, both fidgeting in their seats.

Cap closed his eyes, hands resting on his stomach as he leaned back in the chair. Nick opened his mouth, but Dad shook his head in warning. Nick sighed instead, picking at the edge of the table.

Finally, Cap opened his eyes, though they looked distant. He surprised the hell out of Nick when he said, “Thank you for telling me. I—” He laughed quietly, glancing at Dad. “You’ve got your work cut out for you.”

Dad sighed. “You have no idea.”

Cap sat forward in his chair, thumping his knuckles on the table. “All right. Now that that’s out of the way, what’s the most pressing issue we need to focus on first?”

Nick blinked. “That’s it? That’s all you have to say?”

Cap smiled at him. “Oh, I’m sure I’ll have a million questions as soon as I can think straight, but that can wait. I know you, Nick, and this is—well, if anyone can do it, it’d be you. That being said, it seems to me we’ve got bigger things to worry about at the moment. Where do we begin?”

Good question. Simon Burke was after them. He had Smoke and Ice. Nick had powers that he couldn’t properly use, and he had no idea what he was going to call himself if he figured out how to use them. Owen Burke was hidden away in some psychiatric hospital, probably seething and plotting revenge, not unlike his father. Nick’s mom was dead, and while she could have told him how to do what she could, nothing was going to change the fact that she was gone. TK didn’t want to help him and was hopefully in hiding, along with Miss Conduct. There was a bounty on Pyro Storm’s head, causing the city to go mad with greed. Rebecca Firestone was hell-bent on stoking the flames of discontent.

It was too big. All of it.

So Nick started with the one thing bothering him the most. “I don’t know how to dance, and prom is coming up. Jazz is supposed to help me, but I think I’m beyond saving because Seth made me dance with him in the cafeteria and I stepped all over him. I don’t want to look like a dick when we’re at prom. I mean, I’m wearing a dead magician’s suit because of lead face paint. Wait, that sentence was confusing. I didn’t have lead face paint. He did, which killed him and now his suit is mine, but I still don’t know how to dance, and I can’t embarrass Seth by moving like a three-legged hippo in front of everyone again.”

Dad sighed. Cap stared.

Nick shrugged. “What? I’m sixteen; I have a lot going on. Just because we’re all probably going to end up fighting for our lives in some epic showdown at the end of all this Burke stuff doesn’t mean I can’t also worry about wanting to impress my hot boyfriend. My god, have you seen him in an ascot? The things I want to do to him should probably not be described here, since I’m a virgin and will stay that way for a long, long time.”

Dad looked toward the ceiling. “I don’t even know what to do with any of that.”

“I do,” Cap said. He stood, unbuttoning his uniform, then pulling off his coat and hanging it on the back of the chair. He nodded toward the battered radio sitting on the counter next to the small television. Without waiting for an answer, he went to it, switching it on and fiddling with the dial until he found a station playing old music, the voice sweet, the horns wailing in the background. Cap turned and held his hand out for Nick.

Nick stared at it. “What are you doing?”

Cap rolled his eyes. “Showing you how to dance. Trust me when I say I’ve got a move or two. Mary says I’ve got hips that won’t quit, and while I—would you stop gagging? Seriously, Nick. Focus. While I may not be the best, I still know what I’m doing. I can show your skinny white ass what to do.”

“Yes,” Nick breathed. “Yes to all of this, oh my god, yes.” He jumped up from the table, rounding Dad’s chair and taking Cap’s hand in his. Nick looked over at Dad, who watched them with a quiet smile.

Things would be all right, Nick thought. One way or another, they’d be okay.