by TJ Klune
“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.”
