Flash Fire

by TJ Klune

  Ice screamed as electricity coursed through him, snapping furiously, causing the spikes above him to shatter into powder and rain down around them. Miss Conduct lifted him off the ground, Ice’s legs kicking uselessly. “Get out of my face,” Miss Conduct hissed before throwing him as hard as she could. Nick managed to duck in time as Ice flew over him, smashing against the rusted door in the alcove.

  Pyro Storm surged forward, leaving a trail of fire in his wake as Smoke re-formed, turning to look for Ice. Smoke grunted when Pyro Storm collided with her back, knocking her off her feet. Nick crouched low, and just when Smoke was about to hit him, he pushed himself up as hard as he could. Nick’s shoulder hit Smoke in the chest, and he pushed Smoke up and over him. Smoke hit the ground hard behind Nick, rolling until she stopped at Ice’s feet. He helped her up as Miss Conduct and Pyro Storm appeared on either side of Nick.

  “Better than we thought,” Ice said, voice cold.

  “Underestimated,” Smoke panted as she stood. “We will not make that mistake again. Finish this.” She took Ice’s hand in hers, raising them both toward the others. And though Nick couldn’t see their mouths, he thought they were both smiling.

  Black clouds mixed with particles of ice as the alley rumbled around them. The door rattled and the lightbulb burst, sparks raining down as darkness fell. Nick took a step back as Ice and Smoke rushed toward them, hands still joined, the black cloud mixing with the ice and forming a gigantic wall in front of them, scraping along the ground, streams of black trailing behind it. He raised his hands in front of his face and screamed. A sharp pain lanced through his head, a pressure, as he waited for impact.

  It never came. He cracked open an eye, wondering if he was already dead. He wasn’t.

  Smoke and Ice were frozen mid-step, eyes darting wildly from side to side, still holding hands behind the wall of ice and smoke.

  “What the hell?” Pyro Storm whispered. He looked around and raised his voice. “Who’s doing that? Show yourself!”

  “Uh,” Nick said, grimacing. “I think it’s … me?”

  Pyro Storm jerked his head toward him. “What?”

  “Maybe,” Nick said, looking down at his hands. He raised them again, pointing them toward Ice and Smoke. He flexed his fingers, and the wall cracked furiously before shattering, ice turning to powder as the smoke blew away. “Holy shit, it is me! Suck it, you dicks! I’m an Extraordinary, and I’m going to kick you in the freaking balls.”

  The pressure in his head released, the pain falling away. Ice and Smoke stumbled forward, both gasping.

  “Oh crap,” Nick said, eyes growing wide. “No, come back! Turn on again! Powers, if you don’t activate, I’m going to—urk!”

  His arm was almost torn from his socket as Pyro Storm pulled him at a run, heading for the mouth of the alley. “Miss Conduct, go!” he cried over his shoulder.

  “I’m not leaving you to—”

  “We’ll draw them out into the street, but you’ll be seen! Get out of here!”

  Nick looked back in time to see Miss Conduct turn completely into electricity, her body morphing into arcs of blue. One moment she stood in the alley, and the next, she flashed like lightning, rising off the ground and hitting the cord that held the broken light bulb. Her body shrank as she hit the filament of the bulb, and then she disappeared, the cord shaking as if …

  As if she’d turned her entire body into a current and was riding the power line.

  “I love drag queens,” Nick managed to say as they ran toward the street. Ice and Smoke chased after them, Ice jumping to the side of the building and running along it, Smoke turning into just that, a gigantic cloud that roiled toward them.

  “Move!” Pyro Storm shouted, and Nick turned his head to see a crowd of people gathering near the mouth of the alley. “Get out of the way!”

  People screamed and jumped as Pyro Storm raised his hand in front of him, fire bursting from his palm and forming a rail of sorts that snapped and crackled along the street. “Hang on!” Pyro Storm bellowed at Nick.

  “To what?” Nick screamed back.

  “To me,” Pyro Storm snarled, and then jumped even as he hurled Nick forward. He didn’t let Nick’s hand go, and the momentum caused Nick to fly in front of Pyro Storm, his shoulder protesting angrily as Nick snapped back against Pyro Storm’s front, an arm wrapped around his waist, holding him tightly. Pyro Storm landed on top of the fire covering the ground, and like Ice had done, began to skate along it. Wind whipped around them as they flew by the crowd of people, their faces pale, eyes wide, many of them shouting in warning, even as they held up their phones to record.

  “How are you doing this?” Nick demanded.

  “Practice,” Pyro Storm said, and Nick did not swoon.

  He looked back over Pyro Storm’s shoulder to see Ice and Smoke chasing after them, ignoring the people on the street. Horns honked as Pyro Storm deftly weaved between stopped cars, riding the rail of fire. Faces pressed against windows as they flew by, quick flashes of wide eyes and open mouths.

  They had half a block’s distance on Smoke and Ice when a taxicab’s door flew open right in front of them. “Oh shit,” Pyro Storm had time to breathe, but it was already too late. Pyro Storm spun around in an apparent attempt to lessen the impact, but it did little as they crashed into the door. The breath was knocked from Nick’s chest as Pyro Storm grunted painfully, the door snapping off in a metallic shriek, the cab spinning and colliding with another car. The cab driver managed to pull his legs back in at the last second, and his sneakers were the last thing Nick saw before he was flying.

  He hit the ground hard, rolling until he crashed into a parked delivery truck. He blinked slowly, his body coming back online and cataloguing the scrapes on his knees and arms. Nothing seemed broken or dislocated, and he groaned as he lifted his head in a daze.

  Pyro Storm was a few feet away, already climbing to his feet. He looked toward Nick, shouting something that Nick couldn’t hear above the thick buzzing in his ears. Waving him off, Nick pushed himself up, grimacing at the bits of road embedded in his skin. His hood managed to stay up on his head, but his jeans were torn, and his Chucks were scuffed beyond recognition. All in all, Nick wasn’t having the best Holy Crap, I’m An Extraordinary! day.

  Fire burst near him, and he looked up in time to see Ice descending on Pyro Storm, glittering spikes hitting a wall of flame, causing them to melt instantly. Pyro Storm pushed the fire toward Ice, who backflipped off the top of a car, the fire slicing the air underneath him. He landed on the ground, eyes narrowed as people screamed around them but made no move to leave, their phones up and recording.

  God, people could be so damn stupid. Why weren’t they running? Nick rushed toward the closest crowd, waving his hands above his head, shouting at them to get back. He was almost to the sidewalk when a black cloud bloomed in front of him, and Smoke stepped out of its center. Nick skidded to a stop.

  “You,” Smoke said. “I don’t like you.”

  “Feeling’s mutual,” Nick snapped, sounding braver than he felt. He froze when Smoke brought her right arm up against her chest before snapping it back down to her side. A thin column of black coiled from her hand, almost like a whip, the end curling on the ground at her feet.

  “Well, shit,” Nick said weakly.

  “Indeed,” Smoke said, and then she snapped the whip directly at Nick’s head.

  He yelped and ducked, hearing the whip carving the air, missing the top of his head by inches. Nick panted as he stood upright. “Is that all you’ve got? Who do you think you’re messing with? Goddamn amateurs. You don’t come into our city and—”

  Smoke swung the whip above her head before lashing out again. This time, Nick wasn’t quick enough. The whip struck him in the chest, knocking him back against a parked car. The whip slithered around him before he could recover, pinning his arms at his sides. He struggled to break free, but it was too strong. It was like shadows. Like Owen. Like Nick was on a bridge, his father screaming
from below in terror, Shadow Star cackling as he lifted large sections of Nick’s fanfiction wholesale.

  Nick bellowed as the smoke band tightened around his chest, his ribs creaking. He was barely able to turn his head toward Pyro Storm, only to see Ice standing with a terrified man in his grasp, Pyro Storm’s cape billowing as he pulled himself to his full height.

  And Nick knew, then, what this would mean. He found himself in a position Seth Gray had nightmares about. A choice. Pyro Storm had to make a choice about who to save.

  “Please,” the man pleaded, struggling against Ice’s grip around him. “Help me.”

  Pyro Storm looked back at Nick, Smoke’s cloud making it hard for Nick to breathe.

  “No,” Nick gasped. “Save him. Save him, you hear me? Don’t worry about—” He gagged as the pressure in his chest increased tenfold.

  Pyro Storm made his decision. He came for Nick, leaving the man trapped in Ice’s hold.

  Smoke didn’t see him coming. In a burst of fire, Pyro Storm charged, shoulder dropped low as he collided with Smoke, knocking her down. Before she hit the ground, her body evaporated into a black cloud, and when the smoke cleared, she was gone.

  Nick stumbled forward, falling to his knees against the sidewalk.

  “Nicky. Nicky!” Pyro Storm was there, crouching next to Nick, helping him to his feet. “Are you all right?”

  But Nick never got the chance to answer. The man in Ice’s grasp tried to break free, elbowing Ice in the stomach. Ice repaid him in kind by backhanding him across the face. The man fell to the ground and landed on his arm, which broke with an audible snap. Ice raised his hand toward Pyro Storm and Nick. But instead of blasting them with ice, he wiggled his fingers in a sick approximation of a wave. Then he turned and ran, people scattering in fear as he reached the sidewalk and disappeared down an alley.

  Others rushed forward toward the injured man, helping him to his feet, his broken arm clutched against his chest.

  Sirens in the distance, though already far too late.

  Nick grabbed Pyro Storm’s hand. “We have to get out of here. We gotta go now.”

  Pyro Storm didn’t move.

  “Seth.”

  Pyro Storm turned his head. Nick couldn’t see his eyes, but his bottom lip was trembling. “We’ll figure it out,” Nick muttered. “Come on. We need to leave.”

  And so they went, leaving the destruction in the streets behind them.

  10

  By the time they reached the familiar neighborhood where the Gray brownstone stood, Nick was lagging, his body exhausted, and he’d never been more relieved to see a familiar place.

  Seth pulled him up the stairs, looking around to make sure they weren’t being watched. Nothing. He pushed the door open, shoving Nick through before shutting the door behind them as Nick collapsed to the floor.

  “Seth?” Nick heard Martha call. “That you? You’re home late. I was down in the secret lair earlier, but I didn’t pick anything up. What—oh no. Bob! Bob!”

  Nick rolled over on his back and blinked slowly up at the ceiling. A worried face appeared above him. “Hi,” he said dully. “Sorry about bleeding on your floors. I know you hate that.”

  “How bad is it?” Martha asked him in a no-nonsense voice. The nurse was here. “Anything broken?” She gingerly rubbed her hands along his arms and chest.

  He shook his head. “Don’t think so. Just scraped up.”

  Bob appeared in the foyer. “Why are you yelling? I was in the living—oh, hell. What happened?”

  “Bad guys,” Nick said. “Tried to kick our asses, but we gave them the ol’ what for.”

  Bob pushed by Martha as she asked Nick if he could breathe without pain. Bob helped pick Seth up off the floor and pulled his helmet off, Seth’s curls springing free and falling messily on his head.

  “Who did this?” Bob muttered, running his hands over Seth. “Was it an Extraordinary?”

  Seth pushed him off. “I’m fine.” He shook his head angrily. “I—” He turned around and punched the door. The wood cracked as the door rattled in its frame. “I couldn’t—”

  Guilt bled through Nick’s rib cage, vast and complicated. On one hand, he was happy to be alive. On the other, a man was out there somewhere, probably on his way to the hospital, his arm broken.

  “He saved me,” Nick said quietly. “He didn’t have to, but he did.”

  Seth whirled around, eyes ablaze. “Of course I saved you. But I shouldn’t have had to. What the hell were you thinking, Nick? I told you to run.”

  Nick flinched at the censure in Seth’s voice. Martha tried to keep him still, but he pushed her hands off, rising to his feet. He glared at Seth. “I wasn’t going to leave you.”

  “You should have,” Seth snapped at him. “I can’t always be there to save you. You should have stayed away, Nick. Why were you even there? That wasn’t for you to see. That was private, and now it’s—it’s—” He sagged, shoulders hunched near his ears. “Dammit. That wasn’t supposed to happen. This isn’t how it’s supposed to be.” He shrugged Bob off when he reached for his nephew. He stormed out of the foyer, heading for the basement door. Nick winced as it slammed against the wall, Seth stomping down the stairs.

  “What happened?” Bob asked as the sounds of Seth’s anger faded.

  Nick blinked rapidly against the sting in his eyes. “Nothing much,” he said in a cracked voice. “Attacked by two Extraordinaries made of ice and smoke. Oh, and Seth was meeting with a drag queen Extraordinary named Miss Conduct, and I have superpowers. My dad lied to me and gave me pills that messed with my head, my mom was the telekinetic Extraordinary called Guardian, and at one point, I thought she and my dad were in a polyamorous relationship with Simon Burke—which, now that I think about it, is really freaking awful. Poly people are valid, but Simon Burke sent Smoke and Ice after us.” He sighed. “It’s been a very trying Saturday.”

  Bob and Martha gaped at him.

  Nick shrugged awkwardly. “It is what it is. Can I stay here for a few days? I can’t go home. Not yet.”

  Martha recovered first. “Of course you can. You—you take all the time you need. And let’s get those cuts cleaned up so they don’t get infected.”

  “Great,” Nick said weakly. “Fantastic.”

  * * *

  The doorbell rang as Martha was finishing up with Nick. All in all, it looked worse than it was. He’d gotten away with minor scrapes and bruises, the worst of which were across his chest, where Smoke had held him in place. Already, the skin between his nipples was mottled blue and purple.

  While she worked, he told her everything that had happened. It felt almost like betrayal, telling Martha how Dad seemed to be working with or for Burke. The only reaction he got from Martha was the slight tightening around her eyes. She went to the sink, washing up as Nick struggled to put his shirt back on.

  “We have a lot to talk about,” she finally said, turning off the faucet. “You can’t avoid your father forever, Nick.”

  “I know,” he muttered. “But at least for a couple of days. I need time to think.”

  “He’s still your father,” Martha said. “If he wants you home, you have to go, okay?” She turned from the sink and crouched next to Nick, her knees popping. She put her hands on his thighs, squeezing gently. “You’re safe here, I promise. Whatever’s happening, whatever you’re becoming, you’re safe here.”

  Nick sniffled, hanging his head. “I could really use a hug right now.”

  She hugged him without hesitation, cupping the back of his head, pressing him against her chest. His shoulder shook, his eyes burned, and he hung on for dear life.

  Until the doorbell rang again.

  Martha pulled back, cocking her head. From below, Bob opened the door, and voices filled the Gray house. Nick sagged in relief when he recognized the voices. Gibby. Jazz.

  “Go into Seth’s room,” Martha said, standing up quickly. “Change out of these clothes. I’ll fix you all something to eat.”
>
  “Not hungry.”

  “I don’t care,” Martha said. “You will eat, and you will say thank you.”

  “Thank you,” he said.

  She bent over, kissing his forehead. “You’re welcome.”

  * * *

  When he opened Seth’s bedroom door again, now clad in fuzzy pajama pants and an old, oversized shirt, Gibby and Jazz were waiting for him in the hall. Gibby was gnawing on her hoodie string, her wallet chain dangling against her side. Jazz was wearing the same clothes she’d been in when she’d come over to Nick’s house earlier that afternoon. Nick couldn’t believe it’d only been a few hours since he’d been staring at the TV in the attic, watching his mother move things with her mind.

  “You all right?” he asked Jazz. “I shouldn’t have left you like I did.”

  “Stupid boys,” she said with a sniff. “Scaring the crap out of me, like you have any right to.” And then Nick found himself with an armful of Jazz, his face in her hair. She smelled of blooming flowers, and Nick calmed a bit more. He held an arm out for Gibby, who rolled her eyes for show but came willingly. She hugged them both, and they swayed back and forth.

  “So, Extraordinary, huh?” Gibby muttered against his throat, her lips on his skin. “Jazz told me.”

  “Seems like,” Nick whispered back. “Though I feel really stupid now about the whole cricket-in-the-microwave thing. And the meteor thing. And the breaking into a power plant. And jumping into the river.”

  “What about the Cosmo idea board? You should probably feel stupid about that too.”

  Nick reared back. “That was an amazing idea board, and don’t you dare talk shit about it. I worked really freaking hard on it, and look! It worked, sort of. Hurray.”

  Gibby snorted as Jazz wiped her eyes. “Jazz is right. Stupid boys.”

  “Seth?” Nick asked.

  Gibby and Jazz exchanged a glance. “Downstairs beating up the punching bag. We figured it was best to leave him for now.”

  “He—yeah, I guess he’s pissed.”

  Jazz took his hand, tugging him toward the stairs, Gibby trailing after them. “We’re gonna fix this. We’ll talk it through, and everything will be all right. You’ll see.”