by Simon Archer
“All done,” I said proudly putting my hands on my hips.
Triton was now seated at one of the tables lining the parking lot which were back on their feet with their chairs all strewn about. He smiled up at me like a proud dad and nodded. “It would seem your estimates were accurate. That was quite impressive, Mr. Gateon.”
Hesitantly, I found a chair and sat beside him. My mood shifted to one of nervousness. “Yes, I... I wanted to thank you,” I spoke up. “No one’s ever really given me a chance before.”
“Aside from Amazoness,” Triton reminded me. “She never quite stops talking about you.”
I nodded and smiled at that. “Gemma’s always been there for me. I know she looks out for me here as well. I wish I could do more for her, she’s already given too much.”
“You’re doing plenty by being an excellent student,” Triton said and smiled a secret little thing. “She’s quite proud of your progress. Your performance here on the beach was exemplary, all things considered.”
Being a mentor to Triton was the greatest honor I’d ever received in my entire life. Sure, being accepted into Valcav was a pretty high honor already, and the record break Andie and I had managed was something worth noting down as a point of pride.
But this was Triton.
As a teenager on my father’s island, I admired the man’s career and wondered how he’d managed to rise so effectively. Older than my father by nearly twenty years, Triton had been considered a mediocre hero during the height of the Inferno and Ice Bringer legacy. It wasn’t until after my father’s fall from grace that Triton developed his ability to control people through their blood and used it to keep Inferno’s army from taking Alexandria in the earliest days of his plan for world domination.
“Fulgurite outclassed me pretty badly,” I admitted. “Andie was worried, she thought I would get seriously hurt.”
“Correct though she might have been, it is a danger every hero faces. I admit it wasn’t due to lack of skill that I had you return to the others,” Triton said as he looked at me with calm, knowing eyes. “The fight had become personal for you too quickly. You are not ready to face those demons.”
“But it’s my father—”
“No, it was a woman who works in your father’s employ,” he corrected. “You cannot let emotion get in the way of your training, Mr. Gateon. Fulgurite is a formidable foe, and she will use that to manipulate you towards her own agenda. She wants to test you, to see your potential. You know this.”
I ducked my head in shame as I recalled my father’s appearance. I nodded slowly, but Triton gently nudged my shoulder with a light sigh.
“This does not mean that you caused the attack on the beach, Mr. Gateon,” Triton pointed out calmly. “Your father ordered it, and Miss Fulgurite carried it out with brutal efficiency. You have no part in that blame.”
“But if I wasn’t here—”
“He would have done so eventually.” Triton wasn’t wrong there, as much as I might not want to admit it. “He has had his eyes set on Alexandria for a very long time, and the attack on the beach was merely a test. Not just of your potential, but of our responsiveness. The force was too small and thin to be a serious effort in taking the bay.”
I made an unhappy noise and kicked my heel on the stone underfoot. “So why even bother? He wasted all those resources just to poke our security?”
Triton’s silence was an uncomfortable one in response. It was some time before he admitted quietly, “Your father... knows that I am getting old, Mr. Gateon. It is no great secret.”
I twisted in my seat to look at Triton up close. He was coasting along into his sixties. He looked great for his age, but he was worn thin just like anyone else would be.
“What’s Alexandria going to do without you?” Without Triton, the whole fight against my father seemed futile.
Triton glanced at the stopwatch again and then set it back down into his lap. “She has many young heroes eager to prove themselves. I was one, once. We all find our moments to shine.”
“But I—” I protested, even if I wasn’t certain what I was going to say.
“You will be ready in time, Mr. Gateon,” he said with utter certainty.
I sighed, not so sure myself. I had become a natural leader in our little band of misfits, and I wanted so badly to be a hero that Alexandria respected, but I couldn’t even gain respect at the academy. I still woke to whispers, rumors, and accusing glances. I still answered for crimes that weren’t mine to bear.
“What is on your mind, Mr. Gateon?” Triton said, his voice breaking through my thoughts.
“I just don’t understand why Matt refuses to listen to reason,” I began. “Hell, not even just Matt. Pretty much everyone except the girls, Eric, and Gemma hate me. Or... fear me, I guess. But I’m not going to be him, I think I’ve proven that already. Haven’t I?”
Triton lifted a brow. “Do you need to convince yourself of that notion?”
“No... uh, maybe? I don’t know. I don’t hate him.” Uncomfortable, I crossed my arms in front of my chest. I heard Adelaide whistling a merry tune while she and Eric continued to bag all the trash. “I should hate him, right?”
“You ask as if you need permission,” Triton said, his eyes a little sad. “It is unfortunate that the young Mr. Barbur has become so enthralled with hatred that it has overtaken his life and ruled everything that he does. I knew another like that, and his name was Nicholas Gateon.”
My father. I cringed and glanced back at multiple Adelaides and Eric, who were digging through the trash pile while remarking that someone should compile a book of Roger’s prophecies. One of the Adelaides caught my look and smiled sweetly, then gave me a tiny little wave. I felt the tension ease a little bit.
“My father calls me that,” I whispered. It was a great source of shame. “Junior. Nicholas Junior. Sometimes just... just Junior.”
“‘A rose by any other name would smell as sweet,’” Triton quoted.
At my blank look, he explained, “A name is a name and nothing more. It does not define who you are, nor what you are destined to be. I see your actions, and I see the makings of a great hero who will one day, with patience, perhaps even take my place. No small thing for a Junior, is it?”
My eyes widened at that, and I cleared my throat in the effort of something to say. Being Triton’s apprentice was one thing, but being his replacement? Impossible.
“Sorry, I don’t think I can—” I began.
“And there it is,” Triton interrupted as he smiled that secret smile again. “You must stop apologizing for existing, Mr. Gateon. I know what I see, and I trust in that judgment. You need only attend the lessons, hm?”
“I-I suppose,” I stuttered, caught off guard.
“Back to my original point, do disregard Mr. Barbur’s continued attacks on your character.” His tone was still kind, even when he talked about Matt’s missteps. “He is too quick to defend his father’s legacy and too slow to recognize its complicated nature. The history between Inferno and Ice Bringer is a tragic one. They were brothers in all but blood, and Inferno’s fall caused a fall in Ice Bringer too.”
“You mean his retreat to the Arctic?”
Triton’s nod was slow and somber. “In the wake of your father’s spiral into madness, the city believed that Ice Bringer would take up the mantle to defend it. He did in many different ways, but it broke his spirit all the same. He did not fight with vigor, and in fact, there were times he did not fight at all. Other heroes were forced to battle in his stead... I was one of them.”
“That was before you became famous?”
“I became famous because of this,” Triton corrected. “It was during a battle with Inferno’s army that I learned how to use my abilities to control the human body. The city latched on to me after I managed to stop the tide of his forces pouring out from the island, but there were many other heroes that day. Amazoness and Judgment were both among them, and they too have been fighting hard ever sinc
e.”
I winced at the reminder. “Judgment doesn’t like me very much.”
“Efraim believes that you will follow in your father’s footsteps, and I suspect it is he that encourages Matthew’s continued course.” Triton sighed a bit sadly at that. “He is not a cruel man, but one of many faults. He is very traditional in his thinking. He lives by the rule that legacies carry their weight, and he refuses to consider that you might manage to overcome Inferno’s.”
“That’s kind of a ridiculous take on the situation,” I spat out, irritated now. “I’m my mother’s son, too. She was a good woman taken before her time, and her loss was what drove him insane in the first place. He wasn’t born evil, and neither was I.”
“Indeed,” Triton nodded in approval. “He wasn’t. He has tainted the Gateon name with his actions, but it would do well to remember that he was once a hero to all of us. Myself included.”
“And mine too,” I admitted bitterly. “I used to think the world of him.”
“And now?”
“And now I... I hate that I say my name, and people think I am him. Judgment and Matt especially. It isn’t fair.”
“‘A rose by any other name,’” Triton reminded me gently. “You may be a Gateon, but I argue that you are worth more than that simple summary, my boy. Just as he influenced your name, so too can you influence his.”
The fact that Triton believed so heartily in me was amazing. Until now, Gemma had been the only real hero that had believed in me, and I would be forever grateful for that. To think that I had the support of amazing people was mind boggling, to say the least.
Apparently, Triton read the look on my face because he smirked.
“Thank you, sir,” I said, a little breathless. “I hope I can do everything you ask of me.” I nodded to myself. “And you’re right. This is a chance to prove everyone wrong, to change the narrative, and I damn sure want to do that.”
“Good,” Triton said. He glanced back down at the stopwatch and wrote something else down on his clipboard. “Correct me if I am wrong, but you seem to care about your father a great deal.”
My heart lurched in my throat, and I paled at that. I shook my head in denial, but Triton merely shrugged.
“You feel guilty because you cannot hate him the way many others do. I should tell you a secret, then. I don’t hate him either, Mr. Gateon.”
I wasn’t sure what to say to that. It seemed like I’d landed on another planet because the idea of Triton having sympathy for the man he’d spent decades fighting against seemed impossible.
“You took me away from that island,” I said, “and you’ve spent a lot of energy and resources fighting him all over the world. That doesn’t even make sense.”
“I fight his madness,“ Triton corrected. “As I said before, he was my hero too, once.”
I crossed my arms, uncomfortable again. “I’m a bad choice for your apprentice. I don’t want to hurt him,” I admitted quietly, eyes cast down in shame. “I just want to fix him. To make it stop.”
“Had I chosen someone like Matthew,” Triton explained firmly, “the world would beget more wars, more death, and more darkness. It is because of your mercy that you have the makings of a great hero, Mr. Gateon. Violence is not always the course best taken.”
“I... I don’t know,” I said as I shook my head.
I stood up and started to pace. I was floundering. Triton believed in me, wanted me to take up his mantle someday, and we both knew that I was destined to fight my father if I kept this course, something that I never, ever wanted to do.
“He doesn’t even know I won’t join him,” I continued. “He’s convinced I’m just going here to train before becoming his successor. And... I don’t want to...” I couldn’t say it, but I didn’t want to hurt him. I didn’t want to hurt anyone if I didn’t have to.
“And perhaps you won’t have to,” Triton said gently. When I stopped to confirm that notion, he shrugged a shoulder with a crooked little smile. “There is nothing to be done of it, my dear boy. It is far into the future, and you spend your time worrying about so many things that are not within your control. Focus instead on your training.”
I felt my power fade a bit, and warned him with, “It’s coming.”
I was expecting Triton to let me power down, but he shook his head. “Try to maintain it. I want to see exactly how much time you can manage.”
“Okay.” I gritted my teeth, stood in front of him, and hated the way the power drained out of me slowly and without control.
After about a minute of struggling to hold on, I felt it finally leave me in one great uncontrollable burst. I stumbled a little bit, suddenly dizzy. I sat back down in the chair and hissed at how weak I felt. Triton stopped the timer and then noted it on his board.
“Eleven minutes precisely,” he said with another patient smile. “Does it ever waver? Become shorter or longer?”
“I don’t know,” I confessed, blinking slowly. I was utterly exhausted. “I’ve never really tested that. Usually, after I let it in, I can take care of anything before it stops.”
Triton lifted a brow at that. “Let it in?”
“Yeah, it’s... it’s always there.” It was so hard to explain something that was such an internal thing that no one else could experience. “It’s sort of like a dam holding back this huge ocean. After I’ve slept, it generally wants to take me. I... I actually spend more effort blocking it than letting it in. Hell, when my power first manifested, it would go off automatically. I learned to control later on through meditation. I’m not really sure why I tire after ten minutes because the energy doesn’t really run out. It’s always there. I can still feel it.”
Triton hummed, apparently fascinated by this. He wrote down quite a bit on his clipboard, and I wondered what it all meant.
“We will do this again and determine in time,” he said with a nod. “It is quite likely related to your body being unable to sustain the energy for very long. Perhaps your weakness is your own mortality.”
“So, if I was like Judgment...”
“It is difficult to say,” Triton sighed, apparently not happy with the reminder of his contentious co-worker, “but learning your weaknesses is very important because then you will better know the rules on which to fight.” He looked me over with a careful eye and added, “Now, I know this is a lot to ask of you right now, but do you think you could do another round of pushups?”
After losing power, it was always a struggle to keep standing, let alone perform a series of exercises. I knew what Triton was getting at, however, and reluctantly nodded at him. Slowly and carefully, like a man twice my age, I knelt down on the pavement by the table. I waited for Triton’s timer before I began.
I only managed about fifteen and quietly cursed when my body failed me.
“There is no shame in this, Mr. Gateon.” Triton gave me an encouraging smile. “You did well. Please, rest a little in the chair.”
I climbed back into my seat with an exhausted sigh. I wanted to nap so badly by this point, but I knew I’d recover if I just held on for a few minutes. Holding my head in my hand, I glanced up at him with tired eyes. “Any thoughts?”
“It would seem that our hypothesis is likely correct,” Triton explained quietly, marking something else down in his clipboard. “It is your body that gives out, not the power itself. It also leaves you significantly more weakened. I need not tell you to be very careful when you use it in future engagements. In your current state, you are quite vulnerable to attack.”
“I always make sure I can finish a fight before I power up,” I said and then yawned a little. “And I like to count the passing time. It’s usually about ten minutes exactly, but I don’t know for certain. Anyway, if it gets close, I start a retreat.”
“Fortunately, you have your allies, and they can protect you should the worst come to pass. Do not forget about them.”
“Of course not,” I nodded slowly.
Triton stood and bowed to me slight
ly. “To that end, I want you to attempt to power up each hour from now until tomorrow, in order to determine exactly when you will be fully rested again. Remember the hours that it takes because I will need to know. Oh and bring your girls to our next appointment. I have noticed they’ve become a great team, and it is time you began training as a unit. We will time your power again next session to see if it changes based on heavy use. I suspect it may.”
I nodded, stood, then bowed after a thought. “Thank you for taking the time,” I said quietly. “Really. I... I never would have thought...”
“Thank you for agreeing to my lessons.” Triton smiled. “We will work on this perpetual habit of yours to apologize for your own existence in time. You are quite worthy, Mr. Gateon.”
Again, I wasn’t sure what to do with that. Feeling heat on my face again, I bowed again and gestured toward the academy. “I’m headed back to Valcav. Thank you, Triton.”
“Call me Mr. Aberforth,” he said gently, “or Douglas, if you prefer.”
“Thank you... Douglas.”
“You’re quite welcome, Nick. Now, off to classes with you.”
A half hour later, I returned to the academy and was wandering its halls when I ran into Kara. She blushed when she noticed me. “Hi, Nick. Did the appointment with Triton go well?”
“Yeah, I think it did.” I smiled back. “Eric’s still on the beach with Adelaide. Uh, several Adelaides. They’re holding a vigil for the snow cone stand.”
Kara snorted, though she was a little distracted. “That sounds like them. Listen, Nick, I’ve been meaning to ask...” Her hands twisted in themselves, and she was very nervous.
With a lifted brow, I asked, “Yes?”
“Do you think...? Well, there’s a carnival in town, and I-I was wondering... wondering if you would... you know...?”
I couldn’t help the grin that came forth, sensing where this conversation was going. Gently, I closed the distance between us and took Kara’s hands in mine. I met her deep blue eyes and slowly nodded.
“Sounds like a date.” I chuckled and kissed her gently on the cheek.