by H. L. Burke
“As long as she doesn’t start making ransom demands before she does it, I think we’re in the clear.” Fade chuckled.
Prism pulled her phone out of her pocket. “It’s not even eleven yet ... Fade, how’s that project we talked about coming along?”
“Mostly done,” Fade replied. “I was going to do a test to make sure everything’s set, but that should take all of fifteen minutes. Are you thinking about using it already?”
Laleh stood a little straighter. “What are we going to do?”
“Easy.” Prism held out one hand. “This is specifically for Marco.”
Marco jumped to his feet. “What’s for me?”
Jake rolled his eyes at the kid’s enthusiasm. For all Marco knew it was something awful, and he still acted as if he were about to visit the zoo and then go out for ice cream.
Prism ignored Marco and addressed Fade. “Do you think you could run that test now? I was planning to do the training after lunch, but we might as well start now and then have lunch afterwards. Wildfyre said he didn’t recommend more than a half hour or so for early training.”
“You’re going to train Marco to use his fire powers?” Laleh bounced on her toes. Wondering if she realized how embarrassing that looked, Jake shot her a cynical glance. She immediately stopped and glared at him.
“Oh, wow.” Marco whistled. “Are you sure that’s safe?”
“Fade spent several hours installing fireproof insulation all over one of our outbuildings last night after dinner,” Prism said. “It should be perfectly safe for you to use your powers inside. We also have fire extinguishers and other precautions.”
“Can I watch?” Laleh asked.
“It should be safe, right?” Prism whispered to Fade.
“Yeah, but does Marco really want an audience?” Fade eyed the young man.
“I don’t mind if Laleh and Jake are there,” Marco said.
Jake recoiled. Why was Marco pulling him into this?
“As long as they aren’t in danger, I’ll feel better about it if they’re around, I think.” Marco rubbed his upper arms. “I don’t like being alone.”
Jake’s shoulders slumped. Well, he couldn’t say no now.
“I’ll go make sure it’s set up.” Fade exited the room.
After a bit Fade returned and nodded to Prism. “Good to go.” He picked up Ruby.
Jake balked. “You’re bringing your baby to watch Marco set things on fire?”
“She’s been around sables since she was born,” Fade replied. “Plus we’ve got everything ready for her.”
“She’ll be fine. Come on.” Prism led the group outside and behind the cabin to where a large, metal-sided outbuilding, bigger than the garage though smaller than the house, stood. She opened the door and flipped on the light revealing a gaping, empty interior with a concrete floor and walls and ceilings lined with black panels. “These are heat and fire proof.” She pointed to the ceiling where silver sprinklers hung. “Those were the tricky part. We don’t want them going off every time Marco uses his powers, so they couldn’t be heat or smoke triggered. We went with voice command. If we want to use them, I literally just have to say the word.”
“What word?” Jake held back a smirk. “Is it ‘sprinklers’?”
Prism waved a finger at him. “Nice try, but no, I am not going to give a sixteen-year-old supervillain the key to dousing all of us on a whim. Fade knows the command. I know the command. That should be enough.”
Fade shut the door behind them and motioned to the closest corner where there was something that looked like a waist-high box made of the same black panels. “Let’s watch from over there with Ruby. Some distance will help ensure that nothing goes wrong.”
Jake and Laleh exchanged a glance before following Fade. The box proved to be a panel-lined playpen filled with Ruby’s toys. Upon seeing it, she reached for a brightly colored rubber fish and squealed. Her hands opened and closed in a clear “gimme” gesture.
“There you go, Ru-Ru.” Fade put her down beside the toy which she immediately picked up and stuck in her mouth.
Prism led Marco to the far side of the building.
“We’re just going to do a few exercises at first but if things go well, we might be able to spar.” Prism sloughed off her sweater revealing a t-shirt beneath—one close fitting enough to show off the baby bump that hadn’t been quite so obvious under the bulkier clothing.
Jake swallowed. “You’re going to spar with him? Do you really think that’s a good idea?” He glanced at Fade.
“Trust me, with fire powers, Lucia’s the better one to handle it,” Fade said. “The only sable who has ever beaten me one-on-one is a firepowered one—and Lucia’s taken down the same guy in more than one practice bout.”
“I have a trick up my sleeve where fire based powers are concerned.” Prism winked. She pulled one of the black panels away from the wall revealing a cabinet behind it. From this she took out a large pillar candle and a block of wood. “We’re starting small and simple. Wildfyre—my fire powered friend and Fade’s superior in the art of superpowered sparring—”
“I wouldn’t say that,” Fade broke in.
“Anyway, he says that the most important skill for a firepowered sable to learn isn’t producing fire—that comes almost too naturally to him and it seems like to you as well—but controlling it.” She set the candle on top of the wood which elevated it about a foot off the floor. She then returned to the cabinet to fetch a lighter. Soon a tiny flame, barely perceptible from where Jake stood, flickered on top of the wax.
Curious to see where this was going, Jake leaned up against the wall. Laleh sat cross legged on the floor.
“Have you ever moved fire before?” Prism pulled her phone out of her pocket and hit something on the screen. Marco’s disruptor cuff clicked and fell to the floor where Prism picked it up and put it, now tightly coiled, into her pocket.
Wide-eyed, Marco shook his head. “How? With my hands? I mean, it doesn’t burn me.” He stuck his fingers into the candle flame and attempted to pinch it. It licked at him but didn’t move with him when he pulled away.
“The way Wildfyre explained it, with your mind.” Prism stood on the opposite side of the candle from Marco. “Kind of like this.” She drew a deep breath and the flame rose, twisting into the air.
Jake watched in amazement as the fire climbed to a foot above the candle. Melted wax streamed over the wooden block and onto the floor.
“How are you doing that?” Laleh asked. “You don’t have fire powers.”
Prism smiled, and the flame receded to normal levels. “True, but I have light manipulation powers. Anything that gives off light, I can bend to my will.”
Laleh leaned closer. “What about electricity?”
“Yep. Done that before.” Prism flicked her fingers to the side, sending out a flash of light.
Laleh stood. “Can you show me?” She extended her foot, exhibiting her anklet.
Jake scanned Prism’s face. Was she really going to go for it?
“Maybe later. Let me work with Marco for a little while first.” She turned back to him. “He also said it might be easier for you to learn to manipulate a flame you produced—but at the same time more dangerous if it got out of hand. I thought you might feel more comfortable with the candle, so I started with that, but if you’d like to use your powers to create a flame, we can try that too.”
Marco blanched. “Candle’s fine. I ... I don’t know how to use my mind, though.”
“Think about where you want the fire to go. Try to extend your will into it,” Prism explained.
Marco nodded.
Jake found himself holding his breath as the younger boy stared at the fire in front of him, his body quivering like a taut rubber band, his face pinched in concentration.
Come on, kid. You can do this. Don’t screw up. I know you can do it.
The flame reared up, doubling in size. Marco yelped and fell backwards onto his butt.
Jake sprang fo
rward. “Kid!”
“Marco!” Laleh gasped.
Marco held up his hand. “It’s all right!” He let out a whistling breath then stood. “I did that ... it didn’t hurt, it just surprised me.” A smile crept across his face. “Wow. I did that.” He held one hand in front of him, thumb and pointer finger extended as if he was about to zoom in on a touch screen. He pinched his fingers open and closed. The flame blazed brighter then dimmed lower with the movements. Marco’s grin broadened. He twisted his wrist, and the flame curved in a circle.
“You’ve got it!” Laleh clapped her hands.
“Nice!” Jake laughed. “You’re hot stuff now, huh?”
Marco beamed and continued to work the fire into new and interesting shapes. Jake watched in awe as the flames swirled into smiley faces, spirals, and even Marco’s name. After several minutes, Marco stumbled back. Sweat slicked his face and matted his hair, but his smile was brilliant.
“Had enough?” Prism asked.
“I want to try one more thing.” The boy wiped his brow then took back a step. “I want to use my own fire and ... I have a weird idea.” He opened his mouth and let out a puff of breath. Something flickered between his lips. He inhaled then exhaled. Flames rushed from his mouth and consumed the candle, sending it puddling on the floor.
“Great job!” Jake whooped. Laleh squealed and did a little dance before throwing up her hand in front of Jake. Before Jake realized what he was doing, his palm slammed against hers in a high five.
Fade hummed in approval. “Nice work. I’ve never seen fire powers used quite like that before. Very Smaug of you.”
“Oooh, oooh, I know!” Laleh volunteered. “Marco? How about Draco?” She glanced around the room. “Get it? Draco like drake or dragon?”
Jake rolled his eyes.
“That’s it!” Marco shouted. “That’s my hero handle. I’m Draco the Firebreather!”
Hero handle or Dungeons and Dragons nerd name? Jake chose not to say this out loud. The kid looked far too happy for Jake to want to ruin it.
Marco glanced from Jake to Laleh. “We need handles for you two.”
“No thanks.” Jake brushed his hand through his hair.
“We can work on that later,” Laleh said, her eyes alight. “Now? I want to spar.”
Prism frowned. “With Marco?”
“No, with you!” Laleh hurried across the space to face the older woman. “You say you can bend electricity. I can make electricity. I want to see how that works in a fight.”
Prism nodded slowly. “It wouldn’t be a fair fight, and this was supposed to be Marco’s training time. Why don’t I take on both of you?”
Jake stood a little straighter.
“What about Jake?” Marco frowned.
“It’s okay,” Jake said. “I don’t—”
“Sure. Honestly, if there are three of you against me, you might actually have a shot.” Prism flexed her fingers, sending out a quick flash of light.
“You sure about this, Luce?” Fade asked. “I mean, I know you’re good, but it’s three against one, and Jake at least has scrapped before, I’d be willing to bet.”
Prism put on a wounded expression. “Oh, ye of little faith! I’ve been sparring since this crew was in diapers. I know what I’m doing.” She waved Jake over.
Jake’s chest tightened as he crossed the room to her. “This doesn’t seem like a great idea. I don’t know if I’m comfortable with ... well, you know.” He glanced meaningfully towards her stomach.
“Pregnant women aren’t made of glass, Jake. It’s not like we’re going to be football tackling each other. Not with what I have in mind.” She pulled out her phone and hit a few buttons. Jake and Laleh’s disruptor anklets hit the floor simultaneously.
Jake exhaled in relief as his powers flooded back through his body, enlivening every nerve. Laleh held out her hands, palms facing each other and delight in her eyes as sparks jumped between her fingers.
“Excellent,” she breathed. “I missed this.”
“Just don’t go knocking Jake out again,” Fade called out.
Prism placed her phone in the corner on top of her sweater before returning to search the cabinet.
Fade coughed. “Luce, as good as you are at this, I’d rather you not do a capture/restrain exercise with them. Too much of a chance that someone gets excited and you take a hard fall.”
“Yeah, I know.” She moved a few things around. “I think we’ll do a capture the flag sort of thing. I just need a McGuffin.”
Jake paused in his fiddling with his newly restored powers. “What the heck is a McGuffin?”
Laleh stuck her chin in the air. “It’s a colloquial term for an object or device in a fictional narrative that serves to drive the plot or motivate the characters, but which actually has little importance to the story in and of itself.”
“You are such a nerd,” Jake said.
Laleh stuck out her tongue at him.
“Nerds make the best heroes. Trust me.” Prism pulled a partially deflated volleyball out of the cabinet. “I wonder how long this has been in there? Oh well, it’ll work.”
She shut the cabinet and turned back to the kids. “Are all of you familiar with capture the flag?”
Jake shifted from foot to foot. The name made it sound pretty obvious. There was a flag. They had to capture it.
“Maybe elaborate just for the heck of it,” Fade put in.
Jake’s muscles relaxed.
“Well, this is kind of a modified version anyway.” She set the volleyball in the center of the room. “We’re each trying to acquire, control, and deliver the same object: Mr. McGuffin here.” She motioned towards the volleyball. “I’ll start on one side, you start on the other, we’re attempting to get the object to opposing sides of the room. Whoever places the McGuffin at their team’s wall first wins.”
Jake gave a slow nod. That didn’t seem too hard.
Prism walked to the far side of the garage then pointed towards Fade who still stood next to Ruby’s playpen. “You start there and try to get the McGuffin to here, and I go the other way. Fade, can you give the signal when it’s time to start?”
“Sure.”
Jake turned to get to his place only to have Laleh grab his arm.
“Can we have a second?” she asked, looking first at Prism who had already reached her starting spot then back at Jake.
“Take all the time you need,” Prism said before starting to stretch. “My advice: you guys need to come up with a strategy anyway, so you aren’t tripping over each other.”
Jake kept his expression skeptical as Laleh pulled him into the corner.
She cast him a pleading expression. “Jake, will you promise me you’ll try this time?”
“Huh?” He frowned.
“Look, we all know you don’t care. You’ve made a point of demonstrating that over and over again, but since I’ve started here, working with Marco and seeing how Prism runs the camp within DOSA but doing it her own way—I think I really want to do this hero thing.” Her voice took on a pleading tone. “Please, if you’re thinking of intentionally screwing this up, just don’t ... or at the very least stay back and don’t mess it up for me and Marco.”
Jake scrutinized her. He had her in his power to an extent. This mattered to her way more than it did to him. If he wanted to hold it over her head, he could—but that wouldn’t get him anything.
“I’ll try, but if you want me to not screw up, then you have to give us a real chance to win.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “That means we go in with a real plan, not half-cocked like we did with the DOSA Dean thing. Because Prism’s right, if we just run in without a strategy, we’re going to fall flat on our faces.”
“All right. What did you have in mind?”
Jake recoiled. “You want me to come up with a plan?”
She flushed and dropped her chin towards her chest. “When I tried last time it didn’t end too well.”
He let out a breath before
shouting out, “Hey, Marco, get over here.”
Marco scrambled to their side. “What are we going to do?”
Jake took in the room. Not a lot to work with as far as obstacles to hide behind or tools to use. Of course, they were sables. Super abilities were awesome tools to have.
“We need to make the most of our powers,” he dropped his voice low. “We know she can manipulate fire and electricity, so those aren’t our best tools, but they are things that she’ll have to deal with. Maybe if we keep her dealing with them, she won’t have time for anything else.” He held up his hand and let his powers filter into it. The boundaries of his body became hazy and partially transparent.
“That’s freaky,” Laleh muttered.
Jake ignored her. “If I can get a hold of the ball, she won’t be able to touch me. Literally.” To make a point he swiped his hand through the upper half of Marco’s body. Marco jumped back a step.
“Yeah, definitely freaky—but you’re right,” Laleh agreed. “So how about me and Marco go up along the sides? You go down the middle, a little behind us. As soon as she’s tied up with us, you swoop in and get the McGuffin.”
Jake cringed. “Are you really going to call it that?”
“Yes, yes, I am,” she said, her expression growing smug.
He shook his head in disgust. “So are we clear on the plan?”
“Yep!” Marco flexed his fingers. “Let’s do this!” The younger boy put out his hand. Laleh slapped her hand on top of his, then both of them stood, gazing expectantly at Jake.
He stared at their extended limbs for a befuddled moment before it clicked. Still hesitantly, he put his hand on top of Laleh. “Uh ... go team?” That was what they said on TV, anyway, wasn’t it?
Marco gave a whoop and rushed to get into position. Jake and Laleh followed him, Jake flickering his body in and out of its solid state, testing his powers after what felt like an eternity of disuse. His pulse quickened, but he told himself off.
This is a stupid game. No stakes. No chance of really getting hurt. It doesn’t matter if we win or lose. Nothing changes either way.
But even as he thought this, Laleh’s intensity and Marco’s excitement weighed down on him. Maybe it didn’t matter to him, but for whatever reason, it mattered to them ... and he couldn’t be the one to let them down. Not again.