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“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 theNCPD 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 tobreathe, 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 wasCap, 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.”
