Super Powereds: Year 2 (52 page)

“Whatever. I should have known better than to make a deal with you anyway.”

“I won’t disagree with you there,” Nick said cheerfully. “So, who is going next?”

* * *

“Where the heck is Glenn,” Jill muttered, checking her phone yet again. He had promised to only be a few minutes late, yet the food had already come and gone with no sign of her boyfriend. Even Will had finished his lab and shown up only half an hour late.

“Maybe he got sick or something,” Julia suggested helpfully. In truth she was a bit hungry for conversation; usually she would chat with Sasha, but tonight her super-fast roommate was preoccupied with staring at Vince and flipping through the book of song options. Shane and Chad were at their table, too, but they weren’t much at small-talk. Shane seemed distracted, and Chad was trying, unsuccessfully, to chip in with little blurbs.

“Maybe,” Jill said uncertainly. Her reverie was interrupted by Sasha, who slammed the song book shut with a surprising amount of gusto.

“Found one!” she declared, hopping up from her seat. “Chad, get your vocals warmed up, I’m going to go put our name in the queue.”

“Beg pardon?” Chad’s words might as well not have been spoken since the intended audience was already gone by the time they came out. He looked at the remaining girls with some uncertainty. All they offered up in return was half-hearted shrugs. Julia likely could have explained to him that Sasha had chosen a duet with a good-looking guy just in an attempt to make Vince jealous, however Chad’s befuddlement was the most entertainment Julia had gotten all evening and she wasn’t inclined to see it end just yet.

* * *

“So are you going to sing?” Vince asked Camille as Will mercifully finished butchering a classic Elvis song. He handed off the microphone to Selena, who was waiting stageside since she was next to perform. As she ascended, Sasha and Chad walked over from their table and took her place.

“Not unless someone puts a gun to my head, and even then I’m not making promises,” Camille hurriedly replied. “I don’t really flourish in the spotlight.”

“It’s not my favorite place to be either,” Vince admitted. He might have said more, but it would have been rude to chat over Selena’s singing when they were right by the stage. Her dark-brown eyes flitted through the crowd, landing briefly on Alex, then immediately turning away as the music began to swell. She’d chosen a relatively old one, a song from the nineties about a lost soul searching for its companion. Selena could have used her power to make everyone feel the sorrow as she sang, but she didn’t. She didn’t have to; her talent did that all on its own. Usually there was at least a bit of hushed conversation as someone performed. In that moment, as the heartbroken girl projected her sadness, there wasn’t so much as a peep.

It wasn’t until Selena sang the final note that anyone dared to move in their seats, and at that their first reaction was to applaud wildly. Camille looked over to Vince, intending to continue their conversation, when she encountered quite possibly the last thing she would have expected. A small pool of tears was glistening in Vince’s bright blue eyes, his vision still unwavering from the now-departing songstress.

“Vince?”

The silver-haired boy jerked with a start, as though he had completely let it slip his mind that there were other people around him. “I, um, um, well, this is a little embarrassing.” He fumbled around for a tissue, finding none on the cleared-off tables.

“There’s nothing wrong with the tears. It was a touching performance,” Camille reassured him.

“It was, but that’s not it,” Vince replied, still scouring for something to wipe with. At last he remembered Nick had made him stick a handkerchief in one of his jacket pockets just in case. After a few attempts he pulled it out, along with his pocket watch, from the one on his right front. “The song just reminded me of someone from a long time ago.”

“I see,” Camille said. She resisted the urge to bite her lip as Vince dabbed at his eyes. If she’d been a little less absorbed in his statement she might have heard the sudden movement behind her. It would still have been a stretch, because only a few people in the room were able to follow the burst of motion.

From Vince’s perspective all he felt was a sudden iron grip clamp down on his wrist. He glanced up to see Chad staring down at him, a sea of unspoken emotions contorting his face.

“Where did you get that?” Chad was never what someone would call warm, but his usual tone was positively bubbly compared to how he sounded now.

“The handkerchief?” Vince felt the grip tighten significantly.

“I am not playing games. Where did you get that watch?”

101.

“Chad, I think you’re hurting Vince.” Camille’s voice was a stark contrast to the uneasy silence that had fallen over the room when Chad gripped his classmate. Little was said, and tension could be sensed in the bodies of those around them, some worried about what was happening while others were ready to jump into action if the moment called for it. Chad could feel the stares of everyone centering on him, and ordinarily it would have been enough to make him take a step back. Not with this. Even the innocent concern of Camille only resulted in him slightly relaxing his grip, only barely enough to allow blood flow.

“I need an answer, Vince.”

“It was a gift from my father.” Vince had no idea what the hell was going on, but even he was smart enough to see that something was wrong with Chad. The blonde boy had always been reserved in his strength, never lording his superior power over the rest of the class. That didn’t make him perfect, however, and Vince knew firsthand that when someone with real skill lost control things could get very bad, very fast.

“A gift from your father.” Chad’s face looked like it might begin to turn green. “And who is your father, exactly?”

“The man who raised me. I never knew his name; he said he’d cast it away before we met. To me he was always just Father.” In truth, Vince would have preferred not to get into his past in such a public place; but, it seemed like there was no alternative other than to tell Chad the truth. Whatever was happening, lying was bound to make it worse.

“How did he get this?”

“Chad, maybe you want to calm down a little. I don’t think Vince’s history is really your business,” Nick said, eyeing the young man carefully. Hershel had held up a shot of whiskey and Mary had given him a curt nod, so Nick knew both of them were ready to go if things went south. Still, with Chad’s strength, he could rip off Vince’s arm before anyone could react, so diplomacy was currently the strategy of choice.

“How did he get this watch? When did he give it to you?” Chad could hear the other people in the room whispering, but they didn’t exist right now. His world had narrowed down to only himself, a boy with silver hair, and a gold pocket watch.

“All he told me was that it was a gift from a very dear friend. He passed it on to me when I turned thirteen.”

Chad’s eyes narrowed just a hair. “That’s a lie.”

“It’s what he told me.”

“Then he was lying!” Vince winced as Chad’s grip tightened involuntarily, his grimace of pain causing a shift toward readiness in the people nearest to him.

“It’s what he told me, and I don’t see why he would lie. I’ve told you what I know. Now tell me why this is so important.” Vince met Chad’s stare without wavering. There was sweat beginning to bead below his blonde hair and a small twitch dancing in his right eye. For someone whose power was bodily control to show signs of stress this obvious, there had to be a full-scale war waging inside him. At first Vince didn’t think Chad was going to respond. It was only after he felt the super-strength empowered hand release his wrist that Chad began his explanation.

“There are only two watches like that in the world. They were custom made by a man whose power was metal manipulation. They were sold to his apprentices, two young Heroes who had done their internships under him. Each bought one and then gave them as gifts to one another.” Chad reached into his own suit jacket and produced a pocket watch that was a twin to Vince’s own. Had he not displayed signs of potentially coming unhinged, there might have been a gasp of surprise from the room. As it was, everyone just tried very hard to stay quiet lest they accidently stir his unstable state. Everyone, that is, except Vince.

“So, our fathers knew each other?”

“The watches were a symbol of their friendship, of all the hardships they’d endured together,” Chad said, ignoring Vince as he gazed down at the golden timepiece in his hand. “That’s what my mother told me, anyway. See, I didn’t get mine handed off to me like you did. I inherited it as part of my father’s estate.”

“He died?”

“He was murdered by the man who carried your watch!” Chad spat angrily. Dimly he was aware of a crunching sound. Had he looked down he would have noticed he’d just accidentally cracked the concrete floor by shifting his weight. He might have even cared, though by this point it would be hard to say.

“His partner! His best friend! That man drove a spike of energy through my father’s chest and left him to die in the street!”

“Oh shit,” Alice mumbled as she and Nick exchanged a glance. They hadn’t included it in the presentation, but they’d both read up about a man that died in such a way. In an instant they both knew who Chad’s father had been.

“Look, I don’t know what you think happened,” Vince began, but the speed at which Chad whipped his ever-maddening eyes toward Vince stilled the words on his tongue.

“I know exactly what happened. It was extremely well-documented and witnessed. The ‘Hero’ Globe murdered my father before turning on the rest of his team.” This time there were gasps, stifled gasps but gasps none the less. Everyone knew about that incident, but no one had ever realized Intra had a son.

“My father didn’t even have powers. He was a wanderer! For heaven’s sake, we met when I was digging food out of a trash can!” Vince’s own voice was raised as well, and he realized at some point he’d gotten to his feet. There were few things that could easily rile him, but slanderous accusations at the kind man who had taken him in were near the top of the list.

“Which brings us back to how he got that watch!” Chad slammed his unencumbered hand onto the heavy marble table, shattering it at its center and sending half whipping into the air. It began descending almost immediately, its stone surface on a direct crash course with Camille’s cranium.

Vince didn’t have time to think, not that it would have changed things if he had. Flaring temper or not, his priorities remained intact. He grabbed the birthday girl in his arms and threw her to the ground, putting his spine between her and the table. The last thing he saw before shutting his eyes and waiting for impact was a look of terror rippling across her face. It was a look that would never truly leave him.

The table slammed into Vince’s back then slid to the ground with a dull thud.

102.

Vince had been heavily injured before; it was a memory that was complex for him due to the other person involved in it. He had some idea of what to expect. Crippling pain, a ripping sensation through his muscles, and numbness that possibly would be there forever, these were all what should have come when the table landed on him.

As he cautiously opened an eye and examined the now largely-crumbled table next to him, he realized that none of that had or would be happening. He felt fine; it was as if the table had barely even touched him. Chad was staring down, his face aghast at the injury he had to believe he’d just caused. If he noticed the confusion on Vince’s face, it didn’t show in his own horror. Luckily, someone else definitely noticed, and that person sprang into immediate action.

“Nice catch, Mary,” Nick said, bounding out of his seat and putting himself between Vince and Chad. Things were calm for the moment, but with topics as sensitive as what they’d been dealing with, a return or an escalation was always possible. No, this situation needed to be guided to resolution and it needed to get there fast.

“Huh?” Mary said, looking at him dumbly from her seat. She, like the others, had been too swept up in the sudden show to fully register everything that was happening. Nick gave her a fierce glare and she snapped back to reality, quickly reading his mind to get a handle on the plan.

“So eloquent when you're concentrating,” Nick continued. “Still, it was impressive. I was right by him and I could see you had less than an inch of distance between Vince and the table when you caught it.”

“I didn’t have much time,” Mary said, playing along at last. The looks of uncertainty on the faces of their peers were slowly shifting to understanding. Of course Mary had caught it; she was an incredibly powerful telekinetic, she could make that kind of save.

“Now, as for you,” Nick said, turning to Chad. “I think you should leave.”

“I’m... I wasn’t... I didn’t-”

“I have no doubt you didn’t mean to almost cripple my friend or smash the birthday girl’s head, but you damn near came close regardless of intention. You were lucky we had a private room so no normal people were around to see it. You’re the guy whose power is control, so how about using some of it and walking away from a situation where you know you can’t keep a cool head?”

Shane appeared at his friend’s side and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “Nick is right. Vince isn’t going anywhere. You can finish this later, when you’re calm.”

Chad nodded slowly, his eyes still trained on the two fellow students his single action had almost seriously injured. He hadn’t meant to hurt anyone, he’d just felt so... so angry. It had been a long time since his temper had gotten the better of him, and for good reason. When people with his kind of power lost their cool, innocent bystanders almost always got hurt.

“I’m sorry,” Chad said softly. He and Shane headed for the door immediately, followed by a few of their classmates who felt the party was probably over from this point on. Nick waited until they were completely gone before offering his friend a hand up. By the time Vince was on his feet, Stella and Violet had pulled Camille up and were checking her for any injury. As for Camille, her eyes never left Vince as he assured his teammates clustering around him that he was okay. The remaining students began to disperse, understandably not quite in a party mood anymore.