“Uh. Hi, Nicky,” Seth said, his voice crackling from a speaker next to the monitor.
Nick stared down at it in horror. He opened his mouth to try and say something to salvage the situation, but all that came out was, “Eep.”
“Oh man,” Gibby said. “Seth, if only you could see the look on his face. You know what? I can make that happen.” She pulled out her phone and snapped a photo. She hooked it up to the computer and tapped a few keys. “There. I uploaded it to your lenses.”
Seth coughed. “Um. Thank you. That’s … that’s a good face.”
“He can see that?” Nick managed to ask.
Gibby shrugged. “His mask is basically a computer. We can load things like maps and queer boys who’re stunned for hysterical reasons to an interface.”
“That’s so cool,” Nick said weakly. “And also so embarrassing. I’d be fine if we never brought up this moment again.”
Gibby snorted. “We all know that’s not going to happen.”
“How’s your dad?” Seth asked.
They all looked at Nick. “Um. Good? He’s awake. And really annoyed he has to stay in the hospital.”
“That’s good, Nicky,” Seth said. Then, “Hey, I need to … I’m sorry. For everything. I wish I’d done things differently. I never meant to hurt you. And I didn’t hurt your dad, okay? Not on purpose.”
“I know,” Nick said quietly. “We’ll figure it out. Where are you?”
“Looking for Owen.” His voice hardened. “I don’t know what he’s trying to do, but he’s dangerous. He’s hopped up on those damn pills. They’ve made him too strong. More people would have been killed if I hadn’t—”
“What do you mean more?” Nick asked, feeling cold. “I thought you stopped the antenna tower.”
“He did,” Martha said, as Bob put a hand on her shoulder. “But there was nothing he could do about the helicopter.”
“It crashed into the side of a building,” Jazz told him sadly. “They don’t think anyone survived.”
“Shit,” Nick breathed. “He said—I think she was working with him, somehow. Rebecca Firestone. Building him up. Discrediting Pyro Storm. She made Shadow Star the hero and turned Seth into the villain. But why would he turn on her like that? It doesn’t make sense.”
“He’s lashing out,” Seth said. “I don’t even think he has a plan. At least not anymore.”
“What was his plan to begin with?”
No one answered.
“Uh, guys? Maybe fill me in here?”
Gibby sighed. “We think his plan was you.”
Nick laughed.
No one else did.
Nick stopped laughing. “Oh, crap. You’re serious.”
“He took you to Burke Tower,” Seth said. “To his father’s laboratory. Why?”
Nick pressed his hands flat against the desk. “I asked him to. He said that his dad had found a way to turn someone Extraordinary. I refused at first, but then—” He shook his head. “Stuff happened. And I thought I didn’t have a choice. So I asked him. And he did. This is my fault. All of this.”
“No, son,” Bob said. “It’s not. He manipulated you. You were vulnerable, and he took advantage of that.”
“I let myself be played,” Nick said bitterly. “Regardless of what he did, I allowed it to happen. I should have seen it for what it was.”
“You aren’t responsible for what he’s done,” Martha told him. “If anything, it’s on us. We knew who he was, and so did Seth. We thought we could help him. That we could get through to him somehow, make him listen to reason. And at first, he wasn’t bad. Seth could handle him himself.” Her smile wobbled. “And then he started in with you, and things … stopped for a little while.”
“It was a game,” Seth said. “He was taunting me, I think. Or at least that was part of it. He had you, and then he didn’t, and then he tried to pull you back in again. He was trying to use you against me.”
Nick groaned. “This sucks. Not only am I the comedic relief/love interest, I’m also the clueless comedic relief/love interest who is a pawn in a game I didn’t even realize was being played. God, my life is so cliché.”
“But why would he want Nick to be an Extraordinary?” Jazz asked. “Why take him to Burke Tower at all? If his plan was to change Nick, why not just bring a pill to him?”
“Would you have taken a pill Owen pulled out of his pocket?” Nick retorted. “It wouldn’t have been the same. He knew I wouldn’t trust it coming directly from him. But from a secret basement in Burke