Allies & Enemies, by Harper Kingsley. Chapter 4 [superhero, mm]

Title: Allies & Enemies
Author: Harper Kingsley
World: Heroes & Villains
Genre: mm superhero
Summary: Vereint and Warrick are still adapting to having a teenaged girl in their lives.

 

CHAPTER FOUR

Life settled into a routine they could all live with. The whole having a kid thing no longer seemed like such an emotional ball kick and Melissa really began to seem like a member of their family.

It was hard keeping Warrick’s identity as Blue Ice away from her, but it wasn’t like they hadn’t been practicing liars before. Vereint’s supervillain past seemed more like dirty laundry than Warrick’s predilection to go out and save the world.

Melissa spent most of her weekdays at the expensive prep school they’d gotten her into. Burstow Academy was the same place Warrick had gone to as a kid, so she received a legacy benefit, and even though her last name was Kim, it was well understood that she was a member of the Tobias family. Special treatment abounded.

There had been a few rough spots, like when Vereint got called in because Melissa had been “acting out.” He’d shown up nervous, expecting to hear that his kid had killed someone or leveled a large chunk of the school. Instead he’d had to bite his lip hard to keep from calling the teacher a “Nominal bitch” to her face and flinging her desk at her. He still had a few anger issues he hadn’t managed to tame.

Some jerk had called Melissa a chink whore. So naturally she’d kicking him on the shin and cursed at him in Korean. By the time Vereint got there, the kid had already been sent home with an ice pack and Melissa had nearly been suspended for physical assault. He’d had a long talk with her about how physically attacking someone was not the correct response, especially when she was at school, and she seemed to really understand. Especially when he pointed out that his being called into school was not a good thing.

Vereint was proud of his level of control. Nobody died and he got Melissa’s suspension revoked. But that teacher had been added to his List.

Other than a few minor issues, Melissa settled into school with the kind of easy grace other kids envied. It seemed natural that she would become popular and join after school activities such as Cheer Squad, gymnastics, and drama club. She was so full of energy that she was constantly looking for something to do with it.

Life was good.

 

There was something soothing about doing household tasks the old fashioned way, the human way. When he could speed through every task as a blur, it seemed almost a game to slow himself down and fold the laundry at human speeds. It was like a childish game of make believe.

It was a normal Wednesday. He had the radio on and his hips wiggled to the beat, not-quite dancing. Warrick was at Tobias Industries schmoozing the board, and Melissa was at cheerleading practice. He had the whole place to himself and he’d taken advantage by breaking out his secret stash of Girl Scout cookies. Both Warrick and Melissa thought they were all out, but he’d saved an extra box for himself. He did used to be a supervillain after all.

He tossed a rolled up pair of socks into the basket and had just bitten into a cookie when the front door slammed open. There was the loud clatter of Mary Jane’s on the hardwood floor.

“Vereint? Vereint!”

He quickly stuck the cookie back into the plastic tray and slid the box under the folded towels.

“I’m in here,” he called. He glanced at his watch with a frown. She shouldn’t have been home for another hour at least. Something must have happened.

Melissa burst into the laundry room, her shoulder length black hair tangled at the bottoms. She looked like she’d hastily changed into her school uniform, one of her knee socks crushed down around her ankle and her little black tie gone. Her short sleeved white blouse was wrinkled where her hands had been wringing the fabric.

Vereint stepped away from the counter. “Are you all right? What happened?”

She shook her head, her eyes wild. “I… I…”

Vereint reached out and caught her shoulders. He stared down into her face. “Breathe. Come on, just breathe. I’m here.”

There was a nervous twisting in his gut. She was a pretty girl just turned fourteen. If someone had taken advantage of her or hurt her he would…

“I’m a freak!” she burst out.

“What?” he asked, his vengeful thoughts derailed.

Melissa blinked at him fearfully. “You won’t hate me, will you? I don’t know what I’d do if you hated me.”

“I don’t hate you,” Vereint stated. “Why don’t you tell me what’s going on.”

“I’m a freak,” she said again. “We were supposed to be practicing lifts and I… I don’t know what happened. She just felt so light all of a sudden, then Tiana was flying through the air and she could have been really hurt if we hadn’t been using the mats. I could have killed her because I’m a giant freak.”

Vereint furrowed his brow. “But she’s okay, you said?”

Melissa huffed and pulled out of his hold. Her whole body was tensed as though ready to run. “Don’t you get it? I’m a metahuman.”

“Oh, is that all?” Vereint shook his head. “You got me all worried it was something serious.”

She stared at him, her mouth agape. He was tempted to laugh, but he was still surprised that his supposedly normal human kid wasn’t so normal.

She was like them.

It made something fierce burn in his gut. She was like them.

 

Calming Melissa down involved ordering her to change into more comfortable clothing while he made herbal tea and cut them each a big square of brownie.

She came out in a pair of black sweatpants and a bright pink hoodie. She must have been stressed because she had the cat-eared hood up over her head.

“Come on,” he said, pointing to her spot at the dining table. It was where their most serious family moments took place.

She sat down and he pushed the plate toward her. “I can’t eat this,” she said, staring longingly at the brownie. “It will make me fat. I won’t be able to fit into my cheer uniform.”

Vereint laughed and took a big bite of his own brownie, trying to catch all the crumbs on his plate. “Don’t worry. If you’re a physical based metahuman you burn calories faster than a normal human. You’ll actually need to eat more to stay healthy.”

“Really?” She broke off a corner of her brownie and nibbled on it. “You’re not upset that I’m a freak?”

“Pshaw, you’re not a freak. You’re just a metahuman. It doesn’t even get you special parking or your own Olympics.”

Melissa spluttered. “Vereint!”

He grinned at her. “See, you’re the same easily outraged kid you were before. All that’s changed is that you might have some superstrength.”

“Might?” she asked.

Vereint shrugged. “I won’t rule out the possibility that you had one too many Luna Bars and all the energy made you misjudge yourself. We’ll have to run some tests before we get you your superhuman tee shirt.”

“How are you going to test me?” she asked.

“We’re going to order some takeout food and wait for Warrick to come home.” There was no way he could do the testing himself, not if he wanted to keep his own abilities hidden.

“And how is that going to help any?” Melissa asked.

Vereint looked at her for a long moment, then reached out and poked her bottom lip. “Suck that lip back in and learn to have some patience.”

She gave him a doubtful look and opened her mouth like she was going to demand another answer. He used his fork to pop a chunk of brownie in before she could say anything.

“No more questions. Just enjoy the deliciousness and drink your tea.”

* * *

There’d been a mind-numbing meeting of the board and Warrick had spent nearly the entire time wishing he were very far away. He’d doodled some rather artistic renditions of the people in the room with him and was glad his position at the head of the table kept anyone from seeing what he’d drawn. It had been a relief when the meeting ended and he was able to go to his large executive office alone.

He hit up the liquor cabinet and poured himself three fingers of ridiculously expensive brandy. His people always bought him the best brands, but whenever Vereint stocked their private supply he always picked up the cheap rotgut. Warrick had kind of developed a fondness for it over the years, but good brandy was something he preferred.

Warrick walked over to the large window and leaned his shoulder directly against the glass. He sipped his brandy slowly, enjoying the warm mellow burn in his stomach as he stared over the city sprawled out below.

Megacity really was a beautiful town. It was so bright and clean from this high up, all skyline and patches of green. He had one of the best views in the whole city and sometimes he felt sorry for all the people that never got to see the city like this.

The door to his office clicked open.

“I thought I asked to be left alone,” he said, not turning around.

“Your husband is on the line,” his personal assistant, Amy Jennings, said. She was a statuesque blond with big gray-green eyes and a penchant for tight sweaters. She looked like she could be an underwear model, but had a serious no-nonsense approach to work that he respected. She just liked to look amazing.

“Ah, thank you.” Warrick turned away from the window and walked over to his desk. He took a last sip from his glass before answering the phone. “Hello?”

Amy slipped out, the door shutting quietly behind her.

“Warrick, I need you to come home early,” Vereint said. He sounded normal, not as though the penthouse had burned down or anything, but that didn’t mean much. Vereint had a strange propensity for treating even the most panic worthy situations as completely everyday.

“What’s wrong?” Warrick drained the rest of his glass. He figured he’d toss back one more before making his way home.

There was a sigh on the other end of the line. “Well, it seems that Melissa is a very special girl. More special than we ever thought she was anyway.” There was a disgruntled “Hey!” in the background. “Oh, chill out, why don’t you? I’m obviously speaking in code. Anyway, Warrick, can you duck out early? We’re going to order food from that one place you like.”

“Jenny Lee’s?” Warrick asked hopefully. They made the most amazing pies he had ever tasted, both hearty dinner and fruit pies. Vereint didn’t really like the restaurant for some reason he wouldn’t explain, so the only way Warrick got to eat their delicious apple crumble was to go alone or with Caspian.

There was a moment of silence. “That other place you like. Or maybe that one place that I like. Whatever. There will be food waiting when you get home and we can handle this situation like a family is supposed to.”

“What, throwing the kid out the window to see if she can fly?” Warrick grinned. “The building’s tall enough we could probably catch her before she hit the bottom.”

“Yeah, no,” Vereint said. “We’ll save that option for a kid we don’t want to keep. Anyway, she’s got an issue and we’ve got delicious food coming. If you leave nowish you’ll probably be here at the same time as the food and we’ll wait to eat.”

“Otherwise you guys will eat everything by yourselves, huh?” Warrick shut down his computer and locked his desk drawers. If anyone needed to see the files inside they could requisition a look at the company library’s copies. “Darling, leave a light on for me. I’ll be there before you close the door to give you all the loving you need,” he deadpanned.

“Ugh, you’re sick,” Vereint sounded amused. “See you.” He hung up.

Warrick put on his coat and grabbed his briefcase, then stopped off at the liquor cabinet to drink another glass of brandy at wasteful speeds. Such an excellent label shouldn’t have been abused like that, but his metabolism burned alcohol fast. He needed more to get less of a result than a normal human.

He left his office and found Amy waiting for him, her butt propped on her desk. “Leaving early, boss?” she asked.

“Were you listening in on our conversation?” he asked.

“Please,” Amy said. “The day I have to listen in on your phone conversation with Mr. Georges to find out that you’re going to leave work early is the day I marry that guy my mom keeps pushing at me. You always duck out early when he calls. It’s sweet.”

“I’m sure it is,” Warrick said.

He and Vereint had somehow become the local “it” couple. He’d caught a group of secretaries huddled around a magazine spread featuring him and Vereint and he’d quickly retreated before they spotted him. There were even websites dedicated to them that he refused to visit for fear of being mentally scarred forever.

“I’ll have the notes from the meeting sent to your ePad as soon as they’re ready, and I’ll clear the rest of your day. I’ve already told your driver to wait for you out front.” Amy smoothed her black pencil skirt when she stood. Her high heels were bright red like the cashmere sweater she was wearing. “Tell Mr. Georges that I expect those chocolates he promised to be delivered promptly.”

“Why is he bribing you?” Warrick gave her a suspicious look.

She shrugged with a catlike smile. “That’s our little secret. You better get home before he calls again.”

Warrick sighed. “I feel like my life is being controlled by other people,” he said. “See you tomorrow.”

“Goodnight Mr. Tobias.” There was way too much amusement in her voice. He refused to glance back at her, afraid of what he was going to see.

 

He came home to an apartment that smelled like something spicy and mouthwatering. It had him throwing his coat in the hall closet and hurrying through the living room to the dining area. There were unopened boxes of takeout food arrayed in the middle of the table.

Vereint and Melissa were sitting across from each other sharing what looked like half a salmon covered in soy sauce, red pepper, and green onions. They had the fish on one plate and were poking at it with their forks.

“I thought you guys were going to wait for me?” Warrick asked accusingly. He crossed his arms and shook his head, then went to his chair. He hadn’t realized how hungry he was.

Melissa’s cheeks were chipmunked out and she looked guilty, but Vereint managed to swallow and smile at him. “We are waiting. See all this food we’re not eating? We…”

“We thought you wouldn’t like the fish!” Melissa said loudly. “You always eat the blandest stuff and this salmon is pretty spicy, so we thought we’d eat it before you got home.”

“You know, Melissa, it’s not that I like eating bland food,” Warrick said. He started opening boxes and used the big spoon to dump different stuff on his plate. “It’s that Vereint is a tyrant that won’t let me eat anything that I really like.”

“Give me that. You’re making a mess.” Vereint took the spoon and his plate away. “You’re the one always complaining about your weight.”

Warrick sat back in his chair and smiled slightly as he watched Vereint quickly fill three plates with food. There was something oddly elegant about the way Vereint held the spoon. The turn of his wrist made Warrick want to bite his lip and he didn’t even know why. Sometimes it startled him to remember that they’d been together a little over ten years; it didn’t seem nearly that long.

“So, why exactly did I come home early today?” he asked, once they all had food and had a chance to try a few bites.

“Because I have superstrength!” Melissa was excited, her cheeks flushed pink. “I’m like a superhero or something.”

Vereint snorted. “You’re ‘like a metahuman,’ kid. You don’t get to have superhero status until you’re registered and saving the world.” He slanted Warrick a look and they shared a smile.

There had been a time when Vereint had been new to the superhero life too, and he’d screwed nearly everything up. Warrick felt guilty about not helping Vereint back then, because he really had been a giant dick. He must have been battling the world’s biggest schoolboy crush at the time and he hadn’t been able to resist tugging Vereint’s pigtails. Not that he’d known that was what he was doing.

“The first thing we’ll have to do is run some assessment tests on you to find out what exactly you have going on,” Warrick said. “Superstrength’s a pretty basic metability. It’s one of the ones people are most likely to have and doesn’t earn you super status unless it’s remarkable in some way.”

“How do you know so much?” Melissa asked. She held her fork in her hand, but it was just hanging in mid-air over her plate as she gazed at him out of wide eyes.

Warrick glanced at Vereint to see what he wanted to do, and received a level look back. Vereint was leaving it up to him if he wanted to unmask himself or not, though he’d already figured out that Vereint was keeping his normal status. He could understand.

It was hard for Vereint to live a normal life. He had so much power in him that it was a struggle not to use it. If he told Melissa that he was a metahuman, she was going to ask him to show his ability, and if he did that there was a good chance he wouldn’t be able to stop. Melissa was a smart kid and it would only be a matter of time before she put things together and realized that Vereint was Darkstar. There was a chance she wouldn’t take it well.

If someone was going to be coming out to Melissa as a metahuman, it wasn’t going to be Vereint. Not now and maybe not ever.

“Watch,” Warrick said. He picked up the thick glass salt shaker and unscrewed the lid, pouring the salt out onto his napkin. Then he held the shaker in his hand and gave it a steady squeeze. It crushed inward, sprinkles of glittery glass particles coating his hand.

“How…” Melissa’s mouth made wordless shapes for a moment after that first word. Her eyes looked huge and she’d leaned over the table to see better. “How did you do that?”

Warrick smirked. “Superstrength. You’re a special kid, but you’re not that special.”

“Wow,” Melissa breathed. Her eyes were nearly glowing with fascination. “Can I do that?”

“Not yet,” Warrick said. “We need to assess you first or you could end up hurting yourself.”

“And we wouldn’t want that to happen,” Vereint said. “Which is why there’s no superpowers in the house. It’s like that Brady Bunch episode where Marcia gets her nose broken.”

“And in that scenario Vereint is Marcia and we go out of our way not to hurt him,” Warrick said, giving Vereint a smirk.

“Which one is Marcia?” Melissa asked.

Vereint tsked and shook his head. “Just for that, we’re having an ancient TV marathon and your whole life will be changed against your will.”

Melissa flopped back in her chair. “How do you make even the day I discover I have superpowers so terrible?”

Vereint grinned at her. “That’s my superpower.”

* * *

It was probably a sign of bad parenting, but Vereint called Melissa in sick so she and Warrick could use her unexpected three day weekend to check out her power levels as a metahuman. He thought about joining them, but figured it was a chance for them to bond. There were some times when he felt as if Melissa was so much more attached to him that Warrick was left out.

The superpower thing could be Warrick’s “in” with Melissa, and Vereint didn’t want to get in the way of that. So he stayed home and baked reward cupcakes in between assembling a pan of lasagna.

By the time the lasagna was cooling in the oven with the door partly cracked, and he’d finished decorating the chocolate cupcakes with red frosting and the sprinkles Melissa loved, he was feeling a thrum along his nerves. He wanted to be out there doing something. A big part of him wished that he could be the one to train Melissa, to show her all the tricks he’d learned as a supervillain, but that way lay trouble.

Melissa was going to be one of the good guys. He wouldn’t get in the way of that.

The front door slammed open hard enough to leave a dent in the wall. “Oops, sorry!” Melissa dashed inside, running toward him, a big grin taking over her face. “Oh my God, Vereint, it was amazing!”

She ran at him and he dropped the bowl he held onto the counter so he could catch her. “Did you have fun?” he asked.

“Fun? Fun!” She squeezed him tight enough that if he had been a normal human he would have been looking at ruptured organs. “You would not believe how awesome it was. I did all kinds of things and I was fantastic and it was just… It was amazing!”

Vereint glanced at Warrick over her head. “Was she really that amazing?”

Warrick wore a faint smile. “She was a little amazing. Not just superstrength, but she seems to have the ability to kind of visualize what someone’s going to do before they do it. We’ll have to test the limits, but should be good enough for her to dodge some punches.”

“Dude.” Melissa pulled away from Vereint so she could flap her hands excitedly. “They were only practice blades, but I could hit the target every time with a knife. It was… It was like my hand and my arm were possessed by magic or something.”

“Yeah, she’s got great speed and accuracy with throwing projectiles,” Warrick said.

“I could totally be an awesome ninja assassin!” Melissa yelled. Her grin was manic.

Vereint sighed and shook his head at her. “Yeah, that ain’t happening. No assassining for you.”

“I can do whatever I want when I’m grown up.” Melissa crossed her arms and stuck out her chin. “When I hit eighteen, you can’t tell me what to do anymore.”

Vereint snorted. “There will never be a time in your life when I won’t be telling you what to do,” he said. “Believe it.”

“Never quote Naruto to me ever again.” Melissa made a dramatic gagging sound before her eye was caught by the cupcakes on the counter.

“Never make me have to then. You are never going to be an assassin.” He stopped her from poking her finger in the icing of one of the cupcakes. “I have spoken.”

She knocked his hand away with her free hand before poking a cupcake. She stuck her tongue out at him before sticking her finger in her mouth. “Fascist,” she accused.

“Fabulous,” Vereint corrected her, “that’s the word you’re looking for. I’m fabulous and I’m going to keep you from being a body in a bag somewhere. You’re just not meant for supervillainy, m’dear. Being a superhero is just your cross to bear.”

“What do you know?” she demanded. “Have you ever met a supervillain before in your life? I don’t think so.”

Vereint looked at Warrick and pointed at Melissa speakingly. He didn’t even have the words to say what he was feeling.

“I got this,” Warrick sighed.

“You better,” Vereint said. He handed Melissa her cupcake, then held one out to Warrick. “I’m not raising a supervillain in this house.”

“What’s your problem with supervillains?” Melissa asked, biting into the top of her cupcake. She got frosting on her nose. “They’re people too, you know. People with feelings.”

“Look,” Vereint said, “when I was younger I ran with a rather tough group of people. I let myself be talked into doing some really stupid things that now I’m ashamed of. It was just luck that I didn’t end up in prison.” He wiped the frosting off her nose with the side of his thumb. “I don’t want to see you in prison.”

“Would you visit me if I got sent to prison?” she asked.

“Yes,” Vereint said, “though I’d probably also tell people you were away at a special school.”

Melissa clutched her chest with her free hand. “That really wounds my hypothetical supervillain heart.”

“When did you become this kid? I remember a time when you were nothing but sweet.”

“I think it started when she became a teenager,” Warrick said. He had peeled half the paper back from his cupcake and taken a careful bite. Just seeing him made Vereint want to smile; Warrick was so fussy about some things. “The whole superpower thing hasn’t added to her charm any.”

Melissa scowled. “I’m not sure if I’m offended or not, but I think that I might be.” She took a big bite of her cupcake. “I think I deserve a car to make up for all of my emotional pain.”

“Considering you’re only fourteen, the chances of you getting a car now are…” Vereint made like he was checking an invisible origami fortune teller, “slim to none.”

She gave him such a disgruntled look that he couldn’t help laughing.

“Why don’t you take your ninja assassin self in and wash your hands?” he said. “I probably should have made you do it before giving you anything to eat. You’ve probably just ingested a million germs off your filthy hands.”

“Maybe it’s my superpower. Maybe I’m impervious to germs, did you ever think of that?” She stuck her chin out and glared defiantly. If he’d been a normal human, he might even have been a little scared of her taking the swing he saw moving behind her eyes.

He gave her a flat look. “Or maybe you can wash your hands if you expect to get any dinner tonight,” Vereint said.

Melissa huffed and rolled her eyes before stomping off toward the bathroom. Her hair flipped up behind her sassily. Her mood had done a complete turn around.

He looked at Warrick. “What the fuck was that?”

Warrick shrugged, his eyebrows raised high enough to touch his hairline. “I don’t know. Puberty?”

Vereint groaned. “Not just superpowers, but teenaged angst at the same time?” He threw up his arms. “That’s it, I quit. You handle the next four years while I tour the world.”

“What, with your band?” Warrick laughed at Vereint’s expression and stepped close to give Vereint a kiss on the forehead. “I’m sorry, but you kind of asked for that one.” He looked up at Vereint and smiled, the corners of his eyes crinkling. He leaned tipped his chin to kiss Vereint, his lips tasting of sweet frosting.

Vereint wrapped his arms around Warrick’s back and pulled him even closer, deepening the kiss. He pulled away enough to say, “You’re brilliant. We will use sex to desensitize ourselves to the upcoming horror.”

“I think you’re making too much of it. Your drama genes are showing.” Warrick grunted when Vereint gave his ass a hard squeeze and went up on his toes with a wince. “By which I mean this is a situation of serious importance. Code Black all the way.”

Vereint nipped Warrick’s chin with his teeth. “It’s the sinking of the Titanic in our living room, and we have no lifeboats to escape.”

There was the sound of stomping footsteps and they pulled apart just before Melissa came into view. Vereint leaned his hip against the counter while Warrick grabbed another cupcake off the plate.

“There, I washed my hands. Are you going to let me eat at the table, or are you going to pour my food into a bowl for me to eat outside?” Melissa crossed her arms and glared at them both.

Vereint looked at Warrick. “No lifeboats.” He went to take the salad out of the fridge.

Warrick shoved practically the whole cupcake in his mouth and didn’t reply. Vereint couldn’t help thinking, Wise man.

* * *

Even realizing she was being a jerk, Melissa couldn’t seem to help herself. Words would pop out of her mouth and they would sound so horrible she would cringe to find out she’d been the one to say them.

The hurt look Vereint would give her after she said something awful only made her feel worse. Then he would be super nice, and she just felt crummy.

It wasn’t his fault he didn’t have superpowers, so why did she feel so angry at him for not appreciating hers? It just seemed sometimes that she expected more gushing when she told him about something she could do.

Instead he would tell her he was proud or just say that it was wonderful, then he’d make her clean her room or something.

It seemed that someone with her abilities shouldn’t have to wash the dishes or rinse out the bathroom sink after brushing her teeth.

She was going to be a superhero someday, she’d already decided that, so why did she have to play at being normal all the time?

It wasn’t fair.

* * *

There was all this tension in the house. It made Warrick cringe when he came through the door, at least until he found out the mood of the day.

The worst part was that Vereint didn’t slap Melissa’s attitude down. He never flat out told her that she was being an awful brat. He just accepted it as she acted like a jerk and rewarded her every accomplishment the same as always.

It came to a head one day when Vereint told Melissa she needed to do her homework before Warrick would train her.

Warrick nodded and picked a magazine up off the coffee table. He didn’t mind waiting.

Melissa blew up.

Her face turned red and she stamped her foot on the floor hard enough to crack the tile in the entryway. “Why do you have to be like that?” she yelled. “This is the one thing I want to do, and you have to ruin it because you’re jealous.”

Vereint’s expression went blank and he just looked at her, his eyes going flat. “Jealous? You think I’m jealous and that’s why I want you to do your homework before you have fun? Is that what you really think?”

“You’re always telling me what to do,” she said, and something like fear crossed her face as she stared at Vereint. She knew she’d gone too far, but didn’t know how to stop. “You boss me around all the time because you know you’re nothing but a normal.”

Something shifted in Vereint’s expression, and Warrick was across the room holding Vereint’s shoulders before he’d consciously decided to move. He knew he couldn’t really hold Vereint back, but he had to at least try.

“Go to your room!” Warrick barked, and Melissa fled, her bedroom door slamming after her. The sound of her flinging things around didn’t show that she’d learned any kind of lesson though.

Warrick could feel Vereint vibrating under his hands, just barely holding onto his control. And Warrick realized that Vereint had been struggling to maintain for months.

“Was I supposed to yell at her the first time she mouthed off to you?” Warrick turned Vereint so he could see his face. “Was I supposed to be authority guy and did I drop the ball on that?”

Vereint didn’t say anything. He squeezed his eyes tight shut, though violet light shone through his eyelids, proof of just how close he was to losing it.

Warrick wondered if Melissa would still be muttering curses in her room if she knew how close she was to facing her first supervillain. He hoped she’d be smarter than that.

“I’ll talk to her,” he said. “Why don’t you go take a walk until you calm down? You can get one of those chocolaty coffee drinks you like from Java Johns.”

Vereint drew in a deep breath and opened literally burning eyes, the violet light so bright it cast shadows across his cheeks. “You handle her,” he said. So I don’t have to.

Warrick nodded. “I will,” and watched Vereint go to the closet and take out his jacket. He didn’t really need it, but he was always careful to maintain the illusion of being a normal human. And it was getting pretty nippy out.

The door slammed behind Vereint, and Warrick was just glad there had been no strength behind it or he’d be looking at replacing the frame and probably a chunk of the wall. He made a note to get the cracked floor tiles fixed.

He drew in a deep breath and went to talk to Melissa. There were a few things she was just going to have to understand.

* * *

She took her shoes off and flung them across the room, not caring that they thudded hard against the wall and left a black mark. She ripped her socks off one at a time, flinging them after her shoes. Her heart was thudding fast in her chest and her muscles trembled with nervous energy.

The look Vereint had given her… It had made a cold chill go through Melissa and she didn’t know why. He was the nicest person she knew. He’d never even yelled at her before. Yet he’d made her feel afraid, as though the walls were closing in.

Warrick had sent her to her room and she still felt as though acid had been poured over her. She knew she’d been acting like a spoiled brat and the guilt over it made her feel worse. She wanted to punch holes in the walls and scream. Her whole body was vibrating with energy she didn’t know how to rein in much less control.

She’d said such awful things to Vereint and she didn’t know why. She didn’t think that she was better than him just because she had metabilities and he was a normal human, but the words had just popped out. He hadn’t even looked mad. He’d just looked at her, and his blue eyes had gone flat and it was like he wasn’t even seeing her anymore. She didn’t want him to look at her like that.

She felt so mad all the time and she didn’t even know why. There was just some part of her that kept taking over and making her want to hurt the people around her as bad as she hurt inside.

There was the brush of knuckles against her bedroom door before Warrick came inside.

She’d never realized before just how forbidding he could appear, his face all tense lines and his eyes so hard that it almost hurt to meet them, so she didn’t, staring down at her bare feet instead. The dark green nail polish was chipped on her big toe.

He just looked at her until she shifted uncomfortably. Finally he said, “You know you’ve been treating Vereint very disrespectfully, don’t you?”

Melissa nodded. She had been.

“It’s made him very sad, though he hasn’t said anything about it.” Warrick put his hands behind his back. “What do you think we should do about it?”

She shrugged and chewed on her bottom lip.

He shook his head with a sigh. “Vereint has always been your biggest fan, I hope you know that. More than anything, he wants to see you succeed in whatever you decide to do… even being a superhero. You know he’s not jealous of you, right?”

She nodded. “Yeah.”

“Calling him a normal… that makes me worried. The way you said it has me wondering whether you’re ready for training and where training will lead you. Because real superheroes, they don’t call people normals or Nominals as though being a metahuman somehow makes them better.” Warrick stared down at her. “That kind of hate speak is not allowed in our house, do you understand?”

“I…” Melissa’s breath came in a hitching gasp and she nodded her head. Her eyes were tickling and burning and she was fighting to keep the tears in. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize to me,” Warrick said. “I’m not the one that you were so incredibly rude to for no reason. He has always supported you, and just because he doesn’t pander the way you somehow think you deserve, that is no reason for you to treat him like crap. You are not better than anyone in this house whether they have metabilities or not.”

“I’ll apologize to Vereint tomorrow.” She rubbed her streaming eyes. “I really didn’t mean to say such awful things. I don’t know why I…”

Warrick held up his hand, stopping her. His expression was still sternly forbidding. “That’s something you’re going to start working out with your therapist at your next session. All I know is that you’ve been taking Vereint for granted, and that needs to change. I want to hear the words ‘Please’ and ‘Thank you’ come out of your mouth and I don’t want you to ever act as though being able to beat someone up makes you better than anyone. It just means you have to be extra careful you don’t end up as a bully.”

Melissa sat on the edge of her bed. “I don’t want to be a bully,” she said.

“Then don’t be one,” Warrick said. “It’s really easy to lose your head and hurt someone when you’ve got superstrength. You cracked the floor tiles in the entryway when you stamped your foot. What do you think could happen if you got mad and hit someone? I don’t want to come home one day and find out that you got angry and hit Vereint. Do you understand?”

She nodded. The image of Vereint slumped on the floor with a fist-sized hole in his chest popped in her head. The shape of the fist was hers. A sob escaped her throat. “I don’t want to hurt him.”

Warrick nodded. “Good. You keep that thought right at the front of your mind. We’ll focus on your control and we’ll see how that works out.”

“Okay,” she said.

“We’re going to move on with your training,” Warrick said. “And you’re going to see what it’s really like to be a superhero. It’s not all fun and games.”

“I know,” she said quietly.

He gave her one last warning look, then left the room.

Melissa scooted back on her bed until she was leaning against the headboard and brought her knees against her chest. She stared at the far wall and chewed on her lip. Silent tears streamed down her face and occasionally she swiped at her eyes with her sleeve.

/CHAPTER