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Nick’s laughter faded. “I know, Dad.”

“Good. Now that’s done, on to the next. Seems like you’ve finally figured out that Seth wants to kiss you.”

“What?Dad, no!”

“Dad,yes.Is it reciprocated?”

Nick thought about pressing the call button and demanding the nurse sedate his dad for the rest of the evening. “Why are we talking about this? Go back to the sappy stuff! I don’t wantyouto be an Extraordinary, because you’re already ex—”

“You should invite him over for dinner when I get home. It’ll be you, me, Seth, and my gun.”

Everything was terrible. “You can’t threaten him! I’m not some debutante in the 1950s who needs their honor protected.”

“Watch me threaten him. Do you remember what I showed you with the banana? You have to squeeze the base and roll the condom down slowly to make sure—”

“Why are youlikethis?”

“I’m not going to kill him,” Dad said seriously. “I’m gonna threaten him a little. Make sure he knows that he doesn’t get to stick anything in you without explicit consent.”

Nick gaped at him. “What makes you think I’m going to be the one to have something stuck in me? Maybe I’m going to be the one doing the sticking!” He wished desperately he could take that back as soon as it left his mouth.

Dad looked Nick up and down before snorting. “Yeah, okay, Nicky. Keep telling yourself that.”

“Ack! Nurse!Nurse.My father is losing his mind! Someone help me make him stop—”

They could hear footsteps running down the hall.

“Sorry,” he called out. “I… didn’t mean it?”

“Great,” Dad said with a frown. “Now you’re getting us both in trouble.”

But no one came into the room. A nurse ran by the open door without looking in. And then another nurse ran by. And then another.

Nick didn’t know what was happening. Dad let him go as Nick went to the doorway. A group of people had gathered in the waiting room down the corridor, staring at a TV mounted on the wall.

Another nurse rushed down the hallway, a harried look on her face.

“What’s going on?” Nick asked her.

“Extraordinaries,” she said, sounding breathless as she passed him by. “They’re fighting. Midtown. It sounds bad. People are going to get hurt.”

Nick’s blood turned to ice as he turned quickly back into the room, heading for the TV in the corner.

“What happened?” Dad asked, wincing as he pressed a button on the bed to raise him up to a sitting position.

Nick didn’t answer him. He picked up the remote off the table and turned the TV on. He flipped through the channels until he found what he was looking for.

He took a slow step backward.

“—and I’ve never seen anything like this,” Rebecca Firestone said, and for the first time since Nick had heard her voice, she actually soundedscared.“They are ruthlessly attacking each other. It’s like they’re trying to kill each other. I can’t believe this is—Oh my god!”

It looked like the end of the world.

The camera shot was shaky, Rebecca Firestone’s voice almost drowned out by the winds whipping around the helicopter.

But it was clear enough.

Nick could see Burke Tower far in the background, silhouetted against the setting sun, the cloudy sky streaked pink and orange, the clouds alight. There were blurry movements, almost too fast for the camera to follow, bursts of bright fire and dark shadows.They slowed briefly, Pyro Storm hovering high above the streets of Nova City, cape flapping around him, arms ablaze. Shadow Star was perched high on an antenna tower, hanging off of it with one arm, shadows gathering below him.