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“Okay,” Rebecca Firestone said. “It’s notthatgreat. He didone thing.Think about all the other times he tried to—”

Another voice came on-screen. “Uh, Rebecca? It’s Steve Davis here, back at the Action News desk. Can you please tell us what you’re seeing?”

“Yes.What I’m seeing is that Shadow Star tried to save the day, but he instead made an honest mistake, and there are people dancing in the streets because they weren’t crushed. Some woman is trying to get Pyro Storm to hold her baby so she can take a picture! Doesn’t she know that Pyro Storm most likelyeatsbabies and—”

Her voice was cut off.

Steve Davis appeared on screen in a little box in the corner, looking uncomfortable. “It looks as if we’re having technical difficulties with the audio. We still have a live video feed, but Rebecca Firestone won’t be able to report on what she’s—okay. Ah—hold on a moment. It looks like something’s happening.”

The camera panned away from where people were clapping Pyro Storm on the back, a second baby being thrust into his arms. The shot rose up until it focused on Shadow Star who stood at the edge of the roof, staring at the scene below.

He was surrounded by shadows.

It wasn’t like anything Nick had seen before.

The shadows looked alive, like they were roiling. They reached out around him, shaped like tentacles, twisting along the side of the building.

And he looked furious.

Brick cracked. Windows broke. Below, people started screaming as debris rained down around them.

The camera jerked back toward the ground. The citizens of Nova City were running once again.

Pyro Storm was looking up at Shadow Star, a frown on his face.

Then everything went to hell. The screen seemed toshakeas the camera spun, and there was a flash of Rebecca Firestone screaming silently, the pilot yelling as he clutched the cyclic-pitch lever, the tail boom and rotor crumpling as a large shadow wrapped around it andyankedand—

The screen went dark.

Steve Davis was pale. “I—we seem to have lost the feed.” He looked beyond the camera into the studio, eyes wide. “I don’t know if we—ah. I don’t know if we’ll get it back. There’s—hold on.” He reached up and touched his earpiece. His hand trembled. “Okay. I’m—ah. I’m being told that it appears the helicopter went down. We’re trying to confirm if—yes. Yes, it appears the Action News Chopper has crashed, and… Shadow Star was the cause.” He swallowed thickly. “I don’t know if—we’re going to take a quick commercial break. When we return, we’ll continue with the live report of the mayhem in midtown today. Stay with us.”

Nick turned off the TV.

He set down the remote.

He turned toward his Dad, who watched him with an unreadable expression. “If someone who loved you lied to you, kept things from you, hurt you, but they needed your help, would you do it?”

Dad’s facade broke, and he looked stricken. “I—” He coughed, clearing his throat. “I would. Because I can never turn my back on someone who needs me. If I was lied to, if I was kept in the dark and my heart was breaking, I would still do everything I could. Sometimes, we lie to the ones we love most to keep them safe.”

Nick nodded tightly. “I don’t have time to explain, but I have to go.”

Dad’s eyes widened. “Wait, no, Nick, what are you talking about? Gowhere?”

Nick tried to smile. It trembled on his face before it collapsed. “You said that you didn’t need me to be an Extraordinary becauseI alreadywasextraordinary. There’s someone who needs to hear the same from me. If something happens and I don’t get to say it, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life.” He backed toward the doorway.

Dad’s eyes narrowed as he struggled to sit back up. “Nick, don’t. Don’t you do this. You stayrightwhere you are.”

Nick’s eyes were wet, but he couldn’t do anything about that now. “I love you. And I’m so happy you’re my dad.”

He turned and ran, his father shouting after him.