TORY:
“What is this? What’s going on? What happened to my office?”
Alex’s eyes narrowed on the man and his eyebrows knit.
Tory looked down at Vent, finally taking a beat to focus on the paint-splattered face of the man he and Alex had worked together to restrain.
Martin’s dad, Vincent Ramos, was Vent. It was odd trying to mash together the enthusiastic soccer dad he’d met at games with the serious superhero who was capable of wiping out a city block with his tornado power.
And now…
Now he was the man who had tried to kill Tory.
Why?
“What’s going on?” The man asked, horrified.
Tory looked at Alex, then back at the man. “Vent, playing amnesia is not going to get you out of an assault charge that easily.”
He blinked in confusion. “Assault charge? What—I’m a hero! Everlux, you know me.”
Tory took a step back. Vincent’s fear was....it was genuine. It seemed genuine, at least. Tears brimming his brown eyes, panic causing his voice to come out in gasps. He had never seen him so afraid.
Tory’s determination to jail this man crumpled. He looked back at Alex, uncertain of what to do. Alex was horrified as well, and he had no answers.
“What do you remember, Mr. Ramos?” Tory asked gently.
The man’s eyes squeezed shut. “I went...I went to dinner with my husband. We were going to spend the weekend at a hotel. I...”
They needed to call his husband, Leo Ramos. They needed to call somebody.
“He seems like he’s telling the truth?” He scratched the back of his head. The uncertain tone in his voice was completely juxtaposed to the deep, gritty voice modulator. “Maybe it was some kind of...I don’t know. Maybe he just had a psychotic break. What do you think we should do?”
“Seems possible.” Alex raised an eyebrow at him, like he thought it was weird that Everlux seemed to want his input.
That was fair. Alex was a high school student, and Everlux, as far as the rest of the world knew, was a tax-paying adult.
“We’ll keep him contained and call the emergency responders to take him away, I guess,” Alex suggested.
Tory puffed his cheeks and slowly released a stream of air. “Yeah. I’ll do that. He’s still dangerous, so…”
“Okay.”
Tory pressed two buttons on his voice modulator, which sent his signal and location to emergency services and alerted them that Everlux needed them. He had only used the buttons a handful of times in all of his fights—usually, the authorities had long been informed by this point. He imagined that at least one of the partygoers had called the responders by now, but he couldn’t be too sure.
“Who knew Martin’s dad would be a hero?” He mumbled. “...Or a villain, for that matter?”
Alex’s eyes narrowed. “What did you say?”
He cleared his throat. “He just seems like a regular soccer dad. Why would he be a villain?”
“How do you know that?” He asked, suspicious.
Right. Everlux didn’t know the Ramos family, let alone their kid Martin.
Tory stared pointedly at the shelf and desktop full of soccer trophies and photos full of Martin’s team, some of which Tory himself was in. Vincent was standing on the sidelines in some of them, wearing ten-year-old Martin’s team’s matching t-shirt, as if he was the coach. Alex followed his gaze, and then his face started to turn red.
“I guess it’s obvious.”
“You’re so suspicious of me,” Tory teased, and Alex’s face burned redder.
“That’s because you’re the biggest social hero out there. I didn’t think you actually did anything.”
“Well, excuse me. Modeling for photos is hard work, too.”
Alex looked dumbfounded by the retort, which made Tory grin. “So, are you going to tell me how you judo-flipped a guy in a mech suit without breaking a sweat?”
“It’s not a Judo flip. It’s Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.” Alex rolled his eyes.
“So, you’re just casually an incredible martial arts user, or…?”
“Maybe I’m a superhero.” Alex shot him a cold smile. “Maybe I’m not. Wouldn’t be super responsible of me to tell you, would it?”
“I’m just curious,” Tory said, raising his hands defensively, but his heart was thumping at Alex’s expression.
“And what about you? Are you a high schooler? Because the way you talk…” Alex’s expression deadpanned. “You feel like you’re my age. I’m pretty sure minors are not allowed to be heroes.”
“Wouldn’t be super responsible of me to tell you, would it?” Tory responded, and he fully enjoyed the furious blush continuing to seep into Alex’s cheeks. Alex did not seem to like conceding points to Everlux.
“I’m going to find my friend and see if he’s okay,” Alex said, then walked out of the office, glancing back at Tory with a suspicious glare. “See you later, I guess. Everlux.”
“Want me to tell the responders how you were involved in his capture?”
Alex considered his question, pausing at the door.
“You might get some fame and fortune out of it. We could even post a photo together on my Nexus profile.”
“Then, no.” Alex scoffed and left, and Tory twinkled his fingers after him. . . . . .
The responders arrived quickly, wide landing pads jutting from the back of the ambulance and the side of the super villain containment van. Most of the partygoers had scattered in fear of the fight getting out of hand, and at the sight of the responders, more took off in their hover vehicles. A small group of guests gathered on the balcony, watching all of the action from afar, including Martin, Marisol, Delaney, and Alex.
Emergency responders were a vast network that dealt with crime and emergency situations in Gale CIty, and they included the four biggest departments. The first was Containment, the department that dealt with the arrest and transport of super villains, which worked directly with DOME laboratories and the Paragon Guild to create vehicles, gadgets, and prison cells that restrained prisoners with powers.
This was followed by Enforcement, the department that worked with the Paragon Guild to manage hero patrols and maintain the general lawfulness and safety of the city. The third was Rescue, which involved firefighters, ambulances, and heroes specifically trained to help injured civilians.
The final department was Impact and Legal Management, which was the department that basically dealt with the damages, finances, paperwork, and insurance.
Everlux escorted the responders to the super villain, donning as professional and sober an affectation as possible. He thought about how his mom would treat the situation—with appropriate, but distant, concern.
Martin was distraught as he watched his dad get taken away in the back of the villain containment vehicle, removed from his mech suit and wearing spherical black cuffs that completely surrounded his hands to keep him from using his power. The son slumped against his balcony and sat on the ground, his eyes trained somewhere in the distance.
Tory had been too wrapped up in the mystery of it all to consider the ramifications that this would have on Martin and on his family. The ripple effects it would have on their community, their little part of Gale City.
Martin’s life was broken, and Tory felt like it was his fault, at least a little bit.
He knew what it was like to lose a dad.
Martin stood separate from the other guests, his eyes on his father. Everlux approached him, knowing that this was not something his distantly-concerned-mother would do.
“Something about this doesn’t seem right,” he said to him carefully. “Your dad is a good man. He cared about his work as a hero. He cared about getting things done right. I’m going to investigate this. It’s not a closed case, okay? Not to me.”
Martin scrubbed tears out of his eyes. He nodded. “Thanks.”
“Of course, and I’m sorry.”
There weren’t words for this kind of loss, but Tory hoped Martin could feel that he meant what he said.
Martin nodded, his expression vacant.
When he was done with the responders and Martin, his eyes automatically went to find Alex’s. Alex was talking to Delaney and Marisol in hushed, rapid voices, looking more and more upset with each passing second.
Tory wasn’t sure what was happening—was he more shaken by his short fight with Vent than he’d appeared before?
Then he remembered. Oh. Right. Tory was still missing.
He leapt into the air, then entered the apartment through the still-open balcony on the other side of the apartment. His suit melted away and transformed back into his rings.
Something about wearing his suit always numbed Tory’s senses. Maybe it was just the adrenaline or the state of mind he was in, but the moment it was gone, he could feel the pain in his ribs and the bruises around his crushed throat tenfold. He had a headache, and he wanted to forget the entire evening, forget Martin’s face, forget that Alex had kept some big secrets from him, forget Vent’s eyes.
Man. This was supposed to be a fun night with his friends. No superpowers for one evening.
He stumbled through the hallway and into the kitchen, then slid down the fridge door and sat on the floor, waiting for people to find him.
ALEX:
The word Alex had for Tory when he found him sitting cross-legged on the kitchen floor was fragile.
The bruises were dark and purpling against his pale neck. His heart cringed at the sight. He wrapped his arms around his best friend and pulled him in, angry at himself for not finding Tory faster and getting him away from Vent sooner.
“Are you okay?” They asked each other at the same time, then laughed. Tory’s hand found a way to Alex’s face, wiping wetness from his cheek with his thumb. The tenderness sent Alex’s pulse into a frenzy.
“Dude. What happened?” Tory asked him. “I thought you were going to follow me.” He searched Alex’s face like he was looking for something there. His gaze was much too sharp and inquisitive for Alex to brush off.
“You looked like you were going to fight him,” Tory said. “Which would be incredibly stupid.”
“Right.” Alex puffed his cheeks. “Nope. I didn’t do anything. I just distracted him for a minute, and then Everlux came and saved my ass.”
The corner of his mouth quirked up into a crooked smile. “Did he?”
“I might feel a little bad about badmouthing him now,” Alex said, which wasn’t necessarily true.
He did realize, in retrospect, that giving Everlux a hard time to his face was an absolutely crazy thing to do, but Alex had been exposed to heroes of all types for his entire life.
In training, he had broken records that the best of them had set.
Everlux was not exactly intimidating in comparison. He was flashy, silly, and he didn’t appear to have the grit that training and a sense of duty built.
Some paragons opted for private training instead of the guild training. As long as they picked a trainer with certification in the guild, it counted as required training. It was expensive, so many chose to train with the guild. Sometimes, heroes who privately trained were complete self-motivated badasses with an intimate understanding of their strengths and weaknesses. Other times…
Other times, they were more like Everlux. Taking it easy. Unaware of the code, or the mantle as heroes that they carried.
He was...different than Alex expected, though. Alex wasn’t convinced that he was a real or good superhero, but he was not exactly what Alex had imagined. He didn’t give any grand speeches about justice or pose dramatically for a photo. He didn’t act proud of himself. He didn’t even act hero-humble, which was a word Alex’s dad had coined for when heroes said cheesy stuff like, “All in a day’s work!” or, “Anyone would do it in my place!” to some pretty anchor lady, and then wink and grin at the camera.
He was snarky and almost self-deprecating, and then when he talked to Martin, he was kind and genuinely sad for him.
It was…weird.
Then Alex remembered something. “Earlier, you were trying to play hero and get me to leave while you were being literally crushed under his boot. What the hell, Tory?”
“I was trying to distract him while you came up with a witty plan to save the day.”
“Mhhhm.” Alex pulled Tory to his feet.
“You were so cool when you broke the door down.” Tory bit his bottom lip. “My hero.”
Alex was pretty sure he was going to have a heart attack. Instead, he rolled his eyes. “Stop. I’m cringing. How are you feeling?”
He was so much shorter than him, up this close, everything about him small and pretty and fragile. Alex wanted to protect him.
Tory’s expression dead-panned. “Oh, I could definitely use some drugs.”
Alex reached over and traced his fingers around the bruises on Tory’s throat. His Adam's apple bobbed a little under Alex’s fingers. “Just from this?”
“I think I might have broken a rib.”
He flinched. “Wait, what?”
“Yeah,” Tory said. “So we should probably go out to the ambulance.”
Alex blinked. So much for fragile. “How did you know one was here?”
“I could hear the siren, dude.”
“Sweet breezes,” Alex breathed, then laughed a little. “Why are you so nonchalant after getting attacked by a super villain?”
“Shock, probably,” Tory said. “Why are you so nonchalant?”
“I am not nonchalant. All I could think about was you getting choked.” He ran his hands through his curls and let out an exasperated huff. “I’m going to get an ulcer, and I’m going to name it after you.”
“Tory Jr. Adorable. I’m going to be a father.”
“You only get weekend visitation rights.”
They got to the patio, and Marisol and Delaney swarmed Tory. Delaney almost hugged him, but she stopped when she saw the bruises on his neck.
“Oh my gosh. What—Vent did that?” She yelped.
“Damn. What did you do to make him mad?” Marisol narrowed their eyes at Tory.
“I…”
Alex watched Tory start to say something snarky, but his smile faded as he caught a glance at Martin Ramos across the patio watching the van containing his father leave.
It hit him all over again that the man who attacked him was Vincent Ramos, a man who knew Tory personally, and had known him since he was a kid.
A good man. A good hero.
A man who didn’t seem like he knew what was going on.
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