Chapter 14

Chapter 14

No one spoke.

Tom had rushed over and was helping Erica bandage up her arm. Lizzie was helping Henry with the knife, which was still in his shoulder. Henry was lying down and wincing as Lizzie examined his wound.

“The knife is serrated,” Lizzie told Nick when he walked up. “Removing it could cause more damage. I just don’t know what to do. I wish Josh was here.”

“He really took charge back there,” Nick said quietly.

“Yeah he always wanted to be a doctor,” Lizzie answered with an attempt at a smile, but it soon vanished. “I hope he’s okay.”

Nick didn’t say anything. He didn’t know what he could say to her, but he could sympathize with what she was going through.

“You did great by the way,” Lizzie said quietly, smiling at Nick. “I saw you. You used your powers! That must make you feel good.”

“Yeah,” Nick replied, but in truth, he wasn’t feeling good at all. He used his powers because he had to, but the minute he thought about it, they were gone. It wasn’t much of an accomplishment in his opinion.

Tom was on a phone and was talking vigorously with someone on the other end. Finally he hung up. “They’re sending a CIA car to pick us up,” Tom replied, then motioned to Erica and Henry. “We can’t fly with them in this condition.

Tom sighed heavily, then glared at Nick accusingly. “What happened back there?”

“What?” Nick said, returning the glare, suddenly on the defensive.

“They wouldn’t have gotten away if you could have just distracted your guy. He was able to get the drop on us because you failed!”

Anger flowed through Nick again. “It’s not my fault!”

Tom scoffed. “Of course it is! We all could have died because of you!”

“Tom!” Tom turned to look at Erica, who had stood up and was glaring at him with rage. “It’s not Nick’s fault. You’re just looking for someone to blame.”

“He was reckless! He raced off into a situation he had no business being in!”

“At least he helped! He ran into the situation without knowing if he would be able to use his powers! It was brave!”

“It was stupid! He could have gotten himself killed along with the rest of us!”

“He saved my life!”

Tom paused for a moment. “What?” he stammered.

“The guy I was fighting threw a knife at me. Nick stopped it and fought the guy…” she turned to look at Nick. “…with his powers.”

Tom stood, dumbfounded, not having a clue what to say. Finally, he snapped out of it and a scowl returned to his face. “It doesn’t matter. He shouldn’t have been there. Maybe if he wasn’t, we would have caught at least one of them and learned what they wanted and why.”

“They didn’t want anything.” Everyone turned to look at Nick, who was as surprised he spoke up as they were.

Tom frowned. “Of course they wanted something. They broke into the warehouse, stabbed a woman, and attacked us. They clearly wanted something there.”

“They didn’t want anything,” Nick repeated, then paused, wondering if he should say the next part. “Blackwell did.”

The color drained from everyone’s face as he said the name. “What?” Tom stammered in a cold voice.

“Those men work for Blackwell. They were at the Boeing warehouse and they were here on his orders.”

Nick had placed the man he had pinned to the wall. His scar was a dead giveaway. He was the man at the Boeing warehouse who had called Blackwell, which meant he was most likely here under his orders.

No one said anything for a moment. Suddenly, Tom scoffed. “Are you kidding me? Is this your cry for attention? There is no way those men work for Blackwell.”

“They do!”

“And how do you know this?”

Nick didn’t respond. His mind swam with uncertainty. Finally, he sighed, knowing he could never tell them how he knew. It would give away the offer Blackwell had made him, which he was still uncertain about.

Tom smiled in victory. “See? You don’t know. Blackwell may be a sociopath…” Tom stole a sideways glance at Erica, who was looking out over the city with a blank face. “…But he isn’t capable of any of this.”

“Why not? You don’t know what he’s like.”

“And you do?!” Tom said with another laugh. “You know nothing about him. All you know is his name and you instantly have cast him as the villain.”

Suddenly, Erica turned to look at Nick, a shocked look on her face. The glance was not missed by Nick, but he chose to try his best to ignore it.

“I’m telling you! He’s behind it all!”

Tom held up a hand, silencing him. “That is enough! One more word about Blackwell, and I will throw you off of this building.” Tom leaned in close to Nick, speaking in a voice just above a whisper so that only the two could hear it. “You are just like him you know. Overly ambitious. Sly. The only difference is he could actually control his powers.”

“Is that why you hate me?” Nick whispered back with a growl. “Afraid I’m going to rip your sister’s heart out too?”

Before Nick knew what was happening, he flew backwards, slamming into the ground and skidding across it before coming to a stop. Nick looked up to see Tom staring at him with a look of rage more intense than ever before.

“Guys,” Lizzie said, trying her best to break the tension. “The car is here.”

Sure enough, a black van had pulled off the main road and into the back alley, which was now void of cops. With one last murderous glare at Nick, Tom ran to the edge of the building and motioned for the rest to follow. They flew to the ground with Lizzie helping Henry and Erica helping Nick. They climbed in a sped away.

Nick said nothing as the car left the city and emerged onto a highway. “If you say anything, they’ll never trust you again,” he thought. “Not like they trust me now, anyway.”

Blackwell’s offer was looking more incising than ever, but he had blown that. He attacked Blackwell’s men and tried his best to tell the team about him. Blackwell probably wanted him dead now.

He closed his eyes and tried his best to relax, which was difficult with Tom glaring daggers at him. He breathed in and out, and soon, his mind grew blank. He smiled. This was as blissful as he had felt in days.

Suddenly, his mind began to sway. An icy feeling crept up from inside him and his thoughts became jumbled. Even though his eyes were closed, Nick could feel the darkness seeping in around his vision.

 

His eyes flew open, but he was no longer in the van. He was back in Blackwell’s office.

Blackwell was sitting at his desk, his head in his hands. There was a man standing in front of him. Nick’s heart gave a jolt when he realized it was the man he had battled in the warehouse. Blackwell looked up at the man, but did not acknowledge Nick at all.

“Was the mission a success Rookwood?

Rookwood smiled. “Yes sir it was. It took longer than expected, but we finally found it” He removed a small device from his pocket and set it down on his desk. The device was no larger than a quarter, and resembled a lighter in appearance, but Blackwell took it in his hand like it was solid gold.

“We took so long trying to find it, the team showed up again,” Rookwood continued. “We fought a bit. We weren’t able to kill any of them, unfortunately. I came so close with that blonde girl too…”

Rookwood stopped speaking. Blackwell’s head had flung upwards and he glared at Rookwood with an intense hatred. “What did you say?” Blackwell hissed.

“I almost killed that blond girl,” Rookwood said hesitantly. “By the way, there was a new guy on the team this time. If you were looking to recruit him, though, don’t bother. He ran in while we were battling and took me on single handedly. He’s a CIA stooge if I ever saw one.”

Blackwell didn’t appear to be listening. He had stood up and walked to the back window. He was looking out, but Nick doubted he was examining the scenery.

Blackwell turned back towards Rookwood, a fake look of calm on his face. “I told you not to harm her or the new recruit.” Blackwell said quietly.

“I saw an opportunity and I took it,” Rookwood said in his defense. “But they’re CIA. I personally see no loss if they were killed…” Rookwood suddenly stopped speaking. His hand was moving upwards, but he looked at it with a shocked expression, like it wasn’t supposed to be doing it.

“Insubordination,” Blackwell growled. “I give you orders. You follow.”

Rookwood’s hand continued to move upwards and it flew around his throat. “Sir…please…” Rookwood gasped. Blackwell continued to display his mask of calm, but smiled slightly at Rookwood’s pleas.

“Your services will no longer be required Rookwood,” Blackwell said.

A look of fear overtook Rookwood’s face and he began to gasp for air as his own hand betrayed him. His grip slowly tightened, cutting off his breathing. He fell to his knees as his face grew dark blue. Finally, he tumbled over, having breathed his last.

The room suddenly dissolved and darkness possessed Nick’s vision once more.

 

There was no one she cared about more than Tom, but sometimes, she wanted to find the tallest building in the world and chuck him off the top.

He was the most stubborn man she knew. Once he had a thought on something, next to nothing could change it. Unfortunately, Nick seemed to be part of that category.

Erica sighed as she embraced the gentle hum of the car’s engine as she tried her best to relax, but to no avail. Just too much had happened for her to try and sleep now.

Nick said the men worked for Blackwell. Tom was quick to write it off as the ravings of an attention seeking newbie, but Erica didn’t know what to think. If what Nick said was right, that meant Blackwell was…

“No,” she found herself thinking. “Don’t even think it. Blackwell may be a jerk who abandoned you, but he isn’t a villain. He would never order those men to attack you.”

She calmed down slightly as she replayed the words in her head. They had to be true. Blackwell wasn’t a bad guy. Misguided, but not bad. He couldn’t be ordering those men around.

A tiny moan snapped Erica out of her thoughts. She looked over at Nick, who was jerking slightly in his sleep. She leaned forwards and stared hard at him, attempting to read his emotions, but was instantly overcome with a headache again.

“That’s not possible,” she thought. “His mind can’t be that active while he’s asleep.”

Suddenly, Nick’s eyes flew open and he sat up in his seat, breathing heavily. He looked around and his eyes rested on Erica.

“What just happened to you?” she asked.

“What?” Nick croaked.

“You weren’t asleep,” she said. “Your mind was too active to be asleep.” She paused, an idea suddenly sparking in her head. “You had a vision, didn’t you?”

“A vision?” Nick questioned.

“It happens sometimes to powerful Enhanced,” she said. “They unconsciously slip into the mind of someone else. It happens when you’re most relaxed since you don’t have any thoughts to control your power. You don’t even need training to do it since it happens unconsciously.”

“Did this happen to Blackwell?” Nick said suddenly.

Erica’s face became guarded again, but she didn’t turn away.

“You have to get over it,” she thought to herself. “That’s what Fox said.”

She breathed deeply. “Yes, it did.” She paused for a moment. “So, what did you see?”

She needed to know. Visions don’t just happen randomly. They only happen when the person you watching is feeling intense emotion. This causes the brain waves to be more pronounced, and allows the watcher to see images more clearly. The emotions could be anything, but it usually happens with one in particular. Rage.

“I can’t tell you…” Nick said finally, sighing.

“You can’t tell me?” Erica said, hardly believing what she heard. “You do know I am one of the only people who knows about visions right? I am the only person who would understand.”

“I know,” Nick said in a cold voice. “But I can’t tell you. It’s…personal.”

She continued to stare at him for a moment more. “I can’t believe it!” she yelled in her mind. “Does he not understand I’m trying to help him?!”

Apparently, he didn’t. Nick leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes again.

Erica grumbled, but followed suit. She was going to get him to talk eventually, even if she had torture it out of him, which was an option that was becoming more enticing by the day.

She didn’t even know why she was obsessing so much over Nick. After all, it’s not like they were close or anything. They weren’t really friends either, but the mystery had taken root in her mind and wasn’t letting go anytime soon.

She laid her head down on the side of the car, and glanced once more at Nick, whose eyes were moving about wildly under his eyelids.

“What are you thinking?” She wondered as sleep finally took her and her eyes closed.