Nick woke up on a cot in a parking lot. A mask was over his face, providing him with oxygen. He immediately pulled it off, sitting up.
Vital it may be, but oxygen tasted nasty.
He scanned the area, finding Victor, Inez and the entirety of Spade on cots around him. Desarae and Ethan were fully awake, Paul had his eyes open, and the rest were asleep. Everyone had bandages somewhere.
Next to the cots were two ambulances, next to them sat a few police cars, and at the edge of the parking lot was an armored truck marked ACS. Nick shrank when he saw it, wondering if he should pretend to be asleep. It was never good when the American Conglomeration of Superheroes got involved.
Before he could decide, Emmy ran up to him, smiling.
“Nick!” She gave him a quick hug. “We used all your sleeping gas cans, sorry, but Shawn said it was necessary. Sleeping looks a lot like dead, and for a couple minutes I was worried you’d mislabeled a can or two and I’d killed you. Are you ok?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Nick told her. “How long was I out?”
“It’s been like twenty minutes,” she shrugged. “Shawn is taking care of everything. He’s mad at you.”
“Thank you for the warning,” Nick said. “Are all the bad guys in the ACS truck?”
“Not all. A couple are in police cars,” Emmy said. “The flier got away, but he was the only one. Two ACS people are out looking for him. Inez!”
She darted over to fill Inez in on what was going on. Nick checked his pulse, making sure it was normal before getting to his feet. He took a deep breath, letting it out slowly.
After looking around some more, he spotted Shawn talking to Chief Palo and two men in ACS uniforms. A medic was standing behind Palo, scribbling on a clipboard. Shawn saw Nick, paused, and excused himself. He started walking over.
“Hey, Emmy?” Nick called, turning around. “From one to ten, how mad would you say Shawn is?”
She tilted her head, thinking. “Somewhere between eight and twelve.”
“Just at Nick?” Inez asked hopefully.
Emmy slowly shook her head, smirking.
Shawn walked up to Nick, gave him a death glare, and turned around. “Paul? Mind if I have a word with you and these two in the ambulance?”
Paul sat up, nodded, and slid to his feet. Shawn went to an ambulance and opened the back, waiting for them. Nick exchanged a look with Inez, following Paul into the ambulance.
They sat down as Shawn pulled the door closed behind him.
“Question: why did no one call for reinforcements?” he asked, his voice far too calm.
“We did,” Inez said. “That’s why both teams are here.”
Shawn didn’t even glance at her. “Paul?”
“I… didn’t think of it,” Paul answered.
“How many fights have there been in the past forty-eight hours?” Shawn asked sweetly.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“Nine.”
“And what is the recommended maximum for any one team to handle in a day?”
Paul was starting to sweat. “Two.”
“What is the group size at which point it is recommended reinforcements be called?”
“Two more than your team size,” Paul answered.
Shawn nodded. “And how many people had you fought when you held a press conference?”
“Nine?”
“So, as Team Manager, why the hell didn’t you contact the ACS about this group?” Shawn punched the wall, his voice getting louder with each word. “You don’t just announce to the city we’re in over our heads! You get help! You might as well have sent a beacon out to every bad guy in the country, telling them this city is about to be fair game! Seriously, you should know this.” He spun, pointing at Nick and Inez. “And which one of you morons decided to keep me completely uninformed? Not even after talking to the press? Are you serious? You couldn’t even have told me about the fights after you got back? Maybe I would have liked to know that you nearly killed a guy last night! That’s bad PR I’ll have to deal with, on top of fixing whatever he did to Emmy! And this morning: what possessed you to not tell me what you were up against? You know I’ve been sick, what would you have done if I hadn’t woken up until just now? Inez, Victor is seriously hurt, what if he’d died?” He stopped, breathing hard.
Nick stared at the floor, not daring to look up. He heard Inez start to cry.
“I’m sorry,” Paul said softly. “You’re right. I should have contacted the ACS. I should have known… better.”
“Thank you,” Shawn said bitterly. He swung the door open. “Go make sure your team is ok, then verify everyone’s powers with Palo.”
Paul nodded, slipping out of the ambulance. Nick watched him go, wishing he could leave, too. But Shawn shut the door again.
“I’m sorry,” Inez told him. “I thought we could handle it. I thought we were strong enough.”
Shawn sat down, sighing. “Whether you are or not isn’t the point. Guys, I’m the manager. I have to know when you fight. I take responsibility for your actions. If you don’t let me know what those actions are… it could be bad.”
“I didn’t consider the possibility of one of us getting hurt,” Nick admitted.
“Nick, were you the only one out there with a gun?”
“Yes.”
“You fired it?”
“Yes.”
“A bullet hit the speedster in her lower arm, destroying the bone. It’ll have to be amputated. The police found her at the edge of the park, still bleeding. You’re lucky she didn’t die, but… She’s fifteen. Why did you fire a gun?”
Nick resumed staring at the floor. “Victor took it from the flier and had to hand it off to someone. I got it in my hand and… I don’t know, I used it.”
“This is a dangerous line of work,” Shawn said. “No one denies that. I can tell people you did what you had to in the moment, but if she’d died… Nick, regulations say I would have had to kick you from the team. At least temporarily. And Victor’s hearing has been damaged. We won’t know how badly until he wakes up, but blood coming out of ears is never a good thing. It could easily have been worse. If- If I hadn’t woken up as you left, if Emmy hadn’t told me, if I’d gone back to sleep…” He stopped, taking a deep breath. “Don’t do this to me. Never leave me out again.”
“We won’t,” Nick promised. “I’m sorry.”
“I’m sorry,” Inez echoed. “You were sick, I didn’t want to worry you.”
“The road to hell is paved with good intentions,” Shawn muttered, shoving the door open. “Thank you, but never do it again. Feeling this powerless… getting this close to being unable to stop you being killed… it sucks.” He stepped out of the ambulance.
“I’m sorry.”
“…Sorry.”