Reunion: Supervillain Rehabilitation Project Read online

  Reunion

  Supervillain Rehabilitation Project

  #5

  H. L. Burke

  For information about H. L. Burke’s latest novels, to sign up for the author’s newsletter, or to contact the author, go to

  www.hlburkeauthor.com

  Free eBook for Newsletter Subscribers!

  Copyright © 2021 H. L. Burke

  All rights reserved.

  Cover art by K. M. Carroll

  Cover layout by Jennifer Hudzinski

  Copyright © 2021 H. L. Burke

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN: 9798541013429

  Table of Contents

  Copyright Page

  Copyright Page

  To Cap. I hope you get the reference.

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  ABOUT H. L. Burke

  Also by H. L. Burke

  To Cap. I hope you get the reference.

  —Heidi

  Chapter One

  “Okay, cinnamon sticks, fennel seeds—what the heck is garam masala?” Aiden Powell squinted at the list his girlfriend had texted him. He tossed three more spice bottles into his shopping basket before desperately looking around for an employee. None presented, so he skipped over that ingredient and continued down the list. “Kashmiri chili powder?”

  Scratching his short blond beard, he picked up a small jar of bright red powder.

  It said chili powder ...

  He set his basket on the floor so he could use both hands to text.

  Does the Kashmiri part really matter for the chili powder?

  The response popped up immediately ... and in all caps.

  YES.

  He sighed inwardly before replying. Okay, I’ll keep looking.

  Did you go to the market I sent you the link to? They always have it.

  A cold sweat began to form on the back of his neck. It wasn’t that he didn’t believe that her market of preference would be a good place to shop for her very specific ingredient list. It was just ... super out of his way.

  Come on, Aiden, he chided himself. Cooking dinner with her was supposed to be an easy date night ... dang, why couldn’t we do spaghetti?

  His phone buzzed in his hand.

  I’m taking your lack of response to mean no, you’re at some random box store, probably the one with the blue vests, and you just expect it to miraculously have a large Indian food section?

  He swallowed. Maybe.

  A wincing emoji popped up. Maybe I started your cooking lessons at too advanced a level. Do you just want to get pizza?

  No, not at all. He typed as quickly as he could. I can’t blow this. We’ve been together for almost a year now. She needs to know I can handle something this basic.

  He typed again. I really want you to teach me some of these dishes. They’re great when you make them.

  Okay, but let me send you another recipe. This one’s a little easier.

  She sent a link. He glanced it over. Still complicated, but he recognized most of these spices ... well, that garam thing was still there. He’d have to check out the international foods aisle.

  Thanks, he replied.

  No problem, bae. She capped off her message with a winky face. A warmth spread through his chest. Even if he screwed up the shopping, he needed the break seeing Tanvi tonight would provide.

  When Aiden had left superheroing, around the time he’d started seeing Tanvi, he’d thought it would allow him a more restful life. Of course, his fall back career as an EMT wasn’t exactly low stress. The last several weeks had seen him respond to way too many calls that ended in less than ideal ways. He’d scheduled some much needed time off, but more than that, his whole being craved the restoration of being with the woman he loved.

  Another reason why I can’t screw up tonight. He set his mouth firm and googled garam masala.

  Ten minutes later, his basket now triumphantly full of everything Tanvi had requested, Aiden started back through the store towards the self checkouts. As he passed an endcap, he nearly bumped into a young teen easing around the display, eyeing the plastic cases filled with brightly colored earbuds. The kid ducked his head and slipped to the side. His hand, holding one of the packages, dipped into his pocket as he did.

  Aiden’s eyes narrowed. He pulled up his powers, reaching out for the nearest mind. He latched onto the hum of smug, self-satisfaction oozing off of the would-be shoplifter and projected his own thoughts.

  I saw that. Put it back.

  The kid jumped and stumbled backwards into a display of chips. His now wide eyes darted around the area before locking with Aiden’s.

  Don’t make me call security, kid. Aiden nodded towards the display.

  The young man’s expression hardened, and he cursed under his breath.

  Frickin’ super-ableds, his sulky thoughts echoed into Aiden. He put the earbuds on the rack again.

  Aiden sidled over and picked them up. His sister, Lucia, AKA Prism, ran a camp for at-risk Super-Abled, often called sable, teens. This kid probably didn’t qualify, but if Aiden had learned anything from Lucia it was how the system could chew up people who got into it young.

  “Good choice. Come with me.” Aiden walked over to the self-checkout line.

  The kid eyed him suspiciously. “You with DOSA?”

  “Retired.” Getting out of the grasp of the Department of Super-Abled had been one of the better decisions of Aiden’s life. He motioned the kid closer. “Do you want the earbuds or not?”

  The kid’s eyebrows shot up, but he followed Aiden to the check out. Aiden rang up the earbuds separately from his own purchases so that he could give the kid a receipt.

  “Don’t try that again. You never know who’s watching, and some sables lead with a power blast.”

  The kid hesitated before snatching the earbuds and the receipt from Aiden’s hand and rushing for the exit.

  Aiden shook his head ruefully before continuing to check out.

  He’d just inserted his debit card to pay when his phone went off in his pocket. He pulled it out. The display read, “Wildfyre.”

  Aiden’s brow furrowed. Wildfyre, a former DOSA teammate who now led the Oceanside branch of the department, never called him. He swiped to answer, “Hey, it’s Aiden.”

  “Hey, man, how are you?”

  “Fine, just doing some shopping.” Aiden hoped that would be understood as code for “not able to talk long.”

  “Great, great.” Wildfyre cleared his throat. “I heard you were living in Vista these days?”

  “Yeah, I am. Why?”

  “I’m actually not far from there—in Escondido. We got called down for some weird potentially sable involved incident this afternoon. I don’t know if you heard about it?”

  “Nah, I haven’t checked the news all day.” Aiden held his phone against his shoulder for a moment so he could put away his wallet and collect his items. He hadn’t remembered to bring a shopping bag but thankfully they had them for purchase. “Was it a villain attack?”

  “Not sure. It was strange. We got a call from a bank that the alarms had gone off.”

  “In the middle of the afternoon? Couldn’t they see that they were being robbed?” Aiden frowned.

  “It’s Saturday.”

  “Oh, yeah, sorry.” He tried to cl
ear his head. “Shift work makes it blend together.”

  “How’s that going, by the way? Prism told me you were doing the EMT thing again.”

  “It’s going.” Aiden walked towards the door, resigning himself to not getting his former colleague off the phone any time soon. “The bank, though?”

  “Right! Well, the normie police got there and found a couple of people roaming around the locked lobby, looking dazed and panicked,” Wildfyre continued. “That’s when they checked the security cameras, and apparently these people just popped into existence in the middle of the bank, appearing from thin air.”

  “So sables?” Aiden headed towards his beat up sedan. “Some sort of teleportation powers, maybe?”

  “That’s what they thought, which is why they called us in, but it seems like the people had as little idea how they’d gotten there as we did. Their statements were all muddled. DOSA took them into custody, but if it was a bank robbery it was a poorly done one. They were stuck in there with the loot and didn’t even get into the vault or so much as try to from what we can tell.”

  “Weird.” Aiden hit the button to unlock his car and slid behind the steering wheel. “Why are you calling me about it, though?”

  “Well, I thought you might be familiar with the villain scene in the area. Does the MO ring any bells?”

  “No, but I’ve been avoiding anything even remotely connected to that world since I quit DOSA.” He stuck his key in the ignition and turned the engine over. Maybe that sound would be enough for Wildfyre to get a clue. “I could be living next door to a supervillain, and I wouldn’t even know it.”

  “Probably a good thing. Your sister would want to rehabilitate him.” Wildfyre snorted. “Yeah, I figured it was a long shot, but I haven’t seen you—or Tanvi for that matter—since you left the team, so I guess I kind of wanted an excuse to catch up, you know?”

  The back of Aiden’s neck heated, and he suddenly felt guilty for trying to push Wildfyre off the phone. “Yeah, we should catch up sometime. No reason for us not to hang out every so often.”

  “You free tonight? Like I said, I’m in the area.”

  Aiden balked. Guilty or not, he was not giving up his quiet evening in with Tanvi for some sort of dude date with Wildfyre. “Uh, sorry, bro. Tanvi and I have a date tonight, then we’re supposed to drive up to Oregon tomorrow to visit Prism for a couple of weeks.”

  “Oh, yeah, she’s due soon, isn’t she? I saw her Instagram bump updates.”

  Aiden chuckled. “Ready to pop. It’s a boy, I guess, so her and Fade will have the ‘matched set.’”

  “Good for them.” Aiden could hear Wildfyre’s smile in his voice. “Sorry to bug you. Watch out, though. Something weird is going on, but I haven’t figured out what yet.”

  “Something weird kind of describes my entire adult life,” Aiden replied. “Thanks for the heads up. I’ll keep my eyes open.”

  When Aiden arrived home, Tanvi was already waiting in the driveway of the three bedroom home he shared with a fellow EMT and her husband. Not the ideal living situation, but with California real estate prices, renting out his coworker’s spare bedroom had been cheaper than trying to get his own place.

  Tanvi got out of her car, lugging two additional shopping bags.

  Aiden whistled before leaning over his own purchases to give her a quick kiss. “You do realize it’s only the two of us eating tonight, right? My roommates are both working late shifts.”

  “Actually, I was wondering if this would be enough,” she said, her voice flavored with her distinct Indian accent. “I’ve been at the studio today, and I’ve worked up quite an appetite. You might have to go hungry, skinny boy.” She freed one hand to poke at his ribs.

  He dodged before going to open the front door. He let her into the house and led the way into the kitchen where they both unloaded.

  “How’s the studio thing going?” Aiden set the bags to the side and got out two cutting boards, one for vegetables and the other for proteins, and a couple of knives.

  “Good,” Tanvi answered, but her response lacked her usual buoyancy.

  “Good, but?” he prompted.

  She fiddled with her long, dark braid. “Minh offered me a full-time instructor position. Said I could pick my classes and set the limits on students and the hours and everything.”

  Aiden paused. “That’s great, though.”

  “Yes and no.” She twisted her hair in her hands. “I had planned for this studio thing to be a temporary gig before I either got back into DOSA or maybe performing again. I didn’t plan for it to be long term.”

  “Do you like the job, though?” he asked.

  “Yeah, but I like being a superhero too ... the thing is, I can’t be both. DOSA hours are too erratic for me to commit to even a part-time teaching job. I’d have to cancel classes constantly, and that wouldn’t be fair to my students.” Her nose wrinkled. “I didn’t expect to have to make a choice so soon, but I know Minh needs someone she can depend on, and apparently she wants that someone to be me.”

  Aiden drew his knife sharpener from the gadget drawer and ran one of his blades over it a few times. It didn’t really need it, but he needed a focus point to avoid betraying his thoughts. Having Tanvi permanently out of the DOSA life would solve a lot of his problems—but if it wasn’t what would make her happy, he couldn’t let that color his response. That wouldn’t be fair.

  “Is she asking you to decide right away?” he asked.

  “No. She knows I’m taking a couple weeks off to go up and see Lucia and her family with you, so she said to let her know when I get back.”

  “Well, that gives you time.” He shoved the sharpener back in the drawer.

  “Maybe. I don’t like not knowing what I’m going to do, though, even for a little bit.” She shook her head. “Maybe we should just focus on having fun tonight."

  “I’m down for that.” He pushed the shopping bag towards her. “I got everything you asked for.”

  Tanvi peered into his shopping bag. “You bought the store brand, huh?”

  “It’s half the price, and you know they just pour the same stuff into both containers.” He frowned. “You’re paying for the label.”

  “Sure, everyone knows that.” She rolled her eyes. “I call conspiracy theory.” She pulled a small tin of chili powder out, popped it open, and sniffed at it. “Not the best, but it’ll do. I’ll just have to double the ingredients to make up for the lack of potency.” She took a canvas tote of vegetables out of her bag. “Do you want to chop onions or dice chicken?”

  Before he could open his mouth, his phone went off. His mouth twitched. It seemed like he never got phone calls, but today everyone wanted a piece of him.

  “Answer it. You probably won a cruise.” She smirked.

  He checked the display. “Oh, it’s Lucia.” He hovered his finger over the button. “I can let it go to voicemail.”

  “So close to my girl’s due date? Are you nuts?” Tanvi picked up a whisk and waved it in his face. “Take the call.”

  Aiden cringed. He hadn’t even considered that she could be in labor. Though even if she was, it wasn’t like he could do anything for her. It was her second, after all. She had to know what she was doing.

  “Hey, Luce,” he said into the phone. “What’s up?”

  “Aid?” Tears dripped from her voice.

  Aiden stiffened. “Yeah, what’s wrong? You okay? Is it the baby?”

  “No, no, he’s fine. Kicking a lot. Sitting on my bladder, so that’s not great.” She gave a weak laugh. “It’s just ... well, I needed to hear your voice, you know, with today being, well, today.”

  He squinted at the calendar hanging from the side of the fridge. The only thing marked on today’s date was his dinner with Tanvi. “Okay, don’t hate me, but what is today?”

  “Aiden!” Her voice grew indignant. “How do you—” She stopped. His telepathic powers didn’t work over the phone, but he guessed she was counting to ten. “Okay, I’m b
eing unfair. You were only a baby, and it’s not like we’ve ever done anything to mark it, but I just thought you’d remember how Dad was always sad ... it’s the day Mom died. I think it’s been twenty-six years now.”

  Aiden’s chest tightened. “Oh, yeah.” He shifted from foot to foot. They’d been two and four when their mother had died in the line of duty. Prism could remember her. Aiden, though, couldn’t, and other than empathetic sadness towards his father—who had himself passed away when Aiden was eighteen—he didn’t feel the grief much. Of course, he’d been under the impression that Prism didn’t think about their mother much any more either. Apparently he’d been wrong about that.

  He gave Tanvi an apologetic glance.

  “You want to talk about it?” he forced the words out, even though he didn’t feel them. He had a suspicion that what was going on with his sister was 90% hormonal. Her husband had texted him a few times over the last couple of months mentioning things like her crying buckets while watching animated movies with their daughter, Ruby. Aiden didn’t completely understand what pregnancy did to his sister’s emotional state, but apparently it led to a lot of sobbing.

  “Yes ... well, no. I mean—Did you know our house was for sale?”

  Trying to keep up with his sister’s train of thought, he rubbed the back of his neck. “Our house?”

  “The one in Escondido where we lived when we were kids? Wildfyre texted me that he was in Escondido, and it made me think of it, so I googled our old address and saw it was listed.”

  “Wildfyre got in touch with you, too, huh?”

  “He always keeps me apprised of his missions. It’s a big responsibility, being a team leader, and he likes to bounce things off me. That’s not the point, though. The point was I saw that house, and I remembered how happy we were there and how little you were and how much Mom used to love the orange tree in the front yard and how sad Dad was and ... and ...” Her voice cracked.

  “Hey!” Worry spiked in Aiden’s chest. Even if he didn’t get what was going on, he still wanted to be there for her. “Look, I’m going to see you in just a couple of days, all right. Me and Tanvi both.” He flipped the phone to speaker and beckoned towards Tanvi who drew closer. “Right, Tan?”