"You're lucky your ribcage didn't cave in."
Oscar glowered at the nurse scribbling away on her clipboard. "You're saying that like I asked to get hit in the chest by one of Angus' fastballs."
"I'm just saying you should be grateful it wasn't a more damaging injury," she retorted. After she finished writing, she fished into the drawer next to the bed he was sitting in. She retrieved an orange pill bottle and stuffed it into his hands. "Take these once every twelve hours if the pain is too much for you. Some compresses will be sent to your room to help with the swelling."
He glanced down at his bare chest, which was slightly raised and red. A scowl sprouted on his lips as Angus' smug face popped into his head.
Out of all the gingers he knew, the boy from Nebraska was his least favorite.
"I've got someone else to check on," the nurse said while walking towards the door. She faced Oscar. "Do you need anything before I go?"
He shook his head. "I'm all good. Thanks."
She nodded and left the room.
Sighing, he fell back onto the bed and stared at the boring ceiling. The lingering soreness in his chest made him want to throw his entire body away. Alas, he was stuck with it. The pain was a reminder of what he was: a failure.
Sure, it had only been a game of capture the flag. But that wasn't the point and it wasn't the only time he'd caused his team to lose something. The fire in Manchester had been partially his fault. No one said anything about it to him, but he knew they blamed him.
He thought being a hero was going to be fun. He thought he'd be saving people and signing autographs and making kids smile. Not only did he not get to sign any autographs, but he was sure parents told their children was the guy who burned down buildings for a living.
At least his sister and uncle were still proud of him. Even if everyone in the world was against him, he knew he could count on them. He couldn't wait to go back home once he left the infirmary. A break from The Acropolis and his life as a superhero was crucial.
Just as he stood up to leave, Victoria entered the room. She looked him up and down before shaking her head.
"How are you still scrawny after all the training you do?"
"Lay off will you," he snapped. Normally, he would've taken her joke in stride, but he wasn't in the mood.
She crossed her arms and tilted her head. "You alright, Oz? I heard what happened in The Battlefield. Angus was out of line for that attack."
"No, he wasn't," he argued. "He caught me off-guard and I paid the price." His jaw flexed.
"Excuse me for trying to make you feel better," she grumbled.
Rolling his eyes, Oscar headed for the doorway. Before he could make it there, she grabbed his forearm.
"What're you—"
"Stop acting like a baby and talk to me, Oscar."
He glared at her hand before shifting his fiery stare to her intense, blue eyes. For once, they weren't colder than ice. They were warm and inviting, like a fireplace on Christmas. His shoulders slumped as he exhaled.
"I'm just...having a hard time, alright. I keep screwing up and I don't know what to do. I'm..." He wiped his nose as he felt his eyes starting to water. "I just want to be good. For you, for the team, for my parents."
Victoria offered him a smile. "You're being too hard on yourself. You're not nearly as terrible as you think you are."
He snorted. "Thanks."
"I'm serious," she continued. "You may not be the best, but you try your hardest and you have good intentions. That counts for something."
Does it?
He kept his question to himself. Instead, he hung his head. "I'm a fraud, Victoria."
She lifted his chin and stared sternly at him. "You're not a fraud. Say that again and I'll beat your ass." She shook her head in anger. "We're you're family, Oscar. No matter how many times you mess up, we'll always be with you. Whether you like it or not, you're stuck with us. Alright?"
He said nothing. Not because he didn't have a reply, but because his throat had tightened up like a vise. He wiped his nose again as he faced away from her.
"I've...I've got to go," he croaked.
She finally let go of him. "Remember what I said. We're you're family."
Nodding, he quietly thanked her and rushed out of the room.
#
"You landed on my hotel! That'll be five hundred!" Isabella said from across the Monopoly board they were sat around.
Groaning, Oscar fished a few fake bills from his small pile of cash and tossed it at her. She chuckled and added it to her collection.
"Great," he said. "Now I'm a failure at Monopoly too."
She frowned at him. "Que pasa?"
"Nada," he answered. After seeing the unimpressed look she was giving him, he expounded upon his answer. "It's just work stuff, you know? I'll be alright."
She beamed at him. "I still can't believe you're a superhero! All the kids at my school love you and your friends."
"You sure they love me?"
"Well..." She see-sawed her hand. "Some of them say you suck, but I know that's not true. You're the best."
He smiled at her and ruffled her hair. "You always know what to say, Isa."
She grinned at him and rolled the dice on the Monopoly board. She threw her hands into the air after it landed on two sixes. Oscar threw his bills to the side and collapsed onto the couch behind him.
"This game is so stupid!" he shouted into a pillow.
"You're just saying that because you lost!"
"Stop being right!"
Once he calmed down from being beaten embarrassingly by a little girl, he took Isabella to her room and got her ready for bed. With Uncle Jose out of the apartment for the night, he was in charge of making sure she was prepared for school the next morning.
He packed her bookbag, laid out her uniform, and even read her a bedtime story once he was done. Even though she was getting a bit too old for them, she still asked him to read one. He didn't mind in the slightest.
After all while, she fell asleep underneath her fluffy comforter. Her snores filled the room, along with the faint sound of raindrops pelting the window outside. He smiled down at her for a few moments before making his way to the doorway.
Before he left, he heard something sliding. A rush of air room entered the room and tickled his skin. All the hairs on his arms and neck stood at attention as he froze beneath the doorframe. He slowly turned around to face the window.
It was open.
His heart stopped as he immediately tensed up.
That was when she appeared out of thin air, sitting on the edge of his sister's bed. She wore a leather jacket and a black baseball cap on top of her straightened, brown hair. A sly smirk was painted across her lips.
"She's very cute." The woman peered at the sleeping Isabella just a few inches away from her.
His hands curled into fists at his side. "Who are you and how did you get in here?"
She glanced at the opened window. "It wasn't locked."
He took a step forward but stopped after seeing the pistol in her hand. It wasn't pointed at him. Gulping, he stayed put.
A million different thoughts and scenarios invaded his brain. They were all moving a mile a minute, but he managed to settle on a single question.
"What do you want?"
"I've been watching you for a while," she said, ignoring his inquiry. "Oscar Jimenez, also known as Fuego. You've got quite the reputation. And I don't mean that in a good way."
He scowled. "My uncle is in the living room," he lied. "If I yell—"
"No one will hear you," she finished. "Because he's not here. He's out on a date with your neighbor. Sheila, right?"
Oscar blanched. "How the hell do you know that?"
She smirked. "I know a lot of things about you, Oscar. Like I said, I've been watching you for a while." She placed her free hand on her leg. "I need your help with something. You remember my friends from New York, right?"
Friends?
His eyes widened. "You're right them?"
She nodded. "That wasn't supposed to go down like that. Now we've got your buddies on our trail."
"What the hell do you need more for?" he asked, his voice raised a bit. He looked toward Isabella as his heart rate spiked. Luckily, she stayed asleep.
"My team is planning something and we need to make sure Atlas doesn't catch on," she revealed. Her gun was now pointed towards him. "That's where you come in. We need someone on the inside. Someone who can feed us information and keep Atlas off our backs."
Oscar squinted at her. He could feel his body temperature rising a few degrees while he stared at her.
She couldn't be serious. There was no way he'd be her mole. Not a chance.
"Listen, lady," he began. "I don't know what you think this is, but—"
"I'm not finished," she interrupted. Her nonchalant tone had disappeared, having been replaced by a much harsher one. "You're going to do this for us. There will be no questions. No refusals. No telling your friends. Trust me, I'll know if you've ratted us out. And if you do, well..." She glanced at Isabella again. "I'm not sure you want to know what happens if you tell."
Oscar blinked twice as he felt his mouth dry up. He couldn't do anything but stand there as he went numb. The thought of losing his sister or his uncle nearly brought him to tears. He had already lost his parents; he couldn't lose them too.
But he couldn't betray his friends. If they found out, they'd never forgive him.
But are they really my friends?
He thought back to Emily's reaction following the end of the capture the flag game. She hadn't even stopped to ask if he was alright. None of them did. A frown pulled at his mouth. Now that he was thinking about it, they rarely ever checked up on him. If they were really a family like Victoria said they were, why did he feel so much like an outsider nowadays?
Coils of smoke trickled out from his fists. His jaw flexed as he glared at the woman sitting on his sister's bed.
"You're not going to hurt them."
"As long as you hold up your end of the bargain."
He fell into silence for a few moments. Both parts of his conscience went to war with each other. The battle was so intense that he could sense the migraine forming in the base of his skull.
Betraying his team was wrong. But letting his family get hurt was something he just couldn't do.
He debated immediately calling his friends after the woman left. Ultimately, he decided against it. If she could get into the apartment without him knowing, who knew what else she could do. The fact that she knew more about him than he knew about her was also enough of a deterrent to disobeying her orders.
He was going to have to play along for his family's sake.
"Do we have a deal, Oscar?"
He swallowed hard.
"Deal."
"Good. I'll be in touch. You'll know when it's me."
Before he could ask or say anything else, she disappeared into thin air. Seconds later, the window closed.
Still stunned, Oscar looked at his sister. The room had gone deathly quiet. It was almost like nothing had happened.
But something did happen. Something very, very bad.
He dug into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out his silver lighter. Running his thumb over the letters engraved into the metal, he cursed.
Estoy jodido.
#
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