"It seemed like forever ago...me and Vega being best friends. We did everything together because even our parents were two pairs of strong friendships that lasted throughout their whole lives. I mean, life was just perfect for all of us. We were basically family," Nik started. "There was one day when Dastan and I were coming home from soccer practice with Mateo and of course Dastan forgot his key. I was joking with him and calling him an idiot, but when he left to get the spare, he took forever and then Mateo remembered he had another spare in his bag. So he opened the door and we left Dastan outside as some learn-your-lesson joke, but then we heard voices on the other side of their living room's sliding doors.

"It was Mr. Vega trying to cajole someone into not doing what they had come he for and to let him check his wife. Suddenly, there was a rattle and then we heard a muffled gun shot. By the time Mateo and I nearly ripped the door off its hinges, we saw Con completely tackle some guy in a suit and he grabbed him to pin him against the wall but he was dropped dead. At first I thought that it was Con who had grabbed the gun and shot at the guy or maybe the gun went off on accident, but then I saw the Vegases on the ground, each one with a bullet through their chest. I looked out the window in their living room and saw Dastan standing there, his emotions worn perfectly on his face while Con was literally crying out for this to be a joke and cradling his parents. Mateo, however, only walked over to the dead guy in the suit and checked for a pulse...which was absent...with no external injuries at all."

"So this 'Con' guy is dangerous then," Kenneth assumed after Nik had finished his story which proved he had some sort of feelings other than a surface level shield of emotions. I guess it wasn't specified that Con was Dastan's older brother.

"Con's different now. We all are," Nik defended. "The next few weeks changed for everyone. My father filled me in that the Vegas had some sort of powers, and lucky for me, I got to experience it with them."

"So...you have powers?" Kenneth asked, adding a hand to my knee.

"No, they do," Nik assured. "But they got them together, in a way. Con got a burst of energy and was enthusiastic about everything for a while, even though he was mourning his parents and trying to figure it all out, but at that same time, he didn't know that every time he touched someone, he took their energy or transferred someone else's pain or sensations leftover. It makes sense seeing as pain is largely electrical impulses throughout the body and in the brain. He developed that physical ability that's altered from Dastan's powers and some enhanced strength. But he wasn't really smart about it so he was too stubborn to let me explain to him what was going on. He objected at first but eventually listened to Mateo...after all, he knew what exactly to say."

"What do you mean?" Kenneth asked.

"Mateo is a genius. Vega was smart because he had to work at it, but Mateo was just intelligent without trying. So he had mental powers. He didn't need super strength or super speed because he could read minds. And if he ever made contact with someone, he could pick out any memory or little detail he wanted. He was so smart that he developed some of his powers earlier than the others, but they really came in full swing after his parents' death. So he knew Con well enough to tell him in a way that he'd want to hear," Nik explained.

"And how was that?" Kenneth asked with a frown.

"Using girls mostly," Nik smirked. I rolled my eyes. "He figured that the better he controlled his powers, the more he could make girls feel whatever he wanted in that way and that was that. It took him forever to control it though. Just like it took Vega forever to get his powers in the first place. He should've gotten them right when he saw what happened with his parents, but he didn't somehow. He just sort of fell into a depression and--...did he ever tell you about it?"

Nik was asking me. He meant Dastan's depression. I had heard the story, but not the details because it was delivered with a Proliator screen. So I shook my head no. Nik nodded sadly.

"Alright. I'll let him tell you if he decides to..." said sadly, as if it was something really personal and important. "Anyways, I helped him train after my parents became their guardians but when his powers were starting to develop, that's when Con wanted them to move. He had gotten frustrated and hurt too many people. Mateo's academics were getting too far advanced. Vega was still in his depression. But they still moved down to Miami so that they could have a new start and left Demi in California with my parents—"

"Why?" I asked. I had realized that Dastan briefly mentioned a sister in his story, but never said anything else about her. The way she reacted to Mickie made me think she was his girlfriend or something, but I guess a protective younger sister who's been abandoned by her family seemed to fit the bill too.

"Let me guess. Con was being selfish—"

"No," Nik interrupted Kenneth. "It was Dastan. He's protective over Demi. They were the closest and he wanted her out of all of this, but he didn't know that she had powers too. She was stability for him just like his mom used to be. But that wouldn't amount to much in Miami because weeks later, my parents and Con had been talking about a government agent that relocated to follow them and that's all Con needed to go after him. He thought he was protecting his family by getting rid of the government agent, but then his vengeance got the best of him because he arranged for the wife to get killed off too. He left their home only because he wanted their children to suffer like they had.

"When Dastan found out, he went to the agents' home to give condolences to his children—even though he only knew one of them from school—and then Con found out. He was so furious that he went over to the house later when Vega wasn't there and killed off the oldest brothers in case they connected Dastan or Con to the murders."

He continued with the story about Dastan saving and befriending Hayden, but the first time he said Hayden, it all sunk in. Con killed Hayden's family. It was his fault that Hayden had no one. And the worst thing is that Hayden knew this and still lived with it...He had befriended Dastan. He managed to stand in the same room as Con on more than one occasion as if it didn't kill him on the inside. I didn't know how he could find it in his heart to relate to Dastan on a forced-orphan level instead of completely hate him. 

"...so of course I got jealous about Vega and Hayden being close, especially when he knew the secret. So I went to Miami and immediately started hated Hayden out of fear that Vega was replacing me and forgetting why he was here. Hayden didn't care about training or stability. He just sort of acted without a care in the world," Nik continued. "With me and Hayden fighting so much, Vega just...snapped. When he pulled us apart, he flashed into a field and—"

"That's how we met," Kenneth answered. Nik flashed him a confused look for a millisecond before shifting composition.

"Yeah...I was asking Seb for directions and information on where we were, but Hayden was still pissed off and didn't give a shit instead of getting back to Miami. All the while, Vega was on the ground in pain and you know what happens from there..." Nik confirmed. "We got back by long and expensive taxi rides that we hitched in the nearest city and got back home. Hayden, Dastan, Mateo, and I had a long discussion about powers and whatnot. Hayden felt as though he was qualified to train D further than I had, but of course that wasn't true because my own father taught me how to train him. Dastan was so shocked about him saving first Hayden and then the barn that he wanted to put his powers to good use. Of course I was all for it and Hayden just liked the excitement and danger of it, but Con interrupted us by scolding Dastan about disappearing for days. He already knew it had raised suspicion, so he arranged for them to move again. But this time I, being the best friend, came with them and helped Vega with his hair dye and changed appearance.

"When we got here, everything was back to normal once we got settled with me training him for powers and Hayden training him with physical aspects. It wasn't long until me and Hayden had it out for each other. I admit, I thought the fight was fair, but with Dastan constantly defending Hayden, I just left. We hated each other ever since," Nik concluded. "And the Proliator secret has been kept until now..."

"What about Mickie and Chad?" I asked. I didn't know if Chad knew, but I just assumed, considering he spent a lot of time with them and he kept to himself outside of them.

"Dastan knew he couldn't be in relationships, but he figured that it would only be part of his new image if he had someone...or some girls to share it with, it would be better because he would be believable, you know?" he said. "So he went out with a lot of girls, but there was something different about Mickie."

"Like me?" I asked innocently, but in the inside I didn't want her to be like me or me her. I was special because I belonged with Dastan. I didn't want her to belong with Dastan, even though Dr. Wilde assured us all that occurrences were plural.

"Not at all," Nik smirked. "She's just good at keeping secrets. Part of the popularity and the. nature of her parents' high profile careers, I guess. Dastan kissed her once and every ounce of stress in his body transferred over to her and she just accepted it, unlike other girls who only felt lust in compensation for Vega's loneliness. He used her for a while and then told her the secret, but as for Chad...he doesn't know. He's just a friend of theirs, but I think it's because with one normal person around, they can't even slip-up in public about the secret; he's a fail-safe for the secrecy."

I nodded my head, looking past the fact that Mickie and Dastan had probably made out a million times before, and just took in everything that I just learned. The Proliator perspective was more cut and dry. This, though...this was everything. It told so much more and finally I was provided with context for the last few months I had here.