"What?!" the others said.
"You have a brother?" Claire asked. Nathan let go of Cruz's collar. Cruz rubbed his throat.
"Niki?" Cruz asked. Niki nodded.
"I thought you were dead. Like Jessica."
"Almost."
"OK. Can someone clue us in? What's going on?" Peter said.
"Cruz was born fifteen years after me. When he was seven, my dad put him off on me. A week later, he was kidnapped." Niki said.
"I told you." Cruz said. Niki smirked at her younger brother. Then, she slapped him. He grabbed his cheek. "Ow! Jesus Christ!" He took a step away from Niki. "What are you? Dad?"
"You know not to steal."
"Well, it's steal or die. I'd rather steal. Damn. You slap hard."
"Niki, can I talk to you?" Peter said. Niki, Peter, D.L. and the other older Heroes walked to the dining room. "We have to get rid of him."
"No. He's staying here." Niki said.
"Niki, we can't trust him. He's a thief."
"No. He's homeless. I'm not going to lose him again."
"D.L., is she telling the truth? Is Cruz really her brother?" Eden asked.
"Yeah." D.L. said.
"How can we trust that?" Nathan asked.
"He has her eyes." D.L. said. They all looked at him. "Plus. He has gifts and abilities like we do." Peter sighed.
"Fine. He can stay." Peter said.
"Thank you, Peter." Niki said. They all walked back into the kitchen. "Claire, Micah. Go get ready for bed." Claire nodded.
"Come on, Micah." Claire said, leading him upstairs.
"Cruz?" Cruz looked at Niki. "Go take a shower." Cruz gave a little smile.
"Why should I?" Cruz said.
"Because it could be years since you've taken a shower."
"Not years. Only 6 months, five days, 2 hours, 54 minutes, and 24 seconds to be exact."
"Yeah, go take a shower."
--------------------
Niki looked into the visor mirror. She fixed her hair as Jessica looked at Cruz.
Cruz. The kid who was supposed to replace her. The boy her father never had. But he still beat him. Just as he did her. He threw him away. The sparkle in his eyes had left him at a young age. When it left him, she didn't know, but it left at a very young age. Some of the sparkle came back when he was allowed to stay with the rest of the Heroes the night before. And when he had found Niki. But it would never be as bright as it should.
Niki, Claire, D.L., Micah, Cruz, and Peter walked through the mall. Cruz needed new clothes.
They were walking past Hot Topic when two security guards ran by. They were following two kids, around Claire and Cruz's age.
"I'll be right back." Cruz said.
"Cruz, I'd rather you stick nearby." Peter said.
"I'll be right back."
"Cruz-" Before Peter could finish, Cruz was off. At a minimum of 200 miles per hour. They couldn't even see him.
"Whoa. Did you see that?" Micah asked.
"His ability must affect his reflexes." Claire said. D.L. began to walk in the same direction as Cruz ran.
"Where are you going?" Niki asked.
"See if I can find him." D.L. said.
Cruz was now in an alley. The two kids he saw ran into it.
One was a boy and one was a girl. The girl had dark brown hair and blue eyes. The boy was African-American and had light brown curly hair and dark brown eyes.
"Ah, you finally made it. I've been here for nearly two minutes." Cruz said. The boy looked at him.
"Well, we would've been here faster if you'd been with us."
"Are you blaming this on me?"
"Yes. Where the hell have you been?" the boy asked.
"Calm down, Blaise. The people that lived at that house I was in last night took me in." There was silence. Then, Blaise and the girl bursted into laughter. Cruz frowned.
"You're not serious, are you?" the girl asked.
"Yes, Sirena, I'm serious." Cruz said.
"Why? I thought they'd call the cops." Blaise said. He and Sirena had stopped laughing.
"They were going to. One of them is my sister, Niki."
"Oh, so you've gone clean." Blaise said in a sad voice.
"Yeah." Cruz said happily. He then looked at Blaise's face and his smile disappeared. Blaise was upset. "I'm sure they'd take you in."
"I doubt it." Blaise was homeless and an orphan just as Cruz was.
"I'm sure they would. I mean, Peter, he's basically the leader and he only let me stay because of my special ability. When he finds out you have one, I'm sure he'll let you stay."
"Yeah, right."
"Yeah. My nephew he's a technopath. He can fix technology with his mind. The teenage girl, she has rapid tissue regeneration. My brother-in-law can walk through things and I'm sure all the others have special abilities, too."
"So, you really think they'd take me in?"
"Bet." Cruz held out his hand. Blaise shook it, ending in shooting a burst of flames at a dumpster at the end of the alley. Cruz sent a bolt of lightning surrounding the dumpster. The flame bounced off and was absorbed back into Blaise's hand.
"Cruz." said a voice. The three teens turned to see D.L. "You know how hard it is to have people not notice you're walking through walls? Very."
"Sorry, D.L." Cruz said.
"You know these kids?"
"Yeah, this is Blaise and Sirena. Guys, this is my brother-in-law, D.L."
"Cruz, we better get back."
"Can Blaise come with us?"
"I'm not sure."
"Please. He needs to meet Peter and Mohinder."
"It's not that. He does need to meet Peter and Mohinder, but security's looking for him." Cruz turned to Blaise.
"Here." Cruz gave Blaise the bag of clothes he'd been carrying. "Put these on."
"Hey, where've you been?" Niki asked. Blaise, D.L., and Cruz had spent a half an hour looking for the others, only to find them in the food court.
"Oh, in the alleys of LA." Cruz said. "Peter, Mohinder, this is my friend, Blaise. Blaise, that's Peter and that's Mohinder."
"Nice to meet you." Peter said. He held out his hand.
"Uh, Peter-" D.L. said.
"No, no. Let them shake hands." Cruz whispered. Blaise took Peter's hand. They shook hands for a moment.
"Ow." Peter said. He looked at his hand. It was red.
"I suggest you put water on that." Blaise said with a smirk.
"You're special, too?" Mohinder asked.
"Pyrokinetic." Blaise said. He snapped his finger and a flame appeared as if his thumb was a lighter (think Human Torch in Fantastic Four).
--------------------
Peter and the other Heroes had had a long discussion about letting Blaise stay. Mohinder believed he had to stay. Not only did he have a special ability, but he was homeless and was Cruz's best friend.
"This'll be great." Cruz said, throwing a baseball into the air.
"Yeah. Sure." Blaise said. Cruz sat up.
"Now what's wrong?"
"I haven't had a real home since-" Blaise trailed off.
"Oh. Well, if it makes you feel better, I've never had a home. Except the streets."
"What about when you lived with your dad?"
"Blaise, he beat me and then turned me over to my sister. Then, I was kidnapped. I've never even had a real family. I hadn't seen my sister in eleven years until yesterday. My other sister, Jessica, died before I was born. I don't remember my mom and my dad beat me. I have no one. No one but you. Which is why we're gonna make a pact."
"A pact?"
"Yeah. No matter what, we stick together. Even if we get kicked out of here or one of us is at gunpoint, we'll still be there. We're brothers." Cruz said.
"Brothers?" Cruz nodded. Blaise sighed. "You know? This will be hard to explain."
"Why?"
"One brother's black and the other's white."
"Do we have a deal?" Cruz created a yin sign with his electrokinesis. Blaise made the yang sign with his pyrokinesis.
"Deal."
A/N: I know Eden blew her brains out, but I needed her and didn't have the heart to cut her out.
