The Incendiary

By Abigail Falanga

Kylie burst through the door so fast that her palm stung from the impact.

The rooftop lounge was empty.

Of course it was. No one ever came up here this time of day—or at least no one was supposed to. But now, not even Tom was sleeping in his favorite Adirondack.

Because Tom was gone. He’d packed up his box and—

Kylie could no longer keep the tears at bay. She gulped, and sobs shook her to the core.

“Break area of the gods,” they said. Comfort. Relaxation. Happy employees made a happy company. Team building. Morale.

All out the window. Down the toilet. Up in flames.

Kylie staggered to the high concrete balustrade at the side of the building and leaned against it, aware of—though not seeing—the other trendy, modern buildings in this lower end of the city’s fashionable business district. Shiny and sparkling in the sun. A good prospect. Lots of opportunity for someone just starting out. Corporate ladders. Keep the company going, do your job, keep your head down…

It all seemed so simple.

Until it wasn’t.

The door slammed behind her. She gulped in a breath meant to calm her, then turned to see who it was.

Jeremy, the new guy.

She wiped at her wet face, attempting to pull herself together.

He was tall, blond, with moody blue eyes—really cute, though not her type. Too morose. He’d only been working four days, and now—

A fresh wave of emotion broke over her.

“Hey, you okay?” He approached and put a hand on her shoulder. “There are other jobs, you know. This isn’t the end of the world.”

“I know.” Kylie sniffled, trying to hide her face in her hands. “It’s just…”

“Just what? Look, we can get you to talk with someone to help you find another job. And, maybe you can still get together with the friends you made here.”

“It’s not that. You don’t understand! It’s—” Hiccupping sobs interrupted the words she couldn’t keep from spilling out. “My—fault.”

“I don’t understand.” Jeremy shoved a handkerchief at her and pulled her into a chair. “But you can tell me about it. How is Berker Financial going bankrupt your fault? You’re just a systems analyst, aren’t you?”

Kylie blew her nose, though it didn’t help much, and looked helplessly at him. “You’ll never believe me.”

“Try me.”

“Fine.” She drew another deep breath, shaky but calmer, and let it all spill. “I told Barb that Tim was using the downstairs machine to make copies of files. And I didn’t say anything when Tammy wanted to know if her perfume was too strong, when actually it really was, which made Greg have an asthma attack so that he couldn’t attend the strategy meeting and vote for the new vendors. And I told Marina that Grant had a thing for her, even though he didn’t want to say anything. So, they got fired for dating—which’ll be fine, because they’re perfect for each other and will probably live happily ever after. But that means there were vacant positions just when the vendors who were actually a terrible choice failed to deliver. And the files were something to do with the import-export side of things and…” Kylie shook her head. “It all exploded.”

“Wait.” Jeremy held up a hand to stop her. “So, you’re saying that you brought this business down by saying a couple of things at just the right time.”

“The wrong time! The perfectly wrong things at the perfectly wrong time and… shoom. Everything in flames.”

“That’s… amazing.”

“You don’t believe me, do you? But the thing is, I’ve done it before. I always manage to do it! Like, I know what people are thinking and saying and what ticks them off, and sometimes, if I’m in a really, really terrible mood, I’ll just—” She balled her hands together, then threw them apart, miming an explosion. “Set it off.”

“Like lighting a fuse.”

“Yup. I try not to. I nearly tore my family apart when I was in high school, exploiting my parents’ marital problems for my benefit. Thank goodness they’re still together. But this, what I do, sometimes… It’s like some stupid superpower. Please don’t laugh.”

“Do I look like I’m laughing?”

He did. Jeremy grinned, just for a flash. He tapped and swiped at his phone.

“That’s why…” Kylie said flatly, slumping. “That’s why I feel responsible. I’m incendiary, I guess.”

“Were you in a terrible mood?”

She shrugged. “Yeah… Hard to explain, but something felt off about that import-export deal.”

“That’s because it was off.” Jeremy held up his phone for her to see a police report on the screen.

Details about a weapons-smuggling scheme, backed by a corporation Kylie recognized as being under the umbrella of Berker Financial.

“Wait,” she said. “So…”

“So, you helped bring down a major criminal operation, which may have caused a lot of harm in this city. Your instincts were right—but then, good instincts when bad things are going down are a side-effect of superpowers.”

Kylie snorted. “You’re saying that… No. I mean, making things blow up relationally is not an actual superpower.”

“With you, it most certainly is. You’re incendiary, reading emotions and manipulating situations when you feel it’s necessary. It’s dangerous and can be harmful. But we can help you learn to control it.”

“You can what? And who is ‘we’?’” Kylie jumped to her feet. “What’s going on?”

“I’m SilverBlade.” Jeremy half-smiled up at her. “I work with the Taskforce, and I came here to find out why the company fronting a criminal syndicate suddenly crumbled. I should have known to expect another superpowered individual already at work. Now…” He rose. “The work isn’t done, Incendiary. Will you stay here and set the rest of this operation on fire?”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Abigail Falanga may be found in New Mexico creating magic in many ways – with fabric, food, paper, music, and especially with words! She’s loved fantasy ever since playing out epic adventures of swords, fairies, and monsters with her siblings, and loved sci-fi since her dad’s stories around the dinner table. Besides sharing mad little stories on Havok, she is busily trying to launch approximately five hundred novels into the world. Some of them are even finished!

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