The Renegades Book 3: Climate's Control: The Renegades, #3

By Brian Hildebrand

They're Heroes...Ignore the Wanted Posters!

 

Ethan's life has never been easy but lately it's getting even harder.  He needs to get a job, child services are questioning if it was a good idea to give him custody of his six younger siblings, and the supervillain gang he used to be a part of is after him.

Under the leadership of their egotistical, weather-controlling boss, the Thugs are willing to use any means necessary to get to Ethan.  Even if that means going through the rest of the Renegades...or going after Ethan's family.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brian Hildebrand
• Release date: Oct 20, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201515553

Book preview

1

I'm sorry, but you just don't meet our hiring qualifications, the woman said, her voice making it clear that she was in no way, shape, or form, sorry.

The smell of fries getting dipped in the fryer hit my nose, even in the manager's office, as I responded, doing my best to keep the shock, fear, and frustration, out of my voice, How am I not qualified?

Our company places a high value on the education of its staff. Any person who has not graduated from high school may only work here part-time while they attend school in order to graduate. You dropped out of high school in your last semester of grade twelve, so I am afraid that makes you ineligible for a position with us. I'm sorry.

She was lying. She wasn't sorry at all. She was happy that she could turn me down. I shouldn't have been surprised by that. My real name, Ethan Johnson, was on the sheet, and everyone knows what that means. Literally the first question she had asked me had been about my parents. My now-deceased supervillain parents whose identities were public knowledge. The old Johnson curse was working true to form: no one wanted to hire the kid of criminals.

I fought back tears, resisting the urge to beg for the job. I didn't know where else I could turn. Grocery stores had turned me down, gas stations had turned me down, convenience stores had turned me down. And now I couldn't get a job simply making fast food at a burger joint. I literally had zero money to help my family get back on their feet. Zero money to take care of my younger siblings.

My sister Julie had a part-time job working at a clothing store in the mall; somehow she had gotten hired a few months back. But that couldn't hope to pay even a fraction of the bills that come with a family of seven. Besides, she was barely sixteen. She shouldn't have to be the breadwinner for her five younger siblings and her older brother.

There was a bit of panic on the woman's face as I stood up. I was used to that, though. She reached under her desk. Probably for a silent alarm or something. Not the first time someone pulled one of those on me. Even when people don't know who my parents are, they get worried. She was a small, white woman while I was a tall, well-built half-Cree man.

I'm sorry. I don't want to cause any trouble, I said as I walked out of the room, my dignity barely in place. As I walked through the front of the restaurant towards the exit, I saw the last thing I wanted to see on a day this bad.

The Thugs.

Well, the Thugs who had tried to kill me before, anyways.

Long story short, I used to be part of a supervillain gang called the Thugs. I didn't want to be, but after my parents died I had to care for my six younger siblings and I couldn't find anyone willing to hire the son of known supervillains. Back when Zach Blaster O'Brien was in charge of the Thugs, things were better. He had a code: we stole but never hurt people. But when he was arrested, Steven took over the Thugs, mostly through brute force. His weather control powers were well-developed for a guy only sixteen. He was actually the youngest of the Thugs. And he changed the rules. He had wanted me to kill someone. And when I refused, he, and the few of the Thugs loyal to him, tried to kill me.

And there they were. Steven, Kirsten, Neil, and Conner. They were in their civilian clothes. Steven had the same kind of tan you’d expect from a guy who’d just finished a month vacation down south. His hair, light brown with frosted tips, paired with sunglasses, made him look even more like a teenage douche-bag than I would have thought possible. He should have been caught by now; his supervillain costume doesn't exactly hide his hair.

I have no idea why the others follow him, but he was probably keeping Neil and Conner as rich as they wanted to be. Kirsten, I don't know. She doesn't talk, but she might have a thing for Steven.

Kirsten's full-on goth look—complete with knee high boots, a black skirt, black lipstick, black collar with spikes, and a black leather jacket over a black t-shirt—always seemed weird in comparison to her bland grey supervillain costume. She's the only villain I've ever met who looks more intimidating in civilian clothes.

Neil was even taller than me and was almost as wide as he was tall; it’s surprising he can find sweatpants and t-shirts that are a couple sizes too big.

Conner, well, Conner looked like the business-suit-wearing son of rich people that he was. The suit was nice enough that he had clearly stolen it. Or charmed someone out of it. Known to many as the Puppeteer, Conner had the power to make anyone he touched obey his mental commands for the next few minutes and they wouldn’t even remember what he made them do.

I'd heard him laugh once about how retail store clerks blur their day together and he can get away with it with ease.

Conner was at the front of the line, about to reach across to the woman on the other side of the counter, control her. Probably so that she would act like the Thugs had paid for their food when they hadn't or pass them the cash from the cash register. Something like that.

The girl behind the counter was probably Julie's age, sixteen or seventeen. And there was no way I was going to let Conner take control of her for even a second. I wasn't particularly keen on starting something with the Thugs all on my own—particularly when these four had tried to kill me before—but I couldn't just stand by and do nothing. I just had to hope they were smart enough to not start a fight here in their civilian clothes.

I walked to the front of the line and jerked Conner around by the shoulder before he managed to touch her.

Hey, keep your hands to yourself, I growled.

The anger in Conner’s voice quickly evaporated when he saw who had grabbed him, Why don't you mind your own...business?

Hey, Conner, I whispered. I glanced past him to the other Thugs with him. Walk away, now.

As I let go of Conner's arm, the manager approached. What seems to be the problem here?

This man assaulted my friend, Steven began, remove him from the store or I will sue.

An empty threat; Steven wasn't going to sue anyone. But the manager didn't know that. So I responded, He was trying to reach across the counter, your girl there was scared, I told him to stop. That's it.

You need to leave, the woman said to me, anger and aggression in her voice. Then, she turned to the Thugs and said, I'm so sorry about this. Please, your meal's on the house.

Conner flashed me a smile before looking back at the woman. I don't think I'd feel safe coming back to a place that let a man like him come back in. He will be banned from all locations from now on, right?

The woman looked at me, and nodded, Sir, you need to leave.

But...

But what? What could I have possibly said to convince her? Stephen knew it too. I heard his voice, when no one else could as Kirsten used her power to control the sound waves.

Whatcha gonna do, Ethan? You expose us in any way, we will expose you. And with those precious siblings of yours, you've got way too much to lose. It sounded as though he was whispering in my ear even though he was standing ten feet away from me.

I left the building.

I wanted to walk away, but I couldn't bring myself to do that. I couldn't just let them get away with this. I'd let Steven boss me around for too long in the past. He never should have been in charge of the Thugs. The ground began to shake ever so slightly beneath me. My powers have always been hard to keep in check when I get angry.

Conner shook hands with the manager of the store as she handed the food over. I watched as he went into the back room of the store with her. He then left with a second bag that clearly had all of the money from the safe inside of it.

I was tempted to just walk away, to ignore it like I ignored everything the others said and did when I had been