Title: Eye of the Hurricane

Rating: T

Genre: Friendship, family, angst, hurt/comfort, drama

Characters: Kaz, Oliver, Skylar, mentions of the Elite Force, Jordan, Gus, and one sort-of OC (you'll see what I mean)

Pairing(s): None. Only mentioned Skylar/Oliver, Bree/Kaz and assumed-by-one-character *cough*Oliver*cough* Skylar/Kaz and Skylar/Chase

Summary: Through all the ups and downs, through the good and the bad, through the easy days and the struggles, through the hardships and poisoned words and storms, they always stood by each other. They were best friends—no, brothers—and no one could ever take that from them.

Warnings: Mentioned and minor character death

Notes: I needed to write something about Kaz and Oliver's friendship, because it's just so precious, so ta-da! It starts out pre-show by about ten years, and it ends with some speculation for later Elite Force episodes. (And dang, this is the longest one-shot I've ever written!)

Enjoy, everyone!

"Are you okay? My name is Kaz. You're Oliver, right?"

Oliver turned around, quickly wiping tears from his blue eyes. A dark-haired boy was standing there, a concerned look evident on his small three-year-old face. "Uh-huh," he mumbled shyly in reply—he wasn't used to being talked to. He knew who the boy was—his name was Kaz, and he lived nearby.

"You don't look okay," Kaz said observantly, plopping down on the grass of Oliver's front yard beside the other boy.

Oliver ducked his head. "It's nothing." A sudden yell of inarticulate anger came from Oliver's house behind them, and Oliver flinched. Kaz gave him a look, and Oliver cracked a little. "Okay, fine. Mommy and Daddy are fighting… again."

"It's okay," Kaz replied. "Mine do, too."

"Really?"

The dark-haired boy nodded. "Yeah. They are… 'stressed out', they say. They don't notice me much. I have seven brothers and sisters!"

"Wow!" the other child exclaimed, eyes wide in awe. "That's a lot! I don't have any brothers or sisters, except for Jules. But she's twen-ty-one." He sounded out the number.

Kaz frowned. "Aw, that's sad." Suddenly, his face brightened. "I'll be your brother, if you want!"

Oliver opened his mouth to respond, but at that moment, a woman's voice suddenly called, "OLIVER! COME ON, WE'RE LEAVING!"

"Leaving?" Kaz repeated, looking confusedly at Oliver.

"Not forever," the blue-eyed boy replied, sighing. "Just until Mommy isn't mad anymore."

Bridget stormed out of the house and grabbed Oliver's hand, dragging him behind her as she marched away. "Out of my way, you," she snapped at Kaz, who let out an indignant "Hey!"

"I'll see you later, Kaz!" Oliver called behind him, and Bridget suddenly stopped, turning around to glare at the other boy.

"Stay away from Oliver," she hissed. "I don't like the look of you already, so goodbye. Forever."

The boy stood his ground, a slight smile on his face. "Mom says I have a problem listening to au-tho-ri-ty," he told her, carefully sounding out the last word.

Oliver couldn't help it—he laughed. Bridget gave him a reprimanding look and dragged him off again, but Oliver didn't care. He was determined to be friends with Kaz, no matter what his mother said.

He definitely did stay friends with Kaz, for years and years. Oliver introduced Kaz to comic books (though Bridget disapproved of everything) and in turn, Kaz introduced Oliver to movies—all movies Kaz enjoyed, Oliver ended up liking, too. They had stuck together all throughout elementary school, middle school, and what they'd completed of high school. As Kaz said that first time the had a conversation: he was a brother to Oliver, not just a friend.

And it was their friendship that landed them in the mess that started everything.

"Okay, that was completely terrifying—awesome, of course—but terrifying!" Oliver announced, eyes wide in shock as they exited Mighty Med Hospital.

Kaz grinned. "Well, that was our first day working in a hospital for superheroes—and we met Skylar Storm, fought Megahertz, and saved Tecton. Not bad for a first day, not at all. Crazy." He suddenly let out a laugh.

"What's so funny?" Oliver asked suspiciously.

Kaz, still smiling, looked at him—there was a mischievous twinkle in his eyes that made Oliver slightly apprehensive. "You saw needles and didn't freak out! Mostly because you were focusing on panicking about me possibly killing a superhero, but still. That's insane!"

Oliver shoved his shoulder. "Oh, shut up," he retorted good-naturedly.

There had been a hurricane once—everyone in Pennsylvania boarded up their windows and prepared for the worst. The hurricane was as bad as everyone predicted, if not worse.

But one of those days, they got lucky. Oliver remembered when they were directly in the eye of the hurricane. The air was calm and still, slightly cool and wet. He and Kaz brought Skylar outside—before she began going to school, she constantly tried to lock herself in her room—and for a good portion of the day, they just hung around, not a care in the world.

Eventually, unfortunately, the rain from the storm began to fall once more and they were forced to run back inside as the winds whipped the rain into a froth and the sky began to boil once more.

That was how Oliver felt his life was. Pretty bad, then much better, and then it all went downhill again.

Oliver couldn't believe it. He'd been so horrible to Kaz—called him selfish and said that he only cared about himself—and it turned out that Kaz was just trying to throw him a surprise birthday.

To be fair, he hadn't seen it coming and he always saw everything coming, but still. That didn't give him an excuse to act like that.

And despite the fact that they had almost just released a major supervillain, Oliver hardly though about it. He only focused on his friend.

Because Kaz… Kaz looked more upset and disappointed than Oliver had ever seen before. What had Kaz said about trying to do something nice for him? "Now I wish I hadn't."

They did everything together—there was a joke at school that they were tied together with invisible string, that's why never strayed from within five feet of each other.

And for once, Oliver felt horrible about that.

If Oliver hadn't dragged him into the situation and been so careless, then Kaz wouldn't have fallen asleep and gotten caught in NeoCortex's unintentional death trap. Skylar was out of the hospital for the night, and almost all of the superheroes were asleep, so Kaz was going to die if he didn't do something! So he insisted that Horace send him in.

He's my best friend, my brother, almost. I have to help him.

And help him he did. Because Kaz had always been there to watch his back, so Oliver had to return the favor.

There was one moment where Oliver thought he was really going to die.

He and Kaz had snuck into The Annihilator's lair to steal back Skylar's powers, but the villain caught him and was draining his life force. He was numb with the pure terror and panic slicing through him.

"Kaz, help!" he yelled faintly, but he hadn't the slightest idea of what Kaz could do against a villain of that power.

That term life flashing before your eyes had always seemed silly and cliché to Oliver before that moment, but right then he actually experienced it. He saw all the moments: with his mother, with his father, with Jordan and Gus and Skylar and Kaz.

He remembered thing he didn't even know he had memories of—the first prank he pulled on Kaz that had been reversed to target himself by the other boy; the day his parents decided to split; the day he discovered Skylar Storm comics, the day he swore up and down that he saw a costumed person flying high above him (though his mother quickly dismissed this claim), on and on.

Thankfully, Kaz managed to save Oliver using a freeze guns and they both managed to not die.

The anger running through Oliver's veins was so powerful, his vision went red. He could tell Kaz felt the same way, and as their argument escalated, so did the fear.

"Why are you so focused on saving Skylar? What about saving me?" Kaz cried.

Oliver couldn't believe was Kaz was implying. He wanted to kill Skylar to save his own skin. Okay, and the rest of the universe, but still! Skylar didn't deserve to die. Maybe Kaz did. "Maybe she's more worth saving than you are!"

He regretted the words as soon as they slipped from his lips, though he was still furious. Kaz's face fell, and the frustration and disappointment etched onto his features seemed awfully familiar. Oliver remembered a time back when they were ten and he'd messed up:

"Why would you do that?" Kaz had screamed in a rage, holding up the two halves of one of his prized limited edition Tecton comics.

Oliver was equally angry. "You deserved it!"

"What? Why?" Kaz seemed actually really confused, but Oliver wasn't deterred.

"You ditched me yesterday! We were supposed to go to the Domain with Jordan and Gus, but you never showed up!" Oliver exclaimed.

Kaz's face underwent about fifty different changes of emotion in a matter of seconds, finally settling on a mixture of frustration and disappointment. "My brother got sent to jail last night," he said quietly. "That's why I didn't show up—my parents took me to see him. I texted you and Jordan telling you I couldn't come."

Oliver shook his head. "No, I never got a te—oh."

"'Oh'?" Kaz repeated.

Oliver ducked his head guiltily. "I got it an hour after you were supposed to show up. I was too mad at you and I didn't read it, I just deleted it." He glanced up, then back down. "I'm sorry."

Kaz sighed. "This is on you, Oliver," he said quietly. "I'll see you at school… not tomorrow, my brother has his trial. Later." He turned on his heel and walked down the street, and Oliver only stood frozen, watching him go.

As promised, Kaz didn't show up at school the next day—or the next week. The guilt was left eating away at Oliver's insides, anger at himself bubbling in his veins. No matter how many times he brushed his teeth or drank a cup of water, his mouth felt as if it was filled with acid from the poison of the words he'd spoken.

When Kaz finally came back—with a verdict of guilty for his older brother—Oliver completely broke down, apologizing repeatedly for behaving like he did, on and on. Thankfully, Kaz was feeling generous and accepted his apology without a word.

Oliver was in the wrong that particular moment—but he was the good guy this time, right? If he was, why was Kaz's face exactly the same? It always seemed to end that way, with Kaz the hero and Oliver the villain—was Oliver destined to be the bad guy in their story? He didn't think he wanted to know.

"Oliver, you can't seriously still be hung up on that!" Kaz cried after Oliver (again) voiced his opinions on his supposed becoming evil. "My future self said the timeline fixed itself, and he already went home!"

"But what if that wasn't all?" Oliver insisted, setting down the papers he was supposed to be filing for Horace at the nurse's station. "What happens if I turn evil some other way? I don't want to be a villain, Kaz!"

Kaz smiled reassuringly and cuffed him on the shoulder before heading out into the hallway. "Don't worry. As long as I'm here, you won't be."

Oliver wouldn't deny how worried he was when Kaz was captured by the guys (correction, villains) pretending to be Hollywood producers—he was angry, of course (Kaz was trying to sell his story, he had a right to be mad!), but worried.

When they arrived at the scene, for one horrible moment Oliver thought his friend might be injured or maybe even killed. Fortunately, Kaz was just unconscious thanks to the device on his head, and Oliver felt one of the largest rushes of relief he'd ever felt.

"I'm so glad you're okay," he told Kaz after the fight ensued.

Kaz just waved it off. "All thanks to you."

"Your mother is Mr. Terror?" The fear and disbelief was evident in Skylar's voice, but Oliver wasn't listening to her. He could only look down at all the incriminating evidence, shaking his head. No. No, it can't be. If his mother was a villain, then what did that make him? He remembered what Kaz's future self had told him—Oliver's future was to become a villain. They'd fixed the timeline, but what about other ways he could become a villain? This definitely seemed like a way…

He was so lost in thought, he didn't notice someone calling his name for a full minute until—

"Oliver!" Kaz snapped, and Oliver jumped about a foot in the air. Because unless Kaz was mad at him, he never yelled. Kaz spoke again, voice still harsh. "Oliver, are you listening to me?"

Oliver simply nodded in reply, still dazed.

Kaz's voice softened. "Look, I know you're shaken up. But right now, we need to focus on defeating your mom."

That was enough to stir up his denial again, much to Skylar and Kaz's chagrin.

"Hey."

Oliver looked over to see Kaz perched on a nearby ledge on the roof of Mighty Med. "Hi," he replied. "How'd you get up here?"

Kaz gave him a broken, lopsided grin—like he was forcing it. "You're not the only who can fly, you know."

Oliver laughed half-heartedly. "Right. I keep forgetting."

"Makes sense," Kaz replied. "We've only had these powers for about a day." He lifted into the air and soared through the sky for a few feet, letting his feet dangle over the edge of the ledge as he sat next to Oliver.

"I think Skylar's mad at me," Oliver said suddenly.

Kaz looked at him, immediately understanding. "She's not. It's not your fault we got powers and she's stuck without them, and she understands that."

"How do you know?"

"I asked her," he replied simply. "You know, it doesn't hurt to just talk to her sometimes."

"You used to be annoyed by her," Oliver said, fighting a sudden and strange twinge of jealousy. "What happened?"

Kaz shook his head. "I think almost being buried alive in an alien spaceship tends to bond people. That, or stealing a superpower key from each other." He rolled his eyes, seeing the look on his best friend's face. "But trust me, Ollie-pop, she's all yours."

Oliver made a face at him at the teasing nickname, but he did feel a little better. He really had been sure that Skylar would beat him up the next time she saw him.

They sat in silence for a moment before Kaz spoke up. "I just realized—I've never seen the city from this vantage point until now."

Oliver smiled. "I haven't either."

"It gives you a whole new perspective on things."

"Yeah, it does."

Kaz hesitated a moment. "You know what we have to do, Oliver. Otherwise, this…" he swept a hand over the skyline. "This will all be destroyed."

Oliver didn't say anything.

Kaz forged on. "Our friends will be killed—you know they will. Jordan and Gus… your mom knows who they are, and she'll kill them, Oliver. And it's not just them. Heroes will die, too."

"I know." Oliver's eyes were closed, and he was shivering even though the air temperature was relatively warm. But as he spoke, his words were clear and firm.

"Oliver, are you okay?"

"I…"

"Oliver!"

As the name left Kaz's lips, the oddest thing happened: Oliver's eyes snapped open, glowing icy blue, and frost began to creep up his fingers.

Kaz yelped in surprise, and it seemed to be the noise that triggered what happened next: Kaz's hands burst into flame.

The two boys exchanged looks before turning and running towards the back entrance of the hospital, yelling at the top of their lungs, "HORACE!"

"Mom, stop, please! You're hurting him!"

Oliver took a step towards her, watching her relinquish her telekinetic grip on Kaz. Oliver broke eye contact with her for just a moment to check on his best friend. From what he could see, Kaz was just unconscious.

"Oliver, dear, he's always been a bad influence on you," she complained. "You could've had better friends."

"No, I couldn't have," Oliver said defiantly. "Kaz is the best friend I could ask for. And he's not a bad influence, he's like a brother to me!"

Bridget just shrugged. "Either way, I'm trying to protect you and leaving him alive would fall under not protecting you. So here we go." She reached out towards the helpless dark-haired boy, but Oliver just snapped.

"No!" He flung out his hands, and ice shot from his fingertips, heading right for her.

His mother barely had time to turn and deflect the cold crystals. Her eyes were wide as she looked at her son. "The Arcturion did this?"

He didn't know what else to do, so he just nodded.

She suddenly smiled wider than he'd ever seen. "This is perfect! Just think—together, mother and son, eradicating the world of danger!"

He shook his head, memories of Future Kaz's visit and what real Kaz said after that running through his head. "Mom, if you think I'd ever join you, you're truly crazy. I'm not evil. No matter what a visitor from the future, or my mother, says, I'm not. I never will be."

She shrugged again. "Maybe, maybe not. But you're my son, and you're coming with me."

"I'm not your son," he hissed. And maybe it was his anger taking over, but he never felt more certain about anything in his life.

Bridget blanched, then flushed. Rage shot through her eyes, and she started forward. Oliver raised his hands again, but the fear was starting to get to him—the ice wouldn't leave his fingers, just stuck to his skin. Right as she reached him, and he thought, this is it. It's all over, there came a vicious yell from behind her followed by a deafening roar. Flames shot through the air, obscuring everything. Bridget disappeared from Oliver's viewpoint, and he stumbled back, hitting the ground. Then, as quickly as they'd come, the flames dissipated.

And then Kaz was there, standing over him with a hand extended. "I got her. It's done. It's all over—we won."

"My mom will be in prison for the rest of her life," he replied numbly, grabbing Kaz's hand and pulling himself up.

Kaz nodded. "Unfortunately, yeah. I'm sorry, but—"

"Kaz! Oliver!"

They turned at the sound of their names being called and were met with the sight of a battle-scarred Skylar running towards them, tear tracks on her face.

"What happened?" Oliver asked immediately.

She stopped running and let out a ragged sob. "I was on surveillance after fighting a few of Mr. Terror's henchmen, and… I tried to check in with Horace, and…"

"And what?"

She sucked in a breath, looking terrified beyond belief. "No one answered. And I checked the cameras. Mighty Med… it's gone. Destroyed."

They stood at the edge of the scene of the crime, staring at what was left.

Kaz, finally, decided to brave the ash and heat and entered the main room, pulling out his phone and snapping a few pictures.

"What are you doing?" Skylar hissed, as if she would be reprimanded if she spoke too loudly. "The villains who did this might still be around!"

"I have an idea," Kaz replied simply. "We can get technology from those bionic kids we met a while back, but we should get them some info first." He turned but abruptly tripped over something. Oliver helped him up, but he looked down, expecting to see a chunk of rubble. Instead he saw a red-clad arm. There were fire designs on what remained of the sleeve of whoever was down there. Kaz shook Oliver's hand off his shoulder and knelt, brushing some of the dust out of the way. He choked out a sob when he realized it was Solar Flare—Solar Flare, the hero who'd helped him perfect his fire powers. Not a minute later, Kaz spotted a glint of silver streaked with maroon—Mr. Quick.

Almost afraid to look, he cast his gaze across the room towards the wall where Horace's picture of a bridge used to cover the safe. It was hard to make out, but after a minute Kaz could clearly see that it was the sleeve of a lab coat with a familiar emblem on the sleeve. No, no, no… All the air was driven his lungs as if he was punched, and he sank down to the ground. Oliver and Skylar followed his gaze and let out twin gasps in perfect unison.

Kaz had never heard Skylar's voice shake so badly. "Horace…?"

"Maybe… maybe there are survivors?" Oliver suggested quietly.

Kaz stood, shaking his head and wiping at his eyes as he faced his friends. "No. There's no use searching. They're dead. All of them."

Kaz withstood Oliver's tossing and turning for about an hour before he decided to do something about it. He slipped out of bed and tapped Oliver, motioning for him to get up. They walked past Chase, still sleeping deeply in his soundproof capsule, and Kaz didn't miss the sour look Oliver shot at the bionic human.

"What's up with you?" Kaz asked him, plopping down on the couch in the living room. "You suddenly hate Chase and your noise is keeping me up. So tell me."

Oliver seethed silently. "Chase got Skylar's powers back."

Kaz nodded. "Yeah, he did. That's a good thing, right?"

"No!" Oliver yelled, blue eyes suddenly very fragile-looking. "I was supposed to be her hero, not him! He just ruined my chances; Skylar hates me now!"

"Okay, okay," Kaz said, trying to calm him down, "I think you're getting a tad extreme."

He shook his head. "No. Skylar's furious at me, just because I panicked and almost destroyed her!"

"To be fair, she does have a right to be mad because of that. I mean, you did almost kill her."

Oliver groaned and buried his head in a pillow. "You're not helping."

"Hey, I'm not finished yet!" Kaz retorted. "Like I said, she has a right to be angry now. But you're friends, if nothing else, and you know Skylar—she can't go without her friends. Don't worry about it, Oliver."

Oliver huffed, closing his eyes and sinking deeper into the couch. "Can I still hate Chase?"

"No," Kaz said firmly. "We're a team, teams stick together. You three will all get it sorted out eventually."

Oliver opened one eye a crack. "Right, just like how you and Bree are getting it 'sorted out'?"

Kaz suddenly seemed to find Davenport's money portrait very interesting. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Oliver chuckled. "Fine." He suddenly frowned. "Do I have to go back upstairs? Chase is there."

Kaz groaned. "Well, I wouldn't be able to drag you up the stairs, so yeah, I guess you can stay here." He stood and walked into the kitchen, grabbing a glass of water.

"Hey, Kaz?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you remember when we were about seven, and we stayed up as late as we could watching TV just because we could?"

Kaz laughed. "How could I forget?" His smile turned into a smirk. "I've already gotten a handle on the popcorn."

(They actually managed to pull an all-nighter.)

"Kaz? Bree and Skylar said you were out here. Are you okay?"

There was no answer to Oliver's (admittedly stupid) question except for quiet sobs.

"Kaz, please talk to me."

"I… I c-can't."

Oliver sighed. "Kaz, I know you're hurting right now. But you can't blame yourself."

"How can I not?" Kaz asked, lifting his head to stare across the nighttime skyline of Centium City. "It's all my fault. I didn't supervise Kyle on his way home, so it was my fault that Roman and Riker tracked him. It's my fault my entire family is dead."

Oliver didn't know how to respond to that, so he sat next to Kaz on the ledge of the balcony, letting his legs dangle into open air. Pausing for a moment to look at the dark sky, he spoke quietly. "Remember the last time we did this?"

Kaz's face, despite being tear-stained and flushed, was mostly expressionless except for traces of pure misery. "Yeah. Before the hospital was destroyed. The night we found our new powers."

"The skyline is so different from Pennsylvania's," Oliver mused.

Kaz nodded mutely.

Oliver sighed. "It didn't really strike me until now how far we are from home."

"Feels that way, huh?" Kaz choked out, voice cracking. "Especially for us—we don't have any family to feel close to, not anymore. Because of me, both times."

"Kaz, it wasn't your fau—"

"No, Oliver!" Kaz snapped, eyes literally going red with fire, and Oliver shrank back. "Don't tell me it wasn't me fault, it was," Kaz insisted. "I was the one who knocked out your mom—so it's because of me that you don't have your mother with you anymore. I was the one who told Kyle to go home on his own—and because of that, Roman and Riker tracked him and killed my whole family! We don't even know what happened to Jordan and Gus, they could be dead, for all we know!" His voice heightened in pitch and volume, quickly becoming hysterical. "I had a huge family—eleven siblings, Oliver. Eleven! Now I have zero!" His yells abruptly cut off as he buried his head in his hands once more.

"I know, Kaz," Oliver said softly. "I understand."

"How? How can you?"

Oliver didn't answer for a moment, just stared down at the cars passing below. "I lost my family, too," he said finally. "Not like you did, but it's pretty close. My dad, my half sister, my nephew… I haven't seen them since they moved to England. It's almost like they don't exist anymore." He took a deep breath and then exhaled, accidentally releasing the carbon dioxide as a blast of icy air that sent a newly frozen bird plummeting to the ground. Wincing at his mistake, he turned back to Kaz. "Besides… you're not alone. Skylar is here for you, so is Chase. And so is Bree, and me too. I'm your best friend, Kaz, and I'm always here."

Silence. Then—

"Thank you, Oliver."

Oliver let out another breath, this time in relief. Thankfully, he didn't accidentally freeze anything. "Do you remember what you said to me the first time we ever really talked?"

Kaz shrugged apologetically. "Not really, no."

Oliver smiled. "No, it's okay. I barely do, anyway. But what you said was… well, you said you would be my brother. And you've been just that. For more than ten years, you've been my friend and, as you promised, my brother. I never had a brother, or even really any siblings at all—Jules was almost twenty years older than me and I never saw her much. But you were there when I needed you, always. I needed a brother then, and… I think you need one now. I could never replace your real brothers, but…"

Kaz let out a watery laugh. "No, you could never replace them. After all, you're a do-gooder and two of my brothers went to prison." He met Oliver's eyes. "But yeah. You're right, I do need a brother right now."

That was when Oliver realized how truly broken Kaz was. Kaz was never one to admit he needed help, no matter how dire the situation. Kaz hated being dependent on people—but he had just admitted that he needed someone to help him. An impossible sadness took over him, and he slung an arm around Kaz's shoulders, suddenly feeling as if the other boy would fall to pieces and float away without an anchor.

"So, how're things going with Bree?"

Kaz noticed the sudden subject change but chose not to ask about it. He rolled his eyes, but he smiled nevertheless. "Fine, thanks. You and Skylar?"

"She's still hanging with Chase more than I'd like, but, you know. What happens, happens," Oliver replied.

Oliver didn't let go of Kaz until they went back inside, after hours of talking. By that time, he noticed something in Kaz's face that made it seem safe for him to let go—a spark of hope. Oliver hadn't seen that look on his friend's face for a long time.

But it was finally back, and Oliver let himself feel hopeful again, too.

So, his life was a hurricane. Windy and rainy as the storm began, then calm and peaceful as they stood in the eye of the hurricane. Following that was a storm even worse than before, and he could only watch helplessly as the sky turned dark and everything was ripped apart.

But after that… after a storm, a rebuilding occurred. There was optimism for the future, because he—and everyone—knew that things would get better. Things always got better.

For himself, for Kaz and Skylar and Bree and Chase, for everyone, Oliver sure hoped so.

Reviews are appreciated.

(Ooh, and I thought of something rather clever, in my opinion: All flames go to Kaz! ['Cause, you know, he has fire powers? ... No? Okay then. XD] Anyway... hope you enjoyed!)