Nuclear Fire 35
Every now and then -and when someone isn't looking at her- Taylor tends to have her moments of childish mischief.
I saw that when she 'accidentally' took Long John with her, stealing him right from underneath Bitch's nose.
And I saw it again some minutes ago when she revealed she had brought The Fly home with her. She promised me that she'd later return it once it was time for the mosquito to go into Coil's base, but that's a distant concern for me at the moment. Right now I'm just happy we have a means of fast transportation with Taylor carrying me Glory Girl style.
"It's there, isn't it?" The dread in her voice is clear as we see our destination. Even from here, we can see the glow in the distance, and as we get closer we realize how bad it is.
It looks like the aftermath of Lung's rampage.
Tall flames raise up to the sky like tongues trying to lick the stars while people yell and scream at the tragedy, the survivors congregating to look at it in shocked impotence while those trapped call for help.
Immediately my visor identifies ground zero: an entire section of an alley has disappeared, carved like a perfect sphere big enough to swallow a car. Emerging from the sphere there are lines of scorched ground, surrounding it as if they were the rays of a sun.
If I were to make a guess, the purpose of this bomb was to start a massive fire. A purpose fulfilled as the fire has already taken over half a city block and is threatening with moving to a second one.
If we don't get it under control, this could expand to the rest of the city.
Thankfully this time we have help, as at that moment The Fight arrives by virtue of The Jump.
Taylor sets a beacon on a safe rooftop where we meet and prepare our strategy.
"Tech-Priest, find your friend!"
I have been doing that, but the background radiation of the explosion is causing some interference.
"The Fight," Taylor continues, "Help me rescue the people trapped by the fire!"
The card stares back, cocking her head to the side without understanding that command.
"Carry them on your shoulder and take them outside the building!"
The blank stare remains.
"Imagine that they are Long John!"
At that, The Fight's normal emotionless face turns into a rictus of fierce determination as she springs into action, jumping right into a nearby apartment where a family is trapped.
"Okay, that worked. Be careful, Tech-Priest," And with those parting words Taylor teleports away to start evacuating people, leaving me behind to continue my search in silent panic.
Which one was Aisha's apartment?
I remember it was somewhere here, but I never bothered to memorize the exact place, trusting my visor to always be there for me.
Where could she be? I need a clue!
Answering my request, what looks to be a mass of shadows in the vague shape of a man bursts out from a nearby apartment block. The monstrous figure collapses on a knee, and as the shadows evaporate I find myself looking at a skull-shaped helmet.
That's Grue, leader of the Undersiders, and Aisha's brother.
He pulls his helmet back to vomit on the floor while gasping for air. His shadow powers may have protected him from the heat of the fire, but they did little against the smoke and the toxic fumes.
Well, good thing that one of my main supply lines runs underneath these streets, so I have dozens of drones skitterning underneath my feet with even more coming.
I jump down to the street, "Grue! I'm with you!"
He swings his arm. I don't know if he's trying to push me away or to keep his balance, but he fails on both accounts as he drops to the ground. Too weak to move, he can't stop me as I plug a drone into his chest.
Acute intoxication due to smoke inhalation. Something that I already suspected.
I order the drone to start helping him while I search the building he came out from.
Bingo.
Two life signals on the second floor. One from an older woman, the other from a girl slightly older than me.
"Ladybug, I got her!" I don't wait for her reply and go in, using my Zergling armor to climb over the face of the building. A boarded-up window stands in my way but my Zergling claws make short work of it and I step inside. Immediately I'm assaulted by dozens of warnings. The corridor is engulfed in flames and the ceiling is covered in a thick cloud of smoke.
If it wasn't because of my armor, I would already be dead.
The path I picked may have been the fastest but it was far from the safest. Grue must have tried to do the same before his lungs gave up.
And, oh, fuck! My robes are on fire! That's what happens when you use mundane materials instead of fire-proof ones. My scarab can repair it if I load it up with spare fabric but at this rate I'll end up looking like a plucked chicken.
I march on.
To my left and right, I see the blackened remains of people that failed to escape in time. The bomb must have spread the fire at an unnaturally high speed, taking the sleeping inhabitants completely by surprise.
If Aisha's apartment had been just a bit closer to the street--
Or if the bomb had detonated just a couple meters to the right--
Better not to think about it.
Entire sections of the floor have collapsed and I can see the sea of flames below me. If I were to fall into that, not even my armor would save me from being cooked alive, but my drones allow me to find a safe path. Being able to identify weakened structures is vital for their savaging operations, and thanks to them I know where not to step on.
I reach the door to Aisha's apartment.
It remains intact, thankfully, acting as a barrier between the inferno and the room on the other side. The moment I open it the fire will spread in, so I need to move fast.
I cut it open. What I find on the other side is a living room full of empty boxes, rotting food, and a sofa covered with stains of human fluids. Not blood. Not like that makes it any less disgusting.
With smoke quickly filling the living room, I move into the bedroom. And from there to the bathroom.
I find Aisha cowering behind the sink while her mother sleeps in the bathtub, blissfully unaware of what's happening outside.
"P-Priest!"
So, Aisha knows about us. That's neat.
Without giving her a chance to protest, I hurl her over my shoulder.
"Wait! My mom!"
"Later!"
Even with the enhanced strength that my armor provides me, carrying a small girl is already a challenge. The woman will have to wait.
I take one of my drones and attach it to Aisha's throat and mouth. Not only will it help her breathe but it will also prevent her from talking. A net positive all around.
Thankfully there's an exit point close to us. An alley that leads to the street opposite from where I found Grue. I just need to turn left at the corridor and--
A piece of the ceiling falls right in front of us, blocking our way out.
Fuck.
I can't take Aisha the way I came in! She won't survive the heat!
And just as I finish that thought, a black miasma surrounds us, stopping only when it reaches my eyes. I go through a moment of panic before I hear a voice,
"Down here!"
That's Grue!
Protected by his power I jump to the floor below, where I find him covered in his shadows. He grabs my arm and leads us to the exit.
Once back in the safety of the open streets, I set Aisha on the floor and recovered my drone.
"Now go save my mom!" Aisha begs now that she can speak again, her voice a bit sore after having the implant removed.
A 'thank you' would have been nice, but I won't blame her for caring about her family first. I'd do the same.
But how the hell am I getting there? The road to the apartment has only gotten more dangerous during the minutes I spent taking Aisha out!
That problem gets fixed in a flash as Taylor materializes between us, carrying the woman with her.
Aisha throws herself at the unmoving woman, but the reason for her unconsciousness quickly becomes obvious as I start healing her. It isn't because of the smoke. It's the massive amount of heroin running through her veins.
I put the drone to work but there's only so much it can do about all that.
The woman will live, but God only knows how much of this whole ordeal she'll remember once she wakes up.
Still, this is only one family of dozens that need help. A fact that we're quickly reminded of.
While I was busy saving Aisha, people started congregating outside her apartment block curious about the capes that came to their rescue. They shout over each other, some demanding healing while others inform us about all those that remain unaccounted for.
"Everyone, shut up!" Taylor yells at the top of her lungs, her voice amplified by The Song, "Put all the wounded in one place! The rest, stand back!" And then she turns towards Grue, "Will you help us?"
Even with his helmet on he seems to glance at Aisha for what feels like a fraction of a second, "Yes," And that's all that he says before coating himself in shadows and charging into the next burning building.
Curious.
I didn't remember him being anywhere near as altruistic in canon, but I guess that he doesn't want the people to realize that he only cares about Aisha.
Not a bad idea at all, and so I go after him.
"Wait! Wait!" Aisha yells behind us but we ignore her.
We start pulling people out. Some of them are trapped and just need that we make a way out for them. Some of them were wounded and needed to be carried. The bodies we ignore.
For her part, The Fight didn't fully understand Taylor's command and is carrying people by putting them on her head. It looks extremely uncomfortable for both parties but it's working, and we don't have time to correct her. Even with three parahumans and a Card helping, a teleporter among us, there's simply too much for us to do on such short notice.
The common people have joined in, helping the elderly to get away from their doomed homes, and treating the wounded the best they can, but they can't get near the worst cases.
I reach another apartment. Through the smoke, I can see an old couple with their backs on the floor. They look peaceful, almost as if they were napping.
They kind of remind me of the grandparents I left in my previous life.
Armor, help me.
[Compensating]
The drugs help me push my anxiety and my frustration to the back of my mind.
I carry on.
The apartment I'm trying to reach has two entrances. One has been taken by the fire and the other has been boarded up. I cut an opening for the family trapped inside.
Before I can leave, the mother grabs me by the arm, "Wait! My parents were in the apartment next door! Have you seen them?"
Oh, no.
[Compensating]
I don't reply and just lead the family out. I can't bring myself to be the one to tell them.
We reach the streets just in time to see Taylor arriving with another survivor. I rush to their side but none of them need medical assistance.
"Okay, last one!" Taylor announces aiming at the final building that still contains people trapped inside. In just a couple of seconds, the Blink Band will be ready and she'll teleport in.
Those are seconds that she doesn't have.
I receive a warning from my visor and I tackle her to the ground.
"Tech-Priest! What--?" Her words get cut by a deafening explosion.
Inside that last apartment complex, there was a storage of propane tanks. The fire reached it, and what followed was a foregone conclusion.
The entire building collapses under its own weight, and we can do nothing but witness how half a dozen life signals blink out of existence.
Fuck.
Fuck!
I punch the asphalt in frustration but it's not like that helps me at all. The armor stops me from feeling the pain from that.
It's frustrating.
"Tech-Priest, get up!" Taylor grabs me by the armpits and pulls me back to my feet.
The victims of the collapse weren't the only ones affected by the explosion. All around us people are bleeding from their ears or from wounds caused by the flying fragments of masonry.
Taylor throws herself into the work of healing those she can.
She saw stuff like this while she was helping Assault, but this is the first for me.
What little I saw the morning of the EMP doesn't compare to all this.
All the yells.... All the sobs... The sound of fire in the background... It's overwhelming.
Looking at the buildings, with the paint stripped by years of rain and abandonment, reminds me of crying faces screaming in anguish.
The fire has done nothing but grow since we arrived.
I reach for my communicator, "Ladybug, we need to bring the buildings down."
Taylor, who was busy healing a man with a bad wound on his head, snaps her head at me, "What?!"
"If we don't stop the fire now it'll keep expanding. We can do that by collapsing the entire city block on top of it."
She slowly stands up, looking at the fierce spectacle, "Is there no other way?"
"None that I can think of."
Her hands tremble in closed fists, "Do it. I'll tell the people to evacuate," She orders the civilians to flee. Some are reticent, but after she tells them that their homes are about to collapse they obey.
We too retreat to a safe distance.
Underneath our feet, an army of drones has been amassing, called from all over the city. I give the command and as one they move underneath the burning buildings, eating the foundations away. Hundreds lived there, but their homes were already lost and if I don't do this thousands more may lose theirs.
Like dominoes, walls start collapsing, followed soon by floors and ceilings. It's a controlled operation, with the outer sections falling into the interior ones to stop shards and splinters from flying away. Some dust does, but it's a minor concern thanks to our armors.
The flames die out, and once the dust settles what remains of an entire city block is just debris and twisted metal.
I'd call the spectacle beautiful if it wasn't so horrifying, but we did it. We put an end to the fire and that's what mattered.
As if in a trance, those that used to call that mountain of rubble 'home' approach to look at the aftermath. Some start crying. Some others stare in silence. Just now they start to realize how much they lost, both in material possession and lives.
"Thank you."
The voice surprises me as I don't recognize it at first. It's Grue, who's still with us. If we had arrived a moment later, he'd be amongst those mourning.
I must say, that's the most heartfelt thing a person has told me in a long while. It immediately makes me feel better.
And talking about that, where's Aisha?
Oh, there she is, in perfect health and rushing towards us, "I was so worried about you!"
Does she know that Grue is her brother? I think that in canon she had figured that out months before Taylor joined them, but I could be wrong. She must be happy to have a brother who'd risk her life for--
Why is she ignoring him and approaching me?
"My hero!"
Why is she hugging me??!!
"I was so scared, but then you came to my rescue! You were so dashing!"
Oh, fuck.
Well, this confirms it. She does know that Grue is her brother. No other reason for her to be this emotional.
I don't need a drone to tell me that Grue's blood pressure is reaching the triple digits.
I try to back away, "I don't know this person!" I could easily break her grip thanks to my enhanced strength but I don't want to hurt her.
"Oh, don't worry, we'll have ample opportunity to get to know each other."
You bitch!
I know she's just saying that to mess with Grue, but that still makes my skin crawl.
"This person doesn't speak for me!"
Taylor walks to us and taps at Aisha's shoulder, "Okay, that's enough," Thank you! "Let him go. He doesn't like that," No, I don't!
Aisha pulls her tongue at her, but before she can say anything we hear the sound of what seems to be a pack of dogs.
That does the trick and Aisha lets me go, "Okay, see you later!" She lets me go and breaks into a sprint, getting lost through the alleys.
The moment she's out of sight, three massive dogs land next to us.
Oh, yeah. I should have seen that one coming.
One the one hand: thank the Lord that the Undersiders were here to save me!
On the other: goddammit, Tattletale is here!
...
