capeandcowllogs | Fighting fire with...not fire

Entry tags:

Fighting fire with...not fire

WHO:

a_relative_hero and OPEN
WHERE: A less nice part of the City
WHEN: Really late Friday Night/Early Saturday Morning
WARNINGS: None predicted
SUMMARY: A building is on fire. People need saving. Time to do some superhero-stuff that doesn't involve punching and blasting and stuff. Houston's pulling people out of danger and could use a little help.
FORMAT: whatever

Houston hadn't seen what happened as he'd been a block away stopping a mugger. But he heard it. And when he showed up on the scene, a bystander filled him in on what was the cause of the current problem. Two cars had smashed into one another on the street, one flipping over and blocking the street. The other went and ended up jumping the curb before slamming into the wall of a building. And to make matters worse, it quickly caught fire...and then that fire moved to the apartment building it crashed into.

Now there's a burning apartment building. While several people made it out on their own, there are others still needing rescue. Houston's rushing in and out of the building, carrying people and pets to safety but he could probably use a hand. Even with his speed he can't be everywhere at once and there are people stuck on the higher floors that could use rescue.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Houston! Nice to meet ya! And thanks!" Houston calls up to Ghost. He blinks when the man just passes through a wall but shakes it off. He's quickly turning and rushing back into the building to pull people out of danger and see where Ghost went.

Ghost makes a quick scan of the room, noting that Houston's already been through a few times and has done an efficient job rescuing people--and animals, natch--and his wont is to drift idly through rooms, intangible and flicking on thermal imaging. It's not very useful when there's lots of fire around, but it's better on the second floor.

"That room." He points dutifully, taking a look behind him to see that Houston is present, "How much smoke have you inhaled?"

Houston zips around, checking various rooms and occasionally coming back to check on Ghost. He's got no idea what to make of the guy but since he seems to be helping, he leaves questions for another time. He jumps when Ghost looks at him.

"That room? How many?" he asks. The question brings him pause. "Probably more than I should have but if I move fast enough I can last longer," he replies, blurring forward to check the room that was pointed to.

"Two. Young children." Ghost idles another second, contemplating the merits of spooking the kids accidentally versus letting Houston handle it.

"Tell me if you feel short of breath, confused or nauseous. My suit protects me from carbon monoxide poisoning."

Trying the door, it opens an inch or so and then stops, blocked by something beyond.

Houston curses faintly when the door doesn't open. He pushes against it a few times before looking back at Ghost. "Thanks but getting the kids out is more important," he speaks quickly, not quite getting to speed-speech yet. "Something's blocking the door. Can you peek inside and see what it is? Or how to get it out of the way?"

"I can do better. Take my hand." He becomes tangible all of a sudden, holding out his gloved hand to Houston.

Houston is surprised a moment but quickly shakes it off. He takes Ghost's hand with his own glove-covered hand. "Okay."

Ghost squeezes a little, then abruptly goes intangible again--taking Houston with him. The feeling of it is unreal, dreamlike, disconnected from all sensations of discomfort or pain. It feels good, like some kind of benign drug trip or soothing dream.

Ghost moves forward, drifting through the door and the collapsed ceiling beam blocking it, and glances back to make sure Houston's following. "We'll need to find an alternate exit." Once inside he breaks contact, which returns them both to tangibility.

The sudden intangibility brings a gasp out of Houston. It's like nothing he's ever felt before. For a moment, he stands there trying to adjust to the feeling. When Ghost begins moving, Houston jumps and follows. "Wow..." he murmurs as they pass though the obstacles, looking back at them.

"Alternate exit?" he frowns, looking the ceiling beam over. He nods after concluding its too heavy for him to move. "Let's find those kids first."

"There are limits to how much mass I can make non-corporeal." He recognizes the urgency in Houston's voice and scans the room again, indicating under the bed. Two pretty scared toddlers close in age are under there crying and peering out--mostly seeming scared of Ghost, who doesn't advance, at sort of a loss for how to handle the rescue-civilians part of the job. He hasn't been a superhero all that long, and most of his missions involved taking stuff down, fighting zombies and whatever hostages he rescued were rational adults.

"I'll follow your lead."

"How much is too much?" Houston asks quickly. He's trying to come up with a plan since he doubts jumping out a window is a good idea. He's quick to move towards the bed when pointed towards it. He crouches down and holds his hands out to the kids.

"Hey, it's okay now. Don't have to be afraid. We're here to save you," he says, trying to be reassuring and friendly. He's used to dealing with kids.

"I've only ever field tested with one other person at a time." Ghost floats forward--one of the toddlers, the little girl, is already squirming forward and reaching to wrap chubby arms around Houston's neck with a little whimper, trusting that reassuring voice.

Ghost doesn't waste time on silly emotions like jealousy (though seriously he's pretty jealous of Houston's obvious talent with children), crouching and observing the other child for a second, then reaching a claw-tipped hand of his own for the boy. The kid naturally shrinks back from it and scrunches his eyes shut. "Hurry. If the fire reaches a gas main, this building could explode. --Houston." It's more a request, like tell this kid I'm okay, despite my super scary costume and generally robotic demeanor.

Houston quickly picks the girl up, looking to Ghost. "Then get them into the hall one at a time, please. Come back for me last. I'll get them clear once we're out of this room," he replies. When Ghost scares the boy, Houston winces and nods to the request.

"Hey, big guy. You don't need to be afraid of my friend here. He's going to help get you away from all this fire. We'll get you outside where it's nice and safe, okay?" he goes right back into that reassuring tone, having had plenty of practice when dealing with his younger siblings.

"Understood." He reaches out to take the little girl off Houston, going intangible again and heading for the door as the girl mumbles uncertainly that it feels tickly to be a ghost.

Once he's passed through the obstacles, he sets her down gently and glances down the hall at the sight of fire creeping in their direction rather quickly. The floor gives a lurch and Ghost calculates to himself that it won't be safe here much longer, leaving her under a table in the hall and floating back into the room. "We are running out of time."

Houston hands the girl over quickly with some more assurances and then turns to pick up the other toddler. Once he's got the kid, Houston rushes over to the wall so Ghost won't have to go as far to reach them.

"That's not good. Here," he starts to hand the second toddler over. "We've gotta move faster."

"And the rest of this building is cleared. Thanks to you." He takes the second child, stepping back through the wall and into the hallway, listening to the structure creak and groan as something gives a sudden crash not far away. Ghost becomes tangible again as he sets the child down, listening for the distant fire engine sirens and thinking their response time is basically just in time, as the floor of the third hallway is promptly introduced with a forceful crash to the second floor hallway, a few feet away from the kids. Ghost tsks under his mask and floats back into the room to help Houston out.

Houston pauses at Ghost's words but shakes it off quickly. He'll think about how he actually managed to save some people later. All the creaking and other noises the burning structure was making had him worried. He smiled when Ghost appeared and held a hand out towards him.

"How much time do you think we have left?"

"Four minutes, fifty two seconds, approximately." Ghost takes his hand, phasing them both out into the hallway, hearing the supports creak alarmingly; both the kids are crying again as Ghost lets go of Houston.

Houston nods, waiting until they're back in the hall to speak. "More than enough time," he replies with a smile. He turns to the kids and moves to pick them both up. "We're all going to be safe so no more tears, okay? You two just need to hold on tight and I'll get you outside where there's no more fire," he speaks to the kids in that same reassuring tone he'd been using inside the room. "I'll be right back," he comments to Ghost before activating that power of his and starting to zip the kids outside.

Another slow scan of the building so far as he can see it, hearing the wail of the fire engines outside, and although it was a long time ago, he remembers another 'accident' quite vividly as he drifts through the wall/floor to the lower level, shifting phase to invisible as firemen rush in. He slips out through a broken window, becoming visible again and landing, turning to survey the building from outside.

All the possessions, family heirlooms, pictures, books, furniture, some lifetimes of effort and work up in smoke and slag. Meaningless in comparison to the mother's relief for her children, of course, but...

He thinks of Shana, and hates that he still wonders if she died instantly, or if she knew what was happening the moment before the blast.

Then he looks around for Houston, shaking off the cobwebs of memory. Needing a distraction.

Houston pulls himself away from a few grateful people, blushing despite the sweat and soot covering him. He speaks with them a bit more before looking around to Ghost and jogging over.

"Hey, are you alright?" he asks, ignoring the fact that he should be resting himself. He's lightly burned and probably inhaled more smoke than he should have but he's doing his very best to ignore that right now. "Thanks for all that help in there."

"Hm." Ghost looks down at him, hunching his shoulders in and evaluating Houston with the tech at his disposal, LEDs dimming a little, "Intact. And in less singed condition than you. You should rest, perhaps."

There's an awkward beat at the thanks, Ghost nodding his head twice, then alighting gently. "That is what your kind does regularly. The dangerous civilian rescue. We aren't so different."

"I am getting a bit tired. Using my powers so much..." Houston trails off, looking from Ghost to the fire and back again. "Once I'm sure they don't need anymore help, I promise I'll get some rest."

He blinks a few times, looking a little confused. "My kind? What do you mean?"

"Your abilities have a fatigue limit? What is their source?" He follows Houston's glance at the fire, "My scans show the building is now unoccupied."

A longer, measured pause, before Ghost fades to invisible--across the street a local news crew has arrived, which might have something to do with Ghost's desire not to show up on TV. He speaks after a second, the tinny mechanical voice still loud and clear. "You work outside conventional law, disguise your identity and act on your own moral code." A moment of silence, then a soft rustle, possibly a shrug, "I have seen the inside of prison walls for the same."

"I get tired running around so much if that's what you mean," Houston replies. "No idea about my speed. The Porter gave me those powers," he explains, a little embarrassed by that bit of ignorance. He nods when told about the building, happy about that.

He blinks when Ghost fades out but doesn't seem startled by it. He's too used to his brother doing the same thing back home. Noticing the TV cameras makes the goggle-wearing teen blush a moment though but he shakes that off and clears his throat. "Oh man, I'm sorry," Houston replies, assuming that Ghost just comes from an anti-superhero world. "Hopefully the same won't happen here."

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