1

Pyrostar

The glass doors slid open. Shiny new black shoes strode confidently along the corridor. They came to a halt outside another door, but this one was made of thick steel. It did not look inviting. It bore a sign that said, "AUTHORISED PERSONNEL ONLY". The man pressed a hand to a scanner beside it. It read his palm, and after a moment it bleeped and flashed green. "Welcome, Mr Vane," said a computerised voice. The large door swung open silently.

Maxwell Vane entered the laboratory. He didn't glance around; he had been here often enough. Instead, he walked straight through it to a small glass door set into one wall, which led to his own office.

His personal secretary, Gail Ventura, was waiting. "Good morning, Mr Vane."

"Good morning, Gail. Well?"

Gail nodded. "Project Firestorm is now complete. We are ready to commence the testing."

Vane smiled, and shot her. She didn't realise at first. It was only when she noticed that: one, Vane had a gun in his hand; two, that there was a sudden pain in her chest; and three, there was a dark red stain spreading across her blouse. She folded up silently.

The door opened. Vane looked up at the newcomer. "How did you get on?" he asked.

The other man nodded. "They are all dead. Scientists die easily."

"Hey, watch yourself, Darter," said Vane, smiling. "I'm a scientist too, you know."

"But you don't use the title "doctor" though, do you?"

Vane shrugged. "That is irrelevant. Come on."

It had worked extremely well. Darter had entered earlier today, in a white coat, carrying a clipboard. He had presented a note signed by Maxwell Vane. Of course the guard had let him in. He had come up here, used a glove that had Vane's fingerprints on it, and entered the lab. Then he simply went about his business.

And his business was killing. He was a paid assassin. He was here because he was working for a man. But that man was not Vane, who was also employed by the same person.

Darter and Vane had a job to do. Vane went over to a briefcase that was sitting open on the table. He shut it carefully, before Darter could see inside. Darter was curious. He didn't know what secrets had been developed in this lab, but he knew that it was something dangerous.

Vane moved over to a computer, and started typing. Darter picked up the briefcase gingerly. "Don't worry," said Vane, seeing him hesitating. "It's quite safe. For now, anyway." He turned back to the computer. "There," he said, hitting a last key. "It is done."

Darter nodded, and, as he had been instructed, located a rack of test tubes. He selected one labelled FIRESTORM: FINAL RESULT and laid it on the work surface. Then he took a small device out of his pocket, and set it beside the tube. "Okay, let's go," he said.

The two men walked out of the room. Vane took care to close the door tightly. They made their way to the lift, Darter still carrying the briefcase as though it could explode at any second.

On the ground floor, Vane nodded as they walked past the security guard. "I'm just taking my guest out for a spot of breakfast, Chris. Can I bring you anything?"

Chris the guard waved, and said, "Thanks, but no thanks, Mr Vane."

Vane and Darter walked out of the tall building. It said PYROSTAR above the door, and below the word was a smaller sentence: "Lighting the way to the future". Vane smiled up at it.

When they had put several yards between them and the Pyrostar building, Darter asked, "Now?"

Vane nodded.

Darter turned around and looked back at the building. It towered above everything else. He felt in his pocket and pulled out a small box with a single button on it.

He raised the box, and pressed the button.

Then, they hurried on. It wasn't long before people in the street noticed the smoke billowing out of a window on the twentieth floor of Pyrostar. Then the wall of the room melted, and it was revealed that the lab Vane and Darter had come from was burning. And burning fast.

Fire engines arrived, to try and combat it, but there was no hope. The fire had now spread along the entire floor, and was moving down. The people on the lower floors were being evacuated. The people on the floors above the blaze had no way out.

After a while, the fire had burned through the entire lower half of the building. Now only the skeletal structure was left. And it too was melting.

Without warning, the building suddenly gave way, and crashed down onto the street.

Vane and Darter were already on a plane. Vane smiled, as he thought of what must have happened to the Pyrostar skyscraper when Firestorm was unleashed upon it.

Who would have thought that the company's slogan, "Lighting the way to the future", would actually come true?

Because Firestorm was the way to the future.

It just wouldn't be a pleasant one for a lot of people.