Baby, When The Lights Go Out

The residents of Sandford weren't even aware that there was anything wrong until the power went down.

Nicholas Angel and Danny Butterman were in the middle of a Tremors marathon (Nick hadn't even known they'd made a second) when it happened; well, seeing as how they hadn't had any lights on anyway the only noticeable thing was the screen going black 10 minutes into the third film and as both of them were dozing off anyway they didn't actually notice a thing.

It was the persistent knocking at the door that caused them to jerk awake.

"Chief?" Doris shouted through to them

"wassat? Wha's goin' on?" Danny asked muzzily, struggling to sit up properly, "What happened to the film?"

"power cut." was Nicholas' reply as he tried (and failed) to turn the lamp beside the sofa on.

"Chief? You in there?"

"Yeah Doris, we're coming." He and Danny carefully made their way to the front door, both, thankfully, familiar enough with the layout of the cottage that there were no incidents.

They found Doris wide-eyed and impatient when they opened the door to her;

"What's going on Doris? I wasn't aware we needed a police presence for a power cut."

"I don't think it's quite as simple as that boss. Just...you should see this."

It never failed to surprise Danny how quickly Nick could slip into proper police mode after having been woken up suddenly. The transition was blink-and-you'll-miss-it and Danny could only imagine what he looked like, stumbling after him in the dark. He could try for a hundred years and he would never be as good as that: Danny needed his sleep, he loved his sleep, especially when said sleep meant curling up with Nicholas Angel pressed against him, warm and solid and safe. He could happily spend the rest of his life like that.

Unfortunately, the world often has other plans.

Doris led them to one of the roads heading out of the village where they found both of the Andys and one Turner twin (happy) waiting for them, it cheered Danny up to see that Andy and Andy had obviously been rudely awoken as well.

Then he noticed the cloud of smoke and the unmistakable glow of fire in the distance and his brain swiftly kicked into gear. "What's that?"

"Buford Abbey." Cartwright answered shortly.

Nicholas turned on him; "What-"

"We got some reports coming through at the station earlier," Doris wisely cut in "an explosion at The White Hart in Buford Abbey. But they got cut off before we could get any kind of detail."

"Terrorists?" even Nicholas didn't sound convinced of his theory.

"It looks like a volcano" Danny mused and when everyone turned to stare at him he felt he should explain, "with the lightning and stuff. When that one in Sweden erupted-"

"Norway." Nicholas corrected

"No, hear me out. When that one that no one could pronounce erupted there was a massive mushroom cloud and there was lightning all around it. Just like that." he nodded in the direction of the town formerly known as Buford Abbey.

"It's the friction isn't it?" asked Turner

"I like a bit of friction."Doris cackled

"Yeah, all that dust and stuff in the air causes friction and that makes the lightning."

They all took a moment to digest that information.

"Sooo, not terrorists then?"

"I don't hear any sirens, do you think we should go and help?"

"Cars aren't working." Cartwright nodded back the way they had come, apparently indicating the station and the cars parked back there but Wainwright was the only one who understood this.

"What? None at all?"

"Not s'far as we can tell."

"and we can't contact them?"

"All radios are down chief."

"Wha-?"

"AND the phones."

"And it's probably not safe to go down there Nick is it?" Danny urged, knowing what he was like and scared that he would end up getting hurt, "Not with no idea what it is. Someone could get seriously hurt."

Nicholas, hearing the concern in Danny's voice and being of a sensible disposition, found himself agreeing. "No. We'll wait, sit it out til the morning. Let things cool down a little and then check it out. Carefully."

He squeezed Danny's hand.

The Community That Cares watched from a distance that night, completely helpless as Buford Abbey burned in front of them. All of them wondering why and none of them able to find an answer.