The air was engulfed by the rising flames that stood out in the dark city sky. A large brick building crumbled upon itself in select places. Glass shattered as different veggies ran out of the building for freedom. The terror that struck the burning building was beyond unbearable, but the fire still continued eating it's way at the building.

The building was another base for Cuke Industries, or at least that could be argued when the company logo broke off of the building and fell into the roasting piles of brick. This was only one of the several bases for the company across the city, but it didn't change the need for immediate action. One veggie, a male asparagus in a turtleneck shouted among the others who made it out of the fire.

"Where is the Fire Department?" the citizen yelled loudly.

"I don't know," another, unknown, voice yelled. This one sounded feminine "They must be taking their sweet time, even the News Helicopter is here!" Some of the citizens shot their view upwards. Past the fire, a faint figure of what seemed to be a helicopter flew overhead. It rose higher up, showing it's entire figure as it could not catch on fire now.

The helicopter held four figures, two gourds, a rhubarb, and a peach. One gourd and the peach held cameras. The peach directed his camera to the fire as the gourd was busy recording the rhubarb, who was speaking into a microphone.

"This is Petunia Rhubarb reporting live above Cuke Industries, one of the many buildings representing the company. The building has caught on fire no longer than fifteen minutes ago, with still no sign of the Bumblyburg Fire Department. The fire has been seen to start up quickly, as the entire third floor seemed to burst into flames as quick as a flash. This causes authorities to believe it was an act of arson. Currently, the police department is trying their best to escort civilians away from building, which is causing mass panic."

The last squad car drove up to the drive-way, pulling to a quick halt. Officer Scooter exited the vehicle and stared at the fire for a few seconds. "Why is it taking the fire department so long?" he asked. Two other cops, including Officer Olaf, joined him from outside of the car.

"Everyone is asking that same question," a carrot officer said. "I heard that someone damaged all of the Firetrucks. No one knows who, but we can guess who lead the entire operation for both there and here."

"That darn rapscallion Theodore," Scooter mumbled. "This is finally going too far."

"Sorry to burst any illusions, but it seems like things went too far a long time ago."

"You know what I mean."

"Well, the fire department is on their way, or so I hear." It wasn't long after that until a large red truck emerged into view, heading high speed towards the site. "It's about time." The citizens were sighing in relief, all of them almost in unison once they heard it. Other firetrucks followed behind it, resulting in them all entering the site to surround the building.

Scooter ran from the car and towards the building. "Where are you going?" Olaf yelled at him. "The firetrucks just got here!"

"I need to make sure that no one is inside!" He didn't have to waste any time pushing in the door, which was already destroyed, as well as much of the building altogether. The heat made him sweat intensely, it wasn't even a few seconds and he already felt like he had been in a desert for an hour. He took his pistol out of the holster on his belt and held it at his side, in case the suspected arsonist would come his way.

The creaking noises of the floor above him caused slight disturbance. He knew that it could collapse upon him at any time, but he kept moving forward as the bright orange light made him squint a little. The scottish carrot was already dizzy from the flames, but he knew that he could handle it. This was the largest fire he had ever had to encounter, but it wasn't the first one that he had ever had to enter.

Sparks flew past his face right in front of him through some surprisingly still working technology. He ran past the disrupting electronics, which he did at good timing. The systems all exploded behind him at once, making him fall over onto the very hot ground, his gun thrown a few feet away from him.

He peered behind him and saw that the ceiling for the second floor was breaking apart where the electronics were. Scooter's eyes shot up and he quickly got up to dive for his gun. He jumped from where he was lying down and raced towards another wall, where to his joy he saw a staircase still halfway in good condition.

The entire ceiling for the second floor collapsed behind him, trickles of it falling upon his head. Scooter's head look above him and saw that the ceiling was cracking apart terribly, which made him quickly jump upon the staircase.

The fire ate away at the staircase quickly as Scooter lunged forwards to escape from a step that was breaking apart. His sweat flooded his face, making his eyes try so hard to come together for a few moments. Scooter still didn't have the willingness to give into his body as he continued up the steps. He pulled himself up to finally reach the second floor.

He ran to the next hall where he saw the obvious ground gone, leaving a very large gap between him and the other side of the hall. The officer grunted as he saw the slightest path to make it through. A small ledge stood stead across the gap, and it seemed to be doing well against the heat. He scooted across that rather quickly. His back was bursting with an intense and painful heat and his hat fell off and into the first floor.

"Ahh!" He wanted so badly to just fall over, but he endured the pain to get to the other side of the hall. The officer jumped the last bit as the ledge finally gave out from his weight. Scooter panted once he hit his stomach on the ground to look ahead of him.

He couldn't believe his eyes. All this time was almost worth it as he saw a zucchini in a suit throwing an empty gasoline can into the flames. Scooter got to his feet and pointed his pistol at the figure.

"FREEZE!" he yelled loudly. The zucchini turned around. He looked rather confused for a second, but then suddenly laughed.

"Officer," he said. "How good of you to try to enter. Sorry for you though, but I have the upper hand!" Scooter moved forwards, onto a small bridge. He just suddenly knew that this was a major mistake an deathtrap that he walked into.

"Oh dear..." he whispered under his breath. The zucchini took his gun and shot at the bridge, making the entire thing collapse under Scooter. Scooter thought that he would have been lost, but a quick shadow came across and he had a softer landing than expected. The carrot was amazed. He knew that something had came across and broke his fall, but he couldn't for the life of him figure out what it was.

The exit was close, and he knew that he could make it out in time. Burned, dazed, and absolutely covered in a very hot sweat, he knew that he would only have to make a few more steps before he was free. He couldn't take any more of his strength to try to recover the arsonist. He thought to himself that the fire would do him in in the end, right?

As he emerged, he witnessed Officer Olaf running up to him and helping him support his balance. "What happened in there?"

"I dunno," Scooter said. "But the arsonist is still in there and alive, but I doubt he will make it out safely." Once about four yards away from the fire, Scooter fell over and gazed above at the sky, finally safe.

Inside, the zucchini arsonist laughed in a complete maniacal joy. "Let's all see how Larry the Cucumber reacts when he figures out that one of his bases was destroyed and that the man behind it got away swift and easily!" His cocky grin was overly large as he picked up his briefcase and steadily moved towards what he made sure was a sure exit. He couldn't help but laugh at the misfortune that he had caused so many, and he needed to boast about it to someone. Since no one was around, that someone was himself.

"Theodore Scallion will promote me beyond many others once this job is complete. And then the entire city of Bumblyburg shall fear my name. The joy! Ha ha ha ha haaa!"

Suddenly, he saw a shadow quickly move across some of the flames. He jumped backwards. "Who's there?" he yelled loudly. Another shadow came before him and he dropped the briefcase. He only looked away for a few seconds before glancing back at his briefcase. It would be hard to glance at something that wasn't there though. He gasped.

"Show yourself!" He looked behind him and suddenly he saw a large purple-ish black shadow that came towards him. He couldn't make it out through all of the flames and his eyes uneasy from the fire alone. He could tell it was biological...but he couldn't tell if it was man or monster.

The figure actually walked through the flames without a scratch on it, or at least that was how it looked to the arsonist. He saw the figure raise up some sort of fabric as it got closer to him. He fell back onto the ground while trying to back away from the figure. It was still getting closer.

He then saw the figure standing straight above him, holding a fabric from his back in the air. The figure whipped the fabric across the arsonist's face, which caused the zucchini to black out.

"Where am I?" he yelled as he woke up from...whatever just happened to him. "Terrible figure...terrible purple figure...help! HELP!" He was on the ground tied up in a cord, contrasting around him. At the end of the cord was a knot held together by what seemed to be a toilet plunger. He looked in front of him.

Chief Crosswell and six other police officers looked down at him. "No..." he said. "No...No! This is impossible! I can't believe it!" He knew he was acting strange, but he didn't care. Only a few seconds ago he swore he was inside of the burning building, which was now being swiftly put out by the fire department.

"Looks like we've got our prize, boys!" Chief Crosswell laughed. "Packaged up too!" The zucchini nervously shuddered.

"How...how?"

"Something...or someone... threw you out of the building tied up." Chief Crosswell looked at the plunger knot at the end and it had a tag that read the words:

"I am that Hero. - LB"

Wondering what that figure was? Probably not, seeing as though it is incredibly obvious. Still, I did try my best to make his introduction very grim. He gets more on the silly side later when you follow him, that is his character after all, but I thought that the intro of something so incredible in the eyes of a criminal would be dark and mysterious.

All in all though, I really hope you're enjoying the Fanfiction.