Hi Guys and welcome back to Blizzard! I have to admit, I'm super curious to see how you all react to this chapter, so let's crack on with it, shall we? It's definitely a big one.
As James walked home that night, all he could think about was the conversation he'd had with Kendall, with the brunet hoping that nothing bad would happen. Since Kendall's reveal, James found that his thoughts were pretty much going in circles, with him hoping that Kendall wouldn't get hurt, while also knowing that in Kendall's line of work, some injuries were expected.
Still, that didn't mean that James wouldn't do what he could to stop Kendall from getting into those situations and that if he did get into a situation such as that, James knew that he'd do what he could to help Kendall in any way that he could. The brunet shook his head briefly, hoping to shake these thoughts from his mind.
He was even starting to confuse himself with all the 'would' and 'wouldn'ts' and it was getting difficult to follow. Letting the music drown out his thoughts, James took a deep breath, breathing in the night's cool air as he tried to relax.
Everything would work out fine.
Kendall promised that he'd be careful, and that was the best that the blond could do. As far as James knew, his dad was perfectly healthy, which was a massive relief to him and his relationship with Kendall was in a really good place, despite everything that had happened. A small smile began to grace James' face. Everything was actually looking up for the brunet, and it felt really good for him to be in such a position.
Of course, all good things must come to an end, and that end came sooner than James wanted it to. As the brunet walked down the street, a huge eruption of noise came from the city centre, causing James to glance around, one earphone being pulled from his ear. The sight was undeniable, with there being no debate as to where this noise had come from, causing James' jaw to drop massively as the brunet began to shake in his place at what he was witnessing.
Everyone around him was in a similar state, but James was the first of them to finally gain some self-control, the brunet using it to sprint towards the closest taxi, despite the fact that someone was currently stood at it with the door open. As James reached the taxi, no remorse was shown as the brunet slid into it, shutting the door on the bystander who was still in shock from the explosion that had taken place.
"Drive" was all James said to the taxi driver, causing the man to raise an eyebrow at the brunet.
"To where?" the man asked, causing James to point towards the disaster.
"Towards that" was all the brunet responded with, taking some cash out of his wallet and throwing it at the driver. James knew that he'd probably massively overpaid the man, but that was the least of his worries at the moment, with James scrambling around to try and reach his phone was his pocket. With the state that James had worked himself into, the task was more challenging than it should have been, something that only frustrated James more.
"Stupid piece of shit" James mumbled to himself as he finally pulled the device from his pocket, and unlocked it, his hands shaking slightly from the nerves. They only seemed to get worse when the number he tried to ring didn't pick up.
"Faster" James said to the taxi driver, and the man must have seen the state that James was in, as he didn't even try to question the brunet. Instead, the driver just obeyed the command.
When James arrived at the scene, he felt like his heart was in his mouth, worry fuelling every action that he was making. The brunet didn't even wait for the taxi driver to say anything, he just jumped out of the cab, and began to push his way to the front of the crowd present at the police barricade. Everything was a haze as he made his way forward, but he could hear the people whispering and talking about him like he wasn't even present.
They all conveyed their grief and despair, but none of them could know what he was feeling in that current moment, with the uncertainty of what lied looming over him. No one offered resistance as he pushed past them, some even moved out of his way, allowing him to get closer to the cause of his devastation, but that all came to a close when he finally reached the police blockade, the first person he saw being Chief Garcia.
"James," Carlos said, walking towards the brunet, but James didn't even stop at first, the brunet on autopilot as he tried to get as close to the scene as possible. The only reason he stopped was because Carlos grabbed his arm, stopping him from going any further, and that's when James finally snapped back into reality slightly, with everything hitting him in full force.
"What…what happened?" James asked, the words struggling to leave his mouth in the wake of the destruction.
"We're still unsure on that, but we think that Inferno had something to do with it" Carlos replied, before letting out a sigh. "James," Carlos said, causing the brunet to finally look at the police chief. "Your dad is still in the building" Carlos explained, and finally, James broke down, the brunet falling to his knees as he stared up at the Diamond Inc tower, which was flaring with a raging fire that seemed to engulf the majority of the building.
As the blond skated to the site of the explosion, he tried his best to not let his personal feelings get the best of him, with him watching as his place of work ignited into flames. Kendall knew that Inferno had something to do with this, he could feel it in his gut. Despite how much of a psychopath Switchblade was, Kendall knew that this was Inferno's work, especially with his grudge against the Diamond's.
What better way to make a statement than to blow up the biggest building in the city, especially when it's one that has the Diamond name written down the side of it. Kendall could only hope that James was faring ok with all of this, well as ok as he could be. Kendall shook his head, trying to get those thoughts of out his head. As bad as it sounded, the blond knew that James wasn't his top priority in this situation. That was to save anyone who was still in the building, and hopefully, to stop the entire thing from collapsing onto them.
Still, as Kendall skated above the rooftops, he couldn't help but notice the small bout of pain that was coming from his chest wound. The blond had really hoped that he'd have time to heal properly, but he knew that he was just going to have to make do with the state that he was in. His comfort was the least of his concerns.
Approaching the blast zone, Kendall saw that the police had already set up a perimeter around the building, stopping anyone from getting closer to it, and he also saw how the fire brigade was doing their best to put out the fires that engulfed the middle of the building. As much as Kendall hated to admit it however, he knew that the fire brigade's attempts were useless in this situation, their water cannons weren't reaching high enough to have any considerable effect.
However, one noise seemed to stand out above them all, and that was the sound of his boyfriend screaming at the Chief of Police.
"Please, I have to go in and help him!" James screamed, and Kendall could hear the pain in his voice, even from this distance.
"We have recovery teams in there at the moment, and they're helping anyone who is still in there out of the building. They'll get to him James" Carlos replied, but James just shook his head.
"They won't get to him fast enough. Please, let me in there!" James replied, pushing against Carlos slightly as if to try and loosen the hold the Latino had on him. Of course, that only caused Carlos' hold to strengthen, so Kendall knew it was time to get down to the two of them. Skating down, just in front of the perimeter, the first eyes that he made contact with were James' and Kendall had to try his best not to run to the brunet right then and there.
Taking a deep breath, Kendall finally approached them. "What happened Chief?" the blond asked, trying not to stare at the tears that were falling from James' eyes.
"An explosion has gone off on the 55th floor. We think that Inferno had something to do with it, but no one has seen him so we're not certain" Carlos replied, James sobbing in between them.
"My dad's still in there. He's on the top floor. You have to help him" the brunet sobbed, almost falling to his knees once again before Carlos caught him.
"We've evacuated everyone below the 50th floor and rescue teams are still working their way up the floors, but…" Carlos paused to let out a sigh. "It's unlikely that they're going to be able to get much higher than that. From what the helicopter has shown us, those floors are completely destroyed and engulfed in flames."
"Can't a helicopter land on the roof and help them?" James asked, trying his best to keep his sobs under control, but when Kendall shook his head, all control was lost once again.
"The smoke from the building would make it difficult for the helicopter to navigate. Plus, we can't risk landing on the building as it may just collapse under the weight" Kendall explained, walking over to James and placing his hand onto the brunet's shoulder. It was the most support he could show at the moment, and it was killing the blond inside. "Chief, who is still in the building, above those floors?" Kendall asked, causing Carlos to let out a sigh.
"Mr Diamond is on the top floor, and he's locked himself in his panic room. There are a few lab techs and some janitors stuck above the flames as well, and they're scattered from floor to floor. We've managed to access the camera system in the building, so if you take a radio with you, I'll guide you to them." Carlos replied, passing Kendall a radio, causing the blond to nod.
"Alright, wish me luck," Kendall said, giving James' shoulder one last squeeze. "Don't worry, I'll get your father out of there safely"
"Thank you" James replied, flashing Kendall the best smile he could muster, although it wasn't much.
Taking a deep breath, Kendall set off into a sprint, before taking one last look at James, who was trying his best to be strong. 'I love you' James mouthed, causing a small sad smile to grow on Kendall's face.
This was certainly going to be one of his more difficult rescues missions, that was for sure.
Kendall arrived at the 55th floor, in what the blond felt was record speed, but that didn't matter as he stared at the devastation that seemed to overwhelm the floor. Without getting confirmation from Carlos, Kendall already knew that there would be no one alive on this floor, so when Carlos finally told him, the blond wasn't surprised.
"The next victim is on floor 58," the Police chief said over the radio, causing Kendall to nod as he began to put out as many fires as he could, since the sprinkler system hadn't activated, along with creating ice columns to help the structural integrity of the building. Working with fires was something that Kendall was starting to become familiar with, as morbid as the thought was, so he had a routine in place. Kendall got through floors 55, 56, and 57 pretty quickly, with the blond not letting himself think about where he actually was but instead focusing on what was at stake if he failed.
"Whereabouts are they Chief?" Kendall asked, pushing a small bit of rubble out of his way as he walked through the corridor.
"They're in lab 5-8-5" Carlos replied, causing Kendall to set off straight towards the lab. Thanks to the uniformity of the floors in the Diamond Inc building, Kendall knew exactly where he was going, but it was when he arrived at the lab that it got difficult. Without even trying the door, Kendall knew he couldn't get able to get into the room. A metal support beam was slanted across the door stopping anyone from accessing it.
Taking a deep breath, Kendall grabbed hold of the door and ripped it off of its hinges, before placing it down on the floor. With that done, Kendall then crawled under the metal beam, making sure not to touch it as he knew that it would be superheated.
"They're at the back of the lab, hiding under one of the desks" Carlos stated, causing Kendall to nod once again, as he began to walk through the destroyed room. It wasn't difficult for him to find the lab tech, one who was huddled in fear below one of the desks, which had some rubble sat on top of it.
"Oh, Blizzard, thank the lord," the woman said, pulling herself from under the desk and giving him a big hug, as she began to sob.
"Shh, it's ok" Kendall replied, trying to comfort her as best he could. "I've cleared the floors below this one, so it's safe for you to get out. There is a rescue team waiting for you on on the stairwell leading up to the 55th floor. They'll get you to safety" Kendall explained, causing the woman to nod.
"Alright, alright," she said, causing Kendall to place his arm on her shoulder.
"You can do this. You're going to be ok" Kendall added, causing the woman to nod once again. With the two of them making their way out of the room, Kendall escorted her for as long as he could, before he continued his climb up the building.
"Where's the next person chief?" Kendall asked as he got into the stairwell.
"Floor 64. He's a janitor, who's taken shelter in lab 6-4-8" Carlos replied, causing Kendall to nod, the blond taking two stairs at a time as he began his long climb. It was a few minutes later when Carlos came over the radio once again. "Blizzard, I just thought I'd inform you; we've started to notice some cracks in the supports for the building on road level. I'm getting some of my people to start installing some adjustable supports to try and prevent the building from collapsing, but I wanted you to be aware of the situation."
"Thanks, chief" Kendall replied, taking another couple of steps. "How many people are still in here?" the blond asked, causing Carlos to let out a sigh.
"There's the janitor on 64, two lab-techs on 68, another janitor on 79, and another lab tech on 97, and then Mr Diamond is on 110. Thankfully, this attack happened in the middle of the night, or it could have been a lot worse" Carlos replied, causing Kendall to let out a small sigh.
Carlos was right, the situation could have been a lot worse, but it was definitely bad enough as it was.
"Alright, I'll pick up the pace"
"I've cleared the floors below here, and there is a rescue team waiting for you in the stairwell of floor 55," Kendall said, as he helped the man out from under some rubble. "Will you be ok to get there?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'll be fine. It's just, that's forty floors down, can't you come with me?" the man asked, causing Kendall to shake his head.
"Unfortunately not. There's someone else trapped and I need to get them out" Kendall replied, causing the man to nod as he took a couple of deep breaths through the wet cloth he was holding.
"Alright, I can do this" the man replied, causing Kendall to flash him a small sad smile before the two of them left the room. As they walked down the corridor, Kendall took a moment to breathe, but he wasn't even allowed that luxury. "Blizzard, look out!" the man shouted, and before Kendall even had a chance to react, he was tackled to the ground with him going through the wall adjacent to him.
"Run! Get down to the rescue teams!" Kendall shouted to the man, wincing in pain due to the impact of hitting the ground. It was only then that he finally looked up at what had tackled him, to see Inferno straddling him.
"Long time no see Blizzard" the villain began, making sure to pin Kendall's hands to the ground before he could make any action to react.
"Inferno, I knew you were behind this" Kendall gritted out, struggling under the villain slightly, which only caused his chest to sting in pain.
"Behold, only the start of my rampage against the Diamond Family. First, I will bring their empire down to the ground, quite literally in this case. Then, I will target the ones that they love the most, to show them the pain of losing a loved one to greed and corruption, and finally, they will get what has always been coming to them" Inferno monologued once again, Kendall using the opportunity to try and get some sort of advantage on Inferno.
As soon as the guy had stopped talking, Kendall sprung into action, the blond using his pinned hands to try and free Inferno as best as he could. Instead, the supervillain just laughed, superheating himself that the ice just melted away.
"You think that that trick would work on me? Your powers are useless against me, and that's why you'll never be able to stop me" Inferno mocked, but Kendall wasn't willing to give him. If he couldn't use his power, then he'd just have to play dirty.
Taking a deep breath, Kendall threw his head up in full force, headbutting Inferno which caused the villain to stumble back slightly. Using the opportunity, Kendall jumped back to his feet and began to throw ice shards at the villain, hoping to distract him long enough so that he could get close. Every shard launched was melted, but Kendall wasn't too concerned, he was gaining towards Inferno, something Inferno was too preoccupied to notice.
As soon as Kendall was close enough, the blond took action, using his power to freeze both of Inferno's leg to the ground. While the villain focused on unfreezing his legs, Kendall froze the guy's arms, creating another distraction for Inferno to deal with, while Kendall reached up into the ceiling and pulled out one of the loose cables hanging there. The blond took too long, however, and in the split second it took for him to grab the cable, Inferno had free himself completely and launched a punch into Kendall's gut, one that caused the blond to go flying back before he slammed into the wall behind him.
"You think you're so smart" Inferno began, as the villain began to approach Kendall. The blond knew that he needed to think fast. His usual powers weren't going to work in a situation like this, but he just needed something to scare Inferno away. Today was not the day to bring the villain, as Kendall still needed to rescue James' dad and get out before the entire building collapsed. "But you can't win" Inferno continued, Kendall glancing around as quickly as he could. That's when something on the ceiling caught his eye and a small smile grew on the blond's face. "You're never going to be able to stop the misery I'm going to cause" Inferno stated, as Kendall grabbed a small piece of rubble that was sat next to him.
With a quick lob of the rubble, Kendall watched as it flew through the air and struck the sprinkler situated above them. As soon as it connected with it, the sprinkler sprung to lift, pouring water over the two of them, and Kendall used this to his advantage, freezing all of the small water pellets that fell to the ground, each of them like tiny hailstones. The sheer amount of them causing Inferno's powers to become useless, with them putting out every single flame that he tried to make.
"I'm not as stupid as you think" Kendall commented, pulling himself off the floor. Before he could even react however, Inferno took off in a sprint, the villain launching himself through one of the closest windows. Panicked, Kendall ran towards the scene, but as he reached the window, he saw Inferno fly back up to his eye level.
"You haven't seen the last of me, Blizzard! Good luck stopping this building from collapsing!" Inferno said, before flying down on a diagonal straight through the building.
Kendall felt it shake behind him, so the blond knew that he didn't have long left to save James' dad. Without another second passing, Kendall ran to the stairs, hoping that he could get up the next 13 flight of stairs quickly. That was only reinforced when Carlos came over the radio once again.
"Blizzard, I'm evacuating everyone from the air. That building is going to come down soon, and we don't need any more casualties. I suggest you get out of there now as well" the chief said over the mic, causing Kendall to shake his head.
"No can do Chief, Mr Diamond is still in here. Make sure that everyone else is safe" Kendall replied, causing the radio to go silent for a few seconds before Carlos spoke up.
"Good luck Blizzard" was all Carlos said before the radio went silent again, leaving Kendall alone with the sounds of rumbling and metal bending beneath him.
It was safe to say that this was his most dangerous mission yet.
Arriving at the top floor, the first thing Kendall did was look around as he tried to find the panic room. That's when he felt the building shake from under him, the blond having to use the wall to try and brace himself. That definitely wasn't a good sign, and Kendall knew that he needed to act fast. One more glance around revealed the location of the panic room, and as soon as the building had stopped shaking, Kendall headed straight over to it.
"Mr Diamond?" Kendall asked, banging on the metal door, causing the sound to echo. "It's Blizzard. I'm here to get you out safely."
"I'm perfectly safe in here" Henry shouted back, causing Kendall to let out a small sigh of relief. At least he knew the man was still alive.
"Mr Diamond, the building is going to collapse, and when he does, this panic room is not going to help you"
"This panic room is made of the strongest metal. I'll be fine" Henry replied, causing Kendall to let out a sigh as he shook his head.
"I don't have time for this" the blond mumbled to himself as he began to freeze the edges of the door, forcing ice into the cracks which caused it to expand. With enough ice in place, the door popped off its hinges and fell towards the blond, revealing Mr Diamond huddled in one of the corners.
"How dare you! I was perfectly protected in here" Mr Diamond objected, but Kendall just ignored the man as he approached him.
"Sir, we need to get out here now" Kendall repeated, causing the man to let out a huff.
"Fine, but expect me to file a formal complaint about this" Mr Diamond replied, causing Kendall to roll his eyes. No wonder James had difficulty with his man.
As soon as the two of them had left the panic room, the building shook massively one last time, and that's when Kendall heard a giant rumble from below him.
In a split second decision, Kendall grabbed hold of Mr Diamond and ran towards the window. Just as the blond's foot left the building, it collapsed behind him, the uptake of debris and smoke causing Kendall to wobble slightly as he skated away.
Skating to the nearest rooftop, Kendall watched as the Diamond Empire fell to the ground, and he could only hope that James was somewhere safe and far away.
So there we have it! Inferno is back, and his attack was pretty bold! Like I said at the start, I'm curious to see how you are going to react to this!
I want to say a massive thank you to Guest, Winterschild11, RainbowDiamonds and EpicallyObsessed for reviewing the last chapter and I'm so glad that you enjoyed it! You're all curious as to why James' dad lied to James about the medical report and trust me, all will be revealed soon! And yeah, Griffin is still a dick! Plus, you all know me, and something did have to go wrong! It's been like...5 chapters since some action happened 😈
I will see you on Thursday for the next chapter of Rush and Response, and I hope you all have a great week! I have an exam on Wednesday, which I am totally unprepared for but oh well! Anyway, I will see you Thursday, but until then,
TTFN 😃❄