Author's Note: I hope you all will enjoy Chapter 1! It's not very detailed, I know, but I'm not good at writing this kind of scene.
Phoenix Fire
Chapter One
The sirens were going off everywhere in downtown Tremorton. A horrible fire had mysteriously started, catching everyone by surprise. Already, three smaller office buildings had been evacuated because of the fire, and the flames were licking at the side of Tremorton National Bank and Loan. Jenny "XJ-9" Wakeman was hard at work, rerouting water from a fire hydrant down the street while firefighters used the nearer hydrant.
Suddenly, all hell broke loose. The roof collapsed on the first building, and screams could be heard from inside. "Oh, no!" screamed someone from the street. "Some people on the 12th floor must still be trapped in there!"
"I'm on it!" Jenny called. After checking to see if most of the fire was under control, she unhooked from the hydrant, pulled in all her detached limbs, and zoomed into the burning building. Her eyes scanned through the fog, looking for human DNA signatures. She filed through all the bits and pieces until she found the people, huddled in a far corner away from where the collapsed roof had fallen. "Hold on, I'll get you to safety!" She used her Extendo-Arms to gently lift the people to the ground, one by one.
She had just taken down the last person when disaster struck. While she was busy retracting her arm, a white-hot, steel support beam cracked and fell, landing on top of Jenny's chest and trapping her. Jenny pushed as hard as she could, but the steel had fused into her own metal skin, making it impossible to move. After almost fifteen minutes of struggling, she made a decision: to reduce damage to her software, she would have to shut down completely, leaving her body helpless against any more damage. The last thing she saw before she lost her vision was a bubbling trail of melted rubber, coming from inside her body...
An hour later, after the fire had been completely doused and the smoke cleared, a frantic Dr. Wakeman sent in one of her seeker androids to find XJ-9. Within minutes of scanning, the seeker made its way to the top floor. It returned shortly after, carrying a bundle in its four arms. Closer inspection revealed a charred, smoky XJ-9. However, she was not without damages: extensive flaying of the outer shell, shredded wires encased inside pools of melted rubber insulation, major fusion with surrounding metals on her chest area, and no telling what internal damage from heat, flame, and the water used to put out the fire. With tears in her eyes, Dr. Wakeman covered XJ-9's body in a blanket and allowed the seeker robot to carry her safely home.