Everything Burns
One
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One Week Earlier
"How're you doing there, Ben?" Reed's voice was barely audible as he shouted over the roar of the flames, to his friend.
Ben grunted. "I'd be doing much better if we could speed things up a bit."
"Hang in there, Ben." Reed returned, working quickly to help as many people as possible.
The four of them were helping with a fire at an apartment building that had quickly grown out of the control of the fire department. Ben was supporting the buildings lower level frame that was threatening to collapse, whilst Reed was bringing people down from the highest floors. Inside, Johnny was leading Sue through the flames to the trapped tenants, her force field working to protect her and the three accompanying firefighters.
"This thing just keeps getting worse!" Yelled one of the firefighters, flinching as a support beam crashed onto the force field, and tumbled to the ground, splintering.
"Johnny, are there many more people trapped?" Sue questioned her brother, grimacing slightly as she concentrated on holding the field in place.
"I'll go check!" He yelled in reply, flaming on and flying through the destroyed floors to the higher levels.
"Come on boys." Sue turned her attention from her brother to the firefighters with her. "Let's get on with this," She instructed, watching as one hoisted a teenaged boy on to his shoulder, whilst the other two helped a man - who was presumably the boy's father - to his feet.
A moment later Johnny reappeared, following them as they headed down towards where Ben was holding up the exit. "Most of the people on the higher floors are being helped by Reed." He informed them. "There's an old lady about three floors up from here though, but I think… I think she might have died before the fire." He said gravely.
One of the firefighters did a double take. "You serious?" Johnny nodded. "If not, she's definitely gone now."
Sue flinched slightly at her brother's bluntness, despite knowing he didn't mean his words as they sounded.
"Are you sure she's dead?" The firefighter asked Johnny, readjusting the teen on his shoulder. Johnny nodded. "This building won't hold much longer." The man continued. "We can't risk going up for a body, we'll have to leave her."
Sue again flinched as another support beam hit the force field. "Johnny, go ahead and find us the safest route, I don't know how much longer I can keep this up."
Johnny nodded, flying ahead of them and gesturing for them to follow.
"About time you showed up flyboy." Ben's voice sounded strained as Johnny flew past, leading the way for Sue and the firefighters. "Yeah, that's really helpful. Adding to the flames." He grumbled, watching as Johnny returned to his normal self outside.
Johnny ignored him, turning to Reed as the older man joined him. "That's everyone from the higher levels, was anyone else left inside?"
Johnny shook his head. "Only an old lady, but she was already dead."
Reed nodded, watching as Sue and the firefighters finally emerged from the building, closely followed by Ben. There was a loud crash as parts of the building fell without his support.
"You okay?" Reed questioned them both, a hand resting on Sue's arm. They both nodded. Reed looked at Sue quizzically. "You sure?" He asked her.
She nodded again, a hand rubbing the back of her neck. "Just a little stiff, tired."
"Hey, fire boy!" The four of them turned to hear the fire chief calling to Johnny, who was frowning at how he'd been addressed. "Is there anyway you can control the fire?"
Johnny bit his lip. "I dunno, I've never tried." He shouted back.
"This thing is getting even more out of control. Can you try it?"
Johnny nodded. "No promises." He added, flaming on and flying above the blaze. He stared down at it, concentrating hard. Nothing happened. "I can't do it." He shouted down, "But I'll go in and see if there's something that's still feeding the fire."
The fire chief nodded and watched as Johnny flew down into the blaze, disappearing from sight. A moment later he reappeared, landing quickly, shouting. "There are gas cylinders in the basement, we've gotta get outta here now!" He yelled.
"Are you sure?" The fire chief asked in alarm.
"Yes!" Johnny yelled, "We've gotta go! Now!"
The fire chief nodded and immediately started barking orders at his men to evacuate.
"Come on!" Johnny yelled to the rest of his teammates, running past and grabbing his sister's arm as he went.
"No wait!" Sue wrenched her arm out of his grip and turned back to the building, putting a fore field all around it just as a huge explosion sounded. The effects were well contained within her field and she held it there until most of the flames had calmed down.
"Whoa." Ben scratched his head, his voice more audible now the flames were largely contained. "Shoulda just done that to begin with."
"No." Johnny replied in a duh tone, watching as the firefighters managed to finally get the blaze under control. "Cuz otherwise all the people inside would have suffocated."
Ben made a swipe for the younger man who ducked away smirking, his face fell however when his eyes fell upon his sister.
"Sue?" Reed was standing in front of her, his hands on her shoulders. "Sue?" When she didn't respond he shook her slightly, panicking. "Sue!"
Her eyes slid into focus and she gazed up at him. "Reed?" She asked weakly.
"Sue, Sue look at me." He said firmly, trying hard to keep her attention on him. "Sue, what is it? What's wrong?"
She shook her head once, trying to shake the dazed feeling. "I…" She trailed off before she finished her sentence, her knees giving way beneath her.
Reed rearranged his grip and caught her just before she hit the ground. "Sue!"