Straight Up Typhoon – 13
Waaaaa. Thanks for the reviews! You guys are awesome…Sorry for those of you who don't like the cliffhangers. Theses are just the sections I wrote them in. I'm really glad that y'all are still readin'!
Johnny had made it over the heads of the crowd in a matter of moments, trying to avoid a cloud of smoke he couldn't see through and spiraling downwards into the scene as fast as he could in time to see Ben and Sue sprawled on the ground beneath him. With more than one question screaming in his mind, he landed and rushed to his two downed teammates in concern. He quickly dropped next to Sue and gripped her shoulders, shaking her a bit roughly. "Sue!"
Sue's eyes opened in confusion as she was shaken, holding a hand to her head. "Johnny! Quit it, I'm awake!" she wheezed.
"Sorry." He winced. "Are you okay? What's going on, what happened?"
"Oh…" Ben moaned as he struggled to push himself up. "Reed!"
Johnny looked around in growing apprehension, blinking repeatedly. "Reed?"
"God, Johnny, where were you?" Sue pushed his hands away and moved frantically to a sitting position, clutching his shoulders as she looked towards the building in horror. "There was a girl still trapped in there, Reed went in for her, we tried to go after him but—"
"He what?" Johnny coughed out. Reed had gone into the fire? By himself? Didn't he think to wait until the one of them that could withstand flames got there? Oh, what had he done now? He desperately tried to calm the whirl of questions in his head so that he could emulate some semblance of straight thinking. "Stay here." He commanded, giving Sue a stern look and jumping to his feet.
"Johnny, be careful!" Sue cried out before he quickly enveloped himself into the flames of the building.
Obviously unbothered by heat or smoke, Johnny scanned his surroundings immediately, kicking away burning debris and making quick work of his search. As far as he knew, this place could collapse at any moment, and imperviousness to fire wouldn't help him in the slightest. "Reed!" he snapped out, the crackling of the flames drowning the sound of his voice. He had no way of knowing which direction to go. He didn't know if Reed was conscious or even alive at this point. "God damnit Reed, where are you?" he attempted to stamp out some of the flames near him as he looked around.
His attempts were thwarted as he felt a sharp, blunt pain in his shoulder, and he fell against the ground with a jarring crash. He wasn't entirely sure what had hit him, but judging by the burning chunks of plaster all around him, it was probably safe to judge it as a piece of the ceiling. Terror gripped him as he heaved himself painfully off of the floor, wiping away a streak of blood from the bottom of his chin. The building was already falling apart. He didn't know where Reed was. He didn't know where to go from here, and if he wasn't quick about it, they both could die. That's when he heard the sound of crying.
Clinging to that sense, Johnny stumbled as fast as he could towards it. The flames were high, and their abundance made it rather confusing as to where he was going, but nevertheless determined, he continued to move onward. If he would have been a fraction less attentive, he would have completely missed the glimpse of a human figure from across the side room through the partial opening of a jammed door. Adrenaline surging, he slammed his shoulder into the door and nearly snapped it off its hinges, revealing to him exactly what he had been looking for.
Up against the wall was a young girl kneeling shakily over the still figure of Reed. She was in her early teens, a rather scrawny looking thing with short, scraggly black hair and clothes that seemed to hang off of her. She was crying heavily, trying in near panic to revive Reed's limp body. Johnny leapt as fast as he could to them, and she looked up with a squeak of shock.
"What happened to him?" was the first thing Johnny could say, on his knees already and pushing Reed onto his back. His stomach clenched and he examined his body worriedly. "Reed, man…"
"I-I don't know!" the girl whimpered, holding her hands up to her mouth. "I didn't know how to get out. Then he—he just showed up out of nowhere. S-something blew up, there was lots of fire, h-he p-protected me…Please help!" she hiccupped and seemed to be trying to hold back a fit of sobs.
Johnny licked an upper lip and put a hand on her shoulder. "What's your name?"
"…Leslie." She sniffled, every breath punctuated by a cough.
"My name's Johnny." He offered calmly. "I'm gonna help you get out of here, but you've gotta be brave, okay? 'Cause I need your help."
Leslie wiped her eyes furiously and swiftly nodded, coughing again and looking up at him with a frightened, hopeful expression.
"Okay. Okay, okay, come on. He's unconscious, and we've gotta get him out soon or else the smoke'll suffocate him." And her too, but he thought it best not to bring up that point.
"Is he hurt?" she tried hard to keep her tone level.
"I don't know. That's why we've gotta be real careful, okay?" he nodded. The ceiling suddenly made a thunderous crack and crumble from above them. Leslie screamed fearfully and Johnny stiffened. "Okay Leslie, forget careful, just move fast." He took Reed's arm and pulled it over his shoulder, straining hard to try and heave himself to his feet. "Help me with his other side." He grunted. The girl quickly did as she was told, trying her best to help support the other side of Reed's slumped form with her narrow shoulders. "Good, that's good." Johnny approved.
"How are we gonna get out?" she croaked unsteadily, coughing more avidly as she surveyed their predicament.
"Don't worry, it's not a long way." Johnny assured. He looked up towards the door and the various obstacles of burning material in their path, something that his flame-proof body had easily crossed, but which would be impossible for his acquired companions to move through. He looked around hopeless for other exits, but found none that were better off.
"Are we gonna die?" Leslie questioned shakily.
Johnny looked to her in concern, noting her decline in stability. Her breath was becoming more and more labored. "Not if I have anything to say about it." He stated, ushering both of them over to a safer wall and lowered Reed down gently. "Stay right here, okay? I'm gonna clear a path."
Leslie did as she was told and crouched down near Reed, trying once more in vain to see if he would awaken.
Johnny went back to the door and kicked the bulk of whatever was blocking the way near the door—possibly a fallen dresser or desk of some sort that he had stepped over before without a thought coming in. He tried to crush it, but it did no good. Pushing it out of the way was soon found to be just as futile. Holding a hand to his head, Johnny wracked his brain. What could he do? God, he wished that Reed was awake; he always had some scientific equation to solve everything. No, Johnny thought quickly, he's depending on me now. So's the kid. You wanted to be a hero, Johnny, so damnit, be a hero! Suddenly reaffirmed, a thought occurred to him. He couldn't stop the burning, but he could speed it along. That was it. Generating heat as fast as he could, he held his hands over the wreckage and focused it. If he could raise his own temperature enough, he would be able to disintegrate just about anything. Narrowing his eyes, he concentrated as hard as he could, channeling the energy through his palms and biting his lip. At first, nothing seemed to happen. After a few tense moments, however, the wood began to crumble away into thick black ashes.
Heart springing in triumph, Johnny violently kicked away the rubble and rushed back to his two companions. "Alright, come on!" he ordered, jerking Reed's arm back over his shoulder and beckoning the girl with a head toss. Leslie jumped up and wobbled with a cough for a moment before obliging. Johnny looked around as they went, momentarily losing track of where he was. There was fire everywhere, it was hard to tell where the exit was…but before he knew it, he was spilling outside into the sudden coldness of the night air.
"Johnny!"
"Reed!"
"Leslie!"
With another heavy cough, Leslie staggered for a moment before rushing in the direction from where her name had been called. In the meantime, Johnny collapsed to the ground with Reed in tow, quickly getting up onto his knees to tend to the other man in near panic. "Reed? Reed, please, please wake up," he panted, patting his cheek.
"Johnny, are you okay?" Sue's voice barely made it to him.
"Reed, please wake up, come on!" Johnny furiously wiped the ash from under his eyes and blinked to try and see better. Reed didn't show any signs of movement, consciousness, or even life.
"Someone get over here! He's hurt!" Ben's voice boomed out in the direction of the crowd of ambulances.
Johnny felt his stomach lurch as Reed remained unresponsive—possibly not even breathing. "Don't do this," he wheezed desperately.
"Somebody get a God damn paramedic over here now!" At that, Ben's order was finally obeyed.