5. Flaring

Melanie heard the roaring of fire and opened her eyes. Uncle Seamus was standing above where she lay on the ground, arms extended, creating a beautiful dome-like shield of fire around them. His arms shook with the effort of making the dome, and his eyes were glowing orange and red. Despite his age, his power rendered him quite terrifying.

"Uncle Seamus!" Melanie yelled over the din. He looked down at her, sweat beading on his forehead. "You can stop! I think we're safe!"

He relaxed heavily and the fire ceased abruptly. They were behind their heavy oak table, which had turned on its side and bounced off of the fire dome. The restaurant itself was in ruins. People lay dead and dying all around them. A charred arm sat a few feet from where Melanie lay. The sight of it made her vomit. Uncle Seamus knelt down and rubbed her back as she emptied the contents of her stomach.

"Where…" She wiped her mouth. "Where did they… Where did they go?"

Seamus looked over the edge of the table. "Right there," he said angrily. He ducked back down quickly, and five shards of ice went whizzing overhead, burying themselves in the opposite wall. "They have us pinned down, Mellie. What do we do?"

Melanie thought frantically, then reached into her jeans pocket. Thankfully, her phone was still intact. However, it was complaining about the high temperature of the area. "Shit," she hissed. "I need to make a call. I have some friends that can help us." She told her uncle.

"Well hurry," he said as he looked up over the table's edge. He ducked as a burning chair was thrown in their direction. "I don' think these guys are going to wait for us to come out much longer."

Melanie looked up over the table herself. The two men were standing about thirty feet away, looking directly at them. Their suits were not touched by the flames, but they were both soaking wet. Melanie could only guess that the short man had made a giant shell of ice to encase them in when the explosion happened, and then the ice melted.

The tall man locked eyes with Melanie. She gasped and got down just in time. Two beams of white hot light scorched the wall behind her. It was right where her head had been. The holes dripped, tendrils of the stuff were burning holes everywhere. It almost looked like plasma. Melanie mustered up her courage and looked again. The tall man still had his hands raised. They were smoking. Beautiful, Melanie thought. Now I'm dealing with two mutants. Well, I guess four if Uncle and I count.

Her phone beeped, and not five seconds later the table shook as ice shard buried into the hardwood. "Son of bitch," she muttered. She turned on her phone and quickly dialed the number. "Can you distract them?" Melanie asked Uncle Seamus. He nodded solemnly. Then he began rapid fire throwing balls of flames at the two men, ducking every once and a while to avoid their counter attacks.

"Hello?"

"Tony!" Melanie said in relief.

"Hey Mels! What's up?"

"Tony, please you have to help! There are two mutants attacking my uncle and I; they killed Pete! They want me for some reason, I don't know! We can't hold them off much longer, please help!"

"I've locked on to your phone's signal, I'm on my way with back-up." The line went dead.

"Mellie!" Seamus yelled, ducking to avoid another last of plasma. "Are your friends coming?"

"Yes, we just need to stall for a few minutes!" She yelled back. At that moment, an icicle grazed Melanie's face, ripping the skin and causing a lot of bleeding. "Shit!" She yelled, clutching her bleeding cheek.

"Oh my god, are you—? Hnng…"

Melanie looked up. "NO!" She screamed.

A thin shard of ice was sticking out of her uncle's stomach. He groped at his wound before he collapsed, his breathing labored. "Mellie…" He wheezed. Melanie took him in her arms and cradled him to her.

A crack of thunder suddenly shook the entire block. Lightning seared the sky and flashed in the destroyed restaurant. Melanie averted her eyes to see a man in armor and a billowing red cape standing between her and the mutants. His long blond hair was streaming behind him and in his right hand was a hammer. He took notice of the mutants and shot lightning from his hammer in their direction. The short man summoned a wall of ice to protect themselves. Then there was silence.

The armored man turned to look at Melanie. She raised a bloody hand. "P-Please… My uncle… Please…"

"Rest easy, Melanie," the man said in a deep voice. "Stark and I are here to assist you. I am Thor, son of Odin."

"Where's—?"

Just as she was about to ask, the ceiling fell in and in all of his glory, Tony stood there, clad in his Iron Man suit. He gave a two fingered salute then turned to the wall of ice. "So who thought it would be a bright idea to attack my friend?" He hollered, his voice sounding metallic and somewhat distorted.

"This is no concern of yours," the voice of the short man came from behind the wall. "Leave now and you shall not be harmed. Give us the girl, and you will sleep without fear for the rest of your life."

"Do not presume to think you can win!" Thor boomed, clutching his hammer tightly. Sparks flew from the end of it.

"How about this," Tony said. He pointed both palms at the wall of ice. A sound emitted from them similar to something charging "You guys come out from there and come with us, and you can hope that Fury will be nice to you."

"How about this?" The short man threw large chunks of ice at both Avengers. Thor shot most of them away, but one smacked into his side, knocking the wind out of him. Each bit of ice fired at Tony bounced off his suit or was shot into water and fragments.

"You have nothing, cowards!" Thor yelled. "Come out from behind your shield!"

"In my experience, good sirs," the short man said silkily, "it is better to know your limits and know when you are beaten." He shoved the wall of ice towards them.

"We will meet again, have no doubt," the tall man said. He and the short man ran out the back of the building. The tall man shot another bolt of plasma at one of the few beams holding the restaurant up and then they disappeared. Almost immediately, the building began to collapse.

"Tony!" Melanie shouted, holding Uncle Seamus closer.

"Thor, take him, we'll go up to the hospital—"

"No…" Seamus whispered. "To the mountains…" He raised a shaking, bloody finger and pointed to a large cleft in the rocks. "There…"

"Uncle Seamus you need a doctor we don't have time for—!"

Tony sighed metallically. "No time to argue, let's go!" He grabbed Melanie and Thor took Uncle Seamus and they flew into the sky towards the mountains. The building shook twice and then fell, dust and wood flying everywhere.

Were it any other time, Melanie would've taken a moment to appreciate the fact that she was flying. But now, all she cared about was her uncle. They reached the top of the mountain in almost no time.

"Uncle!" Melanie shouted, jumping from Tony's grasp and helping Thor lay him on the ground. "Uncle, we need to get you to a hospital, why are we here?"

"Shhh, Mellie…" Seamus said as he clutched the wound in abdomen. "I don' need nothing of the kind. I know I'm not gonng to be here to see the sunrise anyhow…"

Melanie thought her heart stopped. "No, Uncle! It'll be fine!" Her vision blurred, tears streaked down her face and sizzled on her hot cheeks. Or was that the blood from her wound? "We'll get you to a doctor!"

"You know something, Mellie…?"

"Wh-What is it?"

"I've never been up her before," he was looking past her, towards the edge of the cliff. Mile after mile of farmland and rolling hills lay before them. Trees that had yet to shed their leaves dotted the countryside, giving a spark of color here and there. "I told Pete we'd come up here together…" Tears filled his eyes and evaporated quickly after touching his skin as well. "I'll tell him how wonderful it is up here. I'll tell Kelley as well…"

"Uncle, no! Please!"

"Mellie… I think, I think I'm gettin' cold…"

"No, Uncle we don't get cold, remember? We can't!"

"You're such… such a good girl…"

"UNCLE!"

And as the light left his eyes, Seamus O'Connor laid quite still, still looking out at the world beyond the mountains.

Melanie screamed, howling with pain, rage, and sorrow. She screamed and screamed until her throat was sore and she could barely speak. Then a face came into her mind. A face lacking of emotion. The short man. The man who killed her uncle. She breathing was heavy, heat building in her chest. Then she threw back her head and opened her mouth, letting loose a plume of raging fire.

"I will KILL him!" She shrieked, letting the wind carry her vow across the mountains.

Well, there you go. Please don't throw things at me.

Also yes I know this is short, I will address that.

So fun fact: I am actually very allergic to bees. My mother and I found this out last night when I was stung by a European hornet. Fun stuff. Lots of oatmeal baths and benadryl later, here is this chapter! It's a bit early, but I will be out of town this weekend and won't have a chance to write. Expect the next update on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Thanks for reading, see you guys soon.