Aftermath Chapter Five
The roar of the flames deafened the firefighters and the heroes as they worked together to fight the fire. Gear flew high overhead using a mixture of water and liquid nitrogen caps to try and help get the fire under control or at leat to stop it from spreading.
"Gear can you hear me?" Rubberband Man called over the shock vox channel, Gear could barely hear him over the roar of the flames and the firefighters hoses.
"Barely Adam, what's the matter? The fire keeps spreading," Gear replied as he flew up higher and coughed slightly from the smoke to get a better view of the docks, or at least what was left of them.
"They're going to pull back and give the fire to the west side of the docks, they want us to make some sort of ditch... an unburnable bank to buy them more time" Adam said loudly over the roar of the dock fire.
"How? It's going to take some time to do that" Gear said and then he sighed, This will be so much easier if Virgil was with us Richie thought as he tried to think how they would make the trench that the firefighters needed.
Robert watched his son from the kitchen doorway, he was trying to find the words to say to his lost son.
The newsreporter switched back to the scene of the docks fire, "The firefighters are ordering evacuation of the entire west side of the docks, surrendering it to the fire" The reporter announced as around her was a big crowd of police and paramedics working together to clear the docks.
"They need you son, Richie needs your help out there" Robert said as he walked into the lounge and sat on the armchair, he inwardly sighed when Virgil pulled himself up into a tighter ball at the presense of his father.
"I-I d-don't know if I can Pops... I-I can't u-use them anymore... not after..." Virgil spoke quietly and stopped when the camera man moved to show Gear talking to Shebang and Rubberband Man before they seperated of in different directions.
"After you saw the true nature of your powers? Virgil, son, I can't start to understand what you are feeling, or what you have been through," Robert said quietly keeping his voice low and gentle.
"But what I do know is that this isn't you Virgil, I know that you love your powers and being out in the electrical storms while the others hide away till its gone" He continued and watched Virgil carefully for any changes.
Hope this works Robert thought as he leaned forward resting his chin in his hands, his elbows on his knees. "Richie has felt the same way, about his powers being too powerful for him" He said seeing a instant reaction in his son.
"H-he did? W-was it because of Brainiac?" Virgil asked quietly turning slightly to look at his father, seeing his aging features were deepened by the glow of the television.
"It was, when I heard about you boys getting your powers back from the second big bang I know that you would face more adventures, more complicated problems and situations... do you want to talk?" Robert asked reaching up to turn the lamp on and sat on the couch on the other side of Virgil.
Virgil looked down pulling at the end of his trousers, his mind going over what his father had said, thinking about the things he had talked about with Richie. "J-just that things went from being so normal... normal for us, to like this" Virgil said with a quiet voice unlike his own. "They city needs a hero and that's all they want..." He continued noticing himself that his voice was unlike his own, Virgil remembered one time when they had talked like this after hearing Richie's father's racial comments.
Robert turned the television down, "Virgil, no one will blame you if you gave up being the hero Static but what about Richie?" He asked softly and smiled a little seeing Virgil uncurl slightly.
Virgil it's not Static who I- Richie's voice echoed in Virgil's mind, causing him to blush which was hid by his chocolate coloured skin.
"He won't want me to give up" Virgil answered uncurling fully and put his bare feet on the ground.
Robert smiled and nodded before looking back at the TV before frowning at the headline of the news.
"Dad, turn it up... I don't like this" Virgil said frowning himself looking at the fire behind the news reporter.
The fire is continuing to spread even fighting against the heroes best efforts, the firefighters are quickly tiring and running out of ideas! Shelly Sandoval reported over the roar of the fire while another explosion rocked the docks.
We've been told to leave the docks to where the police have set up baracades and fire banks in a desperate attempt to stop the fire from spreading into the residential areas close by The reporter continued as the camera shook from a loud roar like explosion.
"That wasn't a explosion..." Virgil muttered from his palce on the couch before running off upstairs, two at a time.
"Virgil!" Robert called after his son.
Sharon came out of the kitchen, "Daddy? What's going on?" Sharon asked as she came running out of the kitchen.
Robert looked over at his daughter before looking upstairs to where his son disappeared, "I don't know Sharon but I'm going to find out" Hee said before heading off upstairs to find Virgil, Robert could hear Sharon following close behind him.
"I don't think this will work Gear! Ever since that explosion the fire has become worse" Rubberband Man yelled across the open shock vox channel.
"Well we're running out of ideas... I thought of liquid nitrogen originally but I haven't got a way to spread it, the only way is that unless a miracle happens" Gear replied from where he hovering above Dakota Lake looking at the fire while Backpack scanned over the scene in front of him.
"Why can't the firefighters help? Couldn't they get a helicopter up in the air?" Shebang suggested from where she was helping the firefighters get out of the docks.
"The nearest water carriers are two hours away but by then the fire would have spreaded into the city, and we all got someone we love to protect!" Gear replied with a slight cough from the smoke.
Shebang and Rubberband Man felt a bone shuddering roar followed closely by another explosion, "Gear, what was that? Gear can you hear us?" They called, their voices overlapping each other.
"I... It's him! T-they're..." Gear's voice crackled through the shock vox channel.
Rubberband Man jumped across to join Shebang up on the top of a building and muttered a prayer under his breath.
Appearing amongst the flames a large dark figure nose up from the burning buildings, it was made up by flames with a large black shadow like body.
"It's the monster from the second big bang! I remember hearing about this thing..." Shebang said watching the monster wave its huge fiery hands around like it was attacking something.
"The metagas fused the two powerful metahumans together but what we last heard was that he disappeared into the lake" Rubberband Man informed Shebang as he frowned. Brother... you just can't stay away can you? He thought to himself and realized that the monster was attacking Gear.
"Ebon and Hotstreak? We've got to help Gear! He can't fight that thing alone!" Shebang yelled and moved to try and get closer to help.
"Shenice! The only way we can help Gear is by evacuating the docks and stop the fire from spreading" Rubberband Man said stopping Shebang by grabbing her arm.
"He's just buying time anyway" He added with a grim smile before hopping down off the roof onto the street, hoping that he was right.
"Virgil, what's the matter?" Robert asked as he entered Virgil's bedroom finding Virgil digging around in his wardrobe, his blue rucksack lying open on the bed with the static uniform poking out.
"I need to find something... Richie has been working on something that he got from Doctor Todd, we discovered that the doctor gave us the formulae to the cure" Virgil said pulling away some clothes to reveal a sealed metal case.
"The cure, Virgil... are you telling me that you have kept the cure here? All this time?" Robert asked his son sitting down on the bed trying to get his mind over the fact that Virgil and Richie had kept the cure to the metagas.
"We have... its because of what we saw at the beginning of the second big bang, and incase something happens that we don't need our powers anymore..." Virgil said quietly as he tried to remember the combination to open the silver case.
"What are you going to do? I can see that you're planning on going out there but are you sure you're ready?" Robert asked seeing that Virgil was entering the code into the case combination lock.
"I'll never be ready to be who I use to be but he's running out of time and this is the only way to defeat at least one of our nightmares" Virgil replied in a soft voice as he took two vials out gently before sealing the case back up.
Robert sighed and got up off the bed before crossing across to the window to look out onto the distant city. "I can't stop you from doing what is right, just come back safely" He said as he crossed his arms against his chest. "Just bring him back too Virgil, he worked hard for you and I'll surport you for whatever you decide" He said quietly before leaving the room, leaving his son in a stunned silence.
"Gear can't keep this up! That last blast was too close, Chief Barnsdale are you sure everything has been shut off around here?" Rubberband Man asked the chief of police, who was on the radio to his men.
"Rohan says everything but the water and sewage lines have been shut off, is there anything we could have missed?" Chief Barnsdale asked looking at the two heroes while the other up in the air distracted the monster.
Shebang shook her head, "Not unless we cut the electricity but we need that for the bases" She said glancing back at the emergency tents set up close by.
The monster roared in what sounded like anger and pain before lashing out a huge wave of fire, everyone ducked down feeling the shockwaves of the roar pass under their feet.
Light filled the air making the late evening seem midday, stunning everyone around in the immediate area and they prayed that when it cleared the monster would be at last defeated.
To be continued!
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