(A/N) Hey guys, time for the latest update in the adventures of X-Ray and Vav. Sorry that this is going up late, spent last night watching the Return of the King, Extended Edition, with my girlfriend last night, and damn, that movie is long! But also awesome, so it all worked out. :) Anyway, this chapter is brought to you by the fantastic Tall on the Inside, and this is their first chapter as part of The Freelancer Collaboration, so I hope you all enjoy this as much as I did, because Tall really did a great job here.

Enjoy!

Chapter Five – Saving the Day

Ray Narvaez Jr / X-Ray

Written by Tall on the Inside

"The line between bravery and stupidity is so thin that you don't know you've crossed it until you're dead." - Anon.

The weather that day was unusually humid; the Met Office had promised it would rain. The air had a sticky quality to it, and despite being outside, its taste was stale, and its scent tainted with the tangy aroma of sweat that only presents itself in a large gathering of people.

Ray could feel the sun on his back, and already his shirt was starting to stick to his shoulders. A slim brunette stood on a platform above the gathering, tapping a microphone. Beside her, an agitated Agent Heyman was talking into an earpiece. The woman stood in front of Ray scoffed and looked at her watch, clearly believing she had more important things to do than stand in front of the town hall for what the couple behind him were referring to as "an impromptu press conference".

Over the snippets of conversation that were carried back to him, he could hear a small child screaming, a businessman talk fast and fluently in a foreign language, presumably into his phone, and a group of teenagers deciding to "blow this joint" as they complained about the heat.

All in all, it was a nice day for an assassination.

Beside him, he could sense Gavin fidgeting. Glancing towards him, Ray asked, "Hey man, you okay?"

The Brit ran licked his lips and thrust his hands into his pockets before replying, "I just think it's a bit stupid, really. I mean, why would you risk your life just to make a speech? Even if it is about "fallen heroes" or whatever." Gavin scowled. "Minges me right off to see someone just disregard their safety like that."

Ray chuckled, and idly swung the carrier bag he'd shoved his costume into hurriedly before leaving. "Right. Because we don't blatantly disregard our safety on a regular basis."

Gavin's scowled deepened and he shoved his hands even further down his pockets. Ray expected to see them jut out of the bottom of his shorts. "Yeah but that's different," he whined. "We're nobodies. The mayor is the mayor."

"Wow, never would have worked that one out," Ray placed his free hand on his friend's shoulder, and patted it slightly. "Thank you for reminding me once again that you are the brains of this entire operation."

Shuffling slightly away from Ray, so as to get his arm off of him without moving his hands from his pockets (God, what was in those pockets that made them so desirable?), Gavin shook his head. "Ray," he muttered, "do you think any of these people voted for him because they thought he would risk his life with a speech like this? Do you think he would have stood a chance if they knew he was willing to throw it all away?"

Ray had to admit, the Mayor of Achievement City was not known for his tendency to make foolish decisions. In fact, had such a habit presented itself during the election period, it was unlikely he would have won. As it happened, his overwhelming generosity, dedication to the city, and award-winning moustache had been what secured him the job. He had always appeared passionate about the wellbeing of Achievement City's residents, and that passion had been exactly what the citizens thought they needed to protect them.

Of course, it hadn't been that passion that protected them. It had been heroes. Heroes like he and Gavin, who had rose to the challenge. Even from their earliest escapades, the Mayor had shown strong support for these heroes, with speeches and interviews and talk of statues in their honour.

With his admiration for those heroes, and his devotion to Achievement City, was it any wonder he would choose to risk his life, just in order to pay his respect to the fallen vigilantes that had saved his city?

It was as Ray was opening his mouth to vocalise this chain of thought that Gavin stated, "Kerbal Gunnerz is dead, Ray. Lamp is dead too. That's two of the cities "indestructible heroes" gone. This place'd be chaos if it lost its mayor." His hands were finally pulled from his pockets and folded across his chest. "People might start to worry how much longer X-Ray and Vav will be around for."

"Well, they shouldn't worry, 'cos X-Ray and Vav'll be around for a long time," Ray scoffed, trying to ignore the fact that Gavin was being so much more downcast than usual.

Gavin turned to face the other man, his gaze unfathomable. "Yeah, but how long is long?"

"I don't know, man, it's just fucking long." Ray shrugged. "We're big boys, Gavin, we can handle ourselves."

His partner looked down, his scoffed shoes kicking the ground. "We should probably split up," he finally stated, bringing his head back up. "We stand a better chance of finding Bullet Beard that way."

"But do we stand a better chance of fighting him?" Ray asked, pointing towards Gavin, who merely shook his head and chewed his tongue in response.

"Suit up in five," he stated. Ray was once again, slightly concerned by how serious the Brit was being, but then again, he supposed this was Serious Business. "Heyman's been up there long enough waiting for us."

After checking their watches were working in sync, the pair split. They had been asked by Agent Heyman to protect the Mayor, and they fully intended to do so. The plan was to infiltrate the crowd, allowing them to search for suspicious persons and to locate any area that could be used as a vantage point, before joining the Mayor onstage, in order to protect him throughout the speech.

This search revealed, to Ray at least, that not only did he know too many people in Achievement City, but the buildings facing the Town Hall were mainly residential; apartments, student accommodations and the like. Unfortunately, due to the fact that he did know too many people in Achievement City, he was stopped too frequently to be greeted by his acquaintances that he didn't get a chance to scope out the buildings behind and in line with the Hall, however due to past knowledge he was fairly certain it was mainly small, family-run businesses that had begun to flourish with the newfound lack of organised crime.

Ray was politely listening to the ramblings of someone he knew through something he did when the atmosphere in the crowd changed. Checking his watch and realising the time, he knew instantly what had happened, and glanced to the platform to validate his suspicions. Sure enough, there was Vav, clad in red, white and blue. It was with an expression of irritation that he spoke to Agent Heyman, and Ray was certain he knew exactly why he was displeased. After all, he could already feel how restless the crowd was growing.

He bid a hurried farewell to the bloke who had stopped him, and attempted to exit the crowd. This in itself was a task, due to the sheer amount of spectators there, and the amount of them who seemed to know him. There was a "Hi!" here and a "Hey Ray!" there, mixed in with the occasional "Watch it asshole!" but, despite this, he made it out of the crowd eventually. Then it was just the matter of getting changed.

Man, he was not looking forward to that. The costume was a bitch to put on and uncomfortable as hell in normal conditions; it was going to be sheer torture in this heat. He was starting to wish he'd just put it on underneath rather than shoving it into this stupid bag that had kept banging into people in the crowd. In hindsight, the bag wasn't his best idea; anyone could have caught a brief glance of what was inside, but it was just too fucking hot for him to do anything else. At least he'd taken precautions by using an opaque bag.

Walking with haste, and trying not to make eye contact with anyone, he made his way to the side of the town hall. From there, it was just a quick dart into the bathroom, luckily finding all the cubicles free, tearing off his clothes and forcing himself into the wrinkled, creased costume he'd brought, and switching his glasses.

Of course, he took care to make sure no one saw him, and those who did took no note of him. If there had been anyone in the bathroom, he would have probably been screwed, especially when he toppled over trying to get his boots on. The cape sat heavy on his shoulders, and his clothes were discarded on the floor. He decided to shove them back in the bag, and then just... leave the bag there.

Now several times hotter and stickier than he had been before, X-Ray exited the cubical, and decided that really, the only entrance he could possibly make now was to exit through the front doors of the Town Hall, straight onto the platform. He had no idea how Vav had made his entrance, but he hoped the Brit wouldn't think too badly of his.

He didn't meet any civil servants as he strolled through the carpeted corridors of the hall, presumably because they were all busy trying to talk the Mayor out of this speech. He wasn't met with a burst of cold air when he walked through the open doors, but rather a solid wall of humidity. The crowd, who had probably assumed it would be the Mayor who walked through those doors, had fallen silent, but almost immediately resumed conversation. X-Ray offered them a half-salute, half-wave before joining Vav and Agent Heyman, who both looked extremely hot and bothered.

"Where the bloody hell have you been?" Vav asked, as J-Roll began speaking into his earpiece again.

X-Ray held up his hands, as if in surrender. "Dude, I'm sorry! I ran into some issues."

"What kind of issues?" Heyman's eyes were narrowed. "Do I need to call this off right-"

"No," X-Ray shook his head. "Not those kind of issues, man. Just like... issues." Neither of the men he was talking to looked very impressed with his answer. Special Agent Heyman turned away from the pair of heroes in order to continue his conversation in a more private manner. X-Ray shuffled closer to Vav and asked, "So, you learn anything during our little scouting mission?"

"Nothing special. Those three buildings are apartment blocks, but the one in the middle appears to be due for refurbishment or something, because it's closed. Keep an eye on it."

"Gotcha," X-Ray nodded. "I didn't find anyone particularly dangerous in the crowd, you?"

Vav shook his head. "No."

X-Ray was about to point out that his partner sounded disappointed about the fact, when Agent Heyman turned to them and said, "Mayor's about to arrive guys. Be on the lookout for Bullet-Beard or any other potential threats."

The Mayor of Achievement City wasn't very tall. At most, he was about 5'5", but the moustache he sported made him appear taller. He had a commanding aura, which was probably helped by the moustache, and was somehow able to wear a suit and tie in the overwhelming heat. X-Ray admired that.

As Vav had suggested, he decided to keep an eye on the middle building. The Mayor approached the podium, and coughed to clear his throat. The crowd fell silent, and he began, in his wispy, charming voice, "Citizens of Achievement City, you are no doubt wondering why I've gathered you today."

X-Ray attempted to ignore his voice, instead focusing on the task ahead of him. His eyes ran up and down the building. The windows were shut. They all appeared vacant and dark. He thought he saw some movement on one of the higher levels, but it was from one of the windows of the first building, a curtain fluttering in the breeze-

Wait a minute.

It took X-Ray a few moments to realise that there was no breeze, and instantly he felt like a fool. His eyes beginning to burn with the usual heat that his power required, he busted out the ability that earned him his name. The wall became a layer of plaster, then brick, then plaster, then something metallic. Long and narrow and pointed straight for the Mayor, with a handle clenched in strong, unfaltering hands, a finger on a trigger, waiting for just the right moment.

With a blink, Ray switched his gaze to the Mayor. The heat behind his eyes became unbearable. It was almost as though his pupils would burst and his irises melt. He placed a hand to his temple, letting a finger or two idly drape across the arms of his glasses in order to get a better shot, and then, bam! His eyes exploded with the echo of gunshots. The air was filled with screams; women, children and men alike raised their voices in panic.

"X-Ray, where was he?!" Vav shouted. X-Ray, who was slightly dizzy and disoriented from his optic blast, pointed towards the building.

"15th floor up, window on the end, I think," he started, rubbing the side of his head. Vav began running, Agent Heyman in tow. "Wait, guys!" he called, "Did I save the Mayor or what?!"

It took more than a few blinks for his vision to return to normal, by which time the screaming had not stopped, but someone was attempting to restore the crowd to silence through a microphone. From the way their voice didn't tremble, X-Ray assumed he had in fact blasted the Mayor out of the way, and just in time too. This assumption was proven correct when his gaze settled upon several suited men, all of whom were trying to calm down a fifty-something moustached man whose eyes were wide with shock and whose arm hung at a slightly awkward angle.

Shrugging it off, X-Ray told himself if was better going into hospital with a broken bone than with a dead Mayor, and he leapt of the platform, trying to catch up with J-Roll and Vav. The crowd parted for him like he was Moses or something, but he never caught up with the pair.

In fact, he didn't meet up with them until he entered the room on the end of the 15th floor up. The window was still open, the room was crackling with heat, a gun discarded on the floor, but no sign of the man who fired it.

"Where-?" he began, but was sharply cut off with a, "We don't know," from J-Roll, whose earpiece started buzzing after that. As he left the room, muttering, "Negative, sir, no signs of the perpetrator," Vav peaked out of the window. There was no doubt a clear view of the Town Hall from it.

"Did you see what he looked like?" the Brit asked, pulling back the curtain.

X-Ray shook his head. "Didn't get a chance to. He was about to shoot."

"It's a good thing you saw him when you did," Vav nodded, turning to face him. "Another second later and the Mayor would've been dead."

The pair studied the room intently, but found no evidence regarding Bullet-Beard's whereabouts. The room was practically untouched, and there was no way out other than the window and the door they'd come in through. To say the heroes were confused would be an understatement. However, it wasn't until they left the room, and a group of FBI agents dressed almost identically to Agent Heyman entered the room to conduct their own investigations that the hairs on the back of X-Ray's neck began to tingle, and a feeling of dread started to settle into his stomach.

He had no clue what was happening here, nor did he know why it was happening. He began to worry what the fuck he and Vav had gotten themselves into.