New Markets - 02 (18 page)

Trevin asked, “Do you have a vibrator in your backpack?”

I looked at him, “Huh?”

“Your pack’s vibrating.”

I opened it up and looked for the phone, sure enough it was active.  I’d forgotten that I’d marked myself active before assaulting the garage.  I must have missed a bunch of tasks while the phone buzzed away and I didn’t feel it.

The task was a rescue, a ten story building had a fire on the eighth floor, and the office workers were cut off on the top floors.  I grabbed my belt, snapped it on and put on the face mask, then slid on the gloves.

“Guys, I have to go, there’s a fire downtown in an office building; people need to be rescued. Megan, would you hold onto my backpack, please?”

“Sure thing, Steph.  Be safe.”  The others nodded their agreement.

“That’s Psystar.”  I winked and smiled, and then sprinted for the nearest stairs, dialing Lance as I did.

I sprinted past a few students until I reached the ground floor, then left through the emergency exit.  I immediately step-pushed into the air and jabbed the knee up for fast acceleration.  At a few hundred miles per hour it only took perhaps two minutes to reach their house.

Chapter 8 – Office on Fire

Lance’s Viewpoint

My H.E.R.O. phone buzzed, and a rescue task appeared due to a fire.  Rael yelled over that he had the same task.

My phone rang; it showed Psystar as the caller.  “Hey Steph.”

“Hi Lance, you get the rescue task?  I’m flying to pick you guys up now, you’re home, right?”

“Yeah, we were going to jump there, but will wait for you.”

Rael spotted Stephanie first.  She shot in toward us at high speed; I'm guessing three or four hundred miles per hour.  She braked rapidly near the house and caught us each around the waist while still moving slowly in the air.  She angled us around; we didn’t need the GPS to find the location, as the smoke was obvious from here.

I said, “Land us on the roof; I’ll break through the door if it is locked.  Then I’ll head down to the level with the fire – you two save the people on the floors above.”

Stephanie said, "Sounds good to me.  Rael, think you'll be able to jump people to a nearby building?"

"Yeah, although it'll work better if you just go back and forth to the nearest building top.  I'll check out the levels above the fire in case anyone is having a problem."

"Okay, that’s a good idea."

A fire engine was just moving into position outside the building.  Stephanie landed us by it.  We quickly explained our plan to a pair of fire fighters, they agreed that it should work fine, and called over an officer to go into the next building to ensure there was a safe path down.

When that plan was set, Stephanie grabbed us again and flew us up to the rooftop.  Fire and smoke poured out of some of the windows on the eighth floor.  People had shattered windows on the ninth and tenth floors and were yelling out for help.  The rooftop was empty.  Smoke poured through a few air ducts, but otherwise the rooftop appeared safe for the moment.

We landed near the doorway.  I tested the handle, it appeared locked.  I ripped the door off the frame and tossed it off to the side before rushing down the stairs.  The building owner must have been paranoid, for the door at the top level of the building was also locked.  I tore the lock and handle assembly out of the wall and jammed the door open to make a clear path for people.

The din of the fire alarm, sprinklers, and people screaming for help at the outer walls made quite a racket.  The office had a few glass rooms in the center, along with sections of cubes.  The outer walls were primarily offices with many windows.  I clapped my hands to cause a loud noise.  A fair number of people turned and looked for the new danger. 

I yelled, "Get up to the rooftop now, a superhero will fly you to the next building, go now!"

People stared at us for a moment before a man yelled, "Supers are here to save us!"

A mad rush of people swarmed toward us.  Rael and I moved toward the stairs going down.  I pointed toward the stairs going up when some people looked at me.  "Psystar will fly you to the next building, get to the rooftop!"

When Stephanie saw the rush of people from all directions, she said, "Oh, shit."  She ran back up the stairs to meet them on the rooftop.

I figured that rather than deal with any problems with doors on stairs, I'd just rip them all off.  It was quick work.  Rael left me at the ninth floor to search for people while I continued down.

The last door leading on the eighth floor was already broken open, fire and smoke poured into the stair system. 
Okay, maybe I should have left the ninth floor door on....

I took a deep breath while the air was still reasonably clean, and then ran into the burning zone.  When I approached near the closest flame I tested how close I could get to it.  It didn't seem to bother me, and my costume appeared to be resistant to burning. 
Nice.

I held my breath as I jogged to the right around the level, checking in offices.  The carpeting, cubes, and wood desktops were making fine burning material.  It surprised me how long my breath was holding out.  I figured I'd have a minute or two, but five minutes in I was still doing fine.

The smoke made it hard to see, although my goggle type glasses worked wonders at keeping it from irritating my eyes. 
Good thinking, Spartan!
  It still took longer than I'd have liked to search every office and cube.  I didn't know if someone might have collapsed due to smoke inhalation after hiding in a cubby hole somewhere.  If they were unconscious, then me yelling wouldn't have helped any.

Most of the way through the level I found I felt energized.  My blood was on fire, energy seemed to pour through me.  I even noticed yellow fumes coming from my costume.  I hoped that was me, and not the beginnings of my costume starting on fire.  That could be embarrassing.

Finally I found an office with a group of people.  The fire raged in the area outside the office, even more than the other areas.  They had been caught without an escape route.  All were unconscious at this point.  I counted two men and six ladies.  I closed the door behind me, moved the people away from the window, and smashed more of the glass out. 

I carefully picked up two of the women, holding one to each side of my chest. 
A direct jump down should allow me to land easily...
.  I hopped down with them, screaming “Clear the way!” on the way down. 
Please miss that police vehicle, miss it, miss it....

We landed perfectly in the clear zone near the building.  Police kept the region clear, although the fire engine was on the other side of the building.  I checked the women; neither had been crushed or badly handled in the landing.  I'd noticed from previous jumps with Rael that my legs absorbed almost all of the impact when I landed while carrying something or someone.  I breathed a sigh of relief as I found the same occurring this time.  An officer ran over to me as I carefully laid each of the women down.

I looked at him and said, "There are six more people trapped on the eighth floor.  I'm leaping back up there and coming down with them in pairs.  Keep this area clear for me to jump down into, okay?"

He nodded to me, and yelled to several people to help move the women to a safer location for paramedics to check over.  I looked back up at the building and leapt back up toward the window I'd come out of.

I missed, and overshot the building by several dozen feet.  As my leap arc topped out, I yelled to the people waiting to be flown away to stand clear.  Oddly enough they stood in a big line.  Stephanie was zipping back to pick up a pair of people now, motioning to the next two to come to her. 
That's odd, but hey, if it works....
 Everyone seemed unnaturally calm for being above a raging fire. 
Ah, she's using her calming power.  Nice one, Psystar.

As I rushed down the stairs, Rael came running up them.  He looked surprised.  "You're done already?"

"No, there are six more people trapped, but I only leapt down with two.  I'm going to get the next two."

"I'll help out, the upper floors are cleared of people now."

"No.  The fire is raging that you have to go through.  You may heal fast, but burns often never heal.  I can handle them.  Hop over to the next building and make sure the people aren't killing each other on the way down.

"Will do."

I sprinted past him then and went back down to the eighth floor.  Smoke now poured unimpeded up to the ninth and tenth floors.  I took another deep breath in a clear zone and ran back down to the raging inferno and the trapped people.  I tried to think of a way to jump down with three unconscious people, but it just didn't seem feasible with any degree of safety.

I entered the room as quickly as possible to keep the fire from entering it, and closed the door behind me.  Then I carefully picked up the next two people in the same positions as last time.  Adrenaline and strength were pouring through my body, I fretted that I would crush one of them by accident.  Either the fire energized me, or my own efforts had some effect.

A small step out the window and we fell to the ground again.  The landing was good this time, though not quite as good.  Neither woman appeared harmed by the fall at least.  Again the police officer and several others rushed over to move the ladies.  A paramedic was with them ready to help.

This time my jump back up was perfect.  I entered right through the window I'd just left, and hopped back into the room.  Yet another round of gentle cradling of the people and I stepped out the window again.  The landing went very well, and I was able to hand the people to the helpers rather than set them down.

An officer said, "Hey, Spartan, you're on fire."  He pointed at my left arm.

I looked, but no flames were in sight.  Standing outside the flickering light of the flames I realized that it was my internal energy seeping out again.

I said, "No, this is my own energy, it's not fire.  I think it's a byproduct of my adrenaline."

He asked, "Is it dangerous?"

I shook my head, "Not that I know of, although I'll be darn hungry in a while.  It's like burning carbs on a super cardio session."

"Okay."

"Two more people and I believe the eighth floor will be clear.  Psystar is moving people from the rooftop, which appeared to be going very well."

"Good news then."

"Be right back."

I looked up and leapt for the window again.  I overshot the building top again and had to yell again to clear people from underneath me.  The jump seemed easier.  Not many were left on top of the building; Stephanie made quick work of the rooftop, even with dozens of people on it at the beginning.

I ran back down again, this time I checked the last of the offices on the left side between the stairs and the room with the two men before I went to them.  I thought it would save me a trip to come back and check for them.  I didn't find anyone else hiding or lying about.

When I ran through the intense fire near the office I noticed that my adrenaline spiked, and I felt like punching a hole in a wall I had so much energy.  I continued to the room, wondering as I did so what would cause something like that.

I didn't even feel any weight to the men.  I felt their bodies, but they just felt like they were made of air.  My hyper strength was in full gear, apparently.  I hopped down with them.  This time the landing felt like I'd hopped off a stair step or some such.  The men were jarred very slightly from the fall, but didn't appear any worse for wear.  The help crew again ran over to take them away.