Steven didn’t realize he was zoning out until someone dropped their purchase on the counter in front of him, startling him out of his thoughts.
His customer was a young man with curly black hair and a short beard. He wore a museum staff name tag that said ‘Professor Whitman’. The item he had placed on the counter was a snow globe that was filled with sand, and had little pyramids inside it. Steven smiled briefly at the souvenir before turning his attention back to his customer.
“You don’t look much like a tourist, I must say,” he said as he picked up the trinket and scanned it.
“Oh, well, I’m not,” the professor replied, “But my girlfriend has a little niece that lives with her, and she doesn’t like me much. I’m trying to get on her good side.”
“Ah,” Steven said as he slipped the snow globe into a bag, “Well, the pyramids are an excellent choice. Right favorite of mine, they are.”
“Thanks,” the professor took the bag out of Steven’s hand.
“You’re welcome, professor,” he replied.
“Call me Dane.”
“Well then, I’m Steven. Steven Grant. Good luck with the kid.”
Dane smiled and nodded before walking away.
~~~~~~~~~~
Marc fronted right at the end of Steven’s work day, and because all he needed to do was clean up and walk home, he stayed in control.
As he was walking out of the building, he heard a loud thump, followed by a frustrated moan.
Already partially regretting it, Marc turned to see what had happened.
A young Asian woman was kneeling on the ground a few yards away, papers scattered across the floor in front of her. She was muttering under her breath angrily, and hadn’t seemed to have noticed Marc.
For a few seconds, he considered walking away, but then he caught a glimpse of his reflection, or Steven, really, in a nearby window.
“You better go help her,” Steven said.
Marc gave him an exasperated look.
“I’m serious,” Steven prodded, “Help her, or I’m taking over.”
Marc sighed, and not wanting to be shoved out of control within the first few minutes of it, he started towards the woman.
When he knelt down to help gather the scattered papers, the woman glanced up at him in surprise.
“Thank you,” she said.
“No problem,” he muttered.
Once all the papers were collected, the woman straightened up and tucked them into the crook of her elbow.
“I’m Sersi,” she said, holding out her free hand.
He shook it, and said, “Marc,” before mentally kicking himself. She worked at the museum, she might interact with Steven at some point!
“I gotta’ go,” he said, and hightailed it out the door.
~~~~~~~~~~
The next day, Steven set out on his morning walk to get to work. He bought a coffee cake at starbucks and ate while he walked, enjoying the nice day.
He looked around as he walked, at all the people and birds and buildings. The sunlight shone through a cloudless sky, and all in all, it seemed like a perfect day.
That was before half the street went up in flames.
It happened in an instant, with absolutely no warning. There was an explosion, which largely demolished two buildings. The previously clear sky was now full of smoke, and the once quiet morning was now filled with screams.
A few people ran toward one of the fiery buildings, trying to help those still inside. Steven ran with these people, but went not to the less fiery buildings, but to the one nearly completely engulfed in flames. As he ran, he prodded at Marc, trying to wake him up.
~~~~~~~~~~
Marc fronted in the midst of chaos. He was running towards a burning building, which had heat and smoke pouring off it in all directions.
He ducked under a burning beam and into what looked like a bank. He glanced around frantically for anyone in need of help.
Seeing no one in the immediate vicinity, Marc ventured further into the building, trying not to think about the fact that he no longer had the suit to heal him if needed.
He turned a corner and saw a dark-haired man standing a few feet away, staring at a door that was blocked by a pile of rubble.
“You have to get out of here!” Marc yelled at him.
“I can’t! My girlfriend’s in there!”
Marc cursed under his breath and ran over to the door, examining the situation.
A whole chunk of ceiling had fallen during the explosion, blocking the bottom of the door and leaving no way to open it. There wasn’t even a guarantee that the girl inside was still alive.
Marc turned back to the man and said, “I’ll try to get her out, but you have to go!”
The man stared at him for a minute before recognition flashed across his face, “Steven?” he asked.
Before Marc could even stop to wonder how this guy knew Steven, the door suddenly crumbled to ash.
The two men stared in surprise at where the door once was, and at the girl behind it. It took a moment for Marc to recognize her, but It was Sersi, the woman he had helped last night.
“What just happened?” her boyfriend asked.
“The, uh,” Sersi coughed and unsuccessfully tried to wave smoke away from her face, “The door just… burned up.”
It was stupid lie, but now wasn’t the time to dwell on it, “Just get out, we have to move!” Marc practically shouted.
Sersi climbed over the rubble and the three of them ran around the corner and out into the entrance hall, trying their best to avoid the growing fire.
Because that was just Marc’s luck, the doors out of the building were consumed in flames.
Marc whipped around, looking for something, anything, to help them escape.
Squinting through the haze of smoke punctuated by bright bursts of flame, he spotted a fire extinguisher in a case on the wall. He ran over to it, broke the glass with his elbow, and pulled it out, ignoring the slivers that cut into his wrist.
He turned around and saw Sersi, holding her hand a few inches away from one of the few fire-free patches of wall. She looked hesitant, as if she were about to touch some feral beast.
“Hey!” Marc yelled, “Leave the wall alone and get ready to run!”
Sersi looked almost relieved when she brought her hand down and went to stand next to her boyfriend.
Marc smothered the doors and the surrounding debris with the foamy liquid in the extinguisher, then used it to ram them open without having to touch the white-hot handles. The three of them raced out of the burning bank, coughing and gasping for air.
After he recovered his breath, Marc slipped away quietly, wincing from the pain of a few minor burns.
Once he got back to Steven’s flat, Marc stripped off his sooty clothes and crashed on the bed, hoping Steven wouldn’t mind if he missed one day of work.
The odd fact of a door just crumbling into ashes slipped his mind.
~~~~~~~~~~
Sersi was so mad at herself. She had nearly given away her abilities, right in front of Dane!
Thankfully, he was too shaken after the fire to ask any questions, and Sersi sincerely hoped that the questions just might never come.
~~~~~~~~~~
Dane was sure something was up with Sersi. There was absolutely no explanation for what had happened to that door.
And then he thought about the Blip, and the aliens invading New York, and what had happened in Sokovia. Crazier had definitely happened, so maybe it was possible, but still, it seemed unlikely.
Maybe Sersi was a wizard???