Chapter 5
I carried them to just outside of the fort. It wasn’t hard to find. I just followed the flames and the large plume of smoke. Letting them down just as easy as I did picking them up, I stood off to the side and scanned the area with my eyes. Steve and Natasha got out and also took in the scene.
Base fire engines and a few water trucks were working hard on taking care of the main fires surrounding the armory and closing in on the chemical research facility, containing them for now. But there looked to be fires just about everywhere. Rescue crews were trying to get some scientist personnel off the roof of a building while medics looked after the burned and wounded.
“You ready for this?” Natasha asked, glancing over at me.
“Yes. This isn’t my first fire rescue.”
Steve slung his shield on to his back than led us past the gate and on to the base, heading straight for a man that looked like the general in charge.
“How can we be of service sir?” Steve asked startling the general. He was a tall broad shouldered man in camo-fatigues and a salt and pepper buzz cut. When he saw Steve he immediately stood ram rod straight, offering him a quick salute before he relaxed and looked over at me and Natasha.
“I’d appreciate any help you and your friends can give Captain. Right now we’ve got the fires contained. We’re trying to get the civilian scientists off the main building.”
As soon as he said that we heard shouting coming from a man up on the fire ladder that was being extended over to the building. A flame burst shot up out of the window in front of the ladder, causing him to lose his balance and fall off. He hit the ground hard, right in the center of a ring of fire.
“Man down,” the fire chief cried out just as a second explosion went off, blasting a hole in the wall of the armory. Some of the ammo inside began to go off, striking a few nearby soldiers.
Steve immediately went in to action, hurdling his way over and bringing his shield up to protect the firefighters as they aimed their hoses through the hole to put the fire out, while medics moved to pull the downed soldiers to safety. Looking around, trying to find a way to help I saw a large circular tower along the side of a building. An idea came to me when I saw rungs built in to it like a ladder.
“Natasha,” I called out, causing her to look over at me then to where I was pointing. She looked confused for a minute but then caught on and nodded at me.
Moving over I easily ripped it off the wall, checking it out to make sure that it was indeed hollow inside. Flames struck my sides but I didn’t even feel the heat, nor did my suit catch on fire as I brought the tube over and rested it against the side of the building like a makeshift slide.
“Go. I’ll take care of the downed man,” I told her than turned and started walking through the flames to him as Natasha climbed up the outside of the slide quickly to guide the people to it and down.
I stepped through the last of the fire until I reached the startled young officer. “Easy. I’m here to help,” I assured him in a calm tone, smiling sweetly at him as I knelt alongside him, scooping him up in to my arms and picking him up gently. I couldn’t exit the same way I entered. Not unless I wanted to fry him. So I flew us up and over the flames, much to his excitement, until I reached a nearby ambulance with an empty stretcher.
“There we go,” I said setting him down gently on to the stretcher, “Please be sure to tip your stewardess and thank you for flying Supergirl Airlines.”
The young soldier laughed softly before letting out a pained groan just as a few medics arrived. They looked at me in confusion as I ran my eyes over the man on the stretcher, using my x-ray vision to check for any injuries.
“Looks like a clean break and twisted ankle all in the right leg. You’ll be fine,” I told him, smiling softly before waving and flying off when I heard Cap call out to me. I landed beside him, thankful that at least the ammunition stopped going off. “You bellowed.”
“Natasha ordered all hoses to soak down the research facility for some reason. The fire here is still going though and could set off the rest of the ordnance,” Steve explained, “Think you can figure a way to use that water tower there?”
I looked to where he was pointing and saw a raised steel water tower standing next to what must be the barracks. I smiled and nodded then flew over and under the water tower, using my heat vision to cut it lose. Lifting it up, I carried it till I was over the armory bunker. Holding the water tower up with one hand and a shoulder, I punched a hole in the side. I than maneuvered up and moved the water tower around like a watering can, practically soaking the whole area but thankfully it worked.
“I think it’s out now,” Steve shouted, looking a little water logged as I dropped the now empty water tower container next to the armory.
“Sorry. It was kind of hard to see where I was aiming while holding it,” I offered smiling apologetically at him.
“Well regardless, I’d say we’re out of the woods for now.”
“Not yet,” Natasha declared, appearing suddenly right behind him.
“What’s the situation?” he asked calmly, turning to face her.
“Bad,” she answered, looking back at the facility for a second, “There’s a room in there filled with Beltric Acid. Normally harmless until it is heated. Then it becomes a highly corrosive vapor like cloud that can eat through anything. There’s a scientist in there working on keeping it cool, but unless we find a way to put out the rest of these fires fast. We are going to have a corrosive cloud that will destroy everything in its path. Including the nuclear facility. And if that happens…”
“We’ll have a radioactive corrosive cloud that will destroy and contaminate everything in its path,” I finished for her, “Not to mention a nuclear explosion on US soil.”
“And on top of that, the water pressure on the base is dropping by the minute,” Natasha added, “We’re gonna run out of water long before we get these fires out.”
“Perfect,” Steve sighed.
And here I thought this was going to be as easy as catching a falling plane. How was I going to stop a cloud of acid vapor that could melt through a nuclear reactor? Wait a sec…no. That wouldn’t work. Not without knowing the freezing point of the acid. But that does give me an idea about how to deal with these fires once and for all.
“I’ll be right back,” I told them than flew up and then bolted back the way we came towards Sherman’s Lake.
***
Without carrying an SUV on my back, I was able to reach the lake in a couple of minutes. Landing at the edge of it, I looked out at the same lake where I first used my powers to save people. Shaking the memory away and remembering why I came here, I took one more look around to make sure the area was clear before taking in a deep breath then exhaling long and hard. You could see my breath as I blew it across the top of the lake, slowly making it freeze over as it expanded.
If Skye was here, she’d make some lame joke about how I blow or something; so it’s a good thing she’s not here to see me use my ice breath. Though I’m sure one day she will see it and make that joke.
Once I was certain I had a large enough sheet of ice for my plan to work, I let up on my ice breath and bent down to take hold of the ice covering. Lifting it up and flying up at the same time, I quickly rearranged myself so I was flying straight while carrying and pushing the large oval like thick sheet of ice.
The flight back took a little longer, but I could soon see the fort in sight. Flying higher until I was right over the fort, the sheet of ice looking like it would be more than enough to cover the whole base, I prepared to enact my plan.
“Look out below,” I shouted, causing those that didn’t see me coming earlier to look up in astonishment.
I let go of the ice and let it fall down to the base, hitting the center of it with a quick heat vision blast to help it melt faster. It wasn’t long before it started cracking and broke apart, melting under the heat of the remaining fires until it was nothing more than cold rain blanketing the whole area. The soldiers whooped and hollered as they tossed their heads back and let the rain cool them off as well as douse the remaining fires. They seemed to be all died out by the time I landed beside Steve and Natasha.
“Which rescue did you like better, number one or number two?” I asked him jokingly.
Steve laughed and came up, placing a hand on my shoulder in a friendly comradery like way. “Both were equally impressive. Great job kid, but don’t get cocky,” he answered smirking at me.
My eyes went wide as I tried really hard not to laugh out loud. Looking over at Natasha, I could see she was having an equally hard time maintaining her composure.
“Did Captain America just adlib Star Wars at me?” I asked her seriously.
“We watched the entire original trilogy one night at the Tower. Since then he and the rest of the guys have been sneaking in their favorite phrases whenever they get the chance.”
“You should see the new Avenger Tower and join us for movie night. Tony has his own private screening room,” Steve offered.
He already gave me a formal invitation to join the team. I guess this was his way of enticing me to accept. Though with Natasha and my other bondmate apparently living at the Tower that should be enticement enough for me.
I smiled as the general came over and began thanking us. Some of the other soldiers and firefighters came over and also began shaking our hands and thanking us for the help. Not one of them looked at me like I was a freak or a monster or evil. They smiled happily at me, thanking me and telling me how cool they thought some of my actions were. They even asked a few questions here and there. Part of me was relieved that they weren’t looking on me in fear; while another part couldn’t help but think this was going to go a long way in showing the military and everyone else that I’m just here to help. If having Captain America and probably SHIELD vouch for me, as well as the two big rescues I was a part of didn’t prove I’m not the next alien threat the world had to deal with, I don’t know what will.
I hope it doesn't come down to me having to save the earth from a killer asteroid. That might be a tough one.