[FIRE] not a hero

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Zoe was not a hero. She knew that. Right now, in fact, Zoe felt like panicking. She could feel her heart thudding against her chest, as though it would explode on her at any moment, break free and do laps. She'd been near the arena, not because she'd had any real interest in the actual competition, but because it had seemed like a good opportunity to take pictures. The school happened to agree with her, and so Zoe found herself fielded, camera in hand.

Then everything exploded.

Zoe had done what everyone had did: she'd gotten free as quickly as possible. She'd made it out of the arena, only to find that sections of the school had gone up, including her beloved library. She stared, struck, until realization hit her: her friends, her girlfriend. Where was Alice? Liz? Maelea? Devyn had... Devyn had been at the competition with Beau, with Liz's Beau. Oh God.

A buzz, and Zoe looked to her phone:
Beau's okay; working with people, you okay?

Zoe hurriedly sent the message, remembering as she did that Maelea had left for a gig, not caring for the whole school spirit thing. She could see a few others but...

"Where's Alice?" she asked aloud, as though expecting the universe or perhaps some overseeing goddess to answer. "Alice!" she screamed, before pounding the call button on her phone. She kept screaming even as she heard the phone ring, moving through dusty crowds, sliding past them and fighting against the screams.

[Alice Hobbs]

Alice wasn't interested in joining, or even watching the competition, but still, she found herself watching it either way. She didn't exactly have anything else to do, and just the idea of spending yet another evening at home, with her drunken dad didn't exactly appeal to her either. She had been watching the competition -- or at least, she had tried to. She kept dozing off, walking around and just trying to make the time pass.

What she hadn't expected however was to watch the fourth challenge literately go up in flames and freaking explode. It had all happened too fast for the brunette to react. She could vaguely remember the screaming, people running, crashing into her and then the smoke. Then the sound of something falling. It had been quite a loud noise. That much she remembered. And then there was that stinging pain in her head. And her foot. She couldn't move her foot. And her shoulder hurt like living hell too. What the hell was going on?

Pressing her eyes open, she quickly found herself pressing them shut again. The room -- or lack thereof was covered in smoke, and she could only vaguely see the shadows and figures of people moving. She attempted to sit up straight, but the stinging pain in both her shoulder and her head continued and Alice winced. lifting her hand to her forehead, she found a small cut that was bleeding, but luckily, it wasn't deep. At least, she didn't think so. She didn't feel too light headed either, which was always a good sign. Her shoulder however, felt as if it was disjointed.

And then there was her foot. It wasn't broken. Or, severely hurt. Sure, it was painful, but that wasn't the issue. The issue was that her foot was stuck. Stuck underneath a lot of rubble, and she couldn't move it. At all.

And then she felt her phone vibrate, and the familiar sound of it ringing filled the air. Clumsily fishing it out of her pocket, Alice covered her mouth and lifted it to her ear, coughing as she felt the smoke fill her lungs. "H-hello? Zoe?" she replied, her voice husky.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

"Alice!" Zoe nearly shouted the name again, just barely managing to keep her voice controlled. She nearly let out a sob of relief, somehow just stopping herself from doing so. instead she swallowed hard, feeling her body shake. "You sound... rough, are you okay?" she frowned, her body shaking as she turned to look around. Sure, she was a little soot-covered and all; she'd been close enough to get some of the initial fire, but she didn't have any real serious injuries.

"Where are you? I don't see you anywhere..." Zoe started moving, not even sure where she was going, but feeling that she needed to go. Strangely, her experience told her that this was an excellent time to just let Fate guide her. Oftentimes she found that worked out for her. Though now she listened with panic thrumming in her heart, waiting to hear even the slightest word from her girlfriend.

[Alice Hobbs]

Coughing again, Alice pressed her eyes together, feeling the stinging pain from the smoke. She was fairly sure her eyes were wet and that there was tears rolling down her cheek because of it, but she hardly paid that any mind. "I'm alright," she said, coughing again. "Just think I got roughed up a bit." Well, and stuck. Or, her foot was. Focusing on the relief of Zoe's voice, Alice found herself relaxing a little. She was thankful it sounded like her girlfriend was alright.

"I-- I--" she began, pressing her eyes open and looking around. "I was in the arena, and then--then the machine--" she started coughing again, rougher this time. She could feel the smoke make her throat sore and keeping her eyes open became difficult. "I don't know," she finished. "My foot is stuck." She moved her free hand, brushing her fingertips over her shoulder, wincing at the pain. "I think I disjointed my shoulder." There was something wet there too. Something wet and warm.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Alright? Zoe wanted to point out that alright people didn't sound like that, they didn't mention smoke or explosions or something like that. Well, at least Alice sounded more alright than most: she could speak, she could form words, and she made it sound like the wounds weren't that serious. In the arena: Zoe immediately turned that way, walking quickly, not caring if people were moving toward her. She actually ducked out of people's way, and even tapped one or two, giving them a paralytic prod out of her way.

Foot was stuck, disjointed shoulder... "That might be your wing," said Zoe, her voice low. She repeated it again, louder: "The shoulder, that might be your wing. Alice," Zoe kept moving, her eyes on the Arena, on the chaos, trying to pretend like her heart didn't feel as though it was literally going to claw her way out of her chest. She'd thought nothing would be as bad as being trapped in a cabin while SPECTRE hacked their way toward her. She had never been so wrong: This was infinitely worse.

"I need you to describe something," she said, looking around, "like, clouds of smoke or---or details about the rubble or people, something that can help me find you," she tried not to sound panicked, and was surprised at how calm she sounded.

This wasn't Zoe's first disaster.

[Alice Hobbs]

Her wing? For a moment, Alice found herself caught in confusion. Her brown eyes traveled back to her shoulder and then dropped to her fingertips, which were stained in a red liquid that was drying quickly. "But, I didn't..." she began, furrowing her brows further. Was it possible that her power had activated itself in the blow? Granted, Alice didn't remember much between the start of it all and until she had managed to get her head around what had happened. "Uhm, hold on," she added, hesitating slightly. Seeing anything at all was hard. Not only because of the smoke, because her eyes were stinging. The fire too, she could feel it nearby. Not close enough to hurt her, she thought, but close enough that she could feel the heat against her skin.

Trying to push herself up, Alice winched, groaning as she pressed her lips together. Her foot was stuck, and it didn't really seem like she was getting loose anytime soon. Shifting slightly, Alice placed the phone between her ear and her other shoulder as she moved her hand further down her back, and Zoe was right. She could feel her wings, but they didn't seem quite right. Something was wrong.

"Uhm," she snapped back to attention, looking around. "There's smoke. A lot of smoke. I don't think... I'm not... The fire is further away. I'm next to some rubble... And there's smoke coming from the... Well, it's kind of coming from everywhere. But I was in the arena." Alice coughed again, wincing once more at the pain shooting through her shoulder. "There's no people here. I don't know, Zoe."

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Didn't what? Hold on for what? Zoe fought to keep herself as calm as possible. She kept feeling her insides go cold, everything twisting up. Why did this keep happening to the people she loved? no, no, she was going to fight for Alice. This was not going to happen and Zoe was not going to stand by and let it. Was that groaning? And shuffling? Zoe paused for a moment, looking over the arena.

Smoke, lots of spoke, but he fire was further away. Rubble... that really wasn't all that helpful. Was in the arena: Zoe kept going that direction. "It's okay, Alice," she said, keeping her voice calm, her accent somehow sounding stronger for it. "If there are no people it just means that everyone else got out, and soon you will too. What part of the arena were you in last? I need something, Alice: I need to find you," Zoe was nearly to the arena now, and she could see the smoke rolling out.

Zoe headed that way, only to have someone waving for her to move out of the way. She extended her hand and pushed at their arm, moving them away mostly by surprise. "Sorry!" she called as she walked around, "But I've got to find her!" she turned and headed into the smoke, hoping that Alice could give her something more tangible to work with.

[Alice Hobbs]

What part was she in? She didn't remember. Her head was growing clouded. Dizzy. Heavy. She was tired. Oh so very, very tired. "Uhm," she rolled off her tongue, blinking. When did her eyelids feel so heavy? Had they been feeling this way all the time? No, she had been more awake a few minutes ago, hadn't see? "I don't remember," she slurred, leaning her head back against the wall-- rubble? behind her. She wasn't even sure anymore. "Near the exit, I think." Hadn't she been trying to leave? She thought so. "The exit... Uhm, near the-- no, furthest away from the games."

The stinging pain in her shoulder was starting to dull too. Now it was more like a distant throbbing. She wanted to sleep. She tried to move, only to remember -again- that her foot was stuck, and sleeping wouldn't be very comfortable. Then again, neither was sitting here.

She didn't even know how she managed to stay awake right now. She was exhausted, but everything hurt. Her foot, her head, her eyes, her shoulder... Hadn't she bled from her forehead too? Had she imagined that? Was the smoke making her delusional? How ironic. The girl with the dust which made her immune to such things was now getting delusional. The thought made the brunette chuckle.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Zoe kept moving, fighting through the smoke. She could hear water pouring or something, heard people shouting off to her left. Where was she? More importantly, how close was she to Alice? Alice said that she couldn't remember, and Zoe bit her lip. Please, please remember...

Near the exit! Zoe was near it, but on the other side. "I'm on the other side," she said, nodding, "so it'll just take me a bit to get over there. Alice, Alice, hold on," she started moving, picking her way through the arena. She'd been here before, at least enough to remember. People were heading straight through, moving away, save for those rescuing. So Zoe would actually be better off going around.

"Alice, I need you to stay with me," Zoe said, fighting the panic that she heard creeping into her voice. She worked her way through nearly empty hallways, hurrying, hearing panicked cries and the flickering of fires. "You have to keep awake, Alice. You're the strong one, remember?" she smiled at that, feeling tears already starting to flow. "I'm on my way. So... so... keep talking about... something," she was getting closer, she could feel it. "Anything. Please."

[Alice Hobbs]

On the other side. Alice nodded, and didn't really realize that Zoe couldn't actually see it. She didn't care though. She was too tired. And the smoke was burning her eyes, forcing her to press them tightly together. She felt more groggy by the minute. She wasn't sure if it was the smoke, or just the physical strain, but sleeping sounded incredibly tempting though. She was tired. Exhausted, too. But Zoe was coming. Soon. She could stay awake for another few minutes, right?

A wry smile formed on the brunette's lips. "Stay. Right," she mumbled, shaking her head, only to wince at the pain. She was the strong one. Yes. Though... Right now, she surely didn't feel like it. Her head was swimming and she could feel herself dipping off into the pool of haze and sleep contentiously. Talk about something. Anything. Groaning, Alice tired sitting up straight. The movements were slow and awkward, as she tried not to move her shoulder.

"What... Talk about what?" she asked, her voice dry and hoarse. She could feel the smoke. She could smell it. But she couldn't feel the heat of the flames anymore. Maybe someone had put them out? Maybe they had died out by themselves. "I think... I think someone put out the fire."

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Those mumbles didn't sound good: Alice sounded as though she was in pain, and that pain rent at Zoe's heart. She moved quickly, wishing that she was more agile, more fit, more anything that would get her to her girlfriend faster. She could practically hear the pained breaths. It shouldn't take her too much longer though: only a few more minutes.

Talk about what? "Anything!" Zoe blurted, feeling more of the panic come in. "You... you could talk about what's going on---" she paused, someone put out the fire? "Someone put out the fire? That's good! I'm not far, Alice. Just... keep awake. Talk about, um, when you got your power, maybe?" Zoe couldn't remember if her girlfriend had ever shared that before. "Or your first kiss? Just... something, Alice. You have to keep talking."

Great, Zoe, the big "hero" was nearly panicked, struggling to force herself forward, moving as quickly as she possibly could, already feeling her body ache. She had to force herself to slow down; it wouldn't do if she arrived there exhausted. Then she couldn't help with anything.

[Alice Hobbs]

Her manifestation? Alice laughed dryly at that. "I woke up one morning with this... Annoying back pain. The pain grew worse and worse throughout the day, and then I noticed the tattoos." Boy, had that been quite the shock. "When I stepped out of the bathroom, it felt as if my back was tearing open, and within minutes, I had a pair of wings. Just like-- just like my mom." She grimaced at that, the memories causing her to press her lips tightly together. "I ran into my sister's bedroom-- and she tried calming me down. Within the day, the recruiters showed up."

The memory of her mother leaving when she was four rushed through her mind and she tried shaking it off. It wasn't something she wanted to think about. Not here. Not now. "Molly-- my sister. She has the same power," she said, slurring a little. "Luckily, we already knew what was happening by the time she manifested." Their father wasn't a mutant, so they hadn't exactly came prepared. How could they have?

Sighing, Alice leaned her head down. "I-I'm so tired, Zoe." How she managed to stay awake for this long, Alice didn't know. She just wanted to sleep.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Zoe laughed slightly, the noise almost bursting out in the stress, at Alice's story. Of course her girlfriend would have the exact opposite kind of manifestation too. Zoe's came out in a moment of want and terror, and Alice had gotten hers when she hadn't even been looking. Though there was something there, that hint about her mother: Zoe couldn't recall Alice ever mentioning a mother. The father came up from time to time, usually with disgust and distance in her voice, but the mother? The mother never seemed to be mentioned.

The sister, yes, she came up. "I'd love to meet her sometime," Zoe said, though she supposed she might have already met the girl. She paused, not just in conversation, but also in movement: she faced what appeared to be some rubble, as if parts of the arena had fallen down. And she could see an exit relatively nearby.

"I think I'm close, Alice!" she said. Zoe moved closer, moving slowly, cautiously, picking her way forward. "Stay awake! Just... can you try shouting?" Zoe peered. She thought she saw some slight movement, but that could have just been her imagination. "I'm so close, Alice. Just stay awake a little while longer and I'll be right there."

[Alice Hobbs]

"Yeah," she drawled. She wasn't sure if Zoe was referring to her sister -- or her mother, but at the end of the day, it didn't really matter. If she meant her mother, that would be a lot harder, as Alice hadn't seen the woman for the past fourteen years. Who did that, anyways? Packing up and leaving her two daughters and her husband just like that? Without a word? Without a trace? No wonder their father had taken a worse turn when she had bailed. Alice couldn't blame the man, but that didn't stop her from doing exactly that.

Shouting? Alice pressed her eyes open and looked around. Lowering the phone, she licked her bottom lip. It tasted like... Dirty? Dust? She didn't know. Her mouth felt dry. "Zoe!" she tried calling out, her voice hoarse and hollow. She didn't even know if she actually managed to yell. It hurt. Every movement hurt. Speaking hurt. Keeping her eyes open hurt. But at least the pain helped her stay awake. Just for a moment longer. "I'm here!" she tried again, wincing.

She hoped Zoe was close. She hoped Zoe would be able to hear her. She hoped. She hoped. She hoped. Because Alice didn't know how much longer she'd be able to stay conscious.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Zoe heard the voice! "Alice!" she yelled, both into the phone and just in general. Zoe hurried forward, practically dropping her phone as she clambered over the debris, heading toward the sound. She heard the "I'm here," could practically hear the pain coming from her. Zoe felt her feet slip, but it didn't slow her.

Soon enough, she saw Alice. "Alice!" Zoe hurried over, scrambling. "I'm here!" she looked her girlfriend over, relief flooding through her: Alice was here, she was alive... she... she didn't look great, but that was something. "Stay with me, Alice," Zoe said. She was already rolling up her sleeves, looking Alice over. She'd have to get her free, get them out of there, and, well, it was quite possible that the best way to do it may be to paralyze Alice. Zoe could at least help take some of the pain away. Already her hands were going down, reaching for her girlfriend, hoping that the numbing touch would be as welcome as the reassuring warmth of another human.

"I'm here."