[FIRE] When You're Out of Heroes...

[Tim Tawfeek]

"This sucks so much," groaned Tim. He could feel the branch sitting on his chest, and he really hoped the whole fact that it was on fire wasn't going to result in his premature demise any time soon. As per usual, the bats hovering about the tree, most of which were safe only because Tim had the presence of mind to go warn them (and Furby, his pet bat, by extension) weren't helping much. It was at least somewhat flattering that they sort of stuck around and bothered Tim and made their cute little noises and all, but it really didn't help.

Why had he even bothered doing this? It was all kinds of stupid. But he'd been at the arena, seen the flames, and figured that they'd probably get to the trees and stuff. So he'd figured while he couldn't save much, he could get to the bats. Okay, yeah, he'd technically recorded some of the fire for footage later, but that was also mostly as he ran. Someone would have to report. And now he had his phone still running, pointed at him as he groaned. The branch he'd been on had apparently caught fire, fallen, and landed. Tim really hadn't noticed the details or anything. He just knew he had a big ass branch holding him to the ground. Everything else seemed kind of secondary to that.

"Who you gonna call?" he mumbled, looking to his phone. Pain shot through all kinds of places, pain that Tim really didn't want to think about. Groaning, he punched a few numbers into his phone, sending out a quick message to his girlfriend:

went 4 bats. got stuck unda tre. jst W arena. bad

And he could feel himself blacking out.

[Luxanna Viera]

Luxanna had spent most of the competition time with Jack, as per usual, and she had cheered for their school, along with the school that Oneyka attended, because obviously Luxanna adored her, just as she adored everyone else in this world. However, when things had started turning south, Jack hadn't exactly hesitated with pulling the girl out, or maybe it had been vice versa. Frankly, Luxanna didn't even remember anymore. She felt far too panicky as her green eyes studied all the people exiting the arena.

Tim had been in there, right? She was sure of it. But she hadn't seen him since the panic had started and everyone had started screaming and running.

Standing on the tip of her toes, Luxanna tried her best to catch a glimpse of what was happening, and who was exiting. She still couldn't find him and she was starting to feel more desperate by the second. Clutching onto Jack's hand, Luxanna felt her lower lip vibrate. "Tim, where are you?" she whispered and honestly, hadn't her phone vibrated at that exact moment, Luxanna probably would have ran back inside the arena.

Pulling up her phone, she gazed at the message for a brief moment before tugging at Jack's arm. "Tim's stuck somewhere under a tree!" she said, her voice pleading. And with that, the brunette let go of Jack's hand and started running towards the nearby trees, pushing herself through the crowd. "Tim?!" she called out, her voice sounding more desperate by the second. "Tim, where are you?!"

Wait.

She stopped. She listened closely. She could vaguely hear a familiar squeaking, and her green eyes lifted towards the sky, and the top of the trees. She could feel her power kick in, making it easier for her to see in the darkness. Her eyes weren't nearly as good as for example a cat, but at least she was capable of seeing better than people most. And there she saw the bats. "Tim?!" she called out again, making her way towards the tree.

Stopping abruptly, she spotted her boyfriend, lying underneath a branch that was on fire and she felt her entire body grow cold.

[Jack McCarthy]

It was amazing how things can go from one hell of a time to what seemed to be utter mayhem.

It was one of those care free days (Jack had been having them more then he had ever had before and why shouldn’t having a good time? He had spent the last few days just relaxing with his best friend and his lady friend laughing and cheering and generally supporting their individual schools and during the entire time he had a giant natural smile frozen on his face, at times it even got a little sore smiling for so long, but somehow he didn’t care. Jack was happy, Jack was more happy then he has ever been in his life. No more then happy, he felt like he finally belonged, finally didn’t need to put up his defensives all day everyday, he was actually beginning to believe that things would work out for him which was quite a breakthrough for him. Up until recently he just assured that, after Bellefonte he would just drifted away, with no prospects, no future and no friends, the future was a dark and not all together inviting place. But with Lux and Oney in his life suddenly he was greatly looking forward to it. This right here? Laughing and cheering with his two favourite people was always all he ever wanted. Truly a perfect moment.

It was amazing how fast that shattering into a millions pieces..

If you asked Jack, he couldn’t give you details about what happened. Did he hear someone call fire first? Did the muttering of the crowd tip him off that something was wrong? All he knew was that a wave of panic had over come the entire crowd just became a blur of movement as people fled in every section trying to get to safe ground.

He tried to grip Luxanna’s hand reassuringly but Jack himself was more then a little scared, Oney had run off to join the rest of her school as their officials Shepard them to safety. His head swerved in every possible direction for an exit. The most important thing right now is making sure Lux was safe. That’s all that mattered and the instant he saw a chance to he would lead her to a safe place only then could Jack relax. Only then could Jack try to make sense of what was happening. But not until they got to safety.

“Ok, Ok. This is fine. We can do this. Nothing to worry about…” He muttered almost to himself clearly twitchy running his free hand through his hair and fumbling around with his Celtic cross “We just need to find a teacher or official and we’ll be fine, I promise you things will be ok.” He nodded trying to be reassuring as possible but his voice was cracking.

Jack head snapped up when Lux revealed that Tim was trapped underneath a tree. “He’s what?” Jack shouted back incredulous at this awful twist of fortune. Of course he was under a fucking tree branch at the worse possible time, Why did Lux have to be dating the most accident prone man in the world. Before Jack was even aware of what was happening Lux had let go and took off in the direction of the trees. “Lux! No, Wait!” Jack called out trying to make himself heard over the crowd. But pretty soon Lux was engulfed by the crowd.

“God damn it…” Jack muttered through gritted teeth; He didn’t waste a moment before taking off after her. The thought of seeking safety for himself not entering his mind. Even though they had something of harsh start, Tim had been slowly winning Jack over, now that he was certain that he didn’t consider Luxanna some kind of conquest and yes he had even begun to consider him a friend. In hindsight he should have been from the start, he should have know Lux would never pick out anything less then a good person but he was blinded by his natural mistrust and he was even somewhat worried, that Lux would forget all about Jack. Stupid, stupid, thoughts everyone of them and even taking Tim out of the equation he would never forgive himself if Lux got hurt in the panic.

So he pushed against the mass of humanity with all his might but it felt like he was fighting the tide but he managed to push through and chased after Lux terrified of her running out of eye sight, but thankfully he managed to catch up with Lux who had stopped abruptly.

And the reason for that became clear “Fuck…” Jack whispered in horror at the sight of Tim pinned down. This was bad. This was very bad….

Quick as a whip, he turned his back away from the scene and started waving his arms wildly Oi! Oi! Help! We’ve got a man down here! He’s in trouble we need help! If anyone can here me Help!” It was a long shot but it couldn’t hurt to try.That being done he had quickly in one fluid moment taken off his coat and rushed forward –All the while trying to keep a safe distant. He tried to fan away the flames with it. Raising his coat above his head and bringing it down with enough force to send gusts of airs towards the airs, hoping they would smother them “Tim, if you can hear me when you get out of this you owe me big!”

[Luxanna Viera]

It only took Luxanna a few seconds to go from a state of sheer and utter panic, to the kind of concentrated seriousness she never thought she was ever capable of. In an instant, her wide, panic filled eyed filled with a kind of serene determination, that anyone taking a moment to study the young girl, barely would have recognized her. The usually smiley girl's face had turned stoic, almost apathetic as she stepped forward and started tugging at Jack's arm. As much as the young girl appreciated his attempt, the brunette knew that his actions would take them too long, and they didn't exactly have a whole lot of time.

"Jack, don't," she said, her voice shaking, yet cool. She gave Jack's arm another tug, trying to pull him back as she herself stepped forward. Taking a deep breath, the brunette held her hand over the fire, furrowing her brows as she tried holding it steady, waiting for her power to kick in, and allow her skin to resist the burning heat coming from the flames.

Pulling off her own jacket, the brunette held it in her arms and pressed it down against the branch, on top of the flames and winced slightly as she felt the heat against her arms, but not long after, she could feel the palms of her hands grow resistant to the heat. It was one of those moments where Lux was happy she had the kind of power she had. "Oh god, oh god, oh god. Please be okay," she whispered.

And how she managed to stay so calm, was far beyond her ability to comprehend. Because honestly, Lux felt more like curling up and screaming her lungs out. The various emotions running through her body was almost too much -- another part of her ability that the girl had to worry about.

"Stay tight, Tim. We're going to get you out of here," she whispered, her green eyes moving to Tim's unconscious, almost serene looking face.

[Jack McCarthy]

Was it working? Shit Jack had no clue. They were moving that was for sure but Jack couldn’t tell if they were going down. He didn’t think they were. Shit, shit shit. Jack didn’t want to show it but he was panicking and he didn’t know what to do. Help wasn’t coming and even if it did it would be too late by the time that they arrived. He wasn’t strong enough to lift the log himself and even if he could. He would burn himself in every possible way there was for a man to be burned. Oh god, it was burning fast too. He could feel his heart hammering away in his chest like a drum. He felt so weak, so clueless. Tim was going to burn alive and Jack and Lux could do nothing but watch he felt so helpless. “No, no no…” He whined as he screwed up his eyes in despair “I don’t know what to do I don’t know what to do” Jack kept muttering to himself frantically as if someone had pressed fast forward on a remote “There has to be something I can do. There’s always something. J-“

But then Jack was brought out of his panic by the familiar touch of Luxanna, but he was perturbed to hear the difference in her voice. He looked up frowning to behold a look Jack had never seen on her face before. There was no bright smile on her face, or childlike twinkle in her eye she looked….so focused. Like she knew exactly what to do and nothing was going to stop her. It was like a fully grown mature woman was wearing the mask of the sweet ditzy clumsy girl that Jack knew for so long.

Jack couldn’t help but to let her being guided back by her as he stood back and watched as Lux walked forward leaving Jack very confused indeed. Or sure what she was planning to do but getting far to close to the flames for Jack’s liking.

“What are-Oh Jesus, No! Don-“ Jack suddenly screamed as it became apparent what Lux was about to do. His natural protective streak kicked in as he rushed to pull her away but it was too late. He groaned like a wounded animal, he could only watch on in horror as she put her bare hands right next to the flame. He wanted to close his eyes or turn away but there was some horror force compelling him to keep looking at that scene that was comparable to some of his worse nightmares.

He winched wanting  for the horrible screams of pain from Luxanna to come.

…but they never came.

Jack, had never really asked Lux about her powers, he didn’t really feel a need to, and it was too much of a painful subject to bring up –For Jack anyway. She never failed to amaze him how brave she was in the fast of it- All he knew that her power was slowly killing her? What else was there to know? Hence why Jack was looking on at the scene in awe as her hand remained untouched by the flames and as she calmly placed her jacket over the flames slowly snuffing them out he couldn’t help but let a short astonished laugh escape his mouth in pure relief. One hand on his heart and another on his head “Oh thank you, thank you thank you…” he said under his breath. Who was he talking to? Not even he knew at that moment…

It seemed like the flames had died down but there still remained the problem of the giant log crushing Tim, but Jack was suddenly hit with inspiration. The old familiar queasy pain hit his system as he bent over and began lurching as if he was about to vomit, but at the apex of this not at all pleasure sensation he was suddenly flung backward as Jack two was brought into existence.

He didn’t waste a moment recovering before he got in Jack’s two face. “You. Me. Log. Now.” Thankfully Jack two didn’t question it as he took one side and Jack took the other . It took several tries but after a great effort they managed to roll the log off Tim. Drained by the effort Jack could only breath heavily as he looked over to Lux with a weary expression on his face “Please don’t scare me like that, My heart can’t take it

[Luxanna Viera]

Luxanna wasn't used to using her powers. Ever since she had gotten them, she had tried her best to avoid it altogether, deathly afraid of suffering the same fate as her mother. She could feel it too, that she hadn't used her ability in so long. That it was untrained. Of course, she still managed to touch the flames without being hurt, but that wasn't the issue. The issue was that Luxanna could already feel the various side-effects of her power kicking in.

It started with a light headache. A familiar buzzing at the back of her mind that grew more and more the longer her skin continued to be resistant to the flames. She knew that the pain would come too. Not right now, but in a few hours or so. And then there was the nausea that welled up in the pit of her stomach, causing the brunette to furrow her brows. She tried her best to ignore it and continue what she was doing, but the headache grew, and it grew quickly, too. She could feel the lightheaded sensation spread over her mind, causing her to lose focus for a brief moment.

And then the flames died out and Luxanna leaned back, letting the relief wash over her. She didn't argue when Jack moved forward, and she didn't argue at the familiar sounds of Jack using his ability. She felt weak, and her body was shaking, but she tried her best to remain conscious. She wasn't strong enough for this, and for once in her life, the brunette actually felt bad about skipping her training lessons.

She simply sat there and watched as Jack and Jack Two tried getting the log off of her boyfriend; she truly hoped that Tim was alright, and that he hadn't gotten too hurt. She wasn't sure what she'd do if he was. She wasn't even sure if she could handle it.

But once the log had been removed, the brunette leaned forward, cupping Tim's face in her hand as she looked up at Jack. "I'm sorry," she said, her voice shaking slightly. She wasn't going to give in to the exhaustion spreading over her limbs. She could deal with that later. She didn't matter right now. The only thing that mattered was making sure that Tim was OK. "We need to get him to the infirmary," she added, blinking as she turned to look back at Tim.

Now, all she had to do was focus on the task at hand, and not the way her body screamed in pain for every movement she made. It felt like moving through mud.

"Tim, you need to wake up," she pleaded.

[Tim Tawfeek]

Tim dreamed of furbies. Technically he dreamed of Furbies and Furby and they were all on fire or dancing around fire or something that didn't really make any sense to his poor, confused mind. He could feel the heat coming through, pounding, insane heat. Heat and... pressure? Some kind of strange pressure, like, pushing down on him or something. It... hurt? No, wait was it...

...someone was touching his face? Tim blinked, trying to look but having trouble, mostly do to the fact that his glasses were somewhere not on his face. He blinked blearily as he tried to take in the scene around him. His eyes hurt. So did his face. To be accurate, everything pretty much hurt, especially everything from the waist down. His waist felt pretty damn bad just in general, but everything down there... well, his waist hurt but his legs didn't... didn't really feel.

"I'm awake," Tim mumbled blearily, blinking. His face hurt too, felt really dry and all. He couldn't make out anything though: his eyes were all bleary and stuff. He supposed he could do the bat thing. Tim's mouth opened and he let out a strange noise, seeming to wince only a few moments later. "Three... people?" he said, wincing at the words. "I'm not---staying conscious kinda feels like a really bad idea right now," because everything kept hurting and his mind wasn't processing much beyond the hurt and the pain and what sounded like lots of panic and was that a fire? Fire? Was there some kind of fire thing going on or something?

[Jack McCarthy]

They had done it. At least for the moment it looked like the worse was over, it was impossible to gauge exactly how bad Tim was, seeing as neither of them weren’t medical professionals in any way shape or form so it was impossible to gauge what the condition of Tim was, but for the moment, Jack pushed those worries to the side for now choosing to revel in this recent success, that at least Tim wasn’t going to burn to death anytime soon and Jack was willing to take that short term victory for the moment and take the waves of relief that came with that.

Well that was his good deed done for the day…

But those good vibes died once he heard the sounds of Lux’s voice. Getting a good look at her even he could see that Luxanna was in a bad way indeed. Her face was ashen and pale and she just looked so weak. Like if she were to stand up she would instantly keel over. “Lux..” Jack asked his voice low looking at Luxanna as honestly as he had ever had done in the past “That thing, you just did- That’s not good for you to do is it? Your body I mean” That wasn’t a question.

“We need to get you BOTH there. Me and..hi-Well, me can carry him, are you ok to walk?” Jack asked legitimately concerned for the both of them. Tim haven’t moved –Was he even breathing? Shit, he hoped so- And Lux. Lux clearly was in a bad way indeed but knowing her she was probably far too stubborn to admit it, she wouldn’t leave Tim’s side. He knew that, he would physically have to pry Lux off him kicking and screaming.

Damn it Lux. Why did you have to be so…you?

Jack honestly wasn’t expecting Tim to wake up for at least a good while, after all he was just crushed by a fucking flaming branch, The guy was going to be OK’ed for quite a while, he needed to get to a hospital and fast. So you can imagine Jack’s amazement when he woke up and began to speak. Now seeing that Tim was alive, another huge wave of relief came over him as he tilted his head back and uttered an almost hysterical laugh, almost like an outpouring of nerves as he paced back and forward in front of him “He lives! Oh, man you scared the crap out of both of us, you have no idea. You have to be the toughest nerd that ever lived.  You've just earned yourself one hell of a story to tell, Your street cred is just going to explode You beautiful bastard you” Jack said punching the air before leaning down close to Tim “We got you buddy, it’s going to be ok”

[Luxanna Viera]

It hadn't occurred to Lux just how bad she was with her ability. Sure, not using it would most likely prolong her life, but didn't all of that sort of... Waste away when she finally did use it? The brunette realized that there was no escaping the fate she had been born into. She had to walk this road, whether she liked it or not, and there was so cutting any corners. But for now, she didn't have to worry about it. For now, she had something more important to focus on.

She heard Jack's voice and instantly knew that the boy knew something was up. Looking up at him, the brunette pursed her lips as she furrowed her brows. "I'm fine," she said, her voice shaking, though she tried her best to keep it steady. He was right though; what she had done proved to be awful for her body and she could already feel the side-effects getting the best of her. It was crazy, that something so small was all it took for her to feel this weak.

Relief washed over her face as Tim opened his eyes and started speaking. "Oh thank god," she whispered, lowering her hands as she felt her body relax. "You get some rest. We'll take it from here," she whispered, leaning in to place a soft peck against Tim's forehead.

Moving out of the way so that Jack help Tim and/or carry him, Luxanna pressed the palm of her hand against the tree and pushed herself up in a standing position. Feeling her legs getting wobbly, the brunette pressed her lips into a tight line. She wasn't going to break down now. She was going to walk over to the infirmary if it was the last thing she did. They didn't need another accident now. This wasn't about her or her stupid power, or her stupid weakness. This was about Tim and making sure that Tim was safe and sound.

Nothing else mattered. Every minuted counted.

[Jack McCarthy]

No, Jack knew Lux long enough to know when she was fine and when she just saying she was “Fine” when she really wasn’t, and she was in a bad way. Jack had never seen Luxanna used that kind of power and he didn’t really understood it. He didn’t even know that she could do what she just did. But what did it cost her? Every power had it draw backs. Luxanna knew that more then most and seeing as the side effects of her power was particularly severe. Jack could only imagine what was happening to Luxanna right now

What are you not telling me Lux?

Jack looked at Luxanna for a moment frowning they couldn’t get into it now, time was of the essence with Tim desperately needing medical attention (And maybe even Luxanna too) And every moment Jack stood around was valuable time that was being wasted so Jack didn’t dig deeper into the subject. He merely walked over to Lux and hit her with the most serious glare he had ever given her and just surreal to see on the face of Jack Mccarthy. “If I see you in pain, or stumbling. I’m going grab you and fling you over my shoulder and I’ll carry you too” He nodded before turning back to help Jack two carrying Tim. Him grabbing the shoulders and Jack rising his feet as they made their way of the woods “Oh, you’re a heavy boy Timmy…” he grunted as he struggled to keep him as balanced as he could.

His eyes couldn’t help to dart toward Luxanna from time to time, watching her struggle to even walk in a straight line but Jack knew from the look of steely determination on her face he knew that she would refuse to stop and rest and nothing Jack could do to change her mind “Hey” Jack called over to Luxanna forcing a smile on his face hoping that he seemed reassuring “He’s going to be fine Lux. Once we get him to the school, they’ll take care of him and everything will be fine. I promise.

[Luxanna Viera]

The more time they wasted worrying about her, the less time they would have getting Tim to the nurse, and that wasn't something Luxanna was willing to waste her time on. So instead of replying, she simply shot Jack a sharp glance, practically telling him to put it to rest. They could worry about her and her pathetic attempt at using her ability later. Besides, she couldn't help but feeling her pride starting to prod at the back of her head. She didn't want to be that weak damsel in distress that everyone felt they had to save. She didn't want that kind of attention, because she didn't deserve it. There was so many other people that needed it more than she did.

And right now, Tim was one of those people. And she couldn't help but feeling incredibly worried. She didn't want him to get hurt and she really, really hoped that nothing bad would come of this. She didn't even know if she'd be able to forgive herself if he got permanent damages from this. If only she had been quicker, or stayed by his side... Maybe he wouldn't have been in this situation...

Looking up, she looked at Jack. "Yeah," she said, her voice meek. The worry was obvious on her features, and at the very least, it was enough to partly distract her from her own pain. Jack was right though; she wouldn't have stopped even if her foot had been broken -- or worse.

There was no time to lose, and she wasn't going to let her own petty problems get in the way of this. Tim was too important.

[Tim Tawfeek]

The whole blinding pain thing was starting to be something of a drag. Tim kept altering between being alert and sort of numb and just falling into an abyss of nothing. He heard voices, but they felt far away, as though he held his head under the surface of some water and they were shouting from some distance away. But Tim could see Jack, or Jack 2 he honestly couldn't keep them apart, looking concerned, and he thought he heard some strain in his voice.

"don't.." Tim croaked, feeling his consciousness flare fully, "don't let something happen to her, Jack. Or I'll so kill you," he winced, letting out another cough. Tim adjusted as best he could, trying to move arms to grab onto Jack, while simultaneously taking stock of his situation. They seemed to be moving... were they already inside? Tim hoped so, since otherwise his vision was dimming. Well, he had broken his glasses, so that did mean that he wouldn't be able to see too great right now. Outside of that though, most of the pain was gone. He felt a lot of pressure in his lower back. And some numbness.

"Well, at least I'm not in a lot of pain any more," he said, mostly mumbling. He wanted to move his hand up to push his glasses, but was only reminded that he couldn't. Tim winced. His head did still hurt slightly, and he could feel loads of scratches... but yeah, definitely just... pressure. "Where are we anyway?" he said, this time talking loud enough for the other two (three?) to hear, blinking as he tried once more to get his bearings.

[Jack McCarthy]

God, was this really happening? This day was practically a blur to Jack the last few minutes he had almost felt like it was happening to someone else. Someone that could handle this sort of thing without physically screaming or wetting himself, sure he had panicked but when Jack daydreamed about being put in a potentially life threatening situation he had always assumed he would go running for the hills as fast as his legs could possible carry him. Better a live coward then dead hero that was always his belief, that was just him being a realist.

Turns out that wasn’t the case. Well that was a nice surprise, Good to know where Jack’s instinct lay during the worse of times. Or maybe it was bad news considering that it was far more safe running away from danger then running towards but hopefully it wasn’t something he would make a habit of any time

Despite the fact that he was helping as best as he could, back there he was panicked clueless what to do things could went very bad there if Lux didn’t keep a surprisingly cool head at the time.

And hey Tim, was talking too. That was a good sign right? Either it was a good sign or a very bad sign? Maybe he should just shut up and conserve his strength “The problem there Timmy” Jack grunted as he continued to carry Tim his arms now getting numb “..Is that she’ll probably kill me if anything happened to you and seeing as she wasn’t the one that got friendly with a tree branch  I’m kind of inclined to side with her.” He liked to think there was an unspoken agreement between the two that Jack would rather die himself then let any harm come to Luxanna.

Just as Jack was beginning to struggle somewhat wonders of wonders they have reached a clearing and the school loomed in front of them.

Jack was never so glad to see the old place.

“Where are we Tim?” Jack muttered strained? “Out of the woods Tim..Out of the woods”