[P2:FIRE] A Job To Do

[Roxana Strix]

Roxana had purposely not signed up to participate in any of the events for the IMAC. She was on high alert, knowing that it was practically know that when a large event was going on, bad things were likely to happen. Assassination, explosions, and hostages situations all mostly revealed the same notion of a large events meant it was the time to act. Ideal, it as. When people were distracted, having fun, and not even thinking about what awful events could lay ahead of them. That was the time to strike.

That was why Roxana was mainly wondering around, doing her job as a Security intern. She even dressed up in the uniform that Elsa had finally settled on choosing. She had hoped that she and her organization were just paranoid from years of things happening as they expected. She knew better then to actually hope for such things, and the alert going off on her phone proved that. Elsa had contacted her relatively quick, informing her that a fire was discovered in the library by Humphries.

Rox merely sent a quick text to Elsa saying that she was on it, not needing to go into detail or really ask questions. There would be time for questions later. "Let’s go, Demi." Roxana said as she moved to heard towards the library. Demi was already with her, she had the younger girl close to her the whole events since she was supposed to be keeping an eye on her. Roxana would have said more, but her mind was already entering mission mode and that left little room for talking. So if Demi wanted to know something she was going to have to ask, but for now Rox just figured the earth mutant would follow her.

[Demi Smith]

This whole thing sucked as far as Demi was concerned. She'd joined the squad mostly so she could actually do stuff, but then she found out that she couldn't participate in the IMAC thing. Though there were a few older squad members, apparently they had been picked or something, plus they didn't have Demi's record, and everyone thought that Demi wasn't a good pick to represent the school. Making matters worse, she'd apparently been assigned a babysitter in the form of Roxana.

Though she had gotten into watching the whole thing, since people were finally doing cool stuff with their powers and all. Stuff started exploding and it looked wicked awesome, awesome enough that Demi couldn't understand why people were freaking out or something. Wusses. Then Roxana issued her order, and Demi turned, following without really thinking overmuch about it.

"Uh, go where?" she asked. Roxana seemed to be moving pretty quick, but if there was one thing Demi could do, it was move quick enough to keep up with taller people. She also made certain to gather up what dirt and dust she could manage as she went, figuring that it would probably be a good idea to get a nice fine shell going. "Did something else explode?" Because that would be awesome.

[Roxana Strix]

People were freaking out, much like back when SPECTRE attacks. Granted, Roxana felt like back then the level of freaking out was higher. There were gunshots then, people bleeding, yelling, and attacks from more than on side on the campus. People even died. This was an explosion and while things were burning it was something that was easier to escape then a bullet...on some level. Either way, Roxana was calm as always. Focused on the job they had to do and not paying any mind to those that were freaking out.

She needed to get to where the fire was, assess the best way to put it out, and make sure to get any students or staff out of the burning building. "To the library. A report came in that a fire was discovered there. You and I are tasked with handling it. I'm assuming the other members have their hands tied. Likely having been caught up in the explosion." Roxana explained, not taking the time to stop or look back at Demi. She was moving on ahead and speaking in an even less emotional tone then her already lack of emotion words.

"Normally I would caution against going all out, but I'm going to need you to give it all you got to help me put out the fire." Roxana said, already coming up with a plan for what she could do. This was a library they were talking about; there was a lot to burn in there. They would have to figure out a way to cut the fire off from being able to spread through the whole library and contain it. She had an idea, but it was likely going to result in her being unable to use her power after. That and Demi was going to have to work really had to keep any flames at bay as well.

[Demi Smith]

The library? Demi pulled a bit of a face at having been called to save that. She was also really tempted to point out the utter lack of any dirt for her to manipulate, though she supposed that there should be enough dust in a library for her to really get something going. Though...

"Wait, we're it?" she repeated, grinning. "Like, seriously, it's just the two of us and anyone who, like, happens to be around?" Demi heard the bit about going all out and nearly let out a whoop. She seemed to get another bit of bounce to her step, nearly skipping a few times as she easily hurried to get there. "I will so put out that fire in, like, no time. There's gotta be, like, so much dust there that it'll be no problem."

And Demi grinned again. See them claim to lock her up if she's doing cool stuff like putting out massive fires and junk. Of course, now she wanted to sprint as fast as she could to actually get to the library, and it wasn't the easiest place to get to from where they'd started. Just meant that there would be that much more fire to put out when they got there. And Demi grabbed more and more of the dirt, purposefully reaching hands out to snag some of the stuff that still had bits of frost and other wet stuff attached.

[Roxana Strix]

Roxana figured that they could open up a window or something or break one to allow Demi a place to pull in dirt from outside. She figured one broken widow was fine for the sake of saving the library. She didn't want the whole place to burn down, not a place of knowledge and where she had some very expensive cameras hidden in. She already knew that one or two was likely not going to make it but she didn't want to lose all of the ones she had. "Correct. Is that a problem?" Roxana asked back at Demi's question. It was a large task for just two people, but it had to be done.

Roxana honestly felt better about dealing with a fire then she would have dealing with trying to protect a whole school from people trying to shoot them. Yet, fire was not really in her element like fighting off people with guns was. Rox had asked if that was a problem, but Demi quickly proved that she was excited that it was just going to be the two of them. Did Demi seek fame? Or was it more so the thrill of the challenge? Roxana tucked those thoughts away for the moment. "That’s good to hear. I will be counting on you." Roxana said, still in the same tone of voice.

In all honestly Demi's power was going to be more useful their Roxana's. The plan she came up with so far was using her powers to create a wall to block the fire from going any father and also blocking off its access to air. She could see Demi grabbing more dirt and moving faster, so she moved ahead faster too, still thinking up a plan and how Demi would likely do most of the work in terms of the fire. "Don't go running in right away. We need to put out the fire but don't get yourself or anyone else killed in the process." Rox pointed out as she could see the library coming into view.

[Demi Smith]

Demi smirked. Oh, Roxana could so count on her to be awesome at this sort of thing. She'd show everyone that her way was better and that she was awesome, and then they'd just leave her the heck alone. Demi didn't care about fame; she cared about being better than everyone else, and this would show just how much better she was than the rest of this stupid place with all its stupid people and junk.

So she kept plowing forward, not really paying nearly as much attention to Roxana as she arguably should. Blah, blah, don't go charging in, don't get herself killed. "Man, you sound really lame for someone about to put out a fire," Demi shot back, smirking. "We totally got this. They don't even need to worry about sending the rest of the idiots," she bent low as she ran, collecting some more dirt up as she went. The adrenaline pumping through her made manipulating her power easier, and Demi kept charging forward, practically high on the stuff by now.

Yeah, she could totally do this. She'd totally rock this. Demi could see the library, stuck on the west wing and all, and see the flames coming out from it. They'd still have to tromp through the halls, so hopefully they could just get people to get out of their way. "Want me to blow a wall?" she asked, her grin practically feral. "you know, to let the fire out and junk?" and to blow up a freaking wall.

[Roxana Strix]

"How would you like me to sound as we head to go put out a fire and likely get students out of the library?" Roxana asked, still in the same tone she had been speaking since they started to head to the library. She didn't understand how else one was supposed to talk when they were about to do something serious, she didn't even see the need to talk. Perhaps Demi was thinking this was supposed to be like how it was in comic books or that Roxana was supposed to be excited. What was there to be excited about?

This was work, it had to be done, and it was not about having fun in the process. She supposed you could, so long as the job got done. "I'm confident that we will be able to handle this job ourselves as well." Roxana responded, thinking she was likely going to use some fire extinguished first and see just how well Demi could handle the fire. If Demi really could handle it, then Rox figured she would not really have to do much at all. There was no point in wasting her time with a manner that someone else could do. Then she could focus her time handling other aspects of the fire, like making sure it didn't spread and that student got out.

"I'm unsure if blowing out a wall would be beneficial. It would provide the fire with more air to burn, but at the same time it would in fact let the fire out which could lead to spreading which would be a whole other problem. Focus on putting out the flames with your power first and if things do not improve that way, then we will worry about blowing walls out." Roxana said, explaining it in a simple manner. She didn't see the need to do extra damage if it could be avoided. She could already see the flames and a few students that had managed to make it out on their own.

"Anyone who is stuck in there is going to be counting on you, Demi. Think you can handle that pressure?" Roxana asked, wanting Demi to get completely pumped up and giving it her all.

[Demi Smith]

"Confident, duh," said Demi, adding a snort. Though arguably she herself had passed confident a while back and landed on "cocky," but Demi certainly wasn't aware of herself enough to make that connection or statement or anything like that. She just kept riding the adrenaline, moving forward and all. Roxana did continue insisting that she was confident in handling the job, which just had Demi snorting. The snort made the dust around her whirl for a few moments, and soon she was smirking.

They'd entered the building now, which meant gathering more dust than dirt, and dust wasn't going to be nearly as useful. Would've been easier if Roxana had allowed Demi to blow out a wall, but she wasn't going to complain. She'd still do something awesome.

"Watch me," she insisted. Demi took a deep breath then, channeling all her energy and excitement. she'd need to pretty well instantly enter Flow as they got to the library. Time to show them that all her talk wasn't just that, that she'd practiced all her life for moments like this. So what if she'd only had her power for a few weeks? She was just that much better than everyone else here.

Just stand back and let her show it.

[Roxana Strix]

"Do I not sound confident?" Roxana asked, still mainly in the zone for the job. It was not that hard to talk and move. It did make coming up with a plan a little harder but Roxana was already having a hard time coming up with a plan for a fire. She never really had to put out a fire before. She had jobs where she started fires and got people out of fires, but she never had to actually put a fire out. That was why her mind was really working out the best way to put it out and deal with it.

She felt out of her element and part of her didn't like that because Demi was with her. Not that she minded being outshone by someone younger than her, but she was not looking forward to what Elsa might say about it. Roxana kept her eyes on Demi, well at least she was checking on the girl every time the dirt and dust was moving. It was setting off her triggers to react since she was in mission mode. She had to keep reminding herself that Demi was on her team and that Demi was not going to do anything stupid, like attack her.

Once inside, Roxana did slightly feel like just collapsing the library ceiling would have been a way to get rid of the fire. Yet, that idea would also risk well anyone that was still stuck in there and that would not be good at all. She didn't say anything when Demi said to watch her; she completely planned on watching the girl. She also planned on looking for anyone that might be in the room and grabbing fire extinguishers. As soon as they were in the room, that was what she went for, her mind racing as she scanned the room for how far the fire had spread, how large it was, and what options they had. Her head was already starting to hurt. Must not fail.

[Demi Smith]

Demi didn't bother answering, not verbally. They'd already gotten to the point where words were rather pointless: it would be all action from here on out... just as Demi preferred it. Though she knew she'd have to ask a few questions and all, get the right course of action and make sure that she wasn't overstepping authority or doing anything phenomenally stupid or anything like that.

"Be super easy to just take this place down," Demi commented as they entered, her eyes going toward the support structures. The wood would be mostly burned, weakened enough that she could just yank it apart. Hot fire and spinning pages fluttered through. Though it did look like someone had at least worked on keeping the fire at bay: there were signs that people had been actively fighting it from the start. The water cooler was empty and all.

"Lemme guess," she said, turning to fling a particularly heavy load of her freshest dust on a nearby fire, "you wanna make sure that there's nobody here?" Demi supposed there had to be at least a few other idiots around. She peered, her eyes looking through the flames. "What you want me to do? Put out fires? Save idiots? Or stop the roof...?" she said the last slowly, looking up, wondering if she'd ironically have to do the exact opposite of what she'd suggested only a few moments before. Would make sense to have her hold things off while Roxana zipped around and saved people. Anyone who knew better would see the awesome too.

[Roxana Strix]

"Agreed. While I would go for that plan in another situation, we are trying to save the school and students from being burned down. Or crushed." Roxana responded back. It would have been a quick solve to just collapse the roof and be done with it. Yet there were likely people still in the room and she wanted to make sure that they at least all got out. That involved likely going right where the flames were and possibly past them. There were likely places that were yet untouched by the flames but surrounded by it. Those were places she had to check.

She was already rolling her shoulders and weighing her options. One in the library, it at least looked like the fire was not a wild and out of control mess. They should have been able to put a stop to it without collapse and destroying everything around them. Those that were in here at least tried to do something and didn't just freeze up or run away. Well...likely there were some that did that but at least there had been a few that had tried to do something. Demi was speaking to her again, breaking her train of thought for merely a second before she just listened and thought at the same time, causing more of a headache but she was not concerned about it.

She was shocked that Demi was actually asking what to do and was up for taking orders. Here she had put Demi on Beta because she was young and she was worried about the girl’s ability to listen to orders and work with her team. Yet, here she was proving Roxana wrong. It caused a small smile to appear on her face for a moment as she looked at the younger girl. "I want you to put out the fire and try to save any one in here in the process. I will focus on finding any other that might be further in and take care of the support beams." Roxana said as she held up her hands and removed the gloves she was wearing.

"I can make crystals that won't be effected by the fire and strong enough to basically be backup support for the beams." Roxana explained, finding a use for her power. She was good at spreading her crystal over things and while it would not last forever, it should last long enough and she could always keep going back and making sure to keep the crystal at its full integrity while coating the pillar. "Call me if you need any assistance and...please be careful." Roxana said, a bit of concern for Demi showing there at the last few words before Roxana moved off to go to the nearest support beam and worked on coating it with crystals where it was weakest. Her eyes already scanning around the room to find people close to where she was.

[Demi Smith]

Yeah, they didn't want to crush anyone. Bummer, because it would be super cool to crash this place in. Demi was tempted to go ahead and try it anyway, but something told her that Roxana was the kind of person who'd go and tell on Demi, and she really didn't want to use up all that good will she'd worked so hard to build up. Plus, the little dirt thumper wanted to prove that she could take orders if they made sense and the person giving them wasn't five different shades of stupid.

Put out the fire, "Do I really gotta save people?" Demi asked, wrinkling her nose. She stepped forward anyway, sloughing off more of her dust and dirt shell to smother more fire. That shell actually protected her from a lot of it, enough that Demi could get good and close. It sounded like Roxana was actually going to be doing the fun part, which would just leave Demi to do the part that was less cool. Well, she supposed she'd at least get to claim that she stopped the fire.

Ah, that was it! She needed to find the edges and totally blow it out. She could already tell that the dirt and dust she'd gathered wasn't going up. So she nodded and took a breath. Demi then launched herself straight into Flow. The dirt and dust followed her movements perfectly, as she artfully slid it across fire. She still lost some of her shell with each step, but she was far more focused on putting out the fire. Demi drew a mental line and walked it, going toward the edge.

She did kind of suck at looking for people to find and save or anything, but whatever. Demi just kept going, kept Flowing, putting out fires with each movement.

[Roxana Strix]

If Demi did crush anyone or just in general collapsed the roof after she had told her not to, she would most certainly tell. She would do more than that as well; depending on if any of her targets happened to be in the library. She refused to be punished again and this stupid fire was not allowed to claim any of her targets. That included being crushed by a roof to put out a fire. No fire, no roof, and no mutant bringing down the roof were allowed to cause any serious harm to her targets. She much preferred to actually be at her high priority targets sides then where she was now, but yet again she was following Elsa's orders.

Why was she when her targets were more important than the masses of the school? The question hovered around her head as she tried to focus on why she was here. "If you come across any, yes." Roxana responded simply to Demi's question. Rox was fine dealing with seeking out people to save if there were any, but she didn't want Demi to just put out the flames and ignore anyone she came across. Demi could claim that she put the fire out; she could even claim that she saved everyone’s lives, and stopped the roof form falling on them.

Roxana didn't care if anyone knew what she did here or not, she was just doing a job. A job that was conflicting with her actual job. She focused all of her thoughts on what she was doing, forcing her crystals to spread over the pillar quickly, making sure the density was just right to keep the crystal cracking from the fire or giving out do to any weight. Her hair was changing color already, but only a little bit so far. "Get out of here, now." Roxana commanded a few people she saw huddled together under a table. As if a table was going to save them from a fire. The order came out stern and when one of the people didn't move, she moved to grab a hold of them and forced them to move towards the exit.

Her blue eyes then glanced over in the direction of where Demi was before she moved to another support beam to use her power to ensure that the beam was not going to give out. It was getting pretty warm in the library now, but Rox was more so worried about the smoke. Many people died or fainted from smoke inhalation and then were consumed by the fire from Roxana's person experience with fires.

[Demi Smith]

The Flow kept guiding Demi, keeping her calm. She looked as eerily calm as ever, even flames licked around her, searing off bits of her dusty shell with each of her passing moments. The ice-clods she had started to bubble, some of the liquid running off Demi as she went. None of it bothered her: she just kept gliding forward, bringing her dust and hammering down the fire as she went.

To her surprise, Demi came across a point where it definitely looked like someone had made a stand. The fires just couldn't get past a fairly wet section of ground, a section that led to the computers and some of the more expensive library equipment. Demi didn't see anyone in that area either, so whoever did it had also evacuated the few people that were still that way. So Demi altered her course almost immediately, heading in, following the fire and heading deeper into the library.

This sucked though: there had to be some way of getting the library situated and stopped. Didn't they have some kind of sprinkler system that should be going off about now? And weren't there, like fire extinguishers that should be around here or something? Surely they hadn't been so stupid as to turn those off or something...

[Roxana Strix]

Roxana was still keeping an eye on demi, which required her to put forth a little more effort into what she was doing with her crystals. Not much, but a little more than she normally had to deal with by a small fraction. She just wanted to make sure that Demi was alright and that she was not in any danger. The flames were hot and while the fire seemed like it was not going to be moving any further, it was still burning what it had managed to grab a hold of in its fierily blaze.

There are so many things wrong with this situation. Roxana thought to herself as she finished securing another pilled and glanced over at Demi once more. She was doing well; very well in fact that Roxana knew that she was going to allow Demi to be on the Alpha squad, even if she was young. So long as she still followed orders and showed the drive she currently had, Rox didn't see a problem with Demi being 'promoted'. Part of her even considered leaving to allow Demi to handle this since she seemed more then capable to put out the flames. Rox didn't.

"Demi, keep it up. I'm going to go check out why the sprinklers have not gone off. Likely whoever did this messed with that too." Roxana said, normally she would have just left but she figured she should at least let Demi know. She hesitated however when she recalled the distance to the nearest place to what controlled the sprinklers. It was not far but it would take her away from here and that was a problem. She quickly ran a hand through her hair, looking up at the celling. One could trigger them if you hit the right way too, since if one went off they all did.

"Never mind. If I set them off your power will be less effective. Keep doing what you are doing and then we will pull out and set the sprinklers off." Roxana said when she came up with another plan. She really was going to have to have a talk with Elsa about the things she had her doing. At least she was gaining experience in well helping people who were not her targets and trying to not just destroy everything in the process. Plus if the sprinklers went off, Demi's would have a harder time using her power so they were going to wait on that. "Anyone else in here?!" Roxana yelled out, something that was weird for her to do. She didn't really yell.