[P2:FIRE] The Fires of Decision

[Olivia Chance]

Olivia was still shocked. She looked at what she'd done for a moment, slackjawed. Finally, she recovered and the fire was still all around them. She sighed. A woman's work was never done had never seemingly been so true. She shrugged and sloshed some water on the ground near the computers. It wasn't so near that it would hurt the electronics, but it would keep the fire from spreading for enough time.

[Humphries]

Well, at least they appeared to be making steady progress. They'd gotten enough for those people to be free, and now they were making a decent line in front of the computers. Humphries let the girl work, since she did seem at least capable of doing that without direct supervision. He looked around, trying to see if there was anything else they could do. The sprinklers made the most sense, but Humphries couldn't manipulate them and he couldn't explain how to use them. They'd have to finish soon.

In fact, very soon: the flames were starting to truly begin to spread, crawling toward them now. Humphries let out a loud meow, hoping to get his partner's attention. She needed to finish off that bottle and get them out of there: sooner rather than later.

[Olivia Chance]

No more water. Olivia looked around, panicking slightly. She hated not having control over the situation. At her very core, Olivia was a control freak. It came with not being able to control the parts of your life that hurt you. You then wanted to control everything you could. And now she couldn't control this. She barely stopped herself from hyperventilating. It was only because of the loud meow of the cat next to her. Olivia bit her lip and bent down to the cat's level.

"Don't tell anyone this. But I'm absolutely terrified. I can't do any more with this. I'm so scared right now that...well, the level of fear compares to when my brother beat me up. Don't tell anyone. I hate fear." She sighed.

"Are you fast enough to get out of here yourself or should I pick you up? We don't have much time..."

[Humphries]

Humphries let out another little meow as she insisted she was afraid, raising a paw as if to bat the words away. Naturally she'd be afraid right now: any sane person would be trembling at what they were facing. A wrong step, a twist of Fate, and they'd both end up roasted bodies. It was natural to hate the fear though, so long as you let it drive you to action instead of seize control.

Good, she got the right idea. Humphries let out another meow and turned, already heading for the exit. he could move at least as fast as she: he didn't know where these humans got the idea that felines couldn't. Clearly they'd never attempted to chase a cat before. No, he'd be able to make it out just fine, even leaping over some of the flames.

The cat did stop after a few feet though, turning to look to the girl: he wouldn't abandon her... well, unless his life was at stake, and thankfully that wasn't about to happen any time soon.

[Olivia Chance]

A tear slipped down her cheek amongst the fear, but it quickly dried. The cat ran and she knew she had to go. She gave a quick look at the library around her before running after him. She had no idea whose cat he was, but she really liked him. He was weird. For a cat, he was actually fairly friendly. He had waited for her and all.

"You're very nice, Mr Cat. If you ever need human help with anything, you just let me know. You did get me out of that mess, after all."

[Humphries]

Good, the girl could pull herself together. Humphries let out another meow, attempting to communicate that praise and to reassure the girl at the same time. Surely she should have figured out that he was a mutant by now, and it wouldn't take long till she figured out who precisely he was. It wasn't as though there were many intelligent cats that wore oversized bow-ties and knew precisely what to do in case of a fire.

Mr. Cat, bah, this girl certainly had to learn his name. But later. Humphries let out another meow, turning and flicking his tail. They could get through the promises of help later, though Humphries would certainly use that if it came to it. That later would come soon, to be sure, as it would only take a few bounding dashes to get them out of the library, but it would be later. Just as this problem would be solved by a later group: though Humphries had a feeling that he and the girl had done something, at least saved something, helped the computers if nothing else.

Yes, they had done something, and Humphries fully intended to take advantage.