Building Better Worlds - Chapter 5

This fic is rated Mature.

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**5. Flames Licked At The Walls**

Peace. Everything was dark. Midnight had come home, sent an email to Gold Star about booking a meeting to speak with her, and then headed to bed.

She was asleep soundly.

Until, her headset which she had taken off started with a blaring alarm.

*Shit.* She thought as she got up, grabbed her headset and lazily put it on her head over top of her bedhead. She placed one of the comm-link stars in to her ear and pressed on it to start the link.

"Talk to me." She said tiredly as she stood up from her bed, fixing the other ear bud in to her ear and strapping on her Bavarium cuffs.

"Fire! Been assigned to! Sending coordinates, Orange Star on scene! Two people inside!" Xerxes spoke quickly and loudly, sounding as though he was rushing around himself.

Midnight changed in to her combat attire as she walked, blinking her eyes tiredly in to her contact lenses last. "On my way." She spoke back.

In her tired state, she didn't recognise the map on screen. The scene of the fire was one which she would recognise.

Her robotic wings unfolded from their pack, making metal clanking sounds as they did so. Midnight loved that sound they made, made her smirk, and wake up more as it indicated she was about to embark on a mission.

\* \* \*

Warm.

Too warm.

Far too warm.

Kick the covers off angrily.

......

Still too warm???

....

Cough.

*It's nothing. Just go back to sleep.*

Cough again.

Groan, breathe deeply and roll over.

Stop.

.... Was that...?

Was that the smell of smoke???

His eyes snapped open, his head looking to the door. A bright light seemed to dance out on the landing. And a dark cloud seeped through the gap between the door and floor.

*Oh fuck.*

Panic.

But not for himself.

No, in fact the first thing that crosses his mind is: *Is Ralph OK??? Please let Ralph be OK......!*

He followed the trail of smoke up to see a big cloud of it collecting at his ceiling.

Cough again.

Oh god no....

*This is it. We're gonna die. **But after all we've been through?? We can't!** .... How are we supposed to get out of here?*

The thoughts brought on hyperventilation.

Making it even harder for Dan to breathe.

Oh god no.

\* \* \*

Midnight now had the scene in sights. And her heart sank at how familiar it was.

The flames, the smoke... The soot. The rather homely looking house that she herself was an occupant of meer hours ago.

No.

No!

This can't be happening!

She found herself performing a superhero landing in between Ratchet and Xerxes.

She swallowed thickly. The dancing flames bringing destruction.

Two occupants.

Dan and Ralph.

Her new friends.

"Midnight?? Midnight!! Midnight are you even listening to me???!" Xerxes called, snapping her from her thoughts.

She looked at him. "Sorry, what?"

"The flames are spreading, house becoming unstable! If we're going to save the people inside we have to hurry!" Ratchet cut in, tapping away at his tablet.

"Where are the others and the fire brigade???!!" Xerxes angrily snapped.

"On their way. ETA about 5 minutes." Ratchet continued to tap on his tablet.

"It'll be too late by then!" Midnight suddenly calls. "We have to do something now! I am NOT letting Dan and Ralph die!" As she finishes her sentence, she starts to concentrate on summoning water.

"Wait, Dan and Ralph? You know them?!" Xerxes asked as he started to do the same.

"Yes I know them!" Midnight spat, water now caught in swirls of Bavarium.

"How do you know them?" Ratchet asked.

"It's a long story that I'll explain later after I'm done saving them and performing the most difficult spell in my book!" She spat at the Lombax, throwing some water inside the house.

"I got it! I got the scans! Both occupants are upstairs! Fire blocking the door to the room which one is in, and fire blocking the stairs. They're trapped. Both are suffering smoke inhalation, so far no one has been burnt." Ratchet read out from his tablet.

Midnight let the words sink in. Xerxes tried his best to attack the flames from outside, but he hadn't enough power to summon enough water to do an effective job.

"Update! Upper floor support beams failing! The landing will collapse!" Ratchet read with more urgency.

Midnight breathed.

A Bavarium shield surrounded her entire body, providing clean air to breathe. The water still swirled around her.

"Midnight what are you doing?!" Xerxes shouted as he looked at her.

She turned and shot him a glare. "I'm going in."

"Midnight no!"

"I AM NOT LETTING THEM DIE IN THERE! DAN HAS BEEN THROUGH ENOUGH!" Her voice echoed around the street.

Something clicked within Xerxes, and his gaze softened. "He's the... The one you went to see earlier."

Midnight simply nodded.

And then she ran in.

"Wait! The door frame is going to--" But Ratchet was cut off as Midnight slipped in to the house.

And then some wooden support beams fell, blocking the door.

*Shit.*

Midnight panted, hovering just above a flame.

She dropped water on it, putting it out.

*Warm... Too warm...*

She felt herself waver.

She could never cope well in the heat. But at least she could breathe. Her eyelids drooped though. Still, she looked around.

The sofa she had hugged Dan on earlier was in flames.

Dan's DVDs which Midnight had helped rescue were also burning. She could only imagine the fumes this was all giving off.

Deadly, toxic, fumes.

Her climate control suit had kicked in, cooling her down.

Midnight could suddenly focus better. As she did, she heard frantic screams from Ratchet in her ear. "What are you going to do now!!!?? You're stuck!!! You can't get either of them out!!! They're too weak to teleport!!!"

Slowly she reached for her comm-link star to reply. Her body still cooling down. "I'll find a way." She breathed back. By this point all the water she had summoned had now evaporated.

"You don't sound OK!" Xerxes shouted.

"I... Too warm. Climate control suit, taking too long."

"You don't have time to waste! Move yourself! Find your friends! Go go go!"

Talwyn and Ladybug had appeared outside the building next to Xerxes and Ratchet.

Midnight looked up. And through the thick cloud of smoke she saw a figure. Heard him cough.

He was clinging on to the banister.

Sirens.

The fire brigade had finally got to the scene.

*This is real Midnight. This is happening and these are your friends! You have to help them!* Her brain shouted at her.

Midnight shook her head to snap out of it.

*Right. Game on.*

She summoned more water. And lots more of it.

She splashed it on to the flame at the bottom of the stairs.

Water also came in from outside, hitting the flame in the living room.

The smoke became less thick.

Ralph.

She went to his side. Supporting him, helping him stay up.

"Alright, alright, we're going to get you out of here. Yeah?" Midnight tried her best to be calming, but let's face it, she was terrified herself.

"Ratchet! Is it safe to move those beams by the door or will the house collapse if I do that?!" She shouted down the comm-link.

A few seconds pause. The crackle and pop of the roaring flames seemed no match for the spewing water. Ralph's coughing was getting worse by the second. Distantly she could also hear another coughing, and scratchy cries for help.

After what felt like forever, "They're not supporting anything important, yes you can move them."

Midnight didn't even reply, simply moving the beams out of the way effortlessly.

Anger had kicked in, her Bavarium reacting strongly with the emotion. "Right, OK, hold on to me." She turned to Ralph.

He did as told.

And quickly she flew out of the building.

Ladybug came to assist with Ralph. "Get an ambulance, I'm going back in." Midnight said quickly to her.

Ladybug nodded, taking out her yo-yo and switching it to phone mode.

\* \* \*

Sirens.

Help. There was help!

He tried to call for it. But his voice cracked horribly, the smoke sitting on the back of his throat.

Voices.

There was a familiar voice among other unfamiliar ones.

Help! Help, please help!

For some reason his mind drifted to his keyboard. The one thing that would perhaps be left of him if he didn't make it.

He coughed.

Choked.

Gasped for air.

He was so weak...

There was a heavy weight on his chest.

It was painful to breathe.

Like it had been two weeks ago.

*End it. Please just end it now.* Dan thought as he scrunched up his face.

Choking on a sob.

He couldn't breathe.

His eyes were swimming with black dots.

The cloud of smoke grew closer and closer to his body.

Eventually it would fill every corner of the room, suffocating him.

"Please... Help..." Dan's weak voice scratched out.

And to make matters worse, the door to his room had now caught on fire.

\* \* \*

After a long and time wasted due to protesting from the firemen, Midnight was back in the house.

"Where is he, Ratchet?" Midnight asked softly in to the comm-link.

The smoke was now considerably thicker, the entire top floor covered in it. The banister where Ralph had stood had now fallen away.

"There is a big flame outside his door. The door is starting to catch fire if you don't hurry his room will go up in flames." Ratchet said coldly.

Midnight looked around, scanning the area.

Loud crashes. The house was falling apart.

"I've found it." Midnight said, her eyes locking on to the flames Ratchet meant.

*I'm coming Dan.* She thought as she performed her water summoning spell, throwing gallons of the stuff on to the flame. It hissed violently as it disappeared. Midnight then swooped down in front of the door, and burst it open.

The sight that greeted her stopped her for a moment.

She could hardly see.

The layer of smoke sat just above his bed.

And there, curled up and huddled as closely to the floor as he possibly could be, was Dan.

"Dan!" Her voice pierced the thick air.

She kneeled down next to him.

His breathing shallow.

Barely just conscious.

"Hurry Midnight!" One of her dorks called through the comm-link. Her mind too elsewhere to even register which one it was.

Gently, she placed her hands on him.

Her Bavarium shield spread to him, in an attempt to let him breathe cleaner air.

Now escape.

Escape.

Escape.

Find a quick exit.

Midnight looked around in panic.

Then, the window at the end of the room caught her eyes.

*Go.*

She eyed it up.

And then a small Bavarium beam came from her robotic unicorn style horn, shattering it.

She quickly picked Dan up, and ran, taking off out of the window.

She swooped around the corner of the house, quite high in to the sky. Below her, blue lights flashing and water spraying.

What a sight.

She landed on the furthest side near Ratchet.

Again, she kneeled.

Adrenaline running throughout her entire system, she disabled the Bavarium shield. Power levels dropping low.

Midnight held Dan still. His face and arms dotted with soot. His breaths still shallow, and he now appeared to be unconscious.

She gently laid her hand over his cheek, stroking it with her thumb as her tail flicked around.

Pause for one heartbeat.

"I need a paramedic!" She shouted, her voice scratching and breaking. Tears threaten to spill.

They came and took Dan from her hands and at the same moment, the ambulance with Ralph inside drove away.

Chat Noir and Hiro finally turned up, and joined in with the firemen fighting the last of the fire, along with Xerxes, Ladybug, Talwyn and Midnight.

As the fire finally started to disappear, the last ambulance drove away.

Midnight was panting. Panicking. Trying to take her mind off it as she satisfyingly destroyed the last flame. She grit her teeth.

The firemen begun their investigation as to how the fire started.

But Midnight had some idea of how it happened.

She thanked her lucky stars that at least neither of the boys got burnt. But smoke inhalation was probably a lot more serious than burns.

Her mind cast itself back to how bad Dan looked.

And she sniffled.

Xerxes came up behind her and clasped his hand on to her back. "If you need to make sure they're OK just go. We'll take care of things here." He said.

She turned to look at him, tears actually spilling. "Thank you." She walked backwards a bit, giving him a finger gun salute before turning and running before taking off.

"I heard them say something about King's Hospital. I hope they're OK." Xerxes said in to the comm-link. Again, Midnight thanked him.

*Please be OK....*

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