Baltimore, Monday Night

[spin_kick_snap]

Dante and Kathy's evening out in Baltimore--she was a little hesitant to call it a date, per se--couldn't have come at a better time. A night out not thinking about the weekend was pretty much exactly what the doctor ordered. And if not thinking about the weekend happened to include a long motorcycle ride through Baltimore at speeds other people might consider 'unsafe' ('insane' might not have been entirely incorrect, either), a stop at the bar for some drinks, and the promise of much more excitement to come, well, then who was Kathy to argue?

"So, where to after this?" Kathy asked, feeling flushed and warm from the drinks and company in about equal measure. "I could show you some of my favorite places around Baltimore, but most of them are just, like, places that it's fun to ambush drug dealers and stuff."

[NFB and for one please!]

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Kathy didn't wait for him to finish talking. If there were crashing noises coming from inside the building, it meant the fire was destroying the building's structural integrity. Which meant they needed to get people out now.

She sent up a silent blessing for the people who decided that they could leave their balcony doors unlocked, yanking the sliding glass door open hard enough that it bounced back on its tread slightly. The glass was already hot enough to blister her fingers, but she didn't stop, running right into the apartment.

It had the same basic apartment layout that Kathy had grown up in, enough that she could find her away around, at least. She pounded through the living room and down the hall where the bedrooms would be. There were two, both occupied. "Dante, in here!" Kathy called. "I need you!"

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Dante gritted his teeth. He was already right behind. "I got the left," he said, taking off without waiting for her to respond at all. The sooner they got this done, the fucking better.

"It's too damn hot in here," he snapped.

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"That's why it's called a fire and not a good time," Kathy muttered to herself, ducking to the right and into the room of a teenage girl around Sarah's age. Kathy had a moment of horror realizing what would have happened to her if they hadn't been nearby; the smoke had already knocked the girl unconscious. Hauling her up in a fireman's carry, Kathy staggered out towards the balcony.

Dammit, why couldn't she be super-strong as well as super-fast?

"Where to?" she called, coughing more loudly now in the smoke. "Balcony?"

[rebelseekspizza]

The crashing hadn't been something structural. Or maybe it had, and there was worse going on, but-- Dante found himself shoving a huge bookcase away from the bed.

It'd been pinning both parents in the room. They didn't look in great shape.

Dante winced, darting forward, ignoring the scorch of flame against his arm as he lifted both of them up like they weighed nothing.

His response, as a result, was delayed. "Balcony!" he barked, as he walked back out into the hallway.

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Kathy was already halfway through the living room by the time he came out, figuring that fresh air was probably the best thing they could do for the residents, at least until ambulances arrived. The air around the balcony was still hot and smokey, but nowhere near as bad as in the house proper.

"Are they still breathing?" she asked, adjusting her grip on the girl. "Do they need CPR?"

[rebelseekspizza]

"I think they are?"

Fuck, Dante didn't know. He could kinda see the guy's chest move, at least. "I dunno. You wanna stay here, or move 'em to the roof?"

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Making it out onto the balcony, Kathy gently laid the girl down and checked the pulse of her parents. Slow and thready, but there. "They're good," she said, relieved. "I don't think they should stay here, not with the fire right below them. But I can't carry her and bounce, I'm just not strong enough. Can you bring them to the roof okay?"

She just wasn't built for this and it sucked!

[rebelseekspizza]

"Yeah, I can," Dante said. He walked to the edge of the balcony, still holding on to the parents, and judged the distance to the next roof. "Yep."

He put his foot on the fence, then pushed himself upwards.

Threw Kathy a grin. "Catch you in a second," he called.

He hurled himself forward, bridging the gap with ease (and a little cheating). His feet touched down on the next roof a few moments later, and he set both parents down.

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As soon as Dante was off the balcony, Kathy was running back inside to do something incredibly stupid. She didn't need to be told just how dumb it was--the line between incredibly and suicidally was pretty blurred with this one.

But she had to check the tenth floor. Had to make sure that the people down there were either all right or beyond saving. And they didn't have time for her to argue with Dante about it.

She paused just long enough to liberate a towel from the bathroom, shoving it into the toilet to soak it and wrap it around her head and lower face. Then she was diving off the eleventh floor balcony and down to the tenth.

The force of the flames had taken out the glass of the balcony for her, giving her a free way in. All she had to do was dash into hell.

This was gonna suck.

[rebelseekspizza]

All right, these people were safe. Dante looked up at the balcony - just had to get the girl, and-- "Kathy?"

Oh, for fuck's sake.

Two bounds and he was back up on the balcony, sticking his head into the apartment. "Kathy?!"

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy was totally going to owe him a drink for this stunt. And baked goods. And whatever else he asked for because this was a damn stupid stunt she was pulling.

Not that she heard him calling; the flames in the apartment were too loud to hear anything at all. There was one body curled up on the floor in front of the remains of a fish tank; got caught in the blast most like. Her first dead body; she'd have a freakout over that later. She had to keep moving; her lungs felt like they were burning and even beneath the towel, her skin felt tender and too tight.

[rebelseekspizza]

He had to go after her. Except-- the flames were kinda getting close, here, and there was still the girl. Fuck. Dante had only gotten involved in this because he didn't want Kathy burning to a crisp, and now--

--he was grabbing the girl, first. The odds were stacked more heavily in Kathy's favor than the kid's, if this went wrong.

He leaped back up onto the fence and then towards the rooftop up ahead. "Fuck, fuck, fuck..."

[spin_kick_snap]

Did Hallmark make 'sorry our hookup ended in fire and I bailed to go play hero and pissed you off because you sublimate most of your emotions into anger' cards? Sure, it seemed really specific, but she was probably not the first person on the island who needed to send a card like that.

A flaming light fixture came crashing down, bringing half of the ceiling with it. Kathy dodged most of it, though a chunk of metal slammed into her side, hitting her skin with a hiss that was as viscerally unpleasant to hear as it was to feel. She tried to scream but her throat wouldn't cooperate.

Bathroom. She had to get to the bathroom. Another wet towel, maybe. Something. Anything. The doorknob was hot enough to make her cry out, but she slammed it open--and found a skinny guy just a few years older than her curled up on the bathroom floor, covered in burns and smoke, but still alive.

[rebelseekspizza]

You know, at a time like this, it would've been nice if Dante's improbable mix of high-tier superpowers included Jedi telepathy or something. Been very useful. Now he was flying blind, as he hurled himself back onto the balcony and slipped into the apartment, ignoring the way burns formed and then faded away again on his arms.

"Kathy?! Get your suicidal ass up here!"

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Rude! She wasn't suicidal, she just had terrible priorities!

Poking her head out, she saw that the hallway leading down to the bedrooms was impassible; too much smoke and fire even for her speed. That looked like the place where the fire had originated; anyone caught in there was beyond her help. Which just left the guy in the bathroom. Wrapping her freshly-dampened towel around his face, Kathy hoisted him up and slowly made her way towards the balcony.

Please, floor, stay structurally sound just a little longer...

[rebelseekspizza]

There were parts of the apartment even Dante and his healing factor were unwilling to go; another closet had tipped over and caught fire in the middle of the hallway. He hissed out a curse and turned, rushing back towards the balcony.

Where the fuck was she?

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MAKING TOTALLY RATIONAL LIFE DECISIONS!

"You know," she said in a hoarse whisper to the unconscious guy she was lugging, "I'm pretty sure you were up to something shady in your room. This kind of fire's not natural. I'm probably saving you just so you can go to jail, but that's still better than the alternative, right?"

This guy was heavy. She needed to add more weigh training to her regimen. Definitely something to think about when she got out of here.

God, she wanted a drink of water. Or to lay down and nap. Except neither of those were going to happen, so she coughed a few times and kept dragging her burden forward. She could see the balcony now, could almost feel the cooler air on her face.

"Name's Banzai," she croaked, mostly to keep herself going. "Just thought you should know who saved you. Banzai."

Just a few steps more. Thirty. Fifteen. Ten. Five.

Air. And Kathy was hitting her knees, coughing and trying to draw more air into irritated lungs.

[rebelseekspizza]

Coughing. Right below him. Of fucking course. Dante snarled, and for the third time that day, put his feet up on the fence. This time, he gripped it and let himself dangle down for a few moments-- then swung forward, landing on the 10th floor balcony with a dull thud and both feet steady.

"What the fuck, Kathy?" he snapped.

He moved forward to grab her. She didn't sound too good.

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"No, no," Kathy said, trying to fend him off with all the strength god gave a kitten. "Him." She pointed at the guy she'd dragged out of the apartment. "He needs medical attention. Needs to get out of here. I can--" she started coughing again. "I can get up."

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"Stop being a fucking idiot," Dante said.

He hauled the guy up with one arm, trying to keep him steady while he snagged Kathy around the waist.

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"Fuck you," Kathy said, using him to drag herself upright. "I'm a hero is what I am. He would have died. Like the other guy in there. But he didn't."

And so your argument was invalid, Dante, nyaaaah.

Though Kathy was going to rest her head on your shoulder for a second. Just until it stopped swimming. But still, hero! Invalid argument! Shut up!

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante could have pointed out that she had someone with her who was more or less flame-proof. He could have also pointed out that people died all the fucking time.

"Fuck you," he shot back instead. Then just grabbed her. She did not get another word of a say in this-- there was another loud crash behind them, so fuck it, he was getting back up on that fence and launching himself across the gap.

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And if she'd thought he would have gone downstairs without arguing with her about it, she would have sent him! But he'd made his thoughts on heroism very clear and Kathy hadn't wanted to waste the time trying to convince him it was the right thing to do.

Though he was awfully handy to have around, she could admit that. She curled up around him and let him haul them all to safety without another word of protest. She was at least aware of the bad shape she was in.

"I hear sirens," she murmured, trying not to whimper whenever the burn across her side brushed against him.

[rebelseekspizza]

Would they know to look for these people on this roof? Probably not. Dante's eyes darted back towards the burning apartment building.

"I'm going to put these people down by the street," he said. "You stay here. If you move, I'm going to fucking kill you."

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Kathy could be stubborn, but she wasn't generally recalcitrant, at least not when something was legitimately in her best interest unlike some other characters I could name. "I'll stay," she promised in a rasp. "Not moving, see?"