Topic: Firestarter

Johnny Storm · Date: 2014-05-28 11:26 EST

They say that, in life, two things are inevitable - death and taxes. In Rhy'Din, there are three things that are inevitable - death, taxes, and everyday emergencies. Everything from a drowning puppy to yet another explosion in the Marketplace, you could guarantee that someone would call out the Fire Department to deal with it, and that put Johnny Storm right in the middle of a lot of the goings on in the city. Today's emergency, however, was a run of the mill fire. One of the bedrooms at the Seven Towers Orphanage had gone up in flames, and the resulting inferno was threatening to spread to the whole wing as the carers herded their frightened charges out of the building, waiting patiently for the Fire Brigade to arrive and contain the damage.

As was the norm, Johnny Storm was the first to arrive at the scene. He didn't need to depend on anyone or anything but himself for transportation, after all, and it was, more often than not, that by the time the Fire Brigade arrived, he already had the situation under control - at least, as far as the fire was concerned. There were some who thought he was a one-man fire department, but even Johnny Storm couldn't do everything on his own, especially when there were people who needed rescuing.

As soon as he arrived, the manager of the orphanage came straight over to him, distraught. "We got almost everyone out," she told him, almost frantic with worry. "But Felicity wouldn't come! She just kept crying and saying she didn't mean it - she's right in the middle of the fire, Mr. Storm. Please, you have to get her out!"

"There's someone still in there?" Johnny asked, swinging a startled and obviously concerned gaze from the blazing fury to the frantic woman who had approached him. "Where is she?" he asked, needing more information than that to go on in order to locate her.

"We tried to get to her -" Shocked out of her litany of her own failure, the woman swallowed, gathering her thoughts as quickly as she could. "Third floor, second window from the left," she managed, pointing tearfully to where flames were billowing from the second window from the left on the third floor. "That's her bedroom, that's the last place we saw her."

"Everyone else is accounted for?" he asked, just as the siren that proclaimed the Fire Brigade's imminent arrival was heard in the distance.

She nodded. "Yes, everyone else is out here," she assured him. "I don't think Fliss is hurt, but she was so upset."

"Don't worry. I'll find her, ma'am!" Johnny promised and without further ado, he took off like a comet, engulfed in flames, directly toward that third floor window. The fire was growing in its fury, flames licking up everything in their path. If Johnny and the Fire Brigade couldn't get things under control, it wouldn't be long before the whole building went up in flames.

Barely an instant after he took off in flight, he had arrived at the third story window, extending both fire-engulfed arms toward the flames to absorb as much of the heat and fire as he could. Focusing his attention on that part of the building, he managed to control enough of the fire so that he could access the window from the outside, choosing to go the direct route rather than on foot via the stairs.

Through the smoke and the flames that lingered, he could make out a slender, teenaged shape in the blackening remains of the bedroom, crouched on the floor, hugging her knees. The fire licked against her skin, but she didn't seem to be burned, or even hot. More than anything, she seemed panicked and frightened, her hands plunged between her legs as though she were hiding something.

Glancing up, she saw him at the window, her eyes wild. "No! Don't come in!"

"Get away from the window!" he called back, ignoring her warning, presuming she was in a state of shock and fright. Seeing a man at the window completely covered in flames probably wasn't helping matters any, but she'd soon find out that he was there to help. Johnny only paused for a moment to give her enough time to take cover before he smashed the glass in the window and hoisted himself through. Once inside, he absorbed what he could of the flames that were threatening to consume that portion of the building, but he couldn't do anything about the damage that was already done or the smoke that lingered in the air.

As he smashed through, the young girl scrambled away from him, curling up against the scorched wall, her hands outstretched to keep him away. "Don't come any closer! Don't, I'll hurt you!" She barely seemed to notice as he absorbed the heat and flames, her horrified eyes fixed on her own hands. Johnny's talents, it seemed, could not put out the flames that licked over her palms and fingers, crackling but not burning. Tears rose up in her eyes even as she coughed. "I didn't mean it!"

Once he had most of the fire under control, Johnny stifled his own flames and turned his attention toward the frightened girl, extending his arms, palms upward, as if to indicate that he was no threat. "It's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you. I'm here to help." He noticed the flames that were licking her palms and realized they were not part of the fire, nor did they seem to be harming her. "Close your hands into fists," he instructed, hoping that would put the flames out.

With her tears turning to steam almost before they fell, the girl - Felicity - did as she was told, curling her fingers over her palms. For a moment, the flames sputtered, and she cried out in relief, only to see the fire rise up over her skin once again. This time, she really started crying - deep, racking sobs that shook her whole body. "I can't make it stop!"

"It's okay, Felicity," Johnny told her in as soothing a voice as he could muster, remembering the name he'd been told a few minutes earlier when he'd arrived. "I can help, but you need to trust me," he continued, taking a small step closer. He didn't think he had anything to fear from her, but he didn't want her to do anything that might cause herself harm.

She pressed back against the wall as he came closer, hugging her hands into herself once again. "You can't help me," she shook her head, whimpering through the tears. "No one can. I just hurt people. I don't mean to, I didn't mean to set fire to the bed, I really didn't! I got so mad and then my hand was on fire and I couldn't put it out, and now I'm gonna hurt you, and I can't! I'm a freak!"

"You're not gonna hurt me," he reassured her, crouching down in front of her, close enough to touch her, though he kept his hands to himself for now. "Felicity..." he started, remembering the nickname the woman had mentioned. "Fliss, my name is Johnny Storm. I'm here to help you."

Around them, the fire was being starved of its own energy just by Johnny's presence, leaving the smoking remains of the bedroom around them as it cooled down. From below came the sound of the rest of the fire crew as they set about making the place safe and assessing the damage. Fliss sniffled unhappily, wiping her nose with her flaming hand. "They're gonna chuck me out again," she whimpered quietly. "I keep doing this, I can't make it stop. And every time I do it, I get shoved on to somewhere else. I almost killed someone last time."

Johnny Storm · Date: 2014-05-28 11:27 EST

Very slowly, Johnny reached for her hands, closing his hands around hers to form fists. "Listen to me, Fliss. I want you to close your eyes and take a few deep breaths. Just try to relax and not think about the fire. Can you do try to do that?"

She jumped when his hands closed over hers, afraid he would be burned. When he wasn't, she stilled, alarmed and intrigued, but still very frightened of what she had done, what she could do. "What else do I think about?" she asked, her voice jumping in her throat with the effort not to cry.

"Something that makes you happy," he replied, holding her gaze. "Whatever it is, just think about that and hold onto it until the fire goes away." He wasn't sure just how bleak her life had been, but he hoped she could find at least one happy thought inside her to take away the anger and the hurt and the flames. It didn't yet occur to him how like him she was; he was too busy trying to convince her to trust him enough that she didn't set the place on fire again.

Up until about a year ago, Fliss' life hadn't been so very bleak. Yes, she'd been in care since she was born, but she hadn't been mistreated or neglected. She'd been loved, and she knew it. It was that feeling she chose to cling to, closing her eyes obediently, breathing deeply, trusting this strange man on fire who seemed to be a lot like her. He was a grown up and he must have learned how to control it. So she could trust him.

He wasn't on fire at the moment. Now that the fire had gone out, it was only his hands that were absorbing and controlling the flames, but unless and until she learned how to control them herself, she would be a danger to herself and all those around her. He wondered who she was and how she'd come to be this way, but for now, his questions would have to wait. "Think about that thought, Fliss. Hold onto it, and let the anger go," he told her in a calm, soothing voice that was very much unexpected even to him.

With her eyes squeezed shut, Fliss concentrated on his voice, on the feel of his hands on hers, knowing that she was still aflame and he wasn't burning. She tried her best to shut out the shouts of the fire crew, the sounds of them moving about on the lower floors, assessing the damage she had done so inadvertently. Letting go of her anger wasn't something she knew how to do, but she tried. She really tried, trusting that Johnny Storm knew what he was talking about. Slowly, the flames began to die down, absorbed back into her skin, no longer threatening to scorch the whole house if she so much as touched a wall.

"Good," he said, feeling the flames die down until they were completely gone and he could let go of her hands without the fire returning, though he stayed close, just in case. "Now, open your eyes and look at me. Don't think of anything else."

She was shaking with the effort it took to hold that happy thought, that good feeling, in the forefront of her mind, not to let the resentment and anger and fright flare up again. But what he'd told her to do had worked. That was good enough for now. Hesitantly, Fliss opened her eyes, revealing a rich amber hue behind thick lashes, stark in the pale, soot-stained face she showed him. "Will I be in trouble?"

Johnny frowned back at her, a grave expression on his face, sad even, remembering a similar experience of his own many years ago. "I don't know, but no one was hurt, so that's good. Buildings can be replaced, but people can't. Can you tell me what happened?" he asked, still crouching down in front of her and not looking like he was going anywhere anytime soon. Another fire fighter came to the door and poked his head into the room, but Johnny waved him on.

Fliss blushed, ashamed of herself for losing her temper so badly over what she was sure most people would think was nothing. "Annie, she said ..." She hesitated, but plunged on anyway. "She said that Davy Lawson's been calling me a freak to all his friends. She said he said he doesn't even like me, he just feels sorry for me. And I got so mad. I got really angry, at her for saying it, at him for being so mean, at me for being a freak in first place -" She flinched as her hands lit up once again, flaring up as she grew distressed by the recollection.

"Deep breaths, Fliss," Johnny instructed, when the flames flared up again, looking concerned but unafraid. "Tell the fire to go away. You're the only one who can control it. Don't panic, don't get angry. Just simply tell it to go away." He held up one hand as if to demonstrate. "Watch me. Flame on." He snapped his fingers and a flame appeared on his fingertip for an instant before he added, "Flame off," and it was gone. It was like watching someone flicking a lighter on and off, but there was no lighter; only his fingers.

She watched, amazed that he had that much control over something that had only made her life hell since it had first manifested itself. "How do you do that?" she asked him, curiosity overwhelming the fright and anger. She didn't even notice that her own flame had died once again, too caught up in what he had done.

"Practice," he replied. "Lots and lots of practice. I used to be like you once, but I taught myself how to control it. I had to." He didn't need to explain why he had to teach himself control, as it was perfectly obvious that if he hadn't, there was a good chance innocent people would have gotten hurt. "I can teach you, if you want me to."

"You think I can learn?" she asked, hope warring with inevitable disappointment in her voice and expression, but before she had a chance to say anything more, she heard the voice of her floor-mother shouting, sounding truly terrified.

"Felicity' Fliss!"

"If I can, you can," he replied, turning his head toward the sound of a woman's voice, hearing the fear in her voice, but before he could let her go, he needed her to understand something else. "You're not a freak, Fliss," he assured her as he turned back to face her, daring to touch her arm gently and reassuringly. "You're just different, like me."

"I don't want to be different," she whispered, small and very young as she looked down at her hands, not wanting to see the destruction she had caused. She swallowed, taking note of one particular detail that couldn't be ignored. "You got a blanket or something" I'm not moving until I'm covered up." Clothing being rather flammable.

He hadn't really noticed the fact that she was naked either, not until she pointed it out. He'd been too focused on the frightened girl before him who seemed to share his ability but had no idea how to control it. "Yeah, uh....Wait here," he said, getting up and moving to the doorway to find one of the other firemen and ask him to bring up a blanket to cover her with. In the meantime, another fireman was trying to calm her floor-mother down and reassuring her that no one had been hurt.

Huddled by the wall, Fliss didn't seem very old, certainly not old enough to have hit the onset of puberty. There was little clue as to where her ability had come from - nothing but the hue of her eyes to hint at the magic in her blood, somewhere in the past few generations. It wasn't radiation, or a mutation; it was pure pyromancy. Johnny had somehow come across a born firestarter, who was already having trouble. "What will they do with me, Mr. Storm?" she asked worriedly. "Will they put me in jail?"

Johnny Storm · Date: 2014-05-28 11:27 EST

Johnny waited by the door until someone returned with a blanket before moving back to her side and gently settling it across her shoulders, a small worried frown on his face. "I don't know, Fliss. I don't think so. I'll do my best to make sure that doesn't happen." Once the blanket was settled across her shoulders, and she was for the most part covered, he drew a soft sigh, needing to reassure her further, if he could, though he couldn't predict what would happen to her. "None of this was your fault, but until we figure it out, you might not be able to go back to school for a while."

She tugged the blanket around herself, tucking it under her arms as she stood up, holding her arms close around herself. "I don't go to school," she said quietly. "Not since I set fire to my hockey stick a couple of months ago."

From outside, they could still hear her floor-mother panicking, calling out for her, despite the best efforts of the fireman with her. "If she's all right, then why isn't she here" Fliss! Fliss!"

Johnny stood with her, turning his head toward the sound of the frightened woman's voice before looking back. "She sounds worried. You better go let her know you're okay," he told her, with what he hoped was a comforting smile.

Fliss nodded, her sooty hair tumbling about her shoulders as she did so. "I-I'm sorry I caused all this trouble," she managed, edging past him toward the door, heedless of the charred debris under her feet. "Thank you."

"It's okay. It was an accident," he said, following her toward the door so he could accompany her down the stairs. Unlike most incidents to which he was summoned, this was one he wouldn't be able to forget or turn his back on for a while.

The young teenager was silent as they made their way carefully down the hall to the stairs. Thankfully, it looked as though the very worst of the damage had been confined to Fliss' bedroom - along the hallway, it was mostly just smoke damage, and in the lower floors, barely anything at all. As soon as they stepped out into the sunlight, a frantic woman charged forward, wrapping Fliss up in her arms and sobbing with relief. Evidently the floor-mother who had been so worried.

Things could have been a lot worse if Johnny hadn't arrived when he did, but at least no one had been hurt. That was the important thing. "She's okay," Johnny reassured the woman, who obviously seemed to care for the girl. "Just pretty shook up."

"Thank you," she nodded, hugging the silent girl tightly as she stepped away, wanting to check her over and make absolutely certain for herself that Fliss was fine. The recriminations would come later, when the shock was over and done with. "You frightened me so much ..."

A few feet away, the manager was talking with the chief of the fire crew, clearly relieved to find that the building was still safe for them to live in. She offered Johnny a grateful smile as the fire chief moved away. "I was hoping I'd catch you, Mr. Storm," she said, offering a sooty hand for him to shake. "Agnes Cunningham. I'm the manager of the Seven Towers, such as they are."

Johnny watched silently as the woman and girl were reunited, wondering what would happen to her after he left. Would they lock her up some place where she couldn't hurt anyone" Would they throw her out onto the streets" Neither solution served any purpose and would only end up doing more harm than good. People like Felicity needed to be treated with compassion, or they might end up being the next person to blow the Marketplace up. He offered the woman an abnormally warm hand. "I'd say it's a pleasure to meet you, if it wasn't for the circumstances."

"Well, even if it's not a pleasure to meet me, it is a pleasure to meet you." Agnes followed his gaze to where Fliss was now being reprimanded by the woman hugging her. Her expression darkened just a little. "I don't know what we're going to do with her," she said quietly. "She's been moved three times in three months, all for incidents like this. Poor girl. Puberty is hard enough without starting fires, too."

"This has happened before?" he asked, a little surprised, though the girl had hinted at as much. He mustn't have been on duty then, or maybe the fire hadn't happened in his district, though he had a tendency to cross districts if he thought his help was needed. He glanced at the girl who looked on the verge of tears all over again. "I might be able to help her," he said, his heart going out to the girl, feeling her pain as he remembered his own tumultuous adolescence. "I'd like to try."

"Nothing this serious," Agnes told him. "A hockey stick at her school last month, a waste paper basket at the first orphanage. It's difficult enough to raise children without family, without worrying that they're in danger because of something one of them can't control." She sighed softly, shaking her head for a moment. "Ideally, Mr. Storm, I would like to get her fostered and adopted, with someone who can handle the inevitable accidents and the mishaps while she's learning. But today's fire was so serious ....She'll have to go to the special unit tonight, and who knows how long she'll be there?"

"The special unit?" Johnny echoed, unsure what that was. He suddenly remembered something Sue had told him just a few days earlier. Something about special children with unusual circumstances who needed a home with someone who knew how to handle their particular needs, but a teenager" He wasn't sure what Liv would think about that. "What's the special unit?" he asked curiously, getting a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Agnes turned away, gesturing for him to walk with her so they were out of earshot of the children. "To be honest, it's horrible," she told him, a true carer. It was obvious that she hated the fact that she had to take this step at all, that she felt as though she had failed Fliss in some way. "Individual rooms with no personality, one dedicated carer to each child, but no structure in place to teach control. It really is a place where they are safe from themselves, that's all. But I can't keep her. I've got a duty to nineteen other kids."

"What happens then?" he asked further, wondering what would happen to her once she was in the special unit, knowing there were few who'd want to adopt someone like Felicity, few who'd understand her or her abilities. To Johnny, the special unit sounded like nothing more than a fancy name for a prison cell.

"We hope that someone will show an interest in fostering or adopting, but more often than not, they stay there until they're legally adults," Agnes told him regretfully. "Isolated from everyone and everything. Then we set them up with a home and a job, and they're on their own. I hate it."

"What if I told you I might be interested" In fostering, I mean." He wasn't sure if he and Liv were ready to adopt a teenager just yet; he wasn't even sure what Liv would think of fostering one, especially one who had so little control of her abilities. He had to think about Liv's safety, as well as Felicity's well being. In the end, it was something they'd have to decide together, but the thought of locking the girl up in isolation until she was an adult seemed not only cruel but unnecessary. "I think I can teach her to control her abilities. If I can do that, then she'd be adoptable, wouldn't she?"

Johnny Storm · Date: 2014-05-28 11:28 EST

"Once she has control of her power, then I don't see why she couldn't be adopted with ease," Agnes agreed, nodding, failing to mention that even before Felicity had manifested this ability, no one had expressed an interest in adopting her. She looked up at him, quiet excitement in her eyes. "If you expressed a real interest in fostering her, and you can provide her with a stable environment in which to live and learn ....I would fast track you through the system. It usually takes months to approve a foster family, but in this case, I could cut that down. She needs someone who understands, someone with patience, who won't hold her accidents against her, and she needs it sooner rather than later. I understand you're married; I can't accept you expressing interest here and now, not before you've talked to your wife. It's no small thing, taking on a child, especially one with special abilities."

"No, I will definitely have to talk to my wife about it first. She'll have to meet her, too." In a way, Felicity's fate was in Liv's hands. "But I'd like to help in whatever way I can, even if it's only to teach her how to control her abilities. She's terrified, Miss....Mrs.?" He fumbled over his own words, feeling a mix of excitement and anxiety over the prospect of making such a big difference in someone's life. Maybe he could help prevent her from making the same mistakes he had.

"Miss," she told him with a chuckle, understanding that it was usually awkward for a young married man to realise that the older woman he was talking to wasn't married. "Just call me Agnes." She looked over to the group of children and carers, sighing softly. "There's nothing I can do tonight," she admitted reluctantly. "Felicity will have to go to the special unit. I can't take the risk with the other children, however much I want to. You are very welcome to teach her, if you can, and please, bring your wife to meet her. If, then, you both are decided, I have reason to believe I could have her placed with you within two weeks."

"Two weeks!" Johnny exclaimed, surprised to hear things could move that quickly, but the quicker the better. The thought of her being stuck inside what amounted to solitary confinement made his heart ache. "Would it be okay if I went along" I'm pretty sure I can talk the chief into letting me off duty early." Especially considering the circumstances.

Surprised, Agnes paused for a moment to gather her thoughts again. "Uh ....sure, of course," she nodded. "I, uh, I need to call ahead and get her dressed, and make sure the others are settled again. An hour?"

Johnny nodded assent. "An hour," he agreed. That would give him enough time to talk to the fire chief, get cleaned up a little, and call home to Liv. He felt his insides twist and turn in mingled fear and excitement. It had only been a few days since they'd decided to look into adoption, and it seemed fate had intervened to point them in the direction of a girl who just might fit the bill.

A girl who needed all the help she could get, despite the willingness of those who already had her care. Some things were just too much for a lot of people to cope with. Luckily for Felicity March, the Storms were not like a lot of people. Like her, they were ....special. ((As always, thank you, thank you, thank you to my awesome writing partner for being awesome!))