Leona’s texts went unanswered on Sunday, well, the ones with Sarah.  She texted Derrick and Maria and let them know some serious drama was ongoing with her parents. She and Goonie were worried.

 

 SanguineGurl13: I’m sure it’ll blow over soon enough. Don’t stress 

too much. She’ll bounce back.

 

1AngelWatcher: Call the police, like right now! I swear, everything

she’s said just make me go like… jeez! If you know Aurora, you

should sick her on those ‘rents.

 

That wouldn’t go well in the headlines.  Leona could practically see it. 

 

Aurora invades a home. Man is hospitalized and placed in ICU. 

 

 Superfan 109: Hell no! She wouldn’t be able to live it down! Maria, 

you’re probably right. I’m just worried for no good reason. I mean, 

it’s not like they acted any different from usual.

 

SanguineGurl13: Yeah. Just kick back and wait. Sarah will go right 

back to kissing you in school. She won’t let her parents repress 

the cute quirky side of her, let alone the gay.

 

Leona felt better after the exchange, but she still felt like she should do something.  Talking with Goonie helped to settle her mind a little more.

 

“Just don’t,” Goonie said. “Showing up on her doorstep will make things worse. Let it go for now.  If she’s not at school tomorrow or the day after, we can start investigating.”

 

Leona nodded her head, agreeing.  Still, she didn’t like having to let things go.  She asked Derrick and Maria to try to get Sarah talking, but she wasn’t responding to messages from anyone, or rather she wasn’t allowed to.

 

Frustration mounted and she was about to go, thinking about Quinn when she drove her out at night to infiltrate Padua, she was about to make another mistake, but Goonie had her eye on her worried daughter.  

 

She mentioned that after work she stopped by Sarah’s house, bringing them a meat pie, which was a hard thing for her to do, considering her eating habits.  Her parents weren’t vegetarians and explained that making peace involved bringing something they wouldn’t want to throw into the trash bin, hopefully.

 

Goonie quoted, “I assure you that Sarah will be at school the next day.”

 

Leona chewed her lip and nodded, though Laguna added something else she’d already said, “Make sure you check her body for any evidence of abuse. My intuition’s going bonkers like you.”

Leona woke up, had a nourishing breakfast, transformed and charged off for school, full of hope thanks to Goonie’s overtures to Sarah’s parents.  As she flew through the skies, there was a buzzing coming from her SoS card communicator.

 

Pulling it out, she saw that there were actually two alerts flashing on the screen.  Detective Kirby sent her a message informing her of a car chase moving through the city towards Glass Bridge.  That wasn’t all, however.  There was an automatic alert for a four-alarm fire in Seaside City where the fire department was trying to control a dangerous fire.  While the chase was closer, there would likely be less danger to the public at large from the chase than the large fire in Seaside.

 

And despite her early leaving, it was likely that she’d only have time to resolve one of these problems, unless she consigned herself to whatever consequences may come for missing the bell again.  In either case, assuming Sarah was in attendance as was halfway-promised, there wouldn’t be time to talk with Sarah before school started.

 

-----// San Isidro :: Monday, September 21st //-----

 

Aurora had to make the decision quick, and she made the only right decision. She rapid-fire tapped a response to Detective Kirby.

 

Sorry, my friend. There’s a large fire over in Seaside. Autoalert.

I can’t weigh the value of the lives involved, but I judge that

This fire will take more lives potentially.

 

Please manage as you can and I will try to pitch in soon as

people are safe.

 

Hoping she made the right choice, she zoomed to Seaside City, banking sharply and feeling the rush of air across her face as the light mist off the water caressed her.  In the distance, smoke plumes came into view when she turned towards the northern city and pushed her speed to get there asap.  Thrusting her wings backwards to change her aerodynamic profile, she increased her speed and made good time.  

 

When she arrived less than a minute later, there were four engines on site with their hoses trained on the large building at the edge of the financial district.  The twelve-story building had licks of flame coming from every window of every floor over the sixth story, and the smoke was thick enough to be choking.

 

There were several ladders with their edges burned being retracted from the top floors and shrieks and screams were echoing from the building.  Some people were left for dead!

 

Aurora immediately formed her shields and made a beeline for the nearest screaming voice. Her glowing was like a shooting star as she dove through the window and into the flames.  The intensity of the heat all around her was intense and the smoke made it hard to see even though her capsule provided her an air supply so to speak.

 

She searched rapidly, leaping burning furniture.  Finally, the owner of the closest screaming voice came into sight.  It was a poor man who was already burned badly.  Another scream was coming from a nearby room.  It was a woman, and she was screaming too.

 

Aurora leapt across and extended her shield around the man, instantly lowering his weight and offering him its protection. “Hold on tightly!” she yelled as she gripped and held him and took off again.

 

This was going to be interesting.  She hadn’t tried to carry a couple of people recently at the same time.  *sweat drops… literally*

 

She hauled him to the next room, towards the woman’s voice.  His wife, a girlfriend, a child?  The man gripped her, not so tightly as she would expect, one across her chest, over her shoulder and the other at her waist.  This was embarrassing but worrying about such petty concerns wasn’t her first priority.

 

She judged the situation, eyeing the fire wreathed door and knew that touching it was a bad idea. 

 

Raising a hand she blasted it and as soon as it buckled and fell, flames gouted out. The angelic heroine opted to rush out and crash through the burning wall instead of through that flame-filled doorway.  Making a new door was wiser.

 

The wall exploded and sent small chunks of its material all over.  The woman came into sight through the hole with her hands up shielding her face.  She was coughing and raking and screaming.  She blinked her eyes, noticing something glowing through the smoke beyond where the wall exploded.  Her attention turned down to the bed by her and she couched when her dog whimpered and barked.

 

“Muffin! Baby, come out! We gotta get out! Muffin!” She screamed.

 

Leona pushed her shield down around the edges of the nearby bed where she was looking and pulled, dragging out the terrified dog with burned hair.  It barked and whimpered.  The woman backwards and they fell through her barrier and when landing, she gasped. “Muffin! Thank God! Why are you so bad!!!” She chided her dog but she stopped and gaped, beholding Aurora’s radiance. “A-angel!”

 

“Superhero.” Aurora gently corrected her, knowing they didn’t have all the time in the world, so she scooped the three up in her field, taking them in. “Is there anyone left in this apartment?” she asked.

 

When no answers were forthcoming she nodded and headed out with them. She put a halo around them, forming a complex harness system for three.  She swooped to a nearby rooftop and arched up and around. It was awkward, but she made it work.  She turned after depositing them there and dissipating her halo, there were people on the top of the building worriedly milling about.

 

The man, nursing his burns looked at Aurora, coughing. “Don’t worry about us right now. A rescue copter or ladder will come soon.”  She nodded and looked up towards the sound of said copter in the distance heading this way.  But then she heard ominous noises coming from the roof across the way.  Aurora groaned.

 

“No choice.” Aurora nodded and swooped up to the rooftop.  It was a group of four people, now.   She decided she would lower them in a construct this time down to the street.

 

She created a large bucket and opened one side, gesturing for them to get in.  No other screams were coming from the building.  She didn’t have any special senses that might tell her if anyone was left behind.

 

The recent four were the ones who responded first, although a fourth hesitated, a woman.  One of the men in the basket waved to her. “Come on!” he beckoned with his hands.

“I d-don’t trust capes!” she announced with a stutter.

 

One of the men leaned out and pulled her bodily inside by her arm.  Aurora nodded and grit her teeth and closed the opening as she worked to set them down safely. She held the basket. It made handling four people more manageable, but four people was difficult, particularly using her halo construction.

 

She was glad she was only going down.  As soon as she felt the basket touchdown, she opened it so they could debark.  They rushed out into the waiting arms of onrushing firefighters. One of them gave her a thumbs up.

 

“There’s still a few people in there!” he yelled.

 

Aurora was afraid that would be the case.  She took a deep breath, swooped back up and dove through a window, hoping the building would hold up while she searched for the last survivors.  She listened carefully as she ran through the flame choked rooms.  More than once, a flaring of flames made her hesitate and the rush of superheated air filled her personal space, making the situation feel far more personal and perilous.

 

She called out as she ran around and soon she heard the crying of children.  She rushed over through a wall into their apartment where they were cowering under a table. Thankfully, they weren’t burned yet, but the kitchen’s walls were coated in soot.  She shelled them with her shield and pushed the fire back.  They rushed into her arms.

 

“Gramma’s still here in the apartment next over!” the girl said desperately, pointing the way.  Aurora nodded and held them as she blasted her way through the walls.  The flames licked through the ruined holes.  She turned towards the wall facing the outside and blasted a large hole there, rushing the children there.  When she took note of the situation, she created a massive slide this time, which she should have done already for the four.

 

The children slid down to safety into the arms of police officers.  They squealed with surprise and laughter on their way down.  Aurora dissipated it instantly after they were alright, and ran through the hole she made through the walls.  At that moment, the roof started groaning far above again.  She amped up her shield just in case and across the way there was an old woman collapsed on the floor with her walker nearby, overturned.

 

She was mumbling incoherently, screaming and crying.  Not only that the smoke was thicker here.

 

Aurora darted forward and surrounded her with her capsule and wrapped her in her arms.  Hopefully this was everyone.  The far wall was a mass of flames and the roof groaned again and there was a crashing.  Aurora formed a drill with her halo and spun it as she used it as a shield for blowing a hole through the wall.  Her drill burst through the window, taking the frame out with it as she held the old woman. Her wings spread to catch the wind and she glided down.

 

Above, chunks of the building were falling directly onto them.  She curled her wings slightly and caught some of the pieces, throwing them back into the building and moving the woman to one arm, she blasted the larger pieces of the building falling on top of them into sooty dust.

 

As she touched down, the building groaned further while a paramedic rushed over and took the old woman from her arms.  Aurora wasn’t finished. She formed a massive brace with her halo and braced the upper floors in place to hopefully keep it from falling yet.

 

The firemen rushed over and started moving people out of the way who had gathered to take pictures.  She held it in place until the service men shouted for her to let it go.  She was sweating from supporting the mass of the building.  It was a relief when she finally let it go, and the moment she did, the facade of the building crumpled into wreckage as the firemen continued to douse it.  Another truck had shown up while Aurora was working.

 

One of the firemen rushed over to her and put one of her arms over his shoulder when she slumped slightly. “Calm down, Ma’am, just lean on me,” he said as he pulled her from the building.

 

Aurora heaved a heavy sigh, looking over her shoulder wonderingly.  “Did I get everyone?”  Her eyes were expressing her anxiety clearly.  Was she fast enough? Had anyone been left behind?

 

“I don’t know for certain, Ma’am, but I think that’s everyone who was still inside. Just relax, now.” When they reached the truck he worked with, he opened the cab and offered an unopened bottle of water.  He propped her against the fire engine.

 

Aurora accepted the water thankfully, but she still eyed the building anxiously. “Thank you.” She took a big pull from the bottle and shook her head. “I can’t just sit here as much as I’d like to.  There’s a chase in progress over in San Isidro. It’s heading from Glass Bridge, if it’s not already there by now.” She murmured as she offered him a salute and launched into the air, putting on the afterburners, so to speak.

 

She was thinking about Sarah too.  From the fire into the frypan, maybe.  Normally it was the opposite, but she’d tackled the worst problem first and hoped no one had died. She knew it would crush her if she’d failed to save even one person.