Gotham City's Black Panther

Pt 2. Chapter 12

I pushed past the crowd and ran into the burning building. The intense heat hit me. The flames roared and black smoke smothered everything. I could barely see anything. I covered my mouth and nose with my sleeve and made my way to the flight of stairs. Each flight I climbed I would yell Peter's name if he didn't answer then I would continue climbing. I reached the 35th floor before I got an answer.

"Elizabeth?!" I heard him yell. I ran down the hallway the ceiling started to collapse the building was going to collapse if we didn't hurry. I followed his yell. Until a blockade got in my way. Huge boards of wood blocked me. I used all my strength to get through and I did. I ran down the hallway until I saw a door slighty opened. I opened it and immediately l got the back draft, I covered my face from the flames but I still the felt the heat on my face.

"PETER!" I screamed through the black smoke. My lungs burned, making it impossible to breath. I went into the bedroom to see Peter trying to lift some debris off his girlfriend. Daria Munn.

"It won't budge." He struggled. I ran over to him and helped him lift the debris. Daria was on the floor unconscious. I shrugged off my jacket and covered her in it. My arms were now vulnerable to the flames. He picked her up with ease. The room shook and I knew we were running out of time.

"We got to move." I croaked, my throat screaming in pain. I went in front of Peter leading him to an elevator shaft.

"It's our best bet." I said, "Help me get this open." He put Daria down and helped me open the elevator doors. The shaft had a cable that runs to the bottom floor. I had a belt on, I took it off and wrapped it around the cable. I felt the ground shake a blaze was traveling toward us.

"Use my belt to take her down." I ordered. His face held a contorted pain.

"But what about-?"

"Just do it!" I barked. He nodded and picked Daria up slinging her over his shoulder. He grabbed the belt and wrapped it around his hand. He gave me a nod and then slid down the cable. The flames were coming closer. I had to think quickly. I took off a heel and jumped to the cable. I hooked the heel to the cable and started sliding down. I had just made it but a hair. By the time I made it the bottom the heel was broken. I really liked them too. When I made it to the bottom of the shaft I was greeted by a bright patch of fire. I ran through the flames with only one heel on. My lungs were gasping for fresh air. I finally made it to the doors. I pushed them open and fresh air flooded my lungs. I heaved for air. Chaos was all around me. Ambulances and fire trucks, I looked behind me to see the building was eaten by the fire. I looked for Peter and my heart thumped. Did he make it out? I looked to see him over at an ambulance with Daria. I left out a relieved sigh. We made eye contact and I walked over.

"Are you okay?" Was the first thing he said to me. I waved him off.

"I'm fine." He still looked me over, "Peter really I'm fine." He only nodded.

"Go with your girlfriend, I'll be fine."

"Thank you." He said as he climbed in the ambulance with her. He smiled as the doors shut. I can't believe I just did that. I made my way back to the car and got in. I buckled in and drove away from the scene. When I finally reached Jason's I was so tired I could barely walk. When I got out of the car I looked down at myself. My clothes were ruined, my pants were burnt and holes were burnt into place I barely had a shirt on. I was covered head to toe in ashes and I looked at my hands that were severely burned. How was I going to explain this to Jason? It didn't matter what mattered was I needed to clean myself up. I unlocked the door and took a deep breath.

I walked in slowly and dragged myself to the kitchen.

"Vivian?" No answer, "Jason?"

"What now?" I heard his nasty tone, "I thought you said you were leaving?" He walked in and took good look at me, "Holy shit." He ran to me and I fell into him, "What the fuck happened?"

"I thought you didn't care that you only saw me as a liability." Poison set in my voice.

"Just shut up. Can you make it into the bathroom?" He asked.

"Yes." He gripped my arm and helped me into the bathroom. He helped me sit on a ledge near the window. He grabbed a first aid kit from below the sink. Then he went over to the tub and started filling it with cool water. He walked back over to me.

"Put your arms up." I did so and he lifted my shirt up. I was in my bra and my cheeks heated slightly. I pulled down the remained part of my pants that wasn't burnt off. My arms were covered in ash and a pinkish color almost like sunburn and my hands were a deep red and were blistering. Once the water was filled to the top. Jason helped me in the cold water. An immediate relief swept through my body. My hot skin cooled under the water. I closed my eyes trying to relax. I opened my eyes when Jason dipped a rag in the water and rung it out.

"Here use this to clean yourself up." He said heading to it me. I grabbed it and scrubbed my arms trying to get the dirt and ash off myself, "I'll get you some clothes, there's a towel hanging up on the door. I'll be back." He voice was stoic something I hadn't heard in a while. Jason was hard to get to know when we first knew each other. It took a long time to get to know him and see his layers. I feel like I'm back a square again.

After scrubbing myself, I got out of the tub and grabbed the towel on the door. I wrapped myself in it and grabbed the clothes Jason left for me. I took off the wet bra and underwear and dried myself off. I put on the baggy clothes he gave me. My hands were another story. He came back into the bathroom when I was clothed.

"Take this." He handed me a couple of pills and a cup of water. I downed the water, "Let me see your hands." I showed my hands to him and gripped them lightly looking them over.

"2nd degree burns, you'll live." He mumbled. He pulled me over to the sink and rinsed my hands off with cold water. Then dried them and sprayed them with an antiseptic spray. He wrapped my hands up in gaze and taped them.

"That should do it." He said and walked out.

"Thanks?" I didn't know what to make of that. I shrugged and went into my bedroom. Checking my phone I had a text from Peter.

'I don't know how I could ever thank you for what you did tonight.'

I rolled my eyes, wondering why the hell I did do that. It was out of character to do something like for anyone else that had a special meaning to me. I mean if it was Jason in there I wouldn't even hesitate like I did. Right? After what happened a few hours ago I'd be lucky if he did get me out of a burning building. I laid on my bed and let sleep take me over.