Prompted Shorties

Tornado Season

Prompt: A tornado is forming, and your character is in the absolute worst place they can be at the moment. Where are they? How do they handle the situation?

Story:

"Answer the dang phone Foggy." I whispered to the phone.

"It's Foggy, leave a message." I hung up and took a long deep breath.

"Karen?" I call.

"I'm here Matt, just gathering some important papers to take with us." She said aloud from the other room.

I can feel the dense air shifting violently through my skin, and if my senses are correct, it's going to hit Hell's Kitchen any minute now. I'm hoping it would start at least a few miles away from the office. That'll give us time to vacate the area and go to a safe place.

"I still don't know why you think that a tornado is gonna hit Hell's Kitchen Matt, there hasn't been one in New York for decades." She's been in the dark of who I am ever since we met, though I know I have feelings for her, she shouldn't get involved in my other life. No. I don't want her to be in more danger than she is now.

"Call it a uh, gut feeling."

"I mean, the news didn't say anything about-" Her voice tells me she's getting nervous.

"Just trust me on this Karen." I cut her off. I know she's a reporter by heart, but I like her working here. Knowing her, she'll keep digging on this as soon as she sees that I'm right. I guess I'll just try to steer her away from all of what I know or can do. I tried calling Foggy again, but it just keeps going straight to voicemail.

"Okay Matt. I trust you." I hear her heartbeat slowing down now, but it's not slow enough to tell me she calmed down. "Did you uh, get a hold of Foggy yet?"

"I called three times, he didn't pick up." I told her.

"Okay, I'm all set. Now what?"

"Drive us to 51st and 10th, there's an apartment there that has a tornado proof basement."

"You mean Elena's building?"

"Yes."

"And you know this, how?"

"Foggy told me about it, when, you two were..."

"Oh, right. Yeah." She breathed deeply. "Let's go?"

"Yeah." I grabbed my foldable cane and a box of paperwork.

"No, no, no Matt, I'll grab those after."

"No, I got it Karen." I held firmly at the box and just smiled at her. "After you."

"Okay. Just, don't trip."

"I'll be fine Karen." I chuckled.

We quickly get to the car downstairs and made our way to Elena's building. As soon as she turned in the corner of 51st and 10th I felt it. It was forming.

"Karen?"

"Yeah?"

"It's here."

"What? How do you know? Where?" She asked, and, as if right on cue, a woman screamed five blocks away, then followed by the crowd. Screams fluttered through the air like a swift breeze, and footsteps from collective people quickly running away from the forming tornado resonated from the ground. "What in the world?"

"Drive Karen."

"It's so big, are you sure that the tornado proof basement in Elena's building is gonna hold that?"

"Yes Karen, just drive there. Carefully." I said, but her heartbeat was rising again, faster this time. I held her hand on the steering wheel. "It'll be alright Karen, just breathe." I told her. She then did what she was told and just like magic, her heart rate slowed down again.

As we get to Elena's building, I quickly went to the door but there were footsteps going towards it as well from the inside, then I heard someone cocking a gun, surely from the other side.

"Who are you people, get out of here." He said, a big man, sounds like in his thirties, puts a gun point blank at my face. I'm caught in between keeping Karen safe and keeping my other life from Karen.

"Oh my God, Matt!" She screamed when she saw, or at least, assuming she saw.

"Please, we just want to go to the basement until the storm clears." I told him. I'm trying to make this as civil as possible.

"Oh yeah? Well you can go f**k yourselves."

"Please." I begged him.

"I'm gonna count to three, and if you're not out of my sight by then, I will shoot you and your little girlfriend over there."

"Don't do this." I told him.

"One." He turned the safety off. Dang it, he's actually doing it. Fine. "Tw-"

I took my cane and slapped his hand with the gun upward making him shoot at the sky, then I gave him jabs to the stomach, but he quickly recovers with a swift punch to my cheek. I returned the favor with a high kick to disarm him and a roundhouse kick to his face.

He tried for the old jab to my stomach, but little did he know I was already preparing my uppercut and bam, he slams to the ground and I kept punching his face until he got knocked out.

"Oh my God Matt, h-how did you do that? You're blind!" I heard Karen hurrying towards inside the building. "Don't tell me you're the..."

"I'll explain inside Karen."

I really hoped that she didn't have to find out my other life, especially not this way but, desperate times call for desperate measures. I mean, I could always lie and tell her I know Karate, but, who knows how long until she finds out I'm Daredevil. Maybe it is better that she knows it now rather than later.