Being a Hero

Chapter 22

The song for this chapter is "Diamonds" by Manafest.

"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall." – Confucius

*Will's POV*

I took a deep breath and stared at the face in the mirror. Without my mask, it looked like Iron Goose had hit me. The swelling around my eye had gone down over the last few days, and I was in that lovely-blue-black stage of bruising. Underneath the bruising, I spotted the usual fear. It didn't seem to lessen over the years, though I had gotten better at moving through it. Maybe a little number. Either way, I got done what needed to be done. That first time hadn't happened again. I wouldn't let it.

I took one more breath, steeling myself, then I put on my mask. I winced at the pressure on my abused face and waited a minute as the pain subsided. Then I blinked at the visage in the mirror one last time to make sure it was straight. The one time it was crooked Nancy teased me about it for months.

Today was Princeton's annual fire training exercise. Our whole fighting roster was going, which was good...and bad. Everett and John had been butting heads a lot more than usual since the affair came to light. We tried to keep them separate as much as possible, but something had to give and soon.

Even Kevin and Tracy were tagging along this year. The only one not coming was Mabel. She had some big work meeting she couldn't get out of. Caitlyn had insisted upon coming regardless of her powerless state. Aurora resisted sending her at first but finally relented when Caitlyn pointed out that even with her powers she'd never go inside. She'd be helping the medical team.

Personally, I took that as a good sign. If she had the energy to be stir crazy, she was recovering in my book. She'd already been taking the dogs on longer walks now that Grim's stitches were out, and I'd caught her in the gym or knife throwing outside several times this week. I was tempted to invite her on my hike next weekend. I had a suspicion she'd appreciate the chance to get out of HCS. And given Garm's threats, the less time Caitlyn spent in West Haven, the better.

We left obscenely early, and the drive out was largely composed of tired silence. Caitlyn sat in the front seat where Everett could keep an eye on her, but she napped most of the trip, occasionally twitching or shifting positions. She even slept through our pit stop, which had Everett and me exchanging concerned looks. Most of the others perked up after they'd inhaled their coffee, and talk picked up with the sunrise.

Without cattle obstructing the road we made great time, reaching the property Princeton Fire Department held on the outskirts of town. Every year they built a house, and every year they ran multiple fire-less drills—some accounting for the firemen arriving first and some with the heroes arriving first—before a set of controlled grass/brush fires were set around the site. Once those were extinguished, they'd set the structure ablaze for the grand finale. Anyone who could figure out where in the building the fire started and what caused it first got out of cleaning duty for the next month, both within the fire department and our group. There was an element of danger, but it was fun too. Even if it did bring up bad memories.

~~~

This was the first five-alarm fire we'd seen as a team, and it was terrifying. Clouds of smoke billowed from windows cracked by heat and from under eaves, and flames licked windows and doorways. Twenty feet away from it felt like a blast furnace. Slingshot and I held as much of the building together as we could while the others were rushing in and out to rescue trapped civilians. The fire department had just arrived and begun messing with the roof. I wished they would start blasting water onto the blaze already. I could feel the steel girders and concrete in the structure shifting and to a lesser extent the drywall as it cracked under the heat on the lower floors.