Being a Hero

Chapter 26

The song for this chapter is "Hero" by Skillet. There is a place to start listening.

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." –Douglas Adams

*Everett's POV*

I could still see the burning body of that little girl. I shuddered, remembering what fire eating away at skin felt like. I still had the scars on my back as a reminder. She's alive, I reminded myself, looking at her terrified face where she stood next to Ethan.

And what was Ethan doing here?! And how did he...? He just... "Ethan?" I asked, bewildered.

He staggered and leaned against the wall before looking over at me. There was a familiar distance in that look, like he was looking through me, not at me. Like he was seeing something else entirely. That was impossible, of course. He hadn't gotten his powers renewed in years...But he just did the impossible.

Will slung his mound of sand over the worst of the chemical fire spilling from the supply closet and hacked. "We need to get out of here. Those fumes are probably toxic." He looked like he was about to puke. Whether that was from the fumes or the death we'd just seen averted was anyone's guess.

"He's right," The villain said, clearly as shaken by the scene as we were. "Based on the cleaners a hospital usually stocks, you should leave immediately if you don't want permanent injury." He held his nozzle up to the blaze and sprayed it with some sort of foam that smothered it more effectively than the sand and filled the supply closet with the stuff as well. He and the lady villain backed closer to the hallway Ethan had come from as he worked. They'd left Gusan where her dolly stood, which was precariously close to the quenching flames. I let myself relax just a little when Will yanked her closer to us with his power.

"That will buy you a few minutes. While I'd love to stay and chat..." He shoved the girl away from Ethan and toward us. Nancy caught her before she could fall. The villain then sprayed something else across the ground between us. "We really must be going." He fired another stream from the nozzle of the hose on his other arm. Whatever he hit that first chemical with caused it to ignite and start eating through the linoleum floor.

"No!" I yelled too late. We were cut off from Ethan! Ethan was in no shape to fight or pull anymore heroics the way he'd been sliding down the wall.

Will pulled futilely at the sand now mired in foam. He was sweating profusely, and I had a suspicion he'd overdone it with his powers or inhaled more of that stuff than was healthy. Nancy slung her bo staff back over her shoulder and worked at the knots holding the girl's wrists while coughing.

"Damn it! I am not leaving Ethan here!" I yelled, searching the halls for anything we could use to smother the firewall.

"Oh, don't worry. We'll take good care of him," The villain called. "You should worry about yourselves." His voice sounded farther away that time.

I was furious. Will grabbed my arm. "Guinness, there's nothing we can do. We need to get them out of here." He pointed to Gusan and the girl who looked like she might be related to her now that I had a closer look. I growled but accepted that we needed to get the civilian and incapacitated hero out of harm's way. The foam on the chemical fire was starting to steam and bubble as we spoke.

Will didn't look good himself. "Here," I said, pulling the line over my head and handing the oxygen tank and tubing to Will. "You look horrible." I took the dolly, and we beat a hasty retreat. As we ran, I called ahead. "Guys, we're bailing. Floor six has a nasty chemical fire. We'll need medical for fume inhalation once we're out, and we've got two victims with us. Two villains and a male hostage were last seen going down the west hallway."