Unnatural Disasters

Compulsion

Jeremy was walking down the hallway in the chemistry building with two girls. He was on the phone with his aunt. 
"No, I'm not coming home. I've got too much to do. I bought one of them mini halo fire extinguishers. They're selling them at campus stores, morbid right?" Jeremy laughed and one of the girls shot him a look. They got into the elevator and began descending to the bottom floor. Jeremy put his hand on the railing as the elevator began to shake and wobble. They heard the fire alarm go off. The three passed worried glances. The elevator stopped on the third floor.
"Pry the door open!" One of the girls said concerned while clutching her handbag. 
"There's a safety mechanism, I won't be able to pull it open all the way!" Jeremy scowled at them. He pulled the door open as far as he could. The outer doors were still closed. They all started shouting for help. Slowly, the outer doors were pulled open. Jeremy and the girls were relieved. 
"Joyce! Thank god! Is this building on fire?" Jeremy would look up at her. They needed the key to get out. 
"Don't worry. I'm here to save you." Joyce stood up. 
"Joyce! The key! It's in the office." Jeremy shouted as she began to walk out of view. Jeremy tapped his foot on the ground. Anxiously, he shouted out for Joyce. The other girls were huddled in the corner. Joyce walked back into view. "Do you have the key?" Jeremy questioned. 
"I'm going to save you." Joyce began spraying gasoline on them. Jeremy backed up into the corner of the elevator. 
"That's gasoline!" He shouted. She sprayed three quartz of gasoline on them. Joyce pulled out a flare. 
"What the hell?!" Jeremy tried to push himself further into the corner of the elevator. The girls were flipping out. 
"Please Joyce you don't have to do this!" One of them cried. Joyce lit the flare with a match. She began rocking back and forth, whispering something. 
"I have to do this!" She would move forward. 
"Joyce!" Angel called out from behind her. Joyce turned around. She held the flare to the crack in the elevator doors. 
"I have to do this!" She repeated. Angel took a step forward, she had a gun in her hand. 
"Joyce, you know this isn't rational." Angel said calmly, taking another step. Joyce shook her head and rocked back and forth. 
"God tested me with fire. God tested me with fire. I must test them with fire." She kept chanting to herself. Joyce suddenly snapped her head up. She brought the flare closer to the crack in the elevator. 
"Move and I'll drop it!" She loosened her grip on it. The girls were crying for their lives. 
"Joyce.." Angel warned. She saw Joyce begin to unclench her hand. Angel shot at Joyce. Watching the flare drop onto the ground in slow motion. Angel rushed to try and stop the flare from rolling into the elevator. Diego came around the corner. He beat her to it by stepping on it and putting it out. 
"I thought you said don't try to reason with her." Diego grumbled as he yanked off his jacket. He pressed it to the wound on Joyce's leg. Joyce was screaming and thrashing. 
"I was stalling." Angel hissed at him. She pulled the three students out of the elevator. She grabbed Diego's cell out of his back pocket and called campus authorities. 

"Thank you for your help. Really." Barnes would say sincerely. "I can say campus police found and shot her. You won't have to deal with any legal repercussions." Barnes assured Angel.
"I have a license to carry a concealed firearm, and I was defending myself." Angel walked away. Diego raised his eyebrows and followed. 
"I wondered where you got the gun from." Diego nudged her shoulder. Angel rolled her eyes. 
"I don't need you to check up on me Diego." Angel was walking to the spare office so she could gather her stuff. 
"I'm not. I was just making conversation. Plus you just shot a person so.." Diego trailed off. He searched Angel's face. Her gaze was serious, she didn't seem shaken up, just determined. "What do you carry a gun for?" 
Angel looked confused, "What do you mean?" 
"I mean, who did you piss off that made you need to carry a gun?" Diego half joked half asked. Angel scoffed and rolled her eyes. 
"That would be a story for another time." Angel cracked a mischievous grin and slipped into the spare office. Diego huffed, there's a whole other side to that woman. Kyle walked out of the room with his bag in his hand. 
"So I heard Angel shot the girl?" Kyle asked Diego. 
"Yeah. Why do you slouch so much hunchback?" Diego slapped Kyle in the back. "Straighten up, you'll get back problems." Kyle glared at Diego and rubbed his back. That hurt, great way to change the subject though. 
"Shut the hell up dickhead." Kyle spat. Diego feigned a hurt look.
"That's some strong language pretty ricky." Diego stole Kyle's bag. 
"Seriously? Are you five?" Kyle tried to grab it but Diego moved it away from him. 
"Maybe. Race you to the car." Diego bolted and Kyle ran after him, scowling the whole time. 
"We're racing?!" Hajime shouted and ran after the two taller guys. Charles stared out the window and watched the 3 other men run around outside like a bunch of middle schoolers. He looked at Angel who was finishing packing up her bag. 
"You okay?" He slung his bag over his shoulder. Angel looked up, rather annoyed. 
"I'm not the one that got shot." She answered simply, grabbing her bag and heading for the door, Charles in pursuit. 
"Just asking." Charles shrugged nonchalantly. 
"Hey Angel! Tell Diego that I get shotgun!" Hajime shouted, he was currently on Diego's back, having him in a sloppy choke-hold. Angel raised her eyebrows. 
"Charles gets shotgun. He's being good, and not currently making me feel like a mom." Angel scowled. Charles chuckled and got in the front seat. The other three sighed and got in the back regretfully. Angel hopped inside the truck and sped off. She was ready to rip off her ears once everyone started arguing about what kind of music they should listen to. 

The next morning everyone woke up at Angel's place. They had all been too tired to go back to their place. Charles was the first up, Angel was the second. 
"Hey Angel, they published a news article about us again." Charles looked up at her. Angel yawned and walked into the living room. 
"Good or bad?" She went to pour herself some coffee. 
"Good actually. They're back at it again! This time they saved three college students and a college professor. ...These heroes are helping society one case at a time." Charles read the article out loud. 
"That'll definitely help the number of cases we're asked to solve. Maybe even law enforcement will start calling us in as advisors." Angel would muse while stirring her coffee. Charles shrugged and tossed the newspaper on the coffee table. "You do know everything is digital now? I don't even know where you get newspapers anymore." Angel scrunched her nose at the black and white piece of paper. 
"I have a special subscription." Charles said proudly. Angel raised her eyebrows.
"Oh. A special subscription. Intriguing." She said suggestively. Charles sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "You are scary." He rolled his eyes and walked into the kitchen to find something to eat. Angel set down her coffee and went back to bed.