Arc 4 Mecha Fairy and the Scrubs, Chapter 14

Chapter 14

It had been four boring days. I held up in my room most of the time. Squeeze was the reason for this, he had become rather assertive that I show off my carapace. Before I had realized that I was walking around naked more or less I may have done it, but not now. I have some sort of decency, kinda well at any rate it is more embarrassing than anything else. Come on now, that is basically asking a girl to strip for you. Anyway I was not having any of that, so I wore the suit whenever I left my room.

There was only one good thing about Sunshine not following me around like a shadow and that was privacy. Me and Sub got a little out of hand. I had to purge my browser history due to shame. However, I would trade that in a heartbeat to have her back. I visited her in the hospital everyday and she was getting peppier by the day. With any luck she will be released early.

Word is we were supposed to be getting a survivor from LA added onto the team at some point in the next month. From the sounds of it, it was a girl. Apparently she was a Geomancer or a Terrakinetic, what ever the hell you wanna call it. Could make stuff outta dirt, rocks, and metal; pretty damned cool if I say so myself. Her hero name was Gnome and she was a Rank 4 so I am assuming that she is some what powerful. Apparently she had seen some shit down there and was going through extensive counseling at the moment. Well I can understand. If what I am hearing is right just about all of her colleagues are dead. You would have to be real fucked up not to be reeling after something like that. I hope she is nice, something tells me she is going to be a total twat though.

Training once more. However this time was different Sunshine was back today! She had made a full recovery and everything. I had been anticipating this day for so long, five days but still! Today we were going to learn how to tie a fancy knot that could be tightened and loosened. Not entirely sure what in the hell it is for, but it would probably be good to know. Still it is hard to think this week flew by so quickly. Fire Chief kinda went watch dog on us and did not allow us out on patrol at all this whole time. Instead we had been doing these training exercises. I have been doing pretty good so far and me and Sunshine are closer now than ever. She absolutely loved the sailor outfit I made for her. In fact she was wearing it right now. I could not help myself and made it all ruffly and gave it lots of frills.

My thoughts were rudely interrupted by Squeeze, “Hey show us your boobs.”

“Why you wanna see my boobs? I don't have nipples man.”

“Then what are you complaining about? It is not much different than your body suit.”

“Swolix man you ever hear of subtlety?”

“It is not like I am asking to see your abdomen or anything. Besides I hear you get naked all the time in front of Sunshine.”

I eyed him. He did not used to be so damned annoying. Honestly I don't know how to deal with the direct attacks like this. The only thing I can think of is to shoot him down. I mean, I know he does not really care about me. He just wants to see my body and if he can, get up in me, so obviously I am not going to play along. I am not that desperate. He did not take too kindly to the cold shoulder treatment I had been giving him as of late. He is just not my type. Where is a prince on a white horse when you need him? Hell I would take an ikemen elf or a bishounen. My otaku is showing.

“Sunshine is different. We are roomies so of course we see each other naked.”

“You are a total lesbo.”

“I am bi you dumb ass. Besides I am not attracted to Sunshine, she is my friend.”

“You say that, but you have been sighing over these last few days like a lonely house wife.”

“Oh shut up, you just lost boob privileges. Hope you like looking at these tin tits cause they are all you going to see.”

“When the hell did I ever have them?!”

“They are my melons and I can do what I want with them!” I scoffed at him, turning away.

I waved at Chief. His suit a rust red color with dull yellow stripes. It was the smaller one, roughly the same size as me, granted it was thicker and more sturdy looking than my lanky ass. Heavy plates still covered it and the mask looked like the firefighter helmet set, except the goggles glowed blue. Everyone had split off into little groups, Sunshine was sticking to my side. Her sailor uniform glowed faintly.

“Does your tummy still hurt?” I asked, rubbing my face against it like she was pregnant or something.

“Worried about me?” she glomped onto my leg. “Oneesama is so nice.”

“Yes, yes,” I dismissively replied. Sunshine is great, but something seems off about her ever since she came back. I can't really place a finger on it, but until I figured out what it is I wanted to keep some distance, not much though. She seemed sort of fragile now and sometimes she would be staring off into space more than usual. I might just be being over protective of her though. It just seemed bad to influence her. I don't want something like last time happening again.

Chief was chatting with someone over his radio. I asked, “Hey Chief what is up?”

“You think you are ready for a real life emergency?” he asked all of us. Everyone nodded and I could tell he was grinning, “We just got a call about a fire being started over in the apartment area.”

A fire! Finally we are going to do firefighter shit. So long as we are not getting shot at I don't care what it is. Not a moment after he told us, a siren went off. All of us piled into his super fire engine. There was no room so I had to hang onto the back, it was either that or be in the prison cell and there was no way I was going back in there. I always thought it was cool how they did this so I was not complaining. My arms anchored into place and legs braced. I gave a thumbs up and the vehicle took off. It took me by surprise and almost let go. He swerved it around the fake city and pointed towards the back wall. A loading ramp lifted into place and away we went. We were racing another fire engine and kicking their ass!

A long tunnel stretched out and at the end was light. We roared out into the street screeching on the treads when he took the corner way too sharply. We probably just messed up the street a little, but who cares? Siren blaring and that deep horn honking. On one hand it was like a giant nail being hammered into my head, but I could tune out that sound. I was flapping around like a flag off the back end, waving at cars as we went zooming by. A couple kids waved back.

Mostly though people just looked at me like I was weird, well crazy. They just don't know what fun is. This is the most intense roller coaster ride ever! Cars parted like the dead sea and we were Moses. Lights flew past and intersections went by the wayside. The streets were cleared and we had a straight shot towards the black smoke rising up in the distance. Behind by a little bit was the other fire crew. They were doing pretty good keeping up. I wonder what they are thinking about the view they got back there? I anchored my feet in the latter and leveraged myself up so that I could see where we were going.

It did not take long at all for us to arrive. I hopped down, my whole body jittery and shaking. It was a better version of Yeti Mountain over at Nicky Mouse Land. The old brick and mortar apartment looked worse for wear. A low glow of flickering flames filled an upper window and smoke was slowly making its way out. It looked like the ones made in the eighties. That being said it had held up for a long while. There was the familiar gang sign of the Angels of Hell scrolled out down a side alley. Looks like we are in a bad neighborhood. Flames billowed out of a window. Sirens wailing and people screaming. It was rather sobering and I switched gears from happy fun time to serious business mode. Sub seemed to have gotten over most of her fear of fire, so long as we were in the suit. All bets were off outside of the suit though of that she was rather clear. Chief was barking orders and they were followed instantly.

“Juniors get everyone out!”

He did not have to tell me twice. I charged through the gaping door, nearly smashed a Rottweiler that came barreling out at me. Damned thing was chained next to the door and scared out of its mind. Poor dog bit into my arm. It chomped at the metal, hurting itself. I growled and ripped the chain, sending it whimpering away. My head shook with a sigh and I continued in deeper. Good thing I went first had Glide or Sunshine come in they would have been mauled. The smoke was not down here yet so I went up the stairs.

This was a big building, five floors of apartments, from what I saw out there the top two were on fire. I proceeded to the areas that were in the most danger. Honestly I did not know much about firefighting, I have been learning but a week or two ain't gonna make me a professional and there is so much stuff to deal with. What I did have going for me though was that I am essentially fearless and the thought that people could die is a very good incentive to give it my best. This was real life, not some game.

My right side pounded doors as I went down the halls. “Fire, get the hell out!” Doors started opening and people were looking around confused. How the hell did they not hear the sirens? They were just milling around. “Did you not hear me? This building is burning down, get out!”

That got their attention and they started crowding around the stairwell. Humans are like lemmings. They were impeding each other and I had to step in before they fell over one another. I forced them into an orderly line, yelling, “Form a line and stay in it. If you rush you will block the way and nobody will get out!”

I made another round making sure everybody was gone before going up to the next floor. This one was on fire. Smoke flowed along the ceiling and several of the doors were open with people passed out all along the corridor. Shit there must be like twenty people here. Sunshine showed up with her mask and goggles on. It did not really match her outfit, but can't really argue with results. She concentrated for a moment and five glowing knights materialized. Together we started shuttling the people down the stairs over the shoulders of her knights. Down stairs Glide and Squeeze were keeping people orderly and making sure they got out. I was not sure what the hell Disk was up to, but I had better things to worry about. The roar of the flames above us made my antenna twitch. Sunshine had this floor so I went to the top to see if there was anybody that I could save.

This place was fucked. The roof was giving way with flaming pillars and at the far side of the corridor the foam gushed in from the window. I knocked down the first door scouring the room for anybody. It was empty. The next door was wide open I still checked to make sure nobody was here. Clear. A beam had fallen down blocking my way to the last remaining room. I shoved it aside and found a body. Blackened to a crisp, the person had been dead for a bit. My heart sank, but I trudged on to the last door.

The suds were spouting in and had killed the fire in the immediate area. Grayish-yellow smoke was puffing out from the door frames in slow intervals. I tried to open it, but the handle melted in my hand. My shoulder slammed into it and the door broke down. That was a huge mistake, a rookie blunder. Super heated air exploded and tore the building around me apart. My body flailed out the window from the force. I rag dolled and my butt smashed into Fire Chief, knocking him off center. His suit floundered for a moment before he corrected it and I flopped onto the pavement.

Fuck me that hurt! My ass is going to be sore all day. I rolled coughing, all the wind had been knocked out. I am surprised my spine did not snap from that, ah never mind it did only in like one spot so I will be fine. It was not as bad as the gas station in terms of force, but where it had hit me I was more open. My back was more or less a buffer and had extra plating so it was far sturdier than the front. Which made sense since most of my organs are in the abdomen so it needs more protection. I sat up in a daze, blinking for a few moments as the roar of blood pumping filled my head. Something broadsided me, knocking me to the ground. Then the sounds of the world came back. Steam was hissing up around me and the suds were bubbling. Fire Chief had sprayed me down with that stuff.

“Mecha Fairy. Mecha Fairy! Are you alright?” yelled Chief he poked at me with his massive boot. He was not even looking at me and kept the stream of suds pouring into the fire.

I crawled and managed to hop to my feet, wobbly for a few steps. “Fine, a room exploded up there. Don't know why.”

“Ever heard of a back draft?”

“Nope.”

“When a fire is enclosed and eats all the oxygen it starts to die out, but if more is given to it the fire will explode and follow the new air.”

“Well shit. How the hell do you get around that?”

“You punch a hole above the room and let it vent. Or you punch a hose through the wall and douse the room. So how was it in there?”

“At the least one dead on the top floor. Poor bastard was pinned under a support beam. I think we are doing good though, not really sure never done this before. Are we doing good?”

“Could be worse, could be better, at the least we are keeping the fire contained.”

“Dude don't say a disaster flag like that.”

“A what?”

“Disaster flag, it is like a death flag. Don't you watch shows or read stories? It is something that foreshadows an event and usually gives away what is about to happen. Bad shit always happens when people say that stuff.”

“Keep your delusions to yourself this is the real world and that sort of stuff is not real.”

“Well I hope not.”

“Get back in there and help out the team. You let me and Firehouse Five deal with this.” He motioned and I started for the door.

Sunshine appeared in the doorway. “Is Nee-san alright? There was an explosion and everybody is freaking out.”

“I am fine. It was a back draft.”

“Good thing that suit is top of the line. You would have been burned to a crisp if you were not wearing it.”

“Really?”

“Oh yeah back drafts are some of the scariest things to come across.”

“How do you deal with them?”

She seemed thoughtful for a few moments. “Usually we stay away from them. Gravity Squeeze will shove a hose through the wall and we pump water into the room to kill the fire.”

“What do you do if he is not around?”

“Well my knights would breach the door and hold back the flames.”

“Did I take your job when I joined the team?”

“Don't be silly you are well suited for the front,” her voice was a little muffled from the mask, although she did sound rather pleased. “If anything Sunshine should be thanking you. It was extremely distracting having to guard everybody, now Sunshine can focus on unleashing my imagination. You are my shield you know.” I blushed a little at that. It was kinda sweet. I wanted to hug her, but this was not the time nor the place for that.

We made our way back up through the apartment all the people had been cleared out by now. The fire had mostly stopped spreading and the only real hot spot was the top floor. To be precise that room I had opened up. Glide and the rest gave me a few anxious looks when we arrived. It took only a few seconds to see why they were worried. There was a guy shrouded in fire. He was just standing there in the center of the room. I started to put two and two together and realized he was responsible for the fire. It was hard to make out any distinguishing features he was more of a black outline than anything else. The burning blue ripples of air around him created a sort of dome.

“Dude are you alright?” I asked, stepping towards him.

It took a long moment for him to even realize we were there. He was looking over his hands then replied with a cheery tone, “I have never felt better. Is it hot in here or is it just me?”

“Dude you are on fire.”

“Thanks. You look pretty smoking hot yourself baby.”

“No, literally on fire.”

I could see the white of his smile. “I know. I feel so warm you know?”

“I guess? Look we are going to help you.”

“Help me?” he laughed and it slowly turned into a cackle. “Baby, I just want to share this warmth with everybody, it was so cold before.”

“Share the warmth?” I asked, not liking at all where this was going.

“I don't want to set the world on fire,” he sang out twirling and dancing. I got a lot more of a look than I wanted. This guy was stark naked and had a raging hard on. His eyes were completely bugged out. His face was sunken in and skinny. It was the face of a tweeker. He must be on something. The shell of flames expanded out torching the room. “I just want to light a flame in your heart.”

Oh fuck me. Hes crazy. Why can't Supers just be normal? I talked over the radio, “Chief we eh, we got a naked crazy guy who is flaming up here.”

“Retreat!” he yelled back.