18-Jun-2002
The intercom on Wufei's desk suddenly sounded and a nervous young lady's voice came through. "Excuse me Mr. Chang?"
"Yes Elise, you may speak openly." The last of my lingering fears disappeared hearing him say that to her. And I chided myself for thinking that they thought I could ever betray them. I glanced to Heero who was flipping through some pages in Wufei's files and smiled warmly at him. He must have felt the weight of my stare because he looked up to see my goofy grin and quirked a quite little smile at me before returning to the file in his lap.
"There seems to be an emergency involving some of our operatives, sir." I snapped my attention back to the little back box on Wufei's desk and the nervous lilting voice of his secretary. "It seems our Temporary Quarters for Preventers Agents is... on fire sir."
I was up and out of my chair, grabbing Wufei's cell phone of his desk, through the door and racing down the hallway like one of the four furies before anyone could even mutter a reply. I skidded on the wax floor, hit the wall at the top of the stairs, and scrambled back up all the while hearing Heero and Wufei running up behind me and shouting for me to wait, but I was in full battle mode.
I flung the metal door to the stairs open and heard it slam into the wall behind me as I took the stairs two at a time, making my way to the parking garage where I knew Wufei kept his car, and hopefully still his bike. I was going to need something fast.
I almost collided with some poor soul on the stairs to the lobby, sending his files going every which way and hollered an apology as I negotiated my way around him. I flew down the remaining steps; out into the garage and across the asphalt to the secured area where I knew Wufei kept his car and bike.
I was panting by the time I reached his keypad and punched in the numbers twice waiting for the gate to open and allow me inside the twelve-foot square space that he parked in. I slid over the hood of the car and straddled the bike. I had to laugh out loud. Some things really didn't change at all, and Wufei was one of them. I saw the key already hanging in the ignition and turned it. The bike roared to life and I almost had the front tire up off the ground in my haste to get to the Preventers Temp. Quarters. The bike screamed out of the parking garage and into the bright daylight.
All the stiffness and physical pain faded away as I rode that bike towards my newly established home. I had only been earthside for a short time and knew that the Temp. Housing Wufei had arranged for me when I joined the Preventers was just that, temporary. But everything I owned and the few things that were precious to me where in that apartment.
Including my cat.
My cat.
I swore viciously to myself. I should have named her. But then that whispering little voice in my head reminded me that reasons like these were exactly why I hadn't. It was things like this that kept me from accepting Heero in my life as something other than a friend. It was what kept me away from everyone, in a dingy little house in a run down little neighborhood, begging Hilde to just move on with her own life.
Everything I love gets swept up into the disaster my life always turns into and gets hurt because I allow it to happen.
I blamed the tears streaking down my face and flying off into the air on the fact I hadn't taken the helmet. Just another way for me to tempt death to take me once and for all. Then I laughed. Always the dance. Circle, turn, and start again. But not this time. I was going to save my stuff.
I could see the dark plumes of smoke rising up from the ground long before I reached it. Traffic had slowed to a crawl as people looked on at the huge building became more and more engulfed in flames. Crews of paramedics and firefighters scurried around, frantically hollering orders for people to stay back.
I was never one to follow good advice. I slowed the bike enough for me to let it fall to the ground on its side and would worry about touching up the paint for Wufei later. I raced towards the building and found myself roughly grabbed by some big burly guy in a fireman's jacket.
"Hey kid! You can't go in there. The sprinkler system didn't go off, the building's a total loss! Everyone's out." He was yelling in my ear and smelled of smoke so I knew he had been inside.
"Did you find a cat?" I yelled back.
He looked at me like I had lobsters crawling out of my ears and shook his head in confusion. "Animals aren't allowed in this building. It's a Preventers establishment." Shit. I shoved his hand of my arm, ignoring the jolt of pain that laced through my elbow. I really should have taken the time before going to Wufei's to have it looked at instead of sleeping in. "Come on kid, I'm sure you're folks are around here somewhere."
I turned a murderous glare on him at the same time giving him a hard shove, causing him to stumble back a few steps. "You idiot!" I yelled. I turned and raced towards the building, ignoring the frantic hollering of the men as I flew by them. When I reached the main floor I hit a wall of thick, black smoke.
Going from memory I made my way to the stairs. I ripped a piece of fabric from my sleeve and held it over my mouth and nose as I found my way up the first set of stairs. With each step I took the heat increased and the smoke got worse. It burned my lungs as I took short, shallow breaths of it as I pushed on up to the next floor.
Thankfully knowing Wufei, and being an ex-Gundam pilot, had worked to my advantage when I got a room here. I was only on the third floor, with the stairs only one apartment over from mine and easy access to them, an outside landing and the stairs that led to the roof of the complex. All good and very predictable for a Gundam pilot, or ex-one in my case.
It was just one of those things that was ingrained... always have an escape route. Do not allow yourself to become boxed in. Old habits again I mused.
By the time I had pushed up the third flight of stairs I could barely see with the smoke being so thick. I had begun coughing, and the burning gases I knew I was taking into my lungs along with the smoke, was making my head swim slightly. Didn't help my head was already screaming long before I had even gotten news of the fire. I kept low to the ground as I made my way to my apartment and cringed when I saw the door had already been busted in. The firefighters no doubt looking for people.
This was pretty foolish I have to admit. Risking life and limb for a friggin' cat and a lop-eared photo of Heero and me. But I had already lost too much in my life and a little fire was not going to keep me for getting what was mine. I crawled through the door and watched as the smoke billow out the open window. The flames were beginning to lick up the wall at the far side of the kitchenette and making their way across the ceiling like some living thing.
I couldn't believe the heat in the place. I was sweating and smeared with ash from hunks of ceiling falling down and dodged a good size piece as it threatened to block my main exit. I crept to the bedroom, elbow shrieking each time I put weight on it, but I kept moving forward. I was almost to my goal.
The bedroom hadn't yet broke out in flame, but the smoke there was just as thick as it was in the rest of the apartment. I reached up to the bedside table and smashed the glass to the pictureframe on the floor until it broke and I could get the picture out. I shoved it into an inside pocket and then shimmied my way over to the bed. I got up on my hands and knees, reached over and grabbed a pillow case; pulling the pillow out and bent back low to see if I could find her. It was the most obvious place to look. I knew about danger and seeking safe little holes to hide in until the danger passed.
I saw the green eyes blinking wide with fear as I peered under. "Hi baby-girl... you didn't think I'd leave you huh?" I cooed and reached under the bed. She hissed and swatted at my hand; her nails scraping over my skin and sending sharp little pains up my forearm. "Shit!" I pulled my arm out and tried again. "Come on baby, please... you need to come out, we're runnin' out a time." She hissed again, but his time as she turned to dart out the other side I grabbed at her and managed to catch her behind the head. She sounded like I was trying to skin her alive and flailing around in my hand as I pulled her out from under the bed. I sat up on my knees and shoved her into the pillowcase as quickly as I could and barely escaped getting my eyes gouged out by her nails in the process.
I turned to crawl on my hands and knees back out the door to the main room when I saw a shadow enter the room through the smoke. I had dropped my piece of cloth when I was struggling to get the cat in the pillowcase, so I was coughing pretty good and the smoke was making my eyes tear terribly making it hard for me to identify who it was. I had figured Wufei and Heero would have caught up to me by now and almost smiled. Heero was gonna kick my ass when we got out of here.
I smiled broadly as the figure came closer and began to make some flippant remark when I realized that it wasn't Heero or Wufei. My lungs were burning and my throat was dry so I just held up my left hand to have the guy pull me up. I felt myself being pulled forward and smiled again. It was the firefighter I had shoved downstairs in my haste to get here.
He looked at the pillowcase clutched in my hand and took it from me then looked straight at me and smiled. My whole body screamed at me. GET AWAY! I watched in horror as he tossed the bag on the bed and began dragging me to the door of the bedroom. I struggled against his grip which is when I felt the blow to my head connect. There was an eruption of pain momentarily blinding me then everything narrowed to a very small, dark spot as I felt myself begin to slip into the void.
Oh. Shit.
This guy was no fireman.
I was going to pass out.
I was ass deep in alligators without a raft.
"Heero."
End Part 9
(:./ebony/magic9)
