The Cursed Pandemic

"Huh?" She looks up, confused. "Get started on what?"

*****************************************

Amelia lay limply in the middle of the road as if she'd been hit by a car. The sun's hot waves cause the street around her to shimmer in a sort of mirage. A large fuel tanker truck squeals to a stop and two men hurry out of the truck. "Holy shit!" The first exclaims running up to her.
"She alive?" The second asks. Their question is answered by Amelia suddenly throwing her hand out at them and sending them flying across the road. She stood and brushed off her clothes. "Told you it would work." She winks at Locke with a mischievous smile.
 
Locke rolled his eyes with a smile on his face. "You're a natural. You should join an acting troupe, put on your resume that you come with your own special effects." He snarked as he pulled the unconscious bodies of the men over to safety on the side of the road.

Hopping into the driver's seat, he began to look around for something but seemed to be having no luck. "Hey, Sparky, where would you put a gps tracker if you wanted to track a truck?"
 
"I dunno? Maybe under the truck?" She shrugs. "Or, more likely connected to the battery." She jumps out of the truck and has Locke pop the lid. "Yup! Found it! Connected the battery. Ha! I'm so good." Ame laughs and throws it to the side. "Now we can go. I hope you know how to drive properly."
 
"Course I know how to drive. Haven't done it in a while but its like riding a bike." He said as he buckled his seat belt. Pressing down on the gas, it took him a little bit to get used to the extra weight in the back. "Before you say anything, because I know you want too, have you ever driven an 18 wheeler before?" When Ame had no answer for him he smirked. "That's what I thought."

It took them about twice as long to get back to the motel as it did to getting there, but eventually the duo made it back in one piece. "Well, near crashes aside, that wasn't too terrible. We make a good team Ame." He raised his hand to give her a high five.
 
She gives him one in return and smirks. "I can't say I would've done much better." Claire takes the truck to the back of the house and uses to put fuel in the cars and in XO and wherever else they needed it. "Not to bad for our first job. I think I could get used to this." Ame says with a confident nod.
 
"Agreed. Though I do want to talk to Texas eventually about joining those rescue missions. There are a lot of folks out there who were just like us. Hell, if you hadn't been there, I'd of been tranqed to hell and left to rot in some government prison the rest of my life. I'm glad I wound up with you, instead of that fate." It wasn't put as eloquently as he'd liked, but Locke was speaking from the heart. These past couple of days, taking on the world side by side with Ame, they'd been really fun in his opinion. Helps that she's got a sense of humor to help keep things interesting.

As they made their way into camp, Flint waved them over. "Look who it is? The triumphant Fuel retrievers, successful in their quest. Have a late lunch on me!" The old timer said as he handed each of them a chicken sandwich. Locke scarfed his down gratefully, he needed some food after a ride that was more stressful for him then he was letting show. Especially since one accidental burst of flame would've fried them both to a crisp.
 
Ame went quiet as he talked about the rescue missions and the government prisons. She snickered at Locke as he ate his, barely taking a moment to breath inbetween bites. "Slow down there Torchy...you'll choke yourself. Thanks Flint." She ate her own, with much more class watching the people around them. Mini was swinging on a swing by herself when she suddenly fell off and began convulsing.

Amelia had never moved so fast. She dropped the sandwich and rushed to Mini's side. She held the little girls head as a seizure, too large for her little body, caused to her jerk in a terrifying fashion. The worst part. No one really seemed to care or be worried. "Someone get help!" She yelled. Flint had gone inside and a second later Texas was hurrying over.

By the time he arrived, Mini had gone still. Texas knelt beside the girl and felt her pulse. Nodding he lifted her into his arms. "Why are you being so calm about this!? Why wasn't anyone doing anything!? She was having a seizure!" Ame demanded angerly, adrenaline fueling her fury. Texas looked at her sympathetically. "Its part of her gift, Ame. Her para-weakness. Everyone has one. Not much we can do except be with her during it and after she wakes up. Its not that they don't care but you were with her...so there was no reason for anyone else to crowd around."
 
He put a comforting hand on Ame's shoulder. He'd rushed with her to Mini's aid, but suspected that it was her weakness as the seizure was happening. He couldn't meet her eyes as he stared at his own hand. "At least she's around people who understand, people who can help. Not everyone's that lucky." He'd seen Tex take Mini into her room. He'd probably stay with her until she woke up. He rose without another word and headed to his own room.

When he got there he took his gloves off. Examining the scars and discoloration that surrounded his hand. He flashed back to the days of his youth, the constant hospital visits for burns on his hands, all because of a power he didn't know how to control back then. His parents thought he was doing it on purpose. They had no idea. It still hurt sometimes when he flexed his hands the wrong way. A knock on his door broke him from his thoughts. He quickly put his gloves back on before going to see who it was.
 
It was Texas. "Mini's awake. She's fine. Thought you might like to know." The young man studies Locke's face. "You ok? Need to talk?" He asks sincerely.
 
"Nah, just experiencing some sympathy pain for her." He said, wasn't really a lie, but it wasn't the truth either. "I did want to ask if I could come with you on the next rescue mission though. Now seems like the perfect opportunity."
 
"Sure, Man. We'd love to have you!" Texas nods. "I'll get the others. Meet me downstairs in 10 minutes."
*************
Ten minutes later everyone who was interested in joining the mission was in the living room. Shannon, Mini, Ame and Locke were the volunteers today. Texas sat with Mini on his lap. "Alright, here's the deal. Mini saw a wall walker paranormal being transported via truck somewhere around Midtown."
"I'm sorry, wall-walker?" Ame questions.
"It means he can walk through wlks and other objects."
"Ah..."
"Anyway, it's possible there are other paranormals with him which is why we're going in with a larger group this time. More para's means more guards. Mini will guide us, like usual. And like usual we're on the clock to rescue them before they get taken to the facilities. Any questions?"
 
"One question. What's our stance on lethal force?" He didn't want to have to kill these guards if necessary, he needed to make sure this group was on the same page.
 
"If we can get away with just knocking them out, then do that. None of need the blood of anyone on our hands if we can help it." Texas stood up. "If there's nothing else then we should get going. Mini will go ahead of us with XO and we'll follow in the van."
*****************************

The group piled in the van and Texas followed Mini as she and her bot alternated between running and flying. They pulled into Midtown and XO raised a fist. "This is the spot. Alright, listen up fast. Shannon's gonna stand in the middle of the road and with any luck destroy the trucks engine. Ame and Locke, you guys will deal with the guards. I'll get the hostages out of the truck and XO will watch our backs. Ready or not, here we go!" He leaps out of the van with the others and they move to different hiding spots as they wait for the truck.

Minutes later a massive, heavily armored transport truck rolls around the corner. Shannon waits until the last second, then leaps out. The truck hits her square on. It would've killed a normal human being. The mere power of her fists crushes the engine block and the truck dies and begins smoking. Ame jumped out of her hiding place and held up a shield to protect from the wave of bullets as she worked to take down one guard.
 
Before the meeting in the field, Locke had been practicing forming his fire into fireballs that contain more concussive force than they do flames. He only hoped that the practice would be enough to save some lives on this day. He snuck around the guards while they were distracted with Ame, aimed his shot for right in between two guards, and let it fly. The fireball landed right where he wanted it to, knocking one of the guards into the van, and the other up into the air. The guard that hit the van was out cold, and when the other landed straight on his back, Locke made sure he wouldn't be getting up for a while with a strong punch to the temple.

He turned to check on Ame, relieved that she had taken out her guard with only a bit of stress on her powers and the fourth guard was taken care of by XO. Suddenly he heard a scream as a teenage boy who couldn't have been older than 15, broke out of Texas' grasp and began running for the nearest building. "None of you can take me!" He screamed as he ran through the wall of the building.

Locke looked at Tex. "Check for others!" Tex gave him a nod, "Ame check around the building!" He yelled as he took off. Bursting through the doors he saw the kid disappear into one of the elevators. He pressed the button, while keeping an eye on the floor number the kid had gone up too. Floor 72, was where he'd stopped, and just in time as Locke's elevator had just reached him. He was nervous as the elevator sped through the building. He knew exactly what that kid was going to try, and he needed to stop him.

He moved as fast as his legs could carry him, but stopped short as he saw the teenager standing on the ledge, one step away from his doom. "Don't take another step! I'll jump! You think I give a damn about my life anymore? No one is gonna take me away ever again!"

Locke needed to stall, hopefully he could buy enough time for XO to save the day, but best case scenario was he could convince the kid to come with them. "Listen, I know that you're scared. You've been hurt by all those bad men, betrayed by false hope. I understand. But this isn't the answer." He saw the boy's face soften just a little bit. "I'm Locke, what's your name?"

"Gabriel." The kid told him. "Gabriel, I'm here with other para's. We all have powers just like you, and we've all been hurt by society. We look out for each other, and we'll watch out for you. I promise Gabriel."

Gabriel looked like he wanted to believe Locke, but rage flared in his eyes. "Why would you want to help me? You don't know who I am! You don't know what I've done! My life isn't worth saving, I don't want your help!" Locke was losing him, he needed to think of something fast or else the kid was gonna jump...
 
Ame had sprinted around the building looking for the kid. She heard yelling and looked up, just being able to see the boy at the top about ready to jump. "Oh shit... MINI! MINI! We need XO!" She yelled. Mini and the Bot rounded the corner. "Up there...I think the kid is gonna jump. Can you grab him?" Mini nods and points up. XO begins the flight up. Ame gasps as the body falls. He'd jumped!

XO races towards the boy and...misses? No...that was impossible. He'd had him! He was a wall-walker. Stupid kid must have phased through the bot. Ame growled and rushed forward. She raised both her hands and a beam of light and energy stretched up as high as she could manage. She began to vibrate the energy causing friction. The boy hit the beam and his fall dramatically slowed, like a plunge into a water of light. Ame's arms trembled as she maintained the constant stream of energy. He was down to the 30th floor, 25th, 20th....her skin darkened, 15th, 10th, her face grimaced in pain and beads of sweat rolled down her face. 5th floor and touchdown. The boy dropped a mere three feet to the pavement. "Ungrateful brat..." Ame growls at him before passing out and hitting the street herself.
 
His heart broke as the boy jumped. He couldn't watch as he saw Gabriel phase through XO and plummet to the floor below him. He waited for the faint sound of a thud, but instead heard a whooshing sound, the sound of energy. He looked to see light that looked exactly like Ame's power, slowing Gabriel's fall. He was relieved at first, then panicked as he realized how much strain it must be putting on her body.

Racing down the elevator, he reached the bottom floor just in time to see Shannon pick up Ame's unconscious body and Mini comforting the boy. He was relieved when Texas told him she was alive, but knew that after the commotion they caused, they all needed to leave now. Gabriel looked like he didn't want to leave Mini's side, so XO flew both kids back to the motel. The entire ride back, Locke cradled Ame's body in his arms. He could only whisper, "I'm sorry." to her. It was his fault that the boy jumped, he failed, and Ame almost gave her life to make up for his failure.

Shannon carried Ame to their room, but allowed Locke to stay and watch after her until she woke up. He stayed in the chair next to her bed, and wound up waiting the whole night. He tried to keep himself awake, but he wound up passing out in the chair. He only hoped she wouldn't find him like that.
 
Ame woke with a dry tongue and a killer headache. She blinked as the first sun's rays began to shine through the window and onto her body. She turned her head, hearing someone breathing to her right and smirked lightly as she saw Locke drooling in the chair next to her bed. She tapped his leg with the back of her hand and nearly laughed as he snorted awake. "Why the heck did you stay there all night? Idiot..." She grumbles half-heartedly. "Now you'll have a kink in your neck. Not to mention...I don't like people watching me sleep." The color still hadn't fully retreated from her skin, but she was looking far better than she had earlier.
 
He scratched the back of his head, slightly embarrassed by the whole situation. Wiping the drool from his mouth he looked up at her. "Well good morning to you too Sparky. If you don't want me staying up all night making sure your ok, maybe next time don't scare me half to death." He was glad she was feeling better, but he still had a pang of guilt in his heart. His face sobered as he stood out of his chair and stretched out his neck.

"Seriously though, I'm sorry you had to put yourself through that. It was my fault. I couldn't keep the kid from jumping, I should've said something better or acted sooner and I..." He took a minute to calm himself. "If had gotten seriously hurt, or worse, because of me... I don't know if I'd be able to forgive myself." He looked away, shaking. "I'm so sorry, Ame."
 
"Hey, Torchy." Ame stared at him somewhat sternly. "I don't think anything you could've said or done would've kept him from jumping. Trust me...after being through the sorts of things he'd probably been through, you'd probably want to kill yourself too." She sighs, her head settling back into the pillow before she reopened her eyes to look at him. "Point is...he didn't die...I didn't die...and we completed the mission. If you're going to beat yourself up about things that could've happened then you probably shouldn't go on anymore missions. Or you can learn from it, and move on." She smirks at him. "Either way, stop apologizing. You sound like a toddler." She says teasingly.
 
He smirked and shook his head. "Come on. Let's get you some sun." She was still unsteady on her feet so let her lean on him for support. Helping her outside he was delighted to see the sun sink in and lighten up her skin. It was almost as if he could feel the energy returning her as it happened.

They headed down to breakfast together, Flint and Shannon being the first ones up today. As Flint noticed them he gave one of his patented huge smiles. "Well good morning lovebirds. Texas told us what happened and Shannon slept out here all night just to give you two some privacy." Locke scratched the back of his head. "Yeah sorry about that Shannon. I didn't think I'd fall asleep too."
 
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