"How are his vitals doing?" Samantha asked.
"I'm not a doctor!" Eric complained.
"Neither am I, but at least I know when the mayor is not on the verge of death," Samantha sighed, walking over to the monitor, "Okay, he's still good."
"I'm just glad your drug is working," Eric said.
"Barbiturate works wonders," Samantha said.
"Barbiturate...? That's the coma-inducing drug, right?"
"Correct," Samantha nodded, flashing a light in Mayor Ignus's eyes.
"And if he's in a coma..."
"He can't explode," Samantha finished.
"Well, hopefully," Eric added.
"Hopefully," Samantha nodded, "My best guess is that he'll still explode, but the intervals in between explosions will be lengthened. Giving us time to diagnose and solve the problem."
"Let's hope we can."
"I know we can," Samantha said, confidently.
"What are you looking at in his eyes?" Eric asked.
"His eyes are a weird color. Come check it out."
Eric walked over, and stared into Mayor Ignus's eyes. They were a dark orange. No pupils or anything.
"What the hell?" Eric said under his breath.
Suddenly, Mayor Ignus's body began to glow a soft orange color.
"Uh oh," Samantha said.
"He's about to go kaboom, isn't he?" Eric asked.
"Back up," Samantha instructed.
Eric took a few steps away, and Samantha burst into flames.
"That never gets old," Eric said, amazed.
Samantha took Ignus in her arms, and shot out of their base. The tunnel led to the ground right behind the main Shields Corporation building. She flew towards the sky, and lobbed Ignus as far upwards as she could. He exploded, and began to fall back towards the ground, limp. Samantha soared over to catch the mayor.
"What's going on?" Mayor Ignus screamed, now fully awake.
"You'll be fine Mr. Mayor," Samantha said.
"Flare?" Ignus asked.
"That's me," Samantha nodded.
"What's happening to me?"
"I'll explain everything. Later. For now- I hope you'll forgive me."
"Forgive you?" Ignus asked, confused.
Samantha tossed Ignus up, and punched him in the face, knocking him out. She caught him, and flew back into her base. She couldn't have anyone seeing where it was.
"Is Mayor Ignus okay?" Eric asked.
"For now," Samantha nodded, "I have an idea."
"What's your idea?" Eric asked.
"Well, right before Mayor Ignus began to flow, I noticed a pulse of orange in his forehead. The pulse traveled through his body, triggering the explosion. So if we create a device to counteract the pulse-"
"-Then we cancel the explosion," Eric finished.
"Precisely," Samantha nodded.
"How do we do that?" Eric asked.
"We'd need to kill the pulse before it spread," Samantha said.
"So maybe a pulse of our own," Eric suggested, "One to overpower the one that causes Ignus to explode."
"That's what I was thinking," Samantha said, "So let's get to work."
The next day, Samantha called in sick to work. Realistically, she was still working on a device to cancel the Explosion Pulse. She was fine. Eric had gone back to work, trying to keep everything fairly normal. The citizens of Nova City were terrified. As far as they knew, their mayor was dead. Riots had broken out across the city, and Midnight Owl couldn't be there. He had to keep running his company. Flare was trying to save the mayor's life. The police had been spread too thinly. Eric was currently at a meeting with Governor Renner.
"Mr. Lange, this city looks up to you," Governor Renner explained, "They need you to come forward and assure them that everything will be okay."
"My word won't be enough," Eric sighed, then raised an eyebrow, "But I know someone's who would."
"Who?" Governor Renner asked.
"Flare."
"As in, the man who is always on fire?"
"Yes, him," Eric nodded. In the back of his mind, he found it strange how people automatically assumed Flare was a man. As if they thought it was absurd for a woman to have super powers. Eric just found it absurd that anyone had super powers.
"How will we get him to agree?" Governor Renner asked.
"That's our problem," Eric said, "But maybe we can broadcast you asking for him to give an announcement to the people of Nova City."
"Are we on? Okay. Ahem. I am Governor Renner. Most of your probably know that. And I'm here in Nova City to assure you that things will be back to normal soon. We are all deeply saddened, and quite frankly shocked, at what happened yesterday at Mayor Ignus's speech. However, new elections will be held very soon. Until then, my very trusted associate Charles Tonne will take over the role of Nova City Mayor. I understand that my word may not be enough to console you. So for that reason-"
"I'm here," Flare said, hovering onto the screen. Governor Renner turned to look at her, shocked. He hadn't expected her to be here.
"I am Flare. I have aimed to protect this city ever since I found I had been gifted with extraordinary powers. Yesterday, I failed. I let you all down. I will find the one responsible for this attack, and I will bring him to justice. And you have my word that I won't fail again."
Flare flew away.
"Well... That was Flare."
Eric had returned to the base with Samantha. Samantha had managed to create a crude prototype of the Combust-Cancelling-Helmet, or the CCH. It was a bulky helmet made out of welded steel. Inside of the helmet were a bunch of tangled wires, that sent controlled electric pulses at certain time intervals to kill the explosive pulses.
"So will Mayor Ignus be okay?" Eric asked.
"Only one way to find out," Samantha said.
"What's that one way?"
"We wake him up, and see if he explodes," Samantha explained, "Trial by fire. Literally."
"How are we going to wake him up?" Eric asked.
"Exgescimi," Samantha replied, loading a syringe with a clear liquid. The liquid was the drug "exgescimi". It was very powerful, and could people awake for weeks at a time. Or, it could pull people out of comas. Samantha injected the syringe into Mayor Ignus's arm, and let the serum run through his veins. Immediately, he started to glow.
"Brace yourself," Samantha instructed.
Ignus began to shake. Eric began to hover above the ground, ready to fly away if necessary. Suddenly, the CCH flashed, and the glowing went away.
"Where am I?" Mayor Ignus demanded.
Samantha burst into flames and said, "Mr. Mayor, I think you're safe now."
"Flare?" Mayor Ignus asked, "Didn't you punch me earlier?"
"Sorry about that sir," Samantha apologized.
"Mr. Mayor, Nova City has gone to hell," Eric explained.
"Uh, who are you?" Mayor Ignus asked.
"This is the Midnight Owl," Samantha said, "Another Alpha Human."
"He looks like a normal human in a metal suit," Ignus said.
"That doesn't matter right now sir," Eric said, "What matters is that you go back into Nova City, and assure everyone that everything is okay."
"Everything is not okay," Ignus complained, "I'm exploding every minute!"
Ignus began to glow again, but the CCH flashed, and the glowing faded.
"We fixed that sir," Samantha smiled.
Mayor Ignus stood upon a podium, giving an address to a large crowd.
"Citizens of Nova City," Mayor Ignus began, "The bombing two days ago nearly killed me, and did kill many others. This act of terrorism will not be tolerated in this city. Thanks to the help of the Flare and the new Midnight Owl, I managed to survive, but with a strange condition."
The crowd grew silent.
"I am an Alpha Human."
"I'm not a doctor!" Eric complained.
"Neither am I, but at least I know when the mayor is not on the verge of death," Samantha sighed, walking over to the monitor, "Okay, he's still good."
"I'm just glad your drug is working," Eric said.
"Barbiturate works wonders," Samantha said.
"Barbiturate...? That's the coma-inducing drug, right?"
"Correct," Samantha nodded, flashing a light in Mayor Ignus's eyes.
"And if he's in a coma..."
"He can't explode," Samantha finished.
"Well, hopefully," Eric added.
"Hopefully," Samantha nodded, "My best guess is that he'll still explode, but the intervals in between explosions will be lengthened. Giving us time to diagnose and solve the problem."
"Let's hope we can."
"I know we can," Samantha said, confidently.
"What are you looking at in his eyes?" Eric asked.
"His eyes are a weird color. Come check it out."
Eric walked over, and stared into Mayor Ignus's eyes. They were a dark orange. No pupils or anything.
"What the hell?" Eric said under his breath.
Suddenly, Mayor Ignus's body began to glow a soft orange color.
"Uh oh," Samantha said.
"He's about to go kaboom, isn't he?" Eric asked.
"Back up," Samantha instructed.
Eric took a few steps away, and Samantha burst into flames.
"That never gets old," Eric said, amazed.
Samantha took Ignus in her arms, and shot out of their base. The tunnel led to the ground right behind the main Shields Corporation building. She flew towards the sky, and lobbed Ignus as far upwards as she could. He exploded, and began to fall back towards the ground, limp. Samantha soared over to catch the mayor.
"What's going on?" Mayor Ignus screamed, now fully awake.
"You'll be fine Mr. Mayor," Samantha said.
"Flare?" Ignus asked.
"That's me," Samantha nodded.
"What's happening to me?"
"I'll explain everything. Later. For now- I hope you'll forgive me."
"Forgive you?" Ignus asked, confused.
Samantha tossed Ignus up, and punched him in the face, knocking him out. She caught him, and flew back into her base. She couldn't have anyone seeing where it was.
"Is Mayor Ignus okay?" Eric asked.
"For now," Samantha nodded, "I have an idea."
"What's your idea?" Eric asked.
"Well, right before Mayor Ignus began to flow, I noticed a pulse of orange in his forehead. The pulse traveled through his body, triggering the explosion. So if we create a device to counteract the pulse-"
"-Then we cancel the explosion," Eric finished.
"Precisely," Samantha nodded.
"How do we do that?" Eric asked.
"We'd need to kill the pulse before it spread," Samantha said.
"So maybe a pulse of our own," Eric suggested, "One to overpower the one that causes Ignus to explode."
"That's what I was thinking," Samantha said, "So let's get to work."
The next day, Samantha called in sick to work. Realistically, she was still working on a device to cancel the Explosion Pulse. She was fine. Eric had gone back to work, trying to keep everything fairly normal. The citizens of Nova City were terrified. As far as they knew, their mayor was dead. Riots had broken out across the city, and Midnight Owl couldn't be there. He had to keep running his company. Flare was trying to save the mayor's life. The police had been spread too thinly. Eric was currently at a meeting with Governor Renner.
"Mr. Lange, this city looks up to you," Governor Renner explained, "They need you to come forward and assure them that everything will be okay."
"My word won't be enough," Eric sighed, then raised an eyebrow, "But I know someone's who would."
"Who?" Governor Renner asked.
"Flare."
"As in, the man who is always on fire?"
"Yes, him," Eric nodded. In the back of his mind, he found it strange how people automatically assumed Flare was a man. As if they thought it was absurd for a woman to have super powers. Eric just found it absurd that anyone had super powers.
"How will we get him to agree?" Governor Renner asked.
"That's our problem," Eric said, "But maybe we can broadcast you asking for him to give an announcement to the people of Nova City."
"Are we on? Okay. Ahem. I am Governor Renner. Most of your probably know that. And I'm here in Nova City to assure you that things will be back to normal soon. We are all deeply saddened, and quite frankly shocked, at what happened yesterday at Mayor Ignus's speech. However, new elections will be held very soon. Until then, my very trusted associate Charles Tonne will take over the role of Nova City Mayor. I understand that my word may not be enough to console you. So for that reason-"
"I'm here," Flare said, hovering onto the screen. Governor Renner turned to look at her, shocked. He hadn't expected her to be here.
"I am Flare. I have aimed to protect this city ever since I found I had been gifted with extraordinary powers. Yesterday, I failed. I let you all down. I will find the one responsible for this attack, and I will bring him to justice. And you have my word that I won't fail again."
Flare flew away.
"Well... That was Flare."
Eric had returned to the base with Samantha. Samantha had managed to create a crude prototype of the Combust-Cancelling-Helmet, or the CCH. It was a bulky helmet made out of welded steel. Inside of the helmet were a bunch of tangled wires, that sent controlled electric pulses at certain time intervals to kill the explosive pulses.
"So will Mayor Ignus be okay?" Eric asked.
"Only one way to find out," Samantha said.
"What's that one way?"
"We wake him up, and see if he explodes," Samantha explained, "Trial by fire. Literally."
"How are we going to wake him up?" Eric asked.
"Exgescimi," Samantha replied, loading a syringe with a clear liquid. The liquid was the drug "exgescimi". It was very powerful, and could people awake for weeks at a time. Or, it could pull people out of comas. Samantha injected the syringe into Mayor Ignus's arm, and let the serum run through his veins. Immediately, he started to glow.
"Brace yourself," Samantha instructed.
Ignus began to shake. Eric began to hover above the ground, ready to fly away if necessary. Suddenly, the CCH flashed, and the glowing went away.
"Where am I?" Mayor Ignus demanded.
Samantha burst into flames and said, "Mr. Mayor, I think you're safe now."
"Flare?" Mayor Ignus asked, "Didn't you punch me earlier?"
"Sorry about that sir," Samantha apologized.
"Mr. Mayor, Nova City has gone to hell," Eric explained.
"Uh, who are you?" Mayor Ignus asked.
"This is the Midnight Owl," Samantha said, "Another Alpha Human."
"He looks like a normal human in a metal suit," Ignus said.
"That doesn't matter right now sir," Eric said, "What matters is that you go back into Nova City, and assure everyone that everything is okay."
"Everything is not okay," Ignus complained, "I'm exploding every minute!"
Ignus began to glow again, but the CCH flashed, and the glowing faded.
"We fixed that sir," Samantha smiled.
Mayor Ignus stood upon a podium, giving an address to a large crowd.
"Citizens of Nova City," Mayor Ignus began, "The bombing two days ago nearly killed me, and did kill many others. This act of terrorism will not be tolerated in this city. Thanks to the help of the Flare and the new Midnight Owl, I managed to survive, but with a strange condition."
The crowd grew silent.
"I am an Alpha Human."