Chapter 9: Fire Dancer

Academy Fort
June 7th, 6am

“Dancer, good news. You’re getting your two soldiers,” Goliath said over the phone.

“Huh?” Dancer said, still half asleep. “What?”

“The stone girl and the car boy, orders came through last night around midnight, they’re yours.”

She rubbed her eyes and looked at the clock beside her bed, trying not to sneeze at the plaster dust which still filled the house. Holding back a groan when she saw it was only dawn, Dancer took a drink of water from the bottle beside her bed before talking. “Great. Why the change?”

“We need more bodies.”

It took a few seconds to work out what Goliath had said. She’d been getting about five hours of sleep each night for the last week, and less before that, last night trying to go over the back up options, she had finally gone to sleep at three. “What does that mean?”

“I’m not sure if you were in the loop, but the Ripleys have been a hand grenade, that’s why your rock girl wasn’t confirmed.”

“Wait, wait, wait. Ripleys?”

“Slang for the monstrous refugees. From an old magazine, Ripley’s Believe It or Not. Someone started using it and it stuck,” he told her. “Anyways, they decided we needed more bodies, and some of those Ripleys may be unkillable, so they’re being fast tracked.”

The way he said it woke her up. “What happened?”

“This is classified, but you’re high enough to hear it, is anyone with you?” he asked.

“No, Heather doesn’t show until this afternoon, and I’m on a secure phone.”

He took a breath before telling her. “We’ve lost several towns, at least some of them to military forces. They’re trying to keep it quiet to avoid a panic, but word is leaking out, so they’re going to be doing damage control and release the news next week. You should be getting an email sometime today explaining everything. With at least ten thousand people missing or dead, Hero Initiative is going into overdrive. So anyone who isn’t psychotic and could be useful is being accepted. We’re not telling them that, but some bureaucrat has decided that quantity has a quality all its own.”

Dancer closed her eyes and shuddered at the numbers. They were still trying to estimate how many people had vanished or died in the Breaking, it was into the millions, but that had been due to the acts of a single man, who was now dead or gone. If Goliath was right, they were under attack again. “What can I do?”

“Train your team well. They’re going to be used hard.” There was a pause. “Just remember, you are important, more important than your team. You have the training and the knowledge we need, so keep yourself alive.”

“I will,” she whispered.

“Good. I have to go. Get yourself prepared, you could be going into action in as soon as two weeks. Good luck.” He hung up without waiting for her.

“Two weeks,” she muttered. The worst case scenarios had said they’d have at least a month. And she knew exactly what Goliath had been implying, her team was canon fodder, freaks who were suppose to die. Dancer raced to the bathroom, and spent a minute throwing up.

Washing her face afterwards, she winced at her sallow skin and dark ringed eyes. This was wrong. Heroes were suppose to be used carefully, not turned into martyrs unless there was no choice. She wondered which politician had decided they could just be thrown away.

“Heather, Sally, Tony,” she said to herself. “I don’t know if I can keep you alive, but you are not cannon fodder.”

Going back to her room, she swallowed two caffeine pills and got dressed. She had work to do if she was going to have her team ready in time.
**

Academy Fort
June 7th, 11:13pm

“Hey Mom, Dad,” Tara said to the camera. “I got your letter, and I wanted to answer sooner, but I’ve been busy with everything going on here. Give Nainai my love, I hope I can visit soon and she’ll be out of the hospital when I get there.”

She sighed, looking at her image on the computer screen. The bags under her eyes were hidden by make up, but she was having trouble keeping her head up, and there was no way to hide the exhaustion in her voice. This was not the time to deal with her parents, but she didn’t know when she’d get another chance.

“I… I know you don’t like my plans.” That was an understatement, the letter made it seem like she was going to commit suicide, they probably weren’t far wrong. That was why she was sending them a video and not talking in person. “You’re looking at everything and seeing how bad things are, and then I told you I wanted to be on the front lines. It is dangerous, I could die. But… but…”

She stopped again, trying to get her thoughts in order.

“When I first started training, I just wanted what you did, learning how to control my powers so I could live a normal life. But I saw the good that heroes can do. Major Star showed me what a person with the right powers can do if they’re willing to push themselves, to put themselves on the line protecting people who can’t.” She rubbed her eyes trying to think about how to say what she wanted, needed to say. “We need everyone who can fight out their now. We’ve lost six towns in Florida in the last week, totally destroyed with no survivors. They don’t know if they were attacked by raiders or a sea monster. Without satellites we can’t get any information and planes and boats have been shot down all along the coast. Five more towns in Canada and the US, with two more in Mexico, were destroyed. There were a handful of survivors, they said jet planes flew over bombing everything. They were followed by soldiers in fast attack vehicles, killing and rounding up anyone they could find. Radar in the area saw phantom images, but no hard hits.”

Tara stopped again, remembering the recorded interviews with survivors, crying and asking them to save their families.

“If I don’t do something, this is going to keep happening. I… We have these powers, if I don’t use them to help…” What could she say to make them understand, why she needed to face death against things she couldn’t even understand anymore. How could she ask them to support her as she trained for what could all too easily mean they’d see their only child die?

“I ne-” whatever she was going to say was cut off by an ear piercing scream from upstairs.

Without thinking she ran out of her office, and up the stairs, lighting her way with a small ball of fire. If someone was attacking Heather they’d regret it.

Kicking open the door, as another shriek ripped through the air, Tara fell on a sheet of ice. Flame engulfed her, melting the ice instantly and lighting up the room. Rolling to her feet she saw Heather, huddled in a corner of her bed wrapped in her blanket, staring wide eyed at the ice covering everything.

Damping her flames, but warming her skin up as much as she safely could, Tara hopped onto the bed grabbing the older girl. Usually the girl was cool to the touch, but now she was bitterly cold, she passed some of her warmth into the girl. “Heather, calm down. It was just a dream, wake up. It’s ok, you’re ok.”

The black girl stopped screaming, grabbing her back in a painfully tight grip. “Quiet! So quiet! Was on the surface, freezing. Dark. Can’t even see the stars.”

Tiny red flames appeared in the air. “There’s the light, everything is ok. You’re safe, you’re safe here,” Tara repeated, as Heather sobbed on her shoulder. “Come on, lets get you downstairs and warmed up.”

Hesitantly they walked out of the room, Tara kept talking, saying that everything was fine, that she was safe, and nothing would hurt her. Two minutes later, they were in the kitchen with every light on, Heather sat shivering beside the window staring obsessively at the stars. Tara ran upstairs grabbing a blanket from the closet. When she got back downstairs, Heather hadn’t moved, but was humming loudly to herself. Wrapping the blanket around the terrified girl, Tara wondered if she should call someone.

Putting it off for a minute, she filled the electric kettle with water and began heating it up, filling a mug with hot chocolate powder. As soon as the water was hot enough she poured it into the mug, stirred it and brought it over to Heather who took it listlessly.

“Heather, are you ok now?” she asked.

“Still alive,” Heather said, not taking her eyes off of the stars.

That was helpful. “You had a nightmare?”

“Yeah.”

“Have you had it before?”

She shook her head.

“So what brought it on?” Tara asked.

“It’s too quiet,” Heather whispered. “It was always noisy. Back home, it was so noisy. There were people everywhere, fans, machines, oxygen being pumped in, the radio. Here it’s like the surface when you’re all alone, waiting to die. I woke up surrounded by ice, I couldn’t see the stars, couldn’t hear anyone, I couldn’t breathe. I was alone and freezing to death. All alone.”

“You’re not alone anymore, Heather,” she said, hugging her tightly. “You’re on my team now. I won’t let anything like that happen to you.”

The tears started again, not as strong as before, but persistent. The hot chocolate was cold by the time Heather stopped crying. Tara touched it for a second heating it up again. “Drink your hot chocolate, I need to de-ice your room before it all melts.”

Heather nodded, bringing her knees up to her chest, holding the blanket more tightly around herself. Tara took a second to turn on the stereo in the living room before heading upstairs.

The ice was already starting to melt from the late spring heat. Carefully, Tara began heating up the room, brushing flames across the worst icy buildup. Everything in the room was damp by the time the ice was melted. Opening the window, she sent waves of heat over the bed, walls, furniture and rug, drying them out before any real damage could occur. It felt humid in the room, but with the breeze from outside removing the moist, hot air, the room was ready for use.

Grabbing the stereo from her own bedroom, Tara plugged it in and found a radio station playing some soft classical music. Then she helped Heather, who still seemed to be out of it, get back into bed. With that crisis out of the way, Tara went back to her office and saw that she’d been recording an empty room for over an hour.

Hitting stop, she went back to just before Heather screamed. The cursor hovered over the record button. She looked at the clock it was well past midnight. The image onscreen looked even worse, with smeared makeup, a dirty shirt, and messed up hair. She tried to remember what she had been saying, but the entire train of thought had been derailed, blown up and the remains buried in an unmarked grave.

Turning off the computer, she headed for bed.

**

Academy Fort
June 8th, Dawn

The alarm went off far too early in the morning, with the sun just rising, but Tara rolled out of her comfortable bed and trudged to the bathroom to start her day.

When she finished up feeling somewhat human again, Heather was just coming out of her own room wearing a warm pair of pajamas. “Thanks, Tara,” she said, staring at her feet.

“You’re welcome,” Tara replied, ready to let the subject drop.

“I-I don’t usually act like that.”

Putting her hand on the girls arms, Tara smiled up at her. “Listen, I read your file really closely before asking for you on my team. If I thought you couldn’t handle it I wouldn’t have put your name down. After all that happened to you, a nightmare is nothing to get upset about. But we will get you a few things after breakfast to help you feel a bit more comfortable. For now I’m going for a run, if you want you’re welcome to join me.”

“Sure, is five minutes good?”

“Perfect.”

With that bit of uncomfortableness done with, Tara threw on her running clothes, and headed downstairs. As she waited, she pulled out her phone and skimmed over the information on her two newest members.

She’d spent hours listening to Sally ‘talk’, it was still hard for her to decipher everything, but she could understand her at least a little bit. She hoped her idea for Sally would work, it would make things easier for everyone. But once they solved the communication problems, she would probably make a good team member.

Tony could be a problem. He was lacking a goal, and according to the psychologists, he had volunteered for something to do. Hopefully he’d get a goal once he started seeing what they could do to help people, but if that didn’t work she’d be ready to light a fire under his ass to get him doing what was needed.

At least they were coming together, she could start training them as a team, that would help keep them alive. She ground her teeth at the thought of training them just to watch them die.

Before she could work herself up too much, Heather came down wearing shorts and a t-shirt just like her own. Grabbing two water bottles from the fridge, they placed them in a holder on their shorts and headed out the door.

There were small groups of people running around the compound, Tara knew most of the leaders, having met them at meetings, events and training programs over the years. She waved or said hello to the ones she knew as they jogged past, before finding a group of four people followed by a pack of dogs, going in the same direction she and heather were going.

“Hey Eirs, this is Chill,” Tara said to a beautiful, blonde hair seventeen year old.

“Hi, Dancer, Chill,” the girl said, slowing down a little. “These are Kath, Erin, and Tristan,” she motioned to a blonde girl, an olive skin boy with strange metallic eyes, and a small boy who would have been ordinary except for the huge number of small circular scars covering his body including his face.

After a quick round of hello’s they picked up the pace and circled the compound twice. By the time they were done, only Tara, Eirs and Kath weren’t badly winded and struggling to stay on their feet. As they stretched out their cramps in the shade of a building, they got to talking.

“When are you getting the rest of your trainee’s?” Eirs asked.

“A little after lunchtime. They’ve finally got the lead out and pushed them through. What are you training on this week?” Tara asked.

“Mostly first aid and strength training. Only Tristan knows anything about medicine and his is pretty much all veterinary. Want to join us?” she asked. “Chill could be useful for that.”

Tara glanced at Heather, who was recovering surprisingly quickly despite her almost gaunt appearance, the girl nodded at the idea. Making a quick decision, she nodded. “Sure, I think we can spare three days. We’ve got a lot of combat training to do along with everything else.”

Tristan perked up at the mention of combat, and so did all seven of the dogs. “You gals, gonna be fighting?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Tara said. “I’ve picked my team for fighting.”

“I don’t envy ya. I done enough of it in my time, not with no tanks or things, but rifles and knives. I don’t know wha’ I’d do to a big machine.”

Heather calmly spit out some water, and wiped her mouth. “Why were you fighting?”

“The Swamp Boys wanna steal our territory, good farmland is most gone. So we spend a week hunting.” He patted some of his dogs. “My kids did some good hunting, then.”

“Why did you tell the psychologists you didn’t want to fight much,” Tara asked, curious since he was smiling so much as he talked.

Tristan gave a little snort. “Wha’ can my kids do fighting a tank, or chargin’ machine guns? They get hurt, I feel it. They die, wha’ happening to me?” He shook his head. “Nope. I help people live, I be grinning.”

Tara’s watch beeped. “Time for breakfast, and I’ve got a mountain of work to prepare. Eirs, tell me when you’re planning the first aid tomorrow, we’ll be there.”

Her friend nodded, and they said goodbye, before jogging back to their homes.

After quick showers, they went to the canteen grabbing a meal of eggs, toast and juice. Most of the tables were taken up by teams, some of them were eating with other teams, but most of them were just talking to each other, getting to know each other.

“What made you become a hero?” Heather asked, already making an impact on her small mountain of scrambled eggs.
“Major Star,” Tara answered, getting a strange look from the girl. “He is… was the biggest hero in America, and my mentor. Our powers were similar, so he trained me when my powers erupted at eleven. And well, he impressed me so much, I decided I could help people as a hero.”

“I heard some soldiers talking about him at the hotel. He sounds impressive.”

“He was,” she said, fighting back a sigh. “Only Burning Light could match him, and Dr. Anarchist. What are you hoping to do once we get things under control?” she asked hoping to get away from the subject before she showed any weakness.

Heather shrugged. “No idea. Until a week and a half ago, I was just trying to stay alive, and keep other people alive. Now, everything has opened up, and it’s a little overwhelming.” She took a bite of her toast, having finished off the eggs in record time. “I’m just taking it one day at a time.”

Tara nodded in understanding. “Good plan. I’m not sure when things will get back to normal, but I’m sure you’ll do well. And I’ll back you up as much as I can.”

“Thanks.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes, with Tara feeling more and more uncertain. She saw the other tables so animated and talkative, and hers was silent. “You don’t talk much do you?” Tara asked suddenly, and then fought back a blush.

The older girl gave a half smile. “Sorry, I’m out of practice. There wasn’t much to talk about back home, and I didn’t like listening to the gossip, so… I just stopped talking.”

“Don’t worry about it. Do you know anything about sign language or morse code?”

That got a confused blink. “Um, no. Why?”

“We need to talk to Sally, so we’re going to learn sign language to talk while we’re face to face, and morse code for the radio. I was hoping at least one of us wouldn’t be starting from scratch,” Tara admitted.

“Sorry, but I’ll be happy to learn. I need to keep busy.”

“Great. We’ll be starting our first lessons this afternoon.” Tara hoped Heather would say something to keep the conversation going, but the older girl didn’t do anything except go back for seconds.

“This is going to work, as soon as the others get here, everything is going to come together,” she whispered to herself.

**

They spent the morning, fitting out Heather’s room with a small stereo, a laptop, several lamps, and a few little sticky LED lights that they glued around her bed, within easy reach if Heather was lying down. They also moved the bed so it was under the window where she could look out the window as she fell asleep.

She had to loan Heather some money to afford everything, but it was a small price to pay if it let Heather sleep peacefully.

They did some sparring before lunch, and then it was another quiet meal together. Finally they went to the front gate as word came in that Tony and Sally were about to arrive.

The black car came driving up, and a boy who looked like any other teenager you’d see on the street stepped quickly out of the car. He looked around uncertainly and the look got worse as his eyes fell on them. A faceless, featureless girl made of sand, followed him more slowly.

Refusing to show any nervousness, she stepped forward, hand out and smiling professionally. “Hi Tony, Sally, I’m Tara Zhu, also known as Fire Dancer, the team leader. This is Heather Freedman, our medic.”

Neither of the two said anything, Tony managed a small smile, Sally gave a slight nod. Tara had really been hoping for something more. Rallying as best she could, “I haven’t had the chance of talking to either of you by email, but it’s a pleasure to finally meet you both. So if you’ll come with me, I’ll show you to our house and we can begin with some real introductions before taking a tour and doing some training.”

That got a nod from Tony, but Sally just started walking forwards. Biting her tongue to convince herself this wasn’t some nightmare, Tara started leading them into the camp, hiding the sinking feeling in her stomach with a strict professional voice she’d worked hard on perfecting over the years of training. Maybe after they had a chance to sit down and talk things would improve.

She wished she could ask Major Star what to do.