[ 23 ]

HE WATCHED THE SMOKE RISE and resisted the urge to break down. Watching it all go up in flame, Finn tried to force himself to think of something heroic to do, but no idea came -- all he could do was stand there, stand as the bar went up in flame, stand as he listened to people shout drunkenly and stand as more people pulled up outside, ashen-faced. Some of them were sobbing, others just standing blankly ahead. Finn didn't know if anyone had been hurt; he hoped not, but the sheer size of the flames and the sweltering heat coming off it in waves was enough to solidify those fears into something heavy and dark and definitely real.

Jasper had gone in a while ago, occasionally hauling out limp figures, but even he hadn't returned yet, engulfed by flames that couldn't hurt him. At least that was a mild comfort, knowing that he couldn't be taken, gone in the same way that Sasha had. Finn clenched his fists, knuckles threatening to burst as the bone pressed, white, under his skin. Panic rose in waves mirroring those of the building as he paced around, breathing in smoky air heavily.

A dark shape in the corner of his eyes grew closer, followed by the smell of rose shampoo. Finn held back a jump of surprise as that smell wafted closer and closer, followed by a weight on his shoulder. Narcissa's lips pursed as she rested her head on his shoulder, her hand slowly finding his as it lay limply by his side. Giving it a reassuring squeeze, she met his eyes briefly, before turning away.

"It's a disaster," she murmured, looking down at her feet. For a moment, they stood in silence, before her head suddenly tilted back upwards, eyes widening with realisation. "Wait. Don't do anything -- don't try and stop me."

Peeling off her jacket, she flung it into Finn's arms.

Then Narcissa Corvus walked into the burning building.

It took every ounce of willpower in Finn's body not to go after her, but he knew that if there was one thing that would make her go even crazier, it would be him following her. Besides, as much as he wanted to play the role of a hero now, he was the only one left -- Semper couldn't lose all four of them in one goddamn day. Finn forced himself to stay standing, heaving a deep breath as Director Singh approached him, the colour drained out of her face.

"Did I just see what I think I saw or is this smoke going to my head?" Neleesha indicated the spot through which Narcissa had gone in, gnawing on her bottom lip and digging her hands into her pockets. Teetering slightly, rocking backwards and forwards, she scrunched her face up as if she were trying not to cry.

"I-I..." Finn trailed off, his voice cracking. "Help them. Please, Director. I can't lose them."

"Fire truck's gonna be here in a minute," Neleesha assured him, looking down at her watch with a frown. "It's a lot to take in," she admitted as she backed away from the fire, wiping sweat from her forehead with her sleeve.

"What do you mean it's a lot to take in? There's nothing to take in. It's a burning building with the most powerful and physically able people in the city. One of which will survive, two of which will die and doom the city forever."

"You sound like a comic book character. Calm down, Finn. You forget that we're the richest and most technologically advanced law enforcement group in America. They're gonna be okay, kid."

Finn furrowed his eyebrows, shuffling his feet. "Promise?" he felt like a little boy again, waiting for parents that would never return.

Director Singh gave him a quick nod. "I promise, on the behalf of Crux and Semper herself."

But her words weren't enough -- they could never be enough, not when he was standing here, watching the world pass by and destruction unfold.

"Look."

So he did, following her gaze till it locked on a figure, struggling to pass through a wall of fire. That distant smudge became two figures, clearer and clearer as they drew closer, huddled together. It soon became apparent that they were trying to hold something -- or someone -- up, arms locked together and heads nearly touching. Finn ran towards them without thinking, stepping back with a yelp of pain as a tiny lick of flame stroked his leg.

"What the--" he cut himself off as Narcissa and Jasper stepped out of the fire, looking to be unscathed and perfectly fine, apart from the horror so clearly sunken into their faces. They didn't speak, not until they pushed through the crowd in front of the bar and hauled the figure they had been clutching onto a stretcher.

It was only then that Finn realised they'd been holding Sasha, her pale face unrecognisable under a layer of soot, skin bubbling under the collar of her tight-fitting jumpsuit. Her hands, also blackened with ash and grime, had three deep cuts in the palms of each hand, blood oozing from them in a way that made nausea ripple through Finn's stomach. He'd never considered himself to be squeamish, but seeing Sash in such a position made him so sick with worry that bile rose up in his mouth anyway.

"Will she survive?" he asked the paramedic by her side, a sturdily built man with a five-o'clock shadow sweeping across his jaw and cheeks. He cast Finn a grave look, but didn't say anything, instead sliding the ambulance door open, hauling the stretcher in with one movement before slamming the door in his face.

Just as he was about to turn to Narcissa and begin bombarding her with questions, a tug at his sleeve made his look to his other side, where a gap-toothed girl was smiling up at him. She couldn't have been any older than five or six, with red hair in pigtails and freckles dusting her button nose, wearing a foam costume that Finn recognised as the Crux uniform he, Jasper and Sasha had worn the last time they'd been at the conference.

"Hey, mister. I liked the way you saved people from the fire," she gave him a shy grin, her confidence disappearing as Finn smiled back at her as reassuringly as he could muster. "You saved my daddy."

"I-"

But Narcissa's elbow jabbing his side firmly stopped his excuse from tumbling out of his lips.

"Your daddy's gonna be all good, kid. What's your name?"

The little girl jumped up with the excitement of being acknowledged. "Katie."

"Nice to meet you, Katie. I'm Finn."

"He sends his warmest wishes, Katie," Narcissa interrupted, pulling Finn away as a visibly nervous woman grabbed Katie by the hand, her expression stormy and her thin frame shaking. "You're a hero now, Johnson. Keepin' the morale up while we were burning to death, then?"

"You didn't," he said simply, and Narcissa scoffed.

"Nah. I mean, I assumed that if my skin was bulletproof, it would be vaguely fireproof, too. Enough to save an innocent girl trapped in the bowels of a burning building." She folded her arms over her chest, casting him a look that was almost expectant. "This here's when you tell me how heroic and amazing I am and how lucky you are you have me."

"Nana."

"Yeah?" she tilted her head, the hair tucked behind her ears moving to cover the side of her face.

Finn grabbed her by the waist, pulling her towards him. He stiffened in anticipation, hiding his beam as she melted into the embrace. For a moment, they simply remained like that, her body pressed against his chest, till Narcissa closed the gap between them, her lips meeting his with a crazed, awkward laugh. This kiss wasn't like the one they had shared on the rooftop as kids -- no, it was hungrier, more desperate.

His hand cupping her jaw, Finn felt her heartbeat, thumping with an exhilaration like nothing ever before. That hand travelling upwards to cling to her hair, they pulled apart briefly, meeting each other's eyes.

"This isn't the time," Finn breathed, but Narcissa's flushed cheeks and perfect face filled his gaze till there was nothing else he could do but continue kissing her. He wondered why he hadn't done it earlier, from the first moment they were reunited -- but they'd let those feelings overflow, and now the boat carrying those feelings had sunken, swallowed by the hungry mouth of the sea that was Semper. There was nothing else to it but her; she was a rose garden, the reddest, most fragrant rose, the most pristine of them all.

Narcissa dug her hands into his back pockets, deepening the kiss with a fierceness that almost made him stagger, clouds of their breath forming a vapour in the cool late afternoon air. Finn felt the press of her body against his, the thunder of her heart, the wristbands encircling her hands that bit into his skin and his heart clenched in a strange way, a way that he had never quite felt before.

Slowly, hesitantly, they drew apart, looking down at the cold, hard ground. A grin of pure joy lifted the corners of Finn's mouth, and Narcissa restrained a slight smirk of her own, feigning nonchalance.

"That was good," she said casually. "We should do it more often, Johnson." Though her cheeks were still pink with a blush, her tone was collected, level as always.

"Sure. Maybe after the megalomaniac and everything dies down. Plus, we got another problem now, don't we?" Finn nodded towards the bones of the bar that remained, smouldering ruins being extinguished by firefighters in Semper's beige uniform, sirens wailing all around them.

Narcissa began to walk away as Director Singh called her name, but she lingered for a minute longer, taking his hand with a far gentler grip than before. "I'll see you on the other side, soldier?"

Finn let out a laugh. "Yeah."

He watched her go once again, but this time, she was okay. That was what he told himself, at least, as he followed a Crux agent that he recognised, though he couldn't quite put a name to the face. Not bothering with idle chatter, he let the agent guide him -- the day had been so intense that he couldn't find it within himself to do anything but sleep as soon as they loaded the chopper.

Some would've thought it impossible to fall asleep in a helicopter (and Finn would've usually considered it an unachievable feat as much as any other man), but as soon as the copter shot into the air, he was out like a light.

But there were some things that you couldn't just sleep off -- and every single thing that had happened in Wolverhampton fell under that category. He knew that there was something awfully, dreadfully wrong going on, but he couldn't pinpoint it all; not with everything that had taken place. Usnayans, bar fights, kidnappings, drownings and fires -- it was all too much to handle all at once.

Finn's dreams were plagued by hooded figures and hisses of accents, bright, bright flames and waves of excruciating heat. In one of them, he was running down a hallway, the hum of gunfire follwing every move that he made. In another, he was kissing Narcissa, driving his hands lower--

Abruptly, he woke up, city lights blurred in his vision. A neon H-pad glared below him as he looked over the side of the chopper, through the perfectly clean window. Crux loved having everything perfect, and the vehicle he was currently strapped into was no exception to that. Despite the rather cramped seats, they were still elegantly upholstered, a gleaming control panel in the front, catching the rays of light that swept through the sunset.

In this light, Semper City was more beautiful than ever, her narrow streets pulsing with lanterns and fluorescent lights, the sound of sirens blaring and cars beeping furiously filling Finn's ears as he slid out of his seat, landing on the ground with a slight thump.

But beautiful things were often like that -- beautiful and nothing else.

[ end ]