Blood Obsidian

Issue 36

Whoso comes from the dark ... - Part 6

An intense heat rose from the shaft, a sign that something continued to burn down there and, with all the weaponry, machinery and equipment, she expected it would burn for some time. Down there, somewhere, lay Kyle's body and she wanted to jump down and dig him out. She doubted she would get anywhere close. Fiend had won. They had killed someone close to her and it wouldn't end there.

"Caitlyn?" The ear piece crackled and Caitlyn snapped up to her knees, touching her ear, disbelieving what she had heard. "Are you there?"

"Kyle? Kyle!" Beneath her mask, the tears that rolled down her cheeks were no longer through loss. "Where are you? I can dig you out. I can ... just tell me where you are!"

"I'm fine. Well, no, not fine, actually. I'm pretty banged up but, apart from that, I'm fine. Ow! Ow! Not fine! Not fine! Painkillers, man! Drone! Whatever. Painkillers!" Kyle shouted at someone, but he really did sound fine. As fine as someone thrown down an elevator shaft could feel, she guessed. "Yeah. Fear's a member of Bastion. Strictly speaking, I'm not allowed to use the transporters, but, in an emergency ... Damn it! Get your medical protocols checked! Listen, I'm going to pass out now, but ..."

The connection turned silent and Caitlyn didn't care that Kyle hadn't finished talking. He was alive and that was all that mattered. He was alive and that meant that Fiend had failed. Failed and had possibly given Caitlyn an advantage. For all Fiend knew, Pho-Boy had died and, dependant on how fast Kyle healed, that could prove a mistake that could come back to haunt the villain.

-+-

A little later ...

She hadn't expected Chief Watson to come himself. Using the number he had given her, she thought he would be able to organise FDNH, the police and anyone else they needed to contain the fire below the warehouse, faster than if she had called nine-one-one herself. In fairness to her judgement, he had worked fast and Caitlyn watched from above as the professionals took care of the damage caused below.

After a while, it looked like Chief Watson wasn't needed any longer, getting back into his car and heading out of the wharf district. Caitlyn followed, jumping from roof to roof, making the occasional swing, fast-floating some of the way, until the Chief reached a quiet enough area where she doubted anyone could observe them.

"Excuse me, does this bus take me to Central and Buscema, or is that the number fourteen?" Landing on the roof of the car, with now practiced silence, Caitlyn peered inside. The Chief looked weird, all upside down and panicking. "Should I walk? It's probably just as easy to walk."

"You ... you maniac! You could have killed us both!" He slammed on the brakes and Caitlyn allowed the momentum to carry her beyond the car, tumbling to a halt in front of the headlights. "Now I need a cigarette."

Stumbling from the car, clutching his chest, Chief Watson took a cigarette from the pack with shaking fingers as Caitlyn leapt back on to the roof of the car. It gave her the advantage of making him look up at her. Far better than being the one intimidated by a cop as she returned to consciousness. A lot had happened since that day.

"Those things'll kill you." She spun around, sitting down on the roof and dangling her kicking legs over the side. "Speaking of things killing you, I have, like, this arch-nemesis, or something, who is totally trying to kill me, but not before they've killed all my friends and family? Oh, and they framed me! Not for anything too bad, well, not yet, but, still. And could you, perhaps, let it slip that you found the corpse of Pho-Boy down in the ruins of that warehouse, because that would be so helpful."