The Metahuman Agency: The Superhuman War

Fallen Friends

"Up we go..." Jason said, more to himself than the poor man he was currently yanking out of the freezing water. The man, a middle-aged fellow wearing a soaking wet business suit, grabbed Jason's outstretched hand. With a tight grip, Jason helped the man out of the churning river and yanked him onto land. The man hugged his dripping arms against himself, looking bedraggled and freezing.

Jason pointed over his shoulder across the docks to where a convoy of ambulances and EMTs were. "Go over there. They'll get you warm." The man nodded, his teeth chattering and stumbled over to the ambulances, sirens flashing around him. Jason watched as he joined the crowd of civilians assembled there. He caught a glimpse of several EMTs handing out blankets to the freezing people, while helping them into the vehicles. No one looked seriously injured but he did glimpse a few of the nurses applying bandages to the side of someone's head and setting another woman's broken arm.

Jason sighed and looked back at the river. Audrey was bent over the edge of the docks, her large arms scooping two children out of the water. She set them down and they stared up at her, eyes wide and staring. A woman near them, probably their mother, grabbed them and hauled them off, shooting nervous glances at Audrey as she tugged them toward the ambulances.

Audrey let out a shallow breath, her breath showing in the cold air. Jason approached him, bits of water stinging his healing wounds on his arms. He nodded and looked back at the water, seeing no one. Still, he asked: "That everyone?"

Audrey opened her wings and buzzed a few feet over the docks. She looked around, antennae waving, before flying back down. "I don't see anyone," She muttered. "So unless they drowned..." She swallowed and bit her lip. "...I think we got everyone."

Jason grimaced at her comment. Now that was an unpleasant thought. But he was fairly sure they'd gotten everyone. He stared across the docks, listening to the chatter of people and the wail of sirens behind him. Across the river, smoke was rising from where the Skeleton Crew's helicopter had crashed into the shipyard.

The three of them (mostly Jason and Audrey) had been helping to pull civilians out of the water after they'd taken down the helicopter. They'd first herded them to shore, having a lot of people join hands (it had taken a few bouts of yelling to convince them to do that, although thankfully not that long) then Audrey had pulled them some nearby docks like a human chain. Then, Jason and Audrey had begun pulling the people onto shore. He was thankful that a convoy of ambulances and cops had shown up a few minutes later, no doubt attracted by the ruckus on the bridge. Now the civilians were being cared for, even with the small amount of EMTs who'd arrived with the convoy.

Laureen was standing a few feet away, her hair a tangled mess, still looking a bit green from the wild ride a while before. She'd been watching and helping out where she could but her bad leg didn't grant her as much leeway to pull people out of the water and eventually, Jason had convinced her to "supervise" for the moment. She hadn't liked that (much cursing and grumbling had ensued) but she'd been mostly cool about it and after her initial venting, had unhappily resigned herself to watching.

Jason's thoughts now turned to Hiroshi and he looked back at the bridge, cop cars surrounding it. He caught glimpses of people moving about, mere specters on the looming bridge. They should get back up there and check on the kid. He was probably still lying in the van, alone, clutching his broken rib and waiting for someone to come get him.

"Alright," Jason turned back to the others and addressed Laureen. "Boss, I think the hospital people can handle the civilians down here. We should go get Hiroshi then plan our next move. Incisor and a whole bunch of other assholes are probably still out there."

"Yeah," Laureen looked away from where she'd been staring and snapped her fingers. "Let's fucking move. Still got lots of ass to kick!"

Jason moved over to Audrey as she straightened up, nodding in agreement. He put a hand against her arm. "You still feeling okay?"