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xp_logsAnother rescue scene. Angelo finds even his powers have their uses in the devastation. Illyana would be mortified.
Angelo, as one of the Spanish-speakers available on the relief team, had been pressed into service down in Barrio Logan, manning one of the shelters. He would have preferred to be sitting with Nathan, but... he was needed more here. Anyway, it was a good distraction.
He was in the middle of helping explain to one of the aid workers that a woman's husband had been missing and she was worried about him when there was a sudden tugging at his t-shirt sleeve and Amanda appeared at his elbow. Her Red Cross shirt and the red bandana worn over her hair were dirty and her face smudged with concrete dust.
"There you are!" she exclaimed with obvious relief. "C'mon, there's something only you can do and we have to hurry!" She began tugging him away, the aid worker blinking at them in bemusement but accepting the loss of his interpreter with a nod and a gesture.
Angelo turned back to the aid worker as he was dragged off, shrugging slightly and calling, "I'll be back" as they vanished through the door. "Amanda, where are we goin'?"
"There's a kid, trapped under her apartment building," she told him, the words coming rapid-fire. "They've managed to clear enough so she could climb out, but she's fucking terrified and won't move and they can't reach her. I tried to talk her out, but my Spanish is a bit dodgy with all the brain frying and I don't think talking's going to do it any way." She glanced up at him, face pinched and worried.
He hadn't really been smiling to begin with, but he definitely wasn't by the end of her recitation. "Okay. Is it far?"
"Just on the next block. I ran all the way to come get you when I thought of it." Indeed she was a bit breathless and her face was pink under the dust. "I wanted to crawl down and get her, but they wouldn't let me. Not safe enough and I don't have any powers I could use to protect me and the kid if something went wrong." She couldn't help the note of bitterness.
"Just let them try an' stop me", he said grimly. "How old is she?"
"Six, maybe? I couldn't get a lot out of her. And Manny's accent makes my Spanish a bit weird."
Up ahead of them a group of relief workers in filthy white overalls and the Red Cross bibs were gathered around a pile of rubble that had once been a six story apartment block. When the quake had hit it had collapsed like a house of cards. As they approached one of the men got up from where he'd been lying on his stomach half-way down a small hole. He shook his head, the position of his shoulders clearly showing his frustration and helplessness.
Angelo started forward, the set of his own shoulders determined. "Let me try", he said as he approached the group. "I can talk to her. An' maybe even get her out of there."
"I don't think talking's going to do it, man, but feel free to try." It was the man who had just been trying already. "Kid's mom is there and she won't leave her."
Amanda opened her mouth to ask why they didn't just get the mother out and realised from the grimness of his expression that it wouldn't help. And at this point rescue efforts were focussed on the living. "You might have to stretch to reach her," she told Angelo quietly as they reached the hole. It was maybe a foot and a half wide and from its depths a child's whimpering could be heard.
"Well, who's better at that than me?" he muttered back, with a crooked half-grin, then dropped to lie flat at the edge of the hole, looking down and switching into Spanish. "~Heeey, chiquita? How're you holdin' up down there?~"
The only response was more whimpering and a frightened sob. Amanda bit her lip and let Angelo continue - if anyone could get the kid out, it would be him.
"~C'mon, munchkin", he encouraged her. "Talk to Angelo, huh? We want to get you out.~"
"~Mama told me not to talk to strangers,~" came the trembling reply, so faint it would have been missed if it hadn't been for the echoing effect of the hole. "~But she's asleep and she won't wake up and it's dark and I'm scared.~"
"~Your Mama would want you to be safe~", he told her gently but firmly. "~An' she meant the bad kind of strangers - an' I know, it's hard to tell, but these guys up here with me, they're the good guys. I promise.~"
"~But I can't leave Mama. She might wake up and be mad that I'm not here!~" The child's voice rose to a wail. "~Why won't she wake up? I want my Mama!~"
"~Ssssh, honey, ssh.~" He winced, where she couldn't see him. "~Your Mama won't be mad if you let us get you to somewhere safe. An' when you're there...~"
"~NO! I want to stay with my Mama!~" The response was a panicked shriek and Amanda gripped Angelo's arm a little tighter.
"See the problem?" she murmured, almost wryly.
There was a groan of metal and dust showered down as something shifted. "The whole thing's too unstable," said one of the workers. "We need to get her out now, before the whole thing comes down. We could send a harness down on a rope, but there's no guarantee we'd be able to get it on her. The space is just too small for an adult."
"You don't need a rope", Angelo said quietly, staring down into the hole. "You've got me." He didn't bother to explain, just reached down into the hole and stretched, for the first time in a while.
Amanda watched, unconsciously holding her breath as Angelo frowned in concentration. Around them the workers did the same, expressions a mixture of confusion and resignation, but also a small element of hope. There'd been any number of small miracles today. Maybe there'd be one more.
The edges of the hole were rough as he felt around in the space with the skin of both hands, trying to find the girl. "~Chiquita? Can you tell me where you are?~"
"~I'm in a hole,~" came the reply, as cross as only a six year old could be. Then there was a sudden startled squeak. "~Something touched me! There's a snake!~"
"~It's not a snake~", he said hastily. "~It's okay, don't panic.~" More. And now he'd located her, the rest was relatively easy. "~Up you come, honey.~"
She resisted at first, struggling a little as Angelo wrapped his elongated fingers around her arm. "~MAMA!~" she cried out. "~I WANT MY MAMA!~"
He made sure he had a good grip on both arms - and hopefully one that wouldn't hurt her - before he started pulling her up. "~Soon, honey. Soon.~"
Amanda had moved back a little to give Angelo room but as soon as a dusty dark-haired head appeared at the mouth of the hole, she was there again, reaching to help Angelo pull her out. "~Hush, nina it's all right, you'll be safe now,~" she murmured, already checking her over for obvious injuries. By some miracle, there were none, except for a some small cuts and a fresh scrape on her knee from Angelo pulling her out.
Blinking in the sunlight, the little girl's shrieking turned into sobs. "~Mama!~" she hiccuped. "~Mama's in the hole too! I want Mama!~"
Angelo looked at her sadly, standing up and flexing his hands before he pulled the skin back in. "I'm gonna take her back to the shelter, if she'll go. Unless there's somewhere better for her to be."
Amanda, her arms full of sobbing, weakly struggling child, nodded. "I'll come with you, get her checked out with the medics..." she began. Before she could say anything more, the aid worker who'd been trying to get the girl out came up and laid his large meaty hand on Angelo's shoulder.
"Thank you," he said simply. "If it weren't for you, we would have lost the kid as well as her mom." His expression was sympathetic, his eyes speaking of a hundred scenes like this one being enacted all over the city. "She's alive because of you. Remember that."
Angelo looked up at him, and though he wasn't smiling, his nod of acknowledgment somehow had the same effect. "Hey... least I could do. But thanks."
"It's a shitty job, but we all do what we can." Turning to his companions, who had been standing by, nodding and adding their murmured praise, he jerked his head at the building. "Let's get back to it. We'll get this lot stabilised, look for more survivors."
As they moved off to continue the rescue, Amanda struggled to her feet, Angelo grabbing her elbow to help her up. In her arms the little girl's sobs had died down to tired whimpers and Amanda stroked her matted hair soothingly. It reminded her of Meggan so strongly she had to close her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again, Angelo was watching her with that concerned look he did so well. "It's fine," she said, shifting the girl's weight a little more evenly. "Let's get her out of all this, yeah?"
"Yeah", he said after a moment. "We'll find the rest of her family, if she's got any. Want me to take her?"
"That'd be great." The girl wasn't very big, but she was heavy and Amanda was finding she was getting more and more tired as the work went on. Soothing her in the Castillian Spanish she'd learned from Manuel, she disentangled the girl from her death grip and handed her to Angelo. After a moment of stiffness, the girl clung to Angelo like a limpet. "There's a list of people looking for family. Once we get her name we can add it and her address to that. Hopefully someone'll claim her soon."
"I'll look after her until they do", he decided. "Don't think she'll be lettin' go without a fight until she's got someone she knows to go to, anyway."
"She'll be safe then," Amanda replied with a faint, weary smile that quickly faded. "Let me know if you need any help." She looked around the shattered street they were walking down, shaking her head. "So much that's broken," she half-whispered to herself. She might have been referring to anything, from the buildings to the people to the city itself.
Angelo nodded bleakly as they walked, murmuring quickly to the little girl. "It's gonna take a long time to put all this back together."
Angelo, as one of the Spanish-speakers available on the relief team, had been pressed into service down in Barrio Logan, manning one of the shelters. He would have preferred to be sitting with Nathan, but... he was needed more here. Anyway, it was a good distraction.
He was in the middle of helping explain to one of the aid workers that a woman's husband had been missing and she was worried about him when there was a sudden tugging at his t-shirt sleeve and Amanda appeared at his elbow. Her Red Cross shirt and the red bandana worn over her hair were dirty and her face smudged with concrete dust.
"There you are!" she exclaimed with obvious relief. "C'mon, there's something only you can do and we have to hurry!" She began tugging him away, the aid worker blinking at them in bemusement but accepting the loss of his interpreter with a nod and a gesture.
Angelo turned back to the aid worker as he was dragged off, shrugging slightly and calling, "I'll be back" as they vanished through the door. "Amanda, where are we goin'?"
"There's a kid, trapped under her apartment building," she told him, the words coming rapid-fire. "They've managed to clear enough so she could climb out, but she's fucking terrified and won't move and they can't reach her. I tried to talk her out, but my Spanish is a bit dodgy with all the brain frying and I don't think talking's going to do it any way." She glanced up at him, face pinched and worried.
He hadn't really been smiling to begin with, but he definitely wasn't by the end of her recitation. "Okay. Is it far?"
"Just on the next block. I ran all the way to come get you when I thought of it." Indeed she was a bit breathless and her face was pink under the dust. "I wanted to crawl down and get her, but they wouldn't let me. Not safe enough and I don't have any powers I could use to protect me and the kid if something went wrong." She couldn't help the note of bitterness.
"Just let them try an' stop me", he said grimly. "How old is she?"
"Six, maybe? I couldn't get a lot out of her. And Manny's accent makes my Spanish a bit weird."
Up ahead of them a group of relief workers in filthy white overalls and the Red Cross bibs were gathered around a pile of rubble that had once been a six story apartment block. When the quake had hit it had collapsed like a house of cards. As they approached one of the men got up from where he'd been lying on his stomach half-way down a small hole. He shook his head, the position of his shoulders clearly showing his frustration and helplessness.
Angelo started forward, the set of his own shoulders determined. "Let me try", he said as he approached the group. "I can talk to her. An' maybe even get her out of there."
"I don't think talking's going to do it, man, but feel free to try." It was the man who had just been trying already. "Kid's mom is there and she won't leave her."
Amanda opened her mouth to ask why they didn't just get the mother out and realised from the grimness of his expression that it wouldn't help. And at this point rescue efforts were focussed on the living. "You might have to stretch to reach her," she told Angelo quietly as they reached the hole. It was maybe a foot and a half wide and from its depths a child's whimpering could be heard.
"Well, who's better at that than me?" he muttered back, with a crooked half-grin, then dropped to lie flat at the edge of the hole, looking down and switching into Spanish. "~Heeey, chiquita? How're you holdin' up down there?~"
The only response was more whimpering and a frightened sob. Amanda bit her lip and let Angelo continue - if anyone could get the kid out, it would be him.
"~C'mon, munchkin", he encouraged her. "Talk to Angelo, huh? We want to get you out.~"
"~Mama told me not to talk to strangers,~" came the trembling reply, so faint it would have been missed if it hadn't been for the echoing effect of the hole. "~But she's asleep and she won't wake up and it's dark and I'm scared.~"
"~Your Mama would want you to be safe~", he told her gently but firmly. "~An' she meant the bad kind of strangers - an' I know, it's hard to tell, but these guys up here with me, they're the good guys. I promise.~"
"~But I can't leave Mama. She might wake up and be mad that I'm not here!~" The child's voice rose to a wail. "~Why won't she wake up? I want my Mama!~"
"~Ssssh, honey, ssh.~" He winced, where she couldn't see him. "~Your Mama won't be mad if you let us get you to somewhere safe. An' when you're there...~"
"~NO! I want to stay with my Mama!~" The response was a panicked shriek and Amanda gripped Angelo's arm a little tighter.
"See the problem?" she murmured, almost wryly.
There was a groan of metal and dust showered down as something shifted. "The whole thing's too unstable," said one of the workers. "We need to get her out now, before the whole thing comes down. We could send a harness down on a rope, but there's no guarantee we'd be able to get it on her. The space is just too small for an adult."
"You don't need a rope", Angelo said quietly, staring down into the hole. "You've got me." He didn't bother to explain, just reached down into the hole and stretched, for the first time in a while.
Amanda watched, unconsciously holding her breath as Angelo frowned in concentration. Around them the workers did the same, expressions a mixture of confusion and resignation, but also a small element of hope. There'd been any number of small miracles today. Maybe there'd be one more.
The edges of the hole were rough as he felt around in the space with the skin of both hands, trying to find the girl. "~Chiquita? Can you tell me where you are?~"
"~I'm in a hole,~" came the reply, as cross as only a six year old could be. Then there was a sudden startled squeak. "~Something touched me! There's a snake!~"
"~It's not a snake~", he said hastily. "~It's okay, don't panic.~" More. And now he'd located her, the rest was relatively easy. "~Up you come, honey.~"
She resisted at first, struggling a little as Angelo wrapped his elongated fingers around her arm. "~MAMA!~" she cried out. "~I WANT MY MAMA!~"
He made sure he had a good grip on both arms - and hopefully one that wouldn't hurt her - before he started pulling her up. "~Soon, honey. Soon.~"
Amanda had moved back a little to give Angelo room but as soon as a dusty dark-haired head appeared at the mouth of the hole, she was there again, reaching to help Angelo pull her out. "~Hush, nina it's all right, you'll be safe now,~" she murmured, already checking her over for obvious injuries. By some miracle, there were none, except for a some small cuts and a fresh scrape on her knee from Angelo pulling her out.
Blinking in the sunlight, the little girl's shrieking turned into sobs. "~Mama!~" she hiccuped. "~Mama's in the hole too! I want Mama!~"
Angelo looked at her sadly, standing up and flexing his hands before he pulled the skin back in. "I'm gonna take her back to the shelter, if she'll go. Unless there's somewhere better for her to be."
Amanda, her arms full of sobbing, weakly struggling child, nodded. "I'll come with you, get her checked out with the medics..." she began. Before she could say anything more, the aid worker who'd been trying to get the girl out came up and laid his large meaty hand on Angelo's shoulder.
"Thank you," he said simply. "If it weren't for you, we would have lost the kid as well as her mom." His expression was sympathetic, his eyes speaking of a hundred scenes like this one being enacted all over the city. "She's alive because of you. Remember that."
Angelo looked up at him, and though he wasn't smiling, his nod of acknowledgment somehow had the same effect. "Hey... least I could do. But thanks."
"It's a shitty job, but we all do what we can." Turning to his companions, who had been standing by, nodding and adding their murmured praise, he jerked his head at the building. "Let's get back to it. We'll get this lot stabilised, look for more survivors."
As they moved off to continue the rescue, Amanda struggled to her feet, Angelo grabbing her elbow to help her up. In her arms the little girl's sobs had died down to tired whimpers and Amanda stroked her matted hair soothingly. It reminded her of Meggan so strongly she had to close her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again, Angelo was watching her with that concerned look he did so well. "It's fine," she said, shifting the girl's weight a little more evenly. "Let's get her out of all this, yeah?"
"Yeah", he said after a moment. "We'll find the rest of her family, if she's got any. Want me to take her?"
"That'd be great." The girl wasn't very big, but she was heavy and Amanda was finding she was getting more and more tired as the work went on. Soothing her in the Castillian Spanish she'd learned from Manuel, she disentangled the girl from her death grip and handed her to Angelo. After a moment of stiffness, the girl clung to Angelo like a limpet. "There's a list of people looking for family. Once we get her name we can add it and her address to that. Hopefully someone'll claim her soon."
"I'll look after her until they do", he decided. "Don't think she'll be lettin' go without a fight until she's got someone she knows to go to, anyway."
"She'll be safe then," Amanda replied with a faint, weary smile that quickly faded. "Let me know if you need any help." She looked around the shattered street they were walking down, shaking her head. "So much that's broken," she half-whispered to herself. She might have been referring to anything, from the buildings to the people to the city itself.
Angelo nodded bleakly as they walked, murmuring quickly to the little girl. "It's gonna take a long time to put all this back together."
