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Clarice, Amara, Lil and Tabitha respond to the scene at the clinic.

Salem Center Counseling Services
Monday, April 6th
6:45pm

One minute ago, the only sounds on the quiet, secluded street were a robin warning away other birds from its nest, and two squirrels playing a game of tag in the trees.

Now the street was filled with thick black smoke and crackling flames. The old gray Victorian at the end of the lane was engulfed in fire that was quickly spreading to the vacant house to the right. Neighbors were gathering out in their yards, some talking rapidly on cell phones, others congregating together as close to the house as possible, trying to decide who had the courage to go inside the house. Three cars were parked in the lot left of the building, indicating there were at least three individuals most likely still in the home.

"They're on their way!" The street's self-appointed neighborhood watch commander officiously moved towards the group gathered in the street. "I just talked to the police, the fire truck's on the way."

"Should we try to go inside?" the question came tremulously from one of the tenants of the apartment building three doors up. "I mean, there might be kids in there. Don't they have kids for counseling?"

"Mutie kids," was the muttered response of one of the neighbors. "Besides," he said, shaking his head and staring at the flames grimly, "They're probably all dead anyway. Look at that place--must've sparked some electrical wiring or something. No way anyone's alive in there."

--

Three people were alive--one buried under the remains of her desk in the waiting room, a desk that was currently protecting her partially from the flames. One in the first office behind the waiting room, knocked unconscious by a falling beam as she'd tried to leave her office. And the last was in the office at the end of the hall, slumped against a wall a few feet away from a little girl who had just stopped breathing.

Clarice teleported those who had responded to the call from Forge just outside the building that Samson's program was in. It was a little strange to respond in civvies, but they weren't here officially for Red X or for the X-Men so jeans and t-shirts it was. Plus, they hadn't had time to change in an effort to mobilize. Clarice, as usual, carried a large backpack of medical supplies with her. Standing there, she took stock of the situation, "Lil, can you and Amara get in there?" she asked, it wasn't safe for her or Tabitha not knowing what sort of condition the interior of the building was in. "Give us some recon, get the civilians out?" she asked, it was hard not to fall into some of the lingo from when she was an EMT for the town, plus, this felt like the bastard love child of a Red X disaster mated with one of the X-Men missions.

"Already on it," the giantess replied, ripping the sleeve from her shirt and drenching it with the water from a bottle she'd snatched off one of the onlookers. Fire wouldn't do much to stop Lil and falling debris posed little threat. Smoke inhalation, however, was another story. All it took was two hard shots with her boot to kick the door in before the blonde turned to her roommate. "We good to go, Cookie?" she asked Amara.

"We're good." This was Amara's first time out as part of the X-Men, and to be completely honest, she was a little bit nervous about it. But this was something she could do. While Lil had been preparing herself to head in, Amara had done the same thing, taking a deep breath and setting herself on fire - which was a little bit of a misnomer, as her energized form was more light and heat rather than actual flame, but that's certainly what it looked like. It wasn't something she did regularly, and there was something invigorating about doing so. She flashed a grin to Clarice and Tabitha before heading into the building after Lil.

"Show off," Lil chuckled to the other woman from behind the wet cloth tied over her mouth and nose as she navigated the halls. Footwork was tentative with the Canadian checking the floorboards before putting her full weight on them to ensure neither she nor Amara fell through. The smoke was dense around her head, obscuring most of her vision. "Amara, you got visuals on anything or anyone?"

"Says the girl who kicked in the door," she said with a little bit of a laugh herself. She was moving a little slower than Lil, her eyesight not as hindered as the amazon's. She paused at a doorframe, taking a moment to sweep her eyes around what she thought might be the waiting room. "Just a moment, Lil. There could be someone in here. I'm going to check it out." She walked through the flames, her eyes glancing over what was once a row of chairs before getting to a desk. It was mostly destroyed, but thankfully hadn't caught on fire as yet. She was careful not to touch it, instead crouching down when she realized there was someone under there.

"There's someone here," she called out to Lil, taking a few steps back towards the doorway. "She's unconscious, and mostly buried under the desk. I can't tell if she has any injuries."

"Great." Coughing once, Lil opened a communication line to those still outside as she made her way toward the desk, following Amara. "Probable serious injuries on one female so far. We got an ETA on the ambulance?"

Tabitha scanned the street in both directions before answering. "Gawkers are making it hard to see, but no flashing lights yet. Is it safe for us to come help?"

The Amazon coughed again. "Smoke's thick. I'm gonna bring this one out to you while Amara keeps searching so you can get her started on some oxygen and cleaning up whatever else." Nodding to her partner, she gathered up the injured woman into her arms. "Find whoever else is here and I'll be back to help get them out." Lil didn't want to leave Amara by herself but knew the girl would have no problems with the flames - unlike the limp form she was carrying back towards the exit.

There wasn't much Clarice could do for smoke inhalation, she just didn't have the ability to carry that much equipment on her own. That was why there were ambulances. "Lay her here," she instructed, bunching her jacket up to place under the girls' head, "Tabitha, you know CPR, right?" she looked up at the blonde from where she was kneeling. Clarice did of course, and the girl didn't need it...but Clarice didn't want to take her chances going in if Tabitha didn't. And she was worried that others might be trapped. Hopefully, they weren't.

"Compressions and breaths, don't remember numbers, but I can wing it without puncturing anything vital." She knelt opposite Clarice, ready to do whatever the teleporter requested.

Amara opened up her line of communication, sounding a little crackly. "There's another woman in here I can't get to, it looks like a beam has fallen on her. She's in the room after the room we found the first woman in, on the left. I've got one last office to check, all the other rooms are empty."

Following Amara's directions, Lil made her way back through the flame-engulfed house to where the second victim lay. A little effort and a lot of careful wrestling with some of the fallen ceiling and the Canadian was able to pull her out from under the debris. "Got the woman, ladies. Unconscious but still alive. Gonna bring her out. Amara, where are you?"

"I'm down the hall." Amara's voice is practically a whisper, but even so, it breaks a little. "It's... there's... a body. A girl..." She breaks off, she doesn't want to keep having that conversation right now. "There's someone else here as well, I think it's Doctor Samson. I'm not sure if he's conscious or not."

Leo was slowly coming back to awareness, his thoughts muddled and confused. His first thought was that he must have fallen asleep at his desk again...but it was so hot...and his head hurt...was someone talking?

He tried to open his eyes, and blinked, the images in front of him foggy and blurry. He was in his office? His head hurt, he raised up his hand and realized his forehead was bleeding. He coughed--why was it so hard to breathe? He blinked again, and some measure of understanding dawned--fire! The room was on fire--Jada!

He struggled to rise, pushing off bits of wood and ceiling tile--there were some small shards of glass embedded in his skin, but his skin was so tough most of them hadn't actually broken the skin. He was vaguely aware of someone in the hallway, but the smoke was so thick he couldn't see. He half stumbled, across the room, coughing raggedly, and saw Jada lying still on the floor.

"Help!" He looked up to the doorway--there was definitely someone in the hall. He coughed, and then shouted, "Is there someone there? I need help!" He reached out to grab Jada, scooping her into his arms. He tried to stand, swaying--he was dizzy and his leg hurt. The clinical part of his mind engaged, and he realized he had received a head injury and was losing blood from his leg. He obviously wasn't thinking very clearly due to his injuries and the shock of the explosion--he needed to get help.

"Jada?" He looked down at the girl in his arms. Her electrical field wasn't shocking him--had it turned off because she was unconscious? He couldn't see the blue glow, but it was so hard to see anything--maybe he was just numb to the electricity, adrenaline could do strange things. "Wake up, honey," he said as he tried to stumble towards the door.

"Doctor Samson?" Amara sounded relieved to hear his voice, even if he was starting to panic a little about the girl in his arms. "It's Amara here, from Xavier's. We've got your co-workers out, but we're going to have to hurry. I'm not sure how long much longer this place has before more of it starts falling." She opened up her comm line again, relief in her voice. "Lil, Clarice, I've found Doctor Samson. We're coming out."

"Samson moving on his own or you need me to give you a hand?" Lil's voice asked between coughs. She shifted the weight in her arms, preparing to carry another body if need be but the smoke was getting thick so they'd need to hurry.

"He's fine, he's moving. I'm going to make sure he gets out okay, and then do one last sweep. I'm pretty sure there's no one else in here, but I'd like to double check." The flames behind Doctor Samson roared, and Amara stopped to duck behind him. She could take a sudden burst of flame better than he could.

Leo winced at the sudden press of heat, but gamely moved forward--he could see faint light from the outside. The hallway, if it could still be called that, was full of debris and falling wood, and, of course, the increasing clouds of smoke. He coughed again, and then stumbled over a piece of debris. He instinctively put out a hand to balance himself, clutching Jada closer to his chest to protect her, and then stumbled again as his hand was burned on the wood. He could barely breathe because of the smoke, and once he'd regained his balance, he tried to tilt Jada closer towards him to protect her from the smoke and heat. "Is there an ambulance outside? Jada's hurt," Leo glanced down at the still form in his arms, absently processing minor lacerations, head trauma and smoke inhalation. He needed to...to what? He coudn't think right now--he needed to find someone who could. "She's been cut by the glass, and she's not waking up--I think she must've hit her head."

Lil hurried to drop the second woman outside with Clarice and Tabitha before heading back into the smoke and flames, thankfully finding her roommate and the doctor with little difficulty. Her own clothes were singed and dirty but she was certainly better off than the pair Amara had found. "I've got the last sweep," she told the other woman then nodded to Samson and the limp girl. "You just worry about getting them out. Sirens sounded close so they should be here soon." With another bob of her head, the woman with the diamond hard skin disappeared down the hall.

Almost out of the house, Leo caught himself again just before falling--it wasn't just the rough going over the debris, he was having trouble focusing and his balance was off--definite signs of head trauma for him as well. Just a little bit longer and he could get Jada into the hands of someone who could help her. "We're almost out, honey," he murmured to Jada, "just hang on a little longer."

When he and Amara finally cleared the ruins of the house, he tried for a deep breath, and immediately started coughing again. He saw Tabitha and Clarice off in the grass, Tamika and Jasmine on the ground in front of them, and moved towards them.

Leo carefully knelt to lay Jada on the ground, his right leg protesting. "Clarice, do we have any medical supplies? What's the status of Tamika and Jasmine?" He looked down at the still and quiet girl and brushed ash off her face. "We just have to be careful with any treatment for Jada--her electrical field could come back on at any time, I think it's just off because she's unconscious."

As Clarice moved over to them, some part of him--that clinical, detached part--was saying that something was wrong. Something was off. He looked down at the small girl on the ground. Of course something was wrong! There was a little girl lying bleeding on the ground, his co-workers were unconscious and injured, his clinic was burning behind him...Jada wasn't really bleeding anymore. She was so still...no, he was injured with head trauma, his judgment was suspect. He needed someone who was thinking clearly, "Clarice?" he rasped hoarsely.

Clarice had ignored him as she worked, glancing up at the ambulances that were arriving too late. Looking up at the doctor she squared her shoulders and looked at her watch purposefully, "16:51 Doc," she replied hoarsely, pulling the stethoscope from her ears, a tendril of hair falling in her face. "I can't legally..." she took a breath, "Can't legally pronounce her. But...16:51. I'm sorry," there had been too much for her alone, even with help, it had all been too quick for her to 'port even..."I'm sorry."

Leo stared at her, hearing the words echo but not comprehending them. He looked down at Jada and his hand moved without volition to the side of her neck to check her pulse, even as he denied Clarice's words, "No...no, she's just unconscious. She's just..."

He trailed off as his fingers confirmed what his head refused to believe. He gently moved his hand back and forth on her neck, searching desperately for a trace of movement and then drew back, slumping back on the ground. He stared and shook his head insistently, and then looked up at Clarice. "Give it to me," he demanded, reaching for the stethoscope to check for a heartbeat.

She handed it over without protest then reached down and closed the girl's eyes with her hand. It was all she could do right now. It was strange. She didn't know this girl. Had never met her in her life. And she wasn't the first person Clarice had seen dead...but...it hurt just the same. Every damn time it hurt. Sniffing, she stood and touched Samson's shoulder briefly, then went to check on the others and leave him to his grief. Hers would wait, she had other patients and the EMTs were beginning to arrive. She'd need to brief them on what was going on too.

Tabitha looked up from where she was treating one of the other girls, Tamika, she thought. She tried to concentrate on briefing the EMT who was there to take over, but her gaze strayed to the dead little girl between Clarice and Doc Samson. "Pulse is strong and she's breathing, coughing a lot from the smoke. I think she got smacked in the head," she said distractedly. The EMT assured her that he and his partner had it from there. Tabs stood and took a few steps toward the doctor, but stopped.

There was nothing she could do. Nothing any of them could do.

Briefing the EMTs didn't take long and soon the patients were being loaded onto stretchers to go to hospitals and...the morgue, Clarice assumed. Stepping over to where Tabitha was she looked up at the blonde girl, "Anything else?" she asked dully. There was nothing more that they could do now. They needed to get Samson back to the mansion to be checked out, she didn't trust the EMTs, not in Samson's current state. "Let's go home, everyone."