What Am I Doing Here?: Flaming Bed

[x-cannonball.livejournal.com]

After the FoH meeting, two individuals carry out Reed's wishes. Things got complicated, however, and they don't go quite as planned.


Johnson clicked the remote lock button on his keychain once he and his passenger were out of the car. He then used his keys to give them access to the police station, which was all but empty at that late hour aside from one or two graveyard shift employees to man the phones and watch the man - no, the mutant - in custody, who was hopefully asleep by now.

The plan was to get closer to the holding cells and to set the place on fire. That would make their message loud and clear, which was exactly what Reed wanted them to do, and it'd rid the world of one more mutant in the process. Johnson smirked, fingering the lighter he had in one pocket while checking the other pocket to ensure the accelerant was still there.

"Watch to see if anyone's comin', yeah?" They were nearing the cells and he wanted to make sure no one would interrupt them.

"'Course, Johnson." The woman who had shoved the pamphlet in Sam's face at the church service trailed along behind the police officer. Her Sunday-best dress had been turned in for a soft flannel shirt, jeans, and work boots. Only the businesslike ponytail, and the hard determined look in her eyes, remained the same.

As they got closer to the cells, he held up a hand, signalling for her to stop. He walked slowly through the hallway up ahead, where the building's holding cell was located. One side of the room was taken up by the cell, an old looking detention area with your standard iron bars and a wooden bunk hanging from the wall by chains. Sam Guthrie was curled up on said bunk, facing the wall with the thin, standard issue blanket pulled up over him.

Johnson nodded to the wall opposite the cell, which was bare except for a supply closet. He walked over and carefully opened the door, not wanting to disturb Guthrie. Inside he found a mop and bucket along with several old rags and various bottles of cleaning supplies. He examined some of the supplies, then started placing some of them into the bucket.

"Some of this stuff'll go up real quick too, nice. This won't take long."

Johnson added the accelerant to the bucket last before whipping out his lighter and, in a quick flick of the wrist motion, he opened it and ignited the little flame before throwing it in with the contents. The flames leapt high and almost instantly started to catch the wooden walls and floor of the building alight as the closet began to burn.

Dammit. She'd meant to make her move before things got that far. A pair of batons were produced from where they'd been hidden at the small of her back, and with one hand she brought them down at the base of Johnson's skull, taking advantage of the crooked cop's unthinking trust in her to hit him hard from behind. She looked coldly as he crumpled to the ground, then turned to the cell. "Guthrie!" she barked, all trace of the Cumberland drawl gone from her voice. "Wake up, Guthrie, now!"

"Huh? Wuzzat?" Sam rolled over, nearly falling out of the bunk in the process before catching himself by the chain. "Who's there?" He pulled the blanket off of him, turning around and sitting upright as he yawned and squinted into the darkness. It wasn't completely dark, however, and he blinked and raised his hand to cover the ever brightening glow that seemed to be coming out of the closet across the way. "What's goin' on here?"

"Never seen a jailbreak before, hayseed?" As she spoke, she was rolling Johnson over looking for his keys. "Johnson here was going to burn the jail down around you."

His eyes went wide as he realized what was going on. "Is he..." The man only appeared unconscious as he stood and got a better look, but standing made him a little bit woozy. The smoke that was now billowing out of the flaming closet made him cough and his eyes water, even from the distance he was at inside the cell.

"Agent...*cough*...Morse of SHIELD," she introduced herself. "I've been infiltrating Mr. Reed's little group for some time. But I couldn't exactly let them kill you just to keep my..." She wheezed as the smoke continued to thicken. "Damn. Where are his..." She staggered as the oxygen began to thin in the jail.

The smoke continued to thicken and Sam knew there wasn't much time to waste. Pulling his shirt up over his face as he coughed he waved to one side of Morse. "Stand back, Agent!" Once she did he lined himself up and concentrated as hard as he could to burst his power on and off long enough to blast him through the bars between them.

Sam fell to his knees beside Morse, in the thickest part of the noxious fumes now where he could feel the increasing heat of the flames surrounding them. He grabbed her without taking the time to talk - or breathe in more smoke - and blasted once again, this time through a nearby wall that brought them outside into the welcoming cool air.

Morse rolled onto her back the second Sam let go and they both fell to the ground, trying to get their breath back. The SHIELD agent had clearly inhaled more than Sam, though, by virtue of being closer to the fire, and her exertions. She visibly tried to exert her will on her breathing to bring it back under control, but her body rebelled, continuing to wheeze and gasp.

While Sam certainly wasn't as bad off as Morse he still had to kneel on the ground, leaning on his knee with one elbow as he gasped for breath. It didn't take him too long to get some of it back so he was the first to break the silence. "Are you... you ok, ma'am?" He turned to survey the damage he'd caused by blasting through the wall, but the size of the hole was hard to gauge through all the smoke. "What's goin' on?"

Morse tried to struggle to her feet, but her arms gave way and she slumped back to the ground. "Reed..." she said. "He wants to make an example..." She hacked and coughed for several long seconds. "Gonna...burn down your house."

"What the..." Reed was the crazy zealot he'd punched out earlier that'd landed him in jail. "...you mean mama's house?" Hearing that snapped his attention into focus, though he was still coughing a little. "When? Are they headed there now? Dammit, I've gotta..." Sam looked up and saw flashing lights approaching from what looked like an ambulance. He looked back down at Morse again, debating whether to stay with her. "Are you gonna be ok?" It was all he could do not to just blast off for home but he had to make sure she'd be alright.

"Go," Morse said insistently. She'd just inhaled some smoke, nothing that couldn't be fixed. She touched a hand to Sam's. "Stop him."

He gave her a curt nod, touching her hand with his own before taking a few steps back. The sirens were much louder now and the ambulance came into view, accompanied with a police car, which really meant Sam should be going. What a mess he'd have to clean up later, but for now he had to protect his family. He blasted into the night sky, making a beeline for the Guthrie homestead.