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[x-dazzler.livejournal.com]

The crackling snapping sounds of the electrical fire raging right outside the window caused Alison to take an involuntary look out the window. It didn't take much to spot John's shape, doggedly standing at the near edge of the flames, refusing to back down even as the fire threatened to rage out of control.

"We're going to have to move fast," she turned towards Angelo, wiping water from her face and stepping away from the window and looking down the main corridor heading into the heart of the school. Water trickled down in steady rivulets from many cracks in the ceiling, streaming to the floor. Glowing despite herself from the pure sound charge she'd been exposed to since the start of the storm, Alison concentrated for a moment, bringing the light into a more coherent glow down the hallway.

Angelo nodded grimly, following Alison's gaze down the corridor and preparing to begin doing what needed to be done.

Light streaming down the hall they moved ahead, following the directions the frantic school principal had given them - five students missing from the roll call once the school had been evacuated, last seen heading down towards the lower floors by one of their friends. Even inside the building the wind could be heard howling outside, battering against the walls ceaselessly.

Angelo instinctively huddled down inside his jacket, alarmed by the ferocity of the wind. "Stupid kids. What did they think they were doing, not getting out when they were told? Why come down here?"

"Probably weren't taking the warning seriously," Alison tested the step before putting her weight on it, turning the corner and pausing. "And boy are they regretting it if they're down there," she breathed, taking in the sigh of the ruined staircase before them. Waving a hand absently, she lit down the corridor at the bottom of the steps as best she could, peering ahead. "Looks relatively clear - if we climb down, we should be able to keep going..."

Angelo nodded again, moving carefully to the top of the steps, and beginning a cautious descent, ever aware of the surface under his feet.

The water sloshing at the bottom of the steps didn't give either of them pause, although the ruined condition of that level of the school did. Clearly the hurricane had been too much for the older building's structure, as shown by the gaping panels of wall that had collapsed - to the right, an entire section of a classroom was blocked off with rubble and blocks of cement wall from the upper level. "Not good," Alison said tensely. "We need to get them fast before the building gets too unstable."

"You think they're back there?" Angelo said, listening hard for any sign that the missing kids were behind the wall. Without really waiting for an answer, he waded over to the fallen rubble and began assessing which blocks would be safe to move first.

"Apparently one of them managed a cell phone call to 911 earlier, so the rescue crew was pretty sure about that one," Alison sighed, trying to figure out which of the blocks she might be able to laser clean off without bringing everything down on them. "That combined with the kid who saw them sneak off made the emergency crew pretty certain about it." She crouched down, not even noticing the cold in her present overcharged condition. She followed Angelo's lead for the moment - better to move what they could and see how far they could go along before trying anything more drastic.

Carefully, Angelo began clearing away the smaller lumps of rubble, the ones on the edge of the mess, and those that obviously weren't supporting anything that would fall far. Reasoning that there was no point limiting himself to just his hands, especially when there was nobody to see who'd be freaked out by it, he used some tendrils of his skin to do the same.

Water swirling around their feet, Alison helped him, taking note of his sodden condition and frowning. She was generating enough heat from the light to ignore the cold herself, but it meant she had no clue if the body armor was doing as much for him. "You ok with the cold?" she asked, hands tugging gently at some of the underwater rubble at their feet.

Angelo grinned as best he could through the effort of moving the heavy rubble. "For now, yeah. If we're down here longer than a few hours, I might need to go back and scrounge a change of clothes, but until then I'll be fine."

Alison grunted in reply, and then stopped, rocking back to stand to her feet, shining light across the entire visible portion of the hallway for a moment and listening. "I think that's about all we can move..." she stopped, blinking and snapped a look at the rubble in front of them. "Did you hear anything?"

Angelo stopped what he was doing, listening carefully. "Actually... yeah. I think we're in luck - someone's awake back there, and OK enough to shout. Maybe they can help."

Alison grinned at him briefly, and brought her hands closer together, a far more intense beam suddenly springing to life between them. "Looks like we're in business! How about I start working at that central block carefully, and you try and make sure they don't get in the way when I laser through then?"

"Sounds good to me", Angelo agreed, and called through the blockage, hoping whoever was behind it could hear. "Hey! We're out here, we can hear you, and we're trying to get you out. We need you to get as far away from the blockage as you can, OK?"

Chuckling as a cascade of voices suddenly erupted from the other side, all concentrating on talking to Angelo, Alison hunkered down and carefully started carving away at the cement and rubble, blocking out any other sound and trusting that Angelo would warn her of any possible trouble. At least this rescue would go well.