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I found my assigned group three blocks away and they were talking to several civilians. I slowed down to a walk and went over to them. I seamlessly joined the group of four and no one noticed, except for the tall anthropomorphic horse-like guy. He gave me a searching look, so I smiled and nodded at Burnin. He smiled knowingly and let out a little sound, like a neigh.

When the civilians finished asking questions, Burnin thanked them enthusiastically and wished them well for the rest of their day. The civilians left happy, which was the point of stopping the patrol and talking to them, apparently.

“That was awesome!” Burnin said and whipped around to look at the rest of the group, then she gasped when she saw me. “I said you can have me AFTER my shift!”

“I am fully prepared to accept that responsibility when the time comes.” I said with a grin and the horse-like guy made another neigh sound. “I just finished meeting with Endeavor and he assigned me to the best squad at his agency for my internship.”

“You mean us, right?” The guy wrapped with bandages asked.

“Are you The Flaming Sidekicks?” I asked and the four of them nodded. “Then yes, it's you.”

“Fucking awesome!” Burnin said and did a little hop, making her chest jiggle and bounce. “Endeavor said we were the best!”

“YEAH!” The other three said and gave each other a high five.

“I'm Kido.” Bandages guy said. “My quirk is Traject. I can direct anything that passes through my bandages.” He made a small cloth bomb appear in his hand and the wick was already lit. He chuckled and snuffed it out with his fingers, then made it disappear again.

“So, when you fart, who do you make take the blame?” I asked with a straight face.

The other guy and the horse-like guy exchanged looks, then burst out laughing.

“Fuck, I never thought of doing that!” Kido exclaimed, which made the other two laugh harder.

Burnin looked like she was trying not to laugh.

“I'm Omina.” The other guy said. He wore a metal thing with horns on his head, a black top with a huge X on the chest and an X on his belt buckle. “I can manipulate fire.” He lifted a hand and pushed a button to make a flame appear from a little device on the back of his wrist, then made the flame float and dance before cutting the feed off and dispersing the flames.

So, you're Pyro from the X-men movies, except with dark blue hair. I thought. I couldn't remember anyone from the DC universe with those kinds of powers.

“I'm Negghiiihh-henhhenh.” The horse-like guy said.

“I'm sorry, I only heard horse sounds there, Jar-Jar.” I said, because he looked like a tall blue Jar-Jar Binks from the Star Wars prequels.

“Jar-Jar?” Omina asked.

“He reminds me of a hero from a long time ago and a place that is far, far away.” I said, cryptically.

“Jar-Jar.” The horse-like guy said and then let out a happy neigh sound. “I like it!”

Oops. I thought and then laughed as the guys gave each other high fives again.

“That's enough horsing around!” Burnin said and the guys yelled and gave each other more high fives. “Dammit, don't do that every time I say stuff like that!”

The guys all grinned at each other.

“I'm Supreme.” I said. “My quirk is molecular density. It gives me strength, speed, and other things.”

“Cool.” Onima and Kino said.

Burnin stepped close to me and took my arm. “You're up front with me, so you can see how heroes handle the people and different situations as they come up.”

“I thought you said to wait until after the shift?” I asked and the guys laughed.

Burnin smacked my chest. “Let's go. We've got a lot of route to patrol and people to greet.”

I nodded and she escorted me down the street. We reached the corner and I heard something like a siren. “Hold on.” I said and stopped to look. I used my x-ray vision and telescopic vision to look around, then saw a speeding car being chased by two police cars two streets over. They were headed towards a busy intersection and the light was red. “I need my arm free for a second.”

“Not a chance.” Burnin said. “I'm not letting you run off on your own on your first day!”

“Fine.” I said and scooped her up into my arms, making her blush, and I took off at a quarter of my super speed. Her hair flared bright yellow for the instant it took for me to get to the right spot.

“Oh, wow.” Burnin whispered and stared into my eyes.

“Excuse me for a second.” I said and put her down, then took two steps out onto the street.

A horn blared and a speeding car raced towards me with two police cars chasing it.

“Hey, MISTER! LOOK OUT!” A kid yelled.

“There's a car coming!” Someone else shouted.

“Where?” I asked and turned around. I saw the car change lanes to avoid me. “I better move, then.”

“NO!” Burnin gasped as I walked right into the new path of the speeding car.

Everyone started to wince as the car sped right towards me and then I knelt and held my hand out. The car stopped dead as it touched my hand and I used my telekinesis to hold it without crumpling it. The tires squealed on the pavement, so I used telekinesis again and slipped the gear shift into neutral and turned the car off.

The two police cars skidded to a stop on either side of the now stopped car and four police officers swarmed over the car. Three men in ski masks were pulled out and handcuffed a moment later.

I slowly stood up and everyone was quiet for several seconds, then a whole bunch of applause broke out around me.

“WOW!” The kid yelled and jumped with his hands in the air.

“Nice going, young man!” A woman said.

“Well done.” A man across the street nodded to me.

Burnin walked over to me and she had the same look in her eyes that Tougi had this morning when she saw me in my hero costume. “How did you do that?”

“I can't divulge quirk secrets in public.” I said with a smile and she grinned at me.

“ID please.” One of the officers said as he walked over to me.

“Sure thing, officer.” I said and handed over the temporary ID that Endeavor gave me.

“You're only on an internship?” The offer asked, surprised.

“For the next two weeks.” I said and accepted the ID back.

“Damn, kid. If you can do stuff like this now, I can't wait to see what you'll do as a pro hero.” The officer said.

I chuckled. “I'd take the provisional license exam right now if they'd let me.”

“Ha! No doubt.” The officer said. “Do you mind giving us a report on what happened?”

“Not at all.” I said and his partner handed over a clipboard. I filled it out instantly and handed it back.

“Jesus.” They said at the same time and they both quickly read what I wrote.

“You were two streets over when you heard the sirens?” One of them asked, surprised.

“Yeah. Super-hearing.” I said and tapped my ear. “It comes in handy when it's not a pain in the ass.”

That made the officers laugh and nod. They knew how noisy the city was most days.

“All right, if we need to contact you...”

“I'm at Endeavor's Agency under the care of this beautiful woman. Endeavor's favorite sidekick, Pro Hero Burnin.” I said and Burnin blushed deeply.

The officers nodded and walked back to their cars.

“If you need to know where they stashed the money, it's under the spare tire in the trunk.” I called after them.

Both officers paused walking for a second, then changed where they were going. They took the keys from the ignition and unlocked the trunk. Sure enough, they moved the tire and found the bags of bank proceeds. They waved to me and I waved back.

“How did you know that?” Burnin asked in a whisper.

“The trunk in cars like that are huge. I didn't see them take anything but the robbers from inside, so the money had to be somewhere the cops wouldn't normally look.”

Burnin's eyes smouldered and her hair flared out as she gave me that look again.

“Shall we get back to the other guys?” I asked and she smirked at me. “Yes, I'll carry you.”

Burnin hopped up into my arms. “It's over a bit too quick, though.”

“Style it is, then.” I said and lifted us up into the air, making a bunch of the gathered crowd point and talk loudly. I turned us around and Burnin couldn't help herself and waved at the people, who waved back.

I sped off in the air, both quickly and slow enough that the people could follow us with their eyes. I slowed down as we approached the three guys of The Flaming Sidekicks that were standing on the street corner we left them on. They stared at us as I gently landed and put Burning down.

Burnin ran her hands over the 'S' symbol on my chest and then she took a deep breath. “Let's go! The city isn't going to save itself.”

“Yes, ma'am!” The other guys said and shoved their fists into the air. I didn't want to stand out, so I did the same.

Burnin gave us a nod and took my arm, then we continued on patrol. She was an expert on people control, thanks to her boisterous personality, and she kept her cursing limited to when she was really excited, which happened when we were alerted to a fire in a high upstairs apartment.

“Supreme! Get Onima up there! He can keep the flames from spreading!” Burnin ordered.

“Right away!” I said and tucked Omina under my arm and flew up to the apartment that was a bit too high for the firemen's ladders to reach. The window was already broken, so I used a gloved hand to wipe away the shards and held Omina out.

“Thanks!” Omina said and slipped in through the window. He started using his quirk to stem the fire's movement and I used my x-ray vision to look around. I saw several people trapped on the other side of the fire and inside a room.

“There's people trapped inside!” I called down.

Burnin ran over to the fire chief and they talked. Well, shouted, really. I heard it all and nodded at Burnin defending us and saying we could handle it, since we worked for Endeavor.

“All right, you can try. If anyone's hurt, it's on your heads.” The chief said.

“Supeme! Get them out without making the fire worse or hurting the people!” Burnin shouted at me.

“I'll have them down in a few seconds!” I said and went in through the window.

“The smoke's getting bad!” Omina said as he fought against the fire.

“Leave that to me.” I said and puckered my lips, then sucked in. The smoke rushed into my lungs and the fire tried to follow it.

“Fuck!” Omina said and started sweating as he tried to hold the flames.

I got as much smoke as I could and went to the window, waved at Burnin, and blew out a massive amount of smoke.

“Holy Mary, mother of god!” Some of the firemen and spectators exclaimed, mixed with curses.

I went back inside and pat Omina's shoulder, telling him to rest, then I did a quick burst of Arctic Breath to stop the fire's spread. It would take a bit before it melted and I walked through the opeing it gave me to the blocked door. I opened it and a bunch more smoke hit me in the face. I sucked it in again, ran to the window and blew it out, shocking the people down below, then ran back inside.

I saw three people huddled on the floor, a man, a woman and a little girl. I checked them with x-ray vision and saw them suffering from mild smoke inhalation. I picked up the little girl first and ran to the window, flew out and went down to the ground.

“Mild smoke inhalation.” I said and handed her to the paramedics. “Her parents are only a little worse, since they protected her. I'll be right back down with them.”

“Thank you.” One of the medics said.

I nodded before I took off like a shot and slipped right back inside the apartment. Omina was fighting the burgeoning fire again and I nodded to him as I grabbed the mother next and flew her down, then went back for the father. I dropped him off and went back, only to see Omina struggling.

“What is it?” I asked.

“A draft... or something. It's making the fire... want to spread out!”

“Together, then? I can't ice it all up because it could be too heavy for the floor rating.” I explained.

“What do you have... in mind?”

“You direct it towards me and I do that smoke sucking trick.” I said.

“Are you crazy? You'll burn your lungs out!”

“It's the fastest way to put out the fire without letting the other apartments catch fire, too.”

“Good point.” Omina said and took a deep breath. “All right, let's do this.”

“Good man.” I said and went to the window. “You push on it as hard as you can and I'll pull. If we're lucky, it'll lose the fuel it needs to grow.”

Omina braced himself and nodded, then we got to work. I puckered my lips and did a quick breathing exercise to empty my lungs, then I started to suck in air. Omina was smart and held his breath as I did so, then he used his quirk to push the fire towards me. Bits of things flew at me and then the fire moved as if it was alive.

I sucked harder and the flames danced and seemed to try to get away from my trap. They couldn't, not with Omina's help, and more and more flames were sucked into my lungs. My chest expanded slightly as the fire filled my lungs and burned up the oxygen there. I could almost hear the fire damaging things inside me as I felt the burning, and I didn't stop.

After thirty seconds, the last of the fire seemed to pop off of the singed carpet and was sucked into my mouth. I clamped my mouth closed and jumped out the window. I misjudged where I was in relation to the ground and flipped over a few times before I slammed into the pavement on my back. My eyes burned and watered from the pain in my lungs, because I had no way to take a breath.

It was also a mental trigger, because I had held my breath for over an hour and a half before. Only this time, my lungs were damaged and I had no way to get more oxygen until I healed, which might take a while with the fire burning for so long inside of my lungs. It was an odd way to find out a weakness I didn't know I had.

“Supreme?” Burnin asked as she knelt beside me. “What is it?”

I couldn't open my mouth, in case the fire was waiting for me to breathe and get more fuel, because I could still feel the sizzling inside my chest. The fire was super-concentrated there and all I could do was wait it out. I really hurt, though. Tears flowed down my face and she took my hand and held it.

“What's wrong with him?” The fire chief asked and gave me a stern look.

“He sucked in all that fire, man!” Omina said as he ran over to us. He dropped to his knees on the other side of me and stared at me.

“What do you mean?” Burnin asked.

“I held the fire from spreading and then pushed it into his mouth as he sucked it in like he did the smoke.” Omina said, a little awe in his voice. “The apartment is singed and damaged; but, he's got debris and stuff in his lungs that's probably still on fire.”

“Oh, my god.” Burnin whispered.

“Jesus, kid.” The fire chief said. “Are you crazy?”

I glanced at Omina and he chuckled.

“I said the same thing.” Omina said. “Damnedest thing I ever saw.”

“Why can't he talk?” Kido asked.

“He can't give the flames more air than is already in his lungs.” Burnin said, catching on. “It must be hurting like crazy!”

I nodded and her hand gripped mine tightly.

“Get your ass to the hose and put it in your mouth.” The fire chief said. “Suck in some water and try not to die or do more damage to your lungs.”

“He might need surgery to get the debris out.” One of the firemen suggested. “I broke a respirator once and got a piece of stuff stuck down there.”

Okay, that would suck. I thought and ducked my head to use x-ray vision and microscopic vision to check. Sure enough, there was debris stuck all over the little capillaries that I was supposed to be breathing through. I also saw bits of fire still moving around. Then I realized what to do. I opened my mouth and sucked in as much air as I could.

“NO!” Burnin exclaimed.

I closed my mouth and kept watching. The fire flared in my lungs and I watched the debris burn more. I kept taking quick breaths to stoke the fire and the fire chief was giving me an odd look.

“He's trying to burn up whatever is in his lungs.” The chief said.

The other heroes watched as I did that for about five minutes until there was nothing but bits of ash in my lungs. I then took the chief's advice and borrowed one of the fire hoses and sucked in enough water to rinse out my lungs.

Making myself drown was not a pleasant experience.

I bent over a sewer grate and did manage to get as much ash as possible out of my lungs. I coughed and choked as I spit all of that water back up and I felt several hands on my back.

“That's it, man. Get it out.” Omina said.

I nodded and coughed a bit more. After another minute, I sat back and did my best to breathe normally.

Burnin's concerned face was right there in front of mine. “Are you okay?”

I nodded and her hand wiped at the tear streaks on my face. “Th-th-thanks.” I choked out in a really deep voice. Apparently, my throat was also singed and would need a bit of time to heal.

Burnin looked doubtful. “If you need a rain check for after the shift...”

“Th-therapy. Almost died. Need to... wreck that.” I croaked and the guys chuckled.

Burnin smiled and showed off her teeth. “Are you sure you can handle me after that? I can burn pretty hot.”

“Always burning hot.” I said in my new deep voice. “Thought that was why... you're called Burnin.”

Burnin blushed briefly and then grinned. “Damn right.”

That made the guys laugh and high five each other.

“Give me a few minutes.” I said and looked down to see my lungs were healing well. “Ten minutes.”

“We've got to fill out reports anyway.” Kido said and ran over to the police. He came back with clipboards for everyone and I filled mine out instantly.

“How did you do that?” Burnin asked. “That's twice now that I've seen you do it.”

“Lots of practice.” I said and took shallow breaths. I didn't want to strain my lungs until they were fully healed. “Sorry for making us delay.”

“You saved a family today. A delay on patrol is worth that.” Jar-Jar said and the others nodded.

“Omina held the fire at bay.” I said, giving credit where credit was due. “I couldn't have done it without him keeping us safe.”

“Thanks.” Omina said, proudly.

Burnin and the other guys nodded and went back to writing.

I sat there quietly and healed, determined to train my lungs harder than I had before. I wasn't going to suffer like that again.

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