Chapter 69: To Be a Hero

He swore in anger at his stupidity. This incident made him realize that despite being gifted, he still made mistakes. He could have saved all three lives at once if he had waited a little bit and checked those bracelets before swiping them.

The glass gave way to his bulk and momentum, and the raging inferno roared audibly, the superheated tendrils hissing menacingly in contact with the cold night New York air. 

He exerted his willpower, and waves of heat emanated from him as he channeled his fire-related abilities to a level he had never reached. Unlike others, his abilities did not function conventionally, and the extent to which he used them affected his progress. His lack of practice had put him in a difficult position, pun intended.

He was no Johnny Storm but had another ability that made his physical body almost ghost-like. He was almost sure he could make himself insubstantial like Kitty Pryde once he progressed past his current stage. 

He descended into a whirlwind of superheated air that hissed around him aggressively. His descent was loud and destructive as the building ruptured and his heated figure passed. 

Sirens. Cameras and witnesses looked skyward as a dark-clad figure leaped from the highest floor, two children tucked under each arm as he descended. Cole stamped down on his reluctance and forced his mutations, body, and core to acquiesce to his whims. 

He zoomed in on the blots that were people as he made his way closer. The screams and chaos that ensued didn't show their faith in him. On the ground, looking up, Cole looked like a demon wrapped in fire or a man who didn't want to burn to death and decided to leap to his death. 

A hooded figure's hands clenched in the crowd as he watched the interloper descend. The man turned and slowly walked further, staying in the back of the crowd as he watched.

He landed without fanfare and pushed his ethereal ghost-like abilities to their limited limits at the last minute. He expelled the heated air from around him. His descent slowed to an almost kite-like fluttering as his usage of heat, cold air, and ectokinesis made his system chime in his head. He flexed his control and pushed the notification away. 

Cole's booted feet landed amongst the excited clamoring of reporters and the loud barking of police as they forced citizens back. He heard someone scream mutant but ignored everything as he placed the children down. 

He didn't think but acted as he pulled at his bio-kinesis. His eyes pulsated with the unique life energies of chi users. Cole had placed his hand on the chest of the two boys, his vital energy passing through his body and into the boys. 

He ignored the chime and stood up. He wobbled. He had never used so much in such a short period. He hadn't been tired, but he felt the wall. Had he touched his limits? He accessed himself and concluded that he was nearing it. His explosive usage had winded him, and if it weren't such a tumultuous time, he would have cracked a smile.

"Just who are you?" An officer asked, hands extended, shielding the growing crowd from approaching. His sergeant's eyes squinted before the man hopped on the radio. He quickly called out a specific code that would bring people who dealt with situations like this out in force. 

He flexed his prowess again, engaging his mind or the multiple minds in him. No, there wasn't a physical aspect but a mental and spiritual one. Kaecillus had suspected but hadn't known that his sire had a system that granted Personas, which meant other otherworldly souls of super-powered, highly-trained, and if not those two more times than not rare specimens of humankind. 

Think about it. Jason Todd was human, of course, but he was also highly trained to the degree that he was considered a genius by the sheer amount of knowledge he had accumulated. Let's not even discuss the Lazarus pit. 

Kilgore brothers were unique; one was a world-renowned assassin, the other a Catholic Priest. Daniel Kilgore is a well-known priest and brother of the secret agent Kurt Kilgore; after his brother is killed, he begins seeing his ghost, which means he is sensitive to the spiritual world, but when Kurt's widow is attacked, the two merge, and become the super-powered Haunt, a being capable of controlling ectoplasm.

Under self-imposed strain, Cole had initiated numerous contingencies. Police had pushed those who buckled against the artificial cordoned-off zone back fiercely.

"Take them!" He ordered his shadows dancing menacingly underneath his feet. He bit down on his display as he stared at the open window. 

Two firefighters had gathered the children. He turned toward the sergeant; he hadn't missed the call or heard it all. 'Who was Captain Northstrider, though? The name had sounded familiar.' 

"You, he said, pointing h a finger at the officer. "The lady and her children had boobytrapped with explosives. The quality of the bombs wasn't made in some basement. I have no idea who she is, but someone wanted her dead in a bad way." 

The sergeant blanched at the raspy voice from the pale, rail-thin man's lips. He stamped down on what he was ordered to do and said something that might get him desk duty if lucky. "Abbott, right? You're wanted for vigilantism, but I'm not in the position to arrest you. Can you save the mother?" 

'Bombs around their ankles, and there was an accelerant in use. I'm almost positive the offender is still amongst those gathered.' He thought the timer was still ticking down on his heads-up display. He scanned the crowd, recording faces. He stopped, and a man in a hooded overcoat met his.

More cars roared onto the street, sirens and black-tinted SUVs. Cole felt these were people he didn't want to talk to, at least not now. 

"Yes, I can save her. I suggest you clear the area around the building, say Sixty feet. The explosion will possibly take out the highrise," Cole said under the guise of the priest or, as the residents of New York, Abbott was calling him. 

He didn't spare the man another glance; his contacts had shown an unnatural energy signature coming from the man. "A remote? If so, why hadn't he armed the explosive? A show? He could be just someone who wanted to make a name for himself; at least, that would be the case if not for the specific targets: A building with a hundred or so people, and he only trapped two. His earlier assessment was spot on. This was a hit, one meant to send a message.' 

They sent what he could do. He was live on national television. The Abbott had to vanish tonight. He still had the other brother. He should invest in more masks. A terrain Boas had slinked into the street but remained in the alley's shadows. His Boas that had been mapping the underground tunnels that Morlocks made their home had been near, so he ordered one to monitor the man, and if the man did have a trigger to attack, an aerial Boas was in above, its optical camouflage squatted down, the asphalt spiderwebbed as he pressed himself down. He launched into the air. 

Misty Knight had barged toward the front, her sidearm out. He chuckled to himself as he sailed to the fifth floor; he reached out his hand, morphing into black claws. A spotlight landed on him as he climbed up the side of the burning building, the fire being pulled away from him as he ascended. He adhered himself to the building and began lunging floors at a time to hasten his arrival.

He rolled through the window, the mother still in the tub as the fire spread across the floor, his earlier endeavors overridden by the sheer ferocity of the fire. She looked at him, and he saw the resolve manifest on her face. 

Cole manipulated the fire to open a way from him as he rushed toward the haggard, burned, and slowly asphyxiating mother. Cole pulled her from the tub and placed her on the floor; he looked around; he only had moments before the floor's integrity was burned away. 

This tech was advanced, and his system had purchased the bombs from him for almost fifty thousand dollars. He had even received an updated relationship that he ignored out of habit. He placed his Hara'Kesh over the band. 

He had crunched the numbers and thought hard about this method, but he hadn't seen another way outside of taking her into the astral plane, but that was his exit strategy. At least this way, she wouldn't have to remain inside. For some reason, technology didn't work in the astral plane, and human bodies didn't either for long, so he had a moment and acted. 

The Goa'uld ring deactivated the bracelet, allowing him to throw it away before the bomb exploded.