by Palladian
“But this is my operation–”
George broke off as he saw Serena appear, surrounded by a small knot of people, several of whom had their hands on questionable areas. Lex shook her head a little, trying to warn her friend to be low key, but couldn’t help but grin as Serena gave a big smile and a peace sign as she disappeared again.
“Well, I didn’t mean to keep you,” Lex said quickly, hoping that either seeing some more evacuees would spur him into action or at least goad his sense of competition. “I’m sure you’re in a big hurry to help the people here, but I wanted to let you know what’s going on.”
He glared down at her before running back to the burning building. “We’ll talk more later,” he replied, an edge of menace in his tone. Lex raised an amused eyebrow, then shrugged and hurried off to take care of the next items on her list.
Chapter 15: Confrontation and Aftermath
Over the next couple of hours, Lex found herself carrying food and water to various people on the team, checking with Lily and Riss to find out if they could think of any way to correlate the list of people living on the upper floors of the apartment building with the people the medics took in, getting additional fuel for Joan, asking for check-ins from the team and standing in for Kate when necessary, and reminding everyone to take breaks as needed and not wear themselves out. She felt a bit dizzy with all of the running around and the chemical-scented smoke by the time the engineer found her and suggested that they start telling everyone to just head to the roof because she’d become worried that the 22nd floor would collapse with the additional load of people there.
Lex sighed but agreed, since she’d started to worry about the same thing after hearing the level of creaking and groaning during her last trip into the building. After a moment, she started letting the team know about the change of plans.
“Kate, Serena, can you shut up shop on the 22nd floor in about fifteen minutes? We’re about to do an announcement, but please let people know that they should go up to the roof now if they’re still mobile. Bring as many of the non-mobile people as you can in the next fifteen minutes, but tell the crowd to carry or help anyone else up to the roof.”
“Sure,” Kate answered in Lex’s ear. “What’s the deal?”
“The roof is stronger than the 22nd floor,” Lex said glumly. “Anyway, after fifteen minutes, meet me out front for a break, and then we can work on next steps, OK?”
“Right,” came Serena's voice, followed by Kate's clipped, “Sure, see you in a bit.”
Lex waited until she could see Joan coming down from the roof with her latest passenger, followed not too long afterwards by Victor. She gestured them over and asked, “So, you probably heard everything on the communication link. In the next half hour or so, can you bring Kate and Serena up to the roof on one of your trips?”
The two of them nodded, Joan responding, “Not a problem. Just let us know when.”
Lex thanked them, and then sighed again, knowing the decision would be unpopular with some. She stood in front of the building as the firefighters’ announcement began, waiting for the inevitable appearance of the Alpha team captain. He must not have been paying much attention, however, since Kate and Serena had finished on the 22nd floor, taken a break, and gone up to the roof with Joan and Victor before she saw the man outside, looking around angrily. Stepping forward, Lex cleared her throat, which had gotten a bit hoarse due to a day full of breathing smoke-tainted air, and he stared down at her with a burning fury.
“What do you want?”
“I wanted to let you know about the decision to send all of the remaining people in the building to the roof. The building engineer was worried that the lower floors would start to collapse–”
“Who told them to make the announcement?” he interrupted, almost shouting.
“I did,” Lex replied, looking him squarely in the eye for a moment as she felt a rush of adrenaline in anticipation of what might come next.
“Who the hell are you?”
“My name's Lex, I'm with the M Agency.”
“The fucking Models? Jesus Christ, who're they going to put in charge next: Barbie? Who told you that you could make that decision?”
“Like I said, the building engineer told us that it was becoming more dangerous to have people on the lower floors, since it was likely that the ceilings and floors would start to collapse–”
“It's like a broken record, talking to you,” he roared at Lex. Then, seeing Casey as she came out of the building with two more people, he turned to her. “You. You knew something about this, didn't you? I'm sure it was all your idea!”
To Lex's surprise, Casey didn't respond with her usual confidence, but shrank back from him a little, gently putting the people she’d been carrying down. Her response just seemed to encourage George, and he strode forward to her, swelling up with anger. Lex felt the hair on the back of her neck seem to stand on end as she saw him grab Casey's arms and shake her.
“You goddamned bitch, why are you always doing this to me?” he asked, so angry Lex could see him actually spitting in Casey's face. She responded by closing her eyes and turning away with a wince, as if waiting for a blow to fall. Lex felt something hot rush to her head, and suddenly she stood there beside the two of them.
“Get your hands off my friend,” Lex said, sounding calm and even, but she thought perhaps she’d spoken too quietly, because George kept yelling at Casey and shaking her.
Finally, the heat seemed to pool in Lex’s mind and then she opened her mouth again, but this time she shouted, “Get your fucking hands off of her, you big baboon!”
Suddenly, everything had fallen silent save for the crackle of fire. Everyone in the general vicinity stopped whatever they’d been doing, even George. All attention was fixed on Lex, and even Casey had opened her eyes back up to watch Lex with horror, shaking her head. Lex just stood there, fists clenched, glaring at George, who looked oddly less sure of himself but seemed to try to shake it off.
“Oh yeah? What are you going to do about it, little girl?”
“Stop you,” Lex replied in a growl, crouching down to the ground.
He rolled his eyes and turned away from her, prepared to start back up where he left off, but he hadn’t moved fast enough. While he had his eyes off of her, Lex grabbed a large handful of the ashes and grit piled everywhere on the ground, and then used her free hand to push down as she jumped up and blew the ashy dust straight into George's eyes.
With a roar, he let go of Casey and turned to where he expected Lex to be, but she’d moved slightly out of range. She motioned to Casey to get out of the area and began scanning for anything that might be helpful. Hope growing in her heart, she ran up a pile of debris that the firefighters had heaped on the edge of the pavement, things cleared out from the apartment building so that they could easily get in and out.
“Over here, asshole,” she shouted as George continued stumping around where she’d been, trying to find her. Upon hearing her, he lurched in her general direction.
Lex had begun unearthing a length of metal electrical conduit. On one end, it had been stuck through a half-broken cinderblock, creating a loop. She smiled and began pulling the other end of the conduit out of the pile of trash, waiting until the roaring giant came close. Once he did, she moved quickly, leaping off the hill of debris to put George's searching hand through the loop. Using her upward momentum, she pulled the loop tight under his armpit, the cinderblock now hanging off his shoulder like an odd epaulet, and began to circle him.
“So,” she said, “you like to pick on people smaller than you, do you? You make me sick, you fucking bully.”
Continuing to run around him, she pulled the free end of the cable behind her, suddenly glad she’d brought her new gloves. She circled him several times as he tried to stomp and kick her, but she dodged his big feet and continued moving, letting the conduit loop loosely around his upper body. Finally, after she’d circled a number of times and had begun to run out of
cable, she pulled it tight around his arms and torso in one rapid movement and fastened the end under a looser cable loop a number of times until she reached the end of the conduit.
When Lex stepped back, George had been completely tied up like a ball of yarn, only able to stand, curse at her, and vainly struggle. Lex couldn’t help just blinking for a moment, surprised her gamble had paid off. Apparently his vision had returned, however, because he tried to spit on her. Lex dodged it, but the petty gesture had shot her last nerve, and the hot anger running through her found nothing wrong with humiliating as well as incapacitating him. She climbed the nearby debris pile again and judged the distance. Taking a short run down the hill, she launched herself at him, moving in midair to hit him in the chest. She knew it wouldn't hurt him, but since he couldn’t move very well, it affected his balance and he couldn't get it back. Lex bounced off him and landed on the pavement in a crouch around the same time he fell backwards, knocking the wind out of his lungs, it seemed, since he stopped yelling for what might have been the first time since he’d come out of the building.
Lex stood cautiously, looking down at him as he continued to blink furiously, and her anger seemed to surge again as she spoke. “You're used to looking down at everyone, aren't you? Well, let's see how you like it for a change. And if you ever put your hands on Casey like that again, you’re a dead man!”
He turned his head then, still blinking, but trying to glare at Lex. Lex finally shook her head and walked away, her body still vibrating with adrenaline. She could see George rolling around in her peripheral vision, trying to get himself free, or at least to rest on his side, but she ignored him, worried about Casey. She cast around, looking for her friend, and after too many long moments saw her a few feet away, standing on the grass, her back turned. Lex ran over to her.
“Casey, are you all right? Did he hurt you?” she asked, her voice panicky in her own ears.
Casey cleared her throat, but didn’t turn towards Lex. “I’m fine, Lex. Thanks for sticking up for me.”
When Lex walked around to see her friend’s face, she could see the other woman had been crying. Casey had a big smear of ash across her cheek where she’d probably wiped at it with the back of her glove, and the sight made Lex feel like crying as well.
“Are you sure you’re all right?” Lex asked more softly, pulling a tissue from one of her pockets and handing it to the taller woman while gesturing wiping at her cheek.
Casey removed her gloves and took the tissue, using it to dry her eyes then wipe the ash away. “I’m fine, really. I’ve just never had anyone take up for me before. I was always so big that everyone figured I could take care of myself, I guess.”
Lex was about to reply, but stopped upon hearing a small patter of applause. She whipped around to see two women who’d been brought out of the burning building, clapping for her. Then, to her eternal surprise, the medics started clapping. To her horror, she heard hooting and turned further to see Serena cheering. As she kept looking in that direction, she spotted Victor, who nodded at her with an enigmatic smile, and Joan, whose expression she couldn’t determine behind the mask. As a blush flamed on her face, realization of the situation she’d gotten herself into suddenly came to Lex, along with a sickening feeling in her stomach.
“Come on, you guys, let’s get back to work,” Lex murmured into her communicator as she turned back to Casey.
“Aww, you spoil all the fun,” Serena said with a mock pout, then vanished. Victor and Joan soon followed suit. Lex gave an awkward wave at the rest of the people before turning back to Casey.
“What should we do next? I guess we need to report this or something.” Lex’s hands twisted nervously together of their own accord.
Casey snorted disdainfully, looking over at George. Jen and Paula had turned up to try to help him, but he still floundered on the pavement. Apparently, Lex had been able to get the conduit pretty well stuck, because the two didn’t seem able to do much. Paula turned around to glare at Lex before going back to work. Lex looked away guiltily.
“Let’s go to talk to Clara,” Casey said, her normal attitude back on full display. “I’m sure she’ll know what to do.” The sick feeling in Lex’s stomach seemed to intensify at that statement.
The two of them had begun walking across the grass towards the M Agency van when Lex heard in her ear, “…and then, when I showed up, she was calling him a goon or something and he was shaking Casey!”
Lex looked at the van with trepidation, remembering that Clara had one of the communicators as well. She glanced over at Casey, who appeared to be laughing.
“Serena, do you have to talk about this over the communicator?” Lex asked, trying to speak as quietly as possible.
“But it was so funny! And, since I don’t want to stop moving people around, I’ll only talk on the communicator about the parts that I need to cover when I’m not on the roof.”
“Why?”
“Well, Kate asked what happened, so I can’t very well not tell her!”
“I guess not,” Lex mumbled in response, shaking her head in defeat. “But, anyway, I called him a baboon.”
“Even worse!” Serena crowed with delight.
Casey and Lex had reached the van by then and poked their heads inside. Lex felt relieved that Clara had apparently been talking on the phone for a while, because by the time they reached the van, Serena had begun recounting over the communicator how Lex had tied George up.
It was Casey who spoke first, having grown visibly impatient after waiting for a couple minutes while Clara ignored them. “Hey, Clara, can you get off the phone for a minute?” she asked. “We have something important to talk to you about.”
Clara put a finger up, glowering at Casey. “Yes, Mr. Sauer. I understand. I’ll make sure it gets done. Thank you. I’ll talk to you later.”
Lex took the communicator from her ear for a moment so that she could talk to Clara without distraction, trying to ignore the churning feeling in her stomach. She looked nervously up at Casey and, seeing the other woman return her gaze encouragingly, she swallowed once and began.
“Um, Clara, there was an incident with the other team's captain. I saw him attack Casey, and we had a fight as a result.”
Clara had been fiddling with her cell phone, but suddenly Lex had all her attention. “You had a fight? What happened?”
“Well, I threw ashes in his eyes, tied him up in electrical conduit from a trash pile, and kicked him over.”
Clara looked at her in disbelief for a moment, then bolted for the van door, stopping before actually getting out of the vehicle. Lex poked her head out the door and saw that Jen and Paula had backed away a little. George still lay on the ground, tied up and cursing loudly, although he continued to struggle to get to his knees. She cringed and turned back to look at Casey, putting a hand to her head. When Casey saw the look on Lex's face, she chuckled softly. By the time Clara turned back to the two of them, they both wore serious expressions.
“How did you…” Clara began, and then paused to look searchingly at Lex. “Well, never mind, I guess. So, why are you telling me?”
Lex shrugged. “I wasn't sure what to do, so I thought I'd report it. If you have any ideas let me know, because I'm not sure what to do next.”
Clara laughed and shook her head. “Well, there's no harm done, even though he's mad. So let's go out and you can apologize, he can apologize to Casey, and then maybe you can help him get untied. If I need to, I can have a little conversation with him to get him to behave.”
Casey nodded and looked down at Lex, who nodded as well, feeling grateful that her actions hadn’t gotten her into real trouble. The sun had begun to burn its way through the clouds as the three of them went out to where George was and stood in front of him. He’d gotten to a half-kneeling position, and appeared both tired and angry. Clara went forward and whispered something into his ear, and while she did he looked suddenly and shiftily up at Lex and Casey, then back down at the ground. Aft
er a moment, Clara retired with a smile and gestured to Lex, who cleared her throat and addressed the Alpha captain.
“I'm really sorry I lost my temper, and what I did at the end was uncalled for. But you owe Casey an apology, as well. None of this would have happened if you hadn't treated her the way you had.”
Lex watched him warily and could see that he almost shouted something in reply, but stopped at the last moment, looking at Clara out of the corner of his eye. Finally, he grunted, “Sorry,” in Casey's general direction. Figuring the barely apologetic word would be the best they could expect, Lex stepped in and worked for a moment to unhook the conduit (which had tightened a bit), then swung it around him a few times in order to loosen it.
“I'm sure your friends can help with the rest,” Lex said, stepping away. She nodded at Clara and put her communicator back on as Paula and Jen rushed forwards to help George finish escaping.
As Lex turned, she tried to catalog in her mind what needed to be done next until she heard Riss over the communicator.
“Lex, now that the excitement's died down a little, I wanted to let you know that I'm across the way working with Lily. We set up a tracking system for the people coming out of the building, and for any already taken to hospitals and shelters before we arrived. Lily arranged the transfer of that data so that we can check against our list.”
“Riss, you’re the best! How are we doing so far?”
“Making progress. Of the original 2033, it looks like we've gotten about a third so far.”
“Thanks for letting everyone know. Please keep us posted so we'll know how we're doing.”
“Will do,” Lex heard Riss say, just before she heard Serena cheering the amount of people they'd evacuated so far.
The next few hours continued to be a blur of activity for Lex; spelling Kate for a while so she could get a break, bringing food to whoever needed it, meeting with the firefighters so she could let them know how the evacuation progressed, and doing any number of other tasks to keep everyone focused on the jobs they needed to do. By early afternoon Lex heard over the radio what she'd been hoping to hear all day.