4: Those who live and those who do not

In this chapter, we see the effects of S and N's actions while "off screen" And Static's first appearance in a haphazard rescue

He looked up to the fogged up mirror, his face completely blurred and hidden by the condensed water vapour residing on the mirror.
He placed his hand on the glass to reveal his own visage, pausing not a moment longer, he wiped away the fog to reveal his face, The face of Mr. Anderson.

He stretched his decrepit body, a product not of his own actions, but the misfortune that had be fallen the City of Stratus.

His face, his skin, was different, a twisted visage to compliment the changes...

**************************

"Excuse me, Sir"
A sweet voice filled his ears
Angel?

He opened his eyes to see an attractive female nurse standing over him

He eased himself up slowly

"Ugh... Morning..." Danan responded

She laughed 

"More like Night"

"How'd I get here"

"Oh you know, A little disaster here, an emergency vehicle there"

"That's a bit morbid for someone in your profession"

"...Sorry" her tone changed completely

"No, it's fine, just, me joking around"

"What do you prefer"

"Sorry?"

"To be called, is it Danan, Danny or Daniel"

"You can call me which ever" Danan said, raising in the bed "I like them all"

"I'm Katie, Katie Stevens" She said nervously with a smile, turning away from the medical cot "I hope I see you again, outside of medical facilities that is"

"Isn't that a little unprofessional?" Danan jokingly flirted

"Well, can't pass up such a cute guy, especially when he can't run away" She winked

They both laughed in unison and with one more bewitching smile, she left.

"Well that was shocking, in a good way" Danan remarked to himself

There was a knock at the room's door, Danan shot up to see a doctor walk in, wearing garbs he hadn't seen before.

"So, I'm guessing by your difference in garbs, I'm in Stratus City's main hospital" Danny stated in observation

"Well, it's good to see your mentally sharp, a rare thing for anyone in hospital for multiple days at a time, especially someone in your situation"

"Can you tell me what happened, the last thing I remember is a critical failure at work"

"The generator? Yes well, you'll be shocked to see the aftermath, that's for sure" The doctor pulled back the curtain to reveal the city beneath them. "I know it's not much to see, being it night. but... the lack of lights speak volumes. Pun not intended"

Danan looked down to see half the city dark, and rather patchy lights everywhere else.

"I have a few things to tell you about your condition, You're in isolation, by all logic you should have died in that explosion, And then, your body started letting off... EMPs. You weren't the only survivor of the explosion, a Mr. Anderson, same department as you, made it out"

"My boss is the only one alive from the power plant?" 

"Well, 375 are dead or missing, it's really hard to tell at the moment, it's possible others got out, as for Anderson... he passed away last night"

Danan was shocked to say the least. He sat there bewildered.

"Understandably you're shocked, we want to keep you in the hospital a while longer, at the shortest a day if no more EMPs occur, until then, we have a 24 hour mental care unit, call any nurse or doctor at any time, and they'll bring someone in, if you want to talk to someone about what's happening.

******************************

Anderson stood in front of the demolished power plant, staring at it, as the electricity arced and licked his skin.
He felt vacant, and he knew not what to do, this was the first moment of clarity he had in a long time

He hesitantly took a step, and then another, and quickly broke into a sprint into the debris that was the building racing straight for the room where he worked.

Daniel

He Tried to speak

"D...Daniel" He whispered softly, though he was trying to shout.

"Where are you" Frustrated at the tiny noise which was all he could muster he lunged his fist into a wall, his fist pierced it perfectly, he removed it in shock, expecting the much more human bloodied fist that would normally result from that.

You're   not...   normal...   any    more

He began to laugh manically as he lapsed out of the fickle clarity he had worked so hard to obtain.

And as quickly as it came, it went.

The veins in his body glowed bright blue, his eyes rolled and went entirely white; The white was faded to the same glowing blue which infected his veins.

The more this happens... The more you lose... and the more I gain.

Frustrated, upset and scared, Anderson did the only thing that seemed natural any more and began to scream like a child in pain.

***********************************

Danny sat in the hospital bed, looking on to the darkened city below, The window mirrored his reflection, and he took a moment to inspect it.

There was something different about his eyes, though he couldn't quite pick out what it was. The colour was the same, the pupil was of course a little larger because of the lighting.
He raised himself from the bed and approached to window to try and see it closer, the more he looked the less he found.
He positioned his face ever closer, his eye casting a shadow onto the black city below.
Focusing on his right eye, he slowly moved his hand closer to stretch the skin of his face.

Closer.

As his hand touched his skin, an explosion erupted behind his eye.
Shocked he lurched back and focused on the city, a building had just gone up in flames.
"Holy s**t..."
Before he could get the attention of the nurses and doctors another building burst into an inferno, a block away from the last.
He looked behind him hoping someone was seeing this from behind him.
The hall way was empty.
He raced to the door and stuck his head out it, but there was no one around, just the lonely lights of the hospital.
He took a step back toward the window and stopped.
Thoughts raced through his head, every one of them seemed to cause a shocking pain in his temples.
He slammed the ward door behind him shut and raced to the window, fist placed upon it.
Wait, am I actually doing this? I can't break this window...

Another building joined the crisis and Danan could almost feel the same inferno in his brain.
Hand placed flat on the glass.
Teeth gritting, eyes vicious.
"BREAK" Danan felt his hand close, the glass shattering into small pieces at his feet.
He walked backward, shocked at what he was doing, but ecstatic. He raced toward the window and jumped out of it, like an Olympic swimmer, diving into the biggest race of his life, The air however, felt nothing like water, save the cold, and held no resistance as he plummeted toward the ground
"FUUCCCKK" Danny screamed realising his mistake, his insanity, his STUPIDITY.
He spread his body out trying to at least buy himself some more time.
This was it.

He was dead for sure.
Before he could hit the ground his body started repositioning itself, electricity arced off his body in all directions, connecting with any piece of metal they could find.
He descended, safely. His feet planted on the ground, roughly his body followed, though this landing was a lot softer than the one he was going to receive in its place.

He placed his hand on the ground and caressed it.
"I'm... sure I was done for" he rose from his crouched position and stood tall.
Looking down he saw his hospital garbs, exclaiming he raced to a nearby store and picked up an alternate set of clothes, as quickly as he could.

***********************************

Fire-fighters surrounded each building, the city's force was almost depleted fighting these fires, shouting commands at each in the heat of the moment, trying to safe as many people as possible, wishing to save them all. 

"We can't do it, there's just too many" one of the fire-fighters exclaimed in horror.
A figure raced toward the building, a hood enveloped his face, the hooded jacket itself was white and plain, he had black pants on and some trainers, he shot them a quick glance, the stillness filled the air.
"Hey Wait!, you can't go in there" A fire-fighter yelled at the man and started running to him
The figure shook his head from side to side slowly and turned to the building and raced in.
The fireman followed after him.
He followed as closely as he could, seeing the man go around corners as soon as he followed around them.
The building creaked and the ceiling above him caved in, a flaming slab of wood dropped onto him, knocking him down and pinning him.
"Hey, where are you? talk to me, else I can't get to you" Danny called, of course it was him in the hood as he raced around the building searching for survivors.
There is something different about my eyes...
Danan shut his eyes and stood as still as a stone focusing on his breath and this feeling he couldn't describe, that he felt under his eyelids, a tingling, A static.
His eyes snapped open things still looked the same, but as he scanned he could see a current of electricity in the shape of a small child, He could see this through a wall.
He moved toward a nearby door.
"303"
He took a step back, and prepared his leg muscles, he lurched and kicked the door, his foot collided and was instantly stopped, He tried it again.
"Damn it! how the hell do they do this!"

He was frustrated, there was a little life possibly beyond this door and there was nothing he could do to get past it.
His eyes glowed Yellow, He extended his hand, stretched out and pointed it like a weapon toward the door handle
What am I doing? He thought to himself thinking he had gone crazy.

Electricity surged from all over his body toward his hand, as it arced off of his body it formed a ball of yellow electricity, eight centimetres from the palm of his hand, the ball expanded to a radius of five centimetres and stopped growing.
The ball floated in the air in front Danan's hand and then sparked forward into the door, blasting the door handle into the unseen room, This exhausted him and he could no longer see the electric silhouette that had guided him to this room. He breathed deeply and composed himself.
Danan grabbed the door by the hole left by his attack and opened it.
This is no time to be amazed I have to keep moving...

A child's crying started to fill Danny's ears, it was faint but he could now hear it behind everything else, he moved toward it.
Danny moved through rooms, until he found a hole through a wall into another unit, following the sound.

He entered the lounge room of the new unit, and surely enough, crying underneath the centre table, surrounded by the bodies of his parents, a small child hid, crying.
Danan forced what little energy he had left to use the power that enveloped his vision before.
The energy was faint and the image quickly dispersed but the boy's parents were alive, but he couldn't carry them all. He approached the man and placed his hand on his chest
Hope this works
He forced electricity to his hand and sure enough...
ZAP

The man lunged into a coughing fit as he regained conciousness, Danny impatient grabbed the man by the arm, and used a purposely raspy voice.
"Listen to me, you need to carry your wife, we're getting out of here"

"Who are you"

"Not important" Danny said as he approached the kid and slung him over his shoulder

"What are you doing?!" the man seemed offended

"What are you doing? you release you're in a burning building and we need to get out of here now!"

Danny gestured toward the woman and searched for an exit, it didn't seem there was a better option.

"looks like we're going back the way I came in"

The man finally started listening, walked up to his wife and cradled her limp body in his arms, gently resting her head on his chest.
"Lets go"

Danny nodded and started leading him out as they approached the door to 303 the ceiling collapsed separating the parents from the child and Danan.

"DADDY!" The child's scream filled the room as he realised what had happened, Danny put the child down and extended his hand.
This isn't a very smart to do... But it's the only thing I can do, Drain it all from me, use everything I have left.

Electricity started arcing through Danny's body, the more he called out, the more he could feel being taken from him.

He felt faint and the power waned
I can do this...

I have to...

"I CAN DO THIS!" Danny yelled, this time in his normal voice, all the hair on his body stood on end. His iris became yellow and glowed, more electricity arced from his body into the floating ball in front of his hand, this one almost double the size of the last.
"Stand back from the debris" Danny returned to the fake raspy voice he had used before, as he warned the others.

He released the electrical shot and it destroyed the debris, the man still carrying his wife, who had now come to, looked in awe at the man.
"Who are you" The woman asked 

"Not important" Danny repeated himself

They followed him down the halls and they happened upon the trapped fire fighter

"what happened to you!" the man ran over, knelt down and then looked back at Danan "blast this thing off him"

"I've got nothing left, lets just lift it"

"What kind of super power does that?"

"A new one that I'm not used to"

Danny knelt down and eased the debris off the fireman with the help of the boy's father, the fireman had passed out from the heat.
"Can you carry him outside, I need to check the building one more time"

The followed Danny's direction as he stayed behind activating his power once more, but before he could find out whether any more people were left, he collapsed.

Outside the fireman and the family had gotten out and were greeted with amazement and relief

"Did you see a man in a hoodie?" one of the fire-fighters asked

"he's still in there"

"What?! the building is about to collapse" The fire-fighter said no more and ran straight into the building

tension filled the air as the daring fire-fighter fought to save and survive out of sight.

After a few suspension filled minutes the fire-fighter emerged with Danan in his arms.

He ran over triumphantly as the onlooking crowd cheered

he placed Danan down near the family

"what were you thinking Kid"

"He's Special!" The child erupted gleefully, to which the father panicked and quickly interjected 

"uh... What my son means is, this guy is special, one of a kind, he saw the danger to himself and to others and tried his best to save me and my family, thanks to him, we're alive"

"Special huh, yeah, it takes a special kind of person to save those people, but you put others in danger, if you want to save lives why not do it as one of us"

Danan who had come to when he was placed down meekly shrugged and said

"I just wanted to help" and left it at that.

"And help you did in the end"

The fireman stood up and eased Danan to his feet, he wanted to share this victory with the boy

"This boy is a hero!" The fireman gestured to Danan and the crowd roared

A news team raced over and Danny immediately felt uneasy, he didn't hear what they said, but knew it too well.

"No, sorry I don't want to appear" Danny pulled the hood over his face as well as he could and ran away from the crowd and the news team

"Quick, we can still make this a story get a shot of him leaving!"