New York: Upper West Side The New York Upper West Side, Manhattan, is a fairly comfortable neighborhood. The buildings and apartments, while not as expensive as the east side, are safe and clean, as are the streets. Students at nearby Columbia University have easy access to many of the city's attractions. Those closest include Central Park which is within walking distance, and the American Museum of Natural History which houses one of the largest fossil displays in the world. Two of New York's famous churches are also adjacent to the University: The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and Riverside Church. Caught in a blaze of flames, the Student Union of Columbia University is a victim of structural damage from the earthquake, that has only now unleashed disastrous results. Fire engines are already on the scene, with high-powered hoses that attempt to douse the inferno, but from the looks of the number of yellow-coated men that are braving the interior of the building, there are still many students inside that need rescuing. Before you notice the lanky, lycra-clad teenager, you notice the wake he creates through his passage. The coats and hats of bystanders seem to aquire minds of their own as a strangely local gust of wind breezes through...and then Impulse is standing near the man he assumes to be the fire chief, trying to catch his attention. "'Scuse me, mister, where are people stuck? I can get them out." Taking only the briefest of moments to glance away from the fireman he's barking at, the portly chief squints his eyes at the youth, before spitting out a response. "I don't know you from Jack, kid. You wanna play hero, do it on someone else's watch, I'm busy." Apparently feeling that's all he needs to say, the man turns back to his previous conversation, gesturing a little excessively as he talks. Impulse's eyes flash for a moment, and he continues looking up at the chief. "Look, sir, people could be dying up there and I have the speed to get them out in time. If you don't tell me where you think they are, I'll go up there without any idea, starting from the basement, and take one sprocking longer than I should have to, and probably not get to everyone before the building collapses. /Tell/ me." Turning back with an exasperated look on his face, the overweight cheif takes a moment longer to size up Impulse before answering this time, his eyes narrowing suspciciously again. "Who are you supposed to be, the new Kid Flash? Fine, we got about a dozen people trapped in the cafeteria on the second floor. The stairs are out and we can't get a ladder to 'em. We've been bringing 'em down the elevator shaft, but that's slow going. If you can do better, be my guest, but you sure as hell better not get in the way of my men." His eyes focus on the would-be hero, the cold glint behind them emphasizing his last statement. Aquaman runs along, then his eyes focus in on the fire chief. He heads toward him. "How many are still in there? Where are they?" Ignoring the 'Kid Flash' thing - he's bound to hear it a lot more before he grows up - Bart nods once and is gone in a blur of red and white, and a gust of wind. He runs...up the /side/ of the building? and disappears over the top. Within seconds, he runs out of the first floor wall carrying a coed whose eyes are shut tightly. He brings her over to the civil workers and disappears inside again. Turning his attention already between Impulse and another fireman, the Chief sets his jaw at the arrival of another costumed hero - but then relaxes it again, upon seeing who it is. "We've got twelve up on the second floor, Aquaman... Did you bring anyone else with you?" He asks this last, like he's not sure how much Aquaman himself can do. Green Lantern can be seen flying overhead. Aquaman sees Green Lantern, "Yeah, I have backup..." He points toward a window. "Keep a hose aimed at that window, if you would." He runs toward the building, and fires his hook into the wall and begins retracting it in to drag him up the side of the building. Over his pager he says, "Lantern... See what you can do about containing this thing." The blurred figure of the young speedster appears again with another student, sooner this time, as he's surer of his route. All you can see from the outside is the fact that he's vibrating through the outside wall - but inside, he's also using the elevator shaft, being very careful to avoid the firemen. It's not too hard, since he's using the walls while they're using ropes. Motioning to his men, the Chief has one truck keep their stream of water focused on the indicated window, before turning back to coordinated the efforts of the rest of his men. His demeanor is visibly more relaxed, however, upon seeing the arrival of the Justice League. Green Lantern blinks, then speaks into his pager. "You got it..." He fires a quick burst of energy beams from his ring which solidify into flying elephants whose tails are fire hoses all linked and the end to one central hose. "Aquaman, you know where there's an unoccupied hydrant?" Aquaman is splashed by the water as he climbs through the window. . o O ( Needed that... ) He bolts through the building, dodging the flames. He smashes through a wall, looking around for these 12 students. After bringing someone else out, Impulse skids to a halt, seeing the man climbing up the side of the building. "Aquaman!" he yells, then gahs, and runs back inside. Aquaman grabs his pager, "Do I look like a fireman? I'm in here, you're out there. Work with what you have." The group of now ten students (and steadily declining as Impulse ferrys them out), are mostly huddled over by the elevator shaft - one of them being lowered via ropes by the firemen below. The rest are doing their best to stay away from the encroching flames, which engulf most of the second floor. Green Lantern says into his pager, "Awright, awright..." GL flies around until he finds an unused fireplug, then plugs the central hose into it. "Okay, boys, drench this sucker!" All of the ring-energy Dumbos begin blasting water towards the heavier blazes. Impulse stops, finding Orin, who's just found the students. "You wanna keep getting them out while I look for another way, or some other people?" He adds, "The only way I've seen so far is the one they're using." Aquaman motions toward the wall. "Green Lantern's outside... It's mostly clear that way, so we can get them to the window and get them down that way. The added water from the emerald elephants brings the heavier fires under control, though part of the roof begins to sag from the combination of water weight and structrual damage by the fire - dipping down precariously not far from the group of huddled students. Aquaman frowns, "Okay, move, kids..." "Awright, that makes things easier. No one likes going through walls," he says, slightly mystified, then shrugging. He scoops someone else up and runs toward the window, then disappearing over the edge - and running down the outside wall. Aquaman grabs his pager, "Lantern, get a waterslide set up running down from the window I indicated... Green Lantern speaks into his pager., "Okay, I'm shutting down the sprinklers, you need escape routes out the windows?" Aquaman smirks despite himself as he herds the other 9 students toward the window, "We're almost thinking like a team here... " Green Lantern speaks into his pager, "Ten-four..." He dissipates the elephants, caps off the hydrant and creates a waterslide leading out of the window Aquaman indicated. "Slide's ready, Aquaman..." Impulse looks up from the ground, then glances at the chief again. "Is there anyone you /can't/ get to that you know of?" Aquaman grabs kids and sends them down the slide unceremoniously as fast as he can, "Move it..." Green Lantern creates an air-filled cushion down at the terminus of the slide, then touches down to help the kids as they arrive on the street. Most of the students are pretty shell-shocked by this time, and cluster together with fearful eyes as they're herded towards the window, getting shoved down the slides to land with soft thuds at the air cushion. Green Lantern hefts the people one at a time up out of the cushion as safely to the street. "There ya go, watch your step, kids..." Calling back up with a bullhorn, the Cheif barks out, "We think there's someone trapped downstairs in the mail room, but we're not sure...." As if in answer to this, one of the newly rescued students cries out, "My sister..! That's my sister!" Aquaman says "Great..." He turns and runs through the building toward the elevator shaft and jumps, letting himself drop down it as far down as it goes." Impulse looks sharply at the student, then speeds over and disappears into the side of the building, through the wall. Green Lantern yells into his pager over the noise. "Anything else?" Falling past a number of firemen who are still retrieving their equipment from the elevator, Aquaman lands at the bottom of the shaft, where the doors have been propped open with a metal stick. Beyond, fires rage in the hallway, and the sillhouettes of two firemen can be seen pushing at a large metal shelving unit, that blocks one doorway. Making a beeline for the elevator shaft inside, Bart vibrates through the doors and runs down the inside. He yells quickly over his shoulder to Orin on the way, "It's behind there, I've /got/ her!" He vibrates again and is gone, behind the blocked door. As if from an enormous distance, you and the firemen can hear a sound like a jackhammer, which grows louder and faster with every passing second. Green Lantern pockets his pager. "Guess not. You all right?" Green Lantern blinks. "What the...?" The shelving unit begins to wobble (in the basement - /those/ firemen) and the metal door behind it seems to be warping outward. Manmitter from Mars pages: The scene behind the shelves and door is not one that is easily made out at first; A thick layer of grey/black smoke hangs low over the mailroom, almost completely obscuring all vision. Propped up on the wall by the door, however, is the slim frame of a young coed, though she's not moving. Her skin is ashen grey, and her eyes are closed. The firemen back away quickly, one hefting an axe in a defensive posture. "What the-?" Green Lantern yells into his pager. "Aquaman, talk to me, man. You all right?!" A thousand years' worth of constant barrage in the space of seconds will do this, kids - the shelf begins to topple, and fall, as the door grows more and more bent. However, it stops suddenly, and you can faintly hear a yell from inside, "She's not breathing! /You/ get the door!" Aquaman shouts down the hall to the firemen, "Get out of here.... Impulse has it taken care of!!" . o O ( I hope. ) Nodding quickly, the two firemen don't need to be told twice - they head quickly back for the elevator, scrambling up the rope to the ground level. Impulse picks up the girl, holding his breath, and thanking the powers that be for his goggles. Green Lantern runs over to the front entrance, ring-zapping a suit of fireproof armor for himself. And, yes, he DOES watch a lot of anime. Aquaman runs down the hall. . o O ( I hate fire. ) His hook begins spinning like a drill, and he shouts, "Get back" as he jams the hook into the lock area, slicing through it. With a shrill whine, the door is pierced, and metal shavings fly about in a thin cone as the latching mechanism is destroyed. Aquaman kicks the door open, then motions down the hall. "RUN!" Green Lantern runs in the front entrance, looking around for signs of life. He has his pager clamped to the side of the suit's helmet. A fresh plume of grey smoke rolls out into the hallway once the door is opened, clinging to the ceiling as it rushes along. A thick cloud of acrid smoke billows out, and Bart shoots out carrying the girl...then running up the elevator shaft. As soon as Impulse hits the elevator shaft, the ceiling before it caves in with a loud crash, trapping Aquaman within the bowels of the building, alone with the fire that still rages there, and the smoke that already fills the upper third of the hallway. Aquaman stumbles back, ducking low so that he can breathe as the room fills with smoke. Impulse runs past Green Lantern, still carrying the young coed, and out the front door - both of them are sooty, and the speedster casts about wildly for the rescue workers. He yells, "Someone take her! She's not breathing, and -" he stops, hearing the crash, and his eyes widen. "Aquaman!" Aquaman looks around for any sort of water source... sinks, drinking fountains, bathrooms.... Green Lantern holds a hand up as the shaft caves in. He speaks into his commlink: "Aquaman, I hope that elevator shaft wasn't your only escape route..." Aquaman grabs his pager, "It was.... Flood the basement." Impulse hands the girl over to the paramedics. The basement level of the building is surprisingly small, and really only consists of one main hallway, accessible by the elevator on one end, and stairs on the other, the former cut off by debris, and the latter having collapsed much earlier in the fire. Aside from the mail room, there are a number of meeting rooms that sprout off the hallway, and a pair of bathrooms that stand on either side of the now defunct stairwell. Green Lantern speaks into his pager. "One deluge coming up..." He ring-zaps a Supersoaker water rifle connected by a hose to an open valve on the nearest fire truck. He then manifests a drill to burrow a hole into the lower floor and sticks the rifle's muzzle into the hole. "Here it comes..." He pulls the trigger... Aquaman heads into the bathroom and begins drilling through the main pipes that feed water into the room. Rushing back inside, Impulse tugs at Kyle's arm, "The other side. And make the hole big so I can get in." Aquaman sees the hole and shouts, "Nevermind... I can get out that way." Impulse stops. Water begins to shoot into the lower levels of the building, from both Aquaman and Green Lantern's efforts, already reaching an inch or two in depth. The firemen stand back as the emerald champion leaps into action, staring a bit dubiously at the use of their truck, but say nothing. Green Lantern nods to Impulse and goes to the other end and repeats the procedure, this time making the drill bit larger for a bigger hole. He thinks . o O (Man, I hope the charge on the ring's enough...) Impulse acks, and yells, "GL! Wait, he can get out." Aquaman says "LANTERN!!! Make the hole bigger... I can climb out that way." Green Lantern stops at Impulse's comment. "Cool, was wondeirng if my ring was gonna give out or not..." Aquaman thinks . o O (Can't believe I didn't think of that earlier...) Aquaman jumps up, grabbing the edge of the first floor's floor and dragging himself up. "Help ... would be ... good." He coughs. The boards threaten to give way underneath Aquaman's grip, both water and fire damage taking their toll. Aquaman says "Lantern... a crane..." Blinking, Impulse crosses his arms. "Where're you gonna support it? The whole floor is cheese." Green Lantern grabs Aquaman's hook-arm and struggles to help him up using a grappler cable manifested from his ring. Aquaman feels the boards giving way and tries to support himself while still putting as little weight as possible on the floor. "You'll bring the whole floor down... anchor me to something outside..." Impulse runs out, and runs back in with a steel cable. "It's tied to the firetruck." Green Lantern nods. "Okay, but just so you know, I think my irng's about drained..." He fires another beam, forming a huge bolt that embeds itself in the sidewalk and anchors the cable. Suddenly, the light dawns on Bart. "Lantern, fly him out on the last of it?" The floor creaks ominiously, blackened and wet as it is, crunching quielty underneath Aquaman as he moves. Green Lantern soars down to grab Aquaman. "Okay, the easy way coming up..." He grabs for his teammate. Aquaman is grabbed. Just as Aquaman is picked up, the section of floor he was on tumbles apart, sending debris crashing down to the basement level below with a loud series of bangs. Most of the first level now threatens to do the same, just barely on the edge of physical stability. Impulse backs away as the floor makes loud and evil cracking sounds, then remembers the girl from the basement. He rushes outside, stopping short at the rescue station he'd left her at. Looking around, he doesn't see her immediately, and asks a paramedic where she is. Aquaman is brought outside and continues hacking. "Someone... turn a hose on me..." Green Lantern yells to the firemen. "C'mon, let's get some H2O over here!" The paramedic looks long at Impulse, his eyes turning sad - there's no real easy way to say it, so he just tells the young hero the truth. "She didn't make it kid... I'm sorry, but there was nothing we could do. She was already gone when she got to us..." Green Lantern dissipates the armor. His eyes lower as he hears the news about the girl. As the fire is all but put out by now, getting a spare hose is no problem, and in fact about four such streams of water are blasted at the Lord of Atlantis, each dousing him thoroughly. Aquaman shakes his head, "No... this is stupid. The earthquake happened over a week ago..." He shakes his head, "First Hal, now thi..." the rest of his words are drowned out as he is slammed with water. Suddenly, it seems like all of the energy drains out of the young speedster, as the color fades from his face. "She..." he starts, then stops, and looks over to where the girl's sister is standing, still over by the students she was rescued with. Then he looks back at the medic, and an expression of uncomprehension is written on his features. "But...can't you resuscitate her or something? Can't you do the thing with the electricity? Her sister is over there! This'll kill her, look at her, she's already in shock..!" Green Lantern sighs. "aw, man..." He goes over to sit down on the sidewalk and catch his breath. Reaching out with his hand, the paramedic takes a gentle hold of Impulse's shoulder. "Look, I know it's not easy, but there wasn't anything we could do. She asphyxiated from the smoke inhalation, probably ten or fifteen minutes before you got there. You did your best, kid..." The aforementioned sister, though, after talking with another paramedic, turns to spot Impulse, and lets out a cry of grief. "You..! You killed my sister..." Tears flow freely down her soot-stained cheeks, her voice filled with accusation and grief-spawned anger. Green Lantern blinks as he hears the girl's accusation. He thinks . o O (Damn, knew this was coming...) Shaking his head first, slowly, at the paramedic's words, Bart turns in surprise at the girl's voice. His eyes widen, unreadable...but his face says it all. Grief, helplessness, compassion...guilt, fear, anger. "I didn't mean to..." he whispers. "I didn't mean do..." Hands outstretched - in a gesture of warding, or of supplication? the speedster pleads with himself as much as with the sister, "Didn't you see, I tried to save her? I tried to get her out in time!" "Couldn't you *do* something?!" the girl cries out again, "With all your powers? Aren't you supposed to save people?!" A few of the others back away a little, as if perhaps afraid that Impulse or one of the other superheros will retalliate against the girl's words, but the expression on a few of their faces seem to indicate that they agree with her. "I saw you... Moving so fast... Why weren't you fast enough for her??" Green Lantern stands, wanting to say something, but can't come up with the words. What could he say that would make things all right for everyone? Impulse backs away, biting his lip and blinking back unmanly tears. "I didn't know soon enough...I tried, but..." his voice lowers again, "But I wasn't good enough. I'm sorry...I'm so sorry.." Sinking to the ground, the young woman falls into another fit of tears herself, clearly uncomforted by Impulse's words. Another student comes to her side, placing an arm around her shoulders, to help soften the sharp pain that the sister must feel. Green Lantern walks over to Impulse, and, saying nothing, puts a hand on his shoulder. Staring at the girl, unable to put it all together and make it make sense, Impulse starts at Kyle's hand on his shoulder. He looks up at the older hero, wordlessly, then back at the students...and whispers, "I'm sorry, Lantern, but I can't stay here." Then his face lights up in a panic, "Cassie! I have to find Cassie!" Impulse disappears, leaving a sooty cloud where he'd stood. One of the firemen walks over to Kyle, glancing towards the crying girl before he speaks to the emerald hero. "Don't let her get to you, she's lost someone close and she's just trying to work out the grief... You guys did a good job today. I don't even want to think of how many more lives would have been lost, if you hadn't been here." Green Lantern says "We did what we could. Unfortunately for her... and for Impulse... that's gonna be cold comfort for them both..." He snaps out of his reverie long enough to shake the fireman's hand before launching back into the sky. "Glad to help...""