here!” Ace yelled as I finally came to a stop.
“Where’s Alias?!” I asked as I searched the crowd for any sign of his mask.
“I lost him when the hostages stormed the lobby!” Ace yelled just as I caught the sight of an injured female hostage nearby trying desperately to make her way through the crowd. She appeared to have already injured her right leg and my heart skipped a beat as I watched her nearly tumble to the ground as the surging crowd pushed her forward much quicker than she was able to move.
“Forget about Alias! This place is gonna blow!” Ace insisted.
I ignored Ace and zipped forward into the fray, sweeping the injured woman from her feet just before she was consumed by the stampede.
“I’ve got you!” I reassured as I gazed into her frightened eyes. Even amongst a scene that chaotic, I was instantly taken aback by just how strikingly beautiful this woman was. The very sight of her brought on a rush of adrenaline and other hormones that seemingly slowed down time around me. Her fiery red hair danced within the wind around us as I gazed into her shimmering crystal blue eyes and she slowly settled into my powerful arms. As I stood there completely entranced by her undeniable beauty, I suddenly realized that for that one moment in time, nothing was more important to me than getting her to safety. It had been over two years since anyone had so completely captured my attention and even though I was still madly in love with Monica, I couldn’t help but feel as though I had shared some brand of instant connection with this woman as well.
I finally broke out of my trance when she suddenly began to yell and point back towards the Empire State Building.
“My family!” she shrieked as her eyes widened with terror. “They-they’re still in the building!” she continued as she struggled to free herself from my grasp.
“Where? Where are they?!” I asked as I snapped out of my trance. “Tell me where they are! I can save them!”
“There!” she said as she pointed upward with her left hand.
Five floors up I noticed a man and woman trying in vane to break the plated glass window of the room they were trapped in. My heart rate tripled as I noticed a small boy cowering in fear no more than two feet away from them.
“It’s over Reaper! We’ve saved as many of them as we can! We have to get out of here!” Ace insisted as he pulled up next to me on what was left of his motorcycle.
“Take her!” I ordered to Ace as I forced the woman into his arms as the last few helicopters took off with numerous hostages still left behind.
“Don’t do it, Reaper! It’s too late! I didn’t come all this way to watch you die!” Ace yelled as I kneeled and prepared to leap into the air.
“I have to save them!” I insisted.
“But what if you get caught in the blast?!”
“I won’t,” I said firmly before launching myself into the air. Fire and smoke poured out of several shattered windows that littered the front of the building as I soared upward toward the hapless family. They all scrambled away from the window as I smashed through it and landed safely inside the burning room. My Reaper gasmask made it easy to deal with the thick blanket of smoke that filled the air, but I knew the family was not so well equipped. They cowered in fear as I zoomed over in the blink of an eye and beckoned for them to follow me.
“Get away from us!” the man screamed, obviously mistaking me for a Stranger operative.
“ You have to come with me! It’s your only hope!” I pleaded, as the building rocked and more rubble fell to the floor and scattered throughout the room.
The boy leapt into his father’s arms as the ceiling above us threatened to cave in, and then suddenly a deafening boom resonated throughout the entire building and triggered the first fight or flight response that I had felt since the night I saved Monica from the explosion that P.J. had triggered when he tried to kill us all. There were