Bab 63: Firestorm - Starlight

Starlight watched the screens in the 'command' tent as they showed a steady stream of cars moving slowly but surely all heading out of the city like a viscous sluggish stream of blood.

There wasn't much they could do…well there wasn't much she could do.

A-Train and the other speedsters Shockwave, Racer and Blink could all technically run people to the nearest hospital over fifty miles away…technically because practically if anyone was in that dire danger they likely wouldn't survive the trip.

Still nonetheless in a pinch they could help even if it was a risk while her power set didn't really help much outside of going into an actual burning building to pull someone out.

So with a lack of ability to help outside of lending her face and fame to make a few announcements there really wasn't much for her to do other than watch the screens and try not to be in anyone's way.

She sensed that the fire-chief wasn't too thrilled with them being here and was making it obvious he was doing this as a favour to the governor.

Annie thought likely that Vought had helped in his election campaign but then again she knew Vought donated to both sides of the aisle.

Her gaze turned to A-Train talking with the other speedsters.

Shockwave was A-Train's main rival as the mid-twenties man had been considered as his replacement on The Seven.

Racer was an older gentleman in his sixties from the Midwest. She remembers hearing about him maybe fifteen or twenty years ago when she was a child herself.

Blink was new.

He didn't look older than fifteen and she didn't remember him from Vought's rosters. Rosters she had recently gotten to know quite intimately as she and A-Train had been in charge of the whole re-training project.

A mammoth task had had just recently been completed.

Starlight took in Blink's appearance and judged by the costume or more like lack of costume since it was nothing more than blue and green spandex shorts and shirt, usually worn by cyclists, topped off with sleek goggles, that were currently hanging off his neck revealing his brown eyes, that he wasn't one of Vought's or any of the other lower agencies.

This made her think it was just some boy with powers that decided to play hero, his excitement evident as he was talking with the older speedsters, but it also made her question what the hell was Homelander thinking calling him and how the hell did he even know about the kid.

She and A-Train had been shooting a commercial in LA when the call from Homelander came asking them to meet here.

Of course she had been surprised since responses to these types of natural disasters would usually be pre-planned and involve the Emergency Disaster Coordination Team both for Vought to deploy its resources effectively and to stay on top of the PR game.

Where they went so did the cameras.

This of course had been rushed and with no camera's insight, no coordination of where to go from head office and a fire-chief that wanted nothing more than to throw them out they were stuck holding the bag so to speak, waiting for Homelander to come with his grand plan.

She hoped he wouldn't be too long because even though she had not been included in the fire response command structure she could tell tensions were rising and she could see from the TV that the fire was spreading faster and faster as new plumes of smoke rose in thick spots that were previously green and clear.

The clogged streets didn't give her a feeling a confidence the evacuation will be finished in time…not to mention the fact that most of the roads going out of town were surrounded by forest as well.