Issue #9: "Life and Death" Pt. 2

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Firestorm
Issue #9: “Life and Death, Part Two: A House Divided”
Written by Alex Vasquez Romero
Cover by Mischief and Alex Vasquez Romero
Edited by Mark Bowers

12 hours ago

“Ronnie, there’s no easy way to tell you this,” Dr. Smith said as he motioned for Ronnie to take a seat before he seated himself. He opened a folder which contained Ronnie’s test results. “The test results on your blood came back and it’s positive for leukemia.”

“That’s impossible,” Ronnie said as he grabbed the report that Dr. Smith was reading from.

“It’s conclusive.” Dr. Smith continued, “All of your symptoms, the joint pain, the sudden bruising and bleeding…these are all common with leukemia. We need to act and get you into a treatment program. Your leukemia is abnormally aggressive. In fact, it’s similar to the aggressive form of leukemia seen in some victims of Hiroshima….”

The doctor’s words trailed off in Ronnie’s head as a tear rolled down his face.

* * * * * * * * * *

Now

Firestorm sat on top of the crown of the Statue of Liberty and stared at the skyline of the city he’d lived his whole life in. Tonight was perfect, not a cloud in sight and the city just sparkled against the black backdrop. Since Ronnie became Firestorm, looking at the city from its various landmarks or just from very high altitude had become something he’d grown to enjoy. He found it gave him an appreciation for the creativity and ingenuity of man.

Ronnie’s mind grew heavy and he wondered to himself, How much longer do I have to enjoy these moments? His face grew long and his glowing eyes stooped downward. He looked over his red and yellow costume and traced the sun symbol that adorned his chest with his yellow-gloved finger. A wave of sadness overcame him as the cold realization of the truth came to him: Not much longer.

“I’m sorry, Ronnie,” a voice said to Ronnie in his head. It was not Martin Stein. “I don’t know what to say. It just sucks.”

“I haven’t even told my Dad yet,” Ronnie said as he sighed. “I don’t know what to do. How do I tell him that I’m a superhero and that my powers are killing me?”

“I don’t know what to tell you, bro. Just make whatever time you have left count. Make a difference.”

“I guess,” Ronnie said as he looked out at the city, and thought about how his life had changed since the accident months ago at the Hudson Nuclear Power Plant. It seemed like a lifetime to Ronnie. He couldn’t remember what his life had been like before the accident and he couldn’t comprehend going back to it, whatever it was.

“What are you going to do?” the voice asked.

“What am I going to do?” Ronnie said as he reminisced about the events of the last couple of days.

* * * * * * * * * *

48 Hours Earlier

The Hyena let out a thunderous roar as it leapt towards Firestorm. It bared its fangs and lashed its claws towards the newly reconstituted Nuclear Man made of Ronnie Raymond and the fallen police officer that had come to Doreen’s aid earlier. Firestorm sidestepped the creature and used his intangibility to let the Hyena’s claws harmlessly pass though his body. Firestorm windmilled his right arm, made himself solid again and connected with an uppercut that connected with the beast’s mouth, sending it into the entertainment center in the living room.

“God, what’s going on?” Ronnie could hear the voice of the officer say in his head. “What have you done to me? I don’t feel so good…”

“Look, calm down,” Ronnie replied mentally. He saw the Hyena wriggling through the wreckage. “I don’t know what exactly is going on; it might be some survival mechanism from the Matrix.”

“What the hell is the Matrix?” the hysterical cop yelled as his voice started to fade.

“Just relax and we’ll get through this. We just have to take care of Fido here.” Ronnie’s fists began to charge with energy as the Hyena was struggling to get up, still reeling from the uppercut.

“Ronnie, please don’t hurt her,” Doreen pleaded as she ran between Firestorm and the Hyena.

“What the hell is that chick doing? She’s going to get us killed.”

“Doreen, I have to do something before it hurts you or worse.”

“Ronnie, that’s Summer. That’s my sister.”

“What?” both Ronnie and the Officer yelled simultaneously.

“That’s messed up,” the officer commented.

“Shut up,” Ronnie snarled back at him.

The Hyena finally managed to get to its feet and leapt again, but this time attacking Doreen. Firestorm grabbed her and shoved her behind him, taking the brunt of the downward swipe of the beast’s claws, fearing that, if he went intangible, Doreen might get hurt. Firestorm brought his fists together and shot a short, concentrated blast into the Hyena’s chest, causing it to crash into the wall again. Firestorm winced and fell to one knee. He looked at his chest and saw four large gashes with blood trickling from them.

Impossible, Ronnie thought as he touched the wounds and looked at his bloody fingers.

“Kid,” the officer said with panic in his voice, which was barely audible in Ronnie’s mind, “I’m not feeling so great.”

“Take a number,” Ronnie said aloud, but he did begin to feel a new pain, other than the gashes. Doreen tried to see if Ronnie was okay, but he couldn’t hear what she was saying as the pain began to well up. It felt as if there was a hole in his chest and it began to spread to the extremities of his body like a fissure in the earth. He saw the Hyena get back to its feet and Ronnie knew he had to do something about the situation immediately.

Mustering as much energy as he could, Ronnie took flight, slamming his fists into the stomach of the Hyena and busting through the wall. Outside on the lawn, Ronnie drove the monster into the ground, using it to cushion the force of impact, Ronnie rolled away from the creature as he began to be overwhelmed by this new pain that seemingly was eating him from the inside out. His skin began to crack as he tried to fight a violent gag reflex. He also noticed that the officer was gone from his mind. He couldn’t hear or feel his presence.

He heard Doreen beginning to plead with the monster again, trying to reach what was left of her sister. He looked toward the house and saw the Hyena stand up gingerly, with blood pouring out of its nose and mouth. The hair on its head was soaked and matted down with blood from a gash that had been sustained when they’d broken through the wall.

“I know you’re in there,” he heard Doreen say as the cracks on his skin were getting longer, causing him pain every time he contorted his face in reaction to it.

No, Doreen… Ronnie thought. His fist charged with as much energy as he could muster; he felt as if he was being eroded from the inside out.

“I love you, Summer,” Doreen said as he closed her eyes and tensed up as the beast flared her fangs and let out a roar. Ronnie took his shot, blasting a concentrated nuclear blast into the back of the Hyena.

The smell of burnt flesh and hair entered the air. The Hyena fell to the ground with a resounding thud and a hole burnt through her chest. Doreen opened her eyes and started to weep, falling to her knees and caressing the thing that once used to be her sister.

I’ve got to get out of here, Ronnie thought, barely able to stand up. He took one look at Doreen, who looked back at him with her tear-soaked eyes and then turned her attention back to what used to be her sister.

Ronnie sprinted as fast as he could. He couldn’t fly. He could barely muster enough energy to run. The cracks in his skin began to drift apart and rays of light began to seep through them. He ran into an alley between two houses before he collapsed on his knees and looked up at the sky as he felt whatever energy he had left burst though his chest, briefly illuminating the night sky.

Ronnie started to cough and clutch his throat. He wasn’t Firestorm, he was just Ronnie Raymond now and he noticed that the wounds he’d suffered from the Hyena were gone. He also found he couldn’t escape the scent of burning flesh, but it was more pungent here than it was on Doreen’s lawn. He followed the smell and found a smoldering corpse lying next to him, almost burnt entirely to the bone.

That was the cop, Ronnie thought as he began to gag. His mouth was flooded with the bitter taste of bile as he threw up multiple times, before sprinting back to his home.

* * * * * * * * * *

Three hours ago

Ronnie took a deep breath, smoothed out his black suit and tie and walked through the glass doors of the Auchmoody Funeral Home, where the wake for Summer Day was being held. It was a small and private gathering, and Ronnie only found out because he knew the funeral director’s son. The fight with the Hyena had made the headlines in the papers, but there hadn’t been any mention of Summer’s name. Ronnie figured it was because of some of Doreen’s father’s friends who were high up the chain of command at the NYPD.

He went into the parlor room at the far end of the hall where the gathering was being held. It was closed casket. Mrs. Day was sitting in the front row and was inconsolable. Ronnie saw Doreen, standing in the far corner of the room, talking to her neighbor Cliff Carmichael and his family. Doreen noticed him entering and was visibly unhappy that he was there, but didn’t make a scene. Ronnie went over to Mrs. Day to express his condolences. Mrs. Day expressed her gratitude for him coming and for being there for Doreen. Ronnie shook hands with the various people that were there before making his way to Doreen. Cliff was about to say something before Doreen silenced him with a gesture and motioned for Ronnie to follow her, which he did while Cliff glared at him as he exited the room. They left the building through the back door, which led to the rear parking lot. Ronnie and Doreen stood and stared at the floor as they shared an uncomfortable silence for a couple of minutes.

“Doreen, I’m sorry,” Ronnie said as he spoke first. “I didn’t want to do what I did, but I didn’t see any other way to save you. I thought it was the only option at that point.” Ronnie stopped as Doreen began to cry.

“Doreen, I need you to say something to me. You’ve been avoiding me, you haven’t been answering my calls, and you didn’t tell me about your sister’s wake… I need you to say something. Anything…”

“Why didn’t you tell me you were Firestorm?” Doreen finally replied.

Ronnie sighed. “I was scared of what you might think. Of what you might say…I mean, given your attitude about superheroes…” Ronnie looked down to the ground. “Jefferson has been saying I should tell you…”

“Your college roommate knew, while your girlfriend since high school was kept in the dark?”

“He kinda found out… that incident on Greek Row a while back…”

“I don’t understand why you couldn’t tell me.”

“Doreen, you don’t see yourself when you go on those rants about how superheroes should be locked up, how they are going to destroy the world…how we are headed towards a totalitarian state with the superheroes as the ruling class…”

“Don’t you trust me Ronnie?” Doreen interrupted. Ronnie tried to mouth the words he wanted to say but nothing came out. He took a deep breath and looked away from Doreen who continued, “I thought we had the type of relationship that was open and facilitated trust, but it looks like you’ve inherited that natural distrust superpowered people have against normal people.”

“Maybe that’s because we don’t want to be hunted down and become someone’s lab experiment,” Ronnie snapped back. “Do you understand the burden that we carry with us every day, the burden of putting our lives on the line, while people call for our heads and our own government tries to hunt us down?”

“So all of this fear is what caused you to do all of that showboating and grandstanding that Firestorm has a reputation for? Is that why so many of you wear gaudy, brightly-colored costumes and masks? That doesn’t seem like avoiding a witch-hunt.”

“That’s because…”

“Ronnie, the point is you don’t trust me. You didn’t trust that my feelings for you were stronger than my political beliefs about superheroes. If you did, Summer might still be alive.”

“Doreen, there was no other way…”

“Ronnie, I’ve known about the first fight between you and Summer and about Firestorm busting that Lab that made her into that monster. You didn’t think that we wouldn’t have found out?”

“How was I supposed to know that was your sister? I never met her.”

“But if you trusted me, you would’ve known. I would’ve told you. And she might still be alive today.” Ronnie felt like someone had sucked all the air out of his stomach. He already felt responsible for what had happened to Summer and now a new wave of guilt hit him.

“I love you, Ronnie, but if you can’t trust me, how can I trust you.” Doreen kissed Ronnie before heading back to the funeral parlor. She was about to open the door, but Cliff Carmichael opened it and startled her.

“Are you okay?” Cliff asked. Doreen said nothing as she slid inside. Cliff turned towards Ronnie and started to glare at him again. “Don’t you think you’ve done enough to her and her family? You better get on your knees and thank her because she’s the reason that the NYPD isn’t beating you down right now, you flame-haired murderer.

* * * * * * * * * *

Now

“So what are you going to do, Ronnie?” the voice inside his head asked. Ronnie continued to look out at the city from the Crown of the Statue of Liberty as one name echoed in his mind: Boss Shine.

* * * * * * * * * *

Boss Shine, his wife Ma, and their son Spit sat down to dinner in their lavish penthouse apartment as they did almost every night, atop the lavish midtown office building that housed many companies that Boss Shine’s criminal organization used as a front for their mob activities. As they started their usual smalltalk at the table, they started to hear a loud creaking noise. They looked around haphazardly to find the source of the noise, but found nothing. They were about to dismiss it and resume their meal, but they heard another creak.

Then they felt the floor drop. Ma began to panic as plates, silverware and glasses began to bang and clang into each other. Another creak and the floor dropped again. They could see the floor start to splinter from the center of the room and make its way to the edge. The Shines stood up as they heard another creak and the floor lowered again as it began to take a concave shape, causing everything, including the Shines, to stumble to the middle. One more creak and the floor caved in, and the Shines began a 20-story fall downward. At about the 15^th floor, an orange glow surrounded the falling debris around the Shines and transmuted it into foam that guided them down the remaining drop to the lobby. It was totally dark in the lobby, except for the light that seeped in from above and a pair of glowing orange eyes with a fire burning above them.

“You,” Boss Shine stammered as Firestorm stepped into the light that was shining down from above. “Why do you have to keep butting into my business?”

“I never was before, and that was my mistake,” Firestorm said. “And it’s because of my apathy towards you that lives are now ruined.”

“Look, how about we find some common ground,” Boss Shine said as Ma and Spit huddled together. “What do you want? Money? Maybe a position in my organization? Name your price and I’ll see to it that you get it?”

“I want you to get out of town, permanently.”

“Come on, I think you’re being unreasonable,” Boss Shine said as he started to fumble around in his pocket.

“Don’t bother calling your people.” Firestorm’s right hand began to illuminate and he used it to show Boss Shine all of his soldiers, disarmed and restrained all around them.

“Come on,” Shine said nervously. “There’s got to be something you want.”

“What I want is for you to get out of New York… tonight, before the sun comes up,” Firestorm said. “You’re done here and if you’re not gone by sunrise, I’ll find you and there won’t be a treatment on earth that will be able to save you from what I’ll do to you. And this is to show you that I’m not playing around.”

Firestorm shot his arms out to the side and began to saturate the entire lobby with transmutative energy. Once the building lobby was completely covered the energy made its way up, covering every inch of the building. Outside, people on the street started to stop and stare as a luminous layer of orange energy covered the building like a sheath.

Once completely covered, inside and out, the building began to tremble. Boss Shine now joined his family, huddled up in the center as the tremors grew in strength. Firestorm’s face began to contort in tension. His arms and legs began to tremble and the trembling grew along with the trembling of the building. The walls began to crack and crumble. Firestorm let out a scream as the energy contracted and then expanded. In that flash of brilliant light, the building was gone, transmuted into water which now rained down upon everyone below.

“Have I made myself clear?” Firestorm asked the soaked Shine family, who slowly nodded yes.

“Ronnie, I don’t feel real good right now,” the voice said in Ronnie’s head.

“Hold on Jeff,” Ronnie said mentally as he flew away. “A hospital is nearby.”

* * * * * * * * * *

“Everything okay?” Ronnie asked as Jefferson came into the lobby of the emergency room.

“Just a first degree burn,” Jefferson answered as he showed Ronnie his wrapped forearm and a tube of cream. “Just keep it clean and put this stuff on it.”

“I’m relieved, considering what happened to the last guy who teamed up with me.”

“Hey, how come I can’t remember anything?” Jefferson asked as they walked out of the hospital.

“The same thing happened to the Professor, but after I told him about Firestorm, he seemed to start to remember. Maybe it’ll come to you in time.”

“So what do you want to do now, man?” Jefferson asked.

“I don’t know,” Ronnie said with a depressed tone.

“Man, I know what’ll cheer you up. Get your mind off of all of this stuff you got goin’ on,” Jefferson said as he put his arm around Ronnie. “Twenty-five cent wing night at Chucks. Dwayne’s working the bar tonight too, so we could have a couple of drinks too.”

Ronnie thought about it for a minute and then smiled. What’s it going to do? Kill me? “Alright, I’m in.”

“Good, ‘cause all of this superheroing’s got me starving,” Jefferson said as they walked toward the pub. “So, what are you going to do about Firestorm and the professor?”

“Well, I don’t need the professor anymore to change into Firestorm,” Ronnie said, remembering the feeling of blood seeping though the gash on his neck and the feeling of life slipping from him, before he transformed with the dying officer. “So screw him.”

To Be Continued...


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