Shasta Trinity National forest, Redding California

The smoke rose up from the forests of the national park in a giant black cloud. If he’d been trying to be poetic, Shin might have said the smoke billowing from the forest fire was like a storm cloud, ready to release its torrential downpour... only in reverse, and with more burning. But he wasn’t trying to be poetic, and the massive dark mass on the horizon didn’t remind him of a storm cloud when he’d first spotted it in the green hash mark grid of his vision field. It had reminded him of the mushroom cloud from a nuclear bomb. The fact that several thousand acres of national park had already been turned to ash did little to dull the mental comparison.

17% contained didn’t look very contained, from the seat in the helicopter on the approach. It looked like a lot of work. Him, Lee, and the other volunteers would have their work cut out for them in curbing the fire and getting people trapped in the Shasta Trinity national forest to safety.

When Mr. Hadden had gone and hosted a press conference to talk about the environment and climate change, the Asian’s first thought had been “Gee, Hadden! Mutants helping out in natural disasters is exactly what the X-men should be doing, so sign me up!” Actually, if he was being honest with himself, his first notable response had been a sudden and overwhelming desire to punch miss Sang in the face. She hadn’t even been there, only been mentioned by one reporter trying to get sound bytes of reactions from Hadden about some unrelated government Mengele brigade! Yet, still, it had derailed his train of thought so thoroughly he’d only just tuned back into the conference in time to hear Hadden’s suggestion about taking volunteers to fight the blaze. Then, he’d gone “Gee, Hadden! Yadda yadda.” From there, it had been history. He’d talked with some people at the mansion, and volunteered himself.

He was currently sharing his chopper with Lee, the pilot, and a forest fire fighter named Frank Ferraro. Frank had just spent the last fifteen minutes talking about forest fire fighting gear, proper safety, and what they were currently doing to contain the fire. As he turned to glance back over his shoulder at Shin and Lee in the back seat of the helicopter, his voice came in on the headset channel.

“So what do you think you two will be able to do to help out down there?” Frank asked. “Either if you shoot water out of your hands like a high pressure hose?”

They were passing by the fire near the Sun Dial bridge. The hazy blue mountains on the horizon were hardly visible through the thick layer of smoke. At night, the whole horizon would glow red from the firelight, but at that moment, no red. Just menacing smoke.

Shin had considered the answer to this sort of equation long and hard, so he didn’t hesitate with his answer.

”I think I’ll be good for rescuing people trapped in the fire, or for aerial operations. I can make a levitating platform out of tiny triangular psychic barriers, fly around on it to pick people up, and. Um. Cut things,” Shin said seriously. ”With my mind.” He nodded once. Yup.

“Bet you’re fun at parties,” Frank said wryly. “What’s your next trick? Julienne fries and sashimi?”

“Would you believe me if I said I use those tiny triangular barriers to make armor, which also flies?” He asked. Then added ”These triangles are sharp as razor blades. Did I mention that?” with a smile.

“He slices, he dices, he makes skivvies out of razor blades. Kid. You got balls.” Frank joked. “For now.”

“Ha ha,” Shin said. ”It isn’t a giant water hose or anything, but I think it might be useful.”

“Sure,” Frank said. He turned to Lee with a winning smile. His sunglasses caught the light as he spoke. “And what about you? Sneeze bullets? Metal skeleton? Something to do with playing cards?”

Lee’s eyes were glued to the fire in the distance ahead of them as they flew. She had never seen anything like it, the smoke clouding the sky, the orange glow in the air even during the day. It was...frightening, to be honest. Lee had looked at pictures before she had left, but satellite images didn’t portray the same scale that seeing the fire in person did. It was immense.

What in the world had she been thinking?

A question that seemed to be echoed by the man in the helicopter with them as he asked what they were able to do. Lee’s eyes stayed on the fire though as Shin spoke. At least they had until he mentioned the fact that his shards were able to let him fly. Then her gaze snapped to him in slight surprise. She hadn’t known he could fly. But then again, it had been a long time since Lee had actually seen the man use his powers. Hers had changed, his obviously had, too.

Then the question was turned to her, and Lee shook her head as she looked at the other man. ”Nothing like that,” she said with a shake of her head. ”And even if I coulld, it wouldn’t exactly be smart for me to be rushing into that kind of danger now.” As she spoke, Lee’s hand came to rest on her stomach unconsciously. The man had to have noticed, she was six and a half months pregnant. Who in their right mind would be rushing into a forest fire in that situation? ”I’m just here to help with logistics and coordination.”

Frank nodded thoughtfully. Yeah, the woman was pretty pregnant. Diving into a fire fighting situation was something even young men in prime physical help had trouble doing. A pregnant woman? That endangered the child, in addition to being risky for the mom. It took a lot of energy to carry a child. Made physically exerting tasks exhausting. It was good she was self aware.

“Always good to have extra minds working on the problem,” he agreed. “I’m sure we can work something out. Maybe communicating with the other groups of volunteers, helping everyone work with the fighters on-scene.”

Shin nodded at that. Lee was very smart. That seemed like something she could handle.

He looked out the window of the helicopter. They were approaching a coordination point. The pilot let them know.

Once they landed, Frank showed them to the work area and made introductions. After that, He went off to get the proper equipment.

Shin looked to Lee while he waited. ”Well,” He said wryly. ”Won’t this be fun? Congratulations, by the way. Hadn’t realized you were expecting.” He really needed to keep in better touch with his friends.

Lee just nodded as she listened to the pilot speak. That was exactly why she was here; extra minds, extra planners. Plus, it likely wouldn’t hurt to have one person capable of being aware of everything that was going on, and awake 24/6. As long as she had access to the energy to do that.

That seventh day, though...that was what she couldn’t manage and she’d finally have to sleep. But hopefully, they’d be able to get things into better control by then.

Once they landed, Lee shouldered her bag and awkwardly climbed out of the helicopter. She knew she was capable of doing this and being there, but that didn’t change the fact that a pregnant stomach would make certain things more difficult.

At that point, it didn’t take long for her and Shin to be shown to the command tent. And for Shin to start speaking. ”I think you and I have very different concepts of the word ‘fun’,” she told him. But then Lee paused. He hadn’t realized that she was pregnant? Hadn’t she told him when he happened into her bar that one night? Though, thinking back, Lee honestly wasn't sure whether she had known she was pregnant yet or not at that point. ”Well, it wasn’t exactly like it was planned,” she admitted with a slight shrug. Though the small smile on her face revealed that she was happy with how things had worked out. ”But thanks.”

He returned the smile. Then, Shin set about suiting up for the job.

He would have utilized shard armor, if he’d wanted to go flying without a platform, be bulletproof, and be extremely hot. But he needed none of those things, because fires do not shoot bullets, and a platform was probably more useful for carrying multiple people than if he’d tried holding them in his arms. He opted for a brown-green vest with lots of pockets and multiple attach points for tools, instead.

Frank set Shin up with lots of good gear. A GPS, a fire ax, lots and lots of bottled water and rations for aerial “refueling.” Medical supplies, and a few other useful items. He didn’t wear an air tank. Firefighters in blazes usually don’t. Fire eats air as fuel. Best not to wear it on your back. Instead, he gave Shin a forest green bandanna to cover his mouth. That would help with smoke inhalation. Once he was sure Shin knew about all his gear, and ha things in order, he turned his attentions to Lee.

The woman was right. Her help with logistics would be amazing, and if she could stay awake as long as he had heard from the scuttlebutt, even better. He stationed her by the computer table and instructed her in how to communicate with everyone and utilize the computers and radio. He made sure she understood everything, and knew he’d be around to help out if she had any questions. Once they were all set up and settled in, they got to work.