Over the years Kate had learned to be wary of odd dreams. Every time she had one it seemed something odd was happening which was why she had been having them in worsening severity since this whole mutation freak out had started. She wasn’t exactly sure what it meant for the future but she knew it wasn’t good. She had dreamed of everything from a barren desert to a tropical island to a fire engulfed earth. In each dream she was alone with just that oh so familiar voice to scare her into a corner and remind her of what she really was. A fiery monster. Sure everyone Kate knew would beg to differ about her opinion of herself and her mutation but that would never change what Kate thought of herself. And the longer she went and the worse her mutation got the more she feared that this growth she was supposedly going through would only prove and solidify her terrible nature. That when this was all said and done she would be left alone standing in a crater she once called her friends and family and home and she wouldn’t even care that she had done it. That she had truly destroyed everyone around her with the destructive force that lived inside of her. She would have finally given in to the evil she was meant to be. And if this dream was any indication she was on her way to doing just that.

Kate stood alone in a sea of flames. She looked around desperate to see nothing in the white heat. Desperate to not see the wreckage of Kirby hall or the mansion. Desperate to not see the charred remains of what was once her loved ones. There had been so many dreams in which she had seen their petrified faces looking up at her as if they were asking why. But to her delight there was nothing. Just darkness and fire. What are you looking for? There it was to haunt her again. That voice. The elemental inside of her taunting her again. Are you looking for them again? You should know better then that by now. Yes I have shown you what you could be really capable of but it wasn’t to scare you silly girl. It was to show you the truth. There is so much more to be seen in this destruction then fear. As the voice spoke Kate watched the vision around her change and she was once again in the apartment she missed all the way on the other side of the world. It was hot and unlike the times before she could feel the fire on her face. Beads of seat forming on her forehead as she saw the burnt and beaten form of Albert in the distance. As the fear set in his face came into view and it was one of terror and fear and what she believed to be hatred. “Albert. I’m sorry.” Kate wanted to cry but every tear dried as it left her eye and touched the heat of her skin. Is that what you think? That he would hate you if he knew the truth about you? That he would be afraid of you? You really are far more naive then I thought you were. “Please stop doing this. I know I can’t get rid of you but please stop.” I can’t stop till you understand. All Kate needed was those words and she fell apart. She collapsed in her dream as the room around her started to collapse in the real world.

[[OCC Kate’s room is currently on fire and that fire is freaking hot. I would say blazing white since she wasn’t conscious to make it less.]]

1AM. It was late. They were just sitting. Shelving. Talking. About what, it really didn't matter. But it was nice.

The Asian yawned widely. He hadn't wanted to sleep. It had worked out well, because Kealey had had library stuff to work on. Even though she was doing the whole fashion thing now, she still helped out from time to time in the library. He was kind of glad. He liked dating a hot librarian. He liked dating a hot fashion designer too, but the thing he liked most was... being engaged to both at the same time.

He mentioned that jokingly. Kealey chortled. It was nice.

Then the building's fire alarm started. He had a feeling that it wasn't a drill. He also had a feeling several hundred groggy students would soon be freaking out. He didn't like that thought. But he also had a duty to protect or help any way that he could. That's why he locked eyes with Kealey.

"Do you sense a disturbance in the force?" He asked.

He knew she'd have to narrow it down. How did one pick out one emotion regarding fire in a sea of many? What did one even look for? Kealey was the empath, not him. Maybe he also needed to just go towards the smell of smoke. That was plan two.

Skydancer was just finishing a very long night. With her impending live début with the circus, her all ready long hours of training were becoming even longer and it wasn't until after midnight that she finally arrived back at The Mansion. She yawned, feeling physically exhausted. It was a good feeling to give everything she had towards an art she was coming to love and one that not many people really seemed to appreciate.

After a quick trip to the kitchen for a quick snack, bed was the thing that was most prominently on Skydancer's mind. One of the best things about having a workout that took everything out of you was the wonderful sleep that inevatebly followed. In her experience, she found it difficult to sleep if she didn't have some level of physical exertion beforehand.

The fire alarm went off. Of course the fire alarm had to go off mere minutes before Skydancer was actually going to get a fantastic night's sleep. That was her first thought. Her second thought was, oh crap the fire alarm is going off in a building full of mutant teenagers one of which may have lost control of their powers and/or tried to burn the Mansion down. That was not a good thought.

Having no idea what to do in this sort of situation and feeling the first trickles of panic, Skydancer did the first thing she could think of and that was to start walking down the hallway in search of someone who had a better idea what to do than she did.

Man, the fashion gig was a lot. Kealey's new boss had warned her, but the empath had been sure she'd be able to handle the pressure...and the board. She was handling everything, it was just a lot of work. The board was very specific in their needs, and even though they'd been pleased with the designs she'd made, they were a very demanding group of people.

Then there was the Mansion, where she was currently shelving books at one in the morning. This library had been such a great thing for her for such a long time, it was hard to imagine even delegating any of the work to someone else. So she was managing that too. Shin was helping.

Boy he was great, coming with her to do this menial work when he was also so busy with stuff of his own. Company helped a lot, and after her last trip to the Mansion library, the last thing Kealey had wanted to do was show up alone. Shin was being cute, and charming, and pretty much everything the blond could have hoped for. Maybe shelving late at night wasn't so bad after all.

At least until the fire alarm started going off.

The first thing Kealey panicked about once she realized that this wasn't a drill was the fact that if the thing went off long enough, and the fire got hot enough, the sprinklers would come on in the library. The books all the books would be ruined.

Shin spoke and Kealey started at him for a moment before she caught his meaning and started paying attention to the emotions she'd been previously blocking out, eyes slipping out of focus as she looked.

The problem with being in the Mansion was that it was full of teenagers. Sure there were things that could have suggested a problem. Despite the fact that it was 1 in the morning, there were kids so happy they could have probably sprouted wings and flown away. There were kids who were so sad that they were probably filling a lake with their tears of unrequited love. There were even kids whose emotions suggested they were involved in things that Kealey wasn't going near with a 20 ft pole. The problem with all of this was that they were everywhere, and now they were mingling with the surprise and fear that accompanies something like a fire in a large building.

"Plenty, but nothing helpful." she said after a few seconds, eyes flitting back to Shin before she headed for the door. "Plan Number two." she said, sniffing the air.

"Where there's smoke, there's fire."

The fire alarm went off.

Gawain rolled out of bed and grunted. Judging from the groggyness it was still night, probably shortly after midnight; he was always this disoriented when he had just shifted. He was only wearing pajama pants in the summer warm, and the bedsheets left wrinkle marks on his chest and face.

"Whoever was smokin' I'm gonna freaking hurt them." he muttered, scrambling to his feet and walking to the door. Fire alarms were nothing new in the building, every once in a while someone would burn food or smoke and then everyone would have a headache...

Opening his door Gawain looked outside. Other sleepy students were wandering around trying to see what was going on.
Also, he smelled smoke.

And he saw it too.

Eyes opening with the first flash of adrenaline, Gawain jogged down the hallway towards the source of the smoke. Maybe something was on fire. As he got closer, he heard more voices. Turning a corner, he stopped.
Wide awake now.

"Sh*t. Kate."

It was SUCH a long day today. I was nearly one o’clock in the morning and Jorge was still up and just had barely managed to get away from a site. Double homicide with implications that it was done by a mutant. They had gathered everything that they could but with no witnesses, no motives, it was hard to get anymore work done. Jorge had been there as long as he was needed but by the end, he finally bid all his co-workers good night. There was little more that he could do until morning and he needed to get as much rest as he could since the next day was going to be just as busy.

Thankfully the site he just came from was none too far from the Mansion. A call to Gemma had allowed him crash at the Mansion for the evening since he was just far too tired to drive all the way home. He liked the mansion, it was usually quite peaceful.

So, after he pulled up in his Chevy Impala, waved at the guards, and made his way inside, Jorge yawned deeply. The Mansion was indeed very quiet; people slept peacefully, the few people up slinked around the halls, trying to not make too much noise to wake up others, it was a paradise compared to his long day. All he needed now was a bed and his fiancée to sleep next to.

Pulling off his brown leather bomber jacket, Jorge held it over his shoulder as he made for the stairs. He was dressed more casually than normal, in dark jeans, a long sleeved, light brown shirt and his badge at his belt. Upon reaching the top of the stairs he yawned again but he immediately sobered up when he coughed, hard.

He smelled smoke; a scent that was quickly followed by the telltale ringing of alarms.

Fire alarms? he thought as he snapped around to see. Not long after he turned he could already here the sounds of voices, of people yelling, asking what was going on, and trying to maintain order.

Jorge then spied the bellowing, black clouds of smoke that tore through one of the halls.

“Sh*t!” Jorge tossed his jacket said and bolted for the smoke filled hall. This definitely seemed like it needed the intervention of a water elemental.

Kate turned over in her bed leaving a sweat stained sheet behind where she had once laid. She may have been fire proof and heat resistant but the heat from fire was an entirely different thing. She did not however wake as the white blaze spread across her room with such speed and determination it would have set terror in the heart of any man. Kate had unknowingly ignited a small amount of fire on the chair next to her bed. It was plush and made of beautiful natural silks and soft woods there was no doubt why it went up like kindling starting the whole thing in motion. Though still no matter how much smoke filled the room and how much heat the fire put out Kate remained in a ignorant slumber.

In her dreams the voice continued to prod her, I wonder what you would do if all of this was real. You react with such dedication in a dream what would happen if you were forced to face the reality of this thing you fear so much? What would you do if you really did light them on fire? “NO!! Please no. I know you have all the power but please not my home. Not my family.” When will you understand I have none of the power. We are the same. The voice did not seem to take any pleasure in the pain it was causing in the girls subconscious. It more seemed to be pleading with her in hopes that she would understand. Kate wasn’t sure why it had changed its tune so suddenly. Why had it chosen now to stop torturing her? "We are not the same." Kate's voice was small as she fell to her knees in the darkness once again only the fire surrounding her to keep her company, "We can't be the same."

Kate lay deep in sleep. Deep enough that one could even call it the sleep of the dead if she wasn’t still breathing. She didn’t hear the alarm and she didn’t hear the voices that followed in a panic outside her door. She was dead to the world. Trapped in her own tortured mind.

Yup. Smoke. Fire.

Smoke.

Off they went. And apparently, they weren't the only ones going. Likeminded individuals were poking their heads out of doors, stepping into halls. Getting closer to the fire? Smart, people. Getting closer to the fire.

As he passed people, Shin turned and said authoritatively. "Get people moving outside. Basic Fire Alarm thing. Just like the drill. Don't worry. We've got it under control."

Students moved to oblige. There were places to go, and drills to follow. It was just like any other fire. Couldn't leave everyone inside, if it got out of control.

As they got closer, he covered his mouth with the neck of his t-shirt to keep from inhaling too much smoke. His eyes watered. They were close. They stopped with the others, outside the door.

A hand whipped out in a flash of silver, and he found it was his own, summoning up a quickly-coalescing blade of shards. "Stand back," He said. "I've got this." And then he attacked the door with the blade, as if it were a fireman's ax.

Fire was not something Kealey liked very much. It pretty much flashed her back to every horrible moment in her life. It was something she'd dealt with for a long time, and the knot of anxiety in her chest wasn't helped by the number of alarmed students who were starting to poke their heads into the hall to see what was going on and realizing that this was not a drill. Still, she followed Shin and tried to draw on his authoritative resolve. He had enough to spare, and was handling the situation admirably.

They got closer, and the smoke got thicker, Kealey followed Shin's example and pulled the bandana she'd been using as a headband from her hair and tied it around her face to act as a filter for the smoke. Stopping at the door where smoke poured from beneath, Shin started to conjure an axe and Kealey looked at the others assembled, familiar faces making themselves seen as some of the adrenaline from the initial shock wore off.

"Stay back when he hits the door, the flames are going to shoot out..." she said, "I can't do much here, I'm going to make sure everyone's out of their rooms in the hall and try to keep the kids calm as they leave."

So back she went, slowly, knocking on doors and making sure that no students went past her in the hallway. Once the corridor was clear, she'd come back and see how she could help. Behind her, the sound of the shard axe biting into the door rang out and she said a little prayer that everyone would be safe.

He got to the door where the smoke was coming from just in time to see Shin starting to break it down.Even without all that, he would have known exactly which door to look for. Kate was the only fire elemental in the building.

Coughing, Gawain reached at his chest before he realized he was not wearing a shirt to cover his mouth with. Walking into the nearest open room he picked up someone else's shirt and wrapped it around his neck and mouth, watching as Shin worked on the door.

Sidestepping the running students, he finally found the nearest mirror, and stepped into his reflection, making his way into Kate's room. It was a hazard, mirrors could have cracked in the hear, but he had to take a look.

He didn't see much.

"Hey Princess!" he yelled over the flames "Kate! WAKE UP!"

Jorge ran with all his might. He respected this place far too much to see it burst into flames and if there was anyone who was better suited to aid in this situation, it was him. As he dashed into the hall of bellowing smoke, he stared face to face with the formless, black beast that filled the long corridor. He squinted as he tried to stare through the smoke. Students were beginning to file out, all running to get outside and away from heat and flames that were the source of this choking monster.

But the detective didn’t step back. Instead as he pointed students towards the exits and down the stairs while he stared down that black hall; he was going to have to move in.

He stepped aside until the last person went zooming back and Jorge closed his eyes. Within seconds his flesh melted away and was replaced with the undulating currents of rushing water. Up to his full height, Jorge sloshed into the hallway, slipping and moving around panicked students and trying to help those that needed help, he soon found himself at the source. The room emanated heat and already he could see one person there, hacking at the door with a shimmering axe/arm, while another attempted to direct more students away.

Instantly he recognized them as Shin and Kealey. He gave them both a nod, since speaking in this form was not possible, before he turned and joined Shin at his side. A glance at the opening and already he could feel, even through his water, the heat coming. It was massive.

He would await, though, as he began to build up water and readied some to throw into the room and douse the flames. But…not until Shin was done opening that door…

Hot. So hot. And hard to breathe. While hacking, he couldn't cover his mouth well. But her tried. He couldn't help but try. It wasn't like him to give up.

Each swing brought the door closer to the edge of destruction. Get it. Edge?

He axed it. He axed the door more. And as he worked, a crack built. Or broke down. Broke down was a better term. Finally, it split fully, and he moved out of the way as quick as possible to let the water elemental handle the flames suddenly hungry for their fresh source of air.

He dismissed the axe with a flick of his wrist.

"I'm going to call an ambulance," Shin stated, through the clenched shirt in front of his mouth. There was still smoke, still flames, and he was certain that someone would need the medical help, if not for the flames then for the inhalation. He'd leave the rescuing to the water person, now that he'd busted open the way. The guy certainly seemed more suited for handling flames.

Kate coughed as she curled herself up into a ball and nuzzled her head into the pillow even further then it already was. She could feel the oppression and fear building up and crushing her. Her chest felt there it was on fire and an elephant was standing on it as it became harder and harder to breath. In the distance somewhere she could hear her name being called. It sounded like the far off voice of her best friend Gawain, probably just another illusion to drive her insane, “Must you really torture me like this? I get it. You are here to stay and going nowhere anytime soon. Can’t you just leave me be?”

HA! That’s not me princess. I think you should get your ears checked. I sound like you remember.

Kate looked up from the fetal position she sat in in her dream at the sound of the odd nickname. No one but Gawain had ever called her princess. Why all of a sudden was this thing referring to her as such?

[OCC - Shin and Kealey have decided to remove themselves from this thread and Sky has gone MIA so Mirror and Jorge have at it.]

The door was split open and Shin ran off to call an ambulance. It was best to let a water elemental deal with this situation. As soon as the door was open, the clouds of black smoke flew out and obstructed the officer’s view. He held up a watery hand, extinguishing the few sparks that had flew out and threatened to ignite the rest of the school. They were just small pieces of a massive blaze that was actually going on inside the room. Jorge was actually surprised by how fast that fire built up! He hoped that whoever was inside that…well…that he could actually get to them in time.

With a gurgle, the officer suddenly threw his watery body forward and squeezed through the massive crack. He flooded into the room, flowing out briefly, soaking the carpet, but reformed into his vague, humanoid shape.

Jorge was in shock at the sight.

All around, nothing but the flickering, dancing flames of fire! The blaze lapped up the walls, igniting anything that got in their path. Jorge winced as he peered through the room, looking for a source, for the owner. Was this person still alive?

It was just as he was having this thought that he paused and peered closely at the bed. There was someone still there! But…they looked completely unharmed? It was then that he recognized the girl, Kate, the young fire mutant. He had met her only a couple of times but it had been a long time. He was actually surprised that she was still here.

But there was time to have these thoughts later! For now…

Jorge jumped into action, extending his arms and sending jet after jet of water splashing against every blaze of fire that he could see. Those that were close he simply sloshed over and those that were far, he wrapped in water. The smoke of extinguished fires filled the room as he made his way to Kate. He needed to get her out of here before she choked in her sleep of smoke.

The fire was roaring and the smoke was building, and Gawain rested his forehead against the glass from the inside. He was sure the fire would not harm Kate, but he was not sure at all about the smoke. He could hear the door cracking under Shin's shard-axe, and he could even make out some voices. The fire lept up at the sudden gush of air when the door finally cam down; the young knight felt like he was staring into Hell through a window.

"C'mon c'mon c'mon..."

Jorge splashed into the room in his water form, and flames turned into more smoke. Gawain tightened the shirt wrapped around the lower part of his face. His muscles tensed as he got ready to jump, looking for an opening...

Finally, Jorge made it to the bed, and as the flames went up in a cloud of smoke, he caught a glimpse of the form curled up on the bed.
Bracing himself for the heat and the smoke, Gawain leapt out of the mirror towards the bed.

Goddammit, I forgot the shoes.

There was a lot of smoke, tears, heat and confusion on the short way to the ruined bed. Reaching down he half dragged, half lifted the girl off the bed and hauled her back towards the mirror.

"Put the fire out Jorge, I got her."

Even through the shirt, he could feel a coughing fit coming up, heat and smoke burning his lungs. The clean air on the other side of the mirror came as a blessing; a few jumps later he was in the next room, the one that was not currently occupied. Placing Kate gently on the bed, he braced himself for a coughing fit, wiping tears from his stinging eyes before he could even check her for injuries.