62 Firestorm - Ashley

[Date: July 2023]

Cameron saw the conference room doors burst open as Ashley walked in like a fiery hurricane.

The 'mini-me' trailing behind her, struggling to juggle an assortment of phones, laptop, coffee mug and paper files.

A deadly combination in his opinion, one small step and it all comes crashing down.

"Is he there yet?" The Vought CEO asked the room at large.

He could feel the exasperation in her tone.

"Not yet…I mean he hasn't called back nor have we seen him on TV." Shauna, their head of legal, answered promptly.

"Christ! What the fuck was he thinking?" None answered they all knew the question was rhetorical. "What about Starlight and A-Train?"

"They are on-site helping with the town evacuation." Sharon the Chief Emergency Disaster Coordinator pitched in. "Shockwave, Racer and Blink should be there pretty soon fifteen maybe twenty minutes tops if they aren't there already but Inferno and BrightFlame are about an hour away while Torcher, Fireworks and Sparks are all around two to three hours away."

"Great some two bit-rate speedsters and a bunch of C-listers that can barely hold a candle lit. Those idiots are more likely to burn down town themselves." Cameron saw her sigh. "At least Inferno and BrightFlame are competent…if the town actually catches fire. Otherwise they'll all be left standing there looking like schmucks holding their dicks in their hand." She said with annoyed exasperation as her eyes stared intently on the images on TV showing the raging inferno that was the California massive forest fire then turned to the table at large.

Cameron saw everyone in the room give a concerned look.

"What?" Ashley asked annoyed and rolled her eyes. "It's not like I want the town to actually catch fire."

"It will still be great PR." Taylor the head of marketing added in. " 'Brave heroes help evacuate the town!' ; 'Vought acts fast! Sends their fastest team!'" she said with a tone of excitement "We can spin this a thousand and one ways."

Ashley looked at her unconvinced as she took her seat at the head of the giant conference table.

"It's also very, very likely the town will catch fire." Sharon interjected before Ashley could respond. "Our analytics show that at the rate the fire is spreading and due to wind conditions it will likely be within the next two hours. It's probably why they ordered the evacuation"

"Two hours?" mini Ashley asked with her hands now free from the impending disastrous clutter. "There's like over sixty thousand people in that town…is that going to be enough time to get everyone out?"

Cameron felt the room go quiet once more.

"Unlikely but they don't need to get everyone out at the same time. They likely started with the neighborhoods closest to the forest and worked their way backwards from there…that will likely give them enough time and keeping the streets clear." Sharon added reluctantly.

Rhonda their head of legal almost snorted as her eyes were still on her phone.

"Like that ever works. CNN's been reporting massive traffic jams on all ways out of the area." She said and brought her phone to show the report to the table.

Ashley sighed deeply.

"Great this is likely going to be a disaster." She paused as everyone looked at her. "For both us and the town obviously. Homelander's rushing in half-cocked with god knows what plan we can only hope he plays it safe for the cameras." Ashley said and he felt the chord of annoyance in her tone reverberating strongly.

Cameron thought it understandable.

While natural disasters were their bread and butter they required planning and coordination both for operational effectiveness, picking which Supes to go where and coordinating with the local authorities, and also for getting the maximum media and PR boost.

Cameron saw Sharon respond.

"While Homelander hasn't coordinated with us as it would be standard procedure in these cases we can speculate from the heroes he's mobilized that he likely means to act as emergency evacuators. He and the speedsters could rush anyone critical to a hospital while the pyro-kinesis Supes can contain the fires as they spread around the town." She said comfortably. "It's really the only logical thing they can do it's not like he can fight the forest fire itself." She said shrugging her shoulders.

"And my team is already working on various scenarios and are prepping material as we speak." Taylor said confidently.

"Well that's good." Ashley said resigned as her gaze moved her eyes back to the giant TV on the far side wall.

A few moments passed as they watched in a connected silence the aerial view of the ever expanding fire. As they watched the smoke dance on the screen Cameron felt a genuine solemn moment with his fellow coworkers.

A permeating pain when faced with the truth that nature still ruled their world that even with all their power and accomplishments it could all literally go up in smoke.

A connectedness of the human experience.

Ashley broke this feeling.

"Cameron … why the FUCK are we watching this on MSNBC?"

"Ah right…so our helicopter is undergoing maintenance and we weren't able to secure a replacement and our ground teams should be just about setting up. We're scheduled to go live in 15 with Terry and Laura." Cameron replied with confidence.

The answer seemed to mollify Ashley but Cameron couldn't help but wonder if she's just holding back her 'bite' for their next 'stress relief' session.

Their little on–and-off again relationship had slowed down as they both had been swamped with work but while the session's had become rarer they had become that much more intense.

"One small problem." He continued as Ashley and the rest of the room turned back towards him. "They are blocking access to most of the town outside of emergency vehicles for safety reasons so our team might be stuck on the outskirts."

"But so would everyone else's right?" Asked Shauna.

His features scrunched in response. "Not exactly if they were already there before they blocked access in they can stay until the sector is evacuated."

"And let me guess that's where our heroes are?" Rhonda asked.

He answered as both him and Sharon nodded at the same time. "Yes for the most part."

They all watched Ashley sigh.

"So I guess it is CNN and MSNBC all the way?"

Cameron couldn't help but reluctantly nod.