Immediate Assistance

Thrill Rider:

The robber charing into me, he wraps his arms around me and pushes me back. I try to stand my ground but because the robber had momentum, I'm pushed into a display of metal cans. Falling right in, a few of the cans open and I find myself sitting in a mess of beans.

"Ahh," I say, lifting my mask a little to split out some disgusting beans. "I hate beans."

The robber seeing me down turns toward his bags full of stolen items. He grabs them and tries to run out of the store but before he can, I grab a few cans and throw them against the store's floor. The cans roll underneath the robber and without realizing it, he steps on one and trips. Screaming as he falls, he drops the bags. While he's on the floor, I push myself up and run. Running and jumping into the air, I body slam him, not only knocking the wind out of him but also him out.

"Sorry," I say, getting back to my feet again and grabbing the bags with the stolen items. "But if you want these, you need to pay."

I walk over to the nearby cashier and place the bags down in front of him.

"Now you can call the police," I say. "Also, sorry about the beans but, I'm sure no one will mind."

The cashier doesn't say anything. All he does is stare at me as I give him back the stuff the man tried to steal. I shrug my shoulders, wave at him, and leave the store. I get on my motorcycle and ride away.

As I ride through the busy streets of Los Angeles, I keep a constant lookout for any fires.

"The greatest arsonist Los Angeles will ever know," Iron Fire said. His words ring in my ears over and over. As they ring, I think back to what I learned when I was a kid.

"Arsonists never stop at just one fire," I think. "And if this Iron Fire wants to be the greatest arsonist Los Angeles will ever know, it means there's going to be a lot more burning buildings."

I stop at an intersection and see myself right next to a mini-van with a father, mother, and kid in the back.

"Mom," the kid shouts, "Dad! Look!"

The parents turn to see me and their eyes go wide.

"It's Thrill Rider!"

"Howdy," I say, tipping an invisible cowboy hat toward them. I wave at the three before turning right and disappearing.

"If only there was something to go on, a clue as to who Iron Fire is, but I've already checked. The police don't have a single lead on anyone named Iron Fire. As far as I know, they don't even know he exists. They think yesterday's fire was nothing special."

Stopping at another intersection, I raise my head when I hear sirens. Not fire sirens but police sirens. When I hear the sirens, I make me think back to last night.

"Hmm," I think, looking for the police cars. I don't see the cars but I do see their flashing lights. I follow the sound and chase after the sirens.

Officer John Peterson:

Arriving at what looks like an abandoned factory building, I get out of my car with my rookie partner.

"Is this the place," Officer Ben asks.

"It should be," I answer. I look around and see some rusted numbers above an open garage door.

"Address is right."

I bring up my flashlight and scan the front of the building.

"I don't like this. Stay here just in case. Keep in constant communication."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure," I answer. "Besides, this might be nothing more than a prank call. You heard the dispatcher. Someone called 911 and told them there was an emergency here, but as far as I can tell, no emergency here. Still, I'm going to give it a hard look around."

"Okay. Just, watch your back."

With a nod of our heads, Ben stays back in the car while I venture into the abandoned factory through the opened garage door. Coming upon a rusted pair of double doors, I thought I might have to throw my shoulder against them, but as I look closer, I see them already open.

"What the heck," I say as I push open one of the doors. It swings open without any resistance. With the door fully open, I walk in and shine my light around. As expected, this factory is filled with nothing but abandoned and rusted equipment. It's all covered in either dust, cobwebs, or both.

"Why did that door open so easily?"

I turn around and look at the door. Despite it being covered in rust, it swings open. Like as if someone had oiled it up recently.

Walking around a conveyor belt, I shine my light around.

"Hello," I yell, "Is there anyone in here?"

"Just me," a voice answers. Looking around, trying to pinpoint the source of the voice, I then start to hear footsteps. Heavy footsteps. As the footsteps get closer, I shine my light around and finally see someone standing in a doorway. The person standing in the doorway is wearing some kind of heavy armor and a welding mask. He also is holding what looks like a machine gun and flamethrower in his hands

"Hello, officer," the man says as he steps forward. "I would like to report an emergency. A fire!"

Before I could do anything, the man raises his flamethrower and unleash a stream of burning-hot flames.

Officer Ben:

"Officer John," I yell into the walkie-talkie on my shoulder. "Officer John! Where are you? Come on! Come on!"

No matter how many times I call, Officer John isn't answering me. I drop the walkie-talkie and look at the building's window as I see a bit of color. I then hear someone screaming.

"Officer John," I yell. It isn't even a full minute afterward when I see fires coming out from the garage door. "Oh no!"

The fire moves fast and blocks the garage door even before I could grab the radio inside.

"Dispatch," I yell into the radio. "Dispatch! This is Officer Ben! Requiring immediate assistance! I repeat! Requiring immediate assistance! Send in paramedic and fire department!"

I drop the radio and look at the fire as it grows bigger and bigger, almost covering the whole building! As I look at the fire, I hear the sound of a motorcycle pulling up and I turn around.

"Thrill Rider," I scream, seeing the vigilante pulling up and getting off his motorcycle. I reach for my weapon and aim it at him. "Freeze!"

"What's going on," Thrill Rider says, walking up to me. He didn't seem bothered by me. He seems more focused on the fire.

"What's going on," he asks again.

"There's a fire," I yell. "My partner went in but he hadn't returned."

Thrill Rider:

I look at the officer pointing his weapon at me. He looks really young, with short brown hair and shaking hands. Between him and me is the police car. I ignore him and look through the car. As I look through it, I see something familiar hanging from the rearview mirror. It's my dad's airplane keychain.

"Your partner," I say, looking at the officer. "Is he Officer Jonh Peterson?"

I can see the sudden change in the officer's face. His eyes go wide and he pulls his head back.

"How did you know?"

"Oh no," I say, turning to the fire as it literally eats the building. Wasting no time, I run toward the burning building.

"Wait, no," the officer shouts, chasing after me. "You can't go in there!"

"He's right," I say, stopping when I see the fire blocking a garage door. I look around and see an open window beside a fire escape.

"Dad would not approve of this," I think as I run and jump. Grabbing the ladder, I pull myself up and onto the fire escape. The officer is still shouting at me as I climb but I have no chance to ignore him.

"Again," I think as I reach the open window. "Dad would not approve of this. Or me ignoring orders from a fellow police officer. Oh well, I'm not Micheal. I'm Thrill Rider."

I take a deep breath before jumping through.