September 6th, 2017

9.19 am, Naval Air Station Key West, USA

They tried to catch him but Fire was fast. Really fast. Practically 39 meters per second fast. It’s only been a minute since Fire and Jones parted ways but Fire has already arrived at Gray site Blazes. A 2 km journey from the clinic in under a minute. The MPs could only watch as Fire zoomed past their barricades and patrols. They were too stunned to shoot or give chase.

Now Fire is in front of the 39 meters wide and 143 meters long aircraft hangar known as Gray site Blazes. It is secluded away from the main base. Tucked up in the largely unoccupied northern section of Naval Air Station Key West. Although it seems some construction work was underway at the docks, on the other side of the single road that divides this land, located west of the hangar. The sea surrounds this stretch of land on three sides. West, North, and East.

Fire lies flat on the hill southeast of the hangar that overshadows it. His thermal vision is active. He narrows his line of sight to focus on what’s in front of him. This power feels natural. Like he has been living blind and now he can see fully for the first time in decades. If there wasn’t an ongoing attack by Skull Reich and his team wasn’t bedridden, Fire would be over the moon.

Fire’s glowing orange eyes scan 120 degrees directly in front of him and as far as a km ahead, right through obstructions with perfect detail. He could probably stretch it to double that distance but that would be overkill. If he is reading his new vision correctly, most of the personnel inside are around the southern part of the hangar, which is where the main exit is. Interestingly, there are four figures at each corner of the hangar. They seem to be planting some kind of device.

‘Explosives?’ Fire asks himself in his head.

‘First, disable all exterior hostiles. Then, evacuate the personnel and clear out internal hostiles. Finally, secure the hard drives from Logan who Old Snake mentioned.’ Fire thinks to himself.

‘Time to hunt.’ Fire thinks as he stands up, blinking his eyes to adjust his vision to normal.

It is a straight-shot to the hangar’s south-east corner, where one masked figure is currently bending over to work on something. His back faces Fire, who is a mere 60 meters away. Fire activates flames on his left hand, then shapes it into a fireball in the palm of his hand.

‘Could I hurl this?’ Fire asks himself as he weighs and calculates the pros and cons.

‘Better not risk it.’ Fire thinks to himself.

With a massive kick, Fire sprints barefoot, full speed down the grassy hill, straight at the unaware figure. The masked man barely registers a disturbance in his rear when a bright heat suddenly assaults his vision. A ball of fire is right in his face. He drops the bomb in panic. The masked man is frozen, a deer in headlights. Suddenly, his neck is in an iron hot chokehold.

“Shhh.” Fire whispers from behind the man, “I only need one of you alive and you’re it.”

The man struggles for only 3 seconds then finally falls limp, going unconscious. Fire lowers the seized man onto the ground. Fire turns off the fireball and goes quickly to work. He removes the masked man’s black tactical helmet and face mask. Not a face Fire recognizes.

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Fire then removes the man’s weapons. He uses the man’s own belt to tie him up. Then, Fire removes the man’s left boot and takes the man’s own socks, using it to stuff the man’s mouth.

‘Just in case.’ Fire thinks to himself.

Fire looks at the bomb the man had dropped. Fire activates his narrow thermal vision. After a moment of examining the bomb, Fire doesn’t find any traps in opening the bomb. Fire is able to open up the bomb then disassemble its power source and fuse.

The entire shuffle and bomb disarmament took less than 30 seconds. In that time, the men at the northern ends of the hangar have planted their bombs and are currently making their way into the facility. Fire takes the man’s headpiece and puts it on his own right ear.

Fire rises as he scans the hangar with his narrow thermal vision for the missing men. He sees the men’s figures making their way through the maze of 20-meter high walls of crates inside.

‘Bombs or evacuation?’ Fire asks himself in his head.

Suddenly, the earpiece buzzes.

“Zeta, target on the run. Converge.” A voice says in Russian which Fire translates in his head.

‘Evacuation.’ Fire decides in his head.

Fire scans the hangar using his narrow thermal vision. Through the walls, Fire notices the masked man at the southern front rising up. Fire races towards the man. Fire rounds the bend and is on the masked man in 1.9 seconds. The masked man turns only to experience Fire’s flaming fist going into his face. The masked man falls dead instantly, with a caved-in face.

Fire quickly disposes of the bomb. He races to the side door left of the big hangar doors. Fire flames up both hands, quickly melting away the door’s hinges. He pulls the door off the hinges. Standing inside in absolute shock are 3 men and 2 women. 2 men have their guns pointed.

“Code Black Blazes, evacuate now.” Fire calmly says with a slightly raised voice.

The people snap out of the shock but stare in wonder at the man whose hands are on fire. Soon their training kicks in. A code black means the facility has to be immediately abandoned. Only someone with a high-security clearance would know the code word.

“Logan just called for help.” A woman says as she makes her way to the exit.

“I’ll take care of it.” Fire says as he runs past the crowd.

Fire turns off his flaming hands, lest he triggers the fire suppression system. Even though his flames seem smokeless, Fire couldn’t risk triggering the sprinkler system and alerting his prey that he was on the hunt.

Fire jugs through the maze in the general northwards direction. He comes to a 4-way crossroads of sorts. Fire activates his narrow thermal vision to track everyone’s movements. As he stands there, he hears a shout behind him.

“Shit!” The voice says before dashing off.

Before Fire could call out to Logan, he spots a solitary masked man further north who is racing towards Logan. Fire also sees another masked man joining the duo already chasing Logan. Fire makes a split decision to save Logan, who he assumes has the hard drives these men are after.

Fire jets off with silent footsteps. Using his narrow thermal vision, he is able to see through the walls of crates. Fire calculates an intercept course with Logan and his pursuers. Soon, Fire is just a wall away from Logan. Then he hears a shout followed by gunshots.

Fire sees Logan get shot in the shoulder and collapse on the wall. Fire arrives on the opposite wall then watches as 3 heavily armed masked men approach Logan, guns pointed. Fire measures the men’s trajectory to match it with a daring plan.

THUD!

Fire pushes the wall of crates onto the 3 men as they are only a few meters from Logan while simultaneously setting them ablaze. Success. Two dead instantly. The last masked man is pinned against the other wall with flaming rubble. The water sprinkles come alive, putting out the surrounding flames yet Fire’s arms still blazes. Fire sizzles with steam.

Fire walks unimpeded through the rubble towards the last masked man. The man is frozen in terror-filled shock, transfixed on Fire’s flaming hands, steaming figure, and glowing orange eyes. It is as if the devil himself has come to drag the masked man to hell for all his sins.

Fire’s left-hand reaches for the man’s throat. With a mere squeeze, Fire snuffs out the masked man without a word. Fire looks away from the corpse towards Logan. Logan is frozen in terror.

‘Satan!’ Logan screams in his head.

“Relax Logan.” Fire says as he turns off his flaming hands, “The Director sent me.”

“What?” Logan says.

“You’re losing blood.” Fire says as he approaches Logan, “I’ll get you out of here.”

“What was that?!” A voice suddenly shouts in Fire’s earpiece.

Fire looks up, using his narrow thermal vision, he spots the last gunman further north. The panicked man is speaking into his radio while looking at the direction of the chaos but is unable to see through the walls of crates as Fire can.

“Anyone, report!?” The masked man shouts through the earpiece.

“Stay.” Fire tells Logan as he rises up.

Fire makes his way towards the masked man. All the while the masked man spoke into Fire’s ear through the earpiece, asking for updates from his incapacitated teammates. After seconds of silence goes by, Fire sees the masked man lift an object from his waist. A second later...

BOOM!