“Yeah…” said Malcolm. “I sort of… fell through her window.”
“She was naked at the time,” said Jennifer. “And the two of you… engaged in sexual intercourse?”
Malcolm squirmed.
“Something like that,” he said. “It was very spur of the moment.”
“To be clear, even by her account, it was consensual,” said Jennifer. “I didn’t mean to imply otherwise. The concern that many people, including myself have, is what it says about your personality.”
Don’t say something stupid… Don’t say something stupid…
“My personality?” asked Malcolm. “I mean, I’d like to think that it means that I’m charming. Funny, laid back, with a winning smile and a nice, big… shoe size.”
Jennifer stared at him in stunned silence. Malcolm tried to smile, his hopes for the interview sinking along with the joke.
“What I meant to say,” he continued. “…was that it was totally a mistake, and I recognize that now.”
“Right,” said Jennifer. “Mr. Wind Runner, Ms. Jenkins claims that after the two of you finished, you became hostile over her wish to document the encounter,” said Jennifer.
“Well, that’s kind of an exaggeration,” said Malcolm. “She was snapping photos like crazy, without my consent. I was just trying to get her to stop, and I think I acted reasonably.”
“The picture she paints of you doesn’t make you sound reasonable, Malcolm,” said Jennifer. “Do you understand how it might concern people for a champion here in a small town like Vanderbrook to be acting erratically?”
Malcolm opened his mouth to answer and then stopped himself.
This isn’t about what’s already happened. This is about what people are afraid could happen, if I turn out to not be a stable, justice minded kind of person.
“I understand,” Malcolm said, carefully. “And I do regret how the incident turned out, in retrospect.”
“I think that will put a lot of people at ease to hear,” said Jennifer.
“Moving forward, I’ll be working with the Champion Authority to keep the local area safe,” said Malcolm. “That’s every champion’s goal, when it comes down to it. A safe world, safer even than the world was before the start of the phenomenon.”
Should I also say that I’ll help cats out of trees? Help old ladies cross the road? Give sermons in church?
Jennifer nodded slowly.
“So you’re talking about the so-called monsters, then? The sprytes and demons.”
Malcolm hesitated.
“…I’m talking about any threat that would jeopardize people’s lives,” he said.
“There’s been a lot of discussion on the internet about sprytes and demons,” said Jennifer. “One vocal camp in particular has been insisting that the Champion Authority’s treatment of them is inhumane. What’s your opinion on that?”
Malcolm closed his eyes. He’d been dreading this question, or any variation of it. It was easy enough for him to tow the company line when it came to admitting his past mistakes and promising to do better. When it came to the morality of killing sprytes and demons, he wasn’t sure what he thought, or if he could lie effectively.
I’ll just tell her a version of the truth, then.
“I’ve only been a champion for a couple of days,” said Malcolm. “I’m not sure if you’re aware, but… I lost my family to a monster attack.”
“Of course,” said Jennifer. “The incident on Day One of the Phenomenon that killed your mother and brother. My apologies if this is a sensitive topic to bring up.”
“It’s fine,” said Malcolm. “What I can tell you honestly is that I’ve never stopped looking for the monster that took my mother and brother away from me.”
Jennifer nodded, clearly satisfied by his answer. The rest of the interview was less hard hitting, and Malcolm even joked some more with her about his name and how appropriately it described his somewhat meager powers.
They only know about my wind manipulation. I should probably try to keep it that way.
“Thank you for your time, Malcolm,” said Jennifer, at the end. “The interview will probably air tomorrow night, possibly the next day if it takes our editors-”
Someone burst into the studio, waving to get everyone’s attention.
“There’s a fire, a big one. In the outskirts of town, near the old auto factory. We’ve got to get a news crew there, ASAP.”
The news team immediately began scrambling to gather their equipment. Malcolm spotted Tapestry moving onto the set from backstage. She grabbed his arm and pulled.
“Come on,” she said. “We can help out, too.”
“How?”
Tapestry winked at him.
“Fires are my specialty,” she said.
CHAPTER 21
Malcolm hesitated outside, as they were running toward the BMW.
“Why don’t I go ahead of you?” he said. “I’m pretty sure I can get there faster on foot than you can through traffic.”
Tapestry thought about it for an instant and then nodded.
“Save anyone you can,” said Tapestry. “Please… don’t do anything stupid.”
“Me?” He grinned at her. “Of course not.”
Malcolm reached out, pulling the wind around him. He broke off in a run in the direction of the fire, taking long, loping steps boosted by wind. It felt almost like running down a long trampoline, except with the force of a wind tunnel at his back.
People stopped and stared at him. If it wasn’t for the time constraint of the fire, Malcolm would have waved, or put on a show. As it was, he saw phones out in the hand of almost every onlooker, filming for Facebook and YouTube.
Note to self: Try not to ever do anything really stupid in public.
The smoke from the fire signaled its location. Malcolm closed in on it, seeing the extent of the blaze as he rounded the corner. A couple of buildings that he knew to be abandoned were on fire, along with a rundown apartment complex that was still very much occupied.
The blaze looked strange. There were abandoned buildings on either side of the complex, but they’d almost collapsed from the extent of the fire damage.
Smoke was pouring out of most of the apartment windows, but from what Malcom could see, the flames hadn’t reached the roof yet. Something about it looked intentional, and he considered the possibility that an arsonist might still be nearby.
Malcolm used his wind manipulation to run up the side of a building across the street. It was taller than any building he’d tried scaling before, and he felt a mixture of adrenaline and fear as he neared the top. He pulled himself up over the building’s concrete lip and looked back at the burning apartments.
There was no way anyone still in the building could make it out through the front entrance. The flames on the lower floor were too intense for even fire fighters to make an attempt at suppressing. Malcolm could make out the shapes of people on the roof. He summoned the wind and sent a massive gust toward them, hoping to blow back the smoke and let them get a breath of fresh air.
And if I can keep the smoke clear for long enough, a helicopter can land there!
For an instant, it looked like it was working. Malcolm upped his efforts, waiting for the people lying crouched and prone on the building to spring to their feet. They didn’t. And the fire, fed by the oxygen in his wind blast, surged stronger.
“Damn it!” Malcolm stopped using his powers, gritting his teeth in frustration. He looked around, desperate for another tactic, and saw the water tank.
It was on top of the building he was on, and something he probably should have noticed earlier. It was at least twice his height and three times his circumference, and filled with fresh, cold water. Malcolm considered for a moment, and then carefully used a blast of wind to blow the top off.