The phrase
'when it rains it pours' had never been more apt than in this precise moment, not for Ronnie at least. At first it was just him, then him and the Green Guy™, then it was him, the green guy, and
The Mighty Thor?! The icing on the cake was when the kid burst through the train window and socked one of the fire trolls so hard its head practically reeled back like a rock em' sock em' robot.
Suddenly, Ronnie felt very out of his element, if you'll pardon the pun.
An overwhelming feeling of anxiety, of unpreparedness washed over him. This was the first time he'd used his powers for anything that wasn't keeping himself alive. Why had he gotten involved? What drove him to think he could stand beside Thor in the face of evil? He was just a kid from Queens, and a homeless one at that.
"Snap out of it, kid!"Martin's voice sounded like the loudest alarm clock in the world within Ronnie's head. Waking him from his self doubting trance. He shook his head, as if to shake away any negative thoughts or emotions.
"I'm feeling a bit out of my depth here, Prof.""Out of your depth? Out of your depth?! Think for a second Ronnie, you got two options here. You can either fight these things or you can run away, and in the short time I've known you I've not taken you for a chicken!""Hey! I ain't no chicken! But this is life or death, I can't do thi-"The esteemed, laureate, world renowned mind began making sqwuaking noises like a chicken. Flapping his arms up and down like a pair of wings in strange display only Ronnie could see.
"Oh really! Maybe it's just everyone from Queens who's a chicken then! I bet if you were from Milwaukee you'd already have bashed these monsters back to where they came from!"This was almost the most basic display of reverse psychology known to man, however, Ronnie had never heard the term 'reverse psychology' and found this extremely effective.
"I ain't no chicken!" He said out loud, seemingly almost completely random to those around him.
"Good! Now let's figure this out. For every problem there is a solution!" Spoke Martin, as the superhero known as Firestorm glided down next to the Martian and the young boy.
"Hey, the kids right! If these things came from the water I dunno if water is going to put them out!" He looked up at the rain pouring down.
"Hey, T!" he called to the eponymous Thor.
"I think I can draw them back out to the water, least then there's less chance of anyone getting hurt while we hand these things their own asses! You think you can make sure they follow?" He looked over and nodded to the Martian, giving him a nod as his plan came to fruition.
This morning Ronnie was sleeping on cardboard and now he was a superhero. Funny what life throws at you.
Ronnie was the master of feigning confidence. This whole situation was way above his paygrade, and on any other occasion he'd sooner have been asking Thor for a selfie than he would be barking orders at him. He made a mental note to ask for the selfie anyway, his friends would never believe he met him otherwise.
In what was so far the ultimate act in feigning confidence in his lifetime, he took the initative and flared up his powers, his head and eyes burning brighter with nuclear energy than ever before as the rain sizzled and steamed against fission heat.
"Flame on!" Ronnie shouted, the firestorm matrix igniting around him in a vibrant swirl of atomic light. The soaked pavement beneath his boots hissed, steam rising in ghostly curls. He shot into the air like a flare, tracing a streak of gold and red across the grey sky.
"Flame on?""Hey, if I'm going to be a superhero I've got to have a catchphrase right?""Do you? That one could use a bit of work..."The Firestorm matrix erupted around him, gold and red light cutting through the storm as he launched into the air. Below, the Fire Trolls bellowed, molten skin glowing like fresh-forged iron as they stomped after him through the ruined streets.
One swung a chunk of broken masonry, the projectile dissolving midair in his heat trail. Ronnie spun through it, streaking past a row of shattered windows. The reflection of his atomic glow stuttered across each pane as he dropped low, skimming the flooded asphalt.
He blasted a narrow beam of fission energy at the nearest troll's shoulder. The creature reeled, hissing, and gave chase. Another roared from behind, tearing through an overturned bus to join the pursuit.
Firestorm darted between the buildings, each turn a flash of color in the downpour. The air rippled behind him with radiation heat. A blast of flame shot past him and he twisted midair to avoid it, letting it scorch harmlessly onto the side of a building.
He responded in kind, hurling a flare of raw atomic energy at their feet, drawing their attention like moths to light. One lunged and missed, its claws raking a storefront to ash. Another charged from a side street, and Ronnie looped overhead, striking it in the jaw with a solid burst that sent molten teeth flying.
He surged higher, arcing through the storm clouds, the glowing rain around him turning to steam. Below, the trolls thundered after his light, roaring in chorus as he led them back toward the shoreline, back to where they'd crawled out from the depths.
One final dive. The city blurred to streaks beneath him as he swept low over the harbour road, trailing flame like a flare. The trolls charged after him, smashing through cars, fences, and light poles in their frenzy.
Ronnie banked upward sharply, vanishing into the smoke and rain as the creatures lumbered towards the water's edge. And only that far, they turned, as if called by some unseen master and began trudging back through their wreckage, back towards the trian.
Firestorm hovered high above, chest heaving, the fire around him dimming to an ember. The only sound left was the hiss of rain against his burning skin and the distant crash of the surf. For reasons beyond his comprehension it hadn't worked. They hadn't taken the bait. He felt crushed.
Meanwhile Martin was working furiously within the Firestorm Matrix, crossreferencing information from the computer screen in front with books that always seemed to be relevant when he pulled them from their shelves.
"Stay focused, Ronald! The fights not over yet! Time for plan B, their bodies radiate extreme heat, think of it as a nuclear reaction you can contain, not combat!""Contain? How do you think I can 'contain' these things?!""Ronnie, remember when you change the composition of your body to sleep on the cloud? Let's do a little science experment, it's time to try that on a larger scale!"He looped back over the bay, energy flaring in his palms. The rain turned to vapor before touching him as he soared over the Trolls.
"Alright, big guys let's see how you like physics class!" He pulled his hands apart, bending the atomic structure of the air itself, the oxygen and hydrogen molecules vibrating violently until-
BOOM!The explosion wasn't massive, just enough to send a concussive blast of steam outward. The nearest troll staggered back, molten hide sizzling where the pressure wave hit.
"Good! Now isolate the energy signature! Separate the hydrogen from the ambient moisture, and-""Doc, English!""Make it explode again, Ronald!""Got it!"He slammed both fists together, another controlled burst rippling across the street. Two trolls stumbled backward, slipping and falling against walls or cars. But one - the biggest of this small group he'd managed to hold back from attacking the train - stood its ground. It roared, flames brightening in defiance, and then it leapt.
The ground shook when it landed in front of Firestorm, molten claws digging into the side of a building as it came face to face with him.
"You've got to be kidding me!"The troll swung. Ronnie barely phased in time, turning intangible as the monster's fist passed through him. He reformed behind it, plasma crackling in his hands.
"Hey, ugly!" He fired, a concentrated nuclear beam slamming into the creature's back. It roared in agony, or maybe fury, or perhaps something inbetween, before collapsing, steam pouring from its body as it slowly hardened to black stone.
Ronnie hovered there, chest heaving, the energy in his body crackling like an unstable reactor. He looked around for the others, the fight felt far from over and he shot off looking for any of the other heroes to regroup with.
Just then a thought went through his head. Did Thor see him fail to execute the plan? Did he just bring Thor on a wild goose chase? God damn and here he was trying to make a good first impression!
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