Chapter 4!

Chapter 4

Topher still couldn't believe it.  A minute ago he was in his gyms parking lot, and a few past and then he is in Seattle, looking up and seeing the Space Needle.  Now that he was in a bigger city Topher knew he would find some crime to stop, and since it was in a another state he wouldn't have to worry about being recognized.  He got rid of the risk of being pulled into the police station and being questioned if any of his potential thugs he stopped decided they wanted to tell the truth of how a superhero powered individual stopped them.  Topher thought to himself it was a perfect plan.
Topher just started walking down streets through out the city, and was peering through dark alley ways.  If the police saw him it would look pretty suspicious, but luckily there were no officers on patrol that he could see.  Topher saw a lot of other people instead.  He spotted the obvious tourists who were navigating the city by smart phone, the normal Seattleites who walk down the street ignoring all traffic signals for pedestrians and drivers alike, and a slew of homeless holding signs that said, "Why lie I need money for booze and weed :)".  Topher laughed and cried a little bit at the same time due to their honest bluntess.  That's when he heard the sound that meant he had to spring into action.  Topher heard the screaming siren of a fire truck, and was going down Fifth Avenue with lightening speed.  So fast no human could catch up, well no regular human Topher thought.  Topher immediately went running after it to assist the other heroes, the firefighters in whatever danger they were about to walk into.
When Topher was following the truck he noticed where the smoke was billowing into the sky, and therefore didn't have to follow the truck to its destination anymore.  Topher raced ahead to get a jump on the situation before the authorities showed up and it would be even harder to accomplish what he had planned, helping people in need.  When he got to the fire he saw what looked like an apartment complex engulfed in flames all fifteen stories of it.  Standing outside standing all in terror and fear was the group of people just like in the movies.  Just like they do in the movies Topher thought.  Topher looked up and saw different bodies in windows, or hearing life fearing screams coming from the building.  Topher knew long falls and knifes didn't harm him at all, but he wasn't sure about fire, or extreme heat but there was only way to find out, so Topher headed towards the back of the building so there were less witnesses.
Topher found the back of the building and found a back door, looking at the knob he noticed it was glowing red hot, Topher touched it, and didn't feel any pain in his hand.  Topher than without one hesitation kicked the door in with a swift kick, shattering the door to pieces.  Topher felt like a total badass after seeing himself do that, got a shot of adrenaline in him. and rocketed up the stairs knowing he had no time to lose. He stopped on the second floor because that was the first floor he saw where people were still stuck when he was watching the front of the building.  He stood at the start of the hall and yelled as loud as he could the only thing that he thought logical to say, "Is there anyone here on the second floor!".  Topher mentally facepalmed himself after hearing himself yell that in a burning building.  The only sound Topher heard for the next few moments were the obvious sounds of a building being burned down.  Flames crackling, walls and floors falling down, in short sheer utter destruction.  But then he head a faint scream over all the sounds,
"Help! If anyones there help! We are in room 215!"  Topher without thinking ran as fast as his legs could carry him to room 215, and kicked the door in.  In the room there was a single mother with two children clinging to their mom's leg in pure terror, and in the mom's arms was a nine month old infant Topher guessed.  "Save my kids!", the mom screamed at Topher, the only thing a mother could think of while being in this situation, and told her children to go with him.  Topher had the ten year old son grab his baby sister in his arms.  Topher then motioned for the kids to come closer and he bent over and picked up all three kids in his arms.  The mother such in shock had no idea what to say at this amazing sight.  In the blink of an eye Topher was out the apartments door, and back out front with all the other spectators.  Topher handed the kids off to a neighbor who gave all the children hugs, and ran back to grab their mom.  In seconds mom was reunited with her kids.  Hugs and kisses all around, but Topher knew there were more trapped in side and he was their only hope, so he headed back around the back and went back inside. The mom didn't even time to tell Topher thank you.
Topher ran up to the third floor and yelled the same thing as he did before, but there was no success this time.  He hoped they all got out, and went straight to the fourth floor.  Topher didn't need to scream this time because he heard the blood curdling scream of a boy begging for his father to wake up.  Topher then ran down the halls just punching doors into he found the boy and his unconscious  father.  When he found the right room he saw a little boy crying starting at his father, who was encircled with a ring of flame, and a beam on top of him.  Topher was praying to god the father was still alive.  Topher felt for a pulse, and found one, a small one, but still there was a pulse.  A pulse meant hope.   Topher jumped through the flames and lifted the beam with one hand and grabbed the boys father from under it with the other.  He hunched the father on his back and jumped back through the flames back to boy.  Topher turned to the boy who looked a lot like his son Parker at home and said, "Hi my name is To...Defender.  I'm here to save you and your dad, but I need your help.  Will you help me?"
The boy in shock over the man who didn't look like a fire fighter saving his dad made the only other logical connection in his brain.  "My name is John, and that's my dad Ron.  I'm usually not allowed to talk to strangers, but I think super heros are ok.  And you must be a super hero, because you are not a fireman, but you are saving us", John said to Topher.
Topher smiled at John and grabbed him and Ron and turned to go out the front door of the apartment.  Just then the entire floor by the front door collapsed.  Topher knowing that white men can't jump far, or at least Topher couldn't had to think of a plan B, and quick.  He ran to the window and saw empty deserted ground.  He survived two stories last time he thought.  He tried opening the window, but it wouldn't budge so he just punched it instead sending shattered glass everywhere.  Topher said to John, "Close your eyes buddy!", and jumped through the window with Ron and John slung over his shoulders.   The fall seemed longer, but at the same time shorter from when he jumped off his own house the other day.  A combined weight of over 500 pounds landed on the concrete, and all what was the result of the fall was tiny little crater that they made.  No broken bones, and three live bodies, perfectly fine.
John looked at Topher wide eyed and thanked him, "That was totally awesome! I wanna do that again!."  Topher let out a laugh, and shook his head.  Topher laughed because he thought John's comment was funny and typical of a ten year old boy, but also because he survived a jump from the fourth floor of a burning building, and was alive to talk about it.  Topher dropped John and Ron back off at the front, and noticed the fire trucks and para-medics have arrived now.  Which was going to make his job a lot harder to do.
Topher sped through the sixth through ninth floors since there was no one trapped on them.  He silently thanked God for that one.  Topher thought he had everyone out until he hit the last floor, the tenth.  Topher called out his ritualistic help beacon, and for once wasn't greeted with silence, instead it was eight different distinct voices begging for help.  Not knowing how to react at the swell of people he had to save Topher just screamed, "What rooms are you in?!".  He swore he heard 1005,1010,1016,1014,1030,1006, and 1020.  This will be a true test Topher thought because he had no idea how many people were still in each room.  Topher came up with the plan that it might be safer and faster to gather them into groups to get them out.  He ran to the first four rooms and gathered the first batch of people.  A mixture of elderly, children, and scared middle aged adults.  He ran the elderly and children down first, because they would need the most help to get to safety on account of age, and the adults followed as fast as they could behind him.  After Topher got the children and elderly to safety he returned to the stairs to give the others a helping boost to safety.  When the first four groups were down he headed back up to save the last group of four rooms.  He saved the whole building with no casualties.  Topher thanked God again for the obvious assist.
Topher went back to the front and watched with all the other spectators, who by this time have whipped out their cell phones to film the horrific scene, and recording fire fighters enter a doomed building.  When Topher overheard a fire fighter yelling into a walkie talkie, "TONY ANSWER! TONY! ARE YOU STILL ON THE SIXTH FLOOR!! DO YOU COPY!! TONY!"
Topher remembered how bad of shape the sixth floor was in and took off running not caring who saw the man disappear in a blink of an eye.  He ran up the six flights of stairs pushing himself to near exhaustion.  He ran to the end of the hall on the sixth floor, because he heard the yelling of the walkie talkie coming from that direction.  Topher saw why Tony wasn't answering as soon as he found the walkie talkie.  Tony was stuck under a wall fully engulfed in flames, and underneath him were the flames eating away at the floor.  Topher knew Tony would not survive a drop to the fifth floor with all that weight, and whose to say the fall would end on the fifth floor.  That is when the hunk of flaming debris gathered a voice out of shock that there was a man standing in front of him, and it wasn't Death himself. "Get out man and save yourself!"  Topher in shock that Tony was still alive ignored his pleads, and pushed the wall off of Tony saving his life.  Topher noticed the fallen wall was not kind to Tony's legs, and look like they have been crushed and would have no chance of being able to work at all.  Then Topher heard another sound that scared him. Topher heard a group of firemen in shock asking who that guy is standing over Tony.  Topher unsure how to respond acted without caring about the consequences and ran as fast as he could straight ahead.

Paul was standing outside with all the other crowd outside filming the building with his camera phone, banking on selling it to a t.v. station for amateur video footage of the fire.  Little did he know that he was about to capture the first video footage of Defender.  Paul was in shock staring at the man flying out the window of the sixth floor, and falling to his obvious demise.  Paul felt bad for the man who just died, but then smiled when he thought of the paycheck he would receive for his video.

Topher landed face first on the street below.  Topher peeled himself off of the street and walked down an alley to disappear from the fire.  Knowing he just saved a handful of lives, he knew he did good, and it felt good.  He took a five minute breather and started running home.  When Topher made it back to his car he was fully exhausted, and could barely keep his eyes open.  He got into his car and turned the ignition noticing the time, 1:00 in the morning.  To his wife it looked like he just spent four hours at the gym, and she would never believe that.  But if she asked at least he had the body to prove to her that the gym is actually working.

The three firefighters ran to the window that the man that came out of nowhere sprinted like a bat out of hell to.  They looked down expecting to see a pool of blood and guts, but looked down and saw nothing.  The three firemen went back to Tony and made an oath that they saved Tony, because no one would believe them if they ever told the truth.
Topher woke the next day, and looked at his phone, which has become every persons routine when they upgrade to a smart phone.  A phone that has your entire life on one little plastic electronic device.  Brad his best friend, who moved to Washington in the past year,  posted on his Facebook wall a link to an article telling the story of the fire last night in Seattle.

""Last night a ten storied apartment burned down.  There have been no
casualties reported at this time, and only a few minor injuries have
occurred.  The cause of the fire is still unknown, but there is a bigger
mystery.  Some called him a guardian angel, but another eye witness
has another theory.  " A superhero saved him and his Dad is what John
has told reporters, but wouldn't tell us his name...

Topher scanned the article in shock all while the whole of last night replayed in his mind soaking in all the details.

Another part of the mystery involves an amateur video that was shot on
Paul Fisher's cell phone last night.  The footage looks like glass shattering
out the side of the building, and what looks like a man falling six floors.
Authorities went to investigate but they found no evidence of a body...

Topher then clicked the video and watched himself jump out of the window.  And then he watched it again.  And again.  And again.  Topher watched the video of himself over ten times, and each time he swore all the smells of last night were coming back to him, almost as if he was still in that building.  He then noticed he fell asleep with his clothes on from last night, and if his wife woke up he would have no chance at an explanation of why he smells like he was fighting a fire last night.  He hopped in the shower and put his clothes in a bag to get rid of at work, because he didn't want in the laundry which would cause questions.  To many questions Topher thought.  Topher grabbed his clothes and headed out the door.
Topher made a stop at DB coffee on the way to work.  Corey the manager and Topher's three favorite girls were working this morning.  When this team was working the coffee always comes out perfect Topher thought, never burnt.  "Toph!", Corey yelled to Topher over the blaring techno music.  "What's happening my man!", and gave Topher a high five.
"""""Long night man!  Long night!  Definitely need your coffee today!", Topher said to Corey.  Topher came to the realization that DB coffee must put crack in their coffee, because he was addicted after his first cup, and no other coffee comes close to being as good as DB.  Topher looked at his cup when Corey handed him his coffee.  Dig life the lid said.  Perfect for the day after the night he just had.
Topher goes for his wallet to take out his debit card to pay, but Corey shakes his head and stops him.  "You know what, today it's on me because you look like you went through Hell last night, and really need this today!"  Topher high fived Corey and told him thanks.  Topher also made a mental note to bring him cookies the next time he baked.  Topher gets work with half of his coffee drank already and walks in the door.  Yay, my Tuesday Topher thinks to himself.  He walked to the back and noticed the dishes that were piled in the sink from the night before.  He looked at the salad bar bowl and saw all the utensils just thrown in with no sign of order or separation making his life easier when he opens salad bar.  Went through the walk in, noticing that there was no cheese left which meant he had to shred cheese once again, and counted out how many trays his kitchen opener James would have to roll out because it was Friday.  Topher counted out thirteen trays.
Topher got into the office to check parties and saw there was a day care organizational booked that would have up to fifty children accompanying them at 11:00, and also a birthday party for Sophie that would have up to twenty children and fifteen adults joining them for the celebration.  Topher was about to go out to the showroom to check to see if he still had to setup those parties, when his phone vibrated notifying him about a new text message.  Early morning text messages are never good news.  It was his kitchen opener James calling in sick.  Topher screamed out at the top of his lungs, "F.A.I.F!"  Freaking A It's Friday!