The Glass Slipper

Jack left Ali behind. Jack was a lot faster and time was of the essence. Hopping more than running, Jack was clearing dozens of yards at a time, trying to get there fast. Then he reached it. A seven story apartment building Sinbad bought to house orphans and the homeless. But now. Now it was seven stories of fire and soot. Smoke bellowing out of every hole it could find.

Jack moved inside and quickly picked up the first two people he could find. Back out, he dropped them and then rushed back in. Running from room to room, Jack started grabbing two or three people at a time and leading those still able to walk back outside. For all his speed, Jack was still moving to slow. The fire was covering more than he could get to. Soon enough, he began to jump out windows just to make his travel time less.

“Jack!” Ali yelled from outside and continued to do so inside the building. This was his home too. This was his family. Running into Jack somewhere on the second floor, he said, “Oh dude. First and second floors are clear. I’ll take low, you go high.”

Jack nodded and watched Ali ran upstairs to the third floor. Jack turned and hopped out the nearest window, grasping the storm drain he knew was outside. He knew this building brick for brick for brick. And he knew just to get up high.

Loosing his grip to only his fingertips, Jack started running up the drain. Still moving too slow, Jack dug his feet into the wall and kicked, sending himself flying upward to the remnants of a fire escape. Reaching the rusted metal, Jack touched his toes to a bar and leapt once more. As he flew, Jack looked down. What was left of the fire escape had crashed to the ground under the weight of Jack’s jump.

Luckily, the building was mostly brick, so it was taking awhile for the foundations to break down. Jack was thankful for this when he came towards the sixth floor. Taking a few steps upward across the wall, Jack grabbed the ledge and twisted his way through the window.

Not stopping, Jack started picking up children and directing the adults towards the stairs, moving them as fast as he could. A lot of the rooms were cleared already, leaving only a few dozen scared people for Jack to redirect downstairs, where Ali took them the rest of the way.

Jack had somewhere else to go.

Handing the last kid over to Ali, he looked his friend in the eyes and made sure he was good. “Go, dude,” Ali told Jack.

Jack turned on his heel and sprinted back up the stairs. Passed the fifth, through the sixth and up to the top floor. Jack didn’t bother with the rooms. Only three people lived on the seventh floor. One was downstairs helping the others out and the second was trying to get to the third.

At the end of the hall, Jack skidded to a stop and kicked through the last room. Sinbad’s room. The door flew into the room and Jack followed. As he entered the room, Jack saw two figures in the midst of the fire. One was Sinbad, but the other was new.

A tall lanky man wearing a tattered green suit and a green top hat. Red hair shined in the light of the fire, alongside red eyes. In his hands was a cane. Two pieces. A blade and a sheathe. Jack had heard of him from the Thieves’ Guild. The Mad Hatter. An assassin who had a tendency to poison his target’s drink, usually tea. Apparently something went wrong this time, because he had to fight Sinbad and Sinbad had lost.

Jack stepped lightly towards the Hatter, not wanting to do anything reckless. Jack tried to stay clam and focused on his target, but when he saw Sinbad motionless at the feet of the Hatter, he lost it.

Leaping forward, Jack sent a knee towards the Hatter’s head, but the Hatter was fast and stepped away from the blow. Jack ignored the miss and flipped in the air, planting his feet on the nearby wall. For a moment, Jack was still on that wall, but just as fast as he was on the wall, Jack pushed off, sailing towards the Hatter once again.

The Hatter spun around the blow and brought the sword down at Jack dug his hand into the floor to avoid the blow and swept his foot across the floor. Watching as the Hatter hopped over the kick, Jack twisted his body and pushed off his shoulders, sending his feet towards the Hatter once again.

This time, Jack made contact and the Hatter flew. Straight out a window. As soon as Jack landed, he ran over to the broken window to find the Hatter. Nothing. No one. The ground at the bottom of the building was clear. The Mad Hatter was gone.

Shaking it off, Jack moved to Sinbad and picked up his limp body. Jack didn’t have time to cope. He already knew and he had to get out of there. Jack simply ran. Carrying Sinbad in his arms, Jack ran. The building was falling apart now though and Jack wouldn’t make it time. Turning a corner, Jack dashed for his only escape.

Looking towards his improvised exit, Jack thought of how much this was going to hurt, but kept moving, trying to get close enough. Then he leapt. Spinning in mid-air, Jack crashed through the fifth story window and plummeted towards the concrete.

Jack was in a bad way. He had no way too much weight to land properly and Sinbad would crush him slightly, but already being in the air, Jack was unable to fix this. So he fell. He fell and he waited.

Then he crashed. Rolling across the concrete, Jack lost his grip on Sinbad and crashed into a light post. Jack felt like his back had been broken. Pain shot through him like lightning. The shock alone should’ve killed him, but he was stronger than that. So he simply fell unconscious.