Caught in the Crossfire

Penelope was flipping through the cameras of the city streets as quickly as she could, looking for sight of somebody, anybody. It seemed like one second she knew exactly where everyone was and the next they were nowhere in sight. Last time she saw Oakley and Zayn they were heading for the bridge off in the east, but all the cameras in that area were shut down. Louis and Wren were supposed to be helping the survivors, but she couldn’t see them through the smoke. Harry and Ashton were supposed to be with Liam fighting the bomber, but they’d disappeared down the alleyway. And Liam, well, Liam was just gone.

No matter how many times she tried to reach Liam through the headset, he wouldn’t answer, and that scared her more than anything else. How could he not answer? She needed to know where he was so she could send Harry and Ashton in that direction, but she couldn’t pinpoint his location. It seemed like everything that could go wrong was going wrong. It was just their luck.

Her speaker buzzed loudly, cackling much louder than she had expected and startling her. She blinked her eyes quickly, and Harry’s muffled voice began coming through. It wasn’t who she wanted to hear from, but she was happy nonetheless.

“Techie, we’ve lost him. We’ve lost them both.”

Penelope sighed, not knowing what to do. She felt so lost and powerless. There was nothing she could do from behind her computer screens except watch, and she couldn’t even do that anymore.

Letting out a deep breath, she lifted her head, eyeing the screen directly in front of her. It was then that she saw the flash of light in the corner of the view, coming from inside the small boutique. She had no clue what it was, but it illuminated the room just enough that she could see two figures rustling around inside.

She flicked her thumb across the screen and pulled her fingers together, causing the camera to zoom in. Through the window of the room, she could just barely see Liam’s stout face as he held his hands in surrender. His eyes looked terrified, and she hadn’t a clue what he was looking at.

“The top floor of the boutique,” Penelope shouted into the microphone, alerting Harry of their location. “That’s where they are.”

She tried Liam’s mic one last time, leaning in closely so that her lips were almost touching it. “I’ve got eyes on you, Li. Help is on the way.”

The second she spoke, his eyes flicked out the window and looked directly into the camera lens. With the focus zoomed in on him, he was all that she could see. It was like he was looking straight at her and it nearly took the breath from her lungs.

The man across from Liam – the bomber – noticed his attention moving elsewhere and took a step forward, putting himself in Penelope’s view. It was only then that she noticed what he had strapped to his stomach. It was the reason Liam had his hands up in surrender. It was the reason Liam hadn’t spoken to her since she lost him.

He had a another bomb.

Penelope gasped, pushing herself further back into her seat. There was nothing any of them could do to stop the bomb if it went off. All it would take would be a flick of the bomber’s fingers and the room would be on fire, and Penelope was sending Harry and Ashton straight into that danger.

If there was ever a moment in Penelope’s life when she felt conflicted, that was it. She could easily tell Harry and Ashton to turn around. She could say that she’d been wrong about the boutique. She could make sure they made it to safety in case something bad did happen.

But, she knew if she did that she’d be leaving Liam alone. She’d be leaving him to face the villain all by himself and she wasn’t sure if he could handle it. She wasn’t sure if any of them could.

She didn’t want that decision to be in her hands. She loved Liam. The last thing she wanted was for him to get hurt, but Harry and Ashton were her friends and she couldn’t send them into danger without warning them.

Shutting her eyes as tightly as she could, she took a deep breath as a tear rolled down her cheek.
“He’s got a bomb, Harry.” She breathed again, causing her voice to crack. “He’s got another bomb and he’s ready to set it off.”

Penelope no longer had eyes on Harry. All she could see was Liam and the bomber. She had no clue what Harry was doing while he paused, and she had no clue what he meant when he spoke.
“Got it, Pen,” he whispered before the rustling of his microphone cut out.

It was then that Penelope realized she was in the dark. No one was speaking to her. She couldn’t see anyone. She was just as helpless as the people sitting at home watching the news. There was nothing she could do but wait, and that tore her apart.

She took slow, steady breaths, attempting to keep herself from panicking, as she kept her eyes trained on the window. Liam was no longer looking at her, but she could still see him, and she was going to hold onto that for as long as she could.

In a flash, Liam’s attention whipped across the room, and Penelope could only assume that Harry had entered. All she could see was the back of Liam’s head as he looked at whatever had distracted him, and all of a sudden, the picture turned to darkness before static filled the screen.

Penelope pushed every button on her computer, willing the picture to come back, but it was useless. Whatever camera she had been looking through was gone. It was just gone. There was nothing left.

Sobs wracked Penny’s body as the realization washed over her. He had set the bomb off, causing everything around them to be destroyed, including the camera. It was why Penelope had lost her eyes and why she still hadn’t heard from any of them. It was why she was alone in the room Harry had created for her, so far away from all the danger.

Penelope knew she didn’t have the powers that the others had and then she’d be absolutely useless at the scene. There would be EMTs, police officers, and firefighters there to help, and she’d just get in the way, but she just had to see it for herself.

Her lead foot on the gas pedal turned the fifteen minute drive into just five and she was at the edge of the destruction in what felt like only moments.

City officials had blocked off the scene at least a mile away from Big Ben and refused to let anyone through the barricades. Penelope wasn’t quick enough on her feet to dodge through them, so all she could do was stare as she watched the smoke fall from the sky in an endless sea of powder. Her eyes burned and her throat itched, but she didn’t care. It was like she couldn’t feel any of it.

All she could do was stare.

They were all gone. Every last one of them had disappeared. She was all that was left.
“Excuse me, Miss.”

A hand tapped on her shoulder, and Penelope whipped around as quickly as she could, almost certain that it was Liam. Instead of being met with his sweet smile, she was met with the face of an officer, who gave her a solemn look.

“All of the victims are being taken to Mercy’s. That’ll probably be your best bet.”

Penelope simply nodded, and the officer walked away, off to do the rest of his duties. She knew better than to go to Mercy’s because she knew that the people she was looking for wouldn’t be there. They were mixed among the dust and rubble, maybe never to be recovered.

A soft wind washed over Penny, clearing her momentarily of everything she felt. It was strange to feel such a soft, sweet burst of air amongst all the smoke, but she breathed it in as deeply as she could and let it feel her body with warmth. She could almost swear she could hear Liam’s voice carrying in it, whispering to her something she couldn’t hear.

When she opened her eyes again, the smoke had lessened and she could make out a crumpled building far off in the distance. Her eyes stung and burn, but she forced them to stay open, and that was when she saw the figure coming out of the rubble, slowly lifting the concrete blocks into the air.

She almost collapsed to the ground when she saw his shaved head come out of the cloud of dust. Her knees knocked together and her entire body shook. She couldn’t believe it was him.

Adrenaline pulsed through her body, forcing her to run towards him. Officers yelled and screamed, threatening to tackle her if she went any further, but she did it anyway, pushing past everything that stood in her way.

“Liam!” she called as loudly as she could, forcing her voice to carry through the smoke. “Liam!”

His head whipped around and his eyes met immediately with hers. He blinked several times, almost as though he didn’t believe it was her. When he finally decided that his mind wasn’t playing tricks on him, he ran as quickly as he could, a tad bit too fast for what was normal, and swooped her into his arms.

His hands wrapped around her waist while hers gripped his neck, and he held her body as close to him as he could. She could feel the racing beat of his heart, which was twice what was natural for everyone else, and his breathing filled her ear. It was like sensory overload, and all she could do was cry.

Tear after tear fell down her cheek as Liam held her in the air, rubbing his hand over her back.

She forced her eyes open and out of the corner of her eye she could see Harry and Ashton, helping each other up and dusting themselves off. She couldn't see anyone else, but they had to be somewhere safe. They just had to.

Penelope tightened her grip on Liam, and he did the same to her, his warm breath falling into her ear.

“We did it, Penny,” he whispered. “It’s over.”