Chapter Text
The fire at the Clinton Hill Chantry was probably in Ricky’s top five weirdest emergencies, above the time at the zoo and below the thing with the goats, in part because he didn’t know what a chantry was- some sort of cheese pantry, maybe?
From what he could see as he rushed in, a chantry was a place with a lot of books and stuff in cases, like some sort of cluttered museum library thing. He loves museums and libraries, even if he doesn’t understand a lot of the stuff in them, but even if the stuff in here is important it’s not as important as people , so he ignored all the old books and older maps and even older armor, and ran towards the people.
Ricky picked up a pair of young women-maybe sisters because they looked a lot like each other?-, one in each arm, and kicked the door down so he could get to the window. They both held onto him real tight, arms wrapped tight around his biceps and neck, but it was probably because they were scared of the fire. “Don’t worry, I’ll get you to safety!”
The one in his left arm looked over his shoulder with a surprising amount of chill. “So are you going to drop us out the window onto that firefighter trampoline thing?”
“No? You just need to get into the bucket on the ladder. It’s really cool.” He kept moving, mask blocking most of the smoke. The women seemed like they could breathe easily, but it was better safe than sorry. “Is there anybody else in the building?”
“Our grandfather is out, but- oh, you should go get Esther .” The woman in his right arm grinned, even through the smoke and the danger. “She’s in the inner sanctum. She’s probably okay, but it’d be good to check on her.”
“Yeah, she probably can’t even tell that the building is on fire.” The other one snickered as Ricky put her in the bucket. It didn’t seem fair to whoever Esther was, since sometimes it’s hard to notice things, but Ricky pushed it down because he had a job to do and probably an old lady to save- Esther sounded like an old lady name, right?
Ricky dodged through the flames going deeper down the halls, and they must have some really good flame deterrents, because a lot of the stuff around him isn’t burning. He should ask Esther about her recommendations, she’d probably know about what the walls are made of because- wow, it even feels like there’s less heat in here!
When he finally found somebody, it was in a round room with plenty of glass cases with random stuff in it like a baseball bat and a pair of sunglasses and also a sword for some reason? The woman- Esther maybe, but she seemed too young to be an Esther- was sitting at a desk and reading from a book larger than her. Like the sisters said, she didn’t seem to notice the fire, maybe because nothing bad was happening around her. Yet.
It was the yet that had Ricky running towards her, calling out for her to come with him. It was the yet , and the wooden beam falling from the ceiling due to structural damage.
He couldn’t get there in time to get her out, or even push her out of the way. Just enough to get to her, wrap himself around her so he’d take most of the damage, apologize for touching her without her permission, and throw an arm out to try and block the beam. At least a little bit.
And then something flew into his hand, and then the beam was about to hit them, and then the beam was in two pieces, neatly severed as it fell to either side of him. Ricky looked around, then looked at the ax in his hand. “Huh, where did this come from?”
“That’s the Questing Blade!” He stumbled back a bit as Maybe Esther pushed herself out of his grasp so she could look at the tool in his hands. “How did you even do that?”
“Good question! Let’s talk about when we’re out of the fire!” Ricky went to pick her up again, only to. Stop. For some reason. “Uh. I can’t move.”
“I’m not worried about the fire.” Maybe Esther had one hand pressed to her face while the other was signing… something. Ricky didn’t know much sign language, but it didn’t look like she was asking for help or to go to the bathroom. “I’m worried about the new Chosen One in New York being some- some meathead!”
Huh. Ricky wondered who she was talking about. “Okay. Well, I’m worried about the fire, since that’s my job. Also because I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“Well, apparently you took care of that already!” Maybe Esther waved and for some reason Ricky could move again. And hey, the fire was gone! Ricky wasn’t sure why she thought he had anything to do with it, but at least everybody will be safe, and things seemed okay.
Ricky nodded, and started to head out- he’d meet up with the Johns and make sure everything was fine, probably try to find out the reason for the fire, but a hand caught on his arm. “Oh no you don’t- you’re not getting away that easy.”
“Okay.” He could get away easily if he wanted to- Ricky could probably pick up Maybe Esther in one hand and after a bunch of bad dates in high school his mom made it very clear that he shouldn’t let somebody touch him in a way that made him feel uncomfortable, even if they were girls- but he stayed where he was because it seemed like she was having a rough day. “So, what now?”
“Now, we talk to Alejandro, and get you inducted into the Unsleeping City.” Ricky wasn’t sure what ducks had to do with any of this, or what the Unsleeping City was- some secret society thing, maybe? Like the Boy Scouts?- but he just nodded along. Nodding along was a good way to get through things he didn’t understand. Her expression made it seem like the wrong choice, though. “Great… you’re going to be a joy to work with…”
“Thanks!” And okay, even he could tell that was sarcasm, but Ricky wasn’t going to let that bother him. “My name is Ricky, and I’m looking forward to working with you too!”
“Esther Sinclair. Now will you take that stupid helmet off and help me clean up?”
“Hey, safety isn’t stupid!” Still, Ricky removed his helmet, and the air felt nice and cool on his sweaty face and neck- there wasn’t even a hint of smoke in the air. “Should I take off the rest of my uniform too?”
For some reason, Esther blushed at that.