Picking Up The Pieces

Mandy, her brother Mikky and several fire fighters lounge around the house, eating and shooting pool. The game is broken up by the alarm and away they go, with much horse-play and teasing. Despite their antics, and Mikky's disdain for their lack of seriousness, Mandy works with a professional, skilled crew and they respond in textbook fashion. Unfortunately, the call isn't what they thought it was - instead of a fire, it turned out that the building's roof had collapsed due to water-weight from the day's heavy rain. The engine company suffers some initial injuries when the front windows explode from the pressure, but Mandy and Mikky both jump into the building to do their job.
     Unfortunately, between the rain and the broken pipes, there's water everywhere in the building and Mandy soon falls temporary victim to her weakness to that substance. She pushes on regardless, even as Mikky reaches a rescuee on the second floor.
     But her pain alerts Jack, who calls Brian, who hurries over to the site. Brian notes another victim and cajoles a fireman in the street to radio Mikky, who turns back to the rescue. At this point, though, the collapse has made the building unstable and the floor gives way under Mandy. Brian catches her with his power and then extends that power to let the floor take Mikky's weight, so he can safely leave.
     As Brian's lowering Mandy to the ground, however, there's a rumble from within and a terrible noise as the building collapses completely and the boiler explodes. The issue ends on a cliffhanger.
     Also to note for this issue: Even though this happened on 10/9, we know some of the events of 10/11 already. Arthur comes back from "walkabout" a scant half-hour before he's due to race an Indy car in Daytona, Florida. He's lost the tense, half-crazed gleam he usually has in his eye and seems generally much calmer. The U.S. Gov't also agrees to allow a single representative from the Hopewell Foundation meet with Zaida, coincidentally on the same day as Arthur's race.

---

---

FIRST Appearances

•  ??

NOTEABLE Appearances

•  ??

---

The AMERICAN GODS