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Like a bolt of lightning chapter 27

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Chapter 27: This is why I'm the pyro


The remaining week before their holiday passed quickly to everyone, as they redoubled their efforts at battle as well as their preparations in the evenings.  More explosions came from Sam's temporary workplace, and the lingering stench of sulphur was soon followed by a sickly copper smell – as if someone was bleeding heavily just beyond the door – but on Thursday the pyro announced that her displays were all ready.

"...I can't believe myself, even!  I really outdid myself... we've got fountains, cakes, mines, rockets great and small, and I even managed a Catherine wheel that'll put my mentors to shame!", she said to Dell as the two were preparing dinner the next day, causing Dell to chuckle.

"Sounds like yeh made us all a feast for the eyes, Sam, hun...", he said as he stirred the cheese sauce for their macaroni.  "Well, yer mentors oughta all be mighty proud of ya!  Not jus' for the fireworks, but for ev'rythin' yeh do here...  I know I'm proud... feels like you're one'a my own somehow..."

"Ah, Dell, you're too sweet...", she said, smiling as she poured the water and the macaroni into the colander before giving it a good shake to remove all excess water.  "...You really do remind me of my father... and I loved him so.", she said before heaving a sigh, staring at the macaroni without seeing – Dell noticed her distant look and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Sam, dahlin', yer father ain't gonna stop lovin' you just 'cause'a what happened, an' I don't believe for a second you stopped lovin' him.  He'll come ta his senses someday – an' when he do, you just gotta find it in yer heart ta show 'm how happy that make ya!"

"Oh?", Sam said, looking up as if waking up from a particularly deep sleep, shaking her head before smiling at the engineer.  "Mmyeah, I know my father still loves me, and maybe somewhere deep down my mother still loves me too – but it's just that it hurts so much... that they even think I could..."  Her voice grew more and more emotional, and the engineer shushed her, patting her on the shoulder gently.

"Sometimes a parent kin do wrong ta his or her child... but that don't mean they stop lovin' that child!  It hurts for ya, I know, but it hurt for them too... jus' give ya parents some time an' they'll see reason 'gain.  ...Now let's make this here big fam'ly of ours their dinner...", he said as he switched off the stove, and Sam nodded, pouring the pasta into the sauce before mingling them.

"...Dell?", she said as the engineer opened the fridge, taking out the grated cheese and a sixpack of beer for the guys, causing him to look up at her in surprise.

"Yeah, Sam?"

"...I'm adopting you as my temporary father, just so you know...", she said with a grin, and the engineer chuckled loudly.

"Aw shucks... thanks fer the honor.  Now git in there with that pasta an' feed the hungry!", he said, grinning just as broadly as she did as he carried the beer and the grated cheese inside, leaving her to follow.


"Sam, lasseh, yeh were nae kiddin' when yeh tol' our group yeh outdid yerself... I nae have seen a pyrotechnical display like this'un!"  Tavish was helping her set up after their macaroni dinner, and the demoman had been awed when he saw her carry out elaborate mines, cakes and rockets along with the time devices, the fuses and the mechanisms she'd need to carry out the display – the lack of liquor in his system made him even more impressed by her feat.  The marshal had consented with the display on the condition that they did it at the entrance to the compound so the locals of the dusty desert town their group frequented in the weekends could enjoy the spectacle as well.  Sam had readily consented and now the large parking lot was empty and the marshal was watching their preparations with silent approval.  "Yer rockets are a wee bit heavy, lasseh... did yeh put in summat fer a surprise?"

"You'll see...", Sam said mysteriously, threading the electrical fuses through the wires and plugging them into a small device, the other end of which she plugged into her laptop.  "Tavish, I'll need you to tell me if you can see a spark coming from the wire – I'm going to stand there, at that table.  I've numbered the exits and the wires: I'll call out the number, test it, and you just have to say if it looks okay or not."

"Sure, lasseh!", he replied, quickly checking the wires to see which number was where, and when Sam placed her laptop on the table, he gave her a thumbs-up.

"Wire one, small mine left side!", she shouted out, and clicked the button on her program – it became green and Tavish raised his hand to show there had been a spark.  "Wire two, small mine right side!"  Again she clicked the button, and again the demoman raised his hand.  She ran through all two hundred and fifty-eight wires like that – for the cakes, for the Catherine wheel, for the various rockets, for the sizzlers, for the mines and one security wire tied to a backup fuse should there be any problems.  "Okay, that's everything working!  ...It's already very dark.  Marshal, at what time did you say the display could start?"

"Notice said ten thirty... it's almost time, you can round up your team mates and your RED colleagues.", the man said, and Sam nodded.

"Tavish, you go round everyone up, I'll place the fireworks and connect them."  She closed her laptop and set to work connecting the fuses on the various fireworks to the electrical fuses as her colleagues trickled outside.  It was pitch dark already, Sam knew, but she could see all she needed to see in the faint light of the stars and the moon.  Then, as she had connected the last charges – and after a last check of her four cakes and her ten mines, she went back to her laptop and clicked the 'automatic' button on the display helper programme.  Immediately, soft music began to play from the speakers on the base, an instrumental song she'd selected to accompany the fireworks, and she leaned against the table comfortably, grinning as she knew the first fuses had been lit – behind her, some of the others whispered that they could see the fuses lighting – and...

A sea of light flooded the darkness as the mines started acting, shooting stars and small comets into the sky on either side of the entrance, immediately followed by the first rockets shooting up, bursting open with loud bangs and filling the air with golden sparkles – then silver sparkles followed as the mines continued to fire comets into the sky.  Then, simultaneously, five rockets went shooting up in the air, whistling loudly – and they broke open in a multitude of colours, which seemed to explode time and again in the sky, changing places deceptively.  Green turned to red turned to white and blue faded into white as well before bright yellow was added to the mix.  The instrumental music reached a crescendo, and with a soft hum, the Catherine wheel came to life – one large circle of fire enveloping four smaller circles, changing between red and blue slowly.  The cakes on either side came to life as well, shooting large fountains of sparks into the air, adding to the grandeur of the spectacle.  Everyone stood breathless, watching her display – and Sam's heart swelled with pride as even Archie had become speechless, or when she noticed Dell wiping away a stray tear of joy from his eye, or when Yaroslav put his hand gently over his heart to calm his raging heartbeat of excitement and joy... She noticed in the light of the fireworks how Gabriel cried freely, an expression of worship on his face, and how Billy leaned against the other pyro, his mouth slack in awe...

The music changed, becoming louder, and a single rocket fired high into the air, bursting into the shape of a sun – next to it, twin palm trees burst into the air, their 'leaves' glittering green.  Again the cakes beside the Catherine wheel, which was now slowly going out, fired their fountains of sparks in the air, but this time the mines fired snakes of fire into the sky, which twisted and turned on unseen currents of wind before dying away – and then two more rockets burst open above the group, showing a large red heart in the sky which died away to be replaced by another heart, only this one was shining gold above the world.  The rockets were by then fired off one by one, in a multitude of explosions and flashed showering the world with colour and light, awing the group... the music died away... but Sam knew it wasn't the end yet.  She grinned in anticipation as some of the group diverted their attention from the sky – until the last few mines fired, shooting red comets high into the sky, creating an archway of fireballs underneath which the cakes created an effect resembling a wavering pattern of glittering smoke – as though it was a doorway into another dimension... and when the comets died away and the glittering stopped emanating in between the smoke, the silent rockets she'd developed fired into the air, rising high before exploding into a rainbow-coloured mixture of stars that drooped and fell before dying away, freeing the path for another barrage of rainbow rockets, followed by rockets that broke into smaller charges that exploded in mid-air, creating an aerial bouquet of fiery flowers – everyone gasped in awe – and then the music, which had started again, reached another crescendo, like waves crashing on a shore, and the final rockets fired into the sky, their rainbow explosion followed by the last few cakes firing, creating a blanket of roiling colours in the sky, like a boiling sea over their heads in all possible hues of silver, white, blue and violet imaginable before the music and the light died away softly, leaving a wavering silence that was broken very unceremoniously by Yaroslav.

"Leetle pyro made Yaroslav very happy!  Leetle Sam deserves gifts!"  Following his words, he produced a large parcel from behind his back that he gave to her, and unwrapping it, she found...

"Oh my god..."  It was 'A century of blazing skies', with pictures of the largest fireworks shows in the world as well as pictures of families lighting bottle rockets and towns having small fireworks displays.  "This book is amazing!"  She rifled through it, only to stop on one of the last pages, where she saw a familiar photograph.  "T-that's my display!"  Suddenly, everyone crowded around her, looking at the single-page photograph.  "'The New Year's Rave, a tradition at Melbourne, Australia, received Katchan Fire's most spectacular show yet which lit up the skies as well as the stage and brought the universe a little bit closer for the seventeen thousand ravers that crowded the location.  Katchan Fire Inc., well known for its large displays at the Fourth of July in America and Guy Fawkes Night in England, is set to become one of the world's leading players in pyrotechnical displays for large events.  Their new team of rising stars, which worked on this display, surely will set the next century's skies ablaze.'...  My god..."  The pyro sagged, feeling proud and fulfilled as well as awed by the hefty book.  "Y-you all pooled in for this?"

"Yeah, we didn't think it was right to let you do all this for nothin', Sam!", the soldier said gruffly, and the medic added more softly, and with a smile:

"Ja, Zam, ve all loved zis display of feuerwerk...  Ich bin niemals so berührt gewesen von Feuerwerk...  You haff made us all proud zat you are unsere Freundin..."  Sam clutched the book to her chest, basking in the glow of her comrades' appreciation – she felt on top of the world, not only because she was proud of her show, but also because her friends and her lover – for Archie had by now embraced her, placing a soft kiss on her cheek – had been moved by her work.  '...This is why I love my job...', she mused as the group moved inside for a leisurely continuation of their evening, the BLU dining room filled to the brim as they enjoyed the company of their co-workers the last time that year.
The next chapter for all to enjoy! ...Can you tell I am a HUGE fan of fireworks? I'd love to go to Cannes next year for the International Pyrotechnics Festival - it'd make my life complete.

To my utter surprise, this is the first chapter in a long time that doesn't need any warnings for either dirty business or foul language :D

Also, crying Gabriel makes me proud. He can cry! (Gabriel's own profession was somewhat related, he's a chemical engineer, and he had an interest in pyrotechnics before his slumbering pyromania came to light)

I hope you enjoy!
© 2011 - 2024 Shade-Duelist
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meikahidenori's avatar
I really love your details on the firework display. i could just imagine it!