Forest Fire

"Massive wildfires are spreading from unknown epicenters all throughout the Western United States-"

Jason Hoot, a member of a group of superheroes that operate within the United States, shoots up from his lounging position when he hears this from his little emergency radio. It's currently dangling hooked from his belt. He unhooks the little radion from his belt and brings it right up to his right ear.

"-Are unsure of what could be causing these wildfires. They suspect that these are man made events considering how these fires are spreading. Since two weeks ago, wildfires have been starting in a southward trend, but according to experts, air currents and other meteorological events aren't contributing to the onset of these flames. Authorities are advising-"

Jason hooks the little radio back onto his belt and stands up. He stretches and flaps a set of massive bird-like wings spread out from his back. He flutters his wings a bit, and feathers float off from them before folding back close to his body. He walks through the cluttered, messy room he was sleeping in and moves toward the open window on the other side, taking care to not step on or knock into anything. Once he reaches the window, he climbs atop the windowsill, crouched in the opening the window provides. Jason is in a rundown four-story building that rests on the outskirts of Einesburg, a small rural town.

His responsibilities within the team that he works with are usually reconnaissance and transport. His large bird-like wings give him the ability to fly, making him exceptionally mobile. After surveying the area around the building and finding his destination, Jason leaps from the fourth-story windowsill. He starts nose diving toward the ground in a hawk-like fashion. After a moment of free fall, he unfolds his wings. His descent slows down, and he starts gliding down into the nearby town.

He glides comfortably and makes it to a diner about half-mile up the road from where he was staying. Inside there are several scattered patrons who are enjoying the diner's amenities. A couple of tables are filled, and a few are sitting at the diner's bartop watching the tv. Jason gazes at the tv from the diner window, and luckily enough, they're watching the news. The fires started in Western Washington state. Following the first one, a new epicenter forms every one hundred miles or so all the way down to Southeast Oregon, about a hundred fifty miles from where Jason is now.

"If people are doing this, then that means a new fire should pop up somewhere nearby…." Jason mutters to himself.

Feeling a sense of impending emergency, Jason lowers a set of goggles over his eyes. He starts running up the road while beating his wings. While keeping his momentum, he jumps atop a car after running a hundred yards, and with a powerful jump beat of his wings, he is airborne. Onlookers watch him go but are largely nonplussed as this birdman travels westward to the next possible fire epicenter.

Jason has an easy flight. Air currents are currently in a westward trend. Using this to his advantage, Jason arrives in record time while also not taxing his body or stamina as he can glide along with his massive wings. These fires have been popping up every hundred miles or so, which will still be challenging to find, even from Jason's birdseye view. After a couple of hours of gentle flying, the man has made it fifty miles out from Einesburg to the probable location of a future fire.

Jason looks down from on high and sees nothing but lush, beautiful greenery as far as the eye can see. He is flying about three hundred feet above the ground, meaning he can see about 150 miles all around, give or take. The man flies around in a brief circle to see if he can see anything nearby but to no avail. About one hundred miles away, he can see dark smoke billowing from the greenery below in the northwest. Trees start to fall under their own crushing weight as the fire rips them of life.

"Guess I'll check around there," Jason whispers to himself as he dives below the treeline.

The young man manages to get through the upper tier of greenery to the forest below. He's exerting more energy as he dips and dodges around trees, his wings flapping and curving to his needs automatically like any other part of his body. Jason's dexterous movements in the air hardly compare to the observation skills he's had to develop so that he could multitask while flying. He scans the forest floor to see if there's something peculiar or out of place for him to link this to something or someone.

SNAP

A loud and distinctive snap sounds out through the forest.

FWUMP

An equally distinctive crashing sound follows it.

Jason rushes and starts beelining toward it. His intense gaze focused on what was in front of him as he brushed past branches and trees at incredible speeds. A familiar smell fills the air the closer he gets to the sound's origin point. A memorable scent worms its way into Jason's nostrils. Smoke, wood smoke, to be specific. The thought of stopping whatever is responsible for this motivates Jason to move faster.

Blazing through the forest at a breakneck pace, Jason comes upon a minor clearing where the smoke smell is coming from. He perches onto a branch and gets a quick survey of the scene: There's a fallen tree, and at its base, a fire blazes the dry leaves and grass on the ground. Small fires cling to a couple of nearby trees. There's a sizable knothole in the middle of the fallen tree where you'd imagine an animal making its home. Standing in front of that knothole is a medium-sized barn owl with brown and white feathers. Said feathers are all completely poofed out, and it has its wings spread to their full wingspan. The creature is making a piercing screech as it stands defiantly in front of the knothole.

A cloaked figure steps in from behind some of the other foliage.

"Now, now, little birdy. It won't do you any good to scream at the fires of salvation. It's best for all of the sinful creatures of this world to accept its warmth, and by doing so, the Lord may spare you the fires of Hell."

The barn owl seems unagreeable to the man's request. Jason looks closer and sees a nest in the fallen tree's knothole. Jason then turns his attention back to the mystery man.

"The great Beezelbob was given Hell's fury to work in service of the Lord. I am one of the prophets meant to judge the living to eternal life. Bathed in my flames, all of God's creatures shall know eternity!" The man yelled out.

Jason continues to watch. The barn owl continues to screech while puffing its feathers. Beezelbob holds out his hand palm up, and before too long, a ball of fire forms in it, about the size of a baseball. Jason tenses up.

"Be bathed, creature of God. And find eternity where you belong!"

Beezelbob throws his little orb of fire like a baseball pitcher. The owl was still flared up until the last moment. It makes an attempt to get away but cannot compose itself fast enough, is hit in one of its wings, and falls lighting to the ground. It screeches in pain now. The fire thrower walks up to it with another fiery ball already formed in his right hand.

"How unsightly. Something that clings so desperately to this world will definitely join Satan in his domain. Begone, devil-bird."

Beezelbob tries to throw another ball of flame at the barn owl, but just before the ball can touch the bird, Jason swoops down and uses his own massive wings to block the fire. Jason sucks air through his teeth as the searing flames burn his feathery parts. Jason then expands his wings to their full wingspan and spins around in a quick circle. Beezelbob falls back on the ground unsteadily, attempting to avoid the large wings that swiped at him.

Taking advantage of this moment of confusion, Jason picks up the screeching, panicking barn owl. He quickly gains altitude with one forceful push from his wings. He starts making his way through the trees.

"Blasphemous creatures! Saving a devil spawn makes you an advocate for the dark lord himself."

Jason feels a strange heat journey up from the left side of his body before narrowly scraping by his face. Looking forward, a ball of flame eventually dissipates. Looking back, Jason notices Beezelbob is preparing one in each hand. Opting to make them softball-size now. Jason changes direction to dart behind some of the foliage, hoping to shield from the fireballs. The fire of Beezelbob's fireballs hits the thick bark of a tree while the other blasts through the leaves and branches.

"He might tire out if I wear him down like this." Jason thinks. He keeps flying behind a layer of trees. Beezelbob, meanwhile, continues to lob fireballs at Jason hitting all manner of targets but never Jason. Jason makes another trip around the radius of the trees he was using for cover and immediately feels the heat. Most of the fire caster's shots hit the tree line or thinner branches that are easier to set on fire. The treetops of this clearing were becoming rapidly in danger of starting another one of the man's wildfires.

The barn owl in Jason's hand hasn't stopped wiggling or screaming, which wasn't helping Jason's situation. The owl eventually breaks Jason's distracted grasp enough to start using its talons to swipe at the bird man's arms.

"GYah!" Jason yelled out. The owl landed some successful strikes, and Jason lost grip of it completely. The owl fell gracelessly to the ground attempting to use its wings to fly. Still, the damage dealt by Beezelbob made its right wing unusable right now. It moved around frantically to try and get it to work.

"Damnit!" Jason made a nosedive for the owl, flying through some less obstructive branches to get there faster.

The branches smacked and scratched Jason on the way down, but he broke through them and was able to swoop down and catch the barn owl, wrapping an arm firmly around it. Amid a sigh of relief, Jason narrowly avoided a dead-on hit from a fireball. The flaming orb glides by and singes more of his feathers.

"What do you get from this?" Jason yelled out.

"I am a knight in service to God. A little hellspawn such as yourself wouldn't understand."

Jason looks down at the man. He's sweating and breathing heavily. The smoke in the air is starting to get a little heavy, and the heat is excruciating. Looking closer, Jason can see the man isn't conjuring any more fireballs. It seems Jason was right to believe he can be worn down, but given the current situation, that's a pyrrhic victory, at best, to learn.

Suddenly, Beezelbob starts coughing. He falls to the ground hacking like crazy, and it's no surprise given how much smoke is beginning to fill the air. Jason sighs and starts flying down toward him.

"I'll fly you outta here, but we're finishing this somewhere a little more fireproof-"

A branch collapses on top of Jason, and he is sent hurtling to the ground. Before hitting the ground, he lifts the owl out from his arm so the bird doesn't get crushed. Jason is slammed down on the ground, flat on his stomach. The branch that hit him breaks in half along his back and crumbles into ashy remains.

Beezelbob's hacking turns into laughter as he approaches Jason.

"Foolish child, did you think the Lord God would grant me these powers and not give me some resistance to its ailments? Though I am unsurprised, as it seems your lord gifted you the brain of a bird as well as its wings."

The cloaked figure holds out his hand, and a small orb of fire dances in it. A wicked grin was visible from Jason's lower vantage point. Jason looked forward and saw the owl from before. The owl pecked the knothole, and for a brief moment, Jason could hear the light chirpings of baby birds. The little ones stick their heads out to greet their parent. The adult barn owl tries its best to corral the hatchlings, but they're too young, and it is too hurt.

Jason's lungs are starting to hurt, probably from the smoke. He looks up, and Beezelbob's small orb is now the size of a soccer ball. Jason closes his eyes.

It's now or never.

He stands up, pushing through the pain and increasing lack of proper air, and tackles Beezelbob. The cloaked man was shoved forward. Dropping the concentration of his massive fireball, it falls on the ground below where Jason just was and simmers and sits there for a moment in a semi-liquid state. Jason throws Beezelbob down into the semi-liquid fire, moving purely with his momentum. To his surprise, the man starts screaming in agony.

Jason, barely conscious, gathers up the barn owl and its hatchlings and pumps his wings as hard as he can as he runs through the burning clearing. He's able to get enough power to get off the ground and start flying toward the open sky. He's forcefully crashing through whatever is above him and hoping he doesn't get stopped by some thick branch. Against the odds, he makes it into the open sky.

Jason Hoot looks down at the Barn Owl and its hatchlings. The three tiny hatchlings are nestled against their parent, and the big bird isn't trying to wriggle out of Jason's grasp in the slightest.

"Alrigh. Les geh somwhr sayf." Jason slurs out as he uses everything he has to maintain consciousness. A sense of satisfaction filled his burnt and bruised body from saving the owls and stopping the person responsible for all the wildfires.