Resumen:Firefight

This page contains a chapter by chapter summary of Firefight. We hope this summary will make it easier to find specific areas of the book, as well as providing a quick plot refresher for anyone who doesn't want to take the time to reread the entire book.

Prologue

David gives an account of the appearance of Calamity, the new heavenly body that precipitated the advent of the Epics.

He was six years old, eating a popsicle on the balcony of his apartment. David's father is crying in the background, mourning the recent passing of David's mother.

As Calamity rises, David describes its aberrant appearance: too red, too large, too bright. It bathes the city in a corrupted radiance, and panic ensues.

Part One

Chapter 1

David brings the narrative back to the present, thirteen years after the rise of Calamity.

David and the Reckoners are engaged in an operation to take down Sourcefield, a powerful Epic who just moved into Newcago. Sourcefield can fire electrical projectiles and transform herself into electrical energy. While in her energy form, she can use anything she touches as a conduit to travel to another location. This translocation ability works better and allows further movement if the thing she is touching is a better conductor of electricity. This gives her a great advantage in Newcago, since the city has been transmuted into steel.

David manages to dodge a few of Sourcefield's energy blasts, and then arms himself with what he hopes is Sourcefield's weakness: a water balloon full of Kool-Aid. With Tia's warning over his earpiece, he barely avoids Sourcefield as she teleports into the room where he is waiting. He throws the balloon, hitting her in the chest. As expected, the Kool-Aid appears to negate Sourcefield's power.

Unfortunately, she's still protected by her energy field, and David's attempt to shoot her just makes her very angry. Her temporarily suppressed powers roar back to full strength.

Chapter 2

David retreats into a hallway but an explosion flings him into a wall. Prof gets trapped in an energy bubble and Tia orders the mission aborted, but David says that Sourcefield is afraid of the Kool-Aid. David lures Sourcefield into chasing him, then rides a zip-line from a balcony but ends up dropping to the street since Sourcefield blasts the zip-line. They lose track of Sourcefield but David deduces that she went underground.

Chapter 3

Sourcefield chases David, yelling that she doesn't believe that he killed Steelheart. David taunts her into chasing him blindly, while having backup Enforcement officers nearby as a contingency. David heads for their primary trap inside a building, and Sourcefield stops following, so they order some of the officers to chase Sourcefield with balloons to urge her onward. Sourcefield is able to elude the balloons and fight off the officers, but David gets her to chase him again, and he goes to a residential building, and enters one of the apartments and goes into the bathroom, closing the door. Sourcefield enters through the wall, and David triggers the trap, a barrage of Kool-Aid from the ceiling, and showers spraying the beverage throughout the small room. David rips her mask off, revealing a middle-aged woman, and shoots her at point-blank range, killing her.

Chapter 4

David exits the building, and Roy, one of the enforcement officers, along with his Core, bring out Sourcefield's body as onlookers gawk out in the street. David goes to a separate building to meet Prof and Cody. Prof says that he sees a pattern in the three Epics that they have fought recently, and that he thinks he is being targeted by someone familiar with him, and that he has a suspect but he doesn't want to discuss it further. David suggests that Prof try to use his powers but he refuses to since he would then be corrupted. Prof also says that Megan is evil and corrupted, despite what David believes. The mayor and city council show up, and Prof tells David to talk to them.

Chapter 5

Mayor Briggs compliments David on defeating Sourcefield, and offers to have David's rifle replaced, and asks him to walk with her. She presses him for the Reckoner's long term plans, now that they have essentially declared war on the Epics, and David says they have a strategy but declines to elaborate on specifics. Roy hands over some flower petals that were on Sourcefield's body, which come from Babilar, formerly known as New York City, which was also where Mitosis was working, lending credence to Prof's theory about an Epic conspiracy.

Chapter 6

David returns to the hidden Reckoners base, which they all live in to avoid constant attacks by Epics. Tia leaves a file on Epics for David to review, which contains a message from Jori with background information on Steelheart's pre-Calamity life. Tia added a note inquiring about David's interest in the past of a dead Epic. David eavesdrops on Prof and Tia talk about Regalia and Megan Tarash and barges in on them. Prof says that Megan murdered a Reckoner in Babilar, and that if another Epic shows up on a killing spree that it is David's fault, but Tia disputes this. Prof says that he is going to Babilar to deal with Regalia who he apparently knows, and that David can go along as point man, but not to recruit Megan.

Chapter 7

David has misgivings about going to Babilar since he had never left Newcago. Abraham gives him a replacement Gottschalk rifle for the one that broke when fighting Sourcefield. Prof says that some Reckoner's led by Devin are coming from St. Louis to Newcago to hold it in his absence. Abraham gives David a necklace with a symbol of the Faithful on it, and David accepts it though he does not follow that religion. David asks Edmund about his Epic weakness but he replies that he doesn't know, and that he thinks he will always serve more powerful Epics. Abraham and Cody stay, while Prof, David and Tia leave by Jeep.

Part Two

Chapter 8

David reviews notes on the Epics as they traverse the broken landscape heading to Babilar. David notices a possible pattern in the weaknesses of the Epics they defeated, and asks Tia to get more information from Jori. They arrive on the outskirts of Babilar after two days of travel, and stop at a Reckoner's hideout in Fort Lee, New Jersey, which is nominally separated from Babilar by the Hudson River.

Chapter 9

They enter the hideout, which has the appearance of a workshop, and meet several other Reckoners, including Mizzy and Valentine. Mizzy is enthused to meet two of her heroes, David and Prof. They leave the hideout and walk a short distance to the riverfront, and look across to Babilar Restored. At the dock, they meet Exel, who is seated on a motorboat. They all board the boat and disembark towards Babilar, and Prof asks David what he knows about Regalia, but tells him not to say her name since she has the ability to spy anywhere there is standing water, and saying her name could draw her attention. David soon realizes that Regalia had raised the sea level around Babilar and most of the city is underwater. He also notices lights on the exposed skyscrapers that is caused by glowing graffitti paint. They arrive in Babilar.

Chapter 10

Valentine turns off the engine, and they row between the buildings to be less conspicuous. Val explains that Regalia is letting people live their lives normally, and she controls the gangs who once terrorized the city, and that there is an abundance of food due to trees growing inside the buildings thanks to an entity named Dawnslight, who is believed to be an Epic. Prof disputes the accounts of Regalia being benevolent, and says they are there to take down Regalia and her allies. As Exel speaks up for the improvements in life under Regalia, they suddenly note a series of explosions nearby, and decide to help in secret so as to not reveal their presence. They go to a nearby building to provide first aid with the harmsway. David and Mizzy stay in the boat, and suddenly an avatar of Regalia appears, addressing Prof. David shoots at the image of the Epic.

Chapter 11

Regalia's projection disperses and reforms. Regalia and Prof address each other by their first names as if they are old acquaintances, and Regalia said she was using a rogue Epic named Obliteration to cause the explosions to draw Prof into the open, just as she lured him to Babilar by sending Epics to Newcago. David tells Prof that Obliteration's weakness is unknown, but he is near-sighted and a theorized cooldown in his auto-teleportation power can be potentially exploited. They decide to try to stop the Epic from causing further destruction. They break into separate groups to try to hit Obliteration from different sides.

Chapter 12

David and Mizzy cross a rope bridge between buildings, passing people who proclaim the protection of Dawnslight. They approach Obliteration, and David takes a shot at him but he teleports away, vanishing for a few moments before reappearing next to David. David shoots again and misses, and finds out the hard way that Obliteration has a very short cooldown period for his teleport ability. Obliteration then enters a building where it would be more difficult to sneak up on him. David enters the building, which is overgrown with plants. Obliteration attacks Prof with a sword, then ports away. Obliteration then addresses them, thanking them for killing Steelheart, and saying that he will kill Regalia eventually, something that doesn't seem to concern her. David shoots the ceiling above the Epic to get dust on him and test if it would teleport with him while Prof shoots at his feet to see if he auto-teleports when not in danger. David takes a bomb that Mizzy prepared with adhesive and goes to find Obliteration. Mizzy gets distracted while she is supposed to be covering David, and Obliteration suddenly appears besides him.

Chapter 13

David tries to aim his rifle but Obliteration knocks it aside and grabs David by the throat. David manages to stick the bomb to the Epic, but he ignores it, removing David's phone and ear piece and kicking his gun away. He then questions David about killing Steelheart and he said that he did and will kill Obliteration also. Obliteration recites a poem that ends with a death threat, and removes his shirt that has the bomb stuck to it, revealing a bandage. Obliteration throws David into the water and leaves, but as David climbs out, the Epic reappears to chain a heavy iron ball to David to make him sink, and shoving him fully into the water. As he sinks, something appears in the water near him and the weight vanishes. David emerges from the water and finds Tia, but she doesn't know who saved him, though she does say that Prof drove off Obliteration. As they leave, the townspeople emerge, and David spots Megan among the crowd briefly, realizing it was her who removed the chain.

Chapter 14

Val berates Mizzy for abandoning David, and she says she went to rescue some people who were trapped in a burning building. They discuss the attack, and Regalia's projection appears saying she recruited Obliteration by offering to let him destroy Babilar. Tia snaps at her, and Regalia threatens to destroy the boat they are in, before relenting at the mention of Prof. She says that she doesn't know longer she can hold back from wiping out the city and vanishes. They go to another building and dump soap in the water to obscure it and prevent Regalia from scrying through or manipulating it. They then surface a submarine.

Chapter 15

David is nervous as the submarine submerges into the water. Tia explains that Regalia can't view them underwater, saying that she uses the surface of water like a viewscreen but is unable to see anywhere that screen doesn't face, so that they can hide from her for now, and that apparently she doesn't want them dead at this time anyway. David gives his broken mobile to Mizzy to be fixed or replaced. David learns the roles of the Babilar Reckoners crew and fits in well with them. After they arrive at their destination, Tia tells David that Prof took Obliteration's glasses which spooked him and made him teleport away, and that Prof is otherwise ok. They exit the sub into the bolt-hole that turns out to be a mansion.

Chapter 16

Val tells David that they are in the underground bunker of a formerly wealthy man's property on Long Island, New York. The previous owner perished in an airplane crash. Prof dug out the tunnel for the submarine to dock into. Mizzy shows the mansion to David and leads him to his quarters. She tells David to use the bathroom in the dark at all times so that Regalia can never detect them through water. They walk through a room that has a skylight open to the water, but Mizzy says that Regalia can't view through it since she can only use water that is open to air. David observes that it is unusual for a Reckoners crew to do long-term recon on an Epic, like Mizzy's crew is doing. David is given a large bedroom to stay in and goes to sleep.

Part Three

Chapter 17

David wakes up somewhat disoriented, and after passing through the atrium which seems to be under fifty feet of water above the skylight, follows distant voices to find Prof and Tia talking about Regalia. Tia and David think that Regalia is trying to resist acting evil, but Prof thinks it is a ploy. David argues in favor of saving Regalia, but Prof thinks that David is really thinking of Megan instead, and Prof says that despite his former friendship with Regalia that she doesn't deserve mercy for all the death she has caused despite the personality warping that is inflicted on Epics who use their powers. Prof says that he will put Regalia down one way or the other and leaves.

The Reckoners convene in another room with a glass wall facing the water of Long Island Sound to plan the battle to bring down Regalia. She isn't a High Epic, so they think that their main obstacle to killing her is mainly locating her using triangulation based on their estimates of five miles for the range of her abilities. Tia reveals that she and Prof knew Regalia in the past and Valentine is upset that they never mentioned this before. Prof says that Regalia probably keeps one base and stays there, unlike Steelheart who moved around a lot to elude his enemies. They decide to try to lure out Regalia to pinpoint her location by going after Obliteration and Newton, the Epic gang leader and Regalia's lieutenant. Valentine mentions that they had a plan for taking out Newton, but it involved a device called a spyril that is now broken. Prof disperses the crew except David to remind him to focus on Regalia as the primary target. David ponders that his attitude toward Epics has changed after meeting Prof, Conflux and Megan, and thinks about trying to capture and keep an Epic's powers neutralized to restore their personality as a proof of concept for saving Regalia or Megan at a future time.

Chapter 18

David, Exel and Mizzy return to Babilar two days after their planning session, sailing over under cover of darkness, arriving in the bustling city. David notices that a lot of the citizens seem carefree, and Exel attributes this attitude to the religion of Dawnslight, though there is considerable argument over who or what Dawnslight is. David asks about the spyril, and Mizzy explains that it is essentially a water jet pack that was invented by the Knighthawk Foundry, and derived from a water based Epic's powers. She says that Sam, the Reckoner who was killed by Megan, had the spyril, and that it was missing its motivator, the interface component that makes Epic technology function, and that they need to receive a replacement from the manufacturer. David says he wants to try out the spyril once it is repaired despite his lack of swimming ability and fear of sharks. They arrive at their destination which turns out to be a party where they plan to mingle and get the pulse of the city.

Chapter 19

David is nervous about joining the party, lingering on the outskirts until Mizzy takes him by the hand and drags him to a group of teenaged Babilarans named Calaka, Infinity, Marco and Lulu, and introduces him to them. Infinity tries to spray paint David's clothing to make them less boring but David declines. David and Mizzy mingle, and when Mizzy mentions how the Reckoners fought back against Obliteration, the Babilarans complain that they make things worse. Eventually, Lulu invites David to dance and they join a crowd of partiers dancing. David feels awkward when, after a while, Lulu leaves him to dance with a different guy, but relaxes when he sees Newton at the edge of the dance floor, and goes to spy on her.

Chapter 20

David tries to spy on Newton but Mizzy dissuades him from drawing Newton's attention and they discuss the Epic while dancing. David speaks of his research into Epic weaknesses and how it felt to kill Steelheart. Mizzy says she admires David's dedication and that she wants to kill Megan for killing her friend Sam, and David doesn't reply but he does decide he needs to clear Megan's name as soon as possible. Megan says she heard that Regalia is bringing scientists into town for some unknown purpose and David asks her to see if she is bringing other types of experts in as well. David ends up lingering on the edges of the party again instead of mingling.

Chapter 21

David leaves the party to stroll around the vicinity, contemplating the Epic power structure in Babilar and Regalia's purpose in unleashing Obliteration. He sees Newton leave the party and follows her, stopping in a building when he loses track of her. He stops in a room when he gets distracted by a glowing, blinking fruit, then hears people talking and listens in as Newton tells Obliteration that she was following David but lost him. David spies on as Obliteration shoots at Newton though her ability protects her. David accidentally makes some noise, alerting the two Epics, but they are unable to see him, and Obliteration teleports them out. David realizes that Megan is concealing him, and draws her out by threatening to throw her gun into the water.

Chapter 22

Megan draws a gun on David, but he responds by returning her handgun to her and asking to talk. She says that David is dangerous because of his infectious beliefs, and that the Epics will never be overthrown or trustworthy, and that even Prof will eventually turn on them. Megan stalks off angry, but David compares her to a potato, and she stops to sit down and have a laughing fit. David asks her to share her feelings and she says being an Epic makes her feel like an self-centered unruly child who sees others only as impediments. She says that being around David makes it easier for her to control her emotions but she isn't sure why, though she does dispute his assertion that it is related to her weakness. She complains that she doesn't have very good powers, and that she has to rely on a handgun in lieu of offensive powers to kill, a fact that she has to keep secret from the other Epics. Megan gives a small object to David and tells him to ask Prof what it is. David tries to kiss Megan but she discourages him by pulling a gun on him, then walks off saying she might not be a very sociable person by nature, though David noticed that she had the safety on, and thinks it must be love.

Chapter 23

David gets fitted with a now-working spyril, since the object that David got from Megan turns out to be a motivator, though he claims it was dropped by Newton. Mizzy gives a brief lesson on how to use the device, but is cut off as David accidentally activates it and jets into the water, though he recovers quickly thanks to some swimming lessons that Mizzy gave him. They give him some safety pointers to avoid serious injury or death, which he listens to, even though his force field provides him with a good amount of protection.

Chapter 24

David practices with the spyril, which requires a high degree of coordination to master due to the separate controls for propulsion and balance. He manages to jet just above the water at high speeds and shows off this ability though Mizzy jokes that he looked like a porpoise when doing this. They stop to eat lunch, and talk about fighting Epics. David reviews a photo of Obliteration, and calls Val to keep an eye out of he starts sitting out in the sun, which may be how he charges up to nuke cities. Mizzy changes the subject to Firefight, saying she got information from Prof indicating that she is a Fire Epic, even though Prof knows that isn't true, which confuses David. David then practices more with the spyril, hoping to master it as quickly as possible. Taking a short break, Regalia suddenly appears.

Chapter 25

Regalia's image sits down in a water chair and holds a watery cup of tea. She asks how Prof killed the Epic to power the spyril but David doesn't respond. She accuses the Reckoners of epicide, and David replies that she is the one who is a mass murderer since she invited Obliteration into Babilar. Regalia asks if David knows that Prof is an Epic, and David replies that he does, and that Prof is able to control his darker side by not using his powers and asks her to do the same though she declines. She says that David should be imprisoned or killed for slaying Steelheart, and he responds by asking if she lured Prof there so that he could kill her.

David then takes off using the spyril but she follows him, not knowing that David is trying to figure out her location by triangulation. He stops, then Regalia tells him of Waterlog, an Epic she created with water powers, on whom the spyril is based, and of Obliteration, whose powers have grown thanks to her. She issues a warning to David then vanishes. David returns to the others.

Chapter 26

David is in the Reckoner's library, reviewing the map of Regalia sightings with satisfaction. Bored, he wanders through the mansion until Tia calls out to him. She questions him about his knowledge about Sourcefield's weakness, revealing that she found out that when the Epic was a child, her grandparents were in a cult and tried to kill her with a generic Kool-aid drink mixed into water. David realizes this is an important clue to discovering Epic weaknesses. Tia concedes that the lorists may have overlooked this possible pattern, but tells David that she can't allow him access to more of their knowledge unless he gives up field work which puts him at too much risk of capture and interrogation.

David wanders off, eventually stopping to visit Exel who is tinkering with a radio, scanning for interesting signals to eavesdrop on, and taking notes. Exel says that radios mysteriously work in Babilar, and seems to be focusing on chatter about Regalia. He tells David that he was a CIA mortician, and that he taught mortuary science in Seoul, South Korea, and that he is motivated to let people live normal lives. David reads some notes on Dawnslight and inquires if Exel thinks that Dawnslight is a real person, even though people worship him as a divinity. David says that he wants to convert some Epics to their side, and Exel says this is a worthy goal. Exel then hears someone named Miles saying that he sees Obliteration sitting motionless in sunlight on a roof, which David thinks is his way of storing energy to blow up the city, and says he needs to tell Prof.

Chapter 27

David find Prof and reports on Obliteration's behavior, and Prof says that they should go observe the fire Epic firsthand. David takes the spyril along and they get into the submarine, heading to Turtle Bay, an area on the mid-eastern side of pre-Regalia Manhattan. As they sail, Prof asks about David's proficiency with the spyril, and David carries on a secret text conversation with Megan, who asks him to meet up with her, and he replies that he will try. Prof says he is thinking about sending David back to Newcago, since he is too brash and seems likely to not follow orders and stick to their plan to kill Regalia, and demands that David reveal his secrets and objectives before they go any further, so that Prof can decide what to do.

Part Four