IMU
Ianto and Tosh headed out to the first fire in Splott. It had been set in a small convenience store. Fortunately the leading firefighter had been at the previous fire and was cooperative.
They left her putting out the remaining fire which had reached the liquor area of the store. There were several small explosions as they left with the entity in a containment box.
Tosh updated the laptop and spoke to Gwen over the Comms as Ianto drove to the next fire at Clark's Pie factory.
"Jack and Owen are going in to find the seat of the fire, and to try and find three firefighters who may be stuck" Said Tosh, glancing at Ianto. The only sign he had heard was the whitening of his knuckles on the steering wheel and an uncharacteristic swerve as he accelerated past a dithering Honda.
Five minutes later they pulled onto a large industrial estate, racing round corners until they pulled up beside a fire appliance outside Clark's.
There was a smell of roasting meat, and although that wasn't unusual for the pie factory, this was coming from the back of a lorry. The doors were closed, but firefighters were cooling the outside of it with hoses, so presumably the fire was inside.
Ianto went up to the officer in charge.
"Torchwood, we're here to help."
The firefighter nodded. "I had a call from Janice Long at the convenience store. She explained that I should cooperate with you."
"I need to get inside the lorry, and when I do so you must make sure that no water gets inside"
The firefighter spoke to the people holding the hoses on the truck. They moved the hoses to the front cabin and then he took a crowbar to the lock on the doors at the back.
As the doors swung open the smell of roasted meat grew, and black smoke billowed out.
Ianto waited for it to clear, then took a scan of the interior. He located the Elemental to the back left corner. The firefighter lent him a spare uniform and he kitted up. As he approached the lorry the smell became overwhelmingly disgusting. Ianto began to see the advantages of vegetarianism.
He climbed into the lorry, grateful for the heatproof gloves. He had to push hanging sides of pork out of the way, fat had dripped onto the floor and he slipped, landing on his backside in a pool of pork dripping. He put his hand down to push himself up and slipped again. Finally he got his footing and carried on carefully towards the back corner. He could see blue flames running along the floor, going out and then lighting again. Suddenly a blast of water entered the lorry as one of the firefighters shifted position. Immediately the Elemental defended itself, sending out streamers of blue flame, igniting the pork fat on the floor. Ianto jumped up and pulled himself clear using the hanging rack.
"For Gods sake turn it off!" Tosh and Ianto yelled at the same time.
The water stopped and the Elemental withdrew its fire until it was just a ball in the corner of the lorry. Ianto picked it up in his gloved hands, and very carefully turned and made his way to the back of the lorry where Tosh waited with a containment box.
As Ianto climbed down from the lorry he looked up, over the heads of Tosh and the intrigued firefighter. He saw a man in a hoody standing outside the barrier to the factory grounds. He realised Ianto had spotted him and turned and walked quietly away.
Jack and Owen had entered the warehouse through one of its smaller doors. Inside all was pitch black, smoke roiling across the floor, illuminated here and there by the yellow flames of beams fallen from the floor above. They needed to find a metal staircase.. The Elemental was located underneath it. There were no signs of the firefighters.
Owen used his PDA and pointed Jack in the general direction the Elemental appeared to be. They walked forward slowly. The sound of the fire all round them, cracking and exploding wood, the roar of flames increasing and then diminishing. The heat was intense even through the fabric of their fire suits. The air regenerators were working well, the air even tasted a little sweet, like cherry blossom scent. They approached the point where the staircase should be. It became apparent why radio contact had been lost with the firefighters. Where the staircase had been was a pile of twisted metal. Underneath it one of the firefighters lay as though pole-axed. No external injury but his breathing apparatus was out of his mouth and he was gasping. A second firefighter lay unconscious pinned beneath a section of stairs.
The third was continuing to pour water onto the flames where the bottom of the staircase should have been.
Jack gestured to Owen to help with the injured firefighters. Jack himself ran up to the third
and tried to get him to turn off the hose. The firefighter looked at him in astonishment and carried on. Jack tried to take the hose from him, the firefighter pushed him away. The hose writhed like a python back and forth. Owen had to come over and hold the man whilst Jack wrestled the hose away from him and turned off the valve. Immediately the flames lessened, diminishing away to a small fierce fire at the base of the stairs.
Owen carefully climbed into the wrecked staircase. He checked the air on the firefighter's tank then swapped the regenerator for the apparatus. He put the regenerator mask on the downed firefighter. The sensors in the mask would detect the damage in the lungs and provide the correct mix of gases at the right pressure to avoid further damage and hopefully start the healing process. Immediately his breathing became easier. Owen put on the fireman's apparatus, he wondered how they ever carried the heavy breathing apparatus and still manage to fight fires.
He crawled over to the pinned firefighter, but although he was breathing, Owen knew that shifting the weight off him might cause more damage and it shouldn't be attempted without paramedic back up.
The third firefighter had sunk down to the ground with his back to the wall, head drooping between his knees. Owen signalled to Jack that it was time to be heading back. Jack walked forward to the Elemental. This one was larger and hotter than the others. Jack had to find a way to get it from the burning building and into containment. He looked around and spotted a flat piece of staircase. He pushed it underneath the Elemental and then lifted it, as though it were a tea tray. Owen heaved the firefighter to his feet and they made their way out.
As Jack exited holding the tray of flame in front of him, a firefighter reacted as though he was on fire and turned a hose on him. The Elemental fought back, engulfing Jack in a ball of flame that threw him backwards through the door, pushing the regenerating mask from his face. He felt his lungs burning as he involuntarily sucked in the flames. He gasped, reeling from the internal agony, trying to force air into non existent bronchioles. He felt his mind begin to slip away as it became starved of oxygen, and he descended into the black emptiness of death.
Owen went ballistic. He ran over to the firefighter and took a swipe at him, knocking him off his feet then he turned on the leading fireman, and gave him a gobful for not obeying their orders about turning off the water. Then he turned calmly, picked up the now quiescent Elemental and walked over to the SUV where Gwen waited with a containment box.
