Chapter One: The Incident
This was not how Severide pictured this investigation going. OFI, for all intents and purposes, was a desk job; he didn't expect to be in a dangerous situation that rivaled some of his most intense calls with 51, but here he was.
Severide stared at the face of Jimmy Conrad, a contractor that was behind the fires he'd been investigating. He'd been correct with naming Conrad as the real arsonist. Kelly knew he was good at what he did—both firefighting and fire investigation—great even. He was a Severide after all, it was in his blood. He wasn't wrong often, but this is one of the few times he wished he was. Not because Dustin Caldwell didn't deserve justice—he absolutely did—but because Severide was currently alone in a basement, staring down an arsonist, and he had a strong suspicion things were only going to get worse.
The lit flare in Jimmy's hand illuminated the evident rage on his face and Severide raised his hands in what he hoped was a placating manner. His eyes though, they never left the flare.
"Where are you gonna go? There's a dozen cops up there," Severide said, trying to talk Jimmy down. "Just put the flare down and let's walk out of here."
Jimmy had been in the clear for a long time, living his life free of ramifications from the fires, and he wasn't going to let that change now. Not without a fight.
Jimmy swung his arm towards Severide's face, sealing his fate.
The fight was brutal and quick. Shelves toppled over, spilling their contents over the floor, and part of the stair railing broke under the force of their bodies being thrown and slammed into them as both men fought for the upper hand. The flare in Jimmy's hand fell to the floor, igniting a fire that quickly spread to other parts of the basement. Flames ingulfed the construction material and PAC-20, along with the other flares and blowtorches Jimmy had stashed. Severide had called it "pyro central" and, unfortunately for him and his current situation, he was right once again.
Severide could hold his own in a fight and he and Jimmy were almost perfectly matched in size, but the smoke from the growing fire and the explosion that just rocked the basement stunned him enough for Jimmy to get the upper hand. He charged at Severide, ramming into him and sending him flying into one of the shelves next to the stairs. The shelves collapsed under Severide's weight, sending him crashing to the floor.
As he fell, his head struck the edge of stairs. The world around him faded to black and the last thing Severide saw before losing consciousness was Jimmy standing over him.
Then, there was nothing.
… … …
Jimmy stared down at Severide's unconscious form, his rage at the man growing. He was free, someone else had gotten arrested and charged for the fires. Then, some new hot shot from Fire Investigations started poking around. Now he was surrounded; he heard the police arrive earlier and didn't doubt they would still be around. Plus, the now raging and steadily growing fire would only bring more people to the scene.
Jimmy needed to get out of there, but there was no way he was going to leave Severide behind to incriminate him to the authorities.
Making his decision, Jimmy grabbed Severide by the collar of his jacket and drug him to the back of the basement where a door was obscured by stacks of boxes. It hadn't been used in ages, but it led straight into the alley and was the best chance he had as a getaway.
It was difficult to get Severide's body around the overturned shelves and the piles of boxes, and the smoke and flames weren't helping, but eventually Jimmy made it to the door. He unceremoniously dropped Severide to the floor and quickly shoved the boxes away from the door.
Jimmy had just managed to get the door opened when he heard shouts coming from the floor above. Over the roaring and crackling of the fire, he heard frantic footsteps approaching the stairs and he knew he had to hurry. Jimmy threw himself against the door, forcing it open the remainder of the way.
"Severide?!"
Jimmy heard a female voice yell out over the roar of the fire. He looked down at the unconscious body on the ground. At least he had a name for the man now, not that it mattered.
Jimmy grabbed Severide's collar again and pulls him out into the alley where his van was waiting. He normally didn't park in the alley, always choosing to park closer to the front door, and he didn't know why he'd done so today but given his current predicament, Jimmy was thankful for it. He slid open the side door and stuffed Severide inside. Then, he jumped in the driver's seat and started the engine.
Jimmy sped away, wanting to get as far away as possible as quickly as he could. He watched the alleyway closely in the rearview mirror. As he turned out of the empty alley into oncoming traffic, Jimmy smiled. He was in the clear for now.
… … …
Seager's and Van Meter's attention was drawn to the basement in an instant, the second they heard the explosion from below. The two OFI investigators shared a look before they rushed to the basement door and opened it. They were immediately met with smoke and the sight of flames and Seager grabbed a nearby fire extinguisher.
"Severide?!" she yelled for her partner, but her call went unanswered.
Van Meter grabbed another fire extinguisher and together with Seager, the two made their way down the basement steps. As they neared the bottom of the stairs, Seager saw something that made her stomach drop.
"Is that blood?"
Seager looked at Van Meter, who gave her a grim nod. They continued down into the basement, using their extinguishers to douse most of the fire. A call for a firehouse to respond had gone out as soon as the explosion was heard, so help would be there soon. The extinguishers weren't meant to put out the fire completely, they were just to buy them enough time to find Severide.
Off to the side, Seager and Van Meter saw a door closing, the small amount of light from outside stark against the dark basement. The two investigators made their way over to the door as quickly as they could, using the fire extinguishers strategically to get them safely across the basement.
Seager and Van Meter made it to the side door just after it closed. They forced it open and entered the alley. Severide was nowhere in sight, but they made it in just enough time to see an older model panel van barreling down the alley and turning the corner. They were only able to grab a quick glimpse of the van before it disappeared, but Seager was able to catch the last four digits of the license plate—8652.
Standing alone in a now empty alley, the two fire investigators knew something was wrong. Severide, who was last seen going into the basement, was gone and a van outside the basement door had just sped away. As they looked around, they noticed a small trail of blood leading from the basement door to a spot in the alley, presumably where the van had been parked.
Seager and Van Meter shared another look, once again communicating without speaking, and Van Meter grabbed his radio to call it in to the officers on the other side of the building.
Soon the sun was setting and the OFI Investigators were surrounded by police officers, giving their statements on what they saw and what they believed happened. As they spoke, the sirens from the arriving firetrucks interrupted the conversation and brought one very important detail to the forefront of Seager's mind.
"You need to tell the firefighters to be careful in there," she stated, gesturing towards the basement. "There was blood by the stairs, a small pool of it, and there's a trail leading from the basement door to the alley here."
Seager pointed to blood trail.
The officer nodded and made note to have the forensics team get a sample. "You think it belongs to your missing investigator?"
"I'm sure it does." Seager said definitively. "I don't know what happened in that basement, but Lieutenant Severide was injured. Now he, and an arsonist responsible for at least two fires, are missing. I guarantee it wasn't Severide's choice."
"We already have units out on the road looking for the van, I've got officers pulling CCTV footage from nearby cameras and once the fire's out we'll get evidence techs in there." The cop promised. "We'll figure out what happened."
At that moment, another police officer walked over, tablet in hand. "Sarge, we got the CCTV."
The officer handed the tablet to his Sergeant, pressing play. Seager and Van Meter looked over his shoulder. The video on the small screen confirmed what they believed—Severide had been kidnapped. The OFI investigators and CPD Sergeant watched as Severide's unconscious body was thrown into the van by Jimmy Conrad, then they watched as Conrad climbed in the driver's seat and drove away, just as Seager and Van Meter entered the alley.
The police sergeant sighed. "Well, there you have it."
He turned to face the officer next to him and handed the tablet back. "See if you can get a full plate from the footage, update the BOLO."
The CPD officer nodded and went to work. The sergeant turned to Seager and Van Meter. "Kidnapping of a public servant is heavy stuff. I'm turning this case over to Intelligence. They'll find your guy."
The Sergeant pulled his phone out and dialed the number for the 21st precinct. "It's Sergeant Thomas. I need to speak to Sergeant Voight, right now."
A/N: inspired by and in honor of Severide's upcoming OFI storyline
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