August 10, 2021
At the Fire Alarm Office, Blake sat and watched the T.V. at around 9 A.M. after taking a 911 call. She was on the phones today. On the T.V. on VBC1 was a morning talk show that had been discussing terrorism by the White Fang in Menagerie, the homeland of the Faunus.
Blake said to herself, "Despicable as always..." She was then startled by the transfer alert coming through, indicating a 911 call had been transferred from the 911 receiving center at the Police Alarm Office to the Fire Alarm Office. Blake immediately picked up an emergency phone and said, "Vale City Fire Department, Dispatcher 875." Immediately, the approximate address of the caller popped up on a computer screen.
"There's screaming coming from the apartment next door to me," said a slightly panicked caller. "They're saying a man is on fire and he's on the ground trying to put himself out."
"Okay, sir, where's your address, what floor are you on, and what's your apartment number?" Blake began typing in the info of the call.
"It's 1775 Market Avenue, my apartment number is 26, I'm on the 5th floor, and the apartment next to me is 28." The man began to panic more. "Oh my God. They just said the rug and couch are on fire now. The fire alarms just activated. I'm getting the hell outta here."
"Sir, stay on the line." Blake began furiously typing away as a board of all the fire alarm systems in the city activated in the background, showing the same address the caller said he was at. "I'll get the fire department out to you right now. Just hold on." Blake then finished her report and sent it electronically to the paging station. She also wrote down the address, box number, and type of call on a small note card and put it on a conveyor belt down to the paging station. "Alright, sir, I just sent the report to the paging station. They're gonna dispatch the fire department right now. Now, is there smoke in the hallway?"
"A lady just came out of the apartment on fire now," yelled the man. "She fell to the floor in the hallway! Oh fuck! She's screaming her head off!" Blake could hear the lady's screams in the background.
"Alright, sir, try to find an exit and get out as soon as you can." Blake wiped her forehead of sweat. "Try to stay calm, sir. What's your name and phone number?"
August 11, 2021
After the company meeting's administrative part was over, all of the firefighters who attended put on their gear and gathered outside on the sidewalk and apron for hands-on training. Captain Kirkridge led them, saying, "Today, we're gonna be doing SCBA refamiliarization. Yes, friends, today is the day we will don our air packs and walk around until we bleed them dry. We have 10 air packs for you to use." He then pointed to the air packs. "Put them on and follow me, Captain Winter Schnee, or Lieutenant Egret. Once the first group is done, we will change the bottles out and put the empties near the air cascade system to fill them." As they went over the training, construction was underway for the fire station's addition.
Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Ren, and Penny were all in the first group of 10 firefighters. They all quickly donned their packs and went on air within a minute. Then, Winter told them, "Alright, the first group will follow me."
As they walked the street and over the neighboring canal, Ruby said to her friends as she checked how much air she had in her pack through a shoulder strap-mounted counter, "By the way, forgot to mention this earlier during the break, but me and Jaune gotta attend officer training from the 16th to the 20th."
"Oh yeah," Weiss replied. "Jaune mentioned that to me earlier. What are you guys doing for that training?"
"Just some review of stuff," Ruby replied. "Along with some combat evolutions at Beacon." She then turned to Yang and said, "By the way, Yang, we gotta go see dad on the 23rd. It's his birthday."
"Of course I remembered that," Yang replied, annoyed at Ruby implying she had forgotten her own father's birthday. "I can't believe Dad's gonna be 48. He and Qrow are almost at the big 5-0!" She and Ruby then laughed. Then, Yang got somber and said after checking her air, "If only the rest of Team STRQ was here to celebrate their birthdays this year, too..." She then thought about Summer's death years before, as well as Raven's recent death in the past year. "It's a damn shame."
Ruby then patted Yang on the back as they rounded a corner, surprising onlookers who were watching the training go on as she said, "It sure is. But, I'm glad at least half of that team's still kicking around. I don't know how, but I guess some people are just born to survive the usually unsurvivable, eh?" Yang and Ruby then laughed.
August 16, 2021
Weiss had pulled a long 10-hour shift at the SDC headquarters in Vale from 7 to 5 while trying to fix a computer problem with her father, her sister, and her uncle. Whitley, who by now was a mostly-accepted part of the family, also assisted.
When she got home at 6:22 P.M., she immediately plopped down onto her bed and sighed, extremely tired out by the day. "I never wanna look at another computer screen again after doing that," Weiss said to herself as she closed her eyes and tried to take a nap. "I swear to God, I hope we fixed that bug, or so help me, I will fucking smash our company's mainframe with a Halligan bar." She then drifted into sleep.
Then, at 7:07 P.M., she was interrupted when Vigilant's siren roared to life for a fire-rescue call.
Weiss immediately sprung to her feet and grabbed her pager as she ran out of the apartment. As she ran to the stairs, she turned on her pager to hear the last of the dispatch. She said to herself, "I was hoping we'd get a call later, not now."
Weiss ran into the station within 2 and a half minutes of the call. She hurriedly put on her gear and jumped onto Truck 201, taking the 10th and last seat on the rig. Once she got comfortable, the truck pulled out of the station within 3 and a half minutes of the call. Whitley and Blake had also boarded the truck, with Yang and Ren boarding Rescue 201.
The firefighter in the front seat told everyone in the back, "We got multiple calls reporting an explosion inside the restaurant with flames visible, so pack up." Weiss nodded and began to put on her SCBA before taking off her helmet to put on her mask.
Within 6 minutes of the call, Truck 201 pulled up. Whitley and Blake, who was wearing a pack but not her mask, immediately jumped out to hit the hydrant while Weiss and several other firefighters went on air and jumped out to grab attack lines off the side of the truck.
The scene outside of the restaurant was chaotic. At least 20 walking wounded stood out front, with the interior of the restaurant a huge mess from the explosion. Additionally, thick black smoke poured from the first and second floor, with multiple residents of the apartments above the restaurant hanging out of their windows and screaming for help. Captain Kirkridge, who had arrived first as Car 5, radioed, "Car 5 to Fire Alarm, urgent."
"Car 5, go."
"Strike a Second Alarm for this box," he replied. "We have at least 25 injured and 10 trapped on the floors above."
As Weiss and another firefighter advanced an 1 3/4-inch hand line into the first floor, several Fire Patrolmen climbed ground ladders up to the second floor of the restaurant to begin the salvage process. When Weiss and the other firefighters crawled in, they saw that most of the tables and chairs were either flipped over or had been destroyed. The walls and ceiling were peppered with shrapnel as well. Weiss said to the other firefighter, "Pencil the ceiling to get the heat out!"
The other firefighter replied, "Got it!" He then proceeded to "pencil" the ceiling by firing short bursts at it to reduce the heat and reduce the risk of a flashover. He then said, "Wanna let the other hose team attack the main fire?"
"We'll do it with them," Weiss replied as a team of three firefighters crawled in with a 2 1/2-inch attack line. She then pointed at the main body of fire located in the center of the restaurant and said, "Open up now!" As the other firefighter did, Weiss suddenly felt herself crawling over a dead body. She looked down and shivered in fright, saying to herself, "Oh fuck!" The body was peppered with shrapnel from the explosion, and its face was unrecognizably mutilated.
Later at the explosion site, around 9:33 P.M., an exhausted Weiss sat on the rear step of Rescue 201, her coat off to the side and her hip boots rolled down. Beside her was Blake, who was also exhausted after having done search and rescue on the upper floors of the building. Blake wiped her eyes and said to Weiss, "So, any rumors on the cause of the explosion yet?"
"They think it's a bomb," Weiss replied as she yawned. "Thing is, it probably isn't the White Fang, though. The guy who owns this place is a faunus, and most of the victims are, too."
"Unfortunately," Blake said in response. "That doesn't mean anything anymore. They've been targeting their own kind ever since the Battle of Beacon failed. You should know this by now, Weiss, really."
"Whatever," Weiss replied. "Regardless of who did it, it's fucking sick. This war of terror attacks needs to stop before something real bad happens." Blake fistbumped Weiss in agreement. Weiss then saw her father and asked him, "Any words on the situation?"
"Well," Hermann told his daughter. "They're currently looking at 5 dead and 34 to the hospital, with a grand total of 4 alarms struck for more ambulances and manpower."
"Yeah, that death toll is too low," Blake replied. "I feel like it's at least 10."
"Oh yeah," Hermann replied. "It's gonna go up eventually. There no way it won't." He then shook his head in disgust. "This whole terrorism thing is getting outta hand on both sides." He then heard his cellphone ring and quickly answered it, turning away from Weiss and Blake.
Whitley then walked over, saying to Weiss, "So, that was... Something."
Weiss sighed and told him, "You can say that again."
Then, Yang joined in as she walked over to the gang, saying, "So, this bullshit happened again. Of course."
August 17, 2021
"This attack was a cowardly one," spoke King Delwyn as he addressed a joint session of the three houses of the Valeanian Parliament: The Commons, the Lords, and the Ruling Council. "We have evidence and intelligence suggesting that human supremacists, more specifically of the Authoritarianist kind, committed this attack because the owner of the restaurant, who was sadly killed in the attack, was an outspoken civil rights activist. As your King and Sovereign, I condemn this attack, and urge a full investigation into it. I also urge that the perpetrators be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, as are any terrorists. Whether it is committed by faunus supremacists or human supremacists, these acts are not tolerated in our kingdom, and that will not change this time, or any time in the past, present, or future."
Outside, human supremacists marched outside Parliament, holding signs such as "EQUAL RIGHTS=HUMAN SUBJUGATION" and "KING DELWYN IS A TRAITOR TO HUMANITY!" They openly displayed support for the bombing, disgusting many onlookers. They chanted, "Long Live The Heroes! Down With Halfbreeds!" The crowd was sized at around 2,000.
In total, the attack had killed 13 people, including 8 faunus, and had injured 57.
At the firehouse, Weiss hung out after attending a fire alarm activation at an apartment building around 1:01 P.M. while doing an 8-hour duty shift from 9 to 5. She watched the news in the rec room with the two paid firefighter-paramedics and another volunteer. She said, "Look at those clowns marching near Parliament. Sad."
"You can say that again," replied the paid lieutenant on duty, who happened to be a dual-trait cat faunus (ears and tail). "It's like they're asking for a White Fang attack or something, if you ask me."
"Oh yeah," replied the other volunteer. "I bet they're planning another attack right now."
"It'll be a while before they respond," Weiss told them. "It takes usually two months at the least to plan out a good-sized attack. I learned that at Beacon Academy during my... I think I took the Counterterrorism class in my junior year, yeah. So yeah, we'll probably see the next one in October, unless, of course, they've already been planning one now before yesterday's bombing, God forbid."
The VNN news anchor then said, "In other news, Menagerian police arrested 5 people alleged to be White Fang members after receiving a tip from an informant that they were stockpiling weapons in a rural town. However, the arrest resulted in tensions between the police and the deeply conservative populace of East Menagerie, who often support the White Fang clandestinely. Over the past year, several incidents in Menagerie have led to attacks on police, the most recent being an ambush at a traffic stop that killed 2 officers in a rural town just 10 miles from the Eastern Coast of Menagerie just 4 days ago."