October 13, 2021

"I got the test results back," Blake said to Sun over the phone in her hospital bed. She had been given a new cellphone by Sun after her old one was destroyed during the attacks. "I haven't opened them yet."

"Well," Sun replied. "What are you waiting for? Let's hear it."

Blake then opened the envelope that contained the test results from her doctor. As she read it, her eyes beamed with energy. "Oh... Oh my..." She then laughed. "Sun... I don't believe it! I'm still fertile!" She then covered her mouth as she began to shed tears of happiness. "Oh, thank God. I'm so relieved!"

"Awesome," Sun replied as he cheered. He was overjoyed, especially since he was very worried with how Blake reacted to simply the possibility of being unable to have children just days before. "I told you not to give up hope!"

"I know," Blake smiled as she sniffled. "It's a miracle, Sun. It's simply a miracle." She then wiped her eyes.

"So," Weiss said to Ruby as they and Yang met in the firehouse's captain's office. "The wedding is on the 20th?"

"Indeed," Ruby replied as she passed out two booklets to Weiss and Yang. "This contains all the info you two need to come. I was able to get security clearance for you guys, and Blake will be attending in a wheelchair. I'll give her her booklet tomorrow."

Yang laughed and said, "I still can't believe my baby sister is getting married. Speaking of that, mine will be on the 26th."

"Perfect for me," Ruby replied. "I gotta leave on the 1st of November for a while."

Weiss, surprised, asked her, "What for? How long?"

"Uhhh," Ruby, now debating how to reply to her, replied. "Well..." It was clear she was hiding something. "I can't tell anyone. National security issue."

"I understand," Weiss replied as she began writing information down. "How long do you think you'll be gone?"

"Until the end of December," Ruby told her and Yang.

Weiss and Yang immediately looked at her in surprise. Weiss replied, "That long? Wow."

Yang, now having an idea of what was going on, told her, "Whatever it is, please be careful, Ruby." The redhead nodded in response.

Ruby then asked, "It won't affect my status here, right?"

Weiss shook her head and told her, "Not at all. Me and Yang are going to assume it has something to do with the Hunting Corps. We won't ask what, but I'll put you in from November 1st onward as on military leave. Say, what apparatus are you cleared to drive?"

"Engine and Rescue 201," Ruby replied. "The new Ambulance and the new Truck won't be here until mid-November, so I'll get those done once I come back, and then I'll go to EVOC and Advanced Firefighter-Paramedic in January. Once I do that, I'll probably be gone again, this time for four months instead of two. I was able to pull some strings and get what I needed to get done that I will not specify cut in half."

"That's good," Weiss replied. "Remember, don't push yourself to the limit. You're gonna be then Queen soon, and I understand if you can't show up as much as you used to. As long as you do your 12 hours per month, you'll be fine."

Later that night, Ruby was talking to Whitley as they both did a 12-hour shift from 8 at night to 8 in the morning the next day. Weiss had both her and a lieutenant also on duty at the time show him how to use some power tools in the firehouse. "Alright," Ruby said to Whitley as she showed him a chainsaw. "You know how to start this?"

"Just pull the cord," Whitley replied, thinking that was the only thing.

"Not exactly," Ruby replied. She then showed him the back of the chainsaw. "First, you need to push the brake forward. Then, you need to press the decompression valve on the top." She then showed him the top after she pushed the brake forward and pressed the valve. "You need to them press the primer bulb before setting the master control to Choke." Upon doing this, Ruby continued. "Now, it's time to pull the cord. Give it a few pulls, but if you do it too much, you'll flood the engine, and it won't start." She then picked up the chainsaw. "Stand back. Now, you're supposed to start this on the ground, but a lot of guys start it holding it up." She then pulled the rip cord twice to start the engine, only for it to die immediately. "Now, that's normal. You need to now move the master control switch up one notch to half-throttle before pulling the rip cord again." Upon doing such, the engine fired up again and stayed on as she touched the trigger slightly. "Now," she said, much louder than before. "You need to touch the trigger just a bit to set the master control to idle."

"I never knew it was so complicated," Whitley replied, surprised.

"It isn't once you do it several times," Ruby replied. "I had some trouble at first myself." She then pulled the brake back and revved up the chainsaw. She then pushed the brake forward and handed it to Whitley. "Rev it up, probie."

Whitley nodded and revved up the chainsaw, smiling. "This is fun!"

"Don't go serial killer on me, Whitley," Ruby replied before laughing. Then, their pagers both rang. "Hand it to me." Whitley then handed the chainsaw back to Ruby so she could turn it off as the siren tones dropped over the radio, turning the station siren on.

As the radios and pagers inside the station all squawked out the information of the call, a possible fire in a 3rd story apartment, Whitley and Ruby quickly ran to their gear lockers. Ruby ripped her shoes off before slipping her feet into her boots before she grabbed her coat and put it on. Then, she pulled her boots up, zipped up her coat, grabbed her helmet and mask, and waited. It had taken the redhead less than half a minute to get her gear on minus her helmet and mask.

Within a minute and a half of the call coming in, two people ran into the station from home as Whitley boarded the ambulance just before it left with 6 people. Ruby and 3 others stayed behind to help get Engine 201 out. Ruby took a seat in the back of the engine before she began to put on her seat-mounted air pack as more people boarded. At the two and a half minute mark, 5 more people, including Yang and Penny, ran in as Captain Ling Hua Yi sat in the officer's seat and an older member in his late 60s sat in the driver's seat. As Penny boarded, getting into the 10th and last seat, she told Captain Ling, "We got 3 on the rear step, 1 interior!"

"Alright," she replied as she radioed out, "Fire Alarm, Engine 201's en route with a crew of 13, 9 interior!" The engine then sped off to the call, its lights flashing and its sirens blaring.

"10-4."

"Car 5 to Fire Alarm," Weiss radioed to dispatch.

"Car 5."

"I'm 10-84 at Box 266. I got heavy smoke showing from the Alpha side on the 3rd floor and a hydrant right up front. Strike a Code 99 for this box." Immediately upon hearing this, everyone in the cab began to take their helmets off and put their masks on. Ruby was the first to be finished, putting her helmet back on just as she reached forward and turned her air pack on. She wouldn't hook her mask into it until she stepped off the truck, though.

At the 6 minute mark, Engine 201 pulled up. Immediately, Ruby and everyone else stepped off the truck. Weiss shouted to them, "Get me an two and a half to get the fire from the outside, and stretch two inch and three quarters to go inside! The 4 interiors from the ambulance crew are up there with tools!"

Ruby and Penny stretched the inch and three quarter hose as they hooked their masks into their air packs before going inside, with Ruby holding a halligan bar and Penny holding a thermal imaging camera. Meanwhile, Yang and another non-interior firefighter made the hydrant out front. The driver of the engine made sure to park ahead of the building so they could get Truck 201 to the front.

As the two girls climbed the stairs with their hose, Ruby said to Penny, "Alright, we should have enough hose." Then, they reached the third floor, which was filled with thick smoke. They both got down low, with Ruby behind Penny, and began to feel their way as the crawled on their knees through the thick smoke, which neither of them could see through. Penny aimed her camera to the ceiling as she said, "The hallway's pretty hot. We might wanna pencil it, Ruby!"

"Got it," Ruby replied. She then radioed out, "Interior Line 1 to Engine 201, charge the line, charge the line, charge the line!" Several seconds later, water filled their hose. "Penny, go for it!"

Penny then placed her camera down and opened up the nozzle in short bursts to cool down the ceiling. Once that was done, the two continued as they could hear the second hose line advance behind them, as well as a crew from Truck 201 walk on the floor above them to begin venting. After crawling further, they began to see the glow of the fire through the thick smoke, which by now was extending out of the door of the origin apartment.

Then, the 4 interior firefighters from the ambulance, consisting of both of the paid firefighter-paramedics and two volunteers, crawled past them the other way. The paid lieutenant told Ruby, "We got the door opened for you! We gotta check 1 more apartment on this floor for any occupants, and then we'll be all set!"

"Got it," Ruby replied as she and Penny made it to the doorway of the origin apartment. Penny then placed the camera down and immediately opened up the nozzle on the fire, pushing it back into the apartment as more black smoke, as well as a hefty amount of steam, was produced from the water hitting the fire. She then closed the line down to move into the apartment with her camera in hand. As they began to move in, the second hose line behind them also opened up and sprayed to the right of them as the truck crew above began breaking windows on the 4th floor to vent out smoke.

Ruby and Penny then moved into the kitchen area of the apartment and began spraying that down as well. By now, the walls of the apartment were charred black, indicating that the fire had been burning intensely. As they did, another crew inside the apartment smashed the front windows to vent the smoke out as the other hose line continued to attack the fire. Penny then sprayed down the burning cabinets, causing them to fall down onto the floor. Ruby and Penny narrowly dodged several falling plates as Ruby said to her, "Let's keep moving forward!"

At 4 in the morning, about 2 hours after they came back from the fire, the firefighters at the station were awakened by a medical call. Ruby and Whitley immediately jumped out of bed and slipped their boots on before running over to the fire pole. Once they both slid down to the ground floor, they went to their gear lockers and carried away their coat, mask, and helmet before getting in the back of the ambulance. Also on board were the two paid firefighter-paramedics and two more volunteers.

As they sat down, Whitley asked Ruby, "Suicidal male, eh?"

"Sounds like it," Ruby replied. Then, the ambulance left the station with its lights and sirens on.

Within 3 and a half minutes, they arrived on scene. By now, there were two police cars already on scene, with a third on the way, as well as two foot patrol officers. Just as Ruby and Whitley stepped out of the ambulance, they all heard a blast from a shotgun ring out from within the first floor of an apartment building, followed by several more gunshots from pistols. Instantly, their blood ran cold. Ruby yelled, "Get down!" Immediately, all 6 firefighters that stepped off the ambulance quickly laid down on the ground for about 15 seconds as police rushed into the building.

Once they got up, a cop outside yelled out, "He opened fire! He's down!" He then turned to the ambulance, "Get inside now!"

Ruby and Whitley then grabbed the stretcher from the back of the ambulance as the paid firefighter-paramedics grabbed ALS jump bags. As they ran into the building with a police officer, several residents looked on in worry.

When they got to the apartment, Ruby immediately saw that the man had been shot several times by several officers, including what appeared to be once in the head, causing half of his face to seemingly explode. In his hands was a double-barreled shotgun, and blood and brains covered the wall behind him. The smell already was putrid. A paid firefighter-paramedic told a police sergeant on scene, "I think it's fair to say that he's deader than a door nail."

"Yeah," the police sergeant replied before he scratched behind one of his cat ears. "There's no coming back from two bullets to the chest and a bullet to the head that makes half of it explode."

Another volunteer firefighter ran in with a folded-up body bag from a police car. "I got the body bag when you're ready."

Ruby put on medical gloves and began checking the vital signs of the suicidal man as Whitley looked on from the doorway. She knew that he was as good as dead, but still had to make sure. After about a minute, she said, "Yep, he's gone. No pulse whatsoever."

The police sergeant and the paid lieutenant on the ambulance began taking crime scene photos once Ruby declared the man to be effectively dead. Whitley said to Ruby as she walked back to him, "That was... Something."

"You got that right," Ruby replied. "I nearly got the heart attack of my life when those gunshots rang out."