April 28, 2022

As Blake read her Advanced Firefighter-Paramedic textbook and took down notes at the firehouse in the bunk room around 6 PM, Whitley walked in. She looked up and noticed him, telling him, "Hey, Whitley."

"I see you got a new haircut," Whitley noted to her. Indeed, Blake had gotten her hair cut short. "It looks nice."

Blake chuckled and gave a smile. "Thanks. I knew you'd appreciate it. By the way, I didn't see your sister here when I came back from AFP class yesterday."

Whitley nodded. "Yeah, she's been kinda in the house since Monday. Jaune's with her when he's not at work, but he's a bit worried about her."

"I see," she replied, which confirmed some suspicions she had. "She hasn't been right in a while. What's going on?" "Whitley, I heard about what happened with your sister, by the way. That isn't like her to react like that."

"I know," he replied with a sigh as he wiped his forehead. "It fucking sucks. Everyone I've talked to who's known her for longer than I have says she always gets a bit down in April since that's when our grandpa died, but this is brand new."

"How is that new girl taking the verbal ass-whooping she got from her?" Blake was concerned for Ashley, who she had practiced with several times for EMS training. "She hasn't been around since."

"I haven't heard anything from her," Whitley shrugged. "I hope she comes back. She hasn't been in a fire yet due to her college schedule and the lack of good fires around here, but she'll catch one soon."

...

April 30, 2022

Penny returned from military refresher training that had gone on from 8 to 6 that Saturday to Ross' apartment. She had been up since 6 in the morning, and had arrived back home around 8. As soon as she had come home, she and Ross had sex, and both retired to bed right after. As the young adult couple relaxed in bed, they talked about the day, among other things.

"The firehouse was uneventful," Ross told her as he quietly strummed her orange locks of hair. "One fire call and a few medical runs. Nothing exciting." Penny nodded in response.

"Hey," Penny then felt the need to ask him. "I gotta know something. Ross, I..."

Ross, concerned about her tone, asked her, "Penny, what is it?"

"It's just that I think...," Penny then replied, trailing off into silence as she tried to word her next sentence right. "Sometimes, I feel too different."

"Is it because of the whole robot thing? Penny, I already told you, you're a real woman to me." Ross then held her hand to comfort her.

Penny sighed. "I know. It's just... Ever since what happened, I've been getting... Looks... I suppose people just are becoming more suspicious of the "other" here."

"Fuck them," Ross replied bluntly. "You did your part. Listen, anywa-" The two of them then were interrupted when Penny's phone rang. Penny got up from bed and ran to a nearby dresser, not caring she was not dressed.

"Hello?"

"It's Weiss," the voice on the other end replied. "Elsa woke up."

...

At the hospital, Elsa had indeed woken up from her coma. She was looking around and was able to vocalize, but her words were slightly slurred, and she still had marks from her injuries on her head. As she adjusted her eyes further, she asked Weiss, "Ugh... Weish... Are you okah...?"

"I'm fine," she immediately told her as a doctor continued to monitor her vital signs and take notes. "Do you know where you are?"

"Hoshpital," Elsa replied. "Collapshe at fiah... Waehoushe fiah..."

Weiss, trying to bring some humor into the situation, replied to her, noting her slurred speech, "Elsa, you're sounding more and more like a real salty fireman now with that accent of your's." Elsa chuckled a bit in response as Weiss held one of her hands. "I'm so glad you're awake."

"Yeah," Elsa replied to her.

"Penny's coming, too," Weiss told her. "A whole bunch of guys from the fire company are coming. They all wanna see you. They've been checking in a lot."

"I knoah," Elsa told her. "I could heah you when I wash ashleeh... I wash shurpraised... I thought it wash a movie thin." Some tears then began to form in her eyes. "You guishe... Thank you..." She clearly was overcome with emotion, knowing the fire company had supported her from the start.

Weiss could not help but begin to cry as well, telling her cousin, "I know, I know. Elsa, we're going to make it through this, I swear."

...

May 1, 2022

The fire company, as well as the Goodwill Hose Company and the North Vigilant Fire Company, conducted live fire training starting at 9 in the morning in a condemned five-floor apartment block that was to be torn down and replaced in July. Until then, the fire department would use it for training, as many fire companies scheduled live fire training around this time. This would be the second live burn Vigilant conducted this year out of four, and all interior firefighters were required to complete either two of them or one of them in addition to at least one training course with live burns, the same requirements they had for their bailout training.

As the first crew in, composed of nine firefighters from Vigilant and three firefighters from Goodwill, all came out and began to dress down, the second crew began to get ready to go in. They had a fire set on the third floor, and would have to carry hose up from the second floor to the third. The first crew had backed its hose lines from the third floor to standpipes on the second floor and shut them off. They had three hose lines of three people each plus a three-man search team. Six of the nine hose line firefighters were from North Vigilant, while three were from Goodwill. The search team would also be from North Vigilant.

As Ruby, Blake, and Yang all recuperated from being on the attack line in the first crew, they all looked up at the building, wondering what Weiss and the other captains and instructors had planned for the second team. Blake told them, "That search crew from Goodwill almost missed their victim."

"My husband would have flipped his shit if he was on that crew," Yang replied. "He's gonna be on one of the lines for the second crew." Indeed, George was seen going up into the building, wearing Goodwill's yellow bunker pants and wool coat, with a black cork helmet. "I just hope the guys from the new company don't fuck up as bad."

"At least we did our job," Ruby added. She then saw Blake putting a cigarette in her mouth. "Still smoking, eh?"

"Yep," she replied. "Anyone got a lighter?"

"Right here," Ruby replied, pulling a lighter from her pocket and lighting it up. "I'll light it for ya." She then began to take her air pack and coat off. "Today's way too hot for early May." As she then bent down to turn her air pack off, she put her lighter away and wiped sweat off her forehead. "Hey, Blake, you got the homework for the AF-P class done, right?"

"Yeah," she replied. "It wasn't too hard."

"Alright," Ruby replied, giving off a feeling of being unsure. "Yeah... I, uh... I've been having trouble with getting time to do it because of the whole royal duties thing, but it's been getting done. I can't wait for this class to end in September. Speaking of, you got a date for your deployment to Menagerie, right, Blake?"

"October 1st to December 25th," Blake confirmed to her. "I'll be assigned to controlling Grimm infestations near combat zones."

"Right," Ruby noted, seeming to stare off into the distance. "It... It's just..." The redhead then took a deep breath, debating whether or not to finish her sentence before deciding to do so. She started out with a quiet voice before escalating the volume gradually. "Fuck that place. Fuck that place so much. Fuck that place, fuck those terrorists who are destroying it, and damn them both to the lowest pits of Hell. I didn't spend a long time deployed there, but I spent long enough to know that I dread going back. Fuck that place!" She then took a deep breath and shook her head. "I can't unsee a thing. I can't."

Yang, now deeply concerned, wrapped an arm around her younger sister and asked her, "Ruby, are you okay?"

"I'm fine now," Ruby told her, trying to alleviate her worries. "It's... I shouldn't have let it out like that."

...

May 2, 2022

Engine 201 pulled up to a working apartment fire in the early morning hours on the second floor of an apartment building on the corner of two streets. As it did, the three firefighters on the rear step jumped off as it slowed down to grab the hydrant, wrapping a 5-inch hose around it and grabbing the hydrant tool bag. The engine then proceeded up to the fire, the crew in the cab quickly jumping out fully masked up and grabbing hand lines and tools at a frantic pace. All around the scene, people living in the neighborhood watched in horror and curiosity.

Weiss shouted to the crew and pointed to the apartment next to the one on fire, shouting, "Get me a ladder to that apartment window! We got a kid in there!" As she did, two police officers rushed out of the building, having failed to make a rescue.

Yang and two other volunteers grabbed the 35-foot extension ladder off the side of the engine and rushed it over, extending it at a rapid but controlled pace and throwing it to the second floor windowsill at an angle. She then ran back to grab her axe from the ground by the engine's ladder rack before proceeding up the ladder to make entry, connecting her mask's tube to her belt-mounted regular for her SCBA and breathing pack air. As she and the other two climbed up, six other firefighters entered with two hand lines from the first floor. Once she got to the top of the ladder, she waited for the crews inside to start flowing water.

Inside the building, Penny and the two paid firefighters stretched the first line in dry. Once they got to the second floor, the paid captain on duty radioed out, "Engine 201, charge the Blue line! Charge the Blue line!" Penny held the nozzle, while the paid firefighter held a halligan tool and an axe in his belt and the paid captain held a TIC. Soon, water filled their line, and they proceeded to the door of the apartment on fire, which was almost completely destroyed by the fire, which had extended into the hallway. Penny opened up on the nozzle and began to darken the fire down.

Outside, Yang heard the command for the line to be charged and took it as the cue to vent. She turned around to the rest of the three-man search team and told them, "Guys, we're going in! They're gonna get water on the fire soon!" She immediately busted open the window in front of her and cleared it of glass before climbing into the apartment. Her two comrades joined her within seconds, and once all three were in, they began to search the apartment for the missing child in the dark of the smoke around them. As they entered a bedroom, Yang shouted, "FIRE DEPARTMENT, CALL OUT! FIRE DEPARTMENT!"

As Yang searched one side of the room and another volunteer searched another, Lieutenant Key, who held the TIC and was at the doorway, shouted to them, "I got a heat signature on Firefighter Moon's side!"

"Got it," replied Robert Moon, a newer volunteer around 21 who had joined after the August 23rd attacks. As he felt the wall on the left side, he soon came into contact with a baby crib. "I GOT A CRIB! THERE'S A BABY HERE!" Indeed, as soon as he ripped the wooden siding of the crib away with a halligan bar and reached his hand in, he felt a baby in his other hand. He immediately called to Yang, "YANG, TAKE THE BABY! I'LL TAKE YOUR TOOL!"

"I got them," Yang replied as she approached from the other way and grabbed the baby, leaving her tool behind for Robert to pick up. "Hey LT, I'm gonna take the kid out to the ladder!"

"Weiss should be on the ladder waiting," he yelled back. "I told her we got one!"

Indeed, outside, Weiss was climbing up the ladder, wearing only her turnout coat and her rolled-down boots and no other gear, ready to take the baby from Yang in the thick smoke. It did not take long for Yang to emerge from the smoke. "Hand the kid to me! I got her!"

"Take her," Yang replied as she handed the baby to Weiss. "I'm going back in to complete the search!" As Yang went back in, Weiss climbed down the ladder, holding the baby in one arm and doing CPR with the other while also giving him rescue breaths.

As she climbed down, she could hear a woman cry out in absolute horror and shock, horrifying her as she realized it was probably the baby's mother. Once she got down, she quickly ran the baby to Ambulance 201 along with a police officer. "Get out of the way! We got a baby here!" The whole time, she continued CPR on him, even as she hopped on board the ambulance. "He's not breathing, and he may have some burns from the heat!"

"Got it," replied a volunteer firefighter in the back of the ambulance. "Cap, we'll take it from here!" Weiss then climbed back out of the ambulance and shut the doors as another volunteer hopped in the driver's seat up front. As soon as Weiss tapped the ambulance twice on the side to signal it to go, the ambulance sped off, lights flashing and sirens wailing, into the busy city streets of Vale.

As the adrenaline high settled down, Weiss took a deep breath and slowly walked back to the front of the building, grabbing her red captain helmet from the back of Car 5. "Holy shit... Holy shit..." She wiped sweat off her face, leaving some black marks on her face from the soot. It had taken only about 2 minutes from the time Yang made entry into the apartment for Yang to emerge with the baby, but Weiss feared it still would not be enough. Regardless, she still had a job to do as the 1st Captain, so she walked back out to meet with the paid fire chiefs in front of the District 2 Chief's car.

The chief, an experienced career firefighter with 34 years under his belt, turned to Weiss and asked her, "You need a break, Cap? You look beat."

"Yeah," Weiss admitted, somewhat reluctantly. "That was stressful as fuck."

"Here," said the Assistant District 2 Chief for that shift, another experienced veteran, as he handed her a bottle of water. "Have a water. You need it."

"You can say that again," Weiss replied with a smile. She then opened it up as she looked at the fire building, surveying the ongoing operations to put the fire inside out.