The Hyperjet and QR Jet flew out into the morning skies of Hillwood and was flying straight to Chicago.
"Alright listen up. We have multiple arson attacks and the fire department is doing everything it can, but they're also facing another problem, station shutdowns. You're asking yourself why's that? Well, many firefighters have been killed in these arson attacks and it's leading to more and more stations being shut down. We don't know who's behind this, or what their intentions are." Arnold let the team in on what was ahead.
"Look, call me nuts or whatever you want but, aren't all those deaths a coincidence? 'Cause, there's no damn way that three firefighters can die in just one week!" Spinelli started as she looked at the map of the city. "Not to mention that one of the stations was shut down because one of them BURNED to the ground." Spinelli added.
"Something seems off about this map…" Olivia started. "How so?" Arnold looked over. "They're all within the range of where the arson fires are. Think that could mean something?"
Arnold thought for a moment. "Maybe. But that's something we missed."
"Not just that. Many of these fires happened within the same area."
"That's definitely something to keep in mind."
"Ugh, the sooner there's a call-out, the better! I'm burnin' up over here!" Spinelli complained as she took off her beanie.
Arnold then walked up to Olivia. "How we feeling, sweetie?" She merely shrugged. "Ok so far. It's just surreal to think I'm finally on a mission with you guys. Especially with you and Mom." Olivia then smiled at Arnold. Arnold only smiled back.
Forty-Five Minutes Later
"How's it looking over there, Ariel?" Arnold asked over his earpiece. "Clear skies, no problem."
A faint siren blaring was then heard.
"Arnold, I think we have something." Ariel soon said. Arnold looked down at street level. "A rookie being late on his first day? Yeah, I can see that…" Arnold sarcastically said as he smirked.
"Not that!" Ariel chuckled. "Yeah, yeah, I see the trucks down there. I'm picking up the nine-one-one call now. Structure fire at a Garment factory.
Two Fire Trucks were seen exiting their station. A Nineteen-Seventy Ward LaFrance which was Engine Seventeen, and a Mack CF Pirsch Aerial Ladder which was Ladder Forty-Six.
"You're late little' bro!" Stephen said towards his younger brother. "No excuses this time." Stephen then gave an annoyed look.
The truck soon started rolling off. Brian managed to get in the truck with the help of his teammate.
"So baby McCaffery, how you doin'? The name's John, John Adcox, but many call me Axe." Adcox greeted the rookie.
Stephen looked back for a moment and shook his head once he looked back at the road knowing his brother was late.
"How you doin', John?" Brian replied. "Aye John, you know this rugrat?" The driver asked as Bull honked the truck horn.
"Of course! I practically raised him! He never calls, he never writes!" Adcox said with a smile. Brian chuckled. "I'm Brian." He shook hands with the veteran to his right. "I'm sorry." Almost everyone started laughing, even his brother.
The sound of aircrafts passed by them. "What was that?" Brian asked. "Oh, don't tell me you haven't heard that noise before! Well, I haven't either since it doesn't pass by often." Adcox started. "What? What do you mean?"
"Just look up at the sky, and tell me what you see." John pointed. Brian looked for a brief moment and saw a dark blue aircraft and a black aircraft.
"Any idea what those are?" Brian asked as he continued to put on his gear. "That my friend, are the famous Jet's of the heroes down in a city named Hillwood. Nobody knows where they're based, nobody knows their true identities or where they even come from! But let me tell you, my boy, they are something special!"
"Wonder what they're here for." Stephen said from the front and honked the truck horn.
The two aircraft's soared past the trucks.
The Trucks were soon seen epically driving over a hill as a song blasted inside Engine Seventeen.
"Got word we're dealing with a garment factory." Stephen said as he put his coat on. "Shake n Bake, boys! We got ourselves a barbeque. Watch yourself a hot one first time out, kid." Grindle said.
Five Minutes Later
Both the Hyperjet and QR Jet arrived at the garment factory fire.
"Time to put this new gear to the test!" Spinelli excitedly said as she tightened her air tank.
"Hang on, hotshot. We don't know what the situation is yet. Once we do, THEN we test out the new gear." Arnold said. Spinelli lowered an eyelid and raised her other eyebrow.
As the garage door lowered to street level, the UFRT was also lowered as the team was there. Nadine, Ariel, and Sapphire met up with them.
The Battalion Chief soon walked up to them, in shock rather.
"Why Shadow, I never thought your team would ever come by here! It's an honor having you 'round here!" The Chief shook his hand. "Pleasure to be here with my team, Chief. What's the situation here?"
They all started walking behind the Battalion Chief. "We have a structure fire here, looks like an old garment factory. No reports of victims inside."
"Alright… In that case, mind if I make a suggestion?"
"By all means, Shadow! You do have more power over me in all honesty."
"Alright, here's what we do, send in two hose teams, I'll be in there with several of my teammates. We hit the fire directly, if it gets out of control, we'll have to surround and drown."
"Fancy truck over there." The Battalion Chief noticed their truck. "Why thanks, Chief."
"Alright Shadow, your plan sounds good, besides, we don't know whether there's a possible entrapment. I'll get two hose teams ready." Shadow nodded as he faced his team.
"Engine Seventeen, you copy?"
"Alright guys, I'm personally picking who's going in and who stays out here. Sapphire, Nadine, Ariel, and Olivia, you all stay out here. Star, I'll want you to give us a bird's eye view of the building. Ariel and Nadine, you're two of the best medic's here, I want you with the truck. Olivia, you're staying put."
"Yes, Dad…"
"Everyone else is with me." They all nodded.
Minutes Later
Gerald and Spinelli put on their oxygen masks as the two hose teams were ready.
"Hang on, you're doing it wrong." Both Stephen and Arnold said to their respective teammates.
Stephen was fixing Brian's gear, and Arnold was fixing Spinelli's gear.
"Alright, go, go, go!"
"Oh, cheer up, sourpuss! I know you may feel restricted, but it's what your parents want, for you to feel safe. They're not going to throw you into the action immediately! Do it for them, do it for yourself." Ariel told Olivia, who was partially upset.
Olivia sighed. "Alright. Thanks, Ariel." She smiled.
"Anytime." Ariel smiled back.
Fire raged from the inside as it broke several glass shelves.
"Let's take this bitch head-on, Shadow!"
"Are you stupid?! That shit will flash over on us! We take it from the side or back out!"
"She'll steam on us a little, but won't flash on us! Go high in the ceiling! My team!"
"But Bull-"
"But nothing! Go high!" Stephen ordered.
"Here comes your water!" The engineer for Engine Seventeen said.
"Here it comes!"
Adcox and another firefighter turned on the hoses and aimed for the ceiling.
"Come on, honey, steam us!" Bull looked at the flames.
Shortly enough, the flames steamed on them. A bunch of smoke came from it.
"HA HA! I KNEW YOU WERE A PUSSY!" Bull mocked the fire. "You lucked out on this one, Lieutenant!"
"Alright everyone, let's go for the throat!"
The flames raged almost as if it was living beast. The rookie, Brian, was rather shocked by how much fire could rage.
Nightingale and Adcox put out the flames that were ahead so they could walk through.
Everyone inside was walking through a fire field.
"Gotta ventilate this heat!" Stephen threw out a flaming chair.
"Save your fucking air, man!" Stephen told his brother.
"Look out!" Nightingale put out a burning piece of dangling wood that was right behind Spinelli. "Thanks!
"Alright, Probie! Hook us up to a standpipe! C'mon Brian, hustle!" Stephen told his younger brother.
Brian went over to hook up the line he had. "SHIT!" Brian just barely avoided flames that were near his mask.
"We're gonna need another line here! Trickshot, get us another line in here, now!" Shadow told Gerald. "You got it!"
"Where's that fucking line, Probie!" Stephen looked over at his brother.
"Shit! Nearly there, c'mon!" Brian was hurrying to connect the hose.
"Two hoses ready!" Ariel handed one hose to Gerald as he immediately made his way back inside. "Arnold, I'm headed in to hand over another hose!" Ariel radioed.
"Copy!"
"Engine Seventeen, status!" The Chief radioed the Lieutenant.
"Chief, it's pretty bad in here but we're getting under control! With the help of Shadow and his team, it's speeding up the process!" The Chief looked over at the UFRT. "Start sprayin'!"
The top water cannons soon started spraying water at full force.
"Thanks, Ariel!" Arnold took the hose and followed behind Gerald.
"About time, rook! Should've gotten a granny to do your job! Charge it!" Three more hoses were now in action.
"I got you!" Spinelli helped Arnold with the hose. "Thanks!"
"Up there! Watch it before it burns you!" Rhonda pointed out. "Good eye!"
Adcox shut off his hose as he noticed something extremely wrong.
Every hose was turned off for now. The fire was getting absorbed.
"It's in the walls…" Stephen said as he looked up.
Fire then abruptly shot out as it was knocking over tables and chairs. "Look out!" Adcox and Trickshot were spraying at the area.
"Chief, what's happening out there!" Stephen got on his radio. "Fires jumping floors! Be careful inside!"
"And where are the other truck companies?!"
"John Wayne time… We're on our own, Lieutenant!"
"No fucking backup… Fucking great." Spinelli facepalmed. "Everyone, keep those masks on and dig in!" Shadow ordered. Everyone looked over except the Lieutenant. "DIG IN!"
"Come on! Let's move!" The Captain of Truck Forty-Six yelled.
"We have no time to get out! Dig in!" Stephen yelled.
"Keep those masks on and take cover!"
"Fires jumping floors on us!"
A creaking noise was heard outside before…
CRASH
KA-BOOM
CRASH
The flames from the explosion reached past the roof of the structure. One after another, windows were being shattered from the explosions as the interior of the building was catching more flames.
"Get down!"
"COVER UP, LIEUTENANT!"
Many poles inside the building collapsed. Fire poured from the windows as they crackled and briefly reached the top of the structure.
CRASH
The fire raged right over their heads.
Gerald, Spinelli, and Arnolds' suits all caught fire along with the rookie and Lieutenant.
"I'm burnin' up!"
"Put it out!"
Adcox and Nightingale sprayed them with the hoses as the fires were put out.
"ALL RIGHT, LET'S HIT THIS FIRE!" Shadow ordered.
"HEY!" Brian got stepped over. "Sorry kid! I thought you were dead!" The firefighter said sarcastically. He then helped him to his feet.
"UP HIGH!" Spinelli pointed out to Arnold.
"OH SHIT!" The flooring gave way as one firefighter fell through. He was barely hanging on.
All firefighters shut off their hoses and immediately went toward the downed firefighter.
"SHADOW, HIT THE HOTSPOTS DOWN THERE! WE GOT OUR GUY!" Stephen ordered.
"AH! FUCK! MY LEG!" Fire burned through the gear. Shadow and Trickshot shot the hoses down at the fire as the firefighters tried pulling Nightingale out.
"I'M GOING!" Nightingale gave up. "You Go…We go…!" His teammate replied as he grunted.
"Spinelli, give them an extra hand!" Arnold told her. She only nodded.
Spinelli yanked on his uniform, lifting him more and more out of the pit. They finally pulled Nightingale out, but his leg had partial burns.
"MY AIR TANKS OUT!" The Captain exclaimed. "CAP! TAKE NIGHTINGALE OUT WITH YOU! TRICKSHOT WILL FOLLOW BEHIND!" Rhonda replied to the Captain.
"Spinelli! Go with them!" Arnold added. Spinelli only nodded as she got behind Gerald.
"Lieutenant! I just ran a scan with Ms. Flyer over the building, there's a civilian trapped downstairs!"
"What?!" Bull got on his radio. "I read you, Chief! I'm sending two people over there! I have several coming out so it should suffice! But just in case, I'm sending two people down there!" Stephen looked over at Adcox. "AXE!" John looked over.
Stephen saw only the two rookies remaining. Shadow was with another person fighting the fire.
"Down to two probies… perfect. TAKE TIM, AND DO A SEARCH!"
"Let's go, kid!" Adcox told the rookie. "Let's move it, Brian! Stay on this line!"
Stephen and Brian made their way through the fire slowly. Fire flared up at Bull's face, catching him off guard. "AH! YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Stephen kicked over the table and sprayed it.
Fire from the floor spreaded onto more tables as it flared up.
"Fuck! MORE LINE!" Brian went to cut slack on the hose. "UGH. WE'RE LUCKY THAT THE SMOKE ISN'T SO THICK OR IT'D BE A NIGHTMARE!"
While he was doing that, he heard someone yelling for help. "STEPHEN!" Stephen didn't hear a thing. "SHIT! CHICAGO FIRE DEPARTMENT! ANYBODY HERE?!" Brian went off task and started searching for the yelling.
Stephen extinguished several tables before noticing his brother wasn't with him. "Where's my brother?" Bull asked as he looked around. "I don't know, Bull!" One firefighter replied. "Fuckin' shit!"
"Chief, what's the situation outside?" Arnold got on his radio. "Backup finally showed up. How's it looking in there?"
"We're getting the fire under control!" Rhonda then poked at his shoulder. "When we get out of here, I'm punching you in the face for such a lie like that." Arnold could only smirk behind his breathing apparatus. She smirked as well.
Brian flinched back as fire flared up from the floor. The fire raged like a living beast.
"Shit…!"
Brian then found a pair of legs, stained from the smoke. He immediately headed over toward the victim. He threw the victim over his shoulder and headed for the nearest exit.
"South of the building…"
"Ten-Four, Dispatch."
"Fires out over on our side, Chief!"
"Does anyone read us, over?"
"Forty-One, Twenty-Eight, we copy."
"MEDIC!" Brian rushed out of the building. A news photographer aimed her camera at him.
Ariel led the paramedics towards him. "Set her down. We'll take it from here!"
Brian laid the victim down. He then took off his breathing apparatus and took deep breaths. "Is she ok?"
"Chief, we're almost done here, you copy?" Several firefighters raced over to the entrance.
Ariel looked over at Brian. "I'm afraid you're too late."