Chapter Text
The crew of the 118 was used to responding to some very odd, out of the norm, completely random and weird calls. It's a known fact. Especially on full moons, or on Halloween or when some person with no respect for first responders or their lives says the unforgivable, forbidden Q-word. But the 118 is also just known for getting The Calls. The ones everyone and their mother will know about before the day is done. Before the shift is even over, if everyone is being completely and totally honest. It has come to be somewhat expected at this point, even if that fact is kept hushed and hidden in the midst of the gossip and bet taking going on in the corners of the room away from prying eyes.
So when a call came in for a five alarm fire, all hands on deck situation, at ass o'clock in the middle of the night it came as no surprise to anyone when it was smack dab in the middle of the 118's district. The 136 and the 153 were called in as back up.
It also didn't surprise anyone when later, this supposed warehouse storage unit turned out to be a secret, government run, research center for potential biological hazards and gene reconstruction. You know, later enough to not matter anymore because everyone was on scene and working the danger zone and couldn't step away? Yeah.
Because of course it was.
9-1-1
"136, hit delta wall on the third floor. Reports coming in of flames on that side increasing at an concerning rate. Monitor for potentially hazardous materials, we still have no idea what's in this building." Affirmatives came drifting through the crackling of the handheld radio as Bobby clipped it back to its rigging attached to his fire suit harness.
Hour three of fighting this fire, and it showed no signs of slowing, even with all the water being dumped on it. If it wasn't in an empty warehouse area with no other surrounding buildings and the nearest residential being 5 blocks away, Bobby would consider more extreme measures and equipment be brought in. But as it was, evacuation of the workers was almost complete, only the top 2 levels left to clear, 136 was on the delta and charlie sides, 153 was on standby, so Bobby was feeling pretty good about not needing that equipment and personnel. Even if it was odd that no one could actually tell him what they had stocked and in use inside that building. God forbid anyone pay attention to a label, hazard warning or equipment manufacturer manual. All he got was "we just unpack the boxes, man".
Lord help him, his patience has been tried.
"Captain Nash, dispatch."
"Go ahead dispatch."
"10 minute benchmark. Repeat, 10 minute benchmark."
"Copy dispatch, 10 minute mark." The time between check-ins seemed to diminish the longer they were out there fighting that fire. 10 minutes felt like 1 minute, but the 3 hours they had been out there felt like a day. Heat came at them in unrelenting waves of scorched air, and smoke billowed into the sky, dark and thick. Sweat beaded on his head and dripped down his face creating streaks through the soot accumulated there.
"All units be advised, 10 minute benchmark. I repeat, 10 minute benchmark. 153, switch out with the 118." More affirmatives came through the radio from the 153.
No one from the 118 responded.
"118, do you copy?" Static came through the radio along with the normal crackling. No one copied.
"Han, Wilson, do you copy?" No voices came through the radio. Just the strained silence with static.
"Buckley, Diaz, do you copy?"
No response.
Bobby scrubbed a hand over his face. He hadn't wanted to split up his team, but with size of the building, even with the backup from the other units was still too large to not do so. It came with risks, but he trusted and believed in his team When they stated they could do it, he believed it.
"Anyone from the 118, respond."
All of a sudden the squeal of a feedback loop came across the radio, shrieking in his ears causing a spike of pain through his head. The Hen's voice, broken up and distorted came through the speaker.
"Cap, do you read me?"
"I read you Wilson. Status update."
"Cap, I don't know what's going on here, but something is not right. We lost radio capability past the 5th floor, and we found a bio-metric locked door, that didn't open with emergency procedures. Buck and Eddie got it open but there was what looked like labs, with decontamination rooms. No one is here. I had to come back down to the third floor landing to reach you."
Bobby's heart skipped a beat. A lab, on the fifth floor of a storage warehouse, in LA? With no documentation of it anywhere?
Hen was right, something was definitely wrong here.
"Copy Wilson. Regroup, and evacuate. If no one is in there, leave it. I'll try to get ahold of someone who can tell me what is going on." Bobby waited for Hen to sign off before commandeering the channel.
"Dispatch, Captain Nash."
"Go ahead Captain."
"Be advised, unit 118 was clearing the fifth floor when they came across what looked like a sealed lab, no personnel. No record of such a facility on the premises. Can you try and figure out who owns this and what is going on, because I have people in there with no idea what they're walking into." He didn't wait to hear a response before he was back on the radio.
"All units be advised, undocumented lab and unknown components discovered on scene. Emergency EVAC initiated."
The captains of the 136 and 153 could be heard calling out and pulling their people from the scene immediately when his transmission was over. Bobby waited until all the call outs were done before going to do the same for his people. But before he could do so, his radio crackled.
"Captain Nash, dispatch. Be advised, building is owned by a shell corporation, no known contact information or affiliates. No registered lab on site. Evacuation is recommended, proceed with caution."
A feedback squeal came across the radio before the extremely broken up, if barely legible, transmission from Buck was heard.
"-its evac...alarms going o...fire on fifth floor...contain...fail..."
Bobby went to try and get more out of Buck, figure out where his team was at, literally anything else as long as he could hear their voices until they were standing in front of him when he was knocked off his feet with the force of an explosion. Heat rushed across his body like a tidal wave and his ears were filled with an intense ringing.
Dust and smoke floated into the air as what was left of the building dropped crumbling pieces to the ground.