Scars That Mend - Kiribaku Emergency Services AU

3rd Degree

Shoto and I raced back to the apartment building, neither of us saying a word as we scrambled into my car and keyed in the address on my GPS. I silently thanked myself for not drinking anything as we weaved through the side streets, following the GPS directions until we came to the destination. 

It was an old warehouse. The structure had been completely decimated by some kind of explosion, and the fire was still raging despite attempts from both our team and Captain Todoroki's company. An ambulance was waiting near the edge of the scene. Shoto and I scrambled out of the car - I made a quick decision to tear off my varsity jacket, wanting to keep it away from the smoke - and headed towards where the Chief and Captain waited.

"Detective, Kirishima." Aizawa greeted, the circles under his eyes darker than ever. He wasn't in uniform, leading me to question internally why he was even present.

"What happened?" Shoto asked. The detective's eyes were glazed and horrified, yet his face was plain as ever. 

"We got an anonymous tip about an arson attack in this warehouse." Captain Todoroki replied, his vibrant teal eyes surveying the dwindling flames. "When we arrived, there was nothing out of the ordinary. Then..." He grimaced, looking back at the closing doors of the ambulance. Inside, I could see a severely damaged body. "Rumi was inside when the explosion went off. She..."

The ambulance set off quickly with sirens. Rumi Usagiyama, the second-in-command at Station 11. She was known as one of the most efficient firefighters on the force, and lauded by the media for being beautiful to boot. She'd never ended up getting hurt in all her years on the force, so for her to be the one to take the blow...

"She'll survive, Enji." Aizawa huffed. "We got her out quickly."

I turned my gaze back to the burning building. The structure had been almost completely demolished. It looked as though the foundations had been hit separately to the rest of the building, which would indicate multiple devices activated at different times. In the rubble of the crumbled warehouse, I could vaguely see the remains of a forklift. The fire had been mostly put out, aside from a few patches.

"If your team hadn't arrived when they did..." Enji half-choked, making a shaky fist. He glanced over at Taishiro, who was being checked over by a first aider from Station 11. "Toyomitsu wasted no time in getting her out of the wreckage. I cannot express how grateful I am. My team are like my family."

I heard Shoto scoff beside me; barely audible to anyone except me. 

"It's our job." Aizawa replied firmly. "Nobody could have known the building was going to blow. The logical conclusion would have been that it was a fake tip, to draw attention away from another attack." He placed a hand on Enji's muscular shoulder. "Nobody could have known."

"Nevertheless, I'd like to go pay my thanks." He muttered, striding towards where Taishiro was seated on the back of a rig. I saw my colleague start at the approaching Captain, but relax quickly once he realised the reason. 

"Sorry to call you both out." Aizawa said eventually, rubbing his eyes sleepily. "I got the call myself and thought you should both be here, since you're involved in the arson case."

"Thank you." Shoto mumbled. "Do we have any intel yet?"

"We haven't done a full sweep of the site, but we know the tip came from a nearby phone booth. We'll pull security footage from nearby cameras to see if we can get an ID. We're estimating three to four incendiary devices were used in this instance."

"I'll sweep the perimeter." Shoto announced, not mincing words. "Once the fire is out I'd like to take a look at the interior."

"Great. Make sure to check in with your commanding officer." Aizawa called after the retreating detective, then turned to me with tired eyes. "Tai is pretty badly wounded from the rescue. He barrelled in without thinking; remind you of anyone?"