Flickering embers dance through the air as the telltale glow of a massive blaze illuminates part of the city, here in its epicentre it is nigh impossible to tell night from day however! Originating at the base of a five-story residential appartment, flames are rapidly spreading upwards, licking along the eastern wall of the residential structure! On that side the fire had already spread to the roof, while much of the western side remains un-charred... for now.

The local fire department are already on-scene, however unprepared for a blaze of this magnitude! The most these brave mutants can do is slow down the spread of the life-gobbling inferno, and with the city's infrastructure anything but hospitable in its current state to permit them easy access to water, it was a miracle they were capable to even do so much!

The sounds of terrified screams is audible from within the structure, couples, entire families perhaps trapped within the crumbling building as smoke billows out the open windows! They didn't have much time left... Among those in the rescue effort was a small-ish fennec fox, his part in this being something he did well. Screaming at the panicked locals with a loud and commanding tone, trying to keep the terrified masses from scattering, hoping to organize them and recruit as many of them into the firefighting effort as possible.

Cinder is heading to Dicks and Durgs to oversee some of the construction when sie sees the blaze, Sie has nothing on hir to help but sie starts running over anyway! Sie sees, or rather hears Magnus and runs over to him, "Anything I can do to help?"

Zophah is aproaching the blaze, as is all fearless heroes do. She had grabbed the only two fire extinguishers she had already built and flew off with phoenix wings, her shadow dragon daughter Dios flying behind her and messaging Arris to meeet her there. When she arrived, She notices Magnus alredy trying to take care of the inferno. "How many in the building do you think there are, which way is the fire spreading, and about how much time do we have before the structure collapses?" She yells over the cataphony, drawing out her totemic bear to hopefully help with any heavy loads.

Arris rushes in shortly after Zophah does, lugging around a ten-pound fire extinguisher just behind her, careful not to let the mildly heavy tank of pressurized gas bump the pavement too hard and potentially explode right into her hands. "Sweet Mary mother of Joseph, the blaze is as bad as you said." Her gaze sweeps left and right as the heat bears down on her from all sides, eyes eventually focusing on Magnus before rushing over to him. "Oi, Mag! You got a plan for this fire?!"

Quinnthas hears the commotion and comes jogging around the corner , his eyes widen at the scene. "woah, haven't seen a fire this bad in awhile!" after noticing the shouting fox and people gathering around him he decides to go up and see waht he can do to help. "hello, quinnthas, RSX human resources, there anything I can do to help?" he says calmly as he watches teh chaos around him.

The fennec turns to face the fox and gator. "Jeeze, of all the people to show up! Glad you two are among them." He then spots Cinder and another lad he'd not yet met, his eyes going wide as he speaks, "What are..." but is promptly interrupted as the loud crackling and crashing from the structure announces that it had started to collapse from the thermal shock, the topmost floor having caved in somewhere along the roof. "We don't have time! I don't know how many are in there! What little I could do is help the fire department over there!" his finger snaps towards a group of four five brave souls, two pairs of two each firmly grasping a nozzle gushing water in an attempt to douse the flames, their efforts only enough that they merely slow its spreading. "Why are you asking me?! I don't know what to do! Go talk to the chief!" his hand then points towards a small and visibly stressed rat girl in a firefighter's uniform and distinctly brighter helm on her head, leaned over a piece of rubble she was using as an improvised desk. "Quit gabbing and get going!" Magnus then turns back around and runs off after the scattering crowd to try and organize things as best he can.

Cinder nods and runs over to the fire chief, offering hir help

"There are people in there!?" Arris promptly disregards Magnus' instructions to go talk up the chief, instead running towards the closest building to her that was still aflame, levelling her extinguisher's nozzle at it... then double-checks the intuitive picture diagrams on the side to make sure she was using it correctly. After a hasty check, she pulls the handle on the pressurized chemical container and looses its contents in the direction of the fire.

Zophah sees the stress Magnus is having and surveys the situation herself. Scouting nanomagic gave her an edge in finding the closest people in need of rescue, and she directs her daughter and her totem to help evacuate anyone in the western side of the building. "Anyone capable of flight and resistance to heat, go to the higher floors and lead them out to the fire escapes! If you find anyone unconsious from smoke, get the aid of any other rescuees to drag them out! Those with fire extinguishers focus on stopping it from spreading to the west to give everyone a chance of getting out! If anyone is injured, focus on getting them mobile first, paramedics and nanites will do the rest! NOW MOVE!" She then takes flight and pulls out a fire extingisher, diving into an open window of the upper floors.

Quinnthas as he surveys the situation his ears and glowing tentacles twitch, with a frown he gets ready to run in when Zophah starts sending people to the rescue. "I think there are 10 people on the first couple of floors. since you have rescues in hand guess I'll focus on something else." he heads over to the rat girl at the makeshift desk. "anything you need help with here?"

Sometimes, when Zephyr needed him to go somewhere and do a given thing, it was easiest to just fly himself. There was always Mike and the chopper, of course, but sometimes Acetyl had to go somewhere off the usual beaten paths, and he didn't like asking for favors - after all, he had two perfectly good wings of his own. And as a storm dragon, he sometimes craved the sky, felt a need to stretch his wings and soar for its own sake. He was no bird and couldn't soar way up in the clouds, of course, but it still felt good to be up there, muscles working smoothly to power him forward through the smoke-stained air. Hey... wait a second. Smoke? Acetyl blinked, refocusing his thoughts from his mission onto his surroundings. The air was clear when he left Xanadu. But now the stench of a building fire punched into his nostrils, and the sky was no longer clean and clear. An ugly blotch of dark smoke was spreading in the air ahead of him, with a clear point of origin. Something was definitely on fire. Something big. Right there in Fairhaven. Acetyl could be a detached sort, but the sight of that plume of smoke sent a spike of anxiety through his gut. Immediately, he got on comms and reported the fire. With permission to abort his current mission granted by his boss, Acetyl wheeled in the sky, performing a sharp wingover that made his head spin but allowed him to change direction almost on a wingtip. As quickly as he could, he flew toward the source of the smoke. On arrival, he was horrified to see a five-story building in flames. People were already there, scurrying about as best they could, but it was clear that more help was needed. So he folded his wings back and swooped down, alighting near the firefighters with their hoses. "Hey, what can I do?" He called out, looking around to see who was in charge of the operation.

Arris' actions prove fruitful as two more dazed and panicked mutants run out of the building, a doberman girl and a shy gecko male specifically! They seem on the verge of collapse, and in fact do so just short of the police chief. "The rat snaps her gaze towards Cinder and Quinn, then at the injured. "Help me over here then." she answers with a hasty squeak as her nimble hands start to unscrew the lid of a large flask. She helps with washing the soot and smoke from the rescued's faces and offers them each a drink. Zophah meanwhile crashes right into a couple of female huskies' charred appartment den, where the two survivors were a hot minute away from fainting from all the smoke they'd inhaled. They needed help, pronto!

As the events are underway, another loud crashing sound shakes the already quaking air, another room had collapsed, a loud reminder that every single second was the difference between life and death. Several figures start to hook their legs over the rims of various windows on the second and third floors of the building. PEOPLE WERE TRYING TO JUMP DOWN! "CHIEF!" one of the firefighters screams out. Their small team was helpless... The rat girl turns towards Quinn and Cinder, then Acetyl once he offers his assistance too. "If you two want to help, there are people trying to jump. Catch them, fly there and ease them down, I don't care! We don't have the manpower for this!" The desperation in her voice was as vivid as the ever-growing threat of a mass catastrophe...

Cinder quickly scans the upper floors of the building for people who are going to jump and quickly launches hirself into the air, picking people up and gliding them down safely!

Zophah needed to act fast. Fortunately she was one of those mutants that didn't need to breathe, but there were two unconsious huskies that needed her help. Zophah isn't strong, but her adrenaline was pumping and there are people to save. So she dragged the two to the window and tied them to herself with cord from her bag. And with a hop from the windowsill She tried her best to glide down on her wings like a parachute, landing rough but at least with both huskies safe. "These two have smoke inhalation." She exclams to those coming to help her. "I'm going back in." With the cord back with her she flies bac up to the 4th floor, praying that more of the building doesn't colapse before she rescues more.

The intense heat within the building hits Arris like she had ran into a brick wall, but she presses on, pushing through it to spray the chemical mist over the flames to douse them. She manages to clear out the foyer of the building of flames and let two mutants out through the passage she has made before being forced to retreat right after them herself. Once outside, she takes a moment to fill her lungs full of the cleaner air, analyzing the situation around her before making her next move.

Her attention is quickly brought up to the people attempting to jump out of the windows, and -- after some quick thinking -- she uses her tentacle nanomagic to hastily 'weave' a makeshift life net, turning her extra appendages into the elastic material of the Living Lingirie form and securing them all around the fender of a nearby car just as the mutants drop onto her. "Take care of the others! I can't handle all of the ones jumping out!"

Quinnthas gives a quick solute to the captain. "yes ma'am" then downs 5 vials as he runs to place himself under the jumpers. turning himself into a Psilocybe Dragon. with his form solidified he stretches his wings to their fullest and braces himself. "I'll catch you! you'll be safe!"

The storm dragon doesn't wait to be told twice. Taking no more time than required to snap out a crisp 'Yes'm!', the flighted mutant snapped his wings out and kicked off again, arrowing for the people in the windows. He thought about shifting to a larger form, but the situation was urgent - it seemed like a wiser use of his time to just get up there and snatch whoever he could, especially given that there were others trying to rescue the potential jumpers (and thank the Horned Serpent for that - Acetyl was only five feet four inches tall, and he knew he couldn't move fast enough to save everyone alone. The heat from the flames was terrific even flying along the outside of the building. His natural temperature resistance took the edge off, but the dragonman decided it made sense to activate cryo nanomagic. He might end up having to go inside. So even as he made for the nearest possible jumper, he concentrated, flicking the nanomagic on to cool the air around him. Out here, it was strong enough that frost might form, but he knew all too well that, if he had to go inside, it would only be able to reduce the heat... and it wouldn't last long, either. Unable to hover with the precision of some flighted mutants, Acetyl settles for a snatch-and-go, grabbing at the first person he can as he shoots by. The extra weight is difficult to maintain, but he's able to glide to the ground without anyone's bones being broken... he hopes.

With the hasty assistance from the mutants, the better part of another half dozen are rescued as they jump out or are assisted with the help of the flight-capable! The small fox that'd come along did what he could too, carrying the injured over to the designated spot where they were to recieve aid from the firefighter chief. He too would catch one or two jumpers, assisting in rounding the rescued up to exactly twelve! The screams coming from the building fade... entirely, but why? Zophah would know by now, all too well, how if there was anyone left in there they'd likely passed out by now, and were hanging by a thread. Someone had to find out if there were any people left in there!

*CRUNCH* Quinntheas sadly gives way under the impact of one of the jumpers and suffers a cracked rib, though at least the one he'd rescued is cushioned under his body, sustaining just a bad bruise. "Shit..." Magnus huffs and moves over to hoist both Quinntheas and the otter girl he'd saved by literally being a body cushion for over to the group of burned and injured. "ZOPHAH! WE NEED A MEDIC HERE!" he'd yell into his comm unit at the fox, urging her to return. While the rat firechief was doing all she could there were a lot of injured to tend to, too many for one medic to handle, and Magnus had no training of the sort to assist with... A voice rings out. "I think we have the fire, Chief! But the building might collapse!"

"Oof!" It's not his best landing, but Acetyl manages to carry his charge to the ground without either of them suffering serious damage, and he heaves a sigh of relief. That feeling is quickly replaced by horror as another rescuer suffers a horrible accident. Acetyl can't understand it - the other mutant's strategy should have worked. He's fought enough Psilocybes himself to know how tough their mycelial flesh is. It's almost shocking to see those tightly-knit fungal fibers fold. But that one mutant evidently hit in just the wrong way. He hesitates. The fading screams bother him. As a Necromantic Acolyte, he has a fine-tuned sense for the imminence of death... and the air downright reeks of it. But the wounded Psilocybe Dragon mutant is closer, so, in a snap decision, he chooses to do what he can there first. Allowing the person he rescued to be pulled away, the storm dragon hustles over to Quinn, sliding his backpack down his arm as he runs. Within moments, his Emergency Stash is in his hands, hasty fingers popping the lid open to reveal his collection of combat drugs, weird samples from Xanadu, and - most importantly - his specially-made first aid supplies. "Hold still, man. I got you, I got you," he repeated, anxiety making him babble a little as he fished in his stashbox, pulling out the drugs and tools he needed to work on this. His habit of self-reliance was coming in handy now - but this time, on someone else's behalf. In the back of his mind, Acetyl wondered what he was doing, why he even cared about these people. He shoved the thought away. Irrelevant. He'd deal with that later. For the moment, there were Things To Be Done.

The heat stings. Having jumped into the burning building once more Zophah's resove is being taxed, and she dives forward to scoop up a tiny bunny girl and runs out of the window again. She glides down to hand off the miniature woman to those who can help, then turns to look at the building. She can't afford to dive into the building again, can she? So she runs over to give her chemical fire extinguisher to her daughter barking orders to everyone: "From what I scanned there is no more to rescue in the fourth floor and only one left in the third floor, likely unconsious! Anyone capable of reaching the higher floors and can resist the heat go pick them up!" Zophah then dashes back to help with medical needs, barking orders to whomever is helping like a head surgeon in the emergency rooms.

Cinder sees the growing number of injured and shifts hirself to a many breasted matriarch, running over to offer hir milky assistance to those who need it. Sie flops on hir side as people start hesitantly drinking from hir, allowing 18 people to nurse from hir at once.

Arris starts towards the injured, but once Zophah is called for instead, the gator decides that her wife has it under control -- further solidified once she hears the order from her about the mutant on the third floor. "Third floor, got it!" After letting the mutants on her makeshift life net climb off, she reforms them back into standard tentacles and begins grappling up across the balconies until she reaches the third floor, extinguisher held in a death grip as the hose is levelled up to the flames once more.

Quinnthas gasps getting the wind knocked out of him as one lands on his back. the unexpected weight causing him to crumble as he hears bones crack. "ack!...should.. have...-ne... giant .... robot...." he wheezes between coughing up blood and gasping for air. trying to keep himself from collapsing on the already broken ribs and making it worse. he feels someone prodding him and sees a storm dragon attempting first aid. he finds his breathing is easier as the pains starts to fade. he nods to teh storm dragon whispering "thanks.."

"Aaaaaah... crap." Magnus curses as he drops what he was doing and runs after Arris. He had a hunch after seeing her run in once already that she'd be in need of assistance. He shoots a line up to the third balcony and climbs up, finding her collapsed from thermal shock. Grabbing the gator's hand as well as the one they needed to rescue, the fox pulls them out onto the terrace and helps the gator back onto her feet. He slaps her face a few times to snap her out of her state and asks "Can you climb down?" slowly and loudly such that she could understand him. With the line there it'd be child's play to do so, he then sends a comm over to the others. "I have someone in need of a lift here. Third floor terrace."

Cinder hears Magnus's call and quickly shifts back to a storm dragon, launching hirself up to the balcony to carry the last person down safely...

Arris hoses down the entire third floor room with the extinguisher, putting out most -- but not all -- of the fire as she pushes on indoors. Unfortunately, the combination of exhaustion and lack of oxygen forms a deadly pair, and she collapses halfway in, falling on top of the German Shepherd she intended to save. As she starts to fade out, she climbs on top of him in a last-ditch attempt to protect him from the encroaching flames.

Her attempt is rendered for naught when the both of them are dragged out to safety by the fennec and he delivers a slap to her face. "Ow! I'm --" she interrupts herself with a long string of coughs. "...I'm awake." She shakes a little as she rises back up to her feet, the strength coming back to her body. "...yeah, I can climb down. Thanks for not letting me die for dramatic effect, Mag." She lets out a relieved sigh as she makes her way over to the line. "...also, you're totally carrying him down. Glad I have you to do that for me, because I don't think I'd be able to do it myself." She chuckles lightly, preparing to slide down the tether shot down to the ground.

Zophah does what she can helping those who were dragged out, paying extra attention to those with broken bones like Quinnthas so they set correctly. With the building evacuated, the only thing left to save is the building itself, So she barks more orders to direct firefighters putting out flames and instructing anyone with nanomagics such as sculpting and construction to shore up key points so the entire structure doesn't collapse.

Quinnthas is breathing easy again and stumbles over to the other injured. his form shifts again becoming more manageable as the wings fade away and he shrinks, fur sprouting form his body along with nine tails that give him a soft cushion to sit on as he relaxes. " ah thanks. I'm fine now. go help the others... i needed tog et started on the paperwork for this unexpected use of RSX personnel.

At some point, Acetyl notices that Zophah has joined him in tending to Quinn. Grateful for the assistance, he does everything he can for the wounded patient, offering special nanite-enhanced medicines to soothe pain and speed the knitting of wounds. Eventually, Quinn is able to shrink down to a more manageable form. Acetyl nods approvingly as the now-Kitsune makes himself comfortable. "I'm glad to see you're feeling better. Complete healing shouldn't take too much longer," he promises. "But don't let the drugs fool you! As of right this instant, you're still wounded. Just try to rest and let your nanites do their job." After a moment, realizing he may have sounded a bit harsh without intending to, the storm dragon adds (a bit awkwardly), "You're going to be fine. Good luck, agent." With a last reassuring pat, Acetyl looks around quickly, assessing the situation. It seems as if everyone has been rescued, and efforts are now underway to stabilize the building and control the last of the fire. A light rain has begun to fall, and Acetyl turns his face skyward, closing his eyes briefly. He tries not to be superstitious, but he can't help responding to this incident in a deep way. Even as the scientist in him scoffs, a deeper part of him whispers a silent thanks to the rain. It's not a downpour, but it can only help. He doesn't indulge this for long, though. Opening his eyes again, he looks around and decides that the best use of his time right now would be to tend to other injured people. So, switching off Cryo nanomagic, he runs through his mental list of Pharmaceutical recipes, assesses the stock in his Emergency Stash, and decides to pull out some other things from his backpack - his primary Stash Box, a Questionable Injection or two in case anyone needed reviving to consciousness, a Supermorphine Vial... everything he thought he might need. Then he begins to move among the other wounded people, doing his best to assess who needs help most, a sort of hasty and imperfect triage. Though not actually a doctor, Acetyl has studied medicine and first aid, both as part of his job and to improve his ability to see to his own injuries in the field, which occurred on a depressingly regular basis. Always before he has found his skill to be sufficient to his needs. Now, he finds himself almost wishing he had actually gone for that medical degree. Alas. Still, the storm dragon knows he can help at least a little, so he does his best for each person he tends to.

As Cinder swoops on and carries the poorly victim away, Magnus sighs and pats Arris' shoulder. He says nothing and simply watches her slide down the rope, returning to the others, before joining her immediately after. As though on a prayer, the skies open wide, thunder loudly rumbling above them and blessed, cold, wonderful water begins to pour down upon the grounds below, light at first, but quickly growing in intensity, helping to douse the building. As he rejoins the others, he'd note the great relief on the fire team's expressions as the skies themselves too provide assistance. With Zophah's direction, the flames are put out first where it matters most, and the structure is saved, charred and in need of serious rebuilding, but saved...

The Fire Chief, drained and exhausted lies back and breathes a sigh of relief, soon talk of how understaffed and underprovided-for her group is starts to spread among those conscous. Concerned parents and citizens speak up in loud favor of bringing this to the government's attention, others already start plotting how much of their own resources they can spare. One thing is certain, they'd gotten off easy this time, the help of volunteers had saved the day, but it need not always be this way. It can't be! The governing powers would be getting letters, dealing with protests, handed petitions and have its representatives boo-ed at should they refuse to offer more resources to the city's fire-fighting heroes. Things will change for the better whether the fat cats on top wanted it or not! As for Magnus? He simply takes a seat, and lifts his muzzle skywards, letting the cold water wash over him, a smile tugging at his lips. "We're not done. Start harassing the money-holders to provide better for our Fire Department. Else this might well happen again..." he'd tell Quinn, Zophah, Arris, Cinder, everyone...

Cinder is rubbing the many bruises sie got from hir last rough landing, but they are fading fast. Sie sits next to Magnus and gives him a hug, Sie chuckles, "Now that this is taken care of, would you like to see my new place? Ill give you a ride~" Sie shifts into a ember Matriarch again and lays next to him, offering him a ride on hir back.

"If it means this shit doesn't happen again? Sure." Arris dons a comfy blanket before she slumps down against Zophah's side, nuzzling into her wife's soft fur for comfort. "Firefighting isn't my cup of tea. I'll do it if I have to, but I'd very much prefer not to. ...and, y'know, I also don't want to be a burden and force people to pull a big damn heroes moment for me." Chuckling lightly, she bumps a fist gently against Magnus' side.

Zophah finishes her work, content that not only was everyone safe, but they were able to save the building as well. She kisses Arris then lays down in the wet road to take a breather with the cool rain. "Don't mind me, just going to take a nap for the next year. I can't belive I had to help save a building on fire right after a two week horse trip to the middle of nowhere." She then looks to Arris and adds "I'll tell you later." She then quitely goes over in her head everyhting she'll need for future fire problems.

Quinnthas thanks Acetyl again. "ah not the first time I've been this beaten up, definitely won't be the last! hmmm... reminds me, out of sick days... will have to fill out emergency injury forms as well. when the rain starts he finds an overhang to move under and starts pulling out paperwork and filling it out. "oh any other RSX employees here in need of forms MLR-170-J, G, and or E? I'll drop them off at the office when report back to HQ!" he announces to the wounded around him. when magnus mentions the need for help he thinks a moment. "hmmm I may be abel to submit some supply requests. will see what paperwork I can slip through along with theses personnel forms." gives a sly wink and pulls out more forms.

At last, Acetyl and the other medics have done all they can for everyone present. By some miracle, everyone was saved. Even the building was saved... well, mostly. No doubt seriously damaged by the fire. But, by the sound of it, repairs - or at least stabilization efforts - might already be underway. Those were matters beyond his expertise. He was a small-scale inventor, not an architect or construction worker. But Acetyl marvelled at the speed and efficacy of the reaction to the fire. It was truly impressive. It hadn't gone perfectly, of course, but in the end, no one died - the feeling of death-imminence had entirely gone, much to Acetyl's amazement - and the fire didn't spread to any other buildings. That was a success in the storm dragon's book. Again, he mentally gave thanks to certain entities in which he believed in spite of his own skepticism. Then Acetyl frowned. Something occurred to him. What started the fire in the first place...? The storm dragon paused in the middle of packing away his things and looked over his shoulder, back toward the fire-scarred building. His ears pricked upward as he focused on it, frowning. Of course, he saw nothing particularly suspicious, but now that the thought had crossed his mind, he was curious... But he wasn't able to indulge his curiosity. His comm came to life with a request for a report. Acetyl sighed. The boss calls, he thought. Spreading his wings, he looked around one last time to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything or that no one else needed something done. At last, all the loose ends were tied down... for the moment. Acetyl spread his wings and kicked off, flapping heavily back into the sky to return to Zephyr. There was paperwork to be done. Alas!