Peril in the Dead of Night

After a long shift fraught with stress, tension, and a hostile drunk, Asuka and Frank are glad they're on their last call for the shift. With the clock at around 2 AM, neither of the two can wait to head home, and sleep for the rest of the night. Asuka sits in the back of the ambulance talking with a young stallion who was bruised, and had scratches all over his body. According to him, he hadn't gotten his significant other the right gift for her birthday, and she proceeded to beat him with it. He was surprisingly cheerful about the whole thing, even stating "At least we aren't married. She can't even think about taking the house." Honestly, Asuka thought he was pretty funny. Though it was a bit concerning that he was so casual, and open about the abuse he suffered in his relationship. After the stallion is dropped off at the local hospital, Asuka hops into the passenger seat of the ambulance. There, Frank turns to speak to her. "Station 7 guys are responding to a house fire. Think we should go just in case?" Asuka shrugs. "Let's head back to the station first, see if they wrap up before we get back or not." Frank nods as he puts the ambulance into drive. "Sounds like a plan." The ambulance pulls out from the hospital's parking lot, and Asuka reaches for the radio to tell dispatch that they were headed back to the station for the night. She gets a quick, but genuine "Nice work today guys. Get some rest." Asuka then puts the radio transmitter back, and leans back in her seat to relax for the ride back to the station. As the ambulance slowly makes its way back to the station, the radio fills the cabin with quiet, idle chatter from other responders on the radio. Mostly ambulance crews reporting on their calls, or stating that they're available for calls. Though even then, it's still fairly quiet. Asuka feels her eyelids starting to shut of her own accord. "Hey. Wake me up when we get to the station Frank." She states, before snuggling up in her seat for a quick nap. A short, but harsh alarm tone jolts Asuka awake. This is followed by a grainy, but familiar voice coming over the radio. It's urgent, but still fairly calm. "Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! Flaming debris has blocked my egress from the building's basement! My fire axe is proving ineffective! I'm down here with a civilian, and the basement is quickly filling with smoke!" She can just make out a panicked voice underneath the one on the radio. Asuka's eyes go wide as she looks to Frank. "Holy shit! That's Tuck!" Half a second later, Asuka flips on the lights, and every siren the ambulance has. The moment a path clears, Frank floors the gas pedal, and the ambulance begins barreling down the street. Asuka picks up the radio, and presses the transmit button. "Responder 143! We're enroute!" As the ambulance churns towards the site of the house fire, what few vehicles that are on the streets move out of the way well ahead of them to clear a path. Around half a minute after the mayday had gone out, another voice comes over the radio. "Engines 5-1, and 5-2 We're on the way!" This is quickly followed by another voice. "Engine 4-3! Enroute!" And finally, a third voice. "Engine 6-1! We're enroute!" Following this, Asuka hears the sound of sirens, and an airhorn coming from a few blocks behind them. Moments later, she manages to spot the lights of a fire engine barreling down the road a ways behind them in one of the side mirrors. The ride over to the scene is quick, and within 4 minutes Frank pulls the ambulance up at the next house over to give the fire engines room to park. As Asuka hops out to grab the stretcher, she finds another ambulance crew already on scene, waiting at the sidewalk. Next to them, an older mare appears to be in distress. Every so often she can hear the mare ask one of the station 7 guys "Where's my baby? Is he okay?" Many of the neighborhood residents were gathering at a safe distance to watch the scene, leaving room for the fire engines, and firemen to access nearby fire hydrants, and do their work. Around 20 seconds after they had arrived, the engine from station 6 arrives, and offloads its crew. They work to get a hose set up, but hold off on using it until Tucker and the civilian can be extracted. They go in to try and help remove the debris with their tools, but it doesn't appear to work. All the while, Asuka mutters under her breath, as the chances of Tucker and the civilian making it out of the house grows more, and more slim. "C'mon Tuck. Get out of there!" Minutes later, the two engines from station 5 arrive, and a towering brute of a dragon in full gear barrels into the building with nearly reckless abandon. Asuka isn't able to see what he does inside the building, but she does see him emerge from the building around 20 seconds later. Her heart sinks as she spots the limp form of Tucker in his arms. The entire back, and most of the sides of Tucker's turnout gear is completely charred, and his mask is hanging limply off of his face. Tucker is loaded onto the stretcher of the other ambulance crew, and she spots them already trying to resuscitate him before he's even in the ambulance. Meanwhile, another firefighter rushes over to Asuka, and gingerly places a mildly burned civilian onto her stretcher. They load him into the ambulance, and are quickly off towards Grace East Hospital. Checking the young stallion's vitals, she's relieved to see that he still has a pulse, though weak. His breathing is labored, and he's unconscious, but he's alive. Asuka attaches a breathing mask to the stallion's face, and works to treat his most severe burns on the way to the hospital. Once they arrive, the stallion is handed off to a team of waiting hospital staff, who quickly rush him inside. Asuka just barely catches site of Tucker being rushed into the hospital just before her patient. Following this, Frank and Asuka return to the station to wait for the rest of the crew. After they do, the chief asks if they know what happened to Tucker. Asuka states that she's unsure, but she knows that Tucker was admitted to Grace East hospital. With an unease in his voice that Asuka had never heard, the fire chief asks Asuka and Frank to go to the hospital and see if they can get any information on Tucker's situation. The two readily agree, and head back over to the hospital while the rest of the crew has their debrief. After arriving at the hospital, Frank parks the ambulance in an unused visitor parking spot, and the two head to the ICU waiting room. They ask the nurse at the desk about Tucker, and are told that she is not sure of his condition at this time, but the two are asked to stay so she can verify for them. Around an hour passes with the two sitting in the waiting room. Frank is trying to focus on the mindless TV shows being played on the waiting room's TV while Asuka paces back and forth in the corner of the waiting room. After around an hour, the two are called up to the desk, and are brought into the ICU hallway. There, they are met by a doctor. His expression alone tells Asuka everything she needs to know, but the doctor speaks regardless. "We were able to revive him, but he won't be with us for much longer. If you have anything you'd like to tell him, now would be the time." The doctor then quietly lets the two into the room where Tucker appears to be unconscious in his bed. Asuka looks at his vitals on the EKG, but she really wishes she hadn't. Knowing Tucker likely won't be waking up again, Asuka and Frank sit next to his bedside, and simply talk, and tell him stories. They do this for about an hour before a nurse comes in to let them know it's time for them to leave. As she stands, Asuka places a hoof on the bedside, and states "You would have made a great father, Tuck." When the two return to the station, neither of the two bother to go home. They just find a place to sleep in the station, and wait for the news they know they're going to hear in the morning.