The Phoenix Saga Part I: Phoenix Ignited (A Ranma 1/2 Fanfiction)

Chapter Seventy-Five: Search and Rescue

"SOMEBODY HELP!"

Akane picked up another splintered fiberglass panel, hurling it aside. She worked furiously with both hands, even though she had nearly no grip in her throbbing left arm. Between the tears and the dust, she could barely see what she was reaching for.

Three interminable seconds later, Kaito joined her on the pile. "Are you alright?!" He grabbed the other side of a short beam that Akane was trying to lift, tossing it to the ground a meter or so away.

"No, and I don't care!"

There was room in Akane's frantic mind for only two things right now – that Ranko just had to be alright, somehow, because she'd finally found happiness and deserved to enjoy it, and that if she wasn't, it would be her own fault. She was the one who sent Ryoga after her. Of course, she had no idea what he would do, but if she'd thought about it long enough, she could likely have guessed.

Two more bystanders joined the group as they continued trying to excavate the two people trapped under the rubble. They were only on the pile for a few moments before the shrill woooo of a siren came to a stop behind them and a loud voice boomed behind the group over a speaker mounted on the red ladder truck.

"This is Tokyo Fire and Rescue, we need to ask everybody to step back and let us work."

The two bystanders stopped their work. One of the firefighters walked up to Kaito, putting her hand on his shoulder. "Sir, we need you to step back."

Kaito shrugged her hand off. "My son is in there!"

The first responder nodded. "And we're gonna get him out for you. But we're trained to do this without making it worse under there for them, and you're probably not. So for your son's sake, please let us take over." Kaito nodded, begrudgingly giving ground.

A male firefighter approached Akane, and she didn't even look up at him. "I'm not leaving."

The firefighter shook his head vigorously, most of his face obscured by the respirator he wore. "Ma'am, we know you're worried, but the best thing you can do for them is to step away."

Akane threw a chunk of concrete in his direction, forcing him to duck under it. "You want me to move? You're gonna have to kill me."

A second firefighter, a mammoth of a man that Akane hadn't seen approach, wrapped his arms around her from behind, pinning her arms to her sides. He lifted her with his back, holding her almost a half-meter off the ground as she screamed and wailed and fought. "LET ME GO! I have to get to her..."

He carried Akane to the open rear door of an ambulance, plopping her down on her feet.

"Let me go! Please!"

The firefighter put each of his hands on one of Akane's shoulders, steadying her. He took note of the fact that she winced when her left arm was touched.

"Ma'am, I need you to listen to me. My team and I are going to do everything we can to help anybody who is hurt in there. But I can't have you going through there like a bull in a china shop. This is delicate work now, and it requires special tools and training to make sure nobody else gets hurt. That includes the folks under all that mess, it includes you, and it includes my team and me. Every second we have to spend managing you and treating our people who get hurt because of a loose cannon is a second we can't spend helping your loved ones.

"I know you want to help, but I give you my word, the best thing you can do to help right now is to stay back, answer my team's questions as best you can so we know what we're working with, and let our paramedics treat you so you're in good enough shape to look after whoever we pull out of there."