At 9:07, Truck 201 rolled out the door with a crew of 10, all interior, soon followed by Rescue 201 with a crew of 10, 6 interior. As the firefighters in the back of the truck's cab suited up and put their SCBA on, Hermann said, "They just struck a 4th Alarm! The top 4 floors of the building are involved, as well as one of the elevator shafts. This is getting bad."

"Tell me about it," the driver of the truck replied. "I bet by the time we get there, it'll be 6 alarms."

At 9:38, Truck 201 and Rescue 201 arrived on scene. Sure enough, by then, a fifth, sixth, and seventh alarms had been transmitted. The truck and the rescue staged in a parking lot as the crew got suited up and awaited orders. Then, the captain of Vigilant, Arthur Kirkridge, said to Hermann, "Vigilant's been ordered to go to the 3rd Sky Lobby on the 105th Floor. The fire is on the 140th, 139th, 138th, and 137th floors, and it has engulfed one of the express elevator shafts. I want all interior personnel from the truck and the rescue except for Lieutenant Alfred Schnee and Firefighter Amhlaidh Egret since they drove the trucks to go to the 105th floor. The paid guys and the 2 volunteers that were on the ambulance will man it down here. I'll go up with you guys."

Ruby looked up to see where the fire was and stared in awe at the inferno. The Cross Continental Transmit at Beacon Academy was the 4th tallest building in the city and in the Kingdom of Vale, surpassed only by three other buildings that were 152 stories, 165 stories, and 165 stories respectively in District 1. When it was built in 1991, it was the tallest building in Vale and the second tallest building in Remnant, surpassed only by the CCT in Atlas City, which was 150 stories.

Weiss told her, "C'mon, you can stare at it later. We gotta go to the 105th Floor." The group then walked to the entrance of the massive building, passing by dozens of emergency vehicles and onlookers.

They reached the 105th Floor at 9:49, after taking the remaining express elevator shaft. There, paid and volunteer firefighters from various companies mingled in their gear and awaited orders to move up to the fire, rescue people trapped, move back down to other floors or to the ground, etc. By then, an eighth alarm had been transmitted, bringing the number of companies/paid stations going to the call up to 61. Additionally, all firefighters had been ordered to stay off of any floors above the 136th because the 140th and 139th floors had partially collapsed.

Yang said, "I'm gonna text George." She then bent down to roll down her hip boots and reach for her phone in her pocket.

Blake said, "Just be sure to report back to us if we get called up to fight the fire. They're rotating companies."

"Got it. I'm gonna go meet up with him now. Text me if something happens, Ruby."

"Got it, sis!" Ruby then waved goodbye to her. "She won't get in trouble for that, right?"

"No," Weiss replied. "As long as she doesn't have anywhere else to be other than in the general area of the call, she's cool. She better get her ass back here if we do get called up."

Ruby said, "I think I feel my phone vibrating. I'll go check who it is." She then took off her SCBA and coat, as it was very hot in the crowded sky lobby, and rolled her boots down as she grabbed her phone and checked the text. It was from Delwyn IV.

He texted, "You're at that huge fire right?"

"Yea i am we were called on 2nd alarm what r u up to?"

"Just watching the fire on TV with some advisers. How about u?"

"awaiting orders on 105 floor nothing special"

"Cool. Stay safe, Ruby. You're my best friend."

"i will thank u" Ruby then said to Weiss, "I think I notice something with Delwyn."

"The king? What?"

"Well, he considers me his best friend. I can see why, since I am a very friendly person. But I'm suspecting that he may see me as more than that..."

Weiss stared at Ruby for a few seconds in shock. "You... You think the king has a crush... On you?"

"It's so weird! I don't feel anything like that towards him, though. After all, I have a girlfriend. I guess I'll have to reject him if he does make a move on me, which I highly doubt since he knows of Gwen."

Blake asked, "What are you 2 going on about now?"

"Nothing," Ruby quickly replied. "Nothing involving you."

Then, Weiss heard orders on the radio for Vigilant firefighters to go up to the fire to take the place of another company that was coming down to take a break. "We gotta go. Ruby, get your sister."

"Nevermind that. She's coming over here now." Ruby then put her gear back on.

"I'm back," Yang said as she pulled her hip boots back up to her thigh and checked her SCBA. "Let's get ready to roll."

The 15 Vigilant firefighters in the building then boarded 2 local elevators to go up to the 130th floor. They would have to climb the rest of the way up to the top floors. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang all boarded the same elevator with 3 other firefighters, including Captain Kirkridge. The captain said, "Ready for this, probies?" He was referring to Ruby, Yang, and Blake.

"Yep," Yang replied. "When do you want us to put our SCBA on?"

"When we first encounter smoke," the captain replied. "Show them how high-rise firefighting is done, Weiss."

"You got it, captain." She then turned to Ruby. "You know, this ain't the first time there was a fire at Beacon. I remember when one of the dorm buildings burned in a 3-alarm fire just a few months before I went to Beacon. When I mentioned to the guys there I was going to the school soon, the BFC firefighters all wanted me to join. I declined since I wanted to focus on my studies and stay a member at Vigilant when school was not in session. Then there was the fire in Ozpin's office in our final year at Beacon. Remember how my dad literally picked my gear up at the station and handed it to me for that?"

"Oh yeah," Ruby replied. "That was the first time we met your dad. How many alarms did that go to?"

"2 alarms because it was a high-rise. It was only a small fire, thank God."

Blake said, "How much longer 'till we get to the 130th floor?"

"Not too much longer," replied Yang. "We only got 5 more floors to go."

After another minute, the elevator stopped at the 130th floor. Captain Kirkridge said, "Let's roll out." The group then stepped out of the elevator into the hallway of the floor. This floor was home to a variety of offices for multiple companies that occupied space in the CCT, including the Scroll Corporation, who had its worldwide headquarters on floors 38 to 67, floors 74 to 100, and floors 108 to 135 in various offices.

"According to this map on the wall," Weiss said. "The stairs are this way." She then pointed to the direction of the stairs.

"Let's go that way then," the captain replied. He then led the group through the hallways to one of the stairwells, which was marked as stairwell "B." Once he opened the door, he saw that the floor was covered in dirt and blood from all the people who had rushed down when the fire first started. "Let's get ready to climb. The other 3 companies up there already have hand lines secured."

As the team climbed up the stairs, they could hear the occasional bang and clatter from up above as the fire took its toll on the building. Ruby asked, "How is it that fire travels upwards, yet this fire traveled down?"

Weiss replied, "It's probably from parts of the floor collapsing onto the floor below and starting those floors on fire. That, and the heat of the fire, I guess."

When they got to the 135th floor entrance on the stairwell, the 2 groups of Vigilant firefighters met with another group of firefighters from another company. The commander of that company said, "You're here to take our place?"

"Yep," the captain replied. "How many lines you got set up?"

"We got 3 hand lines ready to go." The commander then pointed to the hand lines. "Just fill them up with water and roll out. We had to retreat into the stairwell because it got bad on that floor."

After setting up their SCBAs and putting their masks on, the captain said, "I want 3 groups of 3 manning the lines. Everyone else will stay back here and man the standpipes."

Weiss, Yang, and Ren manned the first hand line. To advance into the floor itself, Weiss felt the door to see how hot it was. She then sprayed it down through the broken glass on the double doors to cool off the area around the doors on the other side. As smoke poured from the broken windows, visibility went down to zero. Weiss then pulled out Myrtenaster, which was retracted and attached to her belt, and fired a round of dust, destroying the metal double doors' hinges. "I always keep my weapon with me."

As the three hose teams moved in and sprayed the area down, creating more smoke, Weiss moved her team to the left, while the second team went straight and the third team went right. Ren said, "Keep moving forward! Do you need more hose?"

"Yeah," Weiss replied. "Tug some more." As the 3 of them advanced further, Weiss directed them into an office room that was engulfed in flames. She then sprayed down the office, knocking the fire inside down.

Yang said, "How much more do we got?"

"A lot," Weiss replied. "Once we knock down this office, we gotta hit as many more as we can so that this doesn't flare up again like what happened to the last team up here."

Once the first office was knocked down, Weiss led her team to the office next door. When she opened the door, she immediately knocked down the hot, searing flames shooting outwards with the nozzle and advanced inside. Yang said, "Holy shit!"

Suddenly, a part of the wall collapsed. Weiss and her team narrowly missed being hit by flaming debris, and Weiss quickly directed water at the remnants. "We got about 12 minutes of air left of about 20. When we reach 5, we gotta get outta here!"

Then, Yang, searching the floor blind with her hand, felt a body. "I feel someone! I feel someone!"

"They're dead," Weiss yelled back. "It's been almost an hour. Leave them there. We got other issues." Weiss then knocked down the last of the office with water. As she led her team back to the hallway, she said, "Change of plans. We're gonna hit the fire in the hallway!"

Yang said, "How many victims are there?"

"At least 4," Ren said. "I'll explain it later!"

After crawling down the hallway for about 35 feet and spraying the burning ceiling all the while, Weiss said, "Let's start heading back! We're down to 6 minutes of air."

"Got it," both Yang and Ren said in unison. Weiss quickly turned herself and the hand line around. Right after she turned her team around, the ceiling caved in behind them, sending shockwaves through the floor and scaring the living daylights out of the team.

Yang said, "That was too fucking close!"

"You can say that again," Ren said, exhausted.

Weiss radioed, "Vigilant Line 1 to Vigilant Captain, the ceiling fell behind us, but we're fine. We're heading back since we don't have much air left."

"10-4," Captain Kirkridge replied over the radio. "Vigilant Command to all Vigilant lines, start heading back."

When the team finally made it to the stairwell, they were exhausted from fighting the stubborn fire. They were soon followed by the other 2 teams, both equally exhausted as well. When the last of the firefighters left the burning floor and into the stairwell, the captain quickly closed the door behind them to make sure no more smoke entered the stairwell.

"Alright," the captain said. "I want the other 6 guys that didn't go in to grab the 3 hand lines and advance to the 136th floor and fight the fire from the stairwell. Everyone else, stay here in case they need help."

Weiss took her helmet off and ripped the SCBA mask off of her face. She then took a huge breath of air and wiped the sweat off of her forehead. "That was a rush... My God..."

Yang, after taking her SCBA mask off, said, "That was a hell of an interior attack."