Title: Rescue
Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Rating: Mature
Character/s: Tony Stark, Steve Rogers
Pairing/s: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Length: 1700 words
Warnings: Blood and Injury, Fire,
Major Tags: Firefighter AU, Concussion, 
Author notes: Also for my STB Bingo prompt "Firefighter", and a remix of my work "Rescuing a Hero"
(It took days of research to write the first 42 worlds of this, and so many Firefighter communication instructional videos. But I am proud of it. It's not 100% accurate, but I think I did alright)
Summary: Captain Rogers is trapped within a burning building. Iron Man comes to the rescue.

~ + ~


"Engine A1943 to New York Command."
"New York Command. Ready to receive."
"Mayday. Mayday. Mayday. A1943 Captain down."
"Copy, Engine A1943. Mayday."
"Affirmative, Command."

"All Units advised. Engine A1943 calling Mayday. FAST on route. Clear traffic. Fireground radio traffic to channel 16."


Tony makes a sharp turn, putting everything he's got into the thrusters.

His stomach feels like a lead weight, his heart was in his throat. He doesn't allow himself to think. There was no room for that.

The first thing he sees as he approaches is the huge mass of black smoke rising above the rooftops. Then he sees the massive flames eating away at the house. The situation didn't look good.

He lands beside who he assumes is the Incident Commander, "Where is he?" he asks.

The firefighter stares at him in shock for half a second before responding. "Towards the back, right side. Pinned somewhere between the 1st and 2nd floor."

Tony takes off towards the burning building, entering through a broken window on the 2nd floor.

Warnings flash across his HUD about the heat and oxygen levels. Tony quickly pushes them aside. The Iron Man armour could withstand it.

The roof above him creaks loudly, threatening to cave in. To his right, something crackling wildly, some sort of electronic or wiring. There wasn't much time.

"JARVIS? Scan the building. Find him." he orders as he rushes forward, deeper into the building. He leaves the room and heads down the hallway.

His foot connects with something thick and rubbery. Too heavy to be a mat, and too thick.

He crouches down to investigate, but visibility is poor. Cautiously he grabs it.

It was a fire-hose.

Chances were if he followed it, it could lead him to Steve. That is if he went in the right direction. And if Steve hadn't be separated too far from his hose.

He tries to picture the floor plan of the house. But it was no use. There was no way to tell, and getting JARVIS to find the plans in the local council's systems would probably waste too much time.

Tony takes a deep breath and goes right. He holds the hose loosely, letting it slide through his fingers.

Instincts tell him to go slow. The smoke filling the room was thick, too thick to really see through. The floor was littered with debris, threatening to trip him.

But he doesn't let it slow his steps.

Every second, every single breath he took, was one less Steve had. Steve didn't have time for Tony to spare.

Tony reaches the end of the hallway. His armoured book meets air suddenly. He grabs the handrails before he could tumble down the stairs.

"Shit!" He'd gone the wrong way.

He turns to go back down the hallway but the floor crumbles beneath his feet, taking him with it.

Tony lands hard on his side, flames dancing around him. He quickly pushes himself up onto his feet and out of the burning rubble, thankful for the fire protection the armour provided him.

The hallway was likely completely unstable now. As was the rest of the house. It probably won't be too long before the whole thing would be coming down. Whatever time he'd hoped he had? well, he had less than that.

Without a glance back, he continues on his search.

"Any luck yet on the scans, J?" he asks.

"I'm afraid not, Sir," JARVIS responds. "The smoke and extreme temperatures within the building are causing some difficulty,"

Tony takes a couple of deep breaths, trying to calm himself down. Panicking wasn't going to save Steve.

"Have FAST arrived yet?" he asks. Maybe the Firefighter Assist and Search Team would have an easier time finding Steve. It was what they were specialized in, after all.

"They have not, Sir," JARVIS says, "I believe FAST have been delayed by the New York traffic."

"Fuck!" Was it too much to ask that people pull over for emergency services?

Over the roaring fire, the creaking and groaning of the house, he hears it. An oddly rhythmic, tinny tapping. Not unlike an old washing machine on its last legs, stubbornly hanging on as it works away. Completely out of place amongst the other sounds, loud, chaotic, and arrhythmic.

Tony rushes towards the sound, breaking through doors. Then, across the room, he spots the light of a torch, eliminating the thick smoke.

It had to be him.

He quickly makes his way over. And sure enough, it was Steve.

The man was trapped, pinned awkwardly on his side against the wall. Two large wooden beams that looked to be from the roof rested against the man's chest and abdomen, crushing him. In his hand was a crowbar that he was banging against a strip of metal that was sticking out from the wall.

Steve's suit was singed, torn in places revealing weeping burns and deep wounds that bleed into the fabric of the uniform. His helmet looked to be intact and undamaged. The protective visor was still drawn but split down the right side, smeared with its wearer's blood. His suit's SCBA mask was cracked, digging into his face.

"Oh, ...hey," Steve croaks, his half-lidded eyes pulling over to look at him, slow and dazed. Underneath the mask, the man flashes him what he expects to be a bloody grin. "Ya'here," the man mumbles, his words slow and slurred, "Thas'cool,"

"You are always getting into trouble," Tony grumbles, stepping forward. "Let's get you out of here." He grabs hold of one of the beams. He tugs it, trying to pull it away, but it was really wedged in there. Looking up, he tries to see if anything was resting on it above them, but the smoke obscured everything.

"Probably a bad idea with all the fire," he mutters to himself, "But I would be hard-pressed to make things worse." Tony aims his laser cutter at the wooden beam, cutting through it like warm butter.

But things do get worse. The beams quickly catch alight. Just like he hoped they wouldn't.

"Shit!" He says, quickly shooting CO2 over the fast-spreading fire.

When he's finished putting out the first fire, another has already taken its place. The house was already too hot, small chunks of burning debris rain from the ceiling like molten snowflakes. The force of the CO2 only seems to push the air around, the surrounding fires.

This wasn't working. There wasn't enough time to worry about the small fires when the building was about to collapse and become one big fire.

Tony grabs hold of one of the beams and pulls as hard as he could to the side.

With a loud clang, Steve's crowbar his the floor as the man claws desperately at the remaining beam holding him in place against the wall. Steve lets out a choked-off scream, his voice broken and raw. He bucks against the beam, digging his heels into the wall.

"Fuck! Steve!" Tony shout. "Steve, listen to me. CAPTAIN! C'mon, Rogers! Stop!" He grabs the man's shoulder, giving it a shake to get the man's attention. "STEVE!"

Steve stills and looks up at Tony. "St'k," he mumbles, pawing at the beam.
"I'm going to get you out," he promises. "You have to stay still for me though, okay?"

Steve doesn't respond but is calmer than he was before. Tony wasn't sure if Steve had understood what he had said, or was calmer knowing that someone was by his side trying to help him.

Shaking his head, Tony cuts through the last beam with the laser cutter, holding it in place so that Steve wouldn't just fall.

With his hands holding Steve firmly in place by his hips, Tony kicks away the beam, shielding Steve with his armoured body.

The beam hits the ground with a loud bang, lighting up dirt and dust into the smoke around them. Tony watches the ceiling, hoping that beam wasn't supporting anything. But nothing shifts or comes free.

Carefully he lowers Steve onto his feet, mindful to make sure he wasn't impaled on anything.

Now that he was free, they could get out of this place.

Steve steps away from the wall and drops to the ground, his breath coming in ragged coughs and wheezes. The man gags hard after a particularly vicious cough. His hand raises to pull at the neck of his uniform, tagging at it.

Tony quickly realizes that Steve was trying to remove his mask.

He quickly drops down beside him and pulls his hand away. As broken as the mask was, it was hopefully still doing the man some good. He doesn't know if it was still providing oxygen, but it was, as least, shielding his face. "Leave it!" he says as Steve raises his hand back to his mask again.

Steve looks up at him with glazed eyes, his expression puzzled.

Getting up, he pulls Steve to his feet. "We got to get out of here. C'mon," he says, leading Steve forward by his arm. "Can you walk?"

Steve takes four wobbly steps before he is down on his knees. His eyes squeezed shut. Mumbling something that Tony couldn't understand, the man pitches forward onto the ground with a groan.

"STEVE!" Tony cries.

He shakes the man's shoulder but receives no response.

A huge crack comes from above them.

Not waiting any longer, Tony hooks his hands underneath Steve's arms and lifts him up.

What remains of the second-story floor starts caving in just as takes off. With the aid of JARVIS, he flies them through the burning building and out through a part of the exterior wall that had collapsed, into the back garden.

He lets out a relieved breath as they clear the building and all the smoke. With Steve still limp in his arms, he flies around the front of the building.

The Fire-crew cheer as they see them, relieved to see their Captain.

Tony lays Steve down on the grass. Within moments EMTs surround Steve. Tony steps back, letting them do their work.

He walks over to the fire-crew, ignoring the way his hands were beginning to shake. Everything was fine. Steve was going to be okay.