As the two watched the scene before them unfold, the incident commander walked up to them. 

“Are you two search and rescue from station 154?” He asked 

“Yes sir.” Ryder responded

“Great,” He said as he looked through his clipboard,”alright, we entered on the south east side of the building in hopes of being able to make it to the north west side.” He said as he flipped through pages.

“Our teams only managed to make it halfway through before an explosion hit, although I’m sure your captain has already briefed you on the situation.” He still hadn’t looked up from his clipboard.

“We don’t know exactly what caused the explosion. Officials said they had cleared out all the fabrics, but we have no idea if it’s true or not. They could have cleaned it out and simply missed some boxes, or it could be something else.” He finished his summary and finally looked up to meet both of their gazes.

“None of us know what awaits you guys in there. Your mission is to check for any civilian life that might be in there; however, don’t try to be heroes. If something happens, we do not have enough spare people to save you. We’re already short firefighters because of the first explosion. You get in and get out. Understand?” He finished.

“Yes sir.” Ryder said while Belladonna simply shook her head. 

It was no secret that Belladonna was great at her job. She was known for her gut instinct whether it be figuring out that the supposed electrical fire was actually caused by an arsonist, or it be determining that a victim was having a stroke through a case of hiccups and scottish accent. Needless to say, her team trusted her instincts. Well, except for Ryder.

“You ready?” Ryder asked and Belladonna just nodded. For the first time, she really hoped her gut was wrong. 

Ryder and Belladonna put on their respirators and helmets and headed inside the building. Thankfully there wasn’t a whole lot of smoke, but there was enough to the point where they couldn’t fully see the other side of the room. 

“You take the right side, and I’ll take the left.” Ryder said into his headset. 

Belladonna scoffed,”Are you insane? We stick together.” Ryder had already started walking down his side before turning and looked at her over a stack of old creates. 

“If we split up, we’ll cover more ground. Isn’t that what the commander told us to do? Get in and get out?” He argued 

“Where in that small brain of yours do you think that’s a good idea?” Belladonna quipped 

“What?” 

“I understand you’ve been at this station longer than I have, but may I remind you that Elliot and I are search and rescue which means you’re the rookie in this situation. You follow my lead.” She explained. 

“Excuse me?” Ryder almost looked offended, but he quickly responded. “Since when do you get to insult me?” He questioned. 

“It wasn’t an insult necessarily,” Belladonna started to explain,”It was more of a fact.”

Since when did a subordinate get to insult a lieutenant? Ryder was furious. 

“Now listen here,”Ryder began before someone cut into their headset.

“Knock it off you two.” It was the commander,”We have enough trouble as it is. We don’t need the two of you making our jobs even more difficult. Do we need to pull you out and send it another team?” The commander asked. 

Ryder looked at Belladonna before answering the commander. “That won’t be necessary sir.”

“For your sake, I hope not.” The commander said,”Belladonna’s right. She has more experience in this field than you do lieutenant.” 

Belladonna couldn’t help but smirk. Ryder just rolled his eyes. 

“Yes sir,”He responded. 

“Great, now get back to work.” The commander said before silencing his radio.

Belladonna tilted her head while looking at Ryder. She couldn’t help but smirk.

“Shall we?” She questioned and she led her arm in the opposite direction that Ryder had planned.

“Lead the way princess.” He said as she had already started walking down one of the isles. Ryder knew he was never going to hear the end of this.