Chapter Text
"Oh, this is going to be bad," Hen grimaced, as they caught their first glimpse of what exactly they were dealing with out of the engine windows.
Three floors, with the outward appearance of an expensive hotel. The west side had collapsed inwards at the initial quake, and a fire had erupted from a currently unknown cause, taking over much of the second floor, bursting out of broken windows.
'Heat House', a now tilted sign read proudly, above the smashed open glass doors leading in to the lobby.
A place for lonely and desperate omegas to ride out their Heats, by coercing them in to paying an absolutely extortionate fee to have alpha 'volunteers' come in and knot them, with usually minimal safeguarding.
In other words, it was a building full of crazed and vulnerable omegas, and lustful alphas who'd no doubt be driven in to frenzy, by the sudden disruption to their private time.
Undoubtedly one of the worst place to be in instances of emergency.
They all got out of the truck, necks extended to peer upwards at the catastrophe happening before them. Smoke pummelled upwards, carrying with it the screams of those trapped inside, some already being evacuated by other firehouses.
And yes, Eddie was aware he shouldn't have an opinion on who was getting saved first, but he did prickle a little at the sight of the elder alphas standing there, entirely unscathed, and looking entirely annoyed by the disruption to their day.
Based on their expensive looking suits, they were the owners, and painfully apathetic to the fact that their omegan wards were currently being burned alive. Based on how quickly the fire was spreading, Eddie was willing to bet that the building was certainly not up to code thanks to them.
Bobby came back quickly, from talking to the scene managed. Looking as collected as always, despite the situation. And Eddie hadn't known the man for very long, but the man's questions as to whether any of them wanted to back out created a deep routed bud of respect to foster within him.
So, Eddie straightened up, more than prepared to do the job he'd signed up for despite the growing discomfort settling within him.
There were people inside who needed saving. Some more than others.
"Alright then, listen up. The pheromones are going to be rampant in a place like this, but we cannot allow it to affect us. Chim, I'm going to need you and the other betas paying close attention to the omega victims, try to keep them as separate as possible from the volunteers of this place." Bobby's face twitched minutely on the word 'volunteer'.
Volunteer made it sound like they were doing something generous. When, really, any respectable person knew that they were just taking advantage of those in their most vulnerable states.
And yet, Eddie was going to have to save them anyway.
"Alphas, top up on scent blockers if you have not done so recently. Victims are already going to be crazed, and you cannot let your scent worsen the situation. If you begin to feel affected, step outside for fresh air."
Bobby's eyes seemed to hover over Eddie, with that last order.
Which was understandable, he supposed, as he was not only the only unmated alpha in the team, but also still an enigma to them.
One thing he appreciated about his team, was that since arriving it had quickly become prevelant that they were all far more progressive than his team in the military had been.
And they didn't know his contempentment, towards omegas. Didn't know just how much restraint he had.
Eddie was going to be more than happy to prove to them all that he wasn't so easily turned in to a disgusting animal with no restraint at the first whif of Heat, thank you very much.
They dispersed, then. Eddie was assigned to the third floor, taking a ladder up to a broken window on the side to evacuate those up there, before the flames ravishing the second floor burned through to them.
And God, was it as awful as he'd anticipated.
It was like the scent of lust and pain had been ingrained in to the very walls, cloying at his nose, and not for the first time Eddie was left wondering how on earth people could find that attractive, when it made his very stomach recoil.
Hotel rooms full of knotheaded alphas, some angry and others still stuck inside of terrified omegas.
Most alphas just barged past him, taking themselves out of there with adamant refusal for help. Others stood around demanding compensation. Compensation for what, exactly, Eddie did not know since they hadn't paid a dime to be here.
The omegas that were free of any restraints could barely walk on their own because of the hormones flooding their brains, grabbing at him in desperation or simply sobbing in his arms. Eddie did his best to provide comfort, whilst also maintaining a professional restraint against any grabby hands pleading for his knot.
It was taking a terribly long time, to get everyone unknoted from each other and safely down a ladder, or to jump down to the inflatable mattress set up below.
Eddie could feel the heat radiating through the floor, could feel the building growing more and more unstable and knew that it wouldn't be long until he had to evacuate.
But he'd barely cleared half of the floor, and so pushed forwards while he still could, trying to be as prompt and efficient as possible, and not waste any time on alphas who did not want his help.
The west wing, which had taken the brunt of the earthquake, was internally separated from the rest of the building.
So far, it had just been standard looking hotel rooms that Eddie had sorted through, but the west wing had a locked staff corridor separating it from everything else, one that Eddie had to kick through.
It was like a completely different place, to the rest of the building. A different atmosphere entirely.
Dark panelled walls and polished wood flooring, gave way to white tiles and paint. Luxurious accommodation, for their alpha volunteers, given way to an almost clinical atmosphere.
And Eddie actually had to hold his breath even through the smoke mask as his senses were attacked by the overwhelming stench of pain and terror that radiated through every inch of the place.
Along the brightly lit (but for the flickering lights) corridor, were rooms that were less like hotel rooms, but more like... play rooms.
Torture rooms, to be exact.
Eddie found omegas bound up, in various stages of duress. Flogged and beaten and muzzled, chained and locked on to sex machines, still pummellin inside of them, and it all most certainly went against state laws for places like this.
At least, he damn well hoped it did.
Eddie had to call for back up, because most of the victims were too injured to escort themselves, and the alphas found in those areas he simply couldn't stand to offer help to, thoroughly disgusted.
Eddie helped where he could, but the further he ventured in to the west wing the more difficult it became. As the floor became more and more unstable, shaking and groaning, ceilings already caved in in places, and the states he increasingly found victims in became harder to help.
Just as Bobby asked for updates, and gave them a time limit of five more minutes before evacuating that side and the second floor entirely, Eddie turned a corner and came to an abrupt halt.
An omega stood there with his back to him, naked as all the others had been. He was bruised, and bleeding, and stood stock still staring at something in front of him on the floor.
But it was his scent that made Eddie freeze.
A scent so conflicting, so riveting, that he truly couldn't wrap his head around it, pausing against his will to allow his brain to catch up.
Heat was there, of course. Sticky and sweet, like warm honey. Pain too, cloying and nauseating, pushing Eddie's instincts to help and protect. But there was an underlying tone, something that contrasted yet complimented the scent of Heat perfectly, something fresh yet spicy that didn't belong there. Something, like...
Eddie stepped forwards, slow and careful, and the omega snapped around at the noise, widened blue eyes meeting his.
There was a bump, to his otherwise thin frame.
"You're pregnant," Eddie stated dully, brain kicking in to overdrive to figure out how that could be possible. How the omega was here, and in heat, when he was pregnant.
He barely had a chance to process, before the omega shook off the state of shock he'd been in and darted away, skillfully jumping over the pile of rubble before him and making a run for it, only heading further in to the danger zone.
Beneath the rubble the omega had been staring at was a hand, an alpha's hand. Dead, clearly, and Eddie didn't give the alpha that had presumably been doing something awful much thought, and instead took off after the omega, following his scent.
"It's not safe here," he called out, turning on his flashlight as the concaved hallways grew dark, lights smashed.
His nostrils flared, eyes darting around the space, putting all of his senses in to searching.
He couldn't have gotten far.
He was hurt, and heat crazed, and pregnant, the other omegas could barely stand on their own and had been found in better states.
Eddie heard a sharp gasp, through a doorway, and his torch landed on pale marred skin when he turned around.
Again, the omega blinked at him, face pressed in fear, before making another dart forwards, crawling below a piece of collapsed ceiling.
"Stop running, LAFD, I'm here to help you!" he proclaimed, quickly sinking to his knees to crawl after him and wincing at the sight of fragile naked skin scraping against rubble.
The omega proceeded, fast and desperate, like he hadn't even felt it.
"Stop," Eddie pleaded, coming up to his feet and raising his hands in the air in surrender, painfully aware that him chasing the man was only going to send him in to more panic.
An evolutionary response, in omegas, to being chased like prey.
He watched the omega search for an escape as he reached the dead end of a hallway, breaths coming out sharp and fast. After glancing back at him, panicked and frenzied, the omega grabbed at debris blocking a door and threw it out of the way. And Eddie felt terror grip at his chest, as the smell of smoke came wafting through. They most assuredly were stood right above the blaze that could rip through at any moment, and he wondered how the man wasn't yelping at the heat surely burning his bare feet. Had he any feeling at all?
The ground below the omega creaked with his hurried movements.
Eddie lunged forwards and grabbed him, hands wrapped around his body, and threw him to the floor, landing on top just as the third floor concaved in to the second. Flames burst upwards at the initial breakage, right where the omega had been stood, and Eddie used his body to shield the omega from the worst of it, extending out the corners of his turnout coat to cover as much bare skin as possible.
The omega kicked and shoved, scrambling to get away once Eddie stood back up after the flames had died down.
"No, please!" He screeched, like Eddie wasn't saving his life, as he again grabbed a hold of him and began to drag him down the way they'd came.
"Diaz, report," came Bobby down his earpiece.
"This building is not safe. Let me help you get out of here," he spoke through gritted teeth, because the omega was unreasonably strong and still doing all he could to fight Eddie, to both of their detriments.
"I need Maddie, where's Maddie?!"
Who?
Eddie glanced back down the hall. Whoever Maddie was, if she'd been down there she wouldn't have survived.
"Once we're outside, you can tell me about Maddie and I'll help you find her," he assuaged, again using his body to provide some cover to the omega as they crawled back through rubble. "She may already be outside," He added, as the previous promise did little to assuage the poor thing.
Eddie helped the omega back to his feet, and slinked the man's arm over his shoulder to support him in walking the rest of the way.
The omega shoved at him, and Eddie very nearly bit his head off as he assumed that he was going to continue to fight.
"Diaz, do you copy?"
"I can walk," the omega said, arms wrapping around his baby bump before stumbling down the rest of the hallway.
He reached for his monitor. "Copy, Cap. Evacuating now."
And Eddie examined the man, as he moved. Making a mental note of all visible injuries, to provide to the paramedics on standby.
Ankle was swollen, and he was avoiding applying pressure to it. Victim clearly in a state of shock, no reception of pain. Scrapes across his skin, would need to be closely monitored for infection from the debris. Bruising on his hips, anus, midsection, and wrists. Breathing shuddery, could be the panic, acute smoke inhalation, or something wrong with his ribs. And, oh yeah, pregnant and fell down on to his stomach to army crawl across the floor.
Eddie picked up an omega girl with a broken leg on their way down, and she went willingly, barely letting out the faintest whimper as he scooped her up.
The pregnant omega had blinked at her in pity, before silently taking a hold of her hand, whixh she seemed to appreciate. Mercifully sticking close to Eddie from then on, if only to provide comfort.
He managed to get them all outside in on piece, placed the girl down on to a stretcher before turning to the pregnant omega still in his charge.
"Maddie?!" The man screamed, spinning around in circles as he searched the crowd for the missing woman, chest wracking with coughs that had become more prevelant in their journey down.
Eddie really hoped she was out here, whoever she was is clearly very important for the man to risk his life.
He gently placed his hand on the omega's lower back, earning a full body flinch in return, and nudged the increasingly shellshocked man over to the nearby 118 ambulance; he could tell it wasn't long until the man crashed from exertion.
Chimney was patching a girl up, and Hen had just finished with a man, and so was quick to approach Eddie and the omega to offer her help.
He saw the moment confusion dawned on both of their faces, as their noses twitched at the strange scent, just as his had.
"How is he on Heat if he's pregnant?" Chimney asked, to which Eddie could only shrug.
Rare medical condition, maybe? Medical anomaly? Whatever it was, Hen was sure to find out.
"Hi, what's your name?" The woman approached, unphased with a gentle smile, and the omega shuffled back a step, looking close to fleeing again. Eddie situated himself behind the omega, just incase he should try. "I'm Hen, do you mind if I check out everything's okay with you and the baby?"
It must be so hard for her, as an alpha in these cases, to treat traumatised omegas who would only want to be far away from her.
But Chimney was occupied, and Eddie didn't want to try and navigate the omega to another paramedic team.
"I need to find Maddie," the man just stated, going stiller than he'd been thus far as his eyes continued to glance around at everything, searching.
The adrenaline that had been keeping him running was very clearly dying down now that they weren't in imminent danger. The omega's knees wobbled beneath his weight.
Hen took a careful hold of both of the man's hands, and sat him down on a stretcher. Eddie was surprised he went along so pliantly, Hen clearly possessed a natural gift.
"Who is she? Is she an omega? Or..." Eddie asked, his own eyes flicking around. He allowed himself to trail off at the end, as he couldn't imagine an omega in this situation being so pent up over an alpha in there.
A wet sounding sob broke free from the man's mouth, as he nodded. "She's my sister. She only just got to LA, and she wanted to check on me, then she got stuck here too." Eddie saw the omega's puffy pink lips begin to wobble, and Eddie then looked over to Hen.
She appeared equally concerned by the statement. This place was already appearing dodgy enough, without the man's 'stuck here' tacked on to the end. The average Heat lasted for five days, how long had he and his sister been here?
"It's my fault she's here." Finally, tears broke free from the red rimmed blue eyes, and Eddie felt his heart lurch.
"I'll ask around," he promised, as the omega was given a light nudge to lie back, surely a painful position with the lashes on his back but the best they could do. "What's your name?"
The man hesitated, then wiped at his nose.
"Buck."
Unusual. But Eddie wasn't owed his legal name.
"Okay, Buck. You get checked out, and I'll look around for your sister."
Buck gave a small, weak smile in thanks, sniffling and shivering all over, and Eddie forced one back before stepping away to begin his task.
And he really did try.
He searched everywhere for a woman even faintly resembling Buck, and when that didn't work out he began to check lists and ask around for a woman named Maddie. Even asked the owners, who were now sitting back calling their insurance companies with drinks in hand.
But there was no luck, and he began to feel increasingly awful and exhasuted as time passed by, and he saw all of the injuries and bodies sitting outside.
He'd done a full circle, and ended up back at the 118 ambulance with no good news to share.
Hovered for a moment, peering over at what little of Buck he could see past Chimney's shoulder, but before he could approach and say anything, offer reassurances that maybe she'd already been taken to a hospital, Hen's voice caught his attention.
"Who put this in you? Do you know?" The woman asked, her posture tense as she held Buck's foot in her hand, and a small scalpel in the other.
Buck was completely wacked out by that point, and just blinked blearily over at her in response. Curled up beneath a shock jacket with his arms around his belly, and bandages across a gash on his temple.
Eddie's brows furrowed, as he stepped fowards to see what she'd found, and felt his stomach twist when he saw the small chip implanted into Buck's swollen ankle.
"Please, try to remember. You're not in any trouble, but if the people here put this in you we need to know so that we can help the other omegas," Hen added, and it was then that Bobby came over to see what was going on with his team, hovering over them.
Buck stared, uncomprehendingly, as Hen pulled the chip out, sitting up on to his elbows and head wobbling from side to side in exhaustion- and hopefully painkillers.
"Is that what made it go on so long?" He asked raspily, and Eddie felt fury overtake him as he reached the same conclusion that Hen already had.
The chip was an illegal hormone implant. Found predominantly in sex trafficking victims, to keep them drugged and in Heat.
This place was a glorified sex traffic ring, and all of the omegas here were high.
It didn't take long for police to get to the scene, but it felt like it did, as they were forced to pretend nothing was amiss so as to not scare the culprits away.
The hotel owners, who had been sitting entirely unpeterubed, attempted to make a flee when two officers approached with handcuffs already out.
They quickly got loaded in to police cars, and Eddue would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy seeing them get thrown around, whilst others went around to question the victims and take names of the alpha volunteers, to investigate whether they knew what was going on.
Athena gravitated towards the 118 vehicle, and Eddie tried not to make it too obvious that he was listening in on her and Bobby's conversation.
Buck admitted to not knowing how long he was there for, but it was at least longer than his pregnancy. Hen said he was around five months along.
Over five months, in Heat, being beaten and taken advantage of by alpha after alpha.
The contracts the omegas signed specified that they'd become the Hotel's wards until their Heats ended, effectively trapping them there.
And Eddie's vision had been going red around the edges, the more he heard from both Buck and the other omegas.
They'd been promised luxury, a hotel escape where their needs were met, but instead they slept in cages. They took alpha after alpha all day every day, no end in sight, only let off when they became too dehydrated to produce enough slick, even with the Heat.
The west wing was where the bad omegas went, the ones who fought, where visitors who paid a small fee got to do whatever they wanted short of killing or permanently marring them.
The worst part about all of this was that nothing was likely to come of it, the worst that would happen was a few months jail time for buying and using illegal hormone implants, which the owners were certainly rich enough to buy themselves out of.
Rich off the backs of the omegas they'd had raped and tortured.
Eddie stood back, forcing himself to take deep breaths as it became clear he was letting off an intimidating scent to their ward, as Buck squirmed and tensed, staring at him.
He had no idea how Hen and Chimney kept their composure, was sort of stunned watching the woman continue to patch up Buck with nothing but a crease between her broad to show her displeasure over the situation.
Buck had been in the west wing.
People had paid to torture a pregnant, terrified omega, for the crime of fighting back.
"Buck, we're going to take you to the hospital now. I think it'd be best you get checked out properly," Hen said, after attaching an IV to his arm.
His eyes grew wide again, bleary and dilated.
"But Maddie-"
"All of the omegas are either going to the hospital, or an omega shelter for the night. She won't be here," Cap interjected, his arms crossed over his chest with an authoritative air about him.
She won't be here if she's still alive, went unsaid. Buck didn't need that on his mind right now, as he stared at the smoldering remains of that hell hole.
Eddie didn't want to think about all the omegas who'd died there, either.
Athena stepped forwards, carefully neutral just as everyone else was right now.
Proffesionals. Eddie wondered what it would take for him to get to that point too. He was always so quick to anger, to feel.
"I'll be going to the hospital as well, to inform you and the others of your rights and what steps can be taken to get in to omega shelters. While I'm there, I will help you look for your sister," The sergant promised, leaning down to look the man in the eye.
And Buck just stared at her, his own eyes wide with a glimmer of hope, before slumping back on to the stretcher in surrender.
He got loaded on to their ambulance, and Eddie tried not to make his staring too obvious.
But there was just something about Buck, something they all seemed to feel.
He didn't know if it was because he was pregnant, or because he was one of the first people he'd directly saved on the job, or because he'd been the most vocal of the victims thus far, but Eddie was invested in him, in his wellbeing. As were Hen and Chimney, it appeared, as they all hovered around the omega in the back of the vehicle.
Buck was still riding out the effects of the implant, body flushed and slick dripping down from his hole in large quantities, squirming every now and then on the stretcher with need as a bulge prodded at the blanket rested on top of him for a semblance of privacy.
He never once begged, however. Only made an aborted movement as though to reach for Eddie, just to stop.
And, now that the rush of everything was over, Eddie couldn't stop staring. Couldn't stop examining every inch of the omega's admittedly beautiful face. His puffy pink lips, his chiseled jawline. The curls falling from his head, and interestingly shaped mark above his deeply furrowed brows.
It was wrong, so wrong, he was aware. But, well...
He made himself stop when Buck whined in discomfort, at the pain no doubt still radiating through his body, and he grew more concerned than enamoured by the beautiful man.
They arrived at the nearest omega hospital with quick speed, and the doors were pulled open for them. Eddie stood up, despite not being needed, just wanting to see Buck to the doors, make sure he was in good hands before saying goodbye because Omega hospitals were notoriously understaffed.
He was startled, when the omega reached over and grabbed a hold of his hand, squeezing it.
"Thank you," he whispered, long lashes fluttering against his cheekbones in exhaustion.
And Eddie forced on a strained smile. "I hope you're okay," was the most he could think to say, before Buck's hand was pulled away from his as he was rushed inside, behind the doors to not be seen by them again.
Their job was done.
And Eddie was left with an empty feeling from the crash that always followed an adrenaline high.
He did try to find out what happened to Buck, if he found his sister and what was happening with him and his baby, but he'd been unable to get any answers. Athena didn't have any for him, just said that Buck was on a shortlist to be housed somewhere safe until he had the baby, and his fate after that was unclear.
They had no way of reaching him, finding him.
And Eddie found himself, over the next few months, thinking of him, until the others' advice to let it go finally got to his head.
And so, he moved on. Accepting that he'd never know of the omega's fate, as it wasn't his place to know.
Other things, other concerns, other victims, captured his interest, occupied his mind.
Most notably, was when he received a letter from the US government, appraising him for his work in the military. Apparently, as a silver star recipient, he was deserving of a reward. A reward they'd begun to give to all decorated war veterans, as a thank you for their service. In other words, they'd started this program to check a box, and say that they treated former military personnel well, without having to actually put any effort or care in to it.
And Eddie wanted absolutely nothing to do with it. He ripped the letter up in a sudden fit of fury, without scanning the link to read more about his 'reward', and- out of pure spite- burned it with a lighter.
Entirely unappreciative of the reminder of his past, and wanting more than anything to let it go.
He fell to his knees, gasping for breath and pulling violently at his hair to try and suppress the memories that forcefully surfaced back down in to the box in his brain where they belonged.
Nothing they could give would ever make up for the trauma that he and everyone else had suffered for them, for their causes and their wars.
Unfortunately, even without interacting with the letter, those in charge still decided to forcefully bestow his reward on to him.
And it was with that, that he came home after a long shift, six months after the earthquake, to a most shocking sight.
Because there, kneeling at his door step with his head bowed low, silver bow wrapped decoratively around his neck and hands cuffed behind his back to the house's supporting beam, was an omega.
And not just any omega, but the omega he'd truly hoped he'd saved from such an awful fate, back on his second day of the job.
Buck, naked skin entirely unblemished unlike how it had been during the fire, hair perfectly well kept, and- most concerningly- his stomach well toned with the lack of baby present, like it had never been stretched with life to begin with.
Eddie crouched down, lips pursed in his own surprise and worry.
Buck, who had been dutifully staring at the ground, glanced up at the movement, and Eddie was left entirely thrown off as blue eyes met his once again.
Blue eyes, that had been so alight with emotion the last time he saw him, but were now cold and empty like the omega had completely detached himself from his surroundings.
Though, a small twinge of the man's brows betrayed his own shock over the predicament they'd found themselves in.
A letter sat on the front porch in front of Buck, addressed to Eddie.
One he recognised to be from a government official.
And oh, with a twisting feeling in his stomach, he then realised exactly what this was about. Why he had an omega chained by the wrists to his front porch.
Somehow, for his acts of 'gallantry and intrepidity' throughout his military service, he'd been rewarded with a now clearly trained and docile omega to keep in his home. As though Buck were a throwaway item, to dump on his front steps like an amazon parcel for him to do with as he wished.
Eddie wanted to claw whoever's decision this had been's face off.