early 2009

Passing the fire academy with flying colours came as no surprise to Irina given the life she'd lived. Her training as a widow and her strength as a super soldier meant that there wasn't a single course in the academy that she couldn't do.

Even the written test she passed due to her advanced knowledge and memory. In fact she got such a high score, 100% to be exact, that those teaching her class thought she had cheated and made her retake the test. However when she passed that one as well, they knew they had quite a firefighter in their mix.

In fact, Irina was so sought after after she passed the academy that she actually had different Chiefs fighting over which of them would get her as their candidate. It was a close call but one house, one Chief, in particular came out on top and that was Chief Boden of firehouse fifty-one.

The very same Chief who told Irina that she should be a first responder, that night on the bridge when she jumped into the river to save the woman who crashed her car. Chief Boden didn't know that, however, so it would be quite the surprise to find out she was the one causing such a scuffle within the department, and when she rocked up to the firehouse for her very first shift as a candidate.

The firehouse would be a completely different vibe for Irina, given the last place she worked, if you could call that work. It seemed happy and laid back, not at all like the Red Room which was just serious, bloody and down right painful most of the time.

Irina was still getting used to living a somewhat normal life. Not having to kill or fight day in and day out. Getting to do normal things like normal people, although most normal stuff still confused her greatly. She didn't even know how to work a TV, which is why she didn't have one.

Dreykov wasn't one for allowing Irina to have such luxuries under his command, and even when she was on missions she wasn't allowed to do anything other than stay focused and stay on target. So Irina knew that she still had a lot to learn about regular life, and she was hoping that being around the guys at fifty-one, being around normal people, would help her adjust better.

That is if she put herself out there and joined in with things, she was actually somewhat nervous about walking into the firehouse as she was still a little under the fear that Dreykov survived Natasha's assassination and would come after her at any moment.

Or worse, have someone embedded in the firehouse to either kidnap her or kill her. But she had to remind herself that he was gone. That her sister had killed him. And after an extensive background search on every single member of the firehouse, she was pretty sure none of them were secretly assassins working for General Dreykov.

"Can I help you?" A voice pulled Irina from her thoughts and she realised she had just been standing outside on the driveway, staring up at the firehouse.

"Oh, I'm Irina Shostakov." Irina said, hoping her thick Russian accent didn't sound too scary, which is something people often told her. "I'm the new candidate on Truck 81."

"Oh, of course. Andy Darden." He replied, holding out his hand which Irina shook, firmly. Maybe a little to firm as Darden's face clearly showed she'd shook a little too hard and Irina quickly let go.

Irina really needed to remember to hold back her strength at this job should she do something a woman shouldn't really be able to do, least it raise suspicion. As far as the world knew, the only super solider to exist had been Captain America, and he was dead. For now.

"Come on inside, I'll introduce you to the guys and to your Lieutenant." Darden said with a smile, one that made Irina relax a little as she followed him across the apparatus floor, through a set of double doors and into the common room. "Hey guys. Look who I found outside, 81's new candidate."

Those words had the the guys inside stop what they were doing, all of them turning to look at said new candidate. And it was very clear to Irina that she wasn't at all what they were expecting.

"Hey, I recognise you." Severide got to his feet, his face a familiar one to Irina as she remembered now that he'd been the firefighter who was there the night she saved the woman from the river. "Yeah, the one from that car in the river a few months ago... Guys, this is the woman I was telling you about."

"You're the good samaritan?" Casey questioned as he got to his feet, the bugles on his collar telling Irina he was her Lieutenant.

"I was just in the right place at the right time." Irina replied, finding all the attention a little strange as if there's one thing she was told as Dreykov's greatest weapon, it was to not draw attention to herself.

Pay attention, yes but never be the one in the centre.

"From what I heard, had it not been for you that lady might have died." Casey said, already feeling a touch of pride for his new candidate. And he was feeling very lucky that she ended up at fifty-one, as he'd heard all about the fight over her back at headquarters. "Lieutenant Matt Casey."

Casey held out his hand, to which Irina shook it, a lot more gentler than she had Darden's. The rest of the guys were then quick to introduce themselves and one in particular seemed extra keen when he'd heard the accent she was sporting.

"You're from Russia?" Otis asked once the greetings had settled, those inside going back to their breakfasts or whatever they happened to be doing when she had arrived.

"Born and raised." Irina replied as she stood in front of the coffee pot, one of the few appliances she knew how to work.

"Yeah? Which city? My family's from Omsk but I was born and raised in Chicago." That sentence seemed to catch Irina's attention a little as for a brief second she'd stopped what she was doing, her eyes flicking towards Otis before back to her mug.

She needed to remind herself that just because someone, or their family, was from Russia, didn't mean they had any involvement in the Red Room.

"Moscow." Irina told him, after what she hoped wasn't too long of a silence. She also hoped she didn't seem uninterested in what Otis was saying as she wasn't, but she just tended to have that look about her. The one that made it seem as though she couldn't care less what people were saying to her.

"Do you have family here? Or are they back in Russia?" Otis asked curiously, hoping he wasn't coming off too nosey. It wasn't everyday he met another Russian, let alone where he worked so he couldn't help but want to get to know Irina.

"My family is... Complicated." Was all Irina said on that matter. She knew she hadn't answered his question at all but she couldn't exactly tell him that her birth mother was dead. Her father was in a high security Russian prison. One of her fake sisters was former black widow who was now part of a somewhat secret government organisation and that the other was also a former widow who Irina hoped was now living a normal life like her.

Irina had spent the last few months, basically from the minute she was freed from Dreykov's' hold, trying to find Yelena, but she had been unsuccessful in her attempts. Even her contacts had heard nothing from Yelena, so Irina could only hope that she was still alive and getting to live normally. As did she hope was what happened to the rest of the widows as well.

"Excuse me." Irina pardoned herself, pulling her phone out and dialling before she began to walk away, suddenly finding herself wanting to find out if anyone had news on Yelena. "Any sign of my sister yet?"

"Is that Russian?" Cruz asked hushed towards Otis, as he approached him, in reference to the language in which Irina had just spoken into her phone.

"No, I'm not sure what language that was." Otis replied, shaking his head. He and Cruz stood watching Irina through the briefing room door as she stood talking on the phone, they couldn't make out exactly what she was saying, just that it was in a language that wasn't English, nor was it Russian.

"Well you had better get off your ass and go find her... Before I find you." Irina all but growled into her phone, in Hungarian for those wondering. She ended the call, clicking the phone off before stuffing it back into her pocket, letting out a deep and annoyed sigh as she did.

"Sounds serious." Cruz mumbled, him and Otis averting their gaze away from Irina as her eyes found them. Perhaps arguing with her contact, over his inability to find Yelena, in the middle of her new job wasn't the best idea, but she just hoped none of her new friends spoke Hungarian, otherwise she'd have some explaining to do.

"Irina." The Chief said towards her with a head nod, as they both stepped into the common room, through different doors. "Chief Boden. Welcome to firehouse 51." He greeted her with a handshake, one she had to remember to hold back on.

"Thank you, Chief." Irina returned his greeting, nodding her head just a little.

"You know, when I mentioned to you that night by the river that you should become a first responder I didn't think you'd take it seriously." He added humorously, making Irina smile just briefly, something she was never used to doing. "Although with all the heads you turned at the academy, I'd say you were born for it."

"Guess I've found my true calling." Irina replied, pulling the sleeves of her jacket down a little, making sure they were covering her wrists as she once again felt the attention of the room fall onto her.

"That you have." Boden said with a smile. "I look forward to seeing you in action."

"I look forward to getting into action." Irina replied truthfully.

In all honesty Irina had been incredibly bored since she arrived in Chicago, there wasn't much for her to do but walk around at night, mapping out the entire city. She knew the safe streets, the unsafe ones, which ones belong to which gangs, etc. Hell she probably knew the city better than those who had lived there their whole lives.

Being a widow wasn't exactly fun, when Irina wasn't on missions she was training those below her, young girls who had been robbed of their childhoods, and their futures, much like she was... At least, until Natasha pulled the plug on the whole organisation. But despite all that, it kept her busy and if there was one thing Irina hated it was being bored.

"Hey, Irina." Severide caught her attention once the Chief had finished with her and she turned to him, her dark brown eyes finding his blue ones. "I wanted to ask you, it's been bothering me since that night by the river but... When we pulled the car out, after you'd left, the drivers side door had been completely pulled off its hinges... The driver said she didn't know how that happened, so I was kinda hoping you did?"

Oh boy, there it was. Irina wondered whether that would come back to bite her in the ass.

"I'm not sure, sorry." She shook her head, a single loose strand of her dirty blonde hair falling over her eyes. "It was like that when I went under."

"Huh, strange." Severide shrugged, the whole thing still bothering him a little. He knew he'd never figure out how the door could have been completely removed so there was no point continuing to dwell on it.

"Maybe the driver opened it on the way down? The force of it hitting the water could have snapped the hinges?" Hadley suggested, making Severide nod his head a little.

"Yeah maybe." He sighed out, the rustle of him flipping to the next page of his newspaper following behind. "I guess we'll never really know."

🔔 Truck 81. Squad 3. Ambulance 61. Engine 51. Structure Fire 🔔

"First fire candidate." Casey said as he and Irina headed out to the apparatus floor side by side, the others surrounding them. "Hope you're ready."

"I am, Lieutenant." Irina nodded as they approached the truck, where she quickly changed into her turnout gear, and a hell of a lot faster than the guys did.

This wasn't exactly Irina's first fire, but it would be the first one in which she was tasked with saving people instead of killing them so that was something. The beginning of what she assumed would be a lifetime of wiping the vast amounts of red that was dripping from her ledger.

The back of the Truck was somewhat crowded now, what with Irina joining Darden, Herrmann, Mouch and Otis. All five of them squeezed in the back with Cruz in the drivers seat and Casey in the passengers. Had Irina not been as small as she was, she guessed it would have been much more of a tight squeeze. But lucky for her she was used to being crammed inside small spaces with multiple people.

The top floor of the two story house was engulfed with flames by the time the companies arrived, the street surrounding them filled with concerned citizens and neighbours.

"You gotta get in there!" One middle aged woman shouted out as those on scene exited their respective vehicles. "The Millers live there and they haven't come out yet! They have four small children."

"Chief, we got multiple victims possibly inside. Four of them children." Casey called into his radio, just as Boden pulled up and clambered out of his car.

"81, take the front. Squad take the back." Boden called into his radio as he began to assess the situation. "51, drop two lines, cover them. And somebody get that roof vented."

"Cruz, Mouch, up the aerial to vent." Casey called out, slipping his arms into his pack along with the rest of Truck 81. "Otis, you and Herrmann search the bottom floor. Irina, come with me to the first floor. I want you glued to my hip."

"Yes, sir." Irina nodded, if there was one thing she was good at, it was following orders. With her pack on her back, her mask on her face and her helmet on her head, Irina followed Casey up the steps towards the house, Herrmann and Otis following close behind.

"Doors locked." Casey called back, jiggling the handle one more time before he turned back to Irina. "Candidate, care to do the honours?"

Irina nodded as she stepped forward, Casey moving to the side as she turned, her back to the door before she lifted her leg and kicked behind her. Only, Irina may have kicked a little too hard because the next thing the guys knew, the door had went flying off the hinges and landed with a thud in the middle of the hallway, dust and smoke rising from the impact.

"Holy crap." Otis mumbled into his mask, in awe of what he'd just witness.

Irina cringed a little, grinding her teeth as she kicked herself mentally for putting too much power into her kick. Here's hoping the guys just chalked it up to weak hinges or something. The last thing she needed was for them to find out the truth about their new candidate.

"Okay let's go!" Casey shouted, not wanting to waste anymore time standing by the bust down door with a hundred questions rattling around inside his head. That door had seemed pretty sturdy when he checked it, so either he'd imagined that or Irina was a lot stronger than she looked.

"Fire department, call out!" Irina heard Herrmann yell faintly as he and Otis began their search on the bottom floor while she and Casey headed upstairs.

The flames where high when they reached the top, the air filled with a black smoke making it almost impossible to see. Well, for Casey maybe, Irina on the other hand had no problems seeing through the thick smoke, which meant she could see that which Casey couldn't.

"Lieutenant, over here!" Irina called towards him, her thick accent barely audible over the crackling of the flames around them. She motioned with her hand before she grabbed Casey's arm, turning him towards her. "I got someone."

Irina led Casey into the back bedroom, the four kids the neighbour had told them about were all huddled together in the corner of what appeared to be the parents bedroom, looking scared out of their minds.

The youngest, a girl with bright blonde hair looked up at Irina as she knelt down in front of them, and in that moment she was reminded of Yelena. Of one of the last times they spent as sisters before they never saw each other again.

"It's okay." Irina said softly as she held out her hand. "You're safe now, come on."

The girl shakily took Irina's hand and she lifted her with ease, tucking her safely into her turnout jacket before she took the hand of the little girls brother, hoisting him up into her arms as well.

"Hold on to me, and don't look up." Irina told them, feeling their heads nod against her as she glanced over at Casey, who was pretty much identical to her. In that he had the two other kids clinging to him, only he found it to be a bit trickier to move than Irina did. But the two of them managed and soon enough they, and the kids, where safely out of the house, where the kids were reunited with their parents.

"Irina, that was a hell of a save." Boden said towards her as she walked back from the ambulance after dropping the kids with Dawson and Shay.

"Thank you, Chief." Irina replied, nodding her head graciously towards him. She wasn't used to being complimented for her work, so this could take some getting used to.

"Hey, Irina." Herrmann called towards her, gaining both her attention and the Chiefs as he came strolling towards them with Otis by his side. "That's some kick you got on you, I don't think I've ever seen a door fly off it's hinges quite like that."

"It was a pretty weak door." Irina stated, lying being one of her many talents. One she actually happened to be pretty good at.

"Either that or you're one of those superheroes I keep hearing so much about." Herrmann joked out, his eyes flicking towards Otis in a way which meant he was the one who kept going on about said superheroes. "That Iron guy and Sergeant America or whatever."

"It's Iron Man. And Captain America." Otis corrected with a sigh, not noticing the slight twitch of Irina's jaw over the latter. She always hated Captain America and that tacky ass suit he liked to wear.

"Whatever." Herrmann scoffed out, waving a hand in front of him before he pointed towards Irina. "You got some talent, kid. I'm glad we're the ones who get to benefit from that."

"That's nice of you to say." Irina managed a small smile, something she was still growing accustomed to doing. There hadn't been much in her past to smile about, but she could already tell this new life she was now apart of would be the beginning of something great.

All anyone could talk about that day was the way Irina had kicked a huge door right off it's hinges. Those who were lucky enough to see it retelling the story to those who missed it, completely exaggerated of course, but Irina didn't mind. She was too busy on her phone, looking through news sites and files from her contacts on anything that could possibly be relating to Yelena to care what was going on. She missed her sister, and she very much wanted to see her again.

"Oh hey, Irina, did you get your locker?" Casey asked from his seat at the other end of the common room table, making Irina look up from her phone.

"Not yet." She replied, shutting her phone off in defeat as she still had nothing.

"Otis, show her to the locker room." Casey motioned with his head in the general direction of said locker room, the one he assumed Irina hadn't seen yet as she'd barely been in the house before they got their first call.

"Sure." Otis nodded, getting up from his seat at the same time as Irina. "This way." He said towards her, in Russian which was nice for Irina, it reminded her of home.

As they headed towards the locker room, Otis pointed out the other areas of the firehouse he figured she'd want to know about, specifically the bunk room.

"You'll get used to the noise... And the smell." He added with a chuckle, still speaking in Russian as he could tell Irina was a little grateful for it. "Hopefully, anyway."

"I'm sure I'll manage." Irina smiled briefly, her eyes scanning the bunk room that wasn't all the different from the one she'd spent her time as a widow sleeping in. Only this time there weren't specially designed handcuffs attached to bedpost to keep any of the girls from escaping during the night.

"This is you." Otis pointed towards a bunk, the desk beside it and shelf above empty of personal belongings, something it would remain as Irina didn't exactly have much. "That one is Shay's and that one is mine." He pointed to the bunk next to Irina's and the one facing.

Irina nodded her head, taking mental note as they continued on into the locker room, stopping at the blank and empty locker next to Dawson's.

"And this is you." Otis tapped gently on the locker as Irina set her bag on the bench next to her, the bag that had been abandoned by the common room table all day which was irresponsible of Irina given what was in it. (A few knives).

"There's a little box of magnets somewhere if you have photos, or whatever, you want to put up inside." Otis said, back in English, as he looked around, spotting said box on top of the row of lockers behind them. "Ah, here it is."

"Oh, thanks." Irina half whispered, watching as Otis set the box down next to her. She only had one photo, the one of herself with Natasha and Yelena, the one she'd taken when they had to leave Ohio. She'd carried it her whole life, it being her most prized possession, so she knew she wanted to keep it safe. And she figured her locker would be a good place for it.

"Who are they?" Otis asked curiously as Irina stuck the rather old and fraying photo into her locker, his eyes gazing over the faces of the three smiling girls.

"My sisters." Irina replied in Russian, that way her voice didn't sound as sad as she felt in that moment. That photo was the only thing she had left of her family, well that and the bracelet Yelena made her, which was still around her wrist. She didn't even have a photo of her father, or Melina.

"Which one is you?" Otis asked, pointing between the two blondes in the photo, as he was pretty certain Irina wasn't the one with blue hair.

"That one." Irina pointed to herself, the younger, happier version of herself who stood smiling with her arms wrapped tightly around her sisters. "The youngest one is Yelena, and the one with the blue hair is Nat."

"You guys look happy." Otis said softly, smiling a little as he watched Irina just stare blankly at the photo.

"We were." She whispered before she snapped out of it, shaking her head before she tossed her full bag into the locker without emptying it, the door quickly slamming shut after her.

This was no time to reminisce over the past, one that had been fake and nothing but a decoy so her father could steal some files and burn down a facility or whatever. And she was a widow, trained to be emotionless, so it was no time to get emotional over her fake family.

Only, she wasn't a widow. Not anymore. She was a firefighter. And to Irina, that family was real. Which is why grew even more desperate to find Yelena. She knew where Natasha was, knew she was safe. All she needed to do now was confirm the same about Yelena, only that was proving much harder than it looked. But Irina was determined, one way or another she'd find Yelena. Whether it be this week or in a years time, she'd see her sister again.

Only Irina had no idea that the next time she'd see her sister would be in five years, when she told her the worst news she could have ever expected to hear... That Dreykov was alive. That the Red Room was still active. And that for the entire time Irina had been free, Yelena had remained a widow, only this time under mind control.

-
first proper chapter! hope y'all liked it!

also i feel like i need to remind y'all that this won't be following the chicago fire timeline 100%, there is just too much for me to include along with parts of the mcu timeline as well... So i just can't include every little detail that's going on with every single character but you'll get the general idea of which season we're in with what i choose to include from the show :)

there are also a few changes i'll be making to the CF aspect of this story... for one, it was canon that otis was still the candidate before peter mills joined in 2012, and that he had been the candidate for a few years before that... but obviously in this story he isn't as then we wouldn't be able to have irina be the candidate before mills, who will still be joining just not yet...

and i'm afraid darden will be meeting the same fate as he did in the show, as will hadley too as i need to write him out. also for this story, the character jose vargas doesn't exist as that would mean there's too many members on truck so i had to get rid of him in order to include irina

i'll keep y'all updated on changes and whatnot to the CF canon story as we go! but yeah, hope you liked this chapter, if you did please don't forget to vote and maybe leave a comment! okay bye!