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heroes in need
ao3
It was far past the hour that Cody should be asleep by, but his dad usually made an exception for their solo father-son adventures, and tonight was no different.Â
If schedules allowed, they might go camping or all the way to the mainland, but when Charlie had a patrol shift the next morning, they usually stuck closer to home. Chase had been a good sport about joining them for a screening at the drive-in, as he was about most things that Cody or Charlie asked of him.Â
With such a big family, that doubled in size with the arrival of the bots, getting his dadâs attention all to himself without having to end up in some sort of mortal peril first was harder than it looked, and it made Cody protective of their time together. It hurt when one of his siblings butted in, intentionally or otherwise, or if an emergency dragged his dad away.Â
Cody loved spending time with his entire family, really he did, but sometimes it was too easy to fade into the background when everyone was involved. It wasnât anyoneâs fault, just a drawback of being the youngest in a big family, and Cody knew now that it wasnât because he was especially forgettable or anything.Â
It was different with the bots, as most things were, and he didnât feel small or invisible when he was around them. The opposite, really.Â
When Cody and Boulder went to the far side of the island to stargaze, and Boulder told stories about Cybertron, holding Cody close to his chest, close enough to feel the thrum of his spark beneath his plating, it felt as if he had the universe at his fingertips.Â
And when Blades insisted on joining the Pioneer Scouts because he wanted to spend more time with Cody (and because he liked how the neckerchiefs looked), it was the first time anyone had gone to such lengths to share in his interests. He and Blades learned and explored together, did badgework together, and always paired up for their nature hikes. He was the person Cody watched cartoons with, and watching him be brave made Cody want to be brave too. Â
Heatwave, huge, angry, and the leader of a group of rescue workers turned interstellar refugees, gave Cody the same level of undivided attention he gave their Prime, if not more. Cody knew that his gruff voice gentled around him in a way it didnât for anyone else, and that the only place safer than Heatwaveâs cab was his dadâs own arms.Â
He saw Codyâs worth as a rescuer before anyone else did, and from that first day, when Heatwave refused to continue on with the team if Cody wasnât part of it, Cody knew he didnât have to worry about getting left behind ever again.Â
Chase had almost become an extension of his dad, protective and stern in equal measure. Just being near him was calming, even when Cody wasnât doing anything more than reading, playing a video game, or just wanting some company. Not only did he not seem to mind these long stretches of silence, but Chase always seemed pleased to see him, the naturally severe set to his faceplates softening with his smile. And when his dad had to leave for the mainland for two weeks, Cody found himself slipping into the garage on more than a few nights to curl up in Chaseâs passenger seat, and keep each other company for a few hours, missing Charlie together.
While Cody preferred that no one else interrupt his time with his dad, Chaseâs presence felt natural now, and unobtrusive in a way the other bots or his siblings werenât.Â
He was great to watch movies with once he got over his instinctual cringe every time a character broke a law, and had such a precise memory that he could save all of his questions for the end (once he learned that interrupting the movie to ask them was typically considered rude).Â
Cody hoped Chase had enjoyed tonightâs movie; the poor guy had practically leapt out of vehicle mode when Doc Brown revealed heâd stolen plutonium. At any rate, his avatar on the dashboard screen was smiling as they turned onto their block, but Cody couldnât be sure that it wasnât just because his two charges were still talking and laughing inside his cabin.Â
âI canât believe we havenât shown the bots the Back to the Future movies yet,â Cody said, shaking his head in wonder. Â
âIâm as surprised as you are,â Charlie chuckled. âTheyâre classics.â
âTheyâre showing the rest of the trilogy at the drive-in over the next two nights,â Cody exclaimed. âWe could all go! What do you think, Chase?â
Chase hummed thoughtfully, and Cody felt his seat belt tighten gently in the botsâ vehicle mode version of a hug. âBoulder would certainly have something to say about the execution of time travel, having experienced it ourselves, and Blades will enjoy the music and general hilarity. Heatwave, I believe, will join us if you ask him to.â
âOh, but theyâve gotta watch the first movie, or the second one wonât make any sense.â Cody turned pleading eyes on his dad.Â
Charlie laughed, shaking his head. âOh no, itâs already way past shut-eye, kiddo. You can watch the movie in the morning.â
Cody sighed, if only on principle. He was pretty tired, and if he started the movie now, heâd fall asleep five minutes in. âOkay.âÂ
Chase rolled into the garage, and opened his doors to the familiar sound of Kade and Heatwave arguing.Â
The firebot was looming over Kade, shoving a car buffer in his face. Undaunted by the difference in height, weight, and strength, Kade was waving his arms to ward him off, trying to skirt around Heatwave at the same time.Â
âI canât right now! Iâve got aââ
Heatwave growled. âIf you say âdate,â I swear next time Iâll lock you in my cab with Mr. Pettypaws.âÂ
âSome partner!â Kade shot back.Â
âWhatâs all this now?â Charlie asked dryly.Â
Heatwave straightened up, coming somewhat to attention in Charlieâs presence. Not that it stopped him from shooting his fellow firefighter a dirty look. âI was just reminding Kade here that he agreed to buff out the dents on my back from our rescue at that rockslide this morning. Blades already took care of the deeper damage.â
âDamage?â Cody repeated, his heart skipping a beat. âI didnât know you got hurt, Heatwave.âÂ
He looked Heatwave over intently, and his worry eased a bit when he didnât see any trace of the pink, alien blood they called energon.Â
It was extremely rare that any of the bots were injured enough to bleedâthey werenât soldiers, thankfully, and as dangerous as their rescues could be, there wasnât a whole lot on their island that could hurt a Cybertronian. But an explosion at the rocket fuel reservoir last month had mangled Boulderâs arm, turning a routine inspection into something out of a nightmare.Â
The bulldozer handled the whole ordeal with his usual aplomb, staying calmer than any of them, even Blades who triaged him ahead of Velocityâs emergency arrival from the Autobots, D.C. base. Boulder had even eagerly helped with rebuilding his ruined limb, and had been officially cleared for duty as of two weeks ago.Â
But Cody couldnât forget the chaos over the comm lines, Graham, the only one to see the explosion firsthand, desperately calling Boulderâs name from the reservoir control room. Theyâd airlifted Boulder to the firehouse and when Cody tried to get into the bunker to check on him, his dad held him back from where the three bots were gathered around the medical berth, hiding Boulder from view, but not the grunts of pain he couldnât quite keep at bay or the trail of glowing energon theyâd left in their wake.Â
In the present, Heatwave reached down, nudging a finger against Codyâs shoulder with gentle care. âOnly a few dings, Cody,â he said in his comforting gravel voice, as warm with reassurance as it had been snappish with acrimony just moments before. âGot my tailboard caught in the rockslide when we were clearing out one of the houses.â
Charlie looked at Kade expectantly, arms crossed over his chest. âDid you agree to help? Because that sounds more than fair, son.â
Kade groaned. âWell, yeah, but I didnât think Iâd actually have toââ
Heatwave shoved the buffer into his arms again, letting go this time and forcing Kade to scramble to catch it before it hit the floor. âThanks, champ,â Heatwave said with a grin that was all teeth.Â
âOh hoho, you are gonna get it, Clifford, just you wait.â
âGood night, you two,â Charlie said pointedly as he started leading Cody toward the entrance to the firehouse proper. To Chase, he bid a much more pleasant, âIâll see you in the morning, partner.â
âGood night, Chase!â Cody piped up.Â
Chase dipped his head slightly, his faceplates shifting into one of his subtle smiles. âGood night, Chief. Cody.âÂ
He started for the platform that led down to the bunker, but he hadnât even made it to the controls before he froze midstep.Â
Across the garage, Heatwave halted mid transformation into vehicle mode. He returned to root mood swiftly, startling Kade whoâd just gotten the buffer started.Â
Judging by the tilt of the botsâ heads, they were receiving an internal comm. Chaseâs brow furrowed at whatever he heard, but Cody didnât think much of it until he saw Heatwaveâs worried scowl.Â
âDid you just receive a distress signal from Boulder?â Chase asked, concern deepening his usually even tone.Â
âYeah,â Heatwave muttered. âBut it cut off.â
âFor me as well.â Chase raised a hand to his comm unit. âI will attempt to contact Boulder directly.â He was quiet for a moment, as he presumably did just that, but his expression grew even more troubled. âHe is not responding on any frequency.â
âPull up his location,â Heatwave growled.Â
A hologram popped out of Chaseâs wrist displaying a map of the island, which Cody wouldâve usually marveled at. But all he could feel was the cold prickling of dread in his stomach. His dad put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed, but it didnât do much to make him feel better.Â
Chaseâs optics widened. âI cannot detect Boulderâs energon signature.âÂ
âWhat does that mean?â Cody asked hesitantly.Â
In a flash, Heatwave had a hand up to his comm. âBlades! Report in, do you have eyes on Boulder?â
âI cannot detect Bladesâ signature either,â Chase said quietly.Â
Codyâs stomach dropped at the note of fear in the policebotâs voice. He looked up to his dad, but he was watching the bots with a knit brow and tension in his jaw.Â
âThatâs it!â Heatwave snarled as he stormed the tall doors of the garage. âWeâre going to Boulderâs last known location. Heâs supposed to be at the lab, right?âÂ
âSir,â Chase murmured to Charlie, hesitating briefly between the two leaders.Â
Charlie nodded. âIâm coming along too, partner.â
âWhatâs the big deal?â Kade complained, even as he followed Heatwave. âThose nerds probably just got distracted by moss growing on the wrong side of a tree or something,â he said, only to run straight into the back of Heatwaveâs lower leg when the firebot jerked to a stop before even reaching the doors.Â
Kade stumbled back with a curse, pressing a hand over his face. âHey, ow! If you chipped my tooth, Iâm making us swap bodies again so you can go to the dentist to deal with it.âÂ
He looked up when there was no snide retort from his partner. âHeatwave?â Â
Heatwave wasnât the only one not moving or reacting in any way. Chase was frozen, too. They shuddered into an uncanny stillness, completely unlike their earlier pause at the distress signal or their typical, imperfect robot mode. It happened in a blink, but in that second Cody swore he saw a bar of glowing red light arc over their bodies from head to toe, flickering at the edges like electricity.Â
That second of silence was like a held breath.Â
Kade, though, was apparently blind and deaf to it.Â
âWhatâs the deal, HeatwâWOAH!âÂ
Kade threw himself to the side, narrowly avoiding being crushed by Heatwaveâs body as he collapsed backward, a twenty-foot-tall marionette with its strings cut. Cody had never thought about just how tall Heatwave was, or how broad, until he was toppling from his great height, deadly as a collapsing building.Â
Utterly limp, the force of his fall was like a miniature earthquake and it knocked Cody off his feet with a startled cry.Â
Behind him, he heard his dad call out as Chase slumped forward the same way Heatwave had, falling face first with a tooth rattling, deafening crash that rang in Codyâs ears long after it passed.Â
Staring over Chaseâs prone form, Cody locked eyes with his dad, whoâd been thrown to the ground just like him, expression blown wide with shock.Â
Cody sucked in air but couldnât form words, ice-cold panic crystalizing in his chest. His mind was utterly blank, unable to comprehend what had happened. What little he understood .Â
Kade didnât have that problem.Â
âHeatwave, what the hell? You couldâve killed me!â Pushing himself back onto his feet, Codyâs oldest brother whirled around with a snarl to put Heatwave to shame, but his ire sputtered out as he took in the true extent of the scene: both bots collapsed on the ground, and Cody and Charlieâs equally panicked faces.Â
âWhat the hell?â Kade repeated.
Heatwave had fallen with his face turned toward Cody.Â
Heâd seen the botsâ faces when frozen by virus into an emotionless mask. Heâd seen the botsâ faces when their memories were wiped, and they didnât recognize their own family. Heâd even seen the botsâ faces while mind controlled by Mrs. Pynch.Â
Heatwaveâs face wasnât just blank. It was slack, hints of confusion and pain frozen in the unmoving furrow of his brow and lines of tension around his mouth. His orange optics were dark, the light within guttered. They werenât closed, or dimmed like when the bots were in recharge.Â
It was like he wasâŚlike he wasâŚ
Kade had scrambled around to Heatwaveâs other side, slapping his palms against one broad red shoulder. âHeatwave, this isnât funny, man!â he snapped, his voice cracking.Â
âKade,â Charlie said hoarsely, too faint to be a reprimand. âThis isnât an act.â His hands were on Chaseâs face and he didnât look away from his partner for an instant. Cody was too afraid to check if his gold optics had gone dark too.Â
âSo what the hellâs happened to them! Heatwave? Câmon, man, I need you to wake up now!â
Kade was kneeling by Cody, in front of Heatwaveâs dark, empty face. His sightless optics seemed to stare at him over Kadeâs shoulder, and Cody couldnât look away, cold horror narrowing his vision.Â
âCody!â Charlie yelled like he never did unless danger was barreling toward them, and Cody snapped to attention. Based on the desperation in his dadâs voice and the apology in his expression, it probably wasnât the first time heâd called Codyâs name.Â
âCall Graham,â he instructed, his steady voice wavering only slightly. âMaybe he or Boulder knows whatâs happening to them.â
âO-okay, Dad.â
Cody reached for his comm link. Maybe heâd turned it off for the movie and forgotten to turn it back on, or maybe the shattering slam of Heatwave and Chaseâs collapse really had deafened him. Whatever the reason, the moment he reached for his comm, the line exploded with Graham and Daniâs shaking, terrified voices shouting to be heard over each other.Â
ââDad with you? Are the bots there? We need to call Ratchet, call-call anyone! Boulder, he-heââ
ââBlades, we need to help Blades! I donât know whatâs goingâ!â
âJust collapsedâheâs unresponsiveââ
âBlades fell out of the sky!â
â
Boulder rounded the bend coming down from Doc Greeneâs lab, his open window letting in a breeze that ruffled Grahamâs hair and cooled his skin. Theyâd lost track of time experimenting with new upgrades for the botsâ energon-powered tools, but Graham didnât regret it, and he knew Boulder didnât either.Â
After two weeks of medical leave, and down one arm almost the entire time, Boulder was eager to get back to work, having drawn up plans upon plans while his repairs set in and his new limb was manufactured. They included but were not limited to: visiting Leafy, visiting the Rubios, reinforcing the walls around the rocket fuel reservoir (as Kade would say, doy! ), and looking over the newest specs sent over by Wheeljack, which was best done with plenty of fire extinguishers around, or better yet, one Heatwave.Â
Grahamâs engineering mind had been fascinated by Boulderâs self-repair network, so similar and yet nothing alike a humanâs own immune system, preventing its host from going into shock from a missing limb by shutting off pain receptors and sealing off the flow of energon to damaged areas.Â
Not to mention rebuilding a Cybertronian limb from scratch was a truly humbling experience. Thirty years of their presence on Earth, and their biology was still a highly classified secret everywhere but the furthest reaches of the black market, and neither Graham nor Doc Greene took that trust and access for granted.Â
Boulderâs arm, much like his original, was a transformer all on its own, capable of turning into a welding torch, nail gun, and drill, not to mention a dozen other tools like saws and screwdrivers of various sizes. It was a wonder to build and even more gratifying to see in operation during their rescues since, but Graham wouldnât soon forget the reason Boulder needed an entirely new limb in the first place.
The blast at the rocket fuel reservoir had been intense. Graham felt the heat behind the three foot thick concrete walls of the security room, and had been knocked off his feet by the force of the explosion. The sound of Boulder bellowing in pain wouldnât leave his nightmares for a long time, if ever, nor the sight of his partner stumbling away from the flames once Graham scrambled out of the building with a fire extinguisher in hand, his left arm hanging limp, barely attached to his shoulder, and the rivulets of glowing pink energon pouring down his limp fingertips and pooling on the ground.Â
âThat wasnât supposed to happen,â Boulder had grunted, somehow still managing to smile at Graham as he furiously put out the flames encroaching on his partnerâs spilled energon.
Boulder was always doing that, trying to make the best of a bad situation and easing Graham out of his spirals of self-doubt. It didnât work so much when he was in obvious pain and failing to hide it, but a part of Graham was still in awe and humbled that someone like Boulder, giant, powerful and unflinchingly kind, an alien from a society so advanced that humans must resemble cavemen playing with sticks and stones by comparison, would look at him and find someone worthwhile. Someone he called friend. Partner.Â
But Boulder did, and almost every day he reminded Graham that heâd chosen their family, and he'd chosen him, in a hundred small ways. Like now.Â
âItâs a beautiful night,â Boulder rumbled, his voice rolling warmly through his cab. âMakes me wish I had my paints with me.â
The view was especially nice tonight. A waxing moon painted the ocean in strokes of silver, and below them the town looked like a miniature, every light a little beacon in the darkness. There was little light pollution up on the hill to Griffin Rock Labs, save the street lights every few feet, and the stars above them were plentiful, if faint.Â
âI donât think Iâve seen you paint a night sky before,â Graham wondered aloud. Boulder had been getting more experimental with his art style lately, inspired by DalĂ and Van Gogh to try out oil paints. He wondered what The Starry Night by Boulder might look like. âWe can grab them from the firehouse and come back if you want?â
On Boulderâs screen, his avatar smiled gratefully, but shook its head.Â
âNah, itâs already pretty late. Maybe another night.â Boulderâs digital face brightened. âWe can set out right after sunset!â
Graham smiled back, his pensiveness pushed aside by Boulderâs perpetually upbeat disposition. âSounds good to me, partner.â
They fell into a comfortable silence again, but Graham could sense that Boulder still had something on his mind, judging by the thoughtful cant to his avatarâs face. He waited, looking back out Boulderâs window so he wouldnât feel pressured to speak. Grahamâs instincts proved right after another minute.Â
âI was just thinking; maybe we could take a trip one day?â Boulder wondered aloud, his voice going up hopefully. âTo the mainland, I mean.â
âIâd love that,â Graham responded almost at once, and he meant it, too. Their bots had seen so little of Earth compared to the rest of the Autobots, whoâd had fifteen years of peacetime to travel and get acclimated. Graham wanted to see their reactions to everything. Boulderâs especially. Â
He immediately jumped into plotting out the logistics in his head, though he was struck by a troubling thought almost as quickly.
âBut what about G.H.O.S.T?â
They didnât know much about the organizationânobody did, apparently, outside of internet conspiracy theoristsâand Optimus was frustratingly vague whenever they tried to question him about it.Â
What they did know: G.H.O.S.T. was partnered with the Autobotsâ, serving as an intermediary with the U.S. government and helping to capture the remaining Decepticons in the country, which was a point of contention all its own. Even the Rescue Bots were split.
Boulder and Blades wanted peace on all fronts, and that included pardons for the Decepticons stuck on Earth. Chase was of the mind that they should serve some sort of time for their crimes against Cybertron and humanity, while Heatwave couldnât care less what they did, as long as the Decepticons were locked away. Graham privately thought that the firebot wanted someone to blame for the destruction and eventual loss of their home, since they were beyond powerless to do anything about it, arriving twelve years after the loss of the Allspark.Â
Supposedly, G.H.O.S.T. was also meant to provide the Autobots with housing and support. But at the same time, the Rescue Bots had to remain a secret from them no matter what, because Optimus didnât trust their partnerâs intentions enough to let them know about the existence of possibly the last Cybertronian civilians in existence.Â
It was heavy stuff, not to mention extremely nerve-wracking, especially when they first learned of the Rescue Botsâ sentience and true origins. It had felt like just a matter of time before black helicopters and SWAT teams descended on the island and dragged their new Cybertronian partners away.Â
But Griffin Rockâs shielding remained intact, and the town was so used to advanced technology that they bought the Rescue Bots as being man-made, especially since none of them had ever had cause to meet a real Cybertronian up close before.Â
Boulder hummed, the sound nearly lost under the churning of his treads. âWeâd be careful! Humans barely even bat an eye when they see a Cybertronian. We could visit Canada! Not a whole lot of G.H.O.S.T. activity up there, at least according to Teletraan I.â
Graham started to nod. âThat does sound nice. No rescues for a few days, no siblings, no dramaâŚâ And close enough to home in case of an all-hands emergency.Â
Plus, Boulder had been stuck on Griffin Rock for three years, and hadnât even gotten a real look at the rest of Maine, much less another country. And with the warmer weather, Canada wouldnât even be a bad option for those who werenât resistant to subzero temperatures.Â
Boulder began slowing down, and Graham first thought that some sort of animal must be in their path. But the road was clear, and Boulderâs digital face looked confused.
âHmm. Thatâs strange,â he muttered to himself.Â
Graham leaned forward, much more alert now. âWhat is it?â
âIâm detecting an energy signature unlike anything Iâve ever seen before,â Boulder explained, sounding troubled. âItâsâŚincredibly powerful.â
A thrill of fear swept through Graham at the uncertainty in his partnerâs voice, and he wrapped a hand around the edge of Boulderâs center console, though he wasnât quite sure if he was seeking reassurance or trying to give it. âAn energy signature? From where?â
Boulder didnât sound any less perturbed, and Graham could only imagine that he was straining his many diagnostic sensors to the fullest. âNowhere on the island. Its origin is somewhere west, on the mainland andâŚitâs spreading. Like a pulse.â
Boulder braked completely, and in a dizzying turn, Graham found himself an extra ten feet off the ground, the bot having converted to root mode much faster than he normally would have. âHold on, Graham. This thing is coming straight at us, and I donât know what effect itâll have on humans.â
âBut-but my family!â Graham insisted, that tease of fear sinking claws of terror into his heart.Â
âIâve already sent out a distress signal,â Boulder tried to soothe despite the tension of what could only be his EM field thickening the air, and making Grahamâs hair stand on end. âThat shouldââ
Boulder cut himself off with a terrible gasp, shuddering around Graham like his armor was trying to rattle apart. Red light flashed through his interior, inexplicable as it was instantaneous, and so bright it burned an afterimage into Grahamâs retinas.Â
âBoulder!â Graham cried, blinking hard. âBoulder, buddy, whatâs wrong?â
 âWr-wrong-gg,â Boulder garbled out in a voice that was almost all static. The screen on his center console has gone dark.Â
He fell to his knees, and his windshield opened at the same time his seat belt retracted. The seat itself booted Graham out, and he hit the dirt hard, rocks tearing at the skin of palms when he instinctively stuck out his hands to catch himself, bashing his cheek and biting his tongue when his arms buckled. But his training didnât let him dwell on those injuries for long as he rolled out from under Boulderâs shadow.Â
Boulder, who had gone eerily silent above him.Â
Graham craned his head up just in time to watch Boulderâs still form start to tip, before his arms gave out and he collapsed, utterly limp, into the dirt.Â
Hands stinging with blood and grit, half his face aching, and Graham barely felt any of it. He stared at Boulderâs motionless body with mounting horror for seconds that stretched into hours, every rational thought quailing as his mind refused to comprehend what was in front of him. He scarcely understood what had just happened, but the end resultâŚ?Â
âB-Boulder?â Graham stammered into the crushing, painful silence, his voice cracking. This fear, thick and nauseating, was familiar but had never been this intense. It was a byproduct of the helplessness of knowing his best friend was beyond his reach and his efforts were useless. Heâd sampled this horror at the rocket fuel reservoir, hearing Boulderâs guttural roar of pain, seeing the ruin of his arm. But his silence was so much worse.Â
âBoulder!â Graham pleaded, louder now, as he fought past the shock and scrambled over to his partnerâs side. Pressing scraped hands against Boulderâs plating, still warm with life, and moving up to palm Boulderâs rounded jaw hinge, Graham searched for his sunset orange optics only to find them dark and empty, the light within them completely extinguished.Â
His hand convulsed against the side of Boulderâs faceplate, and he fought to keep breathing against the vice tightening around his chest. Think, brainiac, he scolded himself, channeling Kadeâs voice with only a small (and growing) amount of hysteria. Analyze the problem, craft a solution. Youâre a rescuer, not a victim. Think.Â
Keeping one hand on Boulderâs face, as well as a breathless ramble even he wasnât fully cognizant of producing, he searched his toolbelt with badly trembling fingers.Â
âBoulder, c-can you hear me, buddy? It wouldnât be the first time a potentially alien virus froze you in your tracks, but-but hopefully itâll be the last. It mustâve been that weird energy pulse you detected. Definitely not another solar flare. M-maybe it was some sort of EMP? But that might mean someoneâs targeting CybertroniansâŚâ
From his toolbelt he retrieved the human-sized Cybertronian med scanner that Boulder helped him build years ago (the original model, at leastâthey were currently on version 3.5). It was low-grade compared to the scanners most of the bots were equipped with, but more than enough to detect spark pulse and catalog injuries. Graham last used it on Boulder at the reservoir, submitting the injury report to Velocity with half a dozen priority markers even though his wounds hadnât been spark-threatening.Â
It was after Bladesâ tail rotor was struck by lightning, paralyzing him in his vehicle mode, that at Optimusâ urging, with maybe some minor begging involved, CMO Ratchet had visited under utmost secrecy to give the human members of the team a crash course in Cybertronian first aid.Â
That in of itself was unheard of. Even after thirty years, Cybertronian biology was still a heavily-guarded secret, betrayed by neither the Autobots or the Decepticons. Both sides knew the potential consequences of letting the human race know their weaknesses. Graham understood that, allies or not, there would always be some people who feared and hated anything they didnât understand, and humans excelled at that especially.Â
Graham and his family learned the basics of Cybertronian biology, with an emphasis on the first aid theyâd actually be capable of performing to keep their partner online until help arrived. Things like minor welding to damaged armor and leaking energon lines, how to monitor spark pulse and vitals, and the like.Â
Boulder had even gone to the extent of showing Graham his spark after their lesson, as cheerily practical as ever. âIt would probably help if you had a good idea of what our sparks are supposed to look like first,â heâd remarked, before opening his chest plates and revealing his tangible soul, bright as a star plucked from the night sky, utterly alien and yet undoubtedly sacred.
Graham didnât know if any of the other bots had done the same for their partners, though he wouldnât be surprised if Boulder was the only one. He was a scientist, eager to share knowledge with a fellow scientist, and he was also the most empathetic person Graham had ever met, who wanted to share the innermost part of himself with a friend.
His reminiscing only lasted as long as it took the med scanner to generate a report on Boulderâs condition. The screen illuminated, and the cascade of information it revealed stopped his heart inside his chest.
Grahamâs vision blurred as it tracked down the list, from the shaking of his hands or the tears in his eyes, he couldnât say. Blood rushed in his ears with such force it was akin to the roaring of the ocean, threatening to swallow him whole.Â
POWER SYSTEMS OFFLINE
BACKUP POWER SYSTEMS OFFLINE
T-COG OFFLINE
CENTRAL PROCESSOR OFFLINE
OPTICS OFFLINE
AUDITORY SYSTEMS OFFLINE
VOCAL PROCESSOR OFFLINE
EMERGENCY DISTRESS SIGNAL OFFLINE
COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS OFFLINE
NO SPARK PULSE DETECTED
â
âSooo how was dinner with Taylor?â
Bladesâ voice was smug over the comm, and Dani could just imagine the conniving little face he was making to accompany it. She never wouldâve thought that sheâd be getting a fourth annoying brother when she was partnered with a gangly transforming alien robot, but that was life in Griffin Rock for you.
âIt was nice,â she said thoughtfully after a moment, thinking back to the restaurant already a few blocks behind her with the view of a brilliant sunset on the islandâs easternmost rocky shore, and the warm glow of candlelight deepening Taylorâs laugh lines and making his light hair shine gold.Â
ââNice?ââ Blades repeated, utterly aghast. âJust ânice?â Work with me here! Is Taylor your one true love or not?â
Dani rolled her eyes with undisguised fondness. And the boys called her a hopeless romantic?
She paused on the sidewalk to let a group of laughing teens pass; she didnât recognize any of them, and guessed that they might be visiting from a school on the mainland. With the warmer weather, downtown was busy despite the late hour, both locals and tourists enjoying the same walk down to the waterfront as Dani.Â
She refocused on their conversation over the comm link with a great big scoff.Â
âOkay, first off, what movies have you been watching lately? Cuz if itâs The Notebook, how dare you watch it without me. And second, Taylor and I are taking things slow, Blades.â Her grin turned sly and she couldnât help but add, âNot unlike you and a certain yellow scout I could mention.âÂ
Blades let out a startlingly bitter laugh, nearly stopping Dani in her tracks at the wrongness of it. âThereâs slow, and turtle speed in your case, and then thereâs stock-still. Guess which one Bumblebee and me fall under.â
Dani frowned, wishing they were both at the beach already so she could give her partner a big hug. âWhat do you mean, Blades?â she asked, apology gentling her tone. âI thought you and Bee were hitting it off.â
âYeah,â Blades muttered. âAll the way off.â
Bumblebee had stayed with them for a little less than a year, ostensibly to work with the Rescue Bots on human-Cybertronian relations, but that quickly shifted into training the bots, both as a scout and a soldier. The combat training didnât go over well with half the team (no surprise there, considering Bladesâ anxiety and Boulderâs steadfast pacifist nature), but soon even Heatwave chafed under Bumblebeeâs nerveracking tutelage, seemingly hellbent on convincing them that a Decepticon attack was imminent at any given moment, despite thirty years of no such thing on Griffin Rock.Â
The bots were all a little starstruck by Bumblebeeâs presence in the beginning. But even considering his status as Optimus Primeâs most accomplished scoutâand yâknow, being presumed dead for fifteen yearsâno amount of fanboying could spare him from a collective intervention after he tried to get a cringing Blades to take a blaster for target practice.Â
The real surprise was that Blades started it, standing up for himself in a way none of them had ever seen before, hands clenched in shaking fists at his sides while his rotor blades rattled against his back.
"I-I'm sorry, Bumblebee, but I won't. Actually! Actually, I'm not sorry! I won't-I can't take the blaster because I refuse to hurt another living being that way. Or-or in any way, but especially that way! I'mâ weâre âRescue Bots! We can protect people without guns."
Visibly taken aback, Bumblebee had stared at Blades, and then the rest of the Rescue Bots, in a sort of horrified stupor, as though seeing them for the first time. Then he subspaced the offending blaster, ducked his head a quiet apology to Blades and to the Chief, before ending the lesson by transforming and speeding away down the street.Â
Humbled, though still a little high-strung, which seemed to be Bumblebeeâs natural state, the scoutâs second attempt at integrating with the team went much better after that.Â
Blades quietly told Dani late one movie night that Bumblebee had apologized to him, seeking him out not even a day after Bladesâ legendary scolding.Â
âHe knows weâre all Autobots, but heâs been in hiding so long, and at war for so much longer, that I think being a soldier is all he really knows,â Blades murmured, staring down at his hands as Dani paused the latest installment in their Sandra Bullock marathon. âMaybeâŚmaybe we can show him the good things about Earth, like you all showed me? Since heâs safe from G.H.O.S.T. here, at least for a little while.â
And Blades had. With Bumblebee taking a break from teaching, Blades took that as the perfect opportunity to drag him all over the island, whether it was movies at the drive-in, Pioneer Scout outings, or karaoke. And, admittedly, Dani worried like any self respecting best friend ought to.Â
Blades had something of an obvious (full on flashing neon lights) crush on Bumblebee from the get-go and while Bumblebee had been friendly, heâd shown no sign of reciprocating. Then the incident with the blaster put the whole team on tenterhooks, with Blades being the first of them to reach out again. Dani was somewhat mollified by Bumblebee having to apologize before Blades took that step, but she wasnât completely reassured either.Â
Sheâd never been able to get a real bead on Bumblebee. While never rude, heâd done little to ingratiate himself to the human members of the team, treating them all with distant politeness, like temporary coworkers he didnât much want to bother with. Even Cody, their resident bot whisperer, couldnât get through to him, and all the time Bumblebee didnât spend training the Rescue Bots was devoted to his own exercises, moving with a deadly agility and violent grace sheâd never seen in their bots.
Chase was the only Rescue Bot with anything resembling actual weapons incorporated in his frame, and even then they were a taser and small laser cutterer, both nonlethal. Bumblebee had guns in both arms, whining energon blasters brimming with alien power the likes of which Dani had last seen on the news fifteen years ago, crowded around the television set with Kade and Graham late at night when their dad was on patrol, and the Transformer War was still waging on the mainland, too close and yet a world away.
Dani hadnât been afraid of Bumblebee, per sayâshe knew Optimus would never send them someone dangerousâbut rather pointedly aware of his and Blades differences. Blades could be timid, high-strung, and a nuisance, and he was also the bravest person Dani knew, not to mention one of the sweetest. If he was gonna be with someone romantically, they needed to know and appreciate all of that about him. But more than anything, she wanted Blades to be happy .Â
Bumblebee already hurt him once. What if he did it again?
 Dani fully was prepared to take matters into her own hands, when she noticed a change come over the scout.Â
Bumblebee started seeking out Blades rather than the other way around, to the point that it became rare to see one without the other. They ran drills and training sims together, just the two of them, of the rescue work variety rather than the more soldierly scenarios Bumblebee had started out with.Â
And as joined at the hip as they were, it became impossible not to notice the looks Bumblebee was constantly sending Blades.Â
Blades wasnât exactly a master of subterfuge, but compared to Bumblebee, he was suddenly on Quickshadow's level. He could barely tear his optics away from Bladesâ face whenever the helicopter-bot wasnât looking straight at him and they held hands often, even going on long walks, just the two of them, along the very same beach Dani was meeting Blades at now.Â
Cody swore heâd caught them kissing behind the firehouse, but Dani chalked it up to wishful thinking and maybe an interrupted hug. Her baby brother was turning into a bigger romantic than she was.Â
Dani had walked it on them in the bunker late one night when everyone else was out, sitting on the Autobot-sized could with Bladesâ arms around Bumblebee, one hand pressed between his doorwings and another cradling the back of his helm, letting Bumblebee hide his face against Bladesâ shoulder.Â
Those doorwings twitched violently at the sound of the elevator doors opening, her presence clearly putting Bumblebee immediately on high alert. But Blades didnât let him go, and after meeting her eyes over his head and seeing her waving apologeticly as she backed into the elevator again, he leaned down to murmur in Bumblebeeâs audial. She only heard a snippet before the doors closed.Â
âYouâre okay. It was just Dani, and sheâs alreadyââ
And then Bumblebee left, almost without warning, a few months later. Prime was reassigning him, he said. Theyâd thrown together a last minute goodbye, he and Blades had hugged, and that was it. They hadnât received any word since, not that Dani knew of, but sheâd assumed that it was a case of no news is good news.Â
But maybe sheâd been wrong.Â
âItâs been almost six months,â she hedged, as the beach finally came into view directly ahead of her, where the storefronts ended. âHave you heard from Bee at all?â
âNo, and I donât want to,â Blades huffed petulantly.Â
Dani sighed as she stopped on the last stretch of sidewalk before the beach to take off her wedge heels. Near her were the remains of a few bonfires, all carefully contained to their brick fire pits and burned down to ashes by this point, and a few stragglers were packing up the last of their beach gear. She recognized one of the families from Boulderâs gardening club and waved.
âIâm sure you donât mean that,â Dani said gently. âWho knows where Optimus sent him. Maybe he has to go radio silent.â
Blades went quiet for so long that Dani nearly tested her comm for signal interference. The surf pounded from a couple hundred feet away, nearly drowning out Bladesâ whisper, wavering with false bravado. âOr maybe he never cared aboutâŚabout Griffin Rock at all.â
Daniâs heart broke for him. âAw, BladesâŚâ
He came into view then, a white and orange speck growing larger as he followed where the rocky shoreline of the river curved into clear, sandy beach.Â
âItâs fine, Dani! Iâm fine!â he shrilled so that Dani couldnât get a word in edgewise, utterly unconvincing. âLetâs go home, huh? Miss Knightleyâs Pride and Prejudice is calling my name.â
Before Dani could say another word, there was a flash of red light above her, rippling through the sky and across the ocean like a second set of waves. It struck Blades from tail rotor to strut, washing over him in an instant.Â
She watched as almost at once, the helicopter shuddered, blades freezing in place, before Blades transformed to robot mode in midair, and plunged out of the sky.Â
Around her, she heard other townspeople gasp.Â
Dani screamed. âBLADES!â
She was running before he even hit the ground. She had a second to pray heâd jolt back to vehicle mode and catch himself in time.Â
He didnât.
The slam of Bladesâ impact mightâve been muffled by the sand, but instead he hit the water with an almighty splash. He was facedown when Dani reached him, already half buried from the force of his landing, waves lapping at his frame as high up as his rotor assembly, as if to drag him out to sea.Â
Dani dropped her shoes somewhere behind her and sprinted, full tilt and clumsy, through the sand to reach him. The wet sand suctioned on her feet, nearly causing her to topple over, but it just made her all the more desperate.
Overbalanced and clumsily, she careened through the water with tremendous splash, soaking her jeans immediately and the cold shock of the water stole her breath. But she barely felt the discomfort, because Bladesâ optics were dark and he was laying utterly still, as if in death.Â
It was all wrong. Sick and wrong.Â
Whenever Blades flew without her, this was his preferred meetup spot, in case he got overwhelmed flying alone and came down hard, the impact would be softened and the chances of hurting anyone was low.Â
Now, thanks to the lateness of the hour and the chill of the water, the beach was blessedly empty. She knew that Blades would never forgive himself if heâd hurt someone in his fall, but that was of cold comfort.Â
Nothing she did, from screaming his name to slapping his face until her hands ached got any reaction out of him. And when she turned to her comm for aid, she found the rest of her family embroiled in the same grief and chaos.Â
All sheâd wanted was to protect Blades, and now she might never get another chance.Â
â
All of the Rescue Bots. Half of Codyâs family was down, unresponsiveâŚdead? He could barely even think it. He didnât dare.
But theyâd never been so utterly disabled like this, not to this extent, and definitely not all at once.Â
This wasnât like the virus that locked them in vehicle mode, stealing their ability to transform before stealing their voices. Theyâd still had Bumblebee and Blades to save the day, and Optimus to turn to for guidance. Even if the EMP zone froze them in their tracks, they could still communicate.Â
But Graham was saying they had no spark pulse. And even Cody, with his limited knowledge of the botsâ biology, knew what that meant.Â
His childrenâs panicked voices ringing around him, Charlie raised his head and shouted, âSigma-1, call Optimus!â
The semi-sentient computer Boulder, Graham and Doc Greene had installed in the firehouse responded in its usual placid tone, which made its answer all the more chilling, âOptimus Prime: COMM DISABLED.â
Charlieâs expression contorted with true fear. âCall Elita-One! Call Megatron!â he demanded desperately.Â
âElita-One: COMM DISABLED. Megatron: COMM DISABLED,â Sigma-1 responded, like nails in a coffin.Â
âCall any Autobot!â
âUnable to sync with any Autobot frequency,â Sigma-1 said, sounding almost apologetic. âTeletraan-1 is reporting total failure of Autobot communication systems.â
âIs-is it the Decepticons?â Kade wondered aloud, his voice shaking. He looked back over his shoulder at their dad. âOrâŚ.or something else? Who would go after the bots like this?â
Something, or some one. Anti-Transformer sentiment wasnât going anywhere, but the Rescue Bots were supposed to be a secret . Griffin Rock was their home. For someone to learn about themârescuers, the last of their kindâand still want to hurt them? What could Cody do against that kind of reckless hate?
His phone lit up with a call from Frankie, but Cody couldnât imagine answering right now. He let it go to voicemail, only for Frankie to immediately call again. When he didnât answer that, his phone blew up with texts.Â
He risked a glance at the screen. If Frankie was sending him memes, he might throw his phone against the wall.Â
But no. Instead, sheâd sent him a series of links to news articles and online posts. The title of one read: TRANSFORMERS DEACTIVATING ACROSS THE GLOBE.
Cody clicked it, heart going cold and still in his chest.Â
The link led him to a video taken from someoneâs phone of a silver and blue Autobot talking to a curly-haired man standing on a second story fire escape. Cody didnât recognize either of them. With the Rescue Botsâ existence technically a secret, theyâd had minimal interaction with other Autobots. It was mostly just Optimus and Bee.
In the video, the same red band of light he saw strike Chase and Heatwave flashed over the Autobot. And just like the Rescue Bots, he collapsed to a chorus of screams from the humans around him.Â
Cody scrolled mindlessly. Almost every other post was a similar video, or photo documenting a transformer (Autobot and Decepticon) crumpling where they stood.
âDad, itâs not just our bots,â he found himself saying. Every part of him felt numb as he imparted information just like he would during a normal mission. âItâs happening to all Cybertronians, Autobot and Decepticon.â
Kade slumped against Heatwaveâs shoulder. He looked shell shocked. âBut who⌠Why-why would someone do this?â
Charlie was grim as he turned back to Chaseâs slack, vacant face. His hand had never left his partnerâs cheek. âThen weâre on our own,â he said tightly. âSigma-1, call Doc. Tell himâŚtell him itâs an emergency. Omega level.â
Cody had to hope that they could fix this, that Doc Greene and Graham would pull through just as they had so many times before. Hope that this abrupt death wouldnât be his last memory of the newest members of his family, who had already lost everything except each other and deserved better than this.Â
He dropped his phone on the floor. He didnât want to see any more empty faces, the fallen bodies of those who mightâve been future friends.Â
Standing was hard on legs as shaky as his, and he resorted to half crawling to get closer to Heatwave. Kade had his fists pressed over his eyes, muttering a combination of swears and garbled apologies under his breath. Under normal circumstances, Cody wouldâve gone to his oldest brother to try and comfort him, but things werenât normal, and Cody wanted to be comforted tooâby the one person who couldnât offer it this time.Â
Heatwaveâs palm lay half open, his massive metal fingers unmoving. Cody curled up around the hand that had snatched him out of harmâs way more times than could be counted, wrapped around his shoulders in their closest approximation of a hug, lifted him up to the safety of a cab, and done the same for every member of Codyâs family.Â
He wrapped his arms around Heatwaveâs thumb, pressing his face against the cooling metal. He didnât cry. He might have forgotten how.Â
Because he was pressed so close to Heatwave, he was the first to notice the change.Â
Codyâs skin startled to prickle, stinging almost, with a feeling not unlike static electricity when he pulled clothes out of the dryer. He opened his eyes when his hair stood on end, just in time to watch a ribbon of shimmering green sweep over Heatwave, just like the crimson light had crackled over him a few minutes or an hour ago.Â
And then, Heatwaveâs thumb twitched.Â
Then, impossibly, inexplicably, Heatwave groaned.Â
âUgh, what in Primusâ name⌠Did a combiner run me over?â
Cody didnât look up. He couldnât. He didnât dare. But he felt the shifting of the Autobot beside him as Heatwave sat up.Â
Kade jumped like heâd been electrocuted, letting out a rasping, wet gasp. âN-no way. No freaking way.â
Cody glanced over at his dad when he made his own startled oath.
âOh my god, Chase .âÂ
No longer limp and still in death, Chaseâs gold eyes were wide with confusion as he pushed himself off the floor. âMy apologies, Chief. IâŚdo not know what came over me. Or how I ended up on the ground.âÂ
Charlie laughed, a hoarse burst of sound. âDonât apologize, partner. IâmâŚIâm just glad to hear your voice.â Charlieâs own voice was thick, and in lieu of keeping a hand on Chaseâs cheek, heâd wrapped his fingers around the edge of Chaseâ forearm.Â
Cody couldnât see his dadâs face from his vantage point, but Chase obviously could and judging by his worried frown, he didnât like what he saw. âBut, are you well, sir? Your eyes areâŚleaking? I was under the impression that only emotional distress triggered such a reaction in humans.â
Charlie laughed again, a thready sound of relief tinged with hysteria. âItâs called crying, Chase. And we do it when weâre happy too.â
A sense of unreality threatened to overcome Cody, watching Chase move and speak like normal, alive and unhurt as though the last several minutes werenât some of the most terrifying in Codyâs short life. It almost felt too good to be true, but Chaseâs bemusement and the way he remained kneeling by Charlieâs side, under his insistence that they all get medical scans immediately, was enough to buoy Cody from the cold, numb depths of shock that had swallowed him.Â
Heatwaveâs thumb nudged Cody then, exceedingly gentle. Despite that encouragement, Cody had to muster his courage before he looked up at Heatwaveâs face, some small part of him still afraid of what he would find.Â
Burning orange optics stared down at him in concern, a color Cody had started to think heâd never see again.Â
âWhat happened?â Heatwave rumbled. âAre you okay, Cody?â
It was too much. The lingering terror collided with the tidal wave of sheer mind bending relief inside of him. Thrust out of the cold numbness of shock like breaking the surface of the water after too long without air, Codyâs tenuous hold on his emotions snapped. He finally burst into tears.Â
A familiar, warm palm the size of a car door settled over his shoulders and another beneath him, scooping him up against a wide chestplate.Â
âWhoa, hey. Youâre alright, Code.â Heatwaveâs naturally gruff voice rumbled through the plating under Codyâs ear as a massive thumb carefully ruffled his hair.Â
He caught a glimpse of Heatwaveâs Rescue Bots sigil through the haze of his tears before clenching his eyes shut and hiding his face against the red plating.Â
âIs this moreâŚhappy crying?â he heard Chase ask worriedly, slightly muffled through the metal of Heatwaveâs hand.Â
Even while wiping away tears, trying to breath through hitching sobs, a giggle burst out of Cody without his control. Because yes, he was overwhelmed and terrified, but he was also happy . He had his family back.Â
â
Boulder returned to the waking world with a hard reboot, optics fizzing, and an alert on his HUD informing him of a gap in his memory banks.
He tried to run a diagnostic, but he wasnât of a mind to even process the results.Â
Boulder didnât frighten easily, but the last time heâd awoken missing time, he was emerging from a four million year stasis lock to discover their war ravaged planet was dead and that they were the last of their kind. He couldnât go through something like that again, losing a home, a family all over again. Losing Graham. He wouldnât survive it.
But the timestamp on his blank memory banks was little under five minutes and his chronometer was fully functional. Only four minutes, twenty-three seconds, and 0.47 milliseconds were missing.Â
He ran another self-diagnostic as he onlined his optics, this time actually paying attention to the readout.Â
POWER SYSTEMS ONLINE
BACKUP POWER SYSTEMS ONLINE
T-COG 100% FUNCTIONAL
CENTRAL PROCESSOR 100% FUNCTIONAL
OPTICS 100% FUNCTIONAL
AUDITORY SYSTEMS 100% FUNCTIONAL
VOCAL PROCESSOR 100% FUNCTIONAL
COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS 100% FUNCTIONAL
SPARK PULSE NORMAL
Everything came back clear despite his processorâs inability to explain his crash. He just got error alerts flagged in red whenever he tried to access the missing memory files. It wasnât that they'd been corrupted; this wasnât the fault of a virus or any sort of hack. The files simply didnât exist. As if Boulder had ceased to exist for those four minutes, twenty-three seconds, and 0.47 milliseconds.
Putting that troubling conundrum aside for now, he set about figuring out where he was.
 His GPS placed him exactly where he remembered being last, on the road down from Griffin Rock Labs. He knew he was laying in the dirt before his visual feed even cleared, having detected trace minerals of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur, all of them well-known signifiers of Earth soil.Â
Until he banished the alert, his proximity sensor kept pinging him about a human heat signature less than a meter away. It was a subroutine he and the others installed when they arrived on the island since humans lacked a mechâs EM field, and the risk of one of those fragile lives getting passed over during a rescue or, Primus forbid, getting caught underfoot, was unthinkable.
Boulder didnât need the faint frequency of a remote comm signal to know who was beside him. He wouldâve known by their nearness, the press of two delicate, calloused human hands against the plating of his shoulder guards.Â
But his scanners picked up more. An abnormally fast heartbeat. Irregular breathing, quick and shallow. Those steady hands on his plating were trembling.Â
Boulder knew what he would find before he even raised his head, but the sight was no less troubling to wake up to.Â
Graham (for whom his processors automatically rattled off designation tags, buddy, love, partner).
Graham, always a dear sight for sore optics, had the color leached from his skin, and his dark, human eyes were glassy and unfocused as he hyperventilated fast enough to make his entire body shake. He didnât even acknowledge Boulderâs gaze on him, or Boulderâs presence at all.Â
Graham had endured a few panic attacks since their partnership began, but this was the worst Boulder had seen since the first, on their first real rescue as a team, when he hadnât known what was wrong or how to make it better. Â
Back then, they had been waiting for word from Heatwave and Kade, who had raced off to save Cody from a hidden lava flow they hadnât noticed until it was too late. With nothing left except the waiting, Graham had folded in on himself, almost collapsing against Boulder, who until then heâd been careful to touch as little as possible, even while âdrivingâ him.
While startled, Boulder had still been in vehicle mode and was careful not to do more than stiffen on his treads for fear of harming his charge. Grahamâs hands were buried in his hair and his breathing had gone high and fast, and in Boulderâs own dismay, heâd run as many medical scans over Graham as his processors would let him. Humans were still so new to him then, not that that was any excuse, and heâd cursed himself for clearly missing some kind of injury.
While no less fascinating, humans were no longer the great mystery that they used to be, and Boulder knew his partner like he knew his own spark.Â
His memories from before his crash were fragmented, but he recalled a strange red flash and Grahamâs soft voice tight with panic. Whatever had happened (and make no mistake, Boulder would figure out the exact details of what happened), it must have caused his crash and left Graham alone with his unresponsive frame for nearly five minutes.Â
Boulder would be in a much worse state if the reverse had been the case.Â
While he wouldâve liked to gather Graham close at once, offering comfort in one of the few ways their difference in size allowed, experience told Boulder that it was best not to alarm Graham any further. Slowly pushing himself up onto his knees, Boulder reached out with just his voice, a lifeline spoken at such a low volume it was practically subsonic. âHey, buddy.âÂ
Jerking his head up with such force he nearly fell backward, Graham gasped, a brutal rattling sound as he sucked in too much air too fast. âOhâ god,â he choked out, throat clicking wetly, like something inside of him had torn. Tears welled up behind his glasses and overflowed, making trails through the dirt on his cheeks. One side of his face had an ugly bruise forming, crisscrossed by a handful of small abrasions, the pinpricks of blood already clotting.Â
With great care, Boulder wrapped both of his hands around Grahamâs shoulders. Grahamâs breath hitched again at the press of metal against his back but he didnât pull away. The opposite, really.Â
 âB-Boulder,â he croaked, latching onto one of Boulderâs thumbs with enough force to make his knuckles jut out, white and bloodless. âYouâhowây-youâreââ
âAre you alright?â Boulder rumbled, brushing Grahamâs injured cheek with his free thumb. âWhat happened?â
Graham made a strange wheezing sound. It took Boulder a klik to recognize it as a reedy laugh, lacking any signs of actual mirth, much less a smile.
âAm-am I okay?â Graham demanded. He sounded angry, but he still looked wrung out and devastated. âHow can you evenâBoulder, y-you wereâyou were offline! And I couldnâtâI wasnât ableâI was useless!â
âHey,â Boulder chided gently, Grahamâs stammering self-flagellation making his fuel pump churn. Heâd never seen his partner in such distress before, and he hated that he was the cause, even unintentionally. âDonât say that. You could never be useless. To be honest, I donât even understand what happened.â
Grahamâs frustration gutted out like a candle flame, breathless alarm surging to take its place. One of his hands snapped out and clung to Boulderâs wrist, the few inches his comparatively diminutive grip could cover.
âWhat do you mean? Do-do you think it could happen again?â
âNo, no.â Aching to reassure him, Boulder ran his thumb up and down the center of Grahamâ chest, gently, gently, following the line of his tie and feeling the racing of his heart beneath the fragile barrier of cotton.Â
âIâm pretty sure this was a one-time thing. My memoryâs a little foggy, but I got hit with some kind ofâŚenergy pulse, right?â At Grahamâs hesitant nod, he continued more confidently. âIt completely blacked out my systems so I wasnât able to get any readings, but one of Docâs scanners mustâve picked it up. Weâll study it, figure out where it came from, and what itâs supposed to do. Weâll contact Optimus, too. See if some of the Autobot scientists have any idea what it is.â
âI think this is bigger than Griffin Rock, buddy.â Graham closed his eyes, taking a breath that trembled on the exhale, as if he was bracing himself. âWhen all four of you wereâŚunresponsive, my dad tried to contact Optimus. ItâŚit looks like this pulse was targeting all Cybertronians. And whenâŚwhen it hit you, Boulder, you werenât in stasis. You didnât just crash. YouâŚyou were dead. Your sparkâŚaccording to the med scanner, your spark had gone out.â
Boulder loosed a hand from around Graham and flattened it to the center of his chest without conscious thought. Beneath layers of heavy armor, his spark whirling feverishly in its chamber, as if reassuring him youâre still here!
âOh,â he said, rather numbly.
Well, that would explain why his processors didnât register his existence for those four minutes, twenty-three seconds, and 0.47 milliseconds, wouldnât it?
âBoulder?â Graham murmured, expression open with affectionate concern as he rubbed Boulderâs wrist guard. Clearly he thought it was Boulderâs turn to be comforted, and he wasnât exactly wrong.Â
Boulder shook his helm in an attempt to clear it. An existential crisis was the last thing he needed right now. âYeah. Yeah, IâmâŚIâll be okay.â
Graham bit his lower lip in a familiar show of uncertainty.Â
âThe othersâŚdo you know if theyâreâŚ?â
Boulder had been aware of his teammates' presence in the back of his processors from the moment of onlining. Their inner comm system made communication possible via glyph and emotional impressions in a fraction of the time it took spoken dialogue, and all four of them tended to leave the channel open, maintained at a steady thrum that could be ignored if needed, but made them all feel less alone. Now that he paid attention though, he was conscious of the careful distance their impressions were maintaining from him, as though they were each trying to avoid overwhelming him.Â
When he finally consciously reached out, he was bombarded almost at once.Â
BOULDER[RESCUE-BOT-ÎŁ1703]
: : Everyone okay? : :Â
 / relief / weâre safe / where are you /Â
HEATWAVE[RESCUE-BOT-ÎŁ1701]
: : Itâs about time. : :
: : What, did you get a bump on your head and let Graham kiss it better? : :Â
 / relief / thank primus / i donât know what iâd do without / CHANNEL BLOCKED /
CHASE[RESCUE-BOT-ÎŁ1702]
: : No injuries to report. : :Â
: : However, this is a troubling development. : :Â
: : We cannot allow ourselves to be caught unawares again. Being incapacitated in such a manner puts our partners at great risk. : :
: : We must find a way to contact the Prime at once. : :Â
/ relief / iâm glad youâre safe / how could this happen /Â
BLADES[RESCUE-BOT-ÎŁ1704]
: : SAND! I'VE GOT SAND EVERYWHERE!! : :Â
/ panic / panic / panic /Â
Boulder huffed a laugh. âEveryoneâs fine. I guess whatever that was only had a temporary effect on us.â
Graham still looked ill at ease, his expression far away as he pressed a hand against his mouth. Boulder could practically hear his brilliant mind already whirring away beneath his hard hat. âI donât like this. We need to go back to Docâs.â
âAnd we will,â Boulder soothed. He hadnât forgotten about Grahamâs panic attack; his partner was his own worst enemy sometimes, overworking himself half to the point of collapse. âBut itâs late, Graham, and you need restââ
âAnd you donât?â Graham demanded, snapping his head up and pinning Boulder in place with laser sharp focus as effectively as a launched stasis net.
Boulder blinked, taken aback by the uncharacteristically sharp tone. Just as quickly, Graham softened in chagrin. He looked himself again, if a tired and hunted version of himself.Â
He sighed, wrapping a hand around Boulderâs thumb again. âIâmâI'm sorry, buddy. But I canât just go to sleep like nothingâs wrong when there might be something out there with the power to hurt you again. I canât. I wonât.â While Graham spoke gently, with that same, low fondness he seemed to reserve just for Boulder, there was a waver in his voice that spoke of lingering fear. But then he set his jaw, not out of stubbornness but in fierce determination, the same way his father did.Â
Boulderâs spark throbbed, once, twice, whirling brightly in its chamber. His plating was only just thick enough to obscure the glow from human sight. As if there was any chance heâd tell his partner ânoâ after that.Â
âIâŚthank you,â he managed hoarsely.Â
Graham grinned up at him crookedly, and Boulder cherished the rare sight of the dimple in his right cheek. âDonât thank me yet.â
-
Dani knelt in the surf, feeling hollow, carved out, her lungs, stomach, and heart scraped free from the force of her screaming and the retching she hadnât been able to control, her lovely dinner with Taylor lost in the waves.Â
Now she tried to scrape sand out of the crevices of Bladesâ face, where it caked beneath his chin and in the hollow of his dark optics, because she knew he would hate it. As much fun as he had on beach days, no matter how many immaculate sand castles he built, he would complain about sand in his joints as much as any human complained about finding sand in their shoes.Â
But hers was an exercise in futility. There was only one of her, and her two hands werenât enough to lift Bladesâ body out of the sand, or free him from the tide that lengthened/deepened every passing second, trying to claim him, dragging him further away from her than he already was.Â
Some of the townspeople who saw Blades fall had moved to help, but Dani waved them all away. A few of them left, after firing endless questions at her that she had no answer for, while others, Boulderâs garden club friends and a few kids Dani recognized as Teen Pioneers, lingered over by the incline leading down to the beach, clustered together and crying or speaking frantically into their phones. Dani tried to ignore them.
Without another one of the bots to carry Blades, theyâd need something like a crane to lift him out of the surf and she was nowhere near ready to consider that horrifying eventuality.Â
It was almost utterly dark now, with only a few distant streetlights to see by. Almost up to her waist in frigid seawater, shivers wracked Daniâs body so strongly that her teeth chattered and her fingers were halfway numb. She couldnât stay out here much longer without risking hypothermia, but what else could she do? Leave Blades here, alone?Â
As if both in answer and insult, a wave crashed against Bladesâ back, soaking Dani down to the roots of her hair.
She was blinking saltwater out of her eyes when a second wave washed over Blades. Only this one was composed of green light, dazzling her vision as it left a glowing trail in its wake. Daniâs skin prickled with a feeling like static electricity, and she swore that the sea spray around them froze for a long heartbeat, as if suspended in time. The sounds of the ocean were a distant echo, and her heartbeat thundered in her ears instead.Â
With a great crash, the world reasserted itself.Â
The ocean roared, cold lanced through her like lightning, and Bladesâ optics reignited as he awoke with a sputtering gasp, flailing in the surf.
âUgh, oh, augh!! Sand! Iâve got sand in my mouth!â he spat out a mouthful, pawing at his face, neck, and finials. âAnd in my nose, and my opticsâaw, itâs everywhere!âÂ
âBlades!â Dani shrieked, her hoarse voice creaking horribly, and threw her arms around Bladesâ neck. In typical fashion, Blades wailed and let her momentum knock him over, landing flat on his back in the water with a tremendous splash.
âDani?â he stammered. âWhyyyy? Iâm getting salt and sand in all my transformation seams! This is so embarrassing.â Despite his complaining, his hands gently settled around her to hug her back.Â
Dani couldnât even think of responding right now. Distantly, she was aware of the crowd on the beach cheering for Bladesâ miraculous revival but all she could do was hug him tighter. His voice, whiny and singsong, was the best thing sheâd ever heard.Â
âDani?â he murmured quietly. With careful movements, he sat up in the surf, taking Dani with him. Cradled gently in his hands against the round smoothness of his chestplate, she realized she was shaking from more than just cold. Silent tears were making hot trails down her face, and her breath hitched upon realizing she was crying, with no memory of when she started.Â
She leaned back roughly wiping at her cheeks with the heels of her palms and back of her hands. âItâsâIâm-Iâm fine. How do you feel, Blades?â she demanded.Â
Blades blinked at her intensity. âUmmmâŚokay, I guess. My head hurts a littleâŚâ he glanced around, seemingly taking in their surroundings for the first time. âUh⌠Dani?â his voice cracked, rising sharply with his sudden and growing panic. Heâd noticed the Blades-shaped hole in the sand that the waves hadnât washed away fast enough. âHow did I get here? IâŚI donât rememberâI didnât crash, did I?â
Dani caught his face between her comparatively small hands, giving him no choice but to look at her. âBladesâ Blades, no. SomethingâŚsomething happened, but it wasnât your fault. Youâre okay. Youâre here, and youâre okay,â she said firmly, repeating it for her sake.Â
A new thought hit her and she thumbed her comm link. âGuys? Bladesâheâs back. The rest of the bots, are theyâŚ?â
Her fatherâs voice answered her, warm with exhausted relief. âWeâre all here, Dani. Boulderâs with Graham. Theyâre heading back to Docâs to try and figure out what just happened.â
Dani breathed for the first time in what felt like hours.Â
But above her, Blades had gone strangely silent.Â
When she looked up, she found him looking troubled, his gaze locked on the horizon.Â
âWhat is it?â she asked quietly. Â
âItâsâŚBumblebee,â Blades gasped. He tilted his helm, gesturing at his comm link. âHeâs okay. HeâsâŚheâs asking if weâre okay, too.â Bladesâ eyes were wide, clearly wondering what exactly had happened to him, to all of them, but Dani couldnât bear to explain and relive it right now.Â
âThe same happened to them, right? Does he know what it was?â she pressed.Â
âHe saysâŚitâs a long story.âÂ
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