Blades had been forced awake by incredible pain, the kind that made him wish he'd lose consciousness again. Damage warnings blared in his processor, telling him that he'd taken severe damage and should go into regenerative stasis, but he couldn't.
Chained up, he'd resorted to the one thing he'd been able to...Scream and bite. More than one human had gotten a serious pinch to their private parts before Blades had been shocked into stasis. Now, he could only assume they had gotten what they wanted, and the fear of that was what was keeping him awake.
His cries came out in gasps, chains still holding him to the floor as energon dripped out. His cockpit had been shattered open, energon oozing from where the windshield had been broken. He couldn't find the strength to get free, he was bleeding out... And they had his child somewhere out of his sight, out of his reach.
But he could see one human was standing guard over the room he was in, and not a nice-looking one. Blades looked up at him, optics narrowing.
"Don't give me that look. You're not gonna intimidate-"
"Where is it?"
The human's eyes widened a little. "...What did you just say?"
Blades snapped the chains as he transformed into bot mode, ignoring the rule of not revealing themselves to anyone. The human didn't even have time to lift his weapon before Blades had him in his hands, holding him tightly and his faceplate practically touching the human's. "I said... Where. Is it...!? You've got ten seconds...!"
The human glared back. "Or what!?"
Blades' grip tightened slowly, bit by bit. "I've had enough of you humans' slag! Enough of pretending that I can't just squeeze my hands and you'll go squish like a-"
"O-Okay okay! They've got in the furnace room to keep it warm!"
Blades' optics widened, and then he dropped the human to the floor before running out of the room. The man grimaced as he hit the floor, but managed to grab his radio. "Papa Bird's on the loose, and he's got one nasty temper!"
"Are you still picking up the signal?"
"Barely... It's still ahead of us, but we're not making much headway in catching up."
"They must be trying to evade us..." Chief Burns murmured, "Can you make us go faster?"
High Tide gave a sigh, "...I can, but it'll take a lot outta me. Even if we catch up, I won't be able to keep it for very long."
"Just get us close enough for us to get to the other ship." Heatwave informed, "We'll take it from there...Please."
High Tide gave a chuckle. "You should say that more often, Rowboat. You sound a little rusty."
"When we get there Cody, I want you to stay here with High Tide." Chief Burns informed.
Cody looked disappointed, but he gave a nod. He understood why, he had no bot partner of his own to protect him on the other ship. "Yes sir..." He sighed.
Chief placed a hand on his youngest's shoulder, "Don't worry, Son. One of these days you'll have your own partner."
"I know...Hasten the days..."
The ship shuddered as High Tide threw it into full speed, and the bots all held the humans in place. "Closer...Closer..."
Within minutes, they saw the other ship emerge from within the mist, and the humans all loaded into their bots and Cody watched as the space between the ships got smaller and smaller.
"Ergh...I can't keep this up much longer...!" High Tide informed.
"Then it's time... Rescue Bots, jump to the rescue!"
The bots launched from the deck and slammed onto the other ship. Cody watched the ship fade once more as High Tide slowed, and the rest of his family disappeared with it. High Tide lowered and limped onto the deck, giving a moan as he fell onto one knee. "High Tide, are you alright?"
"Don't you worry about me, Blip... Just need to 'take a breather' as you humans say...I'm not as young as I once was."
Cody nodded, joining High Tide in watching the ocean. "...Be careful, guys..."
Heatwave's feet slammed onto the deck of the mystery ship, and he turned to see Boulder land as well, but Chase didn't quite make it. "Chase!" He grabbed the police bot's hand as he teetered, yanking him away from the edge before he plummeted into the ocean. "You okay?"
"Affirmative. Thank you, Heatwave." Chase informed, looking around the deck. "...There is a suspicious lack of activity."
The bots jumped as they heard a loud clang, and then a familiar angry screech from somewhere in the hull. "I spoke too soon."
Boulder ran over to the cargo elevator, pulling the doors open. "Sounds like we're missing the party."
"Stay in bot mode." Heatwave murmured as they all jumped into the cargo hold, "We need full dexterity."
The trio looked around the cargo hold before finding a door that they fit through.
"Wait a second..." Chase murmured as they entered a hall, "...I've seen this ship before..."
Boulder nodded. "Yeah...It does seem familiar..."
The trio all paused, looking to each other. "CHUMLEY!"
The screech came again, though weaker, and they resumed their movement at a quicker pace. "He does not sound happy." Boulder expressed.
"Nor sane, if I might be so bold to state it." Chase added, "He may still be acting feral due to continuing danger."
"Let's just hope he listens to us..."
As they reached a fork in the halls, the screeching had ceased. Heatwave pondered calling out for their teammate, but it might alert the humans on board of their presence. He instead tapped his comm, "Blades, Blades do you copy?"
H-Heatwave...
Blades' response was barely a whisper, and Heatwave growled. "If they've hurt him-"
"We'll head this way, you check that way." Boulder informed.
Heatwave nodded, and then they split up.
"It'll be okay, Heatwave." Kade comforted, "I'm sure he's fine."
"If he's not-"
It's not your fault. Chief Burns interrupted over the comms. Just find him.
Heatwave gave a nod as he continued. His pace slowed, however, as he began to see humans scattered in the halls unconscious and deep scratches in the metal around them. "...Oh boy... He's not holding back...!"
"That's bad, right?" Kade gulped.
"Blades!?" Heatwave called more frantically. "Blades, answer me!"
He paused to look through an open door, and gasped. There were energon-covered chains, and weapons scattered across the floor alongside the men who'd been holding them. Blades was curled up in the corner in bot mode, clutching a tiny orb in his arms and energon splattered all over his arms and legs from his shattered cockpit. He looked dazed, optics wide and staring as Heatwave stepped over the downed men and came to him. "Blades..." He whispered, putting a hand on the helicopter's shoulder. "Can you hear me...?"
Blades' lip quivered, and his optics moved down to the shape. "...They were moving before...!" He whimpered.
Heatwave looked down at the orb that Blades was cradling: An egg. Blades' child...
...The shell was dark and almost looked singed.
His optics moved back up to Blades' faceplate as the helicopter gave a whimper, and then fell forward into his arms. "Hey! Hey, it's gonna be okay...We're gonna take you home, alright? Just take it easy..."
Blades nodded, but didn't speak further. He dragged himself to his feet as Heatwave guided him towards the door, his hands still cradling the still, dark orb of hardened energon. "You're going to be fine...You're both going to be fine..."
Heatwave, we've got Lord Chumley cornered and cuffed. Graham alerted.
"Brilliant. Head to the engine room and slow this thing down so High Tide can catch up. Chase, get down here now. We've got a situation..."
Dani waited impatiently for the others to return to the Firehouse. She and Taylor had returned to Griffin Rock after having been alerted that the others had Blades with them, but also that he was in bad shape.
Everyone had been blaming themselves for everything that had happened: Cody for accidentally alerting Pynch to Blades' condition, Heatwave for not going after Blades when he'd first fled, even Dani herself for not being there for him in the beginning. But deep down they all knew the truth, it was none of their faults... It was the villains threatening their peaceful home, they were at fault.
Several minutes passed, and she saw one bot come out of the mist, but as they came into view, she saw it was really two... Heatwave had Blades in his arms, the helicopter's optics closed as he was carried bridal-style.
"Is he going to be okay?" Dani worried.
Heatwave looked to his teammate, giving a sigh. "...I don't know yet, Dani..."
He passed her and she followed him into the garage. He laid Blades down on the floor, the helicopter not making a sound and allowing Dani to see that his cockpit had been blown open and had dried energon on his arms and legs. "He's gone into some sort of shock, we think it's because of the abuse to the egg."
"Egg?"
Dani turned around, seeing an orb in Boulder's hands that was dark and appeared lifeless. "Oh no...!"
"We're going to do everything we can to save them...Both of them." Boulder informed.
"Dani..."
Dani looked to Blades as he whispered her name, and she saw his optics partially open and looking at her. "Y-Yes, Blades!" She replied, running over and putting her hands on his cheeks. "I-It's me...! I'm so sorry I wasn't here, if I'd known-"
"You didn't know..." Blades smiled a little bit. "...But you're back...That's what...matters..."
Dani smiled though tears were spilling down her cheeks. "Right...!" She wrapped her arms around his neck. "I'm here now... We'll fix this, I promise...!"
Blades looked at her for a few more seconds, and then closed his optics again. Dani wiped the tears from her eyes, and then stepped back to allow the other bots to tend to their teammate. She accepted the hug Chief Burns offered her, placing one hand on her head and holding it against his chest. "Why did this have to happen...?"
"I don't know, Dani...But we'll get through it..."
