Chapter 12

Night had fallen on Griffin Rock, brining a sense of peace and security.

It had been about two days since the last rock slide, and everyone on the island were holding their breath.

But, for now, they relaxed, hoping that they had seen the last incident.

A figure, dressed in black and hidden in the shadows, knew that the peace wouldn't last. He was on a mission, to protect the people and his niece from what they didn't know and what would seriously hurt them.

Eric knew that this mission would unearth something that quite possibly could draw the Templar's attention to them. Everything he did from that point forward would have to be done extremely carefully. Despite his nervousness, Eric felt a surge of excitement as he planned out the 'heist'. It was an excitement that he hadn't felt in near about three years.

He had all but healed up less than a week and had gone back to work. When he wasn't working, and his niece was fast asleep, Eric spent a good portion of the night studying the layout of the Griffin Rock Laboratory. The blueprints he managed to find in the library seemed to be up to date, meaning he wouldn't have to worry about getting too turned around.

The only thing he had to really worry about was running into the family that lived in the laboratory.

Eric hadn't met the Greene family but he had heard from his neighbors that the Burns family and Greenes were friends. He knew that if he was discovered, the Rescue Bots would descend, arrest him and take his niece away.

So, he had to be careful.

Promptly after dark, Evangeline had eaten all her supper, even eating her broccoli (probably she could sense her uncle's uneasiness and didn't want to upset him even more), had been bathed, dressed and tucked into bed. Eric waited until his niece's breathing evened out and, once he was confident that she was fast asleep, he quietly dashed to his room and tossed on his Assassins gear.

Strangely, everything still fit. It was as though the past three years hadn't happened, and he was still in Jasper, moving between his Aunt's house and the Autobot's base. The all-too familiar weight of his Blade, which he had quickly oiled and cleaned that day, was comforting and almost brought Eric to tears.

But he shook his head as he turned and left the house through the back.

The previous day, during the first few hours of the morning, Eric had stashed the motorcycle he found in the basement to somewhere near the Griffin Rock Labs. He needed to approach the place low and work his way up until he got to where he needed to be.

He didn't know exactly what he was looking for, but he did have a feeling that he would know it when he saw it.

Eric snuck his way towards the laboratory, keeping to the shadows even though the forest was bare of any humans. He was quick and light on his feet, barely disturbing the underbrush as he ran. There was no greater rush than running at top speed, pushing his well-maintained body to its limit.

It was exhilarating, addicting. And Eric didn't realize until that moment when he leapt a small separation in the ground (probably caused by the slight earthquake earlier that week) just how much he missed feeling this rush.

However, it was only for this one time.

He slowed down a bit when he approached the cliff face that supported the Griffin Rock laboratory. Eric quickly scaled the cliff face, dashing into the shadows that were hidden by the strange shapes of the building.

Eric paused to take a deep breath, before he started to feel the walls. There was a suspicion that the head scientist would have put something in place (a hidden door, a secret entrance) in case he ever accidentally locked himself out of the building.

From what he heard about Doctor Ezra Greene; the man was eccentric enough to do something like that.

After fumbling around for much too long, Eric found a holographic door, just big enough for him to slip through. The image of the wall rippled as he pushed his hand, and ultimately himself through, coming out in a warehouse. Miscellaneous items littered the shelves, most of them strange devices that Eric had no idea what they did.

But that wasn't his mission.

He had to stay focused.

The lower levels of the lab were mostly abandoned with only the occasional robot zooming past the only sign of inhabitants. Eric kept his eyes peeled for security cameras or motion sensors, doing his very best to keep to the shadows the best he could. The hallways were too well lit for him to slink around unseen, so he took to the airducts.

Right at the best time too, as almost as soon as he closed the grate behind him, a young girl with two large Dobermans rounded the corner. Despite his instincts screaming at him to move, Eric remained still and watched the girl.

Watched as the Dobermans picked up his scent, their ears perking up and their tails starting to wag back and forth as they started to sniff the ground.

"Whatcha got Edison?" the girl, presumably Francine Greene, asked the dog. A moment later, the other one caught his scent as well, and followed the other dog's example. "Aristotle?"

Eric decided that he'd better move on before the girl glanced up. However, moving through the tight space of the airducts was an easier-said-than-done task that took all of his ability to remain quiet as he moved. He let a couple words slip the times he hit his shin or had to back track. It took him far longer than he wanted, but eventually he managed to find the exact room he was looking for.

And it was currently occupied.

He held his breath as he moved over another airduct, watching the interaction between what he believed to be Doctor Ezra Greene, chief scientist of Griffin Rock, and Chief Charlie Burns, as well as he family. It was hard to see anything from his vantage point, but he could hear the voices talking. He had heard the other children speak before, but he couldn't recall hearing the other voices.

Until the speakers stepped into view.

They were the Rescue Bots, all of them as sentient as Eric believed. They were talking with the Greenes and Burnses with such ease that it made Eric wondered how long these Cybertronians had been on earth.

"-plainable." The engineer had just finished saying, waving a sheet of paper wildly. "There's just nothing that could explain why these things are happening."

"It seems like their getting worse." A woman, Dani if Eric remembered correctly. He couldn't see her, but he clearly heard the distress and worry in her voice.

"How are we going to stop something that we don't even know what the cause of it is?!"

"Heatwave, have you contacted Optimus?"

Eric knew for a fact that person was Chief Burns. He had heard the man's voice enough times by this point to know what it sounded like.

"No word from him, at this moment at least. Though I doubt this is being caused by a Cybertronian artefact."

"Well, if it's not Cybertronian what could be causing this?"

Eric tensed when he heard the vent below him groan. He quickly dashed back as he assumed everyone turned their attention upward. His heart was going a thousand miles an hour as he started to scoot his way through the airducts, back towards the way he came in. It took a while, the airducts weren't exactly muscular-man-friendly, but he dropped down into the room he had started right as the door on the other side burst open. He froze, only for a moment, before turning around and dashing into the shadows.

"STOP RIGHT THERE!" Chief Burns cried.

Eric had no intention of doing so.

A moment of panic filled him when he couldn't find the exit, but thankfully, right as the humans of the Rescue Team rounded the corner, he found it. He dove downward, out through the door and into the night.

He rolled forward, sliding to his feet and into a run.

The others could be heard right behind him as he slid down the slope, barely able to keep himself up right as he did so. He managed to do a miniature jump near the bottom, stumbling a little bit before righting himself and running off. Eric heard the sirens behind him, saw the search lights sweep over the darkened woods.

He darted underneath an upturned root right as the search light swept over him. The darkness held him as the Rescue Team passed him. Eric pulled up a mental map, figuring that he was about six minutes from where he put the motorcycle.

There was no way he could get to it with the Rescue Bots on their feet. But he couldn't exactly get back to Crestwood, again for the same reason.

He was stuck.

Crap.

"Heatwave? Do you see anything?"

Eric's breath caught in his throat when he heard the whispered question moments before two pairs of feet appeared; one being clad in dark boots and the other giant silver metal. His eyes were wide and he did everything in his power not to make a move and give away his position.

"No, I don't." A husky voice, which Eric connected it to the Autobot, whispered back.

They were right there, right in front of him.

If Eric dashed out, there was a huge chance the Autobot could easily lean down and pluck him up from the ground.

But Eric saw a very small opening that, if he timed it right, he would be able to make it past the Autobot and disappear into the woods.

He could run until he lost them (which considering the fact that the area in front of him was heavily wooded, it would relatively easy to lose them) before he doubled back and head home.

Before Eric could make up his mind, his body moved on automatic mode.

He didn't know if this plan would work, he just went with it.

Eric pushed himself forward, trying to keep the panic down as he ran right in front of the Autobot. He felt a breeze from the Cybertronian just barely missing him as he dashed into the underbrush and disappeared.

There was a moment of hilarity, as Eric tried to bunker down in a cluster of dried out bushes, he heard the startled shrieks from the firefighter.

"What was that? What was that?" the man was saying, quickly and without taking a breath.

"Where'd he go?"

Eric pressed himself further into the ground, his heart pounding as he started to scoot backwards, hoping to sneak away. He left the Rescue Team searching the immediate area for him as he stood and started to put some distance between the search. His legs felt weak and jelly-like and his heart was pounding in his chest. He fought against the adrenaline rush that threatened to send him crashing hard.

When he got it under control, Eric leaned against the tree, listening to the sounds of the night. He kept his ears opened in case the Rescue Bots were heading his way, but heard only the sounds of crickets and relaxed a little more. Eric removed his face cover, keeping his hood on as he leveled out his heartrate.

While the mission didn't go exactly the way he wanted it, Eric now knew that the Rescue Team was looking into the instances, though they weren't any closer to figuring out how to stop it than Eric.

Eric figured that if he could find an entrance to the underground observatory, he could find a way to stop the island from sinking into the ocean.

The chirping crickets quieted down as the sky turned a pale pink color as the night came to a conclusion. Eric was thankful that he didn't have to work that day, so after he dropped Evangeline off at daycare, he could sleep all day.

With a grunt, Eric stood before making his way back towards the town.