"Stay here at the lab," Quickshadow instructs as they arrive back at the Greene's laboratory. "The war zone is no place for you two… or any humans for that matter."
Cody crosses his arms. "Neither is it a place for a pregnant bot."
Quickshadow looks down at her bulging abdomen. Her progress was equivalent to twenty weeks in human gestation. "I know…" she sighs. "There's not much else I can do, though. We're short of bots until the Bee Team and Optimus arrive. I have to take the chance."
"Then let us help!" Frankie protests. "We've helped with emergencies."
"Emergencies with protocol and ample backup," the femme points out. "I will not allow you to face off against metal beings five to six times bigger and stronger than you. Especially not corrupt individuals such as the Decepticons. We can hardly deal with them without things turning violent. As dangerous as it is for me, at least I'm their size and have training. Stay here and stay out of the way of Decepticons."
"Stay out of the way of Fracture," Cody says. "You had trouble taking him on before you knew you were pregnant."
"I suppose that's fair advice," she nods. "I'm going to free the other bots. Stay at the lab." With one last commanding glare, she runs out of the lab. Seeing that the Graham, Doc, and Amy were almost done unlocking the chains of her teammates on the mountain, Quickshadow activates her turbo thrusters and flies down to the town square.
When the rescue bot is gone, Frankie and Cody smirk at each other. "Wanna raid the lab for any useful equipment for battle?" Frankie grins.
"Quickshadow will kill us for this," Cody laughs.
"Or Heatwave," Frankie shrugs.
"Or Dad," Cody laughs as the two run off, heading to Frankie's untouched bedroom to raid her collection of gadgets.
"I've kinda collected a lot of 'souvenirs,'" Frankie brags, pulling out things she probably shouldn't have access to. "My forcefield bracelet should come in handy here…"
"The repulsor badge?" Cody frowns, pulling out the gadget. "Isn't this supposed to be in the lab?"
"If it was, it would be destroyed," Frankie retorts. "Like Trex. Too bad the Decepticons destroyed him… we could use him right now… Dither!"
The little toaster obsessed robot appears out of her room, having been hiding the whole time.
"A Phase bit?" Cody asks in concern, picking up yet another gadget. "Frankie, why is this in your room?"
"Experiments," she says vaguely. "Ooh! Dither could use that! You take the repulsor badge. Let's see what else we can scavenge."
In the town square, the Decepticons had threatened the humans enough that they had retreated back to the town hall. "That's right," Steeljaw growls. "Run back to your safe place."
"These squishes should learn a lesson," Thunderhoof suggests strongly, having ran a criminal organization on Cybertron.
Steeljaw sighs. "We need these humans as bargaining chips," he hisses to his generals. "The Autobots will be hesitant to allow harm to come to these humans."
"It'd work just as well if we had only one human," Fracture points out. "Preferably a child. It doesn't take much to subdue an Autobot."
"Even so, humans are fragile creatures and break easily," Steeljaw growls. "We need as many alive as we possibly can."
Thunderhoof grunts. "Pretty soon, they'll see through our bluffin' and won't take us seriously. We need to at least show 'em what we can do to 'em!"
In the trees, Quickshadow crouches. It was only a matter of time before her white metal was spotted among the dark foliage. The sound of crunching brush behind her startles her. "You got down here before us," Chief Burns hisses as he and Carin come up behind her.
"Where are the others?" Quickshadow whispers.
"Kade, Taylor, and Dani took Don's car down to the other bots," Chief informs her.
"Doc, Graham and Amy are freeing the felines," Carin adds. "Not sure how long it will take them to free those difficult chains. And it will take a while to reach the bots on the outskirts of the island."
"Bumblebee is on his way," the white femme says. "Not sure what's taking him so long…"
"We need to at least free Heatwave and Chase," Chief says. "You can't fight in your condition, and besides the new recruits, they're the only other ones proficient in fighting."
"Think if I distract the majority of the Decepticons, you two could sneak in and free them in time?" Quickshadow asks.
Chief sighs. "It will have to do. Be careful."
"There's at least thirty to forty Decepticons," Carin informs her. "Not sure how many. We tried to tally them up, but all we have is the accounts of different Griffin Rock citizens. Without knowing their names and such, we might be missing a few or have duplicates."
"The main one I'm worried about is Fracture…" she murmurs, eyeing the Decepticon. Said Decepticon decides it was a little too boring to take care of the humans and headed off towards the mountain, presumably to tick off and torture his former teammates.
Once her most dangerous adversary is gone, Quickshadow chooses her target and darts into the opening.
"Huh—AHH!" the crab-like Decepticon screeches as she tackles him.
The other Decepticons turn at the commotion. Quickshadow pins a claw behind her captives back and pulls him to his peds. "Don't move!" she orders. "Or I'll snap his claw off."
"N-n-n-no!" Clampdown stutters. "St-Steeljaw!"
Thunderhoof laughs. "Go a'ead, I wanna see this!"
Out of the corner of her optic, Quickshadow could see Chief and Carin splitting ways: Chief towards Chase and Carin around the outskirts of the square to reach Heatwave. Allowing the Decepticons to bicker over whether they should save Clampdown or not, she slowly backs up towards Chase's prison. Carefully crouching down, she grabs a hold of a discarded taser stick used to torment the police bot.
"Whether you like the con or not, she is still an escaped prisoner!" Steeljaw roars. "Capture her!"
Seeing that her captive wasn't giving her the advantage she needed anymore, Quickshadow twists Clampdown's arm painfully. A snap was heard and the Decepticon screeches. She tosses the buffoon to the side; morally, she probably wasn't being nice, but the less Decepticons available to fight, the better.
Twirling the taser stick, she whips a lobster-like con across the face, effectively tasing him and injuring his face at the same time. Whirling around, she stabs a Skunkticon. The Decepticon shrieks and flips its tail up, spraying a toxic liquid. Quickshadow ducks and the liquid hits a Corvicon. "SHINY!" the con screeches, clawing at her optics as she's disoriented.
The white femme has just enough reaction time to lift her knee up and use her forearms to shield her head and body as a Dinobot attacks. He knocks her over and attempts to trample her. Taking her chance, Quickshadow draws her legs in to protect her stomach and stabs the Dinobot's exposed belly. He grunts and groans in pain, lumbering to the side as more Decepticons converge on her.
Quickshadow uses her staff as best as she could, but the Decepticons were beginning to overwhelm her. "Huh," Steeljaw huffs, a sadistic grin creeping onto his face as he chuckles. "Not so strong after all."
As a puma-like con pounces on her, stun blasts pepper his face. Quickshadow looks up to see that Chief has freed Chase and the policebot had found a discarded gun the cons used to threaten him and the humans. "Cease and desist all activity and we can do this the easy way," he growls, cocking the blaster again for another round.
Steeljaw growls and crouches. "We like things the hard w—" a large chunk of a building smacks him in the back of the head, sending him reeling.
Quickshadow sits up to see Heatwave barreling through the barricade of Decepticons, knocking them out of his way in pure rage. A spider Combiner Decepticon practically breaks into all five of the individual cons when he hits them in the chest.
"What in the name of Unicron is goin' on 'ere?!" Thunderhoof roars, charging at Heatwave. The firebot and elk-con battle it out. The rescue bot practically headbutts the crime boss back in anger.
As Chase shoots off rounds at the Decepticons—effectively scattering the group—Quickshadow gets up and neutralizes the nearest con.
Steeljaw growls. "Split up! Don't let the other prisoners escape!"
"You back off of my family!" Heatwave snarls.
"Eh, I don't take orders from you—" Thunderhoof tries to say, before being trampled by a hound-like con leaving to follow Steeljaw's commands.
"That was easier than expected," Heatwave pants, making his way through the battlefield to find his sparkmate.
"Heatwa—" she tries to say, but his kiss cuts her off. As he pulls back, she sighs. "I need your help… I need the whole team. I can't take on all these cons on my own."
The firebot smirks. "Took you long enough to admit it."
She scowls. "I contacted Bumblebee, but I'm not sure what's taking him so long. We need to incapacitate as many Decepticons as we can, by any means. It's not our moral code, but the humans are on the line and we're severely outnumbered."
"Easier said than done," Chase grunts, tussling with a worm-like con.
Heatwave sprays the worm in the face with water from his canons. The worm gives him the most offended, confused look. The split second distraction gives Chase enough time to knock his lights out.
"I used the geyser to incapacitate Quillfire and Springload," Quickshadow informs them.
"That's actually a pretty good idea," Heatwave nods. "If we have time and bots, we could lead some of the cons to that area."
"Where do you want us?" Chief asks as Carin joins him.
"Find shelter for the town," Heatwave instructs. "Get them somewhere safe and sheltered as we deal with the cons. Things are gonna get ugly."
"The townsfolk are hiding over here," Carin hisses to Chief and she leads him through the battling Cybertronians.
"Head with them and only fight if necessary," Heatwave orders Quickshadow. "Don't exert yourself too much."
As much as the order irritated her, Quickshadow complied. She had caused enough trouble by being stubborn already.
"Chief! You're alive!" Mayor Luskey exclaims as the police chief arrives at the town hall building.
"We're freeing the bots, but until more help arrives, things are going to get heated," Chief says, wasting no time on congratulations and gets straight to business. "We need to find stronger shelter."
"I say we fight back alongside the bots," Mrs. Neederlander says boldly. "They've protected us from countless disasters. I say it's high time we return the favor and defend our own home."
"That's going to be very difficult with their sheer numbers and size," Carin says doubtfully.
"And it's not like your weapons will do much against us," Quickshadow butts in, crouching near the exit and brandishing her staff.
"We can find a way to fight back!" Milo states strongly.
"This is Griffin Rock, we always prevail!" one of the Lad Pioneers pipes up.
"Your family doesn't have to be the only ones fighting back this time," Huxley Prescott says.
Chief sighs. "All right, we'll see what we can do to fight back."
"We're like little, annoying flies to them," Mr. Alper says. "How can we do anything?"
A smile forms on Quickshadow's face. "If you can find a way to be an annoying fly without directly putting yourself in danger, that might be a very well placed skill."
"Wait, speaking of family, where's Cody and Frankie?" Chief asks.
"Do you think the Bee Team is here yet?" Frankie asks as she, Cody, and Dither head out into the main lab.
"We can see through the security cameras set up everywhere," Cody says, wearing the repulsor badge and super suit Frankie had created for herself. "The cons hacked into our systems and are watching everything through there. Why is this suit so tight?"
Frankie laughs. "Cause it was designed for me, silly. I'm smaller than you. Hey, let's see what other useful information we can extract from their database."
"Good idea," Cody says, wrapping his arms around her and jumping up onto the Cybertronian control center. His super suit gave him more leg power and the two reach the panel with ease.
"Too bad we didn't have that before," Frankie says, walking in between the buttons. "Let's see… Ah! List of Decepticon citizens. Ugh, they're using citizens like they own the place."
"They did hours ago," Cody says, stepping on buttons like a giant keyboard. "Security cameras, here we go… Heatwave and Chase are free and battling the cons. The Panthera group is free. Onca and Leo are heading down to fight the cons while Tigris is battling Fracture and his mini-cons. Kade, Dani, and Taylor have reached the other bots and are trying to free them. Quickshadow is protecting the townsfolk."
"There's forty-two Decepticons currently 'residing' on Griffin Rock," Frankie sputters. "At most, forty are still active. Quillfire and Springload are ixnay at the geyser."
"I'd count the cowardly crab," Cody says, pointing at the security camera footage. "He's cowering in a corner holding his arm."
"So at most, thirty nine cons to deal with," Frankie sighs. "We have eleven rescue bots on the island… eight on the Bee Team, not counting Fix-it… so nineteen against thirty-nine, unless Optimus arrives with his team."
"And right now, the cons are winning by numbers," Cody says, watching in dread as Chase is knocked down by a bulldog-like con.
"Any weapons we have are a mere distraction to the Decepticons," Frankie sighs. "Not much we can do to help them."
"What's taking the Bee Team so long?" Cody mutters, contacting Bumblebee. "Bee? We need backup, ASAP!"
"We're trying, Cody," Bumblebee sighs. "The Groundbridge has been down; we're fixing it as fast as we can. We've sent Windblade to head there through the air, but it'll take some time to fly from Arizona to Maine."
"The Decepticon database says there's forty-two cons here," Frankie informs him. "Quillfire and Springload are incapacitated for sure. Clampdown looks like he's out of the ring, too."
"Would've counted him out, anyway," Sideswipe butts in.
"There's probably other cons incapacitated, but it's hard to tell on the cameras," Cody says.
"Oh no…" Frankie murmurs.
"What?" Cody and Bumblebee ask at the same time.
"Says here that scientist Simacore and his two mini-cons, Axiom and Theorem reside in the lab to do testing and such…" Frankie hisses. "Not sure where he went, but he could come back here any minute!"
"Simacore is an extremely dangerous bot," Bumblebee warns. "He's as brawny as he is brainy. Don't engage directly unless you absolutely have to."
The Greene's family robot turns around and hovers near the exit. The teens can hear something large returning. "I think we kinda have to," Cody groans.
"Simacore was a famously temperamental scientist," Bumblebee warns. "After one of his experiments went wrong, he took his anger out on his colleagues. Grimlock defeated him, only through distracting him long enough to knock his lights out. He's witty and just as strong."
"So maybe we could outsmart him," Cody suggests.
"Don't try it," Bumblebee warns. "Best for you two to hide."
"Alright, we'll try to avoid him," Cody says, ending the call.
Frankie's face lights up in mischief. "We have to hide," she says loudly. "The cons can't find our secret weapon."
"There you are, you miserable fleshy rats," the orangutan con says, coming through the doorway. "I suppose that buffoon, Quillfire, never found you two. What are you blabbering about?"
"Nothing," Frankie says suspiciously, winking at Cody.
"What secret weapon are you Earthlings veiling?" the con asks, scooping them up into his strong fist before they can escape.
"What secret weapon?" Frankie shrugs. "We're totally not hiding anything."
The con crosses his arms. "Do you think I am a simple ignoramus like your species? On Cybertron, I was a well renowned scientist."
The Decepticon goes on about his accomplishments and intellect. As he does, Frankie discreetly points to her chest. It dawns on Cody that he was wearing the repulsor badge, and the two start to think on the same wavelength. Cody motions for her to jump down the back of the control panel and while the con is distracted, Frankie climbs down between the wall and the electrical wires. "Please don't get shocked," Cody thinks as she disappears.
"Et, where did your little friend go?" the ape asks, starting to fume.
"She is hiding," Cody says with a booming voice. "I am the Earth's great protector. Your kind cannot stand a blast from my power."
The ape is unconvinced. "Really? What power must you possess to make such a weak body strong enough to decimate my species?"
"This power," Cody says, gesturing to the badge on his chest.
The con grins sadistically. "Such a fool," he says, quickly reaching for the repulsor badge.
Cody was ready for him. He quickly turns the device on to full power. A bright yellow glow envelopes him, and as the con moves in to attack, the badge repels him. Violently.
Simacore is thrown across the lab and hits the wall. He groans in pain, lifting his head. The forcefield projected by the badge held a lot of power. Cody takes a running leap and turns the badge onto full power again. The force field generated by his badge strikes Simacore again as the human lands on top of him. The Decepticon is fully knocked out and incapacitated.
Frankie squeezes out from behind the control panel. "And who says we couldn't outwit and out-power him?"
"We gotta help the bots," Cody says, standing up next to the Orangutan. "With great power comes great responsibility."
Frankie rolls her eyes, beckons for Dither to follow her, and heads out of the lab. "You coming, super leader?"
Cody grins sheepishly as he follows. "I thought it was a good line."
Onca and Leo join the fight down in the square, and a heated duel fight begins. Heatwave faces off against Groundpounder—a former gladiator—while Chase duels with crime lord, Thunderhoof. Onca throws claws with Steeljaw in a cat and dog fight, while Leo clashes harshly with Terrashock, a brutish buffaloid with barely any mental power. The other cons take to fighting Quickshadow or trying to reign in the other bots, who were putting up a fight once Dani, Kade, and Taylor freed them. Well, really, they freed Salvage and Boulder and the two muscle brainiacs freed the others.
"We could really use the Bee Team right now!" Quickshadow grunts, tazing a third Skunkticon to shield the humans. She throws a chunk of building at him to knock him out as well as shield herself from his toxic spray. The con stumbles backwards.
"Dad!" Cody exclaims, carrying Frankie down with his super suit and slipping past Quickshadow.
"Cody!" Chief sighs, pulling his son into a hug. "Where did you get that tech?"
"Let's just say, Frankie has some concerning thieving habits," the boy says vaguely. "The repulsor badge really helped with Simacore."
"I wish there was more tech we could use to fight back," Chief groans. "They destroyed pretty much everything."
Frankie crouches down and pulls out something from the cement dust. "Is this your camera, Huxley?"
"Yes," the reporter sighs. "Not much use for it now."
"Fine by me," Milo huffs. "Always sticking it in places you shouldn't."
"Hey," the reporter scoffs, offended. "I'm a news reporter. Finding news is my job!"
"Well, that little device couldn't be more annoying!" Milo snaps.
"That's it!" Cody exclaims.
"You're siding with him?" Chief asks, pointing the Huxley Prescott.
"No, we could annoy the Decepticons until they're too distracted to defend themselves!" Cody grins. "All we are to them are annoying little creatures. Why not use that to our advantage?"
"Not a bad idea, son," Chief scratches his mustache. "Huxley, does your camera have any power?"
"It should…" he mumbles, fiddling with the buttons. "Didn't use up all the battery when we were imprisoned… Yes! It still works!"
"Alright, Huxley, fly it in the bull's face," Chief orders. "Should distract him long enough to give Leo time to attack. Anyone else have technology we could use?"
"Dither with the phase tech," Frankie suggests.
"If only I had my pizza cutter robot," Mr. Marcello sighs.
"The same one that tore up your restaurant?" Cody asks.
"I had him hidden away in my safe," he shrugs. "He would be quite useful here."
"Maybe the safe survived the destruction," Frankie says hopefully. "Dither could look for it."
"Let's search for some salvageable tech," Chief orders. "Anything, and I mean anything. Bring it back here and let's see if it has a use."
After gathering together some ideas, the Griffin Rock townsfolk fight back.
Terrashock roars as he charges at the lionbot. The two clash heads, and the secret agent stumbles back. The buffaloid steps forward to attack again when something buzzes in his face. His metal features scrunch up in confusion and he snorts. "What the?!" he growls, waving in front of his face as a certain camera buzzes around his optics. Huxley Prescott grins mischievously as he maneuvers his camera.
"Hey, big mouth!" Milo shouts.
Underbite turns to him. "You got a problem, fleshy? This mouth devoured an entire city!"
"Eat this!" one of the Lad Pioneers shouts as Quickshadow helps the humans pull back a slingshot. She releases it and a large chunk of cement flies at the Chompazoid. He snaps at the cement and swallows it, immediately regretting it as his stomach groans and his strength weakens.
"Oh, you like that?" another Lad Pioneer sneers as Quickshadow sends another chunk at him.
Underbite opens his mouth in protest and just about swallows it whole. "Need… metal…" he groans, suddenly being flattened by Terrashock, who was punched upside the head by Leo in his moment's distraction.
"What the?!" Thunderhoof snaps, pulling his antler back as Mr. Marcello's pizza robot slices it. Between the erratic robot and Chase's persistent attacks, Thunderhoof is slowly pushed back. The only problem with the out of control robot was that it occasionally attacked Chase.
"You sl*g hEAP!" Steeljaw growls, before yelping as Dither phases through his head. "That is extremely uncomfortable," the wolf-like con shudders before stumbling back after a well placed punch from Onca.
The humans use their technology to annoy and distract the Decepticons. While initially confused, the cons soon snap out of it. "It's nothing more than mere distractions!" Steeljaw roars, shaking his head and trying his best to ignore the little robot phasing back and forth through his head.
To Griffin Rock's advantage, that's when the Bee Team decided to arrive.
Windblade arrived first, announcing her arrival with loud jet engines and the sound of a sword slicing Vertebreaks arm. She rushes in, wielding her sword like a maniac. The rest of her team groundbridges there a few minutes after. "Sorry to be late to the party!" Sideswipe exclaims, racing through with his sword drawn.
"Put your servos in the air!" Strongarm orders, aiming at a giant polar bear con.
"Split up team!" Bumblebee wastes no time shouting out orders. "Drift, Jetstorm, Slipstream, Windblade, help the bots down near the coast. Sideswipe, Grimlock, Strongarm, subdue the cons here!"
"Does Tigris need help up there with Fracture?" Onca asks, panting as Bumblebee takes over with Steeljaw.
"Oh, ho, ho, you do not want to get between those two," Frankie says with wide eyes.
By the Bee Team had arrived, the cons ranks had dwindled down to twenty-four. With the Bee Team there, the numbers were much easier to handle, even with Quickshadow on the side lines and Blades and Galaxy lagging in the fight. The Decepticons put up a good fight and hold their ground.
Once Optimus Prime arrived with Team Prime, though, the battle was pretty much won.
Fracture refused to go down easily. The fight between him and Tigris was heated and intense as they moved down the mountain, through the woods and towards the square. His mini-cons tried to help him cheat. Tigris was not merciful towards them and in self defense—and a bit of rage—sliced one of his spider legs, incapacitating him. The other mini-con went after Doc, Graham, and Amy. The three wrestled with the con before Graham was able to stab his optic with a screwdriver he used to free the Panthera group. The mini-con backed off after that.
The numbers were now fifteen versus twenty-four, with the Autobots outnumbering the cons. Scientist and snake-like Decepticon, Vertebreak, went down after Sideswipe knocked him out cold, holding a vendetta against him for stealing his body. Lobster-con Bisk was basically overpowered by Boulder and Salvage. Gladiator, Groundpounder and his couch, Headlock, were taken down by Heatwave, Grimlock, and Bulkhead. Ultra Magnus, Chase, and Strongarm worked together to subdue Thunderhoof. Blurr, Sideswipe, and Smokescreen took on Pseudo, a shape-shifting con, and pretty soon, overpowered him with their numbers. Optimus Prime and Wheeljack took on Overload while Knockout and Windblade incapacitated Razorpaw. Jazz assists Drift and his mini-cons in taking down his old master, Shadow Raker. Arcee assists Tigris with Fracture, and the fight gets extremely dangerous. The tiny insecti-con, Minitron, causes trouble between the Autobots as his toxic bite allows him to mind control them. After a lot of confusion, Blades, Blurr, Salvage, and Leo manage to capture the tiny con.
The last four Decepticons remaining were Steeljaw, Fracture, a polar bear-like con, and the bulldog. Severely outnumbered, the four reluctantly surrender, finally liberating Griffin Rock.
"You didn't prove me wrong, Uncia," Fracture sneers as Chase stasiscuffs him. The Bee Team goes around rounding up the cons. "You still are as vulnerable and needy as you used to be. You just found more bots to back you u—"
Heatwave's fist to his jaw shuts the con up. The firebot practically took off the con's head with his swing, and Fracture falls to the ground, unconscious.
"Was that necessary?" Ultra Magnus's stern voice asks.
"I don't see the issue," Arcee smirks, crossing her arms.
The townsfolk of Griffin Rock rejoice, free of the tyrannical control of the Decepticons. "Thank you, all," Mayor Luskey says, looking up at the Autobots. "How can we ever thank you for saving our town?"
"Or what's left of it," Bulkhead grumbles, looking at the massive destruction to the town.
"No thanks is necessary," Optimus Prime says with his deep voice. "The Decepticons are defeated now, but more will always come. Evil never rests, so neither shall we. Justice will always prevail, as demonstrated here on Griffin Rock."
The Prime addresses the humans. "Your efforts to assist and defeat the Decepticons were honorable. The Decepticons outnumbered you in size and ranks. They were stronger and well armed. Yet your town did not let fear hinder your bravery in battle. Using what little tools you had, you turned the battlefield around and gave us time and aid. Without your brave assistance, lives might have been lost.
"It will take time to rebuild the town of Griffin Rock after the destruction caused to it by the Decepticons," Optimus Prime continues. "Perhaps it could be rebuilt even stronger with Cybertronian technology, made to withstand attacks from those who wish to do you harm. Perhaps Griffin Rock could become ambassadors to our planet, as the Rescue Bots have been to Earth. Griffin Rock could become a bridge between mankind and Cybertron."
"I think we'd be honored, Optimus," Chief says, looking at the Mayor.
"Well, what is the consensus?" Mayor Luskey asks, turning to the townsfolk behind him. "Should we rebuild and be ambassadors to the planet of Cybertron?"
The general consensus is yes. Murmurs of approval and nods come their way. "As long as we don't have to deal with Decepticons for a while!" Milo pipes up in the background, earning agreeing laughter.
"Then it is decided," Optimus Prime nods. "We shall leave bots behind to help you rebuild your town."
"Not me," Bulkhead says, holding his hands up and backing away. "I'm a wrecker, not a builder."
The crowd laughs and mingles with the Autobots, deciding who would stay behind to help rebuild while others sift through and begin to clear rubble to start the task at hand. "Welp, Magnus and I will have to take these sleeping beauties back to prison," Jazz chuckles, heaving a feline-like con over his shoulder.
"And actually put them in prison," Strongarm says. "This is like the fifth time they've escaped. Second time they've attacked Griffin Rock."
"Security in the prison most certainly will be updated," Ultra Magnus nods firmly.
"As it should," Chase rolls his optics, disappointed in his fellow law enforcement.
Finally having a moment to relax, Quickshadow and Heatwave embrace. "Have you learned your lesson from this?" Heatwave asks, earning a gentle slap to the helm.
"Fine, I won't go awol on my own without backup any more," Quickshadow smirks wryly.
"Hey, I'm fine with you going on your own missions, it's the principle of the matter," Heatwave holds up his servos. "I only have a problem with the trust issues."
"Trust got me in trouble with Fracture years ago," Quickshadow says softly. "Trust is something hard to earn now… Once I care about you, I don't want to lose you… I find it harder to lose you than to be betrayed, believe it or not. I'd rather not place you in danger…"
"Except dealing with danger is my occupational hazard," Heatwave crosses his arms and chuckles. "It's my entire occupation. Danger will always come for the people you care about… danger is inevitable… Sometimes dealing with things on your own is necessary… Sometimes it makes the situation worse. You're part of a Rescue Bot team, now. We have your back."
She nods, smiling. "Took me a disaster and a half to figure it out."
"I work the same way," Heatwave chuckles, walking away to help Boulder with the rubble.
"Then why are you two sparkbonded?" Arcee asks, making the two in question laugh. "One would think you guys would create the biggest disasters."
"Case of point," Smokescreen points at the destruction.
"Oh, shut up," Quickshadow says, whacking him on the back of the head as she follows into the debris. "You're one to talk."
A little over two months later, a new joy arrived. The Autobots had stayed faithful to their promise and had begun to rebuild. Merging human and Cybertronian technology, they worked with the humans to recreate their houses and update them. Some of the townsfolk enjoyed the Cybertronian updates while others—like Mrs. Neederlander—only wanted strong reinforcements. Some grumbled about having their houses destroyed—understandably—while others took the destruction in stride and viewed it as a free house renovation.
Mayor Luskey and the council declared December first—the day they defeated the Decepticons—a Griffin Rock holiday of freedom. Two months later, in the beginning of February, Heatwave was helping Boulder, Salvage, and the humans rebuild the town square when he received a call from Blades. Quickshadow had gone into labor.
With cheers from the townsfolk and bots, Heatwave and Boulder rushed back to the Firehouse to help with the birth. Through strenuous hours, Quickshadow labored before finally delivering a healthy sparkling. The Burns and Greene's family gathered in the underground bunker where they had been sleeping for the past two months while the upper Firehouse was being rebuilt. "Did I miss the birth?" Woodrow asks, coming down the elevator. He had come as soon as he heard of the destruction to help out.
"I highly doubt Quickshadow would've let you watch anyway," Dani laughs.
"Well, the screaming is gone, so I assume the sparkling's been born," Blurr remarks.
Boulder opens the door and sticks his head out, grinning from ear to ear. "You guys can come see them."
Practically the entire group comes in. It became very crowded in the medical bay, so the bots placed the humans on their shoulders.
"Et, et, et, a couple at a time!" Ratchet scolds, pushing out some of the group away from the berth Quickshadow was laying on.
"How do you feel, Quickie?" Cody asks.
The femme lifts her forearm off of her face. "Like Salvage crushed my insides in his garbage compactor."
The group chuckles. "You better thank your carriers for the sl*g they went through to bring you into this world," she continues. "Why are birthdays a celebration of the child? The carrier should be getting the recognition!"
"So, boy or girl?" Frankie asks excitedly.
Heatwave—who was in the corner with Knockout—turns around with a bundle in his arms, his proud smile stretching across his face. "It's a girl," he whispers, approaching the group.
Everyone crowds around to see the new sparkling. The new arrival had a similar shape and form to her carrier, but the coloring of her sire. Her optics were shaped like Quickshadows, but when she opened them, they were the amber color of Heatwaves.
"Isn't she the most beautiful bot you've ever seen?" Heatwave asks, looking at his daughter with newfound love.
"Don't know what to do with her, do you?" Chief asks with a knowing smile.
"Where has she been all this time?" Heatwave asks with wonder.
Chase smiles at his brother. "Can I hold my niece?"
"Take it easy, she was just born," Heatwave says, moving his daughter away. "You can hold her later."
The group laughs at the new sire's reaction. A moment of silence passes, and Heatwave looks up at Chase, who is still waiting for his turn to hold his niece. "Fine," the firebot sighs, reluctantly passing his daughter to his brother.
"She's so tiny," Chase murmurs, smiling down at his newest relative. The newborn sparkling was about the size of a full grown human.
"She's like the perfect mix between you two," Chief says, looking down at the sparkling from his spot on Chase's shoulder.
"Oh, Primus, don't let her get both of our stubbornness," Quickshadow groans from her berth.
"Wait, what's her name?" Dani asks from Blades's shoulder.
"Hmm, we haven't thought of a name yet," Quickshadow says, as Heatwave gently takes his sparkling from Chase and hands her to his sparkmate.
"We couldn't decide on one," Heatwave says. "We were thinking of giving her a name that has ties to her family on Earth."
"Noble!" Cody exclaims with his usual phrase.
"Are you suggesting that as a name?" Heatwave laughs, to which the boy merely shrugs.
"How about Blossom?" Dani suggests. "Like Blossom Vale?"
"Maine?" Graham suggests, chuckling sheepishly.
"Milky Way?" Blades suggests, laughing halfway through as he realizes how lame it sounded.
"Griffin?" Boulder suggests.
"I like that name for a mechling," Heatwave says.
"Let's wait a year before we consider another," Quickshadow says quickly.
"Moropolis?" Blurr mischievously suggests, earning a cuff on the chin from Tigris. The speedster laughs his butt off at his suggestion.
Quickshadow thinks for a moment. "I think I like Cody's suggestion best."
"Really?" Cody asks dubiously as he laughs; he wasn't suggesting anything when he said his favorite phrase.
"It does have its ties to your Earth family," Chief shrugs.
"And Noble means 'having high morals or principles,'" Quickshadow adds. "A fine quality to have."
"I think our daughter will be a noble bot," Heatwave nods, looking at his sparkmate. The two talk through their bond before speaking in English. "Everyone, welcome Noble Burns into the family!"
The group claps, and Noble scrunches up her face in discomfort at the sound.
"Sorry," Dani whispers to the baby as the group quiets down.
The group gets their chance to hold the sparkling. "She's so cute," Dani squeaks as Blades reluctantly passes Noble to Blurr.
"Be very careful," Heatwave growls, looking at his teammate warily.
"Yeet," Blurr says, standing very still as he holds the sparkling.
Even so, his remark scares the new creators. "That's not even funny," Quickshadow says.
"I thought it was," Blurr says, passing the sparkling to Tigris. Once the sparkling is out of his hands, Heatwave knocks the racecar back.
The newest arrival gets past around as coos and squeals fill the room. As her daughter gets passed around, Quickshadow smiles. "Fracture might have destroyed my life once…" she thinks. "And he tried again… But he's failed… My family is here to stay. And it's only growing bigger."
The new carrier sits up in her berth and takes her sparkling back, making room for her sparkmate to sit next to her. After being tortured and watching her life fall apart, then slowly picking up the pieces of her life and learning to love again, only to have that life threatened, this was the best surprise she could be given. "What did I do without you…" Quickshadow murmurs, staring at her beautiful, perfect daughter.
Soo that's the end of this story! Hope y'all enjoyed it, and sorry it took so long to send out chapters. I might have an idea for a sequel... centered around Heatwave... but I'm not sure if I'll have the time or energy to write it... Or if fans will want it. If a lot of you want it, I maybe, mayyyyyyyybe will try to write it... but as for right now:
The End! ;)