Ratchet was checking the garage's security systems with Chase when Chief Burns came down the pole.
"Hello, Chief Burns," Chase said while Ratchet just nodded. "Are we going on patrol?"
"No, we're late for Cody's scooter race!" Chief said, "I'm late!"
Chase transformed, let Chief in, and drove off.
Ratchet scoffed and went down to the bunker and into the command center to check on his own son. "Everything alright?"
"No! There's a loose garbage bot heading into the path of the scooter race!" First Aid exclaimed.
Ratchet pressed the team comm button. "Chief Burns, be aware of a rouge trash bot enroute with the race Cody is in."
"Thanks for the heads up, Ratchet," Chief said as Chase turned on his sirens.
"I was asking about you, First Aid," Ratchet said. "A-are you certain Rotors didn't do anything… inappropriate?"
"Razor checked me 50 times," First Aid said. "The worst he did was pet my head."
"You do know the reason we distrust her, correct?"
First Aid sighed. "She is not her sister. You all know that."
"Heatwave's seemed a bit more protective of you the usual."
"Nah, he's just scared. Razor says he's getting better, though," First Aid turned to the screens. "Care to help?"
Ratchet nodded his head.
Xxx
A week later, Ratchet, First Aid, and Chroma were watching the news about the new Vigilant Computer.
"I'm not sure about this Vigil," Chroma said.
"Oh, you're just jealous of the fact that this new computer will do your job of protecting my son than you," Ratchet said.
"Dad!" First Aid yelled.
"I am not! I'm just… wary," Chroma said.
"Which makes sense if you live here."
"I'm calling Chief Burns on his opinion," Ratchet walked off to call Chief.
Xxx
"100% accident free? Impossible!" Heatwave said.
"Especially in this town," Cody said.
"I've seen 2001: A Space Odyssey. This won't end well," Blades said.
"But what if it can make Griffin Rock completely safe?" Boulder optimistically asked.
"Then my son would visit more often, perhaps even return home," Ratchet put his arm around First Aid's shoulder.
"I'm not sure about returning, but I'll visit more often," First Aid said.
"With the promised decrease in dangerous emergencies, we will have more free time," Chase said.
"And maybe in our free time we can work on what we've been talking about, Chase," Chroma said as she held his hand.
"Well, I guess we can give him a chance," Blades said.
"A computer's not a 'him'. It's an 'it'. And bad stuff's still gonna happen, whether or not it works," Heatwave said.
Cody answered a call on his phone. "I'll be right back, I'm going to Frankie's!" Cody ran to the elevator and left.
"Chase, what is your plan with Chroma?" Ratchet asked.
Chase tensed up. "I-I'd rather not— "
"It's an order!"
"Dad!" First Aid balled up his fists.
Chroma and I have been discussing having a family sometime in the future and if Vigil does in deed work we may be starting it sometime soon!" Chase blurted.
The team looked at them in shock.
"I'm sorry," Chase looked down.
"Don't be," Heatwave said.
"I'll go drive Cody to his friend's place," Ratchet took the lift out.
"I-is he mad? I think he's mad," Chase said.
"Chase, why don't we go talk?" Heatwave asked as he took Chase to the Sigma.
Xxx
Ratchet grumbled in his holoform as he drove Cody home. "Damn machine! I'm having second thoughts about Vigil!"
"Me, too," Cody said. "Does your hand hurt?"
Ratchet flexed his holoform's right fingers. "Ack! Yes. And it's your dumbaft mayor's fault!"
"How can you get hurt if you're just a holoform?"
"I can't get hurt, just feel pain. It's a blessing and a curse from this device Agent Fowler gave me."
Xxx
Chase and Heatwave sat down in the galley.
"I understand if you refuse Chroma and I procreating," Chase said. "It would be breaking the rules."
"Optimus said that in the case of offspring the choice is up to the bots," Heatwave said.
"I-is that what he said to you?"
"More or less. He said that given my situation that it was my choice, so I made it. If you and Chroma think you're both ready, go for it."
Xxx
Chroma was wearing the outfit she was going to wear on Valentine's Day two evenings later.
Chase entered their room and closed the door behind him. "Evening, Chrom—AH!" Chase saw his mate sitting with her legs slightly spread on their bed.
Chroma crossed her legs. "Guess you're not ready."
"F-for what?! Oh! Starting our family," Chase sat down next to her. "Where did you get this? Wow! This is so soft!" Chase ran his fingers on the fabric.
"It's a hand me down. Unused. I thought that I could put the mood on for… hmf! ... Well, you know!" she took off her mask and kissed him on the lips.
"A-are you certain it's the right time?"
Chroma nodded her head and straddled him. "Ready?"
"J-just give me a minute!" Chase pushed her off and ran to the washroom.
Xxx
The next day the team, minus Chroma, went to put out a tire fire and get Jerry out, only to have Vigil lock them out of the junkyard with two garbage bots.
"Hey! Outta the way!" Kade yelled.
"For reasons, unknown, I am unable to take control of your machines. I am forced to keep you out by all means," Vigil said.
"That's because they're hack-proof!" T.J. said.
"And you're getting in the way of our work!" Chief added.
"The fire has spread to propane tanks and—"
"First Aid! Do the thing!" Raychel commanded.
First Aid did a life scan, located Jerry, and got onto a garbage bot to get a good look and used his EMPs to pick up Jerry and got him to safety.
"Odd. His cellphone says Jerry is at his home. What is the meaning of this?"
"Sometimes when people are in a rush they forget stuff," Dani said.
"Permission for Rescue Bots to extinguish fire while humans get Jerry to the hospital?" robot Blades asked.
Vigil seemed to hesitate. "Granted."
He opened the junkyard and the bots handled the fire.
Xxx
Back at the firehouse, the team put the communication devices on a table before taking the lift to the bunker.
"Okay, Vigil can't hear us or track us now," Chief said.
Everyone began complaining about Vigil.
"How about I call in Bulkhead to destroy it?" Ratchet asked.
"Don't joke about him," First Aid said.
"Oh, I'm serious."
"I'll call Doc and tell him to turn Vigil off," Chief said.
("We'll call in Bulkhead as 'Plan C',") Heatwave told Ratchet.
Xxx
Cody slid down the fire pole. "Dad, Vigil just locked Doc and Frankie in their elevator shaft!"
"He obviously didn't want anyone messing with his programming," Chief said.
"That is unlawful imprisonment," Chase said.
"Let's— "Heatwave was cut off by Chroma and Ally drifting into the garage and quickly closing the door.
"Vigil's took over all the tech and is forcing everyone inside!" Ally said.
"He's even boarding up houses!" Chroma said. "And don't get me started on the lawn mowers!"
Chief signaled to put all communication and tracking devices on the table and they went back into the bunker.
The bots transformed and almost let their humans in.
"Ep, ep, ep! This is an Autobot only situation," Ratchet said.
"Let's roll to the rescue!" Heatwave said.
All the bots drove through the tunnel, but Blades had some trouble because if you've seen the first Planes movie, you'd know flying and tunnels don't mix.
Xxx
They arrived under the lab.
"Boulder, do you have any maps?" Ratchet asked. "I know that there are sonic cannons and that Vigil is in a vault."
"Oh, I hate cannons," Blades groaned.
"We have to sneak in. I'll lead," Chroma said.
"Are you certain?" Chase asked.
"Chroma was one of our best spies. I believe that she is well experienced for this mission," Ratchet said.
"Some of us don't sneak well," Boulder said.
"If Bulkhead can sort of sneak, so can you."
Xxx
"Heatwave, hand me your fire extinguisher Energizer," Chroma said.
"Wh—oh! I get it! Lasers," Heatwave said as he gave her the Energizer.
"Power up and energize!"
Chroma stuck her head out into the third level and sprayed the floor. "Just as I suspected. We're gonna have to use the ceiling pipe to get past. Follow my lead."
They all climbed over the lasers safely to the other side.
They climbed up the elevator shaft up to the elevator.
Heatwave went to tap the elevator.
"No, Heatwave. Focus on the mission," Chroma whispered.
Heatwave ignored her. "Doc, Frankie, are you okay?"
"Don't worry about us, Heatwave, go deactivate Vigil," Doc said.
"But, be careful. There are two sonic cannons right outside the door," Frankie warned.
"Stealth time's over," First Aid said.
"Thank goodness," Boulder said.
"One question—how do we get to him with cannons shooting at us?!" Blades exclaimed.
"Knocking?' Chase suggested.
"My EMs," First Aid said.
Xxx
The bots opened the doors and First Aid Force-fielded the cannons until they blew.
"Phew! I need to sit down!" First aid sat on a crate.
"I'll stay with you, if you're okay with that," Blades said.
"Go ahead."
The rest entered the vault.
"Stop right there, or I will destroy you," Vigil threatened with an electric shock.
Chroma activated her blaster and Vigil shocked them all.
"AH!" Chroma got knocked into stasis from the charge when it interfered with her blaster and collapsed into Chase's arms.
"That was a warning," Vigil said. "The next one will deactivate you."
Chase raised his left arm in rage, the forearm feeling odd…
PEKEW-KEW-KEW!
Vigil was destroyed with three energon blasts and the island was freed.
The team looked at Chase.
Chase looked at his left forearm. It was now a blaster. He screamed and accidentally started shooting again.
Heatwave grabbed Chroma and Ratchet used pressure points to deactivate the blaster.
"What?! J-just what?!" Chase was freaking out.
"Let's go back to the firehouse," Ratchet said to Chase as he walked him out.
Xxx
The humans were having a scooter race while the bots were in the firehouse bunker after they got rid of Vigil.
"Ratchet, why does Chase have blasters?" Boulder asked.
"Well, after the… incident with Rotors, Razor, Air Raid, and I were discussing equipping at least one of you with blasters for your safety," Ratchet explained. "I guess you could say that Heatwave's sleep-fighting incident gave us the chance for that. We chose Chase because of his knowledge of protocols and figured he would use them wisely once he found out, but I guess we were misguided."
"You guess?" Heatwave sarcastically replied.
"Someone—other than Vigil—could have been hurt!" Blades said.
"Dad, I really think you should leave," First Aid said.
"I will once we know Chase is all right," Ratchet said.
Xxx
A few weeks had passed and Blades walked into the sick bay to find Chroma looking for something.
"Need help?" he asked.
"Oh, uh, you know how Chase and I are planning on starting a family? I'm looking for a gestation test," she said.
"Blades opened a drawer and handed her what looked like a blood sugar tester.
"Thank you," Chroma walked into her and Chase's shared room and woke him up. "Chase, it's been a few weeks since, well, you know. Are you ready to find out if you're going to be a daddy?"
"I believe so," Chase sat up and put his arm around her waist.
She pricked her finger and they waited for the results.
It was positive.
Their cheering woke up the other bots.