The team was putting shellac on the Darby Ava. The tension between Heatwave and Chase was extremely thick.
"Bored. Boring. Boredom," Kade complained. "Oh! Heatwave, how 'bout we put shellac into your pipes and we'll be done in no time!"
"And have that stuff gum up my pipes? Forget it!" Heatwave said.
"Boats don't take care of themselves," Chief Burns told Kade.
"Maybe we can make one does," Boulder said.
"Or one of us can turn into one and go away," Chase stated while glaring at Heatwave.
"I get the message!" Heatwave yelled.
The team got distracted by a dog barking.
"Uh, oh! Guys, over here!" T.J. shouted. "A dog's stuck on the rocks!"
The team ran over.
"I'll call animal control," Raychel said.
"Tide's coming in!" Graham said.
First Aid used his EMPs to make a safety bubble around the dog. "Someone move the rocks!"
Heatwave jumped over the chain-link fence and moved the rocks on the leash, freeing the mutt.
"He's okay," First Aid said after he scanned the dog. "A little hungry and had a rough night, but he's okay."
Heatwave was hit by a wave.
"Are you alright?" Chase asked.
Heatwave spat out sea water. "Like you care!"
"Well, are you?" Kade asked.
"I think I sprained my leg."
"I'll help you out," Blades transformed.
Xxx
"It's alright, boy," Cody said as he dried off the dog. "You're fine now!"
The dog licked his face and Cody laughed.
"Well, someone made a friend," Dani said.
"And here comes the question in three, two, one," Kade said.
"Can we keep him, Dad?" Cody asked.
"We have to find his owner first, Cody," Chief said.
"Well, he lost his tags," T.J. said.
"Jackie says we need to get his chip checked," Raychel said.
"He doesn't look familiar," Dani said.
"Maybe Doctor Doolittle's seen him," Kade said.
"The dog show's in a few days," Graham said. "Maybe we'll find his owner there."
"I'll check it out," Chief said.
"I'll take good care of him, Dad. Honestly, I will," Cody pleaded.
"Cody, we have to find his owner first. If nobody claims him, we'll see about adopting him."
"I hope K-9 doesn't mind having a new roommate," Heatwave said.
Xxx
"Now, what are we gonna call you?" Cody asked the dog.
"Buster," the dog said.
"His name's Buster," K-9 translated.
Buster wagged his tail.
"Is 'Buster' alright?" Chase asked.
"Most breeds of dogs do that when they're happy, Chase," Boulder explained.
"So, now what do you do with a dog-dog and not a Maximal-dog? No offense, K-9," Blades said.
"None taken," K-9 said, "but, there is a language barriers."
"You pet him, take him for walks, teach him tricks," Chase backed up. "Buster, come here, boy!"
Buster just sat there and looked and K-9.
"Nah. I'll let them figure it out," K-9 said.
"Maybe he's having a bad day," Blades said.
Chief walked in. "No one from the dog show is missing their dog, Cody. Why don't you bring…"
"Buster," Cody said.
"Buster with Jackie and I while we put these lost and found posters around town?"
"Sure! K-9, wanna join?"
"I'll get the leashes!" K-9 jumped off the couch, minding his leg.
Xxx
Heatwave shoved Chase into his room.
"Heatwave, I told you how I feel about your crush on me," Chase said.
"And I can't believe you reacted like that! Y-you don't even know how that felt like! A punch in the face is better than that!" Heatwave said.
"Well, your kind is highly disgusting."
"My kind?! Which one? Fire-bot? My sexuality?"
"Clearly your sexuality. You know you can't be queer."
Heatwave looked at Chase in shock. "Y-you think I had a CHOICE?! I-I didn't even know I was bi until I became a firefighter!"
"And did you tell your team then? Your creators?"
Heatwave felt as if he was punched in the gut. "Don't talk about my creators." He growled.
"Why? Because they failed at raising a non-queer?"
"Shut up."
"Did they call you what you deserve to be called: a freak?"
"Shut up!" Heatwave was fighting back tears.
"Are you dead to them?"
"I said 'shut up'! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!"
"I guess you are then," Chase left the room.
Heatwave slammed the doors shut, flopped down on his berth, and cried.
Xxx
Jackie was putting up old fashion 'found dog' posters when she heard someone say 'showtime!'
She mounted Abby. "C'mon, let's go."
They walked over to Cody and Frankie, who was with her dogs, Aristotle and Edison.
"Trigger words?" she asked.
"Yep," Frankie said.
"Can I try?" Cody asked.
"Go ahead."
"Showtime!"
The two dogs sat up.
"Man, I wish Buster could do that," Cody said.
"Who's buster?" Frankie asked.
"Him," Jackie handed her a flyer. "He was found by the docks. I think it was the storm's fault."
"Poor guy… maybe you can bring him to the show, even enter him. Maybe his owner will be there."
Jackie pulled out her phone. "I'll tell the live-stream team. We'll bring K-9, too."
Xxx
Kade walked the Heatwave's room and knocked on the door. "C'mon, Heatwave! We have to buy more dog food for Buster and K-9!"
He heard Heatwave grumble something in protest.
He opened the minicon lock and opened the door to Heatwave's room. "Wanna repeat that?"
Heatwave sat up in his berth. "G-give me a minute."
"Wait. Are you crying?" Kade asked.
"Y-yeah. Chase and I …. H-had a fight… and h-he crossed a line."
Xxx
"Alright, Kade," Chief said into his cell phone. "I'll ask Chase about this argument he had with Heatwave."
Cody walked over to him. "Dad, can I enter Buster in the dog show? Frankie and Jackie said it's a good idea and we could also enter K-9."
K-9 gave an uncertain growl.
"Well, K-9 hurt his leg last night… w-we'll see about it," Chief said. "But, it could help us find Buster's owner."
"Thanks, Dad! Also, Jackie's going to see about setting up a live-stream at the dog show," Cody said.
Xxx
Kade had loaded the dog food into Heatwave and they pulled out of the parking lot.
"Wanna take the long way home?" Kade asked.
Heatwave nodded.
They drove for about two minutes.
"The fight was about your crush, wasn't it?" Kade asked.
Heatwave sighed. "Yeah. He started asking me questions I was uncomfortable with… things like my family. Said I was a freak and queer."
"Yikes. That is some… pretty harsh stuff."
"And last night, he said he would have threatened to contact the Rescue Ethics Department if things were different. Those guys are the worst!"
"What's wrong with them?"
"Ugh! They take away bots who are considered unethical according to our culture and jobs and, depending on the severity, they're never seen again. Once, back when I was a firefighter on Cybertron, my team and I responded to a space craft fire and we found… we found a mech. He had burns over 90% of his body and his… his… parts were gone! Everyone was shocked he was still alive and we did everything we could to keep him that way. A-as we transported him to the hospital he kept repeating 'Rescue ethics, rescue ethics, rescue ethics.' The hospital was unable to save him. I ran his identifying marks. He was one of us. A firefighter. He was taken by the Rescue Ethics Department because he was ousted as gay and… and he was punished for what he couldn't control."
"Y-you left Cybertron after that?"
"Well, I signed up to be a Rescue Bot a couple weeks later. I heard that lots of bots who were in the closet took off-planet jobs. But, I soon found out that it was just a rumor. Sometimes, I felt like… taking my life and letting my creators know why in a letter."
"Don't say stuff like that. Killing someone for being different—here in America—is considered a hate crime."
They arrived at the firehouse and Kade got the dog food out of Heatwave.
Heatwave transformed. "Thanks for telling me that stuff… it really helped me… a lot."
"Hey, anytime," Kade said.
Xxx
Chief Burns and Chase were driving to get some take out for the team.
"So, I hear that Heatwave had a crush on you," Chief said.
"Ugh. Disgusting, correct?" Chase asked.
"Oh, uh, Chase, you can't say things like that. It's pretty offensive. And, besides, he knows that you and Chroma are dating."
"He got over his crush on me after Rotors was done with him."
Chief winced a bit. "Chase, I think Heatwave needs emotional support. Did you ask him about his crush?"
"Yes. And he told me exactly when it started."
"Chase, you could have really hurt him. Did you consider that?"
Chase's optics widened a bit. "N-no. I did not."
"I think you owe him an apology."
Xxx
Chief and Cody walked backstage of the dog show.
"Looks like they've already started. Better get up there, son," Chief said.
"I don't think 'sit' and 'stay' are going to work, boy. But, it'll be fun," Cody told Buster.
"And I'm proud of you, Cody."
K-9 walked up to them with a bible in his mouth. "I am so ready for our act! Oh, and the others are here, too."
"Chroma, Blades, First Aid, and their partners are back at the firehouse," Heatwave said over the comm.
"Alright, then. Chase, did you apologize, yet?" Chief asked.
"I… I did," Chase said. "But… it came out… worse."
"And here's our contestants!" Prescott said. "The mayor's wife, Mrs. Lusky and her dog Poopsie, Francine Greene with Aristotle and Edison, Priscilla Pynch and her state-of-the-art robodog, Wi-Fido—cute—and Mrs. Neederlander and… her.. Cat? Mr.…. Pettypaws."
Jackie, with her hair dyed blue, walked onto stage carrying K-9. "I gave the okay."
"Looks like we have a couple of late entries—Cody Burns and his dog, Buster, and Jacqueline Morici with K-9, the police dog. Say, what happened to his leg?"
"One of the bots accidently stepped on him."
"Okay, how about you two go first so he can get some rest?"
Jackie put K-9 down and took out the bible. "Has anyone ever googled 'dogs swearing' before?"
The audience said 'no'.
Jackie knelt down with the bible. "This is what you might find."
K-9 pulled his most serious face and put his left paw on the book.
The audience chuckled a bit.
"That's it! Bye!" Jackie picked up K-9 and left.
Xxx
Poopsie jumped out of her purse, onto a giant beach ball, walked on the ball around the stage, and hopped back into the purse.
Xxx
"Showtime!" Frankie said.
Her dogs juggled the ball on their noses.
Xxx
Priscilla just showed off her robot dog.
Xxx
Cody tried a few tricks with Buster. None worked.
"And now Mrs. Neederlander and Mr. Pettypaws will perform their famous 'Jump Through Fire' trick," Huxley said. "I'm… not sure which one of them does the actual jumping, but…"
The already lit fire ring tripped on the board and lit the stage.
The rescue team got everybody out in an as orderly as possible manner.
"I think that's everybody, Dad," Dani said.
"But, where's Frankie?" Cody asked.
Heatwave ran in with the human in his hands.
First Aid scanned her to make sure she was okay.
"Poopsie! She's still in there!" Mrs. Lusky realized. "Someone rescue my Poopsie!"
"That's my cue!" Buster ran into the tent.
"Buster!" Cody called out.
"Fire-bot save those dogs!" Chief ordered.
Buster ran out as Heatwave approached the tent.
Mrs. Lusky hugged her toy dog as Cody petted Buster.
"Your dog deserves a medal," she said. "and I'll make sure my husband gives him one."
"Fire has been extinguished," robot Heatwave said.
Priscilla walked over to Cody and Buster. "Not bad… for a mutt. How much do you want for him?"
"Sorry, he's not for sale," Cody said.
Priscilla angrily left.
"Yeah, I'd go with a real dog for this case," T.J. said.
The crowd left.
"I don't get it. He can't do tricks but then he pulls off that rescue," Kade said.
Buster did a backflip, much to the team's amusement.
"Okay, this is weird," Heatwave said.
"Perhaps, Buster has been preprogrammed to do tricks whenever he hears a certain word, such as…" Chase trailed when Chroma picked up a stick and threw it.
"Rescue!" she said.
Buster retrieved the stick.
"Well, I guess we figured it out," Boulder said.
"He's been trained as a R-E-S-C-U-E dog?" T.J. asked.
Raychel gave him a look.
"What?" T.J. asked.
"Maybe you'd like to join our team until we find yours," Heatwave petted Buster.
Buster licked his finger in agreement, causing Heatwave to laugh.
Xxx
Heatwave was trying to get into a recharge, but was having some problems. He'd been having them ever since Chase's reaction to the crush.
He got out of his berth and walked into the bunker where Chase was watching a British crime show.
"Hello, Heatwave," Chase said. "Would you care to join me?"
Heatwave sat next to him.
"A-are you still mad at me?" Chase asked.
"You're lucky I haven't reported you to Optimus Prime yet," Heatwave said.
"I have something for you."
"What? Another attempt to hook up with me as an apology?!"
"No! I misworded that phrase! I'm actually giving you this," Chase handed Heatwave a puppy.
Heatwave started to coo the puppy.
"Jackie says she's up for adoption and the team can adopt her after we find Buster's owner," Chase said.
"Aww! She's adorable! I'm still mad at you, though!"
"That is understandable, and for that I am sorry. What do you want to name her?"
"Sparkler."
Xxx
A couple of days later, the Burnses met their bots in the garage to go to an emergency.
"Rescue Bots—and rescue dog—roll to the rescue!"
"So, you and Chase are…?" Kade asked.
"Getting along again. Slowly."
They got to the scene.
"Kids, close off those streets and get everybody out of the way!" Chief ordered. "Heatwave, you know what to do!"
Heatwave, Chase, and Boulder drove up to stop the semi-truck.
Heatwave got out his foam cannon.
"Shoot it in the right front axle," Boulder said. "It should stop."
Heatwave aimed and fired.
"I meant on my signal," Boulder said as the truck began to flip over.
"Oh… let's catch it!" Heatwave ordered.
The three caught it but a wheel got loose and was heading to a newspaper stand.
"Mr. Hunter, move!" Ally said as she and Chroma showed up.
Buster helped Mr. Hunter get to safety when the tire struck the stand.
Dani went to check on him.
Graham picked up a newspaper with Buster's face on it. "Cody, you might want to see this. It's from the mainland."
"Buster?" Cody said in disbelief.
"Looks like he was lost at sea during a rescue on the way back to the mainland," Raychel said as she and her twin looked at the paper.
"He belongs to Chief Duncan of the Coast City fire department," T.J. added.
"You know, I thought he looked familiar," Ally said. "I passed though there on my way here."
"Should've known he was a firedog," Heatwave said as he petted Buster.
"Yay! We found his owner!" Blades sheered, but then he got confused. "That's a good thing, right?"
"It is, but it can be hard to return an animal you're attached to," T.J. said.
"We went through the same thing," Raychel said.
Cody went to tell his dad.
"It's gonna be hard to give him back," Blades said. "We really bonded with him."
"We'll all miss him," Heatwave said.
"Hey, wait a minute, where'd he go?" Chroma asked as she look around.
Ally sighed. "This is why you always need to put your dogs on leashes."
Xxx
Jackie met Joyce and Ionix on their way to a construction site.
"Can I get a lift?" she asked.
Ionix opened his door. "What do you need?"
"I think I know where a missing dog is."
"Purple beret girl?" Joyce asked.
"Yeah, Priscilla. I think she stole him."
"Then I'll get my drake on for intimidation."
"You two are weird," Ionix said.
They met with the team at the site and all got out.
"Remember, Ion, incognito," Joyce said as she went a little dragon.
Jackie heard a dog whimpering and she, Cody, and Chief walked to the limo.
Wi-Fido growled at them.
"Hey! Get away from there!" Priscilla ordered.
"Release the dog and we will," Jackie said as she started to go dragon.
"Not yet," Joyce warned.
"Is there a problem, Chief?" Mayor Lusky asked.
"I hope is just a misunderstanding, Mayor, because dognapping is a pretty serious offense," Chief said.
"The air conditioning better be on," Jackie said. "You saw what Buzzsaw and I did to that car!"
"I found that dog running loose! If you can't keep him under control that's not my problem," Priscilla crossed her arms.
"Please give us the dog," Joyce made her eyes more dragon and started to show her fangs and horns.
Jackie and Cody walked to the limo and Wi-Fido growled at them. Jackie started to look like a daminfurer as she growled back.
"I think it'd be best if you call off your guard dog," Chief said.
"It's just protecting family property," Priscilla tried to put the dog into puppy mode, but the nob on the remote was stuck.
"Don't get frustrated…" Joyce warned.
Priscilla threw the remote to the ground, breaking it.
Wi-Fido glitched out and began to run around, causing havoc.
"This is why I wanted to agsaber," Jackie said.
"Oh, god," Joyce facepalmed.
"Just her face. Only, like, her earlobes. She'd never wear earrings again!"
Wi-Fido knocked over a ladder which fell on the lever of a cement truck.
The rescue team began to evacuate the area.
Cody got Buster out of the limo.
More crazy shit ensued due to Wi-Fido.
"Why are you filming this?" Joyce asked Jackie.
"Miko's not gonna believe this," Jackie said.
Priscilla was chased up the structure's skeleton as Wi-Fido went after her. A bulldozer that she was previously hiding in was turned on by the glitch and driving into the skeleton.
Boulder destroyed the bulldozer.
The structure began to collapse.
Priscilla tried to escape, but the guard dog glitch was blocking her.
"Buster, rescue Priscilla!" Cody ordered.
Buster ran up the ramp and jumped at Wi-Fido, bringing them down two stories.
First Aid used his EMPs to catch Buster.
"What the fuck is this?!" Buster was freaking out.
"Hello?! Is someone going to get me down?!" Priscilla asked.
"Chroma?" Ally asked.
Chroma held out her hands and Priscilla jumped into her arms. She put Priscilla down.
She walked over to Buster. "Thank you." She hugged the mutt and turned to the glitch. "You aren't worth the money."
Xxx
Cody was sadly lying in his bed.
K-9 walked in in his bipedal mode. "You okay?"
"I miss Buster," Cody said.
K-9 sat next to him. "Y'know, the team's been talking about getting a new teammate and… we're getting a new dog—"
"For real?!" Cody sat up.
"Well, don't get your hopes up. We don't know when this is going to happen, okay?"
"It is."
Xxx
"You're moving back to the mainland? That's great news!" Optimus said. "I-I'll help you move back—"
"No, Dad," Ionix said. "Joyce and I are moving to the military base where the Rescue Bots first arrived."
"What will your… earadicons be doing?"
"They're with Razor and are taking shifts looking for Rotors."
Optimus sighed. "I may have a project for you, if you're willing."
(A/N: hmm… what will Ion be doing? And, yes, I know that this little argument between Heatwave and Chase had about Heatwave's sexuality may have been finished fast and cheesey, but it's gonna be a big thing later on in season three.)