Chapter 2: A Solo Mission Gone Horribly Wrong
Some time later, at the Academy, Hot Shot was outside doing some target practice with the slingshot he was gifted to by Salvage a couple of years prior, while his Mini-Con dog partner, Fireplug, dozed in the sun. Hot Shot had found some empty cans from the local recycling center in Milford and had arranged them into a stack, and was using ball bearings as ammunition for the slingshot.
"Hey, Fireplug, think I can knock down this stack of cans with one shot?" Hot Shot asked.
Fireplug just rolled over, and Hot Shot assumed he meant to say "yes".
"Okay, here we go." said Hot Shot.
Hot Shot drew back the slingshot, and soon sent a ball bearing flying through the air and into the stack of cans. The bearing soon met its mark, and the stack of cans was sent tumbling to the ground.
"Boo-yah!" Hot Shot cried out with glee. "That's how it's done!"
"Nice shot, Hot Shot." a voice then said.
The voice belonged to Bumblebee.
"You're getting pretty good with that thing, aren't you?" Bumblebee asked.
"Yep." nodded Hot Shot. "And getting better every day."
"You sure are." agreed Bumblebee. "Oh, by the way, your dad wants to see you."
"Okay." said Hot Shot. "Come on, Fireplug!"
Hot Shot gave a shrill whistle that caused Fireplug to wake up, and the Mini-Con followed his master into Heatwave's office, where Heatwave was waiting at his desk.
"You wanted to see me, Dad?" asked Hot Shot.
"Yes." replied Heatwave. "I have a job for you."
"What is it?" Hot Shot queried.
"A farmer on the outskirts of Milford reported something burning on his property." Heatwave explained. "I want you to check it out and see what you can do about it."
Hot Shot's circuits surged with excitement.
"Does that mean what I think it means?" he grinned.
"It does indeed." Heatwave nodded with a smile. "Consider this your first official solo mission. Good luck."
"I'll have that fire out before you can say "Rescue Bots, roll to the rescue"!" Hot Shot declared as he raced out of the office. "Come on, Fireplug!"
Fireplug yapped happily as he followed Hot Shot. Heatwave shook his head with amusement as he watched the two leave.
"There's always one, isn't there?" he chuckled.
Meanwhile, Hot Shot was racing to the emergency in his fire truck mode with Fireplug riding in his cab. He soon spotted the farmer standing by the road waving a red handkerchief in the air. Hot Shot pulled up to where the farmer was standing.
"Where's the fire, sir?" Hot Shot asked.
"Over there, near the orchards." the farmer replied.
The farmer pointed to the area in question, where Hot Shot could clearly see a thick plume of black smoke rising up through the air.
"Stay back, sir." Hot Shot said. "I'll take care of it."
The farmer nodded, and Hot Shot drove over to the fire, where he saw what looked like a car on fire. After letting Fireplug out of his cab, Hot Shot transformed into robot mode.
"Power up and energize!" he said.
Hot Shot's Combi-Cannon appeared, and at the same time, Fireplug transformed into a water cannon and flew right into Hot Shot's hand.
"Thanks, buddy." said Hot Shot. "As they say, "two are better than one"."
Hot Shot then began spraying firefighting foam on the car, both with Fireplug and his Combi-Cannon. Soon, the fire was out, and Hot Shot used Fireplug to spray water on the foam-covered car to wash the foam away, but as he washed off the last of the foam, he discovered something strange. The car was in a deplorable state, as the front doors and seats were missing, the wheels had no tires, the glass was broken off the windows and windshield, one of the headlights was missing, and the whole car itself had large patches of rust everywhere, and due to the fire, scorch marks were also visible.
"This is strange." Hot Shot thought out loud as Fireplug reverted back to his original form. "This car looks like it's been like this for a long time."
And that's not all he noticed. the next thing Hot Shot spotted was a series of burn patterns all over the interior of the car.
"Okay, something is definitely up." Hot Shot determined.
However, what Hot Shot didn't know was that Bug Bite and Afterburner were watching from further away.
"That's it." said Afterburner. "Nice and easy."
Back at the scene of the fire, Hot Shot was examining the derelict car when he suddenly spotted something else on the ground. A strange glowing pink liquid had formed a small puddle in the grass. Hot Shot dipped his finger in the liquid to get a better look at it, and when he did, his optics widened.
"This is crude energon!" he gasped.
Just then, Hot Shot heard Fireplug barking.
"What's up, boy?" he asked.
Fireplug then pointed with his paw to the ground, which showed a faint trail of the same pink liquid.
"Good job, Fireplug." said Hot Shot. "Let's follow this trail."
And so they did. The trail let to a patch of dirt. Fireplug then pointed with his paw at the dirt, as if to tell his master that something was buried underneath.
"Something's under there?" Hot Shot asked.
Fireplug barked once, indicating "yes", and he immeditately began digging. It wasn't long before his efforts paid off. As it turned out, buried in the ground was a drum bearing a warning label that said "Warning; Extremely Combustible Materials" in Cybertronian text. The drum had a small trickle of its contents dripping down the side from a hole in the top. A torch of some kind was also found. Seeing these items confirmed Hot Shot's suspicions.
"That settles it." he said. "This fire was no accident. I better tell Dad about this."
Back at the Academy, Heatwave was watching a lobbing game on a holographic screen projecting from his desk. It was close to the end of the game, and Heatwave was watching on the edge of his seat.
"Come on...come on..." he said.
Just then, one of the two lobbing teams playing scored a point, and the subsequent sound of the audience cheering was heard.
"And with that last point, the Iacon Primes win the championship!" an announcer's voice then said.
Needless to say, Heatwave was elated to hear this.
"OH, YES! YES! YES! WE GOT IT, BABY!" he hollered as he pranced around the room. "WE GOT IT! WE GOT IT! WOO! YEAH, BABY! WE GOT IT!"
Heatwave's celebration was interrupted by his comm ringing, and he immediately pulled himself together and answered it.
"This is Heatwave." he said in a much calmer voice. "Go ahead."
The caller turned out to be Hot Shot.
"Hey, Dad, it's me." Hot Shot said.
"Perfect timing, Hot Shot." his father replied. "I was just about to call you. How's the mission going?"
"Well, the fire's out, Dad." Hot Shot informed.
"Good." said Heatwave. "So can I expect you back at the Academy soon?"
"Not just yet, Dad." said Hot Shot. "Listen, there's something funny about this fire."
That immediately peaked Heatwave's interest.
"What do you mean by "funny"?" he asked.
"Dad, this fire was no accident." said Hot Shot. "I found a burned car that already looks like something straight out of a junk heap, and later I found a barrel of crude energon. Furthermore, I found burn patterns all over the inside of the car. So, if you ask me, I think this fire was set deliberately."
As Heatwave listened to his son's report, he knew for sure that there was no way Hot Shot was making it up.
"You're right, Hot Shot." he said. "This does sound suspicious. I'll send Chase to your location. Wait for him by the farm gate."
"Roger that, Dad." said Hot Shot. "I'm on my way there right now. See you later."
With that, the two ended their call, and Hot Shot began making his way to the gate. But he didn't get very far, because at that moment, two hands grabbed him from behind.
"What the...?!" he gasped. "Hey, what's going on?!"
"Quiet, kid!" said a harsh voice. Unknown to Hot Shot at the time, the voice was Afterburner's.
Afterburner then began forcing Hot Shot's arms behind his back as Bug Bite brough over some energon chains.
"Let me go!" shouted Hot Shot as he struggled to free himself from the Skyscorcher's grasp. "What do you want from me?"
Afterburner didn't reply, and Fireplug, knowing his master was in trouble, growled ferociously and clamped his jaws down on Bug Bite's arm, causing the latter to cry out in pain.
"Get off me, you mutt!" Bug Bite snarled.
Bug Bite then kicked Fireplug as hard as he could, causing the Mini-Con dog to yelp in pain as he released his assailant's arm. Seeing this caused Hot Shot's anger to grow hotter.
"Big mistake, pal..." he growled.
Hot Shot, after elbowing Afterburner to release the Skyscorcher's grip on him, then delivered a roundhouse kick to Bug Bite's face, resulting in him falling over. Afterburner was stunned at what he was seeing.
"Man, he sure fights well for a little guy." he said to himself.
Hot Shot then looked at Fireplug.
"Come on, boy!" he said. "Let's make a run for it!"
Hot Shot then scooped up Fireplug and began making a mad dash for the gate.
"I just hope Chase is on his way." he thought.
Just then, a small metal object landed in front of Hot Shot, and the young Rescue Bot was overcome with fright at what it was.
"Grenade!" his mind cried.
Hot Shot quickly set Fireplug down and threw himself over the grenade.
"Fireplug, run!" he said. "Hide!"
Fireplug did as Hot Shot commanded just as the grenade went off, sending a wave of electromagnetic energy through Hot Shot's systems. It wasn't long before Hot Shot blacked out completely and dropped to the ground. Bug Bite and Afterburner then came over to their victim. Bug Bite was holding a grenade launcher.
"Gotta admit, Bug Bite, you're a pretty good shot with that thing." said Afterburner.
"Thank you very much." Bug Bite smiled with a slight bow.
Afterburner then called Lockdown on his comm.
"The kid's ours, boss." he said.
"Good work." said Lockdown. "Hardtop and Detritus are on their way."
"We'll be ready for them." said Afterburner. "And we'll make sure our friend is too."
The two Mercenaries ended their conversation, then Afterburner and Bug Bite began tying Hot Shot up. It wasn't long before Hardtop and Detritus arrived, with Detritus pulling a flatbed trailer in tow.
"He's all tied up, guys." said Bug Bite.
"Good." said Hardtop. "Let's load him up and get out of here."
And so, Afterburner and Bug Bite loaded Hot Shot onto the trailer and zoomed off back to the compound. Meanwhile, back at the compound, Lockdown was reporting his lackeys' progress to Madeline.
"The other guys are on their way with the kid." he said.
Madeline smiled a wicked grin as she heard this.
"Wonderful." she said. "Very soon, revenge will be mine."
End Of Chapter 2