Back To You

Chapter 6: Escape

Static.

Scowling at the datapad, he hung up and tried again.

...More static.

He gave up. Discarding the device on his desk, he slumped in his chair and rubbed his temples.

Why the frag wasn't she answering?

It had been three days since they agreed to meet via holo-call to discuss her pressing matter, three days since she stopped answering his calls, and three days since he started going mad.

His mind raced with every possible reason why she hadn't even sent him a text.

What if she had been captured? What if she had gotten hurt? What if—?

He sucked in air through gritted denta, using a breathing technique Quickshadow taught him to help himself calm down.

By the fifth or sixth breath, he was calm enough to form coherent thoughts and push the made-up scenarios away. She was probably busy and simply didn't have time. He was overthinking this way too much. It wasn't the first time they had to reschedule one of their calls; he just needed to wait.

Days went by, and still nothing. No new messages and she still wouldn't answer his calls.

Unfortunately, patience was a virtue Heatwave didn't possess and he started to overthink again. He wasn't one to worry this much, that was Blades' department, but her radio silence had him paranoid.

It was his overprotective side getting the better of him. He knew Quickshadow could take care of herself, but he hated that he wasn't there to protect her from potential threats.

Days turned to weeks, and he started shutting down, slowly falling into the isolation he had evaded months ago. He drowned himself in his work, hoping to distract himself by fulfilling his assignments.

It didn't work, and he grew more and more frustrated. He admonished himself for not being able to pull himself together. He was the leader; he was supposed to be strong, but he was stuck in a cycle of dread and self-deprecation with no way out.

His teammates started to worry; even Blurr, who made it his job to pester him any chance he got, was concerned. They tried to distract him and offered encouragement, but nothing worked. Heatwave shut them out, refusing to let them see him at his low.

—

Quickshadow stared at her datapad, digits frozen on either side of the device.

She'd lost count of how many times Heatwave called in the past hour alone, but she hadn't answered a single one. She wanted to but couldn't; it was too much of a risk.

After the interaction with Eclipse three days ago, he'd gone about his daily tasks as if nothing had happened. He hadn't brought up the subject at all.

She recognized the behavior as one of his manipulation tactics. To act indifferent, so she would constantly be on edge around him. If he waited long enough, her paranoia would overwhelm her, and she wouldn't be able to anticipate his next move.

It was working; she had locked herself in her chambers since that night, emotions on high. She fought with her anxiety, determined not to succumb to his mind tricks.

'Damn him.' she cursed as she sat on her berth and tried to ease her breathing. As she meditated, a single thought filled her mind. She needed to go back.

But how?

Agents were restricted from using the space bridges without authorization from their superintendents, and her former superintendent announced he was transferring sectors, leaving Eclipse in charge of finishing the mission. It was too late to ask for permission; she had to escape.

She'd done it before; she could do it again.

—

A few more weeks passed, and Kade decided his partner had sulked long enough. He forced him to go on patrol just so he would quit moping in his office.

"Look, this is Quickshadow we're talking about. She can take care of herself."

Heatwave couldn't contradict that. He knew Quickshadow was more than capable of fending on her own, but why suddenly cut all communication with him? Especially when she wanted to discuss something important.

"It's almost been a month." Kade frowned. "Maybe her mission did get extended..and cutting communication is her way of telling you." he bit his tongue, debating over what he was about to say. "Maybe...she's not coming back."

Heatwave felt himself swerve off the road; Kade grabbed his steering wheel before he crashed into the statue of Horace Burns in town square.

Startled, Heatwave pulled over and apologized to his partner, ignoring the startled looks from a few citizens who witnessed the scene.

"You okay?" Kade asked, still in shock himself. A slight nod was the only response he got from the firebot.

He was stuck in a trance. Maybe she wasn't coming back. It was a bitter pill to swallow; he hated thinking that he'd never see her again, and hearing it aloud added a certain weight to it. It made it feel real when he desperately wanted it to be another one of his irrational thoughts.

—

Quickshadow kept to her usual corner in the briefing room, attentive to Eclipse's announcement despite already being aware of the news. He was putting another mech in charge for the day after stating he'd be attending a meeting with other Secret Service leaders in another base.

Her sparkbeat quickened; she'd been anticipating this day for weeks. It was the perfect opportunity to escape. Eclipse would be gone the whole day; all she needed to do was sneak into his office and grab the extra keycard he always kept in the bottom of his desk drawer to gain access to the space bridge.

She perked up, realizing the meeting was over, and started for the exit, but his voice stopped her. "Slipchain."

She begrudgingly turned around, hiding her disdain.

"I trust you won't try anything while I'm away."

A shiver ran down her spinal strut, but she kept a straight face and forced herself to nod. She learned it was better to let him think he had the upper hand.

"Good." he walked past her. "One hit and that sparkling is as good as gone."

Her spark skipped a beat at the threat. It was the first time he'd mentioned it since that night, and even though she expected a threat sooner or later, it caught her off guard.

She monitored his movements on the security feed and waited for him to disappear through the awaiting ground bridge before she made her move.

Eclipse's threat rang in her helm as she searched his office for his keycard and all the way to the room where the space bridge was.

The padlock recognized the keycard, but her servo hovered over the handle, hesitant to continue; she was having second thoughts.

She reminded herself to breathe. Everything would be fine as long as she deleted the coordinates from the machine's history before she left.

She quietly slipped in and activated the space bridge, typing in the coordinates to the one in the Mainland Traning Facility.

Her fears slowly dissipated at the bright green portal that manifested, and she let herself breathe. She was finally going home.