Forever In Strife : Transformers Rescue Bots

Chapter XXII

Julie had not spoken to anybody for weeks, almost a month. She just sat in the bunker silently as she remembered memories of Team Prime and Team Magnus. Sitting there, she got startled to someone stomping around, getting her attention as she heard Cody.

"Hey Heatwave, we're off to the...whoa, you're a mess."

"What?" Julie cried, getting up to see sticks, and leaves stuck in Heatwave, along with mud all over him. "Heatwave! What happened?"

"Really? Kade didn't seem to notice. Left me to get back here on my own." Heatwave cried, pulling a stick while looking at Cody.

"That's wrong of him. You don't deserve that. You are a member of the team, you do your duty in the line of danger. He should have at least made sure you were okay." Julie spoke, walking over to him.

"I thought he'd been treating you better, lately." Cody commented.

"Not when there's a female around." Heatwave replied, resuming washing the mud off of himself.

"Don't take it personally, when human men and women get together, their brains just seem to just stop working."

"Hard to tell with your brother."

"I'll talk to him." Julie watched as Cody walked away.

"Let me help you out, Heatwave." Julie spoke, as she flew up to him.

"I thought you weren't interacting with any of us." Heatwave grumbled as he watched her start to wash the mud off his plating.

"I'm not mad at you guys, I'm just frustrated, maybe disappointed. I want to be out helping you guys, but instead I am stuck here. Not just that, but I am starting to really wonder what Optimus and Ratchet would think of me. Whether they saw me as successful or a disappointment, like how Chief Burns looked at me." Julie explained, sighing as she washed the mud off. "I just go off instinct when in danger, sometimes I don't always know what to do, but there is usually this instinct, or urge that tells me what to do, and it works. I just want everyone around me to be alright, to be safe. I am always worrying about myself, those around me, and what the heck may happen in the future. Something is always happening, but no matter what I am usually never able to prevent it...."

"Julie.."

"I just am tired of feeling like a failure. I failed protecting my parents when they died. I failed to protect my one childhood friend and protector, while focusing on saving other people, and I have failed to...."

"Julie.."

"I am just tired of feeling useless. I have to rescue, no matter what, I have to save the lives around me, especially those I care about, I don't care if it ends up being me injured in the process. I just can't..."

"Julie!" Heatwave yelled. "You aren't a failure, you're not a disappointment. I am sure that Chief Burns is not trying to punish you. He was just worried. We were all worried about you when that machine grabbed hold of you, Julie. You have injured yourself more than once, and that time was not when you were rescuing people."

"I couldn't think of much else to do at the time, Heatwave. I destroyed the machine, preventing it from getting anywhere, but I couldn't shift at the time, there were people in the park watching. What was I supposed to do?"

"Wait for us." Someone cried as she turned around and saw Chief Burns walking up to them. "We could have had one of the bots catch you, or we could have had a tarp to use to catch you, there were ways you could have been rescued without you falling down and getting injured the way you did. I understand the first time with the morbot it wasn't your fault, but the second time...we just want to make sure that you are okay, Julie. I am sure that Optimus would feel the same way, along with Ratchet and many of the others you have worked with. Yes when we are in the field we are risking our lives to save everyone, but we do it with caution to make sure we also don't get injured in the process."