Ghosts of the Present (Rescue Bots AU)

53. In a Bit of a Pynch

After getting the humans safely off of the Ferris Wheel, the rest of the team rushed home as quickly as they could. Priscilla wasn't answering, and now... neither was Boulder.

"Boulder? Boulder!" They called out as they came up on their block, looking around the street... And then they saw him, lying on the ground by the Firehouse and limp. "BOULDER!"

Blades rushed to him, overlooking the numerous nicks and scratches that almost looked like he'd been caught in the debris field of an explosion. "We have got to stop doing this...! What happened?"

Boulder's optics fluttered open and tried to focus, flickering a bit. "M-Ma...Madeline...! S-She took her...!"

"Easy, easy. You're gonna be okay."
Blades looked up at the cracks in the brick wall of the Firehouse; the bulldozer must have been slammed into it, but by what? He set that thought aside, grabbing Boulder's arms and Heatwave taking his legs. "Easy... Let's get him into the medical bay."

They hauled him into the garage and then into the medical bay, putting him down on one of the tables. Heatwave stood by to keep him from moving too much while Blades collected his tools.

The bulldozer sat up a little bit, "It's not too bad, I just- Augh...!"
He put a hand to his helm, laying back down. "Nevermind...!"

"Just keep still, alright?" Heatwave informed. "Now... What do you remember?"

"Ugh... I heard her voice... I don't know how, but I did, and then I was... I was flying back here. I've never gone that fast before... It was kinda cool."

"Now you know why Blurr loves it so much..." Blades mumbled.

"...I got here... She was already gone, but... Madeline had left an explosive device in the garage. I had to get rid of it, but I didn't know how much time I had, so... I took it into the Mists and threw it in there."

"Did it work?"

"I...I think so... The blast threw me back into the physical realm and I hit something... Then you guys were here a second ago."

"Well, you got a nice knock to the back of the helm for it." Blades muttered, putting something cool under his helm. "This'll help with the pain."

"You did good, Big Guy..." Heatwave assured.

Boulder frowned as he closed his optics, "I didn't save Priscilla..."

"We'll get her back, but for right now, just rest."
The firetruck gently patted Boulder's shoulder, and then he and Chase left the medical bay to give Blades more space. "...This is bad, Chase."

"I concur. We must locate Priscilla and Madeline Pynch immediately, before she is harmed or worse." Chase whispered, "...I will try to speak with Mother on this. She will know where to look."

"Guys, check this out!" Cody called from around the corner.

Heatwave and Chase hurried around to where the humans were settled, looking up at the screen as the news was on.

This is Huxley Prescott reporting live from the Mainland! At the home of elegant entrepaneur extrordinaire, Madeline Pynch, who has a few thoughts on today's power outage!

"How convenient...!" Heatwave hummed with a glare, taking a seat on the couch. "And Huxley's reporting on her like he doesn't know she's a- criminal!"

The woman on screen looked as smug as ever, flipping her hair to the camera. Huxley, we've depended on an outmoded and overburdened power grid for far too long.