Ghosts of the Present (Rescue Bots AU)

60. Chasing and Tracking

"Chase to High Tide, High Tide, do you copy?... High Tide, do you copy?... Scrap!"

Chase wasn't really sure how much help the submarine- or even his megabot mode- would be, but one more bot on the case couldn't possibly make things worse than they already were.

The Morbot had infiltrated the training center.

Cody was now its hostage, for reasons unknown.

Heatwave was badly wounded.

The police car led the charge, sirens blaring as they flew down the road. They were on the mainland now, they were at risk of being seen by humans- he had to finish this quickly.

He and Boulder had their holoforms, and Blurr had his windows deeply tinted. It wouldn't be too hard to keep people from seeing they were self-driving vehicles, but it would still be a challenge to catch the perpetrator before a human saw a police car, a race car, and a bulldozer all chasing after the same weird, unidentifiable vehicle careening down the country roads.

How are we supposed to get Cody out of there? Boulder asked as they tried to keep optics on the transformed robot weaving and screeching towards the shoreline. We can't physically attack the morbot without hurting him!

We'll think of something, we always do! Blurr encouraged. Chase, you're the second-in-command-

That he was, and right now, that stunk. He was the one in charge when Heatwave was absent or unable to be in charge, and right now he was definitely not able to be in charge. No, Chase had to believe that Heatwave would be fine. He had Blades to tend to him- though Blades might not have all his necessary tools on him- NO! He would be fine!

"I'm thinking." Was all the cruiser replied.

His thoughts went back to what Kade had said a few months prior: "...I don't like how much you guys have been getting hurt lately..."
It was true, there had been a lot more injuries lately- broken limbs, scalded pedes, dents, cuts, heatstroke, explosions, and now, after everything else... Heatwave had been intentionally stabbed. Chase hated that the last image he had in his helm was his older brother's energon leaking out onto the floor. He shook it off, he needed to focus.

The bots saw the Morbot turn, and the next thing they saw, a rocket aimed and headed for them. Chase swerved to dodge, and he knew Blurr could move out of the way, but Boulder-

It seemed that Blurr had the same idea, and in his rear view, Chase saw the racecar slide to the side, knocking Boulder clear of the explosive's aim, but putting himself more in the line of fire. Both bulldozer and racecar were knocked aside by the occurring explosion, and Chase was torn. He couldn't bear to lose Cody, but what if Boulder and Blurr were hurt? He couldn't just leave them and keep going, right?

G-Go, Chase! Boulder's voice stammered through, Get Cody and stop that thing before it hurts anyone else!

Chase sent back a firm ping, and then his engine revved hard as he shot ahead.

Boulder rolled over onto his hands and knees, groaning as his frame creaked loudly. He was tough enough to handle some heat and concussive force, but it wasn't him he was worried about. "Blurr!"

The racer had been knocked a fair distance away, still in vehicle mode and his back half caught up on a tree limb. He gave a soft, pained moan, his headlights flickering. "Ugh..."

"Blurr, are you functional?"

"Ugh... bull... Boulder...? I-Augh!"

"Don't move, you're stuck in a tree. I'll get you down."