Ghosts of the Present (Rescue Bots AU)

61. Old Wounds Send Their Regards...

It took far too long in Slipchain's opinion to get the chains undone, but as soon as they were, the pair of bots and their dog companion were rushing for the Firehouse, for the Groundbridge.

Humans saw them and looked curiously, but didn't try to stop them and ask what was going on. The bots were on a mission, and they didn't want to disturb them.

When they reached the Firehouse, the garage was empty, and they quickly activated the elevator to go down to the bunker. As they moved down into the lower levels, they heard the hum of the bridge portal... and then they saw Sigma Seventeen, Blurr and Salvage entering the bunker.

"Oh no...! We're too late...!"

"Easy, easy...!" Blades hissed softly as he held a limp Heatwave's torso and Salvage held his legs. "That's it..."

Boulder was supporting Blurr with his shoulder as the racer hobbled and stumbled on one leg behind them, all of them heading for the medical bay. "One step at a time, Blurr."

"O-Ow ow ow-"

"Almost there..."

Slipchain looked to the bots, then to the humans as they followed the bots out of the portal, and then to the portal itself. The humans were looking as well, as if waiting for someone else to arrive... Wait.
"W-Where are Chase and Cody...?" She whispered.

The humans looked to her, "S-Slipchain? It is you, right?"

"It is indeed." High Tide confirmed, putting a hand to her shoulder. "Found 'er restrained and silenced in one of the warehouses down by the docks."

The humans relaxed a little, "Sorry... We just-"

"I know... Someone that resembled me." Slipchain rubbed her arms where the chains had scuffed the paint, "...I am sorry."

"Don't be." Graham reassured, "You were attacked... same as the rest of us."

"But I should have been able to fight back! I should've-"

"No." Chief Burns shook his head, "Don't blame yourself... There's too much of that right now."

Slipchain clenched her teeth, watching Graham disable the portal before walking towards the medical bay. As she peered around the door, she could see Heatwave and Blurr on the two berths. Boulder was scuffed up as well, but in better shape than Blurr, whose left leg had a badly bent strut and he was clearly in a considerable level of pain as Boulder shone a light in his optics.

Blades' face was solemn and emotionless, his EM field barely giving off pulses as he tended to Heatwave. The firetruck's front was splattered with energon, and while Blades had clearly already done a lot of work on it, there was evidence he'd been stabbed. Both of the wounded were being given energon IVs, but it frightened the femme to see how gray Heatwave looked, his usual sheen gone from his plating, leaving a dull, muted color to his usual bright red.

Blades grabbed tools from the crates and continued to work on the firetruck in silence, as if not even aware that the others were present.

Slipchain saw Kade march out of the medical bay and into the elevator, his family giving concerned looks to each other.

"I'll... Be out in the garage if you need me, Blurr." Salvage informed, giving a look to Blades as if he'd somehow upset the medic by just being there and not helping in some way.

Slipchain caught the recycling truck's arm as he exited, her gaze desperate. "Salvage... What happened...?" She whispered.

Salvage sighed, "We were finishin' up our tour of the facility when the imposter asked to talk to Heatwave alone... The next thing we knew, Heatwave was sending out a panic signal, and we heard Cody scream... When we got there, Heatwave had been hurt pretty bad by the imposter, and it took off with Cody."