Tough Love

DILEMMA

"Dani, I have removed the chain! You're free to go!"

"Thanks, Blades! I'll see you later!"

The anchor is retracted from the sea floor back to the fishing boat. Dani and Captain Wild drive away, leaving Blades, Heatwave, and Kade behind to deal with the stranger.

"Did you get in contact with High Tide yet?" Blades asked, turning to his leader.

"I was just about to," Heatwave grumbled, not necessarily wanting to call High Tide, but did so anyway.

WAVE: {High Tide, this is Heatwave. We have an emergency, and we need your assistance.}

Surprising them, a response immediately came through.

TIDE: {This is High Tide. What's the problem?}

WAVE: {I'll go into more detail later, but long story short, we responded to a distress call from a fisherman, and discovered a new Cybertronian to be the cause. The human is fine, but the bot is stuck in a hydrothermal vent, and he's pretty big...}

TIDE: {You need me to dig him out for you.}

WAVE: {Yes.}

TIDE: {Alright. Send the coordinates and I'll be over in a couple kliks.}

The mechs hung-up and Heatwave gave High Tide their location. A few minutes later, High Tide's ship arrived. A submersible emerged from the vessel, jetted down to the group, and transformed next to Blades.

"Hi, High Tide!" Blades greeted.

"Hey there, mosquito! Keeping up the good work?" High Tide asked, rubbing the smaller mech's helm.

"Thanks for coming," Heatwave said.

"I said I would. Now, what do you need help with, exactly?"

"Did you miss the part about this new bot being stuck?" Kade retorted.

"Can it, fleshy!" High Tide snapped while getting a closer look at the stranger's predicament.

"Hey, he can't talk to me like that!"

"But I can, so I suggest you do what he says and be quiet," Heatwave growled.

Kade just crossed his arms and pouted.

"What do you think, High Tide? Will you be able to get him out?" Blades asked.

"Yeah, I can manage," High Tide answered. "You three head up to the ship. I'll join you in a little bit."

"Will you be fine down here all by yourself? What if something happens?"

The old mech barked out a hearty laugh.

"Listen here, mosquito, I've done and seen plenty of things throughout my function! I can handle this without help easily enough."

Blades wasn't totally satisfied, but he knew continuing the conversation would be pointless. It would just erupt into an argument. He grabbed a hold of Heatwave, who drove them to High Tide's ship. Blades got off first, then Kade, and Heatwave after transformation.

"Ah, fresh air!" Kade happily said, taking a deep breath as they walked out onto the deck. "It was starting to get a little too cozy down there."

"It's not exactly pleasant being stuck with you, either," Heatwave agreed, to an extent.

"Get over it, grumpy! Now, what do you suppose a random bot would be doing at the bottom of the ocean?"

"I don't know..."