A Blessing in Disguise... (Rescue Bots Fanfiction)

4. Taking Flight

A few days had passed, and the bots and Burnses took extra steps to keep their special secret.

Though it hadn't been easy.

Because of the dino DNA conflicting with the carrying programming, Blades was still partially in wild mode, which meant that anything that startled him sent him into a panicked, screeching state that was fortunately solved by simply giving him some space and letting him calm down on his own. It seemed that any loud noise was enough to frighten him. One time he'd spent a good hour up in the rafters, glaring at them as they walked around below him, and when he came to his senses it took some coaxing to help the acrophobic bot back down again.

Recent snowfall had blanketed the town in white, and the bots were all out helping dig out the civilians from their homes and clearing the roads, even Blades. He had insisted on being helpful to keep himself busy, and since he wasn't physically showing like a human would, they permitted it. He used his feet to scrape snow away from doors and windows, always having one of the other bots there to keep an eye on him.

"You good, Blades?" Kade asked as he and Heatwave dug snow away from Mr. Harrison's door.

"Fine." Blades informed, kicking snow backwards behind him. A whump and a yelp made him turn, his optics widening as he saw he'd just thrown a bunch of snow on top of someone. "Whoops...Sorry, Huxley."

Huxley dug himself back out of the snow and dusted himself off. "I was cold enough, thank you!" He complained. "I was just coming to congratulate you Burnses."

"For...What?" Kade asked. "Clearing the snow?"

Huxley smirked. "Oh don't even play with me, Kade Burns...The whole town's buzzing about it. You know...The new arrival?"

They all paused, looking at each other for a moment, before Blades' optics narrowed. "The what?"

"Dani and Taylor...?"

Blades turned to Kade. "You never told me Dani and Taylor were expecting!"

"She didn't tell me, either!" Kade informed, turning to Huxley once more. "Where did you hear it?"

"From Mr. Sharma at the pizzaeria. He's been telling everyone who comes in."

"And he heard it from...?"

"No idea. But-"

"Huxley, you of all people should know how dangerous rumors can be. Or have you forgotten that time you thought aliens were invading and got the entire town going nuts, and then it turned out to be a movie Cody was watching?"

"But it turned out to be true! You Cybertronians are proof that I was right!...In some capacity..."

"Uh huh..." Kade picked up his shovel. "Well don't be announcing it on the news, or else we'll have diapers and casseroles showing up at our doorstep that we don't need."

Heatwave smirked. "Wouldn't that be a surprise for Dani when she gets home..."

Blades followed the fire-fighting duo as they moved on, leaving the reporter behind. "...How'd anyone find out...?" He whispered.

"No idea..." Heatwave whispered back. "...Just keep cool, okay?"

"How can I not be cool in this weather? It's freezing out here...!"

Heatwave smirked, patting Blades' head. "Nice to see you feeling better."

"I still miss her a lot but...Now I have something else to keep me occupied."

"Good thinking."

The leader of the bots then tapped his comm link. "How's it looking everywhere else?"

Most of downtown and the suburban areas are clear. Chief Burns informed. Boulder and Graham are working on putting out salt and Chase and I are on our way to check out the mountain roads.

"Understood." Kade replied.

"I hate road salt..." Heatwave muttered. "It rusts up my undercarriage."

Blades smirked. "Never have that problem."

"No...You just have to watch out for pelicans."

"That was ONE TIME!"

"Still counts."

Blades pouted, lingering a little bit behind the duo as they walked towards downtown. All around him, kids were building snowmen, throwing snowballs at one another, and enjoying the chilly weather and remnants of the blizzard the night before.

The rescue bot's systems seemed to rev a little more as he watched their fun, warming his core. He could teach his sparkling how to throw snowballs one day, and how to make snow angels and snowbots! With each passing day, the terror and uncertainty had been washed away by the flood of excitement and anticipation of his child's arrival. Oh, the things they would do when they were finally able to see one another...Optic to optic, spark to spark...

He was so engulfed in his thoughts that once he focused again, he'd found Kade and Heatwave had disappeared, and he'd been standing still for some time, it seemed. "Scrap..." he muttered as he searched for his teammate. A big red firetruck in a world of white shouldn't be too hard to find. "...Heat-"

He was cut off by a loud BANG! and then something crashed on top of him. He let out a squawk and shook himself free of the object, his optics widening as he saw it drop into the snow...A net. His spark began to pound, and he took off running into the park. Panic was settling into his processor, letting his dinobot programming take over even further. His thoughts were jumbling, and only distinct words came through...

Danger.

Run.

Fly.

Blades' feet pounded in the snow as he fled. He could hear something pursuing, and he unfolded his wings, flapping them hard as he heard the exploding sound again. After a few failed attempts, he finally made it off the ground, and he fled into the sky like a bird flustered from the grass by a hunter.

Heatwave hadn't been far when he heard both the bang and Blades' cry, and he came swerving around the corner to see Blades take off into the trees of the park. "Scrap scrap scrap...!" He cursed as he started after his teammate, but then stopped.

"What are you doing!?" Kade asked from within his cab. "Go after him!"

"No. He'll think we're attacking him and only get even more panicked." Heatwave's optics narrowed. "He'll come back once he comes to his senses again...We need to figure out who and what made that sound!"

The second sound drew his attention into the trees, and as he broke through to a clearing he saw two things: A jeep with a net-launcher in the back of it, and Blades now aloft and flying towards Mount Griffin. "Stay there, Blades." He hissed. "Please just stay there until we can get to you...!"

The fire truck then turned his attention to the jeep, which was getting ready to speed off after the frightened rescue bot. "Oh no you don't!" He slammed a foot down in front of the jeep, blocking it from moving forward. The jeep tried to back up, but became trapped in the snow, and the humans in black fled.

They didn't get far, however. Boulder came breaking through the trees, followed by Blurr and Salvage. Every direction, there was an autobot, and none of them happy.

"Alright, what is this!?" Blurr shouted. "Who are you and who are you working for!?"

"You'll never get us to tell you, alien!" One of them shouted.

"You will tell us...!" Heatwave grabbed the two by their feet and dangled them upside down, taking care not to smash their feet in between his fingers. "...Whatever it takes...!"

He looked back to the skies, finding to his despair that Blades had flown out of sight. Primus, let him come home before dark...