Ring of Fire

|3| - Rescue Work?

You were glad that Cody was allowed to tag along. At least you didn't have to drive alone. Plus, Cody could keep Kade busy while you just had to deal with Heatwave. You didn't consider that to be a problem, though. Heatwave was an interesting mech and you loved getting under his skin.

When you saw Chase's brake lights in front of you, you came to a stop as well. There were several fallen trees that you could see as well as a few sparking wires that were either dangling in the air or laying across the ground. Chase had already transformed by the time Cody hopped out of your alt-mode.

"Graham, I need you to deal with the power outage and sparking wires. Kade, be prepared in case a fire starts. And Dani, use your scoop claw to lift the trees that aren't caught in the wires." Chief Burns ordered. Everyone immediately obeyed, leaving you standing there clueless with Cody.

"What can I do, dad?" Cody asked as he approached him.

Chief Burns looked at Cody, then up at you. With a heavy sigh, he turned to look over his shoulder for a moment. "Go see if anyone is hurt." He replied, looking up at you again. "Make sure you keep your cover."

You weren't sure what he meant until you noticed him looking at you. "What do you mean?"

"Blades must've forgotten to fill you in." Cody said with a groan, shaking his head. "The town doesn't know that you guys are aliens, so you have to act like you're just a robot."

You frowned, not liking the sound of that. "What?"

Chief Burns interrupted before you could say anything else. "We don't have time, I'll explain more later. Just go see if anyone's hurt, okay? Listen to Cody." And with that, he darted off to help Chase steer people away from the rescue sight.

"It's not that hard, Y/N. Now come on!" Cody darted off towards the blocked road, gesturing for you to follow.

Grumbling to yourself, you reluctantly followed the boy. He led you over to the other side of blockade of trees. There was a car caught under a massive oak tree and the driver couldn't get out. You were about to get her out before you remembered what you were supposed to do and stood still, awaiting command. This is so stupid . . .

"Hold on, Mrs. Rubio!" Cody called to the woman, craning his neck to look up at you. "Robot, get her out of there and check her for wounds!"

With a subtle roll of your optics, you bent down and easily lifted the tree from the hood of her car. Since the door was jammed, you tore it open with one servo and carefully pulled Mrs. Rubio out in your palm. "Scanning for wounds..." You spoke in the best robotic voice you could manage, allowing a small beam of light to emit from your other forearm. The light went over the woman twice before blinking green. "No injuries sustained."

Cody smiled and gestured for you to put her down. "That's good. Go over to my dad, okay?" He said, pointing her in the right direction.

You waited until she was out of earshot to relax your stiffened posture. "Do we really have to do that on every rescue?" You complained, rolling your arm a bit to loosen up your shoulder joint.

Cody laughed. "No, just the ones where people are present." As he scanned the area for more injured people, he noticed that the grass beneath one of the severed wires was beginning to catch fire from the sparks. He quickly pressed on his comn link while backing away. <<Kade! The grass is catching fire over here!>>

<<Alright! Now we've got some real action!>>

You began to grow a bit nervous as the fire quickly sprung to life. Cody was a little too close for comfort, so you carefully scooped him into your servo and brought him a safe distance away from the fire. Kade and Heatwave arrived just as you turned around. "Hey there, hothead! Think you can handle that blaze?" You shouted teasingly.

"Hothead? He hasn't even been here for a day and he's already given you a nickname!" Kade exclaimed with a laugh.

Heatwave growled in annoyance and shot you a nasty glare. "It's not a nickname! He just thinks he's being funny!" He retorted.

You couldn't help but laugh and shake your head. But before you could come up with a good comeback, a strong gust of wind blew through the area and caused one of the power line poles to lean. You didn't pay much attention to it at first, but then you noticed it was about to come crashing down on Heatwave and Kade.

You only had a split-second to make a decision...

...and you leapt into action.

"Heatwave, Kade! Move!"