When Heatwave awoke from stasis, he could feel the difference it had made. Though still achy, the sharp pulses of pain were gone, and his strength was returning.

Unfortunately, he hadn't woken on his own terms. His optics had flown open at the sound of a cry, and he sat up to see Downpour's head resting on the foot of his berth like a sad puppy. Her optics were wide, soft whines escaping her voice box.

The firetruck sighed, getting up from the berth and scooping his daughter up into his arms. "You're gonna be nothing but trouble, I can tell." He informed her as he wiped trails of tears from her cheeks. "You know how I can tell? For one thing, you apparently don't like being anywhere I'm not, and second..." He pointed to the door, "I distinctly remember locking that door."

He then noticed just how quiet it was, and as soon as he opened the door, he found it quiet out in the firehouse as well. No chattering of his teammates, not even their footsteps shaking the floor. "...Hello?" He hollered, tiptoeing out into the main space and searching for clues. "Blades? Chase?... Anyone?"

He found nothing however; nobody in the bunker, the garage, or outside, and even Snowblast was gone from his usual position in the nest. The firetruck then resorted to comms. "Cody, do you copy?"

Hi, Heatwave! You're awake! Cody responded, and Heatwave gave a sigh of relief.

"Where is everyone? The garage and bunker are deserted."

Blades and Boulder went into town to deal with a minor traffic jam, Chase, Blurr, Salvage and Quickshadow were called to assist with an emergency in Crown City, and Snowy is napping up here in the command center with me.

"What kind of emergency? And you didn't bother to wake me to tell me this?"

They left shortly after you went to your quarters, and nobody wanted to wake you when you needed the rest.

"I can't argue with that..."

As for what exactly was going on in Crown City, we didn't get a whole lot of info. Only that there was a lot of damage and the first responders there could use an assist. I imagine the other bots can fill us in when they get back, which shouldn't be too much longer.

"Hmm." Heatwave wandered over to the garage door, looking out over the street. Downpour snuggled her head against his neck with a satisfied purring sound, and he stroked her back as he felt her sparkrate slowing until she was fast asleep. He then carefully moved back into his quarters, laying her down on the berth and pulled the tarp blanket over her.

He tiptoed out of the room and then closed the door, double-checking that she hadn't woken up before heading back out into the garage as he heard Blurr's engine rev. "Welcome back." He greeted, looking at the four bots all covered in dust, dirt and ashes.

"Hmm." Chase muttered as he wandered past him, "I am going to, as the humans say, 'hit the showers'..."

Heatwave watched the police-bot disappear down into the bunker, and then turned back to the remaining trio. "What happened?"

"I swear it wasn't me!" Blurr defended, "But man, you should have seen it, Heatwave. It was like a bomb went off!"

Quickshadow stepped forward, "...It was a Decepticon attack. Bumblebee's team handled the situation, but there was significant damage to partcular structures."

"Any fatalities?"

"Two..." Salvage murmured sadly, "...Chase said it reminded him of something that happened during a mission of yours back on Cybertron...Involving a bar fight."

Heatwave's eyebrows furrowed as his optics shifted downward, "I remember that day... Chase ran out to puke after he found the body, and Blades' medical mentor went to tend to him... Chase hasn't really been the same since. I mean, he's always been a pusher for following the rules and researching the hell out of things, but... He used to be more expressive."

He was quiet for a moment, and then waved them off. "Go on and get yourselves cleaned up."

His teammates started towards the elevator and Heatwave sighed, looking up as Quickshadow placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, I really think you should take Kade up on his offer."

"To be his best man? Why?"

The femme smirked, "Come on. Kade's just given you full permission to say whatever you want about him in front of a live audience. You don't get chances like that very often."

The fire truck looked thoughtful for a moment, and then a smile joined hers. "You raise an excellent point... Alright then. I'd better get that holoform finished..."

"You should..."

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

That night, the Burnses went up to the Lab to have dinner with the Greenes. The Big Four accompanied them, leaving Quickshadow and High Tide to watch the sparklings for a few hours. It had taken some convincing to get High Tide to agree, but in the end it had been Cody to work it out, unsurprisingly.

The bots stood outside the lab, the air rapidly cooling as the breeze came in from the ocean. Blades and Boulder had started some sort of game with pebbles Blades had found along the perimeter, but Heatwave was watching Chase, who hadn't said much since he got back from their mission. He didn't seem angry, but rather in some sort of daze, staring out over the island with distant optics.

The firetruck moved towards him slowly, carefully taking a place beside his teammate and not speaking for several moments. "...Don't tell me that you're fine, because that face tells me you're not."

"Have you ever felt like you're going to burst?"

Heatwave raised an eyebrow, "You mean like when Blurr's just being himself and you want to say a few choice words, but you can't because there's children around, so you-"

"No." Chase's hissed through his teeth, and then he closed his eyes tightly as his helm drooped downward. "I mean... You think you've been acting accordingly to your beliefs, but then you have an experience that rips that belief apart and you realize you've been telling yourself a lie this whole time...!?"

"Chase..."

Heatwave placed a hand on his teammate's shoulder, Chase taking it and squeezing it tightly. "...You mean how you've been stuffing ever since the Sub-Well Incident?"

The police-bot began to shake, "They told me to pull myself together...! I did...! I thought... I thought if I just didn't show it, it would make it easier...! That I could be strong. But when Chief had that building collapse on him a few years back, when I thought for a brief second that I might've lost someone else...I almost broke, Heatwave...I'm not strong!"

Heatwave looked up as Chase's cry caught Blades and Boulder's attention, and then he did something he would never admit to Kade, or anyone for that matter; he pulled Chase into his arms and held him tightly against his chestplate. "You are too..." He whispered, "Caring about life and protecting it is what makes us Autobots, remember? You're not weak for feeling upset when a spark goes out."

"How am I supposed to be a good rescue bot if I cannot keep my emotions in check when others are in pain? Those humans in Crown City... I didn't even know them!"

"So?" Blades and Boulder joined in the hug, Blades giving a smile. "I cry over my TV shows, and I don't know them either."

"The humans refer to it as being soft," Boulder encouraged, "And there's nothing wrong with that. Even if you have to hold yourself together out on a rescue, you can certainly let all that stress out when we get back to the bunker."

"There's a lot of emotional strain that comes with this kind of job... At the time, we didn't have a choice what occupation we were put in, but would you trade it for something else? Would you trade us?"

Heatwave felt the police bot finally return the embrace, his faceplate resting against Heatwave's shoulder.

"You know damn well I would never give up this team...!" Chase responded, "Not ever...!"

"Good..."

They finally pulled away, and Heatwave patted Chase's shoulders, "Now get a grip, okay? Go for a nice long drive if you need to. We'll handle things until you get back."

Chase nodded, and then looked back out over the island for a moment more before transforming and driving off into the darkness.

"Hey guys."

The bots turned to see Cody and Frankie coming out of the lab towards them, "Did Chase just leave?"

"Yeah..." Heatwave informed with a nod, "He... Needed some air."