"It's only been maybe twenty-four hours... You think he's overdoing it?"

Graham sighed as Dani asked the question about his partner. The straight answer was yes, he did think that Boulder was overdoing it, trying to help everyone, but honestly, the man couldn't blame him. His family was suffering loss and stress from multiple fronts. As a rescue bot- and the only one not missing or incapacitated in some way- he must've felt like it was up to him to resolve some of those problems, all on his own.

"I wish I could help him..." He whispered, resting his head on the table. "...I wish I could do something more... No big emergencies and I'm still exhausted..."

"We all are, son..." Chief Burns patted Graham's back with a hand, and then looked up as the elevator hummed. When it opened, Boulder's holoform stepped out into the house. "Boulder... How're you feeling?"

Boulder plopped down on the couch, rubbing his face with his hands. "...Like I've bitten off more than I can chew."

"Well, as long as you recognize it." Priscilla murmured as she came down the stairs, "Any luck with our new friends?"

"Mosaics like us, but... Not from here. That's what I came up here about..."
Boulder pulled his hands down, staring up at the ceiling. "...I talked to Charisma a little bit ago... she told me that Chase and Cody... they're not here anymore."

"Like, not in this dimension?"

Boulder nodded. "Another anomaly took them."

Kade stood up from the table, "Who? Where? How do we get them back!?"

"I don't know, and neither does she! She's been so busy trying to find that out that she didn't even know about the Sodorians. But she said that if she can figure out where they came from, then she can figure out who put them here, so we can figure out who took Chase and Cody." He sighed, "But believe me, she's just as angry about it as we are."

"Did it take the virus too?"

Boulder shrugged, "Maybe, since we can't find evidence of it either."

Dani's brows furrowed, "Which might mean Chase and Cody are still in danger...!"

"But it sounds like at this point, it's mostly out of our hands..." Chief Burns murmured, "We can trust Chase to keep Cody safe, no matter where they are."

"And I trust Charisma to do everything in her power- which is a lot- to find them and get them home." Boulder added, sitting up from the couch. "We have to trust them both... as much as it hurts all of us to be so powerless...!"

_______________________________________________________

Being so small, it wasn't really hard for Thomas and Percy to slip underneath Blurr and Salvage's gaze.

"You sure we should be exploring down here without Boulder's permission?" Percy asked.

"He said to stay down here, but he didn't say it had to be in the front room the whole time." Thomas replied, "We won't touch anything, just look."

"Okay..."

Thomas smiled, Percy had always been more cautious than he was, but he knew there was bravery underneath. He'd seen it more than once, after all. They tiptoed into the hallway, looking at the several doors that they'd passed earlier in the morning on their way to the storage room. There were big buttons beside them, and as Thomas pressed one, the door slid open, revealing what they guessed was a bedroom. There was something like a bed in the center, and then crates of items rested against the walls.

In one of the crates, Thomas peered in and found several books, decorated in bright colors on the covers and flying humans with capes. Tucked inside of it was also a photograph in color, portraying Graham's sister Dani, sitting on the shoulder of another cybertronian, orange and white in color. "This must be one of Boulder's brothers. He must work with Dani."

Percy looked at the image, "Yeah... Boulder said that his brothers were unavailable, but he didn't say why. Do you think they moved away?"

"I don't think their belongings would still be here if they did." Thomas put the photograph back, "Maybe they just went on a trip?"

Percy shrugged, "Feels a little wrong to be going through their stuff when they're not here, though..."

"Erm... Good point."

The pair hurried back out of the room, going to the next door. The next room looked to be another bedroom, though immaculate in its tidiness. Everything was in order, and they saw several items suggesting it belonged to a cybertronian who worked with law enforcement. 

The third was definitely Boulder's, with plants and soil scattered about, and the fourth room... was occupied.

As the door opened, the pair saw a room with two beds in it and a lot of machinery currently in operation, slow beeping and humming coming from them. On one of the beds was another cybertronian, red in color and perhaps turning into a fire truck, if the ladder on their back was anything to go by.

Thomas was about to apologize for interrupting when he realized that the cybertronian wasn't awake... in fact, they weren't moving at all. Some wires from the machines were strung to the cybertronian, as if giving them power or maybe keeping an eye on them.

"Thomas..." Percy hissed from the doorway, "We shouldn't be in here...!"

Thomas barely heard his friend, far too focused on what he was seeing. This cybertronian wasn't dead, but wasn't awake and active either... Is this what happened to cybertronians when they stopped being able to be useful? Was this what happened to engines back home? Did they go into this storage place where they would slowly waste away to nothing...?

He backed away, his head spinning like a top- until he bumped into someone. He whipped around, finding Boulder looking back at him. "B-Boulder! I...I didn't mean to... I was just-"

"W-We'll be as helpful as we can, Boulder!" Percy begged, "We'll be really really useful and helpful and-"

"Hey, whoa whoa whoa." Boulder put a hand on each of them, gripping their shoulders. "Take deep breaths, okay?"

"W-We didn't mean to snoop and find it! We won't do it again! Please don't send us away...!"

Boulder looked at the two of them, and then looked back to the hall, and they saw the rest of the Sodorians standing there, looking uncomfortable and nervous. "...Okay, we need to have a talk."

He looked back to the still cybertronian and then led the two little bots back out of the room and into the hall.

"We're already being so much trouble for you," Edward mumbled, "If you don't want to bother anymore, then-"

"Everyone stop. Okay?" Boulder overlooked the engines and crane, and then sighed. "...Listen. I've been a little worn out today, yes, but not because of you. I... I'm trying to keep everything under control on my own, and it's hard. I'm not used to being the one in charge, that's..." He looked back to the door, "...That's Heatwave's thing."

"We just added to your stress."

"Yes, but I don't want any of you to think for a second that I'm going to stop trying to help you just because I'm stressed out. I would never turn down someone in need like that... If I made it seem like I would, I'm sorry."

Diesel stepped forward, "I guess... I guess it's kinda my fault. You told me that cybertronians that weren't seen as valuable where made to fight to the death, and then-"

"Well, at least you admit you're wrong." Gordon muttered as he crossed his arms, "That's an improvement."

"Ugh! Would you stop pouring water in my firebox already!?"

Thomas and Percy's eyes widened as bolts of electricity shot off of Diesel's metal, slithering up the walls and then the light over them went out.

"Well that's just great, Diesel." James complained, "I set myself on fire, and you take out the power."

"Dah!"
Diesel put his hands to his head, "It's not like I did it on purpose!"

"Oh, like you do all that other sabotage on Sodor on purpose?"

"Right." Gordon complained, "All you ever do is mess stuff up and be mean to other engines!"

"Guys-" Boulder tried to interrupt.

"Bashing cars, making us late with our deliveries, scaring our passengers-"

"Guys-"

"Well maybe I wouldn't have to do that if you Steamies weren't Sir Topham Hatt's favorites!" He pointed at the littlest blue engine, "Especially you, Thomas!"

"Me!?" Thomas stepped out from behind Boulder, "What does any of this have to do with me!?"

"Sodor's number one engine! Everybody loves Thomas! Thomas can never make mistakes! Sir Topham Hatt just lets all the punishments slide with you! Meanwhile I have to do whatever it takes just to be noticed at all! You remember that time the Diesel Depot's door got stuck shut? You all had to go do our jobs all day long on top of yours, and then had the gall to be mad at us about it, when Sir Topham Hatt didn't remember to fix the door for THREE DAYS!"

Electricity bolted off of Diesel's framing as he seethed, but his expression changed to shock and confusion as a pair of arms wrapped tightly around him.

"That's enough, Diesel..." Cranky murmured slowly, his eyes glowing white. "...We don't want to take down the house."

Diesel's framing still sparked, but then he gave a hard cough and slumped in Cranky's arms. His voice cracked, and fluids spilled down his cheeks and splashed onto the floor. "I act up because it's the only way to be noticed...! To mean something to someone, anyone...! I just want to be valued... to not be seen as a second-rate engine bound for... for whatever happens to us after we're useless...!"

"It's not our fault sir Topham Hatt-"

Gordon's defense was quieted by a hard smack by Henry.

"Not now, Gordon..." He warned.

Boulder bent down to Diesel's level, "Diesel... It's okay to be angry... but try not to blame the other engines for your controller's behavior..."

"It's just... It's not fair...!"

"I know... There's been a lot of stuff for me lately that's unfair... like-"

The group paused as a sudden gust of air blew through the hall, and Boulder looked up to see a shape hovering at the end of the hall... An orange and white figure with wide, startled optics.

Boulder gave a nervous smile, "Heh... Blades, you're back! Yay..."