Chapter Text
Heatwave couldn't help but tilt his head in confusion as Boulder, Graham, and the Greenes scribbled down notes and triple-checked the wiring and machinery for the newly built ground bridge. Even Cody was there to lend a hand.
Doc looked up at him, an excited grin plastered on his face, “We’re almost ready for a test run!”
“This ground bridge is a high priority.” Heatwave remarked, trying to conceal some of his worry. He’d never really understood how any of this stuff worked- besides all the things that could go wrong- and he couldn't help but feel concerned. He glanced at Chief, who gave him a reassuring look.
The control board comm speaker crackled to life- for the tenth time in the last hour. “Hey. Guys. Are you almost ready? We've been waiting forever.” whined Blurr.
The main point of engineering the ground bridge, under Optimus’s orders, was to create a link between the Firehouse and the currently under-construction Academy. Heatwave had watched Boulder and their gang of human scientists work for months on end to create the bridge, with both human and Cybertronian influences.
Before Heatwave could give a very irritated response, Graham quickly answered for him. “The ground bridge is nearly ready- tell Salvage to wait for my mark.”
“I hear ya loud and clear, Graham!” said Salvage. Heatwave heard a familiar squeal of excitement behind him, and turned to see Blades- with Chase, Dani, and Kade in tow. They chattered about how amazing it was gonna be to see the huge machine in action, even Kade seemed fairly interested.
As Boulder and the others finished up their safety precautions and final calibrations, the room got quieter. Graham stepped up to the control panel and began flipping up several switches and dials, and everyone watched as more and more lights began to flick on. Carefully, he rested his hand on one last lever. “Salvage, Blurr, are you guys ready?”
“Affirmative.”
“Yeah.”
“Alright. The first of the completed ground bridge commences in three, two… one!”
Graham slammed down the handle, and inched back as the circular channels sparked into action with a bright green light. Backing up, Heatwave and the others quickly placed themselves in front of the humans. The machine stabilized, and Heatwave swelled with pride for his teammates at the sight of the swirling portal. They had successfully engineered a ground bridge. He smiled and clapped a servo on Boulder’s shoulder.
Doc ecstatically spoke into the comm, “It’s a success on our end you two!”
A moment of silence crept through the air and promptly choked out their celebration. “What are you guys talking about? Our ground bridge just fizzled out.” answered a somewhat frantic Salvage, “....Your side of the bridge shouldn't be functioning.”
At that second, a burst of energy shook the room, and a loud roaring noise blasted through his audials. Right next to their ground bridge, had opened up another one- with a massive black vortex centered between them. Instantly, Heatwave and the others began to grab for their human friends, shoving them in their cabs and readying themselves. Boulder reached out to their control panel, and tendrils shot out of the darkness, knocking him aside.
Emerging from the shadowy void was a looming figure, who Heatwave instantly recognized as a fellow Cybertronian. Taking a final step out of the vortex, the other ground bridge promptly dissipated, and the one they had worked on finally wavered before following suit.
Marred but dark paint, dim purple biolights, several prehensile cables, and maybe most noticeable of all- a full-faced visor, shielding any view of possible faceplating. Heatwave’s mouth curled into a snarl, “Who in the Pit are you?” he snapped angrily, doing his best to conceal Kade and the Greene's within his cab. The mech cocked their head slightly at his words.
Boulder piped up, caution in his voice, “Why are you here? Are you okay?”
The mech stood silently for a moment, studying them. They took a step forward, and Chase’s siren quickly sounded off and he spoke in a loud, assertive tone. “Do not move, or I will not hesitate to detain you, stranger.”
Still silent, they stepped back. Heatwave took note of the grime and faded outline of some kind of insignia. Autobot or Decepticon. His jaw clenched tighter and his optics narrowed.
“Answer us.” he growled.
Biolights growing dimmer, the Cybertronian swayed in place, nearly collapsing. With a horrified gasp, Blades carefully removed Dani and Chief from his cab before rushing to the mystery mech’s side, hesitantly reaching to help him up. In a split second, a cable whipped itself around Blades’ outstretched arm and a thin servo grabbed ahold of him by his canopy. Before the other ‘Bots could react, however, the mech quietly passed out, sliding with a ‘thunk’ to the floor.
Hurriedly, Blades and the others took hold of the Cybertronian and worked towards hauling them back to their makeshift infirmary, only after Chase promptly cuffed them and relocated the humans for safety measures. Heatwave had to stop himself from angrily berating Blades for putting himself in danger like that. It was their duty to help those in need- and Blades was only doing what he thought best.
He exvented as they heaved them into the medbay slab, resting the mech on their back. Blades nervously gathered his medic equipment and began running diagnostics on them, and Chief Burns carefully entered the room.
“Whatever just happened, it fried a lot of the communications and knocked out power from most of the firehouse. It'll be a little while before we can get back in contact with Optimus.” he said. “That Cybertronian…. who are they?”
“I'm not sure. They only seemed hostile when we went to touch them or the ground bridge control panel, so I don't know if they're…. dangerous, or not. Keep everyone away from them until we give the all clear, I don't want anyone to get hurt.”
The older man nodded, and turned to look at their new arrival, brow furrowed. “Well, whoever they are, let's hope they'll be willing to explain things when they wake up. There must be quite the story behind all this.”
Heatwave glanced at Blades and Chase, who were monitoring their patient, and at Boulder, who was typing algorithm upon algorithm into a datapad.
“Yeah.” his gaze settled back to the figure resting on the slab and thought back to the horrifying black void they came from.
“Quite a story.”