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Optimus was happy to see Boulder and Graham animatedly discussing some engineering conundrum at their facility.
“I am glad to see everything is going well,” the Prime praised after they had reacquainted themselves.
“Well...” Graham hedged.
“Is something wrong?”
“You see…” Boulder explained slowly, choosing his words with care. They had encountered problems at every turn; building codes, environmental regulations, man power, endangered species, and more. Oregon was just not a viable place to build an autoboot friendly city. “Not to mention, it would be impossible to disguise.”
Optimus had not intended the city to remain hidden. His intention had been to increase human knowledge of Autobots, using the growing metropolis as an interactive learning environment. “I had intended the city as a gradual-release form of revelation.”
Graham shook his head. “We already know that works fine in highly technologically advanced communities, but after the incident in Jasper and the bursts of trouble in Crown City, any release of information has to be extremely controlled.” He shook his head again.
Boulder shot Optimus the most apologetic look in the galaxy. “This simply isn’t a feasible project.”
Graham shifted uncomfortably. “We might be able to accomplish a scaled down version of the project, but definitely not here. Who’s that?”
Optimus shot a look over his shoulder. Soundwave hadn’t moved, cradling Laserbeak’s damaged form to his chasse. “That is Soundwave.” Optimus once again turned his back on the ship. Boulder looked aghast. “He was trapped in the shadow zone at the end of the war. I should have retrieved him sooner, but circumstances dictated otherwise. I do not believe he will attempt to cause problems. All the same, I must take my leave.”
A quiet stream of basic drifted out of the ship, the first signs of life from Soundwave since Optimus had reactivated him. His reaction to Megatron’s final disposition had been impossible to understand, even through the cortico-psychic patch Optimus had offered as proof of his honesty. He had learned that Soundwave had seen Megatron depart Earth, the jumble of emotion at Unicron’s involvement had been soothed easily enough by the Prime’s memory of the final battle. The Prime had then been tumbled again by sharp elation as Megatron disbanded the Decepticons followed by a steep drop of confusion ending in a pit of negative feelings Optimus had no desire to untangle. Now, the spy’s tone was subdued, hollow.
He was also correct. Optimus nodded his agreement. “You may, of course, return to Griffin Rock, if you so desire.”
Boulder and Graham lit up. They babbled their thanks, talking over one another while trying to seem respectful of the Prime’s previous decision. With identical grins, they waved jubilantly until the Prime’s ship had disappeared.
--
Landing in Faxian was always a pleasure, but to Optimus’ dismay Dani Burns and Blades were nowhere to be found.
Doctor Szeto greeted him with a happy wave. “The American’s returned home. We would be happy to welcome you until they return tomorrow evening.”
“Thank you, no. I must be brief. How are things going here?”
“Excellent, but I believe that after we caught up to the Rescue Bots’ experience, the American’s became quite homesick.” Despite Meili’s assurances that both Dani and Blades were enthusiastic and effective, Optimus could not give their conversation the proper concentration after that moment. He felt certain that Doctor Szeto could tell but was left to hope she had not been overly offended. She waved jovially to him again as he departed after a quick word with High Tide and Quickshadow, whom without prompting, corroborated Meili’s suspicions about ‘the Americans’.
--
Optimus’ visit to Chief Charlie Burns and Chase also did not go to plan.
The pair had smiled happily enough as they greeted him on the street near the town’s park. Chief Burns appeared tired; exhausted, Optimus was sure, on more than simply a physical level. Before Chase had finished even one sentence of his situational report, the gentle voice of Cody Burns called the partners away to deal with some new catastrophe. The Prime felt certain that this single moment summarized the situation more poignantly than any words.
“Apologies, Sir,” Chase began his farewell. “I am sure that Heatwave is up to date on the situation. Also, I have kept detailed records of our exploits.”
“Chase,” Charlie Burns prodded his partner. “Let’s go. He understands.”
“Indeed I do,” Optimus agreed warmly, hiding his dark intuitions under a proud tone.
“Thank you, Optimus.” There was burnout in Charlie Burns voice and as he turned away, mind going to the next problem at hand. Optimus took the words as his farewell.
“Will we see you again soon?” Chase asked, also beginning to turn away.
“Perhaps, Chase. Please be careful.”
“Yes, sir. You as well,” Chase said over his shoulder, already sounding distant. Optimus watched with awe as Charlie Burns sild behind Chase’s steering wheel in mid transformation and swiftly the peace officers were gone.
Another quiet stream of basic from Soundwave. Ever observant, the spark-broken bot was again correct. Charlie Burns did sound like Ratchet without younglings underfoot. But even a bot as stubborn as Ratchet soon adjusted and Optimus told himself the Burns Family would as well.
--
Last upon his list were Heatwave and Kade Burns. Things at the Academy did not appear nearly half as promising even upon first glance. Kade sported several nasty bruises; one to his face was even large enough to blacken an eye and split his lips.
“What happened to you, Kade Burns?”
The human flicked an unconscious glance at Heatwave, who had not yet come to greet the Prime. The firebot was aggressively instructing Blurr, Salvage, and two younger recruits. Optimus had no doubt that Heatwave had noticed him, and was making a point.
“Did Heatwave do this to you?”
Kade pulled a scrutinizing gaze away from the training floor. The human sagged unexpectedly, releasing a fraught sigh. “Not on purpose.” He waved away the Prime’s concern, substituting it with his own. “Heatwave’s been… jittery. Clumsy…” His gaze dragged back to his partner.
“I’m okay here. New girlfriend, old buddies from training. The ferry ride’s only forty-five minutes and I’ve got my Dad. But even though Chase is right there, Heatwave can’t go. Scorch cannot be left alone. And whatever trouble he gets into Medix gets sucked right in with him. Blurr and Salvage are great, but they couldn’t control a sack of parakeets, let alone Scorch.” The man sighed, shaking his head. He narrowed his eyes at the four young bots. After a long moment, he sighed again, closing his eyes and running his fingers though his hair. It was shorter than Optimus remembered and stuck up in ruffled spikes, adding something vulnerable to Kade’s haggard appearance. “You have to know—” The man looked up at Optimus. “No, I guess you don’t.”
When he didn’t continue, Optimus leaned forward imploringly, staring with increasing concern at the man on the control platform. “I cannot know unless you tell me.”
“We have a saying: No man is an island. Heatwave won’t admit it, but he wasn’t built to work alone. We’re the parents here. He doesn’t know how to maintain control and be social with those bots. Salvage tries, but…” Kade blew a deep breath over his face, turning to look over the bots.
Before Optimus could reply, and what he would have said he wasn’t sure, a voice jumped out of a nearby console.
“KADE BURNS! Did you really forget Dad’s birthday?” Optimus recognized Dani Burns behind the hollering. “What is wrong with you?” Kade winced, scrubbing a hand over the unbruised side of his face. He winced again, feeling along a bone in his cheek while scrutinizing the machine providing his sister’s voice. “I know you can hear me.” Kade shrugged, dropping his hand. “ANSWER ME!”
Kade sighed, keying up the console. “Jeez, Dani, you’re making my ears ring. Chill out.” Kade glanced again at the bots. And sighed, again. “Look, I’ll catch the ferry in a bit, but if you want Heatwave there, we’ll have to bring the baby bots.”
There was a pause on the other end. “Blades thinks we’re going to spend the whole night cleaning up their shenanigans. Who taught you the word ‘shenanigans’?” Kade grinned, shaking his head at his sister.
“He’s probably right.” Something crashed in the training area, but Kade didn’t appear to react at all, neither to the noise and vibration nor to the sound of his partner yelling. “He’s definitely right.” Kade let his head hang for a moment. “Do you want Heatwave there or not?”
“Yes! Please, yes!” Blades excited voice broke in.
“Blades,” Dani chided. “We can’t risk Griffin Rock just so you can have a visit. We’ll find some other time for you to see Heatwave.”
Optimus’ spark clenched.
Then it broke.
Kade braced his hands on the console, eyes scrunched against tears. Gradually they escaped, dripping one by one between the man’s hands. Kade fought down every sound, forcing wet breaths slowly between his clenched teeth when he couldn’t hold it in any longer.
“Look, Kade,” Dani said sharply, having won her argument with Blades. “Just don’t blow this off. You’ve been ignoring family stuff for months.”
Kade swallowed down his anguish. “Sure thing, Dani,” he promised with false ease. The channel went dead and Kade quickly put the console into standby. He rubbed his cheeks on his shoulders, trying to pretend the tears had never existed.
“Kade…” The man didn’t quite startle, turning abruptly to look at Optimus when he spoke. “Did you forget?”
The man laughed harshly, wetly, seeming simultaneously too young and too old for his years. “Yes.” Kade shook his head awkwardly, as if trying to jar a circuit back into place. “I forget a lot of things these days.”
The man stared into nothingness seeming lost for the world. The Prime had learned to recognize many human expressions, but the combinations they could achieve still astounded him. When Kade looked up at Optimus, his expression contained mental and physical exhaustion, fear, hopelessness, resignation. A fatalist sense of humor and pride attempted to cover it all, but Optimus wasn’t fooled for a second. Clearly, he had made a mistake. Even if he hadn’t, it would be imperative to help the young human before him.
“Please take Heatwave and return to Griffin Rock.” Optimus could surely handle the recruits for one night. Soundwave would be fine, probably; he seemed uninterested in anything, eavesdropping on Optimus’ conversations simply because he was there. He certainly hadn’t attempted to follow him inside the Academy. Or move. At all.
Kade was staring up at Optimus, unmoved. His mouth hung open slightly, giving away some amount of confusion.
“Kade, are you alright?”
“No.” The man shook his head, catching his unguarded moment too late. “Yeah, I’m fine. Are you sure?” He raised a skeptical brow, then turned to eye the training floor. Something exploded not seconds later. Optimus suppressed a laugh. That was always the way. Especially on Earth. Unicron, it seemed, had a sense of humor.
How bad could they be?
Another explosion.
Optimus was in so very much trouble.