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It was no secret at this point that Cody Burns seemed to have a trouble magnet. Wherever he went, trouble always seemed to find him. Fortunately, the bots, his family, or even the townspeople of Griffin Rock were always there to help him out of situations. However, in this situation, no one was around.
He had made the daring, yet slightly idiotic, decision to sneak off to the mainland training academy for a surprise visit via the ground bridge. He wasn’t expecting the ground bridge to be intercepted. It had spit him out in the same area as the academy, but he wasn’t close enough to quickly run to it.
Despite being a decent distance away, he was still sprinting towards it, a Decepticon close on his trail. The enemy Cybertronian was firing a purple type of bullet at him but kept missing. He didn’t know what the substance was, but he had heard from Heatwave that Cybertronians use Energon as ammo if they have weapons, and that substance was very dangerous to humans. So he imagined this Decepticon was firing some type of Energon at him. The specific type he didn’t know, as he had only heard of regular Energon which was blue, not purple. He’ll have to ask the ‘bots about it once he escapes.
He skidded to a quick stop as he made a sharp turn into an alleyway. He was expecting the alleyway to have a two-way entrance but stiffened as he skidded to a stop to avoid colliding with a wall. He whipped around and saw the Decepticon standing right before him, aiming the blaster it had directly at him. Cody backed up into the wall as he stared directly down the barrel of the weapon, pure fear in his eyes. He had made it so close to the academy. Now he was cornered in an alleyway with a large alien robot pointing a potentially deadly weapon at him.
He wished he hadn’t left the firehouse while his comm was still being fixed, and without anyone knowing where he was. He was screwed.
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Chief Burns came down on the elevator to the bunker, stepping out once it had touched the ground. He was met with Heatwave sparring like usual, Boulder painting, Chase reading some police manuals, and Blades watching TV. He decided to approach Heatwave first, as he was the last known bot to have interacted with his youngest.
“Heatwave”
The fire bot paused his sparring as he looked down at the Chief, “Yes?”
“Did Cody mention he was leaving somewhere?”
Heatwave raised an optical ridge at the question, “No? Did he go somewhere?”
The chief let out a small sigh, “I don’t know. That’s what I’m guessing, as he’s nowhere in the firehouse.”
Heatwave narrowed his optics. Something was wrong. It wasn’t like Cody to sneak off without informing anyone. Someone had to know where he went. “Have you tried his commlink?”
Chief nodded, “He left it here.”
Boulder had caught a bit of the conversation, heading over to give his intake on the situation, “Cody’s commlink needed to be fixed”
Chief looked over at the green bot, “How long has it been fixed for?”
“About a breem”
Chief raised an eyebrow in confusion at the unfamiliar word, “Breem?”
“An hour” Heatwave budded in to inform what a ‘breem’ was.
“So that means Cody left over an hour ago…” Chief mainly muttered to himself, although the two bots that were near him picked it up and exchanged worried glances at each other.
It was silent for a while before Boulder spoke up, “Did you ask anyone else if they saw or heard from Cody recently?”
“Everyone but Chase and Blades”
Heatwave looked over at the two who were oblivious to what was happening. “Blades. Chase.”
The copter bot and police bot looked up at their leader.
“Have either of you heard from Cody about an hour ago?”
“No, why?” Chase was the first to answer, then Blades followed,
“Did something happen to him?”
“He left the firehouse without telling anyone where he was going” Heatwave informed, which caused Chase and Blades's worry to spike up a bit.
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The blonde was quickly losing consciousness as he stumbled toward the academy. How he was even alive right now he had no idea. He felt incredibly weak and sluggish. He just needed to make it to the academy and then ground bridge to the firehouse. He’ll be fine once he gets back home….Right.?
He entered the section of hangers the academy was at and started his slow journey to the correct hanger. He stayed close by each hanger and used the wall to guide him as well as keep him upright. His vision had become severely blurry that not even squinting helped much. He was about ready to pass out, but he couldn’t. Not right now.
After what seemed like a decade for the young Burns, he reached the academy and entered it. He fell to the ground once the doors opened as he hadn’t prepared his legs to support his full weight before there was nothing for his hands to lean against. He stood after lying on the ground for a bit. He needed to get to the ground bridge. If there were any of the other bots there, he wouldn’t have realized or even heard them. His ears were ringing at this point and he had his heart and vision set on getting to that bridge.
He had become so out of it that he didn’t realize the large form in front of him until he ran into its foot. He doubled back before falling to the ground, unable to regain his balance after knocking into the form. He looked up at the figure he ran into and squinted to try and clear his vision enough to see who he had run into. All he could see was a blurry mess of blue, red, grey, and what seemed like two, small blurry orange circles. He squinted more and realized the form seemed to be…speaking.? But what was it saying.? Everything was too blurry for him to put together.
The figure then seemed to get closer, and so did the blurry orange circles. Had it kneeled down.? It was much easier to tell the figure was talking now, but he couldn’t make anything out over the loud ringing and extremely blurry vision. He would have tried harder to make out the figure, but exhaustion won the battle, and he blacked out.
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Just as the whole family and Rescue Bots team had begun their discussion of where Cody might have ended up, the alert for Optimus came through. Heatwave was the first to notice and rushed up to the team’s command center. Everyone else decided to hang back and continue their discussion to find out where Cody went.
“Optimus, what do you need?” Heatwave spoke after answering the Prime’s call.
“Do you or your team know the whereabouts of Cody Burns?”
Heatwave seemed confused by the random yet relevant question, “No. We are trying to figure that out. Why?”
“There is no need to look for him. He was at the academy”
Heatwave seemed to perk up now that he knew where Cody was, “Then we’ll head to the academy as soon as possible!”
Optimus raised a hand to pause the fire bot’s actions. “Hold on, young Heatwave. He is no longer there.”
“Why is that.?”
“I needed to take him back to my team's base for my medic to check him over.”
Heatwave’s worry seemed to spike at the Prime’s response, “Is he okay?”
“I am unsure. I had seen him when I was on one of my check-ins at the academy. I was alerted to the front when the main door opened. Cody didn’t seem to notice me in his path until he ran into me. Even then, he didn’t seem to hear what I was saying or recognize me. He fell unconscious before I could get an answer out of him.”
Heatwave’s spark would have skipped a beat from worry if it could. Even with his increasing worry for the youngest Burns, he stayed silent so Optimus could continue.
“I am unsure if this is the problem, but young Cody Burns is showing the same signs the youngest human of my team showed when he was hit with Dark Energon.”
The young firebot’s spark sank in its chamber. He knows what Energon can do to humans, and he’s heard Dark Energon can be worse. “..Will he be okay.?”
“I am sure he will be. But that is not the confirmed diagnosis. That is simply my observation. When my medic discovers the problem, I will be sure to update you and your team.”
Heatwave could only dip his helm slightly to show he understood. With that, Optimus ended the transmission. The fire bot stood at the console for a while longer, resting his servos on the command center’s desk and staring at the space between them. There was a high possibility Cody had been hit with Dark Energon. Energon was bad enough for humans. But Dark Energon. He doesn’t know just what it could do to humans, but given how it weakens Cybertronians if exposed for too long, there’s no telling how much worse the effect it could have on the human body could be.
He closed his optics as a way to control the burning anger that rose within him. A Decepticon hurt the youngling. He wanted so desperately to dismantle it. But he had to bite back the anger and keep his composure. For Cody’s sake.
He let out a small vent before opening his eyes back up and taking his servos away from the desk, standing straight up. He needed to remain calm. Allowing his anger to show through won’t help Cody right now. He just has to trust that Optimus’s medic knows what he’s doing.
Once he was positive the burning ember of anger was under control, he stepped out of the command center and went back over to the rest of the bots and their human partners.
Chase was the first to notice his return, “What did Optimus need?”
“He found Cody.” Heatwave’s tone and volume were a low grumble. He wasn’t able to conceal all his anger, and that showed through the tone in his voice, but at least he wasn’t going on a rampage and hunt for the Decepticon who could have very possibly hurt the youngling. His youngling.
The others seemed hopeful by this news, none of them realizing Heatwave's concealed anger.
"That's great!" Boulder spoke up, "Where is he?"
"He was at the training academy."
Boulder was about to speak up, before Blades interrupted, taking notice of Heatwave's emphasis on 'was'.
"'Was'.? Where is he now.?"
"He's with Team Prime.."
The others all shared the same expression: confusion mixed with worry. Some of the worry was more present on some faces than others.
"Why would he be there?" Dani spoke up this time.
"He needs to get checked by the medic there.."
Chase was the one to speak up now, "What happened to Cody? Why would he need to be checked up on by a Cybertronian medic.?"
Heatwave hesitated, answering, "There's a high possibility he got hit with Dark Energon …" Without realizing it, he had switched to the Cybertronian language. He was so focused on keeping the burning anger to a minimum, that he failed to process the language he spoke.
The other bots' looks all turned to deep worry and shock, while the humans seemed confused.
Blades spoke up first after the bit of silence that followed the news, "B-But that's just a possibility, r-right.? I-It hasn't been confirmed.!"
"Optimus stated that when Ratchet found out what happened, he'll update us. Until then.." He felt his servos clench into a tight fist before continuing, "We are in the dark about what happened to Cody."
"I do hope that is not what occurred. None of us are trained in treating Dark Energon within humans." Chase muttered.
"Dark Energon?" Kade questioned.
"It's rumored to be the lifeblood of Unicron the Chaos Bringer. Regular Energon is very harmful to humans. Dark Energon could be worse. None of us know what Dark Energon can do to a human." Boulder explained.
The remaining Burns began to piece everything together, their expressions all changing to the same, deep worry for their youngest member.
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He very slowly opened his eyes. His vision was still blurry, but not as much anymore. He could at least tell he was staring up at a tall, gray ceiling. The ringing in his ears had gone down so that he could hear muffled voices, but he did not attempt to listen in. Instead, he tried to remember what he was doing before he blacked out.
He recalled getting chased into an alleyway by a Decepticon, then blacked out after the Decepticon fired its blaster. He had woken up then and slowly stumbled his way to the training academy. Why was he going to the training academy?
Oh! The ground bridge! He quickly tried to sit up, but he heard a graveling, muffled voice speak: "Yip, yip, yip, lay back down. You are in no condition to sit or even stand." and a large, gray servo gently pushed him back down into a lying position.
He let out a small whine as he tried to speak, but found he was unable to. He wanted to go home. He wanted to go to where he wouldn't be hurt. Where he wouldn't be chased by an enemy. Where his family was.
The muffled voice spoke again, "I still need to confirm if I even managed to get it all out of your system. Then you'll need time to recover before you can even think about ground bridging somewhere."
He tried to retaliate by speaking or making any type of noise, but the only noise he could have made was the whine he had made earlier. He sat back up again only to be lightly pushed back down by the same, gray servo.
Another muffled voice spoke, this one sounded like him about 3 years ago. At least, in that age range. "Maybe you should let him sit up? So at least he knows where he is"
The first voice replied, "If I let him sit up, he'll try and stand soon after. I know what he wants. But it's too early in this recovery process to allow any type of bridging. Optimus bridging him here was risky enough."
He then heard the sound of footsteps approaching, then a familiar, deep, muffled voice spoke, "How is he doing, Rachet?"
The first voice he heard spoke. He assumed that voice belonged to someone, or somebot, named Ratchet. "Better than when he was brought here. He seems to be more aware of his surroundings than when you ran into him. And I can confirm, he was hit with Dark energon. I- "
The voice got cut off by a sudden, high-pitched ringing filling his ears. He quickly sat up, not stopped this time, and covered both his ears with his hands as he squeezed his eyes shut.
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Optimus was listening to what his old friend was saying, before noticing how Cody was at the moment. He went closer to him before speaking, "Cody?"
Ratchet turned his attention to the young charge as well. "It must be an unforeseen side effect." He turned his attention to the computer before typing away at it.
The Prime glanced at Ratchet as he spoke before gently nudging the young Burns with his digit.
Cody simply let out another whine as he curled in on himself. He didn't feel any pain from the nudge, but he felt an increase in pain when Optimus's digit was that close to him.
Ratchet had looked up right before Optimus nudged the kid. He studied the reaction carefully before turning back to his computers.
After a bit of typing, Ratchet was able to come up with a solution to the current problem at hand. Cody had stopped being in pain from his ears and attempted to stand about 10 minutes ago, but Ratchet pushed him down into a lying position with his servo. He was quick to pass out after that.
"Optimus!'
The Prime entered when he heard his name called, "Yes, Ratchet?"
"I have a permanent diagnosis to give Cody, and to relay it to Rescue Bots."
"Would you like to tell them yourself?"
Ratchet thought for a moment before giving a small nod. Optimus then called up Sigma-17 for a well-needed update. Heatwave answered, and the team as well as their human partners were in the room with him.
"Any updates?" Heatwave spoke.
"Yes. My medic, Ratchet, will fill you in on his findings." Optimus stepped back to allow his medic to speak.
Once he was in view, he began his update, "I can confirm, Cody was hit with a dark energon blast. However, it wasn't as severe as when our youngest got hit. Meaning it was more than likely a vehicon to have fired the shot, not Megatron."
The Rescue Bots felt themselves relax with the new knowledge that Cody had not run into Megatron.
"However, it seems this level of Dark Energon, while it is not severe, is causing some serious weakness in the boy. And I've noticed that if he's covering his ears and in pain, being in close proximity to Energon of any form seems to hurt him. He'll need to stay here for a while until it is safe to bridge him back to your base of operations."
The medic was about to speak to continue his update but was interrupted by a small whine off to the side. He looked over and noticed Cody sitting up again.
Ratchet once again gently pushed Cody back down, "You need to remain still. Or your recovery will only take longer." He gained a small whine of protest from the small boy, which seemed to catch the Rescue Bot's attention.
"Was that Cody?" Heatwave was the first and only one to get anything in.
Ratchet turned back to the screen, "Yes. He is doing better. But he needs to understand that he can not be moving around right now."
A small chuckle came from the human Chief, "That's my boy. Stubborn curiosity and determination."
Ratchet scoffed at the comment.
"Will we be able to visit him?" The female pilot spoke up,
"Maybe."
Optimus spoke up from the background, "Ratchet, you must remind yourself that this is Cody Burns' family."
"I know that. But I can't have Cody having a raised desire to get up when he still needs to be resting."
"If we visit, we'll make sure he doesn't get up" The engineer reassured, although the cybertronian medic wasn't too sure.
After a while of silence, he spoke up, "Maybe after he gets a little more rest and his body gets a little more used to the treatment I'm giving him to clear the Dark Energon from his systems."
The Burns family and Rescue Bots gave a small nod to show they understood. After that, Optimus ended the transmission. Now it was a waiting and recovering game for the young Cody Burns.
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Over the next few hours, he's been going in and out of consciousness. Each time he reawoke, his hearing and sight had gotten a little better. The more recent time, he was able to make out the blurry figures of the ones in the room.
There were occasionally 3 humans on the same level, all of different heights and ages. Then there were the different Cybertronians he kept seeing. He saw a total of 6 different Cybertronians: A large green one, a short blue and somewhat pink one, a medium-height white one with a couple of racing stripes, a yellow one with black stripes(Who he figured out was Bumblebee), a white and orange one(Who he figured was the medic), and a tall blue and red one(Who he figured out was Optimus).
The medic and Optimus were the most common duo he saw when he woke, but the medic was always right there typing away at a computer.
There was one time he woke but was stuck in place, that time he heard Bee talking to him. He mentioned that he was going to be okay and that their medic was keeping a constant eye on all his vitals. He had only heard that bit before he ended up passing out again.
This time, he woke to the sound of a portal opening. It was a bit of a challenge, but he managed to open his eyes and get a look at what the noise was coming from. This time, the ringing in his ears was quiet and everything was only slightly blurry. He carefully managed to get a glimpse of a green portal, and four bots coming through. He squinted a tad and realized it was Boulder, Blades, Chase, and Heatwave.
He quickly lay back down fully when he heard the medic speak. He knew he wasn't allowed to get up or move from his position.
"Last I checked, he was asleep, but his body is more acceptive of the treatment." He heard the medic say as he was forced to close his eyes again.
"At least that's a good sign," Blades spoke.
"Where are your human partners?"
"They had to stay back in case an emergency came up," Heatwave spoke this time. He paused before he spoke again, "When can we take him home?"
The Medic was silent for a bit before he replied, "Soon. I want to be sure this treatment isn't causing negative effects. And I also need to calculate how long he'll be needing the treatment."
"What exactly is the treatment?" Boulder spoke.
The medic hesitated before speaking, "A low dosage of Energon. Just enough to not cause serious harm, but to cancel out the Dark Energon. I did the same thing when something similar happened to our youngest."
"And you're positive this won't kill him?" Heatwave spoke, now in a rather serious tone.
"Yes. The levels of Energon I'm putting him on aren't enough to kill him if it were to backfire. I'd say it will be safe for him to leave my care after the next time I inject the Energon."
"How many Energon injections can he take a day?" Boulder.
"10 spaced out to every 2 hours 30 minutes. Based on my calculations, the final injection should be at 8:30 AM Eastern Standard Time. That should be enough to flush the Dark Energon out fully.
Silence followed which prompted Cody to attempt to open his eyes again. This time, it was much less difficult. Without thinking, he slowly sat up and rubbed his eyes.
Blades was the first to notice the youngest's movements, "Cody! You're awake!" He paused before continuing, "You had us all worried.."
Ratchet was about to push Cody back down onto a lying position but stopped himself. It was safe enough now for Cody to be in a sitting position. As long as he didn't stand.
Hsatwave approached the youngling with a serious yet worried look on his face. "What in Primus's name were you thinking?? Sneaking off out of the firehouse and facing a Decepticon?!"
Cody opened his mouth to answer, but all that came out was a small squeak.
"Cody's unable to speak for now. But his voice should return after all the Dark Energon is flushed out. Physically, after he has fully recovered it will be like nothing ever happened. Mentally, however. Well, I won't be surprised if this event takes a toll on him.." Ratchet spoke to answer Sigma-17's unspoken question.
"How long will it be until the next injection?" Boulder questioned the medic.
The medic checked the time before answering: "5 minutes. Then about 10 minutes later it will be safe to determine if he can return home."
The green bot gave a small nod of understanding.
Cody opened his mouth to ask a question, but all that came out was a small squeak. He stared down a tad once he came to realize he won't be able to ask questions or even speak for a while.
Heatwave accidentally let the soft, caring side show that he's been denying and hiding for quite some time now. "Code.?" He gently nudged the small human with his digit. "Is something bothering you.?"
The youngling simply looked off to the side as he tucked his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. He wanted to tell the fire bot what was bothering him, but he couldn't. He couldn't verbalize his wants and needs. This fact made him tear up a bit.
Heatwave became more concerned for his youngling before turning to Optimus's medic, "Is there any way he could communicate with us.?"
"Not that I know of, no.."
A small voice piped up from another area of the room, "What about paper and a pen?" A small, brown-haired boy came running over to where the new bots and the recovering human were. "It shouldn't take much energy for him to write what he wants to say."
The medic let out a small hum as Cody looked up at the one who suggested his thoughts.
The boy had a pair of red glasses and brown, spiky hair. He wore an orange, sleeveless shirt with a white shirt underneath. He had a pair of black jeans on with white and orange shoes. He looked to be a 12-year-old. Maybe even close to 13.
"Do you have any that could be used?" The medic spoke after a bit of silence.
"I should. Either in my bookbag or at home. I'll go look" The boy turned and headed off to where he was before Ratchet gave the nod of his helm.
Cody stared back down at the metal floor once the kid ran off. He could feel Heatwave's worried stare, but he made no effort to acknowledge it.
The boy soon came back with a small flip-pad notebook and a pen. He went over to Cody and held the two out for him.
Cody looked up and over at the kid, then down at the paper and pen. He let go of his knees and let them dangle off the edge of the makeshift bed he was on before grabbing the items. He dipped his head as a way to silently thank the boy before turning his attention to the notepad. He flipped it open and then began to write.
The kid stepped back a bit to give the Burns some space. He quickly checked the time as he remembered it wasn't a weekend.
After he checked it, he looked over at Ratchet. "Is Bumblebee able to take me home?"
The ambulance shook his head. "I can bridge you back home. Is it past curfew?"
The boy shook his head, "Not yet. But it's about to be. Plus, my mom always wants me home 5 minutes before my curfew."
"I understand."
The kid was about to run off to grab his bag before stopping and turning to Cody. "Oh! Cody, was it?"
Cody looked up from the notepad and over to the kid, nodding.
"You can keep the notepad and pen."
The blonde gave a forced smile before turning back to the notepad. The kid then hurried off to grab his bag.
Once he grabbed it, Ratchet opened the ground bridge portal with the coordinates to the kid's home. The boy ran over to it, pausing and turning around before going fully into it.
"Can you tell Bumblebee I said good night when he comes back?"
"Yes. And I will have him pick you up for school if nothing comes up" Ratchet responded to the small boy.
The kid nodded and then ran off through the portal.
After Cody finished writing his note, he held it up to the closest bot to him, Heatwave.
Heatwave read it over before quickly realizing it was a question for Ratchet. He turned to him before relaying the question: "What will happen to him when you inject the Energon?"
"He will most likely pass out again. That is if he stays awake until the injection. He's been going in and out of consciousness ever since Optimus brought him in." The medic responded after a moment to think.
Cody sent a quick, determined look at Ratchet. He'll stay awake this time. He wasn't feeling tired at all.
A couple of minutes passed by, and it was time for another Energon injection. Ratchet made sure Cody was lying down before injecting this dosage.
The Burns' vision began to blur together before blacking out completely as the Energon made its way into his body to destroy the Dark Energon remnants.
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Over the course of the next 14 hours, Cody has been once again, going in and out of consciousness. This time, he was under the careful eye of his family. His entire family. About 30 minutes ago, he was given his last injection of Energon.
His skin color had returned from its pale look and the darkness around his eyes had fully faded as well. Currently, he was watching some TV with Blades. He often spent time watching TV when Heatwave wasn't checking up on him.
Ever since he was returned to the Firehouse, he's noticed Heatwave's been a bit more protective of him. Sure, he's always been rather protective, but this type of protective was…different. It was to the point that while Cody was on the Energon injections, Heatwave wouldn't let the young Burns leave his line of sight. He was hesitant to go out on the field when an emergency came up. He was always in close proximity to Cody. Or at least, he tried to be. Granted, the Burns didn't mind this. He didn't mind the knowledge that he was never alone during this long recovery process. But it's just. It was a tad off-putting.
As the commercials hit, he suddenly felt a wave of exhaustion flooding through him. It was difficult to resist, so he quickly drifted off to sleep.
Blades was quick to notice this and gently picked the youngling up before moving him to the recovery bed he's been staying at. After he made sure Cody would be comfortable, he left the room and went back to the TV.
Heatwave, who had reluctantly gone out on an early-morning patrol, soon entered the room in the bunker Cody was at. He noticed the youngling was sleeping, and glanced around outside the room for a bit, ensuring no one was going to enter.
Once that was made clear, he went over to the youngling and gently picked him up. He cradled him in his servos close to his spark as he gave a soft smile. The sight of the small human sleeping peacefully in his servos made his interior feel warm.
His soft smile widened just a tad bit more as one thought crossed his mind.
My sparkling