Chapter Text
If it were not for
the care I still hold,
the sympathy that I still
have for others,
The emptiness I feel
towards you could have fooled me
into believing that my own spark
had gone cold.
“But — he’s an alien!”
“Put me down, you metal oaf!”
“You’re supposed to be listening to me, robot.”
The list of complaints could go on and on. Honestly, Heatwave wondered how anyone could put up with Kade at all. The egotistical human had been ordering him around everywhere since he met him, only to yell if his orders didn’t turn out right, much to the firetruck’s growing irritation.
Seriously, did anything please this guy?
For Heatwave, it was always “Do this” and “Do that”. There was no respect or appreciation, not even a glance of acknowledgment.
He was forced to watch as Kade took credit for all of the rescues that Heatwave did. As Kade received praise and acknowledgment for what Heatwave did. As Kade and the other Burns continued to let it happen.
The firetruck’s energon boiled, watching someone so egotistical and selfish being allowed to do what he wanted.
———————————————
“It’s not a he, Cody. It’s a truck.”
Those few words continued to play in his helm, no matter what Heatwave did to distract himself. He wasn’t even meant to hear it — having only overheard what Kade had said to Cody because he had gone out to familiarize himself with the surrounding area.
Was that really how little Kade thought of him? Not a teammate, partner, or ally, not even a mech.
A truck. A man made, sparkless machine incapable of any thoughts and emotions whatsoever.
“It’s not a he, Cody. It’s a truck.”
Heatwave is a firebot, a Rescue Bot, and most importantly, a leader. He and the rest of Sigma-17 have their own roles that they excel in. Heatwave prides himself on his ability to lead the rest of the Rescue Bots through any situation.
Right?
Chief Burns was also a leader — everyone listened to and respected him, even the bots. When directing people, he moves with confidence and has patience for others, patience that Heatwave doesn’t have.
With having to keep their Cybertronian identities a secret from other humans, Chief Burns has been the one leading everyone instead of Heatwave.
What does that make Heatwave?
…
His processor went back to what Cody said back when the boy first discovered their alien identities. He and the other bots were supposed to act like robots, cold and emotionless, ready to follow any and every command given.
The firebot had been annoyed that day. Who wouldn’t, knowing that something bad happened to their home, but were stuck having to work with and protect people who didn’t even like them? Then on top of that, he was supposed to play pretend and act like a mindless machine with his human partner.
Speaking of his partner, he was growing more and more tired of Kade. The only thing he did with Heatwave was argue, yell, and fight, and for what? No matter what the human did or said to him, neither of them could change whatever had made him so angry in the first place.
The only reason Heatwave was even putting up with any of this was because of his team. None of them knew what else they could do besides follow along with the mission they received from the Prime, and it wasn’t as if they had any idea of where else they could go.
As their leader, the firebot was responsible for all three of them, no matter the circumstances.
Right. It wouldn’t do any good if Heatwave continued to spiral because of his thoughts. As Sigma-17’s leader, he needed to remain strong and keep a clear helm.
“It’s not a he, Cody. It’s a truck.”
…
No matter how untrue those words were, he couldn’t deny the fact that it still stung.
———————————————
Heatwave was an observant person. Although many might think the opposite due to his temper and attitude to certain people, the firebot has always been observant of the things and people around him. After all, as a leader, he needed to be able to notice if anything was wrong with his teammates or if something was bothering them. And so, it only took a few days before Heatwave soon noticed some new.. changes about his teammates.
For one, Boulder had been quiet lately. If not for the fact that the engineer often enjoyed spending time and talking to others, the firefighter would have thought it was normal. As it was, there was likely something bothering Boulder — the engineer usually got quieter on certain sadder days.
And then there were the changes that were glaringly obvious.
Blades had been steadily gaining a temper that could rival his own, which was very strange for the medic. Heatwave has known him to be careful and easily intimidated, and sometimes even sassy. Being irritated enough to start and continue an argument of all things was extremely out of character for Blades.
Chase's personality had seemed to completely change. The enforcer now had a smile on his faceplates no matter where he was or what he was doing, becoming more talkative and similar to how Blades used to act. The only difference was that Chase either acted overly polite or just didn’t speak at all, staring at anyone in the optics with a eerie smile.
He was.. concerned, to say the least.
The firefighter didn’t know how to react to these changes, or even how to help them with whatever was happening. Should he accept the changes and come to terms with them, or should he try fixing whatever was causing them to change?
One thing that Heatwave was certain of was that his own temper wasn’t doing them any good. Whenever he and Kade argued, the prick would later rile up Dani, which always led to another fight between the human and Blades.
After the fifth incident, it became obvious that nothing was working out. Something would have to change, and it was clear that Heatwave’s own temper was one of the main problems.
If only it were that easy.
Heatwave couldn’t help the flare of irritation whenever Kade blatantly ignored or undermined his own contributions, nor could he suppress the urge to snark back at him.
Still, the firebot kept his mouth shut, opting to just glare at the human instead. Of course, this only seemed to fuel his arrogance, often prompting the human into mocking the bot even more, knowing that the mech wouldn’t actually harm him.
He was really f[][][]ing lucky that Heatwave was a Rescue Bot.
It got easier over time, ignoring the human’s stupid remarks and actions. The firebot would just not pay any attention to him or stare at him blankly, making the argument one-sided until someone like the Chief took pity on him and ended the argument.
This change helped bring back some sort of stability to the team. Without Heatwave actively fighting with his human, Blades’ partner wasn’t getting riled up as often. Soon enough, the medic’s fights with her went down from every day to around three times a week. It wasn’t a lot, but it was progress.
So of course, it just had to all come crumbling down.
———————————————
It had been a normal day, or as normal as a day could be on Griffon Rock. They had been helping out in a typical emergency, a fire that had started up somewhere in town, catching into other nearby structures.
Everything had been going along normally. Boulder had set up firebreaks and Heatwave was keeping the fire down as humans were evacuated. Chase was keeping everyone away from the fire using his caution tape and speaker, and Blades was using his scoop claw to help put out some fires.
Heatwave had been solely focused on putting out the nearby and main fires, until he heard a shout from a nearby building. Glancing over to the source of the sound, the firebot immediately froze.
Boulder was holding up part of the building, despite the weight and the fact that at least half of the building was still on fire. Below the engineer stood Kade and some other civilian, protected from the collapsing building by Boulder’s frame.
Heatwave cursed internally. If he left to help them, the fires might grow larger and spread even more without him to keep them down. If he stayed and continued to spray down the fires until they were put out, there was a chance that the three could get seriously hurt. It certainly didn’t help that neither of the three people at the building had moved yet.
Thankfully, Chase and Chief Burns rushed over to help them instead, allowing the firebot to focus on the fires after a quick glance at their situation.
When everything was finally handled and the fire was put out, he quickly made his way over to Boulder, who was standing near Graham and Kade, only to stop short in shock.
“That was my save! Seriously, Graham, I would’ve been fine if you and your robot had just let me mind my own business!”
“But — Kade, you were in danger! We couldn’t just, let a building fall on top of you — !”
“I told you I would’ve been fine! But instead you and your little robot decided to just mess things up — ”
“What the f[][][] is going on here?!” Heatwave hissed, snapping out of his shock.
Kade turned to him, as if just noticing that he was there, and scowled. “Your stupid green friend just stole the spotlight from me today!”
“Boulder was saving your aft from danger.” The firebot corrected, glaring at the man.
“Acting so high and mighty now, are we? I thought you robots were supposed to be listening to us. What happened to you being so quiet and compliant?” Kade retorted back, uncaring of how horrible he sounded.
All at once, whatever little respect that Heatwave had for Kade vanished, along with any hope that the human would have some sort of respect for others.
Heatwave seethed. “You disgust me, Kade.”
Said human only rolled his eyes, causing the firebot to growl before turning to Boulder. “We’re going back to the firehouse. Now. If he thinks he’s so much better than us, he can walk home himself.”
He sent a venomous glare at the orange-haired human one more time before turning on his heel and leaving, ignoring the human's indignant shout.
———————————————
Since that day, Heatwave stopped any avoidable interaction with the selfish human. The firebot didn’t speak to him, didn’t look at him, and didn’t even acknowledge him when the human was around.
Before, that was because Heatwave was fueled by anger. Anger that was directed at the human for acting as if Boulder saving him had been a terrible inconvenience, and that they were just robots for them to use however they wanted. Anger that the human thought so little of the efforts the bots made to help everyone. Anger that finally bubbled over after how disgustingly the human treated them.
But anger, like many things, fades over time. Eventually, instead of anger, Heatwave felt nothing but cold indifference towards the human. The human wasn’t exactly important to him, and he was never important to the human, so the firebot started to care less and less about him. There was no strong emotion that was pushing the firetruck to ignore the human’s very existence.
Still, he continued to ignore the human. It was no longer because of his anger towards him, but because it was just convenient.
To believe that someone like him could redeem himself was foolish of the firetruck. It was obvious that the human would never be welcoming to any Cybertronians, so he wouldn’t be welcoming to the human either.
The lack of interaction with the firebot meant that the human was less likely to return to the firehouse irritated, meaning he wouldn’t be riling up Blades’ ‘partner’ as often. In turn, this meant that the medic fought with her even less, though their clear disdain for each other never quite left.
He was Heatwave, a Rescue Bot, firebot, and leader. If avoiding the human would aid his team, he would continue to do so for as long as he lived.