Ghosts of the Present (Rescue Bots AU)

25. Mother-Sons Talk

The next day was another day of random jobs with varying levels of success. The game was that afternoon, and so they did their best to finish their tasks quickly.

"Cross with caution... Cross with caution..." Kade had been saying the same thing so many times he was certain he could do it in his sleep... He almost was. Frankly, he figured that Chase would be a better crossing guard than he and Heatwave.

Heatwave watched for cars, Kade watched for pedestrians. It was a team effort like always, but no less boring. "You know what I'd rather be doing...?" He mumbled.

"Anything but this?" Heatwave guessed, holding his sign out to stop traffic while some schoolkids passed by.

"Eeeyup... Hey," He looked down as he saw one of the toddlers had stopped right in front of him, "The other side of the street's that way."

"Come on, Louie." Hayley was calling from the sidewalk, "Let's not bother the handsome crossing guard."

"Mr. Fireman?" The little boy asked, "How come you're helping?"

Kade was partially entertained by the question; he wished he could be honest about why they were also doing this job, but Louie was five. He wouldn't understand. "It's a long story, now hurry on to your teacher, alright?"

Louie beamed and then hurried on his way, but it was when he was about halfway across the street when Kade heard a loud screeching of tires. He expected to see Don peeling through town as usual... But it was Chase, swerving back and forth as if being jerked around by an invisible force.

Heatwave noticed it too, and he quickly pulled the toddler out of the way as his teammate flew by them. He then gasped as Chase skidded off of the road and crashed into some garbage cans, sending the trash flying. "Chase!"

Mr. Sharma climbed out of the back seat, complaining to Chief Burns about Chase's poor taxi skills, but Heatwave could see Chase trembling, and he could feel his EM field was just as shaky. "Chase... Are you okay?"

Chase transformed into bot mode and then sat down on the curb, picking up the trash he'd spilled. Heatwave bent down and joined him. Chase didn't speak, he barely acknowledged the firebot's presence; Heatwave wasn't going to give up so easily... He reached out and grabbed Chase's arm gently to pause his cleanup. "Chase, talk to me."

Chase blinked, and then his shoulders slumped. "...He was yelling on his cell phone..." he whispered, "...I politely asked him to not use the phone because my radio was picking up on the signal with that horrid sound, not to mention his yelling was distracting my focus... He ignored me and then grabbed my wheel because apparently I wasn't going the right way... I got distracted trying to get him to release my wheel so I didn't crash, and I crashed anyway... I'm sorry."

Heatwave saw that compliant look in his teammate's optics, the same look he gave back at the academy when he just gave up trying to defend himself and his actions. It sent flares of anger through his processor, but he couldn't fight back for him like he used to, especially not against a human. "Chase... You need to relay that to Chief later, okay? Mr. Sharma should not be doing that, not even with a taxi is grabbing the wheel out of the driver's hands acceptable."

Chase's optics glistened, and he rubbed the fluids away with his arm, "I know... I really should write him a citation."

"Do it. Absolutely do it."

"...Now I know what Slipchain felt with Evan and Myles. Having someone forcibly take control of your motor functions is a deep invasion of personal privacy."

By now Chief Burns had calmed the angry civilian and Mr. Sharma had left, and he turned his attention back to his partner. "It's okay, Chase. I know you're doing your best."