Sanctuary TFP/RB

Chapter 9

Heatwave liked to think he was well trained in rescue work.

He'd had expert trainers and excellent resources back on Cybertron. He'd even had the chance to observe some of the best teams in action.

Griffin Rock had a knack for making him question that confidence.

As he drifted slowly upwards, his arms and legs instinctively spread out to prevent him from spinning out of control, the result of countless training sessions in space.

He watched in a daze as human things, from cars to basketballs to pruning shears rose as well, forming a floating junkyard around them. Inside his cab, the Beacon Box lightly bumped into the walls. Stupid thing.

Movement caught his optic. Dani struggled in the air, out of control.

Snapping out of his stupor, Heatwave pushed off of the Hall's entrance stairs and caught her with both hands.

Blinking hard, as if disoriented, she looked up at him, mouthing something silently. He raised an eyebrow, but there was no time to ponder the strangeness of it.

Blades floated into view on his left, Kade in hand and looking around with wide optics. When he finally spotted them, his expression melted into relief. Heatwave tossed Dani to him through the air, and turned back around.

On his other side, Chase, quick to action as ever, had already caught Chief Burns and Doc Greene, and was helping them into his cab. Graham had latched onto a streetlight pole further away, slowly climbing towards Boulder, who floated above him.

Heatwave glanced around, searching for more movement. Then he looked again, swiping aside a cluster of junk. One human was still unaccounted for.

'Where's Jack,' he tried to call, only for nothing to come out of his mouth.

What in the Allspark? He cleared his voicebox, feeling a rush of frustration. Nothing felt wrong with it, but once again, it made no sound.

He turned back to the others. Blades waved his arms, mouthing something frantically to Boulder, who shrugged, a helpless look on his face. Chase simply floated there, looking back and forth between them.

Heatwave paused. Wait....

Experimentally, he smacked aside a lawn chair. Nothing, as he expected. In fact, the entire world had gone silent. Just like space.

He huffed. Typical. How had this town ever survived without them?

Blades waved at him, still trying to speak. Heatwave scowled. Was this how easy it was for them to fall apart? They'd trained in space countless times before they'd even heard of Griffin Rock!

He put a finger to the side of his head, activating the general commlink channel. "I can't hear you, Blades. Sound doesn't travel in space."

Blades stopped, looking sheepish. The others followed Heatwave's example with three identical clicks.

"Can you all hear me now?" Heatwave asked as a test.

"Affirmative." Came Chase's automatic response.

"I can now." Boulder said, sounding relieved.

"I'm-"

"What on Earth is happening?" Kade cut Blades off, provoking an annoyed groan from the copter bot.

"Space, of course!" Doc Greene responded, sounding way more cheerful than the situation called for. "The scientists who designed the Anti-Gravity Projector wanted to create as similar an environment to it as possible, while still on Earth."