Chase flinched when he read the reminder that popped onto his hud. It was almost that time again. Holding back an uncharacteristic groan, he stood up and went to find Heatwave and Chief Burns. He found them in the common area, relaxing with the rest of the Burns Family and the Rescue Bots.

"Heatwave, Chief Burns," Chase called.

The looked up from their respective tasks.

"What can we do for you Chase?" Chief asked with a smile.

"Yeah, what do you need?" Heatwave agreed.

Chase straitened, "I would like to request 34 hours of leave time starting at 2:00 pm tomorrow."

The whole Burns family froze at the request. Chase never requested time off, in fact, he hated it. The Rescue Bots, for their part, would have paled if they could have.

"Why? Is something wrong?" Chief asked, his concern obvious.

"It is the anniversary," Chase stated, carefully concealing the dread that he felt. "The effect this date has on my coding renders it inadvisable for me to be out in the field."

"I didn't realize it was so close," Boulder said with dark optics.

"Me neither," Blades agreed.

"Chase you know you don't need to ask, not for this," Heatwave said solemnly before glaring at the humans, daring them to disagree.

Kade always had trouble turning down a dare.

"Wait, you can't do that," he protested. "What if we need him?"

"I can and I did," Heatwave growled.

Kade shrunk back. That growl wasn't Heatwaves' usual way of showing irritation, this one was actually threatening. Kade gulped, suddenly remembering how much bigger the bot was.

Chief Burns stepped forward with his hands held up in an attempt to pacify the Cybertronian.

"I was never going to deny him time off, I was just curious as to why. We all know Chase hates down time," he said, casting concerned glances at the bot in question.

"I would prefer downtime to this," Chase muttered before saying louder, "Thank you Heatwave, Chief Burns. Now if you will excuse me, I must go prepare."

Chase turned to leave but stopped and looked back, "If you need me, I will be there."

"Only as a last resort," Heatwave countered in a voice that brokered no argument.

Chase gazed at him for a second before nodding, that would do.

…

"Do you have everything you need?" Blades asked for the third time.

"Affirmative," Chase answered, to grateful for the concern to be annoyed.

"We will stay with you as long as we can," Bolder said, "but you know Griffin Rock, it's never quiet for long."

"I am grateful," Chase assured, forcing a small smile.

The alarm sounded.

"Not now!" Heatwave groused.

"I'm sorry Chase," Boulder said.

"Go do your duty," Chase ordered. "I will be fine."

The others were kind enough not to call him out on that lie, as they reluctantly left the underground bunker.

…

Like all things in Griffin Rock, the rescue was going smoothly, until it went spectacularly wrong. It started out simple enough, an eight-wheeler truck had gone out of control and crashed into a building. Heatwave got the driver while Blades and Boulder carefully removed the truck.

That was when everything went wrong. No one noticed the oil leaking from the truck, nor the sparking wires sticking out from the damaged wall. At least, no one noticed until the oil caught fire. The fire followed the oil to its source, the tank of oil the eight-wheeler had been hauling (it's always something flammable with Griffin Rock isn't it?).

The resulting explosion sent the bots flying back and set the nearby brush on fire. Heatwave and Boulder landed on the ground while Blades was sent through what remained of the wall and a supporting pillar, causing part of the building to collapse on top of him, burying him, in rubble and destabilizing the rest of the building.

Boulder rushed to stabilize the building, acting as a support, while Chief Burns and Graham worked to evacuate the rapidly crumbling building. Heatwave, on the other hand, tried to put out the fire that was spreading at an alarming rate. Blades, meanwhile, was stuck underneath a fourth of a building pining him to the ground, unable to do anything but watch helplessly as the chaos unfolded.

"Guys, I can't hold this up forever. We need a new support or the whole building is coming down," Boulder warned, grunting as the building shifted above him.

"I can't leave, if this fire keeps spreading it will set the whole town ablaze," Heatwave called, cursing whoever designed the layout for the accident-prone town.

"And I can't move!" Blades yelled as he pushed at the debris pinning him.

"Does this count at a last resort?" Kade hollered over the crackling of the fire and the spray of the fire hose.

"Unfortunately," Heatwave reluctantly agreed. "Call Chase."

…

Chase groaned as the alarm went off.

"Sorry Chase," Blades commed, "but we need you."

Chase steeled himself as he stood upon shaky legs. Taking a deep invent in an attempt to cool his overheating frame, he waked to the lift that brought him to the garage as he listened to the situation. With more effort than he cared to admit, he transformed and raced to the emergency, stopping only to grab a few support beams that the town now bought in bulk.

Once he arrived things went quickly. He and Boulder secured the building then helped Blades and Dani free as Heatwave and Kade finally got the fire under control. Chase stood stock still as everything wrapped up. His plating was trembling faintly, and steam curled faintly from his heated armor, however, no one but the other Rescue Bots could detect it.

The Rescue Bots grit their denta as the clean-up continued, and breathed a sigh of relief as they finally finished. They transformed and rushed their humans into their cabs, taking off before any of the Burns had strapped in.

"Chase seems to be doing fine," Kade commented as they started heading back to the firehouse.

"No, he's not. He's barely holding it together," Heatwave snapped, worry stripping him of the little patience he possessed.

Kade was speechless. Heatwave had snapped at him before, but never like this. Now concerned himself, Kade turned to look at the silent police car, only now noticing that his father was not with Chase.

Speeding up, Heatwave opened his com.

"We're almost there Chase, just a little bit further," he encouraged. "You are doing great, just hold it together a little longer."

None of the Burns noticed at first, but all of the bots kept speeding up. It only occurred to them when they got to the firehouse ten minutes before they should have. What really concerned them was that not only did Blades not complain about flying faster, but Chase never said a word about them breaking the speed limit.

Reaching the firehouse, the Rescue Bots practically shoved the humans out of their cabs before transforming. The Burns' were about to comment when their attention was caught by Chase transforming and falling to his knees. The other bots were by his side in an instant.

Concerned the Burns' rushed forward.

"Stay back!" Heatwave barked, stopping them in their tracks.

By this point steam was pouring off the overheating bot and his trembling plates were clanging audibly. Looking at each other the Burns' stood back as the bots hauled Chase to his pedes and dragged him to the lift. The Burns' didn't follow.

…

Heatwave and Boulder gently laid Chase onto the blessedly cold floor as Blades turned the temperature down as low as it would go.

"We're here now Chase," Heatwave reassured the bot. "You did a great job holding together, but now you don't need to. You can let go, Chase."

The trembling bot managed to focus on his surroundings just long enough to confirm what he had been told. Clutching the hands that where offered to him, he unlocked his jaw and screamed.

…

The Burns' jumped as a ghastly wail made its way through the garage floor.

"What is that!" Dani cringed.

"We need to go see what it is!" Cody exclaimed, having just arrived from his communication array.

"No, that came from the bunker," Chief said. "I do not think the bots would appreciate any of us going down there at the moment, no matter what our reasons are."

"What? What if they're in danger?" Cody exclaimed.

"You didn't see how the bots were acting. If there was something down there that dared present itself as a danger to Chase…" The Chief trailed off.

The others nodded in agreement.

"We can stay up here and wait," Dani said, still cringing at the horrible noise like everyone else was. "The bots will come up and explain when their ready."

Nodding, the Burns family huddled together on the couch and desperately tried to block out the tortured screams.

…

Blades sighed in relief as Chase finally passed out from pain. Chase was carefully cradled against Heatwaves chest, his armor was the most heat resistant, with Blades and Boulder each holding a hand in an attempt to offer as much comfort as they could.

"Someone has to go up there and explain," Heatwave rumbled.

"I'll go," Boulder offered. "That way Blades is here in case something happens, and Heatwave can be near him longer than I can."

They both nodded and Boulder reluctantly pried his hand out of Chases' crushing grip. Going into the garage he found the Burns family huddled together on a couch. Once they noticed him they jumped up and bombarded him with questions.

Boulder held up his arms in surrender and gestured to the couch.

"I'm here to explain," Boulder assured as they all sat down.

"It is the anniversary of the destruction of the city of Praxus during the war," Boulder began bluntly.

The Burns' flinched, the destruction of a whole city? They couldn't imagine it.

"Chase was a Praxian Enforcer before and during most of the war. He stayed with his city to the very end. That was what he was programed to do after all. All Praxian Enforcers were pre-programed to be fair, unbiased, and, above all, loyal to Praxus."

"So, he was there when the city was destroyed?" Graham asked, horrified.

"Yes, he was. Praxus was a neutral city during the war. It was because of that that they were unprepared for when the Decepticons attacked. The bombed the city first, before marching through the city, killing everyone they found. I don't know exactly what happened that day, but I do know that Chase did his job. When the Autobots and Rescue Bots arrived, they found only two survivors, Chase and an injured youngling that he managed to keep alive."

There were mixed reactions to that, horror over the destruction of war, sorrow over the death of a city of living beings, relief that Chase survived, and pride that Chase managed to save at least one.

"What does that have to do with Chase's reaction to the anniversary?" Dani asked after they had time to process what they had been told.

"The Golden Age of Cybertron was not as goldens as the rulers would have liked you to think. Cybertron could be a very cruel place to live, and it showed. I told you that the Enforcers were pre-programed, right?" They nodded. "The code that he was programmed with was very strict. Enforcers were to never leave their post, never leave their city, and never fail in their duty. The Praxian government refused to have the mechs they paid for go rogue and move to a different city, so they made sure that there was a punishment each time they failed. What could be considered a bigger failure that the destruction of Praxus?"

"What is Chases punishment?" the Chief asked, not sure he really wanted to know.

Boulder smiled humorlessly, "Praxus burned, and, because he dared to outlive it, so will Chase."