Sideswipe huddled against an ice wall inside a frozen cave. His optics flickered at the snowfall violently blowing outside. He was lucky to have found shelter so fast. It wasn't safe to be exposed to sub zero temperatures for too long. Of course any Autobot could endure extreame cold that no human could last long in. But like humans, it was the surviving sub zero temperatures that made the Arctic so dangerous for Autobots. Long exposure to the intense cold could cause even an Autobot to 'freeze to death'. Before the Autobots left HQ to trace a lone Cybertronian energy signature in northeastern Greenland, Ratchet gave plenty of "Be careful" lectures. Sideswipe wished he'd listened.
He wasn't sure how long he'd been separated from the group. Maybe an hour. As Sideswipe fidgeted in the cave, trying to find a comfortable position, he wondered how long it would be until the Autobots could find him. How long would it be until they rescued him? The wind's whistling outside was growing louder, and the blizzard seemed without end. Sideswipe held his knees to his chest and puffed out a breath of heated air. It only warmed him momentarily. Sideswipe's optics began to dim, but he quickly shook the tired feeling away. He was so cold, and so tired, yet he refused to recharge. Though it was tempting, Sideswipe stayed awake and alert as much as he could, and waited for an Autobot to come running through the cave doorway. His hope in an Autobot rescue team was strong. But his determination not to become an "Autobot-ice-pop" was even stronger.
Eventually Sideswipe got bored of waiting. He knew it was suicide to go out in the harsh weather when his circuitry was already suffering from the extreame temperature. But his boredom was starting to get the best of him. Slowly, Sideswipe dug into the ice and gripped the wall. He stood up and balanced on his wheels for a moment. As if someone had kicked at Sideswipe, Sideswipe's knee suddenly gave out on him. In a panic, Sideswipe tried to regain his traction. His right wheel slid out from under him and he started falling. Sideswipe brought his left wheel in so his left leg was in a squatting position. He thought he could stand up again from this position, as he pulled himself up from where his hands still had a grip in the ice. But as he moved, his left wheel suddenly slipped under him and twisted on it's side. Sideswipe released his grip in fright from the piercing pain. His fall was met with the worst pain when he fell on top of his twisted left wheel. Sideswipe screamed at the agonizing pain! As soon as he was able to comprehend what was happening, he pulled his wheel out from under him. The sight was gruesome. Sideswipe's ankle joint was shattered and leaking a pool of energon on the slick icy floor. Sideswipe could see where his ancle snapped. He tried to rotate his left wheel, but that only caused more pain at the leaking wound. Sideswipe hit the back of his head against the ice wall. 'Frag it!' he cursed to himself. 'All that from a single slip on ice!' Sideswipe looked out at the blizzard.
"I can't try going anywhere now, can I?" He shouted to the open air. It was times like this when Sideswipe thought Primus had a cruel sense of humor.
Due to Sideswipe's accidental injury to his ankle, he was leaking a lot of energon. Loss of energon weakened him much faster combined with the cold. Sideswipe tried to ignore the pain, but he couldn't help looking down at the wound every so often. He later realized that his leaking energon was freezing to his leg as it dripped. Sideswipe tried to move his wheel away from the frozen energon, but his wheel was already stuck in place. It was no use trying to break free from the frozen mess. He knew with the luck he'd been having that day, the odds were against him. It was more than likely that if he tried to pull his leg back, his ankle would probibly detach and his wheel would remain frozen in the energon and ice. "I'm not going anywhere anyway." Sideswipe said casually, trying to stay positive.
After six hours of being separated from the others, Sideswipe's perseverance finally broke. He gave in and curled up on his side without moving his ankle. 'Its been too long. In these conditions Prime probibly won't send a search party until morning.' That was Sideswipe's last thought before he drifted into recharge. But his recharge was no where near as comforting as he had hoped it would be. Even in recharge, he couldn't escape the harsh weather. Though weather was hardly his concern now. Sideswipe's recharge was haunted by tormenting flashbacks of the events earlier that day. The avalanche.
(Flashback:)
The Autobots couldn't even predict it coming. The first sign was the tremendous sound roaring behind them. Sideswipe spun around, thinking a bomb had gone off. He stood in awe at the massive wave of snow rolling down the mountain. It came at him with incredible speed, and Sideswipe could only watch. Suddenly a voice rang out above the roar of the avalanche.
"Run Stupid!" Sideswipe came to his senses when he figured the voice was talking to him, and booked it out of there. Sideswipe kept his foccus on the others ahead of him as he glided gracefully, and let gravity carry him faster. Sideswipe could feel bits of snow flying at his wheels, and could hear the crashing sound as if it were just over his head. At the moment, the only thing faster and louder than the avalanche, was Sideswipe's spark pulsing. Sideswipe tried to keep up with the other Autobots far ahead of him, but they suddenly dissapeared from sight as a mist surrounded Sideswipe. He had only seconds to comprehend how close the avalanche was closing in. As a last resort to gain speed, Sideswipe jumped and tried to transform in mid air. He knew instantly that he was too far in to escape. Then the impact hit him.
The whole avalanche swallowed Sidewipe and pushed him down the mountain at a hundred and fifty miles per hour! It shook Sideswipe over and over again til he didn't know up from down. He barely got back into robot mode before he was nearly snapped in half. There wasn't enough time to feel scared. It all happened so fast, Sideswipe could only tense up and let the avalanche toss him where ever it pleased. Suddenly Sideswipe caught a glimps of sky and forced his head above the snow. Then the whole fear of the moment exploded out of Sideswipe. He was stricken with terror all at once. He cried out for help or a miracle of some sort to jump out and grab him. His scream was no mach for the volume of the avalanche. Sideswipe felt himself sinking under again. Before Sideswipe lost his view of the sky, he let out another agonizing cry.
"SUNNY!" After that, Sideswipe was taken under. Instead of feeling more fearfull, Sideswipe tensed up again and went completely numb inside his processor until the tormenting roll down hill stopped.
(End Flashback:)
Sideswipe's own shiver shook him awake from his nightmares. When he came to, he could still hear the mighty wind blowing. Despite his loss of energy, Sideswipe generated a basic scan of his surrounding area. His optics lit up with life again. There was definatly a lone spark wandering out there. It was highly unlikely for an Autobot to go off on his own. The search party of one should have seemed suspicious to Sideswipe, but he didn't care.
"Hey! I'm in here!" Sideswipe hollered. He wondered if the wind outside made his voice hard to hear by the other 'Bot. So he kept shouting. "I'm here! It's me! I'm right here!" Sideswipe heard the snow crunching. His rescuer was walking closer. But just when the footsteps sounded so close, they were silent. "I'm here! Hellloooo?" Sideswipe tried again. Two thin orbs of red light peaked inside the cave. The strancer tip toed inside the cave walls and expanded their wings. Lights flashed fron the tips of the stranger's wings. The lights illuminated the features of the stranger, creeping ever so slowly closer to Sideswipe. The stranger was thinly built like a femme, had a burned orange paint decorating her chest, arms, and lower legs. The rest of her was painted a lighter orange or left glistening silver. Her black helmet which covered half her face was outlined from the blazing light of her deep, red, optics. Her thin metal lips drew an evil smile across her face, and she beamed that evil smile directly down on Sideswipe.
"Hello..." The femme hissed.
"Scrap!" Sideswipe growled.
Author's Note: For a better image of the Decepticon femme, take the femme's description and apply it to Slipstream from TFA.