Sam - Evening.. You better flippin appreatiate this.. flipping took my four all nighters to finally get this finished... If Strike asks, erm... Syndrome uploaded it. :P Disclaimer please! Oh and thanks ToaVeka for telling me about what Sprite lightning is... XD
DISCLAIMER -I DO NOT OWN TRANFORMERS BUT THE CHARECTERS IN THIE FIC ARE OF MY DESIGN! SHOULDN'T BE ANY PROPER NAMES... XD OH AND THE HUMAN CHARECTERS ARE MINE TOO.
Designation - Airstrike
Designation - Firestorm
-Begin Memory File Playback-
Sprite Lightning
"I'm passing the airport now!" The Cybertronion jet had to shout as he flew through the terrible rainstorm. Lightning cracked as hailstones started attacking the jets black cockpit, the rain joining in and soaking him from head to foot. It was difficult for him to stay airbourne in this weather, but he had no choice.
"Oh this just keeps getting better and better!"
"Relax Striker you're almost there"
"Bullet when you said rain you didn't mention a storm! This is ridiculous! Woah!" A strong gust of windsuddenly knocked the fighter jet off course, sending him close to a strike of lightning. Airstrike stedied himself as thunder pounded through his audio receptors.
"Airstrike? Striker you alright?" Bullet sounded down his radio loudly.
"There's no need to shout!"
"Are you alright?" Bullet repeated his question slowly. He worried about his friend alot, especially when he was on solo missions.
"I'm fine! It was just a gust of wind"
"Are you sure?"
"I'm fi- ARRRGHHHH!" A strike of lightning hit him dead on. Airstrike couldn't help but scream as soon as he felt the huge jolt of pain hit his systems. Before long his vocal processors fizzeled and cut out under the strain. Every circuit in his body was shocked, forcing him to transform. The light faded and Airstrike offlined, falling from the sky.
"Airstrike come in! Oh Primus... FIRESTORM!" Bullet shot from his seat andran to his second in commands quarters. Since Sam was visiting her friends on Earth, Firestorm and Cannonball had been put in charge. But seeing as Cannonball was infact a 'loose cannon', Firestorm was responsablefor everything. His quarters were the furthest from the control room, but that didn't stop Bullet. He worried about his friend.
Firestorm yawned. He was exhausted. Grabbing a cube of highgrade he continued to write with one hand as he sipped the cube. He smiled in pleasure as the liquid soothed his systems.
"Oh how I've missed you..."
Suddenly there was a lound clang as his door hissed open and someone burst through. He jumped, dropping the cube.
"Firestorm! Airstrike! He's hurt! Somethings happened!"
Firestorm turned round. Hearing the words 'Airstrike' and 'Hurt' in the same sentence confused him. Striker was a careful mech, he hadn't earned the title 'The Careful Risk Taker' for nothing. Although he could be stupid at times, he wasn't about to go and get hurt easily without a fight.
"Slow down Bullet! Now tell me again. Slowly" Firestorm picked up his cube. Luckily it had landed right side up so there wasn't too much for him to clear up later. Bullet tooka deep breath.
"Airstrike was flying over the JFK Airport in New York when he suddenly screamed andthe radio went dead! I think he was struck by lightning but..." He eyed up the cube in the second in commands hand"Wait a second. Have you started drinking again whilst Sam's not here!?"
"No..." Firestorm quickly hid the cube. If Sam found out she'd kill him! Bullet narrowed his optics. He wasn't stupid, but he had other things to worry about besides Firestorms drinking addiction.
"What was you saying about Airstrike?" Bullets panicked form returned as he remembered why he had come in the first place "Oh yeah! Airstrikes been hurt whilst flying over JFK Airport!"
Firestorm stood up. He'd have to set out quickly if he was going to find the flyer. "Right. I'll leave now. Send me his last known location. I'll start my search there" Bullet nodded, dashing back towards the bridge of the ship. Firestorm sighed, his highgrade would have to wait. Right now, he had a missing jet to save. He set off in the other direction towards the loading bays, which was a temporary launch bay whilst the air locks were out of action.
"Firestorm can you hear me?" Bullets voice rang through his audio receptors as he took off for Earth.
"Loud and Clear"
"Alright. I'm sending his co-ordinates now"
"Roger that. Heading there now"
"It's winter down there. Keep an eye on your thermal temperatures and for goodness sake be careful!"
"Always am, always will. Call Skartplug. Tell him to meet me halfway"
"Yes sir"
"I can't wait till tomorrow. I'll finally be back in good old Erith... andaway from that robot" Becca crossed her arms as she walked through Central Park with Chris and Martin. Martin narrowed his eyes.
"Will you stop calling her a robot? I thought you and Sam were best friends, no matter what"
"I'll call her what I want! And yes we were, but incase you hadn't noticed she'd forgotten to point out that she was Cyber... whatever she called it"
"Do you realise how hard it would be to tell someone that you're not human?"
"We told each other EVERYTHING! She just failed to mention that one itsy bitsy detail about herself! She has no right to call herself an Erith kid when she obviously isn't!"
Chris remained silent whilst the two friends fourght. The news had shaken him slightly too, but he hadn't actually SEEN Sam since they had won against the Decepticons and the control chips. He was told by their older sibling Clare about the whole 3/4 Cybertronion and leader of a Transformer team bit. But she had emphasized everything so much making Sam sound like a bad person. All Chris wanted to do was talk to Sam head on about this. He never believed a word Clare said anyway.
"It still doesn't give her any reason not to tell me!"
Martin shookhis head angrily. Becca was always like this. She always had to have the last word and she always had to be right! She hadn't changed one bit through the years! Yeah she had a nice side, but her bitter side always shone through. Sam and Becca had been the best of friends ever since the day they had met eachother, yet now she was calling her a mindless robot just because she happened to be different! Martin shivered in the cold. It was cold, colder than he liked. Chris walked alongside him, wishing for a chance to meet Sam and her crew...
An loud explosion not too far ahead answered his wish as they ran quickly into the smoke, rising from a very deep crater.
Airstrike gasped for air through his intakes as electricity pulsed through his body. He was terrified. His vision was fuzzy. He could hardly hear anything. Thousands of red warnings flashed infrontof his optics. He twisted his neck slowly from one side to another to see where he was. All he could see were small blurred figures appearing from places then disappearing again as they continued on with their lives. Occurances like this wern't anything new in New York, seeing as the vortex in the sky still hadn't completely closed. He felt his systems start to shut down, forcefully dragging him into a hopefully temporary offline status. The last thing he saw were three figures running up to him through the dust.
"Who the heck is that?"
"I dunno... I've never seen this one before..."
"You've seen more of them then I have! Come on Martin you gotta know!"
"Well I don't alright Becca! Sam's seen more than I have! I'm thinking ok?!"
"THINK FASTER!"
"DON'T RUSH ME!"
Chris stepped up towards the giant unconscious bot and examined him. Being in Master Cheifs personal Spartan army had its perks...
He looked over the body, careful not to touch him because of the electric pulses that were emitting from him. He had obviously been exposed to a high jolt of electricity. Everytime he moved too far forward andinvisible force pushed him away. It was like two sides of two magnets. Everytime he tried to step forward anymore he was pushed back.
He looked back at the Sam's two old best friends. They were still arguing. Well one of them had accepted her, the other repelled her.
Two more magnets.
Martin was one side, welcomeing Sam's change, thinking it was awsomethat he was friends with an alien. Becca on the other handwas the other side. Instead of accepting the change in her friend, she had pushed it away. Martin was trying to make Becca see sense, but it was obvious that it wasn't going to happen quickly.
He turned back to the collapsed bot. It was strange. He had never seen this transformer before in his life... yet there was something telling him that he had. Turning his head slightly, he realised what it was. Looking at the injured bots leg, Chris noticed some sort of emblem on what looked like a wing. An insignia. Looking at it, he could just makeout what looked like the Auto-Bot insignia, except there were some modifacations done to it. It was blue instead of red andit looked like it had horns. Chris gasped, realising what he was looking at.
"The Freelancers Insignia..." He remembered back to his younger days, when he was 11 years of age...
Chris slammed open the door, his glasses broken in one hand and his schoolbag in the other. Throwing his bag on his bed in rage, he slumped onto his bed, turning on his Xbox. As he concentrated on his game however, from the other room he could hear his sister singing to her music.
After about three attempts at trying to win a pink slip race with Biggi Monbasa, he eventually shouted and cursed the game, throwing the thick black controller at the floor along with his shattered glasses. The controlled hit the ground at full force, breaking. His glasses bent under the impact too. Chris looked up and suddenly fell silent. He could still hear her singing. Wondering what she was so happy about, he decided to investigate.
He had two sisters, Clare and Sam.
Clare was the oldest of the trine and was also the shortest. She looked similar to their mother, minus the wrinkles and black hair. She also wore glasses and could have a temper as bad as his own when prevoked. He fourght with her alot, the words coming out of both of their mouths foul. They all had a terrible vocabulary, even theirmother swore at them. He didn't always fight withher though, they could get on easily when they tried. Clare had always tried to follow in her mothers footsteps, always shouting at both him and Sam about cleaning up and the mess. Sam was used to Clare shouting at her andbarking her orders which she gladly followed most of the time. Although, Chris would always argue withher, hardly ever obeying her whims unless they caused trouble.
Sam on the otherhand was different. Sam was the quiet and distant one of the family. She hardly ever got mad and always stayed in her room on her laptop. All she ever seemed to do was write or talk to her 'friends' on msn. She wasn't pretty or 'lady' like, infactChris couldn't think of a time she had EVER acted like a girl. She couldn't multi task, she never wore skirts or jewlerry save for three mens necklaces on black ropes, she hated make-up, the colour pink and practically anything else considers 'girl things'. She was different.
Sam was the only one in the household that either didn't or hadn't worn glasses. Her voice was deep, almost manly like. Sam never showed an ounce of her body except in the summer when her arms were seen. Occasionally she'd leave the room and play games with him, but they had gotten further and further apart since she was given that stupid laptop for her 13th Birthday. She had even named the damned thing!
Clare and Sam shared a room, much to the middle childs dismay. She preferred being alone and sharing a room just prevoked problems. Chris got his own room, he always had seeing as he was the only boy in the house. Sam was more of a boy than a girl, she wore boys clothing and likes male shows such as Top Gear and Chop Shop London. But she also had a strange lookat life. Sam had always been different, in both faciel features and attitude. She didn't look likethem, she didn't act like them... Sometimes Chris wondered if they were even related.
"What you doin Spamhead?" Chris entered the girls' room. Clare wasn't home again, she'd gone to her friends house. She was always either out with her mates or down the pub so there was no one to stop him from just entering their room. Sam couldn't stop him, she was one of the only people in the house that didn't question what he did or stop him. Sam didn't react. Chris called her again. No reaction. Then he saw why. She had her headphones in again. Typical, as soon as she got home from school she'd stick those things in her ears and block the world out. No wonder she never interacted with anyone. But wait, what is she doing? Is she.. Drawing on paint?
Picking up the nearest object, which happened to be her hairbrush, Chris threw the brush and hit Sam right on the head. It hit her square on the side of her forehead. The hit hardly phased Sam since Clare did it numerous times to wake her or shut her up. She looked up and noticed her brother. Quickly, she paused her music, the loud buzzing coming from the headphones vanishing.
"Chris? Oit! N00b Sauce! Earth to Chris! Are you reading us?" Martin clicked his fingers infront of the brown haired kids face. Chris jumped to attention, snapping out of his daydream.
"Sorry... Phased out for a moment there"
"Any idea on who this is?"
Chris nodded "I think so... I remember seeing him before"
Martin tilted his head "Well I ain't ever seen him before. Where you seen him I don't think you've ever been on a trip with Sam except that problem with the control chips"
"From a long time ago. You see, before any of this happened, I stumbled upon Sam on her laptop..."
"Leo?"
Chris nodded "The very same."
"Wow shows hold old that thing really is..."
Chris turned the subject back to the one at hand "She was making something in paint"
"What?"
"An insignia" Chris pointed to the mark on the still mechswing "That insignia. She made two. One black outlined in red, one blue. Exactly like that."
"How can you be sure?"
"I modified it for her"
"If thats the case" He looked up at the metal "How did it get here?"
They both looked up at the robot. Becca had walked off in a huff to think, knowing she wasn't going to win against both Martin and Chris. She looked up at the sky. It had been raining earlier... surely he hadn't...
"Lightning?" Martin and Chris both jumped to the same conclusion. It had to be! What else could it be? Martin picked up a nearby stick and poked the Transformer with it.
"Is it dead?"
Chris crossed his arms "I doubt it you twat"
"Sorry I'm late... that stubborn glitch wouldn't lemme go until I got every ounce of sand outta his circuits.." Skartplugapologized as he met up with Firestorm. They continued heading towards Earth quickly in silence.
"So whats Striker gotten himself into this time?"
"Apparantly he's been struck by lightning"
"Lightning? That shouldn't affect him too much." Skartplug was silent for a moment.
"Unless..."
"Unless?"
"Unless it was Sprite lightning. Then he would've been shot outta the sky"
"Erm... Explanation genius?"
A silent cough froze them both in their paths. Firestorm looked behind him hearing a voice, but there was no one there. He crossed his arms.
"Afternoon Syndrome"
"Slag..." Syndrome appeared beside an asteroid. He coughed again, pressing some buttons in an open panel on his arm. Skartplug looked at him.
"Still not better?"
"What was your first clue Skarts?" Syndrome coughed again. He wasn't well, he hadn't been for vorns. But that didn't stop him from using his stealth tech to sneak out. Skartplug crossed his arms. He wasn't supposed to be out by his orders, and medics orders ALWAYS overrode everyone elses.
"Well you're body colour sorta tells us both..." Syndrome looked at himself. Instead of being the normal lifeless grey that he had aquiredover the years, his entire body was a dark shade of red, indicating his inner body temperature wasn't what it was supposed to be. Syndrome quickly reacted to the situation, opening a second panel to reveal several buttons and controls.
"Ahh slag not again..." He stumbled over the buttons, changing back his colour to grey. This happened everytime his emotions kicked in or if he wasn't well. It wasn't something he could control...
"Go back to the ship Syndrome. You're not well enough to be out here"
Syndrome frowned. "I'm better then I was. You're gonna need me if it is sprite lightning anyway since I'm the only one who can get the bugger outta stasis lock"
"I'm not risking your health"
"Rack off Storm I'm not goin anywhere"
"I gave you an order Drome"
"Yeah well I ain't takin it."
"Disobaying an order is-"
"You're not Sam Firestorm! You can't tell me what to do even if you are incharge whilst she's not here!" Syndrome snapped. He blinked a few times, realising what he'd said. Firestorm looked away, then continued to head towards Earth. Syndrome bit his lip
"I think I've ticked him off..."
"Gee... you think?" Skartplugran to catch up with Firestorm, leaving the stealth bot alone. He coughed, uncomfortable in the silence. Activating his stealth again, he quietly followed them, desperatly trying to hold back a cough.
"Chris what the heck are you doing?!" Martin called up to the younger who had climbed ontop of the fallen bot. Chris ignored him, his head submerged completely in wires. He had repaired military stuff before, being in the Spartan army had alot of perkes. He recognized nearly all the wires inside the mechs chest seeing as he transformed into some sort of military jet.
"Right red wire to blue, and..." Chris closed the metal as he felt the bot jerk. He quickly jumped down and stepped back. Martin did the same as he watched a large leg twitch.
"What did you do?"
"Turned him on I think" Chris shrugged. He'd never tried to repaira large robot before, even being with Sam on Cybertron. The two boys looked at each other. Martin smiled.
"Can I keep it?"
'Main fuel lines offline. Backup Energon lines activated. Sparkalenergy stable. Automatic repair systems offline. Energon levels 64 percent and dropping. Weapons systems offline. Vocal Processors Damaged. Audio Recepters Damaged. Fuel Lines damaged. Main CPU Infected. Firewalls offline. Major Internal Damage. Medical Attention Required'
Airstrike gasped for breath, feeling his minor systems onlining. He gasped for air as he tried desperately to cool his intakes. The first thing he received were millions of messages flashing infrontof his optics, telling him the extent of the damage he had sustained hitting the planet. Everything hurt. Even the small movements he made hurt. No matter what, he had to get out of where he was, the rocks beneath him were digging into his exposed sensative wires. But the first question that was hitting his mindwas; Where was he? He remembered flying through the storm... but then his memory was blank. His joints felt like lead but he had to move. He could be in plain sight and that would bring unnessessary attention.
He onlined his optics to see two blurred figures standing next to him. He tried to focus to see who they were, but nothing was working. Everything aroundhim looked like shapes andblobs. It was like he had drunk too much highgrade. One of them stepped forward. He was slightly shorter than the other.
"I am Spartan 259 of Master Cheifs Main Assult group, US Military. Identify yourself." Airstrikesquinted. He still couldn't see them. He opened his mouth and strained his damaged processers
"Designation... Airstri-ke. Freelancers Main A-ir Offense..." He had to stop. It hurt too much. The humans seemed to understand. Chris turned to Martin.
"I told you I knew him from somewhere..."
"Freelancer? I thought there were only Auto-Bots and Decepticons..."
"No..." The two fleshlings looked back at Airstrike as if waiting for him to answer. He continued.
"Th-eres lots of different races..." He coughed in an attempt to clear his throat, to no anvil. It just made the pain worse. Scanning the two humans he realised one of them had a phone on him. Straining his voice once more he managed to speak out
"Turn your bluetooth on..."
"What?" Chris took out his Samsung and looked at it then back at Airstrike. Airstrike nodded slightly, his intakes sucking in air to help keep his systems warm. It was the middle of winter and it was freezing. Both of the humans were wrapped up warmly. Chris complied and turned on his bluetooth, the name TIME2BOMBSADDAM flaring to life. Airstrike shut off his optics and wirelessly connected with the phone.
-Now Connected with Airstrike-
"This thing on?" Chris jumped as his phone spoke. Airstrike's face appeared on the screen, his body turning limp.
"How did-"
"Wireless network. Little trick Sam taught me for whenever I got in serious trouble"
"Sam? As in Sam T my sis?" Chris immeadiatly perked up. He had been off duty for the past few months andhe was hoping to spendsome quality time with her. All the Spartans -except a selected few- were off duty untill needed.
"Sam T? I don't know her as that... I've always known her as Sam, Spam, Small Fry or simply commander.." Airstrike looked at Martin. He was still staring at Airstrikesprone body "Hey Glitch head! I'm over here!" Martin turned round. Chris lifted his phone, showing Airstrikes face on the screen
"That is so cool! How'd you do that?" Martin perked up. Airstrike mentally rolled his optics and ignored the stupid question "Anyway. She's around somewhere. I was heading to..." He trailed off, trying to remember where exactly he was going.
"Erm... Where am I?"
Chris raised an eyebrow "Central Park"
"Oh..." Airstrike still struggled to remember. He finally perked up "Oh yeah! I was heading towards... Erm... I can't think... must've been from the fall..."
"The jet repair shop?"
Airstrike looked blankly at them "Yeah coz there's really such thing aint there!"
"Alright calm down!" Chris snapped. They had to move and they all knew it
"Can you move your body?"
"Slowly and Painfully yeah..."
"Hmm..." Chris looked around. He spied a construction yard across the road. It was their best bet "Alright head over there" he pointed to it.
"Alright... but how are people gonna react with a giant mech walkin over their road?"
"That ain't nothing to everything else thatshappened around here. Need I bring up the roadrunner and coyote stunt in the subway?" Chris held back a laugh. Ahh the funny memories of New York...
Airstrike was silent for a while, then his face disappeared from the D500s screen. Chris put his phone back into his pocket as the prone mechs body began to move.
"We'll be entering Earths atmosphere soon... Keep your sheilds up Skarts" Firestorm spoke out loud. He had a sinking suspicion a certian saboteur was following them, but he didn't want to make it shown. Syndrome had a reputation to keep, although it was hard for him to keep it if he kept on bursting into coughing fits.
"I'm ready when you are..." Skartplug sounded unsure. He had never entered the Earths atmosphere online before so he was worried about the whole ordeal. Firestorm already knew this, but failed to take it on board.
Syndrome kept following the two mechs. He felt faint, but he couldn't turn back now. The best thing he could do was follow them, then if he collapsed someone would be nearby.
"Alright... here we go! Stay close Skarts I don't wanna loose you!" Skartplugnodded as they bothsped up. Syndrome followed close behind Firestorm. He didn't want to be seperatedfrom them all. As soon as they hit re-entry to the planet, Syndrome found himself latched onto Firestorms back. The heat was unbearable for him. Gritting his teeth, he latched onto Firestorm further. Firestorm yelped, Syndrome grabbing some very sensative wires andthrew him off, not realising he was sent into what felt like a never ending spiral towards Earth.
"Almost there..."
Martin called back to Airstrike who was slowly walking behind them both. Gears creaked and other mechinismsfailed to respond as the jet forced himself to move parts of his body that were damaged. Airstrike gritted his teeth as he dragged his servos along, trying desperately not to collapse where he stood. Chris entered the construction yard, finding it deserted.
"Alright its clear. Come on" He waved a hand in the air and the others followed. The moment they were clear from veiw, Airstrike fell to the ground. He couldn't walk anymore. It hurt to so much as function let alone move. Martin and Chris moved out of the way as he used his last ounce of strength to crawl into the corner and lean against the incomplete building structure. He straigthened himself up, then smiled weakly at the two humans now sitting on his outstretched legs.
"Thanks..."
"Hey don't worry about it. A friend of Samsis a friend of mine" Chris smiled. Martin stood and pretended to be balencing on Airstrikes leg. Airstrike'sintakes shuddered as he shook, the cold winter air hitting some sensative wires.
"You guys mi-nd.. if I recharge for a while?"
"Not at all. You need to rest anyway" Martin was first to reply. Airstrike nodded and offlined his optics, heading into a mild recharge. Chris pulled Martin away from Airstrike to make sure he wasn't disturbed.
"Any idea whats gonna happen with him?"
Martin shrugged "Theres gotta be more of em if they're part of Sam's crew. Remember anymore of them?"
Chris had a think, rembering some other names...
"And this is Syndrome" Chris sat beside his sister looking at the widescreen laptop. Sam brought up a modified picture of a grey Camero, which she had modified to make it look like a Crystler Crossfire. He raised an eyebrow.
"You turned it into a convertable?"
"Yeah... It looked too much like the original design with its roof on..."
He shrugged "So who else you done?"
Sam smiled, bringing up another picture. This one was of a subaru Impretza which had a large body kit on. It was obvious Sam had just seen it on the internet and stolen the two pictures.
"This is Bullet"
Chris could see that.
It had the word BULLET on the number plate and the Freelancers insignia carefully merged into the back. The car was silver, but it was an astonashing sight. If he hadn't seen the signs clearly marking it as a subaru, he wouldn't of believed that it was one. Sam flipped through her pictures, coming across an incomplete picture she was working on. It was a Lambougini Gallardo GT.
"Who's that gonna be?"
"Napalm"
Chris smirked at the name "Napalm... Nice name..." he thought to himself as he watched her work.
"So how many were there?"
Chris shrugged "When I last saw she had five. Cannonball, Syndrome, Firestorm, Napalm and..." He glanced up at the sleeping jet "...Airstrike"
"Well lets assume theres still 5 of them for now"
The younger smirked "With Sams imagination? Theres probably millions of them by now! And besides! I remember her telling me about two more! Bullet and Flash I think their names were but at the time they were just ideas..."
"Well lets hope ONE of them are coming to help him. We can't keep him hidden in a construction yard forever"
"Yeah I know. Good thing it's sunday tomorrow though."
"And whys that?"
"They don't work on sundays? Oh and we should have monday as well seeing as its bank holiday"
"So we got two anda bit days to figure out what to do with him?" Martin tilted his head in Airstrike's direction. Chris shrugged, then nodded
"Yep."
"Great..."
Airstrike shifted in his sleep, memories returning to him.
Jetfire shuttered his optics in a desperate attempt to stay awake. The small bundle of wires on his lap curled up even more, sighing peacefully as it slept. Jetfire smiled. According to Inferno he needed to sleep off the weak highgrade mixture he had accidently drunk, so Jetfire was prepairedfor a crying sparkling when he woke up. Highgrade, no matter its strength, had that effect on everyone. It always gave you a killer headache...
"We should be back soon sir. Why don't you take a break?" Jetfire looked up to see the said mech infront of him. Inferno noticed the sleeping bungle and smiled. Jetfire sighed "You know I can't rest Inferno. I gotta make sure everythings fine here"
"I'll take over for you for a few hours. I don't think anyone will mind..."
"I gotta make sure we get back safely"
"I can takecare if it. Don't worry. If anything happens I'll wake you up ok?"
Jetfire sighed again defeated "Well... I could use a few winks..."
Inferno nodded and left the room. Jetfirelaid back in the chairhe was sitting in, staring out of the window for a while. Space suddenly appeared from the technicolour that was the inside of the space bridge, the stars twinkling happily around the ship. They were out and soon they'd be back on Cybertron with the sparkling. Normally, they'd take him to the youth zone, but that wasn't an option now seeing as it was destroyed eons ago. And besides, he'd kinda gotten attached to Airstrike. Jetfire stared our the window for a little while longer, eventually drifting into a light recharge.
Inferno reached the control room where some other members on bored were. They were all bustling about on their duties and didn't notice the red mech enter. Inferno walked forward and pressed a button on the control panel infront of him. A screen came up, reveiling the red, white and blue face of Optimus Prime.
"Did you get him to sleep?"
Inferno smiled "Sleeping like a sparkling sir"
Optimus nodded "Good work Inferno"
"Anytime Sir" Inferno saluted, switching off the screen.
Airstrike wokeup, suddenly being hit by a pain in his head like a ton of bricks. He yelped and sat up weakly to lookaround. The room was dark. The only light was illuminating from his optics as they stared into the darkness. Suddenly, an arm was gently wrapped around him. Looking up, the sparkling saw the tired face of Jetfire looking down at him.
"Go back to sleep kid... we'll be back soon"
Airstrike then remembered where he was. His home had been destroyed. His family were dead, all at the hands of the Decepticons. He yawned tiredly, still looking up at Jetfire. It was too early to think about it all now. Jetfirereturned the yawn with his own, moving his hand so the small mech could get comfortable. Airstrike curled back up, feeling the warmth of Jetfires arm across his back. Jetfiresmiled underneath his faceplate, returning to his own slumber.
An explosion jolted Airstrike awake. He quickly online his optics, feeling the ground shake from underneath him. His vision was still terrible but he knew what was happening...
"What's going on?" Chris lost his balance as the ground trembled again.
'huh... so two of them are here...'
Airstrike shifted, trying to move his arm towards his face so he could see what he was doing. But his efforts were in vain as he lacked any movement at all.
"Erm.." His voice was hardly above a whisper, barely noticable over the top of the loud beeping from the traffic. Martin looked up at him.
"Whats up Airstrike?"
"My arm..." Airstrike gestured down at his prone left arm "small... red button..." Martin walked over andlooked for the button. He found it just below his wrist. He nodded, looking up at Airstrike
"What about it?"
"Pr-ess it..." Martin pressed the button. Nothing visible happened. "What did it do?"
"Medi-cal signal..."
"So the others can find you right?" Chris stood back up. The moment he had stood back up he fell back down as the ground shook for the third time. Chris looked up "God Dammit three?! What is this a search party?!"
"Exactly..." Airstrike shuddered again, a crisp winter breeze running through his systems. He knew he was leaking internally, he could feel the ooze of his own Energon and lubricant dripping. The cold wind just added to his list of problems. He just hoped his team mates could reach him in time.
"Crikey..." Syndrome coughed sat up quickly, his stealth still activated. He rubbed the bump on his head then looked around.
He was in the middle of a roadway. Traffic beeped on either sides as yellow taxis made attempts to get their passengers to their destinations. Syndrome squinted in the lights that surrounded him as he tallied on where he was. He looked to his left and down the street for anything he remembered from his last time he was on Earth. Syndrome looked up at the illuminated sign saying the words 'The Edison Hotel' on them and he immeadiatly knew where he was. Sam had showed them all the pictures.
He was in Time Square in the middle of the night.
Great.
Suddenly, a signal beeped onto his scanners. It was Airstrike and he wasn't too far from his position, providing he could get to Central Park anytime soon.
"Sorry about that..." he quickly stood up, transformed, and took off down the road, deactivating his stealth in the process.
"Skartplug... You functioning?"
Skartplug groaned, removing a tree that had landed on his chest to the ground. Firestorm sat up, looking around. His systems were scanning and running diagnostic checks, so he decided to see where they were. Skatplug did the same, shivering slightly.
"Man its cold around this time of year..."
"Yeah I know..." The red mech shivered "No wonder Sam wore so many layers..."
"Its minus 12 out here Storm... You shouldn't of come..."
"Doesn't matter" Firestorm stood up, his scans complete. He shook again from the cold. Skartplug was right of course, he shouldn't be on Earthin these conditions. His circuits were made to express heat and the cold was making him feel uneasy. If it got any colder he'd have to leave the operation to Skartplug and return to headquarters. The one thing he didn't like was the fact that the cold could've frozen things over. That was his main weakness; Ice. If he was to fall into an iced over lake, it would be the end of him for sure. Not that he wanted to try it anytime soon.
"You alright?" Skartplug drifted him out of his line of thought. Firestorm nodded "Why wouldn't I be?"
"Do you think Syndrome followed us?"
"Probably..." Firestorm looked around for another crater. There wasn't one. He sighed, remembering he'd pushed him off during re-entry.
"Well he can't be too far away if he is here. You sure your ok? You seem a little... off" Skartplug worried. It was just like the medic to worry.
"I'm fine. It's just the cold... thatsall" Firestorm tensed, another cold breeze passing by. Besides the cold that kept threatening to glaze over his circuits, Firestorm couldn't stop feeling so guilty about throwing Syndrome off him. If anything had happened to him... Suddenly, they both looked at eachother, receiving a signal on their radars.
"It's Airstrike. He isn't too far from here..." Skartplug tracked the signal. Actually, he was just across the road...
"Airstrike? Dude whats wrong?" Martin looked up at the jet. Airstrike had tensed up, his optics closed tighly. Airstrike gritted his teeth as he felt the leaking Energon wash over his spark chamber. It was getting too much. He had been able to pretend everything was ok... until now. He tried to scream in pain but no noise left his mouth. Instead it just opened then closed again. He breathed quickly, trying not to move incase he caused the leak to get worse. Martin got the picture.
"What can we do to help Airs?"
'Airs... thats a new one' Airstrike thought to himself in a desperate attempt to stay awake. If he slept now... there could be a chance he would never wake up. Chris looked up hearing voices.
"I think theres another one nearby! Martin stay here with him" Before Martin could reply or protest, Chris ran round the corner and back into the street.
Airstrike and Martin looked at each other. Airstrike's intakes took in airloudly as Martin sat down "Looks like you're stuck with me for a while"
Airstrike smiled weakily. He preferred to be in the company of this human, seeing as Chris kept asking him questions he couldn't answer. Martin sat down next to him. They both sat in silence, listening to the sound of the traffic lingering outside the construction yard.
Chris ran to the side of the road, hoping to catch a glimpse of what he was looking for. He was in luck as he looked over the tops of the traffic. Two mechs were walking in his direction. Forgetting everything, Chris waved his hands in the air to grab their attention.
"Over there..." Skartplug pointed at a young male, waving his arms in their direction. Firestorm blinked a few times before he understood. He nodded.
"Come on!"
"Lets see... I swear I passed that building a nanosec ago..."
Syndrome drove in circles as he weaved through cars, gaining a few angered beeps and hand signs from the drivers. It was hard following Airstrikes signal whilst taking to not get killed. It was late a night, yet there were still millions of cars about!
"I can see why its called the city that never sleeps! Ack!" Syndrome swerved to dodge an angry speeding taxi driver. He beeped his horn, suddenly hearing someone shout 'Now try your wipers!' from a group on the sidewalk. He paid no attention to it as he continued to head towards his destination.
"They're coming! Two of em!" Chris came back into veiw. Airstrike's gaze shifted to him. Martin laughed.
"Ah ha! You broke eye contact! You loose!"
"What? O-h" Airstrike would've crossed his arms if he could move them. Instead he narrowed his optics at Martin. Martin laughed again, celebrating his victory in the staring contest. Chris took out his phone quickly, activating his bluetooth.
"Can you do that little stunt again? I'll take you over to them" Airstrike nodded weakly, his optics offlining. He reappeared on the black D500 moments later.
"That's better" Airstrike sighed with relief. Everytime he was on Chris's phone his pain was minimized to a livable amount. He would stay there longer if there didn't run the risk of his body shutting down. Chris looked at Martin.
"Stay here and keep an eye out"
Martin nodded without a word.
Firestorm froze in his tracks looking infront of him. He shuddered, his breathing in short gasps. It wasn't like him to show so much fear, but this was different. This was his weakness. This was... Ice. The lake infront of him was completely frozen and there was no way around it. They'd have to cross it somehow...
Skartplug put a hand on his shoulder. Firestorm looked at him taking a step back. No he wouldn't do it. If he fell in... there was an incredibly large risk he was going to die. The sheer cold of the water would impact his heated body worse than any other Transformer. It was times like this he wish he wasn't built to withstand heat.
"Its ok... I can go on alone if you want..."
"Guys!" Firestorm and Skartplug bothlooked round to see a grey CrystlerCrossfire speeding towards them. Firestorm gasped, taking a step round. Syndrome was heading straight for him!
"Syndrome slow down! Theres-" he wasn't able to finish his sentence. Syndrome slammed on his breaks but wasn't able to stop in time. He skidded round, hitting Firestorm backwards. Firestorm slipped and fell onto the iced over lake, where he skidded into the middle. He lay on it, fixed to the spot. He looked around, not moving his head, realising where he was. He could see the freezing water swishing below him, he could feel the coldness of the ice. And he didn't like it one bit.
"Don't move Firestorm!" Skartplug called. That was alright, he had no intentions on moving anyway. Until he heard the silent hissing below him. His heated body was slowly melting the ice underneath him. Syndrome transformed and ran to the edge of the ice.
"Crikey what have I done?! Don't worry Storm I'm comin ta get ya!" Syndrome was about to step onto the ice until a hand pulled on his shoulder. Skartplug pulled him back
"No!"
"Skarts I gotta help him! This is my fault!"
"If you go onto it too your combined weight will smash it!" Skartplug worried. He knew something likethis was bound to happen! Everything seemed to go wrong once he they were on Earth. Syndrome crossed his arms.
"Hey I ain't that fat!"
"Guys?" The bickering mechs stopped and looked back at Firestorm. He was looking at the otherside. Small cracks were starting to appear in the frozen water.
"Firestorm listen to me ok? This is what you have to do. I need you to transform for me then carefully back off the ice..."
Firestorm closed his optics tightly "I can't!"
"You can! Just transform into vehicle mode and hit it in reverse Storm!"
Syndrome coached him from the sidelines. Firestorm's helicopter mode had been disabled for a while, leaving him with only his red firecar mode. Firestorm gasped, the cracks getting larger. He had to move. But something was stopping him. He was frozen to the ever weakening ice below him. He gasped again, shifting his hands away from the cracks quickly and recoiling them towards his chest. The sudden movement made more cracks, all of them gaining rapidly, increasing in size until...
"Firestorm!" Syndrome and Skartplug choursed together as they watched the mech plummeted into the freezing water below. Firestorm didn't have anytime to brace himself as the cold immeadiatly hit him, sending smoke above the water. The cold hit him like an energon whip, freezing his heated circuits almost immeadiatly. Firestorm cried out repeatidly, but the water drowned his screams. He swallowed water, washing his inner circuitry with icy water. He was terrified! Looking up at the surface, he tried his best to reach it, but all he could do was watch it slowly slip away as he sank.
"I gotta save him!" Syndrome ran to the edge to jump in. Skartplug was temporarily rooted to the spot, his eyes wide
"You'll never make it to him in your state!"
"Always look forward never back Skarts! I'll reach him don't worry!" without another word, Syndrome dived into the now open lake. Skartplug reached out to stop him but he was too late. All he could do now was wait...
"Be careful..."
"Green dude!" Airstrikechimed happily as the man turned green, allowing them to walk across the road. Chris ran, hearing the shouts of two bots from the park. He didn't bother looking bothways as he crossed the second road. They neared the path until they heard a loud crash, followed by a shout.
"Firestorm!"
"Huh?" Airstrikelooked around. He couldn't see much being on a flat mobile phone screen, but he could see ahead of him "What was that?"
"Sounded like a shout..."
"I know that much dufus! Come on!"
Chris ran towards the scene, seeing another bot on the otherside of the river. The ice had been cracked open, reveiling the black water below. Chris peered into the water. He could just see a light grey figure moving below...
"Skartplug!" Airstrike called over to the bot. It looked up confused by someone saying its name.
"Huh? Airstrike? Where are you?"
"Infront of you! Look at the humans phone!" Skartplug looked over at Chris, seeing noticing the black Samsung in his hands "How did..."
"Bluetooth" Chris replied simply. Skartplug wandered over to the edge of the lake, being careful he didn't fall in.
"Whats goin on Skarts?"
"Firestorm fell in!"
"What!?"
"And Syndrome went in after him! They should be surfacing anytime now... I hope" Skartplug looked into the water, praying to Primus quietly that they'd come back up alive.
Syndrome kept swimming downwards, looking around for Firestorm. He refused to suface without the mech. He searched around desperately for the mech, hardly being able to see anything in the darkness. He switched on his lights.
Wow... lotta help that was...' he thought to himself, desperatly not trying to react to the coldness of the water. Skartplug was gonna kill him later for diving in like this, but he couldn't let Firestorm freeze to death because of his mistake! Why the heck was he even driving at those speeds in the snow!? 'What was I thinking?! If I've killed him...' he stopped thinking about the subject as he returned to his search.
Firestorm tugged and writhed at the bottom of the small lake, his screams silent, his body jerking and struggling under the pressure of the ice. He thought his body would've gone numb by now, but it still pained, the heat from his circuits being dragged forcefully from every single one of his veins. He looked up to the sky. It was dark so nothing could be seen. Nothing, but two orbs of light heading towards him.
'Firestorm! Hang on mate!' Syndrome reached out andgrabbed Firestorm's arm, his light grey optics looking over him in fear. He let out another drowned scream, more water entering his systems. Syndrome forcefully closed his mouth to stop the water from logging into the flaming warriors circuits. Firestorm pulled his head away, keeping his mouth shut.
'Thats it Storm... Now hang on...' Syndrome pulled at his friend, ignoring his soundless cries as he turned back to face the way he had come down, hopeing to be able to pull Firestorm back up before he lost conchiousness. Firestorm tried his best to keep his mouth shut to try and stop the cold mixture from flooding him. Cold water rushed over him, followed by a frozen breeze as Syndrome yanked him to the surface.
"There!"
Skartplug pointed to a light blue figure coming to the surface. Syndrome took a huge gasp for air as he surfaced bringing Firestorm up beside him.
"Over here!" Skartplug called from the otherside of the lake. He quietly thanked Primusfor them both being alive as he bent over the edge of the river to help them out.
"How did you get on ta that side?!" Syndrome enquired as he swam over to the medic, handing him Firestorm before jumping out himself.
"Tell ya later"
Firestorm was shaking. His circuits were water logged. He felt his spark cooling slowly. If his spark was washed over by the water swishing through his systems, he would surely die. He was a tender type, like water to a flame. One little drop and the candle was extinguished. No doubt about that, and he didn't even need Skartplug to confirm it. Syndrome was kneeling infront of him saying something. Firestorm couldn't make it out...
"Storm can you hear me? Firestorm! No! Don't close you're optics!"
Syndrome flicked Firestorms' cheek, making him open his optic shutters. He felt so cold against his touch... but then again he wasn't exactly the warmest bot either. He shivered, a cold breeze passing over his back. He would live to see another cycle, Firestorm on the otherhand he wasn't so sure about.
"We need to get him somewhere warm" Skartplug perked up, snapping Syndrome from his wandering. They both lifted Firestorm up between them, looking for somewhere to go.
Firestorm said nothing, using all his energy to try and stop himself from loosing focus. His body was numb. The only thing he could really feel was the ice cold water freezing minor andmajor circuits alike, the freezing cold touch on one of his shoulders and a painfully warm touch on his other. He gasped, another cold breeze blowing past his back. He felt his systems stop for the breifmoment as the winds power increased, then vanished without a trace. He powered up his circuitry again, but most of it didn't respond. Firestorm glanced up at the sky, his neck straining as the newly dried ice cracked. The stars looked down at him, twinking and lulling him into slumber. Firestorm felt his shutters fall heavy as he continusedto stare at the small orbs of light. He didn't feel his systems slowly shut down until he found it hard to breathe...
"Firestorm! Come on stay awake!"
Firestorm jerked awake. No! He couldn't sleep! He still had all that work to do once he got back! If, he told himself, if he got back... No! no he had to stay awake! Who would report to Sam about all the recent happenings whilst she was here seeing her family? Who would keep the others in line? Who would slap Airstrike when he misbehaved?! No.. He had to live. The team wouldn't be able to stay together without him... Well he only hoped that.
"Do you mind if I sit on your leg? Don't answer if its a yes" Martin jumped boredly onto Airstrike's leg. He had been waiting what felt like forever! He shivered from the cold and looked into the incomplete structure to his right. It was going to be a stadium once it was finished so it was large enough to fit Airstrike and much more!
He looked back up at the prone black jet and smiled.
"He ain't going anywhere soon. I hope the guys have installed the heating!" With no more words said, Martin took off inside the incomplete stadium to seek warmth.
"Almost there Firestorm..." Syndrome constantly gave the frozen mech updates as they shifted him towards the construction site.
"...So after that Sam just vanished. I was told by Clare about it all and-"
"Clare?"
"My older sis. She's still living in England"
"Oh..." Skartpluglistened to Chris explain how he found out about Sam whilst he carried Firestorm by one of his shoulders. Syndrome stayed on the other side of him, shivering from the cold but walking strongly. Right now he only had one thing on his mind and that was his friends' health. He didn't know how bad Airstrike was and he knew for a fact that if Firestorm wasn't put somewhere warm he wasn't going to recover.
"Hey, you listening?" Skartplug just realised he'd been ignoring Chris. Airstrike kept silent, too busy trying to ignore the stinging that was coming from his body. He hadn't told Skartplugabout the extensive leaking that was coming from one of his major pipelines, probably because he was too worried about his friendto think about it. Either that, or he just couldn't be bothered to disturb the medic from his 'conversation' with the human.
"Just over the road" Chris pointed at the incomplete building. Skartplug looked up at it, thankful that it was large enough to hopefully fit them all. Syndrome clenched then unclenched his spare hand, wincing at the feel of ice snapping and poking his inner circuits. He was feezingup, just like Firestorm was...
"Airstrike. Hey Airhead!" Airstrike was turned to face Skartplugs dark red optics. He glanced up, snapping out of his trance.
"Huh? Yeah?"
"Do you know the extent of your damage?" Skartplug pulled Firestorm up. Scrapes andsnow were being formed from where his feet had been dragging across the ground.
"Not entirely but I know somethings leaking. I can feel it. Besides that I'm not entirely sure. My diagnostic scanners were knocked out of action when I landed"
Skartplug groaned as they reached the road. The traffic stopped, allowing them to cross. Syndrome tried to pull at Firestorm, only to realise he couldn't move where the mech had been resting on him.
"Skarts he's frozen ta me!" sure enough, where Syndrome had been holding him was now a clump of ice, binding them both together. Firestorm's entire arm was frozen. The only areas that had yet to freeze were infact his torso and head!
"Get him in there now!" Skartplug picked up the pase as they entered the yard. They immeadiatly ran past Airstrikes dark form sitting in the corner and instead they ran straight into the incomplete structure. Airstrike saw this oppourtunity to return to his body and did so, slowly dragging his pained form into the building as well.
Martin exited the make-shift kitchen on the other side of the room with a hot cup of tea whilst Syndrome searched his subspace for something. If he could find a shrinking device on him...
"Whats goin on?"
Chris ran up to him "Is the heating fixed in this place?"
Martin nodded "Yeah, and thank goodness it is! I don't think I could last much longer out there!"
"Aha! found the bliter!!" Syndrome chirped as he placed a small black box on Firestorms arm. The device fizzled, then Firestorm began to shrink, until he was around the same size as the other two humans. Skartplug carefully lifted one of his frozen arms up, as if to be checking for a pulse.
"He's freezing..." He looked up at the others "Alright you lot I need everything warm you can find! Blankets, Radiators anthing! We gotta warm him up before he freezes entirely!"
"There's some blankets and pillows in the kitchen..."
"Well come on then!" Chris exclaimed, stealing Martin's tea from his hands as he ran. Syndrome took several more devices out, throwing one to each of his teammates before he put one onto himself. Airstrike fell over as he hit the required height.
'C-cold...so cold...g-gotta... stay awake...'
Firestorm thought to himself as he was placed against a wall. Syndrome sat with him, unable to move since they had froze together. He wasn't in a hurry to leave his friendanyway. He shivered. His optics dimmed as he looked at the dieing form of his friend. He felt so responsable! Why hadn't he slowled down before entering the park?! If he had just used some common sense, neither of them would be in this mess!
'Please... Don't let him die...' Syndrome wrapped an arm around the red glazed mech, only to recoil it by his sudden gasp as yet more cold touched him.
'Idiot! Why'd you go and do that?!'
Syndrome placed his free hand on the ground. There wasn't anything he could do, for Firestorm or himself. He hated sitting around, but it was all he could do not to be in the way or make things worse. He sighed, facing the SIC.
"F-Firestorm... I'm sorry..."
Firestorm smiled inside. He couldn't bring himself to move at the moment, so instead he radioed his response seeing as that didn't include him moving his lip componants.
-Took you long enough...- Syndrome jumped, he wasn't expecting a reply! "Stormer?!"
-Yeah it's me... I would speak directly but I don't seem to be able to move my mouth...-
Syndrome looked at the floor "Yeah... thats my fault... I kinda pushed you onto the ice.."
-I know. I'm not braindead you know I just can't move at the moment...-
Firestorm shuddered, a loud clang sounding from the other room. Chris ran out of the room clutching blankets, pillows coats andanything else he could find. Martin followed behind with a couple of plug in radiators balencing on top of a bowl of hot water. Skartplug took the heaters andplaced them on the ground beside the cold mechs, one next to Firestorm the other next to Syndrome.
"Don't you worry Storm... You'll be alright now" Syndrome smiled as Skartplug plugged the two heaters into the wall. He smirked.
"Good job they've done the electricity..."
Chris unloaded blankets to the two mechs. Martin came over to help while Skartplug tended to Airstrike.
"Stupid robots stupid Sam not telling me about this stupid Martin trying to change my mind! UGH!"
Becca stomped the streets of New York. She didn't care where she was going, she just wanted to let her anger out. She had been thinking about the whole situation she was in.
Her best friend for life wasn't human, she hadn't told her until now and she was the commander of a group of bloody Transformers! She should've seen the signs! Millions andmillions of times Sam had mentioned something about the Freelancers; Be it that she had 'created' a new one or some little 'project' she was working on with them! Millions of hints and yet she had failed to catch up on it!
Becca walked down a street, stopping at a bus stop. She sat down andlooked up the road. The bus wasn't coming yet... She sighed, shuffling snow with her feet. She could remember certianpoints of her school days withSam, mostly parts where they had been laughing about something or rather. Sure they had been stressful with plenty of tears, but there were things that were said that didn't even seem true now. One convosation in particular...
"Hey Becca..." Sam perked up as they walked to tutor, lunch break now over.
"Mhmm?..." Becca didn't bother looking at her, she just kept walking. They wandered past the cottage over the wet gravelly ground, rain still spitting down on everyone.
Sam's face was hidden under her hood and 'bong hat' as she called it. She wore complete black, from her hoody to her shoes. The only ounce of colour was emitting from the red and white graphitti design on the front of the black hooded sweater. Becca wore a plain purple shirt andblack trousers. Her sparkly skull necklace shone around her neck, matching the fake jewled bangles that sat on her arms. A pair of balck and white converses finished off her look. They walked in silence for a lilmore in the sea of blue Trinity jumpers, then Sam spoke up again.
"If I was to tell you something like lets say... I wasn't human. How would you react?" Becca furrowed her plucked eyebrows. Another random question from Sam...
"I wouldn't treat you any different."
"Really?"
Becca smiled "Just because someone might be different on the outside, it doesn't mean they're different on the in..."
"Finally" Becca sighed impaitently as the bus came down the road. She had made up her mind. She had to speak with Sam.
"There. That should last you till we get back..." Skartplug spoke quietly to an offline Airstrike. He stood up, leaving the mech to sleep peacefully before turning back to the frozen duo.
"That should about do it!" Syndrome flexed his newly freed arm with relief. Chris threw down the hammer and chisel he had used to Martin, then he slid down Syndromes front. Firestorm leant his head on the wall, relaxing as the warm heat from the radiators and the hugging of the blankets. Martin placed a large blue airline cover over the top of the grey mech, helping him stay warm as well since he had gone in after Firestorm. He smiled a quick thanks before offlining his optics to relax.
"Alright... They should be ok for now" Martin whispered. Chris nodded and they left the mechs to sleep in peace. Skartplug sat on a pile of sandbags, reading over the medical notes he had aquired whilst he was fixing the black jet that slept in the opposite corner. The two decided to bother him.
"Yo medbot!" Martin called from the otherside of the room. Skartplug looked up.
"My name is Skartplug if you don't mind"
"Well how was I supposed to know that hmmm?"
"Asking is the most polite way of finding out is it not?"
"Whatever medbot"
Skartplug narrowed his optics. This was all he needed... "What do you want?"
Martin shrugged "Nothin in particular. Want a cuppa tea?"
Skartplug blinked "What's tea?"
Chris laughed. It was obvious he was one of Sam's creations! "A drink" he replied simply. Martin dashed off to put the kettle on whilst Chris settled next to the dark grey medic.
"He gonna be ok then?" Chris tilted his head towards the form of Airstrike, quickly scanning the notes the medic had taken. He quickly gave up seeing them in another language. Skartplug sighed. His optics dimmed slightly "He'll live..."
"You say that like its a bad thing"
"What can I say? He's an annoying little..." He trailed off his sentence smiling. Chris raised an eyebrow, thoughts such as 'The medics snapped' rattling through his brain. Until he saw what he was looking at...
"Awww..."
Firestorm was curled up beside Syndrome sucking his thumb. The ice that covered him was melting slowly, allowing him to move normally. Syndrome had an arm draped over the top of him smiling. His armour had turned into a content yet cold shade of blue. The two of them slept peacefully like sparklings, the only noise coming from their vents as they breathed slowly.
'Firestorm? Airstrike? Syndrome? ANYONE?!' Skartplug winced as a transmission bellowed its way through his audio receptors.
"Bullet its Skartplug. Speak quieter your gonna wake the others..." Bullet sounded like he sighed with relief over the comm link before continuing.
'Thank Primus... What's going on? I haven't heard from any of you for ages!'
"Alots been going on Bullet. Don't worry we'll be coming back soon" Skartplug sighed. The young warrior humpfed impaitently.
'That all your gonna tell me?! I asked whats going on not when are you coming back!'
"I am not going to sit here and explain now. On a further note, why did you allow Syndrome to leave the base? I gave strict orders that he wasn't supposed to leave his quarters unless it was getting Energon!"
Bullet fell silent. He didn't actually know he's left...
"My point exactly. Now if you don't mind I have things to be doing. I'll breif you when we get back"
Bullet grumbled something then cut the line. Skartplug sighed, then turned back to Chris.
"Now about that tea..."
"Airstrike! Listen to me very carefully! I need you to get to the control room and radio Optimus! Tell him we're under attack and need reinforcements!" Jetfireshouted over the gunshots at a small baby blue sparkling shaking behind him. The child looked up and nodded, backing to the door. Suddenly, a Decepticon jumped out of nowhere andtackled the red jet to the ground, large pieces metal being ripped away as it clawed at Jetfires face and chestplate.
"Argh... Go!" Airstrike panicked, running out of the door. He twisted and turned down the hall, trying his best to block out the loud gunshots being fired and the occasional antagonising scream of pain from certian members of the crew. Cybertron was in sight, yet it still looked so far away...
"Well well well... if it isn't the bratt..." Airstrike froze, feeling a clawed hand slowly creeping up his leg. He shivered, his world suddenly becoming upside down as he was hoisted in the air. He tried to scream, but nothing louder than a whimper came out.
"This time... I won't miss" a familier black rifle appeared. Airstrikefinally found his voice and screamed as loud as he could. He twisted in the evil ones arms, trying his best to get loose and run for his life. He screamed and cried, tears streaming down him face. The Decepticon didn't seem to be phased by any of it.
"Shut up!" Airstrike shuddered, the rifle being pushed between his back plates. He screamed and whrithed to get free until a firm handwas clasped over his mouth and helm. His screams were turned to styfledwhimpers as a second Decepticonappeared from the darkness.
"Keep him still. I want this to be a one shot kill job..." More tears flew aimlessly from the sparklings optics, landing on the ground below. Being upside down was this amount of time was causing his world to spin as he became slightly light headed. This was it. He was going to die and there was nothing he could do about it! Unless...
"Ow! He shot me!" Airstrikehit the ground head first. He wasted no time recovering, instead he subspaced his small stun blaster and wobbily took off down the corridor. He leant agaist the wall a little while down for a few seconds, trying to focus on where he was andwhat was happening around him. It wasn't long before the two cons' had recovered, so he took off again down the long hall towards the command deck.
"Shoot him!"
Airstrike kept running as technicolour laser beams flew past him in ever direction. They seemed to slow down as they passed his faceplates, then speed up again as they met the walls. The tiny bot stumbled slightly, a well-aimed shot hitting his over sensative wing, but he kept going, no matter how he felt, no matter how much he wanted to collapse in a heap and scream from the pain, mumbling the same sentence to himself repeatidly.
'Never Give up... Never Give in... Believe in yourself and soon you shall win...'
"Airstrike!" He stopped and looked to his left, seeing Inferno pointing upwards in fear. He glanced upwards, just in time to see a large steel support beam swing his way followed by a pile of debris. He shut his optics.
"AIRSTRIKE!"
"Airstrike... Striker... Strike!" Airstrike awoke with a start, laying on his front and gasping for air loudly through his half frozen vents as they tried desperatly to cool his overheating circuits. He was shaking madly. Someone had placed a blanket over him whilst he was asleep, which was now strewn carelessly across his legs. Syndrome was kneeling beside him, gently stroakingthe back of his helm. He looked around the room. Everyone was looking at him, except Firestorm who appeared to still be deep in recharge. Well... at least that was a plus...
"Shh... Relax mate It was only a nightmare..." The jet sat up, looking up at the smiling face of Syndrome. The grey mechs smile widened as he moved back a bit in order to give the startled bot' some room.
"Mornin Striker!"
Airstrike rubbed his optics "Morning? Wha... what time is it?"
Chris sipped his mug of hot tea and looked at his watch "Half past 6. You've been asleep for hours"
"What!?" Airstrike sat up, biting his bottom lip as a gear in his thighs groaned at the sudden movement. Others cracked from where the ice hadn't finished melting yet. Without having time to brace himself, his hands slipped on the icey floor, sending him crashing back down. Syndrome winced as he landed on his chin, sending out a high pitched cry of pain as it clicked outta place.
"Ouch... That musta hurt..." Chris nodded as the jet clicked his jaw back then painfully punching the floor rather than letting out another loud yelp. He looked around again, this time from the safety of the ground. Someone was missing...
"Where's Skartplug?"
Syndrome glanced down at him and smirked "He's in the dunny purgin his tanks"
"In the... dunny?"
"The bog?" Airstrike looked confused. Martin perked up, picking up pieces from a shattered mug off the ground "Toilet? Waste dispenser? WC?"
Airstike nodded "Ohh he's pukeing in the can! Whats up with him? He sick?"
Martin smirked cheekily. Far from it. Skartplug had attempted to try some tea. Although he found the taste nice, the hot drink hadn't digested with his systems properly, causing him to run out of the room and throw up in the portaloo in the other room, dropping his forthcup in the process. Martin continued to wipe up the mess whilst Chris explained in the best detail he could.
After a while, Airstrike looked round again.
"What about Firestorm? He gonna be ok?"
Syndrome glanced over at the said red bot. He was recharging whilst sitting upright, leaning against the wall with the two heaters blaring down on him on full heat. He stood up andgracefully walked over. With the gentlest touch he could muster, the grey saboteur placed his left, now nice and warm hand on his shoulder. The ice had melted andhis body was dry, but the poor SIC was still freezing cold. Syndrome wasn't the warmest bot, but after running around for a while he felt warm enough to try and help out. He sighed quietly, looking at his temporary commander asleep. Firestorm always looked adorable when he recharged. He shivered in his sleep, one of his blankets drooping off his shoulder and exposing it. Sydrome carefully replaced the blanket, smiling as the sleeping mech seemed to smile slightly back.
"S-syndrome...?" tired light grey optics onlined dimly and Syndrome stepped back slightly, feeling slightly guilty that he had woken him up. Firestorm moved one of his arms slowly, using it to stroke the others arm. Syndrome shivered. His touch was cold, along with the rest of his body.
"Yeah it's me Storm...How do you feel?"
"C-cold..."
Syndrome nodded "Ya will for a while. Yer body hasn't reached its needed temperature yet..." he spoke softly and quietly so he didn't bother the other three.
"H-hows Airs-strike?" Firestorm shivered then tensed, a breeze from outside passing through the building. Syndrome shifted, moving the best he could to try and block Firestorms cold body from the wind. He smiled
"He's alright. Had a lil problem in his sleep though"
Firestorm coughed, an iceicle dropping out of his mouth. He sighed with relief, then continued speaking "W-why didn't you wake me?"
"You were so deadbeat I didn't have the heart to wake ya. You need to conserve your energy anyway"
Firestorm shook his head "No... I'm f-f-fine" Firestorm whimpered, being exposed to the cold for a small amount of time. The wind outside was picking up which meant bad news for them.
"How do you feel inside? Can you feel everything?"
Firestorm smiled "You become m-my personal doctor now D-Drome? I f-feel like what you w-would call an Icypole..."
"Well I am your doc til Skartplug stops purging every bit of energon inside him down the dunny!"
"Huh? How comes h-es being sick?"
Syndrome glanced over at the two boys "Ask them! They gave the poor bloke some tea!"
Firestorm glared at the two humans who cringed under his gaze. Martin was the first one to speak up.
"He wanted to try it..." He quickly shifted the convosation "Chris, get Firestorm some hot water to help melt those still frozen circuits"
Chris, who would usually protest about being bossed around, used this oppourtunity to flee from the gaze. Firestorm's optics flickered for a short moment, then returned to theirnormal, almost lifeless form. Airstrike waved gently from the other corner.
"Morning Storm... sorry if I woke ya"
"Don't worry... it wasn't you..." the red bot glanced up at Syndrome for a split second, before turning his attention to the main doorway.
Skartplug literally collapsed on the doorframe, his tank now completely empty from the three cups of tea he had consumed, along with anything else that had the misfortune to be in there. He groaned, wobbily making his way to the sandbags then collapsing head first into them.
"S-Skarts?" Martin nervously approached the medic "Are you ok?"
"I can safely conclude..." Skartplug leant up weakly "That Cybertronions cannot drink tea..."
Syndrome smirked "I could've told you that without you testing the theroy..." he trailed off into a cough, causing him to look away from Firestorm. Airstrike shifted a little.
"When are we leaving? My afts falling asleep!"
Firestorm looked over "Says the bot w-who keeps having nightmares..."
"What? I don't KEEP having them! They just happen thatsall! They happen to everyone! Anyway, what has that gotta do with the fact I wanna leave icepole!"
Firestorm narrowed his optics "Airhead"
"Thumb sucker..." Airstrike smirked. Firestorm's face had turned pale, his optics widening. Usually, his body temperature would've rose, but when Syndrome touched his shoulder to calm the mech down, his metal seemed to be loosing heat instead of gaining it.
"Calm down Storm! You're making yourself worse!"
"Waters ready!" Chris emerged from the kitchen, carrying a large plastic bowl full to the brim of steaming hot water. He shuffled to Firestorm, but because of the water infront of his feet he didn't see the wire trailing across the floor.
"Look out!" Syndrome shifted to the side as Chris tripped, sending the entire bowl crashing down on Firestorm. Everyone covered their ears and audio receptors at the scream Firestorm suddenly bellowed out out of voice box, causing it to fritz and crackle, until he was suddenly dulled into silence. The red mechs optics widened as he clutched his throat in surprise. Airstrike was the first to uncover his audios.
"Firestorm?"
Firestorm said nothing. Instead, he raised an optic ridge and crossed his arms, looking away from them all. Airstrike got the hint and immeadiatly burst out laughing, causing everyone else to uncover their hearing devices.
"Whats so funny?" Syndrome questioned the silent mech. He just looked at Syndrome, a small worried glint in his usually straight face expression. Airstrike managed to stop himself laughing for a few seconds to explain.
"He..he's" he burst out laughing again "He's blown his vocal processors!"
Syndrome blinked. How could he be so sure about that? For a test he poked Firestorm in a particulary pain sensative area andwatched the result. Firestorms mouth opened andhis optics snapped shut tightly, but no noise was emitted. He blinked again, repeating his movement. Once again Firestorm looked like he was crying out in pain, but he didn't make a sound. Skartplug came over, batting the saboteurs hand away before he tried again.
"Open up Firestorm"
Firestorm complied. Skartplugstuck a couple of fingers down his throat, feeling around. Firestorm appeared to be gagging when he went to a certian depth, but he still didn't make a sound. Skartplug removed his fingers andFirestorm closed his mouth. The medic shrugged.
"Yep. They're shot alright. Completely burnt out."
"What?!" Syndrome jumped up "Can't you do anything!?"
"Not until we get back to base I can't!"
Firestorm put a hand on his friends shoulder, his optics gleaming from worry. Syndrome had known the second in command to know that an unable Firestorm was a worried Firestorm.
"There's gotta be something you can do!"
Skartplug shook his head "Sorry but there isn't"
Syndrome locked optics withhis friend. He looked likea frightened sparkling about to cry from worrying about its creators. It hurt Syndrome to the core seeing his friend likethat, frightened, silent with no way to help him... and Airstrikelaughing didn't help with the situation one bit.
"Shut up Striker!"
"I... I can't help it!" Airstrike managed to say before cracking up again. Syndrome's temper flaired to dangerous levels.
"How would you like not being able to speak!? Crikey Airstrike the poor blokes frightened and all you can do is laugh at him!"
That stopped him. Airstrike was silent for a moment, thinking about how he would feel "Damn... Sorry Storm..."
Firestorm nodded, nuzzling his head on Syndromes shoulder for warmth as he drifted into recharge. Syndrome gently stroakedhis helm, trying his best not to shiver from the cold running through his circuits from his friend.
Chris sat up, biting his lip "S-so he's gonna be a mute for a while?"
"Seems so..." Syndrome whispered, not wanting to wake him up. Martin tapped Chris on the back "Congrats dude, you've successfully found a way to shut a transformer up"
"Come on Sam answer!" Becca pressed the bell to Sams blue bungalow again. She could hear the cats meaowig inside, yet no one was answering.
"Hello?"
Becca looked round at the garage of the house. It was open, a black and blue Vaxhaul Corsa sitting in it. On the side lay a graphic of a mosqiuto wearing a pairof divers goggles. At first she thought she was going crazy, but then she saw Sam emerge from underneaththe vehicle, wiping her hands on a dirty white cloth.
"Hey Sam..." Becca didn't exactly know what to say seeing as she had pushed her away, or if Sam would talk to her again.
"Oh... Hello..." Sam almost sounded confused. She smiled.
"Just tuning up Baby Blue Mosquito for his race next week. What are you doin here I thought you'd be back home by now"
"Yeah... I cancelled my flight. We gotta talk Sam..."
Sam scowled "Why? As I see it theres nothing to talk about"
"Please it's important..."
"Alright...But I gotta out go soon..." Reaching into her pocket, Sam took out her doorkeys. She threw them to Becca "Get the door open whilst I shut up here"
Becca nodded opening the door. Sam closed up her garage then wandered in, immeadiatly getting pounced on by a black kitten. It mewed happily in her arms "Hello Moosey. I was only outside you know..." She wandered further into her house, Becca following andclosing the door behind her.
"What were you doing here in the first place Striker?"
"I... don't remember..." Airstrike rattled through his memory banks, reciving a pain instead. He put a hand on his forehead, Skartplugworking behind him on a head wound. He twisted a wire, reciving a jolt from his paitent. Airstrike yelped and shook for a few seconds before returning to his still position, cross legged on the floor whilst Skartplug knelt behind him.
"Try remembering now"
Airstrike accessed his memory files. He then perked up, clicking his fingers "Oh yeah! I was heading to Sam's house to pick her up!"
Skartplug snapped the panel in Airstrikes helm shut then tapped it "That should solve your memory lapse"
"Okay. Thanks Skarts I ow ya!"
"We all set then?" Syndrome helped Firestorm up. Chris sighed.
"Must you really go?"
Syndrome turned, Firestorm leaning on his side. He was still cold, but the sun was shining so this was the best time to leave. Hopefully the sunlight would help block out some of the cold in the air.
"We gotta get Storm back. Plus we gotta pick up Sam she'll wonder where we are..."
Seeing the oppourtunity to see his sister again, Chris perked up quickly "Can we come?Just to see Sam for a lil while?"
"I dunno..."
"Awah come on!" Martin added "Please?"
Syndrome looked at Firestorm "It's your call dude"
Firestorm merely nodded, still being unable to speak. Airstrike smiled "All right! Come on we better move before we loose the sun!"
"Everyone set to move out? Martin, Chris, grab some blankets incase we're still here by sundown. It'll get cold and we don't need Firestorm freezing overnight"
The two boys nodded, grabbing and folding some blankets and pillows. Skartplug transformed into his vehicle mode; A Land Rover Defender. Chris and Martin piled in, putting or in Chris's case, throwing the blankets andother stuff onto his back seats. Syndrome also transformed, along with Airstrike who carried Firestorm, still human sized, in his cockpit.
"Stick the heaters on maximum Strike, we don't want him freezing up there"
"Hey! Don't ya worry Skarts!" Airstrike hovered then took off, sticking his heaters on full heat. Skartplug sounded down everybodys radios.
"Alright. First stop, Sam's house. Then we make for home!"
"Really?"
"Yeah..." Sam smiled. Becca smiled. Prowl jumped onto the table, knocking Sam's can of Dr Pepper over.
"Oh Prowl!" Sam quickly picked the kitten up and passed him to Becca, then she ran to the kitchen area and grabbed some clothes.
"Hewoo Prowl!" Prowl mewed loudly, nuzzling into Beccas chest. She smiled as Sam cleared up the mess, mumbling curses quietly as she disposed of the Dr Pepper .
"So.. we good then?" Becca perked up, stroaking the flufflybundle in her arms. Sam came back over with another can of Dr Pepper. She smiled.
"Yeah. We're good. Just next time, warn me before you go into a spazz Screamer damn!"
"Hey!"
"What? You think after all these years I ain't gonna call you that?"
"True... So when are they coming to get you?"
Sam looked up at the large digital clock on the wall above the doorway. "In about ten minutes..."
"Oh..."
Sam smiled "Martins looking after this place for me whilst I'm gone. You're welcome to stay too if you want"
Becca smiled "With a boy?!"
"Hey! You lived with me!"
"Yeah but still!"
A car horn sounded outside, jumping them both. Sam ran to the window, seeing a grey Crysler Crossfire pull up. She ran back to the back door, making sure it was locked.
"Bloomin heck they're early!"
"That your ride then?"
Sam nodded "'fraid so... You can stay here as long as you want ya know... Martin stays in the spare room and is usually out anyway"
"I think I will then. Just be careful will ya?"
Sam ran into her bedroom, grabbing a large New York Yankees backpack. Then she crossed the room and grabbed her Laptop, its charger cables and a box of poptarts that was sitting beside it. She shrugged.
"I ran out! Unfortunatly Asda don't deliver to me..." The car beeped again and Sam sighed irritated. She hated moody drivers. "I'm coming Syndrome!" She bellowed into her radio embedded in her ear. Becca put Prowl down and wandered over, giving Sam a hug.
"Good luck"
Sam raised an eyebrow "With what?"
"With being a commander"
Sam smiled "It's a tough job. But someones gotta do it"
Becca laughed "I'll see you later then?"
"Yeah... I guess so. I gotta come back in a few months"
"See you then?"
"Fine" Sam left the house, leaving Becca alone for a few minutes before the door opened and Chris and Martin entered. Both were dumbfounded to see Becca there, but before long they got over it. Chris wandered over to the kitchen, taking out some drinks and food from the cupboards. Martin smiled, searching Sam's DVDs.
"Red Dwarf marathon anyone?"
Sam - Well there we have it! Another file online!
Napalm - It better not have me OR Flash in it.
Sam - It doesn't...
Napalm - Good.
-Transmission Ends.-
-Airstrike.The.Careful.Risk.Taker-