This is the little part where I do my disclaimer. I do not own ANYTHING in this story that you recognize. The plot and the original characters are mine.
Goodness, it has been forever! I apologize for the lateness of this chapter, I have been so insanely busy that I wasn't able to write or upload recently. That, and being caught up with watching The Walking Dead... Anyway, here is the newest installment.
Chapter 3
Incoming
The Autobots were closing on their target fast, moving through side streets and back alleys in order to avoid traffic and civilians. Bumblebee's engine was reeving excitedly as he followed behind Ironhide. All of the mechs were excited for a new arrival until Ratchet's voice pinged across the comm. system.
'Optimus, I have just run a scan of our destination. It would appear as though three Decepticons have beat us to landing site' Optimus slowed down before he stopped, transforming in the middle of the alley. The other three Autobots transformed quickly to join their Prime.
"There also appears to be something else, Optimus. I am detecting Allspark energy in the same place, as well as a faint spark signature, too faint to ascertain it's faction or Designation," continued Ratchet. His scans were the strongest powered, and were able to reach the farthest distances. Bumblebee's scanners were to be upgraded soon, finishing his upgrades and making him a full fledged scout. This new upgrade would give his scanners such a boost that they would even surpass Ratchets.
Optimus cursed in Cybertronian before looking around at his small collection of Autobots. He and most of his landing team were the only Autobots on Earth. As far as they knew, they were the only Cybertronians on Earth at all besides Starscream. Until now. These Decepticons would be the first they had encountered in a month, and it was not a welcome change. The timing could not be worse. Incoming protoforms were the weakest, as they were wrapped into an egg-like shape that gave them damn near no scanners, or senses at all. They would unravel from their curled forms and have almost no armor, as well as being blind to their surroundings for a moment. They would not stand a chance if the protoforms reached the destination before they did.
"Autobots, I'm sure I don't need to tell you how urgent this has just become. We MUST make it to the landing spot and defeat the Decepticons before the new Cybertornians arrive. Understood?" Bumble Bee, Ratchet, and Ironhide nodded. "Good. Autobots, roll out!" With that, they all transformed into their vehicle modes and raced toward the supposedly abandoned car garage that was the landing zone.
Rayana had just finished explaining to Blackout how things worked in the garage when his head snapped around staying away from her. She had resumed her human appearance, and was sitting casually on Barricade's shoulder. Looking around in confusion, she realized that all three of her charges were staring in the same direction, looks of horror dawning on their faces. Barricade looked down at her slowly.
"Autobots," was all he said. He didn't need to say anything else. Rayana felt tears welling in her eyes as she looked around at her three friends. She cared deeply about them all, how could she not. She had spent so long repairing them, working with them, having them look out for her that she felt deeply connected to them. Blackout may not know much about her yet, but they would be good friends, she just knew it. Or at least, they would have been, if the Autobots weren't coming. The Autobots were just as bigoted as they portrayed the Decepticons, which was a very true portrayal. The Autobots never asked questions first. If they thought the Decepticons were dangerous, they would charge in, guns blazing, and not stop fighting until their targets were dead or had run away. If the autobots were coming here – here where she had spent so long fixing them all, except for their weapon systems – then her friends would die again. This time, however, she would not be able to revive them, because the Autobots would make sure that their bodies were disposed of properly.
Her grief lasted only a moment. Rage swelled into her quickly, washing away everything else. Her eyes glowed bright blue and sparks shot from them angrily, skittering across the floor and burning holes into the solid concrete. The Autobots would not destroy her friends, would not destroy her hard work. They would not lay so much as a finger on anyone under her care. Blackout, Barricade, Bonecrusher, and Hound were all under her care, and let the Pit claim any who dared fight her on this. She knew that the Autobots would murder her Decepticons and claim back her Autobot, given the chance. If they did that, all four would die, not just the Decepticons. No medic alive was able to repair a mech in stasis lock while in vehicle form. Even she would have a tough time of it. The major differences between her and the medic Ratchet was that she was able to keep Hound alive with Allspark energy as well as having Al to guide her through the repair.
No, she decided. She would not allow the Autobots to so much as lift a weapon. Al chuckled inside her head. 'Come now, my little one. You know there is not much we can do in this instance. The only thing we can do is give your charges back their weapons'.'Rayana shook her head angrily. Al was wrong and he knew it. The laughter echoing through her head proved that. It was mocking her, daring her to prove him wrong. Rayana smiled slowly. 'Your wrong Al. You know you are.' Al seemed to nod in her head. 'Then prove me wrong. Prove that you can handle my power without my guidance.'
Rayana looked at her charges slowly, flitting her gaze from one to the next. She studied Barricade's face, noting the scratches and chipped paint that she would have to repair. Next she gazed at Bonecrusher, who had stood and was now moving closer to Barricade, gazing back at her. She would have to finish replacing his ruined optic soon, as well as finish the cosmetic detailing on the side of his head. She looked at Blackout who had risen and was approaching them as well. He was almost finished, but still needed a bit of his paint fixed. Barricade moved her to the palm of his hand and held her between the three towering mechs. They all gazed down at her silently as she turned, looking at them. Finally, her gaze peeked between the tall figures of her charges to look at Hound. He appeared fine in his vehicle mode, but she had no doubt that once she revived him and he transformed to his humanoid mode, he would be severely damaged. Her resolved stiffened as she looked at her charges.
"They will not make it past the doors," she said slowly. "I will not let them destroy you again. You will not die, not a second time. I swear it." They nodded slowly at her. "Barricade, put me down. We need to make this difficult for them." Once Barricade had placed her upon the ground, The Garage became a flurry of activity. Blackout estimated that they had approximately 4 minutes before the Autobots arrived, and they intended to make the most of that time. All light sources were covered with the scrap metal lying around. The two entrances were blocked completely from top to bottom with the abandoned cars littering the 3 story car garage. The building was pitch black inside for a short time. Blackout's voice spoke quietly.
"They are here." It was true, they could hear the sounds of 4 mechs transforming quickly and priming their weapons. The deep whirring of a large cannon, a scraping noise of blades sliding from their inbuilt arm holsters, a higher pitched whirring of smaller cannons, and the sharp spinning noise of a saw. Ironhide, Optimus Prime, Bumble Bee, and Ratchet. Soon, quiet voices could be heard.
"The Decepticons appear to be inside the building. They are not moving, and appear to have very little of their processes functioning. It would appear that they are in recharge. The spark energy that I felt earlier is completely gone, and the unknown Cybertronain is unresponsive to my scans. It would appear that they are in stasis lock, and dying." This was all said in a clipped professional voice that only a doctor or medic could have. Ratchet then.
"They blocked all windows and doors. No entrances are available." Again, a no nonsense voice that was deep and strong. He sounded angry and with his words came the spinning, thudding noises of cannons, guns, and blades sliding from their sub-spaced slots in his body. A weapons expert, meaning Ironhide.
"I do not think – kzzt – we can hope – cccch – to enter this building. Kzzt – It would appear – krrch – the enemy knew we were coming. Ktch - Orders, commander?" Many voices jumbled together, appearing to have been taken from the radio and television. A damaged vocal processor? Who would that be? Surely not Optimus, so it must be the scout, Bumble Bee.
The voices quieted from their. Not even a rumble was heard. They had begun to use their comm. Systems. Suddenly, a blast was heard from a nearby cannon. The wall beside the blocked doorway shook. There were more blasts following this, and each time, the wall shook, cracked and loosened. Rayana smiled slowly from where she was standing in the middle of the floor of The Garage. Her eyes glowed and sparked, and then the light from her eyes spread along her body. She was not transforming, as she had earlier for Blackout. The light did not transform her, instead it leaked into her body, until you could see every vein glowing from beneath her skin. Her fingernails, the palms of her hands, and her mouth all glowed as well. She stood in the middle of the darkened car garage glowing, making her light shine out across The Garage.
Everything became quiet. The blasting from outside had stopped.
Ironhide and Bumble Bee were firing their cannons at the wall, attempting to blast through the solid cement of the abandoned car garage when the Autobots sensed it. It was something they had not felt for a long, long time. The Allspark. It's power was emanating from the center of the building, glowing outwards through the cracks between the cars blocking the doors, and the holes that Bumble Bee and Ironhide created in the wall. It was impossible. The Allspark had been destroyed at the battle in mission city. How did three Decepticons get their hands on the supposedly destroyed Allspark?
'Optimus...' commed Ratchet slowly.
'I know, Ratchet,' he replied. 'Ironhide, Bumble Bee, get us inside that building, NOW.'
Cannon fire instantly resumed, faster and harder than it had been. The wall was shattering apart under their cannon fire. Finally, a doorway was created and the Autobots charged inside, expecting to see three Decepticons ready for battle. What they found instead shocked them more than they cared to admit. A small, teenage human girl, glowing a bright blue, emitting All spark energy. Scattered around her on the floor were the patiently sitting forms of three Decepticons. One they had not seen in months, and two who were known to be dead. Barricade sat calmly behind the human, and on either side of him, forming a semi circle around the girl, were Blackout and Bonecrusher – both of whom had been destroyed at Mission City. The Decepticons glanced up at the Autobots before returning their gazes the small human girl. They didn't stand, draw their weapons or attempt to attack in anyway. The Autobots stood in confusion for a moment before they aimed their weapons at the Decepticons.
"Step away from the human, Decepticons," boomed Optimus Prime in his deep voice. The Decepticons ignored them.
"Tell your men to lower your weapons, Optimus Prime," came a quiet female voice. All attention went to the little human girl. She was standing in the same place as before, but her head was lifted upwards and she was staring into Optimus' optics with a cold gaze. Her body was still glowing, and her eyes, an unnatural Cybertronian blue, were fixed firmly to the Autobots face.
"You do not know what you are asking. Walk away from the Decepticons. We can keep you safe from them," said Ratchet soothingly. The girls eyes stayed locked to Optimus'.
"I know what I am asking, Chief Medical Officer Ratchet. Lower your weapons. Please," she said coolly. Optimus' gaze was fixed on her's. He was physically unable to pull his optics away. His mouth opened slightly, but no noise escaped his lips. Ironhide was attempting to comm him repeatedly but was not getting a response. Ironhide's weapon snapped downwards, pointing at the human instead.
"Let him go, girl. Whatever it is you are doing, let him go. Now," he ground out angrily, charging his cannon, ready to kill her if she didn't listen. Her eyes stayed rooted to Optimus' but a spark shot from them. The spark slammed into Ironhide's cannon. One second his cannon was glowing a dangerous blue charge, and the next, its wasn't responding to his commands and was powering down. A second, third, and fourth spark flew from her eyes to the Autobots' weapons, stopping them immediately.
"What are you," asked Optimus in a subdued voice. A ghost of a smile flickered along the girls face before she opened her glowing mouth once more.
"My name is Rayana. I am the Sparkborn, the new vessel for what was once called the Allspark. Tell me, Prime, why have you come here," she said in a chilling voice. Rayana was growing colder and more withdrawn by the second, her gaze cooling and sharpening into ice. Her posture was growing stiffer by the second, and she appeared to be fighting a mental battle.
"There are incoming Cybertronians. We had hoped to secure the area and the new mechs or femmes as they landed." His eyes widened and darkened suddenly. "RATCHET! How much more time do we have?"
"Under a minute before," was all Ratchet was able to say before all hell broke loose.