Chapter 2
Greetings and Old Friends
2 Hours later…
"Ugh…" Optimus Prime moaned as his optics flickered on. He turned his head, only to realize that he was still inside of Skyfire—an unmoving Skyfire to be correct. Optimus swiftly came to the conclusion that Skyfire was shot down by those Decepticon Seekers.
"Skyfire…?" Optimus weakly asked. "Are you alright? What's your status?"
No response came from Skyfire.
"Skyfire?" Optimus said with more concern in his voice as he was tossing the panels and rocks that covered the lower section of his body.
"Optimus… I've ugh… been shot down, but I've managed to close the distance to New York. We are… five miles outside of the city…" Skyfire was fading, and fading fast.
"Save your strength Skyfire. The rest of us shall continue by foot. I'll contact Ratchet and let him know where you are so he can send out a team to come pick you up immediately." Optimus solemnly stated. The muffled sound of Blaster's confused voice startled Optimus as he realized that he was almost on top of a battered, but not broken Blaster.
"Ugh… did we win?" A disoriented Blaster questioned, as he rose from the debris while rubbing the back of his head.
"No we didn't Blaster. We got our afts handed to us." Jazz mournfully stated as he appeared out of nowhere behind Optimus and Blaster. Jazz, usually the comedy relief, was not in the mood for cracking a joke in front of Skyfire's current condition. Jazz, Optimus, and Blaster started to scan the area for other trapped Autobots when Jazz spotted a section of Hound's arm sticking out of a pile of boulders. Both Blaster and Jazz helped dig out the green tracker, and lift him up on his feet.
"Thanks guys. I always seem to have a knack to find myself buried beneath giant rocks." Hound weakly joked as the two 'bots lifted him up and out of the rubble.
Eventually, the rest of the Autobots rose from the trash heap known as Skyfire's landing bay. They all managed to climb their way out of the broken glass and shredded metal inside of Skyfire. Finally the Autobots were outside, and Wheeljack was feverishly inspecting Skyfire's battered jet form.
"Skyfire, can you fly at all?" Wheeljack nervously asked.
"No, I can't. Both of my engines have been severely damaged, and my right wing, as you can tell, is dug deep into the ground. I do not want to risk injuring myself even more if I transform. I'm sorry Wheeljack…"
"That's alright Skyfire, we'll try to free you and find a nice hiding spot for you until Ratchet can come by." Wheeljack reassuringly told Skyfire before softly patting his non-buried wing.
"Blaster, can you open up a—"Optimus started, but was interrupted by Blaster who seemed as if a Decepticon had him held at gunpoint.
"Guys?" Blaster shakily stated. "I'm picking up a—a transmission from someone."
"Well, put it on already!" Ironhide demanded, not seeing why Blaster was acting so jumpy from this transmission. Blaster quickly nodded and pressed the play button on his chest. A static noise was heard, but gradually, a female voice was heard, but broken apart from some kind of interference.
"…ello? … anyone… received… signal… Any survivors? … This is… phire… visual…"
"What the slag?" Jazz exclaimed and pointed up to the sky as a sleek, triangular shaped aircraft sped overhead. It passed on by, but then came around and started to begin its decent.
"What is that? I've never seen anything like it before." Hound admired as the aircraft hovered fifty feet away. Bit by bit, the craft began to descend.
"Well whatever it is, looks like we're gonna find out. It's landing." Jazz said, pointing over to the silvery blue aircraft.
"Should we ready our weapons Optimus?" Prowl, in a calm tone asked the sublime, but mute leader. Prowl was not going to take any chances with a foreign craft that could be a possible Decepticon, landing near their seriously injured friend. If this person or transformer was a threat; Prowl was going to risk life and limb to protect Skyfire from further harm.
"My scanners says it ain't a Decepticon, so it's defiantly man-made. Still, I've never seen that freaky thing buzzin' around in the sky before." Ironhide grumbled as he was typing on a hidden scanner on his right forearm.
"Well, if that thing was out for us, it would have already blown us up into scrap metal by now. Look, two laser cannons right below those blue wing thingies." Jazz pointed out.
As the Autobots were sucked into their thoughts and possible theories about the craft, every single one of them immediately froze their mental and verbal processing when the opaque canopy of the aircraft hissed open, straight up into the air. A female figure climbed out of the assumed pilot's seat, and jumped down onto one of the silver wings jutting out from both sides of the triangular-like frame of the aircraft. Minute amounts of light emitting from the sunrise behind the aircraft prevented the Autobots, at first, a clear visual on the individual. She was now leaning casually, back onto the right, violet colored, triangular wing guard; arms folded and one leg crossed over the other.
From the aircraft, came a booming, almost male like voice. "You robots look like ya'll need a hand!"
"Who are you? State your business!" Optimus shouted back toward the nameless female. None of the Autobots could see that the human girl had a devilish smile written across her face. Then, out of nowhere, she leapt into the air and was now thirty feet above her craft.
All of the Autobots were in awe at this human's physical abilities. Then in a bright bluish white light—she was gone. Baffled at how this human could simply vanish into thin air, some of them rubbed their optics just to make sure that what they just witnessed was in fact, a teleporting human. Blaster let out a terrified screech and jumped into arms of the equally spooked saboteur. Two feet in front of Blaster's face was the human girl who looked amused at the two frightened 'bots. The rest of the Autobots were just as surprised and taken off guard as Jazz and Blaster.
"Hahaha! Sorry if I scared ya there big boy. I couldn't resist myself!" The girl waved and happily said. She was levitating in front of the two "Shaggy and Scooby-Doo" Autobot posers. As the not-so-normal human was enjoying tormenting the two mechs, Prowl was the first to react. He pulled out his energy rifle and pointed it directly at the girl's head. Prowl did not appreciate this girl scaring his comrades. Both of his hands were on his rifle, ready to fire an electrical charge at this possible threat to the Autobots.
The girl turned her head sideways and glanced back at the over-sized gun that had its sights set on her skull. The glasses she had on reflected the sun's rays from the sunrise, and temporarily blinded Prowl. When his sight returned seconds later, the girl was nowhere to be found. Prowl frantically searched left and right scanning for the human girl, but when his optics met the Blaster and Jazz again, their optics were as large as ever.
"Now, is that any way to treat a lady?" A devilish whisper came right next to his left audio. Prowl jerked his head sharply to meet optic-to-eye with the female who was sitting cross legged on his left shoulder. She was looking back into Prowl's bright blue optics with her icy cold, dark blue eyes.
"Who are you?" Prowl demanded in a low and aggravated voice. He was now glaring at the smirking human who made herself comfortable on his shoulder. The girl sensed his frustration on his inability to figure out how she was able to infiltrate his defense with no effort at all.
"The name's Sapphire, and I'm not gonna hurt any of you unless you provoke me first." Sapphire said putting both arms behind her head. "And you are…?" Sapphire trailed off, looking over her half-framed black glasses with yellow streaks on the sides. Prowl's growing discomfort along with his inexperience to deal with a human as laid back as Sapphire, finally got to him. Before Prowl could protest, Optimus walked up in front of him and gently plucked Sapphire from Prowl, and placed her in his gigantic hand. Sapphire knew this was going to happen, but she was still taken aback at the immense size of Optimus Prime.
"My name is Optimus Prime. I am the leader of these Autobots. This one here is Prowl." Optimus nodded towards Prowl. Sapphire bent her head backwards to see him. Prowl's response was a tight smile that quickly faded into a straight mouth.
"And this is Mirage, Hound, Ironhide, and Wheeljack." Optimus said their names as he passed by each one of the Autobots. Sapphire happily waved to all of the friendly 'bots. The still shell shocked Autobots waved back awkwardly to Sapphire. She just smiled.
"These two who you scared senseless are Jazz and Blaster." Sapphire waved cutely towards the still stunned Autobots.
"Not to embarrass you two, but Jazz, you're still holding Blaster." The two 'bots looked at each other blankly, and smiled back at Sapphire. Jazz immediately dropped Blaster and rushed up to Optimus, though he was not his intended target.
"Well li'l lady, it just so happens that I am programmed to always embarrass Blaster in front of a pretty gal like yourself." Jazz grinned and extended a hand of his own for Sapphire. She laughed and accepted Jazz's offer. She stepped into Optimus' hand, and plopped herself down, making herself comfortable. Blaster, seeing Jazz charm Sapphire, decided to intervene.
"Hey, Jazz ol' buddy of mine, why don't ya give the lady a chance to talk instead of grabbin' and walkin' off with her!" Blaster snapped back at Jazz. With Sapphire still in Jazz's hand, Blaster extended his hand for Sapphire with a large grin on his face. Sapphire just shook her head and said, "No matter where I go, boys will be boys I suppose…" With that, Sapphire floated up out of Jazz's hand and carefully made her way back to Optimus Prime; his hand was covering his optics in disappointment. The other Autobots except for Prowl were laughing their heads off at the love-struck duo. Jazz and Blaster, slumped over in their failed efforts in "befriending" Sapphire.
"As I was saying, what can I do for ya'll?" Sapphire said while floating up to Optimus Prime.
"I'm afraid all that you can do to is help us try to find a hiding spot for our friend Skyfire." Optimus sorrowfully stated as he motioned his hand over to the gigantic white and red jet that was half buried in the ground. Sapphire whistled and pulled her glasses down in pure amazement.
"Now that's a big boy ya got there, but no worries, I can easily return your oversized jet friend here back to your base."
"Come again? What do ya mean "return" our friend by?" Ironhide challenged in his gruff voice.
"What I mean, is that I can teleport your friend here back to your base only if you tell me the whereabouts of your base. Unless, that is, if you want to wait for your guys to come by later and pick him up."
Hound approached Optimus and cautiously whispered, "Do you think that we can trust her?"
"I believe that we can." Optimus reassured a worried Hound. "Sapphire?"
"Yes sir?" Sapphire immediately perked up and became face-to-face with Optimus.
"You have my permission to transport Skyfire back to our base, only on one condition: You must take someone along with you, and bring them back to me."
"Optimus do you—" Prowl interjected. It was apparent that the second-in-command did not share the same high hopes for Sapphire as Optimus.
"Prowl, what choice do we have? The faster Skyfire can be repaired, the faster we will have access to his transportation when we need to leave, or call for reinforcements." Optimus crushed Prowl's opposition with his reasoning. Prowl thought about his logic for a while. Sapphire decided that enough time was already being wasted.
"Prowl, if you don't mind you can accompany me so that you can see for yourself that your friend Skyfire is in more than capable hands." Sapphire suggested to the wary Prowl.
"What?! That's no fair! Why, Jazz and I made her laugh first, why does Prowl get to go with her?!" Enraged, Blaster yelled towards Optimus. Sapphire bursted out laughing while Prowl, awkwardly shifted back in Blaster's sudden outburst.
"Sorry Blaster, but this isn't a party bus. Anyways, don't you have to go and help your friends bust some trouble making Decepticons?" Sapphire teased.
"She has a point Blaster." Jazz grinned at Sapphire and then back at Blaster, who folded his arms in defeat. Blaster mumbled something to Jazz who also began to laugh.
"It's settled then, let me get your friend outta here for ya. Optimus, do you have the coordinates?"
"Yes I do, here you go." Optimus pulled up a hidden compartment in his arm and a hologram of the West Coast appeared. A bright red dot appeared on the map and the hologram started to zoom in onto the flashing light. Sapphire studied the numbers of the latitude and longitude when the projector stopped zooming in.
"Okay, now that I have a course plotted, it's time to get this show on the road. Prowl, board Skyfire now please." Sapphire eagerly stated. Prowl gave Optimus a "Do I really have to go" look; Optimus just glared back at the reluctant Prowl, who sighed and did as he was told. While Prowl grudgingly obeyed Sapphire's request under Optimus Prime's silent orders, Sapphire informed the other Autobots to step back a few paces. A bit confused as why they needed to, the Autobots went along with Sapphire's request.
Sapphire then turned back towards the grounded Skyfire, shut her eyes, and raised her sprawled out hands. A faded bluish white glow emanated from her hands; the light then enveloped Skyfire's hull until it too, shone in the bizarre radiance. For a second time, the Autobots were in shock when Skyfire was gently lifted up and out of the ground. Sapphire opened her eyes that now poured out a vivid sky blue light. Slowly rising up off the ground, she shot over to Skyfire and called out to a terrified Prowl to open up a hatch.
Prowl shakily yanked on the cracked side hatch, peering outside the hovering craft down to his fellow comrades. Jazz waved timidly up to the horrified second-in-command who clung onto the half intact door as Sapphire blissfully floated in. While passing Prowl, she glanced back at him. He looked as if he'd seen a ghost. In an effort to calm Prowl, Sapphire barely touched his left arm.
"Prowl, relax. Nothin' is gonna happen to you. Just sit back and enjoy the ride." Sapphire then tilted her head up and softly said, "Same goes for you Skyfire." Prowl's blue optics met Sapphire's radiant blue eyes for a second time. Sapphire only saw fear, while Prowl, saw reassurance in hers. Prowl nodded and took off back to Skyfire's control panels. Sapphire chuckled at the hasty actions now taken by the tense second-in-command.
Sapphire gazed down at the congregation of Autobots below and shouted, "Don't worry about us, we'll be fine! You guys go on ahead! I'll take Prowl back to ya'll when Optimus activates his homing beacon, which I'm assume he has!" None of the miniature Autobots moved a gear, so to speak. Sapphire, annoyed by their lifeless actions barked out at them, again. "HEY! Did you guys fall asleep or somethin'?! Get a move on already before the trail turns cold!" None of the Autobots required a third verbal command. All of them transformed and took off towards New York City.
"SAPPHIRE!" Prowl screamed. "LOOK OUT!" While Sapphire was occupied in focusing her thoughts for teleportation, an immense figure blinked up behind her. Sapphire turned and found out that Skywarp, the only known Transformer who possessed the ability to teleport, had both of his laser cannons attached to his black and purple arms, targeted her chest. Sapphire knew there was only one way out of this sudden situation, but she did not care if Skyfire or Prowl; who was now drawing his rifle out, were prepared. Just as Skywarp fired, a bright flash of light blinded him momentarily. When his sight finally returned, a wave of furry came over him. In front of him was just the shadow of New York City and in the background, the sunrise making its final hurrah.
"Prowl? Are you alright" Prowl's optics flickered to life after hearing the soothing voice.
"Huh…? W-What happened…?" Prowl spoke in an almost inaudible tone as he was rebooting from an unexpected teleportation.
"He he… um, you can blame that one on me. I teleported to your base without warning you first Prowl. You were flung out of Skyfire, and you landed pretty hard on the ground. Sorry for knocking you and Skyfire out cold…" Sapphire was kneeling beside Prowl's helmet. Her right hand grazed his right cheek. "For a second there, I thought that I gave you a "spark attack" when that jet guy popped up behind me."
"Almost. I just do not appreciate a human, almost being killed by a Decepticon. This war is between the Autobots and Decepticons; no one else." Prowl flatly stated as he struggled to pull himself off the ground.
"You're welcome Prowl, and apology accepted." Sapphire warmly told Prowl. He reciprocated a tight smile, but it quickly vanished when he started to absorb his surroundings. Skyfire's bulky jet form was comfortably snug in some over-sized pine trees that were to the right of the Ark. Prowl frowned at the pitiful sight and opened up a comlink to Ratchet.
"Ratchet? This is Prowl, what's your status?"
"Ratchet here, what's the situation?"
"Skyfire is heavily damaged, and is in need of immediate medical attention. I, along with another individual, have accompanied him, and he's outside of the Ark now."
"So that's what that crashing noise was…" Ratchet thought out loud to himself. "Wait, back up, who else is with you?"
"A human named Sapphire. Don't worry she's friendly." A prolonged silence was Ratchet's response.
"Ratchet? Are you still with me?"
"Are you positive that is her name?"
"Affirmative. Why? Is there a problem with—huh?" Prowl attention was distracted when the numerous sounds of snapping tree limbs. When he turned to see that Skyfire was again lifted up into the air, his jaw fell.
"Hey Prowl, where do ya want him at? He's pretty heavy, so could ya tell me quick?" Sapphire shouted underneath Skyfire's bulky mass. She was carrying him into the air! Prowl could not believe his optics the first time Sapphire lifted Skyfire telepathically, but now, Sapphire was carrying him with her brute strength. Prowl had to shake his head in order to snap out of his trance.
"Put Skyfire on that landing platform that's being extended." Prowl pointed to an extending platform. Sapphire acknowledged, and set a course to the platform that was on top of the Ark; a giant spaceship that was half visible because the front end of the dark yellow craft was smashed into the face of a very large volcano.
Prowl's distraction dealt Ratchet enough time to bail on his and Prowl's comlink conversation. Prowl realized this and frowned—again. "Ratchet knows who this Sapphire person is, but he never mentioned if she was good or evil." As Prowl pondered on the severity of this predicament, his audios were stabbed by a loud shriek of not fear—but joy.
"R-Ratchet? Is that really you?" Sapphire attempted to control the excitement in her voice.
"Sapphire…? Is—"That was enough proof for Sapphire; this white, medical robot knew her name.
She gently placed the now rebooting Skyfire on the platform underneath her, and flung herself onto Ratchet's neck, and hugged him. Ratchet managed to catch himself from being toppled over, and did his best to hug Sapphire—without crushing her.
"I thought that—well after… Damn, how the slag did you manage to escape without being blown to shreds? I thought that I had lost you during that escape…" If Ratchet possessed the ability to produce tears, he would have bawled his optics out of his head right then and there. Sapphire placed a finger on Ratchet's lips.
"All in due time I'll tell ya, but now you have more important things to turn your attention to—like fixing up your friend here." She pulled back from his embrace and turned towards Skyfire's busted alternative mode.
"Your right. Sapphire, can you help me with—"
"Sorry Ratchet, but I gotta rendezvous with Optimus Prime and the others. I'll catch up with you later!" Sapphire sped off back to Prowl's location, waving back to Ratchet, and wearing the largest smile on her face—ever. Ratchet, dumbstruck about seeing one of his closest friends for the first time since his "Dark Times" as Ratchet called it, he could not process anything to say, so he just settled at waving back with a smile equally as large as Sapphire's.
A moan from Skyfire snapped Ratchet out of his wandering conscious, and back into reality. He had a patient now, and that was the end of that. Ratchet began repairs on the oversized jetliner without any hesitation. Meanwhile, Sapphire flew through the air back to a paranoid Prowl. He wanted an answer as to why Sapphire extruded the audio splitting screech.
"Prowl, let's go. Optimus has activated his homing beacon." Sapphire began before Prowl could release his attack.
"Very well, let's roll out." Prowl spoke in a steady, but frustrated voice.
"Whatever you do, don't pass out again. Keep your cool and hold on tight." Sapphire landed on Prowl's right shoulder, only this time Sapphire stood up straight and placed her right hand on the side of Prowl's helmet. A bright flash of blue light signaled their departure to the front lines of the battlefield between the Autobots and Decepticons.