Here it is...FINALLY! The next chapter!
Forgive me for the long wait. Life really doesn't want me to update and now that I don't have work for a week I decided I need to get SOMETHING out, especially for the one story I haven't updated in a while. So hopefully you guys are still hanging around and you'll enjoy this one.
We finally get a little glance at a side of Barricade no one has seen before.
Well, don't let me delay any further!
Barricade remained still, not attempting to dodge the shot by any means and he was completely stunned as it was none other than Prowl that tackled Jazz to the ground redirecting an instant kill shot. Nonetheless, the blow knocked the commander flat on his back and he couldn't help but hiss in pain. The mech's actions only misplaced a very damaging shot. Ignoring the chaos that broke out, he looked at his shoulder.
"Well frag," he sighed as he saw the damage but was too weak to do much and turned his attention back to what was going on.
The infamous Autobot twins restrained Jazz while their leader Optimus Prime questioned Prowl. At the moment those above him seemed to not care to notice but he expected nothing less as he laid there silently bleeding out at their peds. As the edges of his vision started to darken and blur and he felt his core temperature drop, a familiar voice reached his audios. It was a voice he hadn't been prepared to hear, at least not in this type of scenario.
"Get your sorry afts out of my way. I know more than one of you are way over due for your scheduled scans and I'll personally remind you of that if you don't fraggin move! I heard shots and I'm not letting another stubborn glitch go and get himself slagged because he was too idiotic to come see me immediately!"
Memory proving to be more than accurate, Barricade wasn't shocked in the least to see mechs scrambling out of the medic's way as he came forward. Instantly the medic's attention went straight to Jazz as his view of Barricade was currently obstructed.
"Jazz, what the frag is going on? Why is he being restrained?"
"He shot an unarmed Decepticon," Prime answered.
"Decepticon? Why the frag would you restrain him for shooting a…" Ratchet's words died in his vocalizer as the edge of his vision caught something on the ground and finally noticed the black and white Con.
"Frag!" he cursed, rushing over to drop down beside the wounded mech.
"Heya Hatchet," he said weakly, managing a brief grin.
"Heya back you useless scrap heap," he growled scanning Barricade.
"Always seen to be running into you at the worst of times huh?"
"With your glitching processor it's expected; now shut up for a moment."
Everyone present watched the exchange between their CMO and the much-loathed Decepticon commander in shock. The two mechs seemed casual with each other, almost as if they knew one another, but was that possible?
"Uh, Ratchet are you alright? He's just a fraggin worthless Decepticon," Sunny said and everyone winced as wrench flew out and connected with metal followed by a cry of pained surprise from the golden twin.
"That slaggin thing still hasn't been confiscated or banned?" Barricade asked with a chuckle.
"And why the frag would they do that?" Ratchet questioned looking as if he was ready to challenge any mech that tried to do so, "now you stubborn aft, shut your slaggin vocalizer least you two be reacquainted."
"Right," the commander snorted, "you really think that threat has yet to change its effect on me?"
Grunting, Ratchet was reduced to quiet cursing as he concentrated his focus on reaching the split main line in the Con's shoulder to steam the life threatening flow. With the sudden pause in their conversation, exhaustion to crash back down on Barricade and to further confirm him weakened state, his intakes drastically slowed in response.
"Cade!" Ratchet yelled. Recognizing what was happing, the CMO knew he needed to snap his patient back to full consciousness.
"Hmm?" the mech asked sluggishly.
"Primus strike me down for saying this, but keep that slaggin vocalizer of yours running. Tell me, how's Midnight?"
"He's…defected…" Barricade gasped weakly.
"Really? I'm not too surprised; do you know where he is?" he continued to ask, hoping to keep the Decepticon online for as long as he could.
" 'course I do…" he muttered, red optics darkening.
"Slaggin scrap head!" the medic snapped at the Con commander, "Stay the frag online!"
"Heh, looks…familiar…"
"No," Ratchet growled in response as he quickly worked to save the mech before him, "this time your aft is willing to live."
In response, Barricade made a quiet noise which could have been interpreted as an attempt at a snort, " 'is alright…Ratch…if anyone can save me…I'd be you…"
Many Autobots froze waiting for the explosion that they knew was coming from the hatchet. Instead they were all equally stunned as their short-tempered stubborn-aft nickname-hating CMO gave no reaction to such and ignored the Decepticon as he continued his work on the injury. For the next few breems curses and various strings of profanity continued to increasingly pour from Ratchet's mouth as he worked frantically to save Barricade's life even after the Decepticon commander had fallen offline. Finally steaming the flow, Ratchet sighed and allowed himself only a klick of rest before growling and diving back to repairing the rest of the damage.
"Just let him die!" Jazz snarled.
Glaring up at the smaller silver mech, it took every ounce of will power Ratchet had to not stop what he was doing to knock Jazz out with his wrench and instead replied with a snarl of his own, "you shouldn't be so quick to judge. You have no idea what kind of mech your brother is and you've never given him a chance."
"I know exactly what kind of mech he is!"
"Obviously not when you sit there and continue to shout out nonsense you idiotic fragger."
"Then it's YOU who doesn't know what he's capable of! Because of him they're dead!" the saboteur yelled.
"But they weren't yours. Have you ever once stopped to think about what happened to him afterwards? Not only how it affected him, but that they weren't the only to suffer at that sparkless bastards servos?"
Jazz did pause then, "what do you mean?"
"Cade suffered in more ways than one, and all because you abandon him."
"Ratchet," Prime began, trying to deflect the argument before it worsened, but he wasn't fast enough.
"Abandoned him!" Jazz shrieked, "he was the one that left me! Do you know what it's like to trust someone to only online alone without so much as a single goodbye? He's worse than my creators, at least I knew they never cared for me, but that bastard had the audacity to play mind games with me!"
"You don't have any idea what happened do you!" Ratchet snapped, his patience now nonexistent as he stood up, towering over the Lieutenant, "have you ever asked him why? Fraggin idiot! You always assume and never ask!"
"And you know?"
"Yes! I know this fraggin scrap heap better than any other mech excluding his twin."
"He doesn't have a twin."
Ratchet snorted, "that is proof enough of how little you know."
"How can you know him? He's a Con! Unless you've been informing the enemy! You're our leak!"
Everyone froze, waiting for Ratchet's reaction.
They were surprised even further when their medic didn't fly into a fit of rage but raise his optic ridge at Jazz and snorted, "and I believed you were more intelligent than that. Apparently I was very wrong. The only information I gave this mech was on you."
"So you confess!"
"No. The information I gave to him was your health, your status throughout your military career. But the main reason I stayed in contact was so he could protect you."
"Protect me?" he asked, his voice suddenly dropping to a choked whisper. Silence enveloped the area as all soldiers were completely engrossed by what was happening between their enemy, their medic, and their comrade.
"Yes! Do you honestly believe all those miraculous escapes were by your training or pure luck? Cade's a commander. That gives him a lot of power, and when it came to your life, he never hesitated to use it. You should see some of the scars Megatron has given him for that 'special' treatment."
Jazz stood frozen for a brief second before he collapsed. The only thing holding him up was the hand of the twins as the world spun around him.
"No if we're done with the slaggin stupid questions," he growled and turned to Optimus, "I need him transported to the medbay immediately!"
"He is ONLY in your care until he is stable," the red and blue mech replied as he gave a nod to Ironhide to assist the CMO with transporting their new captive.
Ratchet growled out a few curses under his breath but it was better than nothing at the moment as he followed the weapon specialist back to their base and his medbay.
/.../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../
Sighing he dropped his head back against the wall and shuttering his optics he wished to fall offline. He was too exhausted to try escaping or even think to do so. It wasn't impossible or even difficult, he already knew exactly how to get out without even raising an alarm but first he needed rest and the will to leave. It was strange, Jazz hated him but something in his spark nagged at Barricade to remain and none of it had anything to do with his younger brother. So what was it?
"Frag," he groaned, "you're getting in too deep Cade, watch it or you'll be drafted into these pit-be-damned Autobot's army."
Before he could continue his thought, a small noise caught his attention and he jerked his head back up staring into the icy blue optics of a tiny sparkling. Mouth opening to enquire just who this little yellow mech was, his spark jerked and he froze suddenly understanding his reluctance to leave.
"No," he gasped, "impossible."
The sparkling studied the much larger black and white mech before him, head tilted just slightly wondering why this one was giving him a similar sensation in his spark that he had with his big brother Jazz.
Pushing rage and guild aside, Barricade summoned up enough energy to run a scan over his newly discovered sibling.
"You're a quite one, what's your designation little spark?" he asked, gazing straight into the very same intense optics Jazz possessed.
"Bumblebee," he squeaked out quietly.
"What did your creators call you?" he asked.
"No name," Bumblebee answered his response even softer than before as he looked downward in shame.
Reaching out slowly, he hooked a claw under the tiny yellow chin and forced the little mech to look up, "why so quiet? You have a wonderful voice little Bee. Speak up and never let anyone tell you different."
He could only look up at Barricade in surprise as if he had never received such a high praise before and his optics lit up brightly.
"So little spark, are you happy here? Are they protecting you?"
The little helm dipped once with a nod, "Op-mus let no one with me alone."
"Optimus Prime?" then he felt it, just as he had so recently discovered with his middle brother, the sparkling was bonded.
"Primus," he breathed, "so young. Prime is your bonded?"
Again the little yellow sparkling bobbed his head.
"I've never…It's amazing. Ingenious."
For a moment he was left to his thoughts before he felt the soft pat of hands against his leg and he looked down at the questioning expression of Bumblebee.
"Why Jassy hate you?" he asked, truly confused by the newly developed and conflicting feeling his spark was being subjected to from the recent confrontation.
Reaching down, Barricade scooped up his brother, "what do you feel little Bee?"
He was becoming further and further amazed with this sparkling. Not only was he breaking rules none have thought to break, but he seemed to actually understand and grasp the feeling surrounding his spark not even an older youngling could truly comprehend.
"Angry…sad," he answered quietly, looking guilty again as if it was himself that was creating such emotions towards this new mech in his presence.
Barricade shook his head; he needed to help his brother quickly against the stress that Jazz was creating through the brother bond. Young sparks couldn't handle spark stress well and that was the main point why many hadn't survived the war.
"I'll teach you how to block all that. You're far too young to be asked to deal with it," he told him, "but listen to me. None of it is your fault. Your bigger brothers are having some problems but it's not your fault."
The sparkling was listening closely, not exactly understanding but at least getting the main point of what Barricade was saying.
Cracking a small grin at the sparkling, Barricade let his head drop back against the wall, exhausted already. Frag, his wound was really starting to take its toll and the steady loss of heat and energon was far from helping.
Suddenly he realized he had fallen offline when a frantic squeak reached his audios and he jerked online with a groan.
"Slaggin Con. Stay away from Bumblebee you slag heap!" the golden twin growled as he held the squirming sparkling in his arms.
Barricade didn't hear a single word the mech said to him as his optics immediately sought out his brother and he just as quickly realized the sparkling didn't want to be held by the mech or to leave as he gave another shriek, tears falling down his face.
Ignoring his injuries, the Decepticon snarled and lunged at the larger mech, determined to get his brother back and protect him. Not expecting such from the mech who looked half offline, Sunstreaker was caught off guard and fell on his back as the mech tackled him, but no punches came. Instead the mech was off him the next second. Scrambling up he found out why as Barricade moved to the corner away from Sunstreaker protectively holding the crying sparkling close, his gaze daring the twin to try and take him away again. Growling, Sunstreaker stayed put. He didn't know the Decepticon's true intentions but he wasn't about to leave Bumblebee in harm's way and commed for back-up.
"You'll regret what you just did."
Barricade snarled at him and curled up slightly all but hiding the bright yellow of his youngest brother's frame from view with his own.
It wasn't long before he heard more mechs approaching and he automatically tensed. He was going to give them a fight if they dared to try and take his brother away. The only mech he would allow Bumblebee to go with would be either Optimus or Ratchet and he knew neither was there.
"What?" Ironhide asked as he was the first to come into view.
"The Con has Bee," he growled.
"What the slag? How did he do that?" Sideswipe exclaimed.
"Doesn't matter, get Bumblebee away from that fragger!" another unseen mech yelled from behind the red twin.
Watching them closely, Barricade noticed that only the oldest mech, Ironhide, had yet to agree with the others to separate them as the weapon specialist watched him closely.
"Wait," he interrupted quietly, the tone of his voice instantly silencing the other Autobots, "someone get Prime."
"Why?" Sideswipe asked in shock, "Hide, he could be doin something to the kid right now!"
"But he's not. Get your sorry afts moving and find Prime before I ask Ratchet for scraps to make my new targets out of!" he bellowed at the younger soldiers.
Quickly they scattered and the massive black mech looked back at the Decepticon who, by then, had turned his attention back to calming the sparkling down. Ironhide remained silent, watching the Decepticon. It was clear he was not harming or threatening the sparkling. By all his earlier actions, Ironhide figured the Con was only being protective of the little yellow mech. The rumors had to be true then. This mech really was Jazz's brother and Bumblebee's in turn. Slightly surprised, he grunted and shifted slightly as he kept an optic on the sparkling as Bumblebee quieted.
"Prime is on the way," he told the Con when Barricade looked up and seemed to notice him still there.
He gave the mech a nod and turned his attention back to Bumblebee as he popped his head out with a happy click, his brief upset already forgotten.
"Haven't seen him that cheerful…ever," the mech said.
Barricade looked back at the yellow sparkling as Bumblebee was still clicking happily at the larger mech holding him.
"I want it to stay that way," he responded, "I already failed once."
Before Ironhide could wonder what he meant they were interrupted.
"Ironhide, Sunny informed me you needed my assistance here immediately," Optimus said entering the cell with the weapon specialist.
"Assistance, no, but I wanted you here nonetheless," he answer, motioning to Barricade.
Optics flickering for a moment in distress, the Autobot commander paused as he realized that was laughter coming from the sparkling, not a squeal terror. With a grunt, Barricade tried to get up but he sagged back against the wall and stayed there for a moment, panting at the mere effort. Bumblebee looked up in concern as he noticed his big brother was in pain.
"Shh…little Bee…I'll be…alright," he muttered but with the alarms his systems were screaming at him, he quickly found a lie leaving his mouth as he slumped and crashed straight into stasis the next moment.
Letting out a startled cry, Bumblebee patted at Barricade, trying to get the mech awake again but it didn't work and he looked at the two others there with tears in is optics, his gaze begging them to help.
"C'mere kid," Hide grunted, scooping Bumblebee up as Optimus heaved the Decepticon up and left the brig, heading toward the medbay.