Disclosure : I do not own Transformers Prime, it's characters, the storyline, or anything of the sort. I am simply borrowing it to place a piece of my mind in it. I only own my OC, and I will, in a sense, carry the one. I give full credit to those who have created this wonderful series, and Hasbro. Read and Review my loves!
- Lizzzard
"I told you doc, we're fine,"
I glanced over Optimus' shoulder, watching as Ratchet shoved an angry Bulkhead back down. Him and Bumblebee just returned from an Arctic mission, to which they discovered a closed container frozen in the ice.
"The only way to ensure you're fine, Bulkhead," Ratchet growled dangerously. "Is to endure standard defrosting procedure. You know that prolonged exposure to sub zero temperatures can cause permanent system damages."
"C'mon, Bulk," I shouted over, Optimus slowly walking towards them with Arcee not far behind. "Listen to the Doc, before I sic Miko on you."
The massive bot rolled his eyes, but silently sat as Ratchet re attached the devices being used.
"Ratchet," Optimus rumbled. "Have you learned anything more about our arctic find?"
"Not yet," Ratch turning back to the screen he pulled up. A constant video surveillance of the container defrosting. "The pod can't be opened while it's frozen solid."
I stared at pod with an evil eye. "Optimus," I rested my hand on his cheek. "I don't like it."
"Why do you say that?" Ratchet asked me, watching the interactions between us.
"It's just… a gut feeling." I met Optimus' eyes. They narrowed, watching me with concern written across his face.
Bee whizzed and wirred, a puzzled look on his face.
"It's a strong feeling, intuition. Some people say they're never wrong. It's a part of the fight or flight responce, which I know all of you possess,"
"What is that?" Bulkhead asked from his seat on the medical berth.
"If you're driving down the road, and see a single vehicon walking around, unaccompanied, would you fight, or would you retreat?" I asked him, my face burning at the attention I was getting from all of the autobots.
"I would fight," he answered as if it was a dumb question.
"Now, what if you were driving down the same road, alone, and you see Megatron stalking down the road? Fight or flight?"
Bee wizzed, Bulkhead shouting out "Flight!" without even thinking about it.
"Exactly," I smiled at his lack of stupidity. "Now, what if it was Optimus?" I turned to him. "Driving down a road, unaccompanied, and coming up on Megatron being just as alone?" Optimus straightened, looking at me. I addressed the group. "My point has been proven," I mocked a half bow, grinning wildly.
"We will proceed with grand caution," Optimus assured me.
I smiled, but I still couldn't shake the feeling.
I had leaned against Optimus' neck, resting my eyes as he researched some more about what the pod could be. Anything that could be related just heightened my feeling about that stupid pod. I couldn't wait until it thawed enough for Ratch to tell me what it was.
"Carabelle," Optimus rumbled, his voice vibrating from his neck into my body.
I woke, shaking my head and sitting up. "I thought I told you not to call me that," I protested.
"My apologies, ma'am," he mumbled, raising his hand to me. "Arcee and I are disembarking soon."
"For the arctic?" I grinned climbing into his hand. "May I accompany you?"
"I am afraid not," he sighed. I had ask him that question every time he leaves for a mission.
"Okay," I mumbled mockingly, climbing from his hand onto the catwalk. "Return home to me, safe," I ordered, pointing a finger at his massive chest.
"As you wish," he mused, turning to walk to the groundbridge. "Arcee and I will search for any clue which might explain the origin for our Arctic find."
"Only until your sensors sound." Ratchet ordered, messing with a gizmo. "Remember, once your core temperature drops into the blue zone, system failures aren't likely - they're imminent."
"Be safe," I ordered the both of them.
Engines revved through the hall, Bee and Bulkhead returning with the kids in tow.
"Miss us, Doc Bot?" Miko cheered, sticking her body out Bulkhead's window.
Ratchet groaned, rolling his eyes. "Shouldn't they be in school?"
"On Saturday?" I questioned, laughing at the pained look on his face.
"We have the whole weekend off to spend with you!" Miko cheered, gazing up at him, beaming with a huge smile.
"I wasn't expecting a carpool," Jack protested, walking up to Arcee, Raf close behind. "What gives Arcee?"
"Tag team, Jack," she answered kneeling down to him. "It's my turn for exploration duty."
"Oh, too bad. It's a beautiful day for a ride," Jack tried to convince her to stay.
I scoffed. "Already tried Jack," I mumbled, shooting Optimus another pleading glance which he ignored. Again.
"Well, it's not our fault you have the most stubborn bot here to be your friend," Miko protested again, resting proudly against Bulkhead's foot. "My bot's here to stay."
"Your bot has already been out on a mission, sweetheart," I spat at her. "It's their turn."
"I would hate for you to feel guilty for leaving me indoors on a beautiful day like this…" Jack nudged again, trying to get Arcee to budge.
"Arctic exploration," Arcee clarified.
"Inside where it's warm," Jack smiled, leaving the presence of the ground bridge providing a shot into the coldest place on our planet.
"The Arctic?" Raf smiled, approaching Optimus this time, with a hopeful smile. "I've always wanted to see snow…"
"I would invite you to join, Rafael, but the conditions are much too extreme, even for we Autobots."
"I've already tried that too," I shot Raf a sympathetic look.
"But you try it every time," Raf laughed, running up the stairs to stand with me.
"You'd think the big dork would get the idea." I mumbled, looking at the bot. "And what, are you calling everyone by their real names now? You going to start calling Jack Jackson?"
"Do not call me that, that means I'm in trouble!" Jack called from his seat with Miko. I had pointed out where an abandoned couch was, in the basement of the nursing home. Jack and I had talked to the employees, and they were willing to give it to us for our "club house." Jack then brought in his old television set that was in his basement, and Raf brought in his gaming system from eons ago.
"See?" I laughed at Optimus' confused look.
"When I call you Carabelle you fear you are in trouble?" he asked worriedly, walking towards me.
"No, I know I could do no wrong by you," I winked at him. His eyes narrowed at me, before he rose and retreated to the groundbridge once again.
"Raf," he corrected, turning back to us. "I will bring you back a snowball?"
"That would be awesome!" Raf smiled. I wrapped an arm around him, smiling at the two as they walked through the bridge.
As soon as the bridge closed, the computer that Ratchet always touched to set the coordinates exploded into a sparking mess.
"By the Allspark!" Ratchet exclaimed, looking at the screen in horror.
"Raf," I asked, "why don't you go play with Jack and Miko and the bots?"
"Sure," he smiled at me, and I retreated to Ratchet.
"What is it?" I asked him, struggling to keep the fear from my voice.
"Bulkhead! Bumblebee!" Ratchet called. "Here! Now!"
I looked at Ratchet as the two in question made their way over. "Ratchet?..."
He frantically was pulling on the lever to activate the groundbridge, nothing happening except a bunch of blue sparks rummaging through the controls.
"You can't boss us around just because the boss is out," Bulkhead stated defensively.
"I need some heavy lifting, the groundbridge is down!"
Bumblebee buzzed frantically, looking wide eyed at Ratch.
"Optimus and Arcee made it through just fine. It's bringing them back that concerns me. Now remove those panels, chop-chop."
"Ratchet," I asked quietly as he returned to the screen, not meeting my eyes once more. "Please look at me." He sighed, looking up at me. "How long do they have?"
Ratchet sighed, looking at me in great despair. "I don't know," he bowed his head. "I must work."
I nodded, backing to look at the groundbridge. I sat on the catwalk, facing the tunnel where the green orb usually buzzes.
"We most definitely have a problem." Ratchet stated after a few minutes. I looked over, he was holding up a green plate that looked like a motherboard. There was blackened dents, almost like bite marks… "But, what could've caused this?" He asked, the kids returning to his side.
The lights flickered above.
"Or that?" Bulkhead rumbled.
"Might be the main grid," Ratchet narrowed his eyes. "Hopefully, it isn't a substation malfunction."
"Hey guys, look what I found," Raf called excitedly. We all turned to see him holding a small little thing with massive, purple eyes.
"We're busy!" Ratchet called, then doubletaking once he laid eyes on Raf. "Aaah!" he hollered, backing into Bulkhead. Bee and Bulkhead onlined their weapons, aiming them at little Raf.
"Hey, Hey!" Miko called, Jack and herself standing in front of a now terrified Raf. I rose in my spot, my fight response kicking in. "What is with you guys!?"
"Scraplet! Scraplet!" Bulkhead screamed, his voice literally picking up an octave.
"What's a, scraplet?" Raf asked curiously, bouncing to see over the arms blocking him.
"The most dangerous vermin to ever crawl upon the face of Cybertron." Ratchet responded, backing behind Bee even more.
Jack and Miko relaxed, "This?" Jack scoffed, gesturing to the little thing in Raf's arms. "Are you kidding me?"
"You're giant robots!" Miko exclaimed next. "Scrappy here is … teeny."
"You have no idea the damage that teeny thing can do!" Bulkhead panicked. I picked up on his attack, my chest rising and falling with my own attack forming.
"He wouldn't hurt anything," Raf smiled, moving his hand as his little friend awoke.
It's mouth suddenly opened, revealing lines of sharp edges, resembling teeth. It whirred as it jumped out of Raf's hands, moving quite quickly to Bumblebee. Bee shot at it, and it bounced away a lot more quickly than the shots. It leaped upon his leg, the whizzing clashing with the sound of metal. Following the path the little thing took was a trail of Bee's exposed metal, Bee looking at it in shock. Bee grabbed it with his hand, which it then crawled up his arm, completely unfazed by the crushing force in his hand. He shook his arm, the thing flying in front of the kids.
Before it could even look at Bee again, Raf beat it with a crowbar, way more than what was needed.
"Woah, there," Jack called, grabbing the bar after the scraplet was very much dead. "Easy there, killer."
Bulkhead and Ratchet crowded around Bumblebee as Raf ran to his side.
"I'm sorry, Bumblebee," Raf almost sobbed. I jogged down the stairs, skipping two or three at a time.
Bee buzzed in response.
"Is he going to be okay!?" I wrapped the young kid into a tight hug, watching as Ratchet scanned Bee. Raf shivered in my arms, clutching my battered, dirty shirt roughly.
"Only a mesh wound," Ratch responded, grazing his fingers over Bee's wounds. "He'll live."
"Now do you believe me!?" Bulkhead exclaimed, looking at us four as Jack and Miko returned to us. "All scraplets do is dismantle machinery, and eat anything metal - especially living metal."
"Well," Jack called. "Bug squashed, game over,"
"No." Ratchet called, looking back at us. "When it comes to scraplets, there's never just one."
I paused, looking as Ratchet looked behind him. "The damn pod…" Ratchet turned to me with a grim look. "That's what's wrong with the groundbridge. The pod thawed, and the damn things broke out."
"The arctic's sub zero temperatures froze them solid, locking them into stasis."
"And when we brought it home…" I trailed off, looking at the groundbridge. "So what could they have chewed through to cause the groundbridge to falter?"
Ratchet paused, looking off in the distance. "It's too early to tell," he responded. "I will exert all my efforts into fixing the problems I can observe.
"Is there something else we can look for while you're doing that? To save time?" I asked hopefully, looking at my watch. "It's been a half an hour since Optimus and Arcee have been in the cold. I don't know much about autobots, but an engine would be destroyed by now."
Ratchet nodded in agreement, looking off in the distance again. "There...might be a breach in one of the main energon lines…"
I stepped forward. "How do I find it, how do I fix it?"
"And while you're off doing that, what else can we do?" Miko asked, looking at Ratchet.
"Scraplet hunting," I cracked a smile, holding up a slab of metal that was forgotten on the ground.
The leak was in the midst of a crowd of these things. I kicked one for good measure, watching as it moved away, rebalanced itself, and continued on walking with the rest of them. The leak was draining energon like crazy. I bowed my head, grabbed a rag, and cleaned up the exposed energon on the metal. Placing a slab of metal over the leak, I slapped the mask over my eyes, welding it onto the pipe. Listening to the sounds in the distance, i realized they were the frantic cries of the three bots in the hangar. Cursing to myself, I mopped up tons of energon off the floor. After ensuring the leak had stopped, I turned and shot back to the hangar.
"It's on!" I called, waving the all clear to the bots. The scraplets were whirling around, like a swarm of wasps. There had to be thousands of them
Ratchet stood to his height, grabbing hold of the groundbridge control lever, activating the bridge as he fell into another mass of scraplets.
I watched Bulkhead take in the situation. "Bait huh?" he asked, crushing another scraplet under his fist as he pushed himself up.
"Bulk!" I heard Miko holler after him as he waved to the masses of scraplets.
Seeing one in much better condition, the little bugs deserted their find, every single one flying towards the massive green bot. Bulkhead turned and ran through the orb. Or, limped the best he could.
We watched in hopeful abyss as the green orb pulsed in a weak rhythm. Barely five minutes passed between the time of Bulkhead leaving and him returning.
Optimus and Arcee followed close behind. Arcee was cradled in Optimus' arms, frost covering the frames of the both of them. Optimus' footsteps were heavy, and forced. He would throw one leg forward, falling on it, while the other one followed suit close behind. Arcee looked worse off, which made sense. Smaller frame: smaller resistance to the cold. Ratchet shook off the extent of his injuries, pulling himself up to usher Optimus into the med bay.
"Ratchet!" I called to him, looking at Raf as he hung by Bumblebee's face, the bots motor functions refusing to work together to get him up. Ratchet turned to me. "Let us help," I pleaded, watching as Optimus fell to one of the berths, his forearms landing heavily on it as he dumped Arcee. "All of you are in need of repairs."
He seemed to protest, but then we all turned when a deafening crash rang true through the hangar. Optimus had thrown himself back into the computer system, slouched over to Bulkhead himself had collapsed into the full body bot scanner that Ratchet had used on them occasionally. I jogged toward my guardian as Ratchet turned to assist Bee up. I scaled his legs, quickly coming to a halt on his chest. His eyes opened, looking at me, his battle mask frozen shut.
"I told you to be safe!" I scolded, ignoring to freezing metal as it seeped through the holes in my shoes.
"You,.. told me, to return… to you," Optimus stated, voice raspy and weak. "I did… as you wished."
Tears swelled in my eyes as I scampered back down, reaching for the tubes Ratchet had used on Bulkhead earlier. I placed them on his chest, watching as they latched on, a faint hiss as they made contact with the bots frame. I moved over to grab some more, headed in Arcee's direction. Ratchet had Bumblebee laying on the final berth, himself taking place next to Optimus.
"What can we do?" Jack asked, standing by me with Miko and Raf not far behind.
"Get to work on patching the worse of the wounds on the three bots," I ordered, climbing up the side of the berth, the tubes slacked over my shoulders. "If there's an energon breach, Jack, you know how to weld?"
"Sure do," he nodded, retreating to Bumblebee as he had sustained the worst injuries.
"Miko, scale Ratch and Bulk and inform Jack of any breaches you may find." I pulled myself up onto the birth, silently thanking all those dumpsters I had climbed into before. "Raf," I pointed to some smaller, thinner cables that I had seen Ratchet use before. "Those are systems that I'm assuming will monitor the bot's vitals. I want you to hook up all five of them to a system that will monitor the pressure of their energon, the rhythm of their spark, and the rate in which their systems are … digesting? Energon." I attached the cables to Arcee, watching as they, too, hissed upon contact with the frozen metal. I turned to Ratchet. "Anything I missed?"
"N - No!" Ratchet stared at me in shock as Miko climbed over his frame. "How did you learn all of that?"
I shrugged, glancing at Optimus as he watched me carefully, his systems reacting to the treatment. "Watching Optimus do his research is not as fun as you think," I chuckled softly. "I spend a lot of time on his shoulder with nothing to do. So, I listen and watch."
I scaled down the berth, grabbing a second welder and mask, moving to where Miko pointed out breaches on Ratchet.
"Shut up and rest, will ya?" I ordered Ratchet, signalling him to stand down.
"Perhaps she is right," Optimus rumbled, his voice returning to the baritone it was before. "You helped save many lives today."
"It wasn't really me Optimus…" Ratchet said softly, looking at the humans gathered around the two systems Raf had hooked them all up too. Optimus and Bulkhead took one computer, while the other smaller three occupied the second. "We're just fortunate that the infestation happened… on a Saturday."
Miko screamed suddenly, and I whipped around to see a spider scampering off frantically.
"What is it!?" Raf asked.
"Scraplet!?" Jack raised a crowbar, ready to attack.
"Spider!" she screeched. "Is it on me!? Get it off, please get off!" she ran off, far away from the location the spider had ran off too.
I laughed as Ratch, Optimus and Bulk watched her go.
"Did she just scream like a little girl?"
Just so everyone is aware, I do not intend on turning Cara into a Mary Sue. I am going to have situations where she does not know how to solve the problem. For instance, coming up, when Optimus gets the Cybonic Plague. However, one of the main points I want to make is that she is homeless, but she is not stupid. You will understand the closer I get to the episodes that will provide me with ability to add her necessary daily items into her daily activities. For instance, eating. The idea there is that she is so used to only getting scraps, her stomach has shrunken down to an unbelievably small size.
I'm ranting again, aren't I ? I'll shut up and let you read, I just don't want to lose readers because I'm confusing you. Please, read and review. I appreciate all the support I am receiving! I love you all, and goodnight!
-Lizzzard