Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait. I started writing this chapter, and it was so bad I ended up having to force myself to write it. In the end, I gave up, and then I went on vacation. When I got back, though, I had this idea for how to do this chapter differently, scraped the whole thing, and started again. It's still not very good, though. Hopefully future chapters will be better.
This chapter is dedicated to whitedino! Whitedino went through and reviewed every chapter, which no one else had done. Gave me an extra boost, and surprised me immensely when I found my inbox full of Review Alerts.
Disclaimer: Nope. Don't own. Nothin new of mine coming in except…. Oh, look, three people that are as good as dead! And a black leopard that is dead! Even a bird! (Let the bidding on the dead leopard start at one dollar….)
In South America, deep in the Amazon Rainforest, three natives were making their way toward a large, smoldering crater. They approached cautiously, the two men first, and the woman following behind, peeking over their shoulders as she did so. Suddenly, one of the men cried out in their tongue, pointing to a still body lying nearby. It was a black leopard, and it had many injuries. Its neck was snapped, and deep, gouging marks crossed and criss-crossed across the pelt. The group muttered amongst themselves, wondering what creature could bring down a big cat so easily. Timidly, the woman stepped closer to the crate, and kicked a rock into its depths while the two men best decided how to take the leopard home. Then, there was a loud boom, the people stumbling as what felt like a small earthquake tripped them up. There was another boom, and the people turned to see two glowing red eyes in the darkness, and metal claws curving around a tree, scarring it as they did so…..
It was quickly decided that, after doing the extensive paperwork, everyone would return to the Autobot's base, located in Hoover Dam where Megatron and the Allspark were once housed. The ride was relatively uneventful, with only humans being informed of all they would need to know about giant robots, a few questions, and Sam's desperate attempt to make up with his friend breaking the silence. Ravage, still out, stayed safely in Ratchet's back.
When they finally did arrive, though, they just stood around, shifting from foot to foot awkwardly. No one knew what to do, and no one knew what to say. Wheeljack was the first to break the silence.
"Optimus Prime? I was wondering if I could use Ravage in an experiment of mine…."
Prime turned a tired expression on the scientist. "Wheeljack, we have not had time to re-enforce the building yet, and with the humans being so fragile-"
"It doesn't use anything explosive. I'd just be reprogramming parts to send information back to us."
At the word "explosive," all humans present began to wonder what sort of things had happened in the past for that to be a worry. How many explosions did it take for the calm Optimus Prime to be cautious of them?
Ironhide then chose to speak up, gruffly commenting, "You blew up water. You can blow up anything."
Wheeljack looked about to shoot something back, but after giving a sweeping look of the humans and, oddly enough, Bumblebee, he stopped himself.
After a long silence, Optimus finally answered Wheeljack's question. "Only if Ratchet will be there to supervise." Immediately, Ratchet's body tensed, and his expression showed distaste. He gave his leader a look that said, "please tell me you're joking."
But he wasn't. The medic passed the limp body of Ravage to Wheeljack, seemingly tired of carrying it all of a sudden, and began to lead the way into what was assumed to be the closest thing to a lab they had in the building, the cube, which he had been holding, still in hand.
"Wait, Ratchet. I see no reason for you to take the Allspark with you. Wheeljack can be dangerous enough without something of that power nearby." There was a grin in the way he said this, and though the S2000 tried to look offended, it was obvious he was not. Ratchet obediently passed the hunk of metal over, when Sam suddenly got a look on his face that said something had suddenly dawned on him.
"Wait, that thing's the Allspark, right?"
Everyone stared at him as if he had suddenly sprouted tentacles.
"It can create life, right? So, couldn't it bring Jazz back?"
The red-and-blue mech's expression darkened. "I am sorry Sam, but Jazz's spark was extinguished. If we were to use the Allspark to give him a new one, it wouldn't be the same spark. It would be another person in his body."
Sam suddenly found something very interesting stuck to his shoes.
"It was a good idea, though, Sam," Mikaela whispered, putting a comforting arm around his shoulders.
"Uh, actually," Ratchet interrupted, a guilty expression plastered to his metal features, "I think there's something you should know."
Laserbeak was rather proud of himself. He had waited by the suspected base, waiting patiently for any side of the Autoscum. It hadn't taken long for his attention span to dwindle, though, and he had found a bird perched in a nearby tree suddenly very interesting. With the realization that he probably stood out like, well, like a flying robot sitting in a tree, he had gone over, scanned the bird, and then, slowly, painfully, ended its pathetic life. Not long after, the Autobots had come rolling by, not even noticing his presence, despite the fact that there was a dead bird, and a rather large one, too, sitting in the middle of the road. Laserbeak had then scanned as much as he could, taking and storing any interesting data before taking to the skies to return to his master.
Yes, his task had been simple. Yes, his task had been easy. But his task had also had so many opportunities for failure, and failure was something Soundwave did not tolerate. To return successful, though, that was something different. Oh yes, his master would be very pleased!
A/N: Oh, in case you haven't already noticed, there's a poll on my profile. Looks like many of you have noticed, though.
