Prime Blood Jolt in Time Chapter 9
Cybertron: back to the Future
Kegan and Jolt get the parts to the cargo bay. Jolt leaves to deal with Soundwave. When he returns, he shoots her a smile of encouragement.
Wroughtiron, much quieter and solemn, comes to help them. At one point, Kegan goes to Wroughtiron and squeezes his hand, "I'm sorry. She was truly amazing. I will miss her encouragement very much."
Wroughtiron returns the smile, "Yeah. She was my best friend and my worst enemy."
Kegan joins his amusement, "I've heard that about twins." Wroughtiron is surprised Kegan would use that term. Wheeljack comes in and calls everyone together.
"It looks like we have most of the pieces separated between Jolt and Soundwave. The next part is to have a team work on each individual."
Wroughtiron looks over at Jolt, "Who should be our priority?"
Wheeljack also looks to Jolt, "Should we try with one of the simple ones first?"
Jolt laughs, "I have respect for Soundwave. There is no simple one. I am going to work on myself. I'd like Kegan to help me."
Wheeljack nod, "So be it. I think we should take a break first. Six hours, then come back with a fresh look. Go." Then teams all begin to leave the room.
But not Jolt. He goes over to his body. Kegan comes over to his side. They stare down at his body in shambles. Jolt slips his hand into hers.
"That was very kind of you to talk to Wroughtiron."
"Well, we are family. Looks like we are all that is left." He squeezes her hand.
Jolt bends a knee and leans forward. Laying on top of his chest panel is a ring. It is black with iridescent blue. He picks it up, releasing Kegan's hand. Kegan just watches him. A smile comes across his face as he gives it a twist, making the ring two. He turns around and shows it to her, locking them back together. His smile reaches all the way across is face, holding it up.
Kegan looks at him curiously. "Isn't that a coupling ring?"
He nods. "It's one of mine."
She looks at it, "How can you be sure? It's so small."
He laughs and steps closer to her. He separates the rings again. This time, he takes one ring and slips it on his left hand. He takes her right hand. "Watch," he slips the ring onto her right hand. She can feel the tingle. Then he takes her right hand with his left hand. There are no visible sparks, but she can feel the sparks between them. Jolt pulls her closer to him. With his right hand around her waist, she is now face to face with him still clasped into his left hand. "Thank you, Kegan. You saved my life numerous times."
She is face to face with him. She can feel his heart beating under their clasped hands. Yet her voice can only whisper, "Jolt, I needed you too." She leans even closer to him, "I'm afraid I still need you."
"So do I." He turns his head towards the pile of parts.
She's about to yank away from him. Thinking he just used their quiet moment as a joke. But he tugs her hand bringing her back against him. "If this doesn't work…"
"Don't talk like that." She tries to encourage him and rest her head against his shoulder. He drops his on hers. Now they just hold each other with all that was almost lost and all that has been recently found between them.
Kegan also realizes something else. "Orion Pax." Jolt uh-ha's. So she continues, "That was Optimus' previous name, right?" Jolt nods. Kegan is silent for a moment, "You mean to say, we met…"
"Yes," Jolt softly answers without moving. Kegan holds tighter to Jolt now. Information is now all coming together for her. The whole virus. Ferrous as a human. Rosa an Autobot. Kegan clutches Jolt tighter. She knew that with the All Spark gone, so their families were dieing. And yet some how, life was coming back to them. Even if this was war, life was very precious to them.
A human commander comes back into the room, "They're about to close down the kitchen if you want anything, get it now."
Kegan and Jolt step apart and nod. The tingle breaks. Kegan starts to pull the ring off, but Jolt wraps his hand around hers, "Keep it. If I need it, I'll know where to find it."
They head into the commissary.
The days grow long. They take the mandatory breaks. But find sleep fleeting. Frustration is mounting and at times taking it's toll on their friendship.
Kegan and Jolt are at it again. Barking and bellowing at each other. They had been fine during dinner. Laughing joking and a few quiet comments just between each other. What happened between the mess hall and crew quarters?
"Take that back." he barks at her.
"No, because it is the truth."
"You lie."
"No, I'm not."
"How can you be so sure?"
"I saw with my own eyes."
He gawks at her, "Yeah right. Tell me what you saw."
"I met them."
"So?"
"One was a surgeon and one a robotic engineer. Like their father."
"Like their mother?"
"I heard them talking. Orion's wife, Starlex, was taking about her pregnancy. Jazzol comparing it to the comments their mother said."
"And so what?"
"Jolt you are an idiot! Look at the timing? You have his records. You do the math! You figure it out. Ratchet didn't follow his own orders. Even he couldn't. He loved her." Jolt paces away from her. "I saw the rings on their right hands. I heard them tell somebody it was their mother's wedding ring. Jolt! It was a black and yellow iridescent coupling ring." She thrusts up her own right hand when he turns. Flashing his own coupling ring in his face.
Jolt steps in front of her. He slams his left fist into the locker directly beside her head. "Take that back."
She stands on her tip-toes and goes nose to nose with him. "No." She steps even closer to him. Her lips are practically touching his, "Face it, your friend fell in love. You can too. You already are."
He turns his back on her. He enters the very next door. She braces her arms against the door way, holding it open. She smirks at him. "So what do you think now?"
He keeps is back to her, "You think you are so smart. You think you have all the answers, don't you? Well I dare you."
She steps into the room and smugly says, "You dare me to what?"
He whirls around. She sees the look in his eyes has quickly changed. He strides towards her. He slams his hand against the button that closes the door. He places his hands on either side of her shoulders. Now he is face to face with her.
Her breath is panting, "You dare me to what?"
"Tell me you aren't in love."
She loops her arms around his neck and presses her lips to his, "I never said I wasn't in love with you." He presses into her. Her lips capture his. He is being sucked down into her fire. His arms have a mind of their own as they wrap around her and secure her to his own heated body. "Can you resist this?"
He buries his face into the crook of her neck. He can't get enough of her. "I don't want to resist."
"I told you," she smiles.
He yanks away from her and pushes his hands through his hair, turning his back on her. "What are you doing to me?"
"I did nothing to you. I should be asking what you have done to me."
"Autobots don't feel this way. We don't sub come to … to…"
"Desire? To companionship? To need?" He stops at her words. She keeps going, "Tell that to Chromia. Tell that to Connie." She lifts her hands to him. This time she takes his ring from her right hand (friendship) and ever so slowly she slides it onto her left hand (mate/wife). His breath catches in his chest. She accepts him as her one and only. No words can stop them this time. Neither one tries. The kiss begins the consumation of the vow.
~~The next day the teams are back at it again, trying to get the pieces back together. Rosa and Jolt have be working diligently to get those shells back together. In Rosa's frustration with all those tiny parts she finally sits back and rubs her optics, "You know Jolt, this would be so much easier if we could just wave a magic wand and poof they reassembled themselves."
Jolt drops the wrench. "Antidote?" He knew it sounded familiar.
Rosa looks at him shocked. "I heard my mother tell Uncle Ratchet that, just before she hit the Decepticon with the modified spike."
"What exactly did she say?" He leans in.
"She said, 'Ratchet, the children are the antidote.'"
Now he is truly excited. Ratchet's notes are starting to make sense. "Alright! Since you have been gone, you know a few of us have been hit with this thing, right?"
Rosa looks at all the other techs in the room. He nods his head and points to the door. Jolt and Rosa head towards his quarters. Kegan isn't happy. Jealousy actually crosses her face, yet she stays professional. Jolt points back to the pile, "Make sure Frenzie and Rumble's parts are separate." Kegan frowns, disappointed. She wishes she could be at Jolt's side helping him.
Entering Jolt's quarters, he seals the door and faces her directly, "I have Ratchet's secret files. No one, not even Prime knows I have these."
"Why not tell Rodimus?" Rosie looks concerned for his secrecy against Prime.
Jolt quickly explains Ratchet's reasons for sharing information freely with Optimus. Therefore he feels free to share freely with Rosie. Then he finishes with, "In fact, your mother said you were the antidote. Ratchet used the antidote to get back into his own shell. I wonder if you have an antidote now that you are a 'Bot, to reassemble a shell. Are you willing to try?"
She rolls her sore neck around, "Anything to make this less tedious." Jolt laughs with his own human muscles tense, aching and frustrated. They spend the next two days locked in his quarters working on a Transformer antidote. Not even Rodimus' bribes of fudge or Kegan's encrypted messages that leave Jolt blushing.
Finally, Prime calls rank on them. But they just tell them they are still working on the problem. They will contact him when they have a conclusion. Rodimus swears at them both.
And then on the third day, break through. Jolt and Rosa look exhausted but gleeful. They return to an empty cargo bay. Every one else have gone to bed. Rosa looks down at Jolt, "So who do we target first?"
Jolt knows he wants it to be someone else, but also has honor. He pipes up, "Me."
"No. Soundwave." They both turn around to Rodimus' command from the doorway. "Now tell me what you two have been up to. I really don't like being kept in the dark." He turns to Rosa with a secret meaning. "I'm supposed to know what is going on under my command."
Rosa drops her head in submission. "Yes Sir."
It bothers Jolt to see Rosa is humbled so he tries, "Sir it was my-"
Rodimus waves away the rest of the statement with his hand. "Just tell me what is going on."
Jolt explains, "Rodimus, We believe Rosa has the antidote in her animatronic fluid that will quickly reassemble the shells. It won't return the sparks to the shells. That is a separate version of the antidote."
"How does it work?" He crosses his arms over his chest.
"Rosa is second generation to this virus. Remember her father was also hit by a meteorite that messed with his DNA. We think at also effected her DNA. Poco had done tests with the children's blood."
"Primo gave me copies of Mama's diary. My brother also gave me copies of my parents communications."
Jolt sighs surprised, "What?" He wondered where her detailed knowledge came from.
She looks over at him, "That's where I got my information. Not from here," she taps her head. "From here," she taps her heart/spark.
Everyone is silent for a few minutes. Finally Rodimus touches her arm ever so tenderly, "Rosie, are you alright?"
She doesn't face him, but swallows very hard, "You would think after a hundred years of only having my uncle's medical research and my parents love letters for "entertainment", I would have them all memorized and be numb to the information. But I'm not. It's been…" She sniffs and pulls away from Rodimus. Then she lifts her head high, wiping away the tears, "My parents loved each other very much. And more than that, they loved me and my brother." Jolt and Rodimus nod. Love is not a word Autobots generally use. But it is not a lost word, either. It is probably one of the most sacred words.
Rosa can see this is getting heavy again. She goes over to Jolt's pile. She picks up one of his tazzer grapples. She retracts her own hand and locks on the tazzer. She looks over the piles of pieces then back to Jolt and Rodimus. "Alright, so who is first?"
Rodimus flicks a finger towards the purple pile, "Soundwave. If it doesn't work, no loss to me." Rosa and Jolt just stare. "Besides the others will be at a bit of loss without him."
Rosa nods. She charges up the tazzer, and then releases a bolt of magnetic electricity. The pieces energize and then begin to reassemble.
Jolt asks, "Do we send him back to his shell now?"
Rodimus shakes his head, "No, not yet." He waits until the process is complete. Then he nods to Rosa to do the others. She starts on Frenzie. "We will drop them off and leave a dart gun with the antidote."
"I wouldn't leave the antidote with them. I would just shoot them. Don't leave any trace of something for them to analyze."
"Mmm, good point."
Rosa is working on the birds now. It looks like this is starting to take a toll on her. She finishes with the birds. Rodimus calls to her, "Rosa, are you alright?"
"Yeah. I can do Ravage, but I need to stop. I'm sorry Jolt, but I need to reenergize."
Jolt smiles, "That's alright. I have a date with Kegan anyway. And I would rather mine was done right." Jolt almost blushes.
Rosa laughs. Rodimus looks a Jolt confused. "Ratchet's orders?"
Jolt points a finger at Rodimus, "Don't start with me, Prime!" Rosa quickly looks away and finishes with Ravage. She returns the tazzer to Jolt's pile of parts. Jolt has left the room.
Jolt jogs down the hall to the basket ball court. Kegan is trying to throw free throws. "Hey, there." He calls from the door. She turns and completely misses the shot. Laughing, he scoops up the ball and dribbles down the court. Then with a light lay-up, makes the basket.
"Show off." She calls to him. He shrugs and scoops up the ball again spinning it on one finger tip. Kegan rolls her eyes at him. Then he tosses the ball over his shoulder and strides over to her in two steps. They just stare at each other. Instantly they clasp each other and drown in an all consuming kiss. He doesn't have the guts to tell her their time will be at an end soon. How can he tell her, they are almost done? How can he tell her that the silver plate is coming back?
Instead he begins to feel light headed. He figures it is the kiss and pulls back, "Kegan, you know there will never be anyone else. You know I will always be yours."
Kegan looks down at his body wrapped around her finger, "Jolt-"
But before she can finish, Jolt slides from her arms collapses on the floor. Instantly Kegan calls for medical back up.
