Ch. 8
Sideswipe shared a look with his brothers and a confused Glacialnova before looking back at Optimus. The Autobot leader continued to calmly watch the group. Optimus assessed the group in front of him. The red and yellow bot's were so similar in frame: strong armour and visible weaponry, they were probably Neutral fighters. However he was unsure about the two AlleyBot's that were with them: the femme with the purple, white and pale blue paintjob was small and slim, meant to deliver lightning fast blows or slip behind enemy line to collect intelligence. Then there was the visored, broad-shouldered mech towering over the others; he looked more like a frontliner, perfectly capable of fighting for long periods of time and both enduring and delivering heavy, devastatingly lethal attacks. Judging by his scuffed and scarred blue, black and silver armour he had had plenty of experience in that field. However the AlleyBot insignia's on both bots were damaged, almost like somebody had taken a blade to them yet neither the mech nor the femme had bothered to fix the damaged insignia's. All four bot's were covered with layers of dust, dirt and grime that spoke of a hard life on the streets of Kaon's slums. None of them appeared to be Decepticon affiliated, or even know who he was. The three mechs had perked up at his mentioning the Autobots, something Optimus hopefully took as a sign that they were looking to join up.
Eventually the silence was broken as a large, brawny Cybertronian wielding some of the biggest cannons that the twins, Glacialnova and Nightfire had ever seen. On instinct, Nightfire tensed and moved away from his brothers so as to allow himself a clear line of sight with his considerably smaller cannons. He was understandably wary, this bot was an experienced fighter and survivor judging by his scars and considerable weaponry.
"Prime! We got Decepticons everywhere, we gotta fall back … who're these lot?!"
The unknown bot levelled his cannons at Nightfire before switching targets and aiming at the twins and Glacialnova when they raised their own weapons. The situation appeared to be hanging on a knife edge when Nightfire's cannons hummed as they came online. The young mech growled threateningly at the other mech and aimed one of his cannons at the bot's head, the other at his spark. Nightfire knew from past experience he had to aim to kill, he may not have another chance again. Optimus reached out and firmly pushed the unknown bot's cannons down.
"Stand down Ironhide you're not helping …"
Ironhide threw an irritated look at Optimus before whipping around and shooting a Decepticon that had been attempting to sneak up on them. The Autobots cannons cut a wide swath in the swarm of Decepticons that had rushed out of the streets to attack them. As the fight intensified Nightfire shared a smirk with the twins, his combat protocols taking over, side-lining most of his emotion centres.
[Shall we?]
The twin's swords moved smoothly into position as their own combat protocols engaged. Regular armour pulled tight against protoform as stronger, more lethal looking battle armour slid into place over the top. Only the three brothers still had this sort of programming outside the gladiatorial arenas, a harsh reminder of their former careers. The process only took seconds and although already formidable, the trio were now the epitome of deadly purpose. The ultimate killers.
[Ah'm in.]
[Let's kick some Con aft!]
As the twins and their brother charged into the fray Nightfire noticed that Glacialnova had chosen to instead move to a different location in one of the nearby buildings and snipe any Decepticon that had escaped the main brawl. He frowned behind his mask, that wasn't like her, she usually preferred to fight in a more up close and personal manner: slipping in under her opponents guard to deliver swift attacks before warping out of reach. Confused, he opened a com channel with her.
{'Ey swee' spar', yew no' gonna join da fun?}
_PAGE BREAK_
Glacialnova jumped as the message came over her comlink. A hand drifted down to her slightly rounded stomach plating. He couldn't find out, not yet! That night after Nightfire had finally been released from med-bay, they had spent it together … in more ways than one … but she had never told him what they had created that night. They weren't even bonded for frags sake! She had only just had it confirmed by a medic anyway, that had taken some doing to avoid Nightfire's or the twins notice. Slag it was taking every ounce of training she had to ensure Nightfire didn't accidentally pick up on her secret. She was worried about Nightfire's reaction but at the same time she really wanted to tell him the fantastic news she had been keeping locked in her CPU. Banishing the thoughts for now, she ignored the com and focused on shooting Decepticons.
_PAGE BREAK_
To his surprise Nightfire was ignored. Scowling in earnest now he tried again.
{Glacie? Yew alrigh'? Talk ta meh, wat's da problem}?
Silence. Nightfire was getting worried now. He began to fight his way towards his girlfriend's sniper nest. He had noticed several Decepticons come close to the building before either getting shot or dragged back into the main brawl … what if one of them had planted explosives?! Nightfire's worst fears become realised when the building suddenly went sky high in a huge explosion.
"GLACIE!"
The twins finally cottoned on that something was wrong when they saw Nightfire desperately trying to get to Glacialnova's position. When the building exploded the bond was suddenly flooded with fear and panic. Realising the Glacialnova had still been inside, the twins charged towards the building alongside their brother. All around them the Decepticons were retreating, Ironhide's cannons encouraging a few stragglers. Nightfire was already digging desperately at the rubble, not even bothering to shut down his combat protocols. The twins joined him and then to their surprise, two other pairs of hands also joined in the digging.
_PAGE BREAK_
Optimus and Ironhide had seen the explosion and had heard the stricken cry of the AlleyBot mech as he'd launched himself at the collapsed building. The Autobot leaders spark went cold, the femme sniper had been in the building when the bomb went off.
"Ironhide make sure the Decepticons are in full retreat, our help is needed."
The brawny weapons specialist simply nodded and fired his cannons at any lagging Decepticons. Once he was sure the coast was clear he ran to join Optimus and the others in shifting the rubble. He took note of the surprised looks on the faces of the three still nameless mechs before concentrating on the rescue. He lifted a particularly large piece and let out a shout as he uncovered a single energon stained white and purple wing. As he began to dig further he was joined by the other AlleyBot, the young mech frantically digging away at the rubble. As they uncovered the femme the horrific state of her injuries were revealed. Ironhide shared a look with Optimus.
{Sir, if there's gonna be any chance that she makes it we've gotta get her to Ratchet. I've already signalled Silverbolt for extraction.}
The Autobot leader nodded in agreement and cleared his vocaliser to gain the attention of the other three mechs.
"We can provide medical assistance for her back at our base, our transport is already on its way. You're welcome to accompany us if you wish."
Optimus watched as the three mechs looked at each other before nodding as one. The red mech stepped forwards.
"We'll come wit' yew … but we don' want no trouble."
Optimus nodded at the reasonable statement As Silverbolt landed and opened up a white and red bot came charging out of the Aerialbot's hold. The mech stormed up to Optimus.
"Where the frag is my patient?"
Optimus gestured behind him and was unceremoniously shoved aside by the medic as he headed towards Glacialnova. Nightfire frowned, he'd seen this medic before. The white and red bot glowered at the tall young mech before, without warning, throwing a wrench at him. Nightfire cursed creatively as the tool smashed into his audio fin.
"So you did survive after all. I'm glad to see my hard work saving your ungrateful hide didn't go to waste."
Nightfire rubbed his sore audio whilst using his wings to block his brothers before they attacked the crotchety medic.
"Ah didn' think ah'd see yew 'gain Ratchet. An' ah neva di' thank ya fer savin' meh."
The old medic nodded and brusquely shoved the AlleyBot to one side as he continued on towards Glacialnova. The twins stared in surprise at their brother.
[Nigh'?]
[Cool yer cannons Sunny, dat's Ratchet. Ol' medic saved mah life 'fore ah met yew guys. He's alrigh', ah owe 'im bu' he's a good mech, he'll 'elp Glacie.]
The twins both rumbled uneasily but remained still.
Time seemed to stretch out painfully as the medic did what he could to stabilise the injured femme. Every now and again a blue light would flicker over Glacialnova's prone form as Ratchet continuously scanned her. Nightfire's spark jumped in its casing when the medic suddenly froze and rescanned Glacialnova's abdomen. Ratchet carefully repeated his action twice more before standing up and aggressively turning to Nightfire and his brothers, the wrench almost magically appearing in his hands.
"Which one of you rust-ridden morons sparked her up?!"
Hang on … Nightfire shook his head slightly, he could have sworn his audios just glitched, surely the medic didn't just say that …
"Well, I'm waiting. Who sparked her up?"
Yep, he said it. Nightfire nearly glitched in shock and couldn't keep from letting an astounded yell loose from his vocaliser.
"WAT!"
Shock, exhaustion and an almost empty tank suddenly caught up with Nightfire all at once as he realised that Ratchet had basically said he was going to be a sire. Sparks flying from his head-spikes as his systems glitched, his body did the only thing it could do in his situation.
The twins let out a startled cry as their brother collapsed to the ground. Ratchet threw an unsurprised look at a very surprised Optimus and an amused Ironhide.
"I guess he's the sire then?"
So Ratchet's back and Ironhide's joined the party
Next chappie will be up when it's finished, thanks to everyone who has read so far ^_^, please review so I know what to improve on and what is good thanks
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