Author's Note: Wow, that turned out to be more of a filler than I would have liked. Oh well. Hard for me to think on this subject without Revenge of the Fallen popping up in my mind. Only two days away! I hope I can see it on opening day.
This chapter is dedicated to Raine Tsuki-san, because he/she was the first person to review my story, though they haven't reviewed since. Still, the first one is always special, isn't it? That, and when I went to go look at their profile, not only did it amuse me, but I saw my story as a favorite, and it made me a little happy, despite the fact that it happened a while ago.
Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers or its characters, but I do own Stacey, Marcee, Mario, Kelsey, and the little side-plots that go on in my head but are too embarrassing to actually write down.
All eyes, or optics, as the case may be, turned on Ratchet. The medic was about to explain when Wheeljack interrupted.
"Woah, wait, are you telling me Jazz is dead?! Why didn't anyone tell me!?"
"It didn't seem important at the time, Wheeljack," Ratchet answered, clearly irritated.
"Continue," Optimus added patiently.
Ratchet's hands reached toward the middle of his chest, everyone watching his movements as he did so. He pulled aside some plating, and revealed something that glowed, no, pulsed, with what could only be described as life. Next to it, much smaller, was another, its color slightly different.
"When Jazz was ripped apart, his spark was still alive, though it was quickly going out. Without a properly working body, his spark couldn't survive. I acted rashly, and I took his spark into my own body. I wasn't yet ready to loose him, though I didn't think there was any hope at the time. I… I know I shouldn't have done it, but now, I'm glad I did."
He closed the chamber once again.
It was quiet for a long time before Sam broke the silence.
"So… you can save him?"
"Yes, Sam," Optimus answered. "Ratchet, I'm sorry, but-"
The medic gave a mechanical sigh. "I know. I deserve the punishment. Can we save the lecture until after I save Jazz, though?"
A ghost of a smile appeared on the mech's lips. "Of course." Ratchet turned to leave, but Prime stopped him once more. "And Ratchet? You're to work in the Mission City cleanup during your free time until its finished."
The ambulance's shoulders sagged, but he continued on his way. Without another word, the Autobots departed to their earlier mentioned posts, leaving the humans alone in the large, concrete room. Sam was the first to sit down, closely followed by Miles, then Stacey, and so on, until only the ex-Sector Seven agents remained standing, and they didn't give any impression of moving.
"So… what's your name?" Mikaela asked, gesturing toward Marcee. "I'm Mikaela, and this is Sam, by boyfriend."
Marcee nodded. "I'm Marcee and this is- was- my Gamecube."
"I'm her friend Stacey."
"I'm Kelsey, and this," she gave him no time to introduce himself, "is my cousin Miles." The group turned to look at the Agents.
"Reginald Simmons," answered one gruffly.
"Tom Banachek," responded the other, voice all business.
Silence fell over the group again before a certain little robot grew restless. He climbed out of Marcee's lap where he had been recently, and instead walked toward the closest person- Simmons. It stopped by his leg, putting one metal hand out against his leg to steady itself, and looked up. Reginald grimaced and kicked his leg lightly. The Gamecube made a clicking noise and moved on to Banachek, who gave the clear impression of one trying not to look at something clearly interesting by his foot. It made an almost pleased sounding purr, and walked carefully over to Sam.
While the robot circled around his subject, Sam's eyes on it the whole time, he asked, "So, what's its name?"
Marcee blushed and looked down at the floor. "I… don't know. I never named it, and I think "Little Bot" or "Gamecube" are kinda stupid names."
Meanwhile, said robot had moved onto Mikaela, and the too were studying each other curiously. "What's your name, little 'bot?" she asked, though she didn't expect an answer. "Do you have one?"
There was a click, and then a mechanical whirring sound before a recording from a certain video game played.
"Mario."
Everyone just stared.
"Prime here," Optimus announced as the screen came to life, showing the face of Secretary Keller clearly.
"Ah, good to see you again, Optimus Prime. I have some news…. Though I'm not sure if it's good."
"I have some things to report myself, Secretary, involving the Allspark."
"That big cube-thing that was in Hoover Dam?"
"Yes, sir."
"I'd love to hear it. Perhaps you should go first, so I don't have to worry about you leaving to go tell your comrades my news before you get a chance to tell it."
The corner of the Autobot's leader's lips twitched upward slightly. "Of course. Yesterday, the other Autobots and myself felt something we were sure was another sparkling being born- something that could only happen if the Allspark were to do so itself. We went out in search of both the sparkling and what had created it, and found that a girl by the name of Marcee Alianne Cooper had somehow ended up with the Allspark. She had accidentally turned her Gamecube into a Cybertronian sparkling. When I found her, though, she was at her friend's dwelling, and while there, Ratchet detected Decepticons moving in on her house, where she had left the Allspark. We rushed to get there, and found another Autobot, Wheeljack, who has landed recently, had gotten there first, and retrieved the Allspark. One of the two Decepticons attacking got away."
"The other?"
"We have him here, along with Marcee, her friend, Stacey, Sam, Mikaela, Simmons, Banachek, and two humans Wheeljack brought, Miles Curro and his cousin, Kelsey Curro."
"Wow. That's a lot of humans."
"We wish to keep them here for a while, to protect them, if we can."
Secretary Keller wiped a hand down his face. "I think we'll have to talk about that later. It's my turn. We have reports coming in from the Amazon Rainforest of three missing people. The search party followed their trail to a fresh crater, one similar in appearance to the ones you and your friends created when you arrived. There were what looked like claw marks on a nearby tree, and a dead black leopard on the ground nearby, with serious injuries. The agents also found high traces of that signature you and your buddies give off. Oh, wait, here, let me send you the pictures."
On the screen appeared three pictures- one of the scarred tree, one of the crater, and one of the dead big cat found nearby.
Optimus Prime groaned. "This reeks of Decepticons. We'll see if we can't find anything else."
"If you don't mind me asking," the Secretary of Defense continued, the pictures on screen disappearing to be replaced by his face, "why wouldn't your scanners detect them entering?"
The blue and red mech seemed to get older as Keller watched. "We haven't had time to install sensors across your world, we've barely had time to spread them here, close to base. This possible Decepticon landing is news to me."
Keller nodded. "If there isn't anything else you'd like to add, I'd best get back to work. There's a lot of it to do, and you guys just seem to add to the paperwork, no offense."
"I understand. Prime, out."
"Bye."
Wheeljack was looking at the half-dead Ravage laying on the table in the center of the room. That was about the only equipment in the room- a Cybertronian sized table. Bumblebee was standing off to the side, near the wall, practically bouncing with excitement.
"Do you think they'll be able to bring him back? Jazz, I mean."
"I don't know," Wheeljack answered distractedly, shifting a piece of plating aside on the Decepticons body.
"I hope Ratchet can. I've missed Jazz so much, and it's only been a few days!"
"I haven't missed him at all."
"Well, of course you haven't," Bumblebee answered, used to having to figure out what Wheeljack meant even if he said something different. "You didn't even know he was gone! But I suppose that's good, in this case."
"Mmhm."
"I wonder how long it'll take." He flexed his fingers impatiently. "I hope it'll be soon."
Wheeljack sighed, shifted the armor back into place, and turned to the yellow scout. "Look, Bumblebee, I know you're excited and all, but I need to work on this. Can you be quiet, just for a little while?"
Bumblebee nodded, almost guiltily, though his mood quickly bounced back up.
Wheeljack turned back to Ravage and added over his shoulder, almost as an afterthought, "Oh, and you need to learn another word for 'hope.'"
