Recovery

by EchelonPrime9

During the battle of 1986, Ratchet is caught in the shuttle crash and Wheeljack is left alone, though not as alone as he believes. Rated T for violence, suggestive themes, lobotomy

10. Chapter 10

I am so sorry this is late. Probably the hardest chapter to write and I rewrote it at least twice. The only part left untouched is the ending.

I am going on vacation for a week starting this Sunday so I'll see if I can get some of Chapter 11 done. I'll try not to let the next chapter be so late!

0o0o0o0

Wheeljack yelped as Bluestreak pitched forward onto him, already in emergency stasis lock.
"Bluestreak?! Jazz?! Mirage?! What the frag happened?!" Rodimus seemed a little dumbstruck. He stood in the doorway as Autobots rushed around him into the cell.
"Soundblaster took over Bluestreak's mind. Galvatron ordered him ta kill us." Wheeljack gently set Blue on the ground so he could kneel at his side, squeezing the Datsun's limp servo in his own, "We hafta get all of them outta here as soon as possible."
Hoist knelt by Bluestreak, across from Wheeljack. He examined the gunner's wounds, lingering at his helm with the exposed processor, "Whoa.. Soundblaster really messed him up.. I won't be able to do as much as First Aid or Wreck-Gar. I'll patch up what I can and we'll hope he holds on long enough to make it back to Autobot City."
Wheeljack nodded, glancing up to address Rodimus, "How close are we ta gettin' the frag outta here?"
"We're about ready." Rodimus grunted as he helped Bumblebee set Jazz into Kup's storage bed.
Beachcomber helped a newly-awakened Mirage up, supporting the spy's greater weight without complaining, "We're ready."
The cloaker's faceplates were dented and streaked with energon, but he seemed conscious.
"You can load Bluestreak onto me, if you like." Hoist offered, transforming.
Wheeljack picked up the Datsun, cradling him close to his scorched and aching chestplates, "I'll carry him."
Hoist transformed back into bipedal mode and cocked his helm at the engineer, saying nothing. He instead moved to join Rodimus.
The young Prime was stationed by the door, his wrist cannons hummed and glowed a bright blue, "I'll take point. Hoist, you take rear. I want to get out of here without running into another group of 'Cons."
He waved a servo, and the group crept cautiously down the corridor.

0o0o0o0

The Autobots held a tense silence for a while before Wheeljack finally broke it.
"Where are all the others?" He asked, vocalizers tuned to a whisper.
Rodimus winced, "This was supposed to be a stealth mission. Someone tripped the alarm and we got sucked into a fight. Thought we were winning until Galvatron showed up.."
"We got separated from Springer and a couple others." Kup contributed grimly.
"The backup plan was that they find an exit and manage to signal Skyfire. We can only hope the worst doesn't happen.." Rodimus faltered.
Nobody said anything. They seemed to trail off into the depths of their own thoughts. The sounds of their pedesteps bounced off the walls, echoing eerily.
"This is creepy.. Anyone else feel like we're being watched?" Bumblebee shivered.
"We probably are, lad." Kup replied sullenly.
They rounded a corner and traversed the very perimeter of the ship. Only three feet of purple metal marred by circular glass windows separated the Autobots from the crushing blue of the ocean.
"Isn't it beautiful?" Beachcomber asked dreamily. Mirage rolled his optics.
"It's also our way out." Rodimus declared.
"But- but what about the others?" Hoist asked.
"We have to get the wounded out of this hellhole. That's our top priority. The others know what to do." Rodimus turned, "Don't forget to activate the inflatables that Spike outfitted us with. Wheeljack, give Bluestreak to Hoist so you can use your rockets to get to the surface."
Wheeljack reluctantly transferred the unconscious Datsun to the smaller Autobot. Hoist shifted Bluestreak to an optimal position that supported his helm. Kup had also transformed and now toted Jazz over his shoulders, energon drizzling down his green armor.
Rodimus fired at the window, cracking it. Small spouts of water erupted from it. The Prime kept firing, and more cracks soon formed.
"This is one tough window." He grunted.
"Ehh.. Rodimus." Kup said.
"What?" The flame-colored mech paused.
"We've been spotted." The old mech pointed down the corridor.
Everyone turned to stare as a group of Sweeps appeared at the end of the hall. "Autobots! Halt!" One of them shouted. The rest began moving swiftly towards them, brandishing guns. IPew! Pew!/I
"Right." The Prime continued firing his cannons. More water jetted from the cracks.
"Rodimus! Hurry!" Bumblebee whipped out his blaster and fired a couple shots at the Sweeps. It didn't do much good.
"Aha!" Rodimus shouted, right before a curtain of water came down on them.
Wheeljack gasped as ice cold water hit him. The impact threw him and the other bots back against the wall.
Well, at least it stopped the Decepticons approach.. He thought, struggling through the torrent. The others were already almost through the the hole. As he was wiggling through, Wheeljack was suddenly yanked back by a pair of servos. He fought and lashed out as more servos clamped onto him, dragging him away from the hole. The last thing he saw before a fist met his face was the last glimpses of his retreating comrades.

0o0o0o0

"Try again." Smokescreen urged. Cliffjumper, Arcee, and Blurr nodded in agreement. The small patrol of bots had convened in an empty chamber in the west wing of the ship to figure out what to do next.
Springer sighed and pressed two fingers to the side of his helm, activating the comm link for the third time, "Rodimus? Are you there? Prime? Can you hear me?"
All the comm picked up was static. "Nothing." He lowered his servo.
"What-do-we-do-now-Springer-what-do-we-do-now?" Blurr shifted around, fiddling anxiously with his gun.

"We have to find an exit." Springer told him, "Plan B was to find an exit and get to the surface. So that's what we're gonna do."
"But what about the others?" Arcee asked worriedly, "What if they've been captured? Or.." She trailed off.
"If they've been captured then us wandering around the ship like sparklings won't help."
"I just want to shoot something!" Cliffjumper complained, "What's the reason of sneaking around the base searching for 'Cons if we don't get to blast any?"
"Stow it, Cliff. We got to shoot stuff on our way in here. Isn't that enough?" Smokescreen snapped.
"You wanna go?" Cliffjumper snarled, poking Smokescreen's chestplates with one finger.
The Datsun's doorwings flared dramatically, an instinctive motion that made him look a lot bigger than he actually was. He lunged at the smaller red bot, shoving him against the wall and drawing his fist back for a punch.
Cliffjumper ducked just in time and Smokescreen's fist hit the window behind him, cracking it a little.
"Hey! Enough!" Springer shoved between them, "Unacceptable!"
"He started it!" Smokescreen lowered his doorwings indignantly.
"I did not!" Cliffjumper protested.
"I don't care if he stuck his gun up your aft!" Springer retorted. Smokescreen narrowed his optics, looking about ready to throw another punch.
"Uhh.. Guys?" Arcee's voice cut in to the three mechs squabbling. She pointed at the window that Smokescreen had damaged. A thin jet of water was squirting from it. The cracks bloomed, consuming the entire window. More streams of water erupted from it.
"I think we better hightail it outta here!" Cliffjumper exclaimed.
"This ship should have an emergency protocol should leaks ever break out." Springer said quickly, "Which means if we don't get out of this room-"
"We're-trapped." Blurr bolted for the only door in the chamber. The rest of the group followed, pedes splashing through the already knee strut-high water.
The door slammed shut right before Blurr could get there. He slammed his fists into it desperately.
That hallway completely shut down, blocking off all exits to prevent any water from reaching other parts of the ship. The bots were engulfed in darkness as the lights shut off.
"I can't see a thing!" Arcee sloshed through the water until she hit the wall, the resulting clang echoing through the darkness, "Where is everybody?"
"We have to get out of here." Springer said urgently, "The ocean is far too cold for us to be here for long."
By now the water was up to chestplate height and Cliffjumper had closed his mouth to prevent himself from swallowing any salt water, having been completely submerged.
"Maybe-we-could-blast-our-way-out-did-anyone-think-of-that?" Blurr spoke even faster than he usually did. He was clearly panicking.
"Calm down, Blurr, we'll get out of this." Arcee soothed.
"Blurr might be on to something." Springer activated his headlights, illuminating the wall. "Shoot at the wall!"
He raised his gun above the water and fired quick shots at the wall. The shots lit up the darkness, dying out quickly as they made contact.
"This better be worth it." Smokescreen began shooting as well. Cracks spread their tendrils across the wall, and soon it burst, a giant wall of water crashing down onto them.

0o0o0o0

"I'm gettin' tired of waitin'." Blaster said for the umpteenth time as Skyfire circled over the blank, boring, blue ocean for the umpteenth time, searchlights circling the water in the dark.
"Well, we just have to wait." The jet reminded the orange mech- why were there so many orange mechs nowadays?- for the umpteenth time, "We have to be ready for when Rodimus and the other Autobots surface."
"I know that."
Skyfire sighed. Being a flyer wasn't what it was cracked up to be. Especially when said flyer had to carry around multiple Autobots at a time.
Blaster perched closer to the hatch on the floor of Skyfire's massive cabin. "Hopefully they're not mincemeat by now."
"Mince.. Meat?" Skyfire wondered aloud.
"Dead animals. Chopped-up-into-itty-bitty-pieces animals for Galvatron to have his mornin' energon wit- what's that?" Blaster suddenly grew excited, craning his neck to peer at the seemingly endless ocean, "I think I see 'em!"
"I see them too. Let's get closer."

0o0o0o0

"Have you seen Blurr, Arcee, Springer, Smokescreen, or Cliffjumper?" Rodimus asked urgently.
"Nope. All I've seen is you guys." Blaster answered, maintaining his perch at the edge of the cargo hatch.
The Autobots had been found, bobbing in the waves: all the while secured in inflatable rings that had saved them from sinking. They now rested in Skyfire's cabin, soaked and exhausted, all of them with minor wounds.
Bluestreak and Jazz were laid out on the floor. Jazz had started thrashing while Hoist was attempting to patch him up a little. Now he was frantically trying to calm him down before he hurt himself- or Bluestreak, who was still unconscious beside him- further. Rodimus paced as far as he could without tripping over a leg or a pede- which was not very far, "We need to get out of here. Soon the 'Cons could send flyers or more Sweeps, or even the injured Seekers we followed here.."
"I can't perform escape maneuvers with this many bots inside of me, I'm way too heavy." Skyfire agreed.
"Hey, that reminds me." Bumblebee began suddenly from where he was helping Mirage clean his faceplates up. "Where's-"
"I see them!" Skyfire put on a quick burst of speed.
"Hold that thought." Rodimus told the small yellow bot. He turned, optics skimming over the weary soldiers, "Someone- Beachcomber- you're not doing anything, come help me and Blaster pull them up."
Skyfire hovered as close to the churning waves as he dared as Rodimus, Blaster and Beachcomber helped Springer and his group into Skyfire's cabin.
"Thought we'd never get outta there." Springer commented as he deflated his inflatable ring. Blurr collapsed in an exhausted heap as soon as his was gone. He didn't enjoy water, as it limited his normally explosive movement.
"I need to get out of here." Skyfire's engines stuttered, "All this weight is gonna pull me- whoa!" He swerved violently to the left as something rose out of the water.
The purple cylinder gleamed in the moonlight as a platform slid smoothly out from the top.
"Get higher, Skyfire." Rodimus instructed, joining Blaster at the edge of the hatch.
"I-I'll try." Skyfire's engines complained as he rose shakily higher, "I-I'm not built for weight like this."
He hovered a good distance away from the platform, spotlight trained firmly on it's occupants.
"Ouch.." Blaster murmured. Rodimus vented a sharp intake of air. Other Autobots who weren't preoccupied or wounded too badly clustered around the hatch for a better view.
On the platform stood Galvatron, Soundblaster, and Cyclonus. Galvatron was grinning widely as Cyclonus dragged a white bot across the platform. Cyclonus stopped and wrenched the bot's helm back so the Skyfire and his occupants could get a good look.
Beaten and semi-conscious, held in Cyclonus's grip, was Wheeljack.

0o0o0o0

Audio flashers offline

Turret offline

Audio receptors online

Optics online

"My Lord: Both East and West wings are flooded: Autobots still trapped in West wing, East wing is flooded but empty." A metallic voice filtered through the blackness of unconsciousness. Wheeljack glanced around through dimmed optics as he was dragged along the floor towards the voice. He could make out two other fuzzy shapes walking on either side of him. He attempted to shift, but only succeeded in putting more pressure on his arms, which seemed to be held by his captor.
"My Lord Galvatron, we have captured the Autobot known as Bluestreak." Wheeljack's captor said. The Sweep had a deep, gravelly voice, and the engineer wondered if it wasn't actually Scourge who was leading the group.
"Excellent. At least someone is doing something ri- wait." The room fell eerily silent. It was if the ship itself was holding its breath, waiting for Galvatron's next words.
When they did come, it was like an explosion. Suddenly Scourge was flying backwards and Wheeljack was thudding to the ground, his vision swimming as a flash of pain went through his helm.
"This is not Bluestreak!"
Galvatron hovered over him. Wheeljack offline his optics, deciding that it was best to play the unconscious prisoner.
It didn't help, Galvatron still kicked his helm anyway, sending another wave of pain crashing through his helm, "This. Is. Wheeljack!"
"They all look the same in the water! It was dark!" Scourge protested as Galvatron advanced, "Besides! If what I heard about Wheeljack is true, he is their chief engineer! A top officer for Rodimus Prime!"
Galvatron paused, "That is true."
"Galvatron." Soundblaster inquired.
"What is it you need Soundblaster?" The warlord turned, momentarily forgetting his anger.
"Autobots: Maintaining steady firepower on chamber wall. Escape time: roughly fifty-one point eight seconds." The Comms Officer reported.
"Are the chamber weapons still functional?" Galvatron moved to look over the mech's shoulder.
Soundblaster drew up a schematic of the weapons outfitting the western-most chamber of the ship. "Affirmative."
"Excellent. Kill them all."
"Dim conditions not suitable for aiming or execution." Soundblaster interjected.
Galvatron shot him a deadly look, "Kill. Them."
"As you command."
Can't let them kill the others! Wheeljack shot up.
Galvatron whipped around, "Who released the prisoner?!"
Wheeljack glanced around quickly for a weapon. None. Fine. Reaching up, he detached his turret from his shoulder. He charged Galvatron, he whipped it around and managed to dodge the purple warlord's fusion cannon and grabbing servos. He shoved Soundblaster aside and brought the turret-club down into the console, shattering it and the controls for the chamber weaponry.
"Stinking Autoscum!"
Wheeljack felt a thick pair of arms wrap around him, pinning his arms to his sides and lifting him up. He thrashed violently in a desperate struggle to break free.
"Think you can thwart my plans.. Think you can get off.. How do the humans say it? 'Scot-free'" Galvatron hissed in his audio receptor. He shifted the engineer in his grip, tossing him all the way across the command hub and into the wall. Before Wheeljack could struggle up the warlord had picked him up, shoving him against the wall, fingers digging into his neck cabling hard enough to dent and maim the fragile wiring. "I will kill you."
Wheeljack gasped and clawed at the servo that threatened to tear the wiring.
"Galvatron." The metallic- and apparently unwelcome- voice caused Galvatron to whip around, "What."
"Engineer: Important. Tentative reminder: He must be presented to Prime alive." Soundblaster's gaze did not waver.
"Ugh." Galvatron emitted a noise of complete and utter disgust, "Fine."
He wrenched his fingers from Wheeljack's neck and the engineer dropped to the ground with a strangled cry.
Galvatron smirked, "Just because he has to be alive does not mean he cannot be unharmed."
He pressed his pede to the Autobot's helm and pushed, just a little, enjoying the muffled cry and the frantic scrabbling as plating and wires strained.
He pushed a little harder. "This will be delicious."

0o0o0o0

"Rodimus Prime!" Galvatron's cry permeated Skyfire's walls. Several bots shuddered. "I want you, and I want the Matrix. Deny me, and I will kill your officer."
"We're in deep slag.." Bumblebee muttered.
"What're you gonna do, Prime?" Springer asked.
"Skyfire, can you get us any closer?" Rodimus hovered at the edge of the hatch, determination glinting in his optics.
"I can't." Skyfire's frame shuddered, "I think Soundblaster put up some sort of interference. Any closer and I crash and burn."
"I won't wait all solar cycle!" Galvatron called again.
"Right. Give me Jazz's magnetic hook." Rodimus held his servo out.
"You're not seriously considering going down there are you?" Arcee exclaimed.
"Just watch." Rodimus grinned as Hoist slid Jazz's magnetic grappling hook into his servos. He crouched on the edge of the hatch, saluted, and fell out.

0o0o0o0

Galvatron smirked as he saw the Prime appear, "Perfect."
"Are we really gonna turn this Autobot over?" Cyclonus growled.
"Of course not. I'll kill the Prime and the Autobots will be left directionless. I'll keep this Autobot as my slave. He will fix the mothership, and we can leave this underwater hellhole." Galvatron yanked Wheeljack away, completely ignoring the white mech's struggling, from Cyclonus and held his fusion cannon to the engineer's helm as Rodimus fell past the platform, shooting his grappling hook up to attach it to the edge. He hauled himself up, "I'm here now."
"I can see that." Galvatron drawled, "Now, the Matrix."
Rodimus glared at the warlord before cracking open his chestplates. He pulled out the Matrix. It shown brightly in his grasp.
Wheeljack could feel Galvatron's grip tighten with barely restrained excitement. He kept his optics dim as the grip loosened and let go as Galvatron held out his servo for the Autobot relic. It wasn't entirely faked when he crumpled to the ground, lying at the warlord's pedes.
"Now, Wheeljack." Rodimus demanded.
"Your precious engineer?" Galvatron sneered. He raised his fusion cannon, "I think I'll keep him."
"What?!" The Prime shouted.
"Say goodbye."
"Goodbye." Wheeljack catapulted up, snatching the Matrix from the unsuspecting warlord's grip. He shoved away from Galvatron and stumbled towards Rodimus.
Galvatron emitted a cry of outrage. He whipped around, "Don't just stand there you cretins! Shoot them!"
"Here!" Wheeljack pressed the Matrix into Rodimus's servos.
"Let's get out of here!" The Prime transformed and raced to the edge of the platform, transforming again and shooting the magnetic hook up. It caught on the edge of the hatch and he swung out into the void in between Skyfire and the base, waving for Wheeljack, "Come on!"
Wheeljack dodged a shot and sprinted for the edge of the platform. Once at the edge he pushed off and reached up towards Rodimus.
Galvatron narrowed his optics and raised his fusion cannon, firing a single shot.
Wheeljack felt it. Of course he felt it.
He felt something punch through his back and emerge from his chestplates, sending him spinning. He felt wet, hot energon gush from the wound and onto circuitry and rapidly overheating plating.
Everything slowed down.
He saw Rodimus' optics widen with shock, and he saw his mouth plates form an "o" of surprise.
"No!" Rodimus grasped desperately for Wheeljack's servo. He watched the engineer's optics widen in a single moment of stark shock and cold, bitter fear.
Wheeljack's fingers brushed his own and the Prime saw shock turn to a brief flicker of hope in the Lancia's optics before they flickered out and he fell.

0o0o0o0

Author's Note

I do apologize if this chapter sucks.