Chapter 12: Letting go

I ran through the room, looking for where the melancholy sound of crying was coming from, and then something caught my optics I saw a trail of glowing, leaked energon, leading to a handfull of energon cubes in the corner, and then to the back of the room. I followed it.

In the furthest back part of the room, I saw a small mass, curled up, lying in a small puddle of energon, unmoving. I instantly ran over to it, and I could see that it was a small, silver-colored sparkling, not even of age seven (by Cybertronian standards).

Its back was facing me, and I couldn't see its facial features. I did notice, however, that the sound of crying was indeed coming off it.

"Hey there, it's okay..." I whispered to the helpless child as I kneeled down. His body curled up even tighter. "Don't worry..." I said again.

As soon as said that, I turned my head and saw another trail of energon leading away from the child. My optics followed it, until I came upon a gruesome sight. In the corner, a dozen-or-so meters away from me, laid against the wall, was the body of a femmebot.

I nearly fell over at the sight. She was yellow in color, most prominently on her forehead, sides, and legs. I could clearly see a deep slash in her stomach area, and old, stale energon covered it, and also ran down her open mouth. Her optics were open, but were grey, dull, and lifeless.

She must have brought her child here to this energon storage area to wait out until help arrived I thought. I cringed as I turned back to the young one. It had turned its head to me while I wasn't looking.

Before it flinched back down to its previous position, I could see that its facial features matched that of a male. His eyes were wide, and a deep, blue color. He started to shiver when I placed my servo on his back.

"Don't worry... I'm going to get you out of here" I said to him, calmly. "Your mom died bravely, getting you here, and I'll make sure her death wasn't in vain."

As soon as I said that, he began to cry again. Scrap, I'm not good with words I thought.

"Please listen. I'm with the Autobots. We're here to rescue you" I said again, in a much calmer voice. He instantly lifted his head up a I said that.

"Y-y-your w-with the Autobots?" He asked, shivering in a way that he was almost vibrating. "Yes" I answered back. "I have a friend back there who is going to take you to safety" I motioned to where Bulkhead was.

"Do you want me to take you to him?" I asked. He nodded in reply, and nervously got up from the ground. I took his servo in mine and lead him to the door.

As we approached it, I told him to stay for a minute while I checked if there were any Insecticons anywhere.

As I peeked my head outside, alI saw was pieces of metal everywhere, three, deactivated Insecticon bodies, and one Bulkhead sitting on the ground, tired.

"Bulkhead, over here!" I yelled and waved with my prosthetic arm. He immediately looked up at me. "Hey..." He panted. "Who'd you find?"

"A sparkling" I replied. I looked back at the child and motioned to him that the coast was clear. He ran up to me and looked out the door. "Did you see any monsters?" He asked, cautiously. "Just dead ones" I replied.

We walked out the door to Bulkhead. "Hey there little guy..." Bulkhead said in a friendly tone. "I'll get you off this rock, and you won't have to see any of these monsters again, don't you worry"

Bulkhead pressed the button on his suit that activated his intercom. "Ratchet! It's me, Bulkhead. We found a survivor!"

There was no reply.

"Ratchet?" Bulkhead asked again. "Ratchet!"

Still no response. "That's not a good sign" I said.

"I'll contact Knock Out manually, you keep trying to get Ratchet's signal" Bulkhead said as he gave me a device that connected to a back-up radio from his suit.

"Ratchet... Are you, uh... There?" I asked into the device. Still no response. "Ratchet, please respond!" I begged. Silence.

As I was about to ask again, I heard static on the other end, and heavy breathing.

"I... I'm here" Ratchet's voice started to break through. "Bulkhead! I got Ratchet on the line!" I shouted excitedly to him as he was talking into his own device. "Good, I got Knock Out on this one!" He also said. "He told me that he's locking onto our coordinates."

"A-ambush..." Ratchet breathed on his end. "Airachnid... Ambush... Took... They took..."

"Wow, calm down" I tried to say as a portal opened behind us. I turned to Bulkhead as he was leading the kid to safety. "Bulkhead... I think Ratchet's in trouble, Arcee is too."

He turned to me as I said that. "We... We need to get Knock Out his coordinates" he finally said. "Let's get the kid back to base and teleport to his location"

"Good plan" I said before joining him through the portal.

We arrived back at Autobot base, Knock Out, Rafael, and Miko were there. "We found this kid there" I said to Knock Out. "Do you think you could bridge us to Ratchet's location?" Bulkhead asked right after, while the sparkling was being greeted by the kids.

"Of course" he replied. He walked over to the controls and inputted information, just before the groundbridge activated again. "Tell Wheeljack and Bumblebee to be extra cautious now!" Bulkhead said just before he ran through it. "Oh, and leave the bridge open for a few cycles!" I mentioned just before going through myself.

When we arrived, we saw a dreadful sight. Ratchet was lying there, his suit broken, multiple injuries showing through it.

"Ratchet!" Bulkhead cried as he lifted his friend's head up. "Are you okay? Were you bit? Where's Arcee?"

"Airachnid... Ambushed us. I... Wasn't bitten. But... But... Arcee... Captured..." He barely managed to say, coughing blue energon out of his mouth whilst doing so. "I need to get him to Knock Out" Bulkhead said to me. "You... I think you should go after Arcee. You're faster, and my suit is worn as it is, and we can't waste time" He said again as he started to drag Ratchet's limp body to the portal.

"What in Primus would Airachnid want with Arcee?" I asked. "They have... A history" Bulkhead replied. "A bad one."

"They... Took her... To the command center" Ratchet gasped one more time before lowering his head for good, falling unconscious. "Where's that?!" I practically shrieked at Bulkhead. "If I remember right, back when Ratchet talked about where we'd be going, it's down this hall, then you go left, then right"

"Anything else?" I asked. "Take my radio just in case" he replied, giving me his handheld device. I immediately took off down the hall with it and my rifle, while Bulk took Ratchet through the portal.

I've got to get there before something bad happens I repeatedly thought as I ran down the corridor as fast as I could. I took the turns Bulkhead described, and I soon came across a large door. But... There was a problem. Guarding said door were three large Insecticons, and the largest stood in the middle, instantly noticing me. My optics lit up as I saw them. "Aw, scrap" I muttered as the largest one approached me.

Then he spoke, saying something in a very gravely voice.

"The Queen has been expecting you."