Chapter 12
It was relatively quiet over the next couple of months. Sure, Tarantulas had tried to attack the energon that Depthcharge, Dinobot, Tigatron, and Airazor were mining, but he and the rest of the Predacons never got too far with the rest of the Maximals on guard. There was a spot of trouble though. Airazor constantly got exhausted quickly, and ate as if for two. The others were understandably concerned for her but the only one she ever told was, not Skyhunter, but Depthcharge. He was the head of their operations and he had to know. Depthcharge had scolded her when she had told him but made nothing of it. He also agreed to keep what she had told him a secret from the rest of the team, even Skyhunter, whom it would most likely affect the most. But if Skyhunter knew, he would make a huge fuss over it and never let Airazor out of his sight, not that Airazor would mind that, but still…The fact was, Airazor had found that she was carrying another within her. The knowledge of that would send the others into a frenzy and Airazor didn't want the attention.
They were all walking back from a day's excavation, radiation proof containers holding many crystals of raw energon. Skyhunter and Hopper supported a container between themselves and so did Depthcharge and Tigatron, Dinobot carrying one by himself. The females were behind them, holding nothing and were talking to each other. They weren't gossiping…as there was no outside news around there…but there wasn't any other word for it. Airazor and Lio shared giggles between themselves and Howl just walked and listened, not contributing to the talk but still pretty engrossed in the conversation.
They weren't paying too much attention to where they were going, probably the reason they walked into the guys, but they were the ones who came to an abrupt stop right before they entered the cavern that held the Ark.
"Um…aren't we going in…?" Lio asked, looking over Tigatron's shoulder, standing on her toes.
The mechs stayed silent and didn't move forward, just staring at the doors to the cavern. There was nothing that seemed wrong with them, no signs of a recent attack.
"What are you guys looking at?" Airazor asked, moving closer to Skyhunter.
Again, they didn't respond, but Depthcharge caught Skyhunter's and Hopper's optics and nodded to them. Skyhunter and Hopper set down their container, took our blasters, and slunk in through the partially open entrance.
"I thought we closed the door when we left…" Lio asked, confused at everything.
"We did…." Depthcharge said grimly. There was a cracking of a comm. link opening and Depthcharge raised a hand to his audio. "Depthcharge….anything…?"
"Nope…nothing-in-command…." Hopper's rapid but hushed voice came out of the comm. link.
"Nothing yet…the quarters seem ok…….wait, there's something here…" Skyhunter's voice said.
"What is it…?" Depthcharge's expression hardened.
"Bomb…EMP... with energon crystals…." Skyhunter said, hurriedly. Fear could be heard in his voice.
"Get out of there! Now!" Depthcharge shouted.
"Goin-" Before Skyhunter could finish that single word, there was a tremendous explosion and the whole ground shook and rocks came falling down inside the cavern as it started to cave in.
"Skyhunter!" Airazor shrieked, running towards the caverns entrance, only to be pulled back by Dinobot. "Let me go! Skyhunter's still in there!!" Airazor screamed, pulling at her arm that Dinobot held in his hand.
"The whole place's collapsing, you'll get crushed…" Dinobot spoke calmly, but his face showed worry, or as much as Dinobot could show.
Hopper was suddenly running out, arms covering his head.
Airazor caught Hopper as he ran and jerked him in front of her. "Where's Skyhunter?!"
Hopper's expression was one of fear. "He-was-checkin'-the-back! There's-no-way-'e-coulda-made-it-out-in-time!"
Airazor's spark seemed to drop right out of her. She tried to make a break for the entrance again but this time Depthcharge stopped him. "He was too close to the bomb! If the cave-in doesn't get him the explosion would have! You heard him! With the energon there the explosion would've been too big to avoid at such close range!"
"Let me go!" Airazor shrieked. "I got to find Skyhunter, I just got to!"
The cave-in had stopped, leaving a mountain of rocks blocking the entrance of the cavern. Airazor managed to wrench her arm from Depthcharge's grip and started trying to move the boulders, attempting to clear a way for her to enter.
Just then, there was the sound of engines and everyone looked up. A ship was descending and then landed behind the Maximals. They all looked around in time to see the ship open up and six people stepped out.
"What happened here?" It was Cheetor and the rest of the Maximals that had returned to Cybertron, along with Nightscream and Botanica.
"Ch-Cheetor?! Is that you?!" Tigatron said
"Tigatron?! You…Is that you?!" Cheetor said, in equal astonishment.
"Ok, ok, stop gawking at each other!" Blackarachnia scolded. "What's going on here?" She nodded in Airazor's direction, who hadn't paid the slightest bit of attention to the others and continued to try and pick though the rumble.
"Predacon trap…" Depthcharge growled, looking back at Airazor. "New kid, Skyhunter, he's in there somewhere…"
"Hey, Sprouts, think you could help out?" Rattrap asked, looking up at Botanica.
Botanica nodded and closed her eyes in concentration. Her roots dug into the ground and a glow was emitted from her. Vines started to sprout out from the ground and walls of the gorge and started to move the boulders aside. Airazor gave a startled cry when the tendrils crept up and lifted the rocks away from her. She looked back and saw the rest, Botanica relaxing and allowing the boulders to be tied to the walls by the vines she had created.
"What's the kid look like?" Cheetor looked up at Depthcharge.
"White falcon alternate…" Depthcharge replied, looking down. "But…-" In a blurred movement, Cheetor ran into the cavern. "How the-"
"We'll tell you later…Caption Minnow…" Rattrap muttered.
"You may look different, Rodent, but your sense of nicknames is still dull…" Dinobot growled.
Not long after, Cheetor returned in another blur and had Skyhunter slumped over his shoulder. He walked to them and set Skyhunter down.
"He doesn't look to good…" Blackarachnia commented with a grimace.
Skyhunter's armor was cracked in every place as possible.
"Oh Primus…! Skyhunter!!" Airazor ran forward, kneeing down next to him, lifting Skyhunter up, and laying him on her knee.
Howl ran up and started checking Skyhunter over. "This isn't good…he's worse off than when he stole the fake transmetal driver…The EMP wave shorted out most of his systems are fried….including…..his internal repair system…."
"The CR chambers are most likely destroyed from the blast…" Lio whimpered.
"Don't worry, I have a CR chamber in the ship…" Silverbolt said, placing a hand on Lio's shoulder.
"But Rattrap…without his internal repair system online…" Botanica wondered, silently, but not finishing her question.
"Yeah…without a full and complete repair…he'll die anyways…" Rattrap nodded, speaking softly.
"And none of the new guys can make system repairs right?" Depthcharge muttered, walking up behind them.
"No…if only Rinox was here…he'd know what to do…" Rattrap mumbled, turning to face Depthcharge, not too surprised that he heard.
"What happened to Rinox?" Depthcharge asked.
"Later, Flounder….' Rattrap said, shaking his head. "Let's go…"
By now, Airazor and the others had set Skyhunter into a CR chamber in hopes of saving him.
"Don't worry, Airazor…Skyhunter'll be alright…" Tigatron said reassuringly as they stood in front of the CR chamber Skyhunter was placed in.
"I hope so…" Airazor's optics filled with tears.
"So what's up between all of you…?" Cheetor had walked into the room.
"Well…" Before anyone had started talking, Airazor had got up and left.
She didn't want to listen to any stories she just wanted to know that Skyhunter would be ok. She found one of the spare rooms in the ship and went in. She sat down on the bed and curled up, whimpering. No one came for her, not that she minded, but she did feel the ship take off. She wanted to be alone for a while…no…that wasn't right…she wanted to be anything but…She wanted Skyhunter to be with her, to be next to her, to hold her in his arms. Most of all, she wanted to tell him…She placed a hand to her chest before falling into a light recharge…