Chapter12 The Ice Rink.
Others were coming out in response to the screaming and cheering.
She recognised Ratchet rushing up in his ambulance form. Several over-energised Autobots were coming out of the party, leaning on each others' arms or otherwise holding onto each other, giggling, blinking bleary optics, one going over with a horrifying metallic crash, oh no that was Ironhide!
She heard her own scream and then seized up with horror as she heard a familiar voice thrilled with the excitement she had felt earlier.
"Hey, a slide, let me show you some cool moves!" said Jazz, his cyan optics widening with wicked glee. Maybe it would be all right, she crossed her fingers.
It was cool at first, like surfing, but he was still too heavy, the ground was too slippery and he was heading straight for the hangar at the end here!
She heard and saw something she'd only seen and heard once before - the transform-overhead protective cartwheel, but without Ironhide, she recognised the blurred forms of Optimus and Ratchet. It was like throwing stars going overhead in slow motion, but one star went faster and landed at her end first. It was the black and white police car one - Prowl. She heard Ratchet saying "Oh no!" as he transformed and noticed that Jazz hadn't managed to tuck himself in as he usually might for a somersault and was sliding on one shoulder, which was O.K. for break dancing but here made a nasty crashing screech that sounded painful.
Then just before he hit the door before her with a resounding thud, another form shimmered into view. It was the one that had been the blue and white F1 racing car at the party, Mirage.
She watched from behind their line as the tangle of arms, legs and wheels sorted themselves out in front of her through the crack in the door. Prowl had caught Jazz's head end, being just a bit bigger, Mirage had caught his feet and Optimus and Ratchet had caught his body between them, hand behind hand to cushion the others.
Optimus was the first to find his voice:
"Jazz, you are confined to base for 3 days for setting a bad example to the young! You don't slide on the ice when you're overenergized!
"You might have crashed into someone else or off-lined so badly I don't know whether I could have got you back this time!" growled Ratchet, treating his injured shoulder deftly with a sling made of an army blanket.
"Yeah but you got me, didn't you? With four of you walling a packed touchline to catch me, how's a little Quarter-back like me supposed to score?"
"Where did you come from Mirage?" Ratchet continued.
"Cybertron, like you!"
"Cut the wisecracks! I mean what were you doing there?"
"My job! I was told to check the perimeter, someone has to do guard duty, and I saw this hangar out on the edge with a signal-"
"Hold it! You're spoiling my surprise!" She was sure he winked at her through the door. "Ok, carry on, I have to check on Ironhide."
"We were trying to think of a safe place for a slide," said Hound.
"Yes, with soft things to land on and hold on rails," said Cliffjumper.
"Sounds like the Gym," said Captain Lennox coming up with Tech. Sergeant Epps in an ordinary army jeep.
"And didn't someone have an ice gun?" asked one of the sliding boys who was a fan.
"That would be Jazz." said Optimus.
"You gonna transform the Gym into an ice-rink?" said Epps. "This I gotta see! This I gotta take part in!"
"Black ice is treacherous" said Will looking at the slide on the ground.
"Not all black things are treacherous," said Optimus, mainly thinking of Ironhide.
" It's a good colour for combat, melts into the night like grey. I guess it don't matter what colour you are, black, white, silver, yellow, brown, pink, purple, copper, green,gold, red, or blue." said Jazz, looking up at Optimus,then up at the constellations, but he couldn't find any exactly like the ones he'd seen from Cybertron.
"And I guess one day it won't matter what badge you bear on your chest, or anywhere else, or what colour optics you have: one day, when we are all one, when all respect individual freedom despite or even rejoicing in differences, there might be peace. Universally." said Optimus.
"Till then, we'll have to keep on rocking and rolling out." said Jazz.
"Let's make this Ice Rink."