So, I felt kind of bad about not uploading last week, and I got this done ahead of schedule, so…yeah. Here you go!
Also, if you could head on over to my friend Goldstreak's profile and wish them luck on their exam tomorrow, they would really appreciate that.
Once again, just a reminder that if you want to make some fan art, feel free. Just make sure you share it with me so that I know about it.
"You AFT! I could have gotten him out if you hadn't interfered!"
Valkyrie's words hit Blueshift's audio receptors as she neared the bridge, and they were quickly followed by the sound of metal hitting metal. At this, concern washed over her.
Running in, she said, "What's wrong? What happened?"
However, her concern only grew as the assembled mechs refused to meet her gaze. And that's when she noticed something.
"Where's Bee," she asked. "Where is Bumblebee?! Is he…"
One glance at Valkyrie's distraught face told Blueshift everything.
Optics going wide, she managed to get out a choked "No" before fainting and collapsing to the floor.
One hour later:
Blueshift woke up to the worst processor-ache she'd ever felt.
"Ugh," she moaned as she lifted herself up into a sitting position, holding her head in her servo.
She was lying on a berth in the med bay. When did she get here?
"Oh, thank Primus, you're awake!"
Turning to the sound of the voice, Blueshift found Valkyrie sitting in a chair next to her.
And that's when it all hit her.
Nearly fainting once more, Valkyrie caught her this time and said, "Oh, no. We're not pulling that scrap again."
Sitting her up, Valkyrie leaned back in his chair and tried to hold back his emotions as he waited for the inevitable questions.
"Bee…he isn't…he's not de…" Blueshift started to say before Valkyrie held up a servo to stop her.
"Blue, I wish I knew. Primus, do I ever wish that," Valkyrie said, before finally letting his emotions loose. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I promised you I'd bring him back and I failed."
"Val, please," Blueshift said, placing a servo on the side of his face to calm him. "Start from the beginning. Tell me what happened."
"It was a trap, Blue. They'd been expecting us," Valkyrie said, trying to calm himself. "You can ask Optimus for the details, but everything went wrong when Starscream suddenly showed up with an army of seekers. We destroyed the jammer and were trying to lose the 'Cons when we ran into cosmic rust. We tried to double back, but the 'Cons had closed in and had us pinned. The groundbridge opened on the opposite side of the intersection we were at, so we went one at a time, covering each other as we went. Bee was the last one to cross, but he got shot in the leg and fell."
"Why didn't you go and get him," Blueshift asked somewhat angrily.
"I tried, Blue. I did. But Ironhide held me back," Valkyrie said, trying to suppress his anger as he hung his head. "He told me it was too late and that there was nothing we could do. I tried to get away, but he was too strong. Seekers swarmed around Bee and I lost sight of him. Ironhide dragged me through the groundbridge after that."
Looking up, Valkyrie found Blueshift shaking uncontrollably.
"Blue…" he began, but was cut off as she slammed her fist into the berth and screamed in anger.
"What in the name of the Pit is going on in here," Ratchet said as he came out of the operating room adjacent to the med bay.
Glancing over and seeing that Blueshift was up, he turned to Valkyrie and said, "Why didn't you tell me she was awake?"
"You told me not to interrupt you," Valkyrie shot back.
"Fair enough. So what's got her so worked up," Ratchet asked.
"Ironhide hasn't told you yet," Valkyrie asked. When Ratchet shook his head, Valkyrie sighed and explained, "The whole thing was a trap, and Bee didn't make it back with us."
"What?! Why didn't anyone tell me? Get out of my way," Ratchet said as he pushed Valkyrie to the side and knelt before Blueshift. "Blue…Blue, come on. Look at me."
Lifting her head to face him, Ratchet was met with Blueshift's tear-stained face before she wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his chest.
Hugging her back, Ratchet gently stroked the back of her head as he said, "Shh, shh. It's ok. Let it out. We'll find him and bring him back. I promise."
This went on for several minutes before Blueshift eventually fell into recharge.
Gently lying her back down on the berth, Ratchet got up and turned to Valkyrie.
"Care to explain why Bumblebee was left behind," he said bitterly.
Hurt, Valkyrie explained, "We were making our escape and he got shot in the leg. I went to go get him, but Ironhide held me back. Last thing I saw before Ironhide dragged me through the groundbridge was Bee getting surrounded by seekers."
Shooting a glance over at the operating room, Ratchet muttered, "Fragger."
"Ratchet," Valkyrie said. "About you and Blueshift…"
"I'm," the medic sighed. "I'm her adopted father. Bumblebee's, too."
Nodding his head in silent understanding, Valkyrie said, "I'm sorry."
Turning, Valkyrie walked out of the med bay, shooting one last glance at Blueshift before he left.
News traveled fast about Bumblebee's disappearance.
Prowl had been monitoring Teletraan 1 when word reached him. He was on his way to confront Optimus about it when he saw Valkyrie over by the groundbridge controls.
"What the slag do you think you're doing," Prowl shouted, startling Valkyrie.
Turning, the flier replied, "Finding Bumblebee."
Realizing what that implicated, Prowl deployed his pistol and leveled it at Valkyrie's chest.
"Step away from the groundbridge, Valkyrie," Prowl ordered. "You're not authorized to leave base without permission. This is way out of line."
Ignoring him, Valkyrie continued to work the groundbridge controls.
"Are your audios malfunctioning? I said step away from the groundbridge! That is an order," Prowl shouted.
Turning, Valkyrie gave Prowl a deathly stare and said, "If you're going to stop me, do it. But know that you're ruining your best chance at getting Bumblebee back."
Keeping his pistol trained on Valkyrie, Prowl said, "You leave, you betray every last little shred of trust we had in you."
"And if I stay," Valkyrie shot back, "Then Bumblebee has no chance of being found."
As he finished saying this, he activated the groundbridge and shot through it with his thrusters.
"NO," Prowl screamed, firing off three shots after Valkyrie, but the groundbridge closed before the shots even reached it.
Valkyrie fell out of the groundbridge and landed flat on his aft.
Scrambling to his feet, Valkyrie took a moment to allow what had just happened to settle into his processor.
Prowl had shot at him. He'd actually shot at him. That wasn't part of the plan.
At least, it hadn't been part of what little plan there was.
I don't have time for that right now, he thought, shaking his head.
He'd bridged back to where they'd left the Decepticon base from.
Walking over to the intersection where Bumblebee had been shot, Valkyrie couldn't help but thank the Allspark for what he found.
A drying trail of energon, leading away from the intersection and down the hall that the seekers had come from.
Following it, he was led back to the entrance to the base, and the trail suddenly stopped before a patch of scorched ground.
Frag. Short-range bridge, he thought, before running out of the mine and into the valley.
If the 'Cons had used a short-range bridge, that meant they had a staging area nearby.
Transforming, Valkyrie took off and started scanning the area, hoping beyond hope that he'd be able to find what everyone else had seemed to miss.
"What do you mean he's gone," Optimus asked, incredibly concerned.
"He said he was going after Bumblebee. I tried to talk him out of it, but…"
"He's walking into certain death," Optimus said grimly. "Prowl, gather a team. We're going after him."
Prowl gave Optimus a salute and turned to do as he was told.
As he reached the doorway, Optimus quietly added, "And pray that we are not too late."
"…we need you, Silverbolt."
What? Who needs Silverbolt, Blueshift thought groggily as she came out of recharge.
"Valkyrie's run off after Bumblebee," Prowl said. "If we're going to have any hope of finding him, we're going to need another flier."
Shooting up off the berth, Blueshift glared over at Prowl and said, "Valkyrie did what?"
Startled, the two mechs turned to Blueshift and just stared for a while before Prowl eventually said, "He disobeyed orders and went out in search of Bumblebee. Prime's gathering a team to…"
"Count me in," she cut him off.
"Erm…I don't know, Blue," Prowl said.
"I'm going," she said determinedly.
Relenting, Prowl said, "Alright. We leave in two hours. Come on, Silverbolt."
As soon as the two mechs left the med bay, Blueshift got off the berth and started walking over to the operating room, cracking her servos as she went.
She had some unfinished business to attend to.
Entering the med bay, she found Ironhide sitting on the operating table, head in his servos.
Walking up to him, she cocked a punch as he turned to look at her.
"Blue, I'm…OOOOOFFFF!"
The punch connected with his lower jaw and sent him sprawling off the operating table, landing on the floor with a resounding thud.
Moving over to the other side of the table, she kicked the downed mech and said spitefully, "You left him to die, you fragger! You left my brother to die!"
She continued to kick him several more times before she knelt down and started punching him relentlessly.
She'd punched him about twenty times when it dawned on her that he wasn't fighting back. Hesitating for a moment, she allowed his facial features to sink in.
An understanding look, tear-stained optics. This wasn't the Ironhide she knew.
"You're," he coughed out through the energon pooling up in his mouth. "You're right, you know? To be mad at me. To blame me. I saw him as a soldier rather than a friend."
Oh, Primus. What have I done, she thought, looking in horror at the energon that covered her servos. He was ready to apologize, and I came and started beating the shit out of him. What is wrong with me?
"Why'd you stop," he said from beneath her. "You and I both know I deserve wor…"
"Stop. There's no justifying what I just did, so stop trying to," she said. "The least I can do is fix the damage I've done."
Valkyrie reviewed the message one last time before he sent it.
:Autobots, if you are recieving this, then it means that I have allowed the Decepticons to capture me in the hope that it will aid me with my search for our missing comrade. Do not come after me. You will be wasting your time. I repeat, do not come after me. Valkyrie, out.:
Sending the message, he shut off all non-essential systems to conserve power for what he was planning.
He'd almost missed the 'Con base had it not been for the slight flicker in the hologram that hid it. Switching over to thermal, he'd been able to see past the hologram and get a glimpse at their defenses.
Rockets, cannons, and the thing he was counting on them using. An EMP cannon.
The prototype shield technology Shockwave had installed in him should, with enough power, be able to absorb most of the blast.
Diverting the excess power from the non-essential systems to the shields, Valkyrie dived toward the base.
Just as he'd thought, the EMP cannon turned to fire on him. Speeding up to try and get closer to the ground, Valkyrie barely noticed as the cannon fired.
The shot impacted with Valkyrie's rotor, stopping him dead in his tracks. The shield absorbed most of the blast, but it still did enough damage to shut down several other systems.
Namely, his life signal, optics, and T-Cog.
Forced back into his bipedal form, Valkyrie crashed to the ground, blinded, and feigned unconsciousness.
"What the…" Ratchet said, surprised by the sudden influx of information.
"What is it, Ratchet," Optimus asked, curious as to what his friend had discovered.
"I was monitoring Valkyrie's life signal and trying to get a lock on it when it just…disappeared," Ratchet explained. "And then this message came through."
Valkyrie, I really hope you know what you're doing. And that you can find Bee and bring him back.
Anyway, I think that's all there is to say so don't forget to review and until next time, this is Valkyrie 497, signing off.