The Spy and The Saber

by Shadow Katakura

Things have gotten even worse for us. The Decepticons are hunting for Cybertronian relics that could just as easily turn into doomsday devices. Meanwhile, I'm stuck figuring out this stupid demon sword. Team Prime has a lot on their hands this time around, that's for sure.. My name is Shadowstalker, femme spy and wielder of the Dark Saber. Sequel to Shadow in the Night.DISCONTINUED

21. Triage

Disclaimer: Hey guys! I'm back with another chapter of The Spy and The Saber! Now I've done alot of thinking about what episode I wanted to put Shadow in and it came down to Triangulation or Triage. We could have an epic sparkmate vs. Decepticon showdown or an epic two 'Bots who love explosives vs. Soundwave showdown. Now as much as we all love our favorite sparkbonded couple, I wanted Shadow to have a moment with Ratchet, as he is her father figure. Optimus can't have the femme to himself all the time right? So without further ado, I present to you Triage!

"You can't be serious?!" Ratchet asked in disbelief. "Wheeljack?!"

I sighed. Optimus, my beloved sparkmate, had just told the good doctor that he wanted Ratchet to have backup. I was apart of that backup. Ratchet seemed in good spirits until Optimus mentioned he wanted someone else too. And then came Wheeljack...

"Ratchet, you'll be fine. Your mental health will remain intact." I laughed as I rolled my optics. "You'll have me there."

"Like that's much better!" Ratchet retorted.

"Wheeljack is a highly capable warrior, old friend." Optimus sighed. "It would be wise if you accepted his company."

"Yeah doc. Go ahead so we can go to the Artic already." Sunstreaker scowled. Him and Sideswipe would be going with Optimus. Jazz and Nightshade went with Arcee, Jack, Miko, Terra, and Bumblebee to New York City. Elita wanted to go but she changed her mind at my look of triumph. As if no one knows that her and Jazz are FINALLY a couple. Ironhide and Star went with Bulkhead. The rest of Team Prime would remain on stand by for backup.

"Well, doc bot." I stood up and stretched. "Might as well get this over with."

Ratchet looked like he wanted to protest some more but he simply sighed and activated the ground bridge. Ratchet and I walked through and came out in a forest. Wheeljack was leaning against the JackHammer throwing a grenade up and down. He looked up at us and started to smirk but stopped once he saw me.

"Prime said you needed backup." Wheeljack looked at Ratchet and then at me. "I don't see why though. You've got all you need right here."

"Oh, you flatter me." I smirked.

"If you must know, Optimus strongly feels that you needed supervision." Ratchet retorted as he walked past Wheeljack. 'Jackie looked at me and I shrugged.

"Well then I'll be sure to be on my best behavior doc." 'Jackie smirked.

"And please don't call me doc." Ratchet snapped.

"Whatever you say," Wheeljack paused for dramatic effect. "Sunshine." We both started laughing at that.

"Come on 'Jackie. Let's get on the JackHammer." I smiled. We both started walking towards his ship.

"Younglings." Ratchet grumbled.

Wheeljack and I followed Ratchet inside the ship. Wheeljack sat at the wheel and I sat in front of the weapons controls. Ratchet sat beside us.

"Taking up your old mantle huh?" Wheeljack smirked at me. "Still know how to handle my firepower?"

"Ha!" I laughed. "I could never forget the excitement of controlling the weapons of the infamous JackHammer."

"Praxus." We both said in unison, causing us to fall in to a fit of laughter.

"Oh, that accursed battle." Ratchet groaned as Wheeljack got the ship in to the sky. Soon we were flying towards the coordinates of the next Iacon relic.

"So, all of Team Prime is busy chasing down these four Iacon relics?" Wheeljack asked as he glanced at Ratchet.

"The four which are currently in play." Ratchet nodded.

"There's more?" Wheeljack's optics widened.

"Megatron contains possession of the entire Iacon database." I explained.

"We have yet to learn how many more relics or Decepticon weapons of mass destruction it contains." Ratchet finished.

"No worries doc." Wheeljack smirked. "I've got your back. And Shadow."

"My name is not doc." Ratchet sighed in exasperation. "And I do not need anybody watching my back! I proved my metal during the war for Cybertron."

"Then I'm lucky you're along for the ride champ." Wheeljack said, suddenly getting serious causing me to look up. "Cause we've got a boogie on our tail."

"Pull up the video feed 'Jackie." I requested.

He nodded and pulled it up. It didn't take me long to see who was coming after us. "Soundwave."

"Megatron's communications chief?" Wheeljack asked in shock.

"He must be tracking the same coordinates." Ratchet realized.

"Shadow, I think we're going to do this the old fashion way. Wrecker style. And that means no weapons." Wheeljack said.

"Oh Primus." I groaned.

Wheeljack chuckled before pulling back on the wheel. "You two might want to grab on to something."

Ratchet and I yelped before grabbing on to our seats. We were suddenly flying higher in the air. Ratchet screamed, "Are you trying to send us to the scrapyard?!"

Wheeljack leveled us out again and now we were behind Soundwave. I grinned and asked, "Plasma blasters or neutron cannons?"

"Plasma. Let's not blow him out of the sky just yet." Wheeljack smirked.

My grin widened as I jumped in the seat beside Wheeljack. I grabbed on to the weapons controls and grunted as I pushed them foward. Blaster shots were soon heading towards Soundwave as we chased him through the sky.

"You've still got it Wreckin' Gal." Wheeljack smirked.

I returned it and got to work on firing at Soundwave. Ratchet merely looked on in shock at how well we worked together. It felt good to be in battle with 'Jackie again. He made it fun.

I yelped as something flew over us. I looked at Soundwave and noticed a part of him was missing. I groaned. "Oh no."

"What's that?!" Wheeljack asked.

"Soundwave's survillance drone, Laserbeak." Ratchet replied.

I yelled out as the ship suddenly rocked as Laserbeak opened fire on us. Honestly, I almost fell out the seat if Ratchet had wrapped an arm around me and steadied me.

"Thanks Ratchet." I sighed.

"You'd be dead right now if it wasn't for me." Ratchet said bluntly, referring to the many, many times I'd been in his med-bay.

"I second that." I chuckled before I saw Soundwave starting to veer off in another direction. "Ratchet, it's Soundwave!"

"Wheeljack, maintain pursuit!" Ratchet ordered. "Soundwave is merely using Laserbeak to distract us."

"I welcome a good distraction." Wheeljack responded before flying in the air again. This time we ended up behind Laserbeak. 'Jackie smirked. "The hunter becomes the hunted."

"This is not the time for hot dogging!" Ratchet snapped.

Wheeljack kept flying after Laserbeak and I grabbed the controls before shooting at the drone. Suddenly he disappeared in the clouds.

"He's gone." I sighed. "Now let's go back after Sound...OH FRAG!" Laserbeak flew right by the ship and Wheeljack temporarily lost control. "I HATE THAT GUY!"

"You hate all the 'Cons." Wheeljack retorted.

We continued to chase after Laserbeak until he was gone again. Thankfully for good this time. But the sight we saw next had Ratchet and I scared out of our wits.

"WHEELJACK!" I yelled in fear as we were about to collide with a cliff wall.

"Hang on Shadow!" Wheeljack grunted as he pulled back hard on the wheel and we flew up, narrowly avoiding collision.

"Don't you EVER scare me like that again." I growled.

Wheeljack laughed and then winced as I hit him on the arm. When we made it back in the sky, we started following Laserbeak again. But then the drone turned around and came right at us. And Wheeljack wasn't stopping...

"Shadow, remember Scale Heights?" Wheeljack asked quickly.

I gulped and gripped the weapons controls. "Jackie, I hate you for this." Laserbeak was almost in front of us.

"Shadow? Wheeljack?" Ratchet asked fearfully. And then we were right in front of Laserbeak.

"WHEELJACK!" Ratchet screamed in fear as we flew just an inch under Laserbeak. "What are you doing?!"

Wheeljack quickly got us behind the drone again and I locked on to him. I gripped the controls and growled, "Lights out 'Con." I opened fire.

Laserbeak managed to avoid it for a while but then I managed to hit him. We watched as Laserbeak started spiraling towards the 'Con.

"Yes!" 'Jackie and I cheered as we stood up and high fived. "Take that 'Con!"

"You," Ratchet said in shock. "You actually did it."

Apparently he jinxed us because Laserbeak fired two more shots before going towards the ground. One shot missed and the other one...

Do I really need to say it?

Warning sounds echoed throughout the ship was we once again became spiraling out of control. I screamed, "Wheeljack, we are NEVER doing this again!"

"For once, I agree!" Wheeljack yelled as he struggled to gain control of the ship.

Ratchet? Well he was screaming his aft off all the way to the ground. I think I see why he was against having Wheeljack as backup now. All of us screamed as we made contact with the ground. Wheeljack opened the doors and we all scrambled out. 'Jackie growled as he looked at his ship, "Right thruster is fried."

"If you had pursued Soundwave as we instructed..." Ratchet began.

"His little birdie would still be pecking at our tailpipes." Wheeljack retorted.

"Well, we need to resume our search for the relic immediately. Soundwave may have already reached it." Ratchet stated.

"Well the JackHammers not going anywhere." I sighed. "If we're gonna catch him, we've gotta drive."

Wheeljack suddenly started walking foward. Ratchet growed irritated and said, "Make up your mind! Are we walking or are we driving?"

I walked up beside Wheeljack and saw what he was looking at. I pulled out my duel swords made by the mech beside me and Wheeljack himself pulled out his swords. Ratchet's optics widened and he said, "Wheeljack, Shadow, stay back. Laserbeak is the eyes and ears of Soundwave."

I walked up and flipped Laserbeak over with one of my swords. I smirked slightly. "Not anymore." My smirk turned in to a frown and I said, "Wow, I think I'm turning in to you 'Jackie."

"I'm going to take that as a compliment." Wheeljack shook his helm. "But I see you're using the swords I made."

I twirled said swords around in my hand before sheathing them again. "Well, I couldn't let them go to waste." I then turned to Ratchet. "Hey Ratchet, come scan Laserbeak."

Ratchet took out his portable scanner and I watched as a green beam came out and scanned Laserbeak. Ratchet turned off the scanner before informing us of his condition. "Systems fully operational, but offline. The blast clearly damanged his optic and audio receptors."

"Guess someone's gonna need a new snitch." Wheeljack stated.

"A minor victory and not the one we came here to achieve." Ratchet snapped before walking off.

"Hey 'Jackie..."

"Hey Shadow..."

Wheeljack and I looked at each other, realizing we had the same idea in mind. Wheeljack turned around and called out, "Hey Doc!"

"Situation's ripe for an old Wrecker trick." I called out.

Ratchet turned around with a confused look on his face. "I'm afraid I don't follow."

"Sooner or later, Soundwave's going to come looking for his pet." Wheeljack explained as he pulled out a grenade.

"And we let them reunite and return to base packing a live grenade." I smirked.

"First time 'Wave reaches inside, trips the pin, and kaboom." Wheeljack made a gesture with his hands.

"Why plant a mere incendiary device when we could plant a more devasting bomb?" Ratchet suggested as he walked towards us.

"Now I'm not sure sure I follow." I put a hand on my hip and leaned to my right side. "What's going on in that processor of yours Ratchet?"

Ratchet smirked and changed his hand in to a scapel before starting to go inside Laserbeak. He explained, "A virus enginered to go from Laserbeak to Soundwave then directly in to the Decepticons warship mainframe where it will transmit the contents of the entire Iacon database to us."

"Sounds complicated. I thought we were in a hurry?" Wheeljack drawled out slowly.

"Optimus would agree." I commented. "Risking the loss of one relic to gain the rest if a worthwhile gamble."

"You really have the chops to pull off that type of programming?" Wheeljack raised an optic ridge.

"Not alone. He will require back up." I smiled slightly.

Ratchet glared at me slightly before opening his com-link, "Rafeal, we have a situation." After explaining everything to Raf, doc bot said, "If you could write a source code for the virus, my scanner will translate it to Cybertronian script and upload."

"I can do it." Raf said. "But if we wanna keep the virus hidden from the 'Cons, we'll need a decoy. You know, like a second virus."

"Or something less complicated." I smirked and turned to Wheeljack, who raised an optic ridge.

"A decoy as in we want him to find it but it doesn't blow?" He asked.

"Something like that." Ratchet grinned slightly.

Wheeljack groaned in disappointment before saying, "Sounds like the waste of a perfectly good grenade." He threw it to me.

I caught it and took out the explosive. I tossed the shell to the side and handed the other part to Ratchet, who put it inside Laserbeak.

"Wait a minute? A grenade inside of Laserbeak inside of Soundwave? Like a turducken!" Raf yelled.

"Raf I'm sorry but what the frag is that?" I blinked.

"It's a turkey stuffed with a duck stuffed with a, uh, you know what? Nevermind." Raf sighed.

"Shadow with me." Wheeljack suddenly said before walking off.

"Where we going?"

"And just where are you off to?"

Ratchet and I looked at each before before growling, "We need to stop doing that."

"Shadow and I are going to buy you some time." Wheeljack shrugged casually. "Who knows? Might even find us a relic."

"Well, what we waiting for?" I asked.

'Jackie and I transformed and sped away from Ratchet. As we were driving, Wheeljack asked, "So how's the little femme doing?"

"QuickSilver?" I asked. "She's fine. Four months old now. Still hasn't started talking yet though."

Wheeljack chuckled. "She'll get there Shadow. With you as her mom, I'm sure she'll be bouncing off the walls in no time."

I groaned. "I'm not looking foward to that."

A beeping on our sensors cut in to our conversation and I saw that we were close to Soundwave. Wheeljack sped up and asked, "You ready Wreckin' Gal?"

I would've grinned if I wasn't in vehicle form. "I was born ready Wreckin' Buddy."

"Alright. You stay back for now." Wheeljack instructed.

I transformed before hiding behind a tree. Wheeljack let out a battle cry before speeding off the cliff, transforming in mid air, and pulling out his signature Samurai swords. I watched as Soundwave dodged his attack and stepped back.

"You dropped something." Wheeljack commented as he got in to a battle stance. He discreetly glanced towards me.

I ran towards the edge of the cliff and jumped in the air before flipping and landing on my feet. I ran towards the relic. My optics widened to the size of saucers.

"Not that fragging thing." I groaned. The Resonance Blaster. Thank you Alpha Trion for teaching me the names of these things.

I yelled out in pain as Soundwave's tentacle suddenly latched on to my neck and threw me to the side before I could even touch the blaster. I hissed in pain as I landed on my winglet. Primus, why must you be so cruel to me?

"Shadow!" Wheeljack yelled only to grunt in pain as he was suddenly attacked by Soundwave's tentacles.

"Wheeljack!" I yelled before quickly climbing up to where they were.

Wheeljack was stuck on the defensive and when he was pushed back, I quickly jumped in. I growled as Soundwave's tentacles met my duel swords. "Time to dance 'Con."

I will say this once and only once. Soundwave is a beast. Plain and simple. I've never seen him in a true fight outside the Nemesis before. Every swing I made, he blocked. I bared my fangs at him and slashed my sword. I yelled out in surprise as I was thrown back. I grunted when I landed on the ground.

"Who knew the ground could be so cruel?" I growled.

"Shadow, I'm not the ground."

My optics snapped open and I looked down to see that I was on top of Wheeljack. Our faces were inches apart. Oh Primus, WHY ARE YOU SO CRUEL?!

"If it wasn't for the fact we were in the middle of a battle, I'd enjoy this moment." Wheeljack had his mouth guard on but I could tell from his voice that he was smirking.

I growled and tried to ignore the fact that my face was bright red. "Shut up 'Jackie."

Wheeljack chuckled but then his optics widened. "Look out!"

I turned around and screamed as Soundwave's tentacles headed straight towards me. Wheeljack wrapped a hand around my waist and pulled me up to him as he flipped on his side and used his other hand to hold Soundwave's tentacle back. He grunted as Soundwave's other tentacle attached itself to his chest.

I reached out and grabbed on to the tentacle that was currently trying to claw itself in to Wheeljack's face and growled. I yelled out as I yanked it down and pushed both tentacles away from us. Okay, it's official. I will never underestimate Soundwave ever again.

Wheeljack quickly pulled out his swords and ran towards Soundwave. But he didn't even use them. As soon as he was close enough, Wheeljack head butted Soundwave and I watched as Soundwave's visor cracked.

"Hn. Shattering expectations." I mused as I stood up off the ground and walked back to stand beside Wheeljack. "You saved him for me?"

"Ladies first." Wheeljack stepped back.

I pulled out my nuclear shot cannon and started shooting at Soundwave. Haven't used this thing in a while. I ran towards him as the shots continued to push him back. Finally, when I was close enough, I punched Soundwave off the ledge. I think I may have punched him a bit too hard because I followed him down.

"Free falling!" Wheeljack let out a whoop as he jumped off and landed beside me.

"Are you kidding me?!" I yelled in disbelief. Sometimes, it's hard to believe that we're the same age.

Soundwave was lying flat on his back and his gaze went to the Resonance Blaster. I stopped any thoughts he was thinking by aiming my blaster right over his spark and firing it up slowly.

"Any last words?" Wheeljack asked smugly from beside me.

"He doesn't talk 'Jackie."

"Right. The silent type."

I noticed something in Soundwave's visor. A little too late. "Oh scrap."

The Resonance Blaster was activated and I had a feeling Soundwave was enjoying watching our suffering. I changed my cannon back in to my hand and yelled out in pain. The blaster lets out a blast of sound that was terrrible. And it hurt to the pit.

I screamed in pain and I was never so happy to be knocked unconcious in my entire life.

*Dream*

"Shadow! Nice to see you again partner."

I groaned and opened my eyes to see Sonicflare standing above me with a wide grin on her face. Her two little natural fangs were showing and her crystal blue and pink optics like mine were gleaming.

"Sonic, what am I doing here this time?" I sighed as she helped me stand up.

Sonicflare smirked and put a hand on her hips. "As your third in command..."

"Former third in command." I corrected with a dull look.

"Yes, yes, whatever." Sonicflare rolled her optics. "As I was saying, I believe it is my job to make sure my leader is in perfect health and that her ex boyfriend is going to be the death of her. I don't see what you say in him. He's insane!" She then paused. "Then again, so are you."

"He's not that..." I trailed off as I realized what she just said. "Hey! I am perfectly sane, thank you!"

The world around us began crumbling and Sonic blinked in surprise as she said, "Wow. I thought the blast would have knocked you out longer than this. See you later Shadow!"

Before I could respond, I was welcomed back in to the world of the living.

*Dream End*

I groaned as I woke up. I felt someone shifting underneath me and I was soon staring in to Wheeljack's beautiful blue optics. Sonicflare's crazy if she can't see what I saw in him.

"We have to stop ending up like this." I shook my helm.

"Come on." Wheeljack smirked slightly. "You like this."

A swift kick to his um, mech parts, had him rethinking that. But we both stopped joking around as Soundwave walked up to us. Wheeljack growled weakly and pulled me closer to him protectively. But the blaster had taken a lot out of us. There was no way we would be able to take on Soundwave in the state we were in. The purple mech himself changed his hand in to a blaster and aimed it at us. I buried my head in Wheeljack's chest. If I was going to die, at least I wouldn't die alone. Just as I was about to give up hope, open the bond with Optimus, and tell him I love him, Soundwave suddenly looked away. I saw something on his visor and jumped as he suddenly transformed and flew away.

Towards Ratchet.

Wheeljack reacted faster than I did and opened a com-link and said weakly, "Ugh, doc."

"Wheeljack! I told you not to call me that!" Ratchet yelled.

"Sorry." Wheeljack groaned.

"What's wrong? Where are you? And where's Shadowstalker? I swear to Primus if you let something happen to her..."

"Cool it doc. Your self appointed daughter is fine." Wheeljack grumbled.

"Really Ratchet, I'm okay." I added just to reassure him. I groaned as a wave of pain hit me. "But I figure you've probably got like two minutes."

It was quiet on the line before Ratchet said slowly, "Or less." A jet engine in the distance was heard before the line went dark.

"Think he'll be okay?" I asked fearfully. Ratchet was like a father to me and I don't know what I would do if he died.

Wheeljack chuckled weakly. "Don't worry about him. He proved his metal during the War for Cybertron remember?" A teasing smile was on his lips, not his usual cocky smirk.

I chuckled. "Of course. How could I forget?"

We were stuck in a comfortable silence after that. I gave up thinking of how I was on top of him and merely listened to the sound of his spark beating in content. Both of our optics were closed, but we were far from sleep. So we weren't surprised when we heard an engine and the sound of transforming.

"Wheeljack! Shadow!" Ratchet yelled in worry as he ran over to us.

I smiled weakly as we both onlined our optics and looked up at the worried medic. "Just resting our optics."

"And our audio receptors." Wheeljack groaned.

After checking us over and letting us rest a bit so the pain was no longer there, Ratchet followed Wheeljack and I back to the JackHammer. It didn't take me long to figure out 'Jackie's thoughts.

"You're leaving again, aren't you?" I asked as we were driving. It was more of a statement than a question.

"You know me so well, don't you Wreckin' Gal?" Wheeljack responded dryly.

We finally made it to the JackHammer and transformed. I sighed and said in to my com-link, "Raf, send a ground bridge."

"I still say you should return to base." Ratchet said to 'Jackie. "You require a thorough examination." He turned to me and said sharply, "Like the one Shadow is going to receive."

"Aww." I groaned as I slumped foward. The med bay might as well be my second home by now.

"The only thing I require is a hole sealant." Wheeljack corrected as he surveyed the damage done to the JackHammer. "Trust me, the JackHammer here is in more need of repair than me."

"Listen, Wheeljack," Ratchet started off slowly. "I want to thank you for your...backup."

A ground bridge opened behind and we both started to walk through.

"Yep." 'Jackie nodded as he ripped off a part of the JackHammer to start repairing it. "See you around...Ratchet."

Ratchet smiled, since this was the first time Wheeljack called him by his name. I hesitated before running back towards Wheeljack. Ratchet looked on in shock and so did Wheeljack as I wrapped him in a tight hug. Ratchet shook his helm with a smile as Wheeljack looked to the heavens with a really big smile.

"Love sick fool." Ratchet muttered.

I pulled back and smiled sheepishly at Wheeljack. "I never got to thank you for saving my aft earlier."

"Well Wreckin' Gal, I'm sure you would've done to same for me." Wheeljack gave me one of his rare, sincere smiles. "Now go on back to base. I'm sure Prime's waiting for his femme."

I chuckled before smiling. "Bye Wheeljack."

"See you soon Shadow." He smirked at me before going back to working on the JackHammer.

I jogged back over to Ratchet before giving him a hug too. I pulled back with a smirk at his shocked face. "I couldn't leave you out Ratchet. As your self appointed daughter, you get to feel the love of Shadowstalker."

Ratchet chuckled before gesturing to the ground bridge, "In you go."

With that being said, we both walked through the ground bridge. When we came out on the other side, our names were immediately called by the youngest of our human friends. Wow, I'm starting to sound like my sparkmate!

"Ratchet! Shadow! Come here." Raf laughed happily.

Ratchet and I glanced at each other before walking over to the monitor. Cybertronian glyphs were covering the screen and I gasped, "The Iacon database?"

"It's downloading in to our mainframe." Raf grinned.

Ratchet laughed. "Rafeal, you are a genius!"

Raf smiled. I bent down and ruffled his hair affectinately and smiled. "Raf, I'm proud of you! I'm pretty sure you could give Soundwave a run for his money."

Raf beamed at me and I stood back up to my full height. I yelped as Ratchet suddenly picked me up and spun me around. I laughed and hugged him. He certainly was happy about this. Though, to be honest, I was too. This could finally be our chance to be one step ahead of the Decepticons.

Raf opened a ground bridge and turned to Agent Fowler. "Bulkhead, Ironhide, and Star are coming through Agent Fowler."

Fowler grinned slightly before running to the railing. Ratchet laughed again and said happily, "I can't wait to share the news!"

But our happiness was short lived. A large form came flying through the ground bridge and landed at our feet with a smoking hole in his back. Ironhide and Star ran through, a look of pain and sorrow on their faces.

"No..." Ratchet gasped as we all crowded around the figure.

Tears formed in my optics. No, no, no, no. This can't be happening. What happened out there? Who did this to him?

"Bulkhead?" I whimpered.

And THAT my friends is the end of this chapter of The Spy and The Saber. Okay, so this would be around the time that Transformers Prime went off for its mid-season break. Am I going to do that? Of course not. But there will be five chapters in between the next episode, which is Hurt. Those five will focus on Ironhide, Prowl, Jazz, Nightshade, and Optimus' feelings on Shadow in that exact order. On the bright side guys, we are HALFWAY done with The Spy and The Saber. Then we will go through season three, the movie, and we are DONE with Shadow's series. *smirks* And then there will be a spin off sort of. You'll see when we get there. Until next time, though, please leave a review! I'm out!