~*~ Chapter Twenty-One~*~

Day 340

Charlie settled beside Rex in the tent.

"How are they doing?" Rex draped an arm over the woman.

"They're exhausted. I can't believe they haven't slept yet," she said. "I'm kind of worried about the new guy."

"Oh?" There was a touch of alarm in his voice.

"He seems uncomfortable. I mean, I know he's a Decepticon, but he just seems lost."

"Pretty sure everyone here is lost. He'll adjust. We could talk to him."

"I'd like that. After a nap," she nuzzled into him, wrapping her arms around his waist.

"Sounds good to me." He cuddled closer, holding her as tight as he could.

Blindside got distracted in his search for a spot to recharge. Of all the places he had traveled through the vorns he had never been to a place with so much life. He had to admit he was starting to understand why Hound liked being out here so much.

"Ya shouldn't wander too far," Jazz leaned against a tree not far from the orange mech. "What are ya doin' out here?"

Blindside jumped and pulled his firearm from his hip, optics wide and stressed. He holstered his weapon as quickly as he had drawn it once he recognized the mech. "Sorry. Just hiking. I think that's what the humans call it."

"Ah see." He shifted a little. "Prowl says ya've been workin' pretty hard. Plan ta take uh break?"

"Looking for a spot, yeah," he nodded.

Jazz pushed off the tree. "Lemme show ya uh good one. Quiet, safe, but close enough ta camp ya can get there if ya need ta." He led the way, not looking to see if Blindside was following.

Blindside hesitated but eventually chose to follow. "I'm sorry about earlier. Should have been straight with you."

"S'okay, mech. Wouldn't be th first ta try that tactic with meh. Don't do it again an' we can get along."

"Good plan," he agreed, falling silent.

Jazz stopped in front of a small clearing that had a leaning stone in the center. It was large enough to shelter a single 'bot with enough foliage to provide cover from all directions.

"Cozy. Thanks."

"No problem. Ah get ya don't feel too comfortable around so many 'bots, thought you'd like this. An' at least Ah'll know where ya are. Comm if ya need anythin'." Jazz offered a short wave before slipping back into the shadows.

Blindside climbed the rock quickly and perched on top. The quiet was nice. The ship had had its quiet moments but not nearly this peaceful. He suddenly felt too exposed and realized his vents weren't open. All this space was too much, and he quickly ducked under the rock instead. That felt much safer.

As the day progressed, it got dark sooner than usual; remote flashes of light lit up the trees every few minutes.

"Is that lightning?" Charlie asked excitedly, looking up at the skies.

"Looks like it. We should stay inside," Rex suggested.

She groaned. "But it's rain..."

Rex laughed, "Yeah, and we're in the middle of a national forest. Maybe not the safest place to enjoy lighting."

"I'm not gonna climb a tree, Rex," she laughed. Then a rolling boom shook the air and the rain poured down in thick torrents.

"Wow," Rex unzipped a small section of the tent door to look at all the rain. "It's really coming down. I hope the 'bots are going to be okay."

Illusory's recharge was disturbed by a warning that water was seeping into her frame. Normally it wouldn't be an issue; their frames were rather impervious to water. However; with the small cuts still healing on her protoform, sensitive systems were exposed to the corrosive element. When she registered the rain, she tucked herself around Silverdust to protect her from the torrent.

Scatterblade did what he could to shield the femmes, looking for something that would be more shelter for them. He thought about the others, one in particular who – as far as he knew – had never dealt with a rainstorm before. ::Blindside? You should head back to us. Where are you?::

He didn't get anything in reply. Just more rain and wind.

"We are moving to better cover," Prowl announced from the center of the camp. "Everyone please grab what you can carry and ensure all humans are accounted for. This storm looks to last for some time and the natural effects have a high probability of an undesirable outcome."

"English, Prowl," Charlie sighed but hurried to gather the bags and tents.

"Flooding is likely," the mech stated blandly. "Is everyone accounted for?"

"I can't get a hold of Blindside," Scatterblade said lifting Illusory so he could maneuver her to safety.

::Blindside, respond,:: Prowl called over the general comm. ::Has anyone seen Blindside? Please respond.::

::Ah know where he was,:: Jazz called over the general comm. ::Ah'll check up on him.::

::Good, keep contact for relocation.::

::Ya got it, Prowler.::

Another boom shook through the clouds followed closely by another roll of thunder that drowned out most verbal communication. Nobody noticed when the rumbling began, the only warning sign before water came pouring down the cliff side only yards away from the camp. Not even the 'bots had a chance to react before the camp started flooding.

Charlie dropped what she was carrying and scrambled for higher ground, holding tightly to Rex as she ran. Fear and desperation gave her the strength to help him climb.

"Charlie!" Illusory watched with fear as the two humans scrambled for higher ground.

There was a shrill scream as Myra was swept away in a foaming rush of muddy water.

"I will get her!" Mirage called out as he slipped across the slick ground after the woman. They both disappeared into the dark water and trees.

Hound grabbed Vance as the man scrambled up a tree and headed for high ground. Prowl held his place rather well, trying to maintain some form of control of the situation.

In the deeper forest, Jazz flung himself to safety. "Blindside! Mech, if ya can hear meh, speak up!"

The orange pirate was up a tree. "What the frag is going on?"

"Primus knows! Fraggin' Earth weather! They have no control of it. Ya hurt?"

"No, just pissed off," he shot back, clearly irritated with his spot in the tree. He pointed behind the smaller mech, to a log that was rafting down the flood toward him. "Jazz, jump!"

The smaller mech leaped gracefully to the log, stumbling a bit on the landing but holding firm.

"Let's get outta here!" Blindside jumped from the tree to a rock just left of the rushing water.

Jazz leapt over to join him as his unintended raft rushed past. "Ah'm with ya there, mech."

Back at camp, Charlie was lifting Rex higher, trying to carry him out of the mud. The man was doing his best to push through the pain in his body to move faster and not weigh Charlie down so much.

Scatterblade was torn. He had to keep a hold of Illusory so the femme wasn't swept away but he couldn't just leave the humans there. "Arcee! Can you reach them?"

The small femme looked to the humans, trying to gauge the distance. She got a determined look then leaped from her place in a tree just above the rushing waters, grabbing onto the side of the cliff not far from them, but as she reached for them, another thundering wave came crashing over the ledge taking the femme with it.

"No!" Charlie screamed, nearly diving in as if she could save Arcee herself.

Rex pushed her back against the cliff wall. "Nothing we can do!" He shook with rage. All they had gone though and they were going to lose lives from the weather? It wasn't right.

Charlie almost fought against him, angry that he had stopped her but she knew she couldn't do anything to help. She just watched with dread building in her chest.

Prowl launched himself after the small femme and vanished into the darkness with her.

Illusory held onto Silverdust tighter as the water rushed around them. "'Blade! Take Silver!" She could feel the water in her systems sparking shorts though her frame. She was afraid of shocking the sparkling accidentally or that she would lose control and drop her.

Scatterblade took the small femme, holding tightly to Illusory's waist.

Not far from them, Knockout was doing his best to reach the family.

Charlie shifted and nearly slipped. "Hold still. Hold still!" Her panic was intensifying.

The moment Rex was sure he couldn't hold on any longer, even with Charlie helping, he felt himself yanked from the cliff. "Charlie!"

"Got ya both!" Blurr's rapid cadence filled their ears. The speedster grabbed the two struggling humans and got to the high ground before anyone realized anything was happening.

Charlie clung to the mech and reached for Rex.

"Where'd they go?" Illusory cried, suddenly unable to see the humans.

"Blurr has them. Blurr has them," Scatterblade assured her.

She vented with relief. "Good..." Looking around she saw that they were the only ones left in the camp. "What do we do?" A spark leaped from her frame, shocking Scatterblade.

The mech seized, his grip on Silverdust holding through it. When it ended, he vented a few times to ease the burn in his frame. "We'll wait it out. It's just a little rain," he said thoroughly unconvinced.

"Sorry! I...I can grab that tree; you should let me go. Don't want to damage you or Silver."

"I'll be fine. She'll be fine. We need to wait this out," he insisted.

Another shock wracked the femme, this one enough to cause her frame to go limp for a breem.

"No," Scatterblade tightened his grip, but his footing slipped. "No, fraggit!"

"Let go," she begged weakly, "keep Silver safe. I'll be okay."

"No," he grunted, reestablishing his footing. "Don't make me do that..."

"Blade," she didn't have it in her to argue anymore. Instead, she did her best to help her mate despite the continued shorts in her frame and growing weakness.

The mud slid beneath them and Scatterblade's grip slackened with the shocks. "Fraggit!" He held onto Silverdust but his grip on Illusory faltered.

"Ah'll be okay," she promised as she slid from his grip. She didn't have enough strength even to try anymore and was quickly swept away.

"No..." He started shaking, fighting his urge to jump in after her. 'Lu, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Please, be okay.'

'Ah'll be...' her words cut short as another arc of electricity lit the darkness around her.

He slammed his fist into the wall. ::Prowl, you got an ETA on when this damn storm is gonna end?:: He was past decorum and politeness.

::All resources depict the storm lasting another local hour, however by the rate of perspiration I can predict it slowing enough to regroup in approximately twenty-six minutes.::

Scatterblade groaned. ::Can you see Illusory on your scanners? I lost her.::

::My scanners are not picking her up. However, they are not as strong as Hound's, and this weather is limiting my range.::

"Damn it," he growled. ::Can anybody see her? She's in emergency stasis. I can't contact her.::

::What happened?:: Knockout demanded, his tone strained.

::She kept shorting. I lost my grip,:: his tone was defensive, his distress evident.

::Slag...water got in her systems.:: The medic was regretting overlooking the small punctures in her protoform.

::We will locate her when the storm eases.:: Prowl assured them.

Scatterblade grunted in reply.

When the storm began to lift, the water torrents eased to a quick trickle.

::Everyone check in!:: Prowl ordered.

::Hound here with Vance. We're safe, undamaged.::

::Knockout; no idea where I am at the moment; gonna take a look around.::

::Mirage checking in with human Myra in my care.::

::Blurr, I have both humans; Rex and Charlie.::

::I'm with Jazz,:: Blindside chimed in.

::Scatterblade; I have Silverdust.:: The frontliner pushed his frustration aside. ::Illusory is still unaccounted for.::

::Arcee is here with me. Has anyone seen the human Billy?:: Prowl called.

There was a resounding 'no' from everyone, ending the roll-call.

::Let's regroup and search for our missing team mates.::

Scatterblade released his grip on the cliff and slid down the mud, Silverdust cradled to his chassis. The little femme clicked unhappily. Blurr was the first to appear, bringing Charlie and Rex back to the destroyed camp.

"Blade," Charlie stumbled toward him after being let down, latching onto his leg. "We'll find her. It'll be okay."

The mech was unsteady on his feet, but he focused on the little femme in his arms, trying to reassure her of the very same thing.

Rex headed to the edge of the clearing, trying to see where the water had carried the femme. "The water went this way, if she didn't struggle, she would have gone with the flow."

"Then let's go," Charlie started to trudge through the muck and debris.

Scatterblade stopped her. "Would you please watch, Silver? I want everyone else to stay in one spot. Please."

His distress tore at her and Charlie couldn't deny his request. "Okay. I will."

Silverdust latched onto Charlie, unhappy with the panic in her mech creator's tone.

Vance grabbed Rex's arm as the man started into the woods. "You stay too. You're still recovering."

He looked like he would argue, but sagged and nodded. "Right." He went to stand beside Charlie. She shivered a few times as the wind came through but for the most part kept Silverdust's hand in hers while they waited for news. The sparkling looked into the trees worriedly.

Arcee came to sit with Rex, Charlie, and Silverdust, shielding them from most of the wind and some of the remaining rain.

"Thank you," Charlie offered her a smile to help cheer the chill of their predicament.

Blindside and Jazz soon joined the group in the clearing, and the pirate opted to join the search. He had gotten the family this far after all, and it seemed like a bad time to stop helping. Jazz was gone again almost before they got there, meeting Prowl on his way out. Arcee was banged up, but nothing serious and Prowl himself was so covered in mud he looked like an entirely different mech.

"I will run hub, report anything you find," Prowl ordered.

They began searching, scanners on high for any signs of life.