Not really sure if this is early or late... It hasn't been two weeks since my last update, but that one was late and I usually post on the first. So, yeah, I apologize yet again for being late. I've been pretty sick - caught a cold that lasted much longer than they usually do. At least school ends next week for me, I should have more time for writing! Speaking of which, this chapter was written mostly last night with a few hundred words added tonight, so please point out any mistakes you find. Midnight is not the best time for me to write, but it seems to be the only time I can get a little time for myself at the moment...
Thank you for faving, alerting and/or reviewing! That you enjoy my story so much brings me a lot of pleasure and I hope you continue to enjoy it to its end.
corrected as of 7/31/2012
(chapter replaced with new-and-improved-and-edited version)
Chapter Twenty Five
Haunted
"Barricade."
Recharge had been fitful, but the Neutral was still annoyed to be pulled from it so soon after he had collapsed. Sheer willpower had no longer been enough to keep him awake and he wondered what could be important enough that an elderly human would tap on his driver's seat window to wake him up, especially considering who he was. Or what he had been. Soldiers were arguing with the man in the background, but with respectful tones, and were having no apparent affect.
"What is it, human?" he growled, not bothering with decorum as he made his hologram appear beside the man. Whether it startled him or not, the human did not flinch, and Barricade's respect went up a notch. At least this man knew how to stand his ground. Whether he had a good reason to do so or not would be known shortly.
"I am John Keller, Secretary of Defense for the United States of America, and I'm here to inform you that the President has agreed to let you onto the base, with a few minor provisions I am sure you will have no qualms in agreeing to."
"Which would be?"
Secretary Keller breathed a silent sigh of relief, glad the Neutral was actually listening to him, not demanding as he had feared. The soldiers must have been exaggerating how forceful the mech had been earlier. "The Autobot's Chief Medical Officer Ratchet must first ensure your weapons are disabled and you will be blindfolded during the walk to medbay, where you will stay for repairs and refueling until you leave the same way you came. Is that allowable?"
"Will you be blindfolding me in the medbay as well?" Barricade felt Jazz bump against him in warning. Perhaps the remark had been unnecessary, but it made the Neutral feel a little better, if that was even possible given the circumstances.
"Of course not," Keller said, keeping his voice even. "I apologize for the inconvenience that has been caused already. I'll be speaking with our liaison later."
"Ah'd be happy t' help," Jazz offered, his hologram all but skipping around their altmodes to join them. "'Hide probably wouldn't mind a shot at him, either. Not metaphorically speaking."
Barricade disagreed, though he kept his thoughts to himself. It was unlikely the weapons specialist would be pleased by this turn of events.
"I'm afraid you'll be busy helping keep the medbay under guard once Ratchet has patched you up," Keller sighed. "Barricade, you are not to leave that building under any circumstances."
"This liaison is responsible for the guards," Barricade deduced, earning a nod from the human.
"Like I said, I'll speak with him, though I doubt it will do the xenophobe much good. Here's Ratchet now."
The medic was brisk and efficient with his task, showing not a flicker of distaste about the thought of patching up someone he had probably shot at millions of times over the past vorns. Once Barricade had transformed, Ratchet checked his weapons, and, satisfied they were off-lined, switched off the Neutral's optics. Barricade feigned a slight sense of unbalance for the benefit of the watching humans, knowing they probably did not understand the complexity of Cybertronian sensors. He did not rely on his optics to move, it was merely a courtesy gesture, and when Ratchet made no move to touch his other sensor arrays, Barricade wondered if this was the medic's way of showing a little trust, or Prime's orders. Most likely the latter. He doubted any of the other Autobots save Jazz would trust him very far, guardian status or not.
While he was thinking about guardians, Barricade considered Bumblebee. Was the yellow Autobot on base as well, or back in Tranquility with his pet? The walk to the medbay was not a short one, and, without the distraction of vision, offered time to process a few thoughts. Most revolved around Katrina, but Barricade also speculated whether being a guardian was the same for all mechs. Was this how Bumblebee felt when his human was in danger? It made Barricade understand a little better the Autobot's determination to protect Sam at all costs. He even entertained the idea that they might share stories about their charges, then dismissed it for the crazy thought it was. The only Autobots who would be spending time with him were Ratchet, Prime and Jazz, and latter was the one mech who might enjoy it. Ratchet was radiating a cold calmness that no doubt hid his anger at having a former enemy in his own medbay, and though Optimus seemed concerned about Katrina's fate, Barricade doubted even the Prime could find it in his spark to forgive the things the Neutral had done under Megatron's command.
Ratchet shut the door behind Jazz with a solid clang, then indicated a berth for the silver mech with one hand while the other flicked Barricade's optics back on with a few prods in the right places. The medic then turned to the Neutral, one of his infamous wrenches in hand.
"Let's get one thing straight," Ratchet growled, and Barricade dimmed his audio receptors, knowing he deserved the rant coming a thousand times over and hoping the wrench would not be adding to the dents in his armor, though he doubted he would get that wish.
"You are not going to mope around my medbay like a prisoner while I patch you up."
"What?" The half-question, half-gasp escaped Barricade's mouth before he could stop it, and he stared at the medic.
"You walked here with your head hanging like a sparkling who's just been slapped for doing something naughty, and I'm going to set you straight on one thing you've no doubt got completely wrong. There's not one Autobot on this island who is going to take a shot at you for what you've done. As a Neutral and a guardian, you've risked a lot to put the past behind you, and no one will dig it out if you want it to stay buried."
"Nice words, but I doubt Ironhide sees it that way," Barricade matter-of-factly.
"If he wants repairs, he'll see things as Prime and I say they are. I'm not saying the majority will want to buddy up like Jazz, but they'll behave. Unless you don't, in which case you've got about a dozen mechs and a few femmes who'll be more than happy to carve you up from the outside in. But judging from your current state, I doubt you want to make trouble."
"No," Barricade said, reduced to single syllable answers while his processor tried to catch up with the medic's words, unable to believe them true.
"I can see you don't believe me, and that's fine. Just had to get that out there so you could wipe that-" he stopped to search for the proper word.
"-hangdog look off yer face," Jazz suggested, grinning at the glare the Neutral sent his way. "He's right, Barricade. They don't hate ya. Well, Ironhide might, and some of the others might hold a grudge, but they'll come 'round when they see how personable ya can be."
Ratchet chuckled and surreptitiously stepped between the two mechs, as Barricade's look had progressed to near thunderous. "All right, settle down, you two. Jazz, I'll have a look at you first. Barricade, any medical information you might have and be willing to share, send to me."
"Yer lucky," Jazz told Barricade as he prepared to be examined by the medic, who was still holding the wrench in a business-like manner. "An Autobot would be sending a data packet of every scratch they ever had."
"Unless I already had it," Ratchet said, amused.
"Ratchet?"
The medic almost dropped his wrench, freezing in his tracks toward a table covered in medical tools and looking down at his feet. "Mikaela? What are you doing here? I thought I gave you a job to do."
"I'm going to take a break," she replied, shooting a suspicious look in Barricade's direction. "How long will he be here?"
"Who do you mean?" Ratchet asked, knowing full well who the girl meant. "Jazz will be ready for duty shortly. I'm not sure about Barricade. How long will you be gone? I could use the help."
"I don't know," she replied brusquely, and disappeared through a human-sized door cut into full-sized medbay door.
"You know," Barricade remarked, "that door looks a lot like-"
"Don't say it," Jazz warned, eying the wrench the medic was hefting.
Barricade didn't notice the movement and foolishly ignored the other mech's warning. "-a dog door that humans install for their pets."
CLANG! The wrench bounced off Barricade's helm and was caught by the medic's practiced hand, then twirled in silent warning. "I'd keep talk like that inside your processor from now on," Ratchet warned. "Humans are uneasy around us enough as it is."
"Not all of us."
"Sam, what are you doing out of bed?" Ratchet demanded, wondering how much the human had heard. Not the entire conversation, fortunately, since he didn't look offended, just cautious at the sight of his old enemy.
"I heard the commotion and figured someone finally knocked some sense into Galloway, or preferably drugged him and hid the body in a closet so you could get Jazz and Barricade off the ship."
"As you can see, we managed to do that, minus the drugging and closet."
"Not that that isn't a good idea," Barricade muttered, surprised by the grin this earned him from the human.
Sam's cheerful look faded immediately, though, his thoughts turned down a more sober line. "I'm sorry about Katrina, Barricade. Prime's going to do everything he can to help get her back, and I swear I'll help any way possible, too. Poor kid..." He had no need to finish that sentence, Barricade's optics dimmed just considering the possibilities of what Katrina might be going through.
"I just hope she doesn't get the slime treatment I did." Sam shuddered, a haunted look in his eyes. "This creepy crab thing stuck a...I don't know, some gross bug-like creature covered in gel into my mouth and it attached to my brain and-"
"That's enough, Sam," Ratchet said sharply, seeing Barricade stiffen. "He's worried enough already, no need for you to be adding to that."
"Sorry," Sam said in a small voice. "Don't worry, Barricade, there's nothing in her mind they'll want."
"No, Megatron will be more interested in what she can do."
"What is that, exactly?" Sam asked. "She has AllSpark power, right?"
"Yes," Ratchet replied. "Not all of it, though, if you are any indication. Prime is probably pondering the dilemma as we speak."
"What dilemma?" Sam asked, half-smiling. "Me coming back to life, him coming back to life, me seeing the Primes or the fact the AllSpark was capable of playing about in my head until I had a map to an ancient weapon of sun destruction?"
"A solar harvester?" Barricade's optics widened with surprise. "I half-believed Prowl was joking about that."
"Prowl? Joke?" Jazz spent the next few minutes rolling on his berth, laughing at this ridiculous idea.
"Yes, a solar harvester," Ratchet said gravely. "Covertly built by the Fallen on a planet inhabited by primitive lifeforms that nonetheless showed enough intelligence that his brothers gave their very lives to protect the sun that still warms this rather ungrateful planet."
"Can't help it if some people don't understand how awesome you guys are," Sam said, sighing. The sigh turned into a cough and Ratchet swooped down at once to scoop the boy up.
"I told you to stay in bed and rest," the medic scolded, setting him down on the nearest flat surface, which happened to be Barricade's berth. "Stay there for the moment, I'm trying to fix Jazz and don't have time to run around after an idiot human who can't follow a simple order."
"Ratchet!" Barricade and Sam said at the same time, edging away from each other. Neither was very comfortable about being this close.
The medic showed no pity. "Count this as your punishment for disobeying orders."
Though Barricade was tempted to ask what he had done to deserve this, he knew there wasn't much he hadn't done at some point during his time as a Decepticon, so kept his mouth shut. Ratchet had been a politician once, and the Neutral could not quite bring himself to believe the mech's earlier words. Perhaps Prime might forgive him, or at least try to forget the wrongs he'd done, but the other Autobots? Not a chance.
"No," Ratchet suddenly said aloud, aiming a wrench at the medbay door just before it opened. The unusual weapon hit its target of a silver helm with a sharp clang. "Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, what are you doing here? I am trying to do repair work. If this is the beginning of another prank, you will be in the brig faster than-"
"We're not stupid," Sunstreaker interrupted the medic. "This isn't the time for pranks."
There was something different about the Autobot, and Barricade felt a momentary satisfaction for helping get the twins back together, even if they were probably planning the mother of all pranks for him at that very moment.
"Thank you," Sideswipe told the Neutral, who almost fell off the berth he sat on in surprise. Sam's jaw dropped to the floor. Even Ratchet seemed a little stunned by this sudden turn of events.
"For what?" asked Barricade, his voice perhaps more brusque than necessary as he steeled himself for the joke to come to its conclusion.
"For helping my brother." Sideswipe swung an arm around Sunstreaker's shoulders and turned to Jazz. "Thank you, too."
"Just doin' my job," Jazz replied cheerfully, shrugging.
"Well, thanks, anyway," Sunstreaker muttered.
"I must be dreaming," Ratchet said, running shallow scans over the twins. "Are you two feeling all right?"
"Just great," they replied in unison with the devilish grins he knew all too well.
"Let us know when the rescue team sets out," Sideswipe added. "We're going. Come on, Sunny, we better fix that paint job of yours before it's time to leave."
"You better fix your own," Sunstreaker retorted. "Silver? What were you thinking?"
Jazz played a burst of the Christmas song "Silver and Gold", then ducked a wrench.
"Don't antagonize them, the last thing we need is one of their infamous pranks of revenge," said Ratchet. "Now hold still while I solder this patch."
Sam sighed, watching the door slide shut behind the twins. "I'm sorry about what happened."
Barricade looked down to find the human really did have a glum look on his face, the truth of his words shining in his worried eyes. "It's not your fault," the Neutral replied, scowling. No, it was his fault for not being vigilant enough.
Sam nodded. "I know, but that doesn't make me any less concerned. However, Katrina's a tough kid. I'm sure she'll be all right until we can get there."
"There is no 'we'," Ratchet snapped, pointing a wrench at the human. "You will not be going anywhere until you heal, certainly not on a rescue mission to Primus knows where."
As the human began to argue about his current health status with the stubborn medic, Barricade dimmed his optics and tried to get a little more recharge. Once he was patched up, there would be little time to rest, because he planned on leaving the moment he had what information he needed, with or without a rescue team.