Fallout: Apocalypse
Chapter 47
By Nan00k

The battle is over and the survivors catch their breath. Thanks, shantastic!

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Warnings: character death, foul language, violence, disturbing imagery and discussion, religious ideological discussions, theoretical science, and original characters
Disclaimer: Transformers © Dreamworks/Hasbro. The original characters found in this story were created explicitly for this story.


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Over the Atlantic Ocean

The battle for China had ended before Jazz and Thundercracker made it back to Wiesbaden Army Airfield. In fact, they were still sitting on the side of the road waiting for transportation when the when the drone-induced static had finally faded from the atmostphere and Ironhide spent several minutes on the comm. expressing his sore disappointment that he'd missed the gestalt battle in Afghanistan. That was the first time Jazz had heard that combiner teams had landed, but he was glad to hear that "the situation was contained" almost everywhere. He hadn't had any direct communication with combatants in South America or Afghanistan yet, but the events of the past day had left him with a positive attitude.

He was content with the thought that he and his mate were walking (limping) away from the most deadly battle of their lives, alive and together. They were leaving the piles and piles of dead drones that littered the German countryside, traveling back to WAAF to catch a flight stateside. Prowl wanted their help tracking down the fleeing Decepticon air force; the Seekers had beaten a hasty retreat once word of Galvatron and the Fallen's mutual deaths had spread.

When they reached the airfield Jazz found Lennox giving orders from a gurney. He had taken shrapnel to the leg, so he was temporarily grounded, but he had commandeered a couple of orderlies from Major Young, and was using them to arrange transportation and housing for his teams in Europe. He was insistent that Jazz and Thundercracker get stateside to see to their family. Barns was alright, and had gratefully gone ahead; he had also been anxious to get home to make sure the loved ones they had left at Plumas were alright.

Thundercracker had been injured severely enough that he and Jazz had been obliged to simply sit in the middle of Wiesbaden and wait for Hoist to come and make repairs, especially to his legs and neck. Given the fact that he'd faced off against the Fallen alone, he was lucky to be alive; once he had realized what was going on, Jazz had been terrified he wouldn't get to him in time. The bond had made it better, and worse; the fear had been nearly paralyzing, but the connection had ultimately saved their lives and the lives of everyone else too. Thundercracker had kept his wits about him, warning Jazz about the presence of the Fallen and giving him the idea that the mech could be killed by using his own weapon. That had made Jazz's apparently self-imposed mission—to somehow find a way to kill the Fallen—that much easier.

"Have I ever told you I loved you?" Jazz asked conversationally as they walked—or in Thundercracker's case limped, hobbled and stumbled—across the tarmac.

As he dragged himself along, it was clear that Thundercracker was too tired to joke and too tired to snap back at him. Jazz could feel a different sort of irritation prickling from Thundercracker's exhausted spark, and knew the questions were coming. He was glad they at least made it to the plane and had a chance to sit down before hashing this out.

There was no way Thundercracker could fly back on his own, so Lennox had arranged for them both to ride on one of the NEST planes. Fitting him into the cargo hold would have been hilarious if it wasn't so clearly painful for the Seeker. Without the aid of transformation, it would have been impossible, but after a lot of rearranging of the contents of the plane, they somehow managed to fit the giant blue Seeker into a C-5M carrier.

Jazz was too tired to laugh at the scene, but some of the humans did look curious about why he was giggling over nothing while squeezing in beside his bondmate. He thought they'd forgive him; everyone had the right to be a little gleeful in the aftermath of their victory.

It was only after Thundercracker had rolled up as far as he could into the aircraft and it had taken off that the two of them were able to talk. Jazz knew the jet had plenty of questions. Even if he was exhausted, Jazz would make the effort to answer him.

"You knew," Thundercracker began, "that by killing the Fallen, we'd kill all the drones."

He didn't sound accusatory, or angry. If anything, there was faint disbelief ringing in his voice. Jazz grinned and sat down next to the transformed jet.

"Starscream's intel gave us that much," he explained with a shrug. "Somethin' in it mentioned how the drones rely, relied, on residual spark power from th' Fallen 'imself. Like a big echoin' chain. That's how he controlled 'em from a distance. All through feelings, I guess. Sorta like a bond."

That made sense, since the drones seemed to have a hive mind. Kill one of them, another knew it, felt it, acted to replace it. But nothing could replace the queen of the hive. There was never a "queen" drone. Just… the Fallen.

"Whatever it was, we reasoned that if we could take out th' big guy, the little guys just wouldn't work no more," he told Thundercracker out loud. "One big hive mind without its leader. Either they'd keel over all t'gether, or they wouldn't be able t' work. Either way it worked fer us."

Thundercracker rumbled lowly. "What else did you know?" he asked, now a little bit defensive, possibly upset at being kept out of the loop.

There were a lot of things Jazz would know and act on that Thundercracker and the rest of their family would never be allowed to know. It was part of the job. But some things, he reasoned, everybody deserved to know. Especially Thundercracker.

"Prowl told Skyfire t' tell Soundwave that some of us were gonna be in Germany." Jazz laughed weakly. "Soundwave apparently fed Galvatron some bullshit about how we were all gonna be there…"

"How did you know that the Fallen was going to hunt us down?" Thundercracker asked quickly.

Jazz remembered that day (was it only a few days ago? Really?) when Prowl had turned to him for assistance. Because he knew Jazz would always be willing to take on a mission like this when it mattered most. Prowl knew him, knew that no matter what world he hailed from, Jazz would take the risk to win.

"Well… we didn't. But it was a good guess," Jazz offered. He chuckled at Thundercracker's low grumble and patted his side before continuing. "With that new bit of info about how the Fallen attacked Perceptor's crew on the Galaxus, Prowl figured that the Fallen was gonna be lookin' into whatever else was usin' his gamma ray tricks. One o' th' last messages Galvatron sent to th' Fallen that Starscream had downloaded was about Vortex' story." His smile grew strained. "Good fragging luck on our part this worked."

Luck, luck, luck. It was almost terribly unfair how it had worked for them, after all that planning. He couldn't complain about the outcome, though.

"Indeed," Thundercracker said. His tail fins went down slightly. "So besides making us bait… he entrusted you to figure out how to kill the Fallen if he showed up?"

Jazz paused and then nodded. "Yup."

The jet was probably sending him a long look of astonishment. The wave of emotion that Jazz felt over the bond confirmed it. "…That's insane," he accused.

"Hey, it worked." Jazz grinned and rested his helm against the jet's side. "I'm an insane, lucky son of o' bitch, what can I say? The Autobots know how t' pick 'em."

Thundercracker rumbled darkly. "You're definitely crazy." The rush of affection, exasperation and relief that accompanied his statement made Jazz smile through his own exhaustion.

He wanted to offline right there in the safety of closeness with his mate, with the battle rush long gone from his systems. Instead of sleeping, he called a new number he had picked up only a few days previous. It was on his speed dial, of course, and now always would be.

Rachel picked up after a handful of seconds. Jazz tried to picture her fumbling with the controls in the back of another plane, or perhaps even Vortex. He liked that image. It meant she was still alive and well enough to answer him.

::Hey, Rach,:: he said.

There was a pause. "Hey," she replied.

Jazz shuttered his visor and reveled in the sound of her voice. ::How you doin', baby girl?:: he asked. His whole frame was shaking, though he knew it was simply from exertion.

"Fine. Vortex is fine, too. Blue's gonna need Ratchet's tender loving care, but he's not critical or anything." Rachel was quiet for a moment. "You? TC?"

::We're good.:: Jazz let his helm rest on Thundercracker's shoulder plating, mindful of the damages there. The jet was practically in recharge.

Rachel started to speak, but stopped. Jazz gave her time, curling up more.

"I'm glad," Rachel said, voice breaking.

Jazz smiled.

::Me, too, Rach.::

"When are you coming home?" Rachel asked, trying to sound stronger than she was feeling.

Home. Home. Jazz hid a laugh. ::Me an' TC are on the flight over. Barns should be ahead by an hour or two.::

"We're almost to California. We had to help with the drones, but we have to get back because Bluestreak was injured."

Worry fought the tiredness. ::How bad?::

"He's fine," Rachel replied. "Just knocked in the head."

::Good. Ratchet'll fix him once they get back from China. I heard they made out good there,:: Jazz said. He imagined seeing their group back together, all safe. ::Any word from the others?::

"Everyone's alive. Don't know in what shape, but Prowl forwarded to our team that everyone's okay." Rachel sniffed. "We're okay."

Jazz curled up as far as he could against Thundercracker.

::We're okay,:: he echoed in promise.

For the first time, it was a promise he felt vaguely certain he could keep.

0000

Dover Air Force Base
Dover, Delaware, United States

Her body ached. Her head was pounding. She felt like she could sleep for days on end. Somehow though, Kass managed to get off the plane she had flown on from Afghanistan and stumble in the direction the soldiers directed her. She had spent most of the return flight patching up Hot Rod, who had lost his entire left leg, but after sealing any leaks, he was stuck that way until Ratchet could look at him.

They were refueling on the East Coast before taking another four-hour journey back to California. Kass wondered if she could find somewhere to take a nap on the plane; she was almost in a daze when she looked out at the air base. So many soldiers. The noise was only a murmur, thankfully.

Before she had the chance to ask for water, or somewhere to sit, her daze was evaporated when she heard someone call her name. Kass turned and gasped when she saw Barns running across part of the airfield in worn army fatigues, but thankfully very much alive and well.

"Barns!" she exclaimed, astonished. She rushed forward and held her arms out. Oh—he was okay!

Barns accepted the hug warmly. "You are okay?" he asked, moving back to look her over. He looked concerned. "You have burns…"

Kass couldn't help but laugh, a little hysterically. "Not a scratch on me otherwise. You?" she asked. He seemed okay, other than a few scratches and bags under his eyes. She glanced behind him at the plane he had arrived on. "Where are Jazz and TC?"

"They were on another flight. They're fine." Barns paused and took a breath. He shook his head a little. "Jazz killed the Fallen."

All at once, her relief over her friends being alright was replaced with shock.

She… didn't even know what to say.

"…Really?" she asked.

Barns told her what Jazz and Thundercracker had told him—that they had encountered the Fallen in Germany and somehow managed to use the Fallen's own weapon against him. His death had triggered the deactivation of the drones.

They had… won. Not just against the Decepticons.

They had beaten the drones, at long, long last.

Kass had literally nothing to say to that. She was still struggling to understand the fact that she had survived a battle on her own back in Kandahar. Her friends were okay. The Decepticons were on the run. The Hyperion was damaged, but the Nemesis was in ruins, according to one of the soldiers she had heard talking.

They had not lost.

They had won.

Barns was also in a state of shock, so the two of them sat together silently waiting for someone to tell them where to go. Kass stared out at the busy scene and wondered just when life would make sense again.

They were on board another plane in less than an hour. They landed in an airport somewhere in California, but not the Los Angeles International. That had been devastated by the battle for Los Angeles and the entire south half of the city was still beating down fires and handling stray 'Cons. Kass had expected to wait around awkwardly for another long hour before being shuffled off to Plumas, or some other base, but there were distractions at this airport. Very good distractions.

Barns saw them first. He grabbed hold of Kass' shoulder. "Kass… look," he said.

She followed his line of sight to the other side of the airplane hangar they were in and a gasp strangled in her throat. "Bluestreak!"

Both humans ran across the open floor toward the Praxian, who was seated against some cargo containers. He was alone; Vortex and Rachel weren't in sight. There was a NEST soldier with a magazine lounging next to the mech as if simply keeping Bluestreak company; it wasn't a face Kass recognized. Still, she felt a shrill sense of relief and joy just being able to see her mech friend.

However, the relief faded slightly when she noticed he did not get up to greet her. He was covered in scratches and burn marks. Part of his chest seemed caved in and his optics were dimmer than they should have been. He still recognized them and waved in a jerky, disconnected way. The soldier looked up finally and nodded at both Barns and Kass.

"Bluestreak?" Kass asked the moment she was able to slide to a stop in front of him. Barns was peering around, looking for any others. Where were Vortex and Rachel? How badly was Bluestreak injured?

Despite seeming to be unable to move or get up, Bluestreak visibly cheered when she went over and touched his side tentatively. "K-a-ass," he said, in a hissing voice.

Kass froze, and next to her, Barns' jaw dropped. She stared up at her friend in alarm. He sounded like there was something wrong with his vocalizer, but his throat was in tact. What—why was his voice like that? Why were his eyes still dim?

Before she even had the chance to demand answers, or find a soldier who could get her access to Ratchet, Bluestreak seemed to hear his own voice and he winced.

"S-sorry," he offered. He raised a stiff arm and pointed at his throat. "Ca-an't talk tha-a-at well."

Kass could barely keep a tremble from her limbs. "What happened?" she asked, looking over at the soldier seated near him.

"Cortex destabilization, or something, they said," the soldier replied. She shrugged. "The other two didn't know how to explain it, I guess. He's not in danger of dying." Bluestreak nodded in the same jerky motions.

It took her a moment, but the definition finally crawled into her panicking mind. "Oh… his processors can't connect to certain parts of his frame correctly," she said, recalling the vague condition from one of Ratchet's hasty rants. Thank goodness she had paid attention that day. She looked up at Bluestreak and tried to be positive. "It's fixable, don't worry."

They could handle something like this. Well, Ratchet could. She would never dare touch the inner-workings of a mech's cortex, even if she were the only one available to help. Bluestreak wasn't in danger from that in a non-battle situation, after all. She might be able to fix his exterior injuries, she considered.

Bluestreak tried to lift his hand to her, so she moved closer to help. "Y-you're o-kay," the gray mech stammered. He was far too calm; he probably couldn't express what he was feeling inside. Kass smiled in understanding.

"Yes. I'm okay, Blue," she said. She patted his forearm gently. "Other than this, are you okay?"

"Y-es," he replied.

Barns grinned, relieved as well. "Rachel? Vortex?" They weren't nearby, which was a little alarming.

Bluestreak's doorwing that was still intact twitched. "Ra-achel's get-ting food. Vortex-ex went wi-ith her," he explained, trying to turn to the right to show which direction they'd gone in.

"I'll go get them," Barns offered, moving away already. Kass nodded and decided to remain with Bluestreak. Oh, it was so good to see him. The idea of seeing Rachel and Vortex again was almost hysteria-inducing.

The soldier got up and gave them space, thankfully. Kass scooted the chair so that she could sit closer to Bluestreak, but was unable to rest and found herself fidgeting. She wanted to move, and yet she was exhausted. She wanted to go find the others, but she didn't want to leave Bluestreak alone. Bluestreak was either too tired to move, or he couldn't due to his injuries. Both remained next to each other in silence. It was the kind of silence neither disliked; Kass was just overjoyed she could finally be close to him again.

She wondered how much he had heard. NEST was still fighting to keep their lines up, but the most important pieces of intel had obviously gotten through.

"They say the Fallen is dead," Kass said, looking up at her friend. Trying to imagine Jazz killing that bogeyman was difficult to take in.

Bluestreak's optics glowed brighter. "Y-es."

"And Galvatron." Kass swallowed hard. "They're both dead."

The mech beside her paused. "Th-the dr-o-ones?" he asked.

Kass stared at the floor. "…Dead," she finally said, nodding her head stiffly.

The word resounded again and again inside her mind, until it was more like an echo of a whisper. She was unable to look up. All of her focus was drawn to a void, where the impossibility of their situation had finally broken down the rational pessimism that had always grounded her.

They had really won. They really, truly had.

"…Ka-a-ss?" Bluestreak asked quietly, watching her with concern.

Kass shook her head and didn't reply. After nearly forty hours of chaos, it was now that she had the chance to reflect. There was much to think about.

But thoughts of war faded in importance when she had the time to think back to where they had all come from. To think about what this victory had actually meant.

She thought of her parents. Her brother. Her friends, her friends' families, seven billion souls in another world—

This was for you.

Leaning her head against her friend, Kass cried, in grief and a hollow sense of relief.

This was for you.

0000

Edwards Air Force Base
Edwards, California

Thundercracker had fallen into recharge during the flight, but he jolted awake when they landed and Jazz urged him to get up. It took a moment to shut off his battle protocols, but the fear of a fight died instantly when they disembarked and he realized they had a welcoming party.

Rachel greeted them first and Thundercracker could barely withstand the onslaught of emotions that hit him when they were able to embrace her. She was physically fine and did her best not to cry.

"Good job," he told her. She smiled and hugged his hand. Thundercracker gripped her as much as he could to reciprocate. He nodded to Vortex, thankful for the mech keeping her safe all that time.

It wasn't just Rachel and Vortex that were waiting there for them. Barns had also arrived and beside him were Kass and Bluestreak. Hugs were exchanged and Jazz was quickly overwhelmed with questions ("did you guys really kill him?"). Thundercracker was grateful when everyone was distracted by the noisy arrival of the remaining half of their family.

Flying off of Arcee, Danny was the first of the arriving trio to run toward them in front of the unfamiliar hangar. Kass laughed and waved at the excited woman as she barreled their way.

"Danny!" Barns shouted. Elated, he opened his arms just in time to accept her hug, swinging her partially in the air.

"Guys!" Danny was yelling. She hugged him tightly, though she spoke to everyone. "Oh, guys! You're okay!"

"We're all okay," Kass told her, laughing again when Danny flung into her arms too.

Nearly as fast, Wildrider had transformed. His appearance was shocking, considering that the last time Thundercracker had seen the red-and-black mech he had been on a medical berth, but Wildrider wasted no time in hurrying over. He didn't seem to know where to look first as he glanced around their circle.

"Leetle Rachel! Kass!" Wildrider grabbed both women and clutched them close to his chestplates in a way that made Thundercracker smile. "О, ятак рад,что вы в безопасности!" He crouched lower to get close to Barns as well. "Barns!"

Arcee came up last and nodded at both Thundercracker and Jazz. "It is good to see you all," she said. She bent down to embrace Barns lightly. "All of you."

Jazz had known that they had run into trouble at Plumas, but he hadn't heard that Wildrider had again defied fate and gotten into the fray with the drones. Arcee seemed unhappy about it, but she did admit he had done an excellent job. They all had, apparently. Sam Witwicky and his other human friend had helped in the fight, too.

"Miles? Really?" Kass asked, astonished.

Rachel scoffed. "He's my uncle, remember?" Jazz laughed loudly at that.

They would be staying at the base overnight. It was nearly nine at that point. Thundercracker thought the traveling had worn them down even more than the fighting. The humans stumbled off to get a shower (Kass was very adamant that sand was now officially the most offensive substance on Earth) and the mechs were left to share an informal debriefing.

"How'd the drones go down South?" Jazz asked as he sat down gingerly. Everyone needed a thorough check-up when Ratchet arrived. Bluestreak had first dibs, however.

"Killed a lot, plus some mechs," Vortex replied. He reached over and knocked Bluestreak gently on the helm, making the gunner wince a little. Vortex was astonishingly lighthearted about it, which made Thundercracker pause. "And this boltbrain decided to let a building fall on him."

"I-I didn't d-do it on pur-pose," Bluestreak complained. He fidgeted uncomfortably, even when Wildrider whined and curled up next to him. "Ra-atch-et will fix i-it."

"He will," Jazz assured him. He grinned at both mechs. "Good job, guys. You did great."

They all had their successes. By the time the humans got back (soaking wet because they didn't want to spend unnecessary time away from the others), Thundercracker was seated in awe.

So much had happened. It was a little unbelievable.

Rachel was still trying to dry her hair with a towel. "Kass took down a Gestalt team, Jazz took out the Fallen, Prime killed Galvatron, and Vortex is badass," she said, voice muffled until she finally looked up at the rest of them. "Like, I can honestly say I wasn't expecting any of that, except the last one."

Kass smiled sheepishly as she buttoned up a warmer shirt. Even here in LA, it was cold out at night. "I just helped… it wasn't like I actually fought Devastator by myself…"

"Still." Rachel held a crushed bottle of water boldly in the air, wearing one of her rare grins. "Our family—the most badass family on Earth."

That earned more than a few similar smirks. "Cheers," Barns agreed, and those who had drinks raised them.

Thundercracker saw Danny grow quiet first. She had listened to the story of what happened to their enemies without question, but there was a clear unease in her eyes once everyone settled down more and there was enough silence to be able to reflect.

"So…what does this all mean?" Danny asked, causing many of the others to look at her in surprise.

There was a pause. "Ve von?" Wildrider offered, optics narrowing.

Arcee looked at Jazz quickly. "Really?" she asked, in a voice quieter than normal.

Vortex also hesitated. "Won… the war?" he added, sounding incredulous.

It would have been crazy to suggest that just one battle, after so many eons of fighting, would be enough to end the fighting once and for all, but… that had not been an ordinary battle. Thundercracker looked around their group and realized no one was sure.

Danny licked her lips and seemed to think it all over inside her head. She picked at the hem of her jacket.

"…I think we did," she said. She looked up at the silver mech closest to her. "Jazz?"

Jazz looked like a deer caught in headlights, a phrase Goddard had once used. "I…" the saboteur began, hesitating. He looked utterly lost. "I don't know. I have no idea."

"Well, it's a start," Kass offered. She smiled at the rest of their friends. "A very good start." Barns nodded, and even the more uneasy members of their group seemed reassured.

Their confidence was enough to make Thundercracker smile and want nothing more than to settle down with them all. They had earned this quiet, this peace. Even if their hopes were too high, and the fighting recommenced tomorrow, at least for now…

Jazz's spark was alive with unrest. Thundercracker looked over at his mate and saw how far away Jazz's gaze was, even as their friends talked quietly about their next plans, which pretty much could only be to get real answers from NEST about what they had to do next. Kass began to work on repairing the basic injuries the mechs had sustained, starting with Vortex. Barns told them about his job in Germany. Arcee made them laugh over her horror at allowing Starscream to help them in Plumas, and Wildrider filled in with useless details of his own fight. Jazz ignored them all, but not intentionally.

Thundercracker rumbled lowly and touched Jazz's shoulder. The light touch made Jazz flinch. Their optics met and Thundercracker still couldn't get a good read on what was causing Jazz's distress.

With the ease of a spring, Jazz uncoiled from the ground. He ignored Rachel's concern and walked away on unsteady feet from the group. Thundercracker nodded at their friends and got up to follow him, knowing that he needed space and having everyone crowd him now would be bad.

It hurt to move and he could barely walk on his injured leg, but Thundercracker made sure he hobbled toward Jazz, who had stopped short of the hangar door. The smaller mech was looking out at the airfield that still buzzed with military movement.

Further away, there were stars that gleamed down. Thundercracker took a moment to look at the late December sky and that grounded him.

"Jazz?" he finally asked, closing the distance between them.

Stiff-jointed, Jazz turned and looked up at the Seeker with a wide-optic'd, frightened expression. For a moment, he seemed speechless.

"…I don't know what to do," the silver mech said. He shook his helm slowly, sounding so much smaller than he actually was. "I don't know what to do next, TC."

Did any of them? They had never had a future. There was never a point in planning life after the war, or after the apocalypse, because those events had never granted them an opportunity to consider a future without death.

With gentle hands, Thundercracker drew Jazz closer and stared down at his bondmate.

"Good," the jet said. He dared to smile faintly. "That's a good thing, Jazz."

It meant they had the choice to decide for themselves. No orders from officers, no death warrants handed to them by monsters or enemies.

Just… them. Them, and their family.

The choice was finally theirs.

Jazz embraced him and Thundercracker shuttered his optics. He reveled in that assuredness. For the first time in a long, long time, he was granted the chance to be at peace with those he cared for.

This was the beginning of everything.

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End Chapter 47.


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It ain't over yet, kiddies. Time to wrap up some loose ends.