Chapter Ten
Firestorm led his overly-excited Sparklings to the Predacon and Ancient History Museum. When they arrived, Firestorm paid the needed fee before the family entered the museum. Smokescreen pointed out the older fossils while Silverdust was much more interested in the newer.
"Carrier, Carrier can we see the Golden Age stuff first?" Silverdust begged.
"No! The Predacon stuff, the Predacon stuff!" Smokescreen demanded.
Firestorm chuckled and led his year-old Sparklings toward a bench.
"How about this, if you two stay together you can wonder off and explore by yourselves. But on the condition that you stay in optic-sight"
"KAY!"
The two ran off, both excited.
Firestorm's soft smile turned into a frown and he turned, magenta optics narrow.
"Cosmic, haven't seen you since you and your siblings kidnapped me and were gonna eat my Sparklings" the young Assassin hissed, anger in his tone.
"Firestorm, I've come to warn you-"
"Do you honestly believe I'll believe a word you say" the mech cut in, his optics blazing in silent fury.
"Sunburst, the doctor who discovered you had two, is a part of the Unicon Gang" Cosmic explained quickly,"we have reason to believe he wants your Sparklings. You cannot let them out of your sight"
Firestorm rolled his optics and turned his helm to find his children. They were both standing in front of the Turbo-fox bones.
"Sunburst is a good doctor, he will never hurt another, mostly due to his Medical Coding" the mech defended as he returned his gaze to the femme.
"You are so naïve Firestorm, Sunburst is no longer a medic or under Medical Coding ever since he went on a rampage and killed half the staff, including three Sparked femmes and he stole almost all the Sparklings!" Cosmic snapped.
Firestorm stared in shock before bringing up the news on his HUB; "a groon (month) ago Doctor Sunburst went insane and killed many nurses and patients, he had taken recharging Sparklings from the incubation room-"
Firestorm stared in shock at the amount of bodies littering the halls.
"Told you" Cosmic smirked, "are you gonna keep an optic on your Sparklings or not?"
"I will, but why'd you warn me? Last time we met you tried to eat my Sparklings"
Cosmics optics lowered and she closed them, "I apologize for that; however, I never harmed a Sparkling in my life. That sin is mostly the mechs and a few femme's in our group. It is their belief that if they eat Newly Sparked Sparklings than Primus would grant them Sparklings of their own."
"That's messed up" Firestorm murmured before turning and looking for his Sparklings again.
"It is" Cosmic turned and left.
Firestrom found his Sparklings excitedly running towards him.
"Carrier, Carrier! We saw the giant bones of a Predacon and the first vehicular form of a Cybertronian!"
"Really? That's great news!"
The two yearlings than proceeded in grabbing Firestorms servos and dragging him around, pointing out random objects.
-Autobot HQ-
Nightshade watched as Ratchet typed on the Main computer. He didn't get any answers from the medic on how he knew he was Nightshade.
'What are you hiding medic?'
Alarms went off and the Autobot team gathered.
"I'm detecting a large spike of energy from the dark side of the moon" Ratchet reported, "from what I can tell the energy is related to that of a Space Bridge"
Soon the medic was transporting the other Autobots, Nightshade and Moonlasher to the Spacebridge coordinates. Jack, Miko and Raf watched as their partners left before Miko looked at Ratchet who was keeping an optic on his teammate's vitals.
-Decepticon Warship-
Megatron ordered his fleet to attack the Autobots on the Spacebridge. He had Airachnid take command.
Megatron landed on the top of the Nemesis and allowed the Dark Energon to flow through him as he ordered his undead army to come through the gate. He proceeded in flying to the bridge to encounter the Autobots.
He transformed and landed before laughing, "you Autobots are wise to retreat while they have the chance"
-Underneath the Space Bridge-
As Arcee followed Ratchets instructions, the other Autobots covered her. Megatron came and attacked. Darkshadow and Moonlasher purposefully missed their attacks while Bee and Bulkhead tried to hit the con leader. Megatron dodged the attacks and shot at the femme tampering with his Spacebridge. He hit the ground closest to her and she got flung back and fell unconsciouse.
The Spacebridge began to explode causing the Autobots to make a run for it. They spotted their Groundbridge and jumped, Bumblebee catching Arcee on the way.
-Top of the Spacebridge-
Megatron reached for his army when the Spacebridge exploded.
-Autobot HQ-
Excruciating pain tore through Ratchets chest and he couldn't help the pained gasp from escaping as he leaned against the computer consol. The pain slowly dulled and left a throbbing emptiness in its wake.
"Ratchet? Are you okay?"
The medic looked at the three humans and forced himself to stand up straight and give them a convincing smile.
"I'm fine"
They didn't look convinced.
The Autobots began entering the base then.
'Saved by the bridge' the medic thought and he froze, staring in shock when Bee came in holding Arcee.
"Primus, please not another" the medic whispered as Jack walked over to his partner.
"Arcee" the boy said mournfully.
"Really Jack? There are other motorcycles out there" Arcee joked as she onlined her optics.
"But none of them are you" Jack smiled.
Bumblebee helped the femme to her pedes and Ratchet quickly scanned her before telling her she was lucky and sending her to her quarters to recharge. After the others got examined by the medic, he sent them to recharge as well.
Ratchet entered his room and closed his optics. His bond with his Carrier was still intact, the bond with his Twin was still strong, the bond with his two Sparklings was intact. The bond with his Sire was shattered.
-Decepticon Warship-
Airachnid stalked into the Main Control Room and pinned Starscream to the wall.
"What did you do?!" the femme cried, her optics blazing with rage, "Why DID You Pull OUT?!"
"Lady Airachnid... we all would have died if we had stayed" the Seeker gasped out.
"You could have waited for him!" the femme screeched, tears sliding down her metal cheeks, "I ORDERED us to STAY!"
"He... wouldn't have wanted you to die this way my lady!" Starscream forced out, "he would have wanted you to protect Nightshade and Silverdust and get revenge for Firestorm"
Airachnid dropped the high-heeled con and dropped to her knee plating, covering her face with her servos and cried.
"Take her to her quarters" the Seeker ordered the nearest Vehicon.
The Vehicon gently helped the distraught femme up and took her out of the Command Center.
-3 Weeks Later-
Ratchet was experimenting with lots of different wavelength frequencies when he pinpointed an Autobot emergency beacon and the Nemesis.
"Optimus, you won't believe this but I've just pinpointed the location of the Decepticon Warship. As well as an Autobot emergency beacon"
"The Decepticons can wait, there may be Autobots in distress. Ratchet bring your medical kit"
Ratchet grabbed his kit and they were about to leave when Nightshade volunteered to go with the medic. Optimus agreed. Ratchet activated the Groundbridge and the two brothers went through.