Chapter Ten
"As demolitions I am usually blowing things up, not waiting for them to arrive at o dark thirty," Brawn commented, peering at the horizon as the sun began rising. Less than half her height, he massed nearly triple her weight in his yellow and brown frame, the reinforced armor made for heavy combat and cyber pulling.
"It's required cross training and sunrises are beautiful here on earth and worth the time spent," Solspark corrected, focusing on the shifting colors of the sky after finishing a rare night patrol. She watched the pink and blues colors forming across the clouds, marveling at the sight.
"This planet is too varied. I miss Cybertron," Gears added, ignored as his usual complaint was heard. The small red and blue mech fiddled with an arm panel, clanging it open and close then open and close again until a glare from the medic stopped him.
"I wish Magnus would miss tangling with Shockwave or we could all still be in recharge," Ratchet noted, watching the forest tree line appearing in the rising daylight. "But when you are a threat you are always a target. As long as he doesn't return next year at this same time injured, creating a yearly pattern."
"An earth year since the Wreckers were here?" Solspark echoed, checking internal system dates. A high priority image flashed, a marker to be remembered for all her existence tied to the date. In less than a quarter joor the reminder would have triggered with her normal waking routine. "A year to the day that Jazz asked me to challenge or deny our relationship as one."
Facing the Ark, she waited for the sight that made her spark race now. A white armored mech who more bounced that walked, moving as though listening to a beat only he heard. Jovial, relaxed and ready for anything he would check the shuttle pad and do his assigned duty no matter the hour of the morning. Even though he had spent half the night talking with her and tracking her path with Teletran One, his duty would be handled. Then Jazz strode into the sunlight, the barest change in his step and the tilting of his visor to the side as he recognized her.
::Happy challenge day!:: Their signals overlapping as they greeted each other on the internal comms. Too far away to see Jazz's expression, Solspark locked down her chuckling least the bots nearby hear it. She had no doubt he knew the date without a reminder. The first month together the roughest for them both, challenges sent to each other but never denied. The other Special Operations mechs more accepting of her role and training than she herself had been. Jazz training her with infinite patience, a trait he stated hard learned from Prowl as Solspark had fumbled through drills to complete or crashing in ways no other bot had even attempted. The blasting of her own frame into Hot Rod to beat an unwinnable contest still a stellar achievement in her processing, an event the others rarely mentioned.
"I don't see any lights or detect interplanetary signals. Are you sure we didn't get up for nothing?" Gears stated, the perpetual whine tone mixed in as he peered skyward.
"Standard Wrecker procedure. Shuttle is running silent, no lights or markers to be tracked. Officially they are still on Cybertron tracking Shockwave's blockade troops," Red Alert explained, standing in for Prowl. The commander was dealing with the fallout from a twins prank and would coordinate later.
"I swear Prime plans this," Jazz's sudden presence startling her. Instead of checking the shuttle pad the mech had snuck up on them, moving directly into her energy range undetected before speaking. "He leaves for missions and puts Prowl in charge leaving me to command the Wreckers. Time to be the official boss bot of the crazy crew. See how long they want me to babysit this time. Catch ya later," he finished before transforming into his IMSA GT Porsche 935 Turbo mode. She watched his racing form until he disappeared inside the Ark entrance, vowing to sneak up on him yet.
The deep rumbling of an interplanetary engine was the only warning as the shuttle descended out of the clouds, a tight descent pattern to its flight path. The shuttle coasted in, the displaced air blowing dust and small rocks to the sides as it touched on the landing pad, its external lights activating to illuminate the area. The hull's battered yellow armor intact but a witness to the violent clashes still happening on Cybertron. Gears and Brawn ran forward, locking the shuttle extensions down.
The loading ramp descended, Ultra Magnus larger frame clearly visible with his distinctive red and blue armor paints on an enormous medical lift. Ratchet and First Aid moved in, securing the lift and double-checking patient stability before moving rapidly past back into the Ark.
Springer and Kup descended next, their movements slow and steady with weapons ready as they checked the area automatically. Solspark approved of their caution if a bit over done as she approached them, waiting for a certain mech to appear.
"Hot Rod!" Her exultant shout had the red and yellow armored bot whipping around on the ramp to wave excitedly back. Laughing, almost running the others over to reach her the young mech grabbed her in a tight hug.
::Sister of my troubles! Still with that dark spark dancing spy?:: Hot Rod sent, releasing her chuckling.
::Smart aft! Jazz is my always. You still chasing that terrifying high grade guzzler femme?:: She sent back, letting his hands wrap around hers.
::If you don't terrify a little bit, then what's the point of being a Wrecker?:: Hot Rod teased, nodding back towards the shuttle ramp as Arcee descended. The pink and white femme waved at them, ducking under the shuttle to open the refueling hatch near the front braces.
Blurr was next off the shuttle, stopping to considering the duo. "Why are they touching? Solspark is with Jazz and Hot Rod is one of us yet those two together create more trouble than all of us combined. Is this going to be more training that is not training but spying and scouting while Magnus is recovering? Is it?"
"You'll understand when you are older Blurr," Springer commented, stretching to ease tight cables locked into his broken propeller struts. Only two of the metal shafts remained, both scored and charred. The green mech was stubbornly upright and walking with injuries, declining assist to keep the focus on Magnus instead.
"I'm older and I understand absolutely nothing about those two," Kup commented, gesturing for them to follow the direction the medical lift had rolled. The aged blue armored warrior had the fewest injuries, having been the one to guard their escape route.
Once landing duties were completed, Arcee and Solspark headed for the personal quarters while discussing their number one problem all the way.
"What did you tell him?" Solspark asked, opening the door to the team's expanded rooms.
"Do not confuse my bad days as a sign of weakness. Those are the days I am fighting my hardest," Arcee answered, scanning the rooms to find any hidden caches. The connected rooms were an improvement for the Operations Team but lacked the comfy destructive feel of the Wrecker's bases, without visible weapons or parts lying around.
"And Hot Rod accepted that?" Solspark quizzed, opening the door to her private quarters with Jazz, sliding two items back inside with her foot that had fallen out when the door opened.
"Why not? Course my blasters pointed at his mid riff plates probably helped. And Springer standing behind me waiting to trounce him into the lower cores if he gave me further trouble helped," she smiled. The clutter inside more familiar, especially half built locks and weapon components.
"I agree. I have no problem admitting when I am wrong. It is being misunderstood that wears my gears. A mech here suggested I was too emotional as a femme to be a specialist. Really? Have you seen a mech lose at a simulator game? It's like processor over heating on coding enhancements when they blow a level and miss a score in a game," Solspark chuckled.
"My answer? The most dangerous femme of all is the one who refuses to rely on your sword to save her because she carries her own. It's not emotions or rank or teams really. It's war and the enemy makes no difference in which of our sparks they shatter. And telling me I can't do something is the same as saying I dare you. Like Jazz assigning me to you," Arcee explained.
"Help me be stronger?"
"You don't need my help with that. No. His reason when I asked was this. Mechs and especially Decepticons see a femme first and her blaster last. When you rip out their spark and show them how wrong they were, I want a femme face to be the last thing they see."
"Jazz," Solspark turned slowly, as if hearing her name called from a distance.
"Yes your spark mech wanna be said that," Arcee teased. "Sols? Hello? Cybertron to Sols?"
"Jazz is in trouble."
"How? He is with Magnus and Prowl safe in the," whatever Arcee would have said lost under the onerous scream of the general alarm. The outer room door lock engaged, clicking audibly into place.
ARK FACILITY OVERRIDE, COMMANDER PROWL. ALL AUTOBTOS PROTECT IN PLACE. STAND BY FOR FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS.
Base lights flickered and failed, the emergency lights steadying as both femmes braced.
SECURITY OVERRIDE, ACTING COMMANDER JAZZ. DO NOT ACCESS MAIN CORRIDOR. MEDICAL EMERGENCY IN PROGRESS.
Solspark cleared the fourth-floor ramp, not even conscious of leaving the room or sprinting up the hallway as Jazz's message blasted across all frequencies. Her left arm blaster lowered into its housing, the blasted door lock already forgotten. What had happened that Prowl was down? And Jazz in command suddenly? What hurt Prowl would hurt Jazz. What hurt Jazz could cripple her and be a threat to them all. Arcee was only a step behind in flight as Hound and Bumblebee joined on the third-floor ramps, snapping at them to return to quarters.
"You aren't!" Arcee challenged, pacing with the taller bot Hound step for step.
"Security overrides activate us automatically. All operations bots respond," he countered.
"And I am assigned to her and she is operations," Arcee pointed to Solspark as she disappeared up the second-floor ramp around the corner into the main hallway.
"Move!" Solspark dove back around narrowly missing being impaled by curved metal as the others slid to a stop by her. Sounds of fighting and yelling had them spreading out against the walls, weapons ready.
"It's Magnus, he's attacking," Solspark warned, crouching low to look around the corner. Arcee crouched over her, tilting to see as Hound stood over them both staring. A med bay door blasted and torn in half lay before them in the hallway, metal parts and tools scattered in the corridor as sounds of heavy treads and yelling moved further away.
COMMAND OVERRIDE, FIRST AID, MEDICAL ASSISTANT. ALL MEDICAL STAFF TO MED BAY, MULTIPLE AUTOBOTS DOWN. FOURTH IN COMMAND TRANSFER INITIATED. CODE 123 E ENGAGED. MAGNUS AT ARK ENTRANCE.
"What is code 123 E?" Arcee asked, seeing their expressions range from startled to grim hardening.
"Out of control leader class or larger size bot. E is for everything meaning a warrior or front-line fighter to assist in take down without offlining or weapon use, full defensive precautions," Bumblebee explained.
"Do you have a code for everything? You couldn't just say help him?" Arcee snapped, running into the corridor after the others, worried about what the earth crew would do to her commander.
"E is for everything," Hound repeated, stepping over a half-embedded power saw in the floor.
"Jazz? Jazz!" Solspark darted inside the room, spotting him slumped against the bottom half of the door like a broken toy that had been tossed away. The saboteur mech hunched on his side, one arm bent backward beyond its rotation and his visor cracked nearly apart. Ratchet and Wheeljack laid unmoving on the center floor by a flattened tool cart bearing plasma damage. Beyond them she spotted Hoist's feet pads past another damaged cabinet and the unmistakable black and white wing door of Prowl by Ratchet's office, too low for the mech to be anything but on the floor prone. Plasma char marks traced across the ceiling and down the wall. "This is impossible. Protocols lock down weapons in this room."
A breeze wrapped around her, a quick dart of blue in the room as Blurr checked for life. "All online, damaged but none critical. Why would Magnus do this? What do we do now? I can't be everywhere at once and who is in charge now to tell us what to do?"
"Blurr, get Ratchet and Prowl online first. We need them as command then other medics to fix Magnus upon capture," she ordered, shifting Jazz onto his back and easing his damaged arm into a more natural gear rotation. The fight raged in her spark to stay and start treating Jazz or help with Magnus before half the base went down or worse.
"I'm sorry but I have to help," Solspark caressed his cracked visor and ran back into the hallway. Passing two more downed mechs she slowed to a walk into the sunlight, stepping over Kup's downed frame lying next to Magnus plasma cannon. Ramhorn pressed against her legs, his rhinoceros horn tip broken off as the red cassette tried protecting her from moving further out. Magnus swayed in the roadway, armor visibly shaking as a long sword slid out into his left hand. Bumblebee and Gears raced in under his legs in their alt modes, roping the sword in an energy net between them and pulling it away. Raging, Magnus stomped a foot their direction, a spiraling chain covered with blades uncoiling from a wrist hatch.
"I got this!" Brawn yelled, his form jumping and spinning into the center of the coiled chain twirling his energon staff sideways to snag the chain free. Then Magnus rotated his head, his optics deepening into dark purple as he flexed his wrist to send the yellow and brown armored mech snapping backwards like the crack of a whip.
"Magnus stop! We are your family!" Arcee yelled, diving flat as Brawn flew past overhead, the mini bot too heavy for her to catch without injury to her systems.
COMMAND OVERRIDE. FIRST AID, ACTING MEDICAL. GET CLEAR! MAGNUS IS UNDER CONTROL OF A DECEPTICON TRANSMUTE VIRUS. HIS SAFETIES ARE OFFLINE!
"How do we stop him?"
"We don't," First Aid stated distractedly while spraying welding powder into Smokescreen's deep gash. "Contain and give him time, his core systems are fighting the berserker cy-virus or he wouldn't be moving. Wheeljack tried to manually engage overrides to be misread as an external attack thereby triggering this! "
"And if Magnus loses the fight? What happens then?" Springer challenged, fearing for his friend as he braced against Hot Rod, the green flyer too injured to continue.
"Primus help us all," Blaster swore, holding his cassette Rewind while trying to patch the spurting energon line exposed mid plate. Steeljaw ran in, the lion shaped cassette holding the patch down with one clawed foot on his teammate.
"We got to," Springer vented hard, a choking sound before wobbling and almost collapsing.
"Okay, you're done. No more fighting," Hot Rod commanded, zapping Springer with his hand stunner and lowering the Wrecker to the pavement. He looked up, weighing options before turning to Solspark. "If Prime were here, he would know what to do. You said once you could stop Grimlock. If you can be a light to his darkness, now is the time."
"I need space," she answered, not sure if it would work. Hot Rod trusted her, without knowing her past or what she carried and that was enough to try.
"Then you shall have it," the warrior mech answered before transforming down and racing out towards Magnus, circling his feet until the huge mech began stomping at him slowly moving forward. Skids joined the circling pattern, his striped blue alt mode racing behind Hot Rod's until a glancing kick sent him flying away.
"Matrix of Peace hear my call. Show us the path, lest we fall," Solspark quoted the ancient request in the language of the Primes, tapping the metal over her spark twice in reverence. She waited, not sure if it would even respond. The Matrix blazed to life, its fierce power flowing through her systems. Externally her optics cycled to pure white, shifting beyond their design.
To her, the virus unleashed within Magnus materializing as a purple monstrosity. The virus ripped through his firewalls, wrapping auto fails and protections in purple lines to effectively strangle any measures to stop it. He was losing control rapidly and knew it as his focus remained on one data grid, not to block but override it with a single command. 'Magnus isn't fighting to kill us but trying to self-offline,' she realized in horror, the pattern clear. A soldier's sacrifice to protect those he loved. The virus would never stop, so the Commander would end the threat by destroying his own spark to save them, even saving another of pulling the trigger and living with his death.
Her first sounds were indistinct, too soft to be heard over the raving and rumbling noises. The sounds rising into a song without words, the melody pure and utterly Cybertronian as it poured out of Solspark. The feeling woven into it of the comforting of a femme to a new sparkling, the peace of a mate, the joy of an old friend seen and felt mixing with the rising of hope on a new day. The mechs in front of her moved aside as she approached, the melody calming them as the Matrix fulfilled its purpose. Blaster kneeled to honor her song as it flowed over them, his cassettes letting her pass by before closing ranks to guard. On the edge of her vison she saw the swirling energy that was Blurr grabbing Skids and pulling him away to safety.
His optics nearly black in color with rage, Ultra Magnus stumbled her direction. The leader class mech towered over her nearly four times her height, massing more than Optimus and utterly dangerous.
"Dion." The name right without an explanation of how she knew it, calling to him. "Dion. The battle is over. Rest brother."
She felt the ground impact as he fell to his knees before the melody, distantly hearing his metal scraping as he swayed trying to reach for her. Magnus groaned trying to resist crushing her until her gentle caress over his battle-scarred plating stilled him as matrix energy transferred. Its control swept through him, cleaning, purging the virus and ultimately the Matrix rejecting him. Not the harsh burn of unworthiness but a refusal. He could carry any of the ancient Matrixes being strong and resolute but never to merge with it. Life meant movement. Growth. And courage, not to run headlong into battle but the quiet strength at the end of the day to try again tomorrow when everything collapsed. Magnus was content in taking orders as a soldier and avoiding opportunities for higher responsibility, a judgment of failure by the Matrix that found him wanting.
'How am I any different?' Solspark processed, not expecting an answer. The vision blazing in purity as it flowed through her as any time the Matrix could have been discarded, forgotten in its weakness. Instead, Solspark kept it next to her spark being protected and nurtured even being allowed to drain energy. A part of her existence. Magnus would have used it, passing to another willingly afterwards to be forgotten in a storage holder, darkened. Another relic of a dying world. Now she called to it to fulfill its purpose of freedom from destruction and the peace to calm a raging spark. The Matrix needed because one with pure intentions had called to it to save another.
"How is she doing that?" Hound asked, seeing Magnus kneeling with her hands touching his as the rage stopped. The commander's dark optics lightened to their normal blazing blue as the melody stopped.
"High frequency communications? Does it matter if it works? Command can sort it out later," Hot Rod bypassed the question, their optics seeing only the physical. He trusted her for having been a Prime and based on his research, she would always be a Prime and that meant the ability to pull off miracles when needed just like Optimus.
::Situation is contained. All personnel released to assist wounded. Medics will verify then we can transport Magnus back to med bay. Code 123 E CANCELLED:: First Aid sent wide signal.
Magnus lay on his front, head turned to the side and Arcee touching him as First Aid and Inferno rapidly checked him over. The assembled Autobots encircled them, waiting to assist. None noticed Hot Rod escort Solspark away to a side entrance, guiding because her optics were shut tight to hide the white alteration.
"Turn in here Sols. Pit stop in the storeroom," Hot Rod said, swinging her to the left. Sounds of a door opening, sound echoing back in a small space and the door shutting audible to her confirming their location.
"Why? Jazz needs help. He's down in med bay and I left him," Solspark protested, stumbling but unable to break free of Hot Rod's stronger grip.
"Others are taking care of him and the wounded. You need to reset your optics. Then we can move but not before, I am not risking you," Hot Rod instructed.
"I can't. I don't know how, I didn't," she sputtered, opening them wide to blazing purity.
"Easy Sols, calm down and try."
"I am trying. The emergency reset isn't working!" She snapped, closing them tight and trying all she knew medically to override. "I need time."
"We don't have time right now," Hot Rod warned before deciding. "My lady Prime, forgive me."
Solspark had a second to pull away, something in his formal tone a warning before the full stun blast hit hard, dropping her system into a holding stasis. Hot Rod caught her effortlessly, swinging Solspark up in his arms. A hologram formed around them both, shifting them into Springer and Arcee in his arms with a broken foot pad.
The walk to the private quarters only challenged once by Seaspray, the blue mini bot backing down with the quick answer Wreckers took care of their own and med bay was packed. Laying Solspark on her own bunk triggered the hologram to dissolve as Hot Rod arranged her comfortably, resting his hand over her spark armor. "I hope Jazz recognizes the rare treasure you are. Worth ten of any one of us. Arcee will be here to guard shortly. Your secrets are safe my Prime."
Solspark failing to answer Jazz's comm calls when he roused created a moment of panic before her tracking signal echoed back in their quarters. His last memory of her touching him, unable to stop her a sub routine to be handled later. As soon as the medics were busy with another patient he left, his arm in a sling for Solspark was more important than repairs. The other Wreckers were in disarray with the events and refusing to leave Magnus, giving Jazz time before needing to resume command. A quick review of cameras as Acting SIC filled him in on events. Discovering Hot Rod was mixed up in it upgraded the young Wrecker from 'annoying' to 'dangerous' as camera replay showed him leading Solspark away. A slicer code and the file footage of everything after the shuttle arrival wiped itself then the cameras went into install reset mode to prevent backup retrievals from any of them. The Wreckers wouldn't care, and no trace of the activities would be digitally stored away for later review and the events forgotten as time passed.
As Jazz descended to their fifth-floor quarters, the usually jovial mech was unsmiling. He ordered Arcee out into the hallway, needing to verify Solspark's status alone. Jazz stared at his challenge sworn mate, letting his specialized systems scan down to her protoform and decided. He needed answers that could not be spoken or seen with scans alone. Connector cables extended out from his wrist, layered safety protocols engaging around his spark as he braced himself for what he might find.
Linking directly into Solspark's system for the first time, he blew past her innermost fire walls before realizing it. 'Unrestricted - Full access,' flashed across his visor display. Nothing was blocked within her to him and Jazz stopped. Only Prowl had ever granted him the same access, never used but there. A gesture of faith in the mech when Jazz had none in himself out of his past and now her.
Disconnecting, he sat next to her wondering why she had done so. It left Solspark not only incredibly vulnerable to any harm if he wished it but also allowed him to see and relive anything of her past. No matter how hidden, painful or locked the event Jazz could access it repeatedly and she had never told him, releasing access the day she challenged him with a mailbox message. The fact Solspark had granted him full access was enough for him without probing. Touching helms to express his silent gratitude, Jazz snarled as sophisticated sensors echoed the stun blast from Hot Rod, easily traceable with the close contact. 'Time to interrogate and possibly a last time he was seen walk,' Jazz processed, resuming control of a situation that had spiraled out quickly from the morning.
A touch on his arm focused him back as Solspark stirred, her light blue optics opening. The radiant smile on her face when recognizing him erased any doubts she loved him. Her concern and fear over the sling and spare visor soothed his running processes, even as he reassured her. "Docs will fix me right up. A cog here, an adjustment there and my rock and roll will be rolling."
"Do we have any high grade around?" She asked, sitting up with his help and struggling weakly.
"Why?"
"Because of that slagging bit brain dim spark," Solspark swore fervently. "Rod hit me with a stunner and dumped me here. I need an energy boost to override the effects. Then I am so going to kick his aft into high orbit. And return what's left to the Arcee for jewelry."
"Need to get in line sweet spark," Jazz said before processing, holding her close. Her feistiness a welcome improvement.
"Why? What else has he done?"
"Nothing. No rocket launches without prior approval, forms in triplicate," he chuckled temporizing, hiding his concerns. "You need rest not be overcharging. I will take time with you later however, high grade included."
"I'm always resting. Optimus is a Prime and never recharges. How does he do it?" She challenged even as she relaxed out by his good arm, systems cycling down.
"The Matrix of Leadership does not draw on his systems but enhanced him the first time. It gives wisdom and stores our history as well as knowledge of each Prime before him. The rest is his spark strength and sense of purpose. I've seen him fight past red lining, giving us hope when we had forgotten what it felt like," Jazz explained, his working hand tracing across her helm and down across her features and neck lines to reassure. His intimate touch over sensitive plating easing his system as her energy overlays calmed, Solspark fully trusting the mech that now realized how deep her trust in him ran.
"The Matrix didn't draw on me this time, actually helped. I'm slagged from the stun ray. Too close to my medical locks," she explained, her words getting softer with each one. Jazz watched her slip into recharge before ordering Arcee to block any visitors without Prowl and his approval or Optimus Prime's.
"Where are you going?"
"To a funeral," Jazz answered, locking his arm as movement triggered pain.
"Whose?" Arcee asked, not sure if he was serious with his lack of expression.
"Haven't decided yet."
Inside the break room, Hot Rod sat at the farthest table back reviewing the ancient files on his datapad. "Not many can sneak up on me,' he greeted Jazz, noting the arm sling before gesturing at the chair across the table. A tap of his fingers and the file on former Primes closed, encryptions sealing it tight to his specific energy signature. He turned the datapad upside down, as if challenging the Ark's best spy to find out what was on it.
"What is Solspark to you?" Jazz asked bluntly, Hot Rod's status one wrong answer from being 'removable' instead of 'dangerous' as he confronted him.
"Sister of my spark."
"Meaning?"
"We tease and irritate each other. I stand by her, offering advice on problems she struggles with. She helps me with situations I get into. We share experiences without judgment on what we have done or should have done and are there for each other. If she falls, I pick her up once I'm done laughing. If I fall, it's her doing, or Arcee's. I love her but not as a mech to a femme. And if you break her spark, there will be no place in this universe you can hide from me and the wrath I will bring to you," Hot Rod warned, standing to reinforce his greater height and frame build.
Jazz glared, tempted to snap his spare visor up to reveal full optics but didn't as he stood. "You are only missing if they never find the frame youngling. Do not threaten me. I have offlined for a lesser insult to my honor than you questioning my commitment to Solspark. As my mate, she is everything to me. You are nothing."
"I do so love these spark to spark family discussions," Kup commented in a dry tone, drawing their attention to the Wrecker team standing in the doorway, the Ark Ops team standing ahead of them by the wall. Minus Solspark, Arcee and Magnus. Most of the mechs were damaged and showed signs of temporary repairs but they were present and upright.
"If you two are done threatening to tear each other apart," Springer began, the vehemence of revenge in his voice clear. "We got a lead on the virus source. Are you up for the hunt?"
To be continued…
Author's Notes: Thank you for the reviews and continued reading. When Jazz overrode med bay protocols, Prowl said Ultra Magnus had the double overrides too instead of Prime. Used here when his systems activated under the virus to allow Magnus blaster and combat systems inside the room. Roll out and transform for battle!