Disclaimer:Transformers belongs to Hasbro, Takara, etc . The only thing in this that belongs to me is Arcee's sister.
Bumblebee and Bulkhead were walking through the Arctic also known as the North Pole, tracking a signal on a scanner and and moved direction, when Bumblebee buzzed, Bulkhead looked at the scanner, "No, we're not there yet, but it should be just past this ridge, Bumblebee." They walked towards a ridge formed wall that was made of ice and slid down the ridge "I don't get it," he said as he looked at the scanner again, "these readings are off the meter." Bumblebee looked to his left and buzzed and tapped Bulkhead's hand, they walked towards a huge pod buried in ice.
At the Autobot base, after getting the pod out of the ice, Ratchet was checking Bumblebee and Bulkhead's systems with a cable connected to their chests.
"I told you Doc, we're fine," Bulkhead said after sighing as he disconnected the cable from his chest.
"The only way to be certain you're fine, Bulkhead, is to endure standard defrosting procedure," Ratchet told him, "You know prolonged exposure to sub-zero conditions can cause permanent system damage."
Optimus and the twin sisters approached the medic, "Ratchet, have you learned anything more about our arctic find?" Optimus asked him.
"Not yet," Ratchet said, approaching the Cybertronian computer system, "the pod can't be opened while it's frozen solid."
Meanwhile somewhere else in the base, ice from the pod started to drop water as the ice was thawing, the pod was cracking open from the inside, by a claw from the inside.
Back with the Autobots, the next day, in the main room, Ratchet goes to the Ground Bridge controls and chose the destination before pulling the switch down, activating the Ground Bridge portal, "Arcee, Chromette and I will search for any clue which might explain our arctic find," Optimus said as he and the twins walked in front of the ground bridge portal.
"Only until your sensors sound," Ratchet told them, using a device which beeped after he touched it, "Remember, once your core temperature drops into the blue zone, system failures aren't likely, they're imminent." The Medic went on, as the three autobots, insignias beeped and flashed blue for a second.
Suddenly they heard engines of Bumblebee and Bulkhead enter the base, "Miss us Doc bot?" Miko asked as she got out of Bulkhead's alternate mode and both Raf and Jack exited Bumblebee's alternate mode.
"Shouldn't they be in school?" Ratchet asked after groaning.
"On Saturday?" Miko asked as Bulkhead and Bumblebee transformed, "We have the whole weekend off to spend with you." She explained.
Jack approached Arcee, "I wasn't expecting to carpool. What gives, Arcee?"
"Tag team, Jack," she said approaching him, "it's my turn for exploration duty, Chromette's coming along with me."
"Oh, too bad," Jack said, "It's a beautiful day for a ride. Would hate for you to feel guilty for leaving me indoors."
"Arctic exploration duty," she explained.
"Indoors where it's warm," he said walking away.
Raf approaches the three autobots, "The arctic? I've always wanted to see snow."
"I would invite you to join, Rafael, but the conditions are much too extreme, even for we Autobots."
"I…understand," Raf said, knowing that he wouldn't handle the temperature at the North Pole, without special gear.
"We might bring a snowball for you," Chromette said.
"That would be awesome," he told them, the three autobots then walked through the Ground Bridge to the arctic.
"Transport complete," Ratchet said, then suddenly the Ground Bridge turned itself off as the electricity crackles from the controls, "By the Allspark!"
The three humans walked up the stairs, approached Bumblebee and Bulkhead, "So what do you guys think we should do today?" Miko asked them.
Bumblebee buzzed a reply and made a gesture of using a game controller, "Video game tournament! Last one standing wins!" Raf said as they approached a couch, with a table and tv nearby.
"Bulkhead, Bumblebee!" Ratchet called, "Here now!" Bumblebee buzzed at Raf as he and Bulkhead walked away from the humans towards ratchet, Raf tried to pick a controller from the table only for Miko to beat him to it. He gasps, as she sat on the couch with Jack and Raf.
"Prepare to be destroyed," she said, handing a controller to Jack.
"Yeah, not really my thing, Miko," Jack told her.
"Oh, scared of losing? To a girl?" She asked him by taunting him.
He sighs, "Bring it!" He grabs the controller.
"No Mercy," she said as the same racing game, Bumblebee and Raf were playing that one day inside his alternate mode.
Jack looks towards Raf, "hey, Raf…" he said, "you want to take on Miko for me?"
"Nah," he said getting off the couch, "I have stuff to do." He walked away.
Bumblebee and Bulkhead approached Ratchet as he was trying to operate the Ground Bridge, with the switch, which wasn't responding. "You can't boss us around just because the boss is out," Bulkhead said.
"I need some heavy lifting. The Ground Bridge is down," the medic explained. Bumblebee buzzed, worried about Optimus and the twins. "Optimus, Arcee and Chromette made it through just fine." He turned around to look at the two autobots, "It's bringing them back that concerns me. Now remove those panels, chop-chop," He finished as he made a gesture of chopping off one of his hands.
Raf was wandering in one of the bases corridors, playing 'being in the arctic' as he made imitating wind blowing sound, had his arms outwards as if wind was blowing at him, "Temperatures sub-zero and dropping," he said, "got to… get back… to base!" He said, pretending to make a straining sound.
He stopped as he heard the sound of metal clanking, he spotted a bolt, walks towards it and picks it up. Suddenly he hears the sound of metal clinking from above, he hears more of the same sound, "Hello?" He called before hearing a loud clanging sound from behind, which startles him and he gasps. He looks around before walking backwards and suddenly falls down on his chest.
He regained his posture and saw a tiny, cute, metal critter in front of him, which looked at him. He freaked out and fell onto his butt, he chuckles as the critter approaches him, "Where did you come from?" He stood up, and laughs a little, "the autobots, never said anything about pets." He took out the bolt, the critter jumped as it saw the bolt and ran in a circle. Raf then threw it across the corridor, playing fetch with the critter, "Good boy," he said chuckling, "Go get it!"
The critter chased after the bolt, jumped and ate the bolt, making a whirring sound as it did so. "No! Don't eat that! You're gonna choke!" The critter turned around, revealing that it was okay, and ran towards him, "Or… Not." The critter rubbed against his leg lovingly. They soon walked out of the corridor to the main room unaware that there's a sparking hole in the equipment behind him.
Jack and Miko were playing the racing game, "Ah, come on. Come on. You want some?" Jack said as he was beating Miko at the game, the car Miko was controlling crashed, causing Jack to win, who stood up, "In… your… face!"
Ugh," Miko said, making a gesture with her hand, ignoring what he said when suddenly the lights flickered as the power turned off by itself for a split second.
"Whoa! What the…?!" Jack said as the lights flashed on and off. "Great. Power failure."
"Aw, it wiped out our game," Miko said, noticing that there was static on the TV, got off the couch and threw the controller back at the crunch as she walked away.
"But," Jack said, scoffing "I was winning!" He walks away with her.
"Bummer," she said.
Meanwhile Ratchet was digging up the Ground Bridge motherboard components when he finds one that is sparkling with electricity, he sighs as he takes it out as he saw that it was damaged with bite-marks. "We most definitely have a problem. But what could have caused this?"
The lights flickered again, "Or that?" Bulkhead added.
"Might be the main grid," Ratchet surmised, hopefully it isn't a substation malfunction."
"Hey, guys. Look what I found," Raf said walking into the room, holding the metal critter in his arms.
"We're busy!" Ratchet said before seeing the critter and screams as he freaks out in fear as he sees the critter.
All three autobots backed away as they see the critter with fear, knowing what the critter was. "Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" Bulkhead said, activating his blaster, Bumblebee did the same aiming them at the critter.
"Hey, hey! What is with you guys" Miko said, backing up towards Raf with Jack, making a gesture with both her arms called 'Jazz hands'.
"Scraplet! Scraplet!" Bulkhead explained with fear.
"What's a Scraplet?" Raf asked them.
"The most dangerous vermin to ever to crawl upon the face of cybertron," Ratchet explained.
"The humans looked at the Scraplet, with confusion, "This?" Jack scoffed, gesturing at the Scraplet. "Are you kidding me?"
"You're giant robots," Miko said, agreeing with Jack, before gesturing toward the Scraplet, "Scrappy here is… Tenny."
"You have no idea of the damage that teeny thing can do!" Bulkhead retorted.
"Aw, he wouldn't hurt anything," Raf said and the Scraplet looked at the autobots, it sees them with vision that's a combination of heat-seeking and metal detection before leaping out of his arms, opened it's mouth with a whirring sound.
Bulkhead tries to blast the Scraplet with his blaster a few time, Bumblebee did the same, they missed as it jumped onto Bumblebee's left leg. He falls down on the floor as the Scraplet begins to chow down on his leg, he tried to grab it with his right hand, which the Scraplet began to chow down on, a few seconds later, he flung the Scraplet toward the Autobot insignia on the middle of the floor. The Scraplet began to ran back towards him, when Raf suddenly picked up a crowbar and began to beat the Scraplet to death with it.
After killing the Scraplet, Jack grabbed the crowbar as Raf was about to git the dead Scraplet again, "Woah, Easy there, killer."
Raf pants, before gasping "Whoa. I did not see that Coming," Miko said as Raf ran towards the autobots.
"I'm sorry, Bumblebee," Raf said approaching his guardian, who was being checked over by Ratchet. Bumblebee buzzed a reply. "Is he gonna be okay?"
"Only a mesh wound," Ratchet said, "he'll live."
"Now do you believe me?" Bulkhead asked the humans, "All scraplets do is dismantle machinery and eat anything metal, especially living metal."
"Well, bug squashed, game over, right?" Jack asked as he and Miko approached them.
"No," Ratchet answered, "When it comes to Scraplets there's never just one. And I fear I know how they got in here."
The Autobots and humans went to the room where they put the giant pod they found in the Arctic, buried in ice. They saw that the ice was thawing as Water continued to drip from the pod.
"It's a trap," Ratchet said as he has his welding tool out using it as a flashlight, "A Scraplet trap."
"Uh, an empty Scraplet trap," Bulkhead noted.
"Most likely ejected into space eons ago, only to wind up in the Arctic, where the temperature kept them in stasis."
"Until we brought the thaw," Jack added.
"Now they're wide awake and ready to brunch," Miko said holding a pipe wrench.
"So…how many are we talking about?" Raf asked, holding the crowbar that he used to kill the Scraplet.
"Thousands," Ratchet answered, he deactivated his tool, as his hand reappeared on his right wrist. "And the power malfunctions and Ground Bridge damage are sure signs that their infestation is well underway."
Meanwhile in the Arctic, Optimus was climbing down a wall of Ice when suddenly his insignia, on his shoulder flashed and beeped, telling him that his core temperature has dropped into the danger zone. He touched his comlink, "Arcee, Chromette, what's your status?" He said asking the twins if their core temperature has dropped yet.
From above the wall, was about to Arcee to climb down the wall when her insignia on her small wings, on her back, started to flash and beep, "My sensors going off," she said, activating her comlink. "Guess we should call for pickup before things get chilly."
Chromette, who was behind her sister, suddenly heard her sensor beep from her insignia which was on small wings on her back much like her sister, "Mine's going off as well," she said, "I agree with you sis, we need to contact base before we freeze our circuit up."
"Optimus to base, core temperature readings have reached the blue zone. Prepare to activate Ground Bridge." He said, trying to contact their base but all he got was static hissing and looked away knowing that something was going on there.
Back at base in the main room Ratchet was standing at the Cybertronian computer system, trying to contact them, the face of Arcee was on the left monitor, Optimus's face was on the monitor in the middle and Chromette's face was on the right.
"Ratchet to Optimus, Do you read me?" Ratchet said as the monitors flickered, "We have a situation." He walked away, turning around knowing that they couldn't contact Optimus nor the twins, "The Scraplets have gotten into the com-link system! If we don't eradicate these creatures immediately, they will reduce the entire base to a scrap heap!"
"I say we bug out of here and let them keep it!" Bulkhead suggested, Bumblebee buzzed and nod agreeing with Bulkhead's suggestion.
"Evacuation is not an option. If we don't get the Ground Bridge back online stat, Optimus, Arcee and Chromette will perish," Ratchet told them.
"They...will?" Jack asked.
Miko walked towards Bulkhead and looked at him, "Bulkhead, you never run!"
"Miko, you haven't seen a swarm of these things devour a bot. I have. They pick you apart from the inside out, going for the small juicy bits first, fuse by fuse, circuit by circuit, till there's nothing left, and I mean nothing...Not even your optics."
Miko looked at Jack and Raf, when Jack approached them, "You have to let us help."
"We're not made of metal," Raf agreed.
Miko looked back at Bulkhead, "Yeah. The Scraplets can't hurt us."
"Typically, I find your fleshiness to be your least engaging quality…" Ratchet said with his right arm holding his chin for a second, "But it would appear to provide an advantage under these extremes."
"Okay, Good. So we pair off, one bot, one human," Jack said, "I'll help your back while you repair the Ground Bridge."
"And we go on a bug hunt," Miko said pointing at Bulkhead.
"Oh, boy," Bulkhead said as Bumblebee buzzed.
Meanwhile back in the Arctic, Optimus, Arcee and Chromette were traveling through the harsh arctic weather, "Optimus to base," Optimus said, touching his comlink, "Do you read?" Suddenly Arcee and Chromette fell to the ground as he got the same static hissing he received before.
He approaches them and helped them back into their feet, "Are you sure a nice long drive wouldn't help?" Arcee asked the Prime. "I hear Miami's beautiful this time of year."
"I don't think that's a good idea, Sis," Chromette told her twin.
"Your sister is correct," Optimus told the blue femme, "The nearest temperate climate is too distant, Arcee. Attempting to reach it would expend too much energy and hasten the freezing process." He added as the three of them were slowly freezing, "Until Ratchet sends for us, and he will, our best option would be to seek shelter and insulate ourselves."
Back at base, Miko and Bulkhead we're walking down the corridor where Raf found the Scraplet, with his blaster activated and holding a cybertronian flashlight in his other hand aiming it in all directions. "I get to be your bodyguard for once," Miko said, "How cool is that?!"
"Raf found the first one here, right?" Bulkhead asked, when suddenly the lights turned off and he screamed like a little girl.
She turned around and looked at him, "Did you just scream like a little girl?" She asked him.
"No!" He said, "Maybe. Can we talk about this later?"
She shrugged as she walked forward, they walked through the corridor and soon he heard clinking sounds from above the ceiling, he points his blaster and flashlight at where the sound came from only to see nothing there.
"Take 'er easy, Bulkhead," she said. "Just stay focused. Everything's gonna be…" she was stopped in mid sentence as Bulkhead heard another clinking sound but on his left this time and fires his blaster up at where he heard the sound come from, then at the other side and then shot up at the ceiling above him. He started screaming as a bunch of cables fell onto him.
Miko ran a bit and turned around and saw him screaming as he played with the cables, thinking the cables were scraplets. "Okay. Wish I hadn't seen that." She said to herself, before calling him, "Bulkhead, you're fine. It's just a bunch of cables." As she said that he stopped.
"Oh. Right. Cables," he said chuckling before pulling one of the cables off and Scraplets began to fall and he screams again in fear.
Meanwhile with Bumblebee and Raf were walking down another corridor and Bumblebee bent one of his knees down and buzzed. "Don't these things ever stop eating?" Raf asked before walking forward and Bumblebee follows him, soon he looked behind for a second fore walking towards him at a fan duct and ripped off the cover which had been chewed up a little, they soon heard a clinking sound and looked behind at a hole that looked like a rectangular sewer manhole, a few seconds later Scraplets began to appear from the manhole and went to approach Bumblebee and fires his blaster at them, trying to evade getting bitten by them.
In the main room of the base, Jack was walking around near Ratchet as the medic was repairing the ground bridge,"How's it going over there?" He asked the medic.
"I've repaired the damaged conductors and rerouted the central conduits, but the ground bridge still won't receive power!" The Medic said before pounding the floor.
Jack then hears clinking sounds and turns around, he looked up toward a vent and saw Scraplets around it, they soon saw Ratchet and began flying toward the Autobot, "They fly?! You never said they could fly!"
The Scraplets reached the medic and began chomping down on him as he screams in fear. "Ratchet!" Jack called out as he ran towards the medic and began to swing a baton at the Scraplets that are on the medic.
"The fire extinguisher," Ratchet told Jack, pointing next to the stairs, he grabbed it and began using it to freeze the scraplets on Ratchet, he falls to his chest.
Both Bulkhead and Bumblebee came in with their human partners, with a little chowed down on, "Ratchet, get the patch kit," Bulkhead said, "We're leaking energon like…" he said before noticing the Scraplets flying in mid-air.
The scraplets then saw bulkhead and Bumblebee, flew towards them, while Bumblebee tried to shoot them with his blaster. "Eat this!" Bulkhead said as he slammed his mace at Scraplets, suddenly Scraplets got on his left hand and he screamed as more flew towards him while Raf and Miko went to help their guardian with the tools they had with them, while Jack continues to use the fire extinguisher on Scraplets that were on Ratchet. Scraplets continued to swarm onto bulkhead who was grunting in pain.
Back in the Arctic, Optimus and the twins were on the ground, when Optimus noticed Arcee had her eyes closed, "Arcee, wake up," he told the blue femme.
"She groans as she opens her eyes, "just resting my eyes," she explained.
"Don't be harsh, on her, Optimus," Chromette said.
"The longer we stay alert, the longer we stay alive," the prime explained to the twins.
"What do you suggest?" Arcee asked him before thinking of something, "Wait. How about we play a game? Let's play 'Who screwed things up back at base?'"
"Good idea, Sis," Chromette told her sister.
"Our predicament could be the result of a simple malfunction," he suggested.
"Caused by bulkhead," Arcee said, "Let's see. No com-link. Maybe even no power."
"Good eyes, sis," Chromette told her.
"Thanks, chrome, the big lug probably tripped over a cord. He's never been too graceful," Arcee said, "Remember when the both of us first arrived here on Earth with Cliffjumper and Bulkhead walked into those power lines?" She chuckled "Who knew he could dance like that?"
Chromette chuckled as she recalled Bulkhead walking into power lines, three years ago, "that was so hilarious, that I almost spilled an oil leak that day."
"Bulkhead may be… too large for this world, but his inner strength is without bounds. One should not be measured by size alone."
"Agreed," Chromette told him.
Back at base, Jack finished freezing the remaining Scraplets with the fire extinguisher while Raf and Miko beated them to death with the tools they had in their hands. The three Autobots sat on the floor groaning in pain.
"We get them all?" Jack asked when they suddenly heard more whirring in the distance, in multiple locations.
"Hardly," Ratchet replied, "These we're just scouts."
Bumblebee buzzed and pounded his head on the ground, "So, the rest of them know we're in here?" Bulkhead asked.
"And if we allow ourselves to become their next meal, Optimus and the twins will never make it home," Ratchet said, "We must get the Ground Bridge operational."
"Then we can use it to send the scraplets anywhere on Earth," Raf said, realizing what he was getting at.
"why not back to the arctic?" Jack asked, and lifted the fire extinguisher up, "We already know they don't do cold."
"Sweet!" Miko said, "One-stop shopping."
"Given the body mass of the Scraplets, sub-zero temperature should freeze them on contact," Ratchet agreed. "So think Ratchet. Think! If the Ground Bridge is still down, there must be a breach in the energon fuel line."
Bumblebee then buzzed before falling back to the ground, "If we weren't breaching, one of us could get back over there and fix it." Bulkhead said.
"Where do we find it?" Jack asked.
"And how do we fix it?" Raf asked.
Jack held a tool kit as he Raf and Miko walked past Scraplets, heading towards the energon fuel line to repair it. "Remember, we're okay," Jack told Raf and Miko "We're not metal." He soon saw liquified energon spilling out of a fuel line from below, "There's the breach. Come on." He set the toolkit down as he approached the fuel line, "We have to work fast."
Meanwhile back in the main room, Bulkhead was wondering should they send the Scraplets back first or bring Optimus and the twins back first, "So if we get… when we get the Ground Bridge open, do we send the creepy-crawlies out or bring our bots in?"
"Optimus and the twins will be fresh meat," Ratchet told him, "If we bring them in first, the scraplets will have no reason to leave. We'll need bait."
"Where are we gonna get bait?!" Bulkhead asked him. "The Scraplets already helped themselves to everything in here!"
Jack had a mask over his eyes as he welded the fuel line together after repairing it, when the Scraplets in the room suddenly flew out of the room. "They're getting ready to feed!" Raf said.
The scraplets flew into the main room from multiple locations, with the Autobots looking in fear. Hoping they won't spot them.
Back in the Arctic, Arcee was panting, "You know the worst part?" Arcee asked Optimus and her twin, "After battling 'Cons all these years, getting smacked down, shot at, blown up, this is how our lights go out?" She said as she bemoans the frozen death that awaits them.
"I agree, Sis," Chromette said, "I was kind of hoping for something more heroic. But at least we're going together."
"Arcee, Chromette, this may not be the finish, that we had planned, but if this is indeed the end, If we are to become one with the Allspark…" Optimus said as Arcee puts her left hand onto Optimus's palm, who closed his hand, Chromette did the same with her sister.
"It's been an hour serving with you, Optimus Prime," Arcee told the prime, looking at him for a second before turning to Chromette, "You too Sis, I love you. I always will even if we join the well, I will still love you."
"Same, Sis I will always love you, no matter what," Chromette said to her sister before looking at the Prime, "Like Arcee said, it's been an honor serving with you as well, Optimus Prime."
Back in the main room of the base, the humans ran in, "Ratchet, all systems go!" Jack said.
"Fire it up!" Miko added.
Ratchet groans as he stands up, places his hand on the ground bridge control switch, "Ground Bridge…" he said weakly "activated," he then fell on the floor.
Back in the Arctic, the Ground Bridge portal appeared across from Optimus and the twins.
Bulkhead knew he had to be the bait as both the autobots autobots in the room were currently incompacitated and the Scraplets above them caused a beam to fall beside him, "Bait huh?" He started waving at them, the scraplets saw him, "Ready for the main course?" They opened their mouths, "Come and get it!" The scraplets began to chase him as he walked through the portal, Ratchet, pushed Bumblebee down, so the Scraplets don't see either of them while Bulkhead lured the Scraplets back to the Arctic, the scraplets bit onto him as he went further into the portal, before jumping through the portal.
In the Arctic, Optimus and the twins stood up, grunting as they walked towards the portal, they soon fell to their knees.
Suddenly Bulkhead came through, "Down! Down!" He ordered before falling to the ground, the scraplets, saw Optimus and the twins and opened their mouths as they saw the three autobots and Optimus took a battle position as he saw them. As the Scraplets approached them they froze up solid, falling behind them after tapping on them.
"I'd invite you in, but the place is a mess," Bulkhead told the three autobots, who were near death. Optimus and the twins looked at each other after seeing the scraplets.
Later back at base, after being defrosted, the twins layed on Cybertronian beds, as they were being defrosted Optimus sat next to Ratchet, who was being supervised by Jack while the others that were getting eaten by the scraplets were being supervised by Raf and Miko.
"Report Bio-circuitry status," Ratchet told Jack.
"Levels are Rising." He answered.
"Excellent," the medic said. Before turning to the humans, "Rafael, keep a close watch on Bumblebee's electro-pulse monitor. Miko, check Bulkhead's interface patch."
"It's steady," Raf said.
"Looking good," Miko said.
"Perhaps you should get some rest yourself, old friend," Optimus told Ratchet, "You saved quite a few lives today."
"It… wasn't all my doing," Ratchet told the prime, looking at the humans. "We're just fortunate that this infestation happened... on a Saturday."
"Our human friends may be small," Optimus told him "but they are strong."
Suddenly Miko screamed, Raf picked up the crowbar and Jack picked up the baton as they heard her scream. "Scraplet?!" Jack asked her.
"Spider!" She explained telling them that she has arachnophobia, "Is it on me?!" She ran away shrieking with everyone but Bumblebee and the twins watching her. "Ahh! Get off!
"Did she just scream like a little girl?" Bulkhead asked.
Next is Con Job
Please review and if you do please type it in English, my native and only language, so I don't have to use google translate. If you are also wondering, Chrome is a nickname for Chromette.