Here's another "past" chapter, and here comes someone surprising!
Sari watched Optimus as the smaller (though still taller than she was) bot paced. "I don't know what to do Ratchet," he said.
Ratchet, sitting down as he examined Prowl again, sighed. "There's nothing we can do. Bumblebee is a sparkling now, with no memory of his time as an adult mech." Bumblebee had woken up like that, no memory, but he was a pretty calm baby, at least.
"Is that going to happen to all of you?" Sari asked in a small voice. Bumblebee and Bulkhead were sitting nearby, Bulkhead paying attention, Bumblebee playing with a spare metal rod.
"I don't know," Ratchet said as he looked at Sari. "If it does… Prime, we need to contact Cybertron. We need help."
Optimus glanced at Bumblebee, and nodded. "Ratchet, Prowl, I need the two of you to help me set up a message… just in case. We'll record it, then trigger the emergency beacon. Command will be less likely to listen to Sentinel's…"
"How he tries to keep you from getting help, Prime, and slanders you every chance he gets," Ratchet interrupted.
"Ratchet is right," Prowl added. "But yes, the emergency beacon will be more likely to work."
"What if they still don't come here?" Sari asked.
Optimus sighed. "Well. The beacon is on a general frequency. There are others who might receive it and come find us."
"By others," Prowl said. "He means the Decepticons."
Sari clenched her fists. "But they'll just kill you!"
"No," Bulkhead said. "They won't."
Sari looked over at him.
"No Cybertronian would kill sparklings, no matter what faction," Ratchet said. "Not on purpose. They might end up collateral damage during war, but no sane mech ever targeted sparklings. The ones that did were targeted in turn. Even Megatron went after Sparkling Killers."
"What would they do if the Decepticons found us?"
Optimus shook his head. "I don't know," he said quietly. "I can hope, but I don't know." He raised his head. "Ratchet, are you done with Prowl?"
"I'm not getting anything useful," Ratchet grumped. "But yes."
"Good. Sari, Bulkhead, you two stay with Bumblebee. Prowl, Ratchet, let's make that recording."
Agent Blurr froze as he picked up the emergency beacon. He'd been ordered to observe, and not break cover, but an emergency beacon like that one would override his orders.
He made a quick turn and sped toward the warehouse the other Autobots used as a base. As he did, he tried to contact Cybertron.
Sentinel Prime was the one to answer, and he tried very hard not to groan. "Sentinel-Prime-Sir," he started. "I-have-picked-up-an-emergency-beacon. It-is-the-Earth-Team's."
Sentinel snorted. "Ignore it," he ordered. "Optimus is a lying exaggerator who needs to stop using up Autobot resources for no reason."
"But-sir, no-Autobot-uses-this-beacon-unless-they-really-need-help."
"Agent Blurr, you have your orders. Optimus Prime does not need help, and if he does, he's exaggerating how much help he actually needs."
Sentinel cut the contact without another word, and Blurr shuddered.
He sped along the streets around the warehouse for nearly a day as he worried. They weren't supposed to do this. Autobots weren't supposed to…
He couldn't fool himself. Despite all the pretty shiny words the Elite Guard and the Council spoke about being team members and never leaving someone behind, they were the first to forget about other Autobots.
Blurr was an Intelligence Agent, and he'd seen enough of the dark side of Cybertron to know that Autobots weren't the saints they pretended to be.
And yet, he couldn't justify leaving his fellow Autobots alone to face whatever they were facing.
He'd talk to Longarm Prime afterwards, he'd be able to keep him from trouble.
Blurr spun to a stop right outside the warehouse door and transformed. He was vented hard and then nodded. He might be tanking his career with this, but it was what he had to do to be able to live with himself.
He opened the door and stepped in. Carefully, he slowed his words as much as he could. "Optimus Prime?" He called out. "I'm Agent Blurr of Autobot Intelligence. What is wrong?"
A little human- the femme sparkling the maintenance team had befriended- darted out and stared up at him. "They're this way," she said after she found his Autobot insignia.
"What-has-happened?" he asked.
She blinked at him, like most being taking a moment to understand his words. "The Allspark did something," she said as she brought him to an area outfitted with medical devices. An area where there were five sparklings in the Earth Team's colors.
Blurr stopped dead in shock.
Three of the sparklings- the ones that looked like the Prime, the medic, and the cyber-ninja looked up as he entered, and all three relaxed. The other two didn't react to his entrance.
"Thank Primus," the Optimus Prime colored sparkling said. "Agent Blurr, right?"
"Yes-sir," Blurr said. "Um."
"I am still Optimus Prime," the little sparkling said. "For now. But I have quite the story for you. How long before the rest of your team gets here? I only want to go over it once."
Blurr winced. "I… I-went-against-orders," he said. "Sentinel-Prime-told-me-to ignore-your-beacon."
The medic groaned. "Blasted… I'm going to shove a wrench up his exhaust pipe," he growled.
Optimus Prime merely sighed and nodded. He didn't look terribly surprised, merely incredibly sad. It was a strange expression to see on a sparkling. "Then sit down, Agent," he said wearily. "Let me tell you what's going on."
Yep! It's Blurr! Is anyone surprised that Megatron isn't the one to find them first?
Well, once he knows what's wrong, he'll let his superiors know what's going on, and then they'll send someone to rescue the Earth Team.
...
Longarm Prime will obviously be more help then Sentinel.
...
Right?
...
Right?
