Dke78883\\hdke - - - ERRORsourcec\\eunown
44—9/ff
SYSTEMS FAILURE
His bed? Well-read? Unsaid?
SYSTEMS FAILURE
"He's dead."
Arcee's voice was barely audible in the cramped passenger area of the white Autobot shuttle. She clutched the hand of her mangled companion tightly, almost trying to will her remaining reserves of Energon to flow into him.
"He's dead, isn't he?" she repeated to the unknown Autobot opposite her, a red and blue microscope who had helped her onboard, even as she and Springer carried the charred, hissing, spluttering, almost bisected form of Blurr between them. Arcee did not notice the fluids leaking from nearly half a dozen wounds on her battered form, she cared only for her friend, and was losing her temper at the microscope, even as it examined Blurr's huge wounds and the Energon gushing freely from the numerous wounds on Blurr.
The microscope transformed back into robot mode, increasing in size as he did so.
"What is your name?" he enquired. His voice was soft and polite.
"Arcee."
"Well Arcee, your friend is not dead, but you don't need me to tell you he's been badly injured. His condition is critical. I need you to tell me, as best as you can, exactly what happened to him. Can you do that?"
Faint hope stirred in Arcee's spark. She remembered Kup talking about some miracle medic the Autobots had on board the Ark.
"Are you Ratchet?" she asked, her optics gleaming momentarily.
"Alas no," he responded, albeit not unkindly. "My name is Perceptor, I'm going to get Skyfire to open a direct channel to Ratchet back at the Ark and we'll be able to get the medibay prepared for your arrival. All of you."
As he mentioned the others Perceptor gestured to the other members of Arcee's squad, littered around the cramped cargo recess within the Autobot transport. Kup and Hot Rod were unconscious, beaten into submission by Soundwave and his cassettes. Springer sat in the corner quietly his knees tucked under his chin. A few scrapes aside, he seemed fine, and had surprisingly held his own in single combat with the imposing Astrotrain. Perceptor spoke again.
"Now can you please tell me how these wounds were inflicted?"
Arcee nodded and began to recount the story of their battle on the asteroid they had so recently been rescued from.
"We'd been pinned down for a while, and then Kup and Hot Rod moved to intercept Soundwave. Blurr was using hit-and-run tactics while we covered him, but I got struck from behind by one of the flying cassettes. Ramjet got a hold of him and held him hostage. I don't think he realised we couldn't hear him in the vacuum of space, and that Soundwave was still jamming transmissions. Whatever threat or demand he made, we didn't hear it, but Springer and I dropped our guns. Then he just fired straight through his chest anyway! He kept firing while Blurr fell, that's why half his face is missing."
"What happened then?" Perceptor asked, gently.
"Springer and I charged. He took on Astrotrain and began carving chunks out of him with a sword he must have found. I tackled Ramjet and fought him. I thought he was going to kill me until those two smaller 'bots showed up. What were their names? They sure did a number on the Decepticons."
"Brawn and Windcharger," Perceptor replied. "Small but certainly powerful. The other Autobots you met are Cosmos, who is outside and Bumblebee, who is with Brawn and Windcharger onboard your ship. We are currently aboard Skyfire."
Arcee nodded and then sat back down next to Blurr. His hand was still tightly clutched in hers. Perceptor opened a communicator and appeared to be conversing with someone. Arcee didn't care to listen and instead replayed the battle in her head over and over.
It was, she reflected to herself, everything they had been trained for and they had not performed well. Small guerrilla operations on Cybertron against Shockwave's drones were light years away from the cut-and-thrust of combat against Megatron's finest. Arcee didn't know Springer's fuel reserve level before the battle, but she knew that herself, Hot Rod and Kup were all running well below 35%. Due to energon rationing, no Autobot on Cybertron, not even Elita or Ultra Magnus ever energised above 50%. It was partly why the majority of operations were carried out by the femmes. They were just a bit more fuel efficient than their male counterparts, with the exception of Blurr who was - after Moonracer - the most fuel efficient Autobot at their disposal. And now his fuel was pooling all over the floor.
Perceptor snapped up his communicator and opened a small medikit.
"Arcee," he began, in that gentle tone "Ratchet has asked me to temporarily patch some of the lesser injuries to try and conserve Blurr's energon levels. If you would help me, we could staunch the flow quicker. I understand you're a gunner, and therefore assume you have a steady hand. Will you help me?"
Before she could reply Arcee was startled as Blurr's mangled jawline started to move and one of his shattered optics rotated slightly.
"What's happening?" she asked, fearfully.
"He's trying to scream." Perceptor replied matter-of-factly. "We must hurry. Watch."
Perceptor tore a small amount of a malleable substance off a larger wad and applied it over one of the exposed wires which was leaking small spurts of purple energon. He then applied a laser scalpel to the substance for a couple of seconds causing it to harden.
"This will harden, and remain hard for several hours. It's an invention of Wheeljack's. It allows for the surgeon to focus on major injuries without needing to attend to minor areas of fluid loss. If you grab a scalpel and follow my lead?"
Arcee nodded in wordless assent and proceeded to focus on Blurr's lower midsection, even as Perceptor worked on neck and jaw area. There were so many smashed wires and fuel relays that it felt like a hopeless cause, but even as they worked, Springer joined them and took possession of both laser scalpels, allowing them to work quicker as he sealed the wounds after they had blocked them, allowing both to work somewhat faster. They worked in an eerie silence, broken only by the whirring of Blurr's optics and shattered jaw as he sporadically attempted to scream.
Arcee noticed that Springer's hands and fingers were far too big to work on the tiny exposed wires and fuel pathways, but he seemed steady enough with the laser scalpels. She didn't quite know what to make of the apparently jovial green pilot.
Elita-1 and Chromia didn't trust him, and Hot Rod had taken a pretty instant dislike to him. Ultra Magnus however- perhaps because Springer had returned him to Cybertron - thought very highly of him, and Kup treated him fairly, although Arcee suspected that Springer's professed neutrality in all matters concerning the war really irked Kup. Kup tended to see the world in black and white.
Arcee herself had found both Springer and Ultra Magnus hard to figure out. In most respects they were very unlikely friends. Ultra Magnus, whilst apparently a fine warrior (although Arcee had never seen him in combat) was, frankly, a bit dull and officious. Springer on the other hand didn't seem to care too much about anything and lived his life on a day-to-day basis. If he knew that the majority of the Cybertronian forces considered him a coward for his professed neutrality he certainly gave no outward indication of it.
Arcee had far more fondness for the other members of her squad. Kup had been a wonderful mentor to her, sharing stories of his extensive experience and always taking time to check up on her and his other protégés whenever possible. Kup could be gruff – downright rude on occasions – but he really cared and beneath his tough exterior had a spark of solid gold.
As for Hot Rod, Arcee was well aware that he had a tendency to drive his superiors round the bend, but he was a loyal, kind and well-intentioned young 'bot, who would charge headlong into battle at a moment's notice. Whilst Hot Rod's impetuous nature and desire for combat rubbed his superiors up the wrong way, Arcee knew that Hot Rod believed that every opponent he took down was one less weapon aimed at his friends and team-mates. He acted the way they did out of his foolish but brave desire to save everyone.
As for Blurr – poor, wounded, dying Blurr who continued to convulse and twitch even as Perceptor, Springer and Arcee patched his wounds as best as they could, Arcee had been instantly drawn to the hyperactive young Autobot. In a world without war, Blurr could easily have been a sporting star and a celebrity. Instead, the gentle-natured Blurr had been pressed into combat, despite being unsuited for it, both in his lightweight construction and his kind-hearted eager-to-please nature. Blurr's bravery was to his credit, and his blinding speed had been an asset to the underground forces of the Autobots. Now he lay on the floor of Skyfire's cargo hold perilously close to death, and Arcee couldn't help but blame herself, even though she knew that Blurr had fought willingly and exposed himself to danger of his own accord.
"Coming up on Earth now," an unfamiliar voice almost as gentle as Perceptor's cut through Arcee's reverie, announcing their imminent arrival at Autobot headquarters on Earth. That must be Skyfire's voice, Arcee thought to herself. Arcee was surprised at the Autobots she had met thus far. She had not spoken to Brawn, Windcharger, Bumblebee or Cosmos, but Perceptor seemed a very kind and diligent mech, and Skyfire's voice also indicated a gentle soul. Arcee had assumed Prime's unit to be as rough and tumble as they come, certainly from hearing Kup recount tales of his adventures with Ironhide, Prime and Trailbreaker, yet neither Perceptor nor Skyfire sounded like a rough-and-tumble hard-bitten warrior.
Perceptor finished sealing one last wire and then stood up, beckoning for Arcee and Springer to stop also.
"We've done all we can for now. Prepare yourselves for landing, and if possible stay out of the way. There will be a team coming on board to transport the injured to the medical facilities. They'll be treated first but I am to escort you there as well, where you will both receive a check-up from Hoist, and if necessary, be scheduled for repairs."
Springer stood up and walked over to the far corner, sitting as far away from the exit as possible. Arcee shrugged and moved over to sit next to him.
"Thank you for helping with Blurr," Arcee broke the silence, quietly.
Springer kept staring straight ahead, but a hint of a sad smile appeared on his face.
"Least I could do."
The pair sat in a miserable silence as Skyfire landed. His doors opened and instantly two similar looking Autobots, one predominantly red, the other a golden-yellow ran on board with a medical gurney, which they gently loaded Blurr onto, before taking him away at Perceptor's behest. The pair looked very alike, but the golden one was possibly the most beautiful looking mech Arcee had ever laid optics on. Even as they took Blurr away two more Autobots entered the ship - one green with a gentle face and the other a grumpy looking red and blue minibot -to load Kup onto a similar gurney and take him away. The green one flashed a quick sympathetic look in the direction of Arcee and Springer, but otherwise the pair were ignored as the wounded were attended to.
Evidently medibay was short on equipment, as instead of a gurney, Hot Rod was picked up gently by a huge, terrifying-looking robot with silver wings on his back and a red-crest topping his not unkind-looking features. Despite the large mech's powerful looking build he lifted Hot Rod gently and then proceeded to walk with great care behind the two gurneys.
Arcee rose and walked out of the hold, with Springer trailing a few paces behind her. She took her first few steps on alien soil and realised that the fate of her dear friend was in the hand of a group of Autobots she had long thought only a myth. She hoped that Ratchet could help Blurr. If not, she swore that the Decepticons who had injured him would pay for their actions. With purpose and vigour in her step she followed the procession of Autobots into their new home, The Ark.