Chapter 4
Hello and welcome to my latest chapter for Legacy of Solus! I'm sorry this took so long to make but I have been busy beyond belief. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the chapter, but first reviews!
Zyownis: I will, enjoy the chapter!
ztron24: She is a four wheeler, enjoy the chapter!
Now onto the story!
Shadow was sitting next to Solus as Ratchet had just activated the ground bridge and was explaining to him, Arcee, and Optimus, how long they could be in an arctic environment. Shadow was joining because his fire based weapons could lower the chances of freezing.
Shadow lifted his head when Bulkhead and Bumblebee drove into the command center, both came to a stop as Jack, Miko, and Raf exited.
"Miss us Doc Bot?" Miko asked as Bulkhead and Bumblebee transformed into their bipedal forms.
Ratchet frowned "Should't they be in school?"
"On Saturday?" Miko replied, "We have the whole weekend off to spend with you." Miko finished while walking past the medical bot.
Jack walks up to Arcee, "I wasn't expecting to carpool. What gives Arcee?" Jack asked his guardian.
"Sorry jack, but Optimus, Shadow, and I are going on exploration duty." She explained.
"Too bad. It's a beautiful day for a ride, and I would hate for you to feel guilty for leaving me indoors." Jack said crossing his arms with a smirk as he gave Arcee and amused look.
"Arctic exploration duty." Arcee clarified.
"Indoors where it's warm." Jack said walking to where Miko was.
"The Arctic? I've always wanted to see snow." Raf said excitedly.
"I would invite you to join, Rafael. But the conditions are much to extreme, even for we Autobots." Optimus explained.
"I...understand." Raf said sadly looking down.
Optimus nodded to him before turning towards the ground bridge only to stop. He looked back at Raf "But, I will bring you back snowball." Optimus said with a smile immediately cheering up Raf.
"That would be awesome!" Raf said excitedly.
Optimus, Shadow, and Arcee walkthrough the vortex and disappear. "Transport complete." Ratchet states as he turns back towards the controls, only for sparks to fly out of them as it starts to smoke. Ratchet covered his face from the sparks before looking at the controls, "By the Allspark!" Ratchet said in shock. The Ground Bridge controls just shorted out. "Bulkhead! Bumblebee!" He shouted at the others, "I need you here, now!"
As they exited the ground bridge, the three look around,
Shadow Barked a response as he shook the snow off of him.
"I don't think we have to worry about that Shadow, we won't be here for too long." Optimus said looking around.
Arcee looked up at Optimus, "What did he say?"
"I do not yet have a clear understanding of how he communicates, I believe he was asking about when the storm will end."
"Oh."
The group made there way to where Shadow, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead found the mystery item. The large hole Shadow created to get it out. Soon the group started to look around for any clews as to what they found.
"We most certainly have a problem." Stated Ratchet as he looked at the sparking circuit boards to see there where parts seemingly like a bite was taken out of them. "But what could have caused this?" Ratchet asked as the light in the base flickered.
"Or that?" Bulkhead asked.
Solus walked into the room with an annoyed look on her face, "Can someone tell me why the power keeps cutting out!?" She asked clearly annoyed, "I'm trying to work on something important!"
"We're trying to find out what it is at the moment." Ratchet looked at the circuit board in his hand, "It could be the main grid. Hopefully it isn't a substation malfunction." Ratchet hoped.
Solus looked at the circuit board with narrowed optics, "A simple malfunction would not cause such damage unless it was sabotaged. So unless one of you is responsible for this I doubt it." Solus stated as Raf walked into the room.
"Hey guys!" He called out. "Look what I found."
"We're busy!" Ratchet said in annoyance only for a look of horror to appear on his face when he sees what Raf was holding. "Aah!" He screamed in fear
The other bots look at Raf and see him holding a scraplet in his arms. "Whoah! Whoah! Whoah!" Bulkhead said freaking out as the bots all took up defensive stances, Solus holding her Forge threateningly at them while the others had their blasters aimed at them.
"Hey! Hey!" Miko said as she and Jack got in front of Raf with their hands up. "What's with you guys?"
"Scraplet! Scraplet!" Bulkhead shouted in fear not lowering his weapon. The humans look confused at the name.
"What's a scraplet?" Raf asked.
"The most dangerous vermin to ever crawl upon the face of Cybertron." Ratchet said in a dark and fearful tone.
"I though I took care of all those things." Solus said nervously, silently wishing Shadow and his many weapons were here right now.
The humans looked at each other then looked at the scraplet, "This?" Jack scoffs, "Are you kidding me?" He asked not believing them.
"You're giant robots!" Miko said throwing her arms up, "Scrappy here is teeny." She said pointing out the size difference.
"You have no idea the damage that teeny thing can do!" Bulkhead shouted.
"Aw, he wouldn't hurt anything." Raf said, only for the Scraplet in his arms to open its eyes and look directly at the Autobots and Solus Prime. Not a moment later it opens its mouth revealing several rotating lines of blades that looked like they could shred anything to pieces. It jumps from Rafs arms and quickly crawls toward the bots as claws reveal themselves from its body.
It skittered across the ground towards them, Bumblebee and Bulkhead fire several shots but miss as the scraplet dodges them. Once it was close enough it jumped at Bee and latched onto his leg and started to eat through the paint and some of the metal on his legs. The humans now saw exactly what this thing can do. Bee fell to the ground at it kept eating, he grabbed the scraplet with his left hand only for to eat through his hand and start eating up his arm. Bee managed to knock it off and across the floor. The scraplet got up and looked at Bee again before skittering towards him again. It didn't make it to far thankfully because Raf took a nearby crowbar and started to beat on the scraplet over and over again until Jake stopped him. "Easy there killer." He said to Raf.
After a moment Raf calmed down and ran to check on his partner.
"Whoa, I did not see that coming." Miko said as she and Jack looked at the bots.
Raf ran over to Bee as Ratchet examined the injury. "I'm sorry Bumblebee. Bee buzzes a response, "Is he gonna be okay? Raf asked in worry for his friend.
"Only a mesh wound, he'll live." Ratchet stated.
"Now do you believe me!?" Bulkhead asked, "All screplets do is dismantle machinery, and eat anything metal, especially living metal!"
"Well, bug squashed, game over, right?" Jack asked hopefully looking at the bots.
"No." Solus stated in annoyance gripping her forge tightly. "There's never just one of these things, I have countless destroyed inventions to prove that." She stated. "But how did they get here?"
"I fear I know how." Ratchet added, "Follow me." Everyone quickly followed Ratchet to the S.A.F.E. to see the half unfrozen object they found in the arctic. Only difference being the gaping hole in the side of it. Ratchet walked up to it with the others to examine it, "It's a trap, a scrapple trap." He stated.
"An empty scraplet trap." Bulkhead added nervously.
"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 finished.
"So...how many are we talking?" Raf asked.
"Thousands." Ratchet stated, "And the power malfunctions and ground bridge damage are a sure signs that their infestation is well underway."
Back in the arctic, Optimus was climbing down the side of a cliff while Shadow was examining the bottom for anything helpful, there didn't seem to be anything. As Optimus climbed down, his Autobot logo lit up blue. "Arcee?" He said over com links, "What's your status?"
"My sensor's going off, guess we should call for pick up before things get chilly."
"Optimus to base, core temperature readings have reached the blue zone. Prepare to activate ground bridge." Optimus received only static and no response from Ratchet or anyone else at the base. Optimus knew that they wouldn't ignore his call, meaning something was wrong. He tried one more time but still received no response, "Arcee, meet me at the bottom of the cliff with Shadow, we cannot risk are temperatures getting to low." He let go of the cliff and dropped to the ground next to Shadow and waited for Arcee.
"Ratchet to Optimus, do you read me? We have a situation!" Ratchet said into the coms as the screen glitches out. "Scraplets have gotten into the com-link system!" He said with worry. "If we don't eradicate these creatures immediately, they will reduce the entire base to a scrapheap!"
"I say we bug out of here and let them keep it!" Bulkhead said and Bumblebee seemed to agree with him.
"Absolutely not!" Solus shouted, "If we don't fix the ground bridge then my sparkling, Optimus, and Arcee are going to freeze to death!"
"They will?" Jack asked.
"I thought he had a built in ground bridge?" Miko said remembering her trip with Shadow around the world. "Why not just use that to get them back here?"
"I was performing repairs on it before he was sent to the arctic, it won't work unless I can access it." Solus replied.
Miko walked over to her partner, "Bulkhead! You never run!" She tells him but Bulkhead looks down at her and shakes his head.
"Miko, you haven't seen a swarm of these things devour a bot. I have. The pic you apart from the inside out, going for the small, juicy bits first. Fuse by fuse, circuit by circuit, till there's nothing left, not even your optics!"
"You have to let us help." Jack stated.
"We're not made of metal." Raf added.
"Yeah, the scrapple's can't hurt us." Miko adds as well.
"Typically I find your fleshiness to be your least engaging quality. "Ratchet muttered. "But, it would seem to provide an advantage under these extremes."
"Okay good. So we pare off and as best we can. One bot and one human, I got your back Ratchet." Jack finished.
"I will assist Ratchet in the repairs." Solus said and Jack nodded.
"And we go on a bug hunt!" Miko said excitedly to Raf. Bulkhead and Bumblebee looked at each other nervously.
Several minutes passed since the others left, Jack stayed alert as Solus and Ratchet continued to work on fixing the ground bridge. "How's it going over there?" Jack asked the two.
"We've repaired the damaged conductors and rerouted the central conduits, but the ground bridge still won't receive power!" Ratchet shouted.
A loud clicking noise caught Jacks attention, he looked around till he saw a small swarm of scraplets on the wall. The scraplets all turn to look at Solus and Ratchet before showing their teeth, they released their grip on the wall and flew towards the two bots.
"Whoa! They fly!? You never said they could fly!" Jack shouted as the swarm flew towards them.
Shadow wasn't sure how long her could keep this up, he was currently letting out a continuous stream of fire from his maw to try and keep Optimus and Arcee warm. The fire also kept him warm but he couldn't do this forever. The fire died and Shadow fell to his stomach, letting out a weak growl he looked at Optimus and Arcee.
Arcee moved over and patted his head, "Thanks buddy." Shadow smiled as she pet him.
Optimus looked at the sensor to see it blink red, "Your efforts have taken our core temperature out of the blue zone, even if it is only temporary. I thank you." Optimus added.
Shadow was about to reply but his optics widen, the bond he felt with Solus was going crazy, with what energy he had left he bolted to his feet and looked around barking frantically.
"What's wrong with him?" Arcee asked.
"Shadow can tell something is very wrong back at base, his carrier is in danger."
Solus and Ratchet desperately tried to fight off the screplets as they bit into them, Jake was helping but there was only so much one human could do to help. Even with a fire extinguisher to freeze the scraplets, it was difficult.
"Ratchet!" Bulkhead shouted as he and the others ran into the room, "Get the patch kit, we're leaking energon like-what!" He said seeing the ever growing swarm of scraplets.
The swarm descended on the group once more only this time with even more voracity than before. Going for any part they could sink their robotic teeth into. The three humans tried to help but for every one they destroyed, two more took its place.
Solus grunted and stood up, with all her strength, the Prime lifter her Forge and slammed it into the ground. An energy wave shot in every direction from the impact and covered the area. All the scraplets short circuited and fell to the ground having been fried from the blast. Solus fell to her knees and panted, "I...hate...these things." She stated in annoyance.
"Was that all of them?" Jack asked hopefully, but the sound of scratching metal could be heard down the hall, and from the sound of it there were a lot more than what they just faced.
"Hardly." Ratchet told them, "These were just scouts."
The bots groan at the news. "So the rest of them know we're in here?" Bulkhead asked.
Ratchet nods, "And if we allow ourselves to become their next meal, Optimus, Arcee, and Shadow will never make it home. We must repair the ground bridge operational again." He stated grimly.
"Then we can send the scraplets anywhere on earth." Raf suggested
"Why not back to the arctic? We already know they don't do cold." Jack said holding up the fire extinguisher.
"Sweet!" Miko said happily, "One stop shopping!"
"Yes." Solus said getting her strength back. "Given the size and mass, the cold should be able to freeze them on contact." She leans against the wall, "But that's only if we can fix the ground bridge."
"Think!" Ratchet shouted at himself, "If the ground bridge is still down, there must be a breach in the energon fuel line." He realized.
Bumblebee groans from the wounds caused by scraplets, "If we weren't leaking, one of us could get back over there and fix it." Bulkhead complained, his wounds just as bad.
"Where do we find it?" Jack asked.
"And how do we fix it?" Raf asked as well.
The humans left leaving the bots alone, after a minute Bulkhead looked at Ratchet, "So, if we get-When we get the ground bridge open." He corrected himself, "Do we send the creepy crawlies out or bring our bots it?" He asked.
"Optimus, Arcee, and Shadow will be fresh meat. If we bring them in first, the scraplets will have no reason to leave we'll need bait." Ratchet replied.
"Where're we gonna get bait!" Bulkhead shouted, "The scraplets already helped themselves to everything in here!"
Solus gave a small laugh. "That won't be an issue." She said looking at them.
"Why not?" Bulkhead asked.
"Years ago, when I upgraded Shadow, I added a few certain weapons specifically designed to handle these miniature abominations. Should he come across a single one, he won't hesitate to use them. And knowing him, he will be through the ground bridge as soon as he sees it." She finished with a smile.
Her smile disappeared when the bot heard several loud metallic bangs from above them as the vent covers were sent flying. Soon scraplets started pouring out of the vents and flying above the bots.
Solus looked up at the scraplets in annoyance, "Jack, Raf, Miko. Please hurry."
Shadow, Optimus, and Arcee ran through the snow storm before coming to a stop, "This is the arrival location, if the ground bridge will open here, we must be ready for what ever is on the other side." Optimus stated Shadow and Arcee nod, Shadows eye turn white before two tubes stretch out from his back and connect to Optimus and Arcee. A glowing white substance started to move through them towards the Autobots. Shadow barked and Optimus nodded, he looked at Arcee, "Arcee, prepare for battle." She nodded and got ready for the ground bridge. Her arm blades appeared as she got ready, Optimus his blasters, and Shadow his claws. The moment it opened, they would charge through.
As the bots watched the growing number of scraplets, the humans came running towards them. "Ratchet!" Jack shouted, "All systems go!"
"Fire it up!" Miko shouted, pumping her fist up as she ran with the boys.
Ratchet, using what ever strength he had, managed to get to his feet and next to the controls. He grabbed the lever, "Ground bridge." He pushed the lever down as all the strength left him, "Activated." He said before falling to the ground.
The familiar sound of the ground bridge activated as the swirling green vortex appeared, not a moment later Shadow leapt through and skitted to a stop, he looked around till he spotted Solus and the others. Optimus and Arcee ran in behind him, only something was different about them. Their optic were now white, parts of their body were now white as well, such as their shoulders, lower arms, lower legs, and over their spark chamber was a white diamond like symbol. The stop behind Shadow and their optics widen when they see the others. All three look up at the army of scraplets above them.
Shadow grit his teeth in rage, he hated these things, activating the one weapon he knew would take care of them all, he looked at Optimus and barked.
Optimus nodded, "Arcee, we need to buy Shadow a minute to charge his weapon, take down as many as you can!" He ordered and Arcee nodded back.
Optimus aimed his blasters, now having white lights instead of blue, and fired several shots, only they were different then normal. Optimus fired twice as fast as before and to everyones surprise, the scraplets hit by the blasts stopped and just floated there.
Arcee held up her arms as a white energy covered her blades, she jumped off a wall and landed near her injured teammates. Several scraplets attempted to attack the injured bots only to be sliced in half by Arcee or stopped and floated there once the energy hit them. Arcee was moving like a blur as she stopped ever scraplet that got too close.
The humans and bots, aside from Solus who smiled, were shocked at how easily they were taking care of the scraplets. "How are they doing that?" Bulkhead asked watching his teammates fight off the scraplets.
"I will explain later." Solus replied, "Watch this, Shadow is almost done."
While Arcee and Optimus held off the miniature abominations, small white bolts of electricity started to shoot off of Shadow, a few more seconds pass before his optics snap open. What appeared to be two electrical conductors transformed on his front shoulders, he roared as the white electricity shot all around the room. Each bolt struck a scraplet making them freeze mid air. Once the lightning stopped the conductors disappeared as the scraplets were just floating there.
All at once, their eyes white as Shadow flicked the lever to the ground bridge with his tail and deactivated it. All the scraplets flew away and stuck to the wall before closing their eyes as their bodies collapsed into their heads becoming dormant.
The three still standing bots looked at the others, "So." Arcee said breaking the silence, "What'd we miss?"
The other sere shocked, no one said anything until Jack spoke up. "What...what just happened?" Jack asked looking at the scraplets on the wall nervously.
"Simple." Solus answered, "The weapons Shadow used are meant to rewrite a scraplets code and replace it with my new program. Now they are harmless unless Shadow or myself orders them to do something. The upgrades on the others are part of those weapons he transferred to them temporarily." Solus smiled, "Now, I believe some of us are in need of medical attention."
The three quickly moved the others to the medical area, which thanks to Solus was upgraded, once there Ratchet quickly told them what to do.
Repot bio-circuitry status."
"Levels are rising." Jack replied.
"Excellent." Ratchet comments before looking at Miko and Raf, "Rafael, keep a close watch on Bumblebee's electro-pulse monitor. Miko, check Bulkheads interface patch."
"It's steady." Raf replies.
"Looking good." Added Miko.
"Perhaps you should get some rest yourself, old friend." Optimus, now without the white armor and his optics back to normal, suggested to Ratchet. "You saved quite a lot of lives today." Optimus was hooked up to a machine to make sure no damage from the sub-zero temperatures.
"It...wasn't all my doing." He glanced at the others. "We're just fortunate that this infestation happened...on a Saturday." He finished with a smile.
"Our human friends may be small, but they are strong." Optimus stated.
Not a moment later Miko started screaming making everyone look at her. "Aaaaaaahhhhh!"
In response, Raf and Jack pullout their weapons and look around, "Scraplet!?" Jack asked looking fore it.
"Spider!" She shrieked, "Is it on me!?" She shrieked and ran away making various different posses as she ran away from the spider.
"Did she just scream like a little girl?" Bulkhead asked.
"Yup." Jack replied before looking at the wall of sleeping scraplets, "So...what are we gonna do with those?" He asked looking at the wall.
"I'm going to use them." Solus replied as she was using the medical equipment to repair herself. "I can make them into little drones that can build things, scout, or even destroy clutter. I used them all the time back on Cybertron. Shadow just loves playing with them as well." She smiled before ordering a scraplet to fly towards Shadow, who's optics widen as he jumps for it. He catches it with his teeth and crushes it and seemingly eats the remains.
"But won't you run out eventually?" Raf asked.
"If I have enough materials, I can program a few of them to make more drones with my programing of course. So no, I do not think I will run out anytime soon." She replied. Then she seemed to remember something, "Oh that's right, I have good news everybody." They all look at her, "Shadow T-cog will be fully repaired soon he will be able to communicate with you all."
"Alright!" Bulkhead said, "We're finally gonna see what you look like." He said bumping Shadow on the side. The others all gave a form of congratulations and excitement.
Deep space
"Thanks for the ride." A female voice said as she looked out into open space from the cockpit of the cybertronian spacecraft. "I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't come along."
"Don't mention it." A male voice replied, "Besides, an Autobot with your reputation, how can I just leave you on barren rock?" He asked with a smirk.
"And here I figured you were doing this out of the kindness of your heart, but I will admit, I do like you wreckers. I always love a good explosive." She replied smirking.
"You sound just like a wrecker. So, where am I taking you exactly?"
"I'm looking for a planet in a nearby solar system, got a message saying to go there to meet up with other Autobots. By the way I never got your name."
The bot smirked, "Wheeljack." He replied. "So, what's this planet called anyway?"
"Earth."