One quick point I should mention- In the last sentence of the last chapter, it should have been Optimus, Arcee, and Cliffjumper who would be stranded in the Arctic, etc. I wrote it really late at night and neglected to read over it again before posting, so… yeah. I'll probably try to change it soon, but I'm kind of lazy, so if it doesn't get changed, just know that Cliffjumper is still with them. Also, my gratitude to everyone's who's read/stuck with this story so far, and my sincerest thanks to all my faithful reviewers who continue to leave feedback despite my terrible lack of individual answers. Please know that I read and cherish every single review, as they are always really encouraging and inspire me to write more. Even ones with criticism (constructive) are appreciated, because I know that you took the time to actually read and think about how this could be improved, which means quite a lot to me as well. As always, I'm writing this as I go, so I'm fairly open to suggestions regarding what you might like to see in upcoming chapters. I still plan to parallel canon fairly closely (for now), but any little things you might like to see in the future I'd be happy to take into consideration. Enjoy!
Ratchet, of course, had immediately come to the same conclusion, instantly focusing on the groundbridge's control system with great intensity, clearly knowing the stakes. Miko had no such compunctions, however, simply shrugging when she saw that the explosion hadn't harmed anyone in the immediate vicinity and strolling over to the human-sized television. At her query of what they wanted to do, 'Bee suggested a video game tournament, which Raf and the others were more than excited to do, but then the CMO called, "Bulkhead! Bumblebee! Here. Now."
Reluctantly, the Wrecker and the scout obeyed, leaving the humans to their games as they made their way to Ratchet. Bulkhead grumbled something about being bossed around, but Ratchet ignored it easily, snarling, "I need some heavy lifting. The groundbridge is down." Bumblebee began to realize the severity of the situation as well, immediately asking after the three 'Bots who had just gone through the portal. "Optimus, Arcee, and Cliffjumper made it through just fine, it's bringing them back that concerns me. Now, remove those panels. Chop chop!"
Finally realizing what, exactly, would occur if they failed to repair the 'bridge in time, the 'Bots immediately set to it with a will, Switchshade immediately moving to help where he could as well. Several kliks later, the power in the base flickered, and Switchshade looked up from where he was helping Bulkhead to carry away one of the floor panels that covered the circuitry of the groundbridge. Ratchet didn't even seem to notice the power failure, instead reaching down to lift one of the damage circuit boards with grave optics. "We most definitely have a problem. What could have caused this?" The piece of tech had literal bite marks in it, and the familiarity of the shape stirred something in Switchshade's memory files.
That shape… and… Primus, the pod! "Ratchet!" The medic didn't appear to have heard him, instead muttering something about the main grid as he pondered how to fix the damaged circuitry. "Ratchet!" The mech in question finally turned in surprise to look at Switchshade, who was nearly shaking on his pedes, and Ratchet immediately moved towards him as if to offer comfort, but they were all distracted when Rafael's cheerful voice pulled their attention to the youngest human. "Hey guys, look what I found!"
"We're busy- Ahh!" Ratchet quite literally screamed in horror, and Switchshade felt his spark gutter. With growing dread, he turned to look at what Rafael held, and all his fears were confirmed at the sight of one of the Pit-slagged scraplets nestled comfortably in his arms. His processor shorted out, the black mech jumping without thought towards the nearest tall object, namely Bulkhead, and climbing up onto the green mech's shoulderplating, crouching in terror as the Autobots immediately backed up, blasters charging and cries of shock and fright in their vocalizers.
A tiny fraction of Switchshade's processor registered that Miko and Jack had run to shield Rafael from the lethal Cybertronian weapons pointed at him, and the clear fear and concern in the tiny humans' eyes, but the great majority was far too focused on the deadly, tiny abomination in such close proximity. Later, when he looked back on that moment, he would feel only shame at what his mindless fear led him to do, for in that instant, his own blades were lifted in aggression towards the humans.
"Hey, hey! What's with you guys?!" Miko demanded, standing in front of Raf beside Jack as they lifted their hands defensively. Bulkhead, not even seeming to notice the black mech clinging onto his shoulderplates, cried, "Scraplet! Scraplet!" Raf peeked out cautiously if curiously from behind the two older humans, asking, "What's a 'scraplet'?"
Switchshade dropped down lithely from Bulkhead's shoulderplates when Ratchet began to answer, still terrified of the little menace in Raf's arms, but beginning to realize that dealing with the problem need not include cowering in fear atop a Wrecker's shoulderplating. "The most dangerous vermin ever to crawl upon the face of Cybertron." Ratchet snarled in response to Raf's question, though his disgust was clearly not aimed toward the human, but rather the tiny metal creature held in his arms.
Jack and Miko relaxed slightly at that, standing straighter as they came out of their protective crouches around Raf, and Jack even chuckled, once, in bemusement. "This? Are you kidding me?" he asked, gesturing at the innocent-looking Spawn-of-Unicron held by Raf. "You're giant robots!" Miko pitched in, "Scrappy here is… teeny."
Switchshade moved to Bulkhead's other side, keeping a close optic on the 'teeny' menace, as the Wrecker answered his human in a panic. "You have no idea the damage that teeny thing can do!" Rafael looked up at the four mechs still standing in defensive postures, weapons charged and at the ready despite no longer being pointed directly at the humans, and his mouth twisted. "Aw… he wouldn't hurt anything!" the youngest human protested, stroking the little fiend.
"Rafael, don't-!" It was too late, Switchshade realized, even as he tried to warn the human, for his touch had awoken the scraplet, and it immediately onlined, recognized new prey, and activated, an unholy whirring noise coming from its maw as it began its attack. Bumblebee immediately opened fire, taking care to avoid the humans while desperately trying to down the beast before it reached them, but to no avail. It dodged three blasts in quick succession before leaping and latching onto the scout's pede, deadly fangs instantly digging deep and consuming copious amounts of yellow armor. Bumblebee stumbled and fell back in his haste to try to avoid the creature, and even made a desperate grab for it, succeeding in pulling it away from his pede only to have it set in on his arm plating.
He quickly knocked it off of him, and the tiny monster instantly whirred louder, clearly rallying for a second attack, when it was stopped by Rafael of all people, as the young human set to destroying the scraplet he had so recently been cuddling with a will. The moment Ratchet was certain the menace was deactivated, he knelt by the scout's feet, Bumblebee still sitting where he had fallen, as Switchshade and Bulkhead moved to brace the yellow mech on either side. The medic, meanwhile, was looking over the damage with a worried look in his optics.
"I'm sorry Bumblebee!" Raf exclaimed, rushing over to his Autobot guardian with guilt and sorrow in his gaze, but the scout managed to whirr reassuringly that it was in no way the human's fault, and that he shouldn't feel bad for what had happened. Full blame lay upon the scraplet, and the scraplet alone.
"I-Is he gonna be ok?!" Raf asked of Ratchet, clearly terrified that he had, however inadvertently, lead to his guardian's becoming gravely injured. "Only a mesh wound-he'll live." Ratchet declared, the concern fading only slightly from his optics as he straightened up to look at the humans again. "Now do you believe me?" Bulkhead demanded of them, gesturing at the damage only a klik or so had done to Bumblebee. "All scraplets do is dismantle machinery and eat anything metal! Especially living metal!"
Jack, in a naïve attempt to be optimistic, said with a shrug, "Well, bug squashed, game over. Right?"
"No! When it comes to scraplets, there's never just one. And I fear I know how they got in here…" Switchshade felt a swooping feeling of dread and guilt sweep over him, as he realized just why, exactly, that pod had seemed so familiar earlier. This is all my fault… If I had just realized what it was earlier, Bumblebee would not be injured, the base would not be in danger, and we could have destroyed the pod with all the scraplets in it before they ever became active again. Primus above! The scraplets were the cause of the groundbridge malfunction too, which means that if Lord Prime, Cliffjumper, and Arcee perish in the Arctic with no way to return, their deaths will be upon my helm as well!