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Bulkhead and Miko had moved off down the hallway that Rafael pointed out, explaining that he had found the first scraplet in that direction, and Bumblebee and Raf moved to search another. Switchshade remained close to Ratchet as the medic worked feverishly to complete the necessary repairs to the groundbridge. Jack stood guard, the human keeping a sharp eye out for any sign of the little monsters, but so far, none but the first had shown itself. A breem passed, and the lights flickered out once, before coming back on. A distant scream that sounded suspiciously like a terrified Bulkhead was audible, but there was no following cry for help from either Bulkhead or Miko, so the mechs and human in the common area remained focused on their mission.
Several more kliks passed, and Switchshade found himself cursing his lack of scientific ability, as his assistant to Ratchet was greatly limited by his pitiful technological experience. He had a difficult time learning the ins and outs of a typical spacebridge, let alone Ratchet's modified version that he had used to create the groundbridge. More muffled screams were heard as the long breems stretched, as well as weapons fire, but no SOS was sent along the comms, and the groundbridge had to remain first priority.
Soon, the sounds of weapons fire became audible from Rafael and Bumblebee's direction as well, and Switchshade tensed, dialing up his audials to gain a bit of advanced warning should any of the scraplets make for himself or, more importantly, Ratchet. Jack was pacing now, clearly nervous, although his human senses were too dull to pick up on the muffled blasts. "How's it going over there?" he questioned as he paused in his pacing to glance at their progress.
Ratchet scoffed distractedly, the majority of his focus still pinpointed on fixing the groundbridge in as little time as possible. "Ugh… I've repaired the damaged conductors and rerouted the central conduits, but the groundbridge still won't receive power!" With his final word, the medic slammed a fisted servo into the flooring near his pedes where he knelt, his frustration getting the better of him for a moment. It was a testament to the gravity of the situation (as well as his steadily increasing trust of the medic) that Switchshade did not even think to flinch from the CMO's rage.
Not even an astroclick later, the distinctive, rapid *tick-tick-tick* noise of scraplets' tiny clawed pedes reached Switchshade's audials, and the black mech rose to his pedes, guarding Ratchet's back as the medic continued to work. "Be on your guard, Jack. They draw near." He warned the human, his usually low vocalizer rather shaky as he tried to prepare himself for battle with the tiny fiends. In response, the human gripped his makeshift weapon, a piece of metal piping, tighter and lifted in his hands, sharp eyes scanning the walls and ceiling for any sign of the approaching scraplets.
A careless flick of the eyes to the far wall, and the scraplets were in sight. Switchshade tensed even further, flaring his doorwings protectively to shield more of the medic from sight as he stepped forward, drawing the attention of the mech-eating vermin away from Ratchet's unprotected back and onto himself. Instantly, the scraplets responded to the sight of the living metal before them, multiple rows of razor sharp fangs bared and ready to tear into his frame as they began their devastating attack.
"Whoah!" Jack exclaimed, the human still on the 'front line' as it were, with Switchshade behind him, and Ratchet still desperately working to finish the groundbridge repairs hidden behind both. "They fly?!" Jack demanded, as the scraplets began to do just that as they grouped up to prepare an assault. "You never said they could fly!" He began to swipe at the scraplets with his pipe, managing to take down several. Switchshade onlined his blasters, taking shots at the creatures while being very careful to avoid coming anywhere near the human. For each scraplet that fell, however, it seemed four more rose to take its place. Their numbers were unbelievable, and several had already managed to get past the black mech's defenses, their deadly fangs tearing excruciating paths through his leg plating instantly upon contact. He gritted his denta, determined not to cry out at the agonizing pain, and flared his plating, shaking loose several, although the more tenacious ones simply dug deeper.
He revved his engine multiple times as he continued to blast every scraplet within reach, increasing his core temperature in an attempt to burn the creatures away, but they seemed resilient to the heat, and he was forced to abandon the effort almost immediately, for fear of overheating his own core and falling to the scraplets before Ratchet could complete the groundbridge. Instead, the dark mech just steeled himself, enduring the pain as stoically as he could manage as he continued to fight for all that he was worth, managing to hold off the tiny menaces for several precious kliks, before enough of the scraplets determined that that was an even bulkier frame of living metal behind him. Within astroclicks, several of the scraplets had slipped past his defenses to attack Ratchet as well, forcing the medic to turn from his work to defend himself.
Jack went to town on the scraplets, tearing into them viciously as he knocked several off of Switchshade. "Ratchet! Go to Ratchet!" the dark mech snarled at the human as he continued to destroy as many of the creatures as he could. Jack knocked several more from his frame before complying, running over to the medic and beginning to do the same there. "Fire extinguisher!" The medic commanded, as he struggled to hold off the swarm. "Get the fire extinguisher!"
Switchshade was down, his pedes no longer supporting his weight, as enough of the armor plating, cables, and protoform had been eaten away so as to render them essentially useless, though he continued to use his blasters as best he could even while half-collapsed onto the ground. Fortunately, Ratchet was in slightly better condition, as the majority of the scraplets had seen Switchshade's movements, and targeted him, and when Jack obeyed and retrieved the fire extinguisher, he was still able to move fairly well.
The human immediately ran back to the Autobot CMO, blasting him from helm to pedes with the fire extinguisher's froth, the substance within immobilizing the scraplets, enabling Ratchet to shake them off, and several even fell to the floor on their own. Jack quickly turned to do the same for Switchshade, who was twitching weakly several human feet away. The scraplets retreated at the sight of the fire extinguisher's effectiveness, though it was clearly a very temporary arrangement, as Bumblebee, Bulkhead, Raf, and Miko stumbled back into the main area as well.
"Ratchet, get the patch-kit. We're leaking energon like-whoah!" Bulkhead was cut off as he looked up and saw the massive swarm now buzzing angrily above them all, as Ratchet slowly began to pick himself up from the floor. The Wrecker's voice had drawn the attention of the swarm, however, and the scraplets moved in to attack once again, Bumblebee and Bulkhead quickly joining Switchshade and Ratchet on the floor after a very short-lived attempt at a fight. In their defense, the humans were all doing their level best to protect the 'Bots, but there were just so many scraplets that it was impossible for Jack, Miko, and Raf to hold them all off. Jack continued to use the fire extinguisher, having run back to Ratchet when most of the scraplets on Switchshade had been removed, though the instant he was gone, more had descended to continue devouring the black mech alive.
Many pained cries rose throughout the base, Switchshade's among them, any thought of attempting to keep from crying out in agony long forgotten, wiped away by the sheer processor-numbing pain. He had passed far beyond the point of being able to lift his servos and blasters to continue to fight, and could only twitch weakly as the scraplets dug deeper and deeper into his frame. Several kliks that felt like vorns passed, and Switchshade lost sight in his left optic as the scraplets now within his armor ate through the connecting cord, the damaged, sightless optic frizzing slightly before going dark.
Suddenly, a feeling unlike anything he could have imagined registered with Switchshade, and it took him a moment to realize what it was through his shock. An absence of pain… Forcing himself to reset his single working optic, Switchshade rolled what was left of his helm to the side slightly, noting with no little astonishment that the humans had somehow managed to emerge victorious. All three Autobot warriors were down, but clearly still alive, as pained groans could be heard from their vocalizers as they sat up. Raf and Miko were beating the final couple of living scraplets into oblivion, while Jack finished off any other stragglers with the fire extinguisher.
"We get them all?" Jack asked finally, as the last scraplet in the main room finally offlined. A distant, ominous buzzing coming from deep within the base was his only answer.