Felicitations malefactors! Erm… I really didn't mean to wait this long to update, but real life happened, and I was delayed. I am extremely grateful, as ever, for all the great feedback I have gotten/have been getting on this story! I hope you all enjoy this next chapter.
Switchshade felt several more of his nerve sensors stutter and then shut down, and he reset his optics several times. The damaged left optics remained offlined, but his sight in his right optic became considerably less blurry as he attempted to keep Ratchet in his line of sight. The medic had made it to his feet, his armor badly scored by the scraplets' fangs, but more or less intact. "Hardly" The medic grumbled in response to Jack's query, glaring in an odd mix of anger and wariness down the halls towards the source of the buzzing.
"These were just scouts." Switchshade felt his right optic and several of his neck cables twinge as he swung his helm around to stare in horror at Ratchet's grim faceplates. Nearby, Bumblebee whirred a groan of dismay as he allowed his helm to fall backwards with a 'clang' onto the ground from his supine position. Bulkhead levered himself up to prop his frame into a half-sitting position braced on his elbow plating, blue optics staring in equal horror at the medic as he asked, "So… the rest of them know we're in here?" The Wrecker's query was hesitant, and full of ill-concealed despair.
The medic offered only a grim nod. "And if we allow ourselves to become their next meal, Optimus, Cliffjumper, and Arcee will never make it home." And suddenly, in that very astroclick, Switchshade realized his damage didn't matter. Oh, his plating was eaten away? Any sensory input from what little remained of his pedes was erratic and all but nonexistent? The agony coursing throughout his frame in general and behind his left optic in particular was unlike anything he had ever experienced save for two very… memorable rages of Lord Megatron? Tough slag-deal with it. Lord Prime, and Cliffjumper, and Arcee too, I suppose, are depending upon these mechs here, perhaps even myself, to survive. To survive, and bring them back safely. I cannot, will not, allow myself to fall before they are safe.
Ratchet continued speaking to Bulkhead and Bumblebee, but Switchshade was only listening with half his audials (and not entirely by choice), as the medic went on, "We must get the groundbridge operational." Switchshade was ashamed to say, that a moment of weakness overtook him then. At the desperation, the borderline panic in the gruff old medic's voice, the black mech wanted nothing more than to call for his sire, to comm. Soundwave and beg for his aid. In that klik, he did not even care that doing so would alert all of the Decepticons as to the location of the Autobot base. That such an act would be foolish, reckless, and nearly suicidal, and could only end in further disaster. In fact, Switchshade was so perilously close to following through with his panicked idea, that he would later look back on that moment and shudder in dread to think of just how close he had come to destroying them all. It was, of all things, the thought of Laserbeak that held his glossa, so to speak. The thought of the tiny casseticon, the only symbiote of Soundwave's who remained functioning, in anything like close proximity to the abominations of scraplets was enough to reboot his processor.
Logic returned, and the panic passed, as the black mech forced his frame to sit up, enough sensors still working throughout his chassis and arms to allow for such movement, though he dared not spare a glance towards his pedes. I will trust in Ratchet's wisdom.
Rafael; brilliant, insanely clever and surprisingly cool-headed little human that he was, eyed Ratchet with a musing look in his eyes, and spoke, "Then we can use it to send the scraplets anywhere on earth." The implications were clear, and Jack quickly picked up on them. "Why not back to the Arctic? We already know they don't do cold…" Miko smiled, a glint surprisingly similar to one frequently utilized by Starscream in her wicked eyes as she stated, "Sweet! One stop shopping!" As she spoke, the human tapped her makeshift weapon in her other hand menacingly. Switchshade unobtrusively shifted himself a few inches away from the grinning human girl using only his damaged servos.
The nigh-despair in Ratchet's optics was instantly replaced with a desperate hope, and he quickly put the pieces together, summarizing the logistics quite neatly. "Given the body mass of the scraplets, sub-zero temperature should freeze them on contact. So, think, Ratchet, think! If the groundbridge is still down, there must be a breach in the energon fuel line!" This last sentence was delivered with a manic light in his optics, and Switchshade silently bemoaned his currently extremely limited mobility which prevented him from retreating any further.
Still, the hope seemed contagious, and even though Switchshade couldn't particularly feel his spark chamber just then (or much of anything else), he still knew it had just leapt in excitement that now, at least, the groundbridge issue had been identified, and they had a clear goal to work towards. Bumblebee and Bulkhead appeared to be of a similar mindset, for both attempted to rise, although their efforts were as futile as Switchshade's, and the yellow scout crashed back to the ground as Bulkhead was halted where he sat. The Wrecker groaned in pained frustration. "Ugh- if we weren't breaching, one of us could get back over there and fix it."
"Were do we find it?" Jack jumped in, almost before Bulkhead could finish speaking. "And how do we fix it?" Raf added, stepping forward to demonstrate his willingness to move immediately. The medic offered the human a small smile and quickly relayed the directions and instructions necessary for the humans, before all three took off down the designated hallway, slowing their pace as the sound of their footsteps receded.
Primus, guide their steps… Switchshade tried to online his vocalizer, tried to speak, but he quickly realized that it was no longer responsive either, and a very weak shudder ran through his shoulder plating, one of the few areas remaining on his frame that was only moderately damaged. I can't… I can't speak. At all… Just like when- no! This is not the time. I-
Bulkhead interrupted the dark mech's thoughts when he spoke, leaving his statement open to the room at large. "So if we get-when we get the groundbridge open, we send the creepy-crawlies out, and bring our 'Bots in…" Ratchet, who had collapsed back to a sitting position on the ground, now leaned back to brace himself against a human-sized ladder on the wall behind him as he finished Bulkhead's thought. "Optimus and the others will be 'fresh meat'. If we bring them in first, the scraplets will have no reason to leave. We'll need bait."
Switchshade tried to invent. Failed miserably. It is not such a bad thing, becoming one with the Allspark. Might even be… peaceful… Perhaps… His pitiful attempts at self-comfort were weak, at best. Still, despite everything, he wanted to- he would have liked to- well. Such thoughts had no use now. Besides, if my death can bring about the protection of not only these mechs here, but also Lord Prime and Cliffjumper …and Arcee, then would it not be worth it, a hundred times over? Their lives are worth so much more than mine-surely such a sacrifice is indeed a small price to pay…
"Where are we gonna get bait?!" Bulkhead demanded, entirely oblivious to the internal conflict of the black mech sprawled out a few paces from his pedes. "The scraplets have already helped themselves to everything in here!" I am here… I will go… Switchshade used what he could of his remaining energy to increase his core temperature once again, knowing it would brighten his life signal in the predatory 'vision' of the scraplets, and then agonizingly slowly, he began to drag his frame towards where he knew the groundbridge would open once it was fixed. His quiet progress went entirely unnoticed as the volume of the buzzing in the walls of the base abruptly grew much, much louder and closer.
Sorry for the extra cliffhanger (not that it's really hard to parse out what will follow, but still…), but I really need sleep. Hope to have the next chapter up tomorrow (or would that be later today? Meh…)