Ch. 49

It was a rainy day outside.

Miko heard a crack of thunder outside the base and giggled, "Wow, it's raining cats and dogs out there!"

Ratchet grumbled, "How is that even possible? Domestic animals cannot fall from the sky along with rain in a storm!"

Raf looked up from his computer, "Well, that's not entirely true, but it doesn't actually apply to the phrase. Sometimes, a long time ago, storms would get so bad that animals, like cats and dogs, would drown and collect in the streets. The term 'raining cats and dogs' describes a storm so powerful that it looks like it rained the animals down..."

The medic grimaced, shuddering, "Human phrases..."

Jack and Arcee rolled in a few moments later, the boy shaking water off his helmet, "Well, that didn't exactly go as planned."

Arcee transformed and rubbed water off her plating, "Sorry about that, I thought we could beat the rain here. We have towels in the back if you want me to get you some."

Jack shrugged and chuckled as he made his way up the steps, "It's just a few damp spots. You got the worst of it."

Bumblebee walked in with large pieces of cloth that they were using for towels, whirling that the storm was hardly over.

Arcee took one to start drying off, "You know, it's not so bad. At least it'll make the base feel a little more cozy."

Ratchet took a smaller piece of cloth from the yellow mech to hand to Jack, "Oh, puh-lease. If we don't get somewhere to bridge you soon, or if Wheeljack comes back, this place won't be cozy, it'll be overrun-"

A loud alarm sounded throughout the base, a bright red light on the ceiling blinking ominously.

"The proximity alarm?" Ratchet blinked, confused, "Now why would that be going off?"

An equally loud and echoing bang came from the front of the base, at the door that led out onto the road. The banging continued and Arcee and Bumblebee transformed their servos into blasters, aiming at the tunnel.

A muffled yell came through the rock and metal, through the banging, the alarm, the thunder outside. Ratchet scowled as he opened a camera feed from outside then gasped loudly, running to his workbench.

Arcee glanced at the medic, frowning, "Ratchet?"

"Let them in!" he yelled, prepping a berth, "Arcee, get Bulkhead and Optimus! Bumblebee, help me!"

The femme quickly pulled a lever to open the door as she passed the computer console, running down the hall and deeper into the base.

The children watched in wonder as Bumblebee took a medical kit from Ratchet; Miko piped up, "Hey! What can we do?"

Ratchet frowned, "Stay there! Don't come down at all!"

The medic led Bumblebee down the tunnel, yelling and beeping coming in waves.

"What happened?! Who did this?!"

"I-it was Airachnid! She had him cornered, and I couldn't stop her, I didn't know where else to go!"

Bumblebee whirred and beeped loudly to stay calm. Within seconds, Ratchet and the yellow mech were helping Starscream carry an unconscious Breakdown into the base and onto the med berth. It was then that the medic got to work.

"I need him dried off before I can hook anything up to him," he ordered, readying an energon fuel line, "He's lost a lot of energon and we don't have much time to argue about what happens from here."

Bumblebee grabbed up the pieces of fabric he had been carrying and covered Breakdown in them, he and Starscream using them to get the water off the blue mech's frame. Ratchet started placing spark-reading nodes on the mech's chassis and attached the fuel line.

The medic scowled at the damage, "We have two, ah, make that three stab wounds into the upper chest plate. He's still leaking which means his pumps are still working. I need to operate now!"

Arcee came rushing in with Bulkhead and Optimus in tow, the scene making the Prime freeze in his steps, "By the Allspark..."

Starscream was shivering, covered nearly helm to ped in water and energon. He had scrapes and dents from his fight with Airachnid; nothing too serious, but enough to tell a story. Breakdown looked worse, the impromptu dissection the spider had done on the mech gouging deep into sensitive mechanics.

Starscream watched as Arcee moved passed him to help Ratchet, the seeker's intakes becoming deep and fast paced. His legs began to shake when the femme cleaned away some of the leaking energon and he saw parts of Breakdown's spark chamber readily exposed.

The medic looked up at him and pointed him down the hall, "Someone get him out of here before he goes into shock! Get him in the showers! Warm him up and dry him off! Keep him talking! NOW!"

Optimus quickly caught Starscream before he could fall and held him up, "I have him, Ratchet. Let us know if you need anything else. Bulkhead."

The green mech nodded, taking hold of the seeker's other arm, "I'm with you, Optimus. C'mon, Scream, let's get you cleaned up."

Ratchet waved Bumblebee away, handing Arcee some tools, "Arcee is staying with me. Take Bumblebee with you to get him talking. We need to know what happened."

The yellow mech beeped quickly and followed after Optimus, a trail of energon and water dripping off Starscream's form.

"I hope you like your showers hot," Bulkhead said, turning on the tap.

Hot water rained down on the seeker and Starscream shuddered, Bumblebee holding his arm to keep him steady. The yellow mech patted his shoulder, beeping that he was safe now, but Starscream didn't respond; he stared at the floor, his mouth shut tight.

Optimus leaned down to look the silver mech over, "We should get him talking. It is far better that we get a response than to leave him to his own thoughts."

Bulkhead rubbed his servos together, "Right, I got this," he stood in front of Starscream, "Alright, Scream, so Miko and I were thinking. When you join the Autobots, it might be a good idea for you to get a paint job. Nothing fancy, just maybe something to bring up the colors you already have on you. What, you've got some red, a little blue... maybe a touch of white?"

Bumblebee whirred and whirled, shaking his helm as he told Bulkhead that was something they could talk about later. He chirped softer at the seeker, telling him that he had told everyone about Cliffjumper and that while Arcee had taken it hard, she was getting better.

Bulkhead rubbed the back of his helm, "Yeah, uh, that... Mistakes happen... Friends get lost on both sides..."

Optimus sighed deeply, "And that is yet another conversation for another time..." he gently took hold of the side of Starscream's helm to help the silver mech look at him, "Starscream," he said gently, "what happened to you and Breakdown? Please, tell us."

The seeker didn't respond at first. His wings twitched under the hot water of the shower and his arms hung limply at his sides. His mouth seemed to move a little but no words came out.

The Prime tried again, "Where were you and Breakdown when you were attacked? Did someone ambush you? Did something go wrong?"

Starscream's optics shuttered in a blink, then he glared, growling deeply, "Did something go wrong?" he shoved Bumblebee off his arm and Bulkhead away from him, smacking Optimus's servo from his helm, "Breakdown's been FRAGGED to the Pit and you're asking if something went WRONG?!"

The Prime took hold of the seeker's arms before he could strike him and pulled him to the floor, the two sitting faceplate to faceplate, "What happened?" he asked firmly.

"I FRAGGED UP!" Starscream shrieked, "Is that what you want to hear?! Does that make you feel like a bigger mech to hear me say it out loud, OPTIMUS PRIME?! I fragged up and now Breakdown is as good as DEAD! She killed him! I knew it was coming, I had every opportunity to end her, and she STILL killed him! And it's harder now the second time! He wasn't supposed to DIE! I was supposed to save HIM; he wasn't supposed to save ME!"

Optimus pulled the seeker in tightly as the silver mech dissolved into a fury of anguished wails. Bumblebee and Bulkhead could only watch, unsure of what to do. And for once, Starscream didn't care about where he was, what was going on, or who was with him. He just wanted someone else to make everything right again.