From the Ashes – Ch 6
[Location: The Dauntless]
Wheeljack had the ground bridge portal closed as soon as the others had come through and was rushing ahead of the group to make sure that the path was clear and a large enough table open for them to rest Optimus on. The Autobot leader had made quite an impression on him when they had faced down Dreadwing to save Bulkhead's life, but for Optimus to have stayed behind in the base to protect the others was just something a Wrecker would have done.
It wasn't a split second after they had gotten Optimus on the repair table that Elita began to issue out orders for items that she needed, sending Kup, Jazz, and Wheeljack scrambling as she began to dig her hands into his chasse. Smokescreen stood by and watched, numbed to the sight of all the damage that the bright light now exposed. Kup and Wheeljack rushed back in, their arms loaded down with containers of prepared energon, and began to set up two I.V. lines to their injured comrade.
Unfortunately as she rooted around Prime gave out pained groans, his right hand reaching out for anything to hold onto. Smokescreen grabbed his leader's hand in both of his and spoke soothingly, trying to keep Prime calm as Elita worked. Wheeljack grabbed the damaged panels as she quickly cut and pulled them away, exposing the delicate systems beneath. All eyes focused on the odd piece of hardware that had jutted downward through his spark chamber, barely missing his energon pump.
"Is... is that…" Smokescreen couldn't form words at the sight, his jaw dropped in shock.
"The handle to the Star Saber," Elita finished for him. Moving around to above his shoulder, she gently wrapped her hand around the handle, which glowed softly at her touch, and tried to pull what was left of the blade free. A fresh scream of pain abruptly ended her attempt along with her apologizing over and over again to her friend.
"Let me," Wheeljack offered, stepping over to take her place.
"No," she ordered promptly, halting his progress as he gave her a non-too happy look.
"We can't just leave it there," the Wrecker objected.
"Right now we are. It's fused to his structure, which means we have to cut it out and I can't do that." Turning sharply to look across the table she focused on Kup, "You find Ratchet and bring his sorry skid plate here. Have the others help you. I'll work on getting Optimus stable."
"But Elita-" Smokescreen started.
Back at Prime's side and her hands wrist deep in Optimus' parts she looked over at the Elite Guardsman, "The others are still out there and the more hands we have gathering the faster it will go." Turning back to her work, Elita separated herself so that she had two sets of hands working on the delicate parts while she entrusted the others in the retrieval of their friends.
Kup nodded to her and motioned for the other Autobots to follow him out of the room. When he stopped at the scanning station Wheeljack spoke up.
"Bulkhead and I had set up a meetin' place, Old Timer," As the information began to populate the screen the younger Wrecker pointed to a set of dots, "and that would be him right there. Permission to rendezvous with him?"
"Permission granted," Kup mumbled as he imputed the coordinates, opening the ground bridge, "Lead them away from the area before you contact me again. I'm sure the Decepticons have noticed our bridges by now."
With a quick nod Wheeljack transformed into his vehicle mode before speeding out of the quickly closing portal. As Kup focused back on the screen he tried to decide which blip on the screen he would need to send Jazz to. Both screen blips were non-mobile, presumably to let their human counter-part rest, and despite detecting them he was not able to determine who was who. Unfortunately the area around one of the dots became populated by several others.
"Looks like we're in for a bit of fun," he told the younger bot with him, "You up for it?"
"My kind of party," Jazz replied.
Kup quickly turned towards Smokescreen as the kid prepared to go with them. "Man the controls."
Despite the disappointment that hit him the young bot nodded, knowing it was as important, "Yes, sir."
As the ground bridge portal opened back up, Kup and Jazz were both through it and it winked shut. Smokescreen could only pace as he waited, the whole situation was painful as Optimus' groans and screams of pain echoed through the ship.
[Location: Darkmount, Nevada]
Starscream paced around holding his arms behind his back as the proverbial gears in his processor grinded out a solution. Soundwave, who was currently working at one of the stations that Starscream paced between, had detected a handful of ground bridges not of Decepticon origin both during the tail end of the battle over the ruins of the Autobot base, which his Seekers had reported three Autobots escaping into, and the following day near the ruins. Megatron had not been thrilled over the fact that some of the enemy had escaped from right under their very noses, nor was the glorious leader pleased over the lack of results that his Second-in-Command had given him.
The only real lead that Starscream had was the one cell phone bleep that Soundwave had detected early the previous day, identifying it as belonging to the human boy, Jack, but the group he had sent out to track down the signal had yet to report anything useful. It would be pleasing to capture Arcee again and give her the same farewell that he had given Cliffjumper.
The sensor station's urgent warnings and Soundwave turning to report the opening of two ground bridge portals happed at the same time, making Starscream smile darkly as he marched over to the silent Decepticon.
"Looks as if the Autobots are trying to gather their own back into their fold, one of them right in the area I had guessed Arcee and her human to be located at," Megatron's second preened, "Give my armada the coordinates and have them retrieve the foolish Autobots." With a deep sense of pride over his accomplishment, Starscream went to go prepare to report the good news to Megatron. Hopefully he'd have at least a carcass or two to gift his leader with.
[Location: Fifty miles north of Salt Lake City, Utah]
The sun had just begun to crest over the mountains behind them. Bumblebee and Bulkhead had stayed alert the rest of the night, chatting as they waited for Wheeljack to magically appear with the Jackhammer to whisk them away. Miko and Rafael had curled up with some spare blankets that Elita, having told the Wrecker that he'd never know when he'd need them for a bandage or something, requested he keep stored on his person. The fire that they had built earlier had long died to embers, but it kept enough of the cool air from bothering the pair.
The somber birdsong was violently interrupted as six Vehicon jets screamed overhead. All four leapt to their feet, the two teens startled awake by the rude wake-up call and rushed to the safety of a copse of trees nearby, but peeked out from around the trees to watch the battle. Bulkhead quickly stomped out the embers before turning to greet the flyers as they banked sharply to attack, both he and Bumblebee returning fire.
Two Vehicons fell before they even had a chance to transform, but the four remaining jets zeroed in on the two Autobots with guns blazing. One fell to Bumblebee's precise shots as another moved to dodge the volley Bulkhead gave his way. It was the high rev of an engine from behind the Vehicons that made the group pause for a moment, the large green Wrecker smirking as he recognized the sound with a laugh, "Heh-hey! It's Jackie!"
Wheeljack swerved around the trees and full speed and used the momentum to propel himself forward as he transformed, swords blazing through the nearest Decepticon. Bulkhead and Bumblebee quickly dispatched the last two Vehicons with the distraction, the battle sounds echoing slowly fading back into birdsong as Miko and Rafael joined their friends.
"Boy you're a sight for sore eyes," Bulkhead greeted Wheeljack with his usual back pat, "Was startin' to think you forgot about us."
"Who could forget you, Bulk?" his old partner quipped.
"Have you found the others?" Rafael and Bumblebee asked at the same time, each in their own language, which made the pair share a smile at the thought before they looked back at Wheeljack.
The way he sighed didn't settle well with Bulkhead, "What's wrong, Jackie?"
"I was kinda hoping you found the Doc." the explosives expert decided to answer as he looked around. "It's a long and ugly story. Tell ya what, I'll share it on our way away from here."
"Uh, sure," Bulkhead replied before he and Bumblebee transformed to let their humans in. "Lead the way."
Wheeljack quickly gained his own wheels under him and proceeded to lead them away from their little camping spot.
[Location: US Interstate 80 Nebraska, Seventy-five miles from the border of Colorado]
Fortunately for them, the area was vast prairie land with little to no human activity. Unfortunately it also meant that there was no real cover to find as the Vehicons came screaming down on top of them. Jack had done well in his rush to cover amongst the tall grass as soon as Arcee had stopped, allowing her to transform and fight without worry that he might be used against her.
The six silver Vehicons came in hot and fast, Arcee leaping around to dodge their laser shot as it hit the pavement where she once stood. Turning to face her incoming foes as they circled around once more on her, Acree gave a slight glance to the side as she heard the opening of a ground bridge behind her.
"Tricky move," she mumbled as she turned a bit to make sure she wasn't being ambushed from behind.
The iridescent portal closed behind her after two vehicle rushed out of it and around her before they transformed, the new pair prepared to take on the oncoming enemy with her. One had been a white sports car and the other a rather ratty old white truck, but their robotic forms were all too familiar to her if by the way that Bulkhead had described them so many times, but small talk had to wait as the onslaught came.
Jack watched the newcomers with wide eyes, both obviously well seasoned fighters by how quickly they dispatched the two Vehicons that came the closest to them. The mostly silver and black Autobot fought as if it were a dance routine, bracing with his hands on the ground as he swung his legs around to take out yet another Decepticon. Acree skillfully took out the flyer that came right at her, sending it crashing to the ground no sooner it had transformed and aimed at her.
"This reminds me of the time my unit got caught on Nebrunia," Kup mumbled loudly as he took aim with riffle, shooting twice to take down the Vehicon that was marching towards him, "We were surrounded fourteen-to-one, trying to protected our wounded as we rushed up the mountain side so that the transport could get us out of there."
With the last Vehicon crashing to the ground from a direct blow from Arcee, the three Autobots took in their handy work before they slowly walked closer to each other. Seeing that the coast was clear Jack stepped forward as well and right up to Arcee's side, which gained a small smile from the femme before she looked up at the mechs. "Thanks for the save."
"Any time, little lady," Kup smiled as he adjusted the detonator in his mouth, "but no time for chit-chat."
As the scarred-up bot activated his communicator Arcee looked down at Jack. "Jack, this is Kup, the original leader of the Wreckers, and Jazz, Special Forces Commander back on Cybertron."
A bit surprised, the black haired teenager looked up at the two with a new respect. Things were looking quiet dark, but if help of their caliber was making its way to Earth now, there was a very real chance of winning the war. When the older one focused back on them the smile faded a bit. "Our ride home should arrive shortly, but we better make tracks before more trouble heads our way."
Jack's jaw dropped as the Autobots transformed and he finally got a good look at the truck, easily recognizing it as the very one he suggested to Smokescreen when he had been helping the Elite Guardsman find an alternate mode. He was glad that there was someone that at least appreciated the suggestion, even if he wasn't the one to give it. Arcee revved her engine to bring Jack out of his thoughts, the young man quickly putting his helmet back on before he climbed onto his ride before she took off without him. They had actually driven several miles before the ground bridge portal opened up before them, Kup leading the little caravan through before it winked shut.
[Location: The Dauntless]
The trio of Autobots and their one human passenger quickly passed through the ground bridge and had to stop short before they ran into the rather crowded room. As soon as she had stopped Jack had hopped off of Arcee to let her transform as the portal shut down behind them. Miko and Rafael ran towards him, so dropping his helmet he ran towards them and grabbed them both in a powerful hug.
Bumblebee and Bulkhead, who had been standing near the bridge controls, rushed over to check on Arcee, but the heavy feeling she got from the others in the room didn't settle well with the femme. "What's going on?"
"It's great to see you, Cee," Bulkhead started meekly, "but we were kinda hopin' that you were Ratchet."
"Why?" she asked, suddenly attentive. The only reason to be disappointed that she wasn't the medic was…
"Optimus!" Elita's voice carried down the hall, so too was Prime's pained voice, "Stop moving! Please, you're going to -"
They all ran down the hall to the medical bay at the first shout, Kup, Jazz, Wheeljack, and Smokescreen had all rushed ahead in case they had to hold Optimus down again for Elita, the whole group filling the room quickly. Bulkhead had felt Miko trying to climb up the back of his leg so he bent down and offered her his hand, which she quickly climbed onto. Jack and Rafael quickly joined her so that they too could see over all the others and not feared being stepped on as they quickly settled themselves on his shoulder.
They were all rather confused by the scene before them. It looked as if Optimus and Elita were frozen in time, statues depicted in the middle of a struggle with their brightly glowing optics locked on one another. Elita was leaning over Optimus with one hand holding onto his right one, which currently held her human component in its grasp, while his other hand was reaching up towards her head. Her other hand was pressing down on his opened torso, resting over his spark chamber and touching part of the handle to the Star Saber, which was also glowing.
The non-human members of Team Prime recognized the sign, that the Star Saber had been activated somehow. Perhaps it was yet another message from Alpha Trion and since she was in contact with Optimus when it activated, Elita was too seeing the message? Naturally Miko began to ask a hundred quick questions, the boys just letting her since they too were curious, about what was going on and who knew what about what. It honestly didn't matter what it was, as long as they were able to get Optimus repaired. Each member of Optimus' team filled in their friends as to what was possibly going on, about the way that Alpha Trion had been able to communicate with Optimus through the Star Saber and had warned them about the Omega Keys.
Kup mumbled something around his detonator before he smacked Jazz in the arm, since he was standing next to him. Wheeljack glowered playfully up at his former commander as he rubbed his arm, since he got 'tagged' on their way out and followed when the older Wrecker motioned for him to. The trio walked back over to the ground bridge controls, the old bot imputing the last coordinates. "Last one's gotta be Ratchet. I'm gonna go get him. Make sure that she's got everything she needs until I get back."
"You're awfully sweet on her," Jazz bluntly told the old bot and frowned when he got a laugh as Kup walked off a bit.
"I watched the kid grow up, so I guess she's got a soft spot in my spark. She always seemed to have a thing for classics." As Wheeljack started up the ground bridge the old Wrecker nodded, "I'll call as soon as it's safe."
With a shake of his head, Jazz watched the old bot transform and drive into the portal before it winked shut. The only thing left was to wait for either Optimus and Elita to get knocked out of their stupor or Kup to call, so they went back into the medical bay. At least there they could catch up with the others about what had been happening. Maybe they would be able to tell Jazz the location of a few M.E.C.H. bases that he might find his missing shipmates.
Author's Note: I don't own the show. Thanks for reading.
K.G.: Sorry about the delay. Unfortunately the show had hit on a lot of things that we had planned on, but because we couldn't get it written out before the episodes aired it would just look like we were copying and really we didn't want that. A bit of tweaking here and there for the beginning bit and hopefully it will be smoother going forward. Thank you for your patience.
