I only own my OC's!
Revivals
THE NEXT DAY, 2:00 AM
I groan when I hear Graham. I sigh softly, knowing he can't help it, and head to the bathroom after grabbing my robe. "Graham?"
"I'm all right."
I sigh softly. "I know. Anything I can do?"
"Not right now."
"Want me to get your Dad?"
"I'm fine."
"All right." I rub the back of my neck. "I'm going to check on the Protectobots."
"You're sure you won't wake anyone?"
"Ratchet gave me the codes for their door. Primus knows I need him."
AUTOBOTS SUITE
I step into their suite and find Blades recharging with his head on Heatwave's shoulder while the other Protectobots and Rescue Bots are working around their suite. Off to the side, I can see Bumblebee and Optimus in the next room, sneaking around so as to not wake Ratchet. "'Wave?" He holds a finger to his mouth. I nod. "I just came over to see how he was doing."
"He's still weak."
Hot Spot turns to me. "Heatwave recommended that we go easy on him for now."
I nod. "That's good advice—definitely what I'd tell you to do."
Boulder turns to me. "Where's Graham?"
I sigh. "Bathroom. He didn't want me around today—I think he's kind of crabby—so I decided to come over and see about Blades, since I won't be able to sleep until Graham's feeling better."
"What are you doing today?"
"Revivals… Repairing Jazz… Maybe taking Star Warrior out for a trial run this afternoon to show Defensor how well Mako and I work together in the drift."
"What if we're busy around the base?"
I sigh softly. "You're down until Blades is doing better, Aid. Remember? He needs those bonds right now. He needs you all close—like I need Ratch."
EIGHT AM
I walk into the cafeteria with my uniform—minus my circuitry suit. "Hey, Mako."
"Why are you in your uniform?"
I smile. "I was hoping we could take Star on a trial run. I've got a team I brought back last night that just might want to see us in action, but with the kaiju attack night before last…"
"I will ask the Marshal."
"Thanks, Mako." I sigh before setting my tray back on the counter. "I need to get to the medical bay. I've still got eight frames to revive, and one's been ripped in half—and all of them look like scrap from being at the bottom of the Laurentian Abyss."
THREE HOURS LATER
I send the last of the bots I've revived back to the Autobot's suite, then turn away from where Ratchet and Aid are working to repair Jazz. "Hey, Mako."
"Tendo is ready."
I nod and shift back to my human form. "Come on, Aid. Call your brothers." I smirk. "Time for the jaeger teens to see Defensor at his best, too. Ratch, tell Charlie we need the hover-cam."
BAYS
The Burns family stands on the third floor platform with the five jaeger teens. Mako and I are in our circuitry suits.
"What are you wearing?"
I turn to Hot Spot. "It's a circuitry suit. It helps to sync our nervous systems with Star and each other." I sigh softly. "Let Mako and I get out of your way before you combine."
"Combine? Shey, what—"
"Cherno Alpha, this is Defensor—the Protectobots. They're a gestalt—a combiner team."
"Oh… So… What you and Mako doing?"
I smile. "Showing Defensor what we can do."
"Don't chase RABIT."
"Been there, done that." I smirk. "Don't think I'll have that problem again."
"Don't get cocky."
"I'm not, Raleigh." I smile. "Confidence is one thing, cockiness is another. We have Que back, Defensor, Prowl—Jazz is still down, but Ratch is working on him as we speak—both sets of twins are in the Autobot suite…" I sigh softly. "And Blades isn't almost dead as he was yesterday, because we saved him—the jaegers and I—yesterday night."
Mako and I climb into the conn pod.
"Neural interface drift… initiated."
Once we're drifting, Defensor combines in front of us.
"Ready, Defensor?"
"Ready."
"Let's roll!" I look down. "Relatively speaking."
Blades laughs as we start out.
OCEAN
"So, you do this all the time?"
I sigh softly. "I've only jockeyed twice, Hot Spot. Two weeks ago after a failed test drift, where I chased the RABIT— Random Access Brain Impulse Triggers—memories. I got locked in the one of Ratchet's death, then Optimus' leaving Earth. Last time was several hours ago, before we almost lost Blades." I sigh.
"Gipsy got hurt."
'Not all that unusual for Gips, Mako.'
'Knifehead, Raiju, Slattern…'
"Uh, Guys?"
"Sorry, Blades. Drift Communications. Kind of like the spark bonds."
"I know."
"Shey said that it's not unusual for Gipsy to get hurt, and I mentioned the kaiju that hurt her."
"Least she didn't chase the RABIT."
Mako laughs slightly. "That was one scary kaiju."
"I slapped Newt twice over it, though."
"And Kade has the picture. Heatwave showed it to me. It was worse than getting stomped into the pavement by Humungado."
"And you weren't the one who had to go against Inazuma! Mako and I were the rescue force!"
"What?"
I sigh. "Sorry. Forgot you weren't here." I sigh softly. "Striker was deactivated, Crim was hurt, Cyote was grounded because of a bad reactor—still is, actually—and Gips and Cherno were chasing the RABIT. We were the last chance. If we failed, then Optimus and them would have gotten killed trying to save Hong Kong."
"But you saved them, right?"
"Duh."
'It's…strange, being out here in the middle of the ocean, with a Cybertronian team almost as tall as us.'
'Tell me something I don't know.' I sigh softly. 'At least I'm a little more used to it because of the Rescue Bots, but damn, Mako!'
"English or Cybertronian, please."
"Sorry. We're used to using the Drift to communicate when we're out here."
"And we usually use our bonds, but we still use English around others."
"Primus, Star. You don't know how much I missed this."
I smirk. "Being an arm?"
Blades groans. "Being with my gestalt."
I smile. "Trust me, I do. You don't know how much I missed having Ratchet around. My biggest fear when I came back with them was losing my guardian and mentor."
"Because you had spent so much time with him after Aid—after I—"
"BLADES!"
"Thanks."
'But did you have to yell?'
'Sorry, Mako. It's not as dangerous for him to get caught in a memory, but with his spark so weak right now… I was where he is now when I first met the Rescue Bots, and 'Wave pulled me out of it. I can tell you from experience that I could tell when it was on his mind—course, I didn't know what "it" was at the time, but he was always distracted. Once he almost splashed into the ocean when a storm was brewing. He made Dani scream, and he was panicking… I barely held it together to pull them together, and he got quite the lecture from 'Wave for it, too. Tore his winch cable because he got snagged.'
'All because of a memory?'
"Mako, you almost shot Sasha and Aleksis with Gips' plasma cannon because you got caught in a memory! Stacker tried to pull you off the jaeger team for good! Chuck went off at you both!"
"It was a… difficult time for me."
I nod. "You went out of phase first."
"Star?"
"Mako?"
"We're all right, Defensor. Just picking on each other." I sigh. "But she did go out of phase first. I just went out more." I sigh. "I blame Lockdown. If he hadn't killed Ratch, I wouldn't have gone out of phase…" 'Never is here.'
"STAR!"
I shake my head. "Thanks, Blades. Almost started chasing the RABIT."
"Good thing we're out here with you."
I smirk. "Tell me something I don't know." I sigh. "This is nice—just getting to take Star out without having to worry about a—"
"Star Warrior—"
Mako sighs. "Come on, Tendo! Don't tell me!"
I sigh, pouting slightly. "And we were having so much fun, too!"
"It's coming up on your six o'clock."
"Hey, Blades?"
"Yeah?"
"Remind me to slap Dr. Gotlieb when we get back?"
"Why?"
"He promised us at least a week, Hot Spot. It's been thirty-six hours."
DEFENSOR
'Hey, Blades?'
'Yeah, Hot Spot?'
'Still got your swords? They'd come in handy about now.'
'Yeah… But I'm a little rusty. I haven't used them since—'
'It's fine. Get ready…'
STAR WARRIOR
'Mako, chain sword!'
'Ready!'
"Defensor, we're armed and ready!"
"Ready!"
"Star to base, I know you have hover-cams. Get a live feed going. Dani's gonna be a-mazed."
"What? What do you mean?"
"I… got to see Defensor in action once, on the field… Course, he was missing an arm because Aid was with Ratchet, but…" I shrug when I get a look from Mako. "It was my first month on the job, all right? I'd never seen a gestalt in action until that day, and I was quite impressed, to say the least." I smirk. "'Sides, Defensor was always the best gestalt." I sigh. "Blades, no chasing the RABIT. Focus." 'Focus, Starlight.'
We activate our swords as Blades' deploys his. 'Let's do this!' I smirk and create a psychic link. 'Hot Spot, we're linked.'
'Thanks.'
I can tell Blades is inwardly rolling his eyes. 'We hadn't noticed.'
'Learned something from the Rescue Bots, didn't you?'
I smirk. 'Actually, he learned that from Dani. She's quite the hotshot when it comes to rescue work.'
Blades slices off an arm. 'Boo-yah!'
'Least that's better than "The whirly-bird gets the worm."'
'The what?'
'Hot Spot! Mako! Focus!' I groan. 'Like I told you all last month, Blades, category three kaiju aren't like Humungado and Ravenous, and this monster's a category four.'
'Relax, Star. I cut off his arm.'
'But he's still got three more to fight with.' I look around at our feet as Defensor continues to slice at the three remaining arms. 'Where'd that arm go? We can use that as a club.'
'Bit gruesome, aren't you?'
'A bot goes to a very dark place when they lose their guardian—or gestalt—Mako.' We stoop and grab it suddenly, inadvertently dodging an attack. 'Found it!' We stand, holding the kaiju's arm like it's the Olympic torch. 'I'd give everything I have to have been able to do this to Lockdown!' We smack the kaiju across the head several times with his own arm. 'Remember, it'd be Lockdown's arm, not a kaiju arm.'
'Still, you must have been in a pretty dark place. I didn't even want to slag someone with their own arm.'
'Blades, if you wanted to slag someone, you'd have had to slag yourself—even though you couldn't have predicted the Alpha's engines failing.'
Mako sighs. 'Raleigh couldn't have predicted that Knifehead would stand and rip Gip's arm off before tearing his brother out of the conn pod while they were still connected.'
'We all know what that's like. Raleigh wasn't breathing when his pod came out of the water. Yancy was torn from the conn pod. Ratchet was killed. The Alpha crashed.' I club the kaiju once for each devastating blow to our sparks and hearts. 'But we'll rise from the ashes. We've proved our mettle time and again. We. Are. Rangers!' Slap! 'We. Are. Rescue Bots.' Slap! 'We. Are. Green. Lantern. Material.' We throw the arm down and re-activate our chain swords, stabbing the kaiju to the heart. 'And we. Will. Rise. To the top!' I hold a fist in the air. 'Plasma cannon. Time to check for a pulse.' We fire a couple rounds into the beast.
'Kind of violent, wasn't it?'
'That's kind of strange, coming from the former bad boy of the Protectobots.' I smirk as something Optimus had said to the Fallen comes to mind. "We rise, you fall." I sigh before closing the psychic link. "Let's get home, Defensor." I sigh. "And Blades?"
"Yeah?"
"Wash racks before anything else. You're coated in Kaiju Blue. That could hurt Dani." I sigh. "Same goes for the rest of you."
"What about Star Warrior?"
"Hazmat teams will handle her."
SHATTERDOME
Once we get back, I shift into my Cybertronian form. Dani runs over. "BLADES! That was so COOL!"
Cody leans down from the third level. "That was EPIC!"
I step in between Dani and Cody and the blue-coated helicopter. "Back off. He needs to wash up. He's coated in kaiju blood." I turn to Heatwave with a smirk. "That's the Blades I know and love."
"He panicked about finding Ravenous, but slags a category four without a problem?"
I shrug. "Told you. He used to be a completely different bot when I knew him before." I sigh and lean back on the wall, then wince. "Slaggin' Praxian door wings!" I turn and move them before turning back to Heatwave. "Maybe we'll find a happy medium—you know, not brawling with Sunstreaker in the rec room, but not hiding from Ravenous in a cave either."
"I hope, or they'll be no living with him."
Graham walks in as the Protectobots head for the showers. "Why is Blades covered in Kaiju Blue?"
"Went out in Star with Defensor. Ran into a kaiju. Blades sliced off an arm. Mako and I clubbed it using said arm." I sigh heavily. "Just wish we had that slaggin' boat-bat."
"You have come a long way yourself, Starlight."
I nod before smiling up at Optimus. "Only came close to chasing the RABIT once that time, and I had Blades to snap me out of it."
"Starlight? May I ask why you are happy over that?"
I sigh before turning to Prowl. "Yes, you may." I sigh. "Before, when Mako and I would try to keep our drifts stable without a kaiju to slag, I'd go out of phase because of losing Ratchet. This time, I only came close, one time." I sigh before looking around. "Where's Chase? I was sure you and he would be talking about some random dumb law." I shake my head. "Dancing without a permit. Almost got arrested for that one…almost every slaggin' day."
"With Dad. They had a problem in the city."
I nod. "Understood. Thanks, Graham." I groan. "Primus, I love these things, but sometimes I love to hate them!"
Prowl walks over and turns me to him. "Praxians learn to control theirs by watching their creators. As a techno-organic, you never had the chance to learn."
I nod. "Trust me, I've gotten that from Ratch every slaggin' time he's had to bang dents out of them." I wince at the thought.
"What'd we miss?"
I turn to the Lambo twins. "Hey, Sides. Hey, Sunny. Long time, no see."
Sideswipe crosses his arms. "For good reason."
"Don't call me Sunny!"
I roll my eyes at the yellow-gold Lambo. "KSI. Lockdown. Don't remind me. I'm still chasing the RABIT."
"Say what?"
I point behind me, to the Kaiju Blue coated jaeger. "Drift. Two minds, one consciousness."
"Like us."
"More like a gestalt." I smile when the twins walk in. "Or like them."
"But they fight all the time."
"They also used to combine in vehicle mode." I smirk. "Remember, Sides, I was over their medical care." I look around. "Where's Que?"
BOOM!
"Damn. Not online for one slaggin' day and he's already blowing things up."
Kade turns toward the Kaidonovsky's suite. "I think that one was Cherno." He sighs. "Come on, Heatwave."
I sigh. "You two check Cherno, I'll check the Lab. Cody?"
"Yeah?"
"Go check on Doc for me." I sigh. "I need to slap Gotlieb anyway."
"Why him?"
"Thirty. Six. Slaggin'. Hours."
"So?"
I whirl around to glare at Heatwave. "WE WERE SUPPOSED TO HAVE A WEEK!" I groan before running a hand over my face. "Sorry. Between Graham, Ratchet, and kaiju, I'm about to lose my mind. I'll feel better after I slap a scientist silly." I turn to storm away. "At least that one was a four-armed kaiju and not a three-tailed Godzilla." I sigh. "Everyone with me, in the meeting room, half an hour."
SCIENCE LAB
I storm into the lab in my human form. "GOTLIEB!"
The two turn to me—thankfully not charred—before turning back to what they're doing. "What did I do? Newton is the kaiju groupie."
"You said at least a week before the next attack. I just got back from slagging a four armed kaiju with a Cybertronian gestalt that wasn't supposed to be fighting kaiju when one of them almost fragging died yesterday!"
"Is he all right?"
"You're damned lucky he is." I sigh. "Covered in Kaiju Blue, but all right." I growl. "But you are damned lucky that Ratchet wants them combined like that right now, or you'd be plastered to the wall! Ratchet is very protective of his patients." I look around. "Anyone seen Que?"
Newt answers without turning from the kaiju parasite in his arms. "Medical bay."
"So… nothing blew up?"
"Not in here."
"Thanks." I sigh. "Oh, and you'd better get rid of that before I have to come back here, or I'm having Blades slice it into itty bitty bits." I shrug. "Well, now that I know he's still got his swords, anyway."
"Star?"
"Talking about you—er, your swords. I may ask you to slag a kaiju skin parasite for me if Newt doesn't throw it out before I have to come back in here."
He looks at it. "That thing is terrifying."
"Duh, hence the reason I want it gone." I sigh as I shift back to my Cybertronian form. "So… first takes on fighting a kaiju as a gestalt?"
"A lot better than facing one alone."
I smirk. "And, you didn't eat pavement this time." I sigh. "What took you so long?"
"I had to make sure I didn't have any of that slag on me, then Ratchet wanted to see me."
"And?"
He sighs. "He's not happy I was fighting, but he's glad that I went out with the gestalt."
"You need that right now." I smile. "'Wave and I are hoping we won't find you brawling with Sunstreaker in the rec room like you were so renowned for back in Diego Garcia."
Blades sighs. "That's not me anymore."
"Thank Primus." He gives me a look. "What? We've got Chase and Prowl now." I cross my arms. "If you think Chase was bad for reading Police manuals in every language on earth, Prowl is—"
"Ten times worse. I remember. Why do you think I facepalmed?"
"Because he's so much like Prowl?"
"Duh."
"God, if those two start working together, I'll be on the first jet out of here."
"I don't need a jet."
I cross my arms. "Don't rub it in, Blades. You can fly away from their combined by-the-book personalities. I can't."
"I could give you a ride." He sighs before changing the subject. "I did get all the Kaiju Blue off, right? I don't want Dani getting sick."
I look him over. "Spotless." I grin. "Glad to have you back, Blades."
"Thanks." He sighs. "For everything. You didn't have to bring them back, you know."
"Blades, you almost died. I haven't gotten a panicked call like that from Ratch since—oh, my God."
"What?"
"Right before I heard of the crash—I didn't know—Oh, my God. I had all the information, and I never even thought—I'm so sorry, Blades. Optimus and I were in China when it happened. If I had only—"
"Don't." Blades sighs. "It happened. I can't change it. They're back now." He turns to me. "And I never would have met Heatwave if you had."
I sigh softly. "I still would have preferred to not have Ratchet tell me my best bot friend was dying while I was over the Atlantic Ocean." I suddenly turn to him. "Wait, what was that thing about Heatwave?"
Blades smirks. "We've been bonded for five years now."
I facepalm. "All the signs were there, and I missed it!"
"You didn't know I was the same Blades from Diego Garcia either though."
"Good point. God, I'm dense." I sigh softly. "But you still almost died on us yesterday."
He shrugs. "I lived four years longer than Ratchet expected me to."
I nod. "Good point. But I'd still have just gotten one back to lose another." I sigh. "And that, with my own spark still healing after losing Ratch, would have been a death sentence for me."
"And losing the Star Healer would be a death sentence for the Autobots."
"Kinda my point, Blades." We look at each other before laughing. "God, I would have missed this."
"What?"
"This. Talking about something so…solemn as death, then making each other laugh and cheering each other up just because we're there together. How smug you get when you're the bot who saves the day. How much you care for the little guy, because no one ever does—well, save Aid and I—" I sigh softly. "How you know you get airsick, and probably have for ages, but that doesn't stop you from flying, just because you get to be with Dani and I." I sigh again before leaning one shoulder on the wall. "How you always say that fear is a great motivator, but you never realize how right you really are."
"How you and I are the best of friends even though we're from two very different races."
"That doesn't stop anyone else—it didn't stop Sam and Bee, so why should I let it stop me? I'm scared of the cons, not the bots." I shrug. "Besides, we both went into EMS."
"Good point."
We share a look before laughing again. I smile slightly. "Hey, you know what would be funny—well, in an ironic way?"
"What?"
"That you wind up sparked right after I decide to carry a Cybertronian."
"Poor Ratchet."
"Poor Ratchet? Poor Protectobots. Poor Rescue Bots." I laugh. "Poor Heatwave. Ratchet's the least of our worries if that happens."
"But you'll be going out in a nuclear jaeger, and I'm on two different teams now, and I'll be going out with the Protectobots even if I'm carrying. They've—we've—only trained to fight without Aid, not me. They need me."
"Good point." I sigh. "Thank Primus for Cybertronian biology."
