Takes place shortly after the previous chapter. Some additional visitors have arrived at the Autobot's Area 51 compound.
"Mr. and Mrs. Tennyson, I'm Isaac Sumdac."
"Pleased to meet you," they said, shaking his hand. Professor Sumdac had journeyed over from his dimension to sit down with Ben and his parents in Area 51. He wanted to offer his guidance on parenting a Technorganic. Now that the Skystrikers and the Autobots had gotten to know this new young teen better, they thought it would be helpful for them to meet with the one man who had the most experience. Sari and Jack also joined in on the meeting.
"So you and Sari are from a different dimension?" asked Mr. Tennyson.
"Yes. We are in a parallel dimension. In many ways, it is an exact match to yours. And now we are discovering that there are an infinite number of them, which is quite remarkable. As a scientist, I find this to truly be an exciting time in which to live."
"Our two worlds are a match in many ways, with one exception, of course," he said with a look of sadness. "In my dimension, the Autobots won their war against the Decepticons. In yours unfortunately, the war still rages."
"Do our Decepticons know of your dimension?" asked Mrs. Tennyson.
"We don't believe so," said Sari. "We've worked very hard to keep that fact a secret."
Of course, unknown to Sari, with the arrival of a certain spider bot that secret has since been discovered...
"So, Thundercracker, what have you and Blackarachnia developed so far?" asked the Decepticon leader.
"There is a portal that can be opened to Blackarachnia's dimension, my liege, and she and I have managed to make modifications to one of the space bridges to send several Vehicons over, but thus far we've lost communications with them."
"And why is that?"
"I suspect they didn't make the journey across intact, my lord," replied Blackarachnia.
Megatron turned to his head scientist. "Shockwave, have you had an opportunity to examine their transport logs?"
"I have, lord Megatron, and Blackarachnia's speculation is logical. The journey is fraught with intermediary microscopic dimensions, and even the slightest miscalculation can send atomic matrices across multiple pathways, reassembling them randomly at the target site. The result would be - interesting."
"Indeed. Continue with your research." he told the two. They bowed before the throne and returned to their lab. Megatron got up from his throne and turned to his Lieutenant.
"So, Starscream, I understand your TechnoCons have come up with a plan?"
"Quite so, my liege. They tried to discuss it in private, but Soundwave has optics on every wall of the warship."
"A lesson that you learned the hard way, as I recollect," Megatron retorted, reminding him of that cave incident when Megatron intended to terminate him. Starscream swallowed his tremble and answered.
"Y-Yes, my lord. Anyway, they are planning to target that blasted Technorganic Sari to earn your approval."
Megatron remained silently thoughtful and turned back to leave. Starscream, confused at the lack of reaction asked:
"My liege, aren't you curious to know the details of their plan? Who it involves? How much of a failure or success it might be?"
"No," he responded with a wave of his servo. "If the TechnoCons want to prove themselves worthy, then I shall give them this opportunity without holding them back. Should they succeed...well, I shall take it as a pleasant surprise victory," he smirked. "Now, prepare phase 2."
While Isaac, the Tennysons and Jack continued talking, Sari excused herself to attend a meeting with Team Prime and the TFA Autobots regarding another aspect of this latest development. The TFA bots were already aware of Ben, having met him when he came into Area 51.
("He's too inexperienced. If anything he's even greener than Smokescreen."), said Arcee.
"While I think we need every servo we can have for the battle, I have to agree with you, Arcee." T:Prime Bulkhead opined.
"I know he's immature and new. But Ben has spent nearly six years as a crime-fighter," replied Sari.
"I don't know, Sar," said TFA Bumblebee, "Burglars and thugs aren't the same as Decepticons".
"Granted, but it does count for some fighting experience. And as Bulkhead said, we need all the help we can get."
"What if Ben remained behind in a support role while the more experienced veterans stayed up front?" asked TFA Arcee.
("But can he be trusted to obey our orders, and fight as a team member?") T:Prime Arcee asked.
"I believe he will. I had a discussion with him about Grimlock and wounded soldiers. It might not have made him more mature, but I felt in my Spark that it made an impression on him."
"That was a good start, Sari," said TFA Arcee. "He'll likely need some reinforcement. What if he had a mentor? Someone who could guide him?" She asked the group.
T:Prime Bulkhead had the perfect idea. "I think I know the bot to put Ben under," he said with a smile.
T:Prime Bumblebee looked at the big green bot and smiled. "Oh I know who you're thinking of, Bulk, and he's just the bot Ben needs."
When the meeting was over, Sari pulled Ben aside:
"Ben, we've been talking and decided to put you under the command of a CO."
"CO?"
"That's 'commanding officer'. He'll lead you and a force of Autobots." Sari looked at him seriously. "Though I warn you, this bot won't take your joking lightly. He's a war veteran, a professional commander and a no-nonsense, by-the-book, bot."
"Okay, got it. Serious guy. Who's this bot?"
A tall T:Prime Autobot stepped forward facing them. Ben noticed a striking resemblance to the T:Prime Optimus, which made him squint. But no, he realized, this bot wasn't Optimus.
"Ben, let me introduce you to Commander Ultra Magnus, second-in-command of the Autobots in this dimension." To Sari's introduction, Magnus simply nodded his head as a form of greeting. Ben looked awkwardly before waving his hand.
"Hey there." the Technorganic greeted sheepishly. The stern look and profile drawn by Sari prevented him from his usual witty remarks.
"I understand you are a raw recruit, Tennyson. That is completely understandable. But while you're under my command, you will salute straight and address me as 'sir' or 'Commander'. Are we clear?"
"Crystal clear, sir." the young Technorganic straightened himself and saluted nervously, which was good enough for Magnus. Sari smiled to herself.
"Bulkhead was right. Magnus is already having a good influence on Ben."
"With this attack on-going and we Autobots needing every available servo, you must undergo a crash-course on basics. I understand you show promise for a Technorganic. But all that power is nothing if not tempered with discipline, if the fight against the TechnoCons was any proof." Magnus turned away "Walk with me, recruit. I'll introduce you to the soldiers under my command. Among them you'll be the lowest of the low and humblest of the humble. You're the recruit who will be forced to learn quickly among battle-hardened veterans. Understood, Tennyson?"
"Yes, sir." Ben was nervous but he really, really didn't want to disobey this bot. So he walked with the Commander to another part of Area 51.
"Come on, Lucy! We have to evacuate!" the mother dragged her 8-year-old daughter into the car where the father was waiting.
"But why mommy?"
"Because we said so," the father sighed. The Mayor had order the city evacuated. With the chaos that happened on Wall Street and other parts of Manhattan, the military was escorting the citizens out.
"Mommy, daddy, look!" little Lucy pointed to the sky, fascinated; but the parents were horrified at the sight.
The Nemesis descended onto Manhattan's Upper West Side, guns powering up. The citizens, both in the streets and from inside the apartments looked up, first in awe, then growing dread and hysterical panic. The alien warship aimed its weapon at the top floor of a high-rise apartment complex, setting it on fire. Floors began collapsing down and exploding, one by one.
"God help us!" Yelled a TV reporter viewing the attack from his mobile command center.
Innocent lives inside the crumbling floors were lost, either crushed, vaporized or by jumping out windows in a desperate attempt to escape.
"This is horrible!" Raf grimaced. He, Jack and Sari had arrived just in time to watch the ghastly display.
"Skystrikers, we can't fight off the warship until backup arrives. Quickly, grab as many people as you can and bring them to safety," Sari instructed, taking off. The three dispersed to help as many of the falling humans as possible and bring them safely to the ground.
"There she is." Skysword smirked "I knew she couldn't resist."
"Time to finish the hunt!" Ripclaw roared, flying up into the sky. The other Predacons followed her example. They and the TechnoCons were atop the landing strip of the Nemesis, watching Sari, Jack and Raf.
"Not you." Skysword said. "We do this with a very tight crew. Besides, Megatron wants you to accompany his forces on the ground."
"But the Skystrikers are spread thin and vulnerable now!" Ripclaw protested.
"Yes, and if you Predacons come with us, Sari will call for reinforcements and we want to keep her separated from her team. The more enemies the Autobots have on the other end, the more they'll be focused there." Osgood rationalized.
"Exactly. You lead the Predacons under Megatron. Besides, you might even see that bitch Nakadai again and burn her tail," Skysword added, looking back at the dot that he knew was Sari. "While we take down our own prey."
He turned to the TechnoCons and one other Decepticon who'd agreed to join their attack force. "Let's go."
A small army of Autobots was gathered at the southeast end of Central Park; the area had been previously evacuated. Ben was with them, talking to the Wrecker Wheeljack, a longtime friend of T:Prime Bulkhead. Wheeljack was filling in the young Technorganic on an old war story:
"The Wreckers were trapped between the Decepticon patrols and the smoldering pits. The 'Cons were vicious, bearing down on us with everything they had. Me and Bulkhead engaged the enemy and left them for scrap, and then I made us a way out by using their backsides as stepping stones to cross the molten metal."
"You totally kick butt, dude!" Ben gushed. "You Wreckers sound like a pretty tough bunch."
"Ain't that the truth, kid." Wheeljack boasted. "Though to be honest with ya, there aren't many of us left. But after hearing about your activities and the way you fight, I must say you'd make a great Wrecker."
"Wow, really?" Ben optics beamed up at that.
"Tryin' to get the kid to join up your team, eh Jacky?" Ironhide, a veteran even older than Wheeljack commented as he approached them.
"You know me, 'Hide. Always looking for fresh metal."
"Then you gotta save that for another time. Magnus wants Ben to meet him and Bumblebee pronto." Ironhide's message made Wheeljack internally sigh at hearing that. He still didn't like Ultra Magnus' way of strict command. Ben took off flying, not wanting to keep his stern new boss waiting.
Ben found Magnus in the center with T:Prime Bumblebee already there. He landed smoothly in front of Magnus.
"Tennyson and scout Bumblebee, we know the Decepticons are landing en masse in an area not far from here. According to our human intel, it is called Flushing Meadows."
"I know the place. It's in Queens." Ben said.
"Good to know you're familiar with the area. So far the Decepticons haven't moved, which leads me to believe they're up to something, waiting for something. I need you two to go there and discover their exact numbers and what they're doing."
"So you want us bust in and kick their metal butts…, hu - sir?" Ben almost forgot the bot to which he was talking.
"Not at all, Tennyson. This is a scouting mission only. Go under the radar and do not engage." Magnus told him. "Bumblebee is our most experienced scout, and as for you, your size and flight mods will be a great asset to him. So for this mission, Bumblebee is in charge. Clear?"
"Sure thing, sir." Ben replied.
"Yes, sir." Bee's response was a lot more professional than Ben's, but the Commander let that slide.
The two departed, Bumblebee in his vehicle mode and Ben flying close behind. It struck Ben as a little awkward that his temporary leader was this dimension's counterpart of the bot that was Sparkmate to the Technorganic Ben was crushing on just a few hours ago. "Talk about weird," he thought.
This Bumblebee, Ben deduced, was different from Sari's boyfriend – er, Sparkmate, whatever. This one was more serious and less of a blabbermouth. Though he did notice that this Bumblebee was sometimes called 'kid' by the other bots in the army.
"Huh," Ben thought, "even among veterans, I guess…he's a rookie?"
"I'll probably get along with him."
"Two contacts, right ahead of us. Hide!" Bumblebee drove into an open garage and Ben followed suit, just in time to avoid being spotted. Two giant purple beetle-like robots flew by. None of them even looked to where the two scouting bots were hiding.
"What are those ugly bugs?" Ben whispered after they passed.
"Insecticons. Big, bad, and tough shock troops. Though they're not very bright. It's always preferable to avoid them rather than fight them." Bumblebee checked his radar to make sure there were no other Decepticons around. He made a hand gesture for Ben to move out and the two scouts continued.
Ben on occasion would tell Bumblebee more discreet ways to reach their destination. The people living in Queens had already been evacuated. The closer they got, the more Cons they had to avoid. They continued this way, until they reached an open green area where dozens of Decepticons were gathered. The agglomerate was denser around the Unisphere.
Bee and Ben remained at the edge of the park to avoid being spotted. The Autobots hid behind a pile of rubble from a nearby destroyed house.
"That's a lot of bad dudes," Ben muttered, standing behind a wall.
There were more Vehicons, Insecticons and new Decepticons than Bumblebee had seen since the war. Lugnut, Blitzwing, the Constructicons and others. Some were standing guard while others were unloading different types of machinery through a ground bridge and installing them on some buildings or on the streets.
"Looks like they're setting up something." Bumblebee's more watchful optics discerned the machines as defensive weapons. "That's it. They're setting up a ground base here. The 'Cons are really here to take over New York. We have to tell this to Magnus."
"Look!" Ben pointed up where a gray fighter jet was descending on the center with two Predacons following behind. The teen recognized one of the dragons as that JoAnne chick's pet. The Decepticons bowed to the fighter jet that transformed into the biggest, bulkiest Decepticon (barring the Predacons) that Ben ever saw.
"Megatron," Bumblebee whispered tightly.
"That's Megatron?" Ben had to catch himself not to say that out loud. He remembered the bots telling him that this Megatron guy would stop at nothing to hunt him down. But he never thought the Decepticon leader to be so intimidating. The Technorganic felt a rare cold chill watching this titanic warlord.
"We've seen enough. Let's roll out." Bumblebee said and Ben couldn't be happier to leave.
Back at Manhattan's Upper West Side, Sari, Raf and Jack were still rescuing the civilians and handing them to National Guard EMTs. The Autobots, led by both Primes were fighting off the Decepticons that came descending from the Nemesis. It turned out that Megatron hadn't sent all his sleepers to Flushing Meadows.
"What are you doing? Where are you taking me?" an old man that Sari was carrying cried out in panic. Sari tried to reassure him:
"Calm down, sir. We're here to help. You are safe."
"No he's not. And neither are you!" Skysword appeared out of nowhere with energy blades drawn.
"Oh no!" she yelled. She was in no position to fight back, with the old man on her arms. The TechnoCon fired orb after orb at her.
"Hang on, sir!" she said to her passenger and executed quick defensive maneuvers. She had to try landing quickly so she could drop off the man. Trying to evade every blow, she was too distracted to use P-O-M.
"Have some of this!" Skysword flew at top speed, slashing a long hit with his falchions on her back, making her bleed Energon. He continued to take advantage of her exposure, giving her more scratches and injuries.
"Aaah!" Sari grimaced, feeling the pain of the cuts.
"Are you OK?" the old man asked her.
"I'm...I'm alright," she groaned.
"Skysword!" Jack roared, flying straight into the battle to help his Captain and Sensei. Spotting the other Skystriker coming, Skysword turned tail and fled. Jack chased him away until the two mechs began to fight in the sky. One would assume the Technorganic Decepticon would be frustrated by his failure, but Skysword was in fact smirking behind his faceplate:
"Everything is going as planned."
"There you go, sir." Sari handed the disoriented old man into the arms of the EMTs.
"Thanks for your help." the medics said, and Sari shot back into the sky, looking for more people in need of help. Gazing down for a moment, she saw the many mangled corpses of the people they hadn't been able to save. It was a tragedy, all this destruction for the selfishness of some. Looking back up, Sari saw a family with children hanging out a window. "Help!" screamed the mother. "Somebody, help us, please!"
Sari flew back up in the direction of where the mother was hanging out the window. "I'm coming!" she yelled.
"Going somewhere?" A voice came from behind. She turned to see JoAnne and Scott flying to attack.
"You two again!" she yelled. "Stay away!" and fired orbs at both.
"But they're just trying to say hello!" came a sultry voice from the building wall. She turned to see an old, familiar figure - certainly someone she'd never expected!
"Blackarachnia?" Her optics opened wide!
"My, how you've progressed!" smirked the Decepticon spider bot, scampering toward her from the building wall. "Flying, shooting orbs, battling Decepticons - a full Technorganic! I would never have expected it!" She shot webbing at one of the plasma jets on her pede, causing it to fail. "Oopsie!" she chuckled, "does my webbing cause your jet to stop working? Oh, that's right! I tested it on Scott, didn't I, JoAnne?"
"Yep! Plugs it up real good!" she smirked. Sari was now having to fly on three jets. She started to aim an orb at Blackarachnia, but she shot a web at her servo, plugging it as well. "Uh uh uh! Can't have that now, can we?"
The woman up above screamed. "Please, help us!"
"Look, just let me go bring them down!" Sari yelled.
"Oh, them? Let's not," said JoAnne, snapping her with her energy whip, then firing a red orb at Sari, while Blackarachnia shot another web at her other pede. "You're losing plasma jets, brat!" she yelled, "I'd land if I were you."
Sari tried using her one remaining jet to get up to the woman, but just then, Scott flew by her and scratched her chassis with his acid digits. "Cha! I got her, JoAnne! I got her!"
"Time to crash, Sumdac!" said the spider bot, and took out her remaining jet, sending her plummeting down to the ground.
"Captain!" came a voice from below. It was Raf, who had just dropped off another victim. He turned a corner of the building to see Sari's predicament, and rushed to catch her.
"Who the heck is that?!" asked Blackarachnia.
"Oh that's another one of those Skystriker do-gooders," said JoAnne. "Don't let him catch her!"
"Piece of cake!" yelled the spider bot, and jumped off the building in time to land on Raf. In an instant, she wrapped him up in her webbing like a cocoon. She then shot a web to the underside of a ledge, and pulling the two of them back, attached him to its underside. "Let's see him get out of that before the floor explodes!" she laughed.
"Thanks for your help," said JoAnne to Blackarachnia.
"My pleasure, dearie," she replied. "I've been looking forward to giving that brat some long overdue payback."
Sari hit the sidewalk, cratering it and falling through the concrete into the ground below.
JoAnne sent a signal to Skysword, telling him the job was done. "We did it. She's down."
The TechnoCon leader was heavily engaged in battle with Jack but he smirked.
"Sorry Jack, I have a thing to do." he gave a mock salute and fled.
"You're not going anywhere." Jack attempted to follow him but was stopped by a red orb crossing his way. Adam and Osgood came to block his way, ready for battle.
"You're the one who's not going anywhere, pipsqueak." the hammer brute growled.
"Ugh!" Sari got up, trembling. Her chassis was dented, torn, cracked and scratched in many places. Her power was diminished. She was hurt, leaking Energon and exhausted, but couldn't rest now. She looked up to see the family still in trouble. Yet no TechnoCon was in sight. She pulled Blackarachnia's webbing off of her servos and pedes and urged her tired plasma boosters to work. But then a growing hissing sound from behind alerted her. Sari started to look back but it was too late.
Something hit her from behind. A pain felt on a point from her back to her chest.
"Wha…" she looked down to see, to her horror, the tip of Skysword's falchion coming out of her Spark chamber!
"Autobots protect the weak." she heard him sneer, despite the pain and shock. "That's your greatest weakness."
With the falchion still stuck, he fired a small orb into her, ravaging even more her pierced Spark.
"AAHH!" TFA Bumblebee cringed, clenching his chest with both servos.
"Bumblebee, you okay?" TFA Bulkhead went for his friend.
"It's Sari! I felt her. Open the bridge for her location. Now!" hearing the urgency in his voice, Bulkhead did so, noticing a disturbing factor on his computer:
"Sari's signal...is going out." Bumblebee went through the bridge without paying attention to that. To his horror he spotted her on the ground, chest sparking, with optics dimming.
"Bee," she said weakly. "I..I"
"Sar!" he carefully picked her up and ran through the bridge and straight to sick bay. "Minerva, set up a med berth."
"Great Cybertron!" she shrieked at the sight of the dying Technorganic. She did as told and had Bumblebee lay Sari on the berth, on a private hall for emergencies. She called for T:Prime Ratchet from Outpost Omega One. "Ratchet! Emergency! MSET!"
He arrived immediately.
"Oh dear Primus!" he exclaimed, horrified at the damages in her chest. The veteran medical officer wasted no time helping Minerva hook Sari up to life support. He also sent Bumblebee away, demanding they needed privacy to save the patient's life.
"She's my Sparkmate!" he protested.
"Right now she's our patient and we need privacy to save her life!" that was enough to push him away as the two medics began to work.
Bee ran to the area where Isaac was with the Tennysons. "Professor! Come quickly!"
"How is she still alive?" Ratchet asked, looking at the gruesome wound. Her spark had been pierced but according to the computer, Sari still had life signals, though falling rapidly. Normal Cybertronians would be dead by now.
"I think her human half is somehow keeping her barely alive." Minerva suggested, and the two began to work. Neither had ever attempted to fix an organ as vital as a Spark. But for the welfare of their friend, they had to try.
In the Upper West side, both Primes and the Autobots were fighting off the Decepticons that came out of the warship. From Team Prime were Arcee, Bulkhead and Smokescreen. From the TFA dimension were Springer and the other Cyber-Ninjas. One of the sleepers was commanding the attack and was a big 'Con that turned into a spaceship named Cyclonus.
Cyclonus was battling Springer with brute force while the Autobot dodged the attacks with agility.
"You're a coward, Cyclonus," said Springer. "I understand that you once challenged the Decepticons in Iacon, but after they soundly defeated you, you begged for mercy and only joined up to save your skidplate."
"That's a lie!"
"Is it now? And is it a lie that after Swoop's abduction, when the Autobots came to rescue him, you hid behind a force field? I heard you let your minions do your work for you, and when your force field was disabled, you fell on your knees crying, promising to open the laboratory doors as long as the Autobots didn't hurt you!"
"Smelt you, you fragging freak!" yelled Cyclonus," attacking the Cyber-Ninja.
"You've already lost, Autobots!" laughed JoAnne, firing an orb at T:Prime Bulkhead. She and Scott had just arrived and were now engaging the enemy together, although it was mostly JoAnne who gave the orders instead of an equal partnership. This new cooperation between them didn't go unnoticed by both Primes.
"Optimus, I fear I have grave news." T:Prime Ratchet spoke solemnly to both Primes commanding the attack. "Sari has been struck down. Come quickly."
Both Primes felt their sparks cold and heavy. Before they could react, though, Cyclonus pushed Springer away and bellowed to his troops:
"To me, Decepticons! Our glorious leader is calling us to victory!" they all transformed and followed their General. JoAnne even smirked at her enemies.
TFA Optimus was leading the Autobot chase after the Decepticons. Ultra Magnus was about to engage Megatron's army but couldn't risk being caught between two bands of Decepticons.
Raf, struggling inside the tightly-wound cocoon, managed to engage his plasma weapon, and used it to blast a hole through Blackarachnia's webbing. He tore out of the enclosure. "Captain? Captain!" he yelled, then looked to the ground and saw the crater. "No!" He flew down to the site where she'd been brutally attacked by Skysword, and saw the Energon all over the sidewalk. Getting on his comm, he reached Jack.
"The Captain's been injured, and I can't find her!" he told him.
"Something's going on, Raf," Jack replied, "all the Decepticons have left." Jack got on his comm to TFA Bulkhead. The green bot responded, "Jack, you, Raf and Miko had better get back here."
The three Skystrikers rushed to Area 51.
"Sari got attacked? She's dying?! Where were you guys?!" Miko screamed at Raf and Jack.
"We got separated by the TechnoCons," said Jack. "They planned this attack, working together. They're a lot more coordinated than before."
"I tried to rescue her," said Raf, "but some spider bot attacked me and threw me in a cocoon."
"That's impossible!" yelled Miko, "Airachnid's in a stasis pod in Outpost Omega One!"
"It wasn't Airachnid," said Raf. "There's another spider bot Decepticon."
"Look," said Jack sorrowfully, "all of this doesn't matter now. Sensei is dying. We need to be with her."
"Oh, Sari!" Isaac cried, holding his daughter's left servo while TFA Bumblebee held her right one.
The Skystrikers stood nearby. Miko had transformed back into "human" mode, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Please, headmistress, please," she said to herself, "don't die!" Jack remained in "bot" mode, to keep a check on his emotions. He was sad, of course - it showed on his face - but "bot" emotions are less intense. He went into Cyber-Ninja meditation, lending his Spark to Ratchet and Minerva, to aid their skills.
Raf tried keeping a soldier's control, but tears came down his cheeks regardless. "Oh, Captain, forgive me; I'm so sorry I didn't get to you sooner!" he thought.
T:Prime Optimus emerged from the ground bridge into Area 51, per Ratchet's request. Entering sick bay, he looked down at Sari's injuries with quiet, grim-faced concern, and put a servo on Ratchet's shoulder. "Old friend."
"Optimus," Ratchet shook his helm "there is nothing we can do. There's no time to get her to Cybertron to transfer what's left of her spark into another shell." he recalled Sari was once subjected to that procedure to save her life. This time though, it was too late.
Minerva looked up at the Prime, sadness in her optics. "Her spark is about to expire." The monitors displayed Sari's spark: 2%...and dropping towards 1%. All hope was lost.
"No." the Autobot leader shook his head, refusing to believe it. "It is not over." He walked out of sick bay.
"Bulkhead, open a bridge to Outpost Omega One." he ordered the TFA counterpart. For a nanoklik, the mourning spacebridge specialist was confused, but did as he was told. Optimus transformed and sped into the vortex, returning with something from the vault. The Forge of Solus Prime. With no time to lose, he reentered sick bay.
"Everyone, I must ask you to leave."
They did as he said, seeing the determination in his optics. Outside the private medical room, Isaac and TFA Bumblebee were inconsolable. The father's head was in his hands, weeping quietly. Sari's Sparkmate shed no tears but that didn't make him any less heartbroken. The Skystrikers huddled together.
The sound of banging grabbed everyone's attention. Then, a bright shimmering light flooded sick bay and streamed out into the hall. Suddenly, everyone heard Optimus call out:
"Ratchet! I need you!"
Ratchet entered the sick bay room. It was bathed in a blinding, pure white light. Inching his way forward, holding out his arm, he called out. "Optimus?"
"I cannot see!" he responded.
The old medic brought up his surgical welder's optic covers until his optics were able to deal with the intensity of the light. He looked in the direction of his old friend's voice, and could see him, back against the wall, holding on to the Forge of Solus Prime in one servo, the other shielding his face. He then turned to the operating table on which Sari lay. He gasped!
"By the All Spark!"
So we end on a real cliff hanger! What is Ratchet seeing? We'll try to get Chapter 12 to you as soon as possible so you can find out!
Thanks to TheSealer for some great additions to this chapter, particularly the scene with Ben and Ultra Magnus! He was planning on using it in a story of his own but felt it warranted inclusion in this one.
Thanks for reading. Please review.
