Chapter 16

The Power of a Spark

Predaking absolutely despised the cold…

Of course this had arisen due to the fact he had been frozen solid for an extended period of time shortly after he had first been brought online, but that was hardly of any importance at this time… right now he was completely ignoring the frigid weather as he soared high over the area Yue had directed him to. His optics scanning the sea of white snow below for any sign of Songbird. His spark was hammering in his chest, what if he didn't find her in time? What would become of Freefall and Moonrise? All these thoughts and so many others were racing through his processor at such a dizzying speed that he almost overlooked the frozen and half buried gryphonformer… fortunately however Orb Weaver took notice of her.

"There she is!" She screamed as she abruptly pulled on one of the many spikes that adorned the Predacon's beast form. This immediately snapped his mind back to reality and he whirled around and dove straight down and landed next to Song. Once Orb Weaver jumped off his back, he transformed and reached down to pick up Songbirds motionless body. But no sooner had Predaking turned her over did his optics widen at the partially exposed spark and the fact that Songs two daughters were literally floating inside of it!

"Oh Primus, Songbird!" He cried out shaking her slightly, trying to get her to wake… but all he received was a weak, pain filled moan. Unsure of what else to do Predaking was right about to reach into her spark chamber, intending to pull out Moony and Freefall, but his sharp servo was suddenly smacked away by Weaver.

"You c-c-can't just r-reach into to her spark! You m-might kill her on accident!" The young femme explained through her obvious shivering. At this time she was barely managing to keep herself calm, not to mention that she was also trying very hard not show just how badly the cold was really affecting her… and doing a rather poor job at it.

"She will most certainly die if we just leave them in there! I must do something!" The Predacon king seethed, he was not angry at Orb Weaver but he was angry at feeling incredibly useless. But the young techno-organic spoke the truth… and he would never be able to forgive himself if he was responsible for killing Songbird so he did not make another attempt to remove the humans from her still weakly pulsing spark.

Weaver bit her lip as a thought occurred to her, she had to say it even though she knew Predaking was undoubtedly not going to like it "M-Maybe… maybe there is s-s-something we c-can do…" She paused and gulped slightly. "She needs a m-medic and so do y-y-you… the Autobot's have a medic, don't th-they?"

"That is out of the question!" The dragon snapped, tightening his grip on Songbird. "They would sooner kill the three of us-"

"But we could try! What other choice is there?" Orb Weaver interrupted as her rarely displayed courage began to make itself known and she began to get more control over her shivering. "I don't like the Autobots either but I would beg for their help if it meant s-saving Moony, Song and Freefall! So what's m-more important to you?"

Predaking growled angrily before he looked away, suddenly feeling an unfathomable shame beginning to burn within his spark. Weaver undoubtedly made a very good point and he was being an utter fool for dwelling on a grudge at a time like this. But even if he was willing to approach the Autobot's, swallow his pride and beg them for help… it did not change the fact that he did not know where their base was and that was a problem…

Of course little did Predaking know that the energy Yue had used to reveal to him Songbirds location was still inside of him…

And no sooner had these thoughts echoed through his mind did this energy activate once again and revealed to him the location of the Autobot's base…

"P-Predaking are you all right? Your optics turned w-white again for a second…" Weaver commented softly as her grip on her shivering began to wane once again, but she received no verbal response as Predaking abruptly transformed into his beast mode and carefully slid Songbird onto his back, right before motioning with his head for Weaver to get on as well which she quickly did. He gave her a glance that silently commanded the teenager to watch Song and hold onto her should she start to slip off of him…

With that spread his wings and took to the skies once again…

And began racing through the long flight heading straight for Jasper Nevada…

To say that Ratchet was in a bad mood may have very well been the understatement of the century…

Over the course of the long hours since little Paradox had gone off with the femme Predacon, the medic had done nothing except pace the MedBay and snap at anyone who was unfortunate enough to get in his way… hell he had even snapped at Optimus! Even though the Prime had only been trying to talk to his old friend, Ratchet just didn't want to talk to or even deal with anyone at this point. What only made the situation far worse was that he was unable to shake off the feeling that wherever Paradox was something was going horribly, terribly wrong… It was Arcee who finally decided to have a few words with him… and if need be, she was fully prepared to smack him upside his helm a few times as well. Of course no sooner had she entered the MedBay was she greeted with the sight of Ratchet cleaning and then re-cleaning his tools. No doubt in an attempt to vent some of his stress, but by watching his movements it was clear that the only thing he was succeeding in was making himself more and more frustrated. The blue two wheeler sighed and watched him quietly for a few more minutes before she finally decided to speak to make herself known.

"You're not the only one who cares about her…" She said softly and immediately catching Ratchet's attention and alerting him to her presence.

"And yet I seem to be the only one who is worried!" He snapped back. "I don't have the faintest clue as to why Optimus actually agreed to letting Paradox go with that Predacon! All I know is that it won't end well!"

"You don't know that for certain Ratchet. And even though I'm also more than a little skeptical about trusting her… We all know that Paradox has wanted this for as long as we can remember, hasn't she?" Arcee explained calmly and judging by how Ratchet had just gone completely silent, she had very effectively made her point. "I know saying it will mean nothing because you're going to do it one way or another, but still try not to worry... I'm sure that she's fine." But no sooner had she said this did Bumblebee suddenly race past the MedBay making several extremely loud and frightened beeping sounds as he did so… which instantly caused Arcee and Ratchet to both tense up.

"Did he just say what I think he said? The blue femme nervously asked suddenly regretting the words she had just said mere moments ago.

"Both of the Predacon's are approaching the base?! Is Paradox with them?!" Ratchet questioned out loud, granted he was speaking to himself more than Arcee and with that he raced out the MedBay door. He was the first one outside but he was closely followed by Optimus and the rest of the Autobot's… With the only obvious exception being Bulkhead, since he was still off-base in the desert somewhere following Tripwire after the young mech had run off earlier. Within moments Predaking landed heavily in front of all the assembled Autobot's. Magnus immediately growled and turned his arm into a blaster and aimed it straight at the dragons head. But Optimus held out his arm in front of his friend, preventing him from making any offensive movements towards Predaking… The main reason being that the Prime had just spotted Songbirds limp form draped over his back. Very carefully Weaver managed to slide her off of Predaking's back onto the ground, freeing him to transform, which he hastily did.

"What has happened?" Optimus questioned, he was somewhat surprised at this unprecedented turn of events… but at the same time he knew all too well that something awful must've taken place for Predaking to bring his injured female counterpart back to their door.

"We were… betrayed…" The dragonformer hissed coldly as his golden optics locked onto the Primes blue ones. "Megatron attempted to kill me and Songbird... These events have left her grievously injured… I have come here to… ask for your help." Each word stung worse than the crack of an energon whip. But he ignored it, he had to! He had no choice!

"And why should we help yo-" Ultra Magnus never got to finish his sentence because at that moment Ratchet slammed a wrench hard into his chassis so hard that it knocked all the wind right out of the veteran warriors vents. He stepped forward, his optics blazing in anger and in dread.

"Where is Paradox?!" He snapped up at the considerably taller and obviously stronger dragon mech. At first Predaking had absolutely no idea what the frag he was talking about… until the memory of the small sparkling that had been injured along with Knockout by the deflected blast. While he was not entirely sure about what this implicated, but he did know somewhere in his spark that Songbird had something to do with it… And now the Predacon King saw an opportunity that he refused to pass up.

He now had information that the medic wanted, which made it a powerful bartering tool…

"You mean the small blue sparkling?" He growled and judging by the flash of emotion that crossed Ratchet's face he knew that his assumption had been correct. "I will tell you, but only if you heal Songbird first!"

"Not until-"

"Help her… or I will tell you nothing and you will never see that sparkling again!" Predaking snarled, his voice boomed so loudly that the sound seemed to echo for miles. But the volume of his threat could not entirely conceal the desperation in his tone…

Optimus picked up on it immediately and was quick to respond. "We would have helped you anyway." He injected, quickly putting himself between Ratchet and Predaking. "All you needed to do was ask…" Of course Predaking didn't believe him, not even for half a moment. The Autobots were his enemies… that much he knew to be a fact, only now with the Decepticons betrayal he had no choice but to view them as the lesser of two evils. It really was desperation… that alone prevented him from killing the two adolescents Smokescreen and Bumblebee as they cautiously approached him and attempted to pick up Song, although he did lash out preventing either of them from touching her and he gently picked her up bridal style.

Ratchet growled hatefully but the Predacon's words echoed through his processor, if the only way he'd get the information he wanted was to help the femme then so be it. It wouldn't have been the first time that he had to trade his medical expertise for information, as he recalled all the incidents in which he had to help Starscream. So with a loud and irritated sigh of defeat he motioned for Predaking to follow him into the MedBay and to bring Songbird with him. Predaking silently followed him. However Orb Weaver was right behind him and she was looking at the Autobots who had seemingly just taken notice of her presence and sure enough she found herself staring straight into the optics of none other than Arcee…

Weaver stopped walking as she felt her tanks churn in bitter recognition, although much to her complete surprise the femme who had previously tried to blow her head off didn't look nearly as angry/psychotic as she had in their first encounter. In fact she looked more than a little confused…

"You're not Airachnid."

"No fragging duh!" The words popped out of her mouth before they even registered in her processor. It wasn't too surprising, but with everything that had happened Weaver found herself angrier than she had ever been in her life! Not to mention that now she found herself facing the same crazy Autobot who had tried to kill her before just succeeded in pushing her right over the proverbial edge! "Unfortunately for me Airachnid is my Carrier; and as you can plainly see that fact has brought me nothing but bad luck throughout my entire life!" She screamed at the top of her vents and Arcee took a step back from the smaller femme, she was clearly taken aback by this sudden revelation… and inwardly grimaced as she realized just what she had done.

"Then… I'm sorry that I attacked you." It was completely pathetic, she knew it! But she couldn't think of anything else to say.

"…Seriously? That's it?! That's all you have to say?! And here I was thinking that my mother won the award for giving the universes worst apologies!" Weaver snapped as she proceeded to all but explode at Arcee. "But you know what? Screw it and screw you! I've got other things to worry about other than you… like how the closest thing I've ever had to a family is dying! So frag off Queen Glitch!" And with that she stormed past the older femme and quickly ran to catch up with Predaking in the MedBay.

Leaving Arcee feeling so bad that it was only comparable to the time that Cliffjumper died…

Ratchet worked steadily and quietly…

Over the course of his long life he had seen pretty much every kind of injury that there was. Some that he still had trouble believing actually happened in the way that they did… and then there were the other types, things that were so horrible in gruesome that still haunted his dreams to this very day. But when he laid Songbird on his examination table and opened up her chest plates only to see the two human children submerged just beneath the surface of her barely pulsing spark… that brought a whole new level of horror into his imagination that he wished he had never been forced to see. But carefully, very carefully… he used a thin small pair of Cybertronian tweezers to reach to the femme's spark and extracted them. Once they were out he placed their lifeless bodies on a nearby tray… and that was when he nearly had a full-blown spark attack!

Moonrise and Freefall moved…

Well twitched actually. But that didn't change the fact that somehow, through some strange twist of fate the two girls were alive! It completely blew Ratchets processor! Nonetheless, after he realized that the children were still living alive he hastily grabbed them up and called out for the only individuals who could probably be of more use to him right now than anybody else in the MedBay (Especially since the only other individuals allowed to unlock in the room right now were Optimus, himself and of course Orb Weaver and Predaking…) in other words he called for the kids to go get Fowler and June who were currently somewhere else on the base. Within a few minutes not only were agent Fowler, June and the kids at Ratchet's workstation but so were a handful of human medical staff that were normally positioned on base should any emergency medical needs arise… Needless to say this situation was easily classified to be an emergency and Moony and Freefall were promptly being moved to one of the other hangers.

"Go with them Weaver. Watch them and make sure nothing happens." Predaking said to the teenage femme standing at his side. Orb Weaver clearly didn't need to be told twice and she quickly followed the group of humans to their medical facilities. (Much to June's dismay as she still clearly remembered her own run-in with Arachnid and because her new baby daughter Kole was currently in the medical hanger.) With the girls out of the way Ratchet returned his attention to the patient at hand and he then noticed a very unexpected and deadly problem…

For some reason, Songbird's spark had lost a great deal of its mass…

"What in the All-spark?" Ratchet mumbled as he continued to inspect the now weakly pulsing orb and he realized that it was now less than half of its original size. Which meant it was too small and too weak to continue to power Songs body… The medic remained silent for several long minutes before he said the words he knew Predaking was not going to want to hear. "She's not going to make it…"

"What do you mean she's not going to make it?!" Predaking snapped wrathfully and he stormed up to Ratchet and got right up in his face. "Do something!"

"There is nothing that I can do!" Ratchet snapped right back at him. "For some reason her spark seems to have shrunk so it's only a quarter of its original size! I do not have any of the necessary equipment for dealing with an injury of this kind! In fact the only option I have is some med grade energon and it is not designed to deal with this level of spark damage! The most it can do is give her a few extra hours, but that's all! I'm… I'm sorry. She will not survive the night."

Predaking's optics went wide with horror. "No…" He said in a voice that was barely louder than a whisper. "No! There… there must be something that you can do!"

"Like I just said, I don't have anything that could help with this situation. In fact, if my calculations are accurate I only give her a few more hours at most." Ratchet grimly reiterated as he watched the look of utter despair fill the dragonformers face.

"Regardless of what has transpired between us in the past, I am truly sorry we cannot help your companion more." Optimus stated sadly as Predaking paid him absolutely no attention as he walked up to Songbird's unconscious body and gently placed his servo over hers… For a while, no one said anything. Although it was doubtful the self-proclaimed Predacon King was even aware of anyone else's presence at this point, for his spark felt like it was breaking in half. Still in spite of the pity he felt for the dragon's mechs plight, Ratchet was still intent on getting the information he had been promised from the said mech… but just before he could open his mouth and ask about what he knew about Paradox's location, Smokescreen abruptly rushed into the MedBay.

"Smokescreen I thought I told you to-"

"Sorry but we just received a transmission from Knockout! He says that he's defected from the Decepticons and he and Paradox both need medical assistance!"

And with those magic words…

Ratchet was out of there faster than the optic could follow…

And after a moment of indecision, Optimus quietly followed him out. It only to make sure that his old friend didn't murder knockout the second he saw him…

And this left Predaking alone with Songbird and his steadily growing misery…

When Freefall finally returned to consciousness her world was a blur of confusion and numbness…

She slowly began to open her eyes, but the bright lights in the room she was in stung them and it took her several minutes of trying before her eyes began to adjust to the brightly lit room. She was unsure of just how to describe what she was physically feeling… As it was a weird cross between being uncomfortably numb on the outside and feeling far too warm on the inside. But just as she had started to regain her grip on the world around her she suddenly remembered what it happened! She remembered that she and Moony had been out in that blistering cold storm after being partway crushed by the Cyclops! Wait… Moony! The memory of her little sister freezing was the final straw and he gave her the strength she needed to force herself to sit up and open her still adjusting eyes. What she saw was that she was in a room lying on a bed and hooked up to several monitors. While Moonrise was on the bed next to her also hooked up to multiple monitors and machines but she was still unconscious… and there was also five medical personnel present in the room. One of which had just noticed that she was awake.

"Hello there," June Darby said kindly just as the other doctors also began to take notice that the elder of the two girls was coming out of consciousness. "Don't you worry, you're going to be alright and you're safe now." June was trying to be calm and reassuring, after all these two children had been through a horrible ordeal and needed medical attention. But little did she know the kind of individual that Freefall was because little did she know that her words had done the exact opposite of what she had intended. For she had not even finish saying them when Freefall's eyes suddenly narrowed and she began ripping off several of the wires that were monitoring her vital signs! But just as she began doing this several of the other doctors began trying to restrain her and stop her from doing that, but somehow Freefall managed to stand and when the first doctor got close enough to her she lashed out and punched him in the face… And sent him flying at least twenty feet back! Something that she should have not been able to physically do if she was in good condition but she paid it no mind… The horrible numb feeling was beginning to change, being replaced by the feeling of being in a straitjacket! Her skin felt so tight on her body that it hurt! It felt like it was crushing her but the more she moved more she felt like the straitjacket of her own skin was loosening and she whipped around and scratched another doctor across his chest! Ripping through his clothing like it was tissue paper and leaving four bloody marks in her wake! Freefall jumped off the bed but this proved to be a mistake as her legs collapsed from underneath her causing her to hit the ground… Hard… and a disgusting ripping sound echoed throughout the room!

Freefall cried out in a mix of relief and anguish! On one hand the straitjacket feeling was lessening, but at the same time it was being replaced with the feeling that she was being ripped open! She could not explain it, especially since she was aware that her nerves have been damaged in the past and she had not felt pain anywhere near this bad in years. She looked down at her hand as she clenched her fist and watched her skin strain and then rip open causing blood… reddish black chunky coagulated blood begin to ooze out! A horrifying sight to behold and Freefall screamed just as her world began to spin and she began to feel her consciousness ebbing away again. But as she fought to remain conscious she suddenly caught sight of Orb Weaver just entering this room. (With some difficulty since the room was not made for someone her height, whereas she had been watching through a glass window in the hallway which she was better able to fit in…)

"Weaver… h-he-help… help me!" She managed to rasp out just as the cold darkness of unconsciousness took her once again. But Weaver had managed to pick her up before any of the other human doctors or June could get to her and hissed at them when they got too close. After all she had become very protective of the two human girls… they were like her little sisters… But still right before she could put freefall back down on her bed something she saw on the young girl's body stopped her dead and her optics went unnaturally wide…

For where her skin had split open, it revealed what appeared to be a Cybertronian's protoform growing directly underneath it…

Predaking had moved Songbird to one of the smaller berthrooms that connected to the MedBay when he heard the medic and the Prime returning, undoubtedly with the injured Aston Martin and the sparkling apparently named Paradox in tow…

It may have seemed cold of him, but he could've cared less about whatever was going on out there. His concern was for Song and her daughters. Primus, was he going to do? What would happen if Song did live but Moonrise and Freefall were dead? She would be devastated! But then again, so would he. For even though it had taken him a long time and it had certainly been rough at the beginning… but he had found himself caring for those two little humans with all of his spark. But what if… what if Songbird died and Freefall and Moony lived?

"If that happens… I will take care of them myself and raise them as if they were my own. I swear I will…" He whispered aloud as he looked down at Song, no one would never guess unless they knew the situation that she was dying. By looking at her one would swear she was only peacefully resting. "But you're not going to die my sweet Song. Your spark is too strong to give out like this! Please… please come back."

"Congratulations Predaking, you have passed the test."

Predaking's shot up when he heard that voice, a very familiar voice… he looked around only to see Yue standing quietly on the berth next to Songbird looking up at him with a small smile visible on her delicate features. "Yue? What are you doing here?! And what do you mean by I have passed the test?! What test are you talking about?" He demanded as he could not help but find himself highly agitated and a little bit unnerved by the mysterious young goddess's rather abrupt appearance.

"I meant it exactly the way it sounded. You passed my test… the test to see whether or not you were truly worthy of being the Predacon King." She explained calmly closing her large purple optics for a second before reopening them. "In order to be a good King you need to put the needs of others before yourself, you had me a bit worried there when you were reluctant to ask the Autobot's for help… but in the end your love for Songbird won out. It pleases me to know that I was right about you."

"Do you think this is some sort of game?! She's dying! Songbirds dying right now! And Freefall and Moonrise, they are-" Yue silenced him with single movement of her hand and a warning flash of purple light behind her optics.

"Songbird was never in danger of dying, I would never have allowed it. Come now Predaking, I saved her before and if need be I would save her again! As for dear little Freefall and Moony… well, what has happened wasn't my doing. But rest assured they will be fine… in fact everyone is in for a little surprise when everything is brought to light." Yue then turned her attention to Songbird's prone form in with a gentle wave of her hand the gryphonformers chest plates opened revealing the small and weak spark within. A white flame suddenly ignited in Yue's palm and she gently blew on it causing this flame to become more like a mist and it flowed up and into Song's spark causing it to glow bright blue for a moment as it rapidly began to regain its normal size. Songbird shifted slightly, a look of relief crossing her face before she apparently returned to an obviously more restful sleep. Watching this Predaking could not help but sighed in relief himself.

"Thank you, Lady Yue." He said as he suddenly felt his own energy levels begin to plummet. Yue looked at him for a moment before she seemed to dig her sharp fingers into her palm, drawing a small drop of a glowing white liquid tinted with lavender… presumably this substance was her own blood and she flicked it off of her hand and onto his midsection, where he proceeded to heal the poor patch job Weaver had given him after he had been stabbed by Megatron.

"Before I depart allow me to offer you a suggestion?" She said while casting a glance up at the crescent moon which was visible from a nearby window. "Although you despise the Autobot's they may yet have their uses. A temporary alliance with them however may prove to be beneficial for you in the long run… It wouldn't be permanent however, it would just be until after the coming darkness is dealt with."

"What darkness?" Predaking asked, not liking the sound of that one bit.

"It's something that Shockwave is up to. Even I am not sure of the true extent of its danger, but I do know that something wicked this way comes…" She explained as her own voice seemed to take on a tone that was considerably more menacing and cold. "And only once that issue is dealt with… will it free me to deal with Megatron as well."

"Lady Yue rest assured that I fully intend to sever Megatron's head from his shoulders!" Predaking growled as he thought of just how he would slowly and painfully break the Decepticon warlord into tiny little pieces.

"Oh but my dear Predaking, don't you know?" Just then Yue created two purple crystalline constructs one in each hand… One resembled Megatron with the other resembling Optimus. "When it comes to revenge and justice I am unsurpassed at picking punishments. And I want Megatron to suffer in particular…" And with that both of these figures erupted into purple flames. "But for now I'm afraid that I must take my leave…" Yue's body suddenly became translucent, right before dissolving completely into mist. Predaking sighed loudly and rubbed his optics but when he re-opened them he stared straight into a wall of silver mist with large purple optics.

"One last thing," Yue's voice echoed throughout the room. "Not only was I testing you to see if you were worthy of being the king of Predacons, I was also testing you to see if you were worthy of being her mate… and you passed that test as well."

And with that Yue departed with a slight chuckle…

Leaving one stuttering and blushing Predaking...

Alright that's it for now I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I'd like to take a moment to thank everyone who has reviewed this story so far and to Alpha Delta Writer, while I am flattered you like my OC's I would really like it if you did not use my OC's for your story ^^; Sorry… But anyways, as always please remember to Read and Review! ^_^