AN: Please welcome this story's very own OC and the leader of the Zala team, Jaylen Westenfluss and Athrun Zala!
[Audience applause]
Jaylen: Hey great to be here.
Athrun: Yeah no kidding. Quick question about the last chapter though, why have Kira fight Megatron like that?
AN: Well ever since this story started, the idea behind it was to have Transformers facing off with Gundams or mobile suits and so far we've only seen that in passing so this time around I decided to make that a center stage thing, and what better way to do it than with a face off between the Strike and the leader of the Decepticons himself?
Jaylen: Ya know that actually makes sense. Now how about answering some reviews?
AN: Of course.
Athrun: Well there's really only one we can answer at the moment. The review by stardrago.
AN: Ah right. In order, more than likely yes the whole Unicron thing will be covered in the last story of the trilogy most likely, probably not on the message but definitely yes on the hammer that will have a major part in the sequel, and as for the question referring to the Star Build Strike, no Kira will not pilot it but you did give me the solution to a major problem I was having with a certain set of details in the sequel.
Athrun: Well that was rather brief.
AN: What? We've gotta get on with today's chapter so excuse me if I want to get right to things. That being said, Jaylen, would you be so kind?
Jaylen: Alright then. lyokoMARVELanime does not own either the Transformers or Gundam franchises in any way shape or form.
Chapter 13: Infestation
"I've told you Doc, we're fine," Bulkhead insisted after he pulled a pair of blue cables from his chest, the same of which were attached to Bumblebee and Hound.
"The only way to be certain you're fine Bulkhead is to endure standard defrosting procedure. You know prolonged exposure to subzero conditions can cause permanent damage," the Autobot medic scolded as he sat Bulkhead back down and reattached the cables.
Bulkhead, Hound, and Bumblebee had recently returned from an arctic exploration mission to investigate a strange Cybertronian reading in the northern area of the planet. What they had found was a very strange pod that was frozen in ice, which they decided to bring back to the Autobot base in Orb. Ratchet had spent a few hours since researching it, but had yet to find anything out about the arctic find, mostly due to the fact that the pod could not be opened while it was frozen solid, a fact that he shared with Optimus when the last Prime asked for his progress.
Knowing this, Optimus told Ratchet to bring up a Ground Bridge for the previous coordinates. "Elita One and I will search for any clue which might explain the true origin, or even the purpose of our arctic find," Optimus explained.
"Only until your sensors sound," Ratchet warned. "Remember, once your core temperature drops into the blue zone systems failures aren't likely, they're imminent."
At that point, the sound of engines reached the Autobots' audio sensors, leading them all to look towards the entrance in time to see Wheeljack, Jazz, Arcee, and Ironhide pulling into the base with Kira, Cagalli, Mu, and the rest of Kira's friends and the commanders of the Archangel, with Flay being the only exception seeing as she still wanted nothing to do with the Autobots. "Hey Autobot Outpost Alpha I," Mu called out. "Did ya miss us?"
Ratchet just groaned in annoyance. "Shouldn't at least one of you being watching over the repairs of your ship? Or more importantly, shouldn't a certain one of you be in school or something?"
Knowing she was the one Ratchet was referring to when he made the school remark, Cagalli stated, "One I've been homeschooled my whole life, and two even if I wasn't it's a Saturday, and most humans have the weekends off when they are in school."
"Plus we have Ensign Newmann overseeing the repairs at the Archangel for the moment," Murrue stated as she walked past.
"So we all have a chance to hang out with you today," Mu stated happily.
Miriallia walked over to Elita to ask why the pink Autobot had not given her a lift like she normally had when they needed a ride to the base. "Sorry about that Miriallia, but it's my turn for exploration duty."
"Oh that's too bad. It is a beautiful day outside and I would hate for you to feel guilty for leaving me indoors," Miriallia hinted.
"Arctic exploration duty. With Optimus."
"Indoors where it's warm and where I'm not in the way of your quality time with your sparkmate."
As soon as Miriallia walked away, Kuzzey ran over to Optimus and Elita with a look of excitement. "Are you guys really going to the arctic?" At Optimus's nod in reply Kuzzey continued saying, "Can I come with you guys? I've always wanted to see real snow."
"I would invite you to join Kuzzey, but the conditions are much too extreme even for we Autobots," Optimus told him sadly.
"Oh okay. I understand," Kuzzey replied.
Optimus and Elita both moved to head through the Ground Bridge before Optimus paused and turned back to Kuzzey to say, "But I will see if I can bring you back a snowball."
Kuzzey instantly perked up at that and told him that would be great too, and with that the two Autobot commanders and sparkmates raced through the Ground Bridge into the snowy terrain on the other side. As soon as the portal shut down though, the controls sparked and caused Ratchet to worry. "Bulkhead, Ironhide, Hound, I need you three over here," he called out.
The three went over to see what the problem was while the other Bots moved to hang out with Kira and his friends, and Kuzzey went off with Mu to explore more of the base, seeing as Kuzzey was the only one who had not been there as often as the others and Mu did not want the kid going off on his own. "I need some heavy lifting done," Ratchet explained. "The Ground Bridge just went down."
"Are Optimus and Elita okay? Did they make it through," Ironhide asked.
"Yes they're both fine for the moment, but it's bringing them back that I'm worried about."
"Well then we'd best get started," Hound replied. "We should have someone go and get Miss Erica as well just to be safe."
Ratchet suppressed another groan and agreed, and soon enough Wheeljack was on his way to get said mechanic while the four set to work on the Ground Bridge, and Jazz started up a little dance party with Bumblebee, Arcee, and some of Kira's friends joining in soon enough. Arcee being more reluctantly than the others, but still joining in when Bumblebee asked.
"You know no matter how many times I've explored this place myself, it still amazes me every time I see more of it than just that central hub," Mu commented.
"Yeah I can see why. It is really amazing," Kuzzey agreed. The two then paused when they heard a clanging sound from nearby. Kuzzey looked and saw a small bolt lying on the floor. Mu was wondering what that was doing there, considering Ratchet did not seem like the type to let something like that just stay lying around, when he and Kuzzey both heard a soft clattering noise.
"Hello," Mu called out. At the sound of another clang, Kuzzey gasped in shock as they both spun around, seeing nothing behind them. Kuzzey was ready to turn around and run, but then screamed a bit as he turned around before falling back. Mu spun back around to see what had frightened the boy, and saw that Kuzzey had just apparently screamed in shock at the sight of a small little robot with four tiny legs, and a big head with bug eyes.
"Hey where did you come from," Kuzzey asked the little robot once he had calmed down and had a small laugh. The little robot just scuttled closer to him in answer.
"Well how about that," Mu stated with a smile of relief. "Even the Autobots have pets."
Kuzzey looked at the bolt he had in his hand, before deciding to try and play fetch with the little creature. The little robot seemed to jump in excitement before Kuzzey gave the bolt a small toss. The little guy ran after the flying piece of metal before it jumped and seemed to start eating it.
"Hey wait don't eat that!" Kuzzey called out in worry. "You're going to choke!" The small robot just finished eating the bolt and turned around to look at the two.
"Or not," Mu stated in shock. The small robot then scuttled back to Kuzzey and rubbed its head against his leg like a small kitten would against its owner's. Kuzzey smiled at the little guy and figured they should go and show him to the others. Mu followed after him, but could not help but have a bad feeling about the little robot. A feeling that was well justified by the power couplings that appeared to have been eaten through which the two did not notice.
Jazz's little dance party was cut short for two reasons, one being Ratchet was getting irritated by it and the other being a sudden near power failure. Seeing as the party was not going to go anywhere anytime soon, Jazz figured that he, Bumblebee, and Arcee should see what they could do to help Ratchet and the others. Kira figured he should ask Erica, who had just arrived a few seconds ago, if he and the others could do something to help out as well and led his friends over to where they were all working.
"We most definitely have a problem," Ratchet stated as he pulled out a circuit board that looked like something had taken three large bites out of.
"But what could've caused this," Erica asked, voicing everyone's unasked question at the sight of the circuit board.
"Or that," Jazz asked as the power flickered once again.
"Might be the main grid. Hopefully it isn't a substation malfunction," Ratchet analyzed worriedly.
"Hey guys look what we found," Kuzzey called out as he entered the room.
"We're busy, AH," Ratchet hollered as soon as he saw what Kuzzey was carrying.
"WHOA! WHOA," Bulkhead shouted as he and the other Autobots started backing away in horror, readying their default weapons and aiming them in the direction of the little robot that Kuzzey was carrying.
Seeing this, Kira panicked and quickly ran over to stand in the way of the Autobots' line of fire with the other humans in the base as he shouted out, "Hey calm down you guys!"
"Yeah what is wrong with you all," Cagalli shouted.
"Scraplet! SCRAPLET," Hound shouted.
"What's a Scraplet," Sai asked.
"The most dangerous vermin ever to crawl upon the face of Cybertron," Ratchet explained in fear.
The humans all turned to look at the small robot that Kuzzey was carrying, before Mu, Murrue, Erica, and even Natarle all burst out laughing. Kira and his friends even chuckled a little before Tolle asked, "This little thing? Seriously?"
"You guys are giant robots," Miriallia agreed, still giggling a little at how the Bots were freaking out like little girls over the small robot in her friend's arms. "And Scrappy here is teeny."
Bumblebee just shook his head as he let out a few fearful beeps which Arcee agreed with by saying, "Bee's right, you guys really have no idea just what kind of damage that 'teeny' thing can do."
"I'm sure he wouldn't hurt anything," Kuzzey said nervously, but then again how could he not be nervous considering he had eight Autobots pointing their blasters at him. That was when the Scraplet started to wake up. As soon as it laid eyes on the Autobots, it opened a large, shark teeth filled mouth and jumped at the Autobots. The eight were soon firing on the little thing, trying to hit it, but the little thing was moving too fast for them and soon enough it jumped up and landed on Bumblebee's leg, eating away at his metal appendage. The scout tried to grab it to throw it off, but that was a mistake as it just moved on to continuing its meal on his arm. He finally knocked it away, only for the small machine to get up and try to charge again. Before it could scuttle anywhere near the scout though, Kuzzey had grabbed a crowbar and beaten the little menace into spare parts.
Seeing that the small fiend was thoroughly smashed, Kuzzey ran over to Bumblebee screaming out an apology, which Bumblebee just waved off like the good hearted being he always was. "Is he going to be okay," Kuzzey asked.
"He'll live," Ratchet reported. "It's only a mesh wound."
"Now do you believe us," Bulkhead butted in. "All Scraplets do is dismantle machinery and eat anything metal, especially living metal!"
"Sorry for doubting you Bulkhead," Cagalli apologized on behalf of all the humans.
"But on the bright side, the bug's squashed so it's over now right," Natarle asked.
"No," Ratchet replied. "When it comes to Scraplets there's never just one."
"Kinda like cockroaches," Mu observed softly to Murrue, who nodded in agreement.
"And I fear I know how they got in here," Ratchet stated. He quickly grabbed a scanner and led everyone over to the pod that Bulkhead, Bumblebee, and Hound had brought back from the arctic as he confirmed his fears.
"It's a trap," Ratchet reported. "A Scraplet trap."
"Uh, an empty Scraplet trap," Bulkhead corrected worriedly.
"Most likely ejected into space eons ago only to wind up in the arctic where the temperature kept them in stasis."
"Until we brought the thaw," Hound realized.
"And now they're wide awake and ready for brunch," Wheeljack continued in a worried tone that matched Bulkhead's.
"So exactly how many are we talking about here," Natarle asked, trying to get an idea what they were now up against.
"Thousands," Ratchet replied solemnly. "The Ground Bridge damage and the power malfunctions are sure signs that their infestation is well underway."
"Wait, if that is the case, and they are keeping the Ground Bridge down," Erica began, remembering the reason why she was there in the first place.
"Oh no," Arcee whispered. "Optimus and Elita."
In the midst of the arctic winds, Optimus and Elita were scanning as much as they could of the area that the previous team had gone to search. During this time, Elita decided to have a little private conversation with Optimus, seeing as the two had not had much alone time lately given everything that had been going on. "You know you were really thoughtful with Kuzzey back at base," the pink femme commented.
"From what I had heard, Kuzzey was born in the now destroyed space colony of Heliopolis, so it is his first time on Earth," Optimus explained. "To not allow him the chance to experience as much of the many wonders of his world would be something that I could not allow."
Elita nodded in understanding at that and just smirked a bit. "It's not just him though. The way you are with Kira Yamato and his other friends, it kind of reminds me of how you can sometimes be with Bumblebee."
Optimus just smiled softly at his sparkmate. "Perhaps I just wish for the younger generation to be strong and have hope for a better future."
Elita chuckled a bit before placing a hand on Optimus's arm and stating, "With that in mind, I have a feeling you will make a great father someday."
Optimus blushed a bit at the suggestion Elita had made and would have spluttered a response had their sensors not gone off, indicating that they had both reached the blue zone. "Optimus to base, core temperature readings have reached the blue zone. Prepare to activate Ground Bridge."
All Optimus got in response was static. After giving Elita a glance, he knew from the way she looked at him in concern that she had similar results. At that point the two knew that something was wrong and that they were both in trouble as well.
Ratchet slammed a fist on his console angrily as he tried and failed to contact Optimus and Elita. "The Scraplets have gotten into the comm. systems. If we don't stop them soon, they will reduce the entire base into a scrap heap."
"Well I say we bug out of here and let 'em keep it," Bulkhead replied. Bumblebee whirred in agreement with his big green friend along with voiced agreements from Hound, Wheeljack, and even Ironhide.
"Evacuation is not an option," Arcee told them. "If we don't get the Ground Bridge back online stat, then Optimus and Elita will both end up as popsicles, and let's not forget that Orb will more than likely end up being their next meal before they move on to the rest of Earth."
"What," Sai gasped, realizing both how much a danger the Scraplets were to their homeland and the world, and just how mortal the Bots are for himself, along with Miriallia, Tolle, and Kuzzey. The feeling was shared by all the adult humans in the room seeing as neither they, nor the four kids had been there when Cliffjumper had died. Kira and Cagalli were the only ones who were not hit by this realization, but that did not mean they were not worried about the two Autobots.
Cagalli then turned an angry look to Bulkhead and his fellow Wreckers. "What is with you three," she demanded. "I thought that the Wreckers never ran away from anything!"
"Cagalli, you haven't seen a swarm of these things devour a Bot," Bulkhead stated. "I have, and the same goes for Wheeljack and Hound as well."
"Don't remind me," Wheeljack groaned as he shivered a bit. "They pick you apart from the inside out, going for the small juicy bits first, fuse by fuse, circuit by circuit, until there's nothing left, and I mean nothing! Not even your optics."
That's when Kira gained a serious look. From a simple glance, Mu recognized that look from when Kira was about to head out in the Strike, which meant that the kid was getting serious and preparing to gear up for action in some way. "That's why you have to let us help you guys," Kira stated.
All the current human residents of the base looked at Kira in surprise at first, until they realized what Kira was going for. "Kira's right," Miriallia agreed. "We're not made of metal so the Scraplets can't hurt us."
"Typically I find your fleshiness to be one of your least engaging qualities, but under these extremes it would appear to be an advantage," Ratchet relented.
"Alright then we should pair off," Murrue stated, taking charge. "At least one human for each Bot."
"Sai, Miss Erica, and I should stay here to watch Ratchet's back while he works to repair the Ground Bridge seeing as we can be of the most help to him if he needs it," Kira stated. Sai and Erica both nodded in agreement.
Cagalli then smirked as she finished by stating, "While the rest of us go on a little bug hunt."
The Autobots, with the exception of Ratchet just looked at each other with fear and worry in their optics before they all let out nervous moans and shivers. The teams going bug hunting ended up being, Cagalli and Miriallia with Bulkhead and Wheeljack; Mu, Murrue, and Natarle with Jazz, Ironhide, and Hound; and Tolle and Kuzzey with Bumblebee and Arcee. With all that decided the group split off to find the Scraplet swarm, with Autobots being more reluctant than anyone else.
"Circumstances aside, this is actually kind of fun," Cagalli smirked. At Miriallia's questioning glance she elaborated saying, "We get to be their bodyguards for once."
Miriallia giggle a little as Bulkhead and Wheeljack kept spinning around left to right, shaking in their pedes as they kept their optics out for Scraplets. "Uh Kuzzey said he saw that first one here right," Bulkhead asked.
Just then the lights blinked out and someone let out a girly scream. When the lights switched back on, both of the only two girls in the group turned to Bulkhead with slightly mischievous smirks as they Cagalli asked, "Bulkhead, did you just scream like a little girl?"
"No," Bulkhead answered a little too quickly. He then adopted a sheepish expression. "Maybe…Can we talk about this later?"
"This is just sad Bulk," Wheeljack moaned as he placed a hand to his face. Then the power blinked again and someone else gave off a girly scream. As soon as the lights went back on, the three then turned to Wheeljack as he meekly stated, "Uh…must've been a steam valve that sprung apart when a Scraplet ate through it."
"Uh-huh, sure Jackie," Miriallia replied with a sly look.
They all then continued on with both of the two Wreckers getting more and more antsy with every second. Finally, Cagalli was starting to get annoyed. "Will you two calm down? Just stay focused and remember everything's going to be…"
At the sound of a Scraplet's scuttling, Bulkhead and Wheeljack both panicked and fired a pair of shots in random directions before one of them shot up, and ended up screaming like a pair of little girls again. Cagalli and Miriallia spun around to see the embarrassing sight of the two Wreckers swatting at a bunch of cables that had fallen down from the ceiling over the two.
"Okay, wish I hadn't seen that," Cagalli commented.
"And I'm glad I had my camera for this," Miriallia commented as she snapped a few pictures before getting a video recording. Cagalli smirked at her brown haired friend for getting some good blackmail material for the near future.
"Bulkhead, Wheeljack, you're both fine," Cagalli finally shouted to snap the two out of it. "It's just a bunch of cables."
The two Wreckers then paused in their panic attack as they realized how ridiculous they were being. "Oh right. Cables. We knew that, hehe," Bulkhead stated.
Wheeljack then saw something Bulkhead had missed. "Bulk wait! Don't pull that cable," he tried to shout out, but he was too late. This time when the two screamed like little girls, it really was because they had Scraplets scuttling all over them. The two girls looked at each other before nodding, and charging in to swat the vermin off of their friends.
During this time, Tolle and Kuzzey were searching another area with Bumblebee and Arcee. As they all looked around the hallway they were in, the two humans were astounded by the carnage the little monsters had caused. "Sheesh, don't these things ever stop eating," Tolle asked.
"Don't ask," Arcee replied nervously. Though she was the one who opted to stay, she was just as worried about the little vermin as the others were, she just was not going to be freaking out as much as a certain pair of Wreckers.
The four made their way over to a grate that had clearly been eaten through, and braced themselves. On Arcee's signal, Bumblebee pulled the iron vent open and they all prepared to hit the little bugs hard and fast, only to discover that the vent was completely devoid of Scraplets.
"Well I guess we just missed them," Kuzzey commented hopefully. That hope was soon dashed, as they heard scuttling behind them. They all turned around slowly, and saw Scraplets starting to swarm up from the ventilation shaft in the floor. Bumblebee and Arcee were firing on the little monsters with Tolle and Kuzzey smashing away at them soon enough.
Back in the central hub of the base, Jazz's group had opted to remain behind as an extra guard for Ratchet and his three human assistants, feeling that they would be the best people for the job. Under normal circumstances, Kira would be wondering why Mu, Murrue, and Natarle had brought side arms with them to the Autobot base, but today, he was definitely not going to be complaining. "So how's it going over there tech heads," Mu asked as he spared a glance in Ratchet's direction.
"We've repaired the damaged conductors and rerouted the central conduits, but the Ground Bridge still won't receive power," Ratchet replied angrily as he slammed one fist into the floor, clearly frustrated.
"Calm down Ratchet, there must be a reason for that, we just have to figure out what," Sai told Ratchet. "Kira, how're things looking from your end?"
"Still nothing Sai," Kira replied. "I've gone over everything but it seems like I keep missing some basic fact when trying to figure out why the Ground Bridge isn't getting powered up."
"Everyone quiet," Natarle shouted suddenly. "Do you hear that?"
Sai quickly grabbed a metal pole along with Kira, while Erica grabbed a spare wrench, and the three Earth Forces soldiers pulled out their guns as they heard the sound of something scuttling across a metal surface. Jazz, Ironhide, and Hound all prepped their own default weapons at the tell-tale sound of Scraplets. Kira looked around and finally saw a herd of the little monsters sitting high up on one of the walls, before they opened their mouths and then flew into the air towards the four metal giants. "Guys they're up there," Kira shouted.
At once, Mu, Murrue, and Natarle started shooting at the airborne little monsters. "Someone want to explain why it was never mentioned that these things could fly," Mu shouted as he fired and shot down a few Scraplets.
"We'll discuss it later, just keep the little bugs off Ratchet," Jazz shouted as he opened fire.
"Forget that, we should be more worried about keepin' 'em off us," Ironhide retorted as a small amount of the swarm got onto his arm.
Even as Ironhide said it, the Scraplets were swarming him, Jazz, and Hound quickly enough sending all three to the ground, with their human bodyguards shooting the little monsters as much as they could. Sadly their efforts were all for naught, as a small amount broke off from the rest and flew towards Ratchet sending him to the ground. Sai raced over with Erica to swat them off the medical Bot, but it was not much help, until Sai grabbed a nearby fire extinguisher and sprayed some of the Scraplets, causing them to fall like rocks down a cliff.
"Kira! Grab one of the fire extinguishers," Sai called out seeing how effective his was. Kira nodded and did as his friend had told him, while shouting out the same to Mu. In no time at all, the three of them were spraying the Scraplets like no tomorrow until they had all fallen off the Bots.
"Ratchet," Bulkhead cried out, getting everyone's attention. "Get the patch kit. We're leaking energon like-WHOA!"
Kira and the others all turned to see what had Bulkhead screaming out like that and saw that a fresh Scraplet swarm had entered the hub and were now flying through the air towards all the Bots.
"Eat this," Bulkhead shouted as he slammed his wrecking ball into some of them. A moment later he raised it up and saw that the Scraplets were doing just that to both the wrecking ball, and the rest of him, leading him to once again scream like a little girl. Every human was soon charging at the little monstrosities doing everything they could to help their friends. It was a long time before they finally brought the Scraplet swarm to a halt, but it resulted in all the Bots being very damaged and lying on the ground moaning in pain.
"Did we get them all," Tolle asked. They all then heard the sound of Scraplets eating away coming from throughout the base.
"Hardly," Ratchet moaned in despair. "These were just scouts."
Bumblebee barely beeped out a retort at that before he fell back on the floor. "So the rest of 'em know we're in here," Hound asked, fearing the answer.
"And if we allow ourselves to become their next meal Optimus and Elita will never make it home," Arcee answered for Ratchet.
"Which is why we must get the Ground Bridge operational," Ratchet added on.
"If we could do that, we could use it to send the Scraplets anywhere on Earth," Erica stated.
"Why not back to the arctic? I mean we already know they don't like the cold," Sai suggested.
"Sounds like one-stop shopping to me," Tolle stated.
"Given the body mass of the Scraplets, sub-zero temperatures should freeze them on contact," Ratchet stated. "So think Ratchet, think. If the Ground Bridge is still down…"
"Then maybe there's a breach in the energon fuel line," Sai finished.
"Yes Sai, that's it exactly! Why didn't I see it before," Ratchet exclaimed excitedly.
"Uh Doc, glad you figured it out, but there's still a small problem," Bumblebee buzzed as he tried and failed to sit up.
"If we weren't breaching one of us could get back over there and fix it," Ironhide finished.
"Where do we find it then," Miriallia asked.
"And how do we fix it," Erica added.
Soon enough, Kira, his friends, and Erica were all making their way through a hallway crawling with Scraplets towards the energon fuel line. All the while, Kira was reassuring his friends that they would be okay since they weren't metal.
"Hey there's the breach," Erica called out, racing over to it. "Kira, Sai, hurry! We've got to work fast."
"Roger that," Kira replied.
"Okay," Sai answered.
"We'll keep you guys covered," Miriallia reassured them.
Soon enough, they had repaired the breach, but the Scraplets did not seem to care as they all flew off in a direction that had all of them worried. "They're heading for the Autobots," Tolle exclaimed.
"Hey quick question," Mu suddenly said as he held a fire extinguisher at the ready. "When you guys get the Ground Bridge…"
"If they get the Ground Bridge working," Natarle tried to correct him.
"When we get the Ground Bridge working, do we get Optimus and Elita back or send those little bugs through first?"
"Havin' Prime and Elita return would just give 'em fresh meat," Jazz answered. "And if we're gonna get these bugs outta here we're gonna need bait."
Just then, the Scraplet swarm arrived, followed by Kira and the others a moment later saying that the Ground Bridge was good to go. Using what strength he could, Ratchet activated the Ground Bridge before he collapsed on the floor. Seeing the perfect chance, Bulkhead and Ironhide both nodded to each other before getting the Scraplets' attention and leading them through the portal saying, "Come and get the main course ya little vermin!"
As soon as the two had reached the other side of the portal, they saw a nearly frozen Optimus Prime and Elita One trying to reach the portal themselves. "Both of ya, get down NOW," Ironhide shouted as he and Bulkhead hit the snow.
Not a minute later, the swarm emerged from the Ground Bridge flying for the two nearly frozen Autobots, but once they reached the sparkmates, they just bounced off of them like stones off a metal surface. Optimus and Elita both looked to see a large pile of frozen Scraplets lying in the snow around them and their two friends as Bulkhead and Ironhide stood up, wiping frozen Scraplets off of themselves as well.
"We'd invite you both in, but the place is a mess," Ironhide remarked.
Optimus and Elita looked at each other knowing they were in for quite the story when they got back.
Later that day, Optimus and Elita had gone through a long defrosting procedure, and the Archangel crewmembers, Cagalli, and Erica were helping Ratchet with brining the other Autobots back to full health. It would obviously be a long and hard process, but no one was doing any complaining after the day they all had.
"Perhaps you should get some rest yourself old friend," Optimus advised Ratchet after the medic had given out instructions to his human assistants. "You saved quite a few lives today."
"It…wasn't all my doing," Ratchet admitted with a small smile. "We're just fortunate that this infestation happened during one of our human allies' visits, and on a Saturday as well."
Optimus smiled at that as he stated, "Our human friends may be small, but they are strong."
Just then Cagalli let out a loud scream, prompting Kira and the others to jump into ready positions. "What is it," Kira cried out.
"Another Scraplet," Mu asked.
"Did we miss one," Erica asked with worry.
"Spider! Is it on me," Cagalli screamed as she started to run for it.
Seeing a chance for a little payback, Bulkhead could not help himself as he asked, "Did she just scream like a little girl?"
"Bulk, first off she actually is a girl so it doesn't count," Miriallia told him. "And second of all, if you or Wheeljack decide to give Cagalli a hard time about this then I will make sure everyone knows just how embarrassing your little panic attacks were. I have both photos and videos to prove it."
"You wouldn't. Would you," Bulkhead asked nervously. Miriallia just smirked in reply as if daring him to try her. The two Wreckers just looked at each other before saluting as best they could and saying, "Yes ma'am."
That day, everyone learned that Miriallia was someone that you did not want getting blackmail material on you. She would more than likely use it, and it caused Kira and friends all to wonder just what their normally cheerful friend had on them.
AN: [laughing hysterically as a playback of Bulkhead and Wheeljack's scene is playing] Oh that never gets old, its just as hilarious every time.
Jaylen & Athrun: [both laughing just as much]
AN: Ah so anyways all humor aside, Jaylen how does it feel to be the first OC in any of my stories like this?
Jaylen: It's pretty cool actually, especially when I looked over who you had based me off of. I gotta say I really like that Heine guy.
AN: So you're pretty much cool with what'll happen to you?
Jaylen: Oh yeah I'm just glad I'll get to be around for as long as I am around. I don't mind you-
AN: DAH! SPOLIER! [hits a button that drops a safe that nearly lands on top of Jaylen]
Athrun: [After pushing Jaylen out of the way] WHAT THE HELL?!
AN: Sorry about that, but I got tired of saying "hey with the spoilers" all the time. This just seems to work better.
Athrun: You could've killed us!
AN: Dude this's the Author's Note section. The chance of you dying are as high as the chance of Daffy Duck outsmarting Bugs Bunny.
Athrun: Yeah you do know how ironic that is that you compared this place to a cartoon?
AN: It's not lost on me.
Jaylen: Okay that aside, what makes you so sure Cagalli was homeschooled?
AN: I'm not. I just kind of figured she was cause I never saw anything that would suggest otherwise.
Jaylen: Oh okay. Well moving onto the preview.
AN: Hey that's my line!...
Their team's motto is that they don't call for backup, they call for clean up, but this latest assignment might give the Wreckers of Team Prime reason to go against that motto. At news of Decepticons performing roadside combat maneuvers on an all but abandoned roadway, the Autobots send out the three Wreckers and Mu La Flaga, Murdoch, and Sai to investigate. What will the six find on this vast desert roadway that most don't travel, and what will happen when the Wrecker trio end up facing off against what could easily be their Decepticon equals? Next time on Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Prime…Chapter 14: Wrecker Rumble. Take down those Decepticon mock offs Wreckers!
AN: Well that tells you who's next for action in the teams, and be sure to vote on the new poll for the third team now up. With that being said, if there's nothing else...
Athrun & Jaylen: Nothing else?!
AN: Read, review, and be sure to vote in the poll. See you next chapter.
Jaylen: What was that?
AN: Just something we used to do back at one of my old Boy Scout Summer camps