Human Interactions

Feeling Small

By Paperkat

08/09/07

Disclaimer: The Transformers movie and all related material belong to Hasbro, Dreamworks and Paramount, concept originally created and licensed through Takara Co. LTD.

The Disclaimer's Disclaimer: I stole the above disclaimer from Straya. Please for give me

By the way, there really was a creature called a glitchmouse in G1. Enjoy!

Optimus was indulging in an activity he had not done in longer than he cared to remember; stargazing. Though they were not the same stars as his youth they held the same appeal. He really did not have to go this far from the complex to appreciate the night sky. In fact, Ratchet only required a mile separation to conduct his tests with Mikaela, but Optimus liked being able to see the mountains, the forest and the desert at the same time and this was the only place he could do that.

He enjoyed looking up at the stars knowing that at least they were older than he was. He relished the idea that there were more grains of sand than he could ever count. The thought that he could disappear into the trees thrilled him. And the unmovable mountains humbled him.

Yes, Optimus thought as he laid back to stare into space, sometimes it was good to feel so small. Compared to the wonders around him he was insignificant and right now that suited him just fine. It was pleasant to pretend, even for a moment, he was not the last remaining Prime. That somewhere out there, more of his kind were making their way to Earth.

"Optimus Prime!"

The call startled him. The frequency it used was reserved for US Military use, but the voice was definitely not the Defense Secretary or Captain Lennox, however it was familiar.

"Maggie Madsen? Why are you contacting me instead of Defense Secretary Keller?" Optimus was aware that the young female worked directly for the Defense Secretary, but he was certain that it was a breach of protocol for her to use this communications frequency.

"Look we don't have time for that right now. Glen was monitoring Teletran One and he..." Optimus was forced to interrupt.

"I thought he promised to not enter our system again without prior authorization?" In the beginning stages of reassembling and reconfiguring Teletran One the human infiltration expert had found his way into the Ark's computer. At the time he claimed it was an accident and it was Optimus' understanding Glen had been disciplined for his actions. Apparently the punishment had not been harsh enough tokeep him for doing it again.

"That isn't important now. Right now..."

Maggie was cut off in mid sentence and Optimus could hear the evidence of a struggle on the other end of the connection.

"Give me that, Big Guy is that you?"

"Yes, Glen Whitmann," Optimus confirmed with a tired sigh. Glen Whitmann and the well-known Autobot inventor Wheeljack were in the same category, undoubtedly brilliant but dangerous if left unsupervised. Optimus shuttered to imagine what chaos the young man had unleashed.

"Man, you need to get your booty back to base and kick some serious Decepticon ass..."

The mere mention of Decepticon had Optimus to his feet and scanning the immediate area for any indication that an enemy was near. Finding none, Optimus opened a secondary communications link to contact Teletran One while still monitoring the humans bickering on the US military frequency.

"Glen he needs information not..."

"Oh, I'm informing him. I'm informing him to get the Mofo that turned my baby into a smoking pile of dog crap."

Optimus' worry turned to dread when he was unable to establish a link with the complex's computer or contact Ratchet. He was already transforming when Optimus used his strongest and most commanding vocalization to put a stop to the humans' argument.

"Maggie Madsen what has happened?" There was another brief struggle then the encryption expert answered with her lilting accent.

"Glen put a firewall on Teletran One to signal him if there was any strange activity. About ten minutes ago it alerted him that someone was attempting a massive download. When he went to investigate he found an unidentified NBE hacked into your system. Glen slowed him down, but he couldn't stop him."

"What of Ratchet and Mikaela?" Optimus asked, needing to know if he was coming into a hostage situation. He should have never gone so far from the complex even with the external defenses online.

"If they were there, we saw no indication of it Optimus," she told him anxiously. "Do you want me to inform the Defense Secretary of this situation?"

It surprised Optimus that Maggie had not already informed her superior before contacting him, but he supposed it was her civilian background that compelled her actions.

"Yes, the Defense Secretary needs to be informed to standby on alert if this is a breach, however I request that no action is taken until I can assess the situation."

"Understood, I will make sure that the Defense Secretary gets the message."

Optimus was pushing his alternate form to its limits as he sped across the desert. With his sensors and scanners open to their full capacity, Optimus continued to try and hale Ratchet while establishing a second link to Ironhide.

"What has happened Optimus?" Ironhide responded calmly over the coded emergency link.

"Uncertain," Optimus told his weapons officer honestly. "Glen Whitmann and Maggie Madsen have reported an unidentified Cybertronian accessing Teletran One. I am unable to raise either Teletran or Ratchet."

"Understood. I'm in route...,"Ironhide paused for a moment and finished gruffly, "with passengers. Lennox and Epps refuse to exit my cab."

Optimus did not comment on the humans' accompaniment. Both of them had proven that despite their frail in comparison bodies they were an asset, and if things were as bad as he feared they might need their help.

"Just make sure they understand to hold their fire until we can confirm that the intruder is a Decepticon. I don't want an Autobot coming under friendly fire if its actions have been misinterpreted."

"If you really believed that you wouldn't be moving like you had a Pit Hound on your aft."

And Ironhide was correct, Optimus did not believe that an Autobot would force its way into the complex and access Teletran One without so much as a by your leave from the resident Prime.

"What about Bumblebee?" Ironhide probed almost gently.

Yes, what about Bumblebee, Optimus thought to himself. The youngest Autobot was two days away even at full speed, there was not anything he could do for this situation.

"Our human friends could not attest to Ratchet or Mikaela's well being. I think it would be best to confront him with facts than to let him come up with his own scenario."

"If something's happen while he's been gone..." Ironhide said, voicing Optimus' own concern.

"I know, just get to the complex as fast as you can," Optimus ordered.

"Understood."

Optimus had not gotten too much farther when suddenly out of the dark came flashing and whirling lights heading parallel to his course. There could be only one emergency vehicle this far out in the desert, but Optimus' sensors read nothing in front of him. The Autobot leader made another attempt to contact Ratchet via the encoded emergency link, but still there was no response. Optimus did not need the headlights that were apart of his alternate form to see where he was going, but he flashed them on now and they had the desired effect. Ratchet turned sharply towards him.

"Optimus!" Ratchet called frantically from his voice capacitor. Optimus could hardly hear him over the noise of his own systems. Ratchet seemed fully functional, why could he not either send or receive transmitted communications?

The answer came in the form of an overloading transmission wave. Optimus could not hear his own cry when his entire array of sensors and scanners were painfully overloaded. The blast wave was numbing and debilitating for him, but compared to what Ratchet must have taken it was a mere slap to the face. Over half of Ratchet's processor was dedicated to his scanners' analysis, right now Optimus could only imagine the pain the medic was in.

Optimus tried to clear his head by rebooting only the most essential of his sensors. His optics were just coming back online when a figure stepped between him and Ratchet's twisting lights. It had the same height and bulk as Ironhide with his cannons in full deployment, but if Optimus was right about the identity of their attacker that would quickly change.

There was only one Decepticon with the power to block or reroute signals as efficiently and seamlessly as the Autobot's emergency channel had been. The poorly constructed, but familiar voice regulator only confirmed it.

"Rumble, Ravage, Laserbeak, Buzzsaw; disengage. Operation: Obtain secondary target."

The Autobot leader transformed to his feet and watched as Soundwave's limbs lost half of their mass. The two from his arms transformed themselves into Soundwave's two aerial Pre-loads Laserbeak and Buzzsaw. They took bird like forms and screeched their identical battles cries as they angled themselves upward only to reverse and come at Optimus in steep dives. They both fired at the Autobot leader, one going high the other low. Optimus' face guard automatically engaged when he readied himself for the attack.

Laserbeak's black and orange form attacked low across Optimus' knees, aiming at the joints without mercy. Buzzsaw, in brazen defiance of the massive size difference between himself and his opponent, went straight for the Autobot's optics. Having fought the pair before, Optimus anticipated both moves, but was only able to defend against one of them.

He gritted against the pain as Laserbeak's attack hit its mark, but was able to pluck the gold and black Buzzsaw from the sky before he got anywhere near his face. The metal bird of prey screamed in rage as Optimus twisted his upper half almost 180 degrees to target Laserbeak. Not stopping the motion, Optimus used Buzzsaw's own momentum to heave the Decepticon overhand and right into the aft of the other aerial Pre-load. In a tangle of wings, necks and claws the two structurally identical birds struck the sand.

With his back essentially to Soundwave, Optimus did not see Ravage's attack, but he was quite sure that the fangs now imbedding themselves into the hydraulics of his neck belonged to the four legged Decepticon. Ravage had positioned himself well and Optimus' arms were too bulky to reach around to the back of his neck and dislodge his new opponent. Optimus knew that if Ravage managed to sink his fangs completely into the hydraulics his ability to move his head and shoulders would be greatly compromised. Having no other real recourse, Optimus threw his head back, but instead of head butting Ravage; Optimus felt something get crunched between the base of his head plate and the solid wall of his shoulder guard. There was a cry of pain just before Ravage fell away, and when Optimus twisted his torso back around he saw why. Ravage had reconfigured himself in a strangely long muzzled cat like form, and it had been that muzzle that Optimus had crushed. The injured Decepticon Pre-load was pawing at his damaged nose, energon dripping thickly from the tip.

With the immediate threats taken care of, Optimus turned his attention to finding Soundwave. The now slimmer Decepticon communications officer was ignoring the fight completely, trusting that his semi-symbiotic partners would carry out his orders without supervision. Optimus moved to intercept Soundwave before he reached the injured Ratchet. Before he could his attention was grabbed by his remaining advisory, one that he should not have taken so lightly. Like his brother Frenzy, this last bot was Full-term and perfectly capable of coming up with an offense that was more than point and shoot.

"And where do you think you're goin'?" Rumble asked with his trademark cocky grin.

Optimus turned to his right to find the six-foot micro bot grinning at him. Rumble had his powerful Force Wave Generators buried in the sand. The Autobot leader soon found out what the purple Decepticon was up to when Rumble fired. A mere second later, the sand around Optimus' feet seemed to turn liquid. The demolitions expert had vibrated the sand particles apart allowing the Autobot's massive weight to sink below the surface of the sand up past his knees effectively immobilizing him.

"Not so big and bad now are ya Prime?" Rumble taunted, as he shifted his generators back into functional arms, but Optimus knew better than to engage the micro bot in verbal repartee. Soundwave's small army's intention was distraction while their master accomplished his goal, and the goal had something to do with Ratchet.

Optimus could see that his medic had recovered enough to transform, but had not gotten to his feet when Soundwave bludgeoned the back of his head with a fist. Ratchet went face first into the sand and Soundwave knelt beside the fallen body.

"No!" Optimus yelled when he saw Soundwave roll Ratchet to his back and then pry open the medic's protective chest plating.

The Autobot leader took aim at the Decepticon communications officer, Optimus' single cannon forming almost before he thought about it. But his shot went wide right and up when Optimus was hit with a three fold attack. Laserbeak had resumed his attack on Optimus' joints by targeting the elbow, his near twin Buzzsaw, used his medical grade razor beak to slice into the Autobot leader's shoulder holding the cannon on target. All of this combined with Rumble firing his energy pistol at the cannon itself from below cost Optimus his shot. None of the micro bots had the power to stop Optimus on their own, but there was definitely something to be said for overwhelming numbers.

"What did you do with her, you Pit spawned slag pile?" Ratchet demanded, his hands weakly clutching at Soundwave's arm which was now connected to the medic's internal inputs. Ratchet attempted to bring his medical saw to bear on his attacker, but the spinning blade had no bite as all of the teeth had been worn smooth.

Optimus was struggling to free his legs from the sand while defending himself from the onslaught of micro bots. His efforts doubled when Ratchet let loose a keening wail in

Cybertronian. Optimus reasoned that Soundwave must have accessed and then raped information from the medic's processor, a singularly impressive skill that had kept the Decepticons' communications officer high in their ranks. Soundwave's minions stuttered to a stop when their master needed all of their combined resources to quickly download his ill-gotten prize.

"Ah," Rumble cooed a moment later in false sympathy when his facilities became his own once again, "did you loose a squishy? Maybe you should invest in a leash."

Before Optimus could reply a rocket slammed into the Decepticon's side. Even though Rumble was by far a more heavily armored mech than Frenzy, the impact still threw Rumble head over heals and left a sizable hole in his abdomen. Following the projectile's path back to its source, Optimus found Sergeant Epps leaning out of Ironside's passenger side window an empty launcher still on his shoulder.

"He said I could!" the dark skinned human explained, pointing to Ironhide's hood.

Suddenly another missile came into Optimus' view heading towards the Autobot weapons officer. Ironhide veered sharply to his left, and only Captain Lennox's hold on his Sergeant's waistband kept Epps from flying out of the window. Ravage screamed his fury at missing his target and readied his second missile for another attempt. Optimus brought his cannon into position; he had a clear line of sight on the metallic cat's aft. One of the two aerial Pre-loads let out a screech and Ravage was able to side step Optimus' shot.

"Decepticons withdraw. Operation complete," Soundwave informed his team as he stepped away from an unmoving Ratchet.

The sand under Ironhide's wheels gave no traction as he applied brakes; his doors flew open before he stopped between Optimus and their enemy.

"Out NOW!" the command was more like a warning, as Ironhide's form started to shift mid slide.

The humans did not hesitate to follow Ironhide's order. They rolled head first into the sand on either side of Ironhide, and the three of them had their weapons trained on the enemy at almost the same instant. Ravage's remaining missile stuck the ground in front of the group throwing up a wall of sand. As a single unit, Soundwave and his team fired at the curtain of granules turning them into an infinite number of flying super heated liquid glass missiles. It would be enough to sting their optics and damage their more sensitive sensors, but the real threat came to the humans.

"Ironhide!" Optimus commanded his weapons office even as Ironhide moved to protect the soldiers. Not having time to do anything else, Ironhide dropped his arms in front of Epps and Lennox. The cannons were so massive they completely shielded the two humans.

"Those dirty Pit-spawed..." Ironhide growled trying to shake the now harden glass from his optics. His own fingers were not delicate enough to do the job without causing more damage. Optimus would have been in the same predicament except he had been free to cover his optics.

"Stand down, Ironhide," Optimus commanded as he finished extracting his legs from the sand.

"We're just goin' let him get away?!" Ironhide asked aggravation clear in his vocal processor even as he obeyed the order. His cannons retracted showering broken and flaked off glass everywhere.

"We are in no position to pursue," Optimus did not elaborate that without Teletran One or Jazz, it would be almost impossible to track Soundwave if he did not wish to be found. Instead Optimus gave Ironhide a more pressing matter to put his pent up energy to. "Right now Ratchet is injured and I believe Mikaela may be missing."

Ironhide turned sharply to look at his leader, "What do you mean 'missing'?"

"Before you arrived Ratchet was demanding to know her location from Soundwave, and Rumble did not seem to know where she was."

"It wouldn't be the first time the 'Cons lied about having prisoners," Ironhide reminded.

"No it would not, but either way we must return Ratchet to the complex to determine his condition and figure out what has happened."

After eons of similar battles, Ironhide and Optimus knew how to move with efficiency in its aftermath. A short time later Ratchet was loaded into Ironhide's bed, the humans giving silent empathy for a fallen comrade if not direct help. Optimus went ahead to determine the threat level, he was not carrying wounded and his sensors and scanners were in better working order than Ironhide's at the moment. But Optimus was not a scout, nor did he have the advanced scanners of his medical officer so he moved cautiously towards the complex.

The hologram that disguised the front entrance from unfriendly and curious eyes was not functioning when he arrived. The large bay doors salvaged from the Ark where open but undamaged and clearly visible under the rocky overhang he and Ironhide had carefully placed as natural camouflage. Stealth was also not apart of his design so each resounding step he took inside the complex reminded the Autobot leader just how very large he was compared to those in his company.

Optimus found nothing out of place save for the storage room door that had been wielded shut, then sliced and peeled open from the inside, and the puddle of organic fluid on the floor near Teletran One. How Ratchet managed to get through armor plating with nothing but his medical blade was a mystery for another time, right now the immediate concern was Mikaela's well being.

Optimus knelt to get a better look and examined the blood with a heavy spark. It was only logical to assume that it was Mikaela's. How much blood could a human lose and still function? To Optimus it seemed that the little pool would not even coat his palm, but he remembered how very small the children had seemed in his hand so even this amount could not be good.

Why had she been out in the open in the first place? Optimus asked himself as he went over to the makeshift emergency bunker. They had repeatedly discussed with Sam and Mikaela what to do in case of an attack, not only for their safety but also for the Autobots' piece of mind. Bumblebee seemed to be a natural at being able to not only engage the enemy, but to keep track of the humans in his care. The rest of the Autobots found it extremely difficult and processor wracking. They simply had never had to deal with something so small and fragile. Even new little sparklings that had essentially no armor or defensive capabilities had been more resilient.

As he had expected, Optimus found an empty modified glitchmouse trap. The trap had been a perfect camoflag for the emergency bucker, no Cybertroian would have looked twice at it. There had been no trail of fluid connecting either the bunker or the puddle, so it had been unlikely that Mikaela had sought refuge there, but he had to be certain. Optimus signaled to Ironhide that it was safe to enter and moments later they had Ratchet in the medical bay.

"Captain Lennox," Optimus said to get the human's attention as he helped Ironhide lay their medic out on an examination table. He continued when the man nodded. "I believe Mikaela was injured in front of our computer, Teletran One in the main area. I would appreciate it if you could give me your assessment of the scene."

Captain Lennox nodded then motioned for his Sergeant to follow him.

"How are your optics?" Optimus asked in an effort to distract himself from the mess before him.

He had been originally built to create members of his own kind, but that was a far cry from fixing something that was broken. Putting together a fresh form when everything was pristine and untainted was simple, but to work around algorithms and functions that had developed over eons of time, that was a true art, and Ratchet was the best he had ever known.

Optimus thought that if he could keep his processor busy he would not have to analyze how damaged Ratchet was, but it seemed that Ironhide was not going to let him off that easily.

"They'll keep. How bad is Ratchet?" Ironhide asked pointedly not giving his leader a chance to retreat.

"It is not good," Optimus sighed, picking up a medical scanner to confirm what he already knew to be true. He had seen the effects of Soundwave's form of interrogation too many times.

"Ratchet's processor has been overloaded from the inside."

Ironhide nodded but Optimus doubted that his weapons officer really knew the implications of that statement. If Ratchet had been a Pre-load it would have been a simple matter of replacing anything unfixable and rebooting his entire system. If that didn't work the Pre-load could be simply re-loaded with its original data. There would be memory loss but essentially the Pre-load would be exactly as it had been before it was damaged, but a Full-term would not survive such treatment.

During development, the strength of a Full-term's spark and the complexity of their processor became dependant on each other, damage to one was damage to the other. To date, no one had been able to explain the phenomenon and once the war began research on the subject was halted. Medical bots had developed techniques through trail and error to treat such damage, but there was still no one bot that had all the answers, at lease not since the First Days of Cybertron.

"Can anything be done?" Ironhide asked.

"We have a re-sequencer to align his pathways and Wheeljack's Energon bath will help speed up Ratchet's internal recovery program, but what Ratchet needs now is time."

"Time that Mikaela may not have," Sergeant Epps informed the Autobots. Optimus had not noticed their return. But now that they were here, he waited patiently for Captain Lennox's news.

"It's a lot of blood Optimus and it's pretty clear Mikaela didn't leave out of here under her own power. If the bleeding stopped soon after what was left in the other room, then blood loss shouldn't kill her, but the desert is cold at night. If she isn't given shelter she won't make it to morning," Captain Lennox told them. His voice held none of the anxiety Optimus could read on his face.

"Do you have anything to track her with?" Sergeant Epps asked, his feet shifting, ready for an order to spring into action.

"Without Ratchet, no," Optimus was forced to acknowledge. Ratchet had kept all of his findings and research secret, only informing his leader that there was no Cybertronian threat to humans and that he had found something unexpected about human physiology that the medic could not explain, yet.

"Bumblebee could do it," Ironhide broke in. "If he knew what he was tracking he could find a glitchmouse on a planet three sectors from here."

Optimus did not wish to bring up the fact that Bumblebee was two days away, and that by the time he arrived all that might be left was a body recovery. How could he ask that of the young bot? He should have been more diligent; he should not have let this temporary peace lull him into complacency so quickly. Now Mikaela and Ratchet had paid the price for his self-indulgence. Optimus Prime had never felt so small.

"We can get him here," Sergeant Epps said with conviction, his hands already moving to work his communications device. He only paused long enough to get orders from his commanding officer.

"Find a transport or get a transport as close to Bumblebee's location as you can," Captain Lennox instructed his Sergeant. "Use Priority One Clearance: Guests, and give them my code for confirmation. Then I want you to contact Defense Secretary Keller and update him on this situation."

The technical officer nodded before exiting to room, undoubtedly to establish clearer communications.

"We'll also need to contact Bumblebee and brief him on where to go and who to contact. With a little luck we might have him here in ten hours, sooner if he can be dropped off." The last of the Captain's statement was directed at Ironhide.

"Bumblebee is one of our more efficient fliers, he should do fine with a drop."

"In the mean time," Captain Lennox continued, "We'll get the Special Ops Unit out here searching."

"We can not ask you to do that," Optimus tried to reason. They still did not know who took Mikaela or why. It was possible that the female's abduction was the bait for a trap.

"You're not asking us Optimus, we're volunteering. Most of the members on that team owe their lives to Mikaela and Bumblebee, so I'd like to see you try and stop them." Captain Lennox left the medical bay leaving no chance for argument.

"They're a very tenacious species," Ironhide commented, sounding very pleased.

"Yes, I am being to realize this," Optimus agreed, but he wondered if tenacity alone would see them through this.

Thank you to all my reviewers. You made want to keep working at this even through my and my son's summer flu. Just as a warning, now that we're getting to the sticky part of the plot, the chapters may be slower in coming.