Disclaimer: Don't own Transformers, never will. Alpha, Omega and Orcus are mine. Driveby, her crew and HT are Lady Starscream's. Oh. And Terra's mine too.
Enjoy, LS. Hope I did okay.
((This all happened before, and some during, the last chapter. This is how the 'Bots found the 'Cons and got the plan ready.))
Hammertread paced back and forth in his quarters, pausing every so often to growl, and sometimes curse, under his breath. He was just imaging what he was going to do to the Decepticons when he found out where they were! He glanced over at his table in the corner, where a small, framed holo-pic sat on top of it. It was one of him and Alpha, both grinning like idiots. Omega could be seen in the background, as though trying to sneak up on the two. The tank scowled and brought out his shotgun. Maybe giving it a good cleaning would get his mind of her until she could be found.
He had heard Omega yelling earlier, which wasn't a good sign for Alpha. The tank showed the pipe cleaner down the barrel of the weapon with more force than necessary. He glared; he wouldn't let anyone see it, but he really did care. He just tried to keep the appearance of being a strong warrior, as he had always been taught to.
Some habits were just too hard to break quickly. He finished with that and checked the barrel to make sure it was nice and clean. Her voice kept coming back, echoing through his CPU.
He slammed the barrel down on the recharge berth next to him; a small growl emitted itself from the back of his throat.
Meanwhile, out in the desert flatland beyond the Ark, a Formula-1 racecar and a small red vehicle sped along the dusty road, searching for any and all signs of Decepticon activity. The small red car flashed his headlights slightly, "I wonder where those Decepti-Creeps are hanging out. They couldn't have gone back to their ship…I'm sure they headed inland." Cliffjumper grunted.
Mirage simply revved his engine in response. "Gee, Cliffjumper, I didn't know you cared." He replied, half-jokingly. It was known how much the mini-spies loved to call the twins, Jade, Driveby, Hammertread and a few others 'traitors' at times. Just to get their blood boiling. So it was, somewhat, of a surprise when Cliffjumper agreed to help Mirage search without so much as uttering a single complaint.
"Of course." The red car snorted, "I don't like it when any of the Autobots are in Megatron's clutches." He sped up slightly.
"Hang on, CJ…what's that?" Mirage halted and Cliffjumper, who was a little bit ahead of him, skidded to a stop a few dozen meters away.
"What's what?" He transformed and walked back over to where the already transformed Ligier was looking at something on the ground.
Mirage went over to a semi-yellowish substance and squatted down to get a closer look. "Energon." He mumbled thoughtfully.
"What? I don't see anything." The red mini-spy retorted, folding his arms over his chest. He couldn't help but glance at Mirage like he was crazy.
"No, you wouldn't. After all, your optics can't filter out light from energy signatures like mine can." Mirage looked up, following the speckled pattern across the desert. Apparently, someone had been injured. He just hoped it was Alpha who had injured her attackers when she was captured, and not the other way around. "Come on."
Mirage and Cliffjumper followed the trail over a rise, around a bend and the Mirage nearly backed into Cliffjumper to avoid being seen.
"The 'Cons." Mirage hissed, getting behind a boulder for cover so he wouldn't be seen. Sure enough, Thundercracker and Skywarp were pacing back and forth at the cave's entrance, guarding it most likely. The racecar said over his shoulder: "Go get Prime."
"No way." Cliffjumper retorted, "I'm not leaving you here with them. And besides…" When Mirage turned to look at the mini spy, he saw that he had pulled out a rather large bazooka from seemingly nowhere. "I'll bet you I can take both those birdies out with one shot." He squinted through the scope to take aim.
"And give away our position while you're at it." Mirage pointed out flatly to him.
"That won't matter if we rescue Alpha." Cliffjumper replied back, honing in on Thundercracker's helment.
"And what if there are more Decepticons inside?" He asked, "And that includes Megatron." Mirage sighed when Cliffjumper looked at him like "we can take him to". He sighed again and simply continued, "We were sent to find the Decepticons, not try to rescue Alpha by ourselves, possibly getting caught as well in the process, or maybe even cause them to move to another location. Then we'd never find them again."
Cliffjumper reluctantly lowered the bazooka slowly. "You're right." He admitted, but cast a glare at the cave across from and slightly below them.
The two transformed and headed back to the base to relay the news to Optimus.
Meanwhile, back at the Autobot base, Ratchet and Wheeljack were talking to each other in the med bay when Omega, who had to be strapped down to one of the berths after his sister had been kidnapped, let out another scream and arched his back, the forth sedative they had given him in the past day and a half finally wearing off. Ratchet instantly ran over to his drawers and started to find another sedative while Wheeljack ran over to the younger twin and tried to hold him down, but it was no use. He continued to try to fight him and scream as loud as he could.
"Make them stop!" Omega's voice sounded like he was trying hard not to cry as he threw back his head, his visor flying off. "Please! Dammit, get them away from her! She can't…we can't handle this!"
"Hang on, Omega…" Ratchet mumbled softly as he walked over with the sedative; he was trying to calm the seeker, but wasn't very good at it. He slowly put the needle into his neck and gave him the sedative. "There. That should knock him out for a few cycles…" He sighed.
"Poor guy…" Wheeljack said, ear panels flashing a worried color. He rubbed the back of his neck as Omega's struggles weakened and he passed out soon later, still mumbling about getting the Decepticons away from his sister.
Running footsteps were heard coming towards the hall and the two mechs turned to see who was coming towards the med bay. Wheeljack tossed another worried look at Omega and then looked at who was coming down the hall. The repairbay doors whooshed open, and Bluestreak and Jazz came barreling through. "We found her!" Jazz said triumphantly.
"Yeah." Bluestreak put in. "Mirage said he and Cliffjumper were just driving through the desert when they found this trail of energon that looked like it leaked out of one of the Decepticons…Well, we're not sure if it did or not...But anyways, they followed it and they found this cave, and we think that Alpha's being held there because the Decepticons are there. Well...they only saw Thundercracker and Skywarp, but they were guarding the entrance, or at least that's what they said it looked like. And Prime wants to go rescue her, but isn't sure how to get inside without starting a fight and..."
Jazz interrupted Bluestreak's rambling with: "He wants ta know if you guys still got those old hologram emitters Wheeljack was workin' on."
"Yeah, those would be good. Then we could go get Alpha out without worrying about fighting the Decepticons, or them trying to make the cave...er…cave in on us while we're inside." Ratchet rolled his optics.
"Hang on, I'll go look." Wheeljack headed for his workshop. "I hope he does have one."
Bluestreak glanced at Jazz. "Or one that won't blow up when we try to use it. Cause, you know, that would be a very bad thing and..."
"Bluestreak! Can it!" Ratchet glared at the young gunner. "We have her brother here, and he can probably hear you, in case you've forgotten."
"...Sorry.. I'm just worried, that's all." Bluestreak mumbled, and looked at the floorboards.
Meanwhile, Hammertread looked up at the door when the chime sounded. He ignored it and went back to cleaning his gun. "Ding-ding!" It sounded almost cheery. He was tempted to rip off the cover plate and disconnect it. "Ding-Ding-Ding-Ding-Ding-Di-"
"WHAT!" He snapped, looking for the person on the other side. He realized nobody was there and looked down.
The little yellow hatchback car-bot eeped softly, feeling like David standing in front of the big, angry, giant from human mythology. Cable had simply wanted to tell him about what had happened. He had a habit of listening to the other Autobots' comlinks when he was bored. Okay, so he was kinda-sorta eavesdropping. Widened red optics peered up at the huge tank. "Um…Uh... Prime called for volunteers to rescue Alpha?" he said hesitantly.
HT blinked. Alpha had defended him when nobody else would. Stood up for him, even fought for him. How could he not go running to her rescue now? The words "Damsel in Distress" flashed across his mind. He turned back and grabbed his shotgun, putting it back together quickly, and ran for the main control room.
::Flashback::
Alpha grumbled as she sat in Hammertread's ship behind a forcefield that trapped her in a small, cell-like place. She crossed her arms and glared at the tank. "I hate being the damsel in distress." She told him, nearly spitting. After all, the tank was using her against her own faction. One strike against her "I-can-take-care-of-myself-You-forget-I'm-a-tough-femme" motto. Two more and she'd probably have to get a new alt mode; one that represented how tough she wasn't.
::End Flashback::
::New Flashback; a few weeks later::
As humans, a bear had attacked the group and Alpha had managed to kill it before it could get Hammertread, later, he saved her butt in return by saving her frown drowning. Then, after they were making their way to find one another, the two ex-Transformers were attacked by a mountain lion. Alpha got her arms all slashed and bitten up until the tank managed to scare it away.
Hammertread snorted, remembering something Alpha had said to him a while back "You know, for not liking being the damsel in distress, I sure wind up rescuing you a lot." He noted.
Jade looked up from the ground and glared at HT. "Here." She handed Alpha her ragged jacket and knife. "It's all we've got, but it's better than nothing."
"Doesn't mean I like being rescued, thank you very much!" Alpha huffed, folding her arms in an undignified way; the femme had quit keeping score a long time ago. She took the two and cut some strips off. Alpha wrapped her arms tightly from the mountain lion's attack and then bent down. "Here, let me look him over." She started to check over Prowl.
::End Flashback::
Hammertread simply rolled his optics Prowl was standing at Teletraan-1, discussing strategies with Prime when the tank walked in. "I'm going." He looked Prime in the optics. "And don't even tell me no. I'm going whether you like it or not."
Before either could argue, Wheeljack came running in. "I found 'em! We got two left. So we can send in a couple people. But there's no telling how long they'll function. "Have they been tested?" Prime asked.
The engineer nodded. They're the same ones you guys used to pose as the Stunticons a while back. Although the only ones I've got left is Motormaster, and the one I was working on to look like Soundwave." Prowl have him an unsure look and he sighed. "Look." Wheeljack magna-clipped one to the front of his armor and turned it on. The air around him shimmered, and there stood Soundwave. "Pretty convincing, huh?" he said. He even turned all the way around so they could see it was a perfect replica, all the way around; Prime nodded in agreement. They would work.
Hammertread came up. "Let me see that other one."
"But..." Wheeljack didn't have much time before the tank had it on, and Motormaster was standing in the middle of the control room.
He looked at Prime. "I doubt the Stunticons will be at the Decepticons' temporary base. They're hoodlums, not interrogators." He folded his arms.
Prime looked over at 'Soundwave' then at the disguised Hammertread. "It would seem there is no on else your size that could convincingly pass for Motormaster." Prime thought for a second. "Very well. But our first concern will be getting Alpha out of harms way. There won't be time for settling old vendettas."
'Motormaster' nodded. "I understand." He looked at the repair bay door, where Ratchet was standing, watching all this with interest.
Wheeljack turned off his field, and back into Wheeljack. "What about you? Are you coming along?"
Ratchet glanced halfway behind him. "No. Someone's got to stay here and make sure Omega doesn't wake up and freak out again."
A female voice sounded from the doorway. "We're going, too." Driveby and her group walked in. Cap glanced at Terra, who had his hand in hers and smiled. She just smiled softly back and flicked her wings slightly. Prime looked at the six. He was about to ask how they knew, but the white car Driveby beat him to it. "How did we know? Cable can listen to your communication channels. He let us know about your plan to rescue Alpha, and we want to help."
"Yeah." Jade piped from behind her. "You might need backup. Especially if the seekers are there," she added.
Prime nodded. He looked around the group. Driveby's group of six (seven counting Terra), Jade, Wheeljack, Hammertread, Bluestreak, Cliffjumper, Mirage, who told Cliffjumper he would just show them the way; he didn't like the idea of fighting, Prowl, and Prime. 12 Autobots. Yep, Prime figured it would work. "Alright, let's go." Wheeljack and Hammertread clicked on their holo-emitters; Prime and the others transformed. "Autobots, (and Decepticon pretenders), Transform and roll out!"
Prime took the lead, "Motormaster" revving to catch up. The sound of engines echoed across the desert as the group roared out of the Ark, leaving a dust trail in their wake, and hoping to Primus the road ahead would be a lucky one.
About an hour later, the three Autobots, Wheeljack, Mirage and Hammertread, were inside the cave and hidden in their disguises. Wheeljack, who had taken on Soundwave's appearance trudged through the cave tunnels, looking and listening for any signs of Decepticons or Alpha while Hammertread clenched and unclenched his fists as he followed the mech. Mirage was in a different tunnel, following a trail of energon he had found.
Wheeljack finally found where Alpha was, but froze and hid himself from being seen by Megatron and Orcus when he saw the two Decepticons in the same cell Alpha was. The werewolf was straddling Alpha's legs so she couldn't fight and holding her by her neck as her fighting weakened. He forced Hammertread back from barreling into the cell.
"Wait." He hissed, touching his comm. "Prime, we've got trouble. Megatron and Orcus are in the cell with Alpha. We need that distraction a little earlier than we thought we would." He reported.
It took a minute, but then Prime's voice replied quietly, "Jazz, Prowl and Ironhide are giving you the distraction as we speak." He told them.
"Got it." Wheeljack nodded. He walked in, Hammertread behind him in his disguise, and said, trying to sound unemotional, "The Autobots are attacking."
"Damn those Autobots!" Megatron growled. He sounded annoyed. "Get those codes. Join us once you have them, not before. And…don't take your sweet time." He said to Orcus and then left, heading towards the exit.
A small smile appeared on "Soundwave's" face and he glanced over at "Motormaster". Said mech waked over to Orcus and grabbed him by the back of his neck, pulling him off the femme. He heard what the werewolf said and growled loudly, then threw him into the cave wall, knocking him out. Hammertread touched the Decepticon symbol on him and then his appearance became his own as he shed the Decepticon shell. He turned to "Soundwave" only to see the Autobot engineer greeting him.
"I knew that machine would come in handy." He said then glanced down at Alpha to see how badly injured the Decepticon prisoner really was.
The abused femme's cheeks and neck were dented in several places, her paint was scratched and covered with energon, dust and mech fluid and her armor was nearly all torn off; the exposed wires were either sliced or torn and they sparked every couple of seconds. Every one of her tires were popped flat and her windshield and windows were completely smashed in. Her leg twitched slightly as one of the wires on her lower stomach sparked, causing her to whimper softly. One of her emerald optics was cracked, but not bad enough for it not to work. Her markings were exposed and one of the ones on her stomach was still glowing faintly, but it slowly extinguished as Wheeljack and Hammertread approached her. Once they were close, they saw a crack on her temple that was bleeding mech fluid slowly.
Alpha coughed suddenly and forced her optics to light up, pain on her face. She glanced over at the two mechs, but Wheeljack didn't think she really knew who she was looking at, just that she was looking at someone. It was possible the young femme really thought she was looking at two Decepticons. The pick up truck femme gave them a slight, weak smile and mumbled, "I guess I'm not as tough as my alt mode led me to believe, eh?" She coughed and energon flew out of her mouth, covering her chest and the ground as she turned onto her side and curled up. "Not tough at all…" She coughed up mech fluid this time and her optics slowly dimmed.
Hammertread walked in front of Wheeljack and bent down next to Alpha. He brushed the side of Alpha's face with his fingers, a regretful look on his face that he couldn't help her when she needed it. He heard Alpha whimper softly and narrowed his optics, looking up at Orcus. He walked over to the werewolf and picked him up by his throat. "You know, it's a real shame I'm in a hurry or I'd enjoy ripping you to pieces right here, right now." He snarled at the unconscious wolf bot, optics glowing like hot hell coals.
Wheeljack bent down and looked her injuries over as the femme drifted back into complete unconsciousness; he saw that her wrists had been bleeding earlier for there was dried energon and mech fluid around them, but the bleeding had stopped now. That was a good sign, if one could count it as good. He gently picked her up after turning back on his disguise and turned. "Let's get out of here. She needs help. Now."
Mirage appeared in the corner, Alpha's armor, truck bed and weapons in his arms. "I found these after following the energy signatures." He explained. Once he found those, he knew it had been Alpha who had been bleeding on the way down to the cave and not her captors.
"Good." Wheeljack nodded. "Come on." He touched his comm. and reported, "Prime, we're on our way now."
Prime acknowledged them and the three headed out, Wheeljack, or rather "Soundwave", still carrying the pick up truck. Once they were outside, they saw that Megatron was fighting Prowl, Jazz, Cap and Driveby, the seekers were firing on Ironhide; they knew they had to hurry. Jade was firing at Starscream in the sky while Driveby's crew was dealing with Soundwave. Mirage quickly became visible, dumping Alpha's stuff onto Wheeljack, and joined the fight. Wheeljack reached Prime's trailer and gently slid Alpha into it.
He slid in afterwards to make sure the young femme didn't get injured anymore than she already was. He looked her over and winced slightly now that he had a chance to look over her more serious injuries. "Prime…ya gotta hurry."
"How bad is she?" Prime asked as he drove a little faster, trying to be as careful as he could. He glanced at them and then away.
Wheeljack sighed. "I'm not Ratchet, or First Aid, but I can tell you she ain't good. Just on the surface, she's got torn wires…" He shook his head, "They certainly weren't gentle with her."
Prime nodded. He got the comm. call that the others were on their way back to the base as well and relayed the message to the bots still at the base. He also told First Aid to get a berth ready in the med bay. The rest of the ride he rode in silence while Hammertread followed behind, snarling and cursing the Decepticons and Orcus under his breath and swearing to tear them apart as soon as he got his hands on any of them for hurting his friend. The tank went a little faster now that his Motormaster disguise was gone.
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