Thank you for the reviews! And cookies for the people who guessed where the mechs were from!
Disclaimer: Don't own. Never will. Swerve is a canon bot from G1. I did not make him up. However the plot and plot devices are mine.
On with the fic.
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A few million years later…
"Are you clear on your assignment Sideswipe?" Prowl's voice carried clear and sharp over the com-line.
"Yup," Sideswipe answered blithely. "Clear as mud."
"We've been over this already. Twice. What is that you don't understand?" Prowl said in complete deadpan. If he was annoyed, which he was, his voice sure didn't show it. Sideswipe could just picture the tactician's harshly, sober expression in all of its dry glory.
"We're guarding a mountain." Sideswipe relayed to the com link in this arm.
"Yes you are. A hollow mountain that has 2,500 metric tons, soon to be 72,000 metric tons, of spent nuclear reactor fuel and other nuclear wastes stored inside of it."There was Prowl's ever so insipid personality shining through again. He had this amazing ability to make you feel stupid even when you had a logical dispute against him. Heck, he one upped Perceptor in something about science before.
The dude could be scary.
"I get that part," Sideswipe responded just as dully. He was used to Prowl and developed immunity to his "I know all" persona. Sort of how he developed a resistance against his own brother's nagging about cleaning his half of the room. He was a slob and proud, gosh darn it!
"Then what am I saying that you do not seem to be able to understand?" Prowl asked slowly, snapping Sideswipe's thoughts out of his mind's digression.
"The mountain is called 'Yucka'." Sideswipe said quickly. The line went dead for a brief moment. Not really time-consuming enough to be a pause but long enough to know that he had sent Prowl for minor loop.
"Yucca," Prowl corrected after the barely discernible silence.
"Yucka, Yucca. Whatever. That's not the issue."
"Then what is wrong with you?"
With his superior's attention, the red mech decided to begin rant the first. "First off I'm pissed because I just got done pulling doubles and was called in for emergency action because some humans were stupid enough to advertise the fact that they are moving thousands of pounds worth of missile grade fuel in and out of the mountain when they know Decepticons are monitoring their media for this crap."
"Just because we are here on their planet doesn't mean we can control or obstruct their daily Terren politics and economics, Sideswipe. We are the ones infringing on their territory and it is their right to go on, function and run their planet as they please no matter how…unwise the decisions or circumstance may be at the time." Did Sideswipe detect the faintest hint of exasperation in the Datsun's voice? Probably not. You got more emotion out of Soundwave on a bad day then you would out of Prowl when he was trying to prove that you had no idea what you were talking about.
So in response Sideswipe started his second tirade. "Because of said Mountain, right now I am currently standing here with three mechs. One of which I do not understand what comes out of his vocals half the time, one which I swear must siphoning impure energon into his systems because that's the only way someone could possibly be that laid back, and one mech who hates my inner fluids simply because I function. And not one of them, not one, is made for battle or particularly good at fighting. So basically that means I'm playing bodyguard and if there is an attack, which knowing old bell head there will be, I am essentially by myself."
"I don't recall Swerve having any grudges against you," Prowl said rather coldly considering the emotionless prick he was being.
"He hates me because when he got distracted by a bird he saw while driving on I4 in Florida, and he ended up spinning out of control, instead of catching him in a head long collision I let him run himself into a swamp…and laughed. It was funny."
"You'll have to put up with him. He's the only metallurgist we had access to and we need him to check for canister leaks. Radiation can affect us too and it's very difficult to get rid of. We don't want to become hazards to the humans," Prowl supplied.
"I don't even know where the little bastard came from! He was just here one day!" Sideswipe hadn't caught anything Prowl had said.
"We requested him from Cybertron."
"Well he can get stepped on by Trypticon for all I care." The line went silent.
"What was the purpose of calling me and complaining?" came Prowl's exasperated voice.
"They are driving me insane. All they're doing is standing around talking about MOX, seismic junk and emissions. What is MOX?"
"They are driving you insane by…doing their jobs?"
"Yes!"
Ah. And the truth is revealed.
"…You're bored and you want Sunstreaker."
"Oh please send him Prowl. I can't stand all this sciency stuff. I need amusement!"
"No. We need him at the outer perimeter. I'm sure you can survive a few hours without your brother."
Dangit. Might as well go for the next best thing.
"Then can I have Brawn? Please?"
"Unless you want to carry nuclear waste canisters four times your weight Brawn is going to stay on transport."
"Skyfire?"
"He's patrolling the secondary perimeter by air."
"Bluestreak?"
"He's back at the base."
"Blasphemy!" Sideswipe cried.
"Stop being melodramatic. There is a word in one of Earth's languages, Chinese I believe, which I think is appropriate for right now. It's pronounced chi ku and it roughly translates to 'eating bitter' in English. In simpler terms, deal with it. You have distracted me from my job long enough anyway."
"You're doing this on purpose," Sideswipe whined halfheartedly.
"Despite what you seemed to have convinced yourself, when I split up the teams and assign mechs in certain places I have actual reasons for it that are not simply 'Make Sideswipe's life miserable'. We are making perimeters. If Decepticons do indeed attack I find it highly unlikely that they'll be able to break through three defense lines and even get to you. The only reason you're there is as a precaution while Perceptor, Trailbreaker and Swerve analyze the hanger for possible dangers."
"But every time Swerve sees me he gives me the look."
"What look?"
"The one that's a cheap knock off of Sunny's 'I'm going to eviscerate you' look."
"He barely comes up to your knee."
"Fine, Prowl. But if the little twerp attacks me I'm not responsible for any damages caused to his person."
Bzzzp. "…."
"Prowl? Prowl?" No response. He tried sharpening the frequency of the link but received white noise. "You hung up on me you officious jerk." Sideswipe probably wouldn't have said that directly to Prowl if Prowl had been actually listening. Last time he let an insult slip he was stuck assigned to Wheeljack. Wheeljack while he was in the inventing mood, the same inventing mood that normally resulted in a Code Yellow hazmat alarm.
Sideswipe did a quick calculation in his head and guessed that he had lost over a third of his armor's mass that day before they got the thermite to stop burning.
If one good thing came out of the incident, it probably was getting to see Ratchet lay into Wheeljack and Prowlat the same time. Wheeljack for his lack of common sense and Prowl for putting Sideswipe in a possibly dangerous situation (Ratchet was actually nice to Sideswipe that day. Sideswipe would've thought it was the apocalypse but Ratchet had him on so many neural buffers for the pain he had been as clear minded as a swamp).
Regardless, it had been awesome. Being completely berth ridden for half a week to recuperate had been so worth it. And he got out of roster duty that whole time too.
But there was nothing getting him out of his assignment this time.
The year was approximately 1987 and the United States Congress had amended the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. AKA the "Lets dump all of our radioactive material in a hollow mountain! Energy crazy Decepticons are looming nearby? Pshaw, what do you think you Autobots are for! " plan.
Stupid humans. Stupid, stupid humans.
It had been three years since they had woken from the Ark accident and even in that time, which Sideswipe supposed was not actually a long time in comparison to their own life spans, they were still being reduced to fleshing guards and over glorified delivery boys.
Never mind. That statement should be corrected. They were delivery boys and guards for nuclear waste.
Sideswipe hated nuclear anything because of the radiation. It was like how humans viewed eating coconut. If they ate a little then they'd have the chewy, organic pulp in their calcium based dental plates for weeks. The problem with nuclear radiation in association to mechanical beings was the fact that if exposed, the radiation would be trapped in the metal plating of a mech for years.
Unless you were like Skyfire and had shielding for things like that, had a lead alloy embedded in your chassis or had Ratchet completely overhaul your system to purge the unstable emissions.
Sideswipe was not like Skyfire, did not have radioactive plating protection or lead alloy in his system (Lead was crude at best anyways) and did not like the prospect of being a walking bio-hazard. Also radiation made his systems fuzzy and, based from past experience, it made him hallucinate.
So there was the radiation aspect he did not enjoy and then there was the fact that he was teamed with two dull mechs and a gremlin (who kept looking over his shoulder to give Sideswipe the stink eye).
Oh. And he was bored. Gosh he hated being bored. And he had nothing to remedy it. Not even his brother. But that wasn't really much of a surprise. Despite their familial relationship they probably only went on little over then half of the same missions.
Maybe he could try talking to his brother directly. He was just about to open their private line when…
"Sideswipe? Are you alright?" The Lambo halted his message and focused his hearing onto the light, articulate voice behind him. He pivoted sharply and turned to face the source.
"I'm fine Percy. What's up?" Sideswipe asked rather kindly actually, but despite that the scientist flinched slightly. The red and white bot probably didn't even realize he did either. It was a reflex a lot of mech's developed around the twins and Sideswipe had to admit, if he was Perceptor he'd be a bit bothered too. The overly nice guy act was a little awkward coming from himself.
Sideswipe should have glared, could have some snarky comment or would have acted like a general jerk as he would in that situation sometimes, but he just wasn't in the mood to be an asshole. He was suffering from sibling withdrawal and was bored almost to the point of lethargy. That and Sideswipe had no real problems with Perceptor in comparison to some other mechs. He was an honestly good mech and he had a nice voice. The kind that had a certain eloquent and earnestly interested sound in it that was nice to listen to…If you wanted to fall into recharge.
"You had a rather distracted look across your face. Is something bothering you?" The small scientist asked with actual concern, as if completely unaware of the reflexive unease he had shown not 30 seconds before.
"No. I was just spacing out," Sideswipe answered truthfully.
"Oh, well if you are sure. I was sent to retrieve you. We are done with this portion of the cavern and are moving onto the B block."
"Kay," Sideswipe answered resignedly.
Sideswipe followed Perceptor further into the monstrous, hollow bowels of the big mountain.
And when Sideswipe said big, he meant big. Even by Cybertronian measures. The mountain was several hundred feet tall and the insides had been carved out. The rock that made the cavern's walls was reddish color, probably some kind of volcanic material. It was dark inside the mountain with minimal pale lighting that was rather depressing for some reason.
As they walked, there was silence for all about three seconds before Perceptor began one of his long, flowerily spoken lectures.
Man, Bluestreak had nothing on Perceptor when it came to incessant talking. Sideswipe had a theory that there was so much information in Perceptor's processor that the genius had to relieve the pressure of his thoughts by filtering the info out of his mouth and onto other unsuspecting mechs so his own head wouldn't implode.
"The humans are going to convert a large portion of their nuclear waste into mixed oxide fuel so that not only will the Uranium be incapable of being used in weapons technology but will also be able to be reused in their breeder nuclear power plants. Not only does that assist in solving their nuclear proliferation issues but it also helps them with their growing energy crisis."
Sideswipe had no idea what proliferation meant.
"It's a bit of a crude method but it's amazing how quickly they are progressing considering how short a time they have been on this planet. They are quite the astute species at moments. I'd say that a great number of them are very perspicacious thinkers when it comes to their global issues, though sadly this is not the case when viewing them as a whole."
Sideswipe wasn't sure he knew what perspicacious meant either.
And then Perceptor went off about some called coprecipitation "A mixture of uranyl nitrate and plutonium nitrate in nitric acid that is converted by treatment with a base such as ammonia to form a mixture…"
Sideswipe figured that the microscope transformer wasn't going to get anymore comprehensible then he already wasn't and tuned him out like a bad radio station not long after.
They reached where Trailbreaker was but Sideswipe didn't see Swerve anywhere. Perhaps he got crushed under a canister. At least Sideswipe hoped fervently that's what happened.
"Hey, Brute! Get over here!" a surprisingly loud and gruff voice boomed from behind one of the massive canisters. A red a white minibot stomped from behind one of the cylinders and glared.
'Well there's the shrimp.'
(You could just squash him you know.) A little voice suggested in the back of Sideswipe's mind. He ignored it. Listening to it normally resulted in bad things anyway.
Instead Sideswipe put on an almost sickly sweet smile and replied, "Bite me you lousy little parasite."
"Don't give me attitude you lout. Lift this canister up. I think that the metal underneath of it is too thin to be safe for radiation concealment."
"Meaning?" Sideswipe prodded.
"A leak."
"You're telling me that even though they pack that slag in military grade concrete and reinforced steel there's actually a leak?"
"Won't know for sure until I can see it properly."
"You're the metal science guy. Why can't you do it?" Sideswipe did not feel like becoming irradiated.
"That's why your useless aft is here." The tiny red and white minibot growled and it almost sounded feral.
"I'm the body guard. You know the guy who keeps you from being dead when the Decepticons attack. Not your grunt monkey. Do it yourself." The Lamborghini smirked and folded his arms over.
"Quit whining you Brat." Sideswipe's smile withered into a straight tight line.
"Don't call me a Brat."
"I'll call you whatever I feel like calling you, you Brat."
'Well since you don't have a name I'll call you a brat all I want, Brat.'
Sideswipe clenched and unclenched his fists in a nervous twitch. He wasn't sure why but that was the straw that broke the camels back. And that was saying something because he generally had a lot more patience then that.
He hated being called a brat. Didn't know why, but that was the one thing that could set him off relatively easily if he didn't keep his anger in check.
Unfortunately for Swerve Sideswipe didn't want to keep his anger in check. 'That's it. Screw Prowl.'
He curled his hand in a tight fist and drew it back.
Trailbreaker reacted but he was too far away. "W-wait!"
Sideswipe launched the punch.
And then the mountain shook.
It was enough to throw Sideswipe off balance and off his line of fire. His fist sailed past Swerve and the tall mech had to pinwheel his arms in an almost comical fashion before regaining his balance.
The four mechs stood in unease for a brief moment before the hanger shook violently again. Loose earth from the cavern's ceiling crumbled and showered on them in small clouds of dust and rock.
"What in the name of Cybertron!" Came Perceptor's indignant voice. The poor scientist had been knocked clear off his feet. He ducked his head under his arms just as another cloud of debris dropped over them when another boom resonated through the cavern. "It must be the Decepticons."
The expression on Sideswipe's face at first was unreadable. Then he jumped to his feet and with unbridled glee streaked toward the exit of the cavern leaving three befuddled mechs in his dust
"WHOO! FINALLY! Thank you, Megatron!"
He was stared after by the three unmoving bots.
"I still think Prime should listen to me and melt him down into hubcaps." Swerve sneered.
Perceptor sent him a little glare.
"Well, while Sideswipe is off giving Decepticons the one four we aught to keep on with securing this hanger, guys," Trailbreaker said.
He was right.
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So, the Decepticons were attacking.
It was inevitable really. They were like vultures when it came to energy. And what better way to get it then from a nuclear source?
One nuclear pellet had thousands of times more energy then coal or oil was capable of. It was in high abundance and could create innumerable amounts of energon cubes. It was ideal.
But it had draw backs.
It was unstable. If the Decepticons tore haphazardly through the canisters stored within the mountains hollow core and broke their concrete and steel prisons, the radiation would break free and wash over the land in destructive, invisible waves.
It would cause a nuclear fallout large enough to cover the globe.
For crying out loud not more then a year ago on the 26th April, 1986 there had been a nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl. That was just one Nuclear plant and the nuclear radiation from that spread across most of Europe.
Now here in Yucca they had the waste of over a hundred plants around the world. And it was all unstable.
And the Decepticons were fraking firebombing them.
Both Prime and Prowl evaluated the Situation. It was bad. "We have to drive them back. Prowl, Call Perceptor, and Swerve to seal the entrance and have Trailbreaker place a force field around the core perimeter of the waste." Optimus charged his rifle.
"Will Trailbreaker have enough energon for a force field that big?" Prowl questioned.
"If worse comes to worst he can siphon some of the nuclear energy for a boost. Then have Sideswipe stay in the immediate area. Send him back up. We should concentrate our forces to create a defense at the source." Prime charged his ion Blaster. "I'll try to buy you time. I'm counting on you, Prowl." And then the commander of the Autobots himself charged into the chaotic fray of laser fire and carnage.
"Yes, Prime." Prowl opened his radio frequency and called the microscope transformer.
"Prowl?" It was Perceptor.
"I have orders for you, Swerve, Trailbreaker and Sideswipe-"
"The idiot's not here!" Swerve's gruff voice yelled from over the connection. Prowl went tight-lipped.
"What?" He finally hissed through clenched dental plating.
" He ran off somewhere when the mountain shook," Trailbreaker added hesitantly.
"I'm sure he had a logical reason for running off…" Perceptor started nervously.
That idiot! But there was no time to worry about the Lamborghini warrior.
"Never mind! We'll just have to work around that! These are your orders…"
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Sunstreaker was in a good mood.
Well, he had been in a good mood.
And then that's when the seekers began dropping explosive shells on his head.
That part didn't bother him that much. Explosive shells weren't that bad as soon as you learned to listen for them. Then they were pretty easy to avoid. What pissed him off was his own brother.
The red retard shot out of nowhere like a bat out of hell, streaked across the battle field while narrowly avoiding being riddled with laser fire holes, launched himself in the air and drop-kicked Dirge in the face.
Sunstreaker didn't mind that. He thought it was funny. What annoyed him was the fact that Sideswipe, so busy grinning like an idiot at Dirge in pain, did not realize that, not one of the Constructicons mind you, but Devastator walked right up behind him.
How the hell do you miss something like that?!
In fact, his oblivious twin didn't know that the gestalt was even there until one of the monster bot's purple hands tightened around his chassis and he was pulled into the air kicking frantically to free himself.
Sunstreaker's reaction was delayed. He was barely paying attention to his brother, too busy with beating the living daylights out of Thundercracker, and sort of stared dumbly when he saw Sideswipe getting the life squeezed out of him.
"Little…help," Sideswipe gasped out the last part as Devastator cruelly smiled and tightened his grip. That snapped Sunstreaker into action.
"Damn it, Sideswipe, you dumb-aft!" Sunstreaker roared and charged at Devastator.
He had no idea what he was going to do against the combiner. All he knew was it would probably end up pissing off Ratchet.
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"Ratchet!"
Ratchet snapped his head back at the sound of Hound's frantic calls. After instantly locating the cry he saw the source of Hound's fear.
Mirage was on the ground with a gaping hole in his chest where the Autobot insignia had once proudly shown.
"Slag." Ratchet crossed the field in record time to reach the spy and scout. "What happened?"
"I don't know! He wasn't there! His cloaking device must've….Primus, I would have been the one to have gotten shot. He got called over by one of the Aerialbots and must've walked in front of me by accident. Primus, Mirage…"
Ratchet flipped out a spot welder from subspace and began patching up the larger leaks. "Calm down Hound. Mirage must be the luckiest unlucky mech in the world right now because it's not as bad as it looks."
"He has a fragging hole in his chest! How is that not as bad as it looks?"
"The blast hit the only place in his chest that would cause the least damage. It missed his spark box for the most part though there is a minor dent to the casing, his neural regulators are fine and his temperature regulators and coolant systems are all norm-" Ratchet didn't finish the sentence as a foreboding noise crept behind him.
The sound of whirring turbines and the smooth sound of rushing air.
Instinctively Ratchet threw himself over Mirage's body just as a bomb exploded closely behind them. Dust and debris swirled into the air and rained upon them like a choking, black rain.
Ratchet hazarded a look just in time to see Skywarp zip through the sky and vanish through a dark tear he created in the air.
"Hound. Keep the seekers away from us. Mirage might not be fatally injured but the damage is still bad. I can't repair him if I'm getting blown up by Decepticons."
"Right."
Ratchet went back to his repair job.
Where the hell was Sunstreaker! He was supposed to be in the area on call for this precise reason. So Ratchet could perform his medic duties with out getting blown up.
But the yellow bot was gone and there was nothing he could do about it now. Whatever had lured him away from the second perimeter was probably Sideswipe related. Wasn't it always?
It didn't help that Ratchet was already on edge. More so then usual, and he didn't even know why.
As a medic you had to rely on your gut feeling often. Heck, half of the medical art was dumb luck.
And his instincts were telling him something bad was going to happen. That something horrible was looming in the not to far off future, and he didn't think it was Decepticon related.
What ever it was though, it was going to be bad.
Ratchet tied off another leaking tube with speed and precision despite the sound of laser fire drawing closer to his position.
"That idiot better have a reason for not being here," The medic groused thinking of the gold front line mech.
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Sideswipe was sparking from every joint in his arms.
His wrists, elbows and under arm joints were crackling with blue and gold electricity. His shoulder guards were crushed giving him little mobility so his limbs hung limply at his sides. The red paint on his forearm guards and across the middle of his chest plate had been scraped clean off by Devastator's rough treatment. It left a funny band of silver around his chassis in a similar fashion to a human getting a really awkward tan line.
It was a good thing he wasn't as vain as his brother or he probably would've gone into shock and then a self imposed stasis lock.
Speaking of Sunstreaker….
"YOU ARE A STUPID IDIOT!" Whoa boy. Sunny was Mad with a capital 'M', and he was taking out his anger on an already battered Hook.
Sideswipe wasn't really sure how Sunny was able to take down old Devastator. It all went by in a blur but he was sure that decapitating the Gestalt had been a major part in the others falling apart as well. And with the five beings separated, Sunny picked them all off like a wolf would to lambs.
"Stupid idiot is sort of redundant. Besides, I'm crazy not stupid. There's a difference." Sideswipe shrugged…without actually moving. He could barely move his little finger let alone his shoulders. He had the mobility squashed out of them.
Sunstreaker gave Sideswipe a look that clearly stated, 'I am going to eviscerate you.' And it was waaaay more effective then Swerve's cheap knockoff.
"Devastator walked up behind you and you." Punch "Didn't." Crash. "Notice." SMASH.
Sideswipe actually winced at the last blow the nearly unconscious Constructicon received. Not that he felt bad for the guy because he didn't. He was just glad that it was a Decepticon and not himself subjected to Sunstreaker's wrath.
"He's nimble for a big guy." Sunstreaker gave a frustrated yell at Sideswipe's remark, and punched the green and purple bot so hard in the jaw it unhinged. Finally Sunstreaker dropped Hook and he landed on the ground unconscious with the rest of the Constructicons.
Sunstreaker turned on his brother with a feral look in his optics. It only served to amplify his scariness at that moment. The gold bot was scraped, scuffed, and flecked with an ample amount of glowing, blue energon and coolant (compliments of the Constructies). His hands were practically drenched in the stuff.
Sunstreaker stalked over to his injured brother and jabbed him hard in the chest plating.
"Ow! That spots tender! And you're getting Constructicon fluid on me!" Sideswipe yelled with mild irritation.
"I swear to Primus if you weren't my twin-" What ever Sunstreaker was going to say was violently cut off as a bomb exploded relatively close to their positions.
Sideswipe began falling backwards since he couldn't really use his arms to stabilize his equilibrium.
Sunstreaker reached out instinctively to catch his brother's arm to help the other regain his falling balance.
He wasn't expecting to be mildly electrocuted on contact.
Blue electricity sparked and crackled between their armor unpleasantly. Sideswipe yelped and fell backward and Sunstreaker tore his hand back to his own body before stumbling in the opposite direction a few steps.
"What the hell!" Sideswipe yelped. "You just… You shocked me!" he cried indignantly.
"No I didn't! You shocked me!" Sunstreaker retorted rubbing his hand agitatedly to help calm the erratic sensors. "What was that?"
"Static?" Sideswipe guessed. "I'm sparking from the arms."
"Static tickles at best, Sides. That…that hurt," Sunstreaker said. The two brothers stared at each other with unease. That had never happened before. They could only stand in puzzlement.
At least until the sound of a shell exploding resonated in the distance. The Decepticons were getting closer to the hanger. Sideswipe gracefully jumped to his feet.
"Well we'll worry about it later! I don't know about you but I don't think the fleshies would like a massive nuclear fallout on their planet. Radiation messes with our systems weird but you see what it does to humans. Gnarly things. I saw those World War two documentaries."
"I fragging hate radiation," Sunstreaker griped and took off after his brother.
Neither had noticed that when their hands made contact, one spark from the shock shot upwards like a shooting star.
It was the first step in a series of events that were now set in motion.
And the twins were the cause.
It went higher and higher until it was above the clouds, and when it reached that point, the tiny blue spark ripped through the sky leaving a bright, thin turquoise line suspended in the air.
It wasn't very big at first, only the width of a spider web thread. But it grew rapidly and a great flash of turquoise illuminated the sky.
No one noticed that out of the hole a small, broken figure tumbled out and began falling toward the Earth. The hole in the air shriveled up like water in a heated cast iron pan until there was no evidence of it ever being there.
Had it not been a cloudy day the whole thing would've blinded the bots and Cons thousands of feet below. Yet they hadn't seen it and were all oblivious.
Everyone except Ironhide.
The Old mech had been scoping the skies for stray seekers when he spotted the falling figure out of his peripheral vision.
At first he thought it was a Decepticon Seeker. But then he realized that it must've been a dumb seeker since it was hurtling toward the ground with out any sign of pulling up. Then he realized it was tiny, much too small to be one of the jets.
He activated his long distance sight specs and focused on the image best he could.
The figure that was hurtling through the air was a mech. If the beads of green and blue energon trailing behind him were any indication it was a badly injured mech.
Ironhide just stood there. He didn't recognize it though the figure was obviously Cybertronian. Was it an Autobot? If it was it was his duty to save him. If it was Decepticon he should just leave it to shatter on impact after its long fall. He couldn't tell what faction the mech belonged too though.
He was torn. He could do nothing. There was a 50 percent chance it was a Decepticon. But if it was an Autobot…
"Primus, Dammit!" The old bot cursed, transformed and gunned his engine. He zoomed off in the direction of the falling bot in an effort to catch it before he hit the ground.
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Of all the times to a get a call!
Optimus dropped to one knee and shielded himself from debris as one of Megatron's fusion blasts impacted not too far off.
Here he was fighting one of the most powerful and cruel tyrants in the known universe and somebody was calling him!
He would've ignored it but the beeping of his com link went on relentlessly. Also Prime started getting paranoid that perhaps one of his men was in horrible, grave danger. Was it Prowl? Had the plan gone badly?
So he answered.
"This is Prime. State your situation!" His voice came out strained as he ducked and rolled away from another explosion.
"Oh, Optimus! How good it is to hear from you!" a regal, aged voice hailed him cheerily from the other end of the line.
"Alpha Trion?" Prime would've sputtered…but Primes don't sputter.
If it was a call from Alpha Trion then something must've gone wrong on Cybertron. Why else would he call?
"What's the situation on Cybertron?" Optimus asked quickly, ducking behind a large boulder while he refilled the ammo in his blaster.
"Come out, Prime!" Megatron's voice boomed. Fusion fire exploded loudly after.
Optimus sighed.
"Situation on Cybertron? There's no situation on Cybertron," Alpha Trion said with puzzlement in his voice.
"Then could you please call later? I am in the middle of something right now." Like not getting his head cleaved off by fusion explosions.
"No, no my dear boy. I have an urgent question," Trion started.
"Urgent?" Prime questioned.
"Yes indeed. Did you get your new arrival yet?"
"New arrival?" Prime yelled. "I didn't request any back up!?" Even though back up would've been nice at that particular moment… "What new arrival?"
"I have no idea," Alpha Trion spoke happily through the line.
"Alpha Trion, I am in the middle of a precarious battle that has millions of Terren lives on the line. Please, can you call back later?" Optimus pleaded.
"PRIME! Where are you, you worthless coward!?" Well there was Megatron again.
"Well, no because your arrival should be there any second," Alpha Trion explained calmly.
"You said you didn't know who the arrival was," Prime exasperated.
"I don't. I didn't choose him. A good friend of mine did. He may be a grouchy old bartender but he is a good judge of character."
Prime was silent. For a brief moment. "You sent me some random Autobot that I did not request for and a bartender chose!"
"I did not send him. It was mostly my friend who set up the exchange, and two of your own simply helped retrieve him. I'm just giving you the heads up. Well, I'll leave you to your battle."
Prime sighed again.
"Oh, by the way, Optimus. I never said Autobot." And the line went dead.
Prime stared dumbly ahead as he processed that information.
He couldn't stay imobile for long though. Megatron found him.
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It was a miracle. And absolute freaking miracle.
The Decepticons were retreating.
Whatever reason for their retreat had been Starscream related. Prime really didn't care about what happened, only about the fact that they were gone and Earth had not suffered a nuclear fallout. Alas, good news never lasted forever.
"Prime!" Ironhide's distinctive drawl came from behind him.
"Ironhide?"
"Prime we have a problem!"
"What is it, Ironhide?" he turned to his comrade and long time friend.
"I caught 'um," Ironhide said gravely much to Prime's confusion.
In Ironhide's arms, in a bridal carry, there was an unrecognizable mech. He was unusually small, only slightly too big to be a minibot. He had primarily pine green, light silver and cobalt blue armor, and had a simple body design. He looked young, unnaturally so since Cybertronians did not have the same concept of youth as did some cultures, but his face was a tad rounder then a normal mech's and his optics were slightly larger then usual.
Also he looked like someone threw him through a blender.
His left arm was gone from above the elbow and the wound was spilling leaking tubes and loose wires. A chunk of his side was missing leaving a gaping hole that was leaking, still, profusely. There was a nasty crack that traveled above the small bot's right eye and ran up his rounded helm. He was riddled with cuts, gashes and scrapes some of which were flecked with beads of light green and blue energon.
A puddle of glowing blue, life fluid was forming at Ironhide's feet as well indicating that perhaps the anonymous mech had a bad injury on his back as well. It was difficult to tell.
His dark optics were nearly black. The mech looked dead.
But the slightest twitch from his surviving hand's finger indicated that was not the case.
"Primus." Optimus took a step forward. "What happened? Who is he-" Optimus cut himself short as he remembered Alpha Trion's words.
"Did you get your new arrival yet?"
"That's not the problem." Ironhide looked extremely uncomfortable with the mech in his arms. It was border line disgust.
"What do you…" And then Prime saw it.
On the green, battered shoulder guard of the mech was the menacing, violet symbol of the Decepticon faction.
It was not an Autobot.
"I saved a 'Con," Ironhide said ashamedly. "It was by accident but I saved a Decepticon!" He repeated again with woe in his voice.
Ironhide jolted with a start as the mech shifted ever so slightly in his reluctant hold. Prime stared and watched the whole scenario.
For the briefest moment a light flickered behind the stranger's large optics revealing them to be a crisp, bright red. The mech turned his head slightly and stared at Ironhide long and hard. Ironhide noticeable tensed. Prime could tell the red mech wanted to drop the Con in his arms but his morals wouldn't allow him to do that to an injured mech.
But he looked really tempted.
And then the injured Decepticon smiled, smiled! And with that small gesture his optics went black again and he slipped into unconsciousness.
This did not bode well.
Wordlessly Optimus activated his com line. "Ratchet," he hailed, his stare aimed blankly ahead.
"Prime? What is it? I'm busy beating dents out of Sideswipe's armor."
"You're not going to be happy but get over here now."
Optimus wasn't aware of it but some very horrible things had been set in motion.
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For anyone who wants to see the animated version of bits of the battle you can find them here.
www. shy-light. deviantart . com / gallery (remove the spaces) and go to the animations folder. The ones relevent to this story Melee, Ratchet on the Job and anything starting with the title 'What'. Enjoy.
Alrighty then... All will be explained in time. :3
The mech at the end is not canon. I made him up. However I need him for plot. You'll see why. But I mostly want to focus on the G1 bots for this story.
Anyway reviews loved, flames for marshmallows and cc is highly appreciated.