First Field Repair
###
The distant whine of jet-engines made Slingshot jerk under his hands. First Aid froze, optic-band going to the sky. In the emptiness of the steppe, the two of them were sitting ducks if anyone flew overhead. No Decepticon jets were visible in the impossibly blue sky, but at the speed they moved, that could change in an instant. There wasn't a single thing he could do about it, though, except try to get Slingshot's transformation fixed.
"I hate this," Slingshot growled, twisting to look back over his shoulder. "Hurry it up, will you? The others need me!"
"I know," he said, pushing the Aerialbot's shoulder back down. "I'm trying to do this as well as I can as fast as I can. But Breakdown really did a number on your systems with that shot."
The Aerialbot growled, his engine trying to spin up. It choked violently, sounding like a bird had gotten stuck in a turbine, and Slingshot grimaced in pain.
First Aid tried not to curse as the last fifteen minutes of work almost came undone. "-Please don't do that."
Slingshot froze under his hands. "-Don't move."
Too used to that tone of voice to ignore it, First Aid went absolutely still. Distantly, he heard the sound of a helicopter, then realized with a sinking sensation he'd heard it for the last minute or so. He'd just assumed it was Blades.
"He hasn't seen us," Slingshot said, his hand extending. For the first time First Aid had seen, the Aerialbot unsubspaced a rifle rather than a pistol. "-If he just flies by, I'm going to let him, because I don't know where Blast Off is. Fragging orbital sniper."
"I'm okay with that," First Aid said softly. He was more than okay with that, though he wished just a little bit that Slingshot would have let Vortex fly on by even if he did know where Blast Off was.
He let Slingshot watch the Combaticon, instead focusing on the Aerialbot's internals open under his hands. Maybe if he rewired there- It'd have to be undone once they got back to the Ark, but it ought to get Slingshot back in his wings for the duration of this mission...
"Slag, he spotted us." The Aerialbot raised his rifle as smoothly as Mirage could toss off a quip and shot Vortex through the rotor-hub. "- if anyone was watching, they're going to backtrack that fast."
"Got it," he said, already cutting and splicing wires to reroute around the damage. "Let me do this and clean out your turbines."
"-don't really have a choice."