.
Small Problems
Day Six: Crash
In the quiet moments before dawn, when the sun was barely beginning to tint the sky with color, Megatron was not happy. Starscream returned, parading like a peacock that he had ended the existence of the great, but tiny, Optimus Prime in a bright ball of fire. And despite a body or any other Autobot casualties, insisted it was a sure victory for all Decepticon kind.
Megatron did not agree.
"It's hardly my problem that you refuse to celebrate victory with us," Starscream huffed.
It seemed inconsequential to him that Thundercracker and Skywarp had made themselves scarce.
Megatron snatched up Starscream by the throat, lifting him off the ground. "There is no victory," he growled. "Optimus Prime is alive. I can feel him!"
Despite Starscream's precarious situation, he still managed to look disgusted with Megatron's statement.
"Megatron," Soundwave warbled as he approached. "Transmission from the Stunticons."
Megatron threw Starscream to the ground. "It's about time they checked in." He stormed towards the communication screen and barked, "Report!" as he turned it on.
Dragstrip's disinterested face popped on the screen. "Hey Megs, just thought we'd let you know we saw an Autobot try to get into the city earlier."
"How many? Who was it?"
Dragstrip picked at his nose. "I dunno, that blue one that can fly. But we chased him off."
Megatron scowled. "No doubt that didn't stop him from taking a different route. How long ago was it?"
The Stunticon shrugged. "Like, last night sometime."
"Last night?!" Megatron was fuming. "Why didn't you say something before?"
Dragstrip shrugged again.
Megatron growled as he clenched his shaking fists on the control panel. But then he paused as a thought hit him. "Optimus Prime is no longer in the city," he declared to no one in particular, then turned back to the screen. "Stunticons, patrol all exit routes back to the Autobot base. Find Optimus Prime!"
At this point, Motormaster pushed his way in front of Dragstrip's communicator.
"Megatron, you're talking about searching every interstate in the country. We can't-"
"Do it!" Megatron cut the transmission and turned to Starscream. "You and your seekers are going as well. Find him."
Starscream stared at his leader, jaw set. It was obvious he was biting back a retort. Even so, he quietly turned and paraded out to do his master's bidding.
Crystal shifted in her sleep; there was something next to her. It was solid and metallic, but warm and she curled up against it. Her eyes fluttered open and she sat up when she found out she had been cuddling the red and blue form of Optimus Prime.
"Your body temperature was high, but you were shivering." She looked over to see Prowl speaking to her matter-of-factly at the end of the bed. "I thought it would be better to keep you near something warm."
Crystal just looked from one Autobot to the other and made her way quite unsteadily toward the bathroom. When she reached for the doorknob, she pulled back in pain. Her right hand was even more swollen than the night before. It was difficult to close her fist and painful to try. Opening the door with her left hand instead, she left it open and the roaring of the bathtub water was heard soon after.
"Optimus, how are you feeling?" Wheeljack asked as he climbed upon the bed.
Optimus touched the gash that still decorated his side. "I feel better after a night's recharge. No further leakage that I can detect. Just low on energy."
"We all are," Prowl admitted. "If we don't get back in a day or two or if we have another battle, we might not make it."
At that point, Optimus requested to be filled in on what was going on in his absence. Although Wheeljack wasn't the best one to offer the story, he had to as Prowl was already off the bed and heading toward the bathroom.
He found Crystal on the floor, leaning on the tub's basin with her head buried in her arms and injured hand soaking in the water. She looked as though she had fallen asleep again. Prowl had to climb over her long legs to get close enough to see the face hidden under her wild bed hair. She looked up at he peered at her.
"What's your status?" he asked her seriously.
"Status?" she wondered, still looking drunk from sleep. Her voice was deeper than normal, as if something in her throat was muffling the sound.
"What is your... physical condition?" Prowl tried again.
Crystal lifted her hand from the hot water and tried to flex the fingers, flinching at the pain. "I think my hand's busted from the fight."
Prowl thought it over, looking uncertain. "Can you... repair it?"
"Not as such, but I can wrap it for now." Crystal sniffed and shivered a bit. She was not happy to notice she seemed to be catching a cold. That was all she needed. She was too worn out for this mess.
Her head plopped back into her arms and she sat in stillness for several moments.
"Crystal? Are you going back into recharge?"
The girl let out a heavy breath like a forced sigh. "No, I'm getting up. Give me a moment to get dressed."
When she emerged later in a sweater and jeans, the Autobots present had to admit she was looking more haggard than they had ever seen her. Her eyes were a bit bloodshot and the side of her face was beginning to swell where she had been punched the night before.
This was disconcerting. Their escort did not seem to be in the best shape and they needed her.
Prowl started after her. "Crystal, are you–"
She waved him off as she stumbled in the dim light toward the door.
Outside, around her car, more heads popped up. Ironhide and Jazz had been keeping watch all night. Grimlock hadn't exactly been helping, but he was around and ran up to Crystal in dinosaur mode as she emerged.
"Crystal, me Grimlock practice hunting prey like car-ni-vor! Me catch rats and–"
Crystal reached out and clamped his muzzle shut. "Sh-shu-shu," she cooed gently. "No, my pet. It's too early."
"But me Grimlock-"
"Too early," Crystal insisted in a more forcible hiss.
Then she trudged toward the street, aiming for the gas station across the road. As she walked, she noticed that, as usual, she had a mini Autobot trailing her. But this time it was neither Prowl nor Jazz.
Optimus Prime paused next to her as she waited for the traffic light to signal them to cross. The two stood in silence for a moment. Crystal had no previous conversation with this one. She was neither sure what to say to him, nor was she feeling up to the challenge in her current condition.
"We can cross now," Optimus Prime stated as the walk light was lit.
Crystal didn't even notice she had spaced off until he had spoken and quickly moved to cross. Once inside the gas station, she grabbed herself an orange juice and a muffin for breakfast before aiming for the small collection of pharmaceuticals the store had to offer.
"What are you looking for?" Optimus wondered.
"Something of the non drowsy variety. I don't want to admit it, but I'm sick as a dog and we've got a long drive ahead of us."
"I'm sorry."
"It's just an inconvenience." She sniffled noisily and frowned at the selection. After a while, she picked out a few more items and headed for the counter.
The cashier, an older man, eyed Crystal strangely as he rang her up. "Forgive me saying so, but you look like you were in the losing end of a fight."
Crystal coughed. "You got it half right; I won. Now how much is it?"
The cashier continued to look at her dubiously. "That will be twelve-oh-two."
Crystal checked her cash. "Darn, no change. Hey shorty, you got two pennies?"
Optimus looked up at her. "I... do not have any human currency."
Crystal grumbled as she paid. "You don't even have two cents? What good are you, Optimus Prime?"
Optimus just stared at her as the cashier stared at him and adjusted his glasses. "Optimus Prime? You mean the leader of the Autobots? He looked so much bigger on TV."
"Tell me about it," Crystal said as she grabbed her bag of items and left.
Outside, she sat on the curb and began digging through her newly acquired provisions. The best thing she could find for her hand was medical tape. She immediately opened it and wrapped her first three fingers straight out to keep the knuckle fracture from further trauma. She bandaged the rest of her hand as well just to be on the safe side.
Optimus Prime sat beside her, waiting patiently for her to finish.
"I'm sorry it took us so long to find you," Crystal stated.
"I know you and my Autobots did your best. I'm just glad I was found."
"Me, too," Crystal agreed. "No one wanted to leave you in the city."
"I wouldn't have faulted any of you. You would have done what you had to do."
Crystal rested her good hand on the top of his head. Optimus stiffened at the contact. No one had ever done that to him before.
"Still," she insisted. "I am sorry. I know going at it alone is a very frightening way to live."
And with that, she got up and headed to the crosswalk. Optimus didn't say anything as he followed. He didn't have to. Though he never planned on telling his troops what he had gone through these past couple of days, it was nice to know that someone recognized the difficulty he had endured.
It was definitely an experience he was not used to. Not just the size, but the absolute loneliness of it all. He couldn't even recall in his memory banks the last time he had gone it all alone. There was never need for it. No matter the mission, he was always surrounded by his fellow Autobots. Their company was a constant no matter where he went. When he had been alone for days without knowing where they were or what he should do to find him, he had felt truly lost.
As they waited again for the light, Crystal asked "So, be straight with me, Optimus Prime. How long could you guys last if I don't get you home?"
Optimus paused significantly.
"Don't even think of lying to me now," Crystal warned. "I'm not in the mood for it."
"Two days, maybe less. Significantly less if we have any more battles."
Crystal sighed as they crossed the road. "I even if I was at my best, I doubt I could do it in two days."
Optimus folded his arms as he walked. "I am deeply sorry you got involved in this."
Crystal humphed at the apology. "They were my decisions. I take responsibility for my own actions. It's not like you were even there most of the time."
"You're very blunt," Optimus accused.
She shrugged. "Yeah well, I feel like crap so blunt is what you're going to get."
By then they were back at the motel parking lot. Prowl was now sitting on the nose of her car with Jazz. Crystal handed him a road map with a, "For you," before continuing inside her room. Without shutting the door, she flopped face down on the bed and stayed there as Grimlock climbed all over her and chatted about his night. Wheeljack told him to stop, but he was ignored.
Optimus stayed outside as Jazz and Prowl unfolded their new map and looked it over. He glanced over at the room and then back at his two seconds.
"She is not well, is she?" he asked.
"No, she isn't," Prowl confirmed, not looking up from his map.
"And she is injured."
"She is." There was a pause. "But she is safer with us. And if she can take us further west, I believe we can meet her half way. Ratchet much have Skyfire by now. We just need to get a safe enough distance away before we can radio him. At least a day's drive. Maybe more depending on how our energy resources hold up."
Only then did Prowl look up towards the open door. "If she can make it one more day, I think we can do the rest."
"Let's get her up then," Jazz announced as he slid off the car. "The sooner we go, the more distance we put between us and the Cons."
Optimus and Prowl nodded and all moved to put their plan into action. It took a while to get Crystal up again. She insisted on more sleep. So the Autobots did all her packing for her and put everything back in the car before dragging her off the bed. Crystal stumbled for the driver's seat, noticing there was someone already occupying it.
"Haven't heard from you in a while," she told Blaster as she sat the radio in her lap while she buckled her seat belt.
There was a pause before Blaster responded. "Wheeljack took all my energy reserves. He said I wouldn't use any energy if I didn't talk."
Crystal raised an eyebrow at the ruthlessness of the inventor. Then decided to herself that maybe it was just as well and handed the radio to the Autobots sitting in the back. For a minute longer she sat there, sighing and resting her forehead on the steering wheel. The Autobots began looking at each other, wondering what to do.
It looked as though she was ready to call the whole thing off. She was exhausted, sick, hurt. It would be so difficult to continue on. But then she stared for a moment at the tiny silver chime hanging from her rear view mirror. She poked it with a finger and the chimes made the lightest tinkling sound.
That noise caught Optimus Prime's attention as well. He remembered those. The night before, when he was laying in the front seat bleeding, all he saw were the passing lights of the city and those chimes. Something about them felt profound to him though it took him a while to access his memory banks to remember what it was. There was an engraving on them of some sort.
Crystal read the words and it seemed there was something magical in the incantation. Sucking in a determined breath, she managed to summon extra fortitude and they were off on the road again.
Sideswipe's plan was working. Bluestreak wasn't sure how, but it was. Two Autobots and four Dinobots were making their way through New York City; slowly, but without any notice or city-wide panic. Which, Bluestreak had to admit, was the preferable result. Even if the plan still seemed ludicrous.
They were disguised as a float from the previous day's parade. The Dinobots were stationed on a flatbed, standing as still as they possibly could, decorated with gaudy streamers and plastic flowers while the two Autobots towed them through the city streets.
Despite the parade being the day before, Sideswipe insisted they would just look like they were relocating one of the floats. So far it seemed to be working despite the fact that no one recalled a flowery dinosaur float in the Fourth of July Parade. That and, unknown to Bluestreak, they were giving off a rather rank odor whose putrid stink was unique to the foul harbor they had swam in the night before.
So far the only glitch in the plan was that they had yet to spy any sign of either Autobot or Decepticon. That worried Blustreak. Their convoy wasn't exactly hard to miss. While the humans may not have realized what they had in their midst, either faction would recognize them on sight. The lack of response to their presence was not encouraging.
About a block away, Mr. Yamada was enjoying his first vacation to America with his wife and son. They were going to visit the Statue of Liberty later that afternoon, but for now, they were content to roam the city and take pictures.
Outside Central Park, Mrs. Yamada and her son Kenji smiled as Mr Yamada took their picture.
Just as the camera flashed, Kenji raised his hand and pointed towards the street. "Chichi, sore o minasai."
Mr. Yamada looked and saw the haphazard, flowery horror slowly coming their way. The family made sounds of fascination as Mr. Yamada snapped some pictures.
"Nioi wa nan desuka?" Mrs. Yamada wondered, grabbing her nose and making a face at the stench.
As the camera flashed, Snarl turned his head from the irritating light. Kenji, eyes wide, gestured frantically at the Dinobots.
"Haha! Karera was ugokimawatta!"
Mrs. Yamada did her best to assure her son that they were probably just mechanical and not live beasts. Mr. Yamada, curious, approached Sideswipe and knocked on his window. His English was poor, but he tried to find out about the float.
Sideswipe, however, was listening intently to the family speak and searched his language files for a match.
"Kounichiwa! Hajimemashite," he sang at the startled man.
At that point, Slag finally got fed up with standing still and slammed a foot on the flatbed, denting it considerably.
"Sideswipe stop talking strange!" he demanded. "Make sense now!"
At that cue, the rest of the Dinobots came to life in front of the terrified Yamadas.
"Me Snarl no see Grimlock anywhere."
"Me Sludge no see Grimlock, too."
"Autobots lie to Dinobots! Me Slag say Dinobots go look for Grimlock ourselves!"
Mrs. Yamada screamed and grabbed her son as the Dinobots clamored off the flat bed and ambled toward them, not giving the humans any notice.
"Hashitte!" Mr. Yamada told his family as he grabbed them and retreated as fast as he could. "Hashitte! Gozira! Gozira!"
By now, they weren't the only humans running in horror from the giant metal monsters.
The two Autobot cars stayed where they were as general panic began to spread in the wake of the Dinobots.
"So... what should we do now?" Bluestreak asked.
Sideswipe was quiet for a moment. "Kuroo o deshite."
They had been driving for a few hours. Crystal stayed hunched miserably in the driver's seat. All her good humor was gone. The meager breakfast she bought for herself had barely been touched and she hardly spoke a word unless spoken to.
Prowl and Optimus Prime were in the front with the road map. Prowl found it expedient to point out every entrance and exit Crystal had to take, otherwise she wouldn't notice and stray off course. They were lucky she was still managing to pay attention to traffic.
Crystal swerved unexpectedly to the side of the road and stopped the car, turning it off.
"I need a break," she announced in a rough voice. She unbuckled herself and Autobots scrambled to get out of the way as she climbed into the back seat and curled up with her blanket.
"I need to sleep just for an hour. Wake me in an hour," she mumbled.
Ironhide looked a bit put out that they had lost the majority of their sitting space, but Jazz was already solving the problem. He climbed on top of her, straddling her waist while leaning toward her ear.
"You want one of us to drive?"
"No."
Jazz slid down to sit next to her, leaning against her stomach. "Why not? We're technically cars ourselves. I could totally do it. I would just need someone to push the pedals and-"
Crystal palmed his head and pushed it towards the seat. "I said no! Prowl, take the keys. No one drives this car."
Prowl reached for them on reflex, but then paused. He stopped to look at Optimus Prime who had not given him an order either way. He had been so used to taking orders from the human, he had forgotten his commanding officer was now present. And yet...
Optimus Prime waited as Prowl eyed him carefully. The white Autobot continued to reach hesitantly for the keys as if Optimus was going to tell him to stop at any moment. Prowl leaned further and suddenly snatched the keys and quickly scrambled into the already crowded back seat for safety. The Autobots currently back there protested at having to make room for another. Optimus watched in confusion while Ironhide and Wheeljack climbed into the front seat for some leg room.
"Looks like Prowl needs to visit the Doc when we get back," Ironhide brooded in the driver's seat. "He seems to be glitching a bit."
"Nah, he's fine," Wheeljack assured them as he began poking around in the glove box. "It's just his battle computer. It gives him a strong urge to follow the orders of the highest ranking authority figure without question. I guess right now, considering our current condition, Crystal ranks higher than you do, Prime."
Optimus looked at him and Wheeljack instantly added. "Of course, that will change the second we're back to normal."
Ironhide huffed as leaned against the steering wheel.
"Doesn't he have one 'a them crazy government experimental computers? Why don't ya tell him ta toss that an' get a normal one?"
"Ratchet and I both have offered a couple of times," Wheeljack said. "He wants to keep it."
"And it's entirely his choice," Optimus put in. "Prowl must certainly have his reasons."
Ironhide huffed again. "Ah guess if he likes everyone thinking he's a glitch head, it's up to him."
"I am just in the back, you know," Prowl's indignant voice sounded.
Time drifted by lazily while Crystal slept. The interior of the car stayed quiet for the most part. Optimus Prime, Wheeljack, and Ironhide conversed in low tones while Blaster, for once, kept to himself. It seemed Wheeljack's threat had stayed with him. Prowl was still camping on the floor of the back seat while Grimlock's dinosaur mode was snuggled in Crystal's arms as she slumbered.
Jazz had managed to squeeze into the small space between the rear window and the top of the seat where he lay on his back, enjoying the sun shining down. For no reason he could fathom, he suddenly felt compelled to turn his head and watch the freeway traffic. After a few moments Jazz saw something that sent him scrambling.
"Blaster! Turn on your radio, man! Every frequency! Hurry!"
He fell on Crystal, who moaned in response to being bothered. But Jazz continued to crawl to the floor and shake the Autobot radio.
"Blaster!"
"Dude, I hear you! Be cool!" Blaster snapped back. "I'm on all frequencies."
"Jazz, what's going on?" Prowl asked.
Jazz handed Blaster to Prowl so he could climb on the seat and peer at the incoming traffic.
"Wait for it..." he said cryptically.
The car was dead silent. Every Autobot watched tensely out the window. The seconds ticked by.
Prowl looked down at Blaster. He wasn't sure what Jazz was after but he knew, even at this distance, the Decepticons would pick up Blaster's signal and that made him nervous every moment the radio was broadcasting.
"Anything, Blaster?"
"No response yet, Prowl."
A minute went by. Then two. Then three.
Jazz made a whopping noise and hurried to open the passenger door, almost dumping himself out on his face in his haste.
Ironhide rolled down the window and he, Optimus, and Wheeljack all stuck their heads out, hardly believing their optics. Pulling up behind Crystal's car was a bright yellow, and quite confused, Lamborghini. He had no idea why this car was emitting several Autobot frequencies, but he was about to find out.
"Sunstreaker!" Jazz greeted as he ran up to the car's nose. "Man are we glad to see you!"
"You gotta be slaggin' me!" Sunstreaker shot back. "Is this for real? What the hell happened?"
"Give us a ride home and we'll tell you everything," Jazz grinned.
Sunstreaker gave a sound akin to a sigh. "Sure. It's not like I just drove across the slagging country and now I'm going back again."
"That's the spirit! I'll go get everyone."
"Everyone? Wait, who is everyone? Jazz!"
As Jazz ran back to the vehicle that wasn't a sentient robot from outer space, Optimus and Ironhide got out and approached Sunstreaker.
"You look like scrap, Prime. This is going to be one interesting story."
"Indeed. And you have perfect timing, Sunstreaker. We badly need your help."
"Well you know me. My timing is impeccable and– what is that?"
Jazz was leading a frumpy, bleary eyed human girl from the car.
"Oh no," Sunstreaker protested. "I am not carting around organic matter inside my flawless-"
Crystal bent down to lay against his hood, pressing her cheek to the warm metal. "You," she told him, "are the most gorgeous thing I have ever seen in my life."
"Yes, well..." Sunstreaker stumbled. "Who am I to deny someone with such a great eye for perfection?"
Jazz shot Optimus a thumbs up.
Prowl was steering Crystal toward Sunstreaker's door.
"But all my stuff," she worried.
"We'll pack it for you. You need rest."
"What about my car? I just paid for it. I can't leave it here."
"I will send someone back for it, I promise," Optimus assured her. "But we need to get going."
Crystal paused when she saw the Lamborghini's small, one row interior. "We're all supposed to fit in the front seats?"
"Sunstreaker, can't you do anything?" Prowl asked; though his tone made it sound like an order.
"This is my design, Prowl," he shot back. "You dare expect me to change this perfection?"
Prowl silently stood his ground, arms folded over his chest.
"Ugh! Fine!" Sunstreaker grouched. "You better remember all the crap I'm doing for you today. You owe me, Prowl."
Despite her groggy haze, Crystal still found enough awe to gape as she saw the components of the Lamborghini's interior shift and change. Components moved around to form an impromptu back seat. Definitely not as comfortable as luxurious as the front, but Crystal didn't care. She just wanted a place to lay down.
Sunstreaker silently pouted. His outer frame had to alter with the changes from within. Now he appeared as something not quite right to the eye of a car aficionado.
"Thank you," Crystal whispered as she clumsily crawled into the back seat. She wasn't sure if the yellow Autobot could hear her as well from the interior as they could when she was outside. Not having the strength to care, she flopped down bonelessly with a heavy sigh.
Grimlock climbed up to wriggle into her arms again.
Prowl got right to work organizing the other Autobots to pack what they could in Sunstreaker's modest trunk space. Prowl happened to notice Optimus climb into the front seat of Crystal's car and grab the chime hanging from the rear view mirror. Prowl decided now was not the time to ask about it. He locked the car and climbed into Sunstreaker's interior with the rest of them. Then the Autobots were on their way back home.
Ratchet almost hit his head as Teletraan's screen beeped. He crawled out from under Skyfire's large hull where he was repairing the jet's engines. Brawn answered the call as Ratchet approached. Tracks appeared on screen with New York City behind him.
"This is Tracks reporting in. I've made it inside the city and located Sideswipe's team. They were not hard to find," he muttered under his breath.
"Good," Ratchet acknowledged. "Any sign of our missing party?"
"Strangely enough, Ratchet, neither them nor the Decepticons have shown themselves. However, that may not be our biggest problem."
Both Brawn and Ratchet looked confused.
"What do you mean?" the medic asked.
"Well, it's-"
Behind Tracks, fire spewed into the background, followed by screaming people, then by confused, fire breathing Dinobots. Then in ran Sideswipe as Bluestreak pounced on him. The grey Datsun grabbed him by the throat and began to throttle Sideswipe like a rag doll screaming, "You're so stupid! You're so stupid!"
Tracks winced at the scene. "I've got to go. Back up would be appreciated."
"Tracks, wait," Ratchet tired, but the connection was already cut and a new Autobot signal was streaming through. This one was voice only, indicating the one sending it was in vehicle mode.
"Sunstreaker reporting in. You won't believe this Ratch, but I've got Prime's team and I'm heading back to base."
"I didn't see that one coming," Brawn marveled.
"All of them?" Ratchet asked, hardly believing the news.
"Oh yeah. Optimus, Prowl, everyone. I'm taking them back to the base right now. But I'd love it if Skyfire could meet me part way. None of them are in any shape to fight and I'm sure Decepticons will be on my tail soon enough."
"They can't fight? How damaged are they?"
"Well... I wouldn't say damaged. But trust me, they're not exactly in any shape to take on Megatron. You'll understand when you see them. Any way possible for us to get back to base sooner would be great."
Brawn looked at Ratchet. "What do you think he means about-"
"Roger Sunstreaker. I'll send him as soon as I can. Ratchet out."
He cut the transmission and went right back to work. "Brawn, see if you can contact Tracks again; or Bluestreak or Sideswipe. Tell them to get those slagging Dinobots out of the city and away from civilians. After we get Prime and everyone back to base, Skyfire will pick up the Dinobots."
Brawn grinned and shook his head. "It's sure been an interesting week."
Underneath Skyfire, Ratchet's voice muttered, "The next time Optimus asks me to take charge I'm going to shove this drill where the sun don't shine."
After a few hours of driving, and the third time Sunstreaker threatened Jazz with bodily harm for touching his radio, Crystal sat up and looked none too steadily over the front seat.
"Stop the car."
"Look human, I'm not taking orders from you," Sunstreaker spat back. "So just sit quiet and-"
"Stop and let me out or I'm going to hurl the contents of my stomach all over your interior."
The Lamborghini screeched to a violent halt, his side door flinging open. As Crystal crawled out, Sunstreaker could be heard mumbling about the disgusting functions of organics.
Optimus got out and followed after the human as she waded through the weeds a few feet away. Crystal stopped and tilted her head skyward to enjoy the sunlight.
Optimus came up beside her and grabbed her non bandaged hand. "Are you still ill?"
Crystal closed her eyes, still facing the sun. "I'll be okay. I just needed some fresh air. I was getting a little motion sick."
The Autobot leader looked around. "We cannot stay here long. It's possible we are being followed."
Crystal looked down at him. She could see the Autobot's concern despite his lack of facial features. "I understand. Let's keep going." She stepped back into the car, but lifted Jazz as she sat in the front passenger seat, putting on her seat belt and setting Jazz in her lap.
"You're not going to spew any kind of bodily byproduct on me, are you?" Sunstreaker warned.
"It will be fine. I'll feel better when I'm up front and can see out the window."
Prowl, from the back seat, tugged on Crystal's sleeve.
"How are you feeling?"
She shot him a thumbs up. "I'm so drugged up right now, I don't feel much of anything."
"I would assume that's good," Wheeljack commented.
Prowl didn't look convinced.
Sunstreaker pulled back out onto the road and they were on their way again. They didn't get far, however, when everything shattered all around them.
Gears was relieved beyond words to see the Ark again. After two weeks in Africa, surrounded by swarms of bugs, massively dangerous land animals and miles of dust and brush, he was happy to be surrounded by metal walls again.
His team was comprised of himself, Hound, Mirage and Bumblebee. They were aware of the disappearance of Optimus Prime and his team in New York and returned as soon as they could, hoping the situation had changed by the time they arrived. The absolute silence and emptiness of the Ark confirmed that the crisis remained ongoing.
A few minutes of searching discovered Ratchet putting the finishing touches on Skyfire's repairs. The medic looked up when the four Autobots arrived and looked at them as if they were the most useless things he had ever laid optics upon. It was almost enough to make Gears turn right back around for the savanna.
"Better late than never, I suppose," was the CMO's greeting.
"We got here as fast as we could," Hound defended. "We were on the other side of the planet."
"I could have used you days ago."
"You're lucky you have us at all," Gears shot out. "We didn't have to come as quickly as we did, you know."
Ratchet leveled a heavy glare on them and then motioned to Skyfire. "Fine, just get in."
"Now?" Gears protested. "All of us? Some of us want to have a moment to get cleaned up first."
"I would not be opposed to leaving Gears here," Mirage volunteered. "I've been suffering through his griping for days."
"NOW." Brawn suddenly appeared behind the newly arrived Autobots and jabbed a finger toward Skyfire.
With a few grumbles, mostly from Gears, the Autobots boarded the jet and soon they were in the air. Ratchet did not leave anyone but Teletraan-1 to guard the base. It may not have been what Optimus would have done, but Ratchet was willing to bet all of Megatron's resources were spent hunting their leader half way across the country. The unprotected base would be overlooked for the time being.
Halfway to their destination, Skyfire's radio sprang to life as a heavily static SOS spat and hissed through his emergency system.
"This... Autobot Prowl. ... ambush... Sunstreaker's down... help immediately..."
Ratchet was right at the controls. They were too slow, the Decepticons must have caught up. "We hear you Prowl. We're on our way. Just keep sending us a signal."
There was no response. Only more static.
Ratchet looked to Brawn who was grinning.
"It's about time I got to bust some Decepticons."
Ratchet frowned. "Skyfire, we need to get there, now."
The jet lurched as Skyfire put on the speed. "Hang on, guys, we'll be there soon."
Crystal ran. She had no idea how she came to be in the woods or why she was running. Her heart pounded and she felt acutely afraid, though she didn't know why. She began to slow down, but then heard a heavy crashing somewhere behind her. Her heart filled with fear once more as she put on a fresh burst of speed.
She raced as fast as she could until she could no longer remember why she was running. Crystal stopped and looked skyward. What was she doing in the middle of the woods? Where was she? How did she get there? For that matter, the entire day was-
"Why are you stopping?" Wheeljack demanded, grabbing her hand. "Come on!"
Crystal allowed herself to be pulled forward and began running again. It wasn't long before she began to wonder why she was running and why she found herself in the woods.
Wheeljack pulled her down to sit in the shadow of a large tree. Crystal tried to catch her breath. How long had she been running?
Prowl was nearby, looking grave. "This is Autobot Prowl. We've been ambushed by the Stunticons. Sunstreaker is down. Send help immediately."
Prowl frowned when all he received in return was static. His size was probably interfering with his ability to transmit. He was sure at least some of his message had gotten through, even though he hadn't received a response. Backup had to be coming; he had faith in Ratchet. The main question was how long until help would be there?
Crystal listened to the transmission in confusion. What was a Stunticon? Who was Sunstreaker? Her hands began to sting. She looked down and saw they were sliced and bleeding. Something thick ran into her eye and she wiped it away. Her fingers pulled black, smeared in red. Blood. What had happened to her? What was going on? Her hand began to tremble.
"What's wrong with you?" Ironhide demanded. He certainly looked like he had more important things to worry about.
Crystal grabbed her head, looking utterly panicked. "What's going on? I don't remember what happened!"
The Autobots just stared at her. How could she have forgotten?
They had been driving along the freeway when the Stunticons tore into oncoming traffic. Sunstreaker had no time to maneuver and plowed nose first into Wildrider. While the Stunticon hardly received a scratch, the front of the Lamborghini crunched like an accordion.
The impact shot all of Sunstreaker's passengers violently forward. Despite her seat belt, Crystal's forehead hit the windshield on impact. Jazz, Optimus Prime and Ironhide, also occupying the front seats, were thrown clear through the windshield, shattering it, and onto the road.
Sunstreaker screamed at all of them to get out and get away. Prowl gathered his wits about him and reached over to undo Crystal's seat belt, then yelled at her to open the door. She had to kick at the dented metal a few times before it finally came loose. The remaining passengers managed to scramble out just as Motormaster stomped up and rammed his fist through Sunstreaker's hood. The group escaped through the trees and they had been running ever since.
The fact that Crystal didn't seem to recall any of this was disconcerting. None of the Autobots knew enough about human physiology to understand why, though any of them would bet that it was related to her bleeding head wound.
Crystal touched her forehead once more, horrified anew that it was bleeding. "What happened?" she asked again. "Where are we? Is everyone okay?" She looked around, counting the Autobots.
"Where's Jazz?"
"Over here," Jazz called. The windshield on his back was shattered from being thrown from the car. He was a bit dented up, but otherwise intact.
"Where's Blaster?" Crystal then asked.
"I have him," Optimus Prime said.
"Where's Grimlock?"
"Me Grimlock here."
"Where's Jazz?"
"I said I'm over here!"
"Where-"
Ironhide put his hand over her mouth to shut her up. "Fer cryin' out loud, it's like she's stuck on a loop. Everything we tell her she forgets two seconds later."
"We need to find a way to keep her calm," Prowl said as he observed Crystal. The human was horrified once again that her face was bleeding.
"Me Grimlock know!" And with that Grimlock, in robot mode, plopped himself in her lap.
"How is that going to help?" Ironhide demanded.
Crystal had already flung her arms around the Dinobot and tucked him in close. She did indeed seem to be slightly placated by his presence.
"Me Grimlock fix," he told them smugly.
"Optimus," Wheeljack said, "we've got to move or the Stunticons are going to find us."
"Wheeljack's right," Prowl concurred. "We need to lead them away from Crystal and stall them as much as we can."
"I'll see if I can get a hold of Ratchet," Jazz volunteered. "That way, at least we'll know if someone is coming."
Optimus nodded. "Autobots, let's do what we can to keep the Stunticons busy, but be careful."
His Autobots nodded to their leader and scattered into the woods.
Optimus placed Blaster by Crystal's side. The human's condition worried him. She was less responsive now and hardly noticed her surroundings. Her eyes were large and distant, the pupils were dilated. Dried blood crusted her hair and face, but the wound on her forehead still seeped slowly. Blood smeared on Grimlock as she continued to clutch at the Dinobot with shaking arms.
The poor girl didn't look well at all. The person who had been watching over his Autobots all this time could no longer help them. It was their turn to protect her.
"Grimlock, stay with her. If any Decepticons get close, get her out of here and stay hidden."
"No need to tell me Grimlock! Me know!"
Optimus nodded. That was good enough for him; and he was gone.
There was no clear area for Skyfire to land. Most of the landscape was forest, but their targeted area wasn't difficult to spot. There was a massive pile up on the interstate going both directions. Skid-marks striped the asphalt, broken glass everywhere. State troopers had already blocked off the lanes where a few wrecked cars were out of commission, waiting to be towed. One of which used to be a yellow Lamborghini.
Skyfire hovered over the road so his Autobot passengers could jump out. They quickly fanned out to help the local authorities clear the lanes so traffic was free to move again and emergency vehicles could be on their way.
Ratchet ran to the dented form of Sunstreaker. The yellow Autobot sat motionless, all his windows shattered with a fist imprint in his hood. All four tires were blown and his nose was a mangled wreck.
"Sunstreaker, are you functioning? What's your status?"
"Those slaggers got me by surprise! Ran right in front of me! Now my engine's shot and I can't transform!"
"At least his vocalizer's still in top condition," Brawn quipped.
"Slag your creator to the seventh pit of the smelter, Brawn!"
"Sunstreaker, where's Prime and the others?" Ratchet asked before further bickering could occur.
"They took off into the woods and the Stunticons went after them. They got a human with them, too."
"Okay," Ratchet nodded. "We'll load you into Skyfire and then move to give Prime backup if he still needs it."
"There's no hurry," Brawn insisted. "That group will make short work of those D-con wackos."
"No Ratchet, you don't understand. I've been carrying them myself all this way.
Megatron shrank them. Prime, Grimlock, all of them. They're smaller than humans now. They're not match for the Stunticons."
All the Autobots fell quiet. This wasn't good. Ratchet's protective medic instincts kicked in full gear.
"Autobots, the situation has changed. Get Sunstreaker loaded onto Skyfire and then we're going in. This is a rescue only. We find our troops and get the slag out of here. No unnecessary battles. Everyone understand?"
They all nodded, fully realizing the seriousness of their predicament.
"Alright Autobots," Ratchet announced. "Let's roll out and get our guys home."
Dead End stood listlessly next to Motormaster, obviously bored with tearing up the beautiful wilderness and told his leader so.
"This has to be one of the most ridiculous errands Megatron has ever sent us on," he lamented. "Finding miniature Autobots in all of this." He gestured to the miles of thick, green foliage in all directions. "It's impossible and a waste of our time."
Motormaster gave him a look. "I'm sure you have so many other pressing matters to attend to."
"I would have found something," Dead End insisted.
From somewhere in the thicket, Wildrider screamed something about Optimus Prime, followed by rapid laser fire.
Motormaster grinned. "At least they're getting some exercise."
Dead End sighed as he pulled out his energy rifle and trudged toward the noise. "I'll go see what mess he's gotten himself into."
Jazz and Wheeljack ran through the undergrowth as fast as their little legs could carry them. The thick foliage made it impossible for them to escape in their alt modes. Behind them, the thick snapping of branches indicated that Drag Strip was close behind. The Stunticon couldn't make it through the forest in vehicle mode either, but was still easily gaining on them.
Nestled among the trees ahead, the fleeing Autobots came upon a small ranger station with an adjacent utility shed. Jazz snatched a coiled rope hanging on the side of the construct as they ran by.
"Hey man, I got an idea. Take this other end," Jazz called as he tossed one end of the rope to Wheeljack. "I saw this in a movie."
As per Jazz's instructions, the two Autobots hid between two trees, the rope stretched between them. They waited for Drag Strip to walk by and then pulled the rope taunt.
Now when Jazz had said movie, he really meant cartoon. So when they pulled the rope to trip the Stunitcon, he really shouldn't have been surprised when it didn't even slow Drag Strip down. The rope caught his foot, but without the proper weight resistance, the tiny Autobots were kicked into the air. The rope snagged around a tree and the two Autobots were sent whipping around the trunk only to collide with each other and fall to the ground.
"You're an idiot!" Wheeljack barked as he tried to climb out from under the stunned second-in-command. "What made you think that would work?"
"Hey, you're the scientist," Jazz shot back as she struggled to untangle himself. "I didn't hear you disproving the idea before we tried it."
"How fitting," Drag Strip announced above them. "Two Autobots, crushed beneath my heel."
He lifted his foot to squish them like insects. Jazz and Wheeljack, twisted up in the rope, could only accept their end.
However, the sound of metal colliding against metal interrupted their deaths and Drag Strip's body was sent flying. The two little Autobots stared in wonder as to what just happened when the blue form of a full-sized Autobot materialized before them.
"Mirage!" Wheeljack cheered.
"Man, are you a sight!" Jazz agreed.
Mirage smirked at them. "I can imagine." Without further pleasantries, he hastily grabbed the two with one hand and took off before Drag Strip could recover.
"This is Mirage," he said in his radio as he ran. "I've secured Jazz and Wheeljack. Come pick me up!"
Within seconds, the sounds of Skyfire's jet engines roared overhead and a rope trailed down through the trees. Mirage wasted no time grabbing it and climbing up to the safety of the jet.
"Wow, Sunstreaker wasn't kidding, you guys are tiny," Skyfire commented when he saw the two shrunken Autobots.
"It's certainly been an experience," Wheeljack replied. The tone of his voice said he was very much looking forward to ending said experience as soon as possible.
"Of course I wasn't kidding!" Sunstreaker's damaged form insisted. "I'm not someone who jokes about these things."
"Sunstreaker," Jazz said as he put his hands on the Lamborghini's dented door. "I'm glad to see you're still with us."
"In a manner of speaking," he grouched. "I don't care how small you guys are, Ratchet is fixing me first."
"Uh oh," Skyfire said as blips began to appear on his sensors. "Skyfire to Ratchet. I have seekers showing up on radar. They should be arriving in less than ten minutes."
Ratchet's voice came in clear through the radio. "They, no doubt, will have Megatron and Soundwave with them as well."
A second voice came on the line. It was quieter and full of static, but unmistakeably Prowl's. "Then we are leaving in five minutes. If we can get into the air, then only the seekers will be able to follow us and we'll be leaving the Stunticons behind. Skyfire, continue to circle but keep an eye out."
"Roger that, Skyfire out."
Wildrider grinned evilly as he stalked his prey. Usually he was the type to just crash his way through. But he found a certain glee in chasing down something so small and toying with it like a cat with a mouse until finally crushing it. This Autobot may have been small, but he was also bright red in a sea of greens and browns. This made it impossible for the Autobot to hide and Wildrider was really enjoying himself as he took potshots at Ironhide every time he tried to scramble away.
Even now, he could easily see red paint poking out from behind a tree trunk. Wildrider grinned as he took aim. If it was this easy to kill this Autobot, think of how much fun it would be to go after Optimus Prime.
As if being summoned by mere thought alone, Optimus Prime materialized right in front of Wildrider's optics. To his horror, this Prime was not only no longer miniature size, but he wasn't even normal size. Optimus Prime was a giant, towering above the surprised Stunticon.
The massive Prime reached down to grab him and Wildrider screamed, frantically firing his energy rifle. All shots went right through the Autobot leader and he kept coming. Wildrider almost had a meltdown as his manic cries echoed through the woods.
Meanwhile, Hound, who was the right color to blend in with his surroundings, dashed from his hiding place, scooped up Ironhide, and ran out of there.
"This is Hound. I've got Ironhide and I need a lift."
As he ran, he almost collided directly with Dead End. Both were equally surprised to see each other. For a moment, they just stared, unsure what to do.
"Shoot him Hound!" Ironhide barked. "Shoot!"
Hound instantly reacted to the order and his finger squeezed the trigger on reflex, hitting Dead End square in the face. The Stunticon fell backwards with a startled cry, clutching the exposed wiring that used to be his face. Hound looked a bit disturbed at the scene. That wasn't where he meant to aim.
"Now that's how ya do it!" Ironhide cheered, jabbing a finger toward the squalling Decepticon.
Hound just stepped back from the sight and grabbed the rope as it dangled toward him.
It had stayed pretty quiet where Crystal was hiding. She could hear laser fire and startled cries in the distance. It caused her to clutch Grimlock tighter, but nothing came close enough to be considered an immediate threat. They were well hidden among some dense ferns, but Crystal wasn't exactly being as quiet as possible. Every few minutes she would forget why she was there and Grimlock would briefly explain in a gruff, short voice that she better be quiet lest she wanted to die. Not that he minded too much answering the same questions over and over. It was similar to living with Sludge, so he was used to it.
Nearby, the bushes shuttered and Crystal held her breath. Grimlock transformed into dinosaur mode and growled.
Out of the woods came a heavy-looking yellow and green robot. Crystal stiffened at the sight of him and pressed against the tree trunk, but Grimlock transformed back in robot mode.
"That just Brawn. Him Autobot. No need be scared of him."
"Brawn!" Blaster squawked, making Crystal jump again. "Get us the slag out of here!"
Crystal didn't look too convinced. Even if he was an Autobot, he was the biggest Autobot she had ever seen. And with even bigger robots around trying to kill her, she didn't know if she wanted to leave her little safety zone.
Brawn didn't look too thrilled with what he found. It was quite a pathetic little nest. He just hoped the human girl wasn't going to cry or anything. He hated when they did that.
"This is Brawn," he said over the radio. "I found Blaster, Grimlock, and the human." He added as an after thought, "If you could give me a stationary lift that would probably be best."
Right then, Skyfire flew by and hovered over them, a line from his cargo hold hanging down.
Brawn reached out to the human girl. "Come on, kid. We're getting out of here."
Crystal looked at the massive gray hand offered to her. She hesitated only a moment before grabbing Blaster and taking the hand. Brawn pulled her out of the brush and easily lifted her in one arm without any warning. Crystal squeaked in surprise and clutched the radio tighter.
Next, Brawn grabbed Grimlock and set him on his shoulder before taking hold of the rope. Crystal, guessing what was going to happen, steeled herself by pressing as tight against his chest as she could. Beneath the metal armor she heard a thick, almost soothing thrumming. It distracted her momentarily before Brawn was yanked up into the air. She clung to him until they were hauled inside the large jet, in which Crystal squirmed free and scrambled away from the exit to sit against the wall, Blaster still in her arms.
There were robots even bigger than Brawn with the jet. They were moving around, talking to each other and on radios. Crystal very much felt out of her element, she didn't know what to do. Wheeljack and Jazz approached, still the same small size she was used to. She was relieved beyond words to see something familiar.
Wheeljack gently pried Blaster from her death grip so he could put the radio in a safe place.
"Hey Crys, you did good," Jazz said, touching her arm. "You're safe now. You don't have to worry any more, okay?"
Crystal's response was to grab Jazz and pull him into her lap with shaking arms. He continued to murmur to her that everything would be okay while Grimlock sat himself next to her.
"We've got to get out of here, now!" Skyfire's voice barked from the front consul.
Ratchet was climbing up the rope into the bay with Prowl on his shoulder. "Roger that, we're almost done. Just one more to go."
Below them, Gears and Cliffjumper were running from Motormaster. Skyfire swooped for them and pulled up as they grabbed the rope. The duo went swinging back toward the leader of the Stunticons and Cliffjumper kicked him in the head as they went by.
"Don't do that!" Gears yelled at him. "You're just going to piss him off and he's going to start shooting-"
Motormaster was already firing at all of them as they flew away.
"All in and accounted for?" Skyfire asked.
Gears and Cliffjumper climbed in and Gears let Optimus Prime off his shoulders.
"We've got everyone."
"Then I'm heading back to base."
Ratchet and Prowl continued to stand at the open hanger door. They could see the Decepticon seekers fast approaching in the distance.
"They're not going to follow us," Prowl surmised. "Even if they could catch us, there's no guarantee they would win, and Megatron doesn't have the energy to gamble for that kind of confrontation."
As predicted, the seekers never pursued them and, instead, descended where they had left the Stunticons. Relief was felt all through the group. At last it was over.
The three seekers landed, Megatron and Soundwave transforming as they jumped from the cockpits. The defeated Stunticons slowly came out of the woods and rallied around their leader.
"IDIOTS!" Megatron raged, knocking a tree in half with a single blow. The Stunticons flinched at his temper. "How could you let them escape? You are utterly useless!"
No one said anything in their defense.
"It's too bad. We finally got this thing fixed," Rumble said as he climbed out of Thundercracker's jet mode. The little cassette pulled the newly repaired death ray with him. "We got no one to use it on now."
"Hey, let me hold it, Rumble," Frenzy said, grabbing the weapon.
"No way Frenzy, I've got it just fine," Rumble insisted, pulling back.
The two bickered and argued and tugged at the weapon until they both pulled so hard they dropped it. There was the sound of something shattering inside and a piece of the weapon fell off.
"Slag!" Rumble shouted.
"Just like last time!" Frenzy concurred.
The two froze when they realized what they just admitted.
Megatron was trembling with rage. "YOU! You broke my death ray?!"
"We didn't mean to, we just-"
"I wasn't touching it, Frenzy said-"
Rumble and Frenzy both tried to explain at the same time, talking up a storm and making no sense whatsoever. Then they both transformed and fled inside Soundwave's chest. Soundwave was left alone, standing in front of his furious leader. The blue Decepticon couldn't help but take a step back as Megatron trembled with furry, glaring at Soundwave's chest as if he wanted to blow a hole right through it.
For all his rage, however, nothing else could be done. That was the most frustrating thing of all. Megatron clenched his fists and the forest echoed with his cry of rage.
Upon reaching Oregon and their home city of Portland, Skyfire's first stop was the local hospital to drop off his human passenger. Then he and the Autobots returned to their base to assess where to go from there. All the miniaturized Autobots were gathered in Wheeljack's lab where he was trying to get a newly repaired Blaster to sit still.
"Blaster, would you come sit down for just a minute?" Wheeljack called up to the larger bot. "We need to get those weapon plans downloaded."
"Come on, chill man," Blaster insisted as he danced around the lab. "I've been immobile for six days! Give me a break! Give me some time to move around a bit."
Ratchet's hand came down on Blaster's shoulder and he pushed him into a chair. "Sit!" the medic ordered and Blaster did as he was roughly hooked up to Teletraan-1 for the extraction of Soundwave's weapon plans.
"I should have fixed him after I got the plans," Wheeljack mumbled.
He stood on his work table, right next to the screen, trying to navigation with the large controls. The other mini Autobots were sprinkled around. Optimus had agreed with Prowl that it was a good idea all of them stay in one place until a device could be built that would bring them back to their normal size.
Sparkplug Witwicky, a long time friend of the Autobots, stepped in looking tired. "Well I finally got all the paperwork for your new friend sorted out," he said in a irritated tone. "I hate hospitals. They have a form for everything. And the fact that you guys didn't tell me she had a lot of bruising from events prior to her accident didn't help at all. I had to talk to an inspector about domestic abuse. It's a good thing that girl was coherent enough to explain what happened. Boy it's been a long night."
"But she'll be okay, right?" Jazz asked. He was sitting cross legged on a chair that all but swallowed him.
"Yeah, they say she's fine. She had a concussion which gave her some temporary short term memory loss, but she'll recover. Her face though, we'll see how that heals. Girls can be very particular about their faces. They're keeping her at the hospital over night so they can watch her. She's still a little confused about what happened. But that will give me some time to figure out what I'm going to do with her in the morning."
Sparkplug looked down when he felt something brush his calf. It was Grimlock, nosing around his ankles.
"What are you doing?" he asked the metal dinosaur.
Grimlock just looked at him, growled, and wandered off.
"What's up with him?" Sparkplug wondered.
"He's been acting off kilter for a while," Wheeljack said without looking up from his work. "As soon as we fix our size situation I'm going to run a full diagnostic on him. You know Ratchet, we should send a copy of this to Perceptor on Cybertron. I'm sure he could figure it out real quick. He had a shrinking device of his own, I recall."
"On it," Ratchet nodded. "I'll send it right away."
"So," Jazz spoke up again. "We're probably going to be this way for another couple of days. Maybe one of us should stay with Crystal for a while. You know, so she's not by herself."
"I'm sure that would be fine," Sparkplug agreed. "But they're not letting you in with that, Jazz." He pointed to the Autobot's back which still sported shards of broken glass where his windshield used to be.
Jazz looked crestfallen.
"I'll go," Prowl said. He was already walking towards the door. "Please keep me updated while I am gone."
Sparkplug turned to follow just as Hound poked his head into the room.
"Hey Prime, I just got a call from Tracks, he's still in New York. He said Bluestreak and Sideswipe are in jail and the Dinobots are being held at the New York City zoo."
Optimus slumped while Ratchet put a hand thoughtfully on his hip. "Oh yeah... I forgot about those guys..."
Despite his preference to walk, Prowl was carried into the hospital. A few of the orderlies did double takes at him, expecting Sparkplug to be carrying a child in his arms. The second look confirmed he actually had a child-sized black and white robot.
The lights were dim in Crystal's room. There were two beds, the first unoccupied. The second housed a body with familiar rust colored hair splayed all over. Crystal rested with her back to them, her side rising and falling slowly. Sparkplug set Prowl down at the foot of her bed.
"I'll come pick you up in a few hours," he told the small second-in-command. "Or just radio the base if you need anything. I'll probably be there all night."
Prowl nodded wordlessly and watched the human go. He noticed Sparkplug shake his head as he left. Prowl wondered if it was odd to his long time human acquaintance to see them at this size. He was a bit surprised himself how much he was getting used to it. Though truth be told, he would still much rather be his own size again. But one more night at this height wasn't going to hurt.
He tread softly across the bed to sit cross legged near Crystal's head. She appeared to be sleeping. Prowl looked her over, taking note of her full condition and watching the movements of her breathing. The right side of her forehead above the eye to her hair line was bandaged as well as random bandages on her hands and arms.
After several minutes, Crystal's eyes fluttered open to land upon the visitor. "Hey," she said quietly.
"How are you feeling?" Prowl asked.
"Mm... not too bad I guess. Everything's... kind of fuzzy. You're home now, right?"
"Yes, we're home."
"And everyone made it safely?"
"Yes."
"I'm glad."
Crystal shut her eyes for a moment, then opened them again when Prowl's small hand grabbed hers. He still reminded her of a cat. Independent, fully capable of taking care of himself, but still always returning to her for his own reasons. She idly wondered if she scratched him under the chin if he would purr.
"What are you grinning about?" Prowl demanded.
Crystal instantly tried squelch her smile. "Nothing."
Prowl frowned at her. While Crystal usually found Prowl's frowns amusing in their own right, she sobered as well.
"Hey listen, I'm really sorry about what I said to you the other night. About proving you're alive? That wasn't a fair thing to ask. I was a little freaked out and, you know, not feeling well. I wasn't thinking."
"It's okay," Prowl replied as he gazed thoughtfully at the doorway. "I think it's a question we all ask ourselves from time to time. How do we prove we are alive? How do different life forms prove it to us? It's a valid question. But one, unfortunately, not easy to answer."
"It's true," Crystal agreed. "But still no excuse to break down on you like that."
Prowl was quiet for a moment. He wasn't good with this kind of thing. Empathy, comfort; he didn't really know how to show it. Jazz did. It came natural to him. What would Jazz do at a time like this?
Prowl took her arm and pulled it over him as he slid up next to her. Crystal rested her cheek on the top of his helmet and Prowl could feel the rhythmic thrumming of her heart pressed into his shoulder.
"You never have to apologize," he said. "You did everything you could for us. You gave more than you should have had to. For that, we are all thankful."
There was a deep vibration in Crystal's chest as she chuckled.
"I bet you guys were awesome, too, out there fighting those giant Decepticons. Definitely a combined effort."
"Yes," Prowl agreed. "Would you like... me to read some more to you?"
Crystal smiled tiredly, closing her eyes. "Sure, why not?"