Chapter Seven
After having the damage by the Decepticons repaired Raincloud sat in the recreation room ranting to anyone who was in audio range.
"That glitch head Magnus, always calling me 'femme' and worse still 'useless femme' who the hell does he think he is."
On the other side of the room Midnight Express sat watching the MG barely listening to what Rail Spike and Rapid Run were talking about.
"Yo, Midnight. You in there?" Rapid Run asked seeing as he wasn't getting any response to what he asked.
Midnight came out of his 'daze' and looked over at his team-mate, "I'm sorry, did you say something, Rapid?" he asked.
He could barely finish that sentence as he saw Mirage come in and walk straight over to Raincloud making him loose his attention for his team-mates yet again. He saw him sit next to the ranting MG and try to calm her down. He groaned slightly and muttered something incoherent.
"Okay that's it." Rail Spike suddenly said "Midnight, you're coming with us."
Midnight Express looked over at him surprised as both Rail Spike and Rapid Run stood. "Where are we going?" he asked as he stood to join them.
"To talk." Rapid Run answered while he grabbed Midnight's arm and lifted him up while summoning Rail Spike to take the other arm. Both lifted him up so he couldn't get away. Slowly they dragged him into an empty room and put him down with their backs to the door so escape was impossible.
"Okay Midnight, Spill it." Rapid Run said.
"Whatever are you talking about Rapid?" he asked slightly scared of the sudden brute force of both his friends
"You know exactly what he's talking about, Midnight." Rail Spike said sounding slightly annoyed.
"I'm afraid I don't." Midnight replied.
Rapid Run suddenly chuckled realising what was 'going on', making both Midnight Express and Rail Spike look at him strangely.
"You like Rain, don't you Midnight."
"Of course I like her, so does everyone else." Midnight said knowing what Rapid Run was on about but playing innocent.
Rail Spike chuckled understanding Rapid Run's 'hidden meaning'.
"It's no good trying to hide it, Midnight." He said, "We've both figured it out."
"Figured what out, Spike?" still playing dumb.
"Dude, stop pretending you don't know. We all know that you're in love with Raincloud."
Midnight Express was shocked at that statement and it showed. Both Rapid Run and Rail Spike chuckled at their team-mates expression.
"But…how…" he stuttered.
"That staring you did in the rec room did it." Rail Spike answered.
"As well as other things." Rapid Run added.
Midnight Express looked embarrassed, he wasn't staring that much, was he?
--
It had been a couple of days since Topaz's encounter with Megatron and she was still unconscious. Koji sighed as he looked at her, he'd managed to clean up her wounds and bandage her arm, with the help of his mother, claiming that she had been in a fight -which, technically, she had-. His mother said she'd call Topaz's parents, that made him panic and he hurriedly said that her parents were out of town and unreachable. He still didn't know whether she believed him or not but she hadn't brought it up since and he was grateful for that. He went over to the window and looked out onto the street, Prowl was still there parked outside his house. The police car hadn't left since Crosswise and REV brought them back and he was starting to worry about the Autobot. Many had tried to coax Prowl back to base, if only for a short while but he wouldn't move, perhaps now was his turn to try and convince him. Taking one last look at Topaz, Koji headed out to talk to the police car. Though when he got out the door he was surprised at what he saw, Tow-Line had 'tied up' a very protesting Prowl.
"It's for your own good, Little Brother." X-Brawn said.
"We can't leave her unguarded…" was all Koji heard Prowl say before being taken away by Tow-Line.
"Who said she was being left unguarded? We'll be here." Side Burn replied.
Koji blinked as he walked over to the remaining two Autobot brothers.
"What…"
"Just taking care of family." Side Burn said as X-Brawn chuckled.
Koji gave a slight smile.
"But what's from stopping him from coming back when Tow-Line releases him."
There where silence for a moment.
"He got a point." Side Burn said.
"Knowing Prowl, he probably would come straight back here." X-Brawn said thinking.
"Then why don't we just move Topaz to base?" Side Burn reasoned "At least that way…"
Koji shook his head before Side Burn could say anymore
"Mum won't let me move her until she regains consciousness."
"So she's still unconscious." X-Brawn said sadly.
Koji gave a nod. "I don't understand it. She should have come round by now."
"Your forgetting one thing, Koji." Side Burn said.
"What's that?"
"She's one of us."
"Side Burn's right. She's not entirely human, and who knows what Megatron did to her before we got there." X-Brawn said.
Koji sighed. "I'd better go back in." he said as he started walking back toward the house.
"What are we going to do about Prowl?" Side Burn asked his older brother.
"You stay here and take care of Koji and Topaz. I'll go and see to Prowl." X-Brawn said starting off then added "And Side Burn…"
"Yeah Bro?"
"No chasing red sports cars." He said firmly then headed back to base.
--
X-Brawn had just arrived at base as Prowl was trying to leave.
"And where do you think your going, Little Brother?"
"Back to Topaz." Prowl stated.
"Not until you get some rest, Prowl. I'm sure that if anything happened or when she regains consciousness Koji would let us know." X-Brawn reasoned.
"But…"
X-Brawn transformed towering above his younger brother's alt form. "No buts Prowl. Now go get some rest." Pointing further into the base.
Reluctantly Prowl transformed and headed back into the base. X-Brawn sighed and shook his head sadly heading over to TAI.
"She's still unconscious then." TAI said.
X-Brawn gave a nod, "I didn't want to say this in front of Prowl but Koji's worried. He says that she should have regained consciousness by now."
"But she's not entirely human." TAI pointed out.
"I know, but that doesn't help the bad feeling I'm gettin'."
"Bad feeling?" Tow-Line asked.
"I'd better get back. In case a red sports car happens to get Side Burn's attention." Transforming and headed back to Koji's house.
--
Raincloud sat in vehicle mode looking out over a cliff. It was the same cliff that she had found Topaz at after the Predacons had captured Prowl. She sighed thinking about her friend and wishing that she'd 'wake up' soon. There was only one other time that Spirit had been like this, it was back on Cybertron before her apparent 'death'. As she began to relive the memory a voice said "Do you mind if I interrupt?" startled by the voice she immediately transformed and prepared for imminent attack, only to be surprised by who the voice belonged to.
"Midnight." She said slightly surprised.
"I'm sorry if I startled you, Rain." He said transforming.
Raincloud smiled, "No worries, Midnight. I was just thinking." Turning back to the view.
He walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Is everything okay?"
She looked up at him slightly confused, "Everything's fine. Why?"
"You've been…different, ever since you were found by Mirage." He said.
"Mirage wasn't the only one there you know, Midnight."
"And you haven't been to see how Spirit is doing." Midnight continued before she could say anything more.
"I'm not the only one who hasn't seen her." she replied turning and walking a little away from both him and the cliff edge. "Rapid hasn't been to see her either." Turning back to him.
"True. But Rapid has a good reason not to see her." the bullet train stated. "All three of us do."
"Oh? And what would that be?" putting her hands on her hips.
Midnight Express tried to withhold a smile that was threatening to appear, Raincloud just looked so cute standing there like that. "Us bullet trains would look out of place sitting outside a house. Not like you cars." Hoping she wouldn't take offence to the last part.
Raincloud thought for a moment then chuckled putting her hands back down by her sides, "I suppose you have a point. It would look kinda funny to see a bullet train parked outside a house." She suddenly sighed and looked down at the ground.
"Rain?" Midnight said slightly worried.
She looked up at him then over at the side of the cliff. "I…I was just thinking…" walking over to the side of the cliff edge. "It must be nice to have someone worry about you the way Prowl worries about Spirit."
Midnight Express couldn't help but feel sad for the MG and before he knew it said, "I was worried about you." She looked over at him surprise in her blue optics. "We all were." He added quickly.
She smiled at him, "Thanks Midnight. You're a good friend."
"I'm here anytime you need me, Rain." He said.
She gave a nod and was about to look back at the view when a thought occurred to her.
"Hey Midnight."
"Yes Rain?"
"Why did Rapid and Spike carry you off like that a few days ago?"
Midnight Express didn't know what to say, he couldn't tell her they'd found out his 'secret' but he didn't have an answer for her, so he tried changing the subject. "So what were you and Mirage talking about?"
"I wouldn't know." She replied confusing the bullet train. "I was too busy complaining about that glitch head Magnus, and don't change the subject."
Midnight suddenly felt very nervous, he had to get away before she found out. "I'd better go, I have the four o'clock route to run." Transforming and going as fast as his wheels would take him.
"Oh no you don't." Raincloud said transforming and going after him. "You do know it's silly to try and outrun a sports car, right?" coming up besides him. She sighed as she got no reply, "If it's that embarrassing for you Midnight you don't have to tell me. It just looked strange you being 'carried off' by the others."
"It's…" Midnight finally began "Private."
Raincloud smiled, "See. All you had to say was that and I would have left it alone, instead of running off and not saying anything, one would think you're hiding something." She chuckled.
--
Topaz awoke and looked around the room, she tried to remember what happened to her. The last thing she knew of was that she was telling Megatron that she wasn't vulnerable as a human and proceeded to show the Predacon leader. She got up, headed towards the window and looked out onto the street. She was slightly saddened when she saw that Prowl wasn't there.
"Topaz! You're awake!" a voice said in surprise and joy.
She turned and smiled at the boy, she opened her mouth to greet him but nothing came out.
"Is everything okay?" he asked slightly worried.
She went to answer him but again the moment she opened her mouth nothing came out. She was very confused, what had Megatron done to her that had made her not able to talk. She tried to relay to Koji what the matter was, pointing to her throat and shaking her head. Apparently that didn't work as he just gave her a confused look, she tried again. This time she pointed at him and made a 'talking motion' with her hand, then she pointed to herself and did the same thing but this time keeping it 'closed' and shaking her head.
After a few minutes Koji understood what she was trying to say. "You can't talk." He said and received a nod in reply. He was slightly dumbfounded by this information and wondered what Megatron had done to her. It wasn't until he felt a hand on his shoulder and saw Topaz point out the window that he realised he should tell everyone. "Guess we should go tell them your awake." To which he received a smile and another nod.
They both headed outside and instantly heard a "Topaz!" from Side Burn, she waved and smiled at him.
"Topaz can't speak." Koji informed them.
"She can't speak?" Side Burn repeated, to which Topaz gave a nod. "Have you tried?"
Topaz put her hands on her hips and gave Side Burn an annoyed look.
"Have you contacted Prowl yet, Koji?" X-Brawn asked.
"Not yet." He answered.
Topaz clapped getting everyone's attention, and when she had it she pointed to Koji then back at the house.
"Looks like she wants to talk to us alone, Koji." X-Brawn said.
"Talk?" Side Burn said, "She can't… hey!" he moaned as Topaz went over to him and hit him on the hood of his alt mode.
Koji chuckled and went inside. Topaz went over to X-Brawn who opened his door, she got in and then wondered how she was going to ask him and she wanted to know.
"How's your arm?" he asked
She looked down at it, then back at him and smiled while giving a thumbs up. She then made a letter P with her fingers.
"You want to know where Prowl is." He said.
Topaz shook her head then went to speak only to have nothing come out again. She gave a frustrated look How the hell am I suppose to ask him something when I can't even talk! She thought annoyed.
Seeing her frustration X-Brawn said, "How about we go back to base and you can see how he is for yourself." She smiled and nodded.