AN: I'm excited to get this chapter out! Yay! Plot development! Enjoy and let me know what you think. Oh, and I have no idea where the title of this chapter came from. Apparently I'm hungry for cereal. ^^;
Chapter 3: Snap, Crackle, Pop
They were essentially jump-starting Jazz. Using the remaining piece of the Allspark as the charge, they hoped to successfully transfer enough energy into Jazz to give his own Spark a needed boost and wake him from the seeming coma he had been in for the last three months. They were focusing the energy through a specially made control unit housing the Shard and a series of heavy wires attached to Jazz; so that no one would have to be in direct contact with the Shard itself while powered.
Ratchet saw this as the best option considering what had happened to Megatron when the Allspark was placed directly against his Spark. The last thing anyone wanted was to fry Jazz completely.
The Shard itself was housed in a carefully created containment unit. For fear of possible accidents, no one but Optimus had been allowed to handle the remaining piece of the Allspark directly. The Shard was clasped in three rubber coated claws which prevented it from turning its pedestal and power controls into a new baby bot. The control unit Andi now stood at was basically a complex on/off switch for the Shard. It also allowed her to run diagnostics on it and monitor its energy output.
True to his word, Ratchet and First Aid had made the final repairs to Jazz in no more than two hours. While they worked, Andi ran a diagnostic on the Shard's power output and ran a series of tests on the control unit. Word was sent to Optimus and the others and soon the three in the lab were joined by Lennox, Epps and all the resident bots except for Bumblebee who had reluctantly taken Sam and Mikaela home at Sam's father's demand.
Andi finished with her adjustments and looked up to where Ratchet and First Aid were attaching the final wires to Jazz.
"Ready when you are, Ratchet. All systems go."
She waited patiently until Ratchet turned to her and nodded.
"On my mark, Andrea. Hold the charge for a count of ten and then release. If that doesn't work, we will try a second charge for a count of twenty. "
"Got it."
Ratchet turned back to Jazz and Andi's fingers tensed over the lever that would power the Spark.
"3,2,1, Mark!" Pushing up on the lever, Andi watched as the Allspark shard instantly burst to life. The Cybertronian lettering glowed white hot and the energy pulsed from the shard, through the wires and into Jazz's own spark casing. She began her count aloud to give a reference to all those present.
"10, 9, 8…" The power flowed rapidly through the wires. The Shard growing brighter every second it remained in use. "7,6,5…" Looking up at Jazz, she tensed with anticipation hoping and praying for some sign of life. Nothing happened, but the Spark continued to shine brighter and brighter. Andi could practically feel the power radiating from it. "4,3…" The Shard began to vibrate rapidly in it's stand. An unsettling feeling began gripping at her heart. Was that supposed to happen? "2…" The sudden urge to power down the Shard over took her. "1…" A commotion from the table drew her attention and she darted a glance in time to see Jazz's form give a tremendous jolt, his back arching from the table. "0!"
"Off! Power down!" Ratchet yelled.
Not needing to be told twice, Andi slammed the lever down to the off position…only to find that the shard did not immediately calm like it should have but continued to glow and vibrate violently.
"Turn it off Andrea!"
"I did!" Her fingers raced over the control panel as she attempted to override the power grid and force the shard into dormancy. In front of her she was vaguely aware of Ratchet and First Aid forcefully disconnecting the wires from Jazz's Spark casing. "Someone cut the power cables!" She shouted to the group of observing humans and bots to her right. Lennox and Epps jumped into action, yanking cables from the power sources in the walls. But even then, the Shard remained active. An ominous hum began to emit from the shard, steadily growing louder with every passing second. Andi continued to work furiously, typing every command she knew to override the power to the shard with little success. It wasn't going to work. She needed help! "Ratchet!" The hum had turned into a scream.
It happened in the matter of a moment. The shard, glowing white hot, released a sudden and unexpected burst of energy through the rubber coated claws holding it and the controls Andi's hands were currently resting on. The energy raced up her arms and hit her torso with such force that she was sent hurtling back into the wall behind her which she hit with a sickening thud. Her back and head bouncing painfully on the concrete.
The world seemed to slow in that instant. Her vision blurry, she could see Ratchet and First Aid had turned towards her and were seemingly taking the first steps to race to her aid. She could hear her own heart thumping in her ears, and muffled yells were coming from several different locations around her. Immediately following her meeting with the unforgiving wall, she stumbled forward slightly to her feet which would not or perhaps could not hold her weight. She fell to her knees and then forward, catching herself briefly with her arms until they too gave out. She lay sprawled on the floor as her vision slowly darkened and her eyes slid shut. Before she gave in completely to the darkness, one tormented voice calling her name reached her above the rest…Axle.
Logically, Andrea knew that what she was currently seeing happening in front of her could not actually be happening. For one, she was sure that not moments ago, she was standing in Ratchet's lab helping to revive Jazz. For another thing, she was also beyond positive that the bustling world in front of her had been all but destroyed long before she was even an idea in the grand scheme of human existence.
Cybertron had been destroyed eons ago by it's own inhabitants, locked in a never ending civil war. How she knew this magnificent world was Cybertron was unknown to Andrea, but something told her that she was right. The metallic world she was currently standing on was Cybertron, no questions asked.
Which brought up a whole other problem…How the hell did she get on Cybertron?
The world before her was metallic as far as the eye could see. With giant, intricate structures; large enough to hold the massive bots scattered throughout her surrounding area. There were towers looming in the distance, so big that Andi was sure you'd be able to see them from space. Not a single organic plant could be found. Everything was metal.
Something was off though. Whenever Andi pictured Cybertron or when Optimus had shown the teens a hologram of it, it was always overcome by war. Bot fighting bot. Flames and explosions everywhere you looked. This Cybertron, however, was calm and peaceful. There was no fighting. All the bots around her were working together in peace.
And speaking of bots, there were so many! She counted thirty in her immediate area alone. They came in every shape and size imaginable. Some were smaller than Jazz, while a few others were nearly as tall if not taller than Optimus. Their forms were reminiscent of Axle's own the night he had fallen to Earth some months ago; made of shiny metal, gears and wires. Some of the figures around had large wings protruding from their backs and shoulders. She shuddered slightly as she was reminded of Megatron himself. Seekers, the foreign word came to mind immediately. The flying bots were known as Seekers. Andi didn't know how she knew that, but she did.
A sudden commotion above her caused Andi to look up quickly. She was met with the sight of two transformed Seekers zooming overhead in an impromptu game of cat and mouse. The jets raced around the nearby buildings, performing a series of stunts with practiced ease. Every few seconds or so one or the other of the two would steal the lead and the other would take off after them. Two names popped into Andi's head than as if whispered in her ear. Swoop. Divebomb. Friendly competitors now; in the future, bitter enemies. One a Dinobot the other a Predacon. Once the Transformer's civil war begins these two will face each other in battle multiple times as an Autobot and a Decepticon. Battles that will eventually lead to both of their destruction.
The unexpected knowledge caused Andi to stumble back in surprise. What was happening? How could she possibly know that? Glancing at the bots surrounding her once again more names immediately came to mind. Blurr. Hot Rod. Skywarp. Thunderwing. Grapple. Lockdown. Dropkick. Cliffjumper and more. Autobots and Decepticons working together in harmony. This was a time before those two factions even had names. The knowledge came to Andi so quickly and so unexpectedly that she fell to her knees in shock. She slammed her eyes shut and covered her ears with her hands hoping to stop the surge of information that was being whispered to her from seemingly nowhere.
"Stop," She whispered. She clutched her head tighter. It did nothing. Names of bots and places, dates and events flashed inside her mind. The entire Cybertronian history of this period of peace came to her in a matter of moments. Any other time and Andi would have been thrilled at this knowledge. But at this moment it was too unexpected and far too much to process without warning. She struggled to retain it all.
"Stop!" She cried a little louder. It continued.
"STOP!"
AN: Dun, dun, dun! OMG! What's happening? ^^ Guess you'll have to wait and see. Hehehe. Hope you enjoyed. Reviews are love and inspire me greatly! Cookies will be had.