Chapter 5 ~ "Critical problems"
Optimus sighed with relief after they were launched out from the wormhole. The ship had minor damage, thank Primus. He put it on autopilot to let them drift at a slow pace that was quick enough but steady. He went down to med-bay, noting that the lights had practically blown. He turned on his headlights and went to replaced the bulbs that blew, " Everyone ok? "
GunGlue's optic shield glowed slightly in the dark, the heli-mech clinging to his berth with one hand while the other still grasped a grey-and-purple hand. GunDober had slid closer to the edge of his berth, though the tire mounted on one leg had caught the other edge and was helping hold him in place.
Megatron coughed as he got up from the seat, "Yeah, yeah we're good..." he looked around and found all the bots unharmed, noticing that GunDober was on the verge of falling off the berth. "Swipes help the boy would you?" The con turned around and spotted the bot in green twitch and stir, he was waking up.
Scavenger blinked after hearing a loud moan and turn towards the other twins, "Ah... nice to see you two... or at least I THINK you're both awake?"
Sideswipe nodded to Megatron, rushing over to pull GunDober back on the berth, and unstrapped himself. He continued on working on GunGlue's rotors. "Don't worry, we'll get him fixed up good ok? I promise... " Sideswipe whispered.
::You better... he's MY twin.:: GunGlue managed to bristle slightly. His optics wandered toward VolFogg again.
Prime had taken the moment to check out the yellow and green bots; Megatron had suddenly popped up on the other side. They saw FuuRyu stir and the yellow one name RaiRyu was shaking, badly...
Megatron frowned under his mask and looked up to see Prime look at the twins with hard concentration, "What are you thinking?" Megatron spoke up with arms crossed. Prime shook his head...
"Nothing..." he said; he kept feeling this force rush through him that was trying to reach out to the younglings. But he didn't know what would happen if he let it loose.
Sideswipe smiled at GunGlue, "I have a twin too… though we're not as close. His name is SunStreaker." He finished repairing the rotors and warmed some oil then squeezed it into the rotor assembly's joints. "Ok try them now."
GunGlue looked at Sideswipe for a moment, and then started his rotors. They quickly whirred up to full speed, slightly lifting him off the berth, but he didn't have enough energy to keep them going. He let them spool down, optic shield dimming slightly.
HyoRyu rubbed his helm, "3…" he said in a soft tone, sitting up on the berth after somehow bumping his head on an anonymous surface during the warp-jump.
Megatron blinked, staring at HyoRyu when finally hearing his answer, "You said 3...as in…3 years?"
HyoRyu nodded.
::VolFogg is younger...:: GunGlue muttered in Gun-speak. ::Though his A.I. is mature, so you wouldn't know... That and his ninja pride.:: He looked over at the purple mech again.
Megatron just stared at them, as if they were all crazy. Sideswipe had the same expression until the former Con warlord spoke again, "That's... considered... YOUNG on our planet. You would all be-"
"Freakin' sparklings..." Sideswipe finally spoke up.
Scavenger had decided to check the scanners of the mechs, checking every line, every system, and every single circuit of their motherboard to see if there was any improvement. He growled and frowned deeply, there was a problem... The old mech looked up to Prime and waved his hand to come over; the former Autobot commander walked over to his teacher, Scavenger looked back at their "patients" then pulled Prime out of the room, closing the door behind them, "We have a problem..."
"What's wrong?" Prime asked.
Scavenger rubbed his temple with one finger, his expression stared disappointingly at the clipboard in his hand, "Prime..." he said slowly, "We don't have the right tools, the right resources, hell not even the right knowledge to fix them..." He noticed how Prime's expression was turning to a cold realization.
Prime blinked, covering his mouth and rubbing his face slowly, "They… they'll die…" he suddenly found interest in the floor, thinking hard over all the work they had down these past few hours, trying to get them to a survive. Only to find out that there's not much, maybe nothing they can do to save them… Prime breathed, "There's nothing we can do is there?"
He only saw the old mech's optics downcast, his old yellow optics showing the real truth. Prime swallowed and breathed, closing his optics slowly… "However…" Optimus looked back up to Scavenger, the old mech was tapping a finger on the clipboard.
Prime blinked, "What?"
Scavenger looked from the floor to the former Autobot Commander, tapping another finger, "There maybe one way…" He watched as Prime's expression turned to that of hope-filled joy.
"And?" Optimus was eager to know.
Scavenger sighed, putting the clipboard under his arm, "We know…" he began, "That they aren't Cybertronian, which means they don't have a spark. And we know that they are powered by some sort of life-force but here's the problem: it was created to be a controlled life-force, MAINLY by the humans." He looked over Prime, seeing as he was following, "Now there may be a way to break that bond, to make them independent and actually live longer than what the humans originally made them to be."
Prime nodded, "And that is?"
Scavenger smirked, "If we could combine a raw spark to their life-force…" he breathed, "Then there might be some hope for them to survive. Not to mention they would be living much better lives, lives that are uncontrolled!"
Prime had blinked confusingly, opening and closing his mouth a few times. He was finally able to get his mouth to work, "And HOW do we do that? We don't even know WHERE to get sparks unless you want to pry a femme's chest-plate open!"
Scavenger smirked, "Typical as always Prime, you weren't hearing what I was saying…" he looked to Prime's quizzical expression, "I said we combine them to raw sparks, and raw sparks DON'T come from a femme's chest-plate."
Prime blinked once more, his posture becoming a little slacker, "Then," he looked up in the old golden optics of Scavenger's face, "…how?"
Scavenger chuckled, "How is not the question…" he tapped the clipboard, "Its WHO." He watch Prime's face change, "Who is the one responsible for all of us Prime?" he looked at the former Autobot Commander in the optics, "For our CREATION?"
Optimus stared into his mentor's optics, his own growing wide, "You're… you're kidding?"
Scavenger shook his head, "Not even close to it Prime," he smirked, "He's the only one who can make this possible and you damn well know that."
Prime took a step back and rubbed his head, "But that's impossible…" he shook his head, "We don't even know even know where-"
Scavenger put his hand up to end his sentence right there, "Correction: YOU don't know where to get the sparks from him," the old mech's smirk grew, "But I DO."
"But-"
"Look, at least THINK about it Prime?" Scavenger saw the Autobot nod, "But I have to say that if their condition worsens, we don't have any other choice, all right?"
Once again, very slowly did the Optimus nod, "Only if their condition gets worse…then we head for Cybertron."
Meanwhile…
GunGlue put his head down, optic shield dimming again, still watching the purple mech and the other black-and-white. His rotors whirred once, then stilled. He was on the verge of sliding back into unconsciousness. Sparks flew from behind one of the wings on his helm, and his hip joint fizzled loudly.
Megatron jumped to the sound, he looked towards the bot, "Damnit! Sideswipe!" he watched as the young Autobot practically threw himself upon the smaller mech, doing whatever he could to fix him. GunGlue's whole body twitched as a large spark jumped from the middle of his back, and his optic shield flickered. VolFogg made a whirring sound from his engine compartment, the sound quickly fading into silence.
Megatron frowned under his mask, looking from Sideswipe to HyoRyu with his optics constantly switching back and forth. He had noticed Prime and Scavenger leaving the room, but didn't care to ask why, at the moment he was intrigued with these new mechs. He watched as HyoRyu was clutching to an EnRyu who had been fading in and out or unconsciousness, his pink optics flickered, and he was moaning.
GunGlue twitched again, another spark jumping from his back. He made a stuttering sound, and then dropped his head onto the berth. His green optic shield dimmed and went out as he slid back into unconsciousness.
Optimus walked back into the room and cleared his throat. Once he had all the online mech's attention he spoke. "We are headed for Cybertron. We need supplies and there is someone there who can help. But thanks to Sideswipe's hyper jump to Mars, we blew out the drive system which means we have to get there the old fashion way. It will take us about three days to get back."
Sideswipe gave a nervous laugh, seeing Scavenger walk up next to Prime with the clipboard and the old mech rolled his eyes, "Don't forget Prime, you've done your fair share of mess ups..." he gave a sleazy grin, "Remember that incident at the Blue Moon Spaceport?" He saw Prime glare back at him, shoulders slacking in defeat.
Megatron had overheard, grinning under his mask, "That was the best moment of my life..." the former Decepticon leader chuckled.
GunDober convulsed suddenly, his entire body spasming several times before collapsing back onto the berth. Twitches rattled arms and legs, and his engine made an unhealthy grinding noise. VolFogg twitched several times, then stilled…
Sideswipe quickly rushed over. He started to work on GunDober, as he would have to keep making temporary patches and repairs till they got back.
Scavenger looked around the room, seeing all of the young mechs before him lying either shattered or completely and utterly shocked. He noticed the one in the light blue and red paint hadn't moved. "What about that one?" The old mech looked over at Prime. "You get his name yet?" Prime shook his head and walked over the young mech, he found he had a green visor and a mohawk-looking crown.
VolFogg twitched again, struggling to claw his way back to awareness. He could barely feel the tight grips of the GunMachines on his hands anymore, though he wasn't about to say anything. His optics remained duller than usual. Turning his head, he watched Sideswipe working on GunDober for a moment, and then looked for the others.
Mic twitched and looked at the new bots. He turned his head, obviously angry about what happened. There was the faintness trace of tears on his pale cheeks. Sideswipe looked at VolFogg when he turned his head and smiled. He finished his patching on GunDober and sat down on the side of the berth rubbing the younger mech's back, to sooth the aching he knew was there.
Prime blinked, "Easy now little one..." he place a gently hand on the light blue and red mech's arm, "We're just trying to help you. Can you tell me your name?" He watched as the young mech was looking around frantically, obviously distressed. Prime looked back at Scavenger, "What's his status?" he saw the old mech search through the screen of pages on his clipboard.
Scavenger winced, "He's just as bad as the others... his systems could crash if we cant fix his wiring..."
GunDober didn't respond to Sideswipe at all, not having regained consciousness. VolFogg watched for a moment longer, then looked over toward the red and blue mech. "Mic... Mic!"
Mic looked at Optimus, and he began to let out a keening wail of his distress. He was hurting badly but it was his heart that hurt the most. He heard VolFogg, and how bad he sounded and he just broke. He began to wail loudly, scared, hurt, and without his brothers…
Prime jumped, "Shit..." he had to hold down the young mech due to the fact that he was at the point of breaking his restraints. The young bot was wailing louder; it was all Prime could do but whisper comforting words and hold him down, "Please we're just trying to help..." he looked at the mech with warm optics, "And for us to do that we need you to relax..." Scavenger was smiling overhead.
VolFogg struggled to sit up, looking over at the larger mech. "Mic!" Reluctantly, he let go of his teammates' hands, trying to brace himself. "Mic Sounders!"
Mic just wouldn't listen. His restraints broke around his hands and he shot up, burying his head into Optimus' chest plate and wrapping his arms around his middle and refused to let go.
Prime was a little take back by the gesture, but soon his shoulders slacked and looked down at the mech sadly. He placed a hand around the smaller mech, "Easy now..."
Scavenger in the meantime was paying attention to Vol, gently grabbing his hand and looking down at him, "Sit back down kid, your systems will blow if you strain yourself..." The old mech looked back up at Prime and sighed.
VolFogg gave Scavenger a dark look at the "kid", but said nothing. He looked toward Mic again, trying once more to sit up before collapsing back onto the berth. The ninja mech thought for a moment, then made a low, soft rumbling purr sound, something he'd learned from Mamoru. It was quite calming on the nerves, and should help somewhat
Mic snuggled into Prime's chest. "Why... what did…we do wrong...." He sniffled, leaning into the larger mechs touch. Sideswipe looked at VolFogg, he was purring. Something younglings on Cybertron do a lot when they are upset to calm themselves. Sideswipe started to purr back at VolFogg.
Prime's optics dimmed somewhat at the young mech in his arms, "I'm not sure young one..." he quickly recalled what the purple bot had just called him, "Mic Sounders... am I right?" He had noticed the young mech nod as his frame shook somewhat from the entire dilemma.
VolFogg looked at Sideswipe for a moment, then back to Mic. He'd been trying to calm the younger mech down, using something he knew worked on his own nerves. "It wasn't our fault, Mic... It was a bad decision on their part. They discarded us." He tightened his jaw for a moment, knowing that there were at least two people who hadn't betrayed them. "We did nothing wrong."
Prime tried his best to calm him down, but nothing seemed to be working. That is until he heard someone start to hum...
The voice was low, but recognizable as Megatron sat near by. He was working on the blue twin, humming a small yet familiar tune.
Mic began to relax against Optimus he began to hum along with the basic tune. He began to sway making Optimus do the same till he calmed down completely.
Optimus smiled and looked back at Megatron, "Don't stop singing or... at least humming, whatever you're doing..." Megatron smirked and nodded, having been fixing HyoRyu's leg.
Scavenger blinked down at VolFogg, "What do you mean, 'discarded' you? You're a team weren't you?"
VolFogg nodded slightly. "All of us, yes... but when our purpose was done, they tried to shut us down for good. They said they had no more use for us." His voice was bitter. "They built us, they helped us develop, and they called us their friends... and then they threw us aside as soon as there was no more use for us."
"That's unfair!" Sideswipe yelled. "You did nothing wrong! " Sideswipe growled. He was shushed by Scavenger and he shushed knowing better than to disobey the old bot.
Prime narrowed his optics, still listening to Megatron hum the song and Mic was in his lap now quiet and finally settled down. Megatron was listening in on the conversation, knowing all too well about the feeling, even when he had given orders like that himself.
Prime blinked then sighed, "Not all beings can be good...we all know that..." he gave a side-glance at Megatron who could feel the painful stare from his former enemy.
"And yet, not all bad, either..." VolFogg murmured to himself, thinking of one certain boy he had been particularly close to, who would have tried to save them had he known about what had been happening. The two GunMachines, roused to consciousness by Mic's wail, made a mournful sound, knowing where their team leader's thoughts were going.
Optimus sighed and held onto the small bot in his arms; it was going to be a long three days…