And here we go... The newest chapter of Tiny! I want to thank all of you for the support as I continue to write this! :D
This starts in Steve's (Tripwire's) POV. Rated T again. Just to be safe. I own a Transformers Prime Dreadwing figure, but I don't own them. Hasbro does.
Hope you like it!
Shank and I looked at each other, in total shock after what we both just heard. The sparkling was missing and no one knew where he was!
We both were pressed against the doors of the command room, trying to listen in on the conversation going on inside. It was shocking to hear that the sparkling was missing, but I don't know if the fact that Lord Megatron just agreed to a truce with the Autobots is even more shocking.
"Steve, that's probably why he ordered you guys to get out the room!" Shank whispered to me. I was among the many troopers that helped take down the Autobots and bring them to the main command room. The medic was pretty upset about something (and Shank and I just found out why) and he started shouting really loud, scaring the scrap out of me. I shoved the barrel of my blaster into the back of his neck to get him to quiet down, and it worked.
Nobody expected for Lord Megatron to order us all out of the room, but nobody questioned it. After we left out, most of us went to station themselves near escape routes in the Nemesis, should the Autobots try and escape. The only ones who were right by the command room door were Shank and I. We originally stationed ourselves outside of this door, but we couldn't help but eavesdrop. And what we heard astonished us.
I nodded, agreeing with him. We both tuned our audio receptors and boosted the power to them, trying to hear the whole conversation going on in there. Unfortunately, the door was almost completely sound proof. The only thing we could really hear was a bunch of muffled voices. The only way we were able to piece together the fact that Parvolus was gone was by asking and telling each other what little we heard.
I also heard them mention something I couldn't hear about my old dog. I think heard them call her 'Halli'. I wonder how she's doing with the Autobots...
"Do you think Starscream did it?" Shank asked me. I thought for a moment before whispering my answer to him.
"I don't think he did it himself, since he rarely does the dirty work. I think he had somebot do it for him." Shank nodded and looked like he was about to say something else when he suddenly froze. Knowing exactly why he did that, I jumped away from the door and onlined my weapons system, cocking my left blaster, facing away from the door. Shank did the same and we both took on the appearance of armed guards outside the room. Just then, the door to the command room opened and Soundwave silently walked out. Both Shank and I straightened and tried to stare straight ahead as Soundwave walked past me. We stayed that way until he rounded a corner and walked a little ways down that hallway.
After that close call, I told Shank that we couldn't be caught outside that door. He agreed and we swiftly walked down the hallway. We'd be in a scrap load of trouble if we got caught by Megatron out there.
"We've got to tell the others-," I stopped him, cutting Shank off before he could finish.
"No, this isn't something for everybody to know." If we just went around telling everybody that Parvolus is missing, and from all indications, in danger, we probably are going to make it even harder to catch who actually took the sparkling. A whole lot of people love the sparkling, and to find out that he's missing would cause a lot of problems. One of them would be the very real possibility of an angry lynch mob hunting the Seeker down if they think he has to do with this.
"Shank, we have to keep this on the DL."
"Well, we have to tell somebody. I mean, maybe we can help out." Before I shot his idea down (most of them got us in trouble), I thought about it for a moment. Maybe he was right. Maybe we could help. And if there's anything we Vehicons have learned while fighting for Megatron, it's that there's strength in numbers.
I heard that they plan on investigating the activities of Commander Starscream. He's out with Volk and some others scouting for energon, but that won't buy them too much time. Starscream's scouting missions are always relatively short, since he's an Energon Seeker. Not only are Seekers great flyers, they are great at finding things that are usually well hidden. It doesn't help that he was the Air Commander of the Energon Seekers. Saying that guy is good at what he does would be an understatement.
"Okay, we could tell one other person. The fewer bots who know about this, the better," I said, looking at my friend as we walked down the hallway. "But, who can we tell?"
My friend's visor dimmed slightly as he thought for a moment. "What about Rudder?"
I nodded, and immediately lowered my voice when we walked past two workers busy repairing circuitry in the walls. "Yeah, we can go find him. He can help us figure out how to help."
...
"I suspected that Seeker would try to harm the little suckling again after his first failed attempt," Rudder said thoughtfully as he sat in his worn chair. We had found the old medic sitting in the Rec Room, talking to some of the other soldiers about something having to do with treating blaster wounds. I could tell by the dim flash in his yellow visor that he knew something was wrong. He had quickly wrapped up his conversation and directed us to his room. I'm glad he knew to speak in private.
"How can we help with finding the sparkling?" Shank eagerly asked after we told him about everything we had just discovered. The old medic thought for a long moment before giving us an answer.
"It is not our place to assist in their search." I just stared at him in shock. How could he say that? For all we know, the sparkling could be in real danger!
"What?! How can we just sit here and do nothing?" Shank demanded, voice rising. I could only stand there, completely dumbstruck by his simple answer.
I thought that of all of us Vehicons who love the sparkling, he would want to help us do whatever we could to help get the sparkling back the most. Rudder loved sparklings; I heard that he had a few of his own at some point. He did treat Parvolus like he was one of his own. I didn't expect him to say that we would be out of line if we assisted in the search for the sparkling.
"Lower your voice, young mech," The old mech said firmly, yet gently. As Shank reluctantly did so, Rudder spoke again. His voice was quiet, as it usually was, but this time his tone was very steady.
"This is a personal matter for those especially close to the suckling. Emotions, without a shadow of a doubt, are running high. To step in and get even more people involved can threaten to set the situation ablaze, something none of us want." The old mech shifted in his chair as we stood in front of him.
"...If we can't directly help them, how can we help?" I asked Rudder, worried. I know that there has to be some other way the three of us can help. I don't want to just sit and do nothing.
"Yeah, we don't have much time before Starscream comes back to the warship. If he finds out they are onto him, who knows how hard it's going to get to find the sparking," Shank pointed out from beside me. Suddenly, an idea struck me.
"Maybe we can delay Starscream long enough to let them investigate. I figured that the first place they'd go to see what Commander Starscream's been plotting is his personal quarters." I could see the smile in Shank's optics as we looked at each other. He agreed with me.
Now, our mission is to distract Starscream for however long is needed to make sure he doesn't find out that he's under investigation.
Shank turned and left out the door and I moved to do the same when I looked back at the old mech still sitting quietly in his worn out chair. His discolored yellow optics flickered, as they tend to do when he's focusing in something since they're damaged, as he looked back at me.
"Thanks, Rudder. Couldn't have done it without you." I could tell from the look in his optics that he appreciated my thanking him.
"Tread lightly, son. You rarely see exactly how volatile a situation can be until you have already lit the fuse. " I nodded once, taking note of the old mech's wise words.
Just as I joined my friend outside and as the door was closing I heard Rudder quietly say, "I will be here for you, whenever you need guidance."
At that moment, I was really glad the old medic was around. Rudder's always been there to point you in the right direction, rather than just order you around, like our superiors do.
Then, I received a notice through my comm link from Volk that he was returning to the Nemesis along with Starscream and the others in half a breem. These little reports are an advantage of being a Vehicon officer. But getting back to the task at hand, I didn't know what Lord Megatron and the Autobots plan on doing to see what Starscream's been doing, but I did know it's going to take longer than half a breem.
Plus, one of the first things Starscream does when he comes back from a long mission down on Earth's surface is go to his personal quarters to clean up. He can't stand dirt; he'll complain all day if he isn't able to get to his washracks as fast as he would have liked.
We can't let Starscream walk into his personal quarters, not while someone's in there snooping around.
Shank and I swiftly left down the hallway, towards one of the many air hatches that Starscream, Volk and the other Vehicons were arriving in.
All the two of us need to do is delay him until we think Lord Megatron and the others have gotten what they need from Starscream's personal quarters. Hopefully, our Commander doesn't get suspicious of Shank and me.
...Bumblebee's POV...
It felt so strange to work with same mech that helped destroy Cybertron.
But what was even weirder was the fact that I felt no hate towards the warlord. I still didn't trust him; he's still a Decepticon. The Decepticon warlord at that. But, something told me that he was safe to be around, or as safe as he can be. Something else told me to trust that feeling, so I did.
Maybe I didn't feel anything because we both had a common goal: to get the little guy back.
We were all standing in the presence of one another, in silence. I don't mind it, since we're waiting on Soundwave to come back with that datapad of monitor activity history. Bulkhead didn't seem to want to be here at all. He stood there near Ratchet, glaring at Dreadwing and Megatron, looking ready to online his weapons at any moment. I can understand how he feels. Being in the middle of enemy territory isn't exactly the best experience in the universe.
Ratchet was pacing back and forth, holding the wrench kept in his medical pack in his servos. If that wrench were alive, he would have wrung the live out of it by now; he was holding it so tight. He was so worried that he probably didn't care who helped us out.
Thankfully he had calmed down enough to think straight. He clearly wasn't doing that when he opened the Ground Bridge and zoomed into the warship, something I'm not too happy about. But then again, if he hadn't done that, we probably wouldn't have gotten the Decepticons' help.
"Scout." My doorwings hitched as I was pulled out of my thoughts by the mech who called me. Piercing red optics stared back down at me.
"This is indeed interesting, scout," Megatron said as he looked at me. I stared at him for a moment before answering.
"I guess it is." I'm kind of surprised that my voice didn't shake when I spoke to him.
"Tell me... how do you plan on dealing with the offender once he is detained?"
"I'll think about that once we get Optimus back." The mech who was twice my height continued to stare down at me. From what I just heard, he ensured that the bot who took Optimus and Arcee will be caught. I never thought that the warlord would reassure anyone, directly or not. Or maybe he's not reassuring me, just comparing plans. He's probably already plotted what he's going to do to the bot responsible for this. I could sort of tell by that creepy little grin on his face, which I paid no attention to before I answered him. He responded to my statement after gazing at me for a nanoklik.
"Ah, yes. I suppose the safety of the sparkling comes first." I nodded, agreeing with him.
Why did he ask me what we planned on doing after all this was over? He should really be asking Ratchet that, since he is the little guy's dad.
Suddenly a question came to mind, and it slipped out before I could stop it. Everyone turned and looked at the two of us.
"Why are you helping us?" The warlord narrowed his optics at the question, like he didn't like the fact that I asked him, but didn't move. I never thought a room could get so quiet.
"For the sake of a new life." Megatron's answer caught me, as well as Bulkhead off guard, but that didn't stop me from responding.
"Yeah, but this new life is your arch enemy." Megatron balled his servos into fists when I reminded him of Optimus as an adult. Bulkhead's weapons system onlined at the sight, but I held up a servo, silently telling him to stand down. I never took my optics off the warlord, but, in my peripheral vision, I saw Bulkhead slowly lower his mace and change it back into his servo.
Megatron saw my gesture towards Bulkhead and his reaction, and raised an optic ridge. He said nothing about it as he responded to me. "I am aware of that, though it is not completely true."
"But, what makes you want to work together exactly? I thought you'd you take the first chance you had to kill him after all the fighting you've done with him."
Dreadwing and Ratchet stood next to each other, watching Megatron and me talk, helms going back and forth between the two of us like they were watching a tennis match. Megatron's optics grew brighter in hidden anger. He thinks I'm accusing him of something.
"I am not so low as to kill an innocent sparkling," Megatron growled dangerously. "Besides, the Prime that I despise does not exist any longer."
I didn't show it, but I was surprised to realize that Megatron doesn't know that Optimus still remains in the body of a sparkling. I briefly wondered that if he knew Optimus was still there, would this situation be any different.
"I may have fought with that mech many times, but if anyone lays a servo on him with the intent to harm, they will be facing me."
I looked at him in shock. I saw a very small, approving smile on Ratchet's faceplates. Megatron's promise just shattered all doubt of how this would have gone if he knew Optimus Prime was still in the body of the sparkling. Right now, it didn't matter. I could see that Megatron was attached to the little guy.
After thinking about what Megatron just said, I remembered that I heard someone say that before. This was back on Cybertron, after a pretty bad battle with the 'Cons. I made it out okay, but some bots weren't so lucky. Sunstreaker had said that once in Ratchet's med bay while he was being treated after taking a pretty hard hit to the cranial chamber for his twin brother, Sideswipe. The 'Con who tried to land the blow on Sideswipe was killed by Sunstreaker on the spot. I stood in the background while Ratchet angrily demanded to know why he let himself suffer a serious blow like that. Sunstreaker never said why, but everyone knew why. He was protecting his brother.
I think the same thing is happening between the little sparkling and Megatron.
Megatron wants to protect his little brother.
After making that connection, I decided that Megatron truly did have the little guy's best interest in mind.
…Soundwave's POV: Ten Minutes Later…
I walked down the hallway carrying the datapad back to the command room. I had just left Starscream's personal quarters after downloading his monitor's activity history and audio-video transmissions into this datapad, as well as my CPU. I needed a hardcopy of the information I gathered for Lord Megatron to use. I would not be of immediate access at every moment of the solar cycle, and I could not afford to upload this information to the Nemesis's database. Starscream has the access code for it. Plus, if Starscream is able to hack and disable a sector of my security system without my finding out, I must assume that he would be able to find the database access code if I set a new one for the system.
Due to the importance of the data I downloaded, I cannot wait for Lord Megatron to review it. I will analyze the data so I can quickly determine the best options in regards our next course of action. While I walked, I searched through every byte of information, aside from the recorded transmission, I had received from the Seeker's personal monitor.
To say that I was not pleased at what I found would be putting it very nicely.
As I drew closer to the command center, I noticed two Vehicons speaking to Starscream further down the hallway, the direction I was going. I recognized the Vehicons as Steve and his friend, Shank. Starscream appeared to be irritated, but I quickly saw why. The Seeker was nearly covered in black soot.
As I continued to walk silently towards the three of them, I have to make an effort to keep my pace even. I was almost surprised at my own automatic reaction to the sight of the Seeker.
Never before had I felt such a fierce and tempting desire to kill.
It reminded me of my gladiatorial days in the pits of Kaon. It reminded me of the solar cycle I found my little Wingspar dead in my own home so long ago.
I moved further to the right side of the hall as I walked past Starscream and the two Vehicons. All three of them fell silent as I walked by. I took note of Starscream's wings lowering. I suppose he can sense my anger. It was not surprising. I was this angry once before, and an old friend of mine named Chisel commented after the incident that the dark aura of my silent wrath alone is a force to be reckoned with.
Thankfully, I have gathered the wisdom over the vorns to know not to act upon immediate emotions, especially anger. It would make me a monster.
Starscream's wings lowered out of fear, but not because of knowledge beyond this very moment. I wish for it to remain that way.
Once I walked by them, the two Vehicons quickly retreated down another hallway, as if they had been waiting for me walk by. I can only wonder why they behaved this way.
Behind me I heard Starscream mutter something so low that even my sensitive audio receptors could not pick up and walk down the hallway, towards his personal quarters. He will not know that his monitor's history had been tapped into, and I left the sector of my surveillance system Starscream disabled down. This way, he will continue to believe that he is 'under the radar', as I heard Tripwire once say.
...
"Soundwave, what have you found?" I gave Lord Megatron the datapad after his question, and stood to the side as he scrolled through the information that I have downloaded onto it. I had walked into the command room to see the scout and our leader conversing with the others watching.
Perhaps I should not call the youngling a mere scout. It is obvious to me that he is now the leader of the Autobots.
"Is there anything we can use on that datapad?" Bulkhead asked. Indeed there was, I thought.
"Soundwave would have notified Lord Megatron of it if there wasn't, Autobot," Dreadwing said, glancing at the green mech.
"This Autobot has a name, you know," Bulkhead growled, taking a threatening step towards the blue Seeker. Just as Dreadwing reached towards his cannon, the yellow youngling looked at the green mech.
"Calm down, Bulkhead. We won't get anywhere if we're busy fighting with each other."
Megatron glared over the datapad at the blue Seeker. "You would be wise to listen to the youngling as well, Dreadwing."
Both Bulkhead and Dreadwing had the same surprised expression on their faceplates. They were not expecting the youngling and our leader to agree with one another. I, however, did. And from the expression on Ratchet's faceplates, I can accurately estimate that he expected this, just as I had.
"The most useful information in this datapad is this recorded transmission feed. Soundwave, play the transmission so the others may see it," Lord Megatron ordered. I nodded once and stepped forward, drawing everyone's attention to me. I pulled up the transmission and displayed it on my visor.
Starscream could be heard talking to the unknown mech on the screen. The mech's voice signature was not logged into the Nemesis's database and his profile was too shadowy for me to produce any significant details regarding his frame. This strange mech is completely unknown to us.
"Starscream paid someone to do it for him. Why am I not surprised?" Ratchet muttered sarcastically while we watched and listened to the video transmission. I have to agree with the medic's statement. Starscream prefers to have someone else do the work for him, so that the bot directly responsible must deal with the immediate consequences for him.
Lord Megatron considered what the unknown mech said before commenting on what he heard. "This mech is one of the strange ones, taking a femme instead of high grade for pay."
"Wait a minute, the guy said that he couldn't take a fellow Decepticon for pay," Bulkhead said. "That tells us the guy is a Decepticon."
"It's a good start, but there are a lot of Decepticons out there. We need something more specific than that," Bumblebee said. The room grew quiet once more as they continued to watch and listen.
"I'll be there in three joors. My ship's moving as fast as it can."
This bit of information proved that the mech was already on this planet. But that is not what made this stand out to me. This mech's ship must be the strange vessel I saw the night I was on the landing strip of the warship. It was also the comet that I saw in my dreams. Perhaps I can track the ship's trajectory and estimate the general area for the vessel's landing site.
"I know, I know. I've done this more than you would think. "
A very unnerving feeling came over me as I continued to display the transmission to the others. As the transmission recording continued to play, I would soon find out why I suddenly felt sick.
"The name's Faultline. At your service."
Almost all of the strength in my knees departed. I had to fight just to remain standing. When I surveyed the information I found, I did not look at the transmission, wishing to review it with the others. My frame started to tremble ever so slightly. That mech...
"Soundwave, are you alright?" Ratchet asked. I didn't respond. Too many things were happening in my processor at once. I looked at my little sparkling, Wingspar, sitting in his chair next to me, smiling as he attempted to refuel himself. I saw my sparkmate holding him close as she sat on the berth Halyard and I shared. I heard Halyard and my neighbor, Clearout, laughing about the time Wingspar had flown up to the top of the energon cabinet and refused to come down. I looked into Halyard's blue optics as I held her close to me on our berth.
I saw the smoking holes in Wingspar's helm.
"Soundwave," Lord Megatron said. The sight of my little one, dead... And the mech who is responsible for his death is here on this planet and has Parvolus. He has the little one...
"Soundwave!" Lord Megatron yelled, thankfully able to pull me out of memories from before the war. I shut down the transmission I still had displayed on my mask and looked at my leader. I searched through my CPU quickly to express what I wished to say. I found a recording of Knockout's voice.
"We don't have a lot of time."
All he did was glare at me while the others in the room stared at me, most of them with confused expressions on their faceplates.
"I believe we have already established that." I continued to stare at him through my mask. He didn't understand. Parvolus is in very real danger.
"Soundwave, there's something you know that you're not telling us," Bumblebee said, turning to fully face me. I only moved to stare at him. The youngling never backed down as he stared back.
To explain what I knew, I played back a recording of the monster's voice. "I've done this more than you would think."
"What are you getting at?" Bulkhead asked. Ratchet answered the question for me.
"He's saying that this 'Faultline' has taken sparklings before." I stiffly nodded once, appreciating the medic acting as my voice.
"Given the fact that he was hired to take the sparkling, we must assume that he is a mercenary," Dreadwing said. I nodded once again, glad that we were moving in the right direction.
"We must find this mech's vessel. Soundwave, pinpoint this mech's location." Megatron ordered. It did not take me long to track the vessel's trajectory and narrow down his location. Unfortunately, the vessel's signal was extremely well shielded, and I could only narrow it down to a twenty thousand, most likely larger, square mile area.
Bumblebee appeared to be in thought for a moment before speaking what was on his processor. "At least you were able to give us a general area. Now the only way we can really find the guy's ship is by splitting off into teams and searching the place."
"Bee's right. If Soundwave can't find the exact spot the freak's ship is, I doubt the rest of us could," Bulkhead said, gesturing towards me. "We'll have to do this the old fashioned way."
...Arcee's POV...
This place is strange enough, but I didn't think that there would be someone else here besides Faultline, Optimus and me.
Someone came to the room right as I was speaking to Optimus. Thankfully I was able to jump off the chair and push it back over by the table before I was seen. When the bot opened the door, I was surprised to see who it was.
The bot was a slender, light purple femme, a black visor covering her optics. She didn't say a word as she carried her tray in. I stared at her as she skated in (she had wheels for pedes) and place her tray on the table with the crystal zap pony. The tray had two, beautifully carved blue crystal cups and a matching blue crystal pitcher of very high quality energon wine.
I looked away from the tray she put on the table as she moved over to the wall and stood there, her helm down slightly and dainty servos clasped in front of her, like a waitress... or a servant. It's like she's waiting on something. I soon found out what that was.
"Hello, Autobot femme. I see you have met my servant." I gritted my denta when I heard that voice. It was Faultline. What does that freak want?
The mech walked into the room and smiled at me. His soft, red optics stared at me from across the room as he stood in the doorway. I refused to say anything, and he didn't seem to mind.
"Come! Have a seat." Faultline waved a servo towards the two chairs facing the table and moved to sit in one of them. I reluctantly walked over to the table and sat in the chair across from him. I watched as he picked up the pitcher and filled both of the crystal cups with the energon wine. He lifted his cup and took a long sip of his wine and smiled back at me.
"Now, I did say that we'd have proper introduction later. As you already know, my name is Faultline. I have yet to get your name." He looked at me expectantly.
"Arcee." He grinned, showing a bit of his shining denta as I told him my name.
"Ah, such a pretty name. Of course, that's to be expected from a pretty femme." I tried to ignore what he just said. Faultline took a sip of his wine again and gestured towards my cup.
"Go ahead, it won't kill you. Lackluster made it herself." I blinked again at his words and glance over at the slender femme with the black visor by the wall. 'Lackluster'? I am positive that that is not her name. The name was too ugly to have been given to such a pretty femme by her creators, let alone anyone.
I looked back at the mech sitting in front of me and kept my optics off him as I took the cup in both servos and brought it close to my face. The energon wine smelled safe; nothing was put in it. It actually smelled nice. If this femme did make this, she did a very good job. I took a tiny sip of the wine and allowed myself to enjoy how good it tasted for a nanoklik. Faultline chuckled as I sipped my energon wine.
"Now, I'm sure I can assume that you are nervous. You shouldn't be. I plan on treating you nicely."
What he said rattled me a bit, but my own safety isn't my top priority. I looked at the mech, my grip tightening on the cup and shifting in my chair. "Who had you take the sparkling?" Someone had to have hired him; he has absolutely nothing personal against Optimus.
He gave me a small, creepy smile. "Hm, I see you like it straight to the point."
I stared at him, waiting for an answer. He didn't make me wait long. "That is something I cannot tell you."
Knowing I didn't have the advantage here, I didn't press for answers. I decided to ask something else. "What do you plan on doing with him?"
"I cannot tell you that, either." From his tone, I could tell that I wasn't going to get anything out of him unless he decided to tell me on his own. That just made me even more worried for my little brother's safety.
After that, I decided that I would keep trying with him. I know he'll come back. I don't like this fact at all, but he'll come back because he likes me.
Faultline drank the rest of his energon wine and refilled his cup. "Now, I can't stay long. I have business to take care of elsewhere. Make yourself at home, and if you need anything, just call for Lackluster."
With that, he down his wine and left me in the room with the femme. I sat there for a moment, worrying. I wasn't worried for myself. I was feeling this way for the little baby, scared and alone in the next room.
I looked over at the femme, who had started to move towards the door. Maybe I could learn something from her. But first, I'll have to get to know her a bit. It will get her comfortable enough to tell me. I stood and called out to her. "Excuse me?"
The femme stopped, but didn't look in my direction. I'll take that as a good sign. "I know what he said is not your name. What's your name?"
She didn't move and she didn't answer. I would have gotten frustrated if I were in any other situation. I'm sure she's a prisoner in this place. I can understand it if she didn't want to answer that. Maybe she'll answer a less personal question. "Where are you from?"
I got silence again as I stood there. For a minute I thought that she wouldn't answer, but that was when a very quiet voice met my audio receptors. It was so low I almost couldn't hear it.
"I'm from Velocitron." Before I could ask her anything else she quickly sped out of the room, leaving me here alone.
I was shocked to hear that she was a Velocitronian. Her home planet was once a colony of Cybertron's, but after the collapse of the Space Bridges, all contact with them was severed. The same thing happened with other colonies.
The thought of how she possibly came to be stuck with Faultline as a slave made me shiver.
...Ratchet's POV: Twenty Minutes Later...
The area we had to scout was too large for the six of us, yet we couldn't afford to have more people know about this than was needed. We decided to get Knockout and Breakdown involved. More grounders allowed us to give a more thorough search of the surface. Because of that, I know that we will be out here for a long time. I'm intent upon doing just that. I'll do whatever it takes to find my son.
The place we're in is heavily wooded, and these huge trees are capable of hiding a ship of a decent size. This side of the planet was dark, and the only real source of light is the moon. Because of this, we were split off into pairs.
Dreadwing and Soundwave were partnered with each other and were currently flying to the west. Bulkhead and Bumblebee were further north of my position, and Knockout and Breakdown were east of my position. I had been partnered with Megatron by Bumblebee. I was currently on the ground, while Megatron was flying overhead. To assist even more in our search by both ground and air, Soundwave deployed Laserbeak and Ravage in this area.
We all agreed to remain in alternate modes for as long as possible, since there is always the risk of us being seen by any unsuspecting humans.
Neither of us liked the fact that we were to work with each other; Megatron and I were of opposite factions. But it wasn't about us, and we understood that. But that didn't stop Megatron from insulting the speed of my alternate mode through the comm link.
I couldn't care less about his affronts regarding my ambulance mode, but I did become irritated for a related reason. An ambulance can handle abuse, but not this sort of abuse. There was simply too much foliage, too many fallen branches and things of that nature for this alternate mode. Breakdown and Bulkhead could handle this sort of off-roading with ease. Bumblebee and Knockout don't have this issue since they both are with a larger mech who can clear a path if need be. I know Megatron isn't going to come down here to assist me.
I eased forward in my vehicular mode, pushing a particularly large branch out of the way with my front bumper as I moved into a clearing. I sat there for a moment after turning off my headlights, and looked up at the sky. The stars twinkled above me and all was quiet. The quiet didn't calm me down.
I feel useless down here. Something has to change.
Suddenly, I heard the roar of powerful engines above me. I searched the sky and saw a human fighter jet flying high overhead. I sighed as I stared at it. I'm a natural grounder, but that doesn't mean I can't scan a new vehicular mode.
I transformed back to bipedal mode and engaged my transcan mechanisms. I prepared my CPU as I scanned the fighter jet and analyzed every piece of machinery for use. I ran a diagnosis on my frame, making sure that my T-Cog was primed for my next course of action.
Once I felt everything was ready, I shuttered my optics and ventilated deeply while I stood in the light of the moon. I must do this, whether I want to or not. This is for my son. I will do anything for my son.
With that, I transformed.
...And so, the hunt begins...
Alright, Ratchet's got a new alt mode. Can you guess what plane he is? (Hint: It's not an F-22 Raptor, F-16 Fighting Falcon, or F-35 Lightning II. That's Bayverse Starscream, TFP Starscream, and TFP Dreadwing.)
I attribute the Dreadwing and Soundwave team-up to Optimus's girl.
I credit Arcee's attempts to get information out of Faultline to PixelusPrime.
In case you're wondering, Steve was Halli's old owner and was fine with Soundwave giving her to the Autobots.
Steve and his friend help Soundwave by delaying Starscream at the same time Bumblebee is talking to Megatron. Arcee's meeting with Faultline takes place around the same time as when Ratchet sees the fighter jet in the sky.
If you have any questions, comments or ideas, just let me know in a review.
Until next time! :)
P.S. From the rage I saw in chapters' 14 and 15 reviews towards Starscream and Faultline, I'd say that many of you would be fine with a lynch mob hunting them down...