Where the Heart Is 6
Deliveries
A Transformers Prime Fanfiction
Set During the Events of "Darkest Hour" "Darkmount NV" "Scattered" "Prey"
Salcha Franklin wasn't happy. Well, correction, he was happy. He just wasn't really satisfied. Word had come in through various untraceable means that each of the children had been found and tended to. All were headed home like spawning Chinook, each protected by their Autobot guardians and watched from afar by the combined eyes of the Northclan and their allies. That was something to be happy about the semi reminded himself dutifully as the tractor trailer he was attached to was loaded with frozen dinners. He was happy in fact. The children were all safe as were three of the Autobots. Optimus would be happy about that. The Prime wouldn't be sulking. He would just accept that you can't do everything all the time.
"Bear scratch," the dark truck hissed as he reached out and began tearing up a nearby bush.
"Easy Sal," Zech cautioned as he came around from the loading with a clipboard. "It's pretty populated here. Lots of iJunk."
The semi grumbled and settled down. They were too far out of Clan territory for him to get careless. But he was just so frustrated. They had rolled out days ago thinking that they would at least find one of the kids themselves. Okay, they knew it was a big country and it was unlikely that they would actually manage to get to the children before the masses of searchers did. Well, Zech had known and accepted it. Sal just felt cheated. He had been the one to rush out of a nice warm bedroom in the middle of the night and selflessly risk flying in one of those swamp awful contraptions to help them, and now he didn't even get one whiff of their scent as a reward. Sulkily he reached out a quick tie strap and snatched the rest of the shrub up by the roots and pulled it into his engine compartment to chew on in peace.
Here they were, with the voidwalkers who were his friends still scattered across the continent, some possibly dead, and he was delivering frozen TV dinners that even he would think twice about eating. It was unfair. It was unjust, but back to work they went. He should be out there with Optimus helping fight the bad guys, or at least getting to know that little blue one better. She didn't even remember him and he wanted to fix that. Maybe he could talk Zech into letting them meet up with Jack. Probably not. From what they had heard over the CB the kid was in Nebraska by now. He could never catch up with that fast little bike. The truck groaned and ignored the nervous look that one of the loaders gave him. Zech sighed and closed the last of the sliders before jogging forward to the cab. Sal expelled a cloud of sawdust and growled a little as a youth climbed into the passenger side.
"Ah, Franklin sir," the lanky ginger stated a bit nervously shifting in the seat and jumping as the belt buckled of its own accord.
"Cousin," Sal muttered darkly causing the boy to pale even further if that was possible.
"Easy there," Zech stated with a grin, "he never bites family to kill."
Two green eyes latched onto the other human as if desperate to tell if he was being serious. The big rig pulled out and rolled forward with a deliberate belch of black smoke. Zech tried to keep the younger cousin occupied with light chatting but the situation was clearly making the sandy red-head uncomfortable. Finally Sal just growled and gave a short blast of his air horn.
"Give it up Zech. The kid is clearly just here so he can tell his folks that he tried out at least one job before he gave up and went back to his little beeping things."
The trucker shot his brother a sharp look and the youth flushed a bright red.
"Hey! I just agreed to help out cuz Dad said you needed it. I admit I'm not interested in the family business, at least not the hauling part," he said defensively.
"Really what part are you interested in?" Zech asked quickly.
"IT," he said quieting down again, seemingly as afraid of the human three times his size as he was of the mysterious family semi.
"So computers and information," the older man perused. "A lot of that needed in the industry these days. I'd say the Franklin system could use an update or three."
"That's what I said!" the cousin burst out, "but Dad said the current system works just fine and that there are things we just can't risk putting on computers."
"Well that last bit is true enough," Zech conceded glancing meaningfully at the engine compartment.
"Yeah, but that doesn't matter until the aliens land," the boy huffed slamming his shoulders back into the seat.
"How do you know they haven't yet?" Zech asked in a half joking tone and Sal gave a rumbling laugh.
The ginger scowled and sulked into the seat again muttering.
"What did you say?" Sal asked suddenly interested.
"I belong to several online communities," the kid muttered. "They keep track of all of the supposed sightings and stuff and we discuss them. So far nothing, and with all the cameras in the world we'd have seen something by now. I don't know why they even called that conference at Kealkil."
There was silence for a moment as the youth wondered what he had said wrong from the grim look on his cousin's face.
"So how much information is on these sites?" the big rig asked finally letting Zech take over the driving.
Sensing the real interest in his strange cousin the freckled face lit up as he pulled out a gleaming device.
"Can I turn it on?" he asked eagerly. "Mom said you didn't like the EM field so I left it off."
"Go ahead!"
The boy activated the phone with a grin and it chirped demandingly almost immediately.
"Woah! Didn't think I'd get such a good signal way out here!"
"I'm boosting it," Sal muttered absently reaching out and tapping the device with a tentacle.
"You can do that?" awe and respect tinged the young voice.
"Easy, now show me the sites you were talking about? Were those alerts related?"
Zech eyed the interaction warily. He had a basic idea where this was going and he wasn't sure he liked it.
"Yup! Different tone for text's let's see. Ha! Robo bigfoot. Obviously faked but entertaining. This is actually a new one."
Eighteen wheels locked as the truck screeched to a stop at the side of the road. Without a word the ginger released the phone to the swarm of black tentacles that snatched it. Delicately a fine obsidian black appendage traced over the small screen.
"It's him! Zech! Look! He's alone! In a junk yard! We have to help-"
"Salcha!" the trucker barked out jerking his head towards the younger cousin whose hazel eyes were as wide as saucers.
"Oh, yeah. Listen kid don't tell anyone about what you are about to hear. Better yet-" the door popped open and the youth was unceremoniously tossed out on the side of the road.
"Sal," Zech groaned.
"We have to go there Big Brother! Please," the semi insisted desperately.
"Why? Why us?"
"The kids are taken care of. The clan will watch out for them no question, but we are the only ones who dare help out one of them."
"What makes you think he needs help?"
"He is alone in a junkyard for robin's sake! Who hangs out in a graveyard? And look at his face! He is alone."
The emphasis on the last word carried undertones of Sal's special subsonics and the human felt a chill of bone deep loneliness wash over him. Zech was quiet for a moment before nodding with a sigh.
"Why am I even having to explain this to you?" the truck demanded in frustration. "You are supposed to be the reasonable one!"
"Sal, back at the base," Zech began hesitantly. "I tried to look for Optimus-I," his hands clenched on the steering wheel. "I guess I'm getting to old finally. I should probably have the doc check my growth plates…"
There was a deep silence as the human stared forlornly out the window.
"You hurt yourself bad didn't you?" Sal asked softly as understanding came and a soft bronze tentacle reached out to stroke his brother's face. "Worse than you let me know."
"I thought I would have healed by now," Zech continued, "but I can still feel the damage. Looking back I don't think I ever healed quite properly from helping Optimus that first time. Maybe in a few months I can risk getting closer to them but…" he drifted off and Sal gave a growl.
"Until then, if I want to help I have to go by my cranky old self and check up on a voidwalker who doesn't know me and, more importantly, isn't Optimus with no humans around to run interference if I do something stupid."
"Pretty much."
"Can you at least look at a picture of him without hurting yourself?"
"Yeah, hand it here," Zech sighed.
He took the phone and arched an eyebrow.
"Ah. Sal?"
He turned the device to show the screen and Salcha gave a cough of shock. He raised a sensory tentacle and waved it over the animation.
"That wasn't there before! It was the healer! Honest!"
"Well it's a dancing monkey now," Zech said with a smile. "I believe you Sal."
"Get in here!" the semi growled yanking the befuddled cousin back into the cab. "Explain this!"
The ginger stared at the screen for a moment then scowled as he realized what the truck was referring to.
"DigitalDynamo."
"What?"
"He's a hacker. That was the screen name I first recognized him under but he uses at least fifty different aliases. He's some self proclaimed defender of the internet. He never makes much noise and hides his tracks well but he is responsible for a lot of evidence being deleted. The forums are trying to track him down but he is good. Dropped off the radar for a few days but obviously he's back. Wait, why are you so interested in the first place?"
"I'll be bailing out with the so called food," Zech stated as the engine roared to life and the truck pulled out. "Listen carefully cousin. You are going to escort Sal to the site that picture was taken. You will distract the owner of the junkyard while Sal takes care of some business. Then you will escort him back to me. Got it?" the man spoke in a commanding tone and locked eyes with the youth who nodded nervously.
Clan law required he obey and despite the oddity of the situation he would. They dropped the cargo as scheduled and Zech found a hotel while Sal ran bobtail the distance to the sighting. He was fiercely glad that the cousin was there. Even if he couldn't tell him what was really going on he could talk out his nerves on other subjects and the lanky ginger was a good listener. Meanwhile his thoughts spun round and round. Was Ratchet still there? Would he need help? Would he accept help from Sal? They had worked together once, sort of. He left the cousin to deal with the owner of the junkyard and rolled nervously into the stacks of rusted cars.
As soon as he was out of sight of the humans the enormity of the situation hit him like a blow and his engine stalled. A sound suspiciously like a whimper came out of the engine compartment and Sal rocked back and forth on his wheels. No humans. No barrier. No connection. He was going to face a voidwalker with only himself to rely on. Optimus didn't count. He was Optimus. The Prime. Easy to like, easy to respect, easily liking in return. This was an unknown factor. One who had been upset with Sal for not sharing the secret of the excretions that helped the sparklings. Not that Ratchet had known who the mysterious source of the stuff was. Should he bring that up? What would Zech do? Oh Denali, Sal wanted one of his humans so badly. This was what they were meant for. What they had been designed for. Not him. The semi has almost talked himself into retreating when the wind carried a warm scent to him.
"Rafael?" he asked eagerly following the child's lingering smell eagerly around the maze of rusting metal.
The scent was fresh. He might still be here. Oh that would be good! Little ones like him always made things smoother. The creature was so eagerly following the trail he didn't realize he had found the medic until the mech snarled gruffly.
"I said leave me alone!"
The big rig froze in the darkness, suddenly silenced by fear as he beheld the rear end of the red and white medic. He was here. He was totally unprepared but there was nothing to do but go forward.
"Ah, hello Healer Ratchet?"
"What?" curiosity tinged the harsh voice as the ambulance turned, then a cry of shock escaped his vocalizer and the medic transformed reaching a shaking hand out to the semi. "By the Allspark! Optimus!"