Chapter Thirty Nine
24th December
0400hrs
Spike stepped off the Autobot that functioned as a rather comfortable flight experience. No one greeted him on the tarmac and he simply gave his thanks to Sky Fire who was more then happy to accept it, and add in a few minutes of chatter. The ambassador was a good friend to the one time Decepticon and was happy to oblige.
A few moments later he was briskly walking to the human section of the repair bay to see Chip and hopefully see him alive. Something had changed though, the feeling he was getting as he walked through those orange twinge corridors just didn't seem right. Something was definitely off. He was passed by a few early morning mechs either coming or going from late shifts or just out and up to mischief, or perhaps in engaged in some altered version of Christmas. A chill of sadness passed him, this would be the first Christmas without "Santa Prime" as he'd come to be known. It had come to pass that Sparkplug explained to Prime what Santa was and how on many a Christmas eve he'd dress as the giant red clad health risk and sneak around the house trying to wake Spike discreetly. They were fond memories that Spike had of his father, and when Prime had discussed the matter with him he'd told him how it made him feel safe, especially since after his mother had died it was like he was almost forgotten. So, Prime, and Lord only knew how he got that much red fabric and cotton wool, donned a suit, grabbed a sack (again, Lord only knew where he got such a large sack) and filled it with energon goodies and a whole host of other Transformer presents. Would Rodimus don himself in gay apparel? Unlikely. Especially given the recent events. One thing was sure, Daniel wouldn't be seeing Santa this year, maybe Carly's father would pick up the slack, but it would be memories of another man taking the place of his dad dressed as Santa and those memories would flow through into a young man who would have his own family. What damage was he doing to Daniel, Spike queried as he walked along, he turned out okay, didn't he? But of course Sparkplug as fervent in keeping things "normal", to him the Autobots were friends, yes, but they were considered a hobby by the vet. He would assist them as he could, but that assistance wouldn't take him away from family events or holidays.
Spike reached the repair bay, and was somewhat amazed at how long his internal conversation had been. Inside, First Aid was rushing around like a mad man, foraging through large piles of digipads and goodness only knew what else. He threw his hands up in frustration, uttered some swears, which sounded foreign coming from the usually peaceful and calm pacifist.
"Ahem".
Spike cleared his throat, scaring the medic slightly who proceeded to jump and spin around to see the interruption.
"Hey, First Aid, can I see Chip?"
He asked rather straight forward.
"Um… Spike… you startled me".
"Sorry".
"No apology needed, you just caught me in an off moment. Its been quite hectic here".
"Yeah, I can see. So, can I see Chip?"
"Oh right, right, sorry, sure, sure, he's in room six".
He was definitely out of character, something wasn't right.
"Hey, are you okay, Aid? You seem a little… flustered".
First Aid slumped down into a chair and looked down at the human and just sighed, his shoulders slumping, his optics dimming, he oozed the emotional instability of defeat.
"Things are a real mess, Spike. I'm sorry; I shouldn't be offloading on you".
"No problem, First Aid, we all need people to talk things through with, so why don't you give me an ear full, or an "audio" full as you guys say".
First Aid smiled under his mask.
"Thank you, Spike, you're a true friend".
First Aid took the all important pre-speaking inspiration and was about to let loose what the human realised was going to be a torrent of stress when a chair came tearing through the air towards them, striking the medic in the back of the head and knocking him to the ground.
"What the hell!"
Spike yelled in surprise as he moved to get out of the way of the falling medic.
First Aid lay there moaning, Spike's eyes followed the former path of the chair until his view fell upon the seething Ultra Magnus standing with one foot resting on the pane of the viewing window he had just shattered, his hands gripping the jagged edges.
"AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!"
He roared as he ripped the remaining glass and leapt up and out landing violently on First Aid's back, he seemed disinterested in the human as he began pounding fists griping jagged glass down on the newly promoted CMO. The medic attempted to squirm his way free but failed.
"Magnus! STOP!"
But the cries of the human were of no consequence. Spike realised he could do nothing to cease the actions of the massive Autobot; he ran to the emergency alert button and smashed his fist into it. The lights went red and started to flash in sync with the blaring siren. Magnus reacted to that.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!"
As he stood, First Aid was pulled up by the scruff, and then hurled towards the window. The window that looked out over the city. The seven (robot sized) story window. First Aid smashed through and would plummet down to a rather messy set of critical injuries. Spike took a step away from the door and watched as Magnus stormed towards it, again, paying him no heed, but when Spike looked up at the city commander tearing the door from its fixtures he noticed something rather unsettling to say the least.
His optics were black.
"Ultra Magnus?"
The human took a chance.
Whatever it was that was in of Magnus, tearing through his CPU with its malice aforethought stopped the vandalising actions and turned to regard him.
Those black optics bore right into him, and it made the man shrink to an even smaller height before the metallic behemoth.
"There is no Ultra Magnus".
It growled out, a black sludge oozing from the corner of his lips and down his chin.
"Who are you?"
Spike asked.
"We are legion".
It then turned its attention to the door.
"What do you want? Why are you here?"
"THERE IS ONLY LEGION!"
It screamed and punched through the violated door and into the corridor. Right into Kup and a few security troops.
"THERE IS ONLY LEGION!"
It screamed through Magnus' vocaliser as it grabbed one of the unfortunate security officers and hurled him down the hallway into the oncoming Rodimus.
"Lad, calm down, we can help you, now stop all these shenanigans".
Kup said softly, with a tone that suggested a lot of experience talking to those who had lost it.
The thing within Magnus turned and slammed Magnus' fist into Kup's aged face. The blow didn't kill him, but it do some serious damage and it did throw him into stasis lock. The city commander then turned and ran off in the other direction.
"Holy shit".
Spike whispered.
"Holy shit is right".
Rodimus gasped as he finally pulled himself free of the tangled security officer, also in stasis lock.
"This is starting to piss me off, seriously, Spike, there's only such a commander can take!!"
"I'm sure you're doing fine".
Spike said, for lack of anything else.
"Seriously? You think so! Well, gosh and golly, Sir, thanks so much for your vote of confidence, when can I expect my performance review, I bet you h…"
"Sarcasm isn't a foreign concept to humans, you know".
"Ahah… huh… yeah… sorry, Spike, but you gotta allow me a bit of angst over all this mess… waitasec, what are you doing here, I thought you were with family… oh wait, you came to see Chip, right, I remember Sky Fire saying something about grabbing you or something… I dunno. I just don't know, Spike. You got any advice, you hung around Prime longer then I did, maybe you can instil some of his wisdom to me".
"Nope, sorry Rod, I'm totally obtuse to this leadership business of your's, all I can say is… well… I need to talk to Chip".
"What? Didn't you hear?"
"Hear what?"
His blood chilled.
"He's in a coma, in pretty deep, but First Aid didn't want to tell you over the phone".
"Well, is he okay?"
"Don't ask me, I'm no medic, and I know about one fifth of jack shit empty when it comes to human stuff".
"I'm sure First Aid can tell you… oh… slag".
Rodimus had entered the repair bay and had curiosity walked over to the broken window, his scanners relayed to him the injured CMO lying below.
"Its just one thing after the next, isn't it?"
He said more to himself then to the concerned human.
"I'm going to find Chip".
Spike replied and managed to get through the damage Magnus had created.
"Oh great, just great, thanks a lot Primus!"
Rodimus threw his hands up in frustration just as he heard a voice behind him.
"Yo, Rod man".
"Jazz, yes, you can take over right?"
"What?"
"Great, you're hired".
"Ex-squeeze me?"
"Be a pal and sort all this slag out, okay?"
Rodimus then pushed passed the Autobot and was gone quickly from the section.
"Slag".
--
Chip lay in an undisturbed bed in an undisturbed room. The tubes and wires and machines ticked and whirled with the intention that went way beyond anything the ambassador understood. Spike sat down in the small stool next to the bed. Mass displacement. Was that what it was called? That allowed transformers to essentially shrink or expand their size to accommodate whatever? And being a medic he sometimes needed to get into tight spots and a quick drop in about 5 metres would be most welcome. It also allowed him to work with humans. He couldn't remembered if he'd ever seen Ratchet do it…
He reached out and took the hand of his friend. It had a rather messy looking luer in situ; three of his fingers on that hand were broken and taped. There was a small cast type wrapping on his lower arm and several large gashes that had been expertly sutured. The rest of him was in no better condition and Spike decided not to concentrate on it any longer for fear his ignorance would cause him despair at seeing so much connected to his friend.
"Chip".
He said softly.
"They reckon, that people in comas can still hear… that's it like the first sense to come back and the last one to go".
He ran his hand through his hair and sighed.
"Oh man, Chip, I hope you're okay in there. I don't know what to do. I'm guessing there's been some crazy stuff going on, I mean, what the hell was up with Magnus? Who is legion and why is he in Magnus' body? Does all this have something to do with those questions you were asking me about my dad and his "experiences" and that priest? Chip, you were always smarter then me, its times like this I wish you could just open your eyes and say, Spike, listen up, cos I'm only going to say this once".
"Spike, listen up… cos I'm only going to say this once".
Spike jumped up off the stool and was still firmly grasping his friend's hand as he fell backwards pulling the comatosed man partially from the bed.
"WHAT??!!"
He screeched in shock as he noticed Chip's blue eyes open and staring at him.
"Spike, listen up… cos I'm only going to say this once".
Spike managed to let go of the hand but still remained on the floor and still freaked out… was a nice way of stating it.
"Spike, listen up… cos I'm only going to say this once".
Chip sat up in the bed, whatever was speaking through him was obviously not Chip and was obviously not concerned with the machines and tubes and other medical apparatus keeping in from taking that journey across the Stix.
"Say… say what?"
Spike stammered.
"Spike Witwicky… you are Spike Witwicky".
"Ye… yes".
"Son of Sparkplug Witwicky… you are Spike Witwicky".
"Yeah".
"You must listen".
"Yeah".
"They are here".
"Who?"
"Listen".
"Yeah".
"They are here".
"Yeah".
"Find the place of origin".
"Okay… how?"
"Attend with those who seek the lost".
"What does that mean?"
"Spike, listen up… cos I'm only going to say this once".
The voice that spoke through him ceased and Chip's body flopped back down to the bed. The noise of the machines and tubes and fluids and of breathing made itself known to the ambassador again. Chip was back in his coma. He would never recall these words, despite Spike's reassurance that they had happened, and despite the fact it was all caught on surveillance cameras, the footage would make it to YouTube and it would cause a flood of conspiracy theories, spoofs, accusations and of course evidence that it was real.
Spike pulled himself up off the floor, taking care not to bump anything. He didn't have any idea what Chip… well "Chip" was on about, and after seeing Magnus' little tantrum he decided it was best to leave. Quickly.
--
Spike was standing outside on the tarmac waiting for Skyfire to finish re-fuelling. Suddenly he noted Jazz walking along with Blaster, the two friends acknowledged the man and when Spike asked where they were going he was answered. They were going to an old Decepticon base where it was believed the twins had taken Perceptor and Springer – who they had kidnapped after going "loco" as Blaster had ever so politely put it. In his head the words that Spike had heard Chip utter, well, "Chip", played, "Attend with those who seek the lost". It wasn't even correct English… was it? He didn't think grammar mattered to "Chip".
He actually asked it before he realised that's what he was asking.
"Mind if I tag along, it'll be like old times".
He couldn't cram it back into his mouth and the grins and laughs of acceptance from the two Autobots told him it was too late to recant.
"Oh right then! Lets go find them lost bots".
Jazz chortled as he transformed to make it easier for Spike to accompany them to their rendezvous of Autobots who would be going on this little mission.