A/N: Ooh, here we go! Hope you like the whole chapter. I understand that Cliffjumper will be seen as a little OOC here, but hey, fanon likes to play with things and that doesn't exclude me ;D
Warnings: If I told you, I would spoil it.
Disclaimer: No, I do not own Transformers.
Turning Point – Chapter 24
Soundwave was in the rec-room the next day, calmly talking to Hound and Trailbreaker. Both mechs had been accepting of he and the other ex-Con's to the Autobot ranks and so sometimes he would sit with them and listen to them talk about their hobbies, about nature, occasionally asking a question or putting forth a comment.
They didn't mind at all, and for that, he was grateful.
However, today was unusual.
He didn't notice the red minibot until Hound abruptly stopped talking and looked down.
Soundwave's attention was drawn to the minibot, who was standing there with a frown on his face.
"Cliffjumper? What's up?" asked the tracker.
Cliffjumper merely shifted his gaze to Soundwave, who had braced himself just in case if this meeting was going to be hostile. Abruptly, he said, "This isn't a game, is it."
It was not a question, but a statement.
Soundwave tilted his helm to the side, slightly confused. What did the red mini want him to say? He lightly shook his helm.
"You're not putting any of us under mind control? You really were hurt by the Cons in some way?"
The telepath had an inkling of what the smaller mech was looking for. He answered, "No, I am not. It is also impossible to have that many mechs under control from solely me. And yes. I was." Silence followed his answer, before the mini spoke again.
"You and Starscream overpowered Shockwave. Now, I know I've hated you all in the past. But that's way too far to be a ruse if…well, this was a ruse. But," and here he mumbled something under his breath that sounded like 'I must be crazy for saying this,' "I think that you're all sincere. So what I'm really saying is…is…welcome to the Autobots, Soundwave."
The rec-room had gone so quiet for a few seconds, and then Gears angrily burst out, "'Jumper, what are you doing you idiot? How can you trust them?"
Cliffjumper swung around, optics flashing angrily, and yelled, "Hey, it's MY decision if I find someone to be trustworthy! And I said it before, damn it, sometimes I'm tired of hating. Soundwave and his cassettes, and the Seekers, have done NOTHING to us the whole time they've been here. They got rid of Shockwave for us! I'm not saying I'm going to be all 'buddy-buddy' with them, just saying I'm not gonna hurt them or mistrust them until they give me a reason to." That shut Gears up, Huffer next to him looking just as sullen and scowling. Cliffjumper nodded in satisfaction, before asking the rec-room, "Anyone else have a problem with stuff that I do? Step forward and I'll knock your block off."
Some of the mechs smirked at the minibot's tirade, so he turned back to a silent Soundwave.
The blue mech stood and knelt so he and the mini were visor to optic. He gave him a tiny smile and said quietly, "Thank you. It means that I do not have to worry about my creations as much anymore. It does mean something, both to me and the Seekers when they find out about it."
Cliffjumper felt a pang of guilt then. Before, he would have harmed the cassettes without any thought. Now, they were the offspring of an ally. He nodded, and turned back to his table, seeing all of the minis (save for Gears and Huffer) grinning at him and fist-bumping him. He was feeling pretty good.
As for Soundwave, he let amusement flare within him. Trust a minibot to be so dramatic.
He sat back at the table, and Trailbreaker remarked, "Miracles happen every day."
"That they do," he agreed.
Thundercracker and Skywarp looked at their Trine Leader as he explained to them what he had found out from Ramjet. They were in their quarters, sitting on the berth with their hands linked together as Starscream paced up and down in front of them in his worry. Thundercracker said, "To clarify, Ramjet said he hadn't been sexually assaulted yet, correct?"
"Yes," replied the tricoloured Seeker.
"How much time do you think they have before Megatron goes further?"
"I don't know!" snapped Starscream, frustrated at the fact he would have no clue. "He had Shockwave to sate him before, so that's what I think spared Ramjet so far, but he's gone and their situation is getting worse. It could be even today that Megatron snaps, or it could be as long as a week before he attacks. I just don't know."
"Star," Skywarp whispered, getting up and stroking the edge of a wing, "you're doing all you can at the moment."
"It doesn't feel like enough. I want the war to be over."
The blur Seeker joined his trinemate in soothing their leader. "We do too. We've all had a taste of a more peaceful life and we want it just as badly. Don't worry, someday soon."
Starscream sighed, shuttering his optics and basking in the EM fields of his trinemates. They were right. He was doing all he could, and he could only wait to see when it would all end. He brought his hands up, seeking a wing from each trinemate and slowly drawing the glyph for 'protection' on them, repeating the action in a promise. He trusted them. They may have had their difficulties in the past, but since they had defected and become Neutral their trine bonds were stronger than ever. He felt just as secure with them as he felt with Skyfire, Soundwave, and even Optimus Prime.
"Care about you," he mumbled.
"We do too," they replied, doing the same to him and writing glyphs on his wings.
Reluctantly pulling away from their comfort, he sighed again. "I have to get back to the labs. Wheeljack has apparently finished building my design for an energy converter."
"Have fun," winked Skywarp, knowing there was more than an invention in the labs for Starscream.
Starscream scoffed, and Thundercracker snickered, and then he left.
When he reached the labs, he was surprised to find Perceptor and Hoist there as well as Skyfire and Wheeljack too. He stepped in without a word. When it came to science, he preferred to listen and debate others speculations in his own processor before putting his own thoughts and objections forward. The meeting passed relatively quickly, and – thankfully – the device didn't explode when Wheeljack used it to create the energon from sunlight beaming in through a tiny window. Once their discussions had been completed, he found Skyfire looking at him expectantly.
He nodded his helm in a small movement, and turned and headed to their quarters.
Once there, Skyfire rumbled from behind him, "You look worried."
"I am."
"Coneheads?"
"Duh."
There was a small chuckle as the larger mech mused, "You must be less worried than I initially thought if you are using vocabulary like that."
Starscream glared at him, but it never seemed to work on Skyfire. He plopped on his berth, raising his arms above his helm and replied, "I am worried. I truly am Skyfire. But I cannot do anything but wait for a plan to be formulated with all the information utilised."
"True. I do have a concern about it though," Skyfire said.
"What?"
The deep blue optics were serious as he asked, "Are you ready to return to the Nemesis when the time comes? Or, if the battle does not occur there, will you be able to face Megatron without remembering what he has inflicted on you when you have healed so much?"
With a small shriek of outrage, Starscream leapt upright and he said harshly, "I've faced him before after he raped the frag out of me! I was afraid, yes, but now I'm better. I'm not weak and I won't run away if I see that fragger coming." His wings quivered in his anger. Underneath it all, however, he knew that Skyfire was justified in asking him.
The shuttle winced at the words, and he shook his helm. He replied in what he hoped was a placating tone, "I am just concerned. No doubt you will have a great part in any of the future plans that involve bringing down what is left of the Decepticons. I just want to make sure so that you are safe. I know just how strong you are."
Starscream softened slightly, but was still a little upset. He didn't like to be reminded.
When a warm hand gently stroked the underside of his wing, he took it for the apology it was and leaned into the touch. A thought occurred to him and he turned to he was smirking at Skyfire. "You're going to join me. I want to see you smash Megatron's face into the ground as I didn't get to see it the first time."
They both laughed at the mental image, and everything was right between them.
"-and it was so cool how you and Soundwave did that DJ off and I actually really liked both of yours so I couldn't really decide who should have won, but because you did win I liked the song you sang, it was very cute. Jazz is really a meddler isn't he?"
Blaster laughed from where he was in his alt mode in the young Datsun, not minding the gunner chatting his audials off. "Yes he is Blue."
"But I guess he can't help it sometimes," Bluestreak went on, happily driving his patrol route, "because his personal life is all good and I guess he just wants to share the wonderfulness with everyone else and make everyone else all wonderful. Oh! I forgot to ask, did you hear what the twins did even though Optimus said no pranking for a fortnight after they pranked Cliffjumper and Gears?"
"Which twins?"
"Both sets," replied the young mech. "Turns out that, while two of them were starting on Cliff and Gears, the other two went and switched Tracks' polish out and put olive oil in! He didn't use that polish for a while because he had another one and then when he finally used it he screamed like a little girl! I only heard it because I was in the washracks at the time and I heard him from two stalls over and it was so funny!" He giggled at the mental image, his patrol partner laughing along with him.
"No doubt Blue, no doubt," said Blaster, and if he had been in his mech mode, he would have been grinning.
The Ark was no longer safe from pranks with both sets of twins and Skywarp around!
As Bluestreak continued to talk, the boom box relaxed into the seat. Although it kinda sucked at times to have an alt mode that you couldn't move, it was times like this where you just got to enjoy the ride that made it all good.
"-and Beachcomber was showing me these pretty shells he got when he went to the beach last week and…oh! Look at that! What's he doing out here?"
Blaster instantly became alert. "Who, Blue?"
"It's Punch. Haven't seen him around for a while, so why's he just sitting there on that rock? Oh hang on, he's signalling me to transform."
Bluestreak rolled to a stop before the yellow and blue mech, who was looking at them calmly. He opened a door, allowing Blaster to get out and transform before Bluestreak did. Blaster grinned at the ops mech. "Hey Punch! What's up mech?"
The mysterious spy smirked. "Oh, nothing. Just fulfilling a mission."
Excited and curious as he ever was, Bluestreak asked, "Oooh, really? What mission?"
The other mech continued to smirk in an eerie way, before the sound of transformation filled the air. Yellow panels were replaced by dark blue, the overall look of the frame changed, and the blue optics turned a bright, bloody red. His gun whipped out, pointing at Bluestreak. "This mission."
"What the frag?" shouted Blaster, stepping toward Bluestreak, fully prepared to protect the gunner. "Punch, why do you look like-"
"I'm Counterpunch, the Decepticon!" he growled, optics blazing with deadly intent.
"No way! You're an agent, but c'mon, you're a Bot!"
Bluestreak was frozen, staring at the gun. If only he could reach for his rifle...
Counterpunch said, "I'm tired of trying to be good. It's gotten us nowhere in this fragging war. The Autobots are too soft sparked to do anything, and Lord Megatron has been very good to me. My orders are this. I am to take you back to base," he said, pointing his gun at Blaster, who stilled.
He cleared his intake and said in the most persuasive tone he could muster, "C'mon Punch, you don't wanna do this. Megatron's going down soon, and do you really wanna go down with him?"
Counterpunch merely cocked his gun in reply.
Blaster's optics narrowed. He didn't want to do this, but...gritting his denta, he charged at the mech, intent on knocking the gun out of his opponent's hand.
"Ah, perfect," the Decepticon whispered, something appearing in his hand and flinging it at the charging mech. The device burst open, and a crackling blue net snapped wide over the red mech. Blaster saw it too late, and immediately cursed himself for not waiting for Counterpunch to make the first move. He slowed and made to twist away, but it was too late for him. As the net fell over him, he yelled, "Blue, run!"
He then let out a yelp of surprise as the net made a crackling noise and trapped him. There was a signal and somehow, somehow, it triggered his transformation sequence. Against his will, he felt his limbs folding up and found himself as a boom box once more. "Slagger!" he cried out.
"Not leaving you," vowed Bluestreak, whipping out his rifle, aiming and shooting so fast that Counterpunch didn't have time to dodge as it knocked his pulse gun out of his hands. The blue mech growled, dodging the next shot and bowled into the younger mech. Bluestreak tried to get the upper hand – his rifle was useless in hand to hand – blocking and writhing to dodge the blows. He cried out as claws raked down his doorwings, pain warnings flashing blindingly in front of his optics. He bucked, trying to throw Counterpunch off, but only succeeded in making the mech angrier.
"Nighty night little sparkling," he taunted, pulling back his fist and bringing it down hard to the side of the gunners neck, making him choke and then fall silent as it triggered his offline sequence through the amount of sheer pain.
Standing, smirking down at the downed form of the young Praxian, he felt a bloom of satisfaction. That ought to shut his chatter up.
Turning back to the form of the boom box under the net, he chuckled lowly. "Come on Blaster. It won't do to keep Lord Megatron waiting."
Blaster snarled and curses spewed from his mouth. He knew what Megatron was trying to do. He was going to hold him hostage in return for Soundwave or Starscream. Or...and his small form shuddered at the thought...perhaps something much, much worse. He felt a jerk as Counterpunch roughly picked up the net and hoisted it over his back.
This...sucked.
There was only one thing he could do. He quickly sent off his co-ordinates to his cassettes before shutting all communication off. He didn't want them to feel what he was inevitably going to feel.
Ravage, Ramhorn and Steeljaw were chasing each other around the training room while the twins versed the twins as they felt in their habit to do while the remaining three watched. The good-humoured way they played and sparred was something they aimed to do each day if they could. It was good to connect with others, to laugh and have fun.
The harmony of the moment was shattered as a feeling of hollowness was felt throughout Rewind, Eject, Steeljaw, and Ramhorn's sparks. They stopped in their movements as what happened fully registered and then they began to panic. They cried out and keened as the connection between them and their creator was lost. Ravage, quick thinking as he always was, leapt on Steeljaw to stop him writhing around and hurting himself, urging his siblings to do the same. Laserbeak and Buzzsaw cawed and did the same to Ramhorn, while Ratbat rushed to assist Ravage, and Rumble grabbed onto Rewind and Frenzy did the same to Eject.
"Whoa! Easy," Rumble soothed, hugging the shuddering mini mech close to him.
"Blaster...out for the count," gasped Eject from Frenzy's arms, the shocks from the sudden dampening of the bond winding down.
Ravage put the pieces together and immediately contacted his creator. :Father, there is a situation. Please bring Optimus and Prowl down to the training room, something has happened to Blaster.:
There was no verbal reply, but Ravage felt the warm touch of acknowledgement before his creator leapt into action.
Soon enough, the mechs assembled, looking worriedly at the morose looking cassettes pinned by Soundwave's creations. Ratbat was softly chirring into Steeljaw's mane in an attempt to cheer him up.
"What happened?" Optimus demanded, striding over to Ravage.
"Something has happened to Blaster," the feline replied, giving a nudge to his father over the bond.
Prowl frowned, while Soundwave moved to Steeljaw and touched his helm, dimming his visor as he stretched his telepathy out to see what had happened. He viewed the memories of the lion mech playing with his own creations with fondness, before blackness, and a set of co-ordinates flashed in front of his vision. Finding the answer, he stood and asked Prowl, "Who was on patrol on a route that crossed these co-ordinates?"
It took only a second before the tactician's optics widened and he gasped, "Bluestreak and Blaster."
"We must go to those co-ordinates then," Optimus said gravely.
Soundwave nodded, something dark and uncomfortable tightening in his gut. He had a feeling they were not going to like what they were going to find. He beckoned to Ravage, who moved to him and jumped into his usual chest slot as the glass chestplate door opened. He looked to Rumble and asked, "Can you take care of things here?"
The purple twin nodded, holding a silent and quivering Rewind close to him.
Prowl practically flung himself out of his alt mode as they reached the co-ordinates, rushing to Bluestreak's side. The gunner was still offline, his doorwings shredded, dents and scratches marring his chestplate and arms, and there was a particularly hard blow to his neck. With careful hands, he undented some of the plating around the neck, knowing the vocal components could be damaged if crushed for too long. He stroked over Bluestreak's helm in concern. The gunner meant a lot to he and Jazz.
Ravage was let out of his cassette slot and immediately used his skills to pick up the scents around. There was the young mech off to the side being tended to by the SIC, and then there was Blaster's, and there was the other. The one that had attacked them. His optics flared in recognition. But...he had smelt it within the Autobot base too. Something weird.
There was also the tang of ionisation in the air. Like an electro-net, but modified somehow. Perhaps it was how Blaster had been subdued and carted off? Blaster was not the kind of mech to go down easily, especially with so much to lose.
Curiously, he padded over to Prowl and asked in a low tone, "Does Jazz have any double agents by any chance?"
The icy gaze hardened and he asked, "Why?"
"Because the scent I have found has been in the Autobot base. But I recognise it as the Decepticon Counterpunch. He is the perpetrator here," replied the feline mech calmly as he could. He could feel Soundwave's worry through their creator/creation bond and he didn't wish to add to it.
Prowl sighed, knowing he had no choice but to divulge the information. "Punch is the secret operative who has the ability to switch between Autobot and Decepticon. But this...it seems like he's gone rogue and become a Decepticon in full. I shall tell Jazz. He will not be pleased that his operative has turned against him."
Optimus shook his helm. He knew that Punch had been a risk, but for him to betray them all so utterly... "He will receive justice, and we will retrieve Blaster. Prowl, how long until you can get us a highly successful plan? Utilise Smokescreen, Trailbreaker, Soundwave and Starscream to help you out."
The Praxian thought for a moment and then confirmed, "If I have all those mechs working with me, we should have something put together by tomorrow morning at the latest. The evening is young yet."
"Good," replied Prime.
Deep in his large spark, his ire burned. Now, more than ever, he wanted the war to end. It wasn't fair on the abused Decepticons, and it wasn't fair on his men. He rumbled low, stooping and picking up the slight form of Bluestreak while the others finished up on their findings and discussing what could have happened.
This was merely the beginning. Of an end.
A/N: I told you all I was going to ramp up the dramaticness. :D I know! Poor Blue! But I needed someone innocent.
Please review and tell me what you thought.
But I will reassure that NOTHING sexually related will happen to Blaster. I'm not that evil ;D