Exams are finally over, but there's still a while to go until I'm completely free from schoolwork. I'm not sure when I'll be able to get the next chapters out, but I do intend to catch up on a lot of writing over the summer. Thank you everyone for being patient with me- though this chapter is bare in terms of action, I hope it's good enough to tide you all over until I can finally get my schedule free.
Xx
"Optimus, you can't seriously be considering allowing a... beast like Grimlock around a barely vorn-old sparkling?!" Prime had prepared himself beforehand for a hefty reprieve from Ratchet, but it didn't do him much good when the medic really got into it. "Primus knows how long he's been offline for, or how he even got to Earth! For all we know the Decepticons could have found him first and reactivated him for their own purposes!"
"If that was the case then Grimlock would have immediately terminated both mother and sparkling and we wouldn't be having this conversation, old friend," Optimus said firmly.
"Don't try and pretend you aren't having the exact same thoughts about him, Optimus!" Ratchet huffed. "For Primus' sake, I wouldn't have let Grimlock near sparklings even back on Cybertron! Before he became some... feral beast!" Optimus had managed to snap some pictures of the mech during their scuffle on his optical feed and had shown them to the medic while first describing the situation on the island, and Ratchet's optics still hadn't shrunk to their original size from seeing him.
"He can keep them safe, Ratchet," Optimus still insisted. "He has more defence capabilities than you, me and Wheeljack combined. I may not trust him as a loyal Autobot, but from what I've seen I've already deemed him a suitable guardian."
"And nothing an old grump like me says is going to change that," Ratchet concluded for him, frowning. "Fine. But I'm not going to be taking any responsibility when we eventually have two deaths on our shoulders."
"Noted." The tension in the medbay was scattered when Wheeljack walked in, though he still sensed it heavily in the air.
"Jeesh, who died?" In hindsight it wasn't the best thing for him to say at that time, but Wheeljack only realised that when he received a hard shoulder-shove aside as Ratchet marched past him over to a computer on the opposite wall.
"Well, someone hasn't had their Engex this morning," Wheeljack muttered as he rubbed his shoulder, turning to the only slightly more welcoming expression that Optimus showed.
"Forgive Ratchet's mood, Wheeljack. He's concerned, and rightly so." Optimus was too tired to even try arguing with him, when his fears had such dangerously valid ground to stand on.
"What about?"
"Earlier today, it was revealed that the island was not as isolated as we first thought. There was another Cybertronian creature there, supposedly lying dormant before something managed to awake him."
"No kiddin'?" Wheeljack frowned, tapping his digits on his hips. "What is it, like an Insecticon or a wild Deployer or somethin'?"
"A 'dinobot', actually." Ratchet still had his back turned, but at least he made the effort to converse. "Or so Grimlock likes to call himse-"
"Wait a minute, doc, the Grimlock? As in, the hardest motherslagger on Cybertron next to fraggin' Kup?" The lights of Wheeljack's optics danced like he was a sparkling having its first energon treat.
"You know him?"
"Like the Pit I do!" Wheeljack chuckled at Ratchet's wide optics. "I remember that walkin' tungsten lump'd always burst into the Wrecker HQ and ask Kup to tell 'im one of his ol' Elite Guard stories. We told the rookies if they fragged up then we'd feed 'em to hi- Wait." His grin fell as he thought back to what Optimus had said. "You said he was on the island? With... you know who?"
"Exactly." Ratchet didn't bother hiding his smug 'I told you so' glance towards Optimus.
"And you're just gonna leave 'im there?" Wheeljack stared at Optimus as if he'd turned to chrome. "Pardon my skepticism, Prime, but that sounds like it'll have the same result as leavin' a Sharkticon in a room full'a Minibots."
"As suspected, Grimlock was ... uncooperative when I first addressed him," Optimus said, hiding a wince while his helm still rang from the tail that swatted him aside. "But other than his initial over-excitement, he has no reason to cause harm to them. He does not know they were once Decept-"
"Hey, is this an old mech party, or something?"
Optimus recognised the piping voice coming from the entrance just a klick after Wheeljack did.
"Miko?"
"WHEELJACK!" She was at his pedes in seconds, and by the time Optimus turned towards her she was standing on the metal and hugging the Wrecker's leg. She was wearing a strange one-piece garment, black fabric patterned with pink and white skulls. Optimus guessed it was what humans called 'pajamas'.
"What're you doin here?" Wheeljack asked, awkwardly reaching down to pat Miko on the back with a digit in his own version of a hug.
"Um, I should ask you the same thing!" Miko jumped off his ped and placed her hands on her hips, staring up at Wheeljack. "Bulk said you were gonna be scouting the planet for Decepticon butt to kick! How come you're back here?"
Jackie looked back to his unlikely companions and shrugged.
"Like ya' said, old mech party. Now, your turn."
Her grin turned devious, and she launched up in the air with her arms lifted.
"Sleepover!" She landed with a giggle. "I told my host parents I was spending the night at a friend's, but they don't need to know the friend is a giant robot. Not to mention one that snores. " She made a face and pressed two fists into against her ears. "I had to get outta there before I went deaf."
"Eh, try havin' to share a bunk with him while in Wrecker trainin'. I almost threw ma'self into the nearby magma pit 'fore I learnt how to turn off audios."
"Oooh, did you do any pranks on other Wreckers? Like, putting foam energon on their hands while they slept or-
"Miko," Optimus interrupted. "Don't you have school tomorrow?"
Her grin collapsed, and she sighed.
"Yeah... I get it. Private meeting, no humans allowed, blah blah blah." Miko was already walking to the doorway, twirling in each step and waving her arms. She turned around again just before she left, chewing her lip slightly.
"Oh, and Optimus... sorry 'bout getting you in trouble with Arcee." Miko sheepishly drew a circle on the floor with her padded foot. "For the record, I think she'd be an awesome Mom." Wheeljack was looking at the Prime curiously, wondering how he managed to get Arcee annoyed at him, but Optimus ignored it with a sincere smile to the human.
"She may not see that as a compliment, though I think so too. But, like some humans, some femmes simply do not wish to care for sparklings." As she skipped back down the corridor, a grim thought crossed his mind. 'Or they have them forced upon them in the cruellest way imaginable.'
"Arcee as a carrier?" Wheeljack had an eyeridge raised in amusement. "Turbohounds'll grow wings before that happens. Then again... I never thought our spider would end up bein' one."
"Back to the point," Ratchet grumbled. "I will be visiting them tomorrow with you, Optimus, to see Grimlock for myself. And you-" He pointed accusingly at Wheeljack. "-will stay as far from that beast as possible if he gets so excited around you." The Wrecker shrugged at his glare.
"I can wait a few weeks for a reunion. And last time I checked, Grimmy ain't fond of water so he ain't leavin' that island- not even for me."
"He better not, or you'll be the one putting him down," Ratchet warned, to an optic roll from Wheeljack as he made for the base elevator to take him back up to the Jackhammer. He refused to say anything about where he landed the ship when he wasn't with the Autobots, other than 'somewhere high up', but Optimus reasoned that it would be more dangerous to keep him confined to the base than to allow him freedom. And anyway, they had a tracker on the ship to see if Wheeljack made any attempts to land on the island.
The mines placed around the possible landing spots also helped.
xx
"Your verdict, doctor?"
"At least three plasma rounds to the chest, completely melted fuel pump and processor barely attached to the cerebral circuits- though I can't tell if that was before or after death," Knockout decreed, trying to casually waft a hand in front of his olfactories as he spoke over the Insecticon corpse. Even hours after death it was still smoking and sparking, and the stench was enough to make his paint peel. Megatron stood beside him with his servos regally placed behind his back, claws lightly clasping each other. He squinted down at the carcass, not wishing to get closer than absolutely necessary to it.
"And what might one of these beasts be doing on Earth?"
"That is... not so easy to find out." Knockout lifted himself back onto his peds. "It's possible that one might have found its way through a Space Bridge, or an egg could have accidentally been brought over from Cybertron. The specimen appears to be an adult though, and any eggs brought through in the past year would only be at adolescent stage without a hive to encourage development-"
"Or for all we know, there may be a hive right underneath us as we speak," Megatron interrupted, tapping a ped on the dusty ground for emphasis and turning to Dreadwing, who had remained silent since embarking from the Nemesis. "I want the drones searching every tunnel and crevice of this area for any more Insecticons. Search the skies for anything of interest in the surrounding forest."
"It will be done, my lord," Dreadwing rumbled as he went to command the drones, shaking the ground slightly with each step. Knockout idly brushed his chestplate down with a hand and stayed by Megatron's side.
"I don't know of any Decepticons other than yourself and the drones who utilise plasma in their guns, Lord Megatron. I suspect it was an Autobot who did the killing for us."
"A shame we did not find the Insecticon sooner, then, while the Autobot still lingered. We might have killed two Deployers with one shot in that case." As the warlord chuckled smugly, a Vehicon drone approached.
"Lord Megatron, we've completed the search of the main tunnel system. There were no other bodies found. But there were other traces of energon further into the tunnels, too far from the Insecticon to have come from it, and there was only one exit at the end of them; an open shaft going upwards."
"So the second bot must have had wings in order to escape?"
"Most likely, my liege." Megatron's grin grew deadlier than usual, and he swept his optics once more over the Insecticon corpse.
"Then that narrows down the list quite well." He turned his back to the husk and looked back to Knockout. "Could Starscream have survived an attack by this Insecticon?"
"It's hard to tell, my lord," he admitted. "Starscream was definitely injured, but not at all lethally from the small amount of energon he left behind. Furthermore if he was near to offlining his wings wouldn't have functioned, and his body would be here with his killer's." Megatron's grin faltered ever so slightly.
"Hm. It seems he has managed to last longer than I would have thought possible." He turned again and made his way back towards the Nemesis. "Remind me to congratulate him on his resilience before I crush his wretched spark. "
"And I might thank him myself for donating his corpse to Decepticon medical science," Knockout smirked as he followed his leader back onboard.