Disclaimer - "Transformers" and all related characters, events, and concepts belong to Hasbro, Takara, and any other related owners/distributors/producers. I get no monetary benefit from this. My benefit is the enjoyment of dealing with beloved characters.

Salted Wounds
by DragonDancer5150

Chapter 5 - Recovery

"So, ah, how about we never do that again, huh? Everyone good with that?"

Fanzone looked up at Bumblebee's comment, then around the room at the others. They were in the medi-lab. Bumblebee had bandaging on to cover his burns until Ratchet could address them. Bulkhead's arm was in a sling to take the weight off his broken elbow. Prowl rested on one of the repair berths while Ratchet sat on the other, walking Optimus through repairing the back of his shoulder since the medic couldn't reach it himself. He needed his arm working before he could properly see to any of the others. Fanzone himself had gone out to his car to get his first aid kit and currently sat on the berth next to Ratchet, wrapping a wrist he'd not realized he had injured until the adrenaline had started to wear off. He just hoped he'd strained and not broken it. He wouldn't know for sure until he got to a hospital to have it looked at, but that could wait. The police officer and civil servant in him wouldn't let him leave until he knew this situation was done with . . . and that the robots would be all right.

"Anyone who's not good with that," Ratchet groused, "can take a wrench to the side of the helm to straighten out an obviously glitching processor."

"What're we gonna tell Sari?" Bulkhead wanted to know.

It was going on one o'clock in the morning. Everyone was exhausted and injured, and Fanzone didn't figure Ratchet would get all the damage dealt with before morning. No doubt, Sari would be back over first thing. They'd have to tell her something.

Prowl chuckled, his tone wry and pained. "Perhaps we should tell her it was a Decepticon."

Fanzone watched Optimus grimace and thought he could guess why. The repair crew's commander didn't like lying or hiding things from friends and allies. Finished with his wrist, Fanzone folded his arms. "Well, whatever you guys decide to tell her, may I suggest leavin' out the elevator an' the fact you've got an old mine right under your base?" When the Autobots looked at him in question, he resisted the urge to roll his eyes at them. "C'mon, you've been around her long enough. What kid wouldn't jump at the chance to go explorin' in an abandoned mine? It'd be such a 'great adventure'!" He put air quotes around that with his fingers in case the alien robots missed the sarcasm in his tone.

Optimus paused from his work to look around at his team, settling especially on Bumblebee. "Captain Fanzone's right. We don't need to worry about Sari going down there and getting hurt, or risk her somehow uncovering that jar and starting things all over again."

Bumblebee's optics were wide and bright. "What are you lookin' at me for, Boss-bot? Auto-scouts' honor, if she learns a nano-bit about the mine or that demon, it sure won't be from me!" He held up a hand in oath, and Fanzone found that he believed him. The young repair-bot still seemed genuinely traumatized himself by what they had just been through.

"Me neither, Boss-bot," Bulkhead added. "I know Sari. She'd want to go see for herself, and she'd be upset that she got left out of the fun."

Optimus nodded, then looked at Fanzone. "Captain, I've been meaning to ask. How did you know about the salt working on that entity? I wasn't aware you had any expertise in - " He seemed to search for the right word. " - supernatural things."

Fanzone felt his face flush a bit. "Oh, I, ah . . . I don't. An' ta be honest with you, I didn't know for sure if it would. But it seemed like the kind of thing that'd work." Somewhat under his breath, he added, "Always did in the stories."

Ratchet gave him a sidelong look. "Come again, Captain?"

Fanzone sighed. "When I was a kid, I loved ghost stories and other supernatural stuff. I was also a big fan of an old comic called Hellboy, the 'world's greatest paranormal investigator'." He grinned in spite of himself, remembering fondly. "At one point, I wanted ta grow up to be just like Hellboy, so I learned what I could find on wards and amulets and things like that. Salt as a protective agent against evil and the supernatural in general is right out of a lot of ancient folklore. Seems that's one thing that's more fact than fiction."

"Lucky for us," Prowl murmured.

"Yeah." Fanzone closed his first aid kit, stood, and looked up at Optimus. "Prime, gimme a hand down? I should head home an' let my wife know I'm still alive an' kickin'."

"Of course, Captain." Optimus offered a hand. Fanzone stepped on and was lowered to the ground. As he stepped back off, Optimus added, "Give our regards to your wife."

"I will. Might bring her by one of these days, if that's all right. Althea'd like you guys."

Optimus grinned. "We'd be honored. Good night, Captain Fanzone."

"G'night, Prime. Autobots." He turned and headed for the front door, listening to Optimus insist that everyone go to berth for now, get a good night's rest, and let Ratchet see to them all in the morning. He thought that sounded like great advice. In fact, he had every intention of following it himself.

Only once everyone had left the room did a small robot come out of hiding.

A Soundwave toy ambled its way from the medi-lab, down the hall, and out into the main room, looking for the elevator. Its master had overheard the conversation earlier and, while the master had no interest in murders or cults, he was very interested in the idea of a space right under the Autobots' noses.

So they had no intention of going back down there again, hm? Then it would make for the perfect location for his own secret base.