Fire of Youth
Chapter 25
Silver flashed in the sunlight as Arcee's arm blades carved off a Vehicon's arm. The unnamed mech gave a cry of pain that was quickly silenced when her blades met his throat. He fell to the ground and soon lay in a pool of shimmering blue fuel. A round from her blasters put him out of his misery for good. She glanced up in search of Bumblebee and found him with his back up against one of the buildings, three Vehicons bearing down on him from either side like sharks around a kill. Frowning, the lean femme darted for them. She fired a series of shots at one to gain its attention; she wound up distracting both. By the time the nearest drone diverted its focus from the scout she was already on top of it. The same quick flash of silver and the Vehicon fell. Its partner retaliated with blaster fire of its own. She dodged around the back the building, leapt up, and leapt off again onto the Vehicon, knocking it to the ground. She took up guard with the scout as three more of Shockwave's Vehicons came after them, still obeying the mad scientist's order.
"'Bee! Call for a 'bridge! Get the scrap outta here!" she barked.
*I can't!* whined Bumblebee frantically *Soundwave's jamming communications! We're on our own!*
"Scrap!"
The femme glanced to the sky in time to see Infernus's white form flash in the sunlight. Soundwave and six of his Eradicons were in hot pursuit in a classic Vosian Spear formation. The young Prime spiraled up, hung suspended for a moment, his wings semi-wrapped unfurled and wrapped around him like a cloak, then tucked them in and dove down towards the slower soldiers. He collided with one and dug his jaws into its mesh, clawed limbs raking at it viciously. She could almost see his blue optics burning with a fire that might explode out at any moment. It seemed once more the beast inside had taken over. She watched as his maw opened and a stream of fire engulfed the Eradicon's body. He released his grip and let the drone plummet to the ground to meet a fiery, explosive end dangerously close to a pumpjack nearby. He pulled up about fifty feet from the ground and went after another, screaming. The Spear shattered.
"Infernus!" she shouted. "Forget the troopers! Get Soundwave! He's jamming our comm. links!"
Infernus issued another thundering, screaming roar and rocketed up back into the sky. To start with it didn't look like he'd heard her. He began chasing down another Eradicon instead of Soundwave. A snap of his jaws forced it into a dive. He followed. Had the beast inside completely taken over this time? Was his only instinct to hunt whatever target caught his attention? That could be a problem.
"Infernus!" Arcee shouted at him once more.
She would have repeated the order but one of Soundwave's soldiers split from the group to come after her. A series of shots barreled straight towards her, the shooter drawing closer and closer. The femme rolled to one side to avoid them but one found its mark regardless. She gave a cry as the sting raced up and down her leg. Arcee gritted her denta and fought through the pain. She barked an order for Bluestreak to help cover 'Bee. When the Eradicon was practically right on top of her she darted towards the low building and leapt onto its roof just in time to leap again – and onto the Eradicon's canopy. Wind rushed past her as the flier rocketed up and began performing Aileron rolls to try to dislodge her. Arcee's arm blades dug into its mesh to keep her steady. Energon seeped out of the breaches. The already slick surface became slicker yet. Mid-roll she felt her blades begin to slide from their places. She tensed and twisted her arms to try to keep her grip, thus catching the blades beneath mesh and mechanism.
A familiar electronic chittering told her it wouldn't be enough. She leaned to one side and forced the Eradicon in another direction, narrowly missing the head of a pumpjack as it lifted up.
KA-KOOM!
Bumblebee jolted when an approaching Vehicon was blasted back and fell, its helm practically blown to pieces. He jerked his helm to where the shot had come from. Something light blue and silver rushed past him in a rush of wind.
*Thanks, Blue!* he whistled.
Honk! Honk! was Bluestreak's answer.
The little Miata pulled a gunned its accelerator and raced for the last two Vehicons who had leapt down into the ravine to help their superior out.
*Careful, Blue!* he warned. *Keep away from the cyclops!*
Bluestreak gave him a wave that said plainly "No worries!" Then he leapt down into the ravine. The ring of his shotgun echoed twice, four times like a gruesome set of bells. The sound of Shockwave's pulse cannon zinged back. He heard no cry of pain, though. Bluestreak must've avoided it. He sure hoped he had anyway.
A scream forced his gaze heavenward. A look up revealed Infernus was in a steep nosedive in hot pursuit of one of Soundwave's soldiers, another right on his tail. The dragon was so close to the first one his fangs were nearly brushing its starboard wing. Even as he watched the white dragon snapped out and clamped his jaws down hard on the limb. His fangs breached the metal, and the sheer force of the bite wrinkled it. The trooper let out an agonized wail of pain. With the ground troops dealt with, Bumblebee watched as he rolled over and flung the Eradicon at its partner, the two colliding in a shattering explosion that sent both careening out of control towards the ground. Infernus himself tumbled as he tried to right himself. His optics widened in horror as one Eradicon careened towards a pumpjack and slammed into it. As the pumpjack fell to its side along with the burning soldier he thoroughly expected it to erupt in flames. It didn't.
BANG! BOOM!
Fire and smoke and oil erupted in a foul-smelling firestorm, burning black sludge falling like rain. The scout winced. Fowler wasn't going to be happy when he heard about this. They already had one count of property damage; guess they were adding a second to their rap sheet.
But where was Soundwave? The Vosian Spear had shattered like glass once Infernus had rounded on them, its components scattered into single units.
Another cry forced his attention in the opposite direction from where he was looking. What he saw made his optics widen in horror. He buzzed as loudly as he could:
*INFERNUS!*
The sight was that of Arcee free-falling toward the ground from well over two hundred feet in the air, sparks dancing on her slender frame. An Eradicon who looked to have been plashed with glow-in-the-dark blue paint fell beside her. Laserbeak was bearing down on the femme alongside Soundwave. He hefted his blasters fired repeatedly from them but did not succeeding in drawing either away. Then came a streak of white, a thundering scream, and the silent mech was engulfed in flames. He emerged from the firestorm scorched and weakened but still very much alive. Laserbeak gave a loud electronic chitter and wheeled on the young Prime. Fire was spat in the mini-con's direction. It rolled out of the way and shot beneath him. He looked ready to go after the mini-con, but when Arcee gave a frightened cry as she continued to plummet he abandoned the notion in an instant.
On hearing Arcee's cry, Infernus's thoughts underwent a one-eighty degree flip. His thoughts of hunting and battle, his anger – they all vanished to be replaced with horror and concern. He'd been so focused on the Eradicons that he'd neglected to see that one of the Spear was missing. Argh! He hadn't been multi-tasking his senses like Magnus had told him to! He'd even seen Arcee hitch a ride for crying out loud! And then his focus had diverted entirely! He had assumed she would be able to handle herself! Handle herself! Against fliers!
'Agh! Stupid, stupid!'
Tucking his wings in, he dove after her. He pulled up parallel to her and issue a short bark of a roar, rotating so his back faced her. Very briefly her expression exhibited shock and a bit of hesitation, but her arms then reached out and her legs tucked against his sides the same way a horse racer's would. An Eradicon tried to intercept them only be lashed at by razor claws. But where was Soundwave and his obnoxious little pet? Arcee had said to target him to get communications working again. Even as he thought that question a whine came from above and something whooshed past him in a blur of dark purple, barely missing him. He'd use the Phase Shifter but he honestly didn't know whether or not Arcee would phase through him if he did that, and he wasn't willing to take that risk. What he was willing to do was clip that annoying mech's wings. Soundwave had caught him once on a bad day, and he was more than ready for some sweet, sweet payback. Actually, if Soundwave hadn't caught him and Megatron hadn't learned about the Omega Keys and the Lock, maybe he wouldn't be in this situation. That had been the start of this. How he wanted to go back and undo that screw up.
A roaring scream escaped his vocalizer, and he surged after the silent communications officer. Soundwave shot ahead and banked around, nosecone pointing at him like a sniper scope. He sincerely wished he could use short-band to tell Arcee how this was supposed to go down, but until Soundwave was down for the count he was effectively mute. Hey, that was an idea – maybe he could somehow teach the others the Predacon language with some help from Grim? Then he wouldn't need to rely so heavily on short-band or comm's to talk to them in dragon form. Glyphs could work, but Soundwave would be able to translate those. A sharp pang came from his spark, and the train of thought was brought to an abrupt halt.
'Focus, boy.' scolded Onyx. 'Never permit yourself to be distracted during the hunt. It gives the prey time to study you. Or to escape.'
He would've argued with the Firstforged Beast about multi-tasking but he decided not to. Onyx wasn't the kind of Prime you back-talked if you knew what was good for you. What he argued to himself instead was why the slag Soundwave appeared to want to play a game of chicken with a dragon. He hadn't pulled away even now, two hundred feet away from him, and that was within range of his fire breath. Well, if the Slender-mech wanted to play...he'd play with him. So he issued a scream of challenge and did not alter course. Soundwave stuck to his.
And so dragon and drone drew ever closer to collision...
"What are you doing?!" Arcee demanded. Had the mech lost his senses?!
The young Prime issued a bark-like roar at her that she couldn't understand. He did not pull away. She did note curiously his flight path was less than steady, swaying to and fro like a cobra would do. Soundwave was staying as rigid as a post. At seventy feet she braced herself for a head-on collision. Infernus did not. Two seconds went by. She thoroughly expected a collision now, but it still never happened. She lifted her helm up and un-shuttered one optic just in time to see Soundwave veer sharply off course a mere twenty feet from Infernus and shoot underneath him to avoid his maw, which had been prepped and ready to snap at him. His behavior underwent a shift then. He seemed to become acutely sensitive to his surroundings. His helm swiveled to the left, right, then up. She wondered why for a brief astrosecond.
Then once more she heard that dreaded electronic chittering...
She tensed.
Laserbeak!
"DIVE!" she ordered.
Infernus didn't need to be told twice. In fact, he'd probably heard Laserbeak before she had. She leaned forward as he tucked his wings in and rocketed towards the ground below. Wind rushed past her, but this time the free fall did not make her panic. She was safe. She had something to hold onto. A Prime was protecting her – just like Optimus always had. The ground drew nearer and nearer. Some of her panic returned regardless. The femme was not accustomed to flying. She told him to pull up once, then again in a much louder tone of voice that had been infected with fear. But Infernus did not pull up. He did something else, something unexpected and ludicrously dangerous: he rolled over until he was belly plating up. She would have shouted at him that he was vulnerable to Laserbeak now, but she felt heat coming from his body, a great, scalding heat rising up. His maw gaped open. A roar split the sky apart, and an all-consuming firestorm was unleashed at the mini-con. The sky itself seemed to ignite with flame. Laserbeak dodged out of the way but still was scorched enough for its scanners to short-circuit. Unable to tell which way was up, down, left or right, the mini-con blindly rammed into a pumpjack port wing first and fell. It lay there, chittering for its master and flapping its panels like a downed bird.
The ground drew up like a freight train beneath her.
"PRIME!" she repeated. "PULL UP!"
Infernus flipped over half-way just in time for them both to collide into the stony, dusty ground of the oil field, each tumbling wildly until they skidded to their respective stops. Arcee winced as she tried to rise, her blue and silver mesh scratched to the point where it looked like she'd been attacked with a piece of sandpaper. Every part of her body hurt. From near at hand, Infernus limped over to her, favoring one paw, and helped her up letting the femme use his snout as a ballast. The look on his reptilian faceplates begged for forgiveness. Crashing hadn't been part of his plan. He hadn't mean to harm her.
Soundwave peppered them with shots as he screamed over their helms to retrieve Laserbeak. The mini-con was hooked back up and Soundwave took off again.
"Where's 'Bee and Blue?" she asked through gritted denta. She shouted hoarsely seconds later: "Blue?! 'Bee?! Where are you?! Trill or fire a round off o-or shout or something if you can hear me!"
Arcee heard a replying trill as asked, but no shotgun round and no shout. Her worry spiked. Then came a honking car horn. Seconds after that an Urbana came roaring out from behind cover and towards them like a car possessed. From above, Soundwave bore down on the brightly hued vehicle like a – well, like a predator drone on a selected target: accurate, ruthless, and with no emotion at all. Bumblebee did not stop and rocketed onwards towards the bridge. Blaster fire mercilessly rained down on the scout as Soundwave raced in closer. One found its mark in the cement in front of him, and in trying to turn and brake to avoid it he lost control and spun, transforming to get better traction. He skidded to stop. Soundwave saw to it he wasn't on his pedes for any longer than a few seconds. He rammed into him, knocking Bumblebee to the ground.
She cried out "'Bee!" as Infernus gave a worried noise that was neither roar nor scream; it almost reminded her of something feline.
The fossil threatened to slip from the scout's grasp as he tumbled, but he held onto it like his very existence depended on it. Soundwave transformed and stalked towards him, cables extending and wrapping around his prize. He yanked. Bumblebee yanked back.
*Guys! Help!* whistled Bumblebee desperately as loudly as he could. Arcee might not hear him very well from his current distance, but he knew Infernus would.
A desperate tug of war ensued. Infernus took to the skies and raced towards him. Arcee followed in his stead, a sinking feeling in her spark that they wouldn't reach the scout in time. Soundwave, as history told repeatedly, never lost. Or failed.
Bumblebee's line of thinking was only slightly more optimistic than Arcee's.
As he yanked and pulled back from the faceless Communications Chief's ensnaring cables his only thoughts were to hold out long enough for his allies to reach him. Soundwave had lost his soldiers, as had Shockwave. There was no way someone as cautious as Soundwave would take on three enemies at once, one of whom could fry him alive. He'd have to flee. And so Bumblebee kept a vice grip on the fossil, the digits of one hand locked in place between the fangs while another gripped it from beneath, both limbs pulling, pulling with every ounce of strength he could muster, re-routing power to his motor relays. He dug his pedes into the cement as much as he could, sincerely wishing he had claws like Infernus. He heard a snap, and his sharp optics saw that a fang was coming free of its socket. Swiftly pulling it out, he jabbed it sharp end first into Soundwave's visor, where it impaled and cracked the surface in a spider's web fashion. He felt the mech falter. Pushing his luck while it lasted, Bumblebee struck out with a fist and hit the tooth's base, worsening the crack by forcing the tooth even further into the visor. Soundwave, losing his patience, unlatched one of his cables and swatted the scout soundly across his chassis. Bumblebee's grip on the fossil nearly slackened.
A sound assailed his audials then: a shotgun round, coming from below. The noise that came after it made his mesh tingle: the sound of Shockwave's particle cannon firing and hitting a target which he knew had to be Bluestreak. There was no mistaking that voice. Another round of the cannon and the cry was silenced. He wanted to turn to look, to jump down and assist the young gunner, but he also couldn't let Shockwave and Soundwave make off with the jaw. And until Soundwave was handled or fled the area, they were all of them stranded here.
*Blue! Blue, hold on!* he whistled frantically.
The scout yanked as hard as he could. Infernus and Arcee had reached the bridge.
*Infernus! Blue's in trouble!*
But then, to his surprise, Soundwave pulled back – pulled back before the scout thought to remove the fang. The faceless mech transformed in a flash of deep blue-violet and launched into the skies, circling like some lean, hungry vulture. Bumblebee watched for the tooth to fall as he fired on the predator drone, but it never did fall. Even less encouraging was Soundwave's flight pattern, which indicated he was waiting for something or someone. Infernus snarled at him and spat a stream of fire, forcing Soundwave to move or be broiled. Bumblebee heard Shockwave's cannon sound again and moments later the bridge began to tremble. Massive cracks zigzagged rapidly through the cement. Titanic segments of the bridge began to slide inevitably downwards, their own sheer weight dragging them down. Bumblebee felt himself slide, so he tried to make a break for the cliff. Arcee raced forward, transformed, and desperately reached out a hand just as he managed to get within arm's reach of her. He reached out his hand...
A great groan of metal and cement rang out, and the bridge gave way beneath them both. Cement, metal, and Autobot tumbled into the ravine. Infernus only barely managed to dodge most of the rubble, but one slab of cement fell atop one of his wings, dragged him down, and pinned him.
Water splashed.
Stone and metal slammed together.
For two sets of optics, the world went dark, an echoing scream of primal panic echoing in their processors. That, too, faded into oblivion.
For a third, a blue haze engulfed his vision as anger, fear, and hysteria made his spark race.
And for the fourth set of blue optics in the ravine, the world had been dark for roughly two minutes now.
"BLUESTREAK!"
Infernus struggled in hysterical desperation to free his pinned wing, barely heeding of the pain lacing up the delicate mesh. Fire bubbled in his throat but he could not unleash it at the sight before him. For if he did, he'd burn Bluestreak as well as Shockwave. Unconscious Bluestreak. Injured Bluestreak. Bluestreak, the sibling whom he cared for the most. He'd failed to help the young gunner, and now a mad scientist was dragging him into a waiting groundbridge – Soundwave's groundbridge, into which the silent Slender-mech himself disappeared as he watched. Shockwave would do any number of unspeakable horrors on him. He'd heard stories...stories he now wished he hadn't heard.
He screamed his vexation at Shockwave's retreating form. The scientist paused at the vortex's event horizon long enough to turn back and look at him. Infernus continued to scream and struggle, and unless it was his imagination being affected by his emotions, he could've sworn he saw a touch of smug pride in Shockwave's single red optic. Without a word his gaze was removed and he stomped into the portal with his prize. Infernus craned his neck and jabbed the piece of cement off his wing. Free, he charged at Shockwave. He'd reach Blue, he'd get him out of this. Everything would be okay. His neck craned out, jaws open to latch onto either mech in sheer desperation...
And his jaws soundly connected with Bluestreak's heel strut. He yanked back – not hard, but just enough for Shockwave's grip to slacken out of what might've been surprise. Shockwave wasn't in the best state either way. His fall had to have left him hurting, and his sight was damaged to boot. No way was he letting his little brother be taken captive. He'd die before that happened.
[Get your stinking paws off him or so help me I'll tear you into ribbons you sick son of a rust bucket!] Infernus snapped in a rage.
Bluestreak awoke with a pained yelp to find his middle sibling snarling like a wild animal and tugging on his leg like a canine pull toy. Noting his position and that Shockwave was seemingly paying more attention to the dragon across from him than his would-be prisoner, Bluestreak hefted an arm, reverted it weapon form, aimed it at Shockwave's already cracked single optic and said smilingly:
"Peek a boo."
KRA-BANG!
Shockwave let out a cry of pain as his optic shattered almost completely from the blast, revealing the intricate wiring and circuits hidden beneath it. The scientist released his grip on the young gunner in favor of keeping a hand over his optic, Infernus dropping him and letting him get back to his trods. Energon began seeping out in thin rivulets from what remained of the red glass-like substance and out from between Shockwave's digits – not enough to be lethal but enough to be definitely disturbing to Bluestreak. His tanks churned a bit unpleasantly at the sight. Blindly he fired his cannon at the two as he stepped back into the groundbridge behind him. Whether or not Shockwave was lucky or had rapidly calculated out his blast was meaningless. Either way, one struck Bluestreak squarely in the helm, another, stronger one in his chassis, and the young gunner was blasted back and fell. Smoke rose up from his chest where some of the armor had been blasted apart.
Infernus let himself snap. If Shockwave's sight had been intact, he would have seen his ytla narrow to more resemble a reptile's. The growl that escaped his throat was more true of a genuine dragon. The sound alone got the scientist thinking...
He launched forward with a screaming roar and clamped his jaws down onto that thrice-cursed weapon. Shockwave, not content for his cannon to be a chew toy, fired off a powerful blast from the wrinkling weapon. The Prime was forced to release his hold. He screamed and spat fire at the retreating form of Shockwave. Only the portal closing mere astroseconds before the fire reached him kept Shockwave from adding a plethora of burns to his repertoire of battle wounds.
The Prime's ytla widened back to normal. His attention riveted on the prone, smoking pale blue and silver form near at hand. Transforming, he gently shoved at Bluestreak in an effort to wake him up.
But Bluestreak did not wake.
Infernus's optics widened. Panic gripped him.
"No, no, no. Blue, come on! Don't you dare die on me! Don't you dare!"
Not knowing what else to do, he began pinging Ratchet incessantly. Through Miko he had learned the absolute best way to get his attention was to be as persistently annoying as possible.
'Infernus, the others.' Solus reminded him tersely. 'The rubble will present no obstacle to you. Ensure the group is well before you panic over one individual.'
"Right, right. Yeah. I'm on it."
He darted over to the mountain of rubble and passed through it like a specter. Very little light peeked through the cement and metal supports, but his olfactory sensors were picking up whiffs of sour ozone – the smell of spilled Energon. It wasn't strong but it was enough to set him worrying again. Arcee and 'Bee were hurt, too. Primus, he'd completely botched this entire fracking mission. He didn't even know if 'Bee had hung onto the jaw. If he had and none of his 'bots died, maybe then he'd consider this at least a partial success.
A minute of searching produced Arcee's frame. Gently grabbing her, he hefted the unconscious femme into his arms and made his way out. Once in the sunlight he could see just how scuffed up she looked, and she now bore some minor mesh breaks to go with her scratches and dings. A groundbridge swirled open as watched, Ratchet emerging from it with his kit. Depositing the femme, he headed back into the rubble without a word in edgewise to him. Ratchet seemed to compute that yelling at him was not productive at the moment, so he set to work on the two Autobots before him.
He found Bumblebee in about half the time – and it was all he could do to keep from letting out a bark of laughter at what he saw clenched in the scout's fist:
The jaw. He'd actually managed to hold onto it even as he'd been buried alive. A couple of the teeth had broken off but otherwise it was intact.
He shook his helm in astonishment. Freakin' 'Bee. Always going the extra klick.
The young Prime stooped down the heft the scout up, pausing when his optics whirred back to life and he began a strange, full-body coughing fit to expel the dust clogging his air vents. His optics were caked with grime and dust, though, and he could make out a few hairline cracks in them that would need mending.
*...Optimus...?* he whistled faintly.
He snorted: "I wish. Nah, it's just me."
*Oh! Oh gosh. I'm sorry, Smoke. Can't see that great right now. World's all spiderweb-y.*
Infernus reached a hand out.
"Yeah, that's 'cause your optics have some cracks in 'em. Guess that's the downside to not being able to shutter them. Come on, let's get you outta here so the doc can fix you up."
Bumblebee accepted the hand and Infernus hefted him up to his trods, the scout phasing through the cement in the same phantom-like manner as the Prime. Some of the rubble dislodged and fell, but it never touched either mech. Infernus heard an exclamation from Ratchet. He shouted back they were both fine.
"Good! Because the instant we get back to the hangar I am going to kill you, Smokescreen!" Ratchet snapped.
Well. That was encouraging.
"Keep your hand on me. Let go and you're gonna get stuck in here."
*Right.*
Together they made their way out. Arcee was now awake and busily brushing off the dust caking her frame while Ratchet sealed up some of the femme's leaks. Bluestreak lay there beside her, so still he might as well have been a corpse. The smoke rising from the gunner's body was now absent, and the breach in his chassis had been covered with a brace. Infernus abandoned the scout in an instant and rushed to his sibling's side. His panic returned.
"Is he...?"
"He's alive." said the medic curtly. "But he's unstable. I need to get him back to the hangar. Did you at least secure the fossil?"
Bumblebee trilled and held up the jaw. Ratchet's response was a mere grunt. He motioned for the scout to step forward as he put a hand to side of his helm.
"Rafael?" he asked. "Re-open the groundbridge. Infernus and the others need medical attention."
One mission report later...
"...You. Did. WHAT?!" Ratchet bellowed.
Infernus winced. He counted himself lucky Grimwing was not in the hangar. The Thunderbird might've snapped the old medic's helm off for his tone.
"We got the fossil, didn't we? And everyone's in one piece."
Bumblebee raised a hand as if in class and emitted a whistling trill. Ratchet didn't notice, and Infernus was too busy trying to argue to pay the sound any notice.
"Do you have any idea of the risks you took?! You could've been killed! And Bluestreak very nearly was! You're lucky he's not dead after leaving him on his own with Shockwave!"
"Ratchet makes a valid point, Prime." Prowl said in his typically cold manner. "The number of life-threatening risks you took was highly illogical. You should not think so little of your own safety. If we lose you...the War might as well be over. And you should never, never leave an ally alone with an opponent as dangerous as Shockwave. Adaptive as Bluestreak may be, Shockwave is far more so and has greater firepower."
"I didn't mean to leave him on his own, Prowl!" Infernus nearly snapped. "You try being turned into a Predacon and having aggressive hunting coding put into you and see how you fare in a dogfight! Strategy goes out the slagging airlock!"
"Stop!" Rafael cried.
The arguing titans fell silent. Blue gazes zeroed in on the tween. He looked distressed, and Infernus could distinctly pick up a wash of stress chemicals.
"Just. Stop!" Rafael reiterated. "Fighting isn't going to help Bluestreak recover! It's not helping anyone! Yes, the team got the fossil – but Infernus made a few mistakes along the way and some people got hurt. You don't need to yell at him over it! He knows he messed up! If you asked him, he'd tell you he wouldn't make those mistakes again!"
Bumblebee whistled again and raised a hand up. This time he was heard. Focus shifted from the boy to the scout.
*We didn't get the whole fossil, Ratchet. When I was fighting Soundwave, one of the dental plates came out. I made the most of it by jabbing it into Soundwave's visor. Other fangs are missing because they fell off during the bridge collapse. Is one fang enough for Shockwave to create a clone?*
"Yes. One strand of genetic material contains all the necessary data to create a clone. Every part of us contains that genetic fingerprint."
"Great..." Arcee deadpanned.
"However, the jaw provides a fairly accurate scale for the beast's original size. It is a rough estimate, but this creature would be easily over eighty feet in length if archaeological records on Predacon physiology are accurate, perhaps longer. Shockwave would need resources to create such a beast – resources that are difficult or near to impossible to acquire during wartime. There is a very high probability he will not be able to clone this Predacon with his current supplies."
"So...no sea monster?" Jack hazarded.
Ratchet nodded. "There is a very low chance of it."
"Then why go after the fossil at all if he can't use it?" asked Rafael.
Ratchet snorted and that said they probably went after the fossil to keep it from falling it Autobot hands. Even if they couldn't make use of the find, they would slagging well ensure the enemy couldn't use it either. Of course, it wasn't like they had the resources to create such a creature either way, or the necessary knowledge. Cloning was a complicated and commonly thought "unethical" business.
"So, on a switch of subject...what about the Wreckers? When did they leave? And have they reported in yet?" Infernus wondered.
"Left shortly after your departure once they had finished downloading numerous files on Scottish mythology. As of this moment they are approximately an hour out and nearing the eastern seaboard. They decided it was best to take the Iron Will over a groundbridge. The ship has electromagnetic cloaking which renders it more difficult for Soundwave to track. Using it equates to a much longer mission duration, but a safer one come the conclusion."
Grimwing strode in at that particular moment in time and space.
"Grim! Did you find Miko?" Jack asked.
Infernus's optics widened and he interjected in a flash: "Whoa, wait. Hang on. Nobody bothered to mention to me that Miko's missing?"
"We would have informed you but we were unable to reach you owning to a block in your communications equipment." Grimwing explained to him. He refocused his attention on the black-haired youth and reported: "I found no sign of your ak'is, young man. However, her scent was unusually strong in the hangar that, until recently, housed Ultra Magnus's personal vessel."
Infernus's single ensuing word effectively summed up what everyone else was thinking:
"Frack."
Author's Note: Sweet Primus! I've been so overworked with college stuffs I've barely had time to write. D: Seriously, I have two exams on Tuesday, a History presentation on Monday, Wednesday, or Friday (and the guys in our group have still done squat for their parts), math homework due Tuesday, and a Psych and History paper that was due today. Not to mention I got no sleep last night until around 3 or 4 a.m. and then slept in till noon.
Look college: I like being busy, but I don't like being so overworked I fall into a miniature nervous breakdown for a week at a time. :/
Reviews are now visible again. xD
