Author's Notes: Another chapter down and wow we are getting close to the end! Here we get to finally see what our missing in action Autobots have been up to, and maybe they will arrive just in time to stop a tragedy?
I love hearing what everyone thinks, so drop a comment, give it a fav or follow, and of course, enjoy!
Part 12
How do you say 'Frag' in Mores Code because this is starting to look bad.
Location: Australian Eastern Coast
Rescue Bot Blurr
Nothing about what Blurr agreed to had been a good idea. He had come to peace with that. They were supposed to be avoiding Decepticons, not actively seeking them out. They were outnumbered and outgunned by about a million to five. This was supposedly damage control. Stomp out both figurative and very literal fires the Con's caused in this region without directly engaging. Because that would be suicide. But if that was the case, why could they not call on Heatwave and his team again? Right, jammed frequencies. Because the Cons ruined that too. If they traveled far enough out to reestablish communication, they would be abandoning the region to the Decepticon's famously nonexistent respect for local lifeforms.
Not like staying was doing much good. They had to relocate aboriginal communities living in the region and local wildlife to close to the Decepticon's new home away from home. Was it hard to move multiple groups of humans away from their ancestral homeland without directly talking to them? Very much so! How about a herd of angry Kangaroos? They sure didn't like road trips either.
Where the scrap was Brushfire this whole time? Had she been captured, or worse? Blurr didn't want to think about it, because if that was the case, they would have to go rescue her. Rescue her out from under an army of Cons. And what did they have to combat said army of Con's that decided the Australian outback was a good place to set up shop? Right. It was him, a racer, not a fighter in this or any other lifetime. His bud Salvage, a junk collector who couldn't hurt anything even if it were trying to kill him first. High Tide, a seasoned veteran in the war, but also a very, very old one. (The constant sea air didn't help his rusty joint problem either.) They also had High Tide's minicon mutt who was loyal but small and easy to step on. And lastly, the newest oddball to their group, Slash.
And that certainly wasn't counting… the human tagging along.
He glanced grudgingly over at the two new commers who had joined High Tide's, and by extension his, team. The agile, horrifyingly fast on her claws Dinobot hurried past Blurr, snout to the ground. Riding on her back, a worthless paper map in his clutches, was the local human of the hour.
Blurr had only ever met Woodrow Burns one other time. Enough to learn he was related to Chief Burn's in some strange organic way. But otherwise, he was basically just as much a stranger as Slash was when they came careening out of the forest at Blurr and the others about a week ago. Both parties thought the other were Decepticon and they had to duke it out while simultaneously interrogating each other. That wasn't even the first time Blurr had been mistaken for a Con. Though it only happened one other time, it was strange it happened twice. Did he just have that kind of faceplate?
Oh well. Seemed like Woodrow was here to stay. He at least made the task of talking to other humans much easier.
"Definitely Cons ahead…" Slash continued to sniff at the dirt. "Ash everywhere... Like a darn volcano went off."
Blurr shook the beeping device in his clutches. "I'm well aware. I do have an Energon scanner." He reminded them. Not that they even needed that. They had spotted the smoke from High Tide's ship. Con's were blowing stuff up again, and a small forest was the victim this time around. Australia was already lacking trees, and now there were even less to brag about.
Woodrow blew him off with a dismissive wave from the improvised saddle he had affixed to Slash's back. "Tech is fine… but sometimes you need the good old fashion way to get things done." His eyes went back to his map, squinting and turning the whole sheet a few times.
Blurr vented. "I appreciate the backup guys, but really, this was only a scouting mission. We aren't actually supposed to pick any fights. We sneak in, assess the damage, put out any flames, and book it back to the ship."
"You smell that, Woods?" Slash huffed, totally ignoring Blurr.
Woodrow sniffed his odd facial bump to the air. "The smoke," he agreed with widening eyes. "The fire is bigger than we thought. Too big to be any remaining local's smoke signals or a campfire gone out of control… Did I ever mention I learned the different smoke signals from the local-"
"Con's have been burning things in this region for weeks," Blurr interrupted, because he didn't have any endurance left in reserve for anymore of Woodrow's rambling stories. "That just means they're still looking for Energon."
Slash pushed her snout back into the dirt and took a deep whiff. "You see this Woods?"
Blurr groaned as he went once again ignored.
Woodrow jumped down from Slash's back. He knelt into the dirt, rubbing ash between his fingers. "Cool to the touch. It was put out already?" He sounded very confused by that realization. "Who would have put out a fire this big?" He looked into Slash's face and shared a knowing, adventurous smile. "The mystery deepens!" He jumped back onto Slash with her help and they trotted farther into the smoking forest remains, Blurr dragged along for the ride by proxy.
"You both make an, interesting team," Blurr commented. He felt like he had to say something during long pauses the two explorers fell into when in their 'tracking' modes.
Woodrow smiled back at Blurr over his shoulder. "Sure do! And would ya believe we only met a few months back in Western Queensland? We were both looking for Dino bones and bam! Ran into each other and it's been an adventuring party ever since."
"And here I thought I was the only one looking for the Earthlings from a few million years back!" Slash said with a fanged grin.
"And you never bothered upgrading the old alt mode since then?" Blurr asked. Only after he asked that, did it occur to him that may have been a rude thing to just blurt out.
Slash glanced down at herself. "No? The locals on Earth a few million years back were who I first met after Optimus Prime sent me here. And they liked to party! Then imagine my surprise when I come out of a longer stasis, and they're all gone!"
"Mostly gone," Woodrow assured her with a pat to her side. "Me and the family back on Griffin Rock found a deeper cave that had dinosaurs alive and well! Right after this mission, I'll take you."
Slash grinned from one side of her faceplates to the other. "Pits yeah! I can't wait to catch up!"
"Wait, that's why you look like that?" Blurr interrupted again, feeling more and more like the third wheel by the second. "So, you weren't turned into that by Shockwave, like the others?"
Slash blinked in total confusion. "Shock who? No, I just specialize in scanning organic forms… There are other Dinobots? Since when? Are they nice?"
The device in Blurr's grasp screeched. He almost dropped it in surprise, having to do a desperate dance between servos so it didn't smash to the ground. Once having a decent hold on the thing, he stared at the screen. "Wow. There was a massive spike of, something, just ahead."
"Unearthed Energon?" Woodrow guessed.
Blurr shook his helm, "No… I have no idea what it was. We need to back track and contact High Tide and Salvage."
"While standing in the Con's no contact zone?" Slash pointed out.
Blurr threw up his servos, "Ok! What would you do?"
Woodrow pulled from his pack one of his many human trinkets. He fiddled with the nobs and antenna until he appeared satisfied with the odd series of beeping that resonated from it. "High Tide is bound to know Morse Code! It's not high tech like the stuff you bots have but it should be enough to have them find us. I'm a bit rusty, but he should get the gist of whatever I send."
"Good idea!" Slash said excitedly. "In the meantime, we find out what that spike of energy was. And then after we can take care of that rust problem of yours, partner. Never a good thing to ignore."
"Thanks for lookin' out for me, partner," Woodrow said before they dashed forward.
"Wow! Where are you going?" Blurr stumbled after them. The beeping of his own device only became more frantic. Meaning they were getting closer without knowing what exactly they were getting closer to.
"Finding out what we're dealing with!" Slash said as if it wasn't totally insane.
"It could be Cons!" Blurr snapped, tripping over burned tree trunks in his attempts to keep up with the organic moded Cybertronian. Unlike her, he wasn't built for this rugged terrain.
"Then they won't know what is about to hit em!" Slash laughed.
"No! More like we won't know until we are getting shot at! Ack!" Blurr stumbled to a stop before he tripped over Slash. She had halted right at the edge of the burned woods, glaring thoughtfully ahead.
"Keep the noise down," Woodrow whispered to Blurr. He pointed forward at the dark entrance of a cave, the faintest hint of purple light illuminating within.
Blurr had to turn the scanner off because it was going absolutely crazy. Not like they needed it anymore. He was fairly sure they found their anomaly.
"Let's go," Slash whispered, starting forward.
Blurr grabbed her by the swishing tail, being dragged along towards the cave of their probable doom. "Without back up!? And also with him?" He snarled quietly, glaring at Woodrow.
Slash and Woodrow looked at each other, then back at Blurr. They were like a mirrored image, moving as one goofy duo. "But, he's my exploring buddy," Slash reminded Blurr.
"I can handle myself, whether it's with dinosaurs or alien convicts," Woodrow promised. He tossed his human device to Blurr, who had to release Slash's tail to catch it. "Don't come if you're scared. You stay back and see if you get a response."
Blurr looked at the small alien trinket, then back up and stumbled forward. "Wait! But I-" They were already deep into the darkness. He was abandoned at the mouth of the cave like the third wheel he was.
He glared back down at the beeping device in his palm. What a ridiculous thing for Woodrow to say. He wasn't scared… And yet a human just walked into who knows what kind of Decepticon trap without him. What exactly was that called if it wasn't fear? "Ok…" He fiddled with the tiny nobs, making a series of beeping transmissions into the unknown. He had, sort of paid attention to High Tide's Morse Code lesson. Salvage was so much better at human languages then he was. What he was trying to communicate, was their location, and a desperate need for help. And because the cosmic fates liked to laugh at him, the device received a response almost at once. Woodrow was now gone and was the only one who could confidently decipher the blips. Was this High Tide, or some other unsuspecting human vessel off the nearby coast? He hoped those beeps meant they were coming…
Blurr moaned, gazing between the device and the cave's mouth. "I'm not scared!" he said out loud. He left the device transmitting by the entrance before hurrying into the darkness after his teammates.
He caught the glow of Slash's optics and the shine of Woodrow's flashlight scanning the walls of the cave. He shuffled farther in to catch up. "Wait!" He whispered. All three light sources found him in their spotlight.
"Like a true Rescue Bot," Woodrow praised.
Blurr rolled his optics. "Let's just figure out what's going on so we can get out of here."
"Shush!" Slash rose her helm up on her long neck. Her animalistic optics narrowed. "I hear talking."
Blurr had to take her word for it, because he couldn't hear scrap. Slash was suddenly silent on her struts, her optics dimming almost to nothing. Woodrow followed her example and flicked his light off. That made the walls of the cave illuminate with strange markings. Blurr didn't bother studying them much as they crept along. If he didn't understand Morse Code, he doubted he would glean much of whatever this was.
Finally, he was able to hear talking just like Slash's audios had. Muffled laughter of at least two individuals. The purple light ahead was bright enough to let them know the source was close. They all stopped just around the corner of the larger cavern.
Peeking around the rock curve, Blurr saw more of the same writing pulsing on the large cavern walls beyond. He zeroed in on the two Cybertronians. Two Decepticons, one dark blueish gray and organic coded and the other much larger, red and with four yellow optics. They chatted it up for a bit more before the larger red one shrugged and headed off for the exit. The exit they were currently standing in! Blurr grabbed Slash by her tail once more and tugged. That was his only silent means of encouraging them to make a quick retreat before they were spotted!
Slash only shook her helm, smiled, and punched her fist into her other open palm in anticipation. That meaning was universal and Blurr was horrified. No way were they gonna fight these Cons! That was a sure-fire way to get shot in the-
Bam!
All three of them startled. The larger red Con crumpled to the ground a few short strides away from where they stood around the corner. The wolfish Decepticon had just… shot his teammate in the back. What was going on?
Then the same betraying Con snarled and swatted at the epmty air. Blurr blinked, unsure how to make sense of the Con seemingly arguing with himself about using the staff like weapon he held to finish the job. All the while, the other poor Con moaned on the ground, trying to swipe at the other with his draining strength.
"Gah! Fine! I don't need the staff… I can handle this the old-fashioned way." The Decepticon snickered, poised claws ready to strike a deadly blow.
A small rock hurled out from the shadows and clanked the wolfish Con, snatching his angry yellow gaze up onto Blurr's side of the cave. Blurr thawed in time to see Woodrow totally out of cover, snatching another rock from the ground and tossing it hard at the attacking Con. "Leave him alone, coward!"
The Decepticon still standing blinked, visibly confused once his anger waned. "A human vermin? Here of all places?" He stepped over the other, now silent Decepticon towards Woodrow. The shock had clearly worn off, and now the Con was just amused by Woodrow's attempts. "And what's something of your feeble size going to do about it?"
It was as if Slash had been banking on something so ironic being said, just so she could tear out around the corner with a cave shaking roar to challenge it. The once grinning Con shriveled in alarm against the sudden charge of the Cybertronian beast. He aimed his staff, the tip glowing and sputtering sparks. Something was clearly wrong with the weapon because the Con who wielded it gasped, slapping it in a desperate bid to get it firing. Slash crashed into the Decepticon before the weapon could repair itself. His staff was thrown from his grasp, and he himself slammed against the far rock wall, crumbling away some of the glowing words.
Blurr thawed, rushing into the fray against his own survival instinct. Maybe the Rescue Bot in him was really showing up today, because all he could focus on was the Decepticon on the ground. The wound in his back was smoldering, the weapon type being one Blurr had never seen before. True, he hadn't seen wounds from the war, but this was a little over his helm regardless. He did everything he was trained to do anyway.
Slash snarled and grappled the Con and Woodrow continued to hurl the occasional rock projectile. Blurr tried tuning out the chaos and shifted out a first aid kit from subspace. "Just like training, you know how to do this," He chanted himself through. He took in the damage, seeping Energon and fried wiring, main backstrut exposed to the air. So, that was bad. He fumbled with his scanner from the kit. Its light probed the Con, and reported a trembling Spark pulse… Six in fact. Well, that was odd, but as long as there was at least one Spark, he could work with it. He cauterized the two main Energon lines and unfurled the temporary patch to cover the wound. The pliable metal foil affixed to the edges of the wound on contact, protecting from further damage. It was so large it needed three patches.
Blurr flinched as the fighters staggered closer to him. Moving an injured victim was not advisable, but in this case he figured the prose were worth the cons. He tried to drag the much larger Bot away from the fray. He couldn't get a good grip, his peds slipping in the wet cavern mud and the much larger chassis acting as totally dead weight. A small form appeared at the fallen Decepticon's ped. Woodrow. Despite logic or basic laws of physics, he pushed as hard as he could trying to budge the Con. He must have run out of rocks to throw. He also didn't care about getting trampled in the fight. What a brave little Spark…
The still Decepticon shifted, pushed backwards towards the edge of the cave. Blurr's optics widened at Woodrow. 'Wow. Who knew humans packed so much strength in their little frames…' He thought. Until he noticed the second Cybertronian servo reached over his own shoulder, helping to pull the Decepticon to safety. His partner Salvage's square smile beamed down onto him as they worked together. "Got your message," he explained simply.
Echoed barking rumbled through the tunnels. The larger form of High Tide came crashing through the darkness, his trusty Minicon Servo rushing right alongside him. Very very old and rusty pistons aside, High Tide slammed into the Con. The Decepticon was already off balance thanks to Slash's grapple, and Servo biting into the Con's tail, yanking him back just before the impact. Their team effort knocked him over and cascading into the mud. Not bad for an old timer.
The Con snarled, stumbled back to his peds, yanked his tail free from Servo's mouth, and snatched his staff from the ground. But he didn't take aim. He shifted the staff down and managed to transform into a four wheeled vehicle. He swerved around High Tide and Slash, catching a few passing hits in exchange for a hasty retreat. High Tide shifted out a blaster Blurr had never seen before and shot after his spinning tires. He may have gotten one, but their target was gone, but Slash gave chase into the darkness regardless.
High Tide vented, shifting away his rarely used weapon once more. "Good thinking with the Morse Code," he praised in his crusty sea captain sort of way. Then to Blurr's true relief, he took over the first aid. He quickly fixed the shoddy patch he managed to set on the unconscious Decepticon.
Slash pattered back to them; moods sour as she returned empty clawed. The trigger-happy Con must have slipped away. "That one who turned tail shot this one… No idea why. They weren't even fighting."
"We can figure it out later," High Tide vented hard as he rose to his peds. "He's stable, so we move him back to the ship before he slips away. We sail for Maine."
The canine Minicon barked, shifting forth a stabilizing board for them to load the large Decepticon onto. They worked together to load the limp form onto the board and carry him for the entrance as fast as they could without jostling him.
"But if we leave, the Cons'll have total control over the region," Slash pointed out.
High Tide stood solum. "We went long enough without contact with the others. We evacuated all we could, and now we have at least enough intel to maybe get it back with backup," He hesitated, glancing the strange cave. "Plus, this be only Cybertroniain text. Haven't seen it since I studied texts from the old Primes… Whatever this be, will be needing back up."
Woodrow spoke up, seated on his perch on Slash's back once more. "Now that we know Morse Code works through the communication scramble, I can contact Charlie… Would have done so sooner if I hadn't lost my cell phone in that volcano," He sighed longingly.
"Ha, yeah. That was a crazy day," Slash agreed, thinking fondly on whatever volcano related hijinks they were talking about.
Blurr glanced back at the glowing cavern before focusing on his task and leaving the strange place behind. The old Primes? He shook off that thought when the Decepticon moaned. They could deal with history later. "Thanks for coming for us," he said to Salvage.
"It's what we do," Salvage said. But then his assuring grin somewhat wavered before he added, "Though it took us a klik to figure out what you were saying. The message came through as, 'Help. Flaming flamingo incoming. She's living la vita loca.'"
Blurr shrugged. "At least I nailed the word 'help.' See, I pay attention."
Chop Shop
The damn world was rocking enough to make his tanks churn. It was dark, he couldn't feel his servos, and his back stung enough to make him want to crawl out of his plating. This was far from what he hoped the All Spark was all about.
Churning waters and the scent of salt. Ok, well this was nicer. Then came the mumblings of voices and the sound of those flying, squawking things he had glimpsed a few times while on Earth. He was alive. So that explained the scrapping pain. Oh goodie.
His pounding helm protested when he found his optics somewhere in the front of his helm and forced them to open. He was facedown staring at the floor of some sort of Cybertroniain vessel. He managed to sort of maneuver his helm to the side. Dark storm clouds greeted him in his peripheral vision, along with those sky squawkers circling overhead. Still on Earth?
"You ok buddy?"
He located the small form of a human. More confirmation this was still Earth. He didn't recognize this one either. "Crikey…" was the first thing he thought to moan. "Where?" He had tried to sit up, but his torso was too heavy to handle in this state. So, he tried utilizing his servos, but soon found the reason behind their numbness. Stasis cuffs clasped them together behind his back.
Back under arrest. Great.
"Just hang in there. We're headed home," the human promised him.
"Home?" Chop Shop echoed, no clue what that entailed from the small creature's perspective.
"The Autobot Rescue Bot Academy," A sharper Cybertronian voice explained.
Chop Shop lulled his helm to the other side. More than one of his own kind stood over him, a four pedded Minicon and… Another Dinobot? Had Beast Mode just become the new fashion while he was under stasis for a few million cycles? They were also all Autobots.
His mind was slow to the party, so it only now clicked. "Wait… Ya mean Brushfire's place?"
Well, even midway on the way to dyin' he was still able to shock a crowd, because that simple remark startled everyone hovering over him.
"You know them?" the second largest bot with green and blue plating asked.
"Yeah… I'm workin' for em. Sort of an undercova thing… Thought I was pullin' it off at least." He groaned, the darkness in his vision coming back to cut their little conversation short. He felt his servos again. They took off the stasis cuffs, so they must have believed him… Wow where Autobots too trustin' for their own good.
"We are finally out of the communication scramble. They are sending a Groundbridge for the whole ship to take us the rest of the way." One of them said. Chop Shop couldn't tell who anymore.
"Just hang in there. Almost home."
Chop Shop tried and failed to laugh. "Damn, you Autobots really litter this planet, don't cha?"
He couldn't hear any response to that witty remark. He was back under again. It wasn't bad. The quiet was nice.
Location: Rescue Academy, Maine
Heatwave
Secundus had supercharged the Groundbridge vortex, resulting in a massive portal bursting open in the sea in front of the Academy. High Tide's ship came sailing through along with a rush of Australian seawater into their own Maine ocean. He stood at the ready along with everyone else on the dock, all in tense silence. He wished he could be more excited to see their fellow Rescue Bots after such a long span of radio silence. The moment was somewhat spoiled for celebration.
The ship docked and their long-lost teammates hurried out of the portside hatch onto the docks. Heatwave laid optics on their Decepticon ally's crumpled form first, and every joint in his chassis stiffened.
Medix and Blades didn't hesitate to rush in, scanning over him with beeping tools and scowling optics. "To the Med Bay, right now!" Medix snapped.
Nobody protested. Heatwave was little more than a passenger as he followed his team. Then watched out of the way with the rest as Blades and Medix worked. Chop Shop shifted in and out of consciousness as they removed the several patches from his back plating, revealing the truly horrid blaster injury under it.
"It was either him livin' or us staying to watch over the Con's territory," High Tide explained from their corner of the Med Bay.
"Thank you." Heatwave said.
High Tide shrugged. "Not much we could do other then sabotage from time to time anyway. We had to meet back up eventually."
Heatwave gave a numb nod. He glanced the room at the many humans and bots waiting alongside him. Woodrow, the audacious and adventurous brother of the Chief was talking to the group of humans, filling them in on everything they had missed on their side of the globe.
Those listening most intently was Brushfire, and especially Quickshadow. "He was just blasted from behind by the other one," Woodrow reported. "I heard somewhat of what was said… The shooter said he heard an Autobot frequency on Chop Shop with his refined hearing?"
Quickshadow had been standing alongside Heatwave through most of the debriefing. She was good at keeping a neutral expression for the sake of the mission. Or in this case, for the sake of the many worried recruits looking on. But hearing what Woodrow reported, her whole person stiffened and her resolve to remain stoic cracked. "This was my fault then. I designed that wire to be totally undetectable. Clearly, it needed work."
"Don't let it getcha down," Slash begged her. "I have real good hearing too, but I didn't hear the wire. That one Con must have just been a freak among the rest with his freakish pointy audios. Who knows what other weird scrap he hears with them."
Quickshadow just shook her helm again. She didn't seem in the mood for a pick me up.
Heatwave shared her solum attitude. He had been the one to authorize this little venture. He even pressed Chop Shop to stay longer to gather more intel. His gaze found the Recruits, all pressed to the other far wall with varying degrees of worry on their young faces. Whirl was clinging to Chop Shop's folded instrument like her life depended on it. This was something he had prayed they would not have seen. At least not this early in their rescue work. He hoped they wouldn't have to witness anything worse, for Chop Shop's sake, and theirs.
"Pretty sure this one also saved a large chunk of forest," Slash said out of nowhere, like she had just remembered to share that info. Brushfire was the first to glance up at that before Slash elaborated. "Somebot had put out a fire the Cons had lit, and then I noticed on the ship, this one has the same ash in the grooves of his peds. Must have stomped it out. Mighty kind of him. For a Con."
Brushfire was stationed closer to the medical table than the rest of them. During a pause in Medix and Blade's work, she placed a gentle hand on Chop Shop's shoulder.
The doors to the medical bay slid open. Heatwave grimaced when Grimlock's massive form peeked in. The Recruits all rose their optics. "I hear we lost a Con. Want me to pull another one from the break room to replace-" Heatwave's glare was enough of a warning for him not to finish that thought. "Ok ok, I get it. Grim humor isn't always the best… Hey, who's that?"
He had found Slash among the newcomers, still standing in her Dinobot mode as she usually did. The two observed the other, Slash tilting her helm at him. "You sort of smell like me," she observed, breaking their stair-off.
"Not at all by choice," Grimlock promised, taking a few steps closer. "Hu. What are the damn odds?"
Slash shrugged, "Probably long odds, because it ain't just me. A Dinocon is also in that Decepticon hide out. It's like a real Dino convention on this planet. Reminds me when I first got here."
Chop Shop stirred, and every recruit pushed away from the wall to get a little closer without getting in the way.
"Is he awake?" Whirl demanded.
"Getting there," Blades hummed without missing a beat in his careful work, "But healing stasis is definitely where he is going right when we are done."
"More Autobots," came Chop Shop's grumble. The comment made him the center point of the room's focus very quickly. "Like ya all fallin' out of the blimy sky."
"See?" Grimlock snorted, "He's makin' jokes. So, I can too."
"We kept your stuff safe!" Hotshot blurted. He ran around to the side of the table Chop Shop's helm was faced. "I only accidently fired your gun once! Still perfectly fine."
"And I wanted to ask if you could show me how to play this!" Whirl said, pushing into the Decepticon's line of sight alongside Hotshot. "I know it takes two bots to play, but, I'm pretty nimble on my peds! I can figure something out."
Chop Shop blinked at them both. He managed his characteristic snarky smile. "Sure kid. I can carve out some time before I head out," He found Brushfire by his side, her hand still resting on his shoulder. "Hey Sheila… Ain't you a sight for sore optics."
Brushfire's face was solum in spite of his joking, "You put out that mayja fire?" She questioned him.
He blinked, seeming to struggle summoning the memory. Realization clicked, and he nodded, "Yeah, remembered what ya said about the place that loves ta burn."
"That may have blown ya cover," Brushfire admitted, and sounded very guilty for ever bringing it up.
"No, it was my shoddy wire that did that," Quickshadow corrected. She looked down at Chop Shop sincerely, "I am sorry you had to pay the price for my blunder."
Chop Shop tried to shake his helm. He didn't have much luck with his limited range of motion laying faceplate down on the medical table, "Nah, just rotten luck. That Steeljaw had some freaky good audios."
"Told ya," Slash intoned.
Chop Shop found Brushfire again and smiled. "Ya know what's funny? It wasn't even what ya said about the place that made me do it. I wanted to. Ya Autobots may have right corrupted me. Thanks a lot."
Brushfire observed him for the briefest of moments before starting to laugh. "Sorry about that, mate."
"He's stable," Medix commented to the room, "Stasis will finish the rest."
"Nah, wait," Chop Shop raised a hand before they could wheel him to the closest stasis pod as fast as possible.
"Promise we won't leave you under for a million years," Blades couldn't help but joke.
Chop Shop had just enough strength left in reserve to roll all four of his optics, "Actually not tha concern… But before ya put me on ice, I heard the plan between the Con bosses. Figured I'd share it. It's why I was over there after all."
Heatwave took that as his cue to step forward. "Only if you're well enough to."
Chop Shop made an indifferent sound Heatwave could only interpret as a yes. "The three actin' bosses are all in fightin', but Steeljaw, the bastard who shot me, he's stringin' them all along. Pittin' em' against each other. He basically convinced em'. They're stayin' here. On Earth. They're gonna broadcast another message, like the one ya said old Soundwave sent, but this one'll be less than friendly. The message will be a declaration of conquest over this rock. Then tha second broadcast will take out all tech connected to human satellites."
Heatwave felt the weight of that update hit him broad in the chest plates and then cascade past him to affect the rest of the room's inhabitance. Chief Burns, much like Chase, Blades, and Boulder, took the information in with a deadly seriousness. The Recruits were panicked but drew on each of their learned levels of self-control to remain quiet.
But Heatwave's higher sensitivity to Kade's personal nonsense allowed him to clock the fire Chief's whole form radiating a mix of worry and greater confusion. "Um, does that mean it'll take out cell service?" And he cradled his cellphone while he inquired this.
"More than that, genius," His sister snapped, "Everything is on the satellite grid. Worldwide communication, GPS, a lot of energy systems."
Kade continued to look on blankly until Cody added, "TV too, Kade."
Kade gasped in horror, "Those monsters!"
Graham was running some quick calculations on his work pad, "If the grid goes down, Earth goes dark. Probably for years. That'll leave us sitting ducks for even this small band of Decepticons to take over," he said with a gulp.
"Then it's time to strike the hole they're hidin' in," Grimlock said with a gleeful smile.
This time, Heatwave didn't shoot down the idea. But for the time, he remained focused on Chop Shop. "When?"
"In the next cycle or two," Chop Shop groaned, "And watch it. They have three hard hitters on their team now. A gladiator, a metal eater and a Dinobot of their own."
"Impossible!" Fixit complained, rolling up to the conversation from who knows where. "I have all three of those Con's in the ship archive! They're still under!"
Chop Shop gave the small bot an annoyed look. "Well then by all means, don't take my own fraggin' word for it. I just saw 'em with my own optics…"
Fixit grumbled, messing with his screen, "I can prove it. See? Here they are. Still on…" He hesitated, tilting his helm to the side. "Oh wait, I forgot to update the drivers and reboot the archive systems after the crash."
They waited. Fixit hummed a little tune to himself as his screen went dark, came back on, loaded some lines of code before shutting down and reloading again. "Ok, here we go," he promised. Then Fixit's lip plates pinched into a thin line. "Never mind."
"Can't fathom why the Alchemor crashed," Hotshot quipped.
Whirl patted the dejected Fixit on the shoulder, "Hey, no worries. I put off updates way longer than I should too. Everyone who says otherwise is a fibber. I mean, if the updates are so important, why does it give us the option to ignore it until later?"
"Don't matter a sailor's minute anyhow," High Tide chimed in with a characteristic scowl. "The whole hoard left the area not long after we set sail."
"Our criminals flew the poultry hut, as humans would say?" Chase gasped. "And I am willing to bet they did not even clean up any litter they produced. The scoundrels."
"Did they take the escape ship?" Heatwave asked.
High Tide shook his helm, "If this Steeljaw character told the others Chop Shop was a spy, then they may be thinking we are not far off their trail."
"Woulda been part of the escape plan," Chop Shop chimed in with a wince. The glance Medix and Blades exchanged was concerning. Clearly, they needed to move him into stasis soon. But Chop Shop elaborated first, "If ya Bots found out where they was hidin', they woulda portaled away, with or without the ship. And since I sabotaged it, it ain't goin' anywhere. I imagine they woulda left the remainin' Alchemor ship stewards… Too much effort to take 'em, and to much of a waste to put bullets in all their helms."
"Where will they be portaling too?" Heatwave asked.
Chop Shop groaned, trying to better face Heatwave. "Same place they were gonna broadcast. Someplace high up. Seemed like they scouted some human city with big enough buildings ta get the job done. Won't be too far from the base."
"Sydney," Brushfire realized with a start, "They'll be plenty of skyscrapers there!"
"Plenty of humans to see this all unfold too," Boulder added.
"Did you catch which building they are going to broadcast from?" Heatwave pressed.
The expression on Chop Shop's faceplates turned a bit. "Eh, about that. There isn't just, one place. They, couldn't decide which of two buildings was taller."
"Their indecisiveness is our advantage," Chase pointed out merrily.
"Stasis," Medix snapped. "We can't wait anymore."
Heatwave nodded, and Chop Shop was finally wheeled away. He watched the door close behind his teammate and medical recruit, his Spark boiling with guilt, worry, and anger. Humanity was in danger after everything they had worked for, and one of their allies was now severely damaged. Damaged because of his orders. Quickshadow appeared to share in the spoils of guilt on that regard too.
"We need to save the rest of the Alchemor Stewards," Boulder said, eyeing Fixit's fidgeting form. "Some of us will take what Chop Shop reported and defuse the cave of bombs and other booby-traps to get to them. But then…"
"Then we go on the offensive?" Grimlock asked.
Heatwave gazed the Dinobot. He was still raring to go even after learning there were now Decepticons who could possibly match his team's strength.
"Yes," Heatwave agreed at last, "It's time, before anyone else gets hurt."
