When I said 'I hope to have the next chapter out by the end of the week' at the end of Chapter Three, that might have been wishful thinking. Nevertheless, I got Chapter four done. This chapter, Firefly finds a bit more of herself, Sari finds a bit more responsibility than she might be ready for, and a familiar face rejoins the team.
Also, I editted the story to fix an eyesore grammar mistake, nothing else.
As always, I don't own Transformers or any recognizable brands I refer to in this.
Onto Chapter Four!
Chapter Four: Almost in reach
I run from a strange purple decepticon, it's got one optics, its ugly. Everything is so big. He's so much bigger than me. Everything is… oddly fuzzy. I feel like I've been here before, but past memory files are inaccessible.
"DAD!" The scream tears from my vocalizer.
I don't know where I am. I'm lost. I look around as I get trapped in… some sort of ravine.
"Dad? Mom?"
"Come back here, sparklet." The big purple decepticon cackles as his black digits lift up my little sparkling frame.
"NOOO!" I flail with terror…
As I jerk awake and sit up, looking around the dark room.
"My quarters…" I ex-vent, glancing from wall to wall, my optics adjusting. "Right."
I blink at the blue-grey walls for a moment before rolling onto my back, and stare at the ceiling. What in the name of Cybertron was that dream file about?
I swing my legs over the side of the berth and lean against the wall, rubbing my optics. I plant my feet on the floor and stand up, checking my internal clock, which told me it was 0600.
Which also meant Sari could be awake. I was done recharging if dream files were planning on making my recharge restless. I mean, I could go see if she's awake. If she's not, I could wake her up. I frown at that. I've only been her guardian for a few months, and if there's one thing I learned, it's that my charge values her sleep. I cross the space from where I was standing to the door, opening it and glancing into the hallway. It's quieter than Prowl when he's on the prowl out here.
I -as quietly as I can- walk down the hall, past everyone's quarters without waking anyone. I let out a vent I didn't realize I was holding before stepping out into the outdoors. I transform to my pick-up mode before making my way to the Lennox's house. I hack into Sari's alarm so I can wake her without being intrusive.
"Good morning, Sari!" I play through the alarm. I hear her jump awake and I can't help but laugh a bit.
"Firefly, seriously?" She glared at the alarm clock. "Did you just hack my alarm clock."
"Hey, you got any summer math homework? I could hack that, too."
"You're… a… what's the word that Ironhide calls you? Smart-Aft?" She rolled her eyes.
"Yup. That would be me." I laugh. "The one and only."
"I'm coming, just let me brush my teeth and change out of my pjs." She called down from the window. I just wait. She bursts out the door a minute later, holding a hazelnut spread Uncrustable. I open the passenger side door.
"Please don't get the hazelnut stuff on my interior." I say rather politely.
"Fine," She huffed with amusement. "I won't share."
"I wouldn't exactly call it sharing but ok." I quip as I pull out of her driveway. "Your parents know you're hanging out with me, right?"
"Yeah, they do. I woke up Mom and told her." She responded. "So, what's on the activities list for today?"
"Not a trip to Greece, that's for sure." I snorted.
"Aww." She faked disappointment. I laugh.
"We'll find something to do," I say certainly, without adding: And maybe finding out why I had the dream file I did.
I pull back into base and open the door for her. "And we have arrived. You may unbuckle your seatbelts as we have come to a complete stop. Please stow your tray tables, and grab all your belongings. Thank you for riding with Firefly." I tease. Sari laughs as she jumps out.
I transform and glance around. The twins are standing by the spacebridge.
"What's up?" I ask them.
"The team might need back-up." Sideswipe said.
"You wanna come with?" Sunstreaker asked.
"Yeah." I nod. I turn to Sari. "I'll catch you later."
"Ok, I get it. Orders are orders." She made a thumbs up. I turn to Sideswipe after nodding to my charge.
"Let's go then." Sideswipe pounded one of the buttons. The three of us barged through the space bridge.
Arriving, I can just see all the damage. Buildings were savagely toppled, several military vehicles destroyed, and many decepticons still lingered.
::Firefly,:: Ironhide grumbled through the comm. ::I need you to find Will.::
::On it.:: I transform to my Link form and rear up before barging forward.
I find his signal on my radar. I'm really close. I make a few turns, which sets me face to face with Shockwave. Lennox is unconscious, injured behind the mad scientist.
"Shockwave." I snarl.
"Lightning Bug?" He cackled. "I'll squash you like what you are: a bug!"
I transformed to my bipedal form and transformed my arm into an impressive blade.
"How badly do you want to go through this?" I narrowed my optics dangerously.
"Just as bad as you." He snarled and attacked. I kicked him out of the way.
"Looks like you spend too much time in your lab."
Static came from Shockwave, making him difficult to understand. "Zcch… tcczh… kicks like a… tcczz … zzcch…"
I switched my blade to my gun and fired on his legs before rushing to Lennox. I carefully picked him up.
"Will?!" I exclaim. This is my charge's dad after all. What means a lot to her means a lot to me, too.
"Ugh…" The major groaned, blinking open his eyes. "What happened?"
"Does a decepticon with one red optic ring any bells?" I tilt my head to the side. He chuckled a bit, then winced. Eventually, the human medics come to help. But, that's when Shockwave comes out of stasis. He whirled around with living anger in his optic… just as an old memory file plays through my vision like a knife. I grip my helm as it intensifies…
I try to run, my tiny sparkling feet going as fast as they can possibly carry me. I'm on a planet which is familiar- like that feeling Sari told me was déjà vu. I've been here before. …But yet, I can't possibly recall this in this strange flashback, the name is right there in my mind, but just out of reach. I realize: This is the memory file which that Dream-file was trying to piece together. The flashback engulfs my senses... I'm being chased by a strange purple cybertronian with one optic. I can hear other Links fighting, I call out to them, but there's no response. One of them, bright yellow in color, leaps over me and sends Shockwave to the ground.
"Run, Sparklet, don't let them catch you!" She shouted, nuzzling my nose, her optics warm. Her ears go from pinned back to forward. "You're ok, I promise."
I nod and spin around, my four little stubby legs furiously running along the ground. A winged cybertronian chases me this time. He still has red optics.
"Come to Screamer, Sparkling." He hissed. "Shockwave wants a closer look at you Links. He wants to know why you metal behemoths can't transform… and he wants to change that."
I run as fast as I can. I get cut off by a big grey one. He's way more intimidating than the other two. I'm trapped between the seeker and… the very scary one. The purple one pushes the seeker to the side and picks me up, letting my legs dangle. I flail my legs helplessly and shout for help.
"Perfect." A voice snarled gleefully…
A hand shaking my shoulder breaks the trance. I gasp for a moment, my vents cycled fresh air into my slowly overheating systems. My helm feels heavy. I hazily focus on Mom and Dad, but it takes a few moments for me to process what happened. I wonder why they look so concerned for a moment.
"Mom… Dad…" I force my vocalizer to work breathlessly. "What…?"
I rub my helm as Mom takes my helm in her hands. "Sweetspark, what happened?"
Honestly, even if I wanted to, I couldn't answer that. I think for a moment. What was that? It wasn't a dream-file, it was… definitely a memory file. But- I've never experienced that. Then how come it feels like I've been to that planet before?
"It was a memory file, but it's not in any of my databanks." I say quietly. Dad helps me to my feet, but I feel really wobbly, like I had too much high-grade. I momentarily call to mind the time the twins and I got wayyy overcharged and in lots of trouble. Mostly from Prowl.
"Back at the base, I'm going to do a few scans on your processors." Dad murmured gently. I nod and lean more of my weight against him, as if that if he wasn't there, I'd clatter to the ground in a helpless tangle of limbs.
"It's ok, sparklet." Dad patted my back gently as I cycled more air through my vents, trying to calm down. My systems begin to cool down. My helm doesn't feel quite as heavy.
Eventually, we go back to base, and Dad drags me straight to the med-bay for in-depth scans. Sari bolts into the room.
"Firefly!" She shouts, and climbs up the ladder to get onto the berth which I'm sitting on.
"Hey, Sari." I grin. "Are you bored?"
"Are you ok?"
"I'm fine." I roll my optics.
"Are you sure?"
"I'm sure." I nod. I glance at Dad, who is in deep conversation with First Aid, looking at the scan's information. I don't understand the medical gibberish. Sari hugs my wrist.
"Good." She murmurs. I smile.
"Yeah."
First Aid takes a few steps toward us with a scanning device in his hand and a sympathetic look. More scanning. I let my shoulders sag; this wasn't any fun. He prepped the scanner and began getting more scans. I tried my hardest not to look like I was about to snap the scanner in half, but it was hard. First Aid's gaze intensified and then he rolled his optics.
"Nothing new. Just the same thing we got this whole time."
Sam bolted into the med-bay. "Is Mikeala here?"
"No?" I say hesitantly.
"I need to show her that I found the shoes I wore in mission city."
"You kept those?" First Aid asked.
"Why not?" He nodded as he climbed up the ladder. Sari gave the filthy shoes a disgusted look. She fingered the ID card around her neck.
Sam tried to put on the gross shoes. He shook them. "There's a rock in here."
It wasn't a rock. He flicked out a Shard of the Allspark. It flew at the ID card Sari was wearing. The ID card transformed into a key the moment the shard hit it.
"Woah- I didn't- I didn't do that." Sam half-smiled.
Dad took a few steps toward us and focused on Sari's key, probably scanning it with his scanners or something. "That key now has the last of the Allspark's power in it."
"Woah." Sari gasped. "Cool!"
"Now, Sari." Dad scowled. "It is very important that you keep this safe and use it responsibly,"
"I will." She nodded earnestly. I wondered for a moment if she actually would be responsible with it. Given the last time that she tried to come with me on a mission, I wasn't so sure.
"What does it do?" I asked.
"My guess is it could repair damaged autobots and perhaps upgrade technology."
"It can't bring stuff to life?" Sari pouted.
"It does not have the energy required to do so." Dad responded.
"Awh." Sari still pretended to be disappointed. I saw right the façade.
"Sari, come on." I poke her side. "You have the coolest key ever, and the best guardian and you're complaining?"
"Bumblebee's a better guardian." Sam quipped.
"Yeah, right." I retorted. "He let you face Megatron by yourself."
"Not on purpose!" Sam replied indignantly. Bumblebee walked into the med-bay.
"Hey, Firefly, you up for a rematch?"
"Am I ever?" I snark, scooping up Sari and jumping to my feet. Dad gives me a look. "Can I go please?" I beg.
"Yes, but take it easy, Firefly." He warned.
"I will!" I chirp, chasing after 'Bee. He led us to the training yard. Bumblebee transformed next to Leo by a starting line.
"I brought a referee so we could have an unbiased judge." Bumblebee said.
"You mean someone who's just gonna favor you?" I shrug. "Alright."
"We'll race around here," Bumblebee pointed, his digit following a dotted line on the ground.
We both get ready. I transformed to my link mode and got Sari settled on my back. I could feel her grip the armor plating on my neck.
"You got a good grip, right?" I ask.
"Yeah." She nodded.
"Ready…" Leo shouted. "Set… GO!"
We both surge forward; I take the lead. I'm going as fast as I possibly can. I try to put on a bit my speed, but I'm moving my four legs as fast as they can. I sense Sari's heartrate increase slightly when I spin around the corner. She yelped as I dug my hooves into the ground and came sliding to a stop as I crossed the finish line. Bumblebee screeched to a halt a few seconds later.
"Why are you so much faster?" Bumblebee exclaimed.
"Why are you so much slower?" I ask.
"Touché." Bumblebee quipped. Sari's gaze focused on something to the side.
"What that, all the way over there?"
Bumblebee and I exchanged glances. That was Jazz's memorial.
"It's Jazz's memorial." Bumblebee said, transforming and following me as I walked up to it. Behind the memorial sat a shipping container. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what's in it. Sari's Allspark key made a beam of light which pointed at the shipping container. I help her off my back, and she takes a few steps toward the shipping container.
"Could my key bring him back?" She asked.
"It's worth a try." I tell her. Bumblebee gives me a questioning look.
"Didn't Ratchet say not to be irresponsible with it?"
"He did, and we're using it for something responsible. Don't you think everyone will be happy to have him back?"
In the time that I wasn't paying attention, Sam and Sari already are using the key on Jazz.
"Do you want a piece of me?!"
"Megatron wanted two." I joked lamely, transforming to my Bipedal form.
"Firefly?" Jazz looked me up and down, removing his visor. "Man, did you ever change. Where'd the green and grey go?"
"Didn't like it. Wasn't my style. Besides," I strike a pose with a smirk. "I think orange and yellow looks better."
"Do you still give Arcee and Ratchet a hard time?"
"Do I ever?" I laugh, rolling my optics. "All the time, Jazz. Why would I stop?"
Jazz laughed and looked at 'Bee. "You got your voice back?"
"Yup!" Bumblebee nodded.
"Our audio receptors will get fried from your constant chit chat."
"What's going on over there?" Prowl called. His optics widened when they fell on his twin who was supposed to be dead. He fell flat on his face, and the slightest bit of smoke floated up from his processor, indicating that he glitched. Again.
"Good tah… see ya too, Prowlie." Jazz muttered. He turned his gaze to me. "We needa get Ratchet to look at him?"
"Yup." I nod.
So, we brought Prowl to Dad. At frist, he didn't even realize Jazz was back.
"Firefly, Bumblebee, Jazz, put him over there." He said, looking at something on the computer before his optics widened and he turned to us. "Jazz?!" Dad exclaimed.
"Hey, doc-bot." Jazz waved as Dad's right optic twitched. I laughed. Sari giggled on my shoulder. Dad turned his gaze to us.
"I told the two of you to be responsible with the Allspark key."
"But we were." I argued.
Dad just shook his helm dismissively and went to work to sort out Prowl's glitch, he also calls Optimus in through the general comms. Probably to chew out our afts good and proper, but that's ok.
Yeah… thinking about it now, about an hour later, sitting in the brig to 'think about why we should ask for permission, not beg for forgiveness' with Sari, we probably should've asked first. The punishment was Prowl's idea.
But hey, Jazz is back.
We just… kinda messed up. Oh well. We only have to be in the brig for an hour though.
"Can we just escape?" Sari asked.
"The only time anyone ever escaped from the brig was Dad. The twins tried to help fix it, but they did that just to figure out how he did it."
"Ratchet escaped the brig?" She gasped in utter shock.
"Yeah, Mom was in trouble." I nod.
"Wait, wait, wait, Ratchet escaped to brig to go save Arcee, and then the twins fixed it so they could try to figure out how he did it?"
"Yeah." I nodded.
I could hear footsteps. "The two of you are free to go." Prowl walked in and disabled the Energon bars. "Captain Lennox can have visitors, now, Sari. Your mother asked me to have Firefly drop you at Diego Garcia's hospital."
Sari nodded. I transformed to my pick-up. I open the door for her. She gets in, and I drive myself to where Sari needs to be. Sarah Lennox comes and gets Sari.
"Thank you, Firefly." She said.
"Anytime. The major's ok, right?"
"Oh, yeah," She nodded. "They're just keeping him overnight for observation."
"Oh, good."
I watch them walk in, and then I drive back to the hangar.
Yup, Life was good.
I absolutely love writing the flashback Firefly has. I thought the way Sari gets her key was fitting. This Chapter wasn't a filler like the last one, but Chapter five is going to be big.
Edit: I also have a headcannon that Jazz and Prowl are twins because in G1 they looked pretty similar, but not identical, kinda like the twins, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. In this fic, Jazz and Prowl are twins.
I'm hoping to have the next chapter out by Thursday or Friday. If I don't, it might be a hot minute before I get Chapter 5 done because the next week or so is gonna be busy.