Chapter Thirty-One
Serious trouble
Back in the main silo, the turtles, Monalisa and Splinter were watching from the high platform as Ratchet, Bulkhead, Bumblebee and Donatello were inspecting the damage to the ground-bridge.
As they observed, the lights flickered a few times and Michelangelo looked around nervously.
"What was that?" he asked.
"Power failure." Monalisa replied then looked back to the Autobots and Donatello to which she and the others saw Ratchet pull out a circuit board which had tiny bite marks in it.
"We most definitely have a problem!" Ratchet reported holding it up for everyone to see.
"That looks like what a pizza would look like after Mikey's been eating it!" Raphael commented.
"Hey!" Michelangelo protested.
"It's true!" Leonardo agreed.
Ratchet meanwhile didn't see the funny side as worry came to his face. If he was unable to find the source to the problem and fix the Ground-bridge, it meant Optimus, Ironhide and Arcee were trapped in the Arctic with no way back!
"But what could have caused this?" He wondered as the electricity died down and came back to life around them.
"Or that." Bulkhead piped in as the lights flickered on and off again.
"Must be the main grid, hopefully, it isn't a substation malfunction." Ratchet remarked before looking back at the circuit board.
"Something is amiss here." Splinter agreed as he sniffed the air, yet a couple of female voices caught his attention.
"Hey, guys!" Pandora called out.
Look what we found!" Kemeko added.
"We're busy!" Ratchet called back in annoyance looking over to the two girls, yet he screamed in horror as he saw the little metal creature in Kemeko's arms.
Bumblebee and Bulkhead also looked over and they jumped up in fear and activated their blasters pointing them at the girls!
The Hamato Clan were shocked, and they jumped into action to protect Pandora and Kemeko.
"Hey! Hey! What's with you guys?" Michelangelo demanded waving his arms at the crazy Autobots.
"Get those guns away from the girls!" Raphael shouted furiously.
"Scraplet! SCRAPLET!" Bulkhead yelled in terror.
"Scraplet?" Leonardo asked looking at the creature in his daughter's arms.
"What's a Scraplet?" Monalisa asked in confusion.
"The most dangerous vermin to ever crawl upon the face of Cybertron." Ratchet answered darkly.
The rest of the Hamato clan looked at the tiny creature in Kemeko's arms then up at the Autobots as if they were mad.
"This? Are you kidding me?" Raphael scoffed in disbelief.
"You're giant robots! Scrappy here is…teeny." Pandora pointed out dryly.
"You have no idea the damage that teeny thing could do!" Bulkhead retorted fearfully.
"Aw, he wouldn't hurt anything." Kemeko argued as she looked down at the creature which came to life in her arms!
No sooner did it set its eyes upon the three autobots than the Scraplet's mouth opened, revealing rows of razor-sharp teeth and snapping its jaws hungrily at the Autobots like a piranha!
It broke free from Kemeko's arms and started to advance on the aubots, giving off the sound of a drill!
At once, Bulkhead and Bumblebee started shooting at the tiny Scraplet, yet it was all in vain as the Scraplet avoided getting shot at and jumped on Bumblebee's leg before starting to eat away at the paint and top layer of metal.
Bumblebee panicked and fell on the floor as the Scraplet moved around on his body eating away at him and the Hamato Clan watched in horror!
Donatello acted quickly and used his staff to whack the Scraplet off the Scout and the creature was thrown to the side!
Yet it got ready to attack Bumblebee again but was stopped by a sharp dart attached to a chain and pulled back!
The Autobots saw Pandora had thrown the sharp end of Mr Swinger and caught it!
"Get over here!" Pandora roared and pulled it back to which Kemeko stabbed the creature with her tanto deactivating it.
"Nice job kids!" Raphael cried.
"Whoa. I did not see that coming!" Michelangelo cried.
"That was unexpected!" Splinter exclaimed.
"Caught me off guard too!" Monalisa said then saw Kemeko and Pandora run over to Bumblebee.
"I'm sorry, Bumblebee!" Kemeko apologized with tears in her eyes.
Bumblebee responded reassuringly with some comforting bleeps as well as stroked her cheek with his digit.
"Is he gonna be okay?" Pandora asked anxiously patting Bumblebee's servo as Ratchet scanned the wounded area.
"Only a mesh wound. He'll live." Ratchet reassured the hybrid.
"Now do you believe me?" Bulkhead asked the mutants who were still in shock over what they had seen.
"All Scraplets do is dismantle machinery and eat anything metal! Especially living metal!" Bulkhead explained.
"Well…bug squashed. Game over…right?" Michelangelo asked nervously.
"No!" Ratchet said darkly "When it comes to Scraplets, there's never just one, and I fear I know how they got in here."
It was then the Hamato Clan and the Autobots remembered the metal pod defrosting in the next room, and they immediately went to inspect it.
When they arrived, the floor was flooded from the melted ice and the metal pod had a large hole that appeared to have been chewed, showing the Scraplets had eaten their way out.
"It's a trap. A Scraplet trap." Ratchet reported after scanning the interior.
"Uh, an empty Scraplet trap." Bulkhead corrected nervously.
"It was most likely ejected into space eons ago, only to wind up in the Arctic, were the sub-zero temperatures kept them in stasis." Ratchet theorised, as he looked deeper into the Scraplet trap.
"And if those creatures eat metal, seems like a dumb thing to do to seal them in a metal prison!" Raphael commented.
"Yeah! Pretty dumb!" Michelangelo agreed.
"But when you guys brought it back." Donatello said, "And brought in the thaw."
"They're wide awake and ready to brunch!" Monalisa finished.
"So…how many are we talking about?" Kemeko asked worriedly.
"A thousand…if we're even that lucky…" Ratchet answered as he deactivated his scanner and looked around, cautiously.
"But with the power malfunctions and the Ground Bridge damage are sure enough signs that their infestation is well underway."
Meanwhile in the Arctic, all covered in snow and ice with the harsh winds blowing and whistling over the icy dense land, and unaware of the trouble back at the base, Optimus, Ironhide, and Arcee were continuing their recon mission.
The trio had split up to cover more ground so they could get the job done quicker.
Optimus was climbing down a cliff side when his Autobot insignia started beeping and flashing blue.
"Arcee, Ironhide, my sensors have just reached the blue zone, what is your status?" He asked over their com-link.
Ironhide was on the lower ground whilst Arcee was on the higher ground and no sooner had Optimus commed them that their sensors had gone off as well.
"Same for me Prime." Ironhide reported.
"And me!" Arcee chimed in.
"Guess we better call for pickup, before things get chilly." Ironhide advised.
"Don't you mean chillier Hide?" Arcee corrected playfully, Ironhide snorting at the nickname.
Optimus agreed and activated his com-link to the base.
"Optimus to base, core temperature readings have reached the blue zone. Prepare to activate Ground Bridge."
Optimus requested into the radio, yet all he received was electrical static as his response, surprising him.
Ironhide did the same, yet he too got an electrical static in response.
"What the hay?" he asked.
"What's wrong?" Arcee asked.
"We're not receiving word from Ratchet." Ironhide confirmed "That's not good!"
"Stay there Ironhide!" Optimus ordered "Arcee and I will come to your position!"
"Alright Prime!" Ironhide said and he stood still and waited for his leader and the Femme to join him which wasn't very long, and they stood together trying to get in touch with Ratchet but still receiving nothing but static.
"This is serious guys!" Ironide said worried "I think something's happened back at the base!"
Optimus tried again to try and reach Ratchet but again all he got was static, as he did, the winds got stronger and Arcee almost fell over, but Ironhide caught her by the arm and helped her stand up straight.
"Ironhide, Arcee." Optimus spoke up "Until Ratchet sends for us, and he will." He added with determination and trust that his old friend wouldn't give up on getting them home "Or best option is to seek shelter and Insolate ourselves."
"Good idea Prime." Ironhide said then looked over to see some caves not far away.
"There!" he said and he led his two friends over "Hopefully we'll last a little longer if we're out of this darn cold wind!"
Back at the base Ratchet was at the computers trying to contact Optimus but the computer screens weren't working properly.
"Ratchet to Optimus, do you read? We have a situation." He said but the communications were down and all he got was static.
"Scrap! The Scraplets have got into the com-link systems." He said furiously as he turned to the others.
Bumblebee, Bulkhead and the Hamato Clan were looking at him with question on what they were to do next.
"If we don't eradicate these creatures immediately, they will reduce the entire Base into a scrapheap." Ratchet informed the group.
"I say we bug out of here and let 'em keep it!" Bulkhead shouted in fear with Bumblebee bleeping in agreement.
"What? Abandon ship?" Donatello cried "But...what about the others still trapped in the Arctic!?"
"Evacuation is not an option." Ratchet answered sternly. "If we don't get the Ground Bridge online stat, Optimus, Ironhide, and Arcee will perish."
"What!?" everyone cried in shock.
"No way!" Pandora cried.
"We can't let that happen!" Kemeko cried as she thought of the Autobot leader, Arcee and Ironhide trapped in the Arctic.
"But these creatures." Michelangelo said, "How can big guys like you not stand a chance against them?"
"Mike! You haven't seen what a swarm of these things devour a Bot or a Con. I have!" Bulkhead informed the orange masked turtle.
"They pick you apart from the inside out, going for the small, juicy bits first, Fuse by fuse, Circuit by circuit, till there is nothing left, and I mean nothing! Not even your optics."
He shuddered and shook with fear at that last part and the other Autobots shared the same look.
"Like piranhas Mikey!" Donatello said "Scraplets are like those schools of fish that will devour your flesh in seconds!"
"Shit!" Raphael cursed looking up at the scared Autobots as he and the rest of the Hamato Clan realised the seriousness of the situation.
Leonardo meanwhile stepped forward.
"You have to let us help." He insisted.
"Yeah!" Monalisa agreed "We're not made of metal."
"Typically, I find your fleshiness to be your least inviting quality." Ratchet stated making Pandora glower and even Raphael frowned at that statement.
"But it would appear to provide an advantage under these circumstances." The medic continued.
"Okay, so here's the plan guys!" Leonardo said, "Donatello and I will stay here and watch your back Ratchet, whilst you repair the Ground Bridge."
"And the rest of us?" Raphael asked.
"We go on a Scraplet hunt?" Pandora asked to which Leonardo nodded "Exactly!"
"And I got another idea too!" Donatello spoke up.
"What is that my son?" Splinter asked.
"We will each need one of these!" Donatello said walking over to a medical gunnery attached to the raised platform which had several fire extinguishers on it.
He beckoned everyone over to take one which they did.
"These ones give off a cold blast and since the Scraplets were frozen in stasis because of the cold, this should give you an advantage, blast them with the cold, then smash them!" he explained.
"Genius Don!" Monalisa praised making Donatello feel proud.
"Okay." Ratchet said, "If it works, then let's get to it!"
"Come on guys!" Raphael called up "Mikey, Mona, you two and I will go with Bulkhead, Kemeko, Pandora, you go with Bumblebee!"
The others nodded and held up their fire extinguishers as well as patted their weapons.
Bulkhead and Bumblebee were nervous, but they agreed all the same and before long they set off to search for the Scraplets whilst Ratchet, Leonardo, Donatello, and Splinter remained behind to fix the Ground-Bridge.
The Autobots and the Hamato Clan have realised this is a serious situation that needs to be fixed, yet can they sort out this mess and bring Optimus, Ironhide and Arcee home?
Stay tuned to find out!