A/N: I'm on time this week! Yay! As long as I keep posting once a week, relatively on time, I'm gonna keep up with this schedule. It's just nice knowing that if I need to take a week off from writing for whatever reason that I have that wiggle room. I have more than enough wiggle room right now. If I miss a couple weeks in a row, I may do a daily upload for a few days to make up for it and then return to the Saturday schedule. That's something I'm debating on how to handle. It might take some experimenting to see what works if I end up having trouble keeping this tactic up. So far, so good. Being late only one week is pretty good stats!
Anyways! Enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 16: A Volcanic Encounter
Elita walked quietly into medbay, having been told she'd find the bot she was looking for here. She could've just commed her, but she didn't see a need when it wasn't urgent.
"Shade- oh!" Elita cut herself off upon seeing the femme still in recharge.
The purple and silver owl-bot was sprawled on her back across the larger of the two couches. One wing hung off the side of the couch, laying limply with feathers spread across the immediate floor. Her other wing, sticking out from against the back of the couch, was draped over her like a blanket. When Elita approached closer she saw that one of the human children she'd been told about was sleeping atop her, nestled underneath that wing and held gently in place by a hand.
"I would request you let them sleep unless it's urgent," Ratchet's voice interrupted her debate about whether to wake them.
Elita shook her helm as she turned toward the medic where he was entering the room. "I merely came to discuss a schedule with Shadebreaker about her Cy-Stan lessons."
"She'll appreciate that, I'm sure," Ratchet said as Elita moved to join him where he was working at the counter, a barely touched energon cube off to the side. "She's usually awake by now, but she was up late last night with Miko."
"The human child?" Elita asked, gazing at the green liquid Ratchet was analyzing.
"Bulkhead's ward," Ratchet clarified. "She refuses to leave my medbay until he wakes up. Shadebreaker offered to stay with her last night so she wouldn't be alone. They were both up periodically from nightmares or cause they were uncomfortable."
"Poor femmes," Elita said sympathetically.
"Indeed," Ratchet agreed.
Elita was silent for a moment, watching Ratchet. "What's that you're working on?"
"I've been working on completing the formula for synthetic energon Shadebreaker provided us with a partial formula for," Ratchet replied. "I could just wait to see if that data cylinder crops up, but there's no guarantee that it will. And, even if it does, there's no guarantee we will be the ones to acquire it or that the contents won't be lost."
"Hmm," Elita hummed thoughtfully. "How is it coming along?"
Ratchet backed up from the microscope, glancing at her. "Initial analysis of this batch looks promising. But it requires more testing."
"Well, keep up the good work Ratchet," Elita said. "We all appreciate it." She glanced over at Bulkhead, still unconscious. "Any idea when Bulkhead might wake up?"
Ratchet sighed. "It's hard to tell," he said, turning away from his work on the synthetic energon. "His frame still needs work, but it's hard to tell where his mind is. Processor scans show normal levels of activity, at least. He should wake up once his frame heals a bit more."
"And if not?" Elita asked.
Ratchet was silent for a moment. "Comas are not an exact science, unfortunately," he said quietly.
They were interrupted by the clatter of sudden movement from the couch and a shocked gasp from both bot and human. The two looked over to see Shadebreaker halfway sitting up, carefully shielding Miko from falling off her.
"I'm up! I'm up!" Miko said urgently, clearly woken from Shadebreaker's sudden movements.
"Sorry, Miko," Shadebreaker said, sounding a bit panicked herself. "Didn't mean to wake you."
Elita saw Miko frown up at her as she and Ratchet moved to approach them.
"Bad dream?" Miko asked softly.
Shadebreaker's wings shifted and she looked down a bit, embarrassed almost. "Yeah…"
Miko frowned and then moved forward to give the femme a hug as best she could. "You're safe here," she said. "Don't be afraid."
Shadebreaker gently hugged the child back. "Yeah…"
Ratchet placed a hand on Shadebreaker's shoulder as he approached. "Do you want to talk about it?" He asked gently.
Shadebreaker looked at him, then her gaze moved to Elita for a moment. Then she looked back down at Miko. "No," she said. "Not right now. Not this one."
Elita got the impression from the way her hand moved over Miko that it was to shield the human child from the knowledge of how dark her nightmare had been.
"Ok," Ratchet said, optics landing on Miko as the girl looked up at Shadebreaker with worry in her eyes.
"I can leave the room," Miko said quietly, seeming to understand Shadebreaker didn't want to burden her young mind with her inner demons. "You should talk to Ratchet. You woke up a lot last night."
"Not every time was my nightmares," Shadebreaker pointed out.
Miko pounded her chest with a fist and, even though Elita was sure it didn't hurt, Shadebreaker flinched. "Enough times were. Don't be stubborn."
"Can't help it," Shadebreaker said, smirking slightly. "Stubborn is my middle name."
Elita recognized it was a joke despite the lack of genuine humor either on the femme's face or in her tone.
"Bots have middle names?" Miko asked.
Shadebreaker raised an optic ridge. "I think you need more sleep if you don't realize the joke there," she said. "I have yet to meet a human who didn't know that one."
"I'm not that tired," Miko argued, but then yawned. She was clearly in need of more sleep.
"And I'm not plagued by nightmares." Shadebreaker returned. She shifted a wing. "If you sleep more, I will talk to Ratchet about my nightmare. Deal?"
Miko glared, crossing her arms. "Fine. Deal."
"You want to stay on the couch, or ask Ratchet if you can sleep by Bulkhead?" Shadebreaker asked gently.
Miko was silent for a moment, then she looked up at Ratchet hopefully.
Ratchet sighed. "Very well," he said. "You've already proven that you won't mess with the IV and such." He held out a hand. "I'll help you get situated, then I'll come back to talk to Shadebreaker."
"Thank you," Miko said quietly and Shadebreaker helped her transfer over to Ratchet's hand.
Shadebreaker watched them go for a minute before looking to Elita. She seemed to hesitate for a moment. "Um," she said, wings shifting uncertainly.
"I can come back if you don't want me present," Elita assured her. "I just came to discuss a time for your Cy-Stan lessons with you."
"Oh," Shadebreaker said, looking like her processor was taking a minute to process that and switch gears. "Are you on a time crunch? We could do that first, if you need."
Elita smiled softly, touched she was considering her even though she was clearly not fully awake yet and also still being affected by whatever nightmare had woken her. "I don't have anywhere I need to be until lunch today." She assured her.
Shadebreaker shifted her wings slightly. "If…if you don't mind stepping out while I talk to Ratchet, I would appreciate it," she said quietly. "While I… think I trust you, I still hardly know you as of yet…"
Elita bowed her helm graciously to that logic. "I understand," she said softly. "I'll check out the courtyard and you can come join me when you are done. Or you and Ratchet could talk out there in case Miko doesn't fall asleep and he can let me know when to join you."
"I think the second one is the better option," Shadebreaker said, glancing over to where Ratchet was tucking a blanket around Miko as the child asked him questions quietly. "She might take a bit to fall asleep. I had to sing her to sleep more than once last night."
"Oh?" Elita asked, intrigued. "Human lullabies?"
"The few I know," Shadebreaker said ruefully. "Coupled with some I made up entirely on the spot. I wasn't the only one who woke up from nightmares. She wasn't concerned about telling me them, though. I'm glad she seems to understand it's about age and not about whether sharing should happen that I am hesitant."
"That is good," Elita agreed.
Then Ratchet was back and, after they relayed the plan to him, he led Shadebreaker out to the courtyard, leaving Elita the lone wake bot in the main room of medbay. She had things to occupy herself with, however, such as working on developing a game plan for Shadebreaker's lessons.
She worked on the plans for about an hour before Ratchet returned from outside and informed her Shadebreaker was ready to talk to her.
"How is she?" Elita asked gently.
"A little raw emotionally," Ratchet said. "She'll probably try to act unbothered, though. Her nightmares are…rough on her."
"I understand," Elita said softly. "Advice? What does she need from me?"
"Patience, kindness," Ratchet sighed. "Compassion. All of which I know you will give her."
Elita nodded. "I can do that," she agreed.
Then she placed a hand on Ratchet's arm to show her support, seeing the mech looked tired and a bit worried himself. She knew there was a friendship bond between Ratchet and Shadebreaker that gave him insight into the femme's emotions. She also knew Arcee was convinced they liked each other as more than friends but were each avoiding those feelings for their own reasons. It must be hard on the medic to see Shadebreaker struggling so much, especially if Arcee was right, but even if not, Ratchet always hated when his fellow bots suffered.
Ratchet gave her a grateful pat on the hand before moving away, back toward his work on the synthetic energon.
Elita watched him for a moment, but then moved to head out to the courtyard. She spied Shadebreaker almost immediately, sitting on—not at, on—a bot-sized picnic table, pedes spread apart and elbows on her knees, fingers steepled together. She looked deep in thought, wings shifting periodically with her thoughts. An untouched cube of energon sat next to her. She looked up when Elita approached.
"How are you holding up?" Elita asked gently.
Shadebreaker shrugged lightly. "Better," she said quietly. "I'll get through it."
Elita sat on the bench on the same side of the table as Shadebreaker, facing the table and thus facing the opposite way as Shadebreaker. "Better is good," she said.
"Yeah," Shadebreaker said, looking off to the distance.
Elita considered her for a long moment. "Do you want to start out by talking about other things before getting into business?" She offered.
Shadebreaker tilted her helm to halfway glance at her for a moment before looking away again. "Nah," she said. "I'd rather focus on the lessons first. Then we can talk other stuff if there is time. That way we don't end up rushing through the scheduling and potentially overlapping something in one of our schedules."
Elita smiled softly as Shadebreaker shifted and moved to sit on the bench next to her. "That does sound wise," she agreed.
"I do try to do the wise thing," Shadebreaker said, halfway grinning. "I don't always succeed."
Elita chuckled at that. "I don't think anyone succeeds one hundred percent of the time."
"Even Optimus?" Shadebreaker asked, raising an optic ridge and looking amused.
"Even Optimus," Elita said, amused.
"Dang, there goes my totally unrealistic view of him," Shadebreaker said, very clearly joking.
Elita chuckled softly again and then she took out a datapad as Shadebreaker took out one of her own while simultaneously taking a sip of her energon. It seemed she had a habit of eating while working just like several of the officers.
"These are the coordinates?" Ironhide asked to confirm, looking around at the expanse of igneous rock that covered the landscape around them.
Bumblebee whirled in an affirmative and then continued, pointing at the flow marks in the rock that indicated what way the lava had flowed before it cooled.
"Yeah," Ironhide agreed, optics tracking the marks. "Let's go check it out."
The two mechs followed the flow of the cooled lava carefully. There were spots where the rock wasn't completely cooled, so they had to step carefully to not step into some patch of still too hot molten rock. Some of it was just squishy, but not too hot, but the majority was just fine for them to walk on as long as they were careful.
The sound of engines overhead is what warned them of the danger moments before a trio of fliers swooped down and fired rockets at them.
Ironhide shielded himself from the heat of the explosion from where a missile hit the ground next to him as he saw Bumblebee leap to the side to avoid one that nearly hit him square in the chest.
"Starscream," Ironhide growled as he pulled out one of his cannons.
Bumblebee whirled, deploying his wrist blasters and firing shots off at the seekers as they circled above.
"Get down here and fight like mechs, cowards!" Ironhide yelled.
He and Bumblebee shifted to stand back-to-back as the three Seekers rained down fire to keep them pinned. It was the Seeker Death Circle tactic. They would slowly decrease the circumference until the fire was shredding them to pieces. It was already tearing up the igneous rock around them, sending bits of it flying.
Starscream merely laughed at the idea. "Oh, but this is so effective, Autobot," he said.
Ironhide squinted at the two other Seekers to see if he could identify them. They didn't appear to be Starscream's trinemates, not at first glance anyways. One looked like the Seeker who had attacked their ship when they'd arrived on Earth, clearly having survived Wheeljack's landmine. The other might have been Slipstream, but he wasn't certain.
Bumblebee whirled a question as they shifted, trying to get a good shot on any of them, but they were flying too quickly.
"You sure, 'Bee?" Ironhide asked, glancing behind him.
Bumblebee glanced back and nodded with a determined look in his optics. He whirled again and Ironhide looked again at the Seeker that had attacked their ship.
That Seeker was moving just a touch slower than the other two. It was just noticeable, but it might be just enough to take advantage of.
"Ok," Ironhide said quietly. "We gotta be fast."
The two of them pressed against each other, continuing to fire up at the Seekers as the Decepticons slowly shrank the circle of fire around them. They watched closely and then when the time was right…
"Now!"
Bumblebee turned quickly and Ironhide gave him a boost to jump into the air, catapulting him into sky. Bumblebee grabbed onto the slower Seeker from below, taking a couple hits from the fire.
"Get off, bug!" The Seeker growled shaking as she tried to dislodge him.
Bumblebee held on, though and then slammed his fist straight through the armor plating on her underbelly. He pulled out a fist full of wires and then did the same on the other side.
That Seeker started spiraling toward the ground and Bumblebee road them closer to the ground before jumping down the rest of the way, landing in a roll to negate as much strain on his frame as possible. It still wasn't a pleasant landing, but he managed to avoid significant damage.
Starscream screeched as he and his remaining companion ceased their Death Circle—it was much less effective with only two Seekers. He transformed and fired off a rocket at Bumblebee's back.
"Watch out!" Ironhide called.
Bumblebee didn't even waste time to look to see what he meant, he merely leapt into a new roll to dodge.
The other Seeker swooped down on Ironhide, peppering him with fire and taking his attention. No matter, Bumblebee could handle himself against Starscream.
As the Seeker approached, clearly intending to get too close to miss, Ironhide put his canon away for a moment to reach out and catch them by the wings as she flew just overhead. He ignored the pain from the shots that scorched his armor on the approach and heaved, tossing the Seeker into a nearby rock wall. He quickly reproduced his canon and fired into the resulting dust cloud, hoping to finish the Seeker off quickly.
A moment passed as he watched closely. Then a missile emerged from the dust cloud, catching him on the shoulder. He grunted in pain, but was able to dig his pedes in to keep from stumbling. He fired again, but this time he knew he missed when the Seeker appeared from the dust cloud now in bot form, moving to the side quickly.
It was obvious Ironhide had done some damage himself, though. The Seeker's, who he could now confirm wasn't Slipstream, wing sat at an odd angle and there was damage to their left shoulder that left that arm dangling.
They traded several shots before Ironhide landed another hit, this one hitting her in the tank and knocking her off her pedes. He approached, standing over her with his canon pointing at her spark chamber.
"Surrender, Decepticon," Ironhide growled.
"Eat slag," the femme sneered up at him. She made to move, but he pressed the muzzle of his cannon against her chest, forcing her to stay down.
Ironhide glanced over to check on Bumblebee to see the mech was holding Starscream at gunpoint as the mech held his servos up, looking at where Ironhide held the femme Seeker at gunpoint, looking nervous.
"Easy, Autobot, n-no need to be hasty," Starscream said, making calming motions with his hands.
Ironhide and Bumblebee shared a look. Was Starscream…backing down? For…someone else?
Ironhide looked back down at the femme to find she was no longer looking at him, nor struggling. Her optics were covered by a red visor, but she looked like she had accepted her fate, whatever it was. He looked back at Starscream.
"S-surely we can come to some kind of agreement where you don't kill us," Starscream stuttered.
Ironhide considered the mech before them. He wasn't known for bargaining for anyone but himself or for holding to deals with anyone. Was this some kind of trick?
"What do we get for letting you go?" Ironhide asked.
"I know where the lava flow took the artifact that was at this location," Starscream replied, placing a hand over his spark. "I can lead you to it. If you release Lunarstrike back to me."
So Lunarstrike was the name of the unknown Seeker, huh?
Bumblebee whirled, demanding to know how they could know if they trust he wouldn't just backstab them.
"I-I know I haven't made good on things in the past," Starscream said, looking from side to side, wings making frantic movements. He looked at the injured femme Ironhide had pinned and Ironhide thought he saw some desperation on his face. "But I promise no tricks this time."
Ironhide considered him for a long moment, then looked down at the femme. She was frowning and he saw a tear track. He backed up, lifting the canon away from her chest and reaching out to lift the femme to her pedes.
"Very well," he said. "But she stays with us until we get to the artifact."
Starscream's wings made distressed motions, but he bowed his helm in acceptance.
Bumblebee whirled, indicating that he should lead the way.
Starscream looked at Lunarstrike one more time before turning and leading the way down the volcano. He was silent as he did so and they moved at a pace that wouldn't put too much strain on the injured Seeker as she was clearly having a little bit of difficulty.
Once they were at the artifact, Bumblebee approached the container and Starscream approached Ironhide carefully, clearly intending to take Lunarstrike. After a moment, Ironhide relinquished the femme over, albeit a bit reluctantly. The two Seekers stepped aside and spoke quietly and Ironhide was surprised that Starscream neither immediately called for a Bridge nor betrayed them.
Ironhide tilted his helm as the mech glanced back at him, seeming to consider something, then said something to Lunarstrike. She shook her helm, placing a hand on his arm, looking sad and regretful. Starscream's wings lowered at her answer. He glanced one more time at Ironhide before a Ground Bridge opened by them and then they walked through, the mech helping the femme.
Bumblebee whirled as he moved up next to Ironhide.
"I agree, Bumblebee," Ironhide said. "That was very strange."
Then Bumblebee whirled questioningly, holding up the container they suspected to contain Tox-En.
"Now, we confirm the contents," Ironhide said. "And, if it is what we think it is, we destroy it."
They opened the container to find something entirely different from what they expected. Instead of a green crystal oozing toxic fumes, inside was an item shaped similarly to Earth's oysters found in the ocean. It was purple in color and had a rigid texture to it.
Bumblebee whirled inquisitively.
"I dunno, but it ain't Tox-En," Ironhide said. "I'll call for pick-up."
"Does it look familiar to you, Shade'?" Ironhide asked as they congregated in the meeting room, waiting for Optimus.
"It does, kinda," Shadebreaker said, leaning over the table a bit to look at the artifact more closely. "It's not something I'm overly familiar with, however. Just briefly. Assuming it is what I think it is." She tilted her helm and then reached out and turned it to look at it from a different angle. It seemed to glow briefly at her touch, but stopped when she pulled her hand away.
"What do you think it is?" Elita asked.
"It looks like an item I saw an image of once labeled the Emberstone," Shadebreaker replied, standing up straight. She sat back down in her chair then. "I don't really know what the Emberstone is though. It was covered in a show I hadn't gotten around to watching yet. I was planning on doing so when I was so rudely snatched from my home reality. It had something to do with one of the Thirteen, though, I recall that from what little the brief splurt said."
"Did it say which one?" Jazz asked.
"Quintus?" Shadebreaker asked, sounding uncertain. "It started with a 'Q' anyway…"
"Quintus Prime," Elita said, voice in awe. "Not much is known about him. Much of the information about the Thirteen has been lost to time."
"I vaguely remember him being attributed for creating the Quintessons, who then tried to take credit for making Cybertronians in some realities," Shadebreaker said, tone dry and helm shaking. She clearly thought little of those claims.
Ironhide scoffed at that. "Quintesson propaganda they spread to justify their occupation of our world eons ago," he said, waving a hand.
"Sounds about right to me," Shadebreaker said dryly, leaning back and folding her hands across her chest. "That's all I really know about him myself."
Optimus came in then, before anyone could say or ask anything else. Prowl and Chromia entered with him. His optics landed on the maybe Emberstone.
"You have found the Emberstone," he said, voice in awe.
"So Shadebreaker was right," Jazz said.
Optimus gazed at the femme in question, then back at the Emberstone.
"I don't know what it does, though," she said, waving at it.
"It is said that Quintus Prime used it to seed life across the universe," Optimus said.
"So the idea that he made the Quintessons isn't that farfetched," Ironhide said, glancing at Shadebreaker, who merely shrugged.
Bumblebee whirled, expressing relief they got it and not the Decepticons.
"How did the trip to Texas go?" Shadebreaker asked, looking to Prowl.
"The Decepticons had already been to that location and acquired the Resonance Blaster, it appears," Prowl replied. "Based on the empty container they left behind."
"Looks like they stopped waiting to try to ambush us at every artifact," Chromia said dryly. "The shield generator location was empty as well."
Shadebreaker sighed, clearly frustrated by this.
"Minor inconveniences," Prowl said. "I am more concerned about the fact they still have possession of the Forge of Solus Prime."
"I would tend to agree," Ironhide said.
"Be that as it may, we are not currently equipped to raid the warship to retrieve it," Optimus said.
"So we just wait for an opportunity to present itself to taking it?" Shadebreaker asked, tilting her helm.
"For the time being," Optimus nodded.
After the missions were fully debriefed, the meeting was dismissed and everyone went their separate ways to their respective duties or such. Ironhide stopped by the main room in medbay to get his injuries seen to by Ratchet while Bumblebee left with Shadebreaker to do some combat training. The others all had more paperwork or liaison meetings to deal with. Ironhide himself had request forms to fill out about what all he would need to get his forge up and running once the building was complete after leaving medbay.