by The J Writer » Wed Oct 03, 2007 8:11 pm
Sector 7 - Neutral Ground
Turning from Grimlock to survey the patch of blasted wasteland that had been turned into a battleground, Optimus Prime suppressed a second sigh, feeling his internal mechanisms shift and spasm as he did so. His injuries were not insignificant, but his concern lay with the others, as it always did. His optics scanned the rubble and wreckage, settling finally on Sideswipe.
The Autobot supreme commander walked toward the fallen warrior, kneeling down beside him. Once again you've sacrificed your well-being to this War of ours, he thought bitterly as he moved Sideswipe's limbs into a more stable position. The red Autobot was in stasis lock, but Optimus had seen worse. He'd even seen Sideswipe himself in worse condition. Still, stasis lock was nothing to play with, especially when internal damage could be present.
As Sunstreaker arrived, limping and barely mobile, Optimus looked up. He knew the golden warrior needed some sort of reassurance, even as cold-blooded and vicious as he was. Sideswipe was his brother, after all. Prime understood this. Had his own brother fallen in battle as Sideswipe had, he likely would have experienced the same horrible kaleidoscope of emotions that Sunstreaker had experienced just moments ago.
His height formidable even whilst kneeling, Optimus put one hand on Sunstreaker's shoulder plate, as much to keep the badly wounded warrior upright as to console him.
"Your brother is one of a kind," he told Sunstreaker. "And he needs you as much as you need him. He'll pull through, and you'll focus on getting repaired as well, for his sake."
Sunstreaker's vocalizer tightened up, as if he were about to speak, but he said nothing. Slowly, he lowered himself to the ground next to Sideswipe, to await the arrival of the medics and evacuation team. Optimus stood once more, and walked back to where Grimlock stood. His sensors had detected an Autobot shuttle signal approaching.
"One of our shuttles is on the way," he told the Dynobot. Looking Grimlock squarely in his visor-like optics, Optimus spoke again after a moment.
"Megatron doesn't think small. If he struck at us here, he's struck at us somewhere else. Once we're back in Iacon, I'm going to need your logic center focused on the problem."
The implicit message was clear enough: now was not the time for struggles over leadership and who got to call the shots. Optimus knew that Grimlock would read the entire situation on Moon Alpha as nothing but more proof of Optimus' own weakness. He would not even put it past Grimlock - if the Dynobot leader were in rare, especially bad form - to try physically to take command from him.
For Primus' sake, Grimlock...I hope you're not as bad as we all think you are.