by Sigma Vortex » Tue Jan 29, 2008 12:46 am
Chapter 15
It hadn't taken long for the rest of the Decepticons to clear out of the warehouse. They were more interested in Ratchet than in the three quivering protoforms. They needed to recharge. They could feel exhaustion pulling at them, but neither could make themselves succumb. The memory of Ratchet crumpling to the floor, optics still blazing, mouth distorted into a silent scream would not leave their minds. As clear as the image, their memories replayed themselves over and over. But that was not the worst of it. Not near the worst.
The worst were the screams. For the first few hours, silence had suffocated them like a heavy blanket. Each had clamored off of the tables and huddled in the corner, shivering with fright. Ellie tried to hold them to still their shaking, but Sam and Mikaela were as rattled as she was, and not even Ellie could stop shivering. Exhaustion pulled her toward blessed darkness, but then it started. Ratchet's voice, volume raised, the fear and pain ripping through their need for rest. If either had the ability to cry, they would have. Each wished for the ability to weep, to do something that resembled a human gesture of distress. But all they could do was shake and stay silent. Keeping silent was all that kept those monsters who were torturing Ratchet from them. It was selfish, they knew it. But they did not want to know what was happening.
Neither of their minds could cope. And so they continued to hold each other, wishing that they would let Ratchet die. It would be merciful, but mercy was not counted among the traits of a Decepticon.
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As one, every Autobot within the base shot up either from sentry duty or recharge. None needed explanation as they each formed up in the large area between the barracks. As silent as giant beings made of metal could be, they slipped out of the base, not transforming until they were out of earshot of the sleeping humans. Optimus led, paying no mind to any of the posted speed limits. Their destination was an old, and little used section of Detroit, Michigan. For normal vehicles, this journey would have taken nearly two days. But by the time the strange convoy bullied themselves onto the main streets and into the abandoned district, the sun was just setting.
They knew the block, the exact building the transmission had come from. Each could see it, an old abandoned vehicle manufacturing facility. The area consisted of nearly a dozen buildings, each large enough to let Megatron walk without stooping. No humans were within sight. They had all been chased out by the buildings new inhabitants. Bumblebee transformed first, making his way slowly to the plants' main gates. Two Seekers whom he guessed were Thundercracker and Skywarp were guarding the entrance. 'Bee inched closer, his audio receptors at maximum sensitivity.
"...been too many vorns, TC. I can't even remember the name of the last femme I've mated with."
"Do you ever ask for their names?"
"Good point. Do you think Starscream will let us have one of the femmes? Before he breaks them, I mean."
"I don't know, Sky." Bumblebee flattened himself when he heard both move to his side of the area. "But he has a real grudge against the older one. Slag, I would love to make her pay for all the misery she put me through."
Both seemed to chuckle. "Speaking of misery," both moved slightly further away, leaning on the brick fence that surrounded the factory's main open area. "How long do you think that Autobot has before he breaks? Hook and Scavenger have had him for almost the entire cycle, you would think he would stop screaming by now." Bumblebee looked up, watching as Skywarp looked over to one of the buildings, light emanating from its windows.
The younger Seeker shrugged, making 'Bee wonder where he had seen the gesture. "I don't know. But I do know who I would rather hear." His maw had crooked itself into a hideous imitation of a smile. "That Bumble-Squirt's mate. I wish I could see the look on that little mini-bot's face right now. I'd tell him exactly what I would do to both of his mates."
"Wow, TC. I never figured you for a dual-format."
Bumblebee tuned out Thundercracker's reply. He had all the reason he needed to kill the two on the spot, but Optimus' query into the situation calmed him down. He would never be able to look his leader in the eye if he lost control. Nor would he be able to save his mates. He relayed the information back to Prime, waiting for a reply. Optimus's voice was as tight as Bumblebee had ever heard it. "Keep an eye on the two guards, Bumblebee. We will split up and take them from both sides." 'Bee could not help the whine he sent over the inter-processor comm. He wanted to protect his mates as much as rescue Ratchet. "No, Bumblebee. Stay there. If they see you going toward the sparklings they will kill Ratchet and all of us afterward. We must remain unseen."
The little spy had no choice but to obey. He would never willingly jeopardize Ratchet's existence any more than he would any other fellow Autobot. Bumblebee poked his head up, watching the two Seekers as they made their lazy rounds, talking in rather loud voices. Obviously they felt comfortable enough that they were well hidden that they did not care who heard what. The little mech turned the sensitivity up to his audio and visual receptors, watching the two Seekers, his optics narrowed to slits.
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Ratchet's temperature control center tried desperately to keep his internal components cool. The fans in his body were working over time as he took advantage of the brief respite the two Constructicons had given him. No matter how often he sent the commands through, his limbs would not respond to them. Hook had damaged the control surface that regulated the signals between his cerebral cortex and the controls of his body. He could imagine what it would take to repair the delicate circuitry and wondered if WheelJack would be up to the task. Or perhaps he would just install satellite TV...
The medic allowed himself a low chuckle, the thought bringing a smile to his face. He would never allow himself to give in to these under trained sparklings. Hook may have been trained in field medicine, and Swindle may have dabbled in scrap repairs, but neither possessed the finesse one acquired after vorns of medic duty. It was one of the reasons the Twins were so afraid of him. Not only did Ratchet know how to heal, but he also knew how to deal out pain as well. He would be more than glad to teach these two a few things when he could get his internal repairs to just splice the connections together. Right now they were giving him errors every time he tried. Ratchet's optics spied Hook's feet approaching, something dripping from his hands.
"You know," the dark green Constructicon mused as he held up the vial of sea water. "there are more micro-organisms in this one vial than there are in one-hundred square kilometers on Cybertron."
"You don't say!" Ratchet managed a harsh whisper, schooling his face into an expression of intense interest. "The protozoans alone could eat through the seals on your joints."
Hook managed to keep his face from slackening from shock for too long. He made it a point to wash his hand shortly. "Interesting. I wonder, then, what it would do to the seals in your pump? Or perhaps, your spark chamber? Oh the suspense is killing me!" Ratchet had a few more things in mind that would kill the Decepticon.
"Now where is that flavor injector? Such a wonder of human invention, isn't it? Though I imagine you could not get any 'Saltier', could you?" Hook laughed, frowning when he noticed his play thing was laughing even harder. "What's so funny, Autobot?" If anything, Ratchet laughed even louder, howling with humor. "What the slag are you laughing at? Have you finely blown your processor?"
"No!" Ratchet laughed again. "I know something you don't!" He almost sang his last statement, knowing that this act was disturbing. But far be it from Ratchet from finding the limitless humor in knowing that his tormentor was about to get his dues.
"Oh do tell, Nut Driver." Hook was getting unnerved.
"Look behind you..." Hook turned around, his optics widening as he took in the state his brother was in; a sparking smoldering mess on the floor. The Constructicon's head whipped around, looking for his brothers assailant, but all he got in response was emptiness. Now it was Hook's turn to be tormented, his grip on the vial in his hands slackening as he reached for his weapon. The crash of the glass on the floor met his audio receptors as Jazz's fist met the space between his optics. The Decepticon staggered back wards and right into the arms of IronHide, ill tempered and ready to hurt the first thing that came across his path. Unknowingly, Hook provided the perfect target to take his anger out on.
"Where are the sparklings?" Hook nearly lubricated himself, stammering something that sounded like 'Help'. "Ain't no help commin' Decepti-crap. You tell me where my daughter is or your head will make a nice addition to my quarters."
"Da...da...?"
"Yes, Daughter. Female offspring. Where is she?" IronHide had the Constructicon by the neck, holding him off the floor. Hook looked to Optimus for some sort of mercy, but the Autobot leader just folded his arms and gave him a pointed look.
"I would answer his question." Hook could hardly believe his audios. The leader of the Autobots was not intervening! He was going to let this loose cannon have a go at him!
"East warehouse!" Hook answered quickly. "With the other two. Soundwave's guarding them." He struggled against IronHide's grip, kicking his feet. "I answered, now let me go!"
"Alright..." IronHide set the Decepticon down on his feet before clobbering him with a massive fist. "There ya go." He gave the limp body one last kick for good measure before moving toward Ratchet, yanking the medic's chains until they snapped and he fell limply to the ground.
"Ow..." Ratchet watched as the wall changed to the floor as he was turned over, WheelJack's hands probing the back of his head. "He damaged my motor control, I can't move."
"But you can still feel," WheelJack finished, sending a burst of static through his vocalizer. "Just like Hook to keep his victims from fighting back. Hold still, I can connect some things back, but fine motor control will have to wait until we get you back to base." Ratchet's body jerked as WheelJack hooked the larger bundles together by splicing the cables together. Without the controls to regulate the signals, there was no telling how much or little his limbs would move when he commanded them to.
"Slag...that hurts." Ratchet hissed as he sat up, his legs jerking at the confusion of signals. "I will never again laugh at Maggie's Restless Leg Syndrome. Ever."
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Ellie started at a sudden noise outside the door. Mikaela and Sam had long since slipped into recharge, their heads leaning against each other's. Ellie, however, refused to rest. She was too keyed up, waiting until one of the Decepticons made a wrong move. She wanted badly to hurt something, feel someone's metal bend beneath her fists. She clenched her fists as she heard the door open, moonlight flooding in to illuminate the far wall. She watched a stark bulky silhouette step inside. His shadow was inoquious, but the chevron on his head was unmistakable. Slowly she stood up, stepping into the shadows in front of Sam and Mikaela. The shadow was slow, quiet. It picked its way through the room, stopping every so often to listen before resuming his steady trek.
Prowl stayed as quiet as he could, watching soft moonlight dance off of two still forms in the corner. He moved closer, crouching to get a better look at the two. One femme and one mech in deep recharge. The sight was almost sweet except for one thing. Where was the third? Prowl had just gotten that thought out of his processor when an arm grabbed him around his neck, holding him in a sleeper hold, squeezing hard enough to make the pistons his neck pivoted on creak. "Leave them alone!" Prowl started at the feminine tenor, surprised by the strength and for a moment, he wondered if it was these three that needed rescuing.
"Friend..." He managed to rasp out as her grip put pressure on his vocalizer. "Autobot...Prowl...slag!"
"Let him go, Ellie." She whipped around, gagging Prowl in her grasp as, his optics bugging as IronHide shone his lights into the warehouse. Ellie didn't let go immediately, but as Optimus stepped out from behind IronHide, she finely let her grip loosen. She paid no mind as Prowl hit the floor, hand at his throat as he tried to get his squeezed circuitry working again. She took a step forward, then another step and ran the last few meters into IronHide, wrapping her arms around the big mech.
"I'm fine...in case anyone is concerned." Prowl hissed out, slowly getting to his feet. He was startled again as two sets of hands helped him into a standing position. The femme and mech had obviously been awakened from their recharge by the commotion.
"Hi..." the mech seemed to want to keep quiet, almost startled by his own voice. "Who are you?"
"Introductions later," Prime piped in, ushering IronHide out over the unconscious form of Soundwave. Ravage was somewhere nearby, stuck in the wall where Ratchet had flung him with more strength than he had intended. The medic was leaning against WheelJack, swaying like a drunkard after last call. He called to the three, his hand limply clapping against Sam's shoulder. The smile was somewhat forced as he was limply puppetted by WheelJack.
The whine of jet engines broke the silence, signaling that their cover had been blown. IronHide shoved Ellie behind him, covering him with his body as Skywarp strafed him with small artillery. The bullets weren't enough to puncture his armor, but the sparklings were still in protoform and therefore vulnerable. "No, IronHide!" Prime grabbed the Weapons Master's cannon, forcing his arm down with a shove. "Get the sparklings out first. They could easily be destroyed with even one stray missile." IronHide struggled with his need to protect Sam, Mikaela and Ellie and the urge to blow the Seeker out of the sky. The matter was decided for him when Thundercracker landed a missile close by, sending Ellie's lighter body crashing against the building behind her.
IronHide grabbed his dazed surrogate daughter and ran. Chromia met up with him, providing covering fire as they ran between several low buildings, shielding themselves from most of the bullets. "Stay!" IronHide deposited Ellie on the ground as he and Chromia headed back out. She clamped her hands over her audios as a missile landed behind her, throwing dust and debris into the alley. Peeking around the corner, she watched as Bumblebee struggled to shield his mates and direct them over to the same area, only to be pinned down by Thundercracker as he fired a stream of bullets over their heads. In front of them, Skywarp landed, blocking the way and Starscream landed opposite him so that the only way out, was to blast through one of them.
Bumblebee kept Sam and Mikaela low to the ground, aiming his cannons alternately at Skywarp, Thundercracker and Starscream. There was no way he could shoot all three at once without getting shot at least twice in return. There was no chance of any of the others coming to his rescue. IronHide and Chromia were both busy holding off Soundwave and his creations. He had Ravage by the scruff of his neck and threw him directly in the line of fire from Hook's cannons. The Constructicon had recovered and was now trying to blast Ratchet who despite his best efforts was a limp target. None of his weapons systems seemed to be responding to his commands and it did not help that he kept leaning to the left and right into the path of most of the bullets.
Optimus had stationed himself in front of the medic, shielding him from the worst of the hell-fire. The Autobot leader had also Rumble and Laserbeak to contend with as each tried to distract him into taking a hit. Each was doing a splendid job of chipping away at Prime's armor, bending back metal here and there and trying to unhook cables and hoses with long fingers and laser bursts. Perceptor and WheelJack were doing their best to keep the three small mechs off of Prime, but their large hands could not keep the two contained for long before they had to defend themselves from a barrage of gun fire.
No one could protect him and his mates now. But he would not let these Decepticons lay a finger on either of them until he was a smoldering corpse. Though he preferred the Seekers to assume that position. Though out of the three, Starscream was the most dangerous. But Skywarp was quicker and Thundercracker had the greater strength. 'So, Basically,' Bumblebee thought, 'I am choosing which to be killed by.' He aimed his cannons at Starscream and Thundercracker, watching Skywarp from the corner of his optics. He had just sent the command to his cannons to fire when a blinding light ate its way through Skywarp's chest followed by an explosion so loud it caused his audio receptors to reboot. The world was silent for mere seconds as Skywarp fell to his knees, his face a mixture of pain and bewilderment as he fell face first onto the pavement.
Starscream followed the line of fire, his optics narrowing. The third sparkling, the elder femme, lay on the ground, the kick back of her cannons having sent her into a brick wall. The Seeker leapt over Bumblebee, grabbing hold of Ellie's throat and dragging her out of the pile of bricks and concrete. "You will pay for that, femme." He grabbed her left arm and started pulling. "You will pay dearly."
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Optimus had had about enough with this little game. As soon as Ravage made another lunge toward his arm, he grabbed the little mech and threw Ravage will all his strength straight at Hook, who had to duck to keep from getting a face full of robotic-feline. That moment of distraction was all it took for Prime to aim his cannon into the Constructicon's face and fire. The headless body spasmed before it fell still. Soundwave was failing under the combined insanity of IronHide and Chromia. Both had taken their fair share of hits, but neither would back down. They simply were not built to surrender. Neither was Soundwave, who called to his creations. They immediately attached themselves to his armor, Ravage forming a rather fierce looking claw and Laserbeak a self aiming computer for Soundwave's main weapon.
Soundwave would have made a formidable warrior if two things had not happened; One, Soundwave ignored the four mechs behind him. And one of those mechs threw a magnetic dampening bomb. The resulting explosion and release of electro-magnetic energy scrambled Soundwave and Laserbeak's CPUs. But unfortunately, it did the same to IronHide and Chromia, leaving all three on the ground.
"Stop!" Ellie screamed as she felt the first power conduit pop in her shoulder. The pain of the joint being torn apart was blinding. She kicked and fought against Starscream's hold on her throat, but he had better leverage. His hand squeezed tighter, causing her vocalizer to squelch loudly. The first piston flew apart on her arm, spraying compressed oil and a stream of metal bits. And still the Seeker pulled. Ellie continued to scream and kick, trying to claw at Starscream's mid-section with her feet. But he had longer arms that she had legs, and he continued to slowly pull her left arm from her body. A second conduit popped free, sending a spray of glowing blue droplets as it came loose. Starscream seemed to enjoy the pain he was dealing, like he was getting off on it. "You don't need arms for what I have planned."
Thundercracker had pounced on Bumblebee, holding the little mech to the ground as he brought his fists down on his armor, denting plates and support struts. Sam and Mikaela made feeble opponents trying to take Thundercracker on strength to strength. Mikaela raised her arm, a buzz saw springing out from between her third and fourth fingers and shoved it into the area under Thundercracker's shoulder. The Seeker screeched as a fountain of oil and energon sprayed out, sparking a small fire within his frame. Though Mikaela caught the back of his hand and went tumbling away, dazed.
Sam had no such saws, but he did have a weapon. He pushed Thundercracker off of Bumblebee, taking the Seeker by the shoulders and bringing his head down hard against Thundercracker's. Both were left in a daze, but Sam recovered faster. Apparently, the gyroscope inside his cranial casing made it possible to take a hit and keep walking, or in his case, crawling. Almost by instinct, he grabbed the back of Thundercracker's neck, and gave a small node a huge squeeze like popping a pimple. The control popped and sparked once. Thundercracker's body limp on the ground.
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Ellie's scream ripped through the night as the gears in her shoulder shredded free of themselves. Her shoulder burned, the pain coursing through out her body as though she had been dipped into a smelting pit. Her receptors could not tell where the pain was coming from because of the sheer strength of the signal, so they fired everywhere, making it feel as though the Seeker was ripping her entire body apart. Starscream's laughter reached a crescendo when it was suddenly cut off. Prime's fist snapping his head to the side with a whip-crack. Starscream's fingers loosened, letting Ellie fall to the ground as his own body hit, optics struggling to come back on-line.
Optimus grabbed Ellie's face, holding her head tightly as he called her name, trying to get her attention. Only after realizing Starscream no longer had a hold on her could she hear what Prime was saying. "Ellie, calm down. You're alright..." Ellie shivered, her voice quaking as her left arm hung useless at her side, still sparking. "...didn't damage anything critical. Your shoulder can be repaired. Do you understand?" Ellie nodded quickly, her body still shaking with mixed combat algorithms and self repair programs. She laid her head on the brick building behind her, her optics off-lining as she slipped into forced recharge.
Mikaela and Sam gathered Bumblebee in their arms, holding the brave little mech close, rocking him as much to comfort him as themselves. Sam looked around. IronHide and Chromia were muttering curses as they came to, crawling toward each other through the rubble. Ratchet was still being led by WheelJack with a hand around his mid-section. The medic could do no repairs with his control all but gone, but he was able to make on the spot recommendations to WheelJack who set to work on two very pissed off warriors. Preceptor was busy clamping the energon lines that had ruptured in Ellie's shoulder and Prime was staring at the woman with an unreadable expression. Mikaela was holding Bumblebee close, her other arm around Sam as she just enjoyed the closeness. "Were alive..." Sam whispered, relief flooding his CPU.
"Were alive!"