Oriana 'verse. Glistig Alpha. Letting go and holding on.

Apr 25, 2008 11:52

The screaming didn't really bother him. He'd heard, and caused, too much of it to have it faze him now. The pall of stone dust and smoke didn't bother him, even, though it would usually have had him coughing and closing off his ventilation ports.

But Frenzy was definitely bothered. There's just something about looking down at your own severed and crushed head that will do that to even the most hardened 'Con.

"How're you feeling?" asked a familiar voice gently.

He looked up at Ratchet bemusedly. "I bought the %#$%#$%& farm. How do youse think I #$%@&$ feel? Soundwave would kick my aft for this."

The white mech smiled slightly. "Actually, he's so excited that he stuttered when I told him you were coming. He misses you guys, even with the song."

Frenzy blinked. "He's not mad?"

Ratchet shook his head. "Not mad. Rumble's probably going to want to use your head for a football, though."

"Like I care." The Cassetticon shrugged. "I ain't usin' it anymore. 'N he left us before I did. Him 'n Ravage both."

"Falling in love is a little different than passing through the Veil," noted Ratchet.

"Whatever." Another shrug, and then an impatient glance toward the taller mech's face. "What're we waitin' for? Let's get this #$%#% show on the road, yo."

Ratchet nodded his head toward where some of the rest of the unit were clustered around two forms on the broken and charred ground. "There's someone else I have to talk to."

"#@%$#$#!" Frenzy's eyes widened. "The bosses!"

* * *

"Hold her!" shouted Ironsides as a random swing caught him upside the head and sent him tail over teakettle.

"Primus, help us... argh." The unit's bridge, a squeaky new mech named Pax, grunted as he caught a fist himself. "Sideswipe, sir, please! You have to calm down!"

The battered body he was trying to pin down only bucked harder, the agonized screams becoming more anguished as the red and black femme mindlessly fought against her pain and terror.

"Sunny!" she shrieked as Ironsides piled himself back into the group that was trying to subdue their second in command. "Sunny, don't leave me! Don't... NOOOOO!"

"She's just going to damage herself worse," grunted another young mech from where he doggedly clung around her neck. "This is stupid."

Ironsides shot him a cutting look. "You make a few kin bonds and have your siblings damaged, and then you can judge. Until then shut up and hold on. Fixer, how's the boss?"

A lone mech crouched beside the other sister, his face set as he used a cutting torch to get through a crushed and jammed access panel. "I don't know yet. She's still sparked."

"That's something... aiii!" Ironsides flew again. Being a Minibot had its downsides.

Fixer ducked as he went over, then winced as the panel came away and he saw the dim flicker of Sunstreaker's spark. "Primus."

"Sunny! Sunny!" Sideswipe bucked again, her face a mask of grime and tears. "Please...."

Fixer bit his lip and sat back to assess the damage to the golden femme's shell, his own spark going heavy and sick as he realized that he had a snowball's chance of keeping her alive long enough to get her off the feild and to a medical facility and that she had an even smaller one of actually coming through all this able to function at even half the level she was used to. Her processor was crushed, her spark weak and wavering. He'd seen mechs with less damage never recover. It was only her bond with her sister that was keeping her now.

And then, even as he watched, the fight was over. Sideswipe collapsed as Sunstreaker's spark dwindled and faded.

* * *

Sunstreaker blinked as she found herself crouching on one knee a little distance from the rest of the unit. Something was wrong.... What...?

Optics widening, she put a hand to her chest. "Sis?"

"She's alive," said a voice from behind her. "Stunned and in pain. But alive."

"Ratchet?" She scrambled to her feet and spun to stare at the ghost, then gasped as she realized that she could feel both he and Frenzy and realized what that meant. "No. Where's my shell?"

The former CMO pointed and she gaped, feeling sick as she saw the damage.

"Hey, at least yer head's still where it's supposda be," growled Frenzy with his usual winning and intimate manner.

"Shut the slag up," she said automatically.

"Make me, I don't answer to youse no more, see?"

"Shut up, Frenzy," said Ratchet, stepping toward the golden and black femme.

"Right. Youse got it."

Ratchet put a gentle arm around Sunstreaker. "Just rest a bit. I've got you."

She stared in silence for a moment, then looked at him with shimmering optics. "This is it, huh? Who... who's gonna keep Swipes out of trouble?"

"Actually." Ratchet's voice was gentle as he looked toward where Ironsides cradled the weeping Sideswipe's head in his lap and offered the silent comfort of his presence. "You've got a choice."

Sunstreaker blinked. "A choice?"

He nodded. "You can come with us now, or stay here."

"But...." She turned her head and stared at her shell. "I... would I even be sentient?"

"Yes." Ratchet's voice is gruff. "But you wouldn't be able to let anyone know. You'd be helpless, and in pain. Your spark took a lot of damage too."

"But Swipes would know." Her face creased as she realized that if she stayed she'd never win another award for being the most beautiful femme on Cybertron; never roar down some alien back road at her sister's side. In the Matrix she'd be free.

But Sideswipe would be alone.

* * *

Fixer was digging through his supplies, trying to find a sedation tab that hadn't been shattered when he was thrown by the explosion. He really had to get his subspace pockets fixed. His life would probably be easier if he weren't so set on never leaving anyone behind, even after they were dead.

"Sunny," murmured Sideswipe, turning her head.

"Shhhh," he responded with absent gentleness, still searching through the bag.

"Doc... she's in pain."

"No. That's you." He sighed and pitched another busted tab.

"No." She shook her head. "Look. I can see her spark."

"Huh?" Ironsides followed her gaze and gasped. "Doc, look! She's right."

"What?" Fixer's hand closed around the tab he'd just found as he turned his head. The next instant had him scrambling toward Sunstreaker on all four, barking for the comm. mech to call for an airlift. His hands were shaking a little, but he managed to apply the knockout tab and then hook up the portable energy source that had survived his fall. "Someone find the rest of Frenzy! We're out of here."

"I thought Ironsides was next in line for command?" The new kid blinked.

"What he said," grunted the Minibot, gently stroking Sideswipe's forehead as she succumbed to her exhaustion and injuries and slipped into stasis. "And nobody better give us slag for losing the reinforcements as fast as they sent 'em. The Sisters tried."

"Wait." Pax froze and lifted his head, his optics widening. "It's quiet."

The others started and looked around, trying to understand. "Where'd they go?"

"I... I think we did it," said Ironsides dazedly. "I think they left."

"No way," said one of the others, shaking her head.

Silence fell again, broken only by the distant double boom of an emergency shuttle breaking the sound barrier.

And then an avian began to trill, the tiny thread of sound a fiercely joyful paean of triumph.

"Slag." Ironsides's face broke into a rusty looking smile. "We won."

* * *

"Can we go now?" Frenzy had his back turned toward the scene and his arms crossed cockily.

Ratchet looked away from the sisters and their unit, his optics resting on the brother who had bitterly mourned his brothers' leaving, only to be the first to leave himself.

"Yeah," he said softly. "Let's go. There's no telling what my grandkid's up to."

Frenzy gave him a funny look as they vanished.
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