this was a nice read for me today, sorry to hear about the computer, but at least you have the posts here for us to enjoy   thanks!

 

Thanks, glad you like. Well, the laptop is alive. Though I have started rewriting some parts. Don't worry, the parts that I'm working on is WAY into the "novel".  

 

updated echo with new color scheme and gundam articulating hands

http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/showthread.php?p=1174301&posted=1#post1174301

 

That is absolutly awesome!

 

These stories are great, I loved reading them and am keeping them. Are these characters made up or have they true origins?

 

90% of the characters in this story is made up. The ENTIRE crew of the Outcasts, other then Perceptor and Red Alert are all my creation. Thanks, glad you like it.  

 

Hurray for fan made characters!!!

My favorite has to be Echo. A blind Transformer as a sniper is a wonderful clash. I tried to explain the concept to a friend but they didn't get it "If he's blind how can he be a sniper?" I say, "He senses sparks, he's the best sniper there can be."

Great stories, I look forward to reading more

 

Shameless plug   , but if you like Echo I have started a story, specifically for him. Glad to see he's one of your favorites.  

http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/showthread.php?t=114985

 

Yay! Another update. Unfortunately, the laptop officially kicked the bucket.   But thanks to SydneyY from the boards I was able to get the story. However, the ending I was working on, is right now forever lost. Enjoy.  

Chapter 20

Two Days Later

Being out on the road with robots was a completely different experience, an experience that Mimic could see wore on Miller. The human was quiet and not sleeping well, even though they stopped twice so he could. He also began to not eat which was not a good sign. Maybe it was a bad idea to bring him along on the mission.

The team reached the location, a large body of water called a lake which was located deep in some woods of a state called Oregon. Echo hovered overhead signaling the spot where he had sensed the sparks. If the mechs were indeed in the lake Mimic will have to go in and retrieve them. He was the only bot after all that was equipped to handle water.

He pulled up to the shore line and shook his head inside it’s casing. “This is going to take a little longer then I had thought it would.”

Miller pulled the coat he was wearing tighter to his body. “It’s a lot colder up here and damper.” He shook his head. “I will need shelter.”

Mimic opened the door for Miller. “You have a tent? That is not enough for you?”

“No, especially since it’s quite damp here.” He crossed his arms and looked at the lake before them. "At least it's not big."

Next to him Mimic transformed into his robotic form. “I’m going to have go wade in that water to find the mechs.” He sighed heavily. “I really don't want to do it."

“How are you equipped for water?” Miller glanced behind him to see Blade Runner and Echo standing behind him. “I’m just curious, that’s all.”

“It’s the way he is made, Miller.” Blade Runner crossed his arms. “He can take on the form of any bot that he chooses thanks to nano machines and his computer, which is highly equipped to handle the sudden and frequent changes that he makes.”

Mimic snapped his head to the older mech. “I could have said something, Blade Runner.” He took a few steps toward the older Autobot, his finger pointing directly at him. “Listen here old timer, I’ve had enough with you! You think you’re bigger than big because you’ve been around longer than all of us. Well, guess what? Nobody cares!”

Echo raised his hand. “Enough you two. We need to get started on the mission at hand.” He turned his head ever so slightly. “Miller, make your shelter. Mimic, go in and do a quick search of the lake bottom.”

“Right, right.” Mimic shook his head then began to make his way into the water. “Damn, it’s freezing in here!”

****

He couldn’t figure out where he was or what had happened to him. From what he remembers he was out on patrol when his team encountered some Decepticons. Then he was hit from behind and found himself here. But where was here? From what he could see it had to be a cell of some kind because of the glow to his right and the sound of bots hollering in pain.

A door opened not too far from him and heavy footsteps made their way towards his cell. The steps had a mission, but what that mission was he didn’t know. Let’s just hope it wasn’t going to be an interrogation. He has heard some terrible rumors of the interrogation techniques of the Decepticons and didn’t want to see them come true.

“So, it’s a mini-bot this time?” Said a voice. “Why such a weak Autobot?”

“Shockwave wants to see how far he can take the experimentations.” The energon bars disappeared and was replaced by two, dark menacing figures. “You’re coming with us.”

“Why? What do you plan on doing with me?”

One of the figures reached in and grabbed Beltline by the neck. “Did I tell you to talk?” He slammed Beltline against the wall. “Don’t ever talk again!”

Beltline tried hard not to grimace from the pain that was racing through his back. He wanted to snap back with a comment, but knew by doing so he would suffer more for it. The bot got irritated by this and slammed him yet again against the wall.

“You have spunk.” The Decepticon leaned in close and sneered. “We will change that.”

Flashes, that was all that came after the Decepticon dragged him down the hall to a dimly lit room where he was thrown on a table and strapped down. Flashes of light and intense pain that seemed to go straight to his spark. He didn’t know what was going on and he became very scared. What was going on? What had happened to him?

“He’s a mini-bot, there is no way his systems will be able to handle the changes, Shockwave.”

“Do as I say or you will be next in line, Trialrun.”

“What do you plan on doing to me?” Beltline asked, his voice shaking with fear.

Shockwave appeared above him, his one, lone optic glowing menacingly in the darkness of the shadows. “I’m going to make you a better fighting machine. I want to make sure these cannons work before I attempt to place them in my more trusted warriors.”

“I’m not a toy you can experiment with, Shockwave!” Beltline struggled against his restraints as the scientists placed a large buzz saw on his right shoulder. “I’m just a mini-bot!” He glanced over to where the shoulder cannons were laid out on another table, ready to be attached to him after several cycles of torture.

“Point taken, but what other use do you have?” Shockwave said as he leaned in filling Beltline's vision and his spark with dread.

“I can’t handle weapons like that, no mini-bot can!”

“I know, it’s only meant to work once…” Shockwave stated as he turned to leave the room. Before exiting Shockwave turned and as an afterthought he stated to the droids. “Make sure he doesn’t go into stasis-lock. I want him to remember his time here.” Shockwave picked up one of the cannons then turned back to Beltline. “This won’t take long.”

“No! Please, I don’t want to be…” He screamed as the saw began to cut deep into his shoulder. “Why are you doing this?” He cried out. Why?!”

****

Date: 11-25-1965

This is a journal that I had decided to start to keep track of the events going on here at the Outcasts base. It has been several months since our discovery and lives have been changed. Most of the humans here, three all together didn’t really want to be involved with these robots war, but found we had no choice. Thus, we began to adapt to the ways of living. Which means lack of food, little sleep, and aching joints and muscles. Will we be able to tolerate many more years of this, maybe not.

Right now I sit in what they call their repair bay, watching a robot named Beltline as he laid on the table in a “recovery stasis”. He had to have surgery to repair a pair of cannons on his shoulders and should be waking up at any minute. Unfortunately the robot will have many more surgeries to go through before he is fully repaired.

It’s weird living here in this environment where beings can just be, “repaired” with simple mechanics or engineering. A hit or a even a fall isn’t fatal as long as it didn’t damage the spark. Spark. That is what the creatures here call their life force. A glowing ball of energy that lays within their chest cavity. Some, like Beltline and Sonicblaze had their sparks mutated to fit their abilities. How can someone mutate a spark? My mind could hardly wrap around the idea that something like that could even be possible.

Course, look where I am living at. I should know by now that anything could be possible. It’s a shame that no one else will be able to experience what I experience day by day.

Charlie stopped his writing when he heard movement to his right. Turning he saw Beltline moving around, but he appeared to still be in stasis lock. What is happening to him? Was he having a nightmare? Was that even possible?

He turned as Red Alert came walking to Beltline’s chest. “What’s going on with Beltline?”

“His having a nightmare.” Red Alert shook his head. “Seems to always happen if he’s in stasis for awhile. Tried to figure out the reason, but scans on his systems didn’t show anything.” He smiled. “He should be waking up in a bit.”

****

“Systems at ninety-five percent.”

Beltline slowly rolled his head around as his cybernetic mind tried to figure out what had happened to him. He still can smell the oil and energon from that day where his life changed forever, but if he was still in that room he would be feeling pain. No pain meant that he had to be someplace else, but where?

“Hey Beltline. Welcome back to the world of the living.”

It took quite awhile before his cybernetic brain figured out where he was and what had happened to him. As his optics recalibrated themselves he saw through the static he was in a repair bay.

“Hello? Anybody there?”

“I’m here.” Came Charlie’s voice. “How you feeling Beltline?”

He turned his head slightly to see Charlie sitting on the table, right next to his head. In his hands was a book, but he couldn’t tell what the title of it was. Charlie still had the cast on his wrist which meant he hadn’t been in stasis for long. He then turned his head the other way and saw Perceptor checking out the pod they had discovered awhile back. Why is he just getting to it now?

Perceptor turned to face Beltline. “Well, you made it out of the stasis just fine.” He put down his tools then sighed heavily. “Unfortunately, you will have another repair job soon, but it won’t be as extensive as the last.”

“That’s good to know.” Beltline slowly raised his hand to his aching right shoulder. “Where are we at on the recovery mission?”

Perceptor slowly nodded his head. “We found two more Autobot sparks and one Decepticon. There is a team out there now. But don’t worry about it. You just need to worry about getting better. We’ve got everything under control.”

“That’s good to know.” Beltline began to visibly relax. “How is Windcharger adapting?” He quickly saw that everybody seemed to sadden with this question. “What’s the matter?”

“Windcharger,” Charlie took a deep breath then shook his head. “He got messed up real bad. Mirror Blade took him and Blade Runner prisoner. Blade Runner managed to walk away with minor repair work, but Windcharger,” His head turned to the right, his eyes focused on something out of Beltline’s optic sight. “He didn’t fair too well.”

Beltline slowly got up onto his elbows to see what got Charlie’s attention. There, laying several yards away laid a haphazard figure, with no head. He quickly realized what might have gone down: a spark transfer. But doing that was risky. It rarely, if ever is done unless the medic or scientist involved believes the spark can make it through the extreme stress.

“Is that….” Beltline snapped his head back to Perceptor. “That can’t be Windcharger. You all wouldn’t risk a spark transfer. Would you?”

Perceptor slowly shook his head. “We had no choice.” The scientist placed his wrench down, then crossed his arms. “Unfortunately, it may take many more weeks for his spark and computer to except the transfer and began repairing the systems. As of right now, we have him hooked on full life support.”

“And Sonicblaze approved of this?”

“No, he didn’t. But we couldn’t just let him die, not yet.” Perceptor shook his head. “He still doesn’t approve of it, but there is nothing we can do now.”

Beltline shook his head. “It was a stupid risk, Perceptor. Can’t believe you went for it.” He tried to move a little more to get comfortable, then heard Perceptor quickly barking at him to stop. “What now Perceptor?” Beltline knew he was a little short with the scientist and raised his hands. “I’m sorry, just…”

“You still need to take it easy. I really don’t know if your armor could take any more damage right now.” Perceptor smiled down at Beltline. “Don’t worry though, you will only be this way for another three Earth weeks. Which to us is just a few days. You just have to stay relatively still for us.”

Beltline sighed heavily. “Guess I could do that.” He turned to Charlie. “You should get back to whatever you’re doing. It’s going to be awhile for me.”

Charlie smiled. “I’ll do that, but I will be back here to visit you on occasion. Take care.”

****

He didn’t know how long it has been since he has been in the brig, but Mirror Blade did know that if he didn’t get any energon soon, his weakened systems were going to crash. He could barely move as it is, so he remained in the cell’s corner. Trigger hasn’t come in to see him, which was a rather good thing. Both bots would probably go at it till one of them were dead.

The door to the brig opened, but the steps didn’t belong to Trigger they were just too light. Then that meant it had to be either Delta or Redline. Even though he couldn’t see he still turned his head towards the noise and got no response from the mech.

“Who’s there!” Mirror Blade tried to get up, however his legs refused to work and he fell onto his hands. “What do you want!”

The steps came to the cell and stopped. “Delta wants me to give you some energon.”

“Redline, what a surprise.” Mirror Blade shook his head. “I don’t need help from you.”

“Well, I’m going to leave the chips here anyway.” Redline turned the bars off then placed the chips in the opposite corner of Mirror Blade. “The chips are across from you. There are three there. A warning too you, they’re suppose to last you for another Earth week.”

The bars went back on, Redline’s steps faded and Mirror Blade found himself once again all alone. He waited five minutes before he went for the energon chips. It was a little difficult to do so with his legs being useless. And the only reason why his legs didn’t work was because of the lack of energon in his systems. Right now his computer was in survival mode and with no obvious threat before him, it decided to shut down his legs for a brief moment.

It seemed to take him several hours to drag his useless body across the cell, but he knew it had to have been only minutes. As his hands brushed the energon chips, fear quickly ran through his systems. How did he know if these chips weren’t tainted in anyway? He couldn’t see the color of them, which meant he resigned his fate to the unknown motivations of Delta and Redline.

“I see your little trick, Delta.” He grabbed one of the small chips and threw it into his mouth. “I know you will never kill me, not now.”

****

It has been three hours and Mimic still has not come back to the surface to give them an update. The bots around Miller though seemed to not be worried one bit. And with it beginning to drizzle, Miller decided to go inside his pup tent. There he wrapped his coat tighter to his body and stared out ahead at the bots sitting just in front of him. Blade Runner had his sword out and had it laying across his lap. Echo sat about two hundred yards away, cross legged with his rifle on his shoulder. His head was constantly moving, making sure the area was secure.

Bubbles appeared about fifteen feet from shore, which was either a good or bad sign. Miller watched as Mimic came walking out of the lake appearing like some kind of swamp monster. His armor was covered in foliage and mud, but he appeared okay. It was almost mythical looking as steam rose from his armor.

He shook his arms, spraying mud and water everywhere, quickly destroying the mythical feel. “The bot’s are Sunstreaker and Sideswipe. The Decepticon is Reflector.”

Blade Runner quickly jumped up. “Is it all three bots or just one of them?”

“Just one.” Mimic shook his head. “Sunstreaker is pretty beat up. He’s missing an arm and his armor is badly damaged. As for his brother, he is a little better off. Sideswipe’s armor is heavily damaged as well, but that’s about it. Both are pretty water logged. Really don’t know how that will effect their systems or not.” He sighed heavily. “Reflector is just about gone.”

“Is there any way to bring them up without causing any further damage to them?” Blade Runner asked as he watched Echo get to his boots.

“You guys weren’t at all worried about me?” Mimic shook his head. “I have been stuck in that mud for an hour! An hour!” He snapped his arms forward, which flung mud everywhere. “What were you guys thinking I was doing? Taking a leisurely stroll on the lake bottom?!”

“Well, we never know with you.” Blade Runner stuck his sword out as Mimic threatened to punch him. “Remember, you are the grunt here.”

Mimic scowled. “I’m getting sick and tired of being a grunt!”

Miller saw a blur of motion as Mimic came rushing towards Blade Runner. The larger, much older bot was amazingly fast as he skidded to the right, his left arm snapping out with the sword, barely missing Mimic. This scared the young bot enough to stop him in mid-swing.

“I can cut you in half.”

Blade Runner stood a little straighter which brought the blade of his sword right up to Mimic’s neck. The glowing, blue blade was as wide as Mimic’s head and the length was roughly ten feet. Just one flick could cause serious damage, which meant Blade Runner could easily cut through his thick armor.

“Fine, fine. I’ll start bringing the bots to the surface.” Mimic shook his head. “I’m not going to enjoy it though.”

Echo’s head snapped to the west, his hands flexing around his rifle. “We have company.”

“Damn it!” Mimic took out his duel shotguns. “Can we ever get a break?”

Blade Runner turned to Miller, concern written all over his face. “I’ll help you get the suit on. Let’s go!”

****

The farther up north Trigger got the colder it became and he was beginning to wonder if his systems could tolerate this type of weather. Luckily it was just him on patrol and no other bots. Sure it was suicidal, but one bot traveling alone was much safer in this world. A pack of cars driving themselves would look highly suspicious to the human inhabitants of this area.

He came upon a tree line where he saw the last Outcast disappear into a day ago. What they were up to he did not know, but he wanted to find out. Very slowly he began to inch his way through the trees, using deep tire tracks as his guideline. They are definitely here all right.

He transformed into his more comfortable form and hid behind a tree that was amazingly wide enough to hide his bulky frame. Zooming in he could see what appeared to be a structure made out of cloth by a lake’s edge and next to that stood a rather small bot. Other then that he couldn’t see anything. Slag it for the signal cloaking device each Omnibot had installed into their systems.

“Well, isn’t it a bit risky to come here all alone?” A voice said as a gun barrel pushed against the middle of his back. “Put your hands up in the air now.”

Trigger had to smile. “How would you know, Echo if I did or not?”

“Because I’m standing right here.” Blade Runner came out from behind a tree just a few yards away from Trigger. “What are you doing here alone?”

“I was sent to see what you all were doing up here.” Trigger flinched as Echo pushed the barrel yet again into his back. “Listen, I managed to get away from Delta and the other bots for a reason. I need to talk to you guys.”

“What do you want? A bargain?” Blade Runner shook his head. “I’m sorry, but…”

“I want to join your team.” He could tell this took Blade Runner by surprise. “I want to be a double agent. I know it’s going to be tricky…”

“Why? What’s in it for you?” Blade Runner turned to Trigger so he could face the towering black mech, the First Lieutenant of Mirror Blade. “Why are you wanting to join us?”

“I saw what Mirror Blade did to Windcharger. I won’t tolerate that.” Trigger sighed heavily. “I want to see the bot that did that fall and I’m willing to sacrifice sanity to do it.”

Echo lowered his rifle then nodded his head. “He’s telling the truth, Blade Runner.”

Blade Runner also nodded. “Very well, right now however is not the time. Meet up with us in a couple of days at a bluff near the Rebirth base. Until then tell Delta you saw nothing. I will report this to Sonicblaze.”

Trigger slowly nodded as he lowered his hands. “Very well. Can I ask what you all are doing here?”

“Then you might tell. It’s best you don’t know.” Blade Runner waved his sword away from the lake. “I think you should leave. See ya in a few days.”

****

The fire cast eerie shadows against the inner metallic frame of the shuttle, it’s smoke billowing out through a filter in the ceiling which Perceptor quickly made up so the smoke won’t be detected by human eyes. Charlie sat next to it trying desperately to get warm. Though he was not outside in the elements, the shuttle had no source of heat. They will have to get room heaters the next time they go into town.

Buddy shook his head. “Wonder how Miller is holding up?”

“I hope he’s okay.” Charlie rubbed his arms. “We need to get heaters.”

“With what money?” Scoffed Buddy. “Remember, we don’t have jobs. We don’t even have enough food to eat or clothes to wear. Face it, we’re homeless with a place to stay.” Charlie could hear the bitterness in his friend’s voice.

“At least we have a place to stay.” He sighed heavily as he stoked the fire. “By the way, I’ve baked some more bread today. We’ve got five loaves now. And we have some lunch meat left, unfortunately it’s only enough to make one sandwich.”

“Damn it!” Buddy stood up and began to pace. “When is Terry going to be here again?”

Charlie checked his watch, which amazingly still worked. “In about six days.” He threw more kindling on the fire. “Unfortunately with the new exercise regiment were going through, we’re beginning to eat more. We need….”

“We need to have just walked away from all of this.” Buddy slumped down on a chair made out of scraps of metal and for a cushion, old shirts stuffed with straw. “This isn’t a life for a human.”

“What else can we do?” Charlie glanced at the door expecting Sonicblaze at any moment. “We should get back to working out. That will warm us up some.” He shed his coat and shivered. “Let’s go on a run. When we return we can have dinner.”

Buddy shook his head. “Bread isn’t a dinner, it’s a snack.”

****

It began to sleet around seven at night then it turned into a drizzle which made for very poor living conditions for Miller. It was now around eleven o’clock at night and only about twenty degrees outside. Because of the fear of being found out by humans Miller couldn’t build a fire. Which meant he had no way of keeping himself warm. He tried the suit, but quickly found out it didn’t have a heater. Though he did wear it to get out of the elements, he still felt cold especially when he shifted his weight and ruined the little bit of warmth he did manage to get.

Blade Runner sat down next to him, his armor emanating steam from the ice that tried to coat it. “We’re almost done here. Just need to get the bots checked out before we put them on the flatbed.” He turned to Miller worried. “How are you holding up?”

Miller shook his head. “I’m freezing. I need heat now or I might get really sick.”

“We definitely need to talk to Perceptor about that issue.” He shook his head. “It never got this cold on Cybertron. Wonder if we have to adjust our systems for it?”

“Well, at least you can adjust your systems.” Miller shivered violently within the suit. “I however need heat or….”

“You already said that.” Blade Runner began to really worry about Miller, he hardly ever repeats himself like this. “Hey, Miller. You sure you’re okay?”

Miller nodded his head. “Yeah, I’m fine. I need to get out of this suit though. My legs and arms are getting numb.” He took off his helmet then turned to Blade Runner. “Can you help me out?” With his helmet off he allowed some of the cold sleet to run into the suit. “I’m getting wet here, can you hurry?”

“No, put the helmet back on. You’re getting yourself wet.” Blade Runner got really worried now, this human was the thinker of the group and would never make a mistake like this. He began to scan the human’s vitals and quickly realized that Miller’s temperature had dropped several degrees. Not only that, but there was a lack of blood flow to his arms and legs. “Your vitals are rather weird. I have never seen anything like this before.”

Mimic threw Sunstreaker’s battered body onto the soft lake shore. “Sideswipe, is stuck.” He slumped down onto the ground and rested his arms on his knees. “It’s going to take another hour, maybe two. I need to take a breather though, my systems need to clean themselves.”

“Miller, put the helmet back on.” Blade Runner squinted then bent down to get a better look at the human. “Your ears, their turning color.”

Miller grabbed his ears then shrugged. “They’re just cold.” He tried to put his helmet on, but fumbled and it fell out of his hands. “My hands aren’t working all that great.”

Blade Runner grabbed the helmet and put it back on Miller’s head. “Just take it easy and stay in the suit. It’s better then being in the pup tent.” He turned to Mimic. “I’ll give you an hour Mimic.”

Mimic nodded. “Yeah, yeah.” He waved for Blade Runner to come towards him and when he did he shook his head. “Something’s not right with Miller.”

“I know. I’m going to keep a good optic on him. You just worry about Sideswipe.”

He glanced down at Sunstreaker nearly laughing as he did so. The poor bot really had it rough and will take several days to repair and flush out his systems. Wonder what the egotistical bot would say about all this damage and the fact his brother faired better? He knelt down as his computer did a diagnostic scan on his fellow Autobot. What his computer told him was not good news. Sunstreaker’s systems were on the verge of crashing.

“Hang in there, Sunstreaker. We’re almost done.”


****

His steps echoed throughout the quite shuttle as he made his way to the infirmary. He wanted to check on Beltline and talk something over with him. He got the call from Blade Runner several hours ago and had been milling over the fact that Trigger wanted to join his team. If that was truly the case they just got a huge jump in fighting Mirror Blade.

As he walked by the human living quarters he paused to get a glance inside. He could see a small fire glowing in the middle of the room a way for them to keep warm. It has been getting rather cold outside, especially at night. Wonder if there was any way to keep them warm without using a fire? Bet there was. He would have to talk to Perceptor about that.

Charlie stirred on his cot then lifted his head up to get a look at the door. “Sonicblaze, is everything okay?”

Sonicblaze smiled. “Everything is okay, just sleep.”

He turned away from the human quarters and made his way to the infirmary where everything was quiet. In the corner he could see Perceptor sitting in a chair, his body in recovery stasis mode. It was kind of like what the humans did while they slept at night. He then turned his attention to Red Alert who sat on a stool next to Windcharger, his arms crossed and his head bowed. Those two bots have been pushing themselves to the breaking point trying to keep Windcharger alive and to repair Beltline. It was quite foolish to do a spark transfer, unfortunately there was nothing to do about it now. What’s done is done.

Red Alert lifted his head up. “What brings you here, Sonicblaze?”

“Need to talk to Beltline. Is he awake?”

“No, do you want me to take him out of stasis?” Red Alert slowly got up groaning as he did. “He’s recovering very nicely. Just got to do a few more repair jobs and he should be ready to go.” He stepped up to the prone red bot then pushed a button. “He should be alert in just a few minutes. Once he is alert you have fifteen minutes, sir.”

Sonicblaze nodded. “Thank you.” He grabbed a stool then sat down next to his First Lieutenant. He waited till he saw some movement from Beltline’s body before he spoke. “Hey, Beltline.”

Beltline very slowly turned his head to face Sonicblaze. “Is everything okay, sir?”

“Yeah, everything is doing okay.” He scooted the stool closer. “I need to talk to you about something and it involves him.” Sonicblaze pointed to the twitching body of Windcharger. “It appears that Trigger wants to become a double agent.”

“What!” Beltline tried to sit up quickly, but pain in his shoulders brought him back down to the table. “Why? He’s Mirror Blade’s right hand man.” Beltline tried his best to sit up which got an irritated grunt from Red Alert. “Why the sudden spark?”

“According to Blade Runner, Trigger said that he didn’t like what had happened to Windcharger.” He took a deep breath. “What do you think? Should we allow him into the team?”

Red Alert gently placed a hand on Beltline’s chest. “You need to stay still.”

“Right, right.” Beltline waved Red away as he gently laid onto his back. “I say we test him. Unfortunately we can’t do the normal initiating procedures. We will have to take his word on everything he tells us.” Beltline shook his head. “It’s going to be a huge risk, but we have to take it. He will have information that will be vital to us.”

Sonicblaze nodded his approval. “You’re very right.” He turned to the headless body that would soon become Windcharger’s. “We don’t want anything else happening to our team. It’s about time we finally get ahead.”

 

Ah, finally Retribution. At least there was plenty of Echo to keep me going >:>

I hate it when my puters crash and I lose data, it's just not right. (Miller with Frostbite? D:< )

 

Cool fic. It's really nice so far. Can't wait to see what happens next. when r u going to post some more?

 

Wait...what....

Yes, that's right. I'm FINALLY updating this story.  

*Checks date* My bad.


Chapter 21


The lake bottom was made up of loose sediment and mud which made it rather difficult for Mimic to pull Sideswipe from the ground. He needed another bot down here to help him, unfortunately there wasn’t any other that could tolerate the water without shorting out. He pulled with all he had, but his hands slipped off of Sideswipe’s armor and he fell hard on his tailpipe. He cursed then tried once again, only to get the same results.

“I’ve had it!” Mimic grabbed hold of Sideswipe’s arm then pulled till he could hear his servos creaking. Finally the Autobot came out of the silt and flying at Mimic. “It’s about time. Let’s take you to the surface and get going home.”

Blade Runner sat at the lake’s edge waiting impatiently for Mimic to resurface with Sideswipe. The temperature had dropped considerably in the last few hours and they had to get Miller back to base soon or he would freeze to death. He wasn’t acting right at all, in fact he seemed to have just given up. What was wrong with him?

He turned around to see the human huddled inside his pup tent, asleep. Miller's whole body racked with shivers as it tried desperately to keep warm. They should have made a fire for him, but right now it was too late. Once Mimic brought up Sideswipe they would pack things up and head back to base.

Blade Runner saw bubbles a few hundred yards from shore and Mimic appeared like a ghost in the night with Sideswipe’s mangled body slung over his shoulder. He walked up to the shore line, placed the Autobot’s body on the ground, then shook himself clean of water and mud.

Mimic let out a heavy sigh then nodded at Miller’s pup tent. “Still got to get Reflector.” He shook his head. “But we need to get Miller back to base.”

Blade Runner got up to gently nudge the human awake. “Get up, we’re going.”

Miller rubbed his face on his sleeve then slowly sat up. “Blade Runner, I can’t feel my feet.”

“His heart, it’s weak.” Echo knelt down and put a hand on the human. “He’s rather cold, something isn’t right. We need to get him back to the base as soon as we can.” He smiled down at the human. “Don’t worry Miller, we’re going to get you back to safety.”

Blade Runner pushed a button on his comm-link which instantly sent a secure message to Sonicblaze. The leader appeared on the screen and behind him Blade Runner could see Red Alert checking vitals on Windcharger’s future body.

“Yes, what seems to be the problem?”

“Miller is critical and so is Sunstreaker. I need a team here to relieve me so I can take them back to the base.”

Sonicblaze sighed heavily. “We don’t have anybody else to send.” He sat down and shook his head. “There’s Naito…” Sonicblaze sighed heavily. “Ok, Blade Runner you return with those two and I’ll be on my way in a couple of minutes.”

Blade Runner chuckled. “It’s about time you do some of the work around here…”

“Speaking of work slack ass where is the report I asked you for?”

“What report?” Blade Runner smiled.

They both began laughing.

“I’m leaving right now.” Sonicblaze turned to face Red Alert. “Got a human and bot causality coming in.” Red just nodded and went to wake up Perceptor. “See ya in a few days.”

****

He awoke to sever pain in his feet and arms, so excruciating he began to whimper. He flew open his eye lids to see the scenery passing by him in a blur. Where was he? What had happened to him? He tried to move, but that just intensified the pain. He gritted his teeth not knowing what to do. His entire body was cold, unfortunately not cold enough since his frozen feet and hands were beginning to thaw out.

“Miller, hang in there! We got about another five hours before we get back to base!” Shouted Blade Runner.

Miller could feel as tears ran down his cheeks. “My feet, my hands.” He barely could get the words out. “I need to check my feet.”

“You won’t move unless you have to.” Blade Runner’s voice appeared as lines on the dashboard. “You gave us a scare back at the lake. Taking you back to the base now so you can recover. It was foolish to put you on a mission so soon after your attack with Mirror Blade.”

“I’m fine, I’m just human.” Snapped Miller as he tried to flex his fingers. “Oh shit!” He bit his lip and actually drew blood. “Man, this hurts. It’s a good thing I don’t have much feeling in my right arm.” His voice was strained from the pain that seemed to have taken over his body.

“Your core temperature dropped over seven degrees, we almost lost you.” Blade Runner turned left then sped up. “Your hands and feet suffered the worst of it. They appear to be frozen.”

“They were.” Miller began to get highly annoyed at this bot. “You really need to start learning how the human body functions. Then maybe you wouldn’t be asking so many stupid questions.”

Blade Runner seemed to have taken a deep breath. “Just relax.”

Miller shook his head. “That’s rather hard to do at the moment.”

“Just try.” Blade Runner went over a large bump which jarred Miller enough to get a wince. “Sorry, I’ll try to take it a little easier. I just have Sunstreaker strapped to my hood.”

That was when Miller noticed the arm waving outside the passenger window. “Isn’t that a little obvious? Why couldn’t Mimic take him back?”

“Because you and him need medical attention ASAP. So, I’m taking the long way back home. That’s the reason why I need to have you stay still.”

Miller nodded. “That’s not going to be too hard to do.” He yawned then snuggled into the leather seat. “Wake me up when we get there.”

****

The rooster crow snapped Charlie from a deep sleep which really pissed him off. If it wasn’t for wanting eggs to eat and chicks to raise he would have killed the stupid bird a long time ago. He rubbed his face on the pillow then glanced around to see he was still at the shuttle. He let out a groan then slowly got up, the harsh cold quickly awakening his senses. He tightened his blanket around him then turned to see Buddy just waking up. He too had wrapped his blanket around his body.

“At least we have these snow suits, it would have been real bad for us last night if we didn’t.” Buddy blew into his hands then rubbed them together. “Do you know what’s planned for today?”

Charlie shook his head. “No idea.” He got out of bed and rubbed his arms furiously. “I’m going to make some coffee.” He turned to face Buddy. “Do we still have coffee?”

Buddy had a chuckle. “Yeah, that’s the only thing we have plenty of.”

“Good.” Charlie went to the kitchen which was only a few hundred feet from his bed. “I’ll cook breakfast this morning.” Once he got the coffee started he went to the pantry. “We got bread and…” He dug through the ice chest. “A few eggs. Guess we’re having toast and eggs.”

“Great.” Buddy stretched then patted Charlie’s back. “We have some onions, throw some of those in there as well.” He placed the yellow onion on the counter. “We’ve got two more left.”

“Onions?”

“I’m bored with just eggs and bread, time to switch it up.” Buddy laughed. “It sounds good anyway.”

****

The drive was quite long and very tedious, but Sonicblaze had to obey the rules of the road or else he would draw unwanted attention to himself. Hopefully by the time he does reach the lake, there will still be something to do. As he traveled he kept in contact with Blade Runner and found out that Reflector needed to be dug out of the lake bottom. Which meant Mimic had his work cut out for him.

He came upon a slow moving vehicle, which really irritated the hell out of him. Why couldn’t these humans drive? He tried his best to remain calm, but he could feel as the annoyance slowly began to turn into anger. He was on a two lane road, which meant he would have to cross into the opposite lane to get pass the driver. And if he did, he might get a ticket. If only he could just shoot out the tires.

He sighed heavily and then saw with tremendous relief his exit. As he got off the main road he quickly realized how beautiful this world really was. He hasn’t done a lot of traveling so all he really saw was the arid landscape which housed the shuttle. Never has he seen mountains like what laid before him. He didn’t want to admit it, but he really did like it here.

He sped up knowing on his radar there wasn’t a car for miles. He would reach the lake in about two hours, which to his cybernetic brain would only seem like minutes. Let’s just hope he wasn’t too late to help Mimic out.

****

The new body for Windcharger was near completion and the only thing left to do was to attach the poor bot’s head to the new body. Unfortunately Perceptor and Red Alert had to use all the spare parts they had available to make it happen. He turned to the medic to see him getting the head ready and that was when Perceptor realized that it may not fit. Because they used spare parts, most coming from Decepticons, Windcharger was now almost the same size as Echo. It was a drastic change in size and hopefully the bot will be able to handle it.

“We need to do something about the head.” Red Alert brought it to the body to give Perceptor perspective of the situation. “We don’t have a spare head.”

“When the computer is done with the reformatting it should work fine.” Perceptor took Windcharger’s head from Red Alert and began to attach it very carefully to the bot’s body. “It will take several days to get the computer perfectly adjusted.”

Red Alert very carefully began to place Windcharger’s spark into the deep chest cavity. If he misjudged or had one slip of the hands the bot would surely suffer. Very slowly he laid the glowing spark inside the chest cavity where it fit as it should then began to attach several wires and tubes to it. As he did this, Perceptor stood by to keep an optic on the bot’s vitals.

He slowly pulled back with a smile. “Transfer is complete.” He took a step back and shook his head. “Now we just wait.”

“How long will it take?” Asked Beltline.

“Another month, at the latest, six weeks.” Red Alert began to prep a table for Sunstreaker who should be coming in at any moment. “I need to start studying the human textbooks to see what is specifically wrong with Miller.” He shook his head. “I think I have read about the symptoms before, but I would like to be sure.”

Beltline laughed. “It’s been a million vorns too long since I’ve last seen Sunstreaker. Granted we hardly talked, actually come to think about it, I don’t think we ever talked.” He laughed some more. “Wonder what he will think of our ragged team?”

“Probably, how the hell do they function?” Naito stepped into the repair bay and glanced over at Red Alert. “Everything in working order?”

Red nodded. “Yep, though our resources are rather slim. I’ll be able to help out the human, no problem. But Sunstreaker, that could prove a little difficult.” He pointed to a bin of parts with disappointment written on his face. “I tried to do the matter duplicator, but Perceptor still needs to work out a few kinks in it before we use it on more advanced subject matter.”

Perceptor appeared hurt. “Listen, the duplicator is faulty because I don’t have the right parts for it. It needs several more…”

“I don’t really need to hear it right now.” Naito held his hand up to silence Perceptor. “Listen, the human will need to be taken care of by the humans. You just worry about Sunstreaker.”

“But the human may die…”

“They’re weak anyway.” Naito sighed heavily. “Miller’s a fighter, as I heard Charlie and Buddy say several times over and he will make it through whatever is going on with him.”

Red Alert shook his head. “I won’t let him suffer.” He grabbed the data pad that rested on his desk and waved it at Naito. “I’m a medic. It’s my job.”

Naito had a chuckle at this. “From what I remember, you weren’t a medic till this little trip of ours to find Prime and the Ark. You were just a grunt, like Mimic.” He stepped up to Red, his arms across his chest. “Nobody ever relied on you for anything, Red Alert. You were useless till our old medic just up and disappeared.”

“Hey, Naito take it easy on the poor bot!” Shouted Beltline from across the room. “Everybody here started off as grunts, even you!” Everybody in the repair could tell by his voice the subject matter was touching a nerve. “This bot has done so much for us! If it wasn’t for him I would be dead along with several other bots on our team, including Windcharger! He’s the best medic we’ve had, Naito!”

Naito held his hands up in defense. “Sorry, Beltline. Didn’t know this was such a sensitive subject with you.” He turned to Red Alert. “Just try to make it brief with the human. Sunstreaker is after all a Cybertronian and needs to be saved.”

****

Miller was still asleep as Blade Runner bounced over a hill towards the base. The man barely moved since he awoke a few hours ago worrying him. Wonder what was wrong with Miller? His vitals did seem stable, though he was still a bit cold. Is Miller going to be all right?

As Blade Runner skidded to a stop in front of the base's main entrance, Red Alert and Perceptor sprinted forward to grab Sunstreaker’s battered body. Buddy and Charlie pulled open the driver’s side door to get to Miller who was slowly waking up. As for Miller’s suit it was in the back of Blade Runner’s vehicle mood. The older bot will get it out once he transformed.

“Man, he’s beat up pretty bad.” Red Alert shifted the weight of Sunstreaker around in his hands. “Let’s take him to the repair bay. Charlie, Buddy, take Miller to the human quarters. Get his clothes off and warm him up.”

“Right.” Charlie grunted as he hefted the man’s feet to chest level. “Miller, are you awake?”

Miller’s head slowly nodded. “I can….walk.” His voice was weak which showed the other men he may not be as well as he thought.

Buddy began to walk backwards, his arms firmly wrapped around the man’s shoulders. “I would love to see you try.” He stepped into the shuttle and headed right. “How’s the shoulder?”

“It’s hurting….like….hell.” Miller began to move around which caused both men carrying him to stop. “Let me down.”

“Stop moving or I’m going to drop you on your head!” Buddy scowled then continued walking. “What were you thinking anyway? You're not one hundred percent healed.” When he didn’t get a response he glanced down to see the older man had fallen asleep. “Good, I was about to knock him out anyway.”

****

“Lay him here!” Red Alert skidded to a specific work table and slapped his hand against the concave surface. “From the scans that were given to us we realized this planet was primarily made out of water. Perceptor equipped both the Rebirth and Hope shuttles with a never before seen system to help flush out the toxins that might have accumulated over time. Especially for those bots that have been sitting in water.”

Blade Runner placed Sunstreaker on the table then shook his head. “Do you think he’ll be salvageable? He’s systems are pretty fried.”

Red Alert gave a shrug. “With this new device it should run a detox fluid through his entire structural system.” He shook his head. “It’s never been used before, so Sunstreaker is going to be our experi-bot.” Swiftly as he could he began to plug in tubes to certain ports on the prone bot’s body. “This will take ten earth minutes.”

“Will it be painful to him?” Blade Runner took a step back to allow the medic room to work. “Or will he remain in stasis for the entire time?”

“Like I said, this device has never been used before. That means it didn’t get a full test either. We left before Perceptor could do thorough check up. I just did before you came here and things do look all right.” He plugged in the last tube then went to a rather clunky machine that he had pulled out of the storage room. “Well, here goes nothing.”

He slammed his hand on a button which sent a bright green fluid to stream from the machine, through the tubes and into Sunstreaker’s body. As the fluid ran through the bot’s systems Red Alert took an operating tool and pried open various panels in the armor which allowed the liquid to flow out of the bot and onto to the table where it was drained through a very fine filter.

Naito sighed as he stepped up to the table, his arms crossed. “He looks to be in pretty bad shape.” He cringed at the muck that was making it’s way out of the bot’s body. “That’s never a good thing.”

“Well, at least the water and muck is making it’s way out of his systems.” He snapped his head to the right as sirens began to wail. “This is not good!”

Beltline popped his head up. “What’s going on, Red Alert!”

“Just stay still!” Red Alert spun to the life support system to see Sunstreaker waking up from the stasis. "Slag! Perceptor!”

Perceptor sprinted to Red’s side then shook his head. “There’s no way of stopping the process, especially in his weakened state.” He could see Sunstreaker squirming, and he knew with dread it was from pain. He glanced to the life support machine to see the vitals were everywhere. “He’s feeling something. Sunstreaker, can you hear me?” The bot flinched, but did nothing else. “He’s in pain, unfortunately there’s nothing we can do about it.”

Sunstreaker clinched his good fist so hard Red Alert could hear the knuckles pop. “Not too much longer, Sunstreaker. Just hang in there.” He turned to Perceptor. “Watch him closely, I’m going to check up on Miller.”

****

“Place him on this cot.” Charlie grunted out as he side stepped to miss a metal shelving unit. “Can’t believe this man.” He placed Miller gently on the cot then rubbed his back. “Glad he’s skinny, wouldn’t want to have dragged him when he was healthy.”

Buddy sighed heavily. “Who’s going to undress him?”

“Fine, fine.” Charlie huffed then began to untie Miller’s boots. “These boots are still frozen.”

Miller moaned. “What are you doing?” He pulled himself to his good elbow to look at Charlie. “Please tell me I still have my feet?”

Charlie very slowly pulled the boot off then began to tear off the frozen sock. “Oh my god!” He began to cringe jokingly as he saw the purple and gray foot. “It’s smells like shit!”

Buddy had a laugh at this. “You still have your feet, Miller. Can you wiggle your toes?”

“I think so.” Miller’s big toe began to move, doing this however sent a wave a pain up his leg. “It hurts. He fell down onto the bed and placed his hand over his face. “Is Terry here?”

“No, but I am.” Red Alert stepped into the medical bay then knelt down next to Miller’s bed. “I’ve already got the saline solution warmed up for you.” He hooked the bag on an IV line then handed the needled to Charlie. “Unfortunately my fingers are just a little too bulky to put the needle in.” He smiled as he patted Miller’s shoulder. “Your in good hands.”

****

It was rather brisk as Sonicblaze made his way through the thick redwoods to the lake where Mimic and Echo were waiting. No wonder Miller is very sick, it was really quite cold out here. Definitely will have to think on how to take better care of the humans. They will be going on much more missions with his team and that meant they will have to be better prepared for them.

Mimic smiled up at his commander, his armor caked with mud and ice. It was odd to see ice on a bot, usually their armor was just warm enough to melt it. Wonder what the colder temperature would do to Mimic's circuitry? He’ll have Perceptor look into that when they get back to base.

“Reflector is stuck.” Mimic slowly stood up, the mud and ice creaking from his movements. “It’s going to take another two hours maybe three. Sideswipe is over there,” He pointed behind him. “In stasis.”

“Is there anything I can do?” Sonicblaze asked.

“I don’t think so.” Mimic shook his head. “I’m the only bot capable of getting in the water.”

Sonicblaze nodded. “Right. Well, I’ll help as much as I can.” He turned to Echo. “How’s everything look out there?”

“Nothing new to report, except for being bored.”

Must be rather difficult being a blind bot with limited mobility while in an open area such as this. There was nothing to do, except to stand around and scan the perimeter.

Mimic stretched which broke off some of the mud and ice that was caked onto his armor. “I’m going to try one more time and if I can’t do it,” He shrugged. “He’s going to be stuck there for awhile. He’s only a Decepticon after all.”

As Mimic stepped back into the cold water Sonicblaze sat down on a large boulder. “How is your circuitry doing with this cold?”

Echo turned his head towards his commander then went back to scanning. “Not too bad. Though if it rains ice again and I have to fly, that could be a problem. My wing tips aren’t heated.” In one swift move he spread his wings out to their full length, which was small at flier standards at forty feet from tip to tip. Sure enough the edges were coated in a thick layer of ice. “I will need to do something about it, sir. I won’t be able to function otherwise.”

Sonicblaze quickly got up to take a better look at Echo’s wings. “Is this messing with your stealth program?”

“Not so far.” Echo shook his head. “But I might be detectable now, mainly from the colder temperature on my wings.” He turned his whole body around to face Sonicblaze. “Remember my whole body is equally heated with the core temp of my spark. It helps with the stealth.”

“Well, hopefully Mimic can get the bot out of the water. And if not, like he said, we’ll just leave him here. Unfortunately it appears as though we may not get any spare parts out of this mission. Which we really do need for Sunstreaker’s repairs.” The thought of the Autobot made him decide to contact Red Alert. Within seconds the medic appeared in his wrist comm-link. “Red, how is the repairs on Sunstreaker going?”

Red nodded then showed Sonicblaze the battered Autobot body. “He’s alive and the detox went as smoothly as it could for not being tested. Unfortunately, there is a side effect.”

“And what is that?”

“Sunstreaker was eighty-five percent brought out of emergency stasis. He was still in a stasis mode, but not as deep as we would want for this.”

“Did he suffer through this?”

“He might have. We are waiting for his systems to do a complete diagnostics and systems repair. Should be about another hour or two before we really find out what he felt.”

“Very well, keep me updated. Sonicblaze out.”

****

It was getting rather late which meant William “Bill” Cooper will have to find a place to stay for the night. But there was a slight problem. He was rather low on money which meant he would have to stay in one location for at least a couple of weeks until he received more cash from Bernadine. He didn’t want to, but he had no other choice.

He glanced at the map which laid on the passenger seat and saw with relief a small town just twenty miles down the road. He will camp here for the next two weeks and being closer to the Arizona border he will even ask around town about his son.

“Charlie.” He rubbed the steering wheel of his Ford pickup. “What did you get involved with?”

His eyes went to a faded photo that he had taped on his dashboard at the beginning of his trip. It was the last picture of his son taken three months before he left at a family picnic. He was so excited about his job and told everybody that he was finally doing archaeological work. And then Charlie just disappeared, as though he never even existed.

“Where are you Charlie?” He sighed heavily as the town came into view. “What happened to you?”

****

“Systems at ninety percent. Diagnostics complete.”

His optics flashed open which instantly kicked on his survival mode, a fight and fly mechanism that was programmed into all Cybertronians. Instinctively he tried to use his right hand, but found it was completely useless to him. His computer instantly told him he’s arm from just above the elbow joint appeared to be missing. What the hell had happened to him? He always kept his armor in pristine shape. He would have known if his arm was missing, wouldn’t he?

He gradually turned his head from side to side hoping to see something familiar. His optics focused on two bots standing by his side, both had smiles on their faces. He saw Autobot patches on their bodies which meant he was safe. But was that Red Alert? He studied the bot more closely and saw with horror that it was indeed the maniac.

“Who in the slag made you medic!” Sunstreaker bolted up which gave him a glimpse of his right arm. “What happened to me!” He glanced down his body to see it covered with small cracks and some type of muck. “I’m filthy!” He turned to Perceptor to see him talking, but he couldn’t understand him. Confused he allowed his computer to adjust. “I don’t understand you.”

“…should be able to understand me.” Perceptor smiled as the confusion slowly lifted from Sunstreaker’s battered face. “Welcome to Earth. The primary language is English, at least in this part. The other parts may speak other languages. Speaking of, I think the country below United States speaks a language called Spanish. And I believe the other languages that are used are French, German…”

“Enough Perceptor.”

Sunstreaker turned to see a rather thin black bot with dark purple highlights who was smaller than him standing with his arms crossed. Something seemed out of place though. Instead of just one badge he wore two. Other then the Autobot badge he wore another one that appeared to be a perfect blend of the Autobot and Decepticon. And it was purple, which meant it had to be a Decepticon badge. Why were the Autobots sided with Decepticons?

“Sunstreaker, I ain’t going to lie to you. You were badly injured and we don’t have the resources to fix you up properly. So, if you can’t be useful then we will put you in stasis for ten years.”

This got Sunstreaker’s energon to boil. “What do you, mean you can’t fix me up! I can’t go around looking like this! There’s no way! I need to get repaired now!” The black bot actually rolled his optics at him. “Did you just roll your optics at me!”

“Yes, I did.” The black bot walked up to him and stabbed a finger into his chest. “Listen to me, Sunstreaker and listen good. We here at the Rebirth base will not tolerate foolishness like what you are portraying right now! We will not tolerate it!”

“Naito, take it easy on the poor bot. He just woke up from stasis.” Yelled a voice from across the room.

Sunstreaker glanced that way to see a sight he would never wish upon his worse enemy. What lay on a table before him was a monstrosity if he ever saw one. A mini-bot, he could tell by the short stature of the bot appeared to have cannons much too large for his small frame. Not only that, tubes extended from the cannons to connect to specific ports throughout the bot’s body. The most chilling being the tubes that led straight to the chest cavity. These were much thicker which lead Sunstreaker to believe they were used for power only.

“Beltline, stay still!” Red Alert shouted out then his attention turned back to Sunstreaker. “Listen, your body is still trying to…”

“And who made you medic? Last time I saw you, you were the worse bot to have in the repair bay.” Sunstreaker shook his head. “I’m not trusting my repairs to you, Red Alert.”

This got a scowl from the black bot. “Now you listen here you little punk! Red Alert here may be off his rocker as they say on this planet, but he is one fine medic! If it wasn’t for him YOU wouldn’t be alive! Remember that the next time you open that energon trap of yours!”

Sunstreaker held his hands up in defense. “Settle done. Someone had their bolts screwed on too tight.” He turned to Red Alert. “Can I at least wash myself down?”

“Put him in stasis.” The black bot stepped up to Sunstreaker and smiled. “That way you will be dirty for twenty years.”

“But Sonicblaze said fifteen.”

“He’s not the boss right now, I am.” Naito nodded at Red Alert. “Stasis, twenty years.”

Sunstreaker couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Twenty years! You can’t be serious! I can’t spend twenty more years in stasis looking like this! I won’t tolerate it!”

Naito pointed at the annoying yellow Autobot. “Somebody shut that femme bot up now!”

“Who you calling femme!” Sunstreaker began to fight as Red Alert and Perceptor took hold of his arms. “Let go of me!”

 

Chapter 22



The sound coming from the repair bay was rather annoying, but there was nothing Charlie could do to stop it. He just hoped it would quiet down so Miller could get some rest. Right now with all the commotion Miller only managed to get a few minutes of sleep since his arrival back to the base. He needed much more then that for a full recovery.

Miller coughed violently then turned to face Charlie with an annoyed look. He only had on his boxers which caused him to shiver under the layers of thick bedding. The IV helped a bit with keeping him warm, unfortunately it just wasn’t enough, he needs much more warmth.

“Can we get more heat in this place?” Miller’s teeth were chattering so badly it was hard to understand him. “I’m freezing here.”

“How’s his feet?” Buddy ever so slightly pulled back the sheets to check on Miller’s frostbitten toes. “They're starting to get color back in them.”

Charlie smiled. “Good, good.” He patted Miller’s shoulder. “You’re on the road to recovery.”

“I’m not going into stasis! Where’s my brother! I want to see Sideswipe!”

“If you promise to relax I will let you see Sideswipe before you go into stasis.” Naito’s voice was obviously annoyed. “Just shut up and sit down!”

Silence. Sunstreaker must have gotten the message, finally. Charlie shook his head then slowly stood up to get a few water bottles that he has warming by the fire. Once he had these in hand he checked the temperature and once satisfied he placed them at Miller’s feet. The older man winced as the warmth touched his frozen, swollen skin.

Miller clinched his jaw tightly. “Man, this stings.”

“Well, it’s your own damn fault for going.” Charlie glanced behind him to see the bot called Sunstreaker had sat down on a stool and was now sulking with his arms crossed. “Wonder if all the other Autobots are like that?” He turned back to Miller. “You should get some rest.”

Heavy footsteps approached from behind then a deep mechanical sigh. “Sorry about that. How is Miller doing?”

“How well should I be doing?” Miller cringed then shook his head. “Is Terry coming down?”

Red Alert nodded. “He is, but he can only spend a day here. More and it will began to look suspicious to those at the medical school.”

Miller banged his head a few times against the thin pillow hoping to distract himself from the pain that radiated from his feet. Never again would he venture out without the proper supplies. He coughed a few times then tried to relax his body which was rather hard to do while being in so much pain.

“I think you might be coming down with a cold.” Charlie glanced up at Red Alert then back at Miller. “Hopefully it won’t get too bad.” He patted Miller’s shoulder. “Just try to relax and take it easy. You’ll need your rest.”

****

Redline didn’t know what Delta had in mind with Mirror Blade, but it had to be big. It did seem a little easier now since he has been in the brig, but the team’s new commander believed in pushing his men to their limits. Sure, there was more down time, but that was interrupted by either drills or training. Right now he patrolled the corridors of the shuttle, the job so far highly uneventful.

He rounded a corner which led him to the brig and he took this as an excuse to check on his commander. It has been a few days since Redline has last saw him, so more then likely nothing has changed.

He typed in the pass code then slowly stepped into the dark brig. “Mirror Blade, you still alive!” A loud grunt came from the cell with the glowing bars. “Just making sure.”

“I can’t move my legs.” Mirror Blade said through the darkness. “When can I get out of here?”

“Not for awhile.” Redline turned around to head back and was surprised to see Trigger standing by the door with his arms crossed. “Sir, when did you get here?”

“Only a few seconds ago.” He nodded to Mirror Blade’s cell. “He needs medical help.”

Redline shrugged. “Not my problem.” His voice faded as the door opened revealing Delta. “Delta, sir. I…I…What are you doing here?”

Delta stepped into the room with his arms behind his back. He made his way to Mirror Blade’s cell and shook his head. “Such a pity. Redline, fix him up.”

“Sure, sure.” Redline shook his head as he stepped into the small cell. One look at his injured commander he knew the damage was extensive. “This will take a few hours.”

One Day Later

It was another day before Mimic finally got the other Decepticon off the lake bottom. Once the bot was out of the water, Sonicblaze checked his data pad to see it was Spyglass. He typed this in then the exact coordinates the Decepticon had been found. A map soon spun into view and all the locations of the bots so far recovered turned into a nice visual.

He typed in a few equations, but didn’t really get what he wanted. According to the computer, with this discovery the Ark could be anywhere in a one hundred mile radius. Even with Echo it could take several Earth years to really search all of it.

Mimic let out a low curse as he sat down on a rock next to Sonicblaze, his armor actually steaming from the cold.

“We can finally get back to the base.” Mimic rotated his shoulders several times then shook his head. “I might need the detox when we get back. I think I got some lake scum stuck in places that I didn't even know about.”

Sonicblaze let out a heavy sigh. “You do know that could be painful?”

Mimic shrugged. “Do I have a choice?” He slowly stood back up and as he did so water ran out of his joints. "Huh, that's a new one." He then transformed into a flatbed truck. “Let’s get going. I want to be someplace with little water.”

Echo slowly made his way to Sonicblaze, his hands slightly extended outwards. Sonicblaze began to approach the sniper knowing Echo might need his help in getting around the lake shore. Mimic transformed back into his more natural, robotic state and quickly stopped Sonicblaze. Without saying a word he simply pointed downwards towards a log precariously perched on top of another.

“Sir, I will do a…” Echo stopped in mid-sentence as his shin kicked up the log which flew directly into his face. He cursed violently then snapped his head around. “Why didn’t you two stop me!”

Mimic had fallen onto the ground from laughing so hard. “Man, I know it’s wrong, but that’s what makes it even funnier!”

Sonicblaze held back a chuckle. “Mimic, now you know that’s not nice.”

“What are you going to do, demote me?” Mimic patted Echo’s shoulder. “You do know that it was in fun, right?”

Echo slowly nodded. “Yeah, I know. What I was saying, I will do a search of the surroundings before we leave, too make sure it’s safe for you guys to travel.” He pointed at Mimic with a smirk. “I will get you back.”

****

He didn’t like this place, something about it just sent him a very bad vibe. As he sat on the table with his arms crossed or as best he could with one missing, Sunstreaker took a look around, noticing right away the blended Autobot/Decepticon symbol on the wall. What did that mean? Who were these bots? Except for Red Alert and Perceptor none of the bots around him looked familiar. The one that called himself Naito, well he appeared to have his helmet shoved too far up his tailpipe.

Then there was that bot that laid in stasis not too far from where he sat. The bot appeared to be in rather rough condition which worried Sunstreaker. What had happened to him? Why was he attached to life support? Judging by the systems the bot appeared to be in a deep stasis. Why is his head so much smaller then his body? And why did it look familiar to him?

“So, you were on the shuttle with Optimus Prime?” The small mini-bot tried to move, but grimaced as his hands tightened into fists. “You’re one lucky bot, you know that. To serve under him.”

Sunstreaker puffed out his chest. “Only the best serve with the best.”

The mini-bot slowly nodded. “The best serve with the best, huh?”

“That’s right.” Sunstreaker smiled as pride swelled inside his spark. “Prime only picked the best bots for the job. Bots that can handle the rigorous mission put before us.”

“Wasn’t the mission just an exploratory one? How rigorous can that be?” Sunstreaker stuttered at the mini-bots response, not really sure what to say next. This gave the mini-bot another opening. “What, suddenly lost your voice box? You’ve been chatty since you got here, why stop talking now? For someone so sure of yourself you’ve gotten pretty quiet.”

Sunstreaker shifted his weight. “We were sent on a very important mission. We were sent to save Cybertron….”

“Whatever…” The mini-bot’s reactions infuriated Sunstreaker, but what else could he do. “In honesty, the bots were selected from the ones that were at Iacon at the time. They were no different from any other bot on Cybertron.” Sunstreaker gapped at these words not believing the nerve of this mini-bot. “Let’s just say we read up on the mission before we went on our own.” Explained the mini-bot with a playful smirk on his face.

“Who are you guys?” Sunstreaker was now more curious then angry. “What happened to you?”

The mini-bot sighed heavily. “We are an elite team of Autobots and Deceptibots. On Cybertron they call us the Omnibots.”

“I’ve heard rumors of the Omnibots, but I thought they were just that a rumor. And what are the Deceptibots? Doesn’t sound too friendly.”

“You're sitting by one, me.” The mini-bot pointed to the symbol that was displayed on the wall. “You don’t really need to know what makes us Deceptibots.” He saw Sunstreaker’s face change into irritation. “Trust me, you really don’t want to know what I and other bots like me have gone through.”

Sunstreaker glanced around him, suddenly not really sure if he should run from this place. Why wouldn’t this bot tell him what a Deceptibot was? He wanted to know no matter how brutal the information may be.

He glanced at the cannons on the mini-bots shoulders and nodded at them.

“Mini-bots are never equipped with those type of cannons. What happened?”

“An experiment.” The mini-bot’s voice showed his sadness. “Many of us here were experimented on. That is a description of a Deceptibot. Be glad you were in the Ark.”

Sunstreaker fiddled with what remained of his right arm, not really sure what to say. These bots had been through quite a bit, more then he had ever thought of going through. Strange how things had changed since the Ark’s disappearance. Wonder what Cybertron looked like now?

“Here you go, you need some energon.”

Sunstreaker turned to see the bot that had taken him here and saw in his hands he carried a decent size energon cube. Sunstreaker’s eyes went wide at how much energon that was being offered to him. Back on Cybertron this would be a feast. He gratefully took the cube from the bot then slowly began to drink, the cool texture of the fuel running down his throat giving him an instant perk.

The bot slowly sat down next to Sunstreaker, his massive body actually making the table creak. “Sunstreaker, do you remember me?”

Sunstreaker checked the bot over, his optics quickly spotting the Autobot badge. The large bot did appear familiar to him, then it clicked.

“Blade Runner, one of the oldest bots on Cybertron.” He chuckled not believing this bot had actually made it through the war to find himself here. “You’re about Kup’s age. Didn’t you know Prime…”

“When he was Optronix?” Blade Runner smiled. “Yeah, I sure did. I never would have thought that young bookworm would become the leader of the Autobots.” He sighed heavily. “Well, I’m going to get going. Don’t stress out. Things are going to be okay.”

****

“You look pissed.” Came Miller’s stuffed up voice.

Terry glanced to his left to see the man had woken up from his nap. “How you feeling?”

“Like shit.” Miller let loose a serious of coughs that got a grimace on his face. “Oh, my head.”

“It was very stupid for you to go out there. You need to let yourself heal.”

“And how long will that be? I’ve waited for nearly three months, shouldn’t I be ready?” Miller’s frustration was very clear in his voice. “I don’t like waiting.”

Terry sighed heavily. “With the type of injury you suffered, it’s going to take awhile.” He slowly stood then stretched his arms above his head. “In trying to recover, your body’s immune system got a little weak.” He pulled down the sheet to get a better view of the man’s shoulder. “There’s quite a bit of swelling in the shoulder joint.”

Miller instinctively rubbed his bad shoulder. “It’s been swelling up even with the slightest movement.” The man took a deep breath then began to cough once again. “Doc, how are my feet?”

“Doing relatively good. Got some color back in them.” He sighed heavily as he glanced at a medical Datapad. If only real hospitals could get their mitts on these, things would be far more simpler. “I want you bed ridden for at least a weak.”

“What!” Miller began to cough violently cursing as he did so. “Other then this cold, I feel fine.”

“And that’s what got you in this predicament in the first place.” Terry wrote something on the pad with a special pen then pushed the enter button which translated it into text. “I won’t be here for long, so I really need you to follow my orders.” He glanced up as Charlie came walking into the room. “How are you doing?”

Charlie gave the man a shrug. “Doing okay, considering.” He rotated his wrist then went to get some pain killers. “How’s life been treating you, Terry?”

“Rather good.” He glanced around as Red Alert came walking into the room. “Nothing important, just have school.”

Heavy footsteps signaled Red Alert's arrival and within seconds he was kneeling next to Terry. “It appears Miller is doing rather well.”

Terry nodded. “That he is, but I have strict instructions when I leave.” He waved towards the door. “Let’s have a chat. I also have some text books that I scanned which I need to give to you.”

****

Sonicblaze noticed Mimic slowing down to a crawl, which was never a good sign. At the lake as he transformed to his vehicle mode, Mimic had discovered that some of his servo motors, mainly the ones near to his joints had become frozen. This must have made transformation rather difficult and painful. But the bot only winced a few times, keeping his discomfort to himself.

“Mimic, do you need a break?”

“No, I’m good. We’re only a hundred miles out.” Mimic bounced over several rather large rocks. “Just hope I can get there in one piece.”

“Take your time, Mimic. We aren’t in much of a hurry.” His optics suddenly went to Mimic’s flat bed trailer to see movement. “I think Sideswipe is waking up.”

Mimic came to a screeching halt, which almost caused Sonicblaze to ram right into the trailer. Sonicblaze transformed and went to Sideswipe’s side to see the bot flinching. He had been laid on top of Spyglass, the only way to get him safely transported and something must have bumped against his processor unit, turning the bot's stasis off. Guess they will have to speed things up after all.

“What’s going on, sir?” Came Mimic’s voice from the cab of the truck.

Sonicblaze stepped up to Sideswipe’s head to see if the optics had turned on. He was pleased to see they were still dark, but they could turn on at any second which would mean the bot would be fully out of recovery stasis.

“Sideswipe’s systems is trying to repair themselves.” Sonicblaze made sure the straps holding the bots down onto the trailer was still secure then patted Mimic’s cab. “Let’s get going.”

****

A light breeze made Terry shiver ever so slightly as he walked outside with Red Alert by his side. It was strange to have a robot friend, but it was also comforting. He knew very well this bot would do just about anything for his safety, a true comrade in arms.

Terry blew into his hands then rubbed them together to get heat back into them. “Can I ask you a simple question?”

“Sure, what’s going on?”

“What made you become a medic? You don’t seem the type of bot to do it willingly.”

Red Alert chuckled. “Yeah, that’s about right.” He sat down on a large boulder with a sigh. “I never intended to become a medic, in fact I was a grunt just like Mimic.” He shrugged. “Sure, I did basic repair class, but every bot did in the Academy. Anyway, one day our old medic, Surgeon went out with Sonicblaze and Beltline on a mission and Surgeon never came back. Not really sure what happened to him.”

Terry pulled his coat tight to his body then sat down next to Red. “Then you stepped up, right?”

“Well, ‘step up’ may not be the right words.” Red let out a deep sigh as though he was about to tell Terry a secret nobody else knew. “In all honesty, I didn’t want the responsibility. I didn’t mind grunt work, but Sonicblaze had other plans. He, unlike the other commanders had faith in me.”

“He doesn’t trust a lot of people.” Terry picked at the finger nail on his left thumb. “You must have proven yourself for him to have faith in you.”

“I guess. He had me go through several months of rigorous training to get me up to speed. Needless to say, my first time on the field I was rather rough.” He laughed. “I thought Sonicblaze was going to ring me from my neck.” He shook his head. “I had the jitters, but I got it nailed down after awhile and now I can pretty much track everything on the field.“ He got real quiet as he laced his hands. “Through some strict training from Sonicblaze I managed to control my traumatic disorder. I still jump on occasion, but not as bad.”

Terry stopped picking at his nail and glanced up at Red, rather surprised the bot opened up like this. “War does have a tendency to do that to people or bots.” He took a deep breath. “I went to war myself. Was home for about a year when this happened.” Horrific images began to play through his mind, images he hoped would have stayed buried. He had lost a close friend from stepping on a land mine and every once in awhile the memory of the severed limb and scent of his friend's blood permeated his senses in flashbacks. “War definitely can change a person.”

“Your voice changed.” Red Alert shifted his weight ever so slightly to get a better view of the human. Terry had began to play with a blade of dead grass, a sign of nervousness in a human. “What’s wrong?”

Terry shook his head. “It’s nothing, just memories.”

“Memories can destroy oneself if not too careful about it.” Red Alert placed his hand on the man’s back. “I know war can be tough on a human. You and Miller both have seen many things already that most humans would not be able to tolerate. To me, it seems you two compose yourselves rather well.”

“Yeah, we do on the outside. Trust me though, sleep is when the nightmares began.” He shook his head. “I still wake up from time to time in cold sweats.” Red could see a difference in the human’s demeanor. “I know Miller has nightmares. Judging from what I saw they were pretty bad.”

Red Alert nodded his understanding. “Believe it or not, a lot of bots here have nightmares." He patted the human's back. "Terry, let’s get going. A walk will help clear your head.”

****

Boredom, that’s how Echo’s life is like ever since that day back on Cybertron when Shockwave decided to change his life. He could only do flying reconnaissance or any other type of activity that used his radar. At one time he had been able to go on missions just like any other bot. He had been able to see as the battle as it went on around him and was able to react at what he saw. Now, if there was any chance of a battle, albeit even a small one, he was forced to go find a sniper’s perch and wait it out. For if he did attempt to fight, he knew that nobody would be watching his back. If he couldn’t fight without assistance, Sonicblaze had told him numerous times he wasn’t going to watch his tailpipe.

He banked ever so slightly to the left, his mind focused on what lay ahead. He couldn’t let his thoughts wonder. The lives of his team and the bots they rescued depended on him. Everything seemed to depend on him. Couldn’t he just relax like any other bot?

Ever since he became the bot Shockwave wanted, he felt as though other bots expected too much out of him. He always had to perform exceptionally well and if he made a mistake he had to cover it up quickly. He didn’t allow himself to be thought of as just a handicap bot. He wanted to prove to everybody that he was like any other Autobot with optics. Even if that meant he had to seclude himself from the bots around him. That way the chances of letting his true feelings slip were slim to none. Though there was Buddy, but the human was different.

“How is everything up there, Echo?” Came Sonicblaze’s voice through an internal comm-link.

Echo slowly nodded his head. “Doing rather well. It appears we have clear skies for miles.” He hesitated slightly before asking his next question. “Sir, what happened about ten miles back?”

“Sideswipe might come out of stasis any time now.” Responded Sonicblaze.

Echo reversed his thrusts and flew backwards till he picked up Sideswipe’s weak life pulse. The bot had indeed gotten stronger since he had last scanned the spark. A very good sign indeed.

“He’s spark is getting stronger, Sonicblaze. However his systems still need quite a bit of energon.”


After he turned his comm-link off, Echo sighed heavily as he raced ahead of the small convoy. That’s all he was here for, to make sure the bots they find were either alive, near death, or dead. At first he didn’t mind going on missions such as these, but as the weeks went by he quickly discovered he really had no purpose other then being a spark detector or an on-call sniper. Is that what he was really meant to do for the rest of his life? For millions more Earth years he was destined to a life of solitude.

****

The cell got rather chilly, which normally wouldn’t effect a robotic being like Mirror Blade, but after several days of being at this temperature he was getting highly annoyed. He wanted out of this place, he didn’t deserve to be in the brig, Delta did. He needed to do something soon, or he may be stuck in here more then six months. He’s had plenty of time to think on what to do and decided to go ahead with his plan.

One thing he and his brother were both equipped with during creation were melee weapons. His brother had blades in his wrist, Mirror Blade had flying stars. Apparently Delta didn’t care about this small little ability since he never took the stars away.

He shifted his weight ever so slightly till he could see the glowing panel right outside his cell. How to get to that button? He glanced at the camera in the corner then back to the glowing button. Very slowly he manually slid the compartment on his forearm open then aimed it between the bars. He had one shot and one shot only for this to work out. A flying star shot out of it’s compartment and headed straight to the panel. The little projectile had enough momentum and force to tear through the panel and dig itself deep into the wall.

Sirens instantly began to scream as the bars faded allowing him to run out. He ran to the door as it opened to reveal Delta with Trigger. Trigger glanced at Delta then at Mirror Blade, his hands quickly going into the air. He knew what Mirror Blade was capable of doing, Delta on the other hand pushed Trigger aside and got into a fighting stance.

Trigger shook his head. “He’s had time to think, Delta.”

Delta bounced from boot to boot. “I want to see what you really are made of Mirror Blade!”

Mirror Blade rotated his neck. “Let’s do this, Delta!”

The smaller robot made the first move, a simple punch to Mirror Blade’s abdominal area. As Mirror Blade side stepped Delta threw his leg out, which allowed for his knee to slam painfully into his opponent’s side. Delta shifted his weight again and again which got Mirror Blade highly frustrated. Why couldn’t this bot just stay still?

Mirror Blade rotated his neck again then came at Delta with a series of punches, which Delta blocked easily. Then he skidded back as Delta threw out a few kicks. As the bot kicked out once again Mirror Blade wrapped his arm right around the knee joint then with a grunt he lifted up the smaller bot. It took all he had to spin around and fling the bot against the wall.

Delta didn’t seem at all fazed by this as he quickly jumped back to his feet. “Are you forgetting that I’m no ordinary Decepticon, Mirror Blade?”

“Slag.” Mirror Blade shook his head then charged at the bot once again. “You have to have a weakness!”

Mirror Blade's boots were tripped from underneath him which sent him flying straight to the wall. Being thin and a little lighter then the normal Cybertronian, Mirror Blade managed to flip by planting one boot on the wall and rotating his body backwards. Once he landed back on the ground the momentum made him skid a few feet. Once his body stopped sliding he once again charged at Delta.

As he ran forward Delta suddenly disappeared then reappeared right at his side. Before Mirror Blade could react the bot slammed his fist right into his face. Mirror Blade was furious at Delta’s cheap tricks and decided not to play around no more. He calmed himself down then glanced up at Delta to see the bot had began to circle him.

Mirror Blade was accustomed to fighting his brother, Mimic who was extremely more powerful then he was. Because of this he had learned several tricks to knock an opponent out. They were tricky and downright dirty, but it was the only way for him to survive.

Very slowly he slid open the compartment in his forearm and in one quick movement he lifted his arm up then shot out a few stars. The little metal projectiles whizzed by Delta’s head which got a chuckle from the small bot.

"Apparently your aim is a bit off...."

Mirror Blade saw the bot was finally caught off guard and raced towards him with incredible speed. As he approached Delta, Mirror Blade jumped high into the air using compressed air built up in the pistons of his legs. This gave him power as he laced his hands together in a tight ball, his weapon of choice. As he came down Delta barely had time to move his head out of the way allowing for Mirror Blade to hit his shoulder. Mirror Blade let out a scream of pain as his hands shattered along with his opponents left shoulder joint.

Delta’s optics flickered as the bot fell to his back. “You win this round, Mirror Blade.”

Trigger whistled. “You are good, Mirror Blade.” He went to Mirror Blade and shook his head. “You need to get those hands fixed.” He smiled. “Glad to see ya back.”

****

Because he couldn’t move on his own, Miller had Perceptor carry him to Beltline’s side. Once there he wrapped the blanket around himself then glanced up to see the bot smiling down at him. Their friendship was rather special thanks to that day when Beltline saved Miller’s life. If it wasn’t for this small Deceptibot, Miller would be dead right now. Because of that heroic deed, he held Beltline in very high respect.

“You seem to be doing better.” Beltline paused slightly. “Your breathing is a little off.”

“I think the cold is getting into my lungs.” He shivered and pulled the blanket tighter to his body. “How much longer do you have till you are able to get back to full duty?”

“Another week, maybe two.” Beltline sighed heavily. “I hate it when they have to repair the cannons.”

Miller glanced at the hideous weapons that were perched on Beltline’s shoulders. “How are you able to lay down with those weapons?”

“It’s not easy. I’m always having to lay down at an angle.” Beltline shook his head. “How about you? How are you dealing with your shoulder and arm?”

Miller sub-consciously rubbed his bad shoulder. “It’s in the way.” He took a deep breath then began to flex his hand, to see that it still did not close. “I’m not a great soldier and it’s all because of this.”

“Don’t put yourself down, Miller. You’re one of the best soldiers I’ve met.”

“You don’t know how weak I really am.” Miller coughed a few times then shook his head. “Everyday I think about what had happened to that man. I still see him.” His voice got real low. “It still haunts my dreams.”

Beltline placed his hand gently on the man’s back. “What do you see, Miller? You know, in your dreams?”

“The dust, there is a lot of it. I step on something, then…” His voice choked up as the image flashed in front of him. “It's the man’s intestines. That was when I see that Mirror Blade had cut the man in half. Then Mirror Blade turns his attention to me...He did this to me.” He sighed heavily. “I came within seconds of giving up, to give in to the pain and let my body die when you found me.” He took a glance at the robot, his eyes threatening to glisten over. “You’re my savior.”

“What are friends are for?” Beltline smiled down at Miller. “I will always watch your back, Miller.”

Miller had to let out a chuckle which made him cough violently. After he caught his breath he shook his head, a smile on his face. “Thanks, Beltline. I appreciate it.”