Primal Fire

Chapter Two: Monster

Wheeljack faded in and out of consciousness as whatever this thing was carried him on its back away from the Decepticons. Eventually the rain came pouring down and the creature scurried into a large cave with him. Carefully the creature lowered Wheeljack's exhausted frame into a nest made of soft soil.

'It is alright. You are safe now.' The creature insisted, its voice registering as feminine.

Wheeljack blinked, 'Who... are you? What are you?'

'I am Fablebreaker. And we are Predacons. Sleep... you are badly wounded and need rest. I will keep you safe from the songless two leggers.' She replied

'I'm not a Predacon.' Wheeljack tried to insist weakly.

'Sleep.' Fablebreaker insisted more firmly. 'When you wake I will have something to eat for you.'

When Wheeljack resisted sleep, the female huffed and began to sing a gentle haunting melody, her voice like an instrument, soothing and commanding at the same time. Wheeljack felt a strange now-familiarity with this voice, a sense of calmness and solace he hadn't experienced in ages. Slowly, he began to associate the voice with the safety he had been searching for.

Finally he let sleep claim him and he sunk into a deep dreamless sleep while Fablebreaker watched over him. The cavern around them was dimly lit, the only source of light coming from the energon crystals that were scattered around her dwelling.

When she was sure he was completely unconscious, the female stood and went to gather some of the smaller crystals together, they would be easier to eat.

She had been the last of her kind. Her kin had all died out long ago and now, there was clearly another. She glanced over at Wheeljack, a low pained rumble emanating from his draconic form.

The female Predacon watched the large male for a moment longer before returning to her task. When she had a suitable collection of energon she picked up a stone bowl and very carefully crushed each crystal into easier to eat shards. She placed the bowl close to the bed and then went to go to a nearby scrap yard for some hopefully decent metal scrap.

Eventually once she had her offerings laid out for him, Fablebreaker curled around the larger Predacon to her best ability and flicked a warm wing over his sleeping form, the pain in his subharmonics lessened slightly and he subconsciously pressed into the offered comfort.

Elsewhere at the new Autobot base, Ratchet had finally gotten a few systems up and running. The life signals of Team Prime popped up on the screen and then to everyone's surprise, so did Wheeljack's although it was corrupted.

"It's corrupted? No. You don't think the cons turned Jackie into a terrorcon do you?" Bulkhead looked to Ratchet with pleading optics.

Ratchet examined the signal as Optimus Prime, Arcee, Bumblebee, Smokescreen and Ultra Magnus all waited for his answer to Bulkhead's question.

"This appears different from when Cliffjumper's came back online." Ratchet admitted. "This here, is a clear sparkbeat." He pointed to the life signal. "But it's erratic and for some reason I can not trace his location."

As Ratchet continued to analyze the corrupted signal, Bulkhead's face grew more concerned. "We have to find him, Ratchet. We can't leave Jackie like this," he said, his voice filled with worry.

"I need time to track his signal. Whatever has been done to Wheeljack is messing with our system, which is currently still in disarray. Ultra Magnus, would we be able to use your ship for its enhanced scanners?" Ratchet asked. Wheeljack's sparkbeat had him very worried, he could be having a medical emergency.