Rush

Part 10

Outside:

"What was that slagger thinking?!" Megatron exclaimed as he stared at the now smoking wreckage. It had started to rain the moment the base collapsed. Small fires still crackled but most of the inferno had gone down in smoke. 

"I don't know," Arachnid purred, "Maybe he just glitched. I hear that is very common among drones. It seems that our dear Soundwave has just expired. Good luck getting a new one, Megatron." 

Megatron's fist slammed into her face. "Soundwave is no drone, leech. He had better have a good reason for this."

The truth was, Soundwave and Megatron had been friends since before the war started. While they were still in academy. Soundwave was the shy, silent nerd and Megatronus was the popular jock type. A lot of people had been surprised when Megatronus befriended the shy Soundwave. Since then, the two had stuck together like peas in a pod. Yes, they both had their secrets and little things they didn't tell each other, but they were still friends. Even though Megatron had been disappointed when Soundwave got all scary and silent. Soundwave had been a very sensitive mech. So he'd wondered what had changed... 

In the rain, there was no fighting. Exhaustion quickly spread across the field, but nobody dared to leave. It had been only five minutes since Soundwave's questionable actions and they were starting to lose hope. Ratchet had slumped against Optimus, the hope of seeing Skyrider had dimmed to almost nothing. 

Starscream hissed and grubbed along the sidelines. He had expected an applause, some cheers, maybe a boost in rank or something for destroying the Autobot base. All he got was glares and curses from the Autobots and some from the Decepticons. 

Optimus made his was over to Megatron and gently pried the picture from the warlord's grasp. His vents choked a little at the sight of it. The sides were a bit burnt and there was a decent sized hole in the center but none of the figures had been harmed. On one side, all the Autobots along with the humans stood together. They were all smiling. 

But when he looked to the other side of it, his optics narrowed and his frame tensed. He brought this painting over and showed it to the others. Almost immediately, gasps and disbelieving tones hit him. 

"Why is Soundwave and his band of misfits in the picture?" Acre growled.

"Skyrider never knew Soundwave, did she?" Bulkhead questioned.

"Sky's not a 'Con, right?" Smokescreen got slapped for that.

"Soundwave has eyes?" Also Smokescreen.

Ratchet stepped up and took the picture in his servos. "She was such an artist..." He whispered, "I don't care why Soundwave and his symbionts are in the picture. Skyrider had some relationship with them. They were important to her. She wouldn't have painted them otherwise." 

A sharp hiss got his attention. A black feline-like figure slipped though the legs of troops while a bird-like figure flew above them. Laserbeak and Ravage. Ratchet hadn't expected Ravage to leap up and snatch the paper from his servos. The cat padded to an opened spot and set it down. A paw pointed to Soundwave. 

"He'sss sstill alive." Ravage rasped, "I feel him." 

Laserbeak chirped as if to affirm it. 

"He hurtsss." The cat continued, "He is desssperate. Looking for the sssparkling. She iss alive too." 

Hope had returned.

Inside the wreckage:

Soundwave flung bits of technology and weapons aside. This was the wrong room. Skyrider was making no physical noise anymore. If she opened her vents, she's suffocate. The smoke was thick and the air was hot, despite the pitter patter of rain outside. Soundwave stepped over another fallen beam. Sky's signal was closer now. 

He had to get her to make noise. He told her over the bond to find something metal and bang it with her fists.  Almost immediately he heard a soft bang, bang, bang. It was coming from the right.

Unfortunately, the room with Skyrider in it was blocked by the large beam that had fallen not too long ago. Despite the rain, fire was still crackling around and on it. From the sound of it, a fire was going inside the room too. 

Soundwave took the beam in his hands and tried to move it. It was too heavy. This was the beam that, of course, held up the structure. It was the biggest and strongest. He took a step back and shot at it. It was apparently bulletproof too. He had to find a way to get inside. With the conditions, Sky would go into emergency  stasis soon. Her vents would open and she'd suffocate anyway. 

His optics scanned the hallway. There looked to be no other was into the room. Until a puff of smoke came from one of the vents in the wall. He lowered his audio to it. He could hear the bang, bang clearer now. The vent was connected to the room. 

Hope and determination flared across his spark. He was so close. Dropping to his knees he pried the vent off it's hinges and slithered inside. 

When he dropped into the room, he took it in. There was a large berth in the center of the room, a shelf on the wall and  a few picture projectors in the corner was a crib. In the crib there were a few handmade toys. Soundwave frowned when he didn't see his sparkling. He spun around in alarm. Where did she go? 

The he heard a bang, bang from the crib again. He managed to catch sight of a small servo hit the rails of the crib the retreat back under the blanket. Only, how could she be there? The blanket was flat against the mattress. It was then when he took in the bits of stuffing that were scattered across the floor. 

Soundwave gently picked up the blanket. There she was. Skyrider had torn a Skyrider sized hole in the mattress and climbed inside pulling the blanket over her. She was blocking out the smoke, he realized. Clever sparkling, he thought proudly. 

Gently, his scooped his sparkling up and held her to his chest. He couldn't just simply open the door and waltz out. It was blocked by a giant beam. Then he got an idea.