When We Seared The Sky

Chapter 22

Chapter Twenty-Two

Daddy

Thunderblast looked nothing less than gleeful as she dropped Mikaela’s cataleptic body in front of the damaged Ratchet. The fearless young woman had finally passed out in agony in pursuit of defending her guardian, and the acrid stench of burning hair was diffusing throughout the communications room like noxious gas.

Get up, 'Kaela... Alexis thought frantically from where she was still caught like a fish on a hook in Thrust's hand, but her best friend showed no signs of movement... or even life... as she lay on the floor, her dark hair covering most of her face. Damn it - get up!

“Here, medic - take your prize,” the Decepticon femme sneered, and Ratchet shakily reached out to cover his charge with one hand. “Although… I doubt very much that you will be able to repair her now. Even your supposedly miraculous medical skills may not save her with that much electrical energy passed through her pathetic body.”

No!

Mikaela couldn’t be dead. She just… she couldn’t be. She was certain that she had seen her chest rise just a little before Ratchet had covered her, and she was clinging to that hope with a desperation that she had never felt before until this day. Starscream was chained like a dog; Ironhide was barely online, so badly had he been beaten; Optimus himself had been overcome by Soundwave, Skywarp and the drones. The humans were too weak, and the Autobots were all but defeated.

“She is… not… pathetic…” Ratchet rasped nonetheless, his optics flickering on and off sporadically. His fingers curled a little over Mikaela’s insentient form and his jaw hardened, though whether it was an expression of pain or defiance was indistinguishable to Alexis.

“Do not test my patience, you old fool,” the femme snarled, grabbing his head roughly in one hand and forcing him to look into her slanted crimson optics. “Know your place as the scum of the universe and hold your tongue, or I will take her back and break her in two.” A smirk twisted her dark features and she tilted her head a little. “Rather like Lord Megatron broke your feeble little first lieutenant… Jazz.”

Ironhide let out a hoarse shout of outrage despite his many injuries. “Don’t you dare say his name!” he roared irately, his features contorting into a look of utter anguish and wrath. “Don’t you dare say his slaggin’ name, you scum!”

Bumblebee, who was being closely guarded by the drones called Seraphim and Reaper, also let out a whine of grief and remorse; this caused the latter to kick him in the face so hard that his head snapped backwards. “Autobot be quiet!” the drone chattered as Bumblebee whimpered in pain, and Alexis bit her lip hard when she saw his torment. She loved Bumblebee to pieces, and seeing him like this made her want to cry… seeing them all like this made her want to cry.

Thunderblast laughed cruelly. “Oh, not to worry, Ironhide… I wouldn’t dirty my oral cavity with it.”

The old warrior struggled against his bonds, but he was too weak to stand a chance of breaking through them. I need to get the necklace to him… Alexis panicked, wondering how long she had before he succumbed to his wounds. Would it save Mikaela, too?

Something caught her eye and she flinched when she saw that Thrust was holding the said pendant up to eye level, inspecting the glimmering gem that hung from the chain with nothing less than elation. She felt his fingers flex around her waist and struggled uselessly, kicking her legs in a futile attempt to break free of his iron grasp.

“Ah, Alexis,” the Decepticon leader sighed, and Starscream hissed at his feet like an angry serpent. “Your heirloom has given me such power… I feel that I must thank you, somehow, for such a dazzling gift.”