Lost Sparks {TFRID}

CHAPTER 5: DANGER

The mini-cons' repairs were taking longer than expected, but as the hours passed, Fixit was slowly getting to everyone.

Now it was Jetstorm's turn, his paintwork was full of scratches along with a few joint injuries. However the caretaker mini-con was assured he could fix it in no time at all.

Slipstream was watching his younger brother receive his repairs but he wasn't paying much attention to what was going on.

"Slipstream? Slipstream?" Fixit kept repeating until Slipstream finally snapped back into the reality. "Can you help me? I need to give Jetstorm this." He held out a syringe designed to work with metal. "But you know how much he hates needles, do you think you can distract him so he barely feels it?"

"Oh, sure. Happy to help," Slipstream replied before walking over to the his brother. He didn't know he was about to get an injection.

"Hey, Jetstorm. So about that attack, what exactly happened?" Slipstream asked.

"Well, first Frostback tried to freeze it, but got knocked into a tree. Then Overflow tried to knock it back but she caused a tree to fall on her instead. Then--"

"Slipstream?"

Solar walked into the tent just before Fixit was going to inject Jetstorm.

"Carrier?" Slipstream asked.

"Mum? OWWWW!" Jetstorm turned to see Fixit holding the syringe. The orange mini-con just chuckled.

"Some distraction," Slipstream rolled his optics.

"Slipstream, I need to talk to you immidiently," Solar told her son.

"Okay." Slipstream waved goodbye to Fixit and Jetstorm before following his carrier.

Fixit turned to the scanners he had hooked up to Jetstorm.

"Right, Jetstorm that's all I can do for you until the medication begins working. So you may as well go and relax for a bit."

"Thanks, Fixit. I'll be back later," he ran straight out of the tent towards their quarters. Which is where Solar and Slipstream were.
~~~~
With tears rolling down her faceplate, Solar flipped through the pages of the photo album. Upset over how much time she had missed with her children.

Just across the room, Slipstream was staring out the window. Watching Fixit continue to work on the other mini-cons who were injured during the ambush.

"So what was it you wanted to talk about?" Slipstream asked Solar.

She forced the book closed then turned to face her son. She had troubling news for him and the team.

"Listen, Slipstream, about that blur that attacked the patrol team."

"Who was it?"

"It was the seekers," Solar announced causing Slipstream to gasp.

"But, they were on Cybertron under Starscream's command."

"Yes, but he ordered two special seekers to come to Earth to hunt down and capture or kill all mini-cons who aren't already siding with the Decepticons."

"Who are they?"

"Jawscope, who is the smartest of the force and can predict attacks long before they occur. And Speedscrap, the fastest who appears as a blur towards others when in motion and can be extremely dangerous," Solar explained.

"So Speedscrap was attacking the patrol team, but he seemed pretty good at predicting their moves and working out how to defeat them really quickly. So how?"

Solar used her servo to show Slipstream a few videos she had downloaded from Sunburst's optics. It showed the green blur that was attacking.

"That's how they work, Speedscrap is the one to launch the attack on their prey while Jawscope is hiding somewhere close by to observe the fight and tell Speedscrap what to do until they win the battle."

Slipstream realised something. "But if they wanted to capture or kill all mini-cons, why didn't they do the same to Jetstorm, Sunburst, Frostback and Overflow?"

"I don't know, but as I said, Jawscope is very clever, so he'll have a plan in mind."

"I'll let the others know." He opened the door to leave but then stopped in his tracks. "Also, can I ask you a question?"

Solar smiled. "Of course, Slipstream."

"What happened to Sire?"

Solar didn't know how to respond. But her lips trembled which gave Slipstream the answer, but he didn't say anything.

"Slipstream, Astrobang didn't..." she closed her optics and looked down.

Slipstream's optics began to fill with tears which he quickly wiped away. He couldn't let his carrier know that he was weak, or at least that's what his master taught him. He once again turned around to leave, but was stopped by Solar.

"Are you okay?"

"No," he lowered his helm, "Because now I have to find a way to tell Jetstorm the truth." He closed the door leaving Solar inside.
~~~~
Back in the forest, the team was waiting for Kindheart to finish her conversation with a squirrel. The nature mini-con was an animal whisperer, which was another reason why she was the best choice to lead this mission.

"Anything?" Crossflare asked.

She stood up straight just as the squirrel ran away. "Nothing."

The whole team groaned.

"Well, we'll just have to continue this way and hope that they come back," Bumblebee told his team.

"Because our team is bigger this time, they shouldn't be a threat," Galeside smiled as she spun her shurikens.

Suddenly, they heard the sound a jet as the wind began to pick up again.

"They're here." Sideswipe grabbed his Decepticon Hunter.

"Everybot prepare for--" The two jets just ignored the Autobots and flew straight over them. "--Battle" Bumblebee finished. 

"Where are they going?" Grimlock asked.

"Wait a minute," Galeside paused. "That's the direction we've been coming from."

"Yeah, so?" Crossflare stated.

Kindheart just gasped. "They have us figured out! All this time we've been moving away from the scrapyard in one direction! So they've been tracking us and are now using us to find their way back to our base to finish what they started!"

The team began running back towards the scrapyard. However they all knew they wouldn't beat the seekers.

"Crossflare to scrapyard! Come in!"

"I read you, Flare. What's up?" Gadget replied.

"The Decepticons! They're coming your way! Fast!"