The Past Always Comes Back to Bite (RID2015 Fanfiction)

16. Return and Recovery

And as quickly as the threat had crashed into their schedule, it was gone. Ravage was sent to the Amazon to hide out, the Bounty Hunters all locked up in stasis cells, and then placed on Prime Force One for transportation back to Cybertron.

Bumblebee looked up from his work putting supplies on the ship to see Sunstreaker carefully leading Sideswipe across the clearing. The red sports car was now wearing a visor of sorts that covered his blind optics from view, to protect them from debris while they healed. His hand gripped Sunstreaker's tightly, eyebrows furrowed.

"Okay, about three more paces..."

Sideswipe nodded, "...Man, this is gonna be more difficult than I thought... I thought I had this place mapped out in my processor."

"Yeah..." Denny looked back at some smashed debris, "...Tell that to my vintage Space War Motorbike and Cruiser..."

"Don't worry," Sunstreaker patted his brother's shoulder, "Starstrike will be there to help you, and then you'll get your sight back and be right back here in no time."

"I hope so... I might go crazy just sitting around an apartment for days on end."

Bumblebee smirked, and then turned to Swoop as he and Transmutate entered the clearing. "Are you two heading back too?"

Swoop shrugged, "I don't know...I don't want to go back into that asylum, but I don't really have anywhere else to go."

"You can stay with us!" Grimlock offered, "I'd love to have a long-term punchin' buddy!"

"Hmm. Tempting, Grimlock. But I don't think Bumblebee would like to be reminded of how destructive two dinobots are when they're in one place for very long..."

"But you know..."
Bumblebee's lips curled into a smile as he rubbed his chin, "...There might be a place for you and Transmutate to stay here on Earth for a little while... There's a weapon here on Earth that needs guarding. To make sure that no Decepticon ever tries to re-activate it. There are no humans settled there, plenty of privacy for you two to recover and figure out what your next step is going to be."

Swoop's lips twitched with a grin, "What kind of weapon are we talking about...?"

Bumblebee's optics shifted towards Ratchet with uncertainty for a moment, and then he quickly answered in a soft tone. "...Seismic-Shock Warhead."

"A WHAT!?"
Ratchet grabbed Bumblebee by the shoulderpads, "There was a SSW here on Earth this entire time and you never...Bumblebee, what other important bits of information like that are you holding back!?"

Bumblebee grimaced, "...You know what?" He squeaked, "Why don't you and I just go over there for a little bit to discuss it...?"

"Good plan."

The medic and Lieutenant then wandered off into the Scrapyard with Ratchet practically holding the younger bot by the audio receptor.

"We will... wait for the coordinates then?" Transmutate asked with a slight smirk.

"We're gonna miss you, Sideswipe..." Strongarm assured, "...Really."

"Yeah, I know..." Sideswipe waved an arm around, feeling for his teammate until Strongarm took his hand between her own. "...I'll be back and you'll be sick of me again soon enough, Cadet."

"Sideswipe... I-"

"I know." He gave a smirk in her direction, and then relaxed. "Okay... Take me in, Sunny."

Sunstreaker nodded, and then guided his brother up into Prime Force One, giving a wave to the others before disappearing.

Strongarm forced back the tears trying to escape her optics, and then looked to Flashdrive, who was sitting on top of a stack with a clipboard in hand. "What're you doing, Flashdrive?"

Flashdrive's tongue was sticking out a little bit as she scribbled on the clipboard, "Just...Thinking about what happened yesterday." She murmured, "...Ravage, he... He didn't attack me... Why...?"

Strongarm shrugged, "Why do Decepticons do anything? They're Decepticons."

"Yeah...Why do they do anything...?" The virocon began scribbling faster, "What spurs on their decisions?"

"Hey hey, that wasn't an invitation to psycho-analyze them, Flash. It's not something to worry about."

"But-"

"Flash... Don't."

Flashdrive's optics narrowed as she paused, overlooking the words at the top of the paper: Are All Decepticons Evil...?

Strongarm may not think it a smart idea, but Flashdrive was more than determined to find out...

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

...System Repairs Seventy-Percent Complete.

Steeljaw's optics fluttered open as he finally regained consciousness. He'd clawed and scratched his way into a cave, barely getting his entire frame inside and out of sight before his systems plunged into regenerative stasis, leaving him disabled and easy pickings for any Autobot that might pass by and encounter him.

He didn't know how long he'd been lying there, but the cool, stone floor and moist air told him he was still in the cave, undisturbed from his place. His entire body still ached terribly, but he wasn't dead, which was something Fracture had seemed certain of, or he wouldn't have left him without finishing the job.

The wolf-bot's frame groaned and creaked as he forced himself up onto his hands and knees, crawling a little further into the cave and darkness. Transforming into vehicle mode wouldn't be an option for a while, but as long as the Autobots couldn't find him, he didn't worry about that. What he needed was energon and time to recover, and right now, the former was what he didn't have access to. He needed to conserve what he currently had, waiting until he had high chances of obtaining some with minimal effort.

He crawled a little further, before his optics picked up a light source coming from ahead of him. He lifted his helm, his optics focusing on the bluish light pulsing from further inside the cave. He hissed through clenched teeth as he got up onto his feet, keeping a hand on the wall and finding the surface was smoothed out, almost as if carved by a machine.

Blue light and carved-out tunnels? He couldn't possibly be that lucky...

He wandered further down the tunnel, his strength returning little by little as he made his way closer. His lips twitched into a relieved smile as the tunnel then widened and the ceiling heightened, exposing the remnants of an abandoned Energon Mine. Tools laid about the floor, drills left unattended; it looked like the miners had just up and left, taking nothing with them.

Steeljaw figured that from the small size of the deposit, Megatron must have decided it wasn't as important to mine here as it would be to mine a larger deposit, sending the miners to assist elsewhere and abandoning this one. It was nowhere near the amount necessary to fuel an army... But plenty for just one Decepticon.

Steeljaw searched the cavern for a hand-held refiner, something that would take the crystalline form of the energon and make it possible to use for sustanence. The miners would have had one in case their cubed supply of energon went out before another shipment arrived. Though he found two in poor condition, there was one that looked like it might still function.

The wolf-bot placed it against one small crystal and clamped it on tight, fiddling with the controls until it whirred to life. He found a small piece of metal shaped like a bowl, placing it under the refiner and watching the fluid drip out of the other end and into the bowl.

He could keep himself from starving this way... Hidden from the Autobots and with a supply of food and shelter from storms, this could even be a base of operations once he recovered.

"Not to worry, Bumblebee..." He rasped, taking the bowl and sipping some of the energon from it thirstily. "...We'll be back to our usual programming soon enough..."

A/N: Thank you all for reading part 2 of Flashdrive's journey! There will be more, but I can't say exactly when it will be finished and will begin to be uploaded.

Once again, thank you all and I hope you have wonderful holidays!