Solar Ice (Transformers Fanfiction)

14. Aftershock

BLADES POV

He was here...My son had made it to safety... But he was not unscathed.

The moment I stepped into that medical bay, I felt like my spark was going to give out. He was so pale, even for him, but Cassie's words brought back that flicker of pride; he'd put his everything into helping and protecting her...

Seeing my son in this condition only made me want to crush Madeline Pynch even more, but it sounded like she'd finally gotten what she deserved. Priscilla had called us the night before to let us know that her mother was not likely to come after us again.
Priscilla's betrayal, as well as losing everything she'd worked and manipulated to gain, it had broken her. She was now being cared for at a mental asylum, mumbling and muttering things about us cybertronians to herself, but the whole thing being blown off as insanity. It wasn't the fate I wanted for anyone, but if it could not be helped...

As I carefully opened Snowblast's armor to see the interior mechanics, I was surprised to find that everything appeared in order. No severed energon lines, minor dents on the outer covering but nothing on the inside. It looked like all he should've felt was slight aches, not pain strong enough to send him into stasis.

But that was on the first look. Cassie had said that transforming into bot mode hurt him badly, and I wondered if perhaps his T-Cog was the culprit. When I looked at it, that was when I found it...The answer to his pain, why he hadn't been able to transform all this time, everything... Well, mostly everything.

Between the T-Cog and its connection point to the central nerve line, the line that would tell the organ to operate, I saw thin strands of red, corroded metal, broken up by scratches that could only mean one thing... His T-Cog had been knocked into place. It had been out of alignment by not even an inch this whole time, but unable to receive the message to transform until now; but by then, the connection was damaged.

This would require deeper work, and so I moved on to Phase Two. Putting Snowblast under properly so that he wouldn't wake while I was operating, I set to work carefully removing the organ temporarily and cleaning off the rust that had formed. It took me quite some time, and for some of it, I could feel Medix's optics staring from behind, wondering why I had insisted on doing this myself but being polite enough to respect my wishes.

Once everything was finished I returned everything to its proper place and alignment, and then carefully carried him over to the stasis chamber, placing him inside to recover a little before he tried to get moving again. Cassie went home with her family, and I took a seat in the chair in the corner, closing my optics to get some rest myself. I was so tired, my energy sapped up by the past two days of worry, the hit I took at the river... I was spent.

I slept myself until the hiss of the stasis chamber woke me up, and I got up and walked over to it. The door opened and I caught my son as he slumped over and fell out of it. "I've got you, Little Bird...!" I whispered, "Always..."

I laid him down on the berth, waiting the few seconds until his optics finally fluttered open again, looking back at me. "...Sing for me...?" He rasped with a weak smile.

Tears sprung from my optics as I reached down and hugged him, how could they not? "I was so worried about you... How're you feeling?"

"Lousy..." he murmured, "...I'm sorry."

"Hey, hey..." I stroked his helm, "Don't be sorry...Things happen."
Snowblast started to sit up, wincing as he placed a hand to his side, "Take it easy...I had to operate a little."

"Mmmhmm...!" He mumbled, before giving a pained smile. "...You're never gonna let me out of that basement again, huh...?"

My face fell, my optics shifting down to my hands as I gripped his between them. "Snow... I'm sorry... For being such a... A 'Marlin.'"