Shards (Transformers Prime, Shattered Glass)

Chapter 32

"Can I help?"

Knockout turned around at the question, brow arched in surprise at Vincent "What?" 

Vince shrugged gingerly "I'm bored."

"Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to have an extra set of eyes," Knockout held out his hand and Vince stepped onto his palm "See the lines on this screen? Just tell me if any of them spike while I'm scanning."

"Okay," Vince settled down crosslegged and craned his neck upwards to watch as the lines ran. Probability some kind of indicators of health, Vince thought, as Knockout went back to scanning Lazerbeak.

"Nothing?"

"Nope," Vince confirmed.

"Alright, then you two are cleared, just try not to strain yourselves."

The two minicons mumbled their acknowledgment and Lazerbeak scooped up Raf and Carmine on her way out of the medical bay.

"Wanna help me reorganize the different lengths of cabling? It's still pretty boring, but less boring than just sitting there."

"Eh, sure, why not."

----

"How long has it been?"

"Uh," Q-T checked the time "Like, fifteen minutes."

Breakdown grunted "They should have commed back ages ago."

"...the comms are down, remember?"

Breakdown froze, then slapped his hand over his forehead "No! Why didn't you remind me?"

"I don't know! I thought you had already told Megatron and Starscream and worked it out!"

"Just, open a bridge already. Primus knows what could be happening."

----

A T-cog sounded and Wheeljack was just a blur as he sped out of the cave, mere seconds ahead of the collapsing ceiling.

Megatron folded his hand over Sierra and tried to transform, but the sequence that Soundwave's body required to turn from root to vehicle mode was unfamiliar and before Megtron could figure it out a falling stone caught him in the middle of his back, dragging him down into the opening chasm.

Sierra opened her mouth, to scream or to yell his name even she didn't know. But before she could make a sound she was tossed up into the air, Starscream slipping into alt mode around her before rocketing out of the cave and skywards.

----

Breakdown stepped out of the Ground Bridge to be confronted by a wall of solid rock.
He stared for a second, dismay stretching across his face.
"Scrap."
----

"Si...Sierra are you alright?" Starscream asked, after leveling out high above the collapsed cave
She didn't answer him.
"Sierra?"
"I think..." she said after a long couple of seconds "My hearing aids might be broken."
"What? How?" It took Starscream way longer than it should have to realize just how useles it was to ask questions. Out loud anyway.
Soundwave had dug up a couple of old videos explaining how sign language worked, but it all involved using hands and arms, which Starscream didn't currently have access to.

:are you alright:
His screens for flight readouts were nowhere near as expressive as Soundwave's face mask was capable of being, but Starscream could force it to display the emotionless angles of English.

His internal sensors told him that Sierra had nodded her head.

At least he didn't have to worry about rushing her back to the Ally at top speed, before she bled out or something.

At least he didn't have to worry about her, buried beneath tons of stone.

Megatron was strong, yes, and Soundwave's body was resilient, but Starscream doubted that he could survive an entire mountain.

:we will reach the ally soon:
:don't worry:

I won't, she signed in reply, are you okay?

:do not worry about me:

----

As soon as Jackson had made it to the other side of the Ground Bridge he scurried to the nearest dark corner to wait out the ruckus that was sure to follow.

Thankfully the Decepticons' ship didn't seem to be lacking in any way for dark corners, shadowy nooks, or hard to see crannies, so Jackson was safely out of sight in no time at all.

He took a minute to breathe and think. Wheeljack had told him that he would need to get to the bridge of the warship, insert the memory card into one of the acess points, and tap the blue button in the middle of the memory card.

After that he would just need to wait until the light started flashing. Wheeljack had apparently coded or magiced the card into selecting and downloading the Iacon Database and only the Iacon Database.

Which made Jackson's job easier but still, it wasn't easy. He had to navigate the huge warship, find the bridge, download the database, then find a way to get off.

If he was caught before or after he downloaded the database, Wheeljack had told Jackson to say he was lost and play dumb. The Decepticons, being "soft-sparked", whatever that meant, would probably just let him go. 

When Jackson had asked what he should do if he was caught downloading the database, Wheeljack had just said "Don't do that." 

So that wasn't exactly confidence inspiring. 

Jackson wondered what would be worse: what the Decepticons would do to him if they caught him stealing or what Optimus would do to him if he came back empty handed.