Courage of the Small
So a couple of months ago, I signed the Cassettebots up for the fic challenge over at over_look... and then got blind-sided with the essay from hell. Now I've picked this up again and managed to make some headway by churning out the first fic of the set.
Fandom: Transformers
Claim: Autobot Cassettes
Other characters/pairings: Blaster, First Aid
Table/Theme Name & Number: IV/ 3. Fatigue
Rating: PG
Warnings: Slight violence.
Summary: The Cassettes try to make their way across their ruined city to look for their guardian… but there are dangers even on homeground.
Courage of the Small
The city had never seemed so big before. Maybe it wasn’t all that large for the other mechs, but when you’re just barely bigger than a human, everything looked big… and now smoking, broken and scorched, it had never looked so different. What made it all the worse was that this had been home, and home was supposed to have been a place of refuge, a place to feel safe. It didn’t feel safe anymore.
Home wasn’t supposed to be a place where enemies came in and killed your friends - mechs you had known from creation.
Earlier…
After driving off the Cassetticons from the communication tower, Blaster had grabbed his own cassettes - literally, despite their cries of protest - and dashed across the battlefield, making a beeline for one of the safety bunkers, where he crouched and quickly deposited them.
“Stay here, and don’t come back out there till I come for you,” he ordered.
Ramhorn pawed the ground irritably. “I can fight. I’m a lot tougher than you give me credit for and I can take some of those Decepti-creeps down!”
“Then stay here and protect your brothers. This is not some skirmish for energy like before, they’re shooting to kill this time, and I will NOT lose any of you.”
Eject jabbed a finger at him. “But you’re going out there.”
“’Cause I’ve fought in battles like these before. I know what t’expect and what to do. You guys don’t, and now’s not the time to learn,” Blaster replied as patiently as he could.
“But you didn’t have us back then,” Steeljaw pointed out.
“I know.” Blaster gently caressed the lion’s head. “All the more incentive for me to be careful out there, knowing you four are safe in here.” He stood up, ready to seal them in, taking a good long look at each of them.
Rewind met his optics. “Blaster, don’t die.”
“I wont, li’l buddy.” He slid the door shut and activated the security code. Megatron himself would have to empty out his fusion cannon a few times before he could breech the bunker. “Don’t you guys either.”…
The four huddled together during those long hours, listening to the sounds of battle outside and tensing everytime a boom came too close and made the bunker shake. They were scared, but they were more afraid for Blaster who was out there amidst all that.
Rewind’s hands shook as he tried to seal up a trio of scratches on Steeljaw’s shoulder - the result of a parting swipe from Ravage - and finally he just gave up when he decided the wound wasn’t serious, and held his little brother close. Eject clung to Ramhorn’s neck, trying to distract himself with removing small bits of glass from between his oldest brother’s plating that were irritating the rhino.
Every now and then one of them looked like he was going to speak, only to fall silent again when he deemed words too inappropriate for the situation. Any utterances of assurance would be nothing but cold comfort at this point because no one knew what the outcome was going to be.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, there came a lull in the sounds of battle that seemed to stretch out like the long dark of a tunnel. The brothers stirred and looked at each other.
“Is it over?” Eject asked.
“Sounds like it,” Rewind replied.
Ramhorn slowly got to his feet and have himself a shake. “Then let’s get out of here. I’m tired of sitting here in the dark like a lump.”
“But Blaster said to wait for him,” Steeljaw reminded. “He’d come get us.”
The rhino gave a snort. “He cant exactly come for us if he’s out there injured, can he? If you can pick up his scent once we’re out, we’ll find him.”
“He has a point,” Rewind agreed. “Eject, get us out of here.”
“Already on it.” The blue-and-white mech hopped up on Ramhorn’s back and quickly keyed in the code that would unlock the door for them.
The door slid open and they stepped out into the carnage…
Present…
The day grew warmer as the tired four made their way to Blaster’s location. On leaving the bunker, Steeljaw had taken one whiff of the air and then all but pleaded with them to not make him use his sense of smell - the scents of the dead and injured were too much for his delicate nose to take, and none of the others had the spark to force him.
Instead, they settled for pinging Blaster’s communicator at random intervals, and followed the trail that way.
Bigger bots moved from sector to sector with relative ease, not even noticing the little quartet, as they rushed to carry supplies and aid to the wounded. For the four however, the distances between various blocks felt like miles to their small legs, and the going was slow since every now and then they would stop to fix whatever damage they saw that was within their reach and ability.
They were one sector away from Blaster’s location when there came the deafening roar of interstellar jet engines and chaos broke out around them. Trying to keep their footing on the ground that was shaking with the impact of laser fire, and not get trampled on by larger mechs rushing to take up their battle stations, the Cassettes frantically looked around for cover.
“There!” Rewind herded his brothers towards some twisted metal plating that had formed a sort-of overhang. “Get under there!”
He and Ramhorn shoved the younger two ahead of them and crowded up under the ledge, pressing as close to the wall as possible. It wasn’t that they lacked courage - they had plenty of it to rival the biggest mech - it was more that they knew they would stand no chance against Decepticon jets, so why make themselves easy targets to be picked off.
Suddenly there was a rush of heat and a screech of metal on metal, and the ground shook violently as something impacted with it not far from where they were huddled. Ramhorn immediately put himself between the flying debris and his brothers to shield them as best he could, his tougher hide able to withstand more punishment than their more weaker frames.
The dust cleared to reveal a large battered Decepticon that was struggling to get to its feet. It was unlike any they had seen before - this one was indigo and had wings hanging down its back like a tattered cape. Its fingers were scarlet-tipped claws, and none of them wanted to find out what they were capable of doing. Later, they would come to know it as a Sweep, but right now, all they wanted to do was get away from it.
Its red gaze fixed on them, and the cruel mouth curled into a sneer. “Ahh… fresh energon… in nice bite-sized packages. C’mere!”
“Run!” Steeljaw roared.
As they scrambled to get away, the Sweep lunged and grabbed Eject in one large hand. The youngest Cassette cried out in fear and struggled to get free, kicking and squirming to make the Decepticon let go.
Ramhorn skidded, turned, bellowed a furious challenge and charged towards the Sweep. Head lowered, he ploughed straight into the thing’s leg, razor-sharp horn shearing through metal and cables and breaking struts. The Sweep collapsed to a knee with a snarl, and Rewind lept for its hand, latching on to its fingers and trying to pry them away from crushing his brother as Ramhorn rounded for another charge to take out the other leg.
“Hurts Rewind! Get me out of here!” Eject cried out.
“I’m trying! Grab onto my shoulders, I’m going to try and pull you out,” Rewind replied as he tugged on the fingers, trying to break the delicate joints.
He was nearly thrown off as the Sweep crashed to the ground on its back, both legs broken. Now within striking range, Steeljaw lept for its neck. Guided by scent, the lion clamped his powerful jaws around a fuel line and bit down. Sharpened canines sliced through metal as strong teeth and jaw hydraulics crushed the line.
The Sweep let out a screech that hurt their sensitive audio sensors, but none of them let up their assault. Weakened further by the sudden loss of energon to its processor and fuel pump, the Sweep could only flail and try to make a grab at Steeljaw with his claws, as Ramhorn charged a third time - this time into its neck support structure.
He snapped the struts and Steeljaw lept clear to avoid being impaled on the horn by his brother’s momentum. Rewind meanwhile, broke the thing’s last finger joint with a well-placed kick and pulled Eject clear. As they backed off, the Sweep tried again to sit up, despite fuel loss and a broken neck that hung awkwardly to one side. It brought up the rifle on its remaining good arm and took aim.
It never got to fire. With an enraged roar, a familiar form lept for the Sweep and in an instant tore its head from its shoulders, hurling it across the expanse of the city. Then, with a black look on his face, he plunged a hand into chest circuitry and crushed the spark.
“NO ONE hurts my little guys and gets away with it.” Blaster kicked the body away from him in disgust.
Cycling air furiously to cool his systems, the guardian dropped to his knees and looked his charges over to make sure they were all in one piece, and was relieved to note that apart from some minor structural damage, they were all okay. Primus, his spark had nearly failed him when he saw the Sweep taking aim at his little ones, and he figured it was only by Primus’ grace that he managed to reach them in time. Holding out his arms to them, he gave a lop-sided smirk.
“C’mere.”
Rewind, Steeljaw and Eject threw themselves into his arms and hugged him tight, while Ramhorn followed a pace slower and contented himself with leaning on Blaster’s thighs - he was not one for big displays of affection. Blaster only snorted and gathered him up as well, as he hugged them to him.
“You guys… don’t ever scare me like that again,” he chided them gently. “I don’t know what I’d do if I ever lost any of you.” Standing with them still in his arms he started to walk to the medical wing.
By the time Blaster reached it and went in, the four were sound in recharge, worn out from all the anxiety, worry, fear, battles, and fighting. Safe in Blaster’s arms as he carried them, one by one they’d given into fatigue and fallen asleep. Gently he laid them out together on one of the large med tables as First Aid rushed over to check on them.
“Primus, what happened?” he asked as he scanned them for injury.
Blaster stood back and looked down at his Cassettes with all the pride and affection of a mother bear with her cubs. “Oh nothing much. They just bagged themselves a Sweep, that’s all.”
~END.
Enjoy! and Comments feed bunnies... and seeing how they're all mostly still hibernating, it's going to take some time to wake them all up.