Fanfic Bluuuuuurb
Something from a HMW Fic I was working on...
Aurora hung her head, sadly. "Even if we do reconstruct his body, Windy, he won't make it. He just doesn't have the life left in him... His spark is fading..."
The conscious members of the team fell into a sullen silence, processing what their medical officer had just told them: Stormflash was dying, and they were essentially helpless to stop it. Raider stepped backwards slowly until his back felt a wall, at which point he slouched against it numbly. The large helicopter mech had been almost like a long-lost brother to him, and the fact he'd soon be gone was more than he could handle. Windracer looked away, her eyes focusing on one of her folded arms as she took this in... Not only was he an adept warrior, but the calm, paitent Autobot had become a friend and companion to almost all of the team, and Windy was no exception. [A/N: more self-reflection moosh here when I can come up wif it!]
"W-what if someone donates a bit of their spark?" Feralbrawn interjected abruptly. "I was reading about the procedure while I was studying... could it save him?"
The jaguar medic paused to consider this for a moment, but soon shook her head in the negative fashion. "His spark is extinguishing far too fast; even with everything I'm doing to slow it down... by the time we'd complete his body, a fresh spark fragment would be useless..." She then stopped what she was saying with a gasp, her optics going bright. "Unless..."
"'Unless'...?"
"No time. Raider, help me with this!" Aurora had rushed into a cryo-storage room and waved one arm out of the door frantically. The dragonbot silently followed, his sadness far more obvious than his curiosity.
When next the two Autobots emerged, Raider carried a large, pod-like structure. Frost from the storage had left a thin, whitish coating on the dark outer paneling. Aurora indicated for the other to set the object down on a recharge berth, and quickly went to work. "Do you know what this is?" She asked the others gathered in the room, her optics still bright with excitement, but was greeted with confused expressions from the Autobots.
Feralbrawn, however leaned forward from where she sat, a look of surprise on her face. "It's a Maximal stasis pod!" She interjected. "How'd you get one?"
"I found it buried near the foot of the volcano," Aurora explained, her hands moving deftly from control panel to control panel on the frostbitten pod. "Actually, there were several. Unfortunately, the protoforms within had already lost their sparks. Their bodies, however, I found out were still viable, and so I brought them back and preserved them... It's a long shot, but if we transplant Stormflash's remaining spark into one, and provide an additonal donor fragment, he might just survive..."
Windracer unfolded her arms as surprise started to take over, stepping towards her vice commander and medic cautiously. "Do you know if it'll work...?" Her voice was grave.
Aurora stopped to look at her, her own face betraying the same graveness. "To be brutally honest, this is just a theory... We could loose the spark in the transplant, especially if the protoform doesn't accept it. But if we don't do something, and quickly, Stormflash will still die, regardless. We just need a donor..."
A sigh came from Feralbrawn's lips, and she slid off her perch, walking forward. "I'll do it. I'm the closest thing to a Maximal on this base, my spark might have the highest chance of getting the protoform to accept his."
There was a pause from the gold and white jaguar. "Are you sure?"
The stasis pod slipped open with a hiss, releasing a light, faint mist as it did. Inside, the protoform's body was a flat, dull, lifeless grey; a far cry from the pulsating quicksilver of a living protoform. Feralbrawn glanced at it, and then back at Stormflash's broken and prone form contained within the stasis field. She had to do something, anything to save her friend, and if it meant giving away part of her own life, so be it. Aurora was finally met with a shaky nod from the young woolly mammoth fembot, her expression a mixture of determination and apprehension. "... He's risked his life for me before, it's my turn to do the same..."
Windracer's optic ridges arced, surprised at the level of maturity she was observing. Where was the whiny, slothful fembot she was so familiar with?
"Feral..." Raider began, tensing, worrying for his teammate and friend. "You don't have to do this... what if you..." He let it hang.
Aquila finally spoke up, having been in recharge up until then. "The big guy's got a point, Fer'. This is too big a risk... If you die and this doesn't work, we'll be down not just one warrior, but two. We should just-"
"What, sit here and watch him die?" The black-furred femme wheeled around on the wounded tactician, her face contorted into a grimace. "You'd do that to him?!"
The eagle Transformer recoiled, her remaining mech feathers ruffling at the outburst. "I'm just saying, that we're already vulnerable enough as it is! We don't need to go loosing any more of our functional warriors at the expense of one that's almost gone!"
Feralbrawn's breath seemed to choke in her oxygen filters at this, stunned at the way a fellow Autobot was speaking. She opened her mouth to argue at her again, but was cut off by Aurora. "Enough! Both of you!" She then turned to the white dragon femme that they all called their Commander. "It's your call, Windracer. If you want to take the gamble..."
Windracer inhaled, her optics going offline as she deeply wished that she was still just a soldier. Red Alert had always seemed to know what to do; he'd make the right decision. He always did... what would he say now, if he saw the state of his old team? Sighing, the dragon allowed her optics to activate once more, and she nodded. "I do, Aurora. I refuse to let him die like this. Make the preparations. And Feralbrawn..." She looked to her subordinate, smiling in a friendly manner. "I honor you for your courage. Good luck." Turning around to the rest of the conscious team, her face became serious once more. "Everyone else, clear out. We need to let Aurora work in peace."
In only a few moments, Windracer, Aquila, and Raider had assembled in the observation deck that overlooked the half-dilapidated medical ward. Aurora moved quickly between the three gurneys that sat side-by-side: on the far left was Feralbrawn, looking up into the fluroescent lights with as calm an expression as she could muster. Unfortunately, her fear was glaringly apparent, even from that distance. In the middle recharge berth was the quickly-thawing, dead-gray protoform with all manners of wires and cables hooked up to it. And, to the right of this, was Stormflash... or at least, what was left of him.
"Alright, Fer'... I'm going to have to put you into stasis lock for this," Aurora said softly as she walked over to the faintly shaking femme. In her hand was a small device. Are you ready?"
Feralbrawn forced a pathetic smile. "As ready as I'll ever be."
Aurora gave a comforting smile as well, pressing the tool to her head. "See you on the other side," She whispered seconds before pressing a red button. A small charge surged through Feralbrawn's mainframe, harmlessly forcing her into stasis lock. She then silently unclasped her chestpiece, opening the paneling of her upper torso. Contained between her two oxygen filters and just above her fuel pump was the heavily protected spark chamber. Aurora delicately opened the circular chamber, and smirked when she saw the bright, healthy pulsating of her spark. Turning away, she approached Stormflash's body next. She paused to turn off the stasis field that slowed the mech's demise. Once extinguished, the medic quickly repeated the procedure she had just done with Feralbrawn, her hands working deftly between the dying mech's inner workings. The trio of survivors watched as Aurora then retreated to a computer console, and noticed two robotic arms lower slowly from the medbay roofing. One paused above Feralbrawn's chest, while the second hovered over Stormflash's remains...
"Here we go..." Windracer exhaled, becoming quite nervous as well.
Aurora directed the first, specialized arm down into Stormflash's chest, and within seconds it re-emerged with the pathetically dim spark. It swiftly swung over to the protoform, and stopped. The second arm dipped down to Feralbrawn, and it took a bit longer for it to re-appear; a small but incredibly bright fraction of her spark in its clutches. It, too, swung up and away, meeting the other robotic arm above the protoform.
There was a sigh of relief from the female medic. So far, nothing had gone wrong... Glancing from Feralbrawn's EKG to the two suspended sparks, she took hold of the controller and bit her lip. Slowly, the two arms lowered, converging on each other just above the lifeless protoform. Energy twitched back and forth between Stormflash's dying spark and Feralbrawn's fragment, which was a good sign.Gathering her resolve, she pushed the sparks together before plunging the them into the liquid-like body of the protoform, and held them in place.
"Please, Primus, don't take Stormflash just yet. Allow him but a little more time in this plane..." She muttered a prayer to The Creator as she watched intently. Suddenly one of the sensors attatched to the protoform screeched to life, and Aurora withdrew the mechanoid arms instantly.
The sparks were no longer there.
Rushing forward, Aurora closed the hatch of the stasis pod as more sensors jumped to life, indicating the protoform's activation. She then jumped over to Feralbrawn, closing her spark chamber carefully and re-fastening her chestplate with haste before returning her attention back to the now-closed stasis pod. Data began to stream onto the small computer screen, and her optics raced over it with fervor.
In the observation deck, Aquila leaned forward. "S...something's going on!" She observed, unsure of what exactly they were watching before them. A strange, white-hot light found its way through the gaps of the pod's hatch, and all of them shielded their eyes in response to avoid being blinded.
"Aurora!" Windracer called out through her commlink. "What's happening?!"
No response. Aurora was more than likely just as incapacitated as the other's. Seconds later, the light disappeared, the monitors went silent and all optics soon settled on the stasis pod. "I... I don't know..." She finally responded to Windy, dumbfounded. "I..."
Raider clenched his fists, the worry overwhelming him. "Did it work?"
The large dragon mech quickly recieved the answer, though, as the door of the stasis pod hissed to life, opening slowly. A computerized voice chirped, "Formatting complete. Maximal Protoform: On-line."
It seemed as if the entire medical bay exhaled a sigh of relief at this, and watched intently as the stasis pod continued to open. The first thing to emerge was a hand, gripping the hatch door slowly. The other hand moved to the lip of the pod, bracing itself. There was a sound of ruffling, and soon a large, black wing extended from within. With a creak, one hand forced the door open the rest of the way, revealing...
"Oh... my... Primus..." Aurora could hardly say, her blue optics wide with surprise as she took in the sight before her.
Sitting up, the revived Transformer slowly looked about his surroundings with his teal optics. Bedecked in his normal colors of black, purple, turquoise, and silver, his helmet had changed very little. His face, still covered with a dark gray synthflesh and framed by his trademark helmet displayed a slightly confused expression. Two, large, black wings sat folded over his shoulders, the soft, luxurious feathers trimmed in a shimmering silver. His broad chest, lined with black and silver fur and covered with an ornate chestplate betrayed the Autobot's obvious power. Behind his thick upper arms were folded legs from his beast mode; tipped off by silver hooves. His legs, primarily black and silver, ended in the large, wicked talons of a bird of prey.
The three other Autobots had quickly hurried down to the medbay floor, approaching Aurora at full gallop. The new mech's attention was drawn to the movement, but he said nothing.
Windracer cautiously edged forward, her look uncertain as she looked over the new features of this Transformer. "...Stormflash?"
He abruptly blinked, as if he had been snapped out of a daydream. "W...Windracer?"
The Autobot commander gave a relieved sigh and laughed, rushing forward. "I don't believe it! Aurora, you saved him!" She called back, enthralled.
The reborn Stormflash seemed to grow even more confused at this, watching as the other Autobots gathered around him. He paused from trying to carefully climb out of the stasis pod when it registered. "...Saved me?"
"You don't even remember, do you?" Aurora half asked, half stated, tilting her head. "The Cassetticons... They tried to destroy the base... You were still unconscious at the time when half of the CR room came down... your chamber was one of the ones to be demolished and you..." She motioned to what was left of his old body.
Stormflash's jaw dropped, the reality striking him like a cityformer. "I... I..."
"You almost died is what happened," Aquila finished for him, her arms crossed over her chest. "And you would have, if we didn't take the chance to gamble away two lives on some experimental procedure Aurora had only theorized about."
"Two lives?" He echoed, lost again. "What do you mean...?"
Aurora gave a heavy sigh before proceeding. "Your spark was so weak, we knew that we didn't have the time to rebuild your body and and still hope that you would survive. We had to use a donor spark fragment to bring you back from the edge..."
The Maximal Autobot stared in shock at this. "Who...?"
She said nothing, but only pointed to her left, where the prone form of Feralbrawn still lay. Stormflash gasped, nearly toppling out of his stasis pod as he rushed to the femme's side, talons scrabbling on the tiling. "F-Feralbrawn!" He looked back at Aurora and the others, stunned. "She... she gave up part of her spark... for me?"
They all nodded. "Feralbrawn insisted," Raider told him gently. "Even after we warned her of the chances she would die, too, she still went through with it..."
Stormflash grabbed her hand shakily, closing his larger one around her's tightly. With his free one, he patted her cheek lightly, trying to snap her out of the forced stasis lock. "C'mon now, wake up, Feral!" He looked back to Aurora. "She isn't..."
"No," she assured, shaking her head. "She's alive and well. She'll be a bit weak while her body re-adjusts, but there shouldn't be any long-term effects. In fact, her mainframe should be reactivating right about..."
Feralbrawn gave a little gasp as she snapped back online, optics bright. Memories of what had happened before she was stasised rushed back, and she sat up with a start. "Stormflash!" She cried out in panic, looking around and nearly cracking heads with the mech that was hunched over her. Suddenly realizing that something had a hold of her hand, she looked down, followed the arm upwards to the new mech beside her, and stared. Slack-jawed, she could hardly form a word. "S...St..."
Stormflash's left wing twitched slightly, and he smiled. "You saved me," He told her in a soft tone. He had opened his mouth to utter his gratitude for her sacrifice, but was cut off when he felt a pair of arms wrap around his neck in a frenzied hug. He carefully lowered himself to sit beside his friend and savior, and carefully returned the hug. "Feral... thank you... I... I don't even know what to say... You could've died..."
"I'm your friend, Stormflash," She said, muffled by the fur of his chest. "And I wasn't going to just watch you die! You've risked yourself for me, it was my turn to do the same..."
The large Autobot smiled a second time as he watched Feralbrawn pull away slowly. The smile turned to a grin as his friend's expression changed to that of awe at his new look, and he glanced down at himself once, too. "Guess I'm not a chopperbot anymore, am I?"
Feral continued to gape as she reached up, touching the juncture in one of his wings. "I guess not... Heh, I wonder what you transform into..."
"To be honest, I've been wondering that, myself! Might as well find out, now, huh?" Stormflash agreed, stepping away from the trio of beds for a moment. "Transform!" Instantly the mech began to shift and change, and within only a few moments a strange looking beast stood in his place.
The creature blinked, giving a strange squawk from it's wickedly curved beak. The eagle like head sat upon a short but elegant neck, connecting to the beast's main body. Its forelegs were those that had been Stormflash's in robot mode, the eagle's talons clicking against the tile faintly. The large, silver-trimmed wings were folded up against a slender but hardy body that reminded Windracer of an earthen horse's. Storm's hind legs were thin but sturdy: equine in structure and the feet were shining silver hooves. The tail that occasionally twitched and swished was also horse-like as well.
"Wow..." Windy stared in interest, realizing that the beast before her was one she'd heard about several times in Earthen cultures. Not quite a gryphon, but something close. "Stormflash, you're a hippogriff."
"A what?"
Aurora seemed surprised. "A fuzor... I'd never really seen one up close until now... Seems to me you're part bird of prey and part horse..."
Raider smirked, looking at the large feather and furred creature. "Not bad, bud. I like the new look."
Stormflash gave a chuckle and the bird's beak cracked into a strange grin of its own. "Thanks. Now... Transform!" ... but nothing happened. He blinked, and stared down at himself, repeating the phrase with a bit more annoyance. Becoming slightly worried, he glanced over at Aurora, who appeared just as confused.
"Try saying 'Maximize', Storm'." Feralbrawn suggested, smiling to herself. You forget you're mostly a Maximal, now. I'd guess your body responds to Maximal cues instead of Autobot ones.
He blinked, looking at her. "Right! ..." Pausing for a second, he inhaled. "Stormflash: Maximize!" Just as suddenly as he had entered his beast form, he was back in robot mode, looking down at his hands and forearms. "Well, I could definitely get used to this."
"How are you feeling, Feralbrawn?" Aurora finally asked, shifting the focus on to her once she was sure the commotion had died down a bit.
She sighed, lowering her head for a moment as her contented look faded. "Dizzy," Was her only reply.
Stormflash couldn't help but frown slightly, realizing that he'd caused it. "You gonna be okay?"
"I'll be fine, Storm. I think I just need to lay down for a bit..."
The medic gave a nod at this, offering her own little smirk. "The dizziness is natural, we should really get you down to your quarters and have you recharge for a cycle or two. Thank Primus that part of the base survived; we'd be going stir crazy if we all had to camp out here in the medbay."
Feralbrawn gave a dreamy smile at the mention of sleep, and sighed. "Oh, that does sound pretty good right about now... the recharge, I mean."
Stormflash grinned. "I'll help her down to her quarters, if that's alright."
"I'll go, too," Raider offered, approaching his two friends as he spoke.
"Okay. You two make sure Feralbrawn gets there safely. And you both might want to hit the recharge pad afterwards, too. Tomorrow we're going to have our work cut out for us here." Windracer replied, giving a nod. "We'll begin base restoration bright and early; we need to get back to the control center and establish contact with Autobot High Command as soon as possible."
The three Transformers all gave a nod of affirmation before the larger mechs averted their attention back to Feralbrawn. She slowly swung her legs over the edge of the recharge berth and shifted her weight forward... a little too far forward, and suddenly the weakened femme found herself pitching forward. She gave a yelp, but was stopped mid-fall as Raider swung his arm out to catch her. All the smaller woolly mammoth could say as she righted herself (with the assistance of both Stormflash and Raider), "I guess I'm dizzier than I thought..."
"All the better reason that the both of us can help you to your room, eh?" Raider teased, grinning.
Feral's face darkened in what appeared to be shame. "Yeah... but the way the room's spinning I'm not sure I'll make it even with you two..."
Stormflash suddenly grinned to himself, a devious glint in his optics. "Hey, Raid... we could always carry her..." He knew how absolutely sensitive their friend was about such things, and was looking for a bit of harmless fun to lighten up the mood.
"Ohhhhh no. No no no no no!" Feralbrawn replied suddenly, trying to back away from the mechs. "I'd just as soon crawl than-AHH!" Suddenly her heel snagged on a tile and she was toppling backwards, her weakness and lack of balance making things even worse. Just as she was certain she'd crack her skullplate open on the hard flooring, she felt Stormflash's waiting arms scoop her up, saving the fembot from some serious head trauma.
"You were saying?" The newly reformatted beastbot said, his smirk almost impish as he looked down at her. When she failed to answer him, he chuckled. "Then it's settled! We're carrying you."
The fembot struggled instantly at this, becoming quite frustrated with the pair of mechs. "For Primus' sake I'm not an invalid! I'll walk! Or stagger! ... Or crawl... whichever comes first but I am not, I repeat not-"
"Raid, gimme a hand, will ya?"
Suppressing his own little chuckles, the large dragonbot stooped down and gathered the struggling, complaining mammoth into his arms without so much as a sign of strain. Feralbrawn swore in both English and Cybertronian as she tried to squirm away, but Raider held her fast. "Put me down, slaggit! You're going to splinter your spinal frame if you carry me like this!"
Raider laughed. "You? Break my back? For someone who thinks she weighs as much as a Sentinel you sure are light, you know. Now hold still and relax!" Feral ignored her friend's suggestion and continued to resist until she felt him take the first step, and out of instinct she quickly wrapped her arms around his neck.
"There, see? Is this so bad?" Stormflash replied with a bemused expression, following beside the two as they left through one of the few functional doorways.
Feralbrawn mumbled a few obscenities under her breath while they retreated into the darkness. "Yeah, well let's see how you like being carted around like a sack of potatoes..." Came a wry reply.
Windracer grinned as she heard their laughter and conversation fade. She gave a sigh, turning back to Aurora and Aquila once she was sure the others were gone. "Well... that could've been disaster..."
The medic gave a nod, her own relief apparent. "Though, we're still not out of the woods yet," She corrected, glancing to far corner of the room where the unconscious forms of Wildstrike and Frostbite lay. "I still have to save them, too."
"Is it possible?" Aquila couldn't help but ask. While contained within stasis fields themselves, the two vehicle Transformers weren't nearly as bad off as Stormflash had been. Still, Aquila grimaced seeing the various injuries that covered their bodies.
"Yes," Aurora replied, nodding. "Their sparks could probably last long enough for me to repair their normal bodies..."
Windracer caught it and tilted her head in confusion. "Wait, 'probably'? You mean they could still die?"
"There's always that chance. I'm not sure how effective those quick repairs were; all I was trying to do at that point was stabilize them... For all I know, I could take down the stasis field and loose them within nanokliks."
The dragon femme reached over and put a hand on her shoulder, smiling. "We believe in your abilities, Aurora. We know you can save them." Aquila gave her own nod of agreement from where she stood as the female medic smiled. "'Quila and I'll clear out of here to let you work for now, but if something happens, you let me know, understood?"
"Affirmative."
Quietly, the two fembots left the medical bay, then, leaving Aurora alone to work. Once they were gone, the jaguar Transformer approached the two fallen warriors, looking them over through the shimmering stasis field. Wildstrike's left arm was all but severed; and had only been soldered to prevent circ-fluid loss. The joints of both of his knees were shattered, and those alone would take hours to repair. Any internal injuries that he'd sustained had been crudely patched up to prevent hemmorhaging, but they would need to be properly assessed and repaired if he ever hoped to see battle again. The young, happy-go-lucky mech's visor was offline and cracked, Aurora didn't even know if he'd lost his vision yet. Dried circ-fluid had coalesced around many of the lacerations that tarnished his gray synthflesh... Could she do all those repairs in time and hope that the spark would still survive?
Frostbite wasn't much better off. Deep gashes from Rumble's battle blades and Buzzsaw's lasers had cut through the snowmobile femme's light armor, wreaking havoc on the delicate circuitry within. One of her oxygen filters had been completely destroyed in the attack. While this was serious, a Transformer's oxygen filters were not mandatory to support life. Several major fuel lines had been severed, and Aurora knew that the stopgap repairs would not hold out for too long... even if she never fought again.
The medic paused to consider, weighing her options. Could she work quickly enough to save the bodies and the sparks? If not... Suddenly, she was struck with an idea and she gasped at the thought, turning back to the closed cryo storage room. Frostbite's and Wildstrike's individual sparks were healthy enough...
"That's it!" She shouted to herself, turning around and quickly rushing into the storage room. Time was a commodity that Aurora had little of at the moment, and so she began her frantic work with the utmost haste...>
There's a little bit after this, like a "The next morning" type deal. But that's still a WIP so I ain't a'postin that.
Aurora hung her head, sadly. "Even if we do reconstruct his body, Windy, he won't make it. He just doesn't have the life left in him... His spark is fading..."
The conscious members of the team fell into a sullen silence, processing what their medical officer had just told them: Stormflash was dying, and they were essentially helpless to stop it. Raider stepped backwards slowly until his back felt a wall, at which point he slouched against it numbly. The large helicopter mech had been almost like a long-lost brother to him, and the fact he'd soon be gone was more than he could handle. Windracer looked away, her eyes focusing on one of her folded arms as she took this in... Not only was he an adept warrior, but the calm, paitent Autobot had become a friend and companion to almost all of the team, and Windy was no exception. [A/N: more self-reflection moosh here when I can come up wif it!]
"W-what if someone donates a bit of their spark?" Feralbrawn interjected abruptly. "I was reading about the procedure while I was studying... could it save him?"
The jaguar medic paused to consider this for a moment, but soon shook her head in the negative fashion. "His spark is extinguishing far too fast; even with everything I'm doing to slow it down... by the time we'd complete his body, a fresh spark fragment would be useless..." She then stopped what she was saying with a gasp, her optics going bright. "Unless..."
"'Unless'...?"
"No time. Raider, help me with this!" Aurora had rushed into a cryo-storage room and waved one arm out of the door frantically. The dragonbot silently followed, his sadness far more obvious than his curiosity.
When next the two Autobots emerged, Raider carried a large, pod-like structure. Frost from the storage had left a thin, whitish coating on the dark outer paneling. Aurora indicated for the other to set the object down on a recharge berth, and quickly went to work. "Do you know what this is?" She asked the others gathered in the room, her optics still bright with excitement, but was greeted with confused expressions from the Autobots.
Feralbrawn, however leaned forward from where she sat, a look of surprise on her face. "It's a Maximal stasis pod!" She interjected. "How'd you get one?"
"I found it buried near the foot of the volcano," Aurora explained, her hands moving deftly from control panel to control panel on the frostbitten pod. "Actually, there were several. Unfortunately, the protoforms within had already lost their sparks. Their bodies, however, I found out were still viable, and so I brought them back and preserved them... It's a long shot, but if we transplant Stormflash's remaining spark into one, and provide an additonal donor fragment, he might just survive..."
Windracer unfolded her arms as surprise started to take over, stepping towards her vice commander and medic cautiously. "Do you know if it'll work...?" Her voice was grave.
Aurora stopped to look at her, her own face betraying the same graveness. "To be brutally honest, this is just a theory... We could loose the spark in the transplant, especially if the protoform doesn't accept it. But if we don't do something, and quickly, Stormflash will still die, regardless. We just need a donor..."
A sigh came from Feralbrawn's lips, and she slid off her perch, walking forward. "I'll do it. I'm the closest thing to a Maximal on this base, my spark might have the highest chance of getting the protoform to accept his."
There was a pause from the gold and white jaguar. "Are you sure?"
The stasis pod slipped open with a hiss, releasing a light, faint mist as it did. Inside, the protoform's body was a flat, dull, lifeless grey; a far cry from the pulsating quicksilver of a living protoform. Feralbrawn glanced at it, and then back at Stormflash's broken and prone form contained within the stasis field. She had to do something, anything to save her friend, and if it meant giving away part of her own life, so be it. Aurora was finally met with a shaky nod from the young woolly mammoth fembot, her expression a mixture of determination and apprehension. "... He's risked his life for me before, it's my turn to do the same..."
Windracer's optic ridges arced, surprised at the level of maturity she was observing. Where was the whiny, slothful fembot she was so familiar with?
"Feral..." Raider began, tensing, worrying for his teammate and friend. "You don't have to do this... what if you..." He let it hang.
Aquila finally spoke up, having been in recharge up until then. "The big guy's got a point, Fer'. This is too big a risk... If you die and this doesn't work, we'll be down not just one warrior, but two. We should just-"
"What, sit here and watch him die?" The black-furred femme wheeled around on the wounded tactician, her face contorted into a grimace. "You'd do that to him?!"
The eagle Transformer recoiled, her remaining mech feathers ruffling at the outburst. "I'm just saying, that we're already vulnerable enough as it is! We don't need to go loosing any more of our functional warriors at the expense of one that's almost gone!"
Feralbrawn's breath seemed to choke in her oxygen filters at this, stunned at the way a fellow Autobot was speaking. She opened her mouth to argue at her again, but was cut off by Aurora. "Enough! Both of you!" She then turned to the white dragon femme that they all called their Commander. "It's your call, Windracer. If you want to take the gamble..."
Windracer inhaled, her optics going offline as she deeply wished that she was still just a soldier. Red Alert had always seemed to know what to do; he'd make the right decision. He always did... what would he say now, if he saw the state of his old team? Sighing, the dragon allowed her optics to activate once more, and she nodded. "I do, Aurora. I refuse to let him die like this. Make the preparations. And Feralbrawn..." She looked to her subordinate, smiling in a friendly manner. "I honor you for your courage. Good luck." Turning around to the rest of the conscious team, her face became serious once more. "Everyone else, clear out. We need to let Aurora work in peace."
In only a few moments, Windracer, Aquila, and Raider had assembled in the observation deck that overlooked the half-dilapidated medical ward. Aurora moved quickly between the three gurneys that sat side-by-side: on the far left was Feralbrawn, looking up into the fluroescent lights with as calm an expression as she could muster. Unfortunately, her fear was glaringly apparent, even from that distance. In the middle recharge berth was the quickly-thawing, dead-gray protoform with all manners of wires and cables hooked up to it. And, to the right of this, was Stormflash... or at least, what was left of him.
"Alright, Fer'... I'm going to have to put you into stasis lock for this," Aurora said softly as she walked over to the faintly shaking femme. In her hand was a small device. Are you ready?"
Feralbrawn forced a pathetic smile. "As ready as I'll ever be."
Aurora gave a comforting smile as well, pressing the tool to her head. "See you on the other side," She whispered seconds before pressing a red button. A small charge surged through Feralbrawn's mainframe, harmlessly forcing her into stasis lock. She then silently unclasped her chestpiece, opening the paneling of her upper torso. Contained between her two oxygen filters and just above her fuel pump was the heavily protected spark chamber. Aurora delicately opened the circular chamber, and smirked when she saw the bright, healthy pulsating of her spark. Turning away, she approached Stormflash's body next. She paused to turn off the stasis field that slowed the mech's demise. Once extinguished, the medic quickly repeated the procedure she had just done with Feralbrawn, her hands working deftly between the dying mech's inner workings. The trio of survivors watched as Aurora then retreated to a computer console, and noticed two robotic arms lower slowly from the medbay roofing. One paused above Feralbrawn's chest, while the second hovered over Stormflash's remains...
"Here we go..." Windracer exhaled, becoming quite nervous as well.
Aurora directed the first, specialized arm down into Stormflash's chest, and within seconds it re-emerged with the pathetically dim spark. It swiftly swung over to the protoform, and stopped. The second arm dipped down to Feralbrawn, and it took a bit longer for it to re-appear; a small but incredibly bright fraction of her spark in its clutches. It, too, swung up and away, meeting the other robotic arm above the protoform.
There was a sigh of relief from the female medic. So far, nothing had gone wrong... Glancing from Feralbrawn's EKG to the two suspended sparks, she took hold of the controller and bit her lip. Slowly, the two arms lowered, converging on each other just above the lifeless protoform. Energy twitched back and forth between Stormflash's dying spark and Feralbrawn's fragment, which was a good sign.Gathering her resolve, she pushed the sparks together before plunging the them into the liquid-like body of the protoform, and held them in place.
"Please, Primus, don't take Stormflash just yet. Allow him but a little more time in this plane..." She muttered a prayer to The Creator as she watched intently. Suddenly one of the sensors attatched to the protoform screeched to life, and Aurora withdrew the mechanoid arms instantly.
The sparks were no longer there.
Rushing forward, Aurora closed the hatch of the stasis pod as more sensors jumped to life, indicating the protoform's activation. She then jumped over to Feralbrawn, closing her spark chamber carefully and re-fastening her chestplate with haste before returning her attention back to the now-closed stasis pod. Data began to stream onto the small computer screen, and her optics raced over it with fervor.
In the observation deck, Aquila leaned forward. "S...something's going on!" She observed, unsure of what exactly they were watching before them. A strange, white-hot light found its way through the gaps of the pod's hatch, and all of them shielded their eyes in response to avoid being blinded.
"Aurora!" Windracer called out through her commlink. "What's happening?!"
No response. Aurora was more than likely just as incapacitated as the other's. Seconds later, the light disappeared, the monitors went silent and all optics soon settled on the stasis pod. "I... I don't know..." She finally responded to Windy, dumbfounded. "I..."
Raider clenched his fists, the worry overwhelming him. "Did it work?"
The large dragon mech quickly recieved the answer, though, as the door of the stasis pod hissed to life, opening slowly. A computerized voice chirped, "Formatting complete. Maximal Protoform: On-line."
It seemed as if the entire medical bay exhaled a sigh of relief at this, and watched intently as the stasis pod continued to open. The first thing to emerge was a hand, gripping the hatch door slowly. The other hand moved to the lip of the pod, bracing itself. There was a sound of ruffling, and soon a large, black wing extended from within. With a creak, one hand forced the door open the rest of the way, revealing...
"Oh... my... Primus..." Aurora could hardly say, her blue optics wide with surprise as she took in the sight before her.
Sitting up, the revived Transformer slowly looked about his surroundings with his teal optics. Bedecked in his normal colors of black, purple, turquoise, and silver, his helmet had changed very little. His face, still covered with a dark gray synthflesh and framed by his trademark helmet displayed a slightly confused expression. Two, large, black wings sat folded over his shoulders, the soft, luxurious feathers trimmed in a shimmering silver. His broad chest, lined with black and silver fur and covered with an ornate chestplate betrayed the Autobot's obvious power. Behind his thick upper arms were folded legs from his beast mode; tipped off by silver hooves. His legs, primarily black and silver, ended in the large, wicked talons of a bird of prey.
The three other Autobots had quickly hurried down to the medbay floor, approaching Aurora at full gallop. The new mech's attention was drawn to the movement, but he said nothing.
Windracer cautiously edged forward, her look uncertain as she looked over the new features of this Transformer. "...Stormflash?"
He abruptly blinked, as if he had been snapped out of a daydream. "W...Windracer?"
The Autobot commander gave a relieved sigh and laughed, rushing forward. "I don't believe it! Aurora, you saved him!" She called back, enthralled.
The reborn Stormflash seemed to grow even more confused at this, watching as the other Autobots gathered around him. He paused from trying to carefully climb out of the stasis pod when it registered. "...Saved me?"
"You don't even remember, do you?" Aurora half asked, half stated, tilting her head. "The Cassetticons... They tried to destroy the base... You were still unconscious at the time when half of the CR room came down... your chamber was one of the ones to be demolished and you..." She motioned to what was left of his old body.
Stormflash's jaw dropped, the reality striking him like a cityformer. "I... I..."
"You almost died is what happened," Aquila finished for him, her arms crossed over her chest. "And you would have, if we didn't take the chance to gamble away two lives on some experimental procedure Aurora had only theorized about."
"Two lives?" He echoed, lost again. "What do you mean...?"
Aurora gave a heavy sigh before proceeding. "Your spark was so weak, we knew that we didn't have the time to rebuild your body and and still hope that you would survive. We had to use a donor spark fragment to bring you back from the edge..."
The Maximal Autobot stared in shock at this. "Who...?"
She said nothing, but only pointed to her left, where the prone form of Feralbrawn still lay. Stormflash gasped, nearly toppling out of his stasis pod as he rushed to the femme's side, talons scrabbling on the tiling. "F-Feralbrawn!" He looked back at Aurora and the others, stunned. "She... she gave up part of her spark... for me?"
They all nodded. "Feralbrawn insisted," Raider told him gently. "Even after we warned her of the chances she would die, too, she still went through with it..."
Stormflash grabbed her hand shakily, closing his larger one around her's tightly. With his free one, he patted her cheek lightly, trying to snap her out of the forced stasis lock. "C'mon now, wake up, Feral!" He looked back to Aurora. "She isn't..."
"No," she assured, shaking her head. "She's alive and well. She'll be a bit weak while her body re-adjusts, but there shouldn't be any long-term effects. In fact, her mainframe should be reactivating right about..."
Feralbrawn gave a little gasp as she snapped back online, optics bright. Memories of what had happened before she was stasised rushed back, and she sat up with a start. "Stormflash!" She cried out in panic, looking around and nearly cracking heads with the mech that was hunched over her. Suddenly realizing that something had a hold of her hand, she looked down, followed the arm upwards to the new mech beside her, and stared. Slack-jawed, she could hardly form a word. "S...St..."
Stormflash's left wing twitched slightly, and he smiled. "You saved me," He told her in a soft tone. He had opened his mouth to utter his gratitude for her sacrifice, but was cut off when he felt a pair of arms wrap around his neck in a frenzied hug. He carefully lowered himself to sit beside his friend and savior, and carefully returned the hug. "Feral... thank you... I... I don't even know what to say... You could've died..."
"I'm your friend, Stormflash," She said, muffled by the fur of his chest. "And I wasn't going to just watch you die! You've risked yourself for me, it was my turn to do the same..."
The large Autobot smiled a second time as he watched Feralbrawn pull away slowly. The smile turned to a grin as his friend's expression changed to that of awe at his new look, and he glanced down at himself once, too. "Guess I'm not a chopperbot anymore, am I?"
Feral continued to gape as she reached up, touching the juncture in one of his wings. "I guess not... Heh, I wonder what you transform into..."
"To be honest, I've been wondering that, myself! Might as well find out, now, huh?" Stormflash agreed, stepping away from the trio of beds for a moment. "Transform!" Instantly the mech began to shift and change, and within only a few moments a strange looking beast stood in his place.
The creature blinked, giving a strange squawk from it's wickedly curved beak. The eagle like head sat upon a short but elegant neck, connecting to the beast's main body. Its forelegs were those that had been Stormflash's in robot mode, the eagle's talons clicking against the tile faintly. The large, silver-trimmed wings were folded up against a slender but hardy body that reminded Windracer of an earthen horse's. Storm's hind legs were thin but sturdy: equine in structure and the feet were shining silver hooves. The tail that occasionally twitched and swished was also horse-like as well.
"Wow..." Windy stared in interest, realizing that the beast before her was one she'd heard about several times in Earthen cultures. Not quite a gryphon, but something close. "Stormflash, you're a hippogriff."
"A what?"
Aurora seemed surprised. "A fuzor... I'd never really seen one up close until now... Seems to me you're part bird of prey and part horse..."
Raider smirked, looking at the large feather and furred creature. "Not bad, bud. I like the new look."
Stormflash gave a chuckle and the bird's beak cracked into a strange grin of its own. "Thanks. Now... Transform!" ... but nothing happened. He blinked, and stared down at himself, repeating the phrase with a bit more annoyance. Becoming slightly worried, he glanced over at Aurora, who appeared just as confused.
"Try saying 'Maximize', Storm'." Feralbrawn suggested, smiling to herself. You forget you're mostly a Maximal, now. I'd guess your body responds to Maximal cues instead of Autobot ones.
He blinked, looking at her. "Right! ..." Pausing for a second, he inhaled. "Stormflash: Maximize!" Just as suddenly as he had entered his beast form, he was back in robot mode, looking down at his hands and forearms. "Well, I could definitely get used to this."
"How are you feeling, Feralbrawn?" Aurora finally asked, shifting the focus on to her once she was sure the commotion had died down a bit.
She sighed, lowering her head for a moment as her contented look faded. "Dizzy," Was her only reply.
Stormflash couldn't help but frown slightly, realizing that he'd caused it. "You gonna be okay?"
"I'll be fine, Storm. I think I just need to lay down for a bit..."
The medic gave a nod at this, offering her own little smirk. "The dizziness is natural, we should really get you down to your quarters and have you recharge for a cycle or two. Thank Primus that part of the base survived; we'd be going stir crazy if we all had to camp out here in the medbay."
Feralbrawn gave a dreamy smile at the mention of sleep, and sighed. "Oh, that does sound pretty good right about now... the recharge, I mean."
Stormflash grinned. "I'll help her down to her quarters, if that's alright."
"I'll go, too," Raider offered, approaching his two friends as he spoke.
"Okay. You two make sure Feralbrawn gets there safely. And you both might want to hit the recharge pad afterwards, too. Tomorrow we're going to have our work cut out for us here." Windracer replied, giving a nod. "We'll begin base restoration bright and early; we need to get back to the control center and establish contact with Autobot High Command as soon as possible."
The three Transformers all gave a nod of affirmation before the larger mechs averted their attention back to Feralbrawn. She slowly swung her legs over the edge of the recharge berth and shifted her weight forward... a little too far forward, and suddenly the weakened femme found herself pitching forward. She gave a yelp, but was stopped mid-fall as Raider swung his arm out to catch her. All the smaller woolly mammoth could say as she righted herself (with the assistance of both Stormflash and Raider), "I guess I'm dizzier than I thought..."
"All the better reason that the both of us can help you to your room, eh?" Raider teased, grinning.
Feral's face darkened in what appeared to be shame. "Yeah... but the way the room's spinning I'm not sure I'll make it even with you two..."
Stormflash suddenly grinned to himself, a devious glint in his optics. "Hey, Raid... we could always carry her..." He knew how absolutely sensitive their friend was about such things, and was looking for a bit of harmless fun to lighten up the mood.
"Ohhhhh no. No no no no no!" Feralbrawn replied suddenly, trying to back away from the mechs. "I'd just as soon crawl than-AHH!" Suddenly her heel snagged on a tile and she was toppling backwards, her weakness and lack of balance making things even worse. Just as she was certain she'd crack her skullplate open on the hard flooring, she felt Stormflash's waiting arms scoop her up, saving the fembot from some serious head trauma.
"You were saying?" The newly reformatted beastbot said, his smirk almost impish as he looked down at her. When she failed to answer him, he chuckled. "Then it's settled! We're carrying you."
The fembot struggled instantly at this, becoming quite frustrated with the pair of mechs. "For Primus' sake I'm not an invalid! I'll walk! Or stagger! ... Or crawl... whichever comes first but I am not, I repeat not-"
"Raid, gimme a hand, will ya?"
Suppressing his own little chuckles, the large dragonbot stooped down and gathered the struggling, complaining mammoth into his arms without so much as a sign of strain. Feralbrawn swore in both English and Cybertronian as she tried to squirm away, but Raider held her fast. "Put me down, slaggit! You're going to splinter your spinal frame if you carry me like this!"
Raider laughed. "You? Break my back? For someone who thinks she weighs as much as a Sentinel you sure are light, you know. Now hold still and relax!" Feral ignored her friend's suggestion and continued to resist until she felt him take the first step, and out of instinct she quickly wrapped her arms around his neck.
"There, see? Is this so bad?" Stormflash replied with a bemused expression, following beside the two as they left through one of the few functional doorways.
Feralbrawn mumbled a few obscenities under her breath while they retreated into the darkness. "Yeah, well let's see how you like being carted around like a sack of potatoes..." Came a wry reply.
Windracer grinned as she heard their laughter and conversation fade. She gave a sigh, turning back to Aurora and Aquila once she was sure the others were gone. "Well... that could've been disaster..."
The medic gave a nod, her own relief apparent. "Though, we're still not out of the woods yet," She corrected, glancing to far corner of the room where the unconscious forms of Wildstrike and Frostbite lay. "I still have to save them, too."
"Is it possible?" Aquila couldn't help but ask. While contained within stasis fields themselves, the two vehicle Transformers weren't nearly as bad off as Stormflash had been. Still, Aquila grimaced seeing the various injuries that covered their bodies.
"Yes," Aurora replied, nodding. "Their sparks could probably last long enough for me to repair their normal bodies..."
Windracer caught it and tilted her head in confusion. "Wait, 'probably'? You mean they could still die?"
"There's always that chance. I'm not sure how effective those quick repairs were; all I was trying to do at that point was stabilize them... For all I know, I could take down the stasis field and loose them within nanokliks."
The dragon femme reached over and put a hand on her shoulder, smiling. "We believe in your abilities, Aurora. We know you can save them." Aquila gave her own nod of agreement from where she stood as the female medic smiled. "'Quila and I'll clear out of here to let you work for now, but if something happens, you let me know, understood?"
"Affirmative."
Quietly, the two fembots left the medical bay, then, leaving Aurora alone to work. Once they were gone, the jaguar Transformer approached the two fallen warriors, looking them over through the shimmering stasis field. Wildstrike's left arm was all but severed; and had only been soldered to prevent circ-fluid loss. The joints of both of his knees were shattered, and those alone would take hours to repair. Any internal injuries that he'd sustained had been crudely patched up to prevent hemmorhaging, but they would need to be properly assessed and repaired if he ever hoped to see battle again. The young, happy-go-lucky mech's visor was offline and cracked, Aurora didn't even know if he'd lost his vision yet. Dried circ-fluid had coalesced around many of the lacerations that tarnished his gray synthflesh... Could she do all those repairs in time and hope that the spark would still survive?
Frostbite wasn't much better off. Deep gashes from Rumble's battle blades and Buzzsaw's lasers had cut through the snowmobile femme's light armor, wreaking havoc on the delicate circuitry within. One of her oxygen filters had been completely destroyed in the attack. While this was serious, a Transformer's oxygen filters were not mandatory to support life. Several major fuel lines had been severed, and Aurora knew that the stopgap repairs would not hold out for too long... even if she never fought again.
The medic paused to consider, weighing her options. Could she work quickly enough to save the bodies and the sparks? If not... Suddenly, she was struck with an idea and she gasped at the thought, turning back to the closed cryo storage room. Frostbite's and Wildstrike's individual sparks were healthy enough...
"That's it!" She shouted to herself, turning around and quickly rushing into the storage room. Time was a commodity that Aurora had little of at the moment, and so she began her frantic work with the utmost haste...>
There's a little bit after this, like a "The next morning" type deal. But that's still a WIP so I ain't a'postin that.