Embers of a Flame

Chapter 12

A few weeks went by, and Ratchet was an overly concerned partner already. He forced Wisp to stay around the base, to recover after his brush with death. So the medic was sitting out on missions as well, to his dismay.

"But Ratchet," Wisp protests. "I need to help my team, I can't be sitting around all day!"

"Until you recover fully, you are not going anywhere," Ratchet replies sternly, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"But I'm fine!" the helibot retorts, throwing his servos in the air. "At least let me out to scout. We don't have many aerial bots and Whirl can't do it all by his lonesome.

Ratchet sighs. "Fine. You can go on patrols, but no fighting."

Wisp's expression lights up, smiling brightly. "Thank you," he chimes happily, bouncing to get up and get going. He's aching to stretch his rotors.

"Be careful," Ratchet barks, even though he cannot deny how adorable the helibot looks when he is happy. He can't resist it either.

On his way outside, Willowisp runs into Angel, who is occupying an empty hallway.

"Hi Angel," he greets cheerily. "What are you doing?"

"Hiding from Rodimus," she replies with a sigh. "I don't want to see him right now."

"Understandable," Wisp says sympathetically. "Do you want to come with me on patrol?"

"That sounds good," the femme says, flashing a quippy smile. "Ratchet finally let you off the leash?"

"Barely," the mech grouches as they walk outside. Angel chuckles amusedly.

Just as both bots wanted to transform, someone else came outside. None other than Rodimus Prime.

Angel groans audibly as the mech comes over. "I need a restraining order..." she mutters.

"Are you two going on patrol?" Rodimus asks. "Can I come?"

Wisp shoots Angel a look then nods to the Prime. "Sure, we can use the backup."

Rodimus' expression lights up and he transforms into his alt mode. "Let's hit the road, then."

Angel glares at Wisp profusely before begrudgingly transforming into her alt mode. Wisp does the name and they are off.

Most of the trip passes in relative silence, keeping to necessary comm chatter alone. They venture out pretty far from the base.

Willowisp suddenly has to swerve violently to the left to dodge blaster fire coming his way.

::Scrap, Cons!!:: He yells over the commlink.

Angel slams on the brakes when more Vehicons appear on the road, causing Rodimus to nearly crash into her. Both transform quickly.

Wisp comes down from the sky and joins them, landing on his peds with a firm thud.

Starscream makes his way to the front of the Vehicon line, smirking proudly. "Autobots," he seethes. "Surrender, or perish."

"Yeah, no thanks," Angel quips back, drawing her swords. "Go back home, Screamer."

The Seeker hisses and commands his armada to attack. The ground-based Vehicons also start taking shots at the trio.

Rodimus has his bow that he can fight with, a quiver seemingly having spawned on his back or something.

"Where do you keep those?" Wisp asks curiously.

"My subspace," the Prime responds casually, shooting down one of the Seeker Vehicons.

But there are many drones to fight, plus Starscream is an annoyance.

Angel, on the front line, if you could call it that, threatens to get overwhelmed. A shot deflected by her shielding nearly makes her topple over. But she never hits the ground.

"You alright?" Rodimus asks her with a hint of concern in his voice.

"Yes, now let me go," the femme responds quickly, writhing to get loose.

Rodimus puts her back on her peds with a smile. "You're a feisty one~"

"No. Flirting," Angelblade seethes, turning around to him. "You know that."

"Aww c'mon ~" he pouts, coming closer and earning another glare from the femme.

She has had it with him. "No," she snaps, raising her ped and kicking him in the interface panel. "Back. Off."

Rodimus doubles over in pain with a high-pitched whine. "Hey!" he wheezes.

But Angel pays him no mind, instead looking around for Wisp. She finds him, in the grasp of Starscream. The lean Seeker has a surprisingly strong grip, as Wisp is choking and struggling against it.

"Hey! Let him go you jerkoff!" Angel shouts angrily, charging forward. But a few Vehicons block her way and a Groundbridge appears behind Starscream.

The next moment, she hears Wisp cry out before everything goes silent. She and Rodimus chase off the remaining troopers before having to settle. Both are heaving heavily.

"Scrap. Ratchet is going to kill us," Rodimus says sorrowfully.

"That's your concern?! My friend just got kidnapped by Decepticons and that's your concern?!" Angel snaps at him, optics wide and furious and denta grit.

She transforms into her alt mode, suddenly defeated. "Let's go home," she sighs in a flat tone.

Rodimus shoots her a sympathetic glance before following her lead.

It seems there is yet a long way on the path to redemption.

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Sorry for the short one folks, sometimes it happens. But things are going to get interesting very soon, I promise.