Shattered Shenanigans

26: Light Sparked

Soon enough, the others returned with some energon and scratched plating. They all seemed equally relieved that Megatron was nowhere to be seen.

Except Megatronus, "Where-"

"He went to recharge." Soundwave said and looked over Laserbeak's bolts.

"Ok, what happened to you?" Megatronus asked Optimus, noticing some scuffs of his plating. Optimus pointed at the ceiling which had some obvious cracks and crumbled and bit. "How did you-"

"He was sitting on the generator when it decided to defy gravity." Soundwave snorted, and Megatronus nodded slowly.

Then shots could be heard from the hallways, in Megatron's direction, lots of them. They all stayed still to listen. Then Knockout let out a giggle. "I made some scare traps with Scraplet corpses." He explained under everyone's confused stare.

"You could have used that to wake up this morning." Soundwave mumbled to Megatronus. He merely rolled his optics and started organizing the transportation of the energon.

-

-

Once they were done it was time to recharge (by everyone but Ratchet's and Soundwave's standards). Optimus and Megatronus where the only one's left in the main room, trying to convince Ratchet and Soundwave to recharge.

"It's not that late." Soundwave started.

"Exactly." Ratchet added. "It's 11-"

"It's late when you plan to get up at 2-" Optimus started.

"And run on energon fumes most of the time-" Megatronus added.

"My frame isn't energon hungry!" Soundwave argued.

"Neither is mine!"

Optimus let out a whine, "It's like trying to get sparkling to bed-"

"Oh yes." Megatronus added.

"Excuse me-" Ratchet started, very flustered, it's not everyday he gets compared to a sparkling after all.

"Bumblebee was better than this-" Optimus added.

"Are you really going to stoop this low?" Ratchet asked.

"Even lower than your energon levels." Optimus shot back and Ratchet slammed down his tools and started the walk of shame to his berth. Optimus decided to stay and watch Megatronus' attempt.

"Need I compare you to Knockout?" Megatronus started with Soundwave, obviously trying out Optimus' trick.

"Go for it, we both know I have nothing on him." Soundwave mumbled.

"Well I'm sure Miko-" Megatronus tried.

Soundwave scoffed, although he did look offended. However at that moment his frame betrayed him, his bio lights dimmed.

"You are staving yourself!" Megatronus shrieked.

"No-"

"Your bio lights-"

"That's from general fatigue! Not my energon levels-" Then Soundwave realized what he had said, "I mean-"

"'General fatigue'..." Megatronus started in a low tone.

"Fine, let me at least power off my equipment." Soundwave mumbled and Optimus decided to head off.

He made it to their shared berthroom in a jiffy and found Ratchet already in recharge. He laid down on the too small berth and powered down.

-

-

Of course, when Optimus woke up, Ratchet had vanished and the floor was painted that same shade of purple. Oh, very funny. Optimus avoided the patches of wet paint and headed for the main room, all was rather quiet.

That was untill Optimus heard gun shots, the fusion cannon kind. Huh. OH SCR*P!

He ended up bolting to the main room as more shots overlapped. Once he got there, it was mayhem. Optimus immediately found cover behind his trusty crates and located the threat. Megatron was using the ground bridge as cover, obviously having a blast.

The next worrying thing that fell before Optimus' optics was the detached arm of Starscream flying across his vision.

"Argh!"

"Take cover-" Soundwave started and tried to tend to Starscream who was still trying to shoot despite losing energon at an alarming rate.

"Ep!" Optimus heard from behind the generator as it came under fire. Ratchet! Optimus surmised that he had taken a fist to the faceplate based of his leaking optic and energon leaking from a cracked fissure above his intake.

The generator was most certainly not a suitable cover, being highly volatile and Ratchet knew this. He obviously needed cover fire for enough time to get away. And Optimus was more than happy to give it, he got out his blasters and laid down heavy fire. Enough to get Megatron to notice him and take some cover.

At that moment Ratchet made a dash for the other crates and Optimus paused fire to take note of his location. A big mistake as no later two blasts hit him squarely on the back strut, he fell to the floor but close enough that Optimus could pull him behind a crate.

"Ratchet-" Optimus started.

"Hurk!" Ratchet coughed as Optimus looked at his back, energon was seeping out and into his ventilation systems meaning he may soon overheat if he didn't bleed out first.

How was Optimus supposed to- he wasn't a medic. "Soundwave!" He shouted, no well enough that Soundwave couldn't get to them. "You'll be alright." Optimus started as laid Ratchet down in the most secure position he could muster. "It'll be fine." He added, hoping it was not a lie.

Optimus picked up a nearby cube, obviously abandoned and offered it to Ratchet. "No-" He coughed and nodded over the crate, in Megatron's direction.

Optimus got the message and threw the cube at Megatron, aimed his blaster and shot it before impact, resulting in a formittable explosion and giving Optimus enough time to drag Ratchet to the more secure medbay.

"Soundwave-"

"I KNOW!" He shrieked as his was still trying to combat Starcream's energon loss which Optimus realized was leaking from more placed than just his arm stump.

"How did this-" Optimus started.

Knockout scrambled over with a living shield and inspected Ratchet, "Ermm? Breakdown, vacuum!" He started and Breakdown supplied one which he immediately used to suck out the energon from Ratchet's vents, doing his best to avoid main wires.

"Starscream decided to mouth off when Evil Megatron insulted Megatron, it escalated-" Breakdown started but they were back under heavy fire.

Ratchet's coughs were getting weaker and Optimus frantically looked around for a welder or wires to tie of or cauterize the severed energon tubing. But at that point Knockout pulled away.

Ratchet had stopped leaking, his spark to weak to pump the energon.