Darkness rising

Past truths and regrets

Ratchet closed the ground bridge just moments after Tailgate came through it. The whole base was praising him for his bravery. All except for their leader, Optimus Prime. The Prime just kept staring at the bot with a stern expression. Tailgate opened his doors and let Miko and Raf out. Arcee was eagerly waiting for Jack to come out next, but her hopes were crushed when she saw Tailgate transforming back to his bipedal form after Miko and Raf got off.

"Tailgate, where is Jack?" Arcee asked as she stepped forward.

"I am sorry Arcee. But by the time I had found the kids, Jack was already taken down by the enemies." Tailgate told her with a straight face.

Arcee gasped as she heard the news. She placed one of her servos on her chassis as she looked down in sadness.

"THAT'S A COMPLETE SCRAP!!" Miko suddenly yelled out.

Arcee looked up and turned towards the Japanese girl who was fuming in anger.

"What do you mean Miko?" Arcee asked.

"Don't mind her Arcee, She's just traumatised because of all the stuff that happened today." Tailgate suddenly said, intervening in their conversation.

"Traumatised? She's Miko. She literally does all that stuff on a weekly basis. And you're saying she is traumatised." Bulkhead said.

"Miko, please tell us what you meant by that." Optimus told her as he stepped in.

"That Afthole left Jack behind! He was still alive and trying to get to us when Tailgate left him behind! And when Raf and I tried to prevent him from doing that he tried to suffocate us!!" Miko screamed out in rage as she glared at the blue and white bot.

"Is it true Tailgate?" Arcee asked.

"Look, I can explain. The situation was hard and if I didn't leave him behind he would have endangered us all." Tailgate tried to explain as he lifted his arms up in defence.

"Endangered? Endangered? If it wasn't for Jack you wouldn't even be alive at this moment!" Raf yelled at him.

The 12 year old stepped up from where he was sitting beside Bumblebee and glared at him. All the Autobots were wide eyed at the revelation and stared at Tailgate with shock and disgust and in case of Arcee with burning anger.

"Oh come on. He is just a human. A primitive, native life species of this miserable dirt ball. He isn't even someone important. What difference would it make?" Tailgate said in an attempt to defend himself.

"Tailgate!" Optimus exclaimed as he was outraged by this "Jackson has been a valuable ally throughout the entire time he was with us. He has risked his life many times for us. He had put his trust and faith in us and you just destroyed that trust by leaving him behind. I may have disregarded the war crimes committed by you, but this is unacceptable."

"Wait Optimus, what do you mean by war crimes?" Arcee asked.

Optimus glanced at Arcee and then to the bots present at the base. Everyone was present there. He closed his optics and then opened them, only to stare at Tailgate with disgust and disappointment. Tailgate shrunk under the Primes stare.

"Many of you might not know, but Tailgate isn't the person you think him to be. During the beginning of the civil war on Cybertron he had been serving as a soldier under the guidance of Sentinel Prime. While some of his acts against the enemies were quite honourable, his other works weren't so good. During one certain mission he had abandoned his team in order to save himself. Another time he destroyed an entire hospital and many innocent Cybertronians, just so that he could eliminate a Deception general and many more." Optimus said.

At this point everyone present in the room was gaping. They couldn't believe that their fellow Autobot was such a person. Arcee couldn't believe that Tailgate was such a person. She could only stare at him in disgust. Tailgate had the decency to look down in shame as Optimus revealed all this.

"And because of you, Tailgate, Elita-1 had turned into Airachnid and joined the Deceptions." Optimus said. He glanced at Arcee once and then continued,"Sadly he was pardoned by Sentinel Prime and was allowed to continue his duties. I thought he had changed when I saw how good he was working with Arcee after they were partnered up and decided not to bring up anything about his past to ruin your friendship. But now I can see how wrong I was."

The Autobots were startled by sudden loud sound metal hitting metal. Tailgate was lying on the floor and had an injury on his right shoulder. A little far from her was Arcee. She had her blades drawn out and was glaring at the fallen bot. Energon was smeared over her right blade. She was going to lung at Tailgate but Bulkhead and Bumblebee restrained her by holding her by her arms.

"Let me go you two! Let me go!" Arcee angrily said as she tried to get out of their grip. But they managed to hold her back.

"Arcee!" Optimus's commanding voice made her stop.

Optimus stepped in front of her and looked at her as he calmly said,"I can understand that you are upset Arcee. But harming Tailgate won't bring Jack back. You have my word that we will bring him back. But at this moment there are other things that are more important."

Arcee calmed down and retracted her weapons. "Yes Optimus. I apologise for my outburst." She said.

"Take some rest, Arcee. You've been through a lot today." Optimus told her and then turned to face the rest "We need to inform Agent Fowler about this and ask him to relocate us. M.E.C.H must be trying to get our location from him at this moment. As much as I have faith in Jack, we don't know how much he can endure. I will inform Miss Darby about this myself. You all get some rest. And Ratchet.." Optimus turned to look at Tailgate "Tend Tailgate's wounds. As much as I would like to give him severe punishments for what he has done, we need every able bodied Autobot if we want to win this war."

With that the Prime turned around and went over to the computer to contact Agent Fowler. As for Tailgate, he watched Arcee's retreating form. His spark ached as he realised how badly he had hurt her.

Once reaching her quarters, Arcee collapsed on her berth. Tears flooded her eyes but she didn't attempt to wipe them away. She let out all her pain and emotions as she cried.

"I am sorry Jack. I failed you." She mumbled between her sobs.