Going Green

Chapter 5: Lots of Aft-Kicking

"If I knew, I wouldn't tell you," Ultra Magnus growled, clearly not speaking to her.

Verdant's optics widened and she considered just crashing the ship into the cannons' powercore so Agent Fowler could bomb Darkmount already, but the other Autobots had no chance of escaping alive at this point.

She pursed her derma. "Wheeljack, Bulkhead, get into the citadel and assist Arcee and Bumblebee. I will do my best to cover you."

"Shockwave's cannon will tear that ship in half. We wouldn't make it inside even if—argh!"

Autobot signals were surrounded by unidentified heat signatures and Verdant clenched her digits. Her blasts were doing nothing against the vehicons as more and more of them returned from various distractions across the globe. "Bulkhead!? Wheeljack!?"

Ratchet hit the comms. "Does anyone copy!?"

Radio silence.

"Oh no," Miko whispered. "Are we... going to lose?"

Verdant heard Raf sniff. "I think we already have."

Ratchet slammed his servos into the keyboard. "Isn't there anything we can do!?"

"Don't damage our equipment," Verdant reprimanded. "Keep the comms open and remain calm. We are not accepting defeat yet."

"Everyone is down!" Ratchet exclaimed.

Verdant set Ultra Magnus's ship to autopilot and directed it to fly back to base. Her optics brightened back into blue orbs and she turned to look at Ratchet.

"They need back, let's go."

Jack frowned. "Ratchet is a medic, he can't fight!"

"I would only hold them back," Ratchet agreed.

"Hold them back from what?" Verdant demanded. "They've already been captured! Get your sorry aft up and let's go."

"I'm going too!" Miko decided. "Raf and Jack can man the comms."

"Fine," Verdant held out her servo for the girl.

Before Ratchet could protest, the comms lit up again.

"Ultra Magnus to base, Optimus Prime is alive. He is alive and quite well."

Ratchet gasped and rushed back to the comms. The three humans began to cheer. In seconds, Verdant was connected to the monitor again and sent Ultra Magnus's ship back.

The tide was turning again.

"Verdant, I need a ride!" Ultra Magnus ordered.

She sent the ship straight to him and watched as his signal jumped down and onto the top of the ship. The commander stood up as she rode around and shot at the vehicons, taking down flier after flier as they made their way to the bottom of the citadel.

The wall exploded, and Arcee and Bumblebee emerged moments later, firing behind them. Ultra Magnus and Verdant shot into the hole, provided cover fire as the two joined the wreckers.

Above them, a massive explosion rocketed the citadal, and Ultra Magnus contacted Fowler. "The cannons are useless, proceed to take Darkmount down! Autobots! Retreat!"

Verdant held her breath, optics wide. They were going to win.

The two ground teams evaded Shockwave and raced away from the tower, leaving Agent Fowler and a small fleet to fly toward Darkmount. Moments later, the ship shook with the shockwaves of the explosions.

"Autobots, we have achieved our objective. Return to base."

Ultra Magnus opened the hatch and jumped into his ship. Verdant relinquished control to him and her optics turned blue again. Ratchet pulled the lever to the groundbridge, opening a swirling blue portal into their base. The Autobots were walking through soon enough.

"I knew you could do it!" Miko ran over to them, giving Bulkhead and Wheeljack the biggest grins.

"Of course we could," Wheeljack scoffed. "We're wreckers."

Bulkhead smiled happily and let Miko climb up his leg.

"You good, Bee?" Raf questioned.

"Jack," Arcee pulled a piece of shrapnel out of her arm and held it up. "I found your clone."

"Really, Arcee?"

"Eep!" Ratchet started grabbing Autobots. "Into the med-bay! Now!"

Verdant caught sight on a new Autobot, his shoulders bearing the elite guard insignia. Quickly, she took a picture of him and ran him through her database.

Smokescreen. Served under Alpha Trion. Fresh guardsmen graduate—relatively. Not much combat experience on his resume, but then again, he must've been here on Earth for some time.

"Never met an Autobot with white optics," Smokescreen appeared in front of her. "Oh. Now they're blue."

"Yes, they do that sometimes," she told him. "You must be Smokescreen."

"You've heard of me?" he asked in surprise.

"No."

Smokescreen scratched his helm. "Oh."

Ultra Magnus cleared his throat, and Smokescreen jumped a little. "Soldier, go assist Ratchet in the med-bay."

"Yes sir," Smokescreen glanced back at Verdant and smiled before running off.

"Verdant," Optimus Prime looked down at her from Ultra Magnus's side. "It is good to see you again."

"Ah," Verdant's optics flicked up and down his very, ripped frame, and she nodded blankly. "Yes, Optimus Prime, sir. It is an honor to be here."

He winced.

"Um," Verdant looked toward the hallway. "If you would excuse me, sir, I will go help Ratchet attend to the wounded."

"Of course," Optimus nodded. "I will be there in a moment. Ultra Magnus and I must discuss a few matters first."

Verdant nodded and turned away, making her way into the med-bay. It was a disaster zone.

"Bulkhead, I needed that!" Ratchet smacked the green-wrecker upside the helm and snatched away a tool before throwing the crumpled remains across the room with pinpoint accuracy and a little bit too much bloodlust. Wheeljack was hit dead on and stumbled backward before raising his servos in surrender. "If you try and sneak out of here one more time, Wheeljack, I'll weld your aft to the berth!"

Ratchet whirled around and pointed at Bumblebee. "Stop poking your wounds, you imbecile!"

Arcee tilted her helm in confusion, and a second later she was in stasis lock, falling off the side of the berth. Ratchet's pede swung out and he kicked her back up before she could hit the floor.

"Ratchet!" Smokescreen jumped toward the medic for help, but before he could get much further, Wheeljack lunged across the room from the top of a shelf and tackled him. The two disappeared behind a berth.

"Keep him distracted!" Ratchet grabbed Bulkhead's arm and yanked, dislocating it. The wrecker squealed and Ratchet pulled a lodged chunk of metal out before relocating the arm.

Smokescreen's servo shot up and he grabbed onto a berth, but was slowly dragged back down behind it. Arcee suddenly sat up, optics wide, and punched Ratchet in the face. The medic was immediately knocked out and landed on his back.

"Oh my primus, Ratchet, I'm so sorry," Arcee tried to get up again, but passed out on top of him.

Verdant pinched between her optics before putting her servos around her intake. "EVERYONE GET ON A BERTH OR I'LL SLAG YOUR AFTS!"