Going Green

Chapter 10: Wrecker in Distress

"What's going on!?" Ratchet demanded.

"Wheeljack is unconscious and we stumbled into an excavation-ah!" Verdant's hiding spot was compromised and she scrambled for a new one. "I haven't seen Bulkhead in a while, he should be near the dropoff point!"

Verdant hissed as a blast narrowly missed her helm. A vehicon landed in her path, followed by another, and Verdant was quickly cornered again.

"I'm pulling the others back in, hold on until we get there!"

Verdant backed up, optics wide, and hit a wall. There was no way they'd get here in time.

"Surrender, Autobot!" one of the vehicons ordered.

"Okay, yeah," Verdant put her servos up. "I surrender."

She shot the ceiling.

The ice dome they were in cracked, letting in a thin stream of sunlight, and Verdant was greeted with the familiar sounds of crumbling ice. The vehicons panicked, and Verdant took the opportunity to shove through them and run to Wheeljack.

No sooner than she had jumped over him had the ice collapsed and buried them all.

Verdant gripped Wheeljack's unmoving chassis and grit her denta as the ice pummeled her back and crashed down around them. Just like before, the collapse didn't take long, and she was lucky enough to have avoided the larger chunks of ceiling.

With a quiet grunt of effort, Verdant pushed with her servos and knees against the ice, shoving it off of her. She looked down at Wheeljack and sighed in relief. He was unharmed.

Cracckkkkk

Verdant froze, optics going wide in horror as she watched the ice beneath Wheeljack's helm darken as an indistinct, jagged line began to build.

If all of this ice collapsed, the entire area would go down. There would be no way back out. The Autobots were coming, but she didn't want to risk Wheeljack's offline frame in the deadly water again.

Verdant slowly, ever so slowly, laid down on top of Wheeljack. If she stood up or remained on her servos and knees, her weight would be centered around smaller, more vulnerable points, but this way, it would be spread out relatively evenly and the ice was less likely to break.

She activated her comms. "Ratchet, the vehicons are down. Just... approach our location cautiously. The ice is cracking beneath us."

"You should both be able to survive a short dip, so don't worry about it."

"Wheeljack already took his fair share of water, Ratchet. I'm not an entirely incompetent medic, so you'll listen to me when I tell you what's best for Wheeljack's health."

"...I will relay your message to the others."

Verdant sighed and relaxed, her forehelm gently settling on Wheeljack's chassis. She could hear the wind and the sound of his spark, and all that mattered was that their mission was complete and they would both survive.

"You're so warm," Wheeljack muttered, optics still offline.

Verdant looked down at him in surprise. "Don't move unless you want to die."

"But your spark is so cold," he smiled weakly.

"Don't tire yourself out," Verdant told him gently. "Just be quiet and wait for the others to get here."

Wheeljack hummed, and then went silent. Verdant wasn't sure if he'd went back into stasis lock or not, but as long as he wasn't jeopardizing their safety, it didn't matter.

The sound of thrusters drew Verdant's attention skyward, and a red and blue frame flew up to them.

"Is he okay?" Optimus asked, his jetpacking slowly flying closer to them.

"He will be."

The Prime nodded and wrapped his arms around her back. Verdant wrapped her arms around Wheeljack's chassis and held on tight as Optimus flew higher, and then into a blue-green groundbridge.

The base was unbelievably warm, shocking her for a moment, but she regained her senses as Optimus placed them down, his servo grasping Wheeljack's arm to help her carry him to Ratchet.

The medic was waiting in the med-bay, already readying his tools for whatever awaited him. Verdant smiled at Bulkhead, who was sitting on a medical cot, his helm still steaming from a fresh weld and a heater pointed at his legs.

"Glad to see you're okay," she told him.

"Same here," he nodded. "Thanks for watching Jackie for me."

Optimus took Wheeljack's full weight from her and laid him onto the berth, where Ratchet immediately began fussing with him. "What happened?"

Verdant leaned against the cot tiredly and explained what occured during their artic outing. Ratchet nodded along, listening, and then directed to her sit next to Bulkhead and the heater.

"Wheeljack didn't take any damage during the fight?" Ratchet questioned.

"No, sir," Verdant shook her helm.

Ratchet finished expecting Wheeljack's frame for other injuries. He grabbed a heater and pointed it at the mech before looking at Verdant with a small frown.

"I'm sorry for the way I acted earlier. I realize you've been Ultra Magnus's medic just as I have been the closest thing Team Prime had to an intelligence officer. And those are skills you've had that I've ignored, as well as the differences between your frame type and more common ones."

Verdant sighed. "It's okay. You were just looking out for me."

Ratchet nodded. "But I made a mistake, and I want you to know that I've learned from it and that I am sorry for upsetting you."

"Thank you," Verdant leaned against the wall. "But I think you were right about one thing."

Ratchet raised an optic ridge. "And that would be?"

"I need some recharge," she told him, optics dimming.

He smiled. "Then rest up. We'll need you for the rest of the war."

This time, she didn't argue, and Verdant allowed her optics to darken until she was offline.