The Day We Hailed The Heavens

Chapter 8

Chapter Eight
Tête-à-Tête

Three days after Rose’s arrival at the warehouse base, the Autobot radar informed the residents of the base that the infamous twins, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, had finally breached the planet’s atmosphere and made their landings. They had been separated by the effects of the gravitational field, which had interfered with their navigation systems and subsequently caused them to crash several miles apart from each other – one of them had touched down in southern Oregon, whilst the other had made contact from the neighbouring town to Tranquillity.

Optimus had sent two groups to recover the twins: there was to be a flyer to each group and two vehicles to go with them. Starscream was the resident flyer for the first group, and was accompanied by Bumblebee and Seraphim; Skyfire led the other, along with Ironhide and Optimus himself. Ratchet had stayed to guard the base as usual, and Arcee had volunteered to stay to patrol the surrounding area.

Of course, Starscream had taken Alexis along with his group, and Sam, Miles and Mikaela had decided to go too, eager to meet the new arrivals. Carlos had deemed to ride Seraphim, and Jade had flown with Skyfire.

Now, as she sat Skyfire’s seat, Jade could not help but feel sorry for Rose, who had stayed behind.

“Do you think she’s going to be alright?” she asked Skyfire worriedly, turning in her seat to face his hologram.

Skyfire was flying above Oregon now, and was already preparing to descend; for him, the trip had taken very little time. They could see the landing site even from high above – whichever one of the twins had crashed here had certainly made an entrance, leaving a deep gouge behind them that spanned at least fifty feet and had most likely been aflame during the landing.

The hologram gave her a reassuring smile that made her heart melt as easily as heated butter. “Rose will be absolutely fine, Jade. Ratchet and Arcee are both there, and you should not feel guilty for leaving her – of course you wish to come and welcome the twins.”

“Yeah, but it was still sort of mean,” she insisted anxiously, twirling a strand of her hair out of habit. “I know we offered, but maybe I should have insisted that she came along. It wasn’t really fair of us to leave her all by herself with two of you guys – we know that you’re harmless, but she didn’t seem to be coping very well, did she?”

“She will learn,” Skyfire said wisely as the Spirit aircraft’s wheels extended for touchdown. “Hold tight, my jewel.”

Hoping that he was right, she smiled warmly at him. “As always.”

Ironhide and Optimus were waiting for them when Skyfire finally came to a halt, having taken longer to arrive and prompting Skyfire to circle the site a few times to allow them time to catch up with him. The leader’s armour was radiant beneath the sunshine, and Ironhide’s was equally impressive in the darkest sense possible. Jade climbed down from the cockpit and approached them, allowing Skyfire the extensive amount of time that he needed to transform due to his size.

“Enjoy your flight, kid?” Ironhide grunted, bulky arms folded firmly.

Jade smiled sunnily at him. “Yeah,” she assured him, brushing her hair out of her eyes and tucking it back into her kerchief neatly. “Of course.” She looked around curiously as Skyfire came up behind her, and she looked at each of them individually. “So where’s the twin we’re looking for?”

Optimus extended a finger out in front of him. “There.”

She followed the direction of his point with her eyes and then let out a breath of wonder when she saw the vehicle that he had indicated.