The Day We Hailed The Heavens

Chapter 21

Chapter Twenty-One

The Blood Price

Primus... what a pitiful scene.

Barricade eyed the miserable humans and equally gloomy Autobots warily as they began to be grouped into pairs by Ironhide, who appeared to have declared himself Supreme Ruler of the Universe in Prime's absence and was ordering everyone around as if he was back on Cybertron with a team of sparklings. Skyfire, the obnoxiously nice Air Commander, was hardly helping matters - he was chivvying the humans along, chivvying the Autobots along, and generally grating on Barricade's fuel passages.

"Right," the cannon-wielding buffoon announced ostentatiously. "We're splittin' up into groups of two - and no more than two. One human per Autobot. You're all going to be with your secondary guardians, not primary - Prime's last orders, so no arguments."

Secondary guardians?

A deep, angry frown distorted Barricade's features, all four of his crimson optics narrowing suspiciously as he picked his charge out among the group of humans. What did the imbecile of a weapons specialist mean by that? Why would the humans had to travel with their secondary guardians - Rose was riding with him. This was the perfect opportunity to slate the medic's name to her and try and wheedle her into giving her half-spark to him; to have this opportunity stolen would be disastrous for his plans.

Rose, who appeared to be oblivious to his fury, raised her eyebrows; her eyes, he noticed, were still rimmed red from her tears over her stepsister's departure. "What do you mean, secondary guardians?" she asked perplexedly. "I only just got a primary guardian, mate."

He knew he was supposed to be trying to frag this human at some point, but her accent was infuriating.

... And why did she insist on calling everyone 'mate'? What did it mean to humans - it couldn't possibly mean the same as what it meant to Cybertronians, or she would be spark mate to just about every male Autobot and human amongst the group. It was absolutely absurd. Rose Connelly in general was absolutely absurd.

"Yeah, kid, secondary guardians." Ironhide motioned towards Ratchet with one of his cannons, which were activated for no apparent reason that Barricade could see. "There's yours - go on."

Barricade's expression twisted into an angry scowl when he saw it.

Had he just said that the medic was the girl's secondary guardian?

Anger began to wind its shadowy coils around Barricade's glacial spark as Rose turned around inquisitively, her lips parting to some extent when she saw who Ironhide was talking about. He didn't miss the slight rise in her adrenaline levels, and was immediately suspicious of it - what had that slagger been telling her?! She quickly closed her mouth and tried to look casually interested, but he could tell that she was affected by the news in some way. He would be damned to the Pit if she was going to Mission City with him...

"... Oh," Rose said quietly, and he grew even more livid when he saw her smile at him. "Alright."

And Ratchet smiled back.

Oh, you devious slagger, Barricade thought wrathfully, his fists tightening as he glared at the Autobot with absolute disgust. Rage was boiling up in his spark and burning the inside of its casing with fury, and he snarled softly to himself. So much for your Autobot lies about fighting with honour... no one pulls a sly move like that on me, Autoscum...

It was glaringly obvious what had happened, and Barricade cursed himself for not considering the threat earlier. He knew that the humans had each been appointed secondary guardians - some quite unknowingly - but had never paused to think about the fact that Rose had still been in need of one. Of course, leaving an opportunity open like that had been foolish, and he had paid the price for it when Ratchet had seized it... but it wouldn't happen again. You did not cross Barricade and live.