Chapter Fifteen
Lex Non Scripta
"Wake up, everybody! We've just touched down."
Rose made a feeble sound and turned over, shaking her head and putting her hands over her pierced ears. She had no idea what time it was, or even where she was - all she knew was that she had a migraine like nothing she had ever had before, not to mention an agonisingly stiff neck. On top of that, there had been all those... bizarre... dreams, and now there was some disembodied voice telling her to wake up.
She cracked one eye open to peer at her wristwatch, and gritted her teeth when she saw that it was twenty past two.
In the morning.
"No way," she groaned exhaustedly, reaching a hand up cautiously to touch her throbbing forehead. They'd better have some bloody good tea at this place or I'm going to be absolutely done in for this meeting palaver.
A hand suddenly grasped her shoulder. "Rose?"
Squinting slightly against the bright, white light that somebody had just shone into her eyes, Rose could just about make out Sam's silhouette - the only reason she could really tell was because of the baseball cap-shaped outline that she could see. "Get rid of the light, would you?" she complained hoarsely, her hand in front of her eyes. "Must we get up now?"
"Yep," he confirmed grimly, moving the flashlight away from her face obligingly. "I know it's crap... Mikaela's having trouble waking Alexis and Miles up, too. But I think Jade's going to keep up with that speaker until we manage to drag ourselves outta the cargo hold."
"Fantastic," she muttered dryly.
She accepted his hand grudgingly and allowed him to help her to her feet. Her neck shrieked in protest: it felt like every muscle there had seized up, and the small of her back was painful, too. It was no wonder, really; upon glancing down, she could just about make out the pile of bags that she had bedded down for the night on. None of them looked particularly comfortable, either - the one that she had been resting her head on looked as if it had a heeled shoe of some sort projecting from it.
It was only when her eyes became used to the light that she realised that it was her bag, and her killer stiletto shoes that were the source of her current state of agony.
Jade's bubbly, singsong voice came through the speakers again. "Wake up, sleepyheads!"
"No..." an unhappy voice protested, and Rose was able to see Mikaela shaking a fatigued Miles by the shoulders to wake him when Sam turned the blinding flashlight on them. "C'mon, man, I'm still in the zone here..."
"Aren't we all, mate?" Rose sighed, wavering slightly on her feet. "Anyone got any caffeine?"
"I do," Sam volunteered, and Rose actually went weak at the knees with relief when he knelt down next to the pile of luggage and dragged a hefty backpack from the centre of the pile. "Is coffee okay? I know you like tea... but I kinda hate it," he grinned at her, to a disapproving eyebrow quirk. "Sorry. And this has got a lot of sugar in it."
She couldn't stand coffee with sugar, but she smiled graciously nonetheless. "That's fine... thanks, Sam."
He handed her a large, silvery Thermos before he walked past her towards the still-sleeping Alexis, clearly intending to wake her up.
Unscrewing the cap of the flask, Rose made her way over the piles of clothing that had been acting as makeshift beds for the teenagers and knocked quietly on the doorway to the main cockpit. She was greeted a few moments later by a pristine-looking Jade, who gave her a smile so bright that it could have outdone Californian sunshine in the middle of summer.
"Good morning, Rose," she said brightly, moving aside so that the taller girl could enter the cabin. "How're you feeling?"
"Crap, love," Rose informed her jadedly, eyeing Jade's long, silken hair with envy. She had dyed her own thick locks so many times that they tended to explode with frizz if she didn't slick it down with something very strong every morning, and she had the sinking feeling that she had left her beloved Redken formula back at home. "And you?"
Jade closed the door behind her and shrugged easily. "I'm alright. But come to think of it, you do look kind of... um..."
"Rough?" she finished, quirking a dark eyebrow.
"Well, I wasn't going to say..." Jade smiled, flushing a little - clearly she realised she had been caught out. "But I guess so. You look really tired," she explained, and Rose had no doubt that she was right. "Were you having nightmares last night? I heard you talking in your sleep when I came in to see everyone and figured you must be."
Rose frowned. "Talking in my sleep? What was I saying?"
She found it odd that Jade had reported that; she had never uttered a word in her sleep before, according to her mother and father. It was something that they had always joked about from when she was a child - she slept so quietly that her mother had always fretted that she might have died during her hours of slumber. Of course, when she had left for America, her father had not been quite so neurotic, but she had seen him checking on her sometimes when she was pretending to be asleep.
It was true that she rarely dreamt. If she went to a late dinner party and ate too much before she slept, she got the occasional dream, but apart from that she seemed unable to have any subconscious visions. But the night that had just gone - well, it still is the middle of the night, actually, she thought to herself crabbily - well, that had been different.
Jade gave her a hesitant look for a moment before she glanced out of the window at the tiny glimmer of the breaking dawn's light that was visible in the darkness. "You... you were talking about Ratchet and Barricade. You just kept saying their names, over and over."
A sharp, unwelcome something stabbed at Rose's chest.
"Ratchet and Barricade?" she repeated, vaguely aware that her hands were shaking and clenching her fists to stop them.
Jade nodded uncertainly and Rose took a long, deep breath to steady herself. She remembered the dream now... the nightmare that had plagued her throughout the night, filled with sirens and flashing lights.
She had been standing between them - Ratchet and Barricade - and they had been fighting each other. She had screamed at them to stop, but they had ignored her; Ratchet had continued to carve at the Decepticon with his gyratory saw, and he had been beating the medic ferociously in response. And then something had come out of the hazy shadows that surrounded them... a great beast out of a horror movie, with fangs bared and ready to tear her apart. And that was when she had screamed... but for Ratchet...
The monster she put down to her building images of Unicron in her head, but she could not work out why she had dreamt of Ratchet or Barricade - the latter particularly. She barely knew the newcomer - she barely knew Ratchet!
Bloody hell, what is going on with that 'bot?
Heaving a sigh, she shrugged instead of voicing her frustrated thought. "Oh well... guess I'm just worked up over all this Unicron business," she postulated thoughtfully, hoping it was true.
"Probably," Jade agreed, zipping up her jacket. "I think we all are."
Something caught Rose's eye and she couldn't resist grinning when she spotted Skyfire's towering hologram, which had just flickered on behind Jade. "Morning, Steve," she jested, and he laughed stridently in response.
"Good morning, Rose."
She was surprised to see that his clothes were different from how they had been when she had last seen him; when she had caught him kissing Jade, he had worn a t-shirt coupled with long, pressed jeans of the same colour, and his medium-length hair had been loose and charmingly untidy. Now, however, the casual clothes had been transformed into a starchy grey suit and tie, and his golden locks were slicked back from his inhumanly white face. She half-expected him to whip out a briefcase and start reciting this year's plans for the economy.
Jade did not seem to think that his change in attire was unusual, so Rose decided to question them about it. "You're looking posh today, Skyfire," she said pointedly, indicating his suit. "Are you off to a conference, or something?"
"Of course," Skyfire said, raising his dark eyebrows. "I am accompanying you to the Pentagon, am I not?"
Rose's jaw dropped before she could stop it. "You're - you're going as a hologram?" she exclaimed, staring at him. "Are you sure they'll believe that it's you? I mean... you do look very realistic..."
"But he doesn't have to be solid," Jade reminded her, smiling sweetly at her lover. "They won't be able to touch him."
"True," Rose concurred reluctantly, although she still looked uncertain. "God, I'm so underdressed..." She tugged at her untamed locks half-heartedly, suddenly feeling somewhat ill at ease in the face of Skyfire's debonair appearance.
Skyfire chuckled. "I am sure Mr. Keller will understand."
"You look fine, anyway!" Jade assured her with a big smile.
Rose smiled. "Thanks for the reassurance." She sighed heavily, letting her hair fall back around her shoulders. "Well, I suppose we'd best be off... do they know we're here?"
Skyfire's hologram nodded, folding his arms. "I just spoke to one of the Pentagon's employees, one Mr. Hallam. The Secretary for Defence is expecting us now - the Pentagon is only a short walk from here. I was unable to land any closer due to space restriction, but the other Autobots will be able to stay in the designated parking lot."
Rose nodded. "And where did our beloved Starscream land?" she asked pleasantly, disdain edging her voice in spite of her conscious effort to keep it under control. She was still extremely sour about the highly strung jet's involvement with Alexis - she was absolutely certain that he was taking advantage of the girl, for one thing - and thus had a deep dislike of him that she could not hope to suppress. "Or did we lose him en route?" she added hopefully as an afterthought, hands on her hips.
"He is just a few metres away; you will see him when you disembark," Skyfire said kindly, spotting her rancorous expression and extending a large hand towards the cockpit's window.
Her blue-grey eyes followed the motion and she pulled a face when she made out the outline of the jet in the gloom.
"Oh, well thank God for that," she said darkly, snatching up Sam's flask and stalking back towards the door. "I wouldn't like to think that he'd died, or anything like that. I'll see you in a minute."
She wandered back into the cargo hold as she sloshed the coffee into the lid of the Thermos, finding that the other lethargic teenagers were dragging their belongings down through the boarding hatch. Alexis was already gone - that's it, love, run off to your darling aeroplane, Rose thought with a roll of her eyes - and Carlos was midway through kicking his suitcase down the hatch.
Deciding that the coffee was probably a lost cause until they had exited the bomber, Rose poured the richly fragrant beverage back into the Thermos and grabbed her three bags, shoving the drink into the open zip of the smallest one.
"Cristo!" Carlos swore from the hatch, and she heard a loud thump as he managed to boot the case through. "Ah... gracias, Dio!"
Mad, Rose sighed mentally. Absolutely mad.
When Carlos had finally moved, she followed Mikaela down the ladder and moved aside so that Jade could get her belongings through. It was still the crack of dawn, and Rose was suddenly rather grateful for the ski jacket that she was wearing; the exposed parts of her skin were telling her that it was damn-near freezing, especially after all the Californian heat.
"Well, hello."
Rose jumped at the hideously familiar voice and turned around - only to find herself face-to-face with the hottest, most frightening-and-yet-gorgeous-looking man she had ever seen in all of her nineteen years.
It was such a shame that she could tell - by that grating, shrill voice that made her want to shoot herself - exactly who this red-eyed Adonis was.
She jammed her hands into her pockets and gave Starscream's tall, white-blonde hologram a cold glare. "Hello yourself, Starscreech," she shot back, narrowing her eyes at him hostilely. It annoyed her no end that she had to look up so far to meet his mocking eyes. "Must you really impose your ugly mug on me at this time of the morning?"
"Trust me - I have no wish to go within visual range of you, girl. Your lack of appeal is such that the mere sight of you makes my optics hurt," he informed her with a nasty smirk, folding his arms over his chest.
Like Skyfire, he was wearing a suit for formality, but his was a simple black-and-white affair that made him look as if he was off to a funeral service. His flaxen hair was sticking up at all angles as if he had been electrocuted - apparently he wasn't too bothered by looking proper - and, as with Skyfire's hologram, his skin was inhumanly pale. He was also in possession of a defined jaw, a small scar running along the top of his cheek, and muscles that were actually bulging through his suit.
The guy was hot.
His personality was... well... not.
"At least I don't look like a rat," she pointed out nonetheless, barely resisting actually prodding him in the chest - brawny or not, he deserved it. She managed not to, as she suspected that doing so would result in all of her fingers being broken.
"At least I don't look like Thunderblast," he said smugly.
Mikaela hissed through her teeth as if in pain from where she was assisting Sam with his bags, shaking her head and wagging a finger at Starscream disapprovingly. "That's a serious cuss, Rose - don't take that," she advised the other girl, cocking an eyebrow at the hologram. "Thunderblast was a Decepticon female we took out, and she was one ugly-looking thing..."
"I'll bet she was," Rose said grimly, glowering at the hologram. "But you know what? I actually have more important things to do with my life than stand around talking to you, Starscreech."
"Like what?" Starscream snorted disbelievingly. "In fact, I take that back - you could learn my name. It's Starscream, you dim-witted organic."
"Why are you called Starscream?" the young woman shot back, squaring up to him - there wasn't a hope in hell of it working, as he looked to be about six foot six or so, but she would damn well try. "I mean, are you under the deluded impression that you make people scream in terror when they see you, or something? Well, I've got news for you, you arrogant twat - they're screaming because they're actually gouging their eyes out in order to avoid looking at your repellent visage."
Sam whistled. "Whoa, that was a good comeback," he remarked, applauding. "Points up for Rose."
The British girl's eyes never left Starscream's wine-coloured cores, and they glared at each other with the utmost detestation for a few seconds.
"Do you know what, human?" Starscream finally hissed, his face an inch from hers so that only she could hear what he was saying. "I pity the medic, having a spark partner like you."
Rose blinked, frowning deeply. "What?" she demanded.
A slim arm suddenly slid around Starscream's powerfully built torso and Alexis's ashen face appeared from behind his arm, looking at her stepsister coolly as she gently pushed back on his upper body, encouraging him away from Rose. "Come on, Starscream," she murmured, and Rose glared at her furiously. "Don't waste your time."
Starscream looked as if he might argue, but then his expression softened just slightly when he glanced down at the near-skeletal young woman. "Very well," he muttered before he turned away from Rose and stormed off in Sam and Mikaela's direction, pursued by Alexis.
Rose felt tears spring up in her eyes and she clenched her jaw forcefully, determined not to cry in front of any of them.
But... what did he mean by 'spark partner'? she wondered as Jade climbed down from the ladder. And what's it got to do with... Ratchet?
John Keller marched down the corridor with a sense of unwavering authority that was felt by every person that saw him, pursued by a small crowd of military officers, right-hand men and other such high-up people in the defence network. As of yet, there was no sign of Captain Lennox, Maggie Madsen or Glen Whitmann, but he supposed that the first chopper did have to fly all the way to Oklahoma to collect Lennox, and he had been informed that Madsen and Whitmann were en-route in another.
The parents of some of the youngsters were due to be collected by helicopter, too - Jasmine Paxton, Robert Connelly and the Witwicky family had been summoned from California by request of Optimus Prime, and Keller had obliged him. He was already having to deal with several teenagers running riot in the Pentagon - adults would be a blessing.
"So who am I expecting here, Hallam?" he demanded of the man on his right. "The youngsters and the Air Commander?"
"And the other flyer, sir," Hallam responded, adjusting his glasses. "I don't know what his name is, I'm afraid. The one that spoke to me said that they would be using holograms to speak to us, as they're simply too big to get in here."
Keller shook his head, never ceasing in his dogged stride. "Incredible, really... the technology of it..."
Banachek, who was on his left, nodded in firm agreement. "I agree. Beyond comprehension, unless you were part of Sector Seven... NBE-1 really opened our eyes during our years of research."
"Well, I would've been delighted to join in with that research, Tom, had I been informed of its existence," Keller pointed out somewhat sullenly, pursing his lips as the throng of people rounded the corner. Banachek fell silent at the comment, adjusting his black tie with quiet edginess as they headed towards the Pentagon's main entrance doors.
They were met before the threshold by a group of eight people, who were flanked by four armed men - two on either side of the gaggle. Keller spied Sam Witwicky and Mikaela Banes among them and raised a hand in greeting as he approached.
"At ease." The soldiers stepped away from the cluster of newcomers with brief nods of acknowledgement. "Sam, Mikaela - great to see you both again, really," he said warmly, taking the boy's hand in both of his own and giving it a firm shake before he did the same for Mikaela. "You've both been keeping relatively well?"
"Never better, sir," Sam managed to smile, if half-heartedly.
Keller nodded and turned to face the man who looked to be the group's leader - and found himself having to look up a hell of a long way to see him properly. "Skyfire, I assume?" he managed once he had recovered from the shock of seeing such a massive man, and was relieved to be offered a genuine smile in response.
"Mr. John Keller," the giant said in a deep, gentle baritone, inclining his head courteously. "My name is Skyfire, and I am the Autobot Air Commander."
Nodding, Keller extended a hand to shake his before he remembered himself - holograms, according to what science-fictions books he had read in the past, tended not to be solid. "Well, you're certainly lifelike," he commented approvingly, retracting his hand and looking Skyfire up and down. "Can you all project these holograms?"
"Yes, we can," Skyfire nodded, gesturing towards the other unnaturally tall, pale man, who was standing just behind him. "This is Starscream, my second-in-air-command and aerial surveilla -"
"Starscream?!" Banachek exploded suddenly, springing away as if he had been burnt and tearing a pistol from the inside of his jacket. He pointed it at the colourless, muscular man before anybody could react, as did two other men in the collection of officials behind Keller. "What do you mean, Starscream? Starscream was one of the Decepticons!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Sam cried, raising his hands slightly and shifting in front of Starscream. "Calm down, people..."
Keller waved a hand at Banachek and the other armed men. "At ease, all of you," he ordered steadily, and Banachek glanced at him, his jowls quivering. "Tom, put the God damn gun down. How the in God's name do you know what the Decepticons were called?"
Banachek stared the hologram down for another ten seconds before he lowered his M9.
The older man stared at him, still waiting for an answer.
Finally, he pursed his lips and stowed his pistol back into his jacket. "Sector Seven did manage to break some of the codes that we found encrypted in NBE-1's memory banks," he explained in a low voice, his eyes lingering on Starscream, whose jaw was clenched firmly and his crimson eyes narrowed. "It took us ten years, but we managed to decipher one file that listed all of the designations of the highest-ranking Decepticons. It wasn't in English, of course, but we cracked it in the end."
Feeling a headache coming on, Keller turned to face the hologram in question and looked at him intently. "Is this true?" he asked, and the man actually glared at him. He noticed for the first time that he had bright, blood-red eyes and found himself shivering slightly in spite of himself. "Are you the Decepticon called Starscream?"
"I am," the man confirmed sharply, scorn clearly audible in his strangely metallic, scratchy voice.
"Starscream is not a Decepticon any longer, you understand," Skyfire interjected quickly, his own navy-blue hobs of eyes alight with a mixture of anxiety and firmness that made his subordinate turn away from him. "In fact, he has been an Autobot for over three years now. He has fought excellently on our side, and is guardian to one of our human allies, Alexis."
There was a murmur of speculation from the ten or so people behind them, and Keller peered at the youngsters behind Sam, Mikaela, and the holograms.
The nearest of them was a young woman in a ski jacket with copper-coloured hair and a rosy complexion; she stood next to a tall, Hispanic-looking boy wearing regulation Army cargos and a beige t-shirt. There was a gangling blonde boy, and a smaller girl who stood just behind Skyfire; she wore a bright blue kerchief and kept glancing at the regal-looking hologram nervously with wide, chocolate-coloured eyes. Keller recognised the four of them from the profiles that Prime had sent to him via Hallam - Rosa Connelly, Carlos Lopez, Miles Lancaster and Jade Rivers.
"Alexis," he repeated, raising his eyebrows in what he hoped was a subtly questioning manner at the apparent absence of the last youngster. "Alexis Paxton, I assume? Is she here?"
There was a moment's silence before the last arrival stepped out from behind Starscream.
He was taken aback by how frail this young woman looked when compared to her healthy-looking companions - indeed, one of the female secretaries behind him actually gasped upon seeing her. Her photograph had shown her as being quite delicate, but in reality... she looked unwell. Quite dangerously unwell, in fact.
Alexis Paxton stood at a fairly average height, but her frame was so slight that Keller would not have been surprised if she had been invisible from the side. Thin, spindly arms were folded across her chest, visible thanks to the cut-off sleeves of her red t-shirt, and her white Capri pants seemed incredibly baggy; he was surprised that her tiny waist could hold them up.
Her bottle green eyes, so like her father's, came to rest on him analytically. They were framed by long, fair eyelashes and a pair of thin eyebrows, and the colour of them matched the sparkling hue of a small gemstone that hung from a chain around her pale, swan-like neck.
He cleared his throat, extending a hand with a brusque nod. "Miss Paxton."
Alexis gave him a small smile and allowed him to shake her fragile hand - he could feel every bone, and feared for a moment that he might break it. "Hello, Mr. Secretary," she greeted him quietly before stepping back again to stand at the side of Starscream's hologram.
Keller blinked when he saw them exchange a glance.
Maybe he was getting old, but... he could have sworn he saw something there. Something... deep, and even... yearning in the girl's eyes as she looked at the strapping hologram from behind a curtain of her light brown hair. And an angry sort of passion in Starscream's ruby-like eyes. When he looked again, they were no longer looking at each other, but...
No, he chuckled internally. Damned stupid thought - you are getting old, Keller.
"You said 'guardians'?" a hard-faced woman in a stiff trouser suit suddenly said to Skyfire, who nodded and smiled politely at her. "What does that entail then - are you all guardians?"
"Not quite all of us," Skyfire admitted, "But most, yes."
"Skyfire's my guardian," Jade Rivers piped up helpfully.
Banachek looked from one young adult to another, his eyebrows raised. "We should probably record which one guards which," he suggested to Keller, who nodded in concurrence. "As well as any other data not included in the documents that Prime sent you. He didn't mention that the Autobots took Decepticons into their ranks..."
The copper-haired girl, Rosa Connelly, interrupted him. "You should probably know now that there's another Decepticon, then," she said with a strong English accent that made Keller wonder what else he didn't know about these kids. "One disguised as a police car. Name of Barricade."
"Any particular reason for Prime taking in Decepticons?" Keller demanded, to a nod from Banachek in Skyfire's direction.
"Starscream joined our faction three years ago on account of certain... personal matters," Skyfire offered, glancing at Starscream. "And Barricade has offered to work with us against the threat that we are here to speak with you about, Mr. Keller. But for the moment, I request that they all be allowed to have a few hours of rest before my comrades arrive."
"And have you got any food?" Miles Lancaster asked pleadingly. "We haven't eaten for hours..."
"Or tea?" Rosa added after a moment, looking hopeful.
Keller felt a smile tweaking at his lips in spite of himself and shook his head, chuckling. "I doubt we have tea of the fine British standard, Miss Connelly, but we certainly have tea," he informed her, making her redden a little. "As for food, son, there's a snack bar in the central plaza or a food court. Let my men show you to your accommodations, and then you're free to go."
"Thank you," Skyfire said sincerely.
"My pleasure, Skyfire," he sighed, turning away and making to move back down the corridor as two of the soldiers approached the group with the intention of leading them to their rooms. "Oh, and Hallam?" he called over his shoulder.
The communications officer looked around. "Yes, sir?"
"Call Simmons. I have a feeling we may need his help in this."
/Ratchet, slow down./
Ratchet did not lower his speed one iota, even when he heard Ironhide give the gruff advice - or order, depending on how one interpreted it - from somewhere behind him; in fact, he only pushed himself to move more rapidly as they raced down the freeway, with he and Barricade spearheading the convoy so that they could clear a path. Traffic parted down the middle to allow the line of gleaming, tough-looking vehicles through, and so far no-one had appeared suspicious.
They had not stopped since they had left California, and Ratchet had no wish to do so. The fierce, orange sunshine was beginning to rise over the horizon, and Optimus planned for them to be at the Pentagon by midday at the latest - but, for once, Optimus's orders were not the driving force behind his unorthodox speed.
This sunrise marked the beginning of the second day. That left what was left of it, and then one day after that, to prepare for Unicron's appearance.
Yet even that was not why he was driving at a speed that he would never normally consider, even under cover of darkness. That was not the reason why he was matching the speed of the black-and-white police vehicle on his left, and that was not the reason why he was completely ignoring Ironhide's justifiable guidance.
Rose was the reason.
He had considered his actions when he and Barricade had first blazed ahead of Optimus and taken the lead... considered his present recklessness, and thought about why he was doing it. And he had found, upon an hour or two of thought, that the reason he was driving faster than Sunstreaker - or even what Blurr might have been like on high-grade energon, had he been on Earth - was because he was driven by a desperate, burning desire to be with Rose again. This need... to be near to her.
Sparks were mutinous things. Here he was, driving like a wild youngling and risking crashing into a human vehicle in his haste... it just was not what he did. And she was making him do this. His spark's yearning for her was making him do this.
He still couldn't stand it. But he had to give in to it.
Barricade suddenly opened a private channel with him via radio. /You're in a hurry, medic./
/Indeed I am/ Ratchet said simply in response, revving his engine and making a conscious attempt to get ahead of the Mustang. There was a dark chuckle from the Decepticon and Ratchet would have clenched his jaw in annoyance, had he been in bipedal form. /Is there something comical that I've missed, Barricade?/ he asked stiffly.
Mikaela was forever telling him that he should learn to take things less seriously, but it troubled him that Barricade was finding amusement in something that was not meant to be humorous.
He felt another sense of solitude in his spark when he thought of his charge... he missed her deeply, too. It was absurd that they should have become so attached to this planet's inhabitants that they could not cope with being without them for a mere few hours, but he could not help it.
Yet he was comforted by the fact that he was not the only one pining for his human companions - Arcee and Seraphim had been discussing Miles and Carlos, and Optimus had wondered aloud, at one point, how Bradley was doing in Massachusetts. The Twins had proceeded to tease poor Seraphim for half an hour, claiming that Carlos was her 'spark's destiny', until Ironhide had rammed Sunstreaker from behind out of sheer annoyance and prompted the golden mech to shriek about his paintjob for what seemed like eons over the open connection.
Barricade responded a moment later, jerking him from his idle thoughts. /I just find it rather tragic that you have fallen so hard for that human femme/ he remarked, his deep voice laced with... self-satisfaction?
/What human femme?/ Ratchet enquired in response, feigning ignorance.
/Why, Rose Connelly, of course. My spark partner./
Ratchet slammed on the brakes so hard that he ended up in near-agony when the rubber of his tires simply burnt away with the heat of the friction; the brakes of three of the vehicles squealed he narrowly avoided a collision with Sideswipe, who was forced to perform a full three-hundred-and-sixty degree turn to avoid him and, consequently, almost collided with Arcee.
The red twin shouted at him indignantly across the open link. /Primus, doc, what the Pit are you doing?!/ he demanded angrily, even as Ratchet managed to regain control over himself. /I nearly hit Arcee! And you actually reprimanded me for speeding earlier!/
/Don't you remember on Cybertron, bro?/ Sunstreaker added, sounding vaguely impressed. /He used to chase us with his wrench for speeding!/
/Enough/ Ratchet snapped at them, causing both of them to fall silent in surprise at his sharp tone.
/Stand down, all of you/ Optimus interjected wearily, sounding exhausted. /We will be there in a few hours... I beg of you to maintain some form of order until then. As it is, none of you should be speeding in a commonplace situation, but this occasion calls for it. Ratchet, if you are planning to brake at random again, I would ask that you warn us beforehand so that we can diverge ourselves from you./
Impatient to leave the open link and re-enter Barricade's, Ratchet agreed swiftly. /Yes sir/ he sent across to the commander before he accessed the private link again.
/Surprise/ Barricade said dryly upon sensing his presence on the connection.
/Just what did you mean by that, Barricade?/ the incensed medic demanded of the Decepticon, riled by his claim. /Rose is my spark partner - I received the signal upon coming into contact with her. What right do you have to declare such a thing?/
On Cybertron, it had been taboo to make a claim over another's spark partner, even in jest. The union of sparks was a sacred thing, originating from the beginning of time, and making such a claim showed a grave lack of respect for the All Spark's decision of whom should be partnered with whom. As a politician and liaison officer on Cybertron - before his progression into the medical field - he had dealt with several such incidences, and the perpetrators had been severely disciplined.
Barricade paused. /You received the sign?/ the deep, discordant voice repeated.
/The moment I saw her./
The Decepticon did not reply for a long time, but Ratchet noticed the subtle increase in his speed. What, did he hope to race him to the Pentagon in order to get to Rose before he did? He may have been in a hurry, but he was not foolish enough to rise to such immature bait.
/Hmph. I do not care for these abhorrent fleshlings, anyhow - take the little glitch/ the hunter muttered darkly before he severed the connection, leaving Ratchet torn between anger and confusion.
What had Barricade meant by that? How could Rose possibly be his spark partner, when she was unquestionably - without a doubt - his? His spark had reached optimum potential; there could be no argument over that. Rose Connelly was, whether he liked it or not, the one that the other side of his spark resided within.
/Optimus?/
Optimus sounded worn out when he replied. /How can I help you, Ratchet?/
Ratchet hesitated before he asked the commander the question. /Is it possible for a spark to have two partners, instead of just one?/
There was such a lengthy pause before the response came that the medic could not help but wonder if his leader had been cut off, but he heard a deep sigh after half a minute had passed. /It is a very, very rare occurrence. The Matrix has recorded it happening only twice before since the origin of all things... but it is possible. The All Spark has the ability to split a spark three ways rather than two - it usually doesn't to save complication, but apparently it is able to make exceptions to that rule./
His spark turned cold. /Primus.../
/Why does it concern you so, old friend?/ Optimus questioned gently. /Is something troubling you about Rose?/
Of course Optimus knew about his situation with Rose - how could any of those who had been present at Rose's arrival to the base not know, after his spark had positively detonated with power in front of them all when he had first laid eyes on the girl?
Really, he could only be thankful that the Twins and the other younglings didn't know. Primus forbid that they should get hold of that information; he could already hear the taunts that would be thrown in his direction if the devious duo realised that Ratchet the Hatchet's spark partner was actually with them, and that there was potential for that 'good old interfacing!' that Sunstreaker had always recommended whenever he had flown into a rage at the Twins getting themselves smashed up by the Decepticons for the umpteenth time.
Sighing long-sufferingly at the memories, the Hummer pulled back slightly - away from the speeding Barricade - and began to drive alongside the flamed semi, with Ironhide pulling up on his other side.
/Barricade just told me that Rose is his spark partner.../ the medic informed his superior in a soft tone. /And I do not believe that even a Decepticon would declare such a thing without it being the truth. Megatron would have done, perhaps, but the other Decepticons always did have a strangely uncharacteristic sense of honour towards our creator./
/Indeed/ Optimus agreed. /But you must remember, Ratchet, that Barricade was fiercely loyal to Megatron in his time./
/But it is against our laws to claim another's spark partner!/ Ratchet argued. /Faithful to Megatron or not, it is utterly forbidden. You know that the punishment for such a crime was banishment from the capital city, or even the extinguishing of the spark. Do you truly believe that Barricade would risk such a thing, purely out of allegiance to Megatron?/
Another long pause. /Perhaps not. Only time will tell, my friend... only time./