[ti]Ep 2.5[/ti]Mission Less-than-Possible (Open)

[Deleted]

Episode 2.5 

Week 1 

Day 6

Wrong. This was all wrong. Everything had gone so wrong. Why was she here? Where was here?
Sitting up from her resting place amongst a wealth of junk and scrap material, Sparklight gazed around the junkyard she was calling her "home" for the night. The femme had chanced upon it during her travels, but was thankful for having done so. If she hadn't found said junkyard, or another like it, then she wouldn't have had a place to rest for the night, and that would've meant more walking, and that would've meant using up more energon. And that, would've meant more things were going wrong. As the gentle light of the sunrise began to bask over the scrapyard, illuminating the pieces of metal strewn about and also those adorning Sparklight's chassis, the femme reached into a small, makeshift bag (more of a box) that dangled off her thigh and withdrew a small handful of glowing crystals. 

Looking to the crystals, Sparklight sighed, before placing them back into the "bag". It was barely enough to sustain her for a week, and if she was going to divide it among the rest of the Autobots? They would only be able to eek out days of extra energy from them. Once more, she pondered how her trip had gone so far off the intended path, how the yield of her efforts had been so minimal. Of course there was the obvious factor that her energon tracker was faulty, and to Sparklight's own credit she had tried to repair it, but did so to no avail. But regardless of that, she had scoured this area for who knows how long, and she had only found what she had in her box now, and some other shards she had needed to consume along the way to keep herself functional. It was time to go home.

Snaking her servo back into her bag, Sparklight pulled out a small device, holding it in her hand. It was her tracker, or more accurately, her inactive tracker. With a small bow of her head, she turned it on, for what was the first time in weeks. Soon the Autobots would get her signal, and someone would pick her up. For a brief moment, the femme mused on the fact that this had been exactly how she had arrived at Omega Outpost in the first place - sending out a call and waiting to be picked up, but unlike the first time, she wasn't afraid that nobody would come to get her. This time, she was far more worried about how they would react when they did.

[Bumblebee]

Early mornings at the Omega Base were pretty quiet, all things considered.

For some it meant trudging out to the Rec Room to get your morning ration, checking the schedules and rosters for any changes to anything, and going about your day accordingly. If the kids stayed over it meant driving them to school. Things were tidied, personal quarters were tended to, maintenance on things that were falling apart around the base was started.

But for Bumblebee, it meant early morning cartoons. At least for a little while anyway.

He'd skipped his ration again this morning, the pang of hunger was there – but that'd been a near constant for the past few days that he'd learned to ignore it for the most part. He found himself leaning on the small railing in the Control Room, resting his chin on it gently as his attention and focus was on the small screen. The console to his right was unmanned this early; if anything major happened overnight then Red Alert would no doubt broadcast it across the base or something – and so for now it sat idle until either Optimus or someone else came to check on things.

He wasn't sure what he was even watching on the screen – some weird green furry thing that lived in a trashcan. Huh. It was entertaining though, with the random appearing letters and numbers - even if he was probably way too old to be watching this stuff.

Blip.

Blip blip.

The console to his right activated on its own, almost like it'd pulled itself out of the screensaver-thing it'd been on. He didn't pay it much mind, the thing often made noises, usually Fowler forwarding them things or whatever to be checked out later – things probably not for his optics. But the fourth blip made Bee pull his attention away from the TV, looking to it with a frown.

Someones tracker had come online – and due to it being one in their systems previously, it was giving the confirmation that yup, it was active and had been picked up!

He glanced at the name. Sparklight.

Then did a double-take.

Wait, what?!

Screw the weird green furry trashcan monster. Since when did Sparklight leave? He... man, she'd vanished back there. He assumed that due to her weird floaty powers that Fowler had her doing things elsewhere, but if her tracker had only just come back on, then...

He realized then that he never actually got to say goodbye to her or show her his comic-book collection! A map appeared on the far left screen, highlighting where abouts she actually was.

She was a long way from home. And if Fowler had her doing things for him using her powers? It'd be Fowler calling to let them know she was good to come back.

::--Sparklight?!--:: The beeps came through loud and clear over the comm. There were protocols to be put in place before he could simply open a groundbridge for her to come home – MECH weren't above using the corpses of Cybertronian to lead others into a trap, and so he was a little wary.

::--Where the heck did you go?--::

He sounded more confused than anything at this point, but that could still change depending on her reply.

[Deleted]

As she stood amongst the piles of scrap that composed the junkyard, Sparklight gazed to her tracker, and then to her comm. Granted, it had been a few minutes, but she wasn't one for waiting. She had never been one for waiting. Granted when she had first emerged from her pod that the span of a few seconds was arguably an eternity, but now she was a little more patient. Emphasis on the little.

All those moments of waiting had caused her mind to race with possibilities. Why had nobody responded? The idea that every Autobot in Omega One was dead quickly sprung to the forefront of her thoughts, though the hows and whys soon followed. Had they all starved? Had the Decepticons attacked? The little femme was entranced by her own thought process for a few moments more, before she managed to calm herself. All the time that she'd spent alone had given her the ability to actually do that now. Sure, they could all be corpses, strewn about the ashes of Omega One, or they could just not be monitoring her right now. Or...

There was a familiar beep. And another, and another.
Whatever scenario that was about to spring through Sparklight's processor would have to wait.
Almost immediately, her mouth worked faster than the rest of her processor, as it always did. ::"BUMBLEBEE?!":: She exclaimed through her comm, forgetting that even though he was halfway across the country, she didn't have to shout to be heard. Excitement overwhelmed her, brushing aside any doubts that she had previously had. This was great. They weren't dead! And neither was Bumblebee! Hearing the beeps and boops of his voice were almost as exciting as they had been when she had first met him, and she was almost as starstruck. Of course, he was more cautious, and after calming herself, because once again, she could do that now, she spoke. ::"I...uh.. wellenergonsupplieswerelowsoIthoughtitwouldbebestifIwenttotryandfindsomebecauseyknowIwasbuiltasanenergontracker!ThingshaventreallygonethatwellthoughbutatleastIhavesomeenergontoshowforit!Howhaveyoubeen?":: Sparklight replied, immediately firing into a barrage of words with barely any time to breathe between them. Turns out, she hadn't calmed herself that much. With another deep exhale, she tightly gripped the energon in her bag, and spoke once more. ::"Sorry.. I meant to ask how have you been?"::

[Bumblebee]

::--Ow, haha, yeah it's me!--:: he flinched some at the almost instant response that came through loud – very loud – and clear, but he couldn't help but feel amused at her excitement. At least some things hadn't changed!

At least she remembered who he was, too. Not that there were any other Bots here at the Omega Base that spoke Basic, and it wasn't like she'd been gone that long really, but still... It was probably a relief to have Bee answer the call than someone like Red Alert or Optimus. Not that it'd matter any, she'd be in a world of trouble when she finally made her way back to base, but this would be a nice calm before the storm.

She started up then, quieter than her initial outburst but oh wow the words just started and didn't stop. A barrage of words that Bee found himself struggling to pick apart and understand. Occasional words made sense and stood out, - Energon, tracker... the rest was a blur though.

At least she was alive. He thought for sure Fowler had her shipped off to Blackrock or somewhere due to her floaty powers, but now that he thought on that a little more, it didn't make a whole lot of sense for him to do that – she'd be more use against the Decepticons here at base rather than at the outpost.

Did that mean she'd left on her own? While he hadn't understood the majority of her rambling because it'd been way too fast, the parts that stuck out indicated that yeah, she probably had. He couldn't blame her though, sharing the same viewpoint - he'd thought about it himself sometimes – it wouldn't take much for him to sneak into a Decepticon mine and take enough Energon to keep them going for a while, surely. It was something he'd toyed with often but never acted on as much as he wanted to help – mostly because he knew how silly it was, and how much it probably wouldn't work. Bad things happened to those who left on their own, which was why he was so thankful that she was alright.

::--Whew. I only understood like two words of that!--:: He beepily chuckled and shook his helm, not that she could see that, keeping an optic on the monitor. She didn't seem to be moving, her signal still in the same place as when she'd first called through. Hopefully, that was because she was just focused on wanting to come back, and not because she was hurt or something. ::--But I'm good! Just watching some cartoons before the day starts.--:: He didn't want to go into how he was starving and the hunger pangs were a distracting annoyance, or how he was worried sick that soon they would be running out of Energon completely, or how he was annoyed that she'd left without a word...

::--Soooo I suppose ya want to come back to the Omega Base, huh?--::

He gave a quiet hum at that – wondering if he was supposed to go get someone to go with him to get her, in case this was some elaborate trap, or if he'd be okay in simply opening a Bridge at her location.

[Deleted]

::"Ooh, cartoons? I love cartoons!... I think.":: came Sparklight's cheery reply through the comm, though the latter part of her statement seemed to trail off into mumbling a little. Said mumbling was barely picked up by the comm, and didn't really come through as anything intelligible. As she stood around the scrapyard, listening to Bumblebee speak, she threw a piece of metal that she had found on the ground into the air. True to form, she idly played with it using her powers, leaving it suspended a few metres off the ground as she toyed with it.

::"Back to base? Yes please.":: Replied the femme once again, her tone a little calmer than before, though it held a hint of excitement that bled through her words. She couldn't wait to go back and see everyone, though her recently developed maturity tugged at her with the suggestion she was probably not going to get the welcome she wanted. At least she could only hope that whatever happened to her wasn't that bad. As she briefly pondered on that, her excitement began to rapidly mount once more, and she threw aside her concerns before speaking.

::"Bee! I can't wait to see you again!":: She chirped, her happiness almost causing her to fling the metal floating ahead of her skyward. In trying to find conversation, she almost asked him how he was again, and whilst she supposed that to ask him twice would be a nice gesture, most people wouldn't think so. There were probably other, better things to ask, but in that moment Sparklight honed in on one line of questioning - one she was sure Bumblebee would appreciate. ::"What cartoons are you watching?":: Sparklight asked gleefully, as she reached out with her hand to draw the scrap metal currently suspended in the air before her closer to herself. Her servo twisted and turned, as the metal responded in kind, and she even made a few hand gestures that caused the metal to "dance", if that was the appropriate term. At least she had found something to keep herself occupied with.

[Bumblebee]

::--Ya do? Awesome! We'll have to watch some when ya get back!--:: he chirped in response, thankfully not hearing that last part of what she said. Then again even if he did, he wouldn't have taken it the wrong way at all or judged her any for it – he wasn't sure if she'd even seen any during her brief time at the Omega Base, and you can't like something you've never seen! But hey, everyone loved cartoons, so even if right now she didn't know what they were exactly? She would once she actually saw some!

At her confirmation that yes, she did want to come back to the base – there was a moment of hesitation and his frame would tense. While he could just open a Bridge to her location and have her walk through back here to the Omega Base, part of him knew he probably should go find someone first to let them know what was going on – just incase this was a trap. The last thing he wanted was to open a Bridge and have MECH agents come pouring through and invading the base or something!

Of course that was jumping to the absolute worst conclusion possible, but it was still so weird to him that she'd called out of the blue after so long like nothing was wrong.

The hesitation however would fade at her chirped, cheery comment.

::--Aw right? It'll be awesome having you back at base! I never did get to show you my comic collection!!--:: he chirped back happily, a beepy chuckle following.

Nah there was no way this was a trap, it had to be her. Maybe he could Bridge her in and he could show her his comic book collection then they could tell Optimus she'd come home - once she'd told him about her adventures and where she'd been. Deep down he knew she'd be in an absolute world of trouble for doing what she did, even if she did seem to have the best intentions - which probably meant no fun allowed.

But then maybe he'd get in trouble too for not reporting to Optimus straight away.

Hrrgh... Problem for future Bee, he decided. Optimus was stressed enough without this as well, plus it was super early and they'd have time heaps of time later on to tell him she'd come back.

Maybe.

::--Huh? Uuuh...--:: his gaze shifted back to the small screen at her question. The green garbage monster had gone now, and there was now a really, really happy red furry monster-thing on the screen singing about the human alphabet. ::--Ya know, I have no clue!--:: he laughed. ::--Not the stuff I usually watch that's for sure!--:: this seemed to be waaaay, way below the age-group of the cartoons he normally watched but hey, it was all entertaining to him!

::--I guess I'll open a bridge at your location. It wont be open long so make sure you're fast!--::

Deciding against going to get her himself and risk getting into more trouble than he'd probably already be in, he'd swivel back so he was in front of the console. A few button presses later and the Bridge had locked onto her location – a familiar green and yellow vortex swirled nearby to where she was.

He'd then turn to face the Bridge, ready to slam it closed on the horrible off-chance this was a trap.

[Deleted]

The femme chuckled a little under her breath as Bumblebee explained to her the nature of the cartoons he'd been watching. Sure, he'd barely told her anything about it, but it was enough to satisfy her curiosity. Sparklight's servos continued to weave through the air, directing the metal fragment suspended before her to respond in kind, when she was suddenly bathed in a blue-green light she'd seen only a few times before. As the groundbridge erupted to life before her eyes, a grin grew wide on her faceplate, and she drew the scrapmetal into her grip. The wheels below her pedes span up, and she launched herself through the vortex.

Arriving on the other side, she skidded to a halt a few metres after entering the base. She was finally back! And it wasn't a wreck like she'd feared! And there! There was Bumblebee! Without any composure whatsoever (as was standard for her), Sparklight raced forward, ensnaring the yellow scout in a hug that was surprisingly tight for a bot of her stature. After a few moments, she pulled away, looking up to him with a grin wider than the one she'd had on her face when she first met. "Bee! It's so good to see you again!" she beamed, nervously toying with the fragment of metal in her hand. Sure, she was excited and knew she had little to fear from him, but that didn't keep her from being anxious.

Her head craned over to the monitoring station at which Bumblebee had been sat, and for a moment, she observed the cartoon playing with an eager delight. Sparklight promptly snapped herself out of her trance a few moments later, returning her gaze to the mech. "How've you been?" She asked, oblivious to the fact that she'd already done so only minutes before.

[Bumblebee]

The moment that Sparklight was safely through the swirling vortex, Bee would push a couple of buttons and the Bridge would close behind her in an instant – the swirls of green and yellow and the light that came with it vanishing into nothing. He probably didn't have to rush as much as he had to shut it off, the resource situation was bad but an extra second or two of a bridge being open wouldn't have done much – but he couldn't help it. Every little scrap of Energon they had could mean life or death somewhere down the way, and he didn't want to waste it.

No sooner had he taken his hands from the console, he swiveled just in time to see Sparklight rush toward him and ensnare him in a hug. Oof! She'd gotten stronger! Either that or he wasn't really used to hugs, but either way he didn't mind – and would awkwardly pull his arms around her to return the gesture.

--Likewise! Almost forgot what ya looked like it's been so long!-- he beepily chuckled, teasing her gently. He turned back to the console to close a couple of windows once the hug had been broken, not wanting to leave things open for whoever was going to be manning the screens later.

Her question made his attention snap back to her and he'd tilt his helm.

--Ya asked me that already, goof!-- his field radiated happiness, and if his mouth was visible he'd be smiling. He figured she was just excited to be back – even he forgot things he'd said when he was excited! --I'm good, though. Glad to have ya back at base!--

He shifted his weight some, glancing at the door, then back to her – almost like he was mulling over something, or weighing up the pros and cons of what he was about to ask.

--Hm, did ya want to hang out for a bit before we have to tell Optimus that you're back? Got a biiiit of a feeling that ya gonna be in all kinds of trouble for leaving though, probs gonna be on janitorial duty for ageeeees with no room for fun.--

Of course, this was a double edged sword. She should technically report straight back to Optimus, and Bee knew this and would probably get in trouble himself for not taking her to him straight away, buuuut... Well, Optimus wasn't around and it was super early, so Bee just assumed that he was in recharge and didn't want to be bothered.

A lame, weak excuse, but hey it'd work!

--Unless ya wanted to report back straight away?--

There, at least he gave her the option.