TALES OF THE DISAPPEARED:
KICK START MY HEART
Cycle 9351, during the Siege of Massunstrad
"I'm fine."
"You're not. Stop saying stupid stuff."
Kickstart exhaled through the vents of her mouthplate, an act which really hurt her chest. Her entire body spasmed, calmed only by the gentle touch of the bot crouched next to her.
"Try not to do that, okay?"
Kickstart stared at her partner through her cracked visor. "If only that were so easy."
A soft smile graced beautiful blue lips. "Just hang in there, okay? Meltdown will be here soon."
"Whirlwind...." Kickstart's voice crackled when she spoke. It became filled with more static with each word. "In case I don't make it--"
"Shut up. You'll be fine."
"But I need to tell you--"
She was cut off by the blare of sirens. A yellow rescue vehicle came rolling across the battlefield, unfolding into an animated mech.
"I'm here! Nobody panic!" Seeing Kickstart, Meltdown quickly got to repairing her. "How are we doing? You feeling all right?"
Kickstart's only response was a blast of static.
"I hear ya." Meltdown glanced at Whirlwind. "We've just brought down the outer wall. Prime is making the push to Megatron's compound."
Whirlwind nodded as she stood up. "Great. I'll go join them." She glanced at Kickstart and winked at her. "Take care, Kicks. Try not to give Meltdown too much trouble."
Kickstart simply watched as the green jet transformed and flew off to join the others.
* * *
"She's fading again! Fetch me those cables, Triage!"
Kickstart's body jolted as her systems booted back up. Her vision was blurry but she could make out Meltdown standing over her. Her audio receptors were still ringing, but she could make out most of what he was saying.
"Still at 75 percent. I don't understand...."
"I'm checking her files," another doctor said. "It says here she was constructed cold in Polyhex circa 8263."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"That was a year after Governor Ratbat curtailed fuel sources for Con Facilities in Polyhex. As a result, all bots produced from that point on were built with weak, low-yield sparks. That's probably why we can't get her to full power."
"So what do we do then?" Meltdown asked. "I'm not letting anyone die on my watch."
"We'd need someone with a compatible spark type to properly reboot her. I don't know of anyone here with a Ferrum-positive--"
"I do." Through her bleary vision, Kickstart saw a familiar green figure come into view. "Hook me up."
"You're injured, Whilwind. I can't--"
"It's just a dent, Triage. She's a lot worse off. Come on. Hook me up."
Before she could process what was happening, Kickstart was jolted again, this time coming to full strength. As Meltdown unhooked the cables from her spark, she turned her head oping to see Whirlwind but Triage blocked her view, preventing her from seeing the green beauty that had saved her life.
* * *
She should have listened. She should have stayed at the medbay. She shouldn't have gone back out.
It had worked, of course. She and her team had been able to free Optimus Prime from the antimatter chamber Megatron had trapped him in. It simply came at the cost of everyone on her team dying.
With great effort, she pushed Heavyfoot's body off of her and hobbled to her feet. Gray corpses of Autobots and Decepticons alike littered the abandoned compound. The sight of dried up fuel told her that the battle had long since finished. She wondered who had won.
Limping out of the deactivated antimatter chamber, she stepped over the body of a winged female. Her spark skipped a pulse until she saw the Decepticon insignia on their broken wing. Exhaling in relief, she continued onto the compound's entrance, its door long since ripped away by the Dynobots.
Stepping out into the moonlit night, she was greeted with the sight of even more bodies, most of them Decepticons. The Autobots must had already picked up their dead. Clearly they hadn't gone much further than what remained of the outer wall. Maybe they would come back for her....
A cold wind brushed over her. Silence was all that graced her audio sensors.
She tried accessing her comm but could not get a signal. Maybe they had gone to the other side of the planet. Maybe the 'Cons had gotten pushed back. She definitely did not want to consider the alternative. They wouldn't have abandoned her.
Would they?
Minutes passed. Then hours. She tried calling again. Nothing.
She repeated this process for the next ten hours. Slowly, she was forced to come to the harrowing realization.
She was never going to see Whirlwind again. She would never hear her voice or see her smile. She would never be able to thank her for saving her life or tell her how she really felt.
If only she had just let her speak.
"Take my hand."
Kickstart yelled out at the sudden appearance of the spindly, cape-wearing robot that materialized before her. Losing her balance, she fell off her feet and plunged into darkness.
FIN
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