Chapter Text
Wayward island. The femme had noticed the island out of the corner of her optic countless times but on it. Now she was traversing the rocky terrain of the mountain on the island to find where Wheeljack had stormed off to. She left Bumblebee in charge of how they were going to get on the island as at this point she had no idea what to do.
It was near the south shore that she found the wrecker. He watched the waves crash and pull back from the rocky beach. He kept his distance, to not let the salt touch him but redline knew what was up, if Jackey was standing still he was thinking, and leaving the wrecker with those thoughts was not an option. So she stood beside him quietly. No need to call him out at this very moment as the silence was all she really needed.
“Why are you here Red?” the bot asked after a few minutes.
“We should talk.”
“What’s there to talk about?”
Plenty. Redline thought but took a breath in, it was something Ace had done to calm his nerves when he needed to have difficult conversations with her.
“Look, I know you're mad at me for the whole Dreadwing thing.” she started “If you don’t want to help, it is in your right to leave .”
The spitfire clocked the wrecker’s expression to be one of complete surprise at the offer. Wheeljack snorted. Pulling away from the pleasant sound of the ocean waves crashing and more inland.
“But that’s my Rescue Bot side talking.” Redline admitted as she turned to follow. “If you wish to stay, be my guest.”
Wheeljack paused at the thicket in front of them. The wall of green separating the shore to their hiding spot from within the island.
“Y’know he’s going to blow that pager up anyways when he gets what he wants right?” he spoke finally.
The thought was always in the back of the femmes drives when Dreadwing gave her the pager. She was lucky enough to not have her wings clipped from the encounter and got off with the threat of being blown up instead. She still had the freedom of flight but for how much longer?
“I know,” she said, pushing the thoughts aside, “We liberate the Rescue Bots under the inhabited island’s nose and they will never be bothered again.” the spitfire said.
“Then what about you? You’re just going to let Dreadwing blow you up?”
She had no answer for that. She had been backed into a corner and had to play the games in order to survive. In the back of her drive, maybe there was a way out of this cruel fate placed upon her, but in the end it felt like something she had to do.
“That’s the plan.” she said in a weak tone.
Wheeljack looked to Redline and placed his servo on her shoulder plate. He looked his taller comrade in the optic absolutely angered by the response.
“You’re not as helpless as you think,” he told her as he pulled the transmitter off her belt.
“What are you- don't-” she gasped trying to grab it. Wheeljack pulled back and pulled a few wires.
“When we take down Downshift and rescue the Rescue Bots. We contact that damn seeker and clip this.” He raised the transmitter to show the spitfire “to an unsuspecting vheicon.”
Redline cringed as he snapped a wire and moved some things around.
“I gave you about fifteen seconds of delay,” he told her. “That should give you all the time you need.”
Redline turned the transmitter in her servo. she had no words for what he just did.
“I can’t watch another wrecker die,” the white bot told her as he took a step into the forest.
Redline sighed and placed the transmitter back on her belt. For so long the spitfire had told herself that her life never truly mattered, but that was her time on Sigma 18 creeping in and feeding on her doubts. Jackey was right, she wasn't as helpless as she felt, it was just a mindset she had lived in for so long.
***
Back at the Jackhammer Bumblebee had a game plan ready. It wasn't as grand as one of Optimus’s plans but it would work for getting on the island. By the time Redline and Wheeljack got back from outside he sprung into action reporting on his idea.
“We walk the seafloor,” he told the two bots when asked. The cons will see fit to have every port closed off on the island but they won’t suspect us scaling the cliffs on the north side.”
“You do know those are about twenty to thirty feet in some places, correct?” Redline noted.
“You have a winch.” the bot buzzed flatly.
Redline shrugged, not wanting to argue with the scout.
“The cons probably have patrols on each main road, to combat them following us, we take three separate routes to the lab.”
The scout had pulled out a map at this point and pointed out where the lab was.
“Tunnels are off limits so everything has to be above ground.” Redline told the black and yellow bot.
“Right.” Bumblebee groaned. That might be an issue as there were two ways around Mount Griffin and three bots.
He excluded the tunnels from his schematic severely limiting their movement patterns.
“Huh the old logger’s trail is not on there.”
Bumblebee turned slowly towards the spitfire. There was another road in? It never showed up on his GPS system. This map in front of them had nothing of the sort either.
Redline tapped in something and zoomed in a but. A small grey line appeared and snaked through Mount Griffin.
“I’d keep this particular trail in mind if we have to draw out the cons.” redline told the two “they never see much use after tourist season I’m told.”
Bumblebee was in shock. “That was there the entire time?”
Redline shrugged.
“What, never seen someone zoom into a GPS map before Bee.”
“Of course I have?” he scowled. “I just didn't think I could do it manually.”
The wrecker chuckled a bit at the scout’s technical failure but redline shrugged. He should be better at this whole tech stuff, his human partner could hack through military firewalls for primus sake!
“I’m just glad I don’t have to carry multiple scales of maps around to get a lay of the land” Redline mumbled to herself as she played with the zoom in and out feature a bit more.
“As soon as nightfall hits, we strike.” the scout told the two wreckers.
“That gives us roughly eighty three minutes until sunset.” Redline told the others with a shrug as she kept her optics on the wonder that was Google Maps.
As the spitfire was infatuated with the GPS map he had pulled up on one of the Jackhammer’s monitors, Bumblebee focused his attention onto Wheeljack. The wrecker was now standing beside the small armory in his ship taking inventory.
“Grab what you need, Bee.” the wrecker told him.
“You’ll be joining us, I take it?”
Wheeljack snorted at the young bot’s question and finished polishing off a dagger.
“I was promised a good fight,” Jackey said, holding the knife by the blade. “Dog fighting in the Jackhammer is fun, but not as much as kicking Con can with my own two pedes.”
The scout blinked for a moment as the wrecker set the blade in its place. He had many explosives and some melee weapons of choice but nothing of interest to the scout. Yet still he knew Blades would be defenseless against the cons if they returned to collect him. So he moved closer to the armory to scope out any weapon to make his copter friend feel safer.
***
Cody was growing restless. The Rescue Bots were still out there and he was growing more distraught at the thought of what could be happening to them. He didn't let his family see how upset he was in fear of being seen as childish. He was 10 after all 10 year olds didn't cry.
Around 9pm he saw a pair of headlights from Frankie’s room.
“Cody, are you even listening to me?” The girl asked as she went on about the chemistry homework they had due after the weekend.
“Frankie look.” He pointed out as two cars rounded the hillside.
The girl paused as a jeep and a car drove into her garage. Before she could ask Cody was already out and running down the stairs.
Both kids ran out of Frankie’s room. Kade was halfway through a bowl of cereal in the kitchen and Dani was fast asleep on the couch.
As soon as Cody reached the bottom floor he stopped in his tracks to see both Redline and a new bot mid stretch.
“Redline you’re back.”
The spitfire looked down and smiled warmly, pulling her hand from her helm revealing the new crest sitting atop.
“Cody, Francine.” She greeted both kids.
“How are you feeling?”
“Growing stronger by the day.” The white bot clasped Redline’s shoulder.
“This is Wheeljack,” Redline said, slightly annoyed as she smacked his hand off of her. “an old friend of mine.”
“Welcome to Griffin Rock,” Cody said warmly inside he wished Heatwave could meet this bot too.
The bot half shrugged and redline rose and said something in Cybertronian . ‘A threat’ boulder had called the phrase. Something bots familiar with one another would voice as if it was his dad telling Cody or his siblings to behave.
“Where can I find Blades?” the spitfire asked.
“Just in the room across the lab.” Frankie told her.
Redline half nodded and picked up a med kit. Cody knew Blades had kept them around but seeing Redline have one on her seemed- off.
“Y-you can fix him?” Cody asked.
“I was trained as a paramedic,” redline admitted “but search and rescue has always been my niche.”
***
“That was brave of you Blades.” Redline noted as she finished up welding his injured pede. The repairs looked relatively simple, the helicopter had noted. So simple he could have done them himself.
“It was stupid.” the copter winced as the heat hit his armor.
“You protected the humans inside you,” Wheeljack noted in the corner, “that’s impressive.”
The spitfire looked up from her handiwork and sighed.
“Not up to aviator standard.” she mumbled and began smoothing over the repair.
“It’s a patch Red, Ratchet can repair it later.”
Redline glared at the wrecker across from her.
“This is what I was trained to do, I’m going to do it right.” she said sharply and continued.
Blades was surprised by how much spark had returned to redline over the month and a bit she had not been around. Even back on Cybertron she dare not speak like that around anyone let alone her former Rescue bot team.
“So, do you have any fighting experience?” Wheeljack asked the helicopter.
Blades shrugged.
“Heatwave was always the one who did the training, he’d be better suited in a situation like this- not me.”
Redline looked over her work once more and nodded at the final product.
“The fire bot puts up a good fight,” she commented and rose.
Blades remembered that day, how Heatwave had expressed later on how he felt guilty at challenging her. How she simply seized up after he had knocked her down shrunk away to any form of movement towards her. He had chalked it up to her adjusting to the new era but there had been something else.
“You changed.” blades blurted out before he could stop himself.
Redline looked over to the helicopter.
“I did?”
“You seem to have- found your spark again.”
“I did, didn't I.” she noted “not as jumpy from when you first found me?”
Wheeljack chuckled a bit. “You should see her in action Kid, she lives up to her alternate mode.”
“That we can save for later.” Redline responded swiftly “we need a game plan.”
“Rescue blade’s friends and kick con can,” the wrecker said, smashing his fists together. Blades was starting to understand the reputation the infamous group carried.
“We need more than Kicking Con can,” redline said slightly annoyed “This is a highly populated island, and everything is compromised around us. with humans around us your words not mine, ‘kicking con can’ is nearly impossible.”
“When our scout gets back from scouting,” Wheeljack began, “we can figure out more.”
Blades looked towards the door and nearly jumped out of his chassis when he realized Graham was standing there.
“Hey,’ Graham said quietly, not wanting to intrude. Redline and Wheeljack paused from their bickering.
“Did you need anything Graham?” Redline asked softly.
“Have you seen my dad at all while being down here? He was supposed to be back an hour ago.”
“Haven't seen him.” Wheeljack said.
“I’m sure the chief is fine,” Blades said as he propped himself up. He was slowly putting pressure on his repaired pede and flexed it a bit.
“Blades the last time he did this, he nearly drowned.”
Blades paused. “Oh- right.”
“And with all of those cons out there-” Graham grabbed the wall to steady himself "I'm worried they got him.”
“Cons don't normally target humans.” Redline noted “but we will keep our optics out.”
Graham nodded and went back upstairs. Redline turned towards Blades after a few seconds.
“Let’s get you moving,” she told the bot and helped him up more.
The three walked around the lab in silence so as not to wake the humans upstairs. For the first few steps, the helicopter needed some help but after his pede readjusted enough he was walking on his own.
“You both get shot pretty regularly, how do you cope with the stinging?”
“Lots of experiences getting shot at, kid.” Wheeljack shrugged
“You know what,” Blades said quietly, “spare me the details.”
Moving around felt good on his injured pede. As they neared the garage door entrance. Blades noticed the sound of something approaching. Redline and Wheeljack moved in front of him as if a con was to jump in after the door opened all the way. Instead Bumblebee transformed and fell to his knees. Wheeljack looked out but saw no cons as Redline moved to shut the door manually.
“What happened out there Bumblebee?” Blades asked as he moved to comfort his friend.
“I couldn't do anything,” he beeped solemnly.
“Report?” redline asked quietly as she turned towards the scout. “How bad is it?”
“They’re everywhere in town. 20-30 I counted myself.” he beeped. Blades felt his oil start to run cool. “They caught the chief as he was walking out the station, i-i couldn't do a thing.”
The lab grew so silent a pin could drop. It was blades who broke the silence.
“Who?” he said quietly. “Bumblebee, who would capture the chief?”
“A con I've never seen before.” he said “he was blue.”
It was then did blades see the anger begin to course through Redline. He could hear her gears grit from where he knelt trying to comfort his friend.
“Clutch.” she hissed in a lower tone.
Blades had many questions he knew not all would get answered but he had just one.
“Wait.” he began slowly. “Clutch is a Decepticon?”
“Yes,” redline said quietly.
Blades clasped his servo over his mouth trying to process everything going through his drive. It was then that he felt Bumblebee’s servo on his shoulder.
“All of Sigma 18 turned on Redline at the start of the war,” he told the helicopter. “They’re all too far gone.”
“And you didn't think to tell any of us this?” blades asked the spitfire.
“I- I thought they’d never find me.” she whispered.
“My team is missing, and if the stories are true,” blades began angrily. He shoved Bumblebee’s servo off of him and rose back up “Downshift is enacting his justice on them!”
That’s when all four bots heard a gasp and the beginning of a sob. All four turned and paused at the sight behind them.
Up on the stairs sat Cody. He must have heard Bumblebee approach and rushed to greet him. Instead Blades did the one thing he promised Heatwave he’d never do.
Traumatize the Burns’s youngest member.