Hey guys, another one shot, basically what I'm gonna be doing is making one shots, or at least until I really get to work on 'What We Do For Family', gotta make stories to keep you guys content and happy. Big thanks to Airreon Princess for helping me make this story. So the episode this is based around is 'Scrapheap' FYI, the episode involving scraplets in the base. Hope you all enjoy! Disclaimer, I own nothing but Blackwolf.
The freezing wind blew across Bulkhead and Bumblebee's armor, their core temperature gauges keeping measurement of their body temperature until it reached the blue zone. Bumblebee beeped and buzzed in a questioning way. Bulkhead looked down at his portable scanner and shook his helm.
"No we're not there yet, but it should be just past this ridge, Bee." they walked across the ice and snow covered ground, their heavy pedes crunching the snow under them. They looked to see a steep hill, Bulkhead went first, and quickly slid down, with Bumblebee in tow.
They looked around, but couldn't see anything but the frozen tundra of the arctic. "I don't get it, these readings are off the meter." the scanner was beeping rapidly, signifying that they had arrived. Bumblebee beeped, gaining his attention, he looked over and saw it.
Below them was a huge pod of some build, most likely built some time during the war. "Bulkhead to base, we found it...well, whatever it is."
(Omega One, Nevada)
After they arrived with the pod, Ratchet had instantly gotten Bulkhead and Bumblebee hooked up to energon tubes to get their internal heaters functioning quickly.
"I told ya doc, we're fine." Bulkhead grabbed at one of the cords and pulled it off of his huge armored chest. Ratchet jogged to the large green mech's side.
"The only way to be certain you're fine Bulkhead, is to endure standard defrosting procedure," he explained, "you know prolonged exposure to sub-zero conditions can cause permanent system damage." he finished, earning a grumble from the larger green mech.
"Ratchet, have you learned anything more about our Arctic find?" The Prime, followed by Arcee and Blackwolf, entered the command room.
"Not yet, the pod can't be opened while it's frozen solid." he gestured to the image of the large metal pod, sitting in the cargo area, the melted ice lying in a large puddle on the ground around it. But little did they notice that on the other side, a metal claw of some type broke through the metal, granite material that made up the pod.
(Now you go to YouTube and watch the intro of the show, put Blackwolf in it somewhere and BAM you've got the effect of the show! XD, sorry go back to the story if you don't want to.)
Ratchet entered in the access key of the bridge, and pulled the lever. Moments later, the vortex opened before the group of Autobots. "Blackwolf, I want you and Arcee to search for any clue which might explain the origin of our Arctic find." Blackwolf nodded and walked to the vortex, awaiting his smaller ally.
"Only until your sensors sound, remember once your core temperature drops into the blue zone, system failures are likely, they're imminent." he warned them, on Blackwolf's chest, his red Autobot logo blinked blue, then back to red, Arcee's emblems on her wings did the same.
They heard vehicles enter, as Bulkhead and Bumblebee drove into base. When they stopped, out came their human allies, Miko, Raf, and Jack. "Miss us Doc bot?" the Japanese girl asked Ratchet.
He sighed in frustration, "Shouldn't they be in school?" he asked.
"On Saturday? We've got the whole weekend off, to spend with you." she smirked, earning a frown from the medic.
"I wasn't expecting to car pull, what gives Arcee?" he asked his partner.
"Tag team Jack, it's my turn for exploration duty." she addressed the open bridge and Blackwolf who was waiting for her.
"Oh too bad, it's a beautiful day for a ride. Would hate for you to feel guilty for leaving me indoors." he attempted to guilt trip her.
"Arctic exploration duty." she smirked.
"Indoors where it's warm." his expression change was almost scary how fast it changed.
"The Arctic? I've always wanted to see snow." Raf explained to them, Blackwolf felt bad that they couldn't take the innocent twelve year old at their pedes.
"Sorry bud, I would take you with us, but the arctic's extreme sub-zero conditions would kill a human in minutes if not seconds, even we have to come in from the cold after some time." he frowned as the young genius's expression became slightly sad.
"Oh...I, understand." he weakly smiled. But Blackwolf couldn't leave like this.
"But, I'll bring back a snowball for you." he smiled as Raf's expression lit up.
"That would be awesome." Rafael smiled. Arcee was proud of her lover for cheering up the boy. They turned to the portal, and slowly walked through, until they disappeared onto the other side.
"Transport complete." Ratchet moved to deactivate the bridge, but the controls began sparking in his faceplate. "By the Allspark!" he exclaimed.
"So what do you guys think we should do?" Miko asked Bumblebee and her guardian. Bumblebee made a gesture, resembling holding a controller.
"Video game tournament! Last one standing wins!" Raf excitedly hopped onto the couch.
"Bulkhead, Bumblebee! Here, NOW!" Ratchet called.
While the kids were at their video games, Bumblebee and Bulkhead approached the hard at work medic.
"You can't just boss us around because the boss is out." Bulkhead commented, a little frustrated with the medic.
"I need heavy lifting. The ground bridge is down." Bumblebee thought, and added his thoughts with beeps and buzzes.
"Blackwolf and Arcee made it through just fine. It's bringing them back that concerns me. Now remove those panels, chop-chop." he ordered.
Raf had been walking through the large halls, acting as if he was an Autobot, exploring the Arctic. Until he heard the light clicking of metal. When he saw a large screw roll away, he picked it up, and looked around at the sudden clanking of metal. But when he turned back, he tripped on something and fell over.
When he looked up, he saw a small robotic creature, with the largest blue optics imaginable. He jumped back, and gasped at the shock, until it was apparent that it showed no threat.
"Where did you come from?" he asked the little metal creature, that just continued to look at him with those large blue optics. If only he knew the horrors hidden behind that innocent look in the metal creature.
"Sooooo, doc bot, what are you three doing over there?" Miko asked while racing Jack on their game.
"We're trying to see what's causing this malfunction." he answered the girl as Bulkhead and Bee finished lifting the panels free.
Sparks flew from it on opening, he reached in with his large servo and grasped the main power ship for the base, in it, were large burnt in holes.
"We most definitely have a problem." he frowned as he admired the damage. "But what could have caused this?"
The lights and power for everything flashed before restoring. "Or that?" Bulkhead asked.
"Might be the main grid, hopefully it isn't a substation malfunction." he continued observing for a few more seconds until-
"Hey guys. Look what I found." Raf spoke as he apparently returned.
"We're busy-AHH!" the three mechs' optics widened at the sight of the small metal creature in Raf's hands as Bumblebee and Bulkhead activated their cannons and aimed directly at it.
"HEY HEY! What's with you guys?!" Miko yelled as she and Jack jumped in front of Raf.
"Scraplet! SCRAPLET!" Bulkhead yelled in fear.
"What's a scraplet?" Raf asked from behind the teens.
"The most dangerous vermin ever to crawl upon the face of Cybertron." They looked at the small creature in wonder, then to the large mechs, as if saying 'seriously?'
"This?" he scoffed, "Are you kidding me?" Jack asked.
"You're giant robots! Scrappy here is teeny..." she gestured to it.
"You have no idea the damage that teeny thing can do!" Bulkhead exclaimed in fear.
"Awww he wouldn't hurt anything." (HA!) Raf smiled as it woke up. It looked around, until it focused on Bumblebee. It's mouth opened, revealing small drill like saws as it sprang from Raf's grasp, and crawled towards the cowering Autobots.
(The Arctic)
The wind was howling as Blackwolf and Arcee made their way through the snow and icebound tundra. He had his battlemask over his faceplate so he could protect himself from the cold a little bit better, and so he could see through the storm as it hailed down upon them.
"Slag, why did this fragging thing have to be in the Arctic?! Out of all places?!" Arcee complained, her arms crossed as she tried to preserve her heating.
"It seems that the Cybertronians who sent these things into space wanted to make us risk our lives for them instead of making it easy on us." he answered back. He wasn't wrong about the last part.
"I wonder how the bots are in Nevada, they're probably roasting alive compared to us." he joked. But little did he know that they really didn't want to be there.
(Omega One, Nevada)
The young humans were still shocked about what they just saw, but they didn't know what to be shocked about, that the little metal creature was like a demon from Hell to the Autobots, or that Raf acted as a fighter, defending his friend, and smacked it off of Bumblebee, who it decided to chew on first, and crushed it into several crushed parts.
"I'm sorry Bumblebee." the scout beeped that he was okay from the sound and shrugged.
"Is he gonna be okay?" Ratchet stood up, lifting the scout with him.
"Only a mesh wound. He'll live."
"Now do you believe me? All scraplets do is dismantle machinery and eat anything metal! Especially LIVING metal!" Bulkhead exclaimed.
"Well, bug squashed, game over...right?" Jack asked.
"No." Ratchet answered almost before he was finished, "When it comes to scraplets, there's never just one," he turned and looked at the monitor to see their Arctic find had thawed, "And I fear I know how they got in here." he sighed.
A light shined in the dark pod's gaping hole as the bots and humans examined it. "It's a trap...a scraplet trap." Ratchet finally understood the metal, concrete mix.
"Uhhhh, an EMPTY, scraplet trap." Bulkhead corrected him.
"Most likely ejected into space eons ago. Only to wind up in the Arctic; where the temperature kept them in stasis." Ratchet explained.
"Until we brought the thaw." Jack added.
"Now they're wide awake and ready to brunch." Miko spoke with slight worry.
"So...how many are we talking about?" Raf asked.
"Thousands. The power malfunctions and ground bridge damage...are sure signs that their infestation is well underway." the old medic shook his helm.
(The Arctic)
Blackwolf was scaling a cliff, slowly surveying the ice bound land before him and the two wheeler, he was suddenly alerted by his Autobot logo blinking blue. "Arcee, is your sensor going off?"
"Yup, my sensors are going blue, guess we better call for pickup before things get chilly."
"Blackwolf to base, core temperature's reached the blue zone, we need an immediate ground bridge." when he received nothing in response but static, "Blackwolf to base, Ratchet, does anyone copy?" he looked in the distance wit wide optics.
"Oh scrap."
"What?" she asked over their communicator.
"No one's responding from base...and with our sensors going blue...we're in for one cold trek."
(Omega One, Nevada)
"Ratchet to Blackwolf! We have a situation!" the screen went blank with static, "The scraplets have gotten into the com-link system! If we don't eradicate these creatures immediately, they will reduce the entire base to a scrap heap!" he growled.
"I say we bug outta here and let'em keep it!" Bulkhead exclaimed, Bumblebee beeped in agreement.
"Evacuation is not an option, if we don't get the ground bridge back online, STAT,...Blackwolf and Arcee will perish." he sighed.
"They will?" Jack asked, dumbfounded.
"Bulkhead, you never run!" she exclaimed, angry at her large friend's cowering.
"Miko, you haven't seen these things devour an entire bot, I HAVE." he hesitated before continuing, "They tear you apart inside out, piece by piece, circuit by circuit, until there's nothing left, and I mean NOTHING! Not even your optics." he sighed.
"What can we do to help?" Jack asked.
"Due to your fleshiness, you do seem to have a natural advantage against these monsters." Ratchet added.
"So we pair up, I'll stay here with you." Ratchet nodded as he walked to get back to work.
"And we go on a bug hunt." Miko smirked. But Bulkhead and Bumblebee did anything but smirk.
(The Arctic)
The wind blew furiously, snow fell so fast that to the human eye, one would be nearly blinded. Blackwolf and Arcee trekked through the storm slowly, their arms raised to cover their optics.
"Blackwolf to base, do you read?" Blackwolf attempted to call base again. She felt exhausted, her heating failing, and fell to her knee, he fell back and helped her up.
"Are you sure a nice long drive wouldn't help? I hear Miami's beautiful this time of year." she joked, he chuckled weakly.
"As nice as that sounds, the closest temperate zone's too far, trying to get there would use up too much energy that we don't have. Until Ratchet sends for us, AND he will, our best chance of making it is to find some shelter, a cave or...something.
"Just to think, the bots are safe and sound inside the base, where its hot, and above sub-zero." she was right about the last part.
(Omega One, Nevada)
Miko and Bulkhead walked slowly through the darkened halls of Omega One, she held a crowbar in hand, while he had a cannon and flashlight, looking around cautiously. " I get to be your bodyguard for once, how cool is that?" she asked, a little excited.
"Raf found the first one here, right?" The lights flashed off.
"AHHHHH!" a high pitch scream came from behind her as the lights came back on.
"Did you just scream like a little girl." she smirked.
"No! Maybe...can we talk about this later?" he asked, trying to change the subject. She shrugged and continued walking.
They turned the corner, and he could have sworn that he heard the sound of metal crawling from above and aimed his light, only to see nothing. "Take 'er easy Bulkhead, just stay focused. Everything's gonna be oka-" out of nowhere, the clinking continued, he blasted one side, then the other, until the supports above him broke, startling her, when she turned to see him, he was struggling in the cords, thinking he was being attacked, and was not screaming in a deep tone.
"Okay, wish I hadn't seen that. Bulkhead, you're fine, it's just a bunch of cables." she pointed out, he stopped struggling.
"Oh, right," he grabbed one and lightly tugged it, "cables." but from above, scraplets began pouring onto him, "AHHH!" he screamed again, as he fought to shake the metal eating monsters off of himself.
(The Arctic)
Blackwolf fell to his knee as he felt lightheaded from the exhaustion, Arcee was at his side in a second, trying to help him up, "Stay with me Wolf, c'mon." he managed to stand.
"Frag it, I'm not rusting in piece, I'm one thousand years old, I'm not rusty like Ratchet." he joked weakly, bringing a smirk to her faceplate.
As they kept walking, the storm began to lighten, but they both knew it wouldn't last long, so they needed to move quick before the storm picked up. Finally, they spotted a small area that had an overlapping area of ice covering it. As they made their way, Arcee lost all energy to walk and fell over, but with his senses quick as ever, he quickly stopped her from falling.
"I'll be fine...I'm just...tired." he wasn't convinced.
"I'll believe it when we're back at base." he spoke, his voice fading. He hoisted her into his arms and carried her in a bridal way, to the covered area. He faltered slightly, but kept walking, until he finally got to the covered area and set her down, and fell back into the snow next to her, his strength faltering as hers was.
"I don't know how much longer we'll last Wolf." she sighed, her optics dimmed due to their power loss.
"Just hang in there Cee, I know Ratchet's gonna get us home." he smiled weakly, but deep down, he felt some doubt. Since he was much larger than her, he had much more internal heating than her, so he knew that she didn't have very long, unless he thought quick.
"Cee, come here." he pulled her close, and over him as he held her close, sharing his faltering body heat with her, he knew by doing this, he would have less time before his system completely crashed, it was all up to Ratchet, the bots, and their human allies.
(Omega One, Nevada)
Jack, Miko, and Raf were crushing dead or dying scraplets, Ratchet, Bulkhead, and Bumblebee had several mesh wounds along their large, metal bodies.
"Do you think we got'em all?" Jack asked. They all silenced, and listened to the screeching of metal being shredded in the long halls of the base.
"Hardly...these were just scouts." the medic managed.
"So now they know we're in here?" Raf asked, fearing for their Autobot friends, earning a nod of confirmation.
"Our only chance is to ground bridge the scraplets somewhere where the temperature will offline them completely." Ratchet added.
"But I've dealt with all the main damage, and yet the ground bridge just wont work!" he banged his fists weakly against the controls, then saw a streak of energon fall across his shoulder, and it suddenly came to him.
"Unless...there's a leak, in the energon fuel line!" it was a fifty-fifty chance, but their only chance on getting the bridge to work.
"You sure doc?" Bulkhead pivoted his head weakly.
"It's our only chance, if there is a leak, it must be sealed, immediately." he looked at the group.
"So we'll go find the leak, and patch it up." Jack suggested.
"Get the tools, go through the fuel line tunnel, and find the breach, quickly, time is short for Blackwolf and Arcee." the humans all scrambled to gather the tools.
Jack, carrying a tool bag, followed by Miko and Raf, walked cautiously through the hundreds of scraplets eating away at the base. "Remember, we're fine, they only eat metal." Jack attempted to ease the tension among them, but it was difficult due to the teeth hidden behind the large, adorable optics.
It wasn't long until they found the leak. "Bingo! Alright, work fast, we don't have much time." he added as he pulled the welding mask over his face.
In the control room, Ratchet, Bulkhead, and Bumblebee all laid next to each other, unable to move well due to their wounds. "So...if…WHEN, we get the bridge working, do we send the bugs out, or bring our bots in?" Bulkhead asked.
"Arcee and Blackwolf will be fresh metal, the scraplets will have no reason to leave..." he had an idea, an awful idea, but an idea, "We'll need bait." their optics widened.
"Where are we gonna get bait?! The scraplets already helped themselves to everything in here!" Bulkhead added, Bumblebee nodded in agreement. He wasn't wrong, there wasn't much left to use as bait, but they had to, if they wanted the scraplets gone.
(The Arctic)
"After fighting and surviving the war, getting blasted countless times, going toe to toe with Airachnid and living to tell a tale, and losing partners, after so long...THIS is how our lights go out?"
"I know...we've both lost friends, I've had death threats given to me by some of my own allies, made demons, gotten tortured, I was almost killed three times, and have been blown up, and this is where we fall." he looked at her as she was still laying on him.
"If this is how we die, I...I'm glad that it's beside you...Arcee." he smiled, placing a kiss upon the top of her helm, she wanted nothing more that moment than kiss him in return, but she was too weak to move.
"It's been too great of an honor, to be your lover, and to fight alongside you, Blackwolf." she smiled as she pressed against his broad chest.
"The honor was mine." he held her close, his optics dimming, only a barely lit yellow remaining, hers were no better, the gorgeous blue was as if you were looking into the distant ocean, the blue was almost gray voids, and the pink rings that surrounded them were barely visible.
(Omega One, Nevada)
"Ratchet, the leak's sealed!" Jack yelled as they ran in with the scraplet swarm on the attack again.
"Fire it up!" Miko yelled, Ratchet pulled himself to his feet, and stepped over to the bridge controls.
"Ground bridge...online." he pulled the lever as he fell over.
On the other side, the bridge opened, Blackwolf's optics came to life in a flash at the sight of the portal. "Cee...look." She managed to look up, and gasped as she saw the open bridge.
"Primus, I never thought I'd love the ground bridge so much."
Bulkhead looked at the portal and frowned, if Blackwolf and Arcee came through first, the scraplets would never leave. "Bait huh?" he got the worst idea he had ever thought up, but he knew it was Team Prime's last standing move.
He hoisted himself to his heavy pedes, and walked in front of the ground bridge, gaining the attention of the scraplets, "Ready for the main course?!" he taunted them. They all leaped at him, he took the chance, and moved as fast as he could, into the ground bridge, with the swarm nipping at his heels.
Back in the frozen wasteland end, Blackwolf and Arcee were slowly walking, trying to get to the bridge with what scraps of strength they had left. They heard someone come through the bridge, the mech could only be Bulkhead. The large mech had over a dozen scraplets biting into his metal.
"Down, DOWN!" he yelled to them as he dove to the ground, and out from the portal, came a wave of scraplets, pouring out of the base. Blackwolf shielded Arcee from them, but as soon as they reached them, each one went offline due to the temperature, and began banging against the large, black painted mech, leaving a few dings in his armor from how fast they came.
But finally there was nothing left but a pile of offlined scraplets, Blackwolf and Arcee looked at their big friend as he looked up at them. "Uhhhhhhhhhh, I'd invite you in...but the place is a mess." he joked.
Just as Blackwolf was about to enter the bridge, he remembered a promise he made, "Oh yeah!" he turned around, and grabbed a handful of snow and packed it together into a ball, "This is for you Raf." he smiled as he turned back into the portal.
(Two hours later, Omega One, Nevada)
The Autobots were all being patched up, Blackwolf and Arcee had gotten treated first, but Bulkhead and Bumblebee were instantly next in line. The mech and femme were resting, supposedly in their individual quarters.
Optimus had been shocked when he returned, and was left wide eyed when he heard the story about the scraplets.
"You did well today, old friend." the Prime lightly smiled, earning a thankful smile from the medic.
"Well...it wasn't just my doing." he gestured to the humans.
"There may be more to our human allies than meets the eye." he commented.
"We're just lucky that this infestation happened...on a Saturday." he admitted.
In Blackwolf's quarters, the mech and femme rested together, both laying against each other. He leaned forward, and met her lips with his, both letting their passion flow as the kiss lasted. When they broke it, she rested her helm against his chest.
"Thanks for not giving up on me back there in the ice." she thanked him.
"I would never give up." he smiled as he reached down her side and interlocked his large servo with her much smaller servo, and let themselves drift away.
PLEASE READ: HOLY CRAP guys, that took so much longer to write than I expected, I hope you guys enjoyed, but I have to get to a serious matter. Look on the last one shot I made, a guest, not a user, just a guest, reviewed it, saying I should stop making fanfic, since my stories aren't centered around Jack and Arcee, listen people out there who I know agree, GET USED TO IT! I'm not going anywhere, ANY time soon, you don't have to be a jerk and leave bad reviews, just find another story or Author, want a good story about Jack and Arcee? Then go to Galaxy Fiction, he's a much better writer than me, and his stories are great, but don't hate and leave bad reviews. But I draw a line at the matter, because I can make my OC however I want, and I can pair him/her with anyone I choose, so get used to my BlackwolfXArcee stories. Please review (NOT BAD REVIEWS) and give me your opinions. AND I personally thank Airreon Princess, RoboDiamondDrago, and SoundwaveTheDecepticon for their support in this matter, thank you three so much for your help and I love having you three as readers of my stories. See you guys layer!