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Times Are Changing	By : LuciferDragon Category: S through Z > Transformers (Movie Only) > Transformers (Movie Only) Views: 4016 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: The only characters I own are Icestriker, Jadefire, and Katrina. Everything else belongs to the Transformers movie-verse. I make no money off this fic. It's all in good fun.

Chapter List
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28

Jadefire’s chin smacked the desk in front of her as her head slipped from her hand in surprise. She had been staring at white noise for the past half hour, and started dozing off when an incoming signal jostled her nerves. She rubbed at her jaw, realizing that the signal was directed towards the human’s station next door. With a jump, she left the Autobot’s control room, which consisted of a single monitor anyway, into the doorway of the next, catching the sight of Major Lennox’s figure disappearing through the frame.
“Major, incoming signal from the Autobots!”
Jadefire listened to the orders being thrown about, and leaned against the wall out of the way as soldiers filed out of the room. She held a hand to her covered spark chamber, and focused on the other spark merged with hers. ‘Hide, what’s going on?
‘Con activity, a lot of it. Prime just split us up not long ago, but our targets are heading in his direction. Sam was a bust. The boy won’t help.
Can’t expect him to. He’s just one kid.
Still. You’d figure—Oh Primus, no!
She felt his spark clench with fear very faintly, making hers react the same. What is it? What’s happened?
Prime’s outnumbered. It’ll be impossible to get to him in time.
She felt her systems go cold. Floor it.
Already on it.
Jadefire quickened her pace and attempted to find one of the few humans she still trusted. She managed to find one of them hitching up his gear. “Robert, I need to catch a ride with you guys!”
Epps looked over at her as he hooked up his gear. “I don’t see why—“
“Don’t ask. I need to come with you. Something tells me I’ll be needed with everyone else. Would take too long to have anyone shipped back out here for me to fix them.” She noticed his look of hesitation. “Please, Robert.”
He sighed and shouldered on his pack. “I’ll probably get my ass handed to me, but whatever. Bike up and we’ll get you to your guys.”
Her Energon converter skipped a beat as she leaned forward and shifted to her Interceptor form. I’ll meet you with the humans.
Silence came from his end of the bond, as well as anger and sorrow.
‘Hide? She waited a full minute, the silence becoming more prominent, the anger more violent. Ironhide! Answer me! What’s wrong?
He’s… he’s dead.
Her engine sputtered and caused Epps to look her way. Primus… Optimus… To keep up appearances, she kept moving towards the plane that could transport her to the others. What else is happening? What were the Decepticon signals?
Megatron is alive once more. Many more are coming into Earth’s atmosphere as well. Jade, I normally wouldn’t ask this, but we’ll need everyone’s help on this. Can you fight with us?
Of course. The soldiers strapped her in place, and the plane took off shortly afterward. We’re heading to the New Jersey base.
So Lennox has told us through the comlinks we have established. A chopper is coming to collect Optimus, and we’re to follow it back to the base. You should be there by the time we get in.
They fell into a comfortable silence, with Jadefire listening to the lulling roar of the plane engine. She turned off her optical sensors, letting her world go black so she could focus on his presence through the bond. How’d my little brother do?
Did great, actually. Seriously wounded a Decepticon before it managed to get away. With more practice, he’ll be on par with my other students.
She laughed softly, feeling her consciousness slipping away slowly. At the same time, she felt his anger dissipating, but the sorrow remained. Now more than ever she wished she could have been on the field with them to help him and the others.
Don’t feel like that.
Jadefire startled slightly, forgetting he knew her feelings inside and out now. I don’t want you feeling like this. There was nothing you could have done…
All these years I’ve had his back, even when he was still a science leader. And now… I should’ve been there to protect him.
And do what? Get yourself killed in the process?
If that’s what it takes to win this war, and to have our victory yet.
Her words fell silent then, and her hurt leaked through just as easily as if he had stabbed her right through the spark chamber. It was then she realized what exactly she got herself mixed up in. He was old, much older than her, more willing to die for his cause than she ever was. It was one of the reasons she wanted to be a medical officer like Ratchet. She wanted to save the Autobots, not die for a cause. He, however, was a true example of selfless, just as her brother and all the other Autobots were. She realized then that she was a coward, running away from her people’s battles. In that sense, she felt no better than Starscream.
Sweetheart… His voice grew softer around his sadness. This is the world we live in. We all must be willing to die for our cause.
I’m not ready to let you go.
And you won’t. Not for a long time yet. I’m saying I’d take a bullet for anyone here, and that goes double for you.
Major Lennox thumped her handlebars, bringing her optical sensors back online. “We’ll be landing in the next three hours. Power down for awhile, Jadefire.”
She knew by his voice and his movement he was hiding his own remorse for the fallen Prime. No one exactly knew how hard it would get now. They weren’t even sure what they had been going up against in the first place. What was the reasoning behind bringing Megatron back to life? What was the purpose behind stealing the shard?
“Major, take a look at this! It’s all over the place, phones, internet—“
Epps hushed the soldier that was talking over a transmission through his phone balanced on his hand.
Jadefire pulled up the transmission on her own search base, finding the live feed instantly.
“…unless you turn over this boy.”
Her spark clenched as the image of Sam was broadcasted on the human’s worldwide broadcasting system. Even the personal numbers that let others see background information, and kept criminals from taking their identities. In the shutter of an optic, his whole life was an open book. Are you seeing this?
… Yes.
Do you know who that is?
No. But there is bound to be more danger for the boy.
Don’t tell me you left him alone!
Bumblebee and the twins are with him.
Hold on. Jadefire looked on as Lennox approached her. “Yes sir?”
“Who is that demanding the kid?”
“I honestly couldn’t tell you. Ironhide doesn’t know either. If he doesn’t, no chance in the Pit will the others know.”
“Any idea if he’s another Megatron?”
Jadefire went quiet trying to find a way to answer. “I… don’t know. I don’t even know how hard the battle was in killing that tyrant.”
“You were on Cybertron when the evacs were issued, weren’t you?”
“Yes, still in the academy though. I was never actually on the field besides the training grounds. I graduated mere stellar cycles before we had to leave. I saw his devastation, but I never engaged in battle.” A sudden wave of anger tore through her. “I was a medical coward. Frightened by the unknown void called death. My father’s insistence is the only reason I trained in combat. I wanted to be a medic, to heal rather than harm, like my father wanted.”
Lennox sat across from the femme’s cycle form. “Being a medic is not a cowardly position. You have the power to heal the wounded, bring them from the brink of death to fight again.” He chuckled, though it was drowned out by the engines being pushed to their max. “It’s something I honestly could never do.”
“You’re sugarcoating it, Will.”
“Not exactly. It takes a lot of guts to go into the field of medicine, just like it takes a lot of guts to become a soldier.”
“We don’t have guts.”
“Whatever you have that signifies bravery. If it weren’t for Autobots like you and Ratchet, how many more would be dead by now?” He narrowed his eyes. “If it weren’t for you two, Ironhide would be dead.”
She fell silent, knowing his words to be true. If she hadn’t studied medicine with Ratchet like she had always wanted, if she hadn’t volunteered a year ago to be the medic apprentice, she wouldn’t be feeling the other presence in her spark like she was now. She had known she would’ve been hurt one way or another, but if she hadn’t learned what she had, that presence would have never had a chance to bloom. Granted, Ratchet could have done the repairs himself; he had been doing it for years alone as it was. But the old medic would’ve worn himself to exhaustion just to get the older soldier stable.
“You are no coward. A coward runs from conflict. It’s normal to be terrified of death, and it’s normal to take value of your own life.”
“Aren’t you terrified?”
“I am. But I know there is a greater cause than my own happiness and life.”
“But your wife, wouldn’t she be devastated?”
“Of course she would be. We’ve discussed this issue before. She knows the risks just as I do.”
“I don’t understand. She’d have to go the rest of her life without you, the man she loves, and who contributed the other half of her daughter’s DNA strand.”
Will sighed and ran a hand through his short hair a few times. “It’s hard to explain, I suppose. Honestly, I can’t imagine my life without her, or Annabelle, but if it happened… There would be a period of grief, of course, and it would never fade, but it’s a pain that gets easier over time. Like when my parents died, one after the other. It never got easier to deal with when it happened, knowing they would never be there for me again, but it got easier to accept with time.” He shook his head. “Regardless, I’d still take a bullet for each of them if it came down to it.”
She laughed softly, and doubted Will could even hear it. “Sounds like what Ironhide said not too long ago. Are all males like you two?”
Will grinned. “Not all. Just those with loved ones to protect. For me, it’s my wife and daughter personally, and my whole country. For him, it’s you and all the Autobots left here on Earth, and those still hiding in space.”
“I… I just can’t stand the thought of losing him though. I mean, I watched him from afar for so many millions of years… A year or two actually being at his side just doesn’t add up.” If she were in her robot mode, she would have shaken her head. Instead, her motor groaned slightly. “I don’t want this feeling to fade, but I know there are important things to fight for. I just never understood the point of sacrificing yourself for the greater good, if you’ll never have the chance to see the outcome.”
Will’s smile faded slightly. “It doesn’t make sense, but it’s what we still die for. In war, you don’t have to have that mindset to be victorious. You can still keep the same mindset you have now. Keeping your people alive while they fight for your cause is still brave, and a right state of mind. You’re still technically fighting for the lives of others. Fighting to keep them stable.”
The plane bounced slightly with turbulence, and they both felt a slight descent. “How much longer?”
“About two hours, give or take.”
“As soon as the landing gear is launched, get me out of this blasted net. I need to be by my people’s side.”
The grin on his face returned as he got up. “Sure thing. Get some rest. Tell ‘Hide I told you that.”
She watched him return to his soldiers before repeating the message.
Two hours, huh? He grunted. Best start gathering what we can.
They parted ways, with their consciousness’ barely touching, letting her slip into temp stasis to recharge and make the trip faster.

The plane ended up landing before the chopper carrying the fallen warrior came into view. Jadefire looked on with the other human soldiers, her hands clasped to her mouth plates in shock. Her jaw lowered even more as the pilots merely dropped the corpse in front of them and the returning Autobots. Right as the vehicles were pulling up, however, soldiers that were already on the New Jersey base pulled up in the hummers, weapons loaded and aimed right for the robots.
“I will tear you apart!” Ironhide yelled with steam escaping his olfactory sensors at the advancing humans as he, Ratchet, Icestriker, Jolt, and Sideswipe drew their weapons as well, horribly and utterly confused.
Jadefire joined Lennox in trying to regain peace. Lennox yelled at the soldiers while she rushed to the Autobots, raising her arms. “Guys, stop, lower them!”
They only did so as Galloway was attempting to tell off Will. “What is going on here?” Sideswipe murmured.
“Big slag, that’s what,” Jadefire responded, side-glancing Optimus. In the corner of her optic, she saw Ironhide’s gun still ready to fire, even though he wasn’t aiming it any longer. “’Hide, drop it.”
“This fool is terribly misinformed…” Ratchet commented as Galloway continued on.
Icestriker shook his head. “No, you know what, if he thinks they can negotiate with the Decepticons, let him die doing so.”
Ratchet nodded and looked to his old friend. “Ironhide, we should leave this planet.”
“That’s not what Optimus would want,” the weapons master said, gazing to the retreating soldiers and meeting Will’s eye. “No, we’ll stay.”
“Autobots report to hanger for departure to Diego Garcia.”
“Stay and do what exactly?” Sideswipe demanded as they headed to the planes that would take them back.
“The Decepticons are still here, Glitch,” Jadefire snapped. “What are we going to do, just let the humans all die from one government’s stupid idea?”
“If they’d be stupid enough to believe they could reason with them, why not?”
She stalked in front of him and punched him in the jaw, knocking him off balance of his wheels.
“Jadefire!” Ironhide yelled, holding her back before she hit the ‘bot again.
She sneered at the fallen robot. “If you’d leave a helpless species defenseless, you’re no better than the ‘cons.” She wrenched out of the black ‘bot’s grip and stalked back to the hanger where they were prepping to leave, transforming into her bike form and peeling off in anger.
Sideswipe kept a hand to his jaw, still on the ground in shock.
“She’s right, you know,” Ratchet said as Icestriker transformed and sped off after his sister.
“Seem to know where your loyalties lie,” Jolt added with a sneer, walking away.
Sideswipe got up, having a minor challenge balancing on his wheels again. “I didn’t mean… Oh Primus I fragged up, didn’t I?”
“Nothing more than usual,” Ironhide answered.
“I didn’t mean leave them defenseless. It just seems like they want.”
Ratchet shook his head. “Doesn’t matter anymore. Let’s see where they want us to go now.” He too left to find the others, leaving the duo in an awkward silence.
“I warned you to check that attitude of yours,” Ironhide said with a growl. “Now you went and pissed the whole team off. What’s left of the team, anyway.”
“But the humans… they don’t want us here anymore.”
“That’s the opinion of one bigot, not the entire race. We will continue to protect them as Optimus wanted us to do. Is that understood?”
Sideswipe lowered his optics. “Yes.” As Ironhide started to walk away, he said, “Hey, Ironhide?”
The weapons master stopped and looked back to him. “What?”
“Tell Jadefire I’m sorry, all right? She listens to you.”
Ironhide nodded. “Get your aft moving.”
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Times Are Changing