Aftermath by Firestorm
Summary: Battered and confused, the Autobots try to sort through the day's events.
Categories: Robots In Disguise Characters: None
Genre: Drama
Location: Library
Challenges:
Series: None
Chapters: 1 Completed: Yes Word count: 1303 Read: 777 Published: 09/05/04 Updated: 09/05/04

1. Aftermath by Firestorm

Aftermath by Firestorm

Adam wasted no time in getting out of his cockpit. John was waiting for him, with the rest of the reports in hand. Neither man was in the mood for formalities.

Despite the setting sun, there were still enough perimeter lights active for Adam to see the reports. Not all of what he saw made him happy. Sudan had finally packed it in about an hour ago, and agreed to let the southern part be independent. The fighting in Canada ended around that same time; there were still rebels holed up in Quebec but for now things were over. Tibet had now been made into a protectorate, but China wasn't too thrilled about it. The crisises in French Guyana and Paraguay had been resolved, and things were hopefully coming to a head in Mexico and South Africa. Chile had just finished mobilizing their forces, and were sending them into Paraguay and Venezuela to help relieve the other nations' forces. Also, for Saddam's failure to react quickly, the rebellion in Iran spread into Iraq, deposing Hussein. But that was about it for the good news.

To stave off World War Six, they had to agree to let North Korea be segmented between Russia, China, and South Korea. And while they had control of all the nuclear facilities in France, the nation itself was still in turmoil. And now things were flaring up in Brazil, Botswanna, Burma, Nepal, Bhutan, and Bangledesh. And intel said that China was pulling strings in Laos and Cambodia to try and get them involved on China's side in things. Plus, Columbia was turning ugly fast. And most of the issues in south and central Africa still had yet to be resolved, as well as in Vietnam. Things weren't looking too good. Not good at all.

*****

"We have the bodies, Mr. Daft," the voice said over the comm. "All of them. Even retrieved that odd little capsule that got dropped."

"Excellent. Then I guess our surveillance has payed off. Tell the technicians to begin at once."

"Yessir."

*****

Prime's face appeared on the comms. "Cloudburst! Is there any news?!"

"Some good, some bad. Good news is that the Deceps are dead. Bad news is that we can't find the bodies. Good news is that Ginrai and Koji are alive and well. Bad news is that a lot of humans aren't. Good news is that the EDF just survived its first trial by fire. Bad news is we're badly undermanned."

Prime stood, taken aback. "Are you sure?"

"Completely."

Prime paused again. "What about Ironhold?"

"It's just like Apehanger told you about an hour ago. He allowed the Chaos teams to be let loose, and undertook the cancelled procedures. In addition, he imposed the silence of his own accord. On the other hand, things would have been nastier faster had it not happened."

"In other words, you think things cancel out?"

"It's up to you. Either way, on our end we need some more numbers in a hurry. There's a couple nations who have earned their membership, which will bolster our human ranks. However, we have only one transtector operational right now. We need reinforcements, and even then we may still be forced into hiring mercenaries. There's no way around it."

"Do what you feel best. I'll still be coming down there with a team of my own; if needs be, I can order several members to stay."

"We're gonna need it. We're really gonna need it."

*****

Prime closed the comms before turning to Magnus.

"How is it?" Magnus said.

"Mixed."

"Do they still need us to go there?"

"Yeah. Tell everyone to get ready again. We gotta go."

"That bad huh?"

"If you look at it that way. Tell X-Brawn that he's in charge here until we return. As much as the Brothers want to go, we need them to stay back just in case. Anything could happen at this point."

"Right."

*****

"So my folks are coming tomorrow?" Ginrai said, trying to sit up.

"Yep," Backstreet said. "They're bringing with them some permanent reinforcements."

"And?"

"Some of them are Spychangers. One of them will replace me here; Prime wants me to take command of the rest. As soon as we get a permanent base, we're gone."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah."

"Told Storm Jet yet?"

"He already knows. Soon as I'm done here I'm getting packed. No sense in wasting time."

"Yeah." A pause. "Where's Tai?"

"Holed up in her room. She's refusing both food and energy recharges. She's not seeing anyone, either. She even refuses Ironhold."

"That's not good. Not at all. What about Koji?"

"He's at home right now. He's as confused as the rest of us. And just as tired."

"Primus. How many are dead?"

"We're still counting. But our estimates are in the millions."

"Damn. And we still have no idea where the bodies of the Decepticons are?"

"Right."

"It just keeps getting better and better," Ginrai said sarcastically.

*****

Metalhawk sat on the cliffside. From where he was, he could see the last traces of the fallout in the atmosphere as it burned up. Doctors on all continents had been scrambled and put at the ready in case there was a poisoning epidemic. But it was too little, too late.

He had heard what had happened while they were fighting. If he bothered sleeping tonight, then by the time he awoke the world would literally not be the same as it had been when he woke up today. And not for the better. The world over, people were fighting and dying. He could just see the orphans now.

"I'm not supposed to be thinking about this," he realized. "I'm supposed to just go in and fight, consequences be damned. I take what I want and do what I want. Why does this bother me?"

"You don’t have to get up," Suzaku said as he climbed the hill. "I know what's going on, too."

"We're literal killing machines. We were built to destroy. I'm sick of it. Sick of it all."

"Same here. All this destruction. We are gods of war, whether we like it or not." Suzaku threw a can of energon to Metalhawk. Catching it, he popped the top and began to drink. He had forgotten just how low his reserves had become.

Stopping for a second, Metalhawk began speaking again. "Then what kind of gods are we? Just? Angry? Is the call for blood a side effect of our job, or our own lust?" Without waiting for the answer, he began to drink again.

"The truth is that for creation to happen, often things must be destroyed first."

Metalhawk stopped, choking briefly on the energon. Quickly, he spit it out, spraying all over himself. As he turned around violently, he crushed the can in his hand, spilling the contents all over before he dropped the can. With a leap, his hands were around Suzaku's throat. "WHAT THE HELL KIND OF RESPONSE IS THAT?!"

"Reality," Suzaku said, not missing a beat. "It's reality."

*****

Cloudburst, Barnstorm, Adam, and John stood in front of the Star Bridge as it activated. Prime was sending a Spychanger ahead of the others to assess the situation; everyone else would be there in the morning. Finally, it opened. A large, dumptruck-style snowplow came through before transforming.

"The name's Icecap. Arctic operations. How goes it?"

"You have the reports," Cloudburst said.

"Oh yeah, I do have them. Duh."

"Primus, it's the head of the reject team," Barnstorm said. "No wonder he's expendable."

"Very funny. Now what's the fastest way for me to get to Japan?"

"Well," Barnstorm began, "the absolute fastest way would be for me to cram you inside my internal bomb bays. Of course, they don't currently have a landing strip long enough to handle me, so I'll have to drop you over the site. If you're lucky I might just remember to have a parachute for you."

"You're kidding, right?"

*****

"I CAN'T NAVIGATE PROPERLY WITH ALL THAT SCREAMING!" Barnstorm shouted. "YOU'RE THE ONE WHO COULDN'T WAIT!"

This story archived at http://www.transformersfanfic.com/viewstory.php?sid=3036