Fading Starlight

"I don't know. He's just alive somehow. And he's out for my spark. All of our sparks." Tarmac never looked afraid, but this discovery had shaken him.

"He's not invincible. I put a hole in his shoulder. We'll be more careful from this point on." Path looked at the others. "He's just like the others in the end. They all fall eventually, spikes and all." He flicked the spike he'd pulled from Blueshade so it stuck in the wall beside Helixon

Helixon pulled the spike out of the wall and tested the sharpness with a finger. "I hit him with missiles that at least fazed him."

Altrock reached over. "Let me see that."

Helixon moved it out of his reach. "No, I'm inspecting it right now. See it with your optics."

"Other than that, the mission went well. Any comments? No? Good." Path took it upon himself to finish the debrief. If anyone else had tried this, Tarmac would have stopped them. But let Path speak.

"We'll contact Ironhide and get our next orders soon, unless Sunshine out there interferes." Path chuckled. "Though I think he's ready to be rid of us."

"That's actually a fitting nickname," Altrock grinned. ",in a way."

"Get some rest then. Anybody else got injuries I need to look at? Last chance before I put the med kit away." He was finishing work on Blueshade, who's fidgeting didn't help the process

"We're all good here." Altrock gave him a thumbs up.

Path finishes with Blueshade. "Take it easy."

He looked down at Reverse. The younger bot's head didn't even make it to Path's knee. "Hey kid."

Reverse looked up at him. You'd figure that someone his size, always looking up to other bots would get used to it. No, no, he did not get used to it. If he did it for long periods of time his neck would start to hurt.

A hint of a smile formed on Path's normally stoic face. "You had my back out there, kid. You did good." He turned to go back to his corner and take care of his weapon.

Reverse just nodded.

Helixon finally let Altrock have to spike, saying he was bored with it.

They rested.

****

Tarmac hadn't rested much since he found out Nitro had survived, but there was little time to rest anyhow. Mere hours after returning to Nova Station, Ironhide had called them back for another mission. Then another. Then another.

Being run ragged was hard on morale, but there were two bots in the squad who never had a dull moment, whether that was fighting each other or fighting cons, there was never a time where the two of them weren't happily doing something foolish.

Those two were Altrock and Helixon.

Despite their history, the two of them always seemed to bicker. Tarmac suspected most of it was just to pass the time, but it ground his gears nonetheless. That being said, they worked extremely well together, which was why he'd decided to send them and Path on a short mission by themselves. Blueshade and Reverse had training to get to, as Blueshade had been teaching Reverse some fighting tips and tricks. Tarmac, not happy to be left behind with the young bots but too caught up in case reports to send anyone else, sent the next best person to wrangle the two rowdy Autobots. Path.

"Should be just a quick mission. We'll be back in no time." Path shouldered his rifle. "Alt, Helix, let's go." He transformed.

"You'll see us leaving and then we'll be back in a minute!" Helixon saluted as he walked backwards after Alt and Path. Then he transformed and took off into the sky.

"Please, you wouldn't return until a week later just to see if we thought you were dead. Especially the newbies." Alt snorted.

"Hey, you've never crashed your own funeral. You'd never realize how fun that is."

"There will be no funerals." Path said over the comms as he sped off. "We're literally on a recon mission. We're going to fly over, see what the cons are up to, and then get back. No antics, no dying."

"Hey, I'm not carrying both of you." Helixon replied. "I'm not built for that. I'd prefer to carry you but Alt has better equipment."

"You just stay up there, Sharp Eyes. We're fine down here." Path drove beside Altrock. He was better at handling these two than Tarmac. Tarmac got irritated with them too easily.