Transformers Prime: A Sparkling Issue

Chapter 4 - The Spill

"We will!" Miko exclaimed.

Seconds later a swirl of green hues appeared in the middle of the garage, making the dim room glow in shades of emerald. The portal opened and the three walked in, still carrying their school backpacks.

"Wonder what kind of wreak we'll find the place in," Miko joked.

Jack grinned. "Well, we're about to find out, but I'm sure it won't be that bad."

Seconds later the tunnel of swirling green gave way and they stepped into the bunker. They all stopped short, jaws dropped.

Miko had to blink twice to make sure her eyes weren't messed up. "Woah! What machine shop blew up in here?"

"Wreak" seamed an understatement. It was the perfect picture of chaos. The "toys" were scattered everywhere along with rocks and four tires (there was a story to the extra two). The homemade bottles lay about as if they had been carelessly tossed and left there. One's lid was off and a trail of the blue liquid led from the overturned container to a smeared puddle of splattered energon. The smaller workspace in the med bay was tipped over and everything that had been on it strewn in with the mix, including three semi-large metal boxes that were overturned and open. But that wasn't the big part. Covering the entire scene was a sea of thousands of lug nuts spread in every direction. Apparently they had been the contents of the now empty boxes that had fallen with the workspace. The floor was nearly unseen in some areas they were layered so thick. The four sparklings sat in the middle of the whole mess, picking up the nuts and tossing them into the air like confetti and laughing hysterically at the clattering noise they made upon their descent, completely oblivious to the chaos around them.

Behind the frozen humans, the ground bridge closed and Optimus turned from the control panel. He just viewed the stunned expressions without a word, apparently waiting for them to make the first move.

Miko was the first to break the awkward moment. "I was about to ask how the botsitting was going, but ..." she didn't know whether to be horrified or burst out laughing, "I think I got my answer."

"What the heck happened?" Jack asked as he nearly slipped on lug nuts as the three came in further.

"A few of Ratchet's fasteners were spilled," Optimus answered shortly.

Miko just gawked. "That is SOOO an understatement! There must be millions of 'em!"

"I don't think there's that many," Rafael said, though his tone suggested he too didn't think that was too far off from how it looked.

Jack looked up at the tall mech. "Uh, maybe this is a bad time to ask, but have you found out anything about how the relic works?"

The Prime's helm shook three times. "Not anything that will assist us at the moment. Its internal mechanisms are more complex than anything I have encountered before. And ..." a glance in the sparklings' direction, "I have not attained much time to study it."

"I can believe that," Jack said as he took in the scene. "Well, I guess the first thing we should do is clean up this mess."

"Awww!" Miko whined with a huff. "I wanted to play with Bulkhead!"

Jack leaned close with a frown as he whispered. "Hey! It's not easy taking care of four babies by yourself. So let's give him a break and help out."

"Alright, alright," Miko muttered and stood straight as she put on a visibly fake smile. "Of course! I'd love to clean up hundreds of bolts all day!"

Jack face palmed.

"Actually they're lug nuts," Rafael corrected. "It's a specific type of nut to secure a wheel onto a vehicle."