Anonymous: Yeah, but I couldn't think of any other way that Barricade wouldn't be able to just step on and squish Sam. At least he's deterred now that Sam's a mech. XD Thanks.
Chapter Four: Megatron Awakened
Starscream plunged the machine into his chest, and Sam screamed and black, raw energy coursed through his body. The energy was nowhere similar to the type Primus had used to revive Jazz- This was dark, chaotic, and far more painful. Primus' energy may have felt like lightning, but this seemed to make him feel as though he was in burning lava, and somehow at the same time freezing at a temperature close to absolute zero. It felt like the atoms that made his armour were being torn apart and mutated- in short, it was more painful than torture ever could be. Sam had to wonder why he hadn't offlined yet. Or fallen into stasis.
Sam lost track of time after a while. All he could feel was pain and terror. For a moment, he wondered if this was what Bumblebee had felt like when the S-7 agents had tortured and experimented on him. Just for a moment. Then a new wave of pain washed over him.
When the pain finally ebbed, Sam looked to see that he had broken his chains somehow. Or, more likely, Unicron's energy had broken them. Struggling, he managed to get up, and was abruptly pushed off the table and onto the floor.
"Megatron!" he hissed. He didn't have to look. He knew that Megatron was alive again.
"Ah, Megatron." Starscream's voice. "How good to see you again."
"Starscream." Yep. That was Megatron's voice. "I see you've found a way to revive me. That is good. I conquered the Pit a week ago and it was getting a little boring in there. Give me a report on the state of the Decepticons."
"Of course." Starscream's voice faded as he left to get the datapad he had the report on.
"And just who are you?" Megatron got up and stared at the mech on the floor, weak with pain.
Sam gritted his teeth. "Your killer. And I'll kill you again if I have to." Saying this, he swung out at Megatron, somehow getting the strength to stand up. Instantly, his systems flashed a warning- "System energy levels at 17%. Power conservation on."
He felt the pain vanish. Well, that was one good thing. Then again, that was probably because his servers had turned the pain receivers off. He had to think up a plan and get out, fast.
Megatron wasn't fazed by the weak swing, batting it away as if it were a fly. "Samuel James Witwicky. I see you've changed."
"I have. And if you don't back up I'll- I'll use Primus' power to smite you!" Sam thought fast. Seriously, Primus, you gonna help me or not?
"You have the power of Primus in you?" Shock. Megatron did a quick scan and found Allspark energy, as well as something... else.
When Sam saw Megatron scanning, he immediately got up and ran for his life, running through random doors and passageways, hoping that he would find the exit somehow. The fact that there were exit signs all over the place helped- This was obviously an old building. It had probably been a mall once.
Finally, he reached the door with the exit sign over it. He stopped for a moment- Something was holding him back. He had a strange feeling he should go into the door on his left. Frowning, he turned and found the word 'Barricade' on the door, written in Cybertronian. Good thing Ratchet had insisted he learn Cybertronian.
Slowly, Sam opened the door and walked in, surveying the room. He wasn't surprised to see that the room was dark and dull. And yet, Sam had a strange feeling...
Walking over to a drawer, he pulled the drawer out completely, and found what he was looking for when a holo-projector popped out. He put the drawer back and activated it.
It was Barricade's family.
Smiling, Sam shook his head. No matter what the 'Con said or did, he still missed his family.
Looking up, he found a second door. With growing suspicion, he opened the door- and found that it led outside.
The first door was fake, then. A trap. That explained why Megatron hadn't chased after him. If he hadn't known Barricade so well, he'd probably have fallen straight into it. Sam grinned. Barricade wasn't even here, and he had saved his life.
Walking out and recognising the place, he quickly headed in the direction of the Autobot base.
---
"We have to find him!" Bumblebee glared at Optimus, who was sitting calmly.
"Bumblebee, we can't search the entire world for Sam, and Barricade only knows the general direction. You have to wait until our scanners pick up a signal-" As though waiting for just such a word, the monitor beeped and a red dot appeared. That was Sam's energy signature. Bumblebee looked at the screen, then stared flatly at Optimus, who sighed.
"Alright, then. Everyone, transform and head towards the signal. Bumblebee, will Barricade be coming?" Optimus asked. Bumblebee was surprised- he hadn't even thought of asking the 'Con. He may have been better, but he was still more 'Con than 'Bot...
"No." Bumblebee answered. "I don't think he's quite ready yet. I can connect him to my optics, though, so he can see what's going on."
Optimus nodded. "Do so." Bumblebee did, and they left.
---
"Sam!" Bumblebee raced toward the tired mech, embracing him. "What happened? What did Skywarp do to you?"
"He didn't do anything." Sam grumbled tiredly, leaning on his friend for support. "It was Starscream. He used some device on me and it revived Megatron." At this point, with the whole thing over, he fell into stasis.
"WHAT?!" all of the mechs yelled. "Megatron's back?!"
"Whatever Starscream did, it nearly killed Sam." Ratchet frowned. "Bumblebee, load him up on Optimus. I need to get him into the medbay now."
The mechs rushed toward the base. Sam's Sparkenergy was still depleting at an alarming rate.
---
"Is he going to be all right?" Bumblebee asked worriedly. Ratchet glared.
"Bumblebee, I've already told you the last 27 times you asked- I DON'T KNOW!" he snapped. Then, seeing the look on the Camaro's face, he sighed. "Look, I know the two of you were close. I'll do my best, but I can't make any promises. Sam'd be healing himself, but some dark energy is blocking that, and causing damage to his systems at the same time- Like a virus. And viruses are hard to purge."
Bumblebee sighed. "I know. It's just... I'm worried."
"Everyone is." Ratchet spoke gently, but firmly. "You aren't the only one to care for the kid."
Bumblebee nodded, and went to go talk to Barricade about the whole thing. Maybe he'd have an idea. If Sam had negative energy flowing through him, there had to be some way to disperse it.
Opening the door to the cell, Bumblebee stepped in and greeted Barricade, who grunted in response. "Did you want something?"
"Why is it that every single time one of us comes in, you think we want something?" Bumblebee asked, laughing. Barricade snorted.
"Because you usually do." he answered. "So what did you want?"
Bumblebee sighed. "Do you know of a way to help Sam? Negative energy is negating his ability to heal, and Starscream's device did a number on his systems. I'm surprised he's still alive right now."
"..." Barricade was silent. "Negative energy, you say? You just need a strong positive electrical current near the source of the energy*. It should work."
Bumblebee nodded. "Thank you." Leaving the cell, he ran back to the medbay. "Ratchet!" he called. "Barricade has an idea! He says to put a strong positive current near the source."
"Now why didn't I think of that?" Ratchet muttered to himself. "Alright then Bumblebee, use your stingers on his spark."
"What?!" Bumblebee started in shock. "That could kill him!"
"It's the strongest source of electricity we have at the moment." Ratchet glared impatiently. "Or would you rather the energy destroy him, slowly and painfully? Now either you can use your stingers to either save him or grant him a quick de-"
"Fine!" Bumblebee interrupted, not wanting to think of Sam dying. Without giving himself a chance to hesitate, he turned his stingers on and full power and blasted Sam's Spark with it.
All at once, dark lightning appeared on Sam's prone form and raced toward the electricity Bumblebee was producing, twirling and constricting around the strong current Bumblebee was producing.
"And now?" Bumblebee concentrated, trying to keep the current flowing, unsure of what would happen if he let it die.
"Release it." Ratchet commanded and Bumblebee did so. The leftover energy swirled for a moment, as though unsure of what it was doing, then abruptly dispersed in a burst of dark light. Bumblebee and Ratchet were thrown back.
"Ugh..." Bumblebee groaned. "What the slag was that?!"
"Just a discharge." Ratchet answered, going over to check on Sam.
"JUST a discharge?" Bumblebee repeated in disbelief, walking over. "That was practically an explosion!"
Ratchet shrugged, finishing his scans. "Sam's fine now." he reported. "Everything else should be fixed in just a few minutes, since his self repair is being augmented."
As he said this, Sam twitched slightly, coming online. "What happened?" he asked, dazed.
"You went in to stasis," Bumblebee answered, concern coating his voice. "How are you feeling now?"
"I'm fine, thanks," Sam said, gingerly sitting up. "Everything seems to be working alr-"
"Good, so DON'T YOU EVER GIVE ME A SCARE LIKE THAT AGAIN!" Bumblebee glared. Sam, surprised, cowered back a little.
"It's okay, Bee, I'm fine now." Sam insisted, standing up. "See?"
"Even if you were, you won't be for long." A new voice asserted itself, and all three mechs turned to the doorway to find Barricade.
"'Cade?!" Bumblebee stared in surprise at the 'Con. "Slag, I didn't lock the door!"
Barricade laughed a nasty laugh. "That's right. With just a little bit of trickery you let down you guard enough to forget to lock the door." he smirked.
"I don't believe this," Ratchet glared at Barricade. "You owe Sam your life, you pitiful 'Con. And you!" He spun around to face Bumblebee. "How could you forget to lock the door!"
"It was an accident!" Bumblebee defended himself.
"I grow weary of this." Barricade snarled, activating his cannons.
"Oh?" Sam stepped forward, arms crossed. "Shoot me, then. If everything you've done was trickery, then why don't you just shoot me?"
"Sam, what are you-" Ratchet started, but was stopped by Bumblebee. Confused, Ratchet looked at the yellow mech, who shook his head slightly. Ratchet knew that if Sam had been in any danger, Bumblebee would never have let him step up, so he had to content himself with standing down and watching.
"What are you talking about?" Barricade seemed confused, even somewhat hesitant. Sam smiled softly.
"'Cade. If you meant everything you said, and it was all really trickery on your part, then you'll shoot me. Look, I'll even make it easy on you." Sam took another step forward and opened his spark chamber. Barricade took a step back.
"Why are you being so suicidal?" Barricade sputtered, very unsure of himself now. Sam just gave him a smile, and Barricade frowned. The slagger was baiting him. Glaring in anger, Barricade charged his cannons and fired.
---
"Starscream. You let him escape." Megatron's voice was slow and deliberate.
"N-no, Sir. You see- I had a hunch that if I allowed him to escape, we'd get a new Allspark!" Starscream frantically said, thinking up an excuse. Megatron just stared at him while he fidgeted- Why had he come up with such a stupid excuse?
"Prove it." Megatron stated, and Starscream shivered.
"W-well..." Starscream hoped a miracle would come and save him. Perhaps it would. Activating the base computer, he scanned the entire Earth for any traces of Allspark energy.
Instantly, the computer went haywire. It beeped and flashed, sparking and shuddering. The monitor showed very high Allspark activity right in the Earth's core, and yet it wasn't quite Allspark energy. The scientist in Starscream surveyed the possibilities and found only one. The dark energy from Unicron must have been removed from the Witwicky child somehow, and gone into the core of the Earth. Essentially, Earth was now a dark version of the Allspark.
On a hunch, Starscream cut one of the wires from the computer's mainframe, touching it to a nearby electrical device that had been left by the humans- Something called an 'iPod'. Instantly a spark jumped from the wire to the device and it transformed into a miniature, Frenzy-like creature, standing at attention.
"The dark Allspark," Starscream said proudly, as though that had been his intention all along. "Rather than creating a Spark that can think and feel, it creates a mindless soldier that will follow orders to the end. Furthermore, anything that can detect it's energy can work as a medium for the Allspark, and therefore no direct contact with the core is required."
"Really now?" Megatron grinned. "Bot, take three steps forward and offline yourself."
Without hesitating, the iPod-robot took three steps forward, fell off the table, and blasted itself with a rocket launcher. Megatron chucked. "Good job, Starscream. Now let us proceed with our original plan..."
A/N: Yes, Bumblebee also happens to have the stingers he has in Animated. As for Sam's car form, think Blurr from Animated, with a black and white colour scheme. And yeah, short chapter, I know... I was sick. =/
*See Scientific-ish Explanation of Starscream's Machine, Chap 3