Final Project Chapter Seven

I do not own Transformers; I only borrow the ideas and characters for my own and hopefully reader's enjoyment.

Megatron did follow through on his bargain to Sam. Wheeljack had no idea what Megatron meant when he said Sam could fix them, but when Sam gave him the design, Wheeljack felt a weight onhis chassis and soon after felt power flowing through him. His spark pulsed with the power, and Wheeljack could feel the repairs. When the weight lifted, Wheeljack felt better than he had in vorns. Perceptor vented in relief after a time.

Wheeljack heard the shield open and close, and then the sounds meaning that Megatron and Soundwave left. It could hear Sam moving, and eventually figured out that Sam was in pain. "Sam? Are you hurt?"

"Yes," Sam said, its voice hitching and uneven. "The healing hurts. Don't worry; I'll be fine once I can sleep." Eventually the moving sounds ended with a rustling sound. There was a quiet sound Sam was making, but after a time his breathing leveled, indicating that he was in recharge.

Wheeljack was glad of the silence. Sam might be able to use the All-Spark power to repair, but that did not stop the feeling of violation from Soundwave's invasion of his processor. That damned 'con had poked in his thoughts and memories and left. Wheeljack knew he got anything it wanted. Listening to Preceptor scream did not help. Wheeljack was ashamed at how relieved he was when Sam gave them the design.

"Jack," Perceptor's voice came across the lab, speaking Cybertronian. "Did Sam fix you too?" At Wheeljack's agreement, he added, "He's full of surprises."

"I never really believed everything they said about him at the base," Wheeljack said. "Can they come after us? I mean, if the Cube's completed if he dies? What will Optimus do?"

"I don't know," Perceptor said, troubled. "They said he's close to Optimus, and after everything they've been through together you can understand why. But getting us out of here would mean risking a lot of us, and as soon as they get attacked they'll kill us and move him, you know how the Decepticons act. Where's the good in that?"

Wheeljack pointed out. "They had to threaten us for him to give. And he told them it was preliminary. You ever had an idea work right the first time, no problems?" Perceptor had to agree that preliminary plans never worked that way. "That's why they want us to work it up. Otherwise they'd hand it to Hook or one of their scientists."

On that unhappy thought they were quiet.

As Sam said, he was better the next day, though not well. They did not mention the design again, but they did ask about the healing. Sam said that it was not the healing that hurt, so much as channeling the power. Then he began talking a little about the progression of the melding, how for decades there was little sign of the presence, how the 'cons had taken him once and tormented him, and how he did not remember exactly what happened but he had been put down, and then rescued by Optimus.

He talked about the time he had healed Bumblebee one time, when his closest friend was dying. He spoke, very softly, of the death of his wife, and how he had grieved for her for years. About how someone had harvested the material for the Cube-

"That was me," Wheeljack admitted. Both Red Alert and Optimus chewed him out for that stunt.

"Thanks," Sam said sincerely. Then he went on to talk about the download, and his second capture by the Decepticons, about how the questioning and about the times that he had been endangered and the presence responded.

"Could they do that to us?" Wheeljack blurted out.

"No. The presence would send your sparks on. I asked." Perceptor asked how Sam communicated with the presence. Sam explained.

"It's much clearer now, after the stunt Swoop pulled," he said wryly. "Not easy, but easier."

"So you've worked with Optimus since you were no more than a youngling," Perceptor said.

"Hey, most of the time that's been a good thing for me," Sam said. "The company might be owned by the Nation of Cybertron in exile, but I get one percent of the profits for my own personal use, and I'm considered rich. I've had everything I ever needed and most of what I wanted. I've done work I'm proud of. Not so many humans can say that. "

"Do you have family?" Wheeljack asked. Sam laughed and told them stories about his children. He got an occasional laugh from them, especially about Poppy's antics hiding from Bumblebee, and how Optimus and Ironhide would tell stories to the children about other planets but were fascinated with how he and the children could find constellations and cloud pictures when they could not. They laughed hard at Sam's story of how Poppy, a teenager at the time, smacked a newly-arrived First Aid on the ankle with one of Ratchet's wrenches and yelled at him to put her boyfriend down.

" To tell the truth, the bots raised them almost as much as Mikaela and I did," he remarked. "Poppy's never been scared of the bots since she yawned at Optimus two days after she was born. Hard to think they're adults now and have their own children. Poppy and Jimmie have grandchildren. "They were astounded, and the discussion went to how often humans bred. That started a lively argument over which kind of reproduction was better.

The talk eased the tension a little through the next day. No Decepticons appeared.

Then Hook came in and took the human out. Two hours later, he brought Sam back and dumped him on the bed, so soundly asleep that when he fell from the bed he did not wake. Hook returned the next day. Sam hid, and when Hook saw him, dodged the 'con's attempts to grab him for some time. When he did catch hold of the human, Hook yelped, and immediately afterward Sam shrieked. "I'll teach you some respect," the Constructicon snarled as he carried a struggling Sam out of the room.

This time when Sam came back he moved slowly, dragging himself around the pen and moving only as much as he had to. "What's going on, Sam?" Perceptor asked. By this time they knew how Sam sounded when he was in pain.

"Hook's trying to get me to talk. Searcher's disappeared. There's a bug in here." They heard the sounds of Sam heating something to refuel with.

"How did an insect get in here?" Wheeljack asked. Sam laughed just a little, made a soft pain sound, and explained that there was a listening device in the room. Then he moved to the shower and stayed in the spray for a time, before getting to the bed to sleep.

Hook came again. Sam was still asleep. From what the bots could hear, the 'con threw the covering off. Sam yelped and cursed, but then quieted. "I think this one will work. You look so relaxed," Hook snickered. "Let me look at you. " There was the sound of movement. "Now, how did you heal those bruises so quickly?"

Bruises, Wheeljack remembered, were marks of damage to a human, a sign of bleeding under the skin. Primus, what had Sam endured yesterday? He was only a fragile human, was Hook trying to kill him? There was silence, but when Hook repeated his question, Sam said, "The presence heals me when I can get into a deep sleep." His voice was utterly calm, though soft.

"Will you be my good little squishy now and talk to me?" Sam did not speak but made an 'hmm' sound. Over the next few hours, Hook questioned the human, and Sam answered the questions in that same soft calm tone, without hesitation, and without thinking first. Sometimes the answers were nonsense, as the time that Hook asked how many children Sam had; Sam said he had three legitimately and one illegitimately.

"That doesn't make sense," Hook said.

"You're the one who made me high as a kite," Sam pointed out, and giggled dreamily. Then he added, "I'm going to throw up."

That phrase made no sense to the bots, but Hook evidently understood , as he hastily moved Sam to the waste area. Sam purged, and Hook made an exasperated sound.

"No wonder Fixer didn't think much of these chemicals," it said. "All of them seem to make you sick. Why is that?"

"The presence doesn't like them," Sam answered. He yawned and moved away from the waste area, slumping on the floor. Hook left him there and questioned him about the presence. Sam talked at length, and all the Cybertronians listened in fascination to Sam talk about how the presence killed Megatron because it overpowered a bot's spark, about how most organics went insane when they tried to take the presence, and he almost had, and how the download was storing Sam's memories along with the ones from the Cube. How he could channel the power for healing, how the presence had given him the cure for the antihuman virus and helped him download it to bots and how rescuing the sparklings hurt.

"So that's why the Master's plan failed," Hook commented thoughtfully. Hook asked how the sparklings were made and Sam told them in full detail. Hook walked away from the pen for a short time, coming into Wheeljack's view, and Wheeljack was surprised to find that Hook looked as horrified as he felt. The sound of water told Wheeljack that Sam was taking the opportunity to void, something he did in as much privacy as he could manage.

When Hook went back, Sam had tried to get to the bed, fallen on the way, and curled up to go to sleep on the floor. When Hook woke him, he whined that he did not feel good. Hook asked him what happened to Fixer.

"Optimus tore him up," Sam said, and yawned again. "Like Megatron tore up Jazz but in more pieces. Jolt recorded it for Sideswipe and the trine. Sunstreaker wanted to see it when he came. They all hated Fixer. Besides, he tried to blow Optimus up." After that, Hook put Sam in the bed and did something that made Sam complain about his throat hurting. Hook told him to shut up, he had to refuel and he would not purge this. Then he left, and Sam went to sleep.

"What did Hook do to Sam?" Perceptor asked. "All they had to do to get him to talk before and then he babbles like Bluestreak on a bad day!"

"Hook said something about a chemical," Wheeljack said. "Did you see Hook after Sam talked about the sparklings? The look on his face! "

Somewhere in this discussion Sam woke up. "Optimus said it happened before, and they let the sparks go," he said distantly. "They took Fixer's weapons and his ability to take an alt mode, and exiled him." He sighed. "On Earth they call someone like that a psychopath. You isolate them from society, or you kill them. It's the only way to stop them. "

"I have to agree," Perceptor said. "Sam, what did Hook do to you?"

"That was a drug," Sam said, still sounding detached. "And Hook's an idiot. The drug's called Final Mercy. That's because it usually kills the victim, but it's an easy death. Of course, the victim will answer any question they're asked, but the questioners have to know what to ask." He yawned. "Some of the twisted governments on Earth use it on their political prisoners. I wonder where Hook got them."

The bots were stunned. "You mean you're going to die?" Wheeljack yelped.

"I think I would have already," Sam reassured them, in the same distant tone. "But I think it's done some damage. If he uses it again, the second time will kill me even with the All-Spark trying to heal me. Wonder if Hook knows that."

Sometime during the conversation, the door opened so quietly that neither of them noticed. Several small bots, smaller than Bumblebee, came in, and swarmed onto the lab tables. Wheeljack heard amech voice hiss in his ear, "Keep talking. Cover the noise." Not able to think of anything else, Wheeljack started cursing, and telling off Soundwave, Megatron, and any other 'con he could think of. That was common enough behavior with the Decepticons they threw in the brig at the base. The bot, whoever he was, was loosening the bonds.

When he ran out of ideas, Perceptor started carrying on about how their situation was hopeless. If they weren't being released at the same time as Percy was whining, Wheeljack thought, I'd yell at Percy for being disloyal. So he did, just as he turned and noted that another small bot was wrapping Sam securely in his bed covering. The mech put something over Sam's face that was attached to a tank of some kind. He opened a clear ball and placed Sam in it, strapping him down securely. Wheeljack reached over and got the small 'laptops' Sam used to store information in, knowing that Sam had the design in one of them, and shoved them into his chest armor. That was as safe as he could make them. Perceptor motioned to the luggage and supplies, but the bot shook his head.

Then all of them moved, with one of the small mechs ahead of them. Wheeljack saw no symbol on them. These must be the neutrals Sam spoke of. But how in the Pits had they known where to find them? Wheeljack decided not to concern himself with a gift from Primus. Anything was better than being helpless. When he was released, the mech released weapons as well. Wheeljack would fight to the death if needed to keep from being captured again.

The answer appeared around the nearest corner. Searcher was waiting, and led them out as fast as possible. The halls and rooms they went through were deserted. Finally they came to a small ship, got in, and drifted off. When they were free of the base, the thrusters fired.

They were free.

"Get us to the human base as soon as possible," Searcher said, with panic barely held back in its voice. "Sam is having trouble breathing even with the oxygen."

Sam barely remembered getting to the colony. He remembered the escape, with Swoop snatching him up and wrapping him in the bedspread, then putting the oxygen on. Sam had to admit that under those circumstances, he had no problem going into the ball. When he saw Searcher, he knew why he had disappeared. Still feeling the effects of the drug, he watched as they made it to the spacecraft. Swoop gave him over to Searcher, who wrapped his hands around the ball, trying to hold the warmth in.

Sam was fine until the ship really began to move, and then he was fighting to get every breath in. He heard Searcher tell the others the problem. He heard Wheeljack and Perceptor telling Searcher about the drug. Sam just concentrated on moving his breath in and out. The oxygen helped. After an eternity, Swoop came and took Sam from Searcher. They went into space, very briefly, and then were in a human sized shuttle bay. Swoop took Sam out of the ball and immediately handed him into a door.

What looked like a small army of medical personnel was waiting, along with Ronnie. They took Sam, putting him into a stretcher and moving him at speed somewhere. When they stopped, Ronnie came up to the stretcher, and Sam gripped his son's hand and refused to let go. Wisely, the medics just moved around Ronnie, getting Sam to a room with bunches of electronic medical equipment in it. They hooked up an IV and replaced the oxygen mask with something that helped his breathing better, and put something over his chest that steadied his heartbeat.

That was when Sam spoke for the first time. "No drugs," he said, and told them what he was given.

"We have an antidote," they said promptly, and a few minutes later squirted something into his IV. "It won't repair the damage already done, but it'll neutralize what's left, and we'll gauge the damage from there. "

Then they left Sam alone with Ronnie. "Ronnie," Sam said urgently as soon as they were alone. "We need to know where the Decepticons got that drug. They may be working with the prison colony."

"I'll pass that on, " his son promised, and took out some kind of communication device. He spoke to Swoop and then to the Autobot base, letting them know that Sam was stable and passing on the warning. "You guys go ahead and report," he said. "I'll be in touch as soon as I know more."

He signed off and sighed. "Hi, Dad," he said, smiling for the first time. "Long time no see." Sam smiled back, and for the first time felt safe.

Ronnie watched as his father slept. The last few days had been frantically busy, and threw him into a world he had never seen. Space was different. He had to admit he had less trouble with the prosthesis, though. There was contact directly from Optimus about Sam's warning, and a promise that the matter would be looked into.

When Optimus got work from Grimlock that Soundwave was dead, they were able to begin the real rescue. The next surprise was word from Swoop that they had a possible way into the Decepticon base. Trust Dad, Ronnie thought, to do a Decepticon a favor, thinking absolutely nothing would come from it, and find an ally. Freed from the virus and armed with the information on the neutrals, Searcher contacted Swoop and made its offer. Swoop accepted warily. Searcher had been as good as its word, and would get a chance to establish itself on Earth as a neutral.

Swoop must have seen the offer as a gift from Primus. The former high priest and followers had to rescue Sam, but they did not want to die any more than most beings did, and this way they could obey the programming, and get something out of it. As Slag said, they were desperate for energon. The chance of getting a source might have motivated them to help even without the reprogramming forcing them into it.

Looking as his father surrounded by hooks and wires, Ronnie hoped that Megatron would tear Hook to pieces. He was glad, fiercely glad, that they had their revenge on the scum that put his father on that shuttle. He did not leave until he could see Sam was in the deep healing sleep he had seen before. The medical people who came in were amazed at how Sam was recovering; despite their professional cover when his father appeared, Ron could see that they did not expect the improvement they were seeing. After making sure that there was no more antidote needed, Ron emphasized that his father did not need more drugs that he would recover better without. "Whatever you say," one of the nurses said. "The recovery's amazing!"

"Even with the heart thing…."

"According to the information we have, we thought he'd need a kidney machine and artificial respiration! Hell, he's not using the pacemaker much! It's amazing!"

Ron found their reaction encouraging, and went to get something to eat feeling better. In the night they were able to take off the heart assist device, and then moved the breathing assistance to plain oxygen. They found Ronnie a cot so he could stay nearby.

The next day Sam woke up, but he was quiet. He did talk to Ronnie about his time as an involuntary guest of the Decepticons. He talked in bursts, before having to catch his breath. The medical staff encouraged him to rest, but slowly let him start drinking, and moved him to light food. They ran tests. They let Sam have his laptops when Ronnie got them. Sam discovered he could contact Wheeljack and Perceptor, and sent them the design with the warning that it needed work. Ronnie looked over his father's shoulder as they discussed revisions.

"I gave the 'cons the same design," he told Ronnie. "I didn't really have a choice. He was going to kill one of them and I gave."

"It's all right, Dad," Ronnie said, even as he winced inwardly. "Oh, I never told you. Grimlock and the Dinobots killed Soundwave. Sludge managed to trap it into intercepting a transmission and they finally found it. "Sam started typing. After a moment, he snickered and showed Ronnie a screen with fireworks and swirling colors.

"I just told Wheeljack and Perceptor about Soundwave, and that's their reaction," he said. Then he coughed, and breathed slowly for a time. A nurse hurried in and made him put up the laptop. Ronnie excused himself to contact the bots.

"Oh, and we found out where the drug came from," Ronnie added. "You know the Chinese colony?" Sam nodded. "One of their pharmacists was found in vacuum. Optimus is looking into the possible Decepticon contact, but I think that confirms it. " Sam only sighed. "Let the others deal with it, Dad. You get better."

Back on Earth, Poppy listened to the transmission Ronnie made and gave a small shriek when she heard what her father was given. Jeremy looked stricken, and Sheena looked grim. To the surprise of Bumblebee, who played it for them, they ran into Sam's house, and he saw the light go on in the room with Sam's monster computer. An hour later they all came out, clearly upset. Poppy had tear tracks on her face. Bumblebee called Optimus as the yellow bot stalled them. When the leader appeared, both the bots demanded an explanation.

"No one's ever survived?" Bumblebee repeated, after Poppy blurted out the reason she was crying.

"That doesn't mean Sam won't," Sheena said, as Poppy wiped her face again. "But there's no telling how much damage it did to him. And I will tell you this right now. Anything they wanted to know, they got from him. He would have answered any question they asked. He would have given them anything they wanted. That's what it was designed to do. So if he knew any secrets they wanted, they have them. Period."

"He would have talked to them anyway, sooner or later," Optimus told her. "We were prepared for that. What this means for the project he was working on- he was obsessed again. Usually that means it was vitally important."

"All we can do is wait to hear from Ronnie again," Jeremy said.

Two days later the family was gathered around Sam's computer, moved to the courtyard so the bots could listen in. Sam appeared on the video with Ronnie behind him. He looked tired and worn. He managed to smile, and they all greeted him. "Well, as you can see, I've managed to break a record," he said lightly. "I've survived the Final Mercy." Then his smile disappeared. "But." He paused, and Ronnie put hands on his father's shoulders. Sam covered one with his own, and took a deep breath. "The bad news is, the drug did some damage." He went over the damage."The presence can't heal it, at least not quickly and maybe not at all, because it's more wear and tear, not acute damage. All of which I can survive; they tell me that for my age I'm still in remarkable shape. "He looked up at Ronnie and then back at the screen.

"What I won't survive is reentry to the Earth's atmosphere. I can't come home."