Chapter Seven: War
Good things never last.
It was a simple fact of life. Everyone knew it, whether instinctually or through age and experience. It therefore came as no surprise to any of the mechs that the base shook with an explosion just as they began to relax. As it was, it was only Sam that reacted with panic- Everyone else worked with calm efficiency... Or as calm as could be under the threat of attack, at any rate.
Debris fell from the ceiling as Sam and the other mechs immediately ducking for cover. Jazz, Ironhide, Ratchet and Optimus immediately went to the aid of their humans. After all, 'debris' to the Cybertronian race was a rockslide to the humans.
Barricade glared up at the ceiling as though the glare would stop the attack. Bumblebee had to laugh when he saw the glare, but quickly collected himself, dragging both mechs out of the room. Or rather, he would have, if Starscream hadn't landed right in the doorway just as they were about to run out.
Wasting no time, Barricade instantly reacted, blasting at the Seeker and throwing the three of them back at the same time. Starscream's own cannon blast came whistling past a second later, blasting a hole in the wall. The three mechs got up and slowly circled Starscream.
"You think you can defeat me?" Starscreamed laughed mockingly. The mechs said nothing, although Sam was inwardly smirking. They still had a trump card. Starscream most likely didn't.
And so the fighting began. Punches were thrown, cannons blasted. Starscream wore a look of surprise when the first blow was thrown by Barricade, but then smirked and began to get into the fight, grinning. Starscream enjoyed the occasional challenge, so long as he didn't lose.
While Barricade was distracting Starscream with a furious onslaught of attacks, going from underhand tricks to full-blown offensive assaults. In less than a millisecond, the mace Barricade had been about to slam into Starscream turned into a cannon and blasted Starscream in the chest, blowing him backwards and straight into the roundhouse kicks of both Sam and Bumblebee.
Starscream got up, seemingly unperturbed, and began his counterattack. Both arms transformed into plasma cannons that he charged but did not fire, instead performing a feint and half-releasing the charge at Bumblebee before pulling it back in and flipping behind Barricade, who had already moved forward to help Bumblebee. Caught off-guard by the nimble move in a small room, Barricade was unable to defend himself against the blast, and was knocked back. Bumblebee and Sam caught him.
"I see you've improved," Starscream smirked.
One thing Starscream had theorised, and thought would work quite well now, was an artificial electro-magnetic pulse produced by the combined force of the Sparks dwelling in him. Technically, it wasn't an EMP blast- the focused Spark energy was enough to trap the mind of mechs in a dark form of mental prison- That was, of course, assuming that all the Sparks inside of him were Decepticons. An Autobot Spark could well disrupt the stream of energy, unless it was weak. Starscream was rather confident that all the Sparks in him were dark, since he had written a filtering program. At any rate, there was only one way to test it out.
As he thought this, a dark excitement rose up within Starscream; something within him stirred. he felt the energy boiling and the wills of the Sparks joining with his, all endeavouring to cause suffering. All with the same goal. The energy boiled up and burst out of his chest, and headed for the Autobot with the purest spark, intent on trapping him.
That bot was Sam.
Sam had the part of the spark of Primus within him. In addition, he was young, a Sparkling by Cybertronian terms. He had not gone through as much trauma or pain as the rest of the Autobots- he had not seen the carnage of war. Thus the energy seeked him out.
He never saw it coming.
---
When the beam hit Sam, Starscream instantly felt depleted of his strength. Deciding a retreat was due, he quickly flew out through the debris, not noticing the state of the three bots. They were bonded to an extent, after all. Both Bumblebee and Barricade had crumpled in pain when Sam was hit, and Sam himself had collapsed on the ground.
Seeing Starscream fly off, the rest of the Decepticons assumed the worst, and took off after him, pausing only to quickly order any drones to follow them. The Autobots were thankful- Even with their boosted power, they had not been able to completely fend off the 'Cons. However, they had fared better than the last time, so that was some good news...
All thoughts of good news vanished when Optimus saw three crumpled forms lying on the floor. Approaching them cautiously, he found that they were the prone bodies of Bumblebee, Sam and Barricade. Quickly, he commed for Ratchet.
The results were not good. Although Bumblebee and Barricade would wake soon, Sam was in the Cybertronian version of a coma, and there was a cloak of negative energy keeping him that way. "He's like a magnet," Jazz had joked, attempting to lighten up the atmosphere, but no one had laughed.
Ratchet sighed. "There's nothing more I can do until Bumblebee or Barricade wake up and tell me what happened."
Silently, Optimus nodded. "How long?"
"Anything from a minute to a week." Ratchet answered.
"I see." Optimus thought for a moment. "We'll need reinforcements. I'll send for one of the Autobots to arrive. It's better if they come one by one so we don't arouse too much suspicion."
"Who'll have had the time to learn all of Earth's cultures?" Ratchet asked, confused.
Jazz looked at Ratchet. "Blurr." He stated.
"...damn." Ratchet muttered. Blurr was a hyperactive, fast bot. Somewhat arrogant, too, making Ratchet dislike him. The bot had probably downloaded all of the required data in a fraction of a second Possibly less.
"Just be glad it wasn't the twins." Optimus commented. At this, both Ironhide and Ratchet groaned.
At this point, Bumblebee stirred, followed closely by Barricade. "What happened?" Bumblebee asked, then glanced around dazedly. The look in his eyes immediately sharpened into focus when he saw Sam's prone body. "What happened?!" Bumblebee repeated, an edge of panic in his voice now.
"Sam seems to be in a coma. We need you to tell us what happened. How did Sam become like this? My scans show a shroud of dark Spark energy overlaying his Spark." Ratchet spoke.
Barricade, who was considerably less panicked as compared to Bumblebee, decided he should answer before Bumblebee managed to work himself into hysteria. "We were fighting." Barricade paused, as thought looking for the right words. "There was a... shockwave... of energy. Dark energy. When it was over, Sam had collapsed. Both of us followed soon after."
Ratchet blinked, then scanned both Bumblebee and Barricade again. There was a slight tinge of residue dark Spark energy- nothing serious. It could easily be purified, and would be by the mech's own Sparks. Slowly, a thought formed in Ratchet's mind.
He couldn't believe it. Wouldn't believe it. Surely no one could be so cruel? Silently, he looked through his tools, looking for the special scanner he kept for emergency purposes. The scanner was, technically, forbidden technology, since it invaded a mech's privacy by scanning a mech's Spark and showing what was occuring in there. However, the scanner had allowed him to save many patients from going insane, so he refused to give it up. The mechs saw the scanner, but rather wisely opted not to say anything.
He scanned Sam's Spark, and set it so that the output would go to the whole room. The result was astonishing... and terrifying.
The scanner transmitted the output via a databurst to all of the bots in the room. Each and every bot was overcome with visions of fear, panic, hysteria, loneliness, every negative feeling that was thought possible. Optimus, Ironhide, Jazz, Barricade, Ratchet, Bumblebee and Voidhammer all fell on their knees, as feelings of pain and humiliation, anger and hopelessness swam through them. Finally, Ratchet managed to summon up the strength to turn off the scanner.
Everyone sat on the floor, breathing hard. Even the soldiers who had millenia of experience, who had experienced countless battle trauma, even Optimus couldn't handle the onslaught of emotions. Ratchet, shakily, stood up, his theory confirmed.
"Sam is trapped in a prison of his worst nightmares. He is trapped in his own mind, with no way to get out." Ratchet spoke with a solemn look. "Not just his own nightmares, but that of a million others as well... Memories and pain collected over eons." Jazz, who very much wanted to say something to break the tension, such as "That's such a cliche", found that he couldn't. The emotional pain had knocked them all back pretty hard. They'd only experienced it for a few seconds... Sam was going through something terrible.
Bumblebee stood next, and there was a hardness in his eyes that wasn't there before. "What can we do to save him?"
Ratchet sighed. "I don't know."
Wild panic flickered in Bumblebee's eyes, and Barricade knew that the mech's protectiveness of Sam was about to take over. Without saying a word, he placed a calming hand on Bumblebee's shoulder, and the yellow mech slowly calmed.
"There might be a way." Voidhammer looked even older now, despite him being in such a small body. "The bond.... It is possible that Bumblebee and Barricade can travel through it and break Sam out of his prison. But they have to overcome the pain, and make Sam overcome it as well."
"Impossible!" Ironhide muttered. "None of us could withstand the pain!"
But before he had finished, he found that Bumblebee's form lay prone on the floor. Barricade followed suit moments later.
"...Slag." Ratchet murmered. But their bond of friendship was strong. That was shown by the measures both Bumblebee and Barricade had taken just to save their friend. They had been willing to bear the scars of the universe to help their friend, and they had done it without hesitation.
"Good luck." Optimus bowed to the prone forms, showing his respect to their willingness to aid a friend in need. Optmus himself wasn't sure if he was willing to endure such pain again.
The other mechs followed suit, bowing in respect to the prone forms. Even Ironhide did it, and he did it with a sombre sincerity that wasn't common with him. For once, he had pushed away his gruff attitude.
The mechs filed out of the room, quietly. None of them were in the mood for talking. Moments later, Optimus had called for Blurr to be sent down.
---
Having Blurr at the base was something of a comfort. The mech rushed around, doing things faster than the optic could see, with a attitude of optimism that brightened everyone up considerably. Considering the circumstances, the break was a much-needed one.
Even after Blurr was informed of the current situation on Earth, he acted cheerful, lifting up everyone's spirits. It was nice to see someone who had not been scarred by the recent events on Earth.
One thing, however, was clear- The war with the Decepticons had once again started, and this time it was a million times worse.
A/N: Really short chapter, and very abrupt ending... I apologise. I have a bit of a block again- I need to plan things out again. After the next chapter is posted, you can probably expect fast updating again. ^^; Sorry again.