Chapter 8

Bound down to tables in the Nemesis' sick bay, Midnight and Zero struggle to break free.

"How'd we get into this mess?" groans Midnight. "We didn't do anything to them."

"Well, you did kind of take out a Decepticon a few days ago," grunts Zero.

"Which they don't even know because they thought I was an Autobot," counters Midnight, wriggling his wrists.

"Mid, I'm sorry," apologizes Zero as she looks over at him with worried hazel eyes. "If I haven't—"

"You already said so yourself," responds Midnight. "What's done is done. And I guess we're part of this war now. There's no going back."

"Back then, I did everything for us to get us by," Zero says solemnly, finally resigning to their fate. "And all you could do is encourage and support me. Now it's my turn to encourage and support you, Mid."

"Don't talk like that," replies Midnight, still struggling against his restraints. "We'll get out of here and run as far away from all of this as we can."

"Mid, what did you mean back there?" asks Zero, looking up at the dark ceiling. "When you talked about us making a home anywhere?"

"Earth is doomed, Zero," answers Midnight grimly. "Whether by humans or Autobots and Decepticons, this planet doesn't have a bright future either way. I've seen the signs all over. There's no point trying to save a planet that is beyond saving."

"You really believe that?" Zero was feeling disappointed by the response. "You really believe we can't do anything, even with you as a giant robot?"

"Zero, robot or not, it's just the two of us," Midnight articulates. "What can we do for this planet?"

Just then, Knockout enters the room bearing a canister of some sinister-looking red-violet liquid.

"Hope you two are comfortable," banters the medic. "You'll be here a while."

"Let her go!" shouts Midnight. "She's done nothing to you!"

"And miss out on all the fun we'll have?" jokes Knockout. He begins filling a very fine syringe with some of the liquid. "I've always wondered how humans will react to Dark Energon, considering they're inhabitants of a planet made from Unicron himself."

"No! Stop!" Midnight struggles harder to break free. "Leave her alone!"

Zero screams out in pain as the syringe stabs into her arm. She could feel the mysterious liquid flowing into her bloodstream and a strange sensation washes over her body. She soon became quiet and her body goes limp as her head falls to the side. Her eyes glaze over as a purplish hue overtakes them.

"What have you done to her?" cries out Midnight.

"Well that was anticlimactic," Knockout utters in disappointment. "I was hoping for more of a show."

"Zero! Zero, talk to me!" pleads Midnight. "Please talk to me!"

Knockout fills up a bigger syringe with the Dark Energon and approaches Midnight's table with a smirk.

"I'll make you pay!" growls the robot.

"We'll see about that," sneers Knockout as he injects the Dark Energon into Midnight.

Almost instantly, Midnight felt a burning sensation rush through his body and he cries out from the pain of it. He becomes woozy and his sight begins to blur. He suddenly hears Knockout talking about something, but couldn't hear clearly what was said. The next thing he knew, the sound of frantic footsteps and gunfire echoed from outside. But there was nothing he could do as he gradually passes out.


"Midnight. Midnight, can you hear me?"

Midnight groans as he groggily opens his optics to see the concerned face of Ratchet. He could sense his body was lying down on something, but he was unrestrained.

"R… Ratchet…?" he utters softly. "Wh… where am I?"

He hears another voice and turns to see Optimus Prime.

"We received a distress signal from Zero and got a GroundBridge to your coordinates as quickly as we could," explains the Autobot leader.

"Zero…" Midnight repeats dizzily. He tries to sit up, but Ratchet tries to ease him back down.

"Easy, Midnight," warns the medic. "Wait until you get your strength back."

"I… I need to see Zero…" insists Midnight, trying to shake off the grogginess. "Where is she…?"

"You need to lie down," repeats Ratchet.

"Where is she?" Midnight asks again with a bit more strength in his voice.

Optimus Prime takes a step to the side to reveal Zero lying very still on a human-size bed near him. Bumblebee stood watching over her.

"No…" Midnight rolls out of the bed, causing cables to break away from him. Ratchet tries to stop him, but Optimus holds him back. "Zero… Is she…?"

"She's not dead," affirms the medic. He hesitates to speak again. "But she's… not quite alive, either."

Midnight was silent for some time as he tries to cope with everything that's happened.

"They… they injected us with Dark Energon…" he strains to talk. "How did you guys know to find us?"

"We enabled a comlink on Zero's phone," explains Bulkhead. "Zero didn't want to tell you because she knew how much you didn't want to align yourself with us."

Midnight begins to sob. "Zero… I'm so sorry…"

"Injecting a human with Dark Energon…" Arcee utters in disgust. "Those Decepticons…"

"The last time we had a human exposed to Dark Energon, it was from a gun blast," notes Ratchet. "But an injection of refined Dark Energon…"

"Can she be saved?" asks Midnight, forcing himself to regain his composure.

Everyone falls silent.

"I… I don't know…" responds Ratchet. "I'm not familiar enough with human biology, but we know someone who is."

"I've already contacted Jack and his mother," spoke up Arcee. "They should be here any minute."

Soon enough, Jack and his mother June arrive on the scene with a medical kit. Jack does his best to assist his mother while she examines Zero.

"She's comatose," diagnoses June. "We'll need to put her on a life support system to keep her alive. Her condition is really bad."

"I will call Agent Fowler to see what he can do," affirms Optimus.

"I haven't seen anyone look this bad since Raf," notes Jack. "What happened to her?"

Midnight manages to shake off the initial haze he was in and become fully conscious of what was happening. A burning rage was building up inside of him at his uselessness to help Zero. He stands up and clenches his fists.

"I've done nothing but be a disappointment to her since I got this body," he utters emotionally. He looks over at the Autobots. "I want to do what I can to make this right."

"Revenge isn't going to bring her back, Midnight," asserts Arcee. "I've lost two partners. I know how you feel."

"I can't just stand by and let the Decepticons get away with this," declares Midnight.

"You're not going anywhere," affirms Ratchet. "You've got nothing but Dark Energon flowing through you. We can't be sure of how it affects you compared to Megatron. You need to remain in the base until we know there are no side effects that could jeopardize us."

Midnight narrows his now purplish optics at the medic and then looks down at Zero. The last thing he wanted was to make their current situation even worse for the both of them. With a sigh, he goes over to sit down next to Zero.

"I want to be here when she wakes up," he declares firmly.

Optimus nods in response. "We will do everything in our power to help bring her back."