The Speed of Death
Later on in the day, Blurr and BumbleBee were outside of the base.
"Hey Bee, lets race!" Blurr said. "I have extra energy that I must burn."
"Okay!" Bee said, transforming and preparing his speed boosters.
Blurr smiled and transformed. "Ready, set, GO!" Blurr said taking off.
"Hey! No fair!" BumbleBee yelled, chasing Blurr.
Blurr saw BumbleBee in his rear view mirrors and sped up. BumbleBee laughed and activated his speed boosters.
"Come on, Blurr. Give me some challenge." BumbleBee said driving up next to Blurr.
Blurr sped up again. "How's this?"
"I can beat that!" BumbleBee laughed.
Suddenly, a tall Neutral mech stepped in front of Blurr. Blurr squealed to a halt and looked up at the grey and navy jet. BumbleBee's tires left burn marks in the road as he stopped abruptly. Soon the Neutral mech was joined with by three others. One was bulky and looked to be more brawn then brain. Another was taller than the first and wore glasses. The last was the thinnest and looked to have a speedy personality.
"Hey look what we have here." The bulky one said.
"Some Autobot speedsters seem to have lost track of where they are." The tallest one said.
"Seems like the Neutral uprising will start with the destruction of these two." The thinnest said.
"No. I have a better idea. Destroy the blue one and let the yellow one go to tell his comrades about our plot to start the war again. Only we won't crash like the 'cons. We'll stand strong and win this war!" the first mech said. "Grab the blue one!"
"Yes, Master BloodShed!" The three others said.
"Bee, RUN!" Blurr yelled.
"What about you, Blurr!"
"I'm right behind you." Blurr yelled.
BumbleBee took off toward the Autobot base. Blurr followed BumbleBee.
"Chase them!" BloodShed yelled.
The other three Neutrals transformed. The bulky one transformed into a large tank, the tallest to a long, thin aircraft and the thinnest to a motor bike designed for sport racing. The tank, aircraft and sports bike chased Blurr and BumbleBee.
At the base, Prowl, Lockdown, KnockOut, and Proximity were in the living room, watching a romantic / comedy. Then, Prowl received a com link from BumbleBee.
"Prowl! Me and Blurr are being chased by Neutrals!"
"Neutrals?"
Proximity looked at Prowl.
"Prowl, what's wrong?" LockDown asked.
"Bee and Blurr are being chased by Neutrals."
"Ask him why." KnockOut said.
Proximity makes a com link to someone. After a while, Proximity's optics were wide.
"Prox?" KnockOut said with concern.
"BloodShed," Proximity paused. "BloodShed in planning to start another war. The Autobots and Decepticons against the Neutrals. BloodShed says that without the war between the Autobots and Decepticons it will ruin the balance of life and that the Autobots and Decepticons will try to get us to join sides."
"What?" LockDown said.
"BloodShed is going to call all the Neutrals in the universe to meet at the Neutral base that he, NashFarrow, BrawnCall, and NibeSaw have built. Coordinates only send to Neutrals."
"That's crazy!" KnockOut said.
"I know. I can't argue with the Neutral leader. I must leave." Proximity said standing and walking to the door.
Proximity looked back at KnockOut. "I'm sorry." Proximity left the base.
Later, KnockOut sat in his room, bawling his optics out. His processor couldn't stop repeating the image of his beloved Proximity leaving. Soon, though, KnockOut heard his room door open. KnockOut looked to see SoundWave standing in the doorway.
"Oh, good afternoon SoundWave." KnockOut said trying to sound calm.
SoundWave walked to KnockOut and sat down on KnockOut's berth. Cybertronian words flickered onto his screen.
'I heard crying. Are you okay?'
"Why should you care? I know you remember what I did to you."
'Yes and it hurt. But now you're hurting and I want to help you through it.'
The words displayed on SoundWave's screen made KnockOut smile. "Thanks SoundWave."
KnockOut explained the situation for an hour and also told of his feelings. After, SoundWave gave KnockOut a hug. KnockOut sighed and hugged SoundWave back.
"SoundWave, My bond mate left. I need help."
SoundWave hugged tighter. KnockOut then came up with an idea.
"I know what I can do!"
SoundWave looked at KnockOut. KnockOut lifted SoundWave's head and examined his broken vocal processor.
"That looks painful. I could fix that for you." KnockOut offered.
SoundWave nodded.
Meanwhile, in an aircraft stationed on top of a mesa, BloodShed, leader of the Neutral brigade, sat on his throne in the bridge of the craft.
"My fellow neutrals, the peace between the Decepticons and Autobots has robbed most of you of your jobs. My primary job was dispensing you all to the factions that have paid for your services. Without your services needed, my job has become obsolete. I have a plan to fix this problem. Each of you will contribute your battle skills in the new war."
"New war?" an orange and green mech said.
"Yes, CobeScreek, a new war. Us neutrals, against the Decepticons and Autobots. We too need work and they've robbed us of that right!" BloodShed said aggravation obvious in his tone.
Proximity was barely paying attention to BloodShed's rant. His processor was focused on the terrible thought of fighting KnockOut. His true love was his enemy now. The 'Romeo and Juliet' feelings he had then were spark destroying. His life went from peaceful and perfect to disastrous. Soon his processor drifted into a fantasy.
Proximity and KnockOut where driving side by side and then KnockOut drove into a field of roses and daisies, petals flying and floating from behind him. Proximity followed and stopped as he watched KnockOut drive around him in a strange way before drifting up next to him. KnockOut transformed and smiled warmly at Proximity. Proximity transformed and looked around at the ground that had been driven through. KnockOut took Proximity's servo and they both rose into the air. Proximity looked down at the field below to see a rose and daisy heart. Proximity looked up at KnockOut. KnockOut was smiling at Proximity. Proximity smiled back at KnockOut. KnockOut brought their lips close but then a voice snapped Proximity out of his day dream.
"Proximity! Proximity, wake from your stupor!" A low voice yelled in Proximity's audios.
Proximity woke and saw a violet and ebony muscle mech. "Oh, sorry JackCrane. I was fantasizing."
"Fantasizing? Why would you need to fantasize when your dreams are coming true?" JackCrane told his lifelong friend.
"What are you talking about?" Proximity asked.
"Lord BloodShed has made you his SIC and lover. You still have a crush on him don't you?" JackCrane asked.
Proximity looked at BloodShed and sighed. "I….I guess."
BloodShed stood from his throne and gestured to Proximity to come to him. Proximity walked to BloodShed and he allowed the mech to caress his body and kiss the top of his head.
"Neutrals! Rest up, for tomarrow we wage war on the peace loving slaggers!"
Later that night, BloodShed took Proximity to his quarters to claim his thought virgin bondless mate. Proximity knew BloodShed's intentions. BloodShed pins Proximity to a wall in his room and crashes his lips to his in a harsh kiss. Proximity doesn't respond to the kiss or the harsh nature of being pinned to a solid Cybertronian steal wall. BloodShed opened both of their spark chambers and tried to merge their sparks but nothing happened. Proximity watched as BloodShed backed away.
"Proxy, did you merge with someone?" BloodShed asked.
"Yes, I did. I merged with someone I had to desert to be here." Proximity said. "I merged with someone I love. Not with someone who thought I'd be a good interfacing servant."
BloodShed growls and looks at the floor. "Who is this mech?"
"He is KnockOut, a Decepticon." Proximity said, pushing himself off the wall and standing erect.
"You merged with a 'con? You're a traitor!" BloodShed yelled.
"I merged with him before the peace. I'm not a traitor! I am still neutral. I'm just a neutral who chose to merge with a Decepticon."
BloodShed sighed and looked at Proximity. "If you weren't one of the top five neutral warriors, I'd banish you. Your skills in the field are too valuable to our plan. You shall remain neutral but you must stay in the storage bay."
"Yes, Lord BloodShed." Proximity left and went to the storage bay to recharge.
The next morning, Proximity was still in recharge and was dreaming of KnockOut. But he was woken from his heavenly dream by a familiar voice.
"Proximity, wake up. What are you doing here?" JackCrane asked. "You should be in BloodShed's berth with him."
"I was told by our master to stay in here." Proximity said. "I told him that I merged with a Decepticon."
"You WHAT!" JackCrane said, voice whittled with surprise.
"I wanted to, Jack!" Proximity snarled. "I love him. I hated having to leave him. KnockOut's probably with SoundWave right now."
"Whoa whoa whoa! You merged with KnockOut? THE KnockOut? He's like one of the most gorgeous Mech's in Cybertronian history!"
"Uh, yeah." Proximity said.
"I'll sneak you to the Decepticon ship." JackCrane said.
"Why?" Proximity asked.
"I wanna meet KnockOut and I'm your friend." JackCrane said.
Later that day, Proximity and JackCrane were driving down the road. JackCrane's vehicle mode is a standard industrial hook and chain crane but with green streaks on the doors.
"Prox, do you know where he could be?" JackCrane asked.
"Jack, I have inside connections. I could easily com KnockOut but he seems to have disconnected his coms. I'll have to com someone else." Proximity said. "Prowl. Prowl, can you hear me?"
"Proximity? You still have this link code?"
"Prowl, shut up. Where's KnockOut?"
"Last time I saw him, he was in the med bay working on SoundWave's vocal capacitor."
"Scrap!" Proximity exclaimed.
"What's wrong?" JackCrane asked.
Proximity didn't reply to JackCrane's question. Proximity increased his speed and blazed down the street.
"Proximity?" JackCrane yelled after Proximity. "Slag. Something happened." JackCrane sped up and slowly caught up to Proximity. "Prox! What happened?"
"You'll see, Jack." Proximity said.
At the Autobot base, Prowl was working on sending a coordinates to Proximity so he could find KnockOut faster. Then Prowl feels a servo and a hook on his shoulders. Prowl looks back at the other mech.
"LockDown, please, not now. I have to send KnockOut's coordinates to Proximity."
"I can see that you're working on that, kid. I just have news to tell ya." LockDown said.
Prowl looks at LockDown.
"Optimus is missing."
Prowl stood fast. "What! Do you know what happened?"
"I saw a gang of Neutrals dragging something large out of the base. Optimus could have been kidnapped."
Prowl sat and covered his face with his servos. "Everything is happening so fast. Things are going to get dangerous fast."
"Yeah, the Neutrals have been preparing this for a while. I can tell." LockDown said. "We've got to get the Neutrals to join sides and we must kill their leader and his SIC."
Prowl nods. "Yes, we must take out their leaders first though."
"Yeah, without their leaders they'll have to join sides." LockDown said.
