Author's Note: Starts off when OP gets dragged off through the ground bridge. Sorry for the delay, a longer excuse is at the bottom of the page. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own transformers.
Ratchet turned around from his computer to see Bulkhead and Bumblebee dragging a barely conscious, energon leaking Optimus through the ground bridge. Ratchet immediately snapped into medic mode. He briskly walked over to one of the medical berths and said, "Bring him over here, quickly."
The children tossed down their video game controllers and walked over to the railing, watching as their autobots returned to the base.
The Bulkhead and Bumblebee brought Prime over to the berth, and lay him down. Straight away Ratchet set to work at stopping the flow of energon.
"Ratchet," Bulkhead said, "we're going to go help out Arcee and Seraph."
Ratchet didn't look up as he said, "Don't you dare to come back injured, any of you."
Bulkhead and Bumblebee charged through the ground bridge prepared for the battle to come. They ran into an empty battlefield. Arcee turned to see Bulkhead and Bumblebee with confused looks on their faces.
The two walked over to Arcee; she held Seraph's staff in hand, and stood there looking at it, an absolutely defeated look on her face.
"Cee, what happened?" Bulkhead asked.
Arcee looked up at Bulkhead, as if she were on the verge of tears. "They took her. They took her Bulk," she said. "I shouldn't have let her fight. I should have protected her; and now she's been taken by the Decepticons."
Bumblebee beeped and buzzed, trying to comfort and calm her down.
"No, Bee. It's my fault she's gone," Arcee said.
"Arcee, it's not your fault, and we will get her back. It's going to be all right," Bulkhead said. Arcee kept on mumbling to herself about how it was all her fault and that she should have done something. Bulkhead and Bumblebee walked over to her, each grabbing one of her arms much like Bee and Cliff did so long ago. The two carried her through the ground bridge and into the base.
Ratchet turned from Optimus to the ground bridge, finally stabilizing Optimus. Bulkhead and Bumblebee were carrying Arcee who looked nothing like herself. "Is she hurt?" Ratchet asked.
"No," said Bulkhead as he and Bee sat her down on one of the medical berths. "She's just shaken up."
Ratchet looked at the mumbling femme clutching Seraph's staff. Upon seeing the staff Ratchet's intakes hitched. "Where's Seraph?" he asked.
Bulkhead cast a sidelong glance at Bumblebee. He looked down at his pedes, grief swimming in his optics. "She," Bulkhead said gravely, "was taken by the Decepticons."
Ratchet closed his optics; he prayed to Primus that the sparkling would be ok.
Miko stomped over to Bulkhead. "Bulkhead! What are you doing here? You should be up in the 'cons' faces kicking some tailpipe and saving Seraph!" she said.
Bulkhead shook his helm. "It's not that simple Miko; and I am the king of simple. We have no idea where she was taken. Right Ratchet?" Bulkhead asked.
Ratchet checked the autobot life signals on his forearm. Seraph's life signal was shown as well, but it didn't show her location. "Correct," he said.
"Oh," Miko said as she walked back over to Jack and Raf.
Jack looked at Ratchet. "Is Arcee ok?" he asked.
"She is fine Jack. She just needs some rest," Ratchet said. Ratchet turned back to Optimus who blearily opened his optics and looked around the room. He saw Arcee sitting on the berth across from him, her fearless emotional mask completely shattered. He saw Ratchet by his side and Bumblebee and Bulkhead standing off to the side. It took all of his energy to ask, "Where is Seraph?"
Ratchet looked at his leader with pity. "I am afraid she has been taken by the Decepticons, Optimus," Ratchet said.
Optimus's optics widened in horror. "No, no!" he said. He tried to stand, but passed out due to the lack of energon in his systems. He would dream of all the possible horrors that Seraph might come to face.
Ratchet made sure that Optimus was physically stable and turned to the others. "Bumblebee," he said. "Take the children home." Bumblebee nodded and transformed. The children gathered their things, climbed in Bumblebee, and pulled out of the base.
Ratchet turned to Bulkhead. "Take Arcee to her room and make sure she gets some rest," he said. Bulkhead nodded and helped a muttering Arcee to her room.
Ratchet sighed to himself and headed to his computer to try and locate their lost sparkling.
Seraph awoke abruptly to the sound of a loud metal clang. A Vehicon, one of higher rank than those sleeping, walked through the center of the room smacking his metal pipe against the floor. "Wake up and head to room 17B for checkups," he said. On cue, all of the Vehicons transformed and headed toward the door.
Seraph sat there in her vehicular form. What am I going to do? Seraph thought hard, trying to think of a plan. Maybe she could say that she couldn't transform, pretend to drive up to the floor to get a checkup and ditch the crowd. That's stupid; he'll know I'm an imposter from my voice.
As the room emptied the officer spotted Seraph. She grew evermore tense as he neared. The officer stood in front of Seraph and slammed his pipe down on her hood. That pissed her off. "I said wake up and go to room 17B!" he shouted. The room was now empty, save for the officer and Seraph.
There's only one way out of this; through. Seraph decided she would transform and blast the 'con, hopefully not drawing any attention.
Seraph transformed, her hand already at her back grabbing at her bow. There was nothing to grab. Seraph looked at the officer in shock, prepared to use the skills Arcee had taught her. He just glared back at her, the same snarl on his face he had the entire time he was near her.
"What's your name?" he barked.
Seraph stood there and cocked her head to the side, confused as to why the officer was asking for her name and not attacking her.
"I said, what's your name?" he shouted. He jabbed Seraph in the chin with his pipe.
"Er, ShadowBreaker, sir," she said; only it wasn't her voice. The voice that said it was much deeper and male.
"Well, ShadowBreaker, I suggest you haul your aft to room 17B for your checkup," he said as he jabbed Seraph in the helm with the pipe again. This time, though, Seraph had enough and grabbed the pipe from him tossing it behind her. "What in the Pit do you think-" he never got to finish his sentence.
Seraph hit him where his neck met his body with her elbow, intending to burst one of his main energon lines. He fell over unresponsive. Seraph held her servos out in front of her examining them. They weren't her servos, they were the servos of a 'con like the ones that previously left the room. Seraph transformed back into herself and was about to leave the room, when she stopped.
Seraph walked back over to the fallen officer and dragged him over to a dark corner, where she scanned him, and took on his form. No use in walking around as an autobot when I can blend in. Seraph retrieved the pipe the officer had been poking her with and tossed in the air, catching it with ease. With that she walked out of the room in search of a place to leave the Nemesis.
Seraph had been wandering the ship in pursuit of an exit to no avail. She was beginning to get lost in the labyrinth of halls and corridors when a Decepticon of higher rank approached her. Don't be the 'con to sniff out an imposter, she thought.
Seraph prepared to neutralize the Decepticon when he said, "You there, Officer. Lord Megatron has called for all Officers to meet in the control room immediately."
Seraph turned to the 'con; she didn't know where the control room was. She decided to ask him. "Are you headed to the control room now?" she asked; and yet again, it wasn't her voice, it was the voice of the 'con now lying offline in the storage room.
"Yes," he replied. Maybe there will be a map there.
"I shall walk with you then," Seraph said. The two walked silently down the many halls of the ship until they arrived at the control room.
"I didn't catch your name," the 'con said to Seraph as they were about to enter the room.
"ShadowBreaker; yours?" she asked.
"Quickshift. Nice to meet you ShadowBreaker." Quickshift held out his hand to Seraph, which she inevitably shook.
The two walked into the room where two of the three 'cons she took out yesterday were talking to Megatron. Seraph followed Quickshift to a group of other officers that stood off to the side. Airachnid and Soundwave stood at the back of the room in Megatron's line of sight.
"We are sorry Lord Megatron, but we have lost the prisoner," one of the Vehicons said.
Megatron's eyes widened as he screamed, "You what? How could you have lost it? The prisoner had cuffs around its feet, and one of you on each arm!"
The two 'cons looked down in shame. "We are sorry to have failed you, Lord Megatron," they said in unison.
"You are not the only ones," Megatron said. He looked at two guards by his side and said to them, "Get these two out of my sight." The guards grabbed the arms of the Vehicons and dragged them out of the room.
Airachnid stepped forward. "Lord Megatron, if I might ask, what is so valuable about this one autobot?" she asked.
Soundwave pulled up a picture of Seraph during the battle the previous day. "This autobot is extremely dangerous. Its intelligence levels are abnormally high, and it is a strong fighter. It will not yield in a fight, much like some of my best Lieutenants. It is also new to this world; if we are able to make it fight for the Decepticon cause, it will prove a valuable asset," Megatron explained.
Airachnid nodded. "That," Megatron continued, "is why locating and capturing this autobot is our main priority." Megatron directed his attention to the group of gathered officers. "Your mission is to bring me this autobot alive by any means necessary. You are dismissed."
Seraph was taken aback. How did Megatron know so much about her? The officers around her lifted their right servos in some sort of signal to Megatron. Seraph lifted her servo to salute Megatron, but quickly corrected herself, placing her servo over her spark chamber and bowing. Just as Seraph was exiting she heard Megatron say to Soundwave, "We must have Experiment 1244."
The group of officers headed out the door and Seraph tried to stick to the back of the group. She followed them for a while, but ditched the group around a corner. Seraph then headed toward one of the research rooms they had passed, and slipped into the room silently.
There was no door that she saw, and the room was narrow with a large computer against the back wall. Seraph walked over to the computer, and accessed the main database. She typed in a search for 'Experiment 1244'. A file popped up which held equations, past experiments and information on the topic of Experiment 1244.
Seraph read through the documents until she came to a picture, a picture of herself. Underneath it held the highlights of 'Experiment 1244.' A few things caught her optic.
Purpose: Experimental breeding for superior soldiers
Projected traits: Superior intelligence; skilled fighter; unwilling to yield; strong beliefs; extreme loyalty
But what made Seraph's spark skip a beat was this:
Traits compiled into Experiment 1244 taken from: 1) Orion Pax/Optimus Prime 2) Prisoner 5397 aka 'Wheeljack' 3) Third in Command Soundwave
All emotion left Seraph's face as she read that line. She didn't have much time to dwell on the newfound information though, as Airachnid entered the room.
"You there," she said. "What are you doing?" Airachnid stood at the halfway mark in the room; blocking the only exit.
Seraph turned around from the computer to face Airachnid. She thought through her options of how to get out of this situation unscathed, and there weren't many. Seraph decided to stay silent and let the 'con do all the talking.
Airachnid was obviously losing her patients. "What are you doing?" she asked again. Silence. Airachnid walked closer to Seraph until was standing right in front of her. She glared at Seraph and shouted "You will answer me!"
Seraph stood there unmoving, silent. Airachnid lost her temper and backhanded Seraph across the face.
Seraph reached up and touched her lip; it was split and leaking energon. Seraph looked back at Airachnid and transformed into her true form. "Bad idea," was all she said before her visor and battle mask slid into place and she attacked Airachnid.
Seraph punched her in the face and knocked her feet from underneath her, but Airachnid turned into her spider form and her other legs saved her from falling. The two went at it, Seraph using precisely placed hits and dodges. Airachnid was getting frustrated as she was only landing a few hits here and there while the bot was nailing her every time.
Seraph was proud of herself. She was beating the Decepticon's Second in Command. Airachnid was slowing down, likely getting tired and shocked that she was being beat. Seraph punched Airachnid in the chin and sent her stumbling backwards.
Seraph drew her bow and decided to have some fun with the 'con. She ran towards Airachnid and proceeded to slice at her with her bow. Airachnid tried to block the blows with her arms, but failed. Finally she succeeded in shoving Seraph back for a moment, but Seraph just took the opportunity to shoot Airachnid with her bow.
Airachnid stumbled for a moment, dazed and then fell over. Seraph walked to the fallen Second in Command retracting her face mask and visor. She wiped the energon from her lip with the back of her hand, looking down at the badly beaten Decepticon. "Courtesy of Arcee," she said to the unconscious femme. "Well, mostly."
Seraph returned her bow to her back, scanned the SIC, and transformed into Airachnid. Her transformation was flawless except for her split lip. Seraph walked toward the door, and noticed a switch to close the room off, and just before she left, switched it to lock the door closed.
Seraph, or rather, Airachnid left the room in search of a quiet hidden spot on the ship to rest for the night. Tomorrow, one way or another, she was getting off this ship.
Author's note: Well, here is my excuse for the delay: Ok, so I wrote the outline for this late one night, and then decided to finish it the next day. So here I am the next day's morning and I'm like "Hey, I'm going to make some French toast; cuz I can!" Needless to say I don't belong in a kitchen with hot objects. So now half my thumb is a fragging blister and it hurts like the pit! I had to type this with my left thumb hitting the space bar, and I know that doesn't sound like much to you guys, but my dominant hand is my right hand and it took forever to get into the swing of things. And then I COMPLETELY forgot about the kids at the base, and had to go back and give Miko something stupid to say and get them out of the base somehow. The universe just didn't want me finishing this today, ugh. Scrap, I need to get things together. (Again, I blame Starscream)
ANYWAY . . . I hope you liked this chappie; it was actually a combination of two ideas I had on the way to the doctor's. . . don't ask why because I have no idea. Thanks for all of your reviews and stuff I love it all. Oh! I would love to hear your ideas of how Optimus deals with this situation once he is conscious. My creative juices are kind of drained at the moment. . . So please review and tell me what you loved, hated, your predictions, ideas, and all that good stuff. : ) Next chapter should be out soon, hopefully.