Chapter 11

Jack entered the Autobots' base and encounters Ratchet and Bumblebee hanging around.

"Where's everyone else?" he wonders aloud.

"Out on a scouting mission for more Energon," answers Ratchet, who's tinkering away on another project.

"With Midnight, too?" asks Jack.

"They wanted to show him how to look for Energon," explains the medic. "And Smokescreen was being a pain in the tailpipe about it, so they dragged him along as well."

Jack chuckles a bit after hearing that and steps down the stairs to check on Zero.

"She's still out," he affirms upon examining her.

"I can't tell if that life support system is helping or hindering her recovery," grumbles Rachet.

"All it does is just keep her alive," explains Jack. "Recovery is all up to her."

Bumblebee beeps in response.

Suddenly, Zero opens her eyes, which were still overlaid with a purplish haze. Jack jumps back in surprise and Bumblebee beeps to Ratchet. The medic stops what he was doing and goes over to examine the young woman as she sat up.

"Zero, how are you feeling?" he asks her, getting down on one knee.

She says nothing as she turns to get out of the bed. After a moment of standing to get her bearings, she slowly turns to look at Jack and then grabs him by the throat.

"Ack!" chokes the teenager as she lifts him clear off the floor. "Z-Zero! What are you doing?"

"Zero! Unhand him at once!" orders Ratchet, quickly getting to his feet.

Bumblebee was confused what to do as he got to his feet. He couldn't exactly attack the young woman since he could easily destroy her. Yet doing nothing would endanger Jack further. Thinking quickly, Bumblebee snatches Zero up in his hand, causing her to drop Jack onto the floor coughing.

"Be careful, Bumblebee!" warns Ratchet. "We don't know what she's capable of with the Dark Energon in her blood!"

Before Bumblebee could think of what to do next, Zero breaks open his hand with strength she never had before and lands on her feet with ease. Ratchet tries to apprehend her, but she easily trips him by kicking into his leg.

"Me… ga… tron…" she utters as if under some sort of spell.

She jumps up on the GroundBridge console and enters the coordinates to her campsite. When Bumblebee tries to make a grab for her with his other hand, she catches it and tosses Bumblebee into the GroundBridge lever, activating it.

"No!" Ratchet calls out as Zero ran right into the portal.

He hurriedly gets up to shut off the GroundBridge, but it was too late. The young woman was already gone.

Jack manages to get his breath back as he approaches Ratchet.

"You don't think she's going after the Decepticons, do you?" he asks him.

"If she is, things are going to get really bad very quickly," answers Ratchet.

Jack begins to contemplate on something.

"Is it just me, or did she get a lot taller?"


Back outside, Zero manages to track down a Decepticon mining operation and sneaks into their GroundBridge to get back into the Nemesis. She wanders the halls without fear, her mind in a cloudy haze with the only objective being to find Megatron. She encounters a couple of patrolling Vehicons that immediately point their blasters at her. Without a second to spare, she dashes onto them and rips off their heads with her arms. Knockout appears just as the second Vehicon's head comes flying off and he is astonished to see her land on her feet without issue.

"So you've come back," he snarls, aiming his guncannon at her. "And why are you here?"

Zero simply looks up at him with glazed purplish eyes. "Me… ga… tron…"

Knockout chuckles and retracts his guncannon. "I supposed I'll humor you, only to see what happens when Megatron sees you again."

He leads her over to the bridge where Megatron was busy communicating with Soundwave. The Decepticon leader notices the two of them and looks on rather curiously.

"The human has returned without her robot?" he inquires.

"She kept saying your name," answers Knockout. "I figured you'd like to deal with her personally."

"And how did she manage to get into our ship?" demanded Megatron with optics narrowed in annoyance. "Our security must be laxed to allow a human aboard."

"Actually," begins Knockout. "I found her ripping apart one of our own from the inside out."

"Oh?" exclaims Megatron with great interest. "And if my eyes don't deceive me, she looks a bit bigger as well."

"The Dark Energon must've mutated her into a mindless killing… thing," theorizes Knockout. "Like a fleshy Scraplet."

"Zero, was it?" Megatron addresses the young woman. He then orders a Vehicon to approach her. "Show me what you can do."

Without a second to spare, Zero dashes towards the Vehicon and dives into its body before it could react. Megatron watches as the Vehicon writhes in pain before the young woman bursts out of its neck splashed with Energon. The other Vehicons look on in horror while Megatron laughs evilly.

"Splendid!" he exclaims with satisfaction. "If this is what Dark Energon does to one human, imagine what could be done with the rest of the species. And since Optimus refuses to kill any human, he'll have no choice but to force himself and the Autobots to stand down, while the humans he cares so much about tear them limb from limb!"