Hi everyone, sorry for the long wait. I was struggling with some pretty bad writer's block over the past few months. So much for my promise of finishing this story by last Halloween, right? This is the second to last chapter. The last chapter is fully written, but not yet edited. I plan on having it up sometime next week, but we've seen how well my promises have been going so far.
As always please let me know what you guys think and if you spot any errors (continuity, spell, and grammar). Please enjoy and have a good night...
Prowl hung limp as a rag doll between the two zombie mechs dragging him behind Barricade and the evil priest. Pain radiated from every inch of his frame and made it difficult for him to think clearly. He tried to move one of his digits. Nothing.
The faint pulsing hum of the tainted crystals was getting stronger. Bluestreak's venting was starting to match the rhythm. It was worrisome. Prowl didn't want to think about what would happen if Bluestreak succumbed to their power.
The crystal chamber was getting closer. Prowl did everything that he could to get his body to obey him. Then he felt it. His servo twitched. Now if only he could move his entire arm.
Their procession stopped before the chamber's entrance. The evil priest muttered something that Prowl couldn't hear.
"Hurry up," growled Barricade jostling Bluestreak. Bluestreak's venting paused for a moment, then the young mech threw his weight to the right, attempting to roll off Barricade's shoulder. Barricade grabbed the squirming mech and dug his claws into his side. Small droplets of energon appeared on Bluestreak's doorwings.
Bluestreak howled in pain. "Frag you!" he screeched.
"Now, now," said Barricade hoisting Bluestreak back onto his shoulder. "I told you there'd be consequences if you did anything stupid."
One of Prowl's doorwings was grabbed by a zombie servo and pulled back. A sharp pain radiated across delicate sensors as a knife was teased over the doorwing. Prowl tried to bite back a whimper. His servos gave an involuntary jerk.
"Stop it!" cried Bluestreak. "Please stop it!"
Barricade laughed. "Next time listen."
"Enough," said the evil priest. "The right frequency will only last for so long. Stop this nonsense."
Barricade adjusted Bluestreak back over his shoulder. Bluestreak grunted. "Fine," said Barricade. "Spoil my fun."
Prowl's doorwing was released and he was once again dragged between the two zombie mechs. However, he had discovered something important. He could indeed move a little bit more. He tried flex the digits on his servo. There was a faint sensation of movement. It was a start.
The pulsing was becoming stronger, ghosting against every inch of Prowl's frame. Bluestreak's doorwings twitching in time with each pulse. He didn't want to think too hard about the sensations, but it was growing harder and harder not to. The pulsing felt like it was invading his very spark.
Bluestreak remained still in Barricade's grip. His soft blue optics looking to Prowl for reassurance that they would make it out of this alive, but Prowl had none to give. He hadn't come up with a single plan that wasn't extremely flawed. His only hope was that Bumblebee had been able to get a message to Iacon for backup. It was still extremely unlikely that the minibot knew their location, but it was enough to keep Prowl from sinking entirely into despair.
Prowl was dragged into a familiar room. It was dark inside, except for an odd blue glow that pulsed from above. Once their party was in the room, Barricade tripped a hidden switch and the ancient platform elevator they were on began to rise. The pulsing blue light was getting closer and closer. Bluestreak let out a low moan.
It was getting harder and harder to think clearly. Prowl offlined his optics and vented a few cycles of stale air. He couldn't think, couldn't calculate. The elevator ground to a halt.
"Place the offering on the altar," said the evil priest.
Prowl onlined his optics. They were back in the room that haunted his recharge cycle. This is where he had looked evil in the faceplates and barely escaped with his life. It was unlikely he would be as lucky this time.
"You heard him," said Barricade to his zombie mech minions. As Prowl was dragged forward, he briefly thought he caught a glimpse of yellow amongst the pulsing blue crystals.
The zombie mechs easily lifted Prowl onto the altar and restrained his servos and peds with the rusted cuffs. Bluestreak began struggling again.
"Frag you all," the young mech screeched. "Optimus Prime will be here any minute. He'll arrest all of you!"
"Shut up!" roared Barricade slamming Bluestreak onto the ground. Prowl could only watch in detached horror as the young mech he had helped raise cried out. A growing despair that Prowl had been trying to ignore was finally threatening to overcome him. He barely held back a sob as Barricade grabbed Bluestreak by the back of his helm and jerked the young mech upright.
Prowl was going to die while Bluestreak became possessed by an ancient evil and there was nothing anyone could do about it. This was a worse fate than what he had ever imagined would happen to him during the war.
"It is time to begin," said the evil priest. "I present the offering and the vessel for our Dark Lord Unicron."
Prowl turned his helm to look at the priest. The red crystal that had changed Prowl so much was held high in his servos. The crystal seemed even more menacing than he remembered.
"Please stop this," begged Bluestreak.
Prowl's senses were once again beginning to dull. The world around him slowly becoming numb and grey. Bluestreak's begging becoming distant background noise. It was growing harder and harder to think. Prowl vaguely thought he could see a dark mist rising up from the ground.
Bang!
The spell was broken as quickly as it had been cast. The evil priest turned to the source of the loud noise.
"What the – !" The evil priest was cut off by a large blue mech punching him right in the faceplate. The mech's fist went right through the evil priest.
Prowl watched in a dazed fascination as the blue mech stumbled right through the evil priest. The evil priest's form vanished and the blue mech was disoriented by the lack of a solid object blocking his path.
Faintly, Prowl registered Barricade laughing. He turned his helm to look at the mech holding Bluestreak in place.
"Is this the rescue you meant?" snickered Barricade, still firmly holding Bluestreak by the back of his helm. "One depressed seeker? He is barely - ARG!"
Barricade's laughter was cut off by Bumblebee plunging a knife into his unprotected side. Barricade roared in anger and tried to grab the tiny mech, but vorns of training and living with the terror twins had taught Bumblebee the best way to dodge the wandering servos of larger mechs. The yellow minibot danced out of Barricade's reach.
Bluestreak used Barricade's distraction as an opportunity to free himself. He shifted his weight right into Barricade, freeing his legs enough to hook one behind his captor's knee. Barricade crashed into the ground. Bluestreak quickly scrambled up and jumped onto Barricade's back, pinning his former captor to the ground.
"Hey Bee," Bluestreak said with a shaky voice. "Long time no see."
"It's good to see you too buddy," said Bumblebee as he dodged one of the zombie mechs. In his servos was a small blue crystal and a knife. Prowl tried to follow the minibot's movements, but the agile mech moved out of his line of sight. He felt someone touch his servo.
"Hello Commander Prowl," said the blue seeker. It took Prowl a moment to realize that it was one of Starscream's old trine mates, Thundercracker. "Don't worry sir, I'll get you out of these restraints."
Thundercracker took a blaster out of his subspace and carefully aimed it at the cuffs holding Prowl to the altar. Elsewhere, Prowl could hear Bluestreak and Bumblebee still struggling with Barricade. A small pop and Prowl heard the chain holding one of his servos in place snap. A dark shadow began to rise behind the seeker. Thundercracker shot the other restraints, then leaned down to pick Prowl up.
"Behind you," gasped out Prowl, but it was too late. The evil priest rematerialized behind Thundercracker, holding him tightly with the crimson crystal close to a main energon line in the seeker's exposed neck. Prowl tried to roll to his side to help his savior. He managed to roll a little onto his side, but not much else.
"I don't think so," growled the priest. "I've waited too long for my master to be reborn. I refuse to wait any longer."
From behind him, Prowl heard Barricade roar again in anger. Bumblebee yelled at Bluestreak to move out of the way, but it sounded like the struggle was going in Barricade's favor.
There was a flash of light. Hundreds, maybe thousands of orbs flooded the chamber. The evil priest let out a shriek. He released Thundercracker and covered his optics with his servos, dropping the crimson crystal. Prowl saw Thundercracker dive for the crystal.
"What the frag is this?" snarled Barricade.
Prowl turned back to look at the three other mechs fighting. Barricade madly waved his servos at the floating orbs as if they were Earth mosquitoes. Both Bumblebee and Bluestreak were out of his clawed reach. Bumblebee held his crystal up like a small blade. The floating orbs completely ignoring them. One of the zombie mechs was in a heap behind Bumblebee, while the other was still standing. It twitched its way towards Bluestreak.
"Hey Bee," said Bluestreak. "Do you have any extra weapons?"
"Nothing that will take out these guys," admitted Bumblebee. He ran towards Bluestreak, jumped in front of him and slashed at the zombie mech's shin. The zombie mech gave one final twitch before collapsing onto the ground.
"Thanks for that," said Bluestreak.
"Give it back to me!" again shrieked the evil priest from behind Prowl.
"Like frag I will," grunted Thundercracker.
Prowl's armor itched to joined the fight. His thoughts were starting to clear and his processor and battle computer had started calculating different scenarios. The pulsing was slowly fading from his senses.
The orbs were starting to change their shapes. At first, they shifted to look like little fireballs encased in a thick mist, but then more details began to emerge. They looked like mechs, not as defined as the evil priest, but more transparent and ethereal. They converged on Barricade, blocking him from Bluestreak and Bumblebee.
"Stay back!" Barricade hissed with his claws extended.
One of the orbs closest to the ground glided over to Prowl. It took the orb a klik to gather the energy to change its shape. As more features became defined, Prowl felt tense.
The sounds of the fight going on around him fell to the background. Prowl could only stare in shock at the tiny being before him. How was this possible? It wasn't logical.
"Prowl," said the small voice of the young Barricade. He sounded like he was speaking through water, distant, but loud.
"Barricade," gasped Prowl staring at the little ghost. A deep sadness filled Prowl. He tried to pull in a deep vent of air to calm himself, but found it didn't help. His limbs, even with his limited mobility, were shaking.
"I'm so sorry," said Prowl.
The young Barricade reached out a small hand in a gesture of comfort. It passed right through one of Prowl's wrists. Prowl had to fight off the start of a processor crash. Seeing the ghostly image of a mech who was also several meters away was not logical, but he had to stay conscious. They needed a plan to escape the Praxian underground.
"It wasn't your fault," said young Barricade.
Prowl shook his head. "I should have saved you," he said. "I thought I had…"
"The mist," said young Barricade. "There was nothing you could do once it infected me." He raised his small hand again and touched the center of Prowl's bumper, right over his spark. The tremendous pain that had been a constant to Prowl for so long seemed to melt away.
"We will keep them busy as long as we can," said young Barricade. "You must make sure that the mist doesn't infect anyone. Not until the crystal frequency has changed again."
Prowl nodded. The ghostly young Barricade slowly faded back to his orb like form. "Thank you for being with me, before," said the fading voice of young Barricade.
A heavy weight fell on top of Prowl. Prowl grunted as the wind was knock out of him. He managed to sit up a little to see Thundercracker slumped over his legs. A small trickle of energon leaked from a wound on the side of his helm.
"You wretched creatures have done enough!" snarled the evil priest. "I won't wait any longer."
The evil priest raised the crimson crystal high above his helm, right over Thundercracker's prone form, and began to chant in an ancient Cybertronian language. Prowl tried to push himself higher, no longer paralyzed by his pain. He had to get that crystal.
The surrounding crystals pulsed along with the chanting. The air was getting thicker. Prowl was having a hard time pulling air into his vents.
A blur of light blue whizzed past his face. The chanting abruptly stopped. Prowl looked up at the evil priest. Their optics met for a moment before the evil priest glanced down at his chest plates in shock. A light blue crystal stuck out from his chest plates, right where his spark chamber should be.
There was a clatter as the crimson crystal fell again from the priest's servos. Prowl watched in stunned fascination as the evil priest's frame jerked, then cracks began to appear. The metal around the wound began to grey and fall away.
The priest's frame convulsed as though it were being shaken by an invisible hand. His helm was flung back by the force of the convulsions. Dust began to spill from the grey cracked metal. Snap! The helm fell clean off, turning to dust before it hit the ground.
"No!"
Barricade's loud roar freed Prowl from whatever spell had held him while he watched the priest disintegrate. Prowl whipped his helm around in time to see Barricade toss Bluestreak into Bumblebee. They hit the ground with a hard thud. The glowing orbs around Barricade tried to swarm again, but he batted them away as he charged the altar Prowl and Thundercracker lay on.
Without taking any time to process the situation, Prowl managed to pull his legs free of Thundercracker and rolled off the altar. He reached for the crystals that had fallen on the ground. His servos wrapping around them as he felt a new pain in his side.
"Give those to me, Prowl," growled Barricade from above him. His sharp claws digging into Prowl's side. He could feel energon slip from the deep cuts.
"No," said Prowl defiantly. His servo pulled the two crystals closer to his body. Barricade's claws pulled up on the stab wound in Prowl's side, still deeply imbedded in the armor. Prowl felt the sick feeling of energon in his throat. Prowl's weakened frame couldn't take much more abuse.
The claws in Prowl's side were jerked away as Barricade let out a startled cry. "Let go of him you monster!" yelled Bluestreak. Prowl turned his helm enough to see that the young mech had jumped on Barricade's back.
Barricade reached back one of his clawed hands and grabbed Bluestreak by one of his doorwings. Prowl rolled away before Barricade sent Bluestreak flying. Prowl tried to hold onto the two crystals, but the light blue one slipped out of his servo.
Barricade lunged at Bluestreak's back, energon covered claws ready to strike. Prowl stuck out his leg, tripping the deranged mech so that he fell on top of Prowl instead.
"You," growled Barricade. One of his servos went to Prowl's unprotected neck and began to squeeze, claws moving to scrape against exposed cables. "You won't stop me. Your precious charge will be the vessel for the Unmaker and you will be another ghost of Praxus."
Barricade placed the tip of one of his claws right against the main energon line in Prowl's exposed throat. It only took a little pressure to slice it open. As Prowl felt warm energon bleed from his open wound, he saw Barricade's face change. His look of triumph morphed into a look of shock. His frame began to jerk and convulse.
Prowl coughed as the energon flooded into his vents and dust began to fall into his mouth. His vision blurred and his strength left him. With a few more shakes, Barricade's frame fell on top of Prowl. Briefly Prowl caught a glimpse of a yellow mech and a light blue crystal sticking out of Barricade's back. Then he slipped away.