Author's notes: Sorry for the late update everyone. I didn't have time to work on this story all last week so I decided to skip a week's update in order for me to have time to catch up. That way I don't end up putting this story on a long hiatus.
Merry Christmas everyone! )
Chapter 35: The Condemned.
"Talk to me Red Alert," Prowl spoke into his comm. link as he walked briskly down the hall, flanked by Jazz and Hound.
("We have one hostile in the Medbay, both Ratchet and Wheeljack are down.") Red Alert's voice was oddly stone like. True the security officer was always frank, borderline tactless, and talked in a very even 'matter-of-factly' way, but his tone at that moment seemed to betray him. Something had Red Alert fritzed.
"Describe the hostile," Prowl demanded.
("It's…Madelyn, sir.")
Prowl stopped mid stride, nearly causing a collision between himself and his two companions.
"…what?" Prowl asked darkly, optics narrowing to slits. That's not possible…Madelyn would never.
Jazz and Hound exchanged nervous glances before turning back to their superior officer. Only being in on half of the conversation, they could only guess what had made Prowl so irate.
("Madelyn attacked them, sir. Blaster and I both witnessed it through the security feeds.")
Prowl began walking again, at a much faster pace then before. His mind raced with questions and anger and confusion. And perhaps a small glint of fear. He just couldn't believe Red Alert's words. There had to be some mix up somewhere.
Madelyn would never attack a fellow Autobot. He, himself, had directly informed her that such things were prohibited. And once more, who would –or could- believe that out of all the Mechs on the Gigas Marta's crew, it would be those two? Something was wrong with the situation. Desperately wrong.
"What about Groove and the others that were heading to the Medbay?" Prowl asked. "What is their status?"
("They're in the Medbay now sir and…she's attacking them too!")
"Frag," Prowl cursed and turned his brisk walk into a full out run. Jazz and Hound followed suit. "Activate the alarm and have everyone at their level 7 stations. I want strike team Beta to meet at safe point 54 for instructions."
("Yes sir!")
"Prowl!" Jazz's voice called out from behind him. "What the slag's going on?"
Before Prowl could answer, the hall lights dimmed to an eerie red and Red Alert's voice broke out over the ship wide comms.
("Attention all personnel: Report to your level 7 stations. Shots have been fired in the Medbay corridor. Mechs down, I repeat Mechs down. Strike force beta, assemble at safe point 54 to await orders. I repeat: all personnel report to your level 7 stations and strike force beta is to assemble at safe point 54 to await orders.")
"Does that answer your question, Jazz?" Prowl asked irately as they rounded a corner.
"…frag…" was all the saboteur could say.
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There was an impossibly loud explosion as Madelyn's energy blast made contact with metal and Zandrex felt a great force shove him to the side where he crashed, rather painfully, into Groove and they both tumbled to the floor.
Zandrex reactivated his optics and started. He was alive. Glad, but thoroughly bewildered, he looked up to where the blast had blown a large gapping hole in the Medbay wall, which was still smoldering, just a few feet from where his head had been moments ago. He snapped his gaze over to where Madelyn hovered in the air. Her arm was still outstretched, but instead of being illuminated by silver and blue, it had regained its red-ish gold flame. Farther up her arm the blue and silver light seemed to be fighting to envelope the red and gold again.
Her eyes flickered strangely between black and yellow.
Her face morphed into a scowl as she grabbed her arm with her free hand and squeezed, grimacing. The blue and silver light absorbed the gold and red in an instant.
Slightly breathless, Madelyn looked down at Zandrex and sneered.
Ironhide was the first to recover from the initial shock and rose to his feet, weapon aimed.
"Madelyn!" He barked. Internally he was bewildered at what he was doing…and more importantly why he was doing it. "Stand down or I will fire."
Madelyn's head snapped around to look at Ironhide. Her Eyes narrowed and the edges of her mouth twitched into a grim smile.
She laughed.
"Pathetic," She hissed. "You don't have the spark to fire upon me." She gestured to herself. "The girl means too much to you."
Ironhide's grip on his weapon tightened visibly as his anger and confusion increased. Groove shifted as he tried to untangle himself from Zandrex. Madelyn noticed the movement and then caught sight of the glowing shard in Groove's hand.
Her sneer faltered and her narrowed eyes quickly widened in…fear?
"The shard…" she breathed.
As she seemed to regain her composure, the sneer returned. Sending Zandrex a stark glare, Madelyn rocketed off through the hole in the wall she had created, a streak of light following her like a con trail.
"Madelyn!" Zandrex and Ironhide cried after her.
But she was gone.
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Prowl rounded the last corner, closely followed by Hound and Jazz, and had the Medbay entrance in his sights when a loud blast rocked the corridor, sending all three of the Autobots tumbling off their feet. Smoke and debris flew into the hall, enveloping it in dust.
"What the frag?" Jazz cursed as he picked himself up.
Prowl stared in disbelief at the destruction and a small part of his processors sighed and said 'not again…'
A moment later, a streak of blue light shot from within the smoke and bolted past them, kicking up more dust and smoke as it flew past. Heads snapped around and optics followed the bolt of light as it turned the corner and out of sight.
"Madelyn!"
When the tactician heard this, he looked back towards the hole and caught sight of Ironhide emerging from within, his weapon hung loosely in his grip, closely followed by several stunned Mechs, including Zandrex. Ironhide spotted Prowl and his group and ran toward them. "Prowl!"
"Ironhide! What's going on? What was that?" Prowl demanded as he strode closer to the red Mech. As the two officers met, they both began to make their way quickly down the hall, after the bolt of light.
"I'm just as confused as you Prowl," Ironhide growled, his optics narrowed and glowing alarmingly. "Madelyn's gone psychotic!"
"That was Maddie?!" Jazz asked incredulously from somewhere behind the two.
"What about Wheeljack and Ratchet?" Prowl asked, ignoring Jazz.
Ironhide hesitated to respond. "I radioed the medical staff to report to the Medbay to see to them. We have to contain that girl before she hurts anyone else."
"It won't work…" Zandrex said quietly, sounding as though he was saying it more to himself then the others.
"What're you still doing here?" Rimshot snapped incredulously.
"That wasn't Madelyn," Zandrex replied in the same quiet tone.
"If you got something to say Z-man, then say it!" Jazz barked.
"That…thing wasn't Madelyn," Zandrex said, finally raising his voice to a normal octave.
Ironhide snorted. "If you're spouting any more mystic voodoo slag, do us a favor and mute it!"
"The reasons behind her violent behavior are irrelevant; they don't change the fact she still needs to be contained," Prowl barked.
"Quick question!" Rimshot quipped. "How do you stop a knee-high organic with the power of the Artifact…or half of it?"
"Looks like we're gonna find out," Groove remarked as they rounded the corner and came face to face with Madelyn. She was facing them and her form still shone with blue and silver light, eyes dark and cold, and she hovered silently in the middle of the hall. The lights flickered as she pulled the energy from all around her. The convoy of Autobots scarcely had time enough to register the situation before the ball of swirling energy was shot straight at them. Mechanical bodies dived every which way as the blast carved another impressively large hole in the opposing wall, sending chunks of metal this way and that. Debris flew everywhere and another corridor was filled with the debilitating smoke and dust.
"Madelyn!" Zandrex called out into the smoke, not even sure if she was still there. "You must stop this! Fight him!"
Two small specks of glowing eyes appeared through the gloom.
"She can't hear you," a faint voice answered, malicious delight dripping off of every syllable. "The girl is mine. Once again Zandrex…you failed."
Zandrex's anger flared and his hands clenched.
"Leave her alone," Zandrex growled as he stood. Those around him looked on stunned, not quite sure what to do. None of them had any sort of experience in this sort of combat and none of them wanted to do anything that could result in more casualties. Prowl began to call for back up through the comm. frequencies.
"I told you Zandrex," the Parody of Madelyn's voice replied. "You'll never be rid of me. I am not one to simply fade into oblivion…"
"And I'm not one to sit back and watch!" Zandrex charged through the smoke. The Energon bands binding his wrists offered an unexpected convenience as it helped to improve his visual capabilities in the hindering dust.
"Get back here you glitch!" Ironhide barked after him.
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No, he wouldn't allow it. He had made too many mistakes in the past - mistakes that he could not fix. He would fix this one. He had to.
He couldn't loose her.
He had been warned by the old Mech that removing the shard prematurely would lead to potential catastrophic complications, but he had assumed, rather naively, that he would be the one to suffer them…not Madelyn.
The old Mech…he didn't even know his name. Everything was such a blur to him. When Zandrex had first come in contact with the strange being, it had been shortly after the incident on the red planet where he had learned of his planet's fate and of his people and then…deactivated one of them.
How he hurt.
Everything inside of him burned and he wanted nothing more then to rip his retched spark from its casing and plunge himself into the inferno. He wanted so desperately to stop the pain; for the horrid loneliness to fill and for the painful coldness to melt away. But the stranger had stopped him. For what reason, Zandrex scarcely understood.
The old Mech had known he was a Key without even asking. He just said it as if he was reciting a text.
"You're the First Key," He had said as he stood over Zandrex, carefully tending the various wounds that he'd sustained while escaping the Sweeps sent after him. Megatron, it seemed, was not ready to loose his only Key so easily. He had shaken off his pursuers, but was heavily damaged in the chase. Drifting through space, his body slowly depleted itself of the little remain energy his reserves contained. With everything considered, it was a small miracle that the old Mech had come across Zandrex when he did.
Zandrex started. "H-how…did you know?"
"I know all the Keys," he had replied quietly. "I hear their calls constantly." The old Mech turned slowly to look into Zandrex's optics and for a long moment he simply stared.
"You are broken," He said finally. "You're falling apart by your hinges. By Primus what has Megatron done to you…?"
"The Sweeps did this to me…" Zandrex replied tiredly.
The old Mech snorted.
"I am not referring to your physical wounds," The old Mech replied with mild contempt.
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She knew not where she was. She could barely hold onto her own self awareness. There was no sensation. She was just there…and yet not entirely. As time seemed to wane she was less and less aware of herself, growing weaker and weaker. Memories seem to fall away and she could sense herself fading….assimilating into the one who had taken over.
In a small way she was absolutely terrified and yet in another she was happy.
Words filtered into her head that seem to come from nowhere and everywhere at once.
I can end it all. The pain, the hurt, and the worry…I can end it all. You won't exist. No more pain. No more guilt, no more fear, no more tears…I can free you.
If I don't exist…I won't hurt anymore… Madelyn's fading mind echoed. Mom and Dad can go on with their lives…they think I'm dead anyway…
They think your dead…
I don't wan to hurt them…
Allow me to release you...submit to me…be free…
…free…?
Release…
What about the others?
They brought you here…caused you pain. It's their fault. They hurt you.
They…? No…no-that's wrong…they…saved me…cared for me. Even…died for me…
They don't care for you. No one does. You're alone. All alone.
I'm…no, no I'm not…not alone. Zandrex and Daiga…Ratchet and Groove and…Wheeljack and...and-
They don't care for you. They're just using you.
Wah…using me?
They need you to reclaim their home. Any affection they've shown was a ruse to trick you. They don't care. Why should they? What have you done to deserve their respect?
But…they made me…an Autobot too…
So to better control you.
No more…
They lied…
Stop…
They don't care…
Stop it…
No one…
STOP IT!!!!
Madelyn wasn't sure why or how, but she suddenly regained some minute control and she looked up to see Zandrex standing in front of her, his optics bright and…frightened? His hands were bound together before him with what looked like bright bands of pink light. Her arm was positioned outwards at him and energy collected in her palm.
"Madelyn…" Zandrex breathed, his optics wide. "I'm sorry…"
Her heart cried out at those words.
"Goodbye Zandrex," Her mouth and voice spoke of their own accord. Madelyn felt a horrid realization hit her and with an almighty shove, she struggled to regain some, any, form of bodily control. She felt the energy release and internally she shrieked.
NOOOO!!!
There was a deafening explosion as the energy blasted a gaping hole in the wall of the Medbay in a spectacular display of sheer power. When Zandrex reappeared from the resulting dust and smoke, he appeared unharmed; she felt a sense of overwhelming relief.
Her other hand, still under the other Voice's control, gripped the one arm and the small bit of control she had miraculously gained was forcefully ripped from her grasp in a myriad of pain as she was shoved to the back of her mind.
Don't resist the inevitable. Everyone on this ship is going to die. And you're the one who's going to kill them.