Author's Notes: I'm sure you're all thinking the same thing: WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN GIRL?! Yeah, well...my only excuse is that I seem to have lost my thread of inspiriation for this story. I just don't seem to have the creative drive right now. But I haven't given up on this story yet. Hell no. I've work too hard and too long to just give up. It's just that the plot bunnies have occupied my mind and forced me to start other stories. I know all the events and everything that needs to happen before the ending, so don't worry that this is one of those "Holy crap I didn't think I'd get this far and haven't thought about an ending" stories. Nope. I got the ending all planned out. In rough detail. lol. Anyway, please enjoy this chapter. I hope to get another update soon, at least within the next month.
Chapter 49: Escape
Madelyn clung to Mirage like a frightened child; her arms wrapped around the larger Mech's neck, and her forehead pressed against his shoulder. All the while, her mind was muttering incoherently with terror. The larger Mech's arms wrapped around her were comforting, but panic still ravaged inside her like nothing she had ever experienced. The events that had conspired to bring here there confused her and her brain just didn't seem to want to work. She suddenly felt very venerable and open. Her hand tingled as the Mech fluid began to dry, resulting in a greasy residue. Any indignation she may have felt from being carried around like a damsel in distress was lost between the seizing fear and the overwhelming hopelessness that had overcome her.
Mirage had scooped the smaller femme and activated his mirror coating, casting them both with the reflective covering, making it seem as though they had vanished from the room completely. Mirage then left the storage room and ran down the hall, weaving around Mechs and taking specific, pre-planned, hall ways. Every close call made Madelyn hold all the more tighter to the Mech's neck. If she was causing him any discomfort he did not voice it. One close call had Mirage pinned up against the wall as several armed guards filed past. Madelyn made the mistake of glancing at them and the sight made her twitch and she curled closer to her chaperone. Mirage opened a private comm to her and whispered reassuring nothings but it did little to calm her.
After the guards had moved onward, Mirage returned to his fervor sprint down the hall only to press himself against another wall a few moments later. Madelyn kept her head down, not wanting to see who was coming.
"Over here!" Mirage said quietly to someone. Madelyn turned her head and peaked over the top of her arm. The sight made her forget her initial panic.
Zandrex, Daiga, Groove, and Daxon all came running down the hall and appeared to have begun going down an adjacent hall way when Mirage called out to them. Madelyn felt the mirror coating wash away from them. The small group of Mechs all backtracked, nearly knocking each other down in the process, and encircled the pair.
Madelyn felt her spirits lift immediately.
"Are you OK Maddie? You aren't hurt are you? Primus you're covered in Mech fluid," Daiga prattled as he grabbed her right hand, stained with the Councilor's fluids, and began to search for any injury. Daxon did the same, looking her over fervently while both Groove and Zandrex began to ask about what happened while looking her over with anxious gazes.
Mirage silenced them all.
"We need to get her to the docks," Mirage told them, "There's a ship waiting, she's not safe here. None of you four are."
After a quick run down of the plan on getting Madelyn to the docks, the group set off with Mirage still holding Madelyn under the cover of his mirror coating.
The trip down to the docks was the longest ten minutes of Madelyn's life.
Madelyn only lifted her head from Mirage's shoulder when the Mech stopped. When she looked around she saw the room they were in was very large. It seemed to just go on forever and ever. Ships of every imaginably size, shape, and color lined the room. There were several Air locks between every mooring. Everyone looked to Mirage, after he lowered the mirror coating, who was glancing down each way, seeming to look for something. And he seemed to have found it and the group turned right and ran down the docks.
Madelyn spotted a large skiff sitting at a mooring, several Mechs gathered around it. Ratchet, the twins, and Prowl all stood near it. They waved to them when they spotted the group. As soon as they were in audible range, Prowl began to explain the situation.
"Optimus is doing damage control up at the Council's chamber," Prowl said, "But he wants all the keys off planet for the time being. We'll send you a signal when the situation is secured and it's safe to come back."
As they approached, Ratchet stepped forward and swiftly took Madelyn from the spy and immediately carried her into the skiff, not pausing to saying anything or to even to yell at her. She saw glimpses of Prowl and Mirage speaking in hurried tones while Zandrex, Groove, Daiga, Daxon, and the twins filed into the ship behind the medic.
Making his way through the vessel Ratchet turned a sharp corner and abruptly went through a set of doors. It seemed to be some sort of sleeping quarters, big enough to accommodate three full sized Mechs, but little else. He sat Madelyn onto one of the berths and began to look her over, lifting her arms, pulling her around to look at her back, and even pulling her legs up to look at the bottom of her feet for any injuries. His optics seemed to study her Energon stained chassis with a strange look. He looked angry…and worried.
Mostly angry.
"It's not mine," She said in a dead tone. He didn't seem to have heard or if he did, he chose not to reply. He was half way through his hasty examination when the other three keys and Daxon filed into the room. They all found seats by squeezing together on the other two vacant bunks and watched on as Ratchet finished looking her over, waiting for his diagnosis. The room began to vibrate and the sense of movement washed over them all as the skiff rose from the ground and made the short trip to the airlock. There was a small pause as the airlock opened, then the skiff drifted inside, and finally the airlock closed behind them. There was a loud and sudden noise like a sudden release of pressure from a hydraulic pump, causing the room to jerk and tilt, and then the skiff zoomed off.
"No damage," Ratchet concluded after a moment, "Some cleaning solution will take that fluid right off."
Madelyn had remained quiet through most of the events of the last few breems and she looked down at her stained hand as if it had been severed. She bent her fingers and watched how the fluid, which seemed to have turned to grease, squished in her joints. It made her feel sick.
"Stop that," Ratchet barked at her. She looked up into Ratchet's face to see that he had pulled a rag from subspace and a container of…something. He dipped the rag inside and reached for her hand, scrubbing the appendage with the rag. Everyone was silent as they watched the medic relentlessly scrub off the caking Mech fluids.
Madelyn glanced around at the others. Their optics seemed to glow more brightly in the poorly lit room and they all looked angry. She grew worried. Were they…mad at her?
"So Prime was right," Daiga said finally, derailing Madelyn's lament, "That bastard. How can no one have noticed it before we got there?"
"We did, but we just didn't have any proof," Daxon replied. "It was all suspicion. Most of us just thought he'd finally gone insane. Those of us who had real suspicions couldn't make a move. We needed substantial evidence."
"I'd say this is a pretty good piece of evidence," Groove added distastefully, gesturing to Madelyn's Mech fluid speckled frame.
"Vector said he'd try and find something on him while he's in the infirmary getting patched up," Daxon answered, "If he finds anything then this will be over a lot sooner."
"I just wish we could have acted instead of having to wait for an event like this to happen to expose it," Zandrex contributed with equal venom. He rested his chin on his propped up fist, seeming to glare at nothing. The black Yasurrian then looked to Madelyn and his optics lost all anger and was replaced with…pity? "Are you alright, Madelyn?"
As she stared into his face, something flashed through her mind. Kaido Beta's voice came drifting back to her.
…he did wear their brand until recently. He masquerades under our sigil now and I have striven to see that he is rightfully punished for his deeds, but once again, formalities have hindered me. Optimus Prime has enacted his rights as Prime and overthrew the Council's decision to have the criminal imprisoned. You're friend Zandrex is a criminal. And his past will never escape him. Optimus Prime can protect him all he can but retribution will come to him eventually.
She shook the voice from her head and managed to give a small smile, but there was no joy in it. She huffed a little humorless laugh and looked down at herself, "I just can't seem to get a break, can I?"
They chuckled lightly, but more in relief then humor. Madelyn's hallow smile faded and she sighed, shaking her head. "I don't understand though…why?"
There was some uncertain shuffling and exchanging of glances.
"This wouldn't have happened if you had listened to Optimus," Ratchet told her, using a little more force behind his scrubbing to send his point home, "He told you to be cautious around the Council."
"I didn't think he meant that—"
"If you had thought, then it wouldn't have happened." Ratchet snapped.
"Ah lay off her a bit will ya?" Daiga said, "It's not her fault, we should have told her what was—"
"She didn't need to know," Ratchet snapped.
"I think the situation bears to differ with you, Ratchet," Zandrex added. "In any case, we don't need to be blaming each other. Right now we should be concentrating on getting as far away from the Council's reach as possible until Optimus has a chance to formally submit an accusation against Councilor Kaido Beta."
"What do you mean by that?" Madelyn asked.
There was more shifting and shuffling and they all glanced at each other and then at Ratchet. The medic merely grunted.
"We've been suspicious of Kaido for a long time," Daxon explained, "His behavior has changed strangely and the measures he's passed through the council don't follow the Autobot creed. Some say he's just gone insane from old age or that the war has lasted too long and he's getting desperate for an end to it. But he's also been slowly gathering Mechs to supplement his personal guard unit, much more then a Councilor should need while station on Ugai, in the Hub no less. He has a small army of Mechs and drones at his direct command. Another assumption was that he was simply paranoid. Prime didn't think so. The weird thing is though, once those Mechs entered the guard, they were upgraded with matching armor. I knew a Mech who joined the guard, but he's completely different now. It's like he never existed before the upgrade."
"You think he's been whipping their minds or something?" Madelyn asked.
"Not exactly…" Daxon replied. "There's…well…"
"You have not been involved in this war long enough to be familiar of the various sub-groups of the Decepticon forces," Zandrex added, "But there is one group called the Insecticons. They are essentially an espionage group that specializes in various forms of manipulation and sabotage. The greatest threat they present are in the form of small little implants called cerebro-shells. Prime informed us less then half an orn after we arrived that he suspected Kaido of being under the influence of one and he may be implanting more into his guards. In all probability he doesn't even realize he is acting any differently. There are two types of shells that I know of; one is a small disk that is planted onto a Mech and it injects nano-bots into the system and they manipulate the processor. The other is more of a remote control device that allows a controller direct command of the victim."
"Prime's worried the Insecticons are trying to bring down the hub from the inside out," Groove said. "And that they may be trying to get to you."
Madelyn stared. "Me?"
He nodded.
"Kaido tried to have Zandrex imprisoned but it's not likely that it was because of his history with the Decepticons like it was stated on record. It was just a convenient ploy," Groove said, "Prime was worried he may be trying to get us away from you, make you more accessible. He made sure both Daiga and I were on different shift schedules then you and that our assigned quarters were far from yours; originally we were roomed on the same floor as you."
"If Kaido really was under the influence of Decepticons," Ratchet said, "He might try to find reasons to get you alone and then he would strike. When he invited you to his quarters, that's exactly what he was doing. You were alone and he knew you were ignorant of most if not all of what was going on. He asked you to join his elite guard?"
Madelyn nodded.
"Had you agreed he would have most likely implanted a cerebro-shell in you and as the fourth Key," He looked at her severely, "We might as well be handing you over to Megatron himself."
Madelyn opened her mouth to reply, but the room jolted and lurched from under them, causing them to scramble for purchase. Ratchet grabbed Madelyn's arm and pulled her close, using his other arm to brace himself against the bunk.
There was a sudden crack of static and then Sideswipe's voice called out to them over the comms.
"Bunker down guys!" The red warrior said, "We have Elite Guard Cruisers coming up on us fast and—" There was a muffled explosion and the room rocked again. "—Oof! And they wanna play!"
Ratchet growled, pushing himself up off the bunk. "Stay in here," He ordered. The medic grabbed Madelyn's arm again and pulled her off the bunk, steering her over to Zandrex. The medic pushed her into the black Mech, forcing him to grab hold of her. Ratchet glared at him, "I don't want her to take one step out of this room, you hear me?"
"Yes sir," Zandrex nodded.
Without another word, the medic exited the room.
Zandrex shifted over and steered Madelyn over to sit in the spot next to him and groove.
"Where are we going?" Madelyn asked.
"Dunno," Daiga answered. "Prowl just told us all to get on the ship."
"Let's hope the twins know where they're going," Daxon added. "Cause I sure don't."
"Sideswipe and Sunstreaker may be glitch heads, but they pilot a skiff like no one I know," Groove said. "So don't worry about it—ahh!"
The entire room titled and spun, literally, sending the small room's occupants bouncing around the bunks. Zandrex wrapped an arm around Madelyn's waist and braced himself against the bunk like Ratchet had. Madelyn's head spun with vertigo when the room righted itself and she looked over to see Daxon, Groove, and Daiga all tangled together.
Daiga pulled himself from under Groove and cursed. "No barrel rolls, fraggit!"
Static cracked and Sideswipe's voice called out over the ship wide comms, "Sorry guys!"
"Haven't you guys ever heard of seat belts?" Madelyn growled, still waiting for her head to stop spinning.
"It'd be a bit unconventional to have restraints in a recharge bunk," Daxon told her with matching grouchiness.
Madelyn was about to reply when there was the sound of a small explosion and the room shook alarmingly as the lights flickered.
"Are they shooting at us?" Madelyn asked distressed and a little more then alarmed, gripping Zandrex's arm to keep herself from tumbling off the bunk.
"Yeah, but with disabling charges, not lasers," Groove grunted as he pulled himself free of the tangle of Mechs and braced himself against the bunk ad Zandrex had. "They're trying to immobilize us, not destroy us."
Another round of explosions rocked the room and the occupants all cursed, having thoroughly had their fill of 'rock the ship'. Even Madelyn felt the fear and apprehension of earlier begin to drain away and turn into outrage.
And suddenly the barrage halted and the perpetual feeling of motion stopped.
There was a moment of blissful stillness and then there was a low humming that slowly grew and grew until everything began to vibrate under them. The Mechs sent bemused glances to one another.
Madelyn didn't even notice her grip on Zandrex's arm tighten.
Sideswipe's voice emitted from the comms again, causing her to jump.
"Guys," Sideswipe said in an awed tone, "I've got good news and bad news for ya. Good news is we've lost the cruisers; bad news is we've just been commandeered by the ship that shot 'em off. Arm yourselves and prepare to be boarded."
Author's Notes (2): Sorry for yet another cliffhanger. But it's just the way I write.
