Bulkhead heard Miko's scream and was the first one to run to the kids' living quarters. Optimus, Ratchet, and Arcee were close behind him. His mind was racing as he imagined what had happened. One of those things was probably left behind and it had attacked her. Miko could handle herself in some situations involving the Decepticons, but this was different. These things were smaller, quicker, and much more deadly compared to the Decepticons. He activated his weapons and forced the door open.
"Miko! What happened?" He called out, looking around frantically for her. He spotted her sprawled out on the floor. A facehugger was attached to her.
"No!" He cried out as he ran over to her. He wanted more than anything to tear that disgusting thing off of her, but he knew he would only hurt her if he did such a thing.
"They got her," he murmured as he carefully picked her up and showed his comrades. Arcee lowered her weapons as she gazed in horror at Miko. Ratchet was angry and disgusted as he mumbled something to himself about just exterminating the creatures. Optimus appeared crestfallen for a moment before he sighed heavily.
"I should have known better than to completely put my trust in the queen. She and her children were suffering and we freed them. This is how they repay us?" He grumbled as he got closer to inspect Miko. He lightly touched the creature and it instinctually tightened its grip on Miko. He frowned and pulled away.
"What are we going to do?" Bulkhead asked, looking over at Ratchet fearfully.
"Do you think you can remove the parasite, Ratchet?" Optimus asked. Ratchet appeared unsure at first, but he took another look at Miko and grew serious.
"I'll do what I can to save her. All we have to do first is prepare and wait for the thing to come off," he said. Bulkhead groaned. This was going to be an agonizing time.
Bumblebee later brought Jack and Raf back and were quickly notified of what had happened and what the plan was going to be. Jack had called his mom to assist Ratchet during the procedure and she quickly came to their aide.
"So, what happened? More aliens on earth?" Ms. Darby asked as she walked into the makeshift operating room with Optimus by her. He was carrying some equipment she had brought along. Bulkhead looked up, glad that she was here. He hadn't left Miko's side. Nothing about her or the parasite had changed. Optimus explained everything to her and she looked more and more fearful as she walked over to look at Miko.
"I've had patients with parasites before, but this is a whole other ballgame for me," she murmured, glaring at the creature in disgust.
"We'll be able to get it out of her. We just need to sedate Miko and then cut it out of her. If we do it right, we won't have much trouble," Ratchet said as he walked in with his own equipment. Bulkhead wanted to feel reassured, but when he looked over at his friend, he couldn't help but worry. That thing was still attached to her. It was harming her. He hated it.
His thoughts were interrupted when Ms. Darby walked over and smiled up at him sadly.
"She's gonna be okay, Bulkhead. She has the best people looking out for her," she said while awkwardly touching the side of his leg. Bulkhead smiled back, nodding his head as he looked over at his friend. She was gonna be okay. He was sure of it.
A few hours had passed and Bulkhead was spacing out while watching over Miko. He would only leave her side when the operation started. He had to make sure the thing came off her and nothing else happened. He wanted to squish it when that time came, but he knew he would only hurt himself if he did that. Why did these creatures have to be so dangerous?
He was about to close his optics when he heard movement to his side. He perked up and looked over just in time to see the creature unlatch itself and fall off of Miko and onto the floor, dead. Miko appeared deep in sleep despite the pained expression on her face. Bulkhead got to his feet and checked if the creature was really dead by poking it. It flexed its spidery legs, but did nothing else. Good.
"Guys, it came off. She's ready," Bulkhead said over the wireless connection. A few minutes passed before Ratchet, Optimus, and Ms. Darby came in, ready with their tools and machines. Ms. Darby wore what looked like a hazmat suit he had seen in the many doctor shows he watched with Miko.
"How long does Miko have?" Bulkhead asked.
"It could be a day or it could be hours. We have to work quickly and efficiently," Ratchet said as he pulled up an x-ray device and activated it. He held a part of it over Miko's chest and an image came up. Bulkhead saw the parasite curled up within Miko's chest and felt fear settle in his system. It was big and it looked bad.
"It's another queen," Optimus said.
"What's a queen?" Ms. Darby asked as she prepared herself and Miko.
"It's bad news. Let's get it out as soon as we can," Ratchet replied.
"Let's go, Bulkhead. The sooner they operate, the sooner we get to see Miko again," Optimus said as he walked out of the room. Bulkhead followed close behind. He looked back at his friends and hoped all would be well before shutting the door behind him.
Miko was back on the Nemesis to her surprise. She couldn't remember how she got here. All she recalled was going to pack so she could go home and then…nothing. Why was she back here? Was this a dream? It had to be a dream.
"Hello?" She whispered as she decided to walk around. She couldn't hear anything nor did she see any Decepticons around. Something wasn't right. There was nothing around, but she felt like she was being watched. She looked over her shoulder to check if anything was behind her, but there was nothing.
The more she walked, the colder and wetter her surroundings became. She could see those telltale signs of the creatures on the floors and on the walls. It was getting harder to walk as her shoes began to get stuck on the slime.
"Gross," she murmured. Maybe she would find something else if she went back the way she came.
She turned and as soon as she did that, an awful animalistic shriek filled the air. It was coming from behind her. Miko felt her blood run cold when she heard the creature running in the distance and ran as well. This was definitely a dream. She was going to run real slow and not make it anywhere before whatever was chasing her caught her and ate her. She wanted to just stop and face whatever was after her, but something kept her from doing that. She ran and turned a corner. She came across an empty chamber and decided to hide there.
"What's going on?" She whispered to herself as she waited for the danger to pass. A sudden dull pain coursed through her body and she groaned, clutching her chest. What was that? She looked down, but saw nothing there.
"You're imagining things, Miko. Just figure out how to wake up," she said. She waited for a few more minutes until everything became eerily quiet. She dared to look out of the room and saw nothing out there. Good. She had time to try and wake herself up. What could she do? She could pinch herself. Yeah. She could do that. She took a deep breath and pinched herself as hard as she could, but felt nothing. She did it again with the same results.
"Frag," she grumbled, shaking her head. If she couldn't force herself awake, she could just explore as much as she could. She cautiously stepped out and walked off in no particular direction. She looked into multiple rooms to find nothing interesting. This place was totally empty. If the Nemesis was empty, then there was no one around to stop her if she found Megatron's throne room and sat on his throne. That would be great. She chuckled at the thought and tried to find the throne room.
After what felt like an eternity of searching, she finally found the throne room. She looked in and froze when she saw Megatron sitting there. She was about to run, but he didn't move nor react to her. That was strange. She picked up a nearby piece of debris and threw it into the room, but nothing happened. Miko breathed a sigh of relief and decided to go in. Megatron appeared…dead, but he still sat upright, angrily staring straight ahead at nothing in particular. Miko followed his gaze, but couldn't see what he was seeing.
"What happened to you?" She whispered as she got closer. She noticed a rather large jagged hole in the middle of his chest, dripping with his blood. It reminded her of that woman who died in front of her so long ago. She suddenly remembered the huge egg the queen had laid when she was captured.
"Dang, looks like the queen got her revenge," she murmured. If he was dead, that meant there was a rather large creature roaming about.
As if on cue, a low growl filled the air, sending chills running down her spine. It was coming from behind Megatron's throne. Miko watched in awestruck horror as large claw-like hands curled around the top of the throne. The creature slowly emerged from behind the throne, pushing Megatron off as it crawled onto it. It was absolutely massive. It looked almost the same as the queen, but it appeared to be armored like Megatron. It wasn't skeletal like those other creatures. It was pure muscle. This thing was made to fight and conquer. Its crown was huge and covered most of its face, but she could see two glowing lights that switched between purple and red where its eyes should be. Purple veins bulged all over its silver-tinted skin. Several long jagged spikes ran along its back that ended in a long and deadly-looking tail that was coiled and ready to strike at any moment. It opened its mouth to reveal several rows of sharp teeth. Its inner jaws slowly came out, dripping a purple liquid that burned holes in the floor.
The creature hissed as it stood to its full height before her. Miko didn't have to think twice before she turned to run for the exit. The creature screamed and the ground shook as it pursued her. Miko was about to run out of the room before a sharp pain coursed through her chest and she stopped in her tracks. She looked down and saw the creature's tail poking out of her chest.
"This…This is a dream. It…It has to be a…dream," she whispered to herself. She let out a pained cry as the creature pulled its tail out of her. This didn't feel like a dream. The hot blood gushing from her chest didn't feel like a dream. She fell to her knees as the creature crept closer. She could feel its hot breath on the back of her neck as it growled softly. She didn't dare look back at it as it curled its sharp fingers around her, blocking out all light.
Miko let out a cry as she woke up. She looked around, breathing heavily as she clutched her chest. It was sore. She looked over and saw Bulkhead who appeared to be dozing off. Upon hearing her cry, he woke up and turned his attention to her.
"Man…I had the wildest dream, Bulk," she murmured with a soft sigh.
"You're alright! Thank goodness!" Bulkhead exclaimed as he bent down to her level, smiling like an idiot.
"Of course I'm alright. It was just a dream," Miko replied, a bit confused as she looked around again. She was hooked up to an IV and other machines.
"What happened?" She asked.
"You don't remember anything?" Bulkhead asked back.
"All I remember is going to my quarters to pack," she said.
"Miko…you got infected," Bulkhead said.
Miko listened on in horror as Bulkhead explained all that had happened over the past few days. She could have died. She was beyond glad that her friends were there to help her. She turned her back to him and pulled down her shirt a bit to see the huge scar in the middle of her chest.
"I got a sick battle-scar out of this. I can't wait to show this off during the summer," she crowed, wanting her worried friend to feel a bit better. She smiled and turned back to him.
"Now we're battle-scar buddies," she chimed. Bulkhead couldn't help but chuckle at that. All thoughts of that creature in her nightmare slowly faded away as they talked some more. Some time had passed before Ratchet and Ms. Darby came into the room. They were worried at first before they saw that Miko was awake and looking well.
"How are you feeling, Miko?" Ratchet asked.
"I'm a bit tired and sore, but I'm alive," Miko said.
"We're so glad you're okay, Miko. Everyone's been worried about you," Ms. Darby said. She looked beyond tired.
The rest of the day was spent talking with her friends about what had happened. Miko decided not to tell them about her nightmare. She didn't want them to worry. At one point, she realized the parasite that was inside her was probably being kept somewhere.
"Where's the creature? Did you kill it?" She asked.
"We had to. Shortly after removing it, Ratchet safely killed it," Optimus said.
"Can I see it?" Miko asked, suddenly growing curious.
"Are you sure about that?" Bulkhead asked her.
"Sure I'm sure. I want to see the thing that was going to kill me," she said.
"Well, it's a good thing I haven't disposed of it yet. Follow me," Ratchet spoke up as he walked out of the room. Miko got up and followed him with Bulkhead close behind her. They went back to the makeshift operating room. Ratchet pulled out a transparent box and placed it on a nearby table. Bulkhead carefully picked her up and put her on the table. Miko went up to the box and saw the creature curled up inside. It looked much bigger than the one she saw before. Its face was frozen in an angry snarl. She could see from the crest on its head that it was going to be a queen. Miko shuddered softly as she touched her chest. That thing was inside her…
"Why would she do this?" She murmured to no one in particular.
"We're still not sure, but those things are long gone now. No need to contact and question them," Ratchet grumbled. Miko stared at the creature before a thought suddenly came to her.
"If you guys kept that alive, I could have been a mother," she joked. Ratchet and Bulkhead gave her questioning looks before she burst into laughter that hurt her chest.