Author's Notes: Chaos erupts in this chapter as the time has finally come for the kids to stage their escape! Will they be successful? Read to find out! As always, please enjoy, and leave a comment to let me know what you think!
Location: Iacon Prison
Rhea
She watched with trembling hands, waiting for Knock Out to start cutting into himself. There was no other way to reverse the damage done to his T-Cog. She was nervous, but not nearly as bad as he was. But it was their only choice. After Sharpshot told Knock Out everything he would need to know, they left on a mission to help free the other Decepticon prisoners. It would only be a matter of time before Knock Out was drug out of the cell to join in the execution. And if Knock Out was gone, then Rhea wouldn't be able to get out of the cage and access the panel for Soundwave to hack into. It was now or never.
"Ok… ready." Knockout managed to say, sounding the opposite of 'ready' in any regard.
It had been established Knockout wasn't completely without his surgical instruments. He still had a built-in soldering tool in his fingertip that remained unaffected by the T-Cog scrambling device. Either Shockwave had added that loophole just in case or they were insanely lucky.
Knock Out glanced between the door and the camera, further stalling the inevitable. Despite there being precious little time remaining, Rhea could tell he was trying to find any other way out. He glanced at his audience, but not with annoyance, as he usually did when he delt with humans. He looked in desperate need of support, no matter where it came from.
"You got this." Miko encouraged with a rare show of sincerity. "Then after this we head home and I'll keep Ratchet off your back whenever you wanna go racing." She went on to promise.
"I'm holding you to that, fleshy." Knock Out said with gritted teeth. The tip of his right pointer finger came to life like a cutting torch. Rhea winced right along with him as he touched the white-hot flame to his side. Despite the obvious pain he was in, he didn't shift his focus away from his work. He pressed against the wall hard, painfully murmuring a string of Cybertronian words Rhea didn't recognize from her studies. Due to the circumstances, she assumed it didn't translate to anything pleasant.
As he worked, Rhea was impressed with Knock Out's endurance. She had never thought much of him until now, writing him off as shallow and self-serving. Sure, those two qualities were there, but when push came to shove, a very large shove, he was determined.
A small silver portion of his side fell away. The cutting flame went out and Knock Out let his head fall back into the wall. For a long moment he was motionless, save for the rapid rise and fall of his chest, giving the illusion he was out of breath. Rhea knew it to be some sort of internal cooling protocol for when things were particularly bad.
"I'm sorry," Knock Out huffed. At first Rhea assumed he was speaking to them, intending to talk himself out of carrying on. But then he continued the thought. "Sorry Breakdown, for ever making fun of you when the Mech humans ripped at you. It's not fun, and you sure as hell took it better then I'm handling this."
Rhea looked to Miko and the others for some sort of explanation. He probably was delirious from the pain.
Miko knocked loud on the glass. "You're doing fine! And that big guy would say the same thing if he were here." She tried to convince him.
Knock Out faintly smiled up at the ceiling. "Yeah, he shook this kind of scrap off. Bet he's laughing at the irony. Here I am, butchering my own body with an ugly scar. Laugh it up big guy." He blinked the fog from his eyes, shaking himself back to the present. He worked through the blue oozing from his open wound with a clenched jaw. Rhea managed to make out his work from her poor vantage point. A black and silver mechanical organ was his focus. His careful ministration caused it to give off a deep crimson glow. Seeming on the verge of passing out, Knock Out retrieved the metal plate he had originally cut away and soldered it back into place, covering up his delicate insides.
Knock Out let his Energon stained hands crumple to his sides. He gave himself a few more moments of silent grunts before he dragged an arm against gravity to point at their cage. "You lot, are going to tell your Autobots how much I do for them." Then with a great amount of effort and a pained wince his hand shifted into a rotating saw blade. It had worked! He could transform again.
Miko cheered in celebration as he cut himself free from his bonds. Knock Out used the wall to yank himself up. He stumbled to their elevated table, leaning heavy against it for support. He stayed like that for too long considering how little time they had left. Rhea almost wondered if he had passed out standing up. Miko's commentary stirred him. "Dude, that was the most hard-core thing I have ever seen! You aren't nearly as much of a wuss as I always thought."
Knock Out managed to glare at her with dim eyes. "Great. If I end up dying, I can go out knowing I at least rose above your expectations." He yanked the large tube free from the machine attached to their cage. This allowed the life-giving oxygen to vent into the surrounding room. With that task done Knock Out crumbled to the ground with a groan.
"Take five, sport! You earned it." Miko said, face pressed against the glass. The praise only elicited another defeated moan from him from the floor.
"How long until the room is full enough to breathe?" Jack inquired.
"Soundwave calculated five minutes." Rhea said. She limped over to the other side of the cage that faced the panel on the wall near the door. "Then me and Raf need to get up there. We plug in, and then Soundwave hacks the prison system. From there they can Bridge us out."
Raf's worsening cough caught everyone's focus. He was weak, but he was typing away on his laptop. "It'll be close… Soundwave's intel said the execution is in an hour, and they bring the water for us in twenty. They will probably take Knock Out while they're already here."
"We'll have enough time." Rhea said quickly. She shook her wrists hard enough to hurt, but she had to do something to release her excess energy. Soundwave and the others would get there in time. They would get out of this alive.
The far to familiar clank in the distant hall puckered Rhea's soul. She looked to the door in horror, just as the others did. In defiance of their careful planning, the Guards were early.
Knock Out stumbled to his feet, leaning heavy against the table, pushing farther from the door. It still looked painful for him to shift, but his arm became a blade again to defend himself.
"That's five minutes." Raf said. He had been the only one staring at the clock on his laptop and not the door. They would be able to breathe outside the box. The heavy footsteps outside got louder as they approached, seconds away.
"And Soundwave does have a plan?" Knock Out asked. Fearfully, he looked to Rhea for confirmation. She gave him a confident nod. With a nod of his own, he shoved the table under them against the panel's wall. Like a sudden earthquake it was enough force to throw Rhea to the ground. Then he yanked open the front of their cage.
When the barrier that protected and imprisoned them was gone Rhea's ears popped painfully. Her eyes burned and her chest tightened as if she had just bathed in onion water. The new oxygen in the room was enough to keep them from dying, but that was about all that could be said about it. It sent Raf into a coughing fit, his face retreating into his shirt to fend off the lingering harsh atmosphere. Rhea broke down and rubbed the burn from her eyes. Through the blur, she saw Knock Out's unmistakable red form scramble to the door. He was staying just out of site against the wall. That didn't make sense, the guards would be coming from there. None of them had time to ask what he was doing.
The door opened and Knock Out slashed at the first guard to pass the threshold with his spinning blade. The surprise attack gained him a short-lived victory before the other two guards realized what was happening and stormed in, weapons buzzing. "Get working!" Knock Out snapped back at the table. With a wince he forced his whole body to transform, his sleek alt mode speeding past the two startled guards and into the hall. Both guards gave chase, the human's freedom not even almost a concern.
Rhea rushed to the panel. From this new vantage point, she saw the panel had a clear glass space between the wall and the screen itself. Sort of like a window into the hall, where she saw Knock Out elude more guards as they stormed in. His speed kept their guns from landing a hit.
With Jack's help, Raf arrived by her side just as she yanked her earpiece free and placed it against the panel. On cue, the small device that once curved to fit around her ear changed, wires coming out and latching into the wall screen.
She was lightheaded, the room was spinning. Maybe more toxic air came through when the door had opened. She forced herself to remain in the moment. It was easy to remain conscious despite the subpar air as Miko, now coughing herself, cheered from the panel's window between labored breaths. "Go Red Shadow! That's how an Autobot does it!" Miko shouted through the glass.
Rhea turned from Knock Out doing evasive doughnuts around the guards back to the screen. The once crisp image it displayed was broken into fragments as Soundwave hacked into the prison system from his side. At the same time Raf typed away at his laptop, tracking Soundwave's progress. "Fifty percent… just a little while longer."
"Wait, why are they retreating?" Jack wondered.
Rhea looked out the open panel where he and Miko were monitoring Knock Out's distraction attempts. Jack was right. Everyone but the speeding red Aston Martin had vanished from the white hallway.
"Yeah! That's what I'm talking about! Send them all packing doc!" Miko laughed.
Rhea's stomach dropped. She disagreed with Miko, assuming they had not simply given up. "Get him back in here. Something's wrong-" she didn't have the chance to finish the thought before the sudden flash of white light came through the window of the panel, blinding Rhea's already stinging eyes. It was a quick burst that faded in less then a second or two, but Rhea recognized it instantly as the weapon they had used on Earth, the whole reason Knock Out had to operate on himself in the first place. The T-Cog scrambling weapon.
Just as before, the light forced Knock Out out of his vehicle form, sprawling him across the hall and into a wall as a bot once more.
"Freaking cheaters!" Miko shouted, slamming her fist into the glass. Knock Out managed to stumble to his feet, snatching a fallen gun on the ground. The guards returned to close in on their pray. Rhea flashed her focus between the remaining progress on the screen and Knock Out's slow retreat. He tried to shift, once again crippled by the T-Cog weapon's effects. He fired his borrowed gun, backing fearfully into the wall.
The panel beeped. Rhea staired at the shifting Cybertronian text hopefully. She gasped when she just managed to catch the com device as it popped free from the panel. "Soundwave's through! He can Bridge here in a few seconds!"
Miko screamed.
Rhea's head snapped back up just in time to see another blast hit Knock Out in the face, throwing him to the ground.
He didn't move, even as the closest guard kicked away the gun he was using and descended on him. She was frozen again, unable to quite make sense of the charred hole where is right eye once was.
Rhea couldn't move, but the other kids pounded against the window, screaming at the approaching guards.
"No! Leave him alone!" Miko shouted, all but slamming her body against the glass.
"Get away from him you cowards!" Jack yelled.
Raf hid his face in his hands, unable to witness anymore.
Their feeble attempts to intervene went ignored. The same guard responsible for the horrific wound on Knock Out's face came to a stop right by the still bot on the ground. He pressed his charging blaster right to Knock Out's head.
A massive shadow descended on the same guard just after the dull white of the hall turned green. Knock Out's attacker was hurled through a wall and into an adjacent cell. The terrifying creature responsible was made of black and gold metal, standing on four thick limbs. It roared, shaking the foundation of the building. Though she had never seen the creature, Rhea recognized it from Miko's simple description a few days previous. Giant robot dragon. A Predacon had appeared. And it was clearly not there to aid the guards.
From the same green light just out of their vantage point came a much more familiar sight, rushing to Knock Out's side. The Autobots Wheeljack and Smokescreen snatched the limp doctor from the ground and away from the ensuing chaos between beast and prison guards.
Rhea fought to thaw her frozen muscles as the doors slid open and the blur of Laserbeak soared in. For the first time in many days, warmth flooded her body. Soundwave's familiar form came rushing in alongside the other Autobots behind the minicon. His purple eyes locked onto her with a similar desperation. Nothing else mattered. She momentarily forgot she was high off the ground as she limped forwards, reaching out to him with both hands.
Thankfully, he was more spacially aware then she was at the moment. He lifted her from the table with his thin digits and clutched her close. Rhea pressed her whole body against the rigid plating of his chest, grabbing any groove she could to remain connected to him.
"I am so sorry, Rhea." Soundwave whispered.
She wanted to say something witty to assure him none of this was his fault. But all she could manage to do was cry with relief, refusing to let go of him even though she knew there was no time. She didn't care about the twisted and confused emotions she still harbored for him. That could all be dealt with later.
"Wrap it up, guys!" Wheeljack shouted from the door, shielding Knock Out's limp form with his own body as the last few remaining guards tried to get lucky shots past the Predacon. "I hear other Predacon's coming down the hall, and I don't think they are with old Predaking here!"
To Rhea's disappointment, Soundwave heeded the warning. With a gentle but firm tug he pulled her away from his chest plating. "We'll get you all to safety. Now, Laserbeak."
She turned around in his grasp to see Laserbeak retrieve something from a subspace compartment in his chest. It unfolded into a smaller transparent enclosure like the one they had spent their imprisonment in. Laserbeak reached out with his own cables to retrieve Rhea. He cooed affectionately as he took her gently from Soundwave and placed her inside. The relief of fresh air inside the enclosure hit her. She took the first nonpainful breath since they had escaped the first cage.
Though regretful for the short reunion, the other Autobots deposited their own human wards into the space next to Rhea before the top closed. Laserbeak's cables locked into the sides of their protected cube, and it lifted with him. With their hands free, the bots all returned their limbs into buzzing guns. They formed a protective flank around Laserbeak and his precious cargo.
For the first time in days, Rhea saw the hallway outside their cell, now lined with bodies. She got an even closer look at the wounds that had ravaged their cellmate Knock Out. It looked so much worse up close. He was unconscious, and a guilty part of her was happy for that, just so he didn't have to suffer through any more pain.
Another roar cut through Rhea. The source was the long-necked metal monster that fought hard to defend them. There were no more guards, but more Predacons had arrived from other halls. These Predacons weren't on their side. They came in swarms from both sides, blocking the open Groundbridge that once waited for them. Rhea's heart sank as the monsters snarled, cutting off their exit and overwhelming their own Predacon.
The winged Predacon Wheeljack had called Predaking attempted to shove his way through to the portal with shear force. He reared back and unleashed a vortex of flames from his throat. Bumblebee joined Predaking's struggle, aiming his blasts at the other's wings or joints.
The hoard of monsters reared back like a hive minded swarm. Throats glowing red, proving Predaking was not the only one of his kind to brandish fire.
"Hold!"
The promise of a fiery death sizzled away. From between massive Predacon legs and wings stormed more guards, blasters aimed at their party. But they did not fire. A single bot came out amongst them, one who Rhea recognized, and she sneered at. It was the pompous Decimus himself. "We require some of them alive, and I need to see these traitors with my own optics before they are delt with. If only for my own peace of mind."
Rhea noticed Soundwave stand up straight from his defensive crouch. She caught Decimus's reaction. Even with an army of fire breathing robot dragons and over forty guards, Decimus stiffened in the presence of Soundwave. He attempted to conceal the fear with an arrogant smirk. "Well, I can't say I am surprised by this truly suicidal attempt at, what? What did you throw your lives away for? Four humans and one Decepticon trash. I do hope it was worth it."
The loud and sharp sounds of a massive transformation grabbed Rhea's attention from the standoff. To her surprise, Predaking shifted from a beast into a bot who towered over all others in the hall. He had to crouch so his large head did not slam the ceiling. "You!" he bellowed with a booming voice that gave Soundwave's own deep inflection a run for his money. "You are the one behind the enslavement of my people, are you not?"
Before he could make a move against Decimus, two Predacons rushed in front of Predaking. They seemed ready to defend Decimus even at the cost of their lives. Rhea assumed their presence was what gave the arrogant ass such inflated confidence. "And you are the one who has been picking off my forces. I will make sure you are publicly terminated alongside the others. That should put a stop to your brutish people's annoying antics."
"You've betrayed Cybertron!" Bumblebee snarled at Decimus from behind his blaster. "Why, Decimus? The Autobots trusted you! You had advocated peace while lost to the stars! Why would you bring the war back onto us?"
Decimus startled, as if he were truly offended by the accusation. "I am assuring the war will never again burden us for the remainder of our glorious future! Bumblebee, you fought alongside Optimus Prime. I thought you of all Bots would understand why what I do has to be done."
"How dare you talk about Optimus Prime like he would be on your side!" Bumblebee exploded. Rhea jumped, never having seen this side of the usually even keeled bot. "He would be appalled by what you've done!"
"Me and my fellow Councilbots made him a Prime in the first place, if you recall, Scout." Decimus said with a grin. "But it really doesn't matter what the voices of the past would say. I know my actions are in accordance with the will of our almighty Primus. My righteous cause will rise through the darkness and those of the future will see I was right. If we allow one bot to live who bares the vision of that traitor, Megatron, the war is not won! This traitor!" He pointed an accusing finger at Soundwave, who in turn did not flinch. "He has gathered an army to fight the inevitable force that is destined to eradicate his kind from the Universe! Until that is done, we will never know true peace!"
"And bringing Arachnid's plague onto Cybertron helps how?" Arcee snarled.
"An unfortunate necessity." Decimus sighed. "Before Soundwave arrived, we needed a means of reminding Cybertron how dangerous the Decepticon kind are. The intelligence of the masses is small, and their power of forgetting is enormous. Due to these unfortunate facts, we needed a common foe, a faceplate for the masses to picture and fear. We couldn't let them forget the reason the war started. The Decepticons! Those who had no business demanding freedoms they had no rights to destroyed our perfect empire! Everyone seemed perfectly happy to forget this egregious afront against the righteous. The masses needed a gentle reminder."
"But you lost control of your 'symbol of fear.'" Soundwave said cooly. "You have barely been able to maintain this miserable attempt at a grab for power. More Autobot and neutral lives have been lost under your rule then Decepticon."
Decimus jumped at the sound of his voice. Though the act looked to cause him a great deal of discomfort, Decimus looked to Soundwave personally. "Indeed. The casualties have been great, but they too have been a reminder of why we must fight your kind. It's the same reason I must keep you alive, for now. Megatron is lost to the stars, but with your public execution, we can break the hopeful Sparks of your mindless followers. Then Arachnid will be delt with. Kaon and every other Southern slum will be extinguished from the face of Cybertron. Everything you have contaminated; we can make right again."
"The rest of the Council doesn't know any of this, do they?" Bumblebee guessed. "When Prowl and the others find out…"
"I'll stop you there." Decimus chuckled. "Prowl tragically discovered our plans far to early. We did not want to resort to violence amongst our own Councilbots, but he was far too involved."
Rhea had no idea who Prowl was, but the ominous use of his name in the past tense and the effects it had on the Autobots spoke for itself.
"Neither Prowl nor Ultra Magnus have reported in…" Smokescreen whispered in horror amongst their group. "Are they really gone?"
"I am sure Ultra Magnus wishes he were." Decimus said, shuttering as some distant memory seemed to trouble him. "But that is no longer your concern. Team Prime, how you have fallen from grace after associating with the Decepticon kind… I must say I am disappointed. But you will be happy to know that the public will never know of your treachery. Just as Prowl, you will vanish into obscurity, assumed dead, fighting for the righteous side. Truly, it is too good for you."
Then the building shook, cutting off Decimus's self-righteous speech. "R-report!" Decimus snapped at one of his guards as he gave the ceiling a weary glance. "What was that?"
"That must be Starscream's unit putting a damper on the execution above ground." Soundwave said to both parties. Rhea looked back at him from Laserbeak's grasp, just catching him pulling a small device from his own subspace compartment. "Though exasperating, Starscream can at least be relied upon to be punctual and efficient."
The tech Soundwave had produced didn't look like a weapon, but Decimus still retreated three steps back, his guard aiming their guns for Soundwave. "W-What are you talking about?" Decimus demanded of him, trying to regain the authoritative tone he once spewed. "I have Predacons above that will stop-"
"And we have the Dinobots you disregarded." Soundwave interrupted, still fiddling with the device. "I am sure Sigil has long since figured that out by now. And despite how much I know you love talking, I must cut this chat short. I am confident I have recorded a sufficient amount of evidence to utilize against you, if you survive this encounter." He gave Decimus a knowing glance from his work. "I did warn you when I was unfortunate enough to be under your employ. You talk far too much for your own good. Your endless ramblings were one of my primary inspirations for taking my vow of silence. Words can be empty. But in this case, I think I can make good use of your words for my campaign."
"You would have to leave this meeting alive!" Decimus stammered.
"So it has taken you this long to finally be observant?" Soundwave sighed, and with a final manipulation of the device it activated with a small glow. "Better late than never, I suppose."
"A bomb!" One of the Elite Guard shouted. Their flank rushed to shield Decimus, and then Predacons standing in the way to take the brunt of the blast. But there was no blast. Weary confusion radiated from everyone, even from the Autobots.
"Why waste a bomb, when similar means failed to kill you last time?" Soundwave asked of Decimus. "But, perhaps this could be considered more devastating. It is only a prototype, curtesy of your liberated prisoner, Shockwave. Perhaps if Primus is on your side, then He will allow my last trick here to be a dud."
A pulse of energy escaped the device, the lights from it dimming to nothing. The Elite Guards looked around, seeming unaffected by whatever it did. Decimus pushed his way back to the front, ready to reply with some smug proclamation of victory.
Then something large clanked to the ground, followed by another, then another. Rhea was not the only one to notice the source. One by one the bulky collar like constructions around every Predacon slip from their respective beast and hit the floor. Rhea caught Predaking taking in the scene with a fanged smile.
Soundwave shrugged nonchalantly. "I guess not. Point taken, Primus."
The fear on Decimus's face was palpable. He spun around in nonsensical circles, taking in his beast army in horror. His guards were in a similar state, the Autobots and Soundwave's presence forgotten as they pointed their guns between the endless rows of monsters. The Predacons that surrounded them shook their heads, yellow eyes blinking rapidly as if awaking from a trance. Their bewilderment soon turned to knowing glares that focused on Decimus and his forces.
Decimus fumbled with a contraption on his midsection, and a spherical shield engulfed him. The hoard of Predacons descended on them the moment his shield finished materializing. The guards were completely overwhelmed within moments. Though shielded, Decimus was thrown against the wall within his small protective sphere, blue eyes wide with terror as the Predacons tried to claw their way to him.
"A Bridge! Open a Bridge now!" Decimus shouted through the chaos.
Rhea glance away from the carnage when Miko started to rummage in her pockets. She retrieved her pink phone, which she had kept off until this moment to conserve its power. She now used the last of her device's stored battery life to snap a picture of Decimus bounced around the inside of his shield.
Rhea didn't see what became of the coward as the mass of beasts continued to swarm. Somewhere past the chaos more soldiers rushed in, trying to fight back the mass of vengeful Predacons. Either they were trying to rescue Decimus, or just hold the Predacons at bay from taking over the prison. Rhea didn't care either way.
"You kept your word." Predaking said to Soundwave. "That is something I did not expect from a Decepticon." Rhea found herself shrinking when Predaking's piercing gaze found her and the others in their small box. "A willingness to fight for your cause, and perhaps more." He trailed off and stepped away from their group. "Return to Kaon with your spoils, leader of the Decepticons. We Predacons will handle the rest from here." He transformed into his beast form. A snarl resonated deep in his throat before he charged in to aid his kin.
"Back to the ship." Soundwave said, mostly to the solemn Autobots. "We can determine if your Commander Ultra Magnus is still online later. The humans need to recover and Knock Out requires medical attention if he is to survive." No longer requiring his hands to fight, Soundwave took their glass box from Laserbeak. He turned towards the green vortex that no longer had an army of Predacons blocking it. Rhea glanced behind them, making sure all their party was with them, not wanting to leave anyone behind in this place. The Autobots hurried Knock Out's limp body towards the portal right behind Soundwave and Laserbeak.
Their party slipped away through the portal unnoticed, leaving the New Council's once loyal Decepticon hunting task force to now hunt them.