Pain was the predominate sensation. It was the only thing she was absolutely sure was real. The smell of spilled Energon and mechanical fluids the constant in her olfactory sensors reminding her of the crash. The voices were shadowy echoes around her, the high pitched scream of tools akin to her own cries of pain, but somewhere in her damaged processor she was sure that it was her companions attempting to get her out of the wreck of their escape ship. She tried to convince herself that while it felt like months for her rescue that it was obviously only maybe days, if not a few hours, that the pain she would feel throughout her body was repairs that were being attempted.
Then it all became overshadowed by a worse pain. A cold fire shot through her body, what was left of it at least, making her thrash against whatever was keeping her pinned down until her mind couldn't handle it any longer and shut down again.
The M.E.C.H. scientist that had injected a small amount of the refined purple crystal into the Autobot they had in their possession calmly made notes as he observed the red and silver transformer thrash violently for over an hour until she finally calmed, falling offline. She was still functioning, though he wasn't sure if her reaction was due to the fuel or to their previous experiments. The five of them would watch her for the next few days before they moved onto using it to fuel the body they had built that was resting on the table beside her.
Finding the common thread through it all cut back on some of the paperwork to go through, but not by much. It seemed that the Major General had signed off on quite a bit throughout the years. Closer examination showed that it had been signed by several different hands, though it was a practiced signature. It took even more digging through the digital records in the attempt to find if the man actually existed.
All the names, locations, and projects that were contained within the documentations that had been signed by the Major General were also being cross referenced. It still left a staggering amount.
The first thing that Elita had done; however, was go through the personnel files for her and Spike's team and send word through Fowler who they were and that they needed to be watched carefully. Apparently her subconscious had caught on before she really did, the men that she suspected in her little mind adventure with Ratchet were among the list. There was also one other name that frequented a lot of the paperwork, and she had a sinking feeling that he would be the most dangerous to go after. You can't challenge a General with out rock solid proof.
Every single Autobot was on the Alpha Base bridge, which actually made it very crowded. While Elita had been busy with her paperwork over the week, the Autobots kept doing their own thing. On the command table stood a large human table that was stacked high with papers. Around that table were Agent Fowler, Commander Witwicky, Slash, and the kids. Elita was beside the command table in her whole form, needing the bonding, focused down at Spike as he and the other two adults were going through some of the paperwork.
"By Uncle Sam's beard... When you said things were full FUBAR you weren't joking," Fowler said with an angry frown.
"Everything was compromised from the very beginning." Spike was rubbing one of his hands over his jaw as he read over one of the personnel reports. "We were careful, E. You and I both went over these. Interviews, background checks, psych-evals, everything."
"And the ones that the Two Star signed off on to be interviewed for our group were fake. Fabricated identities." Elita sighed deeply.
"How is this going to effect our efforts into shutting down this group?" Ultra Magnus asked.
Fowler looked up at the bot. "We have a solid trail now. Names and locations. We just need to get General Bryce to sign off on them and we can finish taking them out."
"No," Elita said.
"But, why not?" Jack asked.
Miko hopped a bit. "Yeah! You could tell him what you've learned and he'd be like "Pow! Get it done!"."
"Because he could possibly be compromised, too." John was looking over the papers, focused on a particular set of markings that Elita had made. "Bryce signed off on a lot of these as well."
"General Bryce was put in charge over the Bots when Optimus, Ratchet, and Bumblebee first approached the military for sanctuary." Fowler filled in as he set down his stack of paperwork. "He's been getting updated reports almost daily about them since the beginning. It could very well be someone who also has access like he does, as well."
"What got you involved, Bill?" Spike asked. His tone of voice wasn't suspicious, just curious.
"I was told I had the security clearance and cross training for it, but I'm just wondering if they were more thinking me to be a fool. For the longest time I only saw it as a bot-sitting gig."
Elita rubbed the back of her neck. "The only thing dirty in Agent Fowler's records is his cholesterol numbers."
It at least got a bit of a chuckle out of all the humans, including Fowler as he only replied, "Seriously?"
"So, what are we going to do?" Kup asked, chewing on his detonator as he looked down at Spike. "I mean, are you going to be able to operate without Bryce's approval?"
Commander Witwicky set his stack down. "We can't move unless we have permission, or a sudden call into action."
"Humans can't, but the Bots can," Fowler stated.
Elita nodded as she looked over at Optimus, Kup, Ultra Magnus and Jazz. "As much as they would like to think otherwise, you guys aren't as tied down by the military command as they would like to think you are."
"With the systems here, you'd be able to track down M.E.C.H. without needing our human hands," Spike said.
"That may be so, but the formation of your group was due to the nature of our common enemy," Prime said after a moment of thought.
"Which is why we'll always be ready at your call, but as it stands now we can't act without tipping our hand."
Optimus simply nodded at the human commander. Elita, at this time, had moved over to the central data screen, the mass of bots in the room moving out of her way as she did so. She took the time to look each one over as she passed them, seeing the anxiety, frustration, or anger on their faces over the news. Every single bot in the chamber had been affected by M.E.C.H., directly or not, and it was not a pleasing idea that they might still get away with their wrongs.
"From all the digging through the paperwork, I've narrowed their possible remaining locations down to five." She had pulled up the two maps that's counter parts lived on the walls of her room on the base, including all of her colored markers, five of which turned black. "A warehouse district overseas. State side has two decommissioned missile silos, and two ghost towns from defunct manufacturing sectors."
"Missile silos, really?" Slash asked.
Agent Fowler nodded, his arms crossed over his chest. "It worked before, back when the Bots first arrived. Plenty of them left over from the Cold War era."
"Simple scout patrols for Energon should keep things somewhat calm on our end," Elita added as she turned to face the room once more. "But, maybe, keep it to teams of at least three in case there is an attack. I know you all are capable fighters, but no since in running the risk of being overpowered by dirty snakes."
After the whole meeting had been dismissed, Optimus laying out orders to all under his command and the humans heading back to the base, Elita slowly began to pack up her mess of paperwork, both in the command center and in the storage area she had taken over. It was where Ratchet found her, quiet and to herself, not a note of music in the air.
Elita had curled up against a crate, her face buried in her hands as she did slow intakes of air into her larger form's cooling system. It was late and he knew that she had not had really taken a break to eat any human food since she had discovered that one major thread. The medic was surprised, but didn't react more than just a slight jump, when Elita suddenly swung the hand that had been covering her face into the crate beside her, leaving a sizable dent behind, the look of distraught anger tinging her optics into a purplish hue.
When she looked up at him, finally realizing that she wasn't alone, her optics faded back to their Autobot blue, but she looked away from him as if ashamed of her actions. With a gentle understanding of the torrent of emotions swelling through her, the natural reaction upon discovering such a deep betrayal that he had so long ago when Megatronus had openly turned against Orion and himself, Ratchet calmly stepped up beside her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. He couldn't help the soft smile when she turned into his embrace, wrapping one of her arms around his back as she rested her face against his torso.
Feeling empowered by what he had learned and self taught himself to do, the newly named Predaking settled into his area for the nighttime rest. The look of astonishment on not only his Kind Master's and Cruel Master's faces, but their own Master's as well, at his ability to change forms like themselves uplifted him out of the darkness and confusion that had settled into his processor. Not only was his new ability a bolster to himself, but the knowledge that his Kind Master had created new Predacons was a wonderful gift from his creator. Not only would he no longer be alone, but he would have the joy of teaching his fellow Predacons all of the wonderful abilities that they would posses. All of which he would use in the service of his Kind and Cruel Masters' Master. It was also something that he wished to share with the Autobot that reminded him of his Kind Master.
The M.E.C.H. scientists watching the female Autobot as she groaned in pain on their table made their daily notes about how she was handling the purple fuel that they had injected into her system. It had been noteworthy that the injuries she had sustained had slowly began to mend, but it was as if she was struggling with it. There were times she had cried out in actual fear as her eyes wouldn't focus, as if she was having vicious nightmares. With their hypothesis that it was due to the subject having a completely developed mind, they had decided that it was time to utilize the fuel for the built body.
Standing on a catwalk that ran around the larger area, the General, with two of his guard, watched as the group below finished their preparations. The General had managed to get a handful from the team that he had infiltrate the Anti-M.E.C.H. group that had been trained to take down the larger robotic forms due to the reaction from the test that Perceptor had run, just in case the form, despite having a basic robotic programmed mind, went berserk.
With a look up at their commanding officer, the scientists simply returned the nod that the General gave for them to start the new experiment.
Author's Note: I don't own the show. Thanks for reading, views, and reviews.
There's only so much that I can try to tie into the show since I've jumped from the main cannon of the show. Predaking's arc in story does flow with the show, even to the heartbreak of losing his kind.