Part 7
Despite everything, the Ark was still a military facility, and Prowl was still the 2IC. Though he wanted to help the twins, having had personal experience of the confusion and turmoil created by problems of the mind, Prowl reluctantly left the Repair bay to return to his duties. Jazz however, had the day off and remained in the ward, watching the medics work.
"Jazz, why are you still here?" Perceptor queried after almost an hour had passed. "I thought you were planning to go into town today?"
"That was until I found out how bad this thing was with th' twins." Jazz replied. "I wanna be here for 'em, y'know, in case they wake up an' need a friendly face t' be there."
"Ah." Perceptor smiled. "While it is highly unlikely that they shall awaken any time soon, the knowledge that you were present will of no doubt be of great comfort to them."
Jazz offered a grin in reply.
The door to Ratchet's office crashed open and the medic stormed out. "Perceptor, any change?" He demanded. Though the nap had obviously done the red and white some good, it had obviously not soothed his temper.
"Nothing pertaining to the situation." The scientist reported.
"Hmm. This sort of thing just doesn't happen out of the slaggin' blue." Ratchet growled. "Wheeljack, First Aid, start going through their somatic function records. I want every major netrophine spike checked and accounted for." He ordered. "Perceptor, keep them functioning. I'll go pull their full medical logs from Teletran."
Jazz watched for a minute as a set of new machines was hooked up to the twins, then wandered over to where Wheeljack was working. "So, uh, what's the deal with this netro stuff?" he asked.
"Netrophine helps t' moderate neurological function, more specifically memory engrams." Wheeljack answered. "When there's a spike, it means there's been a disruption to the process. Usually it's just a knock 't the head or something, but it also happens when there's been abnormal activity."
"Like an alteration?" Jazz guessed.
"Exactly." First Aid chimed in. "Hopefully, if we can find identical spikes during the same timeframe it will give us a clue as to what happened."
About half an hour later, Wheeljack suddenly exclaimed "Hey look at this!" jabbing one blunt finger at the screen. "These neurophine spikes are almost identical to their first readings."
"Lemme see." Ratchet ordered, elbowing his way in. There was a moment's pause as he checked the records. "Yup. And it's unaccounted for."
"What's the time index?" First Aid queried, also crowding in.
"Third quartex, second lunar of the 18th arc, only a few cycles before we boarded the Ark." Ratchet answered. "That mean anything to anyone?"
"Polyhex!" Jazz suddenly blurted. The medics turned to look at him.
"What?" Wheeljack asked.
"Polyhex." The Porsche repeated. "Just b'fore we launched th' Ark, me an' the twins got sent on a mission t' Polyhex. Why didn't I see it?" he berated himself.
"See what?" Ratchet demanded.
Jazz sighed. "We got ratted out by a double agent and captured. I got taken t' the interrogation rooms while Sunny an' Sides were dragged off t' the labs. 'Parently ol' mono-vision has an interest in what makes twins tick. Anyway, they managed t' get loose and spring me 'fore anything happened, but I noticed they were acting kinda weird, sorta jumpy, aggressive, an' sensitive t' light and touch. Shockwave must've done something to them. I just thought they were stressed."
"It's alright Jazz, you couldn't have known." Ratchet said. "Can you tell us anything else the twins were doing that was out of character?"
"Only thing I can 'member was they were takin' stims. Didn't seem weird cause I was too." Jazz admitted. "I saw some gruesome things in there, didn't wanna recharge 'till I could suppress th' memories. Figure th' twins had the same."
"Hmm. So, Shockwave is behind this." Wheeljack muttered, one hand rubbing the bottom of his facemask in thought. "Only thing is why? Did he want to control them or something?"
"I would not be so sure." Perceptor interrupted. "This is unlike his usual style, and I highly doubt he would have allowed the twins and Jazz to escape if the twins were subjects in his experiments."
"That's true." First Aid spoke up. "Hey, wasn't there a neuro-specialist at Polyhex?"
"Mindscape." Ratchet said, his voice hard and flinty. "I think he's still there. Last I heard he was conducting research into the psyche and recombinant memories. I read the reports Magnus sent on when they found his last set of victims. Apparently they had all been driven psychotic and…"
Ratchet trailed off, optics wide. The four medics exchanged a worried look.
"I'll go get the restraints." Wheeljack volunteered. "Jazz, go get Prowl. Now."