Part six
"Look now, madam, Captain Stunner sent me to tell you that if you want us to guard this thing you must device a better way to control it. It attacked two of us guards today and one is severely damaged. The chains didn't hold. Now we've put twice as many restraints but we're still not sure it will be enough."
The bot in the cell felt the other one's fear and sighed with pleasure. It was a small and rare treat and he savoured it.
"Yes, it also tried to attack one of our doctors during the procedures. Something must be done."
Unfortunately, this voice was rather dispassionate.
"I wouldn't worry about that." a female cut in. " Simply nail it to the wall and the operating table. Every time. I suggest using wedges."
Rampage clenched his fists. He really hated that femme more than anything in the world.
"Nail it? Wouldn't that be a little…" the first voice hesitated. "Well, slag it, why not!"
"Hmm, yes, that might be a solution." the second voice said thoughtfully. "Due to the spark's healing abilities, using wedges won't damage the experiment permanently. Of course, there's the interesting possibility of the spark healing the wedges into the body. That will make them hard to remove but I believe we can bear with that if it allows us to work undisturbed. Yes, I think we should try it."
Rampage gritted his teeth in both rage and desperation. For now the rage won out and that was what sustained him but he didn't know for how long he would have the energy to stay angry. There was the hope of escaping soon but he couldn't rely on that. He and Depth Charge had fallen in the vortex together so it made sense that the Guardian also remembered the future. In that case he would try to make sure that Rampage never escaped. The former crab could only hope his efforts would prove futile.
But until then…He closed his optics and tried to prepare himself for what awaited him. The worst part was that he remembered the pain very clearly. Wedges. There was no end to that femme's inventiveness. And that was only when he wasn't spread on a lab table.
Walking home from the facility two nights later Depth Charge had to remind himself not to become too hopeful. But he had to admit that things were starting to look just a little bit more optimistic.
All he had told Mind Game was that a very dangerous criminal he had known at a time was now being kept in the restricted section of the labs. The High Council didn't realize just how dangerous he was so he had to break some orders to protect the colony. She had accepted his explanation easily, especially since she didn't hold much regard for the Elders. And having the clever psychiatrist as an ally had proved a real blessing. She had immediately found the old plans of the research facility and he had been relieved to see that there really was another route to X's position that was most probably free of guards. The irony was that it was under water. Had he still had his beast mode, Depth Charge would have had no trouble going there. Now it might not prove that easy…
According to the information Mind Game had been able to dig up, the whole facility had started as a top-secret lab. It had been so secret that it was supposed to be almost invisible. As a result, it was situated in a natural cave that could only be accessed from under water. Later, when the colonists had started arriving on Omicron, it had been closed down and the new facility had been built on top of it. The old plans showed that for some time the cave had been used for garbage disposal so there was still a connection between it and the main building. If he could enter the low levels from there he would have considerably fewer guards to pass.
If he could only get to X! This time he was prepared. A sharp energon blade rested in one of his subspace compartments ready to stab the killer's twisted spark. That would produce an explosion that would probably kill him too but he was prepared for that. Anything to prevent him from living that nightmare again…
But there were still far too many flaws in that plan.
Just how many guards would be there and how would he deal with them? Once he got to Rampage's cell or whatever they kept him in, how would he unlock it? And how would he manage to get close enough to stab him?
That last one shouldn't be a problem. Surely Rampage would be restrained…
For less than a fraction of a second he almost felt guilty for wanting to kill a defenseless person. Then he remembered who that person was and the feeling was completely gone.
A low hiss from the dark alleyway to his right brought him out of his reverie.
"Depth Charge!"
He frowned and tried to see in the dark.
"Who the slag are you?"
The robot inched closer to a street lamp and stood just at the edge of the light. Depth Charge's optics widened in surprise as he recognized one of the scientists working on the Protoform X project. Then the surprise was gone as he remembered that particular encounter.
"What do you want?"
The bot twitched nervously.
"I have some information for you. About the government's secret project!"he whispered.
"I'm not supposed to know anything about that!" Depth Charge snapped and realized that he was repeating the same words he had said in the "old past", as he had started calling it for lack of a better term.
"B-but it's important!"
He hadn't listened to the bot the previous time. He had been a disciplined and obedient Guardian who didn't poke his nose in things that weren't his business. So he had reported the scientist the very next day for trying to disclose secret information… only to find out that the same scientist had been killed in an accident during an experiment the night before. At the time he had shrugged it off. Later he had believed that Protoform X had taken his first victim on Omicron. But…
A suspicion crept into his spark and he felt it freeze.
Could it be that…? Was it possible that he had caused this robot's death by reporting him?
The Maximal government didn't allow death sentences, at least officially. That was the reason they had given him for not destroying X. They didn't just kill people in the shadows, did they?
Did they?
With the experience he had now, he wouldn't deem anything impossible.
And what if the information that scientist had could really help him get to his nemesis?
He stepped closer to the bot.
"Let's go somewhere where we won't be that easily heard." he said.
"But it's full of people!" the scientist hissed, looking around the pub Depth Charge had chosen to lead him to.
"It's full of people that aren't listening, unlike the dark alleyways. Now speak!" he insisted, leaning over the table.
He had to listen trough the whole explanation of what the experiment actually was and pretend he didn't know a thing. Half an hour later he finally ran out of patience.
"And why are you telling me this?"
"Y-you have to destroy this thing! Stunner, Chillcold and Clearcut refuse to listen to me so I had to come to you! It tried to kill me while I was running tests on its spark! They increased the, err, security measures after that but I'm afraid if it breaks free, we, scientists will be the first ones to die!"
Depth Charge's fists clenched at the bot's selfishness but he swallowed his comment. Suddenly a wonderful idea occurred to him. It wouldn't solve the problem completely but it would certainly slow X's escape and buy him more time if it worked.
"You say his spark is immortal?"
"As far as we know, yes. With everything we've done to it, it should have died a thousand times."
Depth Charge thought of asking what exactly had they done to X but he dismissed the question as unimportant at the moment.
"Have you tried to split his spark?"
"Split it? Why would we do that?"
Depth Charge smiled.
"Because it might be a good way to control him."
"Oh. That… That's a very good idea! I'll suggest it tonight!"
And here I am, changing the future.
