Disclaimer: Beast Wars are not mine, I make no profit.
Part eight
"The labs!" Depth Charge repeated slowly.
"Well… yes. Why?"
"Which labs?"
"Those on the third level. Will you tell me why you're asking all this?"
Third level. Not the lowest ones. Third level. Then everything is all right. And yet…
"That doctor who contacted you. What did she look like?"
The femme shrugged.
"Smaller than me. Crimson and gold colours, quite attractive too. She showed me an ID that identified her as class one spark surgeon. Otherwise I wouldn't have trusted her with my daughter. She was really nice to the child too. I don't quite remember her name. It was something like…
"Clearcut."
"Yes! Do you know her? Depth Charge, what's wrong?"
Primus…
His thoughts raced. How could he tell her? How could he tell her she had sent her daughter to a place where she would be close to a mass murderer? And that wasn't all… He wasn't sure about the scientists' real reason for taking the small femme. It was possible that they had somehow found a way to cure her illness but… these scientists' only focused was the Protoform X project. So… If such a cure existed, it had something to do with X!
"Depth Charge, what's wrong with Dr. Clearcut?" she repeated more demandingly.
"No… Nothing. I just though she didn't work on such things. I must have been mistaken."
He tried to look nonchalant. Which was stupid. Mind Game was a very intelligent robot.
"Listen now, you hard-headed… Argh!" she slammed her hand on his desk. "This is the second time you try to do this and you are the worst liar I ever met in my life! This is my daughter we're talking about! And you're gonna tell me everything you know! NOW!"
Her eyes flashed in fury and he almost recoiled. She was shorter than he but she was by no means small and she did look dangerous. Not half as dangerous as most of the robots he'd faced in battle but still. She had a hot temper for a psychiatrist.
He sighed.
"Mind Game… I'm a bit paranoid and I might be overreacting…"
"TELL ME!"
"I don't believe your daughter has been taken to level three."
"What? Where then?" he sensed panic in her voice.
"The lowest levels."
"But why would they take her there? Wait! Didn't you say that's where they kept that criminal of yours? Depth Charge, what's going on here?"
He closed his optics.
"I… I don't know anymore."
There was a knock on the door and before he could respond no other than Dr. Clearcut stepped into his office.
"Could I please have a word with you, Guardian? In privet."
Mind Game stared hard at the doctor.
"What have you…" she started.
"Leave us alone, Miss." Depth Charge said loudly, hoping that she would take the hint. He had gotten her in this mess. The less attention she drew to herself, the better.
The psychiatrist hesitated.
Please, Mind Game, please get out! Don't show them you know me at all!
She slowly picked up two empty cups and left. He stood up and locked the door after her. Then he turned to face the scientist.
"What do you want?"
She smiled at him and seated herself comfortably in one of the chairs before answering.
"One of our doctors visited you last night." She pierced him with beautiful golden optics, lips stretched in a pleasant smile.
Slag. I'm dead.
"We have ways to monitor everyone who might betray our secrets." She continued. "Unfortunately, that particular doctor is not among the living anymore. He died in a… lab accident. However, you had an interesting conversation with him. And you gave an even more interesting idea. That's the only reason you're still alive." She added lowly.
That and it will be hard to cover up my death. But I'm sure you'll find a way.
"You shouldn't have poked your nose in things that weren't your business. We're not sure what to do with you. But we can't let you tell anyone what you know, can we? So for now I suggest you take a nice walk with me to the restricted levels. It might satisfy your curiosity. But before that you'll inform your people that you're going away so nobody comes to search for you. Questions?"
"Only one. As I understand it, you took down a small femme. Why?"
"It doesn't matter. She didn't survive the procedure."
His spark dropped. Depth Charge swallowed with difficulty.
Two dead people already.
One child.
He was a Guardian.
He was supposed to protect her.
He had failed.
It was his fault.
Something he had done had caused that. Starlet would have died anyway, but at least she would have been home with her mother, they would have had a chance to say goodbye. Now Primus knew what her death had been like on the lab table.
Matrix, what would he tell Mind Game?
"In fact," Clearcut said, as if reading his mind, "I think you should break the news to her mother. Let her know that the child simply didn't survive the operation. She better hear it from someone she knows, right? It's sad that we had to destroy the little one's body but after the procedures it was contagious."
He flinched.
He already hated her deceptively compassionate smile.
"Now I will leave. I'll be back tonight with Captain Stunner and two of his guards. In the meantime you will inform the mother of her daughter's death and tell your people of your departure. Why not say that you are going to the funeral? It will be a nice touch. And I wouldn't reveal any information or try anything else if I were you. Do as I say and you just might live."
She unlocked the door and exited the room. He only had several brief seconds to prepare before Mind Game came in. She looked him directly in the face. It was obvious that she was struggling for control. She was expecting him to say something. He looked away, for the first time in stellar cycles feeling tears forming at the corners of his optics. He willed them away and forced himself to look at her.
"Mind Game…" He began quietly.
She didn't wait for him to finish. Sensing what he was going to say, she dropped to the nearest chair and shook her head violently.
"Mind Game, I was just informed that your daughter, Starlet…" he began again.
Primus, that was hard.
"She…"
Holy Matrix, help me.
"She's dead, I'm so sorry!" he gasped finally.
Mind Game sat there, a shaking hand covering her mouth, tears running silently down her face.
"It's your fault." She whispered. "I know it has something to do with you. It's your fault!"
