Docholli had not proven particularly taxing for Cyclonus to find. He was a hunched green organic, roughly the size of a regular Transformer, who had apparently grafted several bionic components onto his own body, including one artificial leg, an artificial tail and a bionic right eye which blinked out of sync with his organic one. He was in the lower levels of The Big Wheel, an area known for cheaper tables, lower stakes, and less affluent patrons than the bright, flashy levels above. The bar was packed with hard luck stories or mechs claiming they were about to make it big in the casinos.

It seemed Docholli was a bit of a local celebrity, having performed some emergency surgery on the owner of the casino following a dispute with a violent patron and - having been given certain license to hang around - was now outstaying his welcome, judging by the way the bar staff kept glaring at him.

The purchase of a drink for Docholli and the sight of the several thousand shanix that Cyclonus had managed to accrue over his recent travels had been more than enough to convince the greedy surgeon that he could provide the requisite services that Cyclonus had asked for, and now the pair had made their way to Docholli's surprisingly large ship which was docked in the central section of the spaceport. Cyclonus had stoically refused to answer any of Docholli's questions about how his injuries had been obtained or where he was from, and was now in Docholli's surgery on board his ship.

Docholli gestured towards a chair.

"Sit yes, robot?" he said, gesturing to the chair. "Need to prepare anaesthetic. Dangerous it is to work on a transformation cog with patient online."

"No anaesthetic." Cyclonus voice was hard as granite, even as he gently lowered himself onto the chair as indicated. "I shall endure the procedure whilst fully conscious."

Docholli's left eye widened and his bionic one blinked rapidly, both vertically and horizontally.

"Need to paralyse you then, robot. Body can lash out in response to transformation cog being accessed. Dangerous for me! Great strength on Transformer!"

"Do what you must, Doctor."

"Yes, yes, at once, noble robot."

Docholli, muttering and almost singing to himself in a high-pitched voice excitedly prepared two vials of luminous yellow liquid and loaded them into a pneumatic injector gun. He moved quickly behind his patient, and the next moment Cyclonus felt a sharp pain as the needle penetrated his neural cluster, in the back of his neck. Suddenly a wave of stillness came upon him and the entire room seemed to fade into a yellow washed hue.

"Try to move, robot, yes?" Docholli instructed him, cautiously.

Cyclonus tried to raise his arm, but nothing was happening, he even tried to speak but just a dull murmur momentarily came out.

Docholli stood in front of Cyclonus and smiled for the first time since the two had met in the dingy bar. It was not a reassuring sight.

"Unable to move for hours now, robot. Strongest paralytic known to mechanoids, Transformer especially weak in neural cluster. But not hurt robot. Make you suffer, yes. Kill you, yes, get big money from the Cabal, but robot feel no pain. Took oath to not hurt, even not hurt Decepticon.

Cyclonus tried to stand, to ask why the surgeon was doing this, but he couldn't move at all. He had walked straight into a trap and paid good money for the privilege of it. Docholli had moved over to the far wall.

"Don't feel bad robot. Not the first, certainly will not be the last. Killed Cybes before. Kept trophies."

Docholli pressed a button and the wall slid aside to reveal a secret compartment that contained the trophies he had referred to. He grinned malevolently and his eye changed in colour from red to orange as he did so. The severed heads of Transformers, both Autobot and Decepticon adorned the wall. Cyclonus recognised the head of Warpath, the boisterous Autobot tank. It was displayed in the centre of a ring of Decepticon heads. Two Reflector clones, Slugfest, Battletrap and Wingspan's faces all stared at Cyclonus. They seemed almost accusatory, despite their hollow dead, lifeless optics.

"Killed them all, so I did. For revenge, for fun, for boredom, for research. Know how to make a Transformer die many different ways now. But killed them before the Cabal declared open season on your race. Now going to be paid for my fun."

Docholli picked up a laser scalpel and with surgical precision opened Cyclonus chest cavity. He smiled as he did so and looked Cyclonus in the face, taunting him, even as Cyclonus' tried to struggle, but his limbs were utterly powerless.

"Transformation cog damaged. After spark and brain module - most important piece of Transformer anatomy. Going to show you yours before you die, robot."

As Docholli opened Cyclonus' chest he suddenly changed expression, from one of sheer sick enjoyment, which Cyclonus had seen on the likes of sadists like Pounce and Vortex during his time with the Decepticons, to one of complete bewilderment. A moment later he leaned back and stared at Cyclonus suspiciously.

"Curious robot this one is. Internal systems more advanced than Docholli has ever seen in a mech."

Docholli's evil tone had given way to one of professional curiosity as he leaned in closely to examine the internal components of his helpless victim. He started to hum and haw as he prodded around in Cyclonus chest cavity, murmuring to himself in a language that Cyclonus could not recognise. As he leaned in further and started clicking and tutting, Cyclonus tried to focus his thoughts. He calmed himself and focussed as hard as he could on his left hand. He thought of how advanced he was, an indomitable warrior forged in the fires of a God to fight until the last light left his spark. This was not how he was destined to die, at the hands of a cackling sadist. He mustered every fibre of his spark and slowly, inexorably the fingers of his left hand started to sluggishly, agonisingly follow his mental commands, moving ever so slightly to form a fist.

Exhausted from the sheer force of the effort to clench his fist, Cyclonus realised he would only get one shot at landing a punch damaging enough to incapacitate his would-be murderer. He wished he had saved the blow he had landed on Ishlack, the foolish criminal from earlier in the day for this particular moment. Even as he focussed again on summoning the energy, he was suddenly startled when the muzzle of a gun appeared behind Docholli's head and gently pressed into his temple, even as Docholli suddenly froze.

The newcomer was a large blue and white Transformer, who wore a very prominent Autobot symbol on his chest. On closer inspection his gun appeared to be affixed to his right arm, and a similar looking weapon crested his head.

"Nice and slow, Docholli, come out of that chestplate and close it. I'd hate to splatter your brains all over my friend here's circuitry." The robot spoke in a deep voice, and his optics flashed briefly towards Cyclonus as he said the word 'friend'. Evidently he wanted Cyclonus to play along, little did he know that Cyclonus currently couldn't speak at all.

Docholli started to whimper pitifully even as he followed the orders of the Autobot. He closed the chest panel and dropped the scalpel when instructed to do so. Soon the Autobot had him restrained in energon bonds in the corner, even as he examined Cyclonus.

"Why can't he move or speak?" the Autobot said brusquely, levelling his weapon at the surgeon who had taken to snivelling in his corner. Docholli gave no answer and continued murmuring to himself pitifully in his own language.

"No help at all." The Autobot didn't seem too annoyed even as he turned to face Cyclonus. "Good thing you made sure your old buddy Devcon was watching your back with these untrustworthy black market doctor's huh?"

Cyclonus felt a brief moment of realisation pass over him. Devcon was an Autobot bounty hunter with a somewhat fearsome reputation. Both Dirge and Ramjet had made mention of him a couple of times when they had been tanked up on cheap Energon, although both claimed to have killed Devcon in single combat. Cyclonus had always suspected the pair of lying. They couldn't hold their own against an Autobot minibot, never mind a feared bounty hunter.

As he thought about it, Cyclonus' mood darkened. Was there a bounty on his head? Had the pair of Autobots he had met in the bar days before lied to him, only to set a price on him?

The Autobot revealing his name had an effect on Docholli also, who curled up into a ball on the ground and began to sob. If he noticed, Devcon gave no sign at all, as he examined Cyclonus for any sign of a response.

"How long will it be until this wears off?" Devcon asked Docholli.

Docholli continued to snivel incomprehensibly. Devcon marched over and placed his gun on the back of the surgeon's head.

"Answer me, or forever be silent."

"A few hours! Powerful paralytic agent, but no permanent damage. Docholli wouldn't hurt any noble Transformer. Was performing surgery, robot injured, Docholli try to help! All big misunderstanding!"

Devcon chuckled mirthlessly.

"Just a misunderstanding, huh? Same with them?" He pointed in the direction of the severed Transformer heads on Docholli's wall. "You're a psychopath and a murderer. I'm here to bring you to justice."

So he's not here for me Cyclonus thought to himself. Just as well, as I'm in no condition for fighting.

Summoning up all his willpower, Cyclonus forced his arm to move, causing Devcon to turn his head at the noise and Docholli to again look with amazement at him.

"Shouldn't be possible, oh no. Transformer's systems are unlike anything Docholli has ever seen. Advanced technology, shouldn't be able to move for hours." Docholli was clearly still scared for his life, but his curiosity at Cyclonus' inner workings seemed to overcome his fear.

Grimacing, Cyclonus, placed both hands on the chair and tried to get to his feet, feeling his systems burn as the poison in his circuits fought with his indomitable will. It was a good fight but he was unable to stand, and he slumped back into the chair, his optics blazing with anger and annoyance. He turned his attention from his limbs towards his vocal processer, and tried to force himself to speak.

Meanwhile Devcon had placed three small cubes on a nearby table, and pulled out a datapad. He tapped the datapad a few times and the cubes activated, projecting images of three figures a few feet above them as holograms.

"Judges, thank you for your attendance. I have engaged and neutralised the Pedroxian fugitive known as Docholli. To his crimes of murder, extortion, torture, theft, illegal genetic experimentation and organ harvesting, I also have - admissible as evidence - footage of the fugitive admitting to the murder of six Cybertronians, and also the attempted murder of a seventh."

The left of the three figures responded.

"You have done well as ever Devcon. The Judges thank you for your diligence and bravery in apprehending the suspect. He will be executed for his crimes upon his return to Pedros Seven. We accept your admissible evidence and add seven further counts of guilt to the charges already proven against Docholli. We will send our condolences and condemnation of the fugitive's actions to Cybertron with our deepest regrets."

Devcon nodded his head slightly in a show of respect as the three figures disappeared from view and the cubes deactivated. Then he turned to Cyclonus.

"Clean up should be here in a couple of hours. Hopefully you'll be well enough to move by then, as we will need to get in touch with Cybertron."

Cyclonus tried to speak but could only groan. Still, it was a start.