Day 6
Skywarp woke up to the feeling of something nipping at his throat cords. He onlined his optics to the sight of Laserbeak lightly nipping them, a sign telling him to 'get the frag up!' Skywarp gave a groaned as he lightly brushed him aside and stand up. "What time is it?" Skywarp asked as he turned his electroID on to see the rime. "6:30? Ugh," Skywarp groaned as he lay back in the bed. "Screw you, birdie." Laserbeak did take it lightly as he engaged in picking at his leg cables hard. "Ow! Okay, I'm getting up. I'm getting up!" Skywarp told him as he got back up and off the bed. "Happy?" Skywarp asked. Laserbeak responded by continuing to nip as his leg. Skywarp gave aquick yelp and sprinted out of the room with Laserbeak following in tow. Skywarp dashed through the tunnel, Laserbeak keeping up nicely. Skywarp ran into the library…
…and accidently throw himself over the tall balcony.
"Ah!" Skywarp screamed as he felled into the waiting arms of Brawl. Skywarp gave a few quick inhales before turning to his rescuer. "My here!" Skywarp said with an over exaggerated sigh. Brawl promptly respond by letting go of him. "Ouch," Skywarp squeaked out as he rubbed his aft. "Was that really necessary?"
"for an idiot like you, maybe. How did you even accidently fall over the railing?" Brawl asked as he looked up. "Those things are tall."
"Laserbeak was nipping at my legs, causing me to jump a little bit. That boost must've given me a tiny boost."
"Yeah, that might be enough. It's physically impossible for a shorty to accidently fall over it, isn't that right Swindle!" he yelled up to the floor above him. Swindle glared through the holes in the fence before responding.
"Screw you!" he replied, before heading back to his duty.
"Man, he's been acting odd today," Brawl told him. "He seems more agitated than usual, as well as more paranoid."
"Isn't that normal for the circumstance that we're in?" Skywarp asked.
"No, he usually keeps his cool in situations. All of us are really good at keeping our cool."
"Huh, anybody else acting strange?" Skywarp asked as Laserbeak floated on down on his shoulders.
"Vortex has been acting a little more restrain lately. Doesn't communicate much," Brawl told him as he looked at the next datapad. "Hey, you want to help? Look through some of the pads over there," he said shrugging his head over to a shelf.
"Eh, I guess I got nothing better to do, since someone woke me up early today," he said, glaring at the minicon on his shoulder. Skywarp began sifting through the files on hand for the next fifteen minutes before talking to Brawl again. "Hey, how come you guys can't just turn into Bruticus and break us out of here?" Skywarp asked.
"Someone took out Onslaught's T-cog while we were knocked out. You've seen the scar, right? It's on the lower left side of his body where the T-cog usually is for everybody," Brawl told him. "He's the center of the gestalt, so we can't do anything without a working T-cog for him and there was no T-cogs in the infirmaries, so we can't do anything."
"Oh, yeah. Blast Off told me that the first day when we were here," Skywarp remembered. "These guys are very careful.
"Very," Brawl agreed. "The rest of us can still change into out alt. modes, but our weapons system has been sabotage, meaning we can't use them."
"Dang," Skywarp dragged it out. "They really made sure we couldn't do anything to get out."
"No kidding," Brawl agreed.
15 minutes later, Monobear gave a morning announcement and the library brighten with the rest of the lights back on. The Combaticons and Skywarp decided to head back to the lunchroom to get some energon. They were one of the firsts there, as only the two Stunticons, Blurr and Ratchet beat them there. The six of them grabbed a cube and took a seat in there respectful places. Jazz followed closed behind them as well as Bludgeon.
"What up?" Jazz asked as he took a seat next to Brawl.
"Just did some more investigating," Onslaught told him.
"And found scrap all," Swindle complained.
"Swindle, calm down," Onslaught ordered him. Swindle derisively glanced at him before taking another drink from his cube. "Vortex, what did you find?" Onslaught asked.
"Uh, nothing sir," Vortex told him nervously, which strike everybody at the table as odd.
"Okay, Blast Off?" Onslaught asked.
"If I had found something, you would've known already," Blast Off replied coolly.
"And Brawl?"
"Nothing, typical," Brawl grumbled.
"Alright, we'll try again once everybody gets up and has some energon," Onslaught told them.
"That is fine with me," Bludgeon told him as he finished his cube. "I think I'll head over there now and get a head start," he told them as he got up and headed out of the room.
"I'll come with you," Blurr agreed, heading out with him.
"Hmm, well, if anybody would like to leave early, go ahead," Onslaught ordered. Immediately, Swindle got up and headed out of the room. After some hesitation, Vortex got up as well, and headed out of the room.
"What is up with them?" Blast Off asked as soon as they left. "They've been acting a little differently since this morning."
"What do you mean?" Ratchet asked the sniper.
"Ah, I forgot. You weren't there. Swindle and Vortex have been acting strange since this morning. Swindle is acting a bit more paranoid and Vortex is a lot more, how should I put it… subdue," Blast Off told him. "It's certainly odd, because they were acting just like they always were earlier today."
"How odd. Maybe we can find something out today," Dead End assure him.
"I sincerely doubt it."
"Well, cynicism isn't going to get you anywhere." That caused some strange looks from the table as they realize what Dead End just said when they heard a shout from the hallway.
"What the frag was that for!" a voiced rang out. The group at the table looked at each other before getting out of their seats to figure out what was wrong. Outside in the hallway, they could Knock Out was all over Smokescreen, laying into him.
"Come on, is that all you got?" Knock Out asked with a certain sense of sadism in his voice. Before he could continue with his taunting, Onslaught was on him, jumping and holding him onto the ground.
"Calm down," Onslaught ordered as Knock Out realized what happened.
"Hey, let me go," Knock Out asked. "You didn't see his face. It deserve to have that happen to him."
"Dammit, take him to the infirmary. I'll see if I can drug him down," Ratchet yelled as he ran past the two and past the corner.
"Ah!" Beachcomber yelled as Ratchet tripped over him. Ratchet fell with a grunt on top of the geologist. Ratchet gave a groan right before rolling off of the him. "Ow," Beachcomber muttered.
"Sorry, Beachcomber. Didn't see you there," Ratchet explained in grunts.
"That's fine, man. No problem," Beachcomber forgave him.
"What were you doing?" Ratchet asked as he got back on his knees.
"Oh, I was watching the fight," Beachcomber explained. Ratchet gave a slight nod before realizing there was something wrong with that statement.
"Wait a minute, you-"
"Ratchet, get back up and help me subdue him!" Onslaught yelled as he ran past him. Ratchet gave a silent curse as he got back up and followed Onslaught to the infirmary, leaving Beachcomber behind. The two ran through the halls before arriving at the infirmary.
"Oh, h-hey!" Nautilator greeted them as they entered, a strong pair of scissors in his hands, getting ready to cut through the plastic on his arms. "Whoa! What's going on with Knock Out?" Nautilator asked.
"I'll show you if you help me get free," Knock Out told him as he struggled against the strong hands holding him still. Ratchet ignored the conversation and quickly went to get sedative. He went backed to Knock Out and quickly injected him with it. Knock Out flinched and struggle for a few seconds before he went limped in Onslaught's arms.
"Alright, Knock Out's secured," Ratchet muttered to himself. "Let's strapped him down to the bed so that he doesn't hurt anyone when he gets up," Ratchet ordered as he got some wire to bind the doctor. Onslaught laid him on the medical table and Ratchet tied it around him, securing it firmly. At that time, the others who was in the cafeteria came in with a bleeding from the mouth Smokescreen in tow.
"What's wrong with him?" Dead End asked.
"I don't know. Insanity?" Ratchet theorized.
"See, it's just like I told you!" Wildrider bragged to Dead End.
"People don't go insane overnight," Brawl said.
"May he's acting strangely for the same reason Vortex and Swindle are," Onslaught guessed.
"Dead End, too," Blast Off noticed.
"What, why?" Dead End asked.
"You told him to stop being cynical," Skywarp told him. Dead End blinked at them before he realized what they meant.
"Your point being?" Dead End argued.
"Holy scrap, something is wrong with him!" Wildrider yelled in surprise.
"Might as well add Beachcomber to the list," Ratchet explained.
"What, why?" Onslaught asked. "He looked fine to me."
"He said he was there to watch Knock Out and Smokescreen fight."
"Wait, doesn't he have PTSD? Why would he want to see that," Dead End asked.
"Exactly my point. He shouldn't even want to see it. Why did he do that?"
"Well, should we see how everybody else is doing?" Dead End asked. "I hate to imagine it, but some more of them could be acting strange."
"Worth a look," Ratchet agreed. "I'll stay here with Knock Out to make sure everything with him is alright."
"Good. Everyone, head out!" Onslaught ordered. Everyone went out, except for Smokescreen and Nautilator, the former still bleeding.
"Right, before I head out, can you make sure this isn't any worse than a few cuts?" Smokescreen asked.
"Yeah, we'll just have to do it standing up," Ratchet agreed. He turned to Nautilator, about to cut opened the plastic. "Nautilator?" Ratchet asked
"Yes?"
"Don't do anything stupid. I'll get to you in a second. I'm not risking you cutting up your tubes."
"Right, Chromedome and Rewind. I'm sure they are doing fine," Dead End confidently said. Wildrider stared at his comrade.
"Dude, we seriously need to fix what's wrong with you."
"What's wrong with me?" Dead End asked.
Before Wildrider could try explaining, the door opened to Chromedome, a large amount of data discs in his hands. "And we need to get rid of these!" he shouted, tossing them out.
"Oh, is that it!" Rewind shouted from across the room.
"Oh, no, we're not even halfway through!" Chromedome turned back and glared at him. "I'm going to be laying down some rules."
"Oh, yeah? What. you miserable being!" Rewind questioned, angered behind every word he said.
"Uh, are you guys-" Wildrider began.
"Shut it! This is personal matters!" Chromedome shouted as he closed the door.
"Rewind and Chromedome: definitely infected," Wildrider grumbled. "Those two always act like overbearing sweet-sparks to each other. I've never seen them fight before."
"I know. It is disturbing," Dead End agreed.
"Hey," a voiced said from behind them. "What's going on with Chromedome and Rewind?"
The two Stunticons turned to see Beachcomber staring at them. He looked pretty happy, standing still with his shoulders lax.
"Uh, they are having a spout," Dead End explained.
"Man, I wish Soundwave was still alive. I could use his cameras to sneak in on that," Beachcomber grumbled. The two Stunticons stared at each other.
"He's crazy," Wildrider mouthed to Dead End.
"Hey, are these Rewind's videos?" Beachcomber asked. The two glared at eacg other.
"Yes,,," Dead End hesitated.
"Oh, alright. You think Rewind would mind if I took them off his hands?" Beachcomber asked.
"Uh, at the moment? Unlikely," Dead End answered.
"Oh, okay," Beachcomber said as he scooped them up. "If you excuse me, I think I'll head on up to the A/V room and watched these. I think there might be some good snuff footage on here," Beachcomber said as he headed out to the staircase going up.
"Okay, this has gotten really weird," Wildrider muttered.
"Very," Dead End agreed.
Onslaught ranged the door to Hound's room. He and Skywarp decided to pair up for this as he was pretty sure he could tolerate Skywarp.
"And then, Starscream was all like 'Blah, blah, blah,' and Thundercracker is going 'Blah, blah, bla-blah?' and Hook finished it off with…"
He was wrong.
Finally, after an agonizing minute, the door opened with Hound, looking very sane.
"Ah, Hound, good to see you. You see, some people have been acting very… peculiar as of late. I am happy to see that you look very well," Onslaught told him.
"Why would I not be. What's going on?" Hound asked.
"We'll tell you later after we're done examining everybody else," Onslaught told him.
"Examining?" Hound asked. "Things are that bad?"
"Yes, you see-" at that point, Onslaught noticed something very weird behind Hound. A trash can was on fire. "Uh, you trash can is on fire," Onslaught pointed out.
"You just noticed that?" Skywarp asked.
"Hey, there's nothing wrong. I just… needed to start a fire, okay. Nothing wrong with that," Hound told them. The seeker and the Combaticons glanced at each other. "Anyway, have fun with whatever," Hound told them as he closed the door.
"Crazy," Skywarp told Onslaught.
"Unfortunate."
Blast Off and Brawl stood outside Perceptor's door and rang the bell. The rang was answered almost immediately.
"Ah, Brawl and Blast Off. Why did you decided to ring my room today?" Perceptor asked.
"Some people have been acting strange. We came to check up on you," Brawl told him.
"Strange? Do tell," Perceptor asked, interested.
"Well, people have been acting opposite of how they usually act," Blast Off started off. "Vortex is more subdue, Knock Out is more violent, ect. You understand," Blast off finished.
"It's been confusing us since it's started happening."
"Huh, guess I'd better start investigating this," Perceptor said to himself. "I'll head to the cafeteria real quick and then start examining them."
"Fine with us," Brawl agreed. Perceptor stepped past them and headed for the stairs. "Huh, that was easy," Brawl noticed.
"Yes, quite."
"Alright. Counterpunch. This should be good," Skywarp said as he pressed the bell.
"Yes, very," Onslaught muttered.
The door opened to Counterpunch glaring at the two.
"Hey, Counter-" Skywarp started.
"Shut up and leave me alone," Counterpunch harshly ordered followed by him slamming the door in their faces.
"He's normal."
"Very."
"What up?" Jazz answered cheerily as he opened the door to Blast Off and Brawl.
"People are acting strangely and we were wondering if you were normal," Blast Off told him.
"What? Uh, I'm normal. Still following my normal routine," Jazz told them.
"Then our conversation is done," Blast Off told him as he grabbed the door and closed it.
"What was that for?" Brawl asked.
"He's useless. We were done with him. Come, on to the next person."
"Alright, Nightbeat," Dead End chuckled. "I doubt anything's wrong with him."
"Deady, stop it," Wildrider ordered. The door opened quickly to see Nightbeat glaring at the two. "Hey, what up?" Nightbeat stared at the two before he went backed in to retrieve and datapad and wrote some stuffed in. He went back and showed it to them.
"You're voice modulator is experiencing problems?" Dead End asked.
"Yarp," Nightbeat answered before realizing what he just said and slapped himself in the face.
"Oh, I know that," Wildrider said. The two glared at him.
"What?" Dead End asked.
"He's speaking in Idiot, which I am extremely fluent in," Wildrider told him.
"That sounds riveting," Dead End replied happily. "Thanks for your assistance Nightbeat. We'll be on our way," Dead End told him as he and Wildrider walked away.
"Ove ette fige thi ot," Nightbeat told them as he closed the door.
"Yes, Onslaught and… Skywarp," Bumblebee growled that last part out upon the sight of him.
"Hey, moron. How are you today? Feeling a bit… antsy?" Skywarp teased which caused Bumblebee to ball up his hands into fists.
"I'm fine," Bumblebee relied as he calmed down. "I was about to head down to the cafeteria to get some energon. Now, if you excuse me," Bumblebee told them as he walked past them and to the stairs.
"Don't noticed anything different with him," Onslaught told Skywarp.
"Yep," Skywarp said with a grin. "So many ways to tease him."
"Now, now, do you want Bumblebee to murder you?" Onslaught asked as he headed off.
"Hmm, good point," Skywarp agreed as he followed him.
The group investigated Scavenger, Mixmaster, Hoist, and Drift, but found nothing wrong with those individuals. After about an hour, all of those who weren't acting strangely met up in the library, where Bludgeon and Blurr wondered what was going on, while Swindle and Vortex kept to themselves. Onslaught asked if the two strange Combaticons could go have a break and the two followed the ordered quickly, leaving everybody else alone.
"Alright," Onslaught began. "What's wrong with everybody?"
"Swindle's a paranoid wreck," Blast Off began.
"Vortex is a lot more subdue than usual," Brawl agreed.
"Knock Out is prone to violence," Ratchet added.
"Chromedome and Rewind hate and fight each other," Wildrider added.
"Beachcomber is a vicarious violence voyeur," Dead End told them.
"We're pretty sure Hound is becoming a pyromanic," Skywarp told them.
"Nightbeat's speech is affected," Dead End told them.
"And, most disturbingly, Dead End is… optimistic," Wildrider said with a shudder, glaring at the happy cynic.
"Alright, so that's all of them, but what could be causing them," Mixmaster asked everyone.
"Could this be one of Monobear's motive?" Perceptor asked.
"It seems likely," Smokescreen agreed.
"But, how is he able to do this?" Scavenger asked.
"That's the million-shanix question, isn't it?" Jazz asked.
"I don't knw, but I will look into it," Perceptor told them. "Until then, we should let all the non-hostile abnormal ones help out."
"So, Dead End, Swindle, Vortex, Nightbeat, Hound, and Beachcomber, although the last two will have to be watch constantly in case they act up," Blurr told them.
"We should also send someone to break up the conflict between Chromedome and Rewind before one of them seriously hurt each other," Jazz told them.
"That would be sensible," Bludgeon agreed.
"Good idea. Which room are they in?" Smokescreen asked.
"I think they decided to stay in Rewind's room this time," Dead End told them.
"Than I'll go break it up."
"Oh, let me up," Wildrider volunteered.
"Uh, sure," Smokescreen hesistated as he went ahead and left the room with the manic.
"Okay, with that done, we got some time to kill before lunch begans. Let's look around around the library a bit more," Jazz told them.
To be continued