"..We've enhanced the Scrubbers' resistance patches." A familiar accent echoed through the chambers of the Rescue base in China. "We have a few scientists working on upgrading the speed and hive-mind control system tech Professor Baranova and Doctor Green designed, but we'd like to fully test the resistance tech first."
Dr. Szeto's heels clicked in a paced pattern in an effort to match the femme's long steps.
She was filling Quickshadow in on all the tests they had prepared for the developing tech that awaited in a secluded room within her lab's base.
"I've been told you are skilled in the arts of martial arts, yes?" Her eyes trailed up to meet the femme's facial features.
Quickshadow gave a small nod, meeting the human's gaze for a split second before catching sight of the lab's entrance just up ahead.
"Wonderful! The test should go smoothly." the Doctor pulled out her key card from her white lab coat's front pocket and pressed it to the built-in identification scanner on the doorknob.
The tall door slid open with a few squeaks from the hinges, leading to the lab's main research area.
Both females walked in, receiving a few curt greetings and nods from some of the employees and other scientists who Quickshadow assumed were currently working on upgrading the other two pieces of tech.
They soon arrived at another large, white door situated at the very back of the lab.
Quickshadow noticed the lit-up sign plastered on the middle of the door that read, 'Testing in progress' in big, red bold letters.
The identification scanner beeped once again, recognizing the key card it was shown.
The large heavy door slid open, revealing the room hidden behind it.
Four heads and a helm turned to the door's entrance.
"Hey, Quickshadow!" Frankie greeted from where she stood beside Professor Baranova.
"Good afternoon." she casually greeted everyone in the room.
"Where's Blades?" Boulder asked once he noticed the rotary's absence.
"He stayed behind at the training center with Heatwave." She leaned her frame against the wall next to her.
"Ah." The green mech nodded and didn't question the matter further.
Doc soon began rambling about the testing procedures and stages. The Scrubber she was testing was the latest prototype, receiving its newly upgraded resilience patch earlier that morning.
"It should be twice as resilient as before, so there is no need to hold back. We need to ensure the tech will be able to hold up on its own against any future opposing forces." He was referring to the Morbots.
With the number of times, Dr. Morocco's tech was revived, they needed to be cautious and prepare for the worst-case scenarios.
"Hit it with everything you've got," Frankie added with a wide grin.
"In the event that something goes wrong, say uh-" He trailed off, trying to think of a keyword to use. "..Toast. SayToast,and we'll immediately turn off the Scrubber from here."
Frankie playfully rolled her eyes at the keyword her father had chosen and noticed her stepmother looking at her with the same amused expression she held.
They stifled their quiet giggles and quickly regained their composure, turning their attention back to the matter at hand.
Quickshadow didn't question the weird keyword though she was slightly amused by Doc's 'obsession' with the mentioned food. She nodded her helm and waited for them to continue.
Instead, Boulder led her down to the training arena that was on the other side of the control room.
A blue glowing, semi-opaque cube-shaped 'room' stretched out in the middle of the arena.
"The arena will be sealed with a repulsor cube from all sides; once you enter it, neither you nor the Scrubber will be able to leave it." Graham's voice echoed from the speakers that lined the ceiling of the testing area.
The control room was sealed off from the arena, but its walls were made of bulletproof glass that allowed its occupants to have a clear view of the large room below.
Quickshadow noticed her opponent was powered off on the ground in the middle of the blue forcefield-like cube. Her optics quickly scanned it, looking for any possible weak spots.
"..whenever you're ready." Dr. Szeto's voice boomed through the speakers above her.
She wasted no time in stepping into the forcefield.
As much as she was anticipating this testing session, hoping it would help with easing her mind of unfinished and upcoming tasks and worries, she wanted to go back to her chambers to unwind in peace.
Her frame melted through the cube's blue walls, and she cautiously approached the tech that lay motionless in the center.
With a press of a button from within the control room, the Scrubber turned on and began to hover off the ground.
At first, it hovered around aimlessly, scanning for something that needed cleaning.
"Alright, Quickshadow, we're resetting its original programming." Graham's calm voice announced from above.
A 'beep' came from within the Scrubber, and soon it whirled around to face her.
Quickshadow's guard immediately rose as the Scrubber flew in her direction, claw, and saw like servos extending towards her frame.
She immediately twisted out of the way and managed to grab hold of its 'arm', flinging it in the other direction.
The scrubber made contact with the 'wall'; the impact of the damage managed to disorient it for a brief moment before it floated back up into the air and lunged itself at the femme once again.
The special ops agent dodged its flurry of hits and strikes with minimal effort, taking note of how it executed each blow.
The Scrubber was doing the same thing. Thanks to its hive-mind control system, courtesy of Professor Baranova, it was able to, in a way, 'think' for itself and decide what actions to take. It was still bound to its programming, of course, but because its boundaries were reset for the purpose of this test, it was able to analyze the femme's fighting style and dodging pattern.
Quickshadow managed to land a punch on the Scrubber's 'helm' and noticed it stagger a bit due to it being briefly disoriented.
A small grin formed on her mouth plates. She had found a weakness. But just as she was about to land another hit on its newly targeted spot, a sharp pain made her reel her fist back.
She felt the Scrubber's saw-like servo cutting into her metallic arm. Bright sparks flew from the blade for a few seconds before she pulled her arm from its reach and knocked the robot a few meters back.
The small stream of energon that had begun to leak from the decent-sized cut in her arm did not go unnoticed by the femme; however, she didn't have time to tend to it as the Scrubber's pincers grabbed her other arm and tried to pull her off her peds.
She twisted free from its grip and ducked when its blade swung in her direction.
A left uppercut was executed the second she got back up, and she barely dodged it.
The Scrubber's saw ended up reaching the hive-mind tech on its 'forehead'- damaging the patch as it lightly cut through it.
It quickly reeled its servo back, but the damage had already been done.
It froze in place and didn't move for a few long seconds.
Quickshadow kept her guard up as she slowly circled it.
Its purple optics flickered furiously between its original color and an unfamiliar red hue before it settled with the latter.
The femme took a step back, preparing herself for any surprise attacks.
Meanwhile, in the control room, Frankie was the first to notice the hive-mind tech go offline from the control panels.
"Um..Daddy? I think something's wrong.." she pointed to the controls she was assigned to monitor.
Doc rushed to her side and scanned the panel for the issue.
"Anna, the Hive-mind patch is offline." His gloved hands began to glide across the holographic keyboards as he tried to fix the issue.
Doctor Szeto looked out the glass door to the match below.
A gasp left her lips when she saw the Scrubbers' optic color.
"The Scrubber cut through its Hive-mind patch." Graham pointed to a live video feed of the fight on his tablet.
The Scrubber had sparks flying out to the patch on its front as it advanced towards the femme.
It began to deliver random, poorly calculated hits at the femme, leaving her with no other option but to dodge its reckless attacks.
It moved too fast for her to land a good hit on it. Its saw flew in every direction, cutting at her metal multiple times.
Boulder, who was standing outside the repulser cube, noticed Quickshadow struggling to get the robot off her and pressed his com to alert Graham.
"Graham! Something's wrong with-" he was cut off by the young doctor.
"Yes, we know, the Hive mind tech went offline. Doc is trying to shut the Scrubber down."
Quickshadow managed to throw the Scrubber with her grapple lines and pressed her servo to the large cut on her arm. Energon was leaking from various small cuts on her frame and cheek plates, and she was beginning to feel dizzy. Still, she didn't let up.
This time, as the malfunctioning tech hovered towards her, she managed to body slam it to the wall beside her.
The tech slammed into the wall and sustained some more damage; however, she found that she wasn't able to twist her frame in time to land on her peds and instead fell back, bending her 'winged spoilers' in the process.
She gritted her denta to suppress the pain that was beginning to engulf her.
She tried to sit up, but the Scrubber reappeared in front of her a pushed her down with its pincer.
Its blade moved towards her frame, and the femme struggled to push it away.
Her arms ached from the various cuts that now matted her paint job; her entire frame trembled as she tried to pry the Scrubber off of her.
"Ezra, turn it off!" Urgency laced the Professor's voice as she watched the robot pin the femme to the ground.
"Would if I could, Anna. The Scrubber isn't responding to any new commands."
"She's bleeding!" Frankie leaned on the window, noticing the small pools of blue energon that stained the floor.
Boulder had contacted Blades and urged him to come in case the situation got any worse. He then grabbed one of the EMP power-ups that hung on the wall and activated it before running through the holographic wall.
Quickshadow had managed to kick the Scrubber off her frame and was picking herself up off the floor.
He scanned her wounds and tried to get her to back away from the Scrubber before she took any more damage.
"Watch out!" He turned his helm and saw the Scrubber approaching him at an alarming pace.
He fumbled with his EMP attachment, but before he could fire a blast at the malfunctioning tech, he saw a familiar set of grapple lines pull it away.
The femme tried to tangle the Scrubber in her capture cables, but the robot managed to free its saw and cut itself free from the cables.
Boulder heard the femme let out a frustrated sigh beside him.
The robot circled the two Cybertronians, its arms still swaying uncontrollably.
Boulder tried to aim for the robot but soon realized it was too fast, and its random pattern of movement would make it much harder to hit.
— — —
Back in the training center, Heatwave was punching in the Lab's coordinates as Blades waited for the orange vortex to appear.
Boulder had informed them of the current predicament in Faxian a few moments ago.
'Blades! Get to Doctor Szeto's lab! The Scrubber is malfunctioning, and Quickshadow is hurt.' His hurried voice was barely understandable.
Blades repeated the small bit he was able to understand to Heatwave as he began to make his way to the ground bridge.
"The Scrubber malfunctioned, Quickshadow got hurt! I have to go Heatwave."
The mech felt his breath hitch for a fraction of a second at the news.
Without thinking, his peds carried him towards the ground bridge.
Blades didn't say anything and did his best to hide his smile as he waited for the vortex to appear.
They appeared in the middle of the research lab, much to the staff and employees' surprise.
Heatwave practically pounded on the door at the far back of the room.
It slid open rather quickly, and they were greeted by Frankie, who held a troubled expression.
Heatwave didn't wait for an invitation to come in as he walked through the door and went straight to the large window.
Quickshadow was holding her side while Boulder was struggling to aim at the reckless robot.
He scanned the room for the door that led down to the arena, but it was hard to find due to how dim the lights were.
"Over there." Doc pointed to the left side of the room.
The red mech walked down to the arena and grabbed another EMP power-up before running through the blue walls.
He stopped in his tracks at the sight of the various puddles of energon on the ground; his optics moved to scan the femme.
Cuts littered her entire frame, each letting different amounts of her lifeblood drain from her system.
He noticed her bent 'winged spoilers' as well as her swollen shoulder pad. He guessed she had dislocated the arm at some point.
He shook himself out of his trance and focused on trying to stop the robot. His arm moved as he tried to aim at it. A blue and black net suddenly flew through the air right at the Scrubber, tangling it and pinning it to the ground.
Heatwave sent a blast in its direction, stopping its thrashing almost instantly.
He was at Quickshadow's side in a nanosecond, letting her lean on his larger frame for support.
"We need to get her to the med bay!" Boulder met his anxious gaze with a concerned look.
The red leader nodded as he watched the repulsor cube's blue walls fade off.
Blades ran off to power on the ground bridge.
"Is she gonna be okay?" Frankie ran down the stairs towards the mechs.
"She lost a lot of energon; we need to get her to the training center." Boulder tried to keep his tone calm.
Frankie watched as Heatwave placed his servos under the femme's knee pads and back struts and picked her up.
Despite the circumstances, she couldn't stop the knowing smile that stretched across her lips as the mech carried the femme away.
Maybe Cody was right after all.