This chapter is set in 'TMI', so expect a flirtatious Breakdown and a protective Bumblebee to show up pretty soon.
Just want to say a huge thanks to anyone still reading this, 'cause I know posts are really irregularly timed.
So thanks, everyone!
Enjoy!
"There're only so many stones you can let someone throw at you before you start throwing them back."
- The wise chronicle of Pinterest.
Chapter Sixteen: Knowledge and Numbskulls
The Nemesis, Somewhere in the sky . . .
"I honestly don't know what you see in that femme," Knock Out rolled his red optics at his friend, "Didn't you say she can't fight?"
The two were working in the vain mech's lab. Well, working meaning Knock Out lounging about and frequently buffing his finish while Breakdown leaned against the wall.
The larger mech shrugged, "So? Doesn't hurt to be a knight in shining armour. Besides, she managed to take down Airachnid."
The doctor brushed off the comment, "Puh-lease. Surely that couldn't have happened without help from the other Autobots."
"Still, there's just..." The brute stared off for a moment in thought, "...Something about her."
Knock Out sighed, "Well, if you can stop day dreaming about an Autobot long enough to help your team, how are we supposed to get whatever was in that cylinder back? Preferably before Megatron grinds us into spare parts."
Breakdown smirked, "Well, if you hadn't let their scout tackle you, we would have the thing."
"Yes, whatever. Still not helping," Knock Out groaned, "Where could the data have possibly gone?"
Meanwhile at the Autobot base . . . Silver's POV . . .
Things had been exceptionally awkward at base. With me and my sister still not seeing optic-to-optic, Bee and me trying to hide our relationship, AND to top it all off Optimus was now secretly helping me with controlling my powers.
But right now we had more pressing matters to deal with. Specifically, some new information that could turn the tide of the war.
"Gotta say, it's weird seeing Bulk in brainiac mode," Arcee stated as she and Bumblebee watched the Wrecker work.
"Yeah," Bee looked over at the green 'bot in concern, "Is it just me, or does he seem a little...out of it?"
He wasn't wrong. As I looked over Bulkhead's neural network scan from before and after taking in the data, I noticed something strange. It almost seemed to be consuming his processor.
"Ratchet?" I called the medic over and pointed to the screen, "We may have a problem."
The senior MO sighed and waved Optimus over, "It is as I feared."
"What is wrong?" The Prime asked in concern.
"I had hoped that Bulkhead was merely purging the data," He began, "However, this recent scan of his network shows that he is repeating and writing down the formula..."
"...As it's recoding his neural net," I finished, "His knowledge, his personality, even his memories could change or be erased."
By now, Arcee and Bee had heard our discussion and come over to talk.
"But if we stop him, goodbye synthetic energon..." My sister realised.
Ratchet shook his helm, "You assume we possess the means of stopping him. I don't exactly have access to the wisdom of the ancients. "
"I will not allow another one of our own to be sacrificed," Optimus spoke sternly, "No matter the cost."
I turned to my mentor, "If the data transferred from the cylinder into Bulkhead's helm, could there be a way of coaxing it back inside?"
Arcee interjected, "How do we get the cylinder back from the Decepticons?"
"Megatron will bring it to us," Optimus stated in determination.
Knowing him, he had a plan. He didn't really give many hints away as to what that plan was, but I knew the leader was strategic. Following his instructions, I faked a high energy signature in coordinates a few kliks from the cylinder site. That should've been enough to get the Decepticons there.
Ratchet activated the Bridge, everyone eagerly stepping through. We weren't the only ones who wanted Bulkhead back to normal.
"Ratchet!" Miko called, running over to the mech, "I think Bulkhead might be losing his mind!"
The MO didn't have the spark to lie to her. And, neither did I. But she quickly caught on.
"You...already know..." Her shoulders fell, almost in disappointment.
"Miko, we didn't want to frighten you," Ratchet told the girl, "But rest assured, Optimus has a plan."
"Optimus isn't Bulkhead's doctor," Miko countered, clearly worried for her guardian's wellbeing, "I just need to know, when Bulk's done spittin' out hat formula, he'll go back to being regular ol' Bulkhead. Right?"
I really didn't want to lie to her...or to tell her the truth. Looking to Ratchet, I hoped he would take this one, but he was as hesitant to answer as I was.
"Miko-" I tried to reassure her.
"Don't bother," She cut me off, sounding more resentful than before, "If you aren't helping Bulk remember, I will."
With that, she stormed off. Ratchet sighed and walked away. It was difficult, but we had to trust in Optimus. If only Miko did.
Meanwhile, in the middle of nowhere . . .
The team watched warily as a familiar grey Decepticon and a few seekers landed and transformed just metres from where they stood. Optimus still maintained his distance. Megatron glared at the Prime.
"Optimus. I must say, you weren't the Autobot I expected to find here," He snarled, "Let me guess; You rigged the transponder to mimick the frequency of the data I seek."
"Megatron, I have a proposal," The 'Bot stated bluntly, in no mood for the Decepticon's games.
As the Prime stepped forward, the seekers raised their blasters in defence of their leader. But Megatron signalled for them to lower their weapons.
"I'm listening," He said, intruigued.
"Surrender the cylinder," Optimus began, "And I will return it to you. Fully restored."
"This trinket right here?" Megatron revealed the empty data cylinder, smirking, "And praytell, what trifles did it hold that you are so anxious to give away?"
Optimus knew better than to tell him the truth, "Accept my terms, and you will find out." He stated clearly, "Do you accept my proposal?"
Megatron had to think very carefully about this. If he didn't give Optimus the cylinder, he may never have known the information contained on it, which might have turned the tide of the war in his favour. However, if he did, he would have to trust that Optimus would bring it back to him fully restored, which Megatron wouldn't have if the roles were reversed.
What to do...
Back to base . . .
I'd finished typing up the data and was walking around to retrieve the next one. Bulkhead and Miko had been oddly quiet for the the past ten minutes or so. But it was no surprise; Miko must have been devastated to learn that he may not get his memory back.
"Bulkhead?" I called, "You got another round for me to log in, or-?"
I paused at seeing the green mech was gone. Maybe he needed to get some energon, or recharge? But he'd seemed so focused earlier, I didn't think anything could've stopped him.
Turning back, I saw Ratchet returning from the hallway.
"Have you seen Bulkhead or Miko?" I asked.
He tilted his helm, "They aren't here?"
Cue panic...now.
"There's no sign of them," I explained, beginning to worry, "B-But where could they have gone to?"
"I think I may have an idea," Ratchet sighed and pointed to the floor near the ground bridge. Of course, it was dotted with small but visible drops of paint, "I'll alert Optimus."
"I'll go get Miko and Bulkhead," I rolled my optics wearily.
He nodded in understanding and loaded the previous bridge coordinates, "Be careful. And contact me when you need a ground bridge back."
It was gonna be a totally safe mission - find the two, bring them back and scold Miko for leaving in the first place.
I walked through the portal and came out the other side in a place that felt kind of familiar. It was like an arena, from the gladiator pits of Kaon. I put two and two together and figured that this must've been the truck rall thing Miko was talking about earlier that day.
"Silver?" A familiar voice spoke, almost sounding afraid, "What are you doing here?"
Turning around, I was relieved to see Miko looking up at me in confusion and Bulkhead next to her, writing down the formula on the side of the arena (which I'm pretty sure counted as vandalism).
I strode up to them and folded my arms in annoyance, "What am I doing here? Miko, you know you shouldn't have left base. The 'Cons could be tracking Bulkhead right now!"
She suddenly turned guilty, staring down at the floor, "I know. I'm sorry. But Bulk's forgotten everything! Our dune-bashing skills, scary movie movie night, rocking out to Thrash Monkey on the weekends! He's just...gone."
"Miko..." I sighed lowering myself down to her height, "He's not gone. Bulkhead might not remember yet. But we're gonna go back to base, Optimus'll have the cylinder in hand and we'll get that Pit-spawned data out of Bulk's helm. Okay?"
She nodded, breaking a slight smile, "Thanks, Sil."
I returned the expression, but a voice from behind me disagreed.
"Oh, boo-hoo," A voice I hoped to never hear again taunted, "I'm shedding energon tears."
Standing up and spinning to face the owner of the voice, I saw Breakdown on the stalls opposite where we stood, along with Knock Out. I could see why they were friends; Both seemed to have the same sadistic grin.
"Miko, you and Bulkhead need to run," I told them, unsheathing my arm blades.
"But what about you?" The pink-haired girl asked in concern.
"I'll hold them off," I told her, "Trust me, just get far away from here and call for back-up."
She seemed hesitant, but still managed to convince Bulkhead to escape before the fight began. Once they were gone, the two Decepticons leapt over to my position in a single bound.
I backed up slightly, but tried not to show how scared I really was.
Breakdown smirked as he saw my expression, "Nice to see you again, sweetspark. How you been?"
"I'd be better if you stopped calling me that," I remarked.
Knock Out laughed, "Wow. Attitude. I like that in a femme."
I could feel my powers begin to flare up within me, but I knew I couldn't use them. Optimus' first rule was to not reveal them. Especially to Decepticons.
Ignore it, I tried to tell myself, You can get out of this without them.
I couldn't let them distract, "If you'll want Bulkhead, you'll have to go through me."
"Well, that's the easy part," Knock Out admitted with a grin, "After all, everyone on the Nemesis knows you're Team Prime's weakest link. Unable to fight. It's difficult to believe your sister is their top fighter. And you? I supose you're their top liability."
He'd managed to get in my helm and I'm not proud of that. I'd been paying so much attention to what he was saying that I barely noticed when Breakdown circled around where I stood and came up behind me. I panicked at feeling a strong arm quickly lock around my frame, pinning my arms to my side so I couldn't fight back.
Breakdown quickly covered my mouth to stop me from screaming. I tried to struggle against his grasp, but he was twice my size and ten times my strength.
"Rule number one of fighting," He began smugly, "Optics always on your opponents."
"Breakdown, keep our friend here," Knock Out ordered him, smirking at my weakened frame, "I'll look for the green mech and the human. They couldn't have gotten far on foot."
He left, leaving the blue Decepticon and me alone. As he did, I heard Breakdown speak.
"Between you and me, sweetspark?" He began, "I was impressed with the damage you brought to Airachnid. She deserved it."
I paused for a second in confusion, "H-How do you know about that?"
He shrugged, "She came back from a scouting mission one day with bruises, wounds and a huge burn mark on her shoulder." The mech chuckled, "Megatron was furious when he found out you of all Autobots were responsible for it."
"Get away from him!" I heard Miko's voice yell from beyond the entrance to the arena.
Knowing her and Bulkhead were in danger, I tried once again to break free, but Breakdown only tightened his grasp on me.
"Oh no you don't," He said, "We have a job to do, and I can't let you get in the way."
Once again, I felt the surge within me rise up, urging me to use them. As they did, Optimus' words began to echo in my helm.
"You fear your abilities instead of trying to control them."
I finally relaxed my frame, trying to embrace the chaos inside me.
"Find the point between rage and serenity."
As angry as I was at the two Decepticons, I tried to calm down, but stay strong.
"Think of this not as bringing harm to what you despise, but as saving someone you care for."
I had to save my teammates...my friends.
Feeling the charge grow within me, I focused the energy on my captor, who stood behind me in confusion.
His grip weakened, "Hey, what're you-?"
I cut him off as I elbowed him in the abdomen. Normally, it wouldn't have caused much (if any) damage. But not this time. The charge caused him to go flying backwards as he hit the wall with a painful thud.
My mouth hung open at the damage I'd just caused. But I couldn't stop to regret it. I ran for the exit of the arena to where Miko's scream had come from. As soon as I got outside, I saw something horrifying: Knock Out was about to decapitate Bulkhead with the friggin' saw.
I charged for the Decepticon, tackling him away from my friends. The red medic yelped in surprise as we both fell to the ground. I was about to get up when I felt a weight sit of top of me. It was Knock Out.
"You are beginning to irritate me, femme!" He rose the saw into the air.
I caught his arm as he brought it down just inches from my face. He wasn't as strong as Breakdown. And given what had just happened, I was a bit tougher than before.
"Leave her alone!" Miko roared, running at him with a crowbar (Where did she get it from? I have no clue).
Knock Out rolled his optics, "Ugh, pests."
He swatted her away, causing her to crash into Bulkhead.
"Miko!" I yelled, trying even harder to get the Decepticon off of me.
As she made contact with Bulk's helm, his optics shot open. They'd turned red like the colour of the data and began purging the energy in the form of beams. That was enough to scare off the 'Con.
"Not again," I heard Breakdown say.
Both mechs cowered to the ground as I scrambled to my feet. As the last of the data flew heavenward, I rushed over to where she stood next to Bulkhead.
"Miko, are you hurt?" I asked in worry, kneeling down to her level.
Before she could reply, I felt a rippling pain in my left shoulder. That arm (which I happened to be leaning on) instantly gave way and I collapsed to the ground.
"Silver!" Miko cried, running over to my weak frame.
I held my throbbing arm in one servo and groaned in pain as Knock Out sheathed his energon-coated saw. He leaned over me with an uncomfortable dominance as I sat upright.
"Megatron will peel our paint for losing that data," He sneered.
Breakdown transformed his servo into a hammer, "So we'll have to peel you two."
As he finished his sentence, the green portal thankfully opened a few metres away. Bumblebee was the first through. I saw the look in his optics as he saw Knock Out's current proximity to me. Then Arcee and Optimus.
"Or, peel outta here," Knock Out decided wisely.
The two transformed and drove like their lives depended on it...because they did. I saw Miko sobbing as she realised Bulkhead hadn't woken up. I tried to ignore the pain and comfort her, but she didn't seem to take notice.
"What was that Decepticreep doing?" Arcee demanded.
"Not important," I told them, covering my arm, "But Bulkhead needs to get to Ratchet."
Later at base . . .
I sat on my berth in my room quietly, hoping that no one had noticed me slip away from the group. Luckily, they hadn't realised I was that injured, so Ratchet had been concentrating on helping Bulkhead (who had thankfully woken up).
Unfortunately, it's a lot harder to bandage your own wounds than you'd think.
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get the bandages to stay. Plus the energon was leaking on me.
"Need any help?" Bee asked.
I but half-smiled gratefully, "Thanks, Bee."
He returned the smile and sat down beside me, focusing on fixing my arm. I clenched my teeth as it began to sting.
"Did Knock Out do this?"
I nodded, "Yeah. Not my proudest moment."
He stayed quiet for a second, "He...He didn't do anything else, right?"
"Like what?" I asked in confusion.
"Well, it's just..." Bee began, "When we reached you, he looked a little too close for comfort."
I sighed, finally realising what he meant, "I'm fine. Trust me."
He shrugged as he finished bandaging the wound, "Sorry. It's just...I know Knock Out. He isn't exactly the most respectful guy and I wanted to make sure he didn't try anything."
"He didn't," I reassured him, "And if he ever did try, I'm tougher than I look."
Bee cracked a smile under his mask, "I know you are."
I smiled right back and stood up, "C'mon, the others are probably wondering where we are."
The Nemesis . . .
"Where have you two not completely failed in your mission?" Megatron scolded Breakdown and Knock Out as the two returned to the Control bay, "It appears that once again, you return empty-handed."
Oddly enough, the two mechs didn't appear afraid. Instead, they glanced at each other knowingly.
"Funny you should say that, Lord Megatron," Breakdown piped up.
Megatron tilted his helm, "How so? Did you happen to come across a data cylinder that could turn the tide in our favour?"
"Better," Knock Out smirked, "While fighting, Breakdown saw something rather... abnormal about one particular Autobot."
By now, the warlord's interest was caught, "Go on."
The Decepticon medic continued, "Do you recall the femme 'Bot known as Silver Sun?"
--
Dun dun duuuuuuuunnnnnn!
Jk. Right now I'm supposed to be writing an English poetry essay AND a PowerPoint on said poetry (what kind of teacher sets homework during the summer break????).
School rants aside, what did you think of the new chapter? I've been struggling with writer's block since the last one and literally had a creative flow within the past couple days, so I hope this wasn't too 'out there'.
Still working on the one-shot series, which I'll probably publish at the end of this book, but if you have any ideas, feel free to share them (it's more about writing what you guys want tbh).
Hope you enjoyed this chapter!
'Til All Are One,
GreyroseLegacy