The techno-organics
Chapter 28
"Looks like the 'cons hit another vein," Arcee reported as the computer detected another energon signal.
"Autobots, roll out," Optimus commanded, turning to the groundbridge before being stopped by Bulkhead.
"Hey, hey, shouldn't we wait for our secret weapon?"
"This mission is unlikely to require medical expertise."
"But you never know if it may require additional firepower," Ratchet called out with his arms crossed and leaning against the wall in a cocky manner. "Bumblebee can handle groundbridge duty."
"Why me?" the scout complained. Alabaster sat on one of the berths and observed waiting to put her plan in motion.
"Too bad you can't come with us. You saved us," Bulkhead said and Alabaster thanked the green Autobot in her head.
"It's okay. I thought about going outside while you're on your mission, if that's alright." She turned her head to Optimus who nodded. The Autobots saw Alabaster fly trough the tunnel leading to the outside, but in reality Alabaster never left. She had put herself in a cloaking bubble making her invisible to the Autobots. This was a risky move, but she was ready to take any chance she got. Even though she was happy to now have Optimus in her life, Freedom, Valkyrie and Anastasia have been her family for a much longer time. As they turned on the groundbridge the techno-organic flew right behind them, none of them suspecting someone was following them.
The Autobots ran down a hill in the middle of a dessert while Alabaster flew around them like a stalking spirit. Ratchet, filled with energy from the synthetic energon, had fun showing of his improved mobility as he made tricks going down the hill. They all hid behind a few rocks and observed the Decepticons mining in the Valley in front of the.
"Signal's weak," Bulkhead said looking at the scanner. "They may have hit a vein, but they won't find much of an energon pulse, not here."
"I take some comfort in the fact that Megatron seems as desperate to find the stuff as we are," Arcee joked.
"Do you two always talk this much during these missions?" Ratchet hissed annoyed at the two. He jumped out from his hiding spot and transformed, driving towards the Decepticons at high speed. The other Autobots followed. Ratchet drove head first into a Vehicon and tackled it to the ground before transforming and taking out his blade. Optimus, Arcee and Bulkhead came shooting down the troopers as Ratchet finished stabbing one. Alabaster stayed at the sidelines observing and doing her best to avoid the firing. She soon saw Ratchet spotting a miner climbing the mountain trying to run away. Alabaster got a bad feeling in her gut telling her Ratchet was going to do something bad. She followed the two robots to the top and saw Ratchet picking up a nearby rock, casually playing with it before throwing it. Alabaster kept herself from giggling after seeing it hit the Vehicon right in the head. As the miner tried to get up Ratchet walked forwards and pinned the Decepticon to the ground with his pede.
"Why the big rush?"
"Just trying to get as far as I can from the Autobot stink."
"Does your boss know you have a potty mouth? Maybe I should pay him a visit and tell him."
"Get melted, wheel grinder!"
"Melted? Now, there's a concept," Ratchet said disturbingly calm as he made his hand into a blowtorch. "I won't ask you a second time. Where is Megatron?"
Alabaster looked in horror as he brought the blue fire closer to the miners face. She wanted to stop him, but she wanted to know too. She had to do whatever it took to find her friends. As the blowtorch got closer Alabaster let out a "stop", but barely audible before covering her mouth as guilt flooded her and she listened to the troopers screams. Ratchet was torturing him, hurting him, just like the humans hurt her; and she didn't stop him. Then, between screams, he told Ratchet, gave him the coordinates. Ratchet stopped for a moment and Alabaster though it was over, but he brought the blowtorch to the miners face again. Before Ratchet could burn him again Alabaster used her hair to slap Ratchets hand away, grabbed him by the neck and lifted him into the air. The Vehicon got up and ran away as the Autobots finally came.
"Alabaster, stop that!" Optimus ordered. Without realizing it, she had deactivated her cloaking bubble, leaving herself visible. She dropped Ratchet who ran towards her, ready to attack before Optimus stopped him.
"Ratchet!" Optimus stepped between the two, stopping Ratchet from going any further. "What are the two of you doing."
"I'm getting results, while she's interfering."
"He w-w-was torturing him. He was b-b-burning his face," Alabaster explained, shaken with guilt. The hybrid proceeded by showing them a hologram of what she saw. The Autobots looked in horror as they saw their medic burn the Decepticon for information. Something Ratchet would never normally do.
"That was a Decepticon miner, servant class, not warrior class," Optimus said disappointed at Ratchet.
"Oh, and let me guess. I'm just the medic"
"Autobots do not inflict harm unless all other options have been exhausted. It is what separates us from the Decepticons."
"Is this really the time for another lecture, Optimus? You didn't just happen to discover Megatron's current location, did you? Well, I did! And do you happen to know where there's a stockpile of raw energon ripe for the taking? I do!"
"Come on, Ratchet. Calm it down," Bulkhead tried to reason with the medic.
"Calm is the last thing we need! Calm is what lost us Cybertron! The 'cons have a warship, an army. All this energon scouting, you think Megatron isn't gearing up for something big? We're squandering our resources chasing after his crumbs when we really need to be hitting him hard and hitting him now, precisely where it hurts!" Ratchet then turned to Alabaster who in that moment felt her heart sink, knowing what kind of things he would saw about her.
"And have you taken a moment to think about her and the rest of her kind. Why they all posses strengths we don't have. It's because they were created not just for the purpose of killing ordinary humans, but to kill us. We shouldn't let them just walk in and out of our base as they please, we should hunt every single one of them and put them down! They are crimes against nature, and insults to our entire race. They shouldn't exist, they should have never been born!" Alabaster punched Ratchet right in the face, making her stitches pop and her fingers bleed. Her hair moved like wild waves as stone chattered around her, sending pebbles and sand in the air. Ratchet took a few steps backwards, surprised by the power of her hit while Arcee and Bulkhead tried to calm her down. Her face was like nothing else they had seen on her. Twisted with anger and frustration that fit too well for a person with her attitude. Like she had worn it before. Optimus quickly stepped in between before it got too far. He looked over his shoulder and saw Alabaster with that pained expression, moving hair and clutching her bleeding hand, and wished he had stopped Ratchet.
"You know your problem, Optimus? For such a big, strong bot, you're soft." Ratchet accused. "You didn't pound Megatron into scrap when you had the chance, many chances, in fact!" Optimus kept his anger in check, reminding himself that Ratchet wasn't well. He closed his eyes for a moment before turning to Ratchet again.
"I'm afraid that the synthetic energon has impaired your judgment, old friend. I am confining you to base until further notice. Bumblebee, bridge us back." As the groundbridge opened Alabaster spoke.
"I am not returning." That voice was dripping with so much poison and rage the Autobots doubted for a moment it came from Alabaster.
"I know the coordinates too, remember?" Using her powers, Alabaster made a smokescreen out of the dust and flew away. When the Autobots got out of the cloud of sand they saw Ratchet driving away too.
Freedom and Megatron flew trough the air in silence. She breathed heavily, not from lack of air but from another vision that fought trough her mind. It only appeared for a moment but still scared her enough to make her lose balance for a moment and lose height for a moment.
"Something the matter?" Megatron asked, without showing any signs that he too had seen a vision.
"Yes, I just lost concentration for a moment," she lied, rising to her previous height. The visions showed images of battle, death, catastrophe and brutality. They also told her that what she was seeing was close to happening. How she could know or see any of this and how it all was possible, she did not know. But Megatron might know. He had called it "dark energon".
A mountain with an opening at the top came to view, looking in she saw yellow and blue lights and Vehicons working. Megatron flew downwards as Freedom followed, Megatron transformed and landed with a loud thud whereas Freedom landed light as a pebble. The Vehicons noticeably tensed at their presence before working even faster. The half breed looked around the massive construct, awing at the blue glowing crystals the drones mined.
Megatron started to teach Freedom about schemes and the mining, transport and defense protocols they had for the mines; among other important matters. He showed her around the the underground construct while from time to time stopping to yell at some miners he saw not working hard enough. He told Freedom to recite what he said to make sure she got everything correctly. To his surprise she told the information back flawlessly and without hesitation.
"I thought it would be harder to educate you. All because of your half human mind."
Freedom barely refrained from rolling her eyes at his comment.
"Most of us were gifted with fast learning capabilities. I guess my Cybertronian side is dominant in this case."
"Fascinating," Megatron pondered. It satisfied him that she was more then just a fighter. If Megatron wanted her to be a worthy successor she had to be more then just a warrior. He kept on with his lecture, to which Freedom kept listening to with great interest.
"All energon comes originally from Cybertron," Megatron told her. "But as the war progressed both sides decided to hide their spoils on far off worlds like earth."
"How does it come that energon only grows on Cybertron? Isn't possible for other planets to produce it?"
Megatron was silent before answering. "That's quiet a story, but I'm afraid it won't be very satisfying since it's mostly rooted in mythology." Megatron thought for a moment before a smile grazed his lips and he turned towards a mine.
"Daughter, walk with me."
Freedom rolled her eyes before realizing what he said, getting her breath caught in her throat. She walked beside him still unsure that she had heard right.
"What did you just call me?"
"Daughter. That is the word for a female offspring?"
Freedom was so taken aback she had to clear her throat not to sound like a stuttering fool.
"Yes, but I didn't expect you to ever call me that. I guess your attempt to murder me is still a fresh memory," she joked earning a barely noticeable chuckle. They walked deeper trough the cave, walking by energon formations sticking from the ground, walls and the roof as the warlord placed his hands behind his back.
"In the beginning there was only two beings on Cybertron, Primus and Unicron." Freedom remembered Megatron mentioning one of those names. "Primus was a god of creation while Unicron was the god of destruction. After defeating him and sending him into space Primus merged with the core of our planet, creating new generations of our race and gifting us with energon, his lifeblood." Megatron turned to Freedom who started to put the pieces together. If energon was the lifeblood of Primus then dark energon must be the lifeblood of...
"Unicron the chaos bringer, it's his blood which flows trough our veins."
Freedom clenched her shaking hands behind her back, trying to still her breathing.
"But it's just a myth, right?"
Megatron gave her a smile that made her doubt her claim. "I beg to differ. Primus does indeed exist within the core of Cybertron and he's the one who created all Cybertronians, including me." Megatron rejoiced in seeing Freedom's anxious and terrified expression. She tried so hard to hide how she shook but the warlord could still see the quivering of her shoulders.
"I guess that if the god of creation is real..." Freedom barely dared to finish her sentence. "Then the god of destruction must be real too."
Megatron barely contain his laughter. It was such an amazing and rare moment, to see someone realize the existence of gods. But moreover, to realize that one god had his lifeblood running trough ones body; that it was the gods savage and brutal thoughts she heard when the blood settled in her body. That it was the blood of a god that made her able to control technology and turn machines into monsters; and it was his blood that gave her those visions of chaos. Megatron's focus shifted when someone contacted him trough the commlink and he quickly got an angered expression.
"I have to go. We have to continue the lesson later." He turned towards a cave and left Freedom alone with her thoughts. Freedom's face was twisted with fear as her eyes shifted between amber and red. A god, she carried the blood of a god. This couldn't be real, gods don't exist. She prayed to every god possible for help and got no answers. A god of destruction, of chaos. Freedom could almost chuckle at the fact that it might have been the reason why the dark energon hurt so much when she got the transfusion. If Unicron heard her prayers then he might have done the opposite and worsened the pain. Freedom's breath quickened and she had to fall to her knees and lower her head in order not to pass out.
"You call yourself a scientist?" Megatron yelled at Knock Out pointing a claw at him. "You were supposed to have located a fresh energon source by now!"
"Apologies, lord Megatron. we got a little distracted by the new Autobot and the techno-organic who attacked us."
"Really? A techno-organic," Megatron said sarcastically. "And a new Autobot as well?" Megatron turned towards the sound of someone coming and saw Breakdown falling to the ground with Ratchet standing right behind him. Knock Out took a step backwards as Megatron merely stood unbothered.
"That is your fearsome new adversary?" the warlord taunted and gave of a dark mocking laugh. "He's Optimus Prime's medic."
"Oh, no, Megatron. I am your doctor of doom." Ratchet ran forward and punched Megatron so hard in the face he flew into a wall. As rubble finished falling, Megatron raised a claw to his mouth and saw it stained with energon. Now angered, the gladiator looked at Ratchet, softly hissing a chilling, "Alright then".
Ratchet ran forward aiming another attack but Megatron simply grabbed his fist and twisted it painfully, making the doctor scream and writhe in pain.
"Ratchet is rather more spirited than I recollect."
"Chemical enhancement, perhaps?" Knock Out suggested. Megatron raised his other fist and punched Ratchet in the chest, creating a heavily bleeding wound before throwing him to the side.
"There's your laboratory sample, doctor. Find out." Megatron stepped over Ratchet on his way out. "If a chemical can do this for Optimus Prime's lap dog, imagine what it could do for our troops."
"Optimus. I've been a fool."
Alabaster entered the cave cautiously. She shrunk to human size and hid behind an energon crystal. She planted her hands and feet to the ground and searched. Searched for the vibrations of Freedom's voice or her footsteps, anything that would indicate she was here and where to find her. If there was a chance that Freedom was here she had to take it, if not, she could find another way. Either wait for a groundbridge or follow a flyer back to the ship. What ever the situation demanded, she would find them, she would save them and their family would be whole again. This was her fault, all of this was her doing and she was going to right it as best she could. If it meant using her powers to their fullest, so be it. Alabaster suddenly felt something, she tried focusing on his but all sound from the miners made it hard. Come on, come on. There! Alabaster could barely make it out, but it was definitely Freedom. Alabaster used all the noises and vibrations of the cave out to make a mental map and noted Freedom's location in her head. Camouflaging herself again she flew trough the tunnels, dodging rocks, energon crystals and Vehicons. She stopped at the sight of a familiar and greatly missed face. Freedom was leaning against a wall and mumbling into her hands, visible upset over something. Alabaster didn't waste time as she quickly grew and turned off her camouflage. Freedom heard the sound of someones steps and looked up, almost tearing up at the sight.
"Is that really you, Alabaster?" Freedom asked, thinking she had gone insane by longing and started hallucinating. Alabaster didn't answer as she ran forward and jumped into Freedom's arms. They buried their hands into each others hair and held onto one another hard. In this moment nothing and no one existed anymore. No warlord and no god of chaos. No guilt and no worry of what Optimus might say. Just them reunited. Freedom broke the embrace in order to hold Alabaster's face in her hands and cover her face with kisses. The albino laughed as Freedom's dark locks tickled her face and neck. Freedom gave one last kiss on the top of Alabaster's forehead before speaking.
"I can't believe you're here. My baby Alabaster, I have missed you so much."
"I've missed you too," Alabaster laughed and had to stand on her toes in order to give Freedom a small peck on her nose. I light bulb suddenly lighted up in Freedom's head. She realized that with with Alabaster's help they might be able to save Valkyrie and Anastasia.
"What do you say if we go and save the others?"
"Just the two of us? But we all attacked last time and lost."
"But this time we stick together. And we Don't. Hold. Back." Freedom's voice got a brave tone as she gently held Alabaster's shoulders. All they had to do was get to the ship and then...
"Care to introduce us Freedom?" a dark voice made Freedom tense up. Now she could see the plan and all hope fall between her fingers like ash. She looked over her shoulders, hoping with every fiber it wasn't Megatron. All hope crashed anew as she saw the color silver and eyes identical to her own.