The techno-organics

Chapter 33

"It's fucking hell," Toni exclaimed with a tight grip on her own hair. "Where is she, how is she, are the others with her too?" Toni made a dash for Freedom's room but was stopped when Rock and Widow moved in her way. He gently grabbed Toni by her shoulders but she kept moving around.

"Please, just let her rest," Widow called and Toni sighed frustrated. "She have been trough much. Atop of whatever the Decepticons did to her, you don't want to know what Canary had to do to her." They threw a look at the hooded girl who made an offended expression and raised her hands beside her, as a way to say "It's not like I had a better choice".

"What we need is an idea of what to do." Rock let go of Toni. The remaining techno-organics were all gathered in the open space of the warehouse. Having been waiting for Toni to return from her "job", they could finally get the discussion, meeting, whatever the humans call the situation, started. Toni sat beside Widow on the couch and Rock took his place in a chair. The techno-organics left that weren't currently imprisoned, recovering, too young or fighting depression was all seated in a circle and waited for someone to continue.

"Let's face it," Toni said in a lighter version of her natural accent. "We have been sitting ducks ever since that failed attack. We think our hands are tied, that it's hopeless, and why do we think so? Because some robot says so."

"Don't dismiss Optimus's words so lightly," Rock interrupted Toni's rant. "Yes, it's an unfair situation, a situation we are all too familiar with. But getting so worked up we can't think rationally is a recipe for failed plans."

"He's right, sweetie," Widow took a flustered Toni's hand. "We all are aching to do something, but ignoring the words of someone with MUCH more experience than us is not smart."

"What is the smart thing to do then?" Toni pleaded, wanting for someone to come up with a solution.

"For starters, I recommend that you keep your voice down, Toni." A familiar voice echoed down at them from upstairs. Freedom gently closed the door to her room as she left Wasp sleeping on her mattress.

"Freedom," Toni cheered just loud enough for it not to be a scream. Toni jumped right to the top of the stairs. Toni's arms found their way around Freedom's neck and held on. The taller girl put her hands behind Toni's back and brought her closer to herself. They eventually let go of each other and Toni's grateful smile disappeared, replaced with anger and annoyance.

"Don't ever do that again," Toni said and grabbed Freedom by her forearms. Freedom opened her mouth to say something but were stopped when Toni kept talking. "For fucks sake, we were on enemy territory and you left. Your answer was cryptic and nonsensical at best. So..." Toni stopped to wipe a tear that had managed to break free. But Freedom understood what she wanted to ask. She threw a glance towards Alabaster, wordlessly asking her if she had told them. Alabaster smiled reassuringly back. The issue now was to figure out where she would start.

"Stop yelling at her," Widow scolded Toni before turning to Freedom. "We have all missed you. But we need to talk to you, dear."

Freedom was tempted to jump down to the floor but thought otherwise when she remembered that Rachel had ordered her to rest for a few days. And ignoring her medical advise worked as a major insult to the semi medic. Once she had made it down the stairs she sat down on a wooden box and struggled to find a way to start explaining.

"I didn't lie when I suspected that the Decepticons could track me. There was one who had the same purple substance in him that I have. It made him able to sense my presence on the ship."

"Don't tell me your plan involved self sacrifice," Rachel said dripping with sarcasm.

"What do you think of me, an idiot?" Freedom said pretending to be insulted. "Of course not. My idea was to buy us all time. I knew that if something happened then my best shot was to contact Canary."

"Then why didn't you?" Alabaster said and cuddled her kitten. Freedom looked down, gathering her nerves.

"The Decepticon that tracked me was Megatron. He is the Decepticon leader. The purple substance that runs trough me also flows trough him. It made made both of us able to sense each others presence. He used it to find me, I used it to avoid him. But when he got too close, the dark energon burned so badly I couldn't move."

"Dark e-n-e-r-g-o-n?" Canary repeated.

"That's the name of it. I have dark energon running trough me." Saying it out loud brought back memories of when Megatron revealed the supposed origin of dark energon.

"Also..." She had to tell them, no, there was no logical reason why they needed to know, she wanted to tell because she needed to get this secret of her chest. Alabaster, Valkyrie and Anastasia all took it well, Nikolai probably knows it too. Besides, they all knew why Widow hated her mother even though they have never met, and they never judged her for having her as original.

"Megatron is also my f...original," she corrected herself. Freedom observed their reactions. It was hard to decipher what emotions they wore as they tried to figure out what to say. Freedom hated the tension and fought the urge to shout at them to say something. She felt something soft yet rough touch her hand and looked down and saw a curl of Alabaster's hair asking to hold her hand. Freedom opened her hand and Alabaster's hair curled around her knuckles.

"Damn," someone finally said. "That's..." Flash couldn't find the right word. "Did he know who you were?"

"He figured it out himself."

"What-what was his reaction?" Widow asked.

"He..." Freedom took a moment to recall and understand. "At first, when he attacked me, he was determined to kill me. I thought he would torture and then kill me just out of spite to my existence. But when I showed to be a capable fighter and showed that I had powers he didn't, he reconsidered. He wanted to make me his apprentice."

That shocked everybody in the room. They all reacted in a mixture of gasps, flinches, faces and such.

"Wow, not even my daddy gave me such an offer," Alabaster said as if she couldn't decide if it was meant as a comment or a joke.

"Yeah," Toni let out in a deep breath. "But why?"

"My guess, he is such a egomaniac that he don't want anyone else but a spawn made from himself as heir to his throne. Even if that spawn happens to also be made from a species he hates," her voice suddenly cracked and even though she managed to recover with dry eyes, it didn't get unnoticed by the others.

"How badly did he hurt you?" Someone asked, but Freedom couldn't catch who's voice said it.

"You know what's really fucked up? He beat me, he threatened to hurt my family in order to control me, but he also called me "daughter"." Her face twisted as she fought to keep back the tears, but a few heavy ones managed to escape and land on her clenched fist. "It doesn't make sense, I don't understand. He hurt me, he hurt us all. But he was proud of me, he liked me, he acknowledged me as his child and he told me so much about the cybertronians. Their history and mythology, our culture. And I miss him." Her words fell apart and all that could come out of her was wails. Wails made of pain, relief and confusion clashing against each other. She didn't want to care for him, didn't want to miss him, but against logic and reason, she did. And it pained her, confused her, frustrated her. If it was possible Freedom would take that longing out of herself like it was a parasite and burn it. No one knew what to say.

Nobody could relate or had any similar experiences. They all wrecked trough their own minds to find an answer on what to do or say. But that task was worsened as they also had to process what they just heard. It was basically the same as what they experienced at the hands of the human scientists, they never grew attached to them, and never missed them after they left; but it was all they knew. That was what they in the beginning missed, familiarity in a new frightening world. The fact that Megatron had managed to get into her head to such a degree, was very disturbing.

"You know what?" Flash broke the heavy and uncomfortable silence. Everybody turned to him except Freedom who still didn't feel safe enough to remove her hands. "I know what (tick) we all are trying to do, but the truth is that nothing we say or do (tick) can make this better." He turned to Freedom. "You're right, it is (tick) fucked up. I don't know what to think or feel about it, but it doesn't effect how we feel about you." Freedom finally looked up. "And you know another thing? When I first started to move and talk without control we all helped research what it could be and it helped us find appropriate treatments. Same thing we all did with Valkyrie and the twins when they confided about their problems, and now we'll do it for you. Humans have names and medicine for all sorts of things, there is a huge chance we'll find something that fits what you're going trough. And if we don't, we'll still take care of you and kick your father in the fucking teeth if he gets too close to you."

The laugh that made it out of Freedom was tired, yet grateful and true. The first time she had laughed in a long while. Toni offered Freedom her handkerchief and she accepted it, now laughing softer. She dabbed the piece of clothe against her face, her mind calmed down enough to throw a comment when she gave it back.

"Why do you even have this thing? You deserve to get beaten when you're carrying this around."

Everybody laughed as Toni grabbed it back with her lips pressed together in an offended manner. Freedom straightened herself and brushed her hair from her face.

"If you are all done laughing, do you want to return to the reason we gathered?" Toni said with a humored smile. "I suggest that we move to Jasper. Living near their base puts us in a safer position and we get better contact with our only allies."

"I don't want to leave London, I like it here," Alabaster complained and brought her knees closer to her chest.

"I don't want to leave either, but it's our safest option."

"Besides, the city is placed right in a dessert." Alabaster raised her white hand. "I'm gonna get burns every day by living there."

"You're lucky for having that as your main concern," Rock began. "I've watched the news, I've done my research. The United states claims to be the land of the free but it is one of the most racist and xenophobic countries in the world. I have read some terrifying stories about people with darker skin tone being arrested and shot by the police for nothing, and being met by fear and prejudice by the general population. Some of you will be fine but me, Flash, Widow and Freedom will have to deal with a lot dumb humans when we move there."

"Don't forget that they don't like people who aren't heterosexual," Widow added. "Not everybody are saints here, but I heard it's nothing compared to what they do America. I'd like to hold Toni's hand without worrying about being harassed. And what will be of the twins when they find out they might not be able to eat of the whole menu?"

"They're right," Rachel said and motioned to them. "But has everybody forgotten how many bodies we have dumped in the Atlantic? If the humans becomes too much of a bother, we'll just kill them."

"And you think I would move there if I didn't have to," Toni said. "I love it here. I can just fly over to Scotland whenever I want, the view you get from sitting on the skyscrapers is bloody phenomenal, I love the food, and I don't want to leave any of my employees. They're just people trying to get by using the resources and options they have. And it makes me feel sheit that I'll have to leave them."

"Yeah," Freedom agreed. "You're all right about this. But it's the best way to stay close to the Autobots. And there's something I want to ask them. When Megatron was training me I realized that the way we fight is no match to these titans. They have, I don't know how many, years of experience fighting. Were as we only have about a year of formal training and then a year of self teaching."

"You want them to train us," Rachel realized.

"Yes, I know we all have bad experience with authority and teachers, but we need this. Me and Alabaster are the best fighters among us and you saw how we came back." It was quiet for a moment before someone said something.

"I agree with Freedom." It was Alabaster. "I recently learned that disciplining using violence is not their way. I know they won't hurt us. Besides, we don't have to stay there all the time. We can move there in order to be close to the Autobots, but we can still leave whenever we want. Even so, I still don't like this."

"Let's take a vote," Toni suggested. "Raise your hands everybody who's for moving to Jasper." Everybody raised their hands except Canary and Rock.

"Then it's decided," Toni concluded with disappointment laced in her voice. "I know you don't like the results, Canary. But will you please find us a place for us to live." Canary unfolded her arms and with a wave of her hands, holographic screens appeared in front of her. Everybody else were on their way to pack or find bags and boxes to place their luggage, but they all turned back around when they heard Canary stomp and hit her her chair to get their attention.

"What happened?" Widow called. Canary made tiny squeaks as she signed so fast they almost couldn't comprehend what she was saying. Almost.

"I can see Anastasia."

Flash wasted no time and sped up the stairs to Nikolai's room and pounded on his door. He opened looking like a mess. His hair was unkempt and his eyes were baggy like he just woke up

"We found her. Anastasia is on the radar."

Nikolai ran forward, stepped on the reeling and jumped right down to the concrete ground. Canary had already opened a portal and warned everybody about the cold. Nikolai didn't hesitate when he ran first into the dark swirl of indigo and was met with snow and ice on the other side. He looked frantically around and saw her curled up, crying over the icy ground. As he ran towards her, he shifted to his full size and shouted her name. Anastasia startled and looked up to see her brother. She didn't dare believe what she saw. She repeated her mantra and waited for the cruelly hopeful scene to turn into a nightmare. Instead, she was tackled to the ground and brought into a tight hug that smelled like heavy perfume.

"Are you real?"

"Yes. Yes, I'm real you dumb bitch."

Anastasia's breath hitched in disbelief as a huge smile made its way onto her face and she hugged back as she let out a relived laugh. For the first time, both of them felt whole again after what had felt like years. Nikolai broke the hug to take of his coat and place it on Anastasia.

"I've missed you so much, you manwhore," Anastasia laughed right before the others finally arrived and hugged their sister. Her eyes widened in chock and confusion when she spotted a face that she thought she had abandoned. "Are you real too?" Anastasia asked Freedom. The taller girl warmed her hands, placed them on the collar and tore it off. Freedom's first thought was to throw it away but Nikolai stopped her and took it for himself.

"Yes, big sister, I'm real. We are all real."

A few happy tears made it out before they both realized that someone was still missing. They both observed each other, looking for the answer to their unspoken questions. And they both knew.

"How did you escape?" Nikolai asked.

"I didn't," she began. "They threw me out. Off, I mean," she corrected herself."

They all stood shocked. The cold had finally started to get to them, Freedom made fires in her palms that kept them warm.

"I got enough. I realized I was trapped again, just like before, and that my original was manipulating me. I decided to leave and take my sisters with me. But before I could get far Canary's original opened a groundbridge and someone else shot me in the back, sending me flying trough."

"Pathetic," Nikolai scoffed humorlessly.

"Don't you think I know that? I even held a speech to the whole ship before it all went to hell."

"What about Valkyrie!?" Rock interrupted once he finally ran out of patience. Anastasia didn't answer but they all still understood.

"Oh no," Alabaster sobbed.

(Hours later)

"For my sake, did you make sure she was hurt?" Knock Out asked Breakdown as he injected himself with something meant to lessen the exhaustive symptoms.

"Yes, but in hindsight I could have done a cleaner job. Her gore sprayed over the walls when my missile exploded." Despite knowing she didn't feel pain and was probably healed by now, the description brought immense vengeful satisfaction.

"Don't be sorry, it means you gave me more material to work with."

"Are you sure you can already work though?"

"For the second time, yes," Knock Out said and put away the injector. "Evan if the medicine doesn't fully work, I'm not afraid to break anything." The red Decepticons temper was proof that the injection did it's job for the moment. The contents was used on patients who have experienced great energon loss, but the side effect it had gave Knock Out the theory it could also be used for a situation like this.

"Did Arachnid and Soundwave do their job while I was out?"

"Yes. She also said she wanted to report further in person."

Knock Out laughed amused.

"She just wants an excuse to witness what we're gonna do to the techno-organic."

When the oxygen levels sinks in an enclosed space it is not like being suffocated. It's not painful, it's not like in movies where the actors act like they're breathing poisoned gas. It is rather like falling asleep. Like the room is slowly being filled with tranquilizing gas. Ever since Valkyrie was placed in those quarters she has been stressed and bored at the same time. Wanting out more then anything, but when that wasn't possible she found whatever she could to pass the time. From running her fingers trough her short hair until all the knots were gone, doing exercises (a lot) and pacing. Many times when the stress would be too much she would yell and hit the locked door that kept her there. But suddenly she started to feel tired. She tried to work harder in order to keep herself awake, but it only made it worse. Her eyes became so heavy and all she wanted to do was to lie down and rest. But she knew something was wrong. She fought against it as much as she could, even going so far as to slap, scratch and bite herself. Eventually the oxygen got so low it was no longer like falling asleep, it was like being forced into an unconscious state. And she lost. Valkyrie fell to the ground and her vision turned black.

Valkyrie was strapped to an operation table in the bigger lab. Arachnid was already there, hovering her sharp extra legs over the defenseless hybrid and having fun with the idea of cutting her open. To find out what exactly was keeping her alive. A spark, a heart, or a combination of both. Her eyes landed on the eye patch and she got curios of how she looked without it. Arachnid trailed one of her sharp extra limbs over Valkyrie's cheek, almost hard enough to cut the skin before coming to a halt when she reached her eyepatch. Arachnid stopped what she was planning to do when Valkyrie suddenly startled and tried to bite Arachnids spider leg. The Decepticon managed to pull away just in time and Valkyrie settled with snarling to the strange con.

"You are even more of a brute than Breakdown."

"And I'm glad your daughter didn't turn into a bitch like you," she mocked. Arachnid glared at the techno-organic before giving off a smile of her own.

"I'm glad you are having so much fun. It will make it so much more satisfying when your laughs turn into screams," Arachnid purred and leaned in close enough to be out of Valkyries reach. Before Valkyrie could say anything someone came in. She twisted her head to the best of her ability and saw the familiar color scheme of red, white and grey.

"Commander Arachnid, may I ask about your findings while I was gone."

"Certainly doctor," Arachnid answered and walked over to Knock Out who was readying his station. He opened the file Soundwave sent him. The third in command had downloaded all the remaining data he found in the base. Which wasn't much. The techno-organics had gone out of their ways to destroy the data during their escape. Barely anything was left and what was left was very incomplete.

"You were right about the second entrance. We found it on top of the mountain. It seemed to have been meant for aircrafts but when we opened, it looked like it had been used as a mass grave."

"I'm glad I wasn't there to see it for myself," Knock Out have a cocky smile. Arachnid choose to ignore that and keep reporting.

"We found out that they have scavenged technology, presumably from crash sights, and used it to aid their research. The tools and devices we found were obviously made from cybertronian engineering, both Decepticon and Autobot origin. And-" She opened a container she had brought for Knock Out.

"I noticed earlier that you found these interesting. Megatron also agreed that these were worth examining." It contained the glass vessels with energon blue substance. Knock Out placed it on his work space before turning to Arachnid again.

"I have a request that I think you'll like. It would greatly help my research if I had a human to compare with. It doesn't have to be alive, it doesn't have to be whole, I'll let you decide in what condition you want to bring it in." Arachnid showed nothing but a polite smile, but in the inside she wore a gleeful expression as she walked away like a predator getting ready for a hunt. Knock Out grabbed a few syringes before making his way to Valkyrie; who had seen the vessels.

"How did you get those?" her voice was no louder then a quivering whisper.

"We found your birthpla..." Knock Out visibly flinched when Valkyrie suddenly let out high pitched scream like a tortured banshee. Images of how they strapped her down just like this and forced it into her body with multiple syringes, forced themselves to the forefront of her mind. How it felt like it spread and stuck in her body like roots, twisting her insides to the point she almost couldn't breath. You could always know when someone was being injected by the volume of their screams. Truth be told, the most horrifying thing about them was they never knew what it was doing to their bodies. But all vials were meant to be destroyed or forgotten. They thought they had destroyed everything. They destroyed everything they could see but they didn't stick around to see if they had done a good enough job. They just wanted to leave.

"I haven't even touched you yet," Knock Out yelled annoyed. He swiftly stabbed her with the syringe and drew her blood. When he was satisfied he took another syringe with a wider needle and stabbed so it went right trough the bone in her arm. She screamed before being able to form words.

"What the hell was that for?"

"Bone sample," Knock Out answered without taking his eyes from the cylindrical piece of dark metal he had extracted. As he put that away he took another syringe and brought it to her head.

"What are you doing," Valkyrie said and tried to squirm away. He grabbed the side of her face and pressed it against the berth.

"Your neck is what I'm aiming for. Now hold still. If you squirm I might paralyze you."

"No, stop." Valkyrie didn't move and she shed no tears but her voice was a scared sob. She nearly didn't feel the prick of the needle. She was more focused on the inability to move. First strapped down and then held down. She was suffocating again.

"There we go," Knock Out said when he was done extracting spinal fluid. Valkyrie exhaled when he finally let her go. She thought it was over until she saw him pick up a scalpel. Knock Out leaned down closer to her face with a unnerving smirk as he spoke.

"Usually when I perform surgery I put them in stasis. I hook them into a computer that shut them down, they're not able to feel pain or move, it's like a coma. I assume it's not possible on you." Valkyrie didn't say anything. Her heart beat so badly it muffled her hearing and her jaw shook with the desire to scream, but her voice got stuck. "Since I have nothing to tranquilize you, you'll have to be awake to this," Knock Out purred and danced with the scalpel as he considered where to cut. Back with the scientists there was never sadism in the cruel things they did. Just cold heartless logic behind every action. Dispose of the ones who didn't meet the standard, train and learn them to be obedient soldiers. Do whatever it takes to make progress. They used methods that at first glance looked sadistic, but there was always a reason behind what they did. There is no reason for Knock Out to be doing this to her, he was just having fun.

Knock Out ended up deciding to cut off a piece of Valkyrie's ear. Valkyrie had protested so badly he had to hold her down with his forearm in order to get a clean cut. She passed out during the process. The memories that flooded her mind became to much. Memories of the training, the experimentation, the surgeries, the death of her brother. Arachnid had returned with a severed human arm, Knock Out didn't care to ask what happened to the rest. Arachnid was disappointed when she learned she had missed all the fun and left. He started by testing if Valkyrie's blood and spinal fluid had traces of the blue liquid from the vials. When the tests proved positive it proved the first theory, that whatever it was it was used on the hybrids. The next experiment required a sample of cybermatter. Using one of the guards as volunteer, Knock Out studied how human cells, cybercells and cells from a hybrid reacted to the blue substance. While he waited for results he analyzed the files taken from the base. Most of it had to be based of guess work because of the damage done to them. But he was able to pick up some very useful information. When the machine signaled that the results was done, Knock Out moved away from the computer. What he saw was most fascinating.

"Where do you want me to start, lord Megatron?" Knock Out said when he was ready to report his findings to his master. Megatron took a short moment to think before answering.

"Let's start with what we have found out about the humans."

Knock Out pressed a few buttons that showed some of the recovered files.

"Since the most of the data was damaged during the base's destruction, the info we have is mostly based of deduction work. But I managed to find some really interesting data. We first thought that the humans started to work on the hybrids around the time the Nemesis and the Autobots came here, but the oldest file mentioned that the project had been going on for over half a century."

It was already confirmed that they stole material from crash sights. Half a century gave them plenty of time of breaking down and understanding their technology.

"Which also happened to be filled with corpses." Knock Out showed another page. "It says briefly in this file that they were able to extract cyber-nucleic-acid when they scavenged the ships. They must have gathered it from the deceased passengers." But the humans had no way of knowing that it's much harder to work with CNA from long dead corpses. So besides giving them plenty of material to train with, it didn't give them any good results.

"That explains how they were able to breed the techno-organics so soon after our arrival. Did any of your research figure out how they were able to make the hybrids develop their powers?"

"I'm pleased to report that my experiment made some very successful results," Knock Out purred excited and picked up one of the blue vials.

"This is mutagen, my Lord. Human cells are too fragile and die almost immediately when exposed to it. Since we are made of metal, we reject it and are thus not effected. But when exposed to hybrid cells of metal and organic material, that are thus resilient and malleable, the content's able to cause billions of years of evolution. Like that," Knock Out snapped his fingers to emphasis his point.

Megatron lifted an eyebrow and looked at the vial in a mixture of surprise and skepticism before turning to Knock Out.

"What is it made of?"

"The scans told that it's energon mixed with different chemicals one can find in a research ship, the rest it detected as unknown. Most likely earthly elements. I might just be able to make it compatible to cybertronians."

"Excellent," Megatron said before turning to Valkyrie who was starting to wake up. The puzzle pieces was finally starting to fall together. Why the hybrid had such powers and how a few humans could accomplish such an incredible achievement in such short notice. The question that was left unanswered was: why? Why make super soldiers in the first place? What was the purpose? If they wanted weapons then they could have found many by scavenging the ships or used their finding to develop their own weaponry. Megatron took one of the vials and walked over to Valkyrie. He threw his fist right next to her to her damaged ear which startled her awake. Instinctively she tried to move away and find a weapon but quickly realized she was tied down. When she turned around with the plan to curse out her captor, her glare vanished and her swears retreated back down her throat. This new Decepticon was the biggest and most scary looking she had ever seen. Armor with sharp edges, a scared face and demonic red eyes. Eyes she recognized. And then it clicked. And then she started to laugh. First a low chuckle that steadily grew to a loud cackle.

"How can someone as beautiful as Freedom come from such a horrifying creature like you?" she laughed looking Megatron straight in the eyes. He showed no visible reaction other than vague surprise.

"Captives in your position usually don't laugh."

"You don't go trough what we have experienced and leave sane," she answered as her fit of crazed laughter finally ended. Still she was sane enough to answer his questions. He held the vial in front of her. Once she registered what she was seeing, her eye widened and her mind started to scream.

"Judging by your reaction I'm assuming you have encountered this substance before. Care to tell me what you know?"

Valkyries eye moved between Megatron and the vial several times before swallowing and turning to him.

"If I do, will you promise you won't let that touch me?" She was clearly not the smartest of the techno-organics to be asking the leader of the Decepticons to make her a promise.

"You have my word," Megatron lied and put the vial among the instrument. Once it was gone out of her sight she exhaled.

"Okay," she breathed out. "What is it?"

"What was the purpose for your creation?"

Valkyrie took a moment to process the question before thinking. Trying to remember if she ever heard the answer to that question. She always figured that they were all meant to be used as weapons, but why they had to be created in the first place; it was never stated. "I don't know."

"Further studies of the files might give us clues. Besides, if it's true that this group was cooperating with Mech, then we might get answers from them instead." Megatron turned away from Knock Out before grabbing the vial with mutagen.

"Why are you so afraid of this? What aren't you telling?"

Valkyries eye was fixed on the vial with blue liquid. Every muscle in her body tensed as she fought the restraints again and she tried to answer but only choked sounds made it out. Megatron rolled his eyes before putting down the vial again.

"You don't know what that can do."

"No, you're right," Megatron said, his words dripping with impatience. "That's why I'm asking you, but my patience is wearing thin. Answer the question or I'll find another way to get the information I want!"

Valkyrie was quite for a moment before she forced herself to talk.

"Fine," she said bordering on a hiss. "That thing killed us. You like Freedom's flames, don't you? Well that same mutagen burned our siblings from the inside, shut down their organs, destroyed the chemical balance in their bodies. I barely survived! You have met the twins, you have seen the way they act. They were the first to ever survive. But it ruined their brains. They're stuck in a never ending nightmare because of the mutagen. So if you have any plans to start using it on yourselves, to do what evolution have taken too long to get to-" She leaned her head closer to Megatron and filled her voice as much venom she was capable of. "Go ahead."

Megatron didn't show anything but mild annoyance. He was thinking. Back on Cybertron they had prisoners to experiment on, here they didn't have the same luxury. Although they their forces were great in number, they already suffered losses everyday. Doing experiments on the troops would cause their numbers to dwindle even more.

"Knock Out, are you absolutely certain you can make the mutagen formula compatible with cybertronian biology?"

Knock Out took a short moment to consider before he answered. "Possibly. This has currently no effect on living metal. Making it work will take a lot of time and resources."

"Even if you make it work, will there still be a risk to what she's describing?"

"I don't believe she's lying," Knock Out said. "Last time I met Anastasia, she was scared and acted like a beast was in her cell. At one point she even had to ask me if we were hearing the same thing. I do believe that there will have serious consequences in exchange for power. To fix that will take even more time."

"Then you better get started."