Chapter 16: Freedom?
Artemis could barely walk straight and her armor was all scratched from Claw using and abusing her after her checkup. Claw had allowed her to go grab some energon as he prepared for the next rounds. She leaned against the hallway wall and moved her hand down to her lower abdomen to soothe some of the pain. Megatron was walking towards her and stopped in front of her. "Rough night?" he asked. Other Decepticons walked past the pair as tension grew.
The blue femme glared before looking up and her optics shifted slightly to a red as some tears became apparent. Artemis cleared her throat and narrowed her optics more at the mech. "Rough night?! That is the first thing you say to me after getting used all night? Screaming and crying for help but no one came?" Artemis said as she stood straight up. "Protect me, Primus knows you were lying when you made that promise again after all of these cycles. All because I will not join your dishonorable cause to protect my team, my family. A fragging cause I once believed in and would follow you until my lights went out because it was about getting us out of the pits and to make a family with the one I loved."
Artemis began to walk past Megatron before the mech stopped her and just as he went to say something there was an alert that a fight was going down in the mine they were hovering over. Megatron ordered Soundwave to open a groundbridge to the mine so he could deal with it himself, since Knockout wasn't capable enough to deal with it himself.
Megatron walked through and after a few moments the portal vanished. Behind where the portal appeared was Soundwave. "Soundwave.." Artemis mumbled before she took a couple steps back, worried the silent mech would send her back to Claw. She moved into her fighting stance and raised her hands just in case, "Please, I do not want to fight someone who I considered a friend but will if you have me go back to that damn mech."
Ped steps could be heard coming up behind Artemis, she turned and saw Claw smirking. "It appears my sparkmate has gotten last and has appeared to have wandered too far past the energon storage….or she is trying to escape from her sparkmate," he taunted. Artemis swiftly turned around and remained in her fighting stance. "So fierce but still so weak even after everything you have gone through. Mentally and physically week like all of the others within my harem," Claw said as he lifted the remote and moved his thumb over the button.
Claw moved closer and placed his digit under her chin and forced her to look into his pericing red optics. "My frail love, you need me to survive another day in this war, " he whispered. He leaned closer towards her audio receptor, "Because if you leave, I will hunt you down again but this time…and make you watch me murder everyone who you love and take your sister as my prize instead because I will be holding that beautiful spark in my hand and gift it to Megatron."
Artemis's optics widened for a second before narrowing, she quickly extended the blade from the side of her forearm and slashed him across the stomach. Claw screamed and backed away as Artemis jumped back. She moved fluidly into her fighting stance, her legs shaking from pain but soon changing towards adrenaline. Claw looked up and something seemed to snap, his smile became more corrupted as he stood and yanked the black sword off of his back. "How dare you, you fragging glitch," Claw screamed as he charged towards Artemis.
Claw swung the blade towards the femme's abdomen. Artemis dodged with the movement of the blade and as Claw swung it again Artemis moved her arms up and stopped the blade. "You think you can defeat me? I managed to slay your damn sire when he was at his peak, and I shall do the same to the rest of your damn lineage," he threatened.
The pair continued to block each other's advances. Artemis jumped back and bumped into Soundwave, who had been watching and recording the whole altercation. Claw went to swing his sword, Artemis pushed Soundwave out of the way and got cut down the center of her back. Artemis moved down onto her knees and clenched her jaw. "Fragger," she cursed before she quickly stood up, Claw moved the controller through his fingers before pressing the button. The collar spikes that moved into the cords of her neck electrified and began to shock her. Artemis screamed before collapsing to her knees and grabbed the collar trying to yank it from her neck. "You cheap bastard, fight me like the gladiator you are," Artemis said. She knew she couldn't win against him in a gladiatorial fight, but it would save her some time to think of something better.
Claw smirked and turned off the collar, "Oh please, you know that you cannot defeat me," he taunted. Artemis looked up and stood up before Claw could charge at her, Artemis ran towards him and slashed him across his face. Claw stumbled backwards holding his face.
"I'm very aware that you fragger, but I can still try," Artemis said as she clenched her jaw. Energon dripping down her back onto the floor. Claw had dropped the remote, Artemis quickly grabbed it and clenched the remote in her hand before swinging and kicking Claw in the helm as hard as she could. He fell and appeared to be knocked out. Artemis's hands shook slightly as she turned around and saw Soundwave moving towards her. Artemis glared at the visor the mech wore. Soundwave moved out of the way and opened a groundbridge portal behind him. Artemis walked over and grabbed the black sword off of Claw's back before placing it on her own. "Thank you Soundwave, for everything…let Megatron know.. That I you know," she said before running through the portal.
Artemis ran through and appeared to be in an energon mine. She glanced around and then heard a scream that sounded way too familiar. "Ratchet?" she questioned before running towards where the scream was coming from. She saw Ratchet laying on the ground clutching his bleeding wound as Megatron and Knockout stood over him. His energon was a strange mixture of blue and green. "Ratchet!" Artemis screamed as Megatron and Knockout turned around. Artemis reached back and pulled the black sword off of her back and moved into her fighting stance. Her optics shifted to a slight red. "Move away from him," she growled.
Megatron simply extended his blade and pointed it towards the medic. "Megatron, I will rip your damn spark out if you lay another digit on one of the mech's I love" she threatened. Knockout slowly backed away with his arms up. Knockout clearly didn't want to get into a battle with Artemis.
"You are wounded, how can you possibly hold your own against me now. You are also weak due to your previous night with Claw, not to mention your still healing spark," Megatron taunted but also sounded slightly worried as he placed the tip of his blade under the medic's chin. "You do not have the spark to raise your blade against me." Artemis glanced down at Ratchet before charging at Megatron. She swung her sword and it instantly clashed against Megatron's. "So much for that truce," Megatron chuckled with a small smile. "There's the femme I love.." Megatron thought.
Artemis clenched her jaw before swinging the sword as hard as she could and it instantly cut through Megatron's sword. Megatron's blade went flying and clanked against the stone ground. "That promise was broken, and you know that, now stop acting like you actually care after all of these eons of war," Artemis said as she moved her blade swiftly up and placed it under Megatron's chin. A small tear ran down her cheek, she never wanted to fight Megatron but she would for her new family on this planet.
The rest of the Autobot team could be heard coming towards the group. Artemis slowly moved the blade away and spun it before placing it on her back. Megatron growled before walking into a groundbridge portal. Before he went into the portal he glanced back and smiled at his once love, "I knew you had the ability to fight back against him…I just had to push you away more," he mumbled before moving into the portal. Knockout quickly following him with the small sample of synthetic energon.
Artemis walked over and knelt down by Ratchet. She lifted his helm and rested it on her lap. Ratchet groaned and opened his optics to look up at Artemis. "Artemis…" he whispered. She reached down and rubbed his cheek a few more times before placing her hand on his forehead. Artemis groaned as her adrenaline began to wear off and all of the pain rushed through her system. Her wound on her back hurt more as energon cascaded from it as well as the pain from her abdomen increasing from the night with Claw.
"Shhh Ratch…save your energy," Artemis whispered as she rubbed her hand against his cheek as his optics moved from green to a faint blue as he clenched the area on his chest where Megatron had wounded him. There was no way Knockout would have left a wound like this. Soon enough the rest of the team came running towards them. "He's losing a lot of energon, we have to get him back to base and patch his wound and get some new energon into his system," Artemis ordered as she lifted Ratchet's helm. Artemis stood and waivered a little as she looked up towards Optimus. "Now before they end up coming back" she ordered. The team glanced towards Optimus before he nodded. Bulkhead grabbed Ratchet and they called Raf for a groundbridge.
The group ran towards the open groundbridge portal and managed to get into the base before anything else could happen. Artemis made it through the portal before almost collapsing. She quickly grabbed the sword off of her back and stuck it into the ground to keep her up. Her legs were shaking and her optics appeared a faint blue. Optimus walked over and offered his hand to help her over to the medical bay to start repairing both her and Ratchet.