Sonica, tucking the communicator under her arm, checks the hallways before she darts out in a sprint. Her spark is pounding.
"Hurry!" Ratchet's voice travels to her airlinked audio receptor from the device.
"I know, I know,"
She comes to a halt at the computers where she meets Arcee and Bee. He guards while Arcee types away at the computers. She moves right in next to her and helps with the research.
"You've already risked your cover allowing us to locate the ship. Are you sure about joining us?" Arcee asks without looking at her.
"Optimus is more important than my cover. I don't care about anything else right now."
Arcee just nods as they keep searching. Empty. Dead end. Wrong information. Nothing.
"Clearly you missed something!"
"You think you're the only one who cares about Optimus?"
Sonica hesitates. White energon is a healing type, but its terms to do so are costly. It won't heal anything a mechaniod is not dying from. If it does heal, it derives energy from the spark itself, causing a great amount of pain. White energon has been known to exhaust, even damage, the source of energy it takes from. If the will to live isn't strong enough, then the white energon will snuff the spark.
The big hesitation with Optimus is the Matrix inside. It's powerful and acts like portal to the AllSpark. It's possible- likely- that the white energon, in attempts to borrow energy from it, would get sucked in and lost. Therefore, rising the Autobots' hope for nothing.
"What if Megatron himself, caught the virus?" Jack's voice interrupts her thoughts.
"If there's a cure, he may be the only one who knows it."
Sonica nods, "Follow me."
They race to where Megatron lies hooked up to the life support tubes.
Arcee shakes her head, "I want to destroy him."
Bee seconds that with a low grumble.
"I know, right?" Sonica walks around the table, picking up and holding the psychic-cordial patch for them to see. "Familiar with this?"
Ratchet see it from the communicator, "I've studied a little."
"I've used it." Sonica hooks up Megatron, "This is old science, believe it or not."
"Enter his brain? Are you out of your fraggin' minds?"
"Not yet," Sonica snorts at her own joke and moves on, "I can do it. Paved road, I know what I'm doing."
Bee lowers his arm guns and shakes his head, "No, you'll be better suited out there as a look out. Arcee, defense. I'll do it."
Time presses and there's no time to argue.
"Fine," Sonica caves and her optics land on the vacuum tube under the wall, "Hide there then. I'll go out and buy you as much times as possible."
"Thanks, Sonica." Bee smiles at her.
She can't help it. Sonica spreads her arms out and embraces them both, "Glad to see you guys."
"You too," Arcee hurries her, "go, go..."
"Take this and leave it behind."
Arcee swipes the communicator, "It'll be down the tunnel a ways."
"Thanks," she jogs for the entrance.
Sonica's optics change shades of blue as she scans through the door and walls, to detect any bot outside that could see her step out. When it's clear, she exits.
The last she see of her friends, is while they tuck themselves inside.
She can't stay outside the door, so deciding that Starscream would be the bigger threat, she heads for the bridge.
As Sonica walks, she's up to her neck in worry and thought. She was just doing some touch ups to her clear coat when her communicator started blinking under her stasis chamber.
It's under there on purpose because the blinking light is the same color as one connected to the chamber; the chamber blinks when it's refilling the gas solution.
When she got ahold of it, Ratchet was staring into it. Right away, she knew something was wrong. He caught her up on their plan, she scrambled the shielding, then met up with them.
They'll get something; she's sure of it. Bumblebee is the best; maybe she's just as good.
"...Discuss the next course of action..."
She looks up and sees Starscream rounding the corner ahead of her. He's flanked by Knockout and Soundwave. We'll see how this goes...
A sly smile and a small, faked stagger is the choice start, "What did I do to get the three hottest mechs to come after me?"
Starscream's smirk is slightly out of courtesy but he already knew her comment was fact. Knockout's smile is genuine and he teasingly winks at her. Soundwave is awkwardly quiet; even for him.
"I'm serious about that," She raises a sly brow at him, "Really, you look good."
Starscream quickly changes his expression from coy, to acutely somber, "That's cute, Sonica, but we're in the middle of something."
She blinks and tilts her head as they start to pass her in the hall, "Oh? May I accompany you? If not just to enjoy like company..."
They pass her and only Knockout looks over his shoulder to give her another flattered smile.
Starscream waves a long-fingered hand, "I don't see a problem with it, but do keep what you hear to yourself."
Sonica skips to stand just behind him, "I can do that. I'm a good secret-keeper."
They take the hall towards the medical room and she gets a touch nervous.
"Ah, are we visiting the patient?"
"Yes." Starscream straightens.
"He's doing as well as he can; what's all this for?"
"Sonica," He turns his upper body towards her, "if you're going to chatter the whole time, you can go find something else to do in your room."
She fights giving him a look as she pretends to zip her lips closed.
He turns back towards the doors but they don't open. Knockout tries the lock but it's not going to work.
Sonica is doing to it, what she did to the shielding: cutting off the energon to its computer systems. Behind her back, she flexes her fingers against the flow she sees in her mind.
Starscream growls and pushes Knockout aside after his two tries. "What is going on here? First the shielding..."
Ever so slightly, Soundwave's head shifts her direction. It's just enough movement to catch her eye and she looks innocently at him.
Starscream tries a second time with a curse as she stares into the black of his screen. The door whooshes open mid-entry. Sonica pretends that it startles her.
"Finally," he growls.
"Knockout," Starscream begins as they enter the medical room, "will you give Soundwave your expert advice on Lord Megatron's condition?"
Sonica listens to their exchange but purposefully examines Megatron and his life support, as she takes a stand between them and her hidden friends.
"Our Master wouldn't have wanted to continue like this, it isn't dignified."
"Have we tried everything?" Sonica adds and they turn to her, "I've heard a few stories of patients coming out of it because of sounds or whatever."
They sort of glance at each other but she's getting impatient looks from Starscream.
"What sound would he'd wake to?" She thinks aloud and barely smothers a snicker, "Gunfire? Bomb explosions? No wait..." she hammers a fist into her hand, snaps her fingers, and points, "Optimus Prime cursing his name."
Knockout combs a hand over his mouth, covering his poorly smothered smile, because Starscream is giving her a look. Soundwave stares un-amused.
"I think you all know I could be right. How desperate are we? And hey, if it works, we've excited him awake and he'll be in a good mood. He has a nice smile, don't you think?"
Knockout hides but it's not because he thinks she's funny; he's embarrassed now and she can't blame him. That was too far, even to her standards.
Starscream rolls his optics and turns to Soundwave, "What's your opinion?"
He's quiet and more difficult than usual to read.
"Do I take your silence to be you concur with the suggested course of action?"
They all stand and wait, as Starscream dramatically reaches up and wraps his fingers around the main support tube.
"Speak now or forever hold your peace."
Soundwave lifts a long arm, pointing at Sonica's feet.
She looks down and pretends not to recognize the patch tube, "What? What is it?"
Soundwave takes a couple steps towards her, only to reach the full length of his arm, and extend his finger. Touching it to the side of her head, he pushes her aside.
Sonica has no choice and side-steps a few times. Then they all look down where he points to the psychic-cordial patch.
She stares at it without a word and completely hides her fear. Starscream walks around and picks it up, following it into Megatron's station first.
"What? Is that not supposed to be there?" Sonica says for the Autobots.
Their gazes follow it into the vacuum tunnel and Starscream is the one that traces it.
As fast as they can blink, Starscream exclaims the Autobot's presences, a sound of a ground bridge flares and there's gunfire. Megatron's life support detaches just as they disappear. Starscream stands, brushing all matters aside, but Soundwave won't allow Megatron to die that way.
Sonica comes around to the other side where Knockout stands as they hook him back up. She's staring at the computers. The brainwave activity is gone.
Soundwave catches her intense reading and she tries a shrug.
"Perhaps the system has to reboot."
Knockout reads the screen too, "Wouldn't be a bad idea. The blast could've altered something. Restarting it will take a while; I'll get the basic functions locked before I do so."
Sonica can still feel the communications chief staring at her but when she looks at him, he walks away. Starscream goes with him, leaving the awkward silence inside the medical room. The door shut on them, and the close encounter with the Autobots. In a strange way, it feels like it didn't happen.
"Sonica,"
She takes her optics from the doors to Knockout.
"Of the top three hottest, what number am I?"