Updated - 23~10~2020

Alright, here's 3th chapter. I tried to make it as soft as posible, trying not to be too explicit with it.

WARNING! - THIS IS THE DARKEST AND HARDEST CHAPTER. THERE'S SPILLED ENERGON AND SCATTERED FRAMES. IF YOU'RE NOT COMFORTABLE WITH IT, PLEASE, LEAVE NOW.

If you decide to continue, enjoy.

3

Neuroactive

"Bumblebee, activate the ground bridge. I have decoded the next group of coordinates." Optimus announced, stepping back from the computer. "Arcee, prepare for mission. Ratchet, you will go with. There is a warning attached to the coordinates. Get there and analyze it." The leather explained.

"Optimus, I do believe I could be of greater use in here in case we need the Med Bay." Ratchet replied quietly, directing a sharp look to their new scientist. "Maybe is time for him to prove his metal." The leader nodded, thoughtfully.

"Your opinion is noted." Prime then turned to face the red mech. "Knockout, you'll go with Arcee." Stated with serene yet firm voice, what took the former 'Con by surprise as he hadn't heard the old medic's comment. "If it happens to be anything dangerous such as ToxEn, destroy it." Optimus ordered. "Proceed with caution."

"Yes, sir." They both replied.

Without any other word, they transformed and crossed the green vortex. They appeared in a mountainous forest next to a road which lead to a small town, some miles away. The sun got lost between the mountains, and even if there was still light, soon there would be no more. They entered into the dark woods, leaving behind all signs of civilization.

The commander walked in front of the former 'Con, with her blaster on. Knockout had the radar on his servo and taking quick readings, he signaled the way ahead of them. She just nodded, adding a 'Stay behind me'. She advanced stealthy, barely producing any sound, making sure at each step the enemy wasn't waiting to ambush. Instead, he simply followed her close, from time to time looking up from the scanner and then back to it.

They finally reached a clearance next to a rocky terrain incline. Right there, trapped in the rock, the Iaconian pod stuck out. Even if it was trapped, if seemed it had been buried far less time than other relics they had found before. Moreover, instead of the usual white and green colors, this particular pod displayed white and dark orange ones. Knockout immediately though of a Decepticon trick, but the way it was attached to the rock made him doubt it.

They both stared in silence before the femme talked, coldly. "Ok, do your thing."

The mech restricted himself to a simple nod, walking forwards few steps. He knelt down, calibrating the scanner before activating it. As he worked, he started to feel something he hadn't experienced for a while now, not since he had left the Decepticons. For some reason, he had the feeling there was someone observing, stalking.

While he worked, Arcee gave a good look around and then contacted the base. "Arcee to base. We found the objective. Knockout is analyzing it." She informed.

He didn't pay much more attention to her as he frowned. Something did not fit in there. He interpreted the lectures and ran a second scan. Same odd results. He put the scanner down for a click and had a closer look to the pod. Then it hit him. It had been opened, but yet again someone had took the time to cap it, although not fully closing it.

"It's opened." He informed.

"What?" Her intense gaze fixed on his nape. "We're late?"

"Most likely." Knockout nodded. "Just let me take some more reading and let's find out if we get any clue."

The red mech took the cover off, carefully, and discovered it was empty. He professionally made some scans and measurements. There was no doubt now, the container was authentic. The 'Cons must have been before them and took whatever was inside. In normal circumstances he would have communicated his conclusions to his superior, but this time he didn't.

He gave few good breems looking at the lectures obtained from the inside, trying to figure out what kind of relic could have left it. The chemical print he had picked up from the inside wasn't based on energon, but neither on carbon. It was composed by new substances he had never come across before.

Knockout got up slowly, his gaze still fixed onto the scanner as he slowly turned to face her. For a moment, he lowered it, as he started to feel aware of a key factor there. He raised his helm, looking around alert, and pricked his audio receptors up, trying to catch the faintest sound around. There was something in the air he did not like a bit.

"Do you hear that, Commander?" He inquired, without looking at her, his optics darting from a tree top to another. She listened too for a moment, but then frowned.

"Hear what?" Arcee asked trying to distinguish something. "I can't hear anything."

"Precisely." He confirmed, locking optics with her, serious. "No sounds at all."

"Is getting dark. Animals must have gone into recharge." She dismissed it. "Shall we get into the matter?"

"I don't think so." He diverted his gaze to the ground. "There should be then nocturnal animals howling around or something. But instead there's a cold dead silence." He shook his helm. "Everything's too quiet, even for a place with no human activity. There must be something scaring them, some sort of danger."

She remained silent. "What did you get from the pod?" She twitched focus, walking up to it and checking it up. "Could someone got here first? Animal, human, Decepticon...?"

"I got strange lectures coming from inside. I have never seen anything like this. I think Ratchet should give it a look." He resumed. "Definitely there was someone before us... But I highly doubt they ever left." The femme turned to face him once again. "I think we've being watched for a while now." He received a suspicious look, while she activated her other blaster, somehow convinced.

"Stay here. I'll have a look around." She ordered. "Contact the base and inform. We may need some back up." She added before disappearing through the woods.

He did as told, bringing his comm. link to life.

"Knockout to base, do you copy? We do have a situation." Statics. "Knockout to base, do you read me?" Nothing. He desisted, grunting. "Damn it, you old cranky model. You never configured my comm link." He cursed over the elder doctor.

With no options at all, he gazed around, nervously. His mission partner was gone and the unpleasant feeling of vulnerability grew stronger inside him. In an attempt to be of use, he took out his scanner again alongside his visor, this time charging the data on the black lens' memory. If the relic had been moved, it would probably left a trail, and if it was still there as he suspected, he probably could still find it.

Putting the scanner away once again, he attached his visor, covering his optics with it. With a side tap on it, the screen loaded the data, showing now a bright yellowish glow all around the pod area. Knockout moved around, trying to concrete the path he had to follow. He smirked as he had found it. Although he was somehow uneasy, he advanced with steady steps through the dense forest ahead, in the opposite direction the commander had gone.

The red mech was so concentrated he didn't even realized it had started raining heavily, making the ground under him muddy. He had much more important things to care about rather than whining for his finish. His spark could be at risk. And without spark, there would be no paint job.

At each step his suspicions became more and more real. For such a forest, there was no life. It seemed that not even the vegetation dared to move a leaf, not counting the rain effect, and now that was awkward. The trail was getting stronger as the visor marker got brighter.

At certain moment, he failed to notice the marks all around the place. It wasn't until he stepped on a liquid that he noticed them. He stood still, slowly bowing his helm downwards to have a look. Due to the dark tinted crystal, he didn't see much, but when he busted some luminosity to his visor, he froze in place. He had just stepped on a quite big energon puddle. It was still fluid and intense colored, what let him know it was recent. His spark took a new path, pounding fast on his chest. Something had happened there, something terrible.

Knockout raised his gaze again, and really slowly he scanned the area. A tree right by his side had some horrible marks all over the bark, almost torn apart. It had some difficult time trying to figure out what had left such groove, but he could only think of claws. Huge claws.

He cautiously moved his servo up high to the claw marks and replicated the four grooves with his own sharp digits. Whatever had left them, it was times bigger than himself... Even bigger than an Insecticon. A shiver ran down his spine, as he got a new feeling. His frame trembled lightly, full of fear. In comparison to the owner of those claws, he was insignificant. He should get back to the pod immediately.

He should have, but he didn't. For some reason, even if everything in him shouted to run away, he continued forwards, this time, all his sense more alert than before. His veins boiled with adrenergon, his mind rushing. What kind of creature, times taller than himself could have left such trail? He had no idea. Nothing of what he knew fit. Things were getting bleak, and he did not like it.

The red mech kept advancing a little longer, finding more energon spilled here and there as the yellow track got even more noticeable. He was getting close. At certain point he started to notice small plate pieces scattered around on the ground. With his visor lighting the way up, he reached another clearance, smaller than the one he had left before, slowly getting to a stop. He immediately understood why the forest had been so lifeless.

Knockout watched in horror the scene before him. It was time worse that what Airachnid did to his victims. He did not even had words to describe it, and for once in his life, what he saw was much for himself. He suddenly felt sick and bent low, purging his tanks. Dizzy and dazed, he incorporated as he could, shaking. He should have stayed back.

For quite a moment he stood there, shocked. Then little by little, trying to recover himself from it, he focused on the trail before him as he had realized it didn't continue forwards. The trail ended there. And that could only mean one thing. The relic, if it was such thing, had to be there.

He shivered again, not daring to move from the spot. He was somehow paralyzed. When the mech finally found the strength to move and trace the way back, he side caught some movement somewhere at his right. Slowly, he dared to face that direction, holding his vents.

Right in front of him there was something laying between the woods. He couldn't see clearly due to the heavy rain and the shadows projected by vegetation, even with the lighten image of the visor. He adjusted his optics, trying to zoom it. It looked like a big bulk, metallic, he could tell.

Getting courage out of nowhere, he dared to give few shy steps forwards, still cautious. As he got closer, almost all the visor filled with the yellow tracker light, that much that he had to switch it off. Whatever he was looking for he was right in front of it.

He motioned his optics down, just to see the bulge was no other than a what was left of a vehicon. It had parts missing, but what really caught the medic's attention was the torn and claws dents all over it. What most horrified him was the idea that it had happened while the trooper was still alive.

The frame on the ground suddenly spasmed, and Knockout stepped back in an act reflex. It couldn't be still alive, no, it was impossible. He raised his gaze again to scrutinize what there was ahead. He was starting to get a hint of something when suddenly the frame of the vehicon was forcefully dragged into the darkness. Some crack and creaking followed it, filling the air with disgusting sounds. Then silence again.

Knockout contained the urge to transform and press the gas as soon as he saw it. He did not blink as silhouette started to form before him. There was something observing him from the trees behind the vehicon, barely few metrons away.

Part of a torso landed in front of him, to what he flicked, plates bristling. The torso had the helm missing and also bite marks, large fang bite marks everywhere, plates torn out to protoform. The paralyzed red mech could only fix his optics back into the undergrowth.

Between the shadows, two glowing white stripes stalked like the hungry optics of an apex predator. And they seemed to be locked onto him. Knockout was its next meal.