AN: Two weeks and 11.5k words later I give you this monstrosity of a chapter. I´d have went though it faster but I am currently experiencing some mental issues (overworking yourselves is not good) but whatever, it´s 2:30am and I FINISHED IT. Once again a shoutout to Dragonlver22 for the inspirations and I hope you enjoy this chapter. A kudos to Lexsequor over on AO3 who wished for bigger chapters! The next episode will also be an extra-long chapter if everything goes as planned ;)
"Release the dial!"
"You told me I could help!"
"You are not helping!"
"I was, until you suddenly decided I wasn't qualified!"
"That is because you are most certainly not!"
The whole base stared at the fight for power between an adult Cybertronian and another stuck in the frame of a sparkling. Most of them struggled not to break down in a fit of laughter at the sight of two smaller servos fighting a single bigger one for the control of one of the console's dials, but there were two bots who did not feel the same.
"Doomsday, do something!" Solarflare gestured towards the scene unfolding in front of them.
The Forger only let out a boisterous laugh and pretended to wipe a tear off her optic. "Why? This is hilarious."
Even if Radical didn't share any CNA with her he'd picked up a god deal of habits by merely observing Doomsday's behavior. He'd seen her in various stages, from relatively sober to nearly unaware of reality, before she noticed how her actions shaped the sparkling and did her best to curb the more inappropriate acts in front of the little mech she was raising. But, even if she had improved her act, the damage had been done and some things were never fully shed from Radical's processor, leaving him mostly reasonable and calm the overwhelming majority of the time, but there were occasions where his early upbringing showed itself very clearly. It did not help his Creator didn't do much in those matters.
"It won't be when the equipment gets damaged. Radical is your son, when he misbehaves it's on you." The Maker then turned to the red and blue Autobot in search of support. "Optimus, please help me put a stop to this before someone gets hurt."
Before the mech could respond to Solarflare's concerns Doomsday stepped in. "Yeah, the docbot. I'm with my cute sweetspark on this one. Ratchet wanted help but couldn't take criticism from someone younger than him. Radical's a grown mech, he can make his own decisions. Right, Optimus?"
Caught between two driving forces the Prime hesitated in giving a definite answer. He wanted to put a stop to the mess but he'd have to take a side and, while he knew Ratchet from eons fighting alongside him, Radical had also proven to be quite an adept in using Earth technology. The femmes were each headstrong and set on their views, one from raising two offspring almost on her own and the other from belonging to one of the most discriminated against Cybertronian classes, and it looked like they would not be giving any leeway to meet in the middle.
"Go Rad!" Mayhem brought the attentions on herself by cheering her friend on, raising her arms up in the air and a wide smile on her faceplates.
"Mayhem!" The white and green femme chastised her daughter on encouraging Radical's behavior. It was bad enough his Carrier seemed to give him free reign to do whatever he pleased and, although usually it posed no problem, he possessed that distinctive stubborn nature passed down by the Forger that insisted on showing itself from time to time.
"Go Ratchet!" Another shout was heard, this time from Airachnid, who, as usual, was perched up on the walk above. The other Cybertronians looked quizzically at the spider-femme and she shrugged with a not-so-innocent smirk. "What? I'm just evening the field."
Solarflare brought a servo to her faceplates and suppressed a groan. "Am I the only reasonable Maker here?" She questioned herself and noticed Silverbot preparing to speak before swiftly cutting him off with a glare. "Need I remind you of the Harvester incident?"
"Mom! I said I was sorry!" Pointing towards his sister in an attempt to shift his Carrier's ire he continued complaining. "Mayhem was the one who invaded the Nemesis."
"Yeah I was!" The heavy-duty femme cheered but was quick to receive another disapproving stare that got her to add a rushed second part. "And I'm very sorry!"
It was at that moment that Bumblebee beeped excitedly and pointed at the screen, making everyone else follow his gaze to see something they'd never expected to appear on their radar.
"Is that the…" Ratchet let go of the dial and almost took a step back from surprise. "Optimus, you're going to believe this. I've just pinpointed the location of the Decepticon warship."
"WE'VE just pinpointed the location of the Decepticon warship while experimenting with variable wavelengths." The smaller orange and yellow mech corrected the medbot. It might have been on accident but still, he'd been involved in it so, technically, it was a two bot job.
"Their ship must be experiencing some sort of electromagnetic breach, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to penetrate their cloaking technology."
"With Megatron deceased and the element of surprise…" Arcee brought a fist into her open servo, thoughts of crushing the remainder of the Decepticon army once and for all racing though her processor.
"We could cause some serious damage." Bulkhead finished the two-wheeler's sentence.
"Dibs on Screamer!" That got Mayhem an elbow from Silverbot. "Ouch! Aft!" She complained but decided not to push her luck, at least not with her Carrier right there, opting to cross her arms and huff.
Ratchet began tapping on the console, locking onto the Decepticon warship's signal when another popped up not far from where it was passing by. "Also, on the same frequency… an Autobot emergency beacon." The mech was out of words. First they stumbled upon the Nemesis by mistake and now a distress call they'd never picked up on emerged shortly after.
"The Decepticons can wait, there may be Autobots in distress. Ratchet, Solarflare, I will require your assistance." Optimus gestured towards both bots who, in turn, nodded.
"Can I-"
"There will be no zombies on this mission and I also distinctly remember you refusing all my attempts to teach you anything medical-related." Solarflare swiftly cut off Mayhem while moving towards the groundbridge spot.
"Aww."
When the three exited the groundbridge they were greeted with the sight of a pale moonlight-illuminated desert and a long-forgotten vessel that looked like it was capable of transporting numerous occupants.
"A crash landing, buried here for centuries." Said Optimus, disillusioned by the fact they hadn't picked up the distress signal earlier. If there we any survivors how long had they been waiting for rescue?
It was a sight that could instill despair into any spark, the ship looked like it was barely holding together, parts of it torn apart or missing entirely, the haphazard landing and exposure to the elements for millennia having done their share of damages. It was hard to tell what the vessel originally would have looked like originally, making it harder to asses when exactly it had left Cybertron or landed or Earth or even if it was meant for war or evacuating survivors.
"I shouldn't feel this relieved, but it looks like it isn't one of our own. Too big." Solarflare her arms closer to her frame, looking away from the wreckage.
They kept walking along towards the ship and Optimus used his blaster to carve them a way in. Inside it was dark, as expected, so the three made use of their imbedded flashlights to illuminate their trek across the worn-down hallways.
Ratchet looked around but saw no signs of recent activity, just as he'd expected, but did not despair just yet. "If they traveled in stasis mode there may be survivors." He wanted to be hopeful, to think that for just one moment their team wasn't the last on left online by the Decepticon's warmongering.
It was at that moment the metal around them shivered under their combined weight and the bots could only find their balance and remain low and hold onto the walls (or was it the floors at that angle?) until the movement ceased. The structure was indeed old and one wrong step could very likely bring the whole thing down. With both trained medics on the mission the only one left to patch them up would be Doomsday and it had been too long since she'd done any extensive work, so it was bet to go one step at the time and be careful.
The door at the end of the hallway did not open on its own when they approached it, as expected from a vessel that had lost power long ago, so the Autobot leader had to pry it open and, luckily, it wasn't rusted so the job was rather easy. They somewhat expected something to happen as soon as those doors opened but everything remained quiet. The human horror movies Mayhem insisted on watching (and forced Bulkhead to watch) in the main room must have been getting to them.
They continued down the hall but did not get the chance to venture much further before coming across a disturbing sight. Offlined Cybertronians, their faceplates contorted in expressions of horror and long grayed frames leaking energon that spread everywhere. It seemed human horror movies did have their merit after all, only none could compare to what they were seeing.
"Don't." Solarflare spread an arm in front of Optimus to stop him when he attempted to approach the corpses of their fallen brethren. "Ratchet, what are your readings?" She asked the medbot who immediately went to scan the nearest corpse. She had a bad feeling about what had went down.
When the scan was completed Ratchet confirmed his fears. "These Autobots didn't perish in the crash. They're displaying the effects of a virus." If he was to go one step further he might even correctly guess which virus. Too many war stories surrounding it flashed through his processor… too many fallen comrades perished before him.
"This is a plague ship." Optimus didn't know what else to say.
"I knew something was off about this. Better just leave and decontaminate without touching anything, maybe call Agent Fowler and have him burry the ship back up. The last thing we need is-" The femme didn't manage to finish her sentence before the ship began shifting once more.
This time the metal did not just shiver, taking an abrupt dip and bringing the three bots down along with it until they were only stopped by the wall. Fortunately, that would be it for the moment, as long as no sudden movements were made, and they got back up to their pedes immediately after, rattled by the scare they just had.
A loud crash brought three pairs of optics up to the ceiling where a previously unseen corpse dangled from a tangle of wires. The shift in the angle of the hallway caused it to come somewhat loose and one of the wires broke, letting it dangle even lower and, almost imperceptibly, leak a few drops of energon… right onto Optimus Prime's optic.
"Gah!" He yelled, clearly distressed, shaking his helm at the overwhelming burn he was beginning to feel.
"NO!" Both medbots yelled, but they knew it was already too late…
When Ratchet and Solarflare had dragged in a woozy Optimus though a hastily requested groundbridge everyone had gotten out of their way, too confused to make heads or tails of whatever had happened. One minute everything had been just like any other regular day, the other the Autobot leader was being laid down in the medical berth looking like he was ready to meet Primus.
Ratchet scanned Optimus for what might have been the tenth time but the outcome of the diagnosis did not change. The poor bot looked like he was holding onto life by sheer will alone on the medical berth, which might even have been the case. Optics dimming occasionally and a worrying number of graying 'veins' spreading from the infected optic though his faceplates and, if given time, to the rest of his frame.
"Cybonic Plague. It's only infections of contact is made with the energon." He explained to Solarflare who, at that point, had a datapad in hand and pulling up anything pertaining to the disease. "You were lucky enough not to catch it as well, being so close to Optimus at that time it really was short of a miracle."
"What was a plague doing on an Autobot spaceship?" Mayhem felt awkward, unsure on what to do. Her specialty was strength, with a side artistic streak for drawing and painting, the medical field would always remain a mystery to her.
Arcee looked up to the seeker, feeling her apprehension as well. "Its passengers were infected. The virus wiped out millions on Cybertron during the great war."
Many Autobot strongholds had been wiped out in such a way. All it took was for some energon rations to be contaminated and, with constant battles and bleeding, the infection spread through the ranks, sparing no bot. Sometimes there was even the odd infected Decepticon suicide-bomber, charging though their enemies and at the right moment detonating explosive charges and dooming whoever was around them, Autobot or not.
"Cybonic Plague was engineered in the Decepticon's biological warfare program… by Megatron himself." The tone Ratchet took couldn't have been more somber. Only the leader of the Decepticons could have come up with such a devastating weapon that slowly ate away both at the bot's frame and mind.
"You have a cure, don't you?" Asked Radical while gazing down at the ailing Prime. He'd been removed from his usual spot by the controls by Doomsday and place on the walk further up where the elevator was located. He knew there was no chance he'd be infected as longs as he stayed away from any energon but it would be best to comply with his Carrier's worries, he didn't want to cause unnecessary stress during a situation already packed with it.
The Autobot leader let out a raspy breath, most likely requiring all his strength to talk at that point. "No cure." He strained his optics but everything was melding together into a blur that was slowly losing all colors. All his other senses were shutting down and he could fell himself getting weaker by the minute.
"Optimus, please, save your strength." Ratchet couldn't bear to see his friend like that. All those battles and brushes with becoming one with the Allspark just so Optimus could end up dying in a medical berth from a disease of the past.
"Would Megatron create a disease without having a cure? I mean, what if he caught it by accident?" Silverbot chimed in.
"It's not like we can ask Megatron, he's pushing up lugnuts." Bulkhead reminded the triple-changer of the accident that had happened not so long ago.
"Better late than never but even now he manages to frag us over." Doomsday attempted to make light of the situation and looked around for Airachnid since it seemed no one appreciated her attempt.
The spider-femme was partially hidden behind Silverbot, arms crossed and looking down at the floor with an unreadable expression. It dawned on the Forger why she wouldn't want to remain close and yet not distance herself from the events and so the only right thing to do was leave her alone. Not that Doomsday would be able to get Airachnid's attention anyway, she was well in deep though and bursting her little bubble would only bring down a cascade of wrath. Undeserved wrath but painful nonetheless.
Ratchet, who'd also been caught in his thoughts at Silverbot's words suddenly realized something. "In this particular situation we may be able to access the Decepticon database. For the moment we still have a fix on their warship's location." He pointed at the main screen where the Nemesis' signal was still visible.
"Bumblebee come with." Arcee gestured for the scout to follow her before looking back as they walked towards the groundbridge opening site. "Solarflare, you too."
"Me?!"
It was already well past nightfall when the three Cybertronians came through a groundbridge and found themselves in one of the many hallways of the Nemesis. Arcee and Bumblebee jumped in quietly from within the green vortex, their blasters already drawn in defense, while Solarflare cautiously followed them. Just because she'd stood her ground alongside Ratchet and Optimus during the Terrorcon attack it didn't mean she was eager to fight off hordes of Vehicons that could do more than mindlessly claw at her and in their home turf, just top it off.
"Let's start with the lab." Arcee gave the orders and off they went, stealthily sneaking though enemy territory, weapons drawn and hoping for the best.
It didn't take much for the three bots to come to a turn that would take them to the laboratory but as they were turning the corner the door to where they were heading opened and certain red Decepticon with a rather pristine finish walked out. Bumblebee and Solarflare hid back against the hallway they were coming from while Arcee soundlessly jumped up to hide against one of the ceiling's beams, anticipating the need to take out the Decepticon.
Fortunately, Knock Out was otherwise preoccupied to notice the intruders waiting for him to takes his leave. Herr Kommandant was expecting a report on their 'guest' but, as usual, they would be getting more movement from an exact statue replica at that point. Even Breakdown had given up on buffing and polishing and went out to do… well, something that had to do with something something, the medic hadn't really been paying attention as he'd been examining a particularly hard to remove stain in his chassis.
After the near encounter was successfully avoided they let out a breath of relief continued into the Decepticon laboratory uninterrupted. For some reason no Vehicon was posted anywhere around, both inside or outside, and that made them wonder but, with no time to spare, at that moment it was a detail easily overlooked.
The room was just as expected, enormous and barren of any color save for the purple that decked the insides of the ship, with a more than impressive console that was definitely a lot more sophisticated than one built using Earth tech.
Arcee made use of her experience as an intelligence gatherer to log into the network and search for their 'prize'. "I'm in the network but I have no idea how long Knock out will take to come back." She commed Ratchet while Solarflare took up her side to scan for anything that might have been disguised as something else and Bumblebee examined the room for anything else of importance.
On the other side of the line Ratchet was monitoring Optimus' vitals with increasing concern but there was nothing he could do besides watch them steadily drop. Even if they had all the technology on Cybertron at their disposal it wouldn't have mattered, Megatron had outdone himself in his twisted inventiveness with the Cybonic Plague.
"If it's here I don't see it." Arcee made contact again to deliver the bad news.
"Are you certain, Arcee?"
"I've searched every file, nothing."
"Well, search again! Clearly, you missed something." The Autobot medic was getting desperate. It couldn't end like that, not after all those battles, all those who'd fallen just so their team could survive…
"Ratchet, listen to her!" Solarflare intervened with Ratchet. She knew what he was most likely feeling but someone had to keep him attached to reality. "I'm standing right beside Arcee and there's nothing in here remotely resembling to a virus cure."
On one of the corners of the room Bumblebee was looking around when he stopped in front of an unusual door in the sense that it had a sizeable opening on either side. He didn't mind it much, deeming it to be a storage unit, maybe of Vehicon parts for all he knew, but at the first glance he had though his spark froze for a brief moment before it restarted only for him to take a step back. He wanted to convince himself he was seeing things but the longer he stared the harder it was to deny it was real. He looked back with a worried expression called the femmes over, unsure on what to do with his discovery.
"What is it?!" Arcee snapped at the scout, already on edge because of Ratchet. She motion for Solarflare to take her place while she went over to see what was so important.
Solarflare watched Arcee step away and resisted the urge to comfort the two-wheeler, holding herself in place and kept searching through the database, trying to maintain a positive outlook on a gradually worsening situation. However, it didn't take long for it to go from bad to horrible. The Maker heard Arcee gasp and just before she could move from her place and join the other two bots the door they were looking though opened and there, laying in a medical berth front and center, was the hulking frame of Megatron, a multitude of life-support tubes connected to his very much alive frame.
"He's… alive." Solarflare brought a servo to her faceplates and took an involuntary step back on shaky legs before noticing the Decepticon warlord appeared to be in stasis but that did little to calm her racing spark.
"Who's alive?" Asked Ratchet.
"Megatron." Arcee answered without missing a beat.
Back at the base everyone's optics widened in shock. An explosion of that dimension should have wiped out everything in its path, so how was it the mech had managed to survive and find his way into the Nemesis' medbay? Unicron himself should've had something to do with it, at that point it was the most credible theory anyone could come up with.
"That's not possible." Ratchet was the only one who could bring himself to speak among the Cybertronians.
Mayhem and Silver exchanged worried looks, unnoticeably shifting closer together, worrying over the safety of their Carrier. They knew she could face opponents twice or even triple her size given the right weapons but it had been so long since she'd had a proper battle against an opponent who was experienced in the art of fighting.
Doomsday, however, was the one who seemed to be the most incredulous about the information they'd just been given. The Forger's joints looked like they'd stiffened to the point of being painful and her optics showed more than fear, they also carried a huge amount of regret. She kept wondering about the past, about all the things they- that she had done that seemed to inconsequential at the time but the brutal echoes kept drilling into her processor in a painful way. When Airachnid noticed the distress her friend was under she reached out and stood by her, taking her servos and letting the Forger squeeze them until she was sure they would be some slight dents by the time the femme calmed down.
"Well, I'm staring right at him." Arcee's voice came though the console and brough everyone out of their reverie. She confidently approached the slumbering giant and deployed her blaster, aiming directly at the tube connected to his sparkchamber with only one intention in mind. "Good news is Megatron is not exactly staring back. He's critical, hooked up to life support. Time to finish this once and for all." Her blaster began warming up and she was ready to take out their greatest enemy for good.
"Wait, don't!" The Autobot medic's voice rang through the comm link.
"What?!" Every Maker in the base exclaimed, questioning why he'd stop the offlining of a mech who'd only brought them nothing but suffering.
"Don't listen to him!" Airachnid yelled from her spot next to a more grounded Doomsday. "Shoot that scrapheap and end this once and for all!"
"Do it, Arcee!" Silverbot uncharacteristically edged the femme's promise of violence on. "We've waited long enough for that fragger to meet Unicron!"
"Ratchet, please elaborate." Solarflare's calm voice was heard through the console.
"Flare, you know better than anyone of us what a danger he is!" Doomsday couldn't believe her friend would let that- that monster live a moment longer. "Let Arcee do it!"
"Let's just listen to him first. Ratchet, your thoughts?"
"Does he display processor activity?" Ratchet asked while praying his guess was right. If so then they might have just found another way to help Optimus.
Back on the Decepticon ship Solarflare calmly moved from her spot at the medbay console and approached the machinery surrounding Megatron, doing her best to avoid looking at the mech, and took a look at the main screen.
All the Maker did was take a look at a digital chart displayed right beside the 'patient' to confirm Ratchet's hypothesis. "Well… yes. I would say that it's almost as if he's stuck in some sort of lucid dream."
"Perfect! If a cure exists Megatron may be the only one who knows it. You must enter his processor and find it."
"Enter Megatron's processor?! Ratchet are you out of your fragging mind?!" Arcee paced from one side to the other, servos on her hips, and attempting to make sense of her team's doctor request.
"The Decepticon laboratory should contain all the equipment you need for a cortical psychic patch." If someone ever told him he'd one day be utilizing that technology he'd have had them promptly take a mental evaluation before welding their aft to the ceiling for suggesting something so preposterous, and yet… Now it seemed I would be their only hope.
"No way! Have you even performed the procedure?" Arcee feared the answer to that question almost as much as undergoing the procedure itself.
"What is a cortical psychic patch?" Solarflare, having been caught off-guard, inquired. As soon as what she assumed was a modern piece of medical equipment was mentioned the blue femme seemed to behave fearfully of it. What could cause such terror that would cause her so much distress, the Maker wondered.
"It is a procedure through which the mind of one Cybertronian can be joined with another, using a cable connected directly between the two processors. By this means, the victim's memories can be viewed by both parties, allowing information to be extracted." Ratchet explained and heard a gasp from the other side of the line. "I have thoroughly studied the theoretical literature, but that is about it. Invented by Decepticons, outlawed by Autobots."
"Can't we just haul Megatron thought the groundbridge, buy us some time to figure this out?" The two-wheeler almost begged, desperately not wanting to undergo such a risky procedure.
"Time is one thing Optimus does not have! One of you must try this! I will not allow Optimus to pass knowing Megatron will outlive him!" The white and red Autobot bellowed with rage, both at himself and the Decepticon in question. If they'd known Megatron was being held in stasis in the Nemesis he'd have went to perform the procedure in person but anticipating something of that magnitude had been short of impossible.
"Ratchet, I would lay down my life for Optimus, anytime, anywhere, but a mind-body split…"
"I'll do it." Solarflare offered herself up without hesitation. She'd done more nerve-wrecking things in her lifecycle and it wasn't as if she'd be facing him in a physical level.
"NO!" Airachnid and Doomsday ran over to the console and shouted, fear ringing loud and clear on both sides.
"Mom, don't do it!" Silverbot's optics threatened to begin leaking. His Creator shouldn't have to lay down her life for anyone, much less for an Autobot, to the Pit with it if he was Optimus fragging Prime, she'd risked enough already to protect so many throughout her existence.
"Please, listen to Silver. I'm supposed to be the crazy one, not you!" Mayhem swore she'd never felt this much fear. To her it would be easier to face hordes of Cons than to witness her Carrier face him.
On the Nemesis, Bumblebee caught onto that something was off if every Maker was opposed to Solarflare doing it herself so he spoke up and volunteered to go in her place.
"Sorry, but I was more familiar than I'd like to admit with him during the pre-war times." That would be an understatement like saying the Council was only a little corrupt but still… she had to do it and face her fears. "I would have never brought this up but there are some things I haven't told anyone for a very good reason. If there's a cure somewhere in there I know I'll be able to find it."
The scout pointed at himself once again but then to her as well. She'd need some backup in there, weather she liked it or not they were on the same team and teammates looked after each other. He then commed Ratchet and asked him if it was possible to do something very dangerous.
"Both of you?" Ratchet racked his processor for an answer. "I mean… theoretically it could be possible."
"Then let's put it to the test, shall we?" The white and green seeker nodded towards the yellow scout with and gave him a nervous smile.
Back at the base everyone remained quiet. Solarflare was indeed stubborn and accomplished in her own rights, she was capable of so much and to deny her would be moral suicide. There would be no way to convince her to change her mind, be it either by appealing to her rational or emotional side, so all the Makers could do was brace themselves and hope for the best.
"Solarflare and Bumblebee are going in at the same time?" Radical wondered out loud. "I hope they'll both be ok."
"Bee's the best scout there is." Bulkhead reassured the sparkling with a smile. He knew everything would be alright, he was sure of it.
Doomsday reached up and scooped up her little mech in her arms, hugging him before pulling back. "And you know how Flare is with protecting others, they'll be back in no time."
"Yeah, but… who will protect them in there?" That was the one questions no one could answer the seekerlet.
While the Autobots and Makers braced themselves for a bigger invasion than they'd anticipated a certain someone was losing his patience over the fact their privacy was very much at risk of being breached (and unknowing it already had).
"Why has the electromagnetic shielding not been repaired?" If in Starscream's place had been Megatron there would be a lot more Vehicon offlined frames littering the Nemesis' bridge and a few holes in the walls, curtesy of a fusion cannon.
"The crews are working as fast as they can Lord S-" The Vehicon was quickly backhanded and lowered his helm.
"We are leaking a trail! All the Autobots need do to pinpoint our position is to access the right frequency wavelength." The seeker leaned over another Vehicon and clenched his servos least he made use of his pointed digits to relieve some of his anger. "Accelerate your efforts!"
"Yes, Lord Starscream."
The three Vehicons hurried out of the control bridge as fast as possible. Even if Starscream didn't possess Megatron's strength they shared the same impatience when it came to all the faceless drones that made up the majority of the Decepticons' cannon fodder.
Just as one nuisance disappeared another showed up, this time in the shape of a vain red medic with a passion for buffing and vivisection. The main door opened and Knock Out strutted in, something he felt at ease doing since the big M was put in a balance between reality and pushing up lugnuts.
"Doctor in the house." He announced with an air of smugness, his perfect frame freshly polished. Not that anyone in that primus forsaken ship could appreciate it.
Starscream repressed the urge to claw at his helm but did clench his dentas to hold in a snarl. Regaining an air of calm he turned around to greet the resident medic with what he hoped came across as indifference. "Ah, Knock Out, and how is the patient doing today?"
"Same old."
"An inglorious fate that he should remain in this vegetative state."
"On the contraire." Knock Out attempted to correct the replacement Lord's assumptions with a smug air about himself. "Megatron's frame may be scrap metal but his mind is still percolating."
"Keep that to yourself!" Said Starscream in a hurried hushed tone, optics narrowed and shifting from one side to the other. "That blasted Soundwave sees and hears everything."
"The optics and audios of the Decepticons." Now the red mech could see where the conversation was heading. He'd always known the seeker aimed for the top, no questions about it, but to doom their ex-leader to such a fate… honestly, it was no surprise at all at that point.
"Well, as long as their master remains in limbo so does their cause. The Decepticons deserve a strong and alert leader."
"One who would require a loyal second in command."
"A candidate would need to earn that post by making a strong case to said optics and audios." A sinister smile made its way onto Starscream's faceplates and his red optics shone with ambition. Every bot had their price, after all.
"A case for showing mercy, Lord Starscream?" The seeker wasn't the only one who knew how to kiss aft but did thoroughly enjoyed being on the end of it, Knock Out had no doubts about it. It was about time he got an increase in title as well…
"You scratch my back, I scratch yours."
Solarflare helped Arcee procure the materials from around the laboratory and assisted with the construction of the cortical psychic patch, a three-way version capable of transferring two minds into another… theoretically. Now, all they needed to do was establish the connection.
Arcee plugged in the exit side of the cabling to the underside of the medical berth the warlord was resting on and carefully stepped back into a vent to the side not too far, where Bumblebee and Solarflare were already sitting down and leaning against the wall, preparing themselves for what might happen when the patch was activated.
"Ratchet, we're ready." Arcee commed though to the Autobot medic.
"Initiate simultaneous cortical psychic patch." The mech gave the order, knowing their only hope lied beyond the physical realm.
The blue two-wheeler braced herself, let her cooling fans calm down, and plugged in the double-ended ended part of the cable into both bot's helms at the same time and turned, causing them to slump over, their optics dimming down to a dull grey.
Bumblebee and Solarflare had expected to feel some sort of disconnection, a startling jump to their processors, anything that would have indicated they were no longer inhabiting their frames but none of those things happened. They remembered having been sitting down in a hidden vent and the next click they were standing on an extensive bridge over a pit of flaming molten metal, claw-like structures protruding from the sides that seemed to serve no other purpose than intimidation. It was as if they'd been standing there all that time.
Nodding to each other they began walking forward, looking around the frightening set they'd been greeted with. Charred black dilapidated walls surrounded the river of fire and a moon attempted to peek over equally dark clouds, giving the impression someone had made an extra effort just to make the whole set intimidate whoever dare to venture through it.
At the Omega One Outpost nobody could take their optics off the main screen that showed the imaginary landscape.
"The communications downlink is activated through Bumblebee. This will allow us to see and hear everything Bumblebee, and by extension Solarflare, do in Megatron's mind." Ratchet explain to the perplexed Cybertronians.
"Whoa. I recognize that place… I think." Silverbot knew somewhere in his processor he had seen that place before, only in a somewhat different state.
A few beeps came though the console's comm link and confirmed the triple-changer's suspicions.
"Kaon? The Decepticons actually took it their capital back on Cybertron?" The sparkling was surprised at the state it was in, though he was uncertain he'd ever even see a picture of it. "Your Sire fought there but I doubt it used to look like that back in his days."
"Huh, guess the big bad Con must have done some remodeling after getting it." Mayhem had let go of some of her apprehension when the images took her by surprise. Her Carried had never shown her what Kaon looked like or let her as much as see a gladiator in person, let alone even taken her there, no matter how much pleading was involved.
Doomsday snorted and crossed her arms, unimpressed at the changes, and attempted to hide her unease. "You're telling me. Flare and I used to make a few trips there when Victory was in bad shape and it barely looks the same. He actually managed to make a place where it looked all hope went and gave up even worse."
"Ratch, Optimus' vitals." Bulkhead drew everyone out of their memory lane trip to the pressing matter that was the Autobot leader's survival.
Airachnid, drawn by the wrecker's statement, stared at the mech laying on the medical berth. She still remembered how her spark had been broken when she'd been abandoned so far from home, clinging to a thread of hope that they'd come back for her. All that anger and resentment she refused to let go of after all this time somehow suddenly became meaningless and, for the first time in eons, she felt lost once more. Wasn't that she'd always wanted, to see the last Prime in the line go down?
"I know." He knew it better than anyone else. Ratchet then turned back to the screen and focused once more on the mission at hand. "Quickly, you two must figure out where information may be held in Megatron's mind. Solarflare, since you are the most familiar with the surrounding environment where should we look first?"
The Maker and Autobot scout were ascending a rather intimidating flight of stairs, the heat that should be expected from the molten river never making itself known. To her it was as if she'd been thrown into a demented version of the past. She still remembered so vividly watching Victory turn back and wave at her, giving her a big smile even though his next battle could always be his last… Just like that time when she'd finally caved in and brought Silverbot along to see his Sire fight, only to- no matter! The past was the past.
"If I remember correctly this is one of the ways into the main arena. We could start there and then…" As they reached the top of the staircase an unexpected vie greeted them. Even more unexpected than the Decepticon makeover of Kaon. "Is that…?"
The two bots stopped in their tracks at the sight of the Autobot Leader facing away from them, staring at something far up ahead. Bumblebee's optics widened and he ran up to the familiar tall mech.
"Wait!" Solarflare reached forward but was unable to grasp the scout, remaining behind in her confusion.
"Bumblebee, that is not Optimus, but a figment of Megatron's mind, it cannot see or hear you." Ratchet's voice came though the comm link, warning them not to get distracted by someone that could not be the just like they were.
A deep menacing laughter echoed though the arena, a very familiar tone to the invading bots. Megatron stood atop a ledge sporting a throne, looking as if he'd never encountered the spacebridge explosion, confidently displaying himself out in the open with no army to back him up. "Optimus Prime, your Autobot armies are defeated, bow before your new master."
Illusion Optimus drew his blade and narrowed his optics, ready to battle his foe. "Never, Megatron. One shall stand and one shall fall."
Bumblebee, realizing his frame was hidden behind the illusion's, cautiously stepped away to hide behind a pile of rubble, joining an already hiding Solarflare who'd taken her first chance to shelter herself from the sight of Megatron. They exchanged looks of apprehension. It wasn't in their plans to face the warlord himself, just to go in, search though some memories, find the cure, and get out faster than a scraplet went through a meal.
"So be it." Megatron drew his weapon as well, jumped from the ledge with a resounding landing and ran up to his opponent, blade poised to deliver a fatal strike.
The two enemies let out battle cries in their run but, just as they were at their closest, their blades never met, Megatron swiftly running his weapon through Optimus' chestplates, making the long-hated mech disappear in a cloud of blue smoke.
Bumblebee shivered at of his leader be defeated so easily while Solarflare closer her optics with a pained expression.
The femme put a servo on her teammate's shoulder, attempting to comfort him with the most motherly tone she could muster. "Remember, it's all an illusion."
Back at the base everyone was taken back by what they'd just seen, unsure on what to make of it. It was clear Optimus had never lost in a fight to Megatron, given that he was right there, even if ailing from Cybonic Plague.
"That never happened." Bulkhead could only point out the very obvious and turned to their best expert on the matter. "Ratchet, what's going on in there?"
"It's not a memory, we're seeing Kaon as Megatron recreated it in his darkest dreams." The medbot explain to everyone why they'd just witnessed the Prime fall to the blade of Megatron. If it turned out the place where the Decepticon was hiding the information they needed was with himself then their mission had turned hopeless once more.
Mayhem subtly leaned against Silverbot and looked up to meet his gaze. It wasn't often she felt this helpless. "Mom's gonna come back, won't she?"
The triple-changer had always strived to be honest with his sister. No matter how much of an annoying, aggravating, worrisome never-still prankster she was she would always be the little sister who looked up to him and smiled every time. "Of course she will, she knows what she's doing." He didn't voice 'I hope', both because he didn't want to worry her or admit to himself it could have been the last time they'd see their Carrier.
Things weren't looking too good on the two interlopers' end as far as anyone could see and they were about to get even more difficult. Part of the rock Bumblebee and Solarflare were hiding against began to shift and another Optimus came forth, taking shape and readying to fight, and making the femme have to turn around to face the scout and press her wings down in order for them not to be spotted. Between a rock and a hard place, indeed.
"Megatron, your treachery ends here." The new illusion warned and prepared to strike.
Megatron merely retracted his blade, aimed his fusion canon and fired, letting the second incarnation of his enemy dissolve in a cloud of smoke as well.
Solarflare had barely managed to restrain Bumblebee, keeping him from jumping in the path of the blast.
"For Solus' sake, be still!" She whispered. "I know how painful it must be but remember this is not real, none of it is." It was then the seeker realized something and released the now calmer Autobot scout. She placed a servo on his door wing to get him to look at her. "I know what we have to do… What I have to do. Stay in place no matter what you see or hear." She commanded in a tone that demanded total obedience, one she hadn't used in a long time. "Ratchet, everyone, I'm going to do something no one else more than me is going to hate and I swear to Solus herself if anyone dares to mention what's going to happen at any point in the future…" She trailed off into her comm before hanging up. There could be no distractions during what she was about to pull.
"No!" Silverbot shouted on the other side of the line, but his plea went unanswered. "Please don't do what I think you're about to do."
"He's right, there's got to be another way, don't do anything you'll regret!" Doomsday knew it was pointless but still attempted to communicate with her friend.
"What exactly is going on here?" Ratchet turned to the Makers. He knew it had something to do with what Solarflare had revealed to him and Optimus after they'd faced the Terrorcon army but even then the information felt incomplete, like she'd deliberately omitted some finer details.
"Solarflare is about to do something extremely dangerous." Airachnid approached the medbot and, for once, there was no trace of humor in her faceplates or any attempts at getting a reaction from him. "And she would appreciate if you lot could keep your intake holes shut, which you will." She looked between the two Autobots present and knew Arcee was likely listening in from her side.
"I still don't get it, what's she gonna do?" Bulkhead looked at Mayhem but all he saw was an apprehensive seeker leaning against her brother for comfort, the exact opposite of what he'd known her to be.
"Just keep your optics open and your intake hole shut." Airachnid nodded to what was happening on the screen.
Solarflare was looking over Bumblebee straight at Megatron and, when he turned his back she knew it was time to act. The femme carefully stepped out of her hiding spot and took a few steps forward to look like as if she'd appeared out of thin air. Placing on a mask of indifference she willed her cooling fans to remain calm before speaking up. "Did you know I never liked Kaon? I could never understand how some bots could spend their whole lives here and not go crazy."
Megatron stiffed in place and slowly turned around to face the femme whose voice he still kept in his memory banks. Even after the time that had went by he would always remember that sound. He raced to touch her but as soon as his servo attempted to brush her faceplates it went right though. He gasped. "What?" He attempted to repeat the action, only for it to fail again, and he backed away to take a good look at the femme he once held in his arms. "How…? No phase displacement armor, your optics track my movements and you cannot be-"
"Couldn't I?"
"No! I do not believe in spirits, there has to be an explanation!"
"I would say you're finally going crazy but, unfortunately, when we met you already were. It just took me a while to realize it."
At the base the Makers felt themselves relax at the revelation that there couldn't be any physical contact between the Decepticon leader and Solarflare. They caught onto what she seemed to be attempting to do, trick him into giving her the cure, but a wrong word would be all it took for her to either fail or reveal something she shouldn't.
Radical, who had been clinging to his Carrier's 'dreads' (and unknowingly pulling on them, but Doomsday had remained silent), at the realization that Solarflare was saver than he thought eased up. "Megatron can't touch her?"
"Because Solarflare is not a creation of Megatron's mind. So, any of you care to explain what is happening?" The medbot hated to remain in the dark, especially when Optimus' spark was on the line and it involved Solarflare's mysterious past with the warlord.
"Go frag yourself, you heard the ladybot, no mentions of this ever again." Doomsday snapped at the mech before anyone could understand what had happened.
Ever since The Forger detoxed from the high-grade her prediction had become true, swearing becoming an occasional occurrence, usually away from Radical's audio receptors, but for her to swear at Ratchet while holding her son it was a surprise. When she realized what she'd done, however, instead of regretting it, stood by her claim and huffed, refusing to meet the white and red mech's gaze.
Airachnid snorted at her friend's outburst and held up her servos while taking a symbolic step back and shaking her helm. "I like you, but not that much, sweetspark."
Ratchet looked at Silver and Mayhem but they kept quiet and refused to say anything. Just his luck, even the blabbermouth heavy-duty seeker had went quiet. His last hope was Radical but all it took was to make optic contact with the sparkling for the small mech to also shake his helm in denial.
"You heard mom, go something yourself." Radical shrugged.
Since it seemed no one would be answering his question all the medbot could do was sigh and draw his gaze back to the screen. Makers were indeed renowned for keeping secrets within their community, refusing to share anything with any outsiders and, as an Autobot, he was one. To them information was a form of secondary currency, shared among all but to be traded with for the right price with the right bot, hence why they appeared to have some sort of weight in the Council's rulings, no matter how much the bots liked to deny any and all connections to the Makers.
In the dream world conjured by Megatron the things still seemed to be going Solarflare's way, with the mech believing her explanation she was a spirit. Solarflare knew her plan was rushed and she'd have to improvise as it went along, trying to steer the conversation and getting him into a position where he'd have to at least show her the cure. She was about to speak up once more when a bump in the road appeared from nowhere and she somehow knew it was the end to her farce.
"Megatron." Another Optimus showed up, this time accompanied by Bumblebee and Bulkhead, all three of them illusions conjured up by the twisted mind of the Decepticon warlord.
Megatron's optics widened. "YOU!" He bellowed let out a cry, aiming his fusion canon and shooting with accurate precision 3 times, aiming for the sparks.
The three illusions disappeared as soon as the shots made contact, just like the previous two, but not before the real Bumblebee jumped out from his hiding place to stand in between the Illusion of Optimus Prime and the supposedly fatal shot, only to remain completely unharmed while the blast went through him harmlessly. The scout, only then having realized what he'd done, turned around to face the rage-filled Decepticon and the surprised Maker, a look of alarm in his optics.
"Oh, scrap." Whispered Solarflare, knowing their cover had been blown along with her plan.
"What?!" Megatron was very confused but, as usual, his confusion soon turned into unadulterated rage. "The Autobot scout? But I just watched you perish!" He approached the yellow mech and attempted to stab him multiple times, only for his blade to phase right though his enemy's frame. The Decepticon stared the Autobot down and a though came to his mind. "You…" He turned to the femme and chuckled darkly. "You two are real, they were not. I have to say, quite a daring plan, my darling. If the bumbling fool hadn't attempted to save an illusion I would have been none the wiser. Using a cortical psychic patch is rather a devious plan, how unexpected."
Ratchet almost swore the warlord could see though the screen they were staring at but that would be impossible, it was mostly the dread he was feeling in his spark struggling not to go into overdrive. "We've stirred Megatron from his oblivion, he's becoming self-aware."
"Get her out of there!" Silverbot rushed to the console, shoving the medbot to the side with unexpected aggressiveness. "Arcee, disconnect mom right now!"
"No!" Ratchet attempted to shove himself into place in front of the console but was not match to the triple-changer's size. "Arcee, do not listen to him! We cannot do that or else we'll risk losing this opportunity."
"Well, I don't care!"
"Silver, you might want to calm down." Doomsday was becoming rather afraid something could go down between the two mechs and had a good bet on who would end up losing.
"No!" Silverbot faced the Forger with worry written all over his faceplates, the anxious state unconsciously bringing up some violence along with it. "She has to get out of there or else-"
Mayhem punched her brother right in the abdominal plating with all the strength she could muster, causing him to double over in pain and then, without giving him time to recover, hit him square in the faceplates, sending him flying against a wall. The triple-changer groaned and slid down the surface, slumping over into stasis.
"That should knock him out long enough." Mayhem behaved as if what she'd just done was nothing out of the ordinary and rotated her shoulder pads and gestured for Ratchet to take back his position. "Go on, docbot, when he comes out of stasis mom better not be inside the Decepticreep's mind anymore." She then noticed everyone staring at her but she settled for shrugging it off. "Anyone who wanted to see that show go on longer raise your servo." Nobody moved. "Well, no need to thank me, then."
Arcee glanced between both unconscious bots. "Come on… what are you two doing in there?" Having heard Silverbot shout had almost made her jump in her spot and having her blaster readily deployed wouldn't have helped at all. Now, she was becoming increasingly impatient and fearful for what might be happening inside Megatron's mind if Silverbot had commed her to disconnect Solarflare.
The door opened and three distinct sets of footsteps were heard coming though. Peeking from a corner of the vent she saw the three Decepticons she wanted to see the least in that situation.
"Knock Out, if you were to be so kind as to provide your expert medical opinion to Soundwave, for the historical record." Starscream walked ahead of the other two mechs, a strut in his step that was almost undetectable if one wasn't familiar with him.
Said medbot in question stepped forward and gestured towards the screen displaying their leader's vitals. "Simply put, unaided, Megatron could remain in this deathless slumber forever."
"Our master would not have wanted to be seen this way, to stand idly by while he remains captive in his own body is not just."
Soundwave raised a winged arm and pointed at the spiking curves that showed the mech was yet to be offline and was well within his own mind.
"Processor activity, not evidence of consciousness but of an endless dream from which Megatron may never wake." It wasn't entirely true but there really was a lack of a good SIC around the Nemesis… one who possessed great beauty and a perfect finish.
"Soundwave, we must face reality. Megatron is lost to us." The seeker made a flourished motion with his arm and clenched his servo, attempting to seem distraught.
"The only honorable option would be to show him mercy."
"A simple throw of the switch."
"Quick, painless, compassionate." Knock Out gestured to the lever that, if pulled down, would snuff out Megatron's spark for good.
Inside the vent Arcee knelt down and willed herself not to panic. This was bad, the kind of bad that could get two of their teammates offlined.
"Ratchet, are you hearing this?" The two-wheeler commed the base, unsure on what to do. She couldn't very well climb up and start shooting, not with three on one and two of theirs down for the count for the moment.
"If Megatron perishes Bumblebee and Solarflare's minds will separate from their frames… forever."
"So, we'll lose one two bots at best and three at worst?" Doomsday had set Radical back down on the platform up above but she wished she hadn't, needing to hug something to calm herself. The Forger couldn't allow Solarflare to perish alongside that piece of scrap metal.
"They'll find a way out before it happens, I'm sure they can do it." Bulkhead put a servo on the femme's shoulder. "Like I said, Bee's the best scout there is, and I bet Solarflare can hold her ground pretty well.
"Yeah... I sure hope so."
"If this is my subconscious… WHAT ARE YOU DOING INSIDE MY PROCESSOR?" Megatron roared right in Bumblebee's faceplates before stepping back and looking around. "What happened to me?" HE stared into scared blue optics and the color brought back some rather… painful memories.
An explosion.
The spacebridge collapsing around him.
His Terrorcon army from Cybertron was in his grasp.
Just a little more…
Nothingness.
"The spacebridge explosion. And yet, if you're in my mind I am not one with the Allspark." Something of that caliber should have torn him apart, even with the dark energon flowing though his frame, and yet why hadn't he… Of course, it was so obvious. The armor. He then turned to Solarflare and his smile was a cross between what could have resembled want and disbelief. "And neither are you. Trying to trick me, but what for?"
The white and green femme let out a sigh and turned her helm away from those toxic red optics. She went around the tall mech, ignoring the servo that extended in front of her and that she passed right though (she still remembered how it felt, back then) and remained next to the yellow scout. "I told you to stay hidden. Now, let's forget the theatrics and go straight to the point." She still refused to look Megatron in the optics, even as she began speaking with him. "We're here because we need a cure to something you created. Cybonic Plague, to be precise."
"Cybonic Plague? Someone besides myself is… is unwell?" The tyrant took a moment to think before it dawned upon him who the likely victim was, if the scout's attempted sacrifice was anything to go by. "Optimus! Such irony, that after ages of endless battle, the mighty Optimus Prime is felled by a simple virus from a distant past. Why would I save the life of my oldest enemy? For you, Flare, I would have reshaped Cybertron itself but now this…"
Solarflare finally made optic contact and it took all her will for her not to flinch at the sight of those cold, empty orbs. "What do you want?"
Bumblebee beeped worriedly but a white and green arm spread in front of him, willing the Autobot to quiet himself. He had no idea what Megatron had meant by reshaping Cybertron just for her but it sounded rather… intimate for his tastes.
"Well, we can't exactly go through with plans A or B anymore, can we? In my experience you either blackmail or bribe in these situations and the first option isn't viable here."
The Autobot though for a moment then began explaining something. If Optimus was to be deceased shortly it didn't matter how many illusions Megatron ended, the real one would forever be out of his grasp. They could leave him there to fight to his spark's content but, at the end of it all, everything that happened would forever be a dream.
"After our deep history together to not watch the spark ebb from Optimus' optics with my very own… well played, scout." Megatron opened his palm to show an image of two 3D cubes containing lines of code and offered it to the yellow Autobot. "The chemical formula for the cure you seek. Not that I expect you to know how to read it." Bumblebee reached for it but the grey servo closed just as he was about to grab it. "Not yet. And how am I to accomplish terminating Optimus as you propose while I am here trapped in a perpetual daydream? Once you released me from this prison you will have the cure." It should have been it, all his demands laid out, but then he remembered who else was there besides the scout. "And she shall remain by my side upon my awakening."
"What?!"
At the base everyone else was as shocked as Solarflare, except for Ratchet, who spotted his opportunity and isolated that single frame that could save it all, those recurring annoying questions about the Maker's past could wait a while longer. They finally had it.
The three Decepticons remained still in front of their stasis Lord, two of them waiting for the third to agree to their consensus and put a stop to Megatron's spark and sending him on a one-way trip to the Allspark.
"Soundwave, do I take your silence to mean you concur with Knock Out's medical expertise?" Starscream knew there would be no chance the ever silent mech would voice out anything. He turned to Knock Out, who shrugged and remained silent as well. "Speak now, or forever hold your peace." He reached for one of the tubes connected to Megatron's frame and got a firm grasp on it. "Going… Going…"
Arcee steadied her blaster and aimed straight at the seeker's spark. In case he made a move she'd have no choice but to engage her enemies, no matter how much the odds were stacked against her.
Soundwave pointed to the floor before Starscream could commit the final deed and offline their leader. A cable, different from every other in the room, ran from the underside of the medical berth towards a nearby ground-level vent. That made the soon-to-be only Decepticon Lord pause in his actions and let go of the tube.
Starscream went to examine the strange new addition to the life-support array and knelt to see under the medical berth. The cable looked awfully familiar, but he could not pinpoint to what exactly, and he followed the trail with his optics, leading him down into the vent.
Arcee pressed herself against the wall before she could be spotted and her processor raced to decide what to do. "Scrap. Come on, come on…" She begged under her breath for the two unconscious bots to wake up.
"Arcee, we have the formula! Disconnect Bumblebee and Solarflare now!" Ratchet's voice came though the comm link.
Arcee wasted no time and grabbed both cables, yanking them out of the helms of both bots, wondering if she'd used more force than necessary but her spark was racing almost out of its chamber at that point. They were finally (almost) safe and that was all that mattered.
Inside the dream, Kaon began collapsing, a violent storm sweeping everything up and taking it away amidst a thunderstorm. The once opulent arena came apart, towers blowing up, the molten fires from the river mixing in with the sweeping winds, creating massive explosions and demolishing everything in its path.
Megatron could only watch as the empire he'd conjured up came apart like a mere house of cards and realized he'd been played for a fool. "You were watching! You ticked me!" He accused the two bots with an acidic tone.
Bumblebee and Solarflare began dissolving along with the staged illusion, aware they'd be returning to their frames and leaving the tyrant behind. Good riddance to him, they thought, he'd be crushed by his own desire to gloat and underestimate those who he considered not be on par with his intellect.
"No! Take me with you!" The warlord ran up to them but the two bots merely disappeared between his digits. He wasn't about to perish, not when he knew she was still out there and that his forever enemy's spark would continue to exist. "TAKE ME!"
The warlord's screams echoed as he was swept up in the storm until his form was no more, vanished out of the realm of illusion.
…But to where?
"Hurry…" Arcee shook the two by the shoulders and turned around with her blaster ready just as Starscream knelt over to inspect where the mystery cable leaded to.
The Autobot scout and the Maker came to just at the right moment and, seeing Arcee with her weapon out, got to their pedes and did the same. From the looks of it they weren't out of harm's way just yet.
"What in-?!" All Starscream had time to see were the three intruders backing up into an opening groundbridge, weapons deployed and ready to defend themselves during their escape. "Intruders!" The seeker aimed his weapon at them but everything else happened too fast for him to even shoot.
Solarflare was the first to turn tail and run away, her spark racing and her optics maybe leaking just a little. The encounter had rattled too many old emotions inside her. Bumblebee followed her suit, walking backwards with his blasters deployed but never got the chance to shoot. That honor belonged to someone else.
"Allow me." Arcee's shot went by Starscream and hit Megatron's main support cable, the one hooked to his sparkchamber. The two wheeler jumped back and the green vortex disappeared but het her smirk did not.
The Decepticons were left only with the sound of a flatline… Well, two of them had gained something else.
Starscream smirked but soon managed to get a worried expression to take its place. He sighed and resumed his downcast theatrics about their 'illustrious' leader's demise. "It was the inevitable outcome." The seeker, however, did not get to remain on his high pedestal for long before Soundwave got in his faceplates and pointed to their still salvageable master. He groaned but complied, least he be accused of treachery and gestured to the CMO. "Of course it would be wrong to allow Megatron to perish by an Autobot's servo. Knock Out."
Said medic only shrugged and waved a servo uninterestedly. The red Aston Martin walked over to the cable that had been disconnected and hooked it back up to its place and the beeping soon resumed.
They'd have to wait a little more, it seemed.
A few hours after the cure had been administrated the illness 'veins' that had propagated throughout the Prime's body had finally disappeared and he'd been given the clear to, at last, get up from the medbay.
"That's it. Steady." The medbot helped Optimus back onto his, albeit shaky, pedes. All that worry, all that effort, it had paid off in the end and his friend was still online.
Everyone cheered and clapped for the now cured Autobot leader, the heavy atmosphere finally lifting away and letting them ease up at last.
"Please, reserve the hero's welcome for my physician." Optimus gestured to Ratchet. "And my scout, along with Solarflare."
Radical jumped onto Bumblebee's arms and hugged him. "I knew you could do it, Bee! You're amazing!"
The yellow mech could only act embarrassed about it, even if he himself could acknowledge what he'd went through to keep his leader from perishing. He should have felt proud but it felt like he was missing an important part.
Airachnid and Doomsday hugged Solarflare, who would have blushed if she was able to, and put their arms around her neck, laughing away the pent-up stress they'd accumulated throughout the whole ordeal. It had been difficult but the two managed to convince Bumblebee, Ratchet and Bulkhead not to mention any of the interactions between Solarflare and Megatron while in the dreamscape. She deserved to let her past be buried along with the warlord and, even if they attempted to bring it up, no amount of coercing would get a word out of any of the Makers.
"Boss-bot is back, yeah!" Mayhem threw her arms ups and gave a thumbs up to the blue and red mech.
Silverbot leaned down with a mischievous smile. "You know, there's still the matter of you knocking me out." He wasn't upset, he'd have done something he's come to regret if not for his sister immobilizing him, even if it was with a rather unusual method. Well, unusual for anyone else but her. She really owned up to her punch-happy nature, that right hook had hurt like the Pit.
"Well, by the time mom got here you were up and no one said anything about it, so who's to say it actually happened?" The heavy-duty femme smirked back.
"I really should have told on you."
"Then I would have yelled out that you-"
"Annnd I remember nothing. Really how would you feel if I said the same about you?"
"You could yell it over everyone's comm link and I wouldn't care." She winked at her older brother. "Just because I like to live fast doesn't mean I can't enjoy a slow ride. Also, unrelated not here, I found my guitar I know you hid. Lost in the move, yeah right…"
Starscream walked into the medbay, servos clasped behind his back. "And how is the patient doing today?" He really hoped closer to Unicron… That blasted Soundwave always ruined everything.
"Funny you should ask." Knock Out really had no idea what to make of the readings he was getting on the life support. "Not sure what the Autobots did in there but Megatron's registering zero processor activity."
"Mmm. Meaning?" Well, now that was promising.
"Physically he's stable but now there's… no one home."
AN: Soooo... is this chapter worth a review? Tell me what you think :D