AN: I took too long to come out with this one but I had a hard time getting in the mood to write because, to me, this episode is kind of boring... yeah, the zombie chase episode is boring, go figure. I almost had this as just one chapter but then I noticed it was going rather well and I don't want another long chapter after these last two... Because I am writing another mega chapter for Solarflare's past! That's right, from sparklinghood to to having Silverbot and Mayhem I promise it will have all but there is no release date for it as of yet.
The Nemesis medbay hadn't seen that much use from high-ranking bots since the height of the war for Cybertron. Vehicons were the norm as far as coming and going in and out of the (torture) room but the main medical berth where Megatron once laid entranced in an almost perpetual dream now was used by the badly damaged SIC.
Starscream twitched in pain. Every joint ached, his paintjob was more than scratched and dented, along with the badly bruised ego that had been pounded down along with his frame. He couldn't even properly rest though the pain and humiliation he felt deep seated in his mind, his marred psyche unable to settle down after the beat-down at the servos of his superior. The physical scratches didn't compare to the mental ones, the words thrown at him with every punch, every kick, permanently engraved like a ghost whisper in his audios, constantly reminding him that he would always be a failure in the optics of the rightful leader of the Decepticons.
Heavy footsteps approached the mistreated seeker, who opened his optics wide, barely holding in the urge to flinch in fear. His greatest nightmare was all too real and every fiber of his being cowered before the large mech before him.
"Resting comfortably, Starscream?" The question was a rhetoric one, with Megatron clearly enjoying the sight of the one who'd come very close to snuffing out his spark for good. Twice. Yes, Soundwave had informed him of the SIC's attempt at removing the life-support machinery that enabled him to survive despite the lack of dark energon. "Despite the extent of your injuries my medical staff assures me that you shall make a rapid recovery." But with life-long scars to remind the seeker of who belonged where in the command chain.
"Hopefully as rapid as your wrath is swift." Starscream barely managed to hold himself upright and coughed, his chassis sore and clearly still heavily damaged from a rather powerful stomp to where his spark laid beneath.
Megatron laughed, seeing someone who'd attempted to usurp his rightful spot brought down and reduced to a pitiful sight of pleading had improved his mood after such a long period of stasis. "And how swiftly things change. To think that but a short time ago it was you that was standing here while I was lying there, right after your failed attempt to terminate me. But know this, Starscream, our positions shall never again be reversed." The warlord began walking away, not even looking back at the mech lying on the medical berth. He was not worth anything as far as he was concerned. Weak and frail, undeserving of the greatness of acknowledgement by the great Decepticon Lord.
Starscream watched as Megatron exited the room and snarled just as the bigger mech was out of sight. He swore vengeance upon the one who'd done this to him and ripped away the life-support equipment in anger. The war was not over yet. He would not be defeated, not when he'd held onto his spark for so long and he would not offline without realizing his purpose of becoming the greatest Decepticon leader and ruler of Cybertron.
The seeker got up on shaky pedes (almost too unstable to even walk) and slowly limped to the door and out of the medbay, passing Knock Out who was busy reading information on a datapad outside the medbay.
While usually uncaring about the drones that, after a fight with the Autobots or the targets of a very angry Megatron, had the misfortune of gracing his medbay, the medic could not in his right mind let this one slide. "Starscream, have you lost your senses? You haven't fully recuperated."
"I feel fine, Knock Out, never better, you're an incredible physician, now step out of the way!" The SIC hurriedly barked at the medbot and pushed him away with a mixture of exasperation and anger.
Starscream continued limping down the hallways of the Nemesis while ignoring his pressing injuries, each step accompanied by a stab of pain. He had to do something to begin anew his pursuit of his title as Lord Starscream, commander of all Decepticons and most powerful mech in all the universe.
He took a look around to see if anyone had followed him and, when he was sure no stray Vehicons were roaming about, he reached down to pick up the dark energon shard from its hiding place. The same shard he'd removed from Megatron's sparkchamber during the first attempt on his life among the spacebridge's debris.
"Dark energon might have replenished your strength, master, but how could you forget that you never reclaimed your original shard." He mused aloud. "Once the blood of Unicron flows through my veins our positions shall be reversed."
"She shoots and she scores!" Mayhem cheered for herself upon winning the online PVP match of the shooter game. "This femme is on fire and no one can stop her!"
"I can." Radical warned from his lower standing point at the pedes of the seeker, clearly unamused by her antics. "It's my turn now."
"My team is going for another round so it's still my turn." She retorted smugly and took her seat again in front of the screen.
"Come on, you've been hogging the console since Saturday."
"Just this one more and I swear I'm done."
"Liar." Silverbot nonchalantly called as he entered the room.
"You stay out of this!"
While the younger generation debated the fairness of sharing the main source of their amusement the others gathered around the main screen where a dot appeared to be moving through the Nevada desert at a relative high speed.
"I had hoped that my growing expertise on the subject would remain purely academic but, though faint, this is clearly a dark energon signature and it's moving fast." Ratchet commented with Optimus as they observed the target they'd locked onto.
"Megatron." The Autobot leader noted grimly.
The Decepticon leader had just got back into action and was already orchestrating a plan revolving around Unicron's lifeblood. Optimus knew they'd have to deal with the warlord sooner or later but this was definitely too soon. It seemed the time Megatron had spent locked inside his own mind must have been used to contemplate plans to destroy anyone that stood in his energon-stained path.
"Where did he find more of the bad stuff?" Arcee wondered how such a rare substance managed to keep reappearing on that little planet on the edge of the galaxy.
"And what's he gonna do with it, recruit a new army of the undead?" Bulkhead uttered the big question on everyone's mind.
"Zombiecons?" At the mention of one of her obsessions, Mayhem turned around to look hopefully at the older bots. "Please, oh please, can I go with you?"
"No!" Solarflare quickly shut down the avenue of conversation.
"But mom…"
The white and green femme made a shushing motion and the heavy-duty seeker ceased her pleading instantly. "I said no and you'll be glad I won't lock you in your quarters."
Mayhem crossed her arms in a huff. This wasn't over, at least not yet. She had a backup plan.
"We cannot rule out that possibility, Bulkhead, especially since Megatron seems to be heading to a familiar site. He has barely emerged from stasis and it seems he's already making up for lost time. Bulkhead, Bumblebee, Ratchet, Doomsday, prepare to roll out." Optimus wanted to take Silverbot along but he had the inkling Solarflare would not let that happen.
"Me?" Ratchet was genuinely surprised. If they were going to be fighting the number one Decepticon how could he be of assistance?
"If we are dealing with dark energon I may well require your expertise. Solarflare will remain here as a backup medic and to make sure Mayhem doesn't get into trouble."
"Scrap." Mayhem whispered. Well, at least plan B could still be in motion if her accomplice was up to it.
"If I'm going what about-" Doomsday looked around and, not finding the familiar face she was searching for she let out a defeated sigh. "Airachnid… Figures, whenever you need her she disappears." Lifting a servo to her comm she attempted to reach her would-be partner. "Hey, where are you? Hello? Any scary spider femmes on the line?" When no response came though the Forger resigned herself and huffed in frustration. "Nothing. Great, I'm fighting solo and possibly against the big bad Con himself. Hurray for me."
"You've still got me, I could go." Silverbot offered up.
"You are also not going." Solarflare would not be letting her son go against Megatron if she had any say in it. Not now or ever, for that matter.
"Yeah… no offense, but call me when you're about my size and really flexible with enough fighting experience to back it up, sweetspark." The orange femme headed to join the rest of the deployed team by the groundbridge site.
"Well, offense slightly taken."
"Arcee…" Optimus turned to the resident two-wheeler.
"Bridge operator, got it." She nodded to the Autobot leader and headed to her post at the control panel.
"Go get them, Bulkhead, bring the hurt." Mayhem uninterestedly encouraged her friend while going back to the console. Plan B could be going into motion any time now…
"She's up to something." Silverbot whispered mostly to himself and sat down next to his sister. If she was going to make another break for it he'd at least be close enough to tackle her.
Arcee logged in the coordinates where their target had stopped and turned on the groundbridge. The Autobot team transformed into their alt-modes and took off into the green vortex while Doomsday ran up behind them and jumped, landing right on top of Optimus. She'd never much liked running while the others drove at a clearly higher speed.
Just as the team exited the base Mayhem put down the controller and placed herself in the line of sight of her Carrier, servos on her hips and a noticeable frown on her faceplates. "Happy?"
Solarflare crossed her arms and looked up at her daughter. "Very."
No one noticed the missing bot when the bridge closed.
Starscream landed on a familiar site. A place where his reign began to collapse, with the refusal of the previously slumbering Decepticon warrior and along with the discovery that Megatron had survived the explosion. Everything seemed so obvious now but back then he'd been careless, so sure of his leadership skills that he'd failed to look out for the obvious. Oh, how he wished to go back and undo the reckless mistakes that now pained him greatly.
"Ah, the gravesite of the mighty Skyquake. So quick to reject my authority while you lived." The Decepticon SIC took out his dark energon shard and contemplated his plan one final time. Yes, he would yet reign supreme over that miserable planet and every lifeform on it, Cybertronian included. "But, as the first of my reanimated warriors you shall bow to my command."
Taking the blood of Unicron in his servos, Starscream broke it into two and immediately a dark mist began enveloping the now two shards. Tossing one of the halves into a space between the rocks that marked the gravesite he then took the other and pierced his spark with it, letting the noxious power corrupt him just as it had done for Megatron.
"Yes… Power of dark energon, be mine!" It was intoxicating, the greatness he could achieve with this newfound abilities to control the undead would give him access to an infinite supply of warriors devoted to their only master. "Symbiosis! I can feel it! Rise, Skyquake, rise!"
Just as the rush was subsiding a groundbridge opened up behind him but Starscream was too busy imagining what he could accomplish with the power of the dark energon as his disposal.
The Autobots and the Maker came through and were very surprised to see the familiar seeker dabbling in the same toxic substance as his master and they were so busy with their amazement that they failed to notice they had an extra member coming along just behind them.
Radical exited the green vortex a good way behind the team with quick but silent movements. He made sure their footsteps muffled his own as he strategically hid behind a small mound of rocks big enough to hide him and took out a holopad. Mayhem had promised that, if there ever was a zombie mission she wasn't allowed on, all he had to do was sneak in on it and take a few pictures and she'd stop hogging the console for an entire month. A big risk for such a small reward but sometimes the reason why he did anything evaded him. Maybe he was just into the whole thrill of the danger or he'd picked up the disregard for his life from his Carrier. Either way, he was already there and couldn't turn back now.
"Starscream! Stand down!" Optimus warned as he deployed his blaster.
Megatron may have been more dangerous but he knew what he dealt with when it came to dark energon, while Starscream could be rather erratic and unpredictable when being dealt with. If there was one for backstabbing and double-crossing the mech in front of the team was at the very top of the chain.
"Autobots! You stand down!" The Decepticon aimed his missile and fired at the uninvited guests to the resurrection of is first follower, making them take cover being nearby boulders. "You cannot harm me while dark energon flows through my veins!" He took aim once more and prepared to fire the other projectile but Optimus beat him to it and blew his arm off with one shot. "Gah! My arm!" He yelled out and quickly ran to pick up his dismembered limb, taking cover as well. Why was he not invulnerable?!
"You clipped his wing, he's grounded." Bulkhead nodded to his leader and deployed his blaster, abandoning his cover to try and capture the enemy.
"You heard the mech, let's go!" Doomsday took out her whip and followed. She'd never been that good of a shot, preferring to get close to her opponents in order to take them down.
The remaining three Autobots had no choice but to follow, their weapons ready to face up against the dark energon user. He may have been grounded but he could still cause serious damage if they got caught with their guard down.
"Come on, come on, rise already!" Starscream yelled at the tomb, but, with the opposing team closing in on him he had no choice but to abandon the site. Let his underling deal with them if he ever chose to come back to life. "This is commander Starscream requesting emergency groundbridge to my coordinates."
With all the commotion going on Radical attempted to peak from behind his hiding place but tripped on a rock and fell let out a yelp as he fell to his knees. "Gah!" When he got back up and looked ahead he saw the others looking at him with flabbergasted faceplates. "Erm… hi, mom?" He awkwardly laughed off his presence as if it was not big deal. He was so caught red-handed.
"Rad? What in Solus' name are you doing here?!" Doomsday splayed out her arms and gestured towards her son.
"Arcee, send a groundbridge immediately. It seems young Radical decided to come along." Optimus was quick to request an emergency exit to the stowaway on their mission.
The requested groundbridge opened up on the same place as the last one but, at the same time, another one popped up near Starscream, confusing all the bots present at the site. Well, that clearly couldn't be good.
"Two?" Ratchet knew that theoretically two groundbridges could clash with each other and generate an event of sort but he had no idea exactly what. It would be best for the small mech to go away as fast as possible. "You, into our groundbridge, now!"
"Scrap." Radical swore but obeyed, none the less, and went into the swirling green vortex. He had no photos and would likely be punished by Solarflare.
Starscream had wasted no time and ran to his way back to safety, immediately jumping in at top speed, not even taking the time to notice why his opponents seemed so distracted.
The exact moment the sparkling had disappeared into his way back to base the two vortex's began interacting and noticeable began gathering up energy. The tensions rose as the powers solidified and merged in the air between the groundbridges, akin to a quiet before the coming storm, ready to take out everything in its way.
"Ratchet, what is happening?" Optimus had never seen such an event occur and could not act without understanding what was happening.
Ratchet was very afraid. Not only did he not have "The dueling groundbridge portals must be feeding back on each other!"
"My Radical!" Doomsday shouted in panic and took off in a run, attempting to rescue her son from being affected by whatever was happening.
"We gotta get the kid out of there!" Bulkhead went alongside the Forger.
The two ran to the vortex where the small mech had disappeared into and were about to jump in before a blast knocked them onto their backs and a following explosion blasted them away along with the others.
As the dust settled the Autobots and the Maker slowly regained their footing and got back up along with a certain someone who had disappeared on his way to the base.
"Owww, my processor is killing me…" Radical clutched his helm and attempted to shake off the dizziness affect him. He'd been heading back to the base when a sudden explosion knocked him back into the Nevada desert.
"Wha- what just happened?" Bulkhead helped Doomsday stand back up and took a look around to see what kind of destruction the blast had caused.
"I can't be certain, but if two groundbridges sent to the same coordinates crossed streams the feedback could have triggered a system overload." Explained Ratchet.
"But Radical made it through right?" The Forger couldn't see her son anywhere and hoped he'd made it home safe.
"No, I'm right here!" The small mech yelled out and waved his arms as he got closer to his Carrier. Couldn't they see him?
"Arcee, did Radical made it back safely to base?" Optimus commed the team Prime member he'd left in charge of the groundbridge.
"Negative, you don't see him?" Arcee had been worried when the portal had suddenly crashed and no one had come through but she'd figured the sparkling to have remained behind.
"No…" Doomsday was looking around from one side to the other but there was no sign of her sweetspark anywhere. Where was he…?
"Hello?! I'm here!" Yelled the sparkling as he attempted to calm himself. "Doesn't anyone see me?!"
"My precious ray of sunshine couldn't be…" She ran to the place where the portal had disappeared to take a closer look. He had to be around there, somewhere for sure.
"Wait!" Radical braced himself for impact but his Carrier never made contact, phasing right through him. Noticing he hadn't been knocked back he opened his optics in surprise and looked at his servos. "What the… Am I offline…? No, there's got be another explanation, ghosts don't exist."
The Forger brought her hands to her faceplates and attempted to calm down, repressing the urge to cry, even though her frame had begun to shake. Now was the time to be calm and think rationally, panicking wouldn't do her any good or her son.
Optimus went up to the femme and put a comforting servo on her shoulder. He looked behind to the others closing in on them and tried to think of an explanation to where the young Radical had been transported if not to the base. "Ratchet, could he have been transported onto the Nemesis instead?"
"Not likely." The medbot shook his helm. "If Starscream didn't arrive at our base the most likely explanation is a dislocation. He may have been transported to an unintended destination."
Suddenly here was light and Radical realized what must have happened. "A dimensional dislocation… I'm both here and not at the same time. I must have landed in an alternate reality, a shadowzone of sorts." Taking a good look around the colors did seem to be muted quite a bit and although the wind was blowing he couldn't feel it.
"So my son is somewhere out there in a random place on Earth? Hello, sweetspark? Can you hear me?" Doomsday attempted to reach the young mech but only heard static through the comm link. "Nothing… Not good, not good at all. We have to find him before humans do. Or worse."
Optimus shifted his optics to a hole where the previous deceased Decepticon was laid to rest. "Look, Skyquake's tomb is empty." He pointed out to the others.
"How did we miss Skyquake rising and shining?" Bulkhead knew the Decepticon was bigger than him, so a silent retreat was a doubtful option, especially for a Terrorcon.
"It would seem Starscream got what he came for." Ratchet feared the damage it could cause if let loose in a human-inhabited area.
"Another matter for another time, right now our priority is locating Radical. Arcee, bridge us back to base." The Autobot leader vowed he would not rest until they'd found the sparkling.
A groundbridge opened up once more and the team began walking towards it, their optics shifting from one side to the other, if not for the small change the mech they were looking for was still around.
It was then that Radical saw a giant Terrorcon emerge from behind a pile of rocks, scaring him enough to make his spark pulse at top speed. So, that was what an undead Cybertronian looked like… very scary and intimidating. The beast was roaring, akin to a predator, and heading towards the group.
"Watch out!" Radical yelled and stood back, unwilling to take his chances against such a creature. None showed signs of acknowledging the danger looming behind them. "Bulkhead, right behind you!"
The strike went right though the wrecker, rippling like a water droplet.
The small mech let out a sigh of relief. "Thank Solus, he can't touch them. This is definitely some sort of dimensional displacement." It was then that Radical noticed that the hulking figure had lost interest in the untouchable adults and had turned towards him, letting out another roar as he approached.
Oh scrap. Not good. Really, really not good at all.
Radical let out a scream and began running away, not interested on knowing if the undead Skyquake could interact with him due to also having been dimensionally dislocated. He wasn't a ghost but if he didn't escape he'd be soon enough. His smaller legs couldn't carry him as fast as a regular-sized Cybertronian and he knew he couldn't run forever, but he could try to hide until he figured out a way to return to his actual dimension.
As soon as the team had stepped back into the base Doomsday let out a desperate sob and Solarflare immediately went to comfort her old friend. It took a few minutes but the Forger managed to calm herself down to stop the crying, deciding to be strong and help out in the search for her son. They would bring him back. They had to.
Meanwhile the others had gathered around the main console and debated ways to explain what had happened. Radical couldn't have just disappeared into thin air but no one had ever witnessed two portals interacting with each other and making a bot vanish without a trace. Solarflare and Doomsday finally joined in on the conversation but so far there had been no consensus on what had went down in the desert.
"Ratchet, if Radical was misdirected to an unintended location is there any way to get a fix on his coordinates?" Optimus questioned the medbot.
"If he was lost he would've commed in by now." Doomsday wiped a stray tear from her optic. "If not me, then another of us." She gestured to Mayhem and Silverbot.
"Have you tried calling him?" Solarflare suggested to her friend.
"Yes, no luck there. I heard nothing but static. If he'd been transported to the Nemesis there wouldn't be anything, but static implies he's somewhere else that has a communications scrambler and not an inhibitor like the warship."
"Like an army base?" Silverbot wondered. It would be hard to explain to the government how one of their own had ended up at a human-inhabited base… that was if anyone would even bother to listen to them and not just yell.
"We'd have an Angry Fowler calling us by now if that'd happened." Mayhem shook her helm.
The heavy-duty seeker was trying her best not to appear too guilty-looking. Her Carrier and brother could sniff her out in an instant and Doomsday, in her current state, would be angry enough to leave a few dents. After that she even doubted anyone besides Optimus would help her getting the pieces back together. It was best to wait until everything was solved and they had Radical back with them when she finally admitted to what she'd done.
"That may be true but we can't even be sure he's even in the United States." Ratchet gestured to the global positioning map showing on the main screen.
"My poor sweetspark is out there all alone and I can't do anything about it…" The Forger let her helm rest on Solarflare's shoulder. She wouldn't start crying again… She couldn't start crying again…
"We'll find him." With a comforting gesture the white and green seeker attempted to soothe her friend. Solos knew she'd be in that exact state if it had happened to one of her own.
"Find who?" Airachnid questioned aloud. Everyone stared at newly-arrived femme and she looked around the room to try and get a red of what was happening. "What? Did I miss something?"
AN: What do you all think so far? Good? Terrible? Suggestions and comments are always welcome :)