Disclaimer:Transformers belongs to Hasbro, Takara, etc . The only thing in this that belongs to me is Arcee's sister.
Bulkhead and Miko were watching a recording of a monster truck rally that she took him to the previous week on a tv as she sat on the catwalk's couch in front of the tv and he sat behind the catwalk.
"Hoo yeah!" Miko cheered.
"Ohhh…," Bulkhead moaned as he face palmed at the sight of the monster truck crushing cars.
"Munched!" Miko declared.
"Give it up for the baddest beast machines on the planet!" The announcer on the tv said.
"Would you mind lowering the volume?" Ratchet pleaded as he turned away from the cybertronian computer system.
"Hey, Ratch, Check out the Monster-Truck Rally Miko took me to last week," Bulkhead suggested.
"I compiled some highlights on my cellphone," Miko said holding her phone up excitedly.
"Innocent vehicles battling for the pleasure of human spectators? Blood sport!" Ratchet visibly shuddered before walking back to his computers.
"Yeah!" Miko and Bulkhead both exclaimed excitedly.
"You could be helping Optimus in the field right now," Ratchet remarked.
"Aw, he doesn't need my help to search for some ancient educational thingamabob," Bulkhead scoffed.
"The 'thingamabob' to which you refer happens to be a Cybertronian Data Cylinder," Ratchet corrected.
At a press of a button, the Monster Track Rally Miko and Bulkhead were watching disappeared from the screen. Instead, the diagram of the data cylinder they desired filled the television set before them, earning protests from a rather disappointed duo. But Ratchet ignored their protests.
"And there is no telling what vast intelligence it may hold. During the Golden Age, dozens of these cylinders were created, each containing the sum total of Cybertronian knowledge on any given subject. Stellar cartography, Medicine, Ancient mythology. When the war broke out, the cylinders were hidden throughout the galaxies to keep them as far as possible from Decepticon reach. Detecting one signal here, on Earth, is the opportunity of a-," Ratchet was explaining, only to be interrupted by Miko's groaning.
"T.M.I. Dude!" Miko goaned telling the medic that it was too much information for her to handle and didn't want to know.
"Switch it back! I want to see the hoedown showdown!" Bulkhead begged.
"Ratchet, Decepticon ambush. The cylinder is at risk. We require backup," Optimus said on the Comlink as he contacted his friend.
"Backup is what I'm built for," Bulkhead told Miko as he stood and pounded his two fists together.
"Go bend some fenders, Bulk," Miko said as Bulkhead went through the ground bridge which Ratchet just activated.
"I have an important mission for you, too, Miko," Ratchet smirked at Miko.
"Really?" She squealed excitedly… until Ratchet handed her a mop, "Awww…"
Miko glanced between the mop and a distracted Ratchet before smirking to herself. Perfect time to fall back into old habits, she thinks to herself. Because the last time she did this was when Bulkhead and Arcee were chasing after a polarity gauntlet and she only snuck along so she could get away from Jack's mother.
With a thud, the mop fell to the ground and Miko disappeared in a flash of light.
Another Ground Bridge portal appeared at the place the signature was emitted. The place was familiar. Close to where they found the immobilizer. In fact, it was just a hill away from where Arcee was badly injured by Starscream. When Miko stepped out, she had to shield herself from flying metal debris. Before her, she saw every Autobot fighting a Decepticon.
Optimus was fighting Knockout, Arcee and Chromette were fighting Breakdown together, while Bumblebee and Bulkhead were both fighting Vehicons. That was when Miko discovered that she had teleported herself right in the middle of the action between the two cybertronians. Another hint that caused her to realize this is having the Vehicon Bulkhead was pounding stumble backwards and begin to fall…on top of her.
Miko got over her frozen shock and ran out of the way of the falling Vehicon. Bulkhead didn't notice Miko running away from the falling Vehicon in fear. He was too focused on the fight he was involved him. The force of the Vehicon hitting the ground knocked Miko off of her feet and threw her to the ground behind a rock. Which was convenient, since it gave her somewhere to hide while she watched the fight.
First, she saw Bumblebee still fighting the Vehicon that was attacking him. Miko couldn't help but gasp in amazement at the sight of Optimus and Knockout fighting before her. Optimus grabbed Knockout by the throat and punched him hard in the face, sending a screaming Knockout hurtling to the ground near where Arcee and Chromette were taking on Breakdown.
"Autobots,stand your ground. The artifact must not fall into enemy hands," Optimus said as he went to fight a Vehicon.
"We know! You've already told us this about a thousand times!" Chromette said as she evaded Breakdown's hammer and kicked him in the back, knocking him out, "Sis, go for the cylinder!"
"Got it, Chrome!" Arcee said, she began running towards the data cylinder they were fighting over but before they had a chance to reach it, Knockout tackled her roughly. She landed on the ground unconscious, angering Chromette who just happened to watch the whole thing. Knockout climbed off her and peeled away in his alternate mode.
"Come to Papa!" Knockout said as he transformed and ran towards the data cylinder only to be knocked away by Bulkhead.
"Run to Mommy!" Bulkhead remarked only to be attacked from behind by Breakdown, who regained consciousness.
"Say Uncle! Say it!" Breakdown challenged as he held Bulkhead in the air by his head.
Taking her chance, while everyone was distracted, Miko made the run for it. She slid across the ground as she stopped and landed against the cylinder panting. Miko knew that she had to get the cylinder back to the base and away from the Decepticons. She took her phone out and dialed the autobot base, "Ratchet, come in!"
"Miko?" Ratchet guessed in surprise as he turned away from his computers, "This is an emergency channel! We need to keep it open for the Auto-! Wait! Where are you?"
"D'oy! I'm with the thingamabob!" Miko answered in frustration.
"The thingama…," Ratchet trailed off as he realized what she was talking about, "The data cylinder!"
"Yes! Can you bridge it out of here?" Miko asked.
"I'll reactivate arrival coordinates!"
Within seconds, Miko heard the familiar sound of a portal opening up. She peaked over the cylinder and saw the portal waiting for her and the cylinder. However, she knew that it was too far away for her to push the cylinder through. And this object just happened to be too heavy!
"Dude! Can you open it any closer?" Miko whined.
"Supply coordinates."
"Uh…50 yards?" Miko guessed.
"Precise Coordinates."
Miko knew that she wasn't going to get anywhere with Ratchet and the bridge. How was she going to supply him coordinates if she didn't know them? Well…she'll just have to make do. Especially with the cylinder getting shot at. She moved back from the cylinder a bit and laid both hands with palms flat on the design. After setting herself up in the right position, she began to push. However, the cylinder refused to budge from its current position. So she decided to try another idea. She ran back and came running at it.
"One…two…," Miko counted to herself before jumping up and kicking it hard.
Again, it didn't work. It still refused to budge as Miko fell onto her back. However, the familiar sound of a machine slowly coming to life could be heard. The beacon glowed a bright red and the multiple flaps spread out around it. Miko couldn't help but gasp in amazement at the sight. The sight was so amazing, it caught everyone's attention.
"Miko?" Bulkhead exclaimed in surprise as he finally noticed her presence, "No!"
Immediately, Bulkhead ran towards Miko and the data cylinder. During his voyage, Breakdown hit Bulkhead from behind and knocked him to the ground. In front of the cylinder. As soon as he gazed up at it, a bright red beam shot at him. Bulkhead found himself feeling a bit dizzy as the beam hit him on the forehead. He groaned as he felt like his head was being filled up with something unknown to him.
"Bulk!" Miko gasped as she ran towards him.
"You really took one for the team, Bulkhead. My team," Knockout remarked as he grabbed the cylinder.
A Ground Bridge appeared behind him and with Breakdown, Knockout ran into it. The Vehicons who survived the fight took flight and retreated as the portal disappeared. Optimus, Arcee and Bumblebee immediately ran over to their Autobot friend.
"Bulkhead, are you?" Optimus began asking.
"Fine," Bulkhead answered, "It didn't even smart."
"I helped lose that thing. I want to help find it. I need to get back in the field with Optimus," Bulkhead protested as Ratchet was treating him from a cybertronian computer in front of the wrecker, who was sitting down and went to stand up, ratchet noticed this and stopped him.
"Eh, eh, you're under my watch now. Optimus' orders. And running a full scan of your neural net would be a wiser use of your time," Ratchet told him.
"Come on, Doc. There's nothing up there to scan," Bulkhead said, as he removes the cables connected to his head.
"He seems fine to me," Miko said.
Ratchet sighs, opening his hand to give him a mop,"Well, if you insist on making yourself useful, you can help Miko tidy up."
"He's mad with power!" Miko groaned as Bulkhead took the mop from Ratchet.
"That's Ratchet," Bulkhead laughed, "No vector squared, all right."
"What?!" Miko asked with confusion.
"Hey, we got any paint around here?" Bulkhead suddenly asked as he glanced at the mop.
"Art project? Cool!" Miko said excitedly.
Aboard the Nemesis, however, Megatron is not a happy Decepticon commander. He specifically sent Knockout, Breakdown and a handful of Vehicons to retrieve the data cylinder full of knowledge from the Ancients of Cybertron. Instead, they bring back the data cylinder…empty of the knowledge it contained. How could what should have been a very simple task ended up being poorly executed and having so many things go wrong?
"What do you mean its empty?" Megatron demanded in anger.
"Lord Megatron, these cylinders are not unlike batteries. The data stored within them has a form of energy. It's scanned fully charged. That's how we located it to begin with. But now…," Knockout trailed off as he activated the data cylinder…only to have it fizzle and smoke to poof from the top.
"Dead battery," Breakdown surmised.
"Did you drop it, you one-eyed oaf?" Megatron immediately began accusing Breakdown.
"No, master! I wasn't going to touch it after it put the zap on Bulkhead!" Breakdown defended.
"Hey. You think…," Knockout said before leaving the sentence hanging in the air.
"I know. And I must find out what that vessel contained. When it comes to the Secrets of the Ancients, knowledge can be power," Megatron remarked.
"Seriously, Ratch, you need to see what Bulk's painting in here," Miko said as she approached the Autobot medic.
"Yes, I'm sure one hasn't truly lived until one has beheld Bulkhead's take on still life with lug nuts," Ratchet said sarcastically as he followed her
"See? Did I tell you or what?" She asked him.
"The differential of one-third 'R' cubed is RDRR," Bulkhead mumbled as he painted weird Cybertronian symbols.
"That is not art. It's science," Ratchet corrected her in amazement before explaining the situation to Optimus and the others, as a diagram of Bulkhead's Brain module was shown to them on a monitor, "This hot spot you see here is information. Data. Living energy."
"Hold on. It's alive, it's on fire, and it's in Bulkhead's brain?" Miko cried.
"Chill, Miko. The data's only inhabiting a fraction of my brain, infinitesimal by standard neural-net densities," Bulkhead rambled before realizing what he said, "Wait. How do I know all that?"
"Based on what we witnessed during our skirmish, the living data must have been programmed to eject when it sensed unauthorized access," Optimus surmised.
"A security measure," Ratchet realized.
"It would have jettisoned heavenward. Lost to the stars," Optimus sighed gravely.
"Except my far engine block got in the way," Bulkhead remarked.
"Every 'Con there made a grab for it, but the cylinder doesn't go off until Miko touches it?" Arcee recalled with confusion.
"Arcee's right," Chromette said agreeing with her sister, "What's up with that?"
"The cylinders originated from Cybertron's golden age, predating the Autobot/Decepticon division," Ratchet explained.
"So it wouldn't consider any native of Cybertron to be a threat," Optimus surmised.
"Only alien life forms, such as humans," Ratchet nodded, earning buzzing from Bumblebee.
"Are staring at Genius or Gibberish?" Arcee asked.
"I do not wish to falsely rally anyone's hopes, but these equations appear to be the formula for a synthetic energon," Ratchet said, earning cheers from Bumblebee.
"We hit the mother lode?" Arcee asked with disbelief.
"It appears so, sis," Chromette said.
"Miko, do you understand what this means?" Bulkhead asked Miko happily, "Energon provides our fuel, our ammo, our life force. With the natural stuff in short supply here on Earth, this could solve a whole lot of problems."
"Such as providing us with the edge we need to turn the tide of this war," Optimus offered.
"Or handing us the key to revitalizing Cybertron," Ratchet added.
"We got the goods, and all Megatron got was an empty bucket," Arcee said.
"Who knew that the Decepticons would wind up with a dead battery someday?" Chromette joked.
"How often do I get to use my noggin to save the day?" Bulkhead asked rhetorically.
Moments later, Bulkhead continued to paint the equations for the Synthetic Energon formula on any blackboard-like object his teammates could find. Aloud, he continued to mutter the equations as he continued to paint them out. Whenever he was finished, Arcee, Chromette and Bumblebee would bring the board to Ratchet so he could load the equations and eventually complete the formula. Optimus supervised Ratchet as he slowly completed the formula and regularly scanned Bulkhead's neural net to carefully watch the data inside.
"Aren't you done yet?!" Miko whined.
"Got to admit, it's weird seeing Bulk in brainiac mode," Arcee remarked, earning buzzes from Bumblebee in return.
"You're right, sis, it is weird," Chromette said, "I'd expect this more from Perceptor than Bulkhead of all people."
When Bulkhead finished painting another part of the equation on the metal board, Arcee came along and dragged it away, revealing another metal board.
"Break time! How about a lightning round of TNT Street Racer 7?" Miko asked Bulkhead happily.
"…Energon temperature and volume," Bulkhead resumed his mumbling, earning a moan of disappointment from Miko.
"Got another round for you to load, Ratchet!" Arcee called as she, Chromette and Bumblebee carried the blackboard over.
Ratchet was showing a diagram of Bulkhead's brain module to Optimus, as Arcee, Chromette and Bumblebee came in with the equations from the blackboard, "This is Bulkhead's neural net as you saw it earlier. This scan was recorded just minutes ago. It is as I feared. The data seems to be actively and aggressively rewriting Bulkhead's neural net. I had hoped he was purging the data. But he merely seems to be transcribing it as it-."
"Consumes his mind," Optimus finished Ratchet's sentence gravely.
"From all indications, by the time Bulkhead completes the formula, his own thoughts, his memories could be wiped clean," Ratchet announced.
"But if we stop him, goodbye, Synthetic Energon," Arcee said as she and Chromette approached them.
"So it's like a trade off, if we allow him to continue, we'll get Synthetic Energon, but lose him in the process and if we stop him, we won't lose him but we'll be unable to create the energon?" Chromette asked him.
"The two of you assume that we possess a means of stopping him," Ratchet said. "I don't exactly have instant access to the Wisdom of the Ancients."
"I will not allow another one of our own to be sacrificed," Optimus said, "No matter the cost."
"If the data had transmitted itself from the cylinder. Perhaps we can somehow coax it back inside," Ratchet pondered aloud.
"How are we supposed to get it back from the Decepticons?" Arcee asked.
"Megatron will bring it to us," Optimus answered.
"How are we supposed to do that?" Chromette asked.
"Coefficient quotient of the subset amplified," Bulkhead said as he continued to paint out the equations of the Synthetic Energon formula. He couldn't bring himself to stop painting the equations. He didn't even know if he wanted to stop himself from completing the formula that would save their life. Without even realizing it, Bulkhead was losing his thoughts and memories. Actually, Bulkhead was losing everything that made him…well, Bulkhead.
"You want amplified?" Miko asked as she plugged her guitar into her amp.
Proving preceptor paradox is nothing of the kind," Bulkhead mumbled as he continued to paint.
Deciding that enough was enough, she settled the guitar strap on her shoulder and strummed one loud, powerful chord. It was enough to distract Bulkhead. However, Bulkhead's response to the guitar chord was not a positive one. Rather than jamming along with Miko as she played, he visibly cringed. Yes. Cringed. He dropped his paint-covered mop and cried out as he covered the equivalent of his ears.
"What is that?!" Bulkhead demanded harshly.
"Metal," she answered, "You love this song."
"I'm trying to concentrate!" Bulkhead retorted.
"You're starting to sound just like Ratchet!" Miko groaned in frustration.
"Who?" Bulkhead asked before he could stop himself.
Miko's eyes widened in shock. He should know who Ratchet is. After all, the two have known each other for a long time. Even if it wasn't under the best circumstances. The two have been through so much together. And how could he just forget everything in one day? Unless…
Miko walked over to Ratchet on the catwalk, "Ratch, I think Bulk's losing his mind," she said before realizing something, "You...already know."
"Miko, we didn't want to frighten you," Ratchet explained, "But rest assured, Optimus has a plan."
"Optimus isn't Bulkhead's Doctor. I just need to know, when Bulk's down spitting out that formula, he'll go back to being regular old bulkhead, right?" Miko asked nervously.
Ratchet's silence served as the only answer to her question. She knew what it was. And she didn't like it. When Bulkhead finishes that formula…he wouldn't be Bulkhead anymore.
But rather a distant memory.
Meanwhile back on the Nemesis, Knockout approaches Megatron in the bridge, with Breakdown, "Lord Megatron, we've detected a familiar energy profile."
"The data?" Megatron immediately guessed.
"Bulkhead must have left the shielded radius of their base," Knockout guesses, "Breakdown and I will-"
"Fail me again?" Megatron finished angrily.
As Optimus, Bumblebee, Arcee and Chromette waited outside for Megatron to arrive after following the false signal he had sent out, Optimus could only pray that his plan that he had formed would work. Optimus knew his plan wasn't completely foolproof. But he kept reassuring himself that the plan was genius and pointed out to her that this could possibly be the only chance they have to obtain the cylinder. If they didn't, they would lose the Bulkhead they know forever.
Optimus was going to be the negotiator, they soon heard and looked up and saw seven jets approaching,one was leading the other six jets and the one that was leading them looked cybertronian in origin and they knew it was Megatron.
Megatron transformed and landed on the ground not far from the Autobots. The Vehicons he had elected to bring along with him followed suite. And the Vehicons aimed their blasters at the autobots ready to fire. The Decepticons didn't trust the Autobots as far as they could throw them and vice versa. So they decided to not take any chances.
"Optimus," Megatron said, not expecting to see the prime at this location, "you're certainly not the Autobot I expected to find here. But let me guess. You rigged a transponder to mimic the frequency of the data I seek."
"Megatron, I have a proposal," Optimus said, walking forward a bit.
"I'm...listening," Megatron said.
"Surrender the cylinder, and I will return it to you fully restored," Optimus promised.
"This trinket right here?" Megatron with a smirk as he held up the data cylinder for her to see, "And, pray tell, what trifles did it hold that you are so anxious to give away?"
"Accept my terms, and you will find out," Optimus answered.
"I will consider it, but may I ask you something? Is Starscream still in your custody?"
"Unfortunately, not Megatron," Optimus said, "He managed to anger Arcee, they fought and he escaped from our custody."
"I see, so Starscream has gone rogue," Megatron realized.
"Do you remember the time you watched Wheeljack lob his only grenade into the Decepticon heat exchanger?" Miko asked Bulkhead, fearing that she already knew the answer.
"Who?" was the only response she received from the occupied Autobot.
"Wheeljack! Your best bud?! Besides me of course," She answered, showing him a picture she took of him and Wheeljack after they got his ship repaired but she earned no response, "Oh, do you even know who I am?"
"Of course. You're…" he trailed off.
Just like that, the hope that Miko once held in her heart vanished into nothing. She should have saw this coming, now she fully understood Bulkhead's situation. But the thought of Bulkhead completely forgetting about her had cut her deep. The pain she felt was familiar to someone ripping her heart from her chest. Only…the pain hurt even more than anything like that.
"Equivalent to the flattening of the oblate spheroid to the nth power. Internal Energy of Isolated 'E' remains constant," Bulkhead mumbles as he paints more of the equations on the blackboards.
"Keep them coming, Bulkhead," Ratchet encouraged as he took the board.
She looked at him then at the Ground Bridge, before going to a computer, typed in a certain location into the ground bridge with the computer, activated the Ground Bridge.
She took the She took away the paint-soaked mop from his grasp and with the mop in hand, she walked over to the active Ground Bridge portal. Just as she stepped into the tunnel, she stopped and turned around to face Bulkhead who was looking around anxiously for his mop.
"Come on. You want to finish your formula, don't you?" She asked him.
"Do you accept my proposal?" Optimus asked Megatron.
"Lord Megatron," Knockout said on Megatron's comlink.
"Give me a moment," Megatron requested before walking away.
"This can't be good," Chromette muttered.
"Did you find what you were looking for?" Knockout asked Megatron.
"It's complicated," he answered.
"Well, Breakdown and I may have located the bogey, fully charged," Knockout explained.
"Proceed," Megatron told him.
"Just one hitch. We don't have the cylinder," Knockout told him.
"Then bring me the head of Bulkhead," Megatron immediately instructed.
"Look! You love monster trucks. Remember when we snuck in here after the show last week?" Miko asked him.
"Mass times diffusion rate squared is constant," Bulkhead mumbled as he continued painting symbols.
"Is any of this ringing a bell?" Miko asked him.
"Bell curve? No, no no. That wouldn't factor in," Bulkhead said as he shook his head.
"How about our Sunday-morning dune bashings, rocking out to slash monkey, helping me with my homework? Ha! Trick question! You know I don't do homework...Don't you?" Miko's voice went quiet as her nerves and fear began to build up, only to have Bulkhead ignore her as he continued painting symbols, "Okay, forget the past. Starting now, we can make new memories."
"The cube root of the exothermic energon yield delta 'E' Violates Clank's law of Energon conservation," he mumbled as he continues to paint the cybertronian math symbols.
Miko closed her eyes for a second, "Bulkhead, I know somewhere inside, you will always remember me, and I just want you to know...I'll never forget you." Miko swore as she hugged his leg.
"Boo-hoo! I'm shedding lubricant!" someone called out sarcastically.
Immediately, Miko knew that voice. She didn't need to turn around and face them. She already knew who they were: Breakdown and Knockout.
And she already knew who and what they were after, Bulkhead and the data inside his head.
"Follow me right now, or these guys are gonna… steal the formula!" Miko cried.
"My equations?" Bulkhead gasped as he immediately stopped painting.
"Come on, come on!" Miko's said
Bulkhead didn't need to be told twice. He might not be himself right now. But he still had the protective instincts he always had. Even before the war broke out. And the only thing on his mind that needed protecting was the equations. Without a second thought, Bulkhead left the arena running with Miko. Breakdown and Knockout were confused by this action.
"Not like Bulkhead to run from a fight," Breakdown remarked.
"I'm afraid our friend has too much to think," Knockout said, before contacting their leader, "Lord Megatron, we're good."
Megatron turned around and looked at the Prime, "Optimus, upon careful consideration, if you want the cylinder, you'll have to take it," Megatron told Optimus.
The Vehicons began to ran towards the autobots, shooting at them, Optimus activates his battle mask and deploys his blaster, Bumblebee activates his blaster as well, the twins did the same and began shooting the Vehicons from next to Optimus, Arcee was shooting from behind his right leg, while Chromette was shooting at the Vehicons from the opposite leg. Bumblebee soon hid between some rocks, the Vehicons saw him, continued to shoot at him, Bumblebee fired back at them, and killed one of the Vehicons.
Bulkhead and Miko had found a suitable hiding place to avoid Knockout and Breakdown. Among the monster trucks that resided in the arena parking lot. Sure. It wouldn't help much and Bulkhead sort of stood out like a neon sign. But at least it was something.
Especially since they heard the footsteps of Knockout and Breakdown coming closer.
"Okay, then. Fun and games," Knockout said as they went in two different directions, before speaking in a singsong voice as he looked for the wrecker,"Come out, come out, wherever you are."
Knockout began examining the various monster trucks in the vicinity. Obviously, he did not know the exact form of Bulkhead's vehicular transformation. So this scavenger hunt has clearly become a game of cat and mouse. Miko hid behind one of Bulkhead's tires with her phone out. She needed to reach the base so she could get help from Ratchet or anyone. However, only a weird static sound met her ear from the small electrical device. She couldn't even get a dial tone out.
"The 'Cons are scrambling the signal," she realized.
"The trisection of the polygon is an integral subset," Bulkhead rambled in his alternate mode.
"Shh! Quiet! And whatever you do, keep still. I'm gonna see if I can get far enough to call for backup," Miko said before sneaking away from the cars in the parking lot. When she thought she had a clear way ahead, she had to slide to a halt and scurry back towards one of the monster trucks to hide behind as she heard the footsteps of Knockout.
Knockout glanced around the area for any evidence of Bulkhead's presence. However Bulkhead wasn't the only person he was interested in, the other one he was interested in was Miko. That interest lead Knockout towards lifting a Monster Truck on its side to look underneath it. However just like Bulkhead there was no sign of her. Eventually, he stood up and walked away to conduct his thorough search elsewhere.
What he didn't know was that Miko had jumped up and grabbed the undercarriage of the monster truck to hold her above ground. Hiding her from Knockout and Breakdown, if he ever came round. Taking her chance, she jumped down and ran.
Meanwhile Breakdown had a different method of than Knockout's as he was using his hammer from his arm to smash trucks and cars, hoping that one of the would just happen to be Bulkhead's vehicle form.
"Bulkhead! Is that you?" He asked a car before poking the windscreen with his finger before stomping on it.
Suddenly Breakdown heard the footsteps of a human, from behind, he turned around and saw Miko trying to run away. Miko stopped, gazed at him for one moment before taking off in a full-on sprint. Breakdown went to follow her, going as far as throwing cars that stood in his way.
"Breakdown, forget the human. Games are only fun to play when you're winning," Knockout smirked, holding an energon detector and presses a button on it, which caused the scanner to come to life and started beeping which told him that Bulkhead was close. He continued to walk around the parking lot, following the beeping and readings, which gradually became even more intense. When he reached Bulkhead, the beeping was even louder and annoying and the readings were more off the charts than they were before.
"I think I'm warm," Knockout remarked.
To prove his point, Bulkhead immediately transformed with his paint- soaked mop ready to paint even more equations on the nearest object it could find.
"En3 divides by the square root of the propulsion factor equals…" Bulkhead muttered as he paints on the chassis of Knockout's paint job with the symbols.
"You painted my paint job! Prepare for surgery!" Knockout sneered angrily.
From behind Breakdown began running towards his longtime enemy. No later than when Bulkhead had just turned around, Breakdown punched him. Hard. Miko had heard the two metals colliding and immediately peeked from her hiding place underneath yet another monster truck. She gasped when she saw Bulkhead on the pavement unconscious and Knockout and Breakdown standing over him. That was when Miko realized. They wanted the data Bulkhead possessed. And the only way to obtain this data would be to cut off his head.
"Heads, you lose," Knockout said as he grabbed Bulkhead's throat before activating a circular saw with his hand, which he brought closer to the Wrecker's head.
"No!" Miko screamed.
The autobots continued to shoot at the Vehicons and they soon defeated them all, Megatron looked at them as all of his Vehicons were destroyed.
"Well, in that case, no one gets it," he decided before crushing the cylinder beyond repair with his bare hand before dropping it to the ground. He transformed and flew away.
"Optimus, Bulkhead and Miko have abandoned base. I have their ground bridge coordinates," Ratchet said, as he contacted them from the base with his comlink.
"Bridge us back immediately," Optimus said as he activated his comlink.
Miko saw the saw was dangerously close to Bulkhead's neck when she decided that she needed to act before she lost Bulkhead forever. And she needed to act now. Even if she lost him either way.
She picked up a metal pole nearby that happened to be nearby and charged at Knockout, he saw her coming, lifted his foot up, dodging her attack, she stumbled backwards and fell against Bulkhead. She then heard humming, the same humming from before, when she kicked the data cylinder, his optics opened but they were an ominous red instead of its usual blue.
"Not again!" Breakdown cried as he and Knockout dodged the beams shooting out of his eyes, "Get down!"
"Did I do that?" Miko gasped.
They all stood back as the data was ejected from Bulkhead's brain towards the stars. There were no barriers to stop the data from departing this time. No data cylinder to trap the knowledge. No neural-net to occupy. Nothing. The knowledge was free to…fly.
"Bulkhead?" Miko whimpered as she walked forward, watching as Knockout scanned Bulkhead's head.
"Dead battery. Megatron will peel our paint for losing that data," Knockout said.
"So we're gonna have to peel you," Breakdown added.
Miko began back up in fear as Knockout and Breakdown walked closer to her. Their optics showed their desire for bloodshed. Like any Decepticon optics. Fear-filled brown eyes watched as Knockout went to decapitate the unconscious Bulkhead.
But just before his saw could get close enough, a blinding flash of light shone behind them. Miko, Knockout and Breakdown turned around to see a Ground Bridge portal. Jumping out of the portal was Optimus, Bumblebee, Chromette and Arcee and four of them stood ready to fight. Knockout knew that he and Breakdown were screwed.
"Or peel out of here," Knockout said and Breakdown broke a wall with his hammer as they retreated from the arena before transforming into their alternate modes.
The autobots deactivated their blasters as they heard Miko crying and saw that she was crying against an unconscious Bulkhead. They had an idea of what happened.
"Bulkhead!" Miko sobbed.
Back at the Autobot base, Bulkhead was laying on a metal slab. He hadn't stirred from his dreamless recharge. Ratchet had connected cables to Bulkhead's head and was running scans on him.
"The data has been fully expelled, but Bulkhead remains completely unresponsive," Ratchet said sadly.
"Because the energy took Bulkhead's mind with it, heavenward, lost to the stars," Miko sighed sadly before sniffling as she continues to cry, "It's my fault you'll never know the rest of the formula, and it's my fault Bulkhead's gone forever."
"Miko, your quick thinking prevented the formula from falling into Decepticon hands," Optimus reassured her.
"If anyone would have backed that play, It's Bulkhead," Arcee said and Bumblebee nodded, agreeing with the blue femme.
"I'm sure gonna miss him," Chromette said, before turning to Ratchet, "I'll miss his antics with your tools Ratchet."
"It's too early to know the extent of his condition," Ratchet told everyone, saying that he may yet still be alive, "Something as simple as a familiar sight or smell, perhaps even a sound, could trigger Bulkhead's awakening."
As the medic said Miko thought of an idea. She plugged her guitar into her amp, turned the volume all the way up, turned a few of the tuning pegs to adjust the sound that would come out. She pressed her fingers into the strings needed to play chord. Slowly she raised her hand above her head and played her guitar, a single chord was heard throughout the base. Intensely they all watched Bulkhead, hoping for a sign of improvement. But none of them came. All of their hopes were shattered.
Until… Bulkhead's optics opened and Ratchet's monitors began buzzing as Bulkhead suddenly groaned as he wakes up.
"Bulkhead?" Miko gasped hopefully.
Bulkhead sat up and hummed the guitar song out of tune. The genre was Heavy metal and most singers of that genre were out of tune and Bulkhead was no exception.
"I love that song!" Bulkhead cried before looking in front of him. "Miko?"
All everyone had to do was smile happily, sure, they couldn't complete the formula for the Synthetic Energon that would've changed the war. But Bulkhead was okay and to them that's all that mattered.
Next is Stronger, Faster