"The cries of a dead world,
callin' out in pain.
Red skies on the desert
are the blood in a ranger's veins."

–– Miracle of Sound, "Cries of a Dead World"


Knock Out followed the Insecticon south, out of the Rust Sea wasteland and into what had been Tarn. Its cold, dark spires rose above the horizon line, twisting likes screws into the morning sky. As soon as they entered the city, his circuits went cold. His plating crawled as if a hundred sets of optics were watching him. He assumed it was more Insecticons, but at one point, he thought he heard an engine.

My audials are playing tricks on me. He blocked out the feeling and continued on. When they reached a tall, dilapidated tower––the tallest (and only standing) one in the city––the Insecticon transformed. Knock Out followed suit. The doors to the building opened when they drew closer, and the Insecticon beckoned him inside.

The room glowed with the eerie green light of Insecticon pods. They grew in corners, on walls, and even on the ceiling. Knock Out clamped his armor down and followed his guide through the winding corridors, taking care not to touch any of the walls, which were flaked with rust. His comms suddenly crackled to life and a dreadfully familiar baritone filled his audials.

"Doctor, if you would step through those doors, I will be with you in a moment."

The Insecticon stopped at a pair of doors at the end of the hall. They opened silently, revealing a large laboratory. Red monitors lined the walls, white Decepticon script scrolling down their screens. A bulky, gray and purple mech stood at one of the monitors. He looked up when Knock Out entered and raised a brow.

"Hard to believe you're still alive." His voice was nearly as deep as the mech who'd initiated the comm, but gruffer.

"I'm full of surprises, Flatline." Knock Out narrowed his optics. "Where's Shockwave?"

"I am behind you, Doctor."

Knock Out jumped aside, and Shockwave walked past him. Odd, he hadn't even caught a hint of the scientist's EM field. Shockwave was bulkier than he remembered––he'd obviously traded in his jet alt-mode for a tank.

Shockwave nodded to Flatline. "Give Knock Out a tour of the laboratory." He took the mech's place at the monitor and turned his unblinking gaze on Knock Out. "I understand you are scouting for Megatron, following the destruction of the Omega Lock."

Knock Out nodded mutely.

"Then you will possess a wealth of new, satisfactory information when we return to him."

Flatline tapped Knock Out's arm, and they walked down a side hallway. Everything was so dark––they were obviously running on reserve power. The only light came from Insecticon pods and the few overhead lights that still worked. The feeling of being watched returned, but Knock Out pushed it out of his processor.

"So what have you been doing down here?" He fiddled with his claws.

Flatline stopped at a set of double doors. "Tests. Repairs." He opened the doors. "This is the medibay." They entered the room, which had three occupied berths. It was considerably brighter than the hallway.

"The Combaticons." Knock Out glanced at Flatline. "What happened to them? They were fine when I left."

"That's because you left before the Exodus." Flatline adjusted an IV connected to Vortex. "You know about Shockwave's combiner experiments, yes?"

"I know the Combaticons are combiners. But how'd they get like…this?" Knock Out waved his hand at Blast Off, whose chest was a mess of wires and charred armor.

"They were injured during the Exodus, trying to keep the Ark from leaving. Afterwards, they helped us hold off the Wreckers and Dynobots––for a while, anyway. They're stable. Just need time for their auto repairs to kick in."

Knock Out nodded. "Aren't there two more?"

"Onslaught and Brawl were cleared for duty." Flatline finished checking Blast Off's monitor, then exited the medibay. Knock Out followed him.

"So where are the Wreckers and Dynobots now?"

"Holed up somewhere underground––those that are left, anyway." Flatline suddenly paused and pressed his hand into the wall, head lowering to face the ground. His knees buckled slightly, but he dug his fingers into a seam in the wall and leaned into it. Knock Out reached out to catch him, but Flatline swatted him away and turned around so his back was against the wall. Knock Out backed away and held his hands up in surrender. Flatline's cooling fans kicked up a notch and he reached into his subspace, withdrawing a syringe of purple liquid.

"What's that?" Knock Out already knew the answer.

"Dark energon." Flatline plunged the needle into his forearm. "I'm running low again." He offlined his optics as the energon filled his veins. Knock Out stood in silence until he recovered.

"There's still some resistance," Flatline continued from their previous conversation, tucking the syringe back into his subspace and pushing off the wall. He acted as if nothing had just happened. "The Dynobots and Wreckers don't really get along, though, so it's not like they're incredibly organized." He walked back the way they'd come, to the lab. They reached it in no time, and the paranoid feeling Knock Out had earlier disappeared. He glanced back at the hallway, hidden in shadows.

"Do you ever feel like you're being watched?"

Flatline nodded. "Some of the vents in this tower aren't very secure. It's likely an Autobot saw you arrive and followed you in." He snorted. "Insecticons will sniff them out sooner or later."

Knock Out raised his brow at Flatline. "You just allow them to run around?"

"It's not like they can harm us. They're low on energon, barely have any ammo, and aren't very strong since most of the Wreckers vacated the planet. Pretty much all they've got left in their ranks are civilians, and the Dynobots can't get over their own problems to deal with us."

Knock Out hummed and turned to look at the hallway again. It flickered with eerie green light from the Insecticon pods. Shadows dipped into the crevices of the wall and the ceiling was nearly pitch black with darkness. Knock Out narrowed his optics––was that a pair of blue Autobot optics that he saw?

Idiot! Stop being so paranoid. He turned away from the hall and focused on Flatline and Shockwave. The latter shut down his monitor when they arrived and approached them. He activated a command and the other monitors shut down as well. Flatline waved his hand at the hallway behind them.

"I'll get the patients ready for transport."

Shockwave nodded. "I believe it is time, Knock Out, for us to return to Megatron."