Chapter Twenty: We've Got a Problem
Sideswipe comes online as the last of the regen fluid slurps down the drain. The door has lifted. He finds himself staring out into the darkened lab and he has no idea how he got there.
He lifts his right hand and touches the front of his chest. Or the thick, ugly weld-line running down the center of it, anyway.
Sunny.
He's in there, spark container nestled up against Sideswipe's. It feels weird and tingly.
"Oh," he says and holds his hand up. His fingertips have come back. "Awesome."
He's not getting any depth perception, though. His left eye is still a slagged mess.
"How long was I in here?" he says.
A little over a mega-cycle. Four planetary rotations. A quick glance down shows that he's nowhere near healed enough for the regen tank to be kicking him out. His left arm is scrapped. The open wounds aren't leaking, but the limb ends in tatters above his wrist. He tries to lift it but pain shoots up his shoulder.
"Nope," he says. "Not even close."
Hunter must have put him in there after welding him shut. The human had had the sense to haul his off-lined aft over and dump him in.
Where is he, anyway?
He shouldn't be up and about. The tank should have kept him under until it was done. Something has overridden that.
((Hunter?)) he comms.
((Sideswipe?)) Hunter says. ((Good. You'd better get up here.))
Sideswipe stops just long enough to hose himself off. A few kliks later he strolls into the command deck. Hunter is plugged into one of the consoles. He looks up as Sideswipe enters.
"Whoa," he says. "That tank thing really works."
"Medical nano-bots," Sideswipe says. "And a lot of energon. What's up?"
Hunter nods to the console screen. A blue light pulses near the top, left corner.
"It's been doing that for the last hour," Hunter says. "I don't know what it is and I didn't want to screw anything up poking around with it."
Sideswipe leans past him and taps the screen. Data scrolls across it.
"Huh," he says.
"'Huh' what?" Hunter says.
"It's an incoming transmission. Someone's calling the ship."
"Is that good or bad?"
"Depends," Sideswipe says. He formats his hand and plugs into the console. A moment later, ID codes flash up.
"It's Autobot," Sideswipe says. "It's coming from Ark-27. That's Prime's ship."
He turns to find Hunter staring.
"You don't remember, do you?" the human says.
"Remember what?"
The plating of the face doesn't move, but Hunter tilts his head to the side and Sideswipe gets the distinct impression that he's smiling inside.
"The lab?" Hunter says. "When I was closing you up, you had me link into the communication lines."
It's Sideswipe's turn to stare.
"You really don't remember," Hunter says.
"I'm guessing you sent a transmission?"
"Sort of."
Sideswipe frowns. He racks his memories, trying to find something, anything to explain what's going on.
"Okay," Sideswipe says. "I give. What did you send?"
Hunter looks at him, looks back to the screen, and then pulls his hand free.
"You know," he says, taking a step back, "I think this body's getting low on energon. I'm gonna head back and see if I can't find some."
Sideswipe snags his arm as he tries to slip past.
"Hey, wait. What did you send?" he says.
The human shakes his head. He pulls free and ducks around Sideswipe.
"Hunter!"
And then he's through the doors. They hiss shut behind him.
Glitchy human, he thinks. He looks to the display.
The first thing he sees when he activates the channel is a mini-bot. It's yellow, with a pair of knobby antennae on the sides of its head. When the channel activates, it sort of straightens in surprise.
"Oh! Hey!" it says. It turns and shouts, "Hey! The line's open! It's Sideswipe."
"Oh Primus," someone says.
Footsteps approach. The mini-bot turns back just long enough to flash a "you're fragged now, pal" grin and then disappears from view. A mech takes its place, a taller mech with a white and black color scheme. A mech with a very familiar scowl on his face.
"Ah, slag," Sideswipe says.
"Sideswipe," Prowl says. "I see you've answered your comms in your usual timely fashion."
"Yes, sir," Sideswipe says. "Sorry, sir. I was in the lab."
Prowl gives him a once over. "Do I even want to know?"
Sideswipe tries not to fidget. He can see other faces behind the commander, other 'bots hedging in to watch the show.
"To what do I owe the pleasure of this communication?" Sideswipe says.
"'To whom it may concern,'" Prowl says, his optics never leaving Sideswipe's. He knows, without asking, that Prowl is reading the communication he had Hunter send. "'Best party ever. You totally missed out. LOL. P.S. You suck.'"
Dead. Silence. Sideswipe is pretty sure that's the sound of his future taking a nosedive and plowing into the ground.
((Hunter,)) he says.
((Yeah?))
((I'm going to kill you.))
((Hey, you told me to send it.))
((You should have said no!))
((I dunno, Sideswipe. You were pretty adamant.))
To Prowl, he says, "I can explain that."
Prowl stops short of rolling his optics.
"I wasn't, ah, in my right frame of mind when I wrote that," Sideswipe says.
"Clearly," Prowl says.
"I was half-slagged and a bit delirious, so it's really not my fault."
"You were half-slagged and a bit delirious on a stolen ship, sending gibberish written in a human language, a deca-cycle after assaulting an officer to steal aforementioned ship and deserting your post. Did I miss anything?"
Correction: that was the sound of his future taking a nosedive.
"No, sir," Sideswipe says.
((Hey, Sideswipe?)) Hunter says.
((Busy.))
"What are your coordinates?" Prowl says.
For a moment, Sideswipe gives very serious thought into blasting into orbit and fleeing into deep space. But the gentle tingle of Sunny's spark against his own kills the idea before it gets off the ground. He sends his position. Prowl's optics narrow.
((Sideswipe.))
((Not now.))
"These are correct?" Prowl says.
"Yes, sir."
The sharpness in his gaze takes on a new level as it moves over Sideswipe's injuries. He's thinking. Sideswipe can actually see him putting it all together.
"You stole a ship and went to Earth where you managed to sustain that level of damage?" Prowl says.
The doors hiss open. Sideswipe turns to shoo Hunter out only the human isn't alone.
"I'm sorry," Hunter says. "But he said it was an emergency and I don't think he's lying."
Agent Simmons has managed to fix himself up. His garments are clean and in one piece. The damage on his face seems to be mending. He trots in with no sign of a limp.
"Hey there, Red," he says. He glances to the screen. "Oh. More NBE's."
He lifts a hand and waves. Two or three of the 'bots wave back.
"What is that?" Prowl says. He's staring at Hunter, his expression hard, the door wings behind him rigid. Hunter freezes.
"Him?" Sideswipe says. "That's Hunter. You remember Hunter, don't you? He was on your ship for a while? He was with Sunny when they got taken and you left him behind. Don't worry, though. I found him for you."
"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" Simmons says.
"Nah," Sideswipe says.
"Good. Because we've got a problem."
"What is going on in there?" Prowl says. "Why is there a human on board? And what—"
"What problem?" Sideswipe says to Simmons.
"I got a team went missing," Simmons says. "Well, probably missing. We lost contact about forty minutes ago and can't raise anyone."
"Went missing where?"
Simmons grimaces. "Now, before you go and bite my head off—yes, I'm talking to you, kid—I want you to know that this is not what it looks like, okay?"
"Sideswipe," Prowl says.
"Where?" Sideswipe says.
"It's a Machination facility," Simmons says. "Over in Pennsylvania. We went in to secure it—don't you roll your eyes at me, young man. We're trying to freeze them in their tracks and shut them down."
"Sideswipe, answer me," Prowl says. "Who is that human? Why are you in contact with it? What's happened?"
"Hey Prowl?" Sideswipe says. "I'm going to have to get back to you."
"Don't you dare discon—"
Sideswipe cuts the transmission. Simmons stops talking and stands there with his eyebrows raised. Hunter' folds his arms over his chest. He hunkers down, pressed against the wall.
((Thank you,)) he says.
((No problem,)) Sideswipe says. Out loud, "Okay, Simmons. What's going on?"
"What" is that. Not "who." What. That's what Prowl had asked. He might be an alien, he might be a robot, but Hunter has spent time around them and he knows disgust when he sees it. And he hadn't been alone. Half of the 'bots on the screen had been staring at him the same way.
"Yesterday morning we got intel on Machination warehouses and manufacturing sites," Simmons says. "We started mobilizing teams to go in and secure them, stop production, seize their assets. Most of them have gone off with minimal resistance. Seems when we took down that place in Detroit, we cut off leadership. These guys are in disarray right now. My superiors deemed it prudent to move in fast, take them down before they can pull themselves back together."
"Okay," Sideswipe says. He's focused on Simmons. He seems to do that, be able to hone in on something with absolute concentration. When he wants to, anyway. Hunter wonders where that attention is going to settle now that he's got Sunstreaker back.
"This team, it's headed by an Agent named Vikus. They arrived on-site at 9:13," Simmons says. He checks his watch. "That was forty-eight minutes ago. They kept radios open. Last we heard from them they were entering the building. That was at 9:18. We haven't been able to establish contact since."
Forty-three minutes. Hunter forces himself to focus on that. Focus on what's going on right now and not the looks on the Autobot's faces, 'bots he'd met. Forty-three minutes and not the suspicion, the horror, Bumblebee's eyes all wide.
"Why'd you wait so long?" Hunter says.
"There are procedures for this kind of thing," Simmons says. "I had to fight like hell for my agency to agree to bring you two in."
"Bring us in?"
Sideswipe's hand drifts up to his chest.
"Look, I know it might be asking a lot right now," Simmons says. He glances at Sideswipe. "I need you guys. You two know more about these people than anyone else I've got in the field right now. And contrary to what some may think, I do know when I'm out-classed."
Sideswipe is in no state for this. Sure, he looks a lot better, he's got fingers again and the dark patches on his armor have shrunk, but his left hand is still gone. Hunter can see stiffness when he moves. The inner shell around his spark case isn't welded shut because with Sunstreaker in there, there wasn't enough room to close it. Hunter is not a medic. He's not even a mechanic. But even he knows that right now, Sideswipe is held together with nothing more than band-aids and happy thoughts.
"You want us to go in," Sideswipe says.
"Yes," Simmons says. "This is not official. This is just my own, personal request. I'm not asking you to engage. This is reconnaissance only. Just pop in, see what's going on, and pop back here."
((Is this a good idea?)) Hunter comms. ((We'd have to do that jump thing and you said earlier that you didn't want to risk it.))
((I was leaking all over the place earlier,)) Sideswipe says. ((Sunny's spark is shielded now.))
Simmons snaps his fingers. "Hey. Down here, please."
"Why should we help you?" Hunter says.
"Seriously?" Simmons says. "Oh, don't tell me you're getting cynical on me now. That's my job."
"That's not what I—"
"This stops Machination. We are ending them. You want to make them pay for what they did? Don't argue with me, I can see it written all over you. You've been itching to tear them down the whole time I've known you. This is your chance, kid."
Hunter has no answer for that.
"Reconnaissance only," Sideswipe says.
"That's right."
Sideswipe rumbles something in Cybertronian. He looks at Hunter.
((What if this is a trap?)) Hunter says. ((You said they couldn't get us in here. Well, now we're coming out. I don't like it. It's too convenient.))
((If it's a trap, it's a really bad one,)) Sideswipe says. The orbital jump drive is powering up. The ship's processor is locking onto the target coordinates, projecting a path for them. He can watch all of this going on in the back of his mind.
((I still don't like it.))
((Neither do I.))
((Then why are we going? You've got no reason to go,)) Hunter says. He makes a gesture to the weld line. Sideswipe places his hand over it. He can feel the hum of Sunny's spark through his own armor.
((It's a quick jump,)) he says. ((In and out.))
((So I can go by myself,)) Hunter says. ((You don't need to risk him.))
((Sunny's in the safest place he can be right now. I'm not letting you go alone. You have no idea what you're getting into and you have no combat experience.))
((I got you out of Detroit, didn't I?))
((By blowing up a store of energon.))
((I didn't know, okay? Would you drop that, already?))
Sideswipe lifts his head long enough to grin at the human. ((Even a 'con would know better. I let you go by yourself and you'll get yourself slagged.))
Hunter looks away. Sideswipe chuffs and returns his focus back to the display. Simmons had been kind enough to provide satellite images of the area. It's another large warehouse nestled in the middle of a valley, surrounded on all sides by trees. It's the perfect spot for an ambush.
((I'm not going just to cover your aft,)) he says. ((I owe Simmons, too.))
Simmons, who is sitting on the console behind Sideswipe, watching the screen a little too intently.
Hunter grumbles something that Sideswipe doesn't catch.
There. Their trajectory locks on.
"We're good," he says. Simmons sits up straighter. "I've set it to remote access so Simmons, you won't have to do a thing."
((You mean, in case it's a trap we can get ourselves back,)) Hunter says.
((Bingo.))
"What, you don't trust me?" Simmons says.
"I don't trust your tiny processor," Sideswipe says. "If you screwed up even a little, our atoms'd be scattered across this solar system. This way, I take care of it. Hunter, you ready?"
The human's entire frame is tensed. He nods.
"Simmons?" Sideswipe says. "Not that you can do much, but don't touch anything while we're gone, alright?"
"Scouts honor."
Hunter snorts.
"I've sealed off the lab and the engine room," Sideswipe says. "There's nowhere else for you to go. Best just to stay put. We'll be right back."
Simmons makes a "meh" sound and waves a hand at them.
((Initializing,)) Sideswipe says. The ship locks onto them. He can feel it buzzing in his mind.
"Oh, whoa," Hunter says. "That… that's really weird."
"It gets better," Sideswipe says.
The air around them shimmers. Green flashes streak up. The buzzing extends down, into his frame. Everything is rattling, every atom of his being vibrating.
"I don't think I like this," Hunter says.
Sideswipe grins.
The world dissolves. There is nothing. Absolute nothing.
Reality hits and Sideswipe finds himself crouching in a clump of trees outside the warehouse. The temperature is cool. Moisture clings to vegetation. Organics chirp and chitter in the forest around him.
A lurching sound. He turns and spots Hunter kneeling in the bushes, head down.
((You okay?)) Sideswipe says.
Hunter replies with a garbled whine.
((The first couple dozen jumps are like that,)) Sideswipe says. ((After a while, you get used to it.))
((That… that was the most awful thing I've ever done,)) Hunter says. ((Ever. Holy shit, I think I died.))
((Your molecules were shot through time and space. For a nano-klik, yeah, you were basically dead.))
((Oh god. Do we have to do that again?))
((Unless you'd rather drive back to the ship.))
Hunter groans.
The warehouse is about a hundred metras away. It's a low building; Sideswipe could just manage to walk around inside without having to crouch. That doesn't mean much; Machination seems to have a penchant for building underground.
There are a few cars in the parking lot, all empty. On the other side of the lot are the black SUV's Simmons's people favor so much. What Sideswipe doesn't see, anywhere, on any kind of sensor, is movement.
((Hunter,)) he says, ((you picking up anything?))
((No,)) he says. ((According to the, what do you call them? Scanners? There's nothing there.))
((They're using dampeners,)) Sideswipe says. ((They're a low-grade EMP. They scramble energy waves, confuse sensors. It's Cybertronian tech.))
((Great.))
Sideswipe moves forward, Hunter trailing behind him as they step out of the bushes.
((Is this really the best approach?)) Hunter says. ((Just walking up?))
((See those cameras? Whoever's in there saw us arrive. There's no reason to try to sneak in now. Just be ready to start shooting.))
A slight whir as Hunter reformats his arm into a pulse rifle.
It's obvious where Simmons's team went in: one of the bigger, rolling doors is open. The cement below is charred where they must have set explosives. He can smell traces of something in the air, some kind of harsh, chemical reek.
((Is that tear gas?)) Hunter says.
The hangar inside is empty, bare floor, bare walls. There's another large door in the back, also open, the corridor beyond dark and empty.
((Heads up,)) Sideswipe says.
The warehouse is quiet. Not just "background noise kept at a dull murmur," but silent. The only thing he hears is the wind outside and his own hydraulics as he eases deeper into the room.
((Where is everyone?)) Hunter says.
Sideswipe pauses at the door. He motions Hunter over next to him.
((You're going to have to go in first,)) he says.
((But—))
((I've got no weapons. I'll be right behind you. If I say "shoot" you start shooting and you don't stop.))
((Shit.))
Hunter slides past him, back against the wall, weapon up.
((Hey,)) Sideswipe says. When Hunter turns to look, he says, ((Don't stay so close to the wall. Sometimes rounds follow them. You'll get your head blown off.))
Hunter edges away.
The left hallway leads deeper into the building. That's where they go. They have to turn on headlights to see anything. The hallway is wide, the ceiling low. And still, no sign of humans. The soft hiss-thump of their footsteps echo in the dark. It gets warmer the deeper they go.
Sideswipe catches himself rubbing the weld-line again.
They've gone maybe fifty metras when Hunter stops.
((What?)) Sideswipe says.
Hunter's looking down. Small, golden tubes shine in the glow of their lights. They're lying all over the floor. He kneels down and reaches past Hunter's legs to pick one up.
((Bullet cartridges,)) Hunter says. ((Big ones. Those aren't from hand guns.))
Slag.
((Do we keep going?)) Hunter says.
Sideswipe thinks he can see the edges of a doorway up ahead. There are no bodies, human or otherwise. No cries of the wounded. Just silence.
((The hallway opens up ahead,)) Sideswipe says. ((We get there, and if we don't find anything, we call it a bust and leave.))
It takes forever to cover that last stretch of ground. Hunter stares straight ahead, frame wound so tight Sideswipe thinks he hears it creak a few times. Not that he's much better. He keeps checking behind them, audios straining for the slightest noise.
More casings on the cement as they continue. They lie in clusters. The agents had been chasing someone, pausing as a group to open fire. But there's no blood, no energon. Whatever they were shooting at, they weren't hitting anything.
Ten metras from the end of the hall, Sideswipe smells it.
((Oh god,)) Hunter says.
A thick, heavy stench wafts out of the square of darkness up ahead. Sideswipe has never smelled anything like it before. He knows it's organic, and when Hunter stops again, he knows it's bad.
The hallway opens up into a vast room. The floor ramps down. It's so big their lights don't even reach the far wall. There's enough space in there for Sideswipe to park his ship.
They've found Simmons's men.
((Jesus Christ,)) Hunter says.
Sideswipe squats down to get a better view. He thinks he's looking at two individuals, but it's hard to be sure. There are no burn marks, no charring. Just twisted and torn organic material.
This is where the smell comes from. Hunter makes a heaving noise.
Sideswipe heads into the room. The floor is sticky. There's no sign of whoever, whatever did this, because Sideswipe has a pretty good idea of what it might have been.
((Hunter,)) he says. ((I need you over here.))
((I can't,)) Hunter says. ((I can't do this.))
((You have to.))
((No way.))
((Hunter, whatever did this might still be here,)) Sideswipe say. ((If we split up, we die. So come on.))
((Why do we have to go in there? Why can't we just go back? We should leave. Now.))
((I have to check something.))
((Check what?))
Why that thing came here. What was so important that of all the places on the planet, it came here?
((This might not be all of them,)) Sideswipe says. ((You really want to go and leave behind someone wounded?))
Hunter looks at him for a long moment. The human is a smart organic—it's a terrible bluff and he knows it. Hunter wants to bolt and Sideswipe doesn't blame him. All of his own instincts scream that this is not a good place to be, to leave, now, get to the ship, lock the doors, and blast into orbit. But he can't. Not yet. There's something here. The humans died here for a reason.
Hunter steps off the ramp. He doesn't look down, not once, not even as his feet squelch.
They move in, leaving the carnage behind. It's worse than the corridor. In the corridor, they had walls on two sides. There were only two directions to attack from. Here, they're out in the open, walking in a halo of their own light, a bright beacon to anything in that room.
Twenty nano-kliks in and Hunter says, ((Do you hear that?))
A low thrum in the floor. Three steps later and Sideswipe catches a whiff of burnt ozone.
Dread slithers through his frame and wraps tight in his chest.
((Oh no,)) he says.
He knows this smell. It floats in the woods outside. It curls in the air of the command deck in his ship.
Sideswipe starts to run.
Up ahead, appearing out of the gloom, is the circular edge of a console. It's half-buried in the floor, tubes leading down, connecting into whatever power source the freak must have scavenged.
It's an orbital jump-drive and someone has used it very recently. Only a few kliks ago.
When Sideswipe and Hunter showed up.
"Fraggit!" he says.
"What?" Hunter says. "What is that thing?"
Sideswipe reaches out to his ship's processor and kicks on his own jump-drive. His frame hums as the ship locks in.
"What the hell is going on?" Hunter says.
"It's a jump drive," Sideswipe says. "That freak was here. He lured us here."
"What freak? Who's here?"
"Scorpinok. The nano-klik we got here he must have traced us, back-tracked our coordinates."
"Wait, you're saying he knows where the ship is?"
Green streaks light up the air. Sideswipe's frame buzzes like it's trying to shake apart. When he speaks, the sound comes out distorted.
"He knows where it is and he's already there," he says.
Existence stops.
Next chapter: Not Alone