Duty and Deceit
Chapter 47
One Shall Fall
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Disclaimer: I do not own the Transformers, the tv series Transformers: Prime, or any scenes included in the tv show. I own only my OCs and my plots and subplots.
She laughed at something Skyquake said, her voice still coming strangely forced as she stared out past the mech with dimmed yellow optics. Her every smile was short-lived, half-sparked, and never really reached her optics.
Finally the green mech seated across from her at their usual table reached forward and rested his large hand over her much smaller one, ceasing his story and looking into her optics with concern, "What is wrong, Terabyte?"
"Nothing..." She sighed, gazing back into his deep ruby optics before looking away, "I'm just having a really rough day."
His engine let out a protective growl and his optics narrowed in suspicion, "Did they have you scan another dead prisoner's mind for intel?"
"Sky, it's for the cause." She sighed again, shuddering at the memories of pain and suffering that weren't even her own. Details always got hazy after the subject offlined; the longer they were deceased, the hazier their memories. "He just died during the interrogation from the wounds he'd sustained in the battle..." The two-wheeler didn't notice the sudden look of longing in her friend's optics, like he had something important to tell her, but couldn't. "But that isn't all that has me down..."
"What else then?" He prompted softly when she didn't elaborate.
"I got a message today, saying Nightracer left with the neutrals last night..." The spy stared at Skyquake's hand enveloping her own, not really seeing, just staring off into space, "Never even said good-bye."
The jet hummed his sympathy, "That was the clone of the legendary sniper, right?"
"Yeah." She flicked an optic ridge, "She was really torn up over it, when she found out just a little bit ago. I guess it just broke her self-confidence. And now she's gone too. Just like everyone else." She smiled up at him, genuinely this time, "But I still have you. You're not going to leave me. You were my first friend here, and now you're my last. My knight in shining - well, usually shining, anyway - armor, loyal to the last."
His ruby optics clouded over with a mist of pain, though somehow she knew it wasn't physical. A tiny seed of worry planted itself in her spark and her beaming smile faltered before ultimately failing. Her voice wavered slightly, "Right, Sky?"
He gave her a sad, unfelt little smile, giving her hand a comforting squeeze. "I have a shift right now, but I promise I'll see you as soon as I'm free again... I have something I need to tell you."
"Pass..."
"Uh-uh..."
"Kid in a costume..."
"Nope..."
"Balloons..."
Suddenly Jack twitched and had Raf scroll back up along the conspiracy site they were searching, muttering, "Uh, hold, go back."
Raf laughed, "Camera sure loves Bee."
Miko flung herself back on the couch, crossing her arms behind her head with a lazy smile, "What can you do? When you're a star, you're paparazzi bait!"
Terabyte smirked, watching the human children out of the corner of her optics from where she sat stiffly on the stairs, the datapad of Cybertronian lore and prophecies in hand. When the Prime had initially given it to her, she had only downloaded the chapter that had to do with the alignment of the forty-seven spheres. Just enough to get up to date on the matter so as to form a reasonable conclusion.
She had just spent the past two joors reading through the compilation of lore that she would have learned had the Wreckers not destroyed all hope of her obtaining a normal childhood. Under normal circumstances, she would have simply downloaded the remaining data and processed it as she found time. However, the Prime had specifically requested that she read it in this manner, so as to allow her to more fully process the information.
If she didn't know better, she would have thought the Matrix-bearer was trying to distract her from her dark and troubled musings.
"-Mars cat says, take me to your feeder!"
A gruff laugh she'd never heard before, touched her finials, but she didn't bother to look up. Raf laughed incredulously, "Ratchet just laughed?"
Jack chuckled, "Uh... Um, Optimus? Want to see something funny?"
The femme's armor was flared more than normal, and her finials were tilted back at an annoyed angle. Her frame remained heated above normal parameters, and behind her mask, her lips were quirked in a permanent scowl. She was still riled up from the previous conversation, and reading through this historical data that told of a Cybertron she'd never learned of or even known existed, was only riling her up farther.
It made her feel ignorant, under-educated, and pitiable.
The red and cobalt mech who stood tapping away with vigor at the terminal in front of him, working on some sort of research or other to try and find the Nemesis. He didn't even look up at the oldest human boy's question, saying frankly, "No."
She didn't want or need their pity. All she'd ever wanted as retribution was Ultra Magnus' helm on a pike. His and the rest of his Wreckers' too.
Her engine growled in sudden anger, and she stood up swiftly, slamming the datapad down beside her as she did. A muffled crash of the datapad's screen shattering beneath the force. Terabyte snarled as glass cut into her hand and she put her other fist up to her fore-helm for a moment, taking in deep vents to calm herself.
After a klick or two of regaining her composure, the darkly colored femme looked up at the crowd of Autobots watching her with wary expressions. She exvented harshly, sweeping up the shattered remains of her half-read datapad with a rough motion, her lips curling in annoyance as her cut hand left a thin smear of life-En where the datapad had been.
Once she'd cleaned up her mess, Terabyte inclined her helm formally to the still-staring Autobots and children, her voice soft and cold, "My apologies. This week has been wearing on us all, and I have not exercised sufficient restraint. Excuse me as I take my leave."
With that, the femme shot down the tunnel to the surface, coldly noting how none pursued after her. They all knew where she was going anyway. She'd been going more and more frequently as of late.
Meanwhile: Brig
He'd told her again. Again.
But she actually understood just what he was saying this time. He could see it in her perfect optics, that it had finally clicked with her, just like he'd feared it never would. His spark was singing and screaming at the same time.
He loved her.
It was nothing new to him, but at long last she understood. And knowing that made his aching spark feel so much better, just thinking about it seemed to heal all of his pains; physical, mental, and emotional all alike.
But then he had to go and shatter the moment by mentioning this Dreadwing figure that he didn't fully remember. This forgotten figure that was apparently his other half. This forgotten figure that Terabyte didn't seem very fond of at all. His stupid processors just had to shatter the moment.
"Why'd you do it?"
Skyquake jerked out of his thoughts to glare at the source of his startlement. He hadn't noticed when the red mech had woken up. The jet finally shifted his gaze to the floor, for the most part ignoring the aching burn in his back.
"Why'd I do what?"
Cliffjumper rolled his optics, "Why'd you cover for me back there? That's twice now that you've done it."
The green jet laughed coldly, "So you want to ask me this now? Took you long enough."
"I meant to bring it up earlier, but then-"
Skyquake cut the red mech off, "But then you passed out to drool on my arm all night and when you woke up, Terabyte was there, and then we were at the trial." He sneered, "And then you got cozy with the idea of having someone to pass the blame off on to preserve your reputation among the Autobots."
The warrior sprung to his pedes, hissing as he landed hard on his silver pede and then crashing back down to the berth as the pede gave out under him. "You took the bulk of the beating for m-"
He cut the mech off again with a shrug, his expression challenging, daring the mech to deny what he was about to say. Because there was no logical way of denying it.
"You think I seriously saved your sorry aft and took responsibility for your actions for you?" He rolled his ruby optics, standing up and stomping across the room to tower over the mech, "How thick, how conceited can you get?"
"I took the blame that was rightfully yours, because - believe it or not - I actually want to one day atone for the Pits, and for the War, and for everything else I've done in Megatron's name." Skyquake snarled at the way the mech's sky blue optics widened in surprise, "Because - believe it or not - Megatron lost my loyalties long before he lost Terabyte's, and I was a fool to accept that mission to come to Earth seven vorns and leave her alone with that warped madmech."
"So you want to know why I lied to the Prime?" He cocked an optic ridge at Cliffjumper, who still sat still on his berth, staring up at him with wide and confused optics, "I lied because look around you, Autobot. Look at this sorry team of broken, lonely, defeated mechs you all have the audacity to call an army. Half-starved and without the supplies to properly repair yourselves, a group of mechs who gave up hope, and now at long last things are starting to look up. A new seed of hope has been planted and your ranks are filling out again."
"You finally are getting full rations again, you have three human children who admire you and show you that there are still things worth fighting for, and you have new recruits who are seeking redemption, showing that anyone can change for the better." Skyquake flicked a wing with a grimace at the sting caused by the action. Already he could feel the bruised protoform healing far faster than normal. "Cliffjumper, for the first time in vorns, the Autobots are daring to hope that this war might actually end. Then we go and offline a mech with more brutality than any of us have seen for a while, threatening this newfound hope."
"Here you are, a decently high-ranked, well-loved, integral part of the Autobots. And then there's this Decepticon defector who's hated by most all of you for killing your friends and who's been shown more leniency than is wise or just." The large green fighter shrugged, sitting back down on his berth. "If you were them, which of the two of us would you actually be relieved to see punished more? Which of us - being declared the instigator - would give a shaken team a much-needed sense of continuity and stability?"
Cliffjumper averted his gaze for a moment, knowing that he could say nothing to honestly deny the facts that had just been laid out to him. Skyquake smirked, sitting up and stretching his spine with a grimace as his plating rubbed on the new welts. He could feel the damage; he'd gotten so that he could give a medical report on himself just by how it felt. The welts would be gone in no longer than an orn.
He jerked his chin up at the red mech across the brig, grunting, "You'll want to do the same, believe me. Not good to let the protoform heal stiff."
The Autobot did as advised, groaning as he held back a roar. Cliffjumper caught his optics and looked away again. "I've not been a very good example of how Autobots are supposed to be since you defected, have I?"
He just stared at the red mech, his expression unmoved. An optic ridge slowly rose in question.
"I mean, I've been a jerk to you. I've been a jerk to Terabyte for a good portion of the time too, which is basically still being a jerk to you." Cliffjumper sighed, "Not to mention convincing you to go gallivanting off to kill Blitz."
"Blitzwing." Skyquake rumbled, giving a scornful huff, "Not that I needed to be asked twice."
"That's not the point. I'm supposed to be an Autobot!" The red mech shouted, "I'm supposed to seek peaceful solutions wherever possible, not seek the blood of our enemies for sport!"
"I was a Pit-fighter, Cliffjumper." He spat, rising from his berth to push his servo into the Autobot warrior's face where the mech had risen in his rage, "You think what we did out there was despicable? You think what we did out there will take vorns to atone for? Not long ago, I would have called that a mercy kill."
"That doesn't make it right!" Cliffjumper yelled, attempting to shove the much larger fighter jet away.
"You're right!" He roared, towering a good head and shoulders over the mech, waiting for his words to click in the red warrior's mind before going on, "It doesn't make it right. It doesn't even make it better. But for the first time in my life, here with the same mechs I've battled for decavorns, I can dare to hope that I can atone for what I've done. It will take a life-time, but if I can eventually be an Autobot, I will be able to redeem myself."
"Do you realize how that feels? To have hope of being someone better for the first time?" Skyquake shook his helm minutely, "Yes, we were wrong. We were despicable. But we can strive to be better. We are in a place where we are encouraged to be better. And as long as every day, we're better people than we were the day before, we win."
Meanwhile.
She stared up at the canopy of leaves overhead, taking in a deep vent of air as she listened carefully. Not to anything in particular, just listening. Terabyte could feel the peace and calm in the atmosphere seeping into her and soothing her troubled spark.
The small femme crouched down in the center of the forest, reaching down and grabbing a handful of the tiny pine needles that blanketed the forest's floor, muffling the sounds of the creatures that inhabited it. She shifted slowly to sit down properly, making sure to not disturb the organic inhabitants that had grown accustomed to her presence.
Birds were chirping and singing all around her, and the sunlight sprinkled down through the leaves in clear, sparkling rays that warmed her frame with their soft caress. She sighed.
She had allowed the stresses of recent events to get to her. Normally that didn't happen. She needed to get a grip on herself. She had too much to be thankful for to allow such stress and lack of self-control to take root.
The two-wheeler fingered the Autobot insignia at her belt with a small smile behind her mask. Redemption was possible, with this insignia and the cause it stood for. The cause she'd always thought she was fighting for. For peace and freedom for all Cybertronians, a world without hate, prejudice, and pointless violence.
It was a lot to hope for.
"But maybe it isn't too much?"
Terabyte started at the little voice replying to thoughts she hadn't meant to voice and looked around, searching for the source as she rose to a crouching position with her fusion cannon ready. Then she looked down beside her and saw a little human girl sitting casually next to where she'd been sitting, seemingly unconcerned by the giant - to her - metal alien with a charged cannon.
The midnight navy and black femme sat back down slowly, watching the girl with a small amount of bewilderment. She powered down her cannon and shifting so that she was seated cross-legged and relaxing her armor to look less threatening. Not that the golden haired child was worried.
"You're smiling, but you're sad, but you're also happy." The little girl stated finally.
She judged the child to be no more than eight years of age. Terabyte reached up to touch her mask, confirming that it was still in place. Her puzzled frown deepened. Her processors informed her that she'd met the girl before, and after a moment's thought, she recalled where from. But there was no way the child would recognize her. She'd been in alt-mode for the whole encounter.
"I saw you at school last year.'' The girl went on cheerfully, "You're that really cool bike, aren't you?"
The femme nodded slowly, debating whether or not she should comm. one of the Autobots to let them know she'd been sought out by a human child.
The girl grinned, punching the air joyously, "Knew it!" She cocked her head at Terabyte before saying, "Hey, don't remember if I told you my name last time, but I'm Taia. What's your name?"
"Terabyte."
"Tera Byte. Okay, cool." Taia grinned up at her briefly before her smile went solemn, "Why are you so sad?"
Terabyte regarded the girl with curiosity, "What makes you think I'm sad?"
"Cause you are."
The femme stared down at the little girl, frowning deeply in thought. Nothing about this girl was quite normal, and yet she could see nothing unusual about her. For all appearance, the gold haired girl in a green knee-length plaid skirt and t-shirt was just your average eight-year-old fleshling.
"Your eyes are really, really sad way down." Taia explained quietly.
"Where are your parents, Taia?" She asked finally, just wanting to take the subject off of herself for a while. The girl's insight was uncanny and it was beginning to make the femme uncomfortable.
"Oh. They aren't here right now..." The girl looked down at the pine needles beside her with a small smile. "They went away when I was really little. I can take you to them if you want?"
"No, no..." Terabyte shook her helm gently, resting a softly restraining hand on the child, who had moved to lead on to her parents. "I... I need me to be our little secret, okay Taia? Can you keep me a secret... for me?"
Taia beamed up at her, her fleshy optics twinkling, "Silly. My parents went away. They won't tell anyone about you, Ms. Byte, they can keep our secret. Besides, you can use your fake-you, if you're really worried." Her expression turned nearly comically stern, "But you have to bring flowers. I won't take you if you don't bring flowers. And they have to be real."
The bemused femme smiled at the child, activating her holoform and grabbing the girl's hand in her own. She blinked and looked around through the holoform's green eyes for a minute to get her bearings. "Alright, I can go with you. And we can pick flowers on the way, okay?"
"Yep!" The girl bounced on her feet before yanking on Terabyte's hand, skipping along towards Jasper.
True to her word, Terabyte and the little girl stopped and gathered daisies and dandelions as they went. Not once did the strange child stop her glowing chatter. One would think the little girl hadn't had good company in months. Every now and then, Taia would reprove her for thinking it necessary to use her 'fake-self', and every now and then, the girl would bring up her inner sadness.
But keeping the girl distracted from unpleasant topics was easy enough to do.
A huge flash of purple in the distance caught her optics, tearing her attention from the little girl to bring her gaze to the horizon, towards the highway from the base. Her holoform froze as the femme stood up in the forest glade and looked around with worry. She was reading a massive Energon spike coming from where the flash of light had been.
Frowning, she returned her attention to her holoform just in time to see Megatron fly over Taia with a scream of engines and the roar of charged guns. She hugged the golden haired little girl close to her holoform, watching the warlord's flight. Thankfully, the warlord's attention seemed to be placed on some other goal.
Even more thankfully, he didn't see her frame standing distracted and helpless in the center of the forest.
She held the girl out at arm's length, glancing up at the sky with worry. "Taia, I can't go see your parents with you today. I need you to go home as fast as you can. Don't go anywhere except home. Promise me you'll go straight home."
"O-okay... What's wrong? Who was that jet?" Taia asked, Terabyte's voiced concern causing the girl to worry. "Do you know him? Are you in trouble?"
"I'll be fine, Taia. Just promise me you'll go home, okay?"
The girl nodded firmly, her tone confident, "Promise. See you later! Maybe I'll come to your place next time."
Watching the little girl walk down the road towards Jasper, Terabyte waited until she'd gone around a city block before letting her holoform fizzle out.
/Ratchet, what is going on? I just saw Megatron air-strike someone up the highway and fly off the horizon./ She commed, tagging an urgency code to bring it to his attention at a higher priority.
/I don't know what Megatron's up to, but it can't be good./ Ratchet's glyphs were quickly sprawled and minorly distracted. /They're building a space bridge. He has the plasma injector and injector coils, the neutron shield, the *Tesseract... Prime has a team at a power plant in Texas keeping them from getting a power source./
She pursed her lips, scowling as she transformed and sped off towards the blast point as fast as she could get her engines to go, ignoring the humans that screamed as she sped down the highway. She was going fast enough that none of them would have been capable of noticing her lack of a driver.
Arriving at the blast point, the femme flipped up out of her alt-mode and landed crouched down in the center of a very large black ring of ash and energy weapons' residue. Running a brief scan on it, Terabyte frowned. There were traces of Dark-En in the ash.
With the right technology, she would likely be able to discover who the target had been. Seeing as she didn't have that technology, the femme filled a small vial with ashes and stood up, glancing up into the sky, just in case.
She had made it very clear that she was no longer a part of the Decepticon cause.
Last time, they had taken in her in and twisted her memories. Who knew what they would do to her if they captured her again.
/Ratchet, I am on my way back to base. I have a sample of the residue from the blast I saw... it shows trace elements of Dark Energon./
/Rafael's been hurt, I'm sending a bridge./
Moments later a portal swirled to life in front of her. Glancing around one last time, Terabyte darted through, running into the base, straight toward the med-bay.
Rafael lay pale and motionless, dwarfed on the huge, Cybertronian-sized berth. Purple rings had formed under the boy's closed eyes. A quick scan showed the boy's vitals to be critically low and only getting worse.
"Rafael is not responding..." Ratchet muttered, pacing back and forth by his tool shelves, "We need to run a full diagnostic on his assemblage- eh, vital statistics."
The medic roared in frustration, "My tools are all wrong!"
Glass shattered beneath the wrench as the medic slammed it into one of the cooling cabinets. Very calmly considering the situation, Jack pulled out his phone and said firmly, "We need to call my mom."
"Your mother may be a nurse, but does she know anything about the effects of Energon on the human body?!" Ratchet snapped, his vents heaving as he plainly started to panic as Raf's vitals dropped a little further. "Wh-"
"Do you know anything about the human body?" The eldest human retorted, dialing his mother's number and pressing it to his ear, "Mom, Raf's hurt... It's urgent!"
The short call finished, Jack looked up at the two Cybertronians, his face squished up in worry. "She's on her way."
Terabyte ran a scan over Raf again. She scowled, "Ratchet, how was he hurt?"
"Megatron." The medic said, letting out a grave sigh, "Raf was in Bumblebee's cab when he was attacked with an Energon ray. The ray's effects must have spread to him."
"No..." She whispered, touching the back of one servo to the boy's feverish face. Rising to look Ratchet in the optics, Terabyte held up the ash sample she'd collected from the blast site. "Ratchet, there were traces of Dark Energon in the residue of the blast... Raf is not just infected with Energon - which is harmful enough to humans - he's infected with Dark Energon."
"It would seem we are all out of our league here." Jetfire commented quietly from where he had left off from his work on the synth-En formula to watch the sick child.
After the longest five klicks Terabyte had ever gone through, the screech of an earth vehicle slamming on its brakes on the glossy concrete reverberated in the chamber.
Jack ran out to meet her, saying, "Thanks, M-"
Not taking any time for pleasantries, the woman was clearly all business now, "Grab my bag!"
The woman ran to where Raf lay, looking over him quickly, checking his pulse with swift, practiced movements. Within moments, June had a portable hospitable set up around the unconscious boy.
"Measuring the rate and extent of absorption should determine the proper course of treatment-" Ratchet started to suggest.
Cutting him off with an authoritative tone that left no room for debate, Nurse Darby said, "If I don't get this boy stabilized now, he's not going to make it off this table alive. Do you understand me?"
"You heard the femme, get the med-bay cleared, now." Terabyte ordered, not bothering to acknowledge that she didn't actually have the authority to do so. Not long after, she heard a crash of metal on concrete.
"How may I be of further assistance, Nurse Darby?" The spy questioned quietly, not wanting to disturb the woman's work.
"Unless you can transform into a life-support pod, or have some other method of sustaining his vitals, the best you can do it stay out of my way." The woman snapped back, still working busily over the boy.
Wincing behind her mask at the nurse's tone, Terabyte let her armor tighten around her slightly in fear for her little human friend. "I have a form of regenerative scan that enhances existing cellular repair and reproduction that would serve to sustain and strengthen his respiratory and circulatory systems."
"Great. Use it."
Doing as ordered, the small femme activated the optical implant and set her systems to sweep the healing rays over the boy, her red optics brightening substantially as she did so. It would not be able to prevent or even slow the spread of the Dark Energon in his blood, but it would at the very least strengthen the boy's bodily defenses and prolong his life until Ratchet and Nurse Darby were able to find a cure.
If they even could.
"It is too soon to know." Ratchet said in response to an unheard communique, most likely from the Prime. He huffed, "Not mine, Optimus."
"Curse my Cybertronian pride." The mech sighed, his tone indicating that he blamed himself for Raf's danger, "We've accepted these humans into our life, yet I bothered to learn so little of their science or medicine."
The red and white medic glanced back at Raf, who was still being bathed in the regenerative red light of her optical scanning. "And I have grown to need him."
Terabyte's optics flickered, briefly interrupting her scan. A warning popped up on her HUD, telling her what she already knew, which was that the optical ray was not meant to be held in constant use for long periods of time. The energy requirements that the frequency called for were taxing her systems, draining her power at a rapid, steady rate.
She sat down shakily on the edge of the med-bay berth, taking care to keep the healing light on the pale, unconscious boy. His breathing was getting weaker, and the human spark monitor beside him beeped erratically, suggesting his spark pulse was inconsistent.
"Jack, help me get Raf into the car." Mrs. Darby called calmly, her tone beginning to show a portion of her worry, "He's going to the emergency room."
Ratchet shook his helm, holding out a restraining hand, "Nurse Darby, your doctors won't be able to comprehend what's afflicting him - not without a decade of study."
"At least." Jetfire put in crisply, "Your kind are quite amazingly primitive; it is quite fascinating, actually."
One hard glare from the midnight navy and black femme quickly silenced the older scientist. June sighed, "I don't have time to argue."
"The effects of an Energon blast on an Autobot can be devastating enough, but this is a human." Ratchet muttered, repeating what they all already knew. "Especially with this being Dark Energon... I hate to admit it, but I am too far out of my professional league for comfort."
"The Dark Energon appears to be taking over and mutating the organic's blood to better support it." Jetfire muttered, staring through Ratchet's microscope at a blood sample he had apparently acquired without their noticing. "The methods being used are ingenious, and the Dark Energon is only growing stronger the more resistance it faces. Fascinating."
"The 'organic' is our friend!" Miko shouted indignantly, kicking the white jet's foot futilely.
"If Dark Energon is devouring Raf from the inside out, we must expel it and fast: the only possible way I know how." The medic said firmly, digging through his supplies until he found the life-En extractor syringe. "I need Energon."
"W-wait." Jack said, holding up his hands, "I thought you said processed Energon was devastating to humans?"
Terabyte's optics at the Autobot medic's plan as she continued running the regenerative frequency. "It is. Ratchet, this is not safe, and it will not be without consequences."
The medic glared right back at her, "Under normal circumstances, yes. But I am relying upon the dark matter currently invading Rafael's body to meet it head on."
She stood up shakily, ignoring the protests on her HUD that demanded she stop the abnormal power drain. She was already down to fifty percent and her helm ached behind her optics. Ratchet had already drawn a syringe full of Bumblebee's life-En and was prepping the CR chamber. "The two will not cancel each other out completely; there could still be severe side effects! I cannot and will not allow you to do this, Medic. We have no idea how Energon or Dark Energon will affect the human body, and we definitely have no idea what a combination of the two will do!"
"And Rafael doesn't have time for you to argue with me!" Ratchet roared back, drowning out the frantic yelling of the humans as they moved Raf into the cryo-regeneration chamber.
Before Terabyte could say or do anything to stop him, the medic injected Bumblebee's life-En into the CR chamber and clamped the doors shut with Raf on a human medical berth inside.
The chamber whirred to life, the high-frequency squeal of its engines escalating in intensity until the sound had the two-wheeler doubling over and holding on to her highly-sensitive finials to block it out. It was likely that no one else present could even hear it. Suddenly as the screeching reached its peak, a brilliant flash of white light filled the room for a klick before fading out, leaving everyone present blinking and rebooting their optics.
As Terabyte was still recovering from the audial piercing scream of the oddly modified CR chamber, Nurse Darby ran in and stood by Raf's side, checking his pulse and wiping his hair from his pale, sweaty face. She ran in to watch the boy with concern and hope, just in time to hear a soft sigh from him.
June smiled faintly, letting out a relieved sigh of her own, "Pulse is stabilizing."
Raf struggled to open his eyes, looking up at his yellow guardian with a weak smile, his voice wavering as he said, "Bee?"
The scout whirled and blipped in an exultant, meaningless string of clicks and beeps before saying, "Raf! Thank the Allspark you're okay!"
Terabyte ran yet another quick scan of her own on the boy, her ruby optics narrowing. His over all vitals had altered themselves minutely, and if she wasn't mistaken, his DNA didn't look exactly the same. She could easily just be misreading her scans or she could have faulty sensory data. It was very possible, given how little she understood human physiology.
But she had a nagging suspicion in her spark that that was not the case.
"Optimus, we did it." Ratchet said quietly, actually genuinely smiling.
She shook her helm, pressing cool servos to the side of her aching helm; instantly attracting the medic's attention. Not bothering to try to escape the medic's care, the two-wheeler sat down on the medical berth with a sigh.
"Terabyte, your audial array is damaged and you're showing signs of a rapid energy drain. Too rapid to be healthy." His scolding tone was softer than normal, most likely an effect of Raf's recovery. "That regen-ray was not meant to be sustained long-term, was it."
The femme shuttered her optics, knowing the medic already knew the answer to that. "I'm fine. I will adapt and recover."
"That's what you do, isn't it. Adapt."
Her gaze shot up to stare at the medic's sharp tone in question. "I do not believe I quite understand what you-"
"No, you wouldn't." Again the mech's bitterness shocked her, causing her brow to furrow in confusion as he went on, "You exceeded your boundaries, Terabyte."
"I was wrong to attempt to give you orders in the manner that I did." She apologized easily, meeting the medic's gaze with her own determined optics. "However, I do not regret my actions, nor do I revoke my afore stated opinions. This will not be the last of this incident, Ratchet, and you are not half the medic I hold you to be if you cannot see that this will have consequences."
"There are no more signs of Energon in Rafael's blood-stream." Ratchet replied firmly, his tone declaring the end of the discussion, "He is cured."
She slapped away the medic's hand as he reached to take a closer look at her still-ringing audials, "I scanned him! His vitals and his very DNA have been altered!"
"Well within acceptable parameters!" The medic yelled at her, his turquoise optics blazing.
"Do you even know what 'acceptable parameters' are for fluctuations in human genetic structure?!" She countered, pushing herself to her pedes in spite of the larger mech's attempts to prevent her, "You may have the science, but I have the math. The math that says there is no way in this galaxy or the next that pumping a human full of highly processed Dark and regular Energon - well-established to be lethal to organic life - will go without major repercussions!"
Outside of the med-bay where they were having their heated debate, Terabyte heard Jetfire mutter something along the lines of there being some minor disagreements to hammer out. Physically -given the 'older fellow's' reputation. It also sounded as though Bulkhead had bridged in.
"I DON"T CARE about your math or your repercussions!" The medic bellowed, making the tiny femme's armor clamp down tight as she involuntarily cringed away from the brandished wrench that had seemed to materialize in Ratchet's hand. "You are a defector, whose calculations are flawed, and you would do well to shut your mouth and remember your place!"
She trembled under the mech's rage, her armor pressed into her frame and her arms stretching up into a defensive position as against her will she braced herself for the blows that seemed so close.
"Yes, Medic." She whispered faintly, her scarlet optics now gazing up at the mech with trepidation.
He blinked, and then his whole demeanor melted down, leaving a weary, reconciliatory medic with a deep sadness behind his optics. Terabyte went painfully stiff as Ratchet wrapped her in an apologetic embrace, mumbling, "I'm sorry..."
As he stroked the back of her helm as though she were a frightened sparkling, the two-wheeler didn't relax in any way, her aching finials taking in the soft words of apology and comfort that the medic was mumbling repeatedly. At last when he seemed to realize that she was not going to relax, Ratchet stepped away with his helm down and his armor slack.
"I'm sorry." He repeated quietly.
"I know." Terabyte replied just as quietly, her tone still icy and unforgiving. "I am not. This decision will not come without a price, and I dread the day that we learn what that price will be."
*The Tessaract! I know, right? But seriously, it's canon! My sister and I had a serious fit of fangirling over that one; had to go back and replay that sentence just to be sure when we watched the episode...
Just a reminder, my Duty and Deceit updates will remain bi-weekly due to writing two stories at once.
Fav, follow, and review - it spurs my author's will and keeps the writer's block at bay! - and I'll see you all again next update!