Author's Note:
Sorry this took so long! Almost forgot it was Sunday, and then my day was busy enough with church all morning, we went through a lot of my grandparents old stuff (so much history! Just looking at all those pictures and old letters!) and then I washed my aunt's car for 20 bucks, so I've had a busy day. Compound that with the fact that this chapter was NOT wanting to come together, it's come up late tonight. ^^
Also, because this chapter was being such a butt, there's this kinda weird jump in the middle, but that's okay. I think it worked anyway. So here it is, it's technically on time! It's still Sunday for me! Granted . . . at 9:40 pm. XD Oooh, Nightstalker confrontation with Megatron . . . where will that lead us? Muah-ha-ha . . .
"Nightstalker? Nightstalker! By the All Spark, wake up, or so help me I will have you strung up by your peds!"
Nightstalker fluttered her eyelids, frizzy optics focusing in on Ratchet's scowl. Her spark leapt to her throat. She jerked to a sitting position. "Bee—!"
Her helm smacked against Ratchet's, and she groaned, staggering to her feet. "Ratchet, Bumblebee!"
"I know!" he snarled, quickly going to collect Raf. "I fear the time he spent in Megatron's mindscape is causing him to think like a Decepticon."
"Bee's not a 'Con!" Raf declared hotly. Nightstalker stared at them, her spark rate rising again as she remembered that touch to her chin. She swallowed.
"Agreed," Ratchet said to the young human. "But we need to find out exactly what Bumblebee intends to do with that shard—" Ratchet paused, holding Raf. His brow furrowed. "Nightstalker, are you sure you're all right?"
Her lips trembled. She shook her head. "R-Ratchet . . . Bumblebee—that's not Bee."
Ratchet carefully sat Raf down above the bridge, frowning seriously at her. "What do you mean?"
"That—" Nightstalker took a steadying breath, and she fluttered her wings nervously. "That wasn't Bee," she whispered. Guiltily, she looked up at Ratchet. "That—that was Megatron."
A stricken look crossed Ratchet's face. "But that can't be—" He stopped in the middle of his sentence, snarling to himself, "The only one who knew of the dark energon was Megatron . . . How could I have been such a fool!"
Nightstalker jumped into action, following Ratchet as he explained to Raf the two-way conduit of the cortical-psychic patch. Bumblebee returned to his own mind, but Megatron followed.
Thus, jumping through the ground bridge to the last coordinates Bumblebee used, Nightstalker froze with Ratchet and Raf.
The NEMESIS.
How was it that she kept coming back to this place? "He probably went straight for his body," Nightstalker whispered. She gestured furiously. "Come on!"
She was sure if it had just been Ratchet he could have made it there on his own—the amount of trashed Vehicons was ridiculous. They were actually very close to the medical bay—within a minute or two they were there, watching Bumblebee hook himself to Megatron—or, Megatron hook him to himself.
Ratchet rushed him before Nightstalker could. "Don't hurt Bumblebee!" Raf cried out.
"That's not Bumblebee!" he snarled back. He took one swing before the scout's body duck and mashed his fist with such a powerful swing it sent Ratchet flying across the room. Nightstalker stood, jaw gaping with indecision before she realized too late—Raf wasn't next to her.
"Bumblebee, no!"
She darted after him. "Raf!"
However, she was startled to see Bumblebee turn around, dark energon clutched in hand. "Remember who you are," Raf pleaded. Nightstalker skidded to a halt behind him, spark pounding ridiculously hard. "Remember me! I know you always listen to me, no matter what!"
Nightstalker stood immobile and half crouched while a series of contradictory expressions chased across Bumblebee's face. This . . . it was working! Bumblebee's optics focused back in on him a moment. *Raf? Raf, is that you?*
"That's right, Bee!" he said eagerly. "It's me!"
Bumblebee cried out and clutched his head, staggering around several steps. A belated moment later, it registered to Nightstalker that he was fighting Megatron in his mind, fighting for control of his own body. *I—Raf, I—Nights! Raf—!* He collapsed on his hands and knees.
Then, with an easy slap, Raf was knocked halfway across the room. Nightstalker instantly turned her back on Megatron and cried out, "Raf!" She took a defensive crouch in front of him, uncertain of what she could possibly do to MEGATRON of all bots.
Without truly knowing what to do in battle, Nightstalker stood as a ward between Megatron and Raf, but he ignored them and simply went for Ratchet who had disconnected his life support. Nightstalker shrieked, dodging Ratchet when Megatron literally threw him across the room and nearly into her.
She watched, stupidly, helplessly while he plunged the dark energon into his body's chest, and before she knew it, the cortical-psychic patch was finished. Megatron opened his optics.
Everyone backed up when he sat up. Nightstalker found herself in the front, backing up the dizzy Bumblebee, Ratchet, and Raf because somewhere in her she believed that he wouldn't harm her. Stupid . . . but true. Her neck craned back to keep her sights on his face.
She barely registered the Vehicons rushing into the room, no doubt tipped off by Soundwave. Megatron didn't even glance at the three Autobots in the room with him. His hateful glare cut through everything.
"Decepticons!" he declared on a snarl. "You're rightful lord and master has returned!"
All of them literally stayed out of his way as he stalked past. He paused, giving them all a scathing glance, but his optics lingered over Nightstalker. She swallowed uncomfortably, wings fluttering like mad.
"Finish these pests!" he ordered, and Nightstalker's optics popped open wide. He prowled like a predator to the doorway. Nightstalker stared at his back, shock slowly spilling through her system. He growled darkly, "I have my own extermination to perform."
He was just barely out of the room when the Vehicons erupted into gunfire. "Holy Primus—!" Nightstalker cried out when a bullet smashed into her shoulder, knocking her to the floor the pain was so forceful and unexpected. Groaning and forcing herself to grit through the pain, she ducked behind Bumblebee while Ratchet tucked Raf to his chest and ran for some semblance of safety.
"Follow him!" she ordered Bumblebee, ducking low as Ratchet crawled forward through the ducts that she had used the last time she had been on the ship. "Ratchet, go straight!"
They crawled quickly through the ducts, Nightstalker ordering Ratchet here and there until she got them out into a, luckily, vacant hallway. "This way!"
She ran ahead, taking her blade out of her arm and clutching at her wounded shoulder. Energon leaked from her systems, and she clenched her jaw tightly.
*Nights? Are you okay?*
"Shh!" she hissed, checking down the next hallway. Primus knew if they were fliers, they would have been off the ship already, but she couldn't risk Ratchet or Bumblebee taking the jump off the ship to the ground when they had Raf. Even at the low altitude the NEMESIS was at, she didn't trust it. It was still too high.
Nightstalker pressed herself to the side of the wall, peeking over to the hallway that she had purposefully brought them too. She flinched back, swallowing hard for courage when she saw two Vehicons. She signaled Bumblebee, and he nodded.
Of unspoken agreement, they attacked as one. Nightstalker burst from cover first as Bumblebee open fired on the first and closest Vehicon. Transforming inside the spacious halls of the warship, Nightstalker used the speed to throw herself into the farther Vehicon. She landed feet first on his chest, knocking the guy to the ground before she rolled off from too much speed. Quickly turning back, Nightstalker raised her blade for what she hoped was a killing blow at his neck, but she gritted her teeth when the Vehicon grabbed her wrist, holding her slash back. Nightstalker gasped, and then she screamed in pain when the larger Vehicon took advantage of her and slammed his fist into her wounded shoulder.
A blast made him collapse on top of her. Nightstalker fought for breath, warning signals flashing in front of her optics. She shoved them away, heaving in deep breaths when Bumblebee threw the dead Vehicon from her.
"Thanks," she gasped out, taking his hand to get herself to her feet.
Ratchet's optics widened. "Escape pods!"
He went for the closest one, entering it immediately, and Nightstalker pushed Bumblebee towards it. "Get in!"
*But—*
"There's enough room for you both!" she persisted, pushing him in. When she shut the door for them, Bumblebee's optics widened in horror.
*Nights—!*
"Seeker!" she shouted back at him, and slammed her fist on the button to drop them. The door to stop the sudden suction of pressure almost caught her wings when she dropped through right after them, but Nightstalker transformed and flew after them—and almost got hit with another plane.
Jerking back, Nightstalker hovered uncertainly when she saw Starscream transform and crash on the wing of the NEMESIS. Megatron's eyes flickered to her, unsurprised that they got away, actually, but he didn't dwell on it.
He was LETTING them get away. He didn't care.
She saw his fierce red optics pin to the cowering Starscream with terrifying hatred, a sinister light glowing in them.
Megatron bypassed her, and Nightstalker didn't have to take a moment to understand what was going on there—instead, she darted down to the ground where the escape pod had crashed down.
Bumblebee was pulling himself up and out, and his blue optics collided with her. *Nights* he cooed in relief. She nodded dumbly, not sure what she was nodding for, but she was; and she was holding her throbbing shoulder. Bumblebee tinkled a laugh, pulling himself out of the pod.
*Nights, I think it's about time we found the others*
Oh crap.
Nightstalker leapt to her feet when she saw Miko, Jack, and Raf all running through the ground bridge. Fragging slag! What were they thinking? Then, it hit like a baseball bat.
Zombie Decepticon.
Of COURSE Miko was going to want to go see that in person! And she didn't even want to THINK about why Jack and Raf were both after her, possibly to protect her, she didn't know—Primus help them all! They could only get a week of no activity before the kids pulled a stunt like this? Nightstalker squeezed through the ground bridge just as the unsuspecting Arcee shut it down.
Nightstalker froze when she saw the backs of Cliffjumper, Bumblebee, Ratchet, Bulkhead, and Optimus all congregating together to see what foils Megatron had in store with his dark energon. Nightstalker gritted her dentures, and crawled up the slew of rocks the humans had, crouching above them just as she heard Bulkhead burst, "That's not Megatron!"
Nightstalker's jaw popped when she saw Starscream fused with dark energon, and a clear dark energon pulse emitting from the ground. " . . . could be my only chance to take some snaps." Nightstalker looked down on the three humans she was crouched above. Miko's hand went for her phone, and she jerked straight. "My cell phone! I must have dropped it back at base!"
"Yeah, that won't be the only thing you lose if we don't get ourselves out of here!" Nightstalker hissed to her. All three humans jumped at her voice, looking up with wide eyes. "What were you guys thinking? Wait—don't answer that. I—" Nightstalker shrieked slightly when Starscream suddenly open fired on the Autobots, and the explosion rocked the ground. She tumbled backwards before righting herself, scrambling back up to protect the humans.
"You cannot harm me while dark energon flows through my veins!" she heard Starscream gloating to them, his voice carrying eons through the valley.
However, Miko was hot and in Jack's face of all people, shouting, "I can't believe you made me lose my phone!"
Nightstalker crawled back up just in time to see five Autobots staring at her and the humans. "Scrap," she muttered, and accessed her communicator. "Hey, Arcee, if you're missing me and the humans, they followed the bots. We need a ground bridge."
It blasted open immediately, and oddly, another with it. Nightstalker's gaze jumped in between them until Ratchet shouted out, "You four! Into our ground bridge! Now!"
"You heard the mech!" Nightstalker growled, picking up Raf and sitting him on her shoulder almost too small to carry him. "Here we go!" Snatching up Jack and Miko in her hands, Nightstalker went straight for it, saying, "And now look! I'm included in your blunder! I'M going to get blamed for—!"
Nightstalker paused in her angry tangent as she ran through the ground bridge . . . STILL ran through the ground bridge. She stopped, eyes dilating. "Why aren't we through yet?" she whispered. She drove forward again with all her might, but they should have LONG been into the base again. By this time, Nightstalker's optics were darting around inside the morphing bridge that was quickly becoming unstable.
"What's happening?" she heard Jack cry out.
"Nights—"
"I don't know!" she shouted above the whine of the bridge, "but we gotta get out of here!" Turning back around since it wasn't letting her get to the base, Nightstalker ran for the exit they had come in from, but the energies literally licked over her they were going so haywire. What in the name of Primus is happening?
The collapse of the ground bridge happened so suddenly she almost didn't have the time to react. Nightstalker hunched over her three humans, and the bridge exploded.
Nightstalker's eyes glitched back to focus. Blinking rapidly as the dust settled around them, she dilated her eyes several times until they focused on the worried faces of Jack, Raf, and Miko.
"Uhh . . . What just happened?"
Nightstalker looked up at Bulkhead who . . . seemed discolored. No, everything seemed discolored. Nightstalker looked up in confusion. Hadn't there been a sun just a second ago? Now it was all . . . cloudy.
"I can't be certain," Ratchet said slowly, "but if two ground bridges sent to the same coordinates crossed streams, the feedback could have triggered a system overload."
Nightstalker rubbed her forehead tiredly. "And thus, the bridge exploded."
"The kids made it through, right?"
Nightstalker froze at Bulkhead's assumption. "Guys . . ."
Miko scowled, shouting, "Bulkhead, we're right here!"
Nightstalker's jaw popped. No. Way.
Optimus touched his communicator. "Arcee, did Nightstalker and the children make it safely back to base?"
Nightstalker slowly began to fan her wings as dread caught up with her. "No sign," Ratchet answered. Nightstalker tried to patch through to them, but she was met with only an angry static. "You guys? Cliff! Cliffjumper, can you hear me?"
Cliffjumper touched his audio receptor. "Hold on, guys, I'm getting something."
Her spark leapt. "Cliffjumper!" she shouted louder. "Cliffjumper, can you hear me? Cliff! Cliff!"
However, her jaw popped open again when he shook his head. "Never mind. It was just a little static."
"Bulkhead!" Nightstalker's optics jumped to Miko at Bulkhead's foot. "What? No sign? Okay, seriously, Bulk—"
Miko squealed when Bulkhead took a step forward. However, Nightstalker was shocked and relived both when he simply stepped through her.
Nightstalker ran after them. "Primus—you guys!" She swiped at Bulkhead too, but her claws went straight through him. She did it for Bumblebee; for Cliffjumper; for Ratchet. She even tried to hit Optimus—but her claws just passed through him. Angry now, Nightstalker slashed harder and harder at him, just wishing his energon would spill when she heard Raf.
"Wait—Different dimension?"
Stopping her furious attack on Optimus, Nightstalker turned back to the kids and knelt down. She poked each one in the chest, and when Miko protested, Nightstalker muttered, "Just making sure I was in the same spot as you guys . . ." Nightstalker froze hearing the bots. No . . . Skyquake? But if he wasn't there, and they weren't there—
Nightstalker jumped eighty-nine miles out of her metal when a hand came around from the next corner. She pressed herself into the alley wall as an utterly monstrous Skyquake ambled along, dripping energon and moaning like a demented creature.
"Zombie!"
However, what Nightstalker WASN'T prepared for, was those kids to go running after Skyquake and the bots about to go through the ground bridge. They shouted out, warning them of the incoming fiend, but Nightstalker's spark froze when Skyquake attacked Bulkhead—
And his arm passed straight through him.
Primus no . . .