IX - Toxicity
Earlier…
Aboard The Nemesis, Megatron watched the mechs before him with a calculating optic as he paced back and forth in front of them, servos folded neatly behind his back.
"Each of you is aware of what we seek, and where we shall find it?" The warlord affirmed, receiving solemn nods in reply. "Excellent, then do not keep me waiting. You all are competent enough to handle each situation I have awarded to you, so it would be best to return here with something other than an excuse."
"Understood, my liege." Dreadwing nodded confidently.
Knock Out smirked, twirling his shock prod, "I'll be in and out."
Megatron stopped in front of the red mech, glaring, "Keep your vanity in check, Knock Out."
The medic huffed, and he, the Vehicons and the Insecticon ground bridged into a section of New York's subway tunnels. Dreadwing and his small squadron of drones went next, changing the coordinates to an unassuming point in the Antarctic. He too stepped through the waiting bridge, vanishing in a flash of light. Soundwave glanced at Megatron, knowing his master had more faith in him by opting to not send drones along. The leader of the Decepticons seemed to know what he was thinking, but did not give any indication of doing so other than a light smirk. Taking that as receiving permission, Soundwave entered a new set of coordinates faster than the others had previously, and transformed, flying through the portal.
"My lord," a drone spoke up from another console, meeting the warlord's optics, "there's no one left. Who are you going to send to the fourth set of coordinates?"
Megatron cast him a shrewd look before changing the bridge's targeted coordinates to the fourth relic's location. "If you want something done right," he paused, looking once again at the drone, "do it yourself." And without elaborating upon what he meant, he strutted through the open vortex and it closed behind him.
"Be on your guard, Bulkhead." Optimus cautioned as the green mech charged through the open portal in the Autobots' base. Bulkhead exited the bridge at the foot of a smoking volcano on a remote, deserted island somewhere near the equator in the Pacific.
"Ugh!" He batted at the air in front of his faceplates, "Smells worse than the Decepticon barracks! Fine place to hide a relic." He grumbled, looking around for the relic. He huffed when he couldn't see it, opening a comm, "Base, I can't find any sign of the relic. Can you reconfirm coordinates?"
Raf answered on the other side of the comm, "Triangulating your coordinates…" he typed away at his laptop, "you're in the right spot."
"Then the coordinates are wrong, because there's nothing here." Bulkhead shot back, reaching up to the unit on the side of his helm to close the comm when he stopped abruptly. "But someone's coming." He could tell it was the engine of a ship. "Is Seven coming with me after all?"
"I'm still here." The clone answered on the other side of the comm. His voice took on a graver tone, "But I know who is chasing you."
Raf gulped, "Megatron."
Bulkhead abruptly closed the comm link as said tyrant flew over him, transforming and landing a short distance away from the Wrecker.
"I have to admit," Megatron cracked his neck cables from side to side, "I was expecting Optimus."
"Sorry to disappoint." Bulkhead jeered, and the two began circling each other. The green mech quietly opened a comm, "Hey Raf, if you could send Sev on over here…"
"On it." Came the human's reply and he shut off the link.
"Hear any word from Scream lately?" The green mech asked snidely, trying to keep him busy.
"Oh, you wouldn't happen to know which little hole he's cowering in, would you?" The warlord sneered.
Bulkhead's optics darted over towards a lumpy hill of frozen lava where a ground bridge had just appeared behind, right at Megatron's back. The flash of light was unmistakable, and so were the red tips of a certain Seeker's wings.
"You could say that." Bulkhead sneered with a smirk.
I poked my helm around the side of the hill of frozen lava, really more like a glorified mound. Bulkhead and I locked optics before Megatron stepped in front of me, cutting the green mech off from my view.
"What are you looking at?" Megatron snapped, whirling around to see behind him. I ducked behind the wall of lava, my wings fluttering and intakes coming in quiet pants. Too close, way too close. Megatron turned back to face the green Autobot again, "You will have to do better than that if you are wishing to distract me."
I inched out from behind the lava, blasters charging up and pointed at the warlord's back.
Bulkhead smirked, "Is this good enough for you?" and he jerked his helm at me.
Megatron spun around right as I opened fire. "Starscream, you traitor! Submit to your rightful Lord and master or face the dire consequences!" He began to stride towards me with murder in his optics. My blasters began shaking so badly that each shot missed by feet as he drew closer. "What a shame, dear Starscream." His sword slid out, he was close enough to me now that I could reach out and touch him if I stretched. Instead, I transformed my blasters away and balled my servos into fists to hide their shaking, staring defiantly into his optics. "If memory serves, I allowed to to fight in your last encounter. But this is first time you have willfully stood your ground, and it shall be your last."
"Not if I have a say in it!" Bulkhead roared, bringing his wrecking ball down towards Megatron's helm. The warlord whirled around, blocking it on the flat of his sword.
"I will tear out your vocalizer, as I did your scout's, if it is the only way to prevent you from doing so." Megatron snarled.
"Seven, I'll keep him busy, you go get the relic!" Bulkhead shouted at me. Without thinking twice, I transformed, jetting off in search of the relic.
"NO!" I heard Megatron roar, followed by a clash of metal on metal before the wind tore his voice away.
I pushed my engine to go faster as I shot down the side of the volcano, my optics scouring every foot of the frozen lava for any sign of the relic. Finally, I saw its container, further down the slope than I had anticipated it would have been.
"I have a visual!" I commed to Bulkhead, swooping down and transforming next to it. It sat upright, untouched by the lava around it. I bent down, twisting and tugging on the lid. It was stuck.
"This is just unfair." I groaned, glaring at it.
"What?! Are you hurt?" Bulkhead asked, steel clashing from the other end of the comm.
"No, no, I'm fine." I cut out the link, not wanting to distract him.
I gripped the lid of the container more tightly this time, and tugged for all I was worth. It popped off and I fell back onto my aft. I tossed the the lid aside and got back to my pedes, grumbling and looking into the jar.
The empty jar.
I stared down into it for a quiet moment, unable to believe my optics. "Bulkhead!" I finally snapped into a comm.
"What–" the sound of blaster fire drowned out his voice for a moment, "what is it now, Sev?"
"Don't call me that! The relic is missing!"
"What!?"
"Get over here!"
"No promi–" the comm link abruptly went dead.
"Bulkhead? Bulkhead?! Scrap!" I switched the link off and kicked the container over for good measure before I transformed, soaring off to find out what had happened and in the meantime desperately comming Raf or anyone that was still at the base.
"Seven? What's the problem?" Agent Fowler answered.
"Bulkhead was battling Megatron… he-he isn't answering my comm," I panted, pouring on speed.
"I–" some background noise cut him off. "Hey!" he barked, I got the sense it wasn't at me. The call immediately terminated.
"Agent Fowler? Hello! Is anyone reading me, Primus, you can't just hang up on someone like that, it's rude, you know!"
A crackle of static ensued, and he picked up again. "I needed to quiet the others down, " he explained gruffly. "Now, what was it about Bulkhead?"
I growled to myself, "We're in the middle of a battle and you put me on hold!"
"Sounds more like you're running from it with all that engine noise," he retorted.
"Hardly, running to it would be more apropos. Now shut up, I'm almost there!" I said a bit too harshly, and closed the link. He tried to call me again, but I ignored it.
Bulkhead laid on his front, groaning. His blasters still were out, but Megatron made sure that he wasn't about to use them. The warlord had a pede firmly planted on the brute's shoulder plate and the tip of his sword inches away from the green mech's unprotected neck cables. Bulkhead squirmed beneath his pede, trying to point his blaster at Megatron, but he only managed to wriggle it a little.
"Ah, ah, ah, I wouldn't." Megatron smirked.
"What have you done with the relic?" The green mech growled accusingly.
"It certainly took you long enough." Megatron sneered, "Correct me if I am mistaken; but the only way for you Autobots to locate a relic's coordinates at this juncture is when we Decepticons unearth them. Only then is their signal traceable."
"Sounds about right." The Wrecker grunted as Megatron's pede crushed down harder onto his shoulder plate.
"So if you'll excuse me," the warlord stepped off Bulkhead but his sword didn't move in the slightest, "I have to return to my ship. Best to deliver this powerful, potent new weapon to our vaults. And as for you…" his sword dug into the mech's neck cables.
"He isn't going anywhere but with me!" Seven shouted, tackling Megatron from behind, which was a feat for a mech of his light build.
"Seven!" Bulkhead blinked in surprise, getting to his pedes. Small beads of bright blue energon sprung up where the warlord's sword had nicked his neck cables.
"You can thank me later." The Seeker snarled, jumping up and skittered off of Megatron.
"So, Starscream," Megatron's optics skimmed over Seven's wings, "you have seen fit to change your designation along with your stripes?"
Seven raised his missiles, "That is irrelevant."
The warlord chuckled, "And whom are you to speak of relevance?"
"Where is the relic?" Bulkhead roared, transforming his blasters into wrecking balls.
Megatron's crimson optics, a color that was disturbingly close to the Seeker's, met the blue ones belonging to the green mech. "And why would I tell you?"
Seven had his missiles raised and ready to fire. "Just say the word…"
Bulkhead held up a grenade, "Because I'll make you eat this if you don't."
"I would love to see you try." Megatron rumbled, swatting Seven away with a single swipe and charged Bulkhead. The Seeker collided painfully against a wall of hardened lava that seemed to have sprung up out of nowhere. "I will allow dear Starscream to watch as I tear the very spark out of your chassis, but don't worry. I'll allow you to watch as well." He brought down a heavy fist that caught a furious swing from one of Bulkhead's wrecking balls. The warlord slowly dug into it with his talons, causing the green mech to visibly wince, "And I would make it very slow and painful, be it not that I am pressed for time." And with that, he punched Bulkhead so hard in the center of his chest plate that the metal crumpled inwards, no doubt leaving some serious internal damage.
"Hand over the relic! Reinforcements are about to arrive!" Seven commanded, but he was bluffing. Megatron knew it, and not merely because of the quaver in his voice and blasters.
"That would be difficult, considering I dispatched a small squadron of Vehicons to extract the relic and safely relocate it to the Nemesis before either of you had arrived." Megatron's triumphant smirk shot daggers at the pair of Autobots, while Bulkhead's glare could split rocks.
"Sev…" he groaned, looking to the trembling Seeker, "get back to base. He isn't worth it."
"Yes, Starscream, and go take your precious Bulkhead with you. But the next time we meet, I promise you, I will not be so generous." Megatron sneered, walking through his own ground bridge.
"Seven! Can you hurry up, Arcee and Bee need backup." Raf asked over a comm link.
"Nice timing." Seven said into the link as Megatron's bridge disappeared. Neither of the two attempted to follow, nursing their wounds. The Seeker's were minor, but Bulkhead's… Seven took one look at him and spoke into the comm link again, "When Ratchet gets back, you'll want him to prepare sickbay."
"Well look who's back," Agent Fowler said sarcastically on the other side of the comm.
"I was rather preoccupied!" the clone snapped back, "we're only taking steps to save the world here!"
"Well then, you get to come back to lollipops, stickers, band-aids, and pats on the back."
"Who for?" Bulkhead tried to smirk but it came out as a grimace, "Megatron already left."
Seven sighed loudly, closing the comm, "You, if it has somehow escaped your notice."
"Wouldn't bet on that."
"Shut up and save your strength."
"Glad that you care, Sev."
"I said shut up!"
I dragged my pedes through the ground bridge and into our base, clutching my aching left shoulder plate. It had collided roughly with some sharp edges of frozen lava after I was on the receiving end of a slap from Megatron which had sent me flying. My helm hung low and striped wings drooped in defeat, but I knew that I was needed in the subway tunnels of New York with Arcee and Bumblebee. So far, it had been a long day, but it was far from over. I dreaded what was to come next.
Bulkhead walked through the bridge behind me, limping and clutching his dented-in chest plate. Well, "dented in" was an understatement. Caved in was better suited.
"No luck?" Raf confirmed.
"Megatron was toying with us," Bulkhead growled, "he'd already snatched the relic by the time we got there. It was a total bust!"
I cast a sideways glance at Agent Fowler, "Can I exchange that pat on the back for a participation award?"
"Don't push it."
"Ha! More like you would want a statue erected in your honor!" Bulkhead scoffed, but then fell silent as pain contorted his faceplates.
"Take five, soldier. This one's on us." Agent Fowler suggested. Bulkhead shrugged, leaning against the med berth and shuttered his optics.
I smirked slightly at the agent, "And since when have any members of your government taken credit for anything?"
Agent Fowler evaded the shot, "I guess that makes me the first."
I rolled my optics, jogging through the bridge.
A few hours later…
"All are present and accounted for." Agent Fowler said, looking over the helms of the 'Bots in the room from his perch on the platform.
"Save for Ratchet. Seems like the doc's busier than the rest of us." Arcee pointed out.
Optimus touched a finger to his comm unit next to me, "Ratchet, what is your position? Have you secured the relic?" He asked, patiently waiting for almost a minute after, but didn't receive a reply. The Prime turned to face Raf and I had to step out of the way, wings fluttering in mild annoyance. "Rafael, lock onto his coordinates."
Raf nodded, typing away at his laptop with a fervor that almost made it look exciting. But then he slowed, "I can't find his signal!"
"What?!" Arcee exclaimed. She, Optimus, Seven, Bumblebee, and I all walked forwards to get a better view of the tiny screen.
"But wouldn't that mean he is offline?" My clone wondered, looking to Optimus.
The Prime shuttered his optics and looked away. The mood in the room quickly felt much more bleak and depressed.
My wings drooped, but suddenly a random thought jumped to the front of my processor. "Wait…" I had everyone's attention now, "what if Ratchet's signal is being masked?"
Arcee appeared to catch on first, "Yeah! Like with you and Sev at the Harbinger, you had some cloaking mechanism enabled that shrouded your life signals from our view!"
Seven butted in, "Don't forget that it also hid us from the Decepticons as well."
I stood up a little straighter, puffing out my chest plate. "Yes, I made sure of that."
Knock Out took a deep intake, and opened the doors to the Nemesis' brig. Ratchet hung from the ceiling by chains wrapped around his wrists, his pedes a few feet off the floor.
He looked up, optics burning with cold anger, "What have you done with Wheeljack?"
The red medic twirled his shock prod, "I'm sure Lord Megsy would have put him to use as manual labor somewhere if we had caught him."
Ratchet blinked, holding his helm up a little higher, "Wheeljack escaped?"
"Shh," Knock Out hissed in his faceplates.
"What sick experiments does Megatron have planned for me today?" Ratchet snapped.
"Megatron is otherwise engaged." Knock Out tucked his shock prod away, "but I have an experiment planned for you. Now, if you struggle, it will only make this worse." He transformed out a drill and broke the chains off at the white medic's wrists. Ratchet landed heavily on the floor, staggering a little.
"What are you doing?" He asked, rubbing his wrists and looking at the red medic belligerently.
Knock Out ignored him, "So, part two of the experiment, how fast can you run?"
Ratchet looked at him in amazement, new understanding dawning on his features.
"Faster than you might think." His optics glowed with a fierce determination. "Why are you helping me?"
"Because I feel like it."
"Hmph."
"Shh!" The young doctor hissed as sudden pedfalls of Vehicons grew near. The two medics froze, optics locked on the open doorway. Three drones passed in front of it, glancing in for half a second, then did double takes.
"Knock Out, sir, what are you doing?" The first drone asked, warily transforming out a blaster.
The red medic glanced at Ratchet beside him, "Can you drive?"
"I can do better than that." The 'Bot transformed out his surgical blades and hurled himself at the drones. Knock Out watched in surprised shock as Ratchet dispatched all three Vehicons in a matter of seconds.
Knock Out cleared his throat after the last drone's chassis slid off the other medic's blades, "Remind me to ask for a second opinion if I ever have to undergo surgery at your servo.
"Voluntary?" Ratchet's optics gleamed.
"Of course!"
"I will remind you, if I do not forget." He transformed his blades away, "Are you just going to stand there?!"
Knock Out mentally shook himself, still not quite believing what he was doing. He transformed and drove off, not waiting for the other medic. Ratchet followed suit, sticking close behind him.
"How long will it take for Megatron to find out about this coup?" Ratchet finally hissed from his vehicle mode.
"He already knows, that's without question. Which is why we're racing to get out of here!"
"How can you expect me to trust you?" The ambulance snapped.
"You'll just have to wait and see then, won't you?"
Ratchet grumbled and they swung around a corner, zipping straight between five drones. They were so surprised that they just watched the pair race off before regaining their wits and shooting after them with blasters and thrusters.
The doctors reached a console, still ahead of the drones by a minute or so. "Here!" Knock Out hissed, and transformed, pointing to it.
Ratchet transformed, stalking over so he was right in the red mech's faceplates, seething. "I-I can't just open a bridge to my base! This is the Decepticon warship, in case it's slipped your processor!"
"It hasn't!" The other medic shot back, "Every bridge's activity is monitored, which is why we'll go so some remote corner of this planet and call for a bridge from there."
Ratchet frowned, "Well, be quick about it." Knock Out nodded, focusing on the screen. He entered a few codes and selected a random location on the globe. A ground bridge spiraled open, leading into a corner of Australia.
The white mech looked skeptical, "I'm still not–"
"Megatron will want my helm as much as yours now, so heed your own advice and be quick about it!" The red mech snapped.
The Autobot medic ran through the bridge just as the group of Vehicons appeared behind them in the doorway. Knock Out glanced back at the sound of their pedfalls and yelped, running through and it closed behind him.
Ratchet didn't care if Knock Out was coming. Sure, the young mech had helped him escape and for that he was indebted, but he was a Decepticon. And for that alone, he couldn't be trusted.
So when he ran through the ground bridge, panting, Ratchet delivered a swift punch to the side of his helm that made him live up to his name. The white medic picked up the limp mech and activated a new ground bridge with the remote after closing the previous one.
He ran through it and into the Autobot base, being met with with wide eyes and optics. "He's knocked out," Ratchet smirked.
"Duh!" Miko exclaimed.
Simultaneously, Starscream and Seven realized their mouths were hanging open and closed them quickly.
"Did you retrieve the relic?" Optimus asked as the medic dumped Knock Out on the floor.
"Negative. Soundwave got to it first." The old bot huffed, gesturing to Knock Out. "Let's slap some cuffs on him, chop chop. He's going to be waking up any moment now." Bumblebee went to grab a pair and shut them over the red mech's wrists.
"And Wheeljack?"
"He's fine, but his ship has seen better days, I'm sure."
"Have you guys forgotten about Bulkhead?" Jack asked, pointing at the green mech lying on the med berth in the corner of the room, his chest plate dented into a crater. Ratchet gasped in surprise, hurrying over.
"Hey, doc." Bulkhead smiled a greeting as Ratchet loomed over him.
"Yip, ip, ip," the medic shushed him, "save your strength."
"It's just a scratch."
"Oh, I'm sure." The medic's tone dripped with sarcasm.
The others turned their attention back to the conversation, seeing that the Wrecker was in good servos. It was silent for a moment before Starscream's optics fell on the red medic, still unconscious.
"We should scratch his paint," the Seeker snickered. Miko giggled, Arcee and Seven smirked, clearly loving the idea.
Optimus frowned at him, but that didn't stop Starscream from scraping a talon down the front of the medic's gleaming red chest plate. He stepped back, admiring his work with a smirk. A long, thin scratch stood out like a sore thumb.
"So, we acquired the phase shifter, Apex Armor," Starscream began to count off on his fingers, "and a whole lot of nothing after that."
"Megatron tricked us," Seven protested, "he already had the relic in his vaults by the time Bulkhead and I arrived."
The green mech huffed at that, "You could have been faster." Ratchet shushed him again.
"Did either of you find out what it is?" Arcee wondered.
"If we had, I would have told you." The clone replied cooly.
Ratchet spoke up before the question could be asked twice, "Soundwave got a resonance blaster: a weapon forged by Decepticons and capable of emitting frequencies that can split steel." Suddenly Knock Out's optics powered on.