Code

Chapter 14: Return

Optimus's POV

I walked into the base and everyone clapped and smiled, glad that I was back.

And I was glad to be back among the ranks of the Autobots, but there were things that needed to be said and done.

David carried Alias over the couch and everyone followed.

"So uh, how do we fix her?" Miko asked as Ratchet scanned her.

"Megatron hinted at what had been done when we in their spacebridge area. I believe Unicron infected her with dark energon." I told them.

"No way. If she had dark energon in her for this long, she would be alive. Much less up and fighting." Ratchet said.

There was a pause as his scan completed.

"Or maybe not."

"So are we going to do the same thing to Alias that we did to Raf?" Nurse Darby asked.

"What we did to Raf was during a life or death situation. Alias is perfectly healthy, but..." Ratchet trailed off.

"Kind of wacko?" Miko asked.

"Yes. And we shouldn't run the risk of exposing her to energon in case it does cause unwanted side effects." Ratchet explained.

"If we leave her like this, she could attack us." Arcee said.

"I don't want a repeat of that." Bulkhead shivered.

"Megatron said that the dark energon was wanning. Perhaps if we kept her in stasis long enough, it could leave her system." I suggested.

"No, she needs to wake up at some point within the next few days. If my scans are doing anything useful, it's telling me that she hasn't had enough to eat or drink for the past few days." Ratchet said.

"We could try to convince her that we are her friends." I suggested.

"Really? You think that is going to break through mind control?" Ratchet scoffed.

"It worked when we were on the Nemesis. Alias only turned against me again when we were directly near Megatron and he ordered her to kill me." I explained.

"That might work, but if she isn't convinced and attacks us, we run the risk of her escaping."

"Well, if Katrina wants anything, she definitely doesn't want to be attacking you guys again. I say we use the energon." David told us.

"I do not want to risk killing Alias to expel the evil control over her mind." I told him.

David huffed, "Well then come up with a solution."

Ratchet glared at him, "We're trying our best. If you want what is best for your sister then you should be more patient."

There was a small groan and we all looked at Alias as she looked around at us in confusion.

"Katrina?" David asked.

She tilted her head at him. "Um."

Ratchet scanned her again, "It seems she is awake, but there is no dark energon circulating through her brain at the moment."

"But it might?" David asked, looking at Ratchet.

"Blood doesn't move slow. She could be back under Megatron's control again in seconds and then back to this amnesic state again before we know it." Ratchet informed us.

"Megatron." Alias muttered. "Lord Megatron."

"No. Megatron is not your lord." I told her.

She looked at me for a moment and squinted, "Orion. Orion Pax."