No matter how much recharge she got, her illness never went away. In fact, it seemed to worsen from one day to the next.
Just the mere sight of certain types of fuels made her nauseous, and a few sips would send her running to the nearest washroom.
She felt lightheaded most of the time, and her energy was draining much faster than usual. She could hardly finish a training exercise without collapsing on the floor.
A sudden heightening in her sensors really threw her off. She's always had sensitive sensors, but any little sound was setting her off.
She debated running a scan on her internal diagnostics because her illness was starting to interfere with her job.
She was currently in an abandoned facility, typing away on a barely functioning computer.
Reports had come in, saying a few Decepticons had been spotted sneaking around the large facility she was monitoring.
She was sent to infiltrate the base and retrieve any information she could find.
It was a 2-day mission, observation of their routines, then infiltrating their hideout when their guard was down.
Day one went without a hitch. Aside from figuring out their routines, she collected data on where they obtained their supplies.
She discovered that the Decepticons left the base around midnight, most likely to scavenge for supplies and resources. But a couple always stayed behind to guard their base.
She had weaved her way down the long corridors, completely undetected, to a room she assumed was the control room.
Overriding the padlock, she made her way into the dark room, relieved to find a few monitors in a dark corner.
Her servo clicked as a small panel on her wrist lifted a USB. Pushing the small device into its designated port, she began deciphering the encrypted files to allow the data to transfer to the USB.
She perked up at the slightest sound of footsteps walking down the hall.
Fortunately, every last file had been transferred into her USB, and she looked around for an escape route. A tinted window in the corner caught her optic.
Just as she was about to open her escape route, a turn of her engine forced her to stop dead in her tracks. She collapsed on the ground with the sudden urge to purge her tank.
She cursed at the awful timing, took a few deep breaths, and picked herself off the floor.
A pair of pedsteps echoed down the hall, growing louder. Suppressing her nausea, she gathered what little common sense she still had and quickly hid behind some crates.
She heard muffled voices and the beeping of the padlock. Then the door opened, allowing her to see the matte blue and gray paint jobs they had.
She ducked out of view once they began looking around. The clicking of the keyboard resounded in the room.
It was dead silent for a few seconds before she heard one of them arm their blaster.
"Who's there?" His gruff voice reverberated off the walls and into Quickshadow's sensitive audials.
She met his question with cold silence and heard the other Decepticon mutter something.
"Search the room. I'll call for backup."
Heavy peds slowly circled the room while the other bot muttered something into his com-link.
Quickshadow waited for the mech to reach the crates she was hiding behind to meet him with a low roundhouse.
The Decepticon gasped as his frame toppled over the crates she'd been seated behind, and he struggled to get up.
Hearing all the sudden commotion, his partner ran over and practically threw himself at her.
She narrowly stepped out of the way resulting in him hitting his helm on the wall instead.
They growled in disdain and picked themselves up before charging at her once again. They tried to fight her together, but their frenzy of punches was sloppy, making it very easy for her to dodge their fists.
She struck the gray Decepticon on the side of his helm, effectively disorienting him for a few seconds while she threw the blue one over her shoulder pad and into the wall behind her.
She waited for them to get up; she didn't intend to leave them conscious.
Their glares didn't faze her, and she waited for them to mistakenly make the first move.
She saw the blue mech prepare a left hook and was about to dodge it when she was overwhelmed by nausea again.
They saw an opening to strike when her guard was down and took it.
The blue mech successfully delivered a punch to her jaw while the other returned the disorientating punch she'd given him.
A few staggering breaths helped relieve her nausea and the slight disorientation from the gray bot's hit.
She saw a fist flying at her, and her reflexes acted on instinct; she caught the servo before it hit her lower torso.
Deciding to quickly finish them off, she pulled the blue Decepticon by the servo and tripped him. Her servo hit a specific group of neck cables that aided in knocking him out.
She then threw his unconscious frame toward the other bot, sending him crashing to the ground.
Quickshadow moved toward the window and undid the hinges. The sound of a blaster made her step to the side and dodge the blast the gray bot aimed toward her.
He started firing profusely, but she somehow slipped away without getting hit.
Multiple other voices echoed through the room just as she transformed to her Ausley Benton alt mode and sped off.
She reported her findings and locked herself in her chambers for the rest of the day.
That afternoon, she sat on the edge of her berth with uncertainty hanging in the air.
She'd been sick for the past two weeks. It wasn't too bad at first, but now she'd online each morning with an impulsive urge to run to the washroom and throw up, and she couldn't pinpoint the cause.
She couldn't ignore it anymore. She got caught because of it. So she finally decided to run an internal diagnosis to see what the issue was.
Her mind drifted off while she waited for the results to appear on her built-in monitor.
She scrolled through her readings, relieved to find everything was working fine..until she reached the end of the scan.
Her spark skipped a beat, and her optics went wide.
Nothing, absolutely nothing, could have prepared her for the diagnosis.
She read the word over and over in her mind until it fell from her dermas.
"Sparked"
She sunk into her berth sheets, refusing to believe the reality of the situation.
"...Frag"
YOU ARE READING
Back To You
FanfictionHer departure affected him greatly. It had been more than a decade, but Heatwave still couldn't bring himself to move on. She was keeping him in the dark, and it was slowly killing her. She prioritized Heatwave's safety but hated that it meant she h...
