Infection

Fallen Partners

     I couldn't find the right shades of pencil so I did the best I could. Her are Knockout's and Arcee's tributes to their fallen partner(s).

Bulkhead POV

He was surprised when the monitor beeped and a message from none other than the Nemesis came through a high frequency signal. He answered it immediately being that only he, Ratchet, and Smokescreen were at the base. Arcee had taken Jack to work and Optimus was scouting an energon mine while Miko was in detention and Raf was doing some extra credit. They were both still at school.
Megatron appeared on the screen and said,
"Since Optimus isn't their tell him your scout has served his purpose and I need my medic."
"How do we know you'll just hand him over." Bulkhead said skeptically. By now Knockout had heard Megatron and started whining and roaring while the sound of chains being pulled could be heard down the hall.
"I assume he has not been injured." Megatron said as he looked as far down the hall as he could.
"He's fine." Bulkhead said.
"Good. I will send coordinates." The warlord responded before he cut the connection and a location appeared on the screen along with a time set for the next day.
     "Hey Ratchet!" Bulkhead called running down the hall to get him and explain what had just happened.

June's POV

     She had decided to stop by the base since Jack would be their soon and she wanted to see for herself how dangerous this new relic really was. Se loved her son but sometimes he was a little vague when it came to details on how the autobots were doing and she was worried when he said something was wrong but didn't give much info.
As she pulled in she noticed no one was their to turn off the proximity alarm.
     "Ratchet!" She called to the medic, who wasn't at his station as usual, as she noticed no one was in the main room at all.
     "Hello?!" She called again as she walked towards the med bay.

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     Now some of you are probably remembering what exactly is in the med bay and for those of you who don't... just a heads up.

     I debated ending the chapter here but its too short and I'm not that cruel.
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     June rounded to corner into the med bay and saw a chain on one of the medical berths. She saw one end of the chain but not the other. He curiosity got the better of her and she walked around the berth to see what was chained their.
     She immediately regretted it.
     When she turned around the corner of the berth she saw nothing. She turned back and screamed.
   A red dragon with black and grey highlights along with a bit of yellow was right behind her. It was crouched down low as if it had been stalking her and it roared before lunging at her. She ran left and out of the way as it landed and scrambled for traction before running after her. She ran out of the med bay as it followed. She screamed again as it almost caught her before stopping abruptly.
   Its snarls turned to chokes in a fraction of a second as it reached the end of the chain around it's neck and the chain pressed up against its airway. It reared up and fell backwards as it tried to both get her and breath.
Her medical instincts took over and she ran forward as it stopped moving and laid still on its right side facing her. She pulled the chain off and began to feel for any breaks. She didn't get far.
It's optics snapped open as it lunged and pinned her down with its right paw. It roared and bared its teeth inches from her face as it pushed down on her with its paw.
   It felt like the air was being pushed out of her and she couldn't breath when a shot rang out and her lungs expanded as air rushed into them.
She was lifted of the ground and held in a servo as their was another shot and she looked down to see the dragon half laying on its side submissively. It was clearly irritated and she could see a mark on its side and one on its lips split across its upper and lower left jaw were whoever was holding her had shot it.
The dragon sank to the floor as it's forked tough slid across the mark on its mouth before it slithered back to the berth and sat on it with its head down and ears back.
Bulkhead and another dragon she recognized as Ratchet came running in with Smokescreen, who was also a dragon, not far behind. She looked up to see it was Optimus who had saved her.
"We heard roaring and screaming what happened?!" Bulkhead asked as agent fowler and the kids ran in on the other side of the room. The agent had picked up Raf and Miko while Arcee had just gotten back with Jack. Optimus set her down on the couch were Jack was waiting.
"Mom are you ok?" Jack asked.
"I'm-cough-fine-cough cough-thank you-cough-Optimus." She said as she caught her breath and explained what had happened. They in turn explained their side of the story and what else had transpired while Bulkhead re chained the red dragon who was apparently Knockout.

Knockout's POV

He never intended to kill the human but he was bored and the autobots were surprisingly relaxed around him. When Megatron asked if he was injured he was implying not to injure him further and even though the prime had shot him twice they weren't high powered shots and could be buffed out. He knew Optimus wouldn't hurt him that much because he cared about his scout and had taken advantage of it.
In Bulkhead's rush to see if June was ok he hadn't properly secured the chains and Knockout could slip out if he wanted to. They would see him if he ran out the entrance but he had noticed a lift to the top of the base and mabye he could escape that way.
He waited for them to start talking before he jumped off the berth and walked as far as the chain would go before turning around, pulling it over his helm and laying it quietly on the ground. He then took the lift to the top of their base and, to his disappointment, found it was too high for him to safely jump off of. He also found that the base's shielding stretched a little ways beyond its walls and he could not make his signal visible or open his com link.
It was raining and he was completely soaked. On top of that, the human girls actions earlier had him thinking about Breakdown again and he was reminded of how his partner had a strange affection for earth's rain. He didn't mind it but Breakdown actually enjoyed driving in it.
He tilted his helm back and let the water wash his armor as he decided to wait for the autobots to figure out were he had gone.

Surprisingly, it took them 15 minutes before Arcee came up and found him still sitting in the rain. She raised her gun before approaching but he payed no mind. She studied him and seemed to notice his slightly depressed posture and how he had one paw over the wires on his other. She kept her gun raised but moved closer to a pile of rocks and touched it gently.
"I didn't think decepticons were so close to their partners." She said softly, "I'm... sorry." She choked out, "I know it hurts."
He lowered his helm quietly thinking of how she too had lost partners, one to Starscream and one to Aracnid. He had seen her go after the spider con and wasn't as interested in revnege as she was but it would be sweet.
"You hurt twice as much. I can't image what that's like." He could tell all she heard was him croon but, considering it was the first sound he had made that wasn't a hiss, growl, or roar, he assumed she got the message.
They both shook themselves a little before Arcee raised her blaster and, without a word, quietly followed him back down.
Through the pouring rain, neither one of them saw the single tear that escaped Knockout's optics, or the two that escaped Arcee's.