Enemy of my Enemy

Chapter 2: Desperate Measures

"Come on, buddy, hang in there." Miko sobbed and struggled to see through the tears obscuring her vision. She scrabbled for a handhold on Bulkhead's enormous body, found one, and grasped the edge of the doorway to Knockout's lab. She pulled, the lack of gravity and the servos in her armor enabling her to tug her partner through the air. He inched forward and his left shoulder caught on the doorway. She kicked off from the doorway, floated across his chest, and thumped into the far edge of the frame. She put her back to it, braced her boots on his shoulder, and pushed, nudging him ever so slightly away.

Just enough to clear the door frame.

She fumbled for another handhold, couldn't find one, and tried to hold back more tears of frustration. She glanced around the lab and found Starscream floating in the air, still out cold. She kicked off from the wall, zipped over to him, and grabbed onto his outstretched hand. She pulled herself along his arm until she reached his shoulder, then she found something to hold on to, cocked her right leg back, and drove it into the side of his head.

"Wake up!" She kicked him again. "Wake up, goddamn it!"

After five more kicks, his optics finally opened and his mouth contorted as it tried to form a word.

"Hhhhhhhh ..."

"So glad you could rejoin us!"

"Huh?" He blinked, shook his head, and glanced around. "Well, I'm so sorry I nearly got my brain fried while--"

He saw Bulkhead floating in the doorway and stared for several seconds.

"Oh. What the hell happened to him?"

"He got shot in the back." Miko sniffed and turned away so he wouldn't see her weeping. "Pull him in here so he won't take any more hits."

Starscream arched a brow plate at her, shrugged, and dragged Bulkhead into the lab. Then he took note of the exit wound in Bulk's chest. "That wasn't done by the typical Vehicon blaster."

"It was a new 'Con we'd never seen before. Big, bug-lookin' thing."

"What?" Starscream's optics opened wider and his mouth hung open. “B--bug?”

"Arcee called it an Insecticon."

Starscream's optics opened even wider and his mouth stretched into a gaping rictus. He gibbered, pulled himself over to the door, and peeked into the corridor. He jerked back almost immediately and aimed a panic-stricken look at Miko.

"Fuck!"

"You didn't know they were here?"

"I've kind of been out of the loop for the past few months." He looked at the hole in Bulk's chest again. "Their weapons appear to have been upgraded. That looks like a single shot."

"It was. Happened right in front of me." Tears filled her eyes again.

"They couldn't do that before. It would take several hits to do this kind of damage, even for one of them." His whole body trembled. "Shit."

"Stop panicking." Miko shook her head. "This is your resident mad scientist's lab, right? Well, there's gotta be something in here that can help."

"Uh ... er ... right, of course."

"So pull yourself together and see if you can find something."

"Yes. Right. Good idea." Still shaking, he floated back to the workbenches and cabinets, and began digging through the gadgets he found there.

Miko drifted back to Bulkhead and put her hand on his forehead as the sounds of blasters and human-built weapons resumed, filling the corridors with a deafening cacophony.