"What a wicked game to play,

To make me feel this way,

What a wicked thing to do,

To let me dream of you,"

>><<

"I'm not leaving you."

"You must. It's already too late. The virus has spread - "

"Ironhide, I am not leaving you." 

"I don't care. I could already be infected right now. Blurr got energon all over everyone when he threw up on his way to med bay. First Aid is gone, and its only a matter of time before we are unable to contain it. We have no cure. You need to be sent off-ship."

"But what if I'm infected? The symptoms don't occur for another few hours. You could be sending a ticking time bomb into space!" 

"There is no possible way. You haven't been in contact with anyone's energon. Chromia, listen to me. You must escape and find other Autobots. Warn them that the Ark has been infected with Cybonic Plague. Don't send rescue teams. It will be too late by then."

"Let me go! Ironhide, you idiot! I am not leaving you to die! There must be a cure, there must! Megatron would never have been so stupid as to engineer a disease without a cure!"

"I'm not risking it."

"Ironhide-!"

"You will forever be my conjux endura, Chromia. Ritus or not."

Her optics snapped back to the screens when they beeped in response to picking up Lockdown's life signal, the femme pulled from her muddled past and brought to the present. Her spark twisted and faltered when she recalled the memory, biting her lip plates as pain throbbed in her chest.

Cybonic Plague. The whole ship had been infected, and it had only been a matter of time before they were all dead. But she had survived, and it was thanks to Ironhide - the stupid, stupid mech.

Her digits curled to form a fist when her gazed rested on Megatron. How the warlord's creation had managed to get on the Ark, to infect her loved ones, she had no idea. But an anger began to swell in her chest.  It was his fault that she was alone.

Everyone was ignoring her, however, Blastwave managing to call Lockdown's attention. The silent mech sent out a signal that he had sent Laserbeak after Lockdown when the bounty hunter realized there was no way he could ever hope to take on Blastwave's ship and survive. They had to give the bloodthirsty monster credit; he knew when to pick his battles.

"So, now we just wait?" Dana asked from her perch, sounding a bit disappointed at the lack of action.

"Laserbeak will send us coordinates the moment he is able to reconnect with his master," Megatron spoke, digits gliding over the console. "After that, I will Groundbridge in along with Chromia, and we will liberate Soundwave from his prison and do away with M.E.C.H once and for all." His denta gleamed. "I will not forgive them for spilling your blood, and taking my most loyal follower."

Ratchet cringed a little, but he said nothing on the matter. As much as he hated the idea of letting Megatron rampage through a facility full of humans and lay waste to them, he hated the idea of allowing M.E.C.H to survive even more.  And though his spark still throbbed with Dana's sense of betrayal, he could not be angry with her; she was in the right to feel that way, though he wished she would see some reason. Without him, she would still be in a wheelchair - or worse, sharing a pseudo-bond with a Decepticon.

"Just use caution," Agent Fowler, unsurprisingly, was fine with the idea of Megatron storming the headquarters. "M.E.C.H has been known to have a few tricks up their sleeves. And Lockdown will still be trying to take off your head."

"I am aware," Megatron gazed at the screen, waiting ever so patiently. He was confident Laserbeak was intelligent enough to find his way inside without detection. Lockdown was somehow able to get in and out of the facility, so it made sense the little drone could do the same. The only problem would be if he could reach Soundwave. 

Their whole plan hinged on that fact.

>><<

Soundwave gazed at the scientists of M.E.C.H with body language that signaled indifference, taking immense satisfaction in their leader - Alpha - becoming increasingly impatient. His refusal to speak was driving them all insane, and the fact that even their electrocution did not phase him made her become more and more red in the face. Clearly, the femme rarely lost her cool, as the scientists were constantly exchanging nervous glances in her direction.

If it had been the Autobots, he would have immediately deleted everything on his drive and shut down, as they had the capabilities to extract the information they wanted forcefully. But M.E.C.H lacked in that area, and even Lockdown was unsure how to make the former Decepticon talk. A plethora of information was at their fingertips, and yet they could not access it.

Despite his usually calm, emotionless demeanor, Soundwave was taking immense delight in watching Alpha scream and her subordinates cower.

Lockdown had left due to their sensors picking up another Cybertronian lifeform, one that was not a part of the group of misfits Soundwave belonged to. Though the name was not uttered Soundwave could assume it was another bounty hunter; Lockdown had left with a few weapons and casually mentioning how he could attempt to form an alliance. And since no Neutral had any business on this planet, the TIC deduced it was a mech or femme of the same profession as his captor.

"Electrocute him again," Alpha hissed, her voice borderline a snarl. "I want him to talk!"

Not a single noise escaped the lithe and silent Cybertronian as thousands of volts coursed through his systems, threatening to fry his circuitry and permanently disable his mainframe. The humans were not idiots, they would only test his limits, but not go over them - not until they got the information they wanted.

Beta watched, still unable to help his cringe. Killing his predecessor had been almost too easy, but the action now haunted him. The ex-Beta was constantly in the corner of his eye, her wide eyes and red blood catching his attention every so often. Alpha had been right; he did not have it in him to kill the woman, but he had to. He wanted to survive, that was all. And it had come with a price he was unsure he was ready to pay.

"Again!" Alpha snarled, becoming increasingly impatient. Beta turned his gaze away as the Transformer twitched and Lockdown re-entered the scene, having only been gone for about two hours. 

"Blastwave refused to cooperate," the bounty hunter growled. "And I was not about to pit myself against him and his ship alone. But, he has exactly what we need: a portable Groundbridge device, a weapons vault, stasis pods, and a ship. The latter being the most important for my needs."

"Soundwave is refusing to provide us with information," Alpha growled, pacing back and forth. "You said he could give us everything we needed!"

"That was if he cooperated," Lockdown snapped back. "But we were played from the start. He will not tell you anything, not unless you can somehow extract it from his processor yourself; but you lack that technology."

Beta felt the need to kick himself a little. He should have hung on to the girl, to the human that was important enough to make even Megatron respond to her beck and call. Yet he had been too busy thinking of his own survival to do such a thing. If they had the girl, then Soundwave would have given them everything.

Alpha growled, her red lipstick smudged a little from her strung-out behavior, the woman all the more agitated. "Then give us the means to do so!"

Lockdown opened his mouthplates to reply, but was interrupted by an odd whirring sound. When they turned to look Laserbeak swooped past them, wing clipping the bounty-hunter's helm for good measure before shooting its master's restraints and settling on Soundwave's chest, the mech's visor coming online.

"Scrap!" Lockdown cursed again in Cybertronian when the lithe Decepticon bolted forward, leaving more destruction in his wake. Scientists screamed and machines sparked as the two titans in the room clashed, Beta scrambling out of the way whilst Alpha screamed orders. Lockdown struggled to regain control, all too aware that Soundwave was an ex-gladiator, one of the best. He needed to get the upper hand, and fast, before - 

Beta looked up, recognizing the green, swirling portal. He shouted for his fellow soldiers to get back, but some heard the warning too late.

Massive blasts of energy rushed from the Groundbridge and decimated whatever got in its way, Megatron stepping through, his fusion canon fully charged, firing again when he caught sight of the M.E.C.H scientists. The smaller Cybertronian Beta had encountered before stepped through, as well as a third he did not recognize, their weapons systems online and focusing on Lockdown instead of the humans. 

The bounty hunter knew he was outnumbered, shoving Soundwave away and transforming into his alternate mode, delving deeper into the labrynth of the M.E.C.H base in hopes of losing them and finding an exit.

"Blastwave, how's your aim?" Chromia shouted above the ruckus. The silent mech knew exactly what she wanted, and without even a questioning glance he offered his hand, allowing her to step on. Using the momentum of his throw and her pushing off, the femme flew towards Lockdown before he could get too far, landing on his jet mode and tackling him to the ground. With only a half second to lose she dodged his servo as he transformed and swiped at her, the angry femme landing a punch in his chest plates. 

Megatron destroyed the laboratories, the machines, the people, ignoring the gunfire from the primitive beings as he laid waste to them. Though his disdain for humanity had exceptions, none of the M.E.C.H members held that distinction, and thus he decimated them indiscriminantly. His fusion canon set several things ablaze, smoke filling the room and depleting the oxygen supply.

Beta stumbled out of the way, having lost Alpha in the chaos long ago, assuming the madwoman to be dead as he desperately attempted to avoid the fusion canon and the sparring titans. His lungs were beginning to sting, and his head spun, leaving the man moving like a drunk through the expansive hanger. The smoke cleared for just a moment, and that was when he locked eyes with the sterling titan.

The Decepticon pulled his lip plates back in a snarl, the canon pointing towards Beta.

"Don't!" He begged. "Please, I only did what I needed to do, to survive!"

"You threatened someone I hold extremely dear to me," Megatron snarled. "And for that, you must be eliminated."

Beta ran, he ran as fast as his numb legs would allow, but the Cybertronian was well practiced, and much faster.

The M.E.C.H operated did not even have enough time to scream.

Chromia grunted in pain as Lockdown finally managed to land a blow, sending the light blue and grey femme flying across the room and smashing into a wall. Soundwave proved to be a bit quicker on his pedes, his flat armor useful for blocking blows, the design allowing the communications officer to take harder hits than he normally would without the modifications. He and Blastwave exchanged turns beating Lockdown back, though the bounty hunter was able to hold his own enough to avoid any killing blows.

The small femme got back on her pedes and charged forward once more, deploying her side arm blades for a more melee-based attack. Her blue optics burned bright, ignoring the few humans which fled in terror. None of them were the female that had tortured Dana and threatened her life, which was a disappointment, but Chromia also trusted that Megatron was taking care of them.

Indeed, Megatron had finished his business here, his optics scanning the wasted base and finding that all of the threats he had wanted to deal with were taken care of. For once he was glad the humans were weak creatures - it made it easier to exact his revenge on them. Hopefully, the rest of M.E.C.H would use this example to cease all operations, or he would not hesitate to make another example out of them. 

His focus switched to Lockdown, the mercenary still standing, and still remaining alive. Because he was being assaulted on three sides, the fourth obstructed by nasty fire, leaving Lockdown trapped; and he would rather die than fail to complete his mission.

The ex-Decepticon grinned, sharp denta glowing a soft orange from reflecting the fire's flames. If that was what Lockdown desired, he would be more than happy to grant the bounty hunter's wish.

Lockdown shoved Blastwave to the side, growling with increasing frustration as his chances to escape became fewer and farther in between, the three pests - the tallest of which only came up to his chest plates - doing their  upmost best to keep him trapped. His systems were warning him that his energon efficiency was dipping, but it was not like he could help it. If he wanted to survive, he needed to keep up and burn fuel.

Soundwave blocked a blow that would have sent him and Chromia flying across the facility, the femme leaping over the intersected arms and punching Lockdown square in the face, sending him stumbling back. The opportunity allowed himself to warm up his canon, pointed it straight at the femme's face.

Chromia jerked aside as a blade suddenly exited from Lockdown's chest, the tip barely touching her cheek as Megatron thrusted the bounty hunter into the air. A gurgled and glitched scream of pain escaped his vocalizer, his servos gripping the lethal weapon as his spark began to stutter and fail.

"You were a fool to believe I would be one to fall easily," Megatron hissed into his audio receptor. "I have survived a Spacebridge explosion, I was raised from the dead after my spark had been destroyed by a mere scout. And unlike you pathetic, opportunistic scum, I have a legitimate, selfless reason to live. That reason will now be your undoing."

With a final twist he ended the threat, Lockdown screaming for only a brief moment before his body fades to grey with the passing of his spark, Megatron sheathing his blade and allowing the corpse to drop. He was met with stunned gazes from Chromia and Blastwave, both of which had never seen the warlord kill firsthand, and now had witnessed it with barely an arm's length between them.

Flicking the energon off of his blade with indifference, Megatron gazed at his communications officer. "Soundwave, Ratchet has prepared medbay for any and all emergencies you may have. Do you require assistance?"

As the buzz of the battle wore off Soundwave's systems alerted him to only a few problematic statuses, mostly weakened wiring in delicate areas thanks to the electric torture. His intake valves were also becoming irritated due to the smoke, but that was a quick remedy. Shaking his helm, the silent mech waiting patiently for Megatron to summon a Groundbridge from Ratchet.

They returned to base to find Dana in the Apex Armor, Ratchet and her doing immediate triage on their team members. Chromia only suffered a few dents and scuffs, nothing that could not be fixed with some repurcussive maintenance. Blastwave had similar ailments, and Megatron, surprisingly, only suffered from slight discoloration from the smoke.

Soundwave needed a little more help, Ratchet giving him an energon cube - which, to the medic's annoynance, had to be given intravenously, as Soundwave refused to remove the visor - and helping kick-start the mech's nanites into action. The partially-melted wires would take a few days to be reinforced, and the shot he had suffered when Lockdown and M.E.C.H had pursued him across the desert had accumulated a little rust that needed to be removed. Otherwise, the communications officer was fine, though he received a scolding for his "reckless" behavior.

When everyone was looked over, Dana returned to her perch on the catwalk, sitting on the edge and looking at the Cybertronians. Her voice, when she spoke, held a little sadness in it, but there was also relief.

"So, M.E.C.H and Lockdown . . . are gone?" She almost could not believe how short the battle had been.

"That branch of M.E.C.H, yes," Ratchet confirmed. "But I would not be surprised if we saw them again."

"I would be," Megatron rumbled. "I made very sure to leave a message for any and all of their operatives that would stumble upon the facility. We are a force to be reckoned with, and the orgnaziation would be fools to think they can try to replicate what the past two leaders have done."

"And, of course, any bounty hunter with a working processor will steer clear of Megatron. If Lockdown was unable to stand up to him, the others have absolutely no chance of doing so," Chromia glanced towards Blastwave. "No offense to you. I'm sure you could take him."

Blastwave cracked the barest of smiles, signing that he was far from offended.

Dana tapped her fingers on the railing, looking towards Blastwave. "So . . . I guess now that Lockdown is gone and Soundwave is back, your part of the deal is over," her hands flitted around as she signed to him as well. "If you want to leave, well, you can . . ."

The Autobot tilted his helm, thinking. She was right, he could leave if he so chose. He would not get the reward of bringing Megatron's head to the Council, but the shanix no longer seemed worth it. His optics flickered across the team of misfits - a medic, an amnesiac femme, an ex-warlord, and a silent, sentient information stick. He was an Autobot bounty hunter, something not normally seen across the galaxy. The mech fit right in.

After a moment of silence, he shook his helm. Blastwave was not bound to any one Cybertronian or moral code, yet he found it appealing to finally settle. Megatron had been the one job he had been able to find after Cybertron had been restored; now that there was the promise of peace, few Cybertronians had scores to settle. The bounty hunter had no desire to just wander space, not when he could have a place to call home.

He would stay.

Dana beamed, her bright green eyes sparkling. "Welcome to the team, Blastwave."

Chromia's mouthplates upturned just a bit, smiling at the bounty hunter. "So . . . what do we do now? M.E.C.H is clearly no longer a threat. And Megatron will officially be taken off every hunter's list once Lockdown's death is broadcasted around space. Do we just . . . keep hunting relics?"

"I don't see why not," Ratchet answered. "I would feel much better if they were in our hands than just sitting on this planet, waiting for someone or something to cause trouble."

"I agree," Dana looked at her guardian. There was a silent exchange between them that the other Cybertronian's did not quite understand, but the purpose of it was obvious. Ratchet was forgiven - at least a little bit. "We are still here because we want to protect Earth, and I think rounding up any and all relics we can find is the best next step."

Megatron looked to Soundwave, quietly inquiring if the third in command was willing to remain. Though the mech would most certainly stay, as the human femme he had so relentlessly pursued was now his protection and vindication for being a part of this team and protecting Earth, the loyal communications officer was not under that same obligation. No longer would he be punished for abandoning his master. He was now allowed his free will.

"Then - let's begin," Soundwave inputed via his abundance of audio clips.

The human femme smiled, leaning over the railing. "Alright, then. Team Earth Defenders is a go!"