Unknown Territory (TFP)

37.

ENTRY: 17/5/2021

TW: Cursing and lots of screaming. PAIN.

"We need to get Raf to the emergency room, stat!" June said as she tries to push the gurney towards her car, only to be stopped by Ratchet.

"Your doctors won't be able to comprehend what's affecting him, not without a decade of study." Ratchet grimly said, but Nurse Darby was in no mood to argue, adamant on sending the boy to the hospital.

"T-The effects of an energon blast towards an Autobot can be already devastating enough, but this is a-a human." Ioa spoke weakly, as Ratchet typed something on the computer.

"I'm not getting any readings..." Ratchet muttered, when a realisation settled upon him. "How could I not have seen it? Rafael is infected with Dark Energon!" he said, halting everyone's movement as they were all shell-shocked.

Ioa pieced it together quick and spoke up.

"I-If Dark Energon is devouring Raf from the inside out, we must expel it, and fast! B-But the only way to do that..." Ioa trailed off as she set eyes on the old medic, who gave her a firm nod, confirm her suspicion.

Ioa swiftly turned back into her biped mode, collaborating with Ratchet to save their human friend. "We need energon!" was what the two Cybertronian medics said simultaneously.

"Wait! I thought you said Energon was devastating to us humans?" June questioned, not understanding where this was heading.

"Under normal circumstances, quite. But I am relying upon the dark matter currently invading Rafael's body to meet it head on." Ratchet said.

The nurse could only agree as she let the two bots work with her, Ioa calibrating the laboratory while Ratchet extracted some energon from Bumblebee.

"We need him over here, NOW!" Ioa said as she got the equipment started up. The humans rushed Rafael into the container before it closes as it starts to roared with life, the Energon Bumblebee donated serving its purpose as the whole base glowed. The device died down and the humans rushed towards Rafael, who thank the Allspark was now well and alive, his life signal back on track. Ratchet let out a sigh of relief before contacting Optimus through the comms about the child's wellbeing.

Unfortunately, Optimus was still in a heavy battle with his once-brother-in-arms.

Ioa senses were still very much throbbing as her body started to go haywire once more. Bulkhead saw the femme medic swaying and steadied her while asking what's wrong.

"You alright there, doc? You seem a little ill there." Bulkhead said, but an audial-piercing scream made his and everyone's blood went cold. Ioa fell to the floor as she blew a gasket, Energon spilt from her intake as she shook on the floor. Bulkhead and Ratchet carried her to the berth, the femme wincing in pain as she felt the world went black.

'Stay alive everyone...'

Ioa's optics closed as she went flatline, sending Ratchet into panic mode as he tries to stabilise his second patient. The humans stayed out of his way as he and Arcee tried to get the white and gold femme back online.

"Stay with us Ioa!"

---

Meanwhile with Optimus and Megatron...

The two skilled warriors fight tooth and nail as they were in a draw, both leaders wanting to end this once and for all. Behind them, the volcano started to erupt, magma spewing bit by bit.

Optimus was having the upper hand as he punched and punched the silver mech, landing a deadly blow again and again to the warmonger. The warlord was shocked as he laid on the ground in his Energon, not believing this is how he's going down.