Prodigal Son

Chapter 12

Heatwave barely had time to register the bot coming at him, before Optimus threw him back, a huge ball of purple energy hitting the tree just behind where he'd once been standing.
Charlie reeled from the sudden change, then exchanged a determined look with Doc.
"BATTLE POSITIONS!! JUST LIKE WE TALKED ABOUT!!"
Everyone split into the planned teams, Heatwave taking off after Cody.
The Moor-Bot only smirked.
Just as predicted
Frankie gunned the Turbo Cycle, in frantic pursuit of the rapidly fleeing Cody.
"HEY! MARTY MCFLY!! COME GET ME!!"
Cody swivelled around mid-air, a dark look in his eyes.
"Nice to see you again, Frankie! Glad to see you didn't drown. Wasn't really sure what happened to you after I threw you out."
His words unnerved her, coming out so carelessly. She'd never heard him speak like this before, but had to force herself to take a breath.
It's not him. It's not really him.
"You know me, I bounce back."
Cody scanned the group pursing him, and his purple eyes narrowed.
"Speaking of bouncing back.... I see I did a number on you, huh Kade?"
Kade tried to keep a steel gaze.
"Surprised to see me, aren't you? You thought I'd give up on you, didn't you? Well, I'm not leaving."
Cody scoffed bitterly.
"Your mistake."
He dipped low in the sky charging forward, but was suddenly forced to evade as Heatwaves's large hand cut across his path.
"CODY!! DON'T DO THIS!!"
"YOU MORE THAN ANYBODY SHOULD UNDERSTAND LOYALTY TO A MISSION, HEATWAVE!!"
Heatwaves's spark burned in pain, seeing the focus ingrained on Cody's face.
"This isn't your mission!! Cody, please, I know you, this isn't you!"
Cody pulled to a retreat, cutting deeper into the brush.
"Looks like you never knew me at all."
Frankie tore after him on the cycle, Heatwave grabbed Kade and started running, and Dani wrapped her arms tight around Graham's torso, before activating her wings and taking off.
-
Boulder winced at the blow to his chest, before lunging forward, his mighty foot smashing against the Moor-Bot's back.
The Moor-Bot stumbled forward, then barely ducked in time to avoid a blue blast to it's head.
Bumblebee helped Chase to his feet, taking another shot. He exchanged a glance, and Chase raised his hand, his wrist tasers emerging.
"I request an opening."
"Coming up. OPTIMUS!! BATTERING RAM!"
The prime nodded, and lunged forward, his shoulder charging head-on into the Bot's torso.
The bot tipped backwards, and Chase took the opening, delivering a strong electrical charge to the back of it's neck.
It screamed in agony, it's internal systems glitching.
Optimus drew his gun, pointing it dead on at the target.
"Stand. Down."
Despite it's fragmented operation, the bot sneered.
"Ever the leader... You fascinate me, Optimus Prime. One of your stature, your raw power, your authority..... Surely you would recognize an opening move when you see one?"
"This is no mere invitation to war. This is an unspeakably wretched act."
The ghastly face shifted.
Calm. Curious.
"Tell me, prime. Are the war crimes of humans comparable to that of Cybertronians?"
Optimus froze.
His optics went wide, his gun unmoving, but he was clearly caught off guard.
He wasn't in control anymore.
"You and I are leaders, Optimus Prime. And all leaders have pawns. How many have you sacrificed? How carefully strategized are your moves?"
Optimus felt like it was staring into his very spark.
"Have you felt satisfied by every life willingly taken? Or have you balanced it out? Hiding the wounds of remorse by burying yourself in the spoils of war?"
Everyone started in a horrified awe, as the Moor-Bot got to it's feet.
Optimus almost choked on his words.
".... How could you possibly-"
"The boy is a valuable player. Unusually quiet, for one of his age. Observing. Gentle. You were fond of him. Talking to him is quite easy. He felt... safe. You told him many things, in your rare visits. Perhaps things you didn't realize right away. You confessed to him, the horrors you'd seen. The horrors you wanted to keep from your special little team."
It met his optics, it's words cool.
"Only an innocent mind could understand the reason you denied everything from the precious Firebot who idolized you more than anybody you'd ever seen."
The bot raised it's gun, watching as the prime was unable to match it.
"This has been your opening gambit, Cybertronian. But I have played my precious little king."
A chorus of screams accompanied the sound of gunfire meeting Optimus's chest.
-
Heatwave dragged Kade out of the way of the crackling purple trail.
"DON'T MAKE US DO THIS, CODY!"
An orange streak blurred past, Dani's wings beating so fast the individual segments couldn't be distinguished.
Graham, now clinging to the back of the Cycle, tapped the scanners on his helmet, watching the movement tracked on his internal visor screen at greatly exaggerated speeds.
"Frankie, stay on him! I'm almost done with the biometric readings!"
Frankie nodded, the visor pulled away from her face, leaving the outer helmet shell.
"On it! As long as Dani can keep him busy, we should get the time we need!"
"Good, good. We need this scan."
"You'll be able to track his mental impact, right?"
"Hopefully. If we can isolate the frequency impacting his neural pathways, we might be able to concoct a blocker, until one of the teams can smash the phone."
Frankie gripped the handlebars, her jaw set tight as she tracked the course.
Following an air trail wasn't easy, but doable.
Following an air trail through a tight forest?
.... Harder.
Dani didn't have any means of firing back, but her agility aided her greatly.
Another blast headed her way, and she abruptly cut power.
She dropped like a stone, right out of the blast's radius, before cutting back, charging upwards.
Cody grinded his jaw, his eyes harsh.
"Clever, sis. Pick that up from Blades?"
"Kinda. You know me, I like figuring things out."
Dani pulled herself vertical, her hands out.
"Cody, listen. The baby brother I know and love wouldn't blow up his own blood."
"Well clearly i'm not the Cody you knew."
The purple flare they'd seen- that Kade had described- was vibrant now.
It cast shadows upon his face, a twisted look in his features.
"I saw the truth, Dani. I saw how easy people are manipulated. I saw how easy people turn on each other. I see now.... Everything I overlooked before. Everything I ignored."
His tone bled, seething raw, honest fury.
"I saw how easily changed people are. My partner showed me. He... Fixed.... Me.."
"No no no.... Cody, you are NOT better this way!! He didn't fix you, he corrupted you!!"
"Did he?! I see it now, Dani!! I see the way you snap on anybody that gets close, I see the way you cling to denial like a lifeline."
His board edged closer, and Dani felt sweat from inside her visor.
"I see the way everyone needed me. I see the way everyone is falling like a house of cards without me."
The veins on his neck shined, a pained smile fighting through his grimace.
"And I like it."
-
"OPTIMUS!!!"
The scream ripped from the depths of Bumblebee's voice box, everyone freezing in terror as the smoke cleared.
The Moor-Bot didn't even flinch as it was thrown aside, the young scout blind to everyone.
"PRIME, SPEAK TO ME!!"
Optimus heaved, his optics wide.
Scorch marks lined his chest, but his hull looked intact.
Blades ran over, his hands trembling.
"He's stunned, but he should be unharmed. Prime, sir, can you hear me?"
Optimus nodded blankly.
"... This.... Entity.... It is.... Evil...."
Blades placed a firm hand on Bumblebee's shoulder, speaking firmly but gently.
"Bee, I need cover while I get him up. Chief, I need some time!!!"
Bee nodded, his guns drawn as he jumped up, bringing his back flush with blades as the medic took a damage assessment.
Chief looked over at doc, both men's eyes wide with the same thought.
Things had just gotten so much worse.
-
"Cody, you don't know what you're-"
"I love that feeling, Dani. I love staring into everyone's eyes, knowing that without me, everyone is useless. Everyone is lost, broken, and completely in the dark. Just. Like. I. Always. Felt."
The glowing veins crept further up his neck, reaching his chin.
"My partner taught me a lot of things. But when it came to pain, he taught me the best lesson of all. Don't let it go. Hold onto it. And make the whole world pay for how I suffered."
Dani's heart practically reached her throat as Cody surged forward, bloodlust in his eyes. 
Back on the ground, Graham nearly fell off the bike as he swore up a blue steak.
Frankie didn't risk turning around, calling back,
"What?! What is it?! Did you get the bio-"
"Frankie. Turn around, now."
He grabbed his helmet, cuing the comn onto every possible frequency.
"All points, listen close. This is far, far deadlier than any of us realized. Cody isn't connected to the Phone, and he hadn't been for a long time."
Frankie revved the cycle around, yelling back,
"Graham, what are you-"
"Doc's biometric readings just processed. Attention all points. Please, listen close. This is NOT the phone controlling Cody. In fact.... He isn't bring controlled at all. A neural processing conduit installed at the base of Cody's neck is fused with his central nervous system, and rewriting his mental impulses from a ground level."
-
Kade was never one for technical terms, having needed countless simplified versions of conversations before.
But the vile feeling churning his guts told him absolutely everything he needed, as did the look of pure agony in Heatwaves's optics.
-
"Doc?"
Charlie, having just dove behind a fallen tree, crouched behind the log for cover.
He'd only caught every other word him his haste to run, but dread flooded him from every possible level as he saw the look on Anna and Ezra's faces.
".... Tell me."
-
Frankie nearly crashed the cycle as she braked.
"..... Cody isn't being controlled."
-
Doc gripped both of Charlie's shoulders, his tone completely void as he had to look his old friend dead in his eyes.
"He's being erased."