Transformers Prime: Eclipse

Chapter 17: Who is She?

"Move her into decontamination, quickly!"

Bulkhead and Breakdown wasted no time in following my command as Knockout and I ushered the two of them towards the medical chamber. It was just the four of us in the central hub now, plus Miko who was barely conscious. The poor girl couldn't even get her feet beneath her, and her frame writhed in agony with every subtle movement against her back.

"Knockout, initiate energon infusion."

"We don't have a whole lot of fuel to work with!"

"I know that, damn it! Start the process anyway!"

As we both took out places by the consoles, the entire tube lit up with a light blue glow as energon pooled around Miko's frame. While the decontamination process continued, I left Knockout in charge of monitoring Miko's vitals while I activated the groundbridge.

"Ratchet?"

"What's going-?"

"I'm sending the both of you to the arctic. Knockout is right, we don't have the energon reserves to properly decontaminate all five of us. We barely have enough for Miko as it is. The subzero temperatures of the arctic will rid your bodies of the foreign contaminant; it will simply take more time."

"It might freeze our circuits, Ratchet!"

"I'll set a timer for 15 minutes. By then, the central hub should be clear of Tox-En levels, leaving only Knockout and myself inflicted. I'll bridge us to the arctic and have Rafael man the groundbridge to get you and Breakdown home. Timing is essential if we are to succeed."

A grim look of determination was shared between the three of us, and Knockout made a noise to indicate something of an affirmative as he listened in on the plan from his station. Optimus may be the leader of the Autobots, but everyone knows that you always follow the instructions of your medics when lives are on the line. As I input the coordinates for the arctic and messaged Agent Fowler about the plan, I couldn't help my optics lingering over Miko in the decontamination chamber.

The girl looked completely lifeless, simply existing instead of truly living. Exhaustion clearly weighed on her heavily, not all of it physical, and I suspected that she would simply collapse were it not for the machinery keeping her standing up. My brows furrowed as I looked at our dwindling energon supply. 

How many more lives must be taken by Megatron's cruelty? 

Not only was our energon at a critical low, now we had four more mouths to feed. Granted, that also meant that Megatron had four less warriors to serve him. The lord of the Decepticons had lost quite a few key members of his inner circle to say the least. Something to bring up to Optimus during the next team meeting proper.

"Initiating groundbridge. Call me if anything comes up with the Decepticons, and I'll bridge you back immediately."

"Understood, we'll see you in a few kliks."

"Rachet . . . take care of her."

As the two rivals made their way through the bridge, I held my servos together as I set my gaze down. I will, I promise by Primus I will. The sound of the decontamination chamber powering down caught my attention, and I deactivated the safety protocols with Knockout's help.

As the glass door opened, I maneuvered the cradle keeping Miko on her pedes so that it was on a horizontal axis. I gave an inner chuckle to myself as I thought about what Miko might have said back when she was still with us before, something about the whole thing looking like an overcomplicated spa treatment. 

The humor was quickly dashed away when Knockout and I caught sight of the various shards in Miko's frame, many of which were spread out on the back of her wings. The decontamination process had thankfully purged all traces of Tox-En from the shards. The toxic green from before had been completely replaced with a dull gray color.