Arisen

9

Pax stands on the roof of the Enforcer building, looking out at the city below. Not that he cares much for the view or anything else at the moment.

"What happened to old Buckethead?" The voice behind him makes Pax turn to see Smokescreen approach.

"Being a total glitch." Pax says dryly. "What else is new?"

"Want some company?" Smokescreen offers, then comes over to Pax's side without waiting for an answer.

Pax says nothing, so Smokescreen takes the lead.

"Always loved sneaking around." He says, making Pax look at him as he continues, "Nothing and nowhere is off limits. It's exhilarating. And look, as insane as it sounds, I swear I've seen signs of life on the surface. Or at least, what little I'm able to see of it when I'm phase shifting through places. I know they say it's dangerous and we shouldn't speculate, come on! There has to be something , right?"

Just then, a bunch of glass shatters around them, making them duck down on instinct and make a run for it.

"Weapons?" Pax shouts amid the gunfire.

"First floor." Smokescreen barely says loud enough as the guards start to close in on them.

Smokescreen goes after one guard, while Pax opts for making a run for the stairs.

But right as Smokescreen is able to start firing back, his frame locks up and falls to the ground, unmoving, and Pax barely has a second to gasp in shock before the gunfire resumes.

Quickly, he resumes his mad dash and finally reaches the door to the stairs, slamming it closed behind him and ducking down when he feels the bullets hit the door on the other side.

He pulls a bar out of the wall and makes quick work of bending it so the handles are held shut, to buy himself some time.

But right as he goes down the stairs, it's like the door explodes open, and Pax is only a few seconds ahead as he doesn't stop moving.

He couldn't have accounted for all the scared Enforcer bots screaming as they bump into him.

Nor the sting to his neck as he and the rest of them fall to the ground unconscious.

"Clear. Moving down!"

But a klik later, Pax's optics are open, and upon looking around, he sees he's the only one awake.

The sting makes him cry out, so he reaches for it.

There's something there, in his mesh. When he pokes at it, it makes him wince.

He looks closer at the unconscious bots, seeing tiny spikes sticking out of their mesh as well.

"Help!"

Pax turns to the sound of the cry, and upon seeing a crying sparkling, he walks up slowly, kneeling down so he's at optic level.

"Shh." He hushes.

"Did they hurt my caretakers?" the sparkling starts to cry.

"It's alright. Look." Pax turns to show it off. "We both have one. It won't hurt you. It just made everyone fall asleep. Can you be brave for me?"

The sparkling nods.

"Go back up the stairs." Pax orders as gently as he can. "And stay up there until your caretakers wake up and find you."

"Up the stairs?" the sparkling repeats.

"Up the stairs." Pax nods. "It's going to be alright."

Pax gets up and points upwards, "Go."

Once he can't see the sparkling anymore, Pax turns the other way and goes down the stairs, mindful of not stepping on the now confirmed unconscious bots.

Pax goes through the first door he sees, barely noticing the flashing siren as he sees more guards opening fire and more bots unconscious.

He walks through them silently, then upon seeing the weapons room, walks straight toward it.

Only to be promptly stopped when he finds the door locked.

Upon hearing footsteps behind him, he spins around, ready to use his fists, but immediately drops them when he sees Smokescreen.

"You're alive." Pax says, literally unable to express how relieved he is to see him.

"So's everyone else." Smokescreen replies. "Question is, why aren't we unconscious?"

"Because we're Ascendants." Pax says dismissively, then turns back to the door. "We need to get in here.", then when Smokescreen doesn't move, more insistently, "Smokescreen, please!"

Smokescreen walks over, and just as he's about to activate his phase shifter, they hear.

"FREEZE!"

So of course they have to raise their servos in surrender, and yep, there's Darkwing, walking right towards them.

"Just when I got used to you not being a pain in my aft." Darkwing chuckles, then stops in front of Pax. "You may not believe me, but it is nice to know you're okay."