Plague

Plague-chapter 3

Ravage sighed tiredly, wondering whether he should try again to calm down his fellow cassette. Frenzy kept pacing nervously in their quarters, hands pressing to his chest as if he was in pain, but Ravage knew there was nothing wrong with the mini-mech's spark. It was the crazy storm of emotions, the wild grasp of fear that rushed through the bond from Rumble, to Frenzy it must have been even more intense. But what frightened him the most was when it all came to an adrupt end; they hadn't felt Rumble since then.

Ravage jumped down from Soundwave's berth in alarm when he saw Frenzy sit down on the ground and start rocking back and forth. Laserbeak flew to his side as well, Ravage nuzzled the red twin's face. He sent soothing waves through their bond, but it seemed to have no effect on Frenzy.

"He must be injured..." the mini-mech muttered, "They must have been attacked... it must be bad... why would Soundwave close the bond from us?!"

So we wouldn't worry. Laserbeak said through their comm. and brushed her wing to Frenzy's arm.

"But this... this is not the way!"

Calm down now, little brother. Ravage said and nuzzled Frenzy's hands so he would let go of his chest, Our creator will be coming soon, he'll tell us what happened to Rumble. But Rumble is strong, so whatever it is, I'm sure he'll be alright.

All three of them turned to the door when it opened to reveal Soundwave. The Decepticon's communications officer couldn't take more than two steps into their quarters when a small body collided with his and he looked down to see Frenzy wrapping his arms around his waist. His other creations got up as well, though they didn't rush up to him, just waited for him to come in. They gasped a little when Soundwave opened up the bond, he tried to send reassurance to them, but couldn't stop his exhaustion seeping through.

Frenzy looked up at him, he didn't have to say anything - Soundwave understood his concern perfectly and he led all his creations to the couch. They sat in silence for a while, Frenzy fidgeted next to the tape decker impatiently, but didn't dare speak up first. Soundwave must have been collecting his thoughts, and he didn't want him to be angry for interrupting him.

"I am sorry I closed down our bond," Soundwave finally began, his monotone voice unusually quiet, "I stayed with Rumble until his condition was stabilized and I had to tend to my duties as well as Megatron's and Starscream's. I am in charge of the Nemesis for an unidentified time interval."

"But why?" Frenzy asked, no longer able to hold himself back, "What happened to them? What's wrong with Rumble?"

Laserbeak glared at him, but Soundwave now just put a hand on the small mech's shoulder, "Rumble accompanied Megatron, Starscream and Astrotrain on an expedition to a planet called Antilla. It was an ancient Autobot colony... it turned out its inhabitants were wiped out by an organic infection known as Cosmic Rust. All four of them... are affected."

While he was speaking, Frenzy grabbed onto his arm, and by the time he was finished, he was squeezing it. The young Cassetticon looked distant as he processed the information, Soundwave gave it time to sink in. He felt all his cassettes' fright, but Frenzy's fear was growing more and more intense and the third-in-command could feel panic steadily building in him. He pulled Frenzy to himself, trying to prevent him from going into a full-blown panic attack when he finally understood what Soundwave said.

"...its inhabitants were wiped out..."

"...all four... affected..."

"A deadly disease?!" Frenzy cried out and pushed himself up from his creator. Ravage sat down in front of him and laid his head on his thighs to try to calm him down - and to calm himself, too.