Plague

Plague-chapter 6

"You haven't been rechargin'." Rumble spoke up. They were calming down a bit now that Starscream and Megatron stopped arguing and the former retreated back to the computers. The purple cassette rested his head on his twin's chest, listening to the hum and feeling the pulsations of his spark. The coolant had long dried from Frenzy's face, and now he was frowning a little.

"What?" he asked back.

"You're tired, I can feel it. So... you not rechargin'?"

Frenzy shrugged, "I was upset when Soundwave told us about you. I felt ya, but... I didn't think it would be... this bad."

Rumble stayed quiet for a while, "Yeah... I'm rusting. They had to take parts outta me. Soundwave was closing the bond from me... that means he's afraid."

Frenzy unconsciously tightened his embrace on his brother, "Yes, he is, but... he's also tired. He has to keep the Base in order an' he worries about ya. He just... doesn't want you to feel all this."

"And... the others?"

"They will come, too." Frenzy replied, "Beaky and 'Saw are out scouting, Ravage is helping with the energon. The Coneheads brought a big load. I was on comm. duty, but Soundwave said I could come down a little."

Rumble nodded and let his head fall back to Frenzy's chest. He felt slightly better and the pain had been dulled thanks to the nanites, but he was still overheating and he could hardly move his rusting arm. The cassette had just noticed how numb it felt and he looked down at his hand, frowning in confusion when he tried to lift it–

...and his optics widened at what he saw. "F-Frenzy..."

Frenzy turned down as well and picked up his twin's hand. The digits were all grey up to their base and they felt especially cold when Frenzy touched them. Recognition hit them at the same time, they both had seen it several times on the battlefield; it was the result of the decay of circuits and energon lines.

Dead metal.

"Starscream!" Hook's voice rang through the bay. Everybody looked towards the glass where four familiar figures stood. Starscream smiled a little in victory when he saw them and walked up to them. Soundwave had led the Insecticons to the repair bay when they arrived and now gestured to Frenzy to come out. Both mini-cons looked at him with pleading optics and Frenzy raised up Rumble's hand for him to see. Soundwave did not move for a moment, then comm.-ed Frenzy, telling - or rather, commanding - him this time to leave the bay and he already went in to get a coverall and mask. Frenzy knew better than to argue and reluctantly let go of his twin to give his place to their creator; Soundwave would not have wanted to scare them, but Frenzy thought he was just as scared, too.

Scared and helpless.

"Soundwave!" Megatron's voice halted the tape decker midway to his cassette, "You obeyed Starscream's order and called these three here without... first discussing it with me?!"

Soundwave turned fully to the Gunformer before he answered, "My apologies, Lord Megatron, but you have not opposed to the idea. I am certain Starscream has a logical explanation. He is working on curing the infection and as such, we must assist him to the best of our abilities."

Starscream looked at him with surprise, but nodded to him in thanks when their optics met. It seemed Soundwave was an ally - his worry and dedication to his creation made him try everything to help.

"Soundwave told us about this Cosmic Rust on the way here, here." Shrapnel crossed his arms across his chest and took a step forward. His optics roamed over Starscream's form, especially his leg and wing, then his gaze stopped on Astrotrain. "We were hoping for a logical explanation, too, too."