Infection

Tests

Knockout's POV

He woke up to yelling and cheering. He opened his optics to find he was on a berth. He looked beyond it to see a tray with medical tools laid out on it and a hallway to the left of it. He only grasped were he was when he heard Bulkhead cheer loudly. Upon realizing he was in the autobot's base he shut his optics and held perfectly still.
     He waited a few seconds and when nothing happened he slowly opened his optics again and turned his helm to the right. He saw a few more medical tools before a monitor and then farther down he saw the bots, save for prime, and their pets. Two of the younger humans were on their couch with the older government agent while another one was on Bulkhead. The wrecker was sitting on the floor behind the couch with Arcee and Smokescreen on his left and Ratchet on his right. They were watching an earth movie and Bulkhead and the agent were rooting for two different fighting characters. So far the wrecker was winning but knowing earth's movie plots it probably wouldn't last long.
     Knockout began to sit up but was suddenly a little light headed. He touched the right side of his helm and felt a small cut that had been welded shut. He couldn't believe it, they had fixed him, helped him, potentially saved his life. He got up and sat at the edge of the berth. He looked around what else he could see and found a monitor station, then what must be the entrance, then the ground bridge, another berth, and back to the hallway were their berth rooms and relics must be.
     He debated saying something but didn't want to tick them off what so ever and decided it would be best to wait for them to finish their movie. So he laid down at the edge of the berth and watched the "friendly" competition transpire.

     The movie lasted another fifteen minutes before it ended in a tie. While the wrecker and agent continued to argue Arcee and Ratchet walked over to check on him. He sat up as they approached and they stopped in their tracks when they saw he was awake. Arcee drew her blades and Ratchet growled as Knockout glared at them unflinching.
     "Don't move." Arcee said.
     "If you fixed me then you want me for something." He said turning to Ratchet.
"Mmm smarter than he looks." Ratchet mused. "You'll have to wait to find out why."
"Is that so." He answered seeing Optimus approach.
"Knockout, we wish to send you back to Megatron in exchange for Bumblebee but we require a code from you in order to contact the Nemesis." The prime explained.
Knockout thought it over for a moment before asking,
"No tricks?"
"Unfortunately not." Ratchet answered.
By now everyone was watching them.
Knockout turned to Optimus and nodded. Arcee and Bulkhead kept their canons on him as he followed the prime to the monitor station across the room. The humans were now all on or near the couch and couldn't seem to take their eyes off him, much to his annoyance. As he passed them he snarled and bared his dentas while he flinched towards them. Arcee fired a warning shot that hit the ground in between him and their pets. He rolled is optics to piss her off before continuing. It clearly worked.
When they reached the monitor Optimus set up a transmission and he typed in the code to one of the Nemesis' bridge consoles. A few seconds later the transmission was accepted and Megatron appeared on the screen.
"Optimus, I was expecting a call from you." The warlord mused.
"Megatron, we wish to give you Knockout in exchange for Bumblebee." Optimus wasted no time explaining.
"Ahh, I assumed it would be something like that. Unfortunately I must decline you offer for the time being. After all your scout has not yet served his purpose. I will contact you when Shockwave has finished." Megatron said before he cut the transmission.
     "Well that was fast." Bulkhead said.
"What is Shockwave doing?" Ratchet turned on him angrily. "What!?" He shouted as he advanced towards Knockout.
"He is probably testing our first attempt at an antidote." Knockout answered.
"Already?" Ratchet asked.
"Yes, do not forget their are two of us and one of you and we have better equipment. We can work much faster." Knockout confirmed Ratchets fears. The autobot medic turned to Optimus desperately and ran to a monitor to type a message.
After explaining what Megatron was doing Optimus said all they could do was wait. Knockout was constantly monitored but was allowed to move freely around the main room and med bay. After Arcee had warned him about being outnumbered he wasn't going to try anything anyway. That didn't stop the agent from staying behind.
He was going to recharge but the kids had found a channel on their tv that had live documentation of their country's law enforcement. He was intrigued by how bold some of their humans were, especially the ones that led long pursuits, and he found the intoxicated humans rather entertaining as long as they didn't start screaming. Bulkhead, Smokescreen, and Arcee had sat down to watch it with them, having nothing better to do, while Ratchet continued on their antidote and Optimus was doing "prime stuff" as Bulkhead called it. Knockout ended up staying near them and watching the show with them.
At one point the female human, who was climbing on Bulkhead, jumped onto him. He flinched and growled at first but quickly stopped when Arcee aimed her cannon at him. The girl had a firm grip on his shoulder plate and boldly climbed down his paw as he lifted it up and over the rail. She grabbed two wires he had tied around his wrist an swung on them before jumping down. He hadn't noticed they had come out from under his plating when he was transformed and he growled when she touched them. Arcee watched him as he touched the two wires before setting his paw back on the ground.
The wires were an old tradition that had been lost during the war. But Knockout remembered. He had a red wire wrapped around a blue one. It was meant to honor a fallen partner and Knockout had managed to salvage one of Breakdown's wires after MECH had taken most of his body. He had ripped out on of his own wires and wrapped it around Breakdown's before hiding them under his armor so no one would notice. He didn't want to draw unwanted attention. During the beginning of the war he would have worn it for all to see. It was meant to be seen so others knew what had happened and that a bot or con had lost their partner. That way their partner would never be forgotten and their memory would be carried on by the one they left behind until, they too, joined the all spark.
After a firm scolding the girl went back to sit on the couch and said something about a bucket list and how she wouldn't do it again.
Little did he know Arcee had recognized the wires and, she too, remembered the tradition for she had her own. Hers was much more complicated because she had lost two partners but she couldn't help but reach slightly under her armor and touch it. She had a grey and a red wire with two blue wires, one wrapped around each, that linked. It had taken her longer to make but it was the same concept as Knockout's and she was slightly touch by the fact that he cared enough to make his. She realized how much he was hurt when Breakdown was killed and remembered her own pain when she lost her partners. She didn't know a decepticon could care about others but maybe he would help her kill Arachnid now that they had both lost a partner to her.
After that Knockout went to see if he could find out what Ratchet was doing but got shooed back to the tv and watched the live police departments with them until the kids were taken home for the night. He got chained to a medical berth so those that remained in the base could recharge peacefully and not have to worry about him and he slipped into recharge as well.

Onboard the Nemesis

"Lord Megatron, Shockwave says the first antidote is ready for testing." A vehicon said.
"Good." Megatron said as he walked to the lab.
Once their Shockwave lowered the scout, who was now awake, and despite his struggles injected a red liquid into him.

Bumblebee's POV

He struggled as much as the chains would allow but in the end it was hopeless and Shockwave injected him anyway. He felt burning as the liquid entered his system and everything flashed red as he lost track of what he was doing.

Megatron's POV

He watched the struggling scout go limp before his blue optics clouded with red and he started to snarl and rip at the chains. They broke and he lunged forward landing on top of Shockwave and ripping through his armor. Megatron fired at the scout and hit him in the chest. The impact sent him back and Shockwave grabbed another syringe with blue liquid and injected the scout as he ran forward to attack again.

Bumblebee's POV

All he new was red and anger and he wanted to stop but couldn't. His vision blurred and he was consumed by a world of red. He couldn't tell were he was or what he was doing until he felt something hit him in the chest and then something was injected into him. He stumbled back as the red faded away and he was in control of himself again. He backed into a corner and curled up. That was so terrible he never wanted to do it again all he wanted was to be back at base with Optimus and Ratchet and Raf and the others. He was scared and alone.

Megatron's POV

He watched the pathetic scout as his optics turned back to blue and he backed into a corner and curled up shaking.
"Prepare the second test and get me when its ready. We will use drones for tests from now on. I will contact the autobots and take them up on their offer. Patch yourself up as best you can. Knockout will be back soon to do a more permanent job." He said as Shockwave turned to him and nodded. The warlord went back to the bridge and scientist left the scout their until he was calm enough to come out.

Shockwave's POV

     He patched himself up as best he could and went back to work. Bumblebee had badly damaged his chest and right shoulder plate while his back talons had ripped at the armor on his underbelly. He managed to fix his underbelly and closet the would on his chest but he had to place a patch over his shoulder. He would need Knockout to do a better job later when they get him back and delay his work until then. If the scout didn't come out soon he would forcefully get him and the deal Optimus Prime had proposed would have to happen soon.