Infection

Traped

The grey dragon watched the ground bridge close. Why were they leaving? The autobots would never just abandon a relic. Something's wrong. His ruby red optics narrowed as he thought.

     He turned around to report to his master and came face to face with the barrel of a gun. Through the low light he could see the bullet inside ready to be fired. He peered around it to see his least favorite human on this planet. Said human was sitting in the passenger seat of a dark green car. The gun was mounted on top of it and a man in the back seat was aiming it. The driver was tense and had his foot on the gas pedal ready to press down and set the car in motion. The dragon turned his attention back to the leader as he spoke.

     "Starscream, I see Megatron hasn't killed you yet." Silas' knowledge of their race was getting extremely annoying.
Starscream flattened his ears and growled but stayed still eyeing the gun.

     "What, no snappy retort? No, rude comments?" Again Silas' knowledge of their race was extremely annoying. He growled louder but remain frozen as Silas continued,

     "I assume you did not come alone..." Starscream stopped listening to Silas explain his trap when he noticed a flash of red behind a building. It was relatively close to the car in front of him and he glanced at it briefly. He saw Knockout was peering around the building at him.

     "...we have an experimental device that might be able to turn your growls into words..." He glanced back at Silas before risking another look. He saw Knockout nod towards the building he and the car were next to. He looked at it and barely stopped himself from flinching.

How in the pits of Kaon is he so good at that!? He mentally yelled so he didn't turn and run. Despite being a truly massive mech Megatron had snuck all the way up to them and was only a few meters behind the car. Not even Starscream had noticed. AND I'M LOOKING RIGHT AT HIM! He mentally screamed to keep from moving. He refocused on Silas and hoped the man hadn't noticed.

     "...you will lead us to them." He caught the last few words just in time to know what they wanted.

     "Don't be so certain." He growled darkly. He waited for their machine to work. He couldn't help but look at Megatron who was silently getting closer. He watched words appear on the screen and Silas read them. He looked confused for a moment before his eyes widened and he whirled around. Megatron simultaneously jumped at them.

     The driver, who had his foot on the gas pedal for good reason, pressed down on it hard. The car lurched forward but not before Megatron's talons ripped the back half of the vehicle off taking the gun with it. The car only made it a few feet away before it stopped.

Everyone looked up as a helicopter flew overhead and men with guns appeared out of nowhere. A quick count showed 20 guns and 7 cars.

"Since the relic signal was obviously fake." Megatron spoke "Soundwave-" They were met with only static.

"They are blocking our signal." Starscream hissed.

"Then take them out." Megatron growled. Starscream flared his wings and took to the air steadying himself with his new design and circling above the buildings before diving at the cars. He landed on top of one and smashed another while Megatron took out 3 of the guns mounted on the abandoned buildings. Starscream batted humans aside, not caring about them and smashed another car. He looked up to see Knockout had crept around the buildings and easily taken 4 of the shooters by surprise while Megatron cleared another 3. Starscream lifted off again and circled above the battle. The helicopter landed on the far side of town as Silas ran for it. Their were 4 cars and 10 mounted guns left. Make that 9. He thought as Megatron crushed another one, not caring about the humans yell of pain. He spotted Silas as the man reached the helicopter.

     "The decepticons are not as gentle with humanity as the autobots! I am ordering a full retreat! We shall not make the same mistake twice." Silas told the pilot as he climbed inside. A few seconds later the 4 remaining cars drove off and the men abandoned their guns.

Starscream circled one more time just to make sure they were leaving before turning back. He watched Knockout cross the small battlefield, littered with broken parts and a few injured men that were left behind. The medic came to a stop by Megatron as their master carelessly flicked a human aside. Starscream dived toward them and flared his wings to stop.

Unlike before when he crashed down on top of a car this time he tried to actually land. He knew how air currents worked and he knew how to manipulate them to work perfectly to his advantage in his jet mode.

But this was not his jet mode.

He quickly learned that by flaring his wings too soon he came to an abrupt stop that practically left him dangling midair. He gave a surprised yelp as he dropped from the sky and stumbled forward almost running into the two mechs on the ground.

Knockout's armor bristled in anticipation of being hit while the end of Megatron's tail twitched in annoyance. The irritated glare he was given made Starscream straighten up and clear his throat to try and cover up the humiliation.

Megatron simply re adjusted his wings as he turned and walked out of the small abandoned town. Knockout smirked playfully at him before following. Starscream scrambled up and jogged after them, matching his pace with Knockout's and earning that smirk again.

"Why don't you try landing properly?" He scoffed and turned his back, stubbornly walking faster. But Knockout caught up easier than he would have thought.

"Because I can't." Knockout flared his fins to help prove his point making Starscream jump. Knockout laughed before quickening his pace and catching up to Megatron as they reached the edge of the town and their com link opened up again.

Each of them quickly noted how far the signal blockers reached and stored the information in their processors for later if need be.

They didn't even need to call for a bridge as Soundwave opened one immediately after their signals came back online. They stepped through without further incident.

     Once safely back on the Nemesis Starscream went to the bridge to get a report from his armada while Knockout went to help Shockwave with their second attempt at a cure. Megatron followed him to the lab for a report on its progress.

     "The cure consists of a solution that jump starts our organs mixed with an agent that with target a specific function." Shockwave explained. "The only problem occurs when we mix them. We have yet to discover a ratio were one does not overpower the other. That is what caused the autobot scout's severe reaction. I have found a way to test it without a subject to determine if the levels are stable and I am currently in the process of mending the error."

Megatron raised an optic ridge prompting a further explanation of what 'without a subject' meant.

"Testing them over and over until they don't short out the synthesizer." Knockout said from across the lab as he turned on the synthesizer only to have it buzz and spark before stopping. "Like that." He added in annoyance.

Megatron watched him take out the chemical vile and quickly log the ratio it was and that it didn't work. He handed it off to a vehicon to be disposed of while he opened the synthesizer and crossed some wires. It whirred back to life as Shockwave handed him another vile.

     Megatron left as the process repeated and Knockout silently wondered how long he would be doing this. A part of him hoped the autobots would strike another mine, then he would have vehicons to repair and an excuse to do something else.

     Shockwave on the other hand-er-talon had all the patience he needed and was willing to keep testing over and over until they get a successful formula. However long that would take.