Escaping Reality

Chapter Eighteen: Processing Errors

The amount of panic Sasori had been feeling before this whole ordeal had been manageable, but with everything that had just happened, she couldn't help but be extremely worried, and for multiple reasons. Starjinx hadn't woken up. Megatron knew that they had kept information from him. And Starjinx's processor... The memories shown... Something was wrong. Something was very wrong, and she couldn't help but fear that whatever had happened during the patch was far from over, and not just for Starjinx.

         "The possibility of the subject recovering from an unstable connection is unknown," Shockwave reported as he continued to study his screens. Already, more vitals for the femme had begun popping up as Knockout began hooking Starjinx up to a few computers. From what Sasori could tell, her processor's activity was shaky, but it was certainly there, spiking in very strange ways... How worrying... "I will have Knockout monitor her condition."

         "Me?" Knockout couldn't help but ask, the medic quirking an optic-ridge as the scientist glanced towards him.

         "While I would study her processor myself, Project Predacon is my priority," said the monotone Decepticon. "I will check on her condition occasionally."

         "...Wait- You're just gonna leave her here?!" Darkfin was clearly stressed, and honestly, Sasori couldn't blame her. It didn't help that the femme had an explosive personality as it was, which she knew could get them into trouble. Hopefully Darkfin was watching her tongue. "She's our friend! You can at least try to-!"

         "Silence!" Megatron's commanding order quickly garnered the attention of everyone present, the warlord glaring down at the three femmes with nothing but pure malice. "I don't care what she means to you! What I care more about is the fact that you lied!"

         ...Ah. Sasori had almost forgotten about that...

        "We didn't lie!" Quickly, Midnight stepped in, the femme adamant on defending her friends. How she had the courage to do such a thing was unknown to the stealth-bot, but she couldn't help but wish that she had the same amount of courage. "That really was all we knew! We made it up to at least the finale of the show in our world! Some of us watched the start of season three, but that was it! The start!" She was lying. The Quotevians all knew that she was lying. But lying was better than the truth.

         Megatron, unfortunately, remained unconvinced, the mech gritting his sharp denta angrily. "We shall see. Knockout! Prepare the patch! We will be viewing Midnight's mind this time."

         "Lord Megatron," already, Shockwave was intervening, "I would not advise taking such a risk at this time. The nature of these femmes is unknown. Their processors may be as unstable as the previous one's. An order to utilize the cortical psychic patch would be... illogical."

         That was enough to make Sasori feel better, but not enough to fully calm her down. Megatron was still angry, and his trust for them had clearly fallen. Someone was going to pay for this, and none of them knew who. Could they even escape punishment? They would have to wait and see.

         "Knockout."

         The Decepticon medic, who had already begun putting away the supplies from the patch, quickly looked up upon being called. "Yes, Lord Megatron?"

         "Scan the processors of the femmes. Scan their entire systems for flaws and irregularities." For whatever reason, the order Megatron gave made Sasori's skin, or rather her armor crawl. "I want to know what exactly is going on here."

         "Right away, my liege, though what would you like for me to do with them after-?" A valid question, one that the femmes wished to know themselves. Thankfully, Megatron was able to provide an answer.