“The concept of randomness and coincidence will be obsolete when people can finally define a formulation of patterned interaction between all things within the universe.” 

~Toba Beta

>>•<<

Miko Nakadai ran for her life, a scream ripping through her throat as she darted from one side of the table to another, continuing to make as much sound as possible as she ran. A mixture of both English and Japanese flew from her mouth as she leaped and kicked out in an attempt to save herself.

"Stop!" Jack yells. "You're going to give her a heart attack!"

Knock Out merely rolled his optics, sneering. "She'll be fine. Besides, she needs the exercise." His red optics watched her with amusement, chuckling as she danced and pranced around the object that terrified her: a giant tarantula that Knock Out had somehow acquired during one of his drives.

"It could bite her and kill her!" Rafael pleads, his eyes watering as he watched with equal terror.

Shockwave clenched his fist in a sign of irritation, resisting the urge to strike out at the medic. The girl's screams were disrupting his work, and Knock Out's illogical attitude toward the situation didn't help. He obviously did not understand the delicacy of the project.

"Knock Out." He snaps, voice modulators conveying annoyance so the medic could take the hint. "Get rid of the organic insect. Your form of enjoyment is most illogical."

"Actually, it's an arachnid." Knock Out corrects in his usual laid-back tone, his digit squishing the spider that had been aggressively pursuing Miko. She screamed yet again as its legs and body twitched and convulsed, too terrified to move even after it had stilled. "It's got eight legs and two body sections. Oh, and it also has up to ten eyes. Trippy, eh?"

Shockwave didn't care where Knock Out got the information (probably that "Discovery Channel" he had previously referenced to), he just wanted the narcissist to stop. "Clean up the mess and return her to her restraints. Your technique for getting the humans to exercise is ineffective."

The scientist received a shrug in return, Knock Out scraping off the spider's guts on his digits on the edge of the table. Knock Out stood there, staring at the remains, and Jack was beginning to wonder if he had no idea what to do with the stuff when Soundwave walked in.

"We've got a mess to clean up." Knock Out gestured to the mess. "I'm not touching it."

"You just did, wimp!" Miko shouts, her fear dissipating with the loss of the spider. "Don't tell me you're chicken!"

"Fine, then you touch it." He challenges, Soundwave standing there quietly. Rafael thought he saw disinterest in the communications officer's stance, but this was Soundwave. Who knew what he thought or felt?

"Nuh-uh." She crosses her arms, turning her back on him.

"Chicken." Knock Out snickers, receiving a tongue stuck out at him in return. Tearing his gaze away from her, he looks at Soundwave. "Well? Somebody has to clean it up."

Soundwave looked at him for a moment, as if contemplating on how he wanted to do away with the medic. In truth, the silent mech was gauging whether or not Knock Out was being absolutely serious or messing with him. Soundwave hated the mediac's antics, but unfortunately he was given direct orders from Megatron to resist killing the annoying ground-vehicle.

Finally, Soundwave stepped forward and transformed his arm into a gun, hitting the remains with his energon shot and waiting as the organic material was reduced to ash in mere milliseconds.  Miko gave a little squeak, one leg up in the air defensively and her entire body hunched over. She looked like she was attempting to do the fetal position in mid-air.

Soundwave casually scrapped the ashes onto the floor, turning away and walking back out the door.

"Now why didn't I think of that?" Knock Out muses as he grabs Miko and sets her back on the table, strapping her wrists and ankles. "You know, Shockwave, this project is taking forever to complete. How do we know the Autobots aren't going to find the kids before we finish?"

"The project is more than halfway complete." Shockwave rumbles. "As I download the diagrams into the mainframe, several Vehicons are at work following those diagrams. Lord Megatron is personally overseeing the building himself."

"You're letting a bunch of foot-soldiers tamper with delicate components?!" Knock Out exclaims.

Shockwave replies simply. "I'm letting you care for the humans, am I not?"

Knock Out took that offensively, but as usual the scientist didn't even mean the remark to be sarcastic or witty. He was saying it like it was.

Grumbling, the medic returns his attention to the humans, looking at each one carefully, with a growing smirk.

"Now, which one of you fleshbags wants to go next?"

"Knock Out." Shockwave uses a warning tone to let the medic understand that he would not play games. Shockwave would, if need be, tear him apart or ban him from the laboratory. Whichever when he felt was most logical and necessary.

"I'm not going to hurt them." He whines. "I just want to . . . have a little fun with them. You have to admit, Shockwave, their itsy-bitsy sizes are so cute." He pinches Rafael's cheek at this, soliciting a whimper from him.

"Don't touch him." Jack says, but Knock Out didn't snap his helm up in surprise to look at the older boy, no.

Shockwave had said it at the same time Jack did.

"Oh for Primus' sake." Knock Out whines again.  "I said I wasn't going to hurt them! There is nothing to do on this ship. Why can't I play with them?

He sounds like a whiney six-year-old. Jack thinks to himself, frowning at Knock Out. His glare goes ignored, however, as Knock Out focuses his attention on the turning Shockwave. Red eye looking at the medic, Shockwave slowly advances toward him.

Knock Out quickly scampered back, servos up in a gesture of surrender. "I-I mean, you make the rules around here Shockwave. You don't want me to touch him? All right. I'll do that." He flinches, cowering as Shockwave towers over him. "Please don't mar my paint!"

He could hardly believe this mech. Shockwave wondered that if he was given the choice of dying or getting his paint scratched, he would choose to die. Honestly, this mech had a severe attachment to such a material item. If Shockwave died . . . well, he wouldn't care.

Watching Knock Out cower before him, Shockwave instead turns to gaze at the little trembling human. Jake and Miko watched with terrified expressions, unsure of what was about to happen. Raf shrinks back as Shockwaves digits hover over him, squeezing his eyes shut.

Shockwave gently, ever so gently, felt the strange matter that covered the human's head. He had researched that this was calming to them, to rub their heads or pet them like they would their own mammalian pets. His readings indicated that the child was at first responding poorly to this strategy but his heart rate and blood pressure had begun to decrease, along with the production of epinephrine- adrenaline.

"It would not do well for my subjects to be constantly anxious." He replies to Knock Out, snapping his digits away from Rafael as he turns to fully face the medic, his vocals producing an angry and annoyed tone. "Your constant harassment of them will not be tolerated any longer. If I feel it necessary to remove you from this project, I will. And then you will be stuck in the same position as Starscream."

Knock Out gulps, giving Shockwave a nervous smile. "O-of course. Whatever you say. Sir." His voice gradually reduced to a squeak. "I won't do anything without your permission."

Shockwave simply looks at him for a moment before turning around and stalking back to his computers, once again annoyed at the fact that he had wasted precious time snapping at Knock Out.

The kids looked at Shockwave with utter confusion, Rafael most of all. Did Shockwave really care about them, or did he just care because any trauma could mess up the "experiment?"

And would the Autobots really find them before the experiment happened, or would they be too late?

Please. Jack begs in his mind- to who, he didn't know. Anyone that would listen. Please let Arcee be okay. And Optimus, and everyone. We need their help. Please.

>>•<<

Arcee's optics flickered on, the dull light only allowing unlimited vision. A painfully bright light was shining in her face and she gave a protesting moan. With that light, severe pain follow, and she was regretting waking up.

"That's it. Just follow the light."

Another groan escapes her. "Ratchet. That isn't the most reassuring thing to say to somebody waking up after nearly being blown to bits." Her optics flicker brightly as her neural systems started warming up, her optic input getting more and more clear. But with the enhanced vision she also got enhanced pain. Another groan escapes her.

Ratchet replies with the usual annoyed grunt. "What else are you supposed to do?" He clicks the light off, straightening and beginning to probe her wounds. "What hurts?"

She seethes. "Everything."

"Be more specific."

Her optics roll, and she gets a snarky comment from the gruff mech.

"Well, your optics seem in good shape, considering you can give me that."

In response she does it again, giving him a glare. "My legs, my arms, my head, my-" Her optics widen as she spots something behind Ratchet, her arm transforming into a gun as she points it at a startled Vehicon. "What is that doing here?!?"

The Vehicon replied with more joy than she cared. "Hi! My name's Shovel. I'm Ratchet's best friend!"

"Oh Allspark." Ratchet mutters under his breath.

"Best friend? You have a Vehicon as a best friend?" She asks Ratchet skeptically, her arm trembling with effort but she managed to keep it trained on the foot soldier.

"It's a long story. And we are not best friends." He snaps at the Vehicon. "We do not make friendship bracelets, we will not hold hands while I'm trying to perform extremely delicate surgery, and we can not cuddle. Ever!"

Agree looked absolutely perplexed as the Vehicon's shoulders sagged. "Okay." It- he -said in a defeated tone. "I'm sorry I made you mad."

Ratchet let out an annoyed sigh. "I'm not mad."

"You sound mad." The Vehicon flinched as Ratchet made another annoyed noise, looking quite similar to a kicked puppy. "Sorry."

"Stop apologizing."

"Okay. Sorry." The Vehicon put a hand up to where it's mouth would be if it wasn't protected by armor. "I didn't mean to!"

Ratchet turns his back on the Vehicon, voice softening ever so slightly. "I'm sure you didn't."

Shovel perked up a little at that. "I didn't, really!"

"Shovel," Optimus Prime suddenly stepped in, his pede for the most part fixed, but he still had a slight limp as it healed on its own. "Could you do me a very, very important favor?"

Shovel practically tripped over himself as he turned to look at the Prime, which Arcee could barely comprehend. Why would a Decepticon, a mindless foot soldier of all things, be here, helping them? Where did Ratchet pick this guy up anyways? Surely not during the energon explosion . . .

"Yes Optimus Prime sir!" Shovel straightens, his antics earning a small, amused smile from the Prime.

"I need you to accompany me to the explosion sight. One of our comrades has yet to radio in that he is online. Do you think you can handle it?"

"Yes I can, Optimus Prime sir!" Shovel practically bounces up and down; Arcee could definitely pin him as an oddity.

Ratchet's optics become downcast, and he doesn't even acknowledge the pair as they open the Groundbridge and walk through, the portal closing behind them. Arcee watches him with concerned optics as he patches her up, the pain not ebbing away but she knew the next day would feel much, much better.

"Who is the comrade?"

"Wheeljack." He mumbles. "It's my fault."

"What?" Her optics narrow. "Ratchet, what do you m-"

"I forgot him, Arcee!" He snaps. "I was too focused on you, on the children, on Shovel, the other severely injured, I somehow forgot Wheeljack!" He takes a heavy vent, focusing on mending her wounds. "I didn't even think about him until Bulkhead woke up and asked. How could I?"

Her voice gets firm. "It was an accident, Ratchet. You had too many things going on at once." Deep sympathy was reflected in her optics, but to her dismay the medic didn't seem to accept it. "We're in the middle of a war, casualties . . . they happen. Like . . . Cliffhanger and Tailgate." Her optics drop, a pained intake filling the silence as she paused. "But Optimus and . . . Shovel, are going to look. Who knows? Maybe they'll find him doing okay. You know, maybe sitting around and tossing a grenade in the air like a bouncy ball."

Ratchet didn't reply, and she simply relaxed her cables and let him work, his gaze brooding and bitter.

>>•<<

Megatron's gaze settled on the tortured individual before him, his anger to a boiling point. They were being uncooperative, but he wasn't unnecessarily surprised. No, they were being uncooperative, which stripped his patience raw. The thing he hated most, more than Optimus Prime, was an individual who would not listen to him. He had the power, not them. So why did they resist?

"Tell me where the Autobot's have gone into hiding, and I'll make your death swift." He growls.

The prisoner spat out blue energon at the warlord's pedes, a strained laugh matching the smirk on their face. "No matter what I do you'll kill me, so what have I got to lose if I don't tell you?"

Megatron strikes out at them angrily, his digits picking up energon already covering their body. He clutches their throat, angrily driving his sharp digit-points into them, not breaking their armor but causing extreme discomfort.

"I'll make you lose your sense of feeling." He hisses. "I will beat you until you're numb. And then I will watch the light fade from your optics, and you'll never see it coming."

He is given an equally hissy voice. "Go right ahead."

Megatron searches his optics for a moment, and then as a thought crosses his processor he grins, sharp dentas showing. "Or perhaps I can do something . . . a little more convincing. I think I can take a guess at which human aboard this ship Shockwave likes least."

The prisoner's optics widen. "You wouldn't dare."

"What would your thick-headed friend Bulkhead think if he learned that you let his human pet die because you refused to give me what I want." Megatron tilts his head, dangerous look in his optics. "Shockwave will not miss her, and we have seven billion other humans we could choose, if Shockwave needs them." His optics flash. "So, what are you going to tell me, Wheeljack?"