Morning came too fast.

I dragged myself out of my berth, purely motivated by a cup of hot energon that was surely awaiting me in the mess hall. Frankly, I hadn't even bothered to check the time. It was still pretty early for most bots to be awake. Early shifts and long nights as CMO (Chief Medical Officer) had completely screwed with my chronometer, I suppose.

A few medics were awake when I passed the Medbay, tending to patients and filing reports. I knew it wouldn't be as peaceful as it was here where I was going, so I wanted to make the best of it. When I arrived in the mess hall, I was somewhat relieved that it was mostly empty. Ironhide and Kup were having a quiet conversation in the back corner while listening to radio chatter on the comns, so I decided not to bother them.

While I was pouring myself a hot cup of energon, however, Ironhide called me over to come sit. I obliged and sat down in a chair, taking a sip of the steaming substance. "Anything interesting?"

Ironhide shrugged, his broad shoulders rolling back a bit. "Nothin' much. The only bombshell that I've heard was a report that a Decepticon unit wiped out an entire Autobot squadron using a biochemical weapon. It infected their energon and killed them in mere hours. Ever heard of anything like that?"

I paused mid-sip, taken aback by what the red mech had just told me. I swallowed the energon in my mouth so I wouldn't choke and thought for a moment. "No. Where did the report originate from?" I asked, setting my cup down for now.

"I think I heard 'em say Praxus. What're the Cons doing there?"

"Praxus is a big political city-state, most influential with its technological advances and such. It makes sense that Megatron would want to target it early on so we can't claim it. He probably already has, since it borders Iacon."

"Damn Cons.... Prime ain't gonna be happy. How can we fight that stuff if we don't even know how it works?"

"I'll go get a sample. That way, I can analyze it and possibly formulate a cure."

"Are you nuts?! There ain't no way yer goin' back there just for one sample of energon! It's too risky!"

"Too risky? This plague could cause an epidemic and wipe all of us out! I need to get in there!"

"Well count me out. Ain't no way in hell I'm going back to that cesspool."

I frowned, glad I didn't have my cup in my hand because I might've shattered it.  I got up in a huff, still glaring at Ironhide as I picked up my cup of energon (which was now cold). "Alright. I'll go alone if you won't come with me, pansy." I sharply retorted, turning on my heel and leaving the mess hall.

———

It took some convincing and reasoning, but I finally managed to get the 'okay' from the Commander that was stationed here. But only on one condition: I had to bring a scout with me to watch my back.

"I've never been to Praxus before, is it cool?" The scout, named Twinblast, asked as he trotted alongside me, his optics wide and curious.

"It was quite impressive. Before the war hit, of course. Now I believe it's been deserted." I answered, keeping one hand loosely on my pistol just in case we got jumped. We couldn't use our alt-modes out here, it would draw too much attention. "I think the Decepticons created the weapon somewhere else, though. Praxus doesn't have the means to formulate such a devastating plague."

"Have you ever seen something like it?"

"Not in all my years as a medic, no. The only plague I remember hitting Cybertron hard was Cosmic Rust. It took eons to stop the spread of it."

"Wow... so we're basically going in blind?"

"Not necessarily..." I mumbled, holding up my hand as I signal to stop. My optics focused on a lone building in the distance. "Stay alert, there might still be Decepticons around." I whispered and advanced towards the building, my hand still on my pistol.

It was odd that this building was still standing. The others around it had either been burned to the ground or blown to smithereens. This must've been where the plague was tested.

I pressed the panel next to the door and it slid open with a light screeching noise, making both of us freeze for a second before we continued. When my optics adjusted to the darkness, I was horrified.

There must've been dozens of Autobots in there. A whole squadron, like Ironhide had said. All dead. I knelt down next to the nearest corpse, careful not to touch the discolored energon that pooled on the floor. I ran a scan over the deceased Autobot and found that they were indeed infected, but the plague wasn't identified in the database. "Strange..." I muttered, looking up at Twinblast. "Don't touch the energon. Plague usually spreads through contact, so even one drop of infected energon could give it to you."

Twinblast gulped nervously and nodded, still on edge as he looked around. "P-Primus.... these poor Autobots..." He whimpered, clutching onto his pistol for dear life. "What do we do now?"

"We take a sample," I said, bending over to carefully gather a bit of energon in a small container. "and get it back to base for analysis. We need to understand how the plague works if we want to stop it from spreading further." I placed the container in my subspace and stood up, taking one last look around the room. "Come on, we should be heading back now. It'll be dark soon." I mumbled, about to turn around and leave.

"Ah Ah Ah, you two ain't goin' nowhere."

I heard a voice behind me and then felt the barrel of a gun being pressed against the back of my helm. 'Damnit...'