The Energon Pub

Medical Bay – Private Surgical Suite

Smokescreen’s arguments only made her scowl deepen. Yes, Ratchet’s bedside manner left something to be desired but he was good at what he did. An expert. And yet Smokescreen adamantly refused. She sighed deeply on hearing that Wheeljack and Axle were also involved in this fiasco. And now she was involved whether she liked it or not. Good grief.

Velocity was nowhere near ready to get Smokescreen an answer on the matter. Fortunately, she would not have to as some odd uproar in the medical bay proper distracted them both. Smokescreen scoped it out as Velocity prepped Tracer for transport. What he said didn’t make much sense. Something was wrong with Optimus? Optimus was back? What?

Shaking her head, she focused on her patient. The flush was finishing up. Velocity began to remove the circuitry without needing to be told to do so. As Smokescreen disappeared into the medical bay proper, Velocity hastily moved over and locked the door then rushed back to Tracer’s side. She detached the mobile stretcher platform from the slab and moved her toward one of the CR chambers.

Setting her up in there and activating the CR chamber, Velocity turned back toward the door, taking out her pistol warily.

Mess Hall:

Well this was interesting. A new 'Bot; Hex; had come into the room, and obviously everyone seemed to not like him for some reason or another. Rosanna figured it was better to let the boys settle this one while she leave the room before things might get messy.

Rosanna hopped out of her seat and said, "I'll just go. Seems some of you have something to sort out." Without hesitation from any response Rosanna left the room to the corridors.

Leaving Mess Hall - Corridors:

It was strange. Rosanna felt an unnatural sense of dread after leaving that room. Almost as if something was wrong. She couldn't tell whether it was just another hit of depression or not. Though, she felt it was more. The rooms were growing proverbially darker. The place was becoming less of a homely environment, and more of an unwelcome foreign place. She couldn't help but wonder what was happening.

Rosanna decided it best to try and call one of her team-mates for reassurance. She already had called Eject before, so she decided to try Rewind.

>>Hey, Rewind, are you there? Where are you? If you're busy it can wait.<<

Transmission from Rewind to Rosanna

>>”Rosanna, where are you?! Nevermind. Megatron is loose on the Ark-22. We don’t know where he is though. Get someplace safe. Now!”<<

Emergency Transmission from Rewind

>>”Everyone! Attention! Megatron broke free from his containment on the Ark-22! His current whereabouts are unknown! Take extreme caution!”<<

Corridors:

>>”Rosanna, where are you?! Nevermind. Megatron is loose on the Ark-22. We don’t know where he is though. Get someplace safe. Now!”<<

Rosanna froze. No. NO!

She ran to the Mess Hall.

Panting, Rosanna shrieked, "Megatron is lose!!! He escaped from Ark-22!"

After a brief moment, the comm over the speakers came from Rewind. Confirmation. This is bad. Very very bad.

Rosanna started to panic. Rewind said to hide, but Rosanna wanted to help. She was not going to lose another friend of hers. She needed her gun.

Medical Bay

Jazz struggled to regain his composure, clawing at the floor as best as he could trying to climb up the side of the doorframe he just emerged from. His grip on the frame was weak and he found it had to keep his grip. All the effort he put into getting himself up and out of the private room was for nothing as he lost the strength to keep himself held up.

As his body began to fall towards the floor again, a bright orange bolt pierced through his abdominal area. The bolt seemed to have been aimed for a far more lethal shot, however Jazz's unexpected fall may have bought him a little more time, as pointless as that was looking right now.

The black and white operative hit the floor with a hard thud, energon splashing out in a small wave around him as smoke drifted around his new wound. Though he couldn't choke, Jazz could feel excess energon beginning to pool up in the back of his mouth, a small stream dripping from the edge of his mouth.

"Prime... Why..."

Mess Hall:

Before Cliffjumper's questions could be answered, Rosanna burst into the room.

Panting, Rosanna shrieked, "Megatron is lose!!! He escaped from Ark-22!"

"Oh frag! Wh-" Cliff started.

>>”Everyone! Attention! Megatron broke free from his containment on the Ark-22! His current whereabouts are unknown! Take extreme caution!”<<

"Oh man! Uh, well, uh..." Cliffjumper was speechless. It happened so fast. Almost like a prank or something...

"Wait, is, are you pulling my leg, pinkie pie?" asked Cliff to Rosanna, "Is this an elaborate prank-"

"SHUT UP you idiot and grab your weapons!" Shouted Rosanna, "We gotta go to the main area to see what's happening! We might be called on for something!"

Cliff figured that if it was a prank, it was one that would get any Autobot doing it in the brig, so he decided to conclude that it wasn't a prank and was actually happening.

"OH boy, well, better get on et, then," said Cliffjumper, "Hope this isn't some sort of dumb drill."

Rosanna's face would've been starting to turn red now. She was getting more and more pissed at Cliffjumper's stupidity.

"THIS IS NOT A DRILL!" shouted Rosanna. After Cliff slowly got up and started to get his things together, Rosanna decided to run ahead since he was taking forever. Rosanna was off to the Med Bay to see if she could get her trusty weapon back from Velocity.

"Eh, well this is odd," said Cliffjumper, "maybe your little talk, Hex, will have to wait a bit, eh? How bout you get your gears together and grab your weapons and help out for a change?" Cliff jeered before leaving the room far behind Rosanna.

Mess Hall

When Rosanna burst into the mess hall screaming about Megatron, Blurr wasn’t sure what to make of that news or her. He shot to his feet, but otherwise, paused. He had some doubts about whether or not this was true. Doubts which were, in the next instant, blown away by the emergency broadcast. As Rosanna ran out of the room, Blurr darted out after her.

Corridors

Skidding to a stop in front of Rosanna, Blurr held out his arms wide. “Waitwaitwait,” he chirped. He didn’t get any further than that because he was suddenly bumped from behind, knocking him forward. He stumbled once, but caught himself and whirled around, whipping out his blaster. He fully expected to see Megatron. Nope. Not him.

Just Swerve.

Swerve landed on his aft, visor wide with abject terror. He relaxed only very slightly when he saw that he hadn’t just ran into Megatron. Holding his hand over his spark, Swerve sighed. In the next moment, he was back on his feet, looking at them.

“Where are you two headed? Somewhere to bunker down right? Can I come with you?”

Blurr glanced to Rosanna then to Swerve. “Rosanna, I thinkSwervemight havetheright idea,” he offered, “Runningoff aloneisgonna getyou killed. Weshouldwaitfor orders!”

Corridors:

*bump*

"AAH!" yelled Rosanna. Then she saw that they had just run into Swerve, "*pant* Man, you scared me!"

After the three calmed for a sec, Swerve asked,

Where are you two headed? Somewhere to bunker down right? Can I come with you?”

"Oh, well, you heard the comm right?! We don't know what to do! I just thought we should go in case we're needed!"

Blurr glanced to Rosanna then to Swerve. “Rosanna, I thinkSwervemight havetheright idea,” he offered, “Runningoff aloneisgonna getyou killed. Weshouldwaitfor orders!”

"...uh, yeah, right," started Rosanna, "I guess you're right, Blurr. We should stick together."

Rosanna paused for a bit, and then began to speak again, "Guys, I have no idea what's going on! First I thought both Optimus and Megatron were dead, and then Optimus is alive, and now Megatron has torn from some prison! What's going on?!"

After she thought for a bit, Rosanna then suggested, "We need to probably go to the med bay. I left my weapon there and, and, and then we could maybe go to the armory? I, I'm not sure..."

Then Cliffjumper started to emerge from behind finally after walking slower than he normally did. Probably to look more "cool" or "unconcerned" or something of the sort.

"Hey mechanoids, heard there's a 'freaky occurrence'."

Rosanna turned around, and rolled her optics,

"Cliffjumper, would you get it in gear and treat this situation like it is? AKA a LIFE OR DEATH SITUATION?"

Cliff smirked. That was rich. Rosanna was one known for worrying her head off.

"Don't smartmouth me, strawberry shortcake. I believe you. I just am not freaking out and yelling like 'we're all gonna die fo sure' and running blindly into mechs in the hall."

Rosanna simply growled at Cliffjumper before turning around to Blurr and Swerve again,

"Is Cliffjumper always such a doofus?"

Medical Bay

As Jazz fell to the floor, Optimus’s black optics watched, readjusting his aim for his old friend’s head. This would finish it. His finger tightened on the trigger, but something made him hesitate. His optics flickered dimly as his finger trembled on the trigger. A tiny thing.

“Optimus!”

Head snapping up to see the source of this new voice, Optimus’s optics returned to their blackened state. Smokescreen. Stepping onto Jazz and out into the medical bay proper, he took several more steps toward Smokescreen. His pace was calm. Optimus reached out for him with his empty hand. Before he could take hold of him, however, another new arrival onto the scene caused him pause.

Ultra Magnus.

Lowering his extended hand, Optimus turned to face his brother. Instead of doing as ordered, he merely stowed his weapon, transforming into his alternate mode. Optimus charged, mowing down Autobots that found themselves caught in his path. As he drew near to Ultra Magnus, he reverted to robot mode.

Grabbing onto Magnus, Optimus used the force of his own momentum to throw Magnus over his shoulder and at a wall.

Mess Hall:

He was absolutely stunned by the situation. As everyone ran out of the room chasing after Rosanna after her announcement of horror, Clocker just sat for a little bit. Just taking in what just was said. Then, fear hit him. What if him sitting almost alone in this room was not a smart thing? What if Megatron was closer that he thought? What if...

"AAHHH!"

"No!" Shouted Clocker as he jumped up to chase after the group to see what happened to make Rosanna scream in such a manner.

Corridors:

Fortunately, as Clocker ran out, he saw Rosanna seemed fine. Jumpy, but physically fine.

"Are you alright?!" Asked Clocker worryingly. Rosanna simply nodded to him and said, "Yeah, it's good. At least as good as it can be with Megatron lose!"

Cliffjumper simply smirked.

"Oh hey Swerve!" Said Clocker, "Have any idea what is going on?!

Medical Bay

As Prime slammed into the floor, he rose up again, reaching back for his blaster, but had his progress halted by Ultra Magnus as he managed to break through his guard and slam him onto the ground. Almost instantaneously, a hand went for Magnus’s neck. It clenched with all of the strength that Optimus Prime had to bear. His other hand shot for Magnus’s neck as well, but paused for the briefest moments when Magnus began to speak.

"Prime…”

Before another syllable was uttered, however, the other hand reached its destination and began to squeeze as well.

”...listen to me…this isn't you.”

Prime’s black optics lifted up and stared coldly into Ultra Magnus’s own, tightening his hands’ grip further.

“Fight!"

A moment passed. A moment where Prime’s grip did not tighten. In the next, it loosened, and a faint blue shone dully from Optimus’s optics. His grip loosened further, but in the next moment tightened once more as black flickered back in. Black and blue flickered, and hands loosened and tightened as a war was waged with the Autobot leader.

Suddenly, Optimus’s hands fell away from Magnus’s neck. One curled itself into fist and shot out at Magnus, knocking him away. Optimus Prime rose to his feet once more but did not immediately advance. He staggered back, holding his head with both hands. Completely open to attack.

Mess Hall

“Megatron is lose!!! He escaped from Ark-22!” Rosanna shouted as she rushed back into the mess hall. An astrosecond later, an emergency comm from Rewind blared into the room:

>>”Everyone! Attention! Megatron broke free from his containment on the Ark-22! His current whereabouts are unknown! Take extreme caution!”<<

Hot Rod was very perplexed by what he was hearing as he had no idea Megatron was still alive let alone a prisoner over on the Ark-22. Although, it shouldn’t have surprised him considering that Optimus Prime had recently been found alive and the two leaders had last been seen together before they both disappeared. It made sense that they would also reappear together.

“All right, everybody just needs to calm down,” the cavalier began to say as Rosanna, Cliffjumper, Blurr and Clocker all filed out into the corridor, leaving Hot Rod and Hex alone in the room. Roddy looked down at the young ‘bot and shook his head. “We should probably follow them and make sure they don’t get themselves blown away by a rogue slagmaker. They seem to be freaking out, especially Rosanna. Besides, it’s safer in numbers. Come on.”

With that said, Hot Rod turned and exited the mess hall, expecting Hex to follow.

Corridors

The flame-covered mech approached the group of gathered mechs which now included Swerve as they discussed what they were going to do and where they were going to go. “Okay, okay, let’s not panic. Let’s use common sense here. Megatron escaped over on the 22 right? He likely just wants to get back to the rest of the Decepticons in this sector so the chances that he’d want to bounce over here and take us all on at once is slim. That would make no real sense even for the slagmaker. He’s probably not in much better shape than Prime is so Megatron’s going to want to just get away and regroup. So, let’s all of us just keep a cool cranium and stick together just in case I'm wrong. In the meantime, I'm going to comm Ultra Magnus and see what he wants us to do.”

>>”Commander Magnus, this is Hot Rod. I’m assuming you’ve received the same message from Rewind that the rest of us did regarding Megatron. What are your orders, sir?”<<

Medical Bay

Optimus Prime stopped his attack on Jazz and turned his attention to Smokescreen, the Autobot leader’s optics as black as night. Optimus stepped onto Jazz’s injured body and stalked towards the diversion expert, causing the rallybot to take a few cautionary steps backward. Smokey didn’t believe that Prime wanted to hurt him, but then again he never expected the truck-former to ever hurt Jazz, either, and yet that’s exactly what had just happened.

“Optimus, please,” Smokescreen continued as Prime reached out for him with his free hand. “Don’t do this.” The former street racer stumbled back into an empty med berth, causing him to lose his balance and fall aft-first onto the floor. Now in a seated position, Smokey pulled out his weapon, intending to use it if he absolutely had to. But then Optimus stopped and turned around to regard a new arrival in the med bay: Ultra Magnus.

Breathing a slight sigh of relief, Smokescreen watched as Prime transformed into his truck mode and attacked Magnus, forcing his brother through a wall and into the corridor beyond. The two commanders continued to fight outside as the rallybot got back up to his feet. For a brief moment, Smokey considered helping Ultra Magnus, but then thought better of it. He would only get in the way and, besides, the City Commander seemed to be doing all right all by himself.

Instead, Smokescreen stowed away his rifle and rushed to Jazz’s side, kneeling down next to the white mech. The rallybot carefully turned the Special Operations Director onto his back as purple fluid continued to spill out of the gaping wound. “Jazz, can you hear me?! Jazz! Stay with me!” Smokey then placed a firm right hand over Jazz’s abdominal region to slow the loss of energon as he used his left hand to cradle his injured comrade’s head. “Hold on, buddy, help is coming.”

The diversionary tactician then turned and looked around to anyone in the vicinity. “Hey, I need a medic over here! I’ve got a mech bleeding out! He needs help now!”

Corridors

“Okay, okay, let’s not panic. Let’s use common sense here. Megatron escaped over on the 22 right? He likely just wants to get back to the rest of the Decepticons in this sector so the chances that he’d want to bounce over here and take us all on at once is slim. That would make no real sense even for the slagmaker. He’s probably not in much better shape than Prime is so Megatron’s going to want to just get away and regroup. So, let’s all of us just keep a cool cranium and stick together just in case I'm wrong. In the meantime, I'm going to comm Ultra Magnus and see what he wants us to do.”

“You’re right, you’re right,” Swerve muttered, grateful that someone had arrived on the scene to allay his worries. Worries which flared right back up when he realized who it was. Oh Primus, Hot Rod. Or Rodimus. “Wait, wait, wait,” Swerve said, holding up his hands and glancing to the others. “Are we sure we should be trusting Hot Rod of all mechs? Or Rodimus, whatever he’s going by now.”

“Swerve!” Blurr chided, unable to stop himself from facepalming hard.

“I’m just saying!”

“Yeahwellyoucancanit!” Blurr snipped back testily. The blue speedster looked to Hot Rod and gave him a thumbs up. “Goodidea,” he nodded to give that extra affirmative. “Magnus’llknowwhat todo.”

“Are we really doing this?” Swerve asked, “I mean-“

In the next instant, Swerve felt a hand clamped over his mouth and was being held by Blurr. He struggled, muttering something indecipherable while Blurr shook his head. “Don’tmindhim, HotRod.”

Corridors:

"You jerk, Swerve!" said Rosanna as she turned to Hot Rod, "I trust you completely. And I... I hope you're right. But where do we go? What do we do now? Do we go to the Ark-22 to see if we need to help with anything?"

Hot Rod then commed Ultra Magnus seemingly to ask for orders. Good idea.

After a bit, Rosanna asked, "In he responding, Hot Rod?"

"If he's not, he's probably dealing with something more important than a couple of random pipsqueeks who are all worried about a ghost story," said Cliffjumper.

Clocker then jabbed his elbow into Cliffjumper who was shorter than him.

"Ack, hey! That was rude Clocker," said Cliffjumper.

"Shut up, Cliff," said Clocker more meanly than normal for the young speeder. Uncommon attitude for him.

"Finally, someone who understands!" said Rosanna.

Clocker turned to her and said, "Maybe we all do, but none of us like to admit it like you often do."

Rosanna paused. Confused. Not knowing whether to feel angry or just passive. But... That was a weird thing seemingly for Clocker to say. Clocker was always the nicest mech in the room. Why was he being aggressive all of a sudden?

Rosanna then simply responded with, "Um, okay?"

"Hot Rod, maybe we could go see where everyone is?" Asked Clocker.

"Hm, jerk," said Cliffjumper.

"Look who's talking," said Rosanna "under her breath".

Corridors

As Hot Rod awaited a response from Ultra Magnus, he listened to Swerve expressing his reluctance to trust the cavalier after having been possessed by the Fallen. Blurr and Rosanna immediately jumped to Roddy’s defense. The flame-covered mech couldn’t really blame the metallurgist for his concerns. It made complete sense after all of the horrible things the unholy demigod had done while in control of Hot Rod’s body.

The cavalier was about to respond to the concerns and questions of the others when he then received a transmission back from Magnus:

>>”Affirmative. Everything should be in lockdown procedures. We've got a bigger situation in the med bay. Prime has gone rogue. Get what backup you can. We need to secure him safely and get all this chaos figured out.”<<

>>”No problem, Commander Magnus. I’ll be there with reinforcements shortly.”<<

Cutting his comm line, Hot Rod looked to the group of Blurr, Swerve, Rosanna, Cliffjumper, Clocker and Hex. “Everyone, I just received a reply from Ultra Magnus. He said lockdown procedures should be enacted by now, but there’s a bigger issue down in the med bay. It seems that Optimus has gone rogue somehow. They need backup now to help subdue him. And we’re it. So, come on. Let’s get going.”

Wasting no more time, Hot Rod transformed into his McLaren 570GT alt mode and raced down the corridors towards the med bay, assuming that the others were close behind him.

Outside Medical Bay

Arriving at the primary medical facility a short time later, the cavalier returned to his robot mode and cautiously approached the scene. Ultra Magnus had Prime wrapped up in a two-armed grip as Optimus seemed to be holding his cranium as though he was in some sort of pain. Magnus was pleading with him to come back to them, but the Autobot leader appeared disoriented to say the least.

Rushing forward, Hot Rod grabbed Prime’s right arm with both hands in an attempt to aid Ultra Magnus. “Optimus, it’s me, Hot Rod. Remember? Please stop fighting us. We’re your friends. We just want to help you.” The cavalier paused for a moment before continuing. "I know what it's like to not feel that you're in control of your actions. But you have to fight, whatever's telling you to act like this, fight it!"

Corridors:

Hot Rod interrupted once again with what Ultra Magnus had to say. Well scrap. Optimus was having issues. That makes another one of us. Rosanna then transformed into her MP3 player alt mode and flew into Clocker's hand and said, "let's go!"

Before Clocker transformed, he then briefly said to Swerve, "Hey, if we are still functional after this, hit me up for a chat, alright? I wanna talk about some things." At that Clocker then transformed, and Rosanna landed comfortfully on his front passenger seat before the racer took off after Hot Rod.

"Well," said Cliffjumper, "it was nice knowing ya, Swerve and Blurr." Cliff then bumped Swerve on the shoulder light-heartedly before transforming and taking off in his slightly smaller car mode after the others.

Outside Med Bay:

Holy... Clocker couldn't believe his optics as he entered the proqimity and transformed. Rosanna stayed in alt mode as Clocker held her.

Then Cliffjumper came in and took a gaze. "Oh my..." Said Cliff simply.

"I got an idea, Rose," said Clocker quietly, "you're a small alt mode, I can throw you and you can transform behind him."

"Oh no.., ah, I am not- alright. Just don't dent me!" Said Rosanna softly through her alt mode speaker.

Clocker then chucked Rosanna as far as he could over Optimus who was still holding his head at this moment, and Rosanna flawlessly transformed before landing on the ground with a small tap.

Clocker seeing that Hot Rod was already trying to talk sense into Optimus, decided to get in position as well for non-lethal team takedown if Ultra Magnus' efforts didn't work. Using military signs he told Cliffjumper and hopefully others who had entered who were paying attention to get into position. This could kill all of them but it was worth the effort if it was necessary.

Rosanna slowly creeped behind Prime slowly and waited. She was going to grab his leg and distract him for a second long enough for one of the mechs in front of him to tackle him. Though, whether she had the guts to was another unknown variable.

((I'll be nudging Ratchet along at Insidious's request.))

Medical Bay

Staying away from the door until Optimus had properly left it, Ratchet cautiously approached the open doorway only to see Jazz laying in a pool of his own energon with Smokescreen calling for help. Blast it all, Prime! What’s come over you? Rushing over, Ratchet kneeled down and grabbed Smokescreen’s hand, shoving the gun into his hand.

“Smokescreen, listen to me,” he said sternly, “In this gun is enough sedative to knock out six mechs. Go to Optimus. I’ll handle Jazz. Go. Go now!”

Turning his attentions to the broken Jazz on the floor, Ratchet began to work on him there on the spot. He needed to make sure that Jazz didn’t die during transfer to a berth. He’d make the patches necessary and then…Primus. Ratchet shook his head. No time for that. He had to work. In a miniscule amount of time, he’d finished the preliminary patches. Transforming, he loaded Jazz up into his back and drove forward to the slab Optimus had previously been occupying.

Transferring Jazz over to that and reverting back to robot mode, Ratchet hooked him up to life support machinery and began surgery.


Outside the Medical Bay

"Prime....I know you're in there. We need you. We need you to be you. Come back to us."

With his brother’s arms wrapped around him in a physical restraint, Optimus Prime fought. Fought both against the restraint and himself. It felt as though his spark were being torn into two. It was then that Hot Rod ran up to him, taking hold of his right arm. Blurr appeared on the left to do the same.

“Optimus, it’s me, Hot Rod. Remember? Please stop fighting us. We’re your friends. We just want to help you. I know what it's like to not feel that you're in control of your actions. But you have to fight, whatever's telling you to act like this, fight it!"

“That’srightOptimus! Thisisn’tyou! Fightwhateverisdoingthis! WebelieveinyouOptimus!”

“RAAAAAAAGH!!!”

Optimus loosed what was part scream and part roar. The first sound that he’d uttered since his optics first went black. In that moment, several things happened. Optimus’s optics went black once more, and his armor grew hot. In a mighty feat of strength, he wrenched back and flipped Ultra Magnus off of him. Blurr darted away as Magnus slammed into the floor.

“No!” Blurr dashed back in toward the Autobot leader who turned to look at him as he did. Optimus raised a hand and batted the blue speedster away and into a wall as easily as if he were an insect. But there was something different about his movements. No one but perhaps Magnus would notice it, but Prime was markedly more sluggish.

Taking one glance at all of the new arrivals onto the scene, Optimus moved to draw out his trusty blaster.

Medical Bay

Out of nowhere, Ratchet appeared and quickly knelt down on the other side of Jazz’s damaged body. The CMO grabbed Smokescreen’s right hand and shoved some kind of gun into it.

“Smokescreen, listen to me. In this gun is enough sedative to knock out six mechs. Go to Optimus. I’ll handle Jazz. Go. Go now!”

The rallybot nodded. “Okay, Ratchet. I’m on it,” Smokey replied as the grumpy doctor went to work patching up Jazz before moving him to a medical slab. The diversion expert got to his feet and rushed towards the gaping hole in the wall that lead out into the corridor. Keeping the tranquilizer gun grasped firmly in his hand, the red and blue racer hurried across the threshold as the sound of Optimus Prime screaming filled his audio receptors.

Outside Medical Bay

“RAAAAAAAGH!!!”

Smokescreen had entered the hallway just in time to see the Autobot leader flip Ultra Magnus off of him and slam the City Commander onto the floor. Hot Rod released his grip on Prime’s arm and quickly backed away as Blurr attempted to rush him. That didn’t work out too well as Optimus swatted the blue speedster into a wall like he was nothing more than a cyber-nat. Prime then went for his blaster which was sticking part way out of his subspace storage compartment on his hip.

“Oh, no you don’t!” Hot Rod yelled as he charged forward and swiftly grabbed Prime’s gun before the crazed truck-former could get it. The cavalier then immediately backed away again, keeping a tight hold on the large weapon with both hands. “I’m sorry, Optimus. I can’t let you use this to hurt them. Believe me you’ll thank me later once you’ve come to your senses.”

As Hot Rod attempted to draw Prime’s attention away from the others, Smokescreen took aim with the tranquilizer gun. Unfortunately, there were only a limited number of places on Optimus’ tough armored exterior that would be weak enough for the dart to penetrate. One such area was Prime's neck where the sedatives could enter directly into his energon stream. Slaggit! He’s moving around too much. I don’t have a clear shot, Smokey thought as he lowered the gun and quickly turned his attention to Ultra Magnus.

“Magnus, sir, are you okay?” The diversion expert asked as he knelt down beside the City Commander. “Listen, Ratchet gave me a tranquilizer gun, but I only have one dart so I have to make the shot count. Can you get back over there and hold Prime still long enough for me to get a clear shot at his neck? It’s the only place I know for sure where the dart can easily pierce through his metal skin.”

Outside Medical Bay:

Rosanna tried to stay behind Optimus as he threw Magnus and turned around multiple times. She also tried not to get crushed by any large 'Bots falling to the ground with Blurr and Magnus both being flopped around.

But... Rosanna couldn't bring herself to touch Optimus. She was both scared of hurting him (though that was a hard thing to do) or being destroyed herself by her own commander. If she grabbed his leg, most likely she would be knocked off, and then stomped on.

Rosanna rather decided to back up, with her being across the room from Smokescreen, and she then started to play a song on her memory with her built in speakers. A song of hope and mercy for fellow Cybertronians. She had forgotten about the song until she had selected it, and didn't realize until it had started to play that it might've been the perfect time. Hopefully the song would at least distract Optimus for a short time so Smokescreen could get a clear shot.

As the music played, Rosanna then said, "Prime! This is what you are about! You are caring and compassionate! Please! We love you!"