Normal Perspective:
A few weeks had passed since the Predacon bone hunt had ended, and the Autobots were given a break for a while, but while the Autobots got one, the Decepticons didn't, for Shockwave was still experimenting on Project Predacon in his off-site lab, leaving most of the 'Cons with nothing to do.
But while Shockwave was experimenting on his project, Thundercracker was experimenting on a project of his own in the lab of the Nemesis.
A project called C.Y.L.A.S.
Barricade and Skywarp, who had nothing to do, decided to watch the blue seeker from the far side of the room, not wanting to be near the cyborg that had become their lab rat.
As they did, Cyclonus entered the room, complaining about Shockwave, the Predacon, and Project Predacon as a whole, which Barricade and Skywarp found amusing.
"First I have the role of Second-in-Command be cut in half, and now the cyclops wishes to breed more of his stupid pets, and not once does Megatron even think of calling the project off and scrapping the beast! How I'd love to stuff Shockwave and his Predacon into a stasis pod." He grumbled as he paced around the room.
"Why would you want to shove something cute into a pod?" Skywarp asked, to which Cyclonus glared at him.
"Are you referring to Shockwave or his pet?" Barricade asked with a smirk, to which Skywarp simply frowned, and said nothing.
"That beast is not cute, Skywarp!" Cyclonus said in anger. "It's not even a real being! It's a pathetic clone!"
"Still living." Skywarp said.
"Yeah, not for much longer." Cyclonus muttered.
Before he could complain any further, however, he was interrupted by C.Y.L.A.S., who was restrained to a medical berth.
"Thundercracker, will you shut that mongrel up?!" The purple and silver seeker snapped.
C.Y.L.A.S then spoke up weakly as Barricade and Skywarp walked up next to the other two.
"Cyclonus... Barricade.... Skywarp.... help me..." He begged, desperately trying to escape from his restraints.
Cyclonus only chuckled.
"My my, whatever have you been inflicting upon poor C.Y.L.A.S?" He asked Thundercracker.
"Mostly just substance and tool testing." Thundercracker replied, before grabbing an injector and injecting C.Y.L.A.S with the Synth-En that Knockout had recovered from Ratchet's leaking body several months back, which had been left in the lab when he left.
The cyborg's optics then changed from their normal yellow-orange to emerald green as the substance took an instant effect on him, which somehow did not kill or harm his human half due to the substance's toxic nature, but he did start groaning and gasped out as he felt the substance course through both of his bodies.
"Are we so sure that these experiments won't end up killing him?" Barricade asked.
"Hard to say." Thundercracker admitted. "If they do, then we'll just find a replacement and dispose of this creature."
"I bet it won't if he lasted this long." Cyclonus said.
C.Y.L.A.S could only shudder until his systems suddenly shut down and he went into stasis-lock.
"You were saying, Cyclonus?" Barricade asked with a smirk, as the seeker just scowled.
"What just happened?" Skywarp asked.
"Do you remember that Synthetic Energon I found in the Medbay upon our arrival?" Thundercracker asked back.
"Yeah? Didn't we guard a Data Cylinder or something back before we joined the Decepticons?"
"Yes, and if my theory is correct, the Synth-En formula must be what was in there, but the formula was left incomplete, so I've been reproducing what was obtained to try and finish it for us to use as an alternative fuel source. However, this iteration is unstable and sparatic, which has led to some not-so-desirable side effects."
"Such as what?" Cyclonus asked.
C.Y.L.A.S suddenly onlined screaming, and began growling and hissing as he once again tried to free himself from his restraints.
"I'LL TEAR OUT ALL YOUR T-COGS JUST AS I DID TO THE AUTOBOT SCOUT!"
"...Sheer unbridled aggression." Thundercracker said at last.
"Such strength and fury." Cyclonus said with a smirk, delighted at the prospect. "Megatron has long desired a beast machine supersoldier."
"And we now possess the means of bringing one to him." Barricade said, also smirking.
This would most certainly be better than Project Predacon, or at least, that's what Cyclonus thought.
On the bridge, Megatron was speaking with Shockwave through his comm. about Project Predacon when Cyclonus walked in.
"Master, the others and I have made a very interesting discovery revolving around-"
"Not now!" Megatron snapped, cutting the seeker off before talking into his comm. once again. "Please continue Shockwave. No. No one important."
This made Cyclonus scowl, and he left the room, finding the others outside waiting for him.
"Did you speak with Lord Megatron about our little enterprise?" Barricade asked.
"He was otherwise engaged." Cyclonus replied, and the quartet headed back to the lab, only to find C.Y.L.A.S yelling at the top of his lungs the moment they opened the door.
"I AM GOING TO MAKE YOU ALL SUFFER IN WAYS NONE OF YOU WILL BELIEVE!"
"Just how much of the Synth-En have you given him?" Cyclonus asked as they all walked over to the restrained cyborg.
"Two additional doses?" Thundercracker said. "Three at the most, and it's time for another."
He then injected C.Y.L.A.S again with another canister, and he was now struggling against his restraints more than ever.
"It seems that the more of this version of the Synth-En I give him, the faster he burns through his own normal Energon reserves."
"And we're so sure this is safe how?" Skywarp asked.
"It isn't." Barricade said, rolling his optics. "We'll end up killing him before we make any further progress at this rate. That, or he goes completely bolts."
"Which is not what we want, nor will it appeal to Lord Megatron." Cyclonus said in anger. "He already has one pathetic creature aboard this ship, and having another that can barely be controlled will just cause havoc. At least the otherworldly beings we have follow the orders given without defiance, so what good is another freak of nature that can't be controlled?!"
Silence fell among them, then Skywarp thought of something, and grinned.
"Are we so sure it can't be controlled?" He asked, and the others looked at him, perplexed.
"What do you mean?" Barricade asked.
"Wait here."
Skywarp then left, and was gone for a few minutes, then returned with an Energon crate, but it wasn't a normal blue one that he was carrying, but a purple one.
He then put it on the table in the room, and presented it, and Thundercracker was the first to make a comment.
"Dark Energon?! Has your neural cluster blown a massive fuse?!"
"I knew you were stupid, Skywarp, but this takes the cake." Barricade said with a frown.
"On the contrary," Cyclonus said, as the prospect came to his mind. "I believe Skywarp is on to something here. Adding Dark Energon to the Synthetic Energon formula should give our Master full control over our supersoldier."
"I'll admit that Lord Megatron is able to manipulate and control nearly everything thanks to the link formed between himself and anything else infused with the dark substance," Thundercracker said. "but have you forgotten what it nearly did to the ship?"
"That was the result of a massive infusion." Cyclonus said. "I suggest a single canister-full. Merely enough for Lord Megatron to control our warrior at will."
"It's still too dangerous to undertake without Shockwave's approval." Thundercracker said reasonably. "I do report to him now, remember?"
"Not with this project, you're not." Cyclonus said firmly. "Supersoldiers fall under military operation, which, my fellow seeker, is what I command, so, you will report to me. Are we clear?"
Thundercracker just sighed, and looked over at Barricade, seeing as he was the only other reasonable one of the group.
"As much as I'm against the idea, I am curious to see what would happen." The CPO admitted.
With it being three-quarters to one, Thundercracker reluctantly agreed, much to Skywarp's excitement. Filling a canister with Dark Energon, the blue seeker inserted it into the injector, and injected C.Y.L.A.S with it; the cyborg felt the dark substance course through him, and struggled and to get free, but he soon went offline again, much to Skywarp's disappointment, and Cyclonus's anger.
"Fleshies are weak and pathetic." He growled. "Primus knows why they even exist as a species."
C.Y.L.A.S suddenly woke up, yelling, his optics now a pinkish-purple instead of green, and he pulled at his restraints harder than before.
"It worked!" Skywarp said excitedly, but his excitement turned to horror as C.Y.L.A.S finally broke free from the restraints, throwing Skywarp and Cyclonus into a wall, while Thundercracker and Barricade backed away from the cyborg as he got up, stumbling and struggling to move.
Cyclonus and Skywarp recovered and approached.
"Oh for Primus' sake!" Cyclonus snapped, angered. "Now what's wrong with him?!"
"It's the Synth-En." Thundercracker explained. "This version makes the user burn through their natural reserves, and in this case, it seems that C.Y.L.A.S already has."
"Maybe we should withdraw from any infusions for a while until C.Y.L.A.S is calm..." Skywarp suggested, slightly afraid as they all walked in front of the cyborg.
"Agreed." Barricade said.
"Need.... Energon...." C.Y.L.A.S groaned, then he retracted his mask and opened his intake, revealing that it was now deformed and opened far wider than what was normally possible, alongside a tendril that had manifested due to the unstable Energon mixtures, much to the horror and shock of the quartet.
They backed up as C.Y.L.A.S got up, growling and hissing, and approached them. He then cornered Skywarp, who was terrified by what was before him, as C.Y.L.A.S tried to grab his neck cables with his tendril, but was suddenly electrocuted by Barricade, who had deployed his taser gun and shot the cyborg with it, giving Skywarp the chance to shove the cyborg back.
They all moved around into a group as C.L.Y.A.S recovered, hissing at them and showing his tendril.
"Do you think he's actually trying to-" Cyclonus started in fright.
"Suck out our Energon with that thing?!" Thundercracker finished, just as scared
C.Y.L.A.S hissed in hunger and anger at them.
"It seems that way." Barricade finished.
Cyclonus unsheathed his bident, but C.Y.L.A.S snatched it from his servos and snapped it in half with his superior strength, which seemed to be the only benefit to the mutation.
With no other option, the quartet fled the room with C.Y.L.A.S chasing them. The seekers transformed, and Barricade jumped onto Cyclonus as they all charged down the corridor, leaving the mutant behind to wander the ship.
The quartet was soon far enough to stop, as Cyclonus kept slamming into the walls due to Barricade messing up his balance. The seekers then transformed, with Cyclonus throwing Barricade ahead as he did, making him fly to the floor.
"We need to sound the alarm!" Barricade said desperately as he recovered.
"Frag no! Lord Megatron will no doubt hold us all responsible for this mess!" Cyclonus said, against the idea.
"But we are!" Thundercracker said.
"Well, you and Skywarp are, mostly." Cyclonus said. "Anyway, our liege doesn't need to know that. Not if we handle this the right way."
"But how?!" Skywarp asked, scared.
"Use your heads, you three!" Cyclonus said, then smirked. "This Warship is filled with highly-trained Vehicon troopers and powerful Insecticons armed for combat, along with our otherworldly entities. The moment C.Y.L.A.S tries to feed, they will all neutralize him for us. Then, our problem is solved."
The others looked at each other, unsure, but reluctantly went with it, and went off to find C.L.Y.A.S again.
Elsewhere in the halls, a Vehicon was wandering around when it reached a crossroad, where C.Y.L.A.S was hiding, who ran out and grabbed the 'Con, feeding on the screaming drone until it offlined, then C.L.Y.A.S went off to find more Energon.
Nearby, the quartet was still searching, afraid of running into him, but did their best to remain calm.
"Once we recover C.Y.L.A.S's body, we must dispose of it as quickly and efficiently as possible, and no trace of him must be allowed to remain." Cyclonus said.
"His... infected body..." Barricade shuddered.
They then reached the crossroad, and they yelled out in fright at the sight of the Vehicon on the ground, as Thundercracker ran over to check if he was still alive, and found that he wasn't.
"Gone." He diagnosed. "Completely drained of Energon." He then got up, and walked back over to the others, looking at Cyclonus. "Tell me something, Cyclonus. When you said that 'our problem was solved', was this what you were talking about?"
"I do not appreciate being spoken to like that, Thundercracker!" He snapped. "This catastrophe is hardly my fault."
"Well, it certainly isn't mine." Barricade said. "It's mostly Skywarp's."
"What?!" The black and purple seeker asked in shock. "What did I do?! Thundercracker's the one who decided to experiment with unstable Energon!"
"And you're the one who decided to dabble in voodoo!" Thundercracker snapped back.
As the four bickered, none of them noticed the Vehicon-turned Terrorcon getting up, for the mutation was contagious, and it had been infected once it had been drained, and was now growling and hissing in the same way as C.Y.L.A.S., which caught the quartet's attention, and made them stop arguing.
"Energon!" It hissed, and opened its intake, which wasn't usually possible for bots of their type, and deployed a tendril that was identical to the one C.Y.L.A.S possessed, much to the fright of the 'Cons.
"You said he was dead!" Skywarp shouted.
"Dark Energon..." Thundercracker realized sickly. "It reanimates the dead..."
They then deployed any weapons they had, as Cyclonus deployed a blaster as fired at the drone, which did little to stop it.
"Try the head!" Skywarp shouted.
"How are you sure that will work?!" Cyclonus asked, not thinking it would.
"I've seen human horror films!" The other seeker replied, garnering weird looks from the others. "From the human's internet!"
Deciding to try it, Cyclonus and Barricade fired at it repeatedly, the force being strong enough to blow the helm off, but it did nothing to stop it, for the body was still moving, with the tendril now coming out from the hole in its neck cables.
"Forget the head!" Barricade shouted. "Go for the Spark!"
The two then fired again, the combined blaster fire being enough to take it out for good.
"We've severed its link to the Dark Energon." Thundercracker said, relieved, but knew it wasn't over yet.
"Well, human horror films were a waste of time in this regard, but are still interesting." Skywarp said, garnering more weird looks as the quartet continued with their search.
Meanwhile, C.Y.L.A.S was still wandering the halls, taking out any Vehicons it came across, infecting them and passing the mutation along.
Back with the quartet, they were still searching when Thundercracker spoke up.
"If the mutation could be passed along with a single bite, the entire crew is at risk!"
The others shuddered at this realization, and realized how much trouble they were really in.
"So you mean... C.Y.L.A.S could gain an army of his own from this or something?" Skywarp asked.
"It's a possibility, and if it does come to that, the entire feeding frenzy could turn us and this whole Warship into a scrapheap."
"Again. I implore that we sound the alarm." Barricade said, not wanting to let things get to such a level.
"And again, I said we need to deal with this ourselves." Cyclonus said, to which Barricade scowled, but said nothing more.
They all then came across a few Vehicons, and stopped some distance away. Then, Cyclonus spoke up.
"You there, have any of you noticed any unusual activity..." He trailed off as the drones turned to look at them, revealing that they were infected. "...in this sector...?"
The 'Cons then began stumbling towards them, which sent the quartet running away in fright until they came to another crossroad, as Cyclonus and Barricade went one way, while Thundercracker and Skywarp went the other; the latter two finding even more Terrorcons, and ran back the other way.
They all then skidded to a halt at another crossroad, finding even more infected Vehicons ahead, blocking their way, and ran back the way they came, turning and down another hallway.
As they were running, Cyclonus noticed a room, and they all threw themselves into it just as the doors closed, saving them, if only for the time being.
"This is situation might be a bit more dire than any of us ever imagined..." Skywarp said, thinking the end was approaching for them.
"Really? I didn't notice." Barricade said sarcastically, then he sighed. "I find it rather ironic that after all these years of fighting Autobots, this is the way our lights go out?"
"To be drained of the lifeforce that makes us what we are..." Cyclonus said, slightly shuddering. "If this is indeed the end for us... if we are to become Terrorcon chow... it had been an honor working with you all. Even you, Skywarp."
"I'll admit Sky." Thundercracker said. "You might not be the brightest of Decepticons, but you are the kindest out of all of us."
Skywarp smiled.
"We must get going. We don't know how much longer we have until we're found here, or if Lord Megatron has found out about this catastrophe yet." Barricade said.
"Agreed." Thundercracker added.
They left the room as quietly as they could, but soon literally ran right into someone they were not hoping to see, much to their surprise.
Megatron.
"Would any of you like to tell me what exactly is going on?!" He asked, knowing that something was up.
"Nothing, my liege!" Cyclonus said, trying to stay composed.
"Exactly." Barricade added. "Everything is as perfect as it should be."
"Funny." Megatron said, seeing right through them. "Because the Dark Energon within my Spark has been pulsing."
'Frag.' The four thought at once.
"Allow me to handle this." Cyclonus said calmly, then spoke up. "It's all Thundercracker's and Skywarp's faults!"
"WHAT?!" Both seekers shouted in shock.
"They infused C.Y.L.A.S with an unstable mixture of both Synthetic and Dark Energon, creating a monstrous mutation that is now on the verge of turning us all and your entire crew into mindless Energon-sucking Terrorcons!"
"I do not know what you all have been doing, but if I find out that any of you dabble in my Dark Energon stores again..." Megatron started, unaware that an infected Vehicon was approaching him from behind.
"Uh, My liege." Barricade began, but the Warlord ignored him.
"The end result for those who touch my Dark Energon will not be pretty!"
Megatron stopped as he heard a growl from behind him, and glanced back to see the Vehicon.
"Energon!" It growled, and deployed its tendril, and Megatron looked back.
"Hey. You there! What are you doing? I order you! Stand down!"
He tried to control it, but the Synth-En was blocking his connection to the Terrorcon, and his attempt failed.
The 'Con snarled and charged forward only for a single shot from Megatron's fusion cannon to slam into it and throw it into a wall, knocking it out.
The Warlord then turned back to his subordinates, looking for an explanation.
"We... did try to tell you..." Skywarp said, frowning.
"Mhm." Thundercracker agreed.
They all then headed back into the room to look into the matter further, and the quartet explained the experiment in further detail as Soundwave, who had been called by Megatron, looked into it on the console in the room, trying to find a solution.
"Then why can I not command the monster to follow my bidding?" Megatron asked once they had finished.
"The traces of Dark Energon should have given you control over these Terrorcons, as was our intention," Thundercracker said. "but the Synthetic Energon may be corrupting your link to them."
Seeing that this was serious, Megatron turned to Soundwave.
"Initiate high alert." He ordered. "Instruct all troops to keep their distance from the mutations, and terminate on sight." He then turned back to the others. "Your fates, however, remain to be seen."
The four said nothing.
"Why are you still here?!" He asked in anger after a pause, making them all leave the room. "Find this creation of yours and eradicate it immediately!"
In the halls of the Nemesis, the quartet made their way around, doing their best to avoid being found by any infected Decepticons.
"I know our liege is only doing this to punish us, but how are well all the best choices to hunt down C.Y.L.A.S?" Skywarp asked.
"Why can't he just deploy the Predacon to take him out?" Barricade asked. "After it is the ultimate hunter."
"And let that thing get infected too?!" Cyclonus snapped. "Absolutely not!"
"Can you imagine what would happen if it did?" Thundercracker asked, picturing it. "Nothing would be able to stop it."
Around the ship, the Decepticons and Insecticons, along with the Heartless, Nobodies, and other creatures all directed their efforts into taking out the infected Decepticons.
The Vehicons-Heartless and Vehicons Nobodies were immune to the mutation due to not needing Energon like normal Cybertronians, but this did not prevent them from being attacked by the provoked infected Terrorcons.
Slowly, the infected Decepticons were taken out, but even with that being done, the main cause of it still remained.
C.Y.L.A.S roamed the halls that were not filled with any Cybertronians. He then came across the room Megatron was, in and opened the door.
The Warlord looked over from the live feed provided by Soundwave on the monitor to see C.Y.L.A.S, and frowned.
"Energon..." The cyborg hissed, and charge for the Warlord, tackling him and pinning him to the console. He then deployed his tendril and tried to bite him, but the Warlord dodged it, and punched the cyborg in the faceplate, throwing it back. He then unsheathed his blade.
C.Y.L.A.S then charged again, but Megatron punched him in the tanks and grabbed the tendril, ripping it out from C.Y.L.A.S's body, causing him great pain. The Warlord then stabbed the cyborg straight through where his Spark chamber should've been, immediately killing C.Y.L.A.S and ending his life for good, and ending the apocalypse.
Blood, mechanical oils, and grayish-black sludge that was the resulting mix of the Synth-En and Dark Energon leaked from the cyborg's body and coated both the floor and Megatron's blade as the Optimus-like mech's body fell to the floor, it's optics black.
It was finally over.
-----
Later, as the chaos was drawn to a close and a containment protocol was put in place, along with the disposal of C.Y.L.A.S and the infected Vehicons, Megatron was speaking with Shockwave about the events through his comm., as Cyclonus, Barricade, Thundercracker, and Skywarp stood on the bridge behind him.
"Yes, the containment protocol to prevent any further outbreak is now underway." The Warlord was saying. "Oh, and Shockwave, having just lost a quarter of our military might, I cannot stress enough the importance of Project Predacon. See if you can... speed things along, will you?"
He then hung up, and turned to face the quartet, who were waiting anxiously for their punishments.
"Thundercracker, need I remind you that as the ship's medic, you report directly to Shockwave, not Cyclonus."
"Understood, Master." The seeker said.
"Just to be sure, you will hand over all of your projects to him immediately. Including the Synthetic Energon."
"As you wish, my liege."
The Warlord then addressed the others.
"Now, whose idea was it to dabble with my Dark Energon and cause this mess?"
Barricade and Cyclonus shoved Skywarp forward and stepped back.
"I... may or may not have suggested it..." The seeker admitted. "But if you will allow me to explain!"
"No, Skywarp!" Megatron interjected. "Allow me to explain in a way that your former trinemate understood..."
Skywarp gulped, afraid.
He was in for a world of hurt.
~~~
A/N: Thirst is now done. Yay! This one was a bit difficult given most of the dialog is changed, but it was fun to do, given I got to add more humor to it in the process. Cyclonus, Thundercracker, Barricade, and Skywarp make quite the group, don't they? Also, I know that a quarter of the episode is skipped, but that's because I had nothing to fill the gap with since Airachid is dead here, so I just removed it completely. What do you guys think of the chapter? Let me know in the comments!
Next Chapter: While the Decepticons deal with the mutated lab rat once known as C.Y.L.A.S, Michael finally puts his revival plan into action, bringing about many happy returns for the members of Team Prime.