New Kids in Town
A Transformers: Armada Story
By William Rendfeld
November was a decent time of year for many people; winter was beginning to make its way into the world, Thanksgiving was approaching, and the very planet seemed to be slowing down as if preparing for a well-deserved rest.
The Autobots, unfortunately, did not share that feeling. Between the recent unearthing of the Acheron and the revelations concerning the attack on Nebulos, they now faced more dangerous times than ever before. They would not feel rest for a long time to come.
For Diana Masters, the feeling had long passed. She groaned and rubbed her forehead, trying to massage away a headache after scouring through her references and information. Thus far she'd found little information to help her or her efforts. She groaned, and said, "It had to be Atlantis. It couldn't have been Troy, or Machu Picchu."
Her thoughts were interrupted as her cell phone went off, and she reached for it and answered, "Yes?"
"Sounds like someone hasn't gotten nearly enough sleep," a familiar voice replied from the other end. "As usual."
"Lucy?" Diana asked in surprise. "I don't believe it; it's good to hear from you. What's the occasion?"
"A girl can't randomly check up on her old college roomie?" Lucy asked. "Besides, I wanted to congratulate you on that doctorate of yours. It's about time you caught up with the rest of us."
"Yeah well, not all of us are quite as sharp as you are," Diana replied. "Besides, a fancy doctorate only does me so much good while I'm unemployed."
"I might be able to help with that," Lucy promised from the other end. "Meanwhile, what have you been up to, considering you've got so much spare time?"
"Some friends of mine asked me to look into the Atlantis myth," Diana explained. "Trouble is, there are so many contradicting theories that I can't get anything firm on it."
"Well, maybe it's time you let someone in on the research, hm?" Lucy suggested. "I've got a few assorted things here that might just give you a boost."
Diana took a glance at her second phone and, with a light smile at the Autobot emblem upon it, said, "I'll see what I can do about swinging by..."
"And this 'Nemesis Prime' had a similar energy signature to Sideways?" Starscream's voice asked via comm.-line.
"Very similar," Optimus Prime noted, a secondary screen displaying recent mission logs. "We've also confirmed a third being with a similar energy signature. According to the Exodus's sensor logs, it was in the area when the ship came down."
"Are you suggesting there's a connection between the ship coming down and these things we've been dealing with?" Starscream asked.
"As much as I hate to say it, yes," Optimus replied. "I'm sorry I don't have better news to report. Between this and what's happened on Nebulos, I feel like the entire universe is turning against us."
"If it makes you feel any better, I've got bad news of my own," Starscream countered. "It's a safe bet that the Destruction Team's managed to get to at least one Mini-Con pod, and I've figured out how. They siphoned Energon out of the tanks with rampant recharges, and they've taken numerous spare parts from the cargo hold, enough to build a small Energon tank and a transport unit."
"Any idea of what they're planning?" Optimus asked.
"Unfortunately, no," Starscream replied. "I'll keep watch, but don't expect much. But considering everything that's happened, you'd best step up on locating the Mini-Cons. With that siphon in place, we're going to have a lot more time for them."
"Agreed," Optimus said. "Watch your back old friend."
"Don't I always?" Starscream replied before the signal cut off.
Optimus turned back to the monitor, and quickly checked over the map of Mini-Con stasis units. Not many remained; between the two larger groups of Transformers, most of the Mini-Cons had been found and gotten to safety. Only a few pods seemed to be left on Earth...
Optimus narrowed his optics; that didn't fit. There had to be more pods...the major question was, where were they?
In Colorado, within Rocky Mountain State Park, the Autobots had been at work on their permanent base facility for some weeks. The main areas had been dug out, and the beginnings of the wiring and walls were being put in place even as support struts were being removed or converted into other parts of the base's structure. A good deal of progress had been made, but even with salvaged parts from the Acheron, the base itself wouldn't be fully operational for some time.
In order to maintain secrecy for the base, part of the park had been closed off to visitors, giving the Autobots a little bit more freedom to continue construction. Despite that, you couldn't guard every corner of the park...and people would always want to know what was going on.
"Coby, come on!" a young boy with bright blonde hair called out to his older brother. "You said you wanted to see what was going on!"
"Bud, wait a second!" Coby cried, chasing after his younger brother. "Bud, come on! There's a reason they closed this corner of the park to visitors!"
"Oh come on," Bud countered. "You want to know what's going on just as much as I do, bro. Admit it."
"I never said I didn't want to know what's going on," Coby corrected him. "But I'm a little more worried about what'll happen if someone notices us around here."
"Like me?" a voice asked.
Coby jumped in fright, letting out a small yelp. With a familiar feminine laugh greeting his exclamation, he turned to the source and said, "Very funny, Lori."
"Feeling a little jumpy, huh?" Lori, a young teenage woman with long black hair, asked of Coby. "Now what exactly are you doing out here?"
"Bud's convinced something's going on out here," Coby explained, irritation still tingeing his voice. "And I'm just trying to keep him from getting into trouble."
"Doesn't look like you're doing too good a job," Lori noted teasingly as Bud rushed off.
Coby sighed, then said, "Come on. You're here, so you might as well help out."
The two slowly moved towards the mountain, Lori trailing slightly behind Coby as they followed after Bud's manic rush up the mountain. "If I'd known I'd be drafted, I'd have stayed home," Lori complained.
"Your family moved out here for the fresh air," Coby countered, "this way you'll be getting a little more of it."
Before Lori could make a rebuttal, Bud cried out from ahead, "Coby! Lori! You gotta see this!"
The two teens rushed up to the mountainside, but Bud remained out of sight. "Bud?" Coby called out. "Bud, where are you?"
"Over here!" Bud called.
Catching Coby and Lori by surprise, Bud's head popped out at them, seemingly from inside the mountainside. "This is incredible! You guys gotta take a look at this!"
"How the...?" Lori asked.
"Holograms," Coby realized. "C'mon."
Coby stepped through the rock face, prompting Lori to do the same. Past the hologram, the three kids found a massive tunnel, large spotlights shining down on the ground from the walls.
"Whoa," Lori said in surprise. "Who'd dig a massive tunnel like this?"
"Someone who wanted it hidden," Coby said. "A fancy holographic projection is enough for me. I say we get going."
A clear rumble was heard in the distance.
"What was that?" Coby asked.
Loud footsteps, muffled by the sound of two voices, made the trio of kids look up in surprise.
"It's the only thing that makes sense," one voice noted. "With all that iron ore, the radiation was blocked. That's the only reason I can think of that we didn't pick up on it."
"If that's true, this'll probably save us on fuel problems," a second one said. "We'll need excavators, assuming you're right. Even if you are, that still means construction's going to be delayed. I'll send word to Optimus, see if he's willing to send a little help."
The kids gasped in shock as two titanic robots passed by them at the end of the tunnel, unaware of their presence. When the two passed, the three let out a sigh of relief.
Then one of them poked his head back down the tunnel, looking directly at the three of them.
Coby, Bud and Lori cried out in surprise.
"Aw slag," Hoist groaned.
"I'm not entirely certain it's a wise course of action," Colonel Franklin noted. "Getting help with the research into locating Atlantis?"
"I don't exactly have many options," Diana reasoned. "Besides, I know her. We can trust her."
"I'd feel a little safer if we knew a little more about her," Optimus noted from the controls of the small stealth craft, Sparkplug and Over-Run performing minor adjustments.
Diana leaned against the side of the flight console and explained, "Lucy Suzuki's an old friend of mine. We met in college, as roommates, and both majoring in archaeology. I ended up leaving and taking a teaching job, and she stayed and earned a doctorate. She's been teaching at the University of Colorado at Boulder for the last couple years."
"And what makes you think she can help?" Optimus asked.
"I've tended to focus more on the concrete stuff in archaeology, everything that can be proven based on evidence," Diana explained. "Lucy's always been a little more fond of poking around with the stuff that we haven't quite pinned down, and Atlantis is at the top of her list. She might point us towards something that could give us a leg up. Besides, I don't see any major reason to tell her all the details; if she asks why I've suddenly picked up an interest in old myths, I'll just tell her some friends asked me to look into it for them."
"Misdirection," Franklin noted. "That's a familiar tactic."
"Not exactly one I agree with," Optimus chipped in before a communications panel caught his attention. "Something up, Sideswipe?"
"We just got word from the base site in Colorado," Sideswipe answered. "Patching you in to Scavenger now."
"Understood," Optimus replied. "Scavenger, what's the situation?"
"We've had a small breach in security," Scavenger explained. "Three human kids just managed to sneak in. We found them, but we don't exactly have any good ideas about what we'll do with them."
Optimus sighed, then said, "I'm on my way with Colonel Franklin; we'll handle it when we arrive. In the meantime, make sure these kids stay on the base site and don't get into too much trouble."
"Roger that," Scavenger replied as the line cut off.
"I had a feeling this would happen eventually," Sparkplug noted from the console.
"No security is flawless," Franklin noted. "Unfortunately, these kids can't just be ignored. We'll have to do something."
"Agreed," Optimus replied. "Diana, we'll go ahead and drop you off, then head to the base facility. Send us word when you're ready to be picked up."
"Okay," Diana noted. "Meanwhile, I hope those are the only kids we need to worry about."
"Hot Shot! Hey, Hot Shot!"
Hot Shot turned his head and looked down the corridor as Rad, Carlos and Alexis rushed up to him, the Street Action Team following. "Hey kids," he said in greeting. "Didn't expect to see you guys today. Why the visit?"
"Well we haven't been over in a while," Rad explained. "Not since Miss Masters left, anyway. We thought we'd drop by and hang out, see what was going on."
"You may have wanted to pick a different time," Hot Shot noted. "Not much is going on right now; most of the Mini-Con pods have been found and right now we're just collecting ourselves and going over everything we've found out lately."
"Has there been any information concerning Atlantis?" High Wire asked, urgency tingeing her voice.
"Doctor Masters is meeting with someone she knows who might be able to lead us to it," Hot Shot explained. "Beyond that, we've got nothing new. While I'm thinking about it, has anyone replaced her yet?"
"We've just had a bunch of substitutes," Carlos explained. "I don't think they'll have anyone permanent until next semester, if at all. I'm still a little sad that she had to quit in the first place?"
"Not saying that isn't something to complain about, but it's not like she had much choice," Hot Shot reminded them. "Besides, things haven't worked out too badly since then, right?"
"He's got a point, kid," Grindor noted. "Besides, she'll bounce back."
"Doctor Masters aside, what about the remaining pods?" Alexis asked. "What's going to happen with them?"
"Once we tally their locations, I guess we'll go after them," Hot Shot replied. "Optimus was doing it himself earlier, then asked Jetfire to check over his stuff before he left. Something came up at the base site, and he and Colonel Franklin are checking it out."
"Something came up?" Alexis asked. "What?"
Hot Shot smiled despite himself, then explained, "Seems some kids managed to get into it."
Rad sighed. "Are they ever in for a surprise..."
On Animatros, Scourge looked upward into the night sky, his optics darting from star to star. "You may as well come and ask what I'm doing, old friend," he said at last. "You aren't going to get an answer otherwise."
"My apologies," Snarl noted as he walked forward. He stood beside his leader and said, "What happened to Scorponok and the Ravager wasn't your fault, Scourge. You couldn't have known."
"No," Scourge replied. "But that does me little comfort. If what Ultra Magnus told us is true, and Nebulos has indeed been destroyed by the Chaos Bringer, then we face a greater peril than any other. Only one option is left to us, Snarl; the fight."
"Against the Destroyer?" Snarl asked. "I doubt even you could fight him."
"We have time," Scourge noted. "If what Optimus Prime and Vector Prime told us is indeed correct, we have seven weapons against the Chaos Bringer. And if what happened when they retrieved the Omega Lock is any indication, one may well rest on this very planet. It must be recovered. With that, this world will be safe." He turned to Snarl and said, "Does that trouble you?"
"It does," Snarl replied. "I've read the old legends. The Matrix was able to repel Unicron from Cybertron in ages past, but all it did in the long term was damage him. And damage can be repaired, given enough of a chance. And even if he was damaged, would it be enough to stop him from doing to our world what he did to Nebulos?"
"What options are left to us?" Scourge asked. "We're warriors, Snarl; we came to this world to tame it, not to lose it. And I must do what I must to save our planet, but I can't do it alone."
Snarl sighed, then said, "Then I'll do what I can to help you, old friend. But tread carefully."
Scourge turned back to the stars and said, "Careful appears to be the only way we can do things now."
"I knew this was a bad idea," Coby noted.
Coby, along with Bud and Lori, had been brought into a small corner of the base. Some of the internal parts, wiring and support units, had already been built into the chamber, but there was very little actually keeping them there beyond fear.
"Giant robots," Bud said in disbelief. "Talking giant robots. This is all my fault."
Coby looked to his little brother, and affectionately ribbed him. "Hey, come on. We'll be okay."
"You think so, bro?" Bud asked, worry still on his face.
"It doesn't look like they want to hurt us," Lori noted, catching the boys' attention. "I mean, they could've just squished us or something. Instead they just moved us out of the way, told us to stay here. I don't even think they have anything like a holding pen in this place."
"You're right," a voice said, "they don't." The three kids watched as a tall, imposing African-American man stepped forth from the shadows and elaborated, "This place wasn't intended to hold prisoners, at least not for a long period of time. Even if it was, it couldn't do the job very well in this state."
"Oh no, I know what's going on here," Bud began.
"A shady organization within the government is conspiring with aliens to take control of the world?" the man asked. "Sorry, no. This isn't the 'X Files'. No one's conducting experiments using crashed UFOs, and no one is going to mysteriously vanish overnight, including the three of you."
"Then what is all this?" Coby asked. "And why bother telling us?"
"I'm telling you because you've already found out about this, and I'd rather you had a proper context for what's going on," the man explained. "Not only that, but it might help me to convince you not to reveal this to anyone. Besides, this way, you'll know the answers, and won't come sneaking back here to figure out more. As for what's going on here...well, it's a long story..."
Diana had always liked Lucy Suzuki. Sure, she was kinda clumsy and a little outlandish when it came to her theories, but she was a good person; gentle, kindly, and always open to possibilities. She was one of Diana's closest friends from college, and someone she felt very comfortable with. Current crisis or not, she was looking forward to seeing her again.
With a joyful breath of air, Diana calmly knocked on the door to her friend's office, and was greeted with a gentle, "Coming!" The office door opened, and Diana was further greeted with a pleasant smile and two simple words. "Hi Diana."
"Hi Lucy," Diana said with a smile.
She hadn't changed much since when they'd last met; Lucy was still her good-looking athletic self, her long black hair done up in twin braids and a tiny mole just below and to the side of her right eye. Her simple clothes only helped to make her seem more like a regular person, not hurting her in any respect.
"Come in, I've been expecting you," Lucy invited, opening the door further to allow Diana entrance. "Would you like something to drink?"
"Please," Diana said, a smile growing on her face. Noticing the messy state of her office, she added, "Looks like you still have a little trouble keeping your workspace tidy."
"Well, you know me, always busy," Lucy said with an embarrassed laugh as she poured some orange juice for the two of them. "Take a seat. Go ahead and move whatever you need to."
"Thanks," Diana noted as she picked up a small stack of papers from one chair and set them on the floor nearby.
"So, who are these friends of yours?" Lucy asked, handing Diana a cup and taking a seat next to her after clearing off the second chair. "And why are they looking into the Atlantis myth?"
"They moved into my old neighborhood recently," Diana explained, trying not to give away too much. "They heard about Atlantis, figured they might be able to find it, and asked me to give them what information I could to help narrow it down. Unfortunately, there have been so many searches for Atlantis over the years that no one really knows where it is, so I haven't been comfortable giving them that information. All I've stuck with is Plato's account, and that doesn't give you much to go on."
"Well that's what you get for not thinking outside the box," Lucy teased. "It doesn't help that the Greeks had a habit of changing the names of landmarks; Atlantis was supposed to be past the Pillars of Hercules, but by the time Alexander the Great came along, they were moved from the Strait of Sicily to the Strait of Gibraltar."
"That's part of the reason why I hoped you'd be able to help," Diana explained. "I'm like Indiana Jones; I think in terms of proven facts, collected research. You're closer to Daniel Jackson; you come up with things that no one else considers realistic. And more often than not, you're proven right, or you're close to the mark."
"I think you're being a little generous," Lucy noted with an embarrassed tone.
Diana took a quick glimpse over towards her friend's display case and all the various curios contained within. "You remember your idle theories concerning aliens visiting Earth in the past? And that ship that was found in Colombia a couple days ago?" She pulled a small case containing a computer disc from her pocket, and explained, "I've met the people who built it. They're from another world, called Cybertron."
"Two months ago, three kids living in Oregon were exploring a cave within a dormant volcano, Mount Saint Hilary," Franklin explained. "In the process, they found a stasis unit from an ancient spacecraft. Contained within, sealed for around four million years, were six mechanical alien lifeforms called 'Mini-Cons'. The kids managed to bring them back to life, accidentally activating a signal in the process. That signal attracted the attention of two other, larger groups of mechanical lifeforms; the Autobots, and the Decepticons."
"Wait, three groups of giant robots?" Lori asked. "Where did they come from?"
"A planet called Cybertron, in the Alpha Centauri system," Franklin explained. "While the Autobots and Mini-Cons have been generally united amongst themselves, the Decepticons have bordered on civil war for ages; a small sub-faction, led by a Decepticon named Megatron, has set up shop in a stolen spacecraft somewhere on the moon. A slightly larger group of Autobots is currently operating here on Earth, split between a starship hidden in Oregon, the ship uncovered in Colombia, and here. This is where they're building their permanent base."
"Then why are you here?" Coby asked.
"Cooperation," Franklin explained. "Certain individuals within the military and the NSA were able to discover them in connection to the recent 'terrorist attack' in Indianapolis. We soon discovered that it was an attempt at retrieving another Mini-Con stasis unit, the fifth such attempt since their arrival. I was sent to investigate..."
"...And I ended up telling the military," Diana explained as her collected information on the Transformers came into view on Lucy's computer screen. "Since then, the Autobots have been working with the United States government and its military in secret, in the hopes that a successful alliance would mean less bloodshed and less problems in finding the Mini-Cons. So far, it's worked; they're down to the last few pods."
"And you think they're connected to Atlantis somehow?" Lucy asked.
"I know they are," Diana replied. "One of the Transformers currently on Earth is named Vector Prime; he's the eldest Transformer known, having been around for eons. According to him, four ancient starships left Cybertron about ten million years ago, each carrying an artifact of great power within them and manned by a single Transformer. One of the ships was named Atlantis. Based on the legends, we think it may have had a level of influence on various groups in the Mediterranean."
"But why reveal all of this to me?" Lucy asked.
"Because I trust you," Diana replied. "That, and I managed to convince the human liaison to the Autobots, as well as the Autobot leader, that you should know the full story if you were going to have even a small chance of helping us."
"Wow," Lucy said, barely keeping up on what had been revealed to her. "Well, I don't think I can contribute too much...I mean, you pointed them towards the Atlantis myth, gave them something to go on."
"Yeah, but for all I've done, I've hit a dead end," Diana noted. "Maybe you inadvertently hit something that I missed."
Lucy remained silent for a minute, then rose to her feet and walked to the display case. She slipped on a pair of disposable gloves, opened the case, and then withdrew a gold colored, gear-like artifact. "I found this at a dig in Egypt near the border with Libya. If the story's right and the Atlantis myth originates from Egypt, then there might be a clue there. And we've had this analyzed ever since it was found; the materials aren't like anything used in other artifacts found in the reason."
Lucy handed it to Diana, who slipped on a pair of gloves before looking it over. "Did you find anything else with it?"
"No, unfortunately," Lucy explained. "Based on the surrounding strata, we've been able to date it to about twenty thousand years."
Diana slowly looked over the artifact from every angle. "It's definitely not Egyptian," she noted. She then found a small blue symbol etched on a corner of the artifact, resembling a sun rising over a planet. "Hello."
"That symbol's probably one of the bigger mysteries of this piece," Lucy noted. "I think it's important, but I can't figure much beyond that."
"Well, let's see if this really is a piece of the puzzle," Diana decisively said, pulling out her communicator and dialing in.
"Wait, so these Autobots and Decepticons are here on Earth, looking for the Mini-Cons, and the Decepticons are willing to tear through anything in order to do it?" Bud asked. "Man, that's heavy."
"And it's also one of our major reasons for trying to keep this as much a secret as possible," Franklin stressed. "You three are now privy to one of the most closely guarded secrets in the world today. For the sake of national security, as well as your own safety, I ask that you keep this to yourselves."
"And if we don't?" Lori asked.
"People will think you're crazy, or just not believe you," Franklin simply said. "Simple as that."
"Well, better keeping quiet than being locked up," Coby reasoned. "Okay Colonel. We'll keep this to ourselves, we promise."
"I'm glad to hear that," another voice noted.
As the three kids watched in awe, a massive robot colored predominantly red and blue stepped forward, revealing himself.
"My name is Optimus Prime," the large robot said, introducing himself. "I'm the leader of the Autobot militia. On behalf of myself and my troops, I thank you for agreeing to keep our secret."
"You're welcome," Coby replied, a little awestruck. Suddenly remembering his manners, he then added, "I'm Coby, by the way. Coby Hanson. This is my little brother, Bud, and my friend, Lori."
"Pleased to meet you, Optimus Prime," Lori added, a little nervous herself.
"Man, you look so cool!" Bud exclaimed in awe, what little nervousness he had drowned out by enthusiasm.
Beneath his faceplate, Optimus smiled to himself. This was an unexpected surprise at every level, but a pleasant one.
His elation was put on hold as a telltale chime rang. As the kids looked about in surprise, he explained, "It's a communications line, don't worry." He answered and said, "Optimus here."
"Optimus, it's Diana," a familiar voice came at the other end. "I've got a possible lead; Lucy found an artifact in Egypt recently that predates proper civilization in the region by ten thousand years, and it's made of unidentified materials. It might be Cybertronian in origin, but I'm not sure."
"I'll ask Vector Prime and Red Alert to come and analyze it," Optimus said. "With any luck, this is what we're looking for. Thank you, Diana."
The line ended, and prompted Bud to ask, "What was that about?"
"Several million years ago, an ancient Cybertronian ship came to Earth carrying an ancient artifact, called the Key of Wisdom," Optimus explained. "We believe that it was the inspiration for the Atlantis myth, and have been devoting our resources towards finding it without arousing Decepticon suspicion. If they found it, then both your people and mine would be in terrible danger."
"The woman Optimus was speaking to was Diana Masters, an archaeologist," Franklin elaborated. "Aside from chronicling a great deal of their history, she's also the one who helped to form an alliance between the Autobots and Mini-Cons and the United States government, as well as their primary source for information on the Atlantis myth. So far, however, her efforts haven't produced many positive results."
"That may have just changed, however," Optimus noted, seconds before opening another comm.-line. "Ironhide, can I have a moment of your time?"
A cold wind blew over the wastelands of Velocitron as Override sat and watched from the edge of one of the planet's numerous roads, her optics scanning the horizon as if seeking something in the distance.
"Looks like someone's got something on her mind," a familiar voice noted.
Override turned to the source of the voice and said, "Oh. Sorry Brakedown, didn't notice you."
"Just because I'm old doesn't mean I can't move when I want to," Brakedown reminded her as he walked up to her. "Now, what's got your attention?"
"That meeting with Optimus Prime a while ago," Override explained. "The way he talked about what's been going on with the efforts on Earth, and what they've encountered there...it's starting to worry me. Especially now that he's been proven right with what's happened at Nebulos."
"Nothing wrong with admitting to it," Brakedown replied.
"That's just the thing," Override continued. "I can't get it aside, can't distract myself from it no matter what. It feels like something's in the works, something big...but for the life of me, I can't figure out what."
"You want a little advice from an old veteran of the course?" Brakedown asked. "Relax. Unless you can clear your mind and stop worrying, you're always gonna be spinning your wheels. You won't get anywhere, and you'll always be stuck in neutral. That's good advice in life and in racing." Noticing that Override still had a concerned look on her face, he then said, "But if you really want to deal with that feeling in your gut, I suggest checking over the sensor records. If that signal from the Omega Lock reacted with something on the planet to activate these dormant systems of ours, then we might be able to find just what picked up on that signal."
"You think so?" Override asked, looking at her mentor.
"It's worth a shot," Brakedown said.
Override smiled, then said, "Okay then. Let's check the sensor logs from the satellite network; that's as good a place to start as any."
"Now you're in gear," Brakedown said encouragingly.
"Just takes the right motivation," Override promised before transforming into vehicle mode and racing off into the night, Brakedown following.
"This is incredible!" Lucy cried out. "And you do this all the time?"
"Riding in transforming robots?" Diana asked. "Occasionally. This is the first time with Ironhide, though."
"And my first time having passengers," Ironhide noted. "So if you've got any complaints, feel free to register them. That way I can make the next ride a more pleasant experience."
"Thanks for the concern, but it's smooth sailing so far," Diana assured him.
"I can't believe I'm actually riding in an actual extra-!" Lucy began to cry out.
"Uh, Lucy, I realize this is a lifelong dream come true, but you should tone it down before you embarrass yourself," Diana noted.
Blushing, Lucy replied, "Right, sorry." Regaining her composure, she asked, "So is there anything that isn't on your disc?"
"I haven't had a chance to speak with some of the more recent arrivals," Diana admitted. "What little I know about Ironhide and Landmine came from everyone else. Speaking of, what is your story Ironhide?"
"My story?" Ironhide asked, surprised by the question. "Well, uh...it's nothing special."
"Oh come on," Diana encouraged him. "Everyone's got a story to tell, I'm sure it's just as interesting as everyone else's."
"You really want to know?" Ironhide asked. "Well...okay, if you're that curious. I was brought online some time ago; not quite sure where it works out by human reckoning. I trained as an architect at the Cybertron Engineering Academy right around the time Megatron started making a serious push for power...and ended up being captured by the Eclipse Team."
"Tidal Wave's group?" Diana said in surprise. "I'm sorry, I..."
"You didn't know," Ironhide finished for her. "That's fine. I've had years to get over that whole experience. Wasn't easy, but I've put it behind me. At any rate, some time after that I joined the Autobots, became part of the Corps of Engineers; that's how I ended up being tapped for time here on Earth. They needed an architect, and I guess Jetfire figured I was best for the job."
"Well, good for you," Diana noted.
"So have you designed anything here on Earth?" Lucy asked.
"Nothing much, just the new base is all," Ironhide noted, a little bit of pride in his voice. "But with all this and what we found, I've got a bad feeling it won't be finished for a while."
"What you found?" Diana asked.
"Energon ore, of all things," Ironhide replied. "A small stockpile of it. The good news is we've got enough to power us 'till the Big Crunch. The bad news is we can't get to it easily."
"Energon?" Lucy asked.
"Their power source," Diana explained. "Transformers need Energon to function just as much as we need food. Unfortunately, it puts out radiation that can short out their systems unless they're specially constructed to deal with it. And I don't think any of the Autobots here on Earth are built to properly withstand it."
"No, we aren't," Ironhide replied.
"Wait, this Energon puts out radiation?" Lucy asked. "Shouldn't we...?"
"Energon radiation only has major effects on mechanical life," Ironhide explained. "It doesn't have any effect on organic life, so far as we know."
Worry beginning to grow on her face as they approached the entrance to the Autobot base site, Lucy noted, "That's not exactly reassuring."
Ironhide stopped and allowed for his passengers to exit his cabin before transforming to robot mode. The three stepped through the hologram to find Optimus Prime, Red Alert, Vector Prime, Colonel Franklin and the kids waiting for them.
"Doctor Suzuki!" Lori cried in surprise, rushing forward with Bud and Coby in tow.
"Kids, what are...?" Lucy asked as they rushed up to her. "How did you get here?"
"It's a long story," Coby explained.
Diana barely suppressed a chuckle and said, "So you three are the ones who found this place. Count me surprised."
"Kids, this is Doctor Masters," Lucy explained. "She and I are old friends, and she's probably the biggest expert on the Transformers here on Earth. Diana, this is Coby, Bud and Lori. I occasionally lecture at their schools."
"So you're the one the big guy was talking to," Bud realized.
"Guilty," Diana replied.
"My apologies for interrupting the introductions," Vector Prime chimed in, "however, I believe we have larger concerns."
"Oh, I'm sorry," Lucy apologized, plucking the artifact from her purse. "This is the artifact Diana mentioned on the phone."
"Thank you, Doctor Suzuki," Optimus Prime noted as Safeguard separated from Vector Prime's arm and landed on the ground in front of them, transforming and retrieving the artifact.
The ivory Mini-Con gave the small artifact a quick look, then said, "It's definitely Cybertronian, no doubt about it. The materials match those found in Cybertron's moons, converted into alloy form." He noticed the small blue symbol, then said in shock, "Sweet Primus..." He turned around an exclaimed, "Vector Prime, I think they've got something here! It's marked with the symbol of the Key of Wisdom!"
The attention of the three larger Cybertronians raised, Vector Prime asked, "Are you certain?"
"Look for yourself," Safeguard said, rising into the air and floating close to his larger partner.
Vector Prime carefully held the much smaller device and said, "Yes...it's genuine. Professor Suzuki, I believe you've just found our most solid lead yet. The small blue mark on this fragment represents the Key of Wisdom, the artifact held aboard the Atlantis. This is most likely a fragment of its hull."
"Then that means one of the Keys really is here on Earth," Franklin realized. "But this still doesn't give us a firm idea of Atlantis's location."
"We have a place to start looking," Diana noted. "That's gotta count for something."
"Agreed," Optimus said firmly. "When we return to the Ark, I'll put together a team and head to where you found this. Professor, you have our gratitude."
"You're welcome," Lucy noted, still somewhat awestruck by all this.
Diana smiled, despite feeling a little annoyed. All this time, Lucy had possessed the lead which would show them the way to Atlantis. She shook her head and sighed, hoping that the hard part was truly over.
"Now that our Energon problems have been properly dealt with, and our troops refreshed, it is time that we returned to our primary objective," Megatron declared to his troops within the command center of the Nemesis. "The Autobots have managed to retrieve a high number of Mini-Con pods. It's time that the scales were balanced, yes."
"At last," Thrust noted, Starscream giving both Transformers a neutral glare. "Where to, Megatron?"
"There are a few Mini-Con pods left on Earth," Megatron replied. "And one of them is, for the time being, out of the Autobots' reach. We head to where the humans call the Sahara Desert, all of us. And should the Autobots interfere, they will have a surprise awaiting them."
"Looks like this is where the energy burst originated from," Override noted as she glanced over sensor readings, indicating a wide red field over a corner of the planet. "Any ideas?"
"We know that the activation of the Omega Lock on Earth set off a reaction that activated those systems in all of us," Brakedown noted, his optics studying the sensor scans as Clocker continued to bring up the data. "This must've been part of it; the signal hit whatever sent out that pulse, and afterwards, boom, we had those systems come online."
"So what are we gonna do?" Clocker asked. "I mean, if this is as big and important as Prime says, shouldn't we investigate?"
"We should, but we can only do so much," Override said. "That area's huge; it'd take a stellar cycle to search it properly, and we may not have the time. We need to narrow it down somehow."
"Good luck with that," Brakedown noted. "Something tells me we won't be seeing anything like that signal again for a while yet."
"Doesn't mean we shouldn't start narrowing it down anyway," Override decided. "Get search teams out there; start with the boundaries and work inwards. Maybe we still have some luck left."
"According to Professor Suzuki, she located the artifact at these coordinates," Optimus noted via comm.-line, a marked map of northeastern Africa appearing on the communications screen in front of Jetfire and Sideswipe. "We don't have any time to lose, Jetfire; we need to dispatch a team there immediately."
"Agreed, but there's something you need to know," Jetfire quickly noted. "I've been checking over the maps like you said; it looks like one of the last Mini-Con pods is in that region as well."
"And knowing Megatron, he's probably already on his way," Optimus noted. "I'll send Vector Prime and Red Alert back to base, then go on ahead with our human allies; have your team, Hot Shot's, and Overload readied for combat immediately."
"Got it, boss," Jetfire replied. "We'll be ready to go by the time Vector Prime gets here." The line cut off, and Jetfire turned to prepare himself. "Get the word out to the teams. We've got ourselves a fight ahead of us."
"Understood," Sideswipe replied, quickly punching in the necessary commands. "Here's hoping we all make it out of this one in one piece."
The End