A day in the Axiom Nexus could be chaotic, to say the least. Lowtechs and Transtechs of all varieties bustled about their daily lives, either running their run-down markets, harassing other travellers for any remaining money they had, or closely guarding secrets that should never, ever, ever be spoken. Today, however, chaos ran through the streets of the multidimensional hub more than ever.
The sound of an explosion, commonplace to many of the inhabitants of the city, rocked Axiom Nexus. Those who looked for the source of the blast, saw it was coming from the top of one of the many towers that pierced the two-sunned sky of this iteration of Cybertron. A streak of light seemed to drop from the source of the explosion and run down the side of the tower. It was closely followed by two more streaks. The sounds of laser fire echoed over the city.
A rush of wind whipped over the heads of the denizens of Axiom Nexus as a silver jet zipped over their heads, closely followed by two white flyers, which were firing on the jet. The jet easily navigated the airways of Axiom Nexus, heading for the city borders. The jet was exceedingly quick, managing to outmaneuver its pursuers and create some well-needed distance. As it pressed ahead, the air in front of it began to crackle with energy.
"Warning. Unauthorised transport in progress." The smooth voice of a computer spoke over the blaring of a loud alarm. "Repeat. Unauthorised transport in progress." Transtechs dashed through the hallway, spurred into action by the alarm. In a control room at the top of a tower, a pair of doors slid open and Commander Cheetor strode inside. His luminous violet optics scanned over the several technicians and controllers working at their computer consoles.
"Report." he said briskly.
"Unauthorised transport, sir." One of the controllers replied, not taking his optics off the computer.
"Yeah, I heard." Cheetor sighed. "What's the transport destination?"
"Unknown, sir. We can't pinpoint the cluster its taking the Lowtech to." Another controller replied.
"Shut it down." Cheetor ordered. The controllers went to work at their consoles.
"It's not working, sir." A controller said after a minute. "There's some kind of interference with the transport."
Cheetor hissed angrily. "The Lowtech's getting away! Disrupt the transport!"
"Commander Cheetor!" A harsh-sounding, raspy voice came over the intercom. Cheetor looked up to the ceiling and gave a low growl that went unheard by the controllers. He recognised that voice. It had been the bane of his existence ever since he became the chief of security administration. "There has been a break-in at the confiscation vaults. I need you over here now."
"At once, High Commander Megatron." Cheetor replied, barely containing his anger. He turned and stalked out of the control room. Deep in his spark, he knew that he was, once again, going to get chewed out over this. As he left, the controllers worked at their consoles, making every effort they could to stop the Lowtech jet from getting away.
The crackling in the air grew stronger, sending electricity surging through the sky. As the jet flew closer to the source of the crackling, the sky seemed to split in two, and in the middle was a howling void, filled with blue energy. The jet's pursuers must have interpreted this new sight as a threat, because they increased their firepower. Their training seemed to pay off, as some of their shots actually made contact with the jet, which shuddered in midair, its frame riddled with laser burns, yet it kept on course.
The two flyers pressed forward, closing on their target. Before they could even lock onto their target, the jet disappeared through the crack in the sky, and the crack closed after it. The flyers pulled themselves to a stop in midair, changing into slim-looking, streamlined robots. They looked around, their burning red visors scanning the skyline of Axiom Nexus for any sign of their quarry. There was nothing in sight. One of the robots touched a hand to the side of their head and gestured to his companion. The two changed shape again and headed for the exploded tower.
The slender frame of Cheetor contrasted the overtly bulky Megatron as they stood inside the destroyed vault. Fire suppression teams had been called in to deal with the blazes, and now the security forces had been called in to investigate the area. Several Transtechs were busy looking around the vault, which had been cleanly blown open, according to the two standing guard over it.
"Do we know what was stolen, yet?" Cheetor asked his superior, who turned to look at him with steely red optics. The security chief could tell they were full of rage, as always.
"No." Megatron spoke slowly and calmly. "The perpetrator travelled far into this vault to steal his prize. Shockwave is investigating deeper inside."
Cheetor felt himself shiver. Even though the Transtechs didn't partake in the war that so many Lowtechs were caught up in, and they were all on the same side, Cheetor never felt comfortable around Shockwave. It wasn't that he distrusted Military Intelligence, but Shockwave just gave off an aura of doubt and secrecy that never sat well with him.
"Commanders." Shockwave's sinister voice shocked Cheetor. He tried to keep a straight face as the spider-like Military Intelligence chief crossed the vault and stood before them. "If you will come with me, I will show you the lengths our thief went to."
Megatron and Cheetor glanced at each other, then followed Shockwave into the vault. Cheetor recognised it immediately as Vault 5, where all the items of significant power were locked away. The rules for dimension-hopping through Axiom Nexus forbode the carrying of items deemed powerful or important, such as a Matrix of Leadership. Any that did make their way to the hub were locked away in Vault 5. He had never been inside the vault, but had been curious about the contents on more than one occasion.
Further into the vault the trio went, examining the numbered lockers that lined the walls. The whole vault seemed to hum with power. They stopped when they reached a large metal door, which opened with the touch of Shockwave's hand. Cheetor almost gasped in surprise as he looked forward. There stood a door, identical to the one they had just passed through. The only difference was a hole had been blasted through it.
"How is this possible?" Megatron asked, gazing at the hole.
"We suspect the thief had access to Matter Compression Charges." Shockwave said bluntly, scuttling through the hole. As he and Megatron followed, Cheetor tensed up. Matter Compression Charges were dangerous weapons. They created miniature singularities which consumed anything they came into contact with. Even the Transtechs had never considered using them. They were highly unstable at best.
As he clambered through the hole, he looked around. He could tell that he was in the deepest, most restricted part of the vault. He watched as Shockwave touched a panel on the wall, which slid out. He peered into the hidden space. It was empty.
"What used to be here?" he asked, noting the serial number imprinted on the base of the compartment: 6279-783.
"Something powerful." Shockwave replied. It seemed to be the reply he was satisfied with, because he didn't care to elaborate.
In a universe designated as Viron 385.20 Theta, a tear opened up in the sky, and the silver jet flew out. It desperately tried to maintain being airborne, but couldn't, and fell to the ground, where a plume of soil, grass, and one or two heralded its crashing. It groaned in pain as it shifted to robot mode, clutching an ornately decorated cube. He didn't move, knowing it would cause him pain if he did.
He heard movement somewhere off to his left, and then the sounds of metal feet on soil. He felt a hand on his shoulder, and he was forcibly turned around. He stared into the eyes of the red robot that had found him, seeing only concern.
"Don't worry, Warcry. We're going to get you repaired up." His rescuer smiled at him. "You'll be okay." The smile soon vanished when he saw the full extent of the damage. Warcry was leaking energon all over his crash site, and seemed that a laser blast had pierced a spot close to his spark.
"No..." Warcry managed to croak out. "I'm...I'm done for, Block...Blockbuster. Get this...to...her..." he held up the cube with a shaky hand and dropped it at his companion's side. "...there must be...five..." He would have said more, but his colours had faded.
Blockbuster knelt by Warcry's side for a moment, his head hanging and his optics closed. When he opened them, he took hold of the cube and stood up, turning away from his friend's body and running into the woodland. As he changed into his preferred alt mode of a jeep, he darted nimbly between trees. His performance was a little more sluggish than usual, he noted, due to lowered levels of energon in his system. He had left some of his innermost energon in a phial at the place where Warcry lay.
He soon came upon a clearing, where three other Transformers awaited him. The smallest of the trio was a bright orange with tiny horns on his head and shoulders that looked like the front of a car. The second had black helicopter blades jutting out from behind his back, which blended in well with the dark blue of his body. The third member of the waiting party was the one Blockbuster had been waiting to see. She stood in front of the other two, her arms folded over her grill-like torso. She kept her warm, blue optics on Blockbuster all the time.
"Blockbuster!" she said, smiling, as Blockbuster changed form again. "Where's Warcry?"
"He, um..." Blockbuster clenched his free fist before continuing. "He didn't make it."
The smile vanished from their leader's face as she heard Blockbuster speak. She turned her head away from them, trying to calm herself down. After a moment, she turned to face Blockbuster, her face stoic. "We'll bury him later. Did he retrieve it?"
"Yes, he did." Blockbuster held out the cube, which had begun to glow a vibrant violet colour.
She took it from him and gazed at it, the light emanating from the object reflecting off her face. She was eternally thankful to Warcry for bringing this to her. It meant she was one step closer to achieving her goals.
In the light of the morning, three more phials of innermost energon rested on a mound of earth, under which the form of Warcry lay. The four Transformers had long since disappeared, each of them assuming their alt modes-an orange sports car, a helicopter, a jeep and an indigo semi-truck-and were travelling down a woodland road.
"Where next?" the sports car asked, after a few minutes of silence.
"We need to find another, Gecko." The indigo semi replied. "The prophecy says there must be five."
"Where are we going to find another willing to listen to us?" Gecko pressed. "I guarantee they'll be thinking of the war first."
"I'll think of something." The semi said, pressing ahead of the others and taking the lead. "I have a feeling they'll listen to me."