Chapter Two
Above the dark, dusty, ashen clouds the sun reigned free. There existed the wonderful azure of the skies he hadn't seen in a time he couldn't affectively measure. Whilst in prison his ability to see the sky and the sun was limited, but now, free from the walls of stone and doors of bars, that beautiful site once more eluded him. Until now. This Skywarp character seemed to revel in the limitlessness of the sky above. He raced along the tops of the dirty clouds, laughing like a madman possessed as he inclined towards the heavens.
"Woooooh… Skywarp, man… seriously".
The younger one groaned as he grabbed his abdomen and leant forward against the straps that held him securely in place.
"Oh! Right! Sorry little smelly friends! Keep forgetting you humans don't like the G's a heap".
He laughed good naturedly.
"Is it much further?"
Nick asked, his voice oozed with nausea.
"Haha! About ten of your human minutes, little chums!"
"Oh thank God!"
Nick reclined in the seat.
The entire time the criminal said nothing, choosing rather to stare out at the sight he might not see again for a very long time.
"You know, I just realised, you little men know my name, but what are yours? I don't think you want me calling you smelly little friends most of the time".
Skywarp chimed in.
"My name's Nick, and this Gettys".
The young one replied, suddenly aware that he couldn't remember the criminal's first name, but given that Gettys was probably not a "first name basis" kind of man, he figured he wouldn't take too much offence. The ex-con murmured in the affirmative. Skywarp didn't seem to take much notice of the older human's lack of desire to converse and so continued to natter on about how flat earth was and how could the humans stand it? Nick responded along the lines of it not being flat from their perspective. The flying machine replied with something about that being about right, added a series of chuckles and then did an excited loop. The younger one groaned and looked like he was going to throw up; the criminal was too interested in the beauty that surrounded them and the dark clouds that protected them from the horror below.
"OOH! Here we are little friends Nick and Gettys!"
Gettys had to pay attention now as he noticed the jet was descending through the filthy clouds and then he was aware they were flying over the ocean. Up ahead he witnessed an amazing thing; rising out of the blackened water was a huge metallic tower.
"Ahh, home, metal home".
Skywarp flew into the large opening at the top of the tower and landed gracefully on the platform. The massive door shut and then the whole tower began to lower down into what awaited on the ocean floor.
His cockpit lid lifted open revealing a large steel room.
"Out you hop!"
The Decepticon chuckled. The two obeyed and stood back as the jet transformed back into the form of the black and purple painted robot.
"So, this is my place!"
Skywarp held his arms out and smiled broadly.
"Well… it's not just my place, come meet my buddies and our commander… he's a swell guy, seriously! The boss man likes people to think he's all scary and stuff, but nah, he's so neat".
Skywarp certainly was enthusiastic about his commanding officer… which was probably a good thing, Gettys thought, it'd be hard to fight under an officer you didn't like them, or if they were an arse.
"Come on smelly Nick, smelly Gettys".
He chuckled, and started walking towards a large door, waving them to come.
Nick was so amazed at the size of the place. The huge metallic walls seemed to stretch upwards for miles… well, for at least an amount of height that his human eyes had difficultly focussing on. He followed the machine with a kind of excitement, any dread or doubt he'd held previously had been banished by the machine's demeanour, nothing this happy and obliging could seriously be a member of this "Autobot" faction. The young man turned his head momentarily so he could see his fleshy companion walking a few steps to his right. Gettys was taking in as much as Nick, staring about in what could only be described as wonder, at the sheer size of this place.
Once on the other side of the giant door, they found themselves in a long corridor. The two humans hurried to keep up with their host, the eagerness of the younger was starting to increase – he actually ran to make it to the heels of the robot.
"So… Skywarp… you're really part of the good guys?"
He panted somewhat.
"Absolutely, little friend!"
That robot certainly liked to smile, Gettys thought, his gaze being pulled from the walls to the face of that ever so happy machine.
"So there's good guys?"
Nick asked.
"Well… yeah!"
Skywarp continued grinning.
"So you guys have shown up to fight those bad guys off Earth?"
The criminal stopped at that question and lost all focus from the expansive corridor and its massive structure. The robot was quiet for a moment, reflecting somewhat, his shoulders slightly slumped. He sighed.
"We're going to try, little friend".
He sounded almost glum… negative? Gettys contemplated upon the being's now subdued demeanour.
"Well… come on then, time's a wasting and you guys are probably busting to see my chums!"
Skywarp perked up again. They reached another set of large doors which opened for them, and the two humans followed the machine into an even larger, and more magnificent room.
What got Gettys was the windows. They truly were under the ocean. The dark blues and greens of the ocean on the other side of the alien crafted glass like substance. Amongst the colour floated wisps of sea weeds and other underwater flora, and the sparsely occasional fish. Large chunks of God only knew what would sometimes linger along in the violent currents. The criminal walked over to it and stood, looking out at yet another region of their world that had not been left untouched. What looked like a human form drifted by amongst the litter. Gettys decided not to focus on it, and certainly not to admit it was a corpse.
"Wow".
Nick suddenly joined his companion.
"Yeah! Ain't it pretty! I bet it was heaps nicer before the Whatohbots showed up".
Skywarp stood behind them, his visual ability keener then his new organic friends and able to identify objects that he certainly wouldn't share with the two humans.
"You back already, Sky? Seesh, you shirking your responsibilities again?"
"Yeah, you have a run in with some Autobot femmes?"
"Hahahah! You guys are hysterical!"
The Decepticon actually had a hint of mischievous sarcasm in his vocaliser.
"Anyway, look! I found these two little guys!"
"Oh man, the boss isn't going to be…"
"Isn't going to be what, Starscream?"
Skywarp and the two other machines built in a similar style to him turned to face the much larger new comer.
"Oh great and mighty Megatron, look! Skywarp has returned from his patrol, with two humans! What ever should we do, oh magnificent, kingly liege?"
"For goodness sake…"
The new comer replaced whatever he had intended to finish the sentence with, with a sigh. It didn't sound truly frustrated, but there was a hint of "when will it end?" sort of comment a parent with a slightly wayward child would make. Gettys turned and looked up at the large grey and black robot with red accents to his joints. A large canon sat on his right arm. It didn't look like something a "good guy" would have attached to his body.
"Its purely for the defence of my Decepticons".
The robot said pointedly when he realised the older male was staring at it. Gettys looked embarrassed for a moment and quickly adverted his gaze. The Decepticon commander chuckled slightly.
"Who are your friends, Skywarp? Dare I ask?"
"Oh! Megatron! Commander! Wow! You won't believe it! There I was flying along the assigned patrol route, just like you ordered, and then I noticed some activity on my radar, like Autobot activity… oh man! These guys are awesome; you know what they called the Autobots? The whatohbots! How priceless is that? Anyway, Commander, I thought well, my scanners aren't picking up a lot of activity, but enough that I better check it out, so I warped down there, and landed on the ground. There no whatohbots anywhere, so I thought, whatever better take off, I stepped back and BOOM right on a human built mine, man, can those humans build a mine! Thankfully it didn't do too much damage, but Hook ain't going to be impressed when I show up and ask for a repaint! Anyway, the bang must of scared these two little chaps so I grabbed them, thinking, well, can't have humans wandering around an area where there are mines, they could get exploded or the explosion I caused could grab Autobot attention, and the last thing these little guys need are Autobots chasing them down. But man, are they funny, this…"
"I see…"
The one called Megatron cut short, albeit very tactfully, his subordinate after obviously obtaining the information he required.
"Anyway, Commander meet Nick and Gettys, Nick and Gettys, meet our Commander, and all round nice guy…"
"And supreme ruler of all Decepticons!"
A red, blue and white robot cut in.
"Hahah! Good one Screamer!"
The two robots started laughing. The other of similar build just stood there, arms over his chest, and shook his head in disbelief at the sheer immaturity of his brothers.
"I am Megatron. It is a pleasure to meet you both, while I am not adverse to your presence here, but our base isn't accustomed to human needs".
The robot crouched down to their level and smiled softly.
Any doubts Nick had about these robots were completely gone when he met the Decepticon ruler.
"You're in charge of these guys?"
Nick asked with a cheeky grin.
"Sometimes I have to wonder…"
Megatron stood to his full height.
"So… ah… how much longer until you guys beat those whatohbots?"
Nick asked, not sure if he should. Skywarp and his equally mischievous companion started laughing again at the mention of "whatohbots". Megatron seemed somewhat uncomfortable for a moment, but Gettys noticed it wasn't from the undisciplined behaviour of his kin.
"Please understand my new human friend, we have been fighting the Autobots for millions of years, our numbers are seriously diminished by their cruelty in battle and their sheer savagery. There are but a few of our true number on earth, but no matter how few we have, we are dedicated to pushing back the Empire from your world. I know it's most probably not the answer you wish for, and chances are the sadism they have shown your kind will continue, but we will not rest until the Empire is defeated".
"Our mighty Emperor, great Lord Megatron will someday defeat the infamous Optimus Prime!"
"Starscream".
Megatron crossed his arms over his chest.
"Completely tactless as always".
"Oh, how rude! I didn't introduce you little chaps to my brothers, Starscream and Thundercracker… um… did I introduce you? I can't remember. Hahahah! Might need Hook to run a diagnostic on my memory circuits! Hahah!"
"Yeah! He'll love that! But not as much as picking pieces of metal out of your afterburners!"
"AHAHAH! Screamer you bastard!"
The two started wrestling around the room. Starscream managing to get his elbow into Skywarp's abdomen, who quickly twisted his arms around so they were hooked over Screamer's shoulders, the two flipped over and landed in a pile on the ground at Megatron's feet.
"I'll pop you one, Screamer!"
"You talk better then you wrestle, Skydork!"
"Oh yeah! Streamer! I'll…"
The two started rolling about on the floor.
"Holy Primus, I can't believe I'm off the same microprogramming protocol as them".
Thundercracker grumbled. Megatron tried to hide his amusement, but failed and let out a curt laugh.
"Anyway, my new friends, as I was saying, we're not really set up to cater to the needs of organically structured life forms, but we are aware of areas of lesser Autobot activity that we can return you too, or we can track down some of your own kin".
"Our own kin? There are other humans out there?"
Nick asked, it was probably a stupid question.
"Of course. The Empire may have slaughtered many of your species but Prime is learning the hard way that your kind won't relent as easily as others. There are cells of resistance near all of your major centres of populace. We assist them as needed or wanted".
"What do you mean wanted?"
Nick asked.
"Yeah, don't they want your help?"
Gettys inquired.
"Understandably most humans aren't as trusting as you both. We realise after the horrors Prime has brought to your planet it must be hard to expect there are robotic forms of life who aren't as bloodthirsty".
"Prime?"
The younger one asked.
"Obviously some guy high up the Autobot food chain?"
The criminal replied.
"Correct, Gettys, Optimus Prime is the supreme ruler of the Autobots, there are none above him in the chain of command. He is a paranoid, insane and cruel tyrant who has brought suffering and death to countless worlds, including our own. We once lived in peace on our home world of Cybertron, but Prime rebelled and with his army that he'd raised under the guise of protection of our home world, he destroyed our legal representatives. Our war raged for eons until it had siphoned our native energy reserves – that was the point when Prime left Cybertron in search of fuels to power his rampages. He took his massive army from world to world taking what they wanted, enslaving the native populace and when they were of no use, murdering them".
"Holy god… they've done this before?"
"Many times, and once they've finished here they plan to move on and do it somewhere else. But we will make our final stand here".
"We have information that the Autobot Empire is starting to weaken. There are those in the hierarchy who are working behind the scenes to overthrow Prime, some of them view Prime as an overbearing brute, as a maniac who's paranoia and genocidal rages are going to be the downfall of the Autobot Empire. These factions are acting in the benefit of Autobot kind, as they say. And to be honest, while there are Autobots who are just as chilling as Prime, there are those who would bring honour to their army and remove the less then desirable elements".
Thundercracker explained.
"And you came here to try and help humanity but to mostly stop the Autobots?"
Gettys asked.
"Yes".
Megatron stated.
"But enough of such morbid discussion, come, let me show you our base. Perhaps we can find a place where you can clean yourselves. Humans like to engage in many hygiene rituals, yes?"
The commander inquired.
"Yeah, we call it showering, or bathing".
Nick said, he was so taken by these beings and the huge base they inhabited.
"Come then, my friends".
Megatron smiled, crouched down and offered them his hand.
"Climb aboard".
The two humans gingerly clambered upon the large fingers and up onto the hand. Megatron placed them on his shoulder.
"Hold on tight, friends, it's a long drop".
Megatron groaned with amused annoyance as he viewed the two robots still wrestling.
