Chapter Two
The next day they had extra time on the way to the base so Miko and Dana talked Bulkhead into making a little 'side trip' of sorts- which was really going off roading, something Miko had always wanted to try. Bulkhead wasn't positive it was a good idea because he didn't know how safe it was.
Currently Miko was starting a countdown. "Ready, set-"
"Miko, I'm supposed to be protecting you and Dana." Bulkhead protested.
"Bulkhead. We're strapped tight inside ten tons of metal muscle. I'm protected." Miko reassured.
"Adventurous humans do stuff like this all the time. There's even a smaller open air vehicle that was invented specifically for this." Dana added.
Bulkhead finally indulged Miko's whim, and all three of them had a blast. Dana really adored and appreciated the bond Miko and Bulkhead were already forming. Plus both lucked out in being looked after by the one most likely to indulge in their less stationary idea of fun. When they arrived at base they found that the boys had been bonding with their guardians too- though Miko left her guitar inside Bulkhead. Then Dana noticed that they all seem to have arrived towards the end of a serious discussion between Optimus and Ratchet.
"Autobots, prepare to-" Optimus started to call them out on a mission but then he looked down and remembered the humans had arrived along with the three Autobots assigned as guardians.
"Roll out?" Arcee finished.
"Remain here." Optimus decided, unable to leave the humans completely alone and changing his orders accordingly, "Ratchet you'll come with me. Arcee, we'll be outside communications range for some time so I'm putting you in charge."
"Dude, you're biggest. You should be the boss." Miko told Bulkhead.
"He… never picks me." Bulkhead said, unsure how to take it.
'Bulkhead's awesome but somehow I doubt the others would take him seriously if Optimus did put him in charge without giving him a chance.' Dana thought, 'Though I'm not sure he'd even want to be in charge.'
"Optimus, with all due respect. Playing bodyguard is one thing babysitting's another." Arcee complained, "Besides Ratchet hasn't been in the field since the war."
"My pistons may be rusty but my hearing's sharp as ever." Ratchet pointed out.
"Arcee that's pretty rude." Dana said, "Besides ignoring the fact that I've met veterans who have trouble walking yet are still able to take on a black belt martial artist medics trained in fighting have an edge because of their knowledge in biology."
"For the moment it's only reconnaissance." Optimus assured.
"Then why do I hear an edge in your voice?" Arcee asked.
"Arcee much has changed in the last twenty four hours and we all need to adapt." Optimus admonished, "Ratchet bridge us out."
"That is still the coolest thing I've ever seen." Dana said as Optimus and Ratchet walked through the ground bridge, "Good luck you two!"
"Okay chief. So uh what is on the activities list?" Jack asked.
"I'm going on patrol." Arcee said, starting back towards the tunnel.
"But Optimus told us to stay." Bulkhead pointed out.
"When you're in charge you can call the shots." Arcee snapped, "Bee, with me!"
Bumblebee said something- Dana thought his beeps sounded like a complaint- but complied.
"Bulkhead you're in charge." Arcee said, and then the pair transformed and drove off.
"So uh… what's on the activities list?" Bulkhead said, looking like he felt slightly awkward.
The screeching sound of Miko plugging her guitar into an amp preceded her suggestion. "What about band practice!"
"But we're not a band." Raf pointed out.
"Why so anti social?" Miko responded, "Come on, Raf. You play anything?"
Raf gave his laptop as an instrument, and that was good enough for Miko. Jack however Miko was dissatisfied with. Dana was certain that the music that matched Miko's instructions was much more hardcore than anything Jack would consider except maybe for the sake of someone he wanted to impress. Dana got left out, Miko knew she only played the flute- partially due to stuff that would fit in in a school's orchestra or band being all her parents found acceptable. Then Miko gave Bulkhead the role of both being and playing the drums. Finally Miko started playing, but she'd turned the amp up way too high for the guys to handle. Before Dana could get her to turn the amp down the same green alarm from the day before blared. Bulkhead quickly tried to get Miko to stop playing.
"Come on. You can't handle raw power?" Miko protested.
"Proximity sensor." Bulkhead explained, "Quick hide!"
Naturally it was Fowler again. He was complaining about the explosion the Autobots had barely escaped the day before. It seemed at first like the humans would be hidden just fine behind Bulkhead. But of course nothing ever goes according to plan. Miko took her guitar with her and the noise from her trying to drag the amp and Raf's laptop out of sight only caught Fowler's attention quicker- or was the only reason he noticed anything at all. Jack's brilliant plan to stop an awkward conversation was to reveal themselves. Dana smacked her forehead.
"Contact with civilians! Team Prime has really gone off book this time." Fowler said, "Wait don't tell me. You're running a daycare center."
"Dude none of us are young enough for that. And I'm nineteen. If you're gonna be a jerk at least don't be patronizing about it." Dana complained.
Jack meanwhile did the worst thing he could- try to come up with the reasonable excuse that they were interns even though Fowler would likely have been the one to introduce and maybe even hire them in the first place. Raf and Miko backed him up admirably though.
"If you need proof I can show you the class list proving I'm an engineering major at the local university." Dana offered.
Instead of buying it Fowler wanted to take them into custody. Bulkhead quickly blocked him.
"We're protecting them." he insisted.
"Is that so? Well maybe you can explain that to my superiors at the Pentagon!" Fowler threatened, going a phone.
Bulkhead quickly broke it, Dana suspected it was only partially on accident. "Don't use that phone it's out of order.
"This isn't over Bigfoot! Not by a long shot." Fowler threatened, headed back up the stairs to leave.
"Dude before you cause a mess consider that taking Miko could cause an international incident and that the best way to be protected from gigantic alien robotic organism is to be protected by gigantic robotic organisms!" Dana called after him.
As Fowler left Miko and Jack had displeased expressions. When Fowler was gone Bulkhead in contrast let his serious expression shift into one of worry. Dana knew this was trouble, she may not be a liberal arts major but she paid enough attention in history to know the government's pulled some pretty messed up and occasionally just dumb moves in the past.
Later Dana was trying to study when a worse alarm went off. She was sure it meant there was trouble.
"My ears!" Raf complained, covering them to try and dampen the noise.
"It's an SOS from Fowler." Bulkhead said, but when he approached the console he didn't know what to press.
The humans exchanged a look. Raf went closer in hopes of helping.
"Did you trace it?" Raf asked.
"Location scan was incomplete." Bulkhead read off, then shrugged. "Oh well."
"'Oh well.' Seriously?!" Jack exclaimed.
"Fowler's a jerk." Bulkhead excused.
Jack seemed incensed. "Whoa! Whether you like the guy or not the Decepticons may have him."
"And Agent Fowler knows your location." Raf pointed out then realized "Our location."
"And did you not just witness how fast Fowler backs down from a bot?" Miko added, "The 'Cons will totally make him squeal!"
"Plus here's some food for thought- this is a grumpy guy who might actually be a jerk but might just be a guy who's trying to do a job he's barely or just not equipped to handle." Dana said, "Do you really want to risk him being replaced by someone worse or Optimus getting in trouble?"
"But we lost the transmission. Fowler could be anywhere!" Bulkhead protested.
"Maybe I can narrow it down." Raf said as he took out his laptop and got to work, "About five years ago the government started microchipping their agents. You know, like owners do with pets."
"That's probably how they see guys like Fowler too." Dana quipped, making Miko snicker.
"What?" Raf said when he noticed Miko's and Jack's looks, "I saw it on TV. Anyway if I can hack into the feds' mainframe maybe I can pinpoint Fowler's coordinates."
"Impressive. Raf, I have a feeling we could accomplish great things together." Dana said.
"You know how to hack?" Miko said incredulously, "You're like two years old."
"Twelve." Raf corrected as he fixed his glasses and looked up at her smugly, "And a quarter."
Soon enough Raf had the coordinates; Bulkhead wasted no time inputting them and opening a ground bridge. "Wait here."
"Aw, don't break up the band." Miko complained.
"Uh... Jack, you're in charge." Bulkhead said right before he entered the ground bridge.
Miko and Dana exchanged glances. Dana could tell Miko planned to follow, and indicated that she insisted on going too. After all not only would it be dangerous if the younger girl was going to see something so cool Dana wasn't about to miss out. Her only response before they proceeded to do just that was give to give Dana a thumbs up.
The scenery on the other side was a bunch of cliffs and mesas not dissimilar from the area the Autobot base was in. Actually of interest however was the spaceship and bunch of black and purple robots that clearly must've been Decepticons. Bulkhead was hidden behind a boulder, reading the situation. Miko and Dana were quick to hide behind smaller boulders.
"All right. What's the plan?" Miko asked.
"Miko!" Bulkhead exclaimed.
Before Bulkhead could react one of the Decepticon drones spotted them and aimed his blaster at Miko.
"Oh. Unwise." Miko berated herself.
Bulkhead quickly warned Miko away from the blast. As she dodged just barely in time and ran out of the way Bulkhead was quick to take the Decepticon out. Miko got in the way trying to help but Bulkhead was quick to place her away from harm's reach.
"Miko look away!" Bulkhead said.
Naturally she protested. "But-"
"Turn your head away." Bulkhead insisted, proceeding to tear out some wiring and killing the other bot without noticing Miko hadn't listened.
"Well that was cool. Pretty foolish of you to make noise like that though." Dana said.
"You too?!" Bulkhead groaned.
"I wasn't about to let her out her by herself. I knew it'd probably be dangerous." Dana excused, "Besides this is really cool."
Once the three of them were out of sight and Miko and Dana were in his hand and on his shoulder respectively Bulkhead did the logical thing, considering he was outnumbered and had two humans with him- he called Arcee and Bumblebee for backup. They weren't as quick to show up as Bulkhead had hoped. Dana doubted it was just that Jack and Raf couldn't work the ground bridge- not with how good with computers Raf was.
"What's taking Arcee and Bumblebee?" Bulkhead complained.
"Dude, the 'Cons could be putting the clamps on Fowler right now. Let's just storm the joint!" Miko insisted.
"And what could us two humans do?" Dana pointed out, "Besides do you see how outnumbered we are?"
Before Bulkhead could give in or shoot down the idea a ground bridge appeared- only instead of Arcee and Bumblebee like Bulkhead assumed it was Jack and Arcee. Dana wasn't surprised. Miko was pouting.
"Why don't those guys hang with their own bots? This is our two on one time." Miko protested.
Dana snickered. She figured overly serious Jack probably realized where they were and thought he could do something to help. Mostly she was just amused at Miko's reaction. Bulkhead just groaned.
Dana patted him sympathetically. "There, there. You had to know it wouldn't be easy."
"Sure but couldn't it be a little easier?" Bulkhead moaned.
Just then all three noticed Jack and Raf had walked right into view of the ship and the Decepticons and said the same thing in unison. "Scrap."
The Decepticons naturally immediately started shooting at the pair. But most of them must have either had terrible aim, bad angle to get good aim or didn't really want to hurt the boys because very few spots came close to actually hitting Jack or Raf. Just as Jack was helping Raf up from when a shot came so close it threw off the younger boy's balance Bulkhead managed to get in front of them in vehicle mode, throwing the door on their side open.
"Get in. Now!"
The moment they did as demanded the door closed behind them. Bulkhead drove away from the ship, dodging shots the whole time. Dana wished her phone had a good enough camera to take a decent video recording.
"Thanks Bulkhead." Jack said.
"Yeah. Thanks." Raf agreed, clearly a little shook up.
"What are you doing here?!" Bulkhead asked.
"We were worried about Miko and Dana. Have you seen them?" Jack asked.
Miko and Dana took that as their cue to sight upright from their spot in the back seat.
"What do they look like?" Miko quipped.
The moment Bulkhead was behind some boulders he opened a door again. "Everyone out. And this time please wait here."
Once they complied (or seemed to) Bulkhead drove back towards the ship dodging shots. When he was close he transformed back into bot mode and climbed up the cliff on one side of the ship. He jumped and grabbed the edge of the ship closest to him and before he pulled himself up he threw a bot off the roof of the ship. Once he was actually on the roof he took out two more, using the second's corpse as a shield. Not that Dana or Miko actually saw what he did, just felt the movements and heard the shots- neither had actually gotten out when he got Jack and Raf to safety.
Bulkhead finally noticed their absence when he looked towards where Jack and Raf mostly visible even though they were supposed to be hiding. "Where's the girls?"
Miko banged on the inside of his chest plate. He opened it up in surprise, Miko gasping to get control of her breath.
Bulkhead was so perplexed, Dana would've felt bad if she wasn't amused. "Miko? Dana?"
"I heaved on your floor mats. Sorry." Miko said, almost hurling again.
"At least it didn't get on me." Dana commented, "I don't know why but I feel like I've handled worse."
Bulkhead brought up his hand to let the girls down, Miko clearly still recovering from her bout of motion sickness.
"Remind me never to do that again." Miko said from where she was on her knees.
"I doubt you'd listen." Dana replied, "But I can try."
Just then a Decepticon leapt right over Miko and at Bulkhead. He wasn't a match. Before anything else could happen a panel opened to reveal two more bots. Bulkhead took them and the others that showed up out relatively easily. Bulkhead picked the girls back up- setting Dana on his shoulder for better maneuverability- and shot an approaching bot, looking around to figure out what he should do. He opened the panel back up and jumped in, landing in a hallway on the ship. When they came across yet another pair of Decepticons he tossed Miko so she slid between them, took them out quickly and picked her back up. When they came to a corner- the girls back on the floor and Bulkhead's blaster charged because they heard noise- they came across Arcee, Bumblebee, Jack and Raf.
"Friendly." Arcee alerted the others with her, pointing her blaster away from Bulkhead.
"Hello." Bulkhead said, probably relieved to have backup.
"Brought the humans huh?" Arcee said.
"You try getting them to stay behind." Bulkhead protested incensed, gesturing to Miko who he was holding again and Dana who was back on his shoulder.
Dana raised her hand. "I can concur that Miko would never listen if determined enough."
"We need to find Fowler and get these kids out of here." Arcee said, ignoring Dana.
"He's in the brig." Jack and Raf said at the same time.
"You got captured didn't you?" Dana deadpanned.
Soon after Bulkhead was between the humans and three Decepticons on one side and Arcee and Bumblebee on the other. Jack grabbed Raf and Miko's hand and tried to run to safety but instead almost got in the way of Bulkhead's part of the fight. Luckily the vehicons as Dana finally learned these lackeys were called were no match for the Autobots. When they got to an actual room the humans waited while the Autobots cleared it out. Arcee told them to wait there. Bumblebee beeped, either questioning or protesting.
"They're slowing us down and they're easy targets." Arcee rationalized, "They'll be alright in here as long as they stay put."
"What if a patrol shows up? None of us have weapons of any sort." Dana pointed out, "This will not work out, that's action adventure 101."
"She's the one in charge, we just all have to roll with it." Bulkhead said, "If it does come to that try to hide or something."
"That was intense." Miko said when the doors closed and they were alone.
"'Was'?" Raf questioned.
"It's your fault that we're stuck in this intensity. What were you thinking Miko?" Jack complained.
"Did we ask you to follow us?" Miko retorted.
"You wanted us to be a band. Doesn't that usually mean playing together?" Jack replied.
"Well maybe I decided to go solo." Miko said.
"That's clutching at straws Jack; we're not Mystery Inc or something." Dana pointed out.
"Well maybe I have some regard for your safety." Jack retorted.
"Getting pretty sick of being ignored here." Dana said.
"Oh I'm sorry, is your name Optimus? You can leave my protection to Bulkhead thank you very much." Miko said.
Finally Jack had enough.
"Stop it. Both of you." Raf shouted, running to sit where he could hide how upset he was getting.
The pair quickly raced to sit by him and reassure him. It didn't work very well. Dana wanted to make Jack apologize for ignoring her but didn't want to make things worse and let Miko and Jack fumble and fail at being comforting. Finally Dana got sick of the somber mood and decided it was time to distract them with something the others were only just starting to notice.
"Yo, stop ignoring the adult for a minute. There's something on a computer over there." Dana pointed out, "Looks like it might be involved with blueprints or an experiment. Any ideas Raf?"
He jumped down to get closer to the computer. "It's important. Real important. We've got to get this to Optimus."
"How do you know it isn't just a recipe for space nachos?" Miko asked.
"I know math when I see it. That is one serious equation." Raf said, confirming Dana's suspicions.
While Jack was trying to figure out how to take the information Dana was taking a picture. Judging by Raf's response it couldn't hurt to have the fallback. Besides it could also be an example to fall back on if she talked someone into teaching her Cybertronian. Before anything else could happen a vehicon entered the room- or came to that part of the room. Miko and Jack hid alright but before Dana could reach them she noticed Raf had fallen behind- he'd almost forgotten his backpack. Now the vehicon knew he was there. Dana had been pulling him to safety, hoping her better speed would help things work when Jack tackled them.
"Miko take a picture!" Jack yelled.
"Great idea." Miko agreed, taking a picture… of the vehicon; Dana did the same.
"Not of that. Of that." Jack said, pointing out the screen with the equation; Miko proceeded to take a picture of that too.
Then the four of them raced towards the door. The vehicon blasted it open and they quickly made their escape. Before the vehicon could take another shot Bulkhead arrived, quickly transforming back into bot mode and taking out the threat.
"I guess you were right Dana." Bulkhead commented, "Let's hope the others actually pay attention to you in the future with these things."
"Let's be fair Bumblebee seemed to think the same thing I did." Dana pointed out.
Just then Arcee and Bumblebee arrived, Bumblebee opening his door.
"I told you to stay put." Arcee said.
"We'd be dead if we had." Dana retorted from Bumblebee's driver seat where she was helping Raf get in the back and buckle Fowler in, "I told you someone would probably come along."
"We can argue later. Let's get out of here." Arcee said, dodging the 'I told you so'.
Later on they had Fowler sleeping off his ordeal in a hospital bed while Dana was doing her best to help Optimus patch Ratchet up. Dana was sure Optimus didn't actually need the help, but she was eager to do something useful.
Miko was the first to speak up when Ratchet stood after he was patched up. "What happened to you guys anyway?"
"We engaged an army of undead Cybertronian warriors." Ratchet explained.
"Zombies?" Miko realized, "You fought zombies and I missed it?!"
"Bulkhead you exercised extremely poor judgment in allowing the humans to accompany you." Optimus said.
"It won't happen again Optimus. I promise." Bulkhead responded.
"But it wasn't Bulkhead's fault." Miko protested.
"She's right; we followed without letting him know." Dana cut in.
"And check it out- recon." Miko added, pulling up a picture on her phone.
Optimus leaned in to view the photo. "Hm. Ratchet have a look. It could be of importance to Megatron."
That freaked Jack out and made him try to sidetrack things. Ratchet ignored him in favor of looking at Miko's phone. Though she'd accidentally went to a different picture. Miko explained the picture of the vehicon with some fangirling over Bulkhead's fighting prowess. That made Jack yell at her again over the danger. When she pointed out Raf hadn't been the only one in danger Jack said he didn't want to be a part of things if danger like that was normal.
The snark resulting from Dana's restrained anger at Jack's attitude towards Miko might've made her say something stupid if Optimus hadn't cut in. "Jack. Putting you in harm's way was never our intent. However it is no longer the safety of you four that is at risk but the safety of all human kind. We will respect your decision if you wish to leave."
Without warning Ratchet opened a ground bridge. "No point in long goodbyes here's the door."
Jack started to move towards the ground bridge but paused to turn to Raf. "Come on Raf."
Raf looked at Bumblebee. "I'll be okay Jack. See you at school."
"Sure thing." when Jack reached the bottom of the stairway Arcee approached, "I know. You don't exists."
"Don't make me hunt you down." Arcee said.
Arcee's tone and her expression as Jack walked through the ground bridge made Dana suspect she'd miss Jack and might've just wanted to say goodbye. Dana shook her head. That boy was too serious for his own good. If that thought brought to mind the face of a pompous boy she'd never met with curly red hair and a twinge of unwarranted nostalgia… well, she chalked that up to weird dreams she used to have as a child.
"I get that different people respond differently to danger but that boy has some serious hang-ups." Dana said, "At the very least he's too responsible and tries too hard to act mature."
That night Miko got Bulkhead to stop by Jack's house on the way home. She seemed to want change his mind or get closure. Dana stayed put in the driver's seat. Sixteen may not have been as old as Jack seemed to think but he was still old enough to make his own choices about these things. Bulkhead and Dana listened as Miko first skirted around the issue, then summarized her life in Tokyo- a safe, boring upper middle class lifestyle that stifled her. She admitted that that lying brochures aside she jumped at the chance to transfer so she could be herself.
"Do you have a point?" Jack asked, seeming to get short tempered with Miko again.
"You bet. I saw what you do today." Miko said, "When you jumped to save Raf. When you came to save Dana and me."
Jack moved to put the wheel back on his bicycle. "I've been raised to be responsible. To my schoolwork, my mom, my job."
"Dude, hear me out." Miko said, "You're no fry cook you're a rock star. Stop trying to pretend you're normal Jack. You'll never fit in. You were born to do so much more."
"Thanks Miko but I think normal suits me fine." Jack retorted.
Miko groaned in disgust then went back to her seat in Bulkhead's vehicle mode. He drove off unprompted.
"What was that all about?" Bulkhead asked.
"I had to try to show him he's making a mistake." Miko said, "I didn't want him to leave on my account."
"The bots are caught up in a civil war, Miko." Dana said, he was always going to ditch us at some point the way he is now. He cares too much about being responsible. And not even the good kind like Optimus."
"What do you mean good kind?" Miko asked.
"He cares too much about following the rules, staying safe and out of trouble." Dana elaborated, "Then when someone else is in trouble or he thinks they are and he's convinced he's the only one who can help he's so convinced he's responsible he subconsciously thinks he's above the rules. Guys like Jack… even without he Decepticions he'll get in huge trouble one day or piss off someone who isn't just some schoolyard bully."
"You seem to know a lot about it." Bulkhead noted.
Dana shrugged. "Some people bird watch. Some people try to solve crime Sherlock Holmes style. Me, I people watch. Besides, I feel like I knew a girl kind of like him, not that I really did."
"Wouldn't something like this help?" Miko asked.
"Maybe, or it could make it worse." Dana said, "Honestly how he ended up like that is a huge factor."
Miko shrugged. "Well, I guess we can just hope for the best."
An hour or so later found Dana making another entry in her online diary.
Today turned out way better than I expected, mostly. After a short period when I expected a boring day that agent guy Fowler showed up and found out about us. He meant to cause trouble for the Autobots with his superiors and uproot our lives for being civilians in he know. Instead he got captured by the Decepticons. Long story short Miko and I followed Bulkhead and Jack and Raf followed us. Now the Decepticons know that there's four of us and not just two. I'm still not sure what to make of Fowler but he at least didn't give up the base's location. I can respect him for that, considering how whatever they did affected him. Apparently the story of a civil war hadn't gotten the message of potential danger across to Jack; he treated Miko pretty badly today over it. He also has a nasty habit of ignoring me, the brat. Does he realize I'm almost twenty? Whatever, Raf and the Autobots are enough awesome new friends. Now that I'm over being mad at how he yelled at Miko I'll give him a pass because I'm convinced he has issues. You'd figure between my arms and liking Miko more than my parents I'd be the troubled one of the group. Also the Decepticons' leader is back and has a method to create Cybertronian zombies now? If the dude's not careful this could be bad for him too, in fiction the bad type of black magic or evil necromancy always has consequences that come back to whoever used it. Not my business, with the situation as I'm aware he can dig his own grave. Most importantly Optimus is the definition of noble, the others are awesome but he especially makes it a real delight having a front row to this. Incoming trouble aside for the first time in my life I'm really looking forward to what the future holds.
Not much later back on the Decepticon warship Soundwave once again discovered Dana's diary entry. He took note that this was clearly going to be a regular thing and set the program alerts he used to keep track of Cybertronians and Cybertronian objects that made their way to the internet to alert him immediately of these entries in the future. If Starscream had had as much pull as he thought he did keeping silent would get the communications in trouble. That wasn't the case and Megatron was back on Earth and aware of the humans; Soundwave already had standing orders to track down or keep track of the humans but to take no measures unless he found something useful or a plan where they could be useful was hatched. The silent bot was pleased that as a result he could keep his typical silence despite his actual leader's presence. This had the promise of amusement, something one took where they could get it when stuck on the Decepticon warship.
The next day after a shorter than scheduled day of classes for Dana she, Miko and Bulkhead went in to base to discover that Dana was one hundred percent correct. Optimus' and Ratchet's encounter was only a test of sorts- Megatron was planning to make a much bigger army of robotic zombies and use a space bridge to bring them to Earth. No matter what reason Megatron had it couldn't be good, given what the Autobots had let on about what their enemies were like.
"Optimus, I've pinpointed the location of Megatron's space bridge- high in Earth's orbit." Ratchet reported.
"Out of our reach." Optimus noted.
"Okay so you guys can't fly." Miko said, "But can't you just ground bridge there?"
'I doubt it's that simple.' Dana thought, staying silent so she could hear Ratchet's response.
"A ground bridge has limited range. Stretched all the way into orbit its vortex could snap and scatter us to the stars." Ratchet replied.
"Since Megatron is likely already in transit I'm afraid we must take that risk." Optimus said, "Reaching the space bridge first is our only means of stopping him."
"Well just two of you survived being outnumbered by zombie bots." Dana pointed out, "I have got faith that you've got this."
Just then a horn sounded twice and Arcee drove back in with Jack in tow. The serious bot had clearly either been through a lot in general or specifically taken the recent loss hard, it warmed Dana's heart to see that despite yesterday's grumbling about babysitting Arcee had managed to bond with her charge.
"Hey. Guess who's back." Jack greeted.
"Autobots prepare for departure." Optimus ordered.
"Where to?" Arcee asked in surprise.
"The final frontier." Miko said, accepting a high five from Dana at the reference.
"Space? I thought they didn't have any way to get there." Jack pointed out.
"They don't, really." Raf confirmed.
"'Where there's a will there's a way.'" Dana quoted, "And they really need a way."
"Be seeing ya?" Jack told Arcee.
Arcee smiled at him as she went to prepare to head off.
"Be careful Bee?" Raf asked, clearly scared for his new friend.
Bee knelt on one knee to see Raf better and from the sort of positive tone of his response Dana thought it was a safe guess that he was reassuring Raf that he would be cautious. It really warmed Dana's heart to see the youngest human of the bunch and the yellow and black Autobot bond. Their interactions made for some of the cutest sights she'd ever seen.
Miko on the other hand was focused on the small picture. "I'm so jealous."
Bulkhead held up a hand at her and took as stern a tone as Dana thought he'd ever be able to with Miko, he was already getting a big soft spot for her just the same as Miko was already really attached to him. "Don't even think of following me."
"We can't, if there's any oxygen at all in space it's not enough to breathe." Dana reassured, "Wish you had a camera or a camera phone to take a few pictures though."
Bulkhead shook his head and chuckled.
"Optimus if you leave me stranded on a planet teeming with humans I will never forgive you." Ratchet claimed.
Dana looked at Ratchet suspiciously. 'Does he hate humans? Or does he just hate being cooped up on a planet where he has to hide on top of being unable to choose to actually live on his homeworld?'
"Until we meet again old friend." Optimus replied in lieu of reassurance, "Autobots roll out."
The humans and Ratchet listened in over the communication feed. The Autobots expected an immediate fight. But when the Decepticon Warship showed up moments after the Autobots oriented themselves and prepared to open fire and nothing happened it became clear that something was up. Moments after realizing something was amiss Optimus noted and reported that a part of the ship needed to lock onto Cybertron was damaged. When Raf was confused why the part described was needed Ratchet explained that the coordinates needed to be extremely precise.
"If Megatron went to the trouble of rendezvousing with his space bridge he must have an alternate targeting system- a remote one." Optimus noted.
"Hmph. From what I know of Earth's technology I doubt there exists a single radio telescope on this planet powerful enough to pinpoint Cybertron." Ratchet scoffed.
"You'd be surprised what humans pull off if determined enough. We can barely travel to space stations orbiting our own planet let alone travel to even our own moon, but humans are fascinated by space. Always have been." Dana countered, "So where we can't study space in person we create telescopes and other pieces of technology specifically designed to be powerful and durable enough to enable us to study space remotely."
"She's right. What about a whole bunch of linked radio telescope dishes?" Raf said as he pulled something up on his laptop, "Like the giant size array in Texas."
Ratchet made the sort of noise typical to adults when children are arguing or messing with something breakable. "This is not child's play."
"Good thinking Raf." Optimus said, "Ratchet have Agent Fowler alert the array staff to the security hazard."
As if summoned by his name Fowler sat up but what he said made it clear he was still either delusional from his ordeal or asleep. He also laid back down immediately. Dana snickered, she had no idea there were people who could be so funny when out of it.
"That may be a challenge." Ratchet noted.
"S-sorry, Optimus. If he's even conscious I don't think he's aware yet." Dana got out between laughs, "We need another way."
Raf was already on his laptop again. "I can't get passed the array's firewalls. They're too thick."
"You-" Ratchet laughed before he got serious, "actually think you could keep the Decepticons out."
"Maybe." Raf said, "If I could get in."
"Let's see, what different ways do connections work…" Dana mused, trying to summon her limited knowledge from a computer course that was part of the requirements for her engineering degree.
Jack either figured something out from her comment or was on a similar track. "W-w-wait- Raf. What if we could get you all the way in. Like inside the building in."
"I could login to their internal network on the other side of the firewall." Raf said.
"The risk is too great. The Decepticons will be there. Perhaps even on site." Optimus protested.
"Optimus with all due respect you said it yourself." Jack replied, "This is bigger than the safety of four humans."
"Yeah. If we let the 'Cons we're fragged along with everyone else on our planet." Miko agreed.
"We'll be okay Optimus. Humans are good at improvising tough situations." Dana reassured, "If we have each others' backs it should normally take more Decepticons than it would make sense to send to render us unable to either run, hide or defend ourselves until we can get away."
"Raf." Optimus prompted, making it clear that no matter how grave the situation he wouldn't take the choice away from the one the plan depended on.
"I want to give it a shot." Raf said.
Dana ruffled his hair. "Attaboy. Don't worry, Optimus. I've got his back."
"You did survive encountering a vehicon without the others there to protect you." Ratchet said, "If Optimus believes in you that's enough reason to try for me."
Within moments the four humans were through a ground bridge that let out slightly above the ground just inside the perimeter fence. Miko, Jack and Raf were momentarily rendered disoriented, possibly even nauseous. Dana just stumbled a little, similar to yesterday's incident when she and Miko didn't get out of Bulkhead's vehicle mode she felt like she'd been through worse even though that was more intense than even the more extreme carnival rides.
"That'll take some getting used to." Jack groaned.
"You'll have to walk it off, there's no time to lose." Dana said.
With that the four ran for the nearest door. It was strangely easy to get a room with a computer for Raf to hack into. As in Dana wasn't certain if it was deserted, basically deserted or if something had happened to whoever was supposed to be there yet clearly wasn't. She did her best to keep her guard up, without knowing how this would work for the Decepticons there was no knowing whether they were managing the same feat remotely or if they also had to have someone on the inside.
"Security sure is lax in this place." Miko said, having partially noted the same thing Dana had.
"I'm in. And so are the Decepticons." Raf informed them.
Jack clearly didn't know what the phrase meant in that situation. "What?!"
"How can you tell?" Miko asked, not seeming to understand either.
"Schematics. With the same alien math we saw on their ship." Raf explained, seeming to miss their alarm and holding up a flash drive, "But this time I can download it."
"It's got to be the space bridge." Miko noted.
Out of the corner of her eye Dana noted a camera; she subtly shifted to keep an eye on it and the door at the same time. "Great idea but be careful."
"The Decepticons are syncing it to the dishes. But I can sync to them." Raf elaborated.
"Will they know?" Jack asked.
"Even if the Decepticons see that I'm in the system they'll have no idea I'm in the house." Raf reassured.
"If we're lucky that is, it still adds to the risk." Dana commented as she side eyed the camera, "Be careful Raf."
"Of course, Dana. Don't worry I've got this." Raf said.
"They're locked on to Cybertron." Raf alerted, "But not for long."
Of course Dana's instincts were spot on. None of them were aware but the only Decepticon capable of completing the job competently, Soundwave was in a room not far off performing the very feat of hacking Raf was trying to stop. And even without that the sudden halt to the plan would alert the Decepticons. What ensued was if only for a few moments a hacker version of a game of tag.
"Guys, shouldn't we be watching Raf's back instead of watching him work?" Dana pointed out.
"What happens when the Decepticons realize they're being punked?" Jack asked.
"It's only virtual combat. You know like online gaming." Raf replied.
"Yeah Jack. What are the 'Cons gonna do? They're probably like a thousand miles away." Miko agreed.
As she spoke the door opened and something between a cord that could move on its own and a tentacle entered the room. Dana prepared to jump on it.
"Two words- ground bridge." Dana said as she leapt, "But more importantly I SAID TO WATCH RAF'S BACK."
Despite Dana's best efforts the appendage grabbed Jack and threw him- right towards an axe. Miko had tried to grab on to stop it and was still clinging on. After a few more swings Miko landed right below where the axe was held. Dana made a second jump to restrain the end of it from trying to grab at Raf.
"Keep going!" Dana shouted.
Unfortunately while Dana was struggling Miko tried to attack it with the axe. Right as the appendage grabbed it Dana fell off. She raced after it, first intending to protect the other three and then racing to stop whatever it actually planned to do with the axe when it didn't follow through on the swing. But she was too slow. - and some cords she knew were essential to what was going on. She leapt for the appendage only to land on the ground as it cut the hardline moments before the others entered the room.
Dana stood up as the opponent moved to leave through the open roof. Just then the others arrived on the scene. All four of them looked up to see the bot the appendage was attached to- it was a slender purple and black mech. At the noise of the footsteps the bot turned to look at them, revealing a screen like visor hiding his face. Miko and Dana were in awe of how cool he looked. The Autobots were cool, but Dana personally felt that he looked cooler than any of them. In unison Miko and Dana got out their phones and took a picture of him. At the same time the four humans' image appeared on his screen and Dana faintly heard a similar sound- he had a similar idea but undoubtedly for far different reasons. Mission complete he transformed and flew off.
"Why is he leaving?" Miko asked.
"Because his job is done." Dana said as Raf finally noticed the damage.
"He cut the hardline. The dishes are locked onto Cybertron- for good." Raf explained as he approached to inspect the damage.
Dana phoned Ratchet. "We did all we could. The 'Con setting up the dishes was on site and cute the hardline to stop Raf's interference."
"You've already done more than expected. I'll bridge you back." Ratchet said.
Minutes later they were back on base and once more listening in on how things were going on the Autobots' end. Then something strange came up on the screen.
"Optimus, I'm registering a rapidly expanding mass in their space bridge vortex. One with a peculiar energy signature." Ratchet warned.
"Dark energon." Optimus realized- or informed, "Ratchet we must destroy the space bridge. There's enough live energon coursing through it to achieve detonation. But we lack the firepower to ignite it."
"Things like that always have some sort of quirk or opening that can be used against it or make for huge risk if not careful." Dana said, "If we can figure something out that's no issue."
"Dana has a point. If I knew how it was engineered I might find a way of accomplishing that feat." Ratchet confirmed.
"Um, would schematics help?" Raf offered, holding his flash drive out to Ratchet.
Ratchet still hesitated. "Optimus I must say- the space bridge is our sole hope of ever returning to Cybertron. Are you certain its destruction is our only option."
"I am afraid so." Optimus confirmed.
Ratchet's newfound conviction showed Dana that he had enormous faith in Optimus. "Then by all means let us light up our darkest hour."
The humans- including Fowler now- watched and listened as Optimus ordered the others to prepare for the detonation while he bought time. They all but had a front row seat to a showdown between the noble bot and Megatron. Once given the signal that the others were ready Ratchet walked them through what to do. It was obvious that despite the ruined friendship and Megatron's desire for Optimus' demise he held great respect for Optimus- as noted by his reaction when he caught onto the plan. As the Autobots held ground Ratchet opened a ground bridge. The four of them got through just in time.
However it was taking long enough to worry Raf. "Do you… think they're…"
Ratchet checked a reading on a screen on his arm. "Four life signals. One very faint."
That was when Optimus came through the ground bridge shortly followed by the others. Bulkhead was the first of them through.
A delighted expression on her face, Miko ran to the green bot. "Bulkhead!"
He leant down so she could hug his hand. Dana, Jack and Raf were right behind her. Dana approached Optimus.
"I'm sure that decision and having to fight a former friend isn't easy." Dana noted quietly, "I've seen and heard enough that chances are it could never be enough but thanks. Humanity lucked out getting you for an ally."
Optimus just looked at her. No words were needed. She could tell he didn't think that gratitude was necessary, and that seemed to feel surprised gratitude of his own at her acknowledgement. Dana didn't get to find out if he would've broken the silence because just then Bumblebee walked through- holding a gravely injured Arcee. As the ground bridge closed behind him Jack ran towards them, worried. Arcee didn't look conscious. Miko put a reassuring hand on Jack's shoulder.
"We lost one this week by the allspark don't let it be two." Ratchet prayed when he reached them.
Just then a reassuring thing happened- when Jack moved closer and touched her hand Arcee opened her eyes. They exchanged a touching moment.
"And Megatron?" Ratchet asked, worry abated now that he was assured Arcee was alive for him to treat.
"Not even he could have survived ground zero." Optimus answered.
"Prime! I didn't get to thank you bots for the save. I owe you one." Fowler said as he put his suit jacket back on and entered the elevator. We all do."
Bumblebee helped Arcee stand. A concerned expression crossed Miko's face and she approached Optimus.
"So is there where you say goodbye and tell us we need to forget we ever saw you?" Miko asked.
"No, Miko. It appears we are here for good." Optimus reassured.
After some relaxation and Dana helping Ratchet treat Arcee as much as she was able and allowed Bulkhead drove Miko and Dana home. Once she was in her room for the night Dana made another entry to her diary.
So today was tense. After yesterday I sort of expected something serious to happen. But this was more intense than expected. The horde Optimus and Ratchet faced was as expected just the beginning- Megatron tried to use a space bridge to create an entire army of zombie bots and bring them to Earth. When Optimus noticed an issue with the ship we latched onto the weakness and tried to stop the Decepticons from locking onto Cybertron. It very well could have worked, but we'll never know. It was always obvious that the Decepticons would figure out something was amiss quickly, but the Decepticon doing the hacking so they could lock onto Cybertron was in the building too. The other three didn't expect it. But since we didn't know how those things work for the Decepticons I tried to keep an eye out for trouble- not that it did much good. Once aware something was going on the bot doing the hacking figured out where we are and used an… I sort of want to call it a tentacle but it was also like a cable- to stop us. I did my best but naturally a human without weapons stood no chance against a gigantic robotic alien or the single appendage it used to fight us off. Then came the win-lose situation, sort of. On the one hand instead of using the axe the cable tentacle grabbed to hurt or kill us- and that WAS a surprise considering the tentacle- or rather the bot it was attached to- had no qualms throwing us around- it receded back to the room the bot was actually in. Then comes the bad part. I gave chase because I knew that couldn't be good, but I was too slow- or just didn't have a good enough jump. He used it to cut the hardline and block any chance of resetting the radio telescope dishes. The others caught up right as I got up, and we finally got a good look at the bot Raf was playing hackers' tag with. He was the coolest looking bot I've seen yet- no offense to the Autobots. (Best of all his vehicle mode can fly. Pity he's an enemy.) This is where the loss became twofold- he may not have tried to kill us but I'm positive he took a picture of us at the same time Miko and I took a picture for him, and I doubt he just thought we looked cool. Despite all that we managed to get out unscathed and in the end the Autobots still managed to stop doomsday through blowing up the space bridge before the zombie bots could come through. Megatron was still on site though, and to the Autobots' best knowledge he can't have survived. I doubt this is the end of trouble completely, civil wars just do NOT work that way. But things ended pretty satisfactorily.
Back on the Decepticon warship Soundwave got a notification about Dana's diary entry. After he read it in need of a distraction- Starscream was annoying at the best of the times but being in charge blew it up to astronomical proportions- the communications officer made a spur of the moment decision for the first time in a long time. He messaged the human- the oldest apparently, one of the two girls.
Soundwave: Greetings. For a reckless seeming femme who is awfully nonchalant for a human you are surprisingly smart.
CyberMechanic: First of all if I don't write something I'm aware the Decepticons don't know and I don't do this where it can be stumbled across I figure it can't cause harm.
CyberMechanic: Second I resent that. I can't help that my life before this was so boring I jumped at the opportunity for excitement.
CyberMechanic: Third you're a Decepticon right? Is Soundwave your name? Are you or do you know the bot from the science facility?
Soundwave: In order- Touche. That seems unusual for a human from what I've seen but I do understand, my apologies. Yes, my name is Soundwave and I am the mech from the facility.
Soundwave: I noted you have a metallic arm. I do not believe this is usual for humans.
CyberMechanic: That's actually a longer story than how young I was would make you think. See when I was little there was this fieldtrip. The student teacher wasn't told everything he needed and he let my parents sign up my teenage babysitter as a chaperone…
Dana chatted with the Decepticon lasted longer than expected. Soundwave had a wit and sense of snark and sarcasm she really appreciated. Plus apparently he used how his job had him monitoring the internet as an excuse to watch and read human fiction to relieve his bordom amidst his actual duties. Given what Dana had heard and what she'd gleamed about his job from their conversation she was surprised a Decepticon had stumbled across her diary and instead of spy on her he chose to talk to her. Maybe he was lonely. Or he could be as bored as she'd been a few days ago. It was probably a mix of things if Dana was being honest. But maybe just maybe it meant or could come to mean something good. After all 'more than meets the eye' could refer to more than just the literal 'the vehicles are actual alien robots that transform into vehicles'.
End of Chapter