"So, you needed us?"
Optimus Primal stood across from the elemental team, staring at the Red Aura, who had all been in their hooded signature costumes. Optimus had gotten a hold of Rachel's message and had decided it was best to talk with them about what they know. They had been in the forest, hiding away from the humans of the other areas.
"Yeah, like you have allied with us, Megatron seems to have allied himself with a human." Aura explained to him, "He's a wealthy guy by the name of Gary Shall. He's a businessman that's probably tried to bribe Megatron and his Predacons." To prove this, she pulled out her phone of the article Rose linked to her earlier, showing it to Optimus.
Optimus read the article that Rachel had given him, putting a hand on his chin, "Hmmm, interesting, it seems Megatron had been using this to ally himself. I doubt he's being fooled though…"
"Yes, by some fleshling like that, Megatron sees through his...deceit." Dinobot had paused for a moment before sighing to himself, "That human is going to get easily fool."
"That's what I was thinking." Stormer nodded, "It's why we wanted to let you know. We don't know what exactly Shall is planning, but we could take a wild guess, it's probably to get the government's attention so he can get rich off of the profit of the US military." Not to mention Shall hadn't been too happy about the people working for the government that had abilities like them.
"Well, kids, you're smart an all about the guess, but what exactly does these 'robots' do?" Rattrap asked, wondering if they were all gonna die the moment they walked into this guy's place, "Better yet, we don't even know where this guy is."
"Actually, I do. My mom works in his company." Stormer explained, snapping her fingers before showing the GPS on her phone, "So, it's not too far from here, a little outside of the city. He's around the forests outside of the city. We can get there pretty quick, but if we went in alone with the Predacons there, they'd obliterate us." Stormer hadn't forgotten that those two robots from before could've killed them. They needed to play this smart and have the Maximals help them, "These robots are your state-of-the-art robots with technology. If they get a hold of your Cybertronian tech…"
Optimus was getting what she had been saying, "Are you saying that they'll make robots as strong as us."
"I'm not sure." Stormer sighed, "But I know Gary's like a spoiled brat sometimes, even if he's an adult, he's not used to not getting his way." She stated, remembering how much her mom actually did hate that job sometimes. It was like talking to a brick wall if you tried to question his authority. It was like he was a politician or something. He certainly talked too much.
"Regardless, this Gary guy doesn't sound like he'd be good to have power like ours at his use." Rhinox agreed, looking up at the four girls.
"I agree, just because my mom works for him doesn't make him a good person. He's a high corporate man and like all high corporate people, he doesn't care who he steps on so long as it benefits him." Stormer crossed her arms across her chest.
"There's also no telling if this Gary dude is going to succeed or not in making this technology or what he'll do with it. If he's working with the Predacons, then it's more than likely not good." Optimus nodded, "We should go check it out. You four should remain here. It's not safe."
Of course he was going to say that. Stormer rolled her eyes, finding herself wanting to go, wanting to help them. If these Predacons were going to try conquering their world, then they had to stand up and fight too, "I want to go with you guys." She clenched her fists, feeling herself getting stressed about feeling helpless, "I don't care how dangerous it is, I want to do something about this. Besides, we can guide you there."
"I understand how you feel, Stormer, but we can't risk your safety…" Optimus trailed off, realizing that these girls had put themselves in harms way on multiple occasions and that they had been doing this for a year now. They had accepted it, but he found himself unable to want to keep humans out of it. If they continue doing what they're doing, they're bound to meet Megatron and the Predacons again for sure.
"We'll eventually run into them. It's better to see what they're capable of before throwing ourselves into them. We saw a glimpse of the other two, but that doesn't give us enough information. Besides, we're still doing this." Stormer was going to remain stubborn and she knew the other's would as well. They all hadn't forgotten why they fought so much for. They wanted people to stop being so afraid of abilities like them.
"I think Stormer makes a valid point you guys." Archer sighed, finding herself trying to intervene before an argument broke out between the two if it happened. It wasn't going to solve anything if they all fight over this, "We should be prepared for anything."
"There's no telling what could…" Optimus found himself getting frustrated once again, holding his hand to his forehead. They were right though. He didn't think he could stop these kids in getting involved even if they tried.
"Eh, let the kids try to get themselves killed." Rattrap flipped his small hand, rolling his eyes, "They'll think better next time once their ego gets taken down a few notches."
"Well, certainly they at least have a backbone unlike you, vermin." Dinobot retorted, getting closer to Rattrap's face before Rattrap pushed his face away.
"Hey, Chopperface, you might be on our team now but you sure aren't getting any special treatment by me in the slightest. You're still a Pred to me." Rattrap snapped at him before he jumped back a little by Dinobot, trying to bite him.
"If you don't shut up, rodent, you shall be receiving my wrath." Dinobot glared at him.
Rattrap put his fists up, "Oh yeah, you and who's…" He trailed off before Cheetor growled at him while Optimus glared at him. Rattrap gulped, "Okay, okay, fine, I'll shut up."
"We should establish that while this is pretty reckless." Aura began explaining, "we want to do what our hearts desire. We've been at this too long to give up now. So, you'll just have to deal with us meddling in your affairs for a bit." She smiled, trying to give a playful smirk so they can tell she meant by it, "Call us selfish, but we want the world to know that people with powers like us can stop being so hated all the time. They can earn the respect and be treated as equals."
"We're not going to be looking for a fight. I just recommend you to be careful during this. Things could get worse." Optimus told them while they nodded.
"Don't worry, if the Preds do fight against us, we'll step back and give you guys some cover." Sprite smiled, holding her blue and silver triton in her hands, pointing up to the sky.
"Yeah." Aura clenched a fist and smiled, "We'll do what we can, that's all that we care about." She told Optimus, "We can't just sit here and watch things happen. We trust you, but we want to do what we want as well."
Optimus could tell as a leader, Aura was daring. She was young, reckless. She didn't know what the Predacons were capable of aside from the first encounter they had, but they were seen to have done some strong things so he would have to watch over them. Aura, especially. If she wanted to be a part of this war, she needed to be the best leader she could be. He'd have to teach her.
"Alright, but remember you're only to do that," Optimus stated to the four of them.
Aura sighed, "Alright, let's get moving."
XXXX
7:00 PM
"Pretty big place for being in the woods."
Rattrap pointed out looking at the outer sight of the mansion. It was white, huge, with at least ten windows in the front of it. Sprite and Archer had gotten rid of the cameras around the area to ensure they would have a chance to sneak in.
"Let's make this quick." Aura gestured to Optimus who nodded, looking into the room, noticing there was no one there. His weapons were out as well as Aura's. Aura wondered why they didn't just light the entire damn building up?
Oh yeah, innocents. That, and she assumed the Predacons could survive something like this. The others had their weapons out as well, preparing themselves if they had to fight if necessary.
"It's way too quiet in here." Aura muttered to herself before suddenly seeing a shadow from the room. She jumped, aiming her chakram at the shadow. She was about to walk towards it before Rhinox stopped her. She looked over to him, knowing for a fact that they weren't gonna find out who without finding out.
"I wouldn't rush in, they could have a trap." Rhinox warned the short human. Aura sighed quietly, nodding at his words. Rhinox was right, they couldn't take chances in here. She's just getting a little jumpy.
"Yeah, kid, don't be stupid." Rattrap rolled his optics at Aura before she rolled her eyes behind her glasses.
"Didn't ask comments from the peanut gallery, jackass." She muttered under her breath, hoping that they couldn't hear it. She didn't like Rattrap from what she had heard from him.
"Shhh." Stormer hissed, "Knock it off, seriously. We don't want to trip any alarms to the enemy." She stated before hearing something as well. A missile fired, but Stormer used her lancers to try to block it, but she was knocked back from the blast, landing on the floor back first.
"Stormer!" Cheetor exclaimed, offering a hand to help her up, "You okay?" Stormer nodded, taking his hand, rising to her feet.
Archer and Dinobot had already been firing at the source of the missile being fired. Left side above. Archer took some rocks from the floor and spoke, "Get above there!" She shouted to the others.
Dinobot decided narrow his optics at the girl before he didn't move, causing Archer's eyebrows to raise in confusion. What was he waiting for? She was trying to help him out, "What are you waiting for?" She asked before she suddenly realized Dinobot was glaring at her.
"I don't need help from fleshlings." He hissed before opening fire at the source of the missiles, noticing that there was a few robots of unknown origin coming from the shadows. He quickly fired his lasers which destroyed the rocks that Archer lifted causing her to see debris coming at her at a fast speed before suddenly being pushed back by an invisible force. Aura jumped in front of her, using her telekinesis to knock the robot into the shot it had tried to avoid from Dinobot.
Gun fire shot through Aura and the other humans' ears before they suddenly stopped. Aura looked over at Archer before looking over at Dinobot, glaring at him.
"The hell were you thinking? You could've gotten her killed!" She exclaimed, gritting her teeth. Who cares if he saved them earlier, she was mad. He could've hurt Archer for sure, maybe even killed her.
"I do things my way." Dinobot informed the leader, taking a step forward, "I told her, I do not need help from the likes of you humans." He detested that humans had to help him earlier. He was disgusted from the way they defended him. So naive.
"I stood up for you earlier." Aura growled and grunted," If I knew you were going to do something like that, I wouldn't of done such a thing. You son of a..." She was cut off by Optimus pushing her and Dinobot away.
"Knock it off, both of you." He glanced at Aura, "You're going to act like that in front of your own subordinates, your friends, no less. Make a better example as a leader, Aura."
Aura scoffed and rolled her eyes behind her sunglasses, "What? You saying I should just stand one of my own getting hurt?" She demanded, resting her hands on her hips. She was getting even angrier at this point.
"I didn't say that, did I? While Dinobot shouldn't have done that, you shouldn't have gotten so worked up. Being the better person here by helping Dinobot and walking away from the situation." Optimus scolded her before he groaned. He didn't have time to be arguing with a child right now.
Aura heavily sighed, before she turned and walked away from the two, trying to bite her tongue from saying anything further. They had no time to argue at this moment, but this was not over, not by a longshot.
Suddenly, someone from the corner of her eye emerged from above the elevator, recognizing the man as Gary Shall, Aura floated her two chakrams around her in a defensive position, preparing herself in case more showed up, "Take defensive positions." She told the others who nodded and did the same.
Clapping came from the man, causing Aura to be confused at the man's reaction before her, "Bravo, you heroines certainly don't disappoint. No wonder the authorities like to keep you around." He turned over to Optimus Primal, "Ah, and the Maximals destroying my robots like they were nothing. I had a feeling, Megatron told me all about you."
"You must be Gary Shall." Optimus pointed out while Gary chuckled.
"I am, and as a man of many resources, I want to help you and your friends out," Gary stated, keeping the grin on his lips.
Aura snorted, "You think we're going to believe that after what you just did?" She rolled her eyes behind her sunglasses, "You really must think we're children." She remained her stance, not wanting to let up in case things got worse.
"Aura's got a point." Cheetor agreed, nodding, "You trying to slag us with your drones just now. How stupid do think we are?"
"Do you know what you're getting yourself into," demanded Optimus, "You're housing Megatron and the Predacons who happen to be some of the worst criminals on Cybertron!" He was insane, to say the least.
Suddenly, Stormer could hear the sound of a gun reloading before she yelled, "Move!" She hissed before a missile came out, knowing the Maximals and humans off their feet.
Smoke came around them and Stormer found herself coughing hard. She groaned in pain, looking around to seeing Sprite trying to stand to her feet, panting herself.
The hell kind of war did they just get themselves into? Sure, Stormer wanted to help other people like them not feel so guarded, but that blast just now was way stronger than before. This was insane. Were they all going to die here?
Aura stood to her feet, coughing. The hell was that? That missile was a lot stronger than the blast from before, she realized, looking over to see if everyone was okay. Everyone in her sight seemed okay, to say the least but they weren't out of the woods yet in the slightest.
She looked over at Optimus who stood to his feet. She sighed, trying to keep herself calm for the moment. This was a pretty rough situation. It would've been worse if they investigated it themselves.
"Everyone okay?" Aura was worried about everyone except for Dinobot. He could honestly fuck off at this point.
"Looks like it." Rhinox confirmed, nodding at the red hooded teen. She looked a bit shaken by the power. She was hiding it well for someone so young.
"For now." Gary chuckled, "But Megatron told me all about you Maximals. Between your weaknesses to your strengths so you better…" Gary was cut off before Terrorsaur seized him off the ground, throwing him into a wall and effectively knocking him out.
Well, that didn't last long.
"Now, back to the main course." Megatron turned his attention to the Maximals and humans, grateful that Terrorsaur shut the human up before he could.
Looks like the insects were here as well. Well, too bad for them.
"You four might wanna stay back," Optimus warned the four humans before Megatron striked Optimus in the face, sending him flying.
"You don't have to tell me twice." Aura muttered before taking a few steps back before yelling, "Guys! Don't fight the leader, got it? He'll kill you for sure." Megatron made the rest of the Predacons look like rubber ducks, and Aura didn't need a second example, "Cover when you need it but don't do a frontal assault, got it?" They needed to keep themselves useful without getting themselves killed. They would die if they take a hit from that canon.
She's the leader, huh? Megatron would give the red hooded human probs, she's certainly smart to avoid a fight with him. However, these humans were in over their heads.
"Gotcha!" The other three exclaimed while Aura's face was suddenly cut by some type of energon blade before a spider weblike rope hit her in the chest. She looked over to see the spider-like robot was the case of it, but before he could pull her in, Aura had already burned the web off herself.
"Not bad." Aura knew this guy was trying to target specifically them but why? They must've been aware of them before this. If this guy wanted to fight her then it looks like she had no choice.
Tarantulas lunged at her only to be meant with pillars of ice in front of him. It looks like one of the others had interfered. Good, more test subjects then.
"Sprite! Nice reflexes!" Aura exclaimed before she suddenly saw the pillar of ice breaking but not before she stopped it with her telekinesis before manipulating them with her own powers towards the spider robot. Before Tarantulas could do anything, a green laser strikes Tarantulas in the chest, sending him flying.
Dinobot stood a few feet away from the Red Aura before she looked over at him, "Thanks."
"I consider us even." Dinobot told her, "But do not let it get to your head. I don't like being in debt to a human like yourself."
Aura rolled her eyes, "I guess I'll say you're welcome despite your shitty attitude earlier." She pointed out, sighing.
He was still a dick though. That didn't change one bit.
She learned a bit about this Predacons though. It seems like they have some organic things based off of their beast modes.
XXXX
Meanwhile, Stormer had been giving her assistance from the rear, blowing a gust of wind at the flyers, trying to send them off course. Terrorsaur and Waspinator were blown off course, but not before Terrorsaur flipped his blaster and aimed it at the white hooded teen.
There was a shot landed on Terrorsaur; it strikes him in the chest, knocking him right into Waspinator. Rattrap landed beside Stormer, shooting the human a thumbs up.
"Not bad for a human, gave me the perfect opportunity to slag both of them." Rattrap grinned while Stormer smiled back, bowing.
"Glad to be of assistance to you, rodent." She grinned back.
XXXX
Meanwhile, Archer watched as Optimus was slammed on the ground repeatedly by Megatron, gasping. She gulped. Aura told them not to fight that guy at all, but Optimus was taking a beating. What else could she do? She couldn't just stand here and watch them all get killed.
Scorponok stood there, aiming a missile at the human who was hesitating. What a big mistake she had made, but he wasn't complaining.
Suddenly, he was hit with a barrage of bullets. Turning, Archer noticed Rhinox had been standing there.
"You can control the rocks, right?" Rhinox looked at the sight of Optimus getting beaten around by Megatron while Archer nodded.
"But, Aura told us not to engage in a battle…" Archer trailed off, being cut off by Rhinox.
"You won't have to engage, just give me a distraction. Don't worry, I got your back." He told her while she hesitated for a moment and nodded.
"Okay." Her left foot moved to the left, and it cracked the ground before shaking the ground. Megatron lost his grip on Optimus, turning to see the green hooded teen standing there. He was about to charge his cannon at her. However, his T-Rex cannon was knocked away, firing it away from her. He looked to see Rhinox in his vision before he punched him in the face, knocking him to the ground while Optimus grabbed Megatron, swinging him in a three hundred sixty angle, letting him go, sending him flying out of the building.
Optimus aimed his blasters at him, getting ready to fire at Megatron before he heard Cheetor screaming, reverting himself to beast mode.
"When the hell did that happen?" Aura demanded, looking around, before seeing Tarantulas cackling. His blaster pointed at the cheetah. She thought that guy was down. He must've been playing unconscious or something.
"Too bad for him." He chuckled before Dinobot, Aura, and Sprite took their defenses. However, Tarantulas had passed out again moments later.
The others gathered around before Sprite rushed over to Cheetor, shaking him.
"It's no good." Dinobot told them, "Cheetor has been shot with cyber venom." He stated while Stormer sighed, putting a hand on her chin.
"Cyber venom? Like some type of snake venom?" Stormer asked the Maximals while they nodded.
"That would be the human term for it, yeah." Archer shrugged, "Is he going to be okay?" She asked, turning to Optimus and Rhinox who nodded.
"He should be fine after spending a few hours in the CR chamber." Rhinox told them, "In the meantime, we shouldn't waste any further time here though or it could get worse."
"Damn, you're right." Aura wiped the blood from her face.
"You're injured as well, Aura…" Optimus began before Aura smacked his arm away, hurting her arm in the process. Geez, she forgot that they were robots.
"It's just a scratch, I wouldn't worry about it too much. I've had worse." She sighed, "You guys should worry about Cheetor anyways. He's way more injured." She told him while Optimus nodded.
"You make a valid point. You guys coming back with us?" Optimus asked while Aura shook her head.
"Nah, we should head home after that fight." Aura sighed, shrugging her shoulders, trying to relax herself after that battle. The Predacons were pretty crazy. They didn't know what they had gotten themselves into, but Aura's decision to stay in this hadn't changed in the slightest. They had a significant amount of training to do though.
Now, she's gonna have to make an excuse to Lilly for why her face was cut. Oh well, not like she hadn't done that before.
"Besides, my sister might kill me if I don't make it home on time."
XXXX
"Rachel?"
Olivia Summers, Rachel's and Lilly's mother, had been standing in the kitchen when the door opened, noticing her older daughter coming in. Her blond hair had been tied into a messy bun and was wearing a pink robe. She had been home for a couple of hours now.
"Hey mom," Rachel waved before Olivia rushed over to her daughter, noticing the band-aid on her face.
"What the hell happened to you?" She demanded, touching her face where the band-aid was, "I've been keeping an eye on what's been going on in the news. Are you guys exerting yourselves again?"
"Is Lilly home at all or sleeping?" Rachel wondered, not wanting her sister to know what she's been up to over the last few months.
Olivia nodded, "I wouldn't have said anything about the news if you didn't." She had been the one to train them to control their powers and become vigilantes.
"Look, I might've gotten myself and the others caught in a war, but it'll be okay, I'm trying to keep the city safe along with the others." Rachel tried to reassure her mom who sighed.
"Damn, Rachel, I didn't expect you guys to get yourself mixed up in something like this. What type of war are you talking about?"
"Long story, but I kinda need your help. We all do, actually. There are some people messing around with the city and they might become an even bigger threat. With that said, we can't do much against them alone so please, train us some more." She knew they hadn't done much. They had been saved multiple times by the Maximals and it was the reason they were even able to stand up to the Predacons. They could've been vaporized right there if she didn't call Optimus for help.
Olivia sighed, looking at her iPhone for a second to look at her schedule, "I got the weekend off if you wanna gather your friends here, and we'll go into the woods to train." She didn't think her daughter was making up a story like this. She trusted her with this and she wasn't one to exaggerate a story like this.
"I appreciate you, mom." Rachel started to walk towards the stairs, "I'm gonna get the last of my homework done and pass out. I'm really tired."
Olivia smiled, "Good, but you girls need to give me a full explanation this weekend, got it?"
Rachel sighed, knowing full well she might be dragging her mother into this too. She didn't want to but she knew her mother was pretty strong. She had to ask her to help them, but she was better off helping them, "Okay, I will, see you in the morning, mom."
So much for keeping any secrets from her mom, but she'd be damned if she let her sister get mixed up in all this. That wouldn't be something she would let happen.
Be sure to fav/follow if you like and review if you have any thoughts on the chapter. I apologize for the lateness, I've had a lot of real life kicking my ass.