Here it is, guys! Yeah, the intro is kinda stale but it WILL get more suspenseful...you probably know my style by now =). And yes, Puma Punka is a real place. If you want a really good mental picture of it, look it up on Google Images. If you haven't check them out yet, I have some stuff on deviantart: look up AllHailHeroes. Just some OC character deisgns, and I'll add more as the journey continues. Anyway, enjoy!
Episode 7: Burglar Bill
A row of yellowing corroded H-shaped stones sat on the dry soil. Splotches of dead grass were littered at their bases, and gold patches of moss clung onto a stone H's side. In the middle of the red soil was a pile of brick red ruins like crushed bars of chocolate. The cruel Bolivian heat warmed the steps of an abandoned temple. Massive cinderblocks cast wide shadows that touched the sides of the temple, and a scorpion nested in the cool shelter.
Four trucks, one a white and blue semi, drove into the area. Simultaneously, they transformed and Bulkhead shaded his optics with his hand.
"Puma Punka," he commented at the destination. "The relic could be anywhere in this wasteland."
"What? I thought these were the exact coordinates," Ultra Magnus pouted, spreading his arms out.
"These are the coordinates for the location," Bulkhead Three explained patiently. "Apparently our ancestors were too lazy to be more precise."
"C'mon, we're wasting time," Bulkhead Two said, flipping out his Energon detector. He paced forward with it, and the others scanned the area with their detectors. Each of the Autobots split up and checked a section of Puma Punka.
"Got nothing," Bulkhead radioed after searching the temple.
"Zip," Bulkhead Three replied once he was done digging through the pile of brick red rocks.
"Same," Ultra Magnus added, in a slightly lighter tone of Optimus' voice.
"I'm getting a signal," Bulkhead Two said around the H blocks. He continued sauntering forward, taking huge thumping footsteps.
The scanner beeped rapidly when he stopped at a row of ancient H-stones, and Bulkhead Two approached it. His enormous paws stroked the Cybertronian symbols engraved at the side of a stone at the end.
"Mission accomplished," he radioed, and his left hand transformed into a mace. He swung down, and the wrecking ball effortlessly demolished the marked stone. The dust cleared away, and Bulkhead Two grinned at the object in his sight. From the rubble, his hand clasped onto a handle in the ground and pulled out a dark blue and silver Cybertronian chest. It was small and narrow but weighed as much as all of the H-stones combined. The burly Autobot set the chest on the ground and squatted down to observe the elaborate gold designs on the lid. Flares of sunlight reflected off the gleaming metal like sparkling jewels.
He looked up and saw the others driving closer to him. His team transformed and Bulkhead patted his clone's shoulder.
"Alright, Con Crusher, what we got?"
"Some kinda trunk," Bulkhead Two replied. "Got a lot of stuff inside it too."
"Let's bust this thing open," Bulkhead Three grinned. His hand transformed and he slammed it against the side of the chest. It didn't even leave a scratch.
"Here, let me try," Bulkhead said. He and Bulkhead Two banged their fists hard at the side, and they felt their knuckles crack loudly.
"Ah…ah…ah…ow," Bulkhead
Ultra Magnus set his hammer down and casually stepped up to the chest. He wiped the dirt off the front side of the lid and revealed a latch. He slid the rod back and felt the lid click.
He looked behind and smiled at the Bulkheads' astonished faces. Ceremoniously, he flipped back the lid.
"Wow," he uttered, staring inside.
"What? Let me see," Bulkhead Three said eagerly. He nudged Ultra Magnus to the side and widened his optics when he glimpsed inside.
The chest was empty. Then Bulkhead Three noticed a large symbol engraved at the bottom: a design of a red bolt with swooping arcs at each side. For some reason, it looked familiar to him, but it was hidden at the back of his mind.
Ultra Magnus kicked the box back angrily, and the lid slammed shut.
"Gone," he said bitterly.
"You don't think…" Bulkhead Two turned towards his original.
"The Cons are fast," he sighed, crossing his arms and staring dejectedly at the box. He imagined Optimus' reaction when they would return empty-handed. He almost wished that the Autobot leader would yell at the team instead of remaining silent, praying that the humans would not be harmed. How come life hated the good guys so much?
Suddenly, an Energon blast was shot, and Bulkhead Three's body rammed into his and plowed him back several meters. The impact felt like a giant asteroid smashing into his torso, and Bulkhead coughed hard once his clone got off of him
"What was that for?" he wheezed angrily. "You almost broke my ribs!"
"The Cons are here!" Bulkhead Three defended. Bulkhead stood up and got a glimpse of four black and purple SUVs, following a flashy red sports car with white decals. Ten Air Vehicons flew in jet mode above them, guns pointed at their four targets.
The Autobots glared at Knockout as he transformed and nonchalantly walked up to them, wiping off the dirt on his grille.
"My, my, Megatron was right. You guys never fail to impress."
"Just spit it out, Pretty Boy," Bulkhead Three spat back. "What'd you do with the relic?"
"Don't act cute," Knockout said in his best menacing tone. His hand transformed into a spinning saw blade. "Hand it over."
The Autobots gave each other confused looks for a second, but managed to convey the message. The Decepticons didn't know that the chest was empty.
"Okay," Bulkhead said to Knockout, loading his cannon. "Got one for everyone."
With lightning-quick actions, he and Two pummeled the troops with deadly Energon blasts. Two drones standing next to Knockout collapsed face-down, and he dodged out of the way with a shriek. Bulkhead Three and Ultra Magnus fired up at the aerial drones, and in no time every jet and robot nosedived into the rocky ground of Puma Punka.
Knockout shielded his head (and paintjob) with his arms, and awkwardly ran forward at Bulkhead Two with his saw blade out.
"Catch!" Ultra Magnus yelled. He hurled the chest at the scientist; and it horrifically, painfully, dreadfully, gashed his custom finish.
"N-n-n-nooooooo!" he cried out while being squished under the heavy burden. He raised his head, and saw the wretched Autobots enter the Ground Bridge opened a second ago. With dumbfounded optics, he watched it fade away and banged the back of his head on the ground dejectedly. Suddenly, he felt the trunk being lifted off of him by four Vehicons and shot up like a cork, gasping uncontrollably for air.
"Primus, I hate this job!" he exclaimed at the sky with his arms stretched out.
"Knockout," a drone interrupted at the side.
"What?" Knockout yelled over his shoulder, rubbing at the scrapes on his metal.
"There's nothing in here."
"What?" Knockout turned around irritatingly and stared at the opened chest. Sure enough, there was nothing in it…except for a symbol engraved at the bottom. He had seen it numerous times while decoding the Iacon relic coordinates on the ship.
He was about to pout to the drones about it being the worst day of his life until he glanced at the sides of the box. Being a medic, his trained sensors picked up a minute detail, one that was easily overlooked by the Autobots.
"Gentlemen," he addressed. "You know what this means?"
He pointed at some deep scratch marks at the front and back sides of the chest. They were too aligned to be battle damage and too big to be from claws. Knockout recognized right away that they were left by the clamp of a crane used for digging.
"Is this a trick question?" a dumb Vehicon asked, scratching the back of his helm.
Knockout slowly shook his head.
"The humans got here first."
Arcee Five couldn't believe her optics. They had sent four Bots, three of them some of the heftiest members of the team, and a counterpart to Optimus Prime. How could they possibly be defeated by the measly Decepticon drones and return empty-handed? The Autobots were fully aware that their enemies would step up their armies after discovering the clones, but maybe they had underestimated. Arcee Five shuddered at the thought and ran up to the portal.
"That bad, huh?" she said to them resentfully with her hands on her hips. She sighed. "This day keeps getting better and better."
"What are you talkin' about?" Bulkhead chuckled, spreading his arms out. "We're all fine!"
Arcee Five shook her head. "The Cons snatched the relic, didn't they?"
"Nope," Bulkhead Three joined. "Wasn't even in the chest."
Arcee Five let out a huge sigh of relief, closing her optics and covering her face with her hands.
"Thank the AllSpark," she uttered. She felt the tension slowly fade from her body.
"But, we did find a symbol etched at the bottom," Ultra Magnus spoke. He splayed out his palm and a hologram of the symbol flickered above it. "You know what it is?"
"Doesn't ring a bell," Arcee Five said as she squinted at it. "Optimus probably knows. We'll ask him when he gets back from his mission."
A siren blared the next second and a window appeared on the main screen. Arcee Five sprinted up to the console and read the message.
"Proximity sensor," she sighed to the others over her shoulder. Another window popped up, showing a helicopter on the base's helipad.
"Agent Fowler here," a voice radioed. "I need to speak to Prime."
"He's on a mission right now," Arcee Five communicated back.
"Figures. I'm comin' down."
"Wait-no!" Arcee Five yelled, but he had already signed off. She bit her lip nervously. Fowler hadn't visited the base ever since the incident with Nemesis Prime. He was going to scream like a little girl after meeting the clones…She thanked Primus that most of them were gone at the moment.
The elevator opened, and a stocky dark-skinned man with curly back hair entered the base. He wore the same suit they had always seen him in, but now he wore a red-white-and blue striped tie.
"Alright, I got some news for y –what in Abe Lincoln's beard?"
He stumbled up to the railing and gawked at the Bulkheads and Ultra Magnus with his mouth wide like a goldfish. He spun around and stared at Arcee Five as she walked closer.
"Look, I can explain," she groaned.
"How does Cauliflower Prime know about the Clem Gem?"
"The whatsa?" Arcee Five stopped.
"Cauliflower Prime?" Ultra Magnus boomed indignantly at the back.
"The Clement Gem," Fowler repeated. He raised his chin proudly. "Got a chance to see it myself few weeks ago."
He raised a finger at the hologram. "That exact symbol was imprinted on it. No one knows what it means."
"Same here," Bulkhead noted.
"Wait-" Arcee's clone began in an urgent tone. "What did the Gem look like?"
"Let's see, it was kinda like a giant gold bracelet," Fowler described, drawing a round shape in the air. "There's a big crystal smack in the middle with that symbol on it, and it changed color constantly, about every few or so seconds." He laughed to himself. "Sure was pretty."
Not one Autobot smiled when he returned his glance on them.
"There's more to it than nice colors, isn't there?" Fowler asked flatly.
Arcee Five nodded gravely.
"That "bracelet" is actually the Stanix Ring," she informed him. "Said to bring good luck to the one who wears it."
"We're talkin' about the ultimate good luck," Bulkhead Two added. "Like, wish-your-enemy-gets-killed-and-he-does –luck."
"Megatron wouldn't want to miss out on that," Bulkhead Three said bitterly.
"We have to take it," Arcee Five declared.
"Whoa, whoa!" Fowler cried out. "Now I know we've done this stuff before, but this thing is not even in a museum!"
"So it's in someone's house?" Bulkhead scoffed.
"Exactly! The President's!"
His words echoed through the immense room, and the Autobots fell silent.
"You're an agent though," Ultra Magnus reasoned. "You can get in easily."
"Getting in isn't my problem; I know where it is. It's getting caught. You know what they call an agent that steals so much as a roll of toilet of paper from D.C.? They call him a traitor to his country!"
He ran his hand through his hair, pondering. The team scratched their heads, looking down at their feet.
"Actually," Bulkhead Three spoke up finally. "I think we might be able to pull this off."
"How?" the others said in unison.
"With the help of our little computer genius."
Arcee Five's optics lit up excitedly.
"Before you guys came here, I bridged him, Miko, and Jack to Optimus. I'll tell him to come back; it's not like he'd say no to this."
"Do it," Bulkhead Three said determinedly. "We have to be quick."
Bulkhead located the coordinates to Washington D.C. on the main screen and Ultra Magnus swiftly punched them into the Ground Bridge Generator. In a few seconds, the green vortex materialized and Fowler stood up in front of it.
"Well, wish me luck," he spoke to the others across the room. The Autobots nodded back encouragingly, showing no traces of doubt on their faces. Despite their strong faith in him, Fowler couldn't help but make a silent prayer before he proceeded forward:
"Whoever is listening up there, just please make this mission a cinch."
The recon drone soundlessly drifted above the black helicopter, hiding within the clouds. Through the misty air, Soundwave spotted the destination: a grand five-floor office building with five sides. His positioning systems indicated that he was in Arlington County, Virginia.
"The Pentagon is bound to have records for the excavation site. Maybe even the relic's exact location," Knockout had told him aboard the Decepticon warship. It was probably the smartest thing the gaudy coward had ever said. Maybe he had an epiphany when Megatron almost extinguished him for failing, and the right words came to his mind.
The faceless jet suddenly released his own drone attached to the back, and Laserbeak stealthily hovered down into the light blue sky. The drone softly fastened itself to the tail of the chopper, and Soundwave activated its invisibility cloak. The metal plates on Laserbeak's bluish-purple wings quickly toned down to a gunmetal black, and its camouflaged body seemed to fade into nothingness. Soundwave remained above the clouds, patiently waiting for Laserbeak's signal.
Meanwhile, the chopper landed on the Pentagon's helipad, and several men in suits stepped out. Pitch black shades covered their eyes and they spoke into small Bluetooths clamped on their ears. Still retaining its invisibility cloak, Soundwave's drone fluttered ahead of the passengers and perched itself at a locked entrance. Laserbeak followed its programs and...
To Prodigal, thanks for understanding bout how I'm not gonna change the clones' identities like with U.M.! Seriously, you're a very considerate person! Now bout your questions in your review, yes I created the Stanix Ring. Honestly I just wiki'ed cybertron and just popped in the city name (Stanix) in front of Ring to make it sound cybertronian =) And of course u can suggest stories, especially odd ideas and stories bout Jack, just not crossovers. In fact, a story I'm cookin' up is that in a future episode Jack will finally meet his long-gone dad ;)
See ya, and keep up with ur reviews! I'm really enjoying replying back lik this! Serves as a break to the new stuff i posted!
...transformed into a harmless purple boombox.
The men from the helicopter reached the door and swiftly entered the access code. Not one of them seemed to notice the forgotten boombox near the shrubs. The door released, and the men coldly stepped inside single file. The last man in line was about to enter until he heard an old 80's song played:
"You got the touch…you got the power!"
He spun around and saw Laserbeak's disguise; and after briefly scanning the boombox for a hidden bomb, he picked it up and set it on a stone sculpture of a politician inside one of the Pentagon's hallways. No sooner after he left, Laserbeak transformed and activated its invisibility cloak. The drone hovered into a nearby elevator with exiting workers, and locked it from the inside so no more fleshlings could interfere. It skimmed down the rows of buttons, and pressed down on the one for the basement with its wing. At once, the elevator shot down, past two floors of offices and under the courtyard filled with freshly-trimmed hedges and erect statues. The elevator's bell sounded sharply and its door slid to the side, revealing numerous rows of computers and technical equipment. Before emerging from the elevator, Laserbeak froze the security cameras, all forty of them. The drone zoomed down a row of computer equipment and stopped at a blue kiosk with an eagle on it. Laserbeak's visual sensors read the message shown on the screen: National Defense Network. A blue outline of the United States was behind the logo, with four stars underneath the letters.
Without delay, Laserbeak calculated the coordinates of the network room and sent them to Soundwave gliding through the sky. He used his ability to generate Ground Bridges, and darted into the green portal he had opened in front of him.
It happened in the blink of an eye. The Ground Bridge emerged out of the air, illuminating the entire basement in the colors of an aurora. Then it vanished, revealing Soundwave like a magician pulling away his tarp. His eerie silhouette cast a long shadow that seemed to freeze everything it touched. Laserbeak reattached itself to his chest to from the rest of his armor, and Soundwave stretched out four violet tentacles with glowing magenta accents. He squatted down in front of the computer screen and stabbed each of his tentacles into the kiosk's circuits, at each corner.
To readers: I know I didn't add much, but it was a busy week! I'll update soon ASAP!
A window opened on the screen requesting the password. The skilled communications officer's skeletal fingers worked in unison, tapping the miniscule keys with his fingertips. In a few seconds, he accessed the database of the system without even inputting the password. Stealthily, he hacked into the secret government projects file and a long list of files appeared, protected by codes Soundwave would easily crack. The list of files downloaded on his visor screen, and he began to unlock them, five at a time.
The silent Decepticon deeply enjoyed the power of knowledge coursing through his body, for no secret could be kept from him.
Agent Fowler brushed pieces of grass from his suit as he calmly walked towards the entrance of the White House. The sun radiated the enormous lawn in front of the residence, and the freshly-cut grass was bright green. Only the sounds of his footsteps and the peaceful whistling of the wind were heard, since Pennsylvania Avenue was closed to all non-governmental vehicles. Agent Fowler took pleasure in the silence; he had heard the sounds of vehicles driving and skidding more than he could handle.
He flashed his CIA badge in front of one of the guards, closing the pouch promptly so he wouldn't see the ID picture of him with his eyes crossed and a dab of cherry pie on the corner of his lip.
"Go ahead sir," the guard said, stepping off to the side.
"Thank you Tim," Fowler said, misreading his nametag that said "Jim".
He proceeded through the huge glass gates and into the Entrance Hall. A bright red luxurious rug was rolled out to the entrance, and the checkered floor was spotless. A crystal chandelier hung down from the ceiling, lighting the entire room in a warm yellow light. Red chairs were positioned at each side of the gate, pointing towards the chandelier. Their empty seats gave Fowler the sensation that someone was practically waiting for him to make a mistake. He shook the subject off and tugged up on his tie.
Three guards immediately emerged out of a door leading from the Blue Room, weapons drawn out.
"Afternoon," Agent Fowler greeted, showing his badge once more. "I got a message for the President."
All three of them stepped aside, and Agent Fowler proceeded into the stairway heading towards the State Floor, where the Oval Office was located. He climbed up the stairs, and stopped halfway.
"Eagle to Hawk," Agent Fowler radioed. "Are the shooters still there?"
Back at the Autobot Base, Bulkhead Three shook his head as Raf scanned through the White House's camera network on his laptop, taking a sip of Diet Dr. Pepper.
"Codenames?" he laughed lightly. "That's awesome! Whose idea was it?"
"Bulkhead, actually," Raf smiled at him from his desk.
"Nah, I was just foolin' around," Bulkhead replied modestly. "Didn't know you guys were actually gonna do it."
"How come we didn't think of that?" Bulkhead Two asked his clone. "I thought we're supposed to be the same."
"The shooters aren't watching you, Eagle" Raf radioed back after checking the screen.
"Good eye, Hawk," Agent Fowler commented, and he climbed down the stairs leading to the Ground Floor instead.
"Trust me, we're barely like our originals," Arcee Five responded sulkily to Bulkhead Two's question. "For some reason, I'm a lot, well…smarter than Arcee. I always have to save her back when she goes off to do something stupid. Remember our first raid on the Cons' Energon mine? She faced a trooper alone when he was about to call Megatron 'bout us, but an army surrounded her. If it wasn't for Optimus, Arcee Three, and me, she would've been toast."
"I know what you mean," Ultra Magnus spoke up. "I'm nothing like Optimus."
"That's 'cause you don't have the Matrix," Arcee Five replied. "It's different with us. Our originals have nothing in common with us except for looks."
"Shhh, guys keep it down. Got a CIA-class hacker at work," Bulkhead whispered, pointing at Raf as he deactivated the alarm system of the China Room.
Soundwave analyzed the image on the screen, and noticed the colorful jewel in the middle of a gold loop. How blind the archaeologists were; the alien artifact they had found wasn't just a magnificent jewel but also a ring that gave the wearer the fortune of the gods. He knew that the Stanix Ring would give Megatron the luck he deserved, and his plans would be executed flawlessly. Quickly, Soundwave read through the captions of the file and located what he needed: the coordinates to the Clement Room. He mentally entered the coordinates, and opened a Ground Bridge a few seconds later. Smoothly, he stood up from his crouch in front of the computer and strode into the portal, quickly and yet unhurriedly. The Ground Bridge shrank into nothing and right after the electronics of the basement restarted normally, as if nothing had happened.
Closing his eyes tightly, Agent Fowler slid a fancy glass plate to the side and exhaled when the alarms didn't sound. Remembering the tour the President gave him, he pressed on the rose button embedded in the wall behind the plate. Behind him, a polished wooden shelf holding several pieces of china slid back and a dark stairway was behind it.
"Motion sensors shutting down right…now," Raf radioed right when he finished hacking into the stairway security system. A beep sounded and dozens of camera hidden in the darkness slunk back into the walls.
Fowler steadily descended the narrow staircase, using his Lucky Pen as a flashlight. He breathed heavily with each step, feeling the air getting farther away from him. He heard a loud creak and suddenly the shelf blocked the entrance to the staircase, leaving no gaps of light from the China Room. Fowler didn't worry about it; once he retrieves the Stanix Ring, he could send out for a Ground Bridge to his coordinates. He jumped off the last three stairs and landed in front of the door to the Clement Room. The door had an old-fashioned brass knob, an optical scanner, and a keyboard on it. Once again, recalling his tour with the President, Fowler pushed a small floormat of the United States flag to the side and it revealed another keyboard. The President had said that the password changed everyday, but Fowler knew it was simple. He entered the date and time at that moment, and the door lifted up into the ceiling like that of a garage.
"Hawk, are there any eyeballs in the room?" Fowler radioed back to the base.
Raf checked his laptop and deactivated the security cameras with a few taps on the keys.
"Coast is clear, Eagle! Get the Ring and return to base ASAP!" Raf replied.
Agent Fowler slowly stepped inside the room, completely forgetting that he had been in it before. The sheer height of the room was equal to a magnificent Gothic church. It was easily over thirty feet tall, and giant steel braces held the ceiling up. The room was lit in the same dark blue as the staircase, but bright green light seeped in from cylinder-shaped lamps on the floor. Agent Fowler pointed his flashlight pen forward and finally spotted it: in the center of the room was a thick glass case that held the Stanix Ring.
To the readers: Here's the last section of ep.7. I kno it's VERY lengthy but hey its the SEVENTH episode...expect it =) Anyway, ep.8 is in progress, and I hope you'll be there when it comes!
The jewel in the center alternated from a deep emerald to a brilliant purple like a lava lamp, and the purple changed to a bright sapphire.
A large version of the red bolt symbol was inscribed in the center, and its color stayed constant unlike the jewel. Stumbling, Fowler ran up to the case and converted his flashlight pen into a screw driver. Sweating nervously, he unscrewed the bolts of the case and Raf deactivated the alarm system so he could lift it off.
"Okay, come to papa!" Fowler exclaimed, wiggling his figures n the air excitedly. His arm hugged around the loop of the ring, and he tugged with all his strength. Miraculously, he was able to lift up a centimeter, but his arms immediately gave. Grunting loudly, he quietly set it down and called the base.
"It's way too heavy. I could barely lift it," Agent Fowler explained to Bulkhead. No surprise there; humans had at least ten times less the strength of a Cybertronian.
"I'm comin'," Bulkhead Three said instantly.
"What?" Arcee Five panicked. "No offense, but the room's probably too big for you."
"No it isn't," Raf said, showing them his computer screen. "From the cameras, it looks like the room is definitely taller than Bulk."
"C'mon, Cee, I gotta do something too. Bulkhead comes up with cool ideas, Bulk Two found the chest, Magnus got a powerful hammer-"
"Alright! You can go," Arcee Five interrupted, reluctantly activating the Ground Bridge. "Just know that the Cons might come."
"Roger Dodger," Bulkhead Three said, and he jogged into the portal.
Bulkhead Three exited the Ground Bridge and was glad that the Clement Room's ceiling was still high above him.
"Over here!" Agent Fowler shouted about five meters away. Bulkhead's clone took two steps and crouched down in front of the Ring. Effortlessly, he picked it up and gestured to Fowler beneath his feet.
"Let's go," he said. Agent Fowler nodded and placed a miniature hologram projector at where the Ring had been. He switched on a button and it projected a replica hologram of the artifact. Quickly, he screwed back on the glass case, praying that no one would take it off and realize their theft. He gave a thumbs-up to Bulkhead Three and he turned around to return to his arrival coordinates. Instead he faced Soundwave's shadowy form.
"What the-" Agent Fowler gulped, not recalling any clues of an opened Ground Bridge. "How did he get in here?"
"Doesn't matter," Bulkhead Three answered, glaring into his opponent's blank faceplate. "His funeral."
He bellowed as he swung his mace at Soundwave, but the Decepticon slinked out of the way. Frustrated, he aimed at his faceplate again, and was surprised at his success. The metal ball collided off the black screen and sent Soundwave flying back into a wall. The Decepticon straightened up and Bulkhead Three noticed a crack slowly forming on the screen. By the time it was finished, the gash was large but unable to reveal Soundwave's face. He stood still, shocked at Bulkhead Three's skillfulness. While his opponent was distracted, Bulkhead Three had another go at him, and his mace clanged against Soundwave's muscular chest. Once more, the Decepticon's body skidded to the ground, and Bulkhead Three triumphantly planted his foot on his chest. Soundwave's cracked faceplate looked helplessly up at his burning optics.
"Stop it! It's a trap!" Fowler warned Bulkhead Three, running up to him with flailing arms.
"Listen Tough Guy," Bulkhead Three said darkly, failing to hear Fowler. He raised his mace over his head. "You try to take this ring, the Autobots will take you down."
He roared as he swung down to finish the job, until an Energon blast hit him from behind. Bulkhead Three spun around, and saw Laserbeak flying away from his body and around the room. He focused his attention back on Soundwave and gasped at the sight of him already standing up, not a sign of weakness displayed.
As fast as lightning, Soundwave sucker-punched Bulkhead's clone beneath the jaw and he crashed to the floor with a huge thump.
"Fowler here, we need a Bridge ASAP," Agent Fowler radioed in a panicked voice.
Moaning painfully, Bulkhead Three stood back up and glared at Soundwave stretching out his hand so Laserbeak could perch on it. The drone gave a small object to its master, and Bulkhead Three suddenly realized that he had been robbed of the Stanix Ring.
"No!" he shouted, furious at his mindlessness.
Soundwave opened a Ground Bridge and casually stepped inside. His faceplate turned towards his defeated opponent and it flickered on to a video recording of their brawl:
"You try to take this ring, the Autobots will take you down!" Bulkhead Three saw himself on the screen. The video stopped after he angrily swung the hammer down, and the portal enveloped Soundwave's body. Somewhere inside, Bulkhead Three knew that there was a smile under that cracked visor.
"You lost it?" Arcee Five scolded Agent Fowler once he and a frowning Bulkhead Three returned to the base.
"That bird took it from Bulk Three while he was pummeling Soundwave into gravy," he defended. "I warned him about it, but it was too late."
Arcee Five groaned frustratingly, knocking her fist on her forehead.
"Do you know how much power Megatron has now? Our lives are literally at his fingertips!"
"Maybe you should talk to Bulk instead of me; there was nothing I could do!" Agent Fowler yelled at her.
"With all due respect guys, shut up," Bulkhead Two yelled from across the room. The two forgot their bickering and ran over to him, Arcee Five arriving first. Raf, Ultra Magnus, and the two Bulkheads were gathered around Bulkhead Three in truck mode, remaining silent.
"Bulk, I know it wasn't your fault," Arcee Five apologized, crouching down. "I seriously doubt the ring is as lucky as it seems."
Bulkhead Three only started up his engine and drove to a dark corner, faced away from the team.
"Arcee Five," Raf spoke, pulling out his computer. "Megatron is not gonna use the ring to destroy us."
"How do you know?" she questioned, hoping that he was right.
Raf turned the laptop around and showed her a video from a security camera, one Soundwave had secretly activated during their brawl. It was the exact one he had shown Bulkhead Three before he disappeared into the Ground Bridge.
"Once the government gets a peek of this video," Raf started in a terrified voice. "They might change their minds about the Autobots!"
"Are you saying-" Arcee Five turned towards the rest of the team. Ultra Magnus nodded gravely.
"Those we've protected all these years…will go against us."
Agent Fowler and the team gave each other looks of terror, the video burned into each of their minds like a terrible nightmare…
The adventure continues in ep.8. Stay tuned and fasten your seatbelts!