CHAPTER 7
Ironhide grunted and transformed pushing on the truck that was sandwiching him against the wall. "Get offa me, you pile of junk," he growled, shoving the truck away from him.
The vehicle backed off and the weapons specialist got shakily to his feet. "What is your problem?" he demanded. "Do I look like a-" he suddenly noticed he wasn't talking to anyone. The truck had no driver. "What in the world?" He suddenly got the feeling that he was going crazy. No, it can't be.
Then the truck transformed before his optics. He watched as it became an almost exact replica of Optimus Prime's design, only black. When it was finished it loomed over the smaller transformer. "Would you like to say that again?" he asked in a deep voice that sounded nothing like Optimus Prime's.
Ironhide stared up at the other robot. "Who in the Pit are you?!"
The taller robot smirked at him. "Wouldn't you like to know?" he asked before lifting his guns and shooting.
Ironhide dodged the blast by jumping out of the way but the building behind him wasn't so lucky. The two blasts hit the wall and made the whole thing collapse. Luckily it had been abandoned years ago and nobody was hurt.
"Those are some nice guns you got there," the weapons specialist said. His own blasters came on. "Have a taste of mine!" He shot two huge fireballs at the other transformer.
The stranger was ready and stepped sideways. The fireballs smashed into a restaurant on the other side of the street, exploding on impact and taking out the entire front wall. The Autobot heard screams as people exited the building and scattered in all directions. He just hoped nobody had been hurt but that was unlikely seeing as half the building had been destroyed by his shots.Prime is going to kill me!
The other robot saw the look on his face and started laughing. "Feeling guilty?" he asked. "They were only insects."
"They're not insects," Ironhide retorted, circling around the other robot. "They have as much a right to live as we do."
"Whatever," the other said, shrugging, keeping an eye on the moving Autobot. "I could care less. Insects need to be squashed. That's all they're good for."
"We'll see about that!" Ironhide said before blasting the other bot once more.
This time his shots scored a hit and the robot was sent flying. It crashed into another building. bringing it down around him. "You shouldn't have done that, Autobot," the other robot said, picking itself up. "Now you made me mad!"
The next moment Ironhide was sent flying when a giant fireball filled his optics.
Mikaela sat in the backseat of the SUV staring out the window with her arms folded. She was reviewing all the things that had happened to her today but couldn't really bring herself to believe it. Not even now as she sat next to Sam as they all headed to the Pentagon. Sam, who had finally stopped glaring at Simmons noticed how quiet his girlfriend was being and put his hand on her shoulder. She looked over at him.
"Are you all right?" he asked with concern.
"Yeah," she said. "I was just thinking."
"About what?"
She shrugged. "It's not important."
The look on Sam's face told her he didn't believe her but he let it go. She probably didn't want to discuss it in front of Simmons anyway. He had the tendency to hear things he wasn't supposed to.
I don't understand any of this! The Decepticons. The Autobots, The Pentagon. What would the Pentagon want with me and Sam? Does it have something to do with the whole situation Arcee was talking about? she sighed, still looking out the window but not really looking at anything. I'll find out soon.
"I don't see why we had to leave them like that," Bumblebee complained to Arcee and Sunstreaker as they roared down the road, in the opposite direction of Simmons and the kids. "I don't trust that guy. He's one of the reasons I got drug to sector seven in the first place."
"Sector Seven?" Sunstreaker said, curious. "What happened to you there?"
"You don't want to know," the yellow Camaro answered, sounding like he didn't want to talk about it. "I'm still trying to forget it. Luckily the Allspark was there."
"The All spark..." Arcee said, quietly. "Bee, try to get in contact with Prime again."
"I already did," he replied. "He's still not answering."
"Slag. What about Ironhide and Ratchet?"
'They're not answering either," he told her. "It's almost like they disappeared."
"I hope this doesn't mean they ran into the Decepticons," Sunstreaker said.
"I hope so too," Arcee said.
Devastator wasn't going to let Ratchet get away. The giant robot chased the Autobot medic all around the area, swinging his arms at the smaller bot, trying to knock him over. Ratched realized running wasn't going to get him anywhere and picked up speed, transforming as he did so. When Devastator swung at him again he turned and shot at the robot, the blast hitting the Decepticon squarely in the face.
Devastator howled in agony, putting his hands over his face. Ratchet kept firing, hitting the bigger robot in the joint areas. The Construticons, unable to stay together any longer, separated and crashed heavily to the ground.
Ratchet waited for a momnent his gun still aimed at the six Constructicons. When they didn't transform or move he lowered his gun and sighed with relief. "That was easier than I thought," he said out loud. "Maybe too easy." but he didn't spend too much time dwelling on it.
Turning from the damaged robots he went back into vehicle mode and headed to the spot where he'd left Jazz.
The dead Autobot wasn't there.
"What?" Ratchet went back into standard mode and stared at the spot, trying to figure out what happened. "Jazz couldn't have gotten up and gone anywhere. He's not even online anymore." A thought came to him. "Did someone take him?" An answer slowly formed in his mind. "Decepticons?" But why? Why would they take Jazz?" That answer came as well but not as quickly. "Oh no!"
Going into vehicle mode and roared his engine and shot down the road at speeds way over the limit. I have to find him before the Decepticons do something to him!
Barricade couldn't shake Prowl. He tried every trick he knew to get rid of the Autobot chasing him but nothing he did worked. He couldn't meet Starscream with an Autobot chasing him. The Autobots weren't supposed to know what was going on until it was too late. "And with that Primus forsaken Prowl chasing me it's not going to happen that way," he said out loud.
He screeched around a corner, narrowly missing two little kids riding their bikes. He had to think of a plan. He'd already confronted the Autobot and he wound up losing just like every other time. He just couldn't beat Prowl. Because of this he couldn't get away from him either. I have to lose him. I don't know who but I must. I can't let him find out where I'm meeting Starscream.
"Barricade!" a voice shouted, startling him and nearly causing him to crash. Prowl saw an opportunity and slammed into his rear bumper, causing him to swerve out of control for a moment . He regained control and demanded. "What do you want, Starscream?"
"Where in Primus are you?" the jet demanded. "You should have been here by now."
"I'm in a jam right now," the police car replied. "I'll get there as soon as I can."
"Somehow I don't believe that."
"I don't care what you believe!"
"Watch your mouth!" Starscream ordered. "I will not tolerate you talking to me like that."
"Get used to it," Barricade snapped.
"What did you just say?"
"None of your business! Good bye!" Starscream started squawking but Barricade cut the connection. He returned his focus to the real problem. Getting Prowl off his tail.
He swerved sharply around another corner. Prowl took the turn easily, keeping the Decepticon in his sights. You won't get away from me that easily, Barricade, the Autobot thought.
Mikaela was woken from a a sound sleep by someone shaking her. She opened her eyes, startled and looked toward the prson who'd rudely awaken her. Sam.
"What?" she asked, irritated. She hated people waking her up.
"We're almost there," he replied. He pointed out the window. "See."
She turned her head. She found herself staring at the streets of Washington D.C. She watched the buildings and monuments go by but she didn't say anything. She didn't really care about it.
Whatever they want us for had better be important, she thought. But why would they want Sam and me anyway? I don't get it.
A few minutes later Simmons was ushering the two teens into the Pentagon and down some halls to a conference room. There they met some of the people they'd run into when Megatron was after the Allspark.
Maggie Madsen the woman who had realized that the Decepticons had been hacking into the government system waved to them when she spotted them. Sam waved back only half heartedly. Mikaela didn't wave at all. She just found a seat and sat down in it. William Lennox, who was sitting in the seat beside her, gave her and Sam, who was looking around the room like he was lost, a curious look. What are they doing here? he wondered.
Mikaela noticed him staring but instead of asking why he was she asked. "So, what are you in for?"
"I'm not sure," he replied. "I got a call from Agent Simmons telling me that the Secretary of defense needed to talk to me." he remembered something else and said. "He also asked about the Autobots."
The girl's eyes got wide. "Why would he want to know about the Autobots?" she asked.
He shook his head. "I don't know," he replied. "I thought they'd all gone back to where they came from. Apparently they didn't."
Mikaela said nothing. She didn't feel like telling him that Simmons had been right. The Autobots had no intention of leaving and the government couldn't very well make them.But they might try if they find out that there's more here than there was before, she realized. And Mr. Simmons is so arogent that he might try to make them leave all by himself. That brought on the memory of Bumblebee spraying lubricants all over the man's head. She smirked. I'd like to see him try it.
"Mikaela?"
She looked up. Lennox was giving her a funny look. "Yeah?" she asked.
"Is there something wrong?" he asked.
She shook her head. "Oh, no, there's nothing wrong," she said quickly. "I was just thinking about... something fuuny."
He didn't push it.
Just then the Secretary of Defense, John Keller, entered the room. Those present stopped conversing with each other and looked at him, every face expressing the same emotion.
Keller was nervous and not feeling well. He stood before the small group of people with his hands behind his back, trying to come up with the right words. This whole meeting was not going to be recieved well, especially since they all had encountered both the Decepticon and Autobot sides of the transformers race and were on good terms with the Autobots. Keller himself hoped they government wouldn't try to get rid of them but if it came down to it he must follow orders. Finally he cleared his throat and began. "You're all probably wondering why I asked you here today," he began.
You've got that right, Sam didn't say.
The secretary turned to the screen behind him. "The reason why I wanted you all here was because you all had some contact with these beings called transformers," he said, his voice betraying the nervousness he felt. "It seems lately we've been having some problems with these creatures."
"What do you mean by problems?" Maggie asked. 'The Autobots don't seem to be any kind of threat. They helped us rebuild the buildings that the Decepticons destroyed a few weeks ago."
"It's not the Autobots I'm worried about," Keller told her. "Though the White House is not too sure about them yet. I'm worried about the other fraction."
"Why? I thought we disposed of them."
"Apparently not." Keller picked up the remote off the podium and switched on the giant screen behind him. Video of a construction site played before their eyes.
Mikaela didn't see what that had to do with anything, until she noticed that the vehicles had no drivers. She glanced over at Sam. His mouth had fallen open and he looked like he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Mikaela looked back at the screen as Keller began talking again. "This video was filmed a few days ago," he said. "When we tried to communicate with these alien vehicles they refused to answer." he clicked off the screen. "I don't know what they're up to but we're watching them closely."
"How are you so sure they're Decepticons?" Maggie wanted to know. "They could be Autobots."
"We're taking no chances," Keller told her. "Whether they be Autobot or Decepticon; we would like to know what they're up to. If they're going to cause trouble we want to know."
"What about the other Autobots?" Lennox asked.
"We're keeping an eye on them too," he replied. He glanced over at Sam and Mikaela. "Agent Simmons told me that he encountered two that we haven't seen before. It seems like they are increasing their numbers for some reason."
"And you think we know why?" Lennox inquired.
Keller kept on staring at Sam and Mikaela. "At least some of you," he replied.
Mikaela looked away. She didn't like the way he was looking at her or Sam. Simmons must have told him about Arcee and Sunstreaker. she thought. Speaking of which, I wonder what they're doing right now? I wonder if they found Optimus yet?
Unfortunately they hadn't yet. The Autobots still didn't know that the Decepticons had captured him and taken him somewhere. They would soon find out but until then...
"Why won't he answer?" Bumblebee asked after he tried to get ahold of Optimus for the hundreth time.
"Are you using the right frequency?" Arcee asked him, turning her head. She was robot mode and leaning against the side of run down hamburger place. She and the other two Autobots had gotten off the road and transformed so they could discuss their recent problem.
"Yes," Bee replied, looking over at her. "But he won't answer. It's like he turned off his comlink."
"Do you think something happened to him?" Sunstreaker asked, from his perch on the roof of the building.
"I hope not," Arcee said. That was the last thing they needed, especially now. "Try contacting Ironhide or Ratchet." she suggested to Bumbelbee. "Maybe they heard from him."
Bee did so. He couldn't contact Ironhide but he did get a hold of Ratchet. "Bee?" the medic replied, loud enough for them all to hear him. "Where are you?"
"Halfway between San Fransisco and New York City," he replied.
"That doesn't help," Ratchet informed him, flatly. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine," Bee replied. "But we have a problem."
"What kind of problem?" He sounded like he didn't want to hear any bad news.
"We can't get in contact with Prime," the camaro answered. "Has he spoken to you at all?"
"No," the medic replied then asked. "What do you mean by "we"?"
Bumblebee looked at the other two Autobots. "I have Arcee and Sunstreaker with me," he replied. "They arrived on the planet just recently."
"I know Arcee did," Ratchet said. "Ironhide told me, but Sunstreaker?"
"Yes, he saved Arcee from Starscream."
"Starscream? this sounds serious...I'd better come to you," he told him. "I have something I need to tell Arcee. Can you give me the co-ordinance?"
Bumblebee did so.
"Okay, see yo in a few hours," the medic said. "Don't go anywhere before I get there."
Starscream was just seconds away from going out to find Barricade. He really didn't want to. He didn't have time and if he left there would be nobody there to greet the others when they finally arrived.
"And speaking of new arrivals," he said, hearing the sound of an approaching vehicle. He turned slightly. Another jet, similar in design to his own but not the same make touched down on the landing pad. The second it did it transformed into a robot of a similar design to his own robot mode but also different in color scheme and body structure. "Thundercracker," he said. "It's good to see you again."
A/N
I got writer's block. That's it for now. I'm very sorry for this lame chapter. When I get my drive back I promise to make the next chapter better. I really hate it when I get writer's block. It ruins everything.
Side Note: Thundercracker's vehicle mode of choice is the same jet model used in the G1 series. He's slightly shorter than Starscream and has a revamped more realistic look to his G1 form. Imagine him how he looks in G1 only with much more detail.