Disclaimer: Hasbro owns Transformers, I own the story. Any and all additional recognizable culture references, locations, songs, et cet, belong to their rightful owners.
Chapter 7: Splinter Cell
Remember when we said earlier that Benjamin's group contacted their men at base? They had two specific men running things in the way of communications and public relations care. Their names were Jack Turbine and Wheeljack.
"Got off the phone with the fuzz," Jack Turbine said, "It's official: No more help from the fuzz on catching the Breaker Labs agents with us. They'll keep an eye out, but they're not going to so much as look at a Breaker Labs' base without a bomb squad on hand."
"It's the police, Jack," Becky growled, correcting her friend through the audio-visual communications link they had between Skyfire and the Ark. "Call it anything else and I will smack you hard when we get back to the Ark."
Skyfire had dropped off the injured police men at a hospital and now he and the official Autobot members were floating around over the land while the Jacks back at the Ark cleared up legal issues concerning the injured and dead police men. Benjamin, Prowl, Becky, MJ, Jazz, and Josh were in Skyfire's main cockpit.
"Were they upset?" Josh asked.
"Of course they were upset," Becky exclaimed, waving her still-Transformer hands around in emphasis, "They lost a whole bunch of their guys because of us!"
"At least we're not in trouble," Jack tried suggesting.
"You're lying!" Becky exclaimed, pointing at the screen accusingly, "My head buzzed!"
"Damn you and your in-born lie detector," Jack growled. "Prowl, I blame you."
"How big of trouble are we in?" Benjamin asked asked.
"Oh, a couple hundred thousand dollars in apology death money—"
"Sorry we asked," Josh interrupted.
"Come on, Josh," Jazz said, nodding to the door. "Let's kick the metal boots off and grab some Z's while we can, eh?"
"Sounds good to me," Josh agreed, following him out of the cock pit.
"Well, other than that," Jack finished off, glancing down and pretending to shuffle papers off screen. "All's well here: Patrols have had a few minor Decepticon-wannabe ambushes, but nothing fatal or even remotely serious. The most danger we've had is from the emails from the religious fanatics damning the Efforts' existence, telling us to go to hell, repent, repent, repent,' don't take my woman', yadda, yadda, yadda. Oh, and communication to the European forces has been stunted on suspicion of being overheard by the Decepticons."
"Thanks, Jack," Benjamin said as Prowl and Becky left the cock pit. "Keep up the good work with running things, but make sure that the patrollers don't let their guard down. I don't care if the ambushes are from untrained wannabes: Anyone claiming to be a Decepticon is a potential threat."
"Roger that, Benjamin Prime!"
Benjamin chuckled at Jack cut the communication link, leaving Skyfire's enormous windshield clean of the hologram screen and showing the starry night sky beyond.
"Prime?" Benjamin chuckled, "Like that will ever happen."
"Well, you're rather far up the path to there already," MJ pointed out. "You've been doing a great job of keeping things around the Ark in line with your dad in Europe. Heck, Prowl has hardly had to do anything!"
"You really think I can be called 'Prime' one day, MJ?" Benjamin asked.
"I know so."
"'Benjamin Prime'," Benjamin muttered, trying the name on his tongue. "Not bad, but it still needs something."
"Well, you go get some sleep while you ponder your future," MJ chuckled, nudging Benjamin towards the door. "Father and I will keep a straight course for home."
Benjamin entered the main bay of Skyfire just as a bright light flashed. Prowl was kneeling on the floor and caught Becky as she resumed her human form. But rather than being dressed in the black police uniform she had been wearing before, she was in a different outfit. It was a white police outfit neatly tailored to her body, but the cap was black with a red, V-shaped badge instead of a police badge on the front of it. On her chest pocket where a police badge was typically pinned was an Autobot badge, and she had a black pair of boots, belt (with a holstered gun, Ben noted warily), and white gloves with black wrists.
Becky blinked slowly as she pushed her hat up then looked herself over.
"What the…?" she muttered.
"Yeah, that," Josh said, "It seems like that no matter what you wear, it'll always turn into a default outfit that's a lot like your robot mode. My advice: Just wear it and save yourself money buying new clothes. I had to transform six times before I got the idea."
To demonstrate, Josh reverted to his human form, striking a dramatic pose with his fists clenched and tensing himself up as if he were preparing for hand-to-hand combat. The light around him flashed briefly and an instant later, it was not a Transformer standing where he had been, but a human.
In his human form, Josh was an average seventeen year old human; somewhat thin, pale, with black hair with grey eyes. Currently he was dressed in an all-white out fit with black boots and gloves reaching his knees and elbows, a black X crossing his shoulders and back, and a black hat on top that had a silver visor for a hat bill. It made him look older: almost as old as Benjamin, who already appeared to be a twenty-year old, in spite of being only seventeen. The children were not only maturing mentally from war, but physically with time.
"What do ya think?" Josh said, grinning as he spun around. "Snappy, eh?"
"I thought you just bought those from a costume shop, knowing your ego," Becky stated coolly.
"Why would I waste money on fashion when I could save it for our life together in the near future, my beauty?" Josh cooed, placing one hand on his chest and raising the other dramatically.
"Hey, look: a gun," Becky said, drawing out her gun.
"Crap."
Josh took off running for one of Skyfire's smaller, private and hopefully safer compartments with Becky running on his heels. Used to these antics, Prowl and Jazz let them go, instead choosing to sit down on one of the Transformer-sized benches lining the main bay's walls. Ironhide was parked in van form to the side, having Jess sleeping off the night in him. Anne had neglected to revert to her human form and laid on the bench across from Prowl and Jazz, curled up onto her self and in deep sleep.
Under the benches was a shorter bench for humans. Max sat on one such bench with his arms crossed across his chest and glaring across the wide bay floor. He was glaring at Sam. Benjamin walked over to him, deciding that it would be safer to keep an eye on the hot head.
"Why did we bring him?" Max growled when Benjamin sat by him.
"Sam has an extensive knowledge about the land where the Breaker Lab caravan they talked about could be hiding," Benjamin explained. "By having a local with us, we are dramatically increasing out chances of successfully locating and capturing the caravan. We need to do this before they can escape. That and we could use all the help we can get; our forces are stretched enough as it is guarding energy factories and helping in Europe that we just can't say no to aide."
"I don't trust him."
"Why?"
Max dared not tell Benjamin about Sam's hate speech. He didn't want to sound whiny and plus, it's just a humane pride thing not to indulge one's greatest troubles unless pried for them. So he stated his fears in a vague, but still accurate, sense.
"He can't be much older than us, and he's human, so why is he living with a Transformer? Shouldn't he be in school this time of year? And isn't there just something… off about him?"
"Max," Benjamin sighed. "He's human. If he were a Decepticon Effort, then we'd be hearing a sort of TV hum, like when we met the Decepticon Efforts."
"He doesn't have to be a Decepticon or an Effort to be a threat," Max pointed out.
"You're just tired, Max," Benjamin yawned, getting up and walking away. "Get some sleep."
"Ben—"Max began, but he saw that Benjamin was not in the mood to listen to any more.
He hissed a cuss word and batted a fist on his leg. Couldn't Benjamin at least pretend to listen to him? No one ever listened to him! Max would be the first to admit that he had done stupid things in the past, but he had sobered up when the war started, he swore! Why couldn't anyone give him a chance to prove that?
If they won't listen to me, Max determined, clasping his eyes on Sam. Then I'll keep an eye on him myself. If he slips up, I'll be there to catch him red-handed. That'll show Ben. It'll show Ben that I can do things right! It'll show them all!
Sam saw Max staring and grinned evilly, winking cleverly. At that moment it was determined between them that there was a game going on between them: a game of wits, loyalty, and reputation.
Max was not going to loose.
- - - -
Somewhere in Japan
Midnight
The human guard slammed against a wall and was knocked unconscious. Skynet stepped over his prone form, not really caring whether or not he had broke the unfortunate night guard's neck. Those guards were just encouragement of rather than actual security: the laser-covered shock doors were supposed to keep all burglars out of the top-secret computer facility, disguised as a fossil fuels factory from the outside.
Then again, the creators of the security system had probably not counted on any burglar being a technopath.
A door locked via an eye and palm-print scanner blocked Skynet from his goal. With a mere twitch of his mental powers, the door opened. With in was a massive machine: A super computer, one of four in the secret factory. Walking up to the computer, he placed a gloved palm on the computer and injected his mentality into it, seeking vital information. Thousands of conspiracy truths, hidden names of political scandals, blue prints to super weapons, bio-warfare recopies, and top-secret military plans and schemes flashed through the data field Skynet walked in.
All useless.
Skynet drew out of the computer and scanned through the computer laboratory telepathically, locating sentient minds and scanning through them. Everyone here, it appeared, was either dead, unconscious, or hiding, too terrified to come out and face the small Decepticon splinter force that had snuck into their factory and locked it down from the inside, locking everyone inside. Everyone here, Skynet diagnosed, was too old, cold, and senseless to be of use to him. They would have to be taken care of if they were not to blow their cover…
"Soundwave to Cassetticons," Soundwave called on the comm. link, speaking through the silver translator node in Skynet's ear. "Report."
"Nothing in Computer 1, boss," Frenzy reported. He and Rumble had had to, literally, bash through the lock doors to get to their targeted hack computer.
"The same for Computer 2, sire," Ravage stated. He, Laserbeak, and Buzzsaw had had to merely sneak into their target's room via their cassette forms hidden on a cart. In spite the ease of entering the laboratory, it was the most blood splattered.
"Useful information: Non-existent," Skynet stated. "Potential Cassetticons: Not present."
"Orders: Terminate any survivors," Soundwave ordered.
"Ooh, I call dibs on everyone!" Rumble exclaimed.
"Oh come on!" Frenzy whined.
"Not if the birds and I get there faster than you, twerp," Ravage chuckled darkly.
"Dibs: Acknowledged," Skynet sighed. "Actions: Nonexistent."
- - - -
This had been Soundwave's last lead, but still he had failed to determine the location of the three Efforts the first generation of Breaker Labs had released into the world. There was no other option but to report and admit to Megatron that he had failed. It would be embarrassing, considering how Soundwave was a communications and information officer of all things—
Just as Soundwave was about to leave the office of the director of the hidden computer laboratory and location of the remaining super computer, he froze. Following the trail of blood that had come from the director's crumbled body on the floor, Soundwave's hidden optics saw that the blood appeared to be pointing to the desk. Soundwave had looked through it, but had found nothing other than office supplies and a gun with bullets. But it was worth looking again…
Soundwave's foot flew through the air and shattered the desk into hundreds of tiny pieces and splinters upon impact. Metal crashed into wood, making the silent, dark office unnaturally loud for a split moment. When the splinters fell to the floor, very little of the desk was left. Soundwave's visor glowed in approval when he saw a hidden cavity over the desk's main drawer. Reaching in, he pulled out a thick sheaf of papers. Looking down, he scanned the papers into his memory banks.
A feeling that was Soundwave's own personal version of approval rose up with in the Decepticon. It was rather clever of the humans, actually, to hide evidence of the hidden Efforts on something as primitive as paper, something Transformers considered too far below them to use. The actual phrase was "hidden right under my nose".
"Cassetticons and Skynet to me," Soundwave ordered on the comm. link. "Evidence of hidden Efforts discovered."
- - - -
Dudbud was off scavenging in the scarp yard and there was no school that day, so Alias was left
Alone to pace around and around her home restlessly. Something was wrong, she knew it, but what was it? Looking around, she peeked out side the windows of her bed room before lowering the shutters over them, giving her adequate privacy. She settled down in her recharging booth, keeping the lid up and rested her head back as she shut her optics down. She took long, deep breaths, cooling her agitated processor. Finally, a cool, feminine voice spoke in the darkness of her head.
Adequate level of processor activity reached.
Universal Computer Program activated.
Items of search: Decepticon, war, Earth. Excluding search results older than three years ago. Search Results: 632 news articles, 78 video files, 1.56 hundred thousand Autobot reports and files. 2.45 hundred thousand Decepticon reports and files-- blip!
Files with Transformer Alias mentioned: one.
File type: Decepticon audio report. Would you like to play this file?
Order confirmed; stand by for audio footage.
Blip!
"Soundwave to Megatron."
"What is it, Soundwave?"
"Mission: Success."
"You have found a hidden Effort?"
"Affirmative. Three of three hidden Efforts found. Location of first Effort: Cybertron."
Alias ripped herself away from her trance with a gas[, rolling over in her recharging booth as she whimpered in fear. They had found her. What was she going to do?
- - - -
Juggernaut ready. Juggernaut ready. Chains hold Juggernaut now, but Juggernaut ready. Masters put Juggernaut in small dark box on big metal air monster, but Juggernaut ready. Juggernaut know where Masters take Juggernaut: Masters take Juggernaut to red faced pain makers. Juggernaut will get pain makers. Juggernaut make pain makers feel pain that Juggernaut feel. Juggernaut rip red face pain makers limb from limb! Juggernaut make pain makers no hurt Juggernaut any more! But Juggernaut wait. Juggernaut know that if Juggernaut fight now, Masters think Juggernaut too sick in head to fight red face pain makers. So Juggernaut wait. Juggernaut ready. Juggernaut ready.
- - - -
"Dr. Moriguchi!" one of the guards called, running up to Moriguchi.
Moriguchi turned away from watching the workers load up the cargo plane and looked at the guard.
"What is it now?" he asked impatiently. "We're about to ship out to pick up Base 63's forces!"
"Sir, report from the Hamada Company in Japan: Hamada, Ito and Haru were all killed when a splinter force came into the hidden labs there and killed everyone inside! We have reason that it's the same people who killed Dr. Sa."
Moriguchi stared at the guard, trying to figure out what to say. Finally, he waved a hand dismissively and ordered, "Tell the others of this."
The guard saluted and trotted off. Moriguchi pulled a list of names from an interior pocket of his jacket and a red pen to go with it. He crossed off the three dead men's names before putting the pen and paper back.
"Four down, nine to go," he muttered. "Who ever is doing this is doing my job for me…"
