Chapter 9 The Omega Lock

"And you're sure that this lock is at the bottom of the Atlantic?"

Oriona looked sceptically at the map that Vector Prime was showing them. She was not keen on diving down into the deepest part of the Atlantic Ocean just to find this holder for the Cyber Planet Keys. She was positive that very few of the others could actually swim. Megatron and anyone born in Vos or Kaon would know how; Seekers could swim as well as they could fly and Kaonites would go out of their way to get into the huge energon river that flowed right by the city. Iaconians like her, however, were not so good at swimming.

"Yes, it is," Vector Prime replied. "It is almost a straight drop down from the Grand Banks in Newfoundland."

"And Labrador," Scattershot grumbled. "It's Newfoundland and Labrador."

"Perfectionist," Flamewar teased as she reached over and tugged on one of his shoulder turrets.

He grumbled more under his aunt's friendly jibe and crossed his arms in a huff. The Seekers immediately started twittering amongst themselves, shoving Starscream playfully. No doubt they were seeing a similarity between the sparkling and his creator. Starscream only looked annoyed at being shoved around by the others, but his optics were filled with a parental love that made Scattershot blush a little.

Oriona chuckled at the sight, making a mental note to get Wingsabre to praise Scattershot more often. They were on their way fairly quickly afterwards, ignoring the Seekers' taunting of them not being able to swim. Megatron was quick to chase them off, telling them to keep their offhand remarks to themselves. They only twittered more amongst themselves, shooting everyone else dark looks that just spelt trouble.

Oriona was grateful for the ground-bridge that allowed them to get to the East coast of Canada so quickly. She stood on a cliff overlooking the ocean and felt her armor tremble with delight. This area was so beautiful and vast, yet so deadly at the same time. She inhaled the scent of the ocean before she realized that the others were shifting around nervously behind her.

"The water won't hurt you," she reassured them before she heard a very loud splash behind her. "Don't tell me; Skywarp just cannonballed in?"

"WATER'S GREAT!"

"Skywarp, do you have to do that?" she sighed as she turned back to face the bobbing Seeker.

He nodded happily before he flipped over and vanished under the dark surface. The other Seekers dropped in after him, letting out various shouts of delight as they hit the water. Jetfire squirmed where he was on the land and refused to jump in like the others had. Even Scavenger was hesitant about jumping in, staring at the water with a great amount of mistrust.

There was a harsh snort before Megatron shoved past the few that had been blocking the edge of the cliff. He glared at him, blue optics narrowed in disdain, and he turned around to face the ocean. There wasn't even a tremor along his back as he jumped off the cliff, although his foot did twitch a bit; the ocean was much deeper and bigger than any river on Cybertron.

Oriona smirked as her mate easily turned the jump into a dive and sliced under the water without a ripple. The human children cheered at the display as Megatron resurfaced. He shook his head a little, sending water droplets in every direction. He turned back towards the cliff, a dirty smirk on his face as he waved at them.

"Come on, you bunch of sparklings," he teased, "the water's great."

Jetfire growled before he jumped out of the way with a loud yelp. Side Swipe and Ironhide barrelled past and leapt off the cliff, wild shouts of joy filling the air seconds before two very loud splashes echoed them. Oriona looked at her two sons in amusement as they swam rather haphazardly towards Megatron. She shouted at them to keep their vents closed to stop from getting waterlogged and both looked at each other in surprise. They obviously hadn't thought of that.

They were quick to close them after that and they moved easier through the water after that. Megatron nodded to them as they treaded water beside him, signalling the others to jump. The ones who followed him during the war were the first ones in, hitting the water and sinking a little because of their bulk. Mirage, however, swam as gracefully as a fish and taunted the others with that fact. Being a boat really did have its advantages.

The rest of the team hung back and just stared at the water. Oriona wasn't too keen on jumping in herself; she could just see a current grabbing her and dragging her out to sea. Megatron shouted at them that they were wasting daylight and she sighed before she launched herself off of the cliff. She heard a few of the others let out shouts of shock at her rather "fearless" display.

It took a second of the fall to close all of her vents and flip herself over to dive. She thought she heard Skywarp shout that she was a showoff before she slipped into the water. She flipped herself over and headed for the surface, fighting a little against the constant downward pull on her armor. She broke the surface and shook her head, clearing the water out of her optics enough to see where she was. In the middle of a ring of Seekers; she was not sticking around long.

"Nice dive, Paxy!" Flamewar crowed as someone else hit the water. "Ow; okay, that mech's gunna have a bruise."

She nodded in agreement as Blurr surfaced and began to move slowly away. She sent an apologetic look at him before she started swimming towards Megatron. He was still just floating with Side Swipe and Ironhide, encouraging them to stay afloat rather than sinking. Ironhide was having a hard time remaining on top of the water and kept spluttering as he sank. Scorponok was making her way over, looking a little like a shark as she swam. Oriona smirked at the mental image before she clung to Megatron's back and made him sink a little.

"How about you not kill me?" Megatron chuckled as he turned to nip at her antennas. "I would enjoy seeing Cybertron saved."

"Who said I was trying to kill you?" she asked innocently as she caught his lips in a kiss instead. "I just don't want to sink."

He purred softly before he stroked her helm reassuringly. He looked around and called out to make sure that everyone was in the water. Once a quick headcount was given, he ordered everyone under the waves and to start moving towards the coordinates that Vector Prime had given them. It took a little longer to convince everyone to get under the water, but eventually they were on their way.

The grace of the Seekers seemed to amaze everyone as they went. Only Mirage seemed able to keep up with them, and even then, she looked like she was having troubles with the current. Most of the ground-based mechs were having a hard time moving, rather put off by the fact that the Seekers were so much better than them.

Oriona was just having problems keeping up, constantly grabbing a hold of Megatron's foot to stop from falling behind. He kept reaching back to pull her up to his chest, but she was determined to swim on her own. She could see the Seekers watching her, slowing down a little and trying to swim back to help her. She could do it on her own; why did everyone think that she needed help?

"Oriona," Megatron sighed before he reached over and grabbed her. "You are making this harder on yourself. Stop trying to use your arms to steer you; that's what your feet and legs are for."

She glared at him before slumping in defeat. "Leave it to me to slow us down," she grumbled.

"Hardly," he replied with a visible sneer in his voice. "If anyone is slowing us down, it's the idiot flier hot-dogging in the back. Honestly why do you keep him around? He's almost entirely worthless!"

She reproached him angrily over the bond, not bothering to voice her opinion. Regardless, she did order Jetfire to pay attention and to stop showing off; they were supposed to be looking for the Atlantis Pattern. The grumble she got was all the confirmation she needed before she started kicking her legs slowly.

Megatron released her, letting her try swimming on her own. She was surprised at how much easier she cut through the water. She let out a soft laugh before she took off, flashing past Megatron in a second. She was stunned by her speed, stunned at how seamlessly she sliced through the water, and stunned at how simple it seemed to be happening. Everyone was still looking for the pattern, moving around huge rock formations on the seafloor. She swam off on her own, glancing over her shoulder at the sound of snarls.

She rolled her optics as she watched Jetfire and Megatron swim after her. Megatron had his dentas bared while Jetfire was as bristled up as he could manage. She was slowly getting sick of the constant fighting between the two of them, especially since she was already mated to Megatron. She really wished Jetfire would just give it up. She was never going to go back to him; she was happy with Megatron; she didn't want anyone else.

She was a little relieved when Vector Prime and the Minicons carrying the kids swam in between both of the quarrelling mechs. It was a little dangerous; Megatron wouldn't hold back just because someone got in his way that wasn't her or his sparklings; but it was an effective way to keep the two mechs apart. They all swam over to her and she settled in between Vector Prime and the Minicons, ignoring the glare she got from her mate. She was not rewarding his behaviour.

They continued searching, swimming back and forth to cover more ground at a different angle. She lifted her head curiously and tapped Megatron's arm to get his attention as one of the Minicons came hurrying back over to them. She was too far away to hear what the Minicon was saying to Vector Prime, but judging by the way the older mech waved his arm at them to join him, it was what they were looking for.

She swam over as quickly as she could, darting around Jetfire as he rocketed over to them without looking. She gave him a reproachful glare before she asked what the Minicons and kids had found.

"We aren't sure," Coby replied. "It looks like the Atlantis Pattern, but we aren't sure where it leads."

Oriona nodded to him before ordering everyone over to their position. She wasn't surprised when the Seekers turned up first, their wings spread wide as they came to a stop. She ordered them to start moving the rocks aside so that they could see what was hidden behind the Atlantis Pattern and was startled when they all saluted without a word and went to work. She blinked at Megatron and he just smirked in response. She had a feeling he had something to do with the obedience.

She had a bit of a problem getting the others to work. They whined that the Seekers were already doing the work and claimed that it was a waste of time. She only had to grab one of the mech's by the throat; unfortunately for Demolisher who had gotten within arm's reach; and they listened very well after that. She was starting to grow annoyed now with the constant need to force them to listen.

"Come on, Oriona," Megatron soothed as he gently grasped her shoulders. "We should go with Vector Prime and check out that symbol just to make sure nothing happens."

"I'm going too," Jetfire snapped as he swam up beside Megatron. "No way I'm letting the kids go anywhere with you."

Megatron glared at him before he turned and swam to where Vector Prime was waiting with the kids and Minicons. The older mech did not seem impressed with Megatron's decision to tag along, but he kept his opinion to himself as she and Jetfire followed the larger mech. The Minicons showed them where they had found the pattern and moved back to let Vector Prime look. He pressed his hand against the symbol and moved back as it slowly started to open.

They swam in through the opening, pausing as they were faced with another wall. Coby piped up that it must have been an air lock. Jetfire nodded in agreement as Megatron easily swam over to the doors, growling little at the Minicons as they tried to flock around his legs.

"Now where is the sanity in staying close to the legs that are going to be moving fast enough to knock you around like a ball?" he demanded as Jolt tried to cling to him.

"But it's scary in here!" Jolt whined.

"It will be worse if you stay too close," Megatron growled in return. "We are in a closed in environment; nothing gets in our out without us noticing."

The Minicons reluctantly pulled away as Megatron swam the final few meters to the door and pressed his hand against it. The sound of a motor kicking on reached them and the Minicons and kids let out worried noises. Oriona hushed them, reassuring them that no harm would come to them. Shortly after she said that, the opening behind them closed off and the water began to drain out of the room.

"It was an airlock!" Coby chimed, no doubt proud of himself for being right.

"Now imagine what would have happened if you stayed under my feet," Megatron replied as his feet touched down a little heavily on the floor. "Human meatcakes."

"Megatron," Oriona chided gently.

He shrugged his shoulders, sending a "you know it's true" down the bond. She shook her head as her own feet touched the floor much lighter than every other mech in the lock. The last of the water drained away and, naturally, Megatron shook himself off like a turbohound, making the humans that had just gotten out of their Minicon partners squeal in surprise. They demanded to know what that was for and Megatron just smirked as the doors opened up behind him.

Vector Prime moved past him, telling everyone to follow him. Megatron gave his back a pointed glare before he followed, calling for Oriona to walk beside him. She rolled her optics as she slipped away from Jetfire, telling the children to stay close so they did not get lost or stepped on. She could tell just by the soft whimpers that they were scared of the ship more than the thought of getting stepped on.

Megatron's arm brushed against her before their fingers intertwined. She leant a little on his arm, smiling to herself. He might have just been doing it to make Jetfire jealous, but she was willing to take whatever small form of comfort she could glean from him. It wasn't like he was unloving; it was just that he was so on edge lately that she was starting to worry about him.

She looked up as a set of doors opened, allowing them entrance into the control room. The humans let out murmurs of amazement as they move away from the gigantic feet of their guardians to explore the room a little. Oriona pulled away from Megatron, looking at the control panel with some degree of curiosity. Megatron stayed back, muttering that if something went wrong he wasn't going to get blamed for it. Jetfire walked boldly over to the control panel and started looking around, shouting for Vector Prime to hurry up with his investigation.

The glare the flier received was enough to make Oriona snort with laughter. She quickly scuttled over to Megatron and leant on him, hiding her face in his hip to stop herself from just laughing outright. Megatron's fingers ghosted over her antennas with a content purr as the humans twittered amongst each other. That noise was quickly overshadowed by Jetfire and Vector Prime's voices.

She looked up at the two mech and blinked. They were facing each other and looked almost ready to go for each other's throat. That was terrifying in the fact that Vector Prime was not aggressive by nature. Vector Prime's voice started rise as his fists quivered at his side; he was getting ready to punch the green mech.

"You old, senile idiot!" Jetfire snarled before he shoved Vector Prime hard in the chest. "Don't you know how to fly your own ship?"

Vector Prime grunted in pain as he struck the control panel behind him. His hand settled on an odd circular panel and the energon in Oriona's body ran cold. The whole ship trembled and Megatron swore loudly before he was knocked off his feet. She hit the ground a second later, crying out in pain as her elbow hit the ground first and took her weight. It snapped and made her scream in agony before Megatron's arm circled her waist, pulling her closer as the whole floor trembled.

She could hear an engine engaging somewhere in the bowels of the ship and she weakly lifted her head. Vector Prime was swearing as he typed frantically at the panel in front of him. He yelled something along the lines of "hold on" before everything seemed to waver before her optics. She offlined them quickly and turned to bury her head in Megatron's chest, clinging to him as she felt the floor beneath her vanish.

When the floor solidified again, she was lying in a pool of energon and oil. She whimpered softly as Megatron moved and gently took her elbow in his hand, setting the strut back into place until a medic could look at it. He pulled a large cloth out of his subspace and carefully bandaged the wound up before he rounded on Jetfire.

"Are you happy now?" he growled lowly. "Not only did you cause a serious injury to your leader, but you injured a superior officer, activated an ancient spaceship that blasted us off of the seafloor, probably injuring the others since there was no warning, and now we are Primus only knows where with no way of getting in touch with the others. Are you proud of yourself, soldier?"

Jetfire just glared at Megatron before he pointed at Vector Prime as the old mech sat on the floor with a pained groan. "He's the one that made us warp."

"You shoved him into the control panel," Megatron snapped. "Because of that, the engines were activated, shooting us out of the ocean. Now, why would we have to warp? I don't know, because we are trying to stay hidden from the humans and their surveillance equipment?" He growled before turning to help Vector Prime. "Everything is on your head, Jetfire; are you proud of yourself?"

Jetfire glowered at Megatron, his wings trembling in outrage. Megatron ignored him and instead focused on getting Vector Prime back on his feet. When he was certain that Vector Prime wasn't going to fall back over, he walked back over to her and picked her up. She blushed a little bit before resting her cheek on his shoulder.

"I can walk, you know," she grumbled.

"I want to make sure you won't get hurt again," he replied simply. "Where are the humans?"

"Over here," Coby's voice called before all three humans and their Minicon companions nervously walked out from around the side of the control panel. "Is Oriona alright?"

"She will be when we get her to a medic," Megatron replied. "For now, the dressing should suffice."

The kids were obviously distressed by the fact that something like this had happened. She personally was not impressed with the fact that she was injured. She wanted to berate Jetfire for being so reckless and stupid, but Megatron had already done that and it was pointless to do it again. Vector Prime walked past, his back a little stiff from pain, and asked them to follow him.

Megatron was quick to follow, carrying Oriona with him; she was not impressed. The humans followed close behind, staying far enough back to not get stepped on, but close enough that they could hear what Vector Prime said. Jetfire walked sullenly in the back, muttering under his breath. Bud piped up to ask why Megatron was carrying her and it was Vector Prime that replied.

"Megatron might be a brute, but he does have a code of honour that makes him care for his injured mate," he stated calmly.

"Somehow, I find that more insulting than innocent," Megatron stated dryly.

Vector Prime didn't bother shooting a glare over his shoulder as they continued down the hallway. The rest of the trip was silent. Only Jetfire's grumbling could be heard and even that was faint. Finally, after what could have been the longest hallway in existence, Vector Prime opened the door to another room, one that had a huge shrine in the center of it.

"Well doesn't that just have a huge 'here's the prize' label stamped on it," Lori commented with a smirk.

"Nothing is ever that simple," Megatron replied evenly.

"You are both correct," Vector Prime replied. "The Omega Lock is indeed within this shrine, but, it has a special protective lock around it that will start a detonation sequence if we get it wrong."

"Why does everything have to BLOW UP if something goes wrong?" Oriona sighed.

"Well, it something blows up when it is right, it's called a bomb," Megatron replied.

The kids giggled as Oriona shot her mate a glare and growled a little at him. He merely smiled innocently and blinked his blue optics like he had no idea what she was glaring at him for. Vector Prime shook his head and grumbled something about mates and youths before he motioned the human children to follow him.

He activated something in front of the shrine and the pillars rose to be in reach of the three children. He instructed them carefully about what had to happen. They all had to press the panel in front of them at the same time in order to deactivate the security locks. It seemed simple enough, but Oriona had a feeling that the old Prime was keeping something secret.

"How is it that you don't know how to fly this ship, but you know how to deactivate its defences?" Jetfire demanded.

"I had no use of learning how to pilot one when they were created," Vector Prime replied. "However, my brother insisted that I know how to move past security devices; I should thank him when I see him."

"He's still alive?" Bud asked.

"No; he is with the Matrix."

"Oh…sorry."

"It is alright; he was always a bit of a nasty brother anyways."

"I can relate," Oriona grumbled.

Vector Prime looked at her and chuckled before he rested his hand on the panel in front of him. He called to the humans to be ready and started a simple countdown. All at once, the kids put their hands on the pedestal and a loud ringing noise started echoing around them. The kids whined a little, the ringing obviously much higher to their ears, before the shrine started to glow. Very slowly, the components of the shrine folded up to reveal a small device that Vector Prime let out a soft gasp of awe at.

"The Omega Lock," he murmured.

"Great," Jetfire stated as he walked up to it, ignoring Vector Prime's suddenly panicky motion for him to stop. "Now let's get off this stupid ship."

The minute he touched it, a siren rang throughout the ship and Vector Prime cursed furiously. He walked over and did not bother to control himself as he smacked Jetfire very hard over the head.

"You fool! You've activated the self-destruct sequence!" he shouted. "We have to move, now!"

Megatron cursed before the hallway they had walked down earlier exploded, showering them with sparks and debris. The humans screamed in fright before their Minicon partners transformed and ushered them in quickly. With the humans safe, the Minicons were quick to move over to where Vector Prime was standing with the Omega Lock.

"We're trapped," Vector Prime murmured. "The hallway's gone and we just don't have the firepower needed to break through these walls."

The kids screamed again as the ground beneath them started to crack, sending the two ground-bound Minicons skidding. Vector Prime scooped them up quickly, holding the small mechs and their cargo close to his chest. The wall beside them exploded and struck Megatron hard in the back, making him cry out as he stumbled forward and sank onto one knee.

"Megatron!" Oriona screamed as she clung to him.

He spat out a mouthful of energon before he nuzzled her reassuringly and stood up again. There was a sizzling splattering noise as energon hit the burning floor; Megatron's back was bleeding. Oriona tucked her face into his neck and closed her optics as Jetfire and Vector Prime got into a screaming match over whose fault it was for their impending doom.

"I love you," she whispered quietly.

"It's not over yet," Megatron replied as he held her close, keeping his face in her neck too. "Not until we're piles of slag."

He pulled her even closer to him as the floor beneath him started to shake more violently. She clung tightly to him, asking Primus to help them somehow. She didn't really care how. The wall across the room from them exploded inwards and a loud sucking whoosh filled the room before something soared in.

"Is there a reason you are just standing there like a bunch of cornered petrorats?" Starscream demanded as he transformed. "Get your afts moving; unless of course you WANT to blow up with the ship!"

Oriona didn't think she had ever been more relieved to see Starscream in her life.

Author's Note: Wow, I really put this story off for way too long. Hopefully, I can get this one done and over with soon so I can start on a few of the other stories to finish them off. I can't even use school as an excuse here.