When the cave spiders came, Cody was sure it was the culmination of everything that had gone wrong that day. Uncle Woodrow stealing the drill; the vehicle going haywire; the terrifying ride down to this strange cavern; the terror of realizing that there wasn't a way back up; and now this. Spiders. Huge, white spiders.
Can't get much worse than that.
It was at times like these when he was intensely grateful, even more than usual, that he and his family were friends with giant, sentient, spider-crushing robots. And he'd never been more happy to see Optimus in the short time he'd known the Prime.
Quite honestly, one of the things that had crossed his mind as the drill careened wildly to the underground center of the island was Optimus was coming to see us and I'll miss it if I end up dying down here! That was followed by several reassurances to himself that he wasn't going to die. That he was on an emergency team. That he could handle situations like this.
And he had handled it. He'd gotten the drill to stop, and he'd gotten himself and his uncle out, and he hadn't died.
And now the bots were smashing the spiders. The day was certainly taking a turn for the better.
Explaining to Uncle Woodrow about the Bots was. . . interesting, to say the least. His uncle's face lit up nearly brighter than the Energon crystal that shone from behind them. Just watching him made Cody feel better about letting out their biggest secret.
Maybe things are finally turning around, he thought, watching Optimus try to explain things from his towering height.
As if in ironic response to his thoughts, a muffled crack rang out, followed by a ground-shaking sound reminiscent of an explosion. Before the last echoes of the noise had faded, Dad was ordering, "Team, into your bots! Woodrow, come!" He left the decision of which bot Cody should choose to him, instead stuffing Uncle Woodrow into the passenger seat of Chase's alt mode. Cody deliberated for a panicked instant, and then dived for Chase's back seat- his entire decision process was Dad. His siblings got into their partners with practiced speed, and the Bots switched back to root mode as soon as they had.
"Optimus, any idea what caused that?" Dad asked. Cody could see, over Uncle Woodrow's shoulder, the large, red-and-blue Prime frowning in consternation.
"I do not like to think of the implications," he said, "but it sounds like a Decepticon mining drill."
"Sorry, a what now?" Kade snapped.
"Decepticons?" Heatwave said, taking a step toward Optimus.
"I believe we must consider the possibility that somehow, the Decepticons have reached the Energon mine before us," Optimus said heavily.
"Well, let's get 'em, then!" Heatwave said, banging his fist into his other hand. Cody felt Chase's engine rumble uncomfortably.
"Our first priority needs to be getting the humans to safety," Optimus said firmly. "If there are, indeed, Decepticons inside this mountain-"
"Wait," Dani interrupted. "I mean. . . Optimus, sir, what do you mean by Decepticons?"
Optimus hesitated, the most disturbed expression that Cody had ever seen on his face. "I. . . did not want to. . ." he said, but was interrupted by another crack and the ground the Bots stood on shaking with the following rumbling explosion. Dad barely had time to shout, "Hold on!" before the ground fell away beneath Chase. Cody's stomach dropped, and he reflexively grabbed the seat in front of him. As Chase fell, Cody could see, for a brief moment out of the front window, all of the other Bots and Optimus falling through different sinkholes. Then his attention was diverted to the situation they were currently in, and as Chase struggled to control himself in free fall, Cody found his voice betraying him with a scream of terror.
