Disclaimer: I only own my OCs.
Pandimala: Ok Authoress, I may have just come back to this story, but what the frag is with this title?
Lennox: Yeah, what does Atlantis have to do with anything?
Epps: Are you overcharged or something?
Penelope: Guys, and 'Mala, Authoress has a reason for everything.
Authoress: Thank you Pen and yes, it is symbolic.
Ch. 9: Finding Atlantis
Penelope stared in shock. Standing before her, ripping Mearing a new one, was Pandimala, leader of the Dragon Scouters and her favorite Cybertronian. This was like a strange dream that she couldn't have choreographed any better.
"I'm waiting Mearing, and having been almost blown up in a space bridge, in stasis for over fifty stellar cycles, years, and then having to deal with your obsessive need to be in control has not helped. So, you had better start explaining what you were thinking. Now."
Mearing gulped and said, "Well, I um." Penelope was eating this up. Mearing then let out a nervous cough before continuing. "I was not sure how the oil would have affected your systems but I did not want to risk you going offline so I decided to feed the oil into your main fuel line when your reserve energon reserve was almost gone."
Pandimala let out a sigh and said, "Mearing. You should have asked Penelope for advice. I know, from talking to her, that she would have known not to put oil directly into a Cybertronian's fuel line. While we can ingest it, we cannot take it directly. When we ingest it, our tanks process the oil and change it into the energon. But, if it is put into our fuel line directly, well, it is poison." She then paused and her optics widened. "Speaking about that,"
Penelope then stared in shock as Pandimala turned and purged her tanks in one of the oil vats. "Let me guess; that happens."
Once she was done, Pandimala turned to her and nodded before smiling and saying, "Yeah; that happens. If only a little is put in, our systems will reroute it to our tanks and that reroute causes us to purge the oil out. Definitely not the most fun of experiences." She then turned back to Mearing and said, "Ok, I'll let you off with a warning since you did have a right to be suspicious of me as well as Pen, from what I hear."
Penelope whistled when Pandimala gave her a knowing smirk. Hey, if Lizzie hadn't had her come down here, she would have snuck in here eventually. But, now she had a question. "What happened to you? How did you end up in the ice?"
Pandimala let out a sigh and said, "To answer your question, I need you to answer one for me."
"Shoot, metaphorically of course." Lennox stated.
"Well, what is the most recent news on Cybertron that you have heard about me?" Pandimala asked.
But, just as she was about to answer, Mearing answered instead. "From our supplier, I have heard that you all tried to fight off the Virons at a spacebridge. It was you, your daughter Blitzkriea, Chaom, and a few other bots. But, he won't go into what exactly happened."
Penelope was surprised. She didn't even know that and she thought that Meltdown had a lot of information. The last thing she had heard was that Pandimala had kids who were almost all adults in Cybertronian years before she suddenly disappeared. Maybe Mearing wasn't as bad as she thought.
Pandimala let out a sigh. The story was always hard to think about and she sometimes wished it hadn't happened. "Well, during the fight with the Virons, the spacebridge malfunctioned. It started to pull Blitzkriea toward it but, as her carrier, I was not going to let her get sucked into it. So, I went out of my cover and took her to my bondmate. Well he got her to safety and then he reached out to me. But, as I was reaching out to him, a blaster shot hit in front of me and it swept me off my pedes, feet, making me go towards the space bridge. I tried to use my broadswords to stop my tumble and it worked for a few seconds, until another shot knocked my grip off and I fell toward the bridge. I ended up grabbing the edge of the bridge and I had just enough time to say that I loved my family before a shot from Sentinel threw me into the bridge. As I entered it, I assumed it exploded and everything went black. Then, I woke up here and you know the rest."
"Yeah, you being an eighteen year old version of yourself when you all were last here." Lennox stated.
Pandimala smiled as she remembered back then. She had made Lizzie twenty one then and that had allowed her more access. But, she figured she would try eighteen this time because it was the age of adult hood. It had been an, interesting, experience and she had learned a lot. But, now there was another question eating at her.
Turning to Mearing, Pandimala asked, "Mearing, you mentioned a supplier earlier. Who is it?" She had a couple of bots who it could be and Pandimala was really curious.
Mearing cleared her throat. "Our supplier is named Lockdown."
Pandimala smiled at that. It was a little surprising since, when they had been on Earth, Swindle had been the one who had interacted with humans more. But, she couldn't complain. Lockdown probably gave the humans a better price then Swindle would have. Also, he had permanent access to a ship and that would help her get back to Cybertron. She had to get back. The standings on the war were unknown to her and she had to be informed.
"When is he going to get here?" Pandimala asked.
"In his last transmission, he said that he was going to get here sometime tomorrow. I think that," Mearing started.
But, before she could finish, one of her soldiers ran up to her and said, "Lockdown just called in. He said that he was going to get here tonight instead."
Mearing growled and said, "Why can't he ever get here when he says he will?"
But, Pandimala was excited. "Wait, this is a good thing. Mearing, has Lockdown seen me yet?"
Mearing shook her head and said, "No, minus Penelope, Lennox, and Epps; the troops present and myself are the only living beings who have seen you before today."
Pandimala nodded and processed this information. This could be a lot of fun. Of course, that would be if Lockdown didn't flip out before she could tell him what was really happening.
"What are you thinking Pandimala?" Penelope asked.
Pandimala smiled at Penelope. "Pen, please call me 'Mala. And, what I am thinking is that we should fill Lockdown in on my presence. But, of course, we aren't just going to come out and say it. Instead, we are going to have a little fun." Pandimala then told them her plan.
Lennox stood on the platform next to Pandimala in anticipation. According to Lockdown's transmission, he would be there at any time. This whole situation to him was incredible. For all this time, they had been in possession of one of the most powerful leaders in Cybertronian history, if not the most powerful, and it had taken it this long for them to get her back online. Also, said leader had ripped Mearing a new one and it was beautiful.
It was kind of funny to think of that. The amnesiac girl that had seemed to back down from Mearing that entire time she was there had really been hiding her rebel side until she came into her true self. Though, her reaction to that one soldier's talk about her playing with her Barbie dolls now made more sense. She was a being who was older than all of them and had her own kids, and maybe grandkids, and he had pretty much called her a weakling. Yeah, that explained that situation greatly.
"Lennox, are you alright?"
Lennox turned to Pandimala and nodded before saying, "You bet. I wonder how surprised he will be to see you."
Pandimala let out a laugh and said, "Well, since every other Cybertronian in existence thinks that I am offline, I am pretty sure that he is going to think that I am some sort of hologram at first. You might want to be ready for a fight because one might be coming."
"How bad could it be?" Epps asked.
Penelope stepped toward their group and said, "Well, from Meltdown's files, Lockdown is a bounty hunter and a Cyber ninja."
"So pretty much we had better stay out of the way." Lennox stated.
Pandimala nodded and said, "Yes. He is very good at what he does and that could end up being dangerous if you all try to interfere. Just let me deal with him. What I need you all to do is to get him in here without him getting too suspicious. Once he is here, I can get him to be more calm than normal. After he calms down though, you all will love him."
"Why?" Penelope asked.
Lennox was curious too. Pandimala said that they would like him once he was calm. But, what could he be like that would be giving the leader the smirk that she had on.
Pandimala smiled and said, "Well, you just have to meet him first. His personality is hard to explain."
Lennox raised an eyebrow at that but smiled. Pandimala was through hiding things from them. If she couldn't describe it, then she couldn't describe it.
"Hey 'Mala, how did you deal with Hindsight's and Foresight's pranks?" Epps asked.
That, was a good question. Lennox looked at Pandimala as she smiled and said, "Well, I just learned how to avoid them. After getting entrapped in instant cement and my finish was totaled, I decided to learn to look for the signs. That thing with Slenderman, well, that was going to probably be for Tana. Even though she is a warrior, Tana scares when something can't be explained. When we were setting that up, I saw a switch to change it from human Slenderman to a Cybertronian version of him. She would have been chasing them for solar cycles, days."
Penelope let out a laugh at that and said, "I can't imagine Tana of all bots being scared of that. No offense, but I would think that Balm or Bumblebee would be scared of that."
Pandimala nodded and said, "While Balm would be able to see through it because of her medical training, Bumblebee definitely could have been a possible target as well."
They all then fell silent as one of the other troops ran over and said, "Scanners just picked up Lockdown's ship in the atmosphere. He should be touching down in a few minutes." He then left.
Pandimala smiled and stood to her full height, which was pretty high, and said, "Well, let's get this welcome party started."
Lockdown shook his helm as he landed on Earth. He had been traveling for some time and he hadn't had much in the way of a decent recharge. Whenever he got away from Cybertron, which was very rare these solar cycles, he always tried to hurry so he could spend some time on Earth. He had experienced some very memorable events while on the small organic planet. Of course, there had always been some pretty nice mods on the planet. But, things had changed when Pandimala fell. After that, nothing seemed the same, except for Earth.
Earth, even though in its own terms, was revolutionized exponentially, it had barely made a move compared to his own timeline and that was just fine with Lockdown. It was something that Lockdown loved. Sometimes, he tried to find just one other planet like Earth, but none ever got as close as Earth did. In his own processor, that might explain the reason he gave the humans such good deals on the items that they needed.
Speaking of that though, their latest requests had been making him curious. They used to just ask for a little energon and some Cybertronian tech. But recently, they had been asking for large quantities of energon and less and less technology. On the trip he was on now, they wanted just energon, no tech at all.
Once he landed his ship in front of the normal warehouse, he opened his main hatch and unloaded the energon. Then, he waited for the humans to come out like they normally did. After three clicks though, he raised an optic ridge in surprise when a single human came out.
"What's going on?" Lockdown asked the human when it got close enough to him.
The human looked up at him and said, "A lot of the troops have come down with the flu and can't help transport this all in. We'll pay you extra but could you bring them into the warehouse for us."
Lockdown let out a sigh. Why was this his luck? But, 'Mala would help so he nodded his helm and said, "Sure, I have some time to kill."
Picking up the handle, he began to push the cart of energon into the warehouse. Of course, he was kind of glad that they needed his help. Now he might be able to see what they needed all of the energon and tech that they had requested.
Walking into the warehouse, Lockdown looked down at the human when he said, "We keep the energon just up ahead."
The lights of the warehouse were off, which annoyed him slightly, but Lockdown kept walking. The light coming off his optics would help him see. But, it made him curious. Humans needed light to see well and yet the warehouse was pitch dark. They were playing at something and he was going to find out what.
When the warehouse door suddenly slammed shut, Lockdown backed away from the energon and took out his saw. These humans were playing at something and he was right in the middle of it. "What's going on?" He growled.
He could feel the pinpoint of their laser aim guides on his chassis and he was about ready to go out on them. The only reason he hadn't yet was because of the respect he had gained for them from everybot that he had met. Prowl and Pandimala being the top two among them.
"Wait, everyone stand down now!"
Lockdown was surprised when the lasers went off of his chassis at the command of the young human femme voice.
"And can we get some lights?" The same femme voice asked.
Lockdown was less than impressed when the only light that came on was the one above him. But, with that light, he could now see the human femme that had been talking to him. Something about her seemed familiar but he couldn't tell what.
"What's going on here? And I would answer me soon because I am not feeling very patient at the moment sweetie." Lockdown asked.
"Well, I can't explain exactly what is going on but," The human started before she glanced down and said, "One minute."
As she said that, Lockdown felt the sense of one of those lasers on him again. He stared in shock when the girl he was talking to pointed a finger right below herself and a black and green liquid fell. A yelp of surprise came from below before the girl said, "I said to stand down and I meant it."
Now he knew why the girl seemed familiar. Her eyes were the same color as the acid from that weird human Meltdown. And, from of the look of that liquid, she had the same stuff inside her too.
"Looks like you have more to you than you let on. Maybe we should have a talk after this is done sweetspark." Lockdown stated with a smirk.
The girl raised an eyebrow and said with a matching smirk, "She was right. I like you."
Now he was confused. "Who told you about me?" The only human femme that he had met was that hardaft Mearing and she didn't know anything about him.
Lockdown jumped when a part of Cybertronian size servos wrapped around him from behind. The fact that it was Cybertronian size was the only reason he didn't chop the bot up into pieces.
"I did."
Lockdown froze. There was no way that he could be hearing the voice he was. He was too afraid to turn around, just in case he had misheard. "Who are you?"
He felt the bot chuckle before the femme voice said again, "You know who I am Lockdown. Now, turn around before I have to hit you."
When the arms left from around his shoulders, and the rest of the lights miraculously came on, Lockdown let out a breath. He had to see if the impossible had really happened. So, re-onlining his optics, he turned and stared in shock. The impossible had happened.
Pandimala was still online and standing right in front of him.
Penelope: Um, Authoress, is he alive? *pokes at frozen Lockdown*
Authoress: He will be able to move by some time next chapter.
Pandimala: At least I won't be the only bot here.
Authoress: Just enjoy the peace everyone. Things, are about to happen.
Lennox: What things?
AN: Badabing, badaboom. I get another chapter up! Well, see you all next chapter. Oh, and please read and review! But no flames.