Author's note: Officially kicking off the arc that closes off the first phase of of Roll Out!
Chapter 10: Into Motion Part 1: The Allspark
"We need communications with Ultra Magnus and the council now!" Optimus exclaimed the moment the group of Autobots returned with the discovered artifact.
"Optimus, the communications aren't online yet." Prowl said. "What happened?"
"See for yourself." Hound said setting the artifact down carefully, it was an orange rectangular box with big silver handles, in the middle of one side of the box was a whole where a bright luminescent blue light from a crystal within shined through. This was the Allspark, an artifact that for eons was the core of Cybertronian life, it had the power of creating Cybertronian life and was responsible for the creation of Cybertron itself.
"No way..." Wheeljack remarked. "The Allspark? Here? On this planet!?"
"There's no way this is possible, everyone knows the Allspark rests in the catacombs of Vector Sigma directly under Iacon city." Prowl said skeptically.
"That's just an old bot's tale Prowl." Ratchet chuckled. "The "Allspark" resting there is nothing but a decoy set to attract tourists and to fool any Decepticon that ever wanted to take it."
"So... what's the real Allspark doing here?" Bumblebee asked.
"I can explain that." Ratchet said with a reminiscing smile.
Cybertron: Four million years ago
"It's too risky for the Allspark to remain here on Cybertron, we may have defeated the Decepticons, but who knows when they could return?" A tall blocky Autobot who was primarily blue with a red chestplate, large white shoulder pads with large red missiles attached to them, this Autobot was the supreme Autobot commander, Ultra Magnus. Second only to one other Cybertronian, Alpha Trion.
"I can see your reasoning, Ultra Magnus." Alpha Trion nodded, stroking his flowing metallic beard. Unlike most Cybertronians, Alpha Trion had a more rounded build, with no visible representation of an alternate mode, rumor was he had no alternate mode, other rumors claimed he could transform into anything, nobody knew the truth. Another Cybertronian stood by his side, he was a primarily red Autobot with a blue waist and forearms, a deployer like chest piece stuck out from his chest and a shoulder cannon perched up, this was the head Autobot of the Autobot Ministry of Science, Perceptor.
"Alpha Trion, if I may," Perceptor spoke up. "Are we really sure we want to fire off the most important piece of Cybertronian history into deep space?" His voice rang with a dry tone and an accent similar to a British earthling.
"Hey, Geekatron, why don't you pipe down huh? Alpha Trion gave the okay." A broad blue and grey Autobot said rudely approaching Perceptor, orange shields covered his shoulders and his chin stuck out like an asteroid. This was Ultra Magnus' apprentice and trainee, Sentinel Major, who was on his way to graduating to Prime. Not many liked him, in fact he bullied his way to his position, and frankly, he didn't care. "Get me Highbrow, Brainstorm, and Chromedome immediately!" He bellowed to a young medical officer standing by Perceptor, this was Ratchet, four million years younger than the present day.
"D'um... sir yes sir!" Ratchet nodded before running out of the room and looking for the three scientist bots. When he found them, he filled them in on the plan to send the Allspark off planet.
"You want us to do what now?" Brainstorm asked skeptically.
"This is ridiculous, you mean Ultra Magnus came up with this?" Chromedome nodded.
"Well, he suggested it. Sentinel Major-Jerk enforced it." Ratchet explained.
"Now that makes sense." Highbrow chuckled. "I still don't feel very good about this."
"Neither do I..." Ratchet shook his head. "But, Alpha Trion gave it the okay, so there isn't really any arguing with him."
"He's a set in his ways bot, that's for sure." Brainstorm nodded.
"Kind of like your brother... Hardhat was it?" Ratchet asked, eluding to the group's fourth brother.
"Hardhead." Chromedome corrected. "Another bot stubborn to the spark."
"Ratchet, is this conversation important to the story?" Mirage spoke up, back in the present.
"Do you want to know what the Allspark's doing here or not!?" Ratchet sneered. "Anyway..."
"We'll design the pod, though frankly we don't quite agree with the idea." Brainstorm said when the three approached Alpha Trion and the others.
"Excellent," Alpha Trion grinned. "Highbrow, could you select a remote area that the Decpeticons would never think of looking for it if they ever knew the Allspark was off world?"
"I think I already know the perfect place." He chuckled. "In my studies I've come across a planet in a neighboring galaxy, it has yet to develop any intelligent life forms, whether robotic or organic. Naturally it is an organic planet, a place the Decepticons would never look. It's so underdeveloped it doesn't even have a name."
"Excellent." Ultra Magnus nodded approvingly. "How long until the pod is built?"
"We can have it to you next solar cycle." Chromedome said. "For a price." That remarked earned a swift smack from the older brother, Brainstorm.
"No charge." Brainstorm corrected. "Come, Highbrow, Chromedome." He led the group out of the chamber. The five Autobots stood there in silence, until Sentinel Major looked at Ratchet.
"What are you still doing here, field mech? Beat it!" He hollered. Ratchet grumbled a few choice words about the soldier before leaving. The next solar cycle, Ultra Magnus, Sentinel Major, Alpha Trion, Perceptor, Brainstorm, Chromedome, Highbrow, and Ratchet met where the pod was to be launched from, Ratchet was tasked with the job of making sure the Allspark was transported safely, his subspace storage in his alt mode meant for hauling wounded soldiers made for convenient carry space.
"Medical officer Ratchet, I trust you have it?" Perceptor asked upon his arrival.
"It's in my subspace." Ratchet confirmed.
"Excellent. Chromedome, Highbrow, remove the artifact." Ultra Magnus ordered them. Ratchet opened the canopy on his alternate mode so that it was accessible to the two Autobots. Chromedome and Highbrow carefully lifted up the Allspark and set it into the pod, Brainstorm sealed the hatch and pressed a button on a handheld controller, preparing launch.
"Now, we're sure we want to do this?" Brainstorm asked. "I haven't launched it yet."
"Launch it Brainstorm." Ultra Magnus nodded. Doing as he was told, Brainstorm initiated the final stage of launch and the capsule was sent off into space. The bots watching all stood and exchanged looks with one another.
"Should we tell everyone what we just did?" Chromedome asked. "Sending the Allspark into space is a big deal after all."
"I don't believe that will be necessary, if Megatron ever found out we sent the Allspark off planet, we would have to police the entire galaxy to make sure they didn't intercept it." Ultra Magnus explained. And so, a decoy was constructed and placed where the Allspark was. Those eight Autobots were the only ones who ever knew the truth about what happened to it until now.
"So hold on." Sunstreaker said now that Ratchet was done his story. "I came online after the War for Cybertron, if the Allspark was jettisoned into space, how was that possible?"
"Luckily with the Allspark a little can go a long way." Wheeljack explained. "Only a chunk the size of a frag grenade can bring entire generations online. Chances are they kept pieces of it for repopulation of the planet."
"That's exactly right Wheeljack." Ratchet nodded. "Open the casing and see for yourself." When the casing around it was opened, the large blue crystal was exposed, making the chunk taken out of it quite visible. "Ultra Magnus had Brainstorm remove a piece of it to repopulate Cybertron, hoping that by the time we needed the whole Allspark again that the Decepticon threat had been completely eliminated.
"Which... it isn't." Skyfire remarked.
"Yeah! We're here with the Allspark. The Allspark! With who else but Megatron and his top soldiers on this planet with us!" Sideswipe said anxiously.
"We're all going to die." Mirage moped.
"Not necessarily. The Decepticons don't know where we are operating, they don't know we have the Allspark, if we can just keep it that way there's nothing to worry about." Wheeljack said.
"We need to get Ultra Magnus here so he can take it back to Cybertron!" Bumblebee exclaimed.
"It's in just as much danger there as it is here." Ironhide sighed. "Out in space they have Straxus and other Cons to worry about."
"Not to mention all the other non-Cybertronians who want their servos on it." Wheeljack nodded.
"But regardless, the Decepticons don't know the Allspark is in our possession. So long as it stays that way, we have nothing to worry about." Optimus said, trying to list the spirits of his crew.
"Nothing more than everything we already have to worry about..." Prowl corrected. "Wheeljack, we need you to attempt to get communications with Cybertron online now, whether the Allspark is being moved from here or not we need to let Ultra Magnus know it's here."
"I'll see what I can do." Wheeljack nodded before getting to work.
"What do we do about the Allspark now?" Jazz asked Optimus.
"Life goes on as normal. As long as the Decpeticons don't know where we operate and that we have it everything will be fine." Optimus explained, unfortunately, those words were about to be eaten. Not far from the base flew Starscream, Skywarp, and Thundercracker. Ready to make it known the Autobot base was no longer a secret.
"Be ready to call the others if need be." Thundercracker said.
"That won't be necessary." Starscream scoffed. "Decepticons, transform!" He commanded. The three fighter jets transformed and hovered over the base, decreasing in altitude gradually. Mirage and Sunstreaker were on the roof of the base at the time, Mirage looked up and saw the three Seekers.
"Oh slag..." He remarked. Sunstreaker looked up and gasped.
"They know where we are?" Sunstreaker coughed.
"I guess they do now..." Mirage nodded. /Optimus, Prowl, Jazz, you might wanna take a look at this./ He commed. In mere moments, Optimus and the others ran up to see Starscream and the other Seekers hovering above.
"Ah, look who it is, Optimus Prime." Starscream grinned.
"Starscream..." Optimus grimaced. "Your old clan let you back in I see."
"Reluctantly." Thundercracker remarked.
"Since you were stupid enough to let me in, I knew the location of your base, how you operate, your defense systems, information Megatron just couldn't pass up." Starscream grinned. "Decepticons, attack!" He ordered the two other Seekers. The three landed and began firing at the Autobots on the roof, hearing the commotion, Ironhide and the other Autobots ran up to see what was going on. The twelve Autobots now against the three Decepticons.
"Starscream, I thought you killed one and took his signal emitter." Skywarp remarked. "Was there just another Autobot we don't know about?"
"Well, no." Starscream admitted.
"Who cares about that now?" Thundercracker, often the voice of reason between the three brothers said. "We're outnumbered!"
/Skywarp to Soundwave! Requesting backup!/ Skywarp commed to base.
/Backup on it's way./ Soundwave replied. Before long, more warriors arrived at the Autobot headquarters, most frighteningly to the Autobots was Megatron himself, who they had not actually seen since the first battle they had on Earth.
"Looks like your little game of hide-and-seek is over, Prime." Megatron grinned. Optimus clenched his fist around his blaster and glared at the Decepticon leader.
"That may be the case. We can always relocate." He replied.
"When I'm through with you, there won't be enough left to relocate to the trash compactor!" Megatron bellowed. "Attack!" He ordered his troops. It was now all of the Decepticons versus all the Autobots. A battle far too big to be on the roof of the warehouse, quickly the battle was spread out to a wider area. Skyfire and Hound fled into the base to guard the Allspark just in case a Decepticon got inside by Prime's orders. Meanwhile, the large scale battle attracted attention from the police force and Fanzone soon pulled up to the scene with a squadron behind him.
"Optimus, what in the hell is going on here?" Fanzone asked.
"Stay back Captain!" Optimus hollered before Megatron sent him falling back with a hard punch. "We cannot endanger human lives!"
"Except for that chick who got paralyzed and is now missing from the hospital?" Fanzone asked.
"We put out a public apology!" Bumblebee spoke up as he fought with the robotic panther Ravage. Fanzone just sighed.
"Optimus, need I remind you that you're having your little war on our planet? I get to call troops in when I feel necessary." Fanzone reminded him.
"You want to damn your own kind? Go ahead." Prowl muttered taking Scrapper and dodging fire in the sky from Thundercraker.
"Prowl!" Ironhide hollered. "You can't just let them in on a suicide mission like that!"
"I think you underestimate just what we can do." A rugged male human with shaggy brown hair and a slight goatee. This was Lt. Colonel William Lennox, a soldier in the United States Military. "Eagle dive on target LM217 now!" He hollered into a radio. Almost immediately, a fighter jet swarmed down and laid a barrage of missiles into Barricade, sending him down for the count. Prowl and Ironhide stood and watched, slightly taken aback.
"Well, I suppose you can help out." Prowl said.
"I certainly wouldn't mind." Ironhide nodded.
"Good, watch their backs!" Optimus commanded the two officers as he kept fighting Megatron. Using his blaster, he fired off an entire clip into Megatron, hoping to at least dent the shell of the menacing Decepticon who stood the height of a small Autobot taller than Optimus. It worked, but not good enough, the firepower was only enough to fuel the rage inside of Megatron more, making him even more dangerous. veins of a bright purple glowed throughout Megatron's body, this was pure, raw energon. He aimed his fusion cannon at the Autobot leader and began to fire.
"DIE OPTIMUS PRIME!" Megatron bellowed out with maniacal laughter as he fired off his cannon. He delivered one blasted that hit Optimus square in the chest, blasting him into the outer wall of the warehouse base, sending him crashing through the wall. Optimus groaned in pain, energon leaking from him and rubble and dust covering him. Megatron came walking through the large hole made in the wall towards Optimus.
"Let today be lesson for all of you Autobots!" Megatron hollered out, with a voice that would echo across an entire city. "This is what happens when you stand between The Decepticons... and conquest." He grinned before aiming his fusion cannon at Prime, charging it. "Goodbye Optimus Prime."
"NO!" A voice yelled out from the sidelines. An Autobot came charging forward, ready to defend his leader. None other than Optimus' second in command, Jazz.
"Jazz! Stay back!" Optimus commanded. But Jazz wouldn't listen, he charged and jumped in between Prime and Megatron as he fired, sending the blast crashing into himself instead of his leader. When the blast faded and the smoke cleared, Jazz fell to the floor, leaking fluids badly, the glow in his optics fading.
"Wasted a perfectly good shot on that worthless Autobot." Megatron sighed.
"That 'worthless Autobot' had more valor and dignity than you ever will!" Optimus growled standing to his feet and blasting at Megatron. Immediately, Ratchet was on the scene, trying to patch up the Autobot before taking him in for extensive repairs. Charging at Megatron, Optimus tossed his blaster aside and began throwing hard punches at the Decepticon leader, a force of rage behind them seldom seen in the Autobot. he punched, he kicked, he beat Megatron in ways both of them were unaware were possible. This sheer rage was unlike anything Megatron had witnessed in Optimus, and in a way gave him a sense of respect for him that he would never tell him.
The fight between Optimus and Megatron continued through the base, knocking down walls, breaking old factory machinery and using it as a weapon to beat the tar out of the other. Until one fateful moment when Megatron got the upper hand... he had blasted the ceiling and sent a big chunk down on Optimus, temporarily immobilizing him. Megatron stood there and chuckled before he heard the timid stammering of an Autobot behind him. He turned to see Hound, ready with his blaster. Skyfire standing behind him.
"Stay back Megatron!" Hound said. "I'll shoot!"
"You don't concern me, Autobot." Megatron scoffed at the Autobot. "I have more important matters too..." Suddenly, a signal picked up on his scanners. A signal he hadn't gotten in a long time. "You have it..." He said.
"He said stay back." Skyfire said, arming his blaster.
"Give it to me." Megatron said menacingly. "The Allspark." The two Autobots stood their ground, not saying a word, Megatron looked at them with an arched eyebrow. "If you don't want to give it to me that's fine. It just means I'll have to kill you before I take it."
"Don't you dare, Megatron." Optimus said behind him, now standing with his blaster aimed at Megatron. "It's me you want, not them."
"Optimus... you used to be what I was after today, but now... now I am after something far more valuable." Megatron grinned before he suddenly blasted down both Hound and Skyfire, sending the two falling to the floor. He then blasted Optimus down with them, leaving him free to take what he wanted. Megatron made his way through the hall they were blocking off. "Such heroic nonsense..." He muttered.
Before long, he found what he was looking for. Megatron picked the relic up and grinned at it. "It's been so long..." He said. He then blasted yet another hole in the ceiling and lept from it. Clutching the Allspark. Standing on the roof of the building he called out to his troops.
"Decepticons! Fall back!" He commanded.
"But we have the upper hand Megatron!" Starscream whined. "This is yet another reason I would make a superior leader than you!"
"Starscream, we do have the upper hand." He said as he held up the Allspark. "We have no need to surround ourselves with these pathetic excuses for Cybertronians any longer. To base!" He bellowed as he took to the sky, the other Decpeticons soon followed suit, leaving the Autobots, damaged from battle and the humans behind with the mess made of the vicinity.
"How could this have happened Optimus?" Prowl asked, looking around for his leader. "Optimus?" He asked when he saw his leader was nowhere to be found.
"Everybot in here now!" Ratchet hollered from inside the base. Inside Ratchet had laid out Jazz, Skyfire, Hound, and Optimus. Working as hard as he could on all of them. "Wheeljack, I need your help."
"On it." Wheeljack nodded getting to work.
"I did the best I could Optimus... I... I did the best I could..." Hound said weakly to his leader.
"I know you did Hound." Optimus said slowly, in a more low, lethargic tone.
"Are they going to be okay?" Sideswipe asked.
"No telling, kid." Ironhide sighed. "Optimus has pulled through worse, Skyfire wasn't hit too bad... then, Jazz and Hound... they had never had to take a hit like that before. It's real shock to the system, I... I don't know about them." At that moment, four teenage children came running into the base frantically. Spike, Chip, Carly, and Sari. Who had fortunately for their safety away when the attack happened.
"Jazz!" The teenage girl, Carly exclaimed running up to the Autobot soldier, clinging to life. She grabbed onto his large hand looking at him. The two had become good friends during the past little while, so it would be obvious that walking in to see this would be a shock to say the least.
"Hey..." Jazz coughed. "Hey Carly." He said, still with a slight grin Jazz always had. "It's alright... I'm gonna be fine." He said reassuringly, looking over at Spike and Hound having nearly the same conversation.
"I'm going to need to put Jazz and Hound into a temporary stasis so I can work on them." Ratchet told the two teens. "Your friends will be okay." He said. Ratchet then knelt down and put an injection into Jazz and Hound, placing them into their stasis. "Skyfire's wounds are the least extensive, if we get him back in order he can help us with the other three." He thought out loud. "Prowl, Ironhide, care to give me a servo in moving these four into my workspace?"
"You've got it Doc bot." Ironhide nodded as he picked Jazz up gently.
"Oh, you take the smaller one. Thanks." Prowl muttered as he struggled to pick up Hound, who was larger than him. With that, Ratchet and Wheeljack got to work. They even got the help of Spike's father, Sparkplug, who may not have known much about Cybertronian technology, but he did know how to do mechanical repair work. And they needed all the help they could get.
Days passed, the Decepticons surprisingly didn't make another move. Meanwhile, the Autobots waited anxiously for the news of their four friends. Skyfire was the first to be operational again, and quickly began aiding in the restoration of the others. Between the state of their friends and the loss of the Allspark, it was not a cheery time for the Autobots. The only good thing was that Wheeljack had finally been able to get communications with Cybertron online.
"Prowl to Cybertron. Come in. Autobot Prowl to Cybertron." Prowl spoke into the microphone attachment of Teletraan One.
"Hello? Hello! This is Scrounge with off planet communications, how can I help you?" A golden colored Autobot appeared on the screen. Two large circular glowing eyes on a cone shaped head with no visible form of a mouth.
"We need to speak to Ultra Magnus. This is urgent." Prowl said.
"Ultra Magnus huh?" Scrounge asked. "Yeah no can do. UM is busy giving a speech at the University of Iacon. Kinda wish I could be there, but you know, gotta pay the bills right?" Scrounge chuckled.
"Look, Scrounge, is there anybot we could talk to? This is very important." Prowl sighed.
"I could patch you in to his associate if you want." Scrounge suggested.
"Fine. Yes. Whatever." Prowl said impatiently. The channel then switched, now behind the screen was a bot familiar to many. Sentinel Major.
"Who are you?" The Autobot general asked.
"My name is Prowl. I'm the chief strategist and security officer for Optimus Prime." Prowl explained.
"Optimus? That self righteous bore is still online? We thought you all offlined a centicyle ago." Sentinel scoffed.
"You glitching twerp!" Ironhide scoffed at the Autobot. "You listen to me, Sentinel Major, Optimus Prime has more ball bearings than you ever will!"
"It's Sentinel Prime, actually." Sentinel boasted. "And Ultra Magnus must not have thought so, after all he sent your team on some silly little quest, while he promoted me to practically running Cybertron!"
"Running it into the ground maybe." Sunstreaker muttered.
"Sentinel, this is important." Prowl said. "The Allspark is here. On this planet."
"What?" Sentinel asked. "And why does that matter?"
"Because not only is the Allspark here, but so is Megatron." Prowl explained.
"And Starscream." Bumblebee spoke up.
"Shockwave." Mirage added.
"Soundwave too." Ironhide said. Sentinel just looked at them, shocked.
"Oh... I see." Sentinel remarked. "Where is Optimus?"
"Optimus is unavailable right now." Prowl said.
"And the Allspark? Where is that?" Sentinel asked.
"That's just it..." Bumblebee began. "See, Megatron kind of took it."
"WHAT!?" Sentinel bellowed. "Okay..." he sighed. "Clearly we shouldn't have sent your team on this mission. You weren't qualified I can tell. I'll have an extraction team sent down to handle taking back the Allspark, then, your team will be escorted back to Cybertron." He said.
"Sir, with all due respect we are capable." Prowl spoke up.
"What I say is final." Sentinel said hastily. "End of communications." He turned the monitor off. The Autobots looked around the room exchanging looks and sighed.
"You're... leaving?" Sari asked Bumblebee.
"No way!" Bumblebee shook his head. "At least... I hope not." This had been a bad turn of events. The Decepticons had the Allspark. Hound, Jazz, and Optimus were still down for the count, and now they were going to be forced to leave the planet they had really grown to like. Nobody was happy.
Meanwhile, at the Decepticon headquarters, two schemes were hatching. Two schemes that would clash horribly for one and greatly for the other. The question would be which one would prevail.
"You like that?" Starscream asked the Decepticon Fuzor, who was sipping on a cube of high grade energon. Far better than anything the Fuzor ever tasted.
"Mighty scrumptious, thanks Screamer!" Quickstrike nodded.
"There's plenty more where that came from, but... I'll need something from you." Starscream said.
"And what's that?" Quickstrike asked.
"It's time for a change. Megatron is no longer suitable to lead us. I am. All I ask is join me in taking command, and you will have more energon than you can ever dream of." Starscream grinned.
"You've got a deal." Quickstrike chuckled.
"Excellent." Starcream smirked. So far, his plan was a success. As for Megatron, his plan was coming along swimmngly.
"Have you been enjoying your new toy, Shockwave?" Megatron asked.
"Indeed, Lord Megatron." Shockwave nodded. "Now, what is your plan?"
"This disgusting planet is covered with technology, from vehicles to appliances, I have developed schmatics for a missile. Something that we load the Allspark into and fire at the planet. The impact will grant life to every machine, which we will build our army from. Not only that, but the Cyvertronian energy will be enough to completely Cyberform Earth! Making it our new planet to control." Megatron grinned at his plan.
"A terrific plan my liege." Shockwave nodded approvingly as Megatron laughed.
To be continued...