My Life as a Teenage Autobot
Chapter 10: The Great Escape
Thank Primus for Auxiliary Power. Jenny thought as she stood up. She knew she had to get off the Nemesis and back to the base fast. Jenny also knew that without her Energon power source, she couldn't even fight a lowly Vehicon much less attempt to recover what was taken from her. She jumped off of the operating table and ran toward the lab door.
She flew up to the door button and tapped it with her palm. The door slid open and Jenny came face to face with two Vehicon Grunts. "What the scrap?!" One of them gasped. "She's still alive?!" The other exclaimed. Jenny closed her eyelids halfway and thought, Slag. (She'd recently picked up Cybertronian swearing.) She rocketed past the two soldiers as they drew their blasters and opened fire. (I know that escalated quickly).
"Lord Megatron! The prisoner escaped the lab and she's headed… actually I don't know where she's headed." One of the Vehicons reported with his comm link. In the bridge of the Nemesis, Megatron glared at Knockout and Breakdown, who were just presenting Jenny's power source to him. "How did she escape?" Megatron growled.
"Hehe. (Gulp) Well, we thought she was offline so we deactivated her restraints before we left." Knockout nervously explained. "But we did leave two Vehicons outside." Breakdown added quickly. "Dreadwing, contact Shockwave and tell him to prepare for the delivery of the power source." Megatron ordered. Dreadwing complied silently. "As for you two…" Megatron began. "You will prove your continued usefulness by delivering that power source to Shockwave before the girl can retrieve it."
The two saluted. "Understood, my Lord." Knockout said…
Nevada Mountains…
Optimus blocked Ratchet's third call. He didn't very much feel like talking to anyone after the events that had just transpired. He promised Jenny that he would protect her no matter what. Not only did he feel responsible for her capture, but he also felt responsible for her death. "Jenny…" Optimus began. "Wherever you are… please forgive me." He pleaded. Optimus had lost other friends during the War for Cybertron and Cliffjumper's death came into his mind just then. He'd even made personal promises to some of those Autobots; some of which he was unable to keep. So why does this feel different? The Prime asked himself. Why does this feel worse? Even if she was somehow still functional, he doubted she would forgive him for his failure without some convincing.
Somehow still functional… The Prime repeated in his head, turning the thought over and over. With a sudden realization, Optimus activated his comm link. "Ratchet." All Optimus received was the tone indicating that the comm line was busy. He must be informing Agent Fowler of Jenny's misfortune. Optimus guessed. However, as he looked into the Moon, he had new hope in his spark that things were not as they seemed. He transformed into truck mode and drove back toward the base.
Back on the Nemesis
Jennystopped flying and decided on sprinting through the corridors of the Nemesis in order to conserve her power. After all, her Auxiliary Power System was only designed to sustain her most vital functions in times of crisis. Depending on the situation, the system would automatically calculate priorities and allocate power accordingly. Unfortunately, the system decided Radar was not a priority. A group of six Vehicons were gaining on her and she desperately looked for an escape route in the form of a loose panel, an access hatch, anything she could duck or crawl into to evade capture.
Alas, no such lucky break presented itself, so Jenny tried something else. She activated her comm link and dialed the number for Agent Fowler's encrypted line. "Special Agent William Fowler here." He answered in a bored tone. "Agent Fowler, I don't have much time. Soundwave is probably decrypting the signal right now. Deliver this message to the Ratchet: Jenny is alive." Jenny instructed. William Fowler was baffled. Before he could say anything Jenny hung up. He quickly wrote down the code phrase and was about to pick up the phone to start dialing the number for Team Prime's base when his phone rang first.
He picked up. "Special Agent William Fowler." He said in a more awake tone. "Its Ratchet." The medic began. "I have news regarding Jenny…" Ratchet said solemnly. "That she's alive and on the Nemesis?" Fowler guessed. "Agent Fowler, I understand that you may harbor hard feelings against her, but joking about her being alive is downright despicable." Ratchet spat. "Who gave you this information?" Agent Fowler stood up and walked toward his office window. "Jenny herself." The Agent answered matter of factly. "And she did almost cause Uncle Sam to shut down Team Prime." Ratchet couldn't believe what he was hearing. "How do you know for certain that she was offed?" Fowler wondered.
"Her life signal went offline." Ratchet growled. "Is there any other scenario other than being offline in which your scanners can't detect her?" Fowler offered. Ratchet's optics widened as he remembered his repairs on Jenny. Even if they took her default power source along with the Energon Cell, she still has an auxiliary power unit. And neither we nor the Decepticons can track it. "By the Allspark!" he gasped in realization. He then noticed that Optimus was trying to get through on the comm. "Thank you Agent Fowler, you've been a tremendous help." Ratchet said. "Anytime." Fowler replied.
Ratchet quickly punched in Optimus's frequency and called him back. "Optimus, I have wonderful news." He began as Jetfire, Bulkhead, Bumblebee, and Arcee arrived back from patrol and shifted into robot mode. "Jenny is alive and well." Ratchet announced. "Huh?" Arcee said. "Is it April Fool's Day already?" Bulkhead asked in disbelief. "It is not a joke, Bulkhead." Optimus replied. "Wait, you know too?" Ratchet asked.
"Let us just say that I realized Jenny would not perish easily." Optimus said. "What is her location?" Ratchet looked down. "That's the bad news… she's on the Nemesis." Ratchet reported. "It would stand to reason that Starscream used Jenny as leverage to regain his status in Megatron's fold." Optimus surmised. "Beeeep, beep bwoop blip whhrr? Bumblebee asked. "I have a solution Bee." Jetfire assured. "You do?" Ratchet questioned. Jetfire opened a secret compartment in his thigh and removed a data pad with a considerable amount of odds and ends attached to it.
"Jetfire, please tell me this isn't a joke." Ratchet groaned. "It's not. During the war I tried to figure out how to detect Cloakers more easily, so I modified this Data Pad for just that purpose." Jetfire started. "With a few tweaks, I can get to locate the Nemesis to within 5 klicks( kilometers) even if it's cloaked." The Autobots then formed their plan to rescue Jenny.
Back on the Nemesis…
What the frag is taking them so long? Jenny thought in frustration. She'd been running around the Nemesis for an hour and her power level was already down to 64% and falling. Did my nonexistent death look that convincing? She lost the six Vehicons from earlier but was now coming on a groupof 10 Vehicons running in two parallel lines with five in each line. There were no side hallways in this section of the ship and she was going too fast to turn around or double back quickly.
Well, YOLO, right? Jenny thought sarcastically. She jumped twirled and flipped around the Vehicons like a professional acrobat. She even used some of their limbs as flipping bars. "Pardon me, 'xcuse me, coming through, make some room guys." Jenny joked as she danced around the Decepticon grunts. When Jenny finished getting around them she turned her head around and stuck her tongue out at them. The Vehicons shifted into car mode and gave pursuit.
Jenny rounded a corner to find herself a mere thirty feet from none other than Megatron, the latter of which heard the commotion and was on his way to investigate. The Vehicons rounded the corner as well and forced Jenny to maintain her course. Megatron fired his fusion cannon as he ran at Jenny, but all of his shots missed.
Well, one of them hit a Vehicon. Anyway, one casualty aside the Decepticons had her cornered. Or so they thought. At the last second Jenny rocket jumped to skirt around Megatron's right side. She barely cleared his torso before she resumed her full sprint down the corridor. Megatron whirled around just before he heard screeching tires and brake pads.
Before Megatron could do anything, eight of the nine remaining Vehicons crashed into their leader in the most comical fender bender imaginable. The lone Vehicon that didn't crash shifted into robot mode. "Uh Lord Megatron, are you alright?" he asked. Megatron lifted his right arm out of the wreckage and blasted the fool as a response.
He threw more of the wrecked Vehicons off of him. Soundwave walked in front of the scene just then and assisted Megatron onto his feet. "I'm fine, Soundwave." Megatron growled. He turned toward the communications officer. "Which way did she go?" he asked.
Soundwave showed his leader Jenny's location by playing back security camera footage with her visor. Megatron smiled from one edge of his "helmet" to the other. "Perfect." He declared.
Jenny finally found an open door and went inside the room it should have blocked off. She jumped up and closed it before any 'Con could notice. She held her hands on her knees and vented heavily as if she were an Olympic runner in desperate need of a breather. If I don't get a medal for this, I'm going to be soooo angry. She thought. Another quick check told the robot girl that she was down to 39% power and the level continued to fall.
Since Jenny had some time to think, she decided to use it. Why did they want my power source in the first place? She wondered. Then it hit her. The proton cannon, her HEART, Shockwave, the mine in Alberta, even Starscream's message were all connected somehow. Looks like Starscream wasn't lying when he said Megatron was up to something. She thought smugly. The only problem was, she didn't know how everything was connected.
Jenny just noticed that several strands of her hair had come out of her hair ties and wound up every which way on her head. You know, since I got here I haven't seen a single… she began to think when she heard low growls all around her. Jenny slowly turned around to face the entire Insecticon Horde waking up from sleep-stasis. An onlooker would have sworn they saw Jenny's pigtails droop suddenly out of fear. "Aw slag. Slag. Slag. Slag! SLAG!" Jenny swore before she slammed the door button.
She ran out the room as fast as her servos would allow her. "So much for a breather." Jenny quipped to herself. She continued running until she saw a Ground Bridge Portal open in front of her. Jenny dug her heels into the ground and stopped a few feet before the vortex. It blocked the entire hallway. Megatron and Soundwave ran up behind Jenny with a team of Vehicons. They pointed their weapons at her and charged them up. "Good work Soundwave." Megatron praised. Soundwave displayed the Ground Bridge Controls on his visor. "What? But if you didn't…"
Before Megatron could finish his question, light blue laser blasts flew out of the Bridge and slammed into the Decepticons. First Optimus, then Bulkhead, Jetfire, Bumblebee, and Arcee charged through the bridge guns blazing. "Arcee!" Optimus shouted. "On it!" The Autobot ninja replied as she shifted into vehicle mode and sped toward Jenny. The Decepticon's snapped out of their daze and returned fire.
Arcee shifted to robot mode, scooped Jenny up, shifted back to motorcycle mode, and sped back toward the Bridge. "STOP HER!" Megatron bellowed. Arcee and Jenny went through the ground bridge. The other Autobots kept up the cover fire and slowly retreated into the Ground Bridge Vortex. "After them!" Megatron ordered as he charged at the vortex. Just as he got within 3 yards of the vortex, he noticed a grenade on the floor. It detonated as soon as the vortex closed. (Valkyrie was right. Any problem can be solved with the proper application of high explosive. Please don't start trying to solve your problems with explosives.
After the smoke cleared, the Decepticons that were still functional stood up and dusted themselves off, including Megatron and Soundwave. Knockout and Breakdown returned just then. "Shockwave has the device My Lord." Knockout began. "Did we miss anything?" Megatron looked up and laughed softly at first. "The girl escaped, but at least Shockwave has the device now." He said.
A/N: Okay, new game. Take one sip of whatever your drinking every time someone has a sudden realization.