11. Entering The Hurricane

Story Start: Autobot Outpost Omega 1

For the past hour, I had been pacing the length of the base. As I walked past Ratchet who was doing his own pacing in a much smaller circle, I said "I hate this Ratchet, the others are no doubt walking willingly into a trap, something tells me the kids will STILL be used as hostages even after moving them, and we're stuck here doing NOTHING!"

"And you think I don't?" Ratchet asked a little testier than normal before he made an expansive hand gesture and continued "We're expecting everything to go to the Scrap Pile in a freighter soon and the only thing you and I can do is wait for it to happen. It's not like we can just head over to the Nemesis and take it while Megatron is gone to keep it from destroying this base." His optics widened as he saw me suddenly stop and look towards the ground bridge, one hand going to the corresponding sword hilt. He shook his head as he said "Oh no, no, no, no. Tac, that is a BAAD idea."

I glanced at Ratchet and said "You think I don't know that? Even with most of Megatron's forces most likely currently on Cybertron, even with us activating every single virus we managed to sneak into its operating systems, two Bots trying to take over a ship of that size would be suicide. Maybe if we had enough red energon to have ten minutes of hyper speed we could make a go at it but we used all of it to put said viruses in said ship. We-"

My rant was cut off as our com station activated and Agent Fowler appeared on the screen, blood dripping from multiple small cuts on his face as he said "Ratchet, we have a problem!" "Damn it!" I hissed under my breath as he continued "The Cons just hit the base where the kids were being hidden, hard. The kids are gone and the base barely has any buildings with four walls still standing." The former Army Ranger looked pensive as he said "Surprisingly though there were no fatalities, just a whole lot of wounded."

I frowned and said "Let me guess, Soundwave led the assault."

Agent Fowler blinked and said "That's right, how did you know?"

"It fits his MO, anyone who is not part of his mission is not important enough to kill." I said with a frown.

"Tac is right, but regardless of who led the mission, it gives dark tidings of what's to come. Agent Fowler, I highly recommend you begin evacuating Jasper and any other surrounding human population centers." Ratchet said gravely.

"I've already given the call." Agent Fowler said before a massive shudder ran through out the surrounding area.

As dust fell from the ceiling and Ratchet's screens all pixelated, I looked up to the ceiling and said "So it begins." Quickly running outside of the base, I made my way to the top of the plateau and watched the beam from the Omega Lock begin to form Dark Mount. About three minutes after it started, the beam cut off and I turned my head as I heard Agent Fowler's Sky Striker quickly approaching. Not long after Agent Fowler landed next to me, Optimus came up with Smokescreen and Wheeljack via the missile elevator and I glanced at him as I said "Please tell me you already sent the kids away."

Optimus nodded and said "Everyone else has been sent away to their separate destinations and told to rendezvous at the Harbinger and the Space Bridge has been destroyed. As soon as the Decepticons begin their attack Smokescreen and I will hide underground using the Phase Shifter."

"While you and I put a dent in Megatron's forces before we bug the hell out. I'll be linking up with Bulkhead following Wrecker protocol. You however have a much more important mission." Wheeljack said with a frown.

I glanced over at him but before I could ask what he meant, Optimus said "Tac, most of the weapons from our vault were left on Cybertron. After the base is destroyed, I want you to immediately head to the Decepticon's space bridge and bridge to the Omega Lock's coordinates and do your best to retrieve them so that way they do not fall into Decepticon hands. Once you have finished there, immediately bridge to the Harbinger. Smokescreen and I will make our way there as soon as possible to rejoin you all so that we may plan our counter attack."

I gave a nod at that but anything further was kept from being said as the Nemesis made its appearance and the Decepticons attacked. Agent Fowler immediately took off and Wheeljack dashed for the side of the plateau to get to the Jackhammer as I quickly transformed and shot off after the Special Agent.

As I rushed towards the approaching flyers I unsheathed my swords at my wing flaps and began firing my blasters at them. Slicing one of the new seekers in half (And a small part of me still wondered where the hell they came from) I shot another Insecticon out of the sky and then I was through the cloud and making a run around the outside of the cloud of tangos picking off the enemies on the edges.

As Agent Fowler and I started making a giant Wagon Wheel I saw Wheeljack join us in his ship and we continued to dwindle the Decepticon numbers for about thirty seconds before the Decepticons got smart and we had to break the maneuver to focus on our own areas. Somehow in the chaos of the fight I wound up close to Agent Fowler and we began tag teaming the surrounding enemies, taking out any of the cons going after the other in a constant dance of aerial maneuvers and flying bullets and blaster bolts.

I don't know how long the two of us were teamed up. It could have been a minute or it could have been ten. I was drawn out of my narrowed senses when a red light threw the surrounding area in relief and a massive shockwave swept past me. I quickly turned my attention towards the base only to see it utterly destroyed and I heard Wheeljack say over the coms "That's our cue to bug out boys."

"Agreed, full retreat. Hit the deck and run hard Tac." Agent Fowler said before he took a dive and I followed him. As we dove for the ground clearing the way of any Cons who were between us and it, I saw Wheeljack's ship getting hit as he tried to escape as well. Mentally cursing at another thing that I couldn't change I could only pray that Wheeljack could hold the ship together long enough to escape because there was no Starscream to allow him to escape so that Wheeljack could 'lead' him to Bulkhead.

I then had to put my focus on pulling up as me and Agent Fowler reached the lowest altitude we could and still fly and we both punched the afterburners, heading south west for the state border with blaster bolts trying and failing to hit us as we left the cons in our dust rooster tails. As we flew on, I let out a sigh of relief as Wheeljack sent "I'm clear but I blew the engines getting away. The Jackhammer's out of action for now, continuing on wheels. Good luck boys."

As we crossed the border a couple of minutes later, I sent to Agent Fowler "Here's where we part ways for now. I'll see you when I get back from my mission."

"Roger that, good luck son." Agent Fowler said and I immediately began climbing as I increased my speed to Mach 3.3 and began a turn that would orient me towards the moon. Once I was out of the atmosphere and halfway around the moon, I picked up Soundwave's signal ahead of me and thought "Un-uh, you're not waylaying me this time." Transforming into bot mode, I pulled out my bridge remote and used it to open the portal right in front of me. Howling with laughter as I went through and came out over Cybertron, I said "Boy am I glad the Decepticons figured out how to open the portal without one end having to be actually connected to the bridge's physical location."

Still chuckling, I transformed back into jet mode and entered Cybertron's atmosphere directly over the Omega Lock's coordinates. (And why Megatron didn't just bridge there in the first place in the show was beyond me. The guy literally had a map showing them staring directly in his face. The only reason why I came out so high up was to avoid a possible ambush.) As my form glowed from the friction of entry, I took the time to wonder if Shockwave would be bringing his not so little science project to Earth since Wheeljack had managed to escape capture. Something told me the Cons would find something in the Jackhammer to track him down with though. If the Predacon could track Wheeljack from a vial of spilled energon that it never even touched, it could probably just scan the ship and track him that way.

Pulling out of my dive, I circled over the remains of the lock and looked for any enemies who might be waiting for me. Seeing none, I quickly landed and began shifting through the wreckage. Thanks to Smokescreen having given me the exact coordinates of where the relics had been just as he and Optimus were retreating into the base I had a good idea where to look and it wasn't long before I found the first relic, which ironically enough was the Resonance Blaster.

I had just found the Apex Armor and put it with the other weapons when a Space Bridge opened up and Knock Out came out followed by a team of drones. His eyes narrowed at me as the bridge closed and he said "Thanks for doing the work for us Autobot, now hand over those weapons and I won't have to operate on you."

I rolled my eyes and said "Need I remind you what happened earlier today?" I shot the Sonic Resonator at him and the mad doctor had just enough time for his eyes to widen before he was sent crashing into the drone directly behind him. As the rest of the drones reacted and formed their blasters, I quick drew my right pistol and fired even as I put a missile in the slot on the left pistol before I fired. The missile impacted one of the drones and detonated, tossing drone bits into the air and scattering the others. Using the added time to be more accurate, I took out most of the drones as they got back up. Knock Out and the drone he crashed into had managed to get up by that time but I was already moving. The Nemesis' CMO only had enough time to growl at me before my right foot was kicking his torso, boot thruster sending him flying into one of the ruined pillars of the Omega Lock. I hit him with the Sonic Resonator for good measure before I shot the drone at point blank and ran back to the weapons. I pulled out the bridge remote as I ran and just as I got to the pile the bridge opened underneath sending the weapons falling with me baseball sliding into it as well, the portal closing just as I landed on the floor of the Harbinger. Wiping my brow of metaphorical sweat, I chuckled and said "Tac: 3, Knock Out: 0."

FIN

Sorry this one had to be the first of the chapters to take the stated two days instead of one. I had to put ANOTHER coat of paint on in the bathroom and on top of that I donated blood today wiping me out for a good six hours once I got home after driving for an hour to get back home from Columbia.