Hey, guys! Sorry for the wait on this chapter! Thanksgiving break was really hectic. But hey, it's here now and I can guarantee it's a better bargain than anything you bought on Black Friday.
Warning, there are a lot of page breakers in this chapter, but they were necessary. This chapter kind of goes all over the place.
Once again, if you want to make any fan art, feel free. Just be sure to share it with me.
"What's the situation, Optimus," Blueshift asked as she came racing onto the bridge.
"Glad you could join us, Blueshift," Optimus said as he turned to the holo-table and activated it. An overview of a large, rocky hill appeared, a tunnel clearly visible on the side of it.
"Hey, I recognize that place," Wheeljack said, stepping forward. "That's that energon mine the 'Cons had depleted in the first few months we were here."
"That is correct, Wheeljack," Optimus replied. "But it seems the Decepticons are still getting some use out of it. Recent scans have shown heavy Decepticon activity in and around the mine. Which is why I want you to assemble a team, find out what the Decepticons are up to, and put a stop to it."
"Optimus, may I make a request," Valkyrie asked.
"Of course," Optimus said.
"I wish to accompany Wheeljack's team. I have knowledge of Decepticon tactics and can help identify weaknesses that can be exploited," Valkyrie said.
"Very well. Blueshift, can you go retrieve Valkyrie's weapons? He will have need of them," Optimus commanded.
"Yes, sir," Blueshift said as she left to do as she was told.
"Wheeljack," Optimus said, turning his attention back to the Wrecker. "Do you have anyone particular in mind that you wish to take on this mission?"
"As a matter of fact, I do," Wheeljack said. "We're going to need someone to scout ahead, so Bumblebee's coming. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, you're coming in the event that we need a distraction. And…oh, slag."
"What's wrong," Optimus said, concerned.
"Ironhide."
"No, absolutely not," Prowl almost shouted. "I don't care what Optimus said, I'm not letting him out."
"As much as I want to agree with you, Prowl," Valkyrie said. "Wheeljack's right. If things go to scrap, we're going to need someone who can help get us out. And Ironhide's it."
"You're kidding, right," Prowl said in disbelief. "After all the scrap he's done to you, you still want to work with him?"
"We don't have much choice, Prowl," Wheeljack said.
"What about Inferno? Or Cliffjumper," Prowl suggested, pleading.
"Inferno's not built to take the kind of punishment Ironhide can. Neither is Cliffjumper," Wheeljack replied.
"Ugh, fine," Prowl said, opening the cell door, before pointing at Valkyrie and adding, "But don't come crying to me if he tries to kill you."
"Noted," Valkyrie said as he and Wheeljack walked into the cell.
"Come to rub in the fact that Optimus is going easy on you, 'Con," Ironhide said bitterly from where he sat on the cell's berth.
"Knock it off, Ironhide," Wheeljack said. "Valkyrie's more than shown his trustworthiness. He helped save Silverbolt's life earlier this week, for Pit's sake. What more do want from him?"
"Silverbolt? When the scrap did he get here," Ironhide asked, annoyed and slightly confused.
"Same day you decided to lose it and get yourself locked up in here," Valkyrie said. "But we can play catch-up later. Right now, we need your help with a mission. Optimus has sanctioned your temporary release, but only for this mission. Are you in or out?"
Interested by the prospect of getting out, Ironhide said, "What's the mission?"
"Mixed bag. Recon, data retrieval, demolition. So, what do you say," Wheeljack said.
Glancing up at Wheeljack, Ironhide said, "Count me in."
"Valkyrie, wait," Blueshift called as she ran onto the bridge.
Valkyrie had been just about to walk through the groundbridge, but stopped and turned as Blueshift ran up to him.
Motioning for him to come closer, she whispered in his audio receptor, "Good luck out there. And make sure Bee comes back in one piece, ok? He's like a brother to me."
Valkyrie whispered back, "Thank you. I will."
Flashing her one last smile, Valkyrie turned and walked through the groundbridge.
"What the slag is taking him so long," Ironhide asked with irritation.
"Calm down, Ironhide. It hasn't even been a minute yet," Bumblebee said, trying to ease the red mech's agitation.
Thankfully, he didn't have to worry about it for long as Valkyrie came through the groundbridge right as he finished speaking.
"What took you so long," Ironhide said.
"Blueshift wanted to wish us luck," Valkyrie said plainly.
"Cute. Now let's get moving. We don't have all day," Wheeljack said, uncrossing his arms.
"Right. Bee, there's a ridge that overlooks the area outside the mine. The 'Cons don't patrol that area, and they'll have a hard time seeing you from below," Valkyrie said.
"Got it," Bumblebee said as he started making his way over to the aforementioned ridge.
"Who died and put you in charge," Ironhide asked gruffly.
"Relax, Hide. I'm still in charge," Wheeljack calmly explained, "Valkyrie's just acting as an advisor on Decepticon tactics. He'd already ran that maneuver by me before we left."
Ironhide shot Wheeljack a questioning glare and asked, "Why wasn't I let in on…"
"Anywho," Valkyrie said, trying to change the subject. "Bee just reported in. 'Cons are in limited numbers on the far side of the mountain. It's your call, Wheeljack, but I recommend we make our entrance over there."
"Won't they see our energon signatures," Sideswipe said, finally speaking up.
"No. 'Cons have jammers in the area that are masking energon signatures," Valkyrie explained.
"How do you know that," Ironhide asked suspiciously.
Holding his head in frustration, Valkyrie said, "Have you even tried to use your energon scanners?"
Embarrassed that he hadn't, but not wanting to admit it, Ironhide said, "Of course I did! I was just testing you."
Not believing a word of what Ironhide said, Valkyrie sarcastically replied, "Sure you were."
"Look, can we just make a decision already? I'm getting mud all over my paintjob," Sunstreaker complained.
Looking over to Valkyrie, Wheeljack nodded and turned to face the mountain as he said, "Alright. Let's get hiking."
"I take it back," Sunstreaker said rather loudly. "Getting muddy was just fine. Rocks aren't kind to the paintjob."
"Sunstreaker, I swear to Primus, if you don't stop bitching about your paint, I will personally weld your mouth shut. Clear," Ironhide shot back.
Optics momentarily going wide with horror, Sunstreaker cleared his throat and said, "Crystal."
Shaking his head in disapproval, Valkyrie moved over next to Bumblebee and said, "Hey, how you holding up?"
"Good," Bumblebee said as he glanced over at Valkyrie. "Just wish those two would shut up."
Chuckling slightly, Valkyrie suddenly turned very serious and whispered into Bumblebee's audio receptor, "Does anything about this mission feel off to you?"
Nodding his head in agreement, Bumblebee replied, "Yeah. 'Cons are in almost the exact same formation they were in the last time we were here."
"Agreed. I looked over the mission reports before we left. Let's keep this to ourselves for now, ok? I don't want the others panicking."
"Alright," Bumblebee said, taking a quick glance over at Sunstreaker. "So, why did we bring him?"
Rolling his optics, Valkyrie replied, "I have no idea."
"Lord Megatron, Ravage reports having seen five Autobots and Valkyrie making their way around the mountain as you predicted. Should I warn our troops stationed there," the Vehicon asked.
"Negative. Have Ravage continue monitoring their progress and inform us when they reach the target," Megatron said, leaning back in his throne, rather uncaring of the whole ordeal.
"As you wish, my lord."
"Any suggestions, advisor?"
"Shut it, Ironhide. I'm thinking," Valkyrie said as he glanced down at the valley below them.
The group had made their way around the mountain undetected, but now they had a different problem. The 'Cons had changed up their positioning slightly, and now there were more Vehicons where they'd intended to start their infiltration.
"Wrecker style," Wheeljack suggested.
"No. Too noisy. We'll have more 'Cons on us than we can handle. What we need," Valkyrie said, turning to face the twins, "Is a distraction."
The twins smirked and glanced at each other before Sideswipe said, "One distraction, coming right up."
As the twins ran off into the woods, Valkyrie leaned in next to Bumblebee, cupped a servo around his audio receptor, and whispered, "That's why we brought him."
Chuckling, Bumblebee whispered back, "At least we don't have to deal with his whining for a while."
Fighting to suppress a laugh, Valkyrie was saved as a rock hit his head and he looked up to see where it came from.
"What is it? 'Cons," Bumblebee asked, growing rather concerned.
Switching his optics to thermal mode, Valkyrie began scanning the mountainside above him. Following the path the rock had come from, Valkyrie found what he was looking for and smiled.
"No," Valkyrie said, pointing at the mountain lion climbing the mountain above them. "Just a big cat."
"Wow," Bumblebee whirred in amazement.
"Yes. Earth is full of wonders, isn't it," Valkyrie said calmly.
Turning, the two mechs walked over to Ironhide and Wheeljack.
Four hours later:
It was late afternoon now, and they were starting to worry. Neither Sunstreaker or Sideswipe had reported in once since they left, and they weren't answering their coms.
"You think they were captured," Bumblebee asked, breaking the ominous silence amongst the group.
"At this point, Bee, I think that that's very likely," Wheeljack said.
Just then, they saw something dash from one tree to another behind them.
Jumping to their feet, the group slowly approached the tree and, as they got close, drew their weapons.
At the sound of this, Sideswipe jumped out from behind the tree, arms up in a surrendering motion.
"Woah, woah! You win, ok," he whisper-yelled, fear in his optics.
"Sideswipe, you fragging idiot," Ironhide said, anger spreading across his faceplates. "Another second and you would've been dead. That was beyond stupid."
"Where's Sunstreaker," Wheeljack asked.
As he said this, a multitude of cracking and crashing tree branches fell onto Wheeljack, as well as a certain golden mech.
Facepalming, Ironhide walked over to Sunstreaker and threw the mech off of Wheeljack, saying, "Oh for the love of Primus. Why do we keep you two glitches around?"
He then motioned for Valkyrie to come help him.
The two began lifting branches off of Wheeljack until the white mech could haul himself up.
"We'll discuss this later. Did you at least get that distraction set up," Wheeljack asked, obviously annoyed.
"Oh, we set up a distraction alright," Sideswipe said rather smugly. "Just be ready to move when it goes off, which should be right about…"
A massive explosion can be heard and seen off in the distance.
"…Now. Move!"
Not even bothering to ask half the questions running through their processors, the group dashed over toward the mine just in time to see dozens of Vehicons rush off toward the explosion.
As the Vehicons began to disperse, there were only a handful left still guarding the mine.
"Alright," Wheeljack said. "Valkyrie, Ironhide, and Bumblebee will take the ones on the left while the twins and I will take the ones on the right. Got it?"
There was a unanimous "Got it" from the group before they split to do their assigned tasks.
The Vehicons were dispatched with brutal efficiency, silently, quickly, and quietly.
"This is almost too easy," Ironhide said boastfully.
"Yeah," Wheeljack said, sheathing his swords before mumbling, "And that's what worries me."
"Well, what are we waiting for," Sunstreaker said impatiently. "That distraction isn't going to last forever."
"Right. Let's move," Wheeljack said as they ran into the mine.
"Coming up on the central chamber. Be ready for anything," Wheeljack said just loud enough for the group to hear.
Valkyrie drew his rifle and cocked it.
Sunstreaker gave him an odd look and said, "Really? Projectile weapons? And I thought you using a handheld was weird."
"I prefer to make sure my enemies go down, Sunstreaker. Besides, I believe the saying goes, 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'," Valkyrie shot back before Wheeljack held up a clenched servo and they all came to a stop outside the central chamber.
He brought up three fingers and began counting down. As he hit zero, he opened his servo and started waving them in.
Running in one after the other, the group scanned the room, weapons raised. And found nothing.
"What," Ironhide said, confused. "Where's the energon? Where's the intel?"
Valkyrie began wandering around the chamber and spotted something behind a rock formation. Moving to get a closer look, he discovered it was a Decepticon cloaking device. Drawing his sword, he swiftly sliced the machine in half. As the machine sparked and died, a large portion of the chamber's wall faded away, revealing a massive corridor behind it.
"I believe I just found it, Ironhide," Valkyrie said as the group cautiously approached the corridor and entered. As they did, Valkyrie noted that it looked eerily similar to the halls of the Nemesis, only on a much larger scale.
I guess Megatron's taken up interior decorating amongst the Decepticons, he thought to himself.
As they neared an intersection, Wheeljack raised his servo to order them to stop, then reached for something on his hip. Grabbing it, he placed a small metal sphere on the ground.
"What's that," Ironhide whispered.
"Recon drone I've been working on," Wheeljack whispered back. "Figure this is a good excuse to test it out."
"You mean you haven't tested it," Valkyrie asked in disbelief.
Ironhide turned to Valkyrie and gave him an understanding look, then said, "That's just how Wheeljack works."
"But won't the 'Cons see it," Valkyrie said, exasperated.
"I hope not," Wheeljack said with a smirk. "Crawling through the ducts isn't exactly fun."
Valkyrie gave him a confused look that quickly changed to understanding and then approval.
Grabbing the drone, Wheeljack pointed to a vent opening above them and said, "Ironhide, give me a lift."
Nodding, Ironhide walked below the vent and crouched slightly, holding his servos in front of him to lift Wheeljack up.
Wheeljack came toward Ironhide at a slight run, and the two used the momentum to hoist Wheeljack up to the vent where he placed the drone.
Lowering himself back down onto the floor, Wheeljack tapped something on his head and the drone suddenly sprung to life. What had once been a ball was now more of a cylinder, and a small lens could be made out in the center. A small light to the side of the lens flashed red several times before turning a steady green.
"Alright," Wheeljack said, turning to address everyone. "I've set it to map the facility from the ducts and warn me if it sees anyone other than us."
"Yeah, yeah, that's cool and all, but can we please get moving before the 'Cons come back," Sunstreaker said with a hint of concern.
Glancing up as the drone rolled off into the ventilation system, Wheeljack said, "Alright, let's see what there is to find."
"My lord, Ravage reports that the Autobots have found the base and are currently working their way through it. Permission to warn our troops stationed there," the Vehicon said.
"Denied. Notify Starscream and his seekers to be ready to deploy on my command," Megatron said, growing rather bored of the whole situation.
"But my lord, surely we have sufficient forces there to…"
"Are you questioning my orders, drone," Megatron said, staring daggers into the Vehicon's visor-like optics. "Perhaps you'd like to join Starscream's little suicide mission?"
"N-no, no! I merely wished to…to point out a fact, m-my liege," the Vehicon stammered, fear somehow emanating from its emotionless faceplate.
"Of course," Megatron said, leaning back into his throne.
The door opened with an agonizingly long screech.
"Empty," Bumblebee whirred, poking his head into the room.
"Seriously? What are the 'Cons doing here? This place is a scrap heap," Ironhide said, frustrated. Turning to Valkyrie, he said, "No offense, but you wouldn't happen to know anything about this, would you?"
"Unfortunately, no," Valkyrie said. "It just doesn't make sense. Megatron never abandons a base unless absolutely necessary, and by that point, there's normally nothing left to retake. So why was this abandoned while still in working order?"
Frustrated, Valkyrie slammed his fist into the nearest wall.
"Sshhhh…keep it down," Wheeljack scolded. "You want the whole place knowing we're here?"
"I think they already do," Valkyrie said, earning a surprised look from Wheeljack. "Admit it, you feel it too. This was a trap from the start."
"Then what do we do now," Sideswipe asked.
"We're stuck here until we find that long-range com-jammer," Wheeljack said. "We find it, shut it down, and call for immediate extraction. Simple as that."
"Oh, I don't think it will be quite that simple, Autobots."
"I should be out there with them. They've been gone too long."
"Primus, Silverbolt. Can you just calm down," Blueshift said, becoming annoyed. Silverbolt had been worked up almost the entire time Wheeljack's team had been gone.
"How can I? They could be hurt, or worse. And I'm just sitting here doing nothing," Silverbolt complained.
"And you're going to stay sitting here unless you can calm down and let me do my job," Blueshift said, reaching for a sedative to shut the mech up. "Ratchet said you're not to leave the med bay until he gives you the all-clear. And he's not going to give you the all-clear if you keep tensing up your leg so I can't get a good look at how you're injury is healing."
Finding what she was looking for, Blueshift grabbed the sedative and injected it into the mech.
As the drugs began to take effect, Silverbolt said, "They'd better make it back."
"They will," Blueshift said assuredly. "I'm sure of it."
"Well, this could be going better."
Thanks for stating the obvious, Ironhide, Valkyrie thought, peeking out to shoot.
Of course Starscream had to show up. Why couldn't anything ever be simple? Now they had a seeker armada between them and the jammer.
Sunstreaker and Sideswipe threw grenades down the hall while Bumblebee and Valkyrie provided covering fire. As the grenades detonated, Ironhide finished off any stragglers and they moved up to the jammer.
"Finally," Ironhide exclaimed. "Let's blow this thing and get the slag out of here!"
Sideswipe strapped a bomb on the jammer and they ran away. Once they were far enough down the hall, Sideswipe detonated the bomb and Wheeljack commed base.
:Wheeljack to base. We're in need of immediate extraction. Do you copy?:
:Wheeljack, this is Optimus. We are reading you. Stand by for groundbridge.:
"Woah," Ironhide yelled, coming to a stop just passed the latest intersection.
"Why'd we stop? What's wrong," Wheeljack asked.
"That's why," Ironhide said, pointing to the patch of cosmic rust in front of them.
"Frag. Alright, back the way we came. Let's move," Wheeljack said, turning back and heading into the intersection before nearly having his head blown off by a stray Vehicon shot.
Ducking back into the hall, Wheeljack began returning fire before getting back into cover and comming base again.
:Optimus, we could really use that groundbridge right about now!:
:Copy. Activating groundbridge. Get out of there!:
Just then, a groundbridge portal opened.
On the other side of the intersection.
"Slag. Alright, we'll go across one at a time. I'll go first, then Ironhide, Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, Valkyrie, and finally Bumblebee. Cover each other as we cross. Go," Wheeljack said as he sprinted across the intersection and took cover on the other side.
As soon as he opened fire, Ironhide ran across, and everything went as planned.
Until Bumblebee's turn came.
The yellow mech was halfway across the intersection when a shot hit him in the knee and he fell.
"Bee," Valkyrie shouted as Vehicons began to swarm up around him.
"Come on! We gotta go," Ironhide yelled, pulling on Valkyrie.
"No! I'm not leaving him behind," Valkyrie yelled back, determined to save his young friend.
"It's too late for him! We gotta go now," Ironhide said as he yanked Valkyrie through the portal as he screamed, "Bee!"
Oh no, Bee! What are they going to do to him? Find out over the next several chapters!
Anyway, Goldstreak, don't give me crap about the page breakers. I know I used a lot and I'm sorry, but I felt that they were needed.
I think that's all there is to say so don't forget to review and until next time, this is Valkyrie 497, signing off!
