Chapter Twelve
In the aftermath Team Prime struggled to figure out what had happened and how to fix things. Yes, the Earth was saved. But Optimus hadn't recognized Bulkhead, Arcee or Bumblebee and hadn't even responded to his name. Now he was with the Decepticons, possibly simply as a prisoner but also possibly being manipulated, tortured or tricked by Megatron. Arcee and Bulkhead didn't seem to think the 'Optimus has amnesia' theory made sense.
"That doesn't follow. Optimus knew Megatron." Arcee protested.
"They were like BFFs." Bulkhead agreed.
Bumblebee added his own two cents, possibly also an agreement. That didn't discount amnesia though, did it? Dana was reasonably certain that partial amnesia was a thing.
"If Optimus did not know his own name perhaps it is because the title of Prime hasn't yet been granted to him." said, turning his head slightly to turn his gaze to the humans.
Fowler didn't get it. "Huh?"
"What?" Neither did Jack.
"Say again?" Miko said.
"With the power of the Matrix no longer within him it would stand to reason that Optimus has reverted to his pre Prime state." Ratchet elaborated, "The historical archivist Orion Pax."
So, Dana was right. Mentally the big bot was Orion, not Optimus. And it stood to reason that if Orion still trusted Megatron the gap in memory went all the way before that fateful day at the High Council Ratchet had just told them about. Theoretically it could even be before Megatron shortened his name. If that was the case then depending on how gradually Megatron changed or what point in time something influenced him to change Megatron could only keep up appearances for so long. Optimus was really smart, if Megatron was trying to take advantage of the situation in a way that used instead of hurt Optimus he'd see through it sooner or later. That meant that there was a time limit to how long they could take to fix things and bring him home.
"You mean in his mind." June realized.
"Are you telling me Prime thinks he's some kind of librarian and a Decepticon?!" Fowler exclaimed.
"'Pre Prime' as in partial amnesia, for humans that isn't unheard of and mentally you guys work pretty similarly." Dana mused, "And Megatron is taking advantage of that."
"Dana's correct as usual. Being a Decepticon is a choice, Agent Fowler." Ratchet countered, "One that I have a hard time believing that Optimus would make at any point in his life."
"So if he's riding with the Cons…" Bulkhead surmised.
"It's because Megatron is working some kind of voodoo." Arcee finished.
"Orion Pax may not currently be an Autobot up here but I must believe he will never stop being one in here." Ratchet said, gesturing first to his head then his spark, "We must locate him to know for certain."
"Hold up. I have a chip lodged in my behind that lets Uncle Sam know when I stop for donuts." Fowler protested, "Are you telling me that you can't just track Prime?"
"Optimus' signal has not reappeared since he embarked for Earth's core." Ratchet pointed out, "But we must get to work finding him if we have any hope of initiating his contingency plan."
"Contingency plan?" Arcee noted.
"What contingency?" Bulkhead asked.
"Is that even a word?" Miko asked.
Dana's heart leapt, did Ratchet really mean what she thought he did?
"The key card." Jack realized, "So what's it do?
Dana pulled the key out. "Or rather, what exactly is Vector Sigma?"
"It grants access to Vector Sigma, the repository of the wisdom of the Primes." Ratchet explained.
"Is that some sort of super computer?" Raf realized.
"So we can just download Optimus' memories back into him? Great. Which one's the big V?" Jack asked.
"Don't be stupid, Jack. Why would this be that easy?" Dana cut in.
"Vector Sigma is more than a supercomputer Jack." Ratchet said, "It is an ancient source of mystical power… on Cybertron."
"We really need a space bridge." Dana noted, "I need to step up my game."
June was not happy. "Jackson Darby you will not be traveling to another planet."
"I'm in." Miko volunteered.
"So am I." Dana agreed, not willing to let anyone stop her from doing her part.
"You're not going either, Miko. Or Dana if I can help it. Not when one of you can." June claimed, looking pointedly at the bots.
"June's right. Why send a boy or a girl to do a bot's job?" Fowler agreed.
"Because only a Prime can access Vector Sigma- or one chosen by a Prime. Optimus gave the key card to Jack and Dana. It is now imprinted with their unique bio signatures.
"So you mean Jack and Dana are like some kind of honorary Primes?" Miko asked.
"Let's just say Jack and Dana are the only ones who can return Optimus to the Autobot we knew." Ratchet said.
"And it might not work without both of us." Dana pointed out.
"But why would Optimus willfully endanger a human?" June asked, "A pair of children."
Dana groaned. "Mrs. Darby, please. I'm touched that you're worried but I'm nineteen. Legally I'm not even my parents' problem."
"I'm not a child, Mom." Jack protested.
"Maybe Optimus believes there's more to them than meets the eye." Arcee said.
"And Dana's always trying to help out around her or protect others." Bulkhead added.
"All of which is moot." Ratchet cut in, "The key card is useless to us without a means of reaching Cybertron, which we at present do not possess."
"Dude what about that?" Miko said, pointing out the ground bridge.
"Miko, the ground bridge barely got them into Earth's orbit remember?" Raf reminded her.
"Yeah but Ratchet built it. Can't he and Dana just turbo charge the thing?" Miko asked.
That got Ratchet thinking. Just maybe Miko was on to something. With Dana's help he was improving the ground bridge more and more, and completing more and more parts to change it to a space bridge. So Ratchet and Dana devoted most of their time not required for their normal work and her schooling increasing their efforts. Even if they failed it didn't need to be a proper space bridge yet. If they could boost its range and power enough for just one or two portals, it would work. In a matter of days before they were making the necessary adjustments. Alone the turbo charge was unlikely but they hoped that combined with the parts they had ready or mostly ready it would actually work.
"Ratchet, are you two turbo charging the ground bridge?" Raf asked when he noticed them at work.
"Tinkering. No need to get anyone's hopes up just yet." Ratchet replied.
"We've only got schematics, without proper blueprints and access to the equipment and tools needed for more heavy duty science we won't know how this is going until we test it." Dana added.
Two months passed. Things had been incredibly tense. As if triggered by losing Optimus however temporary it had been, the strange dreams from Dana's childhood were back and worse than ever. Plus she'd tried to bug Soundwave for whether Optimus was safe or at least in good health. But as expected the bot didn't answer beyond a half assurance that Megatron was being lenient 'for the moment'. Despite the depth of Ratchet's loyalty and friendship and Dana's case of semi secret hero worship the other Autobots seemed to be taking things even worse than Ratchet or Dana. Frustrated with the worsening attitudes and the feeling of being powerless, when he wasn't working on the ground bridge with Dana or doing his other duties Ratchet had taken to helping Dana try to develop a human-sized weapon that could actually be used for self defense against Cybertronians at a distance. It was the only thing that worked to distract and relax Ratchet recently. Besides, he conceded that throwing her collapsible club around or using it to whack or shock bots wasn't quite effective enough of a deterrent and that she couldn't be left defenseless should they finally find a way to send her to Cybertron.
"Ratchet, you awake? This is an emergency." Fowler said over a video call.
"Agent Fowler. Is it Optimus?" Ratchet asked.
"It's Cons. And they're busting into the same military research lab they hit two months ago." Fowler reported.
Bumblebee said something.
"Another space bridge?" Bulkhead guessed.
"But for all we know Optimus is riding with them." Arcee said.
"Roll out." Ratchet ordered.
Things didn't take very long. Minutes later Bumblebee and Bulkhead requested a ground bridge back. The fight didn't last long. Mostly air support deterred the trio long enough for the Decepticons' ground bridge to open.
"-and Arcee rushed after them. The portal closed behind her, so we couldn't follow." Bulkhead finished.
Dana groaned. "This is bad, why does Arcee have to be more reckless than you when there's nobody who can curb her temper?"
It wasn't long before Arcee comlinked in for a ground bridge. Her reckless move was for nothing. Soundwave had kicked her off board the warship via a groundbridge to a frozen wasteland before she could do more than fight or run from vehicon guards.
"You weren't able to determine the Decepticons' location or if Optimus was even aboard ship?" Ratchet summarized as he scanned Arcee for damage.
"I… couldn't confirm." Arcee said.
Bulkhead punched at a console, breaking yet another of Ratchet's tools that Dana would have to help the medic repair.
"Bulkhead!" Ratchet admonished.
"What? You needed that? The only thing I need is our head honcho back." Bulkhead said, slamming his fists together.
"It's not your fault." Jack reassured.
"If any of use needed rescuing Optimus would've found a way. I didn't. Simple as that." Arcee retorted.
Fowler called in again. "Ratchet. What happened out there? Reports indicate at least a dozen wounded. The heat's on me to provide some explanation. You bots better get your act together or the Pentagon will make me shut down your base."
"But where would you go?" Raf asked.
"Who knows? Maybe they'll ship us out to some island or fire us out into space. Wouldn't that be a welcome relief?" Ratchet snarked angrily.
"I don't blame Fowler. Optimus would've evacuated all humans from the area before engaging the Cons." Arcee said.
Bumblebee seemed to be agreeing with Arcee or trying to calm things down.
"We don't actually know what Optimus would've done because he's not here." Bulkhead complained, all but growling towards the end.
"You're pretty good at stating the obvious Bulk. Anything else you'd like to mention that we already know?" Arcee countered.
"Nothing I can say in front of the children." Bulkhead said.
"Whoa, okay, enough of this. Time out, both of you! If you can't calm down and stop acting like children then you need to shut up." Dana cut in loudly, "Optimus would be so disappointed that you lot can't get along or keep it together without him. If you want to be of any use stop arguing and put aside your differences so you can work as a team long enough to help. We need to think things through."
"Hey, aren't we overlooking one positive?" Jack said, "Nobody's talking about what the Cons just got their claws on."
Ratchet scoffed. "Yes, we managed to allow them to finally acquire a power source for their space bridge."
"Take a deep breath Ratchet. If you're too angry to think clearly we won't get anything done." Dana suggested.
"And how exactly would that be a positive?" Arcee asked.
"We let them finish building their space bridge." Jack suggested.
"Why? So they can bring more zombies back from Cybertron?" Bulkhead scoffed.
"No. So we can commandeer it and use it to send me and Dana to Cybertron." Jack replied.
"Whoa. That's a pretty good idea." Miko agreed.
"Oh well if Miko thinks it's a good idea." Arcee mocked.
"Don't you dare take down your bad mood on her." Dana said sharply, "The way things stand it's our best bet unless things change."
"Nobody's saying it will be easy but you've seized a space bridge before." Jack pointed out.
"We blew one up. That's a whole lot different than three of us seizing and holding one." Bulkhead protested.
Bumblebee said something.
"Bee's right. We'd have to find the thing first." Arcee said.
"Uh hello, if it's a space bridge isn't it…" Miko pointed up word to emphasize her point as if it was obvious.
"The term space refers to its transport range not its physical location." Ratchet said, "And we've been monitoring Earth's orbit since the last one. We'd know if it were there."
"So the bridge could be somewhere right here on Earth." Jack realized.
"Like trying to find a servo in a scrap yard." Bulkhead commented.
"Then maybe we better start looking." Arcee replied.
"But the fact remains, we do not know what the Decepticons have in store for Optimus or if he's truly safe from harm." Ratchet said.
"More to the point if he is safe we don't know how long he'll stay that way." Dana agreed, "But that just means we have to pull it off somehow."
And so all anyone could do was wait and see. Miko, Jack and Raf's lives went on as usual and Bumblebee, Bulkhead and Arcee seemed to take solace in their human partners' presence. Dana and Ratchet continued their work adjusting the ground bridge and maintaining the base. When they needed a break Dana introduced Ratchet to an old mystery series she thought he might like that they kept on in the background as he helped her with her personal project.
Finally, Dana blinked tiredly as she watched Ratchet and Raf prepare to send a toy car equipped with a tracker through to test the modifications to the ground bridge. The last time they'd tested the normal space bridge modifications like this instead of a portal opening the ground bridge spat out blue and green goop. The boost by itself the portal had opened but the test device sparked and exploded before it was out of sight. This time they were combining tactics.
"Rafael, is the test subject ready?" Ratchet asked.
Raf made sure the control was working. "Check. Long range GPS activated."
"I have doubts whether this set of recalibrations have succeeded any better in extending ground bridge range but there is only one way to find out." Ratchet said, opening the ground bridge.
Raf used his remote control to drive the toy through the portal.
"Come on." Ratchet chanted as they watched the toy car go.
As the toy car finally disappeared the portal closed abruptly on its own. After a few moments Ratchet warily but hopefully decided to check on things.
"Dana, what do the readings say?" Ratchet asked.
Dana blinked again, her head snapping up; she'd almost dozed off. "Sorry… what? How'd it go?"
Ratchet sighed, "Dana, the readings."
Dana rubbed her eyes to make sure she was seeing things correctly. "Oh, right. It… uh, oh frag. There's no sign of the reading. I think… either the portal ate it or divided the toy car and GPS in half or something?"
Ratchet pinched where the bridge of his nose would be if he had one and sighed.
"You two are still just getting started." Raf reassured.
"No Rafael, it was pure folly. A misguided act of desperation." Ratchet refuted, "It takes eons to master space bridge engineering. And no one is more accomplished than the Decepticons."
"You know, there's this thing in gym glass where you have to climb a rope all the way to the ceiling." Raf said, "It's really hard and I've never been able to do it. But when I told Bee about it he believed in me, which made me practice a ton. Finally, just a couple of weeks ago I made it- to the top."
"What does any of this have to do with gym class?" Ratchet snapped.
Raf seemed taken aback.
"I was just…" when Ratchet turned away with a groan of annoyance Raf cut himself off, "I'll give you some alone time. You coming, Dana?"
"Uh, I'll… be a minute." Dana said, then when he was out of sight Dana turned to Ratchet, "Was that really necessary?"
"He was spouting nonsense." Ratchet huffed.
"He was trying to encourage you. He's small and hardly athletic, that was probably a huge deal to him. He only wanted to cheer you up and you freaked him out like a scary grouch." Dana admonished.
"I did not mean to startle him. I keep forgetting how timid he can be." Ratchet turned to look at Dana and saw she didn't look herself, "Has someone hurt you? There are dark marks under your eyes."
Dana blinked for a moment. "Huh, oh. No, humans call them 'bags'. They look like this when the don't get enough sleep."
"Have you developed insomnia or been getting distracted by one of your shows?" Ratchet asked, "You know how important keeping up good health is."
"I've been getting plenty of sleep but it's just not restful. I keep having these crazy dreams that haven't plagued me since I was nine." Dana admitted, yawning, "Getting less sleep actually feels better lately but it's harder than normal to stay awake unless I take a full night's sleep."
"What sort of childhood nightmare could have such an adverse effect this much later in your life?" Ratchet asked.
"I don't actually remember them very well." Dana explained, "Vague impressions of faces, a crazy castle. A snow owl, someone tall as Arcee and wide as Bulkhead. A cupboard for a room that gets replaced by a tiny bedroom full of broken toys and electronics with broken bars on the windows and a catflap at the bottom of the door. Magic and wonder. Being in the air without a care in the world. But lately they have things I'm not sure plagued the other dreams… I don't think I dreamed of such dark things when I was younger."
"What kind of things?" Ratchet asked seriously, concerned.
"…" Dana was silent for a moment, contemplating, "Death and tragedy, mostly. Green light and a maniacal laugh. A woman standing in front of me falling to the floor dead. A small, dirty man with a rat like face killing a boy the same way. Spiders big as you, an angry three headed dog bigger than Megatron. Hooded figures that make everything feel cold and horrible. A barely human looking figure constantly trying to kill me…"
Ratchet put a finger to her face to hush her. "Enough, I hardly meant to make you relive dreams like that. How long have you been like this?"
"… Practically the night Optimus didn't come back. One day I'm distracted by the impending apocalypse by a form of déjà vu I've learned to only associate with those old dreams and a really bad feeling he wouldn't come back. The next he goes off with Megatron because of partial amnesia and the dreams are back and worse than ever. I can actually remember a few now."
"The timing is odd, it's almost as if there is something more to your dreams. I wish there was something I could do… or that I could at least apologize to Rafael or find a way to make that trip to Cybertron possible." Ratchet looked upwards, "Optimus… I am so sorry."
A day later Ratchet and Bulkhead finally had a lead.
"The Decepticon space bridge is located right here." Ratchet was saying, pointing out the exact spot on the on screen map, "Deep within an energon mine."
"Adjacent to a raw fuel supply." Arcee noted, "Clever. What's our intel?"
Bulkhead and Ratchet exchanged a look.
"A… reliable source." Ratchet stated hesitantly, "So. Do we have a consensus?"
"Do we know if people can even breath your atmosphere?" June asked.
"I'll hook Jack and Dana up." Fowler assured as he placed a hand on Jack's shoulder, "Completely state of the art. I still have connections at NASA."
"It's too dangerous." June protested.
Jack approached her. "Mom I know that this is hard. But Optimus risked his life to save our planet and he's not even human. We owe it to him."
"He's done so much for all of us individually and in terms of humanity's well being, Mrs. Fowler." Dana chimed in, "Nothing will keep me from repaying the favor a little. I'm going with or without Jack."
"Jack and Dana may need to work together for this to work June." Arcee spoke up as she approached the human woman, "But I don't want you to think for one moment that I'll allow them to travel un-chaperoned."
"Not everyone is destined for an ordinary life." Ratchet said, "Optimus Prime was once Orion Pax after all."
June seemed sad but resigned. "When you were little you always wanted to be an astronaut."
"Dana, you've got to hook me up with some cool shots!" Miko said enthusiastically.
Dana grinned. "Of course."
A mere day later the preparations were complete.
"We will ground bridge directly into the energon mine and make our way to the space bridge chamber neutralizing any Decepticon forces we encounter." Ratchet said, "Once we secure the space bridge we'll send for Dana and Jack. Stealth must be an absolute priority. We will most certainly be outnumbered and if any Decepticon should transmit an alert to their warship…"
"The odds become 400 to 1." Bulkhead surmised.
"Scrambling communications upon entry will certainly provide an edge in this regard." Ratchet added.
"Taking the bridge is the easy part. You three need to hold it for Jack, Dana and me to get to Cybertron and back." Arcee pointed out.
"Rafael climbed to the top of the rope in gym class, we can do this." Ratchet insisted, having finally understood what the boy had meant after Dana's words and some thinking.
Raf smiled and Dana grinned brightly.
"What does gym class have to do with anything?" Miko asked- possibly annoyed by the reference to school, then insisted "And if Ratchet gets to go on a commando raid I'm going to."
"Miko you will help Rafael operate our ground bridge and manage the communications hub." Ratchet said.
Miko wasn't pleased. "Uuggh. Can't go to Cybertron, can't storm the Decepticons' space bridge…"
Miko stormed off in a huff.
"And Nurse Darby will stand by in case of emergency." Ratchet added.
June just nodded.
Fowler spoke up. "It's time to suit up."
As Jack followed to collect the space suit Ratchet held Dana back for a moment. "Dana."
Dana looked back. "Yes, Ratchet?"
"… Here." Ratchet handed Dana a very clearly Cybertronian weapon, for the bots it was like the tiny gun K gives J in the MIB movie but for Dana it was a sizeable handgun.
Dana had a guess on where it came from, she was intimately familiar with what passed for an armory on base and knew nothing like that was in there. "Is this salvage from the underground half of the Harbinger? We haven't investigated it in over a month because of the strain of the current situation."
Ratchet knew what Dana meant. Ever since Arcee's incident with Starscream, the pair held their lessons on Cybertron and Cybertronian technology in underground half of the Harbinger whenever they could. Dana was adamant that it could be a source of additional resources, or that they could at least fix it up enough for a backup base. It was mostly empty, but the computer was working- that was how the Autobots got involved in that incident at all. So far there hadn't been time to do much beyond resetting the system and signal for Autobots rather than Decepticons and making it inhabitable. Though there was a chance that they could find something if they could figure out how to safely excavate the part of that half that was blocked by a cave in. It'd been luck that Some Decepticon victim or survivor of the crash had dropped the weapon.
"I may have gone back in my spare time after our plans were set. I wasn't sure if your project would be done in time. I daresay that as things stand this is the only thing left beyond the computer systems that works as more than a source of spare parts." Ratchet admitted, "Between our work together and your own studies I trust you to figure out how to use it without incident."
Dana looked up at him seriously, a small smile on her lips. "Thanks, Ratchet."
"Just try to be careful and keep yourself and Jack safe." Ratchet requested.
Dana moved closer to hug the medic's hand. "Always. Raging dragons couldn't keep my away."
Ratchet watched her walk away, grim but grateful. "Bah, I'm getting soft in my old age. Try not to be reckless, Dana."
Soon enough Ratchet spoke up over the comlink. "Strike team to base. Objective secured."
Fowler turned to Dana and Jack. "That's your que."
Jack and Dana made their way down and put their helmets on. Raf and Miko joined them to bid the pair farewell.
"Bring me back a souvenir." Raf said.
"So… what happens when you have to go to the bathroom?" Miko asked.
"Safe journey you two." Fowler said.
"Just… go already. Optimus needs you." June said.
"He's safe with Arcee and me, I promise." Dana assured.
June smiled. "I'm sure he is. You be safe too, Dana."
Jack only smiled and stepped away, giving a salute as a farewell that Fowler returned. June blew her son a kiss. With a hug from Dana to Miko and a wave, Dana and Jack finally walked through the open portal.
"Locking onto Cybertron." Ratchet said, moving to set the coordinates the moment Jack and Dana were through.
"You ready?" Arcee asked.
"Absolutely." Dana replied.
"Let's do this." Jack said, holding up the key.
"I'll leave the space bridge portal open in order to eliminate any communication lag over the great distance and make it easier for you to locate when you're ready to return." Ratchet said, approaching the trio.
"Easier for it to locate? You're not bridging us straight to the Big V?" Jack asked.
"Vector Sigma's true location is shrouded in myth and rumor, Jack. It is said the path of the Primes leads there." Ratchet explained, "We must be confident that Optimus will guide you."
Jack put the key back in his pocket.
"Well it wouldn't be a quest for something that borders on the mystical if we knew exactly where to go from the start." Dana conceded.
"Don't worry. Space bridging is just like ground bridging." Arcee said as Ratchet opened the space bridge, shouting once it was open in order to be heard, "Just a little more intense."
The three walked without hesitation through the portal. Cybertron was completely metal, as somewhat expected. But the city they found themselves in wasn't so different from a human city. The biggest difference was whereas human architecture was dominated by quadrangles every building in site was round. And the ruin all around them was as if the destruction had left Cybertron physically scarred instead of merely uninhabitable. There were two moons close together- or seemingly close together; one was a lot smaller than the other. Dana considered a picture, but it was too tragic and grim a scene. She was sure there would be another chance.
Jack didn't seem to catch the mood of the scene, though. "I can't believe it. I'm actually on another planet. Arcee this is incredible. … Arcee?"
"This isn't how I wanted you to see my home." Arcee said sadly, hanging her head.
Dana didn't speak- what words could be right? Instead she just put a hand on Arcee's arm comfortingly. The bot's reaction threw Jack off and left him feeling awkward.
"Um… I'm sorry." Jack said.
"In the fog of war it's hard to see beyond the next leg of the mission or the next punch in the fight." Arcee said, "We did everything to save Cybertron. But when the fog finally lifted… there wasn't much left to save."
"Arcee, Dana, Jack. Do you copy?" Ratchet asked over the comlink.
"Roger. We're on Cybertron." Jack said.
"It must've been gorgeous in its hay day." Dana commented.
"Just keep the site seeing to a minimum, huh?" Bulkhead suggested.
"Indeed. We don't know if your journey ahead is five clicks or five thousand." Ratchet agreed.
"Understood. We're out." Arcee said.
Jack waved the key around as he spoke. "Okay. Ratchet said the card would guide us but I don't see how or what I'm supposed to…"
"Um, Jack? Look at your hand." Dana suggested.
Finally Jack noticed that the key was glowing. He moved it around until he figured out the direction it glowed brightest.
"There you go." Arcee said, then transformed.
Dana and Jack got on and the three were off. After awhile Jack took the card back out to check the direction.
"That way." Jack said.
"Toward Kaon?" Arcee noted incredulously.
"The Decepticion capitol. Swell." Jack said.
"Of course." Dana deadpanned, "Because this wasn't bound to be tense enough."
At least she had her Cybertronian flash drive Ratchet gave her. If she had a chance, Kaon was just the place to look for answers in the discrepancies about Optimus' and Megatron's falling out and that day at the High Council. If Dana got a chance, that was.
When they reached the city proper Arcee stopped and cut the engine.
"We're on foot from here." Jack and Dana got off and Arcee transformed out of her alt mode, "Don't want engine noise to attract the wrong kind of attention."
Arcee had her blaster out and was checking their surroundings.
"Cons?" Jack guessed.
"Vermin." Arcee elaborated.
'Right… scraplets and who knows what else.' Dana thought.
Jack got the key back out. "This way."
The key led them over a bridge. Little did they know that there had been trouble on the underside that noticed their presence. Finally the card was brighter than ever.
"We must be close." Jack said, leading them beneath a statue of Megatron.
They found themselves in what seemed to be a walled in courtyard at the front of a building. Suddenly there was a great rumbling and the ground in front of them cracked. A tunnel and some sort of doorway rose from the ground beneath the rubble. With a blue glow the door opened on its own, probably in response to the key's presence.
"Vector Sigma's… down here?" Jack asked.
"Kaon didn't always belong to the Decepticons." Arcee replied, "Megatron took it as a capitol. Apparently without ever realizing what lay beneath their feet."
Tiny pieces of rubble fell and drew Arcee's and Dana's attention to the roof- where a giant bug-like bot with a red visor not unlike the vehicons lurked. It shrieked and jumped at them. Arcee managed to jump to the side, getting them out of the way of where the strange bot impacted with the ground. Arcee immediately started shooting at it. Then it saw Jack, then Arcee's Autobot insignia. It freaked out and leapt at them. It tackled Arcee backwards.
"Arcee!" Jack called.
It seemed to notice the key… or just that there was something glowing. It rushed at Jack. Dana readied the blaster gun Ratchet gave her but it wasn't needed. Arcee shot it, getting its attention. Dana kept the blaster at the ready but didn't want to draw attention to herself or Jack unless Arcee needed help.
"We're being attacked by some kind of giant bot beetle." Jack informed the others via comlink.
"An insecticon." Ratchet said.
"A what?!" June all but shrieked.
"What are Decepticons doing on Cybertron?" Raf asked.
"A few remained in stasis. Sentries should the enemy return." Ratchet explained.
Arcee was holding her own well enough but her blasters weren't doing much damage.
"Jack, Dana. Go." Arcee called.
"Seriously?" Jack said nervously.
"Without Arcee?" June asked in alarm, "She's their guide."
"No, Nurse Darby Arcee is Jack and Dana's backup." Ratchet refuted, "The key card is their guide."
"Do it!" Arcee shouted.
"Jack, come on! We might be on a time limit." Dana said.
"Listen to them Jack." June agreed, "You've made it this far. Optimus is counting on you."
"Roger that Mom." Jack said.
Jack and Dana moved the rest of the way inside the tunnel and the door closed. As they walked Dana eventually noticed familiar scrape like marks on the walls. She kept her guard up and her blaster at the ready. Jack grabbed a piece of metal, either noting the same thing or not wanting to be caught off guard. Finally Jack and Dana were led to yet another doorway- this one huge even by Cybertronian standards, Dana was sure- with a console at the side. It opened up to show a bridge leading to a round platform hanging over the center of the gaping chasm that was the rest of the room.
Jack activated the comlink. "Hey everyone. We're in."
"Sweet." Miko cheered.
As Jack and Dana approached the center of the platform part of the ground glowed. There was a pad of some sort in the middle of the glow.
"Together." Dana suggested, and both keeping a hand on the key card they put in on the pad.
The key expanded to its full size, taking up most of the area the glow surrounded. Then more of the floor glowed and pulled to the other side of the bridge, upsetting Jack's balance. The part of the floor the key was on raised perpendicular to the rest of the ground once that was done. What was left of the platform glowed and floated, moving like gears of a machine. Blue light blinked on the part of the console of sorts surrounding the key, reminiscent to a video online buffering or a slowly filling installation bar.
"Wow… Commencing download. I think." Jack reported.
"This is so amazing." Dana said.
Dana was looking around, searching the room while Jack waited. In a far off corner she found something- a data cylinder with her name in Cybertronian. Taking out her Cybertronian flash drive and putting it over the red part the data shot out of on the one that had contained the synthetic energon formula she banged the container so it would transmit to the currently empty disk. When she returned Jack was still just standing there.
"This is taking a while." Jack complained.
"Of course it is. We are talking about the collective wisdom of the Primes." Ratchet pointed out.
Suddenly there was a familiar noise. Jack and Dana turned to see a hoard of scraplets. Jack shouted in shock. Dana just primed her blaster, prepared to defend the console. As Jack batted at a few of the pests Dana shot her blaster but she only got a few before a bunch of them got at the console. Cursing, she got out her club and started batting them away before they could harm the device.
"What is it?" Ratchet asked.
"Scraplets." Jack answered.
"The damn things got on the console! There's a lot of them and some too high for a human to reach unaided." Dana added.
Dana was so busy protecting the console she didn't notice if the others said anything that the comlink picked up. The download slowly got slower and slower. Finally there was a sound like an engine- and instead of Arcee it was the insecticon.
"Back off, bug!" Jack threatened, holding the piece of metal.
Noticing the thing pause at the scraplets, Dana thought quickly. Before Jack could get hurt she grabbed a live scraplet and threw it at the insecticon.
"Yo, scraplets! How about a live meal?" Dana called, leave that console alone!"
Jack caught on and grabbed another one and threw it at the insecticon too. "Yeah, guys! Time for the main course."
The scraplets were all on the insecticon in an instant. With a scream the insecticon and scraplets fell off the bridge. Finally after a few moments the blue was gone and the key card glowed white. There was a beep and everything folded back into a platform. Jack and Dana rushed to gather up the key. Shortly after they left the room, Arcee caught up to them and transformed out of her alt mode.
Dana held up the card, which she was still holding.
"We have the Matrix." Jack said.
"Let's roll." Arcee said.
With that they rushed back to the space bridge portal, grateful Kaon hadn't been farther.
"We're almost there." Jack noted when the portal was in sight.
"Ratchet we have the Matrix. We're coming through." Arcee reported over the comlink only to get no response, "Ratchet? Something's wrong."
"They must've gotten caught up in a second fight." Dana noted.
"We can't not go through can we?" Jack asked.
"He's right, Arcee. We're too close. And these suits probably won't provide us with oxygen forever." Dana pointed out.
"Fine, but I'm going ahead." Arcee said.
When Jack and Dana got through Optimus was standing right there and Arcee had tackled Megatron. Dana held up the key card to Optimus, intent clear in her and Jack's expression. Optimus looked amazed and humbled.
"Are you… certain I am worthy?" Optimus asked.
"You have no idea." Jack said.
"There's nobody who deserves it more." Dana agreed, "One quick thing… the bot you knew as Megatronus before you found yourself on Earth with no idea how you got there. Would he have approved of being so forceful in his cause he condoned a level of violence that wrecked your whole planet and scattered what's left of your population to the stars? Or approved of starting warfare over a friend as close as I hear you were over him?"
Optimus considered.
"No, he would not have approved of the state of things. That it was I have found myself so conflicted and confused." Optimus admitted.
Together Dana and Jack held the key up further… and its energy beamed straight at Optimus, his armor and chest plates moving aside for a clear pathway to his spark chamber. Ratchet raised his head to watch the spectacle. Off to the side Arcee was finally losing the fight with Megatron.
"How nice of you to finally join our little reunion. Now if you please, the Matrix." Megatron insisted, holding her to the wall.
Finally Megatron noticed what was going on. He dropped Arcee and rushed at Optimus, Jack and Dana. Ratchet tried rushing him but was pushed aside all the way off the platform. But Megatron was too late. The energy transfer finished and as the key's white glow faded it floated over to Optimus. Optimus grabbed the key just as Megatron reached them. With a wordless shout Megatron tried to slash at Optimus, but the other bot caught the Decepticon leader's blade.
"Megatron." Optimus said in a severe tone, his battle mask covering his lower face, "Be gone."
And Optimus sent a punch that practically sent Megatron flying. He kept up a flurry of punches that Megatron either couldn't or just failed to block until finally Megatron slammed into the rock wall of the cavern chamber they were in.
"Ratchet, how did we arrive here?" Optimus asked as the other bots moved to back him up.
"Long story old friend. Ratchet said.
"Base to Arcee." Fowler called over the comlink, "We're reading 5 Autobot signals down there. Is Prime with you?"
"And Jack and Dana." Arcee confirmed.
"Yes!" Miko cheered.
As the bots used blaster fire to hold Megatron back a ground bridge portal opened.
"It's ours." Arcee said.
"Autobots fall back." Optimus ordered.
Arcee grabbed Jack and Ratchet grabbed Dana as they were the first to move through the portal.
"This time he's coming with us." Bulkhead declared.
They all walked through the portal. June immediately rushed to hug Jack.
"Optimus?" Raf asked.
"Hello Rafael." Optimus greeted with a smile.
Everyone was instantly cheered up. Dana rushed at Optimus and hugged his ankle.
"The big guy remembers us. Woo hoo." Miko said, literally jumping with joy.
Optimus' expression grew grim as he noted the Decepticon symbol on his shoulder where the Autobot insignia should've been. "Although it seems there is much I don't remember."
"Optimus, it has truly been our darkest hour. But know this: from every indication your spark never ceased being that of an Autobot." Ratchet reassured, approaching the Autobot leader.
Optimus, seeming assured, looked at the others. Dana couldn't contain herself anymore and rushed at him, tears of joy barely held back.
"I'm so glad you're back, Optimus! It just isn't right around here without you." Dana declared as the big bot obligingly put down a hand to bring her to his shoulder and let her hug him the best she could.
Optimus smiled as he gently patted Dana on her back to return the affectionate gesture. "Though I am unsure what has happened I am also glad that all is well again. I believe I owe all of you my thanks."
"Any time boss bot. Any time." Dana replied.
With everything well again Dana slept well that night. Her strange dreams were more peaceful than any of the other strange ones had ever been. She dreamed of afternoons and evenings spent in the huge man's hut and summers spent in the refuge of a crowded patchwork home filled with warmth and loved and inhabited by a bunch of redheads. And in her heart, somehow Dana was sure. Even though things would surely escalate and however things turned out when everything was over Team Prime would always pull through in the end.
End of Chapter
