Chapter 20-The Red Pyramid
Thundercracker flew over the twisting sands of the Elmia desert, the sun beating down on his metal hide and making him feel like a lightning rod that's just been superheated by a bolt during a thunderstorm. He groaned at the uncomfortable feeling and hoped that he didn't have to worry about overheating in this hellish sandbox.
Terra had to be in his list of the top five worst planets he had served on in his career. There was that one planet with the living explosions whose name he forgot because he was sent into a coma after spending one day on that fiery rock, that planet with the exploding crystals, the world that was home to a race that piloted robot lions as their main defense force (he forgot how many times he had his wings ripped off in that campaign), but the worst one had to be the planet of green skinned giants. He was mistaken for a toy by one of the natives and held prisoner in the child's room for three weeks before anyone had the brass balls to go rescue him. Slipstream never let him live that travesty down.
Seeing Blackout standing on a sand dune, Thundercracker transformed and made a show to blow some sand in the mech's face as he landed. He grinned as Blackout sputtered to get the sand from his mouth and eyes.
"Very funny, you slaghead." Blackout grumbled. "Did you find anything?"
"Nope," Thundercracker said. "There's too much ground to cover without some location to use as a reference. It's easy to get lost out here, wings or not."
"All the same, we're going to have to wait for the panel to react again." Blackout sighed. "Join up with lord Megatron. I'll take it from here."
Blackout transformed into his helicopter mode and rose into the air. The strong winds caused by his blades, blew sand everywhere, mostly in Thundercracker's direction. The Seeker cursed as sand got in his joints and servos. Blackout let out a deep laugh as he flew away into the distance.
"Damn it," Thundercracker growled. "Walked right into that one."
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Gina let out a sigh as she looked through her binoculars at the heat waves in the distance. Sand, nothing but sand. And the occasional scorpion, that she filed away as flee on sight. She was dressed in a thin shirt that clung to her developing frame due to the sweat that was pouring off her, and a pair of jean shorts. Darren and Annie were dressed in similar attire to combat the desert heat, but it was a losing battle.
"Now I remember why I never wanted to go to Egyptia," Gina panted. "I forgot that this place was hell on Terra."
"How can you forget something like that?" Annie asked as she wringed her shirt to air herself out. "This whole damn sandbox is the reason Libya is so famous."
A large shadow covered the kids and they looked up to see Centurion standing over them, providing them shade.
"How's this?" He asked.
"It's great, thanks Centurion." Darren said. He was sweating buckets and his clothes looked like they took a dip in a pond.
Optimus and Ironhide stood apart from the others, looking over the desert from the vantage point of a nearby dune. The Autobots and the kids were on another Minicon retrieval mission, this one to one of the hottest countries in the world-Egyptia. After hearing how harsh the conditions were in Libya, Optimus obviously didn't want to put them at risk of health issues, but the kids insisted they come. They were still guilty that they lost the last one to the Cons and wanted to make up for it.
So here they were, with the combined Centurion, D-Va and Tracer. Their custom made covert retrieval team. Annie's little name for their team-ups with the Minicons. Prowl objected to the idea of course, seeing as he was still looking into the spy issue, but now he was strangely quiet on the matter all of a sudden. Optimus didn't know what was going on with Prowl, the mech liked to keep secrets out of personal security, so he could observe and analyze things without any distractions. He treated everything like it was a crime scene waiting to happen. But right now he had more pressing concerns.
The problem about their current circumstances was that they had no idea where to go. The panel's signal was faint and barely registered in their scanners. Which meant that the panel was most likely underground. If that was true, then they were in trouble.
"Has Wheeljack found anything yet?" Optimus asked.
"No, Prime. The most we got is that we're in the general vicinity." Ironhide said. He crossed his arms and frowned. "And have I mentioned that I don't like waiting around here for that Jetfire to give us an update? This place is too open and we're defenseless if the Cons try to ambush us."
"It's a desert, Ironhide. The whole place is wide open space." Prowl said. "If it bothers you so much then try to think of an alternative solution instead of complaining about the circumstances."
Ironhide growled, but Optimus raised his hand to stop a potential argument. This was not the time or place to start fighting amongst themselves. Out here in the desert, overheating was a very real danger, and the Autobots had to lower their chances of debilitating themselves by avoiding doing any unnecessary actions-namely trying to beat each other senseless.
Jetfire had gone on ahead with Comettor in order to do a grid scan of the desert from the air. It was the most efficient way of finding the panel in such a large area, where one could get turned around easily with one wrong move. Many of the Autobots were hoping the panel was someplace accessible. If the panel was buried beneath a sand dune, then they had a problem on their hands.
Ironhide was still wary of Jetfire, given his history as a high ranking Seeker, but Optimus stamped that suspicion down immediately. It was bad enough the Prowl was treating the Minicons like prisoners under house arrest, but treating one another like spies or traitors will not be tolerated on his team. Cooperation was a necessity that they could not take for granted, and if that falls apart then the whole operation on Terra was lost.
Optimus looked over at the kids, who were conversing with the Minicons. He hoped that they could handle the heat a little longer. They conditions in the Elmia desert were strong enough to prove hazardous to a fully grown adult human, and a child even more so.
"I see him!" Tracer said, pointing at the sky.
The Autobots looked up and saw Jetfire's white form streaking through the sky like a bullet. The flyer reached them within seconds and transformed to robot mode, kicking sand everywhere in his descent.
"Watch it!" Annie yelled.
"Sorry." Jetfire apologized. Though he had no mouth, they could tell he was smiling in his voice.
"What did you learn, Jetfire?" Optimus asked.
"Well, I got good news and bad news." Jetfire said. "What do you want first?"
"Jetfire, just tell us." Prowl sighed.
"Good news it is. Well, I've found the panel. The signal was coming from inside this huge valley with the weird markings and pictures along the walls.
"That's the Valley of the Kings." Gina said. "It's the largest tomb in Egyptia that used to be a resting place for many Pharoahs from the eighteenth to twentieth dynasties. "
"And since it's a resting place for kings," Darren said. "Then it must hold some treasure and valuables belonging to those ancient kings."
"Which might also hold the panel." Annie smiled. "Sweet, we're on the right track."
"What's the bad news?" D-Va asked. She filed this information for later.
Comettor dropped off Jetfire's wing and fell into a sand dune. The flyer helped his partner up as he explained the little setback they had. "It's really far from our position. About north-northeast on the east bank of the Nile. And I think there are humans there to."
"I don't think we have to worry about that." Gina said. "Sure the Valley of the Kings is a popular tourist destination, but less and less people have been visiting the area since that massacre of tourists and guides back in 1971."
"Damn." Annie muttered. How did that happen?
"We don't have to worry about the tourists but most of the tombs are still closed to the public for archaeological digs. I'm sure that security is lax around this time of year with all the sandstorms that have been ravaging the area." She continued. "All the same, we should be careful."
"Agreed." Optimus nodded. "Jetfire, give Ratchet the coordinates of the panel's signal. We will take a ground bridge to the Valley of the Kings."
"If there are humans there, Optimus," Prowl said. "What should we do?"
"I'll think of a plan if it comes to that."
While they were occupied, D-Va stood apart from the others. She was whispering through her comm.-link on a private channel that none of her friends knew existed.
"I hope you're hearing this. The Valley of the Kings, north by northeast. Possible human presence in the area, so proceed with caution. Agent XII out."
"That's my girl." Leader-1 said and looked up at Megatron. "We've got a bite. The Autobots are moving out."
"Excellent." Megatron grinned. He turned to the Seekers. "It's time to move out. Starscream, your team will hang back until the Autobots have some within range."
"At once, Megatron." Starscream bowed.
"Blackout, you're with me. You job is the most important on this mission."
"I understand, my lord." Blackout said.
Megatron looked back at the huge expanse of desert before him and wondered if this is what the world will look like when he was finished sucking every last bit of energy from its core.
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The Valley of the Kings was one of the most famous places in Egyptia. Here tombs of Pharoahs who ruled from the eighteenth to twentieth dynasties were located, untouched for thousands of years until they were robbed by treasure hunters in the 1800s and later roped off for archaeological digs. It was a gold mine of historical treasures and information on the ancient Amara kingdom that ruled the land from Egyptia to Nubia.
The Autobots stepped out of the ground bridge and into a large valley that looked like it consisted partly of sand and rock. The canyon walls were small and weathered from the constant pounding of sand against its rocky surface, and there were tracks in the ground where the humans had once been.
"It looks like everyone hauled ass already." Annie noted.
Tracer shielded her face from the sand as she looked around. "It's really windy around here, isn't it?"
"That's because there's a sand storm coming. It's peaceful now, but give it some time and we'll all be getting a face full of sand and dirt." Gina said.
"Then we can't waste any more time." Optimus said. He looked down at the Minicons. "Escort the children into the tomb. We will stand guard out here and-"
A purple plasma beam hit Optimus in the shoulder, knocking him off his feet and sending him crashing into a canyon wall. Jetfire and Prowl drew their weapons as Ironhide ran over to him.
"Prime! Are you alright?" He asked. Optimus grunted as he stood u, his shoulder sparkling but still intact.
"I'm fine. But where did that blast come from?"
Prowl looked out at the desert where the blast came from. He saw nothing, but was forced to duck when another blast shot his way. The blast hit the side of the canyon in a shower of rocks and sand.
"We're under attack!" Ironhide shouted and ran forward. He primed his cannons and looked around "Where are they?"
"Out of our range." Prowl grunted. "Megatron is taking pot shots at us."
Optimus looked at the kids and Minicons. "Go, now!"
Centurion nodded and grabbed Darren and Annie before running towards one of the openings to the tombs. Optimus, Ironhide and Prowl formed a line near the entrance to the valley.
"No one gets in without us noticing," Optimus said. "Hold this line no matter what!"
Prowl spotted three shapes coming in fast from the north. Looking closer, he saw that they were jets. "We got Seeker incoming."
"On it!" Jetfire transformed and took to the air, already about a mile from the Autobots in seconds.
Starscream spotted Jetfire heading towards them. "Skywarp, you're up!"
"Got it." The grin could be heard in Skywarp's face as he disappeared from view.
The moment Jetfire saw Skywarp vanish, he immediately got to work on locating any spatial disturbances in his immediate vicinity. Having worked with Skywarp for a long time, he knew a little trick to locating the Seeker. Every time Skywarp teleports, the air around him shimmers as he disappears and reappears, followed by a light energy surge. Jetfire had trained himself to instinctively locate those surges when fighting Skywarp and it came in handy as the Outlier appeared behind him.
"Got ya!" Jetfire transformed and spun around, firing his particle cannon at Skywarp just as he appeared.
"Gah!" Skywarp got right in his left wing and was sent spiraling out of control. As Skywaro transformed in order to keep himself from crashing, Jetfire turned his attention to the other two Seekers.
"Hey Screamer," Jetfire flew up to Starscream and Thundercracker. "You miss me?"
"Shut up!"
The three flyers got into a two on three dog fight in the sky that turned into all kinds of chaos. From his vantage point on the ground, Megatron shook his head at the display. They outnumbered him three to one, and yet Jetfire was shooting them out of the sky like shooting fish in a barrel.
"To think Starscream brags about being a Seeker." He muttered.
"Lord Megtron," Blackout said through the comm. channel. "I'm in position with Leader-1 and Zapmaster."
"Good," Megatron smirked. "Drop them off then return to my position. We're going to give them hell."
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When they tracked the panel to the side of the canyon, the kids thought that they were going to enter one of the tombs. Of course their expectations were exceeded when they found a secret passage near one of the tombs in the east end of the valley. At this point they weren't surprised at anything like this anymore.
Once the fireworks started, they quickly entered the corridor and found themselves going down a large staircase that went for almost a mile downward into the earth. Gina led the way along with D-Va close behind. Sky Spy was scanning the path in front of them and so far they were on the right track.
"Are we getting close yet?" Annie asked.
"Yes, but it's still a long way from our position." Gina said.
Darren heard a loud explosion from above ground. "Let's get a move on before the Autobots get scrapped. It sounds like a warzone out there."
"Well it is a war." D-Va muttered.
They exited the staircase and found themselves standing inside a large chamber. It was large and wide, about half the size of the school gymnasium. There were hieroglyphs lining was walls, which looked like they were made of gold, and large shards of hephaestium were mounted in the corners, providing a decent amount of light. The small group walked deeper into the room, looking around in awe.
"This place looks amazing." Gina breathed. They just discovered something that none of the past archaeologists who visited the valley even had a clue about. "I am so hype right now."
She walked forward to inspect the walls, but Darren stopped her. "Don't drift off on us now, Gina. We have a job to do."
"Yeah," She sighed. "I know."
Centurion pointed to the corridor at the other side of the chamber. "We must go."
They walked towards the other entrance on the other side, but just as they passed the center of the chamber, the room began to shake like an earthquake was happening.
"What now!" D-Va groaned.
The ceiling opened up above them and a large metal ball fell from the opening. Centurion pushed the kids forward and jumped back to avoid the ball that crashed between them. It was large, made of gold with a large stylized eye sitting in the middle of the sphere on both sides. Four slits opened up on the sphere and Centurion didn't hold back a groan as he saw four large and very sharp blades extend from the slits, stabbing into the ground and lifting itself up.
"Run! Get the panel!" Centurion yelled.
"But what about you?" Annie yelled.
"I will be with you soon. Just go!"
D-Va, not wanting to get caught up in fighting a giant ball with bade legs, pulled the kids along, down the corridor. Once he saw them leave, Centurion fired his wrist cannons at the Golem to get its attention. The eye on its body glowed red and it charged at the gestalt with shocking speed.
Centurion jumped to the side, but was hit by one of the blade legs that it sent at him. He barely avoided getting bisected, but the sphere side stepped sharply and rammed into him. He crashed to the ground and rolled to the side to avoid a downward strike that sliced a cut in his side.
The sphere lashed out at him with blindingly fast strikes, attacking him with its two front legs. Centurion dodged as fast as he could and tried to gain some distance from it, but the Golem chased him down wherever he went. He couldn't keep this up for long.
'Time to improvise.' Centurion thought.
Channeling Grindor's on the fly thinking, Centurion stood in place and waited for the machine to get near him. Once it was close enough, the Golem sent one of its legs shooting at him. Centurion waited until the last possible second before leaning to the side, just enough that the blade only nicked off a piece of his Grindor component. He wrapped his arms around the leg and pulled himself onto it. With a mighty chop, he severed the blade from the joint and it fell to the ground.
He lifted the large blade and jumped at the Golem, jamming it into its eye. The blade easily sunk into its armor and damaged its inner mechanisms, making it wobble unsteadily before it crashed to the ground. Centurion looked at it, venting air to cool his systems down.
"That thing won't be bothering anyone else." He said. then he heard a voice behind him.
"And for that, we thank you."
A beam of energy hit Centurion in the back and the gestalt felt hi entire body freeze. He felt his limbs seize up and fell to the ground, frozen but still conscious. From the shadows, Leader-1 and Zapmaster walked up to the fallen gestalt, the former carrying a triple barreled beam cannon.
"Oh how the mighty have fallen." Leader-1 sneered and kicked Centurion. "Don't worry. The effects will wear off soon, but by the time that happens, you human pets will be bloody smears on the walls."
They stepped over Centurion's body and continued on their way towards the hall, leaving him alone in the dark room.
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Optimus and Ironhide ducked under three missiles that were fired in their direction. Blackout was approaching them from the rear, laying down heavy fire just out of their range. Jetfire was still fighting the Seekers, and Megatron was quickly closing in on them in his tank mode.
"We're surrounded, Prime." Ironhide said. "Megatron's going to be on us in seconds and Blackout has us pinned."
"Leave Blackout to me. But can you hold Megatron off for just a little while?" Optimus asked.
"Define a little while." Prowl said, but did as he was told. He and Ironhide began firing at Megatron, missing some of their shots but managing to hit him as he got closer. But their attacks did little to slow the warlord down, as average blaster fire and missiles did little to damage his dense armor.
Optimus ran over to the side of the valley and climb the short distance to the top. Once on the cliff, he ran along the edge, getting closer to Blackout's position. He pulled out his ion cannon and fired a blast at the Con's rear rotors, hitting it dead center. Blackout grunted and tried not to spin out of control as he lost his balance, but then another complication hit him.
Optimus had jumped off the canyon wall and grabbed onto Blackout. The added weight caused him to spin around in the air, trying to maintain his altitude. They both descended to the ground in a spiral and Optimus jumped off just as Blackout crashed into the sand. The Con rolled along the ground before he transformed and landed on his knees.
Prowl began shooting at Blackout with his rifle, blasting pieces of the Con's armor off with each direct hit. Blackout grunted in pain as the blasts hit his body. Despite his size, he wasn't that heavily armored, and he was in serious danger of getting hit in someplace vital. When Optimus began shooting at him to, and almost catching him in the head, Blackout knew that he had to act now.
"Cannon, deploy!"
A compartment on his lower back opened up and his Minicon partner, Cannon dropped to the ground. He was in his alt mode, a green and blue panzer tank, and was silent as he powerlinked to the underside of Blackout's right forearm. On top of his arm, a cannon extended from his body. Blackout pointed the cannon and fired.
He fired a single blast that hit the ground and exploded in a wall of noise that shot towards Optimus. Not expecting the attack, Optimus was hit full force by the sonic wave and was knocked into a statue as his systems were assaulted by a debilitating EMP surge that scrambled his visual and auditory sensors. He stumbled a bit as he tried to reboot his systems on the fly. Then he heard a high pitched sound to his right and jumped to the side just as Blackout fired another thunderclap wave.
Blackout powered up his blaster once more, planning on shutting down the Prime once and for all. The thunderclap blaster was supposed to completely knock him out with a sonic wave that also acted like an EMP surge, blinding and deafening the target. But Optimus was a hard mech to keep down, even when blind and deaf. Looking back at the other two Autobots, he saw that they were preoccupied with keeping Megatron at bay. The Autobot flyer was still trying to shoot Starscream and his cronies down so he wouldn't be a problem.
'Good,' Blackout thought. 'No interruptions.'
As he hid behind a statue, Optimus waited for his optical sensors to at least give him a fuzzy image before forming his plan. He could barely see, but Blackout was a big enough target to notice. He put his ion cannon away and took out his axe. He waited until he heard Blackout's heavy footsteps getting closer, then he jumped out from behind the statue and threw his axe.
Blackout was caught off guard and took the axe blade straight to his shoulder. The heated blade burned through his armor and into his inner circuitry and joints. While Blackout was distracted, Optimus ran in close and slammed his elbow into the Con's face, shattering his optical shutters and dazing him. Optimus then grabbed Blackout's arm and, in an amazing feat of strength, threw him almost 2 feet across the courtyard into the transforming Megatron, who had just appeared in the entrance to the valley.
"Gah!" Megatron yelled as Blackout's large body crashed into him and sent them both falling to the ground. "Get off me you fool!"
Shaking his head, Optimus spun his axe around and got ready for the real fight. He hoped that the kids were having a better time than he was.
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"We're getting close," Gina said. "The panel should be just up ahead."
The kids and D-Va ran down the long hallway after Sky Spy, was was hot on the panel's signal. There were so many hallways and many of them were dead ends, with an unlucky few harboring some dangerous traps. Gina had said that this was normal for tombs of high ranking Egyptian figures to be booby trapped. It was a way to deter grave robbers. It was only thanks to Sky Spy that they made it this far into the tomb.
Gina was watching the scanner she was carrying to monitor their progress, so she wasn't looking where she was going. Which wasn't very good as she almost fell over the side of a cliff as she exited the corridor. She shrieked as she nearly fell over, but D-Va caught the back of her shirt and hauled her back up.
"And that is why you shouldn't text and run." Tracer quipped.
"T-thanks." Gina shivered. Looking down at the sharp rocks at the bottom, she gulped.
Darren and Annie looked around at where they were. It was a large cavern, this one more rugged and natural than the previous room. More hephaestium crystals lined the walls to illuminate the otherwise dark room, and their light shined off the piles of treasure. They marveled at the treasure of gold and jewels that were organized into separate piles based on what they were used for; ornaments, decorations, statues, and so on.
"Dude," Annie whispered. "We're rich!"
"We can't think about that now, Annie." Darren said, though he was personally struggling not t o take a few gold pieces himself. "We have the find the Minicon."
Gina held her arm out for Sky Spy to land on and it inputted the data into her scanner. She read the data and turned to her friends. "It's near the center of the room. Just north of us!"
Before they could move, a blast of energy it the ground behind them, sending the group flying. Tracer, who was hit first, wrapped her arms around Gina before her body froze as they crashed into the gold pile below. Darren and Annie went tumbling down the slope onto the ground in a heap, while D-Va landed on her back at the foot of a gold pile. Up on the top of the slope, Leader-1 and Zapmaster exited the corridor, looking down at their new targets.
"This is going to be fun." Zapmaster laughed.
"Indeed it is." Leader-1 agreed.
They jumped down into the tomb and landed on the ground. Gina struggled in Tracer's grip, slowly moving the Minicon's frozen arms from her body.
"Tracer," Gina grunted. "I can barely move. Let go of me."
"Can't…move…" Tracer said. Though her mouth was frozen, her vocoder was still operational.
Gina managed to wriggle free and she dragged Tracer's body out of sight. But she didn't have to worry about getting shot at, because Leader-1 was mostly focused on the twins.
"Did you think I forgot about you brats?" Leader-1 growled. "I didn't. I remember you how you freaks made me look like a fool!"
"You are a fool!" Annie shouted. Leader-1 changed the chamber on his cannon and fired a laser blast at her.
Darren pushed Annie out of the way before the blast exploded in the spot they were previously in. They landed a short distance away and Darren uprooted stones from the ground and threw them at Leader-1. The Mini-Con fired his cannon again and vaporized the stones and forcing Darren to roll away.
"Could you please not antagonize the dude with the giant cannon?" Darren grunted. "My job is hard enough."
"Well suck it up, bro. Because Gina is making a run for the panel." Annie said.
Darren looked up and saw the blonde running through the chamber. She was looking down at her scanner while also making sure that Leader-1 didn't see her yet. He didn't notice her, but Zapmaster certainly did.
"You ain't going nowhere fleshy!"
Zapmaster lunged at her, but was knocked back by a hard strike to the face. D-Va appeared on top of a golden pedestal, twirling her staff around.
"You're going to have to fight be, bozo." She said.
D-Va leapt towards Zapmaster and swung her staff at his head. He ducked under it and barreled into her, sending them both tumbling down the pile to the ground. He knocked her staff away, but she punched him in the face and kicked his chest, sending him into a gold statue. It fell over and hit the ground, breaking into pieces, but the sword it was holding flipped into the air and landing right into Zapmaster's hand. He looked at it, before gleefully looking at his opponent.
"Damn it all to hell." D-Va groaned. Now that was just bad luck.
Darren and Annie dodged the pulse blasts Leader-1 fired their way. Their plan was to force him to wear down the cannon's energy battery, but it became evident that the thing was not going to run out any time soon. When they took cover behind a rock formation together, they thought of a new plan.
"We need to get that thing away from him. At this point, he's just wasting our time." Annie said.
"Then how do we do that? He can shoot us down before we can even reach him." Darren said. "The recharge rate on that thing is unreal."
"Then if we can't take out the gun, we should focus on the bot himself." She replied.
Leader-1 advanced on the hiding place of the twins, waiting for them to pop out so he could finally slag them and get this farce over and done with. He could shoot the rock they were hiding behind, but he wanted to see them get blown to pieces. He deserved that satisfaction.
"Come out, humans!" He yelled. "You seemed so brave the last time we met. Where did all that bravado go?"
Annie appeared from behind a gold pile and threw a plate at him like a Frisbee. It hit Leader-1 in the head and he turned to her, firing the cannon in a sweeping motion that left a trail of explosions in its wake. Annie ran to avoid the deadly blast, but tripped over a scepter and fell. Leader-1 wanted to grin if could. This was it!
His glee was cut short when Darren ran at him. He tried to turn but the cannon didn't allow him to make quick movements. Darren fired two force blasts at Leader-1 that hit him in the face, almost knocking him over. With a sweeping motion of his hand, Darren sent a piece of the ground under Leader-1 at his legs, making him lose balance and fall over.
Seeing that he lost his grip on the cannon, Darren ran forward to get it, but Leader-1 was faster than he thought. As soon as he got close, the Mini-Con leapt up and grabbed him by the throat, lifting him up with little effort and throwing him across the room into a statue, sending both crashing into a pile of gold.
"Darren!" Annie cried out. Gina heard her cry and saw Darren lying on the ground.
"No." She breathed.
Leader-1 picked up his cannon and turned to her. "I was going to kill you first, but since you like pain, how about this?"
He aimed the cannon at Gina and fired. Darren and Annie saw that wide ranged pulsar blast shoot towards Gina, who nothing to protect her.
"GINA!"
Unconsciously channeling his telekinesis into his body, Darren shot forward like a silver bullet, leaping a great distance until he was standing right in front of Gina. Acting on instinct at this point, Darren raised his arms as the beam crashed into them.
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Megatron pushed Blackout off him and got to his feet, snarling like an angry animal. "What is the point of even having you along if you can't hold your own in battle?!"
Ironhide rushed at Megatron, shooting a missile from one of his cannons that hit Megatron directly in the face. The Decepticon leader stumbled back from the unexpected attack, smoke and flames rising from his face. Ironhide used the moment to land a punch on Megatron's face, drawing his short axe and bringing it down on his shoulder.
But Megatron caught the weapon and grabbed Ironhide's arm in a tight grip. Tight enough to cause Ironhide's armor to groan under the strain. The red Autobot gritted his teeth but ignored the pain.
"Did you think that you could fight me?" Megatron growled. He punched Ironhide square in the face and knoced the Autobot into the sand. "Me? The mighty Megatron?"
"No," Ironhide spat some energon from his mouth. "But I made a great distraction."
In the sky, Jetfire was bating Starscream with constant taunts and jibes. He spun circles around the Seeker, throwing weak attacks that only served to annoy Starscream. When Jetfire went into a steep dive towards the ground, he had gave a rather rude comment about Starscream's inability to keep up his performance when it mattered and that was when he had enough.
"Just die already!" Starscream yelled and fired two heat seeking missiles at Jetfire.
Jetfire inwardly smirked and at the last second he pulled up so that instead of the missiles hitting him-they hit Megatron. Starscream felt his spark stop as he saw Megatron take the two missiles to the back and get blown to the ground. Normally he would be jumping at the chance to off Megatron in a heartbeat, but it will take more than two missiles to kill him. And when he gets back up, he's not going to be happy at all.
"STARSCREAM!" Megatron roared.
"Oh scrap." Starscream said. He was so dead.
Megatron stood up, sporting two smoking holes in his back, and spun around. His red eyes blazed angrily as he leveled his fusion cannon at Starscream and fired. The plasma beam cut through the air and tore into the right side of Starscream's jet mode. It was not enough to kill him, but the loss of one wing had knocked him off balance and sent him crashing into the ground, sliding across the sand into he hit a rock. At that point, he returned to robot mode, sporting one lost wing and a damaged arm.
"So you would attack your own soldiers even in the midst of a battle?" Optimus said, walking up to Megatron with his ion cannon drawn. "I expected better, Megatron."
"Spare me the lecture Prime!" Megatron growled.
They ran at each other and their blades clashed in the middle. Megatron did his best to keep Prime off him, but the still sparkling wound where Starscream had shot him was slowing him down. Optimus, never one to waste an opportunity, spun his body around Megatron's arm and got in close past his defenses, landing a hard punch to the smoking holes on the warlord's back.
Megatron gritted his teeth as searing pain erupted throughout his body. He glared balefully at Optimus and knocked him back with a headbutt, then kicked his chest to gain some distance. Of course Prime would hit him where it hurts. He was going to tear Starscream a new one.
"I didn't peg you for a mech who would hit a wounded enemy, Prime." Megatron said. "I expected better from you."
You know I would always make you an exception Megatron." Optimus said. He fired his Ion cannon, but Megatron avoided the blast by transforming into tank mode.
As he went into vehicle mode, Megatron sent a private internal comm. message to Skywarp to hit Optimus the minute he dodges the blast from his fusion cannon. The Seeker did as he was told, and Megatron found himself idly thinking that Starscream's Seekers were more loyal than the traitorous bastard himself.
Skywarp teleported the minute Megatron fired his fusion cannon. When Optimus dodged the beam, Jetfire saw the air behind the Prime shimmer and quickly called his leader.
"Prime, we've got another one at 6 o'clock!" Jetfire warned him.
Skywarp appeared behind Optimus in jet mode and fired his cruise missiles at Prime's back. Much to the amazement of Autobots and Decepticons alike, Optimus twisted his body in mid air in a way that no one with his size and bulk should be able to. The missiles soared just a few inches over his back at a distance that made even Ironhide wince. They continued forward, past Optimus and hit another target who was unfortunate enough to be in the way-Megatron.
Even Prowl had to crack a smile as the missiles exploded against the warlord's alt mode, one hitting the barrel of his fusion cannon, the other hitting the ground in front of him, but the resulting explosion damaged his treads by proximity alone. The blows forced Megatron into robot mode and he landed on one knee. His fusion cannon wasn't destroyed, but the barrel was damaged enough to make firing it again a pipe dream without the danger of overloading it. As for the treads on his legs-things were better left unsaid.
Looking at Optimus, though he couldn't see it, Megatron was well aware that the Prime was smirking at him.
"Never underestimate teamwork Megatron," Optimus said. "It might save your life one day."
XXXXXXXX
D-Va ducked under a lightning fast strike from Zapmaster and launched a spin kick at the mech's chest. Zapmaster stumbled back, but leaned back to avoid another sweeping kick aimed at his head and sprung his body upward, using the momentum to launch himself at her.
D-Va was loathed to admit it, but as garbage a fighter Zapmaster was, his quick reflexes and ability to ignore pain made him very unpredictable. She knocked him back down but he just jumped up and came back for more. It was getting exhausting.
And that was probably what he was aiming for. Knowing him, he was probably one of those mechs who acted like they were garbage but had just enough skill to avoid getting slagged within ten seconds of the fight. The type who wear down stronger opponents before going in for the kill.
But D-Va was no normal fighter. She jumped away from Zapmaster and kicked a gold chalice at his face. He ran right into it, and the chalice hit his face at full force, knocking his head back. She deployed her blaster hands and fired at his legs, brutally tearing them to shreds with a couple of well placed shots at the knees and feet. Before he could fall to the ground, she jumped up and planted both her feet into his faceplate, hearing a satisfying crunching noise of his skull cracking under her feet as she launched him 2 feet across the isle and into another Egyptian statue, ironically falling into its outstretched arms.
"Ugh…why did you have to…" He wheezed. The kick to the face had damaged the vocal speakers in his head. "Hit me so…hard…?"
"Just because I work for you," D-Va said. "Doesn't mean that I am your friend. I didn't forget how many Minicon villages you sold out to the Cons, you trigger happy piece of slag."
She spat at him and turned to locate Tracer, but a bright flash of light, followed by an explosion caused the whole cave to shake. D-Va looked in the direction the light came from in a wide eyed gaze of wonderment.
"What the hell was that?" She gaped.
XXXXXXX
Leader-1 had seen many things in his life. The abuse he suffered at the hands of Bulks because of the senate. The destruction of his village and everything he held dear. The awakening of the Metrotitan Metroplex. But this was definitely up there with seeing a giant city-former battle a giant ancient lizard in the middle of Iacon (and it was hard to top that).
Darren had jumped in the path of the laser blast that he had fired at the girl. He wasn't worried, after all even if the boy managed to block the beam, he would be overwhelmed by the intensity of the blast and both he and the girl would be atomatized within seconds. An inglorious death for an inglorious creature.
But things had gone downhill for him after that. Darren erected a TK barrier just seconds before the beam could hit him and Gina. His arms extended in front of him, the beam hit against the barrier with astounding force, enough to force him to his knees as he tried to keep it away from them. There was no way he was going to let a Minicon with a chip on shoulder kill his best friend!
"Darren!" Gina cried out. She held her breath the entire time as she saw Darren struggling to maintain the barrier. "Darren, you can't handle the strain! Stop!"
"If I stop," He grunted. "Then we both die!"
Leader-1 scoffed and increased the power into the beam. At this point it was only a matter of time before they were both destroyed. No one, not that witch or her blabbermouth friend, could stop him.
Just when it looked like the barrier was about to crumble under the strain, Darren let out a thunderous shout and something changed. Though he wasn't looking, Darren began telekinetically controlling not just the barrier, but the energy of the beam itself. He weaved it around the barrier like an extra layer of protection, taking the energy for himself. Leader-1 noticed all too late what was going on and tried to stop the cannon, but he was too slow.
Darren glared hatefully at Leader-1 and in a burst of power, released the energy in the form of his barrier outward in a powerful wave that reverberated throughout the cave. Leader-1, who was the closest, got hit with the full force of the blast wave, the energy tore into his body, searing off armor, shattering his glass visor, totaling his arms and legs, and destroying his cannon. He couldn't even scream as his vocal components were also damaged along with his optical sensors.
The wave blew the piles of gold treasure away and Annie, who was guarding over the recovering Tracer's body, was also blasted back by it. Fortunately the intensity of the blast wave weakened the more distance it traveled, but it still felt like getting bad sun burn when she was hit. They would've hit the wall had D-Va not caught them both in time.
When the wave faded out against the walls of the cave as little more than light at that point and once it was gone, the entire cave was bathed in darkness.
XXXXXXX
The Street Action Team ran through the halls towards the location where they had detected that massive energy surge. The stasis beam that hit Centurion was taking longer than normal to wear off, possibly due to their combined state, so they were forced to separate. It helped lessened the effects enough to allow them movement, but even then they were slow. Still, knowing that their friends were in danger gave them the strength to fight past it so they could get to them.
But when they got to the tomb, all they saw was darkness. The crystals that were in the walls were blown out, and the only source of light came from two headlights shining in the distance on the ground floor.
"Darren! Annie!" High Wire called out.
He let out a sigh of relief as he heard Tracer yell back. "We're okay! But we need you to come get us!"
High Wire and Sureshock switched on their lights and they entered the cave with Grindor taking point. They slowly trudged through the darkness, keeping their eyes open for any surprises. Then Grindor tripped over something and fell to the ground.
"Are you okay?" Sureshock asked.
"Yeah, I just tripped over some-ahh!"
Grindor scrambled back as he saw what he tripped over. It was Leader-1-or what was left of him. The Mini-Con looked like he was grinded through factory gears and was then sheered by drills and hammers. He was little more than a broken torso with an equally mangled head. There were bits of mashed up armor and energon where his arms and legs would be. They would've thought he was dead of not for the static coming out of his vocal speaker.
"Oh wow." Sureshock gasped.
"What happened to him?" High Wire asked.
D-Va's voice called out to them. "You have Darren to thank for that."
They looked back to see D-Va carrying an unconscious Darren on her back. Annie was helping Tracer along as she got her nerve circuits online again. Gina was holding the Minicon panel, and was oddly quiet. Sureshock noticed that she was standing close to Darren like a shadow.
Knowing better than to ask, High Wire called Optimus. "Prime, mission accomplished. We got the panel."
XXXXXXX
Megatron knew that things were not looking good for him. He was wounded, both figuratively and literally, by his own bots no less. And three of his soldiers were out of commission, with only Thundercracker still operational. As expected, Optimus had returned that pot shot Skywarp tried to deal him in kind, managing to blast a hole in the Outlier and take him out of the fight. And Jetfire was hounding him like a shade from hell.
As for Megatron himself, he was outnumbered and lacking his most powerful weapon. Sure he could take out Prowl, but that fossil Ironhide was a hardy one and could take a lot of damage. And that wasn't even counting Optimus. The only thing that could salvage the failing mission was acquiring the panel so they can leave.
'Where the hell is Leader-1?' Megatron thought. 'He should've gotten the damn thing by now. How hard is it to squash three Minicons and their children with a beam cannon?'
The silence between the four combatants was broken when Prime's comm. gave an alert. He pressed his finger to the side of his head and listened to the message. After hearing it, he signed off and gave Megatron a stare that he confirmed his suspicions.
"It would seem that Leader-1 has been disposed of. As is Zapmaster." Optimus said. "Now you have two choices. Leave and take your broken soldiers back to the Nemesis. Or you could stay here, loose Thundercracker, then try and take on all five of us at once after taking on friendly fire from your slaves. It's your decision."
Megatron glared at Optimus for a moment before sheathing his arm blade and standing back. "I know when I'm beat, Prime. But don't get too comfortable with your win." He warned. "My retribution is as swift as my wrath. And there are other ways to win a battle without firing a shot."
The Autobots watched Megatron recall Thundercracker and the newly revived Blackout to him. They gathered up Skywarp and Starscream and called Soundwave for a ground bridge. When the Cons were finally gone, the Autobots finally relaxed their guard.
"That was intense." Prowl said. Ironhide nodded in agreement.
"Yeah. I thought we were gonna have a hard time dealing with them." He said.
Jetfire landed next to them and brushed imaginary dust off his shoulders. Looking at his comrades, he said, "Damn I'm good."
"Oh shut up." Prowl sighed.
Optimus ignored their banter and walked over to where he saw the Minicons and children exiting the passage they had uncovered. Seeing Darren unconscious and Annie looking like she had been in the sun for too long, he looked questioningly at High Wire.
'We'll explain later after we get back to base." He assured Prime.
"And after a long nap." Annie said. She hissed as she poked at her reddening skin. Melody was going to tan her ass when she saw this.
XXXXXXX
Darren groaned as he sat on the medical berth in the human section of Ratchet's med lab. The doctor was placing some ointment on Annie's skin, which was slightly burned from the energy wave she was hit with. It was nothing serious but it could get irritated if not taken care of soon. Annie accepted the annoying treatment without argument since she knew that if he didn't do it, then Melody will, and she wouldn't be gentle about it.
As for the resident esper, he was resting after waking up from his sleeping spell. Using his powers in such a way had put some strain on his mind, and as a result he got a headache the size of Jetfire's ego.
"How are you feeling?" Gina asked as she walked up to his bedside.
"Like crap. My head is pounding and my body feels ten times heavier." He said.
"Well, that was the first time you've ever used your powers on such a large scale. If it makes you feel better, you certainly tore Leader-1 a new one." She smiled.
Darren grinned at that. "Yeah, that does make me feel better. How is our new arrival?"
"He's doing fine. We've got our own speedster, Incinerator." She told him. "He's a friendly mech but a bit of an insecure guy. So watch what you say around him."
"Will do."
Gina looked down at her hands shyly. "Thanks for saving me. I'm sorry you nearly hurt yourself protecting me. I wasn't really thinking when I ran out there alone."
"It's not your fault. We've made it out, and that's all that matters. And besides," Darren grinned and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a handful of tiny gold trinkets and jewels. "I managed to swipe some stuff from the tomb before the fireworks started. A little something for you to study on your down time."
Gina looked at the jewels before launching herself at Darren and pulling him into a tight hug. He blushed when gave him a big kiss on the cheek and smiled like a madwoman.
"Jinkies, Darren," She said. "You are the best friend a nerdy girl can ask for."
Elsewhere in the Ark, another conversation was going that was not as lighthearted. This one was happening between Prowl and Optimus in the privacy of Prime's quarters.
"It happened again. The Decepticons got our intel without so much as sending a scout." Prowl said. He was sure of it now. "One of the Minicons on our team is the spy."
Optimus had to agree with him. That ambush in the valley, followed by the one in the tomb with Leader-1 knowing to bring a weapon to subdue the kids' guardian gestalt, it was no way a coincidence. There really was a Minicon spy in their ranks. But who?
"Optimus, you have to let me initiate a total lockdown of the Minicons," Prowl requested. "The kids' guardians to. No one is allowed in or out of the Ark until we get to the bottom of this."
"Out of the question." Prime said firmly. "We are not treating the Minicons like criminal, spy or no spy."
"Optimus, they're conspiring against us!" Prowl replied. "We need to nip this in the bud before something happens that will cripple the war effort on this planet."
'When did it turn from one spy to a whole conspiracy?' Optimus thought. "I will not strip away their rights based on the actions of an enemy that we do not even know the identity of. If we do this then we risk alienating the Minicons, and possibly playing into the spy's hands."
It went unspoken between them that the Minicons were only just now beginning to trust the Autobots with prodding from Sparkplug. They were more inclined to trust the kids, who have done everything in their power to protect and help them in any way possible. It was thanks to the children that the Minicons were supporting them, but one wrong move could cause a civil dispute that would lead to chaos.
"Then what do you suggest we do? Wait for the spy to sabotage us and kill one of our friends?" Prowl asked.
Optimus sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "We act now, and any chance of finding the culprit will be lost. At this moment, secrecy is key. When the spy strikes again, that is when we will act."
Prowl didn't look happy about letting a security risk run free around their ship, but he accepted Prime's reason. For now. But he wasn't going to idly sit by and watch everything they fought for get torn to pieces by one Minicon. Besides, he already had his group of suspects to watch.
One of the five Minicons that came with them to Egyptia.
XXXXXXXXX
"Why didn't you tell me that the boy had that kind of power?!" Leader-1 shouted into the secret comm. link. D-Va winced and rubbed her audio receptor.
She was out on recon with Arcee. And while the Autobot was exploring the thick forest for energon, D-Va was having a not so nice conversation with the newly healed Leader-1.
"Don't blame me." She said. "I told you that he was a wildcard with his powers. Not my fault you chose to act like a gun toting maniac."
"Don't get fresh with me," Leader-1 snarled. "Those brats have pissed me off for the last time! They've been a thorn in our side for too long, and I will not stand by as they insult my honor as a Decepticon. Before it was business, but now it's personal. You want to hurt the Autobots like they've hurt us, don't you?"
D-Va wanted to say yes, but she instinctively knew that she wasn't going to like what he had to say.
"Then hit them where it hurts. Attack their heart and let them bleed out. Make them truly suffer." Leader-1 said with sadistic glee. "When you get the chance on the next mission. kill the humans. I don't care how you do it, but snuff them out. Only then can we get our revenge on the Autobots!"
D-Va had never felt so afraid in her life.