The Human Prime
Chapter 25: Space Madness
Optimus worked viciously on decoding the Iacon database. Artemis used Ratchet's computer to assist him, knowing some of the Cybertronian language and its complex codes. ShadowVolt watched him briefly. He was no clerk, but he knew some of the codes as he sometimes watched Soundwave work. His attention was caught by Arcee walking in with Jack. He immediately got to her side and picked up Jack.
"So do I get my own partner?" He was looking at Jack, but was indirectly asking Arcee.
"I think three humans are enough to get in this situation." Arcee said with a harsh tone. He smiled slightly realizing he made a small slip up in trying to begin a conversation.
"Then can I burrow yours?"
"I'm right here you know." Jack said completely annoyed. ShadowVolt smiled at him and put him down on the ground.
"Sorry, Jack. I didn't mean to be so insensitive." He watched Arcee walk away from him. "Is there any way to get on her good side?"
"Stop trying so hard." Jack mentioned, realizing long before he was trying to get her to like him.
"I'm sorry, I don't mean to, but everyone is on edge with me being an ex-Decepticon and all. I really want to get everyone to like me." ShadowVolt looked over at Drexel who was courting Arcee much more successfully. "That guy surely works fast."
"Who, Drexel? I'm sure Arcee just takes pity on him because he's not really a Cybertronian." Jack was about to walk over to the stairs when ShadowVolt scooped him up again.
"Come again?"
"Artemis made him."
"Oh, well, that explains a lot." He turned when he heard the others coming in. He put down Jack and tried his luck with the other bots. He was much more successful, getting accepted into a game of 'basketball by way of Cybertron.'
"Ratchet." Optimus said suddenly. The idol Ratchet came over to his leader's aid.
"The coordinates seem to be located off this world. Yet, they still seem to be located close by." Ratchet switched places with Optimus and went through triangulating the coordinates. Artemis heard the commotion and came over from her workstation. Rafael looked at the screen then noticed its position.
"That's our moon." He stated.
"Great, how are we supposed to get to the moon? It's not like we have a warship like Megatron." Bulkhead complained and rubbed his head.
"I don't think L- Megatron, would leave the earth's atmosphere on his warship. It would take too much time." ShadowVolt said which the others took his opinion.
"There still remains question of how we are going to get up there!" Ratchet screamed over the others who bickered about Megatron's move.
"I'll go." ShadowVolt took advantage that his vehicle mode was that of flight.
"By yourself? Great idea, then you can finally give Mira the chance to scrap you AND get a relic." Arcee was harsh to him again which made him look away from her.
"He won't be alone. I'll go with him too." Artemis wrapped her arm around ShadowVolt then nodded at Optimus. "Our flight speed can get us there and back in a day or so."
"Artemis is anything bad happens up there and you transform back. You can't breathe up there Artemis!" Sam noted for her, but Artemis only smiled.
"I'll wear the E.P. armor. I can put on some oxygen tanks and voila!" She looked back at Optimus who seemed very conflicted.
"I'm afraid, we have no other choice." He finally said and nodded at the two of them.
The Nemesis
Mira watched over Soundwave's shoulder. He was so close to deciphering the last bit of coordinates. She wanted to get out of the warship so badly. She wanted to correct her mistake. ShadowVolt, he will die by her hand is she had anything to say about it. Soundwave finally finished the coordinates.
"Where do I go Soundwave? Just tell me! I will fly to the moon and back if that what it takes to get this next relic!" She shouted before looking at it. When she realized where it was she backed off. "I didn't mean literally."
"We must retrieve this relic for Lord Megatron." Dreadwing mounted his blaster onto his back.
"Yeah, but that's such a long flight." She thought long and hard about the distance. "On second thought, I'll send my new toy to get it for me."
"What new toy?" He looked back at his fellow commander and saw the smirk on her face. She got on the intercom against Soundwave's instruction.
"Knockout, bring me 'Sky Spike.'"
Completion of Preparations
"We'll try and ground bridge you as far as possible, but we can't risk snapping it." Ratchet said as he opened the ground bridge. Phoenix Artemis waited for ShadowVolt to go first before leaving herself. Sam ran up to the bridge and called out to her, but she wasn't paying enough attention to know what she said. It was cold and dark, typical space. Who knows how fast they'd have to go to get there in less than a day. Artemis clamped her hands on ShadowVolt's, his face bearing a smile.
"Let's get to it, shall we?" ShadowVolt said with a smile, transforming and zooming off without warning. Artemis extended her wings, getting ready to fly. She held a camera loosely in her palm and debated whether to hook it up yet. "You coming?" She decided she'd wait.
The flight was rather boring. With their wings locked and going maximum overdrive (if you can even call it that in midair) it was hard to see what details there was out in space. Games of eye spy would be wasted for what wasn't a star or small dots of far off planets were small particles not worth the time to glance at.
Despite how close the moon looked, every mile they thought they were getting closer seemed wasted. It all seemed the same to them. It wasn't till they began getting really close that they found they were making any significant progress.
"Artemis?" Ratchet's voice came through the static. It was difficult to hear, but just enough to understand.
"Ratchet, what is it?" She screamed loudly into her com-link hoping he'd hear.
"When you arrive at the moon's surface be sure to set up proper communications to eliminate any lag or static through transmissions." That Ratchet, always thinking two steps ahead. When they finally did get in range of the moon, ShadowVolt was the first to step foot on it.
"Whoa, I thought this was going to be rocky. This ground feels like powder."
"And rock." Artemis added before folding in her wings and extending out a pole. "One small step for man, one giant step for the Autobots." She stated heroically and even through the static was blocking a lot of the communications; she could still hear the kid's laughter through the com-link. She stabbed the pole into the ground and set up the communications link.
"Stop fooling around Artemis!" Ratchet screamed with precise clarity.
"I'm not, I'm not." She tried to defend herself and looked around. Where should they start? "I call the dark side." Artemis walked past ShadowVolt, but he tagged along as well. It was almost a complete split. You could peer into the darkness and see nothing but outlines, if you kept going you wouldn't see anything.
"Flashlight?" ShadowVolt handed the torch to her, allowing her to see into the dark abyss.
"Artemis, I wanna see!" Sam screamed from the safety of the base. Artemis couldn't help, but laugh. She took the camera she had been holding in her hand and gave it to ShadowVolt to set up. He placed the camera to perch on his shoulder.
"See everything alright over there?" He laughed and could hear Sam gasp and sigh.
"ShadowVolt, over here." Artemis called him over which he followed. "Ratchet, there isn't just a relic up here."
Autobot Base
"By the Allspark, it's a ship." Ratchet's jaw dropped and stared at the illuminated remains of a ship.
"A cargo ship." Optimus elaborated.
"From which side?" Arcee looked very serious, almost deadly. The camera jerked a little, ShadowVolt must have tripped on a space rock. The camera focused on a spot on the ship. There was a mark that was covered in grime. A hand, Artemis' hand, brushed against it until the grime finally peeled off. It was an Autobot ship.
"We're entering the ship now." Artemis called in as she went past the camera. ShadowVolt seemed to linger at the symbol before heading towards the door. Artemis pried it open with all her might, but even after a while ShadowVolt had to help her.
"What if this is a plague ship? Like the one you found in the desert?" Jack pointed out and all of a sudden, all the bots seemed to get very tense. Sam didn't understand, but the word plague seemed to give her the chills too. It was a good sign when they first stepped into the ship and found the halls to be charred as if it were shot down.
Artemis POV
I felt something pulling me in, telling me to come closer to it. It was warm and friendly making me think that it was a prime artifact. I looked back at Shadow who was watching me. The bot was positioning the camera so that it would angle in a way that made it look like an adventure movie. She wished he'd help so that they could get home before the Decepticons even knew there was an artifact on the moon.
"Do you hear that?" ShadowVolt whispered, positioning the camera towards the ceiling. "It's on the roof."
"Speak of the devil." I sighed and grabbed his shoulder. "I'll go, look for artifact."
"No, I'll go too. If there's more than one of them, you can't take them alone." He frowned and went to follow him out. I covered the camera with my hand and pulled him closer.
"Find the artifact. If they find it there's no telling what could happen. FIND the ARTIFACT!" I let go of him and headed outside. The first one I saw was Dreadwing. I smiled at the second in command and waved him down. The second bot I saw was RazorMane. I figured he was here to kill ShadowVolt. The last bot I saw, I wasn't sure if I could consider a bot.
It was a monster. Its wings made of different layers of thin metal. The small jets mounted on the ends of the wings were small and probably only just big enough to allow it to fly. Its long tail ached like an anchor for its large bird like head. Though it wasn't the wings or tail that bothered her, it was the spikes. There were spikes mounted from the top of its head, down its back, all the way down the tail.
"Sky Spike, get her." Dreadwing pointed to me and I smiled. That monster couldn't do anything to me. So I thought. The beast jumped above me and slammed his extremely spiky tail at me. I side stepped only for it to come at me again. At such a close range I could see particles coated on its spikes. Mira's trying to poison me.
I didn't notice RazorMane load his blaster onto his arm. I didn't see him point it at me. ShadowVolt did. I looked behind me when I managed to shake the beast. ShadowVolt hit against RazorMane to keep him from firing not one round. I wanted to yell at him to look for the relic, but he was keeping my back from frying.
"Where's Dreadwing?" I looked around. The beast was prowling, circling me, so I kept an eye on him. RazorMane was busy with ShadowVolt, but where was the commander? I didn't move fast enough. Dreadwing was hiding from my vision and only let me see him when his blaster was at his hips. He didn't blast me first.
Autobot Base
"Decepticons." Sam growled and crossed her arms. "Don't they ever take vacations?"
"ShadowVolt, don't let Artemis go alone!" Ratchet said in a stern voice. The camera was still which suggested he was struggling with Ratchet's orders and Artemis'.
"Shadow, she can't take them on her own, please go. Please!" Sam pleaded and the camera shifted slightly as if ShadowVolt was nodding.
"There are three of them. Oh great it's Dreadwing." When he said that, the Autobots exchanged glances. The second in command is fighting against Artemis, highly capable, but still human, and ShadowVolt, an ex-Decepticon which style of fighting is probably known.
"Artemis, Artemis, do you hear me?" Ratchet tried to contact Artemis, but if she did hear him, she didn't answer. "Artemis, retreat, you're outnumbered. ShadowVolt, look at Artemis."
The camera didn't move. ShadowVolt was busy looking at RazorMane. The Decepticon was mounting the Lightning Revolver onto his arm. He rushed so quickly to stop RazorMane that the camera caused Rafael and Sam to get a bit of motion sickness. The close up of RazorMane's face was not appreciated. Though, Sam and Miko seemed to enjoy the close up action.
"Go ShadowVolt, go!" Sam yelled and smiled.
"I always wanted my own cheer squad." ShadowVolt laughed and continued to his RazorMane. Arcee folded her servos and shook her head.
"Don't get cocky." Arcee sounded annoyed and yet she too was smiling.
"How's Artemis doing Shadow?" Sam looked over at Optimus. He was very stiff and tried to not look worried. He wasn't succeeding.
"Give me a second." He hit RazorMane with a few quick jabs and then tossed his over his shoulder. When he looked over to Artemis, everyone gasped. Dreadwing just slammed himself into her. The body slam looked rough and was almost painful to watch.
"Artemis!"
Artemis POV
My whole body ached and I tried to regain my composer. My worst fear was being realized; I felt my body begin to change back into a human. I looked over at Dreadwing, not quite changing yet, and found his blaster charged.
"Scrap." I mumbled as the blaster fire hit my straight in the stomach, causing me to change almost immediately as my body crashed into the ship. The ship was so old that it crumbled underneath me as I crashed into it, forcing me deeper into the ship.
Autobot Base
"Artemis!" Sam panicked.
"Artemis!" ShadowVolt skidded down into the moon dust only to be stopped by RazorMane. "Scrap!"
"Get to Artemis aid!" Ratchet demanded loudly. Optimus, who had been silent and still the whole time, came towards the com-link and tried to get ahold of Artemis himself.
Artemis POV
"Artemis? Artemis, are you okay?" I could hear Optimus, but wasn't sure where it came from. It finally came to me that it was over the com-link. I wanted to respond, but my body wouldn't move. I felt the air not coming into my lungs as freely and wondered if I simply had a loss of breath, if a rib had pierced my lung, or if my suit had a leak. "Artemis, please respond!"
Please. I heard that word and tried my hardest to try and speak. Optimus needs me to answer him. I need to answer him. I couldn't seem to respond even though I tried so hard. I looked out into the space above me. Pieces of the ship from when I broke through them floated in zero gravity. Then I saw Sam's Autobot badge.
Sam. She made that just for me. She made it in hopes that it would protect me. I couldn't just let it float away from me. I went to move my arm to reach for it, but it wouldn't budge.
"No." I finally managed to squeeze out of my lips. "I am not going to let it end here." I forced my arm up and reached for the badge knowing my arm wasn't long enough to reach. "I'm not going to be another Autobot down."
I finally managed to turn back into an Autobot, not Phoenix, but it was a start. I grabbed my badge and held it to my chest. I couldn't allow myself to turn back into a human until I got home. I needed to end this now. My thoughts were interrupted by a faint blue glow. I looked over at the small pile of broken down ship parts and moved them aside.
"Whoa."
Autobot Base
"ShadowVolt, hang in there!" Ratchet yelled into the com-link. ShadowVolt panted heavily, his body wearing down from trying to keep all three bots at bay. He was leaking Energon and they seemed un-phased.
Sam was crying. Optimus still couldn't get a hold of Artemis and she wasn't sure if she was dead or not. Things were looking bad and were getting worse by the second. ShadowVolt wanted to disconnect the camera, but hadn't had time.
The beast came at him first. It was hungry for ShadowVolt's Energon. ShadowVolt was tired; he didn't really want to fight anymore. He closed his optics, expecting to feel the beast infecting him and tearing him limb by limb.
Sam gasped when a sword pierced through the beast, cutting it completely in half. It didn't look like Phoenix's sword. Artemis walked into the cameras view. She took the sword in her hand and it glowed lightly in response. She didn't look back at the camera, she didn't need to. Sam smiled at her figure and nodded.
"The Star Saber."
Artemis POV
I took the Star Saber in my hand and brought it level to my hips. I could see Dreadwing jerk back. He was scared now. I could tell. I heard Prima clearly. I could hear him telling me what to do, how to use his weapon of choice.
"Dreadwing," I announced over to him. "I suggest you yield." It didn't take long for the second in command to wave his hand over to RazorMane in a sign of retreat.
"Lord Megatron's not going to be too happy about them returning empty handed." ShadowVolt laughed very weakly, holding his servo and walked over to my side. "Artemis?"
I didn't respond to him. I was getting a message from someone, someone I knew from memories and stories. I stared at the blade, tilting my head slightly as the message continued. I heard Ratchet trying to contact me through the com-link. When the message was finished I lowered the blade and sighed heavily. It was exhausting. I turned the camera and got closer to it.
"Keep the porch light on for us Jasper. We're coming home."
Autobot Base
They watched Artemis and ShadowVolt walk through the ground bridge. Phoenix Artemis took the Star Saber from her back and transformed back to the normal Autobot form as she approached Optimus. There was a strong silence.
"Optimus, I think this belongs to you." Artemis raised the Star Saber towards him and allowed him to take it.
"Thank you." He paused for a moment. "Artemis Prime."