Chapter 26-Underground
The mission to Luna was officially over. Optimus waited eagerly for Jetfire, Tomahawk and the children to return to Terra via their ground bridge with the Minicons in tow. Once they got the signal from Jetfire, they summoned a ground bridge in the stratosphere, where the team took the portal and emerged in the Ark's shuttle bay, and were met with the rest of Team Prime. Sparkplug was rushed to the med bay and the Autobots were briefed by Astroscope and his team.
"Thank Primus you're all alright." Arcee breathed. "When we lost contact with you, we thought the worst."
"We were fine, it's just the Minicons up there were better prepared than we thought. They had a fortress built on the dark side of the moon made from what was left of the Exodus." Jetfire said. "Bloody imps armed the place to the teeth."
Optimus knelt down to the Space Team. "Thank you for helping our friends. You've given them a chance in an otherwise dire situation."
"We're happy to help, Prime. But…Indy and some others were still trapped in the base when Nightshade busted through." Astroscope frowned at the thought of the Race team and those few stragglers falling into the Decepticons' clutches. "And I'm sure Breakage and Gunbarrel's teams were captured as well."
"Not to mention those escape pods should've landed by now." Payload said. "Our friends are scattered across the world."
"I can lead the team on a retrieval mission, Prime." Prowl said. "You should focus on the info Astroscope gave us."
"Yes," Optimus nodded. "We must locate the four stasis panels before Megatron's forces have a chance to regroup. Once he learns of this information, he will not waste any time in mobilizing."
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"Very good, Nightshade." Megatron praised as he glanced at the Minicons trapped in cages. Indy glared right back at him, but didn't say anything to anger the mech who could crush him between his fingers. There were a few others that were stuck with him too, namely Gunbarrel, Terradive and Thunderflame. "You've certainly outdone yourselves, Seekers. Well done."
"Thank you, lord Megatron." Dreadwing said humbly.
"Rumble, Frenzy, take them to the holding cells and outfit them with tags. Don't let any of them out of your sight." Megatron ordered. The cassette twins nodded and took the cage back to the med lab for the operation. With that done, it was time for them to get down to business. "Nightshade, what's the situation with the Autobots?"
"The Autobots have divided their forces to recover the escape pods that were launched from the Luna fortress. Which gives us an opportunity to acquire the four panels the Minicons had located here on Terra." She said. She nodded at Thundercracker, who brought up a map of the seven continents. "I already have the computers searching for the coordinates of these panels as we speak."
"Good, Prime will be splitting up his forces to retrieve both the pods and the panels, thus spreading our opposition thin." Megatron said, grinning. "We must do the same to maintain our advantage."
Knockout, who was standing at the back of the group, cleared his throat and pushed his way to the front. "Lord Megatron, I am ready for such a mission." He said pompously. "Barricade and I have enjoyed previous victories together and in his memory, I plan to do the same."
Megatron scowled and stomped up to Knockout, his bulk dwarfing the medic's modest size as he glared down at the mech. "Need I remind you that this is a mission of great importance, not one of your racing excursions? Act quickly! Operate with a surgeon's skill, do you understand, Knockout?"
Knockout gave a shaky nod. "E-explicitly, my lord."
"Now, seeing as you're vastly outnumbered, I am sending Demolishor with you, along with Rumble and Frenzy for support."
"E-excuse me?" Knockout gaped. He glanced at Rumble, who grinned nastily at him. The shorter mech clapped him on the back with his massive pile driver hand, making Knockout stumble forward.
"Glad to serve alongside ya, pretty boy!" Rumble cackled.
"Yeah, we're gonna make sure the Autobots don't put a dent in that pretty finish of yours!" Frenzy smirked.
"Primus help me." Knockout groaned.
XXXXXX
"We're spreading our forces thin here, Prime." Jetfire said. "Not enough Bots at home base."
"I know, but we don't have a choice. We need the other Minicons retrieved before the Decepticons have the chance to snatch them up." Optimus said.
"If they haven't already." Annie muttered, taking a deep swig of her water.
"With most of our team recovering the escape pods, it's up to us to secure the four panels." Optimus turned to the Autobots and humans present. "We will divide into teams. The first coordinates are in Europa, near the Republic of Elladas in the Attilan Province."
"I know where that is!" Penny and Kevin ran into the room, looking like they just woke up, which they probably have. They rushed to the Ark the first chance they got upon hearing that Tracer was among those taken. "It's an independent nation that split from Elladas in the 1980s after a family of espers took over the area and made it into their own little kingdom."
"Will we met any resistance there?" Rodimus asked. "I heard what happened to Ironhide when he fought an esper and I don't want to become number on their scorecard."
"No, Karaba doesn't bother esper-dominated lands, and Attilan doesn't convene with terrorists, but I'd be careful anyway. Make too much noise and they'll come hunting you with guns and powers."
"Yet another volatile hot spot," Ratchet sighed. "These things are growing every day."
"Well, this just means that you'll have to be flexible, Hot Rod." Moonracer smiled. "We can handle this no problem!"
"Don't get too cocky, Moon," Penny warned. "Attilan is a small province, and their royal army patrols every nook and crany of their territory. The chances of them running into two brawling bots is very high."
"What's your point?" Rodimus asked.
"You're going to need a face man." Kevin said. As their confused looks, he elaborated. "A human who can run interference if you get seen by anyone on site."
"And I can be your guide," Penny chimed in. "My dad took me to Attilan for vacation two years ago, and I know the lay of the land, which is something you definitely need over there."
"Rodimus, Moonracer, take Kevin and Penny to Attilan." Optimus said. "Watch yourselves and each other. The Decepticons could already be at the location."
"You got it, Optimus!" Rodimus saluted. "Come on, guys. Let's roll out!"
Ugh, you have no right to say that, Hot Rod." Moonracer rolled her eyes.
"Stop calling me that!"
XXXXXX
The coordinates of the first panel led the human/Autobot team to a lone beach near Attilan's coastal regions. Kevin and Penny stood on the beach looking out at sea. Far off on the other side of the coast was a small dock near a fishing village. The air was damp and smelled of salty sea water, rough waves crashed against the rocky shore, spraying mist everywhere. Behind them was a large cove that led to a cave at the far end of the lake that emptied out into the sea.
Penny took a deep breath of the cool, morning air and smiled. "I forgot who wonderful the weather was here. Attilan always had the best weather cycles."
"Have you been around this area before?" Moonracer asked.
"Once, when I had an interest in collecting seashells and trying to find old shipwrecks that haven't been found yet." She said and pointed to the mainland. "My dad and I would explore the province for old Elladan temples, and act like we were discovering some ancient ruin or something. Funny thing about that is that we actually did end up finding some undiscovered temples and relics."
Penny almost lost herself in those fond memories-back when her dad actually had time for her and wasn't so consumed with her work. When he would be the one to tuck her in at night and not her aunt. Back then, he encouraged her interest in archaeology and world history, and despite his lack of a presence in her life, she never forgot the influence he had on her future. If only he knew of the adventures she was having now. She shook herself from her reverie and looked at her friends. "I'm sorry, let's start the mission."
Moonracer gave her a little smile and took out her scanner. As soon as she got a read on the panel's signal, she and Rodimus transformed and drove the kids along the perimeter of the cover, returning to robot mode and carrying the children along the slippery rocks once solid ground sunk into the water. Things were peaceful enough, and Kevin and Penny took the time to gaze at the beautiful cove they found themselves in, but they also remained alert. The Decepticons had a decent head start on them and could be waiting to stage an ambush.
After hopping on eroded rocks sticking out of the water, they made it to the cave, which fortunately had solid ground for them to walk on. Rodimus got out of the water and gave the cave a wary look.
"We're not really going in there, are we?" He asked.
"The scanner says the panel is right inside." Kevin said, holding up his little scanner device. He noted the grimace on Rodimus's face. "Don't tell me you're afraid of caves, Hot Rod."
"It's not caves I'm worried about, it's what's inside them. I heard Jazz's horror stories about this planet's animal life." Rodimus said. "And don't call me Hot Rod, damn it!"
"Terra's fauna aren't nearly as bad as Jazz makes it out to be." Moonracer said as she walked past him. "You have nothing to worry about."
"Except for possible Hydras." Penny muttered.
"What was that?"
"Nothing!" She smiled innocently.
Rodimus gave her a suspicious glance before ushering the kids in after Moonracer, taking up the rear.
The cave was surprisingly large enough to accommodate the two Autobots, though the walls and ground were wet, with faint dripping audible everywhere they turned. As they got deeper, it got darker, and soon Rodimus had to hand the children flares to light their way so they could see. Kevin could hear his breathing increase slightly, and he looked around at the cave walls.
'They look like ribs.' He thought and glanced up at the stalactites. 'And those are teeth. Crap, I need to stop before I have a panic attack.'
"You doing okay there, Kevin?" Penny asked. "You're looking a bit stressed."
"I'm doing fine. It's…just a bit stuffy in here, that's all." Kevin gave her a grin. "So, um, how far is the panel?"
"Not a clue," Moonracer replied. "I have no idea where the thing is and this place is like a maze."
Soon they came upon a fork in the tunnel. One path looked even more dark and wet, while the other was mostly dry and had tiny pieces of minerals sprouting from the walls.
"Which way now?" Kevin asked.
They got their answer in the form of a faint, echoing high pitched screech sounding throughout the cave. Rodimus and Moonracer tuned their audio receptors to hear the sound properly.
"What is that?" Penny asked. "An animal?"
"No animal on Terra can make a sound like that." Kevin said. And he knew that, he watched a lot of National Geographic as a kid.
"That's no animal," Moonracer said. "That's a machine…a driller!"
"Decepticons!" Rodimus grinned and transformed to car mode. "Let's get moving, Moon."
"Whoa there, Roddy, let's not jump into the frying pan head first, okay?" Kevin said. "We don't even know where they are. The echoes are throwing my sense of direction off."
Penny hummed. "Maybe we should split up."
"Huh? No way, that's too risky." Moonracer said, but the dry look Penny gave her made her pout.
"We don't have a choice, Moonracer. We need to find the Cons before they high tail it with the panel." She said, and smiled. "Don't worry, Kevin and I can take care of ourselves. We came prepared."
"I don't think a crossbow and arrows are gonna scare the Cons off, Penny." Rodimus pointed out.
"You haven't seen them in action." She smirked. "Let's go, Kevin. We're moving."
Penny was already walking down the dark left path, with Kevin chasing after her, giving the Autobots a 'What can I do?' shrug. Rodimus and Moonracer traded glances.
"I'm not getting in trouble if they get hurt." He told her.
"They're smart kids, Rodi. They know when to run when things get hot." She said and walked down the right path. Rodimus shook his head and followed her, hoping this didn't come back to bite them in the aft.
XXXXXXX
Kevin and Penny walked through the large tunnel by themselves, trying to follow the faint echo that sounded a little quieter now. Kevin was now starting to regret going it alone with Penny. Was it just him or did the cave feel smaller?
"I think we went down the wrong tunnel." He finally said.
"No, we didn't. I explored these caves with dad as a little girl and I remember every nook and crany of this cave." Penny said, then something caught her eye. "Oh, that's new!"
Kevin shook his head as she ran over a plucked a piece of hephaestium from the ground. Penny took out a laser scalpel (given to her by Rollbar, for recreational purposes only) and sawed off a large fragment to put in her bag.
"We're not on a scavenger hunt, Penny."
"I know, but it's rude to pass up free hephaestium. Have you've seen the prices for these in Dust shops? It's highway robbery!" She bagged the crystal and turned to Kevin with a big smile, which turned into a frown as she noticed his…jittery state. "Kevin…you don't look so good."
"Just a little on edge. I…don't like going into dark places like this." Kevin admitted, taking deep breaths to keep the tiny flame in his hand from turning into an inferno.
"Kevin," Penny slowly walked up to him. "Are you…claustrophobic?"
Kevin didn't want to say it, but Penny knew she hit the nail on the head. The normally confident esper glanced away at the moist cave walls, looking ashamed. "A little, I just have a slight aversion to being in caves or just underground in general." He said. "Why do you think I don't go on those hiking trips of yours?"
"Oh Kevin, if you were claustrophobic, why didn't you say anything?" Penny frowned, giving him that all too familiar scolding look he was used to. "I wouldn't have dragged you in here if it affected you that much."
"But you wanted to go, and I just couldn't let you go it alone with the Bots. And…I didn't want you being held back by me." Kevin replied. "I told you, it's not serious. I can handle it."
"Your health is more important than what I want, Kevin. Don't give yourself a panic attack just to please me." She took his hand in hers. "That's worse than holding me back."
Kevin smiled. "You make me sound like a try-hard boyfriend."
"Of course you are!" Penny giggled. A second later, a blush formed on her face. "A try hard, I mean. Not the boyfriend part. Just to be clear. Um," Penny bit her lip and marched down the tunnel. "L-let's go! We have work to do!"
Kevin smiled and followed her, now feeling slightly more at ease. They walked for a few more minutes, before they heard the loud splashes of another set of feet further down the tunnel…which were getting louder.
"I thought you said people rarely come down here!" Kevin whispered.
"I said rarely, not never." Penny hissed.
"Get behind me."
Kevin got in front of Penny and coated his arm in bright orange flames, pressing his back against the wet wall. He edged himself closer to the corner at the end of the tunnel and quickly jumped out just as a red-haired woman did the same on the other side, pointing a gun at him. It was only thanks to their initial shock that no one got hurt.
"Agent Keller?" Kevin blinked. The woman, Cole Keller, stared at Kevin in shock.
"You're one of those kids from the forest." She whispered.
Then Agent Rebecca Howard appeared around the corner with Agent Sean McCurie, and things went downhill from there.
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Knockout tapped his foot on the wet ground impatiently, waiting for his "partner" to hurry up. Demolishor was in his tank mode outfitted with drilling equipment to burrow into the wall of the cave. Rumble and Frenzy were somewhere else in the cave doing Primus knows what. Ever since Soundwave went MIA, the twins were rowdier than usual. Knockout hoped they put him out of his misery and fell down a very deep pit or something.
"Could you hurry up already?" Knockout grumbled. "I'm tired of standing around in this god forsaken dump. The salty air is tarnishing my undercarriage."
Demolishor stopped drilling and rotated his upper half to face Knockout. "I'm not your slave, Knockout, and listening to you complain is the last thing I need right now."
"What, are you going to cry like a protoforms? At least Barricade took my ribbing with some dignity." Knockout huffed.
"Why don't you drill if you think you can do a better job?"
"I would, but my finely sculpted hands aren't as large and brutish as yours!"
Hidden behind a group of stalactites, Rodimus and Moonracer watched the two arguing Cons in silence. Rodimus charged up his arm pipes and took aim at Demolishor, but Moonracer placed a hand on his arm, shaking her head and motioning for him to wait.
"What for? The panel isn't out yet." He said quietly.
"Yeah, so we let them dig it out for us. Then we attack." She replied and rested her sniper rifle on the rocks. "Sniper 101: Wait for the target to come to you, not the other way around."
Rodimus wisely kept his doubts to himself. Moonracer spent most of her second life under the tutelage of Elita-1's Valkyrie squad. They made her already superb shooting skills downright dangerous and forged the femme into a tiny tank of terror. Moonracer acted like a human teenage girl most of the time, but in battle, her lessons in warfare and combat came to the forefront and she was a totally different person. It was a bit creepy at how she could just switch mindsets on a dime, but war changed people like that, making even the sweetest bot into a war machine.
After another minute of insulting each other's configurations (or in Knockout's case; insulting his partner's lack of a spouse), Demolishor finally got back to work, drilling a few more inches into the rock. Fortunately for both of them, he didn't have to drill any farther, because the scanner Knockout held began beeping rapidly.
"Stop!" Knockout said. "We found it!"
Demolishor transformed and looked inside the hole he made. Deep side the wall, the still dormant panel was resting inside a tiny cubby of stone where it lay untouched for millions of years. Knockout pushed Demolishor aside and grinned at their quarry.
"Glorious." Knockout reached inside and tried to pull it out, only to find that it was stuck tight. He grunted as he tried using his legs as leverage to push against the rock to free the panel, but it didn't even budge. "Don't try to fight it, you little bastard! Just let go!"
Demolishor shook his head at the pitiful sight. "Do you want me to-"
"No! This is my prize!" He yelled. "It's mine to take!"
"Whatever you say."
Moonracer winked at Rodimus and pointed her rifle at the two Cons. Plugging two wires from her rifle into the back of her head, she linked her laser scope to her optic sensors, maximizing her accuracy drastically. It might not be much, but it added to her already prodigal skill. She lined up her aim with Knockout's arms, planning to shoot both arms off in one shot. Just as her finger pulled the trigger, Rodimus yanked her back.
"Hey, what's the-" She saw the rock she was resting on get pulverized by Rumble from a pile-driver dive on her position. Frenzy also fell on them, shoving his drill hands at the red mech's head, but Rodimus kicked him aside.
"There goes out element of surprise." Rodimus said. "I got the terrible twos. You go-"
"I know!" Moonracer grabbed her rifle and ran for the Cons, who were already pointing their weapons at her.
"What are you waiting for? Shoot her!" Knockout yelled.
Demolishor fired multiple pulse blasts from his cannon fingers. Moonracer weaved through the majority of them, getting a few hits on her arms and shoulders. She slid across the ground on her knees and fired her rifle at his elbow, causing him to stumble back in pain. Demolishor swung his large fist and punched her into the wall, but she fired an explosive round into his face, engulfing his head in a quick fiery burst that made him stagger back. Moonracer shifted her rifle into its scythe mode and slashed him across the chest, leaving a deep gash in his chest plate. She spun around for a follow up attack, but a sharp pain in her right arm sent her to the ground. Knockout stalked towards her, his right hand a spinning saw.
"You have wonderful features, my dear," He said flamboyantly. "But perhaps you'd be interested in a make-over? A little enhancement, perhaps?"
He swung his saw blade at her, but she rolled to the side and punched him in the jaw. Knockout barely avoided her scythe as it fell on him, and hissed as a piece of his arm kibble was sliced off.
"Sorry, I don't do surgery." Moonracer smirked. "I'm naturalistic."
"Shame. I would've loved to open you up to see if you were just as beautiful on the inside." He growled.
"Not on a first date!"
Moonracer leapt at Knockout and spun her weapon around her body. Knockout slashed at her, but only managed to land a thin cut on her thigh before he found the barrel of her rifle in his face. He was able to move his head just enough avoid the bullet that sailed over his shoulder. She slammed her knee into his face and bashed his cranium with the barrel of her rifle, sending him to the ground.
Rodimus was having his own share of the fun with the twins. He grunted as a sonic scream from Frenzy hit him like a solid punch from Ultra Magnus, blasting him into a rock formation. Rumble leapt at him with the intent of smashing his head between his claws, but Rodimus ducked so the abnormally strong mech smashed through the stone pillar behind him instead. It collapsed, causing large rocks to fall on them. Rumble was nearly hit by a falling boulder, and Rodimus fired an electroblast from his arm pipes into Rumble's chest, sending him crashing into the rubble.
"And stay down!" He yelled. Then he felt an intense pain in his right leg. "Ow!"
He saw Frenzy digging into his leg with one of his drills. Frenzy grinned up at him and released a close range scream that blew Rodimus off his feet and into the stalactites on the ceiling before he hit the ground.
"I hate these little slagheaps." Rodimus grumbled, trying to shake the ringing from his head.
Moonracer stepped over a dazed Knockout and over to the hole with the panel inside. She reached in to grab it, but the panel was just out of her reach. Her arms were just too short to get a solid hold on it. "Come on, I thought I grew taller when I was resurrected!" She whined.
A surprise volley of laser blasts caught her in the side and knocked her to the ground, bits of armor flying off her form. Demolishor stomped towards her, looking very pissed off.
"That Minicon is Decepticon property, Autobot," He growled. "Stand aside or be reduced to slag."
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Penny had no idea what was going on, but she knew it had Kevin on edge. He was already stressed out from being in the cave and now they ran into some humans near a cybertronian hot zone that apparently knew him.
"What are three secret agents doing in down here?" Kevin asked, not dousing the flames on his arms.
"That's a question we should be asking." Cole said, finger near, but not on, the trigger. She didn't like pulling a gun on a child, but she was dealing with an esper with an elemental power, which were usually one of the most dangerous. And said esper being one of the kids Skywatch had wrongfully detained made things only more volatile. "What you kids doing down this deep in the caves?"
"Exploring, duh." Penny frowned. She kept her eye on the other agent and the one with the glasses. She watched enough government documentaries on TV to know not to let her guard down just because they looked calm and level-headed. "This place is a pretty sweet vacation spot if you didn't know."
"That's a pretty shallow explanation for you two being here without adult supervision." Sean said dryly. He was tensed for any surprise attacks, but he didn't reach for his weapon so far.
"The same goes for you and your slave master." Kevin replied. "Now where's your boss, Frederick? I'm sure that pointy bastard isn't far behind."
"He's dead," Cole said, her face showing not the slightest bit of remorse. "Your alien buddies killed him and a lot of other people, too. Good people."
"Soundwave isn't out buddy!" Kevin growled, then realized his mistake. "Shit!"
"You know its name?" Rebecca whispered, slowly stepping forward. "You know more about them than you let on-about the aliens hiding on Terra."
Kevin wanted to dent it, call her crazy, but she was already aware that he was hiding the truth. Not to mention she knew about the cybertronian war to some extent. This was a worst case scenario. "It would seem you know about them too."
"You have no idea." Sean chuckled. Cole sent him a look to shut up.
"All right, what the hell is going on?" Penny glared at the adults. "Kevin, who are these guys and how do you know them?"
"These are the government agents that snagged Darren's group along with me after we stumbled onto their front lawn, which was poorly concealed by the way," Kevin glared at Cole. "Your boss threatened us if we didn't tell about these so-called NBEs."
"Fredericks was one of our loser cannons in our organization who let his status go beyond mission parameters. I assure you, not all of us are like that." Rebecca said.
"Tell that to Simmons." Sean muttered.
"Who's us?" Kevin asked.
"That's classified." Cole said. "What do you know about the NBEs?"
"That's classified." Penny replied, grinning at Cole's scowl.
"This isn't getting us anywhere." Rebecca sighed and signaled Cole to lower her gun. "Let's try this approach. My name is Rebecca Howard, xenobiologist of the government affiliated black ops agency called Skywatch. These are my close associates, Agent Cole Keller and Sean McCourie."
"Whoa, doc!"
"Howard, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Cole hissed. "Don't spit out our secrets to civilians!"
"They clearly know more about the NBEs that we do, Cole. A lot more." She said. "I can't tell you everything, but I can say that we came here investigating possible signs of alien activity in the area, namely sightings of NBEs fighting. We didn't expect to find much, but us meeting was a little quirk of fate."
Kevin and Penny weren't expecting her to suddenly blurt out her identity or her reasons for coming here. She threw them off with her brutal honesty, and they knew that she was making a huge gamble telling them this, and her words seemed sincere enough for Kevin to lower his guard a bit.
"I'm not asking you as an agent of some government agency, but as a scientist trying to stop more lives from being lost to these beings." Rebecca pleaded. "What is your connection to these aliens? Are they here to invade Terra, or is there something more that we're missing? What are we dealing with here?"
Kevin stared hard at her; the shadows caused by his flames cloaking half his face in darkness, making him seem like a dark statue poised to strike at an unseen enemy. Seeing that Howard was appealing to him for a peaceful resolution, he doused the flames on his arm. He wouldn't attack tem, but he wasn't going to just up and betray the Autobots like that.
"I won't sell out my friends, but I can tell you that if you really do know about these so-called NBEs, just know that not all of them are bad." He told them. "Don't trust everything you see until you know all the facts."
"What the hell does that mean?" Cole asked. "Come on, kid, just give us a straight answer."
"That's all you're getting from me. Make of it as you will."
Rebecca wanted to ask more, about the other children he saw before, the aliens, and how they know about them. And if they had any robotic aliens in their custody were the ones he was referring to. But that never came to pass as the cave rumbled, causing some rocks to fall on them.
"What's going on?" Sean asked.
"No idea, but I don't think it's good." Cole said, drawing her gun again.
The cave wall to their right suddenly exploded, sending large rocks flying at them. Kevin and Penny jumped back to avoid the worst of it, but Cole had a sharp stone hit her right shoulder as she dived to the ground. Sean and Rebecca pulled her to safety from the chaos. The scientist looked up and gaped at the magnificent sight before her.
Rodimus and Demolishor were fighting in the water, their punches echoing like thunder that made the humans' teeth rattle. Kevin and Penny scrambled back towards the others when Rodimus took a punch to the chin and crashed back to the opposing wall. Rebecca and Sean watched the battle with awestruck gazes.
"Those are a lot bigger than the ones we've seen." Sean muttered,
"I take it those are the bad aliens you hinted at?" Rebecca asked Kevin.
"See those symbols on their bodies? Red is friendly, purple is-move!" Kevin pushed her out of the way as a large red arm punched the spot they were just in. The Decepticon Knockout grinned at the humans as he stomped towards them.
"Looks like I missed," He said, shifting his right hand into a drill. "A damn shame for you little ones."
Sean fired his gun, but the bullets bounced harmlessly off Knockout's metal skin. The medic looked anything but impressed at the weak defense. "Really, just shoot bullets at someone made of metal. You'd have a better chance at fighting a tank with your bare hands."
His mirth was cut short when a rocket hit him in the face, swallowing his head in a small explosion. The others turned to see Cole limping towards them, blood leaking from a cut on her temple. She was carrying a smoking rocket launcher on her unwounded shoulder.
"How's that you stupid tin can!" She snarled.
"You little animal!" Knockout shoved his drill arm at the humans, but Moonracer barreled into him, and they both crashed to the ground.
"Kevin, Penny, get the panel!" Moonracer shouted. "It's somewhere in here!"
"Where?" Penny asked.
"In the water!"
"That's helpful." Penny grumbled and looked at the water flooding in. It was shallow enough to actually see through, but no panel was anywhere near them.
"Hold up, you know that thing?" Sean asked, surprised. He really wasn't expecting this when he woke up in the morning.
"Not now, Sean, we've got other problems." Cole pointed at the 11 foot tall twins that were stalking towards them with sadistic grins on their faces.
"Look at that, bro. Two Autobrats and those little flesh bags from that base we torched." Frenzy said.
"Didn't we kill 'em all?" Rumble asked.
"Thought we did, but I guess we missed some." Frenzy gnashed his drills together, generating orange sparks that eerily reflected off his face. "Let's fix that."
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"Have a drink!" Rodimus shoved Demolishor's head into a deep pool and held it there. Seeing as they couldn't breath, the action was entirely useless on the Con, but for Rodimus, it was just adding injury to insult.
Demolishor flailed his arms, but Rodimus was practically sitting on his back and he had no leverage. Going by touch alone, he grabbed a handful of wet dirt and threw it into the mech's face, making him jerk back in surprise. Demolishor pushed off the ground and threw the Autobot off him, transforming in one smooth movement.
"That was a dirty trick." Rodimus growled, wiping the mud from his eyes.
"We invented the concept, you pencil pushing poser!" Demolishor fired four pulse blasts from his cannons, forcing Rodimus to take cover.
"You must have me mixed up with Prowl!" Rodimus waited for a lull in Demolishor's assault, and charged at him. Rodimus took a few hits to his arms and chest, but he didn't slow down in his charge. Grabbing hold of the transformed Con, Rodimus showed Demolishor exactly why he was nicknamed "Hot Rod".
Superheating his frame to the point of causing the air around him to combust, Rodimus engulfed Demolishor in a huge burst of flames like a walking methane explosion. The Con screamed as he was bathed in intense flames that slightly melted his armor and tried to drive away, but Rodimus held onto him fast. Rodimus kept this up until Demolishor finally transformed to robot mode and pushed him away. Every circuit and pain receptor in his body screamed in agony and Demolishor passed out from the pain of his burns, falling over. Rodimus fell to his knees, panting to cool his systems.
"Stay crispy, Demolishor." Rodimus laughed weakly and fell onto his back.
XXXXXX
Rebecca never thought that, in all her years of working for Skywatch that she'd be seeing real aliens, general relatives of the Ice Man found so long ago. Their power was tremendous, a far cry from the animalistic mechanoids Agent Red's group had acquired from Mount Kalahai. But what amazed her even more was how these middle school students were fighting off the smaller robots that were a part of the massacre at their regional base.
Kevin would attack with wide reaching bursts of flame to drive them off. Penny fired her arsenal of surprisingly effective crossbow bolts tipped with explosive materials that tore holes in the Cons' armor. Rumble especially took the brunt of Penny's attacks on his chest and face.
"This is stupid! These brats shouldn't be able to fight us!" Rumble growled. "They weren't this hard to kill before!"
"Maybe you shoulder sing to them," Frenzy quipped. "Primus knows your voice can raise the dead. Maybe it can do the opposite."
Rumble gave him an obscene hand gesture. "Go frag yourse-gah!" He was hit in the chest by another rocket and fell into the water. Cole wiped the blood from her eyes and spat at him.
"That was for my friends you asshole!" Cole hissed.
"Bro! You little bitch!" Frenzy released his sonic scream at Cole. Sean pushed her down so that the sonic wave flew over them and into the wall, smashing through the thick rock with deadly precision. Cole grunted as she hit her elbow on something.
"Ow! What the…hell?" Cole glanced down on what she fell on and saw a strange blue and green hexagonal panel. It was the stasis panel that was dislodged when Rodimus and Demolishor crashed through the tunnel walls. Penny saw her pick it up and ran over to her.
"You found it!" Penny exclaimed.
"Found what?" Cole asked. She jumped when Penny snatched the panel from her. "Hey!"
"Don't touch things that don't belong to you!" penny scolded. Suddenly Kevin crashed into the water next to them. "Kevin!"
"Ugh," Kevin groaned. He had a bloodied gash on his forehead. Rebecca quickly looked him over, getting some badnages to fix the wound.
"He's alright, but he has a nasty bump on this noggin." Sean said. "We need to get him out of here."
"You filthy bloodbags aren't going anywhere! Frenzy snarled, pointing a blaster at them. Sean and Cole aimed their own guns at him, prompting a laugh from the red minibot. "Like your little peashooters can do any damage to me."
"Then how about this?"
Frenzy only had time to see Moonracer pointing her rifle at him, and could do nothing as she fired a blast that swallowed his body and sent him flying a few feet away, hitting the wet, soggy ground as a smoking wreck.
"You guys okay?" Moonracer asked the humans. Rebecca simply stared at her in awe. Sean and Cole held their weapons tightly, not attacking her, but not really letting their guard down. Penny brushed past them and smiled up at her.
"We're find, Moon. Just wet and a little banged up." She said.
Not too far from them, Knockout lifted himself out of the muddy pool he fell into when Moonracer knocked him out with his own energon prod. He spat out a clump of mud and growled at the femme's back. No one, and he meant no one, messed up his finish and lived to see the sunrise! He was going to make that brat wish she never saw his cleanly polished face. Shifting his hands into his lethal medical tools, Knockout prepared to charge at her when someone tapped him on the shoulder.
"What?" Knockout turned around to face a grinning Rodimus.
"Howdy." Rodimus greeted and punched Knockout's lights out.
XXXXXX
A few minutes later, the two Autobots escorted the weary humans out of the cave and back into the cove, out into the fresh afternoon air. Rebecca banaged Kevin's head wound while Sean and Cole addressed the Autobots.
"I don't believe it. There really are more of you on Terra." Cole muttered. "Looks like Simmons really wasn't talking out of his ass."
"So, little girl, you going to tell us what that thing is all about?" Sean asked, nodding at the panel in Penny's arms. "Must be pretty important if you guys re brawling for it."
"That's none of your business, tiny." Rodimus crossed his arms. Cole bristled.
"Listen you wind up reject, don't think that you can just walk all over us because you're made of metal. By rights, we should take you into Skywatch custody-"
"Keller, that's enough." Said Rebecca as she and Kevin walked up to them. "These aliens have us outgunned and we can't do a damn thing if we wanted to. And the fact remains that you did save `our lives."
"So what now?" Kevin asked, rubbing his throbbing forehead. "You gonna try to arrest us or something?"
"No," Rebecca said, before Cole could reply." Aside from angering your robotic friends, I don't want to introduce you to our world of espionage. The last thing I need is for the members of our organization who think that working without congressional approval means abandoning our morals to learn about you kids. But please, tell me…what are you?"
The Autobots glanced at each other before Moonracer spoke. "We're Autobots. Soldiers without a home fighting to protect yours."
They shifted to their vehicle modes, further surprising the three agents, and took in Kevin and Penny before driving off down the coastline, leaving the Skywatch agents at the cove.
"Autobots," Rebecca whispered, still processing what they experienced today.
"Howard, we need to report this." Cole said. "We've made contact with warring NBEs, proper contact this time."
"Peaceful contact, I might add." Sean added. "Imagine what the top brass will say about this."
"I imagine that despite what we learned today, that there are some peaceful aliens on our world, Powers and Simmons will probably ignore it in favor of destroying them all and worsening the situation."
"Howard, Powers won't just…" Cole trailed off when the normally docile woman glared at her.
"No. That man will make enemies where there aren't any on the basis of just "being sure". Paranoia makes people do stupid things, Cole. Why should Skywatch be any different?"
And there was still the matter of the mechanoids they dug up from the volcano and Europa. If that boy was telling the truth, then they may have invited a Trojan horse right through their front gates.
Here's another chapter for ya. Now, there are these questions from a guest reviewer about some concerns that I want to put to rest, so i'll answer them here: No, the humans and Autobots won't be gary/mary stus and certainly not Darren, you'll see soon that no one's invincible in Titan. No, there will not be an arc about the beast formers, I can't truly answer the third one to avoid spoilers, but let's just say an animal is dangerous when cornered. And the last question I can't answer because spoilers as well. Guests, I can't answer any questions directly if I can PM you or something like that. It's easier to chat through PMs to avoid cluttering the end of the chapter like this.
Anyway, thanks for reading the chapter, and remember to review and fav/follow!