Chapter Thirty Seven- Underground Search
Following the previous events, the Decepticon team was getting ready to go and search all the Iacon relics located by the moment.
"If we are to have any hope of recovering the Iacon relics before the Autobots do, we must divide our resources." Megatron proclaimed.
"But lord Megatron! When it comes to numbers, we're already at a great disadvantage!" Starscream objected.
"Under the circumstances, swiftness of action is paramount. This is one race that we absolutely cannot afford to lose." Megatron rumbled.
On the Ark, as it was flying around New York, the Autobots were preparing a similar movement.
"So we have four Iacon relics, of not knowing about their usefulness, and with the Decepticons following our tracks. What do you think it would be our best strategy?" Ratchet questioned.
"Dispatching multiple squadrons will allow us to pursuit all four coordinates simultaneously." Optimus decreed.
"Optimus, I've assembled the mining detail you've requested for the first set of coordinates." Bumblebee said entering the bridge with a lot of Autobot miners.
"Well done, Bumblebee. You will be in charge of that relic recovering, accompanied by Arcee and Cliffjumper. Ratchet, you will go too to supervise that everything will be right." Optimus instructed.
"As you wish my liege." The Doctor of Doom answered with a bow.
"It seems we have another mission together, eh partner?" Cliff said.
"Seriously? What was our first one together?" Arcee asked.
"When we first meet." He answered.
"Oh." Arcee said in surprise.
"I you don't mind, I will join them."
"Smokescreen? Are you talking seriously?" Bumblebee questioned.
"You're not too young to do this kind of mission?" Arcee asked.
"For your knowledge, I performed previous success in retrieving cybertronian relics. So I intend to do it again." Smokescreen declared proudly.
"Okay, you can go with them. But remember, this is a mission, not one of your racing excursions. So stop your preening! Move quickly and operate with a surgeon's skill! Have you understood it, Smokescreen?" Elita One declared.
"Explicitly, my lady." Smokescreen stuttered nervously.
"Now, since the most of you are simply scouts or unexperienced, you will require appropriated support." Optimus said.
Smokey, Arcee, Ratchet, Bee and Cliff looked around to see behind them a giant six legged Insectobot with giant jaws (a Bruiser from Fall of Cybertron and Rise of the Dark Spark) looking at them.
"How very repellant." Cliffjumper muttered as he and Arcee and Smokescreen looked at the creature nervously, while Ratchet and Bee smirked.
Meanwhile, in the Decepticon base…
"Megatron, the Autobots have retreated from Manhattan." Soundwave observed.
"They just up and left?" Knock Out repeated in disbelief.
"It is logical that Optimus has already set course for the second set of coordinates after dispatched a unit on this relic's underground location." Shockwave explained.
"Without busting up a city block to get to it?" Airachnid asked.
"They use subway tunnels." Jack said, catching their attention. "New York has a whole network of them running beneath the city."
"Since the human population no longer seems to be directly threatened, maintaining our disguise will be necessary. Airachnid, Stinger, you are the best choices to navigate through such a densely populated area." Megatron stated.
"Megatron, New York has more than eight million people. The odds of being spotted by at least one of them are pretty high. Even if they are heading underground." Jack warned.
"Where are you going with this?" Starscream asked.
"You're gonna need a face man." Jack answered, before elaborating at Megatron and Starscream's confusion expressions. "Well, someone who can speak on their behalf. A human who can run interference if their cover gets blown."
"Well, I've actually been in subway stations. I grew up in a major metropolis. Unlike Mr. I've-never-been-outside-Jasper-Nevada." Miko said looking at Jack.
"I have been to Cybertron." Jack reminded her.
"Cybertron doesn't have subways!" Miko objected before asking meekly. "Does it?"
"Yes, actually subways were one of the most used ways of travel for big cities. I saw that when we stormed Iacon." Knock Out told.
"Oh." Miko said in defeat.
"Agent Silas's field experience makes him our best candidate." Megatron said.
"I don't think that would be possible." Starscream corrected looking at Silas, who was lying on a medical berth.
"Form up!" He shouted before he when out again, making the children laugh a little.
"He's still recovering from his encounter with the Autobot warship." Soundwave explained.
"Which we survived without incidents." Miko reminded.
"Very well. Miko and Jack will accompany Airachnid and Stinger." Megatron said finally gave up.
"Yes!" Miko cheered.
"Soundwave, initiate transport, and triangulate coordinates of the other three relics." Megatron instructed.
"Affirmative."
"Shockwave, once they're inside the tunnels you will accompany them too, especially to watch the kids." Megatron instructed.
"I will do my best for all parts." Shockwave nodded.
"That was some trick, Miko." Breakdown nodded to her as she went down the stairs.
"You mean swiping Intel from right under Prime's nose? Just doing my part for the team." Miko said proudly before Stinger honked his horn. "Oh, gotta go, Breaky! I'll tell ya all about it when we get back! Wait up!" She yelled running at him.
"Take care of her, Sting." Breakdown said.
"Take care of him, Miko." Raf said, at the same time as Breakdown.
The ground bridge opened and the team went through it. They appeared inside a small street which lay to inside the city.
"Whoa." Jack said surprised by the big buildings from inside Airachnid.
"Of course, it's not Cybertron." Miko smirked from one of Stinger's windows.
"Alright, face. How do we get underground?" Airachnid asked.
"Well, you can't just jump the turn styles and hope no one notices, but we can try looking an underground entrance from the air." Jack explained before Stinger's horn caught their attention.
"Check it out! Construction! Effective life in the big city." Miko smiled.
She discovered a tunnel with a lot of construction instruments in the entrance.
"Shockwave, we are in the entrance." Airachnid reported through the com-link.
"Understood. I will join you when you're inside." Shockwave responded as he prepared the ground bridge.
Moments later, Shockwave was walking with the four of them through the tunnels.
"I must admit that you humans have impressive ways of architecture. These tunnels have been developed very well." Shockwave said observing the tunnel.
"Stinger, don't move!" Jack shouted looking where he was about to step on.
"(What, why?)" Stinger asked.
"The third trail. It carries electricity to power the subway trains." Jack clarified.
"One touch and zap! You're fried," Miko piped in.
"(Okay, thanks for the warning. I will have more careful.)" Stinger said as he rounded the railings.
"How do you know that if you have never been outside Jasper?" Airachnid asked.
"He must have learned about that on TV or something." Miko said.
Meanwhile, the Autobot miners were digging in a wall with their drillers while their Ratchet, Bee, Arcee, Cliff and Smokescreen were waiting, some more impatiently than others.
"How far to arrive to the relic?" Smokescreen asked walking from side to side.
"Be patient, Smokescreen. The miners can't speed their efforts in an area with frail structure taking a lot of risks." Ratchet explained looking a data panel.
"I just hope the relic will be something very useful, like some kind of awesome handle weapon of close combat." Cliffjumper thought.
"Or perhaps a big gun." Bee added.
"Or maybe a piece of armor improvement, which I could think a lot of them."
"Really, Smokey? Do you really have such a great imagination?" Arcee mocked.
"It is not just imagination. During the hardest days of the war, I was assigned in the Iacon Hall of Records. There I was able to know some of the most precious devices of cybertronian technology, which I'm sure this could be one of them." Smokescreen explained.
"I hope your expectations will be true. In that case we can return to our master with a big price." Bee remarked.
"So what are we waiting for? Let's cheer our troops to speed things up." Arcee suggested before she heard snarls from behind her. "Don't do that again!" She yelled to the giant Insectobot, while Cliff and Smokey laughed a little.
The Decepticons and children continued the search in the tunnels.
"We're getting any closer?" Jack asked.
"Triangulating the coordinates is one thing, but figuring out how to reach them through this maze is another." Shockwave said as he looked to the scanner he had in his hand.
Then Stinger began to hear a familiar sound, which was coming from a small tunnel. The rest of the group met with him as they heard the same sound.
"I know that sound. Drilling." Airachnid recognized.
"It's coming from this way." Miko said as she ran through the tunnel.
"Miko!" Jack called out.
"Jack, go with her and make sure she doesn't get into any mess. We'll go after you." Shockwave instructed.
He finally caught up with her at the other side of the tunnel.
"Miko, what it is…" Jack began, but then they were blinded by a few lights coming from a vehicle.
"Hold it right there!" A voice said.
"Scrap!" They all cursed.
There was a man standing behind a sweeper train with the regulation orange vest with vibrant yellow stripes and a megaphone.
"What are you kids doing down here?" He asked as he approached them.
"We're…on a field trip, with our school. But we got lost!" Miko lied.
"Oh really?" The man said dryly.
"I told him we should stay with our group, but Leonard here insisted we search for fossils!" Miko continued as she pointed Jack.
"My bad." Jack smiled sheepishly.
"I wanna go home. Can you help us, Mr…?" Miko trailed off.
"Vogel. But you can call me Vogel." The man clarified as he approached them and put down the megaphone. "So…you ever ride a sweeper train?"
As Vogel walked back to the train, Jack looked back to see Airachnid and Stinger looking at them with concern.
"Face. Tell Shockwave we're fine, that we'll meet as soon as we can." Jack whispered.
Now the kids were moving through the tunnels inside the train.
"And this section was added in the 30s as part of a public works project." Vogel explained.
"Fascinating." Miko sighed in a bored manner.
"These old tunnels have a dark side too. Strange creatures have been said to lurk down here. Giant snakes, albino alligators, even mole men." Vogel smirked.
"But they are just people who live down here because they have no place else to go, right?" Jack guessed.
"That's what the media wants you to believe. But I say they're from outer space." Vogel objected, causing Jack and Miko to look each other in confusion. "I'm telling you. Area 51 has got nothing on this place. The aliens are down here building up their army. Plotting to use us humans as slave labor."
Jack saw Miko pointing to the back door. They quietly exited the sweeper train as Vogel continued talking.
"Aliens, If only he knew." Miko laughed before they began to look for their friends.
At the same time, Shockwave detected something in his scanner.
"I'm picking up a locator beacon." Shockwave reported.
"That means the Bots have unearthed the relic." Airachnid decreed.
The three Decepticons hid behind a wall and prepared their weapons as they saw the Autobots looking through the hole they made through the wall.
"It seems that they find it already." Bee noticed.
"Then let me see it!" Ratchet shouted as he pushed everyone back.
Inside the hole he saw the same kind of container which was secured the spark extractor.
"Airachnid, Stinger, I will bomb them while you sneak through them and grab the relic." Shockwave instructed as he changed to his tank form.
"Got it." Airachnid responded before she and Stinger hid.
Then Shockwave drove to the tunnel's intersection, in front of the Autobots.
"Lock and load. Autobots, surrender the relic and I'll spare your lives!" He shouted.
"Shockwave?" Cliff asked surprised.
"Ha. This artifact belongs to Optimus Prime. You'll have to take it by force." Ratchet challenged.
Shockwave began to fire his cannon at them, taking down a few miners as the others went to cover.
"Way to go, doctor!" Smokey objected.
Stinger and Airachnid got ready to sneak when the Autobots got all their attention on Shockwave, who started to advance at them. But them the Insectobot bruiser attacked them from the ceiling, so they fired at it. Although it had no weapons, the giant bug started to charge at them, trying to crush them. That caught Shockwave's attention, who started to shot at it from behind.
"It seems the bug it's doing well after all." Cliff noticed.
"Now is our chance. Attack!" Bumblebee ordered.
Finally Airachnid managed to blind the Insectobot by shooting webs at its eyes, and she saw the Autobots coming, but not Shockwave.
"Arcee, Cliff, you engage Shockwave! The rest of you, protect the relic!" Ratchet instructed.
"Stinger, help Shockwave! I'll get the relic!" Airachnid said activating her spider legs.
Stinger went to help Shockwave, but Bumblebee intercepted him while Airachnid charged at the rest of the miners who tried to take her down, but she managed to kill them all. But Smokescreen managed to kick her from behind.
"So, what we should do with this spider, doctor?" Smokescreen asked.
"I believe with all that lovely features, my diagnostic will recommend a little painful procedure that I like to call the nip and tuck." Ratchet said as he was going to strike her with his blade.
Fortunately she dodged in the last moment and hit both of them with her extra legs.
"Dodge and kick." She said proudly.
During their fight with Shockwave, Arcee saw how close Airachnid was from the relic's hole.
"Scrap, Airachnid's gonna grab the relic! She always has been so sneaky." She cursed.
"Go after her!" Cliff said as he was holding Shockwave's cannon.
"What?!"
"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Go!" He repeated.
Arcee changed into her motorcycle form and drove towards her rival.
"Airachnid, behind you!" Shockwave yelled.
That allowed her to evaded Arcee's blades.
"Don't you want to finish what we started?" Arcee challenged.
"Sorry, but I'm a little busy right now." Airachnid said before she trapped Arcee against the drill with webs.
Airachnid ran for the relics and tried to open its container, but it was much locked. Meanwhile, Shockwave was taking care of both Cliffjumper and Ratchet while Stinger continued fighting against Bumblebee.
"It seems that the tables have changed again. How it feels to be the only one without a voice now?" Bee mocked.
That made Stinger angrier and pushed Bee against the wall and started punching him in the face.
"(I'm going to tear out your voice box again, and more this time.)" He swore.
But before he could hit strike again, the Insectobot grabbed him by its jaws and began to squeeze him, making him groan in pain. After that, he charged against Shockwave and slammed both Decepticons against the wall, knocking them unconscious. Airachnid was about to grab the relic, but then Smokescreen hit her in the back with an electrified train rail, knocking her too.
"Shock and drop." He said in exhaustion, because the rail hurt him with the electricity too.
"Not bad, rookie." Arcee felicitated him after he freed her.
At the same time, the kids reached to a fork in the tunnel. They couldn't determine which one lead to where the battle was taking place.
"Uh…" Jack started.
"This way." Miko suggested as she took off running down the right tunnel.
"How do you know?" Jack called as he ran after her. "Miko, let's think this through!"
"Why? Cause you think I don't know what I'm doing?!" Miko snapped. "I'm Jack! Megatron picked me to go to Cybertron, so I must know everything!"
"Okay Miko, seriously? If that's what's bugging you, then why you don't said something before?" Jack demanded.
"I've been holding it in." Miko shrugged as she turned away from him.
"Since when do you hold anything in?" Jack asked before sighing. "Look, it's not like you don't contribute. Just yesterday you helped take down a psychotic Autobot warship. This isn't a competition! I…"
"Lost, huh?" A voice caught their attention. It was Vogel's, who found them. "You two are gonna have to explain yourselves to the New York Transit Authority."
"I think we should tell him the truth." Miko sighed.
"Right. The truth is…we lost our dog." Jack lied.
"You're wasting your breath." Vogel said.
"The real truth. We're trying to prevent aliens from digging up a powerful, ancient relic so they can't use it to destroy our planet." Miko confessed.
"I swore I heard something weird and high-pitched early today. Something that wasn't the crew drilling over on track five." Vogel exclaimed in surprise.
Meanwhile, the Autobots put together the Decepticons, all still unconscious, while Ratchet grabbed the container.
"Now let's see what relic is this and what it can do." Bumblebee said as he opened the container and took out a small object with three claws.
"And what better way to learn its power than a very good experiment." Ratchet suggested as he was going to put the object on Shockwave.
"Ratchet! Don't do that!" Smokescreen yelled.
"And why should I follow your advice?"
"Because I know that relic better than anyone, and that is the worst thing you can do with it." He explained.
In that moment, the sweeper train was reaching them, so they humans were able to see them, even Vogel.
"Mole men! Metal ones!" Vogel exclaimed in surprise.
"Actually, Autobots." Miko corrected.
"And they have Airachnid, Stinger and Shockwave!" Jack cried.
"Vogel, this thing has another gear?" Miko asked.
"Abso-fricking-lutely!" Vogel answered eagerly as he switched gears.
Then the train speeded faster towards the Autobots. Most of them and the Insectobot managed to jump out of the way, but the train slammed into Cliffjumper, causing him to be pushed up against the wall with sparks flying. He managed to get up when the train continued driving, but much damaged.
"Cliff! Are you okay?" Arcee asked helping him.
"Hey, that hurts!" He yelled to them.
"Those are their human allies. Crush them!" Ratchet ordered the Insectobot.
That allowed the Decepticons to stand up, and Shockwave to knock out Ratchet with his cannon. Airachnid faced the Insectobot while, both Stinger and Shockwave took down Arcee.
"Smokescreen, lets secure the relic!" Bee told him before he changed to his sports car form.
"Hate to run, but we missed our train!" Smokescreen smirked as he transformed and drove away with Bumblebee.
"Follow the relic! We'll grab Jack and Miko!" Shockwave immediately instructed.
So Stinger transformed and began to pursuit the Autobots, while Airachnid climbed over the Insectobot and continued shooting at him as Shockwave changed to his tank form and drove after the train, but the Insectobot chased him. Meanwhile, with the kids…
"Not good!" Vogel exclaimed. "Break line must have been torched!"
"We can't stop?!" Jack repeated in disbelief.
"No big deal. These tracks go around for miles. Right, Vogel?" Miko asked nervously.
"Not this one!" Vogel objected as he looked down and saw that they were approaching the end of the track.
"This track dead ends?! As in crash and burns?!" Jack asked nervously.
"I'm really starting to hate trains!" Miko screeched.
Fortunately for them, Shockwave managed to catch them up, so he transformed and attached to the train.
"What was that?" Vogel asked after they felt a loud crash from the back of the train.
Miko and Jack went to the back, and they smiled to see it was Shockwave, who looked at them. But Vogel's reaction was another: he grabbed an axe next to him and with intention of use it.
"Welcome to Earth!" He shouted as he swung the axe.
"Vogel, no!" Jack yelled as he and Miko put in the middle.
"He's one of the good guys!" Miko added.
They managed to call him down.
"Shockwave, the brakes are shot!" Jack reported.
"Is there any kind of emergency override?!" He asked.
Vogel approached him. "No sir, but there is a switch track control up ahead. If you can just adjust the pull rod!"
Shockwave look around trying to located it before looked back to the humans.
"You'll know it when you see it! It'll reroute us to another line!" Vogel explained.
Shockwave nodded and changed again to his alt mode.
"Did he just turn into…a tank?" Vogel asked in surprise.
Shockwave managed to overtake the train and drove towards the switch, but the humans heard another sound, one very bad. They looked behind to see the Insectobot, with Airachnid hooked by webs.
"And that would be…" Vogel started.
"Trouble. And it seems that Airachnid is in trouble too." Jack observed.
Meanwhile, Stinger was following both Bee and Smokey through the tunnels.
"Well, well. Look who got his wheels back." Smokescreen mocked.
"Just keep speed up." Bee suggested.
The Autobots tried to lose him by turning around to another tunnel, but Stinger followed them. At that same moment, Shockwave reached to the switch, so he returned to his robot form and started to pull it. But it was tougher than he believed, and ended crushing it.
"Scrap." He cursed.
"Uh oh." Vogel exclaimed in fear.
Shockwave tried to use his feet to change the trail, and he made it in the last moment, just before the trail was close to hit him.
"Yes!" Jack cried in joy.
"Alright." Vogel added.
"Sweet!" Miko cheered.
Then the Insectobot pushed Shockwave back while Airachnid landed on the train's trails. She looked to the electric trail, and an idea came to his mind.
"Come to mama." She whispered.
The Insectobot approached her, so she teased it with her shots, trying to make it touch the electrified trail. She managed to hurt it very bad, but not to touch the trail. But then a big shot from behind took it down and electricity fried completely the bug. Airachnid looked over to see Shockwave standing firm and nodding her.
"Shock and drop." She remarked.
"Let's get back with the kids." Shockwave instructed.
On the other side, Stinger managed to catch up Bumblebee and pushed him out of the road, making him to smash against a wall. Next he hit Smokescreen and immediately transformed back to his robot form, grabbed him and launched him. While Smokey went back to his robot form and dropped the relic, both robots pushed each other in their way to the relic. As for the humans…
"We're in the clear." Miko said in relief.
"Still need a way to stop. Besides slamming into a wall I mean." Vogel remembered.
Both robots tried to reclaim the relic, but as they continued fighting, the relic suddenly activated, and hooked itself to Stinger's arm. Just then, the train was coming towards him from behind.
"Watch out!" Jack yelled.
"Stinger!" Miko shouted.
Stinger braced himself for the impact, but nothing happened. He just passed through the train without any harm. But that wasn't the same for Smokescreen: the train hit him strong and fast and carried him by the way in the floor, stopping the train.
"Stinger!" Miko called out.
"(Don't worry. I'm fine.)" He responded.
"Dude!" Miko cheered as she, Jack and Vogel meet with him.
Then Shockwave and Airachnid arrived from behind them.
"(I secured the relic.)" Stinger said showing them his arm, with the relic still active.
"How did you…not get mashed?" Jack asked in disbelief.
"(I think it's thanks to this.)" He answered.
"Indeed. It's a phase shifter: a powerful device that discomposed its owner's molecules and makes him able to break through any solid surface without resistance." Shockwave explained.
"It's handy when you need to pass through solid objects. Or vice versa." Airachnid clarified, making a demonstration by passing her hand through Stinger.
"(With this I could be an elite scout.)" Stinger said as he removed it.
Just when Bumblebee and the other Autobots arrived, Smokescreen stood up and looked himself in the train's glass.
"Smokescreen, are you okay?" Bee asked.
"No, NOOOOOOOO!" Smokescreen yelled before he pushed the train at the group. "You made me this… I'll respond worse!"
Fortunately, Shockwave grabbed the train with his hand. "The relic is ours. You have failed. Your only logical option would be retreat."
"No, I will reclaim that relic for our leader!" Smokescreen repeated angry.
"Smokescreen, wait! Everyone is hardly damaged and we are surpassed in weapon weary. We can't fight in these conditions." Ratchet explained, grabbing on of his hands.
"Ratchet is right. We lost this fight, but we still have a war to win." Bumblebee agreed.
Smokescreen roared before he and the other Autobots transformed and drove away, as Smokescreen lost one of his wheels. Everyone was alright, but there were still one problem.
"He knows. Do we have to take him with us?" Jack asked, referring to Vogel.
"To the mothership?" Vogel exclaimed.
"I think I have a work around." Miko said smiling.
"We don't lose anything by trying it. What is it?" Shockwave demanded.
"I only need to call our backup." Miko said picking her phone.
Miko's idea involved someone better than then who could intervene for the Decepticons, and that person was now fully awake on base.
"That's right, soldiers! Dump that rock and come back home!" Silas encouraged through the com-link.
Then Silas heard his communicator ring and picked it up.
"Silas. Miko, what is it? What in the name of God?! Listen, I'm in the middle of a crisis here! And you want me to…Oh…Put him on the line." Silas answered.
Back in the tunnels, Miko passed her phone to Vogel so he could talk with Silas.
"Mr. Vogel, this is agent Silas of the United States Government. You are hereby deputized as an honorary agent for the department of…interstellar relations." Silas said.
"Thank you, sir." Vogel thanked as he handed the phone back to Miko. "So, you folks will be in touch?"
"Abso-freaking-lutely." Miko answered with a smirk.
"But until then, we need to maintain complete radio silence." Shockwave said to Vogel.
"It's been an honor." Vogel smiled as he gave the Decepticons a salute, so they saluted him back before they walked away with Jack and Miko.
"Good call, face." Jack admitted.
"I understand big city people. Who spend way too much time below ground." Miko replied.
"One relic down, three to go." Airachnid decreed.
"Let's hope the others are having similar results." Shockwave said before all changed to their vehicle forms.
Jack went inside Airachnid, Miko inside Stinger and they started to drive to the tunnel's exit. Vogel saw that too.
"Robots who turn into vehicles." Vogel mused as he looked his sweeper train with skepticism.