DISCLAIMER: I do not own this franchise I am only using it and some of its characters as a base universe for this story.
Chapter 28- Quakes
POV: Twinwave
": :" Bumblebee talking
(Note: this chapter takes place during season 1 ep 24 "One shall stand part 1" of TFP)
"Ratchet, I'm going to ask you again. What's happening with Optimus?" I asked frantically, ever since Ratchet's little announcement about getting Optimus out of wherever he was battling Megatron a few moments ago Ratchet hadn't spoken to us but instead frantically readied the ground bridge and was preparing med bay. "Optimus is in a dark energon hot spot, however that may be possible. The prolonged exposure to it could cause weakening to his systems. So as I said before, WE NEED TO GET OPTIMUS OUT OF THERE!" Ratchet yelled again. The whirling of the ground bridge had already started in the background and Bulk and I shared a look between the two of us. We'd gotten Optimus into the mess so we were going to be the ones to get him out, and quickly. We walked over to the ground bridge and shopped at its frame, neither of us had an idea of a plan so we were going to have to make one up as we went. I felt someone else step behind us just as we were about to go running through the ground bridge. "I'll be right behind you to help either one of you pull Optimus through." Ratchet said, I gave the briefest nod of my helm before the three of us went charging through the portal and into the chaos of yet another fight.
Bulkhead was the first of our trio through so he'd be the one to take on Megatron, while Ratchet and I pulled Optimus through. I jumped through the portal and landed just in front of Optimus, who was laying on the ground and leaking a fair amount of energon. Despite that I stopped to take a look at the chaos that had unfolded, Bulkhead was already taking on Megaton with his wrecking balls of course but in front of me a volcano was exploding. I gasped a little as I realised that it wasn't the usual molten rock and metal stuff that the kids had described to me but instead dark energon, it was spewing out of the mountain top in a purple fury rage and left an eerie purple trail behind it as it fell from the sky and crashed to the ground. Even I was having a hard time believing that my optics weren't glitching out on me as I stared in wonder at the explosions of the volcano, until Ratchet came through the bridge to help me drag Optimus back to base. "Quickly! We must pull him through!" Ratchet said as he waved me over, I shook my helm to snap myself out of the wonder I was having and ran over to the right side of Optimus (the ground bridges left) and grabbed his arm.
As we tried to move the Prime he let out a groan, maybe from the wounds that he littered all over his body or maybe from the fact that Mgeatron had nearly knocked him out when he'd hit Optimus to the ground. But that was besides the point, Ratchet had grabbed Optimus' other arm and we were now dragging him ever so slowly to the ground bridge as Bulkhead attempted to fight off Megatron. "Bulk! Time to go!" I yelled as we dragged Optimus into the ground bridge and stopped to wait for Bulkhead, I assumed he'd heard me yell at him because he turned tail from an inclousing Megatron and transformed to get to the portal faster as Megatron chased after him. Bulkhead managed to get into the ground bridge not a moment too soon because Megatron had almost managed to hit him as the bridge closed behind Bulkhead's entry. "We've only got a limited amount of time in this limbo state, I'm not strong enough to support Optimus on his feet back to base, nor am I tall enough so you're going to have to switch with me Bulk." I said as I let go of Optimus' arm so Bulkhead could pick it up and we could trade places.
Bulkhead just nodded as I let go and he walked over to help Ratchet help Optimus' to his pedes and back to base. The rest is pretty straightforward, Bumblebee opened the other side of the bridge that opened into base and Ratchet plus Bulkhead helped Optimus limp back there as the limbo state we were in slowly dissipated behind us. I was right behind the mechs as we entered the base and Optimus let out a groan from the effort of walking and staying on his injured legs for so long, "Careful, Optimus. From the looks of things, you've been exposed to a massive amount of dark energon." Ratchet said as he and Bulk got Optimus out of the ground bridge and it shut behind us. Optimus stopped when he saw Raf, he was still in his hospital bed of course but he seemed to be doing much better now. June was standing next to his bed doing a necessary check up on him in med bay, "I am not the only one." Optimus said when he saw Raf. "And I don't think you'll be the last. Judging by how much of that stuff just spewed from the earth back there, Megatron will be using it for whatever plan he's already got formulated." I said from behind them.
Our small rescue group went on the move again as Bulkhead and Ratchet moved Optimus to med bay, to the med berth next to Raf's for a little recovery time and a check up from Ratchet. I'd be nearby in incase Ratchet needed help with anything or if either Raf or Optimus went critical again. "Hey." Raf said to Optimus when Bulk and Ratch had cleared out of the way, Optimus gave him a smile in return only for it to be met by a scowl from June. "He's lucky to be alive." June shot, a little too snarky for my liking. "They both are, Optimus got his aft kicked and was exposed to more dark energon than any of us ever have been while he was trying to kill Megatron." I retorted, Optimus' smile to Raf had already disappeared from the comment by June but I knew he was still happy to swee Raf making a steady recovery. "Megatron found more of the dark stuff?" Jack asked me as he and Miko came down the stairs, well Miko more so came running down after him and towards the group of us. "A volcano full." I responded remembering how much of it was sparking and flowing out of the volcano we'd just been at. "The question is 'how?'" Bulkhead asked from behind Arcee who had joined the rest of us in med bay.
"No. The question is, 'what?'" Ratchet corrected from by Optimus' berth, "Our apologies, Ratchet. 'What' could have produced all that dark energon?" I responded. "No, more like. 'What in the world is the blood of Unicorn doing here on Earth?'" Ratchet once again corrected, I just let out a sigh of fake defeat and waited to hear the Doc bots long winded explanation to what the frag was happening. "The Cons killed a unicorn?" Miko asked confused from the stairs, I let out a small giggle at the human girl's confusion before Ratchet took hold with his lecture. "White horse with a horn on it's head? Prances around all sparkly?" Miko tried to explain, she made a gesture to what she was talking about as she attempted to explain what a 'unicorn' was to the rest of us. "Unicron- an ancient evil whose fossilized blood comprises the matter which we call dark energon, as legend would have it." Ratchet corrected the girl. At the "As legend would have it." part Ratchet looked toward Optimus, supposedly for clarification or to tell us the legend. "So, you're saying this Unicron is some kind of boogeyman?" June asked from Raf bedside, again I let a giggle escape my dermas because the humans had no idea who Unicorn the destroyer was or what he did but were getting him confused with their Earthness.
"Boogeyman?" Ratchet questioned, he turned back to Miko fior yet another explanation and it seemed like the girl was turning into the Ratchet of the humans for the situation and the confused references we were in. "Make-believe creepy guy who hides in your closet." MIko explained again from the stairs. Ratchet turned back to June to explain who Unicorn was some more, "No, Nurse Darby. Unicron is very real. Was. That is, well, I do believe he once existed. I just don't subscribe to the theory that his primordial life force is the substance which… harmed Raf." Ratchet said, he'd explained our planets greatest evil to June and the others the best he could without A) going into full lecture moe and B) using too many of our terms. "I've heard enough." June said silencing any further input from Ratchet or the rest of us, "Jack, please. Help me get Raf into the car." June said as she pulled up one of the bedside barriers and used it to start wheeling Raf towards her car.
Jack, who had been standing at the front of Raf's bed, looked utterly confused on what his mother was going to do. ":Wait, where are you taking him?:" Bee buzzed as he stepped towards them, "Mom, I thought he was doing better." Jack said as he trailed behind them. Raf was still quiet and was stilling up on his bed now with back support from the bed but he looked better than before I had left. "Raf needs to be examined by real doctors, and Raf's family needs to know what has happened. His real family." June shot Jack and as they walked past Ratchet's pedes at him too. "Mom, Rafs family can't protect him, not like they can." Jack said gesturing to the rest of us by Optimus' beside, he'd stopped by Ratchet's pedes to make his point but I had a feeling it wouldn't matter what we did. "A carrier or a mother with her mind made up is a force to be reckoned with." I thought as I watched Optiums get off his berth and stand, he still wasn't strong enough to do so on his own so Arcee, Bulk and I were on standby in case he fell.
"June, it deeply grieves me that I have failed. But I will do everything in my power to ensure that no harm comes to our human friends… or any human ever again." Optimus said, he's started walking towards her and Raf, well limping for that matter, to try and get his point across. I of course walked quickly after him in case he fell during his time standing. "Optimus, they're children. They do not belong in your world. They should be worrying about grades, prom dates, pimples. Not their own survival!" June stressed, she's stopped just before the ground bridge's frame to make her counterpoint. Jack was still by Ratchet's pedes and was holding firm ground on what he believed, even if he was going up against his mom.
"Mom, dark energon is pouring out of the earth. It doesn't do that. This could be about everyone's survival not just ours." Jack countered, "He makes a point June, until we figure out what is happening. Nowhere will be safer than here." I added from next to Optimus. I knew it wasn't going to change her mind but it might help, "You're coming with me, all three of you, and they will not be coming back." June said to Optimus and the rest of us. She then turned her heel and started wheeling Raf back to her car, "I understand." was all Optimus said as he watched her go. Dragging the kids with her, "That's it?" Miko said addressing the concern that was on my processor and probably on the guardian trios as well, After all we've been through together? 'See ya'? What about our freedom to choose?" Miko asked. She'd run over from the stairs to Optimus' ped to state her case.
"That may fly on their planet but not here on Earth. Get in." June said to Jack and Miko who were standing next to each other, Miko scoffed and Jack just looked uset. "Do you really expect me to ride in a non-transforming vehicle?" Miko asked snobbishly, "Miko, I'm serious." June retorted. I watched Bulkhead come up behind her as Miko told June she wasn't her mother, "Miko!" Bulkhead said as he knelt to get sort of close to her level. "Neither are you!" Miko snapped at him, I didn't see his faceplates but I was sure they were similar to mine, not at all expecting her attitude.
"Well, I am yours." June said, she was clearly putting her foot down here and he was going whether he liked it or not. "Let's go Jack." June said, Arcee had walked over to join next to bulkhead just ahead of me which meant I no longer had a clear view on the situation, so I stepped out in front of Optimus to be able to see again. Jack looked to Arcee for back up but instead he got sadness from Cee, "She is your mom." Arcee said. I walked over and put my arm around my Friend's shoulders for some comfort as we watched Jack make his decision. "I'm staying. I'm sorry." he said turning his head away from her, he'd just put his foot down too. "Now we've really got a problem.' I muttered as I saw June's expression and whatever anger she had increased. June didn't do anything, instead her expression softened and then hardened. She turned back towards her car and shut Raf's door, cutting off some of the boy's view of Bee.
"Ratchet, Activate the ground bridge." Optimus said to the medic, "No thank you." June shot as she pulled her car out of it's spot and raced out of the main base entrance. Bee walked a little ways after them but then stopped as we all watched them go, "I'm sorry Bee." I said as we watched them round the corner. "Prime!" Fowler said, his face and part of his torso popping up on the screen suddenly. I jumped a little, every time he did that it scared me. "I'm here, Agent Fowler." Optimus said as he walked towards the screen, "Optimus, you should be resting." I said as I watched him walk over to the computers. I didn't get a response because he was already fully involved in the conversation he and Fowler were already having. "Don't worry, we'll get him back in bed soon but right now he feels his responsibility is to the team. So, there's no use in trying to stop him." Ratchet said to me and we joined the others at the computer and in the conversation with fowler.
"And the quakes?" Fowler asked Optimus, "Ah, so they're talking about how nature has gone absolutely nuts." I thought. "Seven major tumblers of the exact same magnitude at the exact same time as a volcanic eruption all over the globe on different tectonic plates, in theory, unrelated, if they hadn't happened..." Fowler trailed off. "..At the exact same time." Ratchet continued, "Check it out. More good news." Miko said pointing towards the T.V in the human area. She turned up the volume for the rest of us to hear, "Freak storms unlike any other region has seen. Tsunamis threaten the Canadain coast while lightning storms pummel the Gobi desert. Meanwhile electromagnetic anomalies plague urban power grids. These abnormal global phenomena are leaving most to wonder why now and what is next." The weather man on the T.V finished before Miko shut it off. "Don't tell me your Con's have built a weather machine." Fowler joked, "One that powerful? Highly unlikely." Ratchet said as he typed away on his computer. Everyone turned their attention away from the T.V and back towards Fowler, "I do not believe the appearance of dark energon at this point in time to be coincidental." Optimus said as we directed out attention back to the conversation at hand.
"Wait, Bee. Raf and June are in that storm. I think you should go check on them in case they need assistance." I said, Bee buzzed his ":Good idea:" before transforming into his alt and driving out the base doors. "Do you bots have any idea on what could be causing these weather phenomena?" Fowler asked us when the sound of Bee's engine faded into background noise. "None, but I do have a theory on the after." Ratchet started, I could feel Optimus losing his strength to stand. His body seemed to be wavering as he stood silently and listened to Ratchet talk about the prophecy and the global weather patterns. "Optimus I think now would be a good time to go back to med bay and take a rest for a moment." I said as I grabbed his servo and led him away from the others, he didn't argue, for once, and actually followed me back to the med berth willingly.
"Now you still have a view in case June and Raf come back and you can stay with the rest of us while you take a quick break." I explained, I tried to smile to make it sound better and I guess it kind of worked because Optimus just nodded his helm. Now that he had a good understanding and Fowler was finally off the phone I could go talk to Cee and Bulk about the whole June thing, as I turned to leave the berth side Optimus grabbed my wrist. "I have a message for you, from Rainjet." Optimus started, I could already tell I wasn't going to like whatever came out of his intake but I stayed anyway in case it was actually something good instead of gloating on the fact that they'd made off with their power source. "She said she wanted to meet you somewhere and talk things out instead of using weaponry, she said she was trying to talk it out with you because she loves you." Optimus said a little weakly. At this point I could tell I'd flushed a little blue on my face plates, Rain had used Optimus, her master's sworn enemy, as a messenger to say she loved me. "Maybe there is still some good in her." I thought, I shook off whatever blue was left and smiled at Optimus. "Thank you. For telling me." I whispered.
I heard Bee's engine rolling back into base so I joined everyone around his alt as he came to a stop a few meters from the tunnel entrance, he opened both his doors and let Raf and June out. "Uh… we're back." Raf said as he stepped out of his guardians' seat, my smile returned to my faceplates, "Well then, welcome back to base." I said to him as June got out of the drivers side and looked over Bee's alt to the rest of us. I could tell she knew she made a mistake about not trusting us with the kids safety, I mean Bee did just save her and Raf. Jack ran over to check on June and while I couldn't hear what they were saying I knew they were forgiving each other and June was probably grounding him until he was thirty or something. Bee untransformed and Miko returned on the T,V to the news station so the rest of us could hear the new weather report that had come out.
"World leaders are classifying these bizarre weather patterns as a global emergency." The weather man said he was displaying pictures of the different weather and natural disasters that were happening world wide. "Global?" June questioned as the man took a break in his sentence, everyone in base was once again gathered around the human area with Miko, Raf, Jack and June in the human area by the T.V. "And scientists believe the phenomena to be somehow related to the current planetary alignment." the weather man continued but was cut off by one Agent Fowler who had come bursting through the elevator doors to question Optimus. "What have you learned, Prime? And you better not blow smoke in my oven." he demanded, Optimus got off his med berth and made his way back to us and the computers for the demonstration.
But right now Fowler was a little preoccupied by June, "Ms. Darby. What a nice surprise." Fowler greeted and I could see the love fireworks from where I was standing by Ratchet and the others. "Special Agent Fowler." June greeted back, there was an awkward pause between them before Ratchet Started speaking about what they had learned about the abnormal weather. "We have learned this… as with the so-called magma from the volcano, these earthquakes originated far below the Earth's crust," Ratchet started, he'd pulled up a diagram showing where the quakes had come from and how far below the surface they were. "From the very centre of the Earth's core, in fact." Ratchet finished, "Quakes don't start there. Do they?" he asked June who had come up behind him, but I had to agree with Fowler that it was abnormal for quakes to start that far below ground.
"Tiny terrors rising and falling in a consistent pattern, almost like…" he trailed off as we all stared at the tremor reading on his screen, he paused for a moment after he trailed off and then let out a gasp. "By the Allspark! If I convert these data points to audio files…" Ratchet started as he trailed off again as he worked on the conversion. I already had a feeling about what Ratchet was going to say and I didn't like the idea at all, "What? What is it?" Fowler questioned as Ratchet made the quick conversion from reading to audio. "Well, listen." Ratchet replied as he clicked play on the files he'd converted, "Spark beat." I gasped a little. Ratchet had just confirmed the thing I didn't want to be real, we had the chaos bringer benth our pedes and that was not good. "A Cybertronian heartbeat?" Jack asked, "How is that possible? A heart pumps blood. There's nothing inside the earth to pump except-" June was cut off by Raf who'd just made the same connection I had. "Blood of Unicron." Raf gasped, "Do you know how not good this is for your entire species if Unicorn is your core? In our lore and on our planet he's known as the chaos bringer." I said to the humans. Like I'd thought before, today's situation was getting worse by the minute.
"Okay, hold on. You mean something's living down there inside our planet?" Miko asked as she guestered to the floor, "Not something, Miko, someone." I corrected. I felt a little like Ratchet now and I didn't know how to feel about that, "I fear that the Earth's very core is not composed of magma as your science has suggested, but of dark energon." Optimus said from next to Ratchet at the computers. Every time they opened their intakes more of my worst fears and probably the humans were coming out, "And if we're hearing a spark, the Unicorn is the rising darkness that the prophecy foretold." Ratchet finished for Optimus and I was now ready to fix that escape pod and get the frag off of earth and take nobody but the humans in this room with me. "So, how do we stop this thing from rising?" Fowler asked Ratchet and Optimus from the railing closest to the computers and them.
"That, I am afraid, was not foretold." Optimus replied to Fowler. June was definitely having a freakout because she had her arms cross and was a little hunched over like she was nervous, and she had every reason in the book to be. "How can something be in our Earth's core and be alive?" she asked Optimus and Ratchet, the rest of us were staying quiet in order to listen to the conversation because they were asking and answering our questions for us. "Such a thing is not unprecedented. Before the beginning, there was Primus, and there was Unicorn. One, the incarnation of creation… the other of destruction. For eons, Primus and Unicron battled… the balance of power shirting between the, more times than could be counted. Only by creating the thirteen, the original Primes who preceded me, was Primus finally able to defeat Unicorn and cast him out. Primus became one with the very core of our planet, creating the original life of our planet through the well of Allsparks, while Unicorn was never to be heard from again…" Optimus trailed off, I knew that story all too well. It had been taught to every Cybertronian child who went to school, it was the origin story of the original thirteen and was considered sacred on our planet. "Until now. When we discovered him on Earth." I finished for Optimus.
"Maybe we can find the hole this uber-Con left when he dug himself all the way down there and fill it full of explosives." Fowler suggested (Geez this guys worse then I am with things that blow up.), "Fowler I don't think you realize just how big Unicorn and Primus are." I said before Optimus got the chance to speak. "Agent Fowler, I do not believe that Earth became Unicorns home but rather that with time and gravitation force, debris collected around the slumbering titan." Optimus said to Fowler, who's current look of shock was priceless. "To form your Earth itself." Ratchet finished for Optimus, "And he's only awakening now due to the eof the magnetic pull created by the planetary alignment." Arcee added. Which did make sense, "Okay, well, what happens when Unicorn wakes up from his billion year nap?" Jack asked us. "Yeah does he stretch and kapow! Earth poufs to dust?" Miko added.
There was a moment of silence from Optimus and Ratchet who seemed to have all the answers right now, except this one. "You don't know, do you?" June aid breaking the silence that was between all of us, "My guess is that Unicorn has transcended physical form as we know it. Nonetheless , we must find a way to ensure that this force of nature never fully awakens. The fate of your planet depends upon it." Optimus said grimly. "Then I propose that we go see what each quake epicentre looks like so we can get a better understanding of what might have caused them." I suggested to Ratchet who took a moment of pause to consider the idea, "It would be our best idea to see each area where the quakes originated from." He thought out loud. "It is our best bet, I'll bridge each of you to the quake areas so you can report in to tell me what you've found." Ratchet said as he tped the first set of coordinates in and pulled the ground bridge lever. Bee was the first through, then Bulkhead, the Arcee, then me and Optimus was the last. Each of us were bridge to different tectonic plates in different regions of the world to see what was happening with the quakes.
Where I was bridged to was oddly similar to the labyrinth that made up Skyquakes tomb and the shadow dimension that we lost the kids in, rocky walls that stretched higher than my arms could reach above me. Narrow passages, rich with different ores and rocks. "Ratchet, nothing here but a whole lot of rock and ores. Some of it's crumbled due to the quakes and the epicentre had the most fallen rock and ore." I said coming back to base. "Alright, I'm opening a bridge just behind you that will take you back to base." Ratchet said and just as he did the swirling vortex appeared behind me and I turned around and stepped through to disappear into a plum of golden dust and reappear on the other side which would be back at base. "So what did everyone else say?" I asked when I took my first steps onto the bases concrete floor, "Very similar to you, Optimus is the last one to come back and he'll be comming in soon." Ratchet replied. "Well at least I'm not the last one back to base." I thought as I joined the others by Miko, June, Fowler, Raf and Jack. Optimus took a moment, like Ratchet said, to comm back to us about his finding but I was sure Ratchet had already told him what our findings were at the other epicentres.
"Ratchet, this epicentre is consistent with the findings of the others. It's terrain is rich in ore." Optimus' voice said through the comm link to ratchet's computers, "So what does that tell us?" Fowler asked from where he and June were still standing. "It follows that the natural metals in your Earth would be extensions of Unicorn. His limbs, if you will.' Ratchet replied to Fowler, "So he did have his morning stretch, which is why these quakes happened." June asked in her own way. "Exactly." I confirmed for June, I knew it would make her more nervous but she needed to know what was happening to her planet. Ratchet's computer let off a beeping as the tremmer lines, er Unicorns spark beat, picked up pace and got a little more violent. "Optimus, I'm detecting a swell in Unicorn's spark activity." Ratchet warned Optimus over the comm link, "Rest assured, Ratchet, I will proceed with vigilance." Optimus confirmed before his comm link went static. "Uh, Optimus?" I asked but of course there was no reply, "I think we're going to learn how powerful Unicorn is." I said to the others as Ratchet attempted to regain the comm link connection with Optimus so we could hear what was happening.
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