Chapter 21- Omega Lock
POV: Twinwave
" " Normal talking
": :" Bumblebee talking
"Hi" over the comm talking
(Note: this chapter takes place during season 2 ep 21 "Regeneration" Of TFP)
"You Know, I might not be the first human on cybertron but I can be the first human exchange student." Miko said, the kids were finally back at base now that everything had calmed down a little. Miko was sitting atop Bulkhead's shoulder, Jack was standing at roughly the same height as Cee and I from the stairs and Raf was sitting on some boxes and about Bee's height. All in all I was happy they were back. "Why didn't you tell us about the Omega Key's before?" Jack asked Cee and I, "You probably didn't notice but things have kind of been intense around here lately." Arcee replied.
"And on top of that we've been gone on missions one after the other so, there was really no time we could've spent with you guys." I added, "So, you guys could really be going home soon, huh?" Raf asked. Bee nodded, "Don't worry, Raf, you'll come visit. Once we get our place set up he can bunk us, right Bulk?" Miko asked her guardian, I didn't really have the spark to tell her that our air and atmosphere was more than deadly to her and every human but I was sure Bulkhead would mention it.
"Oh, uh, Miko-" Bulkhead started before she cut him off, "You are taking me with you, right?" she asked again. "Aren't we getting ahead of ourselves here? Not only do we lack any actual method of reaching Cybertron but Starscream now controls the sole means of our planet's restoration." Ratchet cut in, he, Smokescreen and now Optimus had joined our little 'circle' to make points on the matter. "As far as we know." Optimus replied, "You think Starscream's rejoined the Cons?" Smokescreen asked.
"The kid makes a point, he could've used them keys like a bargaining chip to win Megatron's favor." I said, "Humph, without trying to sell them to the highest bidder? It wouldn't surprise me if he had the nerve to contact us and-" Ratchet was interrupted by a coded message being sent to us, one much like the ones Starscream usually sent.
"Okay, that's weird." Bulkhead said, Arcee and I left the staircase side to get a better view of what was happening. "Is it Starscream?" she asked, "No, it is Dreadwing, and he wants to meet." Ratchet replied, "Woah woah woah, how do we know that this isn't some sort of trap? I mean he seems pretty set on being a Con." Smokescreen reminded us, "We will approach the situation with caution to avoid a similar outcome to last time." Optimus said and that was the matter over and done with.
Ratchet input the coordinates and fired up the ground bridge to the exact location we were supposed to meet him, "Autobots, be on your guard." Optimus once again reminded us before we all transformed, I hopped onto Bee's room and we drove through the bridge.
As soon as we were through to the other side everyone immediately jumped and untransformed and transformed their blasters, "SERVOS WHERE WE CAN SEE THEM!" both Bulkhead and Smokescreen yelled. Everyone was covering a side of our position including myself but while we stood for a moment waiting I took notice that we were in the same fragging foggy place that the Cons had baited us to with a fake relic just before we'd gotten to the Star Saber.
When we heard ped steps approaching everyone turned their weapons straight ahead to see Dreadwing emerging out of the fog, to my somewhat disappointment he was alone. Somehow I'd wanted Rain to be with him but I felt like my recent disconnection from our friendship had only pushed her further down the path away from me. "I am NOT here to fight but to give you this." Dreadwing said, he gestured to the forge of Solus Prime on the ground that he had seemed to bring with him.
"The forge of Solus Prime?" I questioned, "Could be rigged to blow." Bulkhead replied. Optimus drew back his battle mask so he could peacefully talk, "Dreadwing, what do you ask in return?" Optimus asked the Con. "Only that you use it wisely." he replied, "And the Omega Keys?" Arcee added. "In Megatron's possession, under heaviest guard." he replied. "Scream did make a deal with the Cons." Bulkhead said to Optimus as a bit of an 'I told you so' moment. "Why?" Optimus asked untransforming his blasters, I'd assumed it was a question as to why he'd given it to us rather than why the keys were under such heavy guard or why Screams had decided to give them back to Megatron.
"A shadow of disgrace has been cast upon the Decpeticons, it is a cause I no longer wish to be part of." Dreadwing replied, he sounded a little sad towards the end as if we were seeing the real Megatron and Decepticons for the first time. Optimus moved past all of us to be upfront to talk, only he had lowered his weapons, the rest of us didn't have that kind of trust. Especially since everyone of us here had almost been blown up by him.
"Then I appeal to you again, join us and help end this conflict once and for all." Optimus reasoned with him but I had a feeling that it wasn't as simple as that, he had his reasons for coming but even more to stay with them. "Betraying my kind is not the same as accepting yours." he said before turning his back and leaving us, and when we watched him fly away nobody got close to the hammer for a few seconds just be sure that it really wasn't going to blow.
Then and only then did we untransform our blasters and I put away my swords, Optimus stepped closer to the hammer before picking it up and recalling us a ground bridge which we walked through rather than drove. Even when we came through Ratchet seemed to be in more shock that we were still in once piece AND had the forge back. "It's no Star Saber but I bet it can shatter Megatron's blade and put some dents into that ugly mug of his." Smokescreen said, "You worked at Iacon, right? Because you should know how this thing works." I said to the kid because that was nowhere near the intended purpose of it.
"It's not that kind of hammer." Arcee said, simplifying my last statement. "With the Decepticons in possession of all four Omega Keys, a more appropriate use of the forge would be to replicate our own." Ratchet said adding to the conversation once he'd powered down the bridge.
"Even with such power their reconstruction would require a level of expertise that I do not possess." Optimus replied, "I guess we'd better hope that Megatron doesn't destroy the keys to prevent anyone from ever going home." Cee said. I understood her concern but Megatron wanted to rule Cybetron more than anything meaning the key's wouldn't be destroyed but rather used for their intended purpose with not so nice results.
"Megatron may be evil but I believe he will use the key's for their intended purpose." Optimus said, he switched the forge off his shoulder and put it hammer side down using it as sort of something to lean or hold onto. "Well then I say we let him keep 'em and do the work for us." Bulkhead said and everyone of us gave him a dirty look because that was completely out of the question, "W-what? I mean what difference does it make who restores Cybertron?" Bulkhead asked because he seemed confused over the matter.
"If Megatron restores Cybertron he will no doubt use it to his political advantage." Optius replied, "What- yo-you lost me." Bulkhead responded. "In all likelihood, the leader of the Dececpticons will portray himself as our planet's savior and brand all Autobots as war criminals." Optimus said explaining things a little more clearly for those who didn't understand. "The grand deception continues." I said, "Megatron's so-called 'achievement' could influence Cybertron for eons to come.
Poisoning the sparks and minds of it's returning citizens, hardly the ideal way to begin a new age." Ratchet said he was right, Megatron would use whatever gratitude he got for restoring the planet for his own purposes and to rule over the planet as a whole, which was hardly ideal for the Autobots and Decpeticons returning from beyond our stars. "But there is hope for while Megatron may have the keys he has yet to discover the existence of the Omega Lock itself." Optimus said.
"Omega Lock?" Bulkhead questioned, "Wait, now you lost me." Arcee said and I nodded my helm in agreeance. "That which the four relics were designed to activate, we must locate the device before Megatron does and secure it until we can recover the keys." Optimus explained, which kind of felt like the half truth, did he not trust us or something? Or was it something else?
"There are no more Iacon entries to decode, this 'lock' could be anywhere on Earth." Ratchet said, he made a point we didn't have the location at all nor could we even start to think of where to look for it. "Actually, it is on Cybertron." Optimus replied and the whole team went '"What?" at the same time, "How do you know for sure?" I asked him. It was a fair question, unless we had some sort of evidence of it being on Cybertron then I don't know what to tell you.
"Alpha Trion revealed it's location to me during the message conveyed by the Star Saber." Optimus said walking towards the ground bridge and away from us., "And you didn't mention it to us?" Ratched asked. "Alpha Trion did not wish it so." he said simply before walking completely away, and that hit hard for the whole team.
Optimus hadn't trusted us with the rest of the information for any other reason than his dead master not wanting it to happen, he'd had the choice and still chose not to say anything which made me and I'm sure the rest of the team feel uneasy. "With the forge of Solus Prime we now possess the means of reaching Cybertron, I must work as our tactical advantage over Megatron will not last long." Optimus said before completely disappearing underneath a hatch that led to the ground bridge's wiring and power conduits, which left us to talk about what had just happened.
"Is it my imagination or had Optimus been acting differently since that message from Alpha Trion?" Arcee asked us once we were sure Optimus was completely out of Audio receptor shot, ": He's seemed more secretive than usual.:" Bee replied. "He has been keeping things from us." Bulkhead replied, "Even Ratchet's out of the loop which is more than unusual." I added. "Well, give me one good reason Optimus couldn't trust his own teammates? Why he couldn't have told us about the Omega Lock!" Bulkhead asked, I glared at him and moved my servo downwards to tell him to lower his voice in case Optimus heard.
He may have been underground and working but that didn't mean he didn't have sharp audio receptors, "Because if he had Megatron would have pulled it out of my helm with his 'patch'." Smokescreen replied, finally joining the conversation circle.
"Like it matters, the Cons are holding all the key's anyway." Bulkhead said before we went silent, "We have to trust that maybe Optimus did it for a reason, even if we are mad." I said before the topic was completely and utterly dropped.
Optimus emerged out of the hatch with the forge in toe to alert Ratchet he had finished converting the ground bridge, and even when Ratchet pulled up the diagram for the bridge along with an assessment and diagram he was shocked. "Yet another astonishing machine convergence of magic and science, courtesy of the ancients." Ratchet said as he looked at the schematics for the bridge, it was more than upgraded in fact I was super pumped to test it out. Even if it meant going back out to war.
"AND our leader." Smokescreen made sure to add, "It's hard to believe, a few swings of that hammer and BAM!" Bulkhead said before we all turned to look at it. "Our ground bridge is now a space bridge." Arcee remarked, finishing off Bulkhead's thought. We didn't even have a moment of pause after she started speaking when the lights flickered and sirens went off spooking everyone but Ratchet, "Our sensors are detecting a massive energon burst occurring outside Earth's atmosphere, a surge of that kind could only mean one thing. Activation of another space bridge." Ratchet said, turning to look at all of us before his optics fell on Optimus.
"Megatron has discovered that the Omega Lock is on Cybertron." Optimus added, "It appears we have lost our advantage." Ratchet fretted a little. Looks like we were going to kick our afts into high gear if we were going to beat him or atleast meet him at the Omega Lock.
"But with Megatron unaware that we now possess the means of interstellar travel, the element of surprise remains in our favor. We must embark on this mission with every resource at our disposal." Optimus said, which sounded to me like he was giving us the all clear to use the relics and apparently everyone else thought that too because we streamlined towards the containment unit for them.
Each one of us got to pick out our relic of choice, Smokescreen had the phase shifter, Arcee using the apex armour, Bee the polarity gauntlet, Bulkhead the immobilizer and myself, well I got the honour of using the spark extractor. Not something that should have been in my servos due to being an absolute clutz but I managed not to kill us all until I actually got to use it.
Now with each of us having a relic we filled out of the containment units and towards the space bridge to await Optimus and his plan, and by the time we got back the bridge was already fired up and loud crashes which I assumed were swings from the forge could be heard in the background. "What's he making now?" I asked the rest of the group and Ratchet who turned in my direction and shrugged but seemed to change to awe when Optimus came around the corner holding the reforged and improved Star Saber. Now that left shock on everyone's face plates, even Arcee's intake was open.
"Megatron must be stopped no matter the cost." Optimus said before he put the blade on his back and transformed while running into the bridge. I nodded and placed the spark extractor in Bee's back seat before transforming myself and hopping onto his roof. This was going to hopefully be the last time we had to deal with Megatron.
We thankfully seemed to get close to the Omega Lock before Megatron and whatever army he'd brought with him had reached it, and this is the part where Optimus told us his plan. So to spare you the details of the conversation I will summarize for you all. Smokescreen was to be hiding underneath the first layer of metal that covered Cybertron's surface and on our signal he was to phase out of the ground and silently get rid of as many eradicons as he could. Bulkhead, Arcee, Bee and I were to stay in some of the old wreckage and use the polarity gauntlet plus the immobilizer to take out as many troops as we could from afar while Optimus took care of Megatron.
When needed the four of us were to be dispatched onto the scene and take care of scouring the keys, when we had them everyone needed to get as far as they could from me because I was going to phase into the heart of the troops and set off the spark extractor and get away/ catch up with the rest of them before we were caught in the blast. No detail had been overlooked for this plan and that's what we were hoping for.
And so the battle began the way we were hoping, Smokescreen phased out of the floor and took out as many troops as he could before drawing their fire and rephasing through a wall, Megatron couldn't seem to believe what he was seeing because his reaction time to the situation slowed significantly. Next Bee activated the polarity gauntlet and took some scrap from nearby and dropped it onto the troops while they awaited an order from Megatron, this barely seemed to make a dent in the numbers but it did piss the lord off.
When he was done Bee ran back towards us for cover when Megatron gave the order to crush us as we heard it loudly even from atop the rusty building. We took heavy fire from the eradicons as the rust drifted in an endless dust storm around us, it provided cover for both sides but made it hard to see what was happening unless we were up close.
Bulkhead was next, he stunned some of the eradicons before dropping like a wrecking ball on them, Arcee fired some shots before we shot a look at eachother and dove helm first off the building and into battle with the mechs. She got the apex armour onto herself before throwing me towards in coming fire where I managed to take more than a few out with my swords on the way down and when I landed, Smokescreen even rephased out of the ground to help.
They used ranged weapons and their relics while I managed to decapitate and off some of the eradicons while their fire was focused on the others. Optimus was still a no show at that moment, we knew he'd be here soon but was probably waiting for the right moment to strike on Megatron. Then came the order "DEFEND THE KEYS!" Megatron yelled at his troops, they went into some sort of defencive circle around the four eadicons that clutched onto the keys like their lives depended on it.
It didn't really do much when the troops rushed us, Arcee literally couldn't be killed, Bulkhead was quick enough to avoid shots and Bee and I were usually above or double teaming any eardicons in our way. Our success and lack of demise seemed to anger Megatron so much so that he drew his Dark Star Saber and took any extra eradicons that weren't defending the keys and charged at us, "This would really be a good time for Optimus to show." I muttered as Bee sent yet another eardicon my way and I skewered him just like the rest.
In response to being charged at the others seemed to do the exact same, I fell into line along with them being careful enough not to get hit by any blaster shots until I could fight back. Somewhere along the way Optimus joined the rest of us after probably scouting ahead and such but he and the Star Saber were here now so that's what mattered. Optimus took out some of the eradicons nearby to clear a path for us before taking Megatron helm on, Bee and I went back to double teaming and sent any still moving troops the other way while more flanked us. Sometimes I wish we weren't so drastically outnumbered because taking on close to a hundred Cons at a time really burned out the whole team.
Anyways, Bulkhead had switched to close combat and Arcee was already doing that with the armour, Smokescreen seemed to be using the phase shifter to his advantage by making the shots pass through him and hit another charging Con. Eventually we took care of all those not circled up and that's when Cee rushed them, she managed to knock over a couple before Bee and Bulk took out their relics and stunned the four holding the keys and then Bee used his gauntlet to magnetize them to us.
One key dropped in each of our servos except Smokescreen who was currently phased somewhere and Optimus who had just released the big mass of energy his and Megatron's swords were creating. Then with a sort of final strike, Optimus sent a wave of energy while Megatron was distracted and sent him flying atop of a building where he landed.
Just before he did I handed my key off to Bee and he traded be for the spark extractor, then he and the other three transformed and drove away at top speed before I released the blast. I nodded to Smokescreen as he phased out of the ground and traded me the phase shifter before following the others to get out of the blast range too.
"I WILL HAVE THOSE KEYS OR I WILL HAVE YOUR SPARKS!" Megatron yelled to his troops below from atop his cliff. I proceeded to walk smugly into the middle of the troops next to a rock which would provide good cover before the blast, "I think I can help with the last one." I said to Megatron before a scarp ton of blasters were pointed at me, to be fair I had just made my presence known in front of a frag ton of Cons so the firing squad was to be expected.
I raised my servo and moved it back and forth a little to show Megatron how I was going to graciously help get rid of his army, it took no less than a second for them to realize what I had before they started firing. But thanks to the helpful gadget Smokescreen had lent me I wasn't phased (puns), instead I tossed the spark extractor before jumping pedes first into the ground and landed in one of the random underground tunnels Cybertron had.
I turned the phase shifter off before transforming and running down the tunnel in the same direction everyone had gone moments earlier, you know for someone who hated war and death and everything they stood for when I was a sparkling I wouldn't have exptected myself to commit a sort of mass genocide as I just had but that's the effect of war on the processor and such.
I rephased out of the ground to check my surroundings and to no surprise I was near the rendezvous point, or where we'd bridged in. Thankfully Bee had been smart enough to stop and wait for me so all I had to do was hop onto his roof and follow the rust trail the others had left behind in the constant strom.
There wasn't much to see as we caught up, just more broken buildings and the occasion rust dune but no dead bodies, all the gory stuff had been taken care of when Megatron tried to reanimate the dead a year or so back, so now we wouldn't need to dig mass graves when we were rebuilding, the plus side to whatever twisted plan that was.
Soon enough we could see everybody's silhouettes on the horizon and when we got close enough I hopped off Bee so he could untransform and I did the same. "Thanks for letting me borrow the phase shifter, Smokescreen. It came in more use than I thought." I said handing it back to him, I got a smile in response before Acee spoke. "Our head start won't last long." she pointed out, "This is where Alpha Trion said we'd find it, right?" Smokescren asked. "These are the coordinates." Bulkhead replied as we approached a small box like conduit, it had horns that pointed off of it in the cardinal directions and slots that seemed like they would fit the keys.
"It doesn't look like much." Bulkhead said, I nodded but Optimus placed a servo on part of it and whipped the rust away with his digit. Low and behold an Autobot symbol was uncovered meaning we were in the right place, "Ratchet, we have located the Omega Lock." he commed. Which I was sure was a relief to hear from us, not only about the lock but we were finally breaking radio silence after about twenty minutes of no contact.
"According to Alpha Trion, the Omega Lock is a conduit to the very Allspark itself." Optimus said addressing us this time rather than Ratchet, Bee jumped a little remembering he had two keys and not just one. Instead of handing the second off to me he gave it to Smokescreen who just looked down at it before presenting it to Optimus. "Optimus an honour like this shouldn't belong to me." he said, he reached up to hand the key off to him which seemed extra but whatever.
Soon after he tried to however his key and the others started to glow, not brightly but not dim either, the Omega Lock did the same and soon it spread to the whole ground. Some sort of ancient coding glowed from the Omega Lock to the surrounding area, as if the place had sensed all four keys. Then the landscape transformed, four towers in the cardinal directions rose out of the ground and deployed a piece of what looked like a space bridge when they all connected above us. It was perplexing to see each piece take shape and the whole team was in awe when it was done.
But you know us, never a moment to enjoy anything because as soon as it was done transforming the sound of Megatron's jet engines appeared and we all jumped into action. Optimus produced the Star Saber, I got out my swords and everyone else took out their relic, nobody transformed them however, mostly because we weren't being fired on yet.
The Lord untransformed and landed with a bam on the metal surface of the Omega Lock, my spark extractor had seemed to do its job because he came alone, or hopefully he was. Even as he approached we got at the ready, Arcee put on her amour and the mech's transformed their blaster. "Autobots, I would suggest that you put a halt to your task and hand over those keys." he said, he'd stopped short before us, giving enough room to transform or be out of range for upclose attacks.
"And why would we do that?" I asked, and the second I did my question was answered using covenant timing. Through a space bridge came Soundwave, Starscream and "Rain." I thought, she seemed to glare at me as they came through holding some sort of container that contained some things I couldn't really see due to the back light of the bridge.
When they got closer however I was more than horrified to see Jack, Miko and Raf contained within what they were holding. I looked at Arcee, Bulk and Bee who seemed to be in as much disarray as myself, I mean the Cons had just brought their partners through a space bridge and probably planned to use them as some sort of bargaining chip.
"So that I may hand over the humans." Megatron replied, the poor kids, they looked terrified even through the constant rust wind I could see it on their tiny faces. "And if we refuse?" Optimus asked like it was an option, it wasn't, it really wasn't. "Then I will have no choice but to open the pods, exposing your pets to Cybertron's toxic atmosphere and then we can all watch them instantly perish together." Megatron said stalking over to us all high and mighty making sure to take in our reactions to what he was saying.
I looked right at Rain, she seemed to smirk at the anger boiling up in everyone. It was starting to piss me off how when one thing went wrong for her she had a personality change and decided to risk someone I cared about as pay back. There was really no making right with her, was there? To think I actually thought we had a shot at relighting whatever we'd had before, but now that was clearly off the table.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter, feel free to leave some feedback for me so I can make it a better reading experience for you guys!
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