Chapter 43-Scattered
"This fragging sucks." Wreckage growled, kicking aside a piece of debris. "The others get to torch the humans and we're stuck here on cleanup duty. Even Starscream got to go. Starscream! And that bastard tried to kill Megatron!"
"Let it go, Wreckage. Bitching about it won't help anyone." Fracture sighed.
"You know it's true." Wreckage continued. "I can see you're just as frustrated as I am about it."
"No, I'm annoyed at having to listen to you whine about it constantly. Seriously, shut up! This a big country, we'll have plenty of chances to raze some hell."
Wreckage laughed. "Ha! Raze. I see what you did there."
Fracture threw him a grin.
"Seriously though, shouldn't we have found a body by now? None of these Auto-bitches are tough enough to walk away from an exploding ship."
"They probably bridge out before we destroyed the Ark. Darkshadow's looking for the ship's black box to see where they might've gone."
"Scrap. So the fragging Autobots are still alive? They can be anywhere on the planet!"
"Relax. It's just a little under a dozen Bots, if even that. They barely reach past the double-digits in terms of manpower." Fracture said. "We can take 'em."
"Got to find them first." Wreckage grumbled.
As they talked, they missed a figure darting between the rocks as he made his way out of the crater. Once he was away from the Wreckage, he transformed to car mode and sped away as fast as he could into the forest.
He drove a couple miles to a cave and transformed. He entered the dark tunnel, on his guard until he could no longer see the sunlight shining through the mouth of the cave. His tense shoulders finally sagged in relief and he kept walking.
"Hey, Hawk. I'm back." Rodimus sighed, reaching the small alcove where Tomahawk was resting.
Tomahawk was in seriously bad shape, and it hurt Rodimus to see her like this. Most of her armor was either severely burnt or completely gone, her inner mechanisms and skeletal frame exposed to the elements. She was missing her right arm and both legs, and the right side of her face was severely burned to the point that the mesh on her face was warped and disfigured. Only the left side was untouched, if only just.
"Primus, Hawk, it's a mess out there. The Ark's totally gone, everyone's scattered, and Megatron…he's tearing this country apart." Rodimus said. "Damn it, Hawk, why'd you make me leave. I could have helped you."
"…Rod…"
Rodimus jumped a bit when he heard a weak voice speak out and looked down to see Tomahawk's one working eye was blinking on and off as she regained consciousness.
"Rodi…" Tomahawk coughed up dust and smoke.
"Whoa, sit still. Save your strength and power down." Rodimus whispered to her. "I'll be right here."
Tomahawk weakly turned her eye to him before she closed it and went to sleep. Rodimus sighed and sat back against the cave wall and put his head in his hands.
What was he going to do now?
XXXXXX
Megatron stood atop a small apartment building looking over the city he had conquered. It was quiet, dead silent with not a soul anywhere to be found. All the humans were either dead or in hiding, it mattered not to him. The City that Never Sleeps was now slumbering peacefully. The thought made Megatron smile.
He had the Constructicons get to work on building a base in the middle of Times' Square. He wanted everyone to know who brought this city to its knees and who will be coming for them. He felt like it would hammer in the truth that their heroes were gone after having Devastator destroy the naval fleet.
"So this is how victory feels." Megatron heard Starscream transform and land behind him. "Scruffy."
Megatron looked at Starscream mildly annoyed. "I would have expected you to be fighting alongside your brothers."
"Dreadwing and the others can take care of things all on their own." Starscream said as he stepped beside Megatron.
The two mechs stood there in silence as they took in the air of death and destruction they had reaped upon this city.
"So we're finally got to this point, after so many years." Starscream said.
Megatron nodded. "The triumph of the Decepticon Empire."
"I just got the news of our army laying siege to every Autobot base across the galaxy. All thanks to one of their own." Starscream shook his head. "Ironic."
"Treachery is at the heart of all creatures. They were fools not to expect it." Megatron detached his fusion cannon and set it aside. "And you, Starscream? Are you proud? This was thanks in part to your correspondence with the traitor."
"Praise, Megatron? From you? Such a rarity." Starscream sneered.
Megatron stared at Starscream for a moment and shook his head. He reached up and tore off a flag depicting the Osea national symbol and used it to clean the barrel of his cannon. "Starscream, you are a brilliant warrior, a fine commander and a loyal soldier to the Decepticon cause. You truly are a model Decepticon soldier. The only reason you lost your position as commander is because you let your own personal vices get the better of you and allowed your insecurities to take hold."
"Insecurities?" Starscream questioned.
Megatron reattached the fusion cannon to his arm and walked down the street. "Ask yourself this, Starscream. Are you trying to take over the Decepticons because you see me as an ineffectual leader…or because you lack faith in your own abilities?"
XXXXXX
"More live footage is coming in. One of the Decepticons has transformed into a train of some kind and is traveling through the subway tunnels to…well…"
"I get the picture, Hawke." Colonel Leonard sighed. "I get it."
It was raining heavily outside. A perfect visual metaphor for everyone's mood. Leopard was still reeling from the news of losing an entire fleet of aircraft carriers to the unholy green giant. The final radio messages were little more than panicked screams and a terrifyingly loud roar before static.
"Troop movements." He ordered.
"All our men and vehicles have pulled back to the residential areas as ordered. For all intents and purposes, this place is deserted." Hawke said.
"Good. November Park is too open to have all our forces lying around in plain sight. We'll need every last soldier and vehicle if we want a chance at hitting them back." Leonard said.
Hawke nodded. "Any new updates?"
"We've got reports of Decepticon attacks all over the country, and Karaba just started taking pot shots at Santa Fe and Los Angles." Leonard looked at the reports. "Death toll estimates are sitting around 200,000 and climbing. By destroying the bridges and flooding the tunnels, Megatron's turned the city into a damned fortress. In just a few days he's turned New York into a stronghold where he could launch any number of attacks across the country."
"And that's not taking into account their warship." Hawke muttered. Leonard nodded.
"Ground troops, air strikes and heavy artillery are all out. They can effectively control or interfere with any guided missile, which leaves the "dumb" alternative. And we're not about to start carpet bombing our own people."
"One giant hostage situation." Hawke sighed. "This is about as bad as it gets."
"They haven't won yet, son. We've still got a country to save." The colonel said confidently.
A soldier entered the tent with an ashen look on his face. "Sir? We've got an emergency sit-rep from Washington."
Leonard read the report over for a few seconds and all the color drained from his face. He handed it to Hawke and held his head in his hands.
XXXXXX
Barnett looked out the window at the downpour going on outside. It was as if the world was crying over what was happening, and it only made him more depressed.
"Can't say it doesn't fit my mood now." He lamented.
News of the President's death quickly spread. Hard to keep something like that quiet when everyone sees Air Force One take a nosedive into a national monument. Karaba had dedicated all its firepower into assaulting Washington, with Dreyas and his family leading the charge. The Decepticons are now launching attacks are major military locations across the country, and reports are coming in about attacks on other countries like London and Wei-Ling.
Without the Autobots being the vanguard of their anti-Decepticon movement, humanity was completely shafted. And the Atlantians have switched from openly repelling the Decepticons to solely recon after seeing Devastator pop up.
"What are we going to do?" He groaned. He desperately wanted to see his wife and son, but travel was no longer safe with the Cons running around and being so close to the Autobots might make him a prime target.
The phone rang and he wearily picked it up. "Barnett speaking."
…"Colonel Barnett?"
Barnett sat up in his seat. "Debbie? Are you okay?"
"Colonel Barnett, do you know where the children are?" Debbie sounded like she had been crying a lot. Her voice was weak and shaky and was barely audible. "I know they were at the Ark when it…please, I don't know if they're alright."
"Debbie, calm down. I'm sure the kids were bridged to safety with the Autobots before the ship was destroyed." He said. "They're probably in hiding now."
"So if I call Annie…"
"Not an option." He said firmly.
"But if I could just call her…"
"You know that's too risky. The Cons are likely monitoring communications for any Autobot sightings. You'll put them at risk if you try calling them. You will just have to trust them to make it back home on their own."
"…Okay. Thank you, Colonel."
"You're welcome, Debbie. Feel free to call me back if you need someone to talk to."
"I will."
She hung up and Barnett ran a hand over his face. "Please be safe, kids. That girl is hanging on a thread right now."
XXXXXX
"Decepticons, this country is ours!"
Megatron stood before his assembled Decepticons out in the rain at Times Square. Nightshade and Soundwave stood at his side, and everyone had a glass of energon in hand.
"The Osean military is in disarray. Their government is in shambles. Their morale is broken and in pieces. Even now, all around us, they cower in fear, crushed, defeated and begging for relief. But it will not come." He said smiling. "At last we have succeeded. At last the might of the Decepticon Empire has prevailed. We are glorious in our victory, and united in our cause."
He looked down at his mighty warriors with a sense of pride he hadn't felt in literal ages. "You are gods, the mightiest of our race. I cast my eyes upon you and I am proud. Across the galaxy our brothers and sisters share in our success. The last of the Autobot outposts have fallen. Nothing has been left standing."
Megatron held up his glass of ferrum-positive energon and smiled. "My Decepticon brothers and sisters…the Autobot resistance is no more."
XXXXXX
Sara kept an eye on her radar as she hovered just above the tree-line. There was no noise in the cockpit, thanks to her no needing to breathe, save for the almost silent sound of sol particles venting from the Prometheus.
"Sara, see anything?" Arcee asked over the comm.
"No, I detect no enemy combatants." Sara reported. "How is Gina?"
"I'm having her land to take a rest. You should too."
Sara didn't need to rest, but she knew that Gina needed someone with her.
She lowered the Prometheus to the ground, dislodging dozens of branches in the process and powered down the machine. The Athena sat next to the Autobot sisters, who were sitting next to a tree. She climbed out of the talos and jumped to the ground.
Gina and Sureshock sat between the sisters. Sureshock was rubbing Gina's back as the girl sat with her head in her knees, the air around her sad and depressed. The girl hadn't said anything for two days and even Sara was starting to get worried.
"Okay, so what's the plan?" Sureshock asked. "I know that we were sent to different locations across the ground to make it harder for the Cons to find us, but I don't see how much help we can be scattered like this."
"We're following standard emergency protocols." Arcee said. "In a disaster situation like this one, we are to rendezvous at a pre-chosen location in the event that our ship or bunker was destroyed in an enemy attack."
"In this case, it's Tranquility." Moonracer said.
"Well, at least's that's some good news." Sureshock said. "We're going home, Gina."
"And then what?" Gina muttered.
"Hmm?"
"And then what do we do? Aside from bringing Debbie the bad news that her brother is probably dead." Gina scowled. She looked at Excalibur, Darren's sword, sitting in her lap. She was the only one strong enough to hold the sword as it would be useless in the hands of anyone not allowed to wield it.
"Gina, you don't know that." Arcee said.
"Don't even try to sugarcoat this, Arcee. Our friends are God knows where out in the galaxy, if Megatron hadn't sent them into the sun, and there are dozens of Decepticons sporting a giant fucking gestalt that just decimated an entire Osean Naval fleet!" She shouted. "The president's dead, New York is completely decimated and Darren will be a broken toy when the Cons are done with him!"
Gina collapsed to her knees sobbing furiously. "What can we do, Arcee? I don't know what else we can do!"
Sara went over to her side and hugged the crying inhuman. Arcee and Moonracer also moved closer too.
"Don't lose hope, Gina. I did that once and it nearly destroyed me." Arcee said soothingly, rubbing her finger along Gina's back in support. "Once we give up hope, then the Cons have well and truly won."
"Cee's right. The fight's not over as long as we're alive. Otherwise the Cons wouldn't still be hunting us." Moonracer smiled. "We just have to be careful about our next move."
Gina sniffled and nodded, wiping the tears from her face. After everything's that happened, she didn't know if she could handle losing anybody else. For the first time since meeting the Autobots, after everything they've been through, she wasn't sure if they could realistically win this one.
XXXXXX
Annie struggled to remain awake as she hovered above Bulkhead and Ironhide. They had left the ground bridge somewhere near the Rocky Mountains and were driving as fast as they could to get to their destination. Annie was using the Enyo's sol particles to hide the two Autobots' signals from the Decepticons. They had been going nonstop for a week now, and as they had few chances to stop for breaks, Annie was running on all cylinders and was starting to burn out.
She struggled to remain awake, but felt her eyes drooping. Apparently regenerating from full body burns took a toll on her stamina. She tightened her hands on her joysticks and forced her eyes to remain open. But they slowly slid closed, her vision becoming blurry…
A strong jolt sook her awake and she regained control, cursing as her talos crashed against the side of the mountain they were passing by. She grumbled under her breath and righted her talos. "For god's sake…"
"Annie, how're you doing up there?" Bulkhead asked over the radio.
"Everything's fine, Bulk. Nothing to see here." She said.
"Good, because we're pulling over to rest up."
"I can keep going." She protested, despite feeling the exact opposite.
"Annie, don't act like we didn't just see you sidewind the mountainside." Brittany said. "I know that wasn't intentional by any means."
"Shit." Annie sighed.
Bulkhead and Armorhide drove off the road and into the nearby forest, driving slowly until they came upon a small river. Annie landed Enyo by a tree and powered it down before hopping out of the cockpit to meet up with Brittany and Grindor.
"Hey guys." Annie said tiredly, leaning up to give here werecheetah girlfriend a kiss.
"You doing okay?" Brittany asked. "You look exhausted."
"I'm managing." Annie said, giving her a small smile. "You?"
"A little stiff. Haven't ridden in a car for that long since I moved to Tranquility."
"Better get used to it, Brit." Bulkhead said as he and Armorhide transformed. "Because we still have a long way to go."
"Go where? The Ark's gone and the Cons are tearing Osea apart." Grindor said.
"Tranquility. Standard emergency protocol dictates in the situation where we're separated from our unit we are to rendezvous at a set of coordinates. Optimus made Tranquility our meeting point."
"That's cool. We get to go back home, girls." Grindor said.
"Yeah, totally cool." Annie said, looking anything but happy.
"Annie?" Brittany asked.
"I'm not exactly happy about returning to Debbie without Darren, Brit." Annie said. "We had him and then everything just went to shit."
"There's nothing we can do about Darren right now, Annie. Right now we have to focus on keeping ourselves alive so we can get another chance to save him again." Bulkhead said.
Annie nodded though she didn't look very optimistic. Seeing that they weren't helping her mood, Armorhide decided to change the subject.
"So when we get to Tranquility, what do we do next?"
"Wait for the others." Bulkhead answered.
"Well, yeah, I get that part. But once we know everyone's safe and sound, what do we do after that?"
Bulkhead took a moment to reply, a moment too long in Armorhide's eyes. "Bulkhead?"
"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it." He said cryptically.
The small group talked no more on the subject as they rested up. There was no need to make any other plan, because until they got to Tranquility, no place in Osea was safe for them.
XXXXXX
It was a while before Tomahawk regained consciousness. Rodimus was jerked awake when he heard her raspy coughing beside him and ran to her side.
"It's me, Hawk. Rodimus." He said softly. "Calm down, you're in safe hands now."
Tomahawk stopped her fit and weakly looked around with her one working eye. "Rodimus…how did…"
"I came back for you." Rodimus said without an ounce of shame. "I was the last one to bridge out of the Ark, but I turned around halfway through. I wasn't going to leave you, no matter what. Almost got trapped inside though when it closed."
He settled down beside her. "When I came back, the Ark was already destroyed. The Cons hadn't found you yet, and I managed to get you out from the wreckage before anyone saw us." He looked around the cave. "We're safe here, but we're in so deep no one can pick up our signals. I'll scout around for some help—"
"No," Tomahawk groaned, her eye flickering like a dying flame. "No…stay."
Rodimus didn't even hesitate before he nodded and sat back down. "Okay, Hawk." He said and held her hand. "I'll stay. Promise."
XXXXXX
Skyfire felt as if the world was ending. Everything was going well until it wasn't and not the world's gone to hell, with her and Comettor all alone trying to get to Tranquility with no idea if the others were even still alive.
She had been monitoring the Terran radiowaves and all she could find was that the country was in a state of national emergency and how New York and Washington were complete warzones. Attacks on other cities were also being perpetrated by Decepticon and Karaba forces, the govern was in shambles, nothing was good. Basically she couldn't listen to any tunes now.
"No Cons so far, Skyfire." Comettor said. "And no Autobot signals either."
"Bloody typical." She sighed. "Comettor, I'm detecting some energon nearby. I'm going to check it out."
"Whoa, I don't think we should be lingering near any energon caves, Skyfire. They're too easy to target." Comettor said.
"I know, but I'm running on a half tank after warping from the Ark and I'm not cruising through the United States of Megatron half-starved."
Skyfire flew towards the coordinates, which was a small canyon sitting by a quarry. The place looked like slag and the energon she detected wasn't that big, but some was better than nothing at least.
She transformed and landed on the ground, rubbing her shoulders as her thrusters finally cooled down. The energon vein was just big enough to give off a visible signal, so she could split it between herself and Comettor.
"There we go." Skyfire muttered as she dug up the energon crystals. "See? Told you it was fine. Here, I'll make sure you get some for yourself, little guy."
Skyfire began using a laser cutter to gently cut off some of the larger crystals. Processing this stuff was going to be a pain, but a true Seeker is always prepared for face a challenge. This was nothing compared to some of her missions earlier in her career.
Comettor was about to help her, but then his sensors detected something odd with a few of the geological formations around them. He narrowed his eyes at them and raised his large radar dish-arm over one of them. One quick scan made his body turn cold when he got back abnormal readings in his internal computer.
"Skyfire?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm detecting very faint biosignals."
Skyfire paused. "From where?"
"All around us."
Just as he said that, several of the rock formations began to crumble apart, revealing Insecticon brutes emerging from their stasis. Just from one look alone Skyfire estimated there had to be two dozen of the bugs in the canyon…and only one of her. Skyfire looked at the snarling brutes and her shoulders slumped.
"Frag me sideways."
XXXXXX
Princess Aspen of Atlantis nervously tapped her fingers on the arm rest of her captain's chair as she eyed the monitors for any sign of Autobot life signals. She, like many of the Autobots' close friends, were worried about what happened to them and spent considerable time trying to locate them on Osea. So far, nothing came up and she was beginning to fear the worst.
Following the decimation of the Osean Navy fleet by Devastator, Queen Tyr ordered an entire division of Atlantian soldiers to aid the Osean forces in fighting the Decepticon and Karaba forces. As there was no significant military activity in New York, Aspen decided to provide aid to the ground forces near Washington fighting Karaba's main force.
"Princess?" Kiani, her personal bodyguard and field commander for the mission, spoke up.
"Yes, Kiani?" Aspen said.
"I know you're holding out hope for the Autobots' survival, but even if they escaped captured or death, I doubt they'll want to be found any time soon." Kiani said.
"We have to try, Kiani. Satellite images are showing more unidentified Decepticons appearing in New York and being sent to other parts of the world. Xing's capital city is under attack and another team of Cons are carving a path of destruction through South Joseun." She said. "Powerful as we are, we aren't very equipped to fighting an army of alien robots."
Kiani frowned and crossed her arms. She took pride in Atlantis being the most advanced civilization on Terra, and it was, but even with their technology they could only last so long against the Decepticons. The differences in power between them was frightening and this disaster was showing just how far apart they were without the Autobots carrying them to victory.
A beep from her console caught her attention and she read the data on the screen. Her eyes widened and she spun back around to the princess. "Princess, I've got a read on an Autobot signal!"
"Can you pinpoint it?" Aspen asked.
"Yes, but it also appears to be surrounded by multiple unknowns."
"Then go at full speed, Kiani. We can't afford to be late right now!"
The pilots had the dropship increase its speed and soon they were flying over the terrain at speeds that could rival a fighter jet despite its size and bulk.
XXXXXX
"Stupid fragging bugs!" Skyfire shouted as she stabbed her blade into the head of an insecticon. Tearing it off, she threw it at another charging brute and beheaded it. "I knew it was too good to be true!"
"No you didn't!" Comettor yelled. "I warned you!"
"Not now, Comettor!" Skyfire hollered
Skyfire didn't even try to keep track of how many Insecticons she killed. There were too many to count anyway, and of course they had to be the big, burly armored ones that somewhat know how to fight. They were the warrior class brutes, not the ones would want to be ambushed by.
Powerlinking with Comettor gave her just enough power to handle them, but staying in one spot was suicidal. She transformed into jet mode and shot into the air, with the rest of the Insecticons on her tail. To her surprise, the bugs were actually keeping up with her.
"Why the hell are they so fast?" She growled.
"Go into the forest. We'll pick them off there!" Comettor said.
Skyfire flew into the forest and weaved through the trees with maneuverability that only a flyer of her skill could perform without hitting anything. The Insecticons behind her were nowhere near as skilled, and several of them slammed face first into trees or crashed into each other. They resorted to firing laser bolts at her, blasting the surrounding trees apart to shoot her down.
She managed to dodge most of their shots, but a well-timed blast hit one of her thrusters and caused her to spin into a tree. She smashed through it and changed forms before crashing to the ground.
"Scrap." She grunted. She saw the rest of the swarm coming and jumped to her feet, leveling her plasma cannon at them. "Come on, bitches! I'm not dying today!"
The Insecticons hissed and charged at Skyfire. But just before they could reach her, they all disappeared as the ground around them erupted into flames. Skyfire jumped back as body parts were blasted everywhere and she looked up to see a large ship that looked like a heavily armored hammerhead hovering above them. Azure plated humanoid machines descended from the ship, shooting down the surviving Insecticons with arm mounted laser cannons. Skyfire and Comettor could only watch as they completely decimated the disoriented Insecticons.
"Wow." Was all she could say.
Once the golems had slain the last Insecticon, one of them, a more ornate golem with a darker shade of armor, stepped up to Skyfire.
"Are you hurt, Autobot Skyfire?" It asked in a female voice.
"I'm just peachy." Skyfire sighed. "Thanks for the save. I thought I was in for a rough afternoon."
"You're very welcome. I am Princess Aspen of Atlantis, and we're on our way to meet up with Colonel Barnett to discuss our next course of action against the Brotherhood." She said. "Do you know where the other Autobots are?"
Skyfire's shoulders slumped and she shook her head. "Far from home, lass. Far, far from home."
XXXXXX
This was not how Jazz imagined his return to Cybertron.
Hell, he never expected to return to this planet at all in his lifetime. With the radiation caused by its lack of atmosphere, followed by the bad memories and lack of resources, there was just no reason to return to the planet.
Didn't matter now. Megatron made the choice for them.
Standing outside on a battlement in one of the old Autobot outposts on the outskirts of what's left of Iacon, he looked up at the star-studded sky above. Iacon was silent, its buildings somehow still standing despite the constant assault of cosmic debris and solar radiation over the centuries, but what was strange was the complete lack of all of that.
A lot had changed since the Autobots were lack on Cybertron to deal with the revived Thunderwing. The planet was obviously still dead, but somehow, between then and now, the planet had recovered somewhat. Jazz knew it wasn't natural. Cybertron's natural recover timeline spanned long after all of them were dead, not for another millions of years if even that. Yet they were alive and unaffected by the radiation that should've been bombarding them.
'The real question is who do we have to thank for this sudden turn?' Jazz thought.
"How can you be so impossibly stubborn?!" He heard Prowl yell inside the room.
Jazz lowered his head and sighed. "Here we go again."
Inside the room, Ironhide and Prowl were having yet another argument, which was becoming disturbing common the longer they remained within close proximity of each other.
"Look around you, Ironhide. You can't be acting rash like this. The situation's different now and it's time you accepted that!" Prowl said.
"Well I can't!" Ironhide growled. "Maybe I'm just not built that way!"
"What do you mean? You were born that way. You were specifically born to a race that evolved to be "that way". We adapt to any situation. That's what we do!"
"And selling each other out? Where does that fit into adapting? Is that what we do?"
Prowl shook his head, his temper rising. "You know—"
"I know he did it, Prowl. I know he sold us out. Who else could it be?" Ironhide yelled.
"You don't know slag, Ironhide. You're letting your past prejudices cloud your judgement. It could have been any one of us." Prowl said.
"Oh yeah?" He growled, getting into Prowl's face.
"Yeah. For all we know, it could have been you!"
Ironhide's fist caught Prowl's chin in an uppercut that sent him into the wall. Prowl rubbed his jaw, glaring up at Ironhide.
"Striking a superior officer." Prowl said in a tight voice. "Smart."
"Yep."
"I don't suppose you're about to apologize."
"Nope."
"Care to take this outside?"
Ironhide raised his fists. "Why wait?"
"Hide." Jazz put a hand on Ironhide's shoulder. "Take a walk.'
Ironhide was about to argue, but Jazz tightened his grip on him. "Take. A. Walk."
Ironhide gritted his teeth and wrenched free from Jazz before storming away. Jazz helped Prowl to his feet.
"How is it that he's afraid of you but not me?" Prowl grumbled.
"Tone." Jazz shrugged.
"You sure is has nothing to do with your reputation?" Prowl remarked. Jazz just grinned at him.
"Like I said. Tone."
Prowl walked over to the table and plopped himself down into a seat. "If you want an indication of how bad things are getting, I think you just saw it." Prowl shook his head. "But to see Ironhide of all mechs acting like that."
"It's different for him. Personal. He and Optimus were close." Jazz said. "Having this happen to him is a serious blow to his pride as both an Autobot and a friend."
Prowl looked around at the old room they were sitting in. Nothing worked. They had no lights, no electricity, energon was practically non-existent save for their emergency rations. Everyone was going at full power, but that would change within another week or so.
"Every day more reports come in, and every day they come back empty handed." Prowl said. "You can't really believe to find energon, Jazz."
"I just thought there might be some left in Bludgeon's old bunker, but nothing. Just wishful thinking." Jazz shrugged helplessly. "I mean, Cybertron's as not as hostile as it was when you were last here so I just thought…"
"We're lucky radiation levels have gone down or we'd be dead by now." Prowl nodded. "But the planet is still dead."
"Tell that to the creepy crawlies. Bee just killed another one the other day."
"Ratchet warned us about them. Mutated Insecticons hibernating underground." Prowl said. "We've been lucky that no hive has found us, but it's only a matter of time."
Time they had no large amount of. They were stranded light years from Terra without any supplies or weapons and no means of communication. They had a traitor on the team and the others were on the verge of tearing each other apart. The only saving grace was that Optimus was still alive, but Ratchet had warned that his condition could worsen if he didn't get help soon. Not to mention what the rest of the team was doing back on Terra.
"All we can do now is survive and hold out hope, Prowler." Jazz said. "It's all we can do at this point."
XXXXXX
Bumblebee could barely remember the last time he drove through the streets of Iacon. Or cybertronian roads in general for that matter. It's been stellar cycles since the War for Cybertron and it felt both sad and depressing to be driving through the empty, desolated streets of his home city.
When he and the other Autobots began exploring the city for any supplies they could scrounge up, they were forced to abandon their Terran alt modes and reformat themselves back into their base cybertronian forms. It didn't bother Bumblebee as much as he thought, probably because he didn't need a reminder of not being able to help Gina, Jolt and the others back on Terra.
"Slag!" Bumblebee grunted as his wheel caught on a crack in the road and sent him sliding into the side of the bridge. He transformed and rubbed his shoulder. "That's the third time I've hit something. I'm getting sick of crashing into everything."
Wheeljack pulled up beside him and changed to robot mode. "The streets and roads are all torn up. It's a miracle that we can even drive on them. You know, if I had my equipment, I could make a reactionary bombing polymer that'll allow—"
Bumblebee held up a hand. "Do you have your equipment, Wheeljack?"
"No." Wheeljack said.
"Do you have any equipment?"
"Now you're just being rude."
Bumblebee sighed and looked out at the dead city beyond the bridge. "Why don't we leave it here for now and—"
Wheeljack tapped his shoulder and discreetly pointed behind Bumblebee. The yellow scout looked up but couldn't see anything.
"What is it?" He whispered.
"Shadow. Thirty degrees from my left shoulder. Second spire."
"How long was he following us?" Bumblebee asked.
"Don't know. Just picked him up."
"Friend or foe?"
"Let's go with foe until proven otherwise." Wheeljack replied.
"If it's an Insecticon, then we're in trouble." Bumblebee said.
"I'm calling for help." Wheeljack pressed a button on his wrist console.
"How? We can't get any signal without a comm-channel."
"This is something else I've been trying. A short pulse with enough power to activate a rudimentary console light back at base for approximately one hundredth of a second."
"A hundredth of a second? We've been here for two hours! Who the hell is going to stare at a tiny light on the off chance we need back up?"
Cliffjumper didn't take his eyes off the console for a second. Then the light at the bottom of the monitor blinked on once so fast that it was gone before you'd even blink. Cliffjumper smirked.
"Showtime."
XXXXXX
Jazz found Ironhide outside stargazing. He seemed to have calmed down, though he was a bit worried at how exhausted the old mech looked. Seeing Ironhide like this was worrying. He looked like he was about to break.
"Hide, you okay? Didn't peg you for a stargazer." Jazz said.
Ironhide looked out at the ruins of his city. His former home. "Look at this place, Jazz. Look at what this damn war has cost us. It started out so small, just us and the Cons and a few cities here and there. Then it grew to swallow up the whole planet. Our home, millions of years of history. All gone."
He hung his head and waited for a few minutes before asking, "How is he, Jazz?"
"Stable, just barely. But if we don't find doc some equipment to properly work on him, then stasis lock is the best case scenario for him." Jazz said.
Ironhide shut his eyes and slammed his fists on the railing. "They beat us. The fragging beat us!" He shouted. "The Cons duped us and tossed us aside like trash! And even in the end Prime was willing to keep fighting!"
"He would've died for us, Ironhide."
"He shouldn't have had to in the first place if it wasn't for—"
"Leave it alone, Ironhide. You don't have proof—"
"Of course I have proof!"
"Concrete proof, not biased assumptions!" Jazz yelled. "Hide, we're barely hanging on as it is. Let it go. It's not Mirage."
Ironhide sent Jazz a scathing glare and said, "You willin' to bet your Spark on that?"
Jazz gave a weary sigh. He knew Ironhide was basing this on the fact that Mirage was a long-time member of the Decepticons before the war during Zeta Prime's regime before he jumped ship after seeing how far they had fallen. Even now he still got a lot of scrap for being a former Decepticon even though he had nothing to do with some of their more heinous actions in the War for Cybertron.
Ironhide pushed past Jazz and walked past the tired and despondent forms of the other Autobots. Aside from Prowl and Jazz, Hound and Trailbreaker were doing their best to keep themselves busy to avoid falling into depression, and Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were sulking in a corner together. It was a very, very sorry sight.
"Cliff." Ironhide called out to the little red mech as he ran past him. "You lookin' for trouble?"
"Wheeljack sent us a signal. It could be good." Cliffjumper said, itching for a fight.
"Let's do it." Ironhide said, also eager to kill something. Sunstreaker overheard them and ran over.
"Hey, I want in." He said, but Ironhide shook his head.
"No, kid. You stay behind." Ironhide said.
"Ironhide, come on." Sunstreaker hissed. "I'm losing my mind here."
"Sorry, Sunstreaker, but we need more guns defending the base." Ironhide said, sending a glare at Mirage's back. "We need someone keeping watch."
XXXXXX
"I've got to say Barnett, I'd never expect the Atlantians to willingly reach out to us for aid." General Bryce said as he waited for their guests with Barnett.
"They're desperate to end this nightmare as we are, general. This is their world too." Barnett said. "And I think we can use the extra firepower."
The two men were standing in the landing field of the Air Force base that Princess Aspen had contacted. They were told to expect at least four Hammerhead dropships, mobile carriers that can transport multiple golems across vast distances. They saw the aircraft approaching, smoothing flying through the air with barely a sound.
'I have to wonder how the Atlantians were able to build something like this.' Barnett wondered as the lead dropship hovered in place for a moment before slowing lowering itself to the ground. But then Barnett noticed something else.
"Wait," Barnett's eyes widened. "Skyfire?"
"Hey, Colonel." Skyfire greeted him as she landed beside the dropship and transformed. "Long time, no see."
"Skyfire, I'm so glad you're alright. It's good t see a familiar face again." Barnett smiled. "I thought the worst when the Ark was destroyed."
The dropship opened up and Princess Aspen exited the craft with a dozen soldiers and Kiani following behind her. They were all clad in the same flexible, bone-like armor that was made of composite material that made it as flexible as plastic but as strong as Kevlar. She approached the two military men and nodded to them.
"Colonel Barnett, it's good to see you again." Aspen smiled. "I'm sorry it wasn't at a better time."
"Welcome to Nellis Air Force base, Princess Aspen." General Bryce greeted her, and they shook hands. "Am I right to assume that you're here to help us in this crisis?"
"You're correct. I'm here on orders of my mother to provide reinforcements for the Osean military. She wants us to provide a joint counterattack on the Decepticons and Karaba." She said.
"You're help is greatly appreciated." Bryce said honestly. Any news that's not bad is good news at this point.
"Skyfire, do you know what happened to the other Autobots?" Barnett asked. "We have no idea what's going on?"
Even though Skyfire basically had no facial expressions, he could tell from her body language that her mood was anything but high. "Yeah…about that. How about we go inside for this? You're not gonna like what I have to tell ya."
Barnett instantly regrated saying anything.
XXXXXX
Bumblebee and Wheeljack reached the old energon refinery was used to be the source of Iacon's energy supply. Fond memories were here, such as Calamity starting that reactor meltdown that destroyed the plan and forced most of Cybertron's civilian population to leave the planet. Good times.
Wheeljack had designed the power grids for lower income areas with Brainstorm and knew how they worked. He was hoping that there would be some residual energy cells or power conductors they could use, though the hope was slim.
"Do you think we'll find anything here?" Bumblebee asked. For some reason, he couldn't bring himself to talk loudly in a quiet place like this. The whole damn city felt like one giant grave.
"Nope." Wheeljack said without an ounce of shame. "But it can't hurt to try, right?"
Their mysterious follower watched them from the shadows and moved to approach them. But then they felt something pressed to the side of their head and heard the sound of a blaster powering up.
"You move, you die." Cliffjumper said. "Clear?"
The figure turned towards him. "Cliffjumper?"
Then Ironhide came barreling into the intruder and sucker punched them. They went tumbling out of the shadows onto the ground at Bumblebee's feet. Now out in the open, they all saw who it was.
"Glyph?" Bumblebee gaped.
Cliffjumper gave Ironhide a look. "Really?"
"It was dark, I thought—" Ironhide glared at him. "You held a gun to her head!"
"I wasn't going to shoot her." Cliffjumper said as if it was obvious.
Bumblebee heled the equally small green femme to her feet. "Glyph, what are you doing here on Cybertron?"
"It's really you! I knew my plan worked!" Glyph squealed. Like them, the femme looked like she had seen better days. "I'm so happy you got my message. Wait till the others here about this!"
"Whoa there, what are you talking about?" Cliffjumper asked. "Until now we thought it was just us. How'd you even get here?"
"We were shot down by a Decepticon warship and crashed in Rodion. We've been stuck on this planet with no way off." Glyph explained. "We almost completely gave up, until I found you guys. Thank Primus you're here to save us!"
The four mechs traded troubled glances. This was no the salvation they were hoping for.
I'm finally done writing the story at 50 chapters. I just wanted to get this out to keep interest in this story alive, but I intend to upload the remaining chapters after I'm done typing them down. Moving a bit slowly at the moment, but it will be done. Also, I'm making some...progress on Mosiac, though writer's block is a bitch. I had a lot of fun writing down the final battles for this story. Thanks for reading, please leave a review, and stay cool everybody!