Chapter 47-Lamentations
Ironhide sat quietly in the room trying to avoid Chromia's stone cold stare while Elita-1 stood by the window looking up at the sky. Neither femme had said a word to Ironhide after they arrested him (there was no other word to describe it) following his beatdown of Mirage. He recognized this tactic that Kup sometimes used on his more unruly troops, using the silence to unsettle the guilty party and soften them up for a verbal beating. Ironhide thought it was an effective tactic, but he never thought he would be in this situation himself.
"So I just sit here then? Watch you stargaze?" Ironhide said. "Can't blame you, though. Iacon's always had a nice view—"
"Don't even try to make light of this, Ironhide." Chromia said.
Ironhide looked away. "Just sayin'."
"Just sayin'?" Elita-1 repeated, turning to face him. "You attacked a fellow Autobot, Ironhide. Beat him down like a thug without provocation! You were out of line!"
"But he's—"
"Mirage is not the traitor! You're basing your accusations on ancient news that's not even relevant anymore! Stop letting your prejudice cloud your damn judgment!" Elita-1 yelled in his face. She took a deep breath and pulled back, running a hand down her face. Ironhide wisely remained silent.
"Look, Ironhide. I understand that your blame yourself for Optimus's condition. You somehow feel like it's your fault he's hurt—let me finish." She held up a hand to stop him before he started. "But you can't let your grief take over and drive you apart from the others. Optimus isn't dead. He still has a chance but not if we fall apart here and start fighting amongst ourselves. That's precisely why Megatron didn't kill you all. So you can do the deed for him."
Ironhide grimaced, knowing she was right. Now that his anger had drained away, all that was left was a feeling he wasn't used to having—helplessness. He held his head n his hands and let out a shaky breath. "I'm…I'm a fragging mess, Elita."
"We all are." She said. "But you have to stay the course and don't lost hope. It's all we have left now. Lose that, and we'll give in to our basic instincts."
"Who told you that?" He asked.
"Alpha Trion." She replied.
"Smart mech."
A loud explosion was heard outside and the trio ran out of the building to see the Autobots firing their guns at something across the street.
"What happened?" Elita-1 asked.
"Insecticons!" Blaster yelled.
Blurr came running over to them covered in light burns, nearly crashing into Kup as he skidded to a stop.
"Some early-warning system you were." Kup grunted.
"I was on the far side." Blurr said.
"Where's Drift?"
"Don't know. Probably still trying to get us."
Elita-1 looked around for the swordsman but saw no sign of him. Standing on top of Roadbuster's alt mode, she called out above the noise. "Drift, if you can hear me, get clear of the buildings! I'm going to bring them down!"
She reached out with her telekinetic powers and took hold of the foundations of the buildings around the approaching insecticons. With a mental pull, the already weak foundations of the buildings shattered and they collapsed, burying the insecticons under several tons of rubble.
"Autobots, form up and move out!" Kup shouted and transformed with his Wreckers to carve a path ahead. No one wasted any time in taking their alt modes and driving away from the swarm, who were already digging themselves out of the debris.
XXXXXX
Megatron punched a hole in the wall of his chamber in a fit of rage. Nightshade watched him vent out his anger on the side, and while she appeared calm on the outside, she too was also livid.
"How could they have escaped? Two Autobots should not have been able to escape Shockwave and Dreyas!" Megatron hissed.
"They were being aided by a group of espers who hijacked a Karaba airship. The Neo Knights. They're probably the only espers in the country in open rebellion against Karaba." Nightshade said.
"Damn them all to hell." Megatron growled. He didn't need this right now. Losing Shockwave's ship and all the valuable scientific data was bad enough, but the space pillars, specifically the control pillar that commanded the others, were also destroyed when the ship blew up. This meant they couldn't bring reinforcements to Terra, on top of losing their hostages. "Do we have a read on their location?"
"No, they're shielding their signals. But Feint did mention seeing the two Autobots being picked up by a space shuttle sporting the symbol of the Elite Guard."
"Elite…?" Megatron's face darkened. "Ultra Magnus."
"This is bad, Megatron. Without the pillars we can't transport troops to this planet to reinforce our position. Not to the mention the latest reports from our space forces…"
"I know, Nightshade!" Megatron yelled. He cleared his throat and regained his composure. "It doesn't matter. The Autobots are nowhere near capable of beating us, and the human forces are being pushed to their breaking point."
"And the rest of our forces fighting the Autobot garrisons and fortresses?" Nightshade asked.
"Their sacrifices will not be forgotten." Megatron said with an air of finality. "This war is ours and we will not stop until our place in the universe is iron clad!"
Megatron took one last look at his greatest trophy, the Matrix of Leadership, sitting on a pedestal in the heart of the chamber before leaving. Nightshade watched him go with an unreadable expression while Songbird flew onto her shoulder.
"Mistress, how bad is the situation in space?" She asked.
Nightshade gave her a weary look. "It's nothing I want the others to know about, that's for sure."
XXXXXX
Thundercracker sat on a bus staring at nothing. He was moping, something Skywarp had so helpfully pointed out a few days ago. Wasn't like he had the motivation to take part in the so-called "fun" like his comrades. The novelty of beating the Autobots had worn off and now he was starting to wonder what was next. He wasn't the only one thinking that.
'I don't think even Megatron knows what to do now. Probably why Starscream keeps haunting him so much.' Thundercracker thought.
The sound of footsteps behind him caused Thundercracker to sin around and point his laser cannon at the sneak…only to see that it was just a young woman and her child.
The terrified woman stood frozen in place, holding her breath while clutching her daughter tightly. She expected to get killed on the spot, but realized that Thundercracker hadn't shot yet, though she didn't take her eyes off the cannon.
Thundercracker scowled at her before letting out a grunt and lowering his cannon. "Beat it."
The woman stared at him in disbelief, perhaps thinking it to be a cruel trick. He couldn't blame her for thinking that. Thundercracker jerked his head to the side and said, "I said beat it!"
She nodded and scurried away across the street down an alleyway, disappearing out of sight. Thundercracker sighed and ran a hand down his face. It was official, he was sick of this scrap.
In another part of the city, Starscream approached the den of the Insecticon alphas, which was just a hollowed out apartment building, but the details mattered little to him. They probably hoard all their kills here, the repulsive little creatures. Still, they were useful and Starscream had need of their considerable resources.
"What do you want, Seeker?" Shrapnel hissed at him. Starscream crossed his arms.
"Is this how you address a superior officer, Shrapnel?" He said. "Perhaps you have me confused with someone else."
Bombshell cut in before his alpha brother could make a fool of himself. "My apologies, Starscream. It's hard to tell you apart from your brothers. No offense was meant." He waved Shrapnel back and motioned to a pile of rocks before him. "Please, sit. How may I be of assistance?"
Starscream sat his large form down on the pile. "It has come to my attention that you were mistreated. I've come to offer apologies of my own on behalf of my less intelligent brothers."
"It is of no consequence, Starscream. We expect this kind of treatment for our nature." Bombshell said.
"But you shouldn't. by the by, you Insecticons make up the bulk of our forces on this world, now more than ever after Shockwave's space pillars went up in flames along with his ship. Warriors of your caliber should never suffer such indignities." Starscream said eloquently. "Such thuggishness should have no place in our empire if it is to have a future."
Bombshell hummed and nodded. "I see. I take it you consider the future of the Decepticon Empire often, Starscream?"
"I do. Now more than ever." Starscream leaned forward and stared into Bombshell's segmented visor. "It's time you and I had a talk."
XXXXXX
For the first time since the destruction of the Ark, Gina was happy. They found Darren and the Minicons, she was reunited with Annie and Grindor and most of the team was back together save Rodimus and Tomahawk. To top it all off, the left Dreyas trapped in a cave in the middle of the desert with his powers still blocked and no means to communicate to his troops.
As soon as they got back to the base, Darren was rushed off to the medical ward for a checkup. Annie and Gina had to play peacekeeper between the Neo Knights and the soldiers on base (them being espers put a lot of people on edge) but Bulkhead's presence managed to get them off their backs. Despite this, not everything was fine.
Once everyone was settled in, Barnaby had the girls and their Minicon friends join him for a little update on Darren's condition.
"Darren's fine, just a bit dehydrated and suffering from mental exhaustion. He was completely untouched when we found him, but I think that's because they had a powerful healer working on him when we stormed the base." Barnaby said. "Mentally, he's another story entirely."
"How bad is it?" Gina asked, gripping Sara's hand.
"Whatever they did to him, it should've left him brain dead." He revealed to the horror of the girls. "They healed his body to full recovery, probably to repeat whatever torture they've been doing on him."
"I should've killed Dreyas when I had the chance!" Annie hissed.
"I'm with you on that." High Wire growled.
"I expect he'll be suffering from some serious PTSD from what he went through. Nightmares will be common and he might be sensitive to certain sounds or sights." Barnaby said wearily. "Also, I can feel his mind being connected to something I can't describe. It's not anything on his planet, but to something far, far away."
"Connection?" Gina muttered, but then she realized what he was talking about. "Sunstreaker."
"Sunstreaker? Wait, you mean the headmaster implants?" Grindor said. "I thought Ratchet suppressed them."
"He did, but apparently Shockwave screwing with his mind reopened it." Gina said. "Bulkhead told me what Shockwave had done. He used Darren's connection with Sunstreaker to open a backdoor into the Autobots' defense systems and shut everything down. This left the Autobots open to attack…"
"Allowing the Cons to launch an all-out assault on every single Autobot base in the galaxy with little resistance." Sureshock said quietly. "That explains what happened to the Ark."
"But now that we've got Darren back, everything's fine, right?" Annie asked. "They can't use him to shut the Autobots down anymore."
"It's too late for that." A weak voice said behind them. The girls turned around and saw Darren leaning against the doorway, looking pale and tired.
"Darren!" Gina exclaimed and ran over to him. "What are you doing up? You're supposed to be sleeping!"
"Can't with all those damn nightmares. I keep…remembering stuff. Memories. Not all of it's mine." Darren rambled. He shook his head and straightened himself. "As I was saying, it might be too late for the Autobots. Shockwave and Megatron wasted no time in using the advantage I gave them. I think we're on our own on this one."
Everyone felt the mood drop from that. They were already undermanned but knowing that aside from Ultra Magnus they weren't getting any help, it was a depressing thought. Even more so knowing they'd have to fight against Devastator.
"And there's something else." Darren's face darkened as he went into why he was really here. "I think I know who sold us out."
"You do?!" High Wire said.
"Yeah." Darren growled. "And I hope that bastard comes back to Terra so I can kill him myself!"
XXXXXX
"It's raining again."
"Yes, Shelia, I can see that."
Shelia looked out the window at the heavy rain pouring outside. "Do you think it's the Decepticons?" She asked. Gar gave her a strange look.
"What? You think they can control the weather now?" He said, sifting through the coats on the rack.
"I'm just saying. They mastered interstellar travel. A weather machine would be possible would've been possible for them."
"Why would they even need a weather machine?" Gar asked. Shelia shrugged.
"To screw with us?" She replied. Gar shook his head at his sister.
It was surprisingly easy for the Defenders of Esper Town to infiltrate Manhattan. The operation started as a way to get supplies for their people back in the Esper Town, but then it somehow turned into a rescue mission for any refugees they came across.
Obviously not a lot of people wanted to get help from any espers and they had been attacked by several mobs already, but for the most part, many people accepted their help. It was either take their chances with a small group of esper rebels or try to survive the random Decepticon raids on their hideouts. Gar had heard enough stories of Astrotrain's subway hunts to keep him up at night for a few months.
Gar and Shelia froze when they heard heavy footsteps and quickly hid in the coat rack just as they saw Soundwave's head passing by the department store they were scouting. They held their breaths, not moving until he was completely out of sight.
"God I hate that guy." Gar whispered.
"Same here." Shelia said. She took a deep breath and looked around the empty store. "Bro, do you think the Minicons are okay?"
"I hope so." Gar said. "I want to optimistic, but after everything that's happened…I don't know."
"Yeah."
Suddenly they heard a rustling noise coming from the next aisle over. Gar quickly channeled his power, illuminating his body with photon energy as he jumped around the corner to face the intruder.
"Whoa! Friendly! I'm a friendly!"
Gar and Shelia paused as they saw a half-naked man stumble back trying to keep a pair of jeans too big for him from falling off.
"Um, hey." The man said nervously. "Name's Commander Steve Leonard and I'm hear to kick ass and wear pants. And I'm all out of pants."
Half an hour later, once the rain stopped and the Defenders regrouped, they took their new friend to the employee break room for a talk. Steve explained the situation to them, knowing that these guys had more experiences with the cybertronians than he had.
"So this magic gun you're looking for is supposed to kill all the Cons and save the world?" Lyn said skeptically.
"Not all of them. Just one. The big bad himself. We're banking on the fact that the Cons will fall apart once we kill him. It's our only option with the Autobots scattered across the country." Steve said. "And it's not a gun. It's a prototype weapon."
"Sounds like top secret, classified stuff." Gar said.
"It is." Steve nodded.
"Stuff we're not supposed to know about." Luan said.
"Then I'll just have to kill you afterwards." Steve grinned.
"This sounds absurd." Carla sighed. "You don't even know if what you're hoping to happen will happen."
"Look. The Autobots are pretty much useless and the rest of the world is currently planning on marching up on our doorstep and wiping out all of New York—all of the East Coast if they have to—in order to stop the Decepticons." Steve said. "We're talking nuclear weapons."
That got the team's attention. They all shared a glance, finally realizing just how serious this was. The threat of nuclear fallout that hasn't been seen since the Belkan War.
"You guys know how to fight and work as a team. You know how to sneak around without being seen. There are resistance groups all over the city." He said. "And to make things better, we're all espers."
"You're one too?" Shelia asked, looking him over. "And you're in the military?"
"No one knows except my dad. It's why I was called in." Steve pointed at the sun. "My body converts solar radiation into energy and makes me stronger. I've been running on a full charge for two days now and I'd like to keep it that way until the fighting really starts."
"I say we go for it." Luan said, shocking her friends.
"Luan?" Carla questioned.
"Look, it's that or we end up with a front row seat to Hiroshima 2.0. I'm down for fighting back against these bastards and saving the world." Luan said softly. "For Redline, Combusta and the others."
Gar looked at the girls before nodding to Steve. "Okay, we're in."
"Great!" Steve clapped his hands. "Let's go save the world."
XXXXXX
Sulking in his room was now how Darren wanted to send his first day of freedom, but he was in a bad mood and it'd be safer for everyone if he was alone. Having the mental connection between him and Sunstreaker revived was bad enough without having nightmares of Shockwave's torture. He could barely get more than two hours of sleep without having flashes of that one-eyed bastard and flinching at loud noises.
"I'm a damn mess." He groaned into his pillow.
A knock on the door made him lift his head and he opened it to see Gina peeking in. "Hey, can I come in?"
"Be my guest." Darren said.
She quickly slipped inside, slamming the door shut behind her before leaping onto the bed and pulling Darren into a kiss, pushing him onto his back.
When they finally pulled apart, Darren had to take a deep breath before saying, "Not that I totally didn't like that, but please be gentle."
Gina laughed and hugged him to her chest. "Oh I missed that. I missed you. It's been almost a month but it felt like an eternity. Being apart from you knowing that you were going through…that was torture."
"I know." Darren said, kissing her brow. "I'm sorry you went through that."
"I should be telling you that." Gina said. "Darren…do you remember what happened to you?"
Darren scowled and looked away. "I remember all of it."
She got off him to let him sit up and he looked at his hands. "All I remember is waking up in the Nemesis. Shockwave told me what he intended to do, use my headmaster connection with Sunstreaker to bypass the Autobots' defenses and leave them open to attack. He did all sorts of scans on my body before he starting shoving several damn needles into my head. I blacked out from the pain and everything just went…dark."
Gina held a hand to her mouth in horror. "My god, Darren…"
"I'm pretty sure I didn't dream. I was just floating in limbo for god knows how long. Then came the noises. I started getting quick flashes of images and sounds that I couldn't understand. Presumably because Sunstreaker was so far away. It all blurred together, and then I awoke and started fighting Dreyas at the Karaba base."
Gina kissed his cheek. "You're safe now, Darren. You and the Minicons are in safe hands."
Darren smiled. His reunion with High Wire and Sparkplug was just as emotional. Arcee and Moonracer welcomed him back with open arms too. Most of his friends were back together and now they had somewhat of a chance to end this nightmare.
"Did you talk to Debbie?" Gina asked.
"Yeah. We talked. Mostly cried. After we could form coherent words I told her that Annie and I were fine." Darren said.
"And you didn't tell her about…everything else?"
"That's something I'll handle when we're not worrying about the end of human society as we know it." He frowned. "And…Debbie thought that we were still going back to Tranquility."
"We're not?" Gina inquired. Darren shook his head.
"Of course not." He growled. "Not until the Cons are dead and scrapped. Not until I kill the bastard that caused all of this with my bare hands."
Gina gripped his hand to calm him.
"Debbie wasn't happy about that. She was angry, we yelled at each other, and when she saw that were weren't budging on our decision, she hung up." Darren shrugged helplessly. "As if she doesn't hate the Autobots enough already."
"I'm sure she'll come around, Darren." Gina said, not sounding sure at all.
"Heh. We both know that's not true, Gina." Darren chuckled. "I honestly don't know how much of this she can take."
The two sat in silence for a moment before Darren said, "So, on a slightly less depressing note, what are the Autobots planning to do now?"
"Ultra Magnus is talking it over with Colonel Barnett and Princess Aspen." Gina said. "But we don't have time to wait for Rodimus and Tomahawk. Megatron's attacks on the other nations are increasing and it might force them to take drastic action to wipe him out for good."
"How drastic?"
"Nuclear." The word alone was enough to explain how dire the situation was.
Darren exhaled through his nose and his shoulders sagged, weighed down by the expectations placed on them. "A lot of people are going to die before this is over. Aren't they?"
"It seems so." Gina replied.
Someone knocked on the door and Darren opened it to reveal High Wire, who sported a worried look on his face.
"You two better come down to the hangar. Something's come up."
XXXXXX
Magda glared at the trembling soldier with a burning gaze, not saying a word to him as she let him squirm in her presence.
"How could you not find him? We had security cameras all over the damn canyon and automated defenses within three miles of the base!"
"W-Well, we lost track of Lord Dreyas after he began fighting the escaped prisoner." He said. "We were too scattered from the Autobots' attack to know his last location."
Magda snarled angrily at him. "Find as many skilled telepaths as you can and scan that entire fucking desert! I don't want anyone coming back until you've found him!"
"Yes, my lady!" he saluted her and ran out of the room.
Magda exhaled, shooting steam from her nostrils as she stood up and walked over to the large window behind her desk. The White House looked as pristine as ever, a stark contrast to the still destroyed Lincoln Memorial and the remains of Air Force One. The symbols of Osea's democracy and power lying in ruins and forgotten about. To think she actually wanted to visit that place as a girl.
The door opened up behind her and she heard her youngest daughter's voice. "Mom?"
"Debra." Magda drawled. "I see you too are not having any luck finding your father."
"I was busy helping our troops assess the injured and total casualties. The Autobots tore through us pretty badly." Debra said.
"That wouldn't have been a problem if you hadn't given our hostage over to the enemy."
"It was me against four espers, one of them wielding a hammer strong enough to bust a hole through a tank and shoots lightning bolts." Debra growled.
"Excuses! Your father could've handled them just fine." Magda hissed, spinning around to face her daughter. "And you had the Decepticons helping you!"
"Don't even try that! I'm not strong enough to fight multiple enemies by myself! Especially when I'm in the middle of a hospital!" Debra said.
"Bah!" Magda scoffed. "You let your bleeding heart get the better of you and now your father, our leader, is either stranded in some hovel far from civilization or is already dead!"
"So trying to be a decent human being is wrong?"
"We're trying to win a war you stupid girl!" Magda roared, slamming her fists into the desk. "A war against humans who have raped and maimed us! A war to ensure our dominance over these worthless dredges as a species!"
She walked around the desk to get into Debra's face. "And now those humans are laughing at us. Taunting us because we lost our leader. We need to remind them who runs this country now or they'll use this to rally together and challenge us!"
Debra took a step back from the mad look in her stepmother's eyes. "W-What are you planning to do?"
"You aren't going to do shit. I'm sending you back to Utopia to watch over the homeland. As for me," Magda glared at the Osean flag hanging over the desk. "I'm going to burn this city to the ground."
"You can't!"
"I can." She said darkly. "And I will."
XXXXXX
"Magda Lehnsherr just made a declaration over the Karaba comm channel." Ultra Magnus said. "She intends to level the entire west coast with a fleet of Karaba airships, starting with Washington in one big shock and awe campaign."
"My god." Barnett gasped in horror.
"Can she even do that?" Moonracer asked.
"She has the resources. Karaba's new airships are outfitted with advanced Utopian weaponry for the sole purpose of causing mass destruction." Lifeline said. "She can do it."
"She's doing this as a show of power in response to not finding Dreyas." Barnaby said. "I knew she'd be pissed, but not like this."
"So what do we do now?" Annie asked, looking around the room. She, Gina, Darren, Sara, Princess Aspen, Barnaby, Kotetsu, General Bryce and Barnett were sitting around in the base's situation room while the Autobots stood on the side in their miniature holomatter avatars due to the meeting being classified. It was a little cramped, but everyone needed to be in the know about this. "We've got Karaba causing shit in the west and Megatron in the east."
"We'll have to split up." Gina said, cutting off any reply from Ultra Magnus and General Bryce. "The Autobots and the Air Force are heading to New York, right? Let's stick with that, but have another team fight Karaba."
"But who do we send?" Bulkhead asked.
"Us." Barnaby and Darren said simultaneously.
"Darren, we just got you back. It's too dangerous." Arcee said.
"Arcee, we're facing a potential nuclear strike on one of the largest cities in the world that may or may not end with Megatron hijacking said missiles and using them against us." Darren said. "We need to go all-out or we're dead."
"Amen brother." Annie sighed.
"What you're suggesting is very risky." Ultra Magnus said. "Most of our forces will be dedicated to fighting the Decepticons."
"I can talk with mother and have her split our army in half to assist the Neo Knights." Aspen said. "Our fighters are the best in the world and are strong enough to handle anything Karaba might have. But I'm afraid we'll have to keep the carriers and battleships for the main assault on New York."
"That's fine. Most of the fighting will be done in the air anyway." Darren said.
"As reluctant as I am to support a decision given by a bunch of civilians, we don't have a choice. I think I can have some Air Force bases lend some fighters to you for the operation, but that's it." Bryce said with a sigh. "This plan is incredibly dangerous. You'll barely have any time to prepare."
"Magda will need time to prep the airship fleet and the bomber she's going to use in the operation. It'll take time for them to muster up that many munitions." Bulkhead said. "In the meantime, we'll use the time to prepare ourselves too. We're gonna need it."
"If that's all, then everyone prepare for the operation. We have a long fight ahead of us." Ultra Magnus said.
XXXXXX
"Rodimus, listen…to me…" Tomahawk said. "You have…to leave…"
"Leave you?" Rodimus said. "But I can't—"
"P-Please, Rodimus. I'm…too far gone…you know that."
He did know it. Rodimus was no stranger to death. Primus knows he's seen enough of it in his formative years. But losing friends is never easy, no matter how long he's been fighting this war.
"Rodimus…look at me." He looked back at her to see that she was smiling. "I know that…the others have regrouped by now. It's now…or never to beat Megatron. And it's too late for me. Don't let me…hold you back…Rodimus. Win this for the both…of us."
Tomahawk felt herself getting weaker and knew her time had come. "Rodimus…take me outside please."
Rodimus carefully picked her up and carried her out of the cave and into the forest. He sat her down against a large tree and she looked up at the clear blue sky with a smile.
"I wish I could have lived to see Cybertron revived." She whispered. "At least I got to see a sun for the last time."
Her eye began to flicker and dim and the grip she had on his hand loosened. "Goodbye…Rodimus…"
Rodimus watched the light in her eye go dark and felt her hand go limp in his grasp. He shut his eyes and held her close as he tearlessly wept over another lost comrade.
Long story short, everybody pops off next chapter as the Battle of Osea reaches its final stages. Still working on Mosiac for anyone interested, as slow as progress has been. Probably won't get to seriously work on it until I'm done posting these chapters. Be sure to check out the Transformers Titan website on wordpress. Please leave a review and thanks for reading.