Chapter 11:
"How's it going?" Kevin asked.
"So far, so good," the Cinematographer quipped as he descended the stone steps.
The crew member carefully packed some of his equipment and filmed footage into Kevin's trunk in preparation for the most dangerous part of their mission. Having left in a hurry so many times on the past from haunted sites, he was much more careful these days.
"Another hour or so, and we'll be done," he assured his guide.
"Great!" Kevin was curious as to what they were doing, but part of himself would rather not know.
The sooner the four humans were out of that wretched hive, the better.
For his part, the Cinematographer did not tip his hand to Kevin regarding their plans….
With only a sliver of a moon outside, it was pitch black on the ground floor of the old prison, and they went back to the ground floor, to the adjacent building, where Cell Blocks C and D were, filming the whole time.
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!" the Lead Investigator walked backward as he spoke in front of the camera, "WE ARE ABOUT TO MAKE OUR DESCENT INTO THE DEEPEST, DARKEST, DIRTIEST, DEPTHS OF THE PRISON," he continued as they walked, "TO UNCOVER THE TRUE HORRORS OF WHAT WENT ON THAT VERY NIGHT!"
They approached the steel door leading to the lower grounds, the same steel door that Kevin had propped open for them with a cinder block.
The Cinematographer continued filming the Lead Investigator, "IT WAS DOWN HERE, IN THIS FORMER MINESHAFT, THAT A MURDER OF A PRISONER TOOK PLACE, FOREVER ASSOCIATIATING THESE VERY GROUNDS WITH THE SUFFERING OF ONE OF IT'S INMATES!"
As they had done with Kevin only hours earlier, they walked down the cement stairwell, and the Lead Investigator narrated, "Every step we take down their stairs feels like a step closer to hell."
They had to speak quieter now, as loud noises could destabilize the building. The Transformer-sized stairs were the human equivalent of three flights.
They reached the bottom of the stairs, turned on their flashlights and devices, and headed down the catacomb.
"We are now heading to what was known as Cell Number Eight," the Lead Investigator narrated, "where a prisoner, a cop killer, was murdered."
Now, there were no sounds, no animals scurrying around, no insecticons even; nothing but a deafening silence.
"These aren't like the places we visit on Earth, man," the Second Investigator reminded his friends, "just be on your guard, man."
And now, the four humans stood before Cell #8, the lone cell at the end of the tunnel.
It took some effort, but they managed to pull the steel door open. It was old, creaking and cracking, with some cement chipping off in the process; the men waved their flashlights around the space, seeing absolutely nothing inside.
"Let's go inside," the Lead Investigator told them, stepping forward.
"Hey, wait, no," the Second Investigator grabbed his friend's shoulder, "don't you remember? Even Kevin wouldn't go in there!"
"Y-Yeah," the Cinematographer agreed, "we can film just fine from outside."
The Audio Tech was frozen in his growing dread.
"Look, we came this far," the Lead Investigator told his friends, "we came here for the truth!" Now, he turned back towards the cell, addressing whatever entity was inside for the first time, "AND WE WANT THE TRUTH!"
The three men stood at the door, the Audio Tech carefully watching his device for any paranormal activity.
"WHEN THIS HAPPENS TO YOU, YOU WANT ANSWERS! The Lead Investigator stepped further into the cell, "AND WHEN YOU WANT ANSWERS, YOU ASK QUESTIONS!"
"What are you gonna do?" the Second Investigator asked, "interview it?"
"I know who you were," the Lead Investigator stood, addressing the wall, "I know your name! And now, I'm here to tell your story to the world!"
"Um…" the Second Investigator felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Likewise, the Audio Tech could feel the hairs on his right arm; and the Cinematographer felt that the entire atmosphere began to change…
"YOU WERE MURDERED, WEREN'T YOU?!" the Lead Investigator, smirking, almost teasing, told what was behind the wall, "BUT YOU YOURSELF WERE ALREADY A MURDERER, WEREN'T YOU?!"
"H-Hey, man," the Second Investigator warned, "I don't like where you're g-going with this—"
But the Lead Investigator persisted, "AND FOR WHAT? BECAUSE YOUR WIFE LEFT YOU?!"
"Oh God," the Cinematographer began shaking; he could barely hold his camera steady.
"WHO DO YOU BLAME?!" the Lead Investigator asked, "WHO IS TO BLAME FOR WHERE YOUR LIFE ENDED UP?!"
The Lead Investigator knew what he was doing; his three friends knew what he was doing; he had done it so many times before. He was trying to provide the spirit into contacting them and for the spirit to confess to their sins and then pass into the light and to the other side. It was the reason these men did what they did; why they would travel across the earth, and now to Cybertron, with their cameras and devices; why they filmed their television program. To free these trapped and troubled souls; to give them peace and deliverance, and free them from their prisons, and free them to go on to their higher plane of everlasting life.
But sometimes, a spirit is not ready to leave.
"Come through, Scourge," the Lead Investigator addressed the ghost by his designation, "I demand you to manifest yourself right now!"
The four men waited; for a moment or two, nothing happened.
BOOOOM!
Outside, Kevin saw black clouds swirling over the prison! They came out of nowhere! Lightening flashing, another clap of thunder, and the rains came pouring down!
"BEEP, BEEP!" the Audio Tech looked down at his device, and there, blinking, flashing across its screen, was a word, a name, that was utterly foreign to them: Gravechaser.
"Jay, we got a name!" the Audio Tech whispered to the Cinematographer. He quickly turned the camera at the device, but before he could capture the image, the device went blank!
Then the whole structure rumbled! They could hear the thunder and lightning rolling outside!
"W-What's doing on?!" the Cinematographer's voice quivered.
"I don't know!" the Audio Tech tried to get his device back online, but to no avail.
That's when the Second Investigator saw his own device shut off abruptly!
"It's stopping one device at a time," the Audio Tech told them, "proving to us that It can!"
Now, for the first time since arriving at the prison, the Lead Investigator began to understand, whispering, "this is something macabre here."
"I'm not doing this; I can't do this" the Second Investigator began to panic, "I-I just wanna go back, and you guys can do this without me!"
Now, seeing his friends getting so upset made the Lead Investigator a bit angry with his spirit, "You're feeding on these people's weakness," he told this spirit, "That's what you're doing; you feed on these people's weaknesses."
BOOOM! More thunder and lightning! Upstairs, the disembodied sparks cowered in fear.
"Are you feeding off the spirits upstairs?" the Lead Investigator dared the spirit now, trying to stand up to this bully, "If you're so big and powerful, why don't you show us what you look like?"
There was nothing, no sound at all. And then:
"What do I look like?" Gravechaser spoke; his vocals were in a teasing tone, "Do you really want to know what I look like and who I really am?
Is that right, Zak?"
The Lead Investigator felt his own blood run cold, his voice refusing to scream, his horror palpable.
Gravechaser manifested before them now: A ghost of a wicked, former Seeker, now with a hulking, blue frame, a bread, a bat-like wings.
It's optics black and unlit.
"And, you ask me now," Gravechaser's vocals hissed with hatred, "who do I blame for what happened to me? Well, everyone will soon find out."
But the Lead Investigator was not asking questions anymore; in fact, none of the human men were asking any questions.
"AAHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" all four men screamed in horror at the sight of Gravechaser's wretched, ghostly frame. They rant for their lives!
"AAHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" the Lead Investigator, the Second Investigator, the Audio Tech, and the Cinematographer all ran away back down the catacomb, as fast as they had ever run in their lives!
And Gravechaser? It simply followed slowly, almost to toy with them.
The four men ran up the steps, climbing, huffing, puffing, screaming, and spitting, finally reaching the above floor, and continued running for their lives! The Cinematographer was lugging his camera all the way!
Outside, the rains began to fall, quickly turning into a deluge of a downpour. Kevin tried to find shelter under a nearby tree when he saw the prison's door burst open, and the four men came running out!
"KEVIN! KEVIN!" the Audio Tech called out, "GET US OUT OF HERE!"
"WHAT?" Kevin came towards, first relieved to see that they were all okay, "Are you alright?!"
The Lead Investigator tried to speak or scream, rather, but he could only whimper in fear, pointing back at the prison before resting his hands against his knees.
"THERE'S SOMETHING DOWN THERE!" the Second Investigator shouted, "YOU HAVE TO GET US OUTTA HERE!"
"THERE'S, THERE'S," the Cinematographer was winded from running, "THERE'S A GHOST-THING IN THE BASEMENT!"
Lightning flashed and BOOOOM! The thunder clapped again, the rain calming down even harder than before!
"I was afraid of this!" Kevin worried, trying to shelter them from the rains, "I must get you men to safety! What did you see in there?!"
"A-AH A BLUE GHOST T-T-THING!" was all the Second Investigator could get out.
"Oh no," Kevin knew what they had seen. He knew EXACTLY what…WHO they had seen, "WE HAVE TO GO!"
BOOOOM! A tree branch came down nearby, blocking the only road back to civilization.
"Nine-one-one!" Kevin quickly got on his radio, "Nine-one-one! We need a rescue! I have four humans with me!"
Mercifully, the vocals at the other end of the line answered, "What is your location?"
"The old Iacon Correctional Center!" Kevin told him, "Please hurry!"
The Lead Investigator, cowering in fear next to Kevin, was terrified to look back at the hulking structure of the former prison. The men's clothing became drenched as they huddled together.
The rain began to flood the woods around them, the dirt changing to mud beneath their feet and pedes.
"Dispatch to any nearby aircraft," the vocals announced, "we need a rescue of civilians."
Over Kevin's radio, they now heard the vocals of their rescuer: "Copy Dispatch! I'm on my way!"
Whirl, the retired Gladiator and now volunteer EMT, flew to the scene. In his Helicopter Mode, he got as close as he could over the black clouds above the prison, sending his hook down below, "Whirl to Dispatch! I'm above the Iacon Correctional Center!"
"WE'RE HERE!" Kevin shouted, waving his arms, "OVER HERE!"
Whirl flew East, as close as the weather would allow, flinging his hook in their direction, "Grab on!"
Kevin caught the hook and immediately transformed into his Cadillac Alt-Modes and opened his doors, "Get Inside!"
The four men quickly hurried inside, with the Audio Tech jumping into the driver's seat, the Second Investigator into the front passenger seat, the Cinematographer into the left back seat, practically crushing his camera into the process, and the Lead Investigator jumping headfirst into the right back seat.
But just as Whirl became to ascend his positing to left the Vehicon and his passengers upwards,
The Lead Investigator felt Gravechaser's claw grab his right leg! Pulling him out of the rising Vehicon!
"AHHHH!" the Lead Investigator screamed as Kevin was quickly lifted from the ground! He grabbed Kevin's doorframe as he was now entirely out of the Cadillac, hanging on for his dear life as the rains poured down on him!
He could feel Gravechaser holding onto his leg!
"AHHHHH!" the Cinematographer screamed, jumping over his camera to grab onto his friend!
"ZAAAAK!" the Second Investigator rushed over his seat, grabbing the Lead Investigator's right arm to hold onto him!
The Audio Tech struggled to reach him, trying to get over the seat and reaching out!
"Hang on, guys!" Kevin cried, "Hang on!"
"What the slag?!" Whirl could feel someone pulling back on his hook; figuring he had accidentally snagged a tree branch, he pulled up quickly, dragging Kevin and the men up as fast as his frame and the rains would allow.
The three men held onto their friend as the Cadillac was pulled up higher and higher until they were high over the Iacon Correctional Center!
The rains continued to pour down on them!
"DON'T LOOK DOWN, ZAK!" the Second Investigator kept trying to pull him inside, but the Lead Investigator's jacket was so wet, it was all he could do to hold onto him without losing his grip!
The Lead Investigator whimpered in terror; he couldn't see anything because of the rain washing over his glasses; all he could do was pray that his friends could hold onto him! And he could feel Gravechaser still holding onto his leg, claws digging into his skin, as the ghost Itself was also being lifted out of the area along with them!
Whirl managed to get high enough over the black clouds and quickly headed back towards the cities. He dragged them past the forest and over the Black Sea; the men were terrified as they flew over; they had to hold onto their friend for his very life!
Gravechaser could see Vosina, the capital city of Vos, was to the North. He let go of the Lead Investigator's leg and descended into the blackness below.
"AAAHHHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Kevin didn't hear it, but the Lead Investigator did: The ghost laughed manically all the way down as if to say it was It's stop on the lift back to the city!
The disembodied vocals faded away; then, there was no sign of Gravechaser at all as he disappeared into Vosina.
Suddenly freed from It's grip, the three men were finally able to pull the Lead Investigator up and safely into the Cadillac, with Kevin closing and locking his doors.
"Z-Zak," they cried and hugged each other now; they had never been so scared.
The Lead Investigator was shaking and crying; all he could do was whimper and huddle next to his friends for warmth. He could not yet comprehend what had happened. And what ALMOST happened to him!
"Are you guys okay?!" Kevin asked, worried.
"We're okay!" the Auto Tech answered shakily, "He's okay!"
Whirl flew everyone safely back to Iacon, and Kevin drove the shaken group back to their hotel. He wanted to know what had happened, but the four men rushed inside, afraid to yet speak about what had occurred.
It was daybreak now, and inside their hotel room, the four men, after showering and changing clothes, were finally able to discuss their mutual experiences at the Iacon Correctional Center.
"Ready?" the Lead Investigator asked, sitting at a desk.
"Ready," the Cinematographer began filming.
"As we now rest in the safety of the Cybertron city of Iacon," the Lead Investigator began his speech to the camera, "we are finally able to compare our findings." He still struggled a bit to maintain his composure, having almost been pulled out of their Vehicon guide by a disembodied ghost, which was not easy. "As you can probably tell by my voice," his eyes looked around at his friends, "I'm still trying to comprehend everything from last night."
The Cinematographer turned his camera to the Auto Tech now.
"I was able to reboot everything," the Audio Tech told them, "But nothing recorded after I saw his name flash across the screen," he stated, looking over his device, "I didn't get the voice on tape."
"I didn't get a shot of the name in time," the Cinematographer sighed.
"All I know is," the Second Investigator was shook his head, "is that I know what I saw, and I know what I heard, man. And nobody can tell us that what we all saw wasn't there!
Even without any proof, I know what I saw, man."
"But, we have proof," the Lead Investigator reached down now, pulling up his right pant leg, and revealed the deep claw marks that Gravechaser left, still sheering into his flesh, "this is what I found in the shower."
"AH MAN!" they came over now, with the Cinematographer getting a closing shot of the painful-looking wound.
"I will forever remember last night," the Lead Investigator gave his narration, "for the mental wounds will far outlast my physical ones, long after they had healed."
After a moment, the Cinematographer cut the camera, feeling that this shot was an appropriate closer to their lockdown.
They all spoke now, not wanting to record what they had to talk about with each other.
"What have I done?" the Lead Investigator asked his friends, "What did I unleash?"
"I don't know, man," the Second Investigator wrung his hands, "all I know is I can't wait to get outta here and get back to Earth."
"Did anybody shut that door?" the Auto Tech asked, remembering the cinderblock they had promised Kevin they would remove.
They all shook their heads.
It was around noon now, and the four men had packed their bags, checked out of their hotel rooms, and again met with Kevin outside.
"Hey guys," Kevin tried to be friendly, "Um…Sleep okay?" what else could he say…
They all gave their respective yesses and nods as they put their bags and equipment into Kevin's trunk. The Vehicon then drove them to Shockwave's Tower.
The four men now waited for their host, Shockwave, the President of Cybertron, to meet with them before heading home.
"Hey, um, Zak," the Second Investigator whispered to his friend, "are you gonna tell Shockwave about… y'know?"
"We can't," the Lead Investigator whispered back, "we can't tell anybody until we get back to earth."
"Gentlemen!" Shockwave entered now, "I'm so happy to see you today! How did your taping go?"
"G-Good," the Lead Investigator nodded, shaking, "everything went great!"
"Do you get all the footage you needed?" Shockwave asked.
"Y-Yes," the Cinematographer piped up, "even with the storm, we got all the footage."
"The storm?" Shockwave was puzzled by this, "What storm?"
"That freaking rainstorm, man!" the Second Investigator couldn't believe the Mech had missed that, "It was like, Noah's Ark last night!"
"It was pretty bad," the Auto Tech added.
"Oh, my," Shockwave was surprised and looked at his , "I didn't see anything on my weather app."
That's when the four men looked at each other; they realized that it may have been Gravechaser that made that storm.
"W-Well," the Lead Investigator had to cover himself, "p-probably to US, it seemed like a lot of rain…."
"Oh," Shockwave shrugged, "well, no bother. You have my check?"
"Yeah," the Lead Investigator handed him his company's payment check, "it's all here, the full amount."
"Oh, thank you, gentlemen," Shockwave sighed in relief, "you have no idea how much these credits are going to do for Cybertron!"
The men looked at each other now; Cybertron. What have they done to Cybertron?
"Hey, um, Shockwave?" the Lead Investigator stepped forward.
"Yes," Shockwave looked up from his check.
"Well, um," the Lead Investigator looked back towards his friends, "we were talking this morning, and, um…."
They wondered if he was going to tell Shockwave the truth now.
"We think that project you're doing," the Lead Investigator cleared his throat, "Well, we were talking, and we thought it sounded like a nice thing," he reached into his pocket and pulled out another check, "we wanted to give you this," he handed Shockwave his check, "it's front the four of us."
The three other men nodded in agreement with this, and at the same time, understanding their friend's silence.
Shockwave looked at the check, "Oh! This is wonderful! Now I can afford to buy those beeswax candles!"
"Uh-huh," The Lead Investigator nodded nervously.
"Oh, thank you so much, gentlemen!" Shockwave gushed, "Your visit to our home planet has humbled me so much! I don't know how I can ever thank you for everything you've done, for not only Cybertron but for me, personally!"
"No problem," the Lead Investigator smile. Yeah, no problem.
The four men got back into their jeep, with the Auto Tech driving them through the Space Bridge.
With the camera rolling and the last shot looking back at Cybertron, the Lead Investigator gave his closing narration, "I will never enter another mine, without paying a deep respect to those who were left behind in the shadows."
As they arrived back on Earth and Scottsdale, Arizona, he finished, "It's impossible to know who will pay the price, for the doors left open."
Epilogue:
The following morning, Shockwave paid the Helixian Constructicons the total amount due, and the construction of the historic memorial shrine in Iacon Square was completed without delay or incident.
With joy, Shockwave cut the ribbon at the grand opening ceremony!
And several weeks later, Shockwave joined Megatron, Astrotrain, and all the other Gladiators as they proudly attended the ceremony inducting Whirl into the Cybertronian Gladiatorial Hall of Fame.
Everyone got what they wanted.
But at what cost?
The End.