Chapter 2 Reviving the Cliffjumper
The decepticon ship had just been placed over a deep and wide crevice of a very high mountain, where there were huge deposits of energon. There the mining venicons are working hard to extract as many energon crystals as possible. While Starscream watched the work in progress, Megatron began to slowly approach him from behind.
" You there, bring me a sample " - said Starscream to one of the Venicons
" Starscream " - shouted Megatron to him getting his attention .- " Now that I'm back, I'll be giving the orders myself."
" As you wish, Lord Megatron "
" Where's your sister? "
" She's dealing with several issues on the ship . She should be here soon."
"Good"
" As your humble servant, may I open the space bridge to bring in the army of decepticons you have surely amassed during these three years in space? "
"My army will come , but my time away has resulted in an intriguing way of materializing it. The solid state of matter the ancient texts call Unicron blood." - explained Megatron, showing Starscream the crystal he held in his hand.
" Unicron the destroyer ? " - asked a surprised Starscream . " It is written that his blood destroys the spark."
" Torn from the cosmic shores, look this is dark energon "
" Legends say that it has the power to bring the dead back to life."
" We just need a corpse to find out "
" There will be no problem with that my lord . Darkscream is coming down."
For a moment, Megatron didn't understand what Starscream meant and looked at him with a strange expression that Starscream didn't even notice. After a few seconds the elevator descended to where Megatron stood with his deputy . At the front stood Darkscream who exited the elevator first . Along with her stood two venicons at the back, who were guarding the floating berth on which the dead Cliffjumper lay. As a precaution, the dead autobot's limbs were placed in very large steel shackles. Darkscream bowed, leaning forward slightly in front of Megatron. When she straightened up she let the venicons know to bring in the autobot . Everyone looked at the autobot and then Starscream spoke up : This is what is called a welcome gift.
Lord Megatron looking at the autobots was amazed at the achievement of these seekers. Without waiting a second longer he proceeded to execute his plan. He thrust a shard of dark energon into Cliffjumper's chest, which began to cause the former autobot to awaken. Starscream and Darkscream watched in horror as the reanimated cybertronian began to growl horribly and break free from its bonds. As he began to run towards the decepticon soldiers and attack them , Darkscream activated one of his rockets . The missile hit him centrally in the back but the beast did not stop attacking. The moment she activated the weapon in her right hand , Megatron stopped her .
" No , Darkscream wait "
" But my lord, this thing is attacking our soldiers "
" I said, WAIT ." - shouted Megatron to her, clearly frightening her
Unable to disobey the order, Darkscream watched with Starscream as the former autobot destroyed the second combat decepticon. She didn't mind that they were the ones who were doomed to shut down, but she was worried that it would make their firepower lower against the Autobots. Just then Starscream turned to Megatron :
" Is that your plan? Revive all the Autobots to kill us "
" This plan is crazy " – Darkscream agreed.
" It is no longer an autobot . It's a mindless beast that attacks everything in its path," explained Megatron without even looking at the seekers.
When the undead autobot finished dealing with its prey, it began running towards the three decepticons. However, before he could attack any of them, Megatron managed to slash him with his long blade . He cut it in such a way that its lower part along with its left arm fell, while the rest tried to save itself somehow .Unfortunately that didn't last too long as he was pushed away by Megatron , causing him to fall to the lower floor .
25 minutes earlier
Optimus told the children every detail of the story regarding the war on Cybertron and how they came to Earth.
Optimus warned them to be extra vigilant because since their encounter with the decepticons yesterday (here, except for Miko), they could be an easy target for them.
Jack wasn't too concerned about that and turned to Optimus:
" Yeah sure. Call the police if you see anything suspicious. Can we go now? "
" Are you crazy ? I got into a computer game in real life and I'm not going to let you or anyone else kick me out of it." - said a slightly offended Miko, who didn't realize that all this was really happening.
Optimus has decided that the three humans will be under their protection from now on, until they find out what the decepticons have planned.
Ratchet was not too convinced and tried to explain to Optimus that their little companions would be in danger here as well as elsewhere because they are not made of metal and could easily be trampled.
Optimus agreed with that last point and said they had to be careful when walking. Just as Ratchet was about to say something else, an alarm sounded at the base and the lights started flashing green. Jack was surprised , by this sudden alarm and immediately asked the others what was going on. Bumblebee spoke up and explained to them that it was just a proximity sensor. The only person who understood his buzzing was Rafael. As soon as Raf saw that Jack and Miko were embarrassed, he explained to them what Bumblebee had said.
The person who was on top of the base was special agent William Fowler, who is the so-called link to the outside world for the autobots and only shows up when something is going on. Optimus told Miko, Raf and Jack to hide from him for now.
They quickly ducked as Fowler exited the elevator. Even at the start, he harshly criticized the autobots for causing the problems he had learned about.
" Seven wrecks, thirty-four crashes, a 3-hour traffic jam, and a lot of information about a too fast motorcycle of unknown make and a big black and yellow car," said a disgruntled guy in a suit and ordered an explanation from Optimus " Do you have something to say to me Prime ? "
" We are keeping the situation under control, Mr. Agent " said Optimus
" Did they come back ? "
" If you are talking about the decepticons I doubt they will ever leave. Your planet is too precious to them."
" So it's time for the Pentagon to step in." - Agent Fowler replied at once
" Listen, Mr. Agent. We are the best and if not the only defense against a decepticon attack." Optimus tried to convince him
" It's your opinion "
" You muscle." Bulkhead spoke up, interrupting their chat " Has anyone been trampled on this road? …. During a slight pause, Bulkhead tore off one of Ratchet's mechanical tools and began squeezing it with his hand as he spoke : ,, Prime" crew knows when to use force and how much to use "
BULKHEAD , I needed it - said an angry Ratchet
Enough ! - shouted Optimus loudly, silencing them both. " Military action can end in disaster . Maybe you can accept massive loss of life, but I can't. "
" So do it for me and keep this under control or I'll step in"
With those words, Agent Fowler headed for the elevator. As soon as the doors closed and the elevator moved up, the children came out of hiding. Even they had to admit that Agent Fowler was a strange man . A few minutes ago, Ratchet went back to checking the readings on the monitors. In the middle one, the Cliffjumper's life signal suddenly appeared unexpectedly . The Autobots were not sure if this life signal was real . Nevertheless, they decided to go to the place that the monitor shows . Ratchet activated the earth bridge that the other companions crossed. While the others were at the designated location, Ratchet already had a question from Rafa regarding the earth bridge. It was some time before he could get back to his duties of monitoring both the base and the signals of the autobots who had gone on the mission. Suddenly on one of the screens was displayed information about the occurrence of an error . Unfortunately Ratchet did not know how to fix it and all the screens got the same information. Fortunately Raf decided to help him seeing that he can't do it alone. Ratchet was not sure if this little guy could fix it. Raf connected his laptop to one of the computers and started entering various information into the system. After a few seconds, the screens returned to their normal functions. Even Ratchet was impressed.
Meanwhile, in the mine
The Autobots fought both the military venicons, who shot at them, and the miners using giant drills. The Autobots had a fierce battle to fend off any decepticons that blocked their way further . After a fierce battle they finally found themselves in a huge room where the energon was being transported to the ship. Darkscream watched everything along with Starscream, who like her was hidden behind large metal crates.
" Great . The Autobots were still missing here . How did they even find us? " said a disappointed and angry Darkscream
" There's no time for that. Get back to the ship immediately and find Megatron. Tell him the Autobots have arrived " Starscream ordered her
" Sure, Starscream " - she answered and quickly jumped into the elevator where she immediately transformed into a jet and flew up.
Fortunately, Darkscream knew where Megatron currently was . She quickly ran to where a huge crystal of dark energon was stored . After hearing the door open, Megatron turned and looked at Darkscream who was getting a little tired of running. Without waiting long she began to speak.
" Lord Megatron. The mine has been attacked by autobots," replied Darkscream as she approached him.
" Is Optimus there? " - He asked.
" Yes " - she confirmed.
Megatron mused and replied : " I need time to properly greet an old friend " . He said in a somewhat calm voice and then loudly ordered the ship to prepare for departure.
" But what about the energon that was mined. The Autobots will steal it. "- she said worriedly
" So blow up the mine " - ordered Megatron
Without delaying, Darkscream began speaking to Starscream through the communicator , to relay the orders of their master . Starscream upon hearing this was surprised, but decided to do as Megatron commanded .
At the same time, the autobots continued firing on the venicons, additionally watching to see if their companion was anywhere. Arcee looked around until she saw that her partner was lying two floors above their position. She quickly moved towards him, and the others protected her so that she had a safe path to her partner. It didn't take her long to reach the place where he lay. When she got there she was horrified to see his cut lower body and a large leak. As the decepticon guards opened fire on her, unexpectedly the footbridge on which Cliffjumper lay began to pull away. Arcee grabbed his arm at the last moment. That moment of relief didn't last long. Arcee freaked out noticing that the autobot she was holding was no longer her partner, but an animated , agresive beast. The undead Cliffjumper jerked out of Arcee's grasp, causing him to collapse. The others looked sadly at the sight of their fallen comrade, who had sadly expired for good. This sad moment did not last long, for then they heard Starscream's taunting laughter. He stood on the top floor holding a time bomb in his hand. Starcream activated the bomb and threw it down. After that, he quickly jumped into the elevator and went into plane mode like Darkscream had done earlier. The Autobots quickly evacuated the area where the explosion was to occur. Optimus called to Ratchet that he activate the Earth Bridge . Ratchet quickly followed the command. When the earth bridge appeared , the bomb exploded and all the energon that was there began to explode. Fortunately, the autobots were able to pass behind in time before the explosion reached the base . Miko, as usual, wanted to know everything, but before Arcee could silence her, Jack spoke up and tried to interest her in something else.
Optimus asked Arcee in a calm voice: " Arcee . What did you see there? "
" It was no longer Cliff... At least he looked like this ...They mutated him... He was awful ... Like these experiments ... " - Arcee didn't speak further as she suddenly fell leaning against the crate
" Arcee? Are you all right? " asked a worried Bumblebee
" I'm fine ... I just feel….. a little weak " replied Arcee in a low voice
" Can robots get weak? " - asked a surprised Raf
" The robots have feelings ? "- asked Miko the same way
"The robots ... die ? " - also asked Jack
Ratchet took to scanning Arcee's body. After a moment, his scanner lit up from blue to red where there was something strange on Arcee's hand. Not knowing what the substance was, he took a sample and ordered Bumblebee to take Arcee to a huge cylindrical room next to the control room as soon as possible to remove the substance responsible for her condition.
Just then Jack spoke up : " Optimus," he called. " I don't mean to interrupt, but there's no signal here. "
" This is because the walls of the "silo" stop radio waves". - explained Optimus
" If I don't call my mom, the cops are gonna come looking for me ". said Jack
" You broke the law "asked Optimus questioningly
" The law .. no, but it's after ten o'clock.
" I have to go back, too, or I'll be grounded for up to a year " - also confirmed Raf
Earthly customs . I hadn't thought of that. However, the security problem remains . He said and then began to appoint guardians for each of them .
The first of these was Bulkhead, whom Optimus assigned to Miko. Miko was happy, but Bulkhead was not so happy because he also had to guard the house where he lives in the form of a vehicle. Another was Bumblebee , who was supposed to watch over Rafa. You could see by the way they looked at each other that they were very comfortable with that. But when Ratchet was called out, he refused claiming that he is busy, leaving only Arcee. Arcee although she didn't want it , she had no choice .
Arcee and Jack arrived at his house. They talked for a few minutes and then Jack's mom, June Darby, showed up at the house in her car. Arcee already wanted to go into robot mode thinking it was a decepticon, but luckily Jack stopped her . Upon entering the garage , Jack's mother had many questions for her son about the new motorcycle that stood there. She wasn't happy about it at first but Jack managed to convince her that she could handle such a responsibility. Then they both went into the next room leaving Arcee in the garage.