Chapter 19: Seven Pissed Off Soldiers (and two janitors)
"So you guys are...janitors?" Prowl asked.
"If only." Ultra Magnus said, arms crossed, a skeptical look on his face. "They're turbo revving young punks with no respect for laws or authority."
Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were sitting on medical berths, looking at the bunker's interior in wonder.
"To be clear, we have respect for some laws. Just not the ones we break." Sunstreaker pointed out. "Obviously."
"Yeah. There's nothing wrong with like, murder laws. Murder is bad." Sideswipe agreed. "We just have problems with things like...speed limits."
"Private property laws are a pain." Sunstreaker added.
"Ooh yeah. Those suck. Also like, transporting stolen property, like if I didn't steal it, why am I gonna be in trouble for it?" Sideswipe asked, with genuine curiosity.
"Assault laws." Sunstreaker added. "Not in general, just need to be a bit more...flexible."
"Yeah, if I'm in a bar, and someone says something about my paint job, or my alt mode, shouldn't I be able to hit them?" Sideswipe asked, holding out a hand. "Come on guys. This is all really ticky tacky stuff."
"Please shut up." Arcee quietly pleaded, covering her optics with her hand to hide her embarrassment.
"What was that one about private property?" Prowl asked.
"Oh yeah!" Sideswipe exclaimed.
"Wait, I wanna tell it." Sunstreaker interrupted.
"Aw come on, Ive been waiting years to tell someone this story." Sideswipe protested.
"Okay, tell it." Sunstreaker replied.
"Alright, so..." Sideswipe began.
"So we broke into some rich mech's house." Sunstreaker interrupted again, drawing an angry glare from his twin. "Cuz we had been hired to steal his recharge slab."
"His recharge slab?!" Jazz exclaimed. "Someone hired you to steal his bed?!"
"Yes." Sideswipe replied. "It was an expensive bed."
"So." Sunstreaker continued. "It was huge and it was heavy, so we had to chain it to both of our bumpers..."
"Sunny nearly lost an axle trying to pull it himself." Sideswipe added.
"Yeah, I almost broke my whole alt mode, anyway we ended up driving down the highway, dragging the berth behind us, but some cops started chasing us. We ended up almost going over the edge of the highway, with the berth going over and dragging us down." Sunstreaker continued. "So we had to break the chain and let the slab fall. It sucks, we didn't even get paid for our effort."
"How heavy was this berth?" Jazz asked with genuine curiosity. "I ain't never seen a berth weigh so much it could drag two mechs over a drop..."
"Oh slag, Sunny what was the name of it?" Sideswipe asked, snapping his digits. "The brand."
"Ugh. It's been so long, I don't even remember..." Sunstreaker replied.
"Chargemaster LP-6000." A voice stated.
The autobots turned to Mirage, who was laying on the opposite medical berth. He stood up suddenly, and walked up to the two mechs.
And slapped each one across the face.
"Woah!"
"Hey, easy! What was that for?!" Sunstreaker demanded.
"For stealing my recharge slab and dropping it off the freeway." Mirage replied, before returning to the medical berth.
"It is only logical. It is the safeguard against autobot resistance." Shockwave stated plainly.
"It consumes cities." Megatron replied. "I cannot have that weapon fire again, not at Cybertron. Altihex was a high enough price."
"Altihex was a necessary sacrifice. A city to save a world is nothing." Shockwave replied, walking toward the planetary hologram. "The autobots are the last piece of the old ways. If they returned to power, Cybertron would once again be on the path toward drought, and famine." He pointed to where Altihex had been.
"Remove emotion from your process, and you will see it as plainly as I do." He coaxed.
Megatron stared at the hologram, and at Altihex.
"I ended millions of lives, Shockwave." He said plainly, regret in his voice.
"This is why I follow you. Why so many follow you, Megatron. You will do whatever is necessary to save Cybertron. You can not hesitate now. Not when absolute victory is so close. Do not dismantle the cannon, not yet."
Megatron stared back at the hologram.
Watching as his decepticon units arrived in each city across the city. Claiming it, with the autobots on the run.
"I'll think about it, Shockwave." He offered, watching as his elevator opened, to reveal Barricade. "Now if you'll excuse me."
"Of course." Shockwave replied, turning, and passing Barricade, entering the elevator.
"You wanted to see me, my lord?" Barricade asked, walking in.
Megatron nodded.
"You failed me during the Altihex mission, Barricade. You failed to retrieve the data I asked for."
Barricade sighed. "I ran into complications."
"Indeed. And your failure cost you prison time. So I suppose you have been punished enough." Megatron said, standing up. "I give you this post as my chief enforcer because I know you have a skill for tracking down...let's call them lawbreakers."
Barricade cracked his knuckles and smirked.
"Yes sir."
"I want you to clear Cybertron, city by city." Megatron commanded, turning to face the police mech. "I want you to flush them out of hiding, and execute them. Any neutrals who harbor autobots..."
"Executed." Barricade finished for him.
"No." Megatron warned, optics flaring with anger at the interruption. "We need the people on our side, Barricade. We are a governing body after all. No, neutrals harboring them are to be arrested. But not harmed."
Barricade let out a frustrated vent, but tried to hide it.
"As you command." He conceded.
"Barricade." Megatron hissed, leaning down to the smaller mech's audio. "Do not fail me again."
Barricade nodded, optics narrowed.
"I won't, my lord."
"And one more thing." Megatron asked, as he turned to leave. "If you encounter Prowl...bring him to me. Alive."
Bumblebee crawled across the rusted surface of the city, looking for shelter.
He could feel the rust hurting his frame, slowly eroding it. He needed to get clear of it soon. He coughed out a tiny cloud of rust, as he searched.
After a few more miles of wandering, he came across a downed tower, that was just intact enough.
The small mech jumped up, and into it through a side window.
And came face to face with the rusted out frame of a neutral. He gasped, nearly falling out of the window as he backed away.
The mech was reaching towards him, what was left of his arm circuitry outstretched.
But his frame was rusted beyond recognition. His features eroded away.
Bumblebee felt sick again. His optics wanted to purge. He wanted to be far away from this place.
Death was all around the small mech. He couldn't handle it. He turned to find a room that didn't have a rusted out corpse in it.
And the floor, already well eroded, collapsed beneath him.
He let out a yelp, as he dropped down, through the fallen tower, and landed roughly on the rusted ground.
He rolled aside, as debris from the tower fell.
The whole tower threatened to collapse now, and Bumblebee began to desperately crawl away, as large sections of metals smashed down around him.
He stood up, and began to run, diving ahead, as the tower fully collapsed behind him.
He lay face down in the rust, and let out a weak moan. He couldn't handle this. Any of it.
He was a courier. Nothing more. This was so far from anything the Autobot Academy in Tetrahex has prepared him for.
He heard the sound of jets flying overhead. He looked up for a moment, and saw a pair of decepticons, surveying the area with spotlights.
He realized all too late that they had spotted him.
A spot of yellow in a field of rusted ruins. It was too easy.
The two jets transformed, and landed on the ground, not far ahead of the mech.
Bumblebee shoved his helm back down, and did the only thing he could.
Played dead.
"Aw look at that." One of the decepticons remarked, walking towards him. "Poor little guy thinks we're idiots."
"Oy. Yellow!" The other mech called. "We can see the color of your paint, get up."
Bumblebee stayed perfectly still.
"Oh well. Guess this is as easy as it gets." The first decepticon teased.
Bumblebee heard the sound of a gun charging.
"He'll be grey in a second."
Bumblebee let out a deep vent, fear gripping his spark, as he prepared for the end.
There was a groaning sound, and then a slice. The sound of metal ripping.
"What in the name of..."
Another slicing sound, and the sound of two forms dropping to the ground. Then approaching footsteps.
"Get up." A deep, booming voice called out. "This is no place to die."
Bumblebee looked up slowly, and saw the outline of a mech towering over him. His front covered in shadow.
Holding out his hand.
He lifted himself up, and reached out, the mech taking his hand, and pulling him to his feet.
He looked up at the mech, his optics wide.
The mech was red and blue. He had an autobot insignia on each shoulder, and Bumblebee let out a quick vent of relief.
The two decepticons lay dead alongside him. He had a glowing orange energon axe extended from his arm, but as he followed the mech's optics with his own big blue optics, he folded it away.
"You are Bumblebee." The mech said, offering his hand again.
"How...how do you...?" Bumblebee asked, shaking from the rust, as he reached out and shook the mech's hand.
"We met once before. On the Citadel." The mech replied. "It feels so...so long ago now."
Bumblebee's optics widened, as he slowly recognized the traces of the mech he had once been. He remained silent.
"You may call me...Optimus." The mech said, letting his optics wander to the ruin around him. Absorbing the horror of it all.
"Such devastation...so much death."
"Who did this, Optimus?" Bumblebee asked. "Who even could do something like this?"
Optimus looked up into the cloud of rust.
"Someone whose fallen farther into darkness than I could ever have imagined." He replied, looking at the ruined buildings, and then down at Bumblebee. "Someone I once called 'brother.'"