Just to let you know, I've changed Clench's name to Colossus, so that I could use the cyberdroid Clench, and I also changed Rage's already existing alt name of Aquanaught to his other already existing alt name of Murena (They're real. Look 'em up on TFWiki). Hope that's cool.
Cybertron
Iacon
City Centre area
CCP headquarters Autobase Prima (Imperial Amphitheatre)
3 days after the White Flame shooting
"Zis is an outrage!" cried Zoom Out, as Getaway dragged him into a cell, and activated the ray field, creating a blue field of light across the door. Zoom out's monocle had fallen off, and his red optics beamed with rage, "I have done noo-ting vrong! I demand vy litigator!"
Getaway looked behind him, and he saw that Goshooter and Cab were hauling the other criminals to their cells as well, with one of them, Beserker, struggling and thrashing about in rage, frothing slime, spittle, and phlegm from his mouth like an animal (Pray for the poor sod that has to clean that stuff up), while the other, Mohawk, was complaining and making death threats to the other CCP officers there.
"Hey yo, blue mofo who dragging me around, I'mma kill you first, then I'mma kill ya'll fellas over there next, then ya'll over there, and then maybe I'll spare Ya over there, pretty lady. Hey yo, call me up later, yeah?"
"I have a girlfriend", said the femme bot, who Getaway knew as Acceleron.
"Yo, where she at, though! Where she at!"
"Could you please just shut up already!" yelled Chopter from his cell, "Primus, you're annoying."
"Didn't you hear me?" yelled Zoom Out from his cell at Getaway, "I said, I vant vy litigator, and to be see by ze Assembly!"
"Sir, you had organised a death pit, and were making poor bots you kidnapped fight to the death. I don't think even a lawyer is gonna help you there", responded Getaway. Besides, he doubted that the Cyertronian Assembly- the supposedly leading political body of Cybertron- would even bother with the likes of this guy, much less a criminal at all.
"Vat? Zat is ridiculous! I have done noo-ting of ze sort!"
"We caught you and your buddies, Beserker and Mohawk over there prodding two bots with energy staffs until they, quote, "did battle, tore each other apart, and feast on their remains", unquote. Beserker's words, not mine (Your 2 captives are fine, by the way). My buddies Overshoot and Stiletto over there as well found records of you and you buddies also kidnapping bots like Sea Panic, Reckage, Bighorn, Hyperion, Bulge, Cannon, Kindle, Wrecklose, Cohrada, and Roller Force, and several other stretching back to the last 2 years, in several cities around the world. Clever, but not clever enough. So far, we've found the remains of Wrecklose, Bulge, Reckage, Wreakage (2 guys with very similar names, yesh), Heave, Fervor, Polaris, and Radar, so you'd better pray to whatever god you worship that the rest of them turn up safe and sound, you Unicron loving piece of slag."
Getaway walked away from the cell, ignoring Zoom Out's whines, and down the hallway, passing bots like the Minibot Lug, the Macromaster Siren, and the Cyberdroid Loudmouth dragging a green and grey Macromaster by the name of Charger to a cell, and the Cyberdroids Crashbash and Overboard under armed guard while they were in separate cells, with the Micromaster Half-Track and the Cyberdroid Tracer watching over them. Getaway also saw Fever Dream being dragged by Ranger and Waverider to the lower levels, to be hardwired into the wall, and left to gather dust, and conserve energy until his sentence was over, or maybe temporarily lobotomise him and turn him into a transport for the smaller bots.
Getaway wasn't a big fan of hard wiring prisoners into the wall, and leaving them to themselves over the years in darkness, alone, until their time was done, or turn them into glorified shuttlecrafts, but this was reserved for their long term prisoners, and it helped to conserve energy, so in reality, it was the lesser of two evils. Getaway had heard rumours that plans were being made by certain groups of individuals in the Assembly to hardwire all of the Macromasters in Cybertronian territory into the buildings, or turn them into lifeless vehicles, allowing them to conserve energy, and letting the Micromasters, Cassetebots, Minibots and Cyberdroids, the much more fuel efficient Cybertronians, run around, and gather up energy for them, until the approaching energy crisis was over. The Cybertronian civilisation was on the verge of the biggest energon crisis in known history, and the current civil unrest and terrorist issues wasn't going to help. People had been known to do whatever it takes to survive, and starving to death wasn't a good way to go out, so it really didn't need much to imagine what could happen.
Getaway had seen many bots just fall over and die from energon starvation over the years, so he didn't like the prospect of an energon shortage. On the other hand, he also didn't like the prospect of being hardwired the wall either, or turned into a lifeless car, so it was really a no win situation for anyone.
He sighed to himself, as he passed the Cyberdroids Spratt and Mussle dragging a Black, orange, and blue Micromaster with a helicopter alt-mode named Pantera away, and saw Haywire and Hyperfire discussing the Mayhem gang, (Known members included Ruckus, Grabuge, Needlenose, Sunbeam, Zigzag, Octopunch, Stranglehold, WindSweeper, Snarler, Leobreaker, Carnivac, Chop Shop, Venom, Roadblock, Battletrap, Skytread, Overbite, and Flywheels. There was a rumour that 2 bots named Thunderwing and Bludgeon leads them, but that's just speculation).
He should head over to a bar later, and drink his worries away. Maybe the Way of All Things, run by Rarigo (Though the engex that she sold there was hardly any good), or maybe the Proton Blaster, run by Dipole. Certainly not the White Flame, thanks to what happened a few days ago. The bar had now been shut down, thanks to the killing of that six changer, whatever his name was. Shame, that place was his favourite bar. In all honesty, he hardly knew the guys who ran the place, so he found it hard to feel sympathy for them, other than the fact that they'll probably be living on the streets now.
Guess that makes him an Arsehole now, doesn't it?
Getaway walked through a security gate that had been hastily constructed into the hallway, managed by a grey and blue Micromaster named Swindler. Waving at him, and giving him a pleasant "Hi", he continued on, and eventually made his way into the main office of the CCP headquarters. The headquarters of the CCP was built around the old ruins of the Imperial Amphitheatre, so the old stage of the massive building was reconverted into the main office, with a building frame placed around it to shield it from the weather. The roof and walls were grey and dull (with the CCP logo sprayed onto the walls), which were a stark contrast to the floor, which were a stark contrast to the dulled gold colour of the floor. Several desks were scattered around the room, and many wires were spread across the floor, held down by sticky tape and glue (this didn't help people stop tripping over them occasionally, though).
As he walked through the office, he saw Prowl talking to Phoenix, the Cyberdroids Rodney and Lione discussing Gestalt technology with Teslor, Buckshot and Flat-Out dragging away a Cyberdroid by the name of Throttler, and a Macromaster named Sledge, the latter having illegally transferred his spark from a Constructibot Micromaster Body to a Macromaster form, Highbrow being snobbish to Quig and Minerva (again, for Primus's sake), Push-Button and Peacemaker arguing about the origin of Functionism and shape-hate crimes, and Pointech trying to strike up a conversation with Pinpointer and Crosshairs, who were themselves too busy managing their own tasks to listen.
Getaway then spotted his target, and walked towards a desk in the middle of the room, where the Macromaster sized Micromaster Gestalt, Wind-Charger sat. The combined form of X-Throttle, Axle, and Screw was taping away at his computer, writing up reports, prisoner files, saving accounts, budget reports, and what not.
Interestingly, Getaway mused to himself, was that ever since the City Stealth Team combined together, they've never actually separated. Highbrow would call it a full mind combination (If you could get past his generally snobbish and fragging annoying attitude, mind you). He theorised that their minds became so well linked, that the combined form eventually became it's own person, being Wind-Charger. The idea of a Micromaster combiner hadn't been heard of ever, or Getaway mused, since the fabled 'Micro Extinction' (It was an old story about Nominus Prime ordering the deaths of all Micromasters being born from something called a Hot-spot, because he viewed them as sinful, and ungodly. You know, an old, probably fake, fable used to keep the Protoforms in line. It told of Micromaster combiners called Sixliner, Sixbuilder, Sixwing, and others with the number 6 at the start of their name, defending their world of Micro, and it's citizens from Nominus's hordes, before pulling a Babu Yar army ending, and charging their foes, before dying needlessly, and their homes being destroyed. It was a stupidly dark story, and one that, Getaway mused, most like wasn't even true).
"So", Getaway said as he approached Wind-Charger's desk, "How are things with-"
"Gimme your report on the death games case", said Wind-Charger, his thick Devisen accent making it hard for people to understand him unless they speak to him quite a bit, and learn how to get past his accent.
"Yeesh, Wind-Charger, I'm just trying to be polite", replied Getaway, with mock offence, and a bit of a guffaw. He had become aware of Wind-Charger's cynicism quite awhile ago, and had gotten used to it.
"Yes, and it was annoying", said Wind-Charger in response, "Besides, I have more important things to worry about. I need to sort and upload all of these files into the right folders before the end of the day, otherwise Prowl will stomp up here tomorrow, and start whinging to me about time constraints, or whatever it is he usually moans about. I don't know."
"Yeah, I usually block it out."
"I seriously want to know how you do that."
Getaway then pulled out a chip from his side pocket, and gave it to the Micromaster Gestalt, "Here. My contribution to the 'end the death-by-talking campaign'."
"Oh, thank fragging Primus. Now all I need is a few hundred more field reports, a preliminary report on that six changer who died the night before, and the information gathered on him by Chromedome, and I'm hunky dory."
"Chromedome? Wasn't he at the White Flame when that six changer was shot up?"
"Yep, but he headed off to the Archive Centre with Manta Ray, Slapdash, and Road Rocket. Seemed pretty insistent about going there, as well."
"Well, his husband does work at the Archive Centre, so he probably just wants to see him."
"Yeah, probably."
Border regions
Iacon Archive Centre
Orion tapped away at his computer, more so now than any other day. Working was the best way to put aside his nerves. It's worked before, it will now.
He looked to the side of his office, out of the door, and saw Wallbreaker and Killswitch (Or Hexadeath- thingamajig or something) walking past, discussing tax files, or whatever. He then saw Rewind walk through the door, holding a datapad, "Hey Orion, Chromedome and a few of his fellow officers are here."
"Oh", said Orion rather nervously, "Well then..."
Chromedome then walked into the office, followed by 3 other macromasters. 2 of the mechs were blue and yellow in colour, but one looked to have a car alt mode, and a red visor, while the other had what looked like a submarine alt mode, and had a purple visor. The last unknown mech had a large wheel on both of his arms, indicating that he had a motor byke alt mode, and was red, black, and blue in colour, had a yellow strip of metal on his chest, and had a glowing blue visor. One of the few things that they all shared, was that they all wore the CCP logo, which was a red face like symbol.
"Hey, 'Optimus'", said Chromedome, "These are my colleagues, Slapdash-"
"Yo", said the blue and yellow car bot.
"-Manta Ray-"
"Hi", said the blue and yellow submarine bot.
"-And Road Rocket (Not to be confused with the other guy who works with Powerflash. That guy has a hyphen in his name)."
"What up", said the red, black and blue byke bot.
"Um, I haven't done anything illegal, have I?" asked Orion nervously, "Because I'm meeting Bumblebee and Dust Up later during my lunch brake for some Cyberfly fishing, and I'd hate to miss it."
"Nope", replied Slapdash, "Unless you have. In which case, into the slammer you'll go."
"We're not here with a warrant, Mr. Pax", said Manta Ray, "We've heard that you sort out all of the files and details and such on individuals, and we'd like you to pull up anything you have on a bot called Sixshot. He's the six changer who died in the White Flame the night before last. We'd grab the files on him ourselves, but our systems are pretty shoddy thanks to budget cuts, and the general state of our base itself doesn't necessarily help."
"Wait, 'Sixshot'?" began Rewind, "The same guy who said that he was one of the first Autobots?"
"Oh yeah, I read your statement", remarked Road Rocket, "Yeah, Prowl and Nightbeat want to try and conduct an "investigation" (With added quotation marks) into the obvious circumstances of how the drunk guy died. So it should be expected to contain cynicism, snarky remarks, sarcasm so pragmatic it hurts, dry humour, nothing actually being accomplished since we know everything already, and Prowl's death glare."
Manta Ray shuddered at the last part.
"And by the end of all that, I think I might've killed myself at that point", finished off Road Rocket.
"You don't hold these 'Prowl' and 'Nightbeat' guys in much high regard, don't you?" asked Rewind.
"Oh no, I'm cool with Nightbeat. I just really don't like Prowl."
"For some reason, you've already made a good impression on me."
"Feels good."
Whilst they were talking, Chromedome walked up to Orion's desk, and whispered to him, "Did you destroy the Data Drive like I said?"
"Yes", whispered Orion, "I tossed it in the fireplace back at my apartment."
"Are you sure Bumblebee and Swerve didn't notice you."
"No, they were out last night at Luggie's. Bumblebee was on a date with his girlfriend, and Swerve was playing third wheel."
City edge
Luggie's
"So, how do you and Bumblebee make out with that mask of yours", asked Swerve to Dust Up.
Dust Up looked at Bumblebee on the opposite end of the table, "Bee-Bee-"
"If we ignore him, he might go away", responded Bumblebee.
"So", began Swerve with a stupidly wide grin, "Do you guys, like, Archon kiss when you make out, or-"
A punch to the face by both parties was his answer.
"Hey, do you guys smell something?" asked Rewind, his nose behind his faceplate twitching, "I don't recognise it."
"I do", said Slapdash, "It smells like fuel grade Nucleon."
"As in?"
"As in the stuff that powers starshi-"
A white and orange burning light was the last thing that Orion saw before he blacked out.
On the streets of Iacon
Not too far from the Archive Centre
A few minutes earlier...
"It'll be nice to meet the rest of your friends, Bee-Bee", said Dust Up, as she and Bumblebee drove down the streets of the Iacon Border Regions, dodging bots walking through the streets, and derelict old debris sitting in the middle of the road. They were cast in darkness, as several Vehicon warships moved over Iacon. Strange.
"Thanks babe", said Bumblebee, "Though I am hoping that they don't act like idiots, A.K.A themselves. They have a habit of doing that. I still remember that time I brought Arcee around."
"Hey guys, meet Ar... cee", bumblebee hesitantly said as he and Arcee walked through the apartment door. For some reason, Tailgate and Nightracer were doing the conga, Swerve was rolling around on the floor drunk, Rewind and Chromedome were hanky panky, a bunch of Chromedome's cop friends, Pointech, Pinpointer, Crosshairs, Peacemaker, Pointblank, Highbrow, Ironfist, and Brainstorm, were lounging on the couch binge drinking engex and laughing at corny jokes that they found on the internet, and Orion was riding around the room on a space scooter with a bottle of engex balancing on his head, "Um, is this the-"
"AAAGGHH!" called out Orion as he lost control of the scooter, smashed into a table, and starting flying towards Bumblebee and Arcee, "LOOK OUT!"
""AAARRRGGGHH-""
"No matter how many times I try to apologise to her, she just shouted "Dishonour on you! Dishonour on your family! Dishonour on your Cyber-Cow!". I think she even made somebody make a note of it, every time she screamed it", muttered Bumblebee, as he and Dust Up continued to drive to the Archive Centre
"You don't hold your friends in in high regard, do you?" asked Dust Up.
"Oh, it's not that, Dust Up. It's just that, well, you're technically the first girlfriend I've ever had, and I'm just nervous that the others will embarrass me in front of you, and then you'll think that me and my friends are immature, and then you'll-"
"1: don't do a 'Bluestreak, man. You're doing a 'Bluestreak'. 2: it's "My friends and I". You have a habit of using incorrect grammar, and I've only just noticed."
"Right. Yeah. Sorry", said Bumblebee, as they reached the Archive Centre. The two bots transformed out of their speedster modes, and began to walked up the steps to the Archive Centre, both of them carrying Cyberfly fishing rods, and bait, "I just don't want the guys to act like Swerve did on our date last night."
"You know, I didn't really like him that much", said Dust Up, "But after a while, he's really grown on me, and he's kinda funny-"
"And now he's on my list of things I want to die. Twice (I've got his name down twice, as of this moment)."
"- The point is, that you just need to give your friends a shot. Underneath the exterior that you have seen of them, I'm sure that they're all amazing people."
"And this is why I both love and hate you. And I mean that in the most nicest way possible."
I'm sure you do."
As they walked up the steps, the 2 of them got a good look at the Archive Centre. It was a large domed building, with a equality large antenna sticking out of the top of it, and several columns sticking up around the long edge of it, supporting the large antenna. It was a faded gold colour, covered in rust, grime, and dirt, and most of the lights that were imbedded into it were broken, and unlit. On the front section of the roof, there was a chiselled and soldered in Autobot/CCP symbol on it, though why it was there was anyone's guess. There was an old display set embedded into the structure, placed under the Autobot/CCP symbol, but it was rusted, and beyond use. At the bottom of the dome structure, there was a round curved edge, about 2 Cybertronain stories tall, and at the front of the building, was a pair of automatic doors made of hard light, which led to the unimpressive and dull lobby of the building.
Leading up to the Archive Centre was a rather long designated pathway, made of stone rather than the usual metal of the surface of Cybertron, and on the sides to the pathway were empty metal boxes, where techno-organic or plainly organic plants or trees once sat, though they were now long gone. At the end of the stone pathway were a long set of steps, that lead down to the road and foot path, since the Archive Centre sat on a much more elevated position than the other buildings in the vicinity. The buildings around the archive centre were also rusted and old, and on of them had a hole in it's roof. At the bottom of the Archive Centre, there was an old steel box, and a few homeless bots who both Dust Up and Bumblebee recognised as the Macromasters Pulsar, Motor-Head, and Boxcar, with their adopted pet Turbofox keeping them company.
The 2 bots eventually got up the steps, and began to walk along the path to the Archive Centre, with several bots of the intelligence class and data caste eyeing them with curiosity about the fishing tools that they carried. They probably weren't expecting a Macromaster and a Minibot from the Middle caste and the Manual class to be walking towards the Archive Centre, much less with fishing rods. The caste and class social systems had been long gone, as was the prejudice and bigatory views between those naturally born and those constructed cold from the Grand Uprising and Nominus's rule, but their effects on Cybertronian society were still strongly felt, especially by the few remaining Neo-Functionists.
The 2 bots walked near to the entrance, but they stopped when they saw a familiar Minibot walking up the steps in a different direction as well, followed by 2 other Minibots as well. Bumblebee sighed to himself, while Dust Up shook her head slightly, but let herself smile slightly at the sight of a somewhat familiar face, "Hey Swerve", she chirped, "Who are those 2? Your high class escort?"
"Huh?" Swerve turned to the 2 bots as he heard what Dust Up said, his mouth screwed to a questioning look, "What? No. What? This is Tailgate and Nightracer. They were bored, so they wanted to tag along."
"Hey", said one of the new Minibots (He had a blue and white colour scheme, had a box head and boxy body, blue visor and faceplate, and what looked like a non speedster car Alt-mode).
"Yo", went the other new Minobot (This one was remarkably similar in design to the first Minibot, but spoke in a female voice, had black and blue colour scheme, was remarkably slimmer, 2 red optics, and a much rounder head).
"Oh, alright then", Dust Up said, complacent with her question answered.
"Why are you here, Swerve?" said Bumblebee, rather annoyed that he had to see him again, especially after he played third wheel to his and Dust Up's date last night.
"Oh, well, 'Optimus' forgot his wallet, so I came here to give it to him, though, I may have done a bit of compulsive shopping while I was at it", replied Swerve, gesturing to a small bag that he was holding in his left hand.
"What did you get?"
"Attack on Metrotitan on holodisk."
"Swerve, our holodisk player broke yesterday."
"Hm?"
"Our holodisk player's broken."
"...Welp, thank Primus I took the receipt while I was at it."
"Yeah, that was probably a good idea. How you doing, Tailgate?"
"Oh, I'm alright", said 'Tailgate', "Though I am bored. Mum and Dad are busy doing work related business, and me and sis-"
"It's 'Sis and I'", interjected Dust Up.
"... Sis and I were bored, like I said, so here we are, off to see how 'Optimus' and Rewind are coping, and how obviously lonely they felt without us there to make their days all that brighter!"
"Sarcasm detector is going off the charts", muttered Bumblebee.
"Sorry, quickie question", began Dust Up, "Who's Optimus?"
"Oh, it's nickname for Orion", replied Nightracer.
"Oh, well, what does it mean?"
"We don't know. Rewind just thought of it on the spot, one time, and it sounded cool, so we just stuck with it. He hates it, 'cause he finds it annoying. Which it is. Which is why we do it."
"Speaking of Orion", began Swerve, as he looked to Bumblebee, "Have you noticed that he's been acting a little, how do I put this, squirrely to you?"
"Come to think of it", replied Bumblebee, "He has been a little nervous and such ever since the shooting."
"Hold on, could someone fill me in please?" asked Tailgate, "'Sis and I' and our parents only got back on Cybertron yesterday, so we're kinda in the dark about the last week."
"Wait", started Dust Up, "You were off world? How?"
"A couple of days ago", began Bumblebee, not hearing what Dust Up said, "There was a shooting at the White Flame, and we were all witness to it. Some drunk bot was causing trouble, and one of the owners there- Fracas, I think his name was- called the CCP. Few minutes later, a group of Vehicons stroll into the bar, and he decided that it would be a good idea to aggro them, and then they just slagging killed him. Right in front of us."
"...Oh god."
"Yep, it was messed up. Orion took it the hardest though."
"Damn", said Nightracer, "Maybe that's what's gotten to him. I mean, who wouldn't be shaken up by something like that?"
"Well, he did have a tad bit of a freak out when we left the bar", interjected Swerve, "You know, after the local cops had let us go after taking in our accounts of the situation, which, I might add, they were rather eager to get past. There was this one Autobot guy called Outback, I think, and let me tell you, he was probably the most annoying and assholish cop I've ever seen. I mean, he was practically smiling at the idea of another dead-"
"Swerve", bluntly said Bumblebee, "You point."
"-Right, yeah, sorry. Yeah, Orion took it the worse, and he had a freak out after we left, but I guess now, he's now just bottling up all of his emotions."
"In that case, we should talk to him", commented Dust Up.
"Miss what's her face over here is right-", began Nightracer.
"It's Dust Up."
"-Bite me. Anyways, it's not healthy for someone to just bottle up their emoti-"
Suddenly, a bright light emerged from the Archive Centre in front of the group, and then, a massive fireball went off from inside the large building, and erupted from it, completely devastating the entire structure, though it was still fairly intact. The explosion however, was so fierce that it knocked most nearby bots off of their feet with just the sudden heat alone, and then everyone else in the surrounding radius of the Archive Centre was knocked off of their feet by the shockwave from the explosion. Anyone who was still inside the building would've been lucky to survive, as the orange and yellow flames had burned almost everyone in the building to a fine crisp of burnt metal and molten slag. Some unfortunate bots standing right outside of the building were instantly killed by the blast. They were the lucky ones. Some bots were caught alight, but they weren't immediately killed. They were left burning alive, screaming out their vocal processors, as their energon boiled and combusted, and their internal circuitry and wiring was burnt, and their sparks slowly burnt and faded in the space of a few, painfully long and agonising minutes. Pieces of debris and rubble began to fly out of the explosion, and any of the bots still left alive. One burning metal shard collided with Dust Up's face, cracking her faceplate, and shattering the glowing aqua coloured optical lens that protected her right eye, resulting in her going into stasis lock. The rest of the group received shards of searing hot metal being embedded into their metal skin, and cutting into them, knocking them out as well. The explosion rocked the local vicinity, and was visible not only across the border regions, but also across the whole of Iacon.
CCP headquarters Autobase Prima (Imperial Amphitheatre)
Prowl's office (AKA the nightmare room for people with OCD)
At the same time...
If anyone would describe Prowl in a single sentence, it would most likely be 'Annoying as slag, rigid as the pit, and as cold as the winters on Eukaris'. If you entered his office, then you would probably use the exact same sentence.
If you catch him on a good day, Prowl's office was a mess of papers and datapads, with all of them strung up in an order and pattern that only Prowl himself could understand (The janitor bots were always exasperating in annoyance when they had to clean his office. So much so that they ended up having an entire tournament of rock holopad electro-cutters once over who would have to clean it). Datapads were stored in a weird order on one shelf, and paperwork and pens were stored in a weird order that only Prowl understood on the floor, with some of them being routinely knocked over when someone opened the door just to get in. It was also painted a dead and dull grey colour, where the only spots of colour in the room was a holographic image of the Autobot symbol on the wall, and the light that came in from out of the window through the blinds.
However, today, that light was gone, as the blinds had been drawn, the door was locked, and the projector had been remotely turned from a symbol to a group of holographic bots, all important members of the CCP. Prowl sat at his desk, looking at the images, while at the door, a bot known as Overshoot stood guard, wearing both the CCP symbol, and a green symbol of what looked like the face of a Luponoid. That symbol meant that he was a member of the Maximals, a highly elite and classified spec ops group of CCP, who specialised in high stakes missions and galore. It also meant that he had clearance to see what he was seeing right in front of him, because, if he didn't, then he'd, with regrets, would have to use his nudge gun on him.
See, Prowl was a member of a group of CCP members known as the Primal Council. The council were the real bots who run the Cybertronian Civil Police, had ties to the Cybertronian Assembly, did not answer to Sentinel, and regularly worked against him, the majority of the Assemby and their goons, but through more covert means, like *CLASSIFIED INFORMATION REDACTED*. Their existence was so top secret, as to avoid jeopardising themselves and the whole CCP, that only a select few knew of it's existence, and fewer still were allowed to even interact with them when gathered together, though that was rare.
In front of Prowl's desk, stood the holographic images of Ironhide- the Leader of the CCP division in Protihex- Silverbolt- leader of the CCP division in Altihex- Hot Spot- leader of the division in Uraya- Slag- Leader of the Dynobots, a more elite group of Maximals- Cross-Cut- secret political adviser of the Primal Council, and senator on the Cybertronian Assembly- and Slammoth- leader of the CCP division in Old Polyhex.
"Well, the activity from the Exiled in the Outer Orion Zone has apparently ceased", said Silverbolt, his holo-projection flickering as he spoke, "At least, that's what I've been able to gather from the KURUMA network."
"Did you hack into it again?" asked Slammoth, having abandoned his original Eukarian accent long ago, and replaced with a more softer tone. Prowl had done a lot of work to make sure that his past was hidden from anyone outside of the Primal Council, so Slammoth was definitely grateful for that.
"Yes, but it was surprisingly much easier this time. Maybe the system has a virus or something?"
"Or Sentinel's getting sloppy", replied Slag, in his gruff Eukarian accent, to much contrast to Slammoth.
"Perhaps", said Cross-Cut calmly, his red and white body frame relaxed, and his yellow optics gazing at the rest of the council members, "Though, we still need to play our cards right. We still have no true advantage that we can pull on Sentinel and the Assembly as of yet-"
"Like it's been for da last thousand years an' such!" yelled Ironhide in exasperation, "We need somethin' to pull on the ol' slagging bot in charge before he finds out we're all in cahoots!"
"Ironhide's right, even if his manners aren't", said Hot Spot, "We need any advantage now more than ever, otherwise Cybertron and it's colonies aren't going to make it through the next few hundred years at the very best."
"I'm well aware of that, Hot Spot", said Prowl, "But we just need to be patient. We've done so for so long now, and we just need to be patient for a little while longer. In the meantime, do we have anything else to discuss?"
"Well, I have something that may prove interesting", interjected Slammoth, "There's been a fair bit of activity near the space of Cybertron in the last few days."
"Hm. Do tell."
"Well, just earlier today, there was a surge in transwarp energy just behind Luna 3. The Selene moon. Something's jumped behind the far side of the moon, and as of saying this, no further transwarp energy has been detected. I sent one of my Maximals up there earlier- Switch Blade- but I've lost contact with him."
"Somethin's up there", said Ironhide, "I can fell it in my servos."
"Same here, division leader. In the meantime, yesterday, an unidentified object somehow bypassed the orbital defence batteries, entered Cybertron's atmosphere, and from the looks of it, landed in Tesarus, and hasn't left yet. I sent Nitrostreak and Stopgap to it's predicted coordinates, but, well, yeah."
"Ya lost contact?"
"Yes, I did. 2 rookies as well. Do you think these things are all connected?"
"They usually are", added in Prowl, "For now, let's-"
Suddenly, his office shook, and the holograms flickered for a bit. Prowl was rather surprised by this, and grabbed his desk to make sure that nothing on it fell over. Overshoot grabbed the handle of the door that he was standing near himself, to make sure that he stayed on his 2 foot articulators. Then, as suddenly as it started, after 2 or 3 seconds, the shaking stopped, and the holograms then flickered back to full resolution. Prowl wanted to see what was going on, so he looked at the holograms on display.
"We'll continue this meeting later", he said to the Primal Council, before turning off the holographic projector, and deactivating the security measures. He then remotely unlocked the door to his office, and got up, opened the door, and walked out into the busy main office section, with Overshoot quickly following behind. He saw that many other bots that worked at the CCP were also looking around, but he paid them no heed. He then saw one bot- a blue, black and white femme bot with blue eyes and what looked like a truck alt-mode- sitting at a desk, transfixed to her monitor. Prowl walked up to her, and asked, "I'll assume that you have something to show me?"
"Oh, um, yes sir", said the femme bot. She then turned her monitor to Prowl, and he didn't show his shock to what he saw. In the monitor, he recognised the old Archive Centre in the border regions, only it was up in flames, and a long pillar of smoke coming from the building, "It's the Archive Centre, sir. That ICS reporter Aston was reporting something about Turbofox healthcare near the building when it went up, and he was near the building when it went up, but we lost the signal when it went up. I'm just going off of long range feeds now, but I'm not sure if we'll lose the feed there too.
"Get First Aid, Inferno, and Hosehead down there", ordered Prowl, "And get Streetwise and his squad mobilised."
"I've tried to get some CCP officers down there sir, but the Vehicons aren't letting me."
"What?"
"They keep denying me permission to send officers down to that area. They said that they had orders to keep the area on lockdown, no matter what."
"The hell?" Prowl began to try to piece together an answer to his head. What was going on, today?"
The Archive Centre (Or what's left of it)
Now...
"Ugh", was the first thing that Orion muttered as he came back online, his systems rebooting themselves, as he tried to figure out what was going on. Thing was, that in order to do that, he needed to see his surroundings, and his optical sensors were still rebooting themselves. So, all Orion could see was darkness, and a few warning signs across his internal HUD. He could still feel, though, and what he could feel was a uncomfortably hot air and ground, and also someone laying on top of him in an awkward position, so that's fun. He tried to move his limbs, and found that they still worked, though it did hurt a but to move, so he decided to just lay still, and not move at all. Also, he had no idea what was laying on top of him, or even what his surroundings were, so he might move something which wasn't meant to be moved, and make the whole situation worse.
Then, a message popped up in his internal HUD, saying that his optical sensors were now coming back online. That's good. He needed to see, and he also needed to know why it was so hot. Then, the blackness that he could only see was replaced with black and white static, and then, his optics came back online, showing what was right in front of him.
Firstly, Orion could tell that he was front first on the ground, his head facing his left side. Okay, that's good. He's knows his sense of direction, he guessed. Now, he just needed to figure out where he was. Unfortunately, his vision was still hazed, and he had trouble making out what wasn't 5 feet in front of him. Though, through his haze, he saw that he was in his office, meaning that he was still in the Archive Centre. The next thing he noticed, was that the office was alight in flames, irradiating Orion in an uncomfortable, and searing heat. Okay, that's not good. Fire is not good. Fire is a bad.
Orion lifted his head up, testing to see if any of his nerve-circuits were torn or damaged, and moved his eyes to his back to see that one of the CCP bots that had come in with Chromedome- Slapdash- was laying on his back, in stasis lock. Orion made a quip in his head about taking him out to dinner first, and then, lifting his damaged right arm, shoved the Autobot off of his back, and then, in pain, rolled himself over, so that he was looking upwards. He looked down himself, to see that a chunk of his armour plating on his right side, where his lower joints and ribs were, was missing, and that those same components were quite damaged, creating a small pool of energon on the ground, and letting his sea green spark shine through. He went to touch his damaged section with his right hand so that he could apply pressure to it and slow down the blood loss, but found that there was a small piece of sharp metal impaled into his shoulder, and another into his lower arm. He then grabbed the piece of metal in his shoulder with his left hand, and pulled it out with all of his strength, wincing from the pain. He then did the same thing with the shard of metal in his lower arm, only this time, he pulled a bit of the metal plating off, though his internal wiring and endoskeleton remained functional, but scarred.
It was times like this that Orion remembered that conversation that he had with some old retired Maximals (A contingent of Spec Ops Autobots, in case you were unaware) called Under-3 and Lionhead, who told Orion that he seemed much stronger than the regular Cybertronian. That was true. He was a Point One Percenter, meaning that his spark was much stronger than the regular Cybertronian, and that gave him much stronger agility, endurance, speed, and, well, strength. It also meant that he could tolerate much more damage then the average Cybertronian, though this didn't mean that he was used to it. He wasn't a fighter. He was an archivist, for Primus sake! that's why he came to the same interview as Rewind when they found the job application for this-
Wait a minute, where was Rewind? Hopefully he wasn't hurt...
Okay, the building just exploded, and everything is on fire. Hopefully he wasn't too hurt.
Orion tried to turn himself onto his side, but, through his haze, he saw a figure approaching him through the fire, though he seemed much taller than Rewind, and much wider. Orion was stumped. Who was this guy? He wasn't Rewind, or anyone that he knew. Still, just to be sure, he muttered out, "Ugh, r-Rewind?"
"Your friends ain't dead", said the figure, now standing directly above Orion, looking down on him. Orion's vision was now no longer hazed, and he could see the figure much more clearly. He was about medium sized, and had a boxy body, with white and dark green arms, waists, upper legs, and head. He had dark grey lower legs, with grates built into them, and on the back of his legs, were what looked like tank treads. Protruding from his back were what looked like 4 missile tops, and on his chest, he wore a glowing silver Autobot symbol, and his body was decked with glowing blue details and accents. His head was rounded, compared to the rest of his body, and he seemed to be wearing what looked like a white helmet, with a glowing green visor, and a dark green strip going down the length of it. Most of his head was hidden beneath this helmet, save for his mouth, and a seemingly over exaggerated chin, which were both coloured a dark green.
The figure then smirked, and said, "Yet", as he lifted his grey right foot, and slammed it into Orion's wounded side with a satisfying crunch being heard, and energon being splattered over the ground.
All Orion could do in response was let out an audio sensor shattering scream.
Outside the Archive Centre
On the floor
When you've just been knocked into stasis onto the ground, the first thing that you'll probably feel when you come back online is confusion, then surprise as the flood of memories comes back to you, and then realisation that you are still lying on the ground. Dust Up could probably relate right about now. When her neural cluster and nerve-circuits reactivated themselves, allowing her to regain control of her body, she felt that same rush of memories and confusion, before her optics came back online, allowing her to see again. Both of her optics were fine, which was surprising, considering the fact that she just took a chunk of shrapnel to the face. She moved her hand to her face (Her arm still worked, yay) to feel if there was any damage their, and felt that her faceplate had been cracked, and the lens protecting her right optic was shattered. She also noticed that she was beginning to feel small, sharp pains across her body, and assumed that she had suffered cuts and bruises from the explosion.
Then, Dust Up felt a pair of hands on her left arm, pulling her up from the floor. She looked to her arm, and saw her boyfriend, Bumblebee, pulling her up, and slinging her arm over his shoulder. She looked at his face, and saw that one of his horns that adorned his head was broken, and that a shard of metal had pierced his cheek, leaking a drop of energon down his face. He looked at Dust Up, right in her optics, and frantically asked, "Are you okay?!"
"Er, well, I just took a piece of very sharp, burning hot metal to the face", replied Dust Up, "So I'm gonna have to get back to you on that one."
Dust Up then noticed Swerve, Tailgate, and Nightracer getting themselves up, and saw that Bumblebee had turned to them, and then said, "She's fine guys! She's fine. She's just in her sarcasm alt-mode right now."
"We're fine too, thanks for being so considerate", muttered Tailgate as he got up onto his feet, and helped his sister up.
"I think I've dented my behind", said Swerve, as he got up with a grunt.
"Okay, what the hell just- ow, don't pull my arm like that, TG- what the hell just happened?" asked Nightracer as Tailgate pulled her up.
Dust Up looked to the sudden source of heat that she could feel on her metal plating, and saw the Archive Centre aflame. The roof of the main lobby had collapsed, leaving the main entrance inaccessible, and fire was beginning to rapidly spread across quite a wide radius. The metal that made the Archive Centre was beginning to heat up, twist, and sear, and anyone who had been near the initial explosion had been fried. Dust Up could see the remains of Pulsar, Motor-Head, Boxcar, and their pet turbofox near the large building, with their limbs twisted and scorched, and the turbofox lying on the ground, burnt to a crisp, with it's tongue out, and it's head cut off by a stray piece of shrapnel. Meanwhile, the Archive Centre's domed roof was beginning to cave into itself, and fire, smoke and ash began to below out of those holes, smothering everything nearby in a thin layer of dust and ash. Few of the columns that sat outside of the large building remained standing, as most of them had broke, and fell to the ground, and the large antenna that those columns were supporting began to sway and tip against both the wind, and the lack of support that it had in holding it up. The wind itself helped to push the fire along, allowing it to spread and burn, and making it spread across the radius even quicker.
Dust Up then noticed that Swerve had gotten his DataNet phone, dialled a number, and pressed it to his audio receptor, while Tailgate said, "Does anyone have ears on Orion or Rewind!?"
"Gimme a minute!" yelled Swerve, as his DataNet phone continued to ring, buzzing away some annoyingly catchy tune from some terrible comedy show that everyone except Swerve hated. After about a minute, he took the phone away from his audio receptor, and yelled out, "He's not picking up! Orion's not picking up the goddamn phone! All I got was static white noise! I'll try calling him again, but he could be... well, yeah."
"No, he really couldn't be", adamantly stated Tailgate, "I'll try and get hold of Rewind, see if he picks up. Bee, get Chromedome on the line, and-"
Tailgate was interrupted by another explosion from the Archive Centre going off, ripping through the roof of the building with another fireball, sending shrapnel flying, and dislodging the large antenna that stood on top of the building, leading it to lean to it's side slightly, spilling age old dirt and dust onto the ground. Ash, smoke, and flickers of fire poured from the building, thickening the already existing layer of dirt and ash that laid on it's surroundings, and smothering any Cybertronians nearby in a thin layer of dust and grime.
"Okay, that's worse. The building is worse now", continued Tailgate, "The building is now worser."
"Not a word", Dust Up said.
"Time and place, lady who's name I know not. Time and place."
"Chromedome's not picking up either!" went Swerve, with his DataNet phone up against his audio receptor again, "It's just static again! Something's blocking the signal!"
"Or the giant ass antenna was relaying signals through the city, and now it's down, so are the phone lines", interjected Nightracer, "Just saying, other possibilities."
"Either way, nobody's picking up the bloody phone!"
"Ah, to hell with it. TG?"
"I'm with you, sis", said Tailgate, "Boring conversation anyway."
"Righty-ho then. We're going into the Archive Centre, and getting Rewind and Orion out, if they're even in there."
"Wait a moment-", began Dust Up.
"Wait."
"-Shut up, Swerve- you two people who I've just met want to go in there!? The burning building! Are you crazy- I mean, what do I know? I've only known you for 2 whole minutes- But still, I would very much like to build a friendship with you guys while in the land of the living, because if you go in there, you could die! Emphasise on the die part!"
The 2 minibots ignored her, transforming into their alt-modes- small, slim Cybertronian cars- and began to drive towards the entrance of the Archive Centre, but Bumblebee quickly put Dust Up down, and yelled to them, "Wait, guys, are you sure that you get Orion and Rewind out of the building, if they're in there?"
"I'm sorry, do you know us?" replied Tailgate, rather proudly, "We'll be out of there in a jiffy."
"Well, alright then, but be careful, you too."
"WHAT IN THE WHAT NOW!" yelled Dust Up as she heard what they said. Tailgate and Nightracer then raced to the entrance of the burning Archive Centre, changed back into their robot forms, and climbed through the wreckage that cluttered the still burning main lobby. Dust Up picked herself up, and looked to her boyfriend, saying, "Bee-Bee, now, don't get me wrong, I admire your faith in them, I really do, but they will legitimately die in there if we don't-"
"Dust Up, sweetie", started Bumblebee, "You ever heard of these 2 bots called Blastwave and Road Rage?"
"The 2 nastiest bounty hunters on this side of Cybertronian space? Yeah, of course I've heard of them, but I don't see-"
"Well", interjected Swerve, who then said something that all at the same time amazed, shocked, unnerved, and reassured Dust Up, "That little set of twins over there are their kids. Trust us when we say, they've been through worse."
Beyond Cybertron
Behind Luna 3
In orbit
The Banner of hope
"Well, looks like Sentinel's made his move", began Colossus, as he looked at a monitor on the bridge of the Banner of Hope, the flagship of the Exiled. On the monitor, a live feed of the Archive Centre, being relayed to them by a remotely hijacked Vehicon Wallcrawler, was shown, the fire pouring out of the building. Next to him on his left stood Groundpound, Blitz, Thundercracker and Scrapper, and to his right, stood Soundwave, Skullgrin, Jolt, and Aquablast. In front of them, the Cyberdroids Clench, Leader-1, and Spark Barrel, were working controls near the monitors, continuously checking on the status of the NOA computer virus, which had about another 6 hours before the KURUMA system routed out the virus and rewrote it's coding. Across the bridge, Colossus could see various Exiled personal walking about and working at their posts on the bridge. SoundBlaster was working with the Micromasters Search and Black Out on the communications, Hydrocruiser and Hydradread were talking about new weapon designs (Well, Hyrdadread had gotten bored in his workshop, and was boasting to his fellow Storm Trooper about his new high pressure acid cannon, and Hydrocruiser wasn't listening in the slightest), Murena was looking at the both of them, with his palm in his face, looking a tad bit embarrassed, Windrazor was coordinating the ships in the Exiled fleet at his post, and Blight was walking around the bridge, impatient, and continuously asking Fulcrum if they were there yet, much to the medic's annoyance.
Through the viewports of the bridge, Colossus could see the various other ships of the Exiled, the Fatal Consequence, the Leviathan, the Revenge, the Victory, the Torment, the Tidal Wave (Speculated to be a lobotomised Cybertronian, but it's captain, Fathom, has never given any details about the rumour) a few armed heavy transports, a few dozen fighters, led by the Micromaster Flat-Top's personal fighter, the Platonix (He named it after his ex-boyfriend, Colossus thought), and a few gunships and orbital assault carriers. Compared to the whole of Sentinel's forces, both navy and army wise, the Exiled made up about 7% of the total Cybertronian army, which is actually quite large for a rebellion. Colossus felt proud of those under his command. Despite all of the wrongs that they had done in the name of Cybertron, they had stuck together, and now were posed to getting information that could finally rally all of Cybertron to their cause, "He's sloppy as hell. Ever since the Second Beast Wars, he's lost his edge."
"What do you expect? The guy's losing his grip."
Clench and his inner circle turned around to the source of the sound, to see 2 bots standing near the door of the bridge, being Switchblade) Now having abandoned his grey, purple, and blue Autobot disguise, and now stood in his green and yellow robot form) and Voltage (A blue and silver Macromaster with a purple visor, a silver face plate, glowing purple details across his body, and had a Variable Voltage Harness alt-mode, hence his name).
"Switchblade", Soundwave started, "Report."
"Not much to report, sir", said Switchblade, "But Sentinel has moved a good lot of divisions of Vehicons to Iacon, as well as his chief lieutenant Mindset. The CCP's in the dark, obviously, so we won't have much in the way of interference from the Autobots. Unless the division in Iacon get their heads in gear before we get down there."
"I've been looking over the status of the NOA virus", interjected Voltage, "We've got about another few hours before the KURUMA network overrides the bug and rewrites itself. If we're gonna make a move, we need to do it now."
"Alright then", said Scrapper, "Jolt, Thundercracker, Aquablast and I'll head to the main hanger. We'll get the Darksyde fired up and-"
"Change of plan", Colossus spoke up.
"Huh?"
"If Sentinel's moved entire divisions onto Iacon, that mean's that they'll have air support. They'll have warships moving over the city, along with fighters and galore. Those ships will shred the Darksyde to pieces if you go anywhere near the city, even if their targeting systems are glitched out, and they're shooting at everyone. Also, we've never done a raid on Cybertron before. There'll most likely be orbital platforms that'll shred any unauthorised ship that gets too close."
"So what? Those batteries will be affected by the NOA virus as well."
"No they won't", said Voltage, "Those big guns run on a completely different network. We'd need to crack that one as well, and so far, we haven't made any progress with that. If the Darksyde flies in alone, those guns will swat it out of the sky like a gnat. It can't just fly in. Not without support. Not without the fleet."
"So, only all of the combined firepower of our forces can punch a whole through that grid?" asked Jolt.
"Yeah, pretty much."
"Can't we just orbital bombard Sentinel's location?" asked Aquablast.
"1, we have no clue where he is, and 2, wherever he is, he's probably surrounded himself with civilians", commented Thundercracker, "So that's a no-go."
"Well then", continued Colossus, as he turned back to the monitor, "Now that that's settled. Voltage, scramble the KURUMA network's targeting parameters, and get it to target everyone, civilians and CCP alike worldwide, so that-"
"I'm sorry, so that we can what? Commit genocide and then martyr them?" questioned Groundpound strongly, "No, this is- this is wrong. I putting my articulator down. Why civilians?"
"We've already discussed this, Groundpound", firmly responded Colossus as he looked at Groundpound, "I don't like this anymore than you, and I especially don't like the idea of killing innocents-"
"You were going to martyr them! I bloody knew it!"
Everyone on the bridge was now looking at them argue, not saying a word. Groundpound was fairly knew to the Exiled, and as such, hadn't properly seen what they'd had to do to survive.
"It's for the good of the people!" Colossus countered.
"In what world does getting innocents killed mean the good of the people?!"
"The same one as you! I know what we're doing is wrong, and trust me on this, I hate having to do this, but we have no choice!"
"There's always a choice."
"No, there really isn't. Sentinel's not going to back down. Same with anyone in his blasted Assembly! They love their power too much to just give it up! And to that end, they keep the people hurt and helpless!"
"So you're gonna get those same civilians killed?"
"Unfortunately so. We grab and release this information, the people will rally. A hundred is killed next to a million still living, they will riot."
"You said the data drive would be enough."
"To rally their minds to our cause, not to motivate them."
"You're gonna use the fear of the Vehicons killing them to get them to join us, aren't you?"
"..."
"... You're a bastard, Colossus."
Colossus felt the feelings that had been evoked in him when reading the writings of one 'Megatron of Tarn' rise up to the surface of his spark, as his next words escaped through his vocal processor, and out of his faceplate.
"Groundpound, we're steering our kind towards a new golden age, free from Sentinel's tyranny. Free from the tyranny of all those whom would wish to see us enslaved to their agendas. Once a new government is emplaced, I will happily accept the consequences of my actions, and face whatever punishment besets me for my sins, but right now, this is the only way. Sentinel will not go down with reason. He only recognises force, so that is what we shall deliver to him. Only through war will we win, no matter how much I detest it."
"..."
"Young one, sometimes to do good, you have to be the bad guy."
"This is wrong."
"I know, Groundpound. I know", Colossus then looked away from Groundpound, and back to Voltage, "You know what to do, Voltage. We're going to light the fire that will burn Sentinel Prime away."
"Sure thing, sir", replied Voltage, as he and Switchblade left the bridge, while Colossus and his inner circle looked back to the Monitor.
Colossus felt excitement flow through his ocean blue spark. He thought to himself that maybe, in the afterspark, his old mentor, Terminus, would be looking past his previous, sinful deeds, and would be beaming with pride at his soon to be accomplishments. Soon, no more Sentinel Primes, Mindsets, Cross-Cuts, Contrails, Avalons, Ratbats, Sigils, Knock-Outs, Legonis', and other hacks would rule Cybertron. The time of the Soundwaves, Landquakes, Preditrons, and others who truly wanted peace for Cybertron had finally come.
A golden age reborn.
Back on Cybertron
Lower Tesarus
It was painful for Megatron to think back on his past. All his life, ever since he was constructed, and then adopted, his family had been screwed over by organics, which had given him a prejudice against them. He won't go into detail on that. He'd been screwed over constantly by Sentinel and the Assembly as well, just because of his writings on the state of Cybertron, and his research into the old golden age, and Nominus's rule. He could remember a bit of it that he made.
For the state of Cybertron to be what it is now, is a mockery of what made us once great. Once, we were a spiralling empire, but not in a bad way. Aequmm Prime, Anima Bellator Maximus, and the Council of Worlds steered us to towards peace with all organics known to us now, and perhaps even unknown. Our empire was encased in gold and silver, and all in it were at peace, and found happiness in their lives. The only true time that the old Cybertronian Empire faced destruction was during the Master Wars, against the hordes of Titanmasters and Targetmasters that the Maladroids had unleased upon Cybertron, but that was braved, and all remained as it was. Peaceful, and happy. A utopia.
At least, so say the stories.
In truth, few accurate records of the golden age exist anymore, having been wiped away by Nominus during the Grand Uprising, and only stories and fables exist of the supposed era of peace and joy. An era that exists millions of years ago, to boot. It's why any record or talk of the golden age is met with immediate scepticism and doubt. Extremely few whom lived in that time- if it really did exist- are still among the living, as most of them were supposedly killed during the Second Civil War, and those whom do speak like they lived during the age of Aequmm prime are thought of as senile and attention hungry, which does seem like a logical reason to avoid those same people.
Still though, if you do take into consideration all of the stories of Cybertron old, and compare them to Cybertron now, you will find yourself in wanting. What the space of Cybertronian civilisation is now is but a shadow of what it possibly was. We live under the thumb of a tyrannical false prime and his stooges, with an army of lifeless automata at Sentinel's beck and call. Our homes are rusted and broken, and every hour, a Cybertronian collapses, and dies of energon shortage. Every year, we tip closer and closer to extinction, and they're seems to be nothing that we can do about it.
Yet, as we hear the tales of the golden age, our hearts are filled with something that we have not felt in millennia. Hope. Hope for a brighter future. And in that hope, we find the brightest of things. You see couples walking by, somehow able to keep going despite all that is around them. Somehow able to recite the Scripture of the binding spark, and create new life, despite all that they must face before them. "How can they still find happiness in all of this?" You may ask. The answer is simple. Love. Love, and hope. Hope that those who continue on after them can make the world a better place. Hope that the mistakes of the past can be learnt, and be taught to the generations of the future. Hope that after their time has past, what they leave behind can mould our world into something better, something new, something where all can finally be free.
And that, I suppose, is the brightest light of all.
It was these writings that made Sentinel hate Megatron for a brief time. These writings meant free thought, and free thought meant freedom, and freedom meant opposition. Megatron was lucky that he was just sent to prison, and tortured for weeks for his act of freedom of mind. There were, of course, worse fates than that. This didn't deter him, though. In fact, it only made him feel more unfettered when he wrote. More passionate. More motivated. Though, he did wisen up, and began trading out his writings in secret though the underground communities, which then passed on to various other communities, and even got off world sometimes, to worlds across Cybertronian space, like Caminus and Velocitron. He had once sent his pen pal and FaceplateTime buddy, 'Optimus', a digital copy of one of his works, but he wasn't sure if he ever opened up the email and read them. Oh well. One day.
"So, why did Kiloton call us all the way from Tarn to Tesarus?" Megatron heard Moonracer- his wife- asked, as their daughter, Snowglobe, held her hand, with a wide, innocent smile on her face. Snowglobe was just about below the size of an average Micromaster, yet taller than a Cyberdroid. She had boxy shoulders, and a boxy chest, waist and head, yet she also had slim arms and legs, and forming on her looked like a either a tank or a car alt mode. She also had a blue and grey colour scheme, 2 bright blue optics, and glowing red details across her body. Since she was incredibly young, at only 5 years old, and like all Macromaster children growing from their original protoform stage, it would take her 16 years until she could transform, and 20 until she was full size. Until then, she was considered a Monoformer. Moonracer, meanwhile, was a tad bit shorter than the average Macromaster, while Megatron was quite taller than said average.
"I don't know, Moon, but I feel that if he really wanted to show us something, he could of just done it over FaceTime", Megatron replied earnestly. It didn't take a mnemosurgeon to know that there were easier ways of talking than travelling between cities for Primus' sake. Instead, they had to fly all the way from Tarn to Tesarus on the Thunder Arrow, which was crammed by the way, and then they had to trudge through the old spaceport, now called the Air Waves Airport, run by a real piece of work, who Megatron presumed was called Air Wave or Airwave or something, going off of the name of it, and now they have to walk through the old Tesarus arena where Megatron remembered Nominus held gladiator matches for fun before and during the Grand Uprising.
Gladiator arenas. Such savagery. You'd never find Megatron in one of those things, he'll tell you that right now.
"Oh, come on, Megs, you've known Kiloton longer than you've known me", said Moonracer, as they walked through the crowded pathways of the city. Tesarus was known for it's artisans, scholars and philosophers, but it was also known for it's faint traces of old culture, which attracted many a people from different walks of life. As such, the city became the second most populated area on Cybertron, with it's neighbour, Thetacon, becoming the third.
"Just because I know him doesn't mean I know everything that he does and or is about to do", replied Megatron.
"Mama, Papa!" chirped Snowglobe happily and innocently, "I wanna go to The Burn Outs!"
"I want doesn't get, sweetie", said Megatron with a smile, yet he also had a firm tone in his voice.
"Mmmm", Snowglobe pouted, applying a sad face to her, well, face.
"Sigh, if you've been a good girl, we'll go", caved Megatron, his smile nonfading.
"Yeah!" happily and bubbly Snowglobe, jumping up and down for a few moments. Moonracer just looked at the 2, and smiled.
They continued walking for a few minutes, before Moonracer stopped them, and looked at the apartment block in front of them. She then looked to her husband, and went, "2005 WDI grove. Is this the place?"
Megatron opened up a side compartment on the side of his right leg, pulled out a small holotab, and looked at what was written on it, "...Yep, this is where Kiloton told us to meet at. Weird that we can't just go to his place."
They walked to the door of the building. The building looked run down, and was covered in rust, but, compared to everywhere else on Cybertron, that was normal. Nevertheless, Megatron felt unease. He held his arm out as they got to the door, ushering his wife and child behind him. Moonracer immediately caught wind of this, "Something wrong?"
"Yes", replied Megatron as he opened the sliding door, "Stay close, you 2."
Moonracer wordlessly nodded in compliance, holding their child close to her. They walked into the building, keeping close together as they walked up the corridor, and up the staircase at the end of it. The building had about 20 floors, and they were suppose to meet Kiloton in a room at floor 18. Once they got to floor 18, Snowglobe ran out of the staircase and into the corridor, yelling in her usual happy go tone, "Uncle Kiloton! Where are you!"
Megatron just couldn't help but let out a sigh, while Moonracer just shook her head, while having a smile in her face.
"In here", came a quiet voice. Megatron and Moonracer looked down the corridor to see an open apartment door, with the lights on and shining into the hallway. Snowglobe just giggled, and ran through the hallway and into the room, her arms in the air as she ran. Megatron and Moonracer just looked at each other and sighed in unison, before they walked through the corridor, and to the open door. When they both looked through the door, through a short corridor they saw their daughter, standing in what looked like the living room, facing the wall that wasn't visible to the parents. Her innocent smile had gone, and what looked like fear had come to replace it.
"Sweetie?" asked Megatron, as he cautiously walked through the short corridor, and into the room, not taking his eyes of his daughter. Moonracer followed behind him as well, nervous, and now slightly fearful.
Snowglobe looked at them both, and then pointed to the still not yet visible wall, and said, "Daddy, I found Uncle Kiloton."
"What are you...o-oh", Megatron finally entered the room, and saw what Snowglobe was pointing at. Moonracer entered the room as well, and covered her mouth at what she now saw.
Kiloton was dead, his mouth wide open, and his head blown open. His chest also had 2 gunshot holes in it, one in his spark, and another in his t-cog. He was below a window, and the drapes that would've covered those windows covered the corpse's shoulders had it's bottoms now stained in blood. Blood was still pooling on the ground, and the air still smelled of ozone and plasma. Judging by the freshness of the corpse, the smell, and the still pooling blood, he hadn't been dead for too long. Before Megatron could even cover his daughter's optics from the sight in front of her, he heard a chilling voice behind him.
"My, oh my. The whole family. Unexpected..."
Megatron looked behind him, past Moonracer, who had also turned to the origin point of the voice. In what looked like a kitchen section of the apartment, there stood a tall Macromaster, just about taller than Megatron, and a lot more bulk on him. He was blue and orange in colour scheme, and had glowing blue details covering his body. He wore a faceplate, and his cold blue optics pierced into the souls of the 3 Cybertronians in front of him. He had what looked like a jet alt mode, 2 grey cannons on his back, and a large blue wing each to accommodate them. In his left hand, he held a large ceremonial staff, and in his right hand, a large ion cannon. Megatron's eyes widened at this figure, and in his spark chamber, he felt fear, but less for himself, and more for those closest to him.
"But not unwelcome", finished Sentinel Prime.
Megatron quickly spun himself around, to face the tyrant. He wasn't too sure what came over him next, but whatever it was, be it fear, protectiveness for his family, or even anger, urged him to attack the prime. He lunged at the prime, his fist raised in the air, and his face screwed with hostile intent. He couldn't even let out a yell of intent before Sentinel raised his ion cannon and let out a single blue shot of plasma and ion into Megatron's chest. The blast from the bolt of energy was enough to pierce Megatron's outer armour on his chest, showing off all of his vital internal components, and sending him falling on his back onto the immemorial floor below him. Sentinel responded to this act of aggression against him by slamming his left foot articulator against Megatron's chest, pressing down on his vital components, causing the grey and black bot to send out a blood curdling scream, perhaps as a reaction, or as a cry for help. Sentinel smirked under his faceplate. The walls had been soundproofed.
Moonracer broke out of her quick shock, and, in a stupid act of instinct and adrenaline, charged at the prime, yelling, "GET THE PIT OFF OF HIM YOU GREASE LICKING-"
"Please", said Sentinel, as he quickly aimed his still smoking gun at the charging femme bot, "A little more privacy."
Another blue blast of energy erupted from Sentinel's blaster, but this time, he was shooting to kill. The blast impacted with Moonracer's head, and detonated it, causing it to explode in a very graphic fashion, sending energon, and chunks of metal flying across the room. She must've thought that she could transform into her alt mode in time, dodge the blast, and then ram into the prime, because when the once living bot dropped to the ground right before her husband, the corpse had half transformed into her speedster alt mode, and was making uncomfortable noises as her t-cog tried to figure out what to transform into without a brain module, before her lights went out, and the soul left the spark.
Megatron couldn't do anything. He couldn't even change his face to something that wasn't a neutral expression. He was in shock. He didn't know what to do. His wife had just died right in front of him, and yet he couldn't even bring up the willpower to even react to it. Snowglobe, meanwhile, in a childlike display of innocence, yet with a sad and confused expression on her face, started repeating, "Mama?" to the corpse, in hopes that her mother would get up again, perfectly fine, and hold her close.
By now, 4 new figures had entered the room. 2 of them were Vehicons, though they had red visors instead of blue, had built-in glowing purple plasma guns, and had a black and purple colour scheme, with a silver coloured head. The other 2 figures were organics, with one of them looking like some kind of green upright frog, and the other being a skuxxoid, armed with a hand held laser pistol.
"So", began Sentinel, as the 4 new arrivals encircled the bot under his heel. Sentinel seemed to notice them, but he didn't care. He just kept looking at the mech under his foot, talking to him as if he were listening, "A little spider has told me that you were still writing in your public diary. A shame really, as I'd thought the suffering from last time would've been enough to make you think more, well, politically correctly. But no, you didn't. You kept telling your very incorrect version of 'the truth' about the Assembly and I, and that's starting to make people think all of the wrong things, and I seriously cannot have people committing thought crimes, now, can I?"
"What... the pit... do you want?" muttered Megatron, rage finally starting to boil in his spark chamber.
"Well, I would very much like you to cease these lying essays that you have written. I'm already dealing with one little incident involving one bot trying to tell 'the truth'. I'd rather not deal with another."
"Then... kill me...", said Megatron, forgetting that his child was there, "Isn't that what you're hear for? Why you lured me out here? To finish the job yourself?"
"Oh indeed, I would love to kill you right now, but unfortunately, you've swayed the minds of so many poor Cybertronians to your lies. I need to bring them back into the fold. That's why I'm going to have my acquaintances here preform a little, oh, how shall I say, re-education, on a little world called Skuxxos. When you come back, you will be much more willing to speak the truth to your followers. I'm hear in person to make sure that these two idiots here actually make it through."
"Hey", muttered the toad like organic, but Sentinel didn't notice. If he did, he cared not.
"Get slagged", defiantly spat Megatron.
"Oh, now that's just bad parenting, isn't it? Swearing in front of your daughter? Shame on you", replied Sentinel smugly.
Megatron's red optics widened, and he looked away from Sentinel to see Snowglobe, still whimpering, "Mama" to the smoking corpse of her mother, glowing blue tears welling in her optics.
"Oh, and if you're worrying about your friend, oh, Optimus, was it?" said Sentinel, as he holstered his blaster, opened up a side pocket in the side of his leg, pulled out a small holoprojector from the pocket, and turned it on, showing a domed building aflame. His voice turned dark as he said, "Don't worry. He's in good hands."
Megatron was about to say something, but the Skuxxoid stopped him by slamming a clamp on his mouth, as well as binders onto his hands and legs, and grabbed him by his shoulder.
"Take the sparkling as well", said Sentinel, "For good measure."
One of the Vehicons walked up to Snowglobe, and grabbed her by her head, it's sharp claws digging into her soft metal skin. She began to wail in fear, pain, and confusion, as she and her father were dragged out of the room by the strangers, with Sentinel following closely behind. They began to climb the stairs, before reaching a door at the top of the stairs, and opening it to reveal the rooftop of the apartment block, and a shuttle ship that looked like a piece of an asteroid parked on the roof as well. The skuxxoid dragged Megatron onto the ship, while the Vehicon threw Snowglobe on, paying no heed to the tiny drops of energon that had formed on it's fingers. The frog organic then looked at Sentinel, and went, "Well then, do we get-"
"You'll get paid when you do your job, Slizardo. Not before, or after."
"O-oh, right, my apologies", said the organic, as he walked onto his ship.
"Now go", said Sentinel firmly and coldly, his vehicons standing guard behind him, "Do your work. Bring him back much more-"
Suddenly, an large explosion went off, rocking the entire city, and ending with a huge fireball, illuminating the city in a haze of orange and yellow. Sentinel and the organics looked to the fireball, only for another explosion to go off right next to the old Tesarus Arena, tearing apart a good chunk of the building, and causing a skyscraper near it to collapse into flames. Gunfire then began to erupt in the age old streets, and anti air fire from both Vehicon and CCP turrets began to fire into the air, clipping Vehicon, CCP, and civilian ships alike. One ship, the Thunder Arrow, was hit right through the cockpit by a stray shell from a CCP gun, sending the shuttle craft falling down to the surface, and colliding with the burning old arena, killing all aboard. Vehicon WARBIRD fighters began to go on suicide runs, slamming themselves against the ground, random buildings, other ships in the air, and even into their own fellow fighters, while Vehicon gunships started dropping their full payloads on whatever was below them, be it buildings, roads, people, or even themselves, then the gunships' lights just flickered off, and they all just dropped like a stone to the ground. Worse though, the cruiser that orbited the city just flickered off, and dropped down to the city, detonating on impact, and covering a quarter of the city in flames and debris.
Sentinel looked on in disbelief. Those Vehicons were expensive, not to mention the raw materials went into making that army. This was going to be a logistics nightmare if he ever knew one. He looked to his personal guard, "You 2, tell me what is happen..."
He stopped himself when he saw the 2 Vehicons twitching and in place, their bodies twitching and spasming in place, while continuously repeating to themselves, "PROTECT LEADER S-S-S-S-S DESTROY LEADER S-S-S-S-S ERROR ERROR ERROR REPEAT CODE 333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333-"
Then, maybe in an act of free will, but Sentinel doubted it, both Vehicons, at the same time, slammed their fists into their own heads, clawing away at the metal, oozing green fluid down their heads. Then, the metal plating on the top of their heads was gone, and their motherboards- not brain modules, considering they weren't real Cybertronians- became visible. Then, they started slamming their fists against those same motherboards, tearing them apart as their heads became chalices of green oil. Then, they dropped to the ground, unmoving, and unresponsive. It was like something from one of those B-rated horror films. Not that Sentinel cared. If anything, he seemed to take some sort of sadistic pleasure out of the grotesque sight in front of him.
Ignoring the dead drones, and the obvious chaos around him, Sentinel looked back to the organics, and said, "Well? Go."
"Er, oh, right", said the frog like organic. Before long, the shuttle closed it's doors, leaving the cries of Snowglobe muffled, yet still audible. The shuttle then took off, somehow was able to avoid all of the AA fire, and then through the orbital grid, using the codes that Sentinel had more or less reluctantly given them.
Sentinel looked down at his foot, and saw that the green fluid from the Vehicons was pooling at his foot articulator, and he then lifted up his foot to see that it had been stained green. Great, he'd just got himself polished as well.
Ignoring the chaos around him, he shifted into his jet form, and flew off, back to the Metroplex all the way in Rodion. He should've just let one of the Assembly bots handle all of that rather ugly business. Knock-Out or Anti-Blaze (He was responsible for Tesarus anyway) or Vraz, or someone else on the Assembly could've sorted all of that no problem.
Primus, today was not his day.
Iacon
Border Regions
The Archive Centre
At the same time...
"Primus, it's hot in here", said Nightracer quite loudly, as to have herself heard over the sounds of the flames that encroached them as she and Tailgate walked through the still burning corridors of the Archive Centre, being mindful not to step on a body or a piece of debris. Already, they had passed about a dozen or 2 corpses, some of them Nightracer was vaguely familiar with, but not enough to give them a proper mourning. Just a sigh at the loss, but not a care more given.
"Well, we are in a burning building, sis", replied Tailgate, albeit with a much more calm tone of voice. He was right in front of her, and with Nightracer keeping up with his quick pace, he reckoned that they could reach Orion's office in about 15 minutes, if there weren't any major obstacles in the way, "Also, I'm right here, and there's no need to yell."
"I wasn't yelling."
"Yeah, you did."
"Well, okay maybe I was, but it was only so you could hear me above all of this noise."
"You mean the vwoooshing sounds? The ones made by all of the fire?"
"Yep."
"S'not that loud."
"Oh, shut it."
"Nah, I'm good", riposted Tailgate, "I like the sound of my own voice."
"Yes, I am well aware of that", replied Nightracer in slight exasperation. She was getting a tad bit bored of the banter that they had going on, right now, "We should hurry up. I can feel the heat eating away at my servos."
"Yeah yeah. Plus the building is collapsing around us, so that's a thing too."
"...True."
The twins then came upon a 4 way intersection in the corridor, and Tailgate noticed a barely intact sign on the opposite wall, in the fire, that read 'Information collection office blocks 10-19' along with an arrow that pointed down one of the corridors. Orion and Rewind's offices were in office block 13. They were on the right track.
Then, a purple energy bolt soared down the corridor on the left of them, and a scream could be heard. The twins stopped in place, not moving a servo, which didn't help with the fires licking at their metal plating, scouring them. Then, they could hear the frantic sound of footsteps coming from that same corridor, growing louder and louder. Then, a purple flash of light illuminated the corridor, as well as the accompanying sound of searing metal. Whoever was shooting at the yet unseen individual, they had certainly met their mark. A body- a grey, blue and red Macromaster with what looked like a truck alt mode- then slumped down, right in the intersection, in full view of the twins. Nightracer didn't know him, but Tailgate recognised the bot as Iron Hide, though he only knew him because Rewind once showed him a news real on the guy getting arrested by the CCP, for Syk pedalling. Tailgate looked at Iron Hide's corpse, and just let out a sigh, and shook his head. If there were any words to say to eulogise the dead bot, he didn't know them.
They moved closer to the intersection, and Tailgate peeked around the corner, to see a Black Ops Vehicon (BO Vehicons were painted in Black and Purple, with silver heads, a single red optical visor, what looked like jet modes, and a built in plasma cannon) walking down the corridor, it's feet dragging against the ground, it's head suffering damage, and twitching continuously, and it's built in cannon brimming with energy. Tailgate then noticed that through the smoke, another BO Vehicon was walking along the same path as well, mimicking the same movements as the first drone, but this drone, in it's spare hand, was dragging along a corpse, being a bot who nether of the twins recognised. The 2 Vehicons seemed to be saying something, but as Tailgate got a better listen, he heard that they were just speaking random coding, and a computer dialect that he didn't understand.
Unfortunately, the lead Vehicon saw Tailgate peeking his head out, and aimed it's arm cannon at his head. Tailgate had barely enough time to pull his head away from view before the first shot impacted with the wall, burning away the metal on the wall. Instead of just rounding the corner, and executing the 2 Minibots, the drone just stood in place and began firing wildly at the wall, raining down plasma and ion on the intersection. Judging from the damage to it's head, the BO Vehicon's targeting parameters and logic processors must have been damaged. The other BO Vehicon, however, had no such damage to it's head, and only several scratches and burns across it's body, so it's main systems must've still been active and relatively undamaged. Taking the much more logical approach, it aimed it's arm cannon at the intersection, but instead of firing, started to walk towards the intersection, computing that the easiest way to kill the 2 Cybertronians would be to just walk round the corridor, come face to face with them, and just shoot them.
"The hell are the Assembly's Black Ops doing here?!" yelled Tailgate over the gunfire, as another blast chipped the edge of the intersection corridor wall, sending metal shards flying, and clipping the wheel on Tailgate's shoulder.
"Does it matter?" yelled back Nightracer over the sounds of gunfire, "Right now, these chumps are in the way of getting to Orion and Rewind!"
"If they're even in here!"
"Tailgate!"
"Alright, alright, chill out-"
While he was talking, Tailgate transformed into his alt-mode (A small and boxy Cybertronian muscle car, which was big enough to fit in the corridor), and drove into the open intersection.
"-I've got this!"
The damaged BO Vehicon didn't seem to compute Tailgate's existence, as it just continued firing randomly at the same specific intersection wall. Perhaps it didn't compute him in the first place, and just starting glitching out. The other BO Vehicon, being much more intact, started chanting, "SEEK LOCATE DESTROY", and stood right next to it's malfunctioning counterpart, aiming it's powered up gun at the boxy vehicle in front of it. Then, a small gun like attachment popped out of the hood of Tailgate's alt-mode, and a blue laser shot out of the barrel of the attachment, and impacted with the corner of the roof above the drone. The fully functioning vehicon lowered it's weapon slightly, looking up to the roof where the blast mark became apparent, and then to it's broken counterpart. It seemed confused, Tailgate figured. Good. Just another second.
The BO Vehicon raised it's gun again, intent with finishing the job, when suddenly, the roof above it collapsed onto the Vehicon, and it's broken counterpart. Tailgate had hit a support in the roof that had already been weakened by both the fire and explosion, as well as years of neglect. The steel and wireframes of the roof, as well as all of the rubble that it had accumulated from the explosion, came tumbling down, crushing the vehicons, and showering green fluid and metal parts everywhere. A burnt corpse adorned the collection of rubble, being the same one that the BO Vehicon was dragging around. Tailgate transformed into his robot form, and was able to get a better look at the body, and saw that it was a Macromaster scaled Cybertronian, had some sort of winged luponoid alt-mode, was coloured white and grey, with a hint of purple on his face, and his wings were a red like colour. Tailgate looked at an engraving that the bot had on his shoulder, and through the burn marks, could see that it said 'Soulstice'. He wasn't sure if it was his name, or just a saying that the dead bot had, but at the moment, he didn't really care.
He saw his spark sister walking up to him, so he said, "Okay then, for some reason, these Vehicons are running around, killing anyone who's survived the explosion, which means that they were responsible for said explosion."
"Tailgate, the master of deduction, everyone", Nightracer muttered. Tailgate decided not to come up with a retort, allowing Nightracer to speak up in a much more audible voice, "Which means they're going to kill Orion and Rewind, if we don't find them first, provided that they're still alive!"
"We need to move out."
"Like music to my audio receptors."
Still in the Archive Centre
"Not dead yet, are ya?" went Mindset, as he crouched near the body of Orion pax, or Optimus (Mindset liked that name. It was a stupid sounding name, but it was catchy) as his worthless friends called him.
"Urrr..." was the downed bot's reply.
"Na? Good", said Mindset. He liked talking. He liked boasting, "Now, let's get ta why you're in this lil' predicament. Not too long ago, in a place not that far from here, ya got ya on some, oh lez say, rather sensitive information, that ma boss Sentinel would rather ya don't have. Well, obv we searched your place 'fore comin' here, but we couldn't find it. Hell, me and ma associates couldn't even find its ashes, presumin' you went off and burnt it, which by da way, either means you got rid of it somewhere else (Goodie if ya did, saves me a job), or, the more fun for me option, you still got it on ya. Now, see, I really don't care what you's gonna do with it, seeing that I'mma kill you eva way, so, let's go and get dis ova with."
Mindset then stood up, and pulled his rifle from off his back. Grabbing an ammo clip that was attached to his wrist, he was about to attach it to his gun, when he saw his target looking up at him, with faint blue optics. He smiled, and waved the clip at him.
"Wanna know what this is?" smirked Mindset as he spoke in a hardly solemn fashion. He didn't get an answer, but he didn't care, "Dis lil' thing here got infernus bullets in 'em. Nasty lil' things, dreamt up ba ma boss 'imself a few orbital cycles ago", he seemed to use the more militaristic form of time telling. It was so that people outside the armed forces, or even other species wouldn't be able to tell the period of time that Cybertronian forces were conducting operations, "Once even one of des things makes contact with one of ya veins, it releases a chemical that sets the energon inside you ablaze. Just one bullet, and ya fry ta death. An' I gets the pleasure of testing the only existin' prototype."
He then clipped the ammo clip into his gun, and aimed it at Orion's head, wearing a slasher smile as he aimed down his sights, holding the rifle in one hand.
"So please, be ma guest an' smile for da bullet that's gonna crack ya head in 2-"
Suddenly, a massive voltage of electricity erupted from Mindset's body, dancing across him, and frying his body in blue lights and black marks. Mindset couldn't even scream, as the electricity surged across his body, overloading his internal programs, and crashing his systems. Mindset dropped his gun, and crashed to the floor, unconscious, and still sparking from electricity.
Orion painfully looked to his saviour, and saw a Cassettebot standing over Mindset's body, heavily burnt and damaged, and holding a thin cable in each hand, which emerged from the ground. Orion recognised him as Rewind. His blue visor was cracked, and his back was arched in execution, and pain, having never been inured to what was around him, and looked like he really wasn't living the life of Riley. His black and white body was scoured and burnt, and his reddish maroon coloured faceplate was chipped and burnt, with his orangey yellow paint details on his chest burnt as well, and his glowing blue details shining out against the orange haze of the still burning room.
Rewind then looked down at Mindset, and dropped the cables on the ground.
"Cliché bad guys always talk to much."
Outside the Archive Centre
Dust Up, Bumblebee, and Swerve stood, feeling impatient, and definitely nervous. The situation outside the Archive Centre was getting worse by the minute, with the building's roof now collapsing in on itself, the flames getting bigger, and starting to spread, and just a few minutes ago, a Cybertronian who turned into a tanker truck came off of the road, and crashed right into one of the buildings near by. Swerve had noticed that the tanker bot, who died in alt-mode, had several smoking wholes in him, like bullet holes, but he didn't bring it up. He didn't think it mattered. There was fuel grade nucleon pouring out of the tanker, and if the fire spread to it and ignited the fuel, then it could level the entire block, and start a blaze that could consume the entirety of the 'Sentinel's Folly' slums.
Dust Up seemed to have the same idea, "We need to get out of here. If that tanker bot catches alight, it'll take everything from here to Sentinel's Folly along with it!"
"And leave our friends to die!?" was Swerve's response, "What if they need help when they get out?!"
"I'm sorry Swerve, but there aren't any water supplies nearby that I can see! Nothing to help smother the fire! And our circuits will fry from the heat! We can't help the others if we're all dead!"
"If we go into the building ourselves, we can get them out faster!" went Bumblebee, "If the nucleon goes off, the Archive Centre will be consumed in that fireball. We go in, grab Orion, Tailgate, the lot, and hope that the fire doesn't fry us too much!"
"Best idea I've heard today!" commented Swerve.
"Alright, I'm with you on this one", agreed Dust Up, "Let's roll... uh oh."
Swerve and Bumblebee looked to where Dust Up was suddenly looking, and saw a Vehicon walking up the steps, it's single blue visor, silver, red and blue paint, and flashing red and blue lights on it's shoulders illuminated in the orange glowing fires behind the 3 bots. In it's right hand, it held a plasma rifle, and in it's left hand, it held something, dripping with blue liquid. It's head was twitching, and it was basically shuffling towards them.
"Oh joy", sarcastically went Bumblebee, "Robo cops."
Swerve went up to the Vehicon, and began to say, "Look, mister lifeless, mean, and lifeless some more, some of our friends are in there, and we need t... to... oh my god..."
Swerve cut himself off when he saw what the Vehicon was holding. In it's left hand, it was holding a head. The head of what looked like a femme bot, dripping energon, and having a bit of a spinal strut still attached. The Vehicon was covered in scratches and dents, and droplets of someone's energon across it's body. The Vehicon looked down at the Minibot, whom was too shocked to move, and it just muttered, "DEEE... STOYYYYY..." the Vehicon then aimed it's rifle at Swerve's head, uttering at full volume this time, "DEEE...STRO-"
It couldn't even pull the trigger before a purple laser blast pierced through it's head, spraying green oil all over the ground. Dust Up and Bumblebee barely had enough time to pull Swerve away before a barrage of purple laser fire tore the Vehicon to pieces, scattering it's remains across the pavement, and leaving the area singed with smoking black marks. Dust Up tried to get Swerve out of his shock, but Bumblebee, just told her too look up to the sky, to which, she hesitantly complied, only to be met with shock.
In the sky, past the grey clouds, and black smoke, an armada of purple alien warships descended from the sky, blocking out any traces of sunlight. Dozens of alien fighters clogged the sky, doing battle with the now seemingly rabid Vehicon forces, and swarming and bombing the various buildings and skyscrapers of Iacon. A purple gunship flew down from the sky, sniping any nearby Vehicons that crossed it's flight path, and dropping from under it a large purple object, which then transformed into a 4 legged tank, and began firing missiles at Vehicon ships in the air. More dropships then kept dropping off these tank like transformers off, and then what looked like cylinder like objects started falling from the sky and colliding with the ground, opening up, and letting out drone like troops, and more obviously living Cybertronians. Gunfire stated to erupt in the streets, and explosions started to ripple through the City, starting fire after fire, and filling the streets of Iacon in a thick dark smoke.
Bumblebee looked at Dust Up, then back to his surrounding. An Archive Centre aflame, his friends in mortal danger, and now an invasion, and a war. The only thing he could say was, "How are we getting out of this one."
If there was something to say in response, Dust Up couldn't think of it.
Future scholars and historians would pore over whatever records existed of the Battle Of Iacon for years, creating their on narratives as to how the battle went, a few of them true. The only thing that could be agreed...
Was that this was the beginning of the end.
And boom, another chapter done, and one for the new year, as well. For a side note, sorry if the inclusion of the Cybertronian Assembly seems a little forced. I was thinking about the Builders of Cybertron from Beast Wars Uprising while I was writing this, and then I figured, what if Sentinel needed bots to help control the government and all of the cities across Cybertron, and maybe even the Colonies, and bam, the Cybertronian Assembly was born.
OCs introduced: Voltage
So yeah, don't forget to review, feel free to look up all of the references, changes and name changes that I made to the already existing characters and I will see you next time.
Untill then, Titanmaster out,