So this chapter is based of 'Rock Bottom' (s1e19). This episode was originally not going to make it into the fic but then "Hey, what if..." and we have our first chapter WITHOUT Liliy. She is mentioned only by her title 'Madam'.
"Hey, Nova. Come look at this," Mike said leaning around the doorway of the receiving room. He quickly disappeared again.
Nova sighed and left the receiving room to follow his brother to the comm center.
"What is it?" he asked looking up at the big monitors.
He saw two Autobot signals, labeled Arcee and Bulkhead, with two Decepticon signals in close proximity. Those two were labeled Megatron and Starscream.
"Yeah. So? What about it?"
"Do those coordinates look familiar to you?"
Nova looked at the monitor, studying it.
"Isn't that one of the Decepticons' old mining sites?"
"Yes, it is. I suspect that the reason the Autobots are there is because they detected some slight energon readings and went to check them out."
"Ok but why are the Cons there?"
"I don't know. It's likely that neither group knows the other is there."
"Well, it looks like they're about to find out."
Nova tapped a couple buttons and zoomed in on a section of the mine where the blip labeled Arcee was closing in on the Decepticon signals. The pair watched in silence for a few moments before the signals suddenly scattered and the computer registered some seismic activity in that area.
"Seismic activity..." Mike said as he typed away at the keyboard. "That can only mean one thing." He paused and looked at Nova.
"Cave-in," they chorused together.
"The Autobots could be stuck down there. We should go help them."
"What!?" Nova nearly choked.
"What if they had their human friends with them? Look, Nova. Neither of their signals are moving. We should at least go take a look."
"But, Mike, you know we're not allowed to leave the base without permission."
"Yeah. But no one is here for us to ask. Madam's with the Bots. Leecher's on patrol. And Alfa is out on flying maneuvers with the rest of the fliers. So who are we supposed to ask?"
"Well, the next in command would be Bravo then."
"He's working on a project with Delta."
"Charlie then?"
"...With Alfa. And Echo."
"Foxtrot…"
Mike just stared at him.
"Yeah. You're right. We can't ask Foxtrot."
"Can we at least just go take a look, Nova? Mining is what we're good at. Caves are what we know. This could be our chance to help the Autobots for the Madam."
"Well…" Nova shifted uneasily.
Mike smirked. He knew he had won.
"I guess it couldn't hurt to at least check it out."
"Alright! Let's go." Mike led the way out of the Comm center and back to the receiving room.
Nova typed in the coordinates and activated the ground bridge.
"We are going to get in so much trouble for this," Nova said as they entered the vortex.
"Probably. But maybe we'll have some fun too."
They exited the ground bridge in a large cavern, their masks falling to cover their faceplates as they looked around.
"Yep, there's definitely been a cave-in," Mike said examining the uneven ceiling and multiple piles of rubble scattered around.
"Scrap!" hissed Nova drawing his brother's attention.
"What is it?"
"I can pick up the other spark signals on my scanners but I can't tell who is who anymore. The mineral composition of the cave walls must be causing interference."
"That means comms will probably be sketchy too."
The ground stopped shaking and the sounds of falling rocks had been reduced to the occasional rain of pebbles. Jack was wedged in a small space created when two huge chunks of rock smacked into each other on the cave floor. The boy thought he was going to be crushed the way he had been jostled around. When the shaking finally stopped, he took a moment to collect his thoughts and realize that he was alive. Coughing from the dust, he pushed aside the small rocks around him and crawled slowly out of his little niche.
It wasn't until Jack was fully out of his hole and sitting back on his knees that he realized he could not see a thing. Before the cave-in, light had been filtering in from various places in the ceiling and he had the aid of Arcee's headlights to see as well. Now it was pitch black; he couldn't even see his hand in front of his face. And it frightened him.
"A-arcee?" he shakily asked the darkness.
Only the quiet echo of his voice answered him. He tried again, louder this time.
"Arcee!" he called.
This time the echo was accompanied by some small stones falling but that was all.
"Oh, scrap," Jack whispered realizing that he was alone.
He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his phone. He knew it wouldn't work down in the cave but it would at least provide him with a little light. Flipping it open, he blinked in the sudden brightness. The light from the screen was not enough to illuminate the cave but he could at least make out the ground. He climbed to his feet slowly, as various bruises and other aches and pains made themselves known. Ignoring them, he moved carefully forward.
Trying to walk, or climb in some cases, over uneven terrain with only a flip phone for light was not easy. Jack had tripped multiple times and dropped his phone at least once. He stopped for a moment to try and get his bearings. His phone didn't do much to reveal his surroundings but it did tell him that he had only been moving for about ten minutes. It seemed to him that it should have been longer than that. Squinting into the darkness, he figured it was time to try calling for the others again.
"Arcee? ...Bulkhead? ...Miko?"
Again only the echo of his voice answered him.
"Great. Just great," he muttered to himself as he started moving again.
Jack hardly got ten feet before he stopped. He wasn't sure but he thought he heard voices.
"HELLO!" he yelled as loud as he could.
This time he was relieved to hear a hesitant but replying "Hello?" overlapping his echoes. It was followed by heavy footfalls.
"Looks like I was right about the humans," a voice said.
Jack's gaze traveled upwards until he spotted a pair of parallel, orange v's floating in the darkness. Suddenly a bright light clicked on, nearly blinding the boy and he raised his hand to shield his eyes.
"Primus, Mike," scolded a second voice. "Easy with light. Are you trying to blind him?"
A large shadow passed in front of the light. Jack looked up again and, with growing horror, recognized the silhouette that was moving toward him.
"More Decepticons?" he gasped, moving backward.
After a moment, he turned and tried to run. He hardly made it two steps before a three-clawed servo snatched him up. He kicked and struggled as he was lifted several feet into the air.
"Easy there, young one," chided the second voice. "We don't want to hurt you."
"And we're not Decepticons," the first voice practically growled.
Jack stopped squirming and looked up at the two Cybertronians as they pushed their masks up to reveal their blue optics.
"My name is Nova," the mech holding him said with a kind smile. "And this is my brother, Mike. What's your name?"
"Uh, it's Jack."
"Nice to meet you, Jack."
"Just so you know," Mike leaned closer to Jack, "we may look like our Decepticon brethren but we aren't Decepticons anymore. We're part of the CRC."
"The Cybertronian Rebel Corps?" asked Jack, looking from one to the other. "What are you doing here?"
"We were monitoring this area when we detected the cave-in. We dropped in to see if we could help," explained Nova, pushing Mike back.
Mike moved away from them and shined his light around the cavern.
"Hey, Nova, look at this. One of the Cons' old drills survived the cave-in."
The inactive drill sat on the far side of the cavern where they were, casting eerie shadows on the wall as Mike ran his light over it.
"That could come in handy."
The miners moved over to it.
"If it even still works."
"It should," Nova said as he carefully set Jack next to the drill's controls. "Starscream isn't one to leave faulty equipment lying around in a mine that still has energon."
"You're probably right," replied Mike as he inspected the drill. He stepped back. "Go ahead and fire it up."
Jack watched as Nova tapped a few keys and the console came to life. He pressed another key and the drill started to spin.
"Looks like it works," commented Jack.
"Yeah, but we have another problem. We don't know who is where. We can tell where the other Cybertronians are but we can't tell who is who due to mineral interference."
"I say we split up," Mike said, sliding his mask back in place. "I'll go for the closest one to the east. You take Jack and the drill and go the other direction. If you run into Megatron or Starscream, be careful."
"I always am, Mike. You're the one I'm worried about."
"See you outside, Nova."
They watched him disappear, leaving the cavern mostly dark save for the glow from the drill. Nova turned to the boy, the console reflecting off his bronze armor.
"So, Jack, ever drive one of these before?"
"Uh, no?"
"Well, it's fairly simple. You see these levers?"
While Nova gave Jack a brief lesson on how to operate a drill, Mike went in search of the first signal. He switched off his light, instead using echolocation and infrared to see his way through the cave. As he got closer to the spark signal he was tracking, he suddenly had to duck and roll behind a pile of rubble to avoid getting shot.
"Stop shooting! I'm here to help you!" he shouted.
"Yeah right, Deception!" a femme's voice yelled back.
"I'm not a Decepticon!" Mike snapped. "As I told the human Jack, I'm with the CRC."
The shooting stopped.
"Jack? You saw Jack? Is he alive? Is he alright? If you did anything to him…"
"Yes, I saw Jack." Mike pushed up his mask and carefully stepped out from behind the rocks with his servos where Arcee could see them. "He seemed fine to me. I left him with my brother, Nova. They went looking for the other Autobot."
"Bulkhead got trapped in the cave-in, too? I hope Miko's ok."
"What about you? Are you alright?"
All Mike could see was her blaster sticking out of a gap between two large rocks. As he moved closer, he glimpsed her optics beyond it, watching him intently.
"My pede is stuck under this boulder." Her blaster tapped the rock to her right. "And I can't get a good angle to try and move it."
Mike hummed as his mask fell back into place and he inspected the huge chunk of stone. He disappeared from Arcee's view as he moved around the stone. He came back a minute later.
"It would take someone like Kilo to move a rock this size. I'm going to have to cut it." His left servo transformed into his laser drill. "Just sit tight and I'll try to have you out soon."
"Ok, Jack. There is a spark signal beyond this wall. Urge the drill forward slowly until I tell you to stop."
Jack pushed one lever just a little. The machine crawled forward, eating away at the wall. The drill was almost completely buried in the wall when Nova finally told him to stop. Pulling on the other lever, Jack backed up the drill and then turned it so he could see in the hole.
Nova didn't even have to look in the hole to know who it was. The tell-tale red glow and the way the young boy on the drill froze up. It was definitely a Decepticon. The miner stayed beside the hole where he could not be seen by the Con.
"I suppose helping those less fortunate would be completely out of the question," Megatron's voice came from the hole. Jack took a step back, still too shocked to speak. "If that is the case, you might as well use your drill to finish me. I guarantee you will never have a better opportunity than right now."
Jack's expression turned uncertain as he glanced up at Nova. The miner silently shook his helm.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Megatron asked as if he was not expecting such hesitation from the human. "Think of the glory. Seize the day. Optimus would."
Jack frowned. "No, he wouldn't," he replied without a hint of doubt. "Not like this." He looked up at Nova again. "Would you do it?"
Nova was surprised that the boy was asking him. "No," he answered. "I would not."
"Who is that?" Megatron demanded. "Who is with you?"
The miner quickly circled around the drill. "Come on, little one. Your friends are waiting."
Jack shot one last glance at Megatron before he went back to the levers and started the drill after Nova.
"I will be sure to share the details of our little conversation with Optimus," Megatron called after them. "The day I rip out his spark!"
After they were a good distance away, Jack halted the drill. Nova came around to check on him.
"Are you alright?"
"Did I do the right thing? Optimus wouldn't have killed him, would he?"
"No. I really don't believe he would have." Nova carefully sat on the back edge of the drill. "You did the right thing, Jack."
"Can I ask why you wouldn't do it either?"
"Well, it's-" Nova stood up suddenly. "Uh oh."
"What?"
"The spark that left the mine earlier is back and it's definitely not Mike. I have a bad feeling that it might be Starscream. It's moving closer to the other one that hasn't moved at all. Your friend might be in trouble."
"Then let's go!" Jack pushed the forward lever.
Nova hopped onto the back of the drill and held on as it rolled out.
"Hold up, Jack." Nova laid a gentle servo on the boy's shoulder. "I hear something."
Jack halted the drill. Light filtered from an opening in the tunnel wall ahead of them and voices could be heard.
"That's it, Autobot! I will-" Starscream started.
"What?" Bulkhead cut him off. "You'll what? Make me bring down the ceiling on top of all of us?"
Nova stepped off the drill, motioned for Jack to wait, and went ahead to scope things out. He caught sight of Starscream first but as he moved closer he saw the big, green Autobot was holding up a boulder almost the size of the cavern. Miko was between Bulkhead's peds. Nova went back to the drill.
"Ok. When we go in," he explained in a low voice, "you'll want to aim a little to the left. You may hit Starscream, but that's ok. We'll grab the girl and then I want you to pull out and go that way." He pointed past the opening. "Mike and Arcee are headed this way."
"What about Bulkhead?"
"He's kind of stuck at the moment. I will stay and help him."
"Run, Miko!" they heard Bulkhead order.
"Yes. Run, Miko," Starscream taunted. "I would love to see you try. Really I would."
"That's our queue."
Jack started the drill and drove it right into the hole as Nova instructed. It hit Starscream and knocked him aside. Bulkhead was surprised to see the drill but relieved to see Jack operating it. His relief was short-lived when he spotted Nova behind the boy.
"More Decepticons?" he spat angrily.
"No, Bulkhead," Jack assured him. "It's ok. He's with me."
"Nova, CRC miner." The mech knelt beside the drill and held a servo out to Miko. "Little one, you need to go with Jack. He will get you to safety."
Miko clung to Bulkhead's ped. "But, Bulk…"
"Will be alright. You, on the other hand, are running low on oxygen."
"Hurry, Miko," Jack urged. "Before Starscream gets up."
"Go, Miko!" insisted Bulkhead.
Miko took a few steps toward the drill but stopped to look up at Bulkhead with tears on her face. Nova wasted no more time. He picked up the girl and deposited her on the drill with Jack.
"Remember, go left."
The boy nodded and pulled the back lever. The drill crawled backward out of the hole just as Starscream came back online. Back out in the tunnel, Jack turned the drill to the left and pushed the forward lever.
"Will Bulk be ok with that mech? Where's Arcee?" questioned Miko.
"We're supposed to be meeting up with her if we head this way," replied Jack. "Hopefully we can find them and get Bulkhead out of here before Megatron digs himself free."
"Megatron's down here too?" Miko squeaked.
"Don't worry too much," a voice spoke up nearby. "His spark signal hasn't moved yet."
"Mike. Arcee!" Jack halted the drill next to the pair that had just emerged from another tunnel.
"Where's Bulkhead?" asked Arcee.
"Back that way." Jack pointed. He looked up at Mike. "Nova's with him. Starscream's there too."
"Wait here."
The mech and femme hurried down the tunnel.
"You can't be serious?" They heard Starscream whine as they approached the cavern.
"Dead serious." Nova's reply was icy. "Servos in the air. Now."
They walked in to find Nova pointing a blaster at Starscream as he slowly raised his servos over his head. Bulkhead delicately lowered the boulder until Starscream took all of its weight. The thin seeker nearly wilted as the bulky mech slipped over to the entrance with the others.
"Hey, Bulk."
"Hey, 'Cee."
"You can't possibly leave me like this," whimpered Starscream, his whole frame trembling under the heavy weight.
"Watch us," Nova replied, turning on his heel. The Autobots followed him without a second glance.
"Don't worry. Megatron is still in the mine. Maybe he'll save you," Mike jabbed before he left too.
"By the way, Jack, where did you learn to operate a Cybertronian drill?" Arcee asked.
The Cybertronians were in their alt-modes heading for the mine entrance with Mike and Nova leading the way. The Autobots were carrying their respective humans.
"Nova taught me," Jack replied. "It was actually really easy to learn."
"I'm sorry for getting you into this mess."
"Don't blame yourself, Arcee. I asked to come with you. Ah. Finally, daylight!" Jack exclaimed as the entrance came into view. "We've been stuck down here for hours."
"Overnight actually. Good thing it's the weekend."
Jack checked his phone. It was just after seven in the morning. "That explains why I'm so hungry."
The miners stopped and transformed once they reached the outside. The Autobots stopped and let their humans disembark before transforming.
"Whoa. You guys are shiny," Miko observed.
"Thanks," Mike said, turning to let the morning sun reflect off his copper plating better.
"You know you never did tell me why you couldn't kill Megatron," said Jack looking up at Nova.
"Oh yeah. Well, it's cause-" Nova suddenly flinched putting a servo to his audial. Glancing over, he saw Mike doing the same.
"What's wrong?" Jack asked, concerned.
"Hah. Well, we kinda left base without permission. And now we're in trouble."
"But hey, we had fun, right?" Mike clapped a servo on Nova's shoulder.
"Yeah." Nova smiled down at Jack. "Maybe we can hang out again sometime."
A ground bridge portal opened nearby.
"That's for us. See you around." Mike casually saluted before he disappeared.
"You guys take care now." Nova waved and disappeared into the portal as well.
Jack and Miko waved back as the portal closed.
"Well, thanks to them we got out." Arcee looked toward the mine entrance. "And thanks to them, we could finish the Cons, here and now."
"Yeah," agreed Bulkhead. "Shame we didn't bring any grenades."
"Would Optimus finish them?" asked Jack.
"No. He probably wouldn't. Not like this," answered Arcee.
"But Optimus wouldn't rescue them either, right?" added Miko.
"Let's go home." Bulkhead turned away and fell into vehicle mode, opening his door for Miko to climb in.
Arcee stared at the mine for a moment longer before she sighed and dropped to her tires as well.
Hope you liked it. I'll try to get the next chapter out asap but it needs a lot of work. Thanks for reading and see you next time. :)
In case you missed it:
Mike is copper and Nova is bronze.