"I think I need my optics fixed. Anyone else seeing what I'm seeing?" Evac asked.
He and a few others had risen early this morning. There still had been no word from Bumblebee and Max and the Autobots were getting restless. What's more, Adam's condition still hadn't changed, though it hadn't worsened either fortunately. Ratchet was still keeping an optic on him just in case.
However, when Crosshairs, who was on guard duty at the time, noticed something in the sky, he immediately awakened the others to see it too. Said thing was none other than Cybertron, their home planet. It could be seen just past the clouds, faintly but enough for the Autobots and probably everyone else on the planet to see it too.
"You an't going crazy, Evac. I'm seein it too." Hound replied as he chewed on his cigar. "Kind of creepy if ya ask me."
For the Autobots, it had been untold years since they last saw their planet. Cybertron had become nothing more than a dried husk, bits of it breaking off. What should've brought comfort to the Cybertronians instead filled them with unease and trepidation. The sparklings were making their displeasure known from their whimpering, trying to make themselves even smaller. The femmes were doing their best to ease the young ones' worrying.
Cliffjumper frowned as he stared up at Cybertron, subconsciously clenching his fists. "This isn't good. We may just have to leave on The ship if the situation worsens." The lieutenant said to Jazz and Ironhide, the two standing beside him.
"Haven't seen ya since the battle of Iacon. Where ya been?" The black mech asked as he and some of the others crowded around the new arrival.
"England? Does that mean you saw Bumblebee and Max? Are they okay?" Asked Arcee as she rolled up to them.
Evac nodded. "Yeah, last time I saw them they were good. I was told to come here and bring this to you guys for an Adam." The flyer said as he revealed the armor of King Arthur. "I managed to even scan this sweet new alt mode." He added, referring to his new form.
Ratchet took the armor from Evac to examine it. A brief scanned showed that the armor was made from cyber-matter. From an outside view, it looked like fancy armor. But Ratchet's scans showed that the armor was like the shells that all Cybertronians have when they reached a certain age in their growth.
"Evac, just where did you get this?" The Chief Medical officer asked.
Before the flyer could respond, Ratchet's transmitter came to life. :Ratchet! This is Jolt! We got an emergency!: The junior medic exclaimed.
"What? What's happening?" Asked Ratchet.
:Adam's vitals just spike! And it looks like he's having a seizure. I'm also picking up a change in his bloodstream, as if its being altered: Explained Jolt.
"How could that have…unless…" Muttered Ratchet as he looked down at the armor in his hand. Without another word, the yellow green mech ran back inside the base. The other Autobots looked at one another, unsure of what was going on.
Some of the other Autobots joined her to see what she saw. Said object was floating in the sky but below the clouds. It originally looked like a large black dot, it soon started to get bigger and take a more intricate form. When it was just a few miles away, were they able to figure out what it was.
"Ha ha! It's the Axalon!" Hound cheered, a sentiment shared by the other Autobots. "Wheeljack and that slagger Daytrader got us a ship!"
"About damn time!" Commented Crosshairs.
"C'mon boys! Let's go greet them!" Hound said to Crosshairs and Evac. The two nodded and the three took off, followed by the other flyers.
Chromia rolled up to Elita. The blue femme was holding Terraquake. "Look like things are starting look up, right sister?" Chromia asked as the femmling began squirming. Unlike when Cybertron appeared, the sight of the massive Cybertronian ship made the sparklings feel excited. Arcee was trying to keep the other young ones from going to far in their attempt to reach the Axalon.
"And that's what happened." Wheeljack said, finishing his story.
"Well, that was a pretty interesting story. Eh, Prowl?" Jazz mused.
Cliffjumper nodded. "Indeed. But what about Beachcomber and Sea Spray?" The lieutenant asked.
"Fortunately, Depthcharge managed to fish them out and get them to the Omnicons in time." Replied Wheeljack. "Both took some hits from cosmic rust, but the sea water managed to wash most of it away before it could do any irreversible damage. They're at Cuba recovering."
"That's good to hear." Cliffjumper commented. "What's that status on the Axalon?"
Wheeljack looked at said massive ship. "Good news is that we repaired it, so it can fly properly. Thanks to the Omnicons, Dark Matter drives are at 100%, and all heavy damages have been fully fixed. The bad news is that a good bunch of the turrets were destroyed, and even with the repairs done only a third of them properly work. Same for the assault carriers, almost all of them were unrepairable, though I managed to fix at least two of them. The dropship is also fully functional too. The others I used to replace the turrets we couldn't fix." The inventor summarized.
"What about the fifth transport ship? Do you think you could fix it and reattach it to the ship?" Jazz asked.
"I don't know if I can. The Wreckers and I did a lot of customization, and even before that it was pretty messed up from the crash." Wheeljack answered. "However, we were able to find Teletraan-1. She must've been taken by Lockdown when he captured the Ark. Roller is currently working on uploading her to the Axalon's systems."
Prowl nodded. "Good. I'm sure she'll appreciate being back online after several years of inactivity. Thank you, Wheeljack." The inventor nodded before walking off to help with the preparations. That just left Jazz and Prowl. "Now according to Wingblade, Cybertron is currently under the command of a femme who claims to be our people's goddess. It doesn't take a genius to know she has ill intentions for us, especially if she's the one who sent Lockdown."
"Bad news is that a lot of folks want to just leave Earth to whatever that bitch has planned. Many of them still hold grudges over what Cemetery Wind and TRF have done." Said Jazz. "It'd be really good to have Optimus here right now. He'd know how to settle matters."
Meanwhile, inside the base's medical room, Ratchet and Jolt were running around in an effort to stabilize Adam. Said teenager was breathing heavily, his body struggling against the med bed and sweat going down his face. Machines watching his vitals were beeping rapidly, as if expressing Adam's discomfort. The armor that Wingblade had brought was resting to the side.
"I don't get it. Just what could be causing Adam so much pain?" Ratchet asked out loud as he looked at several machines.
"It might be he's having a seizure. But I'm picking up a massive amount of bio-energy from him, too." Jolt replied. "It's steadily growing, repairing the wounds he suffered but is now spreading to the rest of his body. At this rate he might burst from the build-up. If only we had something to help him contain it."
Those words made Ratchet paused, something about them forming a thought in his processors. He looked at Adam's moving body and then the cyber-matter made armor several times. It was only after several seconds, did the solution hit the Chief Medic like one of Ironhide's shells.
"That's it!" Ratchet exclaimed, startling Jolt. "Why did I not see it sooner?" He asked himself as he began picking away at the armor.
"Sir?" Asked Jolt, confused.
Without looking up, Ratchet explained. "Adam was born when the energies of the Allspark impregnated his mother. As we already know, Adam possesses some of the Cube's powers, and is technically half Cybertronian. If the injuries he sustained were great enough, then the energies inside him must've kicked in and begun to rapidly heal him. But that's not all they did. The Allspark's energies are slowly merging cyber-matter with his human organic body. The massive build up of energy is too much for Adam's pure flesh form, however, which is where this armor comes from, or should I say…"
Ratchet managed to take the chest plate of the armor off. Walking pass Jolt, the yellow-green medic carefully placed the armor piece over Adam's chest. The moment it made contact, the armor completely merged with Adam, shining briefly before dying down. Adam began to relax a bit more and his vitals started to return to normal.
Jolt, who watched all this, was flabbergasted. "Incredible! What just happened?"
"This isn't just armor, it's an outer shell." Ratchet answered. "Like when Cybertronians need a new shell as they get older, this armor is to help accelerate the merger between Adam's Cybertronian and Human biology. That way, the increase of energy flowing through him won't harm his body." He mused. "Whoever designed this armor must've seen this event beforehand. But, anyway help me prepare the next pieces, Jolt. Make sure to keep track of Adam's vitals and any other signs of changes."
Now fully understanding what was going on, Jolt nodded seriously. "Understood!" The junior medic replied before assisting his mentor.
(Back in England)
After finally losing the police, TRF and the Decepticons, the Autobots were able to reach the meeting spot. Not to far from London, with Hot Rod leading them, Bumblebee, Max and Zoe arrived at an abandoned harbor next to River Thames. Waiting for them were Kup, Trailbreaker, Hoist, Perceptor, Cogman, Knock Out and Burton.
As Max and Zoe got out of the transforming Camaro, the inventor spotted something resting in the water. It was a large submarine, big enough to fit the Autobots. The metal was not of that from Earth, but instead made from Cyber-matter. Max had been with the Autobots long enough to recognize it.
"Well its about time." Cogman huffed, left optic twitching. "We have much to do and little time to dilly daily." The Headmaster said as he climbed into a smaller doorway of the submarine.
Burton rolled his eyes. "Forgive him, Cogman gets cranky at this time of the day." Burton explained. Ignoring the 'Do not!' the elder man continued. "Do you have the coordinates."
"Here" Zoe said as she pulled out a small piece of paper from her pocket before handing it to Burton. Instead, it was Perceptor who took it. "I think they're coordinates. They were written in some kind of language I didn't understand." Viviane explained.
"It's Cybertronian, our language." Wheeljack revealed as he scanned the letters. "Fascinating. This must've been left behind Merlin before his death. I can only assume he left clues in various scriptures for his descendants to decipher. And appears that your father was able to do so."
"All we have to do is key in the coordinates, and this old girl will take us there." Kup summarized as he pointed at the submarine.
"Yeah, what's the deal with that? You guys built that?" Max asked as he examined the vessel.
"Not exactly. See most of it used to be a Cybertronian that lived on Earth since World War 1. Sadly, with the damage she took, and a severe lack of Energon, most of her higher functions shut down. I doubt even Hatchet could fix her. There was nothing we could do when we found the girl. With her consent, we modified her using the parts from a destroyed transport carrier used in Chicago to make her a bigger submarine, named it the Miranda by some of the lads." Explained Kup. "According to her, the staff is at the bottom of the ocean, but she didn't have the power to reach there. Plus, we lacked its location too."
"Until now that is." Burton finished. "With your father's work, we'll finally be able to find the staff. Though, to be precise, you will. I must head back to London." The man said before walking towards the silver Aston.
That caught Max by surprised. "Wait, you're not coming with us?"
Burton shook his head sadly. "No, I'm afraid I have things to do. Rally the defense for the coming storm."
"But my lord" Cogman said, popping his head from the sub. "You've been waiting over fifty years for this moment." The butler commented.
"I have Cogman, I have. But, we all need to be somewhere. And I am needed back in London. You are needed here, with Max and Zoe." Burton replied.
"Ed" Jazz said, using Burton's first name. "I'll have Hoist and Knock Out go with you. Hot Rod will follow you near the city limits before regrouping with the others. Don't get yourself killed, okay lad?"
Burton smiled at the old Cybertronian. Besides Cogman, Kup had been with Burton and his family since World War 1. He was one of his oldest friends and one of the few who could call him by his first name. "Thank you, Jazz. And Max." He said, getting the inventor's attention. "I truly thank you for taking care of young Adam. To be honest, his mother was like a daughter to me. And knowing he was alive made me feel very happy."
Max was quiet for a moment, before offering a smile of his own. "No problem. To be honest, Adam had been taken care of me these past three years. Just make sure you live through this to meet him." Max replied.
Nodding, Burton entered the Aston before taking off. His three escorts followed behind him. That just left Max, Zoe, Cogman, Kup, Perceptor, Trailbreaker and Bumblebee. As well as a large submarine.
With that said, they began making their way into the Miranda. As Cogman and the humans entered a side entrance fit for their size, the Autobots got in through a hatch at the top of the submarine. The interior of the vessel was large enough for the four mechs to move around with ease. It also had several sections made for the humans, including a platform for them to walk on that was on the sides of the sub's control room.
Max and Zoe were in awe of the interior, looking up and down, slowly moving in circles as they tried to take everything in. They were snapped out of their stupor when Kup spoke up from the steering wheel. "Ms. Drake. If you would do us the honor." Kup asked, gesturing towards a scanning machine near the platform. It had already been turned on, waiting for the coordinates to be put in.
Swallowing, Zoe nodded. Slowly, she placed the piece of paper on top of the machine. A small light appeared and scanned the paper, the letters on the parchment shining as the light ran over them. Seconds later, the entire submarine began to shake for only a moment, followed by the interior coming to life and machines were turned on, the engine activating with a hum.
Kup laughed. "Aha! The old girl still got it. We're in businesses lads and lass!" The ancient mech cheered as he began moving the wheel.
As the Miranda started to move away from the harbor, the Autobots were unaware of the black Ram truck watching them from afar. As the vessel moved through the river towards the ocean, Nemesis Prime proceeded to follow them, keeping a distance.
(Atlantic Ocean)
Back with the US fleet, TRF had been struggling to locate the Autobots. After the whole car chase in London, the Cybertronians had vanished. There had been no causalities except for two Decepticons and several of their Vehicons, and fortunately no civilians had been gravely hurt, something Lennox rubbed into Santos's face about. London police force and ambulances had been dispatched to help with the wounded, and MI6 also stayed behind to help, thus leaving TRF and the US fleet to handle the operation on their own.
That's when something came onto their radar. A radio man ran up to the ship's captain. "Sir, we've picked up an unclassified submarine moving through the River Thames." The sailor reported.
"Unclassified? What do you mean by that?" The captain asked.
"It's a Transformer." Santos cleared up as he looked at a picture taken from a helicopter. It showed a large submarine moving through the river. "The Autobots are in there, probably Yeager too."
Lennox looked at the map too. "They must be making for the ocean, towards open waters. We need to box them in and surround them before they get too far." The Colonel said.
"I want two of our closes subs on that vessel. Stop them from getting to far. Orders are not to destroy. Incapacitate but not destroy." The captain ordered.
"Epps, Graham, get the SEAL teams ready. We're going to follow them in submersibles and retrieve the talisman." Ordered Lennox. The four TRF operatives proceeded out of the ship's command bridge.
Back with the Autobots' submarine, the vessel had already passed the White Cliffs of Dover before diving. They had already gone down several miles when the radars started blaring. The humans stiffened as they heard the noise, while Autobots remained focus on their assigned tasks.
"What-what's that noise for?" Zoe asked.
Cogman walked up to a human-sized radar. The device was showing two white blimps closing in on them. "Oh, nothing much mam. Just nuclear submarines closing in on us."
"Wait, subs?! As in hostile?!" Max exclaimed.
"Two of them to be precise." Jazz added. "Looks like those blokes found us. Hang on tight everyone, this might get a little rough!" He declared as he started making more complex turns on the wheel. The Miranda started to descend faster, with the two nuclear subs in hot pursuit. One of them fired a torpedo that just barely scratched the edge of the Cybertronian sub. The impact still caused the vessel to shake a little, nearly knocking the humans off the platform.
"Oh my goodness! They're shooting at us!" Zoe exclaimed as she tried to straighten herself.
"That was a warning shot. They can't risk killing us so long as we have the one thing that could lead them to the staff." Perceptor explained.
"So, we'll be okay, right? It's not like they can actually blow this submarine up, right?" Max asked as he held onto the platform railing bars.
"The Miranda wasn't design for naval warfare. Its plating will protect us for a good while, but not indefinitely. Plus, when water starts leaking, you humans will be running out of oxygen." Replied Trailbreaker.
Suddenly, the Miranda shook again, a sign that another torpedo hit them. Kup scowled. "Slag, I'm getting sick of this. Time for some fancy maneuvers!" He exclaimed.
The Miranda began going straight upwards as another torpedo flew by it. The Autobots held onto their seats while the two humans tightened their grip on the rail bars. The sub began doing a backwards flip before it spun around and was right side up. Now it was diving straight towards the two nuclear submarines.
"Whoa, whoa, what are you doing?!" Max shouted as he and Viviane plopped on the platform with a light thud.
"A trick I did back in the asteroid belt, Pallas, when dodging warships while piloting a freighter. Trailbreaker! Gonna need ya to create a force field around the entire sub. Perceptor, get him set up and be quick about it!"
"Wait, what's going on?" Zoe asked as she looked out the front window. From there, she could see them slowly nearing the two subs. Said vessels were trying to move out of the way but were not going fast enough.
Just as the Miranda was a few inches from contact, a see-through barrier covered the whole vessel. The barrier struck the two nuclear submarines, smacking them aside. The impact also caused them to spin a little and most likely disorient the crew members on board. Meanwhile, the Miranda continued diving deeper and deeper into the sea.
Bumbelee looked at the radar and when he saw no new blimps appearing, he gave a series of chirps and clicks. "Ha! Knew that would work. Good job, Trailbreaker!" Kup said after hearing the yellow bot's report.
The lights of the sub soon returned, revealing Zoe and Max in a rather compromised position. Cogman did not appreciate it.
"Come on you, get off her." Cogman ordered as he roughly pulled Max up. "There is a time and a place for everything, and this is not the time, nor the place." He then walked ahead towards the old torpedo tubes. "Kup, I'm going out for a bit. I'll be back soon." The butler Cybertronian said.
"Roger that, mate. It's smooth sailing from here to take your time." Kup said as Cogman proceeded to shoot him out into the water. Max and Zoe just watched the whole thing with gobsmacked expressions.
Max was the first to find his voice. "T-that psycho just launched himself out like a torpedo!" He exclaimed.
"I know" Zoe shouted back, to the amusement of the Autobots.
(London)
Back in the city of London, other business was being conduct. Currently, parked outside, not to far from Number 10 Downing Street was the silver Aston. Across the street was Knock Out in his vehicle mode, while Hoist was around the corner. The distance between them was to keep suspicion off them while Burton tried to get an audience with the Prime Minister. As they waited for Burton, the two Autobots talked over the coms.
:Do you think Lord Burton will be able to convince the Prime Minister?: Knock Out asked.
:That depends if he can get past security: Hoist commented. :Still, the Order of Wiccan had members as Prime Minister, like Winston Churchill. It's possible they might listen. I'm more concerned about the others. With both the Decepticons and TRF after us, there's a chance they might have been intercepted:
:Hoist, we just got the signal. I'm going ahead and will meet up with the others: Beachcomber said before materializing a holographic driver. He then took off.
:Copy that, I'll be behind you: Hoist replied as he turned around the corner. Stopping in front of the silver Aston, Hoist's holographic driver came out and attached the tow crane's hook to the underneath of the silver car. Once that was done, Hoist drove off, pulling along the car behind him. The humans around them were none the wiser.