The flight took the infiltration team almost 8 hours, but they were professionals and it didn't bother them at all. Each one amused himself in some way that was quiet and productive. They went on like this until Nightflight woke them up with an intercom message
"Okay guys, I'm going stealth now. We're about a million miles to Cybertron so keep cool" he advised
They all agreed and went totally silent as Nightflight's stealth system was activated. Another twenty minutes later, he announced they were in a more desolate area of Cybertron, a Ghetto of sorts and it would be safe to land in this area
"Okay boys, one last thought, cover those Decepticon insignias. That way if we're seen, it won't be glaringly obvious who we are" Counter Strike ordered
Upon landing in an abandoned warehouse with no roof and disembarking: Counter Strike lined his men up and outlined the plan
"Nitron Charge: I want you to rig this building" he paused and pointed to a building on a map: the Central Command Tower of Iacon
"With explosives, if you level it, great, 2 targets in one raid. While that is going down, Slipstream I want you to completely screw the security system" he added
"Can I really go to town on it?" he asked
"Make me a masterpiece" Counter Strike said, letting Slipstream be artistic got the best results
"Oh this will be fun" the saboteur grinned
"Dead Centre; you stay here with Nightflight, if anyone gets nosey here, terminate with extreme prejudice" he said
Dead Centre looked a little annoyed
"Be prepared however to knock off anyone following us back here, even Prime. Galvatron may get angry if we kill him but it is my experience that if an opportunity presents itself, you take it" Counter Strike finished
The sharpshooter/assassin looked a little more pleased with that in mind
"Okay, I'm going for the girl: Laserbeak and Buzzsaw gave me intelligence on her. I know where she lives and where she recreates" he said and handed out preset chronometers
"What are these?" Slipstream asked
"Watches dumbass" Dead Centre muttered
"Quiet. These are set with a limit of 48 hours. That is how long I have to get the kid before I have to pull out and try again" Counter Strike said
His team nodded and put the watches on
"Okay, go" Counter Strike said
Nitron Charge and Slipstream turned invisible and transformed. Each one sped off to a different target: Nitron Charge went towards Iacon with the full intention of turning into a pile of rubble and Slipstream went towards the Iron Hide memorial Security Spire to turn the otherwise well kept security of the Autobots into a Keystone Bots routine.
Counter Strike went towards the main area of the city where all the commerce and trade went on: although he was not invisible: it was too busy for him to use the device, the revellers would run into him and then he'd be caught and that would be unprofessional, and if there was one thing Counter Strike hated, it was unprofessional operating. So he donned a phoney Autobot symbol and walked freely among the city streets with a small image of the girl he was after posted in his left optic
[Let's see, there can't be too many humans on Cybertron since the Autobots got their marching orders from the Earth governments] he surmised and as he looked around the shopping area
He was about to start snooping in buildings when he saw her: the girl was small even for human standards but Counter Strike realised that she was a child and that was the reason for her reduced stature. Unfortunately she was in some heavy company: Rodimus Prime and Sky Fire.
[I may be strong, but I'm not stupid: those two will tear me in two] he thought it wise to follow them and observe where they took her
Counter Strike spent the next four hours following Rodimus and the other Autobot around Iacon very discreetly and discovered that they were very watchful of the girl: her own comment reinforced why Galvatron wanted them to do this
"If dad couldn't come, he must have been really busy. He usually drops what he's doing or at least tries to work around it to come with me" she said
Counter Strike realised that indeed he would have to snatch the girl from under Prime's nose. The challenge itself was however, very alluring for a bot such as himself and he was going to do this with as much skill and artistic flare as he could. He and his team would be legends among the Decepticons if they pulled this off. Seeing that the human and her companions were in a movie complex, Counter Strike took the opportunity to contact Dead Centre and Nightflight
"She's one well protected kid, it seems if Optimus Prime isn't with her, the Rodimus is or some of Prime's bigger muscle. This needs to be a work of art" he said in his secure comm link
"I see, well aside from a few of Justice Force rookies making regular patrols down here it's been quieter than your bedroom" Dead Centre joked
"Very droll. Keep a sharp eye out" he advised his friend
"Will do, CS" Dead Centre replied
"See you in a few hours DC" Counter Strike deactivated the link and remained outside the theatre for a further two hours.
***********************
Slipstream was now inside the Security Spire having easily run rings around the lax security guards that worked there, making Slipstream a little disappointed in the ease of getting in, but the complexities of hacking the system and rearranging it more than made up for it: he'd spent nearly an hour making sure just clicking on the welcome screen wouldn't make the alarms go off
"Okay, just solder this little wire here" he muttered and created the connection between his small laptop and the main system
Slipstream cracked his knuckles and began typing in line after line of computer code: Counter Strike wanted a masterpiece; he was going to get one
"Okay, reroute that command here, disconnect that subroutine; this line of code has to go" he muttered as he went about his work
A few hours in and his comm unit buzzed; grumbling he answered it: it was Nitron Charge
"Slipstream: how is that system coming along?" he asked
"Fine until you rang" the obnoxious saboteur remarked
"Touchy, be cool Slipstream. I got this building rigged with so much boom juice it's disintegrate rather than explode" he declared proudly
Slipstream blinked
"And how pray tell did you manage that without alerting anyone?" he asked
"Well you see; the Autobots are trying this rather interesting new fuel distribution system. Liquid Energon flows through every wall" he explained
"So all you had to do was plant a few bombs in the right place and the whole tower will go up like a Roman Candle?" Slipstream asked
"Yep. I'm going back to base now, are you going to stay till that's done or come back to it later?" he asked his friend
"Counter Strike demanded a masterpiece and I shall deliver" Slipstream said and bid his buddy a good night and returned to his work.
******************
Nitron Charge shrugged and decided to get his butt out of that building fast. Unlike the wet behind the ears recruits at the Iacon Command Tower, this building had some of Prime's more noteworthy men guarding it; the Aerialbots and Highbrow. And Nitron Charge was not going to be so cocky that he would pick a fight and risk alerting them to everyone's presence on Cybertron
[Better be quick, Highbrow can see infrared and I glow brighter than Dead Centre after he's drunk too much] he thought and sped out of the area fast
His speed of 200 m/h did not slacken until he hit the ghetto area of town where he and the others were situated. Feeling safer now, he dropped his invisibility shield and drove towards the warehouse where the group was situated. Before he got within a few miles of the place though, he felt Dead Centre's crosshairs trained on him
"Be cool little buddy; it's me" he said over their coded radio
The crosshairs went away and Nightflight opened the door to let his friend in. Upon entering he saw that Counter Strike was asleep on a cot in the corner of the room
"What's with the boss?" he asked
"He figured it was better to snatch the kid at night, he's already so black he'll blend in but the cloaking will make him undetectable" Nightflight rumbled in his deep voice
Nitron Charge saw the logic in that argument: he knew Counter Strike always napped before a deep infiltration mission: it made him sharper than a laser sword and more silent that space itself
The demolitions expert sat down in a corner and decided to get some shut eye himself before the boss left. While he did that, Dead Centre got onto Slipstream
"Finish the job and get your ass back here now: he's going in a few hours from now" the assassin hissed down the radio
"I'm nearly done anyway, just twenty minutes to undermine these few subroutines and I'll be back" Slipstream was adamant to stay until the job was done
"Okay, you got 1 hour and then I'll come and get and I don't care if you're done or not" Dead Centre threatened and went back to watching the area
As promised, 45 minutes later, Slipstream hovered into view, real fast too. At first Dead Centre thought he was being chased but he soon realised his team mate was just making good his promise to return quickly. Nightflight let him in and Slipstream transformed and gloated about his perfect operation
"How did your's go?" he teased Dead Centre
"Get fucked" he replied and sat down to relax for the first time in several hours
After 15 minutes of banter between the men; Counter Strike woke up and announced his departure
"I shouldn't be gone for too long: a few hours tops" he said and transformed
Counter Strike's alternative form was a car; one that was totally jet black with no markings on it what so ever: at also didn't travel on wheels but hovered like Slipstream did: he turned on his stealth and silently zipped away in the direction of the living quarters of Optimus Prime: for any normal soldier it was a suicide mission, but for Counter Strike it was the ultimate test of his skill: and he intended to pass with flying colours
**************
The living quarters of both Primes were guarded by troops regularly at night, but most were young security recruits and not fully fledged men: so Counter Strike was able to evade them easily. Getting to the top of the building in which the Autobot leader lived was another matter entirely. But earlier scouting had deduced that the venting system was a weak point that could be exploited. So Counter Strike quickly and quietly found a way into the vent system. It was almost too easy because although the shaft was sheer, the regular openings in the side made it easy to climb up like a ladder, but preferring silence over speed, he made a slow careful ascent towards his target.
It took nearly an hour for the infiltrator to get to the Prime's level but he got there and without raising suspicion in the young guards as well. He began crawling prone in the above vents on the ceiling and saw that another more experienced guard was outside the door to Prime's quarters: Sunstreaker: Counter Strike allowed a malicious grin to grow in his face as he eased out of the vent and suspended himself in the air with his lower legs inside the vent, keeping himself flush with the roof. The hallway was nearly dark but some light escaped from the room the Autobot was guarding
[All too easy] he thought as Sunstreaker walked beneath him
In a lightning move, Counter Strike swung down and drove a combat knife though the Autobot's brain and covered his mouth with his hand. Sunstreaker died silently. Keeping hold of Sunstreaker with one hand the vent lip with the other, Counter Strike silently dropped both himself and the dead Autobot to the ground. Acting quickly he slid a camera under the door to examine the situation:
Sharon had one other guard: Goldbug and that was it: she as in bed listening to a music player and Goldbug was beside her bed in a chair reading something. Smiling, Counter Strike recalled his mobile camera and grabbed Sunstreaker's card and swiped it, the door opened and the infiltrator dew his silenced pistol and walked in, bold as brass
"Hey Sunstreaker w-" Goldbug never finished as he was shot by a silent bolt of EMP from the pistol.
Sharon screamed as her friend's head sparked and spat; she went for the alarm button but it didn't work
"Don't bother: my friend has done a masterful job on the alarm system" he said and sprayed a gas at the girl, knocking her out
Counter Strike retrieved a long tube shaped capsule from his cargo compartment and put Sharon in it: the drug he gassed her with would be effective for almost a day. He placed her in it and put the tube back in his cargo hold. Then as silently as he came in; he left through the vents. However, instead of climbing down this time he slid down. Once he hit the bottom, he got out and began walking calmly
He was spotted by a patrol on his way however
"Hey, stop" the young officer said
Counter Strike stopped and readied his combat knives behind his back and looked at the bots stopping him: two small seekers. They demanded his identification and name: he just smiled and stabbed them in the heads, dropping them like stones. He looked around and transformed and sped off towards his base camp, most likely with a security patrol in his tail.
Although no tailers were apparent, when he was within range, Counter Strike radioed Dead Centre
"Get into position and watch for me: I may have company coming and tell Nightflight to prep for take off; mission accomplished" he said
"Okay sir" he said
"Now: Nitron Charge. You know how you said that building would disappear?" he asked his demolitions man
"Yeah" he replied
"Show me some magic" Counter Strike said
"Sir" he replied and pressed the button
*******************
The sleepy Iacon Central Command Tower was rocked by multiple explosions and screams as the tower nearly liquefied by Nitron Charge's best placed and best constructed bombs and when someone hit the alarm at the Security Spire, nothing happened except the computers started exploding and set off the inner defences that were now programmed to destroy anything that moved in the building itself.
*******************
Dead Centre watched as his leader sped towards them, three security units behind him
[Not for long] Dead Centre thought with glee
*Bang*
*Bang*
*Bang*
Three shots echoed in the Cybertron nigh sky and three security units ceased to function
[I am greatest] Dead Centre thought as he quickly scanned for more units: there were none
Satisfied he got up and jumped down to pack his weapon up and get into Nightflight quickly. Nitron Charge and Slipstream were covering Counter Strike for his short distance approach. As soon as he was within fifty feet, Nitron Charge withdrew and Slipstream followed a few seconds later when their leader was within twenty five feet he retreated to Nightflight, who was powering up V/TOL engines
"Okay, take off in twenty seconds" Nightflight said as his leader drove into his bay and was secured down.
"Go, go, go, go" Counter Strike said
Nightflight took off quietly and quickly and headed towards the night sky. A successful mission undertaken and completed to the highest level of perfection and to boot, lots of dead Autobots
****************