In a secure area of the Geo Front; Shinji, Rei, Asuka, Hikari, Toji, Kensuke, Kaji and Misato were getting to know their 'guardians' better. Tracks and Misato were discussing her driving skills or lack thereof. Kaji was asking Soundwave how he managed to get the information that he did; Soundwave smirked and refused to reveal his secrets. Arcee was bugging Hikari about Toji
[I feel sorry for Shinji; Dark Prime is so antisocial] Arcee thought before replying to Hikari's latest retort
Rei was in the lake with the bigger Dinobots; sliding down Sludge's tail. The idea was that Rei was going to teach the Dinobots the virtue of being discrete while they would teach her how to have fun; so far so good because they had Rei chuckling quietly. Kensuke was discussing (or verbally throwing) ideas for military weapons and strategies at Megatron
[I was right, this kid is insane. I better keep him away from Fortress Maximus's Tactical Room, he'd die of pleasure] Megatron said to himself
Asuka and Toji were playing some kind of card game with their respective guardians: god only knows what it was but Toji and Hot Rod were getting taken to the cleaners by Starscream and Asuka. Lastly was Shinji and Dark Prime; they were sitting on the lake shore watching Rei and the Dinobots. They appeared not to be talking but in fact they were
"Shinji, why do you put up with half the crap you do?" Dark Prime asked
"What do you mean?" Shinji replied
"I mean you took heaps of crap off Asuka, and some off Toji in the beginning. So I have to ask why you take it when you can so easily fob them off" Dark Prime elaborated
"Oh, well, I" Shinji couldn't answer the question
"Shinji; I think you should let them know how you feel in the future. You can't keep taking this kind of treatment, it isn't healthy" Dark Prime said
"What can I do, all I ever seem to do is make Asuka angrier with me, and Misato just brushes me off" Shinji explained
"I see" Dark Prime could do no more
"I'm tired, I better go home" Shinji said and then sniffed himself
"I better get out of this thing first" he chuckled
"Rumble. Borrow a cloaker and tail Shinji in Nerv; I don't trust those sons of bitches any further than I could throw Fortress Maximus" Dark Prime said
"You aren't going to follow me?" Shinji asked
"I need to see someone first, I'll be along soon, and Rumble is small enough to fight inside Nerv without destroying the base" Dark Prime grinned
Shinji smiled and looked over and saw a most curious thing: Rumble was sitting Red-Indian style across from Ritsuko, who was talking about something difficult because her face kept creasing and her eyes were almost soaked, mascara was running down her cheeks. Dark Prime summoned Frenzy to tail Shinji instead as it seemed Rumble was doing something important. Once that was taken care of; Dark Prime simply disappeared from view.
"How does he do that?" Shinji asked Frenzy
"I don't know kid, I don't want to know either" Frenzy replied and cloaked
"Oi, Tracks, we need a lift to Nerv, would you please oblige" Frenzy called
"Yeah okay, I wanna chew some tarmac anyway" Tracks got up and stretched before transforming
Shinji got in the front passenger seat and relaxed a bit more; Misato's driving style always made him nervous but since he knew Tracks could take over at any time he wasn't so worried. Misato got and just reclined in her driver's seat but Tracks made a coughing noise
"Excuse me, but having a 150 million year old robot as your car doesn't excuse you from wearing seatbelts" he said sternly
"Oh Tracks come on, your-" Misato started
"…Responsible for your safety. And if anything happens to Shinji, Dark Prime will use my head for a basket ball" Tracks finished
"Okay" they grumbled and put on their seat belts
"Good; now off we go" Tracks cried as he put the gas on
"He is not a well robot" Frenzy muttered as he followed in the air
**************************
Deep below the oceans in the artic, four great cities sat on the ocean floor; each connected by various bridges and passages. This was the ADA Stronghold, a connection of Metroplex, Trypticon , Fortress Maximus and Scorponok. Their combined firepower was enough to destroy whole countries in a single bombardment. Their combined strength supposedly enough to knock a small moon from its orbital axis. They were the last line of defence against the forces seeking to harm the 8 protectorates of the ADA, with Omega Supreme as a last resort to take them back to Cybertron if needs be. Here is where Dark Prime felt most at home
"Optimus Prime; I wish to speak with you" Dark Prime spoke on his intercom
"I'm in my office, come and see me there" was his answer
Dark Prime transverses many corridors till he reached the head offices of Fortress Maximus in the command spire. Optimus Prime sat behind these doors; the most powerful of all the standard Transformers rivalled only by Megatron. He was a tall being, grand and imposing to most that knew him; but not to Dark Prime, no, he and Optimus shared a common bond that made them equals
"Sit" Optimus said
"Thank you" Dark Prime did so
"As I'm sure you are aware, all contact as been established with the protectorates. Frenzy is monitoring Shinji until I return" Dark Prime started with chit chat
"Cut the crap DP, I know why you're here; you want to know if a certain someone has caught on to our little plan, don't you?" Prime asked
"No I wanted to know if I could kill Gendo Ikari. But on that other matter, has that certain someone discovered our little soiree?" he asked in return
"No on question 1; and an unfortunate yes to question 2" Optimus answered
"Can I switch answer please, I much prefer that setup" Dark Prime deadpanned
"Wish we could, but we can't. All we can hope for is that we at least complete phase 1 before he sends a minion to meet us" Optimus continued wearily
"For that, we need the 14th Angel. No two ways about it. And you need a visit to the surface" Dark Prime grinned
"Oh shut up" Optimus groaned
"Why not, hand this shit over to Kup for a day or two and come and enjoy the fresh air; I don't understand why you got Motormaster to replace you on the Nerv supply gig" Dark Prime argued
"Because I was needed here" he answered
"What, you think Megatron isn't. Just. Forget. About. It. Come and pay us all a visit; at the very least sort out Hot Rod and Arcee before I just tie them together" Dark Prime moaned about their smitten comrades
"Are they still playing the hard to get game against each other?" Optimus laughed as his old friend slumped on the desk
"Yes, and it is driving me up the fucking wall" his voice was almost pained
"Language, DP, language" Optimus teased
"Kiss my shiny black and red arse" Dark Prime shot back
The two friends then shared a hearty laugh at themselves and eventually Optimus Prime was convinced to revisit the surface.
***************************
Shinji was walking through Nerv, and was on the receiving end of some really odd looks. It appeared that Gendo had circulated that Shinji was being guarded by something with the power to destroy the base at a mere whim and as a result everyone was (obviously) afraid of approaching him. Quietly ignoring the stares, Shinji went into the change room and began to remove his plug suit and get into his uniform again. His neck hairs then stood on end as he heard someone coming down the corridor.
"Shinji Ikari" a stern voice pierced the air
"Yes?" Shinji turned to see the Section 2 Agent
"The commander has requested an audience" the man replied
"I'm not interested" Shinji replied quietly
Shinji felt a pair of brass knuckles impact on his floating ribs: he gasped in pain and fell to the floor. Before the man could do anything else however, he was pressed against a wall with his arms behind his back. Frenzy didn't take kindly to sneak attacks against young and small people. With a snarl, he hissed something to the Section 2 agent
"You think those brass things will hurt, wait till you taste my Cybertanium knuckles, fuck head" he then spun the tall man around and belted him full force in the face
He fell to the ground screaming in agony: every single tooth he had was knocked out; and Frenzy was plucking some out of his fist and dropping them onto the floor. He smiled and drew his gun; and pointed it right at the Nerv security agent.
"You give Commandant Dick-cheese this message: Shinji Ikari; Rei Ayanami; Asuka Soryu, Misato Katsuragi, Ryouji Kaji, Ritsuko Akagi, Hikari Horaki, Toji Suzaharra and Kensuke Aida are under our protection, and any act against them will be construed as an act of war against The Autobot/Decepticon Alliance" he paused and jammed the large pistol under the man's chin
"Understand bone-bag?" Frenzy asked
"Uh huh" the man replied as best he could
"Good" Frenzy grinned and returned his pistol to its proper place; then he turned to Shinji
"Come on kiddo, lets get the hell out of here" he added and motioned to Shinji
"Yeah" was all Shinji said as he walked a little faster to get out of Nerv.
Misato was in the car park chatting with Tracks when a nervous Shinji came power walking out of the door and got inside Tracks without acknowledging her. She blinked and asked him what was wrong.
"Frenzy just smashed a Section 2 Agent's teeth out" he answered, clutching his still hurting floating ribs
"How many?" Misato asked as she got into the driver seat
"All of them" Frenzy said with a crazed grin
"Wha?" Misato was confused now
"Haven't you ever wondered why he's called Frenzy?" Tracks asked as he went into gear and drove out, Frenzy following
*********************
The following day, Optimus Prime was cruising down the highway towards Tokyo 3: the sun was high in the sky and the day was beautiful. Optimus relished the feel of sunlight on his body as the wind whipped his windshield. He passed no cars on his way so he was able to do without his hologram driver to disguise himself as a normal truck
[This undertaking we're embarking on is big. We cannot fail, for if we do, both human and Transformer kind are doomed] Optimus reflected upon the mission that he and his allies, once enemies had chosen to undertake
The Autobot/Decepticon Alliance was formed after Dark Prime appeared apparently without warning and subdued both armies with his powers. He then selected from each army the most reasonable, intelligent and open minded of Transformer. He had then shown them what he had seen for the future of Earth and Cybertron. He had put simply that Transformers were a most advanced race: what was there to be gained by fighting and blowing up the world they created after they drove off the Quintessons. Although the six or so warriors that he chose got on well enough, it was the others that he would have trouble with: so Megatron of all people put forward an idea. The Mass Reprogramming of their troops; Vector Sigma could, if given enough power could reprogram each and every Transformer on Cybertron.
The six originals were: Optimus Prime, Megatron, Soundwave, Starscream, Ultra Magnus and Hot Rod. They would be left unchanged so that they could remember what he had said, and, to keep each other from going totally mad at seeing all their soldiers being nice to each other. After a while though, even Megatron felt as if maybe, things on Cybertron would be better if they were a single united faction. So every day, he spent time getting to know the Autobots, finding out strange things about some of them: he'd even burst a gut laughing when he found out that an Autobot femme named Skyhopper had thing for Cyclonus.
Optimus was shaken from his reverie by something that sounded like a plane. Activating his cameras, he checked the surrounding area. There were several large cargo planes with Japan's armed forces logo on them. A thought struck him and he radioed Dark Prime and Megatron. He informed them of his discovery and told them to be ready. Both acknowledged the information and Dark Prime called the Dinobots while Megatron hailed Starscream. If those planes were going where he thought they were; then there was a surprise waiting.
*************************
Dark Prime was outside the children's school when he got the call, so as a precaution he also radioed Arcee and Hot Rod. He told them in no uncertain terms to get their butts down to the school. The he got a hold of First Aid: he wanted both Mari Suzaharra and Kodama Horaki out of those hospitals within the next half an hour and inside Fortress Maximus quick smart
"I don't care how you do it, just do it and do it fast" he snapped at the reserved Medic
"Yes, yes sir" he stammered
"Good" Dark Prime hung up and looked skywards: those planes were making a slow circle of the area
"This on the other hand is far from good" he muttered and jumped down from his hiding spot and flew onto the roof
In the classrooms, the day was going on normally, even though there were wild rumours around that Nerv had huge robots guarding the Eva pilots, the kids had left it mainly to total speculation and fantasy. Shinji was spending his time listening to music and gazing at his girlfriend with a soft eye. Asuka just kept sighing at how 'lovey-dovey' they were: even Hikari had to admit that she felt the need for insulin at the moment regarding those two. The teacher's drone was suddenly went quiet and he stared out of the window
"Shinji, look at this" Rei said softly
"What, who are they?" Shinji asked
"I don't know, but I have a feeling they aren't paying us a social call, wonder girl" Asuka said sarcastically
"THIS IS COMMANDER HIROJI. HAND OVER THE EVANGELION PILOTS OR WE WILL OPEN FIRE" a butch looking man in a uniform bellowed through a loud speaker
"What in the hell is this?" students started saying as a tank turret honed in on their classroom
"FIRE" Hiroji said
The projectile flew from its barrel and spun towards the classroom. People ducked and covered out of sheer instinct, even those who knew that cannon shell wasn't getting within 3 feet of them. Dark Prime made his move and stopped the shell with his powers. Then he became visible and floated down in front of the window. With his glyphs glowing bright and his eyes ablaze; the Transformer spoke
"I am Dark Prime of the Autobot/Decepticon Alliance, assigned to guard Evangelion Pilot Shinji Ikari. Vacate the area or be destroyed" he said in his coldest possible voice
At this exact moment: Megatron, Starscream and the others showed up; transformed with guns drawn. Dark Prime grinned and drew his sword. Grimlock and other Dinobots remained in their Dinosaur mode. Sludge wandered over to the window and looked for Rei. When he saw her and she was okay, he bobbed his head in joy
"Rei Okay, Rei Okay" he cried in his soft and sweet voice
"Yes Sludge, I am uninjured" she replied
"What in the hell is going on?" someone asked
While all this was happening, Optimus Prime arrived, as he drove through the blockades; he contacted Silverbolt to evacuate the pilots and Skyfire to come and get the rest of the school, Skylynx as well. Then Optimus himself transformed and stood at the head of the small army: Proton Blaster primed, aimed and ready.
"As we were saying, we are the Transformers. It is our sworn duty to defend these children with our lives" Optimus said
"You want them, come get them!" Grimlock roared
*********************
Misato, having caught wind of this event, was running to Tracks with Ritsuko and Kaji in hot pursuit. They were at one point stopped by guards: however Rumble and Soundwave managed to convince them to stand aside and let the group past, Rumble was still running with them to make sure they weren't stopped again
"What the hell is going on out there?" Misato asked as she jumped into the driver's seat
"I don't know, but we better get there fast" Kaji replied and got in beside her
"I think that was a rhetorical question" Ritsuko said while she buckled her seatbelt
"Come on Tracks, get the lead out" Rumble shouted as he got in beside Ritsuko
"Okay, here we go. Hang on to your lunch folks" Tracks said
Tracks kicked into gear and turned on the speed. They were going nearly 230 kph when the Nerv barrier loomed ahead of them. Tracks merely launched a couple of Plasma Missiles and obliterated the door. Doing a handbrake drift to turn the corner, Tracks launched into the air as soon as he had enough speed; scaring the collective crap out of his human passengers
"Sorry, I forgot to mention I could fly" Tracks said
"Slipped your mind I trust?" Misato asked sarcastically
"Uh, yeah, yeah it did" the car replied
"Men" Misato groaned
"Hey" Rumble, Kaji and Tracks said in unison
"Hey Tracks, mate, we got company. JSSDF fighters up our ass" Rumble alerted his friend to the situation
"Thank you Rumble; I see them" Tracks muttered as he deployed some hover mines
"Tracks to Skywarp and Thundercracker; I could use a bit of help here lads" Tracks called to Starscream's brothers
"We here ya Uber-Seeker and we're already here" Thundercracker said and pulled up along side one of the planes
"Hey man, pull over. This is a no fly zone" he chortled at the JSSDF pilot's shocked reaction
Skywarp transformed and waved at the other one, causing him to lose his concentration and fly in to an abandoned building. Chuckling at the man's poor piloting ability; Skywarp went up to flank his brother on the other jet, whom his brother was relentlessly tormenting the other fighter pilot with barbs and other insults
"Just splash him 'Cracker, we have more important things to attend to" Skywarp reminded his brother
"Yeah yeah, keep yer armour on" Thundercracker replied
"Please do" Tracks put in
"Kiss my butt the pair of ya" Skywarp growled and activated the teleportation device from which he derived his name
"He is such a sensitive prick" Thundercracker chuckled
"And you're in an insensitive prick, it's an even balance" Rumble growled
Misato watched on in a silent wonderment: she knew these machines walked and talked, but she wasn't convinced up until now that they were sentient creatures: just watching what seemed like normal jabs and insults thrown between two people in Rumble and Skywarp, Misato saw more humanity in them than in any other person she'd met in a long time. The camaraderie was also just as complex as any group of human marines or other soldiers she'd ever met.
[Living, breathing, feeling machines. Amazing she thought and sat back as Tracks veered violently off course
"Tracks, what the fuck?" Rumble yelped as he hit the floor
"Prime's orders; get these three to Fort Max, the others will be there soon" Tracks said
"What about the other school children?" Kaji asked
"Skyfire and Skylynx are taking care of them as we speak" Thundercracker explained what was going on at the school
"Fuck you lot are efficient" Ritsuko swore
"Comes with being 150 million years old babe, we learn how to do shit cos we got nothing better to do" Rumble smirked at the scientist.
****************************
At the school, the battle was fierce and loud: the earth machines pounded the building in hopes of hitting the Eva pilots, but the Transformers put themselves in harm's way to save them. The superior weapons wielded by the giant robots were making short work of the small army; especially, the human commanders noticed, the sword the black one had. Dark Prime was in his element: combat and death were his territory and no one who saw him battle would ever think differently.
"How is the evacuation going?" Prime asked
"Last group, then the protectorates; Silverbolt got a little held up" Starscream replied as he fired his Null Rays at a few jets
"Good: Starscream, take Asuka now—Skywarp, I want you to take Rei, now" he said to the now present brother of Starscream
"Which one is she?" he asked
"The one with blue hair dumb arse" Megatron muttered as he fired his canon at a large tank battalion
"Okay got her" he said
"Asuka, ready to fly like never before?" Starscream asked as she got in
"Yeah, just get us the hell out of here" Asuka said and shrunk down in the cockpit
Shinji was the only one at a loose end: he was wandering around inside the school aimlessly. Way he figured it; he didn't deserve the protection of the Transformers, let alone their best warrior so he thought maybe if he gave himself up; then the attack would stop and no one would get hurt. He was so lost in his reverie that he didn't notice the stray .22 inch shell coming at him till the last minute. With a yell he dove out of the way and landed between the feet of one of the other Transformers
"SHINJI!" Dark Prime screamed; then growled as he stared at the man that fired that shell
"Dark Prime, TRANSFORM" the demon Autobot said
Dark Prime didn't transform like his brethren did; his body flowed like a liquid into its alternate shape, but the whir and whiz of servos and gears was still audible. Few had ever seen the alternate form of Dark Prime; those that did had a tendency to die quickly. Dark Prime's alternate mode was a dragon: with large black leathery wings, red eyes that burnt like magma and long sharp claws on his feet and hands. The end of his tail held his sword. Throwing his head back and roaring; Dark Prime struck.
His vengeance was swift and terrible: he soared above the human battle group and lay down attacks of fire. With skyward foes he lashed out using his tail and claws, destroying everything in his path that dared oppose him. While he was doing that, Optimus signalled that they could retreat, the battle was won. Optimus picked up the unconscious Shinji and placed him in his cab and drove away
"Transformers! We have won this battle, let us return home" Megatron yelled to the troops
All bar Dark Prime immediately responded for he was still ripping apart the Seele forces with maximum prejudice until he found a single soldier hiding under a tank carcass. He picked the man up in his large clawed hands. Dark Prime was about to break the man in two when a picture fell from the breast pocked of the man's jacket. Dark Prime paused and zoomed in on the photo: it was dated a few days ago and was of the soldier he was holding, nursing his newborn child with his wife and other family in the picture. Lowering his head, Dark Prime dropped the hapless soldier
"Go back to your family; there has been enough death here today" Dark Prime muttered and took to the sky towards his base
***************************
In deep space, a behemoth of a creature moved silently through the stillness of the eternal night. His name was Zeruel, the 14th Angel sent by his brethren to retrieve his father and mother from the hands of the insects known as humans. Normally he wouldn't even be involved, but the human race had mutilated and desecrated his mother to use as their weapon against him and his kind. So he was filled with a rage with no equal. Unbeknownst to the Angel, a greater and more evil power watched him and decided to move
"Welcome, Zeruel" Unicron's deep voice boomed
"What is this?" Zeruel hissed back in his own tongue
"I have summoned you here for a purpose" the giant planet eater said
"No one summons an Angel" Zeruel roared angrily and fired his most powerful beams at Unicron
"Hehe, it most definitely pleases me to have been the first to do so" Unicron rumbled as he felt a small ding on his body.
Zeruel drew himself back in horror: this beast took his attack as if it were nothing and kept going. Unicron felt a large surge of pleasure to know that he was more powerful than the legendary Angels and decided to get to the point. His and Zeruel's goals more or less went hand in hand. Unicron would normally just eat the Earth and be on his way, but he knew that the Transformers were on Earth, and with them, The Matrix, the only thing he feared. So he figured if he helped the Angel's win, the Transformers would leave and Earth and the device known as Evangelion Unit 1 would be his.
"I have come to help you, Zeruel. I have a bargain for you" the planet spoke
"What bargain?" Zeruel asked
"If you will destroy the humans that inhabit Earth, I shall grant here and now the powers to defeat what your brothers and sisters could not" Unicron prodded Zeruel's pride and want of success
"You assert that I am WEAK!" Zeruel bellowed, shaking asteroids and planets around him with his terrible voice
"I ASSERT WHAT I WILL" Unicron's voice however, shattered all that it touched and nearly killed Zeruel
"As you can see, insect, I am far more powerful than you are. I offer you power beyond your own kind to avenge them: do you accept?" Unicron asked
"Yes" Zeruel choked
"Excellent" Unicron answered and began to reform the Angel
Zeruel felt as if his body was being torn apart molecule by molecule. He felt it twisting and reshaping itself to some unknown shape and design. Once the pain faded however, Zeruel felt power like never before flow through his body. His new shape had merely improved on his old one; greatly. He now had full length legs and proper arms. But his arms were wrapped in what looked like bandages
"Where are my weapons?" he asked
"Use them as you always did" Unicron answered
Zeruel did so and the 'bandages' on his arms flew out in all directions, slicing and cutting all that they touched. His energy beams were more powerful than they had ever been. Unicron however, was growing impatient at Zeruel's arrogance with his new powers and decided to show him that HE was in control. No one knows what he does, but Unicron caused severe pain through out Zeruel's body
"Now go, and destroy the humans"
"Yes, my, master" Zeruel spat the words, but Unicron let him go
With that; Zeruel sped towards Earth faster than he thought possible. Upon his arrival he would defeat the abominations used against his kind to defend Earth and he would reclaim his mother and father from their dirty hands. Zeruel let a long and evil laugh fill the void around him as he came closer to his target.