Chapter 4
"Hidden Advantage"
Sirens filled the atmosphere of Ocean City, wailing out like fire trucks. Kicker ran through the halls, his helmet under his arm, as he made way to the meeting room.
"Are we under attack again, Optimus?" Kicker questioned in urgency.
"Unfortunately, the Decepticons are attacking Moon Base. But what make it worse it that there seems to be surviving Omnicons from the last attack." Optimus turned away from the large screen, that showed coordinates and such, facing the human boy.
"No way!" Hotshot stepped up in awe, "We searched out that place and found no remaining life. How can there be any survivors still out there?"
"Maybe they had a hidden shaft and escaped there," Iron Hide shifted his gaze from Optimus to Hotshot.
"That is a possibility," Optimus agree, "and I have a feeling that they will return there again. We should move out and find that shaft."
Hotshot stepped forward, "What about the Decepticons? They'll surely see us, let alone, attack us."
"We'll, of course, take care of them first." Optimus looked to Kicker, "Locate Forte and bring her to the warp gate."
"What?" Kicker grew concerned.
"Optimus, you can't be serious," Hotshot exclaimed.
Iron Hide added on, "She's too dangerous! What if Forte turns on us? She's crazy!"
Under his mask, Optimus Prime smirked at the fact that they were wrong, "Everything will be fine. I had a talk with Forte yesterday, and I believe that she'll be a very effective ally, now."
"But, Optimus..." Hotshot carried on.
"No more. Report to the warp gate, men. Stat!"
"Yes, sir," the three saluted and walked out of the room.
Optimus turned to the large computer screen and studied the coordinates and alerts that flashed upon it. He silently thought to himself in the now quiet atmosphere. A blank gaze clouded his yellow optics heavily. "When will it all finally end?"
Kicker huffed as he ran through the halls once again, "Forte!" He called out. Checking each door, the boy continued to call for the missing bot, unsure of where to find her. "Forte! Come on! Your coming with us for the mission!" He glanced into a room, passing it, as a shimmer of lavender caught his eye. Kicker skidded to a stop and ran to the door, "Forte!"
"Hmm?" Forte turned from her desk with a confused look, "What is it, Kicker?"
"Come on! We're gonna be late for the mission! We've gotta get to the warp gate!"
"Oh," Forte inhaled a deep breath, "but you don't have to yell at me." She stood and walked to the boy that stood in her doorway. "We better hurry, then."
"Transform, and we can get there faster."
"Transform!" Forte yelled, shaping into her Viper model.
Kicker opened the driver's door and hopped in, "Let's move it!"
The sound of tire screaming filled the halls. Forte took off at top speed and was gone in a flash.
"Where are they?" Hotshot wondered allowed.
"Maybe Kicker couldn't find her," Iron Hide faced the entrance of the warping area, hearing an engine from afar.
Optimus turned to the lavender vehicle that drove to him, "Good. You made it."
The viper let Kicker out and transformed to Forte, "Here to report, Optimus. I heard that you wanted me on a mission."
"Yes. And that would be to take down the Decepticons. Once that is done, we split up to find a hidden shaft that surviving Omnicons are hiding in on Moon Base." Optimus turned to the other male mechs, "Let's move out, men."
"Yes, sir!" Hotshot and Iron Hide answered, "Transform!"
"Transform!" Forte and Optimus turned to vehicle mode as well.
"Rad, open the warp gate!" Optimus commanded.
"I'm on it, Optimus," Rad answered from his station.
The gate formed at the end of the ramp and waited for its passengers. Kicker sat in Iron Hide's driver seat and the Autobots took off. All four disappeared into the blue gate.
"Megatron! A warp gate is opening above the base." Demolisher's voice announced through the Decepticon leader's com-link.
"So they've finally arrived," a sneer grew heavily on Megatron's metallic lips. The sneer fell to a stern position, "get in places men! It's show time." The leader walked to his own place and waited for the victims to enter the scene.
The Autobots exited through the gate and transformed. They stood read. Waiting for a Decepticon to oppose them. They held up their guard. Everything was quiet.
Hotshot glared around the area, trying to find the enemy.
"Do you think they retreated?" Iron Hide guessed.
"Only after you do!" Cyclonus' voice called out from above. He giggled and fired his ammo at the Autobots as he descended to the ground.
Forte began to grow frightened, but her programing kicked in and she fell into a pit of focus.
The four returned their fire as Kicker fought with his Star Saber against the few Terracons that flew at him.
Demolisher appeared out of nowhere and began his round of blasting cannons to our heroes and heroine. "You Autobots are in for it now!"
"It's a trap," Hotshot exclaimed as he shot at the attacking Decepticons.
Iron Hide paused and looked to Hotshot, "Then where did the Omnicons come from?"
"I'm sure there are Omnicons here, but the Decepticons weren't just here for their Energon needs," Forte answered, firing a shot and landing that attack on Cyclonus' chest.
"So the Omnicons are still here? And the Decepticons decided to use them in their plan for a trap?"
"Exactly," Forte shot at an oncoming laser and destroyed it. "Now hurry up and return to attacking before I have to save your butt again."
"Y...yes, ma'am," Iron Hide grew nervous, afraid that the small femme would lose her temper and attack him. He began firing once again.
"Rah!" a familiar voice called out in long form.
Optimus looked to his left, and was greeted by the large Megatron. Both leaders fell to the ground and began to wrestle each other in flurries of punches.
Megatron smacked his foe in the face, leaving a noticeable dent. He aimed his gun to Optimus' spark and grinned, knowing that he would have victory.
Forte turned to check on Optimus, and noticed the loss at hand. "Optimus!" She aimed her gun dead at Megatron, "Let him go, Megatron! Now!"
"Shut up, you tiny nuisance! If you want to get killed, this is you fastest way." Megatron glared over to the lavender Autobot. "Why, you're just a speck of dust on my plan of perfection."
"This speck of dust just turned into a giant glitch in your system," Forte fired her gun, knocking Megatron's own weapon out of his hand.
Megatron growled in pain, "Why you little..."
Forte ran to Megatron and tackled him to the ground with full force. She punched at his face and chest. She began ripping at his helmet and armor. "I'll kill you," she screamed, "I'll kill you!"
Everyone but Forte and Megatron froze and watched the frightening scene. The sounds of ripping metal filled the silence around them.
"She's insane," Kicker gawked at Forte's actions.
"Megatron!" Cyclonus and Demolisher ran to their leader in attempt of saving him. They grabbed the femme by her legs and arms and tossed her aside.
Forte quickly stood up and ran for more, but was stopped by a large hand.
The Decepticons flew off through a warp gate, Megatron in their arms as the Autobots ran to help Optimus, who was trying to calm the thrashing femme.
"It's over, Forte. Take a deep breath and settle down," Optimus gripped his soldier's shoulders, "The battle's over," he said comfortingly.
Taking a deep breath, Forte stood up straight and faced her commander. "Megatron almost killed you..." she said with a rough voice.
"I'm okay, now," Optimus reassured her.
Kicker folded his arms and tapped a rock with his foot, "This is so sappy."
Hotshot and Iron Hide continued to watch the two sappy characters in silence.
"Let's find those Omnicons, men," Optimus turned to the three.
"Finally!" Kicker clunked his foot on Iron Hide, "Transform already so we can get this over with!"
"Transform!" Iron Hide did as he was told, sadly enough, and let his partner in his driver's seat.
"We'll all split up for now. Regroup here if you're unable to find an Omnicons." Optimus began walking to the entrance of the broken down mine.
"Fine. Iron Hide and I'll take the surface to check for any entrances." Kicker agreed.
Hotshot and Forte nodded and followed Optimus into the mine.
Once a ways down the tunnel, they reached a splitting of four tunnels. Each Autobot walked down a different tunnel.
Hotshot soon found his way to a broken elevator.
"Looks like the same one that Iron Hide jumped in," he smirked and jumped into the empty space.
The yellow bot fell down the elevator shaft for a while, and finally landed on the ground. As he crouched, Hotshot looked around, noticing dead bodies of Terracons from the last battle.
Optimus scanned the walls around him carefully as he walked down the rusted and beat-up tunnel. Creeks echoed in the small area.
The Autobot leader paused for a bit and began to breathe lightly. Sparks jumped from the large dent in his mask. He groaned out and covered the wound with a hand. How could such a simple wound cause so much trouble?
Prime continued to walk, telling his self that some wires were probably just crossed. It couldn't possibly be as bad as it seemed.
Forte made great distance over the short time that she traveled through the tunnel. The dust and rust on the walls and floors slowly crumbled as she took steps; her weight causing the area to shake slightly.
Thoughts flew through her memory chip, showing her flashbacks of her previous outburst on Megatron. She wondered as her steps continued down the tunnel and she searched for any clue or entrance to the hidden Omnicon shaft.
"What if these problems are advantage?" Forte realized to herself, "We could defeat the Decepticons, no problem. It's all just so simple." A smile grew on her grey metallic lips, but it soon fell to a frown of disappointment, "Except for one thing. . . I have to control my anger or I might attack Optimus again. Or worse, repeat my past experience with Commander Raf. . . What in Cybertron's name?"
The ground shook, and the floor began to slowly open.
"Hey, guys!" Forte called through her com-link, "I think I found something! I'm sending you my coordinates."
Iron Hide sped across the moon's dusty surface as Kicker watched the coordinates come in on the bot's dashboard screen. The ground rumbled around them as well.
"That's pretty far down, Forte. Hey, Kicker. How are we gonna get there? With all this ground shaking, the tunnels should have collapsed by now."
Hotshot bursted through the wall and appeared next to the small Forte.
"You weren't too far off so I thought this would be easier," said Hotshot. "Besides, my tunnel collapsed from the. . ."
Forte yelled out in panic and clung herself to her larger and yellow self's hand, causing him to lose balance, fall and panic as well.
Talk about a domino effect.
The old floor doors opened up and allowed the two bots to fall through.
Optimus and Digger 1 bursted out of the moon floor in front of Iron Hide and Kicker. He landed on the ground and stood there, watching Iron Hide skid to a stop.
Iron Hide let Kicker out and Transformed. "Optimus, sir. Was you tunnel destroyed?"
"Unfortunately, yes. But what happened to. . ."
Kicker jumped away and tumbled far enough from the two bots as the ground gave way, sending Iron Hide and Optimus falling into the long pit.
"Holy cow! What. . ." Kicker looked around and then to the large hole," What just happened?"
Hotshot and Forte say up and groaned from their fall. The dust was high in the airless space and soon fell gently back to its source.
"What's happening to the base?" Hotshot questioned allowed as he looked around.
"I don't know, but it's not over," Forte trembled as she pointed to the shaking and crumbling dirt ceiling above them.
The two bots yelled out in fright once again, being joined in by two other yells. Optimus and Iron Hide crashed on top of Forte and Hotshot, creating a large pile of bots layered in a thick covering of dust.
Once the moon dirt settled again, Iron Hide rolled off of Hotshot and Optimus pushed himself up and looked over the curled up Forte.
"Is everyone all right?" asked Optimus.
"Yes, sir," answered the male bots.
Forte opened her optics and uncovered her head from the safety of her arms. "Yes. . . sir, Optimus."
"Good. Now, where are we?" Optimus stood and looked around.
Then the hard floor beneath them began to rumble again. All bots stiffened their bodies and yelled in panic once again as well.
"Oh, Primus. Why me-e-e-e!" Forte called out as the floor shot up, carrying the four bots with it.
Kicker looked down the large hold and the surface began to rumble. "What on earth is going on? Ah!" He fell back as Optimus, Hotshot, Forte, and Iron Hide shot out of the ground with a large rusted shaft under them.
The shafted stopped dead, causing the four bots to go flying from their momentum.
Forte yelled out a comment as she flew through the air, helplessly panicking under the nonstop pressure of these freak accidents. "Nuts and bo-o-olts!"
All four crashed in random places not far from each other.
Kicker watched as greatly sized doors opened to reveal what the Autobots had been searching for.
The Omnicons.
"Hey, Optimus! Guys!" Kicker called to the fallen bots, "I found the Omnicons!"
"What do ya mean, you?" Hotshot twitched.
Thank you, everyone who reads and reviews this fic. I'm glad to have such loyal fans. Please do help me feel like this fic is a total success. I really like the idea of this fic and would like to take it to the top. So please do send creative and great reviews. You've all been such wonderful help.