Here we are! The arc everyone was looking for! Believe me, all of you will love this! B-128 and I wrote all of this last year and saved it so we'll get to it later. Glad this day have come, so we could show it to the world. Anyway, have a great time reading! More info will be at the bottom of this chapter.
Warning: Language may be offensive for authors, readers and reviewers under the age of 16-18.
Disclaimer: Transformers Prime doesn't belong to me nor B-128. The only stuff that belongs to us is our OCS and this AU story.
Transformers Blue: The Jasper Chronicles
Chapter 15: The Dark Spark
Co-written with B-128
Outer Space
In Earth's orbit, a large spacecraft approaches the planet, idly floating in the cold vacuum of space.
"Earth, a primitive planet, infested with an indigenous population of organic life forms. Last refuge of Optimus Prime and the Autobots."
A purple glow passes through, smashing a satellite on its way to the blue planet, the occupants of the ship's navigation station gazing upon its flight path.
"You can't hide forever, Optimus" a bot walked next to another, to get a better look at the object "Gather your men, we're setting down at the impact point"
"Lockdown, sir, wh-what was that?"
"It is the past come calling"
On the Planet Earth
Monte Destron, an abandoned city in the Zacatecas desert, miles away from the closest town.
Bashing into each other, Arcee and Slashmark were zipping through the ruined streets, both trying to throw the other off the road
"Word of advice: don't EVER challenge a velocitronian to a battle race" she slowed down only to get behind the motorcycle and sped up to ram her from behind, throwing her into a building.
The two-wheeler got out of the ruined, destroyed building. She then transformed and started shooting at her.
"Thanks for the tip, coach!" Arcee then jumps at the velocitronian and punches her hood. The velocitronian then transformed, grabbed the two-wheeler's legs and threw her towards the ground. Luckily, Arcee landed perfectly before she could get hurt.
"So, you must be Megatron's pet cat." Arcee stated as she and Slashmark started circling around each other in their robot forms. "Did you finally got out of that leash of yours?"
The velocitronian growled, giving the two-wheeler a look of hatred. "Do I look like a fucking cat to you, 'third wheel'? I bet you just love pushing people away, huh?"
The two-wheel then started charging at the light blue beast with her activated blades and tried to slice n' dice her. However, the velocitronian quickly dodged the attacks and scratched Arcee's face. Luckily, it didn't harm her much, but it did tick her off. Arcee then started kicking Slashmark's face three times before hitting her with her blades that were attached to her arms.
Slashmark then deployed her own blades, grabbed her by the neck, and stabbed through the side of her waist, before receiving a slash at the face from her opponent, causing her to release the autobot.
"You're going to pay for nearly killing Blue Jacket!" Arcee said in rage before letting out a war cry and trying to attack Slashmark again.
She hit her opponent on the chest with her blaster, and fired, smoke coming from Slash's shattered windshield as she fell to the ground "You can mess with me, but you DON'T mess with my friends" Arcee said with venom in her voice, aiming at the con's face, ready to finish the job.
The velocitronian was terrified. She wasn't afraid of fighting an autobot, but she was starting to get afraid of the woman's attitude. However, before Arcee could even finish her off, a big shadow appeared right in front of them from the sky. That was when Arcee looked up to see what it was. Unfortunately, Slash kicked the two-wheeler off of her once her guard was down.
"We can't allow for any interference, take care of those two, soldier!"
"Yes sir!"
The Shadow revealed itself to be a weaponized transport ship, three bots jumping from it.
The three bots then surrounded the two women that were about to throw fists.
"Brought some back-up, Slashmark?" Arcee asked tauntingly.
Slashmark looked at the surrounding soldiers, with a look of danger in her face "Those are not decepticons"
"Huh?" Arcee was shocked at first, thinking that Slash was lying. However, after getting a good look at the surrounding soldiers, she realized that the light-blue beast was right. "Scrap..."
Slashmark got up and shot one of them, causing enough of a distraction to get Arcee and herself away from them to get to cover. "ARRGH! Why you little-!" The area became a bullet hell as both groups started shooting at each other.
While the manics were shooting at each other, the two women found some cover by hiding behind some big rocks and boulders. "Huh, nice distraction." Arcee said.
"Do you always talk this much on a mission, or are you trying to be my friend?" Slashmark replied sarcastically, following which she shot off one of their aggressors' head's.
A voice came through Arcee's intercom, finally the first friendly voice all day "Arcee? Do you read me?"
"Blue Jacket? Is that you?" Arcee asked, making sure it was him while she shot one of the mercenaries.
A beeping sound then came through " He and Slashmark may always be one step away from one another, but I think this one of the rare occasions they're not " Bumblebee buzzed in. " My bro's brush with death REALLY stuck him in your head, didn't it? "
"Bumblebee? Oh, thank primus!" She exclaimed, happy to hear some friendly voices. She then contacted Optimus, "Optimus, you may be shocked to hear this, but Slashmark and I need some assist."
The two women continued shooting at the incoming soldiers while the two-wheeler was talking through the com-link.
"(We'll meet you at the entrance to the subway station, stay safe)" Optimus responded, with gunfire in the background.
"Big O really trusts me enough to not kill you? Fine by me" Slashmark said in confusion, following which she got a piece of her ear shot off. "OW! Let's go!"
"Got it!" Arcee stated as she and the velocitronian beast jumped out of their hiding place, with Slashmark pounding on one of the mercenaries while the two-wheeler landed on one of them before getting off of the guy and kicking another one in the face.
The pinned down troop pulled his fingers to his radio "Stinger, you rotten glitch, get down here and help us!" But received nothing but white noise.
"Where is that idiot?!" the other troop said before getting kicked by the two-wheeler.
Arcee then started fighting 20 more mercenaries, taking down 15 of them. "Stinger?" The two-wheeler asked.
The ship left, leaving everyone to reach a faint purple glow in the distance. "Great, she left with the boss and all our backup" a tank replied, while kicking Slashmark off of his crewmate, after which the 6 remaining mercs left"
Both Slash and 'Cee were confused about this situation... First these bots start attacking them, now they're retreating. What was that about? "What the frag was that?" Arcee asked in confusion.
"Maybe it has to do with whatever that glow is" She said, pointing in the direction in which they fled. "Let's take a detour through those buildings to avoid any more shooting" They then transformed and changed into stealth configurations to better navigate the all too rough terrain.
The both of them have to admit, it was weird that these two were teaming up and working together. They would rather try to destroy each other than this. However, considering what just happened now, they needed to find out what was going on.
The Subway Station
In the entrance to the subway station, Optimus and Bumblebee were busy fending their attackers off " They don't stop coming! "
Prime shot one of them in the face, before turning around to slice another "Stand your ground, Bumblebee, if whatever they're after is worth all this fighting, then they must be stopped"
"Just, who are these guys?!" Bulkhead asked in shock as he grabbed an attacker's face and bash him into the ground. "These guys aren't Deceptions, nor Mech."
"Of course, they're not MECH. They're humans... These guys aren't." BJ reminded him while he saved Bumblebee from getting hit from behind.
"(Did somebody call for backup?)" a pair of engines feared behind them, with the girls using the stairs of the entrance as a makeshift ramp.
"ROCK AND ROOOOOLL!" Slashmark exclaimed as they crashed into a group of mercenaries, after which she started gunning them down.
Arcee and Slashmark started fighting and crashing the mercenaries together. The Autobots were shocked that Slashmark came with Arcee to help out with the problem.
"S-Slashmark?!" BJ, however, was terrified to see his rival. He was so scared that he ran and hid behind Optimus.
She transformed and kicked one of the mercenaries square in the jaw, "Relax, Gumball McJoenes, I'm here to help"
"I believe it's more than just that, Slash..." Optimus was about to say, until BJ interrupted. "Gumball McJoenes?! What kind of nickname is that?!" He shouted angrily at her, getting away from Optimus' space and shot one mercenary that was about to attack the beast from behind.
"Hey, at least it's better than calling you a twink!" She hit the shot soldier with the back of her hand as he was getting back up for a clench.
"Can we talk about this later?! We have bigger problems to deal with!" Arcee stated as she looked to the sky, drawing everyone else's attention to the starcraft above.
"Arcee is correct, Blue. You and Slashmark must put aside your differences for the time being." Optimus advised, making both BJ and Slash begrudgingly agree with this.
"Got it, Optimus..." BJ said, punching the attacker's face three times before kicking him in the stomach.
"It's Lockdown's paddy wagon, why isn't he shooting at us?" Bulkhead asked.
"We must not be his target" Optimus replied, noticing the direction in which he was headed.
"How did he make his way to Earth?" BJ asked in confusion. "Beats me." Bumblebee beeped.
They followed the ship through the ruins of the city, noticing the odd, geometric appearance of the broken portions of the buildings. "I don't think buildings are supposed to crumble like this" Bumblebee Buzzed.
"No, they do not, Bumblebee, something must have caused this recently" Optimus stated, as he saw the nearby crater.
"But what could have caused THESE?" Slashmark then asked.
They got closer to the crash site, and as they stood on the border of the crater, saw what seemed to be a reptile's eye encased in a black and purple frame. "By the allspark, it cannot be..." Optimus said with dread in his voice, if the artifact caused HIM to externally show fear, it must be really dangerous.
"Optimus, what is it?" BJ asked until he saw it as well. "Woah..."
Everyone saw what Optimus was seeing. They could also see the dread look on his face, something Optimus never showed, even in the face of danger.
Lockdown's ship got closer to the center, then started to lower, as the entrance lift lowered, revealing the lanky, asymmetrical, black and green bounty hunter. "Autobots, Lockdown is not here for us, he seeks to gain possession of the Dark Spark. We must not let it fall into his hands!"
"Dark spark?"
"What is it, Optimus?" Bulkhead asked "A weapon?"
"Something far worse" Optimus answered, before heading towards the center of the crater.
The others followed the Prime towards the center of the crater.
When they arrived, the mercenary had the dark spark in hand "Autobots, ineffectual as ever"
"Hand over the dark spark, Lockdown" Optimus petitioned
"And what price will you pay for it, Optimus?"
"This is not a device to haggle over, It is unbelievably dangerous; you are meddling with powers you cannot comprehend" Optimus warned him "Do the right thing, Lockdown, and simply hand it over"
"How honorable. You truly ARE a Prime" Lockdown stated "Alas, I see no profit in merely giving you my prize. I decline"
"Welp, convincing him didn't work out..." BJ stated. "Then it's time for plan B!" Slashmark said, getting her claws out.
Lockdown lifted his arms into the air, thrusted the dark spark into his chest, and let out a maniacal laugh. Optimus and Slashmark jumped at him while the others readied their blasters to start shooting, but before the first hit, Lockdown stomped the ground, generating a field of energy that slowed down time to a crawl for them. "Oh, Optimus, can't you see? I have already won" he then turned around and made his way back to the ship as it began departure "You just don't know it yet!"
The prime and the lycanthrocon looked at the vehicle departing at high speed, as the energy field fizzled out, returning time to its normal speed. They landed on the ground letting out a scream of frustration.
"Can't believe that coward got away!" Bulkhead exclaimed angrily. "What did he mean that he won, but we just don't know it?" BJ asked.
"I thought this day would never come" Optimus said, a sense of dread in his voice
"What's going on, Optimus?" Arcee asked.
He then turned to look at his team and said "We have just witnessed a dark legend come to life"
"A-A dark legend?" Bumblebee buzzed. Even Slashmark was getting spooked out about this 'dark legend'
Prime called back to base "Ratchet, we have two injured, prepare sick bay"
"Wait, you're not saying...?" BJ looked at the velocitronian who was getting shaky before turning his attention to Optimus.
"If Lockdown has acquired the dark spark, he's a threat to both autobot and decepticon alike, we'll need all the help we can get if we are to stop him" Optimus said back at him, BJ did understand the situation, but it didn't make him feel any more comfortable.
"Are you suggesting that we just go and ask Starscream and his goons for help?" He asked.
Slashmark looked at him unamused and said "C'mon man, do you really think Starscream is gonna want to help us out with this "dark legend"? He's more likely to execute ME for treason than he is to help you guys"
Optimus then said, "I doubt Starscream would think about executing you, Slash. Considering that he'll still have of, and I quote, "use" of you," After saying it in the nicest way possible, he then states, "However, if Starscream does learn about the dark legend, he'd rather conquer the Earth, than having it destroyed."
The Autobot Base
The others, including Slashmark got inside of the Autobot base... and Ratchet was not happy about it, even when Optimus explained the current problem. "Optimus, I know that desperate times calls for desperate measures, but bringing a decepticon into our base?! Do you remember the last time Makeshift almost succeed in telling Starscream the location of our base?!" Ratchet reminded him angrily.
"Turn off your siren, Ratchet, if I hadn't been there, 2 of you guys would be dead" Slashmark replied, looking at the twins.
The medic wanted to yell, but he knew that she was right. Anyway, he got started doing the repairs on Bumblebee and Blue Jacket, while Optimus explained the rest of their plan.
"By ground-bridging Slashmark here, she will be unable to get a fix on our coordinates," Optimus reminds the doctor who was almost finish repairing Bee's and BJ's wounds, "For now, we must contact the decepticons, in hopes of they'll listen to reason to aid us in stopping our shared common foe."
BJ was about to ask about the hole Slash had on her chest earlier, but got interrupted by the kids coming in.
"Hey guys!" Leon said, before he saw Slashmark, "Ummm...Hi?" Jack and Raf were the next to be shocked to see a decepticon here as well. However, Raf was more scared of her due to her appearance. "W-What's she doing here?" Raf asked, afraid and hiding behind Jack. Miko was next to see her, and she had to admit, seeing Slashmark up close was awesome, yet scary at the same time. Luckily, Miko wasn't scared at all.
"Uh... hi" Slash felt awkward talking directly to humans without using a holoform, not really knowing what to add.
"So, that's Slashmark. I got to see, she does look like a bad-ass!" Miko said, amazed. Of course, everyone looked at the 15-year old girl with looks, either saying "What the heck is wrong with you?", Or "What's a bad-ass?"
Leo tried to lighten the mood with a small joke "Didn't know you were bringing girls in just yet, blue"
Both Blue and Slash blushed, out of anger and embarrassment, while everyone else, except for Optimus and Ratchet, started laughing "S-Sh-Shut up, Leo!" BJ said.
"Me? With this twink? No way, Jose" Slashmark moved over to the computer to try and reach the nemesis, to try and get reinforcements "Let me see... there we go" she finished with a smile on her face.
"(Thank you for reaching the nemesis, Roadkill on da phone)"
"Oh, thank primus... Sis, we got a-"
"(We can't answer right now due to the satellite being broken, again, so leave a message after the tone. BEEP!) ping"
"* sigh * Roadkill, you son of a bitch..."
Whether a prank or not, it seemed like they weren't going to get help.
"So much for plan A..." BJ stated, "So, what's plan B?"
"I don't know, maybe we can track that thing's energy signature" Bumblebee suggested
The medic nodded as he finished repairing the twins and started typing on the supercomputer.
"By the way, how did you guys get here? We were busy." BJ asked.
"Oh, we asked Blowout to pick us up from School." Miko stated before she continued, "I did ask Leo to get his dad to pick us up with his helicopter, but he said no."
Leo only rolled his eyes out of annoyance, "Because if we did that, then that gold-digger ex-girlfriend of mine would start begging me for a ride..."
"Are you talking about Nora?" Jack asked, "Isn't she with Mikey?"
"...Andy, you poor fool..." Slash said to herself, remembering that guy from gym class
"What was that?" Jack asked
"Nothing... hey doc, how's the tracking going?" she asked to change the subject
"I have noticed a spike on the energy readings near an abandoned facility in the jungle, if what you said earlier was true, Lockdown's ship is likely headed there"
"Then there's no time to lose," Optimus said before turning his attention to his team, "Autobots, are you ready?"
"Give me the word, and I'm gone" Bumblebee was excited for the chance to kick some mercenary tailpipes.
"Bee, make sure you get back here in one piece." Raf said.
"Just let me at 'em!" Arcee stated, ready to bash some mercenary heads.
"Hey, be careful out there, okay." Jack said, with Arcee smiling before walking her way to the still-deactivated ground-bridge.
"Let's crush some mercs!" BJ was pumped up to punch some mercenaries.
"Please don't get yourself killed, Blue." Leo added, hoping that he'll be okay.
"Bulkhead, remain here, we'll contact you in case we need reinforcements" Optimus ordered, he didn't want to risk everyone going and dying.
"You got it boss"
The twins, Optimus, Arcee and Slashmark were getting ready. That was when Ratchet finally activated the Ground-Bridge. "Ground-Bridge is online." The medic said as the vortex starts glowing once it opened.
"Autobots, Slashmark... Roll Out!"
They went through the bridge, running at full speed.
At the Location
Aboard Lockdown's ship, a merc walked next to him to give him the news "Sir, we are nearing the coordinates"
"Prepare to disembark"
"Yes, sir" he then silently left the room.
"A long chain of improbabilities placed the Dark Spark into my possession. When the universe presents you with an opportunity, you must never fail to capitalize on it, a sentiment I share with the humans"
The mercs were a little concerned about this plan, but none of them didn't dare say that to Lockdown, knowing that would either lead to getting kicked out, or worse, death at his hand. However, there were two mercs and bounty hunters who were thrilled about this plan.
"You do have a point, Lockdown." A red and black merc said, holding a deceased autobot's head as a trophy.
...
Optimus, Blue Jacket and Slashmark indeed could see him, with his mercs. "(Excellent job, Arcee.)"
"(Can you conjecture as to his purpose?)" Prime asked through the radio.
"He seems to be headed towards that structure at the end of the canyon"
"And he's with two of those mercs... One of them is a girl, and the other is a guy." Bumblebee buzzed.
"(We're gonna need a distraction to get through those guys on the outposts and bottom of this crack on the floor)" Slashmark stated, looking at all the enemy soldiers "(and how do you know that's a guy or a girl? They could simply be drones for all we know)"
"I could hear their voices... And one of them just gave an autobot's head to another as a 'gift'. Bumblebee stated.
"(Oh, that bitch is definitely going down. Anyway, any ideas?)" she asked to see who came up with a plan. Suddenly, something clicked inside BJ's head
"(I may have an idea: you, me, and a tree, but you're not gonna like it)"
"(Okay, Blue… what's the idea?)" Slash asked.
...
On one of the outposts, two lone vehicons were standing around as the mercs were doing their thing at the canyon.
"Hey"
"Yeah?"
"Do you ever wonder why we're here?"
"It's one of life's great mysteries, isn't it? "Why are we here?" Are we the product of some... cosmic coincidence? Or is Primus up in the heavens? You know, with a plan for us and stuff. I don't know man, but it keeps me up at night"
They were silently staring at each other for 7 seconds straight "What? I meant "why are we out here in this chasm"
"Oh, that, right, Megatron ordered us to defend this sword thingy"
"Megatron has been dead for two months now, and we never thought of going home, and now these guys show up out of nowhere and try to secure that elevator over there, don't you think we should report back?"
"Hmmm...You got a point." The vehicon said, seeing the other guy's point, "I'll contact Lord Megatron or anyone on the ship." The vehicon then starts activating his com-link, trying to contact his lord and master. "Um.. Lord Megatron? Can you read me?"
"Dude, the guy's dead. If i was dead, and i received a call, i wouldn't answer because i- hey, wait a second, is that Slashmark holding a tree like a baseball bat?" He was looking at the velocitronian in the distance, curious as to what she was doing.
"Must be, I don't think Steeljaw would do something that made him look so weird, AND he's back on Cybertron"
"Let's see what she's up to... Wait, I think I see something else" The vehicon said, seeing something that was coming.
"Wait, is that Blue Jacket on the ledge?"
"I-I think so... What the heck is going on?"
While the two vehicons were distracted, they failed to notice Optimus who was getting past them.
"Did you hear something?"
"Nah, probably just the wind"
...
On the other side, BJ jumped off and Slash hit him as hard as she could, sending him flying forward onto a group of mercenaries, knocking them down, he then changed to stealth drive to flee and shoot back at them.
Optimus saw the whole thing and he had a smile on his face, "Blue Jacket, Slashmark excellent teamwork."
...
One of the cons responded "Oh, it's just Optimus, nothing to worry about"
"Yeah, I'm definitely not messing with this guy"
"Wanna go play cards?"
"You're on" they then left and went into the trees.
...
Meanwhile Slashmark was helping BJ with the mercenaries while they were running away "Thanks, sir, it was actually fun to hit him like a baseball"
Optimus chuckled a bit. Even BJ laughed a little as well while he and Slash were fighting side by side. "Got to say, Slash, this reminds me of the good old times."
Her cheek regions were almost cyan with a blush, guess those slaughters from their previous encounters released most of that resentment.
...
Meanwhile, Bumblebee and Arcee were storming the rest of the canyon, shooting mercs left and right "Don't let them go any further, take care of them here!"
"These guys just keep on coming, don't they?"
"You got that right!" Arcee then grabbed a merc's throat, not too hard to kill him, of course. "Where's Lockdown, and who are those two with him?" The merc didn't say anything, not because she was strangling him but because he didn't want to. "Tell me!" Arcee started with a venom in her tone, intending to finish the guy off. However, she was then kicked aside by another merc.
"That's none of your business, bluey" the guy responded, before getting shot in the face by Bee
"Her name is isn't bluey. It's Arcee. Get it right." Bee buzzed before he went to the two-wheeler's aid and picked her up.
"Oh, cry me a river, autobots" it was the same tank from the city, mocking his smaller opponents "if you want in, you're gonna have to get through me first"
The scout and the two-wheeler stood their ground, ready to fight against the merc-tank. That was when a Ground-Bridge appeared from the sky. "What the?" The merc tank, as well as Bee and 'Cee were confused. However, that was when Blowout came out from the ground-bridge vortex and kicked the merc-tank's face, sending him crashing towards the huge rocks and boulders.
"Did ya miss me?" Blowout smirked while looking at Arcee and Bumblebee.
"Like a drone ant misses her colony" Bumblebee jokingly beeped.
"We need to get up there, but there's too much blasting to use the elevator" Arcee then stated. "Any way you can get us up there?"
"Hmmm, I'm thinking," Blowout said, trying to think of a way to get through, "I think I have an idea" her visor lit up as she figured something out, she grabbed Bee by the waist, pushed herself down, and lobbed him into the ledge.
"This is not what I had in mind!"
Even Arcee was shocked to see what B.W was doing, but once she saw what her plan was, she smiled before she knocked out another mercenary who was trying to attack her. "She was always the smart type"
Blowout leaned down, Arcee putting her foot on her hand and getting flung upwards.
The mercenaries saw what the bots were doing and they tried to stop them. "Get them!" All of them tried to grab one of them, but they were too late.
She was getting into a 10 car pileup by this point, trying to get them to stay down "Prime and I will handle these guys, you keep on going!"
That was when Optimus Prime showed up and started shooting down 30 mercenaries. Blowout then joined in the fight, with Arcee and Bumblebee went on to find Lockdown.
"Glad you could join us, Blowout." Optimus said with a smile under his face plate.
The Factory
Bumblebee and Arcee were running through a tunnel that ended outside some sort of factory, while the scout hid behind a canister, 'cee sneaked to the gate.
As it slowly opened, she pulled out her arm blades and saw Lockdown on a control panel, ready to make her move, then the red and black 'bot from earlier kicked her to the side and grabbed her.
"Well, well, didn't know there were more female Autobots on Earth," The female merc smirked evilly before calling out her partner's name, "Hey, Darkmatter, you might want to see our prisoner." The two-wheeler was shocked when she heard that name. She hoped that she was hearing things, but it turns out that she was wrong.
He bent down to be closer to eye level with the two-wheeler "Hey there handsome, did ya miss me?" He said with a grin on his face.
"Like we do the squids" she was frowning and angry at the relatively small triple changer, wanting to spit in his visor. But before she had the time to do so, Lockdown turned around to "greet" her
"Ah, Arcee, welcome"
"Lockdown..." She gritted her teeth in anger. "What are you doing on Earth?" She stated before looking at the female merc, "And who is she?"
"That is irrelevant" stated the bounty hunter, he then said to her, and the other mercenaries via com link "One of prime's lackeys was found skulking about, they're never alone. Find her compatriots and bring them to me"
"Yes sir!" The mercenaries said through the com-link. Arcee gulped, hoping that her friends will be okay... "You won't get away with this, you fragging Gl-!" She was about to insult him but she got kicked in the face by the female mercenary.
"You just keep your mouth shut, sister. Darkmatter, take care of her, I got a 'bug' to 'catch'"
"With pleasure" Darkmatter said, cracking his knuckles. Before he could even touch her, Lockdown stopped him.
"Lock her down in the prison cells. We'll use her as bait for the 'bots."
Darkmatter nodded, "Yes sir." Once Lockdown left to settle his business, D.M looked at the two-wheeler, "As much as I want to cut your head off and put it next to Firewing's, it'll be good to use ya."
...
Outside the factory, Bumblebee saw a spiky bot that looked like him close the door behind her, then morphing into a cluster of pixels that then changed into her vehicle mode as she left the area.
He brushed it off as there was more important business to tend to "Optimus, they got Arcee"
"(Understood, look for a way inside, we'll be tHe#e s-)" the com link seemed to glitch out, cutting him off.
"Prime? Prime? Scrap, they're jamming the signal"
Bumblebee then continued to walk through the area, hoping to find a way inside and save Arcee.
"There you are!" He heard a voice from behind him, the same doppelganger from earlier "Nothing personal kid, just finishing Barricade's work" she shot at him from the roof, trying to get any amount of hits in "He's headed for the side entrance, get him!"
Bumblebee started running, transforming and driving away from Stinger and the mercenaries who were trying to catch him. "This is not my day... and who is that woman, and why does she look like me and Blue Jacket?!"
One of the mercs tried to bump him off while joking "Maybe she's your missing triplet"
"I hope that's not the case" Bumblebee beeped out as he pushed him off and out of his way before more mercs in their cybertronian vehicle modes were chasing after him. "Oh Primus, I hope Optimus gets here soon!"
However, while driving away, Bumblebee was thinking of what the merc was saying "Missing Triplet?"
He made his way to an opening on the side, entering the facility, the door sealing behind him.
"Phew... I made it..." He buzzed out in relief, happy to survive the wave of mercs. However, he was wondering about the girl that tried to shoot him in the head a moment ago. "So, she looks just like me and Blue... Maybe she could be a missing triplet... Maybe, maybe not, I don't know... All I know is that I need to be careful and find Arcee now."
Further inside, in a small control room with two bots, it looked like someone stuck some device to a computer, likely being the cause of the jammed radio. "Oi, Flywheels? How's the jammer operating, mate?" "Running at full capacity, Skyfire, those guys wouldn't be able to detect us even via satellite"
"Great" Skyfire smirked, seeing the autobots would be helpless now. Anyway, he and Flywheels were having a lot of fun with this.
Bumblebee looked at this and spun his wheels, thinking of what to do "Come on, think, bee, think" he saw a metal rod on the ground, believing it could be useful. "Hm?" He picked up the rod, got to the corner of the wall, and tossed it to the opposite side to the computer room
"What was that?"
"Probably just a bolt"
At first, Skyfire shrugged it off a bit, not caring about it. However, he didn't want to make a rookie mistake either. "I'll see what it is, just to be safe." He said, getting off from his seat and walking towards the opposite side of the computer room.
Bumblebee then sneaks up behind him, picking up a metal crate holding it over his head "Well, it's just a bloody pipe..." he slowly started turning around to then "...I don't know why-oh, bugger" Bee smacked him over the head with the crate, leaving him unconscious.
Of course, Flywheels heard the noise due to the metal crate making noises. "Huh? Skyfire, what happened?" He heard nothing, "Oh, for Primus' sake, I'm heading where you are." He walked towards the opposite side of the computer room, but didn't see anything or anyone yet.
"Hey, pal, we don't have all day, stop playing cover and search and get to..." he saw his unconscious partner on the ground, looking like he fell off the 15' robot equivalent of a ten storey building "...helping me with this... WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED HERE!?"
He was so distracted that he got knocked out by Bumblebee as well once the yellow scout smacked him over the head with the crate.
"Sorry, guys, but my friend is in trouble" He dropped the crate and went to the control room, once in, he started looking for a way to deactivate the device "Okay, where's the off switch on this thing?" he tried searching the control panel, but the thing was in gibberish. "Ah, screw it" he shot the computer to disconnect the jammer from the facility.
Meanwhile...
Back with Blue Jacket and Slashmark, the two of them finally defeated all the mercs that were trying to kill them. "Heh, that was awesome, Slash." BJ said, smiling.
"A little slapdash, not gonna lie, but still impressive for someone your height" she joked moving her splayed out hand in front of his forehead, letting out a small giggle.
BJ blushed a bit, seeing her smile. Sure, he was still... scared of her ever since their previous encounter, but he was actually happy to fight alongside her again and seeing her as a friendly rival as well, rather than a hated enemy. That was when he was wondering about that hole Slash had on her chest earlier.
"Hey, I wanted to ask you, how did you get so damaged back in the desert?"
"Oh, Arcee and I tried to kill each other and she almost murdered me"
"Wait, she what?!" BJ was shocked to hear that. Sure, he could understand why the two-wheeler did it but still, that was too much, "I get why she did it, but...wow..."
"Yeah, I almost ended up looking like a rip off Scissorsaw. Note to self: never let her know I wrecked you guys"
Suddenly, the radio came in. "(Hello? Is anybody out there?)"
BJ contacted the person who turned on the radio with his com-link. "Bumblebee, is that you?"
"(Lockdown has Arcee, and that son of a gun Darkmatter's with him)"
BJ had no words... And Bumblebee noticed it, but before he could say anything, BJ ended the com-link. "We'll find her, I'll contact you later." Once he ended the transmission, his hands turned into a fist as he was doing it in anger. Shockingly, Slashmark noticed it and actually showed concern.
"Woah, I've never seen you so angry before" She then remembered where she had heard that name before "OH, THAT Darkmatter"
Slash remembered that back in the old days on their planet, during her friendly rival battles with Blue, he told her of how he lost his partner to the bounty hunter and mercenary, Darkmatter.
"I-I can't believe he's back..." BJ stated in shock and anger, "I thought the Space-Bridge destroyed both him and that one-eyed con back on Cybertron"
Slashmark put her hand on his shoulder to try to comfort him "Blue, I know how you feel for what happened, but killing him won't accomplish anything" she stopped to think for a second "And I realize how ridiculous that sounds coming from a wisecracking berserker. At best her spark will get to flip him off, at worst, you ARE gonna die, kid"
Blue Jacket actually smiled a bit. He did find it ironic that she said that, considering that she just tried to kill him in their previous encounters. However, he still didn't hate her for that. After all, he does understand why. That was when he hugged her. "Thanks for the life lesson...And I'm sorry that I didn't save you in the cave-in." He said sadly, still filled with remorse.
"It's alright, it was an accident, I don't know if I can forgive myself for what happened last week, but I can forgive you for it" she smiled back at him, and backed off "Come on, we got a motorcycle to save"
"Oh, uh, y-yeah." He said, embarrassed of what he just did. "Hey, um, Slash. L-Let's umm, keep this... Between us." Slash nodded in agreement, knowing what he meant. The two of them didn't hate their touching moment, but the opposite teams would, and they didn't want to risk them thinking that one of them is betraying another, or that they love each other.
Back in the factory things weren't going too well, Arcee was stuck inside an electro cage, as Lockdown tried to 'negotiate' with her, all the while Bumblebee was observing from a conveyor belt "You know, Arcee, given your aggressiveness, utilizing the dark spark on you would only prove you of your tactical efficiency, so why not do us both a favor and accompany me?"
"Why don't you tell it to him? He might actually want to work for a scumbag like you" Arcee stated in anger.
Lockdown only chuckled, "Oh, I'm a scumbag? HA! I admit, maybe I am. But even I have some honor." He said before pointing at Darkmatter, who was watching the whole thing, along with Stinger. "You remember Darkmatter, right Well, let's say that I saved him after he got himself fixed by the one-eyed doc. He did want him to come along, but for some reason, the doc declined... No matter, I still have some "scumbags" who are my friends." Lockdown smirked evilly.
Darkmatter simply shrugged off "What can I say? 'Wave does like privacy. Me leaving must have been the best thing to happen to him" he joked with a smirk worthy of Starscream's scheming attitude, making the bounty hunter and the two-wheeler look at him unamused.
"You got one of those too, huh?" Arcee asked sarcastically.
"You have no idea..." Lockdown admitted.
Stinger then got annoyed by Arcee's unwillingness to talk and approach towards the electro cage. "How about we just shock the energon out of her?! She's not going to join us, even if we torture her to do so."
Lockdown gestured her to stand down, and back away "While the chances are slim, she can still be used as a bargaining tool for the Prime to surrender, dismissed"
The third lookalike and the triple-changer nodded before leaving the room, along with their leader. Now the two-wheeler was completely alone... Or was she?
"* bzzt * Arcee"
"Bee?"
The yellow scout revealed himself in a funny pose. Arcee laughed silently so nobody could hear her. She had to admit, no matter the circumstances, Bee and his brother always find a way to brighten her day. "Glad you're here." Arcee said, "Where's everyone else?"
"On their way, just hold tight" he got to the cage and opened a panel on the top of it "Don't worry, I'll get you out of here" he started looking for a way to deactivate the thing, but then, someone came through the other side of the room
"...And then I said to her-"
"There he is!"
"Sorry, chumps, not gonna happen" he ripped out a bunch of cables and the cage broke, letting Arcee free.
"Scrap this, we gotta tell Lockdown!" The goons ran off, Arcee shooting one of them while the other got away.
"Lockdown, the prisone-ACK!" The other goon tried to scream out for his leader but he was stabbed by someone... Someone silent... It was none other than Soundwave who appeared out of nowhere and stabbed the goon, leaving both Arcee and Bumblebee in shock.
Or, at least they looked like Soundwave "Sorry, fellas, but your road ends here" it was Makeshift, somehow having survived the grenade Wheeljack stuck to him. He sounded the alarm and went for the nearest exit and just flew off, the door closing behind him.
"We gotta get out of here" Arcee stated, her and Bumblebee running off through where the scout had come from.
...
The two-wheeler and the yellow scout finally went through, surviving the whole thing.
"(The autobot's price has exceeded their value, take them out!)" Lockdown said through the speakers, soldiers running towards their location. Arcee looked around the room, looking for anything that could help their situation.
"Fight or flight, we'll have to deal with them"
"Let's get outside, we'll have more room to fight them off"
Bee guided her towards the entrance he took, avoiding as much detection as they could reaching the two bots from earlier.
"These guys are harder to find..." One merc complained. "Yep, and he expects us to do his job for him..." The other one said. "Hey, keep your mouth shut, or you'll have to deal with Lockdown. Do you remember what happened to the last merc who talked behind his back?"
"Oh, right, that duocon got tossed out the airlock"
"Yeah! So keep your mouths shut and we'll survive the group. I don't like how Stinger and Darkmatter are getting promotions either, but I'd rather be alive than get punished. Besides...She does look cute." The merc chuckled at the end while the others just gagged in disgust as they continued looking for the escaped Autobots.
Bee overheard the situation and found himself a little dumbfounded by the merc's words "Considering she looks like me, but spiky, does he think I'M cute? Is he blind?"
"If it were me, I'd slap the energon out of him..." Arcee stated, before smiling, "But, in all fairness, both you and Blue are much cuter. Now come on, let's get out of here."
They got to the closed door, thinking about a way to open it. "Okay, how do we open this thing?" Then, Bumblebee remembered the rod that he used to distract those guys in the other room, he went to grab it, lodged it into the split between the metal panels, and used the rod as a lever to open the thing.
"Huh, nice thinking, Bumblebee." Arcee said, "Now, let's get out of here."
They got out of the building and were getting ready to leave back through the tunnel, but then "Well, well, well, if it isn't the insect and his minicon buddy" "Scrap!" Stinger had gotten to them, this time, carrying a massive crossbow on her arm "This time, I'm not letting you escape"
"Dang it!" Bumblebee buzzed in anger.
Suddenly, two engines were heard approaching, and lo and behold, "Gumball McJoenes" and "Slash Mark Walberg" arrived just in time for the fight. "Sorry we're late, road was full of speed bumps"
Stinger looked at the 'beast' with disgust "A decepticon? Working with autobots? You are a disgrace to your own race"
The velocitronian growled at the third lookalike. "A disgrace?! I'll show you who's a disgrace, you cheap fragging knock-off!"
BJ, not one to miss the opportunity for a pun, got into a fighting stance and joined in "Yeah, come at us, you Shadow the hedgehog wannabe!"
Arcee and Bumblebee looked at the two but shrugged it off since they have a common enemy to fight. Speaking of which, Stinger was already angry as it is and started shooting at them with her massive crossbow.
They dodged the projectiles as best as they could, even shooting one of them to deflect it. Unfortunately, the impact of which revealed more incoming enemies. They split up, each taking two, while Bumblebee went straight for Stinger to put her in her place.
"You think you can take me on, little guy?" Stinger taunts her opponent, "You and your brother are nothing but low-class scouts." She smirked at the end.
Bee got mad at her and threw a punch before she could even react, starting what was effectively a boxing match with guns between the two.
"You were saying?" Bee smirked while he was fighting against her. "I hope Optimus and Blowout get here soon." BJ said while he was fighting alongside Slashmark and Arcee.
" * HONK * HONK * Yippie kai yay, motherfucker!" Blowout jumped off the cliff and landed on one of the mercs, changing form and punching another one in the face. "Sorry I'm late, took the scenic route"
"Took you a while." Arcee stated in a smile.
However, that was when Blowout saw Slash. "Um, who invited her?"
Slash then smacked another enemy with the side of her tail "Why? Miss me, 'horn head'?"
"Wait, you know each other?"
"Long story"
Stinger had Bumblebee pinned to the ground and looked at the purple elite guard autobot. "And you guys said I was a rip-off. Look at the Cliffjumper wannabe!" However, and unknowingly for her, she was going to regret those words real quick.
Blowout made a frown, morphed out her blaster, and shot her out of the sheer mediocrity of the poorly planned insult.
After that, the bee/blue-lookalike was knocked out due to the almost-fatal shot. "I-I think she's dead..." BJ said, almost feeling sorry for her.
"Hmph, in case she is dead... Good riddance." Blowout said.
"Mental note: don't ever piss her off"
"Noted" Everyone said. That was when Optimus finally appeared in his vehicle mode and transformed, looking at the scene. "Is everyone okay?"
Bee gave him a thumbs up for an a-o-kay.
Suddenly the ground started to rumble, Lockdown's ship was departing the abandoned military facility, headed to Primus knows where "Ratchet, bridge us back" Optimus said through comms.
"Hold on, Optimus" Blowout said "I got an idea as to what to do with Miss Fuzzy Britches over there"
Bumblebee looked at his "genderbent" impostor, wondering just what the pickup was up to.
In Space, with the Decepticon Warship
Back with the Decepticons, Starscream was walking around annoyed about Slashmark's disappearance. "Where is that beast?! Did she call?!"
Roadkill got startled "Not... as far as I'm aware..." she knew that Slash had called previously, and instead of picking up, she pranked the hell out of her "I'll get right to it, sir"
Starscream looked at Slash's BFF strangely due to her stuttering the answer out of her mouth. However, he shrugged it off for now.
"Oh man, she's gonna give me so much crap for this" she got outside to the ship's runway to avoid any noise, or getting anyone's attention "Slashmark, you speed limit breaking brute, where the hell are you!?"
"(Oh, look who finally decided to call back)"
"Don't blame me. It was Starscream's fault" Roadkill said, trying to put the blame on the current lord and master.
However, Starscream heard it, "What was that?!"
"NOTHING!" She replied yelling, trying to avoid the subject.
"(Girl, don't play dum dum with me, you know for a fact we don't have an answering machine)"
"...Oh, I'm sorry, I wasn't aware that you wanted me to get your fluffy ass in trouble with Captain Stilt Man..."
"(Yeah, I did kinda run off without telling anyone. Went to investigate in an abandoned town and got trashed)"
"By who" Your boyfriend?" Roadkill taunted, referring to Slashmark's rival Blue Jacket.
"(No, you anime eyed jalopy!)" Slashmark grumpily said to her "(I nearly get snuffed by Arcee, the only thing that saved me was a bunch of mercenaries dropping from a ship)"
"Oh Sorry, I didn-?!" She was about to say the sentence in a mocking tone until she heard the word 'mercenaries'. "Wait, Mercenaries?! Why are they on Earth?"
"(They were accompanying Hook-hand Lankman, that triple changing jackass Darkmatter, and some Bumblebee ripoff to look for some time slowing eyeball thing that looked like an evil matrix)" she then informed
"What!?"
"(I know, right? A bounty hunter hiring mercenaries, how ironic)"
"No, I mean, what the hell is the dark spark doing on earth?" She sounded worried, more worried than all the times she thought slash was dead.
"(You know what that thing is?)"
"That thing that Starscream thought was a myth, only for Shockwave to almost use it on Cliffjumper, that then was weaponized by Megatron, and got shot into space by Optimus the frickin Prime!? Fuck yeah I do! Weren't you there when that happened!?"
Before Slashmark could say anything else to her BFF, Starscream gently pushed Roadkill out of the way and talked to the beast once he heard what he just heard. "Slashmark, don't tell me that the Dark Spark is here... on Earth?!"
"(And in Lockdown's hands, yes, thank you for not bothering to ask if I'm fine, comandante destello)" she mockingly told her superior officer.
"That's LORD to you, Slash. But I'm glad that you're okay..." He groaned before saying something, "Where are you now?"
Slash thought of what to say. She couldn't say that she's with the Autobots nor say that she's at the Autobot base.
"(Whith, uh, a friend, lord Starscream, I need help getting this bitch to talk, think you could get a ground bridge near Jasper?)" She skirted around directly answering, not wanting to lie, and hoped that Starscream wouldn't notice. Roadkill, on the other hand, knew something was up, but stayed shut.
"Hmmmm... Alright," He said before turning to Roadkill, "Roadkill, you'll aid Slashmark once Knockout and Soundwave activate the Ground-Bridge near Jasper."
"You don't even know where that is, do you?" "That is unimportant, we need to acquire as much information as we can from our former collaborator's employee" "yes, sir" he walked off back inside, leaving RK to herself
"...I know you're with him..." she whispered onto her friend before hanging up.
Back in the autobot base, Slash blushed in anger, knowing who Roadkill was talking about. Of course, everyone kept quiet, not wanting to anger her.
"That's how you can tell they're friends," Jack joked, since he's used to girls interacting similarly.
Everyone looked at him weirdly and angrily. "Dude, shut it!" Leo advised him.
"I was just joking, man."
"Um, Jack, not everyone likes those kinds of jokes, man." BJ told him.
"(Tsk), teenagers" Blowout simply looked up while carrying Stinger, still unconscious from the shot she gave her.
"So, what do we do with Bee and Blue's 'sister'? Arcee joked. Now that was a good laugh for everyone, except for Ratchet and Optimus, of course.
"We just drop her off on the dessert and let the 'cons do the rest" She replied, wanting to get 'spikes' out of her sights as soon as possible.
Everyone gulped when she said that. That was when Optimus walked up, putting his hand on Blowout's shoulder gently before announcing the real plan of what to do with Stinger and how to stop Lockdown and his goons.
"Our objective at present is to prevent the global catastrophe at hand, not cause unnecessary casualties, while I understand your motives, putting Stinger through torture is a high price to pay for a mere insult." He removed his hand from her shoulder "Right now, Lockdown's motives, while still unclear, cannot be for the good of all. Ratchet has been utilizing the ship's trajectory and contrails to pinpoint a possible landing zone. Once there, we remove the dark spark from Lockdown's possession, and eliminate it"
"Alright... So we're supposed to get Stinger to talk and tell us about Lockdown's next move... and if that happens, we could ambush them." BJ suggested a plan.
Before anyone else could say anything, Ratchet brought about the results of the tracking "Optimus, I have located Lockdown's next landing site, within the same city where the dark spark was found!"
"Scrap..." Arcee said.
"We must head there right away!" Optimus said before turning to Ratchet. "Open the Ground-Bridge, old friend."
"Wait, what do we do with this clown?" Slashmark pointed towards Stinger, seeing the change of plans.
"Don't worry, I'll take care of it" Blowout remarked "You guys go save the world"
Everyone nodded and went through the Ground-Bridge, except for Optimus who looked back at Blowout, "Do not kill her, Blowout." Prime said, warning her before he went through the Ground-Bridge as well.
Once the portal was deactivated, Ratchet walked towards Blowout and the kids. "Wow... First Bee, then Blue, now this one...As if two weren't enough..." the doctor said.
The Power Plant
In the abandoned city, Lockdown and his goons reached the center of an old power plant "Darkmatter, stand guard outside in case Prime shows up" the triple changer left the room as soon as he was told "The humans have long suspected that they would bring about their own demise. Today we will prove that suspicion well founded"
While Lockdown and his goons entered the old power plant, Darkmatter waited outside. He was now thinking about his partner. "Where's Stinger? She should've been back by now."
...
Meanwhile, on the crater, the portal opened, everyone coming out, after which it closed. "Okay, we go there, kick some tailpipe, and wreck that thing, sounds easy," BJ said, anxious to deliver some knuckle sandwiches.
Slashmark smirked at her rival. "Glad that you and I are thinking the same thing, Blue Jacket."
Optimus then said "Stay focused, we need to act swiftly before Lockdown can cause any serious damage"
"Don't worry, Optimus, we'll be fi-!" BJ was about to say until he saw a pink autobot insignia on the floor and picked it up. And he instantly knew who it belonged to. "T-This is Firewing's insignia..." He later looked down in sadness.
"We can grief later" Slashmark gave him a pat on the shoulder "If we don't stop Lockdown, there won't be a future for any of us." She then moved forward, getting into a running stance "I'll go looking for ol' Captain Hook, shouldn't be too much of a hassle" subsequently, she sprinted off in the blink of an eye.
"Wow, she's fast"
However, once she got to the center, she didn't see anyone, which was shocking. "Huh?" That was when the rest of the Autobots followed her. "See anything?" Bulkhead asked.
"Nothing yet" she was zooming across the surrounding area in a 2 mile radius, looking for any indication of where the bounty hunter could be "Wait, I think I see something" she shifted her sights to a power plant, lights on, and noticed Darkmatter standing in front of a massive hatch on the floor in front of it.
Before she could do anything else though, he jumped over her and kicked her behind. And believe me, she was very pissed off. "Well, well, well, I didn't expect a decepticon to do an Autobot's clean work."
She got up from the kick and flipped out her buster "First, nobody says 'clean work', and second, buzz off"
"Heh," He smirked. Before he could do a fatal shot at her, Blue Jacket rammed at him with his vehicle mode, getting them away from the team. However, while it does allow the bots to enter the power plant, both Slash and Optimus knew what this was about.
"Bulkhead, go after them! We'll enter the power plant!" Optimus said.
"Got it!" Bulkhead states as he transformed into his vehicle mode and followed BJ.
"Hey Bulkhead, mind giving me a hand with this guy?" BJ asked smirking.
Bulk nodded and the two Autobots got into their fighting positions.
...
Optimus, Arcee, Bumblebee, and Slashmark enter the power plant. "This must be the place," Bee buzzed.
"Then let's go poke that eye out" Slashmark said, Arcee rolling her eyes.
"Be careful, Lockdown's forces will most likely attack on sight" Optimus warned.
Right on cue, the mercs saw them and started shooting at them. "You just had to say it!" Bee buzzed, complaining.
Arcee shot a merc on the face "Not now, Bee!" They kept moving forward, getting through deathtraps and gunfire.
The team went through the waves of mercs, gunfire and deathtraps very well without dying and getting hurt.
'My bro and Bulkhead better have stopped Darkmatter by now.' Bee thought to himself before something else, "I'm more worried about Blowout right now. What do you think she did with Stinger?"
"Hopefully she didn't kill her," Arcee said, hoping she was right.
...
Blue Jacket and Bulkhead were still fighting against the triple changer, giving him somewhat of a hard time.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here? 'Bumble Blue' and 'Lob Ball', didn't expect to see you around here"
Both bots growled and looked at the triple changer in anger. "If it ain't 'Dark-Shatter'. Do you miss your girlfriend?" BJ joked in anger as well as recalling Stinger.
"Oh, we weren't dating, just that I conveniently happened to land the same job as her" he got mad at the autobot's joke, changing to flight mode and firing machine gun rounds at the two of them.
Bulkhead and Blue Jacket started shooting and dodging as well, trying to get a good hit on him. "I got him," Bulkhead said as he ran up, jumped on the boulders, one by one, jumping high and grabbed hold onto Darkmatter's cybertronian flying vehicle mode.
"HEY! GET OFF ME, YOU LUNKHEAD!"
Before the triple changer could even try to shake the green wrecker away from him, Bulk threw him towards the ground. Luckily, Darkmatter transformed into his cybertronian mobile vehicle mode so he wasn't damaged before he could crash.
"I'd like to stick around, but I have to go, things to see, places to be, but my co-worker here, will gladly stand in for me" he drove off as fast as he could, leaving the same tank, for the third time, to deal with the autobots
"Round three, junkers!"
"Ready Blue?"
"Sure am, Bulk!"
Meanwhile... In the Autobot Base
Back with Blowout, she was doing something... Not even Ratchet knows what she was doing, but he knew that it might have to do with Stinger.
The recently awaken mercenary was tied up in a room, enduring the worst torture she had ever experienced... being stuck in a room with Miko.
"What's up?" Miko said, smiling. Stinger just looked at her.
"Please tell me I'm still dreaming"
"Oh, you're not dreaming, Stinger." Blowout said, smirking down at the prisoner.
Stinger was tied to a pipe in the wall, distressed by the fact that she couldn't move and was at the mercy of a strange little alien and an autobot. "Is this because I called you a Cliffjumper wannabe?"
"Oh no... of coru- Yes it is!" Blowout screamed at her face.
"Yikes..." Miko stated before she looked at Stinger, "Yeah, so she and Cliffjumper were siblings, so yeah... You shouldn't have said that."
"Well, excUuUuUse me for not knowing every damn autobot!" There was so much salt in her voice that it would have made the ocean taste like candy by comparison.
That was when Blowout grabbed her throat. She really wanted to squeeze the life and energon out of her right now. "Woah, woah! B.W, we're suppose to 'kind of' torture her, not rip her throat out." Miko said, trying to stop her from making a mistake.
"Look, your boss is toying around with a matrix ripoff that does Primus knows what, so you better tell me WHAT he's planning to do or I'm ripping off that stupid crest of yours and shoving it down your throat!"
"I'm not telling you anything, dirt hauler"
She got Blowout thinking, if intimidation didn't work, maybe some other incentive would be of use "Okay, whatever you say" she then let go of her neck and began walking off, telling the human "Hey kid, take care of her, will ya?" Afterward, she left the room, locking the door.
The 15-year old girl smirked. "Oh, oh, you got it, B.W," Miko said before turning her attention towards Stinger and cracking her fist knuckles.
"Pfft, whatever you're thinking, it's not gonna work, you little insect" BW leaving the room gave her some of her confidence back, given the cocky tone of her words.
"Oh, oh, oh, you're going to regret those words," Miko said, smiling evilly which somehow actually scared the third triplet. "W-W-what are you talking about?" Stinger said, not showing that she's afraid even though she felt it. She didn't know what the insect was talking about but she must be planning something.
...
A few moments later there was music coming out of the room, loudly, as ear bleeding as possible "(AAAAAAHGG, STOP IT, MAKE HER STOP, I'LL TALK, JUST GET THAT THING AWAY FROM ME! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!)"
Blowout then opened the door, smiling. "Great, glad that you're on the same page." She said, getting in the room and looking at the prisoner, "Now, what is Lockdown planning to do?"
"He's going to use the dark spark to crank the war back to eleven, I don't know how given the fact that Megatron is dead, but that idiot is going doom the planet if he does"
"What was Lockdown doing in the jungle?"
"Getting equipment for some sort of device, I don't know, all he told me was that we'd get to wreck Prime"
Miko then asked a question. "If he was going to do all of that, why even support the guy? Besides, you're living on Earth too... Well, you're invading the Earth, but you get the drift."
"I dunno, I just wanted to get back at the autobots for what happened during their stay on velocitron. Some two-wheeler starts a hostile takeover of a planet low on resources next to an at present dying star and they just buzz off"
"Huh, I don't know if I should feel bad for you or just stay quiet." Miko said, unsure of what to do now.
Back with the others
Blue Jacket and Bulkhead tried their best to defeat the tank merc, but it was stronger than they first thought. Heck, even Bulk was actually struggling with this guy. "Any last words, Autobots?" The tank taunted before something, or rather, someone shot his spark.
Both Bots were shocked by what just happened as they saw the tank merc fall down due to his wounds... And they became even more surprised of who did it. "Sup, Blue? Miss Me?" Roadkill smiled as if nothing happened.
"Wha-you-well. I am so confused right now" BJ was incredibly dumbfounded by their helper
"My pal for life is in peril, I may be many things, but a bad friend is not one of them"
BJ then chuckled a bit, "If that last part was true, you would've helped her out before you decided to prank her." BJ said, while Bulk was confused.
"I have no idea what's going on..." The green wrecker said, rubbing his forehead in confusion.
"And let screamer give her a scolding?"
Bulkhead then asked "How did you even find us?"
"It's a long story... But that'll be for another time! Now, come on! I got a best friend to save!" She said, quickly transforming and driving towards the entrance of the power plant, with Bulk and Blue following her once they transformed and drove as well.
...
Back inside, Optimus and the others entered a room with a strange tower in the middle, shooting up energy towards the sky.
"What is that thing?"
Arcee took a step forward and tried to get a better look "Is that a space bridge?"
Lockdown showed himself, on the other side of the room "You think so small. It's a time bridge. The dark spark has granted me the ability to manipulate space-time, but if I am to reach full power, to back in time and retrieve Megatron, I need to get an amplifier, which you failed to stop me retrieving from the jungle"
Optimus looked down in shame, remembering the time he failed to stop him from that time.
"Look out!" Lockdown's goons began shooting at them, trying to take one of them out.
Optimus, Arcee and Slash moved out of the way and counterattacked them by firing back at them. While that, the Prime looked at the bounty hunter with an angry look. "Arcee, Slash, hold off the mercenaries... Lockdown is mine."
As Optimus was approaching him, Lockdown stomped the ground, generating the same energy field from earlier, slowing Prime to a crawl before he could deliver a blow "You never learn, do you? I never understood why Megatron put such a high price on you, Prime"
The tower emitted a pulse, as the bounty hunter began monologuing as he walked past Optimus "Once you and Megatron were evenly matched, neither able to gain purchase and overtake the other. Perfectly poised conflicts such as those are rare indeed, and they breed boundless opportunities for bounty hunters like me. I used to be very well paid, I want to be well-paid again"
The field then began to dwindle, as proven by Prime's response to this "Do you really want to go back? Back to the heart of the war?" As soon as he finished, the field faded away, as he took advantage of the momentum generated by the failed hit to turn himself around and hit Lockdown with his other arm, pushing him back "Never!"
Lockdown was ticked off... Very ticked off. He will not have Optimus stop his plan. "This time, Prime, you won't stop me! Not Now, Not Ever!"
While Optimus and Lockdown are bashing fists, Arcee and Slashmark were holding off the mercs the best they could. However, there were too many mercenaries for them to take. Not to mention, the time bridge is close to being finished. It was the end for them... Or was it?
That was when Blowout came out of the Ground-Bridge portal and started shooting down the mercs. Not only that, Blue Jacket, Bulkhead and Roadkill finally made and rammed the mercs as well. One merc was about to dice the two-wheeler and the beast, until both BJ and RK saved them.
"Sorry we're late, ran into a little traffic" Roadkill joked, looking back at the defeated enemies behind them.
Meanwhile, the Prime and the bounty hunter were continuing their confrontation. "I don't want to go back, you think too small. I'm going to bring the war to the present so that it can continue endlessly again!"
"You would bring back Megatron? Thrust us into another thousand years of civil war and turn this planet to ash, all for profit?" He fired upon Lockdown, who used the ancient relic to teleport away, and right behind him, knocking him over with a roundhouse kick.
"Without hesitation!"
Before Lockdown could do a fatal head-shot on the Prime, he was getting shot from behind by Bulkhead. Of course, it didn't hurt the Bounty Hunter, but it did manage to tick him off even more.
"You fools! The dark spark renders such weapons useless against me!"
"BUT can it do the same for direct impacts?" Roadkill changed form and boosted towards him, but Lockdown proceeded to dodge the ramming, sending her grill first into the wall "I'm oKAy..."
Slashmark facepalmed her face before running towards her best friend who transformed back into her robot and then looked at her temporarily autobot allies. "How do we stop this guy? Better yet, how in the frag are we going to stop the time-bridge?!"
BJ was thinking of what to do. He knows that Optimus is the only one who can beat Lockdown for now. However, for the time-bridge, that's another issue.
"Uh oh, I know that face, it's your "I got a plan face"
"If we can't beat Lockdown, maybe we can slow him down by getting rid of the portal's power supply"
"How?" Bee buzzed. "We can't even get it away from that guy!" However, Bee didn't know what his brother was thinking.
Looking around the area, Arcee noticed a powerline going from the tower in the room to a device that looked like a giant merry go round motor "There's the generator, if we destroy it, then we'll wreck Lockdown's whole operation"
BJ smirked. It was just like how he, the two-wheeler, Cliffjumper and Blowout destroyed Shockwave's Space-Bridge back on Cybertron. "Cee, I always like what you're thinking." he said, smiling at his Delta Team partner.
"You and Blowout go and shut that thing down, I'll go help Optimus"
"You got it!" Blowout said, "Come on, ya little bug, we got some work to do!"
"Hey, what about the three of us?" Roadkill asked, referring to herself, Slashmark and Bulkhead.
"We COULD pry the door open in case of an explosion"
Everyone nodded on the statement. Anyway, Blowout and Blue Jacket ran towards the generator, while Arcee ran towards Lockdown, who was about to kill Optimus. "It's a shame that Megatron is dead... He would've paid me BIG TIME once I brought your head to his hand." the bounty hunter said, about to deliver a death blow on the Prime until he got hit by the two-wheeler's kick. The Prime then got up, heading towards the direction that they're at.
"You messed with the wrong autobots" Arcee pulled out one of her blades, slashed the dark spark off of Lockdown's chest, and drop kicked it towards the top of the stream of energy, while BW and BJ finished disabling the generator
"Yeah, suck on THAT, decepti-CREEP!"
BW and BJ high-fived each other while Lockdown was in rage. He watched as his plan was breaking apart. That was when he grabbed the two-wheeler's throat and started squeezing it with both of his hands.
"I was hoping for that Spider to kill you back on our home, little bot... But it looks like I have to finish her job!" However, that was when Optimus punched him from behind, which made the bounty hunter drop Arcee on the floor. The Prime then proceeds to punch the bounty hunter several times.
Suddenly, the tower began to rumble, sparks flying left and right, panels disconnecting from pressure, Optimus saw the impending destruction of the device, which Lockdown took advantage of to remove himself from punching range "THIS ISN'T OVER, PRIME!" He then proceeded to jump off into an opening on the floor, leading to Primus knows where.
"Autobots, fall back!"
"Don't have to tell us twice!" Roadkill said, quickly opening the doors with Slashmark and Bulkhead. All of them then transformed and drove as fast as they could. They were half-way until a few falling pipes landed on top of the beast. Of course, she was still okay, since she's very tough, but it still kind of hurt.
"AH, FRAG!" Slash cursed in anger. That was when Blue Jacket stopped and saw her in trouble. This reminded him last time where he failed to save her. He wasn't going to make that same mistake again.
"I'm coming, Slash." he shouted, turned around and drove towards where she was. Of course, Roadkill followed him because that was her best friend in trouble.
"I'm coming, bestie!"
They removed enough rubble for her to get up, "Thanks, guys, now let's blow this lemonade stand" she then picked them up and rushed towards the exit with the rest, the power plant collapsing behind them.
...
After that, everyone transformed back into their robot forms and saw the destruction of the power plant. "Wow... Talk about craziness..." Bulkhead said.
"You and me both." Roadkill agreed.
Optimus opened his face plate, looking at Lockdown's departing ship "Lockdown sought to manipulate the past in order to control the future, but the only future to master is one's own, the humans understand this, yet they also understand that the past is the genesis of all things, and must be afforded proper deference"
"Ain't that right." Blowout stated, smiling. She then does a fist-bump with Bulkhead. Arcee and Bumblebee high-fived each other. Blue Jacket then looked at Slashmark. "Y-Y-You did great out there."
She looked down at him, giving him a smile "You weren't too bad yourself"
BJ blushed a bit, didn't know what to do or to say after that. That was when he quickly gave her a hug and let out. However, much to his surprise, Slash actually hugged him back, but he was unaware that she was blushing like he was. Roadkill quickly took notice of it.
"Oh Primus... Just KISS ALREADY!" RK jokingly said.
The two got surprised and quickly finished the hug and took a step back, Roadkill having a dorky smile on her face, and Bulkhead and Bumblebee trying to contain a laugh each.
However, BJ noticed the jealous looks on Arcee and Blowout's faces. "Ummm, let's hurry back to base before... Ohhhhh scrap..." He said, seeing purple flyer jets coming their way.
Roadkill then signaled the others to calm down "Don't worry, I'll handle it" she then opened the com link "Eagle five, return to base, operation under control, over"
"(Roger that captain, eagle five retreating, over and out)" the jets then continued on a straight line, did a u turn, and returned to their place of departure.
"Heh, good thinking, Roadie," Slash smirked before getting angry, "But we're going to explain the prank-call once we're back at the warship."
"Which means trouble for us, great"
As soon as they were leaving, Slashmark stopped "Wait" she then turned around to look at Blowout "What happened to stinger?"
The autobots then remembered that they left the prisoner at the base for reasons, until they had to leave. That was when they looked at her too. "Yeah, what did happen to her?" BJ asked.
"Well, about that, let's just say that she's in a better place." Blowout said.
"Bitch, don't tell me that you ACTUALLY killed her," RK added.
"No, of course not! Even though I wanted to, Cliffy wouldn't want me to do that for his sake. So, I'd let Miko handle it and choose a place so the doc can throw her to whatever destination she picks." Blowout said.
"Really? Where to?" Bee buzzed.
Elsewhere...
Meanwhile, near a highway the 'red Bumblebee' was leaning her back on a rock, looking at the light show left by the time bridge's explosion "Wow, they really did it, and I'm stuck on a planet crawling with organics..." she then started to walk by and got in front of an old mechanic shop, looked at a parked 2007 Camaro, and decided to scan it as a disguise and digitized herself into her new form "...so I'll have to lay low and adapt...for now" she then drove off into the dark of night.
...
Back with another merc, he was walking around the abandoned city, "Great... Now that Lockie left, I'm stuck on this planet with fleshies" He complained. That was when he found an old house with the garage open, revealing an old car. "Hmmm, this could work."
He scanned the junker and transformed, revealing it to be a '51 Hudson Hornet "I'll be coming for you, bluey, when you least expect it" he then left the city and made way to the nearest dead he could find.
Back with Slashmark and Roadkill
The Autobots have returned to base while Slashmark and Roadkill return to the Decepticon Warship. Of course, before they left, they thanked Slashmark and Roadkill for their help, while also asking the beast to keep the secret about her being in their base.
"Phew, that was a crazy night, eh, 'flame job'?"
"Craziest of all year, 'chomper face'...they do know we'll go back to try to kill them tomorrow, right?"
"Abso-fricking-lutley"
The two cons were talking about it once they returned to the decepticon warship. Starscream then walked towards them. "How did the mission go?"
Slashmark turned to him responding with the most truth she could without mentioning the autobots "We ran into mercenaries, kicked a doomsday device into oblivion, and saved the world, sir"
"Hmm, excellent work, you two. I'll give the two of you promotions." Starscream said, which made Roadkill glee with joy.
"No thanks, we're fine" Slash declined, turning off the light in Roadkill's face.
"Very well, then" Starscream then walked away, leaving them to do their thing "Weirdo"
"Seriously, Slash?! We were about to get paid! Even Megatron didn't pay us when he was alive." Roadkill said. However, she made Slash a little upset.
"One, Megatron does pay us with rewards, he just doesn't want to be seen as a softie! And two, you don't even deserve any rewards after that prank call of yours!" The beast said before calming down.
Slash then walked off of the room "Well, I'm taking a nap, too much action for a day, see ya tomorrow"
"Y-Yeah, see ya later." Roadkill gulped.
And now, back with Team Prime
Back in the Autobot Base, everyone was celebrating the defeat of Lockdown. Of course, everyone did ask Blue Jacket why he was becoming 'buddy-buddy' with Slash. He did tell them that Optimus told him to put aside his differences with her. While most of it was the truth, they knew that something was up, so BJ explained.
"Slash and I go way back... Sure, we're still enemies and all, but she was a good friend back then too, and I guess I sort of... liked her." He admitted. "Go ahead. Laugh."
"Nah, we'll let it slide, just, don't tell Optimus up front, or Ratchet at all"
"You got it, Blow"
"Yeah, I'm not gonna judge you for liking someone." Bee buzzed. "Thanks Bee."
"Okay, guys, let's get the kids home." Bulkhead said.
And that was Chapter 15! We hope that everyone enjoyed reading! I'll have to say, this is the longest chapter that we've wrote together. It did took us school year to do it. I didn't even graduate yet until June back then. Anyway, comment what your favorite part was about this event.
While you guys are at it, check out any references.
It's seems that BJ's rivalry with Slashmark has soften... At least for the time being. However, an old rival returns... Darkmatter! He's an OC of Nitro zeus.
Lockdown and Stinger will look very different in this AU from they looked in Transformers: Age of Extinction. Also, in this AU, Stinger is a woman. I know that it sounds weird, considering that the producers didn't confirm anything about Stinger being a guy or a girl in Age of Extinction, but in this story, Stinger will be a woman, so please don't judge us. Oh, by the way, if y'all want to know how they'll look like in the story, check out B-128's Deviantart to find out.
Now, we're heading to Predatory in two parts. I'll admit, at first, I was planning on skipping it since it's Arcee and Jack's moment. However, I decided to carry on with the storyline as planned, with a few changes. The first part will explain BJ's mission with Firewing in a flashback, while the second part will show the original. I hope everyone got all of it down.
Read, review, comment in the review section, and God Bless Us ALL!
