Disclaimer:Transformers belongs to Hasbro, Takara, etc . The only thing in this that belongs to me is Arcee's sister.
"If we are to have any hope of recovering the Iacon relics before the Decepticons do, we must divide our resources," Optimus proclaimed.
"But, Optimus, when it comes to numbers, we are already at a great disadvantage," Ratchet objected.
"Under the circumstances, swiftness of action is paramount. This is one race that we absolutely cannot afford to lose," Optimus explained
"Dispatching multiple squadrons will enable us to pursue all four coordinates simultaneously," Megatron said.
"Lord Megatron, I have assembled the mining detail you requested for the first set of coordinates. Breakdown and I enjoyed previous success retrieving Iacon relics. In memory of my fallen comrade, I intend to do the same again," Knockout said, as he walks into the room with a handful of Vehicons behind him.
"This is a mission, not one of your racing excursions. Stop your preening! Move quickly and operate with a surgeon's skill! Do you understand me, Knockout?!" Megatron snapped.
"Explicitly, Lord Megatron," Knockout chuckled nervously.
"Now, since the unfortunate loss of Breakdown has left you rather vulnerable, you will require appropriate support," Megatron said.
After hearing the sounds of approaching feet, Knockout turned around. When he did, he felt as though he had leaked a little more transmission fluid. Because when he turned around he saw an Insecticon.
"How very repellant," Knockout said nervously.
"Here's a twist, it would appear that the Decepticons have retreated from Manhattan," Ratchet said as he observed that the Decepticon warship was leaving Manhattan on the Cybertronian Computer system.
"They just up and left?" Arcee repeated with disbelief.
"It is more likely that Megatron has already set course for the second set of coordinates, having dispatched a unit to this relic's underground location," Optimus stated.
"That does make sense," Chromette said.
"Without busting up a city block to get to it?!" Arcee said in disbelief.
"They used subways tunnels," Jack said, causing all eyes and Optics to be on him, "New York has a whole network of them running beneath the city."
"Since the New York population no longer seems to be threatened, maintaining our disguise will be necessary," Optimus stated, "Arcee, Bumblebee, you are the best choice for navigating such a densely populated area."
"Optimus, New York has more then eight million people. The odds of being spotted by at least one of them are pretty high. Even if they are heading underground," Jack warned.
"Where are you going with this?" Arcee asked.
"You're gonna need a face man," Jack answered, before elaborating at Optimus' confused expression, "Well, someone who can speak on their behalf. A human who can run interference if their cover gets blown."
"Well, I've actually been in subway stations," Miko pointed out as she stepped forward, "I grew up in a major metropolis. Unlike Mr. I've Never Been Outside Jasper,Nevada."
"I have been to Cybertron," Jack reminded her with a slight smirk.
"Cybertron doesn't have subways!" Miko said, "Do they?"
"Agent Fowler's field experience makes him our best candidate," Optimus reminded everyone.
"Banana fish!" Fowler cried from his position on his bed.
"If he weren't recovering from his encounter with the Decepticon warship," Ratchet added.
"Which we survived without incident!" Miko boasted proudly.
"Very well. Jack and Miko will accompany Arcee and Bumblebee," Optimus decided.
"Yes!" Miko cheered.
"Initiate transport. Triangulate coordinates of the other three relics," Optimus instructed.
No words were said after that. With the seriousness of the race, it was straight down to business. Jack climbed on Arcee while Miko climbed into Bumblebee. Ratchet activated the Ground Bridge and the four of them left. They arrived in an alleyway that led out onto the main street. Around them, they saw many buildings and people in the streets of Manhattan.
"Whoa," Jack breathed.
"Of course, it's no Cybertron," Miko said before Bumblebee drove away.
"All right, face, how do we get underground?" Arcee asked her boyfriend.
"Well, you can't jump the turnstiles and hope no one notices," Jack answered when suddenly they heard Bumblebee honking his horn and drove towards him.
"Check it out! Construction," Miko said, as she showed them a construction site below them with tunnels that was made for trains, "A fact of life in the big city."
They entered the subway via the construction site. Once inside, Arcee and Bumblebee were able to transform into their robot forms and walk freely. Jack and Miko, being their guides, walked a few feet ahead of the two. Consistently, they would turn around to check on their Autobot companions. They were relieved that they turned around for the checkup when they did. Because Bumblebee was about to walk onto the cackling third rail.
"Bumblebee, don't move!" Jack warned the scout, who buzzed a reply, "The third rail. It carries electricity to power the subway trains."
"One touch and zap! You're fried," Miko added and Bumblebee buzzes as he removes his pede from the rail and walks backward on the cement next to the rail, "He must have learned about that on tv or something."
In another section of the subway tunnels an Energon drill, backed out of a wall as the Vehicons went to work. Knockout supervised as two of the Vehicons walked into the cavern they had made to retrieve the relic.
"Could we please pick up the pace. The humidity down here is threatening to corrode my undercarriage," Knockout complained, causing the Insecticon to snarl at him, "Must you hover?!"
If Knockout wasn't happy about the situation before, he certainly won't be now. Especially when he hears of how close the Autobots are to their location.
"Are we getting any closer?" Jack asked.
"Triangulating the coordinates is one thing. But figuring out how to reach them through this maze is another," Arcee answered.
Bumblebee froze when he heard the familiar sounds of metal grinding against metal. Kneeling in front of a vent, he looked into the dark depths, wondering where such a sound could be coming from. While he saw the construction equipment and knew that there was some sort of construction going on in the subway tunnels, he still found the sound to be odd. That caused Arcee, Jack, and Miko to approach him.
"Drilling," Arcee observed.
"It's coming from this way!" Miko said as she began running down the vent.
"Miko!" Jack called as he chased after her.
"Miko, what is your-" Jack began asking as he caught up with her.
"Hold it right there!" They heard a man say with a megaphone.
"Scrap!" Jack and Miko cursed at the same time.
"What are you kids doing down here?" the man asked them as he approached them and they saw that the man had tanned skin and was wearing a regulation orange vest with vibrant yellow stripes.
"We're...on a field trip…" Miko lied, "with our school. But we got lost."
"Oh, really?" The man said, not believing them as he didn't hear of a field trip for the subway tunnels happening that day.
"I told him we should stay with our group, but Leonard here insisted we search for fossils," Miko went on.
"My bad," Jack shrugged.
"I want to go home," Miko said approaching the man, "Can you help us, mister…"
"Vogel," the man answered, "But you can call me Vogel."
Both Miko and Jack glanced at each other before looking back at Vogel.
"So, every ride a Sweeper train?" Vogel asked as he gestured to the train next to him
When they heard footsteps, Jack and Miko turned around to see Arcee and Bumblebee approaching them through the vent, somehow managing to fit through the small hole.
"Face," Jack said as he saw their confused facial expressions.
Jack and Miko climbed onto the sweeper train with Vogel and sped away. However, the two of them soon found themselves getting bored with all the rambling Vogel was doing about a particular topic.
"And this section was added in the 30's as part of a public-works project," Vogel explained to them.
"fascinating," Miko said before yawning in a bored manner.
"But these old tunnels have a dark side, too," Vogel went on, causing Jack and Miko to glace at each other for a second, "Strange creatures have been said to lurk down here. Giant snakes, albino alligators, even mole men."
"Well, but those are just people who live down here because they have no place else to go, right?" Jack said.
"That's what the media wants you to believe. But I say, they're from outer space.," Vogel said, causing Jack to look to his side seeing that Miko was missing, he turned around and saw her, gesturing for them to ditch Vogel, "I'm telling you Area 51's got nothing on this place. The aliens are down here, building up their army, plotting to use us humans as slave labor."
As Vogel said that Miko opened the back door of the train and jumped out followed by Jack and landed on their feet, standing up.
"Aliens, huh?" Miko laughs before turning to Jack, "If he only knew."
"I'm picking up a locator beacon. The 'Cons have unearthed the relic," Arcee decreed.
They raced deeper into the subway tunnels, coming closer to the source of the drilling. Immediately, Arcee transformed her servos into her blasters while Bumblebee's blasters deployed from his arms. They didn't know who to expect to see round the bend of the subway tunnel. However, when she leant out for a better look, Arcee got a good idea of what to expect and that was an Insecticon and Knockout.
"Well? Let me see it already!" Knockout requested impatiently as he shoved the Insecticon out of the way.
"Lock and load," Arcee muttered with a slight smirk.
When she heard snarling above her, she immediately knew what it meant. Insecticon. Quickly, Arcee and Bumblebee dove away to avoid the attack. Together, Arcee and Bumblebee began firing their shots at the Insecticon. Ignoring Arcee for the time being, the Insecticon went to take care of Bumblebee. He almost did with his shots that would be near fatal for the Autobots. Thinking quickly on his feet like the scout he is, Bumblebee dove out of the way and stood next to Arcee. They never ceased fire. Even as the Insecticon came closer to them and fired a few shots of its own.
Hearing the commotion, Knockout stepped out of the cavern where the container with the Iacon relic was hidden. The Vehicons stepped out with him. At first, Knockout was going to question what was going on. Then he saw Bumblebee get knocked into the wall by the Insecticon, he knew what was happening.
"Attack already!" Knockout snapped impatiently.
"I'll get the relic!" Arcee decided as she approached Knockout.
It didn't take long for Arcee to take care of the three Vehicons who stood in her way. With the last Vehicon, she even went as far as decapitating it, watching in slight pleasure as the head bounced across the tracks. However, she didn't account for Knockout being behind her until he attacked her lightly with one of his saws. And by lightly, he knocked her down roughly to the ground with the saw.
"You have lovely features. Perfect for a little painful procedure I call the Nip and Tuck!" Knockout smirked as he lunged for Arcee.
Arcee barely dodged the approaching saw. Taking Knockout's surprise to her advantage, she jumped behind him and kicked his back, sending him flying.
"Dodge and kick," Arcee retorted.
Without stopping to think about it, she made for the cavern Knockout made. Immediately, she grasped the container in her servos and made to remove it. However, it was easier said then done, as the container wouldn't budge from its burrow.
After grasping an overhead light hard enough to cause it to flicker, the Insecticon continued its attack on Bumblebee. Despite being able to return fire and defend himself from some of the attacks, Bumblebee couldn't count the amount of times he would end up on the ground and close to touching that third rail once again. However, that was one of the things with Insecticons that the Autobots hated. They wouldn't stop until their target was down for the count.
Permanently.
Arcee continued her struggle with removing the container from its tight burrow. She wasn't going to stop until the container was free and out of Decepticon reach. Suddenly, she felt electricity coursing through her and screamed in pain, falling to the ground as she clutched her side. Knockout stood over her with a smirk as he twirled the Energon prod in his servos.
"Shock and drop," Knockout shrugged.
Jack and Miko were walking down the tunnels and saw that they've reached a fork.
"Uh…" Jack started.
"This way," Miko said interrupting his train of thought and ran ahead.
"How do you know?" Jack asked the Japanese exchange student as he chased after her, "Miko, let's think this through."
"Why,? 'Cause you think I don't know what I'm doing?!" Miko snapped, "I'm Jack! Optimus picked me to go to Cybertron, so I must know everything!"
"Okay, Miko, seriously, if that's what's bugging you, then why didn't you say something before?" He asked her.
"I've been holding it in," Miko said with her arms crossed.
"Since when do you hold anything in?" He asked her before sighing, "Look, it's not like you don't contribute. Just yesterday you helped take down a psychotic Decepticon warship. This isn't a competition!"
"Lost, huh?" They heard Vogel say as he caught up with them as he flashed a light at them, "You two are gonna have to explain yourselves to the New York Transit Authority.""
"I think we should tell him the truth," Miko muttered to Jack.
"Right. The truth is we lost our dog," Jack said, unconvincingly.
"You're wasting your breath," Vogel said as he didn't believe what Jack just told him.
"The real truth," Miko corrected.
"We're trying to prevent aliens from digging up a powerful ancient relic so they can't use it to destroy our planet," Miko confessed.
"I swore I heard something weird and high-pitched earlier today," Vogel said before turning around, "Something that wasn't the crew drilling over on track 5."
Bumblebee was in slight pain as the Insecticon drag him across the track. Naturally, the pain didn't stop until he was placed next to the unconscious Arcee. That was where the Insecticon just simply tossed him away as though he was scrap. The blow from the landing was enough to knock Bumblebee unconscious. Having successfully retrieved the container, Knockout smirked to himself. Decepticons: one. Autobots: zero.
"Now, shall we see precisely what you are and what you do?" Knockout said as he removed the lid and retrieved a watch like relic and glanced at Bumblebee, "And what better way to learn your power than to conduct an on-site experiment?"
As Knockout came closer to Bumblebee, he didn't hear the sound of the train approaching. He didn't see or hear how the sweeper train with Vogel, Jack and Miko inside was approaching the scene.
"Mole men!" Vogel gasped, "Metal ones!"
"Actually, Decepticons," Miko corrected.
"And they have Arcee and Bumblebee," Jack said.
"Vogel, this thing have another gear?" Miko asked.
"Abso-freakin'-lutely!" Vogel answered eagerly as he switched the gears of the train, causing it to accelerate faster.
Knockout looked up in horror, finally noticing the approaching train. Immediately, the Insecticon flew out of the way to avoid getting run over. Knockout, however, wasn't as lucky as he was hit. He screamed in pain as he was caught between the train and the wall as the sweeper train sped past him. When the train was gone, Knockout fell to the ground, covered in scrapes and bruises.
"Hey! Watch the finish!" Knockout said as he called after the humans.
Immediately, the Insecticon began to shoot the retreated train. One of the shots hit the track just under the yellow sweeper train. The other shot hit the wall next to it. However, the Insecticon was still satisfied with his shots. Arcee and Bumblebee, regained consciousness and witnessed the whole thing, immediately began firing at the Insecticon and Knockout.
"Hate to run, but I just missed my train," Knockout said as he transformed and drove away.
"Follow the relic. I'll grab Jack and Miko," Arcee said, worried about her boyfriend.
As Bumblebee drove away, Arcee began dancing around the tracks, avoiding the shots fired from the Insecticon while returning some shots of her own. Eventually, she transformed into her alternate mode and raced away with the Insecticon flying after her.
"Not good," Vogel said as he tried switching the gear back but was unable to do so, "Break line must have been torched."
"We can't stop?" Jack asked.
"No big deal. These tracks go 'round for miles, right, Vogel?" Miko asked nervously.
"Not this one," Vogel said as he looked down and saw that they were approaching the end of the track.
"This track dead-ends, as in crash and burn?" Jack surmised nervously.
"I'm really starting to hate trains!" Miko screeched.
Arcee transformed as she reached the train and jumped onto the roof with half of her frame hovering outside the train's back door. The three humans heard something from the roof and cried out in surprise, Jack and Miko, immediately looked behind and saw Arcee's chassis hanging down from the roof.
"What was that?" Vogel demanded as the two humans ran to the back of the train before seeing Arcee after she slid down and grabbed an axe from the wall next to him, "Welcome to Earth!"
"Vogel, no!" Jack yelled as he and Miko stood between Vogel and Arcee.
"She's one of the good guys!" Miko cried, causing Vogel to relax.
"And my girlfriend," Jack suddenly added before turning to Arcee, "Arcee, the brakes are shot!"
"Is there any kind of emergency override?" Arcee asked.
"No, ma'am," Vogel said, stepping forward, "But there is a switch-track control up ahead. If you can just adjust the pole rod," Vogel answered, causing the femme to look at him in confusion, "You'll know it when you see it. It'll re-route us to another line."
Without saying another word, Arcee jumped off and transformed into her motorcycle form. If Vogel wasn't amazed before, he certainly was now.
"Did she just turn into a motorcycle?" Vogel inquired in amazement.
They watched as Arcee raced ahead of them towards the switch track control. Then, they heard the familiar roar and screech of trouble. Looking behind them, Vogel, Jack, and Miko saw the Insecticon approaching them ready to cause chaos.
"Uh-oh," Miko muttered.
"And that would be?" Vogel asked.
"Trouble," Jack answered.
"Well, well, look who got his treads back," Knockout said as he saw Bumblebee chasing him in his Urbana 500 alternate mode as he recalled when Bumblebee couldn't transform or shoot him while he was speeding away with an Iacon relic, namely a force field generator.
Knockout immediately gained speed, unwilling to lose this relic to Bumblebee. He even went as far as switching tracks when he had the opportunity to do so. Naturally, Bumblebee switched gears and tracks to continue the chase.
In another tunnel, Arcee, Vogel, Jack and Miko were chasing a different enemy: time. The Insecticon was chasing them. There appeared to be no hope. Quickly, Arcee transformed into her robot form and tried to pull the switch. However, the tracks wouldn't budge. Seeing the track come closer, she wouldn't give up. Besides she didn't want the love of her life to perish as a Human after all, Ratchet was searching for a way to turn him into a Cybertronian and figured that they'd need the help of a well known Autobot scientist, Perceptor in order to find a way to turn Jack into a Cybertronian faster.
"Scrap!" Arcee cursed.
"Uh-oh!" Vogel cringed.
Arcee immediately jumped onto the track and began to kick the track in order to switch the track to another line, even if it meant getting ran over by the train itself if she didn't switch the tracks in time. With one final kick, she heard the cackle of the electricity from the third rail as the tracks switched and the train followed it. Arcee relaxed in relief. Her boyfriend was safe.
"Yes!" Jack said happily that Arcee managed to switch the tracks in time.
"Alright!" Vogel sighed in relief.
"Su-weet!" Miko cheered with relief.
Arcee gasped as she heard the Insecticon's high-pitched screech before seeing it fly towards her and she jumped out of the way, causing the Insecticon to crash into a wall, unable to move away. While he wasn't off lined by the impact, his wings were ripped from his frame. This gave Arcee a slight advantage. Without him being airborne, she could land more attacks on him.
Looking down, she saw that she was straddling the third line Bumblebee almost stood on. She remembered what Jack and Miko had said before. If any of them stood on the third rail, the electrical shocks would be enough to offline them. That gave her some ideas concerning the Insecticon she was fighting. It was perfect.
All she had to do was lure the Insecticon into the trap.
"Come to mama," Arcee encouraged softly.
Slowly, the Insecticon stepped closer, still not taking the bait. Arcee jumped around the track, firing multiple shots at the Insecticon. She wasn't going to stop until she forced the Insecticon to step onto that cackling third rail. Diving after her, the Insecticon ended up landing on the third rail.
Arcee took slight pleasure in watching the Insecticon scream and writhe around in pain as the electricity coursed through him. It was powerful enough to kill him. Just as Jack and Miko promised.
"Shock and drop," Arcee smirked, recalling what Knockout said as he rendered her unconscious with his Energon prod.
That was one situation down. Now, she had to make sure that Vogel, Jack and Miko were safe.
After deliberately bumping into the Aston Martin DBS V12 a few times, Bumblebee managed to successfully cause Knockout to lose control in his vehicle mode. Transforming into his bipedal mode, he grabbed the red sports car by its front bumper and threw the Decepticon scientist across the train tracks. Knockout managed to transform into his bipedal mode in time for the rough landing. However, it caused him to let go of the relic, which bounced across the track.
Snarling, Knockout looked up and saw Bumblebee racing towards the relic. Unwilling to let that happen, he joined the race. The two of them were shoving each other, trying to throw one another off course.
"We're in the clear," Miko said as she placed her hands on Jack and Vogel's shoulder after approaching them at the front of the train.
"Still need a way to stop," Vogel said, "Besides slamming into a wall, I mean."
"Give me that!" Knockout snarled as Bumblebee went for the relic.
The scrimmage between the two caused them both to lose grip of the relic, which began to hum and glow a brilliant blue, signifying that it had been activated. Knockout proceeded to drag Bumblebee down the tracks away from the relic. There was one thing for certain. Megatron will peal his paint if he didn't get the relic. And a few scratches on his finish and the eroding undercarriage was enough for one day, as he didn't want anymore scratches to damage his paint job.
Knockout cried out in surprise when Bumblebee lifted his pede up and kicked him away. To their surprise, the relic seemed to float into the air before attaching itself to Bumblebee's wrist. Bumblebee stood up and glanced down at his wrist in confusion as he didn't know what was going on with the relic , when he suddenly heard the familiar sounds of an approaching train..
Vogel, Jack and Miko watched in horror as Bumblebee stood in the middle of the tracks not moving. Didn't he see them?!
"Watch out!" Jack called.
"Bumblebee!" Miko cried before they shielded their eyes.
Bumblebee turned around and raised his hands in defense as he heard their cries, not that it would protect him much from the impact. However to everyone's surprise, he didn't feel the impact. He phased through the train as it drove through him. Immediately, Bumblebee glanced at his wrist in amazement, wondering what the relic was and how did it allow him to phase through the train as it drive through him without getting hurt by it.
Knockout wasn't as lucky. He was knocked down by the train and was dragged along the track chassis down by it. It actually became their savior as the sweeper train gradually slowed to a stop. However, Knockout suffered some cosmetic damage as a consequence.
"Bumblebee!" Miko said as she looked out the train's window.
Bumblebee buzzed a reply, telling them that he was alright, even though they didn't understand him.
"Dude!" Miko cheered as she, Jack and Vogel exited the train and approached him.
"How did you not get mashed?" Jack asked as Arcee joined them as she transformed into her robot mode and examined the relic on Bumblebee's wrist.
"Phase shifter. Handy when you need to pass through solid objects. Or vice versa," Arcee explained as she phased her arm into Bumblebee's chassis before he took the relic off, deactivating it.
Knockout groaned at the pain coursing through him as he struggled to stand. Glancing into the broken front window of the sweeper train, he surveyed the damage. His entire faceplate was scratched up. And his finish had multiple scratches. Knockout was the complete opposite of his glamorous self.
"No," Knockout gasped with anger, "No!" He then pushed the train towards the Autobots, "You scratch my face, I scratch yours!"
Bumblebee places his servo on the back of the train as it approached him, stopping the train in it's tracks. Then Arcee transformed her servos into her blasters while Bumblebee deployed his blasters from his arm. With one final growl of frustration, Knockout transformed into his alternate mode and made a hasty retreat. During his retreat, he lost one of his tires, showing the Autobots and their friends just the amount of damage the sweeper train did to him.
"He knows. Do we have to take him with us?" Jack asked Arcee and Bumblebee, referring to Vogel.
"To the mothership?" Vogel gasped excitedly.
"I think I have a work-around," Miko said.
"That's right, soldier! Dump that rock and come on home!" Fowler said as he encouraged one of the Autobots that were looking for one of the other three relics.
Suddenly he heard his cellphone ring, "Fowler," he said as he answered the call, "Miko, what is it? What in the sam hill? I'm in the middle of a crisis here, and you want me to...uh...put him on the line."
Miko removed her phone from here ear, smirking and handed it to Vogel. Confused, yet excited, Vogel accepted the phone and brought it up to his ear.
"Mr. Vogel, this is Special agent William Fowler of the United States government. You are hereby deputized as an honorary agent for the department of, u...Interstellar relations," Fowler told Vogel from Miko's phone.
"Thank you, sir," Vogel said before handing Miko back her phone, "So...you folks will be in touch?"
"Abso-freakin'-lutely!" Miko said with a smirk.
"Unh-unh. But until then, we need to maintain complete radio silence," Arcee said to Vogel.
"It's been an honor," Vogel said as he gave Arcee and Bumblebee a salute.
The two Autobots saluted back before the four of them walked away from Vogel.
"Good call, Face," Jack complimented Miko.
"Eh, I understand big city people, who spend way too much time below ground," Miko explained.
"One relic down, three to go," Arcee said, "Let's hope the others are having similar results.
Arcee and Bumblebee than transformed into their alternate modes.
Once Miko entered Bumblebee and Jack hopped onto his Girlfriend, the two Autobots sped away with Jack and Miko to find an exit from the subway tunnel network. Behind them, Vogel watched in amazement at the sight he just witnessed. This was something he'd never forget. No matter how hard he tried, he wouldn't forget this day that turned from an ordinary day on the job to something worthwhile.
"Robots who turn into vehicles," Vogel said.
Humming in contemplating, he glanced at the damaged sweeper train behind him that is supposed to be in his car.
Is his sweeper train a Robot in Disguise?
Next is Triangulation and please favorite, follow and review.