5. Deus Ex Machina
Story Start: Jasper High
Miko gave a heavy sigh from her seat as she groaned out "Detention." She then perked up as she heard loud music playing outside. Sure enough, a look outside showed that Bulkhead had just arrived. A minute later, she was slipping into the passenger side and said "I love this song!"
"Miko, I thought you had a history report to do. Did detention end early?" Bulkhead asked sternly.
"It did for me." Miko said with a grin before she looked out the window and suddenly flattened herself as she said "Uh Oh, here comes the teacher, and she doesn't look happy. Step on it, Bulkhead!"
"Ah, Miko." Bulkhead complained even as he shifted into drive. It wouldn't do for the teacher to see that there was no one driving him after all.
As the pair drew close to the entrance to the Autobot Outpost Bulkhead said "Miko, I'm supposed to be your guardian, not your getaway car. You can't just cut detention. What if your parents found out?"
"Dude, they live in Tokyo, remember? And don't even worry about my host parents. I think I scare them." Miko said, a little smugly at the end.
As Bulkhead drove into the tunnel he said "Miko, listen, if you fail high school, you can't go to, uh Uni- Uh, it's "keys" - Uh "codge"- Wait, wait. W-what's that word again?"
Getting out when Bulkhead stopped, Miko said "Uh, "college?" Ugh. You sound like my parents."
Transforming, Bulkhead asked "Wait, aren't they Japanese?"
Miko scoffed and said "They may speak a different language, but you say the same things."
"Because we want the best for you. And that means making sure you go to school, not jail." Bulkhead said.
"Uh oh." Jack said with a smirk from where he was standing next to Raf's computer area. Looking down at Miko he asked "What'd you do?"
Before Miko could deny any wrong doing, Bulkhead kneeled down and said "Look, Miko, before I became a warrior, I was a laborer-Construction. I can build stuff, I can break stuff. And that's it."
Miko's eyes almost visibly lit up as she said "I love breaking stuff, I want to be JUST like you, Bulk!"
"Oh come on, why would want to be like me when you can be a, a medic like Ratchet?!" Bulkhead said, gesturing at said medic at his station.
Ratchet didn't deign to weigh in on the current conversation, instead stating "I'm detecting a fresh Energon pulse from the nation called Greece. An ancient city-Quite historic, I believe."
Bulkhead blinked once before he decided he could use this and said "Ancient Greece, huh?" Glancing down at Miko with a grin, he said "Oh, field trip."
Miko looked excited at that and quickly ran to the Ground Bridge tunnel as Ratchet put in the coordinates, never noticing the Medic giving Bulkhead a smirk, the Wrecker putting a finger to his lips and winking for a moment. Raf and Jack did their best to keep their snickering quiet even as the pair went back to looking over the various 'close encounter' pictures on Raf's monitors, looking for anyone who had managed to take a picture of any of the Autobots or even the 'Cons and removing said pictures.
Scene Change: The Nemesis
The Nemesis was currently making its way through heavy storm clouds. On the bridge, Starscream was watching the large viewing screen as lightning flashed. Hearing the door to the bridge open, he said "It's about time, Knockout. I do not enjoy being kept waiting."
The Decepticon's Chief Medical Officer sighed as he walked further into the bridge and said "It was a long drive, Starscream. I'm still picking bugs out of my grille."
Starscream turned to look at Knockout and said "Yes, right. You're one of those."
"Come again?" Knockout asked in confusion.
Walking over to then around Knockout, Starscream said "Never understood why any self-respecting Decepticon would choose automobile as his vehicle mode when he could have flight."
Knockout smirked and said "I like the way I look in steel-belted radials."
A few minutes later, the pair were reaching the medical bay and Knockout said "I take it Lord Megatron requires a laboratory assist."
"You might say that." Starscream said and the door opened revealing Megatron on a medical slab, a giant hole in his chest and several tubes hanging from the ceiling attached to him, visibly moving as they worked on keeping him alive.
"Whoa." Knockout said with slightly widened optics.
Scene Change: Greece
Bulkhead drove out of the Ground Bridge into the area where the Energon Pulse was detected and said "We're here!"
Miko hopped out and said "Sweet!" As she looked around and Bulkhead transformed, she asked "So, what are we doing in Greco-Ville?"
"I'm scouting for Energon. You're doing research for your history report." Bulkhead stated, taking out his scanner as he talked.
Miko's jaw dropped a little as she asked "You punked me, Bulk? Not cool." Still, she did generate a Landscaping Monocle (A combination telescope/laser range finder/camera) from her Forge and began using its camera function to zoom in and then take pictures of the various ruins around her.
Bulkhead meanwhile glanced down at his scanner and said "Hmm. Signal's strong." Walking forward, Bulkhead followed the scanner's directions until the pair came upon a set of heavy machinery, thankfully not currently in use, and he said "An excavation site." At Miko's look at the 'big word', he smiled at her and said "I know construction." Turning serious again, he continued "According to my scanner, humans hit Energon veins, and they don't even know it."
Looking around, Bulkhead spotted something on the wall of one of the ruins and his optics widened as he said "That's Cybertronian!"
Scene Change: The Nemesis Medical Bay
As Knockout walked over to closer inspect the patient, Starscream gave a gesture with his hand and said "Sadly, our inevitably former Lord Megatron has been like this for some time. But the crew took a vote, and it was decided that an expert might put him on the road to recovery."
"I've done plenty of body work, Starscream, but I'm better at breaking them than fixing them." Knockout said, his hand turning into a drill and spinning for a moment before changing back as he sighed and said "It would help if I had my assistant."
Starscream frowned and said "I summoned both of you. Where is he?"
Knockout gained a smirk as he said "We were hot on a fresh energon trail when you called. Breakdown will show when he's through scouting it."
Scene Change: Greece
Bulkhead frowned at the picture and asked "Why would ancient Greeks paint an Energon Harvester?"
"You know what that thing is?" Miko asked even as she snapped a zoomed in picture of the painting in question. Lowering her monocle, she looked up at Bulkhead with a grin and said "You're smarter than you let on."
"But even dumber than he looks." A voice said from behind them and when the pair turned to look, a Blue Decepticon that was as big as if not a little bigger than Bulkhead came out of a tunnel.
"Breakdown." Bulkhead said with narrowed eyes and a heavy frown.
The named Decepticon grinned and asked "Miss me?"
"Like rust in my undercarriage." Bulkhead stated.
"You know this lunk head?" Miko asked, clipping her Landscaping Monocle to the back of her pants' waistband, bringing her left arm behind her back as well so that way she could pull out the compacted version of a Gravity Gun from Half Life 2 the Forge made her without the Con seeing it.
"We have a history." Bulkhead said, sparing a moment to look down at Miko, and incidentally seeing that she had armed herself.
A moment later, he turned his gaze back to Breakdown as the Con said "And you have a pet. Does it play catch?" The brute reached for a broken column next to it and threw it at Miko as he shouted "Catch!"
Expecting Bulkhead to protect his 'pet' and thus allow him time to get closer, Breakdown's optics widened when instead said 'pet' whipped her arms out from behind her back and pointed the weapon that she did NOT have before at the pillar which came to an abrupt halt a 'mere' three feet away from her.
Grinning evilly, Miko called out "Thanks for the ammo! Now YOU catch!" The next instant, the pillar was shot back at Breakdown like a round launched from a rail gun, slamming into Breakdown's chest and hurling back into the tunnel with a shout of pain.
"Think that was enough?" Miko asked Bulkhead mildly.
"If only." Bulkhead muttered, left hand shifting to blaster mode while his right turned into a mace.
Sure enough, there was the sound of an engine revving and Breakdown came roaring back out of the tunnel in his combination monster truck/SUV form. The gun mounted on his top fired a blast of energy at Miko who quickly popped a bubble shield generator from Halo out of the Forge and threw it on the ground, the shield forming just in time to stop the blast.
Unfortunately, the blast distracted Bulkhead for that second it took him to override the instinct to protect Miko and Breakdown closed with him, transforming a couple of steps away. Breakdown shoulder tackled Bulkhead off of the level they were standing on, down to the bottom level before rolling with the landing and throwing Bulkhead into the fresco.
Openly laughing, Breakdown taunted "Whoops! Hope the pretty picture wasn't too important." The next moment, he was back in vehicle mode and tearing away.
Miko quickly popped out a hover board and zipped down to Bulkhead as she called out "You alright Bulk?!"
Bulkhead groaned a little and said "Told you I'm good at breaking things."
Miko grinned and said "Don't worry, I always have your back, Bulk." Grabbing her Landscaping Monocle, she patted it and said "I got us a picture of the picture."
Scene Change: Autobot Outpost
Optimus studied the picture Miko had taken which was now on the screen of Ratchet's station and said "It is indeed an Energon Harvester-A powerful tool created by the Ancients to remove raw Energon from any source."
"Greek gods knew Autobots?" Raf asked.
Optimus shook his head a little and said "No. The Ancients often used the art of a given era to conceal messages. This fresco was likely a signpost indicating a Harvester's location hidden somewhere on this planet."
Jack looked worried as he said "Uh, Optimus, if the Harvester removes Energon from anything, and you all have Energon pumping inside you..."
"In Decepticon hands, the Harvester would be a devastating weapon." Optimus finished solemnly.
Miko grinned up at Bulkhead giving him a thumbs up as she said "See? You were a genius to total that painting."
Arcee smirked and said "Miko's not wrong. How can the 'Cons find the Harvester without the fresco?"
"With high-speed internet?" Raf suggested before he turned to the monitor of his own station and quickly typed as he said "If you do an image search for 'Greek God' and 'golden orb' this pops up." Sure enough, a picture of the statue that was shown in the fresco appeared and Raf continued "It's in a museum."
"That the real deal?" Arcee asked Optimus with a frown.
Optimus studied the image for a brief moment before he said "Contact Agent Fowler."
Unfortunately, that wasn't possible. Instead, they got his voice mail, which had rather bad news.
"You've reached special agent William Fowler. I'm currently on an intensive training retreat and unavailable until Tuesday."
Ratchet glanced back at Optimus and said "I hate talking to machines."
Optimus frowned and said "Without agent Fowler's direct aid, we will have to confiscate the Harvester on our own."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, "Confiscate"? As in steal museum property?" Jack asked with wide eyes.
"That sounds illegal." Raf said nervously.
Optimus' frown grew a little as he said "I do not wish to break human law, but once the Decepticons learn of the Harvester's location, they will not hesitate to obtain it by any means necessary. We must act covertly."
Jack held up his hands in a gesture that encompassed the Autobots and said "Okay, n-no offense, Optimus, but covertly and giant robots don't really go together. Museums are public. A-and they have guards and security cameras."
"I can handle the cameras and the rest of the security system, though I'll have to be on site first since they almost DEFINITELY use a closed loop system." Raf offered.
"And I should be able to easily make a copy once I've got the original to scan, the people running the museum won't even know the difference!" Miko said with a thumb's up.
Jack glanced at the other two kids for a moment then sighed and said "Alright, guess I'll be playing pack mule then."
"And we shall station ourselves outside of the building, in order to intercept any attempt to steal the Harvester made by the Decepticons." Optimus stated.
Scene Change: The Nemesis
Breakdown stared at an image of the statue holding the Harvester on Soundwave's visor and nodded as he said "Mm-hmm. That's definitely it."
Starscream grinned as he said "Then I'm afraid Megatron's well-being will have to wait. It's harvest time."
Scene Change: Museum
The Autobots came out of a Ground Bridge portal behind the museum. Each Autobot took a position and as he reached the Front, Optimus said "Autobots, confirm position."
"Westward ho." Arcee stated.
"South side covered." Bulkhead confirmed.
"East side covered." Bumblebee finished.
"Maintain your guard. Jack, Miko, Rafael, I have a visual of the Harvester, and there are currently no guards present within the area of the museum it is housed, you may proceed."
A moment later, another portal formed and Jack, Miko, and Raf quickly flew through the Ground Bridge. Jack was in his full Green Lantern form while Miko was back on her hover board wearing a helmet reminiscent of Red Hood only purple with pink highlights in order to hide her identity. Raf, wearing a yellow and brown helmet, was holding onto her waist from behind. Soon as they were in, Raf turned into his electric form and entered the closest security camera he could see. In bare moments, he had control of the entire security system of the museum and had all of the alarms turned off while still reporting an armed status and the cameras had their images locked.
Jack and Miko quickly reached the statue that held the Harvester and Miko quickly used the Forge to scan the orb. As a replica with a solid block of metal on the inside unfolded from the Forge Jack surrounded both it and the actual Harvester in a shell of Will energy and quickly swapped them.
"Package secured." Miko said over coms.
"Guys, we've got company, Decepticons coming through the main entrance." Raf stated, watching their approach via the external cameras.
"Jack, Miko, send the Harvester back to Base, we shall deal with the Decepticons." Optimus sent.
"You heard the big guy." Miko said, her Forge spitting out a block of metal that rapidly unfolded into a thin ring which formed a blue wormhole. Putting a hand to where her com was, she stated "Ratchet, confirm portal destination."
"If it's the blue puddle of water that just appeared standing upright for no apparent reason then confirmed." Ratchet stated.
Miko nodded at Jack who quickly rolled the Harvester through the portal which immediately shut off after, the ring collapsing back into its block form and reabsorbed by the Forge.
The Universe decided at that point to show that the Decepticons hadn't been able to see the humans make the switch. Whether that was good or bad was yet to be seen. What WAS important at the moment was Optimus barely stopping a missile before it entered the building. As it was, the tip of said missile had punctured the glass causing spider web cracks to form all over the panel.
Knockout used Optimus' attempt to keep the missile from detonating in the building to get up close and jam a staff tipped with an Energon Prod into his neck. Knockout withdrew the prod and sidestepped Optimus as he stumbled down the stairs then fell to the ground. The Decepticon leapt up into the air to land on Optimus prod first only to be grabbed by a giant hand of green energy.
"Gah, what in the name of Cybertron?!" Knockout asked as he struggled to get free.
"That wasn't very nice." Jack said, a phase shifter construct on his right wrist allowing him to phase through the cracked glass (which he had sent his Will through the gap Breakdown had so generously provided earlier). Miko also phased through with a phase shifter provided by her Forge and she cracked her knuckles as she stared at Breakdown who was still in vehicle mode.
"Ugly's mine." Miko growled as she began directing her hover board forward.
"Do you have the slightest idea how little that narrows it down?" Jack asked, his green lantern mask not hiding the raised eyebrow he made in the slightest.
"Oi, I take offense to that!" Knockout said only to grunt in pain as Jack's hand construct gripped him even tighter.
Giving Knockout a flat look, Jack said "The only reason why you aren't a crumpled tin can after what you just did to Optimus is because I don't want to leave Energon puddles on the parking lot that'd I'd have to clean up so some human won't find them and start asking questions. So I suggest you shut up and stay quiet before I decide my annoyance outweighs my practicality."
Knockout eeped then firmly kept his mouth SHUT.
Miko cackled then shot towards Breakdown as she called out "Come here Cupcake!"
Miko's charge was joined by the other three Autobots as Bumblebee came in from the right, Arcee from the left, and Bulkhead came from the top of the museum. Breakdown started driving backwards at high speed and fired at the Autobots and Miko.
Jack watched as the chase quickly entered the city and sighed as he said "What part of this operation needing to be covert did those guys not get?" He then heard a groan and looked down at Optimus as he began to get up to his feet and asked "You alright Optimus?"
"I am-GUGH!" Optimus started to say only to be cut off as Soundwave dropped from the sky on top of him, electrocuting him with one of his tentacles while the other went for Jack, smacking him out of the air and incidentally causing the Green Lantern to lose focus on his Construct and drop Knockout.
"Soundwave! Aren't you a sight for sore optics!" Knockout said with a grin as he stood up, idly brushing off his torso.
Soundwave gave the Medic a nod before he turned towards the museum and the tentacle not electrocuting Optimus smashed through the weakened glass, grabbing the orb that was resting on the statue's outstretched hand. Soon as it was in one of his own hands, he opened a Ground Bridge and entered it, Knockout quickly following behind.
As the Ground Bridge closed, Jack groaned as he picked himself up and said "Stupid, stupid, stupid! ALWAYS look up when dealing with 'Cons, they've got FLYERS Jack!"
"I'm sorry Jack, he was staying above the view of the external cameras." Raf said over the Coms.
Jack sighed and said "It's alright Raf. Just get out here and let's get back to base."
The nearest light post in the parking lot sparked a bit and Raf was standing next to him and a slowly recovering Optimus. Giving the pair a shaky grin, Raf said "At least the Cons only got the fake Harvester and not the real one."
"Indeed Raphael." Optimus said as he worked himself to his knees. Transforming into vehicle mode a lot slower than normal, he sent over his Coms "Ratchet, open a Ground Bridge on my location. I am returning to base with Jack and Raphael."
"Understood Optimus, but what about the others?" Ratchet asked even as the Ground Bridge opened.
"They are currently in pursuit of Breakdown. Given that said pursuit is through the city, we must call it off immediately." Optimus said, slowly rolling through the bridge, Jack and Raf walking beside his driver side.
"Understood, I'll tell them." Ratchet acknowledged.
"Miko's not going to be very happy." Raf pointed out.
"Yeah well, I'm not happy." Jack said with a frown.
Still, at least they HAD kept the Energon Harvester out of Decepticon Hands, so there WAS a silver lining in all of this.
Scene Change: The Nemesis (Half An Hour Later)
"What do you mean it's a FAKE?!" Starscream yelled at Soundwave.
Soundwave pointed at the screen showing the scan he had run on the Harvester to ensure it worked before handing it over to Starscream. There on the screen, was a cube of metal resting in the spherical shell of the 'Harvester'. On the face of the cube was an emoji giving the stink eye and as the view rotated it showed various cartoon characters giving various offending gestures. Except on the last side, which instead of pictures instead had a message: Sorry Dudes, Better Luck Next Time! The Autobots. Underneath that was a picture of a Cybertronian hand giving a peace sign.
"RRRRAGGGGHHHH!" Starscream yelled in anger.
END
Author's Notes: Alright, let's face it, there was absolutely no way that this was going to go ANYWAY like the last half of the episode given the abilities the Kids have. The ability for Raf to enter the security system, Miko able to make a fake, it just wouldn't have made any dang sense to even TRY and stick with the Cons succeeding in grabbing the Harvester and Miko ending up in security custody. The only thing I had trouble figuring out was how to let Knockout and Breakdown escape since I still have PLANS for those two. But then I remembered that Soundwave had tagged along and viola, sneak attack from above.
Anyways, I hope you guys liked this. The reason for the delay on this one is that I'm working on a chapter for a potential MHA SI, one that I'll be trying to finish now that this is out of the way before giving the Story Wheel a spin. I'll put the result of that spin at the end of the Potential Story chapter when I post it. So until next time, this is Tac signing out.
