Optimus has been struggling to decipher the last set of codes for a particular iacon file. He began working on the file at around six in the morning and it was now seven in the evening, it took him an entire day to decipher this file. Only one more set of codes and the file will be fully decoded.
His optics (eyes) had never left the screen for almost the entire day and he was told off by Ratchet a couple of times. While he worked tirelessly to decode the file his mind was elsewhere, and his thoughts were about Lucy.
It's been three days since her last visit and last time he'd seen her, she looked worse for wear. Even when she reassured him it still didn't stop him from worrying. Him being preoccupied in decoding the iacon file that he wasn't able to get a chance to contact her. He knew how sensitive she could be and secretly hoped that she would understand the circumstances.
Optimus lets out a low groan, holding where the bridge of his nose would be—if he had one. He shouldn't be distracting himself, but it couldn't be helped. Three days of deciphering the code were wearing him down and he could feel his Dactylin (fingers) aching from using them for long periods. Maybe it was time to call it a day.
As he was about to step away from the control something caught his eyes. He looks up at the monitors to see that the file - -fully decoded. He blinked a couple of times while his mind was trying to process what he was seeing.
Did he just decipher the iacon file without realizing it?
He opens the file where it reveals two pictures, it was a script of some kind, but it seemed like it was written in gibberish. The most boggling thing about it is that the script was written in parchment paper instead of giving them coordinates to search for a relic.
A set of footsteps can be heard approaching from behind him, but Optimus was too transfixed on the script to even notice the field medic.
"Any luck on deciphering the iacon file, Optimus?" his voice had snapped the Prime back into reality as he now turns to meet Ratchets gaze.
"The file has been decoded but..." Optimus looks up at the screen. "It would seem that we hit on yet another mystery on our hands."
Ratchet follows his gaze up at the monitors and then blinks. "What in the AllSparks' name is this? It's not even written in Cybertronian language!"
Optimus glances over to him. "I agree, old friend."
Their discussion on the iacon file had caught the attention of Rafael. He was just working on his homework when he couldn't help but listen in to the conversation about a file written in an incomprehensible language. So, he closes his laptop and carries it with him as he approaches the railing that was right above the large monitors.
Rafael curiously looks up at the screen and immediately knew what this script was. "This is written in Ogham," he said aloud, and the two bots chatter had instantly died down.
The boy turns around and realizes that Optimus and Ratchet where now staring at him with a look of utter shock. Rafael then rubs the back of his neck and lets out a nervous laugh.
"H-how can you be certain of this?" Ratchet asks.
"Oh. Umm, I made an oral report about it in History class." Rafael gestures up at the monitors. "This script is written in an ancient British alphabet from the Middle Ages and I had to learn the alphabets for the report."
They both exchange glances to one another and then they looked back at Rafael. He may be the youngest of the group, but Rafael has proven to be one of the most useful assets to the team. The young boy's intelligence never ceases to amaze them, and this was one of them.
"Rafael, do you think you can decipher what the script?" Optimus asked.
He hums in thought. "Sure! But it'll take me a bit."
"Do what you can," Optimus said.
Rafael takes a seat right by the human-scaled displays and begins to decipher the script from his laptop. He manages to finish decoding the script in seventeen minutes and then he reads over on what the script says. Since it was written in parchment paper almost half of the script was incomprehensible to read. This was probably due to how old the script was written and over time the letters had faded, making it hard and almost impossible to decipher.
"The script is decoded!" Rafael announces to the team as they now gathered around the main room.
With one final click of his keyboard, the script was up on the monitors, fully decoded. "Almost half of it was basically impossible to decipher but there were a couple of paragraphs that were easier than the rest. Plus, some of the words are missing in some of the sentences," he stated as his eyes were now fixated on the large monitors.
The script said the following:
My name is —of —, born on —.
— was sent here to — amongst a — — — —. To study, observe, and to speak — — — — with them.
The— — of — very — is to — —.
The universe strives to maintain balance. That is — reason —y — here. — — foresee —s that will take place for millennials to come.
— — — —, a power — — in form of an item from — creation. — contains the hues of the universe. This precious item marks the — of — soul that will someday — — — on a planet called Earth. A power pure enough to —t— —e, — raw energy capable to be used for the greater good of the universe.
A two-page long script, almost all the paragraphs were unreadable due to its age, but it was manageable nonetheless. The paragraphs that caught their immediate attention were the last paragraph on the second page: a power — — in form of an item from — creation. — contains the hues of the universe. This precious item marks the — of — soul that will someday — — — on a planet called Earth. A power pure enough to —t— —e, — raw energy capable to be used for the greater good of the universe.
If the purpose of this said item is for one of these usages, and in the wrong hands it will have catastrophic consequences.
But there is no indication as to where this item could be located. For all they know it could be anywhere around the planet, it could be above ground, underground, underwater—anywhere. The most important question—what item is it?
-x-
The air inside the ship was crisp, and the lights were dim but enough to provide the necessary lighting. Heavy footsteps echoed throughout the dark halls of the warship and the noise itself was enough to make any Cybertronian tremble. The most feared gladiator of Cybertron and Autobots' alike, maybe the entire universe itself, it was Megatron.
His advances were intimidating, and his gaze could pierce through the sparks of many. He was upset for reasons revolving on the iacon database. He had received word from Soundwave—who he had given the task of decoding the iacon database not long ago, had shown him a file that was encrypted that was decoded when the Nemesis took control, yet it was heavily encrypted for some odd reason. Only to find out that it was nothing more than a two-page long script that was written in absolute nonsense. He was not pleased by the findings and has been walking down the corridors of the ship—fuming.
When he blinked, his surrounding looked different. There was a table filled with medical equipment and a monitor to the left and an operating table which was occupied. He was in the medical room. He had absentmindedly wandered down the corridors until reaching the room. There's no reason to be here. As he turned to walk out of the room he was stopped by his Doctor, Knockout.
"My Liege, what brings you here on this fine evening?" Knockout received an angry stare which made him flinch.
"That is none of your concerns, Knockout. I was merely passing by to check up on your... experiments." his voice lowered at the last part whilst glancing over at the medical bed.
Strapped down on the medical bed was Cylas and he was looking more fatigued since he last saw him. He doesn't look so bright... that's good. A smirk tugged its way at his lips and was beginning to feel the anger almost wash away from within. That is until his mood was quickly turned sour.
"I heard some wonderful news that Soundwave has decoded one of the iacon files."
Just when his anger was fading it was now ablaze once again. "Yes, wonderful news indeed, except-" he says sarcastically before he turns around and was now staring down at Knockout almost threateningly. "That the file is absolutely useless to us!" he roared anger slowly fueling his spark.
Knockout nearly jumped out of his skin by the sudden burst of anger from his leader. He moves aside and watches as Megatron walks straight past him as his master resumed his ramble.
"All of our hard work for nothing! A mere script written in obscure words! How unfortunate. Here I thought we had a great advantage over the Autobots'. Instead, we're on the complete opposite." he shook his head in disappointment.
However, Megatron's discussion didn't go unnoticed by Cylas. "I know the script... you speak of." he croaked out which caught the leaders attention.
Megatron wasn't expecting a reply especially from him and was skeptical. "Tell me Cylas—what makes you think that whatever you claim to say about the script is true?"
"This script originated on Earth, not on your world. That's why it looks like nonsense to you." Cylas raised his head from the bed. "I know what the script says, and I know what it implies."
Megatron approaches the medical bed and leans over, his faceplates inches away from Cylas's. If what he said is true, then he will force out whatever he had to say about the script's contents. "Speak, if not then I will be more than happy to pry the contents right out from your head."
-x-
The only light source inside his office was a single lamp on his desk to his right. His desk was riddled with files that he has been reading almost the entire day. He had successfully got his hands on the documents revolving around Lucy's parents and had the former colonel bishop's top-secret documents that were stored away for who knows how long.
He stifled out a yawn and reaches over to grab his cup of coffee and takes a sip of it while reading one of the case files. Coffee was the only thing keeping him awake; caffeine was practically running through his veins at this moment. If not, he would have been passed out on his desk and would wake up with immense cramps from being in one position the entire night. He's getting too old for this maybe he should see a chiropractor one of these days.
As he placed his coffee down and moved his hand, he accidentally knocked over the cup and spilled coffee literally all over on one side of his desk. He cursed out loud as he stood up and began to rummage through the files. Luckily, none of the files were ruined, now that could've been a total nightmare. Although he did get coffee on his pants, it was only a few drops of it, nothing too damaging.
While he organizes his mess that's when a picture slips out from one of the files and falls on to the floor. He stops what he was doing as he bends down to pick it up. The picture was on its back when he picked it up before he stood upright. Just when he was about to place it back something about it caught his attention. He inspects the picture and in the photo was a family: in the front were two girls standing next to each other, both had auburn hair and the one on the right was much younger than the one on the left. The younger one is none other than Lucy with a necklace around her and was smiling directly at the camera. The older one had her arm around Lucy's shoulders, this was her sister Emily. Behind the girls were their parents, both were in their middle ages and were dressed casually in the photo, so were their daughters. The father, Erasmus had short brown hair, with glasses and had bright blue eyes and to his right was his wife. The mother, Varvara had bright red hair its hues resembling like the metal copper. Both standing close to each other and were staring happily at the camera.
A smile was tugging its way up to his lips. They all looked so happy back then, deep inside he wished that the incident had never happened. Maybe, just maybe they would've had the chance to live a long and happy life together. Yet, fate can take a turn for the worst—cruel. Now their existence is nothing more than a fragmented memory.
He'd been staring at the picture for a while now and he notices another person standing to Varvara's right. He couldn't believe what he was seeing; in the picture with the family was Silas. His hairs stood on end, and the pit of his stomach had churned rather uncomfortably.
This meant Silas had played a major role in the family's demise, it had to be! There was no other explanation to it...but why?
Fowler then begins to shuffle his way through the many files until he found the one. It was a secret file from the former Colonel Leland Bishop and begins to flip over the many pages. He stopped flipping the pages when it landed on to an item; it was a picture of a necklace the very same one that Lucy was wearing in the family photo. There was a note right next to it, but he didn't even bother to read it.
He wasted no time to grab his belongings before heading out the door of his office. He needs to inform this to her, so texted her and was going to meet her at the Autobot base.
-x-
The violent whirling of a helicopter could be heard as it landed right atop the plateau. Its wings slowing down this was followed by a loud hiss from the engines before going silent. He exits out the cockpit and made his way over to the elevator. The doors of the elevators slid open allowing him to step inside and press a button before they once again slid closed.
As he waited for the elevator doors to open, he has been going over on what he was going to say to her. Disclosing this vital piece from the case to her wasn't going to be easy. He doesn't know where to even begin! It was gnawing him from the inside and not a pleasant way. Then the elevator doors suddenly slid open and he steps out only to see the team discussing something, not even acknowledging his presence.
That was until he announces his presence. "What in the world is going on here, Prime?"
Optimus turns his head to meet Fowler's gaze, he wasn't expecting to see him here. "Agent Fowler? What brings you here on such short notice?"
Fowler briefly moved his gaze elsewhere before they landed on to the Prime. "Just wanted to check how things are, you know? Besides-" he approaches over the railing and rests his hands onto it. "What's all the commotion about?"
So, Optimus proceeds to explain the entire thing to him.
"Wait a minute-you're telling me that you decoded this an hour ago, yet you haven't figured out where or what this item could be?" Fowler was in utter disbelief. I mean, surely this couldn't be as hard as it is...right?
Ratchet was the one who decided to speak. "Agent Fowler, we're doing our best but it's not an easy task." he then adds. "This item could be referring to anything on this planet! And the only small piece of the clue it provided was its color." Ratchet said. His voice sounding a little peeved off and no one could blame him for it. A clue this small would make things harder for them to figure out.
Optimus suddenly spoke. "Such a vital piece of evidence yet not enough to discover what it truly is."
Essentially, they're unable to move forward like this. Who knew that small detail would cause them so much trouble? For all, they know the Decepticons' may have already solved the clue and we're currently searching for it.
An item that resembles the universe... what in the world could it be?
They were too preoccupied in their discussion that they failed to notice Rafael attempting to intervene in the conversation. It took him a while before eventually, he succeeded in gaining their attention.
"I'm not too sure... but I think I've seen those colors before from somewhere..." he trails off with his fingers underneath his chin.
He was fully expecting someone to say something, but no one said a word. From the weird looks, he was receiving it was like they were judging him. Did they think he was lying to them?
"I'm serious about this. I've seen those colors before!" he quickly defended himself, yet he still received unsure looks from them. He wasn't the type of person to lie, so why did they doubt him?
Rafael's gaze landed on to Optimus and has high hopes to explain himself to them. Optimus gave him a curt nod to which he was grateful and begins to explain himself.
"It mentions about this item over and over on how it resembles these colors and uh..." he was hesitant at first but gathers enough courage within himself to say the words. "By any chance, could this item happen to be a piece of jewelry?"
Everyone exclaims in unison, all except for Optimus and Fowler although the look of pure shock was enough said. However, they failed to acknowledge the concerned look on the boy's face before Jack suddenly spoke.
"I'll have to agree with Raf on this one," Jack said as he now stood right beside Agent Fowler. "It was created on Earth by a Cybertronian, so naturally they must've used Earth's materials to forge this item in the first place." he pointed this out then Ratchet intervened.
"Puh-lease... what makes you think it's - -"
Suddenly a familiar British voice interrupts his rant causing him to look over.
"Sorry...uh, did I just interrupt something important just now?"
They were so engrossed in their discussion that they didn't even hear her arrive.
Ratchet regained his composure before responding to her. "No actually... we were just in the middle of - - where on Earth did you get that?" Ratchet points his digit (finger) to her which was directed to something hanging around her neck.
Lucy blinks for a moment before following where his digit (finger) was pointing at. Then the realization hits her. "Oh, you mean my necklace?" her fingers grace on to the oval-shaped pendant. "I've always been wearing this."
She looks up to notice everyone's gaze was directed right at the necklace. Then her cheeks suddenly turned a red hue including the tips of her ears from embarrassment. She didn't understand what was going on and all this attention she was getting made her feel extremely self-conscious. She then covers up her necklace as if she were exposed.
She then stutters out. "C-can someone please tell me what in the bloody hell is going on? And why are you all so interested in my necklace suddenly?" she glances nervously at them.
Then Agent Fowler pulls her aside to explain what was currently happening. All this information he was telling her was overwhelming to comprehend but she silently acknowledges the situation. Although, when he mentioned this item that resembles the colors of the universe and Rafael suggesting that this item could be a piece of jewelry, every bit of color on her face had instantly vanished.
She swallows nervously with her hand still covering the necklace from view. "So... what you're saying is that this "item" it mentions could be... my necklace?" she asks. Her eyes landing on to Optimus to which he then responded.
"Indeed, but in order for us to truly know." Optimus then gestures his hand towards the field medic beside him. "With your consent, we would like to examine the piece of jewelry."
Appalled. She instinctively tightens her hold on the necklace. "W-what? Can't Ratchet just... scan it from here?"
All the bots shared the same confused expression. Her sudden change of approach raised many questions amongst the group.
Miko then approaches her, stands right behind her before speaking. "What's got you so worked up? Besides, it's just a necklace."
She should've used her words more carefully because, in the blink of an eye, Lucy had whipped her head around to meet her gaze looking very upset. "It's not JUST a necklace!" she spat defensively which made the girl flinch in utter shock and then staggers a couple of steps back.
No one has ever seen her react this way, especially over a mere piece of jewelry.
"I can't just... give it to you. This is all I have left from them..." she trails off with her eyes glued on to the floor to avoid their stares.
Whatever she was talking about had everyone scratching their heads. They didn't really comprehend what she meant, yet the only person who was genuinely aware of this was Agent Fowler.
He took a step forward, offering his hand to her to which she instinctively moved back. "Lucy, I know it's difficult for you but now is not the time to get so sentimental. All they ask for is to examine it for a moment."
"No." she mumbles whilst shaking her head dismissively.
"Lucy... please."
The overwhelming emotions were too much. It felt suffocating. A feeling began to stir from within, and she just couldn't take it anymore.
"NO!"
The result had caused the entire room to quake uncontrollably. All the lights and the monitors had begun to flicker. Pieces of equipment had fallen from their place with a loud clang as well as spare metal parts across the room. When the entire ruckus had finally calmed down the only noise that was heard was Lucy huffing.
Lucy was steeped in guilt. She kept her eyes shut and with her head hanging. She can hear the murmurs amongst the team and the guilt hadn't sat well inside her chest. What she had done she could not undo. Then Fowler spoke.
"Lucy?"
She took in a silent but deep breath before raising her head to meet his gaze. "I'm sorry." she then proceeds to outstretch her arm forward and Fowler was quick to notice her actions.
"Lucy don't - -" but he was a second too late.
With a swift and horizontal movement causes the entire room to be completely consumed by darkness. Suddenly, the sound of the Ground Bridge activating their attention was now drawn towards the now activated vortex. There she stood in front of the entrance of the Ground Bridge and they watched as she began to walk towards the vortex.
Nobody could react fast enough, except for the young scout. Bumblebee was quick on his feet and made a beeline for the Ground Bridge. However, as he got closer, he felt an invisible force push him back causing him to stagger and was absolutely perplexed for what just happened. Then this invisible force immediately began to reveal itself. There was a bright blue bubble that was blocking the entire entrance of the Ground Bridge.
It's almost impossible to go through it without causing some serious injuries. At this point, there wasn't much they could do to sway her out of it. They all stood there and watched as her silhouette finally disappears through the vortex.
(A/n)
I've been having a difficult time trying to find motivation in writing ever since I finished my finals. I wanted a break and occasionally work on the chapter, at a slow pace. Just a quick reminder this semester will be tough on me and it will slow down my progress on future chapters.
Hope do you all understand and may you all have a wonderful day.