Cybertron was a lost cause. Throughout the war, the planet's Energon reserves had been run completely dry and by the orders of Optimus Prime and the sage Alpha-Trion, the Allspark was sent off world via a one way Space bridge set to a randomly selected location in an effort to keep it from falling into the hands of Megatron or his Science ministry. Now as a final act of Survival, Optimus Prime has ordered all Autobots to retreat from the front lines and prepare for a planet wide evacuation using an Ark class colonizer starship. However, before the Ark class can even leave, it first needs fuel.
An autobot scout named BumbleBee and a wrecker corps Engineer known as Wheeljack were sent out to the city of Iacon to retrieve Nucleon fuel rods from the city's central power center. Their route was through the largest coolant that led up to the power center.
The Two autobots were walking through the tunnel when Bumble decided to speak his mind"This is Suicide, what makes you think the 'Cons won't find us snooping around here?" he complained, with fuel at an all time low, the Deceptions would be guarding the place like a cyberdragon would with gold. "By the way we've been walking for a couple mega cycles now, why Aren't we traveling in vehicle mode to get there faster?"
"One, I have two words for ya, Elita-One. After her guerilla fighters attacked Jhiaxus' cloning hub- the Decepticons have put more security on Shockwave and that freak, leaving only the mercs they hired as rent-a-guards to protect these places. Second, since our alt modes use hover tech which produces lots of heat, we're walking our way there- these coolant tunnels can only mask so much before thermal sensors pick us up." Wheeljack explained to the young scout.
Bee merely made an annoyed groan in acknowledgment, Wheeljack may have had a point but the clock was ticking, they need to be fast and snag those fuel rods or they'll never make it off Cybertron. "Isn't there at least a shortcut or something we can take?"
"Relax we're almost there, the access hatch is only 3 Mechanometers away." Wheeljack said
Bee let out a grateful sigh of relief, thank Primus and the Thirteen! He hated walking long distances, his Velocitronian nature could be blamed for that. He ran to the ladder leading to the access hatch and to Wheeljack to wait while he checked out the area. When he exited the hatch, he was immediately greeted with his former boss Double dealer pointing his modified Megastriker rifle at him
"Long time no see kid." Double Dealer said, "What are you doing at a place like this?"
"A friend and I are looking to nab some Nucleon fuel rods, if I give you some Gold Shanix will you turn a blind eye to us?" Bee said as he started to get some cash out.
"Well that depends on how much you have on you?"
Bee smirked and gave a smug look "How does five hundred sound?" asked before putting out a handful of Shanix.
Double Dealer took the money and walked off, when Bee was sure that the mercenary was out of sight, he signaled for Wheeljack to come up to continue their way to the fuel rods.
as they carefully traversed the corridors of the power center Wheeljack started to ask Bee some rather personal questions."So, you and Double Dealer seem to know each other, Would you care to elaborate a little on that?" he asked.
"I was just a scout and intel gatherer for his crew, that's all." Bee said defensively, that was all he was willing to give Wheeljack, any further question would be shot down or ignored, leading to an awkward silence between the two as they took an elevator. This silence would last throughout most of the trip there until they got to floor 1984, where the room that contained the fuel rods lied. When they entered the room, they saw what looked to be hundreds if not thousands of unused fuel rods that were ripe for the taking.
"Be careful, Nucleon can be extremely dangerous." Wheeljack warned
"How dangerous are we talking?" Bee asked
"If one of these rods ruptured, it would pack enough explosive force to not only bring the whole place down on us, but to also disintegrate it entirely." Wheeljack explained "Now be careful, we'll probably need at least ten rods."
Bee nodded as he began to carefully extract the rods before handing them to Wheeljack, he was able to give the engineer twenty "That should be more than enough." he said
"Good, we should get going then, last thing I want is to be caught and strapped to one of those Variable Voltage harnesses." Wheeljack said before placing the fuel rods in a specialized briefcase like container. The two autobots then started to walk out of the room, they were being careful to avoid being caught however an unexpected 5CR4P-F4C3 drone making it's patrol rounds caught them off guard and spotted them, the alarm sounded.
"Scrap, let's get out of here!" Bee exclaimed as he readied his electro blaster pistol for incoming security.
"Ya don't have to tell me twice Bee." Wheeljack said as converted into his alternate mode and raced through the corridors of the building avoiding enemy blaster fire.
Bee was about to follow the engineer until he was grabbed by the neck pinned to the wall.
Bee was about to follow the engineer until he was grabbed by the neck and pinned him up against the wall. "Going somewhere little autobot?" Bee's attacker taunted. He looked down to see it was Lockdown, one of the members of Double Dealer's crew, however something was different, the last time he saw Lockdown he was bearing the mercenary insignia, but now he saw a Decepticon insignia brandished upon his chest. Before he could ask any questions about Lockdown's sudden loyalty to the decepticons, Wheeljack came speeding in, wielding what Bee could only describe as a sword-wrench combination and severed Lockdown's hand before knocking him out with a blow from the wrench end. Not only was Bee surprised that Wheeljack came back for him, but also confused by the weapon he used.
"What in the Pits is that?" Bee asked
"No time to explain, we need to get to the Ark now!" Wheeljack said as he transformed a sped off, Bee also transformed and wasn't far behind the Engineer. The two were racing through the corridors at breakneck speeds, avoiding oncoming blaster fire to the best of their ability however seeing they felt this was taking too long to exit the blasted building so they took an express route to the ark and smashing through a window which lead to the outside, lucky for them some patrolling seekers were there to break their fall, at the cost of practically totalling their jet forms, though this did have the unfortunate side effect though of those seekers' wingmates raining a hailstorm of nullray fire upon them- the high pitched crackling sound of the shots were getting too close for Bee's comfort and then suddenly one of the null rays hits him, causing all function to temporarily cease. He was about to crash and wreck himself until Wheeljack opened the back door and caught him just in the nick of time. "That was close eh?" Wheel before closing the door
"Yeah, a little too close." Bee groaned as he transformed out of vehicle mode, as he got his bearings back after that null ray blast, he looked to the Nucleon Rods and a plan started to formulate in his processor "How many rods do we need again?" he asked
"At least ten, but right now we have twenty rods." Wheeljack answered
"Nucleon's highly explosive right?"
"Yes it is, why are yo-" before Wheeljack could even finish his question, Bumblebee grabbed one of the Nucleon rods, opened the door and threw it at the rod at the seekers. When the rod was at just the right height, Bee quickly shot the rod and closed the door.
When the rod was struck, a deep thunderous crackle was starting to be heard followed by a high pitched whine. Suddenly a blindingly bright flash occurred followed by a deafening boom! A massive sphere of destructive Nucleon started to consume and shred all that it caught. Wheeljack and BumbleBee were just barely able to outrun it, but they weren't sure for how long though as they were mere centimeters from being engulfed in the explosion. They were only barely able to escape when a combination of the Wheeljack overclocking his own engine and the blast finally subsided.
"What in the infernal pits were you thinking, do you have any idea how many laws in the Tyrest accord you just broke?" Wheeljack scolded, he was not at all happy with Bumblebee's reckless behavior. "If Ultra Magnus found out what you just did he'd have you rot in a cell till the end of the war. And if Mirage finds out that you just destroyed a massive chunk of her home city, she'll kill you slowly and painfully with her own bare hands before using your head as a chew toy for her turbo foxes!"
"Relax Wheeljack- for all they know, it could have been the 'Cons who detonated the Nucleon." Bumblebee said nonchalantly.
"You better hope that's what they assume, because I'm not covering for your tailpipe." Wheeljack warned.