Chapter 4
A/N: Hey everyone! Welcome back! Let me know what y'all think of this rework so far, I'm already liking it a lot more than the original. Which makes sense, I wrote that back in high school, and this is flowing a whole lot smoother.
Ok, enough with my rambling, I just own the story, Emerald belongs to my friend.
/comms/
Telepathy/flashbacks
"Bumblebee/Soundwave talking."
Unknown Location, July 6, 09:35PDT
"Of the energon deposits we've located while you were away, Lord Megatron, this one is by far the most significant. The drones have been mining without pause during your absence, and have amassed quite the stockpile," Starscream reported as he stood overlooking the mine. Motioning to a solider, he waved his talons dismissively. "You, fetch me a sample."
The seeker could feel a prickle in the electromagnetic field around him as he heard a growl from behind. "Starscream." Flinching, the lanky man turned to stare as glowing scarlet eyes narrowed at him from the shadows, the ground rumbling slightly under powerful steps as the pale, silver-armored man stepped into the light. "Now that I have returned, I will issue the commands."
Inclining his head, Starscream gave a short bow as the tyrant approached. "Very well, Lord Megatron. Then, as your humble servant, shall I ready the spacebridge? To bring forth the Decepticon army you have no doubt gathered in you three years in space?"
"My army will come," Megatron replied, and Starscream grinned. "However, I have deployed most of the fleet to handle some issues in the Zeltar system, the Autobots are getting rather bold. But, my time away has yielded more…intriguing means of materializing the forces we need. Without stretching the fleet thin."
Frowning, Starscream took a tentative step towards his master, frowning as he noticed a strange violet glow bouncing off Megatron's armor. "And…what might that be, Master?"
The Lord of the Decepticons didn't even need to be facing him for Starscream to tell Megatron was grinning sinisterly, "Nothing of importance, just something the ancients referred to as the Blood of Unicron."
Starscream's energon ran cold as he stepped to Megatron's side to see, to his horror, that in his master's hand was the very thing of which he spoke. A thin sliver of violet energon clutched in Megatron's grasp, it's aura pulsing with something akin to what Starscream could only describe as dread. "Unicorn the Destroyer," he murmured making sure to keep a wide berth as he circled to face Megatron. "But, it's said his blood is the Antispark itself, the very essence of the pit."
If anything, Megatron seemed to finding his caution amusing. "Indeed," he mused. "I plucked this particular piece of dark energon from cosmic shores lightyears from here, on a world that is…no longer habitable for its native species."
Starscream nodded, "My Lord, legends tell that it holds the power to…" he gulped, "revive the dead."
"And we only require a cadaver to be certain," Megatron smirked, his glowing gaze meeting his own. "Tell me Starscream, are you willing to make the ultimate sacrifice?"
Chuckling sheepishly, Starscream shook his head. "That won't be necessary, if I may Lord Megatron," he motioned to the lift watching in relief as his gift for his liege finally arrived. Lying there, all tied up like a present, was the corpse of the Autobot he killed the other day. "Consider it a welcome home present."
Glancing at Megatron, Starscream almost sighed with relief as he saw the grin on his master's face. "Well done Starscream," Megatron praised, "for once, you didn't fail to disappoint."
While the latter half of that statement stung somewhat, the seeker was still pleased to know he wasn't on the chopping block this day.
-.-
Jasper
Bumblebee groaned as he heard loud beeping on the edge of his consciousness. After the other night, he was pretty sure he didn't have patrol today. Groaning, he stretched out his hand, trying to find his phone before finally getting a grip on the infernal beeping device. It took him only a moment to adjust to the light his friends had always regarded as blinding, and he narrowed his tiredly. He was hearing an annoying loud sound, and he alarm wasn't going off so what…oh scrap.
Suddenly wide awake, he leapt from his bed, nearly tripping as he fought to change quickly into his armor as he heard the alert. Racing from his room, the scout slid to a stop before sprinting back and grabbing the small black choker-like device that served as his translator.
Fastening it around his neck, he almost barreled into Bulkhead as he came into the main hangar. "I'm here! What's the mission?"
"It's the Proximity alert," Ratchet answered, pulling up the camera to show an all too familiar helicopter. "It's Fowler."
"So…I got out of bed for nothing?"
"Yeah, basically," Arcee grimaced. "But at least you slept though Bulkhead scaring the scrap out of us this morning."
'Bee looked at her, and Arcee smirked as she heard the big lug groan. "It was an accident."
"Yes, and I needed what you broke!" Ratchet griped.
The scout snickered, crossing his arms as he looked to Bulkhead, "So you broke another of Doc's tools huh?"
"Yeah," Arcee replied, "but that wasn't the part that startled half the base awake this morning."
'Bee raised an eyebrow, "Oh, and what might that be?"
"Arcee…"
At Bullhead's whine, Arcee couldn't help but give him a teasing smirk, "Oh, well, Ratchet decided to have Bulkhead clean up his own mess. So, he went into the supply closet and found Superboy, sleeping in there. Standing up. He screamed like a vōljes."
The wrecker groaned as he heard the pair start laughing at his expense. "It was not like a vōljes."
"No, it was louder and more shrill."
That only made Bumblebee laugh harder. "I hate both of you."
"Aw, no you don't."
"You'd scream too if you found a random kid sleeping in a closet!"
"Maybe, but not like you did."
"Yeah, you scream was pretty loud," a new voice spoke up and 'Bee turned to see Superboy standing off hesitantly to the side.
"Sorry, you had to wake up to that," 'Bee apologized, "Bulkhead's woken us all up at somepoint by his…accidents."
"I have not!"
Both of the other Autobots looked at him skeptically. "Do want us to list all the ways? That time you electrocuted yourself."
"Lob ball into Doc."
"Lob ball into my door."
"That one incident where you blew up the microwave."
"Time you accidently hit the emergency alarm."
"That time you blew up the toaster."
"Ok, I get it!" Bulkhead groaned playfully trying to punch their shoulders. Glancing to the kid, he did wince and offer him a sheepish smile, "Sorry about scaring you by the way."
Superboy looked back at him, almost seeming surprised to be acknowledged. "Uh, it's ok?"
Arcee stepped forwards, placing a hand on her hip, "What were you doing in the supply closet anyways? We planet of rooms. I thought we gave you one."
"You did," Superboy nodded. "It's just…after being in a pod so long, I got used to it."
For a moment, the clone almost thought he said something wrong because Bulkhead looked aghast. "You've never slept in a bed?"
"No…" he answered shifting his stance nervously. "So, uh, who's Fowler?"
"Special Agent Fowler is our designated liaison between the Justice League and the US government. He only tends to visit when there are any major issues," Optimus answered.
The elevator beeped and Superboy watched as a middle-aged man with dark skin and hair like Bulkhead stomped in, looking annoyed. "A collapsed building, seven wrecks, thirty-four fender-benders, and a three hour traffic jam, and, of particular note, reports of a blue motorcycle of unknown make and a green truck; also the blown up mountain," Fowler listed. "So, anything you and your superfriends want to get off your chests Prime?"
"Damn…what the frag did I sleep through?"
"We have the situation under control Agent Fowler," Prime stated.
"They're back aren't they?"
"If you're referring to the Decepticons, I have doubts they have ever left; your planet's resources are much too valuable."
"Then it's time to wake up the Pentagon."
"Hear me Agent Fowler, we are your best defense against the Decepticon threat."
"Says you," Fowler challenged.
"Hey bit-brain," Bulkhead called. "Did anyone get hurt or die in those situations? Team Prime knows when to use force," for emphasis he ripped something out from one of the desks, "and how much to use." Squeezing on the component, they watched as it broke under the force of his grip, the small claw at the end of it rolling along the floor.
"Bulkhead! I needed that!"
"Enough," Optimus spoke, ending the argument before it even began. Turning back to Agent Fowler, Optimus met the human's gaze, "Military involvement will only result in catastrophe. Perhaps you can condone widespread casualties, Agent Fowler, I, however, cannot."
"Then handle this Prime, under the radar," the agent said walking back towards the elevator, "or I will."
The doors slid shut, not allowing time for a response. "Pretty big bearings, for a human," Bulkhead muttered.
"Why did you let him talk to you like that?" Superboy asked feeling angry. He didn't like that agent; no, he reminded him to much of the doctors at Cadmus, especially Desmond.
However, when Prime's gaze turned to meet him, the clone couldn't help but worry what would happen if he fought back. "Agent Fowler is merely concerned for his world," Optimus answered, "and sometimes, when people are stressed for things they care about, they get angry and lash out—however, that is not the best way of handling one's emotions."
"Oh."
"Yeah," Bulkhead smirked patting the teen's shoulder, "look how Doc freaks out about all the stuff I accidently knock over! Yet I don't see him freaking out whenever he's hitting me in the head with a wrench."
"That's cause you deserved it," the medic answered.
Superboy couldn't help but smirk at the annoyed look on the other Autobot's face. "Did you really deserve it?"
Bulkhead scoffed, crossing his arms in what the clone could almost say was a pout, "No, but Doc's abusive for a medic anyways."
Superboy almost swore he saw the older Cybertronain, reach for something silver on his desk.
Apparently Bulkhead had too, because in that same moment, Superboy found himself being pushed in a random direction. "Come on kid, how about I show you how to lob?"
-.-
Unknown Location
Starscream watched nervously as Megatron circled the corpse, seeming to analyze it. A small part of him worried that his master would find a flaw and turn his experiment onto him instead, but another was saying that everything should've been fine since Megatron praised him for snuffing the pesky Bot. And frankly, Starscream didn't need an invitation since that annoyance had tried blowing him to smithereens multiple times.
"Now," Megatron rumbled, pulling his SIC from his thoughts. "Let us see what Dark Energon can do." Leaving no room for protest, Megatron stabbed the crystal into the cadaver's chest.
The room seemed to somehow grow cold as the eerie light emanated from the shard, glowing brighter with every moment. A sense of wrongness filled the air, causing the seeker to take a step back. Something bad was going to happen; nothing good ever came from messing with relics of Unicron and his followers.
Like he predicted, the energon seeped into the body, causing a strange, unnatural glow to emanate from his empty lines. Where a normal Cybertronian would have a normal blue tinge to their veins, this was purple. It looked like poison spreading through the Autobot's body. An unnatural snarl came from Cliffjumper's throat, and several of the troopers took a step back as dull black-violet eyes opened, and glow came from his mouth, highlighting the strings of dripping energon.
The monster gave another screech as it tried to pull itself up, thrashing against its bonds like a wild animal.
The real shock came when it did manage to rip itself from the bonds with terrifying ease. Dark liquid bubbled from the creature's mouth as it lunged at the closest soldier and it bit down on the man throat, seeming to barely even be affected by the blasts coming from the trooper's gun as he tried to get it off him. If anything, it only seemed to piss it off more. The monster roared in anger, ripping the man's arm off before ripping his head from his shoulders. More shots rang out as the next man tried to avoid the creature as it lunged at him.
"That's you plan?!" Starscream exclaimed staring at his master in horror. "Bring Autobots back from the dead to attack us?!"
"That is no longer an Autobot," Megatron said calmly, continuing to observe the carnage, "just a mindless beast, its only instinct to destroy anything in its path."
Another shriek got Starscream's attention and his eyes widened as he saw it turn its attention to them. It charged towards them and Starscream leapt out of the way. Rolling back to his feet, he expected to see it trying to maul Megatron.
Instead, he saw Megatron holding his blade, up the strange fluid that had been dripping from the monster covering his sword. Looking back to the thing he created, they watched as its torso separated from the rest of its body. The legs fell far into the min below while the remaining arm clawed at the ledge still snarling as it tried to continue its hunt. "There Starscream, lies the indestructible seed of my army," Megatron stated strolling up the desperate beast. "The ultimate weapon." The beast snarled, trying to lunge at him when Megatron simply kicked its head, sending it flying off the platform. "Once I learn to control it."
-.-
Jasper
The alarm rung through the base again, almost causing 'Bee to drop his energon ration in surprise. While it wasn't unusual to get multiple alarms a day, having them almost back-to-back was strange. Taking a quick swig of the fuel, he slammed his cube on the counter and raced out to the main hangar, the heavy steps of Bulkhead shaking the ground behind him.
"Cliffjumper's life signal just came back online," Ratchet informed.
The comment almost made the scout balk. Cliff? What did he mean his life signal was back online? Sure he hadn't seen him all day, but that was probably cause he had patrol today. However, the looks on his comrade's faces told him otherwise. Something happened on the mission with the League to fight the 'Cons, something bad.
"W-wait, who's Cliffjumper?" Superboy spoke up.
He didn't receive an answer as Optimus grabbed his helmet, "How is that possible?"
"Normally I'd say this was another infernal bug, but considering we know Cliff was captured, it stands to reason he was able to make an escape."
"Wait, Cliff was captured?! When?!"
"While you two were running around Cadmus," Arcee answered. "If there's even a chance Cliif's alive…"
"Ratchet, prepare sickbay, we may need it," Prime ordered going to another console and typing something quickly.
"Hey!" Superboy spoke up, stepping forwards. "What can I do to help?"
The Prime regarded him for a moment before slipping his helmet of, battle mask sliding into place. "Remain with Ratchet."
"Aw," the medic whined.
Without leaving room for protest, the others got in their vehicles and Superboy's eyes went wide as a giant glowing blue vortex opened up in the tunnel before him. On some unseen signal, the clone stared as the group raced off through the vortex. In a flash of light they were gone and the portal popped out of existence.
"Whoa…what was that?"
"I transported them to the designated coordinates via the groundbridge."
Superboy blinked, that answered absolutely nothing. "What's a groundbridge?"
This time, the older man did groan, turning from his station with an annoyed look, "A scaled down version of spacebridge technology since we don't currently possess the means or energon required for intergalactic travel."
And that response left the Kryptonian with more questions than before. "So…you're stuck here on Earth?" he asked.
"With you," Ratchet grumbled, "unfortunately. However, even with your world's limited technology, I was able to build our groundbridge from scratch, enabling travel from here to anywhere on your planet. They have a much wider range than those Zeta Tubes the League uses."
"So it's a teleporter?"
"Yes."
"Does work on Kryptonians?"
"And humans," Ratchet answered curtly. "I would offer to send you somewhere, but as of right now, the League doesn't know what to do with you. Though I don't know why Superman isn't handling this problem like he should be."
Behind them, Superboy heard a strange sound and he turned at the other two holes in the wall to watch as they began to glow with a yellow light rather than blue. "Recognized—"
-.-
Unknown Location
Landing quietly on the ground, Bumblebee narrowed his eyes as he took the glowing blue crystals hiding their arrival. "Energon mine," Bulkhead muttered in confirmation.
"Judging by the scale, the Decepticons have been tunneling here for quite some time," Optimus added as they crouched down, peering behind some boulders. Before them, Decepticon soldiers moved about, cutting slabs of energon from the walls and loading them into various carts or crates located around the cavern.
"Should we call for backup?" Arcee asked.
Optimus was quiet for a moment, before activating his blaster, "No, it will take too long for the rest of the League to arrive. Finding Cliffjumper is our priority."
Nodding in assent, the rest of them followed their leader as he stepped out from their shared cover. And, almost instantly, the sound of blasterfire echoed through the cave system. 'Bee rolled aside as several bolts flew past him, putting his feet back under him he continued his sprint, firing a clear shot at the drone who tried to hit him.
Leaping over his corpse, the scout kicked another one in the face while shooting another. By the time their bodies hit the ground he was already onto his next target. The soldier grunted as he landed on his chest, and 'Bee ended him quickly with a slash to his main energon line, causing the blue fluid to spatter over his armor.
The ground shook in conjunction with a loud grunt from Bulkhead and the sound of breaking metal. Springing to his feet, Bumblebee fired a shot in his comrade's direction, hitting the solider who tried to sneak up on the older Wrecker. 'Bee turned his attention back to the battlefield, growling as he saw more of Megatron's cannon fodder stomping towards them with a few more drills.
Fortunately he was saved from having to fight them as Bulkhead and Optimus hurled two drills at them, almost flattening them on impact. And those who survived were too injured to be much of a problem anyways.
The sounds of battle faded and the group continued their race through the mine. It was only when they heard the sounds of more troops did they begin to slow down. The dull glow of sunlight began to illuminate the cavern more than the light from the crystals, and he crouched behind some crates, taking in the situation. Multiple platforms, a lift straight to the Nemesis, and soldiers everywhere.
Beside him, Bulkhead gave an admiring whistle, "Quite the operation."
Unfortunately, he did no think of how the sound would attract unwanted attention. 'Bee ducked behind his cover as blaster fire reigned down on them, before he popped back up taking a few more quick shots, ignoring the sting he felt in his shoulder as one lucky blast made contact. He didn't like this situation, they were pinned. And being pinned in a highly explosive energon mine by blaster fire, well, it wasn't considered the best of situations.
"It's Cliff," Arcee said. "I have a visual."
Well at least someone did cause right now 'Bee was too focused on not getting shot. "We'll cover you," Optimus replied, "Go!"
Taking the cue, Bumblebee charged out with Arcee, sprinting ahead of the woman, he stabbed a soldier in the chest before hurling his body into a few of his friends further up the ramp, giving his comrade the opening she needed to leap to the platform above and then nimbly swinging from the rings of the lift.
Continuing to open fire, 'Bee made a retreat back to his previous position, grimacing as he tried to aim at the men firing at Arcee. The problem was, some of them were at angles where he couldn't get a clear shot. Not without missing or worse, hitting an energon crystal and sending them to a fiery death.
But while he couldn't get a hit, that didn't mean the others couldn't. The cannon fire almost faded away and in that moment, 'Bee noticed one thing, a red form slipping from Arcee's hands and falling towards the ground. However, even from this distance it seemed to too small to be Cliff. Moving forwards, he watched as the red object hit a platform with a bang, bouncing off allowing the torso to fall to the energon crystals below spattering an unfamiliar dark substance across the bright blue crystals.
They didn't have much time to process what happened before they heard an all too familiar cackle. Looking up, 'Bee scowled as he saw the Lord of Stilettos and Backstabbing himself. On the higher platform, Starscream smirked, "I'd stick around, but I'm squeamish."
Holding out a hand, he dropped something. I didn't take a genius to know it was a bomb.
'Bee didn't even stop to see what dramatic way the seeker was going to make his exit, they needed to go, now. And the others had the same idea as the took off after him at full speed back into the depths of the cave. "Ratchet! We need a bridge! Now!"
The cave shook as the bomb went off and 'Bee leapt through the bridge as it opened before him, racing in, he panted as he watched the blue flames approach before dissipating as Ratchet closed the bridge, the remnants of the heat and flames ruffling his hair for a moment as he caught his breath.
"Geez, close call," someone whistled.
Furrowing his brows, Bumblebee scowled as he met the gazes of the last people he wanted to see right now. Oh, he'd be happy if it was his friends, but the League, no. After all the events the other day, they were lucky he wasn't punching them in the face for letting Cliff get captured. He told them they weren't ready for the 'Cons and because of it Cliff was dead. If it hadn't been for these heroes keeping secrets and not really treating them as their equals, then maybe they would've been able save Cliff. But no, the adults didn't want to deal with their sidekicks after Speedy's outburst. They wanted to avoid cleaning the mess that they made themselves.
A hand settled on his shoulder and 'Bee glanced back to meet his father's concerned gaze. Prime glanced to his…associates in the League, and his attention turned back to him, no doubt his father had been sensing his rage through their bond or whatever powers the matrix gave him. "There was nothing we could have done, even if you came with."
Bumblebee turned, giving Optimus a skeptical look.
"Cliffjumper was already captured by the time we got there," Optimus explained quietly. "I know you are rightfully angry for how they treated your friends, and I'm sure things will work out. Just give it some time."
Some tension did leave him at those words. Like always, his dad had his back. And while apparently Cliffjumper's capture wasn't the League's fault, that didn't mean there weren't other things he could be angry at them for. At least until they got off their high-horses and apologized.
"How about Cliffjumper?" Ratchet spoke up.
The silence that filled the room made the stomachs of those who had not been on the mission sink in dread. "Cliff? He was captured, you guys found him?" Flash asked.
Optimus didn't answer, merely turning to look at Arcee. "Arcee, what did you see?"
Taking off her helmet, she looked down, short brown locks with pink highlights hiding her face. "Not Cliff…at least, not anymore," she murmured. "He was mutated, butchered. Like those things from the 'Con experiments during the war." Whatever she was going to say next was cut off as she stumbled, almost collapsing before catching herself.
"Whoa, Arcee—" Superman stepped forwards only to be waved off.
"I'm fine," she grumbled. "Just dizzy."
Ratchet did not believe her. He stomped over quickly, having her sit on a nearby box as he quickly ran his scanner over her. For a brief moment, the blue light flashed red and he moved it back down, causing the light to change again. "What is this?" Ratchet asked carefully taking her arm, examining the strange liquid on it.
"Don't know, Cliff was covered in it; bleeding it even."
Nodding, the medic carefully grabbed a vial and a pipette. Arcee did her best to hold her hand steady as Ratchet took a sample from the fluid, dispensing it into the vial and sealing it. "Go take a decontamination shower, now." Setting the vial down, he looked over the rest of the Autobots. "Bumblebee, you're next."
The scout looked at him before glancing down at himself. "Oh, it's not mine. I had to slit a few throats."
At his answer, Ratchet looked like he wanted to smack him with a wrench. "Go decontaminate."
Groaning, 'Bee turned on his heel and began to follow Arcee towards the showers. But, he didn't fail to notice the mildly horrified look some of the Leaguer's were giving him. While one part of him felt disgruntled that the heroes didn't seem used to this type of carnage, another part burned with amusement at their clear shock. Then again, it wasn't like any of them had been in a real war. They wouldn't really know what horrors happened on the battlefield, the things they sacrificed, the people they lost. People like Cliff.
Yes, these heroes who claimed to treat their sidekicks as equals only to keep secrets from them and lied to them. For them to say they weren't ready after they'd all trained years for this opportunity only to realize it wasn't the real first step to joining. No, the adults wanted them to fall back in line and do things their way and just follow orders like they always have. After all, it wasn't like their villains kept coming back and killing innocent people. It was likely that not one person there got their hands dirty to do what needed to be done.
'Bee scowled clenching his fists as he stormed away from them. He probably needed to cool off for a day or two anyways before talking to the League again. Otherwise there was a strong chance he'd break Batman's nose to wipe that smug look off his face.
Back in the hangar, the adults were quiet as they took in the news. "So…Cliff's dead?" Superman spoke up, almost looking like he was hoping for another answer.
"Saw his body ourselves," Bulkhead answered with a sigh. "It was nasty. He was cut in half—"
"Please leave out the gory details," Flash grimaced.
"Sorry," Bulkhead replied sitting down on a chair. Next to him, he looked to see Superboy sitting down, looking concerned.
"So Cliffjumper's the guy you went to rescue, right?"
Bulkhead nodded sadly. "Yeah, he was a good guy, great conversationalist—sometimes we couldn't even get him to shut up—and he was a great lobber. Man, I'm gonna miss him."
Superboy nodded, resting his elbows on his knees similar to how Bulkhead was. This was new to him, grief was new. Sure he felt some leaving Cadmus, it'd been his home ever since he could remember; but this…he didn't know how to handle this. "I'm, uh, sorry I couldn't meet him."
Beside him, Bulkhead gave a hollow chuckle, "Yeah, I'm sorry you couldn't meet him either, I think Cliff would've liked you kid."
