Chapter 44
A/N: alright! Almost done! once again, I just own this story, Emerald is my friend's OC.
/comm/
Telepathy
'Bee/Soundwave
Nemesis, January 3
"Since Phase One of the Light's plans are complete, we are setting up Phase Two, and with the successful achievement of control over Orion's spark, we shall put his mind to work," Megatron smiled. "Have you sanitized the datacore?"
"Yes, My Lord," Soundwave nodded.
"Excellent, our new archivist will need unrestricted access to our database. It would be counterproductive for him to stumble upon any sensative information."
"Question Lord Megatron, but why would he need unrestricted access to our most sensitive files?" Knockout questioned raising an eyebrow.
"During the waning days of the war for Cybertron, we stormed the Iacon Hall of Records. During this raid, we acquired highly classified files, files written in Autobot codes that we have been unable to decipher."
"Autobot codes that the Iacon archivist Orion Pax should have no trouble cracking," the medic smirked. "Considering what's at stake shouldn't we beef-up the security around here?"
"I believe Orion will function most effectively if he does not feel threatened or confined in any way, however, it is no mistake that his workstation is in direct proximity to the energon storage vault," Megatron replied.
"Which is under constant surveillance, well played." The red-head smirked before frowning, "So what are you going to tell the Light about this?"
Megatron rolled his eryes with a chuckle. "Those pathetic Earthings have no reason to know yet."
-.-
Autobot Base
"Finally, it's nice to have a break," Wally said as he flopped onto the couch.
"Not like we haven't been busy these past few days with saving the world or making repairs or anything else," Artemis said sitting on him.
"Hey!"
"Hey Em! Why did you get called off world during the whole Unicron thing?" Robin asked plopping down next to her.
"I got invited to join the Alpha Corp, which I gladly accepted. It's really hard to get into, but I did it!" she cheered.
"Congrats Erica," they all said.
"Ok, I have a few questions," Roquelle said. "This is the Autobot Base right?"
"Yep."
"That's right."
"So, I've seen Arcee, Bulkhead, Ratchet, and Bumblebee, but where's Optimus Prime? I didn't even see him at the League induction ceremony, or when we were fighting the League."
They all looked at each other waiting for whoever was brave enough to say what happened. "Roquelle, I am sure you remember the series of freak storms and earthquakes last month?" Aqualad questioned.
"How could anyone forget that nightmare!? I was up for days trying to rescue people from that!"
"Well anyways, a giant being of chaos was trying to destroy the world and the Autobots went to stop him, Prime was able to defeat him and lost his memories in the process and he was kidnaped by Megatron and we haven't gotten him back yet, but we have to find a way to get to Cybertron to reach some sacred Wisdom Repository for the Primes to restore his memories," Wally explained.
"Why not use one of those worm holes?"
"The one that gets the closest to Cybertron leads right to a black hole," Emerald stated. "So we need a spacebridge."
"Which unfortunately we don't have on Earth unless we somehow find the Decepticon spacebridge we won't be able to get there," Ratchet said making them all jump.
"What if you just turbocharge the groundbridge?" Roquelle asked.
"It's not that easy Roquelle," Wally sighed, "…at least, I don't think it is."
-.-
Nemesis
Orion sifted through the records, catching a layer of code hidden n the text, he clicked on it, freezing the screen so he could decode it.
"Orion, how fares Project Iacon?" Megatron asked walking in, almost making him jump.
"I'm a bit rusty I fear, I've only magaed to decode three entries," he replied turning away from his workstation to look at his old friend.
"And what do these entries comprise of?"
"They were logged by Autobot archivists during the war, after I entered stasis," he answered running a hand through his hair. "My only knowledge of what the is content so far is that they are coordinates, targeting locations on this very planet." A holo map appeared and the three locations appeared on the map as blips. "I surmise that they might be vessels, shuttled from Cybertron for safekeeping."
"Such as historical documents or cultural artifacts?" Megatron questioned looking at the map.
"My greatest fear is weapons of mass destruction, hidden away for later use," Orion frowned.
Megatron hid a smile before turning back to his old friend. "All the more reason it is essential to keep said vessels from Autobot and Justice League reach," he said putting a hand on his shoulder. "We are lucky to have you on our side Orion Pax."
As he turned away, Orion pulled up something he found stowed away within the files. "Lord Megatron, I am puzzled by one particular finding, I have found several historical references to the Vosian Prince Starscream as being your Second in Command, yet I have not seen him aboard the ship."
"Sadly Commander Starscream is dead," Megatron replied before leaving the room, heading up towards the bridge.
Orion sighed and turned back towards the monitor to continue decoding the most recent encryption, something in his spark told him there was something he was missing, something huge as to why his old friend was being so mysterious.
Taking a breath, he turned away from the monitor, feeling through his spark for that familiar bond to his wife. "Solarflare?"
He felt a wave of mild surprise before she replied. "And do tell me my dear husband, what has taken you so long to contact me?"
"I am afraid I have been preoccupied."
"So I've heard, has Megatron been difficult lately? I'd love for an excuse to abandon the front here and tear out his sorry spark!"
And that was probably why Megatron was acting unlike himself, his sister was mad at him. "He has been manageable."
"Kul'vak!" she cursed and he sighed with a tired smile, no matter how hard he tried to get her out of the habit of cursing, she always went right back to it, especially when she was frustraited, he honestly feared the the day they had kids because of it. Last thing he needed was a conversation with a two-vorn old why frag was a bad word. "Alright as much as I love talking to you after all this time, I've got to get back to the battle, some of these seekers apparently forgot who the Gladiator Queen was and I need to teach them their place, even if I have to snap their spines—Oh! Tell 'Bee to stop hiding things and actually tell me what's bothering him, he's super distressed and I'm getting really worried! Please talk with him! Moonrider says hi! Call back soon! Love you! And please talk to 'Bee and don't let him pull something you would do, or Primus forbid somthing I would do! Bye!"
Now Orion knew he was missing something significant, who was 'Bee? And why did he share a bond with them?
-.-
Getting onto the bridge, Megatron walked straight towards Soundwave. "Orion asks many questions, a valuable trait in an archivist, but not in a Decepticon. It is a matter of time before he unravels our fabrications and his inate sense of right and wrong surfaces, or worse, he contacts Solarflare and finds out everything. I only hope that Orion will complete Project Iacon before I finally kill him."
"I will reinforce the encryptions over the sensitive files, should he get curious," Soundwave replied.
"Good."
-.-
Autobot Base, January 4
"Ratchet! Come in!" Fowler snapped over the monitor.
"What is it Agent Fowler?" Ratchet asked standing up from where he was working on the groundbridge. "Is it Optimus?"
"It's Cons, and they're busting into the same military research lab they hit last month," Fowler informed as the rest of the Autobots and the Team arrived.
"Think they could be grabbing supplies for something?" Emerald asked.
"Another spacebridge?" Bulkhead suggested.
"For all we know Optimus is riding with them," Arcee said.
"Roll out," Ratchet said as Robin activated the groundbridge, Bumblebee, Arcee, and Bulkhead got into their vehicles and drove through as the others ran after. Coming through the bridge they saw Breakdown fire at several tanks and Knockout used his staff to send electrical blasts at them, causing the tanks to go up in flames.
"Drop the power source!" Bulkhead growled.
"Aren't you missing someone?" Knockout asked, then a green bug swatter slammed into him.
"Aren't you missing back-up?" Emerald growled.
Planes sounded above as squadron troopers flew at them, firing their guns. Rocket made a shield in front of her team, the shots deflecting off of it.
"Drop it!" Emerald ordered making it move with the Autobot's shots.
M'gann flew up and slammed two of them together like she did in Qurac, and Superboy jumped up, slamming down on it with his fists, making the jet fall to the ground and explode. Flying down the Martian girl grabbed her boyfriend's arm and bright him back under the shield as the remaining soldiers fired.
"Ready for that bridge!" Knockout snarled as he saw the rest coming at him. Soundwave opened the bridge and he smirked, at least he was always reliable. "We'll tell the Big O you said 'Hello!" they ran through and Arcee and Emerald flew after, barely making it through the bridge before it closed. Arcee used her bike to land right on Knockout while Erica made a shield that she used to barrel right into Breakdown, sending him and the power source spiraling down the Nemesis' hall. Both ignored them, using the opportunity to find Prime.
"Scrap," Knockout cursed as they got up.
Turning a corner, Emerald widened her shield, hiding her and Arcee behind it as the vehicons shot at them. Lowering the shield last minute, Arcee jumped off her bike, shooting one as she leapt over landing, she watched as Emerald used her hammer to slam another into a wall. Seeing one approaching, Arcee lunged, punching him and landing on his chest, blades drawn.
"Where's Optimus?!" they demanded.
The man didn't answer, and Arcee raised her blade. "Answer me!"
Several more soldiers ran down the hall towards them. "Arcee you get them, I'll get him to talk," Emerald smiled and the trooper felt a chill go up his spine.
Arcee ran past as a shield dropped, rolling out of the way of a shot, she leapt at one, snapping his neck another ran up and she jumped, grabbing his shoulders and hurling him into one of his comrades. The last one turned and was greeted with several bullets to the head.
Running forwards, she jumped back on her motorcycle and drove forwards as Emerald caught up. "He's in an office near the energon vault! It's not far! We turn left at the first junction, and then at the second we make a right!"
-.-
Up on the bridge, Soundwave sighed as he saw Arcee and Emerald Lantern on the monitor, turning towards his master he showed the video. "We have a situation, one Autobot and protégé have managed to breach the ship."
"What?!" Megatron snapped.
"Arcee," Arachnid smiled seeing the woman on the bike. "Allow me to welcome her and her little pet aboard."
"No!" Megatron snarled. "If Orion lays eyes upon another Autobot or League member—sidekick or not—let alone be allowed to witness their deaths! Everything he believes in will be called into question." He turned towards his TIC. "See to it that Arcee and that little pain in the aft are escorted off the ship immediately!"
Soundwave nodded and walked towards where they were going to go.
-.-
Orion continued working in his office, trying to find more encryptions within the files. A small noise that had begun ringing throughout the halls not long ago began to grow louder, a sound he somehow recognized as blaster fire.
Going to his door, he exited to see several men rushing past his office. One saw him and stopped momentarily. "Orion, please return to your station, Lord Megatron's orders," he said before racing after the rest.
Ignoring the man, Orion stepped out and started to fallow where they were going to see what was going on.
-.-
"First turn is coming up," Emerald said as they flew/drove down the hall. At the end of said hall, stood none other than Soundwave.
With a growl Arcee did a wheelie and put on more speed.
As she drove past her, Erica made a construct to hit him. "Sorry about this man!" she called.
As they got closer, Soundwave set coordinates to the arctic, as Arcee jumped, he opened the bridge, sending her and her bike through, Emerald however stopped herself and the bridge closed. Hearing footsteps, Soundwave glanced back to see it was Orion walking their direction, and he still had her in front of him.
"Where's Optimus, Wave!" she growled hovering over him. "I know you know! I'm usually nice to you and I don't care if you're on duty! Be nice and tell me where he is or another prank spree will happen on this ship!"
Opening a bridge above her, he moved it down and sent her to Hawaii.
And just in the nick of time, because Orion turned the corner. "I heard a commotion," he said.
"It was nothing to concern yourself with Orion," he said walking away and preparing himself for the nightmare that will be cleaning up another series of pranks from the stubborn Lantern girl who painted the entire ship rainbow once.
-.-
Autobot Base
Ratchet put his scanner away as he finished repairing Arcee's knee. "You two weren't able to determine the Decepticon's location or if Optimus was even aboard ship?" he growled.
"Hey! I did say he was aboard the ship, Megatron put him to work, his workstation is adjacent to the energon storage vault," Erica huffed. "We just weren't able to confirm location!"
Bulkhead growled and slammed his fist down on the counter, crushing some piece of equipment, making the group of teens nearby jump.
"Bulkhead—!" Ratchet began.
"What?! You needed that?!" he snapped back slamming his fists together. "The only thing I need is our head honcho back!"
"Arcee, Em, it's not your fault you weren't able to find out, Soundwave got you before you could," Zatanna reassured.
"If any of us needed rescuing Optimus would've found a way, we didn't—simple as that," Arcee replied.
The monitor blinked and Fowler came on the screen. "What happened out there? Reports say at least a dozen wounded in the base attack!" he snapped
"Did it not occur to you to evacuate them like you always do before the League arrives?" Superboy snapped clutching the railing angrily. "Or do we have to always remind you of your job?!"
"Just get your act together!" he said before hanging up.
"Dude needs to chill, he does nothing but sit there on his but just waiting for us to need his assistance," Kid Flash hissed.
"I don't blame Fowler," Arcee said, "Optimus would've made sure all human personell was evacualted before engaging the Cons."
"We don't actually know what Optimus would've done because HE'S NOT HERE!" Bulkhead reminded.
"You're pretty good at stating the obvious Bulk," Arcee said getting off the medical bed and walking towards him, "anything else you'd like to mention that we already know?"
"Nothing I can say in front of the kids," he snarled.
"ENOUGH!" Bumblebee shouted making everyone in the room freeze. "Perhaps if you could think straight for a moment, you could think about what we just let the Cons get their hands on?"
"Yes, we just managed to let the aquire a power source for their spacebridge!" Ratchet snapped.
"And how exactly is that a positive?" Conner asked.
Erica smiled, knowing exactly where her best friend's thoughts were going. "We let them finish it."
"Why?! So they can bring back more zombies from Cybertron?!" Bulkhead growled.
"No, so we can commandeer it, and use it to send me back to Cybertron," 'Bee said.
"Whoa, that's actually a pretty good idea," Wally said.
"Well if Wally think's a good idea," Arcee scoffed.
"We're not saying it'll be easy, but you guys took over a spacebridge before," Robin piped in.
"We blew one up, that's a big difference from seizing and holding one, even with the rest of the League helping," Bulkhead stated.
"And how can we take it over if we don't know where it is?" Artemis said.
"Well, if it's a spacebridge, shouldn't it be in space?" Rocket said.
"The term 'space' refers to its transport range! Not its physical location! And we've been monitoring Earth's orbit since the last one, we'd know if it was there!" Ratchet clarified.
"So then the bridge is right here on Earth," Zatanna said.
Wally sighed. "Like trying to find a needle in a haystack."
"Well then, we better start looking," M'gann said.
"But the fact remains, we do not know what the Decepticons have in store for Optimus, or if he's truly safe from harm," Ratchet said.
-.-
Nemesis
Starscream flew behind a group as they returned from patrol, landing on the flight deck, he hopped out of his jet and jumped inside just as the hangar door closed. Racing down the hall, he made his way straight to the energon storage vault. Standing straight he walked towards the men who aimed their weapons at him.
"Starscream!"
"That's Commander Starscream," he snarled standing before them. "What's your malfunction? Lower those weapons immediately."
"I'm sorry Sir, but Lord Megatron ordered that you be detained should you ever return to the ship."
"What?!" he gased before chuckling nervously and clearing his throat. "Clearly there has been a mistake." He made his move, punching one, causing the man's gun to go off and hit the light. Driving his claws through his chest, the ex-SIC turned to the other, effectively slitting his throat.
Standing up straight he slicked his dark bown haor back and looed around, he sighed in relief, no one seemed to have heard the commotion. Going into the energon vault, he walked out with four cubes. Starting to walk, he growled as he heard soldiers approaching, luckily for him, there was one office that was never used right around the corner. Going inside, he set the cubes down and wiped his brow, but froze as he saw an all too familiar face turning and looking at him in shock.
Setting his missiles, he aimed them right at him. "Optimus Prime!"
