The groundbridge portal roared into life, tendrils of energy licking the air around it. Next to the whirling green vortex, optics fixed on a computer terminal, stood Ratchet, fussing over diagnostics and constantly rechecking the machine's destination coordinates.
Ultra Magnus approached the three figures awaiting departure, his expression as stern as always. He eyed each of them with varying levels of suspicion. Arcee and Jazz were trusty soldiers, he knew that they could easily pull off this operation without a hitch. It was the other bot that he was slightly uneasy with putting on this mission; Sideswipe.
The Autobot found his optics narrow in concern as he looked to the red bot, who was calmly awaiting the order to leave, foot tapping on the metal floor with a repetitive clanking sound. He was young, bold and from what Magnus heard, something of a loose cannon. The Autobot commander mentally sighed, he felt that he would regret sending these bots on this mission.
"Remember, your mission is reconnaissance only." Magnus felt the need to clarify this to the bots. "Do not engage unless you are fired upon first, in which case call for extraction immediately. We cannot afford to lose any more bots, or worse." He turned to Ratchet, who was still making minute adjustments to the groundbridge. "Ratchet, is everything ready?"
The old bot quickly finished a few final calculations before turning to respond. "Everything seems to be in order Ultra Magnus." He told the commander. That was a little bit of a lie. Ratchet had been struggling with portal technology since the destruction of the Nemesis. What he could scavenge from there was enough to construct their current groundbridge, but he was far off from creating his own spacebridge. Not that it would do much, most Autobots were finding their own way home, not to mention that Ratchet had strangely lost a lock on Earth's coordinates not long after he'd left, though he kept that to himself.
Ratchet forced himself to focus on the task at hand. "I'll have to bridge you just outside of Kaon in order to avoid detection from the Decepticons. However, this will also mean that your extraction will be more difficult if need be, so please be careful." His voice contained noticeable concern, but was still delivered in the medic's usual sincere tone.
"We'll be careful Ratchet." Arcee assured him.
"Yeah, no worries doc." Jazz added.
Ratchet huffed and returned to his work. Jazz tries to hide the smile creeping up on his face at the doctor's anticipated reaction.
"Good hunting Autobots." Ultra Magnus gave as his final farewell, before the trio transformed and revved their engines. Without another word the motorcycle and two streamlined Cybertronian cars raced through the portal, disappearing in a brilliant flash of light.
As the three Autobots emerged from the portal in Kaon, they immediately transformed and were greeted with the remains of a once great city. Buildings lay in ruins, littering the urban landscape. The ground was peppered with holes left by thousands of years of endless warfare. Twisted metal structures sprawled across most of the city, strangling itself in silent chaos.
Sideswipe whistled. "Looks worse than I remember it."
"Looks like the cons have invested in some new renovations." Jazz quipped.
Arcee scanned the contorted landscape, taking in every detail of the deceased capital. "We're not here to sightsee." She added. Every moment she spent in the city made her energon tanks churn in disgust. This was the place from where Megatron hailed, and eventually became his own twisted realm. It symbolised everything the Autobots stood against, and she hated it.
They continued to walk deeper into the city with minimal discussion, careful not to use their alternate modes and draw unwanted attention to themselves. After a while, they arrived at one of the suspected Decepticon hideouts: Darkmount.
"I don't think the cons are here." Sideswipe commented while eyeing up the dull grey, and seemingly abandoned Decepticon fortress.
As if on cue, two pairs of footfalls could be heard drawing nearer, forcing the three Autobots to quickly scramble behind several empty and rusted energon crates.
"I don't like it." Said one of the voices. "One day Bludgeon just appears in his fancy star cruiser and now he acts like he runs the place. I don't care what Shockwave thinks, I don't trust him."
"I don't trust either of 'em." Replied the other. "Shockwave's obviously hiding something or else it wouldn't be taking him so long to find the others!"
The first voice let out a brief laugh. "I don't think we can trust anyone here. I mean, come on. Shockwave, Bludgeon and Starscream all in one place?! All we need now is Scorponok to complete our collection of shifty Decepticons who are most likely to stab you in the back."
"I hear ya Blast Off."
The sound of footsteps stopped as the two Decepticons; Blast Off and Vortex stood to talk. Just a few meters away the three Autobots peered cautiously from behind their cover, unseen by the two Combaticons.
"Looks like they're missing a few people." Sideswipe whispered to his two comrades.
"Yeah." Jazz responded in a low voice. "We need to keep it that way. If they can still form Bruticus then things will become a lot harder."
"Its not like we've never taken him down before. I ripped his head off once, remember? And you managed to get him off the Ark." His optics sparkled with the idea of challenge.
"I had a lot of help, and you had Grimlock."
Sideswipe shrugged in response, but before he could form a verbal reply a new voice cut through the air.
"What are you two doing out here? There's work to be done!"
The Autobots peered from behind their cover to see an all too familiar Decepticon approach Blast Off and Vortex, interrupting their current conversation.
"Starscream." Vortex identified the new bot with a clear hint of distaste. "Tell me, what should we be doing? Hanging out with Bludgeon's crew who have half a brain module between them?!"
"Well there's always work to be done in the name of conquest! And there'll be plenty more to do on my Cybertron."
Vortex raised an imaginary eyebrow. "Your Cybertron?"
"Oh come on! You don't honestly think that Shockwave is fit to rule?! He can help us reclaim Cybertron, yes, but someone else deserves a right to the throne."
Vortex grunted, though it was more humorous than aggressive. "Some bots never change..." He shook his head at Blast Off who chuckled slightly.
Starscream seemed unimpressed by their current attitude. "I don't see you two faring much better. You slept through half the war!" His wings flared defensively.
The Combaticons didn't seem offended by Starscream's aggressive jab. "Oh yeah?" Vortex retorted. "We probably accomplished just as much in stasis than you did online!"
Starscream's faceplate grew a sly smile. "Well, I doubt you terminated any Autobots in your sleep."
Blast Off raised an optic ridge, intrigued by the Seeker's comment. "You actually terminated an Autobot? By yourself?"
Vortex mockingly pretended to sniff the air. "Strange. My olfactory sensors are detecting high levels of bull scrap." Both of the Combaticons laughed heavily, which was wearing thin on the Seeker's patience.
"Well you can thank me for not having to deal with Cliffjumper anymore."
The Decepticons stopped laughing. "Cliffjumper you say? That's impressive for you, he was quite a handful." Blast Off commented.
As Starscream continued to gloat to his peers, the hidden Autobots solemnly listened in. Without a single word, Jazz's arm morphed into a long, silver sniper rifle barrel. With rage building in his circuits, Jazz aligned the weapon with Starscream's head.
Arcee suddenly realised what was about to happen. "Jazz, no!" She whispered sharply, dragging the Autobot to the side before he could pull the trigger. Jazz was yanked aside with a loud clank, causing the Decepticons to become suspicious.
"What was that?" Starscream asked, but received no answer.
"I dunno." Vortex replied, moving to investigate the source of the sound. He approached the crates and looked behind them to find...nothing. "There's nothing here." He clarified. Fortunately the Autobots had time to relocate into the shadows of a darkened alleyway without being spotted.
"It was probably vermin or something." Blast Off guessed. "We've been gone for so long the city is probably crawling with 'em."
The other two Decepticons shrugged, seeing this as a reasonable explanation, still oblivious to the fact that they were being watched.
"That was too close." Sideswipe commented from within the shadows.
"Agreed." Arcee replied. "Let's get out of here."
The trio of Autobots moved through the alley and into an expansive plaza on the other side of the buildings. Like the rest of the city, rubble littered the streets and a statue of Megatron which once stood in its centre now lay in pieces.
As they moved through the urban clearing Jazz finally built up the nerve to speak. "Arcee, why'd you-"
He was cut off when he saw the figure in the street ahead. The Decepticon was very large and bulky; way bigger than any of the Autobots present. He had silver armour with purple markings and a rather menacing tank barrel lay over his shoulder.
The Autobots had no time to hide as the Decepticon turned his attention to them, violet optics staring back. The four bots stood there for a moment, still and silent, as if hoping that their enemy didn't see them. Before long, the Decepticon let out a deep and ferocious growl, altering his body into a Cybertronian tank and opening fire on his foe.
The Autobots barely had time to move as the blasts tore into their environment. "Scrap. That's Quake!" Sideswipe yelled to his teammates.
"Wonderful, at least we now know who's trying to kill us!" Arcee shouted back, her sarcasm surfacing.
"What do we do?" Jazz asked from behind the cover of a debris pile.
Arcee narrowed her optics at the Decepticon tank blocking their path. "Drive!"
The Autobots clambered out from behind their cover and sprinted past the Decepticon, dodging tank shells and taking a couple of pot shots of their own. They all transformed into their vehicle modes, weaving in and out of fire as they raced past the much slower moving tank.
Just as the Autobots were out of range of Quake however, three Decepticon jets soared overhead. Having heard the commotion caused by the brief firefight in the plaza, Starscream and the two Combaticons rushed to investigate.
"There they are!" Starscream yelled to Blast Off and Vortex. "Open fire!"
The two jets and helicopter let forth a stream of purple laser fire at the Autobots below, chipping and scorching the road around them.
"This day just keeps getting better." Jazz remarked, narrowly avoiding vaporization.
Up ahead, the road ended at the cusp of a deep ravine. Large sewage pipes and cracks littered the inside of the urban gorge. Starscream saw this as a dead end for his prey. "Pathetic fools! There's no escape!" He yelled triumphantly.
Jazz however, saw this as an opportunity for escape, although a risky one. "I have a plan!" He told Arcee and Sideswipe. "But I need you to trust me!"
"Just do it!" Arcee yelled back over the sounds of gunfire.
"Sideswipe, do you still have your grappling hook?"
"Sure do." Came the rather casual reply.
"Right. If we drive off this cliff then we should be able to lose them in the underground tunnels!"
"What about those of us who don't happen to have a grappling hook built into their arm?!" Arcee asked.
"I'll catch you Arcee. You'll be fine." Jazz assured her.
"Great."
There was no time for anymore sarcastic remarks as the ravine's edge drew even nearer. Engaging maximum overdrive, the Autobots soared off the edge at full speed, transforming soon after. Arcee managed to turn in mid-air and open fire at their pursuers, clipping Starscream's wing.
Arcee's satisfied smirk did not last for long however, as Cybertron's gravity began to take hold. She felt herself plummet towards the ground at alarming speeds, her energon tank feeling as if it was still far above her. At the last possible moment she felt an arm wrap itself around her as she was suddenly yanked aside and into a dark sewage tunnel in the ravine's wall.
"You could have done that earlier." Arcee directed at Jazz in an annoyed tone, who was busy retracting his grappling hook back into his arm, along with Sideswipe.
"Yeah, but where's the fun in that?" The white Autobot grinned back at her.
Arcee considered punching him, but eventually decided against it. "Come on. Let's go before they figure out what's happened."
Starscream stood at the edge of the ravine, clutching his scorched wing as he looked down into its depths. "Where did they go?" He asked Vortex and Blast Off, who were either side of him.
Vortex shrugged. "I dunno. Probably went into one of the tunnels I guess."
"You didn't see?"
"I'm sorry 'Scream, but I was a little busy trying not to crash into you and avoid being shot by that little blue one!"
Starscream growled and clenched his fist tightly. "Arcee..." She has been responsible for more than a few of his 'setbacks' and Starscream swore that he would one day find a way to return the favour, in kind.
"Alert Shockwave! I'm sure he has prepared for this sort of thing, in all his wisdom..."
So there's my longest chapter so far! Please review and stuff so I know what was gud and what was not. I want to get all of this finished up as soon as I can, that way I can use the foundations layed in this story to write the next one, which I'm really excited about! Until next time! ;)